Europe : Since the introduction in 2006, CETECOM has continuously enhanced the features and testing capacities of FACTSware – its proprietary RF conformance test platform. FACTSware is already accepted by GCF and PTCRB as official certification test platform (TP67). Now CETECOM has developed and introduced a new member of the FACTSware test platform family (TP86).

The RF performance test cases which are required by GCF and PTCRB for A-GPS (Assisted Global Positioning System) have been implemented so that this new A-GPS test solution enables testing according to the 3GPP Test Specifications TS 34.171 (A-GPS Minimum Performance) and TS 51.010-1.

FACTSware A-GPS is an economically advantageous test platform that meets the requirements of the upcoming technology A-GPS. The affiliation to the FACTSware family contributes to the flexibility of this test solution: there are upgrade paths from the established FACTSware test platform TP67 that allow to include the A-GPS Minimum Performance functionality.

The sophisticated system architecture of FACTSware guarantees unrivalled uncertainty figures with a confidence level of 95 percent. The hardware design only includes components that are well-known as fail-safe so that possible breakdown times of the system are minimised. And thanks to the integrated atomic clock the system provides absolutely precise time – which is crucial for A-GPS.

Due to this outstanding technical and economic advantages CETECOM has decided to equip its own mobile communications testing facilities with the FACTSware based A-GPS test solution. >From the beginning of May 2008, customers will have the possibility to test the A-GPS features of their devices at CETECOM on this new platform.