Home>Tools & Learning>Products>Product Brief

Aeroflex adds 4x2 MIMO support to radio test set

Test & Measurement World Staff - October 30, 2012

A software option for the 7100 digital radio test set from Aeroflex enables single-cell 4x2 MIMO emulation for the R&D testing of LTE user equipment.
According to the manufacturer, the new functionality allows transmit diversity and open-loop spatial multiplexing to be set up and readily tested through a familiar graphical user interface.

4x2 MIMO is used adaptively to offer improved throughput in good signal conditions and improved resilience in poor signal conditions. When the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) at the UE (user equipment) is good, the device can make use of spatial multiplexing, where multiple information streams are transmitted simultaneously to improve throughput. When the SNR is poor, transmit diversity is employed. This is where a single information stream is distributed across separately encoded antenna ports to reduce the variations in SNR experienced by the UE, thus improving cell coverage. Measurements are made both at the base station and at the UE, and these are used to determine how many streams can be supported in the prevailing signal conditions.

Software option 7100-111 can be enabled in the field and supports 4x2 MIMO measurements on LTE in FDD mode with bandwidths of 10 MHz, 15 MHz, and 20 MHz. Testing can be controlled through the command line interface or programmed via a remote API. Fading and AWGN (additive white Gaussian noise) measurements are optionally supported with configurable cross-correlation between streams.

More information:  www.aeroflex.com/ats/products/product/Communications_Test/Cellular_Parametric_Test/7100_Digital_Radio_Test_Set~678.html

Aeroflex, www.aeroflex.com