Wider bandwidths and faster channel dynamics testing now in Bristol

Group photo from Anite training event

Press release issued: 23 September 2015

The University of Bristol’s 5G research has been given a boost thanks to a grant of £540,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for a state-of-the-art upgrade to Bristol’s wireless channel emulation facility.

Researchers and collaborators associated with Bristol’s Communication Systems and Networks (CSN) Group now have a pair of Anite F8 channel emulators and duplexing filters enriching the test and measurement equipment in their laboratory. The funding, through an EPSRC equipment award, also included a multi-day training event from experts at Anite to ensure the equipment is used effectively.

The new hardware can be rapidly configured to support up to 16 independent streams with a bandwidth of 160MHz, therefore facilitating the testing and optimisation of the latest proposals for WiFi and long-term evolution (LTE) enhancements. Uniquely for Bristol’s configuration, the multiple channels can be ‘stacked’ in the frequency domain facilitating the test and optimisation of antenna array and beamforming techniques for millimetre wave wireless access technologies.

Professor Andrew Nix, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and who leads the CSN Group at Bristol, said: “Anite’s Propsim F8 channel emulators with enhanced bandwidth capability will open a new avenue in our 5G research projects, such as mmMAGIC and 5G-XHaul, part of the Horizon 2020 programme, as well as collaborative projects with industry.“

Mark Beach, Professor of Radio Systems Engineering and Manager of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Communications, commented: “At Bristol we offer our wireless researchers the best possible equipment and training. This EPSRC funding complements awards made to the EPSRC CDT in Communications and it was a real pleasure to share the training with some of our academic and industrial collaborators.”

Paul Beaver, Products Director at Anite’s Device & Infrastructure Business, added: “Anite is delighted to support the University of Bristol, helping them upgrade their state-of-the-art wireless channel emulation facility and achieve their 5G research goals.”

Researchers from the universities of Southampton, Sheffield and Heriot Watt, industrial collaborators including engineers from BluWireless, Jaguar LandRover and Toshiba joined colleagues from Bristol for a bespoke training event last week [16-18 September]. In addition to in-depth explanations of the emulator’s architecture and how this relates to the channel models in the latest wireless standards, delegates also had the opportunity to try some hands-on experimentation with this new equipment.

Further information

Researchers with the Communication Systems and Networks Group will make extensive use of this equipment.

About Anite
Anite is a leading supplier of test and measurement solutions to the international wireless market. It provides testing, measurement, optimisation and analytics systems based on its specialist sector knowledge and its proprietary software and hardware products. Customers include major manufacturers of mobile devices, chipsets and network equipment, mobile network operators, regulatory authorities, and independent test houses.

Its 500+ staff work from offices in 15 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.

Anite is now part of Keysight Technologies.

For more information, please visit the company's website: http://www.anite.com

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
As the main funding agency for engineering and physical sciences research, our vision is for the UK to be the best place in the world to Research, Discover and Innovate.

By investing £800 million a year in research and postgraduate training, we are building the knowledge and skills base needed to address the scientific and technological challenges facing the nation. Our portfolio covers a vast range of fields from healthcare technologies to structural engineering, manufacturing to mathematics, advanced materials to chemistry. The research we fund has impact across all sectors. It provides a platform for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone’s health, lifestyle and culture.

We work collectively with our partners and other Research Councils on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK.