Fight for the future

Designing testing products for the next generation of wireless networks has always been something of a gamble: It's clearly a risk to develop testing equipment for new technology that hasn't been rolled out or even standardized, but if vendors wait for standardization, they face a game of catch-up in a very competitive sector of the industry.

Many testing vendors displaying their wares in New Orleans last month seemed driven not so much by what wireless networks are as what they are to become. Some introduced products aimed at carrying wireless carriers to a 3G future-whenever that will be. Others focused on local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) and base station testing. Whatever the announcement, though, the "ability" suffix popped up over and over: portability, expandability, flexibility. The most effective testing solutions had all three.

Tektronix is one company committed to the 3G cause, although its latest product offerings remained in the shadows until the official rollout at the Wireless Symposium and the GSM World Conference. The portable 3026 spectrum analyzer enables technicians to capture random interference in real time. It can digitally collect 2 MHz of information and alerts the user when a problem is triggered in a pre-defined area. And compared with some analyzers that sweep across the entire spectrum to locate a problem, the 3026 should speed up the job dramatically, said Eben Jenkins, product marketing manager for Wireless Comm/Test at Tektronix.

The company also introduced a free software upgrade for the K1205 signaling protocol analyzer and a portable version of the K1297, a multiprotocol, multi-interface tester that monitors network gateways.

Tektronix designed its offerings to address the wireless industry's eventual transition to a 3G standard, whether it's wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) or cdma2000. "Our goal is to provide an array of solutions depending on where these manufacturers are going to go," said Jenkins.

Hewlett-Packard is another vendor jumping on the 3G bandwagon. "HP has folks on 3G standards bodies throughout the world," said Beth Eurotas, program integrator for marketing communications. "A lot of our products have been developed so you can add software to address needs that have changed. "One such example was a software upgrade for its HP 8935 series E6380A CDMA base station test set. The Windows-based software enables users to monitor RF performance with the test set from a remote site, though the unit can also be used for remote training purposes on a live base station.

The company also featured the HP E4406A VSA transmitter tester, which was announced in December but marked its show debut at Wireless '99. The tester supports both GSM and CDMA and, along with HP's 89400A series vector signal analyzers, is designed to help carriers adapt to changing 3G requirements.

Also designing for future network testing was Anritsu Co., which featured the MS2668C spectrum analyzer that measures microwave point-to-point and LMDS networks. The system measures transmit power, channel power, noise, spurious emissions, two-tone intermodulation distortion and carrier-to-noise ratio. Although many LMDS carriers are still waiting to roll out their networks, at least one unnamed service provider has purchased the system, according to Carla Slater, product marketing engineer for Anritsu's North American region operation.

Carriers "aren't really sure when they're going to roll out, what they're going to need," she said. "A lot of them are trying to get financing." Still, Anritsu anticipates more demand for the spectrum analyzer when more LMDS operators start launching networks

Anritsu also featured the MG3672A signal generator, which analyzes W-CDMA signals; the MS8607A digital mobile radio transmitter tester; and the integrated MT8802A radio communication analyzer, which combines a signal generator and receiver in one box.

SS7 stays hot Inet used the show to introduce a high-capacity trunk testing solution that can generate up to 1.8 million bulk call loading and correlated voice channel test calls per hour.

A new hardware card enables Inet's Spectra trunk tester to generate up to 420 digital voice channels using SF or DTMF tones. Spectra can then bulk load those calls on up to 14 SS7 links, which enables carriers to test voice quality under high-stress network conditions. "This allows the manufacturers to test the voice paths associated with voice calls," said Jon Parrish, manager of marketing strategy for Inet. "It time-stamps the tone as it goes through the network so [technicians] can check latency."

Inet developed the trunk tester after helping Sprint stress test its Integrated On-Demand Network. Part of the intention is to enable carriers to test Internet protocol voice quality through the SS7 network, according to Kevin Keough, vice president of marketing at Inet. IP is "the architecture that's perhaps the most conducive to innovative service provisioning," he said.

GN Nettest also featured SS7-centric products at CTIA with its Multichannel Protocol Analyzer series, which the company hopes will provide "top-down analysis instead of bottom-up," said Jens Schroder, product line manager for GN Nettest. The MPA is available in three versions: the MPA 7100, which handles four links; the MPA 7200, which handles four to 24 links; and the portable MPA 7300, which can handle four to 16 links. The platform performs a number of key functions, including protocol analysis, call detail recording and performance analysis. The platform is also optimized for PCS 1900 and GSM networks.

