RMS_Overview.doc.doc

Product Description

Real-time Monitoring System (RMSTM)

Automated Voice and Data Wireless Network Performance Monitoring over the Web

For CDMA, TDMA, GSM, iDen and EAMPS systems

Confidential & Proprietary

ZK Celltest, Inc.Email: [email protected]

Web: www.zk.com1-800-TESTCELL

April 13, 2023

Needs Analysis and Product Description – Real-time Monitoring System (RMSTM) 4/13/2023

Table of Contents

Driving Forces............................................................................................................................................3

Fixing Network Problems..........................................................................................................................4

Manual (Current) Method....................................................................................................................5

Automatic (New) Method......................................................................................................................6

Product Description...................................................................................................................................8

General...................................................................................................................................................8

Requirements.........................................................................................................................................8

Benefits...................................................................................................................................................8

RCUs.....................................................................................................................................................12

2-Phone RCU Hardware Configuration.............................................................................................13

6-Phone RCU Hardware Configuration.............................................................................................13

RMS Server Software Architecture...................................................................................................15

RMS Server - RCU Communications and Audio Quality Measurements.....................................16

Web Browser Interface.......................................................................................................................18

RCU Configuration Screen................................................................................................................19

Mapping.............................................................................................................................................20

Reports & Queries.............................................................................................................................28

Alerts Status.......................................................................................................................................31

System Settings..................................................................................................................................32

Administration...................................................................................................................................33

Conclusion................................................................................................................................................33

Page 2 of 33Confidential & Proprietary


Driving ForcesThere are distinct driving forces occurring that are forcing Operations, Engineering and System Performance departments to drastically improve their productivity. These are listed as follows:

1. Network problems are increasing exponentially due to increasing density and number of cells and conversion from analog to digital and 2G to 3G.

2. Capital and personnel expenditures for engineering are decreasing as a percentage of revenue due to increasing competition and lower airtime prices.

3. It is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit qualified engineers and technicians due to increasing competition and job market demand.

4. The cycle time from when a network problem is reported to solving the problem can take days or weeks and needs to be reduced. Pressure to reduce this cycle time is due to increasing competition; the customer’s increasing perception of quality and the need to reduce churn.

5. Engineers and technicians are being asked to do too many things. There plates are full and they can't do all the work asked of them in a quality manner.

6. As air interface technologies change and additional data tests are required more testing will be needed to ensure quality.



Fixing Network ProblemsBelow we classify two general strategies or methods of solving network problems.

The current method is manual. It requires people to drive to the problem area and collect data and interpret it on the spot or manually bring the data back to the office for analysis.

The new method combines manual drive testing with automatic drive testing. In the automatic mode data is always being collected and stored on a centralized file server. Any authorized person can analyze the problem from their client PC.

Below are key differences between the current and new methods of troubleshooting network problems.

Manual (Current) Method Automatic (New) Method

100% of problems requiring field test data for troubleshooting also require a

person to drive test

Only 20% of problems requiring field test data for troubleshooting also require a

person to drive test.

The other 80% are field tested automatically.

Technicians are hired at a rate of 20-30 cell sites per technician

Technicians are hired at a rate of 50-60 cell sites per technician

It can take days or weeks from the time a problem is reported until it is fixed

It can take minutes or hours from the time a problem is reported until it is fixed

Reports are generated via a manual or semi-manual method. Reports are weekly

or monthly and cannot be customized easily or quickly.

Reports are generated automatically. Reports can be daily or hourly. Reports can be easily and quickly customized.

Drive test equipment must be purchased, installed and maintained by the customer

Drive test data may be purchased as a service and the vendor maintains the

hardware

Engineers and technicians spend too much time drive testing, troubleshooting

standard problems and performing standardized tasks

Engineers and technicians can spend more of their time on upgrades, planning

and preventative maintenance.

