Planning of features and functionalities for an inter-system protocol analyser

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Planning of features and functionalities for an
inter-system protocol analyser

• Author Petri Ylläsjärvi
• Supervisor Professor Sven-Gustav Häggman
• Instructor Markus Ahokangas M.Sc.(Tech.)

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Contents

• Introduction
• Research method literature study
• Research method interviews
• Product concept creation
• Product concept testing
• Conclusions

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Introduction

• Motivation for the thesis
• Customer requirements for inter-system (2G 3G)
  analysers
• New possible business potential in 3GPP Release 5
  features such as (e.g.)
• High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA)
• IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
• Research problem
• Define features and functionalities for an
  Inter-System Protocol Analyser (ISPA) tool

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Research method literature study

• GERAN features
• GERAN Iu mode
• UTRAN features
• Iur-g interface
• IP transport in UTRAN
• HSDPA
• Core Network (CN) features
• Multiple CN nodes (Iu flex)
• IMS
• QoS and protocol analysis tools

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Research method - interviews

• Discussion sessions with 8 interviewees were
  performed during two months
• Customer interviews were left out
• Difficult to get answers (time)
• Extensive protocol analysis knowledge required
• Manufacturer representatives who are working
  closely with customers were interviewed instead
• 38 question concerning different areas were asked
  totally
• Feasible results achieved
• It was easy to form an initial product concept

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Product concept creation

• Four feature and functionality segments were
  defined
• A clear structure for the product concept
• Only main features were defined for each segment

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Capacity Performance segment
Feature Properties
HW platform High performance PC with monitoring line adapters - all models.
Operating System Regular commercial Operating Systems (Windows 2000 XP, Unix and Linux) are used.
ISPA tools SW The ISPA application/program on normal Operating System.
Monitoring line adapter HW Adapter cards for PCI bus, in-card processors for data pre-processing. An Adapter Box for laptops.
Timestamp accuracy Better than 100 ns resolution.
Transmission modes supported by adapters PDH (E1, T1, J1), SDH (STM-1, STM-4), SONET (OC-3, OC-12), Channelised SDH/SONET, Ethernet 10/100/1000.
Monitoring line types supported Copper cable, coaxial cable, optical fibre, LAN cable (twisted pair) all typical connector types.
Transport modes supported TDM, ATM, IMA, IP.
Max amount of monitoring lines per adapter (bi-directional) 8 E1s/T1s/J1s, 4 STM-1s or 1 STM-4, 4 Ethernet connections.
Max amount of monitoring lines per ISPA tool 48 E1s/T1s/J1s, 24 STM-1s or 6 STM-4s, 24 Ethernet connections.
Max data throughput from monitoring lines Up to 1 Gbps (depending on PC performance) for capturing without decoding.
Load sharing Distributed monitoring with 5 ISPA tools possible.
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An open HW platform
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Distributed monitoring

• Load sharing in monitoring is achieved by using
  distributed monitoring concept
• Master-Slave principle
• Excellent solution for remote monitoring etc

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Decoding segment
Feature Properties
Interfaces supported in decoding (3GPP) All interfaces specified in 3GPP specifications Release 99, Release 4 and Release 5 for both 2G (2,5G) and 3G.
Other interfaces than 3GPP IP based interfaces including all major application protocols (IETF and others). CDMAone and CDMA 2000 interfaces (ANSI).
Vendor proprietary interface / protocol decodings All major vendors supported around the world.
Protocol stack flexibility Custom decoding stacks can be built by users.
Deciphering Deciphering on Abis, Gb and Iub interfaces supported.
Decoding presentation Bitmask, Hexadecimal and text format. Single line per message - presentation also supported.
Protocol resolution With help of coloured protocol layers. Colours can be changed.
Decoding depth Up to single bit/parameter. Decoding depth can be changed.
History Buffer Fast access data memory buffer for real-time monitoring.
Export capabilities of the decoded messages Into text, html, pdf and Word doc files.
Multimedia decoding Voice, (Enhanced) SMS, WAP2.0, MMS and 3GPP 3G-324M traffic decodings are supported.
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MultiMedia Decoding - window
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Applications segment
Feature Properties
Call Trace (CT) All interfaces in GERAN, UTRAN and CN are supported in CT. CT correlation between different interfaces is possible. General manager of the ISPA tool.
CAll Statistics (CAS) Statistics presentation of the different KPIs. User defined KPIs also supported.
Radio Interface Measurements (RIM) For radio interface related measurements (BLER, BER etc). Measurement reporting in both graphical and statistical format. For both GERAN and UTRAN. Possibility to synchronize measurements with a Test Mobile.
Quality of Service (QoS) PS service verification on all applicable interfaces. Correlation of the measurements with offered QoS (according to signaling) also supported.
Latency Time Measurements (LTM) For measuring e.g. call establishment time. Cumulative latency time over many interfaces also possible.
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Call Trace application
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Application example CAS application
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Application example RIM application
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Usability segment
Feature Properties
Simple and clear UI Windows application based UI. By right-clicking the mouse action menus are opened etc Intuitive UI.
Versatile Helps Very detailed helps are available. Lots of use case examples. Advanced and detailed protocol help.
Automatic configuration Interface configuration can be done automatically with help of connection scanner. Decoding stack selection is automated.
Data management Good data pre- and post-filtering options. Monitoring screen and applications can be customised. Data and measurement visualisation. Search options.
Data traps Message, IE, parameter level traps can be done. Multiple trap actions are available.
Data export All information can be exported to external devices. Many different export file formats are supported. Easy integration into different automated test environments.
Flexibility HW configuration can be changed easily. Different HW platforms are supported. Portability.
Multi-environment support Multiple technologies and vendor proprietary implementations are supported in the ISPA tool.
Centralised SW update SW update server can be in the big test laboratories.
Remote control Remote use over LAN. Multi-user capability.
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User Interface of the ISPA tool
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Product concept testing

• Two discussion sessions were performed
• To find out missing features
• Get feedback for the concept etc
• As one of the results, a new product structure
  created

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Conclusions

• Research approach is effective but couple of
  obstacles exist
• Customer interviews require lots of effort and
  time
• Lack of suitable literature
• Emerged research topics for the future
• IP convergence and Telecom protocol analysers
• WLAN and CDMA2000 integrations with the 3GPP
  systems and their testing with protocol analysers

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• All research objectives were achieved
• The competitive product concept for the protocol
  analysis tool market was created
• Some features are going to be implemented into
  real products in the near future