DATA SHEET

RF WaveBlade for 802.11ac RF and L2-7

Testing
.

Highlights

Real-time PHY layer frame

generation and analysis

Simple point-and-click
application support for PHY
layer testing

Up to 500 fully independent,

stateful 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
clients per port enable
precise measurement of
critical performance metrics
at data rates reaching up to
maximum theoretical limits

Highly scaled setup in a

single test-bed to assess
real-world deployment levels
of controllers, APs, and
clients

Built-in channel models help

determine real-world
performance in six typical
WLAN multi-path scenarios
in accordance with
recommendations by the
IEEE 802.11n task group

Full support of legacy IEEE

802.11 a/b/g/n traffic
generation and analysis for
all existing IxVeriWave test
suites, applications, and
WaveAutomation
capabilities.

Complete 802.11ac Testing

Incorporating the functionality of three separate test products, Ixias RF
WaveBlades are the worlds only test solution capable of testing from the RF
layer to the application layer in a single, integrated solution. For the first time,
developers will be able to use the same system to:

Measure RF transmission characteristics such as EVM and spectral

compliance

Benchmark RF receiver performance using highly diverse and realistic

traffic

Generate MAC, IP, and layer 4-7 traffic to characterize a fully integrated
devices ability to forward traffic efficiently at rates up to the maximum
possible with 802.11ac

Apply different RF impairments at layer 1 on a frame-by-frame or clientby-client basis

Validate MU-MIMO 11ac Wave 2

Ixias 802.11ac solution introduces a radically new architecture that advances the state of the art for RF
measurements in communication systems. Built from the ground up to be a full-rate, lab-grade RF and traffic test
system without compromise, the solution includes the RF460xx and RF360xx series RF Traffic
Generator/Analyzer modules (L1-7). Rather than limit the design by using the memory-buffer techniques common
in existing Vector Signal Analyzers (VSA) and Vector Signal Generators (VSG), the RF460xx was engineered
with sufficient on-board horsepower to process each and every frame in real time. This approach drives improved
testing cycles by dramatically improving test coverage while simultaneously reducing test time.

26601 Agoura Road | Calabasas, CA 91302 USA

Document No.: 915-6016-01 Rev H

Tel + 1-818-871-1800

| | www.ixiacom.com
May 2015 - Page 1

DATA SHEET

As a signal generator, the RF460xx is much easier to use than traditional VSG solutions. In combination with
Ixias WaveGen software, users can create a wide range of stimuli --- from simple tones to advanced, time-variant
802.11a/b/g/n/ac frames using a simple point-and-click user interface. Theres no need to develop complex
mathematical models to create IQ sequences as this functionality is entirely embedded.
Since the solution has no memory-length limitations, long aggregate frames can be easily created in order to test
receivers ability to handle the performance-boosting aggregate frames. Users can generate complex sequences
of frames that test receivers abilities to dynamically adjust to varying power levels, channel impairments, PHY
rates, and so forth as a complex sequence of frames are received. With no need to download waveforms into a
memory buffer from the users PC, the RF460xx performs dramatically faster than previous solutions.
Breakthrough capabilities also result from the RF460xxs architectural advancements and true real-time analysis
capabilities lacking in traditional VSAs. Most significantly, the ability to measure every frame means true, worst
case measurements can be obtained over extended periods of time.
RF engineers must often determine whether a critical but infrequent issue has been fully resolved. Traditional
memory-based VSAs limited by short sample intervals simply miss many events. The RF460xx continues to run
all measurements at full rate and can therefore produce min, max, and average results over time. This approach
provides RF engineers with a much improved level of confidence in measurements as, without the limits of
memory buffers, long aggregate frames critical to 802.11n and 802.11ac performance boosts can be received and
analyzed to ensure they are being transmitted coherently for their entire duration.
As with all IxVeriWave products from Ixia, the RF460xx WaveBlade also functions as a Layer 2 to 7 load module.
Once RF testing is complete, users can begin leveraging the same load module to assess the performance of the
fully integrated design. Capable of behaving as up to 500 fully independent, fully stateful clients, the RF460xx is
the fastest, most complete method of verifying the functionality, benchmarking the performance, and conducting
system testing of 802.11ac access points (APs).
Engineers can immediately leverage the full suite of existing IxVeriWave applications in conjunction with RF460xx
WaveBlades and utilize the IxVeriWave solutions wide array of test tools and methodologies. As an added bonus,
users can switch between RF metrics and L2-7 metrics without having to change test setups or re-cable, thus
dramatically improving test coverage while reducing test times once again.

