Search Application Notes & Cards
Learn how to configure Rohde & Schwarz products to fit your application. Search our database by product, technology, or application to find relevant technical documents.
Search Application Notes & Cards
Learn how to configure Rohde & Schwarz products to fit your application. Search our database by product, technology, or application to find relevant technical documents.
24 Results
A measurement campaign quantifying the impact of intermodulation in 5G TDD networks
Critical infrastructure: With the deployment of TDD networks, the mobile network community recognizes the critical importance of cell synchronization and the use of uniform TDD patterns across different networks for the proper operation of mobile radio networks. Variety of scenarios: Possible scenarios include cross-border situations, interactions between private campus networks and public mobile networks, and accidental synchronization chain breaks or misconfigurations within the mobile network.Measurement techniques: To quantify the effects of non-synchronized cells and using different TDD pattern in neighboring networks, R&S, in collaboration with TU Dresden and Advancing Individual Networks GmbH (AIN), conducted a measurement campaign using movable networks with full control over all network parameters. This campaign measured the effects on uplink and downlink throughput, mapping these to RSSI/RSRP values received at the interfered site.Customer benefits: The available quantification is valuable for predicting and assessing potential interference scenarios before setting up and operating a new cell site.
11-Sep-2024 | AN-No. 8NT18
Best practices for mobile network testing for business-critical applications
Business-critical infrastructure: Industrial applications require extremely high reliability and availability, as any downtime can result in significant financial losses. Fundamental requirements: Industrial applications often require low latency and even more important a sustainable latency to ensure real-time communication and control. Measurement Techniques: As soon as the radio access network is used, innovative testing methods are needed beforehand to proactively test the network capability and to identify any potential issues. We propose a standard test procedure for the characterization of a network regarding industrial use-cases that covers a representative set of different, common types of network traffic.
13-Aug-2024 | AN-No. 8NT17
Selecting You Next Oscilloscope:
If you are selecting your next oscilloscope and want more insight on how to understand ENOB values measured and published by oscilloscope manufacturers, this document is for you. The effective number of bits (ENOB) is a way of quantifying the quality of analog to digital conversion. A higher ENOB means that voltage levels recorded in analog to digital conversion are more accurate. Understanding oscilloscope vendor-supplied ENOB values can be complex. This document focuses on interpretation of measured ENOB results made on oscilloscopes rather than the math behind ENOB calculations.
21-Jun-2024 | AN-No. 1TD12
Crucial for proper operation of mobile networks - Part 2 of the series on Cable and Antenna verification
Key points: Critical Infrastructure: Learn why the antenna system, as part of mobile base stations, is irreplaceable and demands meticulous attention due to its impact on network quality and availability.Vulnerability to Environmental Factors: Understand the challenges posed by weather conditions and environmental stresses on antenna systems, highlighting the importance of robust design and maintenance.Fundamental Properties: Delve into the core concepts of antenna systems, gaining insights into fundamental properties of antennas and the antenna cables.Measurement Techniques: Explore discontinuity or distance to fault measurements to identify reflections of forward RF energy due to impedance changes (connector, compression or kink of a cable, etc.).
18-Jun-2024 | AN-No. 8NT16
5G NR Reduced Capabilities (RedCap) network scanning
Purpose of RedCap: RedCap is designed for use cases requiring reasonable data throughput, cost-efficient devices, reduced power consumption and smaller device footprint to support applications like wireless industrial sensors, video surveillance and smart wearables in which ultralow latency isn’t essential.Technology basics: Understanding the technology basics helps facing configuration complexities and avoiding potential coexistence issues with regular 5G.RedCap field verification: New mobile network technology introductions like 5G RedCap benefit from field measurements during their typical life-cycle phases (engineering, network roll-out, and operation).Measurement Techniques: In early phases of new technologies, passive network measurements using network scanners are reliable and effective in detecting actual network and cell configurations.
23-Apr-2024 | AN-No. 8NT13
Best practices for national regulatory authorities
Key points:Importance of field measurements: Traditional network planning tools and models only offer an estimated view of mobile coverage. Field measurements are conducted under real geographical and load conditions, and therefore provide a more accurate picture and can discover interferences more effectively. Coverage investigations: When deploying a mobile network, operators must adhere to regulatory standards and licensing conditions. As a result, regulatory authorities carry out field measurements on a regular or ad hoc basis to validate compliance or investigate customer complaints. This process identifies coverage gaps and areas of poor network quality, enabling regulatory authorities to take actions to enhance service quality for consumers and guide network expansion.Foster competition: If the field measurements of the coverage and performance are performed on a scale representative of a given country, the transparency of these results can promote healthy competition between operators and better service for consumers, which is essential for economic growth and social development.Measurement Techniques: The harmonized methodology for measuring and evaluating data throughput and QoE based on popular services is described in ETSI TR 103 559.
