External Device Connection

External Device Connection Setup for Two 8960s

External 8960 Connection Setup

• External 8960 IP Address

  Before establishing a connection with another 8960, you must first specify its IP address.

  Ext 8960 IP Addr cannot be set to the same value as LAN IP Address or DUT IP Address . If LAN IP Address is set to the value of Ext 8960 IP Addr , Ext 8960 IP Addr is reset to a blank field.

  GPIB command: SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:EXTernal:ADDRess

• Connect to External 8960

  This action establishes a TCP/IP connection with the 8960 at the address specified by External 8960 IP Address .

  If the External Device Connection Status/External Device 2 Connection Status is Connected , then this action is ignored by the test set.

  GPIB command: SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:EXTernal:CONNect

• Disconnect from External 8960

  This action disconnects the TCP/IP connection with the connected external 8960.

  If the External Device Connection Status/External Device 2 Connection Status is Disconnected , then this action is ignored by the test set.

  GPIB command: SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:EXTernal:DCONnect

LAN Connection Information

• External Device Connection Status/External Device 2 Connection Status

  The External Device Conn Status is displayed in the LAN Connection Information window of both tests sets, regardless of which test set initiated the connection. External Device 2 Conn Status displays the connection status of a second external device. The possible states of the external device connections are: Not Connected , Connecting , Connected and Disconnecting .

  When the External Device Connection status is Connected , ExtDev is displayed in the Instrument Status Area of both test sets:

  

  GPIB command: SYSTem:STATus:COMMunicate:LAN:EXTernal[1]|2[:CONNected][:STATe]?

• Connected Device IP Address/Connected Device 2 IP Address

  Once a connection has been established between the two test sets, the LAN IP address or the LAN 2 IP Address (depending on whether LAN 2 PORT is supported) of each test set is displayed in the other test set's LAN Connection Information window. Connected Device 2 IP Address displays the IP Address of a second external device when connected.

  GPIB command: SYSTem:STATus:COMMunicate:LAN:EXTernal[1]|2[:CONNected]:ADDRess?

• LAN (Self) IP Address

  For your convenience, the IP address of the test set is shown in its LAN Connection Information window. This is a duplicate display of its LAN IP Address setting, which you set from the Instrument Setup ( F1 ) menu on its System Config screen, or using the SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN[:SELF]:ADDRess command.

DUT IP Address Information

The DUT IP Address Information window indicates the IP address(es) currently in use by the DUT, and whether the IP address was assigned by the current test set or the external test set. Note that DUT IP Address must be set to a different value in both test sets.

Once an IP route is established between a test set and a device on the LAN, internet protocols do not provide a mechanism to re-establish the connection with another test set. Thus, when a mobile has an active PDP context with one test set and transitions to another, a tunnel is created to route data to and from the mobile via the originating test set. The originating test set must continue to act as the end-point for the IP connection, regardless of the location of the mobile, and to forward any received packets to the test set currently serving the mobile. This forwarding of packets is referred to as "tunneling".

During tunneling, the mobile uses the DUT IP Address provided by the originating test set, not the DUT IP Address of the serving test set. To help indicate this situation, the DUT IP Address setting on the serving test set is grayed out. Also, DUT IP Address Origin on the serving test set displays External 8960 and the IP address currently in use by the mobile is displayed under DUT IP Address 1 .

• DUT IP Address Origin

  Displays either This 8960 or External 8960 to indicate which test set assigned the IP address currently in use by the mobile.

• DUT IP Address 1

  Displays the IP address currently in use by the mobile.

• DUT IP Address 2
• DUT IP Address 3
• DUT IP Address 4

External Device Connection/Two-Cell Test System Considerations

The external device connection is not affected by a partial preset. However, the external device connection is disconnected as a result of a full preset.

Before initiating an external device connection between two test sets, you can verify that the two test sets are able to communicate by pinging one test set from the other. To do so, on test set #1:

• Press the Call Setup key, then the left More key until the Ping menu is available.
• Select Ping , then Ping Setup ( F1 ).
• Set Device to Ping to Alternate ( CALL:DATA:PING:SETup:DEVice ).
• Set the Alternate Ping Address to the IP address of test set #2 ( CALL:DATA:PING:SETup:ALTernate:IP:ADDRess ).
• Select Start Ping ( F3 ) ( CALL:DATA:PING:STARt ).

When establishing an External Device Connection, if the destination test set supports the LAN 2 PORT :

• you must connect both the LAN 1 PORT and the LAN 2 PORT of the destination test set to the hub before the external device connection;
• on the originating test set, you can set the External 8960 IP Address to either the LAN IP Address or the LAN IP Address 2 (Data+) of the destination test set. However, any way you choose, after a successful connection, the originating test set displays the LAN IP Address 2 (Data+) of the destination test set under Connected Device IP Address .

When performing two-cell PS data transfer cell reselections (see Two-Cell Test System ), the data rate is limited by the data rate capability of the test set that established the PDP context with the mobile. This is because when a mobile has an active PDP context with one test set and transitions to another, a tunnel is created to route data to and from the mobile via the originating test set. The originating test set must continue to act as the end-point for the IP connection, regardless of the location of the mobile, and to forward any received packets to the test set currently serving the mobile. Thus, to achieve high data rates during cell reselection using a high data rate test set and a standard test set, you must start the PDP context on the high data rate test set.