Test & Measurement     2007-12-15

Aeroflex Enhances Conformance Test Systems for A-GPS Location Services with Addition of OMA Secure User Plane Support

A-GPS conformance test system

The Aeroflex A-GPS location-based test systems provide a fully integrated environment for repeatable R&D and conformance verification testing. The systems combine a 12 channel GPS simulator with Aeroflex’s proven conformance test platforms that are already extensively used in the cellular industry.

Aeroflex announced it is enhancing its 6103 and 6401 A-GPS conformance test systems for location-based services with support for the Open Mobile Alliance Secure User Plane (OMA SUPL) 1.0. The Aeroflex 6103 and 6401 provide A-GPS conformance test within GSM/E-GPRS and UMTS environments respectively. The relevant test cases have completed development and are being progressively submitted for approval at both the Global Certification Forum (GCF) and the PCS Type Certification Review Board (PTCRB), the globally recognized certification organizations whose aim is to ensure mobile equipment interoperability.

“Support for OMA SUPL 1.0 is fundamentally important to the development dynamics of A-GPS applications,” said Phil Medd, Aeroflex’s product manager responsible for its A-GPS test systems. “OMA SUPL 1.0 is a way of implementing location services over an Internet Protocol (IP) link. Bearing in mind that most revenue sources for location services are typically coupled to the Internet in some way, or are about a server interacting visually with a mobile device using an IP link, it is quicker, easier and far more efficient for application developers to work within an IP environment (User Plane) than at the modem layer (Control Plane) of a cellular radio network.” The aim of the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is to facilitate global user adoption of mobile data services by specifying market driven mobile service enablers that ensure service interoperability across devices, geographies, service providers, operators and networks, while allowing businesses to compete through innovation and differentiation. Like other applications that sit above the modem layer such as MMS, PoC, BROWSER and SyncML, SUPL is considered an application enabler and has consequently been developed by the OMA. SUPL has been made a Work Item/RFT at both the GCF and PTCRB.

The Aeroflex A-GPS location-based test systems provide a fully integrated environment for repeatable R&D and conformance verification testing. The systems combine a 12 channel GPS simulator with Aeroflex’s proven conformance test platforms that are already extensively used in the cellular industry. The systems include test case packages for 3GPP and 3GPP2 wireless standards, Network Assistance Data elements for flexible control over assistance data messaging and support for Location Services (LCS) message exchange, along with support for MS-Based and MS-Assisted positioning methods. The new test systems also support control and user plane techniques using LCS protocols, real time logging/decoding of protocol signaling messages between mobile and network, and automatic report generation and analysis of results for the device under test.

Aeroflex’s GSM/E-GPRS A-GPS system is based on the Aeroflex 6103 AIME/CT GSM Conformance Test System and includes a Serving Mobile Location Center (SMLC) emulator for control over Assistance Data Messaging as well as all the GPS signaling test cases as defined by 3GPP TS 51.010. The system has been designed to be upgradeable to support the Minimum Performance test cases specified in 3GPP TS 51.010 Section 70.11.

Aeroflex’s UMTS A-GPS system is based on the Aeroflex 6401 AIME/CT UMTS Conformance Test System. It includes the same SMLC emulator as the GSM system along with the protocol signaling test cases as defined by 3GPP TS 34.123 and the RF performance test cases as defined by 3GPP TS 34.171.

For more information about Aeroflex visit www.aeroflex.com/.