Verifying 3G license requirements when every dB is worth a billion

In the year 2000, the Swedish Telecom regulator: "Post& Telestyrelsen", PTS, granted in a "beauty contest" four licenses for operations of 3G systems. To verify the coverage and the license requirements, PTS, has developed a test procedure where the field strength of the primary Common Pilot Channel, CPICH, is measured in a drive test. Designing such a test constitutes a number of challenges mainly due to the fact that in 3G the accuracy in the measurement needs to be extremely high since even a small systematic error of ∼1dB could in Sweden have the consequence that each operator would have to build an extra +1000 sites at a staggering cost of ∼1bilion SEK! The present paper gives an overview of the considerations behind the design of the test method used for verification of the 3G licence requirements in Sweden.
QC 20141125