Multichannel Protocol Analyser MPA 7100/7200/7300

SS7, IN, GSM Up to 24 full duplex links Real-time sequence mode Easy to use Future-proof

Total care for networks

Multichannel Protocol Analyser 7100/7200/7300

General Description
The Multichannel Protocol Analyser (MPA) is an easy-to-use multi-link test instrument for the detailed analysis of telecom digital signalling protocols, i.e. Signalling System No. 7 (SS7), particularly complex protocols such as IN (Intelligent Network) and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). The MPA is available as three different instrument types:

MPA 7100
Slimline subrack handling 4 full duplex signalling links. Data presented on external PC. Also available in a portable version.

MPA 7200
19 subrack handling up to 24 full duplex signalling links. Data presented on external PC.

ting, le-shoo : cations etailed troub alysis d al appli Typic tance testing, erformance an Accep intenance, p ent a instrum daily m in one x links ctions ll duple s/transa 500 call to 24 fu Up up to e errors cing of equenc sequen l-time alling-s Rea of sign gnition tic reco pert system) ma Auto eouts (ex nd tim a ion ers figurat and filt uto-con riggers A d-go t click-an fined lete call trace e Pre-d ing comp ocols includ IN prot CS and /P on GSM Focus ters s 95 al coun Window Statistic on MS e based interfac User

MPA 7300
Portable stand-alone instrument, handling up to 16 full duplex signalling links and with built-in PC for data presentation. This instrument has a large 10.4 TFT colour LCD display, a 3.5 floppy-disk drive, a keyboard (PC

notebook type) and a trackball. The keyboard is flipped up during transportation to protect the display. Socket for external mouse. The user interface is based on MS Windows 95. Up to 1 Gbyte of data can be stored.

Five different line interfaces are available: 2 Mbit/s Unbalanced Quad Link Unit (BNC or 1.6/5.6). 2 Mbit/s Balanced Quad Link Unit. DS1 Quad Link Unit. DS0(A) Triple Link Unit. V.35 Quad Link Unit.

GSM

Base Transceiver Station

The MPA is designed to test todays large, complex SS7 networks, with a special focus on advanced services/protocols such as IN (Intelligent Network) and GSM.

IN
SCP

Base Station Controller

SSP

Mobile Switching Centre

STP

Overview of features Features

Up to 24 full duplex links in one instrument with full correlation of the signalling information between all links. Large processing and storage capacity.

Advantages
Simultaneous monitoring of all signalling on large network nodes with many different interfaces.

M PA 7 1 0 0

Rack-mounted . 4 links
Allows analysis of complex signalling protocols on many simultaneous links with high traffic load.

Auto-configuration.

Automatically identifies the signalling links among the time slots attached to the MPA.

M PA 7 2 0 0

Rack-mounted . 4-24 links

Expert system: Automatic recognition of signalling-sequence errors and timeouts.

Fast, easy error detection. User needs no detailed prior knowledge of the signalling protocol.

Real-time sequencing of up to 500 calls/transactions.

Allows capture of several simultaneous calls to/from the same destination/ origination at the same time.

M PA 7 3 0 0

Portable . 4-16 links The MPA will initially provide three main measurement functions: protocol analysis, statistics and alarm monitoring. These are described below. The instrument can be controlled from a remote PC, using standard communication interfaces and PC remotecontrol programs, e.g. ReachOut. Hereby, access via LANs, modems, ISDN or Internet is possible. Standard printers with appropriate MS Windows 95 drivers can be used for data output.

Pre-defined click-and-go triggers and filters.

Fast, easy setup for capturing data of interest.

Pre-defined SCCP and TCAP signallingsequence filters.

Easy analysis of complex SCCP and TCAP-based signalling sequences in SS7 networks because of introduction of new services such as GSM and IN. Allows the user to analyse signalling traffic in detail.

Statistical counters for all message types.

ODBC (Open Data Base Connectivity).

Graphical presentation of statistical data using standard database programs.

User interface based on MS Windows 95 and in colour.

Easy-to-use, clear format user interface.

Migration path to centralised SS7 surveillance systems.

