Donation expands interoperability lab coverage

The Interoperability Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire can now expand its wireless device testing following the donation of wireless test equipment from Rohde and Schwarz.

The Interoperability Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire can now expand its wireless device testing to include a wider range of technologies such as Bluetooth, Zigbee and WiMAX following the donation of wireless test equipment from Rohde and Schwarz.

The University of New Hampshire Wireless LAN Consortium is an industry-supported organisation that works in conjunction with its member companies to provide a neutral testing and debugging environment for refining conformance and fostering interoperability of wireless LAN devices.

The consortium performs time-saving wireless precertification testing for members of the Wi-Fi Alliance and participates in Networld+Interop iLabs initiatives.

Rohde and Schwarz has donated a FSQ26 signal analyser and an SMU200A vector signal generator to the laboratory valued at nearly $170,000.

The equipment expands the laboratory's large arsenal of wireless testing gear, which already includes the Rohde and Schwarz PTW70 protocol tester (which is used to test wireless local area networks) as well as test equipment from other leading wireless test equipment manufacturers.

"The interoperability laboratory offers a strong wireless testing program that will speed time to market and improve product conformance and very likely throughput as well", said Joerg Fries, Head of Product Management for Spectrum Analysers at Rohde and Schwarz.

"We are delighted to be associated with the laboratory, which has 16 years of experience and has developed an impressive reputation".

The laboratory currently tests 802.11b and 802.11g WiFi equipment up to 3GHz, and the new equipment expands that range to include 802.11a and 802.11j, which operate in the 4.9 to 5GHz range.

It also allows testing of many other wireless technologies, such as those covered by the 802.15 standard, including Bluetooth and Zigbee.

The signal generator allows the laboratory to develop a set of wireless receiver tests to supplement current physical layer transmitter testing.

"This generous donation allows us to put very-high-quality hardware at our member companies", said Gerard Goubert, Interoperability Laboratory Wireless and VoX Consortium Manager.

"They'll skip the cost of training and maintenance and get engineers who can validate the results against prior equipment and debug problems with an intimate knowledge of the software".

"We will also be able to compare various vendors' measurements taken on their in-house equipment against measurements taken with the new Rohde and Schwarz gear".

Back to top