Drive Test Process

MobileComm Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.

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 Copyright 2010 MobileComm Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.
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MobileComm Technologies .
Document Number: RK/CT/3/2010
This manual prepared by: MobileComm Technologies

MobileComm Technologies(India)Pvt. Ltd.

424, First Floor, Udyog Vihar Phase -4,
Gurgaon-122002
Headquarter:
MobileComm Professionals Inc.
1255 West 15th Street, Suite 440
Plano, TX, 75075
Tel: (972) 633-5100
Fax: (972) 633-5106
www.mcpsinc.com

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UMTS Call Flow

3
3
UMTS Call Flow

Call to a MS Call from a MS

Activate
Algorithms on (Paging Perf.)
PICH/ Paging on Open Loop
SCCPCH (Random Access) RACH Power Control

Power Ctrl.
•Directed Retry
(RRC Connect. Perform.)
on FACH/RRC
Code Ctrl. Predefined Signaling
SCCPCHConnection
RAB Selected

Inner Loop/Outer Loop

Admission Ctrl.
MEASUREMENTS
(Available TCH) •Load Sharing
on FACH/
RAB Selection SCCPCH RAB Assignment of DPDCH
Assignment

Power Control
(RAB Establish. Fail.)

(Traffic Erlangs)
on (Call Quality)
DPDCH
Supervision
Soft Handover
(Throughput) •Inter cell/BSC
•Intra cell/BSC
(Handover Perf.) •OL/UL
Soft/Softer •Bad Quality
Handover/Clear (Dropped Calls) 4
•Urgency
•HCS
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UMTS Call Flow

5
5
 Tools For Tuning/Optimization & Data Post Processing
Active measurement needed due to lack of statistics

• TEMS Investigation for WCDMA (Software)

• TEMS Scanner (Software + HW)
• External GPS
• User Equipment (UE)
• TEMS DeskCat for post processing
• MCOM3g/Mapinfo
• MS Access/Excel based tools

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WINDOWS USED IN WCDMA DRIVE TEST

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RADIO PARAMETERS WCDMA BAR CHARTS

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CURRENT CHANNEL

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SERVING/ACTIVE + NEIGHBOURS WCDMA

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AMR CODEC USAGE IN WCDMA

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Notes on quantities denoting signal power

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Drive test tools configuration

Drive Test Equipments for Voice, CS64 & PS call

Short call Long Call

CS64 PS

USB1 USB2
USB1
USB1

GPS

Com 1

scanner

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Drive Test Routes

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PILOT TUNING

The basic measurements of scanner are

• CPICH_RSCP (received signal code power)
• CPICH_Ec/No (received energy per chip divided by the power density in the
band)
• RSSI (received signal strength indicator)
What can you achieve with scanner?
• Crossed feeder issues (DL)
• Coverage verification
• Interference problems (overshooting cell, pilot pollution)
• Missing neighbours

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COVERAGE VERIFICATION - Primary Common
Pilot Channel
Verify P-CPICH detection to minimize coverage holes

• P-CPICH RSCP
• P-CPICH Ec/No

Coverage level RSCP [dBm] Ec/N0 [dB]

Sufficient RSCP ≥ −100 Ec/N0 ≥ −14

Poor −115 ≤ RSCP <−100 −16 ≤ Ec/N0 < −14

No coverage RSCP < −115 Ec/N0 <−16

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Best Server Signal Strength (RSCP)

• Yellow is good
• Blue can
generate
problems
• Grey is bad

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Pilot Ec/No Measurements

• Green is good
• Blue can
generate
problems
• Orange is bad

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INTERFERNECE

By correlating low Ec/No with high RSCP, areas with high

interference can be detected
-30

-40

-50

-60

RSCP [dBm]
High interference
-70

-80

-90

-100
-25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5
Ec/Io [dB]

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INTERFERENCE (RSCP > -90 dBm AND Ec/No < -9 dB)

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Primary Common Pilot Channel (P-CPICH) –
OVERSHOOTING

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 OVERSHOOTING
Change Proposal: Site-D, Sector-1, Antenna Down-tilt 8 Degrees

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Primary Common Pilot Channel (P-CPICH) –
PILOT POLLUTION

High CPICH reception levels from many • P-CPICH RSCP

Cells, (more than MAX_ACTIVE_SET) • P-CPICH Ec/No

Ec E c
Pilot count ( ≥ − threshold ) > AS size
N 0 N 0 serving

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PILOT POLLUTION

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PILOT POLLUTION

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PILOT POLLUTION
Change Proposals
Proposed
Height of Antenna
Site Sector SC of Antenna
Antenna Tilts
Name Number Pilot Tilts
(meters) (degree)
(degree)

