Radio device testing system
A testing system for testing the radio software stack ( 40 ) of a radio device ( 16 ) is described. The system comprises test control means ( 10 ) and perturbation means ( 38 ) connected to said radio device. The perturbation means enables perturbation and subsequent monitoring of a radio stack operation. The perturbation means may also directly alter data in a radio message en-route through the software stack. In a further aspect of the present invention a distributed testing system is described enabling a wider range of environmental and real world situations to be simulated to enable thorough testing of the software stack in design for an application.
1. A radio device testing system comprising:
a radio device having a software radio stack including a plurality of logical layers through which radio messages comprising data are processed in accordance with a radio protocol;
test control means for controlling and monitoring testing of said radio device via a link therebetween; and
stack perturbation means, linked to said software radio stack and to said test control means, for, under control of said test control means, altering data of a radio message en route through one of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack, by:
receiving the radio message at a first layer of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack, the radio message comprising one or more fields;
creating a modified radio message by modifying data of one of the fields of the received radio message; and
transferring the modified radio message to a second layer of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack.
2. A testing system according to claim 1 , wherein said stack perturbation means is linked to at least one of said layers in said software radio stack.
3. A testing system according to claim 1 , further comprising storage means for receiving and storing test data from said test control means and said stack perturbation means in a central data file.
4. A testing system according to claim 1 , further comprising radio message monitoring means for intercepting over air radio messages and supplying said message data to said test control means via a link therebetween.
5. A testing system according to claim 1 , wherein said test and control means comprises a distributed system of client computers under control of a server computer, each client being linked to at least one radio device and respective stack perturbation means, the radio devices linked to said clients thereby forming a radio network, and wherein said server computer synchronises and controls perturbation, testing and monitoring of said radio network.
6. A testing system according to claim 4 , further comprising an interruptible power supply for supplying power to the radio devices under test.
7. A testing system according to claim 6 , wherein said power supply is interruptible under control of said radio monitoring means and said server computer.
8. A testing system according to claim 3 , further comprising analysis means for automatically analyzing said data stored in said central data file.
9. A method, comprising:
testing a radio device having a software radio stack comprising a plurality of logical layers through which radio messages comprising data are processed in accordance with a radio protocol;
altering data of a radio message en route through one of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack by:
receiving the radio message at a first layer of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack, the radio message comprising one or more fields;
creating a modified radio message by modifying data of one of the fields of the received radio message; and
transferring the modified radio message to a second layer of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack; and
providing response data from said software radio stack to a test controller.
10. A method according to claim 9 , further comprising analyzing said response data.
11. A method according to claim 10 , wherein over air radio messages are monitored by a radio message monitor, and further provided to said test controller for analysis together with said response data.
12. A method according to claim 11 , wherein the power supplied to said radio device by an interruptible power supply is interrupted under control of said radio message monitor.
13. A program code memory storing program code which, when executed on a testing computer, causes said testing computer to perform a method comprising:
testing a radio device having a software radio stack comprising a plurality of logical layers through which radio messages comprising data are processed in accordance with a radio protocol;
altering data of a radio message en route through one of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack by:
receiving the radio message at a first layer of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack, the radio message comprising one or more fields;
creating a modified radio message by modifying data of one of the fields of the received radio message; and
transferring the modified radio message to a second layer of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack; and
receiving response data from said software radio stack.
14. A program code memory according to claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises:
analyzing said response data.
15. A program code memory according to claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises:
intercepting over air radio messages; and
analyzing the intercepted radio messages together with said response data.
16. A testing system according to claim 1 wherein said stack perturbation means is linked to said test control means by a link that is distinct from said software radio stack.
17. A method according to claim 9 wherein altering data of a radio message includes altering, under control of a stack perturbation module linked to said software radio stack and to said test controller, the data of the radio message en route through the one logical layer of said software radio stack.
18. A method according to claim 9 , wherein altering data of a radio message includes modifying a length field of the received radio message.
19. A method according to claim 9 , wherein altering data of a radio message includes modifying a network address field of the received radio message.
20. A method according to claim 9 , wherein altering data of a radio message includes altering a bit that signifies whether encryption is enabled or not.
21. A method according to claim 9 , wherein altering data of a radio message includes inputting data into a state of one of said plurality of logical layers of said software radio stack.
22. A testing system according to claim 1 , wherein the first layer of said plurality of logical layers is an application layer.
23. A testing system according to claim 1 , wherein the first layer of said plurality of logical layers is a physical layer and the second layer of said plurality of logical layers is a medium access control layer.