Monthly Archives: January 2012

Minimization Of Drive Test Requirements Analysis

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Wireless network is one of the most complex system and to make sure that the Network is working as per the standards and serving the users optimally, the telecom operators perform drive tests. These tests are carried out for different reasons, some times to optimize the network and some other times to debug certain issues in a particular area.

The repetitive drive tests are a big bottleneck to the network operator in terms of money spent for carrying out the operation and the time spent to debug certain issues. To minimize these 3GPP standardization groups proposed new techniques to minimize the amount of drive tests by collecting information from mobile users. The information can be on different kinds of measurements, handovers, or signalling failures.

There are two different type of MDT (Minimization of Drive Test)

Immediate MDT

MDT functionality involving measurement performance by UE in CONNECTED state and reporting of the measurements to eNB/RNC available at the time of reporting condition.

Logged MDT

Where UE log in idle mode together with time stamps and optionally with accurate location information.

Requirements for minimization of drive test

Minimization of drive test should follow the following requirements.

UE measurement configuration

The operator can bale to configure an UE measurements for logging purpose independent from the NW configurations. This is done for Radio Resource Management (RRM) purpose.

UE measurement collection and reporting

The time interval for measurement logs collection and reporting shall be configurable in order to limit the UE battery consumption and network load.

Geographical scope of measurement logging

This requirement says that the operator should able to configure the geographical area where the defined set of measurement can be performed.

Location Information

The measurements in the measurement logs should be connected to the location information.

Time information

The measurements in measurement logs shall be linked to the time stamp available in the UE.

Device type information

The terminal type and the capabilities of the UE should be correctly indicated to the NW so that the operator can select correct terminals for specific measurements.

Dependency on Self Organizing Network (SON)

The solutions for minimization of drive test shall be able to work independently from the SON support in the network.

References

  • 3GPP TR 36.805 – Study on Minimization of drive-tests in Next Generation Networks
  • 3GPP TS 37.320 – Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio measurement collection for Minimization of Drive Tests (MDT); Overall description; Stage 2 (Release 10)

Rohde & Schwarz Tests VoLTE and Audio Quality

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Rohde&Schwarz demonstrated voice over LTE (VoLTE) and audio quality measurements with the R&S®CMW500 wideband communication tester and the R&S®UPV audio analyzer at LTE North America 2011. For the demonstration a commercial LTE USB dongle in collaboration with an IMS client running on a PC was used to simulate a VoLTE-capable device. This setup registered to an IMS server via LTE to establish an IMS call. The audio quality measurements carried out have been in line with the PESQ® standard.

Rohde&Schwarz also demonstrate the SMS over IMS Verification.

Will Nokia’s 2011 Results Bring Some Hope?

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Nokia will publish its fourth quarter and 2011 years result on 26th January 2011. Since the last few years the largest Mobile Phone manufacturer in the world is struggling a lot due to strong competitions from smart phone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung. It is not only the smart phones but Nokia’s feature phone segment is now in trouble as many cheap vendors are eating up its market shares from Nokia’s favorite marketplaces like India and Pakistan.

Among all this darkness Nokia did some really good changes in their ways of working, like making Microsoft’s mobile platform as their primary mobile OS. The other good move was Nokia’s alliance with many operators in North America where its market share is not so great. In the US, Nokia has now partnered with At&T and T-Mobile. With AT&T Nokia offered it’s Lumia 900 smart phones while with T-Mobile the Lumia 710 smart phones. Both of these smart phones are powered by the Microsoft’s Mobile OS, which will tap into a niche market. Though the smart phones were not a game changer for Nokia but good reviews by media and consumers definitely gave some boost Nokia’s dooming business.

The 2011 third quarter results of Nokia were not so impressive, but the best thing about Nokia is that they already figured out where they are losing and where to improve.

Apart from smart phones and mobile handset business, Nokia has another big struggling unit, Nokia Siemens Network. On its part Nokia Siemens Network has also made some good moves last year like buying the Motorola Networks and increasing their footprint in the US market. With a reported 17000 cuts many in the services business unit, the focus for them remains on mobile broadband R&D. They face strong challenges from their Chinese counterparts especially since Motorola was using Huawei as its supplier for the radio, it is anybody’s guess the complexities this might lead to between NSN and Huawei.

During the last year Nokia delisted itself in numbers of stock exchanges like Frankfurt, London, Paris and Stockholm Stock Exchanges. Which is surely a big concern for its share holders around the world.

But after all these Nokia needs to take better decisions to make it’s loyal costumers and share holders happy.