Collected data is decentralized and disorganized

Data is automatically stored in a central location and stored with time, date, RCU

number and location information

Problems are mostly found by subscribers

Problems are identified automatically before they affect a significant number of

subscribers



Manual (Current) MethodThere are many variations on how companies identify and troubleshoot network problems but in general, network problems are mostly identified by customers and to a lesser extent by network management software, engineers or technicians. Troubleshooting the problem typically requires an engineer or technician to drive through the problem area with field test equipment. Sometimes problems can be solved immediately and sometimes data is collected and brought back to the office for further analysis.

Although this method has worked for many years it has reached its limits. Systems are too complex and too dense for the existing staff to effectively maintain. This method requires a manual effort that has reached its limit of productivity. The current method will not allow significant improvements in the number of cell sites per technician or engineer, the cycle time of identifying and fixing problems, the cycle time and customization of reports, inter-department communications and the overall performance of the network.

Engineers and Technicians Waste Time Performing Routine TasksMost network problems are not new. For example, pilot pollution, poor coverage and interference continue to degrade the quality of wireless systems. There are known solutions in place for these problems but yet they continue to exist. The difficulty in reducing the effect of these types of standard problems is the length of time it takes to locate and identify them because it requires engineers or technicians to drive test the area.

Technicians are Unable to Maintain More than 20-30 Cell Sites EachAs the number of cell sites grows the density increases exponentially. As systems are converted from analog to digital, the complexity increases exponentially. Simplification of the cell site maintenance to board level repair has allowed the number of cells per technician to increase from 10 in 1990 to 20-30 today. However, without some change in the field measurement method this number cannot increase significantly.

It Can Take Weeks or Months for a Problem to be Identified and FixedCurrently, network operators rely on customers to report most of the field related network problems. Once a customer has reported a problem it is likely that a significant number of other customers have experienced the problem as well. After the problem has been reported there are additional delays in logging the information, providing a trouble ticket request to engineering, drive testing the area and identifying and fixing the problem. Each step in this process involves some manual transaction of information and requires a person to perform drive testing.

Reports on Network Performance are not Timely and are Difficult to Customize QuicklyIn order to generate weekly or monthly management reports, people drive testing must collect the data. The data is given to an administrative person to organize, create a standard report and distribute it. This manual process is not very productive. The number and types of reports must be kept small and simple since they are generated manually or semi-manually. Also, daily reports are typically not available or at best very crude.



Drive Test Products are Purchased and Maintained by the Network OperatorEngineers and technicians are responsible for maintaining and optimizing the performance of the network. Buying test equipment requires them to manage the installation, repair and upgrades of the equipment. They can spend countless, unproductive hours keeping the equipment in proper condition.

Collected Data is Decentralized and DisorganizedAfter the data is collected it is either discarded or left on the engineer’s laptop computer. Rarely is it copied onto a designated folder on a centralized file server. Even if it is actually copied onto a network server it is rarely organized in a simple and straightforward manner. Thus, the data is not being used productively.

Problems are Typically Identified and Reported by SubscribersThe cellular subscribers report most of the network performance problems. In other words, the subscribers are being used to troubleshoot the system. This may be acceptable with new technologies but as products and services mature customers expect a higher level of quality.

Automatic (New) MethodAs wireless systems have matured much of the drive testing and associated troubleshooting tasks have become more standardized. As tasks become standardized it is much more productive to replace the manual effort with an automated system. Automating the process provides significant improvements in the number of cell sites per technician or engineer, the cycle time of identifying and fixing problems, the cycle time and customization of reports, internal inter-department communications and the overall performance of the network.

Improving the Productivity of the Engineers and Technicians by at least 100%The new method will not and is not designed to completely replace drive testing. It is designed to perform standardized functions automatically. Most of the network problems have known solutions. The 80/20 rule can be applied here. Eighty percent (80%) of network problems have been seen and solved before. The main concern is to confirm where the problem is occurring and logging enough data to identify the cause. An automated collection system is ideal for this application. The number of cell sites per technician can be increased from 25 to 50 or more.

Reduce the Cycle Time to Solve Problems from Months or Weeks to Days or HoursPicture this, a problem is reported by a cellular user, a field technician, the Network Operating Center or an automatic email alert. An email or phone call is made to the engineer to investigate. The engineer analyzes data that has already been collected by automatic RCUs and identifies the cause of the problem. The cycle time of problem report to problem solution can be less than a day and sometimes less than an hour. If the problem report was generated by the automated data collection system via an email alert then problems can be solved BEFORE a customer reports it.

