3GSM: Anritsu teams with Nemo on drive test

Anritsu Co. introduced a new test tool and a partner for putting it to work in UMTS/W-CDMA wireless networks at 3GSM this week. Nemo Technologies will use Anritsu's portable handheld UMTS Master Node B analyzer in its Nemo Outdoor drive test system.

The UMTS Master, known as the MT8220A, supports the UMTS ranges of 824-894 MHz and 1710-2170 MHz, as well WLAN 2400-2700 MHz. The tool can conduct both RF and demodulated measurements. It also functions as a spectrum analyzer with continuous frequency coverage up to 7.1 GHz, with a Displayed Average Noise Level of typically ?153 dBm at 1 GHz.

"It's important for operators to have a truly portable and affordable piece of test equipment they can use to make sure their transmitters are performing to the 3GPP [specifications]," said Christopher Bosso, project manager at Anritsu.

A self-calibrating RF front-end and a precision frequency reference ensure the accuracy of UMTS/W-CDMA RF measurements, including adjacent channel leakage power, occupied bandwidth and a spectral emission mask. For demodulation measurements, the MT8220A has a code domain power display that can display all 512 Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor codes in the UMTS/W-CDMA signal relative to total power or pilot power. There is also a codogram display that identifies both code power variations and traffic activity over time. It measures EVM (Error Vector Magnitude) with a resolution of 0.1%.

The MT8220A also has an over-the-air option that allows technicians to perform measurements while staying in their trucks. Nemo will use this feature to perform basic drive tests as well as in the installation phase of wireless networks.

"With Nemo using our equipment, you can drive around and do 'figures of merit' for various locations and have that plotted on a map," Bosso said. The OTA option detects the six strongest scrambling codes and displays them in both graphical and table formats. Nemo Outdoor displays key network parameters from the scrambling codes in numerical and graphical formats. The recorded parameters include channel number, RSSI, Pilot scrambling code, Pilot Ec/I0, and Pilot RSCP.

When the test system is equipped with a GPS receiver, positioning data is stored and the measurement route is drawn on a map.