Wi-Fi tester expands to cover 6 GHz

As Wi-Fi 6E products come to market, they need testing. The Pal-6E from octoScope lets you test performance at these new frequencies.

When the FCC opened 1200 MHz to unlicensed use, it created opportunities for new Wi-Fi equipment at frequencies from 5.925 MHz to 7.125 MHz, the so-called 6 MHz band. Known as Wi-Fi 6E, this technology supports bandwidths up to 320 MHz. Wi-Fi 6E chipsets are now available and more will surely come. With consumer and business Wi-Fi access points starting to flood the market, the need for testing is on the rise. That’s where octoScope’s PAL-6E comes in.

The Pal-6E adds the 6 MHz band to the company’s line of Wi-Fi over-the-air testers. In addition to a 6 GHz radio, the Pal-6E contains two 5 GHz radios and one 2.4 GHz radio. Thus, Pal-6E can test at equipment all current Wi-Fi frequencies and it supports all the Wi-Fi protocols: IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax.

Working in an octoBox test chamber, the PAL-6E supports testing with 8@times;8 MIMO (2 × 5 GHz Wi-Fi). For 6 GHz operation, the Pal-6E’s single 6 GHz radio supports 4×4 MIMO. You can use the Pal-6E to test both transmitters and receivers for performance in a network. A Pal-6 can function either as traffic endpoints or synchroSniffer probes to monitor transmissions and capture signal data.

For functional testing, a single Pal-6E can emulate a network of up to 64 virtual stations. You can use up to four Pal-6E units to emulate up to 256 stations. As a station tester, the Pal-6E can emulate access points in a network. Station tests include throughput vs. range vs. orientation as well as testing receiver sensitivity, data-rate adaptation, and roaming. When operating as a test instrument (not emulating a network), the Pal-6E with octoBox software can produce plots of parameters such as Throughput, data rate, channel bandwidth, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), and Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) index.

The tester’s SMA connectors let you directly attach Wi-Fi antennas or you can use any octoBox antenna such its high-gain antennas. Two RJ-11 ports support data traffic and commands and data to or from a server.