Reduce the Time to Create Reports from Weeks to Minutes - Automatically Generate Reports with Access from Your Web BrowserThe data is automatically collected and stored in a central, secure location. A report generator automatically retrieves the data, creates a report and posts it to a secure web site. Anyone in the organization with the appropriate access can view the reports from their web browser. Many reports can



be created and customized for each customer. For example, a report can be viewed each morning of the prior day’s system performance or a monthly trend report can be created that compares the performance of operators within one market all of the markets of a single corporation. The system reduces the amount of time it takes to create a report from days or weeks to hours or minutes. It also adds flexibility in allowing customization of reports as well as providing easy access of the reports to many different locations around the country.

More Problems can be Found Automatically and Solved Quicker and at a Lower CostSince the RCUs are inexpensive and do not require a person to operate, many of these RCUs can be populated throughout the network. This increases the number of eyes and ears in the network looking for problems without adding additional marginal cost. The cost of the service or hardware is offset by the reduction in the hiring rate of engineers and technicians and the improvement of system quality, which in turn increases subscriber revenue and reduces churn.

No Time is Wasted Maintaining Drive Test EquipmentEngineers and technicians are expected to maintain and improve the performance of the network while increasing capacity. Time spent managing and maintaining test equipment hardware and software is wasted. Engineers and technicians are most productive when they can spend their time making decisions. The collection and processing of the data should be controllable but automated allowing more time for analysis and decision-making.



Product Description

GeneralThe Real-time Monitoring System consists of control RCUs that are installed in moving vehicles. The RCUs have no display and do not require local operation. The RCUs communicate over a wireless link to a central server called the RMS Server. Control of the RCUs is performed through access to the RMS Server via a web browser interface on the client PC.

The system reduces the cycle time to identify and fix network problems, improves engineering productivity

RequirementsA successful implementation of an automated data collection and analysis solution must have the following attributes:

1. Simple Setup and Operation2. Reliable Operation3. Open Architecture4. Easy Access to Data and Reports5. Automatic Data Collection and Centralized Data Storage6. Online/Automatic Report Generation7. Online/Automatic Mapping 8. Automatic Indications of Alarm Events9. Performance comparison of multiple networks

BenefitsZK Celltest’s Real-time Monitoring System addresses the following attributes:

1. Simple Setup and OperationRCUs are simple to install. They come self-contained in a single enclosure. They can be installed and maintained by ZK if the system is purchased as a service. The data transfer is based on standard FTP and email technologies. For smaller applications the RMS Server is managed by ZK. The user is provided accounts on the RMS Server for accessing their RCUs and associated information. Access to the RMS Server and the RCUs is via an Internet web browser.

2. Low cost remote devices with high reliability and remote diagnostic capabilityThe RCUs can be provided without a LCD display or with a LCD display. The RCU without the display is for applications where the RCU is completely controlled remotely. The RCU with a LCD display is for technicians that want to perform drive testing as well as have the data sent to the RMS Server.

3. Multiple methods of transmitting data over the wireless link including CDPD, circuit switched CDMA data, GSM data and circuit switched analog data.Data coverage is not as ubiquitous as voice coverage. The customer can choose the data service that covers the network the best for transmitting data over the wireless link to and from the RCUs. Additional data service options will be added as needed.



4. Ability to collect and transmit data in areas with poor RF data coverageIt is more important to collect field data in poor coverage and problem areas than in good areas. Unfortunately, in problem areas the wireless data link is compromised. The RCU solves this problem by storing data to internal memory then transmitting it to the RMS Server when the wireless link is re-established.

5. Ability to be alerted upon a network alarm event and analyze collected data of alarm eventSometimes engineers only want to know when a problem occurs. In this case the RCUs can be programmed with alert event thresholds and an email address such that when an alarm event occurs an email can be sent to a pager, cell phone, email account or the Network Operations Center. Alerts are always sent to the RMS Server. They require an acknowledgement by a valid user.

6. Collect data continuously or only collect data during alarm conditionThe user can program the RCUs such that it will only transmit data upon alarm events or transmit data continuously.

7. Open architecture allowing customers to use third party software or perform their own database queries.ZK provides an integrated solution with database querying, mapping, reporting and administration. However, data can be exported in ASCII format for analysis with third party software or queries can be created by the customer to access the relational database directly.

8. Send alert information to customer’s Network Operations CenterRCUs can be programmed to send alerts to the Network Operations Centers upon an alarm condition as defined by the engineer.

9. Provide the solution as a system deliverable or as a data serviceThe customer can purchase and maintain the system hardware and software or they can purchase the system as a service. If they purchase the service then ZK Celltest maintains, upgrades and supports the hardware and software. The customer can also purchase the RCUs and accounts on a shared server. This provides a much more cost-effective solution for smaller markets.

10. Simple access to administer RCUs and create and view maps reports through a web browser interfaceA web browser interface is provided with password settable security that allows users to program RCUs, query the database, and create and view maps and reports.

11. Utilize internet and email technologies for distribution of data and reportsThe Internet is an ideal medium to transmit data and distribute reports. No extra software is required on the PC other than a web browser. Email is used to transmit alerts to any email account. Reports and maps can be available for others in the organization to view from any web browser.



12. Scaleable architecture allowing growth without compromising performanceThrough the use of Internet technologies the system is designed to be completely scaleable. These technologies are proven to work in extremely intensive and large operations. Examples of this include the large Internet Service Providers such as Yahoo or Amazon.com.

The Real-time Monitoring System solution that ZK Celltest provides satisfies all of the general requirements and is based on industry standard data transfer and proven Internet technologies. The system consists of many Real-time Control Units (RCUs), a network server (RMS Server) and a web browser interface for mapping, reporting and administration. In addition, direct access to a relational database is provided for customers that choose to utilize in-house software tools for analyzing the data.



The complete hardware and software solution can be purchased by the customer and maintained at their site or the customer can purchase the solution as a service where ZK Celltest would install and maintain the RCUs and/or the RMS Server.

A pictorial overview of the system is shown below.



RCUs The RCUs can be provided with or without a display. Field technicians and engineers use RCUs with displays for drive testing and for automatically logging and transmitting data. DXM products can be ordered with a wireless modem option which will automatically transmit log data to the RMS Server. RCUs without displays are only for remote, automatic logging operation.

Components of the RCU include up to 6 cellular phones, a PCS scanning receiver, a cellular scanning receiver, a GPS receiver, a processor board and a wireless modem or a direct Ethernet connection. The cellular phones can be any combination of EAMPS, TDMA, CDMA, GSM or iDen.

The direct Ethernet connection is available for mounting RCUs in fixed locations such as cell sites. These fixed RCUs would perform continuous call testing of the cell sites. The wireless RCUs would be roaming throughout the network.

The RCUs support CDPD, EAMPS, CDMA and GSM wireless modems for data transfer to the RMS Server. This allows simultaneous data collection and data transfer.

RCUs perform voice and data measurements on TDMA, CDMA, GSM, iDen and EAMPS technologies on the cellular and PCS hyperbands. Data collected by the RCUs includes but is not limited to the following parameters:

TDMA Call Processing events including but not limited to handoffs, channel, power level, DCC, DVCC, BER, time slot, RSSI and SID

CDMA call processing events including but not limited to soft and hard handoffs, frequency channel, RX AGC, Tx Power, Tx Gain Adjust, FER, Active, Candidate and Neighbor information

GSM Call Processing events including but not limited to handoffs, channel, power level, BSIC, RXQUAL, time slot, RXLEV and SID

iDen Call Processing events including but not limited to handoffs, channel, power level, BSIC, Quality factor, time slot, signal level and SID

Analog call processing events including but not limited to channel, signal strength, power level, SAT, DCC

Scanning information for EAMPS, TDMA, GSM/BSIC and CDMA PN channels Alarm events including call blocks, call drops, poor audio quality, interference, high transmit

power, low received signal, phone off, etc. Data testing throughput, route trace, link failures, % retries, link stats



The RCU is available in two hardware configurations; a 2-phone version and a 6-phone version. Options are available for audio quality measuring and the selected wireless modem. A pictorial view of both versions is shown below.

