3041 small cell rf tester:iss 4

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The most important thing we build is trust

PXIPRELIMINARY 3041 Small Cell RF TesterData Sheet

• Turnkey production ATE solution for testing Small Cell base stations

• Automated Tx and Rx RF alignment and verification measurements

• Multiple Communications standards

o LTE-A, UMTS and WLAN

• Test up to 4 small cells in parallel

• Industry leading measurement speed

• Supplied with a software Toolkit for Qualcomm FSM powereddevices.

Introduction

Developing an in house ATE system for production is time consuming, costly and requires a high test engineering technical competency.Similarly, outsourcing such development to a 3rd party system integrator can be just as time consuming, costly and not without risk. In eithercase the through life technical support, adaptation and maintenance of custom solutions is very challenging and unless designed with carecan result in premature obsolescence.

What if a ready-made product was available that could not only accelerate time to volume, lower cost and eliminate risk but also be easilysupported, maintained and adapted to serve for future needs?

At Cobham Wireless we have a long standing tradition of delivering production ATE equipment and solutions to our customers. We recognise the combined challenges of ever increasing product complexity, acute commercial pressures and maintaining test engineering com-petencies are the key issues faced by our customers and addressing them demands a solutions oriented approach.

The experience has resulted in a portfolio of configurable hardware and software tools based on an industry standard PXI modular architecture that can be easily tailored to customer specific needs across a variety of markets and use cases.

Cobham’s 3041 Small Cell RF Tester is a prime example of our ability to deliver a well proven test solution designed specifically to address theneeds of Small Cell manufacturers.

The 3401 Small Cell RF Tester eliminates the need for costly and risky in house test system development and replaces it with a cost effectiveproduction ready solution, easily adapted to your specific needs and reducing your time to ramp to high volume.

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To save test time and lower cost the solution is able to test multiple small cells in parallel. It does this through innovative software that manages the utilisation of the equipment to ensure the shortest test times.

It performs accurate calibration and standards compliant RF performance verification of LTE, UMTS or WLAN transceivers and other RF broadcast receivers such as GPS or Network Listening receivers.

It comes with a test sequencer fully integrated with device control for Qualcomm FSM99xx family of devices and can be easily expanded tosupport other silicon vendor devices.

The solution uniquely achieves all this whilst retaining the inherent flexibility of its PXI modular architecture to expand test coverage beyondjust the RF functionality.

The critical difference is in Cobham’s Software.

The 3041 Small Cell RF Tester uses Cobham’s PXI Maestro innovative test sequencing software; the ideal solution to accelerate test systemdevelopment, reduce test time and so lower the cost of test.

Reducing the cost of test

Up to 400% productivity gains can be achieved with the 3041 Small Cell RF Tester used with PXI Maestro to test 4 devices in parallel.

Test engineering costs are almost eliminated. Using Maestro software and Cobham’s solutions expertise with the Small Cell RF Tester requiresvirtually no customer integration effort irrespective of whether it is incorporated within an existing production line or new installations.

Reducing Integration Complexity

Production test system engineers face a constant challenge posed by the ever increasing complexity of wireless mobile devices. Developing,adapting and optimising RF test systems is time consuming and requires highly skilled staff with detailed knowledge of their test tools and thecommunications control interface to third party chipset suppliers. PXI Maestro lowers test engineering complexity. It provides an optimisedATE solution ready for testing multi-standard devices. It simplifies the process of test system integration to accelerate new product introduction and help save cost.

PXI Maestro provides the test engineer with a simple graphical user interface to generate and execute test plans. This UI permit users to makeapplication changes without knowing anything about how to control instrumentation or the DUT. At runtime, all tester and device controlcommands are executed as an uninterrupted measurement sequence with no further user input. Measurement results are displayed as theyare executed with a final test report available in a user friendly format. The effort to develop and maintain test system code is eliminatedleading to much faster new product introduction cycles and test system optimisation.

Fig 1. PXI Maestro Test Engineering User Interface example

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www.cobham.com/wireless

Fig 2. PXI Maestro software high level architecture

Reducing Test Time

PXI Maestro uses innovative methods to reduce test time and so maximise production throughput. This is achieved by highly efficient testflow management. Inefficient test system development can too often lead to high value capital assets being unnecessarily idle for significantperiods of time between successive test steps.

