Agilent tips solutions for TDD-LTE designs

Agilent Technologies Inc. has launched a fully coded BER solution for the time division duplex (TDD) version of 3GPP's long-term evolution (LTE) standard using 2 x 2 and 4 x 4 MIMO technology. This solution integrates the company's same performance for the frequency division duplexing (FDD) version of LTE and is expected to hasten the development of mobile devices and base stations for the China market.

The solution is built around Agilent's 3GPP LTE Wireless Library (W1910/E8895) and its MXA Signal Analyzer to help wireless-systems designers and verification engineers speed development of evolving TDD-LTE designs. TDD-LTE plays a significant role in markets where unpaired spectrum is necessary, particularly in the China mobile communications market. The library, which is based on Release 8, of the 3GPP standard for the next-generation of mobile communication products, has preconfigured simulation setups that back both downlink- and uplink-coded BER, along with transmitter measurements such as spectral emission mask, error vector magnitude, complementary cumulative distribution function and complete demodulation analysis down to the subcarrier and symbol levels. The latest update to this library meets TS36.211 ver 8.3.0 (2008-05) and integrates downlink transmit and receive MIMO models for both FDD and TDD in 2 x 2 and 4 x 4 MIMO configurations. When combined with Agilent's MXA signal analyzers (N9020A) and MXG signal generators (N5182A), the LTE library gives laboratory-grade testing of TDD-LTE HW using any combination of RF, IF, or baseband I/Q signals. The solution enables fully coded BER measurements of a device under test, including simulation of channel impairments for multipath fading.

Frank Ditore, product marketing manager, Agilent's EEs of EDA division, said: "This latest solution is focused on the China mobile communications market, where TDD-LTE will be a candidate for the evolution toward the IMT-Advanced/4G standard."

Agilent's 3GPP LTE library is supported by Agilent Ptolemy for RF circuit verification using its Advanced Design System RF/microwave circuit and system design and simulation software, as well as its SystemVue software for PHY signal processing and baseband design. The library is also used for IC verification using the company's GoldenGate RFIC simulation software.

- Gabe Moretti
EE Times