Evaluation Engineering - 16

RF/MICROWAVE

much broader scope of measuring from the
physical layer up to the application layer,
the RF/microwave facet of 5G represents
new technological challenges."

Areas of focus
RF/microwave and 5G research spans
the gamut from algorithm development
to channel sounding. What specific areas
are vendors focusing on?
AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation: "AR
continues to maintain its focus on providing the most linear and robust wideband
Class A amplifiers on the market. What
this means to the customer is that they
can be sure that an AR amp will provide
the cleanest representation of their input
signal. The highly linear class A design
allows for the minimum amount of signal
distortion during the amplification process. This allows researchers to focus on
their research instead of overcoming test
and measurement limitations."
Bob Stasonis, technical product specialist
at Pickering Interfaces: "The modular nature of our products, including PXI, lends
itself to adapting to our customer's needs.
In addition, we partner with our customers to create new switching designs that
are more in tune with their testing needs."
Luther, X-Microwave: "We are focusing
on the RF hardware side, specifically RF

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and microwave design. Commercially
viable 5G is being driven by and driving
more affordable high-frequency components than have ever been commercially
available before. You can find a surprising
number of amplifiers, mixers, multipliers,
and other components off-the shelf that
cover frequencies to 70 GHz and beyond."
Nichols, Keysight: "We are seeing the biggest demands in the areas of UE/device
testing since the early build-out of networks means an increased demand for
new 5G UE's. We are also seeing significant
scaling in RF/microwave component testing, as well as RF base-station manufacturing test requirements. It is exciting to
see work from research to deployment and
optimization, and be in every part of that."
Dr. Kearney, Analog Devices: "Wider
bandwidths, higher frequencies and
tougher performance specifications,
coupled with a need to reduce power
consumption, are pushing the requirements for sub-6GHz. From an algorithm
perspective, we see the delivery of wideband DPD and GaN power amp (PA)
charge trap correction as essential. While
static performance criteria such as ACLR
and EVM remain important, they must
be augmented by robustness, stability
and efficiency of implementation. While
some aspects of static performance at 5G
mmW are relaxed, there are specific new
operational (beamforming) and efficiency
(PA DPD) challenges that must be met."
Thorpe and Helmick, Rohde & Schwarz:
"Because of the move towards mmW, we

Keysight's VXG Microwave Signal Generators.

16

EVALUATION ENGINEERING JUNE 2019

have been working hard to expand our
measurement capabilities from conducted testing to over-the-air (OTA) testing
that will play a major role in 5G. At R&S,
we are involved in nearly all areas of 5G
wireless device testing. Protocol stack development, RF and Antenna design at FR1
and FR2 frequencies, data performance,
device reliability, service & repair, production/manufacturing, conformance
(PTCRB/GCF), compliance (CTIA/FCC/
ETSI), and network operator related supplemental testing are all our specialties."

5G challenges in RF/microwave test
Before anything can be formally rolled out
in 5G, there are many challenges to overcome in the area of RF/microwave testing.
What do vendors see as the key challenges
here for themselves, or customers?
AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation: "One
of the most important challenges is power. The demand for more and more RF/
microwave power has only increased as
technology progresses. Power is relatively
easy to deliver over a narrow frequency
bandwidth. The drawback with this is
that, for an industry or application with
many possible frequency allocations such
as 5G, customers would need multiple
narrowband, high-power amps."
Luther, X-Microwave: "Perhaps the most
challenging aspect for many of our
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