China Mobile and Keysight push forward on 5G technologies

Test and measurement company Keysight Technologies has extended its collaboration with China Mobile Research Institute (CMRI) on the development of 5G test and measurement technologies. China Mobile is considered to be the world’s largest mobile network operator.

Testing functions are said to include channel measurement and modeling and massive MIMO over-the-air (OTA) testing. OTA testing is a crucial procedure to accurately establish the precise performance of MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) antenna where multiple antennas are used at the transmitter and receiver. With OTA testing, a wireless device is evaluated without any cables connected to it. This gives a true indication of the performance of a device and its antennae.

Critical items for 5G technology research and development are channel measurement and modeling and standardisation. Keysight claims to have the industry-leading 5G MIMO Channel Sounding Reference Solution, which addresses the wide-frequency coverage, broad bandwidth and the multi-channel challenges facing 5G channel measurement and modeling research.

Based on Keysight’s modeling and measurement tools, Keysight Labs collaboration with CMRI on 5G channel measurement and modeling supports CMRI’s research on establishing the 5G channel models covering 6GHz to 100 GHz.

Massive MIMO is an important technology for 5G. This can make use of hundreds of antennas which helps to concentrate transmission and reception of signal energy into very small areas of space. The pay-off with that is it greatly enhances throughput and energy efficiency.

Massive MIMO was originally considered for time division duplex (TDD) operation but can potentially be applied in frequency division duplex (FDD) operation.

Consequently, 5G massive MIMO OTA testing is imperative for 5G system design and verification. Based on Keysight’s proprietary massive MIMO antenna test and calibration technology and CMRI’s proprietary massive MIMO antenna array, known as SmartTile, Keysight Labs and CMRI believe they have established a productive collaboration on massive MIMO OTA test and measurement.