Guidelines in the Conduct of Functional and Evaluation Tests for Handheld and Fixed Satellite Phone

June 22, 2016

PNP MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 036-16

GUIDELINES IN THE CONDUCT OF FUNCTIONAL AND EVALUATION TESTS FOR HANDHELD AND FIXED SATELLITE PHONE

1. References:

a. February 2007 Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Telephone Quality of Service Comparison dated February 26, 2007 by Frost & Sullivan;

b. Defence Research Establishment Ottawa (DREO) TM 1999-186 — Evaluation of Iridium Satellite Phone Voice Services for Military Applications dated September 1999 by Caroline Tom and Lyle Wagner;

c. DREO TM 2000-084 — Further Examination of Iridium Satellite Phone and Pager System for Military Use dated January 2000 by Caroline Tom and James D. Lambert;

d. First Responder's Guide to Satellite Communications by Satellite Industry Association;

e. MIL-STD-105E — Sampling Procedures and Tables for Inspection by Attributes dated May 10, 1989;

f. NAPOLCOM Resolution No. 2005-289 "Prescribing the Standard Specifications for Fixed/Mobile Satellite Phone";

g. NAPOLCOM Resolution No. 2015-157 "Prescribing the Minimum Standard in the Specifications for Handheld Satellite Phone for the Use of PNP Special Action Force"; and

h. PNP Memorandum Circular Number DRD 2004-04 — Test and Evaluation (T&E) Procedures for Handheld and Mobile Satellite Phones.

2. Rationale:

The amended specifications for Handheld Satellite Phone were approved by NAPOLCOM on May 14, 2015 under NAPOLCOM Resolution No. 2015-157. The handheld satellite phone in the said resolution has additional features that are not included in the rescinded NAPOLCOM Resolution No. 2004-228. There is therefore a need to update the approved test procedures for handheld and mobile satellite phones in due consideration of the additional features in the amended specifications.

3. Situation:

PNP Memorandum Circular (MC) No. DRD 2004-04 entitled "Test and Evaluation (T&E) Procedures for Handheld and Mobile Satellite Phones" was formulated in order to provide guidelines, procedures, and standards in the conduct of Product Test, Post-Qualification Test, and Acceptance/Functional Test and Evaluation for different types of Satellite Phone. AaCTcI

The said MC, however, does not have the test procedures for the additional features and services in the amended specifications particularly on e-mail and Global Positioning System (GPS) services.

4. Purpose:

a. To establish test and evaluation procedures for the post qualification and acceptance tests of Handheld and Fixed/Mobile Satellite Phone; and

b. To ensure compliance to NAPOLCOM Approved Standard Specifications of Handheld and Fixed/Mobile Satellite Phone and its accessories subject for procurement, evaluation, and/or acceptance by the PNP.

5. Definition of Terms:

a. Acceptance Quality Level (AQL) — a designated value of percent defective (or defects per hundred units) for which lots will be accepted most of the time, using the sampling procedure.

b. Battery Life — the length of time required for a fully-charged battery to discharge to a specified end-point voltage under specified conditions.

c. Call forwarding — or call diversion, is a telephony feature which redirects a telephone call to another destination which may be a mobile telephone, voicemail box, or another telephone number where the desired called party is available.

d. Call waiting — a feature that lets the subscriber receive and answer an incoming call even when he is engaged in an active call.

e. Footprint — the area of the earth's surface from which an earth station can transmit to or receive from a particular satellite.

f. Nominal Value — the numerical value of a device characteristic as specified by the manufacturer.

g. Post-qualification — the stage where the bidder with the lowest calculated bid, in the case of goods and infrastructure projects, or the highest rated bid, in the case of consulting services, undergoes verification and validation whether he has passed all the requirements and conditions as specified in the bidding documents.

h. Rated Capacity — the capacity of the battery in ampere-hours or milliampere-hours usually at typical transceiver discharge rates.

i. Sample — consists of one or more units of product drawn from a lot or batch, the units of the sample being selected at random without regard to their quality.

j. Sample Size — the number of units of product in the sample.

k. Sampling Plan — indicates the number of units of product from each lot or batch which are to be inspected and the criteria for determining the acceptability of the lot or batch.

l. Standby Mode — the condition when a satellite phone is energized but is not transmitting or receiving.

m. Short Message Service (SMS) — a text messaging service component of phone, web or mobile communication systems that uses standardized communications protocols to allow fixed line or mobile phone devices to exchange short text messages.

n. Technical Specifications — it refer to the physical description of the goods or services, as well as the procuring entity's requirements in terms of the functional, performance, environmental interface and design standard requirements to be met by the goods to be manufactured or supplied, or the services to be rendered.

o. Voicemail — a computer-based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages, to select and deliver voice information, and to process transactions relating to individuals, organizations, products and services using an ordinary telephone.