Figure 1: When used for L2-7 testing, the RF46014 is typically directly connected to the 802.11 antennas
via RF cables and an Ethernet port used to source and sink traffic from the LAN infrastructure.

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Figure 2: When used for L1-7 testing, the RF46014 is typically directly
connected to the device under test via RF cables.

Key Features

Real-time PHY layer frame generation and analysis

Simple point-and-click application support for PHY layer testing

Up to 500 fully independent, stateful 802.11a/b/g/n/ac clients per port enable precise measurement of critical
performance metrics at data rates reaching up to maximum theoretical limits

Highly scaled setup in a single test-bed to assess real-world deployment levels of controllers, APs, and clients

Built-in channel models help determine real-world performance in six typical WLAN multi-path scenarios in
accordance with recommendations by the IEEE 802.11n task group

Full support of legacy IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac traffic generation and analysis for all existing IxVeriWave test
suites, applications, and WaveAutomation capabilities.

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Specifications
General Specifications
802.11 versions supported

802.11a/b/g/n/ac
2.4 GHz

1-14

4.9 GHz

21, 25

Frequency Range / Channels

Supported

34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64
5.0 GHz

100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136,
140
149, 153, 157, 161, 165

Channel Bandwidth

20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz

PLCP Type

Legacy and Mixed Mode

RF Connector(s)

Male 50 SMA Connector

RF36011/2/3/4

RF36024

RF46014

RF46014-L

Antenna
Connections per
Test Port

1 or 2 or 3 or 4

Number of Test
Ports per
WaveBlade

MIMO
Configuration

1x1 or
1x1, 2x2 or
1x1, 2x2, 3x3 or
1x1, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4

Maximum
Number of
Spatial Streams

1 or 2 or 3 or 4

SU/MU-MIMO
Support

N/A

N/A

1x1, 2x2, 3x3 or 4x4

Both SU and MU
MIMO

N/A

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Baseband Control Specifications

Supported Modulation Schemes

DBPSK
DQPSK
CCK (4bits)
CCK (8bits)
BPSK (1/2)
BPSK (3/4)
QPSK (1/2)
QPSK (3/4)
16-QAM (1/2)
16-QAM (3/4)
64-QAM(2/3)
64-QAM (3/4)
64-QAM (5/6)
256-QAM (3/4)
256-QAM (5/6)

Supported CCK Preamble Types

Short and long

OFDM guard Intervals

400 and 800 nS

PLCP Type

Legacy and Mixed Mode

IEEE Channel Models

Forward Error
Correction

Model A - typical home/small office environment

Model B - typical medium office environment
Model C - typical large office environment
Model D - typical open space environment
Model E - typical large open space environment
Model F - complex environment with many scatters
By-pass mode - to not impose any channel conditions

RF36011/2/3/4

RF36024

RF46014

RF46014-L

BCC(Viterbi)

BCC(Viterbi)

BCC(Viterbi)/LDPC

BCC(Viterbi)/LDPC

NOTE: Specifications listed are maximum values unless otherwise noted.

RF Frequency Control Specifications

Frequency
Accuracy

Initial Accuracy

+/- 0.2 ppm

Aging per year

+/- 0.05 ppm

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RF Receiver Specifications
Rx Maximum Input Power
Level

+15dBm
+/- 0.25 dBm TYP, +/- 0.4 dBm MAX (over input range of 0 to +15
dBm)

RSSI Accuracy

+/- 1 dBm (over input range of -1 to -60 dBm)

+/- 1.25 dBm (over input range of -60 to -82 dBm)
Minimum
sensitivity
(dBm)

Minimum
sensitivity
(dBm)

Minimum
sensitivity
(dBm)

20 MHz
channel
Spacing

40 MHz
channel
Spacing

80 MHz
channel
Spacing

Modulation

Coding Rate

Modulation

BPSK

1/2

-82

-79

-76

BPSK

BPSK

3/4

-81

-78

-75

BPSK

QPSK

1/2

-79

-76

-73

QPSK

QPSK

3/4

-77

-74

-71

QPSK

16-QAM

1/2

-74

-71

-68

16-QAM

16-QAM

3/4

-70

-67

-64

16-QAM

64-QAM

2/3

-66

-63

-60

64-QAM

64-QAM

3/4

-65

-62

-59

64-QAM

64-QAM

5/6

-64

-61

-58

64-QAM

256-QAM

3/4

-59

-56

-53

256-QAM

256-QAM

5/6

-57

-54

-51

256-QAM

Rx Minimum Sensitivity
(typical)

Receiver performance criteria are based on achieving a frame error rate of less than
10% using 4096 octet frames.

