5G and mmwave device measurement challenges

Emerging 5G radio access technologies will drastically change the landscape of not only the cellular communication ecosystem as a whole, but more specifically the way in which radios are tested. In the search for more data bandwidth, the 5G new radio (NR) will push into new frequency ranges traditionally reserved for satellite and defense applications. The associated adaptive antenna system (AAS) technologies required to accomplish this and increase overall spectral efficiency, namely beamforming and massive MIMO, will have a dramatic impact on the testing of the associated radios. Where traditionally most of the radio functionality could be evaluated independent of the antenna system, the use of AAS makes it impossible to dissociate the radio performance from the antenna performance. The antenna arrays used with these radios make the prospect of performing a conducted test at each antenna port impractical if not impossible. Thus, even the most basic radio performance or functional metric must be performed in an over-the-air test environment.