Introduction: To be the top in your field you have to be professional in usage its tools and in our field [Drive test] which is the first step in Network optimization and make fine tuning for it to enhance its performance, our used tools are MapInfo, TEMS, Excel, Word, Power point, Access. So in this paper we will introduce how to start working with TEMS program and how to configure its windows to suite your work. (1) Making your workspace:

Empty Work Space GSM Page:

Basic windows used during Drive Test

• Serving + Neighbors “Display Serving BCCHS & Neighbors BCCH” which from we can detect if there are missing neighbors whether internal or external also we can monitor received signal strength (Received signal level power in dbm).

• Serving + Neighbors By band “Display Serving RTF whether it’s a BCCH or TCH” which displays the same parameters as the previous window but this window is more accurate window to test Cross feeders problems from.

• Radio parameter “received signal level, quality level, distance between your location & site and counter which is counting in case of very bad quality or level indicating that HO is necessary now ”

• Current channel “This window is very important where it indicates many information that is specified with my call connection such as time slot reserved for my call, FR,HR,EFR , Cell name, Band is it GSM, EGSM, DCS & BSIC .etc.”.

• Line chart “this chart contains plot diagram for both Level & Quality where the first chart contains Level plot with the following characteristics :

We use only 2 charts for integration and for Roaming we use 4 charts, so in our case will use 2 charts by right-click on the chart and remove undesired charts. After this we will edit the appearance of each: the purpose each used for.

(a) Level Chart Right Click on your charts & select the first chart Click on edit chart then select the first part which indicates the IEs

information elements used; where this part display the wanted information elements to be monitored.

Add those IEs: Your current measured RX level: RX LEVEL SUB (DBM) Tow Best Neighbors Levels: Neighbor RX LEVEL (DBM) Neighbor RX LEVEL (DBM)

Adjust the appearance of each information element such that its color can be seen and you can differentiate it with the other neighbors color as follows:

Adjust your limits between (-10 & -120)

Hint: There is a difference between Information Element & Event where the first indicate a Network parameter such as RX level and quality, carrier to interference ration, bit error rate, adaptive multi rate, signal quality index and more. But the Event is an event occurs during the call establishment such as HO or HO failure, location area update, call setup, call blocked and more.

Adjust your Events you want to see during call. Actually we select all events then removed undesired events such that the used events are:

Check your Events pictures and each event represented in its corresponding picture.

There is no additional information are added. (b) Quality chart

Right click on the Line chart and select chart 2 then press on edit chart.

From the first window which contains information elements add those IEs:

• RX QUAL SUB • SQI Where the first one refer to the received signal quality which is proportional to the BER & FER of the received signal, the second item indicate the signal quality index which give an identifier (index) represents the quality of the signal “very good, good, bad, very bad” which will be discussed after that.

Adjust the appearance of each information element such that its color can be seen and you can differentiate it with another color as follows:

Adjust your limits as follows: For the RX QUAL SUB: upper limit is 7 and lower limit is 0. For SQI: the upper limit is 30 and lower limit is -20.

There are no events or additional information is added to this chart.

Hint The previous windows are selected from the main menu as follows: Presentation>> GSM >> Serving+ Neighbors. Presentation>> GSM >> Serving+ Neighbors by Band. Presentation>> GSM >> Radio parameters. Presentation>> GSM >> Current channel. Presentation>> GSM >> Line chart.

• GPS This window is very important for many reasons:

- Indicate if the GPS position is valid or not where if the position is valid you will see numbers indicate your latitude and longitude of your current location, and if your position is invalid you will see nothing.

- During your movement a compass will appear which from you can know the North direction so can determine your sector numbering sequence also each antenna azimuth.

- You can know the number of satellites that your GPS device detects.

This window can appear into your workspace from this path: Presentation>> Positioning >> GPS.

• Handset Control This window is very important for many reasons: - The Handset control window is changed into a mobile form

which you can call any number you want (actually the drive test number which we call: 0122054321).

- Also of press right click on this window and by selecting Properties then Band Control we can select which band we want to make our call within (GSM,EGSM 900, DCS 1800, PCS 1900)

• Carrier to Interference ratio (C/I):

This window is used to indicate the interference level on the RTF you initiate the call on, also if there is a frequency hopping feature it’ll be displayed in this window.

This window can appear into your workspace from this path: Presentation>> Interference >> C/I.

Note: TEMS is divided into 8 main pages each is responsible for

certain function as we will mention later.

Each of those pages is appeared by clicking on it, for example now the active window is Configuration.

Each page has a specified number of windows which can be seen & appeared from the main menus where some pages has a main menu with the same name.

Actually in DT “Drive test” we are interested only in some windows within some pages as follows: GSM page, MAP page, Configuration Page where Each can be reached from those menus: Presentation & Configuration menus.

Map Page: The main objective from this page is to open your site map which from you can see:

- Your site location & your current location using GPS connection.

- Site structure (Number of Antennas, Azimuth). - Neighbor sites. - Roads & streets you have to move within to test your site

coverage and checking HO occurrence.

• Open a Map When we move to the Map page we will see it empty as

follows:

you

Open Presentation >> Positioning >> Map

By clicking on the icon which located on the tool bar like the pyramids you can add your desired maps (sites map, roads, Niles).

• Add a Map After adding the worldwide map you can add your

desired maps on by clicking on the icon like pyramids which located on the tool bar.

By zooming in into your map, you can see the map details.

By adding labels to your map by clicking on the layer control icon “icon contains 3 parallel rectangles” you can now knows each site name & each road name also you will see your current position with the help of GPS connection as a green spot on your map so you can navigate to reach to your site.

Configuration Page: This page is very important where it’s used for:

- Selecting your test mobile type & select the port number which will connect at.

- Selecting your GPS type & select the port number which will connect at.

- Loading the cell definition file which is used to track the serving cell and its neighbor.

- To control your audio indication.

• Port configuration One of the most important windows which is used during initiating TEMS program such that can work correctly during your air interface test is the PORT CONFIGURATION window where it used to identify both test mobile & GPS device to your laptop ports as follows:

Click add equipment icon (+) then select your device type and the port you connect it on.

For the test mobile used in test kit is T610 and the GPS is NMEA 0183 & for the port selection you have to have a PCMCIA card that contains 2 serial ports for the connection of mobile and GPS and after define it to the windows you will see that there are additional 2 ports where you can select one for mobile and the other for GPS.

After selecting each device you will se its icon and the port it defined for, if there is conflicting in the port number in the PCMCIA card and your definition you can auto search for the connected device by clicking on the icon named by ( Identify equipment).

also you have to select the ports you will use by the TEMS software by clicking on the icon named by (i) port properties and select 3 ports where one will use for dongle second for test mobile and third for GPS.

• Cell definition file and General windows for the Cell definition file it’s used to make DT is more easier where we use a cell definition file (file.cel) by uploading it we can know the current serving cell and its neighbors.

after activating the cell definition file widow by selecting it from the configuration menu press on the open file window and open your cell definition file.

for General window also you can activate it from the configuration menu, after that double click on cell define load and select your cell definition file to be uploaded as previous.

• Audio indications This window is responsible for activating / deactivating

the audio file which automatically plays if certain event occurs.

Hint:

All of those windows of the configuration page can be appear by selecting it from the configuration menu.

Notes:

(1) there is what called a status bar this bar is indication to the current status of the connection of GPS an the test mobile also we can know from it the size of current log file that we are recording it.

(2) We can auto swap the log file we are recording at as follows: open log file >>recording properties.

Where this will make automatic swapping for the files after each is reach 30000 SACH massage “approximately 5 MB byte in size”.