Mobile cellular telephone systems are today universally used throughout the developed world. The key issue in many locations however is the lack of good coverage. In some cases this is caused by topographical features of the geography of the area or the lack of cellular telephone masts near by. However in other cases coverage may be good for some users of one operator but very bad for another. It may also happen that black spots exist even when no topographical feature would seem to be present to cause it or that strong signals are indicated but calls drop for no apparent reason. These situations are a strong indication of radio interference sources cause problems.

To resolve such problems is a challenge for Radio Frequency Engineers. First it is necessary to fully understand the radio technology in use and how signals are encoded, decoded and engineered in fully working systems. Coverage will be affected by antennas and the coverage expected for different types of antenna systems must be understood. With this knowledge and good spectrum analyzers it is possible to examine radio signals in locations where interference is expected and identify the type of interference. Different types of interference exhibit different signal patters and from this experienced technicians can start to locate suspected interference sources.

This course provides an understanding of radio systems in the 850, 900, 1800 (PCS) and 2100 MHz bands used for cellular and mobile telephony and in the 2400 MHz used for WiFi systems. Students will use simple laptop computers, regular cell phones and Spectrum Analyzers to understand RF interference, expected antenna propagation and the patterns generated by interference sources on tester displays. They will use directional antennas to track interference and learn how to locate individual interference sources.

This course is aimed at field technicians who require to learn how to detect, measures and locate interference sources on cellular phone, WiFi and wireless data networks.

Module I:     Radio Principles

Radio Transmission Principles
Radio Propagation
Frequency, Wave Length, Phase and polarization
Signal Power and Free Space Loss
Effective Radiated Power (ERP)
Polarization, Absorption, Diffraction and Reflection effects
Signal to Noise Ratio
Interference effects and Fading
Channel Allocation
Modulation: Amplitude, Frequency and Phase Modulation
QAM
Multi-Access Systems: FDM, TDM, TDMA, FHSS, DSSS, OFDM, CDMA
PCS and GSM system timing needs
Frequency use
Overlapping channels
Coverage and what affects it
Causes of drop-outs of calls

Module II:      Antenna Systems

Classes of Antennas
Antenna types used
Antenna Loss and Gain
Point-to-point services
Area Coverage
Cellular coverage
Towers and Mountings
Antenna Tower Engineering
Hidden Antennas

Module III:      Noise and Interference

Noise and signal strength
Noise: sources and temperature
Co-channel Interference
Noise Types: Narrow band, Wide band, Impulse noise
Effects of reflection
Locating noise sources

Module IV:     Interference Testing

Types of test equipment and the tests that it can perform
Using Spectrum Analyzers to test and analyze normal signals
Recognizing different kinds of interference
Using directional antennas to locate interference sources
Handing off descriptions of interference faults found

Module V:     Evaluation and Review
 

This course is gear toward Antenna Test Equipment that is used by the attending company andor technicians.

Instructor-Led with numerous Hands-On Labs and exercises.

BTS always provides equipment to have a very successful Hands-On course. BTS also encourages all attendees to bring their own equipment to the course. This will provide attendees the opportunity to incorporate their own gear into the labs and gain valuable training using their specific equipment.

3 Days