Basics and Importance Of Drive Test

Prepared by:
Muhammad Uzair Tanveer
Network Engineering Department
Telenor Pakistan
Contents
Abstract ii
1 Basics of a Drive Test 1
1.1 Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Modes Of Drive Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 TEMS Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.1 Current Channel Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.2 GSM Radio Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.3 GSM Line Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.4 GSM Hopping Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.5 Serving Plus Neighbour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.6 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 Running TEMS on Windows Seven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2 Drive Test Check List 10
2.1 Checks Before Drive Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2 Checks During Drive Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Checks After Drive Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
i
Abstract
Drive test is an important activity in wireless network operations which is done to test
the live RF conditions of a specic area of a network. It gives the most accurate idea
of customers experience. Statistics may not be correct all the time so drive test is an
important activity in judging the accuracy of the stats as well. Before conducting the
DT, the engineer should be aware of certain concepts and points. The engineer should
take care of some points before, during and after the drive test in order to ensure that
the purpose of the DT is met.
Chapter 1
Basics of a Drive Test
Drive test is an activity performed to get a real time view of the networks performance.
There can be many reasons for conducting the drive test depending on the requirement.
Generally, following reasons are the most frequent motives behind conducting a drive
test:
Customer complaint
Identication of overshooting cells
Real time analysis of cell/site KPIs
1.1 Equipment
The equipment used in TELENOR PAKISTAN for drive testing is of ASCOM. This
includes:
1. TEMS Investigation software
2. TEMS License Dongle
3. TEMS Handset
4. GPS Dongle
TEMS is the leading technology used by wireless operators to measure, analyse and
optimize their mobile networks.
1.2 Modes Of Drive Test
There are dierent modes of conducting a drive test. These are:
1. Idle Mode
In Idle mode we check that whether logical cell is serving the MS or not. We also
check that logical cell selection/reselection is taking place or not.
1
Chapter 1. Basics of a Drive Test 2
2. Dedicated Mode
Dedicated mode can be achieved by using short voice calls or long voice calls. Short
calls tell about the call setup success rate (CSSR) and call setup time whereas
long calls are used to check quality of the connection. Long calls are used to check
whether logical handovers are taking place or not. Drop call rate is also checked
using long call dedicated mode.
3. Scan Mode
Scan Mode is used primarily to check the overshooting cells. In this mode, MS is
told to scan the BCCH frequencies of GSM and DCS without getting served by
any cell.
1.3 TEMS Parameters
Before starting the drive test one should be clear about the parameters required during
drive test; what does each parameter mean and what is its signicance. In this section
numerous parameters used in analysing the condition of the network will be briey
explained.
1.3.1 Current Channel Parameters
Following parameters are shown in current channel parameters window:
Time It is the time of the system (computer).
Cell Name It displays the name of the sector which is serving according to the cell le
that is loaded in TEMS.
Cell Global Identity CGI is unique for every sector of the site. It is composed of
MCC,MNC,LAC,CI.
Cell GPRS Support Indicates whether GPRS is supported by the serving cell.
Band Indicates the frequency band in which BCCH is dened.
BCCH ARFCN Indicates the ARFCN of BCCH frequency of the serving cell.
TCH ARFCN Indicates on which frequency band trac call is established.
BSIC BSIC is a combination of two 3 bit numbers: NCC(Network Colour Code) to
distinguish between dierent PLMNs and BCC(BTS Colour Code) to distinguish
between clusters in a network. BSIC, with BCCH, is used to facilitate MS in
identifying the serving and neighbour cells uniquely.
Mode Indicates one of the three modes MS can be in: idle, dedicated and packet mode.
Timeslot number Indicates the TSL number of the TRX MS is having a connection
on.
Chapter 1. Basics of a Drive Test 3
Figure 1.1: Current Channel Parameters
Channel Type Indicates type of channel mobile is getting now. Like BCCH / SDC-
CH/8 + SACCH/C8 or CBCH / TCH/F +FACCH/F +SACCH/F.
Ciphering Algorithm It shows ciphering algorithm used by the system to protect
data for privacy. For example cipher by A5/2.
Sub Channel Number Indicates the sub channel of the main channel MS is using
currently.It is displayed at a time when mobile is on dedicated mode at time of
call setup when it is getting SDCCH at that time it shows which SDCCH it is
getting out of 8 available.
Hopping Channel Indicates whether frequency hopping is supported in the serving
cell or not.
