Rohde & Schwarz, a mobile network testing company, will launch the world’s first 5G NR network measurement solution at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Americas 2018.

Germany-based Rohde & Schwarz said the 5G NR network measurement solution enables users in the 5G network ecosystem as well as regulators to measure the 5G NR network coverage accurately.

Engineers in network planning team can also verify the correct operation of beamforming and interworking between 5G and other technologies.

The world’s first commercial 5G NR network measurement solution consists of network scanner with matching 5G NR scanning software and the R&S ROMES4 drive test software suite.

Rohde & Schwarz said it conducted tests in the field in pre-commercial 5G NR network trials in support of a tier 1 operator and a global 5G NR infrastructure supplier.

Rohde & Schwarz will supply two test scanners: R&S TSME6 drive test scanner or the R&S TSMA6 autonomous mobile network scanner featuring a built-in network PC. Both test scanners feature 5G NR scanning software cover both standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) network architectures.

The R&S ROMES4 drive test software provides analysis and visualization of all existing 3GPP technologies, such as GSM, UMTS/HSPA and LTE, including the IoT technologies NB-IoT and LTE-M.

Telecom engineers can the drive test software on the controlling laptop when used with the R&S TSME6 or on the built-in network PC of the R&S TSMA6, leaving measurement control to a tablet. Test equipment with an appropriate antenna in a portable backpack or shoulder bag will facilitate field measurements for efficient drive and walk testing.

The R&S ROMES4 software will connect with 5G NR devices such as evaluation boards, USB dongles and pre-commercial 5G smartphones. This allows adopters of 5G NR to gain insights into a device’s performance and its interaction with real 5G NR networks.

5G NR network measurement solution is integrated into the Rohde & Schwarz mobile network testing Smart platform. This platform provides analytics functions to maximize the value of the collected measurement data over the entire test cycle, from lab verification to field acceptance, troubleshooting, optimization, benchmarking and monitoring.

Dietmar Vahldiek, executive vice president Monitoring and Network Testing at Rohde & Schwarz, said the R&S TSME6 scanner with R&S TSME6-K50 5G NR scanning software, the R&S TSMA6 scanner with R&S TSMA6-K50 5G NR scanning software and the R&S ROMES4 drive test software for analysis and visualization of 5G NR and all other mobile technologies, are now available from Rohde & Schwarz.