Application Card | Version 01.00
R&S®CMWcards, an intuitive and user-friendly
software application, makes it possible to recreate
field testing in a lab environment
Automotive field-
to-lab testing with
R&S®CMWcards
Your task
Cellular technology has become widely adopted by the
auto motive industry and is considered an important
block in the automotive telematics control unit. Provid-
ing seamless and reliable mobile service (voice and data)
is essential to ensure a good user experience. The proper
behavior of the communication protocol as deployed by
various mobile network operators and the outstanding
performance of the device even under poor radio condi-
tions such as fading need to be thoroughly verified before
the product launch. Sometimes it is even necessary to
conduct benchmarking tests to ensure your product leads
the market. Field tests play a very important role in this
context.
Field tests enable users to test the module in real network
environments, providing the required level of confidence
for the functionality and reliability of the cellular module.
Issues seen during field tests are usually hard to repro-
duce due to the dynamic nature of real world conditions,
making it hard to verify the fixes.
Rohde & Schwarz solution
R&S®CMWcards is a graphic test script creation tool that
runs on the R&S®CMW500, and requires no prior pro-
gramming knowledge. Just by setting up a hand of cards,
various signaling test scripts can be created to simulate
a variety of test scenarios and verify your device’s proto-
col behavior. Each card comprises a predefined protocol
procedure, yet provides the flexibility to allow the user to
adjust the signaling parameters. The built-in error checking
functionality of each card ensures the conformity of the
signaling flows.
The field-to-lab (F2L) application works closely with
R&S®CMWcards and allows the user to reproduce the real
network scenario in the lab. The majority of field related
issues can then be investigated in a controllable, repeat-
able and deterministic way.
R&S®CMWcards with F2L is a powerful tool for verifying
field behavior. It extracts the network configurations from
the field logs and imports them into R&S®CMWcards to
simulate the test scenario with live network configurations,
including cell information, RRC and NAS messages.
It can replace particular layer 3 (L3) messages in the test
script with the one from the field log in order to easily
test the impact of this L3 message content on module
behavior.
Field RF conditions, e.g. RF power and quality, can also
be extracted with optional synchronization with downlink
messages and reproduced in the test script. In the future,
it will be possible to extend the variable radio condition to
simulate the fading condition.
CMWcards-Automotive field-to-lab testing_ac_en_3607-9595-92_v0100.indd 1 28.01.2019 07:39:00
Outline of field-to-lab test concept
1
Field test logfile
2
3
5
4
Field-to-lab
Layer 3 messages
RF parameters
Network configurations
Network profile
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Trade names are trademarks of the owners
PD 3607.9595.92 | Version 01.00 | January 2019 (ch)
Automotive eld-to-lab testing with R&S®CMWcards
Data without tolerance limits is not binding | Subject to change
© 2019 Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co.KG | 81671 Munich, Germany
3607.9595.92 01.00 PDP 1 en
3607
959592
Designation Type Order No.
R&S®CMWcards framework R&S®CMW-KP091 1211.0540.02
R&S®CMWcards R&S®CMW-KT022 1207.9301.02
R&S®CMWcards advanced extension R&S®CMW-KT026 1209.1750.02
R&S®CMWcards field-to-lab signaling extension R&S®CMW-KT030 1211.2850.02
Field-to-lab power/quality extension R&S®CMW-KT041 1532.5015.02
Create an R&S®CMWcards test script that reflects the
test sequence of your field test.
  Select the network profile created in step 3. The net-
work profile will automatically replace the cards in the test
script you created in step 4.
After step 5, the R&S®CMWcards test scenario simu-
lates the live network conditions in a lab environment
(R&S®CMW500).
The R&S®CMWcards and F2L combination offers a unique
and powerful way to recreate and eventually resolve auto-
motive field test problems in the lab. This approach greatly
increases debugging efficiency, optimizing your OPEX.
See also
www.rohde-schwarz.com/CMWcards
Application workflow
The figure below shows a typical use case of the
R&S®CMWcards F2L feature.
  To debug a field test problem, first a field test log
file is needed. This kind of log file can be obtained by a
Rohde & Schwarz network scanner or captured via the
UEtraces.
  Feed the field log as input to the F2L application wizard.
The wizard automatically analyzes the log file. Based on
the analysis output, the user determines the network
parameters and the L3 message contents that need to be
further investigated.
The F2L wizard generates a network profile that con-
tains the network configurations, layer 3 messages and RF
parameters extracted from the field log. The network pro-
file is a set of cards where the parameters of each card are
configured like those in the real network.
CMWcards-Automotive field-to-lab testing_ac_en_3607-9595-92_v0100.indd 2 28.01.2019 07:39:01