Actix Spotlight Desktop User Guide

Desktop
User Guide
June 2013
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The content of this manual is provided for information only, is subject to change without
notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Actix. Actix assumes no
responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that appear in this documentation.
Copyright Actix 2013. All rights reserved. All trademarks are hereby acknowledged.
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Contents
1 ABOUT SPOTLIGHT ..................................................................................... 6
1.2 USING SPOTLIGHT TO SOLVE NETWORK PROBLEMS ...................................................... 7
1.3 ABOUT SPOTLIGHT PROJECTS ............................................................................. 10
2 IMPORTING CELL SITE DATA ....................................................................... 11

2.1 IMPORTING NETWORK DATA .............................................................................. 11
2.2 UPDATING CELL SITE DATA ............................................................................... 20
2.3 LOADING CELL SITE DATA ................................................................................ 20
2.4 CELL SITE DISPLAY ........................................................................................ 21
2.5 SETTING THRESHOLDS FOR DATA IMPORT .............................................................. 26
3 STARTING SPOTLIGHT ............................................................................... 27

4 CREATING A PROJECT ................................................................................ 28
4.1 STEP 1: CHOOSE NAME AND TEMPLATE ................................................................. 28
4.2 STEP 2: SET PREFERENCES AND THRESHOLDS ......................................................... 29
4.3 STEP 3: CHOOSE DATA ................................................................................... 32
5 USING THE SUMMARY DASHBOARD ................................................................ 34

5.1 NAVIGATING AROUND SPOTLIGHT ........................................................................ 35
5.2 THE TOP PANEL ............................................................................................. 37
5.3 THE ISSUES PANEL ......................................................................................... 38
5.4 THE MAP ..................................................................................................... 39
6 USING SPOTLIGHT REPORTS ........................................................................ 40

7 USING THE RADIO NETWORK EXPLORER .......................................................... 42
7.1 ABOUT THE RADIO NETWORK EXPLORER ................................................................ 42
7.2 CDMA / EVDO CELL COVERAGE ANALYSIS ............................................................ 44
7.3 CDMA / EVDO NEIGHBOR LIST ANALYSIS ............................................................. 50
7.4 CDMA / EVDO PILOT POLLUTION ANALYSIS .......................................................... 56
7.5 EVDO SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS ............................................................... 60
7.6 GSM CELL COVERAGE ANALYSIS ......................................................................... 65
7.7 GSM 2G MISSING NEIGHBORS ANALYSIS .............................................................. 75
7.8 LTE CELL COVERAGE ANALYSIS .......................................................................... 81
7.9 LTE 4G 3G/2G MISSING NEIGHBORS ............................................................... 85
7.10 UMTS / HSPA 3G NEIGHBOR LIST ANALYSIS ....................................................... 89
7.11 UMTS / HSPA 3G-2G NEIGHBOR LIST ANALYSIS .................................................. 95
7.12 UMTS / HSPA CELL COVERAGE ANALYSIS ......................................................... 101
7.13 UMTS / HSPA CELL PILOT POLLUTION ANALYSIS ................................................. 108
7.14 ABOUT THE INTERFERENCE FACTOR (F FACTOR) .................................................. 112
8 USING THE EVENT EXPLORER ..................................................................... 115

8.1 ABOUT THE EVENT EXPLORER ........................................................................... 115
8.2 DATA SERVICE ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 118
8.3 DRILL DOWN FROM THE EVENT EXPLORER ............................................................ 133
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9 PERFORMING A MORE DETAILED ANALYSIS ..................................................... 137

9.1 BEFORE YOU START ...................................................................................... 137
9.2 TO LOAD DATA INTO ANALYZER CLASSIC.............................................................. 137
10 BATCH SECTOR PLOT ............................................................................ 139

11 CREATING A SPOTLIGHT PROJECT TEMPLATE ................................................. 142
11.1 STEP 1: CHOOSE NAME AND STARTING TEMPLATE ................................................ 143
11.2 STEP 2: CHOOSE DEVICES ............................................................................ 144
11.3 STEP 3: CHOOSE KPIS AND REPORTS............................................................... 148
11.4 STEP 4: CHOOSE ATTRIBUTES ........................................................................ 149
11.5 STEP 5: CHOOSE GLOBAL FILTERS .................................................................. 153
12 TROUBLESHOOTING SPOTLIGHT ................................................................ 154

12.1 NO REPOSITORY DETECTED ............................................................................ 154
12.2 THE MAPS IN YOUR REPORT ARE EMPTY .............................................................. 154
13 APPENDIX A: CELL SITE PARAMETERS ........................................................ 155

13.1 CDMA CELL SITE PARAMETERS ...................................................................... 155
13.2 GSM / GPRS / EDGE CELL SITE PARAMETERS ................................................... 156
13.3 LTE CELL SITE PARAMETERS ......................................................................... 157
13.4 UMTS / HSPA+ CELL SITE PARAMETERS .......................................................... 158
14 APPENDIX B: SPOTLIGHT REPORTS ............................................................ 160

14.1 CDMA SPOTLIGHT REPORT ........................................................................... 160
14.2 EVDO SPOTLIGHT REPORT ........................................................................... 163
14.3 EVDO REV A SPOTLIGHT REPORT ................................................................... 167
14.4 GSM SPOTLIGHT REPORT ............................................................................. 171
14.5 HSPA SPOTLIGHT REPORT ............................................................................ 176
14.6 UMTS SPOTLIGHT REPORT ........................................................................... 181
15 APPENDIX C: CDMA THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES ............................... 186

15.1 CDMA THRESHOLDS ................................................................................... 186
15.2 CDMA EVENTS IN THE EVENT EXPLORER ............................................................ 189
15.3 DROPPED CALL DIAGNOSIS FOR CDMA ............................................................. 190
16 APPENDIX D: DATA SERVICE ANALYSIS THRESHOLDS ...................................... 192

16.1 DSA THRESHOLDS...................................................................................... 192
17 APPENDIX E: EGPRS KPIS AND DIAGNOSES ................................................ 199

17.1 EGPRS THRESHOLDS .................................................................................. 199
17.2 EGPRS EVENTS IN THE EVENT EXPLORER........................................................... 201
17.3 EGPRS DIAGNOSES .................................................................................... 203
18 APPENDIX F: EVDO KPIS AND DIAGNOSES .................................................. 205

18.1 EVDO THRESHOLDS ................................................................................... 205
18.2 EVDO EVENTS IN THE EVENT EXPLORER ............................................................ 209
18.3 DROPPED CONNECTION DIAGNOSIS FOR EVDO .................................................... 210
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18.4 LOW THROUGHPUT DIAGNOSIS FOR EVDO ......................................................... 212

18.5 SCHEDULING ISSUES DIAGNOSIS FOR EVDO ...................................................... 214
19 APPENDIX G: GSM THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES ................................. 216

19.1 GSM THRESHOLDS ..................................................................................... 216
19.2 GSM EVENTS IN THE EVENT EXPLORER.............................................................. 220
19.3 CALL SETUP FAILURE DIAGNOSIS FOR GSM ........................................................ 221
19.4 LOCATION UPDATE FAILURE DIAGNOSIS FOR GSM ................................................ 223
19.5 DROPPED CALLS DIAGNOSIS FOR GSM.............................................................. 225
19.6 HANDOVER FAILURE DIAGNOSIS FOR GSM ......................................................... 226
20 APPENDIX H: HSPA THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES ................................ 227

20.1 HSPA EVENT EXPLORER ANALYSIS ................................................................... 227
20.2 HSPA CALL DROP ANALYSIS EXAMPLE .............................................................. 227
20.3 HSDPA LOW THROUGHPUT EXAMPLE ................................................................ 230
20.4 HSPA EVENTS IN THE EVENT EXPLORER ............................................................ 234
20.5 HSPA THROUGHPUT KPIS ............................................................................ 238
20.6 HSDPA THRESHOLDS .................................................................................. 240
21 APPENDIX I: LTE THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES .................................... 244

21.1 LTE THRESHOLDS ...................................................................................... 244
21.2 LTE_CT THRESHOLDS ................................................................................. 248
21.3 SPOTLIGHT THRESHOLDS .............................................................................. 252
21.4 LTE EVENTS IN THE EVENT EXPLORER ............................................................... 252
21.5 RRC DROP DIAGNOSIS FOR LTE ..................................................................... 254
21.6 CALL DROP DIAGNOSIS FOR VOLTE ................................................................. 256
21.7 LTE IRAT MISSING NEIGHBOR ANALYSIS .......................................................... 258
22 APPENDIX J: UMTS THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES................................. 260

22.1 UMTS THRESHOLDS ................................................................................... 260
22.2 UMTS EVENTS IN THE EVENT EXPLORER ............................................................ 264
22.3 DROPPED CALLS DIAGNOSIS FOR UMTS ............................................................ 266
22.4 CALL SETUP FAILURE DIAGNOSIS FOR UMTS ...................................................... 268
22.5 EXCESSIVE CALL DIAGNOSIS FOR UMTS............................................................ 270
23 APPENDIX L: INFORMATION FOR ADMINISTRATORS ......................................... 271

23.1 HIDING ANALYZER EVENT DIAGRAMS FROM SPOTLIGHT USERS .................................. 271
24 INDEX .............................................................................................. 272
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Actix Spotlight Desktop User Guide June 2013
1 About Spotlight
Todays performance optimization and troubleshooting processes are typically
inefficient, costly, and error prone. Engineering teams commonly use disparate
tools that are poorly integrated lacking the automation and scalability
fundamental for rolling out and maintaining complex wireless networks.
Actix Spotlight lowers the overall cost of performance optimization by delivering
maximum engineering productivity in a managed workflow.
Designed by optimization engineers, for optimization engineers, Spotlight
identifies key performance indicators, provides automated root-cause
troubleshooting, coverage and interference identification, and concise reporting.
Engineers can solve and report on more problems faster by eliminating time
consuming data manipulation and manual deduction.
1.1.1 Radio Network Analyses

Spotlight provides the following analyses for examining the performance of the
radio network:
Coverage and Overspill Analysis this determines the coverage footprint

of cells and identifies overshoot against coverage design boundaries.
Grade of Service this determines the relative grade of service for cells,
based on user-defined thresholds.
Pilot Pollution this automatically identifies inbound vs. outbound pilot

pollution. Prioritizes which cells in the network are strong candidates for
tilts and coverage optimization.
Neighbor List Analyses this grooms 3G-3G and 3G-2G neighbor lists,
based on scanner data for sites positioned within a user-defined radius.
1.1.2 Event-based troubleshooting

Based on the drive test data provided for the analysis, Spotlight automatically
generates root-cause diagnostics for the most common subscriber problemsfor
example, dropped calls.
1.1.3 Reporting
Spotlight displays the results of its automatically generated analyses on
integrated, professional-quality reports including embedded maps.
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1.2 Using Spotlight to solve network problems

Spotlight is designed to allow you to follow your own investigations throughout
the various analysis pages and reports.
However, a typical general analysis of the data in Spotlight would be to start from
the Summary Dashboard (shown below). Examine the summary map (1) and
then the appropriate report for the loaded data (2), which might indicate the
presence of one or more problems. Cell coverage, missing neighbors and pilot
pollution problems can be investigated from the Radio Network Explorer analyses
(3); links to these are also shown as Important Issues (4) in the Issues panel of
the Summary Dashboard. These might then point you at specific problem events
which you can examine and diagnose using the Event Explorer (5); links to these
are shown as Critical Issues (6) in the Issues panel.
5
2
3
6
Some typical scenarios for using Spotlight are outlined below:
1.2.1 Perform a quick overview of network performance

Examine the available Spotlight report(s) to see whether any of the performance
criteria thresholds have been exceeded. If there are any problems, you can follow
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them up by using the Radio Network Explorer or Event Explorer investigation

pages.
Using Spotlight reports (see page 40)
1.2.2 Optimize neighbor lists and export suggested changes to the OMC
Use the Neighbor List analyses in the Radio Network Explorer. This process should
be performed as part of the rollout phase of a network to construct and optimize
the adjacency lists of each cell, and throughout the life of the network as changes
to traffic and tilt affect the coverage pattern and interference interaction between
the cells.
CDMA/EVDO Neighbor List (see p50)
GSM 2G Missing Neighbors (see p75)
LTE 4G-3G/2G Missing Neighbors (see p85)
UMTS/HSPA 3G Neighbor List (see p89)
UMTS/HSPA 3G-2G Neighbor List (see p95)
1.2.3 Determine cell coverage

Use the Cell Coverage analyses in the Radio Network Explorer.
CDMA/EVDO Cell Coverage (see p44)
GSM Cell Coverage (see p65)
LTE Cell Coverage (see p81)
UMTS/HSPA Cell Coverage (see p101)
1.2.4 Identify inbound vs. outbound pilot pollution

Use the Pilot Pollution analyses in the Radio Network Explorer. You can visualize
the offending sectors on the map, determine the relative degree of pollution for
each cell and prioritize which cells in the network are strong candidates for downtilts and coverage optimization.
CDMA/EVDO Pilot Pollution (see p56)
UMTS/HSPA Cell Pilot Pollution (see p108)
1.2.5 Identify sites failing their recommended design targets

Use the EVDO System Performance analysis in the Radio Network Explorer (see
p60).
1.2.6 Investigate failure events

Select a Critical Issue from the Summary Dashboard (p42), or open the Event
Explorer (p115).
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1.2.7 Investigate problems in detail at the message level

Select a Critical Issue from the Summary Dashboard, or open the Event Explorer.
Now select the Drilldown option (see p118).
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1.3 About Spotlight projects

In Spotlight, a project is a collection of saved application settings and data files
relating to a particular drive test initiative, specifically the:
Template used for the project. This defines the extent of the data from the
drive test files that you want to process and store within Spotlight's
database, and defines which KPIs and reports will be used in the project.
Network information that you want to use (the cellrefs file).
Preferences that determine how the data is to be loaded.
Thresholds that trigger particular conditions or Events in Spotlight's

analyses.
Drive test files that you want to examine.
The term KPI (key performance indicator) means not simply a statistic that
reflects network performance in some way, but also a related pre-defined
analysis. For all of the KPIs that represent an issue, an overall summary is shown
in the Spotlight Summary Dashboard side panel. However, the analysis is
provided in either the Event Explorer or the Radio Network Explorer, depending
on the KPI type:
Event KPIs - Most of these KPIs relate to a specific type of call or session
failure event, such as dropped calls or handover, call setup or location
update failures, etc. and include automated root cause diagnosis and
drilldown to the sequential message data at the click of a button.
However, some of these KPIs relate to general events (such as call
attempts) in order to provide context for the failure events and these do
not include diagnostics and drilldown functionality.
Radio Network KPIs - These KPIs relate to general issues for the radio
network, such as coverage, pilot pollution, missing neighbors, and so on.
For these KPIs, the Radio Network Explorer provides a detailed analysis
that is very specific to the particular issue.
Reports provide summaries, tables, charts, and maps that can be saved as an
Excel workbook or Web page.
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2 Importing Cell Site Data

2.1 Importing Network Data
This chapter describes how to import delimited network element data into
Spotlight, using various Analyzer features.
Analyzers Network Explorer feature allows you to import network element data,
creating a cell plan file called cellrefs.txt. Network Explorer also lets you browse
and edit this network information once it has been loaded into Analyzer.
In this chapter, CDMA network data is used as an example, but the appendices
show important information relating to other network technologies.
Analyzers network data import process requires two files:
A delimited text file that contains unformatted data arranged in tabular

form, with one row for each individual sector in a network.
A blank file, containing only Analyzer header information, to be populated

with formatted data.
2.1.1 Obtaining Site Data in Tabular Format

In order to import cell site data from your own network, you will need to obtain a
delimited text file containing the data listed in the table below. To maximize the
benefit Analyzer can bring to network analysis, the parameters listed in bold in
the table on the following page are required for cell data to function with logged
data in the main workspace. All other parameters are optional. A full list of
network parameters for different technologies is given in Appendix A: Cell Site
Parameters.
The data may come from a network database or a planning tool configuration file.
As long as the data is in a tabular format, with one row for each sector, Analyzer
will be able to import the data.
CDMA Cell Site Parameters for Import:
Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Site Name
CDMA_Site
SiteName
Text description of the Site for

display on map.
Site Number
CDMA_Site
SiteID
Numeric identifier for the Site.
Latitude
CDMA_Site
Latitude
Locates Site icons on map.
Longitude
CDMA_Site
Longitude
Sector Number
CDMA_Cell
Sector ID
Sector-specific information
useful for display on maps
(can be alpha or numeric)
Azimuth
CDMA_Cell
Azimuth
Orients the sector icons on the

map.
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Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Beamwidth
CDMA_Cell
Beamwidth
Governs the shape of the

sector wedge icon to reflect
the beamwidth of antenna
deployed at the site.
PN Offset
CDMA_Cell
PN
Used in CDMA Toolkit

calculations, lines to neighbor
cells and to color sector/site
icons on maps to reflect PN
planning.
Base Station
Power
CDMA_Cell
EIRP
Base station power, used in CDMA

Toolkit calculations.
Mobile Country
Code
CDMA_Cell
MCC
For information only.
System Identity
CDMA_Cell
SID
Network Identity
CDMA_Cell
NID
Broadcast
Identity
CDMA_Cell
BID
PctPilot
CDMA_Cell
PctPilot
PctTraffic
CDMA_Cell
PctTraffic
PctPaging
CDMA_Cell
PctPaging
PctSync
CDMA_Cell
PctSync
Active Set
Search Window
Setting
CDMA_Cell
SRCH_WIN_A
Used in CDMA Toolkit calculations

to compare current search
window settings with those
suggested by Analyzer.
Neighbor Set
Search Window
Setting
CDMA_Cell
SRCH_WIN_N

to compare current search
List of neighbors
CDMA_Cell
CDMANeighborList

to compare current neighbor list
settings to those suggested by
Analyzer.
Sector Display
Wildcard
CDMA_Cell
Face_Display
Use to color sectors on the map

by a custom integer field.
Sector Display
Wildcard
CDMA_Cell
Azimuth_Display

Sector Display
Wildcard
CDMA_Cell
Phase_Display

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Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Layer Type
CDMA_Cell
LayerType
Use this field to manage multiple

cell layers to be displayed and
hidden separately.
The figure below is an example of a delimited CDMA file that could be used to
import a site list into Analyzer. Though the columns can be in any order for
import into Analyzer, the figure shows all of the REQUIRED fields. Additionally,
the Excel spreadsheet must be saved as a TEXT file for import into Analyzer.
2.1.2 Guidelines for Formatting Tabular Data

Analyzer does not need the cell site data fields to be listed in a particular order,
but to get the best results, follow these guidelines:
The Site ID field must contain a unique value for each site location.
Beware of non-unique Site IDs that is, entries that have multiple sets of
latitudes and longitudes for the same Site ID. Duplicated Site IDs will
result in site markers appearing on the map without sector wedges. Site
Names do not need to be unique they are just used for labeling
purposes.
Position information must be accurate for Analyzer to correctly display

sites in the right location on the map. Longitudes that have a 'West'
notation should be represented as a negative decimal value, as should
latitudes with a 'South' notation. Sites will appear skewed on the map if
the latitude and longitude fields are transposed.
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Before importing new cells into Analyzer, ensure that Analyzer is pointing
to a valid cell site database.
A valid cell site database is a text file in which the first line contains the
text below:
; #NetworkData datafile
Every Analyzer installation comes with a clean file called cellrefs.txt

located in the directory called:
C:\Program Files\Actix\Analyzer\Bin\Cellrefs
The file to be populated need not be named cellrefs.txt. Rename this file
with a meaningful name in order to prevent the file from being overwritten
during reinstallation.
To point the Analyzer to the file you wish to populate with the new cell site data,
use the File Location line in the Tools > Preferences dialog. See the section on
Loading Cell Site Data later in this document for more details.
2.1.3 Importing the Data

Once you have obtained your cell site database in delimited format and pointed
Analyzer to a valid cellrefs file, you are ready to open the Network Explorer and
import the site information. The following example is for CDMA technology, but
the method works across all network technologies. See Appendix A: Cell Site
Parameters for more information on other technologies.
1
To access the Network Explorer, select Cells > Network Explorer.
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The Network Explorer display consists of two panels. The left panel
contains a tree view of the network element data. The right panel shows
details about relevant parameters for the current selection. If you have
pointed Analyzer to a cellrefs file containing only header information, you
will not see any cell site data at this time.
2
From the toolbar, select Import > Import From New Template to open
the Import dialog.
Select the appropriate network data file.
Click Open to display the Import Settings dialog.
Give the Template a meaningful Template Name.
Check the appropriate Delimiter.
In most cases, the default information under the General Settings and
Coordinate Information headers will apply. Adjust these settings if
necessary.
Click Next.
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Expand the CDMA_Site data node. Click in the Column field next to the
Site_Name parameter. Select the parameter name from your site
database that corresponds to the Site_Name parameter. Repeat for each
of the required fields in the CDMA_Site data node, based on the table
below (See Appendix A: Cell Site Parameters for more information on
other technologies):
Field
Mapping required for proper operation?
Site_Name
Optional, but this field is frequently used for the site label.
SiteID
Required, and this field must be unique for each site in the
database.
Latitude
Required
Longitude
Required
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10 Expand the CDMA_Cell data node. Click in the Column field next to the
Sector_ID parameter. Select the parameter name from your site database
that corresponds to the Sector_ID parameter. Repeat for each of the
required fields in the CDMA_Cell data node, based on the table below (See
Appendix A: Cell Site Parameters for more information on other
technologies):
Field
Required for proper operation?
Sector_ID
Required. This field can be used to color sectors on the

map by face number (i.e. 1 = red, 2 = blue, 3 = green).
Azimuth
Required
Beamwidth
Required
EIRP
Optional
PN
Required
MCC
Optional
SID
Optional
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Field
Required for proper operation?
NID
Optional
BID
Optional
PctPilot
Optional
PctTraffic
Optional
PctPaging
Optional
PctSync
Optional
SRCH_WIN_A
Optional
SRCH_WIN_N
Optional
CDMANeighborList
Optional
Face_Display
Optional, but map this field to a custom integer field to

color sectors on the map by that field. An example of a
custom field would be the phase of the site where:
1 = On Air
2 = Under Construction
3 = Planned for Next Year
Azimuth_Display
Optional, but map this field to the integer azimuth field in

order to color sectors on the map by azimuth range.
Phase_Display
Optional, but map this field to a custom integer field to

color sectors on the map by that field. An example of a
custom field would be the phase of the site where:
1 = On Air
2 = Under Construction
3 = Planned for Next Year
LayerType
Optional. Use this field to manage multiple cell layers.

Cells can be displayed or hidden on the map by layer.
11 Click Finish when all the columns have been assigned. If the current
workspace contains existing site data, you will be asked whether you want
to remove existing data before importing new data. Select Yes to
overwrite existing data. Select No to append to existing data.
If any errors occur during the import, a pop-up message will indicate that
an error log has been created. The error log specifies the cause of each
error encountered and can be found in:
C:\Program Files\Actix\Analyzer\Bin\Cellrefs\ImportErrors.log
12 Inspect the cell data in the Network Explorer by expanding the
All_CDMA_Site_Elements folder in the left-hand pane of the Network
Explorer.
13 Double-click on any site name in the right hand pane. The Name, Location
and ID of the site will appear, as well as a folder containing CDMA Cell
Elements. Drill into the CDMA Cell Elements folder and examine the values
corresponding to each sector.
14 To save the formatted site information, select the Save button.
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15 Close the Network Explorer by clicking the X at the upper right hand
corner.
16 After closing the Network Explorer, view a new map by selecting View >
Display New Map.
17 If cell icons do not appear on the map, right click on the CDMA_Cell layer
in the map legend at the left hand side of the map window. Select Zoom to
Layer to zoom the map to the appropriate location. Be sure to close the
map with the X at the upper right hand corner to save all changes to the
map view.
If you see site markers appearing on the map

without sector wedges, this is probably due to nonunique Site IDs in the imported cell site data.
Sites can also appear skewed on the map if the
latitude and longitude information has been
transposed.
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2.1.4 Importing multiple technologies

To import multiple technologies using the same cellrefs file, follow this procedure:
1
Import the first technology and save the cellrefs file.
Import the second technology and save that cellrefs file.
Using a text editor such as Windows Notepad, copy all of the second
cellrefs file apart from the first line, and paste it in at the end of the first
cellrefs file.
You now have a cellrefs file that can import data for both technologies.
2.2 Updating Cell Site Data

You can make minor cell plan changes (a few azimuths, PNs, etc.) directly from the
Network Explorer. Simply browse to find the site and sector of interest and double
click on a single parameter to activate the text.
Be sure to save the modifications before exiting the Network Explorer!
2.3 Loading Cell Site Data

In order to display cell sites in Analyzer, and integrate cell site data with real-time
measurements, a formatted cell site database must exist that contains location
and configuration data for each cell site. The previous section explained how to
create a cell site file from a spreadsheet containing network parameters. In
Analyzer, the formatted cell site file is known as the cellrefs file, although this
file can have any name.
Analyzer reads cell site data upon opening a new workspace. Therefore, if any
changes to cell site data are made, you must start a new workspace (or reopen
Analyzer) in order for the changes to take effect.
Follow these steps to point Analyzer to a formatted cell site file:
1
From the main menu, select Tools > Preferences.
In the Change Preferences dialog, on the File Location line, click on the
name of the current cellrefs file.
In the Open dialog, navigate to the cellrefs file you would like to use and
select Open.
Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
A message box will be displayed saying that the new cellrefs file takes
effect when a new workspace is loaded. Click OK to close the message
box. Analyzer loads cells upon opening Analyzer or starting a new
workspace. From the Main Menu, choose File > New Workspace to
create a new workspace.
In the new workspace, click View > Display New Map. If cell icons do
not appear on the map, right click on the CDMA_Cell layer in the map
legend at the left hand side of the map window. Select Zoom to Layer to
zoom the map to the appropriate location. Be sure to close the map with
the X at the upper right hand corner to save all changes to the map
view.
By default, the cell sites are now visible.

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2.4 Cell Site Display

2.4.1 Displaying Site Labels
By default, site and cell labels will be displayed on the Analyzer map. You can
leave the labels as they are, modify the way they are displayed, or turn them off
entirely. The site labels are displayed independently of cell labels. This allows you
to display of Site Name or Site ID in addition to or instead of PN, Azimuth, or
Beamwidth.
In Analyzer, sectors are called cells based on the European terminology.
The following instructions specify first site labeling, then cell labeling:
1
In the Layer Control dialog box, select the site layer (named CDMA_SiteSite_Name)
Under the Properties heading in the Layer Control dialog, press the
Labels button.
The MapInfo-style Label Properties box will appear. Check each of the
following options:
Show
Allow overlapped text (recommended)
Hide adjacent duplicate text (optional)
In the Label Properties box, use the drop down Data Field menu to
determine the label format to display. Currently, there are two formats of
labels from which to choose:
The Site_Name (default) shows only the site name.
The KeyField label shows only the site ID.
If you wish to offset the label from the cell site symbol, use the options in
the Position box in the Label Properties dialog.
If you wish to change the font of the labels, use the Label Style button in
the Properties dialog.
Select OK to exit the Label Properties dialog.
The Site Labels have been formatted. Next, format the Cell Labels:
1
In the Layer Control dialog box, select the cell layer (named CDMA_CellBeamwidth-PN)
Under the Properties heading in the Layer Control dialog, press the Labels
button
The MapInfo-style Label Properties box will appear. Check each of the
following options:
Show
Allow overlapped text (recommended)
Hide adjacent duplicate text (optional)
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In the Label Properties box, use the drop down Data Field menu to
determine the label format to display. All CDMA_Cell parameters are
available as options for labeling.
The PN Label shows the PN for each sector, displayed next to the sector. If
you wish to offset the label from the cell site symbol, use the options in
the Position box in the Label Properties dialog.
If you wish to change the font of the labels, use the Label Style button in
the Properties dialog.
Click OK in the Label Properties dialog, and then OK in the Layers dialog to
apply the labels.
2.4.2 Coloring Sectors on the Map

By default, sectors are colored by PN on the map. To color the sectors according
to a different field (i.e. Sector_ID, to color sectors by face), or to make all sectors
the same color:
1
Click the Cell Sites button at the top of the map.
In the Series drop-down, choose CDMA_Cell.
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Use the Cell Color drop-down choose how to color the field. To make all
sectors the same color, specify an unused field (i.e. MCC). To color sectors
by face (i.e. 1 = red, 2 = yellow, 3 = blue) choose Sector_ID.
Click OK to exit the Sites / Cell Properties dialog.
Site coloring will appear as specified. To modify face colors, expand the
CDMA_Cell parameter in the legend. Right-click on individual ranges and
choose Selected Ranges Style to modify colors.
Note that the sector need not be colored and labeled by the same parameter. The
figure below shows sectors colored by Sector_ID and labeled with the PN. Use the
Layer Control dialog to adjust labeling as desired.
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2.4.3 Searching for Cells

Search for Cells provides a mechanism for locating specific cell sites based on
user-defined search criteria.
To conduct a search:
1
Display site data of interest on the map.
From the main menu, select Cells > Search for Cells.
From the main menu, select Window > Tile Horizontally or Window > Tile
Vertically to arrange the CellRefs Search dialog and the map in the
workspace.
Ensure that CDMA is visible in the Technology drop-down.
Use the Add, Edit and Delete buttons to modify search criteria.
Click the Search Now button to show in the Results window all matching
cell sites from the current cellrefs file.
From the Results window, select a row to highlight and center the
corresponding sector on the map.
Click the Highlight All button to highlight all matching sectors on the
map.
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2.4.4 Viewing Cell Site Information

A cells Azimuth, Beamwidth and Sector ID can be obtained by running the mouse
over a sector on the map.
To obtain more detailed information on each site or sector:
1
Display site data of interest on the map.
From the main menu, select Cells > Display Cell Data.
From the main menu, select Window > Tile Horizontally or Window > Tile
Vertically.
Click on a sector wedge or site dot on the map. Details about that sector
or site will appear in the Display Cell Data window.
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2.5 Setting Thresholds for Data Import

Ensure that before entering Spotlight, you set the appropriate technology
thresholds to enable Spotlight to use your own criteria for identifying particular
events and circumstances. See the relevant appendix for details.
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3 Starting Spotlight
To start Spotlight, click on Actix Software from the Windows Start menu (or, if
you have a combination of licensed products, select Spotlight from the
Engineering Process dialog).
This screen is now displayed:
If you have just started using Spotlight, you will want to create a New
Project.
If you already have an existing project within Spotlight's database, click

the project's related Open button to proceed to the Summary Dashboard.
In the example screenshot shown above, there are several existing
projects.
If you want to Delete a listed project, note that you will be asked to
confirm your choice.
Note that you can also choose to start in classic mode, without the Spotlight
interface and analyses, and directly investigate the data using Analyzer's rich tool
set.
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4 Creating a Project
4.1 Step 1: Choose Name and Template
This page is the first step in creating a new Spotlight project.
Type in a unique Project Name.

