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OMD6046

Case Analsyis--Handover
ISSUE1.1

Wireless Curriculum
Development Section
Outline of Handover Topic

 Statistics by handover counter


 Searching process of handover data
 Analysis of causes of handover
problem
 Handover cases
Statistic Point of Handover Counter

 Statistics of handover counter


 Intra-BSC handover
 Inter-BSC handover
Statistic Point of Handover Counter -
Intra-BSC Handover

MS BTS(Source) BSC BTS(Target) MSC

Measurement Report
Attempted incoming internal
Measurement Report inter cell handovers

Handover algorithm verdict on the cell handover request T09++


(In-cell handover request get to) T12++

Channel Activation
Chan Attempted outgoing internal
nel Activation ACK inter cell handovers

Handover Command (Old FACCH) Successful incoming


internal in-cell
Handover Access (New FACCH) handover

Handover Complete (New FACCH) T10++ T13++

RF Channel Release Successful outgoing internal in-cell


handover
Handover Performed
Statistic Point of Handover Counter - Intra-BSC Handover

Handover Formula

Internal inter cell handover Success rate


success inter cell handovers
=—————————————
Attempted inter cell handovers

cell radio handover Success rate


success inter cell handovers
=—————————————
Inter cell handovers

cell handover Success rates >=internal inter cell handover success rates
Statistic Point of Handover Counter - Intra-BSC
Handover
Possible causes of failure of intra-BSC handover

 No available channel in the destination cell


 Channel activation negative acknowledgement - CHAN ACK NAC
K
 Transmitting channel activation message failure
 Waiting channel activation timeout
 MS access failure ( Radio interface may be the cause )


Max repeat time of physical information *radio link connected with
the timer < time interval of EST IND~HO DETECT (120~180ms)
 Waiting to timeout after establish indication (MS has not received
UA frame or has not sent handover complete message)
Statistic Point of Handover Counter - Inter-BSC Handover
MS BTS(Source) BSC MSC BSC BTS(Target)

Measureme
nt Report Meas
urement Report Attempted outgoing inter-BSC
The same as intra-MSC

inter cell handovers

Attempted incoming
Handover Required T17++ inter-BSC inter cell handovers

Handover Request T14++

Channel ACT

Channel ACT ACK

Handover Request ACK

Handover Command

Handover Access

Handover Detect Successful incoming interBSC


inter cell handover
Handover Complete

Handover Complete T15++

Clear Command(HO successful) T18++

RF Channel Release Successful outgoing interBSC


inter cell handover
Clear Complete
Statistic Point of Handover Counter - Inter-BSC Handover

Signaling flow between MSCs

MS BSC-A MSC-A MSC-B VLR-B BSC-B MS


HO-Required
MAP_Prepare_HO MAP_Allocate_HO_NUM

MAP_Send_HO_Repor
t
MAP_Send_HO_Report_AC
K
HO-Request
MAP_Prepare_HO_ACK HO-Request-ACK
IAI
HO-Command ACM
HO-Access
MAP_Process_Access_Signalling
Some intermediate steps are omitted
HO-Complete
MAP_Send_End_Signal
Clear-Command
Clear-Complete
MAP_Send_End_Signal_ACK
Statistic Point of Handover Counter - Inter-BSC Handover

Success ratio of
Success times of inter-cell handover between BSCs
inter-BSC handover =————————————— --------------×100 %
Request times of inter-cell handover between BSCs

Success ratio of
Destination BSC receives HO-COMP from MS
In-BSC handover =————————————— ----------------×100 %
After destination BSC receives HO-REQ
Success ratio of
Source BSC receives Clear-COMD from MSC
Out-BSC handover =—————————————— ------------×100 %
After BSC sends HO-Required
Outline of Handover Topic

