Ericsson RAN Radio Access Networks - Associate Technical Certification

RAN Fundamentals

Knowledge objective, within this radio technical competence area the candidate should be able to identify and describe the followings:

- The general RAN architecture: Nodes, UE categories, RAN standards, etc.

- Radio design principles: Dimensioning, link budget for radio coverage, multipath propagation, path loss predictions, propagation models and tuning, traffic models, etc

- Air interface principles: Radio channel concept, modulations, spectral efficiency, FDD / TDD, transmission and reception, multiplex access technique principles, mobile technology differences, frequency, voice coding, basic antenna system, dB, dBm, dBi, etc.

- Signaling, protocols and layers: Radio messages, layers, interaction, basic protocols, etc.

- Radio network basic functionalities: mobility, idle mode, call set-up, radio resource mgmt, etc.

- RAN performance: Accessibility, retain ability, integrity, latency and throughput, counter & KPI’s, energy consumption reduction, impact of quality of service, etc.

- RAN lifecycle stages (design, optimization, integration and installation, etc)

     Access Networks an Overview 

     Networking Basics, an Overview 

     Ethernet Standards 

     LTE Fundamentals 

     LTE Radio Interface

     LTE KPIs and Acceptance 

     LTE Network Design Overview 

     LTE Protocols and Procedures 

     LTE Air interface 

LTE  RAN 

Knowledge objective, the candidate should be able to identify and describe:

The fundamental technology and characteristics of LTE RAN, the products & solutions, functionalities and features. Channel structure, bearer concept, network architecture and interfaces, radio planning principles (capacity, limitations, connected users), radio units and their functionality, SW features such as: LTE advanced, voice in LTE, IRAT mobility, QoS handling, etc. LTE introduction in legacy networks FDD vs. TDD. Main advantages/values, as well as impacts on RAN performance.

         LTE Fundamentals 

         LTE/SAE in a Nutshell

         LTE /SAE System Overview

         LTE/EPC Overview 

         LTE Features and Functionality 

          LTE Air Interface 

          LTE Product Strategy 

          Ericsson´s LTE Performance Advantage

          Coverage and Capacity in LTE 

         LTE Shared Network Solutions incl Transport options 

         LTE Multi-Layer Antenna Solutions & Capacity

          LTE RAN Voice Evolution

          LTE Load and Capacity Evolution

WCDMA RAN

Knowledge objective, the candidate should be able to identify and describe:

The fundamental technology and characteristics of WCDMA RAN, the products & solution, functionalities and features. Channel structure, bearer principles, network architecture and interfaces, planning principles (capacity, limitations, interference reduction, robustness, spectrum load), radio units and their functionality, SW features such as: HSPA/MBB functionality, QoS, Smartphone related functionality, and  mobility, etc. Main advantages/values, as well as impacts on RAN performance.

WCDMA Release Overviews 

Mobile Broadband - Enhanced Uplink Evolution 

Secure Smartphone Business 

HSPA Smartphone Capacity Evolution 

High Capacity WCDMA - Flow of users 

Ensuring high performance in high loaded HSPA NW 

Introduction to Service Differentiation and end-to-end QoS 

Uplink Features (

GSM RAN

Knowledge objective, the candidate should be able to identify and describe:

The fundamental technology and characteristics of GSM RAN, the products & solutions, functionalities and features. Channel structure, network architecture and interfaces, planning principles (capacity, limitations, interference reduction, robustness, spectrum load), signal measurements, radio units and their functionality, SW features such as: packet data support, EDGE, VAMOS, HD Voice, etc. Main advantages/values, as well as impacts on RAN performance.

GSM State of the Business 

Thin Layer GSM 

GSM RAN Key Business Areas – Introduction 

GSM KBA – Drive Cost Efficiency 

GSM KBA –  Increase Coverage and Capacity 

GSM KBA – Increase smart device Business, 

GSM Radio Access Network Overview 

GSM / WCDMA Basics 

GSM System Survey 

Monetize on Voice Efficiency: VAMOS 

GSM RAN SW Licensing 

GSM RAN BSC HW Activation Codes 

SON Based GSM Spectrum Management 

Energy Efficiency Features in GSM RAN 

RAN Modernization 

What is 5G ?

