5G Network Testing

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
Staying ahead with 5G

Antenna Array Testing Device / UE Testing

5G Network Testing

Autonomous Vehicle Air Urban Mobility

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 NR: New Radio

3GPP RAN NR Standardization Overview SA: Standalone

NSA: Non Standalone
eMBB: Enhanced Mobile Broadband

Status after 3GPP RAN #83 (March 2019)

URLLC: Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication
mMTC: Massive Machine Type Communication

2017 2018 2019 2020

Rel-15 NR Phase 1: Focus on early NSA / SA Now

LTE Adv deployment scenarios for eMBB/URLLC use cases Rel-16 NR Phase 2: Further NR use cases (V2X, NTN)
Pro Rel-15 LTE Advanced Pro evolution (V2X, IoT, …) Rel-16 LTE Advanced Pro evolution (IoT, broadcast, …)

Rel-14 Release 15 Rel-15 “Late Drop” Release 16 Rel-17

RAN #82
Rel-15 June 2019 / RAN #84 (“late drop”)
Milestones Dec 2018 L3 specs (ASN.1) for option 4 & 7
Dec 2017 / RAN #78 ASN.1 Update completed
L1/L2 specification for June 2018 / RAN #80
NSA option 3 / eMBB L1/L2 specs. for SA option March 2019 / RAN #83 (“late drop”)
completed 2 & 5 / URLLC completed L1/L2 specs for option 4 & 7 incl. June 2020 / RAN #88
Mar 2018 / RAN #79 NR-NR-DC completed L3 specs (Rel-16 ASN.1)
Sep 2018 / RAN #81
L3 specs. (ASN.1) Dec 2019 / RAN #86 completed
L3 specs (ASN.1) for
for option 3 / eMBB Rel-16 RAN1 PHY
option 2 & 5 completed March 2020 / RAN #87
completed specification frozen
Rel-16 completed

Rel-16
Milestones Study-Item Phase
Work-Item Phase ongoing
completed

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G New Radio (NR) offers a flexible air interface
Summary of key parameters Changed to 7.125 GHz

Parameter FR1 (450 MHz – 6 GHz) FR2 (24.25 – 52.6 GHz)

Carrier aggregation Up to 16 carriers
Bandwidth per carrier 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, 90, 100MHz 50, 100, 200, 400 MHz
Subcarrier spacing 15, 30, 60 kHz 60, 120, 240 (not for data) kHz
Max. number of subcarriers 3300 (FFT4096 mandatory)
Modulation scheme QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAM; uplink also supports π/2-BPSK (only DFT-s-OFDM)
Radio frame length 10ms
Subframe duration 1 ms (alignment at symbol boundaries every 1 ms)
MIMO scheme Max. 2 codewords mapped to max 8 layers in downlink and to max 4 layers in uplink
Duplex mode TDD, FDD TDD
Access scheme DL: CP-OFDM; UL: CP-OFDM, DFT-s-OFDM

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G Network testing
Lab
Engineering
ı The full network lifecycle:
 Lab engineering
Bench- Spectrum
 Trials marking clearance

 Spectrum clearance & interference New

hunting, regulatory works Technology /
Service
 Implementation & roll out introduction
 Troubleshooting & optimization
 Operations & service monitoring Operations Roll Out
 Benchmarking
 Analytics and reporting Optimize

R&S supports all stages

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 5G Use Cases drive the need to test
Required RAN
5G Use Cases Network operation & Field Test
Characteristics performance
enhanced Mobile
Broadband

Data rate Capacity

eMBB

Mobility Low latency

Secure & reliable eNB gNB

mMTC URLLC
MME SGW
Massive Machine Ultra reliable & EPC
Type Communication low latency
communication
C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G Key Technology Components
NR builds on four main pillars

New Spectrum Massive MIMO / Beamforming

ı < 1GHz ı Hybrid beamforming
ı ~ 3.5 GHz ı > 6GHz also UE is
ı ~ 26/28/39 GHz expected to apply
beam steering

User1
Multi-Connectivity MCG SCG Network Flexibility User2
ı Initially based on ı Flexible physical layer
MCG Split Split SCG
Bearer Bearer Bearer Bearer

User5
Dual Connectivity numerology User4

with E-UTRA as ı Network Slicing f

eNB gNB
master (MN) (SN) ı NFV/SDN User3

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G NR Beamforming Scenarios
Beam identification and performance KPIs needed