Project templates define the extent of the data from the drive test files
that you want to process and store within Spotlight's database under the
project name.
Either select a predefined Template from the scrolling list, or click on

New Template to create your own.
Templates shipped as standard with Spotlight are shown in blue and do
not have creation dates associated with them. A Master Template is
available at the bottom of the list, with all KPIs and reports selected.
To delete a particular template, highlight it in the scrolling list and click
Delete Template. Note that templates that are shipped as standard with
Spotlight may not be deleted.
Click Next to go on to the next step.
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4.2 Step 2: Set Preferences and Thresholds

In the second step in creating a new Spotlight project, you must specify a
cellrefs file for your project.
Note A cellrefs file contains network configuration

information in a delimited text format, and is usually
created using the output from a planning tool.
You can also use the settings and thresholds links to set various other
options for your project.
CellRefs Select a valid cellrefs file that contains the details (name, ID,
and location, etc.) of all of the cell sites and sectors that you want to
analyze. If you want to analyze data from more than one technology, the
cellrefs file must contain the information for all of those technologies.
Note Spotlight always makes a local copy of the
selected cellrefs file, in case the original cellrefs file is
updated to reflect changes made to the network. The
Spotlight project database relies on the associated
cellrefs file remaining unchanged if it is, the project
will no longer work. Spotlight is designed to be used
for short-duration drive test campaigns, so this
should not present a problem and if you do need to
use the new cellrefs data, simply create a new
project that references the new cellrefs file.
Settings Click this link to open the Preferences dialog box. This has
many options, many of which configure the way various specific types of
data are decoded. There are also a number of neighbor list settings for
CDMA and UMTS these are used to fine-tune the algorithms used by the
neighbor list analyses in the Radio Network Explorer.
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Although you can change these settings using the Data Settings link in the
Radio Network Explorer's top panel, you should set them using the link on
this page when you create the project.
Note When you work in Spotlight, make sure that
you do not enable the Automatic Import options in
the CellRefs group of Preferences.
Thresholds Click this link to open the Thresholds Editor, where you can
configure the user-defined thresholds that are used in Spotlight.
Thresholds are used in Spotlight in two main ways:
Event detection Most of the KPIs in the Event Explorer are

ultimately based on event attributes that are detected by the Actix
event detection mechanism as the data is loaded into the project's
repository.
These KPIs are usually based on a single event attribute (for
example, the GSM dropped call KPI is based on the
EventCallDropped event attribute), although a few might be based
on multiple event attributes (for example, when incoming and
outgoing call setup failures are stored in separate event attributes).
Many of the analyses in the Radio Network Explorer are also based
on event attributes. For example, the UMTS pilot pollution analyses
are based on the UuPilotPollution and Uu_Scan_PilotPollution event
attributes.
When an event detection algorithm involves a user-definable
threshold, you can configure the corresponding KPIs and analyses
by changing those thresholds. The thresholds used in the event
detection mechanisms for the various technologies are documented
in detail in the Settings and Preferences section of the help, which
also provides information about which attributes are affected.
The documentation provides information about the names of the
event attributes that underlie each KPI and analysis. This is useful
when reading about event detection thresholds and helps you to
look up the definition of those attributes in the Attribute Help
system.
KPI definitions Thresholds are used in the queries that define

the raw data that is to be stored in the repository and from which
the various KPIs are derived.
Thresholds are also used in the calculations that are subsequently
performed on the data as it is retrieved from the repository prior to
display in Spotlight.
The documentation provides a list of these thresholds for each
technology.
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4.2.1 What happens to the projects preferences and threshold settings

After you click the last steps Done button, Spotlight automatically saves the
preferences and thresholds that are currently selected (including a copy of the
entire cellrefs file). These saved settings are automatically reloaded whenever
you subsequently open the project. This is done for several reasons:
Spotlight does not expect that the cellrefs file will change after you have
started loading datathe addition of even a single cell sector in the
cellrefs file can result in incorrect results within Spotlight (this is why
Spotlight is not compatible with the Automatic Import option for cellrefs
data.)
Changing other preferences and thresholds can result in subtle changes in

how Spotlight decodes data, defines events and determines what to store
in the repository. Although changing these settings after you have started
loading data into the project should not invalidate the results, it can lead
to confusion and the potential for different definitions being used to
generate the same event.
By saving and reloading the cellrefs file and other preferences and thresholds with
the project, Spotlight avoids these potential problems. However, it does mean
that any changes you subsequently make to the preferences and thresholds while
working on the project will be lost next time you reload the project.
For example, you can change the neighbor list preferences using the Data
Settings link in the Radio Network Explorer's neighbor list pages. As soon as you
close the dialog box, the page will be updated to reflect the new settings.
However, next time you reload the project, the neighbor list settings will revert to
those that were selected when you originally created the project.
You should therefore think through your requirements and set the settings and
preferences accordingly before you start loading data.
Note Although you can change preferences and
settings at any time using the Display Thresholds and
Preferences options on the main Tools menu, this is
not recommended when using Spotlight, because
changing the CellRefs file can cause incorrect results
and changing the other settings is potentially
confusing. Although changing most of the
preferences and thresholds will not affect the data
stored in your project's repository, it will affect
drilldown data and any data that you load into
Analyzer Classic for detailed analysis, with a potential
for confusing discrepancies between the two sets of
results. Also, the changes will be lost when you
reload the project, as explained earlier.
Click Next to go on to the next step.
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4.3 Step 3: Choose Data

In the third step in creating a new Spotlight project, you must specify the data
files that you want to examine. The template selected in step 1 defines the
information that will be loaded into the project database and how it will be
processed.
Initially, the file list is empty:
Choose the data files to be processed by Spotlight:

If you have just a few files to process, click the Add Files button and
select one or more files, which will be added to the list of chosen files.
If you have a folder full of file to be processed into Spotlight, click the Add
Folder button and select the folder. If underneath the selected folder
there are subfolders that also contain required data files, check the Add
all subfolders box.
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Once the list of chosen files has been populated, you can remove a specific
file by clicking the remove link at the end of the row. You can also use the
Remove All Files button if necessary.
Click Done to load the data and open the Summary Dashboard.
The project will be saved to this folder:

\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Actix\Analyzer\Projects
(depending on your current Windows user settings)
For best use, aim for at least 1GB of free disk space per project. Spotlight
supports a maximum populated data volume of about 3GB.
The entire process of loading data is dependent on
the volume of data to be loaded into the project.
However, once the data has been loaded into the
repository, it can be reattached very quickly.
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5 Using the Summary Dashboard

The Summary Dashboard shows an overview of the data loaded in the current
Spotlight repository project.
If you have configured multiple devices during the template configuration phase,
a separate tab per device will appear in the dashboard.
Note that due to the potential amount of information
on display, Spotlight is designed to be used at full
application window size, so you should keep your
Spotlight application window maximized at all times.
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5.1 Navigating around Spotlight

At the top of the page, the navigation bar allows you to move around in Spotlight.
It also provides some useful functions from any stage of your analysis:
Key for the following links:

1
Return to the Summary Dashboard page.
Return to the Radio Network Explorer (or Event Explorer) page.
Open the 'Choose an Engineering Process' dialog, allowing you to select

another Spotlight project.
Filter out files and streams from all analyses (see Global Filters below).
Select additional files to load into the current project repository.
Specify a folder to be scanned for new files - any files copied there that
match a specified filter are automatically loaded (see Auto Load below).
Returns the current Spotlight page to its default appearance.
Display help for the current Spotlight page.
5.1.1 Global Filters

If your current project uses Global Filters, a related link appears in the
navigation bar. Click on the link to show a dialog similar to this:
This dialog allows you to specify any files or streams that you want to exclude
from the analysis, and allows you to filter by time (not shown above).
Once you have specified the filter, note that you need to click the Add Filter link
on the right to create the filter.
If you have configured regional filtering, this dialog will also give you the option
to filter by region.
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5.1.2 Auto Load

While Auto Load is active, a selected folder is scanned and any matching files
loaded.
Click the Auto Load link in the navigation bar to show the following dialog:
You can specify a folder (check the box to include subfolders) within which the
Auto Load feature is to look for new files.
The filter allows you to narrow down which files you would like to load. You can
use a *, so the filter could be, for example, *.cdp.
These settings will be kept until you change them.
When you have selected the folder and filter, click Next >> to display the Status
page:
Note that while this page is open, Auto Load is operating, so this is something
that for example you may want to leave running overnight.
The page shows the queue of files to be loaded and their status. New files to be
loaded are added to the bottom of the list. The progress of the current file load is
shown with a bar below the list.
To deactivate Auto Load and stop the current file load, click Cancel & Close (if
no file is currently being loaded, this button just reads Close).
The above screenshot shows a file with the status: Pending. This status type only
applies to multi-threading-disabled Analyzer.
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5.2 The Top Panel

The top panel has buttons
linking to the Event
Explorer and Radio
Network Explorer
pages.
The panel also includes a
Summary table
consisting of information
on the loaded dataset.
The Reports link in this
table displays all the
existing reports defined
to run on the template.
The Log Files link displays a dialog listing the log files processed in the project.
The three tabs allow you to filter by File and Stream, or by Stream.
The Analyzer Classic tab allows you to load selected files for analysis in Analyzer:
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5.3 The Issues Panel

On the left of the screen, this
panel highlights particular issues
that have been identified in the
loaded data, based on the
current threshold settings.
If you have access to multiple
technologies in the loaded data,
a drop-down menu at the top of
the panel allows you to switch
between the technologies.
The Critical Issues section
includes event-based key
performance indicators (KPIs)
like dropped call rate, failed call
rate and rate of calls with
excessive setup time.
The Important Issues section
includes the various radio
network analyses. Depending on
the nature of the issue, click on
one of these issues to open the
appropriate analysis on either
the Radio Network Explorer page
or the Event Explorer page.
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5.4 The Map

In Spotlight, the map is an integral part of the interface. The Summary map
shows the entire drive with the default (technology-dependent) attribute plotted:
CDMA
EcIo_1stBest
EVDO
Consolidated_SINR_For_Nth_Best_Pilot[0]
GSM
ServRxLevSub
UMTS / HSPA
Uu_ActiveSet_EcNo[0]
The drive test data is

binned according to
the selections made in
step 4 of defining the
project template.
However, any events
displayed on the map
will use the exact
position rather than a
binned position, so
they may not
necessarily align with
the data points.
From this map, you may be able to see one or more areas that may require
investigation, using a Spotlight report or by following a link for a critical or
important issue. Cell sector wedges are color-coded as follows:
green sectors were serving during part of the drive
yellow sectors were seen during the drive but were never serving
empty sectors were not seen during the drive
Note that this image shows the map window

undocked; by default the map view is docked in
Spotlight, resulting in the Map icon being displayed
next to the File menu at the top left of the screen.
Click on this icon to control the size of map window
and its docked or undocked condition.
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6 Using Spotlight reports

Reports are a good place to start when attempting to identify problems in the
loaded data. These can be accessed by clicking on the Reports link from
Spotlight's Summary Dashboard page. Note that, to be available, a report must
have been activated in the current project's template. A report shows all
unfiltered data in the project database for the associated technology.
Here's an example HSPA report:

Navigation tabs on the bottom left
let you explore the various pages of
the report.
Spotlight provides the following
reports:
CDMA (see p160)
EVDO (see p163)
EVDO Rev A (see p167)
GSM (see p171)
HSPA (see p176)
UMTS (see p181)
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On the bottom right, the Show Excel Report button lets you open the report as
a Microsoft Excel file. From here, you can use the functionality of Excel to perform
further analyses on the data, or simply save the report as an Excel file or print it
out. Note that the maps are inserted into the Excel file as linked bitmaps. This
means that if you save the report in Excel for a project (A) and then run the
report again on a different project (B), the map bitmaps will be updated to reflect
the data in project B. If you subsequently reopen the workbook that you saved
for project A, Excel will display a message saying that the workbook contains
links to other data sources and asking whether you want to update them. Make
sure you choose the Don't Update option, because otherwise the report will be
updated with the maps from project B.
The Save button exports the report as a web page. Note that the web page has
an associated subfolder with a unique name containing various image and other
files relating to that report. However, the image files in each subfolder are always
called image1.gif, image2.gif, which may cause you problems in some situations.
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7 Using the Radio Network Explorer

7.1 About the Radio Network Explorer
You can access the Radio Network analyses from the Radio Network Explorer icon
at the top of the Summary Dashboard page:
...or by clicking on an appropriate Issue link in the Issues panel on the left of the
Summary Dashboard page:
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The available Radio Network analyses for all technologies are as follows:
CDMA/EVDO Cell Coverage
CDMA/EVDO Neighbor List
CDMA/EVDO Pilot Pollution
EVDO System Performance
LTE Cell Coverage
LTE 4G 3G/2G Missing Neighbors
GSM 2G Missing Neighbors
GSM Cell Coverage
UMTS/HSPA 3G Neighbor List
UMTS/HSPA 3G-2G Neighbor List
UMTS/HSPA Cell Coverage
UMTS/HSPA Cell Pilot Pollution
When you are viewing a particular Radio Explorer analysis page, you may find
that several analysis conditions apply, depending on the data loaded in the
project. At the top left, you will see a tab for each of these, taking you to the
appropriate analysis.
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7.2 CDMA / EVDO Cell Coverage analysis

You can use this analysis to:
Determine the coverage footprint for each cell.
Visualize where a cell is the best server.
Determine the relative grade of service as regards to EcIo, Mobile Rx

Power and Mobile TX Power for selected cell(s), based on user-defined
thresholds.
Visualize where cells are overshooting their coverage design boundary, as

defined by SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold, shown by the red line
surrounding a selected cell.
7.2.1 Before you start

You can use scanner or handset data for this analysis.
7.2.2 Using the cell coverage analysis

1
Click on an appropriate issue link (or on the Radio Network Explorer image
followed by the Cell Coverage tab) to open the Cell Coverage analysis
page.
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Note that drive test data is binned according to the selections made in
step 4 of defining the project template. However, any events displayed on
the map (for example, by using the Events drop-down menu) will use the
exact position rather than a binned position, so events might not align
with the data points.
2
From the top table, click on the column heading # > Dist. to sort the
table by this value.
Look for differences between the # > Dist. value and # Samples. Be
careful not to include sectors with low sample counts (for example, below
50) as these will not be statistically relevant.
Here is one such site - Site A, Sector 3. Some samples (highlighted) are
shown well outside the overspill threshold (the red circle around the
selected cell) and close to another cell.
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In this example, scanner data is available, so select the Analysis to be

Scanner - Where Seen to visualize the coverage situation for the loaded
data.
Note that as the samples are now no longer seen, this is not a problem.
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Continuing to investigate the sectors from the top table, we find another
potential problem sector, Site B Sector 2.
There may be a problem with the highlighted neighboring sector, which could be
solved by downtilting the selected sector. First, check that the two cells are twoway neighbors.
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7.2.3 Features of this analysis page
Top Panel - Shows summary information. Clicking on a row in this table

causes the side panel to display more information about the site, and the
map zooms to the site and displays its coverage.
Map - When you click a row in the top table or on a site on the map, the
map shows the coverage wedge for the selected cell, EcIo and the
CDMA_Important_Issues (CDMA Grade of Service) attribute. The red circle
represents the coverage design boundary, configured using
SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold. Data points outside this circle represent
overspill.
Side Panel - When no rows are selected, the side panel displays overview
information. A table shows details of the sites: Best EcIo, Rx Power, and
CDMA Grade of Service. When a site is selected, the panel shows various
KPI values for the site and a histogram of the distances at which the cell
was measured. A red line indicates the maximum range for the analysis,
as defined by SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold.
Filters Select this link to specify filters for the table on the top panel.
Attributes List of most commonly used attributes that can be plotted on

the map. Currently plotted attributes are shown in red in the list. The
currently selected attributes will be kept as you move between Spotlight's
analysis pages.
Events List of the event attributes that can be plotted on the map. So
while looking at pilot pollution you could dump the CDMA Dropped Call
event on the map and quickly find out if the call dropped due to pilot
pollution. Currently plotted events are shown in red in the list.
Analysis Select Scanner (Best Server/Where Seen) or Handset (Best

Server/Where Seen) analysis. The analysis can operate in two modes:
Best Server and Where Seen. Changing the mode affects the Ec/Io
attribute that is displayed on the map. Best Server mode shows the Ec/Io
when the selected cell was the best server is displayed. Where Seen mode
shows the Ec/Io whenever the cell was measured, and shows the coverage
footprint for only those cells that were the best servers at some point in
the drive.
PN Search Visualize a PN on the map. Select a PN to color red all the

sites with this PN, so you can quickly identify co-PN locations.
Overview Displays in the left panel an overview of statistics, plus Grade

of Service percentages for the entire drive. The map also shows the Grade
of Service (the legend also shows sample counts).
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This table shows how the CDMA Grade of Service is computed at each point:
CDMA Grade of
Service
EcIo
condition*
MRx Power
condition*
MTX Power
condition*
Excess interference
Within
Exceed
Within
External interference
Within
Exceed
Exceed
Weak reverse link
Exceed
Exceed
Exceed
Weak forward link
Within
Within
Within
Low Rx signal
Exceed
Within
Exceed
Poor coverage
Within
Within
Exceed
*Conditions:
EcIo compared with CDMA_EcIoCombinedThreshold - This condition is

used in conjunction with Mobile Rx Power and Mobile Tx Power Thresholds
to determine the diagnosis for the dropped call, failed call and voice call
with poor quality. Recommended value is -12 dB. Values should vary
between -16 and -12 dB.
Mobile Rx Power compared with CDMA_MobileRxPowerThreshold - This

condition is used in conjunction with EcIo and Mobile Tx Power Thresholds
with poor quality. Recommended value is -80 dBm. Values should vary
between -75 and -90 dBm.
Mobile Tx Power compared with CDMA_MobileTxPowerThreshold - This

condition is used in conjunction with EcIo and Mobile Rx Power Thresholds
with poor quality. Recommended value is 5 dBm. Values should vary
between 0 and 10 dBm.
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7.3 CDMA / EVDO Neighbor List analysis

This lets you use scanner data to optimize neighbor lists for sites within a userdefined radius of the selected cell. The missing neighbor algorithm generates add,
remove and retain neighbor recommendations for each site and cell based on
scanner measurements, and these can be exported directly to a CSV file for easy
import and to update the switch directly.

For this analysis, the project will need to contain scanner data.
7.3.2 Using the neighbor list analysis

1
To start this analysis, from the Summary Dashboard page click on the
Radio Network Explorer button and click on this tab, or click on an
appropriate Issue in the left-hand Issues panel.
If you have not done so before, check the data settings that control the
neighbor list analysis algorithm.
Go to the top table and sort by the Add column.
You can now see the sector with the highest number of recommended
additions to its neighbor list.
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Click on the top row in the table to show information for that sector.
The map now shows green lines to each new neighbor recommendation.
The thickness of each line shows how well the suggestion meets the
criteria of the analysis. The circle represents the user-defined radius used
by the analysis to identify potential neighbors. The map also displays the
data points used in the analysis.
5
Examine each suggested additional neighbor.

You may have reasons for refusing to accept the suggestion on
geographical grounds (for example, existing cells between the sector and
the suggested addition, as occurs several times in this example), or for
reasons related to the data settings. For example, you may think that the
number of samples was too small to justify the addition - in which case
you may also want to alter the related data setting, which will immediately
update the analysis. Also, you may know that one or more sites will be
going off-air and should not be selected.
If you disagree with a suggested addition, you may want to use the PN
Search feature to find an alternative sector to add to the neighbor list.
Note that in this case you will not be able to output your choice, and will
need to make the correction to the switch manually (for example, by
editing the CSV file).
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If you accept all suggestions for a sector, you can click the related button
in the table to mark your choice.
Note that the number beside the button changes to match your selection.
For example, if there were 6 suggested additions in the first row, with
none currently selected for export, the number would show 0/6. If you
clicked the button, the number would read 6/6. If you do not want to
select every recommendation for a sector, you can use the table in the
side panel on the left, which shows each recommendation for a sector
individually. So if you selected 3 additions, this would result in the number
reading 3/6. This can be useful if there are a large number of
recommendations and you need to keep track of how many you have
already selected.
7
Repeat this process for each row in the top table, as necessary.
You can now go through the same process for the 'Removals' column.
Note that by default the map does not show lines for removal
recommendations.
Once you are satisfied with the recommendations that you have selected,
you can output them to a CSV file. From the top of the page, click the
Export data link.
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Top Panel - Summary information is displayed in the top panel. It includes

in a tabular form number of addition, removals and retains neighbor
recommendations for every site. Clicking on a row in this table causes
neighbor information for the selected cell to be displayed in the side panel,
and lines to neighbors to be drawn on the map.
Map - When a row is clicked in the top panel or a site is clicked on the
map, lines to neighbors are drawn from that site. The circle represents the
user defined radius (Maximum Intersite Distance) used by the analysis to
identify potential neighbors.
Side Panel - Details of the neighbor recommendations are displayed on the

side panel. Check boxes next to a recommendation can be selected for
export to a CSV file.

analysis pages.
Events List of the event attributes that can be plotted on the map.
Currently plotted events are shown in red in the list.
Export data Select this link to export neighbor recommendations to a

CSV file.
PN Search Visualize a PN on the map. Input a PN to visualize on the map

and this feature would color red all the sites with this PN. This helps in
quickly identifying co-PN locations.
Data Settings This link opens up a dialog box for configuring the
algorithm that Spotlight uses for the missing neighbor analysis, which can
be used to build lists of suggested neighbor cells to add and remove. All of
the options take effect immediately after you click OK. See below for more
information.
7.3.4 Data Settings

Setting
Default
Description
Ec/Io
Threshold
(dB)
-17
Only scanner measurements above this used-defined EcIo

threshold will be included in the analysis.
Maximum
Neighbors
13
Defines the maximum number of cells in the neighbor list.
Addition
Threshold (%)
Defines the percentage of samples that must be reached

to trigger a cell being added as a suggested neighbor. This
is used to reduce the effect of stray signals.
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Setting
Default
Description
Removal
Threshold (%)
0.2
Defines the minimum percentage of samples that cells in

the current neighbor list must achieve in order to be
recommended for retention in the list. When the
percentages of samples fall below this threshold, cells will
be recommended for removal from the list.
Minimum
Measurements
50
Only sectors which have been measured above the Ec/Io

Threshold at least this many times will be included in the
analysis. Note that the algorithm works off Binned data.
Maximum
Intersite
Distance
(meters)
20000
Defines the maximum line-of-sight distance in meters

between two cells for one to be considered for inclusion on
the other's neighbor list. For rural areas where the
average intersite distance is naturally greater than a
dense urban environment, use a higher value. To disable
this feature, set this value to 0.
Angle to site
threshold
(degrees)
90
Defines the maximum angle between the edge of a cell's

beam width and the data point, for that cell to be
considered for inclusion in the serving cell's neighbor list.
In this example, the beam width is shown as a darker blue

arc, and the angle to site threshold in lighter blue arcs on
either side. Acceptable data points are within this
threshold of the candidate sector's beam width, and are
also within the Maximum Intersite Distance (the blue
circle). This threshold ensures that missing neighbors are
not suggested from reflected signals or back-lobes, and
also that only cells angled towards the data point are
suggested. To disable this feature, set this value to 0.
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Setting
Default
Description
Include
existing
neighbors
Selected
Select this option for the current neighbor list in the

cellrefs file to be considered for additions and removals.
Only process
first best PN
Selected
Select this option to analyze the neighbors of the best cell

only. De-select this option if you want to analyze the
neighbor list of all of the cells within the reporting range.
Max Neighbor
List Size
32
Allows you to define the maximum number of

recommended neighbors. Note that the more potential
neighbors you add, the longer it will take a handset to find
appropriate neighbors, conceivably resulting in a dropped
call.
Once a potential neighbor list has been calculated for each data point, they are
aggregated by serving cell to produce the recommended neighbor list. This is
compared with the existing list to calculate which are additions, retentions and
removals.
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7.4 CDMA / EVDO Pilot Pollution analysis

This lets you quickly identify pilot pollution in the inbound (how the selected
sector is being polluted by other sectors) and outbound (how the selected sector
is polluting other sectors) directions, and view the offending sectors on the map.
You can determine the relative degree of pollution for each cell and prioritize
which cells in the network are strong candidates for downtilts and coverage
optimization.

7.4.2 Using the pilot pollution analysis

1
To start this analysis, from the Summary Dashboard, click on an

appropriate Issue in the left-hand Issues panel, such as Too Many Servers
(a pilot pollution issue). Alternatively, click on the Radio Network Explorer
button and click on the Cell Pilot Pollution tab.
The map shows the drive test data and the Pilot Pollution events. Note
that drive test data is binned according to the selections made in step 4 of
defining the project template. However, events plotted on the map (for
example, by using the Events drop-down menu) will use their exact
position rather than a binned position, so events might not align with the
data points.
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Sort the top table by Pilot Pollution Events and click on the top row
(that is, the sector with the most associated pilot pollution problems). In
this example that is CDMA_Site_41, Sector 3, which has 183 pilot pollution
events.
The map now highlights the selected sector. Outbound pollution lines are
drawn in red from the selected sector to the sectors being polluted. The
arrow on each line points from the polluting sector to the polluted sector.
The thickness of the lines indicates the degree to which pilot pollution was
detected for the selected sector, based on the loaded data. Inbound pilot
pollution lines are drawn in blue. Rolling over a line with the cursor shows
a pop-up message box giving more information on the pollution.
The left hand panel displays details of the outbound pollution for the
selected sector. In this example, the selected sector is polluting three
other sectors.
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Now de-select the Outbound Pilot Pollution Total box to hide the
outbound polluting lines and select the Inbound Pilot Pollution Total
box.
The left hand panel displays details of the inbound pollution for the selected
sector. In this example, the selected sector is being polluted by five other sectors.
Note that you can also sort this table - for example by distance, which helps you
identify distant sectors that might need downtilting, or if the serving cell needs
uptilting for greater coverage.
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Top Panel - Shows summary information. It includes in a tabular form the

number of pilot pollution events for each site and the total number of
inbound/outbound polluters. Click on a column title to sort the table by
this value. Clicking on a row in this table displays pilot pollution
information for the selected cell in the side panel, and draws lines to
polluters on the map.
Map - When you click a row in the top table or on a site on the map, lines
to inbound as well as outbound pollution are drawn from that site. All the
pilot pollution events involving the site are also plotted on the map. The
lines to polluters have a direction arrow suggesting inbound or outbound
pollution.
Side Panel - Shows details of the inbound and outbound pollution for the
selected site.
Attributes Lists the most commonly used attributes. Select one or more
to plot on the map. Currently plotted attributes are shown in red in the
list. The currently selected attributes will be kept as you move between
Spotlight's analysis pages.
Events Lists event attributes, Select one or more to plot on the map. So,
while looking at pilot pollution you could dump the CDMA Dropped Call /
EVDO Dropped Connections event on the map and quickly find out if the
connection was dropped due to pilot pollution. Currently plotted events are
shown in red in the list.
Analysis Select Scanner or Handset analysis.
Overview Click to display an overview of pilot pollution for the entire

drive.
PN Search Visualize a PN on the map. Select a PN to color red all the

sites with this PN so you can quickly identify co-PN locations.
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7.5 EVDO System Performance analysis

EVDO system coverage tests are intended to characterize network performance
and coverage, and verify that the system meets the following recommended
performance criteria:
Signal to Interference &

Noise Ratio (SINR)
Packet Error Rate (PER)
Mobile Tx Power
Mobile Rx Power
RLP Rx Throughput
RLP Tx Throughput
DRC Rate

For this analysis, the project will need to contain handset data.
7.5.2 Using the system performance analysis

1
Before using this analysis, from the Summary Dashboard, select the
EVDO Report. Examine the report to obtain an overview of the system
performance.
Click on the Radio Network Explorer icon and then the System
Performance tab.
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The System Performance page provides information on whether a

particular performance metric has been met for the various sectors shown
in the top table.
step 4 of defining the project template. However, any Events displayed on
the map (for example, by using the drop-down menu) will use the exact
event position rather than a binned position, so events might not align
3
Select from the Metrics drop-down menu the performance metric that you
want to examine.
Click the column title # < Threshold to show the sectors with the highest
number of samples that exceed the performance threshold. Check the #
Samples column to make sure that you are looking at data that is
statistically significant - for example, with 50 or more samples.
The Performance Met column shows whether the currently selected metric
has been achieved or failed for each sector.
Click on a row in the table to show various KPI values for the selected site
and a distribution chart for the currently selected metric.
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Click on the sector icon next to the Performance Met column heading to
show on the map those sectors that are not performing adequately.
Top Panel - Shows summary information. When no rows are selected,

overview information is displayed in the side panel and on the map, and
by default the SINR analysis is presented. You can select the metric on
which to run the test from the Metrics drop-down menu. A table shows
information on individual sites, including information such as the Average
metric, total samples, performance met/not met result etc. Clicking on a
row in this table causes the side panel to display more information about
the site and a distribution chart for the metric.
map shows the corresponding metric for the selected site.
Side Panel - Displays various KPI values for the selected site and a
distribution chart for the currently selected metric.

analysis pages.
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Events List of the event attributes that can be plotted on the map.
Metrics Select the performance metric to be used for the analysis. You
can easily switch between metrics.
Overview Click on this link to display an overview of system performance

for the entire drive.
PN Search Visualize a PN on the map. Specify a PN to color red all the

sites with this PN, to quickly identify Co-PN locations.
7.5.4 Performance metrics

Metric
Notes
SINR
Compares Consolidated_SINR_For_Nth_Best_Pilot_0 with

the user-defined SINR threshold
Average_SINR_PN0_Threshold.
Low SINR % = (Measurement bins with SINR < Thresh) /
(Total Measurement bins)) X 100
Performance criteria met, if:
(1 - % of Low SINR) >
(EVDO_SINR_Recommended_Performance_Threshold) %
PER
Compares PER_Instantaneous with the user-defined PER

threshold Average_PER_Threshold.
High PER % = (Measurement bins with PER > Thresh) /
(Total measurement bins) X 100
((1 - % of High PER) >
(EVDO_PER_Recommended_Performance_Threshold) %
Mobile Rx Power
Compares AGCPower_Received_Antenna0 with the userdefined Rx Power threshold

EVDO_MobileRxPower_Threshold.
Low Rx Power % = (Meas Bins with Rx Power < Thresh) /
(1 - % of Low RX) >
(EVDO_RXPWR_Recommended_Performance_Threshold) %
Mobile Tx Power
Compares TotalPower_Transmitted with the user-defined TX

Pwr threshold EVDO_MobileTxPower_Threshold.
High TX Power % = (Meas Bins with TX Power > Thresh) /
(1 - % of High TX) >
(EVDO_TXPWR_Recommended_Performance_Threshold) %
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Metric
Notes
RLP Rx Throughput
Compares EVDO_RLP_Rx_Throughput_Instantaneous with

the user-defined RLP threshold
Average_RxRlpThputInst_Threshold.
Low RLP Rx Thpt % = (Meas Bins with RLP Rx Thpt <
Thresh) / (Total measurement bins) X 100
(1 - % of Low RLP Rx) >
(RLPRxThpt_Recommended_Performance_Threshold) %
RLP Tx Throughput
Compares EVDO_RLP_Tx_Throughput_Instantaneous with

the user-defined RLP threshold
Average_TxRlpThputInst_Threshold.
Low RLP TX Thpt % = (Meas Bins with RLP TX Thpt <
Thresh) / (Total measurement bins) X 100
(1 - % of Low RLP TX) >
(RLPTxThpt_Recommended_Performance_Threshold) %
DRC Rate
Compares DataRate_Requested_ShortTermAverage_Kbps
with the user-defined DRC Rate threshold
EVDO_DRC_Rate_Requested_Threshold.
Low DRC % = (Bins with DRC < Thresh) / (Total
measurement bins) X 100
(1 - % of Low DRC) >
(EVDO_DRC_Recommended_Performance_Threshold) %
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7.6 GSM Cell Coverage analysis

Visualize where a cell is the best server.
Determine the relative grade of service as regards to EcIo, Mobile Rx

Power and Mobile TX Power for selected cell(s), based on a user-defined
threshold.
Visualize where cells are overshooting their coverage design boundary as

defined by SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold (drawn as a red circle on the
map).
Visualize the neighbor BCCH, TCH and BSIC plans, within the range
G_Interference_Radius (drawn as a dotted blue circle on the map).

