Solutions for Testing Multi-Standard Radio Base Stations
Notas de Aplicação
As cellular telecommunications networks have migrated from 2G to 3G, base stations have adapted accordingly. As cellular networks continue their migration to 3.9G and even 4G, base transceiver station (BTS) transmitters are being forced to transition into something new altogether. What once was a single-carrier, narrowband design for GSM/TDMA (2G) networks has now become a multi-carrier wideband design (3/3.5G), and will soon give way to a design characterized by a software-defined radio. These next-generation base-station transmitters and receivers, will support wider bandwidths and include not only multiple carriers (MCs) of a single radio format, but also multiple formats in one transmitter path.
A prime example of this is the Multi-Standard Radio (MSR) base station, which can simultaneously transmit different radio access technologies (RATs) from a single unit. As an example, GSM, W-CDMA and LTE MCs can now be simultaneously transmitted from a single MSR base-station unit. The ability of the MSR base-station to support multiple formats in a cellular network is critical to driving down both base-station size and cost. Because of this, it is expected to enable a smooth and seamless migration from the widely deployed 2/3G radio formats toward 3.9G (e.g., LTE) and even 4G (e.g., LTE-Advanced) technologies.