The era of 5G is approaching. To many people, this brief news is both a beacon of hope and a source of fear. This is especially true for test equipment manufacturers. Although 5G offers opportunities for healthy development, there are several The factors that will lead to benefit from this generation of wireless broadband technology will be more challenging than those from previous technologies.
Let's start with the status quo of electronic test and measurement (ETM) equipment manufacturers. The emergence of new types of mobile phones, the continuous growth of annual shipments of mobile phones, and the continuous advancement of wireless technologies that promote the development of new types of infrastructure equipment are all wireless ETM services. The reason for growth.
The growth rate of mobile phone shipments has slowed down because annual shipments have started to exceed 1 billion units. At the same time, the acquisition of wireless infrastructure industry has reduced the number of customers in this field. Finally, ETM manufacturers continue to respond to major markets. In the deployment of LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation process, the delay occurred. Therefore, as the industry waits for technology transition to 5G, the growth of the LTE R&D and production test equipment market is slow (Figure 1).
Figure 1 The slow growth of the LTE test equipment market has caused manufacturers to wait eagerly for 5G acceleration.
5G Technology Complex ETM Test Challenge Increased
With the continuous development of wireless broadband technology, especially the continuous evolution of functions, ETM manufacturers are often able to rely on software upgrades to cope with changes. However, the migration towards 5G is considered to be a huge improvement and will require more complex New solution.
Behind the faster, lower-latency, larger-capacity, and more reliable 5G, new technologies that are not well-known, such as millimeter-wave, massive MIMO, and adaptive beamforming, all provide support for these technologies. Need a lot of more advanced base stations and terminal equipment.
The most substantial change in the 5G physical layer is the use of millimeter-wave transmission and adaptive beamforming that requires a large number of antenna components. Although millimeter-wave transmission is a well-known technique for line-point point-to-point wireless backhaul, it is in a cellular topology. Using these frequencies is challenging, and it is an unknown area because each cell in a cellular topology serves hundreds or thousands of mobile users, and multiple antennas are integrated into advanced equipment. Package.
In order to develop and test new technologies behind 5G, the functionality provided by ETM devices will have to be more advanced than previous generations of devices. In fact, the 5G standard has not yet been finalized, and the ETM challenge will be even more difficult. And, like the previous wireless Technology, Operators strongly hope to deploy the network first, to strengthen the demand for ETM equipment early in the technology life cycle.
Usually, this series of challenges will stimulate and motivate the R&D department. However, the slowdown in the growth of LTE ETM equipment has also led some manufacturers to reduce their investment in 5G innovation and development.
One person walks alone and walks a long way with people. Although 5G will bring a lot of obstacles, these obstacles are not insurmountable, especially when you agree with the above-mentioned intelligence of African slang. Throughout the wireless industry, we have shown that New levels of collaboration. Instruments, wireless infrastructure, semiconductors, and software organizations are working with standards agencies, research organizations, and government agencies around the world to ensure 5G is addressing many challenging performance goals (including unprecedented speed, connection density And ubiquitous standards.
The cooperation with the important wireless industry organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union and 3GPP, cooperation with many important research organizations such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and members of numerous 5G research alliances is to further understand The first step in the 5G technology trajectory. In addition, by establishing partnerships and alliances with suppliers, ETM manufacturers seem to have gained a better foothold in the 5G market.
Shifting supplier relationships from high levels of transactions to greater collaboration can bring greater benefits to ETM manufacturers. Sharing knowledge and working closely with private companies (including operators and suppliers) for real-time delivery New test products that are most consistent with the needs of the early market are critical. Confidentiality agreements and other proprietary arrangements allow manufacturers to acquire new ideas and emerging technologies early and further realize the technological breakthrough required to provide 5G test capabilities.
Component suppliers are providing information to optimize existing product performance beyond published data, or further, such as creating component derivatives to meet specific needs. Proper partnerships can be enhanced through advance access to advanced technologies. The advantages of the ETM organization. In addition, by transferring the design work to experienced suppliers, ETM manufacturers will be able to release rare engineering resources and be able to concentrate on demonstrating their ability to provide value-added product features.
Through the cooperation activities mentioned above, ETM manufacturers will be able to obtain the necessary solutions to accelerate their progress and help themselves and their customers succeed.
The development challenges before standard setting are more Conformity is an effective solution
Due to the desire to shorten time-to-market and meet 5G requirements, ETM manufacturers need to develop equipment before finalizing the standard. The 5G standard will remain stable for the foreseeable future, so if the manufacturer cooperates with the right supplier, it will be able to High-performance solutions are obtained in the signal chain (from millimeter wave arrival). In this way, even if the 5G standard changes, there is no need to abandon the original hardware design.
ETM manufacturers will face the need to improve capabilities and reduce costs. Therefore, 5G test products will be much more complex than the previous products. Focus on the chipset and system solutions outside the components, can explain the manufacturer in a limited space Achieve more performance between lower-cost targets, as some are especially needed for modular instruments.
At the same time, this high degree of integration and the higher number of signal links required for MIMO and beamforming places higher demands on electricity. Through cooperation with suppliers, especially those with the most extensive product portfolio, The component is well-designed as a complete signal chain solution to meet the future requirements of the instrument in terms of stringent performance, power consumption, space and time to market.
5G is an evolutionary leap, not a simple generational upgrade. Although the question is still about when 5G comes, there is no doubt that it is ready to go. Whether or not 5G will become a business opportunity for ETM manufacturers will depend on it. Will it be ready when new technologies arrive? Partnerships and alliances with major suppliers will greatly help ETM manufacturers thrive in the future 5G market.