SS7, IN, GSM

Up to 24 full duplex links

Real-time sequence mode

Easy to use

Future-proof

Total care for networks

Multichannel Protocol AnalyserMPA 7100/7200/7300

General DescriptionThe Multichannel Protocol Analyser(MPA) is an easy-to-use multi-linktest instrument for the detailedanalysis of telecom digital signal-ling protocols, i.e. SignallingSystem No. 7 (SS7), particularlycomplex protocols such as IN (Intel-ligent Network) and GSM (GlobalSystem for Mobile Communica-tions). The MPA is available asthree different instrument types:

MPA 7100Slimline subrack handling 4 fullduplex signalling links. Data pre-sented on external PC. Also avail-able in a portable version.

MPA 720019” subrack handling up to 24 fullduplex signalling links. Data pre-sented on external PC.

MPA 7300Portable stand-alone instrument,handling up to 16 full duplex sig-nalling 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 dur-

ing transportation to protect thedisplay. Socket for external mouse.

The user interface is based on MSWindows® 95. Up to 1 Gbyte ofdata can be stored.

Five different line interfaces areavailable:• 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.

Multichannel Protocol Analyser7100/7200/7300

• Typical applications:

Acceptance testing, detailed trouble-shooting,

daily maintenance, performance analysis

• Up to 24 full duplex links in one instrument

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

• Automatic recognition of signalling-sequence errors

and timeouts (expert system)

• Auto-configuration

• Pre-defined “click-and-go” triggers and filters

including complete call trace

• Focus on GSM/PCS and IN protocols

• Statistical counters

• User interface based on MS Windows® 95

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

BaseTransceiver

StationGSM IN

SCP

SSP

STP

BaseStation

Controller

MobileSwitching

Centre

MPA7100Rack-mounted . 4 links

MPA7200Rack-mounted . 4-24 links

MPA7300Portable . 4-16 links

Features Advantages

Overview of features

The MPA will initially provide threemain measurement functions:protocol analysis, statistics andalarm monitoring. These aredescribed below. The instrumentcan be controlled from a remotePC, using standard communica-tion interfaces and PC remote-control programs, e.g. ReachOut.Hereby, access via LANs, modems,ISDN or Internet is possible. Stan-dard printers with appropriate MSWindows® 95 drivers can be usedfor data output.

Up to 24 full duplex links in one instrument with full correlation of the signalling information between all links.

Simultaneous monitoring of all signalling on large network nodeswith many different interfaces.

Large processing and storage capacity. Allows analysis of complex signallingprotocols on many simultaneous linkswith high traffic load.

Auto-configuration. Automatically identifies the signallinglinks among the time slots attached tothe MPA.

Expert system: Automatic recognitionof signalling-sequence errors and timeouts.

Fast, easy error detection. User needsno detailed prior knowledge of thesignalling protocol.

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

Fast, easy setup for capturing data of interest.

Pre-defined SCCP and TCAP signalling-sequence filters.

Easy analysis of complex SCCP andTCAP-based signalling sequences inSS7 networks because of introductionof new services such as GSM and IN.

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

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

Statistical counters for all messagetypes.

Allows the user to analyse signallingtraffic in detail.

ODBC® (Open Data Base Connectivity). Graphical presentation of statisticaldata 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 shiftingfrom local to centralised maintenance(the MPA hardware is reusable).

FunctionalityProtocol analysisThe protocol-analysis function cap-tures signalling units and displaysthem in decoded form. The cap-tured signalling units in the log aretime-stamped with a resolution of1 millisecond. The MPA provides fullcorrelation of signalling informa-tion recorded from all connectedsignalling links. Different protocoldescriptions may be associated withthe various signalling-link inter-faces. National protocol descrip-tions can easily be customised.

Automatic error recognitionThe unique MPA expert systemautomatically recognises all invalidsignalling messages and sequences(all valid messages and sequencesare contained in the protocoldescription). In case of a signallingerror (syntax error, messages outof sequence or timeout betweentwo messages), the collectedevents will be stored with an errormessage in the log.

FiltersIn this context, filtering means controlling which signalling mess-ages/sequences and alarms arestored in the event log.

An event recogniser in the MPAis a mechanism that allows theuser to look for individual signal-ling messages and alarms with aspecific content – e.g. ISUPRELease messages with cause 17“user busy”.

Sequence recognisers are usedto capture a complete sequence ofevents forming a meaningful trans-action – e.g. a telephone call or aService 800 IN transaction.