15-Apr-2024 | AN-No. 8NT14
P25 and FRMCS scanning
Key points: Critical Infrastructure: Learn about mission-critical communication for various agencies who deal with Public Safety such as first responders, police, firefighters, medics and its crucial role in ensuring safety of society.Reliability of Communication: Understand the challenges posed by mission-critical communication, highlighting performance and reliability needs and special requirements such as safe group communications.Technology Migration: Delve into the migration of mission-critical communication from long-standing narrow-band technologies to broadband use cases considering migration timelines.Measurement Techniques: Explore network measurement methods for passive testing of legacy MCX technologies planned to be used in the networks for quite some time (a later release of the document will focus on the broadband successors)
12-Mar-2024 | AN-No. 8NT12
Transformers are passive devices that are primarily used to convert or "transform" alternating current (AC) from one voltage level to another. One very common application of transformers is in AC to DC power supplies, in which mains voltage is stepped down before being rectified and filtered to produce DC. There are numerous other applications for transformers, such as providing electrical isolation or for impedance matching.This educational note provides a brief technical introduction to measurements made on the types of transformers used in electronics. These transformers are typically physically small, work on relatively low voltages or powers, and are used for “indoor” applications. Although many of the testing concepts described below also apply to the larger, higher-power "outdoor" transformers used for electrical power distribution, the specific tests and test procedures for these types of transformers are often specified by standards bodies such as the IEEE and may differ substantially from the types of measurements described here.Read this educational note and dive into the discussion about the six most important transformer measurements: turns ratio, mutual inductance, phase angle, primary and secondary inductance, leakage inductance, and interwinding capacitance.
28-Feb-2024
Mobile network operators worldwide face cost pressures and escalating network complexity. The advent of 5G-NR has ushered in new use cases and flexibility, but it also comes with more stringent performance and availability requirements.Machine Learning can serve as a catalyst for the market to unearth deep insights that would otherwise remain concealed. It can also significantly streamline everyday tasks by fostering a smarter system that guides users through their routine work processes, rather than obliging them to repeat each (manual) step. Rohde & Schwarz Mobile Network Testing has focused its efforts on delivering Machine Learning use cases that distill relevant insights from drive testing data, thereby offering substantial benefits to users.This educational note explains the motivation and reasoning why this kind of approach is needed, what are the benefits of the machine learning offering and it takes a deeper look into how it can be used in various levels of statistical and technical analysis. Finally, this document provides real measurement results and analysis findings based on the Rohde & Schwarz post processing SW suite SmartAnalytics and its machine learning based features Call Stability Score and Network Utilization Rating.
28-Feb-2024 | AN-No. 8NT10
Part 1 of the Cable and Antenna verification series – essential for Mobile Networks
Key points: Critical Infrastructure: Learn why the antenna system, as part of mobile base stations, is irreplaceable and demands meticulous attention due to its impact on network quality and availability.Vulnerability to Environmental Factors: Understand the challenges posed by weather conditions and environmental stresses on antenna systems, highlighting the importance of robust design and maintenance.Fundamental Properties: Delve into the core concepts of antenna systems, gaining insights into their transmit and receive characteristics, which serve as the foundation for effective measurement and verification.Measurement Techniques: Explore various measurement methods for antenna systems, focusing on return loss and decoupling, and their significance in assessing system performance and integrity.
23-Feb-2024 | AN-No. 8NT11
Spectrum scans are beneficial for many use-cases such as troubleshooting, interference detection and interference hunting, or verification tasks like scheduler verification or other engineering tasks. A time-gated spectrum scan, which is a power spectrum scan which applies a time gate on uplink/downlink slots/symbols and/or the guard period reveals even more details in uplink/downlink or guard period power spectrum. This allows to focus on the uplink / downlink or guard period power spectrum in 5G NR TDD networks. This educational note explains use cases for spectrum measurements, the complexity in 5G TDD and its technology basics, and which problems can be solved with the described solution. The software used is R&S®ROMES4 together with a R&S®TSMx6 drive and walk test scanner.