PXI Maestro includes a multi-threaded intelligent sequencer designed to take full advantage of modern multi-core computers. This ensuresdifferent tasks within a measurement sequence or measurement step are overlapped or executed concurrently rather than sequentially as withconventional instrumentation.

Where multiple RF measurements are required for a single test condition, PXI Maestro uses it’s intelligence to perform them in parallel on thesame captured data and hence save time.

Acquiring a signal for measurement and processing results are decoupled which means signal captures can be queued for processing and there-by accelerate test time.

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Testing devices in parallel

Testing multiple devices in parallel with a single tester is made easy with no reconfiguration or additional hardware or software elements.Solutions can be configured to test from 1 to 4 devices connected at the same time and tested synchronously. Synchronous testing can beused to gain even higher throughput benefits by enabling all devices to be tested concurrently. This is especially beneficial for time consum-ing receiver sensitivity test cases or where device initialisation times are long by comparison to measurement times.

Figure 3. Parallel testing with 3041 and PXI Maestro

Figure 4. Operator test result display when testing 4 devices

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Efficient production process flow

Devices can also be tested in two groups of two with the first group undergoing test while the operator loads the second group into their fix-tures. This approach can prove highly efficient especially where device handling times are a significant portion of the overall test cycle timeas the handling time is effectively eliminated yet an even flow rate into and out of the test station is maintained.

Figure 5. Eliminate device handling time by alternating between parallel testing of 2 groups of 2 devices.

Figure 6. PXI Maestro configured for test execution of two groups of two devices tested in parallel

Silicon Vendor Toolkits

The Small Cell RF tester is supplied as standard with a software Toolkit for testing Qualcomm FSM powered devices.

Toolkits supporting other device types are available on request.

Platform Hardware Description

The Small Cell RF Tester is a 4U high compact rack mountable instrument containing high performance RF instrumentation covering the entirefrequency range 250 MHz to 6 GHz catering for all cellular and WLAN bands with the ability to test from one to four small cell radios con-nected simultaneously.

The basic instrument provides an expansion capability to add 3 additional instrument cards. Cobham solutions can use these slots to expandsystem functionality according to specific customer needs.


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3041 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONSpecifications are defined following 30 minute warm up time (after PXI Maestro has booted all modules) and following the application of pathloss correction data derived using PXI Maestro.

Specifications are defined over the full operating temp range unless otherwise stated.

Specifications are valid with the instrument fan speed set to high.

Frequency

Internal Frequency Reference

Parameters Units Specification

Reference Clock MHz 10

Initial accuracy ppm +/- 0.2

Aging Rate ppm/yr +/- 1

Temperature Stability ppm +/- 1

Output Level V pk-pk in 50 ohms 1.65

Impedance ohms 50 nominal

Coupling AC


Frequency Range MHz 250 to 6000

Frequency Resolution Hz ≤1

Spectral Purity dBc/Hz @ 20 kHz offset < -99 below 3 GHz

< -93 below 6 GHz

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RF Input 1 to 4


Maximum Input Level dBm

VDC

34 (rms/CW), 38 (PEP)

0

Input Level Range/Resolution dB >60 with a nominal step size 1

Input Level Accuracy dB +/-0.7 dB below 375 MHz

+/- 0.65 dB below 2 GHz



Input Impedance ohms 50 (nominal)

Input Return Loss dB >20 below 3 GHz

>19, (20 typ) above 3 GHz

Isolation between DUT test ports dB >60

Frequency Response +/-0.5dB MHz 80 , 200 (typ)

Non Harmonic Spurious dBc Offset <100 kHz, -55 typ

Offset >100 kHz, <3 GHz <-60, > 3 GHz <-55

Offset >1 MHz, <3 GHz <-75, >3 GHz <-70

LO Residual Power dBr -65 (typ) below 2 GHz

-60 (typ) below 3 GHz

-56 (typ) above 3 GHz

Residual Sideband Image dBc -75 (typ) 500 MHz to 3 GHz

-70 (typ) above 3 GHz


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RF Output 1 to 4

External Timebase


Frequency MHz 10

Accuracy ppm +/-10

Input Level V pk-pk in 50 ohm Square: 0.7 to 5.0 typ

Sine: 1.4 to 5.0 typ

Impedance ohm 50 nominal


Maximum Output Level (CW) dBm 2

Level Resolution dB ≤0.1

Level Accuracy

(self calibration +/- 5 deg C)

dB <+/-0.7, (0.4 typ) below 375 MHz

<+/-0.75, (0.4 typ) below 4 GHz

<+/-1.0, (0.4 typ) below 6 GHz

Port to Port Relative Level Accuracy dB +/-0.25 (typ)

