Keysight Technologies has announced two additions to its Signal Studio software suite of signal creation tools, which ease the signal generation requirements for R&D and manufacturing engineers developing/testing conformance of devices to the Wi-SUN and LTE/LTE-A standards. The first is signal generation software for the IEEE 802.15.4g-based Wi-SUN standard. The second is support for LTE/LTE-Advanced uplink (UL) 2x2 MIMO with real-time Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ).
Keysight is actively involved in the development, revision and implementation of emerging standards like Wi-SUN and LTE-Advanced. Its new Signal Studio software capabilities complement the comprehensive portfolio of standards-based signal-generation and analysis solutions.
N7610B Signal Studio
The N7610B Signal Studio software generates Wi-SUN signals and supports the MR-FSK and MR-OFDM Wi-SUN modes. A fully coded advanced capability allows the software to easily make receiver conformance tests using its signal generators (e.g., MXG/EXG, PSG/ESG or PXIe). The N7610B’s flexibility and functionality is well suited to support the needs of the emerging market for smart utility networks (e.g., smart grid) in Japan and those companies in the U.S. working on Wi-SUN-based solutions and products.
Based on the open global IEEE 802.15.4g-2012 standard, Wi-SUN is intended to advance and enable interoperable and reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wireless utility products for wireless smart utility networks and related applications. The 802.15.4g PHY carries multiple data rates in frequency bands from 450 MHz to 2.4 GHz and operates in three modes: 1) multi-rate multi-regional frequency shift keying (MR-FSK); 2) multi-rate orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MR-OFDM); and 3) multi-rate multi-regional offset quadrature phase shift keying (MR-OQPSK).
N7624B/25B Signal Studio
LTE-A is a leading fourth-generation wireless communications technology defined in release ten and all follow-on releases of the 3GPP LTE standard. In the LTE eNB receiver conformance test section eight of release ten, a MIMO configuration with real-time HARQ capability on two antenna ports is required to test the physical uplink shared channel in transmissions with multipath fading propagation conditions. Due to the support for uplink 2x2 MIMO with HARQ, the N7624B/25B Signal Studio for LTE/LTE-Advanced is well-equipped to meet this requirement. With this capability, the N7624B/25B becomes the industry’s first LTE UL 2x2 MIMO with real-time HARQ signal generation solution, and Keysight becomes the sole provider of the industry’s only complete LTE eNB receiver conformance test solution.
The N7624B/25B solution is ideal for base station R&D engineers working on LTE eNB receiver conformance testing to the 3GPP TS 36.141 standard. The software runs on either Keysight’s PXB or X-Series signal generator. With the PXB, the 2x2 MIMO signal is configured directly on the PXB. An internal fader adds the propagation condition. The closed-loop feedback HARQ signal is generated by the eNB and sent to the PXB, where its baseband generator responds in real-time. Two RF signal generators then upconvert the signal for the PXB.
