Rohde & Schwarz says it is the first test company with an over-the-air test system that is CTIA-authorized for multiple angles-of-arrival (AoA) testing, which is an important aspect of 5G device performance in millimeter-wave bands.
R&S said that testing multiple angles of arrival is “critical for verifying the performance of mobile devices in the mmWave space, as radio waves at these high frequencies … suffer from high path loss and therefore need to be focused in narrow beams that are challenging to find, track and hand over while moving.”
The test system that can achieve this type of testing includes the company’s R&S TS8980 conformance test system, plus its R&S CMX500 5G tester and its R&S ATS1800M mmWave (FR2) over-the-air testing chamber.
In other test news:
–UL Solutions says it has acquired U.K. firm Cimteq, which specializes in design and manufacturing software for wire and cable manufacturers. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but the deal closed September 9.
“Emerging technologies within smart cities, Industry 4.0, mobility and communications industries all rely on wire and cable to serve as the delivery backbone for new service offerings,” said Jennifer Scanlon, president and CEO of UL Solutions. “We are confident the acquisition of Cimteq allows us to help wire and cable customers continue to evolve and succeed as these technologies introduce new challenges and opportunities.”
Cimteq is based in Wrexham, Wales and was founded in 1998; it had private equity backing from Foresight Group.
–Keysight Technologies has a new MIPI compliance test solution for automotive serializer/deserializer receivers, developed in partnership with BitifEye Digital Test Solutions and Wilder Technologies with support from Valens Semiconductor. Keysight said that the solution supports implementations of MIPI A-PHY, a long-reach physical layer interface for automotive applications and others that depend on a surround-sensor environment such as cameras and in-vehicle infotainment displays.
Keysight also this week released the latest version of its flagship Pathwave Advanced Design System software for high-speed digital (HSD) design; the company highlighted improvements to its memory design features for the Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5) interface standard.
–Rohde & Schwarz also said this week that its R&S ATS1500C antenna test system has a new temperature test option with the ability to test in a range from -40 °C to +85 °C, as well as a new feed antenna that supports parallel access to both polarizations.
-Analyst firm Global Industry Analysts estimates that the global market for wireless test equipment will be about $5.8 billion this year and will reach $7.7 billion by 2026, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 6.9%. In a July 2022 report, the firm said that the wireless infrastructure test equipment segment of the market will grow slightly faster than the market overall, at 8.4% CAGR, to hit $4.9 billion by 2026.
–Ericsson is working with the Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW), funded by the National Science Foundation and a consortium of industry partners, to explore the use of 5G drone operations for smart agriculture applications. Full story here.
