Making PHY Measurements On Mobile WiMAX Devices

Growth of personal broadband services is inevitable, given a seemingly insatiable consumer appetite for high-speed data, instant communications, and instant video. The urgency of having these services is pushing the development of new technology solutions, such as WiMAX, to provide services anywhere and at anytime in a metropolitan area, even if the subscriber is on the go. WiMAX has been called a wireless replacement for wired digital-subscriber-line (DSL) technology, which provides high-speed Internet services, but WiMAX is much more than just an alternative to DSL or cable-modem broadband access. WiMAX is designed to do for the Internet what cellular technology did for telephones-provide access anywhere at any time. The latest version of the WiMAX standard addresses the mobile services required to free users from the tethers of a predetermined location. Of course, as with any new technology comes the need to test its hardware-in the research labs, for product qualification and conformance testing to the standard, on the production line, and for troubleshooting and maintenance. Fortunately, Anritsu Company has developed high-performance measurement solutions ideally suited for WiMAX fixed and mobile equipment testing, including the Anritsu Signature MS2781B High-Performance Signal Analyzer, the MS2690A/MS2691A Signal Analyzers, the MG3700A Vector Signal Generator, and the BTS Master™ MT8222A handheld base station analyzer.