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G NR Mobility scenarios
New KPIs required for mobility state changes and procedures

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G NR and LTE Dual Connectivity
New KPIs needed for DC procedures and states

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G - Key RF challenges
Beamforming and massive Flexibility of air interface
New spectrum
MIMO and gNB configuration
ı Even 3.5 GHz is different from ı How does beamforming work? ı Bandwidth:
today’s frequencies 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60,
80, 100 MHz (FR1)
50, 100, 200, 400 MHz (FR2)
ı Subcarrier Spacing:
15, 30, 60 kHz (FR1)
60, 120, (240) kHz (FR2)
ı Mapping onto antenna ports:
ı What about coverage? single beam / multi beam
ı Spectrum clearance? sweeping

 New technology elements drive the need for (and complexity of)
5G NR network measurements

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5G NR measurement at a trial site
Display strongest SSB index (beam) during drive test based on SS-RSRP
SSB Idx = 7

SSB Idx = 12

SSB Idx = 14
SSB Idx = 11
5G NR RRH @ 28 GHz SSB Idx = 13
1 carrier, 100 MHz, PCI 100
SSB Idx = 10

SSB Idx = 5

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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 5G - Key RF challenges
• Is the beamforming feature of gNB + antenna
working? (signal to noise ratio!?)

• With all the flexbility, Can the UE synchronize

with the network?

• How is the coverage of each beam?

(impacting the propoagation?)

• Indoor-to-outdoor / urban / rural / suburban

scenario?

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5G - RF measurements

Coverage and Beam and Cell

Beamforming Quality Ranking

Channel
Spectral
characteristics
measurements
and propagation

R&S®TSMx6 Scanner

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5G NR RF Scanning

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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TSMx6 Ultra Compact RF Scanners
The perfect choice for 5G RF measurements

Drive Test Coverage

Scanning Interference

R&S®TSME6 Channel detection

Multi Multipath propagation
Technologies Spectrum analysis
Layer 3 decoding
Accuracy MIMO
Sensitivity
BTS Position Estimation

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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Traditional technical challenges remain…

Coverage, SINR,
Signal quality,
interference, channel
detection

Multipath
propagation,
spectrum scan
Drive Test Scanner
Layer 3 decoding,
MIMO measurements,
DLAA, ULAA, BS
position estimation
C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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TSMA6 incl. Battery Pack
Integrated Wifi /
Bluetooth antennas

TSMA6
Cooling (PC + Scanner)
Air inlet

TSMA6-BP
Battery Pack

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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TSME6

35 mm Seamless
mechanical
154 mm connection
85 mm

490 g

ı Light weight and small

ı 10 W typ. power consumption
ı Click-in mechanism for seamless vibration-safe mechanical connection of TSME6

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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Setup for 5G Sub6 & mmWave measurements

5GNR 5GNR

power TSME30DC
HW control
TSME30DC
IF TSMA6
IF HW control
TSME6
TSMA6-BP

Also support LTE & Sub6 combination measurements

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G - What are we measuring to determine coverage
ı NSA mode: guided by the LTE
ı Well, what is a 5G NR device doing?
network the UE takes signal quality
measurements on surrounding 5G NR
cells based on Synchronization Signal
LTE carrier Block (SSB)
sub-6 GHz 5G NR carrier
sub-6 GHz  SSBs are the only always on
or mmWave signal component in 5G NR
 Measurements are carried out for
MeNB SS-RSRP, -RSRQ, -SINR
 Network informs UE on transmit

SgNB frequency of SSBs!

SgNB
SgNB ı SA mode: UE scans for SSB based on
synchronization raster (GSCN)

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Signals for Beamforming
Single Beam

ı Single Beam and Multi Beam scenarios

supported in 5G NR

ı SS Block Index is used to separate SSB

transmission on different Beams
Multi Beam
ı Mapping of Antenna ports and Physical
Beams to the SSB Index is implementation
specific, e.g. will/can differ between
Infrastructure Vendors

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
Why are SSB measurements essential? BWP

SSB
• The 5G NR UE uses the SSB for
• Synchronization (FC no longer applies)
• System information (MIB/SIB)
• Cell and Beam quality measurements

• One SSB is always transmitted

• The only Always-On signal in 5G NR

• Therefore SSB should be used for :

• Coverage measurement
• CIR measurement
• Interference measurement
R&S®TSMx6 Scanner
• Beamforming evaluation

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Finding the SSB is now very easy! BWP

