Drive Test Analysis

Version1.0

Upon completion of this course, you will be

able to:
Understand the common procedure
Of drive test data analysis
Identify the basic problems and cause
of the problems
Propose the solutions to solve the
network problems

Chapter 1 Common procedure of drive test data

analysis
Chapter 2 Case study for drive test analysis
Chapter 3 Practice on drive test analysis

Common procedure of DT data analyze

1.

Check if the Drive test KPIs meet the requirement. If not, identify the problematic log
files. Capture the figure and events (e.g. locations, time, identify problematic cells)

2.

Check the RxLevel and RxQual distribution, check if they are related to the points
that miss the KPI requirement?

3.

(If new site or cluster) Check the distribution of each BCCH (CGI), pay attention to
the crossed feeder.

4.

Analyze the points that miss the KPIs point by point. (To make the analysis more
comprehensive , get more information from engineering parameters, BSC data
configuration, traffic statistic and BTS alarms)

5.

Identify the possible causes of each problem points ,discuss with customers

4.

Propose solutions and get approval from customers before execute the change
request

4.

Re- Drive Test to verify the problem after implemented the solutions
!

Chapter 1 Common procedure of drive test data

analysis
Chapter 2 Case study for drive test analysis
Chapter 3 Practice on drive test analysis

"

Coverage
Downlink RxLevel
Coverage of single cell
Coverage of whole network

Coverage
Network Coverage is evaluated by:
RxLev = EIRP(dBm) L(dB)
Where:
EIRP = Effective Isotropic Radiated Power
L = Propagation Losses
EIRP(dBm)
L(dB)
RxLev(dBm)
Unexpected coverage
(overshooting)

Good coverage

In urban area, Lower Antenna Height (<=25m), Greater downtilt (>=6 degree),
and Lower EIRP (<=41 dBm) are used to control overshooting & interference.
#

Coverage(one cell)
The following example shows the
downlink RxLevel(Dedicated Mode)
decreases when MS is driving away
from BTS.
Downtilt: 0 drgree

RxLevel

The RxLevel decrease faster when

Antenna Downtilt increase.

Variation
s due to
Rayleigh
fading
Global
means

Downtilt: 8 drgree

Variation
due to
shadowing
$

Coverage(Network)
The picture shows the coverage of a city, which contains good and bad
coverage areas.
The distribution of downlink RxLev concentrates from -80 to -95 dBm.

Good Coverage

Bad Coverage

Coverage Issues

Coverage hole
Sudden Decrease on Signal Level
Line of Sight Lost
Lack of Dominant Server
Coverage Overlapping
Overshooting

Coverage Hole
Legend
RxLevel

Poor Coverage
Areas

Bad
RxQuality

RxQuality

RxLevel(Serving Cell) is about (or less than) -95 dBm

RxLevel(Neighbours) are about (or less than) -95 dBm

Call
Drop

Sudden Decrease on Signal Level

RxLev(Serving Cell and
Neighbors) decrease in a
short time.
Check if there is big change
of testing environment, e.g.
check if the test was
performed on a highway
and that particular area was
a tunnel or not.
Signal level on the chart will
make a curve rather than
unstable changes.
This usually cause Ping
Pong Handovers

&

Line of Sight Lost

Signal Strength of Serving cell make fast up and down due

to far away server being blocked by obstacles from the
terrain. The other way, signal from the server lose line of
sight(LOS) to the mobile because of a hill of something.

RxQuality goes
worse when the
level drops down
fast
&

Lack of Dominant Server

Signal Level of more
than one cell (Serving
Cell and Neighbors) are
not high enough.

This might happen

because the MS is
located on the cell
borders and there is no
any best server to keep
the call.

Lack of Dominant Server

Causes too many
handovers

&!

Coverage Overlapping
Signal Level of 34
cells are too closed to
each other.

This might point

overlapping cells.

