Conformance and interoperability tests

To ensure that a mobile phone meets its required standards it has to undergo a variety of types of
test. These are often categorised into different areas. In order to undertake these tests different
test house may be required.
1. Basic safety testing This is a form of test that every piece of equipment, whether
mobile phone or otherwise has to undergo to ensure that it is intrinsically safe to use and
no injury will be inflicted for example from sharp edges, etc..
. SAR, Specific Absorption Rate This test involves measuring the amount of radio
frequency power that a human head will absorb when the cell phone is transmitting. The
test uses an anatomically correct model of the human head. Inside the model temperature
sensors are set up to measure the temperature rises to ensure that the heating effects
caused by the cell phone fall below acceptable limits.
!. Protocol testing "ne of the major areas of cellular conformance testing is the protocol
testing of the cell phone. #ith the complicated protocols used in mobile phones this is a
critical area. If the phone protocol software operates incorrectly then it could result not
only in problems experienced by the phone, but also on the network. In view of the
complexity of the protocols that are used this testing can be very involved. $pecialised
network simulators are used. These testers emulate a variety of network entities, i.e. base
stations or %ode &'s (in the case of )*T$+, ,%-s (,adio %etwork -ontroller and the
like. In this way a host of scenarios from registration to handover, and in fact any
situation that can be encountered can be simulated.
.. RF testing -onformance testing also includes testing of the ,/ signal. *any
measurements of the transmitter and receiver performance are undertaken in a variety of
areas such as the out of band emissions. *easurements of the ,adio ,esource
*anagement (,,*+ are undertaken to ensure that the control capability of the phone is
operating correctly. There are for instance very tight limits on the control of the
transmitter output power to ensure that the cell phone radiates only as much as is needed
under any given conditions and noise in the phone bands is reduced to the minimum
level. To achieve this testing a protocol tester is often used to control the phone and set up
the relevant scenarios. In addition to this an ,/ measurement and generation equipment
is required. This is often in the form of additional signal generators, power meters,
analysers, noise generators, etc. To check operation of the phone with multi0path and
fading, special fading simulators are required.
1. SIM card testing 2nother very important area of cellular conformance or
interoperability testing is the operation of the $I* card, or in the case of )*T$ the
)$I*. 2s $I*s are interchangeable between phones it is necessary to rigorously check
the interface. It is also vital to check the security aspects of the operation of the $I*, as
lapses in security could compromise elements of the network security. To undertake this
testing a $I* simulator (or )$I* simulator+ is required. This simulator emulates the
operation of the $I*, and tests on the phone can then be run using a protocol tester to set
up the variety of scenarios that are needed.
3. Audio tests /inally audio checks of the cell phone are undertaken. These check the
correct operation of the audio aspects of the cellular phone, both in terms of the
microphone and the earphone. -hecks of audio levels, quality and much more are
measured using a variety of audio equipment to ensure they conform to the requirements
laid down.
Test cases
It is obviously necessary to ensure that each stage in the testing is repeatable regardless of the
test equipment is used and the organisation performing the testing.
To achieve uniformity a large number of what are termed 4test cases4 are defined. These may be
expressed in a number of ways, but typically they may be in prose, or they may be in a form of
computer notation called TT-% (Tree and Tabular -ombined %otation+. In the latter format they
can often be compiled directly into code that can be run on a given test system.
/or any given standard, i.e. 5$* )*T$, cdma666, etc there are many hundreds of test cases
that need to be run. They are prepared under the auspices of the governing body, e.g. !577 for
5$* and )*T$. *anufacturers of conformance test equipment are then able to take these test
cases and convert them to run on their test equipment. "ften the test cases must be ratified on a
given test system before they can be used towards approval of a phone.
$ummary
The process of conformance testing and interoperability testing can be time consuming and
expensive. 8owever it is essential because the cost of releasing a phone that does not operate
correctly is very much higher. 2s a result network operators and phone manufacturers alike see
the importance of conformance testing and interoperability testing.