Plugtest's 92% success rate for voice, video and data

The mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), mission-critical data (MCDATA) and mission-critical video (MCVIDEO) capabilities of more than 300 combinations of vendors and equipment have been put to the test.

Based on 3GPP Release 14, the second ETSI MCPTT Plugtests attracted a total of 31 vendors, with 120 participants on-site.

Observers from nine organisations in France, the UK and the USA witnessed the execution of more than 2000 tests, based on a plan with more than 100 test cases, with a 92% success rate.

A full report and the test specification will be made publicly available on the ETSI website in due course.

The newly added MCPTT Plugtests test scenarios will go through ETSI Technical Committee TCCE for approval and will become part of ETSI TS 103 564.

Building on the first MCPTT Plugtests in June 2017, this was the first of the series to evaluate public safety LTE and the interoperability of MCPTT products and services outside Europe, and the first in the world to run tests to evaluate MCDATA and MCVIDEO.

The goal is to validate the 3GPP standards, provide a platform for vendors to test their implementation and products, and ultimately achieve a single, interoperable, global standard.

“This event shows how productive the relatively small critical communications industry can be when it collaborates and works together towards a common goal,” said Harald Ludwig, Chair of TCCA’s Technical Forum.

“It is essential that exhaustive tests are conducted to ensure the end user can completely rely on their equipment in a crisis situation.”

The 2018 MCPTT Plugtests were hosted by the Texas A&M Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) at the Disaster City in College Station, Texas.

The event was organised by ETSI and supported by TCCA, the National Institute for Standards and Testing (NIST) Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) body, the Public Safety Technology Alliance (PSTA) and the European Commission. FirstNet also took a great interest in the second MCPTT Plugtests.

Planning for the next MCX Plugtests — the ‘X’ stands for ‘Services,’ ie, PTT, video and data — is underway.

Image of Plugtest participants, courtesy TCCA.

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