Mobile Drive Testing
SXMGO delivers continuous, GPS-synchronized, multi-band RF data collection across vehicle, backpack, and mobile survey scenarios, providing real-world coverage insights and interference intelligence for cellular and other wireless services.
Key Industry Takeaways For Mobile Drive Testing
For Regulators
and Policymakers
• Conduct continuous spectrum compliance monitoring across licensed territories
• Capture geolocated signal strength and occupancy for defensible reporting
• Enforce license boundaries with precise, GPS-tagged evidence
For Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)
• Map real-world mobile network coverage and performance across service areas
• Identify interference hotspots and coverage gaps impacting user experience
• Validate network rollouts and benchmark performance against competitors
For Private Network Operators (PNOs)
• Validate coverage for private network deployments
• Assess signal propagation and identify dead zones rapidly
• Execute field surveys without specialist drive test equipment
From Vehicle Roof to Backpack – One Platform for Every Mobile Survey Scenario
SXMGO redefines the experience by automating data capture and simplifying workflows. Its compact, vehicle-ready design combines multi-band RF acquisition with integrated GNSS/GPS and seamless cloud connectivity – enabling a single-pass, fully synchronized dataset that is immediately available for analysis in the SXM Dashboard.
Multi-Band Capture in Motion
SXMGO’s four RF inputs support flexible antenna configurations for every survey scenario – enabling remote management of multiple antennas, accommodating multiple antennas within a single study, or supporting geodiversity across up to four locations through sequential scanning.
Portable, Vehicle-Ready Setup
SXMGO enables instant field readiness with a simple, streamlined setup. Connect antennas, apply vehicle power, and begin collecting synchronized RF data within minutes. Its compact, lightweight form factor supports flexible deployment – whether mounted in-vehicle or used as part of a portable kit removing the need for racks, specialized integration, or time-consuming provisioning.
GPS-Synchronized Logging
SXMGO automates precise time and location alignment for every measurement using integrated GNSS/GPS. As the vehicle moves, RF and decoded 3GPP data are continuously synchronized and mapped to real-world coordinates – enabling accurate coverage visualization, interference detection, and route-by-route analysis. Configurations are managed through the SXM Dashboard, streamlining workflows and maintaining data consistency across studies.
Cloud Dashboard and Remote Access
SXMGO connects to the SXM Cloud for centralized processing, analytics, and team-wide access through the SXM Dashboard. Users can monitor incoming data, review historical results, manage node configuration, and export datasets through a single browser-based interface. The result is a simpler, more scalable workflow that moves data from collection to insight without dependence on a dedicated local workstation.
Post-Drive Analytics and Reporting
After a drive is complete, SXM processes georeferenced datasets within the SXM Dashboard, enabling visualization, filtering, and analysis of RF and decoded network data. Users can generate coverage views, analyze signal and spectrum conditions, and export datasets for regulatory reporting, network planning, and performance benchmarking streamlining post-drive workflows.
Solving Key Problems
Characterize, optimize, and validate real-world wireless network performance with GPS-synchronized, multi-band drive test data.
Setup Complexity and Deployment Time
The core value SXMGO brings to mobile drive testing is the simplification of blind scanning – the ability to capture RF activity across a wide frequency range without pre-configuring specific channels or technologies. Where traditional approaches require the operator to define measurement parameters in advance, SXMGO’s blind scan capability captures the full RF environment as-is, reducing pre-drive configuration time and ensuring that unexpected signals or interference sources are not missed due to narrow test scope.
Data Integrity and Geolocation Accuracy During Movement
Collecting consistent, accurately georeferenced data while in motion can be challenging especially in dense urban areas where GNSS conditions vary. SXMGO uses an integrated GNSS module to provide continuous positioning, with support for external antennas to improve performance in difficult environments. All measurement channels are time-aligned, ensuring coherent, reliable datasets across the full route.
Mobile Drive Testing
Regulators and
Policymakers
For regulators, mobile drive testing provides the independent, ground-truth RF evidence needed to verify that operators are meeting their license obligations across assigned coverage territories. Where operator-submitted coverage data may be modelled or aggregated, SXMGO drive surveys deliver sensor-collected, GPS-referenced measurements along real routes. SXM offers:
Route-Based Compliance Surveys
Regulators can use SXMGO to conduct structured drive surveys across licensed territories capturing signal presence, coverage, and detailed 3GPP network information along defined routes. By collecting synchronized RF and decoded cellular data, SXMGO enables assessment of spectrum usage, network deployment, and compliance conditions within a single survey. The GPS-aligned dataset provides a reliable, audit-ready record to support enforcement and regulatory reporting.
License Boundary Enforcement
SXMGO’s geospatially tagged RF data enables regulators to map coverage against licensed geographic boundaries, identifying transmissions that extend beyond authorized zones including cross-border transmissions. This supports enforcement action with precise, time-stamped evidence of boundary violations without relying on operator-submitted coverage claims.
