Europe Germany : Growing volumes of data, increasing transmission speed and unlimited possibilities are the characteristics of mobile communications in the new millennium. With 1.5 billion subscribers, GSM has long since conquered the world, and UMTS is spreading fast – mainly due to high speed downlink/uplink packet access (HSDPA/HSUPA) as an attractive enhancement. Manufacturers need reliable and future-oriented T&M solutions in order to provide user equipment that satisfies ever increasing requirements. Rohde & Schwarz is therefore presenting a comprehensive product portfolio featuring solutions for high speed packet access (HSPA) at the 3GSM World Congress.

Unlimited mobility: into the future with HSPA Rohde & Schwarz has already been offering a complete selection of products for HSDPA test and measurement since the beginning of 2005. At the 3GSM World Congress 2006, the company will present HSUPA solutions for the first time: The layer 1 test software for the tried-and-tested R&S CRTU-W and R&S CRTU-M platforms now also simulates the layer 1 behavior of an HSUPA base station. It can generate complex HSUPA downlink signals at layer 1 and test their reception and processing in the layer 1 UE implementation under test.

For the signal and spectrum analyzers of the R&S FSQ, R&S FSP and R&S FSU product group, Rohde & Schwarz has added HSUPA to the R&S FS-K72/-K73/-K74 application firmware packages. Besides HSDPA functionality, comprehensive functions for transmitter measurements on HSUPA base stations and modules are now also available. For the vector signal generators of the R&S SMx family, the R&S SMx K45 software option will provide a HSUPA update, enabling the R&S SMU200A, R&S SMATE200A and R&S SMJ100A to generate HSUPA signals for measurements on base stations.

Network optimization: the R&S CMU300 with new HSDPA monitoring function To ensure smooth rollout of HSDPA in the course of this year, reliable T&M solutions for user equipment and networks are called for. The R&S CMU300 checks HSDPA settings at node Bs (UMTS base stations) and performs measurements on the physical HSDPA channels. The new R&S CMU-K72 HSDPA monitoring option allows you to measure data throughput, for example. The measurements serve as a basis for analyzing and optimizing algorithms for resource assignment, enabling network operators to tailor the quality of new services and the necessary network capacity to customer requirements by changing important HSDPA parameters.

Fully automatic: R&S ROMES measurement software supports neighborhood and handover analysis Equipped with R&S ROMES software, coverage measurement systems from Rohde & Schwarz provide valuable support in setting up HSDPA networks and optimizing radio networks: An end-to-end application is set up and evaluated during a test drive. The measurements provide information about the actual HSDPA configuration, the availability and parameterization of HSDPA services at different locations within the network, the signaling and the data rates reached at different levels.

R&S ROMES software also features an automatic neighborhood and handover analyzer, allowing network operators to check handovers within a 3G network and between 2G and 3G networks online during the measurement. The analyzer automatically compares the measurement results from a UMTS PN scanner, a GSM network scanner and a test mobile phone with the GSM BTS list and the UMTS node B list. A specially set algorithm tests the system to determine if potential interference is present or adjacent cells are missing. This convenient solution makes further analysis superfluous.

Data rates up to 10 Mbit/s: more HSDPA functionality for the R&S CMU200 The R&S CMU200 mobile radio tester from Rohde & Schwarz also follows the trend toward higher data rates: The instrument already generates and decodes HSDPA signals up to 10 Mbit/s in non-signaling mode. The company has now added the signaling mode to the instrument's HSDPA functionality, enabling it to set up an HSDPA connection to user equipment of classes up to 3.6 Mbit/s. Data rates of up to 10 Mbit/s in the signaling mode and end-to-end data test applications are currently being developed.

The R&S CMU200 features flexibility in setting all essential parameters in non-signaling as well as signaling mode. In addition, it covers all RF measurements of the five main groups: power, modulation, spectrum, code domain power and receiver sensitivity.