Antenna and

Mobile Network Testing Challenges

Christian Müller
Senior Director
Market Segment Development

Fabio Massucci
Sales Engineer
Radiomonitoring & Radiolocation
 Agenda in brief ….
ı The Basestation and BTS evolution steps

ı Why testing in the field?

ı Conducted versus Over - the - Air Measurements

ı Interference Hunting – every thing is possible

ı Questions & Answers

1992 – today
BTS in a Cabinet Solution
Base Station Architectures Evolution “Fiber Cell”
Macro/ Legacy Remote Radio Head

RF
jumper
TMA cable

RF RRH
Feeder (RF/Modulation)

Fiber
Optic
(I/Q data)

Base band processing

& RF /Modulation

Base band processing

Optical Splitter

RF /Coax cabling TMA = Tower Mounted Amplifier Base band

Optical cabling RRH = Remote Radio Head processing
Basestation Value Chain Evolution 2002  2020
Digital Radio
Backbone Channel Digital
Basic Radio TRX Filter TMA Antenna
Unit Connection Coding Interface

Remote Radio Head

2006

2012 Active Integrated Antenna

2020 Active Antenna Beamforming

BTS Evolution towards RF Frontend

Increasing Number of BTS Rollout & Installation
ı Market Estimation 2015 to 2020
 30-40 Frequencies  today
 70-80 Frequencies  2020 (incl.. Small Cell)

2015 WORLD  1.5 Mio BTS p.a.

BTS integrated test cases
causes changes for
• VSWR
• Intermodulation
• RF-Spectrum Uplink
2020 WORLD  2.8 Mio BTS p.a.
Active Antenna & 4X4 MIMO
Small Cell BTS causes optical installations
causes new complex
network behavior • Optical & Platform
• Interferences
• Network Planning
• Optical
 Why testing?
In existing network: field service & maintenance
Field Service & Maintenance starts working
OSS is reporting a problem
Network Problems (OTA testing)
• Interference
• Pilot pollution
• Coverage gaps
• Neighborhood relation wrong
• …….

In site Problems (connected testing)

• Broken part (Cable, Antenna, TMA and other passive/active
components)
• Reflections
• PIM

Target is to solve Problem • Crossed Feeder (MIMO)

• Fiber problems (dirt, bends ….)
• ........

Oct. 2016
 Why testing?
Swops and network extensions
Business case decision MNO
• Based on comparison with
competition (Benchmark)
• Based on changes in
customer behavior
• Based on changes
Equipment Manufacturer starts working
Proactively avoiding Network Problems (OTA testing)
• Interference
• Pilot pollution
• Coverage gaps
• Neighborhood relation wrong

in technology • …….

Proactively avoiding in site Problems (connected testing)

• Broken part (Cable, Antenna, TMA and other passive/active
components)
• Reflections
• PIM

Target is to report either • Crossed Feeder (MIMO)

• Fiber problems (dirt, bends ….)

no Problem or a Problem • ........

Oct. 2016
 Proper Site Installation is fundamental for
Antennas
Radio Networks
RF Cables
Connectors
Tower Mounted Amplifier and/or RRH

Radio Quality
Performance of
the Site =
RF/Fiber Cables
Service Quality

Measurements are key for the service quality!

BTS / BBU
Antennas

RF Cables
Connectors
Tower Mounted Amplifier and/or RRH

RF/Fiber Cables

BTS / BBU
Conducted vs. OTA measurements
R&S®TSMx

• Cable loss power • Spectrum monitoring

measurements

measurements
Conducted

Over the Air

• Distance to fault • Interference hunting
• Reflected power (VSWR, return loss) • Demodulation of pilot channels
• Transmitted power • DL resource block allocation
• Insertion loss • MIMO measurements
• Gain • Carrier agregation measurements
• Decoupling • Functional testing

R&S®ZVH R&S®FSH R&S®FSH R&S®PR100 QualiPoc Android

Why do we need Cable and Antenna Measurements today?
ı To ensure cable and antenna are properly
installed before connecting to base station

ı To prevent push of responsibility due to

many contractors/vendors involve
 Cable & antenna provider/installer
 Base station vendors
ı Minimize later trouble shooting

ı 3 Sector Site to 6 Sector BTS incl. RET,

4X4 MIMO, integrated TMA
Antennas are important components
ı Antennas are crucial for QoS.

