CMP200 Offers New Option for Small Cell Testing
Rohde & Schwarz has upgraded its CMP200 radio communication tester to offer an option for small-cell testing, and wireless technology multinational Qualcomm has validated and is supporting the system.
Small cells are low-powered access nodes for cellular networks, which can be added to existing infrastructure to increase cellular networking capacity. They are referred to as small both because their physical size is smaller than macro nodes, but also because the coverage provided is over a shorter range. They also generally handle fewer communications at any given time. The concept is proving helpful to network providers as they seek to provide additional capacity to support 5G devices. Small cells can also increase network resilience and improve the quality of communications delivered.
R&S’s CMP200 has been designed for both research and production use and is optimised for testing user equipment. Qualcomm’s validation takes these characteristics into account. The validation has been accompanied by support for the small cell iteration of the Qualcomm Development Acceleration Resource Toolkit (QDART), which will help users of small cells operating Qualcomm’s FSM100 5G RAN platform to perform all hardware development and production testing.
Although no specific mention has ben made of defence and security applications by either company, MON is confident such applications will not be long in emerging.
