Interference Troubleshooting Guide utilizing Anritsus Handheld BTS Master, Cell Master, Site Master S332/62E, Spectrum Master

r w/ Options 25/27/31 and Master Software Tools

What is Interference?
Interference is a receiver issue. Receiver desense occurs when an un-desired signal enters the receivers front end and causes a reduction in sensitivity. This reduced sensitivity, in turn, lowers the apparent carrier-to-interference ratio (C/I) of the desired signal.

Types of Interference
Harmonics are signals that occur at multiples
of a radios carrier frequency. Often, the worst harmonic is the third. For example, if a carrier is at 300 MHz, the harmonic at 3 x 300, or 900 MHz, would be the strongest.

Types of Interference
Transmitter back feed can create IM, as
shown below. If the antenna and filter frequency response allow, and if the antenna isolation is poor, one transmitters signal can reach the transistors in another transmitters output stage, creating IM.

When to Hunt Uplink Interference

One of the most important things to know about interference hunting is when, and where, to start looking for the signal. As the flow chart shows, there are a number of diagnostic clues that indicate interference. The most critical step in this decision tree is the Rx noise floor. If it is possible to monitor this from the switch, this becomes a powerful monitoring tool. If the Rx noise floor is high, it is time to start looking for the interference that makes it high.

Do I have Uplink Interference?

Rx Noise Floor tests can be done by hooking
up to a Rx test port, or the Rx antenna, for the affected sector and make measurements when calls are not up. It is best if the receive pre-filter is between the spectrum analyzer and the Rx antenna, since that will allow the spectrum analyzer to see the same signal the receiver does.

Shared antennas can create IM if the

Sometimes harmonics become much worse than the legal limit. For instance, a transmitter with a class B output stage may lose a transistor, only amplifying half of the signal. This will produce a Picket Fence array of harmonics across the spectrum. In other cases, legal harmonics may be an issue. For instance, the third harmonics of a United States UHF TV station on channel 38 through 41 will be in the PCS uplink bands. If the UHF station is physically close to the PCS band cellular receiver, the cellular receiver may be de-sensed or blocked by this legal signal. antenna or antenna cable run is corroded.

Environmental diodes also can create IM.

Rusty roofs, rusty fences, corroded cables, and corroded connectors all can provide the rust needed for intermodulation.

Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) base

stations, such as GSM, CDMA, and WCDMA, can use the spectrum analyzers channel power measurement, but use it at the receive frequency. This approximates the switchs Rx noise floor measurement. The measurement must be made during a quiet time when no calls are up. The same screen also normally has occupied bandwidth, to aid in signal identification.

The unwanted, or interfering, signal does not need to be on the receive channel. If strong enough, it only needs to be within the radios Rx duplexer or pre-selector frequencies. In extreme cases, receiver blocking occurs and the desired signal is lost entirely.

Near Far problems may occur near the edge

of a metro area, or near microcells, where one network operator has better coverage than another. If a cell phone is a long ways from its tower, it will be transmitting at high power. If, at the same time, it is near another operators tower, one it cannot hand off to, it may be transmitting within the other base stations pre-selector and cause de-sense. Near Far problems can be reduced by co-location.

Types of Interference
Self Interference is common within cellular
systems. Common sources of selfinterference include: Coverage issues due to power settings, mast height, or antenna tilt. Enhanced RF propagation over water. Errors in the PN Offset or Scrambling Code settings for CDMA and W-CDMA systems. Aliasing of PN Offset or scrambling codes. Multipath, when the number of paths exceed the number of receiver fingers.

Intermodulation Distortion (IM) is caused by

two or more strong signals and a non linear device such as a transistor, diode, or an environmental diode created by rust or corrosion. The two or more strong signals need to be stronger than +7 dBm, or so, to make the non-linear device switch. IM is often called the Rusty Bolt effect. More accurately, it is called Passive Intermodulation (PIM). The formula for the most common IM products are: 2f1 f2 2f2 f1

Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems, such as

TD-SCDMA and WiMAX can use the gated power measurement on the Power vs. Time screen to approximate the switch Rx noise floor measurement. Again, the Rx noise floor measurement must be made during a quiet time, when no calls are up.

