Exfo's compact OTDR FTB-1 platform

Exfo added BBU emulation to the FTB-1 Pro portable test platform

  1. Exfo announced the addition of baseband unit (BBU) emulation technology recently acquired from Absolute Analysis to its FTB-1 Pro portable test platform.
  2. This solution validates the quality of installation of new or upgraded cell sites by identifying and addressing issues with remote radio heads (RRHs) and antennas during the first site visit.
  3. Exfo’s BBU emulation technology has already been approved and adopted by a North American Tier 1 mobile network operator.

 
By accessing the RRH directly before installation, technicians can run tests not previously possible without a commissioned BBU. Thanks to the representative results of live cell-site performance, mobile technicians can then validate the quality of their installation prior to handoff to mobile network operator (MNO).

Baseband unit (BBU) emulation offers the ability to isolate problems associated with RF interference, PIM testing and LTE transmission. In addition, MNOs can now benefit from full emulation of CPRI control and management (C&M) and IQ data as well as the identification and reporting of information such as local SFP, remote SFP, antenna remote electrical tilt (RET) and VSWR data.

BBU emulation on the FTB-1 Pro platform completes capabilities such as automated fiber connector inspection, fiber characterization using the iOLM application, CPRI link validation, and OpticalRF for real-time RF spectrum analysis over CPRI/OBSAI.