Spirent Communications (News - Alert), a global provider of performance analysis solutions, has upheld its leadership in Assisted GPS (A-GPS) testing by becoming the first test system vendor to validate all the A-GPS test standards on its UMTS Location Test System (ULTS).

 

Mobile device manufacturers, chipset vendors and mobile operators now have access to a single test platform that runs all the validated A-GPS test cases required by the Global Certification Forum (GCF) and the PCS Type Certification Review Board (PTCRB (News - Alert)).

 

With all validated A-GPS test cases now available on a single automated test system, Spirent ULTS significantly improves device verification, certification and time-to-market cycles. Furthermore, it limits the need for test engineers to work with multiple test platforms or platform configurations, which can complicate and delay the testing process.

 

The mobile community relies on A-GPS test standards to certify that mobile devices conform to industry specifications prior to market deployment. With the recent validations of the 3GPP TS 51.010 GSM Signaling Test Cases, Spirent ULTS now supports validated WCDMA and GSM test cases from 3GPP Standards TS 34.171, TS34.123 and TS 51.010, as well as the OMA SUPL V1.0 ETS.

 

“Our global customer base relies on our expertise to successfully develop and deploy A-GPS solutions,” said Richard Catmur, Location Product Segment Manager at Spirent Communications, in a statement. “This expertise led to Spirent's involvement in the writing of many of the test cases in the standards bodies," "Having all current A-GPS test standards validated in a single platform will significantly increase the pace at which our customers can certify their devices.”

 

In addition to conformance testing, the Spirent ULTS also offers advanced A-GPS testing beyond the minimum requirements of the 3GPP and OMA test standards. The Spirent ULTS closes the gap between pure conformance and field testing in a controllable and flexible lab-based test environment.

 

With the most powerful and flexible GPS simulation capabilities available, this test system offers users the possibility to test the A-GPS RF performance in challenging simulated environments, such as urban canyons and deep indoors. Furthermore, the ULTS offers advanced protocol testing under some of the most demanding yet common real-world scenarios.

 

Built upon the expertise gained from Spirent's Position Location Test System (PLTS), launched into the CDMA market in 2001, the ULTS was the first commercially available UMTS A-GPS test system. Since then, most of the world's largest network operators, together with all the major mobile device and A-GPS chipset manufacturers, have relied on the Spirent ULTS to design, test and certify their LBS solutions.