BARÁNEK, M. Mapping and analyzing signal coverage in 4G/5G mobile networks [online]. Brno: Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta elektrotechniky a komunikačních technologií. 2024.
The diploma thesis of Mr. Michal Baránek focuses on measuring and analyzing signal coverage in 4G/5G mobile networks. For this purpose, the student created a portable setup for long-term measurement of 4G/5G mobile signals. He created an open-source software with a graphical user interface (GUI) in the programming environment of Python, enabling to provide automatic measurement and extracting key performance indicators (KPIs) from 4G/5G networks. Several measurement campaigns were conducted, divided into static (measurement device is stationary) and mobile (measurement during movement) scenarios. The obtained results are clearly and meticulously processed and evaluated. This part of the work also includes a comparison of three methods aimed at creating a coverage map for the measured areas. Additionally, the student created a laboratory assignment focused on analyzing the coverage of 4G/5G mobile networks. All source codes, files, and databases from the long-term measurements conducted as part of the thesis have been made available by the student on the GitHub repository. The scope of the thesis is extensive, exceeding 110 pages, including attachment. The thesis is written using the LaTeX typesetting system, ensuring its formal and graphical aspects are of excellent quality. The text, written in English, contains only a minimal number of grammatical, terminological, or formal errors, which do not detract from the overall quality of the work. There are very few images used from other works, and all sources used are properly cited. The work with scientific literature is outstanding. Mr. Baránek worked independently and showed great interest in the project. He regularly utilized consultation opportunities, consistently presenting the current state of his work and preliminary results. Part of the thesis was presented at the student competition EEICT 2024, where the student won second place in the category "M3 – Communication and Information Systems, Network Security I." The thesis assignment was fully completed, and the outputs could even be used to prepare a conference or journal article. The student demonstrated excellent engineering thinking in solving the complex problems he encountered during the thesis. The collaboration and communication with him were outstanding, for which I would like to express my gratitude. I highly recommend this thesis for defense and propose a grade of A/100.
The submitted thesis is a work of superior quality in all respects. The student successfully dealt with hardware design, software development, establishing a methodology for measuring 4G/5G mobile networks, used machine learning methods and analyzed the results obtained during a large-scale measurement campaign. As a result, the student demonstrated knowledge in various disciplines and areas and was able to produce a coherent piece of work built on his expertise. From a formal point of view, the work is of an excellent standard, as is the language level. Only partial criticisms could be made, such as the hardware design not being documented in detail, or the problematic comparison of certain data presented. However, these objections are minor and do not lower the overall quality of the thesis. The proposed codes and measured data in csv format are available on GitHub. In addition to the above, the student also created a guide for a laboratory exercise for one of the courses at the faculty. In view of the above, I rate the thesis A/100 and also suggest the committee to consider whether to nominate the thesis for some special award.
eVSKP id 159649