Qualcomm and Teleepoch Enter Into a 3G CDMA Subscriber Unit License Agreement, October 6, 2007

MTN chooses Cambridge Broadband Networks for multi-service wireless network in Rwanda, October 6, 2007

Brazilian government to publish 3G bidding rules soon, October 6, 2007

KTF 3G service suffers from technical problems, October 6, 2007

Argentina’s Personal lunches 3G service in Rosario, October 6, 2007

Russia has it's first 3G network, October 6, 2007

AT&T could drop Alcatel-Lucent as 3G mobile network supplier, October 6, 2007

Enea Extends License Agreement with ZTE for 3G Handsets, October 2, 2007

LG to unveil premium handsets in Brazil, October 2, 2007

KTF 3G subscribers doubled in less than 3 months, October 2, 2007

3G policy in India will be non-uniform, October 2, 2007

- previous news

Tektronix analyzer increase efficiency in 3G tests

February 15, 2005

Tektronix announced a protocol analysis solution for UTRAN. The Network and Service Analyzer (NSA) for UTRAN, is a new 3G software application for the K15 monitoring platform. NSA for UTRAN provides network operators with first-to-market capabilities to improve troubleshooting and optimize performance.

The growth of the wireless market and fierce competition between mobile network operators has created high customer expectations in terms of quality of service. Network operators have to be able to monitor and manage the quality of new service categories delivered to an increasing number of subscribers by the complex 3G network infrastructure. Network engineers need a powerful and flexible tool that can automatically detect problems. Based on highly automated analysis algorithms, the NSA for UTRAN enables operators of 3G networks to quickly identify service problems and map them to root causes in the underlying network. This reduces test time, allows engineers to focus on problem solving rather than data acquisition and dramatically reduces operational expenditures.

"By minimizing the manual effort and maximizing the information available in monitoring the UTRAN interfaces, we enable our customers to cost-effectively focus their test efforts on problems that affect the mobile users' experience," said Alois Hauk, Vice President and General Manager, Monitoring and Protocol Test, Tektronix. "The K15 with the Network and Service Analyzer for UTRAN is designed to enable our customers to meet the challenges of successful 3G operations, which require increased 3G quality of service at lower operational expenditures."

Improved Test and Troubleshooting Efficiency

The NSA for UTRAN provides fully automated instrument configuration for Iub, Iur, Iu-CS and Iu-PS interfaces. This greatly reduces the time required to obtain and analyze the data. Additionally, the new application provides fully automated Network Topology Discovery. This enables effective troubleshooting of live 3G networks that otherwise would be impossible. Key performance indicators (KPI) provide the ability to relate breakdowns per service (e.g. voice, video, packet), per network element (e.g., cell, NodeB, RNC, SGSN, MSC), per call and per subscriber (e.g. IMSI, MSISDN) to communication protocol events in the network infrastructure. This built-in intelligence is essential to navigate through data results and to narrow the scope of the problem to isolate the ultimate root cause. Without these applications, it would take technicians hours to identify the proper network parameters (VPI, VCI, CID) for configuration before starting to perform troubleshooting.

Cell Overlapping Matrix Optimizes Handoffs

UMTS cell coverage areas overlap one another and network operators have the challenge to prepare reliable cell planning to guarantee high quality of service. When a UMTS handset reaches the boundary of the coverage area of one cell, it has to be guaranteed that interference coming from adjacent cells does not interfere with the radio link quality and the user perceived quality of service. If the interference is too strong, service deteriorates, reliable handover operations to the adjacent cell can be impeded and the user connection possibly terminated. Enabling reliable handover and managing the levels of interference between cells requires careful balancing.

With the NSA for UTRAN, operators are able to display the interference levels between any two cells. Using the Cell Overlapping Matrix application, network operators can see the influence of adjacent cells on the cell under analysis. The Cell Overlapping Matrix reduces time for network reconfiguration tasks such as populating the RNC cell neighboring list and creating a cell scrambling code plan.

Multi-User Support

The NSA for UTRAN provides multi-user support enabling customers to reduce capital and operational expenditures by sharing the use of one protocol analyzer in a server environment. Additionally, the enhanced User Interface is fully automated and provides fast configuration, reducing the time technicians spend collecting data and allowing for easier use by novice users. The approach enables more senior technicians to focus on critical tasks, increasing the productivity of test teams.