Agilent Technologies Extends LTE Leadership with New Signal Studio for 3GPP LTE and VSA Software Capabilities

Geared toward engineers performing design and verification of LTE components and evolved Node B (eNB) and user equipment (UE) transmitters and receivers, the new capabilities will help engineers keep pace with the evolving LTE standard. The enhancements also will allow engineers to more accurately test their designs to standard requirements and beyond.

As the leader in the measurement industry, Agilent is fully committed to providing engineers with the resources they need to create the next generation of mobile communication devices based on 3GPP LTE, said Guy Séné, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Microwave and Communications Division. Our new software enhancements are a prime example of that leadership. As the 3GPP LTE standard matures, and LTE infrastructure is deployed, we will continue to honor that commitment by working to keep our customers at the forefront of this technology.

Enhancements to Agilent's Signal Studio 3GPP LTE software for both FDD and TDD include support for the 3GPP December 2009 version of the standard and new features for eNB and UE receiver stimulus. In particular, updated eNB conformance test configurations allow engineers to perform all eNB Rx conformance tests (using instruments such as Agilent's PXB baseband generator and channel emulator and MXG vector signal generator). Support for automatic downlink DCI channel coding eliminates the tedious task of manually generating DCI messages in downlink signals. Automatic generation and configuration of DCI based on PDSCH allocation, UE power control, UE scheduling and UE random access also is provided.

Agilent's 89600 VSA software features a number of new capabilities for LTE modulation analysis including support for the 3GPP December 2009 standard and associated eNB and UE transmitter conformance test updates. New in-band emissions and spectrum flatness traces have been added, both with pre-set limit lines for uplink conformance testing.

The software also adds two new analysis tools: 1) downlink control channel decode and auto-configuration, and 2) UE-specific resource signal (RS) analysis. Downlink control channel decoding and auto-configuration provides new tables that the engineers can use to verify information sent on the control channel. Designed for LTE TDD, the UE-specific RS analysis allows designers to examine UE RS allocations separately or as a group.