Rohde & Schwarz has announced the test and measurement industry’s first firmware option for 5G New Radio (NR) downlink signal analysis.
The firmware option for the R&S FSW signal and spectrum analyzer enables verification of signals for base stations, as well as component testing of 5G power amplifiers.
Rohde & Schwarz can provide the firmware option upon customer request before its official launch to support the industry in its efforts to bring new 5G products to market.
The Germany-based test and measurement company said that this is the first firmware option for 5G NR installed on the R&S FSW signal and spectrum analyzer. It supports sub-6 GHz and mmWave signals with different subcarrier spacing and carrier bandwidths.
Developers can begin testing according to the 3GPP standard, enabling them to validate 5G base stations in ways that cannot be achieved with general-purpose signal analysis software solutions on the market. This dedicated solution accelerates 5G testing by providing a powerful user interface.
The new 5G firmware option for the R&S FSW supports analysis of all bandwidth parts to simplify demodulation of 5G NR signals with several different subcarrier spacings.
Rohde & Schwarz in June 2017 expanded the internal analysis bandwidth of its R&S FSW signal and spectrum analyzer up to 2 GHz by introducing the new R&S FSW-B2001 option. This test solution enables R&D users to investigate wideband signals in detail without the need for an external digitizer.
R&S SMW200A vector signal generator and the R&S FSW signal and spectrum analyzer have demonstrated outstanding test and measurement capabilities when applying signals based on Verizon 5G open trial specifications.
Rohde & Schwarz also said it is enabling the testing and validation of sub-6 GHz 3GPP 5G new radio (NR) based devices. 3GPP’s 5G NR will support frequency ranges up to 52.6 GHz, but initial 5G designs will use frequencies below 6 GHz with a focus on 3.5 GHz.
R&S CMW100 communications manufacturing test set with a measurement bandwidth of 160 MHz is ready for testing initial 5G NR sub-6 GHz wireless devices.
