Channel Analysis Mode (5G NR/5G-Advanced)

The Channel Analysis Mode parameter controls how multiple channels are analyzed. There are three modes: MIMO Multiple Input, Multiple Output: A physical layer (PHY) configuration in which both transmitter and receiver use multiple antennas. (default), Individual, and MIMO and Individual.

MIMO - Channels are treated as a single multi-channel signal. In this mode, the Channel Summary trace is not available.

Individual - Each channel is analyzed independently. In this mode, MIMO-specific results, such as the MIMO Info table and beam weights traces, are not available.

MIMO and Individual - Both analyses are performed: VSA first computes the MIMO analysis and then analyzes each channel independently. In this mode, all MIMO results and per-channel results are available.

When Individual or MIMO and Individual mode is selected, the Channel Summary trace becomes available. This trace provides per-channel results for Power, EVM Error vector magnitude (EVM): A quality metric in digital communication systems. See the EVM metric in the Error Summary Table topic in each demodulator for more information on how EVM is calculated for that modulation format., Time Offset, TAE, Frequency Error and Clock Error, with each channel calculated independently.

Performance Considerations

MIMO mode provides faster measurement speed.
Individual and MIMO and Individual modes are slower, but VSA improves performance using multi-threaded parallel processing. The number of threads depends on the number of channels being analyzed.

EVM results can differ between MIMO and Individual analyses. In MIMO, signals add coherently while noise adds incoherently. When cross-coupling between channels is low, the MIMO EVM may be lower than the per-channel EVM.