Anritsu Co. announced that the company has developed a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network simulator that is currently being used by Anritsu beta customers to help in the development of LTE mobile phone networks. The pre-release introduction of the MD8430A, already compliant with the 3GPP’s evolving LTE standards, supports the efforts of companies designing prototype LTE products, and re-confirms Anritsu’s commitment to take a leadership role in the rollout of LTE.

Designed for handset testing, the MD8430A is being complemented by an LTE User Equipment (UE) Simulator for network testing. The test solution can conduct 2x2 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and 64QAM modulation to achieve 100 MBits per second data rates with full signaling visibility, which gives LTE mobile phone handset and network equipment manufacturers a crucial time-to-market advantage. Product development will be accelerated with the Anritsu LTE test solution, which helps maximize coverage of relevant test cases required by 3GPP. The first LTE network equipment is expected to be deployed in 2009.

By developing both the network simulation and UE simulation simultaneously, Anritsu is in a unique position to understand and contribute towards inter-operability and ensure good signaling connection between base stations and mobile devices. Anritsu has historically been the first to market with test instruments that are compliant with emerging global wireless standards, such as GPRS, 3G and 3.5G.

Developed in conjunction with market-leading customers, the MD8430A has key UE measurement and protocol testing capabilities critical to the successful rollout of LTE. This innovative signaling tester was first shown at CTIA WIRELESS 2008, where the MD8430A conducted 100 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink demonstrations throughout the show.