6. Guidelines:

a. General

1) The satellite phone under test must have already acquired signal from the satellite communication provider prior to the conduct of any test;

2) Test and evaluation will not be conducted until the fixed satellite phone and its related accessories have been properly installed, and are fully functional;

3) Take note of the environmental conditions, temperature, and relative humidity at the test site;

4) Use functional parameters and operational limits specified in the NAPOLCOM Approved Standard Specifications applicable to the equipment under test;

5) The battery of the handheld satellite phone to be inspected must be fully charged prior to the conduct of the adverse and functional tests; and

6) The standard signal propagation test site for post qualification/acceptance test shall be in an open area free from interference and obstruction in the form of reflecting objects such as large metal objects, electrical lines, trees, and buildings. EcTCAD

b. Test Equipment

1) Landline telephone;

2) Cellular phone or Smartphone;

3) Satellite phone;

4) Desktop or laptop computer with internet connection; and

5) Facsimile (Fax) machine.

c. Sampling Plan

Sample size is based on MIL-STD-105E (Please see Annex A) and is dependent on the total quantity delivered for each item. In determining the sample size for Acceptance Test, Double Sampling Plan for Normal Inspection (Inspection Level II) will be used. The Acceptance Quality Limit (AQL) to be used for major defects is 6.5 while for minor defects the AQL to be used is 25.

d. Test Methods

1) General Examination

a)  Purpose. Determine the conformity with the requirements thru visual and/or dimensional inspection of the following:

a.1) Configuration of the delivered equipment or installed system; and

a.2) Supplied accessories.

b) Procedures.

b.1) Conduct visual inspection on the configuration of all delivered equipment or installed system;

b.2) Check/verify the completeness and conformity of the required accessories with the requirements stated in the NAPOLCOM Approved Standard Specifications or in the bidding documents;

b.3) Measure the weight (if applicable);

b.4) Measure the outside dimensions (if applicable); and

b.5) Record all discrepancies observed and/or all lacking accessories.

c) Standard. The item under test and its accessories must be complete and must conform to the requirements stated in the NAPOLCOM. Approved Standard Specifications and/or in the bidding documents or terms of reference (TOR).

2) Operational Test. Conduct of functional test based on NAPOLCOM Approved Standard Specifications.

a) Call Forwarding Test

a.1) Purpose. Determine the capability of the item under test to forward incoming calls to other telephone units.

a.2) Equipment and Materials Needed.

a.2.a) Satellite phone;

a.2.b) Cellular phone/Smartphone; and

a.2.c) Landline telephone.

a.3) Procedures.

a.3.a) Set the item under test to forward incoming calls to a landline telephone;

a.3.b) Call the satellite phone using a landline telephone, a cellular phone or another satellite phone. The user of the satellite phone shall not answer the incoming call so that it will be forwarded to the preselected telephone unit. Document the test result in the table below; and

a.3.c) Repeat procedure a.3.b) with a cellular phone and another satellite phone as the recipient of the forwarded call.

Recipient	Call Status
Landline telephone	__________
Cellular phone	__________
Satellite phone	__________

a.4) Standard. The telephone unit where the call was forwarded must be able to receive the call.

b) Call Waiting Test

b.1) Purpose. Determine the capability of the item under test to accept incoming calls even if it is engaged in an active call. HSAcaE

b.2) Equipment and Materials Needed.

b.2.a) Satellite phone;

b.2.b) Cellular phone/Smartphone; and

b.2.c) Landline telephone.

b.3) Procedures.

b.3.a) The item under test shall call another satellite phone, a cellular phone or a landline telephone;

b.3.b) While the item under test is engaged in an active call, a call will be placed by another satellite phone to it;

b.3.c) The user of the satellite phone shall temporarily put the active call on hold to attend to the incoming call;

b.3.d) The user shall then put the second call on hold and resume communication with the first call;

b.3.e) The user shall then terminate the first call and resume communication with the second call. Document the test result in the table below; and

b.3.f) Repeat procedures b.3.b) to b.3.e) with a cellular phone and a landline telephone as the recipient of the call.

	Call Status
Caller/Third Party	Connected/Not	Call Waited
	Connected
Landline Telephone	___________	___________
Cellular Phone	___________	___________
Satellite Phone	___________	___________

 

b.4) Standards.

b.4.a) The item under test shall be able to receive and attend to an incoming call even when it is engaged in an active call; and

b.4.b) The item under test shall be able to resume communication of a call that is temporarily put on hold.

c) Short Message Service (SMS) Test

c.1) Purpose. Determine the capability of the item under test to send and receive SMS message to or from another satellite phone and a cellular phone.

c.2) Equipment and Materials Needed.

c.2.a) Satellite phone; and

c.2.b) Cellular phone/Smartphone.

c.3) Procedures.

c.3.a) The item under test shall send an SMS message to a cellular phone;

c.3.b) The recipient shall compare the content of the received message with the sent message as viewed in the outbox/sent folder of the satellite phone. Document the test result in the table below; and

c.3.c) Repeat procedures c.3.a) to c.3.b) with another satellite phone as the sender of the SMS message.

		Status
A.	Sender
	Cellular phone	_________
	Satellite phone	_________
B.	Recipient
	Cellular phone	_________
	Satellite phone	_________

c.4) Standards.

c.4.a) The satellite phone must be able to send and receive SMS message; and

c.4.b) The received SMS message must be exactly the same with the sent message.

d) Voice Mail Messaging Service Test

d.1) Purpose. Determine the capability of the item under test to store and retrieve voice mail message. HESIcT

d.2) Scope. This test is applicable only to units with voice mail feature.

d.3) Equipment and Materials Needed.

d.3.a) Landline telephone;

d.3.b) Satellite phone; and

d.3.c) Cellular phone/Smartphone.

d.4) Procedures.

d.4.a) With the item under test turned off, a call will be placed by a user of a landline telephone to the item under test. The call must be recorded in order to have a basis in verifying the accuracy of the received message;

d.4.b) The caller shall then leave a voice message to the voice mail box of the item under test;

d.4.c) Turn on the item under test and retrieve the voice message. Compare it with the message left by the caller as stated in the recording. Document the test result in the table below; and

d.4.d) Repeat procedures d.4.a) to d.4.c) with calls originating from a cellular phone and another satellite phone.

Sender	Status
Cellular phone	__________
Satellite phone	__________
Landline phone	__________

d.5) Standard. The satellite phone under test shall be able to store and retrieve voice mail messages.

e) E-Mail Messaging Service Test

e.1) Purpose. Determine the capability of the item under test to send, receive and retrieve e-mail message.

e.2) Scope. This test is applicable only to units with e-mail messaging feature.

e.3) Equipment and Materials Needed.

e.3.a) Desktop or laptop computer with internet connection; and

e.3.b) Smartphone.

e.4) Procedures.

e.4.a) The item under test shall send an e-mail message to a known e-mail address. The sent message shall be saved in order to serve as the basis in verifying the accuracy of the received message.

e.4.a.1) For item under test that is not capable of sending e-mail messages and only serves as a modem, connect it to a desktop or laptop computer. Before sending an e-mail message, configure the desktop or laptop computer to connect to the internet using the item under test.

e.4.b) Using a desktop or laptop computer, or a smartphone, the recipient of the message shall verify if the message was received. He/she shall also open/read the message in order to check its contents as compared to the sent message. Document the test result in the table below;

Sender	Status
Cellular phone	__________
Satellite phone	__________
Landline phone	__________

 

e.4.c) Repeat procedures e.4.a) to e.4.b) with the message being sent from a desktop or laptop computer, and a smartphone. Receipt of the sent e-mail message will be verified using the item under test.

e.4.c.1) For item under test that only serves as a modem, receipt of the sent e-mail message will be verified using a desktop or laptop computer. caITAC

e.5) Standard. The item under test must be able to send and receive e-mail messages.

f) Global Positioning System (GPS) Service Test

f.1) Purpose. Determine the capability of the item under test to provide location data.

