MWC 2015: Mobile device test times slashed

27th February 2015

Mick Elliott

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Datasheet

Spirent Communications has expanded its 8100 Carrier Acceptance and Conformance test portfolio with the addition of two new solutions: the 8100 X series and 8100 Q series. The new solutions address a critical need in the industry: a cost-effective answer to the growing capacity crunch in device performance testing as a result of the surge in new technologies and services.

The 8100 X series focuses on modem-layer data testing while the 8100 Q series supports higher-layer services testing.

“We’re seeing acceptance testing requirements from carriers expanding by hundreds of hours from where they were just eighteen months ago, on the back of growth in services such as VoLTE and RCS, and deployment of new location and carrier aggregation technologies,” said Rob Van Brunt, general manager, Wireless at Spirent Communications. “Our two new platforms enable us not only to address these current and future requirements globally, but also to help drive down the total cost of ownership.”

The rapid proliferation of new technologies and services is putting huge pressure on wireless smartphone manufacturers, M2M technology developers and service providers. The need for reliable deployment of these new products and services requires the mobile ecosystem to constantly expand the scope and duration of its testing, usually resulting in the need for costly test system upgrades or duplication. The 8100 X series and 8100 Q series extend the capabilities of Spirent’s industry-proven 3G/4G 8100 Carrier Acceptance and Conformance systems to cost-effectively address this test capacity pain point.

The 8100 X series is an advanced modem-layer data throughput performance test platform that addresses rapidly-evolving 3GPP LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation requirements, which are expected to drive a three-fold increase in test cases and test duration over the next twelve months. It supports multiple cells, downlink and uplink carrier aggregation, both FD-LTE and TD-LTE for global coverage, MIMO up to 4x2 and integrated fading. The 8100 X series platform is currently undergoing validation by leading operators in North America and China as they start mandating device acceptance criteria for carrier aggregation.

The 8100 Q series provides comprehensive support for IMS and location technologies, allowing test teams to focus on application-layer specific issues such as device-to-device interoperability for VoLTE, RCS and A-GNSS positioning. Building on the Elevate Test Framework, the 8100 Q Series allows true end-to-end interoperability testing and slashes test times with simultaneous testing of multiple devices.