Agilent/Keysight S8801A

The Agilent/Keysight S8801A is a MIMO Base Station Fading Performance Toolset for stress testing, optimization, and benchmarking of 5G FR1 base stations in laboratory environments. It delivers a fully integrated, automated solution enabling comprehensive performance verification under real-world radio channel conditions, supporting network equipment manufacturers, O-RAN developers, and mobile network operators in validating multimode base station performance with real user equipment across various mobility scenarios.

– Technical Specifications

The S8801A provides real-time emulation of up- and downlink MIMO channels with support for multiple standardized channel models including 3GPP 38.901 CDL FR1 and FR2, UMi, UMa, O2I, I2O, WINNER, and SCME profiles. Channel modeling incorporates dynamic mobile speed, multipath profile, range delay, base station antenna correlation, noise, and inter-symbol interference from direct and reflected propagation paths. The platform supports 3D spatial scenarios with user-defined geometry and dynamic movement modeling.

– Key Features

• Real-time MIMO channel emulation for uplink and downlink signals
• Multi-port signal analyzer for simultaneous downlink measurement across all ports
• Multi-port signal generator for uplink signal measurement
• RF sniffer for uplink and downlink signaling analysis and debugging
• Instantaneous measurement of key performance indicators including single- and multi-user data throughput
• Pre-verified test case packages with tools for custom scenario development
• RF field-to-lab test case generation for controlled replication of real-world conditions
• Extension capability via Keysight Channel Studio (F9860000A) for advanced customer-specific channel model creation
• Support for 3GPP Release 17 Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) testing

– Typical Applications

• MIMO base station optimization, stress testing, and benchmarking
• Multi-vendor base station interoperability verification
• Radio bearer selection optimization for end-user devices
• Performance validation under real-world radio channel conditions

– Compatibility & Integration

Integrates with Keysight Channel Studio (F9860000A) for advanced dynamic channel modeling. Extends 5G testing capability to non-terrestrial networks via satellites and aerial communication systems as defined in 3GPP Release 17 specifications.