9 February 2012

Aeroflex adds LTE-Advanced support to

TM500 LTE Test Mobile

Carrier aggregation enables wider channel bandwidths to achieve 1 Gbps data rate specified for LTE-Advanced, and addresses fragmented spectrum

STEVENAGE, UK—9 February 2012— Aeroflex Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aeroflex Holding Corp. (NYSE:ARX), announced today that the TM500 LTE Test Mobile now supports carrier aggregation, which is a key enabling technology for LTE-Advanced. This feature allows multiple carriers comprised of either contiguous or non-contiguous spectrum to be added together, allowing wider channel bandwidths—and faster data rates—to be achieved.

For LTE-Advanced, 3GPP Release 10 introduced several new features to augment the existing LTE standard and to meet or exceed the targets of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for IMS-Advanced. These features are aimed at raising the peak data rate to 1 Gbps and beyond. Achieving this speed will require a channel bandwidth that is much wider than the 20 MHz currently specified for LTE. This will not be possible with just a single carrier in the limited spectrum bands available to most operators. Consequently, carrier aggregation—the ability to combine multiple carriers scattered around the spectrum—will be used to achieve the wider effective bandwidth that will be required, typically up to 100 MHz.

The TM500 Test Mobile, the de facto industry standard for testing LTE base stations or eNodeBs, now supports all of the carrier aggregation scenarios specified in 3GPP Release 10, and is also ready for all those currently proposed for Release 11. Aeroflex has already been working with leading network infrastructure vendors to enable them to develop and demonstrate a huge LTE data “pipe” that combines the capacity of different frequency bands while maximizing the benefits of the superior propagation capability in the lower frequency band.

“Carrier aggregation of contiguous and non-contiguous bands has been identified as one of the most crucial aspects in the evolution towards LTE-Advanced. It has also been recognized as presenting a major challenge to the design of user equipment,” said Stamatis Georgoulis, product manager at Aeroflex. “Cellular infrastructure vendors rely upon the Aeroflex TM500 Test Mobile to test their networks ahead of the availability of real terminals and handsets. Providing them with carrier aggregation capability at this early stage is vital in enabling the timely development of the base stations that will be used to roll out LTE-Advanced.”

Availability

For more information, contact your local Aeroflex sales office by visiting or calling Aeroflex Sales at (800) 835-2352 [US], +44 (0)1438 742200 [UK] or info-test@aeroflex.com.

About Aeroflex LTE Expertise

Aeroflex LTE leadership started with the delivery of test systems in 2007 and now continues with a complete range of end-to-end test systems that cover R&D, performance, service, and manufacturing test applications for LTE TDD and FDD network equipment and terminals.

The TM500 Test Mobile family is in use with almost every base station manufacturer across the world, and can be regarded as the de facto standard for eNodeB development and testing. EAST500 is the only network capacity test solution that incorporates the proven Aeroflex TM500 LTE air interface.

The Aeroflex 7100 LTE Digital Radio Test Set is a complete one-box test system providing all the tools required for the measurement and characterization of user equipment (UE) chip sets and mobile terminals to 3GPP LTE standards, including optional signal fading simulation.

The PXI 3000 Series, modular RF test system based on PXI technology is a proven solution to accelerate throughput in manufacturing and time to market in R&D while catering for current and future RF test needs. It is particularly suited to modern cellular and wireless data communications and critical testing in a high volume manufacturing environment.

Aeroflex has engineers working in centers around the world on its LTE and LTE-Advanced test systems, to support the current and next generation of networks and devices.

About Aeroflex

Aeroflex Incorporated is a leading global provider of high performance microelectronic components and test and measurement equipment used by companies in the space, avionics, defense, commercial wireless communications, medical and other markets.