Both event recognisers and sequence recognisers can be usedas filter conditions.

The user can select from a wide range of predefined “click-and-go”events and sequence recognisers.Up to 500 concurrent calls/trans-actions can be followed by a sequence recogniser.

TriggersThe MPA contains two triggertypes: One start trigger for en-abling (open) storage of eventsand one stop trigger for disabling (close).

An event recogniser can beselected as start trigger. A timing

offset or event-number offset canalso be specified before the eventrecogniser. When the offset is inuse, events are kept in a buffermemory and stored in the eventlog immediately after the triggercondition is fulfilled (logging ofpre-history).

The stop trigger can be selectedeither as an event recogniser or asan offset after the start trigger. Aswith the start offset, the stop off-set can be either a timing offset oran event-number offset.

Search/extract The MPA can also extract andsearch for specific messages in thelog after storage. “Extracting”means selecting events in the logto be decoded and displayed.“Searching” means updating thedisplay so that it shows the next(or previous) event in the log thatfulfils the specified conditions.

Display of dataDuring recording, the user caneither choose to see the most recent

Decoding, detailed mode.

Setup of filters and triggers.

MPA message-type counters.

The MPA has built-in help on signalling protocols.

events in real time or can manuallyscroll through the captured events.In “real-time” mode, an event (ora completed sequence) that occurson a signalling link will at the mostbe delayed by one second in theMPA. The user can switch betweenthe two modes at will.

Built-in helpFurther explanation of any fieldand any value can be retrievedusing the built-in help function,which is based on the MS Win-dows®95 help concept.

Display formatsThe user can configure display ofevents. Two basic formats areavailable: overview and detailed.

In overview mode, as manyevents as possible are displayed onthe screen simultaneously, witheach event therefore occupyingone or very few lines. The user canselect which protocol parts are tobe displayed (e.g. level 4 only),with only important fields fromeach protocol part shown.

In detailed mode, the userselects either mnemonics or fullnames of fields and values. Theuser also determines whether octetvalues are shown or not anddecides which protocol parts are tobe displayed and whether the dis-play should include all fields oronly important fields.

Data from the different signal-ling links can be differentiated byusing different colouring.

Post-processing of protocol dataThe MPA event-log browser (option)allows the user to look at / post-process already captured data on aPC independently of an MPA instru-ment. The data can even be de-coded using another protocol de-scription than the one used duringrecording. Furthermore, protocoldata can be imported to other pro-grams via MS Windows® clipboardor by exporting data in ASCII format.

StatisticsThe MPA records the following sta-tistical information for each signal-ling link:• Link statistics: Count and ratio

of FISUs, LSSUs, MSUs, retrans-mitted MSUs and errored messages.

• Message-type counters as wellas 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 andcan be set in the range of 1-120 minutes. The display is, however,

updated every 2 seconds. Data isstored in ODBC® format (OpenData Base Connectivity) to facilitateexport of data to standard data-base programs (e.g. MicrosoftAccess®) to permit post-processingand graphical data presentation.

Alarm monitoringTransmission alarms are monitoredon 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 arealso monitored for every signallinglink:• Signalling alarms: No Flag.• Signalling errors: Truncated,

7 Ones, Too short, CRC-16 error.Alarms are displayed immediatelyas they are recognised (the delayin the MPA is shorter than onesecond). An indication is also dis-played when an alarm ceases.Alarms can be time-stamped andstored in the log.

TypicalApplicationsAcceptance testingDetailed comparison of the imple-mented signalling protocol withthe required specification (messageformats, message contents, signal-ling sequences), performed duringthe initial installation of the proto-col and/or exchange type andwhen there is a major softwareupdate/release in the network.

Detailed troubleshootingDetailed signalling analysis duringfault-finding in the operationphase – e.g. tracing specific calls,looking for specific cause values,analysing data immediately beforeand after an error occurs.

Daily maintenanceChecking of link loads (number/ratio of MSUs and LSSUs) andquality (number/ratio of erroredand retransmitted MSUs).

Performance analysisCounting of message types perlink/direction, e.g. number of errorand blocking messages as well asthe occurrence of unknown mess-age types, or number of callattempts (IAM/IAIs), number ofseizures (ACMs) and number ofunsuccessful call attempts (cause

values/error codes/unsuccessfulbackward setup messages). Graphical presentation of datausing standard database programs.

ArchitectureThe MPA has a very modular andflexible architecture based on RISCprocessor technology (Inmos Trans-puters).

