Aeroflex adds live receiver and transmitter testing to UMTS basestation test system
December 19, 2006
Aeroflex has announced it has added the ability to undertake live receiver testing and transmitter testing, including HSDPA on its 6413A UMTS basestation test system. The capability is ideal for the ongoing maintenance of UMTS basestations to ensure they perform to specification. It enables testing to be undertaken without any disruption to live traffic caused by taking the basestation out of service.
The performance of the basestation receiver is extremely important as it essentially defines quality of service in a cell. With the low operating power of mobile terminals, the performance of the receiver has to be exceptionally good at all times. A poorly performing basestation receiver will result in an increased number of calls being dropped due to lower sensitivity and signal quality. Phones will be required to transmit at higher power, impacting battery life and potentially causing signal interference. It will also make it difficult for revenue generating higher data rate services to be used. A poorly performing basestation will also significantly impact network planning as the number of calls a cell can handle will be restricted. Conversely, a 1dB improvement in basestation receiver sensitivity, for example, can mean that 11% fewer basestations are required in network.
The Aeroflex 6413A UMTS basestation test system is designed specifically for the installation and commissioning, maintenance, fault-finding, performance verification and optimization of radio basestations. A single-box portable solution, it is able to take complete control of the basestation via the Iub interface and perform all of the critical transmitter, receiver and functional tests without external control equipment or the need for detailed knowledge of the basestation's operation and control.
The addition of a live receiver and transmitter testing capability to the Aeroflex 6413A UMTS basestation test system compliments its existing Iub-controlled test mode which facilitates the implementation of repeatable test scenarios in controlled environments based on the methods defined in the ETSI standard 3GPP TS25.141. The Aeroflex 6413A's user interface is intuitive to use. Based around an embedded PC and using touch-screen controls, all functions can be operated from the front panel. Measurement results can be viewed while tests are running or stored for later analysis. Tests can be run manually or automatically using pre-programmed test sequences.
"The addition of live receiver and transmitter testing to the Aeroflex 6413A will considerably improve its appeal to network operators," said Ross Broadhurst, Product Marketing Manager at Aeroflex Test Solutions. "Network operators will now be able to test basestation performance and optimize their network quality of service without adversely interfering with the live traffic on the network."
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