Agilent Technologies Inc. announced a new software feature for handheld wireless measurements on its E6474A network optimization platform that turns a standard WiMAX PC Card (CPE) into the industry’s smallest WiMAX scanning solution for Drive Test. This new mode of operation gives network equipment manufacturers and wireless operators’ RF engineering teams the most cost-effective way to confirm WiMAX coverage and provide basic troubleshooting tasks to assess signal quality.

A commercial WiMAX CPE and Agilent’s E6474A network optimization platform with option E6474-655 enables this new mode of operation. A single WiMAX CPE can be used either in “Phone” mode as a standard WiMAX CPE or in “Scanning Mode,” providing dedicated RF measurements on up to 10 channels. For each channel, a Preamble Index Decode, BSID, RSSI, CINR and MAC messages are reported for the dominant, visible server(s), providing a comprehensive view of the surrounding network.

“Our new WiMAX scanning functionality enables the subscriber device to be used as a dedicated scanner,” said Jonathan Dunbar, general manager of Agilent’s Drive Test business. “This delivers the Wireless industry’s smallest and most cost-effective solution for basic WiMAX coverage and signal quality assessment.”