Unintentional interference occurs when radio

operators are unaware they are transmitting in anothers band. This is usually easily corrected.

Intentional interference does occur, often

with the best of intentions. Employers want to keep their employees off the phone; drivers want other drivers to keep their eyes on the road, and so on. A web search will spot many different types of cell phone jammers.

Impulse noise is a common source of

interference. It is mostly a problem at lower frequencies, save for arcing base station RF components, which cause problems centered on the carrier frequency. Impulse noise shows up as an intermittent rise in the spectrum analyzers noise floor, or if in a wide span, in a shape similar to the illustration. Sources include: Lightning arrestors Arcing antennas Arcing duplexers Electric motors Bakery ovens Welders Electric fences

Receiver De-Sense can be caused by strong

signals outside the channel, but within the pre-filter. The illustration shows a signal just outside a W-CDMA Rx channel (indicated by the vertical dotted lines) which is lowering the cells receive coverage. Once interference is seen at the Rx antenna, it is time to find it again at ground level and locate the source.

Where f1 and f2 represent the frequency of strong suspect source signals. Heres an example of potential IM between a PCS 1900 MHz band transmitter and a cell site on the new AWS-1 2110 MHz band:

Repeaters can cause interference in two

ways. The spectrogram shows a small office repeater, illegally installed, that had insufficient isolation between the two antennas which created an oscillation. A different repeater issue comes up when a network operator installs a large area repeater that unintentionally amplifies other operators signals. This can lead to unexpected excess coverage problems and frequency re-use issues.

Downlink Interference
Downlink interference is also a receiver issue. In this case, the interference hunt needs to start from the area identified as faulty by customer complaints.

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Interference Troubleshooting Guide utilizing Anritsus Handheld BTS Master, Cell Master, Site Master S332/62E, Spectrum Master w/ Options 25/27/31 and Master Software Tools
Interference Monitoring
If the interfering signal is not present when you are at the base station, interference monitoring can help. The goal of monitoring is to find out when the interference happens, what it looks like on the spectrum analyzer, how it behaves in the frequency domain, and where it is visible. The spectrogram is quite useful when looking for intermittent or hopping signals. First, its colors allow spotting signal patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed. By adjusting the top and bottom colors, these differences can be highlighted. Second, when paused, it is possible to scroll through the data, viewing intermittent signals of interest in both the spectrogram mode and the conventional Power versus Frequency mode.

Master Software Tools

Once data is captured, it can be moved to a PC or laptop for off-line analysis.

Identifying Interference
Visual Recognition by signal shape requires experience, but is a quick way to identify common signals. Call signs are a quick way to identify traditional

Locating Interference
Spectrum Analyzer sensitivity is important when
searching for an interference source. The better the sensitivity, the larger the area over which a signal can be detected. Modern hand-held spectrum analyzers, when optimized for interference hunting, are capable of displaying a noise floor under -160 dBm.

Locating Interference
Plotting interference signal strength is a
powerful way to locate elusive signals. Since the Master series instruments have a GPS option, its possible to hunt down interference by recording an interference signals power readings by location which can then be placed on a PC based map. There, the readings can be collected and compared to readings from other signal hunting sessions. This can be very useful when dealing with an intermittent signal. This technique can also be used for frequency clearing and checking coverage.

Movie capability allows replay of

significant parts of the power versus frequency captured traces in real-time. This allows viewing the trace as if you were there during the interfering event. By seeing the signal in this manner, it is sometimes possible to recognize the interference immediately. The histogram allows correlating captured signal strength, at a frequency, to time. This helps characterize how the interfering signal behaves over time. If it shows, for instance, that the interference consistently shows up between 3:00 PM and 3:05 PM on weekday afternoons, thats a good time to run the interference hunt.

