Anritsu in collaboration with Qualcomm verifies industry first Release 16 Minimization of Drive Test for 5G New Radio Standalone mode

Vienna, Austria, September 22, 2021 - Anritsu Corporation is pleased to announce that the first Release 16 Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) Protocol Conformance Test for 5G New Radio (NR) Standalone (SA) has been verified on the 5G NR Mobile Device Test Platform ME7834NR powered by the Snapdragon® X65 5G Modem-RF System, the world’s first Release 16 modem-RF system.

3GPP Release 16 defines many enhancements for 5G NR, some of these are extensions to existing features and others are new features for addressing new industry verticals and network deployment scenarios. MDT feature was first introduced for 4G LTE with an aim to use measurements reports from User Equipment (UE) to simplify network planning / optimization tasks that would otherwise depend fully on live drive testing. With Release 16 enhancements, MDT can be applied to 5G NR networks.

Mr. Shinya Ajiro, General Manager of Mobile Solutions Division at Anritsu said, “Our continued collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies enables us to support the wireless industry bring new 5G advanced features to market quickly.”

The conformance tests are defined by 3GPP in TS 38.523-1 corresponding to core requirements in TS 38.331 and have been submitted to 3GPP RAN WG5 (Radio Access Network Working Group 5) by Anritsu and others. These tests will also be submitted to GCF (Global Certification Forum) CAG (Certification Agreement Group), and PTCRB (PCS Type Certification Review Board) PVG (PTCRB Validation Group) for approval in the upcoming meetings.

5G NR Mobile Device Test Platform ME7834NR

The 5G NR Mobile Device Test Platform ME7834NR is registered with both the GCF and PTCRB as Test Platform 251.

The ME7834NR is a test platform for 3GPP-based Protocol Conformance Test (PCT) and Carrier Acceptance Testing (CAT) of mobile devices incorporating Multiple Radio Access Technologies. It supports 5G NR in both Standalone and Non-Standalone mode in addition to LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-A Pro, and W-CDMA. When combined with Anritsu’s OTA RF chamber MA8171A and RF converters, the ME7834NR covers the sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G frequency bands.