 Statistics by handover counter

 Searching process of handover


data
 Analysis of causes of handover
problem
 Handover cases
Searching Process of Handover Data
1. BCCH of all adjacent cells in BA2 table are sent to MS on system
message 5.
2. MS reports service cell and six adjacent cell where level is the most
powerful (through measurement report) to BSS, including the
BCCH , BSIC and signal level of the adjacent cells and service
cells.
3. When the measurement report is pre-processed, BSC determines
the module ID, cell ID and CGI of all adjacent cells through BCCH
frequency and BSIC in Cell Adjacency Relation Table and Cell
Description Data Table (or External Cell Description Data Table).
4. BSC executes handover verdict flow such as basic cell sorting (on
LAPD board). Once a proper destination is found, the handover
request message of the destination cell CGI will be sent to MPU of
BSC host, and then MPU will confirm the module ID of the cell in
Cell Module Information Table based on the CGI.
5. MPU sends handover request message to the module and makes
statistics of “Out-cell handover request”.
Searching Processing of Handover Data

6. If the destination cell triggered by BSC is an external cell, the


CGI of the destination cell and service cell is sent to MSC with the
handover request.

7. MSC first goes to “Location Area Cell Table” to search the cell
that matches the CGI of the destination cell. Once the cell is
found, confirm which BSC is belong to. Send the handover request
message to this BSC.

8. If there is no CGI of the destination cell in “Location Area Cell


Table”, go to “adjacent MSC table” and find the destination MSC,
then send the handover request message to this MSC.
Outline of Handover Topic
 Statistics by handover counter

 Searching process of handover


data
 Analysis of causes of handover
problem
 Handover cases
Analysis of Handover
Problem

 Types of Handover Problems

 Locating problem
 Causes of Handover Problem
Type of Handover Problem

 No handover - Dropout occurs

 Handover failure - Affect the communication quality, he


nce the dropout.

 Frequent handover - Affect the communication quality


and increase the system load
Locating Handover
Problem

 Analyze traffic statistics


Measurement of BSC overall performance
Measurement of inter-cell handover performance
Measurement of out-cell/in-cell handover performance
Measurement of performance of undefined adjacent cells
 View alarm: Board fault, transmission, clock, etc.
 Drive test
 Analyze signaling: A interface, E interface, Abis interface
Analysis of Handover Problem

 Coverage and interference at radio interfa


ce
 Antenna & feeder system
 BS software/hardware
 Transmission
 BSC software/hardware/ Data Configurati
on
 A interface problem
 Destination cell is busy
 Interconnection with equipment of other m
anufacturers
Analysis of Causes of Handover Problem

I. Coverage and interference at radio interface

1. Coverage:

Poor coverage: forest, complicated topography,


building direction and indoor coverage

Isolated site: no-neighbor cell

Over coverage: island effect result in a no-neighbor


cell

2. Interference: consequently, MS uplink can not be


accessed or the downlink can not receive any signal.
Analysis of Causes of Handover Problem

Island effect results in handover failure

There is no
adjacent cells,
so handover
become Non-adjacent
impossible. Adjacent
cell
cell N1
Service cell
Non-adjacent
cell Adjacent
Cell N2

Non-adjacent Adjacent

cell Cell N3
Isolated island
resulting from
cross-cell
coverage
Analysis of Causes of Handover Problem

II. Antenna & Feeder System


1. High voltage standing wave ratio(VSWR)
2. Antennae are not properly installed
3. Antennae are not parallel
4. The azimuth and obliquity are not correct
5. Poor antenna isolation
6. RF cables ,connection are loose or incorrect
connection
Analysis of Causes of Handover Problem

III. BTS software/hardware


1. CDU, splitter/combiner failure
2. TRX, RC board failure
3. TMU failure
4. FPU failure
5. Clock failure
6. Internal communication cable
7. BTS software
Analysis of Causes of Handover Problem

IV. Transmission
1. Transmission is not stable
2. Serious BER in transmission

V. Fault BSC Software/Hardware


Example for:Clock board: the defective clock board caus
es clock inconsistency between BSs.
Analysis of Causes of Handover Problem

Data Configuration - Cause handover failure, delay, frequent handov


er, no handover, unreasonable in/out handover ratio
 Improper setting of handover threshold (higher, lower, the edge handover thr
eshold is higher than the power control threshold.)