ı An ideal transmit antenna converts all incoming

conducted power into radiated power with no
reflection back to the transmitter.

ı Antennas must be properly matched to their

operational band for maximum efficiency.

ı Incorrectly installed or damaged antennas can have a severe performance impact.

ı Wind load, weather behavior (lightning protection) and aging changes Antenna efficiency.

ı Test result reporting is required by MNO’s.

What can go wrong ….. 
Antennas
Poor antenna isolation/matching
 Loose connectors
 Transport or weather damages

TMA and Ext. Components

 Gain problems
 Internal Filter problems
 A&E handling problems

Cables
 Poor or corroded cable connection
 Poor isolation or ground
 Damaged or broken cables
 Unpaired or interchanged cables

Connectors
 Improperly installed connectors
 Weather (entrapped moisture) problems
 Cable & Antenna tester
Requirements:
fast to result – reliable - error-free - no manipulation – easy reporting

ı Factory calibration eliminates the need of calibration in the field

 Reproducible measurement results
 Increased overall measurement speed

ı Measurement WIZARD avoids measurements faults

 No intensive training required for end-users
 False measurements almost impossible
 All members of an installation team use the same test sequence

ı Report generator creates customized reports easily

Passive Intermodulation (PIM) Testing due to non-linear-components
ı Typically these are damaged or corroded base station components (the “rusty bolt”) but can be
generated by a wide variety of objects.

ı To test for PIM, a pair of signals with a given frequency spacing is injected into the DUT.
Intermodulation products will be generated at known frequencies if PIM is present.

ı In FDD networks multiple tones in the DL frequency range can generate interference in the UL
band.  Receiver sensitivity goes down!
BTS and PIM
Passive Intermodulation
PIM is probably an issue when:

• By increasing the output power of the BTS, the noise

level in the receiver path increases significantly
(factor of 3).

• For every dB more on the transmitted signal,

the received signal increases by approx.. 3 dB
What is a PIM Analyzer?
 RF Over CPRI…
Antennas to be considered….!
RF Cables
Connectors
Remote Radio Head

RF over CPRI “sees” only what the RRH demodulates:

Out of band interferences can not be detected!

Fibers

BTS / BBU
July 2016
RF Over CPRI
Antennas

RF Cables
Connectors
Remote Radio Head Over the Air → complete picture!
 Interferences (pilot pollution, external…)
 Wrong MIMO antenna setup
 Wrong sector configuration
Fibers  Crossed feeder cables
 Malfunction of carrier agregation feature
 TX Signal quality
Measurements:
 Spectrum monitoring
 Interference hunting
 Network Scanning
BTS / BBU
 Signal analysis (MIMO, CA, RB, P-Ch)
 Functional testing
Over-The-Air (OTA) Measurements for Outdoor & Indoor
Over-The-Air (OTA) Measurement
Standard Spectrum Measurements

ı Channel Power ı Occupied ı Power on pulsed ı ACLR

Bandwidth signals (TDMA-
Power)

ı Spectrum ı Spurious ı Harmonic ı AM modulation

emission mask emissions distortion depth
Over-The-Air (OTA) Measurement
RF Measurements - LTE
ı Measurement of:
ı Constellation diagram
ı BTS Scanner
ı Resources allocation
Over-The-Air (OTA) Measurement
RF Measurements - LTE (Carrier Aggregation/MIMO)

ı For LTE FDD / LTE TDD

ı Measures 2 or 3 carriers over the air (OTA)
ı User is setting Frequency and Bandwidth
ı Main RF parameters displayed
ı Pass indication is displayed if Cell ID is same
ı Antenna values are greyed out if results are out
of range (one of the antennas is not received)

ı Application: quick check whether the CA

feature is working OK during base station
installation and maintenance
Tools to help in the field…..
R&S Mobile View 1.0 for Android is live, via google play store.