SSB
5G NR Automatic Channel Detection

• 5G NR ACD uses fast spectrum sweep

• Detected SSBs are visualized

with blue marker

• 5G NR Scanner configuration
updates automatically

R&S®TSMx6 Scanner

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What happens during a drive test?
• During a drive test we cross several PCIs and several beams belonging to certain PCIs
• Each beam is described by a beam index and PCI

PCI 1

Beam index x…y

Beam index x…y

PCI 2

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5G Scanner Beam coverage analysis 5G NR Scanner Analysis
in SmartAnalytics

Cell SSB Coverage

per SSB index

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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How does it look like in reality?
Cell specific Top N Pool

Average values for each PCI

Beams and SS-RSRPs used for averaging of
SS-RSRP, SS-SINR, SS-RSRQ

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5G Network testing

SSB

RSRP
Coverage
RSRQ
??
SINR

Coverage vs 4G

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5G NR UE Measurements

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G - Measurement using UE

• 5G Smartphones
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 (Qualcomm)
• Oppo Reno 5G (Qualcomm)
• LG V50 (Qualcomm)
• Samsung S10 (Exynos)

• 5G Routers and Test Platforms

• Qualcomm MTP
• WNC 5G Router v1 & v2

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5G - Measurements using UE LTE – 5G NR
NSA (Non-standalone operation mode) EN-DC Dual
Connectivity
ı Initial Cell Acquisition Band, NR DL ARFCN
ı NR Serving cell PCI, SSB Index
ı L1 measurements RSRP, RSRQ, SINR
ı L2 data transport performance Thp, MCS, RBs
ı RACH procedure summary and details
ı LTE-NR EN-DC L3 signaling
ı Application layer

5G NR RRC Layer 3
signaling

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 5G - Measurements using UE
NSA (Non-standalone operation mode)

5G
LTE
NR

* Handover between LTE and 5G NR

MN SN
MCG SCG LTE – 5G NR Dual
eNB gNB Connectivity
measurement in
ROMES software

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5G - Measurements using UE
NSA (Non-standalone operation mode)

EN-DC Overview LTE - 5G NR

RSRP

5G NR LTE Master
Secondary Node Node

LTE - 5G NR LTE - 5G NR
Serving cell Cell quality
changes measurements

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G - Measurements using UE
NSA (Non-standalone operation mode)

EN-DC LTE - 5G NR LTE - 5G NR

Data Transport BLER RSRP, RSRQ, SINR
Performance

5G NR
PDSCH

LTE - 5G NR
Throughput

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5G - Measurements using UE
NSA (Non-standalone operation mode)

5G Smartphone 5G NR Cell
measurements in
QualiPoc

LTE Cell
EN-DC Master Node
LTE & 5G NR
DL Data
5G NR Cell
EN-DC Secondary Node

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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5G - Measurements using UE
NSA (Non-standalone operation mode)

5G Smartphone
measurements in
QualiPoc

5G NR Cell LTE & 5G NR

SSB Coverage Map L3 Signaling

C O M PAN Y R E S T R I C T E D
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 5G - Measurements workspace - ROMES software
5G Overview 5G UE RACH DL/UL Data QoS
 Actual serving cell parameters  Details on contention type of
 Thp, block error rates and  Application layer test results
including ARFCN, PCI and triggered RACH
retransmission of Transport and statistics
SSB index  Attempt summary including
Blocks  Application layer testing
 History of serving cell changes counts, final result and beam
 Resource allocation including progress
 Actual cell quality identity
frequency domain allocation of  Downlink throughput side-by-
measurement results  Physical transmission
resource blocks, MCS and side comparison of IP network
ı Uplink and downlink data channel summary including Tx Power
MIMO layers on 5G NR interface with LTE and 5G NR
performance including physical and Pathloss
downlink downlink physical layer
layer throughputs, RB allocation  Details of each RACH
 EN-DC cell quality  Uplink throughput side-by-side
and modulation and coding message: msg1, msg2, msg3
measurement history comparison of IP network
schemes (MCS) and msg4
 EN-DC throughput and BLER interface with LTE and 5G NR
comparison of LTE and 5G uplink physical layer
NR

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Current key 5G network testing parameters

SSB
Data throughput
RSRP
Latency
Coverage
RSRQ QoS
L2, L3 (Troubleshooting)
SINR
4G<>5G handover
Coverage vs 4G

How about QoE test?

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