Anritsu’s Wireless Connectivity Test Set Now Supports IEEE 802.11ax

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.

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.).