No need for investment in new monitoring equipment when shifting from local to centralised maintenance (the MPA hardware is reusable).

Functionality
Protocol analysis
The protocol-analysis function captures signalling units and displays them in decoded form. The captured signalling units in the log are time-stamped with a resolution of 1 millisecond. The MPA provides full correlation of signalling information recorded from all connected signalling links. Different protocol descriptions may be associated with the various signalling-link interfaces. National protocol descriptions can easily be customised.

offset or event-number offset can also be specified before the event recogniser. When the offset is in use, events are kept in a buffer memory and stored in the event log immediately after the trigger condition is fulfilled (logging of pre-history). The stop trigger can be selected either as an event recogniser or as an offset after the start trigger. As with the start offset, the stop offset can be either a timing offset or an event-number offset.

Search/extract
The MPA can also extract and search for specific messages in the log after storage. Extracting means selecting events in the log to be decoded and displayed. Searching means updating the display so that it shows the next (or previous) event in the log that fulfils the specified conditions.

Display of data
During recording, the user can either choose to see the most recent

Automatic error recognition

The unique MPA expert system automatically recognises all invalid signalling messages and sequences (all valid messages and sequences are contained in the protocol description). In case of a signalling error (syntax error, messages out of sequence or timeout between two messages), the collected events will be stored with an error message in the log.

Filters
In this context, filtering means controlling which signalling messages/sequences and alarms are stored in the event log. An event recogniser in the MPA is a mechanism that allows the user to look for individual signalling messages and alarms with a specific content e.g. ISUP RELease messages with cause 17 user busy. Sequence recognisers are used to capture a complete sequence of events forming a meaningful transaction e.g. a telephone call or a Service 800 IN transaction. Both event recognisers and sequence recognisers can be used as filter conditions. The user can select from a wide range of predefined click-and-go events and sequence recognisers. Up to 500 concurrent calls/transactions can be followed by a sequence recogniser.

Setup of filters and triggers.

Triggers
The MPA contains two trigger types: One start trigger for enabling (open) storage of events and one stop trigger for disabling (close). An event recogniser can be selected as start trigger. A timing

Decoding, detailed mode.

events in real time or can manually scroll through the captured events. In real-time mode, an event (or a completed sequence) that occurs on a signalling link will at the most be delayed by one second in the MPA. The user can switch between the two modes at will.

Built-in help
Further explanation of any field and any value can be retrieved using the built-in help function, which is based on the MS Windows95 help concept.

Display formats
The user can configure display of events. Two basic formats are available: overview and detailed. In overview mode, as many events as possible are displayed on the screen simultaneously, with each event therefore occupying one or very few lines. The user can select which protocol parts are to be displayed (e.g. level 4 only), with only important fields from each protocol part shown. In detailed mode, the user selects either mnemonics or full names of fields and values. The user also determines whether octet values are shown or not and decides which protocol parts are to be displayed and whether the display should include all fields or only important fields. Data from the different signalling links can be differentiated by using different colouring.

The MPA has built-in help on signalling protocols.

Post-processing of protocol data

The MPA event-log browser (option) allows the user to look at / postprocess already captured data on a PC independently of an MPA instrument. The data can even be decoded using another protocol description than the one used during recording. Furthermore, protocol data can be imported to other programs via MS Windows clipboard or by exporting data in ASCII format.

MPA message-type counters.

Statistics
The MPA records the following statistical information for each signalling link: Link statistics: Count and ratio of FISUs, LSSUs, MSUs, retransmitted MSUs and errored messages. Message-type counters as well as cause value/error-code counters for all protocol parts, e.g. MTP, ISUP, TUP, SCCP, TCAP, INAP and GSM protocols. The statistical data is accumulated and logged in intervals. This interval is user-programmable and can be set in the range of 1-120 minutes. The display is, however, updated every 2 seconds. Data is stored in ODBC format (Open Data Base Connectivity) to facilitate export of data to standard database programs (e.g. Microsoft Access) to permit post-processing and graphical data presentation.