This will cause quality

problems because of
frequency reuse and
frequent HO
Immediate action to
optimize cell coverage
should be taken by
power reductions,
downtilt or other
configuration changes.
&"

Overshooting
MS is covered by the
serving cell, but is
outside the cell
BSC thinks that it is
neighbor cell A and
makes a handover to
cell A
The MS is not near cell
A so the assigned TCH
for the handover is not
used
Cell A will have unused
TCH (handover)
The call might be
dropped because it
cannot make the
handover or bad quality

Serving
cell

Other cell B
BSIC 1
Freq. A

BTS

Coverage spot
(island effect)

Neighbour cell A
BSIC 1
Freq. A

&'

Propose solutions for Coverage Issue

Solution of low coverage

Solution of no dominant cell ,overshooting and overlapping

Solutions of Low Coverage

Possible solution can be listed as below:
New Site Proposal
Sector Addition
Site Configuration Change (Antenna Type, height, azimuth, tilt changes)
Loss or Attenuation Check ( Feeders, Connectors, Jumpers, etc..)

Proposal

Remark

Most effective solution,

but the cost is highest
Effective solution
Sector Addition
but only for Omni-Site
Difficult, high cost
Height
Difficult, high cost
Type
Antenna
Easy to operate
Azimuth
Downtilt Easy to operate
Only for troubleshooting
Feeders
Hardware Connectors Only for troubleshooting
Only for troubleshooting
Jumpers
New Site Proposal

How to do
Using prediction tool(U-net) to identify the best
locations to put new sites
Using prediction tool(U-net) to identify the
recommended azimuth of new sectors
Using prediction tool(U-net) to identify the
recommended height, type, azimuth or down tilt of
sector.

Referring to hardware checking guide

&$

Solutions of overshooting or overlapping

Possible solution can be listed as below:
Site Configuration Change (Antenna Type, height, azimuth, tilt changes)
Cell Configuration Change (Carrier Power Type, Static TRX Power Class, Fine Tuning
of Static TRX Power)

Proposal
Antenna

Parameter

Height
Type
Azimuth
Downtilt

Remark
Difficult, high cost
Difficult, high cost
Easy to operate
Easy to operate

Easy to operate, but with

Output Power related risk of coverage reduction

How to do
Using prediction tool(U-net) to identify the
recommmended height, type, azimuth or
downtilt of sector.
Referring to Data Configuration Reference
Help

&%

Cross Feeder
What is crossed feeder issue (1)
The term crossed feeder is used to describe the problem that
arises when the feeders for two or more sectors in a site are
inadvertently connected incorrectly. For Example, consider a new
cell site that has three sectors, A, B, and C:

What is crossed feeder issue (2)

The crossed feeder problem would arise
if the feeder for sector A is connected to
sector C and vice versa. When this
happens, the sectors typically continue
to provide good coverage. However, the
network parameters for the two sectors
are also reversed. For example, the
parameters storing the sectors' BCCH
and lists of adjacent sectors would be
swapped.
For example, suppose we run a drive test
through the area served by the cell
whose feeders are crossed display the
ServBCCH attribute on the Map while
the cell sectors are colored by BCCH.
This is what we might see:

&

What is crossed feeder issue (3)

There are 3 types of crossed feeder:
Crossed transmit feeders

Crossed receive feeders

Crossed transmit and receive feeders

The problems raised by crossed feeder

issue

Normal Situation

Crossed Feeder Situation

The problems raised by crossed feeder issue

Crossed feeder will raise many problems, such as:
A greater degree of interference
A poor uplink signal strength
A poor performance of handover

How to detect crossed feeder issue by DT

Crossed transmit feeders
Crossed transmit feeders will result in the swap of 2 or more sectors
BCCH frequency and TCHs. As the sectors are pointing in the
incorrect direction, performance will suffer as the frequency plan has
been changed and a greater degree of interference will be present.
In DT, we will find that the handset receives the signal which shouldn't
have been received in the current cell.

