Azimuth Systems Introduced VNE, the Industry’s First—and Only—HetNet Environment Emulation Capability
Consumers demand ubiquitous high-speed access to feed their bandwidth- and data-hungry applications. LTE-A uses network densification/HetNet (a network of cells of different sizes) to meet this demand. The shift to LTE-A is creating a network evolution transitioning from single-link, planned environments to multilink, unplanned, and interference-dominated environments.
Interference is inherent to any HetNet deployment. LTE-A uses a variety of underlying techniques to operate and excel in an interference-dominated environment. These complex and advanced mechanisms include ICIC, eICIC, FeICIC, NAICS, and other advanced interference cancellation receiver techniques. While these mechanisms and techniques help mitigate the interference, they also increase the overall complexity of the system. HetNet fundamentally changes how networks must be tested.
Testing HetNet in the field, though required, is not realistically scalable, given the typical challenges associated with field-testing (e.g., cost, lack of control, lack of repeatability) and the increasingly complex HetNet environments. Yet, until now, re-creating true HetNet environments in the lab was not achievable, as legacy tools were either too complex or inadequate to accurately replicate the HetNet environment. This lack of lab-based tools has forced OEMs and operators to spend more time, resources, and money validating and debugging issues in the field.
Azimuth’s newly released Virtual Network Environment (VNE) within the ACE RNX platform is the first and only solution that is capable of creating and controlling a complete HetNet radio environment in the lab.
Figure 1: Testing HetNet in the lab
Channel emulation is fine for testing single-link, planned environments, but it’s inadequate for testing HetNet. VNE makes traditional channel-emulation solutions for HetNet incomplete—even obsolete.
VNE unlocks repeatable, scalable HetNet testing by (1) defining interfering cells; (2) creating a HetNet environment that uses those cells; and (3) developing test scenarios specifically for that environment. Not only does VNE allow users to run tests they couldn’t have run before, it also leads to significant savings in cost, time, and effort. Early customer trials have shown savings of more than 30 percent in drive tests costs and significant reduction in the time to recreate field issues using VNE.
Controlling the ACE RNX and VNE is Azimuth’s Director 3, a powerful and forward-looking test executive known for its advanced automation, cloud-based architecture, and intuitive test creation capabilities. Included within Director 3 is a graphical, easy-to-use interface called Scenario Builder, a first-in-the-industry wizard that helps users easily define complex environments and create numerous test and mobility scenarios. Once an environment is created in Scenario Builder, the software automatically programs the RNX, greatly facilitating and accelerating the testing process.
