LTE Signal Quality Analysis

BTS Master, Cell Master, Spectrum Master

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 1

Anritsu LTE Test Instrument Portfolio

Signaling Tester

Fading Simulator

Signal Analyzers

LTE Protocol
Conformance Test System
Radio Communication
Analyzer

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Rapid Test Designer

(RTD)

Slide 2

Vector Signal Generator

LTE RF Conformance
Test System

Introducing the Next generation Anritsu Master family

h MT8221B

h MT8212E

h MS2712E h MS2721B

h MT8222B

h MT8213E

h MS2713E h MS2722C
h MS2723C
h MS2724C
h MS2725C
h MS2726C

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 3

Cover all defined frequency plans and bandwidths

h Frequency bands
 All E-UTRA Operating Bands
 700 MHz 2700 MHz

h Channel bandwidths
 20, 15, 10, 5, 3, 1.4 MHz
` BTS Master MT8221B
` Spectrum Master
MS2722/23/24/25/26C

 10, 5, 3, 1.4 MHz

LTE Bandwidth Selection

` BTS Master MT8222A

` Cell Master MT8212/13E
` Spectrum Master MS2712/13E
` Spectrum Master MS2721/23/24B

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 4

A Family of LTE Signal Quality Analyzers

h RF Quality Analyzer
 RF Measurements

h Modulation Quality Analyzer

 Modulation Measurements

h DL Coverage Quality Analyzer

 Over-the-Air Measurements

h Pass/Fail Analyzer
LTE Measurement Summary

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

h LTE Measurement Summary

Slide 5

LTE RF Quality Measurements

h Channel Spectrum
 Channel Power
 Occupied Bandwidth

h ACLR
h Spectral Emission Mask (SEM)
h RF Measurement Summary
RF Measurement Summary

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 6

LTE Modulation Quality Measurements

h Constellation
 QPSK, 16 QAM, 64 QAM

h Control Channel Power

h Modulation Summary

Modulation Measurement Summary

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 7

LTE Downlink Coverage Quality Measurements

h Scanner
 Six Sync Signal Power Levels
` Cell ID
` Sector ID
` Group ID

 Dominance

h Auto Save
OTA Scanner Measurements

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 8

Key Performance Indicators vs. LTE Field Measurement

Key Performance
Indicators vs. Test

Sync
Power

RS
Power

Occupied
BW,
ACLR, &
SEM

EVM
(pk)

EVM

Freq
Error

Rx
Noise
Floor

OTA
EVM

Call/Session Blocking
Power shortage

Resource Block shortage

UL Interference

xx

xx
xx

Call/Session Drop
Radio Link Timeout

UL Interference
DL Interference

x
x

Slide 9

x = probable, xx = most probable

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

LTE Field Measurement vs. BTS Field Replaceable Units

Test vs. BTS Field
Replaceable Units

Signal
Generation

MCPA

Sync Power

xx

RS Power

xx

Occupied BW

xx

xx

Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio (ACLR)

xx

Spectral Emission Mask (SEM)

xx

Error Vector Magnitude Peak (EVM pk)

xx

Error Vector Magnitude (EVM)

Frequency Error
OTA EVM

Freq Ref

Antenna

Antenna
Down Tilt

xx

x = probable, xx = most probable

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Filters

Slide 10

LTE Pass/Fail Mode

h Guidelines
 Direct Connect
 OTA
 Per Vendor

h Consequences
 Inconsistent settings between
base stations, leads to

Pass/Fail Test

inconsistent network behavior

h LTE Pass/Fail
 Set up common test limits, or sets
of limits, for each instrument
 User modify via MST to set-up
system-wide maintenance
operating practice
CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 11

LTE Occupied Bandwidth

h Guideline Direct Connect
 Less than defined LTE bandwidth
` 1.4, 3.0, 5.0, 10, 15, 20 MHz

h Consequences
 Leads to interference with
neighboring carriers
 Dropped calls
 Low capacity

RF Quality

h Common Faults

h Occupied Bandwidth

 Tx filter

 A measurement of the spectrum

used by the carrier
 The occupied bandwidth contains
99% of the signals RF power

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 12

 MCPA
 Signal processing
 Antennas

LTE Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio (ACLR)

h Guideline Direct Connect
 -45 dBc adjacent channels
 -45 dBc alternate channels

h Consequences
 Interference
 Low capacity
 Blocked calls

h Common Faults

RF Quality

 Tx filter

h ACLR (single-carrier displayed)

