Using Bayesian networks to improve fault diagnosis during manufacturing tests of mobile telephone infrastructure

Intense competition and the requirement to continually drive down costs within a mature mobile telephone infrastructure market calls for new and innovative solutions to process improvement. One particular challenge is to improve the quality and reliability of the diagnostic process for systems testing of Global System for Mobile Communications and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System products. In this paper, we concentrate on a particularly important equipment type – the Base Transceiver Station (BTS). The BTS manages the radio channels and transfers signalling information to and from mobile stations (i.e. mobile phones). Most of the diagnostic processes are manually operated and rely heavily on individual operators and technicians' knowledge for their performance.