Rohde & Schwarz is first T&M manufacturer to validate conformance test cases for RCS 5.3

Rohde & Schwarz has validated 24 conformance test cases described in work item 235 for the IMS-based Rich Communication Suite 5.3 (RCS 5.3), further demonstrating the T&M manufacturer’s leadership in 4G and IMS conformance testing. Rohde & Schwarz remains the only provider to carry out validation for IMS work items.

The test cases were validated during the GCF conformance and interoperability agreement group meeting in Singapore. Rich Communication Suite (RCS) is based on the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) platform and supports various functions, including instant messaging, presence and multimedia content sharing during a video call. As increasing numbers of handset manufacturers and network operators support RCS, critical mass for popular use may soon be reached. The GSMA predicts there will be 350 million RCS users worldwide by Q4 2018 and 1 billion in Q1 2019.

To ensure the required interoperability and functionality, conformance tests will be mandatory for all wireless devices that support RCS 5.3. The R&S CMW-ATE (GCF TP 97) has now achieved test platform approval criteria, having validated 80 % of defined tests in work item 235. This means that mobile devices sold as RCS 5.3-capable can only be certified with the R&S CMW-ATE.

The R&S CMW-ATE is the most compact Rohde & Schwarz test platform to support carrier acceptance tests for IMS, VoLTE (voice over LTE), and ViLTE (video over LTE) as well as RCS. The same R&S CONTEST software used for test case management for all test platforms is applicable from the largest full type approval systems to the smallest.

These latest conformance tests confirm that Rohde & Schwarz not only offers the greatest number of validated test cases but is also the only T&M manufacturer to offer a complete conformance test portfolio, ranging from RF and RRM conformance testing, to protocol tests, location based services and IMS applications, to data throughput and acoustics tests. Furthermore, Rohde & Schwarz test solutions meet the requirements of leading network operators around the world and are officially certified for their specific tests.