21-Sep-2023 | AN-No. 8NT08
Modern societies worldwide depend on the performance, reliability and security of critical infrastructures and networks. There is a plethora of “new verticals” such as manufacturing, warehouse, mining, ports or other critical infrastructure, just to name a few. These “new vertical” use cases all have one common requirement: the mobile network needs to provide a superior performance compared to a commercial mobile network. In such environments 5G brings new capabilities to build fast and secure campus or private networks tuned to higher performance, which can increase productivity and efficiency. To be successful in these business-critical use cases, the wireless networks need to be as reliable as the wired ones. This educational note describes the different test methods to be able to verify the superior network performance and to help finding root causes of potential problems limiting the performance. We distinguish between passive tests and active tests.
11-Aug-2023 | AN-No. 8NT09
For several years, vehicle manufacturers and government agencies have sought ways to increase road safety, manage traffic efficiently and, in the future, make driving more comfortable, convenient and safe. Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) is a new generation of information and communication technology that connects vehicles to everything and can support these objectives. V2X is designed to offer low-latency vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-roadside infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communications to add a new dimension to future driver assistance systems.Cellular V2X (C-V2X) is defined as the communications standard by 3GPP in Release 14 and uses LTE technology as the physical interface for communications.The LTE C-V2X Scanner provides customers an opportunity to verify, test, and optimize ITS traffic systems that are being deployed or are already established. The scanner accomplishes this by passively listening to PC (5.9GHz) messages that are being broadcast from RSU (roadside units), vehicles or any other C-V2X enabled device. Traditional scanner measurements regarding RF signal power and quality such as RSRP, RS-CINR and RSSI, are provided for each physical channel (PSCCH and PSSCH) as well as decoded ITS message content for all three regions (North America, EU, China).
21-Oct-2022 | AN-No. 8NT07
Broadband amplifiers are necessary for generating the field strengths required for most EMC radiated immunity tests. This Educational Note provides a brief overview of the role of amplifiers in EMC testing as well as a discussion of the parameters and characteristics which have the greatest influence on amplifier performance.Register now to download the Educational Note.
01-Aug-2022
With all these new flexibilities introduced with 5G, the radio access has become more complex to understand and analyze. More network interfaces and RAN configuration parameters have to be managed and the RAN and in particular the connection control, mobility and measurement reporting are decisive for the network performance. It will be vital for the system experts and radio engineers to gain knowledge and evolve their methods and tools to facilitate the work to optimize and troubleshoot 5G and 4G RAN performance. Thus, tools are needed that allow for easier understanding of the message flows in the radio protocols. The R&S®ROMES4 KPIs and Smart Events will help doing the work much easier and quicker. They are defined for a key set of LTE, EN-DC and NR RRC connection control and mobility procedures where the performance is crucial to achieve high quality network performance. Trouble shooting problematic cases and optimization of RAN protocols are key drivers to improve the mobile network performance with R&S®ROMES4.
28-Jun-2022 | AN-No. 8NT06
The strict requirement of network synchronization is as old as digital cellular mobile networks. As soon as cells have a neighbor relationship, network synchronization is mandatory in both the frequency and time domains in order to ensure UE QoE and performance (Handover, MIMO, data throughput, etc.). This educational note describes how 5G NR with its extremely flexible specifications is affected by these synchronization requirements, and how it can be measured?
17-Aug-2021 | AN-No. 8NT05
Primer
A power sensor is a fundamental measurement tool in RF engineering. However, today's marketplace is filled with myriad choices, and many are making bold claims about attributes such as measurement speed and readings per second. As a result, it can be difficult to cut through the hyperbole and determine which sensor will actually meet the requirements of a specific measurement.This primer outlines the basics of RF power sensors and highlights a few key characteristics that will help you select the best one for each application. The narrative has three parts. First, we focus on choosing the right type of sensor: multipath, wideband, average power and thermal can satisfy slightly different measurement needs. The second section covers the five major attributes of sensor performance, and what to look for relative to your requirements. Finally, we outline three ways to integrate a sensor into your measurement application.
