For telcos, ensuring optimal network performance is paramount for enhanced customer satisfaction. Traditional drive testing, where technicians physically drive around to measure network performance, has been a cornerstone of this process. However, this methodology is resource intensive and costly.
An alternative method is using mobility data generated from Turbine, Unacast’s telco data processing engine, for virtual drive testing. This approach utilizes existing data from the core network and offers a more comprehensive view of network performance.
How does mobility data shift Traditional to Virtual Drive Testing?
In the context of telecommunications, mobility data can reveal how users interact with the network as they move through different areas. For example, it becomes possible to understand how people travel between places—specifically, which roads they use to commute between two locations—offering a real-time snapshot of network performance. This is about understanding commuting patterns, the use of transportation infrastructure, and travel routes to configure the network capacity to best serve customers.
Traditional drive testing involves sending out teams to drive through predefined routes while collecting data on network performance using specialized equipment. This method, while effective, is resource-intensive, time-consuming, and often limited in scope.
Turbine virtual drive testing simulates the same process digitally. By processing data generated by subscribers, CDR and network data, telcos can monitor and analyze network performance across vast geographic areas without the need for physical presence.
Advantages of Using Mobility Data for Virtual Drive Testing
Cost Efficiency: virtual drive testing significantly cuts down on the expenses associated with fuel, vehicle maintenance, and manpower.
Comprehensive Geographic Coverage: using existing network data, telcos get insights into network performance in diverse environments, from urban to more remote rural areas, including regions that might be impractical or too costly to reach through traditional methods.
Real-Time Monitoring and Analysis: Turbine provides real-time insights, enabling telcos to perform dynamic network optimizations and improve overall user experience.
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: by identifying patterns and trends in how people interact with the network in their daily lives, and identifying areas with poor connectivity, telcos can prioritize more user-centric improvements.
Implementing Virtual Drive Testing with Turbine
1. Data Collection:
- Telcos gather network and CDR data from their cell towers.
- Use Turbine k-filter to ensure compliance with data privacy regulations to protect personal information.
2. Data Processing:
- Deploy Turbine in your secure cloud environment. Read more here.
- Turbine will identify all devices that are moving and stationary.
- For each device that is stationary or moving, Turbine allocates each device on a specific road/rail, and finds areas of inconsistent signal from the device and creates a signal map accordingly.
3. Network Insights:
- Identify loss of signal: the data from the aforementioned steps is aggregated over rail, roads, and points of interest for the telco to identify areas for improvement.
- Signal strength distribution is used as a proxy for quality and Turbine creates profiles based on the observed noise from the devices.
Conclusion
Mobility data created using existing network data for virtual drive testing represents a new approach for the telecommunications industry. This allows telcos to understand how people actually interact and move through the cities rather than the static driving testing approach that relies on measuring signal strength at a given location. By using mobility patterns, telcos can enhance operational efficiency and improve customer experience by ensuring that networks are always optimized to meet their demands.
