NetHawkEAST_LTEeNBTesting_SpecSheet.pdf

8/14/2019 NetHawkEAST_LTEeNBTesting_SpecSheet.pdf

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FLEXIBLE LOAD AND FUNCTIONAL TESTING TOOL FOR LTE ENB

KEY FEATURESEffective functional and load testing of LTE eNB throughS1, X2 and LTE Uu interfaces.

Comprehensive simulation of control and user planeunder heavy load.

High performance EAST hardware with AMC blades,Network Processor Units and an ATCA chassis.

Easy to use graphical test case and message editing tools.

Smooth real-time protocol monitoring with the NetHawk M5for Monitoring option.Flexible and scalable product platform and structure.

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CHALLENGES FOR ENB TESTINGThe 3GPP organisation has specified the next generation mobilearchitecture called Long Term Evolution (LTE) and System ArchitectureEvolution (SAE). Together they provide better end-user services andadvanced radio features combined with an efficient network architecture.

Testing of LTE and SAE will bring in new challenges for eNB testing The eNB includes all radio-related functions within the same unit The LTE radio interface is 10 times faster than in WCDMA Radio measurement reports are received at eNBs, but invisiblein the S1 interface

eNBs are directly connected to each other

All this makes radio interface testing and optimization around eNBsmuch more challenging. Additionally the all-IP architecture of LTE andSAE increases the need for sophisticated testing tools for verificationof QoS, QoE, data applications, and video broadcasting.

SOLUTION: WRAP-AROUND TESTING OF ENBNetHawk EAST LTE enables comprehensive wrap-around testing of eNB.It wraps eNB by using S1, X2, and LTE Uu interfaces, and simulates bothcontrol plane and user plane with the help of test mobiles.

NetHawk EAST LTE can effectively be used in the functional and load testingof eNB. In functional testing, NetHawk EAST LTE can send or receive anyprotocol messages of the supported interfaces. It also generates and receivesIP user plane messages. At the receiving side, NetHawk EAST LTE cancalculate BER from the received PRSB sequence.

BER testing provides an efficient way to optimise the eNB implementation.In load testing, NetHawk EAST LTE simulates heavy load of control plane anduser plane traffic.

By interworking towards the test mobiles, EAST LTE is able to providecomprehensive statistics of LTE Uu L1 and L2 layers. Normal testing withLTE test mobiles can be fully configured and executed from EAST LTE GUI.

Transparent IP routing allows testing existing IP services. At the S1 interface,IP routing takes care of the automatic mapping of IP user plane of UEsto GTP-U tunnels.

LTE eNB Testing ObjectivesNetHawk EAST LTE supports detailed wrap-around testing of eNBin terms of:- S1 control / user plane testing- X2 control plane testing- RRC / NAS control plane testing- Handover testing- Transparent user plane routing- IP userplane data generation- Portable EPC for field trials- eNB stress testing under maximum load

PRODUCT PLATFORMNetHawk EAST LTE product consist of either portable TravelHawkhardware or high-performance ATCA hardware, and scalable software.

TravelHawkWith TravelHawk, NetHawk EAST LTE becomes a compact, portabletesting tool.

ATCAThe Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) hardware

platform for EAST LTE offers a scalable platform with high packing densityand reliability.

The ATCA platform allows multiuser functionality and it can easily beenhanced to a bigger testing system.

The smaller ATCA chassis allows 16 simultaneous users for functionaltesting.

NPU eNB under Maximum User Plance LoadNetwork Processor Unit (NPU) efficiently accelerates NetHawk EAST LTEuser plane. Multiple NPU cores take care of GTP-U, PRBS, IP routing andIPSec. Both platforms, TravelHawk and ATCA, support NPU. NPU gives youthe possibility to boost traffic up until eNB operates under maximum load.

The bigger ATCA chassis gives you the possibility to add 14 differentcards and add more parallel users.

eNB simulation UE simulation

MME/SGW simulation

x2 Uu

S1

eNB (SUT)

S1-MME

S1-U

S5S11

S10

X2

CPRI/OBSAI

S-GW

PDN GW

MME

MME

LTE

3G

eNB

Evolved Packet CoreeUTRAN

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MESSAGE LIBRAIRIES AND TEST CASE PACKAGESNetHawk EAST LTE includes message libraries for 3GPP S1-AP, RRCand NAS protocols and control interface protocols for LTE test mobiles.Test case packages include support for testing eNB through S1, X2 andLTE-Uu interfaces. Test cases are defined by using a graphical telecomoriented language. NetHawk EAST LTE servers provide link layer servicesto test cases. For example,

SCTP and GTP servers are available at the S1 interface, and the PDCP

server is available at the LTE-Uu interface.

USER INTERFACENetHawk EAST LTE has both a Graphical User Interface (GUI) anda Command Line Interface (CLI). The desktop includes launch menusfor different tools for test case editing, message library editing, test caseexecution, logging, and reporting grouped to the top line of the desktop.The configuration tools are available in the Commands section. Thedifferent servers and their status and logging capabilities can be followedand monitored by clicking the indicators in the Servers section.

Test Case EditingTest cases for NetHawk EAST LTE are defined by using a graphical EASTtest case language, which resembles SDL, the well known language usedfor defining state machines in telecommunication.

Message EditingThe message libraries are delivered with NetHawk EAST. However,if there is a need to update those libraries or a need to create a specificprotocol for, for instance, controlling the system under test or other testinstruments, there is a graphical message library editing tool for thatpurpose. It allows users to add, delete and modify message structuresand information element fields and use the modified message templatesin the test cases immediately.

Test ExecutionFor the execution of test cases, NetHawk EAST LTE has Test CaseRunner, Load Runner and Test Suite Runner. All of these utilities havethe same basic framework. Load Runner adds capabilities for profilingthe execution of several instances simultaneously. Statistical tables andgraphs can also be used for monitoring the test progress. Test SuiteRunner enables the scheduling of test case groups for execution at agiven time. In all Test Runners, the simulation can be monitored in formsof message sequence charts, textual traces and state machine execution

path follow-ups.

NetHawk EAST LTE test case editor

NetHawk EAST LTE protocol builder

NetHawk EAST LTE event trace view from Load Runner

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Documents

NetHawkEAST_LTEeNBTesting_SpecSheet.pdf