Real UE Automation in OTA Chamber Environment: rf-switch automation and beam switching
Hautamäki, Petri (2024)
2024
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024060521275
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024060521275
Tiivistelmä
This thesis is about developing and building a part of a real-UE automation for testing 5G radios and base stations in an anechoic over the air chamber environment. The main focus was to develop an automation library for RF-switch box and create a Robot beam switching test suite using that library. Thesis was commissioned by Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy. Most test lines were using different UE simulator devices and were already automated but automation development for real-UEs was still needed. The Python library and the Robot test suites were planned to be used in the 180 degree anechoic over the air chambers together with commercial smartphones, so called real-UEs. Beam switching is an important functionality in the latest 5G radios, and it is important to be able to test it efficiently and with reproducible results. The reason for this thesis project was to try and create tools for testing that beam switching functionality in the current testing environments.
The thesis begins with an introduction of the company and the testing environment to help understand the background and the needs for the thesis. This thesis was a project-based thesis, and it goes through the used tools and methods. The main tools used were Python programming language and Robot Framework. Python was used in creating the automation library that includes all the functionalities for controlling the RF-switch box. Robot Framework was used for creating the actual beam switching test cases and it was using the created automation library. In the end the thesis goes through the results and conclusions.
Most of the goals for the project were achieved as all the needed automation library functions were successfully created and were working as intended. Created beam switching Robot test cases were also working as intended and the changing of the routes and attenuation values could be seen from the RF-switch web interface and manually with terminal commands. Testing could not yet be done together with actual real-UE call traffic.
The thesis begins with an introduction of the company and the testing environment to help understand the background and the needs for the thesis. This thesis was a project-based thesis, and it goes through the used tools and methods. The main tools used were Python programming language and Robot Framework. Python was used in creating the automation library that includes all the functionalities for controlling the RF-switch box. Robot Framework was used for creating the actual beam switching test cases and it was using the created automation library. In the end the thesis goes through the results and conclusions.
Most of the goals for the project were achieved as all the needed automation library functions were successfully created and were working as intended. Created beam switching Robot test cases were also working as intended and the changing of the routes and attenuation values could be seen from the RF-switch web interface and manually with terminal commands. Testing could not yet be done together with actual real-UE call traffic.