The internet of things and “5G” dominated the conversations at Mobile World Congress Americas this week, and test and measurement vendors were eager to spotlight their support for network and device support of those technologies at MWCA.
Keysight Technologies focused on 5G test software, touting its new 5G radio frequency design verification tool set for emulation and development of mobile devices, including beamforming and beam management validation at MWCA; and its SystemVue capabilities for 5G system simulations, particularly in verifying 28 GHz channels used by Verizon and KT. Meanwhile, in IoT, developments are proceeding rapidly, with new modules being certified by carriers on a regular basis and new network support for IoT being promised and/or starting to roll out. As the IoT development cycle gains momentum, LitePoint reported that its IQxel testers have been validated by Sigfox for manufacturing and certification testing of IoT devices for Sigfox’s low-power, wide-area networks. Labs are starting to expand their test capabilities for both IoT and pre-5G capabilities as well, with Teoco this week announcing new support for testing of narrowband IoT and License Assisted Access and PCTest upgrading its LTE-Advanced Pro testing capabilities, including LAA, five component-carrier carrier aggregation, and 8×4 MIMO. Both labs opted for Rohde & Schwarz test equipment for their equipment updates.
In other test news:
-Enterprise Wi-Fi network design company Ekahau signed a new distribution agreement with Ingram Micro. Ingram Micro will be marketing, selling and supporting Ekahau’s entire portfolio for Wi-Fi network design and testing, including its software for site surveying and its all-in-one Wi-Fi network design device, the Ekahau Sidekick.
-Network test company Sigos is partnering with French device-based metrics company V3D to add quality of service and quality of experience information from device “quality agents” deployed on commercial end user devices, to Sigos’ Integrated Test Environment for network visibility.
–Spirent Communications is providing voice over LTE audio testing for China Telecom as the carrier rolls out VoLTE. Spirent also this week announced the addition of TLS 1.3 encryption protocol support to its CyberFlood security test offering, for testing Transport Layer Security infrastructure.
-Wireless test bed company Octobox has launched three new “personal test beds”, which are small versions of anechoic chambers aimed at providing easy, less expensive access to chamber data for engineers. All three support multiple-input-multiple-output over-the-air testing, according to Octobox, with various other features in the different models including the option for testing mesh network capabilities.
-Viavi Solutions launched a new all-in-one handheld tester for multi-fiber connectors, as well as a new MPO optical switch module that adds new functionality to its T-BERD/MTS-4000 platform.
-Fronthaul testing company Sarokal said that it is the first test equipment manufacturer to support the newest specification for the Common Public Radio Interface that was released in late August.
