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analyzers capable of utilizing higher frequency spectrums (micro and mmWave),
which offer greater bandwidth for transmitting large amounts of data."
Jose Rodriguez, technical marketing
manager at Tektronix, noted that in April
the FCC voted to unlock spectrum in the
6-GHz band for Wi-Fi 6E using the latest
802.11ax protocol.2 The move positions WiFi 6E to compete with 5G NR in indoor
applications that demand low latency, with
detailed cost-benefit analysis required to
choose the optimum technology for a given
application, said Rodrigues, citing research
from Counterpoint.3
Whichever technology wins out for a
specific application, said Rodriguez, "a
next-generation device-whether it's 5G
NR, Wi-Fi 6, or any other modern wireless
protocol-requires extensive simulation,
design, troubleshooting, planning, spectrum-coverage testing, and monitoring
over various power scenarios to ensure
new chipsets conform to power standards
and avoid interference."
Anritsu also sees a trend toward 5G.
"Engineers designing and manufacturing UE utilizing emerging technologies,
such as those used in 5G and IoT, need
test solutions to verify that products are
in compliance with the latest industry
standards, but also have a flexible, costefficient pathway to measure UE based
on future requirements," said a company
spokesperson. "Test solutions that have
modular platforms to support a variety of
applications and have software options for
modulation analysis of communications
technologies can satisfy this need."
Per Vices Cyan software-defined-radio platform.

According to Brandon Malatest, COO,
Per Vices Corp., "Signal and spectrum analyzers are becoming increasingly powerful
and flexible through the further adoption
and integration of software-defined-radio
technology. This trend has led to the need

for high-performance SDR platforms with
high sampling bandwidths, converter
resolution, extended tuning range, and a
greater number of channels."
Malatest continued, "This trend has
been further augmented by the use of
open-source tools that work out of the
box with these high-performance SDRs.
These tools, such as GNURadio, offer a
wide community of users and resources
to help implement the features demanded
by signal and spectrum analyzers while
harnessing the power of SDRs."
Steve Sandler, managing director at
Picotest, a maker of probes and accessories for spectrum measurements, identified a need for more real-time performance
and wider bandwidth. "Oscilloscopes are
also incorporating more sophisticated
spectrum-analysis features, such as
Spectrum View from Tektronix," he said.
"These tools provide separate hardware
paths for the time domain and frequency
domain so that the resolution bandwidth
is independent of the time base," and they
also support time-correlated spectrum
measurements.
When asked about challenges customers are facing, Sandler said, "Getting a
sense of EMI early in the design is a big
one." He added that components such as
LNAs, PLLs, and clocks are sensitive to
noise, "...and spectrum is the best way to
look at it." Picotest serves applications including low-noise-circuit troubleshooting
and optimization as well as jitter assessment, he added.

Challenges
Chonko at SIGLENT addressed increasing
complexity in design and troubleshooting
tasks and tighter budgetary constraints. "They are looking for
tools that provide the widest
range of uses without compromising measurement integrity
at the lowest costs."
Leeke and D'A more at
Keysight, pointed out, "With more users joining the network every day, and
each one wanting faster speeds, higher
throughput, and utmost reliability,
providers must be able to simulate and
monitor these challenging environments
to provide the quality needed. As 5G and

mmWave markets progress, governing bodies such as 3GPP introduce new
standards to meet. Manufacturers must
ensure their devices meet expectations of
both governing organizations and the everyday consumer, making testing pivotal."
Leeke and D'A more continued, "In the
defense market, spectrum monitoring allows users to ensure high-capacity links remain secure, keep an eye on radar sensors,
and utilize mmWave frequencies for EW
sensing, active denial systems, and many
more. It has become more important for
tests to be repeatable and reliable."
Cory Allen, marketing director at
Signal Hound, cited controlling costs as
a key challenge. "Our customers are often dealing with deployments in quantity. The proliferation of wireless technology in society is driving demand for RF
testing capabilities at every level-from
product development to infrastructure
maintenance and configuration," he said.
"Larger organizations often require an
allocation of devices across a distributed
team-a team that typically doesn't have
the ability to physically share analyzers
between personnel. Modern lower-cost test
equipment provides the critical RF dataanalysis functionalities, while maintaining
organizational budgets."
Lipps also cited cost, saying customers
are interested in affordable, portable, rugged handheld analyzers that can be used
in the field, particularly to track down interference. "Customers also face problems
with interference between the devices that
generate RF signals. Given the challenge
of characterizing the behavior of RF devices, it is necessary to understand how
frequency, amplitude, and modulation
parameters behave over short and long
intervals of time; therefore, it is crucial
for engineers and scientists to be able to
reliably detect and characterize RF signals
that change over time."
According to Malatest at Per Vices,
"Our customers, like many of those in this
market, face challenges associated with
performance with specific emphasis on
operating frequency, bandwidth, and channel count. Many applications that make
use of signal and spectrum analyzers have
advanced with respect to their needs and
require operation above 6 GHz with 400+
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