Agilent Technologies' Signaling Analyzer family of products for 3G mobile telecommunications provides a distributed testing and analysis solution that maximizes the time and resources devoted to planning, troubleshooting, installing, and maintaining modern day networks.

The modular design and flexibility of Signaling Analyzer solutions allows technology teams to identify potential problems and resolve faults quickly and effectively - with product configurations to exactly match engineers' differing needs.

In particular , the Signaling Analyzer - Realtime (J7326A) enables key personnel to see network problems as they occur and turns what can be an overwhelming amount of diagnostic data into usable information. For maximum interface flexibility, the Signaling Analyzer - Realtime uses the same well-proven J6801A data acquisition module with hot-swappable Line Interfaces as Agilent's other distributed network analysis solutions. Click here for more information on J6801A DNA and click here for more information on LIM's (Line Interface Modules) . Alternatively, the Signaling Analyzer - Software Edition (J5486B) can be used off-line for post-capture analysis.

Signaling Analyzer is the easiest-to-use and most powerful network analysis software in the industry, including the ability to Call Trace MMS (Multimedia Message Service). Its intuitive user interface has set the standard for troubleshooting problems in telecommunications networks worldwide.

Key Features

The Signaling Analyzer is a software application that provides fast and comprehensive signaling analysis of wireless, wireline and data communications networks.

Key features such as hardware filtering, automatic configuration, multiple interface call/data session tracing, and built-in statistics help to identify and pinpoint problems and detect trends that affect customer satisfaction. The Signaling Analyzer has an intuitive graphical interface that makes it popular with both new and experienced network engineers. Its design makes it ideal for use in distributed as well as centralized test environments.

Analysis software for 3G wireless networks including UMTS and cdma2000
Automatic UMTS Configuration for the Iub interface
Use of hardware capture filters to minimize unnecessary data capture and maximize performance
Capture and playback of voice calls
Export of voice call PCM data for voice quality analysis
Real-time multi-tasking protocol analysis, statistics, and call trace
User-configurable graphical call trace across multiple simultaneous interfaces. e.g. Iub, Iur, Iu, Gn, Gb, Gr, etc. interfaces
Multimedia Message Service (MMS) call trace
Graphical (or tabular) time-based statistics with thresholds
Post capture analysis on any standard Windows PC
Streaming of captured data to storage devices
On-line and context sensitive user help
Built-in protocol help
User-configurable color coded traffic overview, protocol decodes
Export of call control data to CSV and ASCII files for analysis by other applications
Periodic time logging

Traffic Overview

Traffic and Message View The main traffic overview display shows (chronologically) every captured message for each signaling link. This overview display shows one line of essential information for each message. The type and format of information is displayed in columns and is controlled by the user. Each message can be decoded further to show a one-line description per octet or field.

Decode View In the decode view, each protocol level is shown in a different color to make troubleshooting simpler. The protocol names are also shown as a text header for each protocol in the stack. Users can customize colors to suit personal preference.

Message Validation The software can highlight message-encoding errors found in received messages. In the traffic overview display, a message with an error is highlighted. When the message is decoded the section with the error is also shown in the same color to aid troubleshooting.

Message Sequence Validation The "message sequence validation" function advises the user of errors in message sequences (e.g., messages which do not fit into a normal call pattern). The messages that contain error messages are highlighted.

Graphical Statistics The Signaling Analyzer supports both histograms and line graph. To see typical screen shots click here

Call Trace

The call trace application is a powerful, flexible tool to aid troubleshooting. It helps by grouping together all signaling messages that relate to a single call or data session. A large number of calls/sessions can be displayed in this way and errors are easily identified as they are highlighted graphically. The application produces a user-configurable window that contains a single line for each call discovered. The call identification variables and statistics that can be shown in the call trace view are user configurable and can also show variables such as IMSI, setup time, clear down time. The Call Trace Application allows display of message sequences in easy to follow multi-segment message flow diagrams. These diagrams allow users to follow control messaging as it flows across multiple network elements. Messaging sequence and discontinuity errors are rapidly identifiable. To see typical screen shots click here

UMTS Call/Session Traces

The application provides UMTS call traces including the Iub, Iur and Iu interfaces.

