Testbeds for 5G Wireless Performance Testing
As with every new generation of cellular technology, 5G is sparking excitement worldwide with its promise of new services and applications, from enhanced mobile broadband to low-latency mission critical communications and support for massive IoT. This level of anticipation has led to a rush of mobile operators around the world upgrading their networks to support 5G.
Although 5G is a new and exciting advancement in cellular technology, some of what equipment suppliers and mobile operators need to do remains the same as for previous technology generations; for example, the need to test the performance of wireless devices in a repeatable, reliable way is a requirement no matter what the technology.
One of the challenges for 5G wireless testing is that, unlike previous technology generations, which were focused on a specific frequency band, 5G represents a unified air interface coverage a huge potential range of frequencies from 600 MHz in some regions to 3.5 GHz more broadly, all the way up to the 20-40 GHz mmWave bands for truly high-speed operations. 5G even encompasses unlicensed frequency bands, such as the 6 GHz bands newly allocated in many places.
The requirements on a testbed for 5G wireless testing, therefore, include not only repeatability and reproducibility, but the ability to support a wide range of frequencies including mmWave bands, and to support the kind of performance testing, such as beamforming and beam steering, that will be critical in those bands.
Although 5G is a new and exciting advancement in cellular technology, some of what equipment suppliers and mobile operators need to do remains the same as for previous technology generations; for example, the need to test the performance of wireless devices in a repeatable, reliable way is a requirement no matter what the technology.
One of the challenges for 5G wireless testing is that, unlike previous technology generations, which were focused on a specific frequency band, 5G represents a unified air interface coverage a huge potential range of frequencies from 600 MHz in some regions to 3.5 GHz more broadly, all the way up to the 20-40 GHz mmWave bands for truly high-speed operations. 5G even encompasses unlicensed frequency bands, such as the 6 GHz bands newly allocated in many places.
The requirements on a testbed for 5G wireless testing, therefore, include not only repeatability and reproducibility, but the ability to support a wide range of frequencies including mmWave bands, and to support the kind of performance testing, such as beamforming and beam steering, that will be critical in those bands.
