Atec TAS5600 User Manual

Spirent Communications

541 Industrial Way West

Eatontown, New Jersey

07724, U.S.A.

Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

[e-mail]

Sales Contacts:

North America

[phone]

Europe, Middle East, Africa

[phone]

Asia Pacific

[phone]

All Other Regions

[phone]

www.spirentcom.com

Universal Interference Emulator

TAS5600

■

Dramatically simplifies the test
setup required for compre­hensive receiver performance
analysis.

Wireless equipment’s mitigation of the
effects of co-channel and adjacent
channel interference directly affects key
performance metrics such as capacity,
quality, and coverage. A receiver’s
performance must be characterized over
a variety of channel conditions that
reflect real world operating conditions.
This characterization must be done
precisely, as small differences in receiver
performance can have a dramatic
impact on performance metrics.
Uncertainty in test conditions leads to
an even greater uncertainty in test
results.

Creating a test setup for today’s
wireless receivers can be a challenging
task given all of the elements required.
Covering all types of real-world
interference requires combining signal
generators, noise generators, cables,
and RF combiners. The challenges
inherent in constructing a test rack for
receiver characterization include:

■

Interferer Phase Noise

■

Modulated Interferer ACLR

Major Features:

■

Precise, repeatable C/N and C/I
emulation in one integrated
instrument

■

Application-specific UMTS and
CDMA2000 interferers

■

Integrates functionality of multiple
signal generators, attenuators and
measurement devices

■

Signal generation engine with long
data sequences for maximum
confidence in test results

Test set VSWR interactions
contributing to amplitude
uncertainty

■

Signal-to-noise ratio accuracy

■

Receiver sensitivity testing
accuracy

■

Test set self-intermodulation

■

Test set repeatability and
reproducibility

■

Minimization of technical resource
involvement necessary to perform
the test

Spirent’s TAS5600 Universal
Interference Emulator addresses these
issues by combining all of the necessary
hardware to facilitate receiver testing.
The TAS5600 addresses critical receiver
test setup issues such as signal-to-

■

GSM modulated inteferer, with
optional fading, is ideal for dual
mode test applications

■

Combines with Spirent’s SR5500 to
provide fading conditions necessary
for complete receiver testing

■

Two independent RF channels for
receiver diversity testing

■

Maintains signal path during
calibration cycle to speed up test
execution

■

TASKIT® software provides easy
setup and control

noise ratio accuracy, output power
accuracy, phase noise, ACLR, test set
VSWR interaction, and repeatability
over time and across multiple test
setups.

Specifically, the TAS5600 combines
the functionality of two high­performance, low phase noise signal
generators, two arbitrary waveform
generators, two real-time signal
generators, a precision instrument
grade power meter, and high accuracy
RF attenuators, across multiple RF
channels to support diversity testing.
This powerful combination of hardware
is housed within a single rack­mountable chassis.

TAS5600 is a
powerful,
integrated
solution for
evaluating receiver
performance.

Benefits:

■

Increases confidence in test results

■

Reduces test time

■

Assures repeatable results over time
and across multiple test setups

■

Integrates of all receiver testing
components eliminating unweildy

test setups

Analyze

AccelerateAssure

TM

TAS5600 Architecture

2TAS5600 Universal Interference Emulator

RF In 1

RF In 2

Σ

Level

Control

Duplexer

Generator 1

CW

Digital*

Arbitrary

Waveform

External

Interference

MUX

Power
Meter

Generator 2

CW

Digital*

Arbitrary

Waveform

External

Level

Σ

TAS5600 combines precision interference generators, a power meter, attenuators,
signal combiners and a duplexer in one compact, easy-to-control instrument.

* The TAS5600’s digitally-modulated interferers include AWGN, WCDMA, GSM and CDMA2000.

Control

RF Out 1

RF Out2 1

RF Out 2

Receiver performance test setups
require multiple signal generators, RF
attenuators and signal combiners. To
increase level accuracies a
measurement device is typically
included into the test setup. A
calibration methodology, control
software, and maintenance are
required.

