QPER Handover Tester
Qosmotec’s QPER Handover Tester provides a platform to emulate all relevant signal strength effects on the air interface.
The QPER hardwareinterconnects base stations or (e)NodeBs with test UEs via digitally controllable attenuators. RF signals are transmitted through coaxial cables. Each signal path can be attenuated individually in steps of 1 dB. The user can chose system dimensionsranging from 1 to 16 ports on either side. Thus, testers can model all essential propagation effects on signal strength, such as path loss, signal drops caused by fast-fading or shadowing.
Facts and Features
The QPER Handover Tester enables engineers to emulate handover scenarios to verify network set-ups, test UE performance, and interoperability with network components in the lab.
The Handover Tester’s software is based on the virtual drive test approach: The user can simulate drive tests through a virtual landscape with GPS referenced maps.In those maps he can freely position network infrastructure elements as well as mobile devices. He can draw driving routes and simulate a movement of network subscribers with various speeds or even feed it with GPS recordings from routes actually driven. To calculate signal strength, channel coefficients, and other radio channel effects (Doppler, Delay, Multipath, etc.), various signal propagation models can be applied to the physical radio link.Drive test data from various drive testers, such as Anite NEMO or Rohde & Schwarz ROMES drive tester, can be imported to reproduce network conditions causing failure in the lab.
Furthermore, the Handover Tester is perfectly suited to opitmise self-organising networks (SON) by forcing networks to induce handovers automatically and unattended over a long duration to verify the algorithms of self-organising networks.
A reduced variant can be deployed as an electronic RF switch to supply test signals to various test rooms within a test lab.
Specifications
Frequency range:
500 – 3000 MHz (standard version),
500 – 6000 MHz (extended version)
Eubus 380 MHz – 3.0 GHz Solid State Programmable Attenuator (standard Version), or
Eubus 700 MHz – 6.0 GHz Solid State Programmable Attenuator (extended Version)
Impedance: 50 Ω
Customizable dimensions from 2 x 1 up to 16 x 16 RF ports
Dynamic attenuation range: 0 – 95.5 dB
Attenuation steps: 0.5 dB
Number of switches: > 4000 / sec, real time, up to 128 parallel settings (i.e. up to 512.000 HW settings per second)
Max. input power: + 23 dBm
RF-connectors: N(f) or SMA(f), front- and/or rear side mounted
Operating system: Windows XP, Vista or 7
Path loss propagation models:Free space path loss, Okumura-Hata model, Walfisch-Ikegami model, Kathrein antenna patterns
Fading effects on signal strength:Rayleigh Fading (NLOS model), Rician Fading (LOS models)
Drive test file formats:Rohde & Schwarz ROMES Drive Tester ASCII format, Anite NEMO open file format, MEDAS general file format