Alarm monitoring
Transmission alarms are monitored on every line input on the MPA: 2 Mbit/s: No Signal, AIS (Alarm Indication Signal), No Frame, Distant Alarm. DS1: No Signal, AIS, Out of Frame, Yellow Alarm. DS0(A): No Data, No Signal, No Octet, No Timing. Signalling alarms and errors are also monitored for every signalling link: Signalling alarms: No Flag. Signalling errors: Truncated, 7 Ones, Too short, CRC-16 error. Alarms are displayed immediately as they are recognised (the delay in the MPA is shorter than one second). An indication is also displayed when an alarm ceases. Alarms can be time-stamped and stored in the log.

values/error codes/unsuccessful backward setup messages). Graphical presentation of data using standard database programs.

Architecture
The MPA has a very modular and flexible architecture based on RISC processor technology (Inmos Transputers). The MPA consists of a number of Link Units (LU), each handling four full duplex signalling links, one Multi Processor Unit (MPU), and a PC part.

Link unit
The LUs are field-installable and perform clock regeneration, transmission-alarm detection, framing analysis, CRC checking, timestamping of events, link-statistics counting and basic filtering. Each LU contains one 32-bit RISC processor. If further processing power is needed, an extra 32-bit or 64bit RISC Processor Module can be added to each LU. The Modules are simply plugged into existing sockets containing the necessary bus connections.

Typical Applications
Acceptance testing
Detailed comparison of the implemented signalling protocol with the required specification (message formats, message contents, signalling sequences), performed during the initial installation of the protocol and/or exchange type and when there is a major software update/release in the network.

errors and sequence errors and correlation between all links connected to the MPA. For protocol analysis the MPU performs triggering and extraction on the signalling-data stream, both on signalling unit-event basis and on signalling sequences. The MPU also controls the clock used for timestamping of events on all LUs. This clock is either running locally on the board or clocked from a network-wide clock via an input on the PC. The MPU contains one 32bit RISC processor. It is possible to add up to three more 32-bit or 64bit RISC Processor Modules, each with its own RAM. The MPU also contains a hard disk (HDD) for storage of data during measurement, making possible real-time data capture at high link occupancy. HDD size for MPA 7100/7200 is 1 Gbyte, while HDD size for MPA 7300 is 500 Mbyte.

PC
The PC part displays the measurement data to the user and receives setup information from the user. The user interface is based on MS Windows95. The PC is either a standard desktop or laptop PC (MPA 7100 and 7200) or built into the instrument (MPA 7300). Software, measurement logs and setups are stored on the hard-disk drive in the PC. New SW, e.g. new

Multi processor unit

The MPU performs filtering of signalling units, message-type statistics counting, analysis for protocol

Detailed troubleshooting
Detailed signalling analysis during fault-finding in the operation phase e.g. tracing specific calls, looking for specific cause values, analysing data immediately before and after an error occurs.

Daily maintenance
Checking of link loads (number/ ratio of MSUs and LSSUs) and quality (number/ratio of errored and retransmitted MSUs).

Performance analysis
Counting of message types per link/direction, e.g. number of error and blocking messages as well as the occurrence of unknown message types, or number of call attempts (IAM/IAIs), number of seizures (ACMs) and number of unsuccessful call attempts (cause
MPA alarm monitor.

applications and new protocols, is loaded from the floppy-disk drive or re-motely from another PC. The PC has a clock input making it possible to synchronize the timestamping of the MPA to a network-wide clock. The PC is equipped with a V.24/RS-232 serial interface, a parallel printer interface and can also be equipped with a wide range of standard communication interfaces for remote control, e.g. Ethernet, ISDN.

Also for systems

The MPA can be re-used as a monitoring probe in future SS7 surveillance systems, securing the present investment in instruments.

PC requirements
The desktop PC for MPA 7100/7200 must fulfil the following minimum requirements: - 133 MHz Pentium processor. - 32 MByte RAM. - SVGA monitor. - One available ISA slot. - MS Windows95. The ISA slot is used for the TP link interface card handling the communication towards the MPA 7100/7200 rack and allowing synchronization to a network-wide clock. For laptop PCs the TP link card is available as a PCMCIA card.

