<font color=Red>Increasing complexity pushes network testers
</font>By Patrick Mannion -- EE Times -- July 28, 2003 (5:59 p.m. EST)
MANHASSET, N.Y. — As the deployment of 3G service accelerates, the pressure is on carriers' network maintenance and test operations to keep pace.
Exponentially rising data rates, increasing complexity, the need for interoperability among multiple interfaces and protocols across disparate legacy networks and increased security risks all go hand-in-hand with the move to 3G service, said Wayne Newitts, regional marketing manager for test-equipment specialist Tektronix Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.). Nonetheless, reliability and quality-of-service must continue to improve.
This is where the company's new K15 network analyzer comes into play.
Newitts said it can take up to 22 control messages just to set up a data session with a 3G mobile phone: "With current technology, it takes a technician between three and five hours to just configure the test device to be able to capture the information and identify what info they're looking for-and looking at."
In response, Tektronix revamped its K12 series of network monitors, emulators, simulators and load generators. The new K15 uses a CompactPCI bus instead of the VMEbus and alters the architecture to include a 500-MHz PowerPC on each interface board, as opposed to centralized processing. An application-specific cell processor handles the packetized traffic, and a plethora of interface options is available.
According to Newitts, the multiple, real-time interfaces and "expert" software allow examination of different links simultaneously, to trace control messages across multiple layers and put them all together. "We can now identify where the fault took place, and why," he said.
The system, said Newitts, slashes fault resolution time from hours or days to minutes; automates analysis; and allows streaming of data to disk for storage and off-line examination and analysis. It is compatible with UMTS, GSM, GPRS, Edge, cdma2000 and cdmaOne networks and costs between $50,000 and $100,000, depending on the software and interfaces selected.
commsdesign.com
Is there anything about 3g that isn't ridiculously complex/expensive? Rob |