 Improper setting of hysteresis handover and priority handover

 Improper setting of P, N value of statistic time

 Incomplete frequency and adjacency relation configured in BA2 table

 There are adjacent cells with the same frequency and the same BSIC

 CGI and module ID in “Cell Description Data Table” are different from those i
n “Cell Module Information Table”.

 CGI, BCCH and BSIC in “External Cell Description Table” are different from t
hose in the opposite BSC.

 The Destination signaling point of BSC in MSC “Location Area Cell Table” is i
ncorrect.
Analysis of Causes of Handover Problem

Precautions:
 “Frequency of Preprocess Measurement Report”: when “Measurement
Report Preprocess” is enable , if the link configuration is 15:1, the
setting is once per second. At this time, for the handovers that needs P/N
verdict, such as boundary handover, layer handover, PBGT handover
and concentric handover, the P/N verdict time should be shortened.
 BSC can not process the CGI in lower case. Therefore it must be input
in upper case, otherwise the handover would fail.
 BSC does not recognize CI as FFFF cell, otherwise the handover would
not happen
 “Transmitting BS/MS Power Level”: If the measurement report
preprocess is enabled, this parameter must be set to “Yes”.
Analysis of Causes of Handover Problem

VI. A interface Problem

Basically the insufficient link resource results in the abnormal handover,


as well as abnormal communication.

VII. Destination Cell Busy

The destination cell is busy and there is no available channel, which


causes the handover failure. Then the destination cell should be
expanded or reduce its traffic .

VIII. Handover between Equipment of Different


Manufacturers

The signalings at A interface, E interface of the opposite end are not


matching to our equipment and they can not be recognized or support,
which causes the handover failure, such as voice version, handover
number, TUP circuit, addressing mode (CGI or LAI).
Outline of Handover Topic

 Statistics by handover counter


 Searching process of handover
data
 Analysis of causes of handover
problem
 Handover cases
Typical Handover Cases

Case 1

Fault Description: a 1800 cell of a dual-band network


(all the cells of this are 1800), the success ratio of in-BS
C handover and in-cell handover in BSC are low from th
e beginning of the service, while out-cell handovers ins
ide BSC and between BSCs are normal.
Typical Handover
Case
Case 1

Tips for troubleshooting:


1. Register the traffic statistics and analyze whether the low
handover ratio is due to the failure of handover from all cells to this
cell or from some few cells to this cell.
2. If handover fails from some few cells to this cell, check the
handover data and see whether there is co-channel or same BSIC
problem.
3. If handover fails from all other cells to this cell, check the data of
this cell.
4. If data cause is ruled out, check the hardware carefully. Check
the alarm or perform drive test to locate uplink fault or downlink
fault. Check step by step and find out the cause.
Typical Handover Case
Solution:
1. Register the in-cell handover performance measurement and find that
the success ratio of handover from all other cells to this cell is low,
although it is not always 0 percent. Check the data and the data are
correct.
2. Perform drive test and find that the downlink signal is normal but
almost all handovers to this cell fail. In the BS, the handover is
successful occasionally.——Perhaps the problem is with the uplink
signal.
3. Check the uplink, antenna, CDU are no problem. Change the TRX and
everything is normal.

Conclusion: The symptom is that the uplink and downlink at


UM port are not balanced so the opposite hears low quality
voice.
Typical Handover Case

Case 2

Fault Description: in a cell of a 900M mono-


frequency network, the success ratio of in-cell
wireless handover in BSC is low (10 %~ 30 % ),
which is the same as handover success ratio.
Typical Handover Case

Case 2

Analysis:
Since the wireless handover ratio is low, check
data, coverage and interference.
Data: co-frequency of BCCH and co-BSIC
Coverage: signal is weak, uplink and downlink are
not balanced.
Interference: high BER, MS can not be accessed or
can not receive signals correctly.
Typical Handover Cases
Solution:
1. Check data: register “In-cell Handover Performance Measurement” and
find that the success ratio of handover into all adjacent cells is low, but is not
0. Check the data to find that there is no co-frequency 0f BCCH and co-BSIC
problem. Data cause is ruled out.
2. Check coverage:
 The traffic in this cell is relatively low. Check “BS Maintenance” to find that

TCH channel can be occupied, but occupation times are few.


