James Zhou

jvassallo@epitec.com

SUMMARY

 

Sr. RAN Design&System Engineer with + 20 years’ experience in Mobile telecommunications industry. Expertise in all development phases of wireless LTE / UMTS / GSM systems. Effectively analyze, design, validate and implement end-to-end wireless mobile systems with multi-vendor system architecture that encompasses Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, NSN and Nortel products. Enhance existing systems with new features and performance improvements. Use communication, organization, analytical and problem solving skills ensuring on-time order delivery. Strengths in:

 

·               LTE / UMTS RAN Validation, Design and Strategy	·               HetNet /SON Architecture and Small Cell Solutions
·               IMS Platform, IR94 Video, Volte, SRVCC, CSFB	·               4G / 3G / 2G Inter-RAT Mobility and Load Balance
·               E2E IP QOS and Radio Resource Management	·               LTE Network KPI Analysis and Optimization

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

 

AT&T Lab, Redmond, WA, Current2013.7 – Now

Sr. Network Engineer

 

Collaborating with multiple teams to assess multiple vendors LTE features functionality, interaction and performance; validating and integrating E2E Volte, IR94 live video service involving E2E QoS analysis; simulating cell edge and cell congestion and load testing, Optimizing and validating 2G/3G/LTE inter-working, mobility and load balance.
 

Major Responsibilities:

·               Work typically includes in-depth assessment of RAN features, providing network modeling, prototyping and simulation testing, consulting to further clarify needs to deliver feature functionality. Performs RAN engineering assignments, including design, development, and documentation.

·               Support the RAN product introduction of new feature functionality including lab test execution, and troubleshooting.

·               Provide input to Engineering to ensure operational needs are taken into account and assist to define monitoring, troubleshooting, and procedural requirements. Lead efforts to respond to performance related issues and trends prior to impact on services

·               Worked with multiple teams to investigate and resolve highly complex technical design or service issues that cannot be resolved through normal operations and maintenance procedures and provide leadership for root cause analysis to drive issue revolution and limit impact to the customer.

·               Evaluating point-to-point broadband radio and free-space optical backhaul technologies and equipment. This will entail designing tests and experiments; developing AT&T requirements and bench test plans, conducting bench tests to characterize radio performance and network compatibility; collecting, processing, and analyzing test data; documenting results; and determining the impact of results as they relate to AT&T’s engineering rules and guidelines documents; and supporting successful initial deployments

·               Responsible for supporting data fill/configuration changes, collaborating with design and development teams for isolation and resolution of issues impacting critical testing.

·               Assist with call flow documentation and work with remote testers on provisioning, verification using call trace and other tools and verification of lab nodes including, but not limited to IMS/HSS/HLR/MIND

Accomplishments:

·               Completed Ericsson LTE RAN release 13A, 14A,  and 14B features validation, integration and performance evaluation.

·               Completed ALU LTE RAN release 13.1/13.3, 14.1/14.3 features validation, integration and performance evaluation.

·               Completed ALU and E/// live video IR94 feature testing by collaborating with service architecture, system design and vendors PLM , and completed the evaluation E2E IR94 quality and performance, and ready for commercial launch.

·               Helped to solve the tough issues:

o        Manhattan Neilson driving issue for ALU DL throughput congestion and degradation.

o        IR94 UL packet loss issues at cell edge and TTI-B mode to improve IR94 video quality MOS 1.0 to 3.0

o        IR94 rate adaptation to help video quality at cell edge by reducing video rate to half rate.

·               Completed evaluation the Nokia, E/// and ALU LTE radio performance and comparison report.

·               Implemented automation traffic testing suite by using Spirent and combined with azimuth radio propagation simulator.

 

Nokia Siemens Network, Bothell, WA2013.4 – 2013.7

Sr. Engineer, LTE Network Optimization

 

Collaborating with multiple teams in KPI analyzing and network optimization for T-Mobile LTE commercial launch involving driving testing data analysis, OSS KPI analysis, X2, S1 Handover, 2G/3G/LTE inter-working and mobility and traffic balance.
Major Responsibilities:

·               Analysis driving test data to investigate cell coverage and capacity, cell interference and abnormal events issues.

·               Analysis OSS KPI data: Accessibility, Retainability, Capacity, Mobility, Latency, and Traffic, and investigate different issues to meet T-Mobile LTE commercial launch criteria.

·               Implementation of new features and system gain/value evaluation.

·               Analysis 2G/3G/LTE Inter-RAT mobility issues and balance and prioritize different types traffic between three systems.

 

T-MOBILE, Bellevue, WA2011.8 – 2013.4

Sr. Engineer, System Design and Strategy

Collaborated with 4 – 5 teams in designing and developing LTE/UMTS RAN system and small cell / HetNet (Heterogeneous Network) architecture involving LTE release 9 to 12 release contents, SON feature, small cell inter-working with macro, backhaul design, offload macro, traffic balance, and KPI optimization technologies improving wireless network coverage and capacity.

·               Completed T-Mobile small cell design requirements document (PRD) including multi-tech small cell specification, portfolio and roadmap, key features, backhaul, evolution and OSS that built up TMO’s HetNet architecture complying with 3GPP release 10 to 12 contents

·               Delivered milestone of LTE-Advance commercial launch by supporting LTE modernization project plan with vendor solution evaluation, deep dive feature analysis, performance evaluation, product/feature roadmap and testing strategy.

·               Improved vendor selection by analyzing and evaluating 5 small cell vendor’s solutions and architecture and completing comprehensive report.

·               Solved poor indoor coverage issues by completing indoor small cell GA product S8 and E16 and creating deployment guidance for use and business cases.

