Ejas 12348

European
Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 10, No. 3

Publication Date: June 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/aivp.103.12348.

Deussom Djomadji, E. M., Kabiena Ivan, B., & Chiegue Tchuinmogne, H. Y. (2022). Web based 4G Drive Tests Post Processing

Software for Educational and Enterprise Purpose. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(3). 231-257.
Web based 4G Drive Tests Post Processing Software for

Educational and Enterprise Purpose

DEUSSOM DJOMADJI Eric Michel
Department of electrical and electronic engineering
College of Technology, university of Buea.
Faculty of Engineering and Technology, university of Buea

KABIENA IVAN Basile
Department of Computer Engineering and telecommunications
National advanced school of Engineering, university of Douala

Herman Yves CHIEGUE TCHUINMOGNE
Faculty of Engineering and Technology, university of Buea

ABSTRACT
In the world of digital communications, we usually use terms as processing and
network optimization. Because mobile operators continuously want to provide the
best network experience and quality of service to their subscribers, they
continuously seek to improve their network performance both in Coverage, Quality
and performance. When mobile technology such as LTE is offered to the public,
operators need to be certain that it satisfies their customers. The technology then
needs to be tested and optimized if it does not meet the purpose. In this context, one
will propose a tool for the processing of drive test data. The proposed tool can be
used for enterprises and academic purposes. In fact, online educational courses
have brought great dynamics in the field of education and research. It has
revolutionized the way learning is being done and perceived in our society compare
to traditional learning method. During this period of Covid-19 e-learning is
developing faster than before and new solutions to improve it are proposed. For
many sub-Saharan African countries, it is very scarce to find telecommunication
lecturers with a PhD grade and this has an impact on quality of the training provided
to students in telecommunications engineering fields. Another problem is the lack
of means to buy and install telecommunication equipments for laboratory
experimentations where students can learn and improve their skills during their
training program in a university or college. To overcome these problems, a possible
solution could be the design of efficient web based tool like the one proposed in this
paper and implement labs and e-labs in other to enable students to have a better
understanding of mobile network, drive test data post processing, network quality
of service analysis and network optimization. The tool proposed will provide detail
analytical results using drive test data. Also optimization techniques and solutions
after processing Drive Test data obtained from a live LTE network shall be
proposed. For this study, DT data from a mobile operator will be analyzed in details
using the poposed tool, and how this analysis results can be used to identify poor
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

European Journal of Applied Sciences (EJAS) Vol. 10, Issue 3, June-2022

performance and quality of service areas in the network. Then following
optimization techniques proposed, how defined solutions and strategies can be
applied to improve performance of these areas based on current network
configurations.

Key Word: Drive test; e-learning, Network optimization; LTE; Quality of service.

INTRODUCTION
Radio Frequency planning is the first step to be done for the deployment of a new network or
for a network expansion and this is done by specialized software. And after the deployment
phase, the network has to be tested to ensure the guaranteed theoretical network performance.
Also, for a real-time view of the RF environment, RF engineers have to move around the
network coverage areas to study the QOS, evaluate the coverage, check the data speed and so
one. Therefore network planning and deployment is not enough before commercialization,
network optimization is necessary and is a key phase for the whole deployment and integration
process. For this reason, Drive Tests (DT) are carried and their analysis made to detect areas
with poor coverage and performance which result in poor subscriber QOS. Generally, DTs are
performed by equipment vendors for their corresponding mobile operators and only the
results of the analysis are provided to operators, which limit the operators’ views and
understandings of the real-time network. This practice is especially common in African country
and especially in Cameroon. Thus, in this regards, the purpose of this paper is to provide a web
based tool that can be used by operators to directly analyze their DT data, providing them with
more insight and maneuverability during analysis of this DT data and consequently better
optimization techniques and solutions.

