The capabilities of Mission Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT), Mission Critical Data (MCData) and Mission Critical Video (MCVideo) – together abbreviated as MCX services – were tested during the seventh MCX Plugtests™ from 07 November to 11 November 2022 at the University of Malaga (UMA). The MCX ETSI Plugtests series is the first independent testing of public safety and other mission critical services over LTE and 5G networks.

Using 4G and 5G test networks, over 1200 use cases were executed between more than 150 delegates and vendors, based on 3GPP Release-17. The report, available here, shows a success rate of 96.0% interoperability of the 3GPP mission critical services executed tests.

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.

Besides the MCPTT, MCData and MCVideo Application Servers and Clients, the testing also included devices, railways-oriented features, Interworking with ETSI TETRA, IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), eMBMS (Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services) components, Server to Server and inter-MCX communication. A test stream was dedicated for 3GPP RAN5 conformance testing. 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 7th MCX Plugtests was complemented by an observer programme with presentations, round-table discussions and demos for the observers.

This event was organized by ETSI with the support of the European Commission, EFTA, TCCA, 5G-EPICENTRE project and UIC.

The next FRMCS and MCX Plugtests events are planned for Q2 and Q4 2023, respectively. Stay tuned!