Date: 17/03/2010

Rohde & Schwarz's complete test system to do end-to-end test of mobile phones

Rohde & Schwarz is providing the new test software on its R&S CMW500 wideband radio communication tester and the R&S TS8980 RF test system. Using this new system phone designers and manufacturers can test their phone's performance such as data throughput and voice communications quality at cell boundaries or under fading influences.

In real-life network operation, mobile phones must cope with different receive conditions. Whether at the boundary of a radio cell, during a handover between two different mobile radio technologies or in the presence of radio interference - the data throughput, the setup speed and the stability of a voice connection must meet the specifications of the network operator. As part of their approval process for a specific phone, network operators perform end-to-end tests between the mobile phone and the base station under field conditions. Rohde & Schwarz has now integrated these tests for the WCDMA, HSPA+ and LTE standards into its R&S CONTEST test software as performance quality analysis.

The test setup generates the necessary fading signals and provides all 3GPP fading profiles. Measured data is collected and analyzed by an external PC.

The R&S CONTEST test allow users to define their own test plans with user-friendly input masks. The software offers evaluation and display options to detect and eliminate any weak points in their products before they undergo testing by the network operators.