Access Lab (AL)
Telecom Operators round-the-world are implementing Next Generation Networks (NGN) and are making huge investments in roll-out of these IP-based networks. Different operators in India have already taken initiatives to deploy NGN in the country. Under these circumstances, it became essential to establish test beds to test and certify conformance and end-to-end inter-operability to ensure smooth roll-out of NGN in the country.
The National Telecom Policy 2012 provides “To mandate testing and certification of all telecom products for conformance, performance, interoperability, health, safety, security, EMF/ EMI/ EMC etc. to ensure safe-to-connect and seamless functioning of existing and future networks.” It also provides “To create suitable testing infrastructure for carrying out conformance testing, certification and to aid in development of new products and services.
TEC being operator-neutral technical wing of DoT is positioned to embark upon the project of establishing test-beds for NGN by setting up test and certification infrastructure, intended to primarily serve telecom equipment manufacturers, telecom operators, application and content providers, independent software developers and other stakeholders. The National NGN Test & Certification labs are envisaged to act as Designated Authority and the NGN Labs shall be used for setting up Test processes and procedures for standardizing the mandatory tests. The initiative already taken by TEC in setting up of NGN Labs is a timely action in meeting the NTP 2012 policy objectives.
As part of an ambitious plan of setting up of five NGN Labs in TEC viz.Access Lab, Transport Lab, Customer Premises Equipment Lab, Control Lab and Applications Lab to carry out tests for conformance, performance, functional, and interoperability among public networks, as well as for benchmarking devices/ applications/ networks/ services for all real-life scenarios, NGN Transport Lab has since been setup and was inaugurated by Hon’ble MoC&IT on 12.12.2012.
In line with the same objectives,Access Lab Lab is being set up in TEC, which will have testing infrastructurefor testing of standards of GSM,EDGE,WCDMA,HSDPA,HSUPA,CDMA2000, LTE and LTE Advance User Equipment (UEs) etc. and lab also includes testing facility for Access nodes e.g. E-nodeB, BTS, BSC, RNC, Wi-Fi and WiMAXAccess nodes etc. The Lab will have Unified Management Platform for integrated Lab management and generation of test reports etc.
The Lab shall have ISO-17025 accreditation.