f.2) Scope. This test is applicable only to handheld satellite phone.

f.3) Condition. This test shall be performed 20 minutes after the item under test is turned on.

f.4) Equipment and Materials Needed. Laptop or smartphone with internet/mobile data connection.

f.5) Procedures.

f.5.a) Access the GPS feature of the item under test at a given initial location;

f.5.b) Determine the location coordinates of the item under test. Record the test result in the table below;

	Location Coordinates
Initial	_____________________
Final	_____________________

f.5.c) Using a GPS equipment, move to a given location at an aerial distance of at least one kilometer from the initial location; and

f.5.d) Repeat procedures f.5.a) to f.5.c).

f.6) Standard. The item under test must be able to provide coordinates for the given location.

g) Fax Messaging Test

g.1) Purpose. Determine the capability of the item under test to send and receive messages when connected to a facsimile machine.

g.2) Scope. This test is applicable only to units with fax messaging feature and/or if said feature is part of the requirement.

g.3) Equipment and Materials Needed. Facsimile (fax) machine.

g.4) Procedures.

g.4.a) Connect the item under test to a fax machine;

g.4.b) Send a fax message to a known telephone landline/telefax number with a dedicated fax machine;

g.4.c) Verify receipt of the document sent and check its quality. Record the test result in the table below; and

Sender	Quality of received
	fax message
___________	_______________

g.4.d) Repeat procedures g.4.a) to g.4.c) three times.

g.5) Standard. The facsimile machine must be able to send and receive printed documents using the item under test as the modem.

h) Adverse Condition/Durability Tests

h.1) Scope. This test is applicable only to satellite phones designed to withstand adverse environmental and operational conditions.

h.2) Procedures. PNP Memorandum Circular No. 2014-056 "Revised Adverse Condition Test Procedures and Guidelines for Fixed and Mobile Radio Equipment and Other Similar Equipment" or its latest revision.

i) Battery Life Test

i.1) Purpose. Determine if the battery life of the satellite phone under test meets the requirement.

i.2) Scope. This test is applicable only to satellite phones that make use of a battery as a power source.

i.3) Conditions.

i.3.a) Prior to testing, batteries must be fully charged in accordance with the manufacturer instructions; and

i.3.b) Testing must be initiated within one to two hours following battery recharging. Otherwise, a complete discharge/charge cycle must be accomplished prior to testing.

i.4) Procedures.

i.4.a) Operate the item under test in stand-by mode until its battery is completely drained. Record in the table below the time and the initial charge of the battery when the test started; and ICHDca

i.4.b) Document in the table below the time when the battery was drained.

Mode	Start	End
	Time	% Charge	Time	% Charge
Stand-by	_______	_______	________	________

i.5) Standards.

i.5.a) The measured battery life must not be less than the value specified in NAPOLCOM Approved Standard Specifications; and

i.5.b) If no value is stated in NAPOLCOM Approved Standard Specifications, the measured battery life must not be less than the value stated in the brochure of the item under test.

7. Rescission:

All other test procedures, guidelines or SOPs contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this test procedure are hereby rescinded, modified or amended accordingly.

8. Effectivity:

This MC shall take effect after 15 days from filing a copy thereof at the UP Law Center in consonance with Section 3, Chapter 2, Book VII of Executive Order 292 otherwise known as the "Revised Administrative Code of 1987," as amended.

(SGD.) RICARDO C. MARQUEZ

Police Director General

Chief, PNP

ANNEX A

MIL-STD-105E

Table 1. Sample Size Code Letters

Lot or Batch Size	Special Inspection Levels	General
					Inspection
					Levels
S-1	S-2	S-3	S-4	II
2 to 8	A	A	A	A	A
9 to 15	A	A	A	A	B
16 to 25	A	A	B	B	C
26 to 50	A	B	B	C	D
51 to 90	B	B	C	D	E
91 to 150	B	B	C	D	F
151 to 280	B	C	D	E	G
280 to 500	B	C	D	E	H
501 to 1200	C	C	E	F	J
1201 to 3200	C	D	E	G	K
3201 to 10000	C	D	F	G	L
10001 to 35000	C	D	F	H	M
35001 to 150000	D	E	G	J	N
150001 to 500000	D	E	G	J	P
500001 and over	D	E	H	K	Q

 

Table 2. Double Sampling Plan for Normal Inspection