Rohde & Schwarz, a supplier of solutions for mobile test and measurement, and Ubiquisys Ltd., which develops intelligent 3G femtocells, have successfully developed and deployed a solution for rapid testing of femtocells on a mass production line.

Ubiquisys’ established femtocell manufacturing facility at the Sony UK Technology Centre in Pencoed, South Wales, supports a growing number of international trial deployments with tier one network operators. The new jointly developed system uses the R&S CMU300 tester to ensure consistent, accurate testing at high velocity production speeds.

“Femtocells present new challenges for testing systems. They are low cost, low power, consumer devices being produced in large quantities. However, they still require testing to stringent 3GPP standards,” said John Evans MBE, VP operations at Ubiquisys. “We required a solution which could provide an accurate non-invasive layer 1 call test on a high volume production line. Working with Rohde & Schwarz we are delighted to have integrated their universal radio communication tester into our facility.”

Carl Garrood, strategic business development manager of Rohde & Schwarz UK, commented, “Effective testing solutions are core to cellular network deployment; however, in the case of femtocells the volume of devices to certify and the speed at which this must be undertaken are an order of magnitude greater. We are delighted to have combined our industry leading tester with the Ubiquisys production line to create a world class system for high volume femtocell production.”