3.

1 - RTWP - RECEIVED TOTAL WIDEBAND POWER

 The total level of noise within the UMTS frequency band of any cell,
related to uplink interference

 Monitoring this parameter helps control the call drops, mainly CS.

 Importance in the capacity management, as it provides information

for the Congestion Control regarding Uplink Interference.

 It may vary due to several factors

- No. of users in the cell - Service
- Connection Types - Conditions of Radio, etc.
3.1.1 - RTWP MEASUREMENT

 No load network conditions

-104.5 to -105.5dBm (Acceptable)

 Values around -95dBm indicate that the

cell has some uplink interferers

 Around -85 dBm, strong uplink

interferers is observed

 We are more concerned with more

accurate parameter, Mean RTWP

 Based on these values most vendors

have an alarm, RTWP “Very High”

 If the cell has two carriers, the difference

between them RTWP should not
exceed 6 dB -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->->
3.1.2 - RTWP – PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

 RTWP can cause performance degradation, mainly Call Drops

 Actually, it's not RTWP that causes performance degradation, but

when the value is bad, it's actually indicating the presence of
interference, the later being responsible for degradation

 If RTWP is not within acceptable limits , following must be done:

1. The first thing to do is check if there is a configuration issue with

the RNC or NodeB. This is the most common case, especially in
cases of new activations

2. Once verified the parameter settings, the next step is the physical
examination, especially jumpers and cables, often partially
reversed.
3.1.2 - RTWP – PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS (Contd…)

 Faulty transmitters should be checked or any other problem that

could generate inter-modulation b/w the NodeB & the antenna

 If the parameter settings and hardware are ok, high chances of

external interference being present, such as a Interferer Repeater

 In case of external interference, we must begin to act after such a

prioritization based on how much this is affecting the cell KPI's
across the network, i.e. if it carry high traffic, major subscribers, etc.

Note: There are many forms of interference in the uplink, both

internal and external. Only a few are listed above.
3.1.3 - RTWP – DATA COLLECTION METHOD

 In practice, to find and eliminate problems of interference is one of the biggest

challenges

 It is recommend to collect enough data for investigation. Insufficient data collected

can lead to erroneous conclusions, further worsening the problem

 The uplink interference may appear only in specific periods. The data should be
collected from at least one week (7 days) for every 24 hours.

 In the figure below, we see different days and times

3.1.3 - RTWP – DATA COLLECTION METHOD (Contd…)

 Data should be collected for the suspicious cell, but also for its adjacent
cells, allowing it to make a triangulation increasing the chances of locating
the source of interference

 Another way to locate the source of interference is to do a test in field. An

antenna guy must gradually change the azimuth of the antenna, while
another professional do RTWP measurements

 That is, through the information directing the antenna and the respective
values of RTWP, you can draw conclusions very good

 It is obvious that changing the online system may not be a good practice,
and tests can be made with a Yagi antenna and a Spectrum Analyzer

 Vendors offer several ways to measure RTWP, using the OSS, performance
counters and logs
3.1.4 – RTWP - CONCLUSION

 In this brief tutorial, we learn what is RTWP, and that the ideal typical
value is about -104.5 dBm and -105.5 dBm

 As the RTWP is directly related to Uplink Interference - and we know

that interference is the main cause of performance degradation -
have concluded that improving RTWP, ie making is as close as
possible to -105 dBm, improving the Call Drop Rate!