vodacom lte trial benchmark report (2011.03.29)_final

5/26/2018 Vodacom LTE Trial Benchmark Report (2011.03.29)_Final

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Vodacom 4G

RL10 LTE Trial Benchmark ReportNSN - Network Planning & Optimisation

29 March 2011



Content

Introduction

LTE eNB Equipment Setup

LTE Coverage Plots

LTE Mobility Tests

LTE Stationary Tests



IntroductionFollowing the completion of LTE tests in the Vodacom Test Exchange, NSN installed two LTE eNBs inthe Germiston area. The aim was to setup two live sites that will allow for drive test measurements to becollected from a real network environment.

The following requirements had to be met during site selection:1. The LTE sites were to share the 2100Mhz 3G RF spectrum and so the chosen site locations, as

well as the immediate surrounding sites, should currently not be using the 3 rd 3G frequencyband (i.e. only existing 1/1/1 and 2/2/2 sites could be chosen)

LTE would be configured to run on the third 5Mhz band (in the Vodacom Test Exchange the LTE eNBswere setup to run with 20Mhz bandwidth)

2. Because the LTE sites would be co-located with existing 3G hardware, RF combining would not

be possible within the BTS RF amplifiers. Instead RF combining would need to be done usingexternal MIMO combiners, or a separate antenna would have to be installed for the LTE signal

It was decided that separate antennas would be used and so the chosen sites would needto have enough free tower capacity to accommodate the weight of the additional antennas

Additional RF combining is not required in Multi-RF configurations (i.e. 2G/3G/LTEtransmitted through the same BTS hardware)

3. The sites should be neighbours to allow for inter-eNB handover testing

4. The sites should be configured with at least two sectors to allow for intra-eNB handover testing5. IP transmission, with a minimum of 40Mbps bandwidth, should be available to the sites

6. The LTE sites would run on the commercial RL10 software release It should be noted that RL20 is available as a commercial release since February 2011

Two sites were identified in the Germiston area that met the requirements; Primrose and Driehoek.

The following report provides a summary of the results from drive tests performed between February and

March 2011.



LTE eNB Equipment Setup



LTE eNB Equipment Setup BTS HW

The eNBs are setup to share the

existing 3G 2100Mhz band and arefitted with the following hardwaremodules:

1xFSME System Modules

These are identical to the System Modulesused for all current 3G Flexi BTS deployment.The FSME module can be configured to

process either WCDMA or LTE 2xFRGP 2100Mhz 60W RF Modules

Two RF modules were installed to allow forMIMO operation with a 1/1/1 20Mhz cellconfiguration.

Because the sites are sharing spectrum withthe existing 3G sites (which are currentlyrunning 2/2/2 WCDMA configurations), theeNBs have been configured with the followingcell configurations:

1/1/0 5Mhz @ 20W The picture on the right shows the eNB at

Primrose during installation



LTE eNB Equipment Setup BTS HW

The eNBs have beenconfigured with two RFmodules to allow for MIMOoperation

*Additional (currentlyunused) RF ports on themodules will allow for up to4-way UL diversity (in laterSW releases)

Tx1/Rx1

Tx2/Rx2

Div Rx2

Rx3*

Rx4*



LTE eNB Equipment Setup - TMA

For improved UL gain, the

two eNBs have been fittedwith Dual-Input Mast Head

Amplifiers (MHAs) The amplifiers were lent to the trial

by the Vodacom SGS Region

The amplifiers were taken out of theVodacom SGS Region spares store

As can be seen in the picture, theDTMAs had previously alreadybeen used in the field

The model type is DTMARETFV3

The MHAs used are part ofstandard existing networkequipment and are suitable forMIMO operation



LTE eNB Equipment Setup - Antenna

The eNBs were fitted with Kathrein XX-PolarisedDualband (900Mhz & 2100Mhz) antennas

X-polarised antennas rotate the V and H polarizationsgiving +/- 45 degrees slanted polarizations. Antennabranches admit equal power providing an easiersignal from receiver perspective. This allows both RXand TX to be embedded to the same physical antennabox and hence provides a compact antenna design.

The antennas were lent to the trial by the Vodacom

SGS Region The amplifiers were taken out of the Vodacom SGS

Region spares store

As can be seen in the picture, the antennas hadpreviously already been used in the field

Antennas were of model:

Type No.: 742222XXPol Panel 806-960/1710-2170

C 65/60 12/14dBi 0/0T

The antennas used are part of standard existingnetwork equipment and are suitable for MIMOoperation



LTE eNB Equipment Setup Driehoek

Driehoek LTE eNB

1/1/0 5Mhz @ 20W

Sector 1 PCI 100 Sector 2 PCI 101



LTE eNB Equipment Setup Primrose

Primrose LTE eNB

1/1/0 5Mhz @ 20W

Sector 2 PCI 201

Sector 1 PCI 200



LTE Coverage Plots


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Predicted RF Coverage Plot


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Predicted RF Coverage Plot (Zoomed)

Each circle represents250m distance

Inter site distance is just over 2km


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Driehoek & Primrose Terrain MapQuarry directly between the two sites provides a challenge for RF cover

