Supporting 6 GHz Frequency Band Measurements for Wireless communication device Production Lines

MT8870A/MT8872A supports IEEE 802.11ax and NR-U 6 GHz band

Vienna, Austria, July 16, 2021 – Anritsu Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the MU887002A-007 hardware option to extend the upper frequency of its TRX Test Module MU887002A for the Universal Wireless Test Set MT8870A/MT8872A from 6 GHz to 7.3 GHz.

With this hardware option, the MT8870A /MT8872A now supports RF tests of the 6 GHz band (5.925 to 7.125 GHz) used by the IEEE 802.11ax and NR-U standards, helping increase the efficiency of Wireless communication device production lines.

Development Background

Following U.S. FCC approval in April 2020 for unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band, countries worldwide are starting deployment tests. With its much wider 1200 MHz operation range coverage supporting higher communications speeds and larger data capacity, the 6 GHz band is expected to facilitate new applications and services. The IEEE 802.11ax WLAN standard regulates this 6 GHz band and the Wi-Fi Alliance is starting its Wi-Fi 6E certification program for IEEE 802.11ax 6 GHz devices.

Shipments of Wi-Fi 6E compliant wireless communication device are starting in 2021 and are expected to reach a total of 800 million units in 2025.

Moreover, 3GPP Release 16 added NR-U to the unlicensed frequency bands for anticipated future use.

In these circumstances, production lines for wireless communication device, such as smartphones and WLAN products, have an increasingly urgent demand for measuring instruments to evaluate 6 GHz band RF TRX performance.

To meet this demand, Anritsu has extended the upper frequency of the MU887002A module used by the Universal Wireless Test Set MT8870A/MT8872A to 7.3 GHz for evaluating 6 GHz band wireless communication device performance.

Product Outline

The Universal Wireless Test Set MT8870A and MT8872A are testers for mass-production of various types of communications equipment and modules. The TRX Test Modules MU887000A/01A/02A are installed in the main chassis and the mobile user equipment (UE) to be tested is connected to the TRX Test Module RF connectors to measure the Tx power, modulation accuracy, and Rx sensitivity required to evaluate the TRx performance. The TRX Test Module MU887002A with built-in MU887002A-007 option can evaluate TRX performance in the 6 GHz band used by the IEEE802.11ax and NR-U standards.