Testing is done wirelessly

The shift to 5G will  see two parallel streams of development: the evolution of existing technology  and a revolution with new technology that will see a tight interworking between existing technologies (like Cellular & WLAN) and the new technology.

Evolution includes current cellular technologies — various flavours of  LTE (Long Term Evolution); co-existence with WiFi; machine type communication (MTC)  or Machined to Machine ( M2M), IoT etc.

Revolution will come in Microwave and mmWave frequency bands (licensed and unlicensed),  Wide bandwidth — up to 2 GHz or wider, New waveforms and new radio access technology (RAT), Software based networks (SDN). Massive MIMO is a key component of 5G. In  this global lurch to 5G, all systems need to be test-bed-tried and  validated  — and test and measurements are a core activity in this phase. A new wave of testing has come: Testing Over The Air: The cable is gone! Commercial millimetric Wave and Massive MIMO  are bringing a new paradigm to 5G-centric testing and much of this can now be done without cables.

(The author is GM, Applications at KeysightTechnologies India)