RTWP

Represents a measure of UMTS technology: the total level of noise within the UMTS frequency band of any cell. RTW is related to uplin! interference" and its monitoring helps control the call drops # mainly $S. %t also has importance in the capacity management" as it provides information for the $ongestion $ontrol regarding Uplin! %nterference. %n UMTS" the uplin! interference may vary due to several factors" such as the number of users in the cell" the Service" $onnection Types and $onditions of Radio" etc.. &s our goal is to always be as simple as possible" we will not delve in terms of formulas or concepts involved. We will then !now the typical values" and !now what must be done in case of problems.

Typical Values
'!" we !now that RTW values. can help us in chec!ing the uplin! interference" then we need to !now its typical

%n a networ! is not loaded" normal" acceptable RTW d,m.

&verage value is generally around #()*.+ and #()+.+

-alues around #.+ d,m indicate that the cell has some uplin! interferers. %f the value is around #/+ d,m" the situation is ugly" with strong uplin! interferers. Usually we have 0igh" 1ow and Medium measures of RTW . 0owever" the ma2imum and minimum values are recommended only as au2iliary or reference" since they may have been caused by a pea! of access" or even been forced to have a momentary value due to some algorithm i.e.. Thus" the value that helps us" and has the most accurate information is the same Mean RTW 3 4or cases in which cell has two carriers" the difference between them RTW should not e2ceed 5 d,.

,ased on these typical values" most vendors have an alarm: RTW 6-ery 0igh. 6

What to do in case of problems?

We have seen that RTW can cause performance degradation" mainly $S $all 7rops. 8ote: &ctually" it9s not RTW that causes performance degradation. What happens is that when its value is 9bad9" it9s actually indicating the presence of interference # the latter being responsible for degradation. ,ut what can we do when we find bad values: %f RTW is not at acceptable levels" some actions should be ta!en.

The first thing to do is chec! if there is a configuration issue with the R8$ or 8ode,. This is the most common case" especially in cases of new activations. 'nce verified the parameter settings" the ne2t step is the physical e2amination" especially ;umpers and cables" often partially reversed. %t also should be chec!ed if there is faulty transmitters" or any other problem that could generate intermodulation between the 8ode, and the antenna.

%f the parameter settings and hardware are o!" the chance is very high that we have e2ternal interference" such as a %nterferer Repeater.

%n cases where there may be e2ternal interference" we must begin to act after such a prioriti<ation based on how much this is affecting the cell = %9s across the networ!" if it carry high traffic" ma;or subscribers" etc.. 8ote: There are many forms of interference in the uplin!" both internal and e2ternal. 'nly a few are listed above. The deepening of all possibilities is beyond the goal of being simple to teach the concepts" but this is a suggestion for whoever wants to deepen the study" identification and elimination of interference.

In practice
to find # and eliminate # problems of interference is one of the biggest challenges in our area. 4or being such a comple2 problem" we recommend that be collected enough data for each investigation. %nsufficient data collected can lead to erroneous conclusions" further worsening the problem.

The uplin! interference may appear only in specific periods. Thus" it is recommended that data be collected from at least one wee! >? days@ for every A* hours. Usually this amount of data is sufficient. %n the figure below" we see different days and times # colorful # a fictional e2ample where the interference occurred.

7ata should be collected for the suspicious cell" but also for its ad;acent cells" allowing it to ma!e a triangulation increasing the chances of locating the source of interference. &nother way to locate the source of interference is to do a test in field. &n antenna guy must gradually change the a<imuth of the antenna" while another professional do RTW measurements. That is" through the information directing the antenna and the respective values of RTW " you can draw conclusions very good. %t is obvious that changing the online system may not be a good practice" and tests can be made with a Bagi antenna and a Spectrum &naly<er. -endors offer several ways to measure RTW " using the 'SS" performance counters and logs.

Conclusion
%n this brief tutorial" we learn what is RTW " and that the ideal typical value is about #()*.+ d,m and #()+.+ d,m. &s the RTW is directly related to Uplin! %nterference # and we !now that interference is the main cause of performance degradation # have concluded that improving RTW " ie ma!ing is as close as possible to #()+ d,m" improving the Call Drop Rate! IMPORTANT : Sei<ing the opportunity" see what was stated at the start of this tutorial # dictionary # by describing RTW . Remember that this site has been the sub;ect of a very interesting tutorial in the Tips Section. %f you have not visited this section of the portal yet " % strongly recommend" because it has many issues that help in our growth in telecom and %T area.