CommScope and Google have successfully testing the environmental sensing capabilities, or ESC, that will enable the use of the shared Citizens Broadband Radio Service spectrum.
The companies said this week that they received official word from the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences that their jointly developed ESC system had passed testing. ITS is the official test lab for confirming the performance of ESCs; it is part of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
The ESC is one of the key components enabling CBRS’ three-tiered spectrum sharing model. A sensor network deployed along the coasts, it ensures the protection of incumbent federal radar activity from naval ships by alerting Spectrum Access Systems of radar activity in the band. Then the SASs shift CBRS devices into other areas of the spectrum, in order to avoid interference with naval operations.
“Our ESC sensor has passed all required testing for certification — demonstrating that we can detect all current and future radar waveforms and our respective SASs can protect incumbent users,” said Mat Varghese, senior product manager for wireless services atGoogle. “This is an important milestone and we are looking ahead toward commercial operations in CBRS.”
CommScope and Google said that their shared ESC network is in the process of being deployed and is expected to be complete by the end of 2019. Each company will own and operate an independent SAS which utilizes information from the jointly-operated ESC network.
The successful ESC testing is just one of several recent developments in the CBRS ecosystem; read more here.
In other test news:
–Project Virtuoso, which was founded in 2014 and aimed at testing new 5G technologies and using virtualized environments for development and optimization, has been successfully concluded, Keysight Technologies said. Keysight was one of the joint founders of the project, which also included Intel’s Denmark unit, Telenor Denmark and Aalborg University. Project Virtuoso was funded by Innovation Fund Denmark and used Keysight’s virtual drive-testing solution (including its PropSim channel emulator) to emulate real-world channel conditions. The project “provided a lab-based and field-realistic benchmarking methodology that streamlines modem design, integration, verification, and network feature rollout,” Keysight said, enabling its research partners to test out new technologies. Keysight added that Virtuoso helped accelerate its commercial release of its VDT toolset for simulated networks, which it added is “the only tool used as part of China Mobile’s test plan to verify mobile device performance in high-speed train scenarios.:
“As a result of our participation in project Virtuoso, the foundations for a productive and durable cooperation have been established and have enabled us to build a new lab using a shielded chamber to facilitate advanced testing of wireless devices,” said Brian Jørgensen, head of digital infrastructure, Telenor Technology at Telenor Denmark.
Keysight also added a new software option for its PathWave design system, a Power Electronics Professional add-on that allows visualization of switched-mode power supply designs without the need to build prototypes.
–Anritsu says it snagged the first PTCRB certification for sub-6 GHz spurious tests in 5G New Radio Non-Standalone mode. The company’s New Radio RF Conformance Test System ME7873NR won that certification this month at the PTCRB meeting and has similar certification from the Global Certification Forum.
Anritsu also reported that Askey Computer used its Radio Communication Test Station MT8000A to successfully test its customer premise equipment for 5G NR sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave.
In addition, the test company recently added a four-channel sampling oscilloscope option to its BERTWave MP2110A, which puts together 100G bit error-rate testing and an oscilloscope to evaluate physical layer performance of 100G/400G optical transceiver modules, cables and other optical devices used in networks from the data center and network core to backhaul and fronthaul.
-Test lab PCTest will be using Rohde & Schwarz equipment — specifically, both the R&S CMWX500 and CMW500 radio communications testers — to support its 5G and LTE testing for devices. Rohde & Schwarz said that when the two testers are used together, they can support both NSA and Standalone 5G NR testing in TDD and FDD modes, and that the CMX500 bring a wide variety of 5G and LTE related tests into a single platform. PCTest will use the R&S equipment for both radio frequency measurements and for testing specific absorption rate (SAR) for 5G and LTE devices, Rohde said.
–Polystar reported that an unnamed, long-time carrier customer in the Asia-Pacific region has added the vendor’s real-time analytics solution, Kalix, for data consolidation and new insights that have improved visibility and supported new or improved services. Polystar said that the carrier recently began applying Kalix to roaming, so that its customer could get better, real-time information mobile data use to make additional credit purchases as-needed and avoid high bills. The expanded use of Kalix also supported service optimization and performance monitoring for two major international sporting event, Polystar said, allowing the operator to focus on streaming video performance and customize new portals.
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