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Test & Measurement

RF conformance test system wins first Cat-M1 test GCF certification

8th May 2017

Mick Elliott

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The LTE-Advanced RF Conformance Test System ME7873LA from Anritsu has won the first GCF certification for the Cat-M1 RF Conformance Test as part of IoT communications technology. This certification gives Anritsu the world lead in GCF-certified test cases. Many network operators have announced introduction of Cat-M1 and NB-IoT technologies, for use by mobile networks supporting the approaching explosive growth of the “IoT Society”.

These technologies are based on the LTE standards in 3GPP Release 13 defining the IoT Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network technology supporting communications at low power over wide coverage areas.

Large North American network operators are starting to deploy Cat-M1 from this April and further introductions in Japan, Europe and North America are expected during 2017. In addition, NB-IoT is announced for services in Europe, China and South Korea.

For the future, these IoT communications technologies are expected to see active adoption in various fields, including smart meters, home-security systems, lighting, freight tracking, vending machines, health care appliances, and many more.

With this GCF certification, the test system has more than 70 test cases for frequency bands in Japan, North America, and Europe.

Anritsu also expects the ME7873LA to lead GCF/PTCRB certification for NB-IoT alongside Cat-M1.

The company is continuing to focus efforts on developing conformance test systems to assist further development and deployment of IoT technologies.

The ME7873LA is a test platform for verifying compliance of LTE/LTE-Advanced mobile-terminal RF TRx characteristics, performance and so on, with 3GPP standards. It is used by mobile operators worldwide, especially in North America and Asia, as an acceptance inspection test system.