Signal generation

Agilent has announced what it claims is the first LTE real-time signal generation and channel emulation solution for base station test.

The company’s Signal Studio for 3GPP LTE software, designed for the PXB MIMO receiver tester, provides what is claimed to be the best base station receiver test capabilities available.

The PXB MIMO receiver tester is designed with versatile LTE signal creation and channel emulation capabilities. This simplifies the validation of eNB throughput per the 3GPP specifications.

The receiver tester, with N7624B Signal Studio for 3GPP LTE, now supports real-time LTE testing with HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat request) feedback from the device under test.

This enables closed-loop testing with dynamically changing LTE test strengths, which is essential for measuring receiver performance as defined in the 3GPP LTE specification.

To simulate realistic propagation conditions in a variety of different environments, the mandatory fading profiles defined in the eNB performance requirements or custom-defined fading profiles can be added to the real-time LTE signals along with additive white gaussian noise.

Additional receiver tester capabilities include: transforming complex channel emulation up to 4 x 2 MIMO into a calibrated and repeatable test process for R&D engineers developing BTS of the mobile receivers; supporting all major wireless standards, including WiMAX and LTE; summing LTE test signals with interferers created by other Signal Studio applications, such as W-CDMA or GSM, or custom IQ waveforms files.

Signal Studio software with the PXB delivers transport channel coded signals needed for testing ASICs in the baseband section of the LTE base station receiver.

Test signal configuration is simplified with fixed reference channel predefined set-ups for receiver testing.