Azimuth and JDSU Collaborate on Subscriber-Centric Testing
May 20, 2013. Azimuth Systems and JDSU formally announced today a collaboration to answer the mobile industry’s call for more efficient, effective, and end-to-end test solutions. Azimuth’s Field-to-Lab system replays live-network radio environments by parsing captures and logs from the JDSU E6474A RANAdvisor Wireless Network Optimization Software and W1314A/B Multi-Band Wireless Measurement Receiver.
By more closely approximating the conditions experienced in actual network environments in the lab, the solution has been proven to reduce field test costs by up to 30%, Azimuth reported. Azimuth’s Device Automation & Control further augments testing by exercising functions critical to the subscriber experience, enabling end-to-end visibility from application to device to network. This partnership supports JDSU’s strategy of bringing real-world conditions from operational networks to enhance customer lab testing, delivering advanced insight before the customer experiences the new services under test.
Mobile operators, OEMs, and chipset and infrastructure vendors are challenged like never before with the deployment of new network, device, and service technologies. The industry-accepted testing paradigm is under severe stress to accommodate an explosion of new test cases without corresponding increases in budget or time to market.
The Field-to-Lab (FTL) strategy from Azimuth and JDSU allows service providers and equipment manufacturers to replay real-world channel conditions collected from drive testing in Azimuth’s ACE channel emulators. FTL includes AzMapper software, thoroughly analyzing raw data collected with JDSU’s RANAdvisor to recreate that same radio environment through intelligent mapping of the logged field conditions to the available lab testbed. FTL and AzMapper enable operators and device, infrastructure, and chipset OEMs to visualize the drive test through dynamic replay, profile multiple drives to compare performance, and recreate the drive test in the lab for faster benchmarking and analysis in real world environments.
JDSU's RANAdvisor platform includes a receiver with up to eight frequency bands and software that can simultaneously measure and troubleshoot network RF coverage and service delivery across all existing 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies, including WiMAX, LTE, and VoIP. The solution reflects JDSU's general strategy of protecting customer investments by building solutions that can quickly incorporate new technologies with software upgrades. Multitechnology RANAdvisor measurements are critical because diverse networks do not operate in isolation.
Leading operators and handset vendors are using this joint solution to benchmark, troubleshoot, and analyze handset performance and network interoperability in subscriber environments. The broad frequency coverage supported by JDSU’s RANAdvisor made the collaboration particularly successful in identifying inter-radio access technology (RAT) issues including handover and multi-frequency support. Based on the market success of the initial collaboration, JDSU and Azimuth plan additional joint efforts to extend playback support for improved playback of MIMO correlation, propagation delay and new protocols.
“Azimuth is responding to the clear directive from our customer base of tier one operators and ecosystem partners to deliver innovative test systems and methodologies to better support and anticipate evolving mobile test requirements,” said Peter Paglia, executive vice president of Azimuth Systems. “Our collaboration with a visionary leader such as JDSU will enable us to leverage combined expertise that provides more efficient, effective and end-to-end test solutions that our customers demand.”