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Aeroflex IQCreator signal generation software now supports WiMAX

21st November 2006

ES Admin

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Aeroflex has announced IQCreator version 8.3 with significant new features to support the rapidly growing WiMAX 802.16 standard for Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks. The new version of IQCreator also adds support for CDMA2000 1xEvDO rev A uplink capabilities. Aeroflex frequently updates its IQCreator software to support the RF signal generation needs of engineers designing and testing the latest consumer wireless devices. It is available free-of-charge from Aeroflex on the company’s web site.

WiMAX 802.16 modulation - IQCreator 8.3 further extends the capabilities of this versatile waveform creation tool for use with the 3410 Series and the 3000 Series PXI Digital RF Signal Generators. For WiMAX, IQCreator enhances the capabilities of Aeroflex’s digital signal generators to provide signals suitable for supporting both IEEE 802.16 (2004) OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) and IEEE802.16 (2005) OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access). Users can create arbitrary waveforms representing both WiMAX uplink and downlinks in both FDD (Frequency Domain Duplex) as well as the TDD (Time Domain Duplex) systems. An intuitive user interface is provided to allow selection of the fundamental settings according to the 802.16 specifications.

The user may construct frames with an uplink and/or downlink subframe according to the chosen duplex mode. The interface automatically displays the OFDMA symbol time for the chosen parametric settings along with a graphical display of the frame content. In each subframe, the user may add a number of permutation zones. Each permutation zone can be populated with bursts of modulated data. An easy to use, click-and-drag interface is provided to allow the user to manipulate the data bursts in the permutation zone.

1xEvDO support updated in IQCreator 8.3 - The CDMA2000 1xEvDO capability has been further extended to include support for 1xEvDO rev A uplink. In addition to providing support for the default subtype 0 physical layer protocol (used in standard 1xEvDO), 1xEvDO rev A provides support for two new physical layer protocols, subtype 1 and subtype 2.

Other enhancements included in IQCreator 8.3 are user-defined shift keying, multi-carrier update, user modulation update and a 3030 series signal generator packager to allow sample rates between 33 MHz and 44 MHz.

IQCreator is a Windows-based software application that enables a user to set up a modulation scheme and then create an ARB file for use in conjunction with either the 3410 Series or 3020 PXI Series signal generators. Graphical displays of the waveform FFT, vector and constellation diagrams, and more can be viewed and exported for use in other Windows applications. The ARB file may be saved or downloaded into the ARB. User-defined configurations can also be saved. Consequently, it is possible to load previously saved setups to regenerate the ARB files quickly and easily.

IQCreator software is supplied free with the Aeroflex 3410 Series signal generators and the PXI-based 3020 Series signal generators. IQCreator version 8.3 is available for download from Aeroflex on the company’s Web site at: http://www.aeroflex.com/products/signalsources/IQCreator.cfm.