WLAN/Wi-Fi

Testing for Wi-Fi/WLAN connectivity

Connecting homes, office and factories

Wireless local area network (WLAN) technology, based on the IEEE 802.11 standard series, has been one of the most successful wireless communication technologies over the last 25 years. It utilizes an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) access scheme and typically operates in license-exempt bands such as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, and 60 GHz. WLAN supports a significant portion of traffic from various devices in modern wireless communication networks.

The sixth generation of Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 6), based on the IEEE 802.11ax standard, enhances communication efficiency and is the first to operate in the newly available 6 GHz spectrum (Wi-Fi 6E). The seventh generation (Wi-Fi 7), based on IEEE 802.11be / EHT, is also here, offering extremely high throughput. And IEEE is already developing the next generation of Wi-Fi (Wi -Fi 8), focusing on an improved customer experience and ultra high reliability (IEEE 802.11bn / UHR).

Wi-Fi use cases

WLAN has become an essential component for wireless data services in various environments. People use Wi-Fi for remote work, home schooling, video conferencing and a wide range of entertainment activities, such as gaming, streaming and sharing.

The demand for video traffic continues to grow, driven by increased viewing time, more video content and the shift to higher resolutions. WLAN users expect reliable and near real time experiences for gaming and cloud computing on all kinds of wireless devices, from smartphones to XR glasses.

Wi-Fi also plays a pivotal role in connecting internet of things (IoT) devices in homes and offices. It is also an integral part of Matter, the unified smart home standard from the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA).

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Wi-Fi device testing

With each new generation of Wi-Fi, radio designs increase in complexity to meet customer expectations. Testing Wi-Fi devices, access points (AP) and stations (STA) at all phases of the product lifecycle is essential to standards conformance, regulatory compliance, quality targets and customer experience.

In Wi-Fi ecosystems, several industry consortia and interest groups define test requirements and setups. The tests can be divided into three groups:

• Non signaling testing: physical layer compliance and performance testing for early R&D, design verification testing (DVT) and highly automated production environments
• Signaling testing: more complex measurement tasks involving layers above the physical layer
• Reference STA/AP: signaling testing with reference devices mainly used for Wi-Fi Alliance certification

Solutions for Wi-Fi/WLAN testing

Rohde & Schwarz offers a broad range of test and measurement solutions for Wi-Fi AP testing and Wi-Fi STA testing:

• WLAN components, such as antennas, filters and power amplifiers
• Chipsets
• Modules
• Devices

Our portfolio includes unique test instruments, such as vector signal generators that are able to generate multiple streams at the required frequencies and bandwidths and demonstrate outstanding RF performance. It also includes solutions for signal and spectrum analysis that provide the required accuracy, speed and signal analysis bandwidths; these solutions are mainly applicable in R&D, verification, qualification and regulatory testing.

For automated non signaling testing, we offer an all in one solution which includes the required chipset interfaces, test automation and integration in customers’ automated test environment (ATE). It measures RF performance with exceptionally high accuracy.

Our multi technology communication testers are all in one solutions for measuring the RF characteristics of transmitters and receivers in APs and STAs. These testers operate in signaling mode to evaluate end to end performance, analyze the protocol stack (including the application layer) and interwork with cellular networks (Wi-Fi offload). This functionality will become increasingly important with the latest and upcoming generations of Wi-Fi.