The Iub Session Trace Tool for the UMTS Iub interface captures and groups the signaling messages for Node B Application Part (NBAP), ALCAP, Radio Resource Control and other protocols. The type of information displayed in the summary view includes:

Call Identifier
Call Status
Call Duration
Establishment Cause
IMSI
TMSI/P-TMSI
IMEI
CRNC Communication Context Id

Node B Communication Context ID
S-RNTI
SRNC Identity
Location Area Code
CN Domain (CS/PS)
Routing Area Code
Various Cause Values
IP Packet/Octet Counts

The Iu Session Trace Tool for the UMTS Iu interface captures and groups the signaling messages for user sessions such as PDP context and UMTS Attach/Detach procedures. The type of information displayed in the summary view includes:

Call Identifier
Session Duration
Session Status (Active/Terminated)
Service Type
Domain (PS/CS)
IMSI

TMSI/P-TMSI
Location Area Code/Service Area Identifier
Service Area Identifier/Service Area Code
Routing Area Code
IP Packet/Octet Counts

The Iur Session Trace Tool for the UMTS Iur interface captures and groups the signaling messages for RNSAP, ALCAP and Radio Resource Control and other protocols. The type of information displayed in the summary view includes:

Call Identifier
Call Status
Call Duration
IMSI
SRNC Identity (S-RNTI)

DRNC Identity (D-RNTI)
Location Area Code/Service Area Identifier
Service Area Identifier/Service Area Code
Routing Area Code

The Iub & Iu Combined Session Trace Tool for the UMTS Iur interface captures and groups the signaling messages on the Iub and Iu interfaces together in a single call. The type of information displayed in the summary view includes:

Call Identifier
Call Status
Call Duration
Establish Cause
IMSI
TMSI/P-TMSI
CRNC Communication Context Id
Node B Communication Context ID

S-RNTI
SRNC Identity
Location Area Code
CN Domain (CS/PS)
Routing Area Code
Various Cause Values
IP Packet/Octet Counts for Iub and Iu

cdma2000 Call/Session Traces

The application provides cdma2000 call traces including the R-P (A10/A11) and P-H interfaces.

The cdma2000 R-P (A10/A11) Interface Session Trace Tool captures and groups the signaling messages for users' Mobile IP (MIP) sessions including Registration procedures. The type of information displayed in the summary view includes:

Call ID
Session Duration
Address
Care-of-Address
Home Agent

MIP Registration Status
MIP Lifetime
Uplink GRE Packets
Downlink GRE Packets
Release reason

The cdma2000 P-H Interface Session Trace Tool captures and groups the signaling messages for users' carrying a users authentication (e.g. Radius) and location messaging (e.g. Home Agent and Foreign Agent dialogs). The type of information displayed in the summary view includes:

Setup Time
User Name
Uplink TCP Resends
Downlink TCP Resends
Home address
Care-of Address
Uplink IPinIP Packets/Octets

MIP Status
Downlink IPinIP Packets/Octets
Radius Source/Destination Address
Radius NAS IP Address
Radius Port
Radius Identifier
MIP Lifetime

3G Wireless Applications

The complex combinations of network protocols and physical transports make 3rd generation wireless networks well suited for analysis by the modular Signaling Analyzer Solution. The Signaling Analyzer captures traffic on all key interfaces, including control messaging, packet data, and voice traffic. A full range of UMTS and cdma2000 analysis features, including vendor variants, voice payload quality analysis, deciphering and user level data session performance statistics make Signaling Analyzer the most complete solution in the industry.

>>click here to see application diagrams for UMTS.

>>click here to see application diagrams for cdma2000.

To find out more about Agilent solutions for Mobile Signaling analysis, call Phoenix Datacom on 01296 397711 , click here to send an email or use the Request More Info form.

For a full list of Phoenix Datacom products and applications, click here.