As the demand for higher bit rates continues to increase, wireless service providers are deploying mobile broadband networks. To ensure that customers have the same advanced quality of experience (QoE) with wireless services as they do with fixed-wireline services, service providers are turning to long-term evolution (LTE) to bring their networks beyond 3G.
LTE is growing fast – nine commercial LTE deployments were performed in 2010 and 44 launches are planned for 2011. To date, there are 113 LTE network commitments in 46 countries with almost 50 LTE trials currently in operation (source: Northstream). What is more, the LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI) has announced that it is close to concluding nearly all LTE trial milestones. This indicates to the industry that equipment vendors will soon make interoperability-tested access networks, as well as terminal equipment, available. No doubt, the main wireless themes in 2011 will be LTE deployments and increased mobile broadband availability.
As LTE networks are being deployed, EXFO sees that monitoring, as well as interoperability and performance testing, will affect the ability for network operators to remain competitive and increase profitability. In order to ensure performance, service delivery and QoE, complete visibility and access to key interfaces are essential. As data traffic increases, operators need to be able to choose the type and quantity of data that they collect, so that they can scale their test systems and data collection. According to the industry, it has been estimated that by 2015 there will be 3,5 billion mobile broadband users, which will increase the total data traffic volume by more than 30 times, in comparison to 2010 (source: Ericsson).
The key technical challenges that network operators face in deployment are:
* An all-IP network is new – new interfaces and protocols.
* e2e IP performance measurements – performance and latencies.
* Importance of QoE/QoS measurements per subscriber and application.
* New network elements with new functionalities – RLC/RRC messages not available after eNB.
* Interoperability testing – multiple technologies (2G/3G/LTE), handovers and applications.
Why is network and application performance important?
The performance of a mobile provider’s services directly influences the subscriber’s level of satisfaction, which in return will have a significant impact on the operators’ future revenues and churn rate. When moving from the phases of R&D and system testing to the rollout and construction phase, vendors and network operators will face new challenges with legacy network interoperability. Services will become more complex due to network convergence and consolidation. One example of a challenge that will be faced is how network operators will proceed with handling the handovers across different networks, while providing services outside the actual evolved packet core (EPC).
Interoperability testing between the technologies and the 2G/3G networks is still needed to verify that the quality of data-driven applications meets the end-users’ expectations of seamless connectivity. In LTE, end users demand more quality at the same time, while mobile applications (such as streaming videos, file downloads, web browsing, etc) consume bandwidth. This raises a critical question: how can network operators ensure that they deliver quality services that are better than the competitors are offering? The only way is to constantly monitor the network and have the key performance indicators (KPIs) and data available on time for decision-making.
Ensuring QoS and end-to-end IP session performance in an all-IP environment is extremely important in LTE networks. The testing focus will shift from the transmission and signalling plane to the user plane and applications, requiring a deep view and ability to follow elements and services. EXFO’s analysers and service assurance solutions can help operators to follow how the applications are performing and know the quality that each individual subscriber experiences.
Solutions covering the full LTE lifecycle
EXFO has solutions for every phase of the LTE network lifecycle. Its NetHawk analysers and simulators are portable test tools that combine with Brix monitoring solutions to solve the challenges that wireless operators face. At the R&D and system-testing phases – where vendors and operators need to verify the functionality, run the load test and start the interoperability tests – the NetHawk analysers and simulators are a proven solution. Now that wireless service providers are rolling out HSPA/HSPA+ and LTE upgrades, EXFO’s NetHawk M5 protocol analyser provides scalability from portable sets to multi-user systems with high-performance packet capture and a complete multiple-technology (2G/3G/LTE) analysis and call tracing.
LTE data rates require a high-speed probe technology with smart filtering that can handle hundreds of thousands of transactions per second. Transition from the control-plane-centric measurements to user plane and service monitoring requires deep packet inspection (DPI) technology integrated to probes. EXFO responds to those testing challenges with NetHawk iPro probes, which can provide the initial data for troubleshooting and problem isolation. With M5 and iPro, operators are able to follow up on individual calls and measure the QoS parameters for specific applications like file downloading or video streaming from any LTE interface such as S1, S6a and S10.
Analysing both the control and user plane in LTE requires rich test applications that are able to access the data, show the details and correlate it across the interfaces, which EXFO’s solutions are capable of. The company’s portable test gear for new Ethernet links is available as a vital part of the turn-up and troubleshooting process to validate Ethernet performance and service-level agreements (SLAs) with high accuracy, using standard test methodologies such as EtherSAM.
Network operators need to deal with a number of challenges that occur when launching commercial services. LTE increases the amount of data in the network, and operators must optimise the networks and seek out new business models. Real-time LTE access network monitoring has a strong role in operational LTE networks. The assurance phase requires network-wide visibility combined with the ability to perform detailed troubleshooting.
A monitoring system is not only used for reporting; it should serve multiple stakeholders such as network operators and multi-user groups. EXFO’s BrixMobile is a fully scalable system to monitor both signalling and the user plane. Operators can start looking at the network’s KPIs, such as the attach procedures, paging delays, context activations, etc, and then drill down to a detailed decoding of the control plane and applications by using analysers when more complete troubleshooting is needed.
EXFO’s solution for LTE monitoring includes visibility of the control-plane transactions, as well as of the daily health of the network, which provides valuable information that operations and technical teams require to validate services. Service- and subscriber-based key quality indicators (KQI), combined with the ability to see the services and customer QoS with high accuracy, can help solve the wireless operators’ challenge by providing them with comprehensive critical data, such as potential errors and issues.
For more information contact Chris Nel, Lambda Test Equipment, +27 (0)12 349 1341, [email protected], www.lambdatest.co.za
| Tel: | +27 12 349 1341 |
| Email: | [email protected], [email protected] |
| www: | www.lambdatest.co.za |
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