"

How to detect crossed feeder issue by DT

Crossed transmit feeders

In the example shown above, point A is in the area of coverage of Cell

D3, but the handset at point A receives the stronger signal of Cell D2. It
indicates that TX feeders were crossed between Cell D3 and Cell D2.
'

How to detect crossed feeder issue by DT

Crossed receive feeders
It is not easy to detect this fault by DT, because the BCCH frequencies will
appear exactly as they were designed. However, the statistics for the cell
would help us to detect the fault:
Uplink signal strength would be very poor
Link balance would be larger than expected
Handover success rate would be very low

How to detect crossed feeder issue by DT

Crossed receive feeders
The MR measurement is very useful in detecting this type of feeder
cross.
Uplink-and-Downlink Balance Measurement per TRX and TCH
Receive Level Measurement per TRX are the most useful statistics .
For example, if the uplink-and-downlink balance is always in level 10
or level 11, we can consider that there is something wrong in the
receive path of the site, crossed receive feeder is a possible problem.

How to detect crossed feeder issue by DT

Crossed transmit and receive feeder
The symptom is similar with the fault crossed transmit feeder, and we can
detect the fault by DT easily .

Poor Quality Issue

Downlink RxQual Issue
What is RxQual Issue
The problems raised by RxQual issue

How to detect quality issue by DT

Bad Quality due to Signal Strength FER is Bad
Bad Quality due to Signal Strength FER is OK
Bad Quality due to C/A Interference
Bad Quality due to Time Dispersion

The solution to RxQual issue

What is RxQuality Issue

Bad RxQual is one of the biggest problems in a Network. The RxQual
that a network operator can offer to customers mostly depends on the
RxLevel and the interference of the network.
There are two types of RxQual problems, uplink RxQual and downlink
RxQuality. We can only detect downlink RxQual problem by DT,
however, if the downlink RxQual is bad in one cell, there is a risk that
there would be problems on the uplink as well.

&

What is RxQual Issue

Good
RxQua
lity

Bad
RxQua
lity

RxQual is divided into eight levels which are from 0 to 7, the level 0 is the
best and the level 7 is the worst.

The problems raised by RxQual Issue

Bad RxQual may raise many problems, such as:
Difficulty in accessing the network
Dropped calls due to bad quality
Poor handover success rate
Low MOS value (poor speech quality)

Bad Quality due to Signal Strength FER is Bad

As the signal strength drops
down, the quality of the call
becomes worse being effected
by interference and/ or fading.
Consequently the system
becomes weaker to handle the
interference.
Drop calls and ping pong
handovers usually happen in
such environments.
RxLev (Serving Cell and
Neighbors) is not high enough
(about less than -95dbm).
Maybe there are
interferences in this region for
bad FER.
Bad RxLev
Bad RxQual
Bad FER

Bad Quality due to Signal Strength FER is OK

This case is similar with
the previous except for
FER. Signal strength is
also bad in this, but FER is
still fine.
FER is ok, it means that
there is no obvious
interference in the area.
The coverage is usually
the problem in this
situation.

Bad RxLev
Bad RxQual
Fine FER

"

Bad Quality due to C/A Interference

There is adjacent channel
interference in this case and
the RxQual is not good.
Bad Quality due to Adjacent
Interference.
Adjacent BCCH between
best server and best neighbor.

'

Bad Quality due to Time Dispersion

Site
Reflecting object

MS
Time dispersion is caused by the reflections. The MS uses all or most of the
received power, instead of only the direct signal, there is a larger probability to
decode the information. So the RxQual will be very bad perhaps.

Bad Quality due to Time Dispersion

The MS is near the
cell, it is less than 1
mile far away.
The RxQual is very
bad for the bad C/R,
in which, R stands for
reflected signal and C
stands for original
signal.
The TA is too high.
It is because that TA
stands for the
reflected signal but
the original signal.

The solution to RxQual issue (1)

RxQual Issue

Solution
Find out the interference source
(e.g. frequency planning) or /and

Bad Quality due to Signal Strength FER is

adjust the azimuth or down tilt of

Bad

the antenna or /and adjust the

power of the transmitter(s) to
improve coverage
There is no obvious interference in

Bad Quality due to Signal Strength FER is

this situation. Adjust the azimuth or

OK

down tilt of the antenna or /and

adjust the power of the
transmitter(s) to improve coverage

The solution to RxQual issue (2)

RxQual Issue

Solution

Bad Quality due to C/A

Avoided adjacent frequencies in the same cell

Interference

and preferably in neighboring cells as well.

