The document discusses the Minimization of Drive Testing (MDT) within mobile communication networks, emphasizing its significance in reducing operational costs. It outlines the features of immediate and logged MDT, including their implementations and enhancements in standards like release-10 and release-11. Automation, AI, and virtualization are highlighted as key factors in cost reduction and efficiency improvements in network operations.

1. 3GPP SON Series:
Minimization of Drive Testing
(MDT)
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2. RAN OpEx
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15%
30%
30%
10%
15%
RAN OPEX
Power Consumption Site Rental Operations Manpower Other Hw & Sw
Operations
• Includes lab testing,
troubleshooting, optimization, etc.
• Automation, AI and ML can help
reduce the costs significantly
• Virtualization and softwarization
can help keep costs down.
• CI/CD also helping with keeping
costs down.
Manpower
• Includes field testing, drive testing
& site maintenance, etc.
• SON and AI can help reduce the
costs significantly

3. Minimization of Drive Testing (MDT)
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• Drive testing is one of the biggest cost of running the network
after the energy usage
• In a traditional network, drive tests must be done multiple times
on different network loads to get an accurate picture of the cell's
coverage and capacity
• To reduce the amount of drive test, MDT feature was introduced
in Release-10
• Two types of MDT have been defined:
• Immediate MDT
• Logged MDT
• MDT Measurements can be on Control Plane or User Plane.

4. U-plane and C-plane MDT
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• The U-plane MDT is
operator specific with
operator deploying an
application on the phone
to do this measurements
• The C-plane MDT is
based on the signalling
and would be
standardised across all
devices and form factors.
MDT server MDT server
RAN
RAN
UE
UE

5. Logged v/s Immediate MDT
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Log
Coverage
Hole
Logged MDT
• Measurements in Idle mode
• Logging measurements and
reporting later on
• Optional for the UE to support
Immediate MDT
• Measurement in Connected mode
• Immediate reporting e.g., at RLF
• Mandatory for the UE to support

6. Logged MDT example
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• Same amount of measurements as in normal case
• Periodical logging : 1280ms~61440ms
• logging duration : 10min~120min
: radio measurements
: detailed location info. (if available)
: time stamp
IDLE
measurement occasions
Logging
Logging interval
Logging duration

7. Immediate MDT example
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• UE can discard RLF info 48 hour after the radio link failure is detected
MDT
configuration
RRCConnectionReestablishmentComplete
CONNECTED Re-establishment CONECTECD
RLF
Coverage
Hole
Logging
Signal strength,
location
measurement occasions
RLF log
indication
Log
retrieval

8. Procedure for collecting RLF reports by OAM
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Trace session activation
MDT server (TCE) UE information request
UE information response
(RLF report)
Trace record reporting
Cell trace session
started
Connected mode
UE records the
RLF report
Idle mode
Call setup
Include RLF report available
indication
Storing RLF report
in trace record
RLF/HOF
eNB UE
OAM

9. RRC UE Information Request message
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10. RRC UE Information Response message
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11. MDT Enhancements for Rel-11
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• MDT was enhanced for Rel-11 to collect not only measurements
indicating the network coverage condition but also those
indicating the users’ real-life throughput and connectivity issues.
• For most cases, the battery consumption is not significantly
impacted by MDT. One exception is the ability to request the UE
to activate its GNSS receiver for MDT that is introduced in Rel-11,
which is expected to involve significant battery power
consumption. The operator may choose to handle this by
subscription agreements, and only use requested location for
subscribers that have consented to this.

12. References and Further Reading
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• Minimization of Drive Tests (MDT) in Mobile Communication Networks by Daniel
Baumann (link)
• Nokia - The GeoSynthesis Project: Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) - An Innovative
Methodology for Measuring Customer Performance on Mobile Network by Andrea
Scaloni (link)
• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP MDT - How it works and what is new in Rel. 16 (link)
• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) Signaling at a Glance (link)
• The 3G4G Blog: Minimization of Drive Tests (MDT) in 3GPP Release-10 (link)
• From 4G to 5G: Self-organized Network Management meets Machine Learning by
Jessica Moysen and Lorenza Giupponi (link)
• An Introduction To LTE (2nd Edition), Christopher Cox (link)
• 3G4G: Self-Organizing Networks / Self-Optimizing Networks (link)
• The 3G4G Blog: SON (link)

13. Thank You
To learn more, visit:
3G4G Website – https://www.3g4g.co.uk/
3G4G Blog – https://blog.3g4g.co.uk/
Telecoms Infrastructure Blog – https://www.telecomsinfrastructure.com/
Operator Watch Blog – https://www.operatorwatch.com/
Connectivity Technology Blog – https://www.connectivity.technology/
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