Willtek Communications releases Multislot capabilities for its GPRS option on the high-end terminal tester 4400, announces future GPRS upgrade for 4200

GPRS option satisfies growing demand from QA departments and service shops

Ismaning, 05 August 2002 – Willtek Communications today announced the release of new software for GPRS on its Willtek 4400 Mobile Phone Tester series. Quality assurance labs can now perform extensive measurements on both the multislot transmitter and receiver of GPRS terminals at lower cost; service factories save time and money because they do not have to send faulty mobiles back to the manufacturer. A GPRS version for the Willtek 4200S Mobile Service Tester series will become available in December 2002.

The 4200 is a GSM tester used in many service shops and centres for fault analysis, repair and alignment. The GPRS option for the 4200 will secure previous investments and allow technicians to test mobile phones against the additional requirements from GPRS specifications.

Says Matthias Weber, product marketing manager for terminal test at Willtek: “Manufacturers’ and network operators’ quality assurance labs appreciate the 4400’s capability to vary both uplink and downlink power levels from slot to slot. This additional feature increases the stress for transmitter and receiver and is a common situation in many real-life GPRS networks.” Up until now, labs had to use high-priced test systems for measurements under these conditions.

Service shops are facing increasing numbers of fault reports with GPRS phones; manufacturers have started to include multislot GPRS measurements in their test procedures. For these purposes, Willtek now makes multislot measurements on GPRS phones available on its 4400 series testers.

The multislot-capable GPRS option on the 4400 can measure on up to four time slots in each direction; this is the highest channel bundling factor available in commercial phones. Measured parameters include power level, phase and frequency error and power versus time on multiple slots. The 4400 also supports the standard receiver measurements for GPRS, the BLER-USF and the BLER-BCS. The BLER-USF test can be performed in parallel with the transmitter measurements.

The new GPRS software is part of a release including new features for service testing and alignment. The Audio option can now replay wave files, allowing fast tests over the whole audio spectrum. An additional service screen cuts alignment and test time in semi-automated environments. Two new options have been added: the Current Measurement option supports mobile phone tests at the power supply; and the AM Signal Generator option is an essential tool for the alignment of many types of mobile phones, in particular from Nokia.

With the multislot capabilities, Willtek built on its experience with HSCSD. More than two years ago, the 4400 was one of the first testers to offer multislot test capabilities for HSCSD; this option was also used for first tests of GPRS in asynchronous mode. Single-slot GPRS measurements in call mode have been available since December 2001.

The Willtek 4400 Mobile Phone Tester series is available in three variants: The 4403 has the accuracy and speed required in service factories where hundreds of phones are being repaired and adjusted every day. The 4405 offers unmatched accuracy for R&D and quality assurance labs. This accuracy is supplemented by additional turbo speed in the 4407, designed to reduce test time on the production line and increase manufacturing throughput.

GPRS is an extension of the GSM networks, allowing mobile phones to send and/or receive Internet data at higher data rates using channel bundling (multislot operation); once logged onto the network, the Internet capabilities are “always on”.