In this Issue:
Catapult at the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
TESTING APPLICATION
LTE/SAE Creates
New Test Challenges
WHAT'S NEW...
IMS Turn-Key Test Suites Now Available
TECHNICAL TIP
TESTING ALL NETWORK AREAS
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Catapult at the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
Join Catapult at the Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain, February 11-14.
Catapult will demonstrate LTE/SAE, WiMAX and IMS network equipment testing using a live DCT2000 system equipped with IMS turnkey test suites, eNode B simulators, and core network test scenarios for LTE and WiMAX.
Visit our booth at Hall 2-1, Stand D46.
LTE/SAE Creates New Test Challenges
Implementation of the Long Term Evolution (LTE)/System Architecture Evolution (SAE) creates significant test challenges for network engineers. The flattened all-IP architecture introduces several new network elements and interfaces such as the evolved Node B (eNB), Serving Gateway (S-GW), and evolved SAE element interfaces. Complex inter-working of existing networks with the new air interface and base stations places new demands on handovers and security. In addition, LTE standards require increased data rates, broadband capacity and lower latency. Legacy test environments are inadequate to verify the advanced LTE requirements and keep pace with competitive time-to-market demands.
eNB testing requires the test system to surround the eNB with simulated user equipment, the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and the S-GW. Simulated eNBs and corresponding LTE network elements are necessary for thorough core network testing of the evolved Packet Data Gateway, S-GW, and MME. Extreme high load testing is required to verify video, data, and triple play capacity (up to 100 Mb/s downlink and 50 Mb/s uplink with less than 5 millisecond user plane latency.) The LTE MME inter-working tests rely upon simulated legacy UTRAN and GERAN networks (2G and above). Tests are also required for LTE inter-working with trusted and non-trusted, non-3GPP networks (IMS and WiMAX).
The DCT2000/LTE test system is based on Catapult's proven UMTS test system. Providing a stable and cost effective evolution path for existing 2G/3G test environments to LTE, the multi-user DCT2000 provides the capability for simultaneous testing of various technologies and applications. End-to-end testing can be configured and executed within a single system chassis for the new LTE/SAE network in conjunction with 3G UMTS, GPRS, or GSM. Of particular note is the DCT2000 mesh architecture that delivers the extremely high performance necessary for LTE data rate testing.
DCT2000/LTE Test System Highlights:
- High load testing for video and data -- Traffic Generator/X·Stream Packet Generator
- S1 through S11 and X2 interfaces and their protocols
- Mobility - handovers, security
- Radio resource management
- Negative testing
Catapult works continually with the 3GPP Forum to keep the DCT2000 portfolio of protocols current with the latest standards. Our focus helps Catapult system users achieve improved test control, shortened test cycles, improved network quality and satisfied end customers.
For specific information about LTE supported specifications and protocol variants, please contact your Catapult Representative.
IMS Turn-key Test Suites Now Available
The new IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Test Suite packages complement the DCT2000/IMS systems to provide complete, functional testing solutions. The DCT2000/IMS systems offer the protocol breadth, stack depth, and traffic/signaling capacity required to stress and verify the new IMS network elements.
Together with the DTC2000/IMS systems and a new Testbench user interface, the IMS Test Suite packages provide an easy to use, powerful, scalable and protocol rich all inclusive IMS test solution. Testbench is built on the Eclipse™ integrated development environment.
IMS Test Suites include:
- Ready-to-run test cases
- Node simulation of key network elements
- Powerful traffic generation for real-world scenarios
- A comprehensive protocol library
Currently available IMS Test Suites:
- Procedures Test Suites - test the main procedures in a generic IMS network over multiple interfaces
- Application Servers Test Suites - verify the behavior of Application Servers under specified conditions
To schedule an IMS demonstration, please click here
For more IMS Test Suites information please contact your Catapult Representative.
