3G Solver

Europe : The Swedish development company Blazar has launched their GPRS load and stress test application for the Gb interface over E1/T1 Frame relay and has thereby strengthened their suite of load and stress test applications for 2.5 and 3G.

The other applications for Solver are load and stress testing of IuPS and IuCS in the core network, an HLR emulator for lab environment and PS and CS core network emulators for UTRAN.

Solver is a test solution designed to enable 2.5 and 3G equipment manufacturers and network operators to deliver complex digital telecommunications equipment and services more quickly and cost-effectively, while helping to ensure interoperability and reliability under variable traffic conditions. Solver assists in the design, integration, installation and acceptance testing of 2.5 and 3G telecommunications equipment and services.

Available as a rack mounted or portable unit with a mix of different interface possibilities.

Solvers emphasis is on complex, high-level and emerging protocols within the 2.5 and 3G arena. Blazar’s extensive technical know-how and software development capabilities enable the Company to implement new protocols and protocol variants rapidly in response to customer needs. With its versatile platform, Solver is easily configured to support a variety of digital testing functions, thereby reducing the need for multiple test systems.

When developing Solver the emphasis has always been on ease of use. When using Solver there is no need to know all the protocols inside out since Solver takes care of all protocol layers and the user only need to know what he would like the simulated mobile unit users to do. This will give the users a very short start up time and minimal training requirements to be able to utilize Solver’s full capability.
Typically the installation and configuration is done within 4 to 8 hours and then the user can start to utilize the full power of Solver.

Solver can be delivered in a rack mount or portable unit with a mix of different interface possibilities.

SOLVER APPLICATIONS
The principal applications of the SOLVER system are simulation, load and stress testing and monitoring. All functions are performed via a user friendly GUI, providing a minimum start-up period for new users.
The available GUI applications in Solver are:
• Configuration manager
o The Configuration manager gives the user an easy way to configure the addresses, number of links, timers and mobile specific parameters for Solver and other components in the network.
• Simulation Manager
o The simulation function of the SOLVER system enables it to act like one or more network devices, emulating their actions and responses. By simulating various network devices, such as digital switches, network access nodes and network databases, Blazar¦s product assist engineers to cost-effectively develop equipment that will be compatible with the networks within which they will be deployed. This helps ensure that equipment will interoperate reliably, thereby reducing costly failures after installation
o Call program Editor
? The Call Program editor is a subprogram to the simulation manager. In the call program editor the user can build call scripts in an easy way and use these to test the Core network elements. Load and stress testing enables the SOLVER system to verify that a system under test (SUT) can successfully handle its designed traffic capacity and that the SUT performance will degrade gradually, rather than fail completely, when stressed beyond its specifications. SOLVER is capable to initiate and maintain high traffic volumes. One function for Solver is to produce a fixed load of e.g. 50% towards a network element and at the same time do specific Feature and Functionality testing to ensure that these added features function under load.

• Monitoring
o The SOLVER system can monitor network links and store network activity information for future analysis without affecting network traffic. By collecting and analyzing traffic, the SOLVER system helps to ensure that the link has been brought into service and that the devices connected by the link are functioning properly. The SOLVER system can simultaneously monitor multiple links, each of which may be using different protocols.
The monitoring is done in two levels where the first level presents each message on a single row.
The second level is reached by double clicking the message of interest and shows the message decoded down to bit level.

• Statistics Manager
o In the Statistics Manager the user can find statistics on each protocol layer and the corresponding messages in both sent and received direction.

• Log manager
o Error Conditions are logged in the Log Manager Window, in Real Time. The errors are divided into several severity classes. This information is vital for fault tracking and localization of problems.