UMTS Automatic Test System Validation

Europe : Spirent Communications has partnered with BABT to validate Spirent’s U-ATS Automatic Test System, a leading test solution for performance evaluation of WCDMA mobile devices. Spirent’s U-ATS test solution helps accelerate the roll-out of next-generation wireless services by thoroughly characterising UMTS User Equipment (UE) RF performance in a lab setting.

BABT is one of Europe’s leading independent providers of testing and certification services for telecoms, radio and IT products. BABT will validate Spirent’s U-ATS RF interoperability for system accuracy, test case execution and interoperability with a range of UMTS UEs. This will ensure Spirent’s system conforms with industry-standard test specifications from the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project).

“BABT’s validation will assure our customers that the U-ATS system is a leader in performance evaluation of WCDMA mobile devices,” said Richard Catmur, director of wireless business development at Spirent Communications. “This partnership is an important element of Spirent’s commitment to providing thorough evaluation of UMTS UEs - beyond conformance testing and into true performance qualification.”

“Spirent Communications provides an excellent platform for UE performance verification. Over the next few months we will be performing rigorous validation procedures on the U-ATS system,” said Jean-Louis Evans, managing director at BABT. “Following the official validation, we anticipate that BABT will benefit from this partnership by employing the U-ATS to offer independent UE testing to our customers.”

Spirent’s U-ATS is a comprehensive, fully-automated test system which allows complete characterisation of WCDMA UE performance during all phases of the development and deployment cycle. U-ATS, which includes Spirent’s market-leading physical layer performance analysis tools, ensures that UEs can be thoroughly tested under representative real-world conditions in a lab, reducing the need for expensive and time-consuming field trials.

BABT will evaluate the U-ATS system and WCDMA UE test cases that cover the complete 3GPP TS 34.121 specification, including the key Section 8 Radio Resource Management (RRM) tests. The initial delivery of the U-ATS includes more than 20 test cases for TS 34.121, encompassing WCDMA UE transmitter and receiver performance.