A key challenge for embedded devices with DDR memories is to maintain signal integrity in the presence of power and ground rail fluctuations. This becomes even more important as supply voltages decrease and switching speed increases leading to tighter power rail tolerances and jitter requirements.

05-Apr-2017

This application note briefly summarizes the history of SCPI and outlines in which fields of application a SCPI based test system software has still advantages over a driver (e.g. IVI) based approach. Further the unique features of the high-end R&SSMW 200A vector signal generator that allow an increase in efficiency of SCPI based test system software development are introduced and operating guidelines are provided.

18-Oct-2017 | AN-No. 1GP98

Most of the tests specified in standard TS 34.121 [1] for 3GPP Rel-5 can be performed with R&S®CMU200. This document provides a step by step guide on how to perform Rel-5 measurements on transmitter characteristics, receiver characteristics and performance tests according to TS 34.121 V8.7.0 clauses 5, 6 and 9 with standalone R&S®CMU200. Test cases that require additional instruments, e.g. fading generator (R&S®SMU200A or R&S®AMU200A) will be discussed in brief in this application note with recommended reference. A set of *.sav files based on R&S®CMU200 firmware V5.03 for UE supporting operating band I with power class 3 in RMC 12.2 kbps + HSDPA is attached to this application note.

13-Oct-2009 | AN-No. 1CM72

Over the past few years, electronics developers have developed a variety of approaches to avoid interference on high-speed signals on printed circuit boards. However, with increasing complexity and frequency, PCBs set new limits, supporting frequencies of 40 GHz and higher. Driven by the fast growing 5G market, today’s digital systems operate in these high frequency ranges that come with completely new challenges. With slope steepness’s of just a few picoseconds, any discontinuity in the impedance and impairment of the inductance or capacitance on the PCB or back drill defects on the PCB can have a massive impact on the signal quality. The industry recognizes that there is a growing need for functional high-speed testing of PCBs. The MicroCraft® E2V6151 series combined with an R&S®ZNB vector signal analyzer delivers a fully automated solution.

25-Mar-2020

This Application Note introduces HSDPA technology and test and measurement requirements according to 3GPP release 5 specifications. Important HSDPA measurements and example applications are illustrated by means of Rohde & Schwarz products.

01-Feb-2005 | AN-No. 1MA82

The R&S®ZVA vector network analyzer with the R&S®ZVA-K9 option enables absolute group delay measurements on devices with embedded LO without the need for a calibration mixer

17-May-2013

Voice over IP for air traffic control

21-Sep-2015

This Application Note describes testing S-parameters under pulsed conditions with the R&S®ZVA vector network analyzer and either the ZVAX24 Extension unit with pulse modular option or the R&S®SMF signal generator with pulse modulator as a signal source.In addition a constant power level calibration for applications requiring high drive power for test and measurement of device under test (DUT) is also included. A LDMOS S-band radar power transistor is used as example DUT. The pulse profile mode of the R&S®ZVA is used to analyze the time-dependent behavior of the DUT.

11-Apr-2013 | AN-No. 1MA126

Due to its outstanding performance the R&S®SMW200A vector signal generator is ideal for testing MIMO receivers in a vast variety of applications offering maximum usability at minimum form factor. It can generate up to eight antenna signals simultaneously in its digital baseband – all standard-compliant and with antenna-specific coding. In addition, it can simulate the complete MIMO transmission channel with up to 32 fading channels, sufficient to emulate higher-order MIMO configurations such as 3x3, 4x4, and 8x4.This application note explains how to use the SMW for testing higher order MIMO systems by presenting different key applications.

24-Feb-2016 | AN-No. 1GP97

R&S®CMWcards is an intuitive and user-friendly software application that makes NB-IoT OTDOA positioning design verification easier than ever.

26-Nov-2018

For customers who have already used automated R&S SFQ setups in development and production, the implementation of the successor instrument results in a need to adjust the SCPI commands formerly used.This document provides an overview on how SCPI commands that are used with the R&S SFQ change with the new test transmitter as well as a cross-reference list in the form of an EXCEL sheet.

23-Jun-2006 | AN-No. 7BM56

automotive radar echo generator, AREG100A, automotive radar sensors Automotive radar sensors are safety-relevant and have to be comprehensively tested for reliable functioning. The R&S ® AREG100A automotive radar echo generator is a versatile instrument for stimulating radars in the 24 GHz ISM band and in the 77 GHz and 79 GHz frequency bands. Together with the R&S ® ATS1500A shielded chamber, it offers

06-Aug-2018

Rohde & Schwarz mobile network testing solutions enable operators to efficiently increase network capacity via hardware-related, capacity-enhancing features such as antenna tilt optimization, carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO and 6-sector sites.