·               Increased call success rate from 85% to 99% by supporting small cell RF planning, tuning and Key Performance Index (KPI) optimization to solve EDCH congestion and stability issues.

·               Reduced large operation and maintenance cost for small cell deployment by designing Self Organization Network (SON) features for small cell and completing Plug & Play features.

 

ALCATEL-LUCENT, Ottawa, ON2000 – 2011

Sr. Engineer, System Integration and Verification

Contributed to research and development of Long Term Evolution (LTE) / Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) End-to-End system, designed and delivered Radio Access Network (RAN) system features to customers according to market request and 3GPP roadmap, evaluated feature performance and system value proposition, developed SW / HW releases and roadmap based on Scrum Agile process and provided SW / HW fixes and patches to multiple vendors.

·               Completed validation and integration of UMTS and LTE multiple RAN releases.

·               Delivered multiple RAN features including Multi-carrier, Iub IP, Iub satellite, SRB on EDCH, and EDCH macro diversity.

·               Increased UL throughput 60% – 80% by optimizing HARQ algorism to improve cell edge performance.

·               Reached KPI 99% for accessibility, retainability, mobility and congestion by analyzing KPI and troubleshooting RAN issues for UMTS release 5 and 6.

·               Delivered milestones of making 1^st End-to-End PS call after integrating and completing setup of the 1^st LTE system in Ottawa lab and 1^st dual mode RAN system (LTE + UMTS) in ALU.

·               Supported 1^st LTE and UMTS trials in AT&T and CMCC, and completed LTE/UMTS commercial launch.

 

ADDITIONAL RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

 

SIEMENS MOBILE COMMUNICATION LTD., Shanghai, China                                                                             1995 – 2000

Sr. Manager, Technical Management

Led 4 technical teams in development and production of Siemens Global System for Mobile / General Packet Radio Service (GSM / GPRS) mobile phones and Base Transceiver Station (BTS) portfolio

SHANGHAI RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF MICROWAVE TECHNOLOGY, Shanghai, China                                       1987 – 1995

Engineer, RF Design

Designed microwave mine detectors for Chinese Military, and conducted research and development on microwave technology.  Received First Class award in State Science Invention Awards of China

TECHNICAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

 

RAN Experience and 3GPP	3GPP  Release 4 to 12 Detail Contents
	+ 10 Years Alcatel-Lucent LTE / UMTS E2E System
	+ 5 Years Ericsson and NSN LTE RAN System
	+ 5 Years NSN GSM / GPRS RAN system
	+ 2 Years HetNet / SON Architecture with Small Cell (DAS, PICO, Femto, Metro)
	2 IPAccess / SpiderCloud  Small Cell System
Network Protocols	LTE:  OFDM/MIMO/MAC/RLC/PDCP/RRC/NAS, S1-AP/U/MME/SCTP, S5/S8 UMTS, /RRC/RLC/MAC/, NBAP, RANAP and RASAP, SM, GMM and MM
	IMS:  RTP/RTCP, SDP. DSCP, TCP/UDP/IP,
	LTE Radio UL Channels: PUCCH/PUSCH/SRS/PRACH/FPC/Power Control
	LTE Radio DL Channels: DL-PDSCH/PDCCH/DCI/SIB/CFI
	Routing Protocols:  BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS, VPLS, VRRP, SSH, SNMP
LTE Service and Mobility	IR94 Live Video, VoLTE, eMBMS, SRVCC, CSFB to UMTS / GSM
	Intra / Inter RAT Cell Reselection
	Inter-RAT PS handover between LTE, UMTS and GSM
	MME / Serving-GW / PDN-GW, RNC / SGSN / GGSN inter-working
	LTE S1 and X2 HO
LTE Network Optimization	Cell Planning, Link budget Calculation / Propagation / Path loss Modeling
	LTE MIMO and Adaptive Antenna Performance tuning
	Inter-Cell Interference Control (ICIC, eICIC)
	KPI, Matrix Build, Collection, Analysis and Optimization
	IP QoS DSCP and TTI scheduling / HARQ Re-transmission
Test Tools and Skills	Driving Test Tool: QXDM, Ericsson TEMS,  XCAL / XCAP and JDSU
	Protocol Analyzer:  Wireshark, JDSU, RADCOM, and Nethawk
	Spectrum Analyzer:  JDSU, Rohde & Schwarz
	IP/IMS Protocol Analyzer: JDSU, WireShark, Tektronix/IRIS
	RF Planning /Optimization Tool:  Atoll, NSN/Actix, Post Analyzer:  QCAT, eDAT, Cta and Ctg trace. KPI Tool: NPO, NPS/NMS RF Simulator: Azimuth Load testing: Aeroflex and IXIA
Compute Skills	Oracle Professional Certificate, OCP SCO UNIX Certificate Engineer NT Microsoft Certified System Engineer, MCSE

 

EDUCATION / PROFESSINAL DEVELOPMENT

 

·         BS, Radio and Information Engineering, University of Shanghai, Shanghai, China

·               Certificate from Project Management Training in Siemens Management MBA Program

·               Oracle Professional Certification, OCP

·               SCO UNIX Certificate Engineer

·               NT Microsoft Certified System Engineer, MCSE

·         LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technical training

·         UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) technical training

·         ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) inter-working training

·         HP SS7 protocol stack training

·         PASSPORT 7k and 15K training

·         SCP, SMS, SAP intelligent networking training

·               Siemens 900, 1800 GSM, GPRS system training

·               RADCOM, Nethawk, XCAT and XCAP and MGTS tool training