RX EVM

The relative constellation RMS error, averaged over subcarriers,

OFDM frames and packets for a data rate of 64-QAM with a coding
rate of 5/6 is less than -41dB(0.891%) TYP, -40dB(1%) MAX for
power levels less than -10dBm.

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RF Transmitter Specifications
Transmit Center Frequency
Tolerance

Typical, 2.5ppm over all operating conditions

Transmit Power

+14dBm to -50dBm

Transmit Power Control

Resolution

1 db

Any single frame shall be generated with an absolute accuracy of +/- 1.0dB
measured over the burst of that frame.
Transmit Power Absolute
Accuracy

Multiple consecutive frames from the same client shall be generated such
that the initial frame shall have an absolute accuracy of +/- 1.0dB.
Subsequent frames from that client shall be generated with an absolute
accuracy of +/- 0.8dB.
The relative constellation RMS error, averaged over subcarriers, OFDM
frames and packets for a data rate of 64-QAM with a coding rate of 5/6 is
less than:
Power level greater or equal to 10dbm

Power level less than -10dBm

Typical

Max

Typical

Max

-36dB (1.585%)

-34dB (1.995%)

-42dB (0.794%)

-40dB (1.000%)

Transmit Constellation Error*

*Measured on a per radio basis transmitting a single 20MHz spatial stream.

Minimum Signal to Noise Ratio

Power

Bandwidth (MHz)

(dBm)

20

40

80

-34 to +15

62 dB

59 dB

56 dB

-40 to -35

57 db

54 dB

51 dB

Below -41

Power + 97 (dB)

Power + 94 (dB)

Power + 91 (dB)

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Analyzer Measurements
Average Power
Peak Power
Power

Power Spectral Density

Power Peak Excursion
Power-on / Power-down
Center Frequency Tolerance
Symbol Clock Frequency Tolerance

Frequency
Preamble Frequency Error
RF Carrier Suppression
Transmit Spectrum Mask
Spectral Flatness
Spectral

Transmit Center Frequency Leakage

CCDF
Occupied Bandwidth
Constellation Error

Modulation

Error Vector Magnitude (EVM)

Transmitter Modulation Accuracy
Gain Mismatch

I/Q
Phase Mismatch

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Generation Controls
Encoding
Frame Generation

Length
Frame Transmission Rate
a/b/g/n /ac PHY Rates

Modulation

Preamble
FEC
Frequency Offset

Impairments

Pre/post Encoder Bit Errors

IEEE Channel Models A-F

Feature Specifications
Aggregation

Tx and Rx: A-MPDU and Block-ACK

Rx only: A-MSDU

Traffic Timestamp Accuracy

50 nS

Maximum Number of Stateful

Clients

500

Maximum Number of Traffic

Flows Generated per Port

1000

Maximum Number of Traffic

Flows Analyzed per Port

131,000

802.11 MAC Control (all

parameters)

Independent per client

802.1ax Authentication

PEAP/MSCHAPv2, TLS, LEAP/EAP-FAST, TTLS

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Feature Specifications
Encryption Support

WEP-40 and WEP-104, TKIP (WPA), AES-CCMP (WPA2)

OSI Layer 3 and Layer 4 (IP, UDP,

TCP, etc.) Control (all
parameters)

Independent per client

Port Counters

Comprehensive set of layer 2, 3 and 4 frame types

Flow and Flowgroup

Counters

Frames sent / received, bytes sent / received, out-of-order frames, payload

integrity, latency histogram

IPv6

Capture Buffer

NDP: Neighbor/router discovery and address assignment

ICMPv6 & DHCPv6
Multicast Listener Discover (MLDv1. MLDv2)
Dual stack operation of both IPv4 and IPv6
UDP, RTP, stateful TCP, and multicast flows
Max of 32 IPv6 addresses per client: One Link-local, up to 31 Global

256 Mbytes
Captures all transmitted and received frames during normal testing.
Adds IxVeriWave RadioTap header to provide additional debugging
information such as PHY rate, RF power, aggregation, detected errors on
per-frame basis

Physical Specifications
Height: 10.5 inches (26.7 cm)
Size

Width: 1.6 inches (4.1 cm)

