A progress review meeting was held at the University of Surrey on 6 – 8 October 2016. At the end of Day 1, a teleconference was held with the Stakeholder Advisory Group to keep them informed of progress to date.

The relevant key technical achievements of the project to date with respect to the project objectives are:

1. Traceable methods to measure Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) over a wide frequency range: An important survey report incorporated the industry and standard viewpoints on definitions of the Signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for potential 5G modulation and coding schemes has been completed using published literature and through direct engagement and consultation with industry and standards bodies. The SINR definitions provide an essential figure of merit which industry can use to assess the performance of their systems at prototype stage. The consortium are currently working on defining SINR for a range of possible future communication systems. New measurement capabilities using MIMO antenna technologies have been designed and fabricated to allow novel experimental evaluation of SINR definitions.
2. Improve metrology for traceable MIMO antenna systems: The two complementary MIMO metrology testbeds (one 2 x 2 MIMO and another one 8 x 2 MIMO) for mm-wave operation has been constructed and most parts of the testbed have already been tested. The newly developed testbeds capabilities are important towards improvement of metrology for traceable MIMO system characterisations. The 8 x 2 system has been made available by remote access. The baseband software is finished and functional. A remote web access client has been distributed to relevant project partners, now for testing purposes. Preliminary measurements using existing equipment have been carried out. Through the remote access the 8 x 2 MIMO testbed is being used by some 5G key stakeholders and industries.
3. Traceable metrology of nonlinearity: A new wideband mm-wave operation network analyser measurement system has been setup and measurements have been performed, for the first time, using signals with the correct waveform and statistics for 5G communication systems. Also, the relevant calibration algorithm and some of the targeted simulation model components for the measurement system have been implemented. Furthermore, the basic approaches to evaluate uncertainties have been investigated. A new non-linear measurement campaign using a non-linear vector network analyser on downconverters is planned for December 2016. Following this, the behavioural models will be extracted, which will form part of the simulation test bench. Work has been carried out on creating models of calibration standards, which will be used with the simulation test bench.
4. Engage with 5G industries and Participation in standards groups: The project has continued in its progress towards achieving the goals of engagement with industries and work with standards organisations such as IEEE, 3GPP and ETSI will support the development of traceable and validated test methods. This includes, direct industry engagement through the workshop on ‘the Requirements of Interference Characterisation in 5G Communication Systems’; participation at the ETSI meetings to contribute results; establishment of a special interest group in the development of an IEEE standard for nonlinear measurements and measurement techniques as a mechanism for input to standards. Also, a stakeholder advisory group has been set up with members from industry and standards bodies. They have been active participants of teleconferences taking place every nine months. One paper has been published in the journal – Measurement in December 2016.