MVG’s new 5G mmWave OTA test solution, StarWave, improves test efficiency

Microwave Vision Group (MVG) of France recently announced the launch of StarWave, a new solution for 5G millimeter wave OTA testing. StarWave combines an intelligent mechanical positioner and a plane wave generator to create precise and direct far-field conditions in a compact system while testing multiple different frequency bands, thereby improving test efficiency and optimizing the time to market for 5G devices.

Globally, the commercialization of 5G is accelerating, and China has also begun to build new infrastructure for 5G networks. Realizing the global 5G vision depends largely on providing effective and powerful wireless connections, so antenna testing for any 5G device needs to be optimized. Full system performance testing, especially accurate evaluation and analysis of antenna testing, plays a very important role in providing the wireless connections required to realize revolutionary 5G applications.

5G devices require OTA test methods, but they bring many challenges in both near-field and far-field when testing the latest antenna technologies, such as dynamically steerable beams and the evolution to massive MIMO base transceivers, wide bandwidths and mmWave frequencies, mmWave omnidirectional antenna OTA testing, and real-time end-to-end testing of devices that are being worn and/or operated by the user. Currently, there are no solutions on the market that can provide accurate far-field OTA test conditions for mmWave devices, or provide real-time end-to-end testing.

StarWave was created to meet the evolving needs of OTA testing of 5G devices. As the most compact solution on the market, StarWave allows flexible, accurate and efficient testing of 5G devices. It consists of one or several (up to seven) plane wave generators fixed at 90 degrees to a vertical and rotating disk. On the front side of the disk there is an electromagnetically transparent mast mounted on an azimuth positioner to support and rotate the device under test. Depending on the device, the interface used between the mast and the device under test may include a chair where the person holding the device can sit.