3G Radio Network Performance Measurement and Analysis Basics

Network Performance data can be collected from a variety of points in the 3G radio network and only by utilizing data from a combination of these sources can a full picture of the performance of the network be obtained. Each point offers different strengths and weaknesses in areas such as: type of information, availability of data collection devices, granularity of data, ease / cost of data collection, and volume of data that can be collected.

Once collected, the data must be filtered and reduced before it can be used to make decisions on improving network performance. In addition, collecting and analyzing various sources of data at the same time allows efficient utilization of resources.

Although based primarily on the harmonized 3GPP standard for WCDMA (UTRA-FDD), much of this document is also applicable to the TDD mode (UTRA-TDD), which is still in the process of being harmonized with the TD-SCDMA contribution from the CWTS standards group of China.