09-Aug-2016

LTE-Advanced comprises multiple features enhancing the basic LTE technology firstly specified in 3GPP Release 8. LTE including the LTEAdvanced improvements was approved by ITU to comply with IMT-Advanced requirements and thus being a true 4G mobile communication system. The different technology components of LTE-Advanced have different market priorities and require different testing strategies. This application note summarizes the Rohde &Schwarz test solutions for LTE-Advanced (Release 10) using Vector Signal Generators, Signal and Spectrum Analyzers and the Wideband Radio Communication Tester.

03-Sep-2014 | AN-No. 1MA166

Mobile network operators worldwide face cost pressures and escalating network complexity. The advent of 5G-NR has ushered in new use cases and flexibility, but it also comes with more stringent performance and availability requirements.Machine Learning can serve as a catalyst for the market to unearth deep insights that would otherwise remain concealed. It can also significantly streamline everyday tasks by fostering a smarter system that guides users through their routine work processes, rather than obliging them to repeat each (manual) step. Rohde & Schwarz Mobile Network Testing has focused its efforts on delivering Machine Learning use cases that distill relevant insights from drive testing data, thereby offering substantial benefits to users.This educational note explains the motivation and reasoning why this kind of approach is needed, what are the benefits of the machine learning offering and it takes a deeper look into how it can be used in various levels of statistical and technical analysis. Finally, this document provides real measurement results and analysis findings based on the Rohde & Schwarz post processing SW suite SmartAnalytics and its machine learning based features Call Stability Score and Network Utilization Rating.

28-Feb-2024 | AN-No. 8NT10

3GPP TS36.141 defines conformance tests for EUTRA base stations (eNodeB). Release 14 added several tests, especially for enhanced License Assisted Access (eLAA).This application note describes how all required receiver (Rx) tests (TS36.141 Chapter 7) can be performed quickly and easily by using vector signal generators from Rohde & Schwarz. A few tests additionally require spectrum analyzers from Rohde & Schwarz.Examples illustrate the manual operation. A free software program enables and demonstrates remote operation.The LTE base station transmitter (Tx) tests (TS36.141 Chapter 6) are described in Application Note 1MA154.The LTE base station performance (Px) tests (TS36.141 Chapter 8) are described in Application Note 1MA162.

11-May-2016 | AN-No. 1MA195

Smartly verify and decode Bluetooth® Low Energy (Bluetooth® LE) transmit signals with a reliable and costefficient spectrum analyzer – the R&S®FPC.

17-May-2018

Crucial for proper operation of mobile networks - Part 2 of the series on Cable and Antenna verification

Key points: Critical Infrastructure: Learn why the antenna system, as part of mobile base stations, is irreplaceable and demands meticulous attention due to its impact on network quality and availability.Vulnerability to Environmental Factors: Understand the challenges posed by weather conditions and environmental stresses on antenna systems, highlighting the importance of robust design and maintenance.Fundamental Properties: Delve into the core concepts of antenna systems, gaining insights into fundamental properties of antennas and the antenna cables.Measurement Techniques: Explore discontinuity or distance to fault measurements to identify reflections of forward RF energy due to impedance changes (connector, compression or kink of a cable, etc.).

18-Jun-2024 | AN-No. 8NT16

8NT01 MIMO Channel,Field Measurements,MIMO Evaluation,R&STSMx,R&SROMES Assessing a MIMO Channel 8NT01 MIMO Channel,Field Measurements,MIMO Evaluation,R&STSMx,R&SROMES

31-Aug-2017 | AN-No. 8NT01

For NB-IoT applications to function correctly, sufficient network coverage is required. Coverage must be measured to ensure a robust NB-IoT connection. Rohde & Schwarz mobile network testing provides a unique combined test solution that accurately measures the DL coverage using network scanners. It measures the device/network interaction, UL behavior, protocol, signaling load and energy efficiency during communications using NB-IoT devices connected to R&S®ROMES.

20-Feb-2018

Best practices for mobile network testing for business-critical applications

Business-critical infrastructure: Industrial applications require extremely high reliability and availability, as any downtime can result in significant financial losses. Fundamental requirements: Industrial applications often require low latency and even more important a sustainable latency to ensure real-time communication and control. Measurement Techniques: As soon as the radio access network is used, innovative testing methods are needed beforehand to proactively test the network capability and to identify any potential issues. We propose a standard test procedure for the characterization of a network regarding industrial use-cases that covers a representative set of different, common types of network traffic.

13-Aug-2024 | AN-No. 8NT17

This application note explains how to perform LTE base station measurements over the air (OTA) using the R&S®FSH4/8/13/20 handheld spectrum analyzer. It describes the required measurement setup and explains the results obtained with the different measurement modes.