7.6.2 Example of No Dominance

The Summary Dashboard shows an Important Issue: '% area with No Serving
Cell Dominance'. See Coverage criteria to see how this was derived.
From the Summary Dashboard, click on an appropriate 'issue' link to open

the Cell Coverage analysis page, for example the issue shown above.
Note that several rows in the top table have a low sample count, '#', and
so are unreliable to use in this investigation.
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To remove rows with low sample counts, apply a Filter with a threshold
of, say, 50 counts. Click Add Filter and OK.
From the Attribute drop-down menu, select an attribute to plot on the

map, base on the related Important Issue from the Summary Dashboard
(for this example, No Serving Cell Dominance):
Important Issue
Attribute
Poor Voice Quality
ServRxQualSub
Poor Signal Strength
ServRxLevSub
No Serving Cell Dominance
NumNeighbors within 5 dB
The attribute is used in the calculation to identify the issue, as explained in

Coverage criteria.
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Examine the top table of the analysis for indications of poorly performing
cells relating to the Important Issue, and select likely candidate rows.
In the example below, a problem row has been selected. The first map
image shows the 'NumNeighbors within 5 dB' attribute plotted, which
highlights an area of poor dominance (drawn in red). The second map
image shows RxLev (Where Seen) plotted for the same sector, which
shows that it covers an unnecessarily large area. This could be corrected
by applying some downtilt to the sector.
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7.6.3 Example of GSM visualization

This analysis can also be used to highlight and investigate interference issues,
based on the information held in the cellrefs file. In this example, the Quality tab
of the side panel shows a high percentage of Poor RxQual at the same time as
Good RxLev, which is usually an indicator of interference.
1
Use the top table to locate and select cells exhibiting this combination of
poor RxQual and good RxLev.
Now from the side panel, select the Visualization tab.
Depending on the information available, up to four radio buttons are

displayed at the top of the panel with which you can pick the required type
of cell plan visualization.
If you have interference, you may need to see if there are any cells in the
area that have the same frequencies. On the map you can see the
selected sector in gray, together with colored co-channel, adjacent lower
and adjacent higher interference sectors. The cell coverage radius is
shown as a red circle, and the cell plan visualization radius is shown as a
dotted blue circle.
If TCH information is present in the cellrefs file, radio buttons will be
displayed for the two TCH display options, and TCHList information will
appear in the pop-up sector information.
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map shows the coverage wedge for the selected cell, EcIo & RSCP. The red
circle represents the user-configured coverage design boundary, and data
points outside this circle represent overspill.
Analysis The page can operate in two analysis modes: Best Server and
Where Seen. Best Server mode shows the Ec/Io attribute when the
selected cell was the best server (and also RxQual). The Where Seen
mode shows RxLev whenever the cell was measured; coverage footprints
can only be seen for those cells that were best servers at least once during
the drive.
SC Search Visualize a SC on the map. Input a SC to visualize on the map

and this feature would color red all the sites with this SC. This quickly
identifies co-SC locations.
Events Lists the event attributes that can be plotted on the map.
Attributes Lists the most commonly used attributes that can be plotted
on the map. Currently plotted attributes are shown in red in the list. The
analysis pages.
Top Panel - Shows a table of summary information. Clicking on a row in

this table causes the side panel to display more information about the site
and the map zooms to the site and displays its coverage. The table
containing the following information:
Handset (Where Seen / Best Server)
BCCH
# - Number of samples. Ensure that the site you are looking at has
a statistically viable number of samples.
> D(ist.) - Number of samples greater than the coverage design
boundary (defined by SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold).
RxQual, RxLev, (Average, Max, Min). Note that clicking on the icon
only displays the Average value.
% > Beam Percentage of points outside the cell beamwidth.
% >180 Beam Percentage of points outside a hypothetical
beamwidth of 180 degrees.
Link Diff This is the difference between UL and DL pathloss and is
used to highlight cell with possible LNA (TMA) issues, if the
difference is greater the 8 dB, where:
UL = UE Tx Power - BTS Sensitivity + BTS Antenna Gain
DL = BTS EIRP - RxLevSub
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Poor Ql, Poor Lv and No Dom - see Coverage criteria below for
details.
Scanner (Where Seen / Best Server)

As Handset but no RxQual or Link Diff information in the top table.
Side Panel - Each tab displays various KPIs for the selected site. Note that
if you have the Visualization tab selected and you select a sector not
included in the visualization, you will lose the other tabs, and will need to
click on a row in the top table to show them again.
Quality tab - (Handset data only) Shows the percentage of Good

and Poor RxQual and RxLev in the data (see Coverage criteria for
details).
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Distance tab - Displays a histogram of the distances at which the cell was
measured. A red line at the top indicates the maximum range for the
analysis (equating to the red circle on the map), as defined by
SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold (changeable from the Tools, Display
Thresholds command). Note that the side panel only shows Best Server
data, so if you set the Analysis (see below) to 'Where Seen', the map will
only show Where Seen data, so there may appear to be a discrepancy
between the two views.
Visualization tab - Displays BCCH, TCH (if available in the cellrefs file) and
Co BSIC co- and adjacent channel interference on the map by coloring in
the interfering sectors, out to a distance defined by the threshold
G_Interference_Radius (which can be changed using the Tools, Display
Thresholds command). See also the previous worked example of GSM
visualization.
Note that the color is determined by the first satisfied condition, in the
following order: BCCH co-interference, TCH co-interference, BCCH
adjacent upper, BCCH adjacent lower, TCH adjacent upper, TCH adjacent
lower.
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%Intrf or %Interference in the visualization table is the ratio between the

number of interfering channels in common and the sum of all the channels
on the cell. So in the BCCH example below, there is 1 BCCH channel and 3
TCH channels used by the sector. Each row shows only one interfering
BCCH channel, and so the %Intrf is 100% x 1/4 = 25%.
In the TCH example below, there is 1 BCCH channel and 3 TCH channels
used by the sector. Each row shows three interfering TCH channels, and so
the %Intrf is 100% x 3/4 = 75%.
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TCH Co/adjacent Channel % is shown below. This type of

visualization is inappropriate for frequency hopping - that is, where
baseband or synthesized traffic channels are being used.
Co BSIC visualization is shown below. This is used to distinguish

between two different cells which are on the same BCCH. Orange
sectors show that there is another cell on the same BSIC (co BSIC
channel interference), and red sectors show that the cell also has
the same BCCH.
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7.6.5 Coverage criteria

Condition
Top table column

or Quality tab*
Criteria
Poor Voice Quality
Poor Quality, Poor Ql
ServRxQualSub <
G_RxQualSub_Max threshold
Poor Signal
Strength
Poor Leverl, Poor Lv
ServRxLevSub <
G_RxLevSub_Min threshold
No Serving Cell
Dominance
No Dom
If the sum of all these conditions

is > 2:
((ServRxLevSubNborRxLev[n])<5) *
(abs(ServBCCHNborBCCH[n])<375), where n is
0 to 5.
Good Design
G. Design %
Where none of the above

conditions is true.
*This is the percentage of data points where one (or more than one) condition
applies.
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7.7 GSM 2G Missing Neighbors analysis

This lets you use scanner data to optimize neighbor lists for sites within a userdefined radius (Maximum Intersite Distance) of the selected cell.
Where the serving cell cannot carry a call due to interference or poor radio
conditions, the call needs to be moved to a better cell.
If the cellrefs file contains neighbor information, the analysis examines the
relationship between the existing neighbors and the potential neighbors as seen
by the scanner, and generates add, remove and retain recommendations for each
site and cell.
You can export the suggestions made by the analysis directly to a CSV file for
easy import and to update the switch directly.

You will need to have loaded a suitable GSM scanner stream.

1
To start this analysis, from the Summary Dashboard page, click on the
appropriate link in the left-hand Issues panel.
neighbor list analysis algorithm. In this example, we will be interested in
the Minimum Samples and the Addition Threshold. If you alter a data
setting, the analysis will immediately update.
Sort the top table by the Add column.

additions to its neighbor list. Check that the Server Count column shows
an acceptable value (you can also define a cutoff threshold using Minimum
Samples in the Data Settings dialog as shown above).
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The map now shows lines to the recommended additions (there are many
additions in this example as the cellrefs file does not contain any 3G-2G
neighbor definitions - therefore there are also no retentions or removals
suggested). The thickness of each line shows how well the suggestion
meets the criteria of the analysis. The circle represents the radius of the
Maximum Intersite Distance (defined in the Data Settings dialog) used by
the analysis to identify potential neighbors.
The map also displays the data points used in the analysis. The side panel
on the left shows each recommendation for a sector individually, sorted by
the % of data points that meet the recommendation algorithm.
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side panel on the left. So if you selected 5 additions, this would result in
the number reading 5/12. This can be useful if there are a large number of
already selected.

the suggested addition), or for reasons related to the data settings. Also,
you may know that one or more sites will be going off-air and should not
be selected. Note that the more potential neighbors you add, the longer it
will take for a handset to find appropriate neighbors, conceivably resulting
in a dropped call. You may well have an upper limit already defined by
your internal guidelines, but you can also control this using the Data
Settings link at the top of the screen and specify a new Max Neighbor List
Size value.
6
You could now go through the same process for the 'Removals' column
(this example contains no 'removals' suggestions). Note that by default
the map does not show lines for removal recommendations.
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Export data link.
Top Panel - Shows add, removal and retention neighbor recommendations

for every site, together with related site information. Clicking on a row in
this table displays neighbor information for the selected cell in the side
panel, and draw lines to neighbors on the map. The box beside each
recommendation type shows which color it will be drawn in on the map click on the check box to show or hide that particular recommendation
type (by default, Removals are not shown).
Map - When you click a row in the table or a site on the map, lines to
neighbors are drawn from that site. The circle represents the user-defined
radius (Maximum Intersite Distance) used by the analysis to identify
potential neighbors. The map also shows the data points used in the
analysis.
Side Panel - Shows details of the neighbor recommendations. Check boxes

next to a recommendation can be selected for export to a CSV file.
analysis pages.

CSV file.
information.
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7.7.4 Data settings for this page

Setting
Default
Description
RxLev
Threshold
(dB)
-95
The RxLev of the serving cell must be better than this

threshold value for the cell to be considered in this
analysis.
Reporting
Range
(dB)
The RxLev of any candidate neighbor cell must be no

worse than this value from the RxLev Threshold for the
cell to be considered in this analysis (so no worse than
100 dB if using the default value for RxLev Threshold).
Addition
Threshold
(%)

to trigger a cell being added as a suggested neighbor,
where the percentage is:
100 * (No. of samples where cell X is the serving cell to Y)
/ (Total no. of samples where X is the serving cell)
where the thresholds relate to whether Y should be added
(or removed, see below) from Xs neighbor list.
This is used to reduce the effect of stray signals.
Removal
Threshold
(%)
0.2

Minimal
Samples
50

Maximum
Intersite
Distance
(meters)
5000

Only
process
first best
ARFCN
Selected

neighbor list of all of the cells meeting the other criteria.
Max
Neighbor
List Size
32

neighbors you add, the longer it will take for a handset to
find appropriate neighbors, conceivably resulting in a
dropped call.
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Setting
Default
Description
Angle to
site
threshold
(degrees)
90


circle). This threshold ensures that missing neighbors are
not suggested from reflected signals or back-lobes, and
also that only cells angled towards the data point are
suggested. To disable this feature, set this value to 0.
removals.
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7.8 LTE Cell Coverage analysis

Quickly visualize where a cell is the best server, by selecting a cell.
Visually determine where cells are overshooting their coverage design


You can only use scanner data for this analysis.
7.8.2 Example
The Summary Dashboard shows an Important Issue relating to Poor Coverage.
Hovering over the link shows the thresholds used to identify this issue.
Note that these thresholds have already been applied to the loaded data, and
changing the thresholds at this point will have no effect on the analysis.
1
From the Summary Dashboard, click on an appropriate issue link or the

Radio Explorer icon to open the Cell Coverage analysis page.
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The Issues panel showed a high percentage of Poor Coverage issues, so

examine the top table of the analysis for indications of poorly performing
cells. Note that several rows have a low sample count and so are
unreliable to use in this investigation.
of, say, 50 counts by selecting #Samples, > and enter 50. Click Add
Filter and OK.
Sort by Av RSRP by clicking on the column heading.
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Color the cells by RSRP by clicking on the multi-cell icon beside the column
heading (the icon should become colored to indicate this is toggled on).
Select the top sector row.
Looking at the map, note that there are some samples with poor RSRP
despite being very close to the problem sector.
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Top Panel - Shows a table of summary information. The table contains the
following information:
Scanner
# - Number of samples. Ensure that you are looking at a
statistically sensible number of samples.
> Dist - Number of samples greater than the coverage design
RSRP, RSRQ (Max, Min, Ave).
> Beam Percentage of points outside the cell beamwidth.
>180 Beam Percentage of points outside an imaginary
Clicking on a row in this table causes the side panel to display more
information about the site. The map zooms to the site and displays its
coverage.
map shows the coverage wedge for the selected cell, RSRP and RSRQ. The
red circle represents the user-configured coverage design boundary, and
data points outside this circle represent overspill.
Side Panel
Quality tab Displays a quadrant chart with the percentage values of
points in good/bad RSRP and good/bad RSRQ, as defined by
LTE_Scan_PoorRSRP_Threshold and LTE_Scan_PoorRSRQ_Threshold.
Dist tab Displays a histogram of the distances at which the cell was
measured. A red line indicates the maximum range for the analysis, as
defined by SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold.
Vis tab Displays cell details.
Analysis Select LTE Scanner Where Seen or Best Server analysis mode.
Changing the mode affects the RSRP attribute that is displayed on the
map. Best Server mode shows the RSRP when the selected cell was the
best server. The Where Seen mode shows the RSRP whenever the cell was
measured; coverage footprints can only be seen for those cells that were
best servers at least once during the drive. In multi-carrier environments,
you can perform analyses from the perspective of one carrier.
Cell Search Visualize a cell on the map. Input a Site Name, Sector ID, or
PCI (previously named L1_CID) to visualize; this feature would color red
all the cell(s) matching the selected criteria.
Currently there are no events to display.
analysis pages.
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7.9 LTE 4G 3G/2G Missing Neighbors

This lets you optimize neighbor lists for sites within a user-defined radius
(Maximum Intersite Distance) of the selected cell.
site and cell.
7.9.1 Using the missing neighbors analysis

This analysis is accessible via the left hand panel under LTE > Important Issues.
Spotlight aggregates the LTE, UMTS and GSM measurements and bins them
according to the template settings (by default 3 arc-second location bins). For
each bin, Spotlight determines which LTE sectors may need IRAT neighbors
defined, based on the data settings for the analysis (see p85). For each bin and
each LTE sector matching the IRAT neighbor analysis criteria, Spotlight
determines which UMTS and GSM sectors should be added, retained or removed
from the IRAT neighbor list based on the thresholds below.
At the end of this process, for each LTE sector, Spotlight has established the
number of bins where the missing neighbor analysis criteria is met, and a
corresponding list of UMTS and GSM sectors with the number of bins where each
sector meets the addition, retention or deletion criteria.
Typically you would now search by Server Count (the number of bins where the
sector is best).

analysis.

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Cell Search Visualize a cell on the map. Input a Site Name, Sector ID, or
PCI (previously named L1_CID) to visualize; this feature would color red
all the cell(s) matching the selected criteria.
LTE EARFCN, UMTS UARFCN Specify these UARFCN frequencies to use to

search for missing neighbors.
Currently there are no events to display.
analysis pages.
information.

Setting
Default
Description
4G Thresholds
RSRQ
Threshold
(dB)
-10
An LTE sector may only need IRAT neighbors in locations

with poor LTE coverage. This threshold represents the
RSRQ value below which missing neighbor analysis will be
performed in a bin.
RSRP
Threshold
(dBm)
-95
An LTE sector may only need IRAT neighbors in locations

with poor LTE coverage. This threshold represents the
RSRP value below which missing neighbor analysis will be
performed in a bin.
LTE
Threshold
Type
RSRP
Only
This indicates whether Analyzer should use "LTE RSRQ

Threshold", "LTE RSRP Threshold", any of them, or both of
them.
Maximum
intersite
Distance
(meters)
5000
An IRAT sector should not be considered as a missing

neighbor if it is too distant from an LTE sector. This value
defines the maximum distance that a UMTS or GSM sector
should be from a LTE sector above which it will not be
considered as a missing neighbor.
Angle to
site
threshold
(degrees)
90
The LTE IRAT missing neighbor analysis should only be

performed on bins where the LTE sector is expected to
provide coverage. This value defines the maximum angle
the bin should make with the LTE sector azimuth in order
to be considered for the IRAT missing neighbor analysis in
a bin.
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Setting
Default
Description
Only
process
first best
PCI
On
In a given bin, the UE should be connected to the

strongest LTE sector. Therefore it is usually better to only
optimize an IRAT neighbor list for the best LTE sector in a
bin. If this option is selected, Analyzer will only consider
the best LTE sector for the IRAT missing neighbor
analysis.
3G-2G Thresholds
EcIo
Threshold
(dB)
-15
In a bin, a UMTS sector should only be considered a

missing neighbor if its coverage is sufficient. This
threshold represents the minimum CPICH Ec/N0 value for
a UMTS sector, above which it is considered a valid IRAT
neighbor.
RSCP
Threshold
(dBm)
-95
In a bin, a UMTS sector should only be considered a

threshold represents the minimum CPICH RSCP value for
a UMTS sector, above which it is considered a valid IRAT
neighbor.
RSSI
Threshold
(dBm)
-95
In a bin, a GSM sector should only be considered a

threshold represents the minimum RSSI value for a GSM
cell, above which it is considered a valid IRAT neighbor.
Addition
Threshold
(%)
An IRAT sector should only be added to the neighbor list

of an LTE sector if it meets the missing neighbor criteria in
a sufficient number of bins, or else this addition would
increase the risk of radio failures just after the IRAT
handover. For an IRAT sector, this threshold is the
minimum value of the ratio (number of bins where IRAT
sector meets IRAT missing neighbor criteria) / (number of
bins where LTE sector meets IRAT criteria), above which
the IRAT sector is considered for addition to the neighbor
list.
Max GSM
Neighbor
list size
32
This value represents the maximum number of IRAT

missing neighbors that the side panel view will list. If
more IRAT missing neighbors are found, the list will only
show those with the best addition ratio (see "Addition
Threshold (%)").
Max UMTS
Neighbor
list size
32
This value represents the maximum number of IRAT

missing neighbors that the side panel view will list. If
more IRAT missing neighbors are found, the list will only
show those with the best addition ratio (see "Addition
Threshold (%)").
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Setting
Default
Description
Removal
Threshold
(%)
0.2
An IRAT sector should only be removed from the neighbor

list of an LTE sector if it meets the missing neighbor
criteria in a very few number of bins, or else one might
remove a valid IRAT neighbor from the neighbor list. For
an IRAT sector, this threshold is the minimum value of the
ratio (number of bins where IRAT sector meets IRAT
missing neighbor criteria) / (number of bins where LTE
sector meets IRAT criteria), below which the IRAT sector
is considered for removal from the neighbor list.
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7.10 UMTS / HSPA 3G Neighbor List analysis

site and cell.

You will need to have loaded a suitable GSM scanner stream.

1
appropriate link in the left-hand Issues panel.
the Minimum Samples and the Addition Threshold. If you alter a data

an acceptable value (you can also define a cutoff threshold using Minimum
Samples in the Data Settings dialog as shown above).
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meets the criteria of the analysis. The circle represents the radius of the
Maximum Intersite Distance (defined in the Data Settings dialog) used by
the analysis to identify potential neighbors.
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For example, there were 12 suggested additions in the first row, with none
currently selected for export, the number would show 0/12. If you clicked
the button, the number would read 12/12. If you do not want to select
every recommendation for a sector, you can use the table in the side
panel on the left. So if you selected 5 additions, this would result in the
number reading 5/12. This can be useful if there are a large number of
already selected.

be selected. Note that the more potential neighbors you add, the longer it
will take a handset to find appropriate neighbors, conceivably resulting in
a dropped call. You may well have an upper limit already defined by your
internal guidelines, but you can also control this using the Data Settings
link at the top of the screen and specify a new Max Neighbor List Size
value.
6
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Export data link.

analysis.

analysis pages.

CSV file.
information.
Find SC This link allows you to visualize an SC on the map. Specify an

SC and this feature colors red all the sites using this SC.
Scanner Frequency The results can be filtered by carrier.
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Setting
Default
Description
RxLev
Threshold
(dB)
-95
The RxLev of the serving cell must be better than this

value before the cell will be considered in the analysis.
Reporting
Range
(dB)
The RxLev of the serving cell must be no further than this

from the RxLev Threshold before the cell will be
considered in the analysis (so no worse than -100 dB if
using the default values).
Addition
Threshold
(%)

to trigger a cell being added as a suggested neighbor. This
is used to reduce the effect of stray signals.
Removal
Threshold
(%)
0.2

Minimal
Samples
50

analysis. Note that the algorithm works off Binned data
Maximum
Intersite
Distance
(meters)
5000

Only
process
first best
ARFCN
Selected

Max
Neighbor
List Size
32

dropped call.
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Setting
Default
Description
Angle to
site
threshold
(degrees)
90


circle).
This threshold ensures that missing neighbors are not
suggested from reflected signals or back-lobes, and also
that only cells angled towards the data point are
suggested.
To disable this feature, set this value to 0.
removals.
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7.11 UMTS / HSPA 3G-2G Neighbor List analysis

Situations where the 3G network cannot carry a call due to interference or poor
radio conditions - and the call needs to be carried out or completed in the 2G
network - are typically caused by missing neighbors. These are cells that have not
been defined in the neighbor list of the strongest cell at a given location, but
which have an RxLevel good enough to be added to the UEs neighbor list as a
potential cell to hand over from 3G to 2G.
site and cell.

You will need to have loaded the following:
A UMTS scanner stream that relates to a single UMTS frequency.

Increasingly, UMTS scanners are able to scan several frequencies
(identified by the UARFCN) simultaneously.
A GSM scanner or handset stream that was logged at the same time. If a
handset stream is used, it must have been logged in idle mode.
These must have been loaded using a suitable matching cellrefs file, which
must contain a field called GSMNeighborList on the WCDMA_Cell network
element.

1
appropriate Issue in the left-hand Issues panel:
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the Minimum Sample Count and the Addition Threshold. If you alter a data

an acceptable value (you can also define a cutoff threshold using the
Minimum Sample Count as shown above).
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meets the criteria of the analysis. The circle represents the user-defined
potential neighbors.
5

side panel on the left. So if you selected 13 additions, this would result in
the number reading 13/51. This can be useful if, as in this example, there
are a large number of recommendations and you need to keep track of
how many you have already selected.
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be selected. Another problem that arises from this example (due to no 3G2G neighbor data in the cellrefs file) is the sheer number of suggested
additions: 51, compared with the maximum permitted number of 32. Note
that the more potential neighbors you add, the longer it will take for a
handset to find appropriate neighbors, conceivably resulting in a dropped
call. You may well have an upper limit already defined by your internal
guidelines.
6
If you disagree with a suggested addition, you may want to use the SC
Search feature to find an alternative sector to add to the neighbor list.
Note that in this case you will not be able to output your choice, and will
need to make the correction to the switch manually (for example, by
editing the CSV file).
Export data link.

analysis.

analysis pages.
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CSV file.
Find SC Visualize an SC on the map. Specify an SC and this feature

colors red all the sites using this SC.
information.
Scanner Frequency The results can be filtered by carrier.

Setting
Default
UMTS
Threshold
Type
Description
Depending on which measurement your network uses for
determining when to hand over, select EcIo, RSCP, EcIo or
RSCP, or EcIo and RSCP.
EcIo
Threshold
(dBm)
A neighboring cell must have an EcIo of less than or equal

to this value to be included on the potential neighbor list.
RSCP
Threshold
(dBm)
-100
A neighboring cell must have an RSCP of less than or

equal to this value to be included on the potential
neighbor list.
GSM
Neighbor
Threshold
(dBm)
-95
If a potential neighbor has passed the UMTS threshold

criteria described above, now the potential neighbor must
have a measured BSIC greater than or equal to this value
to be included on the potential neighbor list.
Minimal
Sample
Count
50

Maximum
Intersite
Distance
(meters)
5000

Addition
Threshold
(%)

to trigger a cell being added as a suggested neighbor,
where the percentage is:
100 * (No. of samples where cell X is the serving cell to Y)
/ (Total no. of samples where X is the serving cell)
where the thresholds relate to whether Y should be added
(or removed, see below) from Xs neighbor list.
This is used to reduce the effect of stray signals.
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Setting
Default
Description
Removal
Threshold
(%)
0.2

Only
process
first best
SC
Selected

Max
Neighbor
List Size
32

dropped call.
Angle to
site
threshold
(degrees)
90


circle).
This threshold ensures that missing neighbors are not
suggested from reflected signals or back-lobes, and also
that only cells angled towards the data point are
suggested.
To disable this feature, set this value to 0.
removals.
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7.12 UMTS / HSPA Cell Coverage analysis

Quickly visualize where a cell is the best server, by selecting a cell.
Visually determine where cells are overshooting their coverage design


7.12.2 Example using handset data

The Summary Dashboard shows an Important Issue relating to Poor Coverage.
Hovering over the link shows the thresholds used to identify this issue.
Note that these thresholds have already been applied to the loaded data, and
changing the thresholds at this point will have no effect on the analysis.
1
From the Summary Dashboard, click on an appropriate issue link or the

Radio Explorer icon to open the Cell Coverage analysis page.
The Issues panel showed a high percentage of System Interference issues,

so examine the top table of the analysis for indications of poorly
performing cells. Note that several rows have a low sample count and so
are unreliable to use in this investigation.
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of, say, 50 counts. Click Add Filter and OK.
Sort by Ave EcIo by clicking on the column heading.
Color the cells by EcIo by clicking on the icon beside the column heading.
Select the top sector row.
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Looking at the map, note that there are some samples with poor EcIo
despite being very close to the problem sector.
7
So what other cells are interfering to cause this situation? Experiment with
plotting various Events and Attributes - plotting the Uu_ActiveSet_Count
attribute shows that there is only one clear server, Site 8130 Sector B.
This may indicate a missing neighbor.
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Click on the 3G Neighbor List tab. Note that the map and table keep the
focus on the selected cell.
Here we can see that there is a suggested addition to the neighbor list, so
exporting and using that new neighbor should solve the problem. See the
3G Neighbor List analysis for more information.
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7.12.3 Example using scanner data

The Summary Dashboard shows an Important Issue where a large percentage of
data points were identified as being outside the beamwidth of the serving cell.
Click on the issue link to open the Cell Coverage analysis page.
Filter out any rows with low sample counts, as described in the previous
example.
As the problem concerns data points outside the serving cell beamwidth,
sort by >180 Beam by clicking on the column heading.
Color the map cells by >180 Beam by clicking on the icon next to the
column heading.
Note that the top two sectors are in the same site. Select the top sector
row.
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Ensure that in the top panel, you select the Analysis 'Scanner - Where
Seen'.
Looking at the map, note that the samples seen for the selected sector
appear in the beam of the other offending sector. Select the other sector
from the table or the map to confirm that this is a crossfeeder situation.
Top Panel - Shows a table of summary information. The table contains the
following information:
Scanner
> Dist. - Number of samples greater than the coverage design
EcNo, RSCP (Max, Min, Ave).
> Beam. Percentage of points outside the cell beamwidth.
>180 Beam. Percentage of points outside an imaginary
Handset
> Dist. - Number of samples greater than the coverage design
EcNo, RSCP (Max, Min, Ave).
Link Diff. This is the difference between UL and DL pathloss and
is used to highlight cell with possible LNA (TMA) issues, if the
difference is greater the 8 dB.
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Downlink Interference factor.

System interference %
Limited coverage %
Poor UL & DL %
Clicking on a row in this table causes the side panel to display more
information about the site. The map zooms to the site and displays its
coverage.
map shows the coverage wedge for the selected cell, EcIo & RSCP. The red
circle represents the user-configured coverage design boundary, and data
points outside this circle represent overspill.
Side Panel - Displays various KPI values for the site selected and a
histogram of the distances at which the cell was measured. A red line
indicates the maximum range for the analysis, as defined by
SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold.
Analysis Select Scanner (Best Server/Where Seen) or Handset (Best

Server/Where Seen) analysis. The page can operate in two modes: Best
Server and Where Seen. Changing the mode affects the Ec/Io attribute
that is displayed on the map. Best Server mode shows the Ec/Io when the
selected cell was the best server. The Where Seen mode shows the Ec/Io
whenever the cell was measured; coverage footprints can only be seen for
those cells that were best servers at least once during the drive. Note that
in multi-carrier environments, you can perform analyses from the
perspective of one carrier.
SC Search Visualize a SC on the map. Input a SC to visualize on the map

and this feature would color red all the sites with this SC. This quickly
identifies co-SC locations.
analysis pages.
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7.13 UMTS / HSPA Cell Pilot Pollution analysis

This lets you quickly identify pilot pollution in the inbound (how the selected
sector is being polluted by other sectors) and outbound (how the selected sector
is polluting other sectors) directions, and view the offending sectors on the map.
You can determine the relative degree of pollution for each cell and prioritize
which cells in the network are strong candidates for downtilts and coverage
optimization.
You can also select single or multiple events to see lines to the sectors
contributing to the pollution.

7.13.2 Example using scanner data

1
To start this analysis, from the Summary Dashboard, click on an

appropriate Issue in the left-hand Issues panel, such as Too Many Servers
(a pilot pollution issue). Alternatively, click on the Radio Network Explorer
button and click on the Cell Pilot Pollution tab.
Sort the top table by Outbound Cells and click on the top row.
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In this example, as the selected sector 55662 looks like the best candidate
for investigation as it has a high number of Too Many Servers events, and
Outbound and Inbound Cell polluters.
3
De-select the Inbound Cells box to hide the inbound polluting lines.
The map now highlights the selected sector. Outbound pollution lines are
drawn in red from the selected sector to the sectors being polluted. The
arrow on each line points from the polluting sector to the polluted sector.
The thickness of the lines indicates the degree to which pilot pollution was
detected for the selected sector, based on the loaded data. Inbound pilot
pollution lines are drawn in blue. Rolling over the lines with the cursor
displays more detailed information (see the example below).
The map also shows the Too Many Server events. Note that drive test data
is binned according to the selections made in step 4 of defining the project
template. However, any events displayed on the map (for example, by
using the Events drop-down menu) will use the exact position rather than
a binned position, so events might not align with the data points.
4
The inbound polluters are shown by blue lines, and that you can hide or
show these polluting lines by clearing or checking the related box in the
top table. De-select Outbound Cells and select Inbound Cells.
On the map, to show lines to cells, drag a box around the area with a
cluster of Too Many Server events.
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There is no clear dominator in this area, and a few polluting cells are some
distance away, so you would need to improve the coverage in that area.
In the image below, the EcIo values have been plotted on the map to
confirm the situation near the Too Many Server events.
At this point you could use the Cell Coverage tab to see the best way to
improve the coverage for the selected sector.
6
To see how the selected sector is polluting other sectors, from the top
table, de-select Inbound Cells and select Outbound Cells.
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The selected sector is causing pollution at quite a distance, past much

closer sectors. This confirms that the selected sector may need some
downtilt to avoid causing the pollution and to increase nearby coverage.
Use the Cell Coverage tab to see how best to improve the coverage for the
selected sector.
Top Panel - Summary information is displayed in the top panel. It includes

in a tabular form the number of pilot pollution events for each site and the
total number of inbound/outbound polluters. Clicking on a row in this table
causes pilot pollution information for the selected cell to be displayed in
the side panel, and lines to polluters to be drawn on the map.
Map - Click a row in the top panel or a site on the map, to draw lines to
inbound as well as outbound pollution from that site. All the pilot pollution
events involving the site are also plotted on the map. The lines to polluters
have a direction arrow suggesting inbound or outbound pollution.
Side Panel - Shows details of the inbound and outbound pollution for the
selected site.
Attributes Lists the most commonly used attributes. Select one or more
to plot on the map. Currently plotted attributes are shown in red in the
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list. The currently selected attributes will be kept as you move between
Spotlight's analysis pages.
Events Lists event attributes. Select one or more to plot on the map. So,
while looking at pilot pollution, you could plot the UMTS Dropped Call
event on the map and quickly see if the call dropped due to pilot pollution.
Analysis Select Scanner or Handset analysis.
SC Search Visualize a SC on the map. Input a SC to color red all the

sites with this SC, so you can quickly identify co-SC locations.
7.14 About the Interference factor (F factor)

With CDMA technology, interference is a critical factor because communication
occurs on the same frequency band and time slot, such as in UMTS FDD mode,
and therefore interference is directly linked to the coverage and capacity of such
a network. So, understanding the relationship between coverage and capacity
and how it is affected by interference and transmit poweris essential for UMTS
network planning, whether you are looking at a totally new network or a secondgeneration network that is migrating to 3G.
One important source of interference in a WCDMA network comes from the
signals transmitted by surrounding cells (inter-cell interference). A satisfactory
Eb/N0 value is of paramount importance in maintaining a satisfactory quality of
service (measured using Frame Erasure Rate or Block Error Rate). As a result, the
interference level is directly related to the user density in the considered cell and
neighbors, and affects both the cell range and capacity of the system. The more
users in the system, the higher the interference and the smaller the cell range.
This is represented by the F factor, defined as Home cell noise/Total noise.
The F factor can also indicate pilot pollutioncoverage quality will suffer from an
increased load as the F factor increases. The F factor can be calculated from
measurements as follows:
CPICH Ec/Io = CPICH RSCP UE RSSI
UE RSSI = Nt + Is + Io
where:
Nt = thermal noise of the UE (-100 dBm)
Is = Interference (received power fraction) coming from same cell
Io = Interference (received power fraction) coming from other cell
We know that in an unloaded network, Is = 2 x CPICH RSCP
So the F factor, Io / Is, can be written as:
F = Io / Is = ( UE RSSI Nt (2 x CPICH RSCP)) / (2 x CPICH RSCP)
2 x RSCP is also measured RSCP + 3dB. Of course all additions and subtractions
should be done linearly (first convert from dB to Watts).
Note that the formula is only valid for unloaded networks that do not experience
much fading.
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A good value for the F factor is below 3 (or 4) over 95% of the cell area. If a cell
has a higher value, the capacity of this cell will be impacted, and even more so
when the network becomes loaded.
Note When examining drive data, the F-Factor is
very dependent on the route, because at the edge of
cells the F-factor will naturally be higher.
7.14.1 Example 1 - Low 'F' factor

In the example below, most of the DL interference (F-factor) is below 5 across
most of the drive.
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7.14.2 Example 2 - High 'F' factor

In the example below, there are areas where the DL interference is high, even
with a cell site in the area (for example - middle bottom). The region could suffer
from capacity issues as the network usage increases. Thus, the region needs
some optimization, in the form of downtilts, azimuth changes, or new sites.
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8 Using the Event Explorer

8.1 About the Event Explorer
The Event Explorer provides a detailed analysis of critical failure events. You
could arrive at this page from the Summary Dashboard as a result of clicking on
an appropriate Issue or on the Event Explorer icon.
8.1.1 Worked example investigating dropped calls