Independent Coverage Verification
Rather than relying on mobile network operators to self-report coverage statistics, regulators can conduct independent drive test surveys using SXMGO to verify actual field performance against licensed obligations. The SXM platform provides standardized metrics that enable direct, objective comparison against regulatory benchmarks.
Cross-Region Interference Mapping
For regulators managing spectrum across administrative boundaries, SXMGO drive surveys can map interference sources along border corridors collecting the georeferenced RF evidence needed for cross-border coordination, dispute resolution, and joint spectrum management initiatives with neighboring administrations.
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)
MNOs depend on accurate, real-world coverage and quality data to plan networks, validate rollouts, manage interference, and benchmark against competitors. Drive testing remains the most reliable method for capturing how a network actually performs across the routes and corridors that matter to subscribers. SXM provides:
Coverage Validation and Quality Mapping
MNOs use SXMGO to map real-world 4G LTE and 5G NR coverage and quality across entire service areas such as highways, urban grids, suburban corridors, and rural routes. Drive surveys capture key RF and 3GPP metrics such as RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, and cell-level information across multiple bands in a single pass, providing reliable ground-truth data for network planning, optimization, and SLA validation.
Interference Zone Identification
Coverage degradation along a drive route can originate from a wide range of sources such as competing operators, rogue transmitters, passive intermodulation, or out-of-band interference. SXMGO’s automated detection and decode captures signal quality degradation with specific interference signatures along the route, enabling root-cause identification that static monitoring points cannot deliver.
Network Rollout and Upgrade Validation
Following a new cell site deployment, spectrum refarming, or technology upgrade, SXMGO enables MNOs to conduct before-and-after drive surveys that objectively validate performance improvement across the affected coverage area. The cloud-connected dataset is immediately available for analysis and reporting, accelerating rollout acceptance and stakeholder sign-off.
Competitive Benchmarking
SXMGO captures live RF activity from all active operators on the route, enabling MNOs to benchmark their own coverage and performance against competitors across the same geographic corridors. This intelligence directly informs spectrum acquisition strategy, network investment priorities, and market positioning decisions.
Private Network Operators (PNOs)
PNOs deploying outdoor private wireless networks across large or geographically complex sites need field-verified coverage and performance data not just modelled predictions. This is especially critical in environments with varied terrain, dense infrastructure, or mixed-use spectrum. SXM delivers:
Outdoor Private Network Coverage Validation
PNOs operating outdoor private mobile networks and other critical wireless services across industrial sites, ports, mining operations, agricultural estates, or campuses can use SXMGO to validate coverage across the full deployment area. A single, portable platform supports multiple RF and wireless measurement types combining georeferenced RF data with detailed 3GPP insights enabling operators to assess coverage, signal quality, and network performance without the need for multiple specialized tools.
Signal Propagation Assessment
Before committing to cell site locations for a new private network deployment, SXMGO drive surveys map actual signal propagation across the target site under real environmental conditions. This ground-truth data validates propagation models and informs antenna placement decisions reducing the risk of costly post-deployment coverage gaps.
Rapid Field Surveys Without Specialist Equipment
Traditional drive test platforms require specialist operators and dedicated test vehicles. SXMGO’s fast setup, flexible power options, and intuitive SXM Dashboard make it accessible to field engineers without drive test expertise enabling PNOs to conduct their own RF surveys on demand, on schedule, and within their existing operational workflows.
Interference Source Localization
When private network performance degrades along specific routes or in specific zones, SXMGO drive surveys generate the georeferenced RF data needed to correlate performance degradation with specific geographic locations and interference signatures. This accelerates root-cause analysis and supports targeted remediation reducing the operational impact of interference events on critical private network services.
Why Rely on SXMGO for Mobile Drive Testing?
SXMGO redefines what a drive test platform can deliver – combining the rigor of traditional RF collection with the agility and scalability of a modern cloud-connected system. Four RF inputs eliminate the need for multiple test runs. Integrated GNSS/GPS ensures every measurement is precisely georeferenced. Instant setup and flexible power options reduce time-to first measurement. And the SXM Dashboard delivers real-time visibility and post-drive analytics without local workstation dependency. Whether the objective is regulatory compliance documentation, competitive benchmarking, network rollout validation, or private network coverage mapping, SXMGO delivers the data quality, operational efficiency, and analytical depth that field teams require.
Frequently Asked Questions
Explore how SXM is transforming the way telecom regulators, mobile operators, and private network operators monitor and manage spectrum with real-time actionable network insights.
Ready to Map Your Network’s Real-World Performance?
SXMGO transforms mobile drive testing – delivering multi-band, GPS-synchronized coverage intelligence from a single portable device, with real-time cloud analytics and zero specialist setup required.
