"We are glad that we have managed to find a partner in the academic sector who is able to deliver solutions for our network testing needs, to react promptly by modifying test scenarios and providing technical assistance," says Ing. Pavel Cídl, Head of the Technical Control Department of the Czech Telecomuniaction Office for the Brno region.
The F-Tester® device is designed for installation in test vehicles, which are used by the regulator in charge of data service quality control to measure 4G/5G signal coverage in the Czech Republic. Currently, the CTU is planning to use the device also for measurements in railway corridors. In addition to the Czech Telecommunications Office, the F-Tester technology is also used by the CETIN company, which uses it mainly for optimising access network parameters.
Internet access as a public matter: eight out of ten Czechs rely on the quality of mobile networks
Eight out of ten Czechs have a smartphone and can use mobile data services thanks to it. Data transmission speed and mobile signal quality is therefore a matter of interest to almost everyone.
"The 4G/5G data service quality control technology we have developed at our department will not only contribute to the gradual improvement of Internet access, but will also lead to better public awareness, including consumer protection," said doc. Jiří Vodrážka, Head of the Department of Telecommunication Technology at CTU FEL .
According to doc. Vodrážka, the new solution can be used directly without any modifications to test networks abroad, so there is room for its further expansion. "The specific methodology used by mobile operators or the national regulator would just be translated into a user-configurable scenario," the researcher adds.
The F-Tester® measuring system is an example of a very successful commercial application of the results of academic research; in 2022, it received, among other things, the CTU Rector's Award for the application of the results of scientific, research, innovation, artistic and creative work.
The delivery of the solution to CTU was preceded by years of development, programming, debugging and testing. "We decided to implement everything in our own laboratories and workshops, so we have guaranteed quality and we know what we send to our customers. We had to design, manufacture and assemble a number of components ourselves instead of buying them, such as some special electronic components and interconnecting cables. We couldn't find any on the market that met the specified parameters," said Dr. Zbyněk Kocur, lead developer of the F-Tester® measuring system. The telecommunications experts from FEL CTU want to further extend the device by measuring the millimetre wave region (26 GHz band, which is being prepared for 5G mobile networks) and functions that will enable testing the quality of voice services over LTE and 5G networks.
What does mobile connectivity look like in Prague 6? Real-life demonstration of 4G/5G data transmission testing
Part of the presentation of the new solution was an action demonstration of the capabilities of the F-Tester measuring system in the environment of the Prague 6 and Roztoky u Prahy districts. It showed that the best 4G/5G mobile signal coverage is in the vicinity of Vítězné náměstí square and Jugoslávských partisanů Street. On the other hand, visitors to Tichý údolí in Roztoky have to prepare for the weakest signal. The data transmission speed is mainly influenced by the signal coverage from the base station, the total spectrum width used in the area by the mobile operator and the current usage of the network by users. Other important parameters, transmission delays and data loss, are also important in their own right (application response speed, connection dropouts), but they also affect the achievable transmission speed.
"Data networks are not about measuring some physically precise and stable quantity. It is information about what a very complex network is capable of handling for a given end device at a given time and place. By testing data connectivity, we affect the system being measured in a very fundamental way. As well as the concurrent traffic of other users. The values change very dynamically. It is necessary to measure for a long time, repeatedly and to process the results statistically in order to obtain sufficiently telling results," explained Jiří Vodrážka from CTU FEL .
About the F-Tester®
A unique device for testing data networks, both mobile and fixed, built on open OS Linux solutions OpenWRT, Iperf and others. Rugged HW design suitable for field and on-the-go measurements. Includes an originally developed FlowPing application that pushes testing capabilities in the dynamically changing environment of radio channel and shared capacity mobile networks. Increased stability and repeatability of drive tests is achieved. Further information on the F-Tester® solution is available at https://f-tester.fel.cvut.cz/
Find illustrative photos here. Courtesy of: Petr Neugebauer, CTU FEL