2-Phone RCU Hardware Configuration

6-Phone RCU Hardware Configuration



RMS ServerThe RMS Server was designed as an Internet based server. It can be installed on any hardware/software platform that supports Java, including Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, Linux, and Windows NT based systems. It has the following software components:

Oracle database Mapping server Audio Quality Measuring Report generation and viewing server RCU administration Alert management Cell site database management and administration Administration of RMS Server users HTTP server Application server User interface via a web browser

The RMS Server can be installed anywhere with a reliable, continuous, high speed Ethernet connection to the Internet. The RMS Server can be maintained at ZK’s facility, if desired, in order to reduce the expense and effort required installing and managing the server hardware and software.

The RMS Server receives instructions from the web browser interface and programs all of the RCUs with the desired parameters. The RCUs are in constant contact with the RMS Server to receive parameter updates and send email alerts and log files.



RMS Server Software ArchitectureThe following graphic shows the software architecture on the RMS Server. A “thin” client is used in order to enhance performance. Processing is performed primarily on the Server and data transfer is minimized. In addition, 100% Java code is used on the client in order to function on Java compatible web browsers and operating systems.

An Oracle database is used to store the collected data. Servlets on the Server provide reporting, mapping, configuration and administration services to the user. The user can also choose to use third party software to access the database and perform analysis.


Oracle iAs

HTML/Javascriptsupport files

Alert ServletCfg. ServletMap Servlet

Admin ServletLogin ServletXmarc Servlet

Application Server (Jserv)HTTP Server (Apache) Alert Ejb

Cfg EjbMap Ejb

Admin Ejb

Database(with Spatial)

Oracle 8i/Jvm

Xmarc Admin

Discoverer AdminJava 1.2.2 Plug-inNetscape or IE

(100% JAVA Src code)

Client


RMS Server - RCU Communications and Audio Quality Measurements

A pictorial view of the communications link between the RCU and the RMS Server is shown below. In addition, the audio quality measurement link is shown.

Voice and data measurements are made by the RCU and sent to the RMS Server via a wireless modem over an FTP data transfer protocol. RCU configuration data is sent to the RCU via the wireless modem over an FTP data transfer protocol.

For audio quality measuring, speech clips are sent in both directions and the audio quality is measured at the RMS Server for the uplink and in the RCU for the downlink. The downlink audio quality data is sent in band to the RMS Server.

For audio quality measurements a stimulus test signal consists of a 2.5 second human speech clip, 1.5 seconds of voice modem data, and 1 second of silence. Four Harvard phonetically balanced sentences of human speech, two each from different male and female speakers, are rotated throughout each test call, alternating between male and female. Quality measurements include the following:

MOSA MOS score is recorded providing a measurement of the overall voice quality of the call.

Active Speech LevelActive Speech Level measurements range from 0 dBm to -63 dBm in 1 dB increments, with -20.0 dBm being the desired or reference value. Active speech level is basically the RMS value of the speech with the silent periods removed.

Background NoiseBackground Noise measurements range from +10 dBrnC to +70 dBrnC in 1 dB increments, with the lowest values being best. (dBrnC signifies dB relative to a nanowatt [-90 dBm] and processed through a C-message filter.) Background noise is measured during the 1-second silent interval between test stimuli.



Echo Return LossEcho Return Loss measurements range from 0 dB to 40 dB in 1 dB increments, with values near 40 dB generally considered acceptable. Echo Return Loss is measured just before and during the 1-second silent interval between test stimuli by the unit that has just finished transmitting.

DelayDelay measurements range from 0 to 500 ms in 10 ms increments. Delay can only be measured when echo is present. The delay measurement is round trip delay.

