TTPCom and Rohde & Schwarz collaborate on development of EDGE tests

Early availability of testers will speed introduction of EDGE capable products

March 17, 2003 - TTPCom Ltd., world leading independent supplier of digital wireless communications technology, and Rohde & Schwarz, one of the largest manufacturers of electrical test and measurement equipment, today announce an ongoing collaboration for the development of test equipment for EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution). The two companies have been working together for six months with TTPCom providing an independent source of EDGE technology against which Rohde & Schwarz has been able to develop its test equipment and verify the certification tests that will be used in the PTCRB and GCF certification processes.

Rohde & Schwarz offers a full portfolio of test and measurement equipment including test cases and the new R&S CRTU-G EDGE/EGPRS protocol tester. With the tester, both application and communication tests can be adapted to the capabilities of state-of-the-art GSM mobile phones. Continuous GSM network simulation, as well as the option to remote-control the tester and the mobile phone under test, open up completely new test scenarios. With both test cases and testers in place the development and approval of mass-market EDGE products is now possible, leading to earlier introduction of EDGE capable handsets and data devices.

"Rohde & Schwarz is one of the world's leading providers of test equipment for mobile devices, and being invited to work with them on the development of EDGE test equipment is a clear validation of the quality of TTPCom's intellectual property. TTPCom has been developing EDGE technology for over two years and our software is now robust and stable," said Greg Matthews, TTPCom's EDGE Product Manager. "One of the most time consuming challenges for any emerging technology is interoperability and field testing. The co-operation between TTPCom and Rohde & Schwarz on EDGE test equipment offers several benefits to product manufacturers - enabling them to contain costs by testing functionality in the laboratory before embarking on field trials, and reducing time to market for new products. Manufacturers licensing TTPCom's technology will also be secure in the knowledge that they will have a fast route through the type approval process because TTPCom's software has been used to validate the test cases."

"With the strong emphasis on EDGE in the US market, the early access to the high quality TTPCom software allowed Rohde & Schwarz to verify its implementation of the testing stack and test case software. With EDGE being available on the CRTU-G platform Rohde & Schwarz now offers a complete and all encompassing test tool for development and certification of GSM based devices," said Karsten Beckmann, U.S. based CRTU-G Marketing Manager for Rohde & Schwarz. "With this strong and flexible platform, manufacturers and development engineers can test all aspects of their implementation even to the point of testing non-standardized extensions."

The initial drive for EDGE has come from North America where spectrum is limited and a number of the leading carriers including AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, have announced their plans to deploy the technology. EDGE is a low-risk, low-cost add-on to existing GSM/GPRS networks and offers operators a logical evolutionary route beyond GSM/GPRS to 3G. In addition to an improved quality of service, EDGE offers three times the bandwidth of GPRS through the use of new modulation and coding schemes such as 8PSK, incremental redundancy and link adaptation. Operators worldwide are showing interest in EDGE as it will enable them to deploy revenue generating 3G services at an earlier date.

A joint demonstration of EDGE technology will take place between TTPCom and Analog Devices at CTIA Wireless 2003. TTPCom's stand number is 3716, located on the British Pavilion in Hall D.

Technical notes for editors
R&S CRTU-G
The CRTU-G provides all the official test cases. Due to the platform's wide selectable frequency range from 10 MHz to 2.7 GHz, the test cases can be implemented by means of software. This provides the basis for subsequent expansion to include other frequency bands. The CRTU-G analyses the various protocol layers through to the application layer. The test platform is designed for the development and conformance testing of mobile telephones. Automated test sequences ensure fast results and straightforward troubleshooting. Since the hardware and software are implemented by Rohde & Schwarz, the tester represents a harmonized all-in solution. Service, support and updates are also provided by Rohde & Schwarz, ensuring that the systems can be upgraded to WCDMA. The multi-standard test platforms are thus capable of testing the GSM, GPRS and WCDMA standards alike.