Evaluating Quality of Services of 4G LTE Cellular Data Network: The Case of Addis Ababa

Abstract

In mobile communication systems the demand for high-quality services, such as VoIP, data service is on the rise. Long Term Evolution (LTE) is designed to revolutionize mobile broadband technology with key considerations of higher data rate, improved power efficiency, low latency and better quality of service. The current LTE network infrastructure deployed in the Addis Ababa city, which is solely managed by Ethiotelecom, is undergoing major expansions in the last 5 years and resulted in a tangible improvement of coverage and quality. However, there are complaints from subscribers from various parts of the city. This thesis work analyzes the QoS of 4G LTE data network in Addis Ababa. To investigate the problem, the measurement was conducted on control plane and user plane of the LTE system being used by Ethiotelecom. Control plane system parameters such as network attach success rate, paging success rate; end to end connection delay analysis are collected and analyzed by using Service Experience Quality(SEQ) analyst Tool. The results of some parameters are below company’s target. The user plane system, on the other hand, generates QoS indicator parameters such as coverage analysis; quality analysis; downlink throughput, uplink throughput parameters. Data collection is done by using Nemo Handy then the simulation is done by using Actix Analyzer and evaluations were carried out by using SEQ Analyst tool. The target coverage 4G LTE of Ethiotelecom is 95% to 98%, but from simulation result we found 89.5% in average. So this indicates problem of coverage. The target of Ethiotelecom maximum downlink and uplink 4G LTE is 40Mbps and 20Mbps, respectively. But the simulation results from Actix Analyzer, in all of the sites, is 93.5% and 97% of downlink and uplink, respectively which is good. However, this result is below the company target. The analysis results show that, in general, there are some disparities between the Ethiotelecom targets and analysis results, which indicate the need to further improve the data QoS. To improve the quality of data transmission the recommended interventions include: Installing distributed antenna in each of building, implementation of QoS manager in different levels of network, appropriate resource allocation in the network, among others.