Software platform eases mobile network optimisation

22nd February 2016

Mick Elliott

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Mobile network operators have to continuously optimise and troubleshoot their networks to ensure performance and to get the most out of their infrastructure. Drive tests are the most effective way to collect accurate location based information for this purpose, but they are a cost factor for network operation.

R&S NORA, jointly developed by Rohde & Schwarz and its subsidiary SwissQual, is a software platform that enables users to design more efficient and productive drive tests.

Based on over 20 years of experience in mobile network testing, the new tool is ideal for mobile network operators, infrastructure vendors and their service providers, and also regulators. R&S NORA helps users measure, analyse and report the performance of mobile networks and the offered mobile services. Only minimum training is necessary to operate the software.

During drive tests, smartphones and dedicated scanners are used to collect exact positioning data and high-resolution coverage data for multiple technologies. To meet the needs of the various users, different R&S NORA software packages are available.

With the basic software package, users can define measurement scenarios in the office and replay recorded drive tests on their PC. The measurement package allows users to perform the actual measurements in the field. And with the data investigation package, users can post process, analyse and report results from multiple files.

R&S NORA offers several options that cover a wide range of analysis tasks for optimizing, verifying and troubleshooting mobile networks. The software detects problem spots by providing detailed statistics, for instance on download speed or dropped calls.

Network operators are able to accurately measure the real end-user experience. The measurement results are easily summarized in a PDF report with just a few clicks. Users can analyse the collected data in real time during measurement and post-processing.

The flexible licensing solution allows combinations of permanent, portable and time-limited analysis and measurement licenses to meet individual needs.

Using SwissQual smartphones, R&S NORA performs a wide range of advanced mobile network tests, such as speech and streaming video quality testing in line with the latest ITU-T standards. The tool supports the automatic channel detection and cell position estimation features of the R&S TSME, R&S TSMA and R&S TSMW mobile network scanners from Rohde & Schwarz.