In addition to network optimization which is the basic purpose of any DT and its analysis tool,
this study also has purposes which could be categorized as below, by understanding this
purpose, the problems solved by the study and analysis tool developed are also understood.
These categories include;
A. Corporate: Generally, DT are performed by vendors on operators’ networks for
network maintenance and optimization when necessary and reports are provided to the
latter which sometimes do not provide satisfaction. The software used for this analysis
is a proprietary one and the cost is sometimes high. Also vendors tend to offer
optimization services to operators at very high prices with high Drive Test cost. In this
study we aim at providing a tool locally which can be used directly by operators to study
and analyze their drive test based on drive test raw data and permit operators to save
CAPEX because every DT analysis requested by the operator is charged by the vendor.
Thus reducing operators’ capital expenditure and operational expenditure.
B. Academic: In telecommunication engineering schools in Cameroon as in many African
countries, we lack laboratory resources and this tool could be used as a good basis for
telecom laboratory introductions to engineering students in this field. It can then be
used for teaching purpose, to teach to students what is drive test, drive test raw data,
how drive test data are processed and what is drive test data processing software. With
the apparition of Corona virus 19 which has obliged governments to order social
restrictions and confinement, and the implementation of e-learning to support

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom 232

Deussom Djomadji, E. M., Kabiena Ivan, B., & Chiegue Tchuinmogne, H. Y. (2022). Web based 4G Drive Tests Post Processing Software for
Educational and Enterprise Purpose. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(3). 231-257.

education system, the tool proposed here can be very helpful to implement e-learning
solution and e-laboratory with a very low cost as proposed by authors in [1] [2][3].

In this paper, we won’t focus again on presenting the advantages of e-learning and the usage of
web based solutions to enable e-learning, we will mostly focus on the presentation of the
proposed tool and its characteristics. The next part of the paper will be organized as follows,
we will present the context in section 2, then the method used to build the tool in section 3, and
in section 4 we will present the results obtained and we will end with a conclusion.

CONTEXT
LTE Radio Network Planning & Deployment
The major objective of LTE radio network planning is to give a cost effective solution for RAN
deployment specially in terms of coverage, capacity and quality which entails optimizing Base
Station number and deployment location, antenna type determination, Tx / Rx power and
propagation environment characteristics. The RAN planning can be divided into the following
3 steps; [4] Nominal Planning (Dimensioning), Detailed Planning and Deployment as depicted in
the detailed flow chart below proposed by Huawei:

Figure 1 - LTE RNP Overview [5]

The process of LTE Dimensioning is to estimate the lower bound number of NEs and the
configurations required for the network to provide a sufficiently high QOS. LTE Dimensioning
can be separated into 4 different steps according to [5] including: Coverage, Capacity, Active
User and X2&S1 Dimensioning. Its flow can be shown as below.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.103.12348 233


Figure 2 - LTE Radio Network Dimensioning [5]

LTE network evaluation and optimization
Just like preceding and surely forthcoming mobile technologies, LTE technology most certainly
requires evaluation and optimization at some point in its cycle as shown in the figure below.
Some of the reasons for this are explained below.
• After an LTE network is deployed, it has to be commercialized but this phase cannot be
done if mobile operators cannot guarantee subscriber QOS and QOE [7] to a certain
percentage of the theoretical results obtained during RNP phase. Therefore the network
is evaluated and optimization solutions proposed and implemented where necessary to
achieve this objective.
• A good commercialized LTE network will surely have its subscriber database grow in
which case the network performance will drop due to load increase. Thus capacity
planning need to be reinitiated, implemented and the network is re-evaluated and
optimization solutions are proposed to increase network performance.



Figure 3 – LTE RNPO procedure and implementation

As shown by above chart, network evaluation is at the center of RNPO and therefore the method
used to carry out this phase should be of high accuracy, easy to understand and facilitate
iteration and selection of optimization solution if needed.

There are few ways to evaluate a network, for example through analysis of KPI or through
prediction tools and signal interference. However, a very common and efficient way to evaluate
the network is conducting a Drive Test. But what is it [6] [15]? This will be the main focus of the
next paragraph.

The analysis of drive test is fundamental for the work of any professional in the field of IT and
Telecom comprising of two phases: data collection and data analysis.

Although through the analysis of KPI's we can identify problems such as dropped calls, among
others, the drive tests allow a deeper analysis in field. Identifying areas of each sector of
coverage, interference, evaluation of network changes and various other parameters.
Therefore the research, design and implementation of a tool for this purpose should be
meticulous. Even though, there exist a lot tools for this purpose, as earlier mentioned in the



problem statement part of the introduction, it is important to have such a tool locally as its
output will help provide network optimization solutions (Table 5), faults location detection and
a better grasp of the network for network maintenance for local operators.