It is a mobile broadband system that will provide higher performance than is available today’s most advanced 4G networks.  These performance improvements will be measurable in terms of speed, latency, reliability, scale and openness.  The 5G system will achieve this higher performance by integrating many new devices over multiple wireless technologies with new management and orchestration systems.  A 5G system will include existing and new technologies such as: LTE, new radio technology, highly variable end devices especially for M2M, virtualized software and management and orchestration systems.  There will be a single global 5G standard to ensure global coverage.  It will be deployed in commercial service by 2020, but components may be ready earlier. 

The main focus is now on research where evolution of existing technologies is on-going in parallel with innovation of new technologies. A lot of research is done in cooperation with universities and partners. By join forces, we can together understand the new use cases and the new requirements that will be put on 5G.

Pre-standardization and technology development will be on-going until 2017. Standardization activities to set the requirements and make 5G a global standard starts at 2017. In parallel, trials and test systems will be up and running. First commercial system will most likely be deployed by 2020.

   Requirements on 5G

The exact performance levels and requirements that systems and equipment will need to meet to label themselves 5G are yet to be defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This will take place somewhere around 2016-2018.

At this stage, we are using expectations levels that where set in the METIS project*). These expectations are:

·         Handle 1000 times the mobile data traffic of today

·         Billions of connected devices

·         100 times user data rates

·         Latency reduced by up to a factor of 5

·         10 times the battery life

·         Different devices: from mobiles, tablets and wearables, to cars, trucks, bikes, cereal packets… anything

·         Data integrity 

Resignation Letter sample

Samaple -01

Dear Sir,
I submit this letter of resignation and will be leaving my position from XXXX( Engineer/manager) with Company name  effectively on DD-MM-YEAR.
It has been a pleasure working for Company name  . During this past tenure, work has been challenging and productive, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working in your team . Thank you for the opportunities for professional and personal development that you have provided me during the last **months.
Please accept my letter of resignation.

Sincerely,
Employee name
+Mobile number

SIGNAL ENCODING

We can represent bits as digital electrical signals in many ways. Data bits can be coded into following two types of codes :

(a)               Non Return to Zero (NRZ Codes).

(b)               Return to Zero (RZ Codes)

NRZ Codes

In this type of codes, the signal level remains constant during a bit duration. There are 3 types of NRZ codes.

NRZ-L Coding

Bit is represented as a voltage level which remains constant during the bit duration.

NRZ-M Coding

A transition in the beginning of a bit interval whenever there is a 'Mark.

NRZ-S Coding

A transition in the beginning of a bit interval whenever there is a 'Space'. Let us see the following bit stream 10100110 into three different types of NRZ codes 

RZ Codes:

Following are the RZ Codes

(a)        Manchester Coding

(b)        Biphase-M Coding

(c)         Biphase-S Coding

(d)        Differential Manchester Coding.

Manchester Coding

There '1' is represented as the clock pulse itself and '0' as inverted clock pulse. It is widely used in local area networks. Fig.21 shows representation of '1' and '0'.

Bi-phase M Coding

  There is always a transition in the beginning of a bit interval and binary '1' is having additional transition in the middle of the bit interval.

Bi-phase S Coding

There is a transition at the beginning of a bit interval and binary '0' is having additional transition in the middle of the bit interval.

Differential Manchester Coding

There is always a transition in the middle of the bit interval and Binary '0' has additional transition in the beginning of the bit interval. Let us see Fig.22 in which bit sequence 10100110 has been shown in different RZ codes. 

TRANSMISSION CODES in Telecom

All data communication codes are based on the binary system (1s and 0s). A message can be encoded into a meaningful string of 1s and 0s that can be transmitted along a data line and decoded by a receiver. The string of 1s and 0s is meaningful because it is defined by a code that is known to both the source and the receiver. Code is limited by the number of bits (binary digits) it contains, e.g. one-bit code means that we can have 2 characters so that we can encode the letter A by '0' and B by '1'. Similarly, a 2 bit code will enable us to handle 4 characters. Thus, a n-bit code enables us to handle 2ⁿ characters. 

