Keysight wins 5G NR RedCap test thumbs-up

2nd May 2023

Keysight Technologies (formerly Agilent)

Mick Elliott

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Keysight Technologies has gained approval for the industry's first 5G New Radio (NR) reduced capability (RedCap) conformance test cases for use with Keysight's 5G network emulation conformance test platform (TP168).

The RedCap test case validations were secured at the recent Conformance Agreement Group (CAG) #74 meeting of the Global Certification Forum (GCF).

Introduced as a part of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G NR Release 17 (Rel-17), the RedCap specification introduces support for wireless devices with reduced 5G capabilities.

These devices are less complex, cost less, and consume less power, enabling them to address new cellular internet of things (CIoT) use cases such as industrial sensors and wearables.

As with all cellular use cases, RedCap device use cases must be thoroughly tested against data, latency, reliability, and capacity requirements to ensure they work as intended before being deployed onto a wireless network.

Keysight now offers service providers, chip designers, and device makers validated RedCap test cases spanning all applicable types -- protocol, radio frequency (RF) transmitter and receiver, and radio resource management (RRM).

In addition, Keysight says it is the only vendor with test case validation for RF demodulation. Test case coverage on the Keysight TP168 platform is provided by the S8704A protocol conformance toolset and S8705A RF/RRM DVT & clonformance toolset solutions, which provide test case coverage for 5G NR device certification requirements from GCF and PTCRB.

The validation of these RedCap test cases builds on Keysight's ongoing achievements supporting RedCap device development, including establishing a data call using the 5G RedCap specification and the release of a streamlined network emulator specifically designed for protocol, RF, and functional testing of RedCap and CIoT technologies.

Muthu Kumaran, General Manager of Keysight's Device Validation Solutions, said: "Following our support of the first 3GPP Release 17 RedCap call, Keysight continues to lead the adoption of RedCap technology by obtaining the first RedCap conformance test case validations. Thanks to validated test cases and our deep network emulation and RF expertise, we will enable the industry to launch and certify new RedCap devices supporting a range of CIoT use cases."