Testing Wireless Networks Featured Article

NTT DOCOMO, INC. recently utilized Ixia's IxCatapult wireless network testing solutions to validate its LTE wireless access network. The validation of the LTE (News - Alert) wireless network came prior to the launch of its Xi service™ back in late December.

Pre-deployment testing of new wireless network services is a crucial step in ensuring a reliable and high quality service for subscribers, according to the company. Starting at the eNodeB base station, LTE is an all-IP network with components that handle more subscribers, higher data rates, and larger mixes of data, voice, and video traffic. The Xi service offers download speeds of up to 75 Mbps.

In order to verify the functionality and interoperability of all the components, extensive control testing is required, which is where Ixia’s (News - Alert) wireless testing solutions come in. Testing must be done on all components including the eNodeB, mobility management entity (MME), serving gateway (SGW), and packet data network gateway (PDN-GW).

Testing the network using a larger scale of data and with a real case scenario of multiplay traffic ensures that the data plane can handle the anticipated volume of traffic as well as provide sufficient quality of experience (QoE) for network subscribers.

"LTE networks, with their vastly expanded complexity and data handling, are more difficult to test by an order of magnitude than simpler 2G/3G networks," said Naveen Bhat, VP and GM for Asia at Ixia. "Ixia's hardware and software wireless test solutions are the perfect tools for proving each wireless LTE element, combinations of those elements, and entire systems."

According to a recent release, Ixia's wireless solutions feature full data and control plane testing for all LTE components. Component duplication is available for all EPC elements, allowing each network nodule to be tested individually or in combination with other elements. Real-world, stateful multiplay traffic emulates subscribers using advanced video and data applications.

DOCOMO selected Ixia to test its LTE network last year, and used Ixia's LTE tools to accelerate its development. Ixia's wireless test solutions offer complete end-to-end performance testing of 3G and 4G wireless networks with a unique focus on subscriber modelling, QoE metrics, and multi-dimensional tests for capacity planning.

Stefanie Mosca is a Web editor for TMCnet. Previously she worked as a freelance copy editor for Digital Surgeons LLC. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University and a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of New Haven. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca