DSn/PDH testing capabilities (DS1/DS3/E1)
Turning up DS1/DS3/E1 and fractional T1/E1 circuits is an everyday occurrence for today’s service providers, whether to support mobile backhaul or commercial service applications. The AXS-200/855 offers unprecedented ease of use and unrivaled testing features for installing, maintaining and troubleshooting DSn/PDH circuits. Whether one or two circuits need to be tested, the AXS-200/855’s unique independent testing feature allows field technicians to instantly configure the unit to match the services being installed and quickly certify that the circuits meet service-level agreement (SLA) performance objectives.
DS1/DS3 key features
- Dual independent DS1 tests
- Alarm/error insertion and detection
- Performance monitoring
- Performance testing at any fractional T1 rate; both contiguous and non-contiguous n x 64 kbit/s are supported
- VF analysis measures different tone levels
- Round-trip delay (RTD) measurements
- Support for automatic pattern detection and 12 different stress patterns
- DS1 in-band and FDL loopbacks
- HDSL PairGain and Adtran loopbacks
- Smart and intelligent repeater loopback sequences
- RBS monitoring
- CSU/NIU emulation
- Terminate, Monitor and Through mode
- Excessive zeros Tx and Rx
- DS1 drop
- FEAC control
E1 key features
- Dual independent E1 tests
- Alarm/error insertion and detection
- Performance monitoring
- Performance testing at any fractional E1 rate; both contiguous and non-contiguous n x 64 kbit/s are supported
- VF analysis measures different tone levels
- Round-trip delay (RTD) measurements
- Support for automatic pattern detection and 12 stress patterns
- CAS monitoring
- Simultaneous signaling state status of all 30 channels
- Terminate and Monitor mode
- Excessive zeros Tx and Rx
ISDN PRI capabilities
Thanks to the optional ISDN PRI capabilities, technicians can test from the customer’s premises and emulate their equipment. With any butt set or analog phone, users can simply talk and listen over the ISDN network. In an effort to make testing smooth and efficient, the AXS-200/855 PRI option also allows the ability to place/receive calls and hold active 23 or 30 channels so a technician can then selectively choose to talk, listen or run a BER test over any channel. Having Q.931 codes allows technicians to further troubleshoot the call setup and make sure that the call setup, maintenance and tear-down are properly carried out.
ISDN key features
- Make a call in either voice, raw data or 3.1 kHz audio
- Terminate one or all calls
- Auto routing of data calls to BERT test
- Talk set support allows users to use a butt set to talk on an active call
- Caller identification gives the call type, selected B channel, dialed number and caller’s number
- Q.931 decoding shows how calls are established, maintained and terminated across the ISDN network
- Call/answer and hold all 23 or 30 channels for seamless testing
- NT (CO) and TE (PBX) emulation to isolate the network or CPE side
Ethernet performance testing
EXFO’s AXS-200/855 Ethernet Test Set can be used to effectively install, qualify and troubleshoot metro Ethernet networks thanks to its powerful test capabilities.
Applications
- Performance assessment of Carrier Ethernet services
- Installation, activation and maintenance of metro Ethernet networks
- Deployment of active Ethernet (point-to-point) access services
BER testing
Signal integrity is generally expressed by the bit error rate (BER) value. When it comes to testing bit error rates, the AXS-200/855 has users covered, as it measures BER in various types of circuits and can effortlessly test end-to-end up to layer 4 networks.
RFC 2544 testing
The industry-standard RFC 2544 benchmarking methodology defines a series of tests—throughput, latency, back-to-back and frame loss—allowing service providers to perform proper circuit and service-level agreement (SLA) validation.
Traffic generation
Thanks to the AXS-200/855 traffic generation and monitoring tools, technicians can monitor the following key QoS statistics in real time: throughput, frame loss, sequencing, packet jitter and latency.
QoS testing
The AXS-200/855 is ideally designed for performing quality of service (QoS) verification on metro Ethernet circuits. It offers VLAN priorities and specific settings (types of service, differentiated services), helping service providers ensure QoS expectations are met.
IPv4/IPv6
The proliferation of IP-enabled, always-on mobile devices is exhausting the available pool of IPv4 addresses, forcing service providers to rapidly transition their core, metro and backhaul networks to IPv6 addressing schemes. The AXS-200/855 test set offers complete Ethernet testing for both IPv4 and IPv6 deployments.
Cable testing
With the help of the Wiremap test, field technicians can check for continuity problems as well as for MDI and MDIX compatibility. Also, knowing the length, distance to fault, propagation delay and skew further ensures that the physical cabling is within the IEEE 802.3 standard specifications.
Radically simple QoS testing
The AXS-200/855 traffic generation and monitoring tools make it fast and simple to test packet jitter, real-time latency, throughput, sequencing and frame loss. Speedometer-like gauges with built-in user-definable pass/fail thresholds give you immediate and accurate results at a glance—no need to shuffle through pages of information to find out why a test is failing. Frame loss, out-of-sequence LED indicators notify you of any current or historical defects. Whether incremental or large changes to the bandwidth or frame size are required, on-the-fly traffic generation adjustments are provided for quick and instant results without having to stop testing and look for other pages to make these adjustments.
Regardless of the network under test, it is always necessary to verify that it can handle the allocated bandwidth and expected QoS. With this critical data and simplified results page you can quickly and easily determine whether the network under test conforms to customers’ expectations.
Intelligent network discovery mode
Using an AXS-200/855, you can access multiple EXFO datacom remote testers. One click lets you scan the network and choose from a list of all available EXFO datacom testers on the network. Simply select the unit to be tested with and choose whether you want traffic to be looped back via Smart Loopback or Dual Test Set for simultaneous bidirectional RFC 2544 results. No more need for an additional technician at the far end to relay critical information—the AXS-200/855 takes care of it all.
Rugged, lightweight and designed for front-line technicians
EXFO’s AXS-200/855 Multilayer Access Test Set was designed according to the real-life challenges brought by Ethernet testing. Its user-friendly features shorten the learning curve for both expert and entry-level technicians and enable them to complete their test cycles quickly and efficiently.
Pass/fail testing
Thanks to built-in pass/fail thresholds, the AXS-200/855 delivers clear-cut assessment of test results. What’s more, thresholds can be modified for testing rate-limited services.
Results display
Test results are presented according to three formats:
- Pass/fail results based on default or user-configured thresholds
- Sneak-peek results during tests
- Complete results down to their associated frame sizes
Event logger
The Event logger functionality allows users to pinpoint exactly when and how their tests are failing. Key features include:
- Color coded events
- Broken pass/fail thresholds are presented with both the expected and duration of exceeded threshold values
- Pass/fail status is provided at the conclusion of the log
- Events displayed in full context such as Bit Error, Link Down, etc.
Quick configuration recall
With the AXS-200/855, the user no longer needs to search for previously entered MAC or IP addresses. The AXS-200/855 remembers the last three IP and MAC addresses, allowing for an instantaneous entry of address information.
Print report
The AXS-200/855 supplies users with a print report that contains complete test results, which can be viewed and saved internally or off the unit via a USB memory stick or network connection.
LED indicators
Platform LEDs offer crucial information for pass/fail results, laser on/off, errors or alarms, test running and link status.
