This document describes features and functionality that are part of the E6584A WPA (Wireless Protocol Advisor) releases, including enhancements that have been added over time. Please refer to the help contents within WPA for more information on specific topics. For official releases of WPA, the release notes, help file, and software download can be found in the Technical Support tab of the following link:
Note: These release notes have information on both pre-releases and official releases of WPA. Pre-Release software versions of WPA (as well as pre-release revisions of the 8960 Wireless Communications Test Set Lab Applications) are available on the Annual Upgrade Contract website which you can access by clicking the following link:
www.agilent.com/find/wlcontract
Select the appropriate link below:
The E6584A A.11.50 Release is the official release of the following new or enhanced features:
This release contains defect fixes, and adds support as the following:
This release contains defect fixes, and adds support as the following:
This release contains defect fixes for 1xEV-DO decode, and adds support for the following CDMA2000 features:
This release contains defect fixes, and adds support for the decode of the NeighborList overhead message for LTE-eHRPD inter-RAT handover.
This release contains defect fixes, and updates for E-Edge 2A Downlink decode.
This release contains defect fixes, and adds support as the following:
This release contains defect fixes, and adds support as the following:
The following change has been made to the E6584A A.07.50 Pre-Release:
The fast-switching lab applications E6785E revision E.00.39 and above and the E6785U revision U.00.37 and above require this release (revision A.07.50) or newer of the Wireless Protocol Advisor. Downloads of these revisions are available at:
This pre-released version of WPA provides the same functionality present in the previous releases of WPA with the following key exceptions:
This pre-release of WPA provides several new features. These include:
PA_QueryNumMessagesDropped - This command queries the number of dropped messages (messages that were generated by the test set, but were not logged by WPA).
The E6584A A.06.25 Pre-Release contains defect fixes only. This pre-release has no new features or functionality.
This pre-release of the WPA provides new capability for the Application Programming Interface (API). Enhancements introduced with this release include commands that both allow you query specific information from the 8960 Wireless Communications Test Set and set/query specific parameters within the WPA. Other commands have been added to give added functionality.
Refer to the Help within WPA for complete details on the API and the commands it offers.
The following commands have been added in this pre-release:
New WPA API Setting/Query Commands
New WPA API Logging Operation Commands
The E6584A A.05.51 Release is the official release of the following new or enhanced features:
Post Capture mode no longer requires a license and allows you to analyze and save any .tol file captured in Real Time operating mode.
You can simultaneously capture protocol logs from two test sets (that must be externally connected) and configure the threshold settings so that WPA optimizes the logging efficiency or synchronization efficiency.
The WPA ParseTol command line utility program is a utility to parse a binary .tol file captured by the Wireless Protocol Advisor during a logging session into a text file that contains the .tol file content in a human readable format.
The E6584A A.05.44 Pre-Release contains defect fixes only. This pre-release has no new features or functionality.
The E6584A A.05.38 Pre-Release contains defect fixes only. This pre-release has no new features or functionality.
The E6584A A.05.35 Pre-Release contains defect fixes only. This pre-release has no new features or functionality.
The E6584A A.05.25 Pre-Release contains the following new or enhanced features and functionality:
Post Capture mode no longer requires a license and allows you to analyze and save any .tol file captured in Real Time operating mode.
You can simultaneously capture protocol logs from two test sets (that must be externally connected) and configure the threshold settings so that WPA optimizes the logging efficiency or synchronization efficiency.
The E6584A A.05.00 Release contains all the features and functionality offered in the E6584A A.04 Release. This is a maintenance release only.
The E6584A A.04.23 Release contains all the features and functionality offered in the A.04 Release- October 2005 . This is a maintenance release; it contains fixes for defects found in the A.04 Release.
Note: This release of the E6584A WPA Option 003 (W-CDMA) supports HSDPA protocol logging.
The E6584A A.04.25 Release contains all the features and functionality offered in the A.04 Release- October 2005 . The E6584A WPA Option 003 (W-CDMA) now supports HSDPA protocol logging.
NOTE: This release was replaced by the A.04.23 Release - March 2006 due to a defect that affected the 1xEV-DO lab applications only.
