Displaying items by tag: Anritsu Corporation

Improved Time Synchronization Measurement for 5G Mobile Network I&M

Anritsu Corporation has added a function for PTP wander, a metrics for evaluating frequency variations as low as 10 Hz to the PTP*1 network time synchronization error to the company's smallest-in-class 100 Gbps Network Master Pro MT1000A.

5G networks require high real-time communications supporting anticipated new services in various industries, such as autonomous vehicles, smart factories, telemedicine, etc. PTP wander is a key index expressing long-term time synchronization stability. Adding this improved time sync measurement to the MT1000A will play an important role in assuring 5G network quality.

Development Background

Due to their advantages of ultra-high speeds, high reliability and low latency, and multiple simultaneous connections, 5G communications networks are spreading into various use scenarios

Of these, high-reliability and low-latency communications are key features for implementing various industrial use cases, such as autonomous vehicles, smart factories, telemedicine, etc. Applications using these mission-critical technologies demand the smallest possible communications latency to facilitate equipment peer-to-peer communications at the highest speeds in almost real time, while also requiring precision time synchronization between each equipment.

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Additionally, implementing low-latency communications requires support for MEC*2 architectures in 5G networks, and precision time synchronization is essential to achieving communications between MEC systems distributed at each site.

Implementing time synchronization uses network technologies called SyncE*3 and PTP and assuring high accuracy and high stability synchronization using these technologies is linked to operators’ service quality guarantees about high speeds and low latency.

Anritsu has been building instruments with built-in jitter and wander test functions to measure instabilities in networks ranging from the SDH/SONET era to modern transport networks, contributing to development of core and metro networks. Based on this long experience and high-level technologies, the company has now added this new time error PTP wander measurement function to MT1000A time synchronization measurements. Measuring wander supports quantitative evaluation of long-term synchronization stability. In addition, support for measurement of new time-synchronization networks called PTS*4 will help assure customers’ service quality guarantees.

Product Outline

The MU100090B is a GNSS*5 disciplined oscillator supporting the GPS, QZSS, Galileo, Beidou, and GLONASS. It can receive signals from each artificial satellite system and outputs UTC-traceable reference time and 10-MHz frequency signals. This reference timing is supplied to the portable MT1000A supporting SyncE and PTP up to 25 Gbps to measure network time synchronization accuracy.

Moreover, combination with the SyncE Wander MU100011A-021 and MU100090B software options facilitates ITU-T recommended pass/fail evaluation of network-supplied Ethernet frequency accuracy.

When used with the Site Over Remote Access MX109020A software, multiple MT1000A units located at separate sites can be remotely operated and monitored from a central office to support speedy troubleshooting when synchronization problems occur.

Technical Terms

*1 PTP

Abbreviation for Precision Time Protocol; IEEE1588v2 protocol for matching time between devices to achieve nanosecond-level time synchronization accuracy.

*2 MEC

Abbreviation for Multi-access Edge Computing; technology for implementing ultra-low-latency internet access by deploying cloud servers near to consumers.

*3 SyncE

Abbreviation for Synchronous Ethernet standard; unlike asynchronous Ethernet, uses ITU-T standardized frequency synchronization to improve communications quality.

*4 PTS

Abbreviation for Partial Timing Support; one form of time-synchronization architecture using PTP assuming some network equipment does not support PTP. Profile standardized by ITU-T G.8275.2.

*5 GNSS

Abbreviation for Global Navigation Satellite System; positioning system using artificial satellites. GPS is one type of GNSS operated by US­­, along with EU's Galileo, Russia's GLONASS, China's Beidou, and Japan's QZSS.

About Anritsu

Anritsu Corporation (www.anritsu.com), a global provider of innovative communications test and measurement solutions for 125 years. Anritsu’s philosophy engages customers as true partners to help develop wireless, optical, microwave/RF, and digital solutions for R&D, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance applications, as well as multidimensional service assurance solutions for network monitoring and optimization. Anritsu also provides precision microwave/RF components, optical devices, and high-speed electrical devices for communication products and systems. The company develops advanced solutions for 5G, M2M, IoT, as well as other emerging and legacy wireline and wireless communication markets. With offices throughout the world, Anritsu has approximately 4,000 employees in over 90 countries.

To learn more visit www.anritsu.com

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VectorStar™ ME7838AX/EX Have Best-in-Class Performance Over Widest Frequency Sweep to Give Engineers Greater Confidence in mmWave Designs

Anritsu introduces the VectorStar™ ME7838AX/EX series, the first vector network analyzer (VNA) broadband systems to offer single-sweep coverage up to 125 GHz/110 GHz with guaranteed and typical specifications. The unique capabilities of the VectorStar ME7838AX/EX systems to sweep and provide characterized data through 125 GHz provide design engineers with the ability to significantly and confidently improve their device models for dramatic improvements in first time yields and performance. 

2021 09 06 102407Four broadband VectorStar-based VNA models from 10 MHz (optional 70 kHz) to 125 GHz with guaranteed specifications are available. With the additional 5 GHz guaranteed frequency sweep compared to previous VectorStar systems, the ME7838AX, ME7838A4X, ME7838EX and ME7838E4X meet the market need for accurate verification of components and broadband applications operating at 122 GHz.

