INDOOR CELLULAR NETWORKS & WIFI MEASUREMENTS

Mobile telephony and WiFi are getting increasingly business critical for both private and public companies. In order for the cell phones to operate correctly, a good cellular network is required, and it should work both outdoor and indoor, and both when the user is standing still and moving around.

The many different network the correct coverage? Is there What can be measured? technologies, 2G (GSM), 3G (UMTS) interference? How does it work • Signal strength (coverage) on 2G, and 4G (LTE), create challenges with the outdoor network? And 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi (WLan). when they have to work together is there an issue with poor mobile • Signal quality on 2G, 3G and 4G. on many different frequency bands phones? • Rate for dropped and failed calls. and particular when an indoor • Data speed (IP Throughput). cellular network (DAS facility) has Indoor measurements (walk test) • SMS (success rate, delivery time). to work together with the outdoor Using portable equipment, it is • Video Stream (YouTube). (macro) network. possible to perform coverage • E-mail. control and reveal problems with The first step on the way to indoor cellular networks. Signals improving mobile coverage is to coming from both the indoor perform coverage verification with system and the outdoor systems specialized equipment, operated can be measured. by experts. This way coverage holes and/or malfunctioning cellular networks are mapped.

As a facility manager it can be an enormous task to establish whether an indoor cellular network is operating properly. Does it have

CONTACT Frede Lillelund Head of department [email protected] T +45 5161 6045 www.ramboll.com EXAMPLE OF INDOOR MEASUREMENTS

Image 01: The image shows an indoor measurement that highlights several areas with poor coverage (low signal strength). Users with cell phones with good radio capabilities might experience failed call/dropped call problems, while users with cell phones with poor radio capabilities will probably experience failed call/dropped call problems in the highlighted areas.

Image 02: The image shows that the signal quality is very good and without interference. A good signal quality helps the cell phones to operate at low coverage.

01 Agg. Active RSCP (dBm) [Min, -105) (0) (0%) [-105, -90) (36) (2,08%) [-90, -80) (360) (20,85%) [-80, -70) (865) (50,09%) [-70, -60) (381) (22,06%) [-60, -40) (85%) (4,92%) [-40, Max) (0) (0%)

02 Agg. Active Ec/Io (dB) [Min, -18) (0) (0%) [-18, -15) (0) (0%) [-15, -13) (0) (0%) [-13, -11) (1) (0,06%) [-11, -9) (0) (0%) [-9, -7) (1) (0,06%) [-7, -5) (49) (2,84%) [-5, 0) (1676) (97,05%) [0, Max) (0) (0%)