S8705A RF / RRM DVT and Conformance Toolset

Features and Capabilities

Around the world, commercial development and deployment of 5G technology is accelerating to address a wide range of compelling use cases for consumers and industry verticals. Device manufacturers need early and continuous access to the latest 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio frequency (RF), radio resource management (RRM), and protocol conformance test specifications to accelerate 5G New Radio (NR) device certification. Conformance tests validated by certification bodies help ensure that commercial 5G devices comply with the latest 3GPP-defined specifications and operate as expected on mobile networks. Governments also require radio devices to comply with regulations via testing at accredited labs before products become available in the market.

The Keysight S8705A RF/RRM DVT & Conformance Toolset is part of Keysight’s Network Emulation Solutions (NES) portfolio. The portfolio addresses the entire device RF development workflow — from initial design to acceptance.

RF/RRM DVT & Conformance Toolset Overview

The S8705A RF/RRM DVT & Conformance Toolset is an integrated solution that enables RF performance testing of 5G devices against the 3GPP-defined conformance test specifications across frequency range 1 (FR1, sub-6 GHz) and frequency range 2 (FR2, millimeter wave, or mmWave). The solution also supports test cases for cellular vehicleto-everything (C-V2X) communication based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE sidelink formats.

The solution offers two configurations to adapt to different needs:

• The Design Verification Test (DVT) configuration provides unvalidated test cases based on the 3GPP test specifications. Their purpose is to allow the customization of the baseline test methodologies and test limits from 3GPP to test the device beyond industry requirements, explore its performance limits, and compare its performance against competitive devices to enhance the end user experience.

• The Conformance configuration provides test cases validated at relevant industry certification bodies, such as the Global Certification Forum (GCF) and the PCS Type Certification Review Board (PTCRB). This configuration also supports test plans from regulatory bodies that local authorities enforce before product deployment.

When testing 5G NR RF characteristics, the scope expands from in-band test cases to out-of-band measurements such as spurious emissions and blocking. In-band test cases focus on the radio’s performance as a transmitter and receiver. Out-of-band measurements help determine how the device’s radio impacts other devices operating in the same or adjacent bands. Out-of-band measurements also assess resistance to interference from nearby radio devices.

The toolset also covers RRM and performance testing, which are essential for fully characterizing the RF performance of devices. RRM helps confirm that the device can keep a robust and reliable connection to the network in stationary and mobility scenarios, with handovers between cells using the same or different radio access technologies. Performance testing checks that the device can successfully demodulate downlink signals under ideal or impaired radio conditions, with special tests defined for channel state information (CSI) reporting.

To support 5G’s diverse set of test requirements, the RF/RRM DVT & Conformance Toolset leverages the superior RF measurement and real-time processing capabilities of Keysight’s E7515B UXM 5G wireless test platform. The platform also allows RF testing in adjacent bands (that is, adjacent channel leakage ratio), generates interferers for blocking test cases, including additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), and provides fading without the need for additional instruments in the test system.