125 GHz Calibration/Verification Kits

To support measurements to 125 GHz, Anritsu also introduces the 3656C Series calibration and verification kits that are characterized to 125 GHz. Four versions are available to meet customer requirements and needs.

Calibration kits are available with cal. coefficients (.ccf) only and with or without a verification kit. Anritsu also offers .s1p database definitions (and .ccf) calibration kits with or without verification kits.

Best-in-class Performance

The VectorStar ME7838AX/EX continue to provide the best-in-class performance of existing VectorStar ME7838 series broadband systems, including superior time domain analysis utilizing the most points available in a single channel with the widest broadband frequency and best resolution. Other performance benefits of VectorStar broadband systems are industry-best millimeter wave (mmWave) noise floor and dynamic range at 120/125 GHz, calibration and measurement stability of 0.05° over 24 hours, and broadband measurement speed of 1 second at 1601 points, 10 kHz IFBW.

Similar to other VectorStar broadband systems, the ME7838AX/EX are compatible with compact, lightweight mmWave modules for easy, precise, and economical positioning on the wafer probe station. They are the only mmWave modules compact enough to provide direct connection to on-wafer probes for maximum dynamic range and measurement stability. Included in the series is the first mmWave module with electronic power leveling to offer the widest power level control of up to 50 dB.

Anritsu provides an efficient upgrade path to existing VectorStar ME7838 broadband system customers. The ME7838AX/EX systems are available in 2- and 4-port configurations.

Variety of Applications

The ME7838AX/EX have been developed for communication design engineers designing systems for on-wafer applications, as well as on-wafer production facilities where a combination of RF, microwave, and mmWave devices, components, and subsystems need to be measured on the same wafer. They are also well suited for research institutes exploring new technologies and system designs, manufacturers, institutes, and universities designing and developing silicon photonic solutions, and universities investigating emerging communications technologies.

About Anritsu

Anritsu Corporation (www.anritsu.com), a global provider of innovative communications test and measurement solutions for 125 years. Anritsu’s philosophy engages customers as true partners to help develop wireless, optical, microwave/RF, and digital solutions for R&D, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance applications, as well as multidimensional service assurance solutions for network monitoring and optimization. Anritsu also provides precision microwave/RF components, optical devices, and high-speed electrical devices for communication products and systems. The company develops advanced solutions for 5G, M2M, IoT, as well as other emerging and legacy wireline and wireless communication markets. With offices throughout the world, Anritsu has approximately 3,800 employees in over 90 countries.

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For configuring time-synchronous infrastructure supporting Private 5G and
O-RAN base station 5G services

Anritsu Corporation has announced an upgraded synchronous measurement function for the company’s Network Master Pro MT1000A, the industry’s smallest- in-class tester supporting mobile networks up to 100 Gbps. Fifth generation (5G) networks are expected to support increasing future numbers of applications and services, such as hi-definition video streaming, autonomous driving, IoT sensing, smart factories, etc. By upgrading this MT1000A test function, Anritsu hopes to facilitate construction of time-synchronous infrastructure, a key technology supporting 5G networks.

New Product Outline

The MU100090B is a GNSS*1 disciplined oscillator supporting GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou and QZSS. It receives signals from each of these GNSS to output a UTC-traceable reference time signal as well as 10-MHz signals as a time-synchronous, high-accuracy reference timing supplied to the portable MT1000A, supporting SyncE Wander and PTP tests up to 25 Gbps for measuring network time synchronization.

Furthermore, multiple MT1000A testers at various remote sites can be operated and monitored from the central office using the Site Over Remote Access MX109020A (SORA) software to help quickly pinpoint synchronization problems.

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Development Background

Deployment of 5G communications networks is spreading due to the advantages of ultra-high speeds, high reliability, low latency, and multiple simultaneous connections in various scenarios. The millimeter-wave (mmWave) band used by 5G technology employs the TDD*2 time-division duplexing technology for managing timing of uplink and downlink signals.

This technology requires that the time at all base stations is precisely synchronized, otherwise interference will cause degraded communications quality. Moreover, achieving a “smart” IoT-based society will require cooperation between devices exchanging position information acquired using OTDOA*3 positioning technology, which is ideal for IoT applications, but high-accuracy position measurement is impossible without high-accuracy time synchronization between base stations.

Base stations can be synchronized using wired-network technologies called SyncE*4 and PTP*5, which require both measurement of the network time-synchronization performance when installing and maintaining a cell site, along with guaranteed network performance by the network operator.

Moreover, the O-RAN Alliance*6, which is a mainstream promoter of base-station multivendor, increasingly requires tests of overall mobile network time-synchronization performance to assure interconnectivity.

Time-synchronization quality is indicated by drift from coordinated universal time (UTC*7), so precise time-synchronization measurement requires expensive infrastructure to acquire UTC with high accuracy. This can be a challenge at installation and maintenance of many cell sites.

