LTE testing becomes a battlefield, with big manufacturers showing strong firepower (Part 1)

The mobile communications market has been in turmoil recently, with LTE being pushed to the forefront. China Mobile's TD-LTE terminal tender has been released, with Qualcomm/Marvell taking 80% of the TD-LTE tender orders; Ericsson has taken the lead in implementing the world's first LTE-A carrier aggregation technology; Anite has released the first LTE-A equipment testing solution that fully supports eICIC capabilities. ...

　　Various signs indicate that China is getting closer to large-scale commercial use of LTE. As one of the world's largest mobile communications markets, Chinese operators and industry players are actively deploying LTE network and terminal testing.

　　According to a research report by Frost & Sullivan, the global LTE test equipment market will grow to $2.8456 billion by 2018. The study points out that various types of test equipment and application technologies, such as research and development, manufacturing, installation, maintenance and monitoring, will drive the growth of the overall LTE test equipment market. The increased use of high-bandwidth applications and services will create countless opportunities for wireless test equipment suppliers.

　　In fact, the growing deployment of LTE has brought major challenges to wireless test equipment suppliers. This requires ensuring that LTE terminals can work seamlessly on existing networks, and also ensuring that they comply with the latest LTE standards; as a new technology that is still being deployed by some operators around the world, these service providers will tend to purchase forward and backward compatible test tools for future use and LTE testing; the parallel development of multiple LTE standards will become a complex technical problem to be solved, making interconnection with existing networks a challenge. The complexity of LTE testing and the unique application requirements from consumers have resulted in limited availability of LTE test tools in meeting multiple testing needs.

　　In order to meet the challenge and seize this wave of business opportunities, LTE test and measurement manufacturers are sharpening their swords and aiming at the market opportunities of the entire LTE chip-to-terminal industry chain testing market.

　　JDSU, Agilent Technologies, Aeroflex, Anritsu and Rohde & Schwarz are the five major companies that dominate this market. LitePoint is accelerating its layout in the Chinese market. Let's analyze these companies in detail.

　　LitePoint has launched the world's first multi-DUT test solution for 2G/3G/4G mobile devices, striving to improve the speed of production line testing and greatly shorten the product launch cycle. JDSU provides the industry's only LTE test solution for end-to-end, real-time tracking, service assurance and OSS. Agilent has currently launched test tools such as the N5182A signal generator and the N9020A signal analyzer for 3GPP LTE design automation, signal generation, signal analysis, protocol testing and network signaling analysis. Anritsu can also provide a very comprehensive LTE test solution, from the R&D stage to consistency testing to operator testing to production line testing to final installation and maintenance. The core test instruments include the MD8430A system simulator, the MS2690 spectrum analyzer signal source, the ME7873 LTE RF consistency test system, the MD1230B, the 6900A attenuation simulator, and the 8820 platform for production line testing.

　　Agilent, Rohde & Schwarz, and Aeroflex are expected to become the three major solution providers in the future Chinese LTE test solution market. LitePoint is firmly in the leading position in wireless equipment production line testing. Agilent and Rohde & Schwarz are veteran test solution providers, entering the LTE testing field early and with a relatively complete range of test tools. Aeroflex's TM500 network tester is very successful in the Chinese TD-LTE base station R&D, production and field testing market. Anritsu's market is mainly in Japan, and its voice is rarely heard in the Chinese market.

　　Anite, a British company, has recently released the first LTE-A device testing solution that fully supports eICIC capabilities. This solution is an important milestone in the field of LTE device testing, as Anite has completed the verification of this testing capability through close cooperation with a leading Asian equipment manufacturer. This leading enhanced inter-cell interference coordination capability not only highlights Anite's leading position in innovative technology, but also helps our customers produce better customer experience at the expected higher data throughput rate, and can help users easily accelerate the test deployment of LTE-A devices.

　　In fact, one of Anite's major market successes was the announcement with Huawei of the industry's first TD-LTE UE protocol conformance test solution, and the successful launch of the TD-LTE demonstration network by China Mobile at the Shanghai World Expo.