PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND ENHANCEMENT OF VOICE AND DATA SERVICES USING DRIVE TEST OVER UMTS NETWORK: THE CASE OF NEKEMTE CITY

Jabesa Daba (Assistant Prof.) Abstract In mobile communication systems the demand for real-time and high-quality services, such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and data service is on the rise. Universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) is one candidate technology to fulfill the above demand to revolutionize mobile broadband technology with key considerations of higher data rate, improved power efficiency, low latency and better quality of service. Quality of services (QoS) in universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) network is the capability of universal mobile telecommunication system service providers to provide satisfactory services to their customers and can be measured from a network perspective via the network management system (NMS) and user perspective via drive test system. In universal mobile telecommunication system network, the former quality of services (QoS) measurement is called control plane system while the latter is called the user plane system. The control plane system generates quality of services (QoS) indicator parameters such as network geographic observation; network coverage and quality analysis; and network performance analysis parameters. The user plane system on the other hand generates quality of services (QoS) indicator parameters such as coverage analysis, quality analysis, accessibility, retain ability, mobility and high speed downlink packet access channel quality indicator (HSDPA_CQI) parameters. The current universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) network infrastructure deployed in Nekemte city, which is solely managed by Ethio telecom, is undergoing major expansions in the last 6 years and resulted in a tangible improvement of coverage and quality. However, there are complaints from subscribers from various parts of the city. This research intends to evaluate and enhance the voice and data transmission quality of services (QoS) of existing universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) network in the city of Nekemte. The evaluation is made by analyzing collected real data from both control plane and user plane systems, by using industry-standard analysis tools such as M2000, PRS, U31_Client, Nemo handy, Nemo outdoor and Actix Analyzer. The Result show that network enhancement is considerably improved by fine-tuning antenna parameters technique. For instance, mobile voice and data network service coverage improved from 97.5% to 99.9% which enhanced by 2.4% and 95.3% to 98.0 which enhanced by 2.7% respectively. Although mobile voice and data network service quality improved from 83.6% to 87.5% which enhanced by 3.9% and 82.0% to 84.2% which enhanced by 2.2% respectively. The other is high speed downlink packet access channel quality indicator (HSDPA_CQI) improved from 68.4% to 78.6% which enhanced by 10.2%.