Evaluation Engineering - 9

Keysight Technologies VXG
microwave signal generators.

incompatible simulation and test tools
that undermine collaboration.
So, how are companies looking to mitigate this challenge? Customers are looking for a unified workflow that enables
designers to efficiently simulate, test,
verify, and validate their designs as early
as possible-which is more prevalently required to meet shrinking deadlines and
tight budgets.

Products and solutions
* OTA test techniques for module-level
devices. Unlike sub-6-GHz products
that can be tested with contacted
probes, millimeter-wave module
devices require over-the-air testing
techniques.
* Higher port-count instrumentation
for testing high-density millimeterwave phased-array antenna elements. At millimeter-wave frequencies, phased antenna arrays with up
to 32 to 64 antenna elements are possible, as compared to less than eight
antennas for sub-6-GHz devices.
* Fast time-to-market and high-performance test solutions for characterization of new 5G NR device
requirements. As the new 5G standards evolve from Release 15 to Release 16 and future releases, manufacturers need a test platform that
can efficiently test new devices at
the highest performance and quality levels for both characterization
and fast product ramp-up.
* Easy-to-use test instruments for
testing millimeter wave devices. Test
engineers and technicians who are
experts in millimeter-wave technology are very scarce in the marketplace, and they need to run very fast
in the learning curve.
Finally, customers are looking for low
cost of test for mass production as highvolume 5G smartphone applications ramp
up in volume into the 2022 timeframe.

while meeting ever tougher performance
requirements. Wideband, power-efficient
implementation of DPD algorithms spanning multiple deployment scenarios and a
complete system facilitating system-level
optimization and calibration allow OEMs
to focus on end-product performance
rather than optimizing a multi-vendor
line-up at a component level. We expect
system-level solutions tightly coupled
with an enabling software layer and algorithm expertise to be in high demand
in the coming years.
Karnofsky, MathWorks: Today's wireless
standards are so complex that engineering teams designing next-gen communications systems are struggling to keep
up. The proliferation of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,
WLAN, LTE, and other communications
protocols are further stretching design
teams across RF, antenna, analog, digital, software, and systems engineering.
Designers from these varied and highlyspecialized engineering fields typically
lack a single, sharable modeling platform,
and they've had to resort to disparate,

What products/solutions/capabilities
have you introduced recently in the area
of 5G?
Buritica, National Instruments: We
recently launched a new addition to
our portfolio of PXIe Vector Signal
Transceivers in the form of the mmWave
VST. This instrument has a modular architecture composed of a PXIe IF subsystem to which users connect external
mmWave radio heads. This way, users can
generate and analyze lab-grade, highbandwidth signals in the IF range from
5 to 21 GHz and in the mmWave range
from 24 to 44 GHz.
For RF-to-RF device testing, the
mmWave VST can place the radio heads
with high-power, bidirectional ports very
close to the RF connectors on the outside
of the anechoic chamber. Engineers can
also take advantage of the VST's IF ports
to interface IF-to-RF DUTs.
This mmWave VST also adds calibrated, multiport mmWave measurement
capabilities to NI's Semiconductor Test
System (STS). Additionally, we continue
to collaborate with industry leaders like
Tokyo Electron to bring direct-dock

NI mmWave VST with PXIe IF
subsystem and radio heads.

Hamed, Analog Devices: Our customers
need circuit- and system-level enabling
technologies that have a direct impact on
weight, range, and power consumption
DECEMBER 2019 EVALUATIONENGINEERING.COM

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Evaluation Engineering

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