Press release

NI Announces Test UE Offering for 5G Lab and Field Trials

0
Sponsored by Businesswire

NI (Nasdaq: NATI), the provider of platform-based systems that help
engineers and scientists solve the world’s greatest engineering
challenges, today announced a real-time 5G New Radio (NR) test UE
offering. The NI Test UE offering features a fully 3GPP Release 15
non-standalone (NSA) compliant system capable of emulating the full
operation of end-user devices or user equipment (UE).

With the 5G commercial rollout this year, engineers must validate the
design and functionality of 5G NR infrastructure equipment before
productization and release. Based on the rugged PXI Express platform,
the NI Test UE offering helps customers test prototypes in the lab and
in the field to evaluate them on service operators’ networks. In
addition, customers can perform InterOperability Device Testing (IoDT),
which is a critical part of the commercialization process to ensure that
network equipment works with UE from any vendor and vice versa. The NI
Test UE offering can also be used to perform benchmark testing to
evaluate the full capabilities of commercial and precommercial
micro-cell, small-cell and macro-cell 5G NR gNodeB equipment.

Spirent has worked with NI to add 5G NR support to its existing
portfolio of products. “As 5G was picking up steam, we looked to find a
world-class 5G NR platform that would outperform the market today and
continue to do so as the 5G market matures,” said Clarke Ryan, senior
director of Product Development at Spirent. “As a leader in SDR-based
radios since 2011, NI was the natural choice to ensure we have the best
radio with the best testing capabilities to stay ahead of the curve for
our customers.”

The NI Test UE offering provides a flexible system for evaluating 5G
technology. Customers can use the SDR front ends to select the sub-6 GHz
frequency of their choice. The system scales up to one 100 MHz bandwidth
component carrier and can be configured for up to 4×2 MIMO to achieve a
maximum throughput of 2.3 Gb/s. The 5G NR Release 15 software includes
complete protocol stack software that can connect with a 5G gNodeB while
providing real-time diagnostic information. Customers can log diagnostic
information to a disk for post-test analysis and debugging and can view
it on the software front panel for a real-time visualization of the
link’s performance.

Find more information about the NI Test UE offering for 5G NR at ni.com/5g-test-ue.

About NI

NI (ni.com) develops high-performance automated test and automated
measurement systems to help you solve your engineering challenges now
and into the future. Our open, software-defined platform uses modular
hardware and an expansive ecosystem to help you turn powerful
possibilities into real solutions.

National Instruments, NI and ni.com are trademarks of National
Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or
trade names of their respective companies.