What's New on DCT2000 Releases 13.5 through 14.2
New and updated protocols:
- WiMAX NGW Stage 3:
- R3 Mobility protocol
- Paging protocol (section 6.3.6)
- RRM protocol (section 6.3.7)
- PPP CHAP ext v2 RFC 2759
- MSCHAPv2
- Re-Authentication protocol - IM Operation (section 5.2.10)
- DES/3DES to be used with MS-CHAPv2 and EAP
- EAP-TTLS (Draft-IETF-PPPEXT-EAP-TTLS -05)
- HO Control
- QoS
- Context Tranter
- Authentication Relay
- IMS:
- DIAMETER R7 3GPP 32.299 Version 7.6.0
- SIP TTC JJ-90.24, JJ-90.25 TS 24.228 PRACK
- LTE:
- BERT/BLERT
- GTP-u SM port (UDP/IP Tunneling Over GTP-u on IP Interface)
- Fixed frame video streaming on CN traffic generator
- RTP traffic over GTP-u and multiple PDP context
- MPEG-2 external file video streaming on CN traffic generator
Other Protocol Updates:
- IGMP for Multicasting
- Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) - 3GPP TS 23.140 V6.8.0
- MM1 updated to OMA-MMS-ENC-V1.3
- MMS file attachment functionality
- H.248 (Text encoding) ITU-T H.248.1 v2 03/2004
- HTTP Authentication
- M3UA (RFC 4666)
- Diameter R6 for TISPAN Gq'
- WAP state machine (WSP/WTP)
- RTP - H.263 payload format extensions
- 1.28Mcps TDD HSDPA user traffic for China TD-SCDMA
What's New on MGTS Releases 15.1 and 15.4
New and updated protocols:
- MM7 - R6 Sep 2006
- M2PA - RFC4165
- IUA (RFC 4233)
- IuFP over RTP/RTCP
- Control bundling in SCTP
- MMS - HTTP-MMS-V1.2
PASM updates:
- Hex string to integer and integer to hex string action conversions
- New "GET Next SLS (SLC)" action on Structured STM-1
- DCPL variable files for EMR blocking
- User definable association ID parameter
- State machine subset execution
- Database assignment in sequence group
- Stop function as action state for PASM load
For a complete set and details of all supported capabilities and technical specifications, please consult with your Catapult sales representative.
Managing log files during long duration tests
Long duration test runs can generate large log files that may be cumbersome to manage, especially when troubleshooting. Utilizing a combination of 'gwrite' and 'keyboard' commands, the DCT2000 can create various smaller more manageable log files based on user-defined parameters.
The 'gwrite timestamp' command is also helpful to use when managing log files. The 'gwrite timestamp' is a new command available in DCT2000 14.1 release that creates log files with a timestamp relative to when the log file was created versus the 'gwrite' command that creates log files with a timestamp relative to the beginning of the test run.
Refer to section 8.4.4 of 'Refman' for more information on the 'gwrite', 'gwrite timestamp' and 'keyboard' commands.
Catapult Communications is a leading supplier of advanced digital telecom test systems to global equipment manufacturers and service providers, including Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Nortel and Nokia Siemens Networks. The Catapult DCT2000® and MGTS® systems deliver superior high-end test solutions for hundreds of protocols and variants - spanning LTE, IMS, WiMAX, 4G/3G/2.5G/2G UMTS, VoIP, GPRS, SS7, Intelligent Network, ATM, ISDN and other network environments. The Company is committed to providing testing tools that are at the forefront of the telecom technology curve.
Catapult is headquartered at 160 South Whisman Road, Mountain View, CA 94041. Tel: 650-960-1025. International offices are located in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, Canada, Japan, China, Australia, India and the Philippines. Information about Catapult Communications can be found on the Web at http://www.catapult.com
®2008 Catapult Communications
DCT2000, MGTS are registered trademarks of Catapult Communications.
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"Mobile World Congress" is a trademark of GSM Conference Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the GSM Association.
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