Keysight Validates Design of Astella 5G Open RAN Millimeter Wave Small Cell Base Station

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Keysight Technologies, Inc. has validated the performance and design of an Astella 5G Open RAN millimeter wave (mmWave) small cell base station using the end-to-end Keysight Open RAN Architect (KORA) solutions in compliance with 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards.

As new mobile network architectures based on disaggregated 5G Open RAN solutions increase the complexity of network ecosystems and RAN technologies, infrastructure vendors need accurate and efficient testing solutions to validate designs and performance. To meet this need, Keysight provides Open RAN solution providers such as Astella with Open RAN design, emulation, and test expertise to bring new equipment to the market faster.

Working closely together, Keysight and Astella validated 5G Open RAN small cell base stations end-to-end by emulating the network functions of a 5G mmWave integrated small cell, a 5G customer premises equipment (CPE), and a 5G core network configured in 5G NR standalone mode. A Keysight N9020B MXA Signal Analyzer was used to ensure a high quality mmWave connection over-the-air and successful protocol transaction on Layer 1 using 3GPP specifications. In addition, the 89600 PathWave Vector Signal Analysis (VSA) software was used to analyze and demodulate the mmWave signal transmission from the small cell. Using Keysight´s test methodologies, Astella ensured the qualification of its product design and validated that the 5G signal constellation and decoded results adhere to 3GPP and Open RAN specifications.

Dr. Eric Tsang, CEO of Astella Technologies Limited, said: “We successfully used Keysight's PathWave software solutions and signal analyzer to demonstrate 5G signal transmitting from our commercial CPE. Deploying Keysight´s solutions enables our clients to launch their high-performance products at competitive pricing in a timely manner."

Peng Cao, Vice President and General Manager for Keysight's Wireless Test Group, said: "We are delighted to support Astella as a part of the expanding Open RAN ecosystem and jointly accelerate the Open RAN equipment development and commercial deployment compliant to industry standards. Keysight's solutions are enabling Astella to continuously optimize and enhance their software to reduce time-to-market."