Figure 4 - LTE RNPO flow chart

Network maintenance actions include the identification of:
• Damage equipment such as Radio units, antennas,
• Faulty optic fiber connections, faulty CPRI cables, jumpers or connectors
• VSWR faults …etc.

Once DT analysis is over, the results obtained should permit us to provide network optimization
solutions to improve network performance and therefore subscriber QoS. These solutions can
be classified into 2 categories:



1. Little or No CAEPX|OPEX: where there is no need to add any additional equipment
to the network in whole, just need to modify some NE configurations to achieve
optimization. These include adjusting some antennas height, azimuths, beam tilts
and to some extents even the transceiver stations’ pilot power.
2. High CAPEX: which necessitates the addition of new equipment to the network the
worse of which is the addition of a new site. This is a more expensive solution.

LTE DT overview
A Drive Test, simply, is a test which consist of driving around a mobile network and collecting
network measurements for optimization purposes. The collected data depends on the
technology (2G, 3G, 4G) implemented by the network. It is therefore necessary to understand
the importance of this test [6].

Why are DTs performed?
• Analyze customer complaint of the operator in their entourage
• Finding problems in BS (BTS, NodeB, eNodeB)
• Analyzing results of optimization process

All these reasons can be summarized as “to optimize network” (Coverage, Quality, and
Performance.)

DT provides a real-time view of the RF environment for a given set of network configurations
and environmental conditions. Thus it measures real network coverage and performance a user
moving around the network will experience. The versatile nature of the DT and the nature of
real-world conditions makes it one of the most useful and accurate methods used by engineers
for network planning and optimisation. A general DT overview is depicted below:

Figure 5 - DT Process Overview

The Different tools used for DT tools are shown in the figure above as wells as the output and
analysis methods carried out for outputting of results and optimisations. DT are generally
always requested by operators to vendors and their motivation for such steps include:
• Cell optimization
• Network benchmarking
• Technology/feature testing



• Quality monitoring and
• New cell validation.

All steps of this process are carried out by the vendors, and only reports are presented back to
the operators as results. Also vendors require operators’ confirmation before they can
implement optimization solutions if needed to the network.

A wide range of data can be collected in DT due to the wide range of messages that are
exchanged between the UE and the eNodeBs. Therefore it is imperative to know what to
measure and understand the measurements. The following list shows the kind of data collected
during a DT [16].
• Signal intensity
• Signal quality
• Interference
• Dropped calls
• Blocked calls
• Anomalous events
• Call statistics
• Service level statistics
• QoS information
• Handover information
• Neighbouring cell information
• GPS location co-ordinates

However, for LTE, the following measurements are being highlighted for their importance to
perfectly access the network:
a. RSRP: is a measurement of the received signal strength by the UE, thus represents
coverage. By definition, it is the average received UE power from the reference signal
resource elements over a desired bandwidth. Its range is from -140 dBm to -44 dBm
with a 1dB resolution. These range can be categorised into 3 following different UE
scenarios [19] [20];
• RSRP > -75 dBm: Excellent QoS, unless the bandwidth handles too many users.
• -95 > RSRP > -75 dBm: reduction in QoS and 30% to 50% drop in throughput.
• RSRP < -95 dBm: unacceptable QoS. Throughput will tend to zero around -100 and
-110 dBm; these will likely lead to call drop in most networks. However some
networks still offer acceptable QoS at -105 dBm. This mostly depends on the vendor
used by the operator.
b. RSRQ: is a measure of signal quality. Its calculation is obtained from the following
formula:
𝑹𝑺𝑹𝑷
𝑹𝑺𝑹𝑸[𝒅𝑩] = 𝟏𝟎 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝑹𝑺𝑺𝑰 (1)

RSSI is a measurement of all the power in the applicable spectrum (1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz)
RSRQ range is -19.5 to -3 dB, with a 0.5 dB resolution. Usually, RSRP remains stable, even if the
UE is in motion. If RSRQ starts decreasing, it implies that the interference is increasing.
Therefore, if there is a reduction in both RSRP and RSRQ, this will mean coverage loss. Hence



