Expanding Fields of 5G-based IoT NEW!!

Recently, 5G is being examined and tested commercially for adoption in various fields of the IoT market (5G-based IoT). With its high-speed transfers, low latency, and multiple simultaneous connections, 5G is not only ideal for smartphone and tablet terminal applications, but is also being looked at for automotive, medical/health care, security, insurance, construction, distribution, industrial, forestry/farming/fishery, tourism, retail services, entertainment (VR/AR), rail and bus passenger transport, public infrastructure (transport and bridge, etc., monitoring), home electrical goods (personal computers, game consoles, cleaners, refrigerators, etc.) and more applications. In IoT/5G application fields, such as entertainment, 4K cameras built into drones are being used to screen very realistic pictures, and proof-of-concept tests simulating the sensation of flight (VR) are starting.

In the automotive field, the appearance of 5G has accelerated development of self-driving vehicles and the "connected car", which is leading to the participation of new players in the automotive manufacturing market. Furthermore, 5G is causing a major revolution in the automotive market with changes in industrial structure.

These types of IoT/5G applications are being examined and tested commercially not only in the entertainment and automotive fields, but also in various other industrial fields. Adoption of IoT/5G is creating a synergy between IoT, 5G, cloud computing, big data, AI, edge computing, etc., leading to the appearance of previously unimagined new services and applications outside normal industrial boundaries.

Anritsu assists customers' development of new 5G products by offering timely, appropriate, high-quality measurement solutions supporting new services and applications for the 5G market.

Strengthening 5G Signalling and RF Measurements

As part of the development of mobile communications systems through 3G and onwards to 4G, Anritsu has worked on evaluating customers' products in cooperation with vendors of chipsets and communications modules as well as terminal makers, helping accumulate know-how about various technologies, including signalling, protocol and RF measurement, and forming the basis of the company's product strengths.

Today, the culmination of these strengths in 5G chipset evaluation is Anritsu's Radio Communication Test Station MT8000A measurement solution(supported both sub-6GHz and millimeter-wave), which has been adopted by world-leading customers including 5G chipset vendors for chipset signalling/protocol evaluations as well as for evaluating RF performance in OTA(Over The Air) environment with chamber.

Anritsu's customers using the MT8000A to develop commercial 5G products can now get ahead of the competition and shorten TTM.

RF Chamber MA8171A

Radio Communication Test Station MT8000A

Key 5G Test Factors: What is Signalling?

With previous 3G and even 4G (LTE) mobile systems, calling on a smartphone requires input of the phone number to be called, dialing that number, and answering by the called party, and the connection is cut when either phone is hung up. The handling of this sequence between the calling smartphone, the intervening base stations, and the called smartphone uses a communication procedure called signalling.

As an example, information such as communications bandwidth, encoding method, etc is obtained by signalling between the actual smartphone (mobile phone) and base stations.

This signalling (protocol) is specified by respective standards for previous 3G and 4G (LTE) systems.

And the 5G signalling specification is also standardized by 3GPP. In addition to having faster speeds, larger capacity, multiple connections, and lower latency, 5G requires much more complex signalling to support coexistence with 4G and previous systems. As a result, for the complex signalling vendors developing 5G chipsets, wireless communications modules, and terminals such as smartphones must need to further evaluate messages (whether notified normally) sent and received in data communication etc. during signalling, as well as RF signal (tests, measurements) during signalling.

Based on its experience in face-to-face consultations to help customers' engineering teams overcome difficulties in deploying 3G and 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE), Anritsu has accumulated key strengths in various technologies and know-how, including signalling, protocol and RF measurement.

Anritsu uses these strengths built over many years to offer customers optimized 5G measurement solutions supporting the fastest time to market (TTM).

Achievements with 5G Chipset Vendors

Anritsu's Radio Communication Test Station MT8000A measurement solution has supported world-leading 5G chipset vendors; see below for more details.