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Application Tests up to 3G and RF Tests for HSDPA

24th November , 2004

Europe : To be prepared for the future of mobile radio, the Universal Radio Communication Tester R&S CMU200 now provides two new functionalities. It not only enables testing of applications for CDMA2000, (E)GPRS and WCDMA, but also generates high-speed downlink packet access signals in non-signaling mode and evaluates them in the uplink. The R&S CMU200 is thus the world's first and only radio communication tester with HSDPA functionalities already implemented. The specification of the new technology was not finalized until spring 2004.

Users of modern mobile phones want to swap photos and video sequences (multimedia message service, MMS), surf the Internet or download videos (video streaming). The "push-to-talk" voice service is also becoming increasingly popular. With its new options, the R&S CMU200 now enables testing of such applications in accordance with the CDMA2000, (E)GPRS and WCDMA standards.

The field of possible application tests ranges from simple Go/NoGo tests to performance analyses. In addition, the R&S CMU200 makes it possible to examine in detail the interaction between different applications running simultaneously on a mobile phone. It also tests the interoperability between two mobile phones by simulating a radio network that provides different services via external computers. Besides displaying the data throughput of the swapped IP packets, the R&S CMU200 also records various transmission protocols, which enables the developer to make detailed analyses of other radio-specific protocols such as RLC (radio link control) or MAC (medium access control). If protocol and signaling procedures need to be examined in greater detail, a protocol tester such as the R&S CRTU-G/W can be used. The common platform concept of the R&S CMU200 and the R&S CRTU-G/W makes it possible to exchange the obtained test and measurement data between the two instruments and to examine it more closely.

The developers of mobile radio chipsets have gone a step further. They are already working on a successor to WCDMA. A software option expands the R&S CMU200 by the HSDPA mobile radio standard. In non-signaling mode, the radio communication tester can thus generate HSDPA signals in the class up to 3.6 Mbit/s in the downlink. In the uplink, the R&S CMU200 decodes the signals from the mobile phone and acknowledges in the downlink whether transmission was correct. This interaction between downlink and uplink takes place in realtime in layer 1. The downlink is the connection from the base station to the mobile phone, the uplink the connection from the mobile phone to the base station.

At the generator end, users can choose from predefined test scenarios and configuration elements derived from the 3GPP specifications. Downlink parameters such as level, code channel, modulation mode, number of channels, transport block size or response to repeated transmissions can be individually configured, either manually or by remote control. The R&S CMU200 quickly adapts the modulation mode, channel coding and power in the downlink to the current radio channel conditions.
The radio communication tester also performs all the RF measurements of the five main groups: power, modulation, spectrum, code domain power and receiver sensitivity. By spring 2005, the HSDPA functionalities are scheduled to be implemented for the signaling mode and subsequently for a data rate of the class up to 10 Mbit/s.

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