3G Charging and Testing

1.Charging

This feature creates the Charging framework to be followed by the 3G Telecom Management standardisation. The main aspects of this work are the transfer of Circuit and Packet Switched Charging from GSM to UMTS/3G, accommodating the UMTS/3G-specific respectively Additional functionality.

2.Operations, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning

This feature creates the OAM&P framework to be followed by the 3G Telecom Management standardisation and met by all specifications produced by the 3GPP groups (e.g. SA5, RAN O&M, GERAN O&M, etc.) pertinent to UMTS Telecom Management.

The major functionalities introduced by the Telecom Management specifications in this release are:

Telecom Management Principles, Requirements and Architecture: X.25 and IP Network Layer protocols ; Introduction of Security Management ; Introduction of Integration Reference Point (IRP) Framework ; Telecom Management Architecture and Architecture of Radio Management Interface.
Performance Management: X.25 Consistency; synchronization; performance measurement parameter definition.
Configuration Management: Notification IRP, Basic Configuration Management Interfaces IRP and high level Network Resource Management (NRM) IRPs.
Fault Management: Alarm Management Interface IRP.

3.USIM/UICC Testing

3.1.Terminal tests for the UICC Interface

This work item creates a terminal test specification for the interface between the UICC and the terminal. It was originally based on the tests contained in GSM 11.10-1 clause 27.

The aim is to ensure interoperability between an UICC and a Terminal independently of the respective manufacturer, card issuer or operator. Application specific tests for applications residing on an UICC are specified in document 3G TS 31.121 (presented in the next section).

TS 31.120 specifies the tests of:

- physical characteristics of the UICC;

- the electrical interface between the UICC and the Terminal;

- the initial communication establishment and the transport protocols;

- the application independent procedures.

3.2.USIM application test specification

The work item covers the creation of the application test specification. It was originally based on the tests contained in GSM 11.17.

The aim is to ensure interoperability between an UICC and a terminal independently of the respective manufacturer, card issuer or operator. Aspects related to the administrative management phase of the UICC are not defined. Any internal technical realisation of either the UICC or the Terminal is only specified where these are reflected over the interface.

The UICC (Universal IC Card)-Terminal Interface Conformance Test Specification between the 3^rd Generation Terminal and USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module) as an application on the UICC and the Terminal for 3G telecom network operation covers the following aspects:

- the default setting of the USIM;

- the applicability of each test case;

- the test configurations;

- the conformance requirement and reference to the core specifications;

- the test purposes;

- a brief description of the test procedure and the specific acceptance criteria.

3.3.USIM conformance test specification

TS 31.122 provides the Conformance Test Specification for a Universal IC Card (UICC) defined in 3G TS 31.101 with Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) defined in 3G TS 31.102.

3.4.SIM toolkit test specification

SIM Application Toolkit has a major impact on ME design and enhances the SIM/ME interface in a comprehensive way. To ensure the proper functionality of the SIM/ME interface a SIM Application Toolkit Test Specification is required.

The specification only contains tests for optional features of the SIM/ME interface (no network related signalling issues are involved) and does not form the basis for any type approval or regulatory tests.

4.3G User Equipment (UE) Testing

The aim of the User Equipment (UE) testing related work –not officially defined as a Work Item- is to specify Conformance Tests for a 3^rdGeneration UE to be recognised as “3GPP-standard compliant”. Once these tests are defined, a 3GPP-external body, namely the GCF (Global Certification Forum), delivers certificates to prove that a UE has correctly passed the tests and is then conform to the 3GPP standard.

TS 34.108 contains definitions of the common test environments.

TS 34.121 specifies the measurement procedures for the conformance test of the UE that contain transmitting characteristics, receiving characteristics and performance requirements in addition to requirements for support of RRM (Radio Resource Management) in FDD mode. Tests are only applicable to those mobiles that are intended to support the appropriate functionality. In other terms, only a UE declared to support a given feature shall be tested for this feature. TS 34.122 is equivalent to TS 34.121 for the TDD mode (in both the 3,84 Mcps TDD Option and 1,28 Mcps TDD Option).

TS 34.123, composed of three parts, actually specifies the protocol conformance testing for the 3G UE. Part 1 describes the overall test structure. Part 2 contains the applicability of each test case defined as the “Implementation Conformance Statement (ICS) proforma”, in compliance with the relevant requirements, and in accordance with the relevant guidance given in ISO/IEC 9646-7 and ETS 300 406. Part 3 specifies the protocol conformance testing in TTCN for the 3G UE at the Uu interface.

More precisely, all of the following aspects are defined by 34.123:

- the overall test structure and test configurations (part 1)

- the conformance requirement and reference to the core specifications (part 1)

- the test purposes (part 1)

- a brief description of the test procedure, the specific test requirements and short message exchange table (part 1)

- the applicability of each test case (part 2)

- a detailed description of the expected sequence of messages (part 3)

- the Implementation Conformance Statement (ICS) (part 2)

Part 3 defines the TTCN test specification and design considerations in Abstract Test Suites based on the test cases specified in prose in part 1. The following aspects are covered:

- the overall test suite structure and the testing architecture

- the test methods and PCO definitions

- the test configurations

- the design principles, assumptions, and used interfaces to the TTCN tester (SS: System Simulator)

- TTCN styles and conventions

- the partial PIXIT proforma

- the TTCN.MP and TTCN.GR forms for the mentioned protocols tests