04 July 2024

Anritsu Corporation has extended the functionality of its Signalling Tester MD8430A with the introduction of a protocol test solution for Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) devices for geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites.

With the upgrade, the MD8430A can now support NTN Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technologies.

Since the standardisation of NTN communications in 3GPP Release 17, the satellite communication service market has rapidly grown, and various verifications based on the standard specifications have become necessary. For GEO satellites, NTN device vendors need test environments that can simulate the communication delay over a distance of approximately 36,000km between satellite and device. Satellites must also transmit information over this distance to the device for delay compensation. To support these test requirements, Anritsu has developed a protocol test solution that boasts high reliability built on test experiences with market-leading customers and high flexibility in condition setting.

The MD8430A is a base station simulator that can build a simulated network necessary for the development of chipsets and devices. With its software option NTN NB-IoT (GEO) MD8430A-043 and its control software option NTN over IoT Framework for RTD MX800050A-070, the MD8430A can be connected to an NTN device for GEO satellites, which makes it possible to test the connection with the NTN network and roaming between the terrestrial network and NTN network, among others.