Rohde & Schwarz said this week that it has worked with Vector Informatik to provide a cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) testing solution that enabled automaker Audi to run realistic traffic scenarios with multiple simulated vehicles, both in the lab and on an automotive proving ground.
Having this kind of testing for both the lab and proving ground enables the same test equipment to be used in both environments, provides repeatable testing, and means that some scenarios, only the test vehicle is required at the proving ground for verification, because other vehicles in the test scenario are simulated.
The C-V2X test solution makes use of the R&S CMW500 wideband radio communication tester, an R&S SMBV100B vector signal generator (only in the lab environment), an R&S BBA150 amplifier and an R&S HF918 antenna with a tripod and adapter, as well as Vector Informatik’s CANoe Car2x software. Simulated vheicles and the test vehicle are synchronized at the proving ground with real GNSS sources, the test company added, so that complex traffic scenarios can be verified in real-time.
Rohde added that the system is “easily capable” of producing signals up to 33dBm output power, which are required in some markets, and that the new testing approach “allowed Audi to perform various load tests and corner case scenarios using test vehicles and simulated vehicles together at the proving ground.”
In other company news, R&S also said that it performed testing in collaboration with the German army (Bundeswehr) and ESG Elektroniksystem- und Logistik, at the Bundeswehr Technical Center for Aircraft and Aeronautical Equipment in Manching, Germany, to explore the affects of aircraft rotors on RF data links.
“Equipping today’s armed forces with secure, up-to-date solutions for radio networking is essential for command and control effectiveness during deployment,” explains Mathias Pauli, VP of secure communications at Rohde & Schwarz. “These tests, on behalf of the German armed forces, investigated the influence of rotors from different types of helicopters on radio links. We achieved the goal of proving the suitability of the existing VHF/UHF and 5 GHz radio systems for operational deployment.”
In other test news:
–Anritsu says that it has made a successful, industry-first verification of the Radio Capability Signaling Optimization (RACS) Rel. 16 feature for 5G New Radio. RACS optimizes the transfer of signaling information about radio capabilities, which Anritsu noted has expanded greatly due to the number of potential combinations of frequency bands as well as supported radio technologies. Anritsu said that it has already submitted the conformance tests 3GPP’s Radio Access Network Working Group 5.
–Keysight Technologies said this week that it has joined Anterix’s partner ecosystem for private LTE networks for utilities. “Leveraging solutions extensively used by 4G and 5G technology providers, Keysight will enable Anterix and its critical infrastructure customers to cost-effectively verify designs across the product life-cycle,” said Giampaolo Tardioli, VP and GM of Keysight’s network access group.
Keysight also unveiled a new parallel parametric test system for high-throughput semiconductor wafer testing. The P9002A parallel parametric test system has a flexible option structure for up to 100 channels parallel test resources, the company said.
–Booz Allen Hamilton, which has won hundreds of millions of dollars in 5G-related work from the U.S. Department of Defense, this week opened up a 5G lab in Maryland. The lab houses a 5G Standalone (SA) carrier-grade network, including an SA mobile core, Radio Access Network (RAN) and mobile edge compute, enabling multi-band testing across devices and enhanced research and development capabilities.
According to the company, the lab will be used to test cyber resiliency, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) modeling, integrated IoT and applications development. Read more details here.
Meanwhile, the DoD officially kicked off one of its 5G network test sites with a private 5G network at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, where a dozen vendors will be working for more than three years to develop spectrum co-existence system (SCS) solutions between Hill AFB’s private 5G network and airborne radars operating in midband spectrum in the lower part of the 3 GHz band. Full story here.
