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4th April - The new Yokogawa AP6000 is a powerful air protocol
analyser for monitoring and analysing complex radio signals
in W-CDMA and GSM mobile networks, including the critical
area of handovers between W-CDMA and GSM networks.
Target applications include the monitoring of BTS/UE traffic
in simulator test environments at the R&D phase, interoperability
testing in the laboratory, base-station and user-equipment
connection testing in a real network environment, connection
verification for multiple vendor combinations of base stations
and user equipment, and field verification and troubleshooting.
"The rapid growth of mobile communications based on
two different standards has created an unprecedented demand
for test equipment to verify interoperability at all stages
from initial research through to field troubleshooting,"
comments Terry Marrinan, Director of Sales & Marketing
for Yokogawa's European Test & Measurement operation:
"We believe that the AP6000 is the ideal tool to meet
this demand."
The AP6000 acts as a non-intrusive 'window' between the base
station and the user equipment in a 2G or 3G network, monitoring
all up- and down-link traffic including L1, L2, L3, data and
control information. With a scalable, modular architecture
built around a universal platform design, the AP6000 incorporates
advanced features such as HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet
access) and HSUPA (high-speed uplink packet access) support,
making the instrument a full solution based on the requirements
of 3GPP Specification Release-6.
The instrument can be used to analyse a host of connection
problems between the mobile network and the user equipment,
including issues related to RF power and timing, RLC (radio
link control) and RRC (radio resource control) message protocols,
U-plane data and TCP/IP connection. Users can view all the
U-U interface signals on a single platform, as well as carrying
out basic W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS protocol analysis (with Inter-RAT
monitoring option), and extract data in various file formats.
The AP6000 can be used for real-time capture and analysis
of data, including Layer 1 information, channel code power,
timing and CRC status, and RRC messages. It can also perform
off-line decoding and analysis, including Layer 1 information,
RF power TPC, RSCP, timing and CRC status, RLC re-transmission
status, RRC messages and U-plane data analysis. Data can be
exported in various formats, and the open architecture means
that the AP6000 can be interfaced with other instruments such
as signalling testers for duplicating field problems.
The new Inter-RAT function traces a specific user equipment
through the GSM/W-CDMA handover, providing detailed and complete
information on the Um and Uu messages. The Inter-RAT option
provides a full-band GSM/GPRS receiver unit (850 MHz, 900
MHz, 1.8 GHz, 1.9 GHz) and a decode hardware module.
System operation is completely independent of base-station
and user-equipment vendors and different versions, so that
the AP6000 can easily be used to compare different vendors'
systems and pinpoint any problems. It is also layer independent,
so that each engineer can look at the applicable layer: L1
for a radio engineer, L2 for a network protocol engineer,
and L3 for a network protocol and/or application engineer.
The instrument measures W 43 x D 55 x H 20 cm and weighs
approximately 20 kg. Each unit is supplied with a notebook
PC which acts as the GUI for both real-time and off-line testing.
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