Development of 5G Laptop with Wireless LAN

One issue is the proximity of the frequency bands used by 5G NR FR1 (600 MHz to 7.125 GHz band) and by Wireless LAN Wi-Fi 6/6E (using frequencies above 6 GHz in addition to 2.4 and 5 GHz bands). This can cause congestion and interference in simultaneously connected equipment and raise concerns about faulty wireless connections. [Click here for White Paper to know more details.]
Solving this problem requires testing the communication connection conditions of both the 5G and Wireless LAN modules.
*Governments in some advanced economies, such as the USA, the European Union and Japan, have opened the 6 GHz band to Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11ax) applications using 160 MHz channels across a maximum frequency bandwidth of 1.2 GHz. In addition, since July 2022, the CE compliance test for Wireless LAN equipment requires Packet Error Rate (PER) measurements.

It is especially important to verify the communication quality and performance in the actual laptop usage environment. Even using off-the-shelf wireless telecommunication modules with guaranteed quality does not assure the quality of the laptop communications. External factors, including the performance of the communication devices, the distance between the communicating products such as a router and a laptop, and interference from other devices can degrade the communication quality.
Furthermore, when testing laptop communications quality, the test specifications and evaluation standards must be decided for every stage, from design and development through to manufacturing.
It is necessary to select the appropriate test facilities, estimate test times, and secure experienced test engineers.

First, note the different test methods. For LTE, the radio performance can be evaluated by connecting the test equipment directly by cable to the antenna connector of the device under test (DUT). On the other hand, for 5G, since mmWave 5G devices do not have a direct connection port, they are usually tested using an Over the Air (OTA) method. This method works by sending and receiving the data wirelessly between the test equipment and DUT using an antenna to receive signals from the DUT for input to the tester.

Additionally, a 5G laptop may have issues with power consumption and heat generation due to the higher frequencies and communications speed. As a result, these evaluation tests are very important to conduct.

Finally, testing must support both NSA (Non-Stand Alone) and SA (Stand-Alone) methods to evaluate communications at handover from 5G to LTE (switching between base stations) and co-existence with LTE.

Anritsu’s Radio Communication Test Station MT8000A is used worldwide by our customers to simulate 5G NR base stations. The
MT8000A facilitates an easy switch to 5G testing because it has already been used to test connections with most chipsets.
Anritsu’s Wireless Connectivity Test Set (WLAN Tester) MT8862A supports Wi-Fi 6/6E tests. The all-in-one MT8862A evaluates the various performance aspects of Wireless LAN devices without requiring additional external test equipment such as mixers. Moreover, it can measure the Packet Error Rate (PER) efficiently in a live communication environment.