How 5G NR Signals Impact on the Response of Broadband Electric Field Probes

New-generation mobile communication systems like long term evolution (LTE) and 5G new radio (NR) use digitally modulated signals with relevant peak-to-average power ratios that may shift the working point of diode-based wideband electric field probes, resulting in an overestimation of the field strength. This article presents a methodology to study the behavior of probes by comparing the readings of 5G signals to those obtained under continuous wave (CW) radiation. Dependence on various signal parameters like center frequency, modulation complexity, time/frequency duplex configuration, signal bandwidth, and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier spacing has been assessed experimentally by making use of test models designed by 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). Results show that overestimation can be as large as several tens of percent and that it is greater for full-frame and larger bandwidth signals and that, therefore, calibration standards must be extended to consider the different behavior of probes with 5G and CW signals.