Drive testing is a method of measuring and assessing the coverage, capacity and Quality of

Service (QoS) of a mobile radio network.

Drive testing :The name is intuitive: take a drive test. The Drive Test is a test performed in cellular
networks regardless of technology (GSM, CDMA, UMTS, LTE, etc. ...). Means collecting data
on vehicle movement. Its variation has also intutive: Walk Test, ie, collect data by walking
areas of interest.
data collection and data analysis
Data Collection
1,Stationary test

2, mobility Test

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.

Tools used in Drive testing

1, Laptop with installed software ( Genex probe, Nemo Outdoor( Soft licensed) , Dongle
2,Moble phones ( mate7, S5, 2800, 8860, 8800 and other ) to know signal level and best
serving and neighbors cells
3,Gps (used to locate geographical coordinate such as longitude and Latitude)
4, Data card ( E372 , E392,.)
5,Scanner
6, Hub
7, Power inverter
8, Appropriate test Sim card
Notes:- some of the tools need Driver before connecting them with the testing soft wares
- Currently, there are already cell phones that do everything so may not need all of
above mentioned tools for the drive test but are still quite expensive.

Drive Test Schedule

Again depending on the purpose, the test can be performed at different times - day or night

Types of Drive Test

The main types of Drive Test are :

Performance Analysis:- usually made into clusters as to answer a customer

complaint

Integration of New Sites and change parameters of Existing Sites :- it is

recommended to perform two tests: one with the site without handover permission not being able to handover to another site - thus obtaining a total visualization of the
coverage area

Marketing :- usually requested by the marketing area of the company, for example
showing the coverage along a highway, or at a specific region/location

Benchmarking :- aims to compare the competing networks. If the result is better,

can be used as an argument for new sales. If worse, it shows the points where the
network should be improved

Types of Calls
calls can be voice, data, video, etc.. Everything depends on the technology (GSM, CDMA,
UMTS, etc. ...), and the purpose of the test, as always
The calls test (CALL) can be of two types: long or short duration.
Short call:- Serve to check whether the calls are being established and successfully
completed
Long call:- Long calls serve to verify if the handovers of the network are working

What A drive test engineer do before starting cluster test ?

During the test we have being faced a lot of problems but all of them are preventable always end up happening.

So before you start, check all connections (tight and will not drop with vehicle
movements.), always!, you can use for example insulating tape
make sure that all equipment is properly energized

Check the Balance of test simcard.

Make sure that the test software license not expired
Check local disk C memory available space

Check Datacard and mobile phones are working properly before the
test day night and morning .
Better have one more mobile phone and datacard incase of the tools
not working properly
Check the test plane ( script) not corrupted and are according to the
KPI requirement
For data throughput make sure that the dial up connection, the local
date size to be transfer, the server and the link on the test plane or
script
Check and charge the laptop and phone since sometime the phone
charge degreed rapidly .
Dont forget taking and checking the power inverter and the car power
output are working
Sometimes check the test route with Google earth in order to calculate
the time take to reach the town to be test if there is no bed room .
What a drive test engineer do during cluster test ?

Select a template ( GSM, UMTS OR GSM_UMTS view template ) and see the
corresponding parameter like serving and neighbor cell
The GPS should be at the center of the map and auto center
For SHC and CC , put the mobile phone in front of the car or near the car window for
better signal and quality.
The serving site cell id, Rx( RSCP),C/I(Ec/N) should be changed frequently
For upload and download check their throughput statistic with bar or line graph and
check the category of Datacard and Simcard .
Control speed of the car ( 4o Km/h or 60km/r for highway) but sometimes it is better
to drive slowly it we are around the site and the coverage is good and on the other
hand may be we tell to the driver to move quickly on bad coverage area without let
ET customer knowing it.
Sometimes the actual test route may not exist due to road construction or drawing
problem so at that time please tell the customer to take picture and get signature
for not covered route or choose other alternative equivalent road .
Most of the time HSUPA_CAT6 edge_ul test are vary difficult to meet the KPI since
the script skip without sending the local data .at this time the test count will count
quickly, from my experience it is better to modify the test script to send different
local file like 10mb_a, 10mb_b , or giving unique server path or sometime delet the
already upload logfiles if the server is bussy.
For MTM test , it is better to keep both mobile phone handle by our hand to control
which phone is shut down and giving a good ventilation the phone since it hot.
For 2G:- Better use 8840 dialing and S5 receiving but 3G the reverse is true since
CSSR for S5_GSM high compare it from phone_8860.

Ping and Hotspot test .to be continue

 Video call to be continue

SSV test . to be continue
Coverage test .. to be continue