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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide PDF
Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide PDF
Analysis Guide
November 2005
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2
The content of this manual is provided for information only, is subject to change without
notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Actix. Actix assumes no
responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that appear in this documentation.
Copyright © Actix 2005-2008. All rights reserved. All trademarks are hereby acknowledged.
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Contents 2
1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................4
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Introduction 4
1 Introduction
2
It is widely recognized that increasing productivity fuelled much of the global economic
expansion of the 1990’s. Technological advances in software and hardware usually enable
these productivity improvements, although there is often a lag between the availability of
the new technology, and its widespread acceptance and deployment by industry. This gap
is sometimes called the productivity lag factor.
Some examples of this include the introduction of automated bank teller technology in the
1980’s in the US. When the technology initially became available, it was only sparingly
deployed, and the units were often placed inside bank buildings where the productivity
enhancements they offered were limited. Likewise, unattended gasoline pump technology
has been slow to roll out in Europe, but as the technology has become widely adapted,
huge efficiency gains have been realized.
The wireless industry is now at a similar point. It understands that the traditional labor-
intensive techniques for maximizing performance and capacity in wireless infrastructure
are fundamentally limited by a lack of structured algorithms to determine improvements.
Actix Analyzer offers the possibility to look at drive test data and scanner data to fully
optimize a UMTS network. It allows the engineer to understand the causes and reasons for
drop calls and access failures.
Analyzer offers an unprecedented capability to execute a detailed examination of message
flows and automating statistical analyses of performance. Analyzer significantly accelerates
the rollout, troubleshooting and optimization of the UMTS network. Actix has embedded
intelligence in the software to allow the RF engineer to visualize specific events and
understand real problems occurring in the network.
Analyzer embodies our extensive experience as the market leader in optimization solutions
for CDMA, UMTS and GSM. All of the lessons learned and the techniques developed over a
10-year period have been incorporated into these powerful, vendor-independent solutions
for UMTS infrastructure.
This document provides an overview of the key benefits, applications and features of
Analyzer. For additional information, including white papers and other literature, please
refer to www.actix.com.
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Operational Tasks and Processes 5
Rollout
Verification
S l
R&D Initial Immature Mature
Trials Rollout Buildout Growth
Figure 1: Applicability of Analyzer begins in the Initial Rollout and continues throughout the lifecycle of
the network deployment
Analyzer is a powerful tool designed to help the RF engineer analyze data from scanner
and handset sources. It gives a detailed analysis during the whole drive route. From
missing neighbor to pilot pollution detection, the different embedded events give an
absolute advantage to the RF engineer in understanding the source of different problems.
Figure 2 depicts some of the major processes performed by engineering teams during the
initial rollout, immature buildout and mature growth phases; and indicates the key radio-
link configuration tasks that are common across these processes. The following sections
provide an outline (plus additional details) of the processes and tasks typically performed
during those phases.
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Operational Tasks and Processes 6
On-going Network
Optimization Growth
Scanner and
Drive Tests Benchmarking
Analysis
Figure 2: Scanner and Drive tests analysis, Site Integration and Optimization are performed as part of
critical processes in the Initial Rollout, Immature Buildout and Mature Growth phases
Analyzer allows the user to focus on the following tasks for site integration and testing,
coverage analysis, troubleshooting and optimization:
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Operational Tasks and Processes 7
user-definable query and open data import capabilities—it may be used for many ad-hoc
troubleshooting and performance analysis tasks beyond those covered in this document.
2
2.1 Site Integration and Infrastructure Testing
Part of the process in rolling out a network is to be able to test and integrate new sites.
Analyzer provides the following features for site integration and infrastructure testing:
• The file summary report allows the engineer to have a quick look at the overall
performance during the entire drive test.
• Embedded charts and graphs help to visualize key parameters like Ec/No or RSCP
in the active set.
Figure 3: Charts and graphs for UMTS site integration and infrastructure testing
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• Automated report generation for quick visualization of call statistics such as drop
calls, access failures, call sustainability, etc.
• Working with different sources of data to create homogeneous set of reports for
benchmarking
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Operational Tasks and Processes 10
• Distant servers
Radio Link Performance Metrics available from Analyzer will include the following
attributes, depending on the specific vendor and specific source (handset or scanner):
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Operational Tasks and Processes 11
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 12
3 Feature Overview
2
3.1 Actix Analyzer
Depending on the licenses available to you, Analyzer is able to analyze cdma2000, GSM,
GPRS and EDGE, as well as UMTS data. Analyzer provides a core set of capabilities to
analyze network performance data:
• Support for a wide variety of wireless protocols from the air-interface to the core
network
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• a list of sector IDs included in the matrix, but not the actual neighbor list
• a list of sector IDs included in the actual list but not in the matrix
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 15
C D
Neighbour 2 Not a Neighbour
A
Best Server
B
Drive Test
Neighbour 1
Route E
Excluded from Analysis
Figure 19: Cell A is the best server by CPICH Ec/Io. Cells B and C are within a user-specified threshold
of Cell A’s Ec/Io, and so are counted as potential neighbors of A. Cell D is not within the required
threshold and so is not counted as a prospective neighbor, nor is Cell E which did not have a
measurable signal contribution at this point in the drive test.
A B C D
A N/A 10 2 15
B 10 N/A 40 0
C 2 40 N/A 12
D 15 0 12 N/A
Table 1: A sample symmetric prospective neighbor array using sector IDs A, B, C, and D
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• Ec/Io measurements below a noise floor are filtered out of the data set prior to
analysis.