Anritsu has developed many test instruments for measuring the jitter and wander of transport networks since the SDH/SONET era. Adding this new High Performance GNSS Disciplined Oscillator MU100090B to the line of modules for the portable, battery-operated MT1000A will help simplify on-site I&M time-synchronization tests.

About Anritsu

Anritsu Corporation (www.anritsu.com), a global provider of innovative communications test and measurement solutions for 125 years. Anritsu’s “2020 VISION” philosophy engages customers as true partners to help develop wireless, optical, microwave/RF, and digital solutions for R&D, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance applications, as well as multidimensional service assurance solutions for network monitoring and optimization. Anritsu also provides precision microwave/RF components, optical devices, and high-speed electrical devices for communication products and systems. The company develops advanced solutions for 5G, M2M, IoT, as well as other emerging and legacy wireline and wireless communication markets. With offices throughout the world, Anritsu has approximately 3,900 employees in over 90 countries. 

Technical Terms

*1 GNSS

Abbreviation for Global Navigation Satellite System; system of manmade global positioning satellites with GPS as one US-operated GNSS. Other national systems are Galileo operated by Europe, GLONASS operated by Russia, Beidou operated by China, and QZSS operated by Japan.

*2 TDD

Abbreviation for Time Division Duplexing; technology for switching up and down communications signals between network and terminal at fixed interval to improve band usage by sharing same frequency band for both transmission and reception.

*3 OTDOA

Abbreviation for Observed Time Difference of Arrival; method for determining own position using received timing difference for terminals receiving signals simultaneously from multiple satellites. Useful for IoT applications because terminals determine own position without imposing network load.

*4 SyncE

Abbreviation for Synchronous Ethernet technology to improve communications quality; ITU-T standard related to frequency synchronization.

*5 PTP

Abbreviation for Precision Time Protocol; IEEE1588v2 protocol for aligning times between equipment with nanosecond-level time-synchronization precision.

*6 O-RAN Alliance

Standards organization created by network operators and communication equipment vendors; aims to promote multivendors for mobile network equipment and flexible expandability by dividing base stations into RU (Radio Unit), DU (Distributed Unit), and CU (Centralized Unit) and publishing open standards between interfaces.

*7 UTC

Abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time

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Anritsu Corporation introduces a new option for its Wireless Connectivity Test Set MT8862A to support the latest IEEE 802.11ax.

The Wireless Connectivity Test Set MT8862A (WLAN Tester) is for measuring the RF TRx characteristics of WLAN IEEE802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax devices. With the support of IEEE 802.11ax, the MT8862A is the industry's first WLAN tester that can evaluate signal quality in all data rates of major WLAN standards currently used. By using this option, RF evaluation of IEEE 802.11ax-equipped devices can be performed in both direct mode and network mode. In addition to the quick evaluation in the direct mode, the evaluation can be performed under the realistic operation conditions using the communication protocol in the network mode.

In addition, IEEE 802.11ax uses two transmission modes: Single User and Multi User. Single User is the same transmission method (OFDM) as the conventional standard and is the base mode of IEEE 802.11ax. Since the signal quality of WLAN has different characteristics for each data rate, signal evaluation at each data rate is very important. The MT8862A is the only instrument that can be controlled at all data rates of major WLAN standards, including 11ax Single User data rates.

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Anritsu contributes to improving the quality of IEEE802.11ax-equipped devices by developing this option.

Development Background

With the spread of IoT, in addition to mobile terminals, home appliances such as printers and TVs, in-vehicle devices, industrial devices, sensor devices, and other devices are rapidly incorporating WLAN functions. On the other hand, Excessive traffic saturates available WLAN spectrum in high-density environments. This results in reduced connectivity.

Adopting the IEEE 802.11ax standard expected to be completed in November 2020 improves communications efficiency by enabling simultaneous connection of multiple WLAN products to an access point (AP) as well as improved spatial usage efficiency, and is expected to resolve inadequate spatial resource problems. The IEEE 802.11ax standard has already been adopted by the smartphone and PC markets and is expected to become the main standard within several years. In these circumstances, demand for TRx evaluations of IEEE 802.11 WLAN products to assure performance is expected to increase.

Product Outline

The Wireless Connectivity Test Set MT8862A is a WLAN tester supporting the IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax standards. With built-in Network and Direct test modes, it supports diverse measurement of WLAN products, including RF TRx characteristics (Tx power, modulation accuracy, Rx sensitivity, etc.).

About Anritsu

Anritsu Corporation (www.anritsu.com), a global provider of innovative communications test and measurement solutions for 120 years. Anritsu’s “2020 VISION” philosophy engages customers as true partners to help develop wireless, optical, microwave/RF, and digital solutions for R&D, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance applications, as well as multidimensional service assurance solutions for network monitoring and optimization. Anritsu also provides precision microwave/RF components, optical devices, and high-speed electrical devices for communication products and systems. The company develops advanced solutions for 5G, M2M, IoT, as well as other emerging and legacy wireline and wireless communication markets. With offices throughout the world, Anritsu has approximately 3,500 employees in over 90 countries. 

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