12-Sep-2013 | AN-No. 1EF87

Part 1 of the Cable and Antenna verification series – essential for Mobile Networks

Key points: Critical Infrastructure: Learn why the antenna system, as part of mobile base stations, is irreplaceable and demands meticulous attention due to its impact on network quality and availability.Vulnerability to Environmental Factors: Understand the challenges posed by weather conditions and environmental stresses on antenna systems, highlighting the importance of robust design and maintenance.Fundamental Properties: Delve into the core concepts of antenna systems, gaining insights into their transmit and receive characteristics, which serve as the foundation for effective measurement and verification.Measurement Techniques: Explore various measurement methods for antenna systems, focusing on return loss and decoupling, and their significance in assessing system performance and integrity.

23-Feb-2024 | AN-No. 8NT11

Best practices for national regulatory authorities

Key points:Importance of field measurements: Traditional network planning tools and models only offer an estimated view of mobile coverage. Field measurements are conducted under real geographical and load conditions, and therefore provide a more accurate picture and can discover interferences more effectively. Coverage investigations: When deploying a mobile network, operators must adhere to regulatory standards and licensing conditions. As a result, regulatory authorities carry out field measurements on a regular or ad hoc basis to validate compliance or investigate customer complaints. This process identifies coverage gaps and areas of poor network quality, enabling regulatory authorities to take actions to enhance service quality for consumers and guide network expansion.Foster competition: If the field measurements of the coverage and performance are performed on a scale representative of a given country, the transparency of these results can promote healthy competition between operators and better service for consumers, which is essential for economic growth and social development.Measurement Techniques: The harmonized methodology for measuring and evaluating data throughput and QoE based on popular services is described in ETSI TR 103 559.

15-Apr-2024 | AN-No. 8NT14

Spectrum scans are beneficial for many use-cases such as troubleshooting, interference detection and interference hunting, or verification tasks like scheduler verification or other engineering tasks. A time-gated spectrum scan, which is a power spectrum scan which applies a time gate on uplink/downlink slots/symbols and/or the guard period reveals even more details in uplink/downlink or guard period power spectrum. This allows to focus on the uplink / downlink or guard period power spectrum in 5G NR TDD networks. This educational note explains use cases for spectrum measurements, the complexity in 5G TDD and its technology basics, and which problems can be solved with the described solution. The software used is R&S®ROMES4 together with a R&S®TSMx6 drive and walk test scanner.

21-Sep-2023 | AN-No. 8NT08

With all these new flexibilities introduced with 5G, the radio access has become more complex to understand and analyze. More network interfaces and RAN configuration parameters have to be managed and the RAN and in particular the connection control, mobility and measurement reporting are decisive for the network performance. It will be vital for the system experts and radio engineers to gain knowledge and evolve their methods and tools to facilitate the work to optimize and troubleshoot 5G and 4G RAN performance. Thus, tools are needed that allow for easier understanding of the message flows in the radio protocols. The R&S®ROMES4 KPIs and Smart Events will help doing the work much easier and quicker. They are defined for a key set of LTE, EN-DC and NR RRC connection control and mobility procedures where the performance is crucial to achieve high quality network performance. Trouble shooting problematic cases and optimization of RAN protocols are key drivers to improve the mobile network performance with R&S®ROMES4.

28-Jun-2022 | AN-No. 8NT06

More and more mobile radio networks implement remote radio equipment (RE) that is connected to the base station main unit via a digital interface using standardized transmission protocols such as CPRI. For testing RE devices Rohde & Schwarz offers a complete test solution based on the R&S®EX-IQ-BOX [Model K04]. This key component is a configurable digital interface module that is used to connect Rohde & Schwarz test equipment to a RE under test using CPRI data transmission. This application note explains in detail the instrument setup and configuration needed to successfully test your remote radio head.

05-Aug-2013 | AN-No. 1GP78

Modern societies worldwide depend on the performance, reliability and security of critical infrastructures and networks. There is a plethora of “new verticals” such as manufacturing, warehouse, mining, ports or other critical infrastructure, just to name a few. These “new vertical” use cases all have one common requirement: the mobile network needs to provide a superior performance compared to a commercial mobile network. In such environments 5G brings new capabilities to build fast and secure campus or private networks tuned to higher performance, which can increase productivity and efficiency. To be successful in these business-critical use cases, the wireless networks need to be as reliable as the wired ones. This educational note describes the different test methods to be able to verify the superior network performance and to help finding root causes of potential problems limiting the performance. We distinguish between passive tests and active tests.

11-Aug-2023 | AN-No. 8NT09

Verify and optimize your product design under realistic fading conditions in a deterministic lab environment that allows repeatable measurements using standardized and user-defined fading profiles.

27-Oct-2020

More frequency bands and larger dynamic ranges increase the number of test points required in characterization and production of the latest RF frontends (RFFE). Actively managing test time and cost while maintaining quality is more important than ever before.

08-Jun-2020