Remote Monitoring is useful if a local area

network (LAN) is available at the monitoring sight. In this case, it can be very helpful to hook the BTS Master up and operate the instrument remotely. This makes it possible to monitor the site from the office, modifying the instrument setup when the interference appears to get a better view of the issue. This is a good way to characterize an intermittent interfering signal without multiple trips to the site.

radio signals. Even paging signals broadcast a Morse code identifier. These call signs can be found in regulatory data bases, such as the US De-sense can be an issue for spectrum analyzers FCCs data base at http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searc as well as radio hLicense.jsp. Regulatory data bases gives receivers. When a information on licensed transmitters, including spectrum analyzer is location, frequency, signal type, and contact used to hunt signals in phone numbers. the physical vicinity of a strong transmitter, Signal identification software can identify the front end may be de-sensed. There are a digital signals. Many digital signals, cellular number of small receive filters available for signals among them, do not transmit a easily spectrum analyzers that eliminate this issue. decoded call sign. The Fixed Markers are one of the simplest ways to Master series of spectrum analyzers look for changes in a signal as you move around. has a Signal ID option A marker can be placed on the interfering signal which takes much of and frozen, or become fixed, in amplitude. A the mystery out of the second marker is used to show the difference spectrum. between the fixed marker and the current trace.

Resolving Interference
Once interference is located, the issue needs to be resolved. If the signal is illegal or the result of equipment problems, the solution is often to turn the offending transmitter off. In some cases personal safety may be at stake. In this case, please get assistance from regulatory or police agencies. In other cases, a transmitter or receiver will need filtering. There is a wide array of band pass, band reject, and notch filters available and more can be custom made. Sometimes, due to legal rights and contracts, the only solution is to choose another location for one of the radios. If the issue is IM, it is time to clean up environmental diodes. This can involve relocating transmitter antennas to ensure adequate isolation, swapping out old multi-carrier antennas, and dealing with rusty or corroded junctions. Corrosion can be dealt with by cleaning the affected joint, insulating the junction so electrical contact is no longer made, or by making a solid electrical connection between the offending parts. Some fences or galvanized structures may need to be removed or replaced. Old lightning arrestors are prone to arcing, as are corroded or fractured antennas. Generally, the only way to deal with this is to replace the part.

Scrambling Code or Pilot Scanners can be used to troubleshoot

interference problems caused by the network operators own signals. These powerful tools give information to identify self interference sources including signal quality, pilot dominance, scrambling codes, PN Offsets, and Sector IDs.

Signal Strength Meters offer both visual and

audible feedback on signal strength. Its a quick way to hear the signal strength change as you move around or swing a directional antenna. When close to an interference source, this can be a fast way to find the source. The RSSI display can be used in a similar manner.

Save-on-Event masks are a helpful way to

simplify stand-alone signal monitoring. It is very useful when a LAN is not available. The best way to create a Save-on-Even mask is to first collect a max-hold waveform of the normal spectrum. The mask (limit lines) can then be created with a one button click. It can then be set to capture traces only when unusual events, such as interference, occur. This extends monitoring time and expedites analysis. On the lower side of the signal, a minimum mask can be created, which will save traces only when signals that should be present are not. This would show if a carrier went missing for some reason.

The Folder Spectrogram allows views of more than 15,000 recorded traces at once. Like the spectrum analyzer based spectrogram, it is a great help when looking for weak signals, drifting carriers, or hopping Direction Finding (DF) work is best done with a signals. When directional antenna, Multipath Scanners analyze specific digital loaded with the such as a Yagi, tuned results of a Save-on-Event signal monitoring signals to look for excessive reflections. to the band of interest. session, the time mark on each trace can be Excessive multipath creates interference from The DF process fading, particularly particularly useful. involves taking a series affecting CDMA and The 3D-Spectrogram can make recorded of directional readings, W-CDMA cell phone signals near, or on, other signals really or bearings, of the reception. These stand out. As an example, take a look at suspect signal and scanners show the the small interference signal near the green recording those various time delays, in marker in the plot below. readings on a map. By distance, chips, and taking readings closer and closer to the source, micro-seconds a the signal can be found, even if reflections are specific digital signal experiences. present.

Channel Scanners

work on any signal and are useful when looking for IM or harmonics. They can help spot signals widely separated in frequency that turn on and off together. This action indicates a cause-and-effect relationship between the two signals.

Some signals are difficult to spot from ground level. It can be helpful to take bearings from building rooftops if possible. If not, bearings can be taken at ground level at an intersection, followed by travel in the direction of the strongest signal. Repeat as needed to find the source.

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Document No. 11410-00472, Rev C Printed in the United States 2010-01