The MPA consists of a numberof Link Units (LU), each handlingfour full duplex signalling links,one Multi Processor Unit (MPU),and a PC part.

Link unitThe LUs are field-installable andperform clock regeneration, trans-mission-alarm detection, framinganalysis, CRC checking, time-stamping of events, link-statisticscounting and basic filtering. EachLU contains one 32-bit RISC pro-cessor. If further processing poweris needed, an extra 32-bit or 64-bit RISC Processor Module can beadded to each LU. The Modulesare simply “plugged” into existingsockets containing the necessarybus connections.

Multi processor unitThe MPU performs filtering of sig-nalling units, message-type statis-tics counting, analysis for protocol

errors and sequence errors andcorrelation between all links con-nected to the MPA. For protocolanalysis the MPU performs trigger-ing and extraction on the signal-ling-data stream, both on signal-ling unit-event basis and on signal-ling sequences. The MPU also con-trols the clock used for time-stamping of events on all LUs. Thisclock is either running locally onthe board or clocked from a net-work-wide clock via an input onthe PC. The MPU contains one 32-bit RISC processor. It is possible toadd up to three more 32-bit or 64-bit RISC Processor Modules, eachwith its own RAM. The MPU alsocontains a hard disk (HDD) forstorage of data during measure-ment, making possible real-timedata capture at high link occupan-cy. HDD size for MPA 7100/7200 is1 Gbyte, while HDD size for MPA7300 is 500 Mbyte.

PCThe PC part displays the measure-ment data to the user and receivessetup information from the user.The user interface is based on MSWindows®95. The PC is either astandard desktop or laptop PC(MPA 7100 and 7200) or built intothe instrument (MPA 7300). Soft-ware, measurement logs and set-ups are stored on the hard-diskdrive in the PC. New SW, e.g. new

MPA alarm monitor.

applications and new protocols, isloaded from the floppy-disk driveor re-motely from another PC. ThePC has a clock input making itpossible to synchronize the time-stamping of the MPA to a net-work-wide clock.

The PC is equipped with aV.24/RS-232 serial interface, a par-allel printer interface and can alsobe equipped with a wide range ofstandard communication interfacesfor remote control, e.g. Ethernet,ISDN.

Also for systemsThe MPA can be re-used as a mon-itoring probe in future SS7 surveil-lance systems, securing the presentinvestment in instruments.

PC requirementsThe desktop PC for MPA7100/7200 must fulfil the follow-ing minimum requirements:- 133 MHz Pentium processor.- 32 MByte RAM.- SVGA monitor.- One available ISA slot.- MS Windows®95.The ISA slot is used for the TP linkinterface card handling the com-munication towards the MPA7100/7200 rack and allowing syn-chronization to a network-wideclock.

For laptop PCs the TP link card isavailable as a PCMCIA card.

SpecificationsLine interfaces

2 Mbit/s quad link unit:BNC or 1.6/5.6 coaxial inputs (unbal-anced); BNO inputs (balanced).2048 kbit/s ±100 ppm.Impedance: SW controlled 75 or 750 Ω (unbalanced); 120 or 1200 Ω (balanced).Linear attenuation: 38 dB, cable-losscompensation 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, NoFrame (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 Ω(SW controlled).Linear attenuation: 38 dB, cable-losscompensation 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 Ω(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 over-load-protected, meet all American andEuropean safety requirements and areable to withstand voltage steps, power-source interruptions and tran-sients without damage or performanceinterruption 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: +5°C to +40°C.Storage temperature: -25°C to +70°C.

All instrument types are CE markedand have electromagnetic shieldingand comply with all relevant require-ments from America (CSA, FCC) andEurope (EN and VDE) concerning emis-sion, immunity, radio interference andsupply-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.

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GN Nettest A/SKirkebjerg Allé 90DK-2605 Brøndby, DenmarkTel: +45 72 11 22 00Fax: +45 72 11 22 10E-mail: com@nettest.dkWeb: 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.

GN Nettest companies:Australia: +61 39 890 6677Canada: +1 800 465 9400China: +86 10 64 67 88 88France: +33 1 69 41 26 66Germany: +49 89 99 89 010Italy: +39 2 95 22 512Norway: +47 22 30 90 33Singapore: +65 220 9575Spain: +34 91 372 92 27Sweden: +46 8 97 39 00UK: +44 1883 349110USA: +1 800 233 3800

Total care for networks