Anritsu Achieves GCF Approval for Industry First FR1 FR2 Dual Connectivity Test Cases

Anritsu Corporation is pleased to announce that the Global Certification forum's (GCF) Certification Agreement Group (CAG) has approved the industry first Dual Connectivity Protocol Conformance test for Standalone (SA) 5G New Radio (NR) on the ME7834NR Protocol Test Platform at their CAG#70 meeting held in April 2022.

NR Dual Connectivity (NR DC) allows a device to connect to two 5G NR serving nodes concurrently enabling higher throughput, better coverage, and improved latency and reliability.

This is the first test where NR SA is operated over millimeter Wave (mmWave), and sub-6GHz frequencies simultaneously. 5G devices can now take advantage of the wider reach of mid-band sub-6 GHz frequencies along with the high data rates supported by mmWave.

The conformance tests are defined by 3GPP in TS 38.523-1 and have earlier been verified by Anritsu at 3GPP RAN WG5 (Radio Access Network Working Group 5). These tests have also been submitted to PTCRB (PCS Type Certification Review Board) PVG (PTCRB Validation group) for approval in the upcoming PVG#97 meeting.

The ME7834NR Protocol Conformance test Platform is registered with both the GCF and PTCRB as Test Platform (TP) 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 (RAT). It supports 5G NR in both Standalone (SA) and Non-Standalone (NSA) mode in addition to LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LTE-A Pro, and W-CDMA. When combined with Anritsu’s new OTA chamber MA8171A and RF converters, the ME7834NR covers the sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G frequency bands.