In a promising sign for an equipment ecosystem for Citizens Broadband Radio Service spectrum, CommScope and Ericsson said this week that they successfully completed interoperability testing of Ericsson’s equipment with CommScope’s Spectrum Access System. This is the third SAS compatibility testing under Ericsson’s belt; it previous confirmed that its equipment works with Google’s SAS as well as that of Federated Wireless. CommScope is one of four companies which have conditional approval to act as Environmental Sensing Capability operators for CBRS, to ensure that along the U.S. coasts, naval radar systems are sufficiently protected as part of the tiered spectrum sharing framework.
“Rigorous testing across a range of scenarios confirmed that Ericsson’s radio infrastructure with CBRS spectrum support and CommScope’s Spectrum Access System will work together in a CBRS network, while meeting governmental requirements and industry protocols, as well as CommScope’s and Ericsson’s respective quality standards,” Ericsson said in a post on the testing.
Ericsson noted that the testing with CommScope was one of the first successful tests of the Wireless Innovation Forum’s Release 1.2 specifications for CBRS.
In related CBRS news, Verizon is testing indoor and outdoor small cells with CBRS support and says that its first use case for the technology will be offloading traffic from the macro network with outdoor CBRS small cells. Full story here.
In other test news:
–Keysight Technologies put together a 28 GHz channel sounder for an NTT DoCoMo 5G research project, part of an ongoing partnership between the two companies to explore millimeter wave characteristics. The project utilizes Keysight’s 28 GHz 5G multiple-input-multiple-output channel sounding reference solution.
“5G channel sounding is required to characterize the air interface for the new 5G radio-communication system,” Keysight explained in making the announcement. “It means measuring parameters such as path loss, power delay profile, reflection, and various fading profiles including Doppler shift. It is required to design efficient and robust 5G channel models.”
Keysight and NTT DoCoMo had previously worked together on a similar project using 67 GHz spectrum and researching channel behavior in urban canyons with a high density of pedestrians.
–EXFO reported its results, with sales up but profits down as it dealt with a soft quarter and the impact of its recent acquisition of Astellia. Full story here.
–Epiq Solutions has launched a new module for use in applications such as handheld test and measurement equipment and remote radio frequency sensing. The Sidekiq Z22 combines a wideband RF transceiver from Analog Devices plus a Linux computer on a module that measures 30 mm x 51 mm x 5 mm. Epiq CEO John Orlando said in a statement that in both performance and size, the module “exceeds what we thought was possible just a few short years ago.”
-Autonomous automotive “simulation-as-a-service” start-up company Metamoto said it has a number of tech companies, auto makers and transportation network providers enlisted for a pre-release “early engagement” program for its simulation technology — which happens to coincide with the kick-off of its Series A funding round. Silicon Valley-based Metamoto said it has already received $2 million in initial seed funding. The pre-release work with partners will focus on incorporating feedback at an accelerated pace before tMetamoto officially launches its offering for testing, validating and training autonomous systems.
“Simulation allows our customers to amass the billions of miles of virtual testing needed for validation in a single cycle, outpacing physical testing by an order of magnitude,” said Chad Partridge, CEO of Metamoto. “While government and local regulations about testing autonomous vehicles on public roads are in a state of flux, simulation offers an immediate means to test the performance of autonomous systems in a risk-free environment.”
-Following the launch of the American Center for Mobility last week, IEEE signed a memorandum of understanding with the new test facility to collaborate on development of technical standards for connected and autonomous vehicles.