Port to Port Isolation dB 60

Output Impedance ohm 50

Output Return Loss dB >20 below 3 GHz,

>19 above 3 GHz,

Non Harmonic Spuriou dBc Offset <100 kHz, -55 typ

Offset <100 kHz, -55 typ

Offset >100 kHz, <3 GHz <-62, >3 GHz <-57

Offset >1 MHz, <3 GHz <-75, >3 GHz <-70

Harmonics dBc <-26, (-28 typ)

<-26, (-31 typ) below 6GHz

0.5dB Frequency Response MHz 80, (200 typ)

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General


Operating Voltage Range VAC 90 to 264

Operating frequency range Hz 47 to 63

PXI Module Power Consumption W <100

Total power available W 288

Dimensions mm

HxWxD

177 x 355.6 x 214.6

Weight kg <11

Cooling Auto/High fan speed control

Operating Range Temperature ◦C 0 to 50

Operating Range Humidity (non condensing) % 10 to 90

Storage Range Temperature ◦C -20 to 70

Storage Range Humidity (non condensing) % 5% to 93%

Shock 30 g peak half sine, 11 ms pulse

Vibration Non Operating 5 Hz to 500 Hz 2.4grms

EMC EN 61326-1, 61326-2-1

Safety EN 61010-1, LVD 2006/95/EC

Calibration Interval 12 months

24 months, add 0.2 dB uncertainty to level accuracyand frequency response.


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Measurements

LTE Tx Measurements Per 3GPP TS136.141 release 10 section 6

6.2 Base Station Output Power

6.5.1 Frequency Error

6.5.2 Error Vector Magnitude (EVM)

6.6.1 Occupied bandwidth (OBW)

6.6.2 Adjacent Channel Leakage Power (ACLP)

6.6.3 Operating band unwanted emissions

LTE Rx Measurements Per 3GPP TS136.141 release 10 section 7

7.2 Reference Sensitivity

WCDMA Measurements Per 3GPP TS25.141 release 10 section 6

6.2.1Base Station Power

6.2.2 P-CPICH Power

6.3 Frequency Error

6.5.1 Occupied Bandwidth (OBW)

6.5.2.1 Spectral Emission Mask (SEM)

6.5.2.2 Adjacent Channel leakage Ratio (ACLR)

6.7.1 Error Vector Magnitude (EVM)

6.7.2 Peak Code Domain Error (PCDE)

6.7.4 RCDE

WCDMA Rx Measurements Per 3GPP TS25.141 release 10 section 7

7.2 Reference Sensitivity

WLAN Tx Measurements Per IEEE 802.11 (2012) (with option 113 enabled)

Power

Frequency

Modulation Quality

SEM

WLAN Rx Measurements Per IEEE 802.11 (2012)

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Inputs and Output

Minimum PC Requirements

Operating System Windows 64 bit

RAM 4GB

Expansion Slots ½ or full height vacant PCIe slot

Port Description Connection Type

DUT 1 to 4 (RF in/out) SMA 50 ohm

TTL Trigger Out VHDCI cable accessory required

Synch In VHDCI cable accessory required


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ORDERING INFORMATION

Model Number Description

3041 Small Cell RF Tester

Supplied with:

CD-ROMs containing module driver software, applications and measurement software and toolkits driver for QTI FSM99xx

OPTIONS

Part Number Description

113 WLAN 801.11a,b,g,n,p,ac Transceiver RF Measurements and Test Sequencer

ACCESSORIES

Part Number Description

22361/501 Rack Mount Kit

43139/973 Multi Way Synch Cable Assembly


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www.cobham.com/wirelessCobham Wireless - Validation

Part No.46900/091, Issue 1, 02/16

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3041 small cell rf tester:iss 4

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