Erasures Erasure measurements range from 0 to 63 counts in each of 6 bins of time durations 20 ms, 40 ms, 60-80 ms, 100-160 ms, 180-320 ms, and over 320 ms. Bins were chosen based on the typical vocoder frame size of 20 ms and increase geometrically in length chosen based on the typical vocoder frame size of 20 ms and increase geometrically in length



Web Browser InterfaceThe user interface is provided through a Java compatible web browser such as Internet Explorer. The web browser interface offers the advantage of accessing the RMS Server from any location. In addition, software updates can be easily uploaded to the RMS Server without having to update individual computers. Maintenance is drastically reduced, as only the RMS Server needs to be maintained.

All pages will have menus for navigating through the browser application. The initial page is a public home page. This page will provide information and updates on the system. A user logon will be provided on this page.

The web browser window provides the following major functions:

Home – Info page, guest area, demo access, marketing info, Login RCU Configuration - Program (add, change or delete) RCUs and/or groups. Program alert

thresholds. Program data collection times and transmit data times. Reports – Create, view, modify and/or export, database queries, data export, data download Mapping – Create, view, modify and/or export Alerts Status – Status of current and past alerts Administration – Security access, database size/information, file archiving setup Help – Product help documentation



RCU Configuration ScreenThis screen deals with configuring the RCUs. The configuration information is stored on the server and retrieved automatically by the RCUs when they login in to upload data.

Each RCU or group of RCUs can be configured separately. If a unit has a configuration that is different than the group configuration the unit name will be colored red. Up to four start and stop times can be configured for logging data. Two ftp addresses can be entered for transmitting the data. This will typically be the TCP/IP address of the RMS Server.

Comments about the unit and configuration can be entered in the comment field. Blackout areas can be defined where you don’t want the units to make calls or collect data. This prevents cells from being overloaded with calls when travelling in the same geographic area.

Each phone in the RCU can be programmed with auto dial information.



Mapping

This screen allows a user to view data through a standard or custom Map. Users with advanced privileges will also be able to generate custom Maps that can then be shared with others or saved for their own use.

Maps that have been created are displayed on the left. To create a new map the user would select the data to be mapped in the frame on the right. First, the user defines the dates and times of the log data to be mapped. Then the user can select which geographic zones to use. The user can select log data items to further filter the data. This filtering process allows the user to map only the parameters of interest.



Once a map is created or a shared map is opened then a map window opens such as the following:

Each map has a series of layers that the user can turn on and off. The layers are shown in the frame on the left. The highlighted “eyeball” in the legend indicates that the visibility of the layer is turned on.



Information ToolAdditional map tools are available, which allow further analysis and drilling down into the data. The Info tool allows the user to click on any point and read all the information associated with that point such as cell identification, channel number, RSSI, etc. By highlighting the “ “ icon in the legend and clicking on a data point in the map, the Properties window appears displaying all of the detailed data collected at that point as shown in the following map.

The user can click the laft/right arrows in the top of the Properties window to increment through the data forward or backward.

Cell Trace FeatureWhen a user clicks on a data point with the Information Tool lines are drawn from the point to the serving sector(s). When the neighbor list data is displayed the lines are drawn to the strongest neighbors. This feature can clearly indicate problems with handoffs and missing neighbors.



Over-the-Air Message DecodingWhen the CDMA or GSM over-the-air messages (sometimes called layer 3 messages) are displayed on the map the user can use the Information Tool to click on a message and display the fully decoded English text in the Properties Window as shown in the following map.

The user can increment forwards and backwards through the messages. This is very helpful in analyzing bad handoffs, handoff failures, dropped calls or blocked calls as well as poor data throughput.



Map Offset ToolBy clicking on the “ “ icon in the legend the user can overlay multiple data sets onto a single map. The user can ‘offset’ the overlaid data so that it can be easily compared with other data sets.



Data LayersThe user may want to add additional layers of data that is currently not shown. To do this the user clicks the Map Settings button

and the following window appears:

This allows the user to pick any layer in the data set to display as a layer on the map. Resulting maps can then be saved to the to the server in their personal folder or to share with others.

In addition to the Data Layer selection the user can filter the data by date, time and individual units (RCUs).



