ACRONYMS

RBS- Radio Base Station

BTS – Base Tranceiver Station

BSC – Base Station Controller

MSC – Mobile Switching Centre

CDMA – Code Division Multiple Access

SIM – Subscriber Identity Module

RxLev – Receiving Level

MOS – Minimum Opinoin Score

Ec\No – Energy per chip over noise

KPI – Key Performance Indicator

IMSI - International Mobile Subscriber Identity

GSM – Global System for Mobile Communication

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1.3 COMPANY DEPARTMENTS AND THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES

Figure 1 SHOWING THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF ERICSSON BOTSWANA

1.3.1 FIELD SERVICE OPERATION

Field Service Operation is a departmental section concerned with maintenance of the customer’s
BTS, BSC and associated system configurations. The department attends to all reported faults and
disconnections related to the physical equipment and software used for network delivery.

1.3.2 NETWORK PERFORMANCE

They ensure the smooth running of a project by monitoring all network faults, alarms, KPIs and
drawbacks before reporting them so that a suitable solution may be drafted and implemented by
the optimization team (department). This department is also concerned with keep up with the
customer contract terms so to avoid any possible contract breaches.

1.3.3 NETWORK PLANNING AND DESIGN

This department is concerned with the planning and development of new or existing sites. From a
given business plan, they assess whether it is possible to erect a site at the stated area looking at the
terrain and possible obstructions and interferences. They also come up with all technical
specifications including all equipment to be used such as type of RBS and antennas needed, script
parameters. They are considered a part of the optimization department as they understand and
know the specifications of almost every existing site.

1.3.4 NETWORK DELIVERY

A section dealing with network rollout and transmission of the network. They ensure that all radio
links and all BTS have the correct traffic. Correct traffic in the sense that each BTS or sector receives
its dedicated traffic and not that of the neighbouring site or sector unless there’s been an
established transmission fault. They make sure that all sites receive, drop and pass on the necessary
E1 and IP.

1.3.5 OPTIMIZATION
This departmental section deals with measuring network KPIs to evaluate and help in defining how
successful the network is, they basically monitor and maintain the network. These KPI’s are given by
the customer and include MOS, RxLev, Throughput, interference. Data collected is later reported to
the customer together with possible solutions to the identified problems.

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2. SUMMARY OF DUTIES
2.1 DISCUSSIONS
Daily work at Ericsson was mostly theoretical comprising of reading student text and discussions on
what was read and new topics such as network evolution. These topics include:

 Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM 2G)

 Mobile Network
 Network Evolution
 Transmission
 Call and Data flow

2.1.1 Global System for Mobile Communication

A mobile system has two types and these include GSM and CDMA with the common difference
common difference between the two being that GSM stores its subscriber data on a SIM and
subscriber data for CDMA is stored on the user equipment.

GSM is a digital cellular communication system for voice and data and it is a primary structure for
other communication technology such as the third generation mobile simply known as 3G. [2]

A mobile network is a communication network that is well distributed over a large land area,
wirelessly connected at fixed locations by transceivers and these are called base stations. It is
divided into three systems namely the mobile station, base station system and switching system.

Figure 2 showing a mobile network

MOBILE STATION
This is the user equipment and it uses an air interface (uplink and downlink) to communicate with
the fixed part of the network (BSS and SS) .The air interface is microwave which can either be at
900MHz or 1800MHz depending on the communication technology (2G or 3G or LTE) being used
.The mobile station transmits to the BTS using the uplink and the BTS transmits to the MS using the
downlink. [2]

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The mobile station uses a SIM which stores the IMSI number and its key, these are used to identify
and authenticated the subscriber when using the network.

BASE STATION SYSTEM

This comprises of two components namely the BTS and the BSC .They communicate with each other
through the use of an Abis interface which can be either fibre, microwave or copper. The abis carries
traffic and signalling from the BTS to the BSC and back.

 BSC – Responsible for management of BTS transmission and remotely controls the BTS

–Allocates the uplink and downlink radio channels to be used by the MS and BTS.

–Transmission power control to regulate the transmission power of the MS and

coverage of the BTS.

–Responsible for transcoding and rate adaptation

For example, for an MS to call an MS, speech data must be converted at the transition
points between the core network and the bss. This is because the transmission modes
and coding standards between the core network and the bss are not the same.

 BTS – It contains the antennas and transceivers that define a cell. Signal processing is done
at the BTS.
- It controls the radio interface between the MS and BSC.
- It has an error correction and encryption mechanism. [2]

SWITCHING SYSTEM
This system consists of mainly of the MSC which deals with the telephony switching functions of the
network such as routing voice calls and text messages. The MSC assists in Inter-BSC handover and
Inter-MSC handover where Inter-BSC handover occurs when a mobile moves out of range of cells
controlled by one BSC hence handover is done from one BTS to another and from one BSC to
another. [2]

The MSC has databases that contain subscriber information such as the HLR which stores
subscriber’s permanent data such as location information. The VLR is similar to the HLR but instead it
temporarily stores visitor subscriber information needed by the MSC for the purpose of servicing
visiting subscribers. The VLR is mostly used in cases of roaming subscribers. [3]

The other database is the AUC which is responsible for protecting network operators from fraud and
authenticating subscribers trying to use the network. It is connected to the HLR which provides it
with the necessary authentication parameters for network security. [3]

The EIR is also one of the databases that stores mobile equipment identity information for those
which have been blocked from using the network and those that are allowed to use the network. [2]

2.1.2 NETWORK EVOLUTION

Network evolution is considered to be the different steps taken to achieve an operational site or cell
in order to satisfy a network need. The steps involved include business plan, radio network design,
site acquisition, site engineering, civil works, installation, integration and initial tuning before
commercial launch and performance management together with optimization.