R&S Mobile View currently supports instrument series FSH, ZVH and FPH.
Network Scanning Tools
ı Non-intrusive passive Scanners
ı Subscribed UEs / Mobiles
 Combination is best

What about…
ı Detection of crossed feeders, broken feeders…
ı System internal interference optimization (pilot pollution)
ı Uplink / Downlink interference detection (Spectrum measurement)
ı Decoding of BCH information (missing neighbors, configuration
issues)
ı Coverage
ı ……
 Some real questions about network performance e.g. LTE
Why is my UE throughput so low?

How loaded is this cell?

How many users are in this cell?

What about the RF channel quality?

Are the resources of this cell efficiently used?

What is the capacity of my competitor‘s

network?
take a non-intrusive look at the load in any LTE cell
Scanner example: Automatic Channel Detection

Multi-Band and
Multi-Technology
Networks

Network overview

GSM, UMTS, LTE, CDMA/EV-DO, TETRA, WIMAX

RF Spectrum Scan

UL Activities
DL Activities
Some Scanner examples
Cyclic Prefix

Interferences ?

Spectrum UL/DL ?
Strongest Cell = Serving Cell ?
BCH demodulation
Scanner can detect installation defects

l Crossed feeder detection

l Compare measured with expected coverage (power and SIB
decoding – CellID)

TMA TMA TMA

l Feeder cable corrosion detection on LTE MIMO sites
l Compare measurements from each path

feeder

jumper

BTS
TMA: tower mounted amplifier
Downlink Allocation Analyzer View
Allocations are shown for the selected PCI, or for the PCI
to which the test UE is connected

List of
eNodeBs

List of RNTIs
Connected test UE is
highlighted

Percentage of the cell capacity in Color: Allocation per RNTI

Doubleclick on TTI/RB opens details
RB, that is used by an RNTI White: no allocation
Cell Parameters

Average cell throughput per observation

interval (5s, 60s, 300s or 600s)

Average RNTI throughput per observation

interval (5s, 60s, 300s or 600s)

Number of RNTIs per observation

interval (5s, 60s, 300s or 600s)

Average RB Usage in % per observation

interval (5s, 60s, 300s or 600s)
 LTE DL Resource analysis – non intrusive Radio Channel quality

Evaluating the MCS scheduler:

Only few UEs have high MCS in the cell:

UEs with lower MCS consume more resources

Interferences - ANYTHING is Possible
Spectrum  Interference Hunting & Clearance
Steps in Interference Hunting
ı Stage 1 : Identify general area
ı What cells / sectors are being affected?
ı Area usually < 10 km radius

ı Stage 2 : Driving around

ı Vehicle mounted antenna or direction-finding system
ı Try to get within ~ 100 m radius

ı Stage 3 : Walking around

ı Last few hundred meters
ı Sweep devices / areas of interest
ı Hand-held directional antennas
Automated interference identification via Scanner & Analyser NPA
Driving 93 km in Munich measuring a frequency,
which should be empty, brought up:

57 Narrow Band Interferer (worst one measured

with -73 dBm)

17 Wide Band Interferer (worst one measured

with -30,9 dBm !!!!)

C O M PAN Y CO N F I DE NT I AL
Tools for Interference Hunting

ı Handheld instruments fall into two categories

ı Monitoring receivers : FFT-based

ı Spectrum analyzers : swept / heterodyne-based

ı Dedicated direction-finding systems can be useful

in a number of cases

ı Antennas (vehicle and handheld)

ı Accessories (filters, LNAs, etc.)

R&S®HE400 Antenna modules
Frequency range 30 MHz to 6
GHz (Loded loop and Log-
Periodic array)
Frequency range 20 MHz to 200 MHz
Frequency range 700 MHz to 2500
MHz: two broadband dipoles that
can be combined in and out of
phase
Frequency range 8.3 kHz to 30 MHz
Frequency range 450 MHz to 8 GHz (Log-
Periodic array)
Monitoring Receivers vs. Spectrum Analyzers
ı Speed crucial in interference hunting
ı Monitoring Receivers : use FFT-based
processing : very, very fast

