Rohde and Schwarz (R&S) and Viavi Solutions (Viavi) have expanded their partnership to improve joint wireless lab test solutions, focusing on new 3GPP and O-RAN specifications. Since the launch of this partnership, both companies have delivered compact and flexible solutions that ensure a seamless user experience, both the companies said on Wednesday.

Open RAN Solutions

Open RAN technology has gained traction with major deployments by Tier-1 service providers, increasing the need for subsystem and end-to-end conformance, performance, and interoperability testing, the joint statement said.

Energy Efficiency Testing

The majority of power in 5G networks is consumed by O-RAN radio units (O-RUs). To address this, R&S and Viavi have created an automated testbed to verify O-RU energy efficiency. This setup includes the R&S RTO6 oscilloscope, R&S NGP800 power supply, and Viavi TM500 O-RU Tester. The system tests energy efficiency under various load conditions and monitors power consumption dynamics accurately.

Scalable Testing Solutions

As O-RAN radios advance to commercial deployment, the focus has shifted to more extensive use case and functionality testing. R&S and Viavi said they offer a scalable solution with the R&S PVT360A vector signal analyser (VSA) and vector signal generator (VSG), combined with the Viavi TM500 O-RU Tester and Test Manager Application. This setup is designed for R&D teams requiring multiple test lines to speed up time to market.

Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)

R&S and Viavi have developed an NTN digital twin testbed for evaluating NTN networks, covering Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), and Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO). This testbed supports use cases such as end-to-end connectivity validation, Quality of Service measurement over large areas, and application performance testing under varied conditions.

The testbed includes the R&S CMX500 mobile communication network tester, Viavi TM500-AS2, and VIAVI TeraVM Real Data Applications (RDA) engine, providing comprehensive and realistic testing scenarios, the official release said.

Company Statements

Alexander Pabst, Vice President Market Segment Wireless Communications at Rohde and Schwarz, praised the collaboration's success in addressing customer challenges, particularly in energy efficiency and NTN solutions.

"Since we introduced joint O-RU conformance testing, R&S and Viavi have been delivering on our vision of best-of-breed approach with a unified customer experience," said Ian Langley, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Business Unit, Viavi. "We are pleased to expand our partnershipnew areas of demand, as O-RAN equipment enters commercial deployment and evolution, and the industry incorporates NTN to augment coverage in mobile communications."