 Perform a drive test. In a place 2 km from the BS, the downlink receiving

signal is - 85dbm, but in-cell handovers always fail or dropout always


occurs at handover.
 Make dial test in this cell by locking frequency, the caller can not be

created. The called can be created but can not call out. A rough conclusion is
that poor uplink causes the problem.
3. Check the installation of uplink hardware, nothing abnormal is identified.
Maybe a fault has occurred to the uplink path of TRX or CDU. Replace CDU,
the problem is solved.

Conclusion: hardware fault results in poor signal,


and the success ratio of wireless handover is low.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 3

Fault Description: After a dual-band network was LAPD updated on


September 19, it was found that some cells in module 4 under 1800M are
seriously congested (40 %~ 50 % ), and overall handover index of BSC
(success ratio of out/in-BSC handovers and inter-cell handover inside
BSC) is lowered, from 95 % to about 90 % . From “Inter-cell handover
performance measurement, it was found that beside module 4, some
cells of other modules also suffer from the problem that inter-cell
handover success ratio is lowered. After September 19, the situation was
worsened.
Typical Handover Cases

Case 3

Analysis:
1. Check whether it is attributed to LAPD
updating;
2. Analyze traffic statistics, the main causes of
the failure and locate the problem.
Typical Handover Cases
Solution:
1. Check whether it is attributed to LAPD updating: after the upgdating,
not all cells under module 4 are congested and the handover indexes of
some indexes are not lowered. Upgrading is not the cause.
2. Analyze traffic statistics:
 Congested cells are mostly at Site A and Site B. Their traffics are lower
ed than those before the upgrading. It is a pseudo congestion.
 The cells where handover success ratio is lowered are mostly at Site A
, B, C, D and E and the main cause of the failure is timer timeout.
3. Check alarm:
At 19:31 of September 18, the clock systems of Site A and Site B gave al
arms. It was found that 13M loses lock.
the clock problem lowers the handover success ratio of the two sites. S
uch impact is spread to the adjacent cells of these two cells and even to t
he whole network.
Typical Handover Cases
Solution:
4. Analyze handover data and traffic statistics:
All cells where handover success ratio is lowered are adjacent
to A and B except A and B themselves.
5. Reset Site A and Site B, the clock system is recovered, and
the handover success ratio inter/intra-BSC goes up to 93 % . The
problem is solved.

Conclusion: the problem in clock system


will lower the handover success ratio. Pay
attention to the alarm console and the
slow switchover of the clock system.
Typical Handover Cases

Case 4

Fault Description: Huawei BSC and the another manufacturer’B


SC(for short S BSC) are connected to the same MSC. After the c
utover, S BSC’BS can not handover into Huawei BS but Huawei
BS can handover into S’BSC BS. In other words, “In-BSC hando
ver request times” of Huawei BSC is 0.
Typical Handover Cases

Case 4

Analysis: Since in-BSC handover request


times is 0 but the out handover is normal.
Carefully check the out-cell handover
signaling and handover data at S BSC side
Typical Handover Cases
Case 4

Solution:
1. Trace interface message. After receiving HO-REQUEST
message, Huawei BSC returns HO-FAILURE message
immediately but Huawei BSC should have returned HO-
REQ-ACK message as in normal conditions.

