Video Details

5G Over The Air (OTA) Testing Simulation

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Introduction

Good morning, everybody. We will be starting the webinar in two minutes. Thanks for joining today.

Overview of 5G Technology

Today, we will talk about 5G. As everybody knows, 5G has been promising high data rates up to 10 gigabits per second and low latency, which is crucial for mission-critical applications like autonomous driving, augmented reality, virtual reality, and high-resolution displays. However, these benefits come with increased technical complexity.

Key Points of 5G

High data rates up to 10 Gbps
Low latency for mission-critical applications
Applications include autonomous driving, AR/VR, and high-resolution displays

Technical Challenges

5G technology has been released in various countries, including the UK, with international operators. Many companies, including Ericsson, Nokia, and Siemens, are involved in building the infrastructure and user equipment.

Challenges for RF Engineers

Massive MIMO and phased array antennas
Frequency bands extending to millimeter waves

Phased Array Antennas

Phased arrays involve a large number of elements and require design and testing for different directionality. This involves:

Angular beam movement
Testing for multiple beams and inputs

Frequency Bands

5G extends to millimeter waves, providing bandwidth for high-speed data. Frequencies range from 28 to beyond 60 GHz, posing challenges for RF engineers.

Over-The-Air Testing

Due to the complexity of phased arrays and millimeter waves, over-the-air testing becomes crucial. This involves:

Near-field and far-field antenna measurements
Compact range testing using parabolic reflectors

Simulation and Modeling

Using tools like HFSS and ANSYS, engineers can simulate and evaluate test facilities. This involves:

Modeling reflectors and feed horns
Using SPR plus for large structures
Linking models to Sevent for near-field solutions

Conclusion

5G development is significant for RF engineers, focusing on phased arrays and millimeter waves. Over-the-air testing is essential, and simulation tools like ANSYS provide capabilities to evaluate test facilities.

Questions

If you have any questions, feel free to ask now or send an email later. Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful rest of the day.

Transcript

[This was auto-generated. There may be mispellings.]

The broadcast is starting. All attendees are in listen-only mode. I will begin the webinar in two minutes. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining today. Good morning, everyone. I will begin the webinar in two minutes. Thanks for joining today. Good morning, everyone.

I will begin the webinar in two minutes. Thanks for joining today. Good morning, everyone. I will begin the webinar in two minutes. Thanks for joining today. Good morning, everyone. I will begin the webinar in two minutes. Thanks for joining today. Good morning, everyone.

I will begin the webinar in two minutes. Thanks for joining today. Janet Carefulinen, good morning, everyone. I will begin the webinar in two minutes. Thanks for joining today. Good morning, everyone. I will begin the webinar in two minutes. Thanks for joining today.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are discussing 5G today, which promises high data rates of up to 10 gigabits per second, low latency of a fraction of milliseconds, and various applications such as mission-critical autonomous driving, audio augmented reality, virtual reality, 4K high resolution, and 8K displays. 5G has been proven and studied in countries like Asia, and it has been released in the UK with international operators in the French border.

The technology has been developed by companies such as Ericsson, Nokia, and Siemens, who have built the towers, the network, and the user equipment segments, including smartphones.

For RF engineers, there are two major challenges in 5G development: massive MIMO three-dimensional full dimensional MIMO phased array antennas that generate reconfigurable beams instead of static beams, and the use of high frequencies in the millimeter wave range, according to FR 2. Phased arrays will require a large number of elements and different directionality, which will require faster testing to lower the cost of production and development.

High frequencies will make it more difficult to interrupt and build small discontinuities between different thicknesses, stages of the RF block diagrams. Therefore, conducted test is no longer a good option, and people are relying more on over-the-air testing, which is our topic today.

In 5G, over-the-air testing is more important due to the complexity of phased arrays and the beamforming network, as well as the use of millimeter wave.

Antenna measurements include the circuit part, which is the input impedance, and the performance part, which includes antenna patterns, antenna gain, total radiated power, sensitivity, and total TIS. These measurements can be categorized into near field and far field facilities.

Near field measurements include spherical near field, planar near field, and cylindrical near field, where a scanner probes the fields in the proximity around the antenna.

Far field measurements involve the transmitter generating a spherical wave around the transmitter, which looks planar to the receiver at large distances.

To achieve the far field distance in 5G, the formula is 2d^2/λ, where d is the size of the antenna radiation mechanism and λ is the operating frequency.

A compact range can be used to generate a plane wave in a much shorter distance using a parabolic reflector, where the spherical wave source is at the focal point.

However, the truncation of the reflector creates an edge that generates diffraction, which contaminates the test zone and causes errors in the measurements. To minimize these ripples, a reflector can be designed with a serrated edge or a rectangular aperture.

If a company wants to build its own test facility, it can use HFSS to generate a model of the reflector and the feed horn, and then capsulate the feed horn as a 3D component in HFSS.

The reflector can be defined with an edge and a dynamic structure, and SPR plus can be used to solve larger structures without having to do extensive mesh around it.

The modeling strategy includes using conventional HFSS to model the detailed and small structure, and then capsulating it as a 3D model and moving it to the car structure.

SPR plus solution type can be used next to the scattering object, which is a car in this example, and Sevent can be used to link the results or models together.

The near field solutions will be available in the future, and the equivalent currents on the encapsulation box can represent the near field and far field needed for the problem.

The reflector can be taken as a CAD tool or structure scattering structure as a CAD file, and the capsulated feed 3D component can be analyzed by HFSS. The near field probing can be defined, and the observation points can be several planes.

The reflector edge can be redefined for the BTD correction, and rays can be launched to the reflector for visualization. The feed can be pointed correctly, and the patterns can be generated in Sevent.

The results of two cases, circular rim and serrated edge over a circle, can be compared, and the uniformity of the near fields and the size of the test zone can be determined. The existing hoops can be used for another surface, and the reflector can have a face taper instead of amplitude taper.

Resistive sheets or absorbers can be used to generate the taper at the edge, minimizing edge diffraction. In summary, 5G is an important development for RF engineers, requiring massive MIMO three-dimensional full dimensional MIMO phased array antennas and the use of millimeter wave frequencies.

Over-the-air testing is more important due to the complexity of phased arrays and the beamforming network, as well as the use of millimeter wave. ANSYS provides tools and capabilities to generate and evaluate test facilities for over-the-air testing.

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