Test and Measurement: Keysight claims first C-V2X test case validation

Keysight Technologies has laid claim to being the first test equipment company to achieve Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) validation of a cellular vehicle-to-everything communications radio frequency conformance test case.

The test case validation took place in Austin, Texas on October 23, Keysight said, and it was enabled via the company’s 5G RF and radio resource management DVT and Conformance Toolset and Qualcomm’s 9150-C-V2X chipset. Keysight said that the test case validation “enables the C-V2X connected ecosystem to achieve performance compliance with the specifications of the 3GPP standards, both for Release 14 and 5G new radio (NR) Release 16.”

“Keysight’s vision of enabling reliable, efficient transportation started more than three years ago, and was reinforced when we joined the 5G Automotive Association,” said Kailash Narayanan, VP and GM of Keysight’s Wireless Test group. He went on to add that the company “[looks] forward to actively supporting the full suite of conformance scenarios, which will accelerate C-V2X device certification.”

In other news from Keysight this week, the test company said that Sprint is using its network emulation solutions for 5G New Radio device validation and certification testing. Sprint is partnering with Keysight and using its 5G protocol and RF carrier acceptance toolsets.

“The collaboration has resulted in a carrier-specific test plan covering both protocol and [RF] tests in frequency range 1 [sub-6 GHz],” Keysight said in a release. “The test plan supports a wide range of use cases and mobility scenarios, including voice calls, access to data intensive applications and battery life to ensure new 5G NR devices deliver a superior subscriber experience.”

In other test news:

-In related automotive testing news, test company Rohde & Schwarz says its R&S ATS1500C test chamber is part of a  new test system for automotive radar testing at 77-81 GHz, which it previewed at Productronica 2019 last week. The system consists of the test chamber plus Rohde’s R&S AREG100A automotive radar echo generator, which provides precise radar target simulation at varied distances.

Rohde & Schwarz also said this week that it has agreed to license Qualcomm’s Interface Control Document for 5G, to develop test equipment based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 5G modem/RF system. Having access to chip-level messages is critical for R&S test offerings such as its QualiPoc solutions for network field testing, which captures and analyzes such messages for information about customer quality of experience and network performance.

“Any type of interaction between a mobile device and the mobile network requires hundreds, if not thousands, of unique messages that are sent back-and-forth that verify all aspects of a mobile phone call or data session,” Rohde & Schwarz noted in a release. “The quantity and complexity of messaging continues to increase as more features and capabilities are added. This trend will no doubt continue as the industry begins to migrate from 4G/LTE to 5G.”

“Having early and complete access to the Interface Control Document allows us to develop more comprehensive test solutions faster, providing our customers with what they need when they need it,” said Hans-Peter Bobst, CEO of Rohde & Schwarz’s SwissQual AG.

–Viavi Solutions put out its most recent data analysis of gigabit internet deployments — both wired and wireless — around the world. Gigabit access is available to around 5% of the world’s population, but fully half of the population has no internet access at all. Read the fully story here. 

-Linux Foundation Networking (LF Networking) demonstrated an end-to-end, cloud-native 5G network running via Kubernetes. The prototype network connected a live call over points-of-presence (PoPs)  in San Diego, Montreal, Sophia Antipolis, and a hybrid public/private cloud to deliver what LF Networking called “a fully containerized 5G network” during the KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America event.

–Extreme Networks is introducing more automation in data center fabric networks, launching its new Extreme Fabric Automation software this week as well as two new switches. The company says that new software can automatically manage the validation, testing and operation of data center fabric networks. Its software is designed to “augment enterprise IT teams and reduce human error,” Extreme added.

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