MUNICH, GERMANY—Rohde & Schwarz said it has created field and coverage measurement technology for 5G services at 28 GHz, which it “recently presented... to key customers.” The Federal Communications Commission recently opened up higher frequencies for development of fifth-generation, or “5G” wireless cellular technologies. (See “FCC Opens Higher Frequencies to Phone Companies,” July 14, 2016)Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler referred to 5G as a “national priority,”
Rohde & Schwarz anticipate that the first 5G deployments will be in the 28 GHz band in the United States and South Korea, based on research in both countries.
“Given the jump in frequency, bandwidth and complexity–for example, beam-forming of the next-generation radio-access network–testing its performance in the field will be critical to allow the progression of the technology, ” R&S said. “A new 5G coverage measurement demonstrator solution from Rohde & Schwarz mobile network testing now makes this possible.”
Based on 5G technical specifications published under the Verizon 5G Technical Forum, R&S said the new technology makes use of the R&S TSME ultracompact drive test scanner and R&S ROMES drive test software to enable over-the-air characterization of 5G network coverage. In addition, data gathered on the propagation of signals at 28 GHz can be used to determine optimum receiver positioning, and also to validate and improve network planning tools.
Hanspeter Bobst, vice president of Rohde & Schwarz mobile network testing and CEO of SwissQual AG, a Rohde & Schwarz company, said “ With operators starting to firm up their applications, timelines and 5G implementations, we are seeing demand to verify the performance of early 5G networks.”
