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Test and Measurement: A dip, then a rebound predicted for test equipment market

Market research firm TechNavio is predicting a short-term slump in the automated test equipment market as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic, followed by a rebound and growth through 2024.

TechNavio said that the industry can expect “negative growth in the short term as the business impact of COVID-19 spreads.” Ultimately, however, the firm expects to see the automated test equipment market grow by $1.47 billion through 2024, as markets recover from the pandemic, with a growth rate of about 4% per year.

Most of the growth in the industry will be driven by accompanying growth in consumer electronics and the need for testing those devices, and the strongest regional growth is expected to come from China.

In other test news:

Viavi Solutions said this week that it has added 5G New Radio and LTE signal analyzer capabilities to its OneAdvisor-800 all-in-one tool, aimed at streamline cell site maintenance. The test company said that the OneAdvistor-800 now “consolidates all key 5G and 4G cell site installation and integration tests” and has support for testing of fiber, coaxial cable, passive intermodulation detection, fronthaul testing and spectrum/signal analysis.

In related news from Viavi, the company said that Three Ireland has chosen its Nitro Mobile solutions for network visibility and service performance. Three Ireland has more than 2 million customers and recently launched a 5G network.

Tektronix said that it has made some enhancements to its TekScope PC software to make it easier to manage test instruments while work remotely, in response to customer demand during the global pandemic.

TekScope PC’s multi-scope analysis feature now lets remote users view and analyze data from up to 32 channels from multiple scopes at the same time in the same interface, “without having to be physically next to a scope or in the testing environment,” the company said. It’s compatible with all Tek scopes.

“Tektronix accelerated the development of TekScope for customers as the global COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered how and where engineers work,” the company noted, saying that many engineers have moved to “off-scope environments.” The Multi-Scope Analysis feature “enables customers to remotely control the acquisition settings on all scopes simultaneously without the need to set up each scope individually,” Tek said.

Keysight Technologies had a number of announcements this week, including a customer win with carrier Elisa, which will use Keysight’s Cloud Peak cloud infrastructure testing software to design and deploy a virtualized 5G network; and another deal, this one with 5G base station vendor Innogence, which will use Keysight’s user equipment emulation (UEE) solution platform to test the performance of O-RAN compliant small cell infrastructure.

Keysight also announced the availability of its new Infiniium 8-channel oscilloscope, the EXR-Series, through its global distribution channels and distributors. The new EXR mixed-signal oscilloscope has seven integrated applications, all supporting general purpose debugging — including its scope functions, a digital voltmeter, waveform generation, a Bode plotter, counters, protocol analysis and logic analysis. It supports up to eight analog channels that operate simultaneously at 2.5 GHz, with 16 independent digital channels, according to the company.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Kelly Hill
Kelly Hill
Kelly reports on network test and measurement, as well as the use of big data and analytics. She first covered the wireless industry for RCR Wireless News in 2005, focusing on carriers and mobile virtual network operators, then took a few years’ hiatus and returned to RCR Wireless News to write about heterogeneous networks and network infrastructure. Kelly is an Ohio native with a masters degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where she focused on science writing and multimedia. She has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, The Oregonian and The Canton Repository. Follow her on Twitter: @khillrcr