Hill

Hill

Poor Coverage Area

Poor Coverage Area

Quarry/Dump Site


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Hill

Hill

Hill

Hill

Poor Coverage Area

Poor Coverage Area

Quarry/Dump Site


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Hill

Hill

Poor Coverage Area

Poor Coverage Area

Quarry/Dump Site


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Total Received Wideband Power Field Measurements

Drive tests show that the measured LTE

coverage closely matches the predicted plot

Poor coverage may

result in loss of signalduring drive tests

Poor coverage may

result in loss of signal

during drive tests


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Greater Area Scanner Coverage Measurements


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LTE Mobility Tests


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LTE Coverage Drive Test Measurements (dBm)

Poor coverage due

to shadowing from

the quarry hills

Poor coverage due to

shadowing from the

earth/quarry mounds

along the road

Poor coverage due to

shadowing from a hill

and industrial buildingsalong the road


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SINR Measurements (dB)


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Mobility DL Throughput Measurements

Low throughput

due to poor RSRP

Low throughput

due to poor RSRP

Low throughput

due to poor RSRP

Low throughput

at cell edge

Throughput frequently

between 25-31Mbps


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Handovers (Intra and Inter eNodeB)

Serving Physical Cell Identities representing Inter and Intra eNodeB Handover locations


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LTE Stationary Tests


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Throughput and RTT (Stationery Tests)Test Scenarios

Radio Conditions Tested:

Good Conditions: RSRP > -75dBm Average Conditions: RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm

Poor Conditions : RSRP < -100dBm

DL & UL Tests: Vodacom Speed Test

FTP Download

FTP Upload

Round-trip Time Tests:

Vodacom Speed Test

Multiple Ping Commands


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Good Radio Conditions, RSRP= -70dBm31 Mbps DL Throughput on 5Mhz LTE

With LTE the DL performance is alot more constant, with relatively

stable 31Mbps achievable in good

radio conditions in the field


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Very Poor Radio Conditions, RSRP= -116dBm4.2 Mbps DL Throughput on 5Mhz LTE

Tests at an RSRP of -115 to -120dBm achieve an average of 3-5Mbps in DL. The upload reduces to

200Kbps or lower (limited by UE power output) and also RTT increases (mainly due to higher

packet loss and re-transmissions in these conditions). In WCDMA we reach the noise floor at -

112dBm, i.e. absolutely no calls possible. LTE is able to provide 3-5Mbps DL on 5Mhz inconditions well below the 3G cell-end.

The following test was performed at an RSRP of -116dBm


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Very Poor Radio Conditions, RSRP= -120dBm3.6 Mbps DL Throughput on 5Mhz LTE

The following test was performed at an RSRP of -120dBm


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Driehoek Sector 1 (Good Radio Conditions)RSRP > -75dBm

Average from three separate

test sessions:

Speed Test: 26,100 Mb/sec

FTP DL: 27,5 Mb/sec

FTP UL: 7,721 Mb/sec

RTT: 25ms


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Driehoek Sector 1 (Average Radio Conditions)RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm


test sessions:


FTP DL: 25,1 Mb/sec

FTP UL:7,692 Mb/sec

RTT: 23ms


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Driehoek Sector 1 (Poor Radio Conditions)RSRP < -100dBm


test sessions:


FTP DL: 14,184 Mb/sec


RTT: 23ms


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Driehoek Sector 2 (Good Radio Conditions)RSRP > -75dBm


test sessions:


FTP DL: 26,4 Mb/sec


RTT : 25ms


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Driehoek Sector 2 (Average Radio Conditions)RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm


test sessions:


FTP DL: 24.9 Mb/sec

FTP UL:7,630 Mb/sec

RTT: 25ms


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Driehoek Sector 2 (Poor Radio Conditions)RSRP < -100dBm


test sessions:


FTP DL:10,110 Mb/sec

FTP UL:2,153 Mb/sec

RTT: 27ms


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Primrose Sector 1 (Good Radio Conditions)RSRP > -75dBm


test sessions:


FTP DL: 27,4 Mb/sec


RTT: 24ms

P i S 1 (A R di C di i )


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Primrose Sector 1 (Average Radio Conditions)RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm


test sessions:


FTP DL: 23,9 Mb/sec


RTT: 26ms

P i S t 1 (P R di C diti )


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Primrose Sector 1 (Poor Radio Conditions)RSRP < -100dBm


test sessions:

Speed Test: 9718 Mb/sec

FTP DL:10,103 Mb/sec


RTT: 24ms

P i S t 2 (G d R di C diti )


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Primrose Sector 2 (Good Radio Conditions)RSRP > -75dBm


test sessions:

Speed test: 29,832 Mb/sec

FTP DL: 30,4 Mb/sec


RTT : 25ms

P i S t 2 (A R di C diti )


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Primrose Sector 2 (Average Radio Conditions)RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm


test sessions:


FTP DL: 30,5 Mb/sec

FTP UL:4,529 Mb/sec

RTT: 25ms

P i S t 2 (P R di C diti )


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Primrose Sector 2 (Poor Radio Conditions)RSRP < -100dBm


test sessions:


Ftp download:12,860 Mb/sec

Ftp Upload: 6,856 Mb/sec

RTT: 23ms


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End Thank You!

vodacom lte trial benchmark report (2011.03.29)_final

Documents

lte sites

lte signal

chosen sites

lte enbswere setup

live sites

completion of lte tests

g rf spectrum

immediate surrounding