This past April, the fifth annual Brooklyn 5G Summit convened at the New York University (NYU) Tandon School of Engineering in Brooklyn, N.Y. The focus was on the latest developments in the realm of 5G communications, which was brought into view through various talks and panel discussions. In addition, the exhibition featured several companies that demonstrated impressive technology.
One demonstration was hosted by National Instruments (NI) in conjunction with W2BI. Together, the two companies displayed an end-to-end 28-GHz test system that can emulate both the 5G network and the user equipment (UE). The test system integrates radio software layers with NI’s mmWave transceiver system to enable end-to-end, over-the-air (OTA) 5G testing. One of the two PXI chassis represents a base station (gNodeB), while the other represents a UE (see figure).
This 28-GHz test system offers end-to-end capability, emulating both the network and the UE.
James Kimery, director of marketing for RF, communications, and software-defined radio (SDR) initiatives at NI, was present to talk about the demonstration. “The physical layer on both sides (network and UE) was provided by NI and written in LabVIEW. What W2BI has done is integrate upper layers of the protocol stack. What that does is simulate the interaction between a UE and a base station at a very high level. This is almost exactly what 5G will be.