In this case, we have chosen to analyze call drops and so all the dropped call
events appear on the map. The cell wedges are color coded to represent dropped
call numbers. The side panel lists all the critical events occurring in the drive.
When using this page, you can work from the data in the top table or from the
diagnostics panel on the left.
The table in the top panel has a row for each site and lists the failure rates for
that site. Note that the table shows a set of KPIs that correspond to the current
Category (selected from a drop down menu above the top table this prevents
the table from becoming cluttered by only showing a small set of related KPIs at
the same time).
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Selecting the heading sorts the table by that KPI. The symbol beside the top table
heading indicates the additional effect of selection:
Selecting a heading with an

on the map.
icon allows you to visualize the KPIs and events
Selecting a heading with an

icon allows you to visualize the KPIs and events
on the map and also displays the diagnostics on the left panel.
If the top table shows high values for a
particular problem KPI, check the top
left hand box to enable the selection
boxes for each row. Then check each
row with high problem KPIs. The side
panel is now filtered to show the
events appearing for only the selected
site/sector rows.
If there are many rows in the table,
you might want to sort by the
Diagnostics column to see the
diagnostic types grouped
alphabetically.
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In this example, EcIo has been selected from the Attributes menu at the top and
displayed on the map. There are some poor values surrounding the dropped call
event, which is expected for a handover problem. Plotting pilot pollution events
may also help you to understand the situation here.
Note that drive test data is binned according to the selections made in step 4 of
defining the project template. However, any events displayed on the map will use
the exact position rather than a binned position, so they may not necessarily
align with the data points.
Drilldown allows you to view selected data related to the event on the Drilldown
page, which shows a range of analysis views appropriate to the type of diagnosis.
For more information, see the section on Drilldown on p118.
Filters The table on the top panel can be filtered by adding filters
through this dialog
Attributes drop-down menu List of attributes that are most useful in

analyzing drive data. For example, for UMTS data you could select
Uu_ActiveSet_EcNo. From the map, you could see if EcNo is higher around
a dropped call, which would suggest that the call quality was degrading
immediately before the event. See the Attribute / Event Help (available
from the Help menu) for more information.
Events drop-down menu List of the event attributes that can be plotted
on the map. See the Attribute / Event Help (available from the Help menu)
for more information.
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Detailed event diagnostics - The left hand side panel provides a diagnosis
for the failure event, consisting of these sections:
Causes Shows possible causes for the event
Further Explanation Provides details on the causes for the event
Further Analysis Suggests how to proceed with further analysis
Measurement Information - Provides RF measurement data around

the event
8.2 Data Service Analysis

You can use this analysis to examine the data service performance of your
network. Typically this will be for an HSPA network, probably working in
conjunction with some legacy UMTS or GPRS areas.
Note that for this functionality to be available, you
will need to have selected a template that includes
Data Service Analysis when you create your Spotlight
project.
8.2.1 Using the Data Service Analysis Page

The screenshot below shows the Data Service Analysis page.
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The panel reports on the following issues:
Service Setup Failure Rate - Service is used to refer to the end-to-end

connection between the UE and the core network. A Service Setup Failure
is detected when the UE attempts - but fails - to get an IP address (for
instance, if a PDP Context Activation procedure fails).
Service Drop Rate - A Service Drop is detected when the UE loses the
end to end connection to the core network (for instance, after a Routing
Area Update procedure failure).
Task Failure Rate - Task is used to refer to any data upload or

download; for example, an FTP put or get, browsing a web page or a
ping test. A failure is detected when the Task did not complete (for
instance, if the UE failed to download a file in case of a FTP DL test).
Percentage of FTP or HTTP upload or download tasks below the

absolute threshold value - This corresponds to Tasks for which the
average throughput was less than a configurable threshold*.
Percentage of FTP or HTTP upload or download tasks below the

composite threshold value - This corresponds to Tasks for which the
average throughput was less than a technology dependant threshold*. The
technology threshold is derived by Analyzer from a set of configurable
technology thresholds based on the time the UE spent on each technology.
*Make sure that you set the Data Service Analysis thresholds to suit your
requirements before loading the data. To set the thresholds, from the top menu
select Tools > Display Thresholds and go to the Data Service Analysis
section.
As an example of how the composite threshold value is calculated, consider a
data download Task where the UE spends 80% of the time in Cell_DCH R99 and
20% in HSPA. The composite throughput threshold is:
(80% x ApplicationLowTput_UMTS_DL_Threshold) +
(20% x Application_LowTput_HSDPA_DL_Threshold)
Note the dropdown selector at the top of the left hand panel. This allows you to
select one of several Analysis pages:
DSA Failures (the default page, shown above)
DSA All Services and Tasks
DSA Task Summary
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From the DSA All Services and Tasks page, you can click on the Display All links
to view the related Event Explorer view. The following example screenshot shows
the Event Explorer view for the FTP DL link Display All 57 Tasks:
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To better understand the situation, the user has sorted the table on the left by
Status. The Status codes are:
D - Drop
C - Cancelled by user
I - Interrupted (unknown whether this failed or not)
OK - Successful task
To identify worst/best performing tasks, you could also sort by Throughput.
Scrolling down the left hand panel, you can see useful data service statistics. The
information displayed depends on the task type (upload or download), as well as
the technologies that the UE experienced during the task.
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Once you find an interesting task (for instance, a low throughput task, or task
with multiple Radio Access Technologies), you can select the box next to it and
complete the Drilldown section to define the data that will be included in the
drilldown.
Once you are ready to proceed, click the Begin Drilldown button.
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When the drilldown processing has completed, you will see a drilldown analysis
page similar to this:
If you want to return from a drilldown, go to the top of the left panel and click on
the Event Explorer link.
Several examples of DSA drilldown analysis are included in the following sections.
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8.2.2 Example of a good HSPA+ task

In this HSPA+ example, we can see that the UE is in HSPA+ mode throughout,
that 64QAM modulation usage is high throughout, and CQI, CPICH EcN0, and
CPICH RSCP are all good, whereas frame usage, HSDPA codes and throughput
are all erratic. Note also that the throughput does spike at > 10Mbps.
From these observations we can conclude that:
The radio conditions were good throughout this section of drive, allowing
for maximum download data rate. In these conditions the UE could have
achieved ~10 Mbps.
Although on average the throughput is about 4.5 Mbps, instantaneous

throughput measurements are erratic, ranging from 0 to 10 Mbps. This
behavior is symptomatic of a buffer filling / emptying somewhere along
the data transmission chain. The cause could be that the FTP server
cannot sustain more than 4 Mbps on average, resulting in bursty data
transmissions on the air interface.
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8.2.3 Example of a MIMO HSPA+ FTP download

There are three areas of interest in this example:
MIMO statistics
Modulation
TCP slow start
MIMO statistics
Note that the application throughput is ~5 times lower than the HSDPA L1 data
rate: this is because in this log files, there were 5 simultaneous FTP downloads.
In this case, since the UE has been configured to MIMO during the task, the side
panel also shows HSPA+ MIMO measurements statistics. HSPA+ can either be in
MIMO mode or non-MIMO mode, and if in MIMO mode, it can be using 1 transport
block (diversity mode) or 2 transport blocks (spatial multiplexing mode). These
statistics are measured from the portion of the task where the UE is configured in
MIMO mode:
MIMO configuration (%) - This is the ratio of: the number of HSDPA
subframes received when MIMO was configured, to the total number of
HSDPA subframes received.
MIMO CQI Average - This is the average of the CQI measurements sent
whilst the UE is in MIMO mode.
Usage (% frames) - This is measured from subframes received in MIMO

mode. It indicates the percentage of subframes in MIMO mode for which a
single transport block was received, and the percentage for which two
transport blocks were received.
NACK Rate (%) - In MIMO mode, this indicates the HSDPA NACK rate
measured from subframes where a single transport block was received,
and where two transport blocks were received.
Data Rx (%) - In MIMO mode, this indicates how much data was
received on a single transport block transmissions, and how much on two
transport block transmissions.
TB Size Avg. (bits) - In MIMO mode, this indicates the average number
of bits received per TTI.
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In this task we see the following:
In MIMO mode, spatial multiplexing was used 34.16% of the time.
The HSDPA NACK rate is high in MIMO mode and also significantly higher
with spatial multiplexing than with diversity: possibly the Node B settings
should be changed to reduce the NACK rate.
Although the UE received two transport blocks in MIMO mode 34.16 % of

the time, it amounted to 48.80 % of the data received: spatial
multiplexing is more efficient than diversity.
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Modulation
A quick analysis of the HSDPA radio chart tells us that there is a situation
involving modulation usage.
We can break down this task into three periods (labeled in the screenshot):
1
During this first period, the UE is configured for MIMO, during which the
UE sometimes benefits from MIMO spatial multiplexing configuration. The
best modulation is then 16 QAM, because this 3GPP release 7 handset
cannot use both MIMO and 64 QAM modulation at the same time.
During this second period, the UE is not configured for MIMO and uses 64
QAM.
During this third period, the radio conditions degrade to a point where the
UE is virtually only using QPSK modulation. Eventually the RRC connection
drops, and the data transfer fails.
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TCP Slow Start

We can see that after most of the HSPA cell changes, the HSDPA data rate and
the number of HSDPA codes allocated to the UE both drop to a low value and
then slowly ramp up. This is a typical effect of TCP flow control after a
reconnection, known as TCP slow start.
8.2.4 Example of a problematic HSDPA task

This HSDPA example highlights three problems. These problems are presented in
a declining order of importance (problem 1 being the most significant), based on
the proportion of the call where these conditions were occurring.
Problem 1 UE spends time in DCHR99 mode
Problem 2 congestion causing low HSDPA frame usage
Problem 3 low modulation order
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Problem 1 UE spends time in DCHR99 mode

Here we can see periods were the CPICH EcN0 is low and the UE is in Cell_DCH
R99 mode. The downlink throughput achieved during these periods is very low
compared to what can be achieved in HSDPA mode. The transition to Cell_DCH
R99 mode could be caused by the poor radio conditions, or possibly the maximum
number of concurrent HSDPA users has been reached on this site.
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Problem 2 congestion causing low HSDPA frame usage

In this case, although there are good radio conditions (high CPICH EcN0), HSDPA
is being used and the UE is allocated a large number of HSDPA codes when
scheduled, the frame usage is very low. This is likely to be the result of
congestion.
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Problem 3 low modulation order

In this last case, there are periods of high throughput coinciding with good CPICH
EcN0 and high 16QAM modulation usage, but there are also periods where the
opposite is occurring. In the latter case, the low modulation order is likely to be
responsible for the low throughput.
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8.2.5 Example of a reasonable LTE task

In this LTE example, there is a high (> 10 Mbps) throughput, CQI is at maximum
throughout the call, spatial multiplexing usage is good at > 80%, and system
bandwidth allocation is good at > 80% (40 Resource Blocks in this case).
However, the frame usage is only ~50%, which is probably due to a bottleneck
along the data transmission chain that is, some equipment or data link cannot
support a throughput higher than 10 Mbps.
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8.3 Drill Down from the Event Explorer

All Spotlight analyses in the Event
Explorer and Radio Network Explorer
pages use data from the project
database.
If you want to drill down further to
investigate at the message level, on
the bottom side panel, click on the
check box next to an event to drill
down further.
8.3.1 Why use drilldown?
Initially you will want to be reassured that the Spotlight diagnosis is

correct.
As you become familiar with Spotlights event diagnostics, other reasons

to use drilldown may be that you may have some engineering knowledge
or familiarity with the locality that leads you to suspect that the diagnosis
may not be considering these factors.
8.3.2 Specifying a drilldown window

Check the Drill Down box for one or more
events.
In this example on the right, there is only
one dropped call event and that has been
selected, although in practice it is more
efficient to select multiple calls for the
drilldown analysis.
The Drilldown controls let you specify the
amount of data you want to load from the
related data file and display on the
Drilldown page.
A simple method is to check the Load
Entire File box to load the whole file
containing the event for further analysis.
This may take a long time for a large file.
If you leave Load Entire File blank, you can specify a window of time around the
event using the Before Window and After Window fields. Spotlight will only load
data for that time window. This is faster than loading the entire file.
Note If you do not define a large-enough drilldown
window, the window might not include the
appropriate messages that trigger the event.
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The technology of the loaded data determines how the drilldown window actually
operates:
Once you have input the Before Window and After Window values, click on Begin
Drilldown. This will take you to the detailed Drilldown page.
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8.3.3 The Drilldown page

In this example, we are examining a series of dropped call events. The table on
the left shows a row for each Dropped Call event selected for further drilldown,
together with a diagnosis of the cause.
The top Dropped Call event has been selected for drilldown; clicking on the Begin
Drilldown button starts the drilldown process and displays the drilldown page.
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The page shows several views to help you analyze the event in more detail.
Detailed Event Diagnostics are in a panel on the left, also showing the
originating data file name.
A map and the UMTS Event Navigator window display attributes relating to
the selected event.
A Protocol Stack Browser provides detailed messaging around the event.
This set of views, called a screen layout, is standard for this type of event. Each
drilldown that is based on a different failure event will have its own screen layout.
This particular layout provides most of the information needed to diagnose a
dropped call. The UMTS Event Navigator shows the event and the serving SC. The
charts give the SIR, EcNo, RSCP and Tx power information around the event.
Note All the views will have data only for the time
window specified in the previous step.
You can access standard Analyzer views from the View menu, and also make use
of the Replay control to step through the data.
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9 Performing a more detailed analysis

You may want to perform a detailed analysis of the selected data. In order to do
this, you can view a list of the files loaded into the current project's repository
and select which of them to load into Analyzer Classic.
9.1 Before you start

You must already have created a project and loaded files into the repository.
9.2 To load data into Analyzer Classic

1
From the Summary Dashboard's Repository Summary table, click on the

Log Files link.
Click the Analyzer Classic tab to show a list of loaded files.
Check the box to the left of each file that you want to load into Analyzer
Classic.
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Files that are already loaded have their boxes checked and disabled, and
can be unloaded using the Unload All button (which is disabled if there are
no loaded files). Note that this does not affect the project database in any
way.
4
Click the Load Files button. This loads any checked files that are not
already loaded.
Once the load is complete, the current views are minimized and two new
views are displayed: an Attribute Explorer on the left, and a new Task
Window positioned in the top right corner of the available screen area,
containing a single Return to Spotlight link.
Perform analyses on the data using the advanced tools available in

Analyzer Classic.
When you have finished using Analyzer Classic, you can click on the
Return to Spotlight link, which will restore the Spotlight view. If you do
not want to return to Analyzer Classic and re-examine the selected data,
you can now click on the Unload All button to close files loaded into
Classic. Note that this will not close any files that have been loaded into
Analyzer Classic which are not listed as loaded into the project repository.
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10 Batch Sector Plot

The Batch Sector Plot function lets you export a series of images. Each image
shows a particular attribute plotted in relation to a sector, where a set of selected
criteria apply.
This would be useful if, for instance, you require a set of images to use in a
management report that shows the results from drive test data imported into
Actix Spotlight.
To use Batch Sector Plot
1
From the Spotlight Dashboard, click on the Reports link to open the
Reports dialog.
Now click on the Batch Sector Plot link.
This opens the Batch Sector Plot dialog.
Select the appropriate Technology. The available options will depend on

the data currently loaded, but include Scanner and Handset for CDMA,
GSM, UMTS, and Handset only for EVDO.
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Select the Attribute that you want to display on the output images. The
available options will depend on the selected Technology. Only one
attribute may be exported for each use of this function.
Now select the Footprint for the cell in each output image:
Where Seen the image only includes those points where the cell could
be seen during the drive(s). The cell is only included if it was best server
at some point in the drive(s).
Where Best the image only includes those points where the cell was the
best server during the drive(s).
Select how you want to Plot the results. This depends on the selected
Technology; the example shown is for UMTS Scanner, and the choice is By
SC or By Sector. One image will be exported for each SC, Sector or other
selection that meets the other criteria entered in this dialog.
If by SC (or BCCH etc.) is chosen, then all sectors on
that SC (and UARFCN if defined in the cellrefs) will be
exported in one image. Cells on the same SC but that
were not seen during the drive will not be
highlighted.
Select the Min Sample Count threshold. The number of points for the
attribute must be equal to or higher than this value for an image to be
exported.
Each image will cover the area of the Union of the bounds of the
attributes, plus the highlighted cells, plus a 4% padding. Select the Map
Image Format:
PNG The default map image format option, as PNG files are small yet
remain clear.
BMP This results in much larger graphics files, and is only recommended
if you intend to use the images with Microsoft Excel. If you use Insert
Object in Excel, you have the ability to link to a graphics file. Only links to
BMP files will show the actual image other formats will only show an
image icon.
The legend for a plot is always output in BMP format regardless of this
selection.
Enter the Map Image Size in pixels, where Size X is the width of the
image and Size Y is the height.
10 To display the coverage wedge and overspill circle, check the Coverage
Wedge box. The coverage wedge and overspill distance circle are drawn
by default
11 To export the legend for each image as a separate BMP image, check the
Legend box. The legend is not be exported by default.
12 Once you are satisfied with your selections, click the Generate button.
Spotlight will now cycle through the sectors and create an image for each
one that matches your criteria. Some sectors may appear on the screen
very briefly these failed to match the selected criteria.
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The images are consecutively numbered and placed in a folder with a

time-stamped name:
yyyy-mm-dd-hhmm.bmp
yyyy-mm-dd-hhmm.png
When the batch run ends, Windows Explorer opens at that folder. Any
legend BMP files are output into the same folder using the same number,
so they can easily be matched to the related plot file.
Some sample results are shown below:
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11 Creating a Spotlight Project Template

Spotlight project templates define which KPIs, reports and attributes are available
within Spotlight, and how the data is to be stored in the repository. Configuring a
project template correctly is important, because it controls not only what analysis
is available, but also how the data is organized and this can affect the validity of
the analysis. In addition, the way you configure the project template can affect
the performance of the projects that are based on it. For example, if you include
KPIs and reports that are not relevant, performance may be slower than
necessary, particularly when creating the project and loading data into it, but also
when subsequently closing and reloading it.
Although Spotlight is based on repository technology, project templates are not
the same as repository templates. When you create a project template using
Spotlight's New Template option, Spotlight also generates a repository template
based on the KPIs and other options that are selected. During this process,
Spotlight uses a default repository template that is supplied with Spotlight.
To create a Spotlight project template, start a new Spotlight project and on the
Creating a New Project: Step 1 page, click New Template.
You then need to fill out options on the following pages:
Step 1: Choose Name and Starting Template
Step 2: Choose Devices
Step 3: Choose KPIs and Reports
Step 4: Choose Attributes
Step 5: Choose Global Filters
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After clicking Done on the last page, you are returned to the New Project start
page, where the new template appears in the list of project templates.
Note For convenience, Spotlight appends the date
on which it was created to the project template's
name.
11.1 Step 1: Choose Name and Starting Template

This page is the first step in creating a new Spotlight project template.
Template Name - Enter a unique name for the template. This must not
contain any of the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > |.
Based on Template - Select the existing project template on which you

want to base your new template. Note that templates shipped with the
product are shown in blue. The Master Template, which contains all
available KPIs, is at the bottom of the dropdown list.
Click Next to go the next page.
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11.2 Step 2: Choose Devices

The second step in creating a new Spotlight project template involves defining
how you want the data to be stored. You can choose to combine all of the data
(this is the default) or to separate it into silos called devices. Essentially, you
should separate the data into multiple devices when combining it would be
statistically invalid and the structure of the attributes and KPIs and the statistics
in the reports do not provide a mechanism for separating the data.
11.2.1 How many devices do I need?

Each additional device adds a performance overhead, and so ideally, you should
create the smallest number of devices that are required to separate the data in
such a way that the KPIs and reports will provide statistically valid results. When
determining how many devices to create, you need to consider how and why the
data was logged:
The simplest scenario is when the data was logged by one handset and
optionally one scanner in a single drive test unit. In this scenario, it is
generally safe to combine the data from both logging devices into a single
Spotlight device, because generally, the handset and scanner data is
stored in different attributes and the KPIs and statistics are based on one
type of attribute or another and therefore provide a means of separating
the two types of data. However, you might want to separate the handset
and scanner data into separate devices for convenience or clarity.
Another common scenario is when data is logged by two handsets and one
scanner in a single drive test unit. Typically, one handset does a
succession of short (approximately 90-second) calls separated by 30
seconds of idle time. The other handset is for "long calls", in which the
handset stays in call until the call drops, whereupon the dialer immediately
starts a new long call. Typically, the short calls provide data for event
KPIs, such as the percentage of call setups that were successful, etc.,
whereas the long calls provide data for measuring the radio performance.
Combining the data would normally give misleading results. For example,
the long call data would by definition have an almost 100% dropped call
rate and so if used for event KPIs, it would skew the dropped call rate. For
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this scenario, you should therefore create separate devices for the short
and long call data.
A similar scenario occurs when a single drive test unit has two devices, but
one was used for voice calls and the other for data. Like scanner and
handset data, generally, data logged from voice and data calls is stored in
separate attributes, and KPIs and statistics are typically based on one type
or the other. However, for clarity it is generally advisable to separate the
data into different logical devices. This avoids any risk of combining data
inappropriately and thereby creating invalid KPIs.
All of the drive test scenarios that we have considered so far involve a
single drive test unit (that is, one vehicle plus logging equipment). When
there are multiple drive test units driving different routes on the same
days, there is no reason why you should not combine data logged for the
same purpose in the different drive test units. For example, it would
typically be valid to combine short call data collected by different drive test
units on the same days in different parts of a city or state. However, if the
data was logged for different purposes (such as the short and long call
data described above), you should generally separate it into different
logical devices, for the reasons explained earlier.
Sometimes you may want to base optimization and troubleshooting work

on benchmarking data, which is data that has been collected from several
different operators' networks simultaneously in order that the KPIs from
the various networks can be compared. In this scenario, you would be
interested in the data from your own network only. When Spotlight is to
be used for this purpose, provided all of the data for that network was
logged for the same purpose, you would normally store it in one device.
However, you need to create a suitable filter for the device (as described
below) in order to exclude all of the data from the other networks.
11.2.2 Adding a device

When you create a new project template, by default, Spotlight creates a single
all-purpose device that has no filter. If you want to separate data into multiple
devices, you must specify a filter for each one. The filter identifies the data
streams that are to be loaded into that device. For example, suppose you define
two devices, A and B. When you subsequently select data files to load into the
project, data streams that match the filter for device A will be loaded into device
A, data streams that match the filter for device B will be loaded into device B, and
data streams that do not match either filter will not be loaded. Note that data
streams that match the filter for device A and B will be loaded into both devices.
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You create a new device by clicking the Add Device button, which opens
this dialog:
Device Name - This is used to identify the device wherever it is used, so

try to make the name meaningful.
Filter - This defines a single sequence of characters that must be present

in the stream's long name in order for it to be loaded into this device. The
long name is composed of the stream name preceded by the file name like
this:
FileName:StreamName.
Import From File - You can use this button to browse to a typical log file
that will be loaded into the project. When you select the file, Spotlight lists
the name of every data stream that it contains. When you select a name
in the list, Spotlight inserts the stream name into the Filter box above.
Typically, you would then edit it in the Filter box, in order to make the
filter more generally applicable.
When you are ready, click Add to add the device to the project template.
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11.2.3 More on device filters

Setting up good device filters takes some thought. Typically, you would use the
Import from File button on several of the log files that you want to use in the
project, in order to examine the pattern of their stream names. Some stream
names include the handset's identifier, such as the mobile identification number
(MIN) or phone number, and sometimes you can use this as the filter.
For example, suppose you are setting up a project template that will be used for
troubleshooting your network's data from a benchmarking study, in which five
handsets were used to log data from five different networks in one drive test unit
(vehicle). If the stream names include the phone numbers, you could base the
filter on the phone number of the handset that was attached to your network.
However, suppose you have several drive test units logging the data and you
want to combine your network data from all of the units. Using the phone
numbers will not achieve this, because even if everything else is the same in each
drive test unit, the phone numbers will always be different.
Typically, the logging equipment has a number of slots into which the handsets
are plugged. Sometimes the slots can be configured with a label (such as the
name of the network), and these are generally incorporated into the stream
names. If the slots in each drive test unit are given the same labels in all of the
drive test units, you could base the filter on the label.
Alternatively, the slots might have an identifying number, which often appears in
parentheses in the stream name, such as (0), (1), etc. These are often used
successfully as filters. However, for this to work correctly, the handsets for your
network would need to be in the same slot in all of the drive tests units.
When filtering on the stream name part of the stream, long names cannot provide
the results you require - you might need to consider filtering on the file name
part of the long name. If necessary, you could rename the files. For example,
consider a benchmarking study, in which the data for each network is written out
to different files. You could include the name or ID of the network in the log file
names and then base the stream name filter on the network name or ID.
If necessary, you might need to rename the files manually or using a script. This
technique can be particularly useful when working with TEMS data.
Click Next to go the next page.
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11.3 Step 3: Choose KPIs and Reports

The third step in creating a new Spotlight project template involves selecting the
KPIs and reports that you want to include in the project. Spotlight lists all of the
KPIs and reports that are available.
For performance reasons, select only those KPIs and reports that are
relevant for the tasks you plan to perform and the data you plan to load
into the projects based on this template. For example, if you are planning
to load only GSM voice data, deselect all of the KPIs and reports that do
not relate to GSM voice calls.
Click Next to go to the next page.
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11.4 Step 4: Choose Attributes

The fourth step in creating a new Spotlight project template involves selecting the
attributes that you want to include in the project and defining the binning
settings.
One of the attributes is highlighted in red to indicate that it has been chosen from
the Attribute Picker panel.
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11.4.1 Choose Attributes

The top part of this page has three panels:
Binned Data Queries - This lists the binned data queries that relate to the
KPIs and reports that you selected in Step 3. Each of these contains a
number of attributes and binned queries that are used for display on the
map, etc. When you select a binned data query, the attributes and binned
queries it contains are listed in the central Attributes panel. You cannot
remove these, because they are required for the features that are
associated with the selected KPIs and reports. However, you can add
additional attributes using the Attribute Picker on the right side. Typically
each technology has two or more binned data queries. For example, for
UMTS there are binned data queries as follows:
UMTS UE BinnedData - Contains the handset attributes, and is the

main query used in the Event Explorer Drill Down pages. It is also
used to populate the Radio Network Cell Coverage and Cell Pilot
Pollution pages when the user has selected a 'handset' Analysis.
UMTS Scanner BinnedData - Contains the scanner attributes, and is

used in the Radio Network Cell Coverage and Cell Pilot Pollution
pages when the user has selected a 'scanner' Analysis. It is also
used to populate the Radio Network Neighbor List analysis pages.
UMTS UE SectorHandle BinnedData - This is a special query that is

used internally. Do not add attributes to this query.
UMTS Scanner SectorHandle BinnedData - This is a special query

that is used internally. Do not add attributes to this query.
If you want to add additional attributes, select the appropriate binned data
query to add them to. For example, if you are adding a UMTS scanner
attribute, select the UMTS Scanner BinnedData query.
Queries that have Sector Handle in their name are for internal use and
you should not add any attributes to them.
Attributes - This lists the attributes and binned queries that are in the
binned data query that is selected on the left side and any additional
attributes that you have added using the Attribute Picker on the right side.
The additional attributes are highlighted, indicating that you can remove
them. (You do this by selecting the attribute and clicking Remove
Attribute.)
Attribute Picker - This is a tree view that lists all of the possible attributes.
Select any attributes that you want to include. Make sure you add the
attributes to the appropriate binned data query as described above.
Note that array attributes are shown in the tree view as individual items,
rather than expandable items. What happens when you select an array
attribute depends on the internal structure of the binned data query that is
selected:
Generally, when you select an array attribute, Spotlight

automatically adds a separate item to the list of attributes for each
possible index position (provided there are less than 32 possible
index positions). You can then delete any index positions that you
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do not want to use. For example, for a "Top n" attribute, you might
want to delete all but the first three or four index positions. You
cannot add array attributes that have 32 or more possible index
positions.
However, for some binned data queries (such as the GSM Scanner
BinnedData query), when you select an array attribute, Spotlight
adds it to the list of attributes as a single item (using the array
indexer syntax) and automatically includes every index position for
which there is data.
Note Although Spotlight can handle a considerable
number of attributes, there are limits imposed by the
technologies that underlie the repository technology.
These limits are documented in detail in the
Repository Manager section. Note that the fast
binning option detailed below creates more compact
databases and avoids problems with the limit to the
number of "subselects" documented in the linked
topic.
11.4.2 Binning
The binning settings control how the device's binned data is stored in the
repository and how it is subsequently displayed on the map and the other binned
data views. Note that once the project is created, the binning settings cannot be
changed. For example, changing the binning settings in the Preferences dialog
does not affect data loaded into the Spotlight repository. (However, it does affect
the drilldown data and any Spotlight data that you have loaded into Analyzer
Classic.)
Spotlight always uses the location binning mechanism, which sorts the raw data
values into a geographical grid and then performs an averaging operation to
produce a single value for each square in the grid (sometimes call a bin). This
has the effect of smoothing the data and reducing the number of rows or data
points that would otherwise be stored in the database and subsequently
displayed. The averaging operation that is performed is determined by the
internal attribute definition. For most attributes, a simple average operation is
performed, but some use other operations, such as the mode or count.
The binning options are:
Fast binning - Select this option if you want to use the fast bin
aggregation method (this is recommended). This means that in bins that
the drive test(s) passed through more than once, the results from the last
drive will be displayed. De-select this option if you want the results from
all of the drives to be aggregated together. Although this is technically
more accurate, it is considerably slower, particularly when displaying data
on the map. In addition when working with very large volumes of data, the
increased accuracy is likely to be of limited value in practice. See Fast Bin
Aggregation in the online help for more information.
Units of measurement - The possible units are meters and arc seconds.
You must choose the unit that matches the projection system that you are
using. If the data will be displayed on vector-based maps, you can
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generally use arc seconds and the default projection system, which is the
World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) projection system, which is used
by GPS. However, if the data is to be displayed on raster maps, you should
generally choose the projection system used in those maps and the correct
units for that system. See Map Projections in the online help for an
overview of the issues.
X and Y bin size - These define the dimensions of the squares in the
geographical grid. The X axis corresponds to longitude and the Y axis to
latitude. The sizes must be specified in the appropriate units for the
projection system. The default sizes are 3 arc seconds and 50 meters.
Note that using larger bin sizes reduces the size of the database and
improves performance.
For the Y axis, the approximate size in arc seconds can be calculated from
a size in meters using the following formula:
Where REarth is the radius of the earth (approximately 6,400 kilometers at

the equator).
For example, using this formula shows that a Y axis bin size of 100 meters
is approximately three arc seconds. However, the formula for converting
between meters and arc seconds for the X axis is more complicated,
because it depends on the radius of the earth at that latitude.
X and Y origin - By default, the starting point for the geographical grid is
the false origin (0, 0) defined for the selected projection system. This has
the advantage that, by default, all of the location grids are the same.
However, sometimes you may want to move the start point because, for
example, you want to align the grid with one used in another system. You
do this by specifying an offset for either or both of the coordinates in the X
origin and/or Y origin text boxes. You must specify the offset in the same
units as you used to define the size of the bins (and this must correspond
to the measurement system used by the projection system).
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Projection - Select the projection system that you want to use. The
options in the drop-down list are the projection systems that are
supported directly by Analyzer and that use the units of measurement
selected above. The Default option for arc seconds corresponds to the
WGS 84 projection system. There is no default option for meters, but you
can use one of the ED79 UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) system
options. ED79 UTM is a generic map projection system that divides the
globe up into a number of zones. You need to select the appropriate zone
for the area in which the data was collected. See the online help section
ED79 UTM Zone Lookup for more information.
Click Next to go to the next page.
11.5 Step 5: Choose Global Filters

The fifth step in creating a new Spotlight project template involves choosing
whether to enable File/Stream, Time and regional filtering in the project (as well
as the Device filtering enabled in Step 2). If these options are enabled, you can
activate or modify them by clicking on the Global Filters link in the top right of an
analysis page.
For the Regional Filters, you can choose to allow filtering by Cluster Name and
Clutter Type.
Note Regional filtering option is not shown in the
above example. To enable filtering by region, you
need to have already defined the regions, created a
new Spotlight Template and on the Filtering page
checked the relevant region types under Region
Filters.
When you click Done, you are returned to the new project page, where the new
template appears in the list of project templates.
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12 Troubleshooting Spotlight
12.1 No repository detected
Spotlight was unable to find your project database. Ensure that your MS SQL
service is active and try to start your project again, following these steps:
1
From the Windows Start menu, select Control Panel, Administrative

Tools, Services.
In the table of services, locate the 'SQL Server (ACTIXSQLEXPRESS)' row.
If the Status is 'Paused', from the toolbar, click on the Resume

Service button.
If the Status is blank, from the toolbar, click on the Start Service
button.
If the Status is 'Started', go back to Spotlight and attempt to reload

your project. If you changed your license after creating the project,
you will need to create a new project and reload the data.
If the service does not restart, you will need to uninstall and reinstall Actix
Spotlight.
12.2 The maps in your report are empty

