Anite, a global leader in wireless equipment testing technology, has introduced FAST-OTA, a capability that enables users of Propsim channel emulators to speed up mobile device MIMO OTA testing by more than 10 times compared to conventional testing methods.
In August last year, CTIA released a standardised MIMO OTA performance test plan, which many manufacturers and mobile operators aim to conform with to ensure high levels of end-user experience. In order to comply with this test plan, chipset vendors, device manufacturers and test houses conduct a great deal of pre-certification testing in the development phase.
Propsim’s FAST-OTA capability helps users significantly speed up pre-certification testing and consequently device development, by reducing the time it takes to verify that a particular design and its subsequent iterations meet end-users’ performance expectations. Since device manufacturers need to verify the performance of a device across multiple radio frequency bands, users of Propsim’s FAST-OTA capability are able to make significant savings in both time and resources. Users are typically able to reduce device test time from three hours to just over fifteen minutes per LTE frequency band.
Anite’s FAST-OTA capability integrates with system control software supplied by major anechoic chamber systems manufacturers, including MVG, who have already verified its functionality.
Nicolas Gross, director of Applications at Microwave Vision Group (MVG), states, “Propsim’s FAST-OTA capability enables drastically- reduced testing times. It’s the perfect complement to MVG’s MV-Cal quick and accurate calibration tool. Together, they provide a real breakthrough in CTIA pre-certification test time reduction, with combined calibration and measurement times of minutes, instead of hours.”
Paul Beaver, products director at Anite’s Device & Infrastructure Testing business commented, “The introduction of this unique capability demonstrates Anite’s leadership in developing innovative and efficient performance test solutions that help users accelerate device introduction and reduce R&D cost.”