LitePoint has partnered with ETS-Lindgren to create an over-the-air test system for performing antenna measurements for Bluetooth low energy devices. Until now developers of Bluetooth low energy products were forced to use wired test solutions for performing antenna measurements, which can significantly impact results for total radiated transmitter power (TRP), total isotropic receiver sensitivity (TIS), and antenna patterns. This advancement is critical to wireless product developers who need to characterize antenna performance and ensure their product designs will work in the hands of customer, the way they were designed.
With this partnership, ETS-Lindgren is now an authorized reseller of LitePoint’s IQxel-M test platform with Bluetooth Advanced software. The solution is integrated into the ETS-Lindgren Bluetooth low energy Antenna Measurement System for turn-key antenna measurements - providing TIS, TRP, and antenna pattern measurements.
Antenna performance is critical for any wireless device - if the antenna doesn’t work well, the product doesn’t work well. ETS-Lindgren is widely recognized as the leader in antenna measurement systems and with this partnership and new measurement solution, they will enable designers to build better Bluetooth low energy devices.
The IQxel-M Bluetooth Advanced measurement system is a major advancement in the speed and efficiency for performing over-the-air testing of Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral and beacon devices. Using LitePoint’s proprietary measurement techniques, testing Bluetooth devices has been made simple and the system performs comprehensive transmitter and receiver measurements in a matter of seconds. The solution is optimized for both engineering and manufacturing and works with all BLE peripheral and beacon devices, regardless of chipset.
BT Smart devices use dedicated advertising channels to transmit beacon signals or to establish a connection with a controller. These advertising channels are distributed across the 2.4 GHz band, providing an excellent method to characterize a device at multiple frequencies. The IQxel-M with BT Advanced measurement solution uses these advertising channels to perform transmitter and receiver measurements, providing excellent coverage and confidence in the parametric performance of the device. The device is tested using its normal commercial firmware, not test firmware, and therefore improves confidence that the results are correlated with actual performance of real devices.