This is an issue cause by Microsoft Picture Manager, which associates to itself a
number of image file formats. Open Picture Manager, and from the Tools menu
select File Types. Ensure that the box for Windows Bitmap (.bmp) is left
unchecked (that is, empty).
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13 Appendix A: Cell Site Parameters

13.1 CDMA Cell Site Parameters
Imported
Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Site Name
CDMA_Site
SiteName
Text description of the Site

for display on map.
Site Number
CDMA_Site
SiteID
Latitude
CDMA_Site
SiteLatitude
Locates Site icons on the

map.
Longitude
CDMA_Site
SiteLongitude
Locates Site icons on the

map.
Sector
Number
CDMA_Cell
Sector ID
Can be 1,2,3 etc.
or a combination
of site numbers
useful for display on maps.
Azimuth
CDMA_Cell
Azimuth
Orients the sector icons on

the map.
Beamwidth
CDMA_Cell
Beamwidth

sector 'wedge' on the map to
reflect the beamwidth of the
antenna deployed at the site.
PN Offset
CDMA_Cell
PN
Used in CDMA Toolkit

calculations, lines to neighbor
cells and to color sectors/sites
on maps to reflect PN
planning.
Base Station
Power*
CDMA_Cell
EIRP
Base station power, used in

CDMA Toolkit calculations.
Mobile
Country
Code*
CDMA_Cell
MCC
Mobile Country Code. For

information only.
System
Identity*
CDMA_Cell
SID
Network
Identity*
CDMA_Cell
NID
Broadcast
Identity*
CDMA_Cell
BID
PctPilot*
CDMA_Cell
PctPilot
PctTraffic*
CDMA_Cell
PctTraffic
PctPaging*
CDMA_Cell
PctPaging

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Imported
Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
PctSync*
CDMA_Cell
PctSync
Active Set
Search
Window
Setting*
CDMA_Cell
SRCH_WIN_A
Used in Analyzers CDMA

Toolkit calculations to
compare current search
Neighbor Set
Search
Setting*
CDMA_Cell
SRCH_WIN_N

List of
neighbors*
CDMA_Cell
CDMANeighborList

Sector
Display
Wildcard*
CDMA_Cell
Face_Display
Used to color sectors on the

map by a custom integer
field.
Sector
Display
Wildcard*
CDMA_Cell
Azimuth_Display

field.
Sector
Display
Wildcard*
CDMA_Cell
Phase_Display

field.
Layer type*
CDMA_Cell
Layer_type
Text that specifies which cell

layer (for example, by
technology, band, purpose or
status) that the site belongs
to. Used for multiple cell
layers.
*Optional.
13.2 GSM / GPRS / EDGE Cell Site Parameters

Imported
Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Site Name
GSM_Site
SiteName

display on map.
Site Number
GSM_Site
SiteID

Used as the linking column to
associate the GSM_Site and
GSM_Cell rows.
Latitude
GSM_Site
Latitude
Longitude
GSM_Site
Longitude

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Imported
Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Sector
Number
GSM_Cell
SectorID
Can be 1,2,3,
etc, or a
combination of
site numbers
Sector-specific ID information
useful for display on maps.
Azimuth
GSM_Cell
Azimuth

map.
Beamwidth
GSM_Cell
Beamwith
Governs the radius of the

sector 'wedge' icon to reflect
deployed at the sector.
Base Station
Power
GSM_Cell
EIRP
Base Station Power.
Broadcast
Control
Channel
GSM_Cell
BCCH
Broadcast Control Channel.
Mobile
Network
Code
GSM_Cell
MNC
Mobile Network Code.
Mobile Color
Code
GSM_Cell
MCC
Mobile Color Code.
Location
Area Code
GSM_Cell
LAC
Location Area Code.
Cell ID value
GSM_Cell
CI
Cell ID value.
Base Station
Identity
Code
GSM_Cell
BSIC
Base Station Identity Code,

comprising of a concatenation
of the NCC and BCC values.
Layer type
GSM_Cell
Layer_type
Text that specifies which cell

layer (for example, by
technology, band, purpose or
status) that the site belongs to.
Used for multiple cell layers.
13.3 LTE Cell Site Parameters

Imported
Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Site Name
LTE_Site
Site_Name

display on map.
Site Number
LTE_Site
SiteID
Numeric identifier for the site.
Latitude
LTE_Site
Latitude
Locates site icons on map.
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Imported
Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Longitude
LTE_Site
Longitude
Sector
Number
LTE_Cell
Sector_ID
useful for display on maps (can
be alpha or numeric)
Azimuth
LTE_Cell
Azimuth

map.
Beamwidth
LTE_Cell
Beamwidth
Governs the shape of the sector

wedge icon to reflect the
beamwidth of antenna deployed
at the site.
EIRP*
LTE_Cell
EIRP
Equivalent Isotropic Radiated

Power for informational
purposes only.
Downlink
EARFCN
LTE_Cell
DL_EARFCN
The downlink EARFCN of the

cell. The fields DL_EARFCN and
PCI must be present to
calculate lines to cells.
Layer1 Cell
Identity
LTE_Cell
PCI
The physical layer cell identity

(previously named L1_CID).
The fields DL_EARFCN and PCI
must be present to calculate
lines to cells.
MCC*
LTE_Cell
MCC
Mobile Country Code for

informational purposes only.
MNC*
LTE_Cell
MNC
National Domain Code for

* Optional.
13.4 UMTS / HSPA+ Cell Site Parameters

Imported
Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Site Name
UMTS_Site
SiteName
Text description of the Site

for display on map.
Site Number
UMTS_Site
SiteID
Numeric identifier for the site.
Latitude
UMTS_Site
Latitude
Longitude
UMTS_Site
Longitude
Sector
Number
UMTS_Cell
Sector_ID
useful for display on maps
(can be alpha or numeric)
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Imported
Parameter
Analyzer
Group
Analyzer Name
Purpose
Azimuth
UMTS_Cell
Azimuth
Orients the sector icons on

the map.
Beamwidth
UMTS_Cell
Beamwidth

sector wedge icon to reflect
deployed at the site.
SC
UMTS_Cell
SC
Used for cell site identification

and to calculate lines to cells.
EIRP*
UMTS_Cell
EIRP
Equivalent Isotropic Radiated

Power for informational
purposes only.
MCC*
UMTS_Cell
MCC
Mobile Country Code for

MNC*
UMTS_Cell
MNC
National Domain Code for

LAC*
UMTS_Cell
LAC
Location Area Code for

CI*
UMTS_Cell
CI
Cell Identity for

Neighbor
List*
UMTS_Cell
WCDMANeighborList
Used to define a pre-defined

neighbor list for each cell.
Used during neighbor list
recommendations analysis.
Layer Type*
UMTS_Cell
LayerType
Configurable text field that

specifies which cell layer (for
example, by technology, band
or status) the site belongs to.
Used for multiple cell layers.
* Optional.
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14 Appendix B: Spotlight reports

14.1 CDMA Spotlight Report
This report provides information on unfiltered CDMA data within the current
project database. This is a good place to start using Spotlight, as the report
indicates which thresholds have been passed and which have failed. Related
tables provide additional information to let you decide where to go to follow up
any problems.
14.1.1 Report tab

This tab provides summary information on the loaded data.
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14.1.2 Radio Link tab

This tab provides tables showing radio link information.
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14.1.3 Map tab

This tab provides maps for dropped calls, failed calls and forward FER.
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14.2 EVDO Spotlight Report

This report provides information on unfiltered EVDO data within the current
any problems.
14.2.1 Report tab
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14.2.2 Map tab
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14.2.3 Air Interface Quality Analysis tab
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14.2.4 DL/UL Throughput Metrics tab
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14.3 EVDO Rev A Spotlight Report

This report provides information on unfiltered EVDO Rev A data within the current
tables provide additional information so you can decide how to follow up any
problems.
14.3.1 Overview Map
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14.3.2 Main
14.3.3 Connection Details
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14.3.4 RF
14.3.5 Throughputs
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14.3.6 Per Flow Throughputs
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14.4 GSM Spotlight Report

This report provides information on unfiltered GSM data within the current project
database. This is a good place to start using Spotlight, as the report indicates
which thresholds have been passed and which have failed. Related tables provide
additional information to let you decide where to go to follow up any problems.
14.4.1 Report
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14.4.2 File Overview
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14.4.3 Overview Map
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14.4.4 Radio
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14.4.5 CD Domain
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14.5 HSPA Spotlight Report

This report provides information on unfiltered HSPA data within the current
any problems.
14.5.1 Report
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14.5.2 Overview Map
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14.5.3 Radio
The PDF and CDF of ALL the actual CQI samples present in the logs are provided.
In addition, the tables report the following statistics for CQI:
Mean
Mode
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Median
Total # samples
Maximum
95% Percentile
Minimum
The HARQ statistics section shows the distribution between ACK, NACK and DTX
samples of all the HARQ processes recorded. Details per call can be accessed at
the bottom of the page by clicking on the link below the table.
14.5.4 HS mobility
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14.5.5 Channel Usage
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14.6 UMTS Spotlight Report

This report provides information on unfiltered UMTS data within the current
any problems.
14.6.1 Report
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14.6.2 Overview
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14.6.3 Overview Map
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14.6.4 Radio
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14.6.5 CS Domain and PS Domain
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15 Appendix C: CDMA thresholds, KPIs and

diagnoses
15.1 CDMA thresholds
You can modify threshold values for event detection using the Tools, Display
Thresholds command. It is important to set your threshold before loading the
data because it will affect the analysis, diagnosis and display of data in Spotlight.
To modify the value, simply click on the associated number and type in the new
value.
15.1.1 Spotlight Thresholds

15.1.1.1
SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold
This threshold is used, if there is no Max_ServerDist information in the cellref and

indicates the maximum serving distance (in meters) a cell should serve. Default is
5000m.
15.1.2 CDMA / Coverage

15.1.2.1
CDMA_AvgForwardFER
This threshold is used for diagnosing areas of poor quality. Recommended value
is 2.
15.1.2.2
CDMA_EcIoCombinedThreshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with Mobile Rx Power and Mobile Tx Power
Thresholds to determine the diagnosis for the dropped call, failed call and voice
call with poor quality. Recommended value is -12 dB. Values should vary between
-16 and -12 dB.
15.1.2.3
CDMA_ImportantIssue_ExcessInterference
This threshold is used for filtering out files that have percentage of excess
interference cases less than the threshold. Recommended value is 2.
15.1.2.4
CDMA_ImportantIssue_ExternalInterference
This threshold is used to filter out the display of data in the CDMA Dashboard that
have percentage of bad EcIo, high Tx, good Rx problems cases less than the
threshold. Recommended value is 2.
15.1.2.5
CDMA_ImportantIssue_FwdLinkProblem
have percentage of forward link problems cases less than the threshold.
Recommended value is 2.
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15.1.2.6
187
CDMA_ImportantIssue_LowRX
have percentage of low rx problems cases less than the threshold. Recommended
value is 2.
15.1.2.7
CDMA_ImportantIssue_PoorCoverage
This threshold is used for filtering out files that have percentage of poor coverage
cases less than the threshold. Recommended value is 2.
15.1.2.8
CDMA_ImportantIssue_PoorQuality
have percentage of calls with poor quality cases less than the threshold.
15.1.2.9
CDMA_ImportantIssue_RevLinkProblem
have percentage of rev link problems cases less than the threshold.
15.1.2.10 CDMA_MobileRxPowerThreshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with EcIo and Mobile Tx Power Thresholds to
determine the diagnosis for the dropped call, failed call and voice call with poor
quality. Recommended value is -80 dBm. Values should vary between -75 and 90 dBm.
15.1.2.11 CDMA_MobileTxPowerMinFilterThreshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with Mobile Tx Power Max Threshold to filter
out messages when the transmitter is disabled due to high FFER. Default is -30.
15.1.2.12 CDMA_MobileTxPowerMaxFilterThreshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with Mobile Tx Power Min Threshold to filter
out messages when the transmitter is disabled due to high FFER. Default is 23.
15.1.2.13 CDMA_MobileTxPowerThreshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with EcIo and Mobile Rx Power Thresholds to
quality. Recommended value is 5 dBm. Values should lie between 0 and 10 dBm.
15.1.2.14 CDMA_PilotPollution_Count_Threshold
This is the absolute number of pilots (with Ec/Ios above
CDMA_PilotPollutionThreshold) required to trigger a pilot pollution event. The
recommended value is 3 and values should lie between 2 and 4.
15.1.2.15 CDMA_PilotPollutionThreshold
This threshold alerts the user of pilot pollution when the signal level falls below
this threshold. Recommended value is -14 dB. Values should lie between -10 and
-18 dB.
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15.1.3 CDMA / Events

15.1.3.1
EVT_CDMAImportantIssue
1 = Turns on the CDMA Important Issue Detect event diagram for CDMA
Troubleshooter; 0 = CDMA Important Issue analysis is turned off to improve file
load speeds. Default is 0.
15.1.3.2
EVT_CDMANeighborListIssueDetect
1 = Turns on the CDMA Neighbor List Issue Detect event diagram for CDMA
Troubleshooter; 0= CDMA Neighbor List Issue Detect analysis is turned off.
Default is 0.
15.1.3.3
EVT_CDMAServerKey
1 = Turns on the CDMA Server Key event diagram for CDMA Troubleshooter; 0 =
CDMA Server Key analysis is turned off to improve file load speeds. Default is 0.
15.1.3.4
UniqueNeighborList
1 = Turns on the unique neighbor list analysis for CDMA, EVDO Troubleshooter; 0
= unique neighbor list analysis is turned off to improve file load speeds. Default is
0.
15.1.4 CDMA / Other

15.1.4.1
CDMA_EcIoInterferenceThreshold
Recommended value is -15 dBm. The maximum should not be higher than 0 and
minimum should not be lower than -25 dBm.
15.1.4.2
CDMA_EVDO_TooManyActivePNsThreshold
In calculating "Too Many Servers", when 4 or more pilots (including the best
server) are within the threshold value in dB of the best server, it creates a "too
many server" event. Recommended value is 5 dB and the minimum and the
maximum should be around 1 and 10 dB.
15.1.4.3
CDMA_TooManyActivePNsThreshold
many server" event. Recommended value is 5 dB and the minimum and the
maximum should be around 1 and 10 dB.
15.1.5 CDMA / Performance

15.1.5.1
CDMA_CallDropRate
This threshold is used to determine the criterion for KPI acceptance in the
Repository views. The Call Drop Rate should not exceed 2% of all successful calls
in the busy hour. If the resulting KPI is equal or less than this value, it will be
flagged as accepted and will show up as a green tick mark in the KPI table. If it is
higher than this value, it will be flagged as failed and will show up as a red cross
in the KPI table. The default value is 2%.
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189
CDMA_CallSetupSuccessRate
Repository views. The Call Setup Success Rate should be in excess of 98% for
most GSM networks in the busy hour. If the resulting KPI is equal or in excess to
this value, it will be flagged as accepted and will show up as a green tick mark in
the KPI table. If it is less than this value, it will be flagged as failed and will show
up as a red cross in the KPI table. The default value is 98%.
15.1.5.3
CDMA_CallSetupTime
This threshold is used for determining calls with excessive setup time.
Recommended value is 2000 ms.
15.1.5.4
CDMA_OverAllSuccessRate
Repository views. The Overall Success Rate should be in excess of 98% for most
GSM networks in the busy hour. If the resulting KPI is equal or in excess to this
value, it will be flagged as accepted and will show up as a green tick mark in the
KPI table. If it is less than this value, it will be flagged as failed and will show up
as a red cross in the KPI table. The default value is 98%.
15.2 CDMA events in the Event Explorer

The following events are displayed in the top table of the Event Explorer:
# Call Attempts
# Dropped Calls
# Failed Calls
# Excessive Setup
These events are affected by the following thresholds:
CDMA_AvgForwardFER
CDMA_PilotPollution_Count_Threshold
CDMA_PilotPollutionThreshold
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15.3 Dropped Call diagnosis for CDMA
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
Coverage Issue
Evaluate the CDMA Important Issues parameter

to identify the type of coverage issue present.
Excessive Interference
Low EcIo, high MRx Power, low MTx Power.
Poor Coverage
Low EcIo, low MRx Power, high MTx Power.
Reverse Link Problem
High EcIo, high MRx Power, high MTx Power.
External Interference
Low EcIo, high MRx Power, high MTx Power.
Forward Link Problem
Low EcIo, low MRx Power, high MTx Power.
Low Rx Signal
High EcIo, low MRx Power, high MTx Power.
Poor Quality
FER > Average Forward FER threshold.
Neighbor List Issue
New originating PN (Sync PN) is not contained

in the neighbor list of the serving cell.
Pilot Pollution
4+ pilots have EcIo >

CDMA_PilotPollutionThreshold.
Other
More investigation is needed. Use other tools

and views to refine your understanding of the
problem.
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16 Appendix D: Data Service Analysis thresholds

16.1 DSA thresholds
You can modify threshold values for Data Service Analysis using the Tools,
Display Thresholds command. It is important to set your threshold before
loading the data because it will affect the analysis, diagnosis and display of data
in Spotlight. To modify the value, simply click on the associated number and type
in the new value.
16.1.1.1
HSDPA_CQI_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable Channel Quality

Indicator value. The default is 15.
16.1.1.2
HSUPA_SGI_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable Serving Grant Index
value. The default value of 18 corresponds to ~10 dB. The HSUPA SGI format
group controls the exact mapping of the threshold values to dB values (shown
below).
Threshold
Value
dB
Threshold
Value
dB
Threshold
Value
dB
-9.5
14
6.0
28
20.0
-8.0
15
7.1
29
21.0
-6.6
16
8.1
30
22.1
-5.5
17
8.9
31
23.0
-4.4
18
9.9
32
24.0
-2.7
19
11.0
33
25.0
-1.9
20
12.0
34
26.0
-1.2
21
13.0
35
27.0
0.0
22
14.0
36
27.8
1.1
23
15.0
37
28.8
10
2.1
24
16.0
38
None
11
2.9
25
17.0
63
N/Av
12
4.1
26
18.0
13
5.1
27
19.0
16.1.1.3
HSDPA_Low_CQI_Percent_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the maximum percentage of CQI samples

lower than the CQI threshold. The default is 25.
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16.1.1.4
193
Jitter_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the maximum acceptable Jitter value, in

milliseconds. The default is 10.
16.1.1.5
LTE_CQI_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable CQI value of LTE.
The default is 5.
16.1.1.6
LTE_Low_CQI_Percent_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the maximum percentage of CQI samples

lower than the CQI threshold. The default is 25.
16.1.1.7
Packet_Loss_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the maximum acceptable packet loss value, in
percent. The default is 10.
16.1.1.8
Web_Browsing_Duration_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the maximum acceptable duration of web

browsing, in milliseconds. The default is 10000.
16.1.2 Event_Control thresholds

16.1.2.1
VoIP_Call_RTP_Timeout_Threshold
This threshold is used to detect dropped calls when no RTP packets are
exchanged for an extended period of time, indicating that the call was
terminated. It is the maximum time between two consecutive RTP messages. The
threshold is not used by the event detection if no RTP packets are logged. The
recommended default is 18000ms, the maximum is 20000ms, and a value of 0
disables the threshold.
16.1.2.2
VoIP_CallSetup_Timeout_Threshold
This threshold is used to detect a call setup failure and is the maximum time
between the INVITE message and the 180 Ringing message. The recommended
default is 18000ms, the maximum is 20000ms, and a value of 0 disables the
threshold.
16.1.3 Internet thresholds

16.1.3.1
TCP_ReTx_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is the maximum acceptable TCP retransmission rate (i.e.

duplicated segments received multiple times by the receiver). Units are percent,
and the default is 2.
16.1.4 Ping thresholds

16.1.4.1
Ignore_First_Ping_Threshold
Often the timer for the first ping request of a task is started when the UE is still in
idle mode, long before the ping request is sent, thus distorting the first RTT
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measurement. When set to 0 (the default), the first ping is treated normally.
When set to 1, the RTT of the first ping is ignored.
16.1.4.2
Ping_RTT_CDMA_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the maximum acceptable Ping (ICMP Echo
Reply) RTT value in CDMA. The default is 800.
16.1.4.3
Ping_RTT_DCHR99_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in DCHR99. The default is 200.
16.1.4.4
Ping_RTT_EGPRS_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in EGPRS. The default is 400.
16.1.4.5
Ping_RTT_EVDO_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in EVDO. The default is 180.
16.1.4.6
Ping_RTT_FACH_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in FACH. The default is 250.
16.1.4.7
Ping_RTT_GPRS_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in GPRS. The default is 800.
16.1.4.8
Ping_RTT_HSDPA_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in HSDPA. The default is 150.
16.1.4.9
Ping_RTT_HSPA_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in HSPA. The default is 120.
16.1.4.10 Ping_RTT_HSPAPlus_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in HSPA+. The default is 120.
16.1.4.11 Ping_RTT_LTE_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in LTE. The default is 50.
16.1.4.12 Ping_RTT_Multitech_Threshold
Reply) RTT value in multiple technology mode. The default is 800.
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16.1.5 Report thresholds

16.1.5.1
HSDPA_FrameUsage_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable HSDPA frame usage value, in percent.
The default is 25.
16.1.5.2
HSDPA_L1_Payloadrate_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable HSDPA L1 payload rate value, in

kilobits per second. The default is 600.
16.1.5.3
HSDPA_NACK_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable HSDPA NACK rate value, in percent.
The default is 25.
16.1.5.4
HSDPA_NumberofCodes_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable number of HSDPA codes. The default is
4.
16.1.5.5
HSDPA_SampleCount_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum number of samples of a given HSDPA

measurement type (for instance HSDPA frame usage) below which the task is
considered to have too few measurements to be statistically relevant. The default
is 10.
16.1.5.6
HSUPA_FrameUsage_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable HSUPA frame usage value, in percent.
The default is 25.
16.1.5.7
HSUPA_L1_Payloadrate_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable HSUPA L1 payload rate value, in

kilobits per second. The default is 600.
16.1.5.8
HSUPA_NACK_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable HSUPA NACK rate values, in percent.
The default is 25.
16.1.5.9
HSUPA_SampleCount_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum number of samples of a given HSUPA

measurement type (for instance HSUPA frame usage) below which the task is
is 10.
16.1.5.10 HSUPA_SpreadingFactor_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable value for attribute
Uu_HSUPA_SF_NumCodes. The default is 4.
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16.1.5.11 LTE_DL_FrameUsage_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable LTE DL frame usage value in percent.
The default is 25.
16.1.5.12 LTE_DL_MCS_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable DL MCS value. The default is 10.
16.1.5.13 LTE_DL_NACK_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is the maximum acceptable LTE DL NACK rate, in percent. The
default is 25.
16.1.5.14 LTE_DL_Throughput_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable LTE DL throughput value, in kilobits per
second. The default is 3000.
16.1.5.15 LTE_SampleCount_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum number of samples of a given HSUPA
measurement type (for instance LTE DL frame usage) below which the task is
is 10.
16.1.5.16 LTE_to_LTE_DataInterruptionTime_Threshold
This threshold is the maximum data interruption time (in milliseconds) caused by
LTE handover. The default is 2000.
16.1.5.17 LTE_to_UMTS_DataInterruptionTime_Threshold
This threshold is the maximum data interruption time (in milliseconds) caused by
LTE to UMTS redirect. The default is 2000.
16.1.5.18 LTE_UE_RB_Num_DL_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable number of LTE DL resource blocks
allocated to the UE. The default is 10.
16.1.5.19 LTE_UE_RB_Num_UL_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable number of LTE UL resource blocks
allocated to the UE. The default is 10.
16.1.5.20 LTE_UE_FrameUsage_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable LTE UL frame usage value, in percent.
The default is 25.
16.1.5.21 LTE_UE_MCS_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable UL MCS value. The default is 10.
16.1.5.22 LTE_UE_Throughput_Threshold
This threshold is the minimum acceptable LTE UL throughput value, in kilobits per
second. The default is 3000.
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16.1.6 Throughput thresholds

16.1.6.1
Absolute_ApplicationLowTput_DL_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable application

throughput value for downlink for the Below Absolute Threshold KPI. The default
value is 1000 kB/sec.
16.1.6.2
Absolute_ApplicationLowTput_UL_Threshold

throughput value for uplink for the Below Absolute Threshold KPI. The default
value is 1000 kB/sec.
16.1.6.3
Application_LowTput_GPRS_DL_Threshold

throughput value for downlink in GPRS for the Below Composite Threshold KPI.
The default value is 40 kB/sec.
16.1.6.4
Application_LowTput_GPRS_UL_Threshold

throughput value for uplink in GPRS for the Below Composite Threshold KPI. The
default value is 10 kB/sec.
16.1.6.5
Application_LowTput_HSDPA_DL_Threshold

throughput value for downlink in HSDPA for the Below Composite Threshold KPI.
16.1.6.6
Application_LowTput_HSDPA_UL_Threshold

throughput value for uplink in HSDPA for the Below Composite Threshold KPI. The
16.1.6.7
Application_LowTput_HSPA_DL_Threshold

throughput value for downlink in HSPA for the Below Composite Threshold KPI.
16.1.6.8
Application_LowTput_HSPAPlus_DL_Threshold

throughput value for downlink in HSPA+ for the Below Composite Threshold KPI.
16.1.6.9
Application_LowTput_HSPAPlus_UL_Threshold

throughput value for uplink in HSPA+ for the Below Composite Threshold KPI. The
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16.1.6.10 Application_LowTput_HSUPA_UL_Threshold
throughput value for uplink in HSUPA for the Below Composite Threshold KPI. The
16.1.6.11 ApplicationLowTput_Idle_DL_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable application threshold
value for downlink in Idle mode for the Below Composite Threshold KPI. Default is
the same as HSPA. Change this to correspond to the network that you are
testing.
16.1.6.12 ApplicationLowTput_Idle_UL_Threshold
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable application threshold
value for uplink in Idle mode for the Below Composite Threshold KPI. Default is
the same as HSPA. Change this to correspond to the network that you are
testing.
16.1.6.13 ApplicationLowTput_UMTS_DL_Threshold
throughput value for downlink in UMTS for the Below Composite Threshold KPI.
16.1.6.14 ApplicationLowTput_UMTS_UL_Threshold
throughput value for uplink in UMTS for the Below Composite Threshold KPI. The
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17 Appendix E: EGPRS KPIs and diagnoses

17.1 EGPRS thresholds
value.
17.1.1 EGPRS / Analysis

17.1.1.1
G_Cell_Reselect_Duration
This threshold determines the maximum time for a cell reselection. Any values
above this threshold will be flagged as excessive high cell reselection time.
Default is 15000ms.
17.1.1.2
G_Cell_Reselect_Time
This threshold determines the window during which cell reselections may take
place. Any two reselections occurring within this threshold will be flagged as
abnormally high cell reselections. Default is 15000ms.
17.1.1.3
G_RMAC_C_Value_Min
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable C Value criterion.

Typical values range from -80 to -95, though this is highly dependent on the
coding scheme employed. Default is -85.
17.1.1.4
G_RMAC_CV_BEP_Max
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable CV BEP parameter.

Default is 4.
17.1.1.5
G_RMAC_DL_TS_Min
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable timeslot allocation.

Default is 2.
17.1.1.6
G_RMAC_MEAN_BEP_Max
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable MEAN BEP

parameter. Default is 25.
17.1.1.7
G_RMAC_Power_Reduction_Max
This threshold is used to determine the maximum acceptable Power reduction

values on the RMAC interface. Default is 2.
17.1.1.8
G_RMAC_Sign_Var_Min
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable signal quality

variation as denoted by the RMAC_Sign_Var attribute. Default is 24.
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G_RMAC_TAI_Max
This threshold is used to determine the maximum acceptable TAI value. Default is
10.
17.1.2 EGPRS / Events

17.1.2.1
G_T3240_RAUTimer
This timer is used to determine the time (in ms) the system will wait for GPRS
MM Routing Area Update Request messages to be answered with a GPRS MM
Routing Area Update Accept before registering a Routing Area Update Failure.
Default is 15000ms.
17.1.2.2
G_T3310_AttachTimer
MM Attach Request messages to be answered with a GPRS MM Attach Accept
before registering an Attach Failure. Default is 15000ms.
17.1.2.3
G_T3321_DetachTimer
MM Detach Request messages to be answered with a GPRS MM Detach Accept
before registering an Detach Failure. Default is 15000ms.
17.1.2.4
G_T3380_PDPActTimer
This timer is used to determine the time (in ms) the system will wait for GPRS SM
Activate PDP Context Request messages to be answered with a GPRS SM Activate
PDP Context Accept before registering a PDP Context Activation Failure. Default is
8000ms.
17.1.3 EGPRS / Spotlight

17.1.3.1
EGPRS_Duration_Period
This threshold is used to determine the period over which the minimum
acceptable throughput value for RLC / LLC are evaluated in EGPRS. Default is
15000ms.
17.1.3.2
EGPRS_LLC_DL_Min
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable throughput value for
LLC downlink in EGPRS. This factor is highly dependent on the typical allocation of
static / dynamic pdTCHs in your network. Default is 5.
17.1.3.3
EGPRS_LLC_UL_Min
LLC uplink in EGPRS. This factor is highly dependent on the typical allocation of
17.1.3.4
EGPRS_RLC_DL_Min
RLC downlink in EGPRS. This factor is highly dependent on the typical allocation
of static / dynamic pdTCHs in your network. Default is 10.
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EGPRS_RLC_UL_Min
RLC uplink in EGPRS. This factor is highly dependent on the typical allocation of
17.1.3.6
GPRS_Duration_Period
This threshold is used to determine the period over which the minimum
acceptable throughput value for RLC / LLC are evaluated in GPRS. Default is
15000ms.
17.1.3.7
GPRS_LLC_DL_Min
LLC downlink in GPRS. This factor is highly dependent on the typical allocation of
17.1.3.8
GPRS_LLC_UL_Min
LLC uplink in GPRS. This factor is highly dependent on the typical allocation of
17.1.3.9
GPRS_RLC_DL_Min
RLC downlink in GPRS. This factor is highly dependent on the typical allocation of
17.1.3.10 GPRS_RLC_UL_Min
RLC uplink in GPRS. This factor is highly dependent on the typical allocation of
17.2 EGPRS events in the Event Explorer

TASK Failure
Low Throughput
High Cell Reselection
Long Cell Reselection
RAU Failure
(10 second window up to the event)
Where time - default(prev_time_where(x), 0) > 5000
and
GPRS_RAU_Reject
or GPRS_RAU_Failure
or GPRS_RAU_Aborted
or TEMSEvent_GPRS_RAU_Failure
or GPRS_Events==13
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or GPRS_Events==14
or GPRS_Events==15
Attach Failure
and
GPRS_Attach_Reject
or GPRS_Attach_Failure
or GPRS_Attach_Aborted
or TEMSEvent_GPRS_Attach_Failure
or TEMSEvent_GPRS_Attach_Aborted
or GPRS_Events==8
or GPRS_Events==9
or GPRS_Events==10
PDP Context Activation Failure
and
GPRS_PDPContextAct_Reject
or GPRS_PDPContextAct_Failure
or GPRS_PDPContextAct_Aborted
or TEMSEvent_GPRS_PDPContextActivation_Failure
or GPRS_Events==2
or GPRS_Events==3
or GPRS_Events==4
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17.3 EGPRS diagnoses
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
Poor Radio Conditions
default(RMAC_C_Value, -75) <=

G_RMAC_C_Value_Min
Rapidly Changing Radio

Conditions
default(RMAC_Sign_Var, 0) >=
G_RMAC_Sign_Var_Min +
default(RMAC_8PSK_CV_BEP, 7) <=
G_RMAC_CV_BEP_Max +
default(RMAC_GMSK_CV_BEP, 7) <=
G_RMAC_CV_BEP_Max
>0
Interference
default(RMAC_RxQual, 0) >=
G_RxQualSub_Max +
default(RMAC_8PSK_MEAN_BEP, 31) <=
G_RMAC_MEAN_BEP_Max +
default(RMAC_GMSK_Mean_BEP, 31) <=
G_RMAC_MEAN_BEP_Max +
default(ServRxQualSub, 0) >=
G_RxQualSub_Max
>0
Excessive Power Reduction
default(RMAC_Power_Reduction, 0) >=
G_RMAC_Power_Reduction_Max
Low bandwidth allocation
default(GPRS_DL_Timeslot_Numbers_Num, 3)
<= G_RMAC_DL_TS_Min +
default(RMAC_DL_NumTimeslots_Used_Actual,
3) <= G_RMAC_DL_TS_Min
>0
Co/Adjacent Channel
allocations between neighbors
[abs(ServBCCH - default(NborBCCH[n], 0)) <

2] > 0
where n = 0 to 5
AND
default(RMAC_C_Value, -110) >
G_RxLevSub_Min
Distant Serving Cell
default(RMAC_TimingAdvanceIndex, 0) >=
G_RMAC_TAI_Max
The 'default' function means 'use the first value in brackets if possible, otherwise
use the second value'.
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18 Appendix F: EVDO KPIs and diagnoses

