Aeroflex Debuts One-Box LTE-A Base Station Tester
February 6, 2014. Aeroflex has launched an extended version of its TM500 industry-standard base station tester capable of emulating several thousand LTE user equipment (UE) devices, fading channel models, and LTE-A carrier aggregation functionality in a one-box bench-top unit.
“Carrier aggregation allows operators to achieve the wider channel bandwidths and higher data rates needed to offer true 4G services,” said Ngwa Shusina, product manager at Aeroflex. “The LTE-A features provided by the compact one-box TM500 allow cellular infrastructure vendors to develop carrier-aggregation capability and to emulate real network traffic across thousands of terminals, ahead of the widespread availability of real LTE-A handsets.”
LTE-A carrier aggregation was first supported on the TM500 in early 2012 and has since been used by operators worldwide to demonstrate the real-world performance of carrier aggregation technology in field environments.
The TM500 Test Mobile platform is the de facto industry standard for testing LTE and LTE-A base stations, and is used by all leading network infrastructure vendors, Aeroflex reported, adding that the company continues to work with mobile operators and infrastructure vendors to introduce the latest 3GPP features at the earliest opportunity, thus enabling them to develop and roll out the high bandwidth services promised by LTE-A in both FDD and TDD modes for operation.
Aeroflex’s LTE product line includes a complete range of end-to-end test systems that cover R&D, performance, service, and manufacturing test applications for LTE TDD and FDD network equipment and terminals.
The TM500 Test Mobile family is in use with almost every base station manufacturer across the world and can be regarded as the de facto standard for eNodeB development and testing, Aeroflex said, adding that the E500 is the only network capacity test solution that incorporates the proven Aeroflex TM500 LTE air interface.
The Aeroflex 7100 LTE Digital Radio Test Set is a complete one-box test system providing all the tools required for the measurement and characterization of UE chip sets and mobile terminals to 3GPP LTE standards, including optional signal fading simulation.
The PXI 3000 Series modular RF test system based on PXI technology accelerates throughput in manufacturing and time to market in R&D while catering for current and future RF test needs. It is particularly suited to modern cellular and wireless data communications and critical testing in a high volume manufacturing environment.