NEMHANS’s methodology focuses on delivering the right balance between network costs and QoS. Our systematic approach benchmarks and identifies improvable areas of your network and maximizes your return on investment. NEMHANS will review operator’s requirements to jointly define a Service Level Agreement based on measurable objectives in terms of quality, capacity and cost, sharing risks and rewards. We can impact customer business by providing turnkey services including drive testing services, measurement services, benchmarking, post-processing, and optimization.

With the on-going introduction of dynamic new technologies, you need to work with a company that understands the complexities of a rapidly changing technological environment. There is no substitute for experience. And our employees are excellent in this particular area.

Drive Testing Services

Even though modern wireless systems deliver more and more performance data there is always a need to measure the performance of the network in the field.  These measurements can either be part of the optimization of the wireless network, benchmarking of performance, trouble shooting, or to verify the performance after an upgrade or reconfiguration of the network.

Drive testing consists of riding in a vehicle that contains equipment used to analyze the cellular service in a given area. By simulating what a wireless user would experience in that specific area, wireless carriers can make changes to their network that provide better coverage and service to their customers. It requires a mobile vehicle, drive test tool with handsets which collect real time data, a GPS device along with an RF engineer.

The Drive testing service is very often an integral part of NEMHANS’s Managed Service approach where NEMHANS not only collects the data but also manages the data post–processing and reporting of the results. Drive test services are not only limited to vehicle based measurements but also include pedestrian, indoor, train and underground.

NEMHANS has extensive experience using different types of measurement equipment and can develop tailored solutions for almost every requirement.  We are currently using measurements system from all major vendors.

With many years of experience in performing drive test measurements and with hundreds of vehicles on the road daily around the world, NEMHANS has a long track record of delivering quality field measurement services to customers’ globally. New technologies mean new requirements and challenges and NEMHANS constantly develops new ways of collecting data and performing these services depending on the requirements of the customers.

Measurement Services

Planning a radio network (in any technology: LTE, WiMAX, UMTS, GSM etc.) requires knowledge of where and how to place the sites in order to provide the radio coverage which will provide the service. In order to estimate what the radio coverage will be a PREDICTION is made using a propagation model. A propagation model is a technique (usually a mathematical equation) which brings together all (or as many as one would like to consider) the parameters which would (or could) affect the radio signal – frequency, antenna height, receiver height, distance, path profile, angle of incidence, etc. There are many “standard” models – Cost231, SUI, Okumura-Hata etc, which try and predict propagation under certain conditions and within certain limits dictated usually by the parameters and conditions under which the models were derived. Another option is to derive a propagation model for a particular scenario or condition – and this is what a model calibration exercise tries to achieve. The advantage of this is that the model which is derived should be accurate and therefore the predictions of coverage will be accurate.

Now the model (along with the underlying accuracy of associated data such mapping data, accuracy of source CW data etc) is the cornerstone in any further analysis of the network such as site count, coverage and service quality levels, so a good and accurate model will enable a much more accurate prediction the behaviour of the network and the quality and cost.

Benchmarking

Today’s extremely competitive wireless marketplace is experiencing how Smartphone growth and new network generations are driving an increasingly complex mobile broadband services ecosystem. A key competitive advantage for any operator is to have a keen understanding of how the end-user perceives their Quality of Experience (QoE), which greatly impacts their overall satisfaction. 

Our predominant delivery model is the Managed Service approach with a full turnkey service covering from data collection (drive testing, indoor, pedestrian, etc), data integrity management, measurement system management, post-processing and reporting for both, Executive and Technical Levels.

Executive Level, with the combination of a Comparative Analysis of the offered QoE as perceived by the end user in a market together with a Competitive Analysis, where strengths and weakness among operators are identified. Our pioneer Global Score Concept and its sensibility analysis allow us to identify quick wins and prioritize improvement actions to maximize ROI.

Technical Level, where all benchmarking data is reused for optimization and troubleshooting processes. This activity can be enhanced by correlating the benchmarking data with other sources like OMS, QoE monitoring systems, Customer Surveys, Customer Care, Marketing researches, etc.

NEMHANS is independent from operators, tools vendors or equipment vendors; this gives NEMHANS’s Benchmarking Campaigns the value of External and Independent Audit.  Being tool agnostics allows NEMHANS to use the most powerful and suitable benchmarking tool in the market on a case by case basis. This has allowed NEMHANS to be today the industry leader on expertise related with measurement/benchmarking systems.

Post-Processing

New mobile entities are being rolled-out regularly by operators in order to keep up with the pace of technology evolution and the ever increasing need for more bandwidth from mobile consumers. Once a network is put into service it actually does not work to its full speed and desired quality of service: it needs to be optimized. This optimization process is not only needed after the initial roll-out but is also a recurring and iterative process leading gradually to an improved network performance. The optimization process starts with an assessment of the performance of the network.

This activity is typically delivered through “Drive tests” which consist in the collection of Network KPIs by a mobile team equipped with measurement tools. The post processing task follows closely and aims delivering a summary report of the measurements. It outlines thematic maps and various statistics in order to provide the optimization engineer with a fair image of network quality presented in an easy manner enabling him at a glance to identify potential areas of network performance improvement.

Reporting is a process to show the summary of the performance parameters in a drive test result. The parameters usually called by KPI (Key Performance Indicators). In general, KPI is divided in two types, events KPIs and radio KPIs. Examples of events KPIs are Drop Call Rate, Call Setup Success Rate, Handover Success Rate, etc. And examples of radio KPIs are RxLev, RxQual, BER, etc.

