ETSI, in partnership with ERILLISVERKOT and the support of TCCA and the European Commission, organized the fourth MCX Plugtests event which took place from 23rd to 27th September 2019 at the Savonia University of Applied Sciences, KUOPIO, FINLAND.
What were the objectives and scope of the Plugtests event?
The concept of “Mission Critical Push To Talk" (MCPTT), “Mission Critical Data (MCData) ” and “Mission Critical Video (MCVideo)” were specified in 3GPP Release 13, 14 and 15.
Interoperability and Mission Critical service harmonization are critical challenges for the successful deployment and operation of Mission Critical Communication.
The goal of the MCX Plugtests event was to validate the interoperability of a variety of implementations using different scenarios based on 3GPP Mission Critical Services in Release 14. The tests were based on 3GPP, ETSI and IETF standards, and were designed for:
- MCS Application Server vendors (MCPTT, MCDATA, MCVIDEO)
- MC Client vendors (MCPTT, MCDATA, MCVIDEO)
- UE vendors
- EPC vendors
- eNB vendors
- eMBMS vendors
- SIP/IMS Core vendors
- Control Room vendors
- MCS test equipment vendors
The purpose and scope of the MCX Plugtests event were to test independently and jointly all components of the MC communication chain, such as:
MC Services Common Functionalities:
- User authentication and service authorization
- Service configuration
- Affiliation and de-affiliation
- Extended Location Features
- (Dynamic) Group Management
- Identity management
- MC Security framework
- Encryption (media and control signalling)
MCPTT Enhancements:
- First-to-answer call setup (with and without floor control)
- Floor control for audio cut-in enabled group
- Updating the selected MC Service user profile for an MC Service
- Ambient listening call
- MCPTT private call-back request
- Remote change of selected group
MCVideo:
- Group Call (including emergency group calls, imminent peril group calls and emergency alerts)
- Transmission Control
MCData:
- Short Data Service (SDS)
- File Distribution (FD) (on-network)
- Transmission and Reception Control
- Handling of Disposition Notifications
- Communication Release
The test cases were mainly based on the ETSI TS 103 564.
This 4th Plugtests event focused on tests with radio equipment (eNBs, UEs, EPCs) with Unicast and Multicast support but did also allow Over-The-Top (OTT) testing of Mission Critical Servers and Clients. Observers and vendors were welcome to help define the scope (i.e. functionality to be tested) for this event.
What were the advantages of attending the 4th MCX Plugtests event?
- To assess the level of interoperability of your implementations
- To validate your understanding of the standards
- To test with (many) other real implementations and demonstrate end-to-end interoperability
- To debug your implementation: early bug fixing, saving time and costs
- To promote the technology and the ecosystem
Observers were able to evaluate the test statistics in the TRT (Test reporting Tool) provided once the NDA of the MCX Programme was signed .
This event was hosted by the Savonia University of Applied Sciences at this address: Opistotie 2, Kuopio, Finland
REGISTRATION
All participants had to register to this event even if they participated in previous events part of the MCX Plugtests Programme.
Unlike previous Plugtests events, all participants were expected to register individually in the new application instead of having one single person registering all of her/his colleagues. Each first person in a company that would register to this event was de facto the official contact for technical and logistics matters.
After registration, new participants who would join the MCX Plugtests Programme would be invited to the preparation conference calls and be subscribed to the Plugtests mailing list dedicated to the MCX Plugtests event.
Participants who joined the MCX Plugtests Programme during the 3rd MCX remote Plugtests event would remain by default on the dedicated mailing list and would receive invitations to the conference calls on this mailing list.
Registration deadline was originally planned for 20 June 2019, however registrations closed on 20 May 2019 instead.
The event was free of charge.
NDA
By registering to the 4th MCX Plugtests event, new participating organisations joined the MCX Plugtests Programme and had to sign the non-disclosure agreement they would receive upon registration. This NDA would cover the series of remote and face-to-face Plugtests events held as part of the MCX Plugtests Programme. Companies which previously signed the NDA of the Programme when registering to the MCX 3 remote Plugtests event did not need to sign the NDA again. Only new organisations joining the Programme would receive the NDA for signature.
Upon signature of the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) sent to the official contact, the participants would receive their credentials for the 4th MCX Plugtests WIKI. Participants who registered to the MCX 3 remote Plugtests event and who did already sign the NDA would keep their credentials which they could reuse for the 4th MCX Plugtests WIKI.
Participants would not be allowed to participate in the event if the NDA of the Programme has not been signed by a representative of their company.
The deadline to return the signed NDAs to ETSI was 27 June 2019.
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