Hopping Frequencies Indicates the list of frequencies MS can use while hoping in
dedicated trac mode.
Mobile Allocation Index Oset (MAIO) It is the number which tells from which
frequency from given MA list for sector hopping has to be started like 0 means
sector will start from rst frequency in MA list to hop.
Hopping Sequence Number (HSN) It is a number used to identify the next fre-
quency to hop in the MA list. It is used in combination with Frame Number
(FN)to inform the MS which frequency to hop next in the given MA list.
Chapter 1. Basics of a Drive Test 4
1.3.2 GSM Radio Parameters
Following parameters are shown on Radio Parameter window:
Rxlevel This parameter shows the current value of the received signal from serving cell
in dBm. In GSM permitted range for Rxlevel is from -110dBm to -47dBm.
RxQual RxQual shows the quality of level received from the serving cell calculated on
the basis od Bit Error Rate (BER)
FER Frame Erasure Rate shows the percentage of frames that got dropped due to non-
corrected bit errors in the frame.It is indication of voice quality in network.SQI
uses FER and BER to judge the quality of voice during the call.
BER Ratio of the number of bit errors to the total number of bits transmitted in a
given time interval. BER is a measure for the voice quality in network. Depending
on BER RxQual is measured. E,g, BER 0 to 0.2 percent corresponds to RxQual
0. Max. BER countable and useful is up to 12.8 percent which corresponds to
RxQual of max. 7.
SQI Speech Quality Index is a more sophisticated measure which is dedicated to re-
ecting the quality of the speech (as opposed to radio environment conditions).
This means that when optimizing the speech quality in your network, SQI is the
best criterion to use. SQI is updated at 0.5 s intervals. It is computed on basis of
BER and FER. For EFR 30, FR 21 and HR 17 are respectively ideal values.
Figure 1.2: Radio Parameters
C/I The carrier-over-interference ratio is the ratio between the signal strength of the
current serving cell and the signal strength of undesired (interfering) signal com-
ponents. It should be atleast greater than 9 .
Chapter 1. Basics of a Drive Test 5
MS Tx Power Control Displays range of power control from 0 to 15 depending upon
network design.
DTX Discontinuous transmission (DTX) is a mechanism allowing the radio transmitter
to be switched o during speech pauses. This feature reduces the power consump-
tion of the transmitter, which is important for MSs, and decreases the overall
interference level on the radio channels aecting the capacity of the network.
TA Value that the base station calculates from access bursts and sends to the mobile
station (MS) enabling the MS to advance the timing of its transmissions to the
BS so as to compensate for propagation delay. Value of 0 means MS in radius of
0.55km. From BS. Value of 1 means MS is within 1.1km from the BS and so on.
RL Timeout Counter (Cur) This parameter dene the maximum value of the radio
link counter expressed in SACCH blocks. Range of 4 64 in step size of 4. It shows
current value of RLT. If MS is unable to decode a SACCH block this parameter
decreases by 1 otherwise it increases by 2. When it reaches zero it results in normal
Drop Call.
RL Timeout Counter (MAX) It shows the maximum possible value of the Radio
Link Timer(RLT). It is a multiple of 4 and set by the operator according to its
standard.
MS behaviour Modied This window shows current settings for the mobile station,
for instance whether handover is disabled or multiband reporting enabled.
1.3.3 GSM Line Chart
GSM line chart is a visualization tool for viewing values of various parameters on a
chart. There are four dierent charts available. Dierent options that can be viewed on
the line charts are Rxlevel,RxQual of current and adjacent cells, SQI , MS Tx power,
cell id and name, BER, FER etc.
In the events tab in the edit line chart window, events can be selected that you want to
get showed on the charts.
1.3.4 GSM Hopping Channels
GSM hopping channels window shows the levels and C/I values of the frequencies that
MS is hopping to during the call. In GSM, MS hops at a rate of 217 hops per second.
In Telenor, hopping frequency range for DCS band is; 596 to 629 ARFCNs whereas for
GSM, range of hopping frequencies is: 80 to 86 ARFCNs. Hopping gain increases with
the number of hopping frequencies. That is why TCH calls are preferred in DCS band
in Telenor network. GSM C/I window shows the same information as hopping channels
window but with the addition of timeslot number and hopping sequence that the MS is
following.
Chapter 1. Basics of a Drive Test 6
Figure 1.3: GSM Line Chart
Figure 1.4: Hopping Channels
1.3.5 Serving Plus Neighbour
Following parameters are shown in this window:
Cell Name It shows the name of the serving and neighbour cells according to the cell
le. It is important to always load the correct and the latest cell le during the
drive test.
ARFCN It shows the channel number of the neighbour and serving cells.
BSIC It shows the BSIC(BCC+NCC) of the serving and neighbour cells.
Chapter 1. Basics of a Drive Test 7
Rxlev It shows the power of the received level in dbm of the serving and neighbour
cells.
C1 and C2 These are the cell path loss criterion and cell reselection criteria. Their
values are valid during idle mode of MS only.
C31 and C32 GPRS signal strength threshold criterion C31 and GPRS cell ranking
criterion C32. Their values are valid during packet idle mode and packet dedicated
mode of MS only.
Figure 1.5: GSM Serving Plus Neighbours
1.3.6 Events
This window shows dierent events during the drive test. Following is the list of impor-
tant events that are reported in this window:
Figure 1.6: Events
Chapter 1. Basics of a Drive Test 8
Idle Mode
Call Attempt
Dedicated Mode
Call Setup
Call Established
Connect
Call End
Dropped Call
Blocked Call
Handover
Cell Reselection
Location Area Update
The function of each event is pretty obvious from its name.
1.4 Running TEMS on Windows Seven
TEMS 8.0.3 is designed for Windows Xp and it has its issues running on Windows Seven.
TEMS 8.0.3 doesnt automatically detect the equipment connected to the system as in
Windows Xp; it has to be done manually. Follow these simple steps to use TEMS on
Windows Seven:
1. Create a new Dial-up connection from Control Panel. Use *99***1 as dial up
number.
2. Now connect the TEMS Handset and check the port numbers of handset and its
data cable from the dial up connections properties. See gure 1.7
3. Go to the Equipment Conguration window in the control and conguration tab
in TEMS.See gure 1.8.
4. Now add the equipment by clicking the add equipment tab and give the port num-
bers found in step 1.See gure 1.9.
5. Connect the MS and DC individually and the equipment is ready for drive test.
Chapter 1. Basics of a Drive Test 9
Figure 1.7: Equipment Conguration in TEMS: Step 2
Figure 1.8: Equipment Conguration in TEMS: Step 3
Figure 1.9: Equipment Conguration in TEMS: Step 4
Chapter 2
Drive Test Check List
Drive test is an important activity so there should be a check list to ensure achieving
the purpose of the drive test in a correct way. The tasks to be done before, during and
after the drive test are dierent which are mentioned in this chapter.
2.1 Checks Before Drive Test
Following is the list of tasks an engineer should perform before the drive test:
1. Before going out for the drive test ensure the connectivity of the equipment on the
system.
2. The most important task before the drive test is to decide the route of the DT
with the BSC owner and the senior colleagues.
3. Check the statistics of the sites which are on the decided DT route so that if there
is some operational issue, it is known beforehand.
4. Load the latest cell le in TEMS so that during DT all the running sites are visible.
5. If drive test is to be done in inside premises where GPS doesnt catch the satellite
signals, always ensure to note down the outside location by recording a short log
le just outside the inside location where GPS is catching the signals.
2.2 Checks During Drive Test
Following is the list of tasks an engineer should perform during the drive test:
1. Check that MS is properly decoding the BSIC of the neighbouring cells.
2. Check that logical handovers are taking place during the drive test.
3. Check that ping pong handovers are not happening.
10
Chapter 2. Drive Test Check List 11
4. If DT is for customers complaint, check the quality of each band by locking onto
GSM and DCS bands individually.
5. If GPS signals are not available in the premises of the drive test, note the latitude
and longitude by pinpointing the route. Try to be as precise as possible while
pinpointing so that analyser of the log le doesnt get misguided.
6. Identify coverage holes and high interference spots in the network.
7. Identify missing neighbours and one way neighbours.
2.3 Checks After Drive Test
Following is the list of tasks an engineer should perform after the drive test:
1. Copy the log les of the drive test on Dot 8 server.
2. It is important to make a drive test report after the DT.
3. Discuss the drive test with the local engineers and BSC owner.
4. If DT is done to benchmark any hardware or software changes,share the eect of
observed changes in the DT report.
5. Analyse the DT log les thoroughly and inform the BSC owner with your sugges-
tions.