Rohde and Schwarz NRPM OTA over-the-air power measurement solution

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The Rohde and Schwarz NRPM OTA over-the-air power measurement solution for WLAN IEEE 802.11ad, IEEE 802.11ay and 5G will use higher carrier frequencies and higher signal bandwidths in order to achieve very high data rates. This requires the use of phased array antennas in wireless devices and base stations. These antennas use beamforming to control the direction of radiation of the transmit antenna, thus maximising the power level at the receiver. The power measurement solution is designed to calibrate the transmit antenna output power and test the beamforming function.

Free-space propagation loss and diffraction loss increase when data is transmitted at high frequencies. To counteract these physical effects and nevertheless achieve the desired data rates, beamforming is used to optimally direct the phased array antenna beam. Since this antenna (DUT) features high integration density and has no RF connectors, it is not possible to access its transmit signal via cable. The DUT transmit power is measured over the air during the production of wireless devices, base stations and RF modules. The antenna beamforming performance must also be verified. This is done using antennas that are spatially distributed.

The product is suitable for these measurements. It supports the frequency range from 27.5 to 75 GHz, covering the 28 GHz band for 5G and the 57 to 66 GHz band defined for WLAN IEEE 802.11ad, as well as frequencies >66 GHz for WLAN IEEE802.11ay.