Anritsu has announced exclusive support for LTE 4x4 Multiple-In-Multiple-Out (MIMO) Carrier Acceptance Test (CAT) requirements for a major U.S. carrier. This new coverage, based on the ME7834LA Mobile Device Test Platform, builds on the leading 3G and LTE CAT test offering for this carrier. With this announcement, Anritsu is the first test solution provider in the world to offer a device acceptance solution for 4x4 MIMO.
MIMO is an essential part of LTE that allows an increase in data rates without adding bandwidth. This is accomplished using “spatial multiplexing” of multiple streams of data on the same carrier. A 4x4 MIMO downlink configuration uses four antennas on the base station to transmit four simultaneous streams of data, and four antennas on the device to receive and separate the mixed streams. Combination of MIMO and LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation (CA) can result in extremely high data rates, as evidenced by Anritsu’s recent announcement of 1 Gb/s IP throughput using 3CA and 4x4 MIMO.
The ME7834LA is a scalable GCF, PTCRB, and carrier-validated test system that enables certification of 3G and LTE devices to industry and carrier standards. The ME7834LA provides test coverage for 3GPP 36.523 and 34.123, as well as a wide portfolio of CAT test plans across multiple operators. For existing ME7834L platform users, an upgrade path is available with support for 4x4 MIMO and multi-carrier aggregation, as well as legacy test cases.
