Test-and-Measurement » WLAN 802.11ax Test and Measurement Equipment Vendors

WLAN 802.11ax Test and Measurement Equipment Vendors

wlan 802.11ax test equipment wi-fi testing measurement

This page describes WLAN 802.11ax test and measurement equipment vendors and their features. It mentions features of 802.11ax equipment used for test and measurement of transmitter and receiver specifications of an 11ax compliant device.

What is WLAN 802.11ax?

Introduction

IEEE has recently published a draft version of the 802.11ax standard, also known as Wi-Fi 6. The standard is expected to be ratified in 2019. It is the successor to 802.11ac but operates in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

There are many new features added in this newly released standard, such as:

  • OFDMA in both downlink and uplink
  • MU-MIMO with beamforming in the downlink
  • MU-MIMO in the uplink
  • 1024-QAM
  • Increased guard and symbol duration
  • Larger bandwidth (up to 160 MHz)
  • BSS color
  • Special packet format for outdoor applications

WLAN 802.11ax Transmitter test setup

The WLAN 802.11ax device consists of transmitter and receiver parts, which are required to be validated by test and measurement equipment. Hence, these equipment are designed taking into consideration the specifications of the 11ax DUT (i.e., AP or STA). The figure depicts a test setup used to test the transmitter part of an 11ax station (i.e., client).

802.11ax Test and Measurement Equipment Vendors

The following table lists 802.11ax test and measurement equipment vendors with their features.

11ax Equipment Vendors11ax test solutions
R&S• R&S CMW270 test platform for the IEEE 802.11ax • R&S SMW200A vector signal generator • R&S FSW is used as spectrum analyzer or vector signal analyzer • R&S SGT 100A is used to generate trigger frame.
Keysight Technologies• 802.11ax Analog Baseband IQ test solution • 802.11ax MIMO test solution • 802.11ax manufacturing test solutions
Anritsu Corporation• Universal Wireless Test Set (MT8870A) has been developed to test transmitter and receiver part of 802.11ax device.
LitePoint Corporation• IQxel-MW : It is used for high performance testing for 802.11ax WiFi-6 devices. • zSignal ™ 802.11ax Software used to generate 802.11ax compliant signal.
National Instruments (NI)• NI offers 802.11ax test solution along with VST (Vector Signal Transceiver) hardware.

References

  • IEEE 802.11ax draft standard