Anritsu Corporation (President Hirokazu Hashimoto) is pleased to announce that the company’s LTE-Advanced RF Conformance Test System ME7873LA has won the first GCF certification for the Cat-M1 RF Conformance Test as part of IoT communications technology. This certification gives Anritsu the world lead in GCF-certified test cases.
Large domestic and international communications carriers are planning the 2017 introduction of Cat-M1 and NB-IoT technologies for use by mobile networks supporting the approaching explosive growth of the so-called “IoT Society”. These technologies are based on the LTE standards in 3GPP Release 13 regulating the IoT Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network technology supporting communications at low power over wide coverage areas.
Large N. American communications companies are starting to deploy Cat-M1 from this April and further introductions in Japan, Europe and N. America are expected during 2017. On the other hand, NB-IoT is planned for future services centered on China and S. Korea.
For the future, these IoT communications technologies are expected to see active adoption in various fields, including smart meters, home-security systems, lighting, freight tracking, vending machines, health care appliances, etc.
With this GCF certification, the ME7873LA is the world leader with more than 70 test cases for frequency bands in Japan, N. America, and Europe.
Anritsu also expects the ME7873LA to win GCF/PTCRB certification for NB-IoT alongside Cat-M1.
The company is continuing to focus efforts on developing conformance test systems to assist further development and deployment of IoT technologies.
[Product Outline]
LTE-Advanced RF Conformance Test System ME7873LA
The ME7873LA is a test platform for verifying compliance of LTE/LTE-Advanced mobile-terminal RF TRx characteristics, performance, etc., with 3GPP standards.
It is used by mobile operators worldwide, especially in N. America and Asia, as an acceptance inspection test system.
[Glossary]
LTE-Advanced
Higher-speed standard for mobile communications systems evolved from earlier LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard and offering faster download speeds of at least 4000 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 1500 Mbps.
GCF: Global Certification Forum
Standards organization for defining verification test standards for network operations and mobile terminals to ensure global interoperability of mobiles. GCF-approved measurement systems and measurement items guarantee that the test performance (measurement procedure and accuracy) meets the requirements for mobile terminal verification systems.
Cat-M1:
IoT communications category implementing low power consumption by limiting communications speed to 1 Mbps by controlling 1.4-MHz waveband, expanding intermittent reception interval, and using power save mode.
RF Conformance Test
Test for confirming mobile unit TRx characteristics, performance, etc., in compliance with 3GPP standards.
IoT
Abbreviation for Internet of Things or various products (things) in the world—and not just communications equipment such as computers—incorporating communications functions for connecting with each other over the Internet and supporting automatic ID, automatic control, remote measurement, etc.
NB-IoT: Narrow Band-IoT
One type of IoT communications technology offering low-speed communications of about 100 kbps in an extremely narrow frequency bandwidth of 180 kHz
Smart Meter
Next-generation power meter with built-in communications functions for measuring power consumption digitally, unlike conventional analog induction-type watt-hour power meters
PTCRB: PCS Type Certification Review Board
Standards organization defining network operation and mobile terminal certification tests for assuring global interconnectivity between mobile terminals, particularly for frequency bands used in N. America; PTCRB-certified measurement systems and measurement items are guaranteed to have the test performance (measurement procedure and accuracy) required for verification tests of mobile terminals.