26-May-2021
This educational note covers the theory and practice oscilloscopes based on concrete measurement examples that address authentic everyday tasks.The theoretical portion of this paper begins with an explanation of the basic operating concepts for oscilloscopes, followed by a discussion of the most important parameters to be considered when setting up and performing the exercise measurements. The practical portion of the educational note contains detailed measurement tasks that can be performed by small groups in the university lab. These exercises are intended to demonstrate and reinforce the knowledge gained in the theoretical portion. The exercises build upon one another and demonstrate measurement tasks that are frequently encountered by engineers in daily work.
16-Jan-2018 | AN-No. 1MA265
Signal generators play a vital role in electrical test and measurement. They generate the test signals that are applied to components such as filters and amplifier, or even to entire modules, in order to ascertain and test their behavior and characteristics. The first part of this educational note presents the applications for and the most important types of signal generators. This is followed by a description of the construction and functioning of analog and vector signal generators. To permit a better understanding of the specifications found on data sheets, a closer look at the most important parameters for a signal generator is provided.Beyond the output of spectrally pure signals, a key function of RF signal generators is the generation of analog- and digitally modulated signals. The second part of this note therefore presents the fundamentals for the most significant analog and digital modulation methods.The third part of this educational note contains exercises on the topics of analog and digital modulation. All described measurements were performed using the R&S®SMBV100A vector signal generator and the R&S®FSV spectrum analyzer.
03-May-2016 | AN-No. 1MA225
True or false: 30 dBm + 30 dBm = 60 dBm? Why does 1% work out to be -40 dB one time but then 0.1 dB or 0.05 dB the next time? These questions sometimes leave even experienced engineers scratching their heads. Decibels are found everywhere, including power levels, voltages, reflection coefficients, noise figures, field strengths and more. What is a decibel and how should we use it in our calculations? This Application Note is intended as a refresher on the subject of decibels.
21-Apr-2015 | AN-No. 1MA98
The topic of this application note is mobile phone measurements – in theory and in practice. It discusses measurements according to the most common standard in use today, GSM.The first, theoretical portion of this application note covers digital modulation and access methods in general. This is followed by an overview of the specific characteristics of the GSM standard as well as a summary of the most important mobile radio measurements.The second, practical portion of this application note covers some of these measurements in detail and runs through them step by step. These measurements can be performed by small groups in labs.The measurements and analysis of the results are intended to illustrate the theoretical portion of the application note and to deepen the reader's understanding.All measurements are performed using the R&S®CMW500 wideband radio communication tester and an off the shelf mobile phone.
22-Aug-2014 | AN-No. 1MA231
Welcome to this introductory video show about the R&S® ZVA family of network analyzers. Network analysis is sometimes considered to be cumbersome and difficult to understand, a very offputting reputation for newcomers to network analyzers. To help you look at network analyzers in a different light, we have created this video series. We have intentionally refrained from explaining any theory in depth. Rather, we want to show you how to operate our analyzers for simple and useful applications. As well as just watching this video show, you can also use it as a guide and try yourself. All the operational steps shown only require a standard RF power amplifier which should be available in almost every lab. So, before we get properly started, we hope you enjoy this video show and much success in becoming familiar with network analysis in general, and our R&S products in particular.
13-Feb-2014 | AN-No. 1MA50
Welcome to our short video tutorials on how to test radars using Rohde & Schwarz test equipment. Access to most information about radar is pretty restricted, as many radar applications are military or secretive industrial research. To show you some basic Radar tests we have created RADAR demo tools, which functions at a frequency of 2.45 GHz, which is in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical band. So we can even perform our tests in unshielded rooms. The frequencies are also used by radar operating in the ITU "S"-band from 2.3 to 2.5 GHz for air traffic control, weather and marine radar. The videos are suitable for 'from-the-scratch' introduction of R&S RADAR test equipment. They can also be used for plain introduction to the RADAR principle.
03-Feb-2014 | AN-No. 1MA209
This application note examines both the theory and practice of state-of-the-art spectrum analysis by discussing specific measurements taken on an integrated RF amplifier.The theoretical portion of this document first describes how modern spectrum analyzers are designed and how they work. That is followed by a brief characterization of today's signal generators, which are needed as a stimulus when performing amplifier measurements. The effects on the spectrum that are caused by the nonlinearity of real devices under test are derived mathematically.The practical portion of this application note contains detailed test and measurement tasks that are suitable for use as lab exercises performed in small groups. The purpose of these tasks is to illustrate the explanations provided in the theoretical section and to provide a deeper understanding of the principles explained there.
05-Mar-2013 | AN-No. 1MA201