18.1 EVDO thresholds
value.
18.1.1 EVDO / Coverage

18.1.1.1
Average_PER_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Average PER (%) for
cluster acceptance. Default is 3.
18.1.1.2
Average_SINR_PN0_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Average SINR for
PN_Nth_Best_0 (dB) for cluster acceptance. Default is 3.
18.1.1.3
CDMA_EVDO_MobileRxPowerThreshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with EcIo and Mobile Tx Power Thresholds to
quality. Recommended value is -80 dBm. Values should vary between -75 and 90 dBm.
18.1.1.4
CDMA_EVDO_PilotPollution_Count_Threshold
This is the absolute number of pilots (with Ec/Io above

CDMA_EVDO_PilotPollutionThreshold) required to trigger a pilot pollution event.
Default is 3.
18.1.1.5
CDMA_EVDO_PilotPollutionThreshold
In calculating pilot pollution, this threshold sets up the level of interference

required for pegging the events (based on scanner info). When 4 or more pilots
are above this threshold, a pilot pollution event is created. Recommended valus is
-15 dB and the minimum and the maximum should be around -18 and -10 dB
respectively.
18.1.1.6
Max_TxPower_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the maximum Transmit
Power (in dBm) for cluster acceptance.
18.1.1.7
Min_TxPower_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the minimum Transmit
Power (in dBm) for cluster acceptance.
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18.1.2 EVDO / Events

18.1.2.1
EVT_EVDOLowThroughput
1 (default) = Sets low throughput for EVDO troubleshooter; 0 = this analysis is

turned off to gain on file load speeds.
18.1.2.2
EVT_EVDOServerKey
1 (default) = Turns on the EVDO Server Key event diagram for EVDO
troubleshooter; 0 = this analysis is turned off to gain on file load speeds.
18.1.2.3
EVT_VerituneEVDOPilotPollution
1 (default) = Turns on the analysis for EVDO pilot pollution; 0 = this analysis is
turned off to gain on file load speeds.
18.1.2.4
SchedulerAnalysis
1 (default) = Turns on the scheduler analysis for EVDO troubleshooter; 0 = this

analysis is turned off to gain on file load speeds.
18.1.3 EVDO / Network Parameters

18.1.3.1
AccessAttemptDuration_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Access Attempt Setup
time for cluster acceptance. Default is 3.
18.1.3.2
ConnectionAttemptDuration_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Connection Attempt
Setup time for cluster acceptance. Default is 3.
18.1.3.3
ConnectionReleaseDuration_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Connection Release
time for cluster acceptance. Default is 3.
18.1.3.4
PPPSetupTime_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the PPP Session Setup time
for cluster acceptance. Default is 3.
18.1.4 EVDO / Other

18.1.4.1
CDMA_EVDO_DRCRate_0
This is the data rate requested in bps for DRC Index 0. Default is 0.
18.1.4.2
CDMA_EVDO_DRCRate_1
18.1.4.3
CDMA_EVDO_DRCRate_10
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18.1.4.5
18.1.4.6
This is the data rate requested in bps for DRC Index 13. This value is reserved.
Default is 0.
18.1.4.7
This is the data rate requested in bps for DRC Index 14. This value is reserved.
Default is 0.
18.1.4.8
This is the data rate requested in bps for DRC Index 15. The DRC Channel is Off
for Index 15. Default is 0.
18.1.4.9
CDMA_EVDO_DRCRate_2
18.1.4.10 CDMA_EVDO_DRCRate_3
18.1.4.17 CDMA_EVDO_EcIoInterferenceThreshold
Recommended value is -15 dBm. The maximum should not exceed 0 and the
minimum should not be below -25 dBm.
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18.1.5 EVDO / Performance

18.1.5.1
AccessAttemptFailRate_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the EVDO Access Attempt
Fail rate for cluster acceptance. The default is 5%.
18.1.5.2
AccessAttemptSuccessRate_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the EVDO Access Attempt
success rate for cluster acceptance. The default is 95%.
18.1.5.3
Average_Rx_RlpRetransmissionRate_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Average Receive RLP
Retransmission rate for cluster acceptance. The default is .3.
18.1.5.4
Average_RxRlpThputInst_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Average Receive RLP
Throughput Inst. (kbps) for cluster acceptance. The default is 100 kbps.
18.1.5.5
Average_RxTCHThroughput_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Average Receive TCH
Throughput (kbps) for cluster acceptance. The default is 100 kbps.
18.1.5.6
Average_Tx_RlpRetransmissionRate_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Average Transmit RLP
Retransmission rate for cluster acceptance. The default is .3.
18.1.5.7
Average_TxRlpThputInst_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the Average Transmit RLP
Throughput Inst. (kbps) for cluster acceptance. The default is 25 kbps.
18.1.5.8
ConnectionAttemptFailRate_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the EVDO Connection
Attempt Fail rate for cluster acceptance. Default is 5%.
18.1.5.9
ConnectionAttemptSuccessRate_Threshold
Attempt success rate for cluster acceptance. The default is 95%.
18.1.5.10 ConnectionReleaseSuccessRate_Threshold
Release Success rate for cluster acceptance. The default is 95%.
18.1.5.11 PPPConnectionSuccessRate_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the PPP Connection Success
Rate for cluster acceptance. The default is 95%.
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18.1.6 RevA
18.1.6.1
RL_Throughput_Threshold
This threshold (in kbps) is used to set the Low Throughput event for RL for both
HICAP and LOLAT modes over all packet sizes. All RL Throughput values less than
or equal to RL_Throughput_Threshold value for all continuously
RL_Throughput_TimeLimit_Threshold seconds will be flagged as a Low RL
Throughput issue. The default is 50 kbps.
18.1.6.2
RL_Throughput_TimeLimit_Threshold
This threshold is used to set the time limit in seconds to be used in computing the
Low Throughput event for RL Packets. All RL Throughput values less than or equal
to RL_Throughput_Threshold value for continuously
RL_Throughput_TimeLimit_Threshold seconds will be flagged as Low RL
Throughput issue. Default is 15 seconds.
18.1.6.3
SU_Rx_Throughput_Threshold
This threshold (in kbps) is used to set the Low Throughput event for TC averaged
over time including the time the AN did not serve the AT. All Single User
Throughput values less than or equal to SU_Rx_Throughput_Threshold value for
continuously SU_Rx_Throughput_TimeLimit_Threshold seconds will be flagged as
a Low SU Throughput issue. Default is 500 kbps.
18.1.6.4
T2P_Avg_Threshold
This threshold (in dB) indicates the optimum value above which the transmission
data rate is satisfactory. The default value is 10 dB.
18.2 EVDO events in the Event Explorer

The following events are displayed in the top table of the Event Explorer:
# Dropped Connections
# Low Throughput
# Setup Failures
# Scheduling Issues
# Access Attempt Failures
% Low SU Throughput (RevA)
# Excessive Setup
% Low RL Throughput (RevA)
These events are affected by the following thresholds:

Average_PER_Threshold
Average_SINR_PN0_Threshold
CDMA_EVDO_PilotPollution_Count_Threshold
CDMA_EVDO_PilotPollutionThreshold
Average_RxRlpThputInst_Threshold
Average_TxRlpThputInst_Threshold
EVDO_Number_of_Users
T2P_Avg_Threshold (RevA)
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18.3 Dropped Connection diagnosis for EVDO

The following diagram outlines Spotlight's procedure for determining a diagnosis
of Dropped Connection events.
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
Abnormal Connection Release
ConnectionRelease_Reason parameter gives

the reason for any abnormal connection
releases.
Poor Quality
PER > Average PER threshold
Low Signal
Average 1st Best SINR <

Pilot Pollution

CDMA_EVDO_PilotPollutionThreshold.
Other

problem.
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18.4 Low Throughput diagnosis for EVDO

of Low Throughput events.
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
Low RLP Rx Throughput
Ave. Rx RLP Throughput <

Average_RxRlpThputInst_Threshold.
Low RLP Tx Throughput
Ave. Tx RLP Throughput <

Average_TxRlpThputInst_Threshold.
Network Overload
Number of users > EVDO_Numberof_Users

(Threshold).
Low Signal

Poor Quality
PER > Average PER threshold.
Pilot Pollution

Other

problem.
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18.5 Scheduling Issues diagnosis for EVDO

of Scheduling Issue events.
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
Network Overload
Number of users > EVDO_Number_of_Users

(Threshold).
Low Signal

Poor Quality
PER > Average PER threshold.
Pilot Pollution

Other

problem.
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19 Appendix G: GSM thresholds, KPIs and

diagnoses
19.1 GSM thresholds
value.
19.1.1 Spotlight
19.1.1.1
This threshold is used if there is no Max_ServerDist information in the cellref file,

and indicates the maximum serving distance (in meters) a cell should serve.
Default is 5000m.
19.1.2 GSM / Advanced_Handover_Analysis

19.1.2.1
Dragged_Dominance_Hysteresis
This threshold is the dBm hysteresis applied to the Best Neighbor Level to trigger
a loss of dominance of the server. Once a loss of dominance is triggered, and not
re-established before the Dragged_HO_Window timer expires, then any
subsequent Handover Failure or Dropped Call will trigger the Dragged Handover
Failure or Dragged Drop. Dominance loss = ServRxLevSub < (Best_Nbr Hysteresis). The default value is 5 dBm.
19.1.2.2
Dragged_HO_Window
This threshold is the number of milliseconds that the MS must lose dominance
for, before a Dragged Handover Failure or Dragged Dropped Call is triggered. The
default value is 10000 ms.
19.1.2.3
Ping_Pong_HO_Window
This threshold is the number of milliseconds during which a handover back to the
previous cell will trigger the Ping Pong Handover Event. The default value is 6000
ms.
19.1.3 GSM / Analysis

19.1.3.1
G_Distance_Max
This threshold is used to determine the maximum distance allowed per cell.
Typically, values in excess of 8000 meters are usually regarded as distant serving
cells.
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G_Handover_Min
This threshold is used in conjunction with handover to determine the minimum

possible signal difference for handover to take place. Recommended values are 56 dB.
19.1.3.3
G_MsTxPowStepOrdered_Min
This threshold is used in conjunction with the signal strength to determine

incorrect uplink power balance. This value is usually set to 0 to indicate maximum
uplink power.
19.1.3.4
G_Prolong_Interf_timer
This threshold is used in conjunction with the signal strength and signal quality to
determine prolong interference that is, good signal strength but bad quality in
this time window will cause a prolong interference event.
19.1.3.5
G_RxLevSub_Min
This threshold is used to determine the minimum acceptable value for signal
strength. Any signal below this threshold is categorized as poor coverage.
Recommended value: -95 dBm.
19.1.3.6
G_RxQualSub_Max
This threshold is used in conjunction with the signal strength to determine

whether there is interference present on the cell. Typically, values in excess of 3
with good signal strength usually indicate the presence of interference.
19.1.3.7
G_TimingAdvance_Max
This threshold is used in absence of the Distance parameter to determine the

maximum distance allowed per cell. Typically, values over 16 (that is,
approximately 8 km) are usually regarded as distant serving cells.
19.1.4 GSM / Cell_Plan_Viewer

19.1.4.1
G_Interference_Radius
This value is used to define a radius of analysis about a selected sector for coadjacent interference and neighbors visualizations in the Cell Plan Viewer. You
can set the units to be used (either miles or kilometers) in Preferences, General
Settings, Distance Units.
19.1.4.2
G_ScanSortSigLevel_Min
This value is used in relation to the scanner signal level; for example, in the
Channel Overlap analysis in the GSM Cell Plan Viewer.
19.1.5 GSM / Events

19.1.5.1
G_Timeout_ChannelRequest
This value is used to determine the time (in ms) the system will wait for RR
Channel Request messages to be answered before registering a Call Setup
Failure. Default is 3000 ms.
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19.1.6 GSM / Spotlight

19.1.6.1
SL_GSM_Ant_Gain_Threshold
This threshold is the default Antenna gain, used in the calculation of pathloss. The
default value is 18.4 dB.
19.1.6.2
SL_GSM_BTS_Sens_Threshold
This threshold is the default BTS receive sensitivity, used in the calculation of UL
pathloss. The default value is -120 dBm.
19.1.6.3
SL_GSM_EIRP_Threshold
This threshold is the default EIRP, used in the calculation of DL pathloss. The
default value is 55.
19.1.6.4
SL_GSM_High_TX_Power_Threshold
This threshold is used for determining a High TX condition. The default value is
30.
19.1.6.5
SL_GSM_RapidPathloss_RxLev_Threshold
This threshold is used in Rapid Pathloss detection, a condition of which is that

RxLev has dropped by at least this threshold value within the defined time
window. The RxQual condition must also be met for Rapid Pathloss to be
detected. The default value is 5 dB.
19.1.6.6
SL_GSM_RapidPathloss_RxQual_Threshold

RxQual has dropped by at least this threshold value within the defined time
window. The RxLev condition must also be met for Rapid Pathloss to be detected.
The default value is 2.
19.1.6.7
SL_GSM_RapidPathloss_Time_window_Threshold
This threshold is used to define the window over which Rapid Pathloss is
performed. The default value is 3000 ms.
19.1.6.8
SL_GSM_Site_Issues_Dist_Threshold
This threshold is used in the outside beamwidth analysis, and only data within
this distance from the site is considered for the analysis. The default value is
5000m.
19.1.7 GSM / Troubleshooter

19.1.7.1
G_Analysis_Time_After
This value is used to determine the time (in ms) allocated to investigate the radio
conditions AFTER the detected event occurrence. Typically, values of 5000 to
10000 ms are used. Values less than 5000 ms will tend to be more accurate, but
less attributes will be detected, while values in excess of 10000 ms tend to have
a high detection of attributes, but with relatively low accuracy since the time
under analysis is large.
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219
G_Analysis_Time_Before
This value is used to determine the time (in ms) allocated to investigate the radio
conditions PRIOR to the detected event occurrence. Typically, values of 5000 to
10000 ms are used. Values less than 5000 ms will tend to be more accurate, but
fewer attributes will be detected, while values in excess of 10000 ms tend to
detect a large number of attributes, but with relatively low accuracy since the
time under analysis is large.
19.1.7.3
G_CallDropRate
repository views. The Call Drop Rate should not exceed 2% of all successful calls
in the busy hour. If the resulting KPI is equal to or less than this value, it will be
flagged as accepted and will show up as a green tick mark in the KPI table. If it is
higher than this value, it will be flagged as failed and will show up as a red cross
in the KPI table.
19.1.7.4
G_CallSetupSuccessRate
repository views. The Call Setup Success Rate should be in excess of 98% for
most GSM networks in the busy hour. If the resulting KPI is equal to or in excess
of this value, it will be flagged as accepted and will show up as a green tick mark
in the KPI table. If it is less than this value, it will be flagged as failed and will
show up as a red cross in the KPI table.
19.1.7.5
G_HandoverSuccessRate
repository views. The Handover Success Rate should be in excess of 98% for
most GSM networks in the busy hour. If the resulting KPI is equal or in excess to
this value, it will be flagged as accepted and will show up as a green tick mark in
the KPI table. If it is less than this value, it will be flagged as failed and will show
up as a red cross in the KPI table.
19.1.7.6
G_LocationUpdateSuccessRate
repository views. The Location Update Success Rate should be in excess of 98%
for most GSM networks in the busy hour. If the resulting KPI is equal or in excess
to this value, it will be flagged as accepted and will show up as a green tick mark
in the KPI table. If it is less than this value, it will be flagged as failed and will
show up as a red cross in the KPI table.
19.1.7.7
G_OverAllSuccessRate
repository views. The Overall Success Rate should be in excess of 98% for most
GSM networks in the busy hour. If the resulting KPI is equal or in excess to this
value, it will be flagged as accepted and will show up as a green tick mark in the
KPI table. If it is less than this value, it will be flagged as failed and will show up
as a red cross in the KPI table.
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19.2 GSM events in the Event Explorer

The following event information is displayed in the top table of the Event
Explorer:
GSM: Circuit Switched category
# Call Attempts
#Dropped Calls
# Call Setup Failures
# LU Fails
GSM: Handover Issues category
# HO Att
# HO Fails
GSM: NBR Neighbor Issues category
% Strong NBR
% Strong NBR Diff Band
% NBRs with 5dB
% NBRs with 5dB Diff Band
GSM Diagnoses
Call Setup Failure diagnosis
Location Update Failure diagnosis
Dropped Calls diagnosis
Handover Failure diagnosis
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19.3 Call Setup Failure diagnosis for GSM

of Call Setup Failure events.
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
RR Failed
An RR Channel Request is not followed by an

RR Immediate Assignment with matching
establishment cause and random reference
within the time period specified by the
G_Timeout_ChannelRequest threshold.
Immediate Reject
An Immediate Reject message was received.
Another Call Started
Another RR Channel Request with the same

occurs more than 200 milliseconds after the
RR Immediate Assignment and before the
call setup is complete.
Another RR Channel Request with a

different establishment cause or random
reference occurs at any time after the RR
Immediate Assignment and before the call
setup is complete.
CM Service Abort / Reject
A CM Service Abort / Reject message was

received.
User Release
When a call setup procedure is aborted by the

UE with a UL CC Disconnect message.
Poor Coverage
If ServRxLevSub < G_RxLevSub_Min.
Interference
If ServRxQualSub > G_RxQualSub_Max.
Other

problem.
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19.4 Location Update Failure diagnosis for GSM

of Location Update Failure events.
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
RR Failed
An RR Channel Request is not followed by an

RR Immediate Assignment with matching
within the time period specified by the
G_Timeout_ChannelRequest threshold.
Immediate Reject
An Immediate Reject message was received.
Another Call Started
Another RR Channel Request with the same

occurs more than 200 milliseconds after the
RR Immediate Assignment and before the
call setup is complete.
Another RR Channel Request with a

different establishment cause or random
reference occurs at any time after the RR
Immediate Assignment and before the call
setup is complete.
LU Reject
A Location Update Failure message was

received.
Poor Coverage
Interference
System Released
When the cause code is Not Normal (0-31, 42)

in either the NAS message or the RR Channel
Release message.
Other

problem.
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19.5 Dropped Calls diagnosis for GSM

of Dropped Call events.
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
System Released
When the cause code is Not Normal (0-31, 42)

in either the NAS message or the RR Channel
Release message.
Missing Neighbor
Handset: If after the drop, BCH is not in the BA

list, but was before the drop.
Scanner: If one of the top 6 BCH is not in the
BA list before the drop.
Handover Problem
If stronger neighbors than the serving cell for a

period. See GSM Dragged Handovers.
Poor Coverage
Interference
Other

problem.
19.6 Handover Failure diagnosis for GSM

The diagnosis for Handover Failure is derived directly from the CauseCodeRR
value.
For example:
Diagnosis
Condition and notes
Handover Impossible
(TA out of Range)
Handover Failure message, CauseCodeRR = 8
Channel mode unacceptable
Frequency not implemented
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20 Appendix H: HSPA thresholds, KPIs and

diagnoses
20.1 HSPA Event Explorer analysis
20.1.1 Event Explorer dashboard
In the top table of the Event Explorer dashboard, by default the following HSPA
event KPIs are displayed, aggregated by site:
Call Attempts
Dropped Calls
Call Setup Failures
Average RAW Throughput
RAW Throughput Peak
Cell Change Failures (not yet implemented)
Low Raw Throughput Instances
Low Net Throughput Instances
20.1.2 Detailed Event Diagnostics

Of the HSPA KPIs listed in the top table, these have diagnostic information (and
can be investigated further using the Drilldown mechanism):
Call Drop
Low Raw Throughput
Low Net Throughput
For failure scenarios where a transition to Idle mode occurs (such as the dropped
call under investigation in this example), we strongly recommend that, in the
Drilldown options, you select a long 'After Window' (in the tens of seconds).
Please refer to the description of HSPA KPIs on p227 for details of HSPA
diagnostics.
20.2 HSPA Call Drop Analysis example

To access the HSPA Call Drop analysis, select the HSPA Call Drop from either the
HSPA Summary Dashboard in the Critical Issues section, or the top table of the
Event Explorer page. At the top of the Event Explorer page is a list of occurrences
of HSPA Call drops. An associated root cause analysis is shown in the diagnostic
panel on the left.
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The first example of an HSPA Dropped Call is a case of HSPA to R99 transition via
Idle mode. The UE goes out of HSPA coverage and is forced into Idle mode by the
network, which then re-establishes the radio connection on the new site in R99.
The diagnostic panel provides essential information, such as the last SC under
HSPA coverage (104), and the target SC in R99 (45). This can also be clearly
seen on the map. One interesting binned data attribute to display on the map is
the UE state, which indicates what kind of resources (if any) are allocated to the
UE (HSPA, DCH_R99, FACH). By plotting this binned data on the map, we can
confirm the diagnosis, and can visualize the transitions from HSPA to DCH_R99.
20.2.1 Drilldown
You can investigate all the KPIs with diagnostic information with the Drilldown
mechanism.
The dropped call under investigation in this example, includes a transition to Idle
mode, so in the Drilldown options, a long 'After Window' of 30 seconds was
selected.
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The drilldown screen looks like this:
The main aspects to point out from the screen layout are:
The Active Set analysis: it can be clearly seen that at the moment of the
call drop, SC_45 is much stronger than SC_104 (the current HSPA server)
In the Protocol Stack Browser, it is worth noting that the user consistently
reports that SC_45 has a better signal than SC_104 (several Measurement
Report messages), until the network decides to release the radio
connection (RRC Connection Release message). Further down in the
signaling, the user is paged by the network, and the radio connection is
re-established on SC_45, but in R99.
The radio charts report the typical HSPA L1 measurements and give an
idea of the quality of the HSPA connection before the call drops. Due to
the UE dropping to Idle for several seconds, the HSPA radio performance
is less essential for the analysis as the user experience is compromised
anyway. However, the HSPA connection provides a good performance up
to a few seconds before the drops, as the throughput remains at
reasonable levels.
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20.3 HSDPA Low Throughput example

You can access the Low Throughput analysis by selecting either Low Raw HS
Throughput or Low Net HS Throughput KPI from the Summary Dashboard's
Critical Issues section, or from the top table of the Event Explorer
Once one of the Low Throughput KPIs is selected, the Event Explorer displays in
the diagnostic panel a list of five occurrences of Low Throughput and associated
root cause analyses.
Three different results from the root cause analysis are shown.
Skip the cases related to HSPA to R99 transition via Idle mode, as they coincide
with the dropped call events seen above. Whenever an HSPA Call Drop event is
detected, a Low Throughput event is also pegged, because transitions to Idle
involve a service interruption noticeable by the user.
The first case to analyze is the event caused by a Direct HS Cell Change - that is,
when the network points the user at another HS server cell. These cases should
introduce relatively short interruptions, so the settings of the thresholds that
control Low Throughput detection (see above) play a fundamental role here. It is
important to highlight that the diagnostic information provides information on the
type of Cell Change in terms of site and frequency. Cell Changes that involve a
change of site cause longer interruptions therefore these are the most common in
the diagnostic panel, like in this demo. If a change of frequency occurs, the
interruption is normally even longer. However, the technology seems not mature
yet to allow Direct Cell Changes with change of frequency (but we have seen
change of frequency cases with transitions to Idle mode).
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Other useful information to mention is signal strength of source and target cell
and all the HSPA physical layer measurement provided before and after the
event. For a well-designed network, the performance should improve following a
Cell Change. That is not always the case, as we will see shortly.
Now look at the second case of
Direct Cell Change shown on the
right.
It highlights that numerous Cell
Changes occurred in a very short
time, and this is a clear example of
network not optimized.
In the Drill-down section, we will be
able to see that the cell changes
occur between the same two cells,
casing a so-called ping-pong
scenario.
The performance slightly increases
right after the cell change, but as we
can see, the quality of the signal
(EcIo) in the target cell is already
degrading.
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Another case that can be shown is

the Lack of Data to Transmit
scenario, where throughput is
extremely low but the radio
conditions are good.
In the map the user is very close to
the serving cell, which justifies the
high level of CQI (23) measured
during the low throughput window of
time.
The noticeable quality degradation
after the event is due to radio
condition getting worse, and this will
be clear from the Drill-down page.
However, the lack of data to
transmit scenario identified here is
independent of the conditions
occurring after.
20.3.1 Drilldown
All the KPIs with diagnostic information can be investigated further via the
Drilldown mechanism.
Just like for the HSDPA Call Drop KPI, remember to select a long after window
in the Drilldown options for scenarios that include Idle transitions.
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For the HS Direct Cell Change case, an After Window of 5 seconds is enough.
The Event Navigator below confirms the occurrence of several HS Cell changes
within a short time. Also, the Protocol Stack Browser window shows the signaling
associated with these mobility procedures. Finally, the radio graphs give an
overview of the level of degradation suffered from this poor design issue.
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For the Lack of Data to Transmit case, maintain the Drill-down settings used
above.
Here we can see that despite good radio conditions (check the numeric values of
CQI and its visual representation on the map) throughput is null before the event
detection.
Radio conditions get worse afterwards, and in fact, it is possible to see quite
easily from the Event Navigator form that a HS Cell Change occurs. But as
mentioned above this is another issue and completely unrelated to the lack of
data to transmit.
20.4 HSPA events in the Event Explorer

20.4.1 HSPA Call Drops
An HSPA call is a UMTS PS Call where the UE is in 'HSPA' state. Therefore, the
trigger of HSPA Drop call is the same as UMTS PS Drop call, but a HSPA Drop call
is only pegged when the UE is in HSPA state at the moment the call drops.
Usually, whenever the UE goes from HSPA to Idle without a normal call release,
an HSPA Drop Call event is detected. The most recurrent scenarios are:
Terminal spontaneously (that is, not network-forced) dropping the radio

connection
Network releasing the radio connection for causes other than user
inactivity or normal PDP Context deactivation
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The following failure cases are supported:
Deactivation of PDP Context due to abnormal situations

When the network (SGSN) releases the PDP context for abnormal
scenarios (this is detected via a Deactivation PDP Context Request
downlink message with SM cause different from 'Regular deactivation'.
UE drops to idle
The UE drops to idle when radio link conditions becomes poor. Typical
scenarios are:
- No coverage
- Excessive interference
- The UE is moving in an area where HSPA is not supported (and the
network does not handle direct HSDPA to R99 transitions).
RRC Connection Release

The network (RNC) releases the RRC Connection with a cause other than
'Normal' or 'User Inactivity'.
20.4.2 Low Throughput Issues

Low throughput conditions are detected when the user throughput exceeds a
certain threshold for a specified period of time. The analysis can be based on Raw
MAC-HS throughput or Net MAC-HS throughput.
For more information on Raw and Net MAC-HS Throughput, please see the section
HSPA Throughput KPIs on p238.
You can configure the detection mechanism via the following HSDPA thresholds:
20.4.2.1
Uu_HSDPALowRawThrou_Thresh
The value (in kbps) under which the instantaneous Raw HSDPA throughput is
considered LOW - It is used in conjunction with the threshold
Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres, to peg Low Raw MAC-HS Throughput
events in Drive Test.
20.4.2.2
Uu_HSDPALowNetThrou_Thresh
The value (in kbps) under which the instantaneous Net HSDPA throughput is
considered LOW - It is used in conjunction with the threshold
Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres, to peg Low Net MAC-HS Throughput
events in Drive Test.
20.4.2.3
Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres
The time (in msec.) that the HSDPA throughput is allowed to stay under a certain
value (Uu_HSDPALowRawThrou_Thresh or Uu_HSDPALowNetThrou_Thresh). If
the throughput stays under those raw or net throughput thresholds for a period
longer than Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres a Low Raw(Net) MAC-HS
Throughput event is pegged for Drive Test
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KPI/attribute
Related threshold
Uu_LowRawHSDPAThroughput
Uu_LowNetHSDPAThroughput
Uu_HSCellNotBestPilot
Uu_WinTimeHSnotBest
Low Tput KPI event (Used for

diagnostic purposes only)
Uu_HSDPALowCQI_Thresh
Uu_HSDPAAvRegularSched_Thresh
Uu_HSDPAAvLowSched_Thresh
Uu_HSDPANet_To_L1_Throu_Thresh
Uu_HSDPAL1_To_Raw_Throu_Thresh
HSDPA Peak Tput (threshold

determines if this is a critical
issue in the Summary
dashboard)
SL_UMTS_DT_Spotlight_CriticalIssues_HSDPAPea
kTput
HSDPA Setup Failure rate
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_HSDPA_Failure_Rate
Overall PS Setup Failure rate
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_Overall_PS_Failure_Rate
Average HSDPA Call Setup

time
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_HSDPA_Setup_Time
HSDPA Call Drop rate
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_HSDPA_Drop_Rate
Overall PS Call Drop rate
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_PS_Drop_Rate
Average EcIo
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_EcIo_Threshold
95 percentile MAC-HS Tput
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_MACHS_T
hroughput_Threshold
Average RSCP
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_RSCP_Threshold
95 percentile DL TCP Tput
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_TCP_Thro
ughput_Threshold
95 percentile CQI Tput
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_CQI_Thre
shold
95 percentile EcIo Tput
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_EcIo_Thr
eshold
95 percentile RSCP Tput
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_RSCP_Th
reshold
The following failure cases are supported:

20.4.2.4
Raw HS Throughput
Mobility scenarios
Whenever a mobility scenario occurs, expect throughput degradation. The
level of degradation is proportional to the duration of the mobility
procedure, during which the UE receives a limited amount of data - or no
data at all, as with Idle transitions.
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The sub-cases below are self-explanatory and are all mutually exclusive by
definition:
HS Direct Cell change ongoing
Intra-F HS Cell Change via Idle mode
Inter-F HS Cell Change via Idle mode
HS to DCH_R99 direct transition
HS to DCH_R99 transition via Idle mode
Low CQI values

These are detected when the average CQI in the last 3 seconds is below
the user-specified threshold Uu_HSDPALowCQI_Thresh. 30 is the
maximum value a UE can report, and Uu_HSDPALowCQI_Thresh is a
number between 0 and 1. The threshold needs to be a factor ranging from
0 to 1 rather than an absolute CQI threshold between 0 and 30, because
under certain scenarios UEs might only report 15 as the maximum CQI.
Low CQI values are an indication of poor radio downlink conditions.
Lack of data to transmit

This is detected when the Statistical Mode of the Instantaneous Raw Tput
in the last 3 seconds is 0. This scenario typically occurs when there is no
activity (data), but the handset is kept in HSPA mode by the network.
Low scheduling rate

This is detected when in the last 3 seconds, the average scheduling rate
(from the instantaneous scheduling rate dataset Uu_HSDPA_FrameUsage)
is below the user-specified threshold Uu_HSDPAAvRegularSched_Thresh
(0..1). This may occur when more than one HSPA user is present in the HS
Serving Cell where the event is detected.
20.4.2.5
Net HS Throughput
A Low Net HS Throughput can usually be associated with an underlying Raw

Throughput scenario. However, there are some interesting cases where, despite a
good Raw Throughput, the Net Throughput does not reach satisfactory levels:
Low Raw HS Throughput

If Low RAW Tput is also detected, the diagnostic simply reports that the
cause of Net Tput degradation is related to underlying Raw Tput. Check
through the Low Raw Throughput KPI list of occurrences for the right
event (timestamp would be the same as the Low Net Tput event. However
some useful measurement data are included in the table for the Net Tput
KPI and this data might be sufficient).
Low Raw HS Throughput not detected

All the cases listed for Raw Throughput are still valid. However the
diagnostic alerts you that the threshold for Low Raw Throughput event
detection might not be restrictive enough, which would explain why only
Net Throughput issues are detected.
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If high levels of retransmission occur, the 'Further Information' section provides

additional information regarding Net throughput. Two scenarios are analyzed:
High retransmissions due to packet incorrectly received in

Downlink
This is detected when:
Uu_HSDPA_Throughput_L1 < Uu_HSDPAL1_To_Raw_Throu_Thresh
Uu_HSDPA_PayloadRate_L1
For the definition of the different types of HSDPA throughput, please refer
to the section on HSDPA Throughput KPIs.
High retransmissions due to poor Uplink quality conditions

This is detected when:
Uu_HSDPA_Throughput_MAC
Uu_HSDPA_Throughput_L1
< Uu_HSDPANet_To_L1_Throu_Thresh
For the definition of the different types of HSDPA throughput, please refer
to the section on HSDPA Throughput KPIs.
20.4.3 Lack of pilot dominance issues

This is essentially very similar to 'Pilot pollution' or 'Too many servers' but
focused on HSDPA. HSDPA requires clear pilot dominance for an efficient service
delivery (good throughput). Identifying zones with a lack of pilot dominance is a
very important task in the rollout and optimization of HSDPA.
20.4.4 HSPA Call Setup Failure

