Press Release – June 5, 2017 – NI (National Instruments, or NI), a provider of solutions to the world’s toughest engineering challenges for engineers and scientists, today announced that it will begin operations in Hawaii. A quasi-5G waveform generation and measurement technique was demonstrated at the 2017 International Microwave Conference (IMS) in Honolulu. The demonstration will include signal generation and analysis representing the New Radio (NR) physical layer waveforms proposed by the Verizon 5G Technology Forum (5GTF) and 3GPP.

The technology demonstration will use the 1 GHz bandwidth PXIe-5840 second-generation vector signal transceiver (VST) with pre-5G software for waveform modulation and demodulation. Key features of waveform modulation include support for Discrete Fourier Transform-Spread Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and flexible subcarrier spacing to support 3GPP 5G NR and Verizon 5GTF specifications and component carrier configuration with a total bandwidth of 1 GHz. The demo supports modulation types up to 256-QAM, and measurements include power, adjacent channel power, and error vector magnitude. Typical applications for this demonstration include the testing of RFICs such as RF power amplifiers, front-end modules, and transceivers.

Charles Schroeder, vice president of wireless design and test at NI: “NI’s software-centric approach to test and measurement allows PXI test systems to be updated as software is updated. VST test system for LTE-A Pro products to test future 5G products.”

NI’s new 5G test technology complements its broad portfolio of RF and wireless test products, and new software complements existing 802.11a/b/g/j/n/p/ac/ax, Bluetooth GSM, UMTS, LTE /LTE-A, FM/RDS, GNSS test solutions. NI’s RF and wireless smart test systems are based on NI’s advanced VST technology to help engineers reduce test costs. These test systems will benefit from more than 600 PXI products in various operating frequency ranges from DC to mmWave. Using the PCI Express Gen 3 bus interface, they feature high-throughput data movement with sub-nanosecond synchronization and integrated timing and triggering. The high productivity of the LabVIEW and TestStand software environments, and a vibrant ecosystem of partners, add-on IP, and application engineers, help users dramatically reduce test costs, shorten time to market, and develop future-proof test equipment for tomorrow’s all kinds of challenges.

To learn more about VST, visit www.ni.com/vst/.