National Instruments(National Instruments, NI for short) is a software-defined platform provider that helps accelerate the development and performance of automated test and automated measurement systems. The company today released a new Wi-Fi 6 front-end test reference architecture. It can comprehensively, accurately and quickly test the latest Wi-Fi 6 power amplifier (PA) and front-end module (FEM) operating in the new frequency band above 6 GHz.

The NI Wi-Fi 6 front-end test reference architecture not only meets the Wi-Fi test range requirements of the newly approved frequency band from 6 to 7.125 GHz, but also improves the bandwidth, accuracy, and test speed of the vector signal transceiver (VST). The vector signal transceiver is a widely deployed and proven workhorse device that combines an RF signal generator and a signal analyzer with an instantaneous bandwidth of 1 GHz (up to 12 GHz). This solution can provide excellent linearity, low noise and high dynamic range for engineers performing PA/FEM characteristic analysis and verification, thereby fully verifying the performance of Wi-Fi 6 1024-QAM. The reference architecture can also adjust the power level based on the FPGA, thereby simplifying the dynamic measurement process of the EVM and increasing the test speed at the same time.

As chip makers race to commercialize the latest Wi-Fi 6 products, engineers have a very difficult task-not only to speed up the progress of the products, but also to meet more test requirements for higher frequency bands. The instrumentation and measurement IP of the Wi-Fi 6 front-end test reference architecture can be used for both verification laboratory and production testing, thereby simplifying the production process and greatly shortening the correlation and test system development time.

"For engineers who need to provide comprehensive and reliable data across the entire Wi-Fi band in a short time, VST's wide frequency range coverage and high instantaneous bandwidth are critical," said Stefanie Breyer, vice president of product planning at NI. "The choice is based on NI The software-defined platform test system helps them keep up with the latest developments in wireless standards."

NI has been committed to continuously expanding the scope of product testing, while helping users shorten the time to market for PA/FEM equipment. The VST-based Wi-Fi 6 front-end test reference architecture released this time is the latest result of this effort. This solution completes the NI modular instrument product line and measurement software, and can analyze and verify the characteristics of the latest Wi-Fi 6 RFIC devices in the 2.4 to 7 GHz and higher frequency bands.