Move the site to be placed near the reflecting

Bad Quality due to Time

object to prevent time dispersion. Another

Dispersion

efficient solution is to modify the antenna

arrangement, either in azimuth (horizontally) or
by tilt (vertically).

!(

Interference Issue
Hardware Problem
TRX Problem
Feeder & Arrester Problem
Intra-Interference
Adjacent channel & Co-channel
Inter-modulation Interference
Inter-Interference
Other Equipment

Co-Channel & Adjacent Channel Interference

As beside Figure show Station A~D,
Supposing the frequency N have
already allocated to cell A-3.so
frequency N can not be allocate to
A1A2B1B2B3C1C2
C3D1D2D3; and frequency
N1 can not be allocated to cell A1
A2A3B1C2D1D2
(No ,hoping)

Co-Channel & Adjacent Channel Interference

As below, From the neighbor
list ,BCCH 73 interfered
BCCH 72,it is adjacent
interference. When the co
channel or adjacent channel
happen

It will bring the strong

interference. The typical
phenomena:
High Rxlev
Worst Rxqual

C/I Problem
C/I Definition
C/I: Carrier signal /Interference signal
Optimize C/I method
Improve Coverage
Decrease Interference

C/I Problem due to poor coverage

RxLevel(Serving Cell) is about (or less than) -95 dBm;

RxLevel(Neighbours Cell) is about (or less than) -95 dBm;
Result: Worst C/I due to poor coverage.

C/I Problem due to Interference (frequency)

RxLevel (Serving Cell) is about -70dBm; (strong)

RxLevel (Neighbors Cell) is about -65 to -80 dBm
Result: Worst C/I due to interference ( no dominant cell)
!'

The solution to Interference, C/I,BER issue (1)

Interference Issue

Solution

Serious interference due to Co-channel or

Adjacent channel

Adjust cell frequency or adjust

coverage

Serious interference due to feeder or Arrester

Problem

Check whether the Feeder and

antenna tightening, or direct
replacement its.

!#

The solution to Interference,C/I,BER issue (1)

C/I Issue

Worst C/I due to poor coverage

Worst C/I to interference

Solution
Improve coverage by adjusting
antenna azimuth and downtilt or
add new sites
Ensure the interference source
and solution as interference
solution.

!$

The solution to Interference,C/I,BER issue (1)

BER Issue

Worst BER due to poor coverage

Solution
Improve coverage by adjusting
antenna azimuth and downtilt or
add new sites

Worst BER due to interference

Ensure the interference source

and solution as interference
solution.

Worst BER due to Transmission

Checking transmission alarm in

M2000

Worst BER to TRX

At first check equipment alarm in

M2000,ensure which TRX is
problem

!%

Handover Issues
What is
Handover procedure in network?
Handover Um signaling flow?
Purpose of Handover Analysis in DT?

Handover Procedure
Uplink MR (Measured by BTS)
RXLEV Uplink
RXQUAL Uplink
TA
Current BTS TX power

Neighbor Cell_1
NeighborCell
Cell2
Serving

MS in dedicated mode
will continuously perform
measurements on serving
and neighbor cells.

NeighborCell
Serving
Cell2

Measurement Reports
are sent to BSC and used
in the handover algorithm.
Downlink MR (Measured by MS)
Downlink RXLEV(Sever)
Downlink RXQUAL(Sever)
RXLEV_NCELL(n) on the 6 best
neighboring cells (+BSIC)

BSC

Serving BSC decides

whether a handover is
necessary and send HO
command

"&

Handover signaling on Um(TEMS Message)

Tell MS how to access to
Target TCH Channel

Target cell Description

Target channel Description
BCCH of Neighbors
Channel Type, Timeslot
Cell:
to beServing
measured
TSC
DL DTX is
ON
RF hopping
RxLev(sub)
is -109+ 62 =--49dBm
MAIO,isHSN
RxQual (sub)
0

Handover Complete

Handover Success!!!

