The 3GPP Release 13 technologies eMTC and NB-IoT are becoming increasingly popular on the market, transitioning the IoT from a niche technology to a mass-market phenomenon. Network operators worldwide often use both technologies in their networks to cover all possible scenarios. For network operators, chip and consumer electronics manufacturers and, last but not least, test houses, it is therefore important to choose measurement solutions that are flexible and support both technologies.

Rohde & Schwarz offers unmatched test coverage for both technologies–on test platforms recognized by the Global Certification Forum (GCF) and PTCRB: TP98 for RF testing, TP96 for RRM testing and TP92 for protocol testing. Each of the test platforms has received GCF validation for the work item WI-254 for eMTC and the work items WI-257, WI-258 and WI-259 for NB-IoT. The PTCRB test cases have been validated in RFT 132 for eMTC and in RFT 147 for NB-IoT. For protocol conformance tests, numerous test cases from existing LTE Rel. 8 to Rel. 13 work items are also relevant for certification and are available for the TP92 test platform. 

Rohde & Schwarz also supports network operators’ test plans for both technologies. A particular highlight is the wide support for North American and Chinese operators.

To cover the broad range of test requirements, Rohde & Schwarz offers the certification tests on various platform configurations–from compact and cost-efficient solutions for RF, RRM and protocol conformance tests with an R&S CMW500 to the standalone R&S TS-RRM and R&S TS8980FTA RF test systems that support out-of-band tests and GSM, WCDMA and LTE technologies.