This event is detected whenever a failure occurs during the setup of the HSPA
bearer.
An attempt to establish a HSPA call can be detected only when the bearer is being
set up. Therefore, if a UMTS PS call fails at an early stage, it is not possible to
know whether a R99 or a HSPA bearer would have been used. In these cases, the
Call Setup Failure is pegged only as a UMTS PS Call Setup Failure.
20.4.5 Known Issues

If a particular KPI event (for example, HSPA Call Drop) occurs very close to the
end of the logfile, the event can be missing from the diagnostic panel in the KPI
dashboard. However, the event will be flagged in both the initial dashboard (as
part of the % Call Drop Critical Issue if the relevant threshold condition is
fulfilled) and the top table of the KPI dashboard, leading to a discrepancy in the
number of events displayed.
20.5 HSPA Throughput KPIs

The following types of HSPA throughput are provided in the HSPA Network
Acceptance report:
Raw MAC-HS throughput
Net MAC-HS throughput
Net DL TCP throughput
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MAC-HS throughput KPIs (e.g. Mean, Mode, 95% percentile) are derived from the
MAC-HS instantaneous throughputs. Both raw and net instantaneous throughputs
are calculated every 200 msecs:
MAC - HS instantaneous throughput = (bytes received by the UE over
200ms)/200ms
The difference between Raw and Net MAC-HS throughput is that Raw throughput
includes ALL the packets scheduled for the UE, while Net throughput does not
include packets unsuccessfully decoded or re-transmitted:
Raw throughput -> All packets received by UE
Net throughput -> Only successfully decoded (not re-transmitted) packets
The following figure further clarifies the approach used for the calculation of Raw
and Net MAC-HS throughput:
Total # packets contributing to Raw MAC-HS throughput -> 7

Total # packets contributing to Net MAC-HS throughput -> 5
20.5.1 Notes
In ideal scenarios, Raw and Net MAC-HS throughput are equal, but in
reality the Net throughput is always lower than the Raw throughput.
For the purpose of throughput calculation, the size of the entire MAC-HS
PDU is used; this includes MAC-HS header and padding. For this reason,
MAC-HS net throughput and RLC throughput do not coincide:
The Net DL TCP throughput is simply the downlink TCP throughput that
excludes TCP re-transmissions.
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20.6 HSDPA thresholds

value.
20.6.1 Spotlight Thresholds

20.6.1.1

5000m.
20.6.2 HSDPA thresholds

The following thresholds are available under the root of the HSDPA node:
20.6.2.1
IUB_THROUGHPUT_PERIOD_THRES
This threshold is used to set the sampling period (in msec.) for the calculation of
MACd throughput over the Iub. Note that MACd throughput includes the header of
RLC and layer above (PDCP, IP, etc.). The default value is 1000 ms.
20.6.2.2
This threshold is used to set the value (in kbps) under which the instantaneous
Raw HSDPA throughput is considered LOW - It is used in conjunction with the
threshold Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres, to peg Low Raw MAC-HS
Throughput events in Drive Test. For a definition of Raw HSDPA Throughput see
Uu_HSDPA_PayloadRate_L1. The default value is 400 kbps.
20.6.2.3
This threshold is used to set the value (in kbps) under which the instantaneous
Net HSDPA throughput is considered LOW - It is used in conjunction with the
threshold Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres, to peg Low Net MAC-HS
Throughput events in Drive Test. For a definition of Net HSDPA Throughput, see
Uu_HSDPA_Throughput_MAC. The default value is 300 kbps.
20.6.2.4
This threshold is used to set the period of time (in msec.) that the HSDPA
throughput is allowed to stay under a certain value
(Uu_HSDPALowRawThrou_Thresh or Uu_HSDPALowNetThrou_Thresh). If the
throughput stays under those raw or net throughput thresolds for a period longer
than Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres a Low Raw(Net) MAC-HS
Throughput event is pegged for Drive Test. The default value is 3000 ms.
20.6.2.5
Uu_ThresGapBeforeThrComparison
This parameter indicates the gap between the end of the Cell Change procedure
and the start of the time interval used to calculate the TCP throughput for
comparison with the throughput during the cell change. The time interval is as
lons as the duration of the Cell Change procedure. The default value is 1000 ms.
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20.6.2.6
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Uu_WinTimeHSnotBest
This threshold is used to set the period of time (in msec.) that the EcIo of the HS
Serving Cell is allowed to be lower than the best pilot EcIo in the Active Set. If
the quality of the HS Serving Cell is below the best pilot in the AS for a period
longer than this threshold a Uu_HSCellNotBestPilot event is pegged for Drive
Test. The default value is 1000 ms.
20.6.3 HSDPA / HSDPA_NW_Acceptance Thresholds

These are used for the HSPA Spotlight Reports.
20.6.3.1
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_HSDPA_Failure_Rate
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the HSPA call setup failure
rate.
20.6.3.2
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_Overall_PS_Failure_Rate
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the overall PS call setup
failure rate (HSPA and R99).
20.6.3.3
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_HSDPA_Setup_Time
This threshold is used to indicate an average HSPA call setup acceptance time.
20.6.3.4
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_HSDPA_Drop_Rate
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the HSPA call drop rate.
20.6.3.5
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_PS_Drop_Rate
This threshold is used to indicate a pass threshold for the PS R99 call drop rate.
20.6.3.6
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_EcIo_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction RSCP threshold, to setup thresholds above

which measurements from the UE as seen good for HSPA Network acceptance.
20.6.3.7
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_RSCP_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction EcIo threshold, to setup thresholds above

which measurements from the UE a seen good for HSPA Network acceptance.
20.6.3.8
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_MACHS_Throughput_
Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate the lowest required Raw MAC HS Throughput
value at the 95 percentile for HSPA Network acceptance (unit is kbit/sec).
20.6.3.9
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_TCP_Throughput_Thr
eshold
This threshold is used to indicate the lowest required TCP Throughput value at the
95 percentile for HSPA Network acceptance (unit is kbit/sec).
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20.6.3.10 HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_CQI_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate the lowest required CQI value at the 95
percentile for HSPA Network acceptance.
20.6.3.11 HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_EcIo_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate the lowest required EcIo value at the 95
20.6.3.12 HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_RSCP_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate the lowest required RSCP value at the 95
20.6.4 HSDPA / Spotlight Thresholds

20.6.4.1
Uu_HSDPALowCQI_Thresh
This threshold is used to set the value under which the average CQI is considered
low (average calculated on the 5 secs. before the occurrence of a failure event).
NOTE: the threshold is expressed as the ratio (0..1) of the max achievable CQI.
The max achievable CQI is a function of the UE category and the modulation used
(QPSK or 16 QAM). See more information about this threshold under "HSPA Call
Drop". The default value is 0.4.
20.6.4.2
Uu_HSDPAAvRegularSched_Thresh
This threshold is used to set the value under which the average HS Scheduling is
a possible sign of regular scheduling in presence of other HSPA users (average
calculated on the 5 secs. before the occurrence of a failure event). NOTE: the
threshold is expressed as a percentage value (0..100). See more information
about this threshold in the help under "HSPA Low Raw Throughput". The default
value is 70%.
20.6.4.3
Uu_HSDPANet_To_L1_Throu_Thresh
This threshold is used to set the value under which the ratio between Net HS
Throughput average and L1 HS Throughput average is considered low enough to
assign the cause of Low Net HS Throughput not only to lack of data sent by the
network, but for example due to high retransmission levels. The average of the
Throughput values is calculated on the 5 secs. before the occurrence of the Low
Net Throughput event). NOTE: the threshold is expressed as the ratio (0..1). See
also Uu_HSDPALowNetThrou_Thresh and Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres
for the exact definition of the Low Net HS Throughput event, and
Uu_HSDPA_Throughput_L1 and Uu_HSDPA_Throughput_MAC for a definition of
L1 and Net HS throughput. The default value is 0.7.
20.6.4.4
Uu_HSDPAL1_To_Raw_Throu_Thresh
This threshold is used to set the value under which the ratio between L1 HS
Throughput average and Raw HS Throughput average is considered low enough
to assign the cause of Low Net HS Throughput not only to lack of data sent by the
network, but for example due to high retransmission levels. The average of the
Throughput values is calculated on the 5 secs. before the occurrence of the Low
Net Throughput event). NOTE: the threshold is expressed as the ratio (0..1). See
also Uu_HSDPALowNetThrou_Thresh and Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres
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for the exact definition of the Low Net HS Throughput event, and
Uu_HSDPA_Throughput_L1 and Uu_HSDPA_PayloadRate_L1 for a definition of L1
and Raw HS throughput. The default value is 0.7.
20.6.4.5
SL_UMTS_DT_Spotlight_CriticalIssues_HSDPAPeakTput
This threshold is used to filter out HSDPA Raw Tput peak performance issues from
the HSPA dashboard that are equal or less this value. The default value is 1500
(kbps).
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21 Appendix I: LTE thresholds, KPIs and

diagnoses
21.1 LTE thresholds
21.1.1 LTE / Cluster_Acceptance
21.1.1.1
LTE_CA_CSFB_Block_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the CS Fallback call setup failure
rate is considered too high. Recommended value is 3.
21.1.1.2
LTE_CA_CSFB_Drop_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the CS Fallback call drop rate is
considered too high. Recommended value is 5.
21.1.1.3
LTE_CA_CSFB_Slow_Setup_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the CSFB Slow Setup threshold, and is
the target above which too many CSFB call setups in a cluster are seen as too
slow. Recommended value is 10.
21.1.1.4
LTE_CA_CSFB_Slow_Setup_Threshold
This is the threshold in milliseconds, above which a CS Fallback call setup time is
considered too long. Recommended value is 8000.
21.1.1.5
LTE_CA_HO_Failure_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the RRC handover failure rate is
21.1.1.6
LTE_CA_ReEst_Failure_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the RRC re-establishment failure
21.1.1.7
LTE_CA_RRC_Block_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the RRC connection setup failure
21.1.1.8
LTE_CA_RRC_Drop_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the RRC connection drop rate is
21.1.1.9
LTE_CA_Slow_RRC_Setup_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the RRC Setup Time threshold, and is
the target above which too many RRC connection setups in a cluster are seen as
too slow. Recommended value is 10.
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21.1.1.10 LTE_CA_Slow_RRC_Setup_Threshold
This is the threshold in milliseconds, above which a LTE connection setup time is
considered too long. Recommended value is 60.
21.1.1.11 LTE_CA_TaskDL_Failure_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the downlink tasks failure rate is
21.1.1.12 LTE_CA_TaskDL_LowTput_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the percentage of uplink tasks that
did not achieve an acceptable throughput is considered too high. Recommended
value is 10.
21.1.1.13 LTE_CA_TaskUL_Failure_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the uplink tasks failure rate is
21.1.1.14 LTE_CA_TaskUL_LowTput_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent, above which the percentage of uplink tasks that
did not achieve an acceptable throughput is considered too high. Recommended
value is 10.
21.1.1.15 LTE_CA_UE_GoodCoverage_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with RSRP and RSRQ coverage thresholds,
and is the target above which coverage in a cluster is seen as acceptable.
21.1.1.16 LTE_CA_UE_GoodRSRP_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the RSRP coverage threshold, and is the
target above which the signal strength in a cluster is seen as acceptable.
21.1.1.17 LTE_CA_UE_GoodRSRQ_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the RSRQ coverage threshold, and is
the target above which the signal quality in a cluster is seen as acceptable.
21.1.2 LTE / Event_Control

21.1.2.1
LTE_CSFB_LTEReAttach_Timer
This threshold is the maximum time in milliseconds above which the Attach
procedure on LTE following a CS fallback procedure is considered too slow. A
value of 0 means that the procedure cannot fail because of timeout.
21.1.2.2
LTE_CSFB_LTEReselection_Timer
This threshold is the maximum time in milliseconds above which the reselection
procedure from UMTS Idle to LTE following a CS fallback procedure is considered
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too slow. A value of 0 means that the reselection to LTE is always considered
successful regardless of how much time it took. Recommended value is 15000
ms.
21.1.2.3
LTE_CSFB_LTEReselection_Trigger
This threshold controls the starting point at which the time to reselect LTE from
UMTS Idle is measured. A value of 1 (the default value) means that the time is
measured from the time when the UE received UMTS System Information Block
19. A value of 0 means that that the time is measured from the time when the UE
entered UMTS Idle mode.
21.1.2.4
LTE_CSFB_OnlyUseProtocolMsgs
This threshold controls whether Analyzer should only use protocol messages when
setting CS fallback events. If this threshold is set to 0, then Analyzer will detect
the initiation of the call at the last logging tool marker indicating a call setup
attempt preceding the Extended Service Request message, and set the call start
time to the time of the RRC Connection Request message if the call was initiated
in Idle mode. The default value is 1.
21.1.2.5
LTE_HO_Attempt_timer
Analyzer measures the time in milliseconds it took to perform a handover as the

time from the last measurement report message where the Serving cell is weaker
in terms of RSRP or RSRQ than the best neighbor cell. This threshold is the
maximum time after which a measurement report message where the Serving
cell is weaker in terms of RSRP than the best neighbor cell is considered to be old
to be the cause of a handover. Recommended value is 2000 ms.
21.1.2.6
LTE_HO_Drop_timer
Analyzer pegs a LTE handover fail event if the LTE RRC connection drops after a
RRC Reconfiguration message that triggered a handover. Analyzer may also peg a
handover fail event if the RRC connection drops shortly after the handover
completion. This threshold is the time in milliseconds measured from the RRC
Reconfiguration message during which Analyzer pegs a handover failure if the
RRC connection drops. The handover is considered successful after a handover
completion (RRC Connection Reconfiguration Complete message) when this timer
expires and the RRC connection did not drop, or if the UE receives a DL-DCCH
message. Recommended value is 2000 ms.
21.1.2.7
LTE_NAS_wait_timer
When two LTE NAS messages of the same type (for instance EMM Attach
Request) are logged consecutively in a file, this threshold is used to determine
whether the second LTE NAS message is a duplicate of the first message or
whether the procedure initiated by the first LTE NAS message failed and the
procedure is attempted another time. The unit is milliseconds. Recommended
value is 6000 ms.
21.1.2.8
LTE_Redirection_fromUMTS_timer
Analyzer measures the time elapsed from the RRC Connection Release message
which redirects the UE to from UMTS to LTE, and if this time exceeds the value of
this threshold and the UE is still in UMTS mode, then the redirected cell
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reselection procedure is considered failed. This timer is disabled if its value is set
to 0.
21.1.2.9
LTE_Redirection_toCDMA2000_timer
which redirects the UE to CDMA2000, and if this time exceeds the value of this
threshold and the UE is still in LTE mode, then the redirected cell reselection
procedure is considered failed. This timer is disabled if its value is set to 0.
21.1.2.10 LTE_Redirection_toUMTS_timer
which redirects the UE to UMTS, and if this time exceeds the value of this
threshold and the UE is still in LTE mode, then the redirected cell reselection
procedure is considered failed. This timer is disabled if its value is set to 0.
21.1.2.11 LTE_RRC_DropAfterDetach
This threshold indicates whether Analyzer may peg an LTE RRC drop event
following a successful Detach procedure. A value of 0 (the default value) means
that Analyzer never pegs an LTE RRC drop event following a successful Detach
procedure, a value of 1 means that Analyzer pegs an LTE RRC drop following a
successful Detach procedure if the RRC Connection Release message is not
logged.
21.1.2.12 LTE_t300_wait_timer
This threshold is the default value in milliseconds that the event detection uses
for LTE RRC timer T300. This default value is overwritten if T300 is present in the
log file. Recommended value is 1000 ms.
21.1.3 LTE / Scan_Coverage

21.1.3.1
LTE_Scan_GoodRBs_RelativeRSRP_Threshold
When a scanner measures Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) for each
Resource Block (RB), this threshold is used to determine the RSRP value relative
to the strongest RB in terms of RSRP above which an RB is considered good
enough for transmission. Default value is 3.
21.1.3.2
LTE_Scan_GoodRBs_RelativeRSRQ_Threshold
When a scanner measures Reference Signal Receive Quality (RSRQ) for each
Resource Block (RB), this threshold is used to determine the RSRQ value relative
to the strongest RB in terms of RSRQ above which an RB is considered good
enough for transmission. Default value is 3.
21.1.3.3
LTE_Scan_PoorRSRP_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate poor RSRP values from scanner data.
Recommended value is -95 dBm and the minimum should not be lower than -105
dBm.
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LTE_Scan_PoorRSRQ_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate poor RSRQ values from scanner data.
Recommended value is -13 dB and the value should range between -10 and -18
dB.
21.1.4 LTE / Spotlight

21.1.4.1
SL_LTE_DT_Spotlight_ImportantIssues_Threshold
This threshold is used to filter out Important Issues from the LTE dashboard that
occur with a frequency greater than this value. Recommended value is 0.
21.1.5 LTE / UE_Coverage

21.1.5.1
LTE_UE_HighPUCCHPower_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate high PUCCH transmit power values from UE
data. Recommended value is 10 dBm. Values should vary between 0 and 20 dBm.
21.1.5.2
LTE_UE_PoorRSRP_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate poor RSRP values from scanner data.
Recommended value is -110 dBm, and the minimum value should not be lower
than -120 dBm.
21.1.5.3
LTE_UE_PoorRSRQ_Threshold
This threshold is used to indicate poor RSRQ values from UE data. Recommended
value is -13 dB. Values should vary between -10 and -18 dB.
21.2 LTE_CT thresholds

These Call Trace thresholds are mainly for use with ActixOne.
21.2.1 Cluster_Acceptance_Procedures
21.2.1.1
LTE_CT_CA_Attach_Fail_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent above which the Attach failure rate is considered
too high. The units are in percent and the default value is 5%.
21.2.1.2
LTE_CT_CA_CSFB_Redirection_Fail_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold above which the CS fall back redirection failure rate is
considered too high. The units are in percent and the default is 5%.
21.2.1.3
LTE_CT_CA_Detach_Fail_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold in percent above which the Detach failure rate is considered
too high. The units are in percent and the default value is 5%.
21.2.1.4
LTE_CT_CA_EPS_Procedure_Fail_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold above which the EPS activation or modification failure rate is
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LTE_CT_CA_HO_Failure_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold above which the RRC handover failure rate is considered too
high. The units are in percent and the recommended value is 3%.
21.2.1.6
LTE_CT_CA_IFHO_Failure_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold above which the RRC handover failure rate is considered too
high. The units are in percent and the default value is 3%.
21.2.1.7
LTE_CT_CA_RRC_Block_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold above which the RRC setup failure rate is considered too
21.2.1.8
LTE_CT_CA_RRC_Drop_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold above which the RRC connection drop rate is considered too
21.2.1.9
LTE_CT_CA_Slow_Attach_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the slow Attach threshold, and is the
target above which too many Attach procedures in a cluster are seen as too slow.
The units are in percent and the default value is 10%.
21.2.1.10 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_Attach_Threshold
This threshold is the time above which an Attach procedure is considered too
slow. The units are milliseconds and the default value is 60.
21.2.1.11 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_CSFB_Redirection_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the slow CS fall back redirection
threshold, and is the target above which too many CS fall back redirection
procedures in a cluster are seen as too slow. The units are in percent and the
default is 10%.
21.2.1.12 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_CSFB_Redirection_Threshold
This threshold is the time above which a CS fall back redirection procedure is
considered too slow. The units are milliseconds and the default is 50.
21.2.1.13 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_Detach_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the slow Detach threshold, and is the
target above which too many Attach procedures in a cluster are seen as too slow.
The units are in percent and the default value is 10.
21.2.1.14 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_Detach_Threshold
This threshold is the time above which an Detach procedure is considered too
slow. The units are milliseconds and the default value is 60.
21.2.1.15 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_EPS_Procedure_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the slow EPS procedure threshold, and
is the target above which too many EPS procedures in a cluster are seen as too
slow. The units are in percent and the default is 10%.
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21.2.1.16 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_EPS_Procedure_Threshold
This threshold is the time above which an EPS activation or modification
procedure is considered too slow. The units are milliseconds and the default is 60.
21.2.1.17 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_HO_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the slow handover threshold, and is the
target above which too many intra-frequency handover procedures in a cluster
are seen as too slow. The units are in percent and the recommended value is
10%.
21.2.1.18 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_HO_Threshold
This threshold is the time above which an intra-frequency handover procedure is
considered too slow. The units are milliseconds and the default is 300.
21.2.1.19 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_IFHO_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the slow handover threshold, and is the
target above which too many inter-frequency handover procedures in a cluster
are seen as too slow. The units are in percent and the recommended value is 10.
21.2.1.20 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_IFHO_Threshold
This threshold is the time above which an inter-frequency handover procedure is
considered too slow. The units are milliseconds and the recommended value is
300.
21.2.1.21 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_RRC_Setup_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the slow RRC setup threshold, and is
the target above which too many RRC connection setup procedures in a cluster
are seen as too slow. The units are in percent and the recommended value is 5%.
21.2.1.22 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_RRC_Setup_Threshold
This threshold is the time above which a RRC Connection setup procedure is
considered too slow. The units are milliseconds and the recommended value is
60.
21.2.1.23 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_TAU_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the slow Tracking Area Update
threshold, and is the target above which too many Tracking Area Update
procedures in a cluster are seen as too slow. The units are in percent and the
21.2.1.24 LTE_CT_CA_Slow_TAU_Threshold
This threshold is the time above which a Tracking Area Update procedure is
considered too slow. The units are milliseconds and the default value is 60.
21.2.1.25 LTE_CT_CA_TAU_Fail_Rate_Threshold
This is the threshold above which the Tracking Area Update failure rate is
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21.2.2 Cluster_Acceptance_Radio
21.2.2.1
LTE_CT_CA_DL_High_Nack_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the "high Nack" threshold, and is the
target above which too many HARQ Nack rate measurements in a cluster are
seen as too high. The units are in percent and the default is 10%.
21.2.2.2
LTE_CT_CA_DL_High_Nack_Threshold
This threshold is the average HARQ Nack rate value above which the average
HARQ Nack rate is considered too high. The units are in percent and the default is
20%.
21.2.2.3
LTE_CT_CA_DL_Low_CQI_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the low CQI threshold, and is the target
above which too many CQI measurements in a cluster are seen as too low. The
units are in percent and the default is 20%.
21.2.2.4
LTE_CT_CA_DL_Low_CQI_Threshold
This threshold is the average CQI value below which the average CQI is
considered too low. The default value is 5.
21.2.2.5
LTE_CT_CA_DL_Low_Tput_Ignore_Threshold
In a typical RRC connection, there is a mix of low throughput values

(corresponding to periods of time where the UE is not transferring user data, for
instance during signaling procedures) and high throughput values corresponding
to periods of time where the UE is transferring user data (for instance web
browsing). It may be useful to provide throughput statistics only considering
throughput samples that are above a certain value. This threshold is the downlink
throughput value below which the downlink throughput is ignored. The units are
in Kbps and the default value is 100.
21.2.2.6
LTE_CT_CA_DL_Low_Tput_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the low throughput threshold, and is
the target above which too many throughput measurements in a cluster are seen
as too low. The units are in percent and the default value is 10.
21.2.2.7
LTE_CT_CA_DL_Low_Tput_Threshold
This threshold is the downlink throughput value, above which the downlink
throughput is considered too low. The units are in Kbps and the default value is
1000.
21.2.2.8
LTE_CT_CA_UL_High_Nack_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the "high Nack" threshold, and is the
target above which too many HARQ Nack rate measurements in a cluster are
seen as too high. The units are in percent and the default is 100%
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LTE_CT_CA_UL_High_Nack_Threshold
This threshold is the average HARQ Nack rate value above which the average
HARQ Nack rate is considered too high. Units are in percent and the default is
20%.
21.2.2.10 LTE_CT_CA_UL_Low_Tput_Ignore_Threshold
In a typical RRC connection, there is a mix of low throughput values
(corresponding to periods of time where the UE is not transferring user data, for
instance during signaling procedures) and high throughput values corresponding
to periods of time where the UE is transferring user data (for instance web
browsing). It may be useful to provide throughput statistics only considering
throughput samples that are above a certain value. This threshold is the uplink
throughput value below which the uplink throughput is ignored. The units are
Kbps and the default is 50.
21.2.2.11 LTE_CT_CA_UL_Low_Tput_Rate_Threshold
This threshold is used in conjunction with the low throughput threshold, and is
the target above which too many throughput measurements in a cluster are seen
as too low. The units are in percent and the default is 10%
21.2.2.12 LTE_CT_CA_UL_Low_Tput_Threshold
This threshold is the uplink throughput value above which the uplink throughput
is considered too low. The units are Kbps and the default is 500.
21.3 Spotlight thresholds

21.3.1 Spotlight
21.3.1.1
This threshold is used (for all Cell Coverage analyses) if there is no

Max_ServerDist information in the cellref and indicates the maximum serving
distance (in meters) a cell should serve. Default is 5000m.
21.4 LTE events in the Event Explorer

Connections
# Dropped Connections
# Failed Connection
# Attach Failures
Handover
# Failed Handover
# Slow Handover
IRAT UMTS
# Redirection to UMTS OK
# Redirection to UMTS Failures
# Handover to UMTS OK
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# Handover to UMTS Failures

# Redirection from UMTS OK
# Redirection from UMTS Failures
# Redirection to UMTS Time
IRAT CDMA2000
# Redirection to CDMA2000 OK
# Redirection to CDMA2000 Failures
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21.5 RRC Drop diagnosis for LTE

The following diagram outlines the procedure used by Spotlight to determine the
diagnosis of RRC Drop events.
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
No radio messaging
Analyzer detected that the UE dropped from LTE

connected mode to LTE idle mode but there were not
enough messages (for instance, RRC messages) to detect
within 5 seconds when the drop occurred, and therefore no
reliable diagnosis can be made. This may indicate a logging
tool malfunction.
LTE ANR Failure
The UE reported that another intra-frequency or interfrequency LTE cell was better than its serving cell, in terms
of RSRP or RSRQ, in an LTE RRC measurement report
message that was not followed by a handover procedure.
Instead the UE received an RRC connection reconfiguration
message requesting to measure the CGI (cell global
identity) of the best cell reported in the measurement
report message.
Missing handover
The UE reported that another intra-frequency and interfrequency LTE cell was better than its serving cell, in terms
message that was not followed by a handover procedure
(with an LTE RRC connection reconfiguration message).
Poor coverage
The serving cell RSRP was less than the threshold value
LTE>UE_Coverage>LTE_UE_PoorRSRP _Threshold.
Interference
The serving cell RSRQ was less than the threshold value
LTE>UE_Coverage>LTE_UE_PoorRSRQ _Threshold.
Handover fail
The LTE RRC drop occurred within the time threshold

LTE>Event_control>LTE_HO_Drop_timer of a LTE RRC
connection reconfiguration message for a handover
procedure.
Limited coverage
UL
Just before the drop, the PUCCH or PRACH transmit power

was greater than the threshold value
"LTE>UE_Coverage>LTE_UE_HighPUCCHPower_Threshold".
Investigate Further
(unknown
diagnosis)
Use other tools and views to refine your understanding of

the problem.
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21.6 Call Drop diagnosis for VoLTE

diagnosis of VoLTE call drop events.
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
SIP Release
Spotlight detected a SIP error message.
LTE ANR Failure
The UE reported that another intra-frequency or interfrequency LTE cell was better than its serving cell, in terms
message that was not followed by a handover procedure.
Instead the UE received an RRC connection reconfiguration
message requesting to measure the CGI (cell global
identity) of the best cell reported in the measurement
report message.
Missing handover
The UE reported that another intra-frequency and interfrequency LTE cell was better than its serving cell, in terms
message that was not followed by a handover procedure
(with an LTE RRC connection reconfiguration message).
Poor coverage
The serving cell RSRP was less than the threshold value
LTE>UE_Coverage>LTE_UE_PoorRSRP _Threshold.
Interference
The serving cell RSRQ was less than the threshold value
LTE>UE_Coverage>LTE_UE_PoorRSRQ _Threshold.
Handover fail
The LTE RRC drop occurred within the time threshold

LTE>Event_control>LTE_HO_Drop_timer of a LTE RRC
connection reconfiguration message for a handover
procedure.
Limited coverage
UL
Just before the drop, the PUCCH or PRACH transmit power

was greater than the threshold value
"LTE>UE_Coverage>LTE_UE_HighPUCCHPower_Threshold".
Investigate Further
(unknown
diagnosis)
Use other tools and views to refine your understanding of

the problem.
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21.7 LTE IRAT Missing Neighbor analysis

The purpose of the LTE inter-RAT missing neighbor analysis is to help building the
GSM and UMTS neighbor list for LTE cells. This inter-RAT neighbor list is required
by the network so that it can inform the UE of which GSM and/or UMTS it should
measure to support handovers from LTE to other technologies.
For this analysis, Spotlight requires the following:
-
LTE data: this can be either LTE scanner or LTE handset data.
GSM and/or UMTS scanner data.
A cellrefs files with up-to-date LTE network information.
The process is as follows:
For each location bin, Spotlight determines the best LTE sector for each EARFCN,
either from scanner data or handset data.
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Note that if both scanner and handset data are available, then Spotlight will only
use the scanner data.
If that cell meets the missing neighbor criteria, Spotlight increments a counter by
1 for the cell and checks for missing.
For each location bin where the best LTE cell met the missing neighbor criteria,
Spotlight also determines the list of GSM and UMTS sectors measured that met
the missing neighbor criteria.
At the end of this procedure, Spotlight has established the list of LTE cells that
where best cells and met the missing neighbor criteria in at least one bin, and for
each of these bins the list of GSM and UMTS cells that met the missing neighbor
criteria.
As an example for an LTE cell "LTE_Cell_1" that was best LTE cell and met the
missing neighbor criteria in 10 bins we could get the following results:
IRAT cell
Number of bins where

missing neighbor criteria
are met
Percentage of bins where

missing neighbor criteria are
met
UMTS_Cell_1
90%
UMTS_Cell_2
70%
UMTS_Cell_3
20%
GSM_Cell_1
80%
GSM_Cell_2
10%
Cell addition criteria: if an IRAT cell is detected as a missing neighbor this

number of times or more, the cell will be added to the neighbor list.
Cell removal criteria: if an IRAT cell (that is already defined as a neighbor) is
detected as a missing neighbor less than this number of times, the cell will be
removed from the neighbor list.
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22 Appendix J: UMTS thresholds, KPIs and

diagnoses
22.1 UMTS thresholds
Thresholds command. It is important to set your thresholds before loading the
value.
22.1.1 Spotlight
22.1.1.1

5000m.
22.1.2 UMTS / Scan_coverage

22.1.2.1
Uu_Scan_PilotPollution_Count_Threshold
This is the absolute number of pilots (with Ec/Ios above

Uu_Scan_PilotPollutionThreshold) required to trigger a pilot pollution event.
Recommended value is 3 and the value should be between 2 and 4.
22.1.2.2
Uu_Scan_PilotPollution_RSCP_Threshold
The RSCP threshold used by the Poor Interference with Strong Signal Strength
pilot pollution model (a Veritune feature). The default value is -100 dBm, and the
value should be between -90 and -110 dBm.
22.1.2.3
Uu_Scan_PilotPollutionThreshold
In calculating Pilot Pollution, this threshold sets up the level of interference

required for pegging the events (based on scanner info). When 4 or more pilots
are above this threshold, it creates a pilot pollution event. Recommended value
is -15dB and the value should be between -18 and -10 dB.
22.1.2.4
Uu_Scan_Poor_EcNoThreshold
This is used to indicate poor EcIo values from scanner data. Recommended value
is -15 dB and should lie between -18 and -10 dB.
22.1.2.5
Uu_Scan_Poor_RSCP_Threshold
This is used to indicate poor RSCP values from scanner data. Recommended value
is -95 dBm and should not be lower than -105 dBm.
www.actix.com
22.1.2.6
261
Uu_Scan_TooManyServers_Count_Threshold
The absolute number of pilots (with Ec/Ios within

Uu_Scan_TooManyServersThreshold of the Ec/Io of the best server) required to
trigger a too many servers event (based on scanner info). Recommended value
is 3 and the value should be between 2 and 4.
22.1.2.7
Uu_Scan_TooManyServers_RSCP_Threshold
The CPICH RSCP threshold above which a Uu_Scan_TooManyServers event may

be pegged. The default value is -104 dBm and the value should be between -90
and -110 dBm.
22.1.2.8
Uu_Scan_TooManyServersThreshold
many server" event (based on scanner info). Recommended value is 5 dB and
the minimum and the maximum should be around 1 and 10 dB.
22.1.3 UMTS / Spotlight

22.1.3.1
SL_Ant_Gain_Threshold
This threshold is the default Antenna gain, used in the calculation of pathloss. The
default value is 18.4 dB.
22.1.3.2
SL_BLER_Threshold
This threshold is used for determining a UMTS lost DL channel condition. The
default value is 10 dB.
22.1.3.3
SL_BTS_Sens_Threshold
This threshold is the default BTS receive Sensitivity, used in the calculation of UL
pathloss. The default value is -120 dBm.
22.1.3.4
SL_Detectedset_EcIo_Threshold
This threshold is used for determining if a detected set member strong enough to
be consider as a neighbor. The default value is -15 dB.
22.1.3.5
SL_EIRP_Threshold
This threshold is the default EIRP, used in the calculation of DL pathloss. The
22.1.3.6
SL_MaxTimeBetweenRRC_REQandCallStart
This threshold is used for determining UMTS CS calls with excessive setup time.
22.1.3.7
SL_RapidPathloss_EcIo_Threshold

