To help facilitate the production of wireless devices, Rohde & Schwarz came up the CMW500 non-signaling tester. Featuring a frequency range up to 6GHz and an IF bandwidth of 40MHz/70MHz (analyzer/generator), the production tester was designed to anticipate future technological developments. In turn, it lends itself to minimising test costs, and improves safety of investment. The CMW500 one-box tester includes a powerful RF analyzer and generator. This combination plus a new test concept maximises test performance, minimises space requirements, and, comparatively, lowers power consumption. "Modern mobile phones are becoming more and more complex," says Anton Messmer, director of the Mobile Radio Testers Subdivision. "The test effort increases with every new technology and every additional frequency band. To curb the growth in test times and costs, completely new approaches are needed. That’s the reason Rohde & Schwarz developed the R&S Smart Alignment test concept for manufacturers of chipsets and wireless devices. By applying this test concept, alignment times are up to ten times faster than with conventional methods." A prerequisite for minimum production costs is maximum first pass yield. Yield depends on optimising the entire production process, where the measurement accuracy of the individual components involved is crucial. For this reason, very high standards—especially with regard to absolute accuracy, repeatability, and linearity—were set during the development of the CMW500. The tester presently supports GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, mobile WiMAX, CDMA2000, and TD-SCDMA as options. Other technologies are expected to follow. With a frequency range of 3.3GHz, the base unit supports all key mobile radio bands used today. Since the range can be easily extended from 3.3 to 6GHz with software, the tester is excellently positioned for future developments. Due to the CMW500’s high stability, users can extend the calibration interval to two years, generating further cost savings.
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