The rollout of 5G is something we’ve been talking about on the pages of Electronics 360 for some time now. We’ve had reasons to both celebrate its accomplishments and sound caution about its limitations. Given challenges such as regulatory hurdles and network densification, as a recent IEEE Spectrum article points out, it’s possible that 5G will never fully live up to the promise of its initial hype.
New functionality for identifying uplink interference has been introduced for the Field Master series of spectrum analyzers, including the Field Master Pro MS2090A pictured above. Source: Anritsu True to form, however, companies in the communications space are finding workarounds for the obstacles slowing down progress. Test and measurement solutions provider Anritsu, for instance, has just announced new functionality for identifying uplink interference with its Field Master series of spectrum analyzers.
As the company notes, performance degradation has become more prominent as 5G network rollout and densification accelerates. The latest Field Master software release provides a dual display of the network frame structure with automatic placement of gates on the uplink slots alongside the RF spectrum of the gated time slots.
This is particularly relevant to 5G deployments along coastal or mountainous terrain, where RF downlink transmissions readily become subject to atmospheric tropospheric ducting. Signals can travel hundreds of kilometers, resulting in a time offset relative to the far-end base station and the uplink signals from user equipment being masked by downlink power.
The new uplink interference measurement also includes configurations for the common frame slot formats recommended by international standards organizations, including GSMA, ITU-R and ECC/CEPT — something that can help fulfill the vision of a common frame slot format deployed on all operator networks in a country, and ideally at international borders.
According to the company, the Field Master with LTE and 5G measurement options is the preferred test instrument for regulators and operators globally. Options for the Field Master Pro MS2090A cover FR1 and FR2 frequency bands, while the new Field Master MS2080A can be used on FR1-only networks. Both are hand-held, field-portable instruments offering real-time spectrum analysis (optional on the MS2080A). The addition of uplink interference measurement enhances value by providing detailed insights into the common causes of interference in new time-division duplexing (TDD) networks.