WPA is now capable of simultaneously logging protocol messages for up to two test sets. WPA now extends the full functionality that was available to one test set to both test sets. The configuration screen now has a separate tab for each test set. Also, in the Real Time Traffic Overview screen, the connection status of the test set(s) are shown in the status bar located at the bottom of the screen.
Triggers and filters for each test set are configured and operate independently in relationship to the other test set configured with the exception of view filter. The trigger and filter configuration screens distinguish which test set the settings apply to in the title of the configuration screen.The view filter configuration screen now has a `Source' tab that allows you to select one or both of the test set's messages to be visible on the Traffic Overview screen.
The WPA icons have been decreased in size. Some of the icon images have changed slightly as a result of this and the ability to simultaneously capture protocol logs from two test sets offered in this release. The Start/Stop Messages button has changed to indicate whether no, one, or two test sets are connected. Separate buttons are added to the toolbar that allow you to add a connection trace to each connected test set. Images on the icons for Real Time and Post Capture mode have also changed.
The E6584A A.03.04 Release contains all the features and functionality offered in the E6584A A.03 Release. This is a maintenance release only.
This section details all enhancements the A.03 release offers.
Installation of WPA requires administrative privileges. This release requires you to manually uninstall any previous version of WPA before installation of this release can take place. To uninstall WPA from your PC, first go to the Control Panel and click Add/Remove Programs. Then select Wireless Protocol Advisor and click remove.
The E6584A WPA Option 006 now supports 1xEV-DO protocol logging.
The revision number format used by the WPA is XX.YY.ZZ, where X, Y, and Z can be any number 0-9. The XX portion of the revision number can also be any letter A-Z, which is mapped to numbers 0-25. For example, WPA software version A.03.00 is identical to WPA software version 00.03.00. The installation process only displays the numeric form of the revision number.
Any user that is able to login to a computer, that has a licensed version of E6584A WPA with the option required for the format they wish to use, has unrestricted access to WPA regardless of whether they have administrative privileges. Users can customize color settings without affecting other users.
The Octet Data now available in WPA provides a horizontal display of all raw binary message bits separated into octets and includes the ASCII data for each octet. The Octet Data is displayed in the Decode view.
A diagram of the protocol stack and tap points can now be displayed in the Test Set Message Filter Settings to give a better understanding of where in the stack the protocol message is logged. These settings are accessed through the Test Set Filter button on the Measurement Setup Screen.
The settings that you have customized for your needs and preferences of your currently installed version of WPA are now saved and applied to any version of WPA that you install in the future.
The WPA start-up screen now has a
Config
button that directly opens the Instrument Configuration screen where the
Test set hostname or IP
field can be set.
This section lists all the new feature for release version A.01.
For calls that include TCP/IP connections, a new WPA feature provides an easy way to analyze individual data connections. Connection Trace allows you to select from any number of data connections that were established during a logging session and restrict the messages displayed in the Traffic Overview window to include only those that are associated with the selected connection. An additional view provides analysis of multiple data connections' phase progression and other data.
The Connection Trace tool also makes it easy to measure the amount of data transfer between a wireless DUT (Device Under Test) and each network host that sent or received data.
Software products E6581A, E6582A, or E6583A are being replaced by one new software product, the E6584A.
The E6584A is now structured to include all of the wireless technologies as options. Initially, the options available are:
Customers with the Annual Upgrade Contract or the One Time Upgrade will receive the new configuration when the next upgrade is performed. If you have a need to upgrade to the E6584A, but do not belong to the subscription service, contact your local Agilent Technologies sales representative.
A new method of licensing WPA software is being introduced with the E6584A. The new method requires a license file that is downloaded from the web. Instructions are provided on the Entitlement Certificate shipped with the E6584A.
When an unlicensed version of the software is detected, a software utility called Software Option Controller is automatically run. Online help is available to help you through the process of licensing your software.
It is no longer necessary to have a licensed copy of WPA on your PC to investigate the usefulness of this product. Access the web page at www.agilent.com/find/e6584a and download the software to your PC. Install the software and click on the Wireless Protocol Advisor icon. Click on Demo Mode and you will be prompted to choose from a menu of log files to open. All post-capture features will be available to you to use while analyzing the demo mode logs. Real-time mode will not be accessible unless software is licensed.
