As hundreds of thousands of people converge on Washington, D.C., for inaugural celebrations and protests this weekend, wireless network benchmarking company Global Wireless Solutions released data on recent performance testing of national carrier networks at Dulles International Airport.
AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile US and Verizon Wireless tied for overall performance, while Sprint lagged behind, GWS reported. The company tested network performance in the main airport areas: gates A through D, the check-in area and baggage claim. It then ranked them using its OneScore performance metric that incorporates both network testing data and third-party data on how consumers typically use their mobile devices, such as social media access.
GWS found different networks performed best depending on the task and physical location within the airport. On average, it said, “Verizon had the highest potential capacity download, roughly 31 [megabits per second], throughout the airport.” However, in measuring potential capacity download throughputs at specific places, AT&T Mobility performed the best at gates C and D, while Verizon Wireless was on top in all the other locations tested. For video streaming on YouTube or Facebook, AT&T Mobility had the best performance with an average speed of nearly 15 Mbps, GWS said. T-Mobile US, meanwhile, offered the best performance for uploads that simulated posting a video on Facebook – 10 Mbps on average throughout Dulles, with peak speeds of 13 Mbps in the baggage claim area.
“Dulles International Airport was right in our backyard and an ideal first airport to kick off our latest round of airport testing,” said Paul Carter, CEO of GWS, in a statement. “Overall, the airport receives a passing grade – collectively, carrier networks were able to successfully complete tasks at reasonable speeds throughout the main airport areas while individually, carriers experienced some variability in performance depending on which gate or service area was tested.”
GWS based its results on about 3,400 data tests conducted at the airport on Nov. 17, 2016, using Rohde & Schwarz’s SwissQual QualiPoc Freerider and four LG G4 smartphones, one of which was registered to each national carrier.
In other test news:
-Electro Optical Industries is introducing a solution for testing small cameras’ susceptibility to glare, including cameras in automobiles and mobile devices. The company plans to introduce its VGI-150 test system later this month and says the offering enables testing to be done in a smaller footprint – one-eighth the volume of typical test solutions – and a lower price point.
-Peregrine Semiconductor says it now has wider availability of its new UltraCMOS 60 GHz radio frequency silicon-on-insulator switches for test and measurement equipment, microwave backhaul and high-frequency “5G” systems.
“When we announced availability of 60 GHz switch samples and evaluation kits in early October at European Microwave Week, the response was tremendous,” said Kinana Hussain, director of marketing at Peregrine Semiconductor, in a statement. “These high frequency switches are garnering a high adoption rate in multiple markets including 5G, test and measurement and defense. Not only do these switches break paradigms in high frequency, they also break paradigms in SOI fast switching.”
–Spectrum Instrumentation launched a series of LXI-based digitizers designed for scenarios where there are multiple electronic signals that need to be acquired and analyzed. There are 12 new models, both 14- and 16-bit, said to work for high-resolution measurements.
-Startup company Eonite launched software for low-latency position tracking in virtual reality and other environments. The company said the software enables “inside-out positional tracking for any tethered and untethered headsets, mobile devices, robots, drones and other form factors” with sub-millimeter accuracy and low power consumption and latency – according to Eonite.
-Looking for a recap of major test and measurement acquisitions during 2016? Check out our retrospective here, and our list of the top 12 test and measurement companies by revenue for good measure.
-Testing company Valid8 is working with market entry service company Glean to expand its distribution footprint in the Japanese market. Ian Carpenter, president and CEO of Valid8, said in a statement that the company “[expects] to establish a significant presence in Japan within two years.” Valid8 focuses on conformance, load and feature testing for wired and wireless networks.
–GL Communications recently launched an improved version of its MAPS SIP protocol emulator, designed for generating and receiving SIP signaling. The test tool is said to simulate various end points in a SIP network and can also be used as a bulk call generator for load testing.
–Future Market Insights expects the semiconductor assembly and testing services market could reach $24.72 billion once 2016 figures are reported, with the Asia-Pacific region pegged as the “most attractive market” for the SATS space.
“With the rapidly thriving consumer electronics industry, the demand for connectivity and mobility is also on the rise, which is … an important booster to the demand for connected devices, eventually fostering the semiconductor assembly and testing services market,” the firm concluded. “Rising adoption of multimedia technology devices is identified to be another factor bolstering the demand for SATS. A number of SATS providers offer value added services, such as in-house testing and high-end packaging, which will remain an important driver to the market growth.”
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