Livingston Event - Challenges facing 4G Mobile Networks

- the day of seminars organised by Livingston entitled: Challenges facing 4G Mobile Networks

With LTE soon to be a reality, and many more companies becoming involved, Livingston, the company known for its test equipment rental business, organised a day of seminars for engineers to hear about the challenges facing LTE, and then to look at some equipment.

The event was actually held in two locations, the first on 18th May 2010 at Brooklands near London, UK. It was held on the site of the famous motor racing track from the early 1900s as well as being the home of aviation companies such as Vickers and Sopwith. The second day was held in Manchester on 20th May 2010 to provide access to companies further north in the UK.

Rather than attending large trade shows, many companies are now opting for smaller, more focussed events. These events provide more opportunity for interaction and a greater focus on a particular technology and enable attendees to justify their attendance - a growing requirement these days - and also gain more benefit as a field they are working on is addressed. In turn this provides greater benefit for the "exhibitors" and organisers.

Typically the format for these days is to provide a series of seminars and this is associated with some equipment demonstrations. Often the events are held in a location of interest, such as Brooklands where a tour of the site can complete the day.

The seminars

Over the course of a the day there was a total of six different presentations from Rohde and Schwarz and from EXFO. The morning presentations from R&S focussed on the air interface, while those in the afternoon were from EXFO and examined the challenges facing the backhaul area which is equally important.

The sessions looked at the various technologies and the ways in which they can be tested - demonstrations of equipment were also available for anyone wanting to find out more.

Morning sessions

• New Technology Introduction and Market Discussion For Mobile Communications:   This introduction for the day provided an overview of the various mobile broadband technologies including WiMAX, HSPA (including HSPA+), and LTE. It looked at the overall marketplace, and the drivers and then took a look at the RF concepts behind the technologies.
• RF Base Station measurements:   Base stations are obviously a key element in any cellular system. However they are not subject to the same levels of conformance testing that are applied to the handsets. This means that testing of the base stations is particularly important.
  
  
  This presentation provided an introduction to the RF measurements carried out on base stations across technologies using signal generators, spectrum analyser and one box testers. It covered all stages from development through to production and maintenance.
• Field Measurements Using Handheld Analysers: Field testing is a particularly important element for any cellular system. It ensures that the system operates correctly in real oepration. However testers need to be designed for greater portability and as a result handheld testers are needed. This presentation looked at the testing requirements for the field, especially handheld testers that provide functions needed for testing live systems wherever possible or for locating certain faults that occur.

Afternoon sessions

• Characterization of Mobile Backhaul networks ensuring readiness for10G, 40G and 100G:   The popularity of Mobile broadband data applications such as streaming video, mobile TV and social media have caused mobile data bandwidth to grow by 70% in 2009 within EMEA. To avoid these services affecting the network performance, Network Operators have to ensure that their core network is not only fit for 10G DWDM transmission today but for 40G DWDM transmission & beyond. Using fibre technologies there are many pitfalls, one major problem is cleanliness of the fibre ends used within connectors. This is a simple problem to resolve. Other problems can be resolved using the right test equipment, but it needs to be the right equipment, not just the cheapest.
• Installing and Delivering Carrier-Grade Ethernet service over Mobile Backhaul:   This presentation investigated the next-generation applications and looked at the cost reductions that are available. Carrying data over to packet-based mobile backhaul networks requires a major evolution in network assessment and service validation requirements. Traditional testing methodologies are no longer sufficient to validate these new services.
• Proactive Service Assurance of Mobile Backhaul networks:   As service providers migrate to an all-IP backhaul infrastructure, it has never been more imperative to have a real-time, end-to-end vision of network performance in order to manage existing deployments and ensure service quality. This presentation explored methods of ensuring service quality from the core to the end point.

About Livingston

Livingston provides and manages test equipment for companies in more than 100 countries worldwide, giving them access to leading edge products regardless of their budget constraints.

Founded over forty years ago, the company has built up a highly experienced team of engineering and supply chain professionals. Its services include rental, calibration management, and inventory management. Partnering with Livingston allows companies to optimise their capital expenditure, bringing greater return on investment, as well as generating cash for unused or underused assets through its equipment disposal and redeployment activities.

Livingston is now an international company and on 2 July 2010 it will be opening in Gurgaon (New Dehli, India). Their strategy is to address the Telecoms business in Dehli and the RF and contract Manufacturers in Bangalore and Chennai. In this way they can operate as a local company offering services and support from within country.