Rohde & Schwarz and Gemalto, a Thales company, are working on significantly reducing expensive and
time-consuming drive tests. IoT protocol stack features have been specified by 3GPP, but IoT devices have
to interact with different network configurations worldwide. This makes it important to ensure that these
features are working well in all sorts of configurations, configured by different network operators.
Thanks to the current cooperation, manufacturers of IoT solutions can use virtual drive tests during the
development phase of CAT M1 and NB IoT modules to find and fix problems at an earlier stage. This also
enables seamless cellular coverage and reliable connectivity before the integration process continues and
further field tests are performed. Network-specific integration tests and field tests include analysis of unique
network configurations in different countries, challenging RF Power level conditions and verification of
signaling under compelling RF environments.

The setup consists of R&S Field to Lab wireless communication test system, R&S CMWcards smart network
emulator, R&S CMW500/CMW290 wideband radio communication tester from Rohde & Schwarz. The
successful LTE based R&S Field-to-Lab solution by Rohde & Schwarz has now been extended to support
LTE-M and NB-IoT technologies. With the same user interface, customers can seamlessly move between
LTE and IoT testing. The simple process of loading the field logs, extracting the required information from the
field log and generating R&S CMWcards test script helps to replicate the real network environment in a lab
with just a few mouse clicks.

The R&S Field-to-Lab supports 3GPP IoT features. Unlike other simulated drive test solutions, it is also the
first virtual drive test solution for IoT offering replication of signaling and RF conditions in an easy-to-operate
GUI on the R&S CMW500 and R&S CMW290 mobile radio testers.

Consequently, this new IoT approach enables for Thales an increasingly efficient and rapid IoT testing
procedure. For Rohde & Schwarz it is an opportunity to make its IoT testing and measurement domain even
stronger. Collaboration between Gemalto, a Thales company, and Rohde & Schwarz on the topic of field-tolab
continues actively, enabling both companies to help each other in verification of software builds and
releases.

For more information on R&S Field-to-Lab, visit https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/product/field_to_lab