How to Test 5G Communication Systems

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Real-Time Oscilloscope
+ Real-Time Oscilloscope
Real-Time Oscilloscope
+ Real-Time Oscilloscope

Testing the systems with a variety of standards-compliant waveforms

Testing 5G wireless communication systems requires a flexible test environment to address many possible real-world scenarios. Engineers must evaluate the system using a variety of modulation schemes at different frequencies and modulation bandwidths. Test flexibility is important to cover three key areas of 5G — 5G New Radio (NR) and multiformat waveforms with high fidelity, modulation bandwidths, from 100 MHz to more than 5 GHz, and frequency bands, from RF to centimeter wave to millimeter wave (mmWave). Engineers can create a variety of standards-compliant and custom waveforms with a microwave analog signal generator and signal generation software.

These waveforms include the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G NR standard, pre-5G, custom orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), and in-phase and quadrature (IQ) waveforms for evaluating device under test (DUT) characteristics over a wide range of signal configurations. Engineers can use a high-performance oscilloscope to digitize RF and mmWave signals directly for signal analysis. Like phased array antenna systems, an oscilloscope enables 4x4 multiple-input / multiple-output (MIMO) analysis or phase-coherent measurements of DUTs.

5G waveform generation and signal analysis solution

A 5G waveform generation and analysis solution

Testing 5G communications systems requires a metrology-grade, industry-validated reference solution for debugging and troubleshooting. The Keysight 5G wireless communications test platform consists of a microwave signal generator, a four-channel oscilloscope, and vector signal analysis software for directly analyzing complex 5G NR waveforms in the time domain. The four-channel oscilloscope features sample rates up to 256 GHz with 10 bits of vertical resolution, enabling high-fidelity measurements similar to a spectrum analyzer. Engineers can perform multichannel time-aligned phase-coherent measurements with frequency and bandwidth coverage up to 110 GHz with four channels. There is an option to include the spectrum analyzer to perform traditional swept-tuned measurements like in-band and out-of-band spurious emissions.
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