A 1 173 38 2 5

A 2 76 38 2 4

1
D 485 47.3 2 8

C 2 24 39.2 3 5

B 3 79 27 2 3

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PILOT POLLUTION

35

30

25

Numbers of 20
Samples 15

10

5 Verification Drive Test (after tuning)

0
173 76 485 79 24
40
SC of Pilots
35
30
Initial Drive Test (before tuning) 25
Number of
20
Samples
15
10
5
0
173 76 79 24
SC of Pilots

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UE TUNING

• Voice /Video/PS calls

– Long calls
– short calls
• Identify problem areas
– Blocked calls
– Dropped calls
– Delay/Throughput

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Short Calls Analysis

Set-up a call and maintain it for a pre-defined time duration

(for 15-60 s)

Call set-up failure and drops during short calls can be mainly
used to analysis Accessibility failure due to:
• UE Failure
• Unsuitable Parameters Setting
• Coverage Problem
• Interference
• Others

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Long Calls Analysis

Set-up a call and maintain it until it is drop (used for

the analysis of Retainability performace)

Drops during long call can be used to identify:

• Missing Neighbor Relation
• Coverage Problem
• UE Problems
• Network Characteristics
• Best Parameter Setting
• Others

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KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Accessability (Call set-up success rate)

Retainability (Dropped calls)
Mobility (Handover success rate)
Integrity (BLER and throughput)

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 Case 1: Drop due to missing neighbor

Problem: Detected Nighbor (DN)

• UE sends a Measurement Report that contains an event1a means adding a
new RL (cell) to Active Set
• If the reported cell is not in the current neighbor cell list and the reported
Ec/No is better than the best serving cell Ec/No in AS by some dBs (set by a
RNC parameter)
• If for any reason the new cell can not be added to AS, call will be released

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Case 1: Drop due to missing neighbor

DL BLER gets worse

“DN” cell better than the serving cell

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 Case 2: Drop due to Poor Coverage (low RSCP)

Problem: Poor DL coverage

When UE gets to an area with low RSCP ( < -105 dBm)
regardless Ec/No values there is high risk for drop.
UE will likely ramp up the transmitted power and reach its
max power. The DL BLER will probably increase and SIR
target cannot maintain anymore, finally the call drops.

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Case 2: Drop due to DL Poor Coverage

UE max Tx power
and
high DL BLER
Very bad RSCP

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Case 3:
PS: Session Error due to Poor DL Coverage
UE enters a very low coverage area (RSCP < – 105 dBm).
The packet connection is carried on a 64/64 DCH Channel
as consequence of the low coverage conditions.
The UE will likely ramp up its power to the maximum, goes
to Idle Mode and the Application and RLC throughputs go
to zero.
At this point the RAS application will start the Session
Timeout timer, if the throughput is not resumed the Session
Error event is triggered with cause “session timeout”.

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PS: Session Error due to Poor DL Coverage

App throughput ~64kbps

Very low RSCP

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FINAL WORDS

• For network tuning, we need to relay on field measurements which require extensive
drive tests
• Finding the best possible configuration for antenna heights, tilts, azimuths and
parameter setting for all the present cells/sectors in the network and also for any
new sites that might be needed to improve coverage
• Power adjustment can also be used for network tuning but can become complicated
and result in poor network performance
• Use of Remote Electrical Tilt (RET) Antenna is preferred over mechanical tilt
antenna
• Neighbour definition is of prime importance in UMTS network (Soft handover gain
and interference reduction). Keep neighbour list upto 20.
• Automated tools are needed that could suggest the best possible neighbour
relations, antenna heights and tilts by using both the field measurements and the
propagation models & simulations
• Skilled people, right methods and advanced tools are needed to perform 3G tuning
and optimisation

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Comparison of Mechanical and Electrical Down-tilts

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MOC/MTC Call Flow timing
M
T
MOC C

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RRC messages information

Voice and Video are both

Conversational Call

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RRC messages information

DL SRB

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RRC messages information

UE in DUAL MODE

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RRC messages information

Voice AMR

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RRC messages information

CS call, 64Kbps,
Transparent

Video Call

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RRC messages information

Video CS 64:
DL SF 32
UL SF 16
Voice AMR:
DL SF 128
UL SF 64

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NEW SLIDES

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WCDMA Coverage – Implications

• High Pilot Signal Strength ¹ Guaranteed Coverage.

• Coverage defined by Ec/I0.

• Ec = RSCP – Received Signal Strength of own Pilot. Constant.

• I0 = Interference from all other users , own cell + other cells.

• Interference increses when traffic increases.

• Cell coverage smaller when traffic increases.

• Cell Breathes.

• Target Ec/I0 = - 16 dB.

• Ec/I0 below –16 dB => No channel estimation, No Coverage.

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