Anritsu this week launched a new test solution that supports LTE Advanced Pro features enabling up to 1 gigabit per second data throughput testing.
The Signalling Tester MD8475B, with a new hardware and software option, supports features including four-component carrier aggregation and four-by-four multiple-input-multiple-output with 256 QAM modulation, for testing chipsets and user equipment. Current test systems require multiple instruments to achieve 1 Gbps throughput testing, according to Anritsu, while the new hardware option and 4×4 MIMO software means that Anritsu is offering an integrated, single-box solution for LTE Advanced Pro test that “specifically addresses the market need for test instruments that can more effectively support the commercialization of emerging broadband mobile services.”
In other test news:
–PCTel is enabling private LTE network testing, with support on its IBflex scanning receiver fornon-Third Generation Partnership Project bands. IBflex has configurable bands so that users can set up their own testing for LTE bands anywhere within the range of 10 MHz to 6 GHz.
–GL Communications introduced a new probe with high-definition capabilities that supports multiple physical interfaces, which it says can connect to “practically any wired or wireless network while automatically performing voice and data testing.” The VQuad Probe HD is portable and supports remote access, according to GL.
–TechNavio has a new report on the global market for Ethernet testing, which it expects to increase at a compound annual growth rate of more than 10% until 2021, driven by internet service providers’ need to reduce both capital and operating expenses. EXFO, Viavi Solutions, Spirent Communications, and Ixia were identified as key vendors in the space.
–Fluke Networks said that its cloud-based reporting software, LinkWare Live, reached a significant milestone recently: 5 million test results uploaded from contractors and cable installers, via Fluke’s Versiv testers and Wi-Fi. Fluke said that usage is accelerating, with LinkWare Live averaging more than 300,000 results uploaded each month — which the company said is up nearly 50% from a year ago.
–Keysight Technologies said that its SystemVue 2017 simulation platform helped researchers discover a standards issue that drove up power consumption in a narrowband internet of things device and request a change from 3GPP to address the issue.
“While designing an NB-IoT terminal transceiver, experts from Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) discovered an improper definition in the NB-IoT standard’s receiver wideband intermodulation requirement. The requirement was more stringently specified than that in the LTE standard, which runs counter to the promise of offering low-cost/low-power NB-IoT terminals,” according to Keysight. The company said that its simulation system “provided the critical evidence needed for ASTRI to successfully request a standard change at the 3GPP RAN4 #82 meeting in Athens, Greece in February.”
Keysight said that the change would be implemented in LTE Release 14.
-Semiconductor test company Xcerra introduced a new ultra-compact version of its its Diamond-x platform for semiconductor test in either a production or evaluation lab context, with five slots for instruments. The company also launched a new high-frequency probe for printed circuit board assembly testing, supporting broadband radio frequency measurements that exceed 20 GHz, according to Xcerra.
Xcerra also reported that it has shipped its 600th PAx test system for high-volume manufacturing testing of RF front ends.