Only after SABM & UA

in Layer2 Message,
handover success!

The RxLev of
Neighbors
Inter cell Synchronous
Handover
Speech version: EFR

"

The purpose of Handover Analysis

The purpose of handover analysis in DT is
understand the wireless handover performance of network.
find out whether the handovers are healthy in this network.
what is typical handover failure in this network.
find out whether neighbor audit work is needed in this network.

To make optimization of HSR, the most effective way is based on traffic

analysis, combining DT events, neighbor audit, and data configuration
audit together.

"

Handover Types
Different handover types by network topology
Different handover types by algorithm
PBGT handover
Quality handover
Edge Handover
Intracell Handover
Other types of handover

Handover Types(Network Topology)

Operator
MSC

BSC

BTS

MSC

BSC

BTS

BSC

BTS

BTS

CELL CELL CELL CELL CELL CELL CELL CELL

BTS

BTS

Case1 Intra cell HO

Case2 Synchronous Inter cell HO

Synchronous
Asynchronous

Case 2
Case 1
Case 3

BSC

Case 4

Case 5

Case3 Asynchronous Inter cell HO

Case4 Inter BSC HO
Case5 Inter MSC HO

""

Handover Types(Algorithm)
OM Forced HO

In DT, the most common handover

types happens in following order of
priority

Directed Retry

TA Emergency HO

Edge HO

Bad Quality HO

Layer HO

Rapid Level Drop HO

PBGT HO

Interference HO

Fast Moving MS HO

Load HO

Overlay/Underly HO

TA
RxQuality
RxLevel
PBGT
OL&UL

HO

"'

PBGT Handover
PBGT HO Exp:
When:
RXLEV_NCELL(n) (RXLEVEL+
PWR_DIFF) > HO_MARGIN

MS is handed over to the

neighboring cell .
HO_MARGIN is usually set to 3 to
6 dB.

Target
Cell

Serving
Cell

HO_MARGIN > 0
RXLEV_NCELL(n)

RX LEVEL + PWR_DIFF

PBGT HO

Power-budget
Distance

HO_MARGIN could be increased

to reduce number of handovers.
HO_MARGIN should be
decreased if faster handover
decision is wanted.
PBGT Handover is considered as
most healthy handover in a
network.

A typical PBGT HO

"#

Quality Handover
Quality Handover Exp:
When:
DL RxQuality >= DL Quality HO
Threshold

handover caused by DL
RxQuality takes place.
When:
UL RxQuality >= UL Quality HO
Threshold

handover caused by UL
RxQuality takes place.
DL&UL Quality HO
Thresholds are generally
set to 6.
UL Quality HO cant be
monitored in DT.

Handover was performed to a better quality

cell just after experiencing quality problems.

"$

EDGE Handover
Edge Handover Exp:
When:
DL RxLevel < Edge HO DL
RX_LEV Threshold

handover caused by DL
RxLevel takes place.
When:
UL RxLevel < Edge HO UL
RX_LEV Threshold

handover caused by UL
RxQuality takes place.
UL EDGE handover cant be
monitored in DT.
Handover was performed to the cell with
higher downlink Rxlev.

"%

Intracell Handover Based on Interference

The Intracell Handover
feature aims to maintain
good quality by performing
a handover to a new
channel within the same
cell when uplink or
downlink interference is
detected.
Interference is defined by
bad RxQual and high
enough RxLEV.
Intracell HO also can be
triggered by:
Rate change between Full rate
and Half rate
Handover between overlaid and
underlaid subcell.

An example of intracell handover after

experiencing quality problems.
'(

Other types of handover

Other types of handover are not easy to judge or not easy to encounter
in DT test, for example :
TA handover
Directed Retry
Load handover
Rapid Level Drop HO
Fast Moving MS HO
For analysis of different types of handover or handover caused by
uplink, it is recommended by traffic analysis or single-user signaling
tracing.

