Monitor and Troubleshoot 5G RF Channel Performance During Traffic Testing with the VIAVI Lab to Field™ Solution

Continuous monitoring of the RF interface between VIAVI TM500 Test UE(s) and the 4G/5G RAN provides immediate insight into unexpected RF behavior that may impact UE performance. VIAVI Lab to Field saves hours of root cause analysis by immediately tracing traffic issues to RF anomalies.There is an expectation that 5G will be an innovation platform that provides the ability to bring new services to market quickly. This will enable service providers to take advantage of market opportunities and dynamically meet changing consumer and business needs. However, deploying and supporting 5G’s complex network architecture will not be a trivial exercise. 5G is causing major changes across the entire network, from RAN architecture to 3D beam-forming, and active antennas to software-defined network components. All elements need to support stringent application-driven timing and latency requirements. Mission critical applications demand a network which cannot fail, and ensuring network quality will be at the core of deployment. Time-to-market and network quality will depend on the rigor of test and measurement during the complete life cycle of the network. Performing comprehensive verification during the lab validation stage will ensure a smooth and efficient deployment and launch of the network. Higher order modulation and MIMO schemes such as 256 QAM and 8x8 MIMO are fundamental to delivering the high throughput targets of 5G NR eMBB. Errors introduced at the RF level in the measurement system or due to (e/g)NB failures can lead to missing target throughputs in the lab environment, falsely indicating problems with the (e/g)NB scheduler.