Some commonly used codes are :

1.             Baudot code

2.             ASCII code

3.             BCDIC code

4.             EBCDIC Code

ASCII Code (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

It is an eight-bit code which consists of seven information bits and one bit for parity checking. This is most widely used data code. Seven information bits gives us 128 combinations, which allows us to encode a full keyboard of the computer.

-          52 alphabets (capital and small).

-          0-9 (10 numbers).

-          Punctuation marks

-          Additional graphic and control characters.

BCDIC (Binary Code Decimal Interchange Code)

It is a six-bit code that is used as an internal code by some computers. With 6 information bits, we can have 2⁶ = 64 possible code combinations. For data transmission, code is implemented as 7-bit code containing 6 information bits and one parity bit.

EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code)

It is a 8-bit code in which all the 8-bits are used for information (unlike ASCII), giving 256 possible code combinations. EBCDIC is used as an internal machine code in some of the computers. 

TEMS CELLPLANNER UNIVERSAL

TEMS CellPlanner Universal is Ericsson´s tool for mobile radio network planning. It is a highly graphical, easy-to-use, PC-based tool for design, realization, and optimization of mobile radio networks. TEMS CellPlanner Universal helps the user to roll out and expand mobile radio networks, and optimize radio network regarding service availability and service quality. It assists the user in a number of complex tasks, including network dimensioning, traffic planning, site configuration, and frequency planning. TEMS CellPlanner Universal is the key to successfully competing in the market place.

TEMS CellPlanner Universal provides support for WCDMA, GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900, iDEN, CDMA, CDMA2000 1xRTT, TDMA/AMPS, NMT 450, NMT 900, TACS, and E-TACS. TEMS CellPlanner Universal also provides support for GPRS and EGPRS (EDGE), implemented in GSM system

The modular platform makes it possible to customize TEMS CellPlanner Universal to meet the needs of every customer. TEMS CellPlanner Universal can be used in all phases of a radio networks life cycle, from early planning to the most complex optimization. The combination of the modular platform and a modern programming language also make it possible to add new functionality in a fast and easy way. In addition, open interfaces enable connection to external data sources for easy exchange of data.

TEMS CellPlanner Universal incorporates the following major features:

·         User-friendly, intuitive menu structure and guided work flows.

·         TEMS CellPlanner Universal uses an Ericsson-developed GIS Engine specially developed to fit the needs of a demanding RF planning tool. TEMS CellPlanner Universal can read several map data formats natively, and it also handles multiple resolutions.

·         Propagation prediction modeling and calculation of signal coverage and interference.

·         Allows real network deployment scenarios such as layered network architectures, distributed antennas, repeaters, and macro-/micro cells. It supports both Baseband and Synthesized Frequency hopping with MAIO management.

·         Efficient and sophisticated radio propagation in urban and rural environments including automatic model tuning

·         Direct import of TEMS™ logfiles to tune propagation models or analyze network performance

·         True Multi-technology support.

·         TEMS CellPlanner Universal 5.0 was designed to be a multi standard/multi-technology RF planning tool. All technologies can co-exist in the same session. Each technology follows the same flow, making it easier for the user to understand the tool.

·         Generic import interface

TRANSMISSION in telecommunication

For understanding the data communication following terminology is discussed: -

·         Communication lines

The medium that carries the message in a data communication system, example of  A 2W telephone line.

  Communication Channel

A channel is defined as a means of one way transmission.

It can carry information in either direction but in only one direction at a time, e.g. A hose pipe. It can carry water in either direction, but the direction of flow depends on which end of pipe is connected to the water tap.

 Simplex Transmission

1.     Message always flows in one direction only.

2.     An input Terminal can only receive and never transmit.

3.     An O/P Terminal can only transmit and never receive.

Half Duplex Transmission

-         A half duplex channel can transmit and receive but not simultaneously.

-         Transmission flow must halt each time and direction is to be reversed.

-         This halt is called the turn-around time and is typically 8 to 10 ms in the case of leased circuits and 50-500 ms in case of 2W telephone line through Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). 

Full-duplex Transmission

It is both way communications. If we set up a communication line with two channels, we have the capability of sending information in both directions at the same time. This is called full duplex transmission system.