BinningBinning is an extremely powerful feature when the user wants to view a wide area of data such as an entire market or region. Point data is averaged for each 100 meter bin and displayed. The following map shows one full month of binned data of FER in the San Francisco Bay Area.

From this point the user can drill down into the problem areas and bring up point data in order to troubleshoot and identify the cause.

Other binned maps are available that compare the system during peak and off-peak hours.



GraphingWith the graphing feature the user can select a point on the map and display a graph of the data. Below a map is displayed of the serving channel and neighbor channel RSSI values. The zero point on the graph is synchronized with the selected point on the map and the data in the Properties window.

As you can see, all the data you need is displayed in one screen. The user does not have to flip between screens. Productivity is enhanced.



Reports & QueriesThis screen allows a user to view data through a standard or custom Report. Users with advanced privileges will also be able to generate their own Reports and perform ad-hoc queries against stored data. Queried data can also be exported to standard formats for spreadsheets and databases.

When the user clicks on the Reports tab the following window will appear. The user can select to view the shared report workbooks listed in the window by clicking on them. Some sample reports are shown.

Scheduled workbooks can also be defined such that they occur automatically. Trend reports can be automatically created using this feature. Anyone in the organization can get up to date reports on system performance. If they have RCUs that also monitor the competitive networks then they can get automated reports comparing multiple networks in a market on a daily, weekly and/or monthly basis - by geographic zone as well!



If the user had editing privileges she can click on the edit icon and the report editor will appear. If you open an existing workbook something similar to the following screen will appear. This application has a direct connection to the collected data in the database. Features allow you to create a table, cross-tab or cross-tab with page detail type report on virtually any combination of the data.

Reports can be saved to the server or to the local workstation. They can be exported into almost any standard format including Excel.

To create or edit a report the screen on the right is displayed. The first tab (shown here) allows you to select the data of interest. Additional tabs allow you to select the table layout, add filter conditions, calculations, percentages, totals and parameters. Parameters allow the report viewer to enter their own parameters to create a report. For example, a report can be generated to show the FER count for all FER’s above X where the viewer enters X.

Charts and graphs can be created and exported to html and Excel for additional analysis. In addition, automated scheduling of reports and charts can be created on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.



Alert ConfigurationThe following screen allows the user to set up the alerts.

Alerts are generated when an abnormality occurs within a zone. The percentage of events like drops and blocks are calculated over a 12 hour time period. This value is then compared to the baseline and if the alert threshold is exceeded then an alert is generated. For example, if blocked or dropped call percentages calculated over a twelve-hour period are below the zone's baseline plus the threshold, then no alert is created. Alerts are created when the alert baseline plus threshold is exceeded. This prevents unnecessary notification of every dropped or blocked call.



Alerts StatusThis screen provides alert status information for all RCUs.

As the RMS Server identifies alerts, they are displayed in this screen and sent via email (if configured) to the programmed email address. In addition, XX seconds (defined by the user) of data before and after the alert are stored in the database for analyzing the alert. The priority of the alert is identified by color with red as the highest priority and green as the lowest. Double clicking on the alert brings up a window to allow the user to acknowledge the alert and type in comments. Alerts can be sorted by any column by clicking on the column heading.

Highlighting the alert and clicking on the map icon automatically creates a map window with the data associated with the alert. This allows the user to quickly analyze the alert data.



System SettingsThe following screen allows the user to set system wide parameters.

It is unnecessary to log data telling the user that the system is working well. Logging “good” data creates a large amount of data and is unnecessary for system troubleshooting. This screen allows the user to filter the data at the RCU level thus eliminating unnecessary data and logging necessary data. The user can set filters on the data to log when the parameters reach a user defined threshold level.



Administration

These screens allow the administrator to add, modify and delete users and define and assign user roles.

ConclusionAs systems become more complex the standardized functions of the test engineer must be offloaded to automated systems. In addition, the demands of the marketplace of increased quality, increased capacity at a lower cost with more competition are driving the need to solve problems and improve systems performance much faster than before.

Automated systems are designed to fill this need and to provide continuous information to the system engineer.


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