Huawei launches the world's first SG178 BTS antenna testing system

Shenzhen, China, August 19, 2016

Huawei launched the world’s first SG178 multi-probe spherical near-field testing system, supporting radiating characteristics testing for Base Transceiver Station (BTS) antenna during product development and production. This testing system doubles the test accuracy compared to indoor far field and near field test range and supports more antenna types and wider frequency bands. In addition, it is the only testing system in the industry to support active antenna and Massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) OTA (Over-The-Air) tests.

The rapid development of MBB presents new challenges for the antenna test technique from the perspectives of efficiency, accuracy, and testing function. There are three major testing systems for BTS antenna testing: indoor far field test range, spherical near-field test range, and compact test range. Among these, multi-probe spherical near-field test range can best meet the demands of BTS antenna in test efficiency and accuracy. Therefore, it has been widely applied around the globe and has become a mainstream standard solution for BTS antenna testing.

Huawei now has multiple SG128 multi-probe spherical near-field test ranges, dedicated to providing high-quality passive and active antenna solutions and meeting the demands of Massive MIMO techniques for network evolution. Furthermore, Huawei has also built the unique SG178 testing system, which provides the following key advantages: SG178 has 178 probes, achieving the industry's highest sampling density and doubling the test accuracy; SG178 boasts a 20-fold increase in test efficiency compared to far field test range; in addition, SG178 is the unique testing system in the industry to support active antenna and Massive MIMO OTA tests.

Testing capability in itself is a guarantee during antenna development. Efficient and accurate testing can significantly shorten the required time for antenna development. As the provider boasting the synergy design capability between base station and antenna, Huawei has released a series of innovative antenna and AAU products with the help of these advanced testing systems. Meanwhile, Huawei continuously invests in the research of future antenna key technology, including new spectrums and Massive MIMO.

Zhou Taoyuan, President of Huawei Antenna Business Unit said: "In order to help operators construct high quality MBB networks that satisfy future network evolution requirements, Huawei is committed to providing best-performance future-oriented antenna solutions, which addresses the challenges faced by operators in the imminent transition to a new era of MBB and further assist operators to achieve commercial success."