Network Operator saves 10 working weeks per year with Red Helix Test & Environment Automation

The challenge

Wi-Fi router testing is time consuming and requires Engineers to be on-site to perform the tests and then rotate the router being tested by one degree ready to start the process again. As the router needed to be tested at 1 degree intervals, this meant setting up and performing the test 360 times.

Without automation, the painstaking process of manual setup of testing environments and extraction of results greatly limits testing and troubleshooting scalability.

Our client asked us to enable 24/7 testing and automation of the entire process without Engineers needing to be on-site.

The Red Helix solution

Our solution involved the provision of a traffic generation platform to provide high-speed real user traffic between WiFi router and endpoints, and our automation software to automate and control the entire test environment.

This enabled our client to automate:

• The loading of test blueprints and running of all tests
• Movement of the mechanical turntable under the router by 1 degree after each test
• Extraction of all test results combined in one single project test result document

The outcome

The solution helps our client to improve its customer experience by accelerating Wi-Fi router time to market, the ability to provide software updates to routers for existing customers and identify and solve technical issues.

Our solution also removes the need for Engineers to be on-site to carry out the tests.

Added value

In addition to the test environment automation and remote access we enabled, we were also able to provide a regular automated systems check of the entire test infrastructure to report on the health of each test tool and alert to any calibration, failures, or updates needed in good time before the equipment is next required.

“The Red Helix solution effectively reduced test time from 12 weeks down to 2 weeks by removing the need for our Engineers to be on-site performing manual tasks that automation can perform with a consistent repeatability. Focusing on higher-value actions identified during the tests is a more productive use of our time and enables us to accelerate innovations that deliver a better quality of experience for our customers.”

Head of Test Automation at a UK Network Operator

Please click here to learn more about our Test Automation capability.