• At each point along the drive test, CPICH Ec/Io data for each Scrambling Code is
used to assign SCs to an Active Set or a Pollution Set (please see the Emulated
Active Set Module section for more details).
• The Pollution Set consists of all SCs that are not in the Active Set, and have a
CPICH Ec/Io within a user specified pollution threshold of the strongest CPICH
Ec/Io in the Active Set (see Figure 21).
• Using the geographic information in the log file and the SC, the network element
database is searched to identify the Sector and Cell IDs of the SC.
• A pollution array is created in memory which records the number of times each
sector ID is seen as a source of pilot pollution as shown in Table 2
• All bins in the log file are then processed into the pollution matrix.
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 18
D
Pollution Source
C
Active Set
A
Active Set
Drive Test
B
Route E
Active Set
Not a Pollution Source, or in
Active Set
Figure 21: Cell A, B and C are part of the Active Set, as determined by the Emulated Active Set
module. Cell D has a CPICH Ec/Io within a user-specified pollution threshold of the Active Set’s best
server Ec/Io, and so is counted as a contributor to pilot pollution at this point in the drive test. Cell E
has a CPICH Ec/Io that is not within this threshold and so is not a pollution source.
Sector ID Pollution
Count
A 0
B 150
C 45
D 12
Table 2: A sample pollution array indicating the number of points at which each sector caused pilot
pollution for sector IDs A, B, C, and D
Results are presented in the Pilot Pollution Analysis application report as shown in Figure
22. In addition, Pilot Pollution may be geographically analyzed for each SC by accessing
the Pollution_for_SC attribute in the workspace view.
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 19
Figure 22: The Pilot Pollution Analysis report indicates the worst interferers sorted by Scrambling Code
• The Active Set of pilots is determined using the Emulated Active Set module
• Using the geographic information in the log file and the SC, the network element
database is searched to identify the Sector and Cell IDs of the SC
• All bins in the log file are then processed into the handoff state matrix
Reports showing the percentage of handoff state for each sector and for the total drive test
may then be calculated as shown in Figure 24.
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3 sectors
same node B
Softer Soft
2 sectors
same node B
2 sectors
same node B
Figure 23: The Handoff State Analysis examines Sector IDs involved in call at a given drive test point
and determines which of the above states applies, based on UMTS scanner data
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 21
Figure 24: A report showing the percentage of drive test in each handoff state for scanner data
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 22
Figure 25: Using Scanner Ec/Io measurements to implement 3GPP handoff algorithms for the Active
Set
Figure 26 shows the list of attributes available for modification by the user, as indicated in
the 3GPP specifications:
Figure 26: Setting 3GPP handoff algorithm attributes including Reporting Range: Hysteresis Event and
Time to Trigger Event
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 23
Figure 27: Example of a log file analyzed by the CPICH before RRC Connection Request module
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 24
• Site ID of the active site when the call ended or dropped (attribute ServingCellid)
Figure 28: Example of a log file analyzed by the CPICH before call end or drop module
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 25
• Call Identification
• Site ID of the most common active site (site associated with the scrambling code
of the first finger in the active set)
• Site ID of the most common monitored site (site associated with the scrambling
code of the first finger in the monitored set)
Figure 29: Example of a log file analyzed by the CPICH during call module
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• Call Identification
Figure 30: Example of a log file analyzed by the CPICH after call end or drop module
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Figure 31: Example of a log file analyzed by the call setup status module
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Figure 32: Example of a log file analyzed by the call sequence analysis module
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Figure 35: Example of a log file analyzed by the call timing analysis module
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 32
Quality:
Good: Ec/Io > -8 dB
Fair: -8 dB >= Ec/Io >= -15 dB
Poor: -15 dB > Ec/Io
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Also, it reports the number of completion for each of those events and calculates a
percentage of success.
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3.3 Filters
Filters can be added to Analyzer to implement task or application-specific functionality.
Analyzer includes the following pre-defined filters:
• Poor Ec/No
CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet[0] < -15 dB
• High Ec/No
CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet[0] > -8 dB
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 38
3.4 Stateforms
2
Stateforms can be added to Analyzer to implement task or application-specific
functionality. Analyzer includes the following stateforms:
• GPRS_PDPContextAct_Successful
• GPRS_PDPContextDeact_Successful
• GPRS_Attach_Successful
• GPRS_Detach_Successful
• GPRS_PDPContextAct_Failure
• GPRS_RAU_Successful
• Event_Task_Start
While keeping track of the current SC in the active set. Figure 42 shows an example of
those different events at different moments in time with the track at the top showing the
SC.
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 41
• Global RSSI
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• EcNo – Uu_ActiveSet_EcNo
• RSSI – UTRA_UE_CarrierRSSI
• TxPower – UE_TxPow
• SIR – Uu_SIR
• SIR_Target – Uu_TargetSIR
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 45
• TxPower
• RSSI
• SIR
• SIR Target
• UTRA_ARFCN_DL
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Actix Analyzer UMTS Analysis Guide November 2005 Feature Overview 46
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• Uu_OutgoingCallOK
• Uu_IncomingCallOK
• Uu_OutgoingCallSetupFail
• Uu_IncomingCallSetupFail
• Uu_CallDropped
• Uu_CallCompleted
While keeping track of the current SC in the active set. Figure 51 shows an example of
those different events at different moments in time with the colored track at the top
showing the SC.
Figure 52: Example of a log file analyzed by the UMTS Voice Event Navigator Stateform
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