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EP-3968686-B1 - METHOD OF REAL-WORLD TESTING OF A DEVICE UNDER TEST

EP3968686B1EP 3968686 B1EP3968686 B1EP 3968686B1EP-3968686-B1

Inventors

  • ROSIER, Holger
  • NAEHRING, Alexander
  • Gabel, Hubert
  • Ion, Daniel

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20200915

Claims (14)

  1. A method of real-world testing of a device under test (12) with a laboratory test equipment configured for testing the device under test under laboratory conditions and real-world testing, the device under test being configured to participate in V2X communication, wherein the method comprises the steps of: - Transmitting at least one data packet (22) via a radio frequency signal, RF signal, by means of a device under test (12) at a certain reference time, wherein the reference time is derived from a global navigation satellite system signal (24), - Receiving the data packet (22) by means of a test equipment (14), wherein the data packet (22) received has been transmitted by the device under test (12) at the reference time, - Processing the data packet (22) received by means of the test equipment (14) such that the test equipment (14) synchronizes itself with the reference time, wherein the test equipment (14) adapts its internal time until decoding the data packet (22) received from the device under test (12) is successful, and - Transmitting at least one test data packet (28) by means of the test equipment (14), wherein the test data packet (28) is synchronized with the reference time.
  2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the test equipment (14) is synchronized by using the global navigation satellite system signal (24) that is received and processed by the device under test (12).
  3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein timing information used for the internal synchronization of the test equipment (14) is obtained from the data packet (22) transmitted by the device under test (12) that has received and processed the global navigation satellite system signal (24) previously.
  4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a temporal offset is applied internally until the test equipment (14) is synchronized with the reference time.
  5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein several data packets (22) are received from the device under test (12), and wherein the test equipment (14) synchronizes itself with the reference time in an iterative manner.
  6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a temporal offset is increased until decoding of the data packets received from the device under test (12) is successful.
  7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the test data packet (28) is amplified prior to its transmission by means of an amplifier (30) of the test equipment (14).
  8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the test data packet (28) transmitted by means of the test equipment (14) simulates a plurality of participants.
  9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the test data packet (28) transmitted by means of the test equipment (14) simulates Vehicle-to-Everything participants.
  10. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device under test (12) is a vehicle (20) having a communication module.
  11. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device under test (12) is an on-board module adapted to use global navigation satellite system signals (24) for participating in Vehicle-to-Everything communication.
  12. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein at least one real vehicle (20) receives the test data packet (28) transmitted by the test equipment (14).
  13. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a test campaign is started after the test equipment (14) has synchronized itself with the reference time, wherein the test campaign includes the transmission of the test data packet (28).
  14. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein data packets (22) are received by the test equipment (14) for a monitoring phase, wherein the test equipment (14) tries to decode the data packets (22) received during the monitoring phase, wherein an adaption phase is provided that follows the monitoring phase, and wherein a time and frequency grid of the test equipment (14) is adapted during the adaption phase.

Description

The invention relates to a method of real-world testing of a device under test with laboratory equipment. Nowadays, modern vehicles have a high connectivity that is used for different applications. For instance, the vehicles communicate with each other, which is also called Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication, in order to provide each other with information, such as safety warnings and traffic information. Further, modern vehicles are also enabled to communicate with pedestrians, which is called Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) communication, with infrastructure, which is called Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication, and with networks, which is called Vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication. These different as well as further applications are summarized in the so-called Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication. The respective V2X communication corresponds to a Cellular-V2X communication that may use Long Term Evolution (LTE) or rather 5G telecommunication standards, particularly 5G-NR. In general, the V2X communication using modern telecommunication standards offers low-latency such that V2X communication can be used for topics like autonomous driving, road safety and efficient traffic management. The V2X communication may be based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals providing timing information, which is used for synchronizing the devices participating in the V2X communication such that they are enabled to communicate with each other accurately. However, the different devices participating in the V2X communication are tested before they are used under real conditions. Therefore, V2X connectivity tests are performed, wherein reliability, accuracy as well as interoperability may be tested appropriately. Typically, the respective tests are done in laboratories under laboratory conditions by means of laboratory test equipment. This ensures that a respective device under test can be controlled completely by means of the laboratory test equipment. In fact, the test equipment provides control signals as well as input signals for the device under test, for instance GNSS signals for synchronization, thereby ensuring reproducible tests of the device under test. Usually, test scenarios are defined that simulate real-world tests. Nevertheless, the respective devices used for V2X communication shall also be tested in the field, namely under real-world conditions. However, the test equipment used in the laboratories cannot handle signals of external sources that are typically available when testing in the field such that reproducible tests of the device under test cannot be ensured. Accordingly, the laboratory test equipment cannot be used in the field without modifying the laboratory test equipment, namely by providing an additional interface, for instance a GNSS interface that enables the laboratory test equipment to receive and process a GNSS signal received from an external source. The additional interface implemented results in higher costs and more efforts required for testing the device under test under real-world conditions. Moreover, this concept does not ensure reliable or rather reproducible tests of the device under test. In other words, simply replacing a simulated GNSS signal with a real GNSS signal is not applicable. A method for testing wireless devices using predefined test segments initiated by over-the-air signal characterization is described in US 2012 / 0051224 A1. "GNSS time synchronisation in co-operative vehicular networks" is described in a publication by Hasan Khondokar Fida under the respective title referenced under XP055781510, March 2018. EP 3 531 739 A1 describes "testing the resource reservation behavior of at least a first device under test in an emulated device-to-device network environment". Accordingly, there is a need for a cost-efficient method of real-world testing of a device under test with reduced efforts. The invention provides a method of real-world testing of a device under test with a laboratory test equipment configured for testing the device under test under laboratory conditions and real-world testing. The device under test is configured to participate in V2X communication. The method comprises the steps of: Transmitting at least one data packet via a radio frequency signal, RF signal, by means of a device under test at a certain reference time, wherein the reference time is derived from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signal,Receiving the data packet by means of a test equipment, wherein the data packet received has been transmitted by the device under test at the reference time,Processing the data packet received by means of the test equipment such that the test equipment synchronizes itself with the reference time, wherein the test equipment adapts its internal time until decoding the data packet received from the device under test is successful, andTransmitting at least one test data packet by means of the test equipment, wherein the