we can use both RSRP and RSRQ to provide a good representation of the networks RF
conditions and therefore can be used to find coverage and interference problems that affect
user experience and QoS. 3 categories of values can be identified:
• RSRQ > -9 dB: provides excellent subscriber experience
• -12 dB > RSRQ > -9 dB: reduction of QoS with acceptable user experience.
• RSRQ < -13 dB: significant drop in throughput and also call drop
c. SINR: is also a signal quality measurement but unlike the RSRQ, 3GPP does not define it,
thus it is defined by UE vendors. The SINR is defined by the power of measured usable
signals divided by the sum of the interference power and background noise power.
𝑺
𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑹[𝒅𝑩𝒎] = 𝑰*𝑵 (2)
d. Throughput: is the amount of data transmitted within a specific time period both in the
uplink and downlink directions. In a DT, throughput represents the performance to be
expected from the network at that current position.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Related Works and Methods
As stated above, DT data are generally always analyzed by vendors and therefore the software
used for this analysis are proprietary to these vendors. However, there exist some other
methods which could be used to analyze this data and most of these methods are used by other
master’s thesis of this field of study. Some of these methods include;
• MapInfo Pro[8]: This software uses DT data and displays the data in its in-built google
map API with legends explaining the view, after which it outputs picture of this displays
which can be used to generate DT reports for operators (in other words very similar to
vendors’ proprietary software). However, just like vendor’s software,
ü It lacks dynamicity, i.e. variations of a parameter over another parameter range
cannot be dynamically displayed. For example variation of SINR over the RSRP
range [-115;-105[cannot be dynamically shown.
ü It is also very poor in graph statistics it provides with respect to DT analytics. For
example, graphs of RSRP against distance from serving cell with sample points in
range cannot be outputted by this tool.
ü Because it is a commercial, it costs a lot of money.
• GNET gyokovsolutions [9]: This is a web application which directly offers the
possibility of displaying data on a google map API with good legends. Nevertheless, it
lacks dynamicity and statistics graph content. It has the advantage of being free even
though it limits the capabilities of the mobile app which can be used for DT data
collection.
• TEMS[10]: provided by ASCOM and a training certificate by TELECOMA is also a very
good tool for DT analysis, however its biggest disadvantages like the ones provided by
vendors is the fact that only files obtained using their data collections applications can
be loaded to the analysis platform. Most of the other DT data analysis tools have similar
disadvantages.

These are some software which can be used for DT data analysis and their disadvantages are
the basis of the conception and implementation of our tool.



Related works to this study are all proprietary, owing to the nature of those who carry out this
DT and their analysis so it is relatively difficult to get materials on existing tool which carry out
this analysis. Nevertheless, the methodology followed for DT analysis is universal an always
occurs as explained in the overview above. The only possible difference which exists is the
format of display of the results obtained from a DT analysis and how this results help identify
the different communication problems which are generally identified in a network. The table
below summarizes such problems with their corresponding optimization solutions.

Table 1 - General Problems Identified in Networks through DTs
Problem Reason Optimization Solution
Weak Occurs when UE received levels are Analyze EIRP of each sector on parameter
Coverage below minimum access levels and configuration and make sure they reach
signal quality. max values
Main problem found in most Increase pilot power
networks Adjust antenna azimuth, beam tilt, height
(if possible)
Use high gain antennas
Deploy new eNodeBs if problem cannot be
solved by previous propositions.
No Occurs at a point where received Identify the cells covering such areas
dominant levels of serving cell is equal to levels
Adjust antenna azimuth, beam tilt
cell of its neighboring cell and close to cell
Increase the coverage of the cell with good
reselection threshold.
signal levels (by adjusting engineering
Unstable and low SINR. Gives rise to
parameters)
frequent call drops and handovers.
Decrease coverage of other cells to avoid
interference
Cross It happens when one or more cells are Antenna adjustment: azimuth, beam tilt
Coverage serving in a non-planned area
exceeding its coverage scope. These Beam Tilt adjustment is the most effective
cells have discontinuous serving areas way to control coverage (preferentially
and usually serve in another cells adjusting electrical tilt)
planned coverage scope. Generally If necessary replace antennas with large
this occurs when the site is located at tilt antennas.
a high elevation location, and its Decrease the antenna height (for a high
signal propagates farther and over site)
other cells. This can originate Decrease transmit power of carriers when
situations where the UE is served by a cell performance is not affected
far cell that is not configured as a
neighbor of the surrounding cells,
which may result in a drop call when
user moves from that area. Also this
usually happens with cells located at
both ends of shores (particularly river
shores) due to water surface
reflection



