WLAN software slashes signal creation time

9th March 2015

Keysight Technologies (formerly Agilent)

Mick Elliott

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Datasheet

Keysight Technologies says that its N7617B Signal Studio for 802.11 WLAN software is the industry’s first flexible 802.11ah signal creation solution. It supports a variety of Keysight vector signal generators. Signal Studio provides flexible, standard-based waveforms for testing 802.11ah-enabled Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. With this announcement, Signal Studio now supports all major evolutions of the 802.11 standard, including 802.11a/b/g/j/p and 802.11n/ac.

IEEE 802.11ah is an emerging standard that defines a WLAN system operating in sub 1-GHz, license-exempt bands. This emerging standard is viewed as a key enabler of IoT devices, relying on power efficient, long range and scalable Wi-Fi services. Compared to existing 802.11 standards operating in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, 802.11ah offers a significantly improved transmission range. This makes it ideal for use in large-scale sensor networks, extended range hotspots, power efficient devices, and outdoor Wi-Fi for cellular traffic offloading.

Keysight’s Signal Studio for WLAN reduces the time spent on signal creation. Its application-specific interface supports all physical layer parameters enabling users to create and customise standards-based, performance-validated signals for component, transmitter and receiver test. Designers can use the basic capabilities (Option JFP) of the software to create partially-coded signals for transmitter or component test, while the advanced capabilities, Option UFP, creates fully-coded signals for receiver test.

After the creation of the 802.11ah-compliant reference signals, engineers can download them to a variety of Keysight instruments for real-world testing. The Signal Studio for WLAN software supports Keysight’s bench-top vector signal generators – MXG, EXG, ESG and PSG - the modular M9381A PXI vector signal generator and the E6640A EXM one-box tester