ı Spectrum Analyzers : use swept / heterodyne

architecture : very configurable, but slower

ı Generally speaking, monitoring receivers are

superior for interference hunting due to speed
and sensitivity

ı Spectrum analyzers provide good performance

and additional non-IH measurement capabilities
 R&S®DDF007
At a glance/ key facts DDF007 (PR100)
ı Powerful, portable direction finder and receiver AND DF ANTENNA
ı Use of high-precision DF methods ADD107/207
ı Wide frequency range in both DF and receive mode
 DF mode: 20 MHz to 6 GHz
 Receive mode: 9 kHz to 7.5 GHz
ı Full range of functions in a handheld format
ı Integrated map display (optional)
ı Panorama scan function (optional) & spectrogram
(waterfall) display

DDF007 (PR100)
AND DIRECTIONAL
ANTENNA HE400

DDF007 (PR100) SCREEN

SHOTS (POLICHROME AND
SPECTRUM/WATERFALL
DISPLAY
Multi-path propagation in urban area
Direct, reflected and diffracted signals 1. DF must be moving around for
getting enough bearings from
different positions

2. Direct line between emitter and DF

are often blocked:
- Signal is diffracted (path 2)
- Signal is reflected (path 1, 3 and
4)

3. LOBs will point in all directions

because of many inaccurate LOBs

4. It is very hard for a user to

distinguish good LOBs from bad
LOBs

5. Based on collected data the user

has to choose the further driving
direction
Mobile Locator system with DDF007

Control laptop or tablet with

ADDx07 antenna R&S®Mobile Locator software
DDF007
Direction
Finder

RF / Control Cable

Ethernet cable
Direction finding
ı Automatic direction finding systems can
determine the likely location of a signal
source using one or more DF
methodologies.

ı Systems normally consist of a DF

receiver, specially-designed antenna, and
control / processing SW.

ı Very helpful in locating short-duration

interferers or distant interferers. Good
multipath resistance also allows use in
urban environments.
R&S®DDF007
Application: vehicle based radiolocation
Turn a standard vehicle into a mobile DF
within one minute:
ı Fix R&S®ADD107/207 with magnetic
mount on the vehicle roof
ı Open one window by a few
centimeters and put the cable
inside
ı Connect R&S®DDF007 to the DF
antenna and start operation
Radiolocation by means of running fix
with map display (option R&S®DDF007-
GPS)
 Location fix Mobile_Locator video.wmv
When Mobile Locator obtains enough accurate bearing information, it
generates a location fix (red circle)
Note that the location
fix may move
somewhat as you
approach the target.
Restarting Mobile
Locator algorithm is
useful if the signal level
is very low and
quality of bearing
results is bad.
Functional BTS test – Up-/Downlink
QualiPoc – Site Acceptance
Integration tests at site installations
DAS network verification
RF planning/verification and optimizations tasks

Intuitive User Interface

Extensive set of service tests:
ı forcing function
ı call tests, voice quality (including POLQA, PESQ, and SQuad08)
ı data tests
ı video streaming
ı video quality (non-referenced)
QualiPoc Android
Site Acceptance Report
Job – supported test types
The following basic tests are available for site acceptance tests:

Call to answering station

Call to any number Measuring call setup time

FTP DL and UL
HTTP DL and UL Measuring data throughput

PING
Measuring round trip time (RTT)

50
QualiPoc Android
Site Acceptance Report
Site Acceptance Report contains the following
information:

Project information
Measurement summary
Results per sector
Chart of recorded RF parameters
ı LTE: SINR, RSRP, RSRQ
ı WCDMA: Aggr. Ec/Io, Aggr. RSCP
ı GSM: RxLev, C/I

KPI classification with all specified thresholds

51
Thank you – any questions?
Installation, Service & Maintenance

• Reflection / VSWR • Signal Analysis of • Interference • Real Time Testing • Non intrusive OTA
• Distance-to-Fault LTE (FDD/TD-LTE), Detection &
• Cable Loss • Functional Testing Network Testing
• Spectrum Analysis WCDMA/HSPA+, Location in Field • Pilot Pollution
• ACLR, SEM, OBW cdma2k/EVDO, • Direction Finding • User Experience • Radio Channel
• Power Meter • Over-The-Air (OTA) • Spectrum Test quality analysis
• Antenna Isolation • Interference Hunting Clearance
• PIM • RF & Quality Test
• CAT, VNA • Multi Vendor Test
Interference &
Cable & Antenna Spectrum-/Signal Analyser Spectrum Clearance
tester & OTA BTS Functional test Network Scanner