Conception
Following the study carried out on the 2 analysis tools presented in the previous section, some
primary questions had to be answered:
ü Who specifically are the users of this tool? This question is answered by our introduction
section i.e. users which fall in both categories A (Corporate) and B (Academic). Once this
is decided, it leads to the following question;
ü Is proposed tool better as an installation app or web app? An installation app requires
different OS version of the app to be created (windows, mac, Linux), different equipment
version (PC, Android phone) so as to be sure to cover a wide range of users in our
categories. This therefore leads to the choice of web app as only a web browser is
required on user equipment to run the app and developing time is shorter. It can also be
easily included in every web based learning platform through a simple link.
ü Is the proposed tool global, i.e. can this tool be used on data collected from different
methods? The file to be uploaded to the tool will be in Microsoft Excel format which is
universal. However, a template file will be provided which will give the structure and
organization of data before uploading. This will break the barrier of one collection app
– one analysis tool. That is, any data collection method can be used and the data used by
the proposed analysis tool to provide needed results.

After having answered these questions and following web programming high level designs, the
following HLD for proposed tool was made;

Figure 6 - Application's HLD

This figure shows the different GUI which have to be offered to user together with what specific
information they provide to the said user. It also depicts the Client-Server relation that will exist
in our tool.

Having done the HLD, the next step is a flow chart of the tool, which shows the different paths
and possibilities the tool will offer for optimum DT analysis. This is achieved with the use of
UML implemented using Dia [11] software. The flowchart is depicted below in figure 7;



Figure 7 - App navigation flow

Figure 8- DTDA UML flow chart

As it can be seen on the figure 6 above, we have the
• Welcome | Log In page which provides Log In GUI to user so as to offer minimum
protection to app utilization
• Home Page offers the possibility to either load previously saved DT data in DB or save
new DT data in format which will be provided by a link on this page. This page equally
contains algorithms which will check that user is uploading data following the format
issued by the tool.
• Loaded Page accessed when user loads DT data from DB. Note that for new DT data, it
should be saved first into the DB before it can be loaded for analysis. This page offers
limited view to analysis provided on different parameters i.e. either coverage or capacity
but no access to PCI distribution for example. For better details, user needs to switch to
Dynamic page.



• Dynamic Page is the crux of the app as it offers controllers to manipulate the 2 available
views; a google map view which offers dynamicity which is not provided by other tools
and a statistics graph view with a wider variety of dynamically switchable graphs for
optimal analysis. The graphs displayed in this page and their analytical meaning are
shown on below table

Table 2 - Different Graphs To be displayed in App
Classification Parameter Analysis (Graphs) Reason | Objective
Coverage RSRP Average RSRP Vs Gives an overview of RSRP general

Distance from site behavior over distance. Normally areas
with sample points equidistant from cell should have approx.
sum same RSRP, but if this is not the case it will
result in very steep gradient line at some
distances thus showing bad coverage areas
at this distances.
SINR Average SINR Vs This has similar objective as RSRP. It will
Distance from site lead to certify analysis obtained from
with sample points RSRP-Distance graph.
sum
Capacity SINR Vs Samples
This will help illustrate, if exist, the
(quality | over specific RSRP
problem of both bad signal reception and
Performance) bad signal quality. And will show how what
percentage of coverage area is affected.
RSRQ Average RSRQ Vs Tells us how user experience varies over
Distance from site the coverage area. Acceptable values for
with sample points user experience are values larger than -
sum 12dB.
Throughput Average This graph illustrate general behavior of
Throughput Vs user throughput with distance from site.
Distance from site Has the same objective as RSRP, but
with sample points instead of coverage, it relates to
sum performance.
Average This graph should help ensure consistent
Throughput Vs SINR behavior with theoretical expectations.
Average
Throughput Vs
RSRP
Other PCI PCI Vs Sample This graph will show the percentage points
points sum serviced by each cell around which the DT
was carried out.

