Solutions for Device Manufacturers

Azimuth Systems is a leading provider of wireless test solutions for
Wi-Fi, WiMAX and emerging 4G wireless technologies like LTE, UMB and 802.16m. Azimuth’s test solutions are used by the world’s foremost wireless semiconductor, device manufacturers, infrastructure vendors and service providers to speed time-to-market and improve wireless IP performance. Azimuth’s test solutions simplify laboratory performance and certification testing of mobile IP devices and networks designed to support data, voice and video applications.

Device Manufacturers

Azimuth Systems enables manufacturers of wireless IP-based clients and network equipment to easily measure the performance, interoperability and conformance of their products during the development and quality assurance phases of the product development process. The evolution of 3G/4G mobile and wireless packet-based devices has had a dramatic effect on test processes. The necessity to measure “real world” performance and validate motion and distance algorithms has spawned numerous manual and ad hoc test methods and equipment. Azimuth’s test solutions are designed to accurately create real world conditions that allow for automated and precise measurement of the effect of motion, distance, interference and background traffic on a device or network’s quality of service on a packet by packet basis. Azimuth’s standardized platforms and software are proven to reduce test time and cost while improving product quality. As a device manufacturer seeking to simplify your testing process and methods, look to Azimuth for an answer.

Manufacturers of wireless devices—such as phones, games, MP3 players and set-top boxes— choose Azimuth test solutions because of the dramatic reduction in test time and increase in product quality due to:

• Repeatable tests that allow for hardware, software and system anomalies to be easily detected and isolated for debug
• Repeatable range and motion performance testing
• Simple and efficient automated testing that allows for repeatable validation of test results for every mode of possible device configuration
• Ability to correlate test results internally between geographically dispersed development and quality assurance organizations
• Ability to correlate test results externally with silicon suppliers, contract manufacturing partners and certification test labs
• Ability to easily and accurately benchmark performance of silicon provider reference designs

Azimuth Device Manufacturer customers include the worlds leading handset, game and multimedia device manufacturers. The following examples illustrate the circumstances our device manufacturer customers have encountered in testing their products and the successful outcomes Azimuth has enabled.

These real-world examples include brief customer profiles and the testing challenges met with Azimuth solutions, while preserving the anonymity in each case. 

Example #1

Customer Profile

• One of the top three cellular phone manufacturers - a leading provider of FMC ready handsets

Customer Challenge

• Basic functionality and performance of Wi-Fi being embedded in a cellular phone platform during the early engineering and development phase
• Ongoing quality assurance regression testing of software releases for the cellular phone platform

Key Questions

1. How will Wi-Fi data throughput be impacted by range? (Metric = Throughput, packet loss)
2. How will Voice over Wi-Fi voice quality be impacted by range?  (Metric = voice quality/PESQ)
3. How will Voice over Wi-Fi call be impacted by the Wi-Fi roaming algorithm while roaming between access points? (Metric = dropped calls, voice quality)
4. How will the voice call be impacted during hand-in or hand-out from the cellular IP to Wi-Fi IP network? (Metric = dropped calls)
5. How long does it take the handset to roam between Access Points? (Metric - roam time)
6. What impact does Wi-Fi have on standby time and talk time? (Metric = battery life)
7. Will the handset pass Wi-Fi Alliance Certification testing?

Azimuth's Solution

The customer met their time to market with the desired quality goals by utilizing an Azimuth W-Series Test Platform and FMC Performance Test Suite with the following applications:

1. Azimuth’s automated Rate vs. Range test solution delivers simple, repeatable analysis of the impact of range on data throughput. Test repeatability due to Azimuth’s RadioProof™ controlled environment allowed for detection and elimination of rate adaptation anomalies.
2. Azimuth’s automated Voice Quality vs. Range test solution delivers simple, repeatable analysis of the impact of range on voice quality. The controlled environment enables physical layer analysis such that packet loss, latency and jitter can be precisely and repetably measured and the voice quality can be measured at each point using Azimuth's PESQ voice quality test tool.
3. Azimuth’s Voice Quality vs. Roaming test solution delivers measurement of the handoff process at both the physical layer and the network interface to the access points. Azimuth’s API library allows for interface to various enterprise class access points to automate roaming performance analysis in multiple security and application configurations. Azimuth’s STUDIO™ test data management software allows for automated and rapid analysis of results from one access point system to another.
4. Azimuth’s Wi-Fi Battery Life Test Suite enables the measurement of current drain during specific states such as standby and talk. User’s are able to specify “mobility profiles” that can be invoked to correlate the effect of motion and resulting algorithm functionality with current drain and thus power consumption.
5. Azimuth’s ACE Channel Emulator automates the capability to perform range analysis in multiple multipath environments that conform to standard or customer generated channel models. The combination of ACE and STUDIO allows for automated measurement and analysis of voice or data quality anomalies that are related to varying channel conditions caused by multipath and/or physical layer interference.
6. Azimuth’s comprehensive array of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Certification test suites provides automated validation and reporting of the handset’s conformance to the WiFi CERTIFIED test plan in hours.