Chinese handset and IoT hardware company Duubee has established a 5G device testing lab, the company said in a release this week.
Duubee said it has invested “several million dollars” in the lab, which is outfitted with a 5G terminal test platform and equipment for spectrum and protocol analysis, audio performance testing, radio frequency conformance and testing Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as well as cellular technologies. Duubee said that it can also test for electrical safety and conduct electromagnetic radiation and compatibility testing. The newly upgraded lab can conduct 2G/3G/4G terminal testing as well as 5G testing, the company noted.
In other test news:
–Sprint launched its 5G network in four additional cities: New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Phoenix. Read about RCR‘s (very informal) Manhattan walk-testing here, along with some early test results shared by Sprint CTO John Saw from 5G drive testing conducted by the pros at P3 Group.
–Spirent Communications had a new three-dimensional multi-path simulation offering for Global Navigation Satellite Systems, which it developed in partnership with OKTAL Synthetic Environment. The company said that Spirent Sim3D supports “testing of realistic multipath and obscuration effects on GNSS signals in a true-to-life synthetic environment.” The company said that researchers and developers have typically relied on statistical models and live field testing in order to figure out the effects of multi-path on GNSS, but Sim3D will allow simulation of real-world situations. Spirent said that the system can simulate multi-path effects in models such as an urban highway, an inner city or a forest — and models of specific, real locations can also be commissioned.
“Obscuration and multi-path effects are one of the major challenges faced by engineers trying to achieve accurate GNSS positioning solutions,” said Spirent Managing Director of Positioning Martin Foulger, in a statement. He went on to add that “using statistical models to calculate the likely arrival point of GNSS signals in different environments has been acceptable while humans have been in control of navigation. But as vehicles become increasingly autonomous, it’s vital to get a more detailed understanding of the effects of obscuration and multi-path on a vehicle’s ability to generate an accurate position.”
Sim3D, Foulger said, “will help to guide critical design decisions like where to place the GNSS antenna on the vehicle; which type of GNSS receiver to use; and when to hand off to other position sensors if the GNSS signal becomes too degraded.”
–Anritsu has upgraded its LMR Master S412E Land Mobile Radio Modulation Analyzer to include the ability to measure the Positive Train Control Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (PTC ACSES), so that rail engineers and technicians in the field can test and verify the functionality of the train communications system. The test company said that the testing components for PTC ACSES include over-the-air decoding of PTC ACSES messages in order to verify the communication manager functionality and measure bit error rate and packet error rate; test received signal strength, BER and error vector magnitude in order to confirm PTC ACSES coverage areas; and test base station/wayside receive sensitivity performance.
Anritsu also said this week that it has a new option supporting the Bluetooth 5.1 specification for positioning services to its Bluetooth Test Set MT8852B, with the ability to conduct angle of arrival (AoA) and angle of departure (AoD) measurements for development of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.1 devices and equipment.
-Is that airport Wi-Fi really the best option? Ookla Speedtest gives a glimpse into Wi-Fi speeds on the airport-sponsored SSIDs at 51 airports around the country, as well as on paid-subscription options like Boingo and the airline lounge SSIDs. Read the full story here.
–Keysight Technologies has joined the 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation, in an effort to “help establish a framework for test and verification that will accelerate deployment of new industrial 5G use cases,” the company said. 5G-ACIA, the company explained, “works towards establishing a new ICT and operational technology (OT) ecosystem, and coordinates 3GPP standardization activities relevant to automation industries and manufacturing requirements.” Keysight joins the more than 50 current members.
“We have seen an increased interest in 5G for Industrial IoT over the past year. The first version of the standard is available, and the first 5G consumer products are arriving on the market – 5G is a reality,” said Dr. Andreas Mueller of Bosch, chairman of 5G-ACIA, in a statement. “However, there is still work to be done to unlock the huge potential that 5G offers for the manufacturing industry. 5G-ACIA has been established to fill in the remaining gaps in this respect, and to bring relevant stakeholders in the emerging industrial 5G ecosystem together. We are very happy to welcome Keysight Technologies as a new member. Their deep expertise in test and measurement will help ensure that industrial 5G is a major success.”
Keysight also said this week that it is working with fabless semiconductor company Kandou Bus on high-speed digital signaling transmission and reception. Dr. Amin Shokrollahi, founder and CEO of Kandou Bus, said that his company’s collaboration with Keysight enabled Kandou Bus to “accelerate development and deployment of Kandou’s Chord signaling technology, which can deliver faster, more dense and lower power interconnects compared to PAM4 and NRZ technologies.”
-ICYMI, RootMetrics released its latest analysis on mobile network performance in large U.S. cities in the first half of 2019.