The E6584A includes Text Search, a new feature that enhances the software's ability to trigger on specific protocol events or filter through messages looking for specific words or expressions (regular expressions are supported). Other search criteria, such as Message Match, are combined with Text Search to further refine protocol logging.
Text Search is available with the following Measurement Setup editors:
This section contains all the known issues as well as workarounds/solutions in the E6584A WPA software up to version A.03.00.
WPA's Import Setup option in the File menu does not allow you to import measurement setup files (*.msf). These *.msf files store the trigger and filter settings that restrict which messages are captured.
Workaround: You can import the desired trigger and filter settings by importing individually saved filter (*.flt) and trigger (*.trg) setup files. These files must be imported in the trigger and filter setup windows which are accessed from the measurement setup view. Individual filter and trigger files can also be imported using API.
The WPA A.03.00 Installation CD may not auto-run when it is inserted into your CD drive.
Workaround: If your PC does not auto-run when it detects a CD you should run the setup.exe file on the CD from Windows Explorer. Accept the default options suggested by the installation process.
WPA may generate an error indicating
The specified module could not be found
when the user goes to either Real Time or Post Capture mode during start-up. The error may not be noticeable since the error dialog window is obscured by the Traffic Overview window.
WPA may behave as if a valid IP connection is established while no valid IP connection exists. In this situation, the WPA will not error out when a logging session is started via the Capture button. No messages will be captured during this logging session but WPA will behave as if logging functionality is working properly. The application may hang when the logging session is stopped.
When the above situation occurs, the Connect/Disconnect button on the WPA Configuration dialog window may indicate that it is in an Unknown State. An error
The operation completed successfully
may be generated when this button is pressed. The error is usually hidden behind the main window.
Workaround: The WPA user can get around these behaviors by closing the error window and reestablishing the RT session with a valid IP address.
Logging with the
Forward TAP Packets
selected in the WPA Test Set Message Filters dialog box will cause a large volume of message traffic from the E6706A to the WPA. If WPA is active on a PC running XP, WPA may exhibit one of several problems:
Workaround/Solution: Even though the WPA may not appear to be logging or the display update appears sluggish, it is in fact capturing the message traffic correctly. Once the logging has been stopped the WPA display catches up with the received messages and returns to normal.
To prevent the sluggish display update or to prevent the increase in dropped messages, the value of the
AT Directed Packets
on the E6706A can be decreased until a value is reached that results in desirable WPA behavior. To do this, first press
CALL SETUP
to go to the
Call Setup
screen of the E6706A 1xEV-DO Lab Application. Next, press the lower right
More
softkey until the
Call Parms
menu
1 of 3
is displayed. Then press
Application Config
(
F10
) and decrease the value in the
AT Directed Packets
field.
The error messages will refer to "An error occurred while building the protocol database d0440004" and, perhaps, "File(s) failed to self-register: C:\Program Files\comon Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO\dao350.dll". These errors are due to DLLs that are required by part of the installation process but were locked (in use by other programs) during the installation.
Workaround/Solution: Restarting the PC and re-installing WPA should fix the problem. Attempting to use WPA before re-installing will fail.
Workaround/Solution: Since the WPA installation does not, in general, attempt to update the system DLLs, simply re-installing WPA will not remedy the problem.
The best remedy for this problem is to install some other software that updates the various system DLLs. For example, installing Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6.0 is known to properly update the system DLLs such that installing WPA will succeed.
The IS-2000 standard added several new fields to the ends of messages and information records that were not in IS-95 (P_REV <= 5). The cdma2000 decoder expects each message to contain all the required IS-2000 fields. Some IS-95 messages end before the decoder is done parsing all the IS-2000 fields.
If an IS-95 message ends in the middle of where the decoder thinks an IS-2000 field should be, the decoder will display "Unable to decode" warnings in the Description column of the Decode View. These warnings and the line containing the message in the Traffic Overview will be colored red.
If instead an IS-95 message ends at the boundary of an IS-2000 field, the decoder simply stops decoding and no warning is given to the user. The RESERVED field (if any) and the CRC field of the IS-95 message will be decoded as some set of IS-2000 fields.
Workaround/Solution: The message bits in the Bin and Hex columns of the Decode View are always correct - just the interpretation in the Description column may be in error.