Radio Protocols for LTE and LTE-Advanced

Chapter 14

Minimization of Driving Test (MDT)

So far, operators have spent enormous amounts of time and money to optimize network performance by collecting radio measurements and then analyzing them to derive the optimal parameters to apply to networks. The radio measurements are usually collected by test equipment running on cars driven by operators. These driving tests have to be performed extensively to collect radio measurements around the concerned areas. Based on the collected data, optimal parameters are derived carefully, with further impact analysis in the laboratory.

Once the optimal parameters have been selected, the parameters are applied to the networks and another set of driving tests is carried out to evaluate the impact of the parameter tuning. Such calibration may have to be repeated until the expected level of performance is achieved. A change in the radio environment may take place when a cell site is newly installed or even when new buildings are constructed. Deployment of heterogeneous networks, for example, pico/femto cells, drastically complicates the radio environment. To ensure a good quality of service to subscribers under such circumstances, more extensive and frequent driving tests are required, which increases the operational cost. With this in mind, operators have been seeking more efficient solutions.

The Minimization of Driving Test (MDT) is a standardized mechanism introduced in Release 10 to provide operators with network performance optimization ...