®

Azimuth Field-to-Lab™ Solution PRODUCT BRIEF Drive it Once

Roam Globally .... in your Lab Benchmarking Asia Europe and the Americas Interoperability Troubleshooting & Debug Field-to-Lab testing has never been easier or more cost-effective...

Profile the Environment

Map it Once

Recreate Real World Field Conditions in your Lab Visualize the channel conditions over a drive test route Troubleshoot, Debug and Stress Test Devices Automate your test bed and scenarios

Play it

Azimu

th FTL

and replay it... again and again ®

® Sourcing Field Data Traditionally drive test is performed with commercial products that utilize real handsets and radios to collect the field conditions and analyze the scenario through post processing. More sophisticated scanners or channel sounders also exist that provide more detailed channel conditions than commercial drive test systems. The raw data collected contains detailed information that can be re-used to map the conditions in time and using the Azimuth AzMapper application, recreate these conditions for playback. As radio technologies progress from 2G/3G SISO to 3G/4G MIMO, the addition of MIMO conditions adds complexity both to the data collection and mapping. Azimuth’s Field-to-Lab solution is designed to work with most commercial data collection solutions in the industry and can be easily integrated with new or more sophisticated products as they become available in the future for more developed and higher order MIMO implementations.

AzMapper The mapping function is a crucial component of the solution. Various field data of different qualities and accuracy is analyzed and used to generate a playback file. First, the field data is filtered to extract the useful and significant data from the mass of collected information. Next, the data is smoothed making sure that the behavior of the playback best imitates the time varying nature of the real world. Finally, the data is analyzed for missing segments and these can be filled or closed with interpolated data to ensure continuity. All the parameters of the filtering and mapping are configurable to the user’s preferences. The AzMapper also performs additional analysis functions. Signaling components that are removed (filtered out) and other interference detected in the field data is added back to the environment in the form of AWGN to ensure operating conditions identical to those in the field. In addition, the velocity of the mobile device is added in either based on information from the GPS coordinates over time or as a fixed velocity. AzMapper offers the user the ability to customize all the filtering and mapping parameters as well as providing advanced visualization views to help the user interpret both the source data and output data before creating the playback file. Data, such as GPS tracking and velocity, total channel power, per sector signal, noise and multipath power delay profile, can be displayed with charts, graphs and maps.

Drive Test Input File

Filtering

Velocity Analysis Field Data including GPS information is used to determine Doppler velocity of playback

Data is filtered and the dominant base stations/sectors are selected

Smoothing

Identify outliers and smooth transitions to better emulate real-world conditions

Filling

Locate areas of missing data and fill gaps with appropriate interpolated conditions

Signal/Noise Conditioner

Devices filtered out will be added as AWGN noise interference

Signal Mapped to ACE Channels

Final output file ready for streaming playback in realtime in the lab

Data Visualization Playback File Output

Intuitive graphic representation of source data and mapped data

Output to ACE MX

ACE MX MIMO Channel Emulator

The Azimuth Channel Emulator (ACE) MX is purpose-built for MIMO and has been architected to meet the demanding needs of OFDM and MIMO-based systems. The ACE MX product line combines industryleading channel emulation capabilities in a flexible and scalable product solution to deliver a range of configurations for MIMO and/or SISO system testing. The intuitive and easy-to-use configuration and control interface enables efficient, automated and repeatable testing of 2G, 3G, WiMAX, LTE and other 4G infrastructure equipment and devices.

AzPlayer The most important part of the Field-to-Lab solution is ensuring that the playback data is regenerated in the channel emulator accurately in a way that will recreate the real-world conditions. The ACE MX together with the AzPlayer application supports real time streaming of playback files for unlimited playback to channels on one or more ACE MXs. With the easy-to-use play control, the data can be played back, paused, looped and even coupled with other playback files both in the graphic user interface or through the programmable scripting interface.

ACE MX 440U

Users can connect up to twelve base stations or sectors and any number of UEs to ACE MX channel emulators. AzMapper software matches base stations/sectors to links on the ACE MX to reproduce call quality, data throughput, call drops and handovers that would be seen in the field by recreating he same channel conditions on the test bed in the lab as would be experienced in the field. The ACE MX supports advanced capabilities to regenerate any SISO or MIMO conditions on the link. Multiple drive tests can be replayed in parallel to support scenarios such as inter-RAT handover between LTE, 2G or 3G cells.

Who Can Use Field-to-Lab

ACE MX 440U

MIMO/LTE with Four Base Stations

Field-to-Lab plays back each sector onto an ACE MX 2x2 link.

Benefits

Operators

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Semiconductor / Device Manufacturers

- Characterizes expected performance in real environments - Reproduces and verifies field issues - Benchmarks performance with other devices - Optimizes algorithms for best performance, such as hard handover

Infrastructure Manufacturers

- - - -

Introduces field-trial support for qualification of devices in lab Reproduces known trouble spots in lab for analysis Provides throughput performance metrics on devices before deployment Allows qualification for specific markets / environments

Tests interoperability with devices under real conditions Benchmarks system performance Characterizes enhancements or improvements under real conditions Tests algorithms such as soft handover or eMBMS in life-like conditions

• The industry’s first MIMO channel emulator • Highest RF fidelity and performance • Satisfies the needs of multiple departments - research, engineering, and quality assurance • Easy-to-use graphical interface that scales from novice to expert • Integrated RF hardware that eliminates the need for external components • Scalable design to support multiple test configurations

® Director II Test Executive DIRECTOR II Test Executive is a flexible software management tool that provides centralized control over Azimuth test platforms including the ACE MX. An intuitive user interface allows users to configure and manage the ACE MX as well as nodes in the network. DIRECTOR II tools supports advanced scripting automation of the ACE MX and connected devices allowing the user to run completely automated test scripts. Testbed Manager Provides the user with a common, centralized interface to control and manage all the test bed devices within this test environment. Testbed Manager includes the ability to configure and operate the ACE MX as well as advanced tools for saving test profiles, custom models, and importing and exporting all parameters for use on similar systems. Test Builder Enables engineers to easily construct flexible test scripts without the need for knowledge of scripting. Utilizing Test Builder, an abstraction layer that hides scripting, engineers construct customized tests from a set of fundamental test building blocks or test modules. Test Builder enhances the Azimuth Field-to-Lab Solution further by providing automation of the setup and playback operations in AzMapper and AzPlayer. In addition Test Builders offers a tool for fully automated control over UEs, such as making calls, send SMS/MMS, starting data sessions, and sending data traffic. Advanced Automation Tools Testbuilder and TCL scripting are the foundation of a host of capabilities available to the user or customizable to the user’s needs that can create enhanced and fully automated test processes and procedures. The ACE MX and DIRECTOR II provide an open API enabling full control of every function of the ACE MX to be configured and used from a TCL script or from a remote 3rd party test automation application. The automation API enables simple integration of channel emulation into test beds and test suites. The DIRECTOR II Interface to 3rd party applications or APIs allows other components of the test like UEs to be controlled simultaneously, and in sync with the drive test playback, allowing users to perform precisely controlled real-world comparative benchmarking and regression testing.

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©2010 Azimuth Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. All specifications subject to change without notice. Azimuth, the Azimuth Logo, Azimuth DIRECTOR ll, Azimuth ACE, SmartMotion, Real2Real, STUDIO, and RadioProof are trademarks of Azimuth Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders. PB_FTL_0410