Agilent Technologies Extends PXA Signal Analyzer with Embedded LTE and HSPA+ Measurement Applications

The advanced measurement applications test a variety of signal standards in cellular communication and digital video. Signal standards include LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD, W-CDMA/HSPA/HSPA+, DVB-T/H and ISDB-T.

For LTE FDD and TDD, the N9080A and N9082A applications enable one-button testing that simplifies the design, validation and manufacturing of base stations (BTS) and user equipment (UE) in accordance with 3GPP standards (TS 36.141 and TS 36.521-1). The applications support all LTE channel bandwidths; channels and signals for uplink and downlink; in-band transmitted signal quality measurements; and out-of-band unwanted emissions measurements. Key measurements include error vector magnitude (EVM), frequency error, adjacent channel power (ACP), spectrum emissions mask (SEM) and transmit on/off power (unique to TDD). The applications also include a wealth of essential measurement functions and provide a unique capability to recall enhanced test model (E-TM) setups for modulation quality measurements, simplifying RF transmitter conformance tests.

The N9073A W-CDMA/HSPA/HSPA+ measurement application provides one-button RF transmitter conformance measurement of BTS and mobile station (MS) devices in accordance with 3GPP test standards (release 99 to 8). Key measurements include error vector magnitude (EVM), frequency error, peak code domain error, spectrum emissions mask (SEM), and adjacent channel power (ACP).

The N6153A DVB-T/H and N6155A ISDB-T measurement applications provide one-button, standards-based power and modulation analysis capabilities. These simplify the design, evaluation and manufacturing of DVB-T/H and ISDB-T modulators, transmitters, amplifiers, tuners and gap fillers/repeaters.

The PXA signal analyzer is the highest-performance member of the Agilent X-Series. Combining the PXA with an embedded measurement application provides excellent dynamic range, up to -87 dB for 3GPP ACLR, and power meter-like accuracy of (0.19 dB, reducing the number of tools needed in BTS R&D and manufacturing.

The PXA is the only signal analyzer to provide simultaneous 140 MHz bandwidth with up to 75 dBc of spurious-free dynamic range. This allows multi-carrier signal analysis as well as analysis and troubleshooting of the digital predistortion (DPD) techniques used in power amplifiers in wide-bandwidth systems such as LTE. For engineers transitioning from 3G to 4G, the 140-MHz bandwidth is the best choice for true 4G mobile broadband systems such as LTE Advanced, which extends LTE to a 100 MHz bandwidth.