Anritsu Corporation (President Hirokazu Hashimoto) introduced company’s new MT8862A instrument with industry-first Network Mode for evaluating IEEE802.11ac WLAN devices. This new model strengthens the company’s products for testing WLAN equipment, which is expected to see good growth in line with the expanding IoT market.
With built-in communications protocols *1 supporting IEEE802.11ac/n/a/g/b as standard, the MT8862A uses the Network Mode *2 to measure the performance of the target WLAN device under test (DUT) in the actual operating state. RF performance characteristics, such as Tx power and Rx sensitivity (PER), can be measured using this Network Mode, which helps with configuration of a simpler test environment and eliminates the need for dedicated vendor-provided test modes required for WLAN device inspections
Development Background
WLAN are appearing rapidly not only in mobile devices such as smartphones, but also in many other applications, including home electronics like TVs and cleaners, the connected car, industrial equipment, sensors, and more because of expanding IoT.
It is expected that these devices makers receive increasing user enquiries about WLAN performance related to waveform coverage range, reception sensitivity, etc.
Generally, WLAN measuring instruments for manufacturing inspections use a special inspection test mode for measurement that requires a physical control line connection between the WLAN devices and measuring instrument. Consequently, the evaluation results are not a true reflection of the actual performance experienced by users because the performance of the measured WLAN devices is analyzed using physical connection with a control line without considering the effect of the internal wireless antennas. Although Anritsu’s current MT8860C model used for these analyses has a network mode, it does not support IEEE802.11ac standard. To solve this problem, Anritsu developed the new model implementing support for the IEEE802.11ac Network Mode.
Product Outline
The Wireless Connectivity Test Set MT8862A is ideal for measuring the RF TRx characteristics at design and quality assurance of WLAN devices. It has built-in WLAN protocol messaging as standard for Network Mode for measurement by connection with the DUT. The MT8862A is easy to operate using a web browser from a control PC connected by Ethernet which simplifies measurement setup and eliminates configuration work. In addition, remote control is also supported when the MT8862A and PC controller are inside the same network.
Target Markets: Vendors of WLAN devices for smartphones, smart home electronics, automotive, gateways, etc.
Target Applications: RF performance tests of WLAN devices