The next thing to do is the designing of the tool database. The model used to design this DB is
the ER model. For this we have 2 major entities users and dt_data, together with derived tables
which will be dynamically created and deleted and whose name will depend on the id attribute
of the dt_data table (dt.dt_id, cdt.dt_id). The relationship between all the entities in the design
is a 1:1 relationship. This design is depicted in the below figure:



Figure 9 - DTDA database design

Following this design, we can have the below database schema and corresponding primary keys
underlined as per the schema outline rules:
- users ( user_id, user_name, user_email, user_password, user_priviledge, user_created_at,
user_updated_at ) ;
- dt_data ( dt_id, dt_added_on, dt_name, dt_data_path_storage, dt_cell_path_storage,
loaded ) ;
- dt.dt_id ( id, time, longitude, latitude, pci, rsrp, rsrq, sinr, throughput,
distance_from_serving_cell ) ;
- cdt.dt_id ( cell_id, transceivername, longitude, latitude, pci, azimuth, height, color );

After having designed the database and defined all above parameters, before we implement the
tool conceived, we need to define the file template which will provide structure to the data to
be uploaded. The data should be input in an excel file with the column headings as below:

Table 3 - DT data table template
time Longitude Latitude PCI RSRP RSRQ SINR Throughput
2017-07-04 9.653855 4.095848 172 -115.63 -18.13 -16 1000
14:52:07

Table 4 - Cell Data Table template
site name Transceiver Longitude Latitude PCI Azimuth Height
name
Airport_800 Airport_800_1 9.71546 4.01386 375 0 30
A link will be provided in the app which will provide the Data sample templates to help tool
users.

Implementation
Since we are implementing a web application, we used;
- Wampserver [12]: is a local server software which offers apache and MySQL DB with
PHP scripting language for communication between server and client. When deploying



this app online, we will need to ensure that online server has the same configuration as
the wampserver used for developing.
- HTML 5 [13] web based client programming language with CSS, JavaScript, JQuery to
add functionality and professionalism to tool, so for optimum implementation of this
app a better understanding of this programming languages was needed and thus
acquired. Also a PHP framework was needed to facilitate security programming of the
app. This was achieved with the help of the Laravel [14] framework.

With this, we have achieved the research on, conception and implementation of global local tool
which can be used for DT data analysis. The final result of this implementation can only be
appreciated through the testing of sample DT data, which is principally the target of the next
chapter.

RESULT
DT was conducted in the Douala region on the LTE network of a local network operator in
1800MHz frequency band. This data is the basis of the analytical result presented here. These
results are split into 3 major characteristics Coverage, Quality and Performance under which
the different DT parameters will be classified as it follows below.

In other to successfully run our tool, you need an equipment with a browser (Google Chrome,
Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer), and a RAM of core i3 at least because a great amount of data
will be exchanged.

Before we start the analysis let’s have a look on the procedure to save to and load DT data from
our tool.

Figure 10 - App Welcome Page

After we logging in, we have the below home page which provides us with the possibility to
save and load data for analysis. Observe the empty load table due to absence of DT data in DB.



Figure 11 - App Dashboard

Figure 12 - App DT's data Save page

Also notice that in the save tab we have a button which provides the possibility to download
sample data for user to know format of data analysed by tool. Once we fill the submit DT Data
form when we save, we notice the following change in the load tab.



Figure 13 - App DT Load Page

New data has been submitted in DB. Now to begin analysis, we click on “Load” button under the
Action column of the corresponding data we wish to analyse. And we get the following views
for coverage and capacity analysis.

Figure 14 - App Coverage vs Capacity Dashboard View



Clicking on either “RSRP”, “RSRQ”, “SINR” or “THROUGHPUT” will permit you to study their
variations independently. For Example we get the below view for RSRP;

Figure 15 – Graph View of single Parameter analysis (RSRP)

Figure 16 – Map View of Single Parameter analysis (RSRP)

However this is just a limited view. For a more global and complete view, click on “Go To
Dynamic View”.Then obtain the below fantastic view:



Figure 17 – App Dynamic View

As can be seen on picture, we have a more global view with all parameters including PCI and a
lot of statistical graphs for proper analysis. Now we can begin our analysis and results.

Results presentation
Coverage
Coverage analysis is always depicted by the analysis of the RSRP and SINR parameters. Below
are their views on map which can be obtained by clicking on their corresponding link under
“Map Menu”.

Figure 18 - Coverage Result RSRP Variation



Figure 19 - Coverage Result SINR Variation

Quality & Performance
Appreciated through the study of RSRQ parameter. The throughput parameter mostly provides
insight to network performance.

Figure 20 - Quality Result RSRQ variation

Figure 21 - Performance Result Throughput Variation



PCI Analysis
These results have for goal showing the percentage coverage of each sector on the distance
covered during the DT.

