Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-05
2003-08-19
Bost, Dwayne (Department: 2681)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S067700, C455S067150
Reexamination Certificate
active
06609001
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to wireless networks, such as GSM systems, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for measurement and analysis of signal quality including causes of quality loss.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Tracking the rapid increase of wireless networks, the wireless industry is increasingly focusing on high quality of service, which is a competitive advantage for a wireless service provider. There are several elements to quality of service: (1) coverage, (2) speech quality, (3) network accessibility (sometime called capacity) and (4) number of dropped calls. One of the tools used to ensure network quality is a drive test system.
Various wireless protocols exist for defining communications in a mobile network. One such protocol is a time-division multiple access (TDMA) protocol, such as the TIA/EIA-136 standard provided by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). With TIA/EIA-136 TDMA, each channel carries a frame that is divided into eight time slots (two slots are consumed six time slots to support multiple (3 or 6) mobile units per channel. Other TDMA-based systems include Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications systems, which use a TDMA frame divided into eight time slots (or burst periods).
GSM has been the European standard and occupies the frequency ranges at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz. The U.S. version of GSM, GSM 1900 operates at 1.9 GHz.
A cellular communication system essentially consists of a plurality of cell sites, or base stations, well positioned throughout a geographical region, a Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO), and a plurality of mobile units. Each cell site has a high power antenna system coupled to a transmitter and a receiver, which utilize a plurality of channels each comprised of forward control channels (FOCC), a reverse control channel (RECC) forward voice channels (FVC) and reverse voice channels (RVC). The mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) acts as a central coordinating site for the entire cellular network. Each cell in the network connects to the MTSO that, in turn, is connected to a conventional land telephone network.
When a subscriber initiates a call from a mobile unit, a call initiation request is placed on a reverse control channel (RECC). The mobile unit transmits its Mobile Identification Number (MIN), Electronic Serial Number (ESN), and Station Class Mark (SCM), along with the destination telephone number. If a cell cite successfully receives this information, it is forwarded to the MTSO, which may check to see if the subscriber is registered or not, and then assigns the call to a forward and reverse voice channel pair (FVC and RVC) of a public switched telephone line and the conversation commences.
When a subscriber receives a call, the incoming call is received by the MTSO that directs each cell site to transmit on its FOCC a paging message containing the subscriber's mobile identification number (MIN). Each mobile unit constantly monitors the FOCC and when its MIN is successfully detected, the mobile unit transmits an acknowledgement signal on the reverse control channel (RECC). Upon a particular cell site receiving the acknowledgement signal, the MTSO directs that site to simultaneously issue a FVC and a RVC pair. In this manner, the conversation is carried out on a dedicated channel pair separate from the control channels.
Throughout a typical conversation, as the mobile unit travels throughout the service area, the MTSO coordinates and issues numerous “handoffs” which automatically switch subscribers to different voice channels at different cell sites throughout a service area. Handoff decisions are made by the MTSO when the signal strength or quality on the RVC falls below a predetermined threshold level. The carrier periodically adjusts threshold levels with market and system growth, and as call traffic patterns and interference require.
If a new call for a mobile unit comes in and all of the voice channels of the particular cell site receiving the acknowledgement signal are occupied, then the MTSO directs the cell site to issue a directed retry to the subscriber which directs the subscriber to switch to a different control channel on another cell. Depending on the radio propagation effects and the specific location of the mobile unit, this procedure may or may not result in a successful call.
Factors including the performance of the MTSO, specific channel assignments made, relative number and location of the cell sites, and the set signal threshold levels may contribute to degradation in cellular service resulting in poor voice or data quality as well as dropped or incomplete calls.
In order to monitor a cellular network's performance, detect fraudulent users, and troubleshoot problems, a service provider must be able to monitor the various control and voice channels. Monitoring real-time signals and signal to interference ratios at various locations in a service area is desirable and will allow a carrier to fine tune the network to improve its quality. A drive test that monitors all channels across multiple base station service areas will provide the necessary data.
There are three types of systems used in drive testing wireless networks: (1) phone-based, (2) receiver-based and (3) phone and receiver-based. Typically in a system where a phone is present, a call quality parameter is read from the phone as a measure of signal quality. For example, in a GSM network the call quality parameter is called RXQual. The RXQual parameter is a 3-bit value (i.e., binary range of from 000 to 111 or in decimal notation 0 to 7) and uses the 26-midample training sequence bits (over several frames). Table 1 converts bit error rate (BER) to RXQual.
TABLE 1
Correlation of BER to RXQual levels
<0.2% BER
RXQUAL0
0.2%-0.4%
RXQUAL1
0.4%-0.8%
RXQUAL2
0.8%-1.6%
RXQUAL3
1.6%-3.2%
RXQUAL4
3.2%-6.4%
RXQUAL5
6.4%-12.8%
RXQUAL6
>12.8%
RXQUAL7
This parameter, RXQual, is then plotted in a geographical area to show the quality of the network at a certain location. In areas where the signal strength is high and RXQual indicates poor signal quality, the service provider will typically adjust the base station to achieve better quality.
The problem with the current drive test methods is that typically only one channel (called “best server”) is monitored per phone and, in case of a GSM network, each phone takes 480 ms to make one RXQual Measurement. This leads to both low resolution in each channel and few channels being measured. The disclosed invention uses a receiver-based system instead of a phone-based system to more rapidly measure signal quality for all channels.
Further, the measurement does not yield the source of quality problems. Adjacent channel and co-channel interference goes undetected. Network tuning is iterative, time consuming and difficult. Data collected are empirical and analysis reports static conditions. Predictive models of where to place cell transceivers, what channel frequencies to use, what handoff thresholds to employ, and what power levels to use are far from foolproof.
It has been recognized that signal strengths of a mobile system network channels deviate from a predictive model. U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,762 to Arpee et al. describes a method using a scanning receiver to map signal strengths of various channels across a network of base transmission stations by recording signal strengths received during a drive test, the location of the drive test unit (using an automated positioning system) and the channel frequency. These data are compared to predictive signal strength data for the various channels as stored in a database.
Deficiency in measured signal strength relative to predicted strength is ascribed by Arpee to interference from adjacent channels and co-channels. Interference sources are inferentially derived based on frequencies of nearby channels. Corrective action is taken to re-assign those ineffective frequencies to different cells. Further, modification of the predictive model algorithm reflecting actual experience may be implemented. Sign
Gilbertson Jay S.
Kline Paul A.
Bost Dwayne
Dynamic Telecommunications, Inc.
Moore James K.
Roberts Abokhair and Mardula, LLC
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