LTE  |  2019-02-12

ETSI Completes First Remote MCPTT Plugtest Event

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

ETSI has just ended its third MCX Plugtests, which is the first remote PlugtestsTM within the MCX Plugtests programme, from 3 Dec 2018 until 31 Jan 2019.

Equipment tested were Mission Critical Application Servers, Mission Critical Clients, Multicast/Broadcast service centres and IP Multimedia Subsystem.

Supported by TCCA and the European Commission and endorsed by PSCE and PSTA, this remote-only event enabled vendors to connect via Virtual Private Network with the ETSI HIVE and test their Mission Critical implementations with each other.

During these 2 months sessions, 1 000 test cases were run between 26 Vendors with a 92% success rate. More than 150 test sessions were executed between different vendors.

Based on 3GPP Release 14 technical specifications and the test specification ETSI TS 103 564, which was developed by ETSI during the first two Plugtests, 100 test cases were used for the remote event. The MCX Plugtests programme included comprehensive testing of mission critical push to talk (MCPTT), mission critical data (MCDATA) and mission critical video (MCVIDEO) (collectively referred to as MCX), including untested test cases from the first two Plugtests.

Plugtests ensure interoperability between implementations and standard compliance, help to validate the standards, and to accelerate the time to market for mission critical products. Only standard-based solutions ensure true interoperability.

Participating vendors include: ALEA, Armour Communications, ATHONET, Beijing Jiaxun Feihong Electrical Co., ENENSYS Technologies, ETELM, EXPWAY, Frequentis, Funkwerk Systems, Harris Corporation, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Kapsch CarrierCom, Leonardo, MCOP-University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Motorola Solutions, NEMERGENT SOLUTIONS, NOKIA, Polaris Networks, PRESCOM, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS, Softil, Sonim Technologies, Streamwide, TASSTA, Valid8.com and ZTE Caltta.

A full report and the test specification will be made publicly available on the ETSI website in due course. ETSI will feedback observations found during the Plugtests to 3GPP Working groups for clarification.

The next MCX Plugtests event, which will be a combined remote and face-to-face event, is planned for September 2019 in Europe.