The research on Globacom MNPs: assessment of the QoS provided by mobile operators Essay

In this section, we present the method used in this research work. Globacom MNPs was used as a case study as their network is perceived to be used by the majority of the mobile users in the selected test area. No assumptions were made as the data used were collected every 4 hours i.e. 2am, 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm and 10pm three times in a week i.e. Mondays' Wednesdays' and Saturdays' for 4weeks and for each hour 10 data (ring tones) was collected. Two methods were used in choosing the best out of each 10 set for accuracy
3.0.1 Direct listening
The ring tones were listened to by few people one after the other to choose the best of each 10 set. The chosen tone was fed into the design to extract the relevant call parameters (SMT, InterBurst Time, IntraBurst time, Call Duration, and Number of Burst). Also, some other parameter like mean squared error, Amplitude of the burst, frequency, SNR etc. were used for further analysis.
3.0.2 Globacom standard
These MNP has their SMT to be 7 seconds for calls between their customers, it has a standard pattern and sound which completely differs from other network hence the ring tone that best suit this standard was choose from the set. The chosen tone was then used as an Observe Value (y) in QoS estimation.
3.1 Test area
Since the aim of the research was to assess the QoS provided by mobile operators as perceived by the user, we selected areas where these services are most used, i.e. Suburban Districts of Abuja these districts are not within the Federal Capital City (FCC) but because of their proximity to the FCC, they have attracted some development and many people who work in the FCC live in these suburban districts. For the purpose of this research Lugbe district is chosen. Lugbe is one of the popular suburban settlements in Abuja. It is in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC). It is largely residential and densely populated. Lugbe is about 17 minutes drive from the Central Business District of Abuja and 13 minutes drive to the Abuja Airport. It is along the airport road. Lugbe is divided into five districts namely Lugbe south, Lugbe north, Lugbe central, Lugbe west and Lugbe east.
Though Lugbe is not in the Federal Capital City (FCC), its proximity to the city centre and also to the Abuja airport has brought it into lime light and attracted significant development to the area. The area is developing very fast and is viable area to invest in real estate.
The Airport road has heavy traffic (around Lugbe area) in the early hours of the morning between 6.00am to 10.00am and 4.00pm to 8.30pm on the lanes from Lugbe to city centre and city centre to Lugbe respectively. During these periods of heavy traffic the journey to or from Lugbe to city centre could take well over one hour. The Express way is presently being expanded from the present four lanes to ten lanes