Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/3969-agilent-showcases-wimax-test-and-measurement-performance-at-wimax-world

Agilent Showcases WiMAX Test and Measurement Performance at WiMAX World

November 7, 2006

Agilent Technologies Inc. showcased its newest test and measurement solutions for fixed (IEEE 802.16-2004) and mobile (IEEE 802.16-2005) WiMAX at WiMAX World USA 2006, Boston, MA, October 10-12, 2006. Spanning the entire WiMAX lifecycle -- from R&D and design verification to manufacturing, conformance and interoperability test -- these solutions provide today's engineers with a level of performance and functionality not currently available with competing solutions.

Agilent's broad offering for testing fixed and mobile WiMAX comprises a number of premier test solutions. The Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS) environment facilitates design and verification; R&D and conformance type measurements are covered by the PSA series spectrum analyzer, 89600 series vector signal analysis software and ESG vector signal generator. Production-type measurements can be performed with the new MXA and Agilent MXG products. As the most up-to-date, complete and widely accepted answer to WiMAX R&D, design and verification, production, and conformance, these solutions provide reliable, repeatable and consistent results across the WiMAX lifecycle.

"The exceptional levels of performance demonstrated today by our WiMAX solutions exemplifies our ongoing commitment to develop innovative solutions for this market," said Ron Nersesian, vice president of Agilent's Wireless Business Unit. "We were first to provide standard-compliant 802.16 design and test tools for fixed and mobile WiMAX applications, and the first to enable RF and baseband engineers working at the 802.16-1004 PHY layer to create, analyze and troubleshoot signals. That innovation continues today, as we extend into manufacturing. It's this leadership and dedication to addressing the issues not fully addressed by other solutions on the market that will empower today's engineers to create a new range of WiMAX-based communication possibilities tomorrow."

In support of Agilent's commitment to WiMAX test and measurement excellence, the following solutions were showcased during the show:

WiMAX design and verification: Wireless connectivity technology continues to face a number of evolving standards. Product development, however, cannot always wait for standards to stabilize. Agilent's ADS Wireless Design Library offers a way for engineers to meet the time-to-market demands of evolving WiMAX standards by delivering an early representation of the current standard. This representation can be used to analyze a system's performance before all of its components are designed. Agilent offers a fixed and a mobile WiMAX Wireless Library, which provide preconfigured simulation setups, signal sources and fully coded BER analysis for simulation of the circuitry used in BWA designs. Working within the ADS 2005A software environment with Agilent's Ptolemy simulator, these libraries streamline design and verification of 802.16 designs.

Mobile WiMAX receiver test: Today's R&D engineers developing 802.16-2005 receivers and components require signal-generation and analysis tools to verify compliance with the WiMAX Forum's still-evolving conformance test requirements. The Agilent MXG vector signal generator, with Signal Studio for WiMAX, provides standards-based single or multicarrier signals for component test or receiver evaluation, including receiver sensitivity and adjacent channel rejection. To further assist WiMAX developers with receiver test, the Agilent MXA signal analyzer provides 25 MHz analysis bandwidth for demodulation of WiMAX signals. With industry-leading performance and speed, the Agilent MXG and MXA products mark a true breakthrough in signal analysis and signal generation; they provide today's engineers with a complete and fast WiMAX test system for design and production environments.

WiMAX signal generation and analysis: For component designers, the ability to generate, detect, demodulate and troubleshoot 802.16-2004-compliant PHY layer signals is critical to success. The Agilent ESG solution helps simplify this process by combining outstanding RF performance and sophisticated baseband generation to deliver calibrated test signals at baseband, IF and RF frequencies up to 6 GHz. When used in a connected solution with Agilent's ADS, designers have a virtual WiMAX prototyping solution. Agilent's PSA Series high-performance spectrum analyzer -- with bandwidth up to 80 MHz and user-definable limit lines -- aids in this process as well, measuring and monitoring complex WiMAX signals. Together, the ESG/PSA tools offer a compelling solution for designing and testing WiMAX components, subsystems and systems.