A.1 Definition of Terms

38.508-13GPP5GSPart 1: Common test environmentRelease 17TSUser Equipment (UE) conformance specification

System Simulator or SS – A device or system, that is capable of generating simulated Node B signalling and analysing UE signalling responses on one or more RF channels, in order to create the required test environment for the UE under test. It will also include the following capabilities:

1. Measurement and control of the UE Tx output power through TPC commands

2. Measurement of Throughput

3. Measurement of signalling timing and delays

4. Ability to simulate UTRAN and/or E-UTRAN and/or GERAN signalling

Test System – A combination of devices brought together into a system for the purpose of making one or more measurements on a UE in accordance with the test case requirements. A test system may include one or more System Simulators if additional signalling is required for the test case. The following diagrams are all examples of Test Systems.

NOTE 1: The above terms are logical definitions to be used to describe the test methods used in the documents TS 38.521-1, TS 38.521-2, TS 38.521-3, TS 38.523-1 and TS 38.533 in practice, real devices called ‘System Simulators’ may also include additional measurement capabilities or may only support those features required for the test cases they are designed to perform.

NOTE 2: Components in the connection diagrams:
The components in the connection diagrams represent ideal components. They are intended to display the wanted signal flow. They don’t mandate real implementations.

Connection: Each connection is displayed as a one or two sided arrow, showing the intended signal flow. In some cases, for some tests, some connections shown may not be necessary (for example UL RX connection for a second cell).

Circulator: The signal, entering one port, is conducted to the adjacent port, indicated by the arrow. The attenuation among the above mentioned ports is ideally 0 and the isolation among the other ports is ideally ∞.

Splitter: a splitter has one input and 2 or more outputs. The signal at the input is equally divided to the outputs. The attenuation from input to the outputs is ideally 0 and the isolation between the outputs is ideally ∞.

Combiner: a combiner has one output and 2 or more inputs. The signals at the inputs are conducted to the output, all with the same, ideally 0 attenuation. The isolation between the inputs is ideally ∞.

Switch: contacts a sink (or source) alternatively to two or more sources (or sinks).

Fader: The fader has one input and one output. The MIMO fading channel is represented by several single faders (e.g. 8 in case of a MIMO antenna configuration 4×2) The correlation among the faders is described in TS 36.521-1 clause B.2.2. In some cases, for some tests, diagrams with fader(s) are referenced when no fading is required; in this case the fader(s) is omitted.

Attenuator: TBD

Test Equipment Part (TE): is the section of the connection diagram focused including a combination of devices to perform one or several measurements on a UE depending on the test requirements specified in 3GPP TS 38.101-1 [7], 3GPP TS 38.101-2 [8] and 3GPP TS 38.101-3 [9]. The basic TE is the system simulator to enable the connection between the gNB (and the eNB, if NSA mode) and the DUT. The number of cells, the number of streams per cell and how to combine them, channel and propagations conditions, etc. are also part of the TE. Other instruments as external spectrum analyser, interferer generators, external faders or external AWGN generators can be also considered part of the TE, as these instruments allow to measure a test requirement or to set the UE under certain conditions.

DUT Part (UE): for conducted measurement this section is focused on the number of physical antenna connectors and how to combine in the DUT. For radiated measurement this section shows the connections needed to translate the UL/DL streams to the radiated part.

GNSS System Simulator or GSS: A device or system, that is capable of generating simulated GNSS satellite transmissions in order to create the required test environment for the UE under test. It will also include the following capabilities:

1. Control of the output power of individual satellites and the simulation of atmospheric delays.

2. Ability to synchronize with NR timing in the SS.