Misinformation is getting out of hand. 5G is not the problem, people are. Over the last day, several people have emailed me about reports coming from the UK of people destroying cell towers. Indeed, it’s all over the news media as misinformation spreads that 5G is spreading the coronavirus. The belief that 5G is responsible…
Spectrum analyzers for mmWave engineers use oscilloscope front ends
Keysight Technologies has created a slim version of its high-bandwidth oscilloscopes for analyzing wireless signals, including 5G NR. When you think of high-bandwidth oscilloscopes, you may think that their sole use is for measuring the integrity of baseband digital signals—in the time domain. RF engineers typically work in the frequency domain using swept or real-time…
Ericsson’s spectrum sharing slices frequencies in time
Spectrum sharing of LTE and 5G equipment conserves bandwidth and eases the path to 5G. Demand for wireless services continuously increases. With 5G still under construction, it’s not ready to relieve LTE networks of the burden. Thus, engineers keep developing clever ways to get more from available spectrum, especially in the crowded FR1 (below 6…
Optical networks gear up for 5G
5G is bringing higher bandwidth to mobile users, which pushes more data on the optical networks. Optical networks need greater capacity and more flexibility. Every mobile phone user expects 5G to let them download movies faster and more reliably than LTE networks. Plus, 5G will open the door to new use cases we haven’t conceived…
COVID-19 forces three-month delay in 3GPP releases
3GPP the standards body for wireless standards, has delayed the adoption of the next two releases (Release 16 and Release 17) each by three months. The delay is in response to the COVID-19 virus. 3GPP Release 16 stage 3 freezing will now occur in June 2020 while Release 17 will now be frozen in June…
5G is hot, keep your components and systems cool
5G’s antennas and the devices that drive them generate more heat than their LTE predecessors. That creates new cooling problems for wireless devices and systems. If you listen to and read the hype surrounding 5G, you’ll come away thinking that 5G is truly hot. That’s the marketing perspective. From an engineering design perspective, 5G is…
OFC plenary: 5G will drive optical
China Telecom’s Qi Bi told optical engineers how 5G will change their lives, and ours. 5G is more than wireless. Included in the 5G chain is fiber, lots of it. After all, how will all those mmWave small cells connect to the wired network? Thus, 5G should keep optical engineers busy for years, but only…
Record and analyze signals to 26.5 GHz
The Tektronix RSA7100B wideband RF signal analyzer and streaming recorder lets engineers working on wideband designs in communications, radar, and electronic warfare capture and analyze signal in the frequency domain. It provides more than 2.5 hours of streaming RF storage with 800-MHz real-time bandwidth. Its 16 kHz to 26.5 GHz frequency range covers a broad…
Pasternack expands mmWave antenna line
RF component manufacturer Pasternack has added some 54 models to its line of mmWave antennas for 5G and other applications. Additions include five new categories of high frequency waveguide antennas are now available to address point-to-point and point-to-multi-point wireless applications, including Probe Waveguide Antennas to 170 GHz with 6.5 dBi of gain Dual Polarized Waveguide…
Sub-6 GHz and mmWave: It depends on location
Engineers are building 5G into Wi-Fi and IoT devices. Frequencies used depend not only on country, but location within a country. As 5G moves into deployment, engineers are designing it into new products. Some are now beginning to appear on the market and many more will follow. Analog Devices has been leading the way with…