Rohde & Schwarz has successfully validated 5G RedCap (Reduced Capability) test cases for its R&S CMX500 one-box signaling tester and the R&S TS8980 conformance test system at the 74th meeting of the Conformance Agreement Group (CAG).
The Global Certification Forum (GCF) activated the corresponding work items in its certification program. Manufacturers of IoT chipsets, modems and terminals, as well as test houses, can rely on these proven Rohde & Schwarz solutions covering a total of 387 5G RedCap test cases for all device production phases, from early research and development to conformance testing for type approval.
5G RedCap (also known as 5G NR-Light) introduces true Enhanced Machine-Type Communications (eMTC) for medium performance requirements into the 5G ecosystem. New devices with this technology will bridge the performance and complexity gap between the slow narrowband Internet of Things (NBIoT) and other, earlier standards on the one hand and 5G on the other with an optimized design for mid-tier use cases, industrial automation sensors, smart cameras and wearables. Compared to devices for Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) use cases, 5G RedCap reduces the number of antennas, complexity, spectrum bandwidth used and power consumption of the devices, and limits operation to standalone (SA) mode.
As part of the R&S TS8980 RF test system, the R&S CMX500 OBT tester can be used for 5G RedCap protocol conformance testing as well as RF and RRM conformance testing. At the same time, both platforms can be used to verify the proper operation of RedCap terminals in a legacy network.
