Application Introduction

Wireless communication, such as 4G LTE, Wi Fi, and Bluetooth, is becoming increasingly popular in our lives, and the requirements for their testing workstations are also constantly increasing for REF615C-E HCFFAEAGABC2BAA11E. This article will explore what wireless communication testing is and how ADI products can adapt to their signal chains.

In short, we can classify wireless communication testing into laboratory testing and production testing. The essence of laboratory testing is to support design and system integration processes related to the development of mobile phones, tablets, or laptops. This section will perform physical layer, signal sampling, and system level testing.

The focus of production testing is significantly different from laboratory testing. Production testing emphasizes the precise determination of whether the device under test (DUT) is operating in the absolute shortest possible time. In production, a basic assumption is that the design is reliable and the components will function as expected after proper assembly. The focus of production testing is to identify manufacturing defects and changes typically associated with designing simulated components. When deploying production testing solutions, there will always be a contradiction between testing scope and manufacturing productivity.

System design considerations

Easy to configure, operate, maintain, and upgrade

For all testers, ease of configuration, operation, maintenance, and upgrading are all very important factors. But the tested devices and test parameters are different. A common approach to address these challenges is to use a similar graphical user interface (GUI) for different hardware platforms in different tests. Furthermore, if the same hardware platform can meet all testing requirements, then it is the best solution.

Excellent performance and rich functionality

In addition to basic design and troubleshooting, it is also possible to perform tests in complex interference, fading, and switching scenarios, and examine every subtle difference in standards. Therefore, excellent performance and rich functionality are equally important.

ADI Company’s Solution

The wireless communication test bench includes a source (excitation for DUT) and a measurement (response from DUT). The following example uses the ADI RF Agile TransceiverTM AD9361, which can cover all LTE channel bandwidth and uses an integrated power solution ADP505x and RF/IF gain modules ADL5601/ADL5602.

 

System Block Diagram

1. Signal source unit: can be multiple kHz~GHz output RF signal generators, generating sine/AM/FM output; It can also be an RF vector signal generator that generates QAM output. A typical block diagram is shown below.

 

 

2. Measurement unit: It is an input signal analysis or network analysis from kHz to GHz. Signal analysis displays the relationship between amplitude and frequency, which can include demodulation to display a constellation diagram of QAM signals. Vector analysis measures the relationship between amplitude, bandwidth, and s-parameters. A typical block diagram is shown below.