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Agilent Technologies Inc. has introduced new interactive functional test (IFT) software for its 8960 Series 10 (E5515C) wireless communications test set. Expanding on the functional test capability of this test set, the new IFT software provides an automated and simplified interface for realistically testing "user experience" by stress testing cellular mobile devices in real-world network scenarios. By allowing earlier identification of design issues and reducing time to market, this software is suitable for UMTS mobile phone/device developers conducting functional validation, as well as service providers performing acceptance testing.

Agilent will demonstrate the new IFT software at next month’s Mobile World Congress, Feb. 11-14, in Barcelona, Spain. Also showcased at the event will be a robust set of test solutions for R&D, manufacturing and service providers, including RF verification and parametric test for chipset manufacturing, LTE UE protocol development solutions, drive test solutions for mobile WiMAX Wave 2, MSS End-2-End Monitoring and troubleshooting, LTE distributed performance management, and UU monitoring.

Agilent's N5970A IFT software provides an automated solution for functional test, including parallel test execution, reducing the time it takes to validate a design and allowing more testing in a given release cycle. It can simultaneously test call processing, ftp and SMS -- for example, while monitoring current drain and changing the RF power to the phone -- to provide a real network test. This solution brings more realistic testing into the design cycle earlier, enabling the user to more easily modify the design. It also ensures the user is able to find complex issues -- whether related to hardware, protocol or software -- that are specific to how the cellular mobile device will function on the network. Finding such "user experience" issues before a device is rolled out to the network significantly reduces expensive validation cycles, according to Agilent.

The IFT software also includes a failure analysis/troubleshooting toolset that enables the user to find corner-case issues in data throughput, protocol and current drain. It provides the data necessary to resolve the issue, reducing problem-resolution time and time to market. By testing beyond the Conformance tests, the IFT software identifies trivial issues early in the design process that can slow down the launch of the design, thereby increasing validation, IOT and field-test success.

Another key feature of the IFT software is its ability to provide easy phone control in situations where the phone UI is not yet fully developed or is not part of the product design (e.g., a data card). This capability greatly simplifies user access to varied and complex commands.

The new N5970A ITF software is priced at $20,000.