NIST Helps Build Accurate Measurement Infrastructure for 5G Communications

As fifth-generation (5G) devices and networks begin to roll out, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is helping to build the crucial measurement infrastructure for emerging wireless systems by developing new measurement methods and analysis tools and by facilitating the sharing of 5G performance data. These resources can help industry optimize designs for many applications, including cellphones, the internet of things, virtual reality, smart manufacturing and autonomous vehicles.

One new NIST resource is a 5G Spectrum Sharing Test Bed, an adaptable network that can measure how well 5G and older systems such as Wi-Fi, GPS and military radar can operate without interfering with each other on increasingly crowded airwaves, an approach called spectrum sharing. Unlike previous wireless communication standards, 5G uses a wider range of frequency bands that may overlap with other systems. These frequency bands are divided into smaller intervals that travel through “channels,” which can be envisioned as tubes containing certain frequencies along with specific network settings and environmental features.