Contributing to the Early Start for LTE-A Mobile Terminal Certification
Monday, April 14, 2014: Anritsu Corporation (President Hirokazu Hashimoto) is pleased to announce that the company’s ME7873L RF Conformance Test System has become the world-first GCF approved mobile test system to achieve more than 80% test cases supporting Band 1-18, Band 1-26, and Band 4-13 for the LTE-Advanced(Note) Carrier Aggregation(*1).
LTE-Advanced is a new mobile communications standard supporting faster speeds than LTE now being deployed by carriers worldwide and using carrier aggregation (CA) as a key technology in reaching higher data speeds.
GCF certification is a prerequisite for commercial release of LTE-Advanced mobile terminals and more than 80% of test cases used to assure compliance of LTE-Advanced terminals with CA standards must be approved by GCF as a precondition for terminal certification.
Anritsu’s ME7873L RF Conformance Test System already took the world lead in January 2014 when it was approved by GCF for more than 80% of CA RF/RRM Conformance Test Cases for Band 1 and Band 5 used in S. Korea, as well as for combinations of Band 3 and Band 8.
This latest achievement announced at the April 2014 GCF Meeting expands Anritsu’s lead in GCF certifications to Band 1-18 and Band 1-26 used in Japan, and to Band 4-13 used in North America.
With this achievement, Anritsu’s Conformance Test System supports GCF- certified RF/RRM Conformance Tests for the frequency aggregations to be used when deploying commercial LTE-Advanced services in Japan and North America this year.
Global network operators are currently planning deployment of LTE-Advanced, and Anritsu is focusing continuing effort on obtaining GCF/PTCRB*4 certifications to help bring this next-generation mobile broadband system to commercial deployment as soon as possible.
[Product Outline]
The new GCF-certified test cases are for the Anritsu ME7873L RF Conformance Test System.
■ ME7873L RF Conformance Test System
The ME7873L is a test platform supporting the LTE/LTE-Advanced RF/RRM Conformance Tests for verifying that the RF transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) characteristics, performance, etc., of LTE-Advanced mobile terminals comply with the 3GPP standards. It is also used for specific network operators’ acceptance tests in North America and Japan.
[Terminology]
*1 Carrier Aggregation (CA)
Communications technology for creating a virtual frequency band (range of radio-wave frequencies) by combining several frequency bands. In wireless communications systems, more data can be transferred at higher speeds by using wider bandwidths. For example, by using CA, a carrier with two separate frequency bandwidths of 20 MHz and 10 MHz can achieve the same data rate as using a contiguous frequency bandwidth of 30 MHz, increasing both maximum and average communications speeds.
*2 RF/RRM Conformance Test Cases
RF Conformance Test Cases are test items for verifying that mobile terminal TRx characteristics, performance, etc., satisfy the 3GPP standards. RRM Conformance Test Cases are measurement items related to control of resources (wireless circuits, etc.) between base stations and mobile terminals.
*3 GCF: Global Certification Forum
Organization for determining basic network operation and mobile terminal certification test standards to assure global interoperability of mobile terminals. GCF-approved measurement systems and measurement items assure that test performance (measurement procedure and accuracy) satisfy the conditions required for mobile terminal certification tests.
*4 PTCRB: PCS Type Certification Review Board
Similar to GCF, organization for determining basic network operation and mobile terminal certification test standards to assure global interoperability of mobile terminals, but focusing on frequency bands used by some operators in North America. PTCRB-approved measurement systems and measurement items assure that test performance (measurement procedure and accuracy) satisfy the conditions required for mobile terminal certification tests.
