WiFi Enabled Client Devices

Wireless enabled client devices promise un-tethered connectivity and mobility. The client MAC, the driver and the protocol stack, all control key pieces of the user experience. The user experience depends on reliable association with, and rapid mobility between APs, efficient data transfers to and from APs, adequate QoS support and seamless interaction with other clients using the network. Designers must consider all these issues. VeriWave offers the only solution that precisely measures the real-world behavior of a mobile device, its impact on other devices and overall network performance, as well as the impact of the network, or ecosystem, on the device’s own performance. Obtaining precise metrics early on helps speed isolation of problems to shave months off development cycles and deployment times.

Who should use VeriWave’s solutions?

Developers of:

• Wireless VoIP or dual-mode phones
• Wireless-enabled PDA’s
• Set-top boxes
• Medical monitors
• Industrial inventory control devices
• Scanners
• Retail and warehouse transaction processing devices
• Wireless-enabled printers

Network Administrators:

• To gauge the impact of a specific brand or model of mobile device on their current network.
• To model how new devices will affect their networks to help with vendor selection, network design, device configuration, initial deployment and ongoing performance.

At which stages of development can VeriWave solutions for client devices be used?

• Communication chip selection
• Driver development and debug
• Driver QA
• Device development and integration
• Device QA
• Pre-deployment device testing
• Real-world behavior test in the lab
• Interoperability verification

What are the most important care-abouts for wireless-enabled client?

• Reliable Connection – The ability to establish and maintain connection under various circumstances; including poor coverage areas.
• Long battery life – The need to minimize power consumption without affecting connectivity and the ability to implement advanced power-save mechanisms
• Best-in-class Performance – Delivery of high throughput for different types of traffic; packet sizes, packet rates, security protocols; as well as the capability to support a variety of applications.
• Predictable QoS – Ensuring low latency and high throughput by efficient application traffic, including voice, video and data in order to preserve superior user experience.
• Seamless Mobility – The capability to roam from one coverage area to another quickly without severing connection and disrupting services.
• Peaceful Co-existence – The ability to not disrupt or impact connectivity and services of other clients on the network

What does the VeriWave solution include?

• WaveAgent - A small software utility loaded onto the mobile device being tested. At just 64 kbytes, WaveAgent is the only test utility small enough not to interfere with the performance of the device being tested thus skewing test results. As the VeriWave system generates different mixes of traffic and conditions, WaveAgent measures the performance of and from the perspective of the mobile device. WaveAgent reports performance metrics as well as the configuration state of the mobile device back to the VeriWave system. WaveAgent is supported on a wide range of operating systems including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Mobile, and Linux.
• WaveDynamix – Verifies every aspect of the functional behavior and performance of a wireless-enabled client device, under user-controlled changing network conditions including step-through frame reaction and negative testing
• WaveClient – Central dashboard offering the tester the ability to control RF distance and path emulation, generate VeriWave eco-system client traffic, and collect performance metrics from the device under test. The VeriWave generated devices with their varying traffic mixes, create an ecosystem of traffic consisting of “copies” of the DUT itself, as well other devices on the network. By generating client devices with characteristic of various vendors’ equipment, testers can see how specific combinations of devices will interact.
• RF Distance and Path Simulation - complete set of RF isolation chambers and programmable attenuators facilitates precise and repeatable testing, and lets testers experiment with and precisely measure the effect of varying distance and paths on client device performance.
• Traffic generators / analyzers:
  • WaveBlade WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n – 1 or 4 ports per blade
  • WaveBlade WiFi 802.11n – 2x2 or 3x3 MIMO
  • WaveBlade Ethernet – 1 or 4 ports per blade

Working together, these components measure the impact of varying configurations on the both the device under test and the overall network. Testers can “stress” the network with both real world and “worst case” scenarios, and establish vendor interoperability and device optimal configurations using new and existing equipment. The entire solution is highly automated, simplifying testing procedures, speeding up test cycles and reducing overall cost of test and R&D.

What are the typical steps in wireless-enabled client testing:

• Baseline client performance using WaveDynamix and WaveAgent
• Measure rate adaptation as range to AP increases using WaveClient and WaveAgent
• Measure roaming time and performance during roam using WaveClient and WaveAgent
• Client performance in real-world eco-systems using WaveClient