The convergence of traditional wireless access methods (GSM and CDMA) with a newcomer: WiMAX presents opportunities for Rohde & Schwarz.

A Big Break for WiMAX

For WiMAX, this is an enormous benchmark, because mobility allows the technology to compete head on with existing wireless technologies in delivering the high data rates required for advanced services such as streaming video and more useful Internet access, as well as voice. More simply stated, it is the first direct competitor to GSM and CDMA since these digital standards were first introduced. Will WiMAX be integrated into the wireless mix, or will it stand alone as a competitor? The coming year may bring us closer to an answer.


In addition to WiMAX, the latest enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telephone Standard (UMTS) will continue the path of this standard from its origin as simply “GSM” through EDGE, GPRS and now 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE Release 8) to achieve extremely high data rates. Finally, the progression of CDMA2000 through 1xEV-DO to the latest 1xEV-DO Rev. B promises to keep pace with developments in the competing UMTS camp in terms of data rates and throughput.

Big Opportunities for Rohde & Schwarz

For Rohde & Schwarz, these developments offer both opportunities to differentiate itself as not only a principal supplier of test and measurement solutions, but as a primary contributor to development of the standards and their core technologies. The company has been intimately involved in wireless standard development for as long as there has been a wireless industry, and is also well represented in WiMAX standards development through its activity in IEEE standards committees and the WiMAX Forum. This active participation is essential in order for Rohde & Schwarz to develop measurement solutions that are available at the time equipment designers first need them, which is long before the first product “hits the street.” To evaluate performance of prototype devices, Rohde & Schwarz must thoroughly understand the evolution of access methods and their underlying modulation and signaling techniques so that measurement software can be written and hardware can be developed that accommodates the needs of high-performance modulation schemes such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).

An Essential Venue

With all of this in mind, it’s not hard to see why the Radio and Wireless Symposium is important to Rohde & Schwarz. It puts the company in contact with key decision makers at RF and microwave and wireless manufacturers from the component to system level. In addition, it allows the company to meet with users of its equipment who can provide useful feedback. Finally, IEEE sponsorship ensures that paid attendees are generally directly involved in subsystem and system design, which is the core audience for Rohde & Schwarz test and measurement products.