Carefully analyze HO-REQ message and HO-FAILURE


message
Typical Handover Cases
Typical Handover Cases
HO-REQUEST
Typical Handover Cases
Case 4

Solution :
HO-FALUER: The cause of the failure is invalid message cont
2.解决方法:
ent
3. HO-REQ : the difference is basically the Address Indicator in c
omparison with the normal handover request message. HUAWEI B
SC does not recognize case 41. The system thinks that Address In
dicator must be 0x43. inform the owner of network, modify the rel
ation parameter,and this problem is solved.
Typical Handover Cases

Case 4

Conclusion:
解决方法:
In interworking with equipment of other manufacturers, faults
can be located by analyzing the signaling.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 5

Fault Description: Huawei MSC interworks with MSC of N


解决方法:
(manufacturer) with N’s BSC attached. The communication is
normal. The handovers inside Huawei BSC and in-BSC are
normal, but out-BSC handover success ratio is about 25%.
The handover from the BSC of N to Huawei BSC is successful
and the subsequent handover is also successful (In the same
communication, the handover goes back to BSC of N).
Typical Handover Cases
Case 5

Analysis: Check handover data, including the


解决方法:
external cell description table, BA2 table, cell
adjacency relation table inside Huawei BSC
and opposite BSC and CGI at MSC side. If the
data are correct, check out-BSC handover
signaling.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 5
Solution:
1. Check data: BSC and MSC of Huawei and N. No problem is found.
2. Check alarm: BS maintenance console, No.7 link and A interface circuit are all nor
mal.
解决方法:
3. Trace Huawei A interface signaling. After “HO-Required” message is received, “H
O-COMD” command is not received from MSC.
4. Trace MAP message at E interface (inter-MSC) with a signaling meter. It is found t
hat after receiving HO-Number, Huawei MSC never sends IAI (Initial Address Informa
tion).
5. Check HO-Number message from the opposite end to find that the handover code
format is 130********(only a number of mobile telephone, no any prefix). But this mobi
le company requires that roaming/handover between exchanges should be in the for
mat: 00+country code+roaming/handover number. In addition, Huawei equipment do
es not recognize the handover number without 00+country code. Therefore the signa
ling is halted.
6. Coordinate with N, asking them to add “00+country code” before the handover nu
mber. Then out-BSC handover is normal.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 5

Conclusion: Problems can be located quickly and accurately


解决方法:
if you are familiar with the signaling flow of handovers.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 6

Fault Description: In the independent MSC networking of a


解决方法:
dual frequency network, Huawei 1800M coordinates with
900M of manufacturer A . After the cutover, the success ratio
of handover from M1800 to M900 is low (about 60 % ), while
the handover from M900 to M1800 are normal and the
handover data are correct.
Typical Handover Cases
Analysis 1: Trace the signalings at A interface and E
interface. Normally:

MS BSC-HW MSC-HW MSC-B VLR-B BSC-B MS


HO-Required
MAP_Prepare_HO MAP_Allocate_HO_NUM

MAP_Send_HO_Repor
t
MAP_Send_HO_Report_AC
K
HO-Request
MAP_Prepare_HO_ACK HO-Request-ACK
IAI
HO-Command ACM
HO-Access
MAP_Process_Access_Signaling
Intermediate steps
HO-Complete are omitted.
MAP_Send_End_Signal
Clear-Command
Clear-Complete
MAP_Send_End_Signal_ACK
Typical Handover Cases

Analysis 2: Abnormally:

MS BSC-HW MSC-HW MSC-B VLR-B BSC-B MS


HO-Required MAP_Prepare_HO

MAP_Abort
HO-REJECT
Typical Handover Cases
Case 6

Analysis 2:
1. Analyze the Prepare-HO message sent from Huawei MSC to the opposite
end. The voice version is full rate version 1, 2 and half-rate version 1. It is a
PHASE 2+ version. However there is only full rate version 1 in the message
sent from M900 to Huawei M1800. It turns out that the opposite does not
support half-rate version, so the handover fails.
2. Modify A interface circuit pool table of Huawei MSC data, only using full-rate
version 1.
3. Then the out-BSC handover is normal.