The TAS5600 addresses these
complex requirements inherent to
receiver testing. The TAS5600 is a two
channel instrument that combines
multiple signal generators with the
required RF components and an
instrument grade power meter to satisfy
receiver testing requirements. The
internal signal generators can be
configured to provide low phase noise
CW, popular modulated interferer types,

or AWGN. The two signal generators
can be combined and sent to one or
both channels, or used individually on
a per channel basis. The instrument
grade power meter within the TAS5600
automatically samples RF power levels
at multiple locations within the
instrument to assure accurate level
settings.

The TAS5600 has been optimized to
be repeatable over time to give
consistent results across multiple test
setups.

Operation of the TAS5600 is via
TASKIT/5600 control software.
Alternately, user-generated control code
can be employed via the TAS5600’s
comprehensive remote command set
over GPIB, Ethernet, or RS 232.

TAS5600 Application Examples

3TAS5600 Universal Interference Emulator

C2K-LAB and UMTS-LAB Test
Systems

The TAS5600 combines with Spirent’s
SR5500 RF Channel Emulator to provide
complete transmission media
emulation for testing handset and base
station receiver performance. The
combination of the TAS5600 and
SR5500 meets or exceeds all the critical
additive interference and multipath
fading requirements in both the UMTS
and CDMA2000 specifications.

The SR5500 channel simulator
provides all of the channel propagation
models required to test modern
receivers. Channel propagation models
such as Rayleigh and Rician multipath
fading, multipath delay spread, moving
propagation, and birth-death
propagation conditions are all
simulated in the SR5500. Combining
the SR5500 with the TAS5600 creates
a compact test setup for complete
physical layer receiver testing. With the

TAS5600 internal duplexer, external
hardware, such as combiners, splitters,
and circulators, is eliminated.

The TAS5600 combines with the
SR5500 to reduce test deployment and
execution time. It is no longer
necessary to interpret cryptic test
specifications and then calibrate an
unwieldy test setup. For UMTS testing,
Spirent offers UMTS-LAB – a
combination of the SR5500 along with
the TAS5600, including interferers
specific to testing UMTS UEs and Node
Bs. Spirent offers C2K-LAB for testing
to CDMA2000 standards. This
combination includes an SR5500 and
a TAS5600 including interferers specific
to CDMA2000 testing. For these
systems, Spirent provides UMTS and
CDMA2000 test configuration files with
our instruments and on our website for
use with the TAS5600 and SR5500.

TAS5600 and SR5500
combine to form a
physical layer test system
for handsets.

TAS5600 and SR5500
combine to form a
physical layer test system
for base stations.

System

Simulator

Mobile

Simulator

Tx

Rx

Tx

Rx

Mobile Test Configuration Example

SR5500 Wireless

Channel Emulator

SR5500 Wireless Channel Emulator

TAS5600 Universal

Interference Emulator

UNIVERSAL INTERFERENCE EMULATOR

TAS5600

Base Station Test Configuration Example

UNIVERSAL INTERFERENCE EMULATOR

SR5500 Wireless Channel Emulator

SR5500 Wireless

Channel Emulator

TAS5600

TAS5600 Universal

Interference Emulator

Mobile Under

Test

BS Under

Test

Unprecendented Performance

4TAS5600 Universal Interference Emulator

Measurement Performance
Challenge

Accuracy

In order to have confidence in receiver
performance test results, the level of
uncertainty of the test system must be

When constructing a test setup for
receiver testing one of the most
important performance criteria is the
accuracy of signal-to-noise (SNR) ratios.
Unlike analog modulation schemes,
modern receivers use spread spectrum
in conjunction with convolutional or
turbo coding and have error rate
performance that degrades rapidly as
certain breakpoints are crossed. For
this reason, signal-to-noise ratio
accuracy is extremely important. Small
errors in SNR will show up as large

Receiver Performance Characterization

-1

10

minimized. Further, parasitic signals
not associated with the test should not
be present.

differences in error rate. In order to
have confidence in the error rate results,
there must be a high degree of
confidence in the SNR setting.

By combining an instrument grade
power meter along with factory
calibrated signal paths, the 5600
provides:

■

Accurate ratio generation and
level setting

■

Excellent repeatability

■

Increased confidence in test
results

Impact on BLER/FER

Measurement Accuracy

-2

10

BLER/FER

C/N Setting Accuracy

-3

10

Ior/I

oc

TAS5600's high C/N (and C/I) ratio setting accuracy make it
ideal for receiver performance breakpoint characterization.