Evaluation Engineering - 22

COMPLIANCE

flexible 5G network testing environments,
allowing automotive and industry partners to research and innovate."
Recent efforts of Marvin Test Solutions
with respect to 5G test have centered on
a mmWave/5G semiconductor production test system capable of delivering 50GHz signals to a DUT, according to Jon
Semancik, director of marketing, Marvin
Test Solutions. He said that for production
test applications requiring integration
with an automated handler, the TS-960e5G is available with an inTEST manipulator, which provides precise positioning
of the test head and the flexibility to interface to automated probers and device
handlers, adding that the device interface
board (DIB)/receiver interface is designed
to be compatible with virtually any device
handler. He noted that available digital
vector conversion tools support standard
ASCII, WGL, STIL, VCD, eVCD, and ATP
vector formats. In addition, he said, "MTS
is collaborating with leading VNA instrumentation suppliers, including Keysight
and Rhode & Schwarz, to develop openplatform solutions that best fit customer's
requirements and price-points."

Compliance and regulatory news
Several companies have recently announced news with respect to compliance
and regulatory issue. For example, Anritsu
in October announced it has upgraded
its MT8000A radio communication test
station with 5G protocol-test functions.
The upgrade uses NR (New Radio) fading
software that, when implemented with

Anritsu MT8000A radio communication test
station with 5G protocol-test functions.

built-in baseband fading tests, allows the
MT8000A to support 3GPP TS 38.521-4
B.1/B.2 V15.0.0-compliant 5G NR channel
(TDL) model tests.
The MT8000A covers the key frequency
bands used by the first 5G services, such
as the sub-6-GHz band (FR1) frequencies
of 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 4.5 GHz as well
as the mmWave band (FR2) frequencies
of 28 GHz and 39 GHz.
Also in October, Keysight announced
that PCTEST had selected Keysight's 5G
network emulation solutions to address
testing of critical regulatory requirements mandated by the FCC for 5G
mobile devices. Keysight said its endto-end 5G test solutions enable PCTEST
to characterize the performance of a
5G mmWave device in an over-the-air
(OTA) test environment and certify the
device according to the FCC EMC and
SAR requirements for measurement of
power levels, signal strength, and emissions produced by a 5G mobile device.
Keysight said it combines the company's
5G network emulation solutions with
its compact antenna test range (CATR)
chambers to support regulatory radiofrequency (RF) testing of 5G mobile devices in both conducted and radiated
test environments across the sub-6-GHz
(FR1) and mmWave (FR2) spectrums.
And in November, Rohde & Schwarz
announced that The Global Certification
Forum (GCF) and the PTCRB certification organization have accepted first test
case validations in various FR1 and LTE
band combinations using its new R&S
TS8980FTA-3A 5G RF conformance
test system. The company said the R&S
TS8980FTA-3A is the latest version of a
family of RF conformance test systems
suppor ting mobi le
technologies all the
way from 2G to 5G on
one platform.

Myriad applications
Vendors' efforts have
been opening up a
range of applications.
Buritica at NI said customers have been using
NI's PXI platform to set
up highly automated

22

EVALUATION ENGINEERING JANUARY 2020

Rohde & Schwarz R&S TS8980FTA-3A 5G RF
conformance test system.

test benches for characterization of RF
front-ends in both FR1 and FR2.
"They are taking advantage of our
mmWave heads with built-in, calibrated
switching to test new device types like
multichannel beamformers with dual
polarization without having to maintain
complicated switching schemes," he said.
"Also, we've helped significantly reduce
the time it takes to run full 3D-spatial
OTA tests of new mmWave antenna-inpackage (AiP) devices using our novel
approach to OTA test."
Buritica elaborated on OTA, saying,
"To help engineers in charge of mmWave
OTA characterization and validation test
of AiP beamforming devices reduce test
times without compromising accuracy, NI
developed the mmWave OTA Validation
Test reference architecture, which takes
a platform-level approach that integrates
NI's real-time motion control, data-acquisition, and PXI triggering and synchronization to take fast, high-bandwidth RF
measurements synchronized with the
instantaneous ( ) coordinates of the
positioner's motors," he said. "Unlike traditional OTA test solutions, NI's approach
moves the DUT in a smooth and continuous motion across the 3D space while the
RF engine takes rapid measurements.
Evaluation Engineering

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