Figure 22 - Percentage coverage of each sector

Figure 23 - PCI Result Pie Chart and Map distribution

Analysis & Comments
Coverage
As seen in (RSRP) figure 18, with these eNodeBs, a good overall coverage is achieved, but
predominantly in its surrounding areas. Bad coverage areas, highlighted in the said figure are
illustrated by the dark points, are essentially caused by large distance between the UE and the
Serving eNodeB.

If we look at the trend showed by the statistical graph of data collected we have the picture
below. The graph shows the variation of average RSRP against average distance from serving
BS with the number of sample points which fall in the range. For example, we can read the first
value of the graph as 268 points in 2181 points in the sample space have RSRP greater than -80
dBm and are found within 250 m of the corresponding serving BS.



Figure 24 - Coverage Analysis, Average RSRP vs Distance over a sample space

These are average values, so only an overview of the general behavior can be evaluated. It
shows that for distances larger than 1Km from the serving BS, the average RSRP drops below
the -95 dBm which affects negatively the QoS and the Throughput. Thus areas of poor coverage
can be identified as areas with red and black samples on the Map view which represents 6% of
the drive tested region.

Quality
As earlier stated the major parameter for this analysis is RSRQ. However, SINR parameter is
also used for this analysis. For a good network quality, most of the samples should have RSRQ
value greater than -12dB since this provides a good user experience. From Figure 29, 1231
samples of 2181 samples have RSRQ > -12 dB which represents about 57% of the area tested.
This result can be further seen on the below graph.

Figure 25 - Quality Analysis, Average RSRQ vs Distance over a sample space

On the other side, SINR presents worse results. This is shown by the red samples of Figure 28
which represent 73% of the tested region. When comparing this with coverage analysis we can
confirm areas of poor network coverage. Our tool offers the possibility to view the variation of
a parameter over the range of another. This helps certify some analysis. For example the below



figure shows the distribution of RSRP over the SINR range < 6dB. This analysis will help
correlate the conclusion on bad coverage areas established during the coverage analysis.

Figure 26 - RSRP when SINR < 6 dB

Performance
To analyse the performance of the network over the DT area, we have to study all statistical
graphs of throughput as displayed below.

Figure 27 - Coverage Analysis, Average Throughput vs Distance over a sample space

Figure 27 graph shows a contradiction to previously obtained statistics because for distances <
0.5 Km we have poor throughput comparatively. This could either be caused by poor algorithm
in the tool or bad data collected during the DT due UE misconfiguration. To be sure of the
conclusion we could check the below statistical graph too;



Figure 28 - Coverage Analysis, Average Throughput vs RSRP over a sample space

Figure 29 - Coverage Analysis, Average Throughput vs SINR over a sample space

These charts clearly show that there is a problem with the collected data as they represent the
relation between signal reception and quality, with the (average) throughput, which does not
match the above results. Theoretically, the throughput is impacted by the modulation scheme
and code rate and these parameters strictly depend on the radio conditions, thus this behaviour
is inconsistent with theoretical expectation.

At this level a new DT should be done and its throughput analysis remade to confirm or correct
such results.

Nevertheless if we focus on analysis of samples found at a distance > 1Km of their serving BS,
we could identify worst performance regions and when examining the worst performing areas,
a match with the previous analysis pointing out low coverage areas can be established. So, as
anticipated in this analysis, bad signal reception, in addition to bad quality, also leads to poor
throughput performance. These results raises the idea that, in order to obtain better results and
better performance, the coverage should be extended.



Optimization Solutions
So after this analysis we clearly identify regions of poor coverage as depicted by the figure
below and thus following table 5, we have a list of possible solutions we could implement in
such areas with the best and most expensive being the addition of a new eNB. Looking at how
to apply these optimization solutions by separating them in the following categories;

Little or No CAPEX|OPEX
Observing the below area of the capacity analysis,

Figure 30 - Identification of Poor Capacity Areas

If we show PCI variation over this region, we have below figure

Figure 31 - PCI distribution over Poor coverage areas
.
We see that the dark and red samples are not covered by their nearest BS (Cells 354, 355, 356),
their serving cell here is 362 which is more than 2 Km away.

Possible optimization solutions of this poor coverage analysis would be the adjusting of the
azimuth, height or tilt of the antennas on sectors with PCI 355 and 354.



