You know 5G is in deployment when two companies introduce installation and maintenance test tools in the same week. That’s what happened recently as both VIAVI Solutions and Rohde & Schwarz introduced portable test equipment for 5G site installation, though the companies emphasize different tests. VIAVI, known for its network-testing products, introduced the OneAdvisor-800, a…
Digital modulation basics, part 1
Mobile devices have evolved from basic analog phones to digitally enabled smartphones that fit in the palm of your hand. Voice communications are still part of the mix, but voice calls are handled by converting the voice signal from analog to digital and transmitting it digitally. This means that mobile wireless systems are focused on…
X60 Modem aggregates mmWave and sub-6 GHz carriers
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X60 5G modem builds on its two 5G predecessors—the X50 and X55—by adding sub-6 GHz and mmWave carrier aggregation, plus other features. According to Qualcomm, the 5 nm process used to fabricate the X60 provides higher power efficiency into a smaller footprint. Additional features include: 5G frequency-division duplex (FDD) and time-division duplex (TDD)…
Get the missing telecom network data
We’ve all experienced wireless call drops and we accept it as part of life. We’d never think of reporting a dropped call to the carrier. EXFO, a company known for its installation and maintenance test equipment, has created Nova SensAI to monitor networks in real time, letting telecom service providers get the feedback that users…
DesignCon video: Compressible RF connectors
Like all technologies, 5G needs more that just the “glamor” components such as baseband ICs, RFICs, and phased-array antennas. Interconnects can make or break a design, and 5G is no exception. So, besides giving birth to active devices, 5G has also spawned a need for connectors. To that end, TE Connectivity has developed the ERFV…
MWC pullouts raise concerns
Fear over the Coronavirus are taking its toll on Mobile World Congress 2020 as companies continue to withdraw from an event that typically draws some 100,000 people to Barcelona. The list of pullouts, as reported by the business press, includes notable companies such as: Amazon nVidia Sony NTT Docomo Intel Ericsson LG TCL Light Reading…
DesignCon video: Why details cause project failure
“Twenty-five percent of projects reach market on time and on budget,” said Andrea Fox of Mentor Graphics to a gathering at DesignCon 2020. The rest need more time, more money, or, in the case of 17 percent, are simply scrapped. Why? When designing a board, you may face having to use different design tools for…
DesignCon video: Oscilloscopes and DDR5
At DesignCon 2020, Keysight Technologies demonstrated hardware and software products for signal integrity design and test. Keysight manufactures many oscilloscopes. While most are real-time oscilloscopes, the company also manufactures equivalent-time sampling models used for measurement and analysis of serial data streams. Here, Director Strategic Planning – Internet Infrastructure Brig Asay explains the difference between the…
DesignCon video: Jitter analysis with an oscilloscope
All serial data streams have some jitter where the timing of bit edges differs from the ideal. With serval types of jitter composing a signal’s total jitter, you need to know which forms of jitter reduce bit-error-ratio. Oscilloscopes can decompose jitter and let you see which forms limit data transmissions. At DesignCon 2020, Rohde &…
Plastic fiber shows promise for carrying mmWave signals
Santa Clara, Calif. — While millimeter wave (mmWave) signals are part of 5G’s wireless infrastructure for carrying high-bandwidth data, it’s not the only use. At DesignCon 2020, Joy Laskar, CEO of Maja Systems, presented a paper where he explained how a surface-mount mmWave antenna can launch signals into inexpensive plastic fibers for data transmissions from…
@eeworldonline
EE World Online
YouTube
Instagram