Depth: 15.5 inches (39.4 cm)

Weight

5.0 lbs (2.27 kg)

Mounting screw torque

3.5 inch-lbs

SMA Cable torque

8 inch-lbs

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Environmental Specifications (As installed in a WaveTest 92 or WaveTest 20 chassis)

o

Operating

0 to +40 C

Temperature

Storage: -20o to +70o C

Guaranteed Temperature Specification

+20 to +30 C ambient

Storage Temperature

-20 to +70 C

Humidity

Altitude

Vibration, random

Operating: 20% to 80% relative humidity

Storage: +40o C at 95% relative humidity, non condensing

Operating: -1000 ft. to +6560 ft. (2000 meters)

Operating: 5 Hz to 500 Hz, 0.27 Gms

Non-operating: 5 Hz to 500 Hz, 2.3G

Shock

20 G shock tolerance

RF Isolation

Isolation: > 80 dBm isolation between WaveBlade WiFi radios

Power Specifications
RF36011/12/13/14

125 Watts

RF36024

150 Watts

RF46014 / RF46014-L

125 Watts

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Certifications
Product Safety
Compliance

Listed TUV-USA and TUV-Canada

Low Voltage Direction EN6101-1:2010
EU EMC Directive 89/336/ECC, as amended
EN 61000-6-2:2001: Class B Radiated Emissions
EN 55011(AMD. A1:199) Class B Conducted Emissions

Electromagnetic
Compliance

EN 61000-3-2:2000: Current Harmonics

EN 61000-3-3:2001: Voltage Fluctuations
EN61000 -6-2:2001: Immunity
Class A part 15 FCC Standards for Radiated and Conducted Emissions

Calibration
IxVeriWave RF WaveBlades are calibrated at the factory with initial shipment, and must be recalibrated every 12
months to maintain compliance with stated RF specifications. RF WaveBlades that are not calibrated periodically
will still meet WBW specifications for as long as they remain in use.

Ordering Information
980-2041-01
IxVeriWave RF36011 1 Port, 1 SS RF Test, TGA IxVeriWave RF36011, single port, one spatial stream per port,
IEEE 802.11ac multi-client Traffic Generator and Performance Analyzer, IEEE 802.11ac Signal Generator and
Signal Analyzer WaveBlade.

980-2042-01
IxVeriWave RF36012 1 Port, 2 SS RF Test, TGA IxVeriWave RF36012, single port, two spatial stream per port,
IEEE 802.11ac multi-client Traffic Generator and Performance Analyzer, IEEE 802.11ac Signal Generator and
Signal Analyzer WaveBlade.

980-2043-01
IxVeriWave RF36013 1 Port, 3 SS RF Test, TGA IxVeriWave RF36013, single port, three spatial stream per port,
IEEE 802.11ac multi-client Traffic Generator and Performance Analyzer, IEEE 802.11ac Signal Generator and
Signal Analyzer WaveBlade.

980-2044-01
IxVeriWave RF36014 1 Port, 4 SS RF Test, TGA IxVeriWave RF36014, single port, four spatial stream per port,
IEEE 802.11ac multi-client Traffic Generator and Performance Analyzer, IEEE 802.11ac Signal Generator and
Signal Analyzer WaveBlade.

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980-2045-01
IxVeriWave RF36024 2 Port, 4 SS RF Test, TGA IxVeriWave RF36024, dual port, four spatial stream per port,
IEEE 802.11ac multi-client Traffic Generator and Performance Analyzer, IEEE 802.11ac Signal Generator and
Signal Analyzer WaveBlade.

980-2055-02
IxVeriWave RF46014, 1 port, 4 SS RF + TGA IxVeriWave RF46014, single port, four spatial stream per port,
IEEE 802.11ac multi-client Traffic Generator and Performance Analyzer, IEEE 802.11ac Signal Generator and
Signal Analyzer WaveBlade. Supports MU-MIMO.

980-2069-01
IxVeriWave RF46014-L, 1 port, 4 SS RF + TGA IxVeriWave RF46014-L, single port, four spatial stream per port,
IEEE 802.11ac multi-client Traffic Generator and Performance Analyzer, IEEE 802.11ac Signal Generator and
Signal Analyzer WaveBlade

This material is for informational purposes only and subject to change without notice. It describes Ixia's present
plans to develop and make available to its customers certain products, features, and functionality. Ixia is only
obligated to provide those deliverables specifically included in a written agreement between Ixia and the
customer.

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