High CAPEX
Having a look at regions with very low RSRP in the collected data as depicted below (figure 32).
We observe that the addition of a new eNodeB in the region indicated will immediately solve
the problem of coverage in this area. However this is a very expensive solution for optimization,
even though it will help operator extend its network coverage area even beyond the poor
coverage area zone to uncovered area.

Nevertheless, before using any optimization solution on the network, operator should ensure
that the network maintenance is optimum, because some of these poor analysis results could
have been obtained because of some faulty equipment on the network. Thus operator should
carry out checking of: Damage equipment identification such as Radio units, antennas, faulty
Optic fiber connections, VSWR faults …etc. around the poor analysis results areas.

New
eNodeB

Figure 32 - Poor Coverage areas (RSRP < -105 dBm)

CONCLUSION
Mobile communication experienced a big leap towards improving QoS through high data rates
and low latency, with the introduction of LTE networks. In other to evaluate this network
conditions and performance, a detail and comprehensive analysis is required which is the
constituent of Drive Testing. The analysis of the data obtained from this process helps identify
problems in the network and consequently provide plausible solutions to these problems which
should be implemented.

Following this, a local DT tool data analyzer was developed and presents in this paper to help
local operators evaluate their network so as to identify areas of poor coverage and
performance, for optimization. The tool also can be used for teaching purpose in
telecommunication engineering curriculum. This tool had the particularity of assembling the
advantages of all existing tools leaving space for little or no disadvantage. The greatest
advantage being the fact that it is a general tool which is not limited to the method or a specific
type of DT data collected, followed by the fact that it is a web app tool which implements the
client server protocol and is thus very cheap.



To demonstrate the abilities of this tool, a sample DT data was obtained from a local operator
and analysis carried out using the tool. Poor coverage and performance areas were identified
during this analysis and following the problems/optimization solution table provided, a high
CAPEX and a low OPEX/CAPEX solution was provided so as to show the variability in solution
provision.

Even though this tool provides better insight to network optimization, it is still a partial
solution. To complete this solution, the development of DT data collection tool will be
necessary. In which case we will have a DT data collection tool and a DT post processing tool in
a whole package. Also, for easier and on the spot analysis, this package can even be developed
for mobile devices such as phones, tablets etc.… and for different mobile systems including
android, iOS etc.…

References
1. Deussom Djomadji Eric Michel, et al. "WLAN simulations using Huawei eNSP for e-laboratory in engineering
schools." IOSR Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering (IOSR-JECE) 15(2), (2020): 47-70.
2. G. Gercek and N. Saleem, “Transforming traditional labs into virtual computing labs for Distance Education,”
iJOE, pp. 46–51, 2008.
3. Janvier Fosting, « usages des logiciels de simulation dans les dispositifs hybrides en formation des sciences
pour eleves ingenieurs : etude evaluative a l’ensp de yaounde » in english « Uses of simulation software in
hybrid devices in science training for engineering students : evaluative study at Yaoundé ENSP », pages 181-
190, Dec 2019.
4. Penttinen, Jyrki T.J.The LTE/SAE Deployment Handbook. United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Jan. 2012.
5. http://nashvillelibrary.dyndns.org:823/YourFreeLibrary/_lte/RF%20Design%20And%20Link%20Budget/6
4481984-11-LTE-Radio-Network-Planning-Introduction.pdf (Huawei document)
6. Umar Toseef “LTE Optimization and Resource Management in Wireless Heterogeneous Networks”, submitted
to Faculty of Physics and Electrical Engineering, University of Bremen February 2013.
7. JDSU “Drive Testing LTE”, white paper February 2012.
8. http://www.pitneybowes.com/us/location-intelligence/geographic-information-systems/mapinfo-pro.html.
9. http://www.gyokovsolutions.com/G-NetTrack%20Android.html
10. http://www.telcomatraining.com/course/4g-lte-drive-test/
11. http://live.gnome.org/Dia
12. www.wampserver.com
13. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5
14. https://laravel.com/
15. http://www.telecomhall.com/what-is-rf-drive-test-testing-.aspx
16. 3GPP, TS 32.450 V10.1.0, “Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
Network (E-UTRAN): Definitions (Release 10)”, June 2011


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European

Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 10, No. 3

Web based 4G Drive Tests Post Processing Software for

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Coverage RSRP Average RSRP Vs Gives an overview of RSRP general

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