NEMHANS has developed internal tools to automate the delivery of post processing and survey reports. These reports are customized for each project and include typically a summary sheet, the main performance statistics (KPIs) that pertain to the technical network performance as well as to end to end service quality. The KPIs are geo-coded and presented on thematic maps enabling an understanding of Network behaviour, at a glimpse.

Optimization

Networks need to be a fine-tuned to produce the best service at the lowest cost possible, in order to provide top business results for an operator. With many years of innovation in wireless networking has NEMHANS has unique insights into network optimization. NEMHANS helps operators evolve from a reactive to a proactive approach, anticipating problems before they happen, thereby reducing cost and improving quality. NEMHANS’s approach to network performance is a complete solution that relies on technical innovation, change management and process control. Our goal is to create value through engineering change and ensure sustainable changes. NEMHANS helps its customers in the evolution from a reactive to a proactive approach, anticipating problems before they happen, therefore reducing cost and improving quality.

Optimization involves monitoring and improving the performance of the radio network. It starts with the last phase of radio network planning. A cellular network covers a large area and provides capacity to many people, so there are lots of parameters involved that are variable have to be continuously monitored and corrected. Apart from this, the network is always growing through increasing subscriber numbers and increases in traffic. This means optimization process should be on-going, to increase the efficiency of the network leading to revenue generation from the network.

NEMHANS’s Optimization services include:

1. Independent Benchmarking
   • Independent inter-operator benchmarking services.
2. Radio Network Audits
   To ensure the integrity of the input information prior to making the required analysis, Radio network audit can be performed as a baseline audit at the start of the optimization project and network audits on a regular basis throughout the project. The purposes of the audits are to check whether:
   • The network implementation is consistent with the network design
   • The parameters comply with recommended values
3. Radio Network Optimization
   NEMHANS’s Radio NetworkOptimization methodology is composed of a two pronged approach:
   1. Field Measurements
      Classical network planning and design tools rely on a propagation model, which is tuned with drive test data. This tuned model can then be used to predict changes in coverage due to antenna tilt changes. However no model used at the planning and design stages can ever truly simulate the complex multi-dimensional nature of a radio signal, which experiences multiple reflections and refractions and variable attenuation. The behaviour of the implemented network will therefore be different from the predictions. The only way of finding out the true RF network performance is to take measurements using drive tests and then by post-processing the measurement logs to produce statistics and plots. RF coverage optimization is essential in a Radio Network, where efficient use of RF translates directly to capacity.
      Drive testing consists of following activities:
      • Route Planning
        The drive test routes were planned by NEMHANSusing the following criteria:
        • Important areas, such as major highways, train stations and public and leisure facilities should be included.
        • Handover should be measured in both directions, i.e. from cell A to cell B and vice versa on particular roads that pass through particularly important areas.
        • Areas where there is influence of the surrounding neighbour base stations to that of the target base station(s) should be included.
      • Measurement
        During measurement data was collected using data collection tool from a frequency scanner and UEs. UE performs voice short calls to obtain information on call set-up failures and call drops.
      • Post-processing
        Using post processing tools, a draft report, containing extensive statistics and plots can be produced after completing measurement, enabling an operator to have a very detailed view of the network performance from the user perspective.
      • Verification
        Given the importance of verifications and the valuable feedback that they provide to the appropriateness of the recommended changes RAN Tuning & Optimization Projects included four verification measurements to make comparison with the tuning recommendations for each region.
        The drive test verification procedure consists of repeating the measurement and post-processing activities of the first drive. The same drive test route should be followed. In this case the cluster is analyzed to determine the differences between the first and verification drives to confirm the change proposals from the first analysis. Further changes are recommended if these can give further improvement.
   2. RNC Measurements:
      • OMC Counters
      • RNC Traces
      • Post processing and reporting

EMR Services

NEMHANShas a dedicated expert team for EMF Survey.

EMF Survey

The guidelines issued by ICNIRP (www.icnirp.de/documents/emfgdl.pdf) on levels of exposure to RF fields as approved by the Telecom commission, that are coming from mobile phones and base stations. These guidelines have a safety margin built into them. ICNIRP guidelines form the very basis of the standards required for compliance to limit the human exposure to EMF. ICNIRP guidelines have global acceptance and will be complied by the telecom sector for time to come. 

The operators have to comply with the industry guideline for use of the active or radiating part of the telecom equipment. Refer to TEC -Telecommunication Engineering Centre website (http://www.tec.gov.in). Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) has approved the adoption of International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines, for limiting the Human exposure to EMF, for the Telecom Sector in India.

EIRP / EIRPth has to be worked out for each operator, at the buildings B1, B2, B3… defined above at various floors. The calculation has to be made based on the data defined above and using the formulae given in TEC Test Procedure.
EIRP / EIRPth is also to be worked out for each operator, at the Corners / Points on the building (B0) on which the BTS under observation is installed (in case of RTT only.). These corners / points are to be designated as C1, C2, C3, C4 etc and clearly defined / marked on the roof layout of the site to be attached with the compliance report. EIRP / EIRP th has to be worked out for General Public Exposure on Ground (for both GBT as well as RTT / RTP case) based on the formulae given in TEC Test Procedures.

NEMHANS provides reports with proper mathematical calculation of EIRP / EIRPth according to the TERM guideline.

EMR BB/NB test

We are equipped with a number of EMF testing kits like Narda SRM 3000, R & S, Aronia. We do both Narrow Band (Frequency Selective) and Broadband Testing. BB test is done during Biennial survey as well as after required new site integration. We have dedicated team for each Testing Kit, and centrally controlled Team Coordination centre.