 Measures how much of the carrier
gets into neighboring RF channels
 Checks the closest (adjacent) and
the next closest (alternate)

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 13

 MCPA
 Channel cards
 Cable connectors

LTE Spectral Emission Mask (SEM)

h Guideline Direct Connect
 Must be below mask

h Consequences
 Interference with neighboring
carriers
 Legal liability
 Low data rate

h Common Faults

RF Quality

 Check amplifier output filtering

h Spectral Emission Mask

 Look for intermodulation

 SEM checks closer to the signal

than ACLR does

distortion

 It also is sensitive to absolute

power levels

 Look for spectral re-growth

 May be requirement of regulators

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 14

LTE Error Vector Magnitude (EVM)

h Guidelines Direct Connect
 QPSK - 17.5%
 16 QAM 12.5%
 64 QAM 8%

h Consequences
 dropped calls
 low data rate
 low sector capacity
 blocked calls

Modulation Quality

h Common Faults

h EVM

 distortion in the channel cards

 The ratio of errors, or distortions,

in the actual signal, compared to
a perfect signal

 Power amplifier

 EVM measures the PBCH, if there

is no data traffic and the PDSCH if
there is traffic

 antenna system

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 15

 filter

LTE Frequency Error

h Guideline OTA with GPS
 0.05 ppm wide area BS
 0.10 ppm local area BS
 0.25 ppm home BS

h Consequences
 Calls will drop when mobiles
travel at higher speed
 In some cases, cell phones cannot
hand off into, or out of the cell

Modulation Quality

h Common Faults

h Frequency Error

 Reference frequency

 Checks to see that the carrier

frequency is precisely correct

 Frequency distribution system

 Regulatory requirement in many

countries

 Backhaul

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 16

 GPS, if used

LTE Synchronization Signal Scanner

h Guideline Direct Connect
 3 or fewer codes
 Within 10 dB of dominant code
 Over 95% of the coverage area

h Consequences
 Low data rate
 Low capacity

h Common faults

Downlink Coverage Quality

 Antenna down tilt

h Synchronization Signal Power

 Damaged antennas

 Indicates which sectors are

present at the current location

 Control channel power settings

 Too many strong sectors creates

frequency avoidance diminishing
capacity
CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 17

 Illegal repeaters

Downlink Coverage Mapping

h OTA Scanner has Auto-Save
h Need GPS Receiver and Antenna
h Collects data every 5-10 s
 Time depends on number of Sync
codes and whether Modulation is
turned on

h Master Software Tools can export

data to a KML file

Downlink Coverage Quality

h Import into Google Maps/Earth

h Mouse over point to see Scanner
results

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 18

LTE OTA Modulation Quality Testing

h OTA Modulation Quality Testing
 Valid signal quality measurements
can be made OTA
 Guidelines are established from a
known good base station
 Must be taken in valid location

h Valid OTA Location

 OTA Scanner validates location
` Dominance >10 dB

OTA Modulation Quality

h If Pass becomes sweet spot

 Note GPS location

h Valid EVM OTA measurement

 MIMO presents a challenge to
measure EVM OTA

 Becomes location for future

OTA Modulation Quality Testing

 Need to measure EVM of PBCH

which has Transmit Diversity

 Record and create

OTA Pass/Fail limits

 Measures both Tx1 & Tx2

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 19

One quick test OTA Pass/Fail checks health of cell site

h Find valid Over-the-Air (OTA) location

Start

 If not, direct connect

Found
Valid
OTA
spot?

Start
Direct Connect
Transmitter
Test

h Run one-step Pass/Fail Test

 Checks Feed Line Quality, if OTA
 Checks RF Quality

Y
Run OTA or
Direct Connect
Pass/Fail Test

 Checks Modulation Quality

h Test data throughput

Pass?
N

Troubleshoot
Feed Lines
Base Station
Coverage
Interference

 Use PC data card

h If everything passes
 DONE

Y
Run PC-based
Throughput Test

h If not troubleshoot
 Feed lines and antenna system

Good
Throughput?

 Base station field replaceable units

Troubleshoot
Backhaul

 Downlink Coverage issues

 Interference problems

 Backhaul bit-error-rates

Done

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 20

CRONY company presentation - Trebinje 2011

Slide 21