'&

Handover Issues
What is
Dragged Handover
Power Control Effect
PingPong Handover
Missing Neighbor Relation
Fake Neighbor
Handover Failure

Dragged Handover
There will be such cases that you will notice handover process taking
place a little late, which is called dragged handover.
First thing to check will be handover
margins between the neighbors. If
margins for level, quality or power
budget handovers are not set
correctly, If margins are too much,
handover will happen late, vice
versa.

A Quality handover
should happen earlier

Dragged handover events often

occur after a GSM serving cell loses
dominance for a significant time
period.
Dragged Handover often cause Call
Drop or Handover Failure.

'

Power Control Effect

Power Control Effect sometimes
may mislead us, you might think
that handover is happening too
late between two neighbors.

Power control

When the call is continuing on a

timeslot that belongs to
TCHTRX, power control feature
will try to reduce output power
as much as possible until a
quality problem occurs. Thats
why you will see serving cell
signal level is less than
neighbors level. It looks less
but in reality, the signal level on
BCCH TRX is still higher than
neighbors broadcasting level.

'!

Ping-pong Handover
Ping-pong handovers occur when the MS is handed over from one cell to
another but is quickly handed back to the original cell.
The shot shows two pingpong handovers displayed on
the map along with the
Servering CI attribute. The
first ping-pong handover is
from cell 12424 to cell 12368
and back and the second is
from cell 12424 to cell 12366
and back. Changes in the
value of the CI is shown below
the route. It can be clearly
visualized by lines to cells
display.

Ping-pong HO

For most cases, Ping-pong Handover is caused by no dominant cell. There was
a handover back to cell 12366 after the second ping-pong handover, but this was
outside of the defined window. The change in dominance after the handover was
9dB, which represents a much healthier handover.
'"

Missing Neighbor Relation

If a handoff is not performed to a neighbor cell that seems to be best
server, there is a possibility of a missing neighbor relation. This will
happen with sudden appearance of strong cell in the neighbor list
just after a handover.

The shot shows after

second handover in
the red box, a much
stronger Serving Cell
appears. ( suspect
there might be missing
neighbor in the 1st HO
attempt)
At this time Neighbor
audit should be
performed.

''

Fake Neighbor Relation

Sometimes you will see a good
handover candidate in the
neighbor list but handover will
not take place and call will drop.

Although that overshooting cell

with a very good signal level
appears in neighbor list, in reality
it is not. Just because the
serving cell has another
neighbor cell use same with the
same BCCH&BSIC ,so the
measurement of the
overshooting cell appears in the
list.

'#

Handover Failure
Handover Failure: Handover attempt was failed and the call returned back to its
all channel.

Target Cell is
BCCH is 13
BSIC is 65
Target channel is
900M RF hopping
Handover
Failure Channel.
Half Rate
MA list is 1, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
MAIO is 4, HSN is 31,
The
TSC is
5. handover has not
successfully
completed yet!
Channel
mode is AMR(SV3)
Handover Failure is
Another example: Excessive
Number
Handover
caused
by T200ofExpired

Failure due to Hardware Problem

'$

Proposal of Handover Issue

Dragged Handover
PingPong Handover
Missing Neighbor Relation
Handover Failure

Solutions of Handover Issues

Issue

Proposal
Check if the parameter of handover, such as: PBGT, Quality, Interference, Edge

Dragged Handover

handover threshold, and P/N Value is set too high.

Check if there is no dominant coverage. Referring to the solution of Low Coverage.
Check if the traffic volume of target cell is high or has congestion at measuring time.
Check if there is hardware problem. Referring to hardware checking guide
Check if there is no dominant coverage. Referring to the solution of Low Coverage.

Ping-pong Handover

Check if the parameter of handover, such as: PBGT, Quality, Interference, Edge
handover threshold, and P/N Value is set too low .
Check if there is overlapping coverage area, which may also cause ping-pong
handover.

Missing Neighbor

Neighbor Audit. Check if there is neighbor missing according to data configuration in

OMC.
Find out the cause of Handover failure form Um signaling flow from Layer2 and

Handover Failure

Layer3 Message.
Check if the HSR between source and target cell is low. If it is, find the root cause of
handover failure reasons by traffic statistic analysis.

#(

Thank You
www.huawei.com