The Report of the eight MCX Plugtests™ event that took place from 9 October to 13 October 2023 at University of Malaga (UMA) is now available. The Report shows a success rate of 95% interoperability of the 3GPP mission critical services executed tests.  

This week of testing sessions enabled to test the capabilities of Mission Critical Push to Talk (MCPTT), Mission Critical Data (MCData) and Mission Critical Video (MCVideo) – together abbreviated as MCX. The MCX ETSI Plugtests series is the first independent testing of public safety and other mission critical services over LTE and 5G networks.

These tests are essential to ensure seamless access to mission critical services over 4G and 5G networks across different vendors’ products and implementations. They are key for all industry and public safety stakeholders.

Using 4G and 5G test networks, over 1500 use cases were executed between more than 180 delegates and vendors, based on 3GPP Release-17. For the first time off-network testing was performed during the MCX Plugtests and different eMBMS (Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services multicast) components were integrated into a multivendor test networks setup and tested end-to-end.

FRMCS (Future Rail Mobile Communications System) features, Interworking Function IWF to LMR systems like TETRA, off-network (device to device communication), eMBMS (Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services multicast) and conformance test tools were the focus of these testing sessions. The test cases have been amended with additional test scenarios which will be included in a future version of the ETSI specification ETSI TS 103 564.

The testing during the 8th MCX Plugtests was complemented by an observer programme with presentations, round-table discussions and demonstrations. Presentations focused on the deployment plans and challenges of mission critical services, providing insights for various stakeholders in the critical communications industry to discuss the progress of MCS technology.

Speakers came from government organizations, operators, regulators, users, associations and delivered updates on deployment plans in their respective countries, pilot projects and updates on standards.

This event was organized by ETSI with the support of the European Union (EU), the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), European Utilities Telecom Council (EUTC), the Critical Communications Association (TCCA) and the Union Internationale des Chemins de fer (UIC).

Download the Report here:

https://portal.etsi.org/Portals/0/TBpages/CTI/Docs/8th_ETSI_MCX_Plugtests_Report_V110.