Specifications
Line interfaces 2 Mbit/s quad link unit: BNC or 1.6/5.6 coaxial inputs (unbalanced); BNO inputs (balanced). 2048 kbit/s 100 ppm. Impedance: SW controlled 75 or 750 (unbalanced); 120 or 1200 (balanced). Linear attenuation: 38 dB, cable-loss compensation 6 dB. Return loss: >18 dB (102 kHz - 2048 kHz). Balance: >30 dB (51 kHz - 3072 kHz). Jitter tolerance: >1.5 UI (20 Hz - 2.4 kHz). Line code: AMI or HDB3 (SW controlled). Detected alarms: No Signal, AIS, No Frame (FAS or CRC-4), Distant Alarm, CRC-16, No Flag. DS1 quad link unit: Bantam jack balanced inputs. 1544 kbit/s 132 ppm. Impedance: 100 or 1000 (SW controlled). Linear attenuation: 38 dB, cable-loss compensation 6 dB. Return loss: >20 dB (20 kHz - 1.6 MHz). Balance: >30 dB (20 kHz - 6 MHz). Jitter tolerance: >5 UI (10 Hz - 120 Hz). Line code: AMI or B8ZS (SW controlled). Framing: D3/D4, ESF or SLC96 (SW controlled). Detected alarms: No Signal, AIS,

Out of Frame, Yellow 2, Yellow S, Yellow M, CRC-16, No Flag. DS0(A) triple link unit: Bantam jack balanced inputs. 64 kbit/s 100 ppm. Impedance: 120 or 1350 (SW controlled). Linear attenuation: 37 dB, cable-loss compensation 3 dB. Return loss: >18 dB (3.2 kHz - 64 kHz). Balance: >30 dB (1.6 kHz - 196 kHz). Jitter tolerance: >0.25 UI (20 Hz - 600 Hz). Detected alarms: No Data, No Signal, No Octet, No Timing, CRC-16, No Flag. Power supply Range: AC: - MPA 7100: 47 Hz - 63 Hz, 93 V - 138 V and 178 V - 264 V. - MPA 7300: 47 Hz - 63 Hz, 94 V - 143 V and 196 V - 264 V. DC: - MPA 7100: -40 to -75 V DC. - MPA 7200: -40 to -75 V DC. Typical consumption: MPA 7100 (4 links): 25 W. MPA 7200 (24 links): 75 W. MPA 7300 (16 links): 100 W. The power supplies (PSUs) are overload-protected, meet all American and European safety requirements and are able to withstand voltage steps, power-source interruptions and transients without damage or performance interruption to the MPA.

Dimensions MPA 7100 (4 links): 140 x 265 x 230 mm, 5 kg. MPA 7200 (24 links): 445 x 265 x 230 mm, 12 kg. MPA 7300 (16 links): 360 x 210 x 440 mm, 13 kg. Environmental conditions Operating temperature: +5C to +40C. Storage temperature: -25C to +70C. All instrument types are CE marked and have electromagnetic shielding and comply with all relevant requirements from America (CSA, FCC) and Europe (EN and VDE) concerning emission, immunity, radio interference and supply-system disturbances. Standard accessories Operating manuals. ITU-T Blue Book, White Book or ANSI/Bellcore protocols. Power cable (national versions). Optional accessories National protocols. Protocol decoding software for stand-alone PC (event-log browser) Hardware manual. Fan for MPA 7200. PC mouse for MPA 7300. Carrying case or soft-bag for MPA 7300. Measurement cables. Extended warranty.

Specifications subject to change without notice. ISO 9001 registered.

Total care for networks

GN Nettest A/S Kirkebjerg All 90 DK-2605 Brndby, Denmark Tel: +45 72 11 22 00 Fax: +45 72 11 22 10 E-mail: com@nettest.dk Web: www.gnnettest.com

Our corporate mission is to help our customers all over the world to secure the best possible operational and financial performance from their communication networks. We fulfil that mission by developing, producing and marketing cost-effective, user-friendly test and measurement instruments and systems. We keep pace with our customers development through close collaboration and consultation, combining these activities with creative application of the latest technology.

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