Plainview, NY. QoScience Inc. announced it is bringing service assurance to the radio access network (RAN) with the introduction of its RANalyzer Model-C testing solution. An installed RANalyzer Model-C system can access remote radio heads (RRHs) geographically dispersed throughout a C-RAN network and report on their performance. If any RRH is adversely affected by interference and/or internal/external passive intermodulation (PIM), the RANalyzer facilitates identification of the type and location of the RF problem. With this information, cell-site technicians can efficiently troubleshoot and correct problems, resulting in reduced OPEX, enhanced quality of service, and increased subscriber satisfaction.
The RANalyzer consists of three components: the robotic optical fiber test access point switch, a high-performance server with ultrahigh-speed FPGA and analysis software, and the information and communication user interface. The hardware components are rack-mountable for efficient installation in a switching site environment.
The test access point switch can connect to up to 192 uplink/downlink fiber pairs (384 ports total) from a CPRI panel via a series of 16 high-density 24-fiber MPO/MTP connectors, and it can be daisy-chained if more port capacity is required. The fiber pairs are connected to the switch via fiber optic couplers inserted into the main fiber pairs between RRHs and radio equipment controller baseband units (BBUs). As such, the RANalyzer system can access the fibers without disturbing regular data traffic. Under direction of the system software, four uplink/downlink fiber pairs at any time may be selected and connected to the system server via robotic manipulation of LC/APC duplex connectors on the switch’s main internal patch panel.
I/Q data streams from the four uplink/downlink fiber pairs selected are extracted and evaluated by the data processing and analysis unit to build a display of the RF spectrum represented by the data. The spectrum is then analyzed to determine if interference or PIM is adversely affecting the performance of the RRH being monitored. Based on the spectral impairment, the type of interference and/or PIM can be diagnosed, and the location determined from the identification of the fiber pairs being accessed.
Data processing and analysis occurs very quickly due to the employment of an ultra-high-speed FPGA DSP card with 8 GB of RAM (64 GB of additional RAM in the server) and massive data storage via a 1 TB solid state drive and 4 TB of traditional hard disk storage. Significant storage capacity means large I/Q data streams can be retained for post-processing and historical analysis. The RANalyzer also features a 1-Gb/s network connection to facilitate fast communication of analysis results.
The user interface component features local and remote access. Locally, a laptop computer can be connected and used to receive troubleshooting information and make control inputs. Remotely, the RANalyzer can be accessed from any network-enabled device.
RANalyzer configurations pricing starts at $119,995, and delivery is eight weeks ARO.