EcIo has dropped by at least this threshold value within the defined time window.
The RSCP condition must also be met for Rapid Pathloss to be detected. The
default value is 5 dB.
www.actix.com
22.1.3.8
262
SL_RapidPathloss_RSCP_Threshold

RSCP has dropped by at least this threshold value within the defined time
window. The EcIo condition must also be met for Rapid Pathloss to be detected.
The default value is 5.
22.1.3.9
SL_RapidPathloss_Time_window_Threshold
This threshold is used to define the window over which Rapid Pathloss is
performed. The default value is 3000 ms.
22.1.3.10 SL_Site_Issues_Dist_Threshold
This threshold is used in the outside beamwidth analysis, and only data within
this distance from the site is considered for the analysis. The default value is
5000m.
22.1.3.11 SL_UMTS_DT_Troubleshooter_CriticalIssues_Threshold
This threshold is used to filter out critical issues from the UMTS dashboard that
are equal or less then this value. Recommended value is 0.
22.1.3.12 SL_UMTS_DT_Troubleshooter_ImportantIssues_Threshold
This threshold is used to filter out Important issues from the UMTS dashboard
that are equal or less then this value. Recommended value is 0.
22.1.4 UMTS / UE_Coverage

22.1.4.1
Uu_CoverageLimitedUE_TxPowerThreshold
This is used in the Coverage Limited event. If the UeTransmittedPower is greater

than Uu_CoverageLimitedUE_TxPowerThreshold AND the
CPICH_RSCP_in_ActiveSet is less than Uu_Poor_RSCP_Threshold AND the
CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet is less than Uu_Poor_EcNoThreshold, then a Coverage
Limited event will appear on the map. Recommended value is 10 dBm. The
minimum should not be lower than 0 and the maximum should not be higher than
25 dBm.
22.1.4.2
Uu_EcNoInterferenceThreshold
This is used in conjunction with the RSCP Interference Threshold for the System
Interference event. If the CPICH_RSCP_in_ActiveSet is greater than
Uu_RSCP_Interference_Threshold and the CPICH_EcNo_In_ActiveSet is less than
Uu_EcNoInterferenceThreshold, then a System Interference event appears on the
map. Recommended value is -15 dB. Values should lie between -10 and -18 dBm.
22.1.4.3
Uu_HighUE_TxPower
This is used in the Poor Uplink Coverage event. If the UeTransmittedPower is

greater than Uu_HighUE_TxPower AND the CPICH_RSCP_in_ActiveSet is greater
than Uu_Poor_RSCP_Threshold AND the CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet is greater
than Uu_Poor_EcNoThreshold, then Poor Uplink Coverage will appear on the map.
Recommended value is 15 dBm. Values should lie between 0 and 25 dBm.
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22.1.4.4
263
Uu_LowUE_TxPower
This is used in the Poor Downlink Coverage event. If the UeTransmittedPower is

less than Uu_LowUE_TxPower AND the CPICH_RSCP_in_ActiveSet is less than
Uu_Poor_RSCP_Threshold AND the CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet is less than
Uu_PoorEcNoThreshold, then the Poor Downlink Coverage event will appear on
the map. Recommended value is -15 dBm. Values should lie between -30 and 0
dBm.
22.1.4.5
Uu_PilotPollutionThreshold
In calculating Pilot Pollution, this threshold sets up the level of interference

required for pegging the events. When 4 or more pilots are above this threshold,
it creates a Pilot Pollution event. Recommended value is -15 dB and should lie
between -18 and -10 dB.
22.1.4.6
Uu_Poor_EcNoThreshold
This is used in the Coverage Limited event. If the CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet is

less than Uu_PoorEcNOThreshold AND CPICH_RSCP_in_ActiveSet is less than
Uu_Poor_RSCP_Threshold AND Ue_TransmittedPower is greater than
Uu_CoverageLimitedUE_TxPowerThreshold, then a Coverage Limited event will
appear on the map. It is also used in the Poor Uplink and Downlink Coverage
event. Recommended value is -15 dB and should lie between -18 and -10 dB.
22.1.4.7
Uu_Poor_RSCP_Threshold
This is used in three different events. In the cases where

CPICH_RSCP_in_ActiveSet is lower than Uu_Poor_RSCP_Threshold, it will trigger
either a Coverage Limited event or a Poor Downlink Coverage event. In the case
where it is greater than Uu_Poor_RSCP_Threshold, it will trigger a Poor Uplink
Coverage event. Other conditions must be satisfied for these events to occur please note the other thresholds involved.
Recommended value is -95 dBm and should not be lower than -105 dBm.
22.1.4.8
Uu_RSCP_InterferenceThreshold
This is used for the System Interference event. If the CPICH_RSCP_in_ActiveSet

is greater than this threshold and the CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet is less than
Uu_Poor_EcNoThreshold, then a System Interference event appears on the map.
Recommended value is -80 dBm and should lie between -90 and -60 dBm.
22.1.4.9
Uu_TooManyServersThreshold
many server" event (based on scanner info). Recommended value is 5 dB and
the minimum and the maximum should be around 1 and 10 dB.
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22.2 UMTS events in the Event Explorer

Circuit Switched KPIs
# Call Attempts
# Dropped Calls
Truncated Calls Drops
# Setup Failures
# Excessive Call Setup
Packet Switched KPIs
# PS Attempts
# Dropped PS
# Failed Connection
Handover Issues
% Handoff Overhead
Based on measurements made when the UE is in RRC connected
mode, this statistic gives the ratio (as a percentage) of the time the
UE spent in handover (i.e. 2 or more cells in the active set) to the
time the UE spent with only 1 active cell.
Note that this statistic needs a valid cellrefs file in order to work
correctly.
# AS Att
(Active Set Attempts) This is the number of active set update
procedures, determined from the RRC signaling.
# AS Fail
(Active Set Failures) This is the ratio of the number of active set
update failures to the total number of active set update procedures.
The number of active set update procedures is determined from the
RRC signaling, and the number of active set update failures
corresponds to the number of active set update procedures for
which the UE sends an RRC Active Set Update Failure message.
# Server Inconsist.
This is the number of times the event Uu_UE_Scan_Issue is set.
This event is set when the best cell measured by the scanner is not
measured by the UE as an active or monitored cell over a period of
time of "Uu_Scan_UE_Timer" milliseconds.
Furthermore, this event is only set if the following conditions are
met:
The UE is in RRC connected mode, and
The scanner's best cell is stronger than the best cell in the
active set, or weaker by less than
"Uu_Scan_UE_dB_Threshold" decibels.
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The thresholds "Uu_Scan_UE_Timer" and

"Uu_Scan_UE_dB_Threshold" are configurable using Tools >
Display Thresholds > UMTS > Event Control.
Hard Handover Issues
# 3G 2G Attempts
# 3G 2G Failures
# 3G 2G OK
# IF Attempts
# IF Failures
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22.3 Dropped Calls diagnosis for UMTS

of CS and PS Dropped Call events. Note that the window size used to evaluate the
condition is the period from 5 seconds before the drop, up to the drop itself.
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
System Released
When the cause code is Not Normal (0-31, 42) in

either the NAS message or the RRC message.
Missing Neighbor
SC in Active Set after event < > SCs in Active Set

and Neighbor list before event.
Handover Problem
Multiple Active Set update messages are received

and a particular SC is not added to the Active Set.
For the Raked RF Condition, the system picks the diagnosis with the
highest value, providing it is higher than the specified threshold:
Pilot Pollution
4+ pilots in Active or Monitored Set with

Ec/No > Uu_PilotPollutionThreshold (-15 dB).
Pilot Pollution:
Too Many Servers
4+ pilots in the Active or Monitored Set with

Ec/No within Uu_TooManyServersThreshold dB of
the best server (Uu_ActiveSet_EcNo_0).
Interference Problem
CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet <
Uu_EcNoInterferenceThreshold (-15 dB) AND
CPICH_RSCP_in_ActiveSet >
Uu_RSCP_InterferenceThreshold (-80 dBm).
Coverage Limitation
Problem
Uu_Poor_EcNoThreshold (-15 dB) AND
CPICH_RSCP_in_ActiveSet <
Uu_Poor_RSCP_Threshold (-95 dBm) AND
UeTransmittedPower >
Uu_CoverageLimitedUE_TxPowerThreshold (10
dBm).
Poor DL Coverage
Problem
Uu_PoorEcNoThreshold (-15 dB) AND
UeTransmittedPower < Uu_LowUE_TxPower (-15
dBm).
Poor UL Coverage
Problem
CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet >
UeTransmittedPower > Uu_HighUE_TxPower (15
dBm).
Lost DL Channel
Over 5-seconds, on average,

Uu_Trch_DownlinkBLERAGG >
SL_BLER_Threshold.
Investigate Further
(unknown diagnosis)
More investigation is needed. Use other tools and

views to refine your understanding of the
problem.
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22.4 Call Setup Failure diagnosis for UMTS

The following diagram shows the procedure used by Spotlight to determine the
diagnosis of CS and PS Call Setup Failure events:
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Diagnosis
Condition and notes
System Rejected /
RRC Failure
When an RRC message contains an RRC Reject.
CM Service Abort /
Reject
A CM Service Abort / Reject message was received.
System Released
When the cause code is Not Normal (0-31, 42) in

either the NAS message or the RRC message.
Missing Neighbor
SC in Active Set after event < > SCs in Active Set

and Neighbor list before event.
Handover Problem
Multiple Active Set update messages are received

and a particular SC is not added to the Active Set.
For the Raked RF Condition, the system picks the diagnosis with the
highest value, providing it is higher than the specified threshold:
Pilot Pollution
4+ pilots in Active or Monitored Set with

Ec/No > Uu_PilotPollutionThreshold (-15 dB).
Pilot Pollution:
Too Many Servers
4+ pilots in the Active or Monitored Set with Ec/No

within Uu_TooManyServersThreshold dB of the best
server (Uu_ActiveSet_EcNo_0).
Interference Problem
Uu_EcNoInterferenceThreshold (-15 dB) AND
Uu_RSCP_InterferenceThreshold (-80 dBm).
Limited Coverage
Problem
UeTransmittedPower >
Uu_CoverageLimitedUE_TxPowerThreshold (10
dBm).
Poor DL Coverage
Problem
CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet < Uu_PoorEcNoThreshold

(-15 dB) AND
UeTransmittedPower < Uu_LowUE_TxPower (-15
dBm).
Poor UL Coverage
Problem
CPICH_EcNo_in_ActiveSet >
UeTransmittedPower > Uu_HighUE_TxPower (15
dBm).
Lost DL Channel
Over 5-seconds, on average,

Uu_Trch_DownlinkBLERAGG > SL_BLER_Threshold.
Investigate Further
(unknown diagnosis)
Use other tools and views to refine your

understanding of the problem.
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22.5 Excessive Call diagnosis for UMTS

diagnosis of Excessive Call events.
Note that the window size used to evaluate the condition is the period from 5
seconds before the drop, up to the drop itself.
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23 Appendix L: Information for Administrators

23.1 Hiding Analyzer Event Diagrams from Spotlight users
Central tools teams may want to hide the details of particular KPI calculations
from their Spotlight users. A checkbox enables this in the Diagram Info dialog in
Analyzer, when defining event diagrams (license permitting). The checkbox is
called Hide diagram from read-only users.
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24 Index
#
95
95
95
95
95
percentile
percentile
percentile
percentile
percentile
CQI Tput, 236

DL TCP Tput, 236
EcIo Tput, 236
MAC-HS Tput, 236
RSCP Tput, 236
A
Abnormal Connection Release, 211
AccessAttemptDuration_Threshold, 206
AccessAttemptFailRate_Threshold, 208
AccessAttemptSuccessRate_Threshold, 208
Add Device, 146
Analyzer Classic, 137
Another Call Started, 222, 224
Attribute Picker, 150
Auto Load, 36
Average EcIo, 236
Average HSDPA Call Setup time, 236
Average RSCP, 236
Average_PER_Threshold, 205
Average_Rx_RlpRetransmissionRate_Threshold,
208
Average_RxRlpThputInst_Threshold, 208
Average_RxTCHThroughput_Threshold, 208
Average_SINR_PN0_Threshold, 205
Average_Tx_RlpRetransmissionRate_Threshold,
208
Average_TxRlpThputInst_Threshold, 208
B
Batch Sector Plot, 139
best serving cell, 44, 65
binned data, 39
Binned Data Queries, 150
binning settings, 151
C
Call Drop diagnosis for VoLTE, 256
Call Setup Failure diagnosis for GSM, 221
Call Setup Failure diagnosis for UMTS, 268
CDMA Cell Coverage, 8
CDMA Cell Coverage analysis, 44
CDMA cell site parameters, 155
CDMA events in the Event Explorer, 189
CDMA Neighbor List, 8
CDMA Neighbor List analysis, 50
CDMA Pilot Pollution analysis, 56
CDMA Spotlight Report, 160
CDMA thresholds, 186
CDMA/EVDO Pilot Pollution, 8
CDMA_AvgForwardFER, 186, 189
CDMA_CallDropRate, 188
CDMA_CallSetupSuccessRate, 189
CDMA_CallSetupTime, 189
CDMA_EcIoCombinedThreshold, 49, 186
CDMA_EcIoInterferenceThreshold, 188
CDMA_EVDO_DRCRate_0, 206
CDMA_EVDO_EcIoInterferenceThreshold, 207
CDMA_EVDO_MobileRxPowerThreshold, 205
CDMA_EVDO_PilotPollution_Count_Threshold, 205
CDMA_EVDO_PilotPollutionThreshold, 205
CDMA_EVDO_TooManyActivePNsThreshold, 188
CDMA_ImportantIssue_ExcessInterference, 186
CDMA_ImportantIssue_ExternalInterference, 186
CDMA_ImportantIssue_FwdLinkProblem, 186
CDMA_ImportantIssue_LowRX, 187
CDMA_ImportantIssue_PoorCoverage, 187
CDMA_ImportantIssue_PoorQuality, 187
CDMA_ImportantIssue_RevLinkProblem, 187
CDMA_MobileRxPowerThreshold, 49, 187
CDMA_MobileTxPowerMaxFilterThreshold, 187
CDMA_MobileTxPowerMinFilterThreshold, 187
CDMA_MobileTxPowerThreshold, 49, 187
CDMA_OverAllSuccessRate, 189
CDMA_PilotPollution_Count_Threshold, 187, 189
CDMA_PilotPollutionThreshold, 187, 189
CDMA_TooManyActivePNsThreshold, 188
cell coverage, determining, 8
cellrefs file, 10, 29
Channel mode unacceptable, 226
Choose Attributes, 149
Choose Devices, 144
Circuit Switched KPIs, 264
CM Service Abort / Reject, 222, 269
Co/Adjacent Channel allocations between
neighbors, 204
ConnectionAttemptDuration_Threshold, 206
ConnectionAttemptFailRate_Threshold, 208
ConnectionAttemptSuccessRate_Threshold, 208
ConnectionReleaseDuration_Threshold, 206
ConnectionReleaseSuccessRate_Threshold, 208
Consolidated_SINR_For_Nth_Best_Pilot[0], 39
coverage design boundary, 44
coverage footprint, 44, 65
Coverage Issue, 191
Coverage Limitation Problem, 267
Critical Issues section, 38
CSV file, 52
D
data files, 32
Data Service Analysis, 118
Data Settings link, 30
DCHR99 mode, 129
Detailed Event Diagnostics, 136
device filters, 147
Distance tab, 71
Distant Serving Cell, 204
Dragged_Dominance_Hysteresis, 216
Dragged_HO_Window, 216
DRC Rate, 64
Drill Down, 133
Drilldown page, 135
drilldown window, 134
Dropped Call diagnosis for CDMA, 190
Dropped Calls diagnosis for GSM, 225
Dropped Calls diagnosis for UMTS, 266
Dropped Connection diagnosis for EVDO, 210
www.actix.com
E
EcIo_1stBest, 39
EDGE cell site parameters, 156
EGPRS diagnoses, 203
EGPRS events in the Event Explorer, 201
EGPRS thresholds, 199
EGPRS_Duration_Period, 200
EGPRS_LLC_DL_Min, 200
EGPRS_LLC_UL_Min, 200
EGPRS_RLC_DL_Min, 200
EGPRS_RLC_UL_Min, 201
empty maps, 154
EVDO Cell Coverage, 8
EVDO Cell Coverage analysis, 44
EVDO events in the Event Explorer, 209
EVDO Neighbor List, 8
EVDO Neighbor List analysis, 50
EVDO Pilot Pollution analysis, 56
EVDO Rev A Spotlight Report, 167
EVDO Spotlight Report, 163
EVDO System Performance analysis, 8, 60
EVDO thresholds, 205
event detection, 30
Event Explorer, 115
EVT_CDMAImportantIssue, 188
EVT_CDMANeighborListIssueDetect, 188
EVT_CDMAServerKey, 188
EVT_EVDOLowThroughput, 206
EVT_EVDOServerKey, 206
EVT_VerituneEVDOPilotPollution, 206
Excessive Call diagnosis for UMTS, 270
Excessive Interference, 191
Excessive Power Reduction, 204
Export data, 52
export suggested changes to the OMC, 8
exporting a series of images, 139
External Interference, 191
F
F factor, 112
failure events, investigating, 8
Fast binning, 151
Forward Link Problem, 191
Frequency not implemented, 226
G
G_Analysis_Time_After, 218
G_Analysis_Time_Before, 219
G_CallDropRate, 219
G_CallSetupSuccessRate, 219
G_Cell_Reselect_Duration, 199
G_Cell_Reselect_Time, 199
G_Distance_Max, 216
G_Handover_Min, 217
G_HandoverSuccessRate, 219
G_Interference_Radius, 65, 217
G_LocationUpdateSuccessRate, 219
G_MsTxPowStepOrdered_Min, 217
G_OverAllSuccessRate, 219
G_Prolong_Interf_timer, 217
G_RMAC_C_Value_Min, 199
G_RMAC_CV_BEP_Max, 199
G_RMAC_DL_TS_Min, 199
G_RMAC_MEAN_BEP_Max, 199
G_RMAC_Power_Reduction_Max, 199
273
G_RMAC_Sign_Var_Min, 199
G_RMAC_TAI_Max, 200
G_RxLevSub_Min, 217
G_RxQualSub_Max, 217
G_ScanSortSigLevel_Min, 217
G_T3240_RAUTimer, 200
G_T3310_AttachTimer, 200
G_T3321_DetachTimer, 200
G_T3380_PDPActTimer, 200
G_Timeout_ChannelRequest, 217
G_TimingAdvance_Max, 217
Global Filters, 35
Global Filters, choosing, 153
GPRS_Duration_Period, 201
GPRS_LLC_DL_Min, 201
GPRS_LLC_UL_Min, 201
GPRS_RLC_DL_Min, 201
GPRS_RLC_UL_Min, 201
grade of service, 44
Grade of Service, CDMA, 49
GSM 2G Missing Neighbors, 8
GSM 2G Missing Neighbors analysis, 75
GSM Cell Coverage, 8
GSM Cell Coverage analysis, 65
GSM events in the Event Explorer, 220
GSM Spotlight Report, 171
GSM thresholds, 216
GSM visualization, 68
GSM/GPRS cell site parameters, 156
H
Handover fail (LTE), 255, 257
Handover Impossible, 226
Handover Issues, 264
Handover Problem, 226, 267, 269
Hard Handover Issues, 265
High retransmissions due to packet incorrectly
received in Downlink, 238
High retransmissions due to poor Uplink quality
conditions, 238
HS mobility, 179
HSDPA, 130
HSDPA 3G Neighbor List analysis, 89
HSDPA 3G-2G Neighbor List analysis, 95
HSDPA Call Drop rate, 236
HSDPA Cell Coverage analysis, 101
HSDPA Cell Pilot Pollution analysis, 108
HSDPA Low Throughput example, 230
HSDPA Peak Tput, 236
HSDPA Setup Failure rate, 236
HSDPA Spotlight Report, 176
HSDPA thresholds, 240
HSDPA Throughput KPIs, 238
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_CQI_Thres
hold, 236, 242
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_EcIo_Thres
hold, 236, 242
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_MACHS_Th
roughput_Threshold, 236, 241
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_RSCP_Thre
shold, 236, 242
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_95_Percentile_TCP_Throu
ghput_Threshold, 236, 241
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_EcIo_Threshold, 236, 241
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_HSDPA_Drop_Rate, 236,
241
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HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_HSDPA_Failure_Rate,
236, 241
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_HSDPA_Setup_Time,
236, 241
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_Overall_PS_Failure_Rate,
236, 241
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_PS_Drop_Rate, 236, 241
HSDPA_NW_Acceptance_RSCP_Threshold, 236,
241
HSPA 3G Neighbor List, 8
HSPA Call Drop Analysis example, 227
HSPA Cell Coverage, 8
HSPA Event Explorer analysis, 227
HSPA events in the Event Explorer, 234
HSPA+ cell site parameters, 158
I
images, exporting a series of, 139
Immediate Reject, 222, 224
Important Issues section, 38
inbound vs. outbound pilot pollution, identifying, 8
Interference, 204, 222, 224, 226
Interference (LTE), 255, 257
interference factor, 112
Interference Problem, 267, 269
Investigate Further, 255, 257, 267, 269
IRAT Missing Neighbor analysis for LTE, 258
issues panel, 38
IUB_THROUGHPUT_PERIOD_THRES, 240
K
key performance indicator, 10
KPI, 10
KPIs and Reports, selecting, 148
L
Lack of data to transmit, 237
Limited Coverage Problem, 269
Load Entire File, 133
Location Update Failure diagnosis for GSM, 223
Log Files link, 137
Lost DL Channel, 267, 269
Low bandwidth allocation, 204
Low CQI values, 237
Low Raw HS Throughput, 237
Low Raw HS Throughput not detected, 237
Low RLP Rx Throughput, 213
Low RLP Tx Throughput, 213
Low Rx Signal, 191
Low scheduling rate, 237
Low Signal, 211, 213, 215
Low Throughput diagnosis for EVDO, 212
Low Tput KPI event, 236
LTE
IRAT Missing Neighbor analysis, 258
RRC Drop diagnosis, 254
LTE Cell Coverage analysis, 81
LTE cell site parameters, 157
LTE reasonable task example, 132
LU Reject, 224
M
Max_TxPower_Threshold, 205
274
Maximum Intersite Distance, 53, 54, 75, 76, 85,
89, 90, 95, 97
message level, identifying problems at the, 9
Microsoft Excel, 41
MIMO statistics, 125
Min_TxPower_Threshold, 205
Missing handover (LTE), 255, 257
Missing Neighbor, 226, 267, 269
Mobile Rx Power, 63
Mobile Tx Power, 63
Mobility scenarios, 236
modulation order low, 131
modulation usage, 127
N
Neighbor List Issue, 191
neighbor list preferences, 31
neighbor lists, optimize, 8
Network Overload, 213, 215
network performance overview, 7
New Project, 27
New Template, 28, 142
No LTE radio messaging, 255, 257
No repository detected, 154
O
Other, 191, 211, 213, 215, 222, 224, 226
Overall PS Call Drop rate, 236
Overall PS Setup Failure rate, 236
P
Packet Switched KPIs, 264
PER, 63
Pilot Pollution, 191, 211, 213, 215, 267, 269
Ping_Pong_HO_Window, 216
PN Search, 51
Poor Coverage, 191, 222, 224, 226
Poor DL Coverage Problem, 267, 269
Poor LTE coverage, 255, 257
Poor Quality, 191, 211, 213, 215
Poor Radio Conditions, 204
Poor UL Coverage Problem, 267, 269
PPPConnectionSuccessRate_Threshold, 208
PPPSetupTime_Threshold, 206
Preferences dialog box, 29
project template, 143
Projection, 153
Protocol Stack Browser, 136
R
Radio Network Explorer, 42
Raked RF Condition, 267, 269
Rapidly Changing Radio Conditions, 204
relative grade of service, 44
Reports, 40
Repository Summary table, 137
Return to Spotlight link, 138
Reverse Link Problem, 191
RL_Throughput_Threshold, 209
RL_Throughput_TimeLimit_Threshold, 209
RLP Rx Throughput, 64
RLP Tx Throughput, 64
RR Failed, 222, 224
RRC Drop diagnosis for LTE, 254
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RRC Failure, 269
S
SchedulerAnalysis, 206
Scheduling Issues diagnosis for EVDO, 214
ServRxLevSub, 39
setting thresholds for data import, 26
settings, saving the project, 31
Show Excel Report, 41
SINR, 63
sites failing recommended design targets,
identifying, 8
SL_Ant_Gain_Threshold, 261
SL_BLER_Threshold, 261
SL_BTS_Sens_Threshold, 261
SL_Detectedset_EcIo_Threshold, 261
SL_EIRP_Threshold, 261
SL_GSM_Ant_Gain_Threshold, 218
SL_GSM_BTS_Sens_Threshold, 218
SL_GSM_EIRP_Threshold, 218
SL_GSM_High_TX_Power_Threshold, 218
SL_GSM_RapidPathloss_RxLev_Threshold, 218
SL_GSM_RapidPathloss_RxQual_Threshold, 218
SL_GSM_RapidPathloss_Time_window_Threshold,
218
SL_GSM_Site_Issues_Dist_Threshold, 218
SL_MaxTimeBetweenRRC_REQandCallStart, 261
SL_Overspill_Dist_Threshold, 44, 65, 71, 81, 101,
186, 216, 240, 252, 260
SL_RapidPathloss_EcIo_Threshold, 261
SL_RapidPathloss_RSCP_Threshold, 262
SL_RapidPathloss_Time_window_Threshold, 262
SL_Site_Issues_Dist_Threshold, 262
SL_UMTS_DT_Spotlight_CriticalIssues_HSDPAPeak
Tput, 236, 243
SL_UMTS_DT_Troubleshooter_CriticalIssues_Thres
hold, 262
SL_UMTS_DT_Troubleshooter_ImportantIssues_Th
reshold, 262
Spotlight projects
about, 10
creating, 28
Spotlight Report, 8
status codes, 121
SU_Rx_Throughput_Threshold, 209
Summary Dashboard, 34
Summary map, 39
System Rejected, 269
System Released, 222, 224, 226, 267, 269
T
T2P_Avg_Threshold, 209
TCP slow start, 128
thresholds, 30
thresholds, setting for data import, 26
Too Many Servers, 267, 269
top panel, 37
275
U
UMTS
Excessive Call diagnosis, 270
UMTS 3G Neighbor List, 8
UMTS 3G Neighbor List analysis, 89
UMTS 3G-2G Neighbor List, 8
UMTS 3G-2G Neighbor List analysis, 95
UMTS Cell Coverage, 8
UMTS Cell Coverage analysis, 101
UMTS Cell Pilot Pollution analysis, 108
UMTS cell site parameters, 158
UMTS events in the Event Explorer, 264
UMTS Spotlight Report, 181
UMTS thresholds, 260
UMTS/HSPA Cell Pilot Pollution, 8
UniqueNeighborList, 188
Unload Files button, 138
Uu_ActiveSet_EcNo[0], 39
Uu_CoverageLimitedUE_TxPowerThreshold, 262
Uu_EcNoInterferenceThreshold, 262
Uu_HighUE_TxPower, 262
Uu_HSCellNotBestPilot, 236
Uu_HSDPAAvLowSched_Thresh, 236
Uu_HSDPAAvRegularSched_Thresh, 236, 242
Uu_HSDPAL1_To_Raw_Throu_Thresh, 236, 242
Uu_HSDPALowCQI_Thresh, 236, 242
Uu_HSDPALowNetThrou_Thresh, 235, 236, 240
Uu_HSDPALowRawThrou_Thresh, 235, 236, 240
Uu_HSDPALowThrouMaxTimeWin_Thres, 235, 236,
240
Uu_HSDPANet_To_L1_Throu_Thresh, 236, 242
Uu_LowNetHSDPAThroughput, 236
Uu_LowRawHSDPAThroughput, 236
Uu_LowUE_TxPower, 263
Uu_PilotPollutionThreshold, 263
Uu_Poor_EcNoThreshold, 263
Uu_Poor_RSCP_Threshold, 263
Uu_RSCP_InterferenceThreshold, 263
Uu_Scan_PilotPollution, 30
Uu_Scan_PilotPollution_Count_Threshold, 260
Uu_Scan_PilotPollution_RSCP_Threshold, 260
Uu_Scan_PilotPollutionThreshold, 260
Uu_Scan_Poor_EcNoThreshold, 260
Uu_Scan_Poor_RSCP_Threshold, 260
Uu_Scan_TooManyServers_Count_Threshold, 261
Uu_Scan_TooManyServers_RSCP_Threshold, 261
Uu_Scan_TooManyServersThreshold, 261
Uu_ThresGapBeforeThrComparison, 240
Uu_TooManyServersThreshold, 263
Uu_WinTimeHSnotBest, 236, 241
UuPilotPollution, 30
V
Visualization tab, 71
VoLTE
Call Drop diagnosis, 256
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276
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Actix Spotlight Desktop User Guide

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Desktop

2 IMPORTING CELL SITE DATA ....................................................................... 11

3 STARTING SPOTLIGHT ............................................................................... 27

5 USING THE SUMMARY DASHBOARD ................................................................ 34

6 USING SPOTLIGHT REPORTS ........................................................................ 40

8 USING THE EVENT EXPLORER ..................................................................... 115

9 PERFORMING A MORE DETAILED ANALYSIS ..................................................... 137

10 BATCH SECTOR PLOT ............................................................................ 139

12 TROUBLESHOOTING SPOTLIGHT ................................................................ 154

13 APPENDIX A: CELL SITE PARAMETERS ........................................................ 155

14 APPENDIX B: SPOTLIGHT REPORTS ............................................................ 160

15 APPENDIX C: CDMA THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES ............................... 186

16 APPENDIX D: DATA SERVICE ANALYSIS THRESHOLDS ...................................... 192

17 APPENDIX E: EGPRS KPIS AND DIAGNOSES ................................................ 199

18 APPENDIX F: EVDO KPIS AND DIAGNOSES .................................................. 205

18.4 LOW THROUGHPUT DIAGNOSIS FOR EVDO ......................................................... 212

19 APPENDIX G: GSM THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES ................................. 216

20 APPENDIX H: HSPA THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES ................................ 227

21 APPENDIX I: LTE THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES .................................... 244

22 APPENDIX J: UMTS THRESHOLDS, KPIS AND DIAGNOSES................................. 260

23 APPENDIX L: INFORMATION FOR ADMINISTRATORS ......................................... 271

24 INDEX .............................................................................................. 272

Actix Spotlight Desktop User Guide June 2013

1.1.1 Radio Network Analyses

Coverage and Overspill Analysis this determines the coverage footprint

Pilot Pollution this automatically identifies inbound vs. outbound pilot

1.1.2 Event-based troubleshooting

Actix Spotlight Desktop User Guide June 2013

1.2 Using Spotlight to solve network problems

Some typical scenarios for using Spotlight are outlined below:

1.2.1 Perform a quick overview of network performance

Actix Spotlight Desktop User Guide June 2013

them up by using the Radio Network Explorer or Event Explorer investigation

Using Spotlight reports (see page 40)

CDMA/EVDO Neighbor List (see p50)

GSM 2G Missing Neighbors (see p75)

LTE 4G-3G/2G Missing Neighbors (see p85)

UMTS/HSPA 3G Neighbor List (see p89)

UMTS/HSPA 3G-2G Neighbor List (see p95)

1.2.3 Determine cell coverage

CDMA/EVDO Cell Coverage (see p44)

GSM Cell Coverage (see p65)

LTE Cell Coverage (see p81)

UMTS/HSPA Cell Coverage (see p101)

1.2.4 Identify inbound vs. outbound pilot pollution

CDMA/EVDO Pilot Pollution (see p56)

UMTS/HSPA Cell Pilot Pollution (see p108)

1.2.5 Identify sites failing their recommended design targets

1.2.6 Investigate failure events

Actix Spotlight Desktop User Guide June 2013

1.2.7 Investigate problems in detail at the message level

Actix Spotlight Desktop User Guide June 2013

1.3 About Spotlight projects

Network information that you want to use (the cellrefs file).

Preferences that determine how the data is to be loaded.

Thresholds that trigger particular conditions or Events in Spotlight's

Drive test files that you want to examine.

Actix Spotlight Desktop User Guide June 2013

2 Importing Cell Site Data

A delimited text file that contains unformatted data arranged in tabular

A blank file, containing only Analyzer header information, to be populated

2.1.1 Obtaining Site Data in Tabular Format

Text description of the Site for

Numeric identifier for the Site.