Radio communication tester R&S CMX500 from Rohde & Schwarz and network tester TM500 from Viavi.

Rohde & Schwarz and Viavi cooperate to advance 5G NR test coverage

  • Rohde & Schwarz and Viavi Solutions combine their solutions for testing mobile communication equipment according to the 5G NR and LTE standards.
  • This collaboration between the development teams of the two companies aims to accelerate the development of new 3GPP functionalities and the commercialization of next generation cell phones.
  • The verification process involves the R&S CMX500 5G NR Broadband Radio Communication Tester from Rohde & Schwarz and the TM500 Network Tester for User Equipment (UE) Emulation from Viavi.

 
Thorough validation of a standardized 5G test methodology is essential for the development of 5G communication technologies. 5G NR radio communication technology implements complex functions and algorithms that must be specifically tested on 5G mobile devices by manufacturers before they are released to market.

Over the past year, Rohde & Schwarz and Viavi have cooperated to accelerate the process of integrating various 5G NR features. This cooperation has focused on RF performance testing, protocol stack verification and maximum IP data throughput tests. It aims to support chip and component manufacturers, operators and test labs, as well as network infrastructure clients in their validation strategy when implementing the tests.

The German company and the American company are working together to implement new 5G NR functionalities established by 3GPP and to understand the integration issues involved. To verify a new feature to be deployed on a user equipment (UE), the R&S CMX500 tester from Rohde & Schwarz can be used as a network infrastructure emulator in combination with the TM500 user equipment emulator from Viavi, which is an alternative to a real device.

These instruments can be used to test 5G signaling functions in NSA mode or SA mode in the FR1 frequency band. This includes functions such as DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing), LTE Advanced and 5G NR carrier aggregation combinations, OTA (Over-The-Air), but also the verification of high bandwidth test functions in the FR2 frequency spectrum.