Telecom Lead India: Spirent Communications and ETS-Lindgren announced the launch of test solution for LTE assisted GPS (A-GPS) Over-The Air (OTA) Testing.
The co-development is aligned with the upcoming version 3.2 of the CTIA Test Plan for Mobile Station Over the Air Performance and will prepare the telecom industry for what will soon be a test requirement for LTE-enabled phones launched in North America.
The launch of the testing solution is significant for LTE smartphone players as they need to test the A-GPS functionality in these devices over an LTE data connection.
A-GPS, a widely used positioning technology on mobile devices, is a critical element in establishing compliance with FCC E911 Phase II performance standards.
Spirent claims that new positioning protocols such as SUPL 2.0 and LPP are required to enable A-GPS position fixes. This leads to important differences in OTA testing of A-GPS for LTE when compared with the GSM, CDMA and WCDMA A-GPS testing in v3.1 of the CTIA test plan.
“Providing the first test solution compliant with CTIA v3.2 enables the industry to ensure the successful deployment of A-GPS devices on LTE networks,” said Spirent vice president Hesham ElHamahmy.
“The performance of GPS antennas is one of the biggest contributors to overall positioning accuracy on mobile devices. Our partnership with Spirent now brings an LTE A-GPS OTA test solution to the industry, giving the design engineer a complete picture of real-world device performance,” said Bryan Sayler, senior vice president, Test Solutions, ETS-Lindgren.
Spirent said that LTE A-GPS OTA testing is an upgrade option for Spirent’s test solution for A-GPS, and it builds on prior collaboration between ETS-Lindgren and Spirent for GSM, CDMA, and WCDMA A-GPS OTA testing. Existing users of ETS-Lindgren anechoic chamber solutions for OTA testing can upgrade to add this new LTE capability.
