Ethertronics Offers New Portable Millimeter Wave Measurement System

AVX, manufacturer and supplier of advanced electronic components and interconnect, sensor, control, and antenna solutions, announced that Ethertronics, an AVX Group Company, has released the new Ethertronics ETH-MMW-1000 Millimeter Measurement System: a compact, cost-effective, accurate, and adaptable portable solution for testing 5G antennas and other devices at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies.

Suitable for all mmWave system development and validation — including 5G communications, telecom industry research and development, university research, and other mobile communications and mmWave device testing — this new modular, mobile, far-field measurement solution offers a shielded environment to ensure stable measurement results over a wide frequency range, requires no up or down frequency conversion to ensure excellent phase stability and accuracy, and is easy to install and relocate within both new and existing laboratory and production environments.

The ETH-MMW-1000 Millimeter Measurement System is a fully anechoic aluminum enclosure on a mobile chassis with steerable lifting wheels that enable quick and easy relocation and provide optimal stability during measurements. It is equipped with sliding doors for easy access to the center of the system and the device under test (DUT), as well as a distributed axis positioning system that is comprised of a height-adjustable, PVC, azimuth mast rotator that rotates the DUT about the Phi axis and a Theta ring positioner that elevates the measurement horns around the DUT.

Designed to accommodate various device sizes, weights and form factors, the system is available with several mechanical interfaces for the mast, including a 300mm-diameter half-sphere with dedicated notches that allow users to easily position DUTs, such as tablets and phones, both horizontally and vertically. Standard system components also include a slip ring within the mast that allows users to bring both power and digital control signal to the DUT, a rectangular horn antenna, rubberized absorbers, an integrated gigahertz control unit, and an assembled RF path comprised of high-performance cables, rectangular waveguides that minimize path losses and ensure maximum measurement accuracy, measurement horns, amplification stages and switches.

No up or down frequency converter is used on the RF path to ensure excellent phase accuracy and stability. The Millimeter Measurement System also includes an integrated computer complete with Ethertronics Antenna Measurement software for measurement control and data acquisition and Ethertronics Antenna Viewer software for post-processing and tabular or graphical data output. In addition, each system comes with installation, training, and warranty services. Optional components and services include calibration kits, custom mast and interface materials and designs, and post-warranty service plans.

The Millimeter Measurement System can perform passive antenna testing, active signaling, and non-signaling testing with complete devices and is compatible with most vector network analyzers (VNAs), spectrum analyzers, and communication testers manufactured by Keysight Technologies, Rohde & Schwarz, and Anritsu.

“Designed with both current and future application utility in mind, the new ETH-MMW-1000 Millimeter Measurement System leverages Ethertronics’ antenna design, manufacturing, and testing expertise, an array of quality components, and a space-efficient but comprehensive and effective modular, mobile design to deliver maximum performance and an optimal user experience when testing 5G antennas and other electronic devices at millimeter wave frequencies extending from 18GHz to 75GHz and beyond,” says Olivier Pajona, chief scientist and general manager at Ethertronics, an AVX Group Company.

Ethertronics’ ETH-MMW-1000 Millimeter Measurement System employs far-field, spherical technology with myriad measurement capabilities, including oversampling, gain, directivity, efficiency, beam width, cross polar discrimination, 3-D radiation pattern, radiation pattern in any polarization, effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP), total radiated power (TRP), effective isotropic sensitivity (EIS), and total isotropic sensitivity (TIS). Each measurement frequency has a dedicated path associated with a common amplification stage, but combinations of several mmWave frequency bands, including 18–26.5GHz, 26.5–40GHz, 33–50GHz, 40–60GHz, 50–67GHz, and 50–75GHz, are possible. The number of measurement probes can also be optimized to hasten measurement time. The system requires a minimum of two measurement probes to cover H and V polarizations, but can accommodate up to 12 probes on the ring positioner.

The mobile Millimeter Measurement System is compatible with test devices up to 45cm in size and 10kg in weight. Lead-time for the Millimeter Measurement System is currently three months.

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Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.