WiMAX

Testing WiMAX

Like WiFi, WiMAX is a trademark used to describe a broadband wireless network technology based on one of the IEEE 802.16x industry standards1. Today, most new WiMAX-based products adopt the 802.16e-2005 standard.

A WiMAX-equipped device is a transceiver that sends and receives signals primarily in frequency bands of 2.3, 2.5 and 3.5 GHz, however there is no uniform licensed spectrum for this technology.

WiMAX takes advantage of multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) technology in which both basestation systems and client devices may have multiple transmitters, receivers and antennas. During development of a WiMAX-equipped device, you have to ensure that the design meets the appropriate IEEE 802.16 standard for both transmitting (TX) and receiving (RX). You need a means of capturing the device’s transmitted signal(s) and analyzing it (them) to make sure the characteristics are consistent with the standard. You also need a way of generating an appropriately structured WiMAX signal, or signals, so that the device’s receiver(s) can be tested against specifications for sensitivity, bit error rate (BER), and packet error rate (PER).

Although you could use discrete instruments, such as signal generators, spectrum analyzers, power meters, and switching to perform various TX and RX tests, this is a tedious and time-consuming approach. Instead, LitePoint has pioneered a better solution in which all the necessary tools are integrated into a single unit which allows you to do extensive TX and RX testing. The graphical user interface is designed to make control intuitive and to provide valuable graphical and tabular results information. For MIMO development testing, multiple units can be combined and synchronized to provide “true” WiMAX MIMO testing.

IQmax is designed for both development and production testing. The IQmax-50 is a WiMAX-only production test system. The IQmax-100 is a WiMAX production test system that can be optioned to test WiFi, also. IQmax-300 comes ready for both WiMAX and WiFi production testing.  And, LitePoint’s IQmax-750 is multi-stream MIMO ready and the basic unit for IQnxn used for WiMAX/WiFi true MIMO development testing.

LitePoint’s IQsignal plus IQwave software provide the graphical user interface plus a very versatile tool for creating RX test waveforms. They are used with IQmax-750 and IQnxn to provide precise and comprehensive development testing. IQfact software products are chipset-specific manufacturing test programs that run on IQmax and provide the fastest solutions for production WiMAX testing, and the quickest transition from development to volume production.

Some devices have a combination of wireless standards, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and FM. LitePoint makes the world’s only Multicom tester – IQ2010 – designed for testing multiple-radio devices where each standard is tested, faster, and in parallel.