"You're actually bringing SS7 information to work in areas you weren't expecting to find it," Schroder said. "It's a fixed network tool for troubleshooting at the core level. You can trace not only the transition from the mobile part to the fixed part, but also whether there's something going on en route through the network."

The MPA series takes a different approach from Inet's Spectra Trunk Tester in that it tests traffic under normal load conditions. "It's a real departure from what people have been doing and the way they've been thinking," said Donald McGillis, director of sales development for telecom at GN Nettest.

Tekelec announced expanded SS7 capabilities for its Message Generator Traffic Simulator, which the company re-branded at Wireless '99 as the MGTS Sentinel. The upgrade for the SS7 network surveillance system includes a "flight data recorder" for monitoring and retrieving network events, enhanced programmable reporting capabilities and data drill-down capabilities. The company also plans to roll out an alarm package that lets users set their own alarm levels through a graphical user interface. Because MGTS is an open system, it allows users to retrieve collected data from any browser environment.

"It's an ease-of-use issue for all users if they want a quick snapshot of the network," said Kim Parker, a product manager with Tekelec's intelligent network diagnostics division. "The Web-based traffic reports make it quite easy for higher-level people to get [a view of the network] from an office environment," she said.

Tekelec also highlighted a roaming verification feature for the MGTS, which employs a Web-based interface instead of SIM cards to track customer roaming in GSM networks. The company rounded out its MGTS offerings with the MGTS Companion, the portable version of the MGTS that offers the same functionality but has four card slots instead of 16 so it can be taken into the field.

Flexibility and portability New testing solutions from Safco Technologies Inc. addressed an important issue in wireless testing products: portability. Safco demonstrated the Portable VoicePrint spectrum analyzer with a significantly smaller profile, as well as the TechMate cell site monitor.

Whereas the older VoicePrint solution "would only get you up to the door," the newer incarnation enables technicians to take the product inside, according to Robert A. Grom, manager of data collection software at Safco. Because cellular operators need a way to test multiple standards such as GSM and IS-136, VoicePrint gives them "a way for getting everybody on an even playing field," Grom said.

The VoicePrint system features an audio interface, built-in diagnostic capabilities, two tracking phones and capacity for up to two internal, high-speed spectrum scanners.

With TechMate, technicians can see base station coverage from four different viewpoints ina palmtop-sized unit.

Safco also showcased two detailed network studies of the Chicago and Miami markets, which compare the voice quality of competing networks. "Our primary intention is to allow everyone to use these reports," said Safco President and CEO Marty Singer.

Wireless '99 marked the first major show in which Wavetek Wandel & Golterman displayed its wares as one unified company, although a new company logo hadn't yet been unveiled. The vendor introduced CDMA analysis software for the MA-10A mobile radio analyzer.

The new software processes data files captured at the IS-634 interface with standard Excel office tools for network optimization and troubleshooting. It enables users to quantify dropped call rates as well as handoff statistics. It was important to add CDMA functionality to the MA-10A series because no one really knows whether the U.S. market will go the TDMA or CDMA route, said Rob Ennis, director of North American business development for division 1 products. "Since the market has not solidified yet [on a standard] and multiple standards are vying for dominance, our customers require broad support from their test instrument suppliers," he said.

Wavetek Wandel & Golterman also introduced the 4032 CDMA base station tester, which tests in both the cellular and 1900 PCS bands, and a TDMA option for the 3600D mobile phone test system.

In other wireless test news:

* Tekno Industries featured its LinkQuest system, which collects and correlates all messages associated with SS7. "If a call fails, you will see a complete decode with every message associated with it," said Sam Galler, director of marketing and sales for Tekno. LinkQuest also provides users with a quality of service report that shows the percentage of complete and incomplete calls, and why those calls failed.

* Ameritec Corp. highlighted its three-part Subscriber Wireless Automated Remote Measurement system. The company stressed the system's flexibility for measuring cell site coverage in real time. "You can retrieve a lot of information from this box whether you are a manufacturer or a carrier, but what we're really shooting for is the carrier," said Yoke Kung, general manager of Ameritec's wireless test systems group.

* Sage Instruments introduced the Cellular Diagnostic System. CDiS initiates end-to-end wireless testing by placing calls from the public network interface to a responder co-located at the cell site, testing all network elements in between using ITU, TIA and IEEE standard tests for RF and audio band performance. It can accommodate TDMA and CDMA elements and tests both analog and digital networks.

* TTC announced the availability of software and SVGA enhancements for the Fireberd 500 internetwork analyzer, including 32-bit functionality, a test configuration feature and a high-res screen.