Last Updated: 2011-06-23
The Wireless Protocol Advisor (WPA) is a tool that captures protocol messages that are exchanged between the wireless device and the test set. It is often used to interpret wireless protocol messaging, verify functionality, and isolate and resolve protocol problems when developing new wireless products or applications. The Interactive Functional Test Software allows you to control WPA so that you can capture protocol logs at the same time that you are controlling the wireless device. This topic describes how to control WPA via the Interactive Functional Test Software.
WPA should not be opened while the Interactive Functional Test Software is open.
This topic includes information on:
The following buttons are available within the WPA Control tab of the applicable Interactive Testing activity screens. Each button below is an activity that WPA must perform, and a script can be generated for each button (and any button that has the blue arrow next to it) using the scripting tool to create a stress test step to add to a test plan.
Launch WPA - Launches an instance of WPA that can only be controlled via the Interactive Functional Test Software. If an instance of WPA is already open, the Interactive Functional Test Software closes WPA and then re-opens it.
Connect Test Set - Instructs WPA to connect to the test set with the IP address that matches Test Set 1 address that is listed in the Configuration tab.
Start Logging - Initiates data capture. Pressing this button will start a new logging session if no logging session is currently active. While this button launches WPA and then connects to the test set if it had not been done already, it is recommended that you press Launch WPA and then Connect Test Set before attempting to capture a protocol message log. This ensures that WPA is in a ready state to immediately start logging.
Stop Logging - Terminates the logging session. You must stop a logging session before you can save it. No action is performed if there is not a currently active log session when you press this button.
Save Log File - Saves the file in the specified WPA log file path. The file name is a time stamp of when the file was saved in the following format: "mm_dd_yyyy_hh_mm_ss.tol". For example, a file saved at 8:01:00 AM on June 15, 2007 is assigned the file name of "06_15_2007_08_01_00.tol". You can only save a log file after it is captured. Also, logging must be stopped before you can save the log file.
Disconnect Test Set - This button is useful if you need to disconnect WPA from the test set for any reason such as if you need to connect to a different test set. No action is performed if WPA is not already connected to the test set.
Close WPA - Closes the instance of WPA that is being controlled by the Interactive Functional Test Software. Note: It is important that you click Close WPA before attempting to launch WPA outside of the Interactive Functional Test Software to ensure that WPA closes properly.
Refresh WPA Status - The status of WPA controls are displayed in the lower-right portion of the WPA Control tab. The ability to refresh the status is useful because the status can change often and for many reasons. Therefore, what you see as the last status message may be different from what is shown on the screen. For example, if a trigger point is reached then the WPA status changes, but it is not necessarily updated on the WPA Control screen. Another example is that you simply want to verify that WPA is still logging after some time has past since you pressed Start Logging.
The lower right portion of the WPA Control tab displays the a WPA activities status window that displays the results of the above activities. This status window can be sent to the clipboard (right-click and select Copy to Clipboard).
The following settings are available within the WPA Control tab of the applicable Interactive Testing activity screens.
The first three radio buttons are stop criteria that you can set instead of importing a trigger and/or log filter file. These (a) have no logging limit or timeout (b) allow you to stop logging after a number of messages or (c) stop logging after a certain amount of time. Note that you cannot choose both (b) and (c).
Trigger and Filter files - Triggers and Filters are used to control which events and messages are captured and displayed. You can have any mixture of triggers and filters. The Interactive Functional Test Software allows you to control these settings by importing the appropriate trigger (*.trg) and filter (*.flt) configuration files. To select the appropriate file, simply click Browse... and navigate to the location of the file. These files must be created in WPA. Note that you cannot import a trigger file if you have selected Stop logging after number of messages or Stop logging after amount of time.
WPA log file path - This is the location of where to save the log file. To change the path, click Browse... and navigate to the location of the file.
Test set filters- Test set filters can be created to control which messages are actually sent from the test set to the Wireless Protocol Advisor (WPA). They are essentially a pre-filter to the WPA and its other filters and triggers. Test set filters limit the amount of information sent over the LAN by passing only the messages for selected protocol layers. The filter setup dialog boxes identify which test set the settings apply to in the title of the dialog box. The Interactive Functional Test Software lists any test set filters it acquires. You can select any combination of the filters listed. Click Select All if you want the Interactive Functional Test Software to apply all the filters in the list. Click Refresh to update the list. The Display Stack button will display the protocol stack of the selected format. This is useful for determining what filters you should apply. WPA must be connected to the test set before it can acquire any test set filter settings.
This procedure details how to capture a WPA log of any of the supported Interactive Testing activities.
Open the WPA program by clicking Launch WPA in the WPA Control tab. The WPA Control tab is available in all of the Interactive Testing activity screens except Battery Profile, 14565B Battery Profile, and Network Impairments.
Next, click Connect Test Set.
Before starting the activity you want to capture a WPA log for, configure the WPA settings. The WPA control status window indicates whether or not the WPA control event was successful.
Configure the activity that you would like to capture a WPA log of. Once it is configured and ready to start, first click Start Logging and then start the activity.
When the activity has completed, click Stop Logging. The WPA control status window will display the number of messages that are in the WPA log file.
To keep the file, click Save Log File. To recapture the WPA log file without saving the current file, repeat steps 1 through 5.
When you are finished capturing WPA log files, click Disconnect Test Set, then click Close WPA.
Details of the existing WPA log files can be viewed in the View WPA Log tab.
Additional information can be found in the WPA user's guide that is accessible via WPA.