Aeroflex Incorporated, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aeroflex Holding Corp, has announced that its TM500 Test Mobile has added support for the 3GPP DC-HSDPA Release 9 standard to the multiple UE (user equipment, or handset) emulation product. Release 9 is the most recent update to the HSPA+ standards, and provides a maximum data rate of 84 Mbps by enabling concurrent operation of MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) and DC-HSDPA (Dual Cell High-Speed Download Packet Access).
The TM500 Rel-9 DC-HSDPA Multi-UE Test Mobile enables 3G infrastructure equipment manufacturers to test a DC-HSDPA base station and network against a multiple handset configuration. As with all Aeroflex TM500 Multi-UE test mobiles, it allows them to perform rigorous load testing and optimization of their base stations, ensuring that high-performance infrastructure products are delivered to network operators, and speeding up the development of the equipment and its deployment in networks. The TM500 Test Mobile offers all the capabilities of a mobile handset or set of mobile handsets, with advanced test functionality for comprehensive 3GPP verification, validation, and optimisation.
This new TM500 model provides full multi-UE implementation of HSDPA Categories 1 – 28, including DC-HSDPA, MIMO, and 64QAM, with support for seamless reconfiguration from Single Cell HSDPA to Dual Cell HSDPA and vice versa, and soft handover for up to six cells. HSUPA categories 1-7 and Continuous Packet Connectivity in Layer 1, HARQ and MAC test modes are also supported.
“The TM500 already supports the 84 Mbps data rate enabled by Release 9’s ability to combine MIMO and DC-HSDPA operation,” said Tim Beard, WCDMA product manager at Aeroflex Test Solutions. “We have now enhanced the TM500 to incorporate multi-UE support for Release 9, which allows infrastructure engineers to optimise scheduling algorithms and to load test the base station in order to realize the full capacity potential of this higher data rate.”
Manufacturers must test network equipment under realistic operating conditions. All the major infrastructure vendors, as well as many femtocell manufacturers, currently use the TM500 Test Mobile. The 3GPP Rel-9 DC-HSDPA Multi-UE model is the latest in the TM500 family, which includes support for 3G and 4G standards from HSDPA through HSUPA, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA to LTE.
