Agilent Technologies Inc. announced that it will showcase its newest test and measurement solutions for 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) at the upcoming 2007 European Microwave Conference, Pavilion 908. Featuring industry-leading performance and functionality, Agilent’s LTE solutions help R&D engineers speed development of their evolving LTE designs for next-generation mobile communications products.

“As a leader in the measurement industry, Agilent is fully committed to providing today’s engineers with the resources they need to efficiently and effectively create products based on LTE,” said Ron Nersesian, vice president of Agilent’s Wireless Business Unit. “Our newest LTE measurement solutions further demonstrate this commitment and empower engineers to stay at the forefront of this fast-evolving technology.”

Agilent will showcase the following solutions, coordinated to support the July 2007 release of the standards (36.211 V1.2.1, 36.212 V1.2.3) for the LTE physical layer specifications at 1.4, 1.6, 3.0/3.2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz bandwidths:

• LTE option to the 89601A Vector Signal Analysis software, which provides R&D engineers with deep insight into the RF and modulation characteristics of an LTE prototype devices. The 89601VSA software is capable of analyzing both uplink and downlink LTE signals of all specified bandwidths with Type I FDD frame structure. It employs extensive channel-based color coding and marker coupling among multiple traces to simplify signal analysis and measurements. The software interoperates with the ADS system simulation software for capture and playback of LTE signal recordings for use in early design work. The software, along with existing Agilent PSA, MXA and 89600 signal and spectrum analyzers, gives the most comprehensive insight into the performance of prototype LTE-capable devices.

• Component and amplifier testing with Agilent’s N7624B Signal Studio for 3GPP LTE. Signal Studio is powerful, PC-based software for creating standards-based LTE signals and interoperates with Agilent’s ADS system simulation software. Designed to work with Agilent’s N5182A MXG and E4438C ESG vector signal generators, it creates single and multi-carrier uplink and downlink LTE signals. Signal Studio provides spectrally correct, physical layer coded signals that are tailored for testing and evaluating components such as power amplifiers used in LTE mobile handsets and base transceiver stations. The software also supports importing user files with data that has been pre-coded to simulate transport layer coding, enabling early receiver design and test.

• Agilent 3GPP LTE Wireless Library (E8895) for use with the Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS) EDA software streamlines the design and verification process of PHY layer signal processing algorithms and IF/RF processing. The library provides preconfigured simulation setups with signal sources for downlink and uplink, along with transceiver analysis test-benches for downlink and uplink. The downlink models have been updated to support FDD/TDD mode, new P-SCH, new S-SCH, new P-BCH positions in subframe 0 and partial resource block in subframe 0 of odd number of resource blocks. The uplink models have also been updated to include channel coding/decoding according to TS36.211 v1.2.1 and TS36.212 v1.2.3 of the standard.

Also featured at the show will be Agilent’s LTE Connected Solutions, which couple Agilent’s range of signal generation and analysis equipment with the ADS simulation environment to create a comprehensive test solution for the R&D engineer. LTE signals can be created in simulation using the ADS LTE Wireless Library and then downloaded to an Agilent ESG or MXG signal generator or logic analyzer to create real-world physical test signals for R&D device-under-test testing. The LTE signals (base and RF) can in turn be analyzed using Agilent’s logic analyzer or VSA software.