Conclusion: There are often many problems in coordination


between the equipment of different manufacturers. However,
problems can be located accurately by tracing signaling.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 7

Fault Description: A specific GSM network, where one MSC is attached with t
wo BSC, is all configured with Huawei equipment. When the two BSCs are cu
t over one after another, the success ratio of handover from BSC1 to BSC2 i
s very low, but the success ratio of handover from BSC2 to BSC1 is normal. I
ntra-BSC handover inside BSC1 and BSC2 is normal.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 7

Analysis: check handover data and trace signaling.

Solution:
1. Check all data of inter-BSC handover: external cell description data table,
BA2 table, CGI of MSC. No problem is found.
2. Trace A interface message of BSC1 and BSC2. After BSC1 sends “HO-
Required”, BSC2 has not received “HO-Request” message, but BSC1 has.
3. The path of data search: MSC goes to “Location Area Cell Table” according
to the CGI of the destination cell in “HO-Required” message, refers to the
description of the DSP of the cell given in the table and sends HO request to
the correct BSC.
4. The Ho-request message, which should have been sent to BSC2, is sent to
BSC1, so it is DSP error. After correction, the problem is solved.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 7

Conclusion:
For the data of inter-BSC handover, besides checking
whether CGI at MSC side is consistent with that at the
opposite and at BSC, check whether the DSP is correct. MSC
indexes to the CGI of the destination cell with the existing
CGI.. When the DSP is incorrect, “HO-Request” will be sent to
wrong BSC.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 7

Fault Description: A specific dual frequency network is a mixed


networking of Huawei BSC (M1800) and manufacturer N BSC (M900),
attached to MSC of manufacturer S. After the cutover, the success
ratio of Huawei in-BSC handover is always 88 %~ 92 % , while out-
BSC and intra-BSC handovers are normal (above 92 % ). Furthermore,
the cells with low success ratio of in-BSC handover are randomly
distributed. When there is no fixed BM, there is no fixed LAC.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 7

Analysis: Since the handover success ratio is not very low


and the low ratio is not focused in some few cells, data
problem is unlikely. Perhaps it is due to some interference at
the radio port or some dead zone. Next, trace the signaling.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 7:

Solution:
1. Perform forced handover with a tester between several cells where
handovers have failed. The forced handovers are all successful. Data
problem is ruled out.
2. The interference band of cells is ideal, dropout and congestion ratio are
normal. It is unlikely that the coverage and interference at the radio port
causes the problem.
3. Trace A interface signal and compare the failure signaling and success
signaling:
Typical Handover Cases
A interface signaling analysis of inter-BSC
handover in MSC:
Failure signaling:

Success signaling:
Typical Handover Cases
Case 7:
Solution:
4. The comparison result is that Huawei BTS has not detected any MS access informat
ion (No HO DETECT signaling occurs). It shows that there is problem when the MS is a
ccessing cell M1800 or the MS does not access cell 1800.
5. Reconfirm that there is no problem with the handover data, otherwise the handover
success ratio will be very low.
6. Re-trace large number of handover signalings to find that all failures are attributed t
o the same cause. In addition, the problem mode is the same: one MS makes multiple
handover requests in one communication and all requests fail.
7. Analyze other similarities of the failed message, to find that the first 6 digits of IMEI
numbers of these MSs are all 449684. It shows that the MSs that have handover proble
m are of the same model.
8. Find the MS owners with the IMSI numbers and find that all MSs with handover prob
lem are F-MS. Not long before it was proved that this MS has poor insulation performa
nce between 900 and 1800, so it can not access 1800 network. Now the cause is found.
.
Typical Handover Cases
Case 7:

Conclusion: MS problem will also causes handover failure.


1. In this case the handover success ratio is not very low, ther
efore coordination problem is unlikely.
2. Trace the signaling to find the cause of the handover failure
: BTS has not received handover access message from MS.
3. Find the similarity of these MSs through large amount of si
gnaling tracing: IMEI numbers are the same. Then it is found t
hat the problem is on F-MS.
4. In this case, the coverage of M900 is very good, F-MS is al
ways under M900 in idle status. Therefore in a call, TCH assig
nment seldom fail, which will not result in high congestion rat
io. But in handover, problem is very likely to happen.

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