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Actix Analyzer GPRS and GSM Analysis Guide
Actix Analyzer GPRS and GSM Analysis Guide
Analysis Guide
August 2009
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The content of this manual is provided for information only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Actix. Actix assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that appear in this documentation. Copyright Actix 2009. All rights reserved. All trademarks are hereby acknowledged.
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Contents
1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................4
COMBINING DATA FILES ............................................................................................ 5
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Introduction 4
1 Introduction
This document describes methods for analyzing GSM and GPRS log file data. It assumes that you have already installed, licensed and configured your Analyzer system as described in the documents Actix Software Installation Guide and the Getting Started Guide. Analyzer supports the following performance data sources for a wide variety of test equipment vendors: Mobile Stations (Test and Commercial-Um interface) Scanners (Um interface) Call Trace devices for GSM IP Sniffers (supporting the WinPCAP architecture)
IP and Application Layer performance data are supported for IP sniffers: powerful data collection software for recording messaging, events and statistics from IP links, as well as for vendor-specific data sets, typically integrated with drive-test hardware solutions. Please check the release notes for information on the latest file formats supported, new analyses and functionality.
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Introduction 5
To superstream the data 1 2 Open the IP Sniffer file and the Um drive test file to be superstreamed together. From the Tools menu, select Create Superstream to open the superstreaming dialog.
3 4 5
Select the appropriate data streams. Select the appropriate Merge Method settings for synchronizing the data streams. Click OK to begin the superstreaming process.
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Introduction 6
When the process is complete, the superstream is displayed in the Workspace Explorer, and may now be examined using the usual Analyzer data displays (for example, maps, charts, tables, analysis reports).
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Technique Statistics shown in the Cell Explorer The reports included in the modules Queries, charts, customized reports, maps, etc.
The starting point for the Quality of Service Verification and Troubleshooting tasks are the modules: DT GPRS MM/SM Procedures and IP Data Summary DT GPRS Radio Link Performance Analysis These are available under the Analysis menu. As with any of the analyses created by Actix, these consist of a complete set of reports that combine the different key performance indicators, allowing you to navigate to not only the problems but also the causes and possible solutions. To improve the processing time, close the Statistical Explorer before running the reports. The summary view for an analysiscalled the Cell Explorershows a statistical summary of the data and an appropriate set of reports. The data can be broken down by a key dimension, such as "cell", displaying a number of pertinent statistics for each value of the key dimension that appears in the data, allowing you to focus quickly on only those portions of the data that are of interest (for example the cells with the highest BLER, as shown below).
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The Cell Explorer, showing the upper filtering and data display, and the lower report selection panel
The dimension (cells) can be sorted by ascending or descending values of a parameter (for example DL RLC throughput), by clicking on the title of the column.
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By selecting a subset of the rows in the Cell Explorer before choosing to run a report, you can filter the data in the reports to include only data for the selected values of the key dimension (as shown below).
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used to modify the QoS provisioned to the subscribers and negotiated between the MS and the SGSN) For the meaning of "loss", refer to the first report and to the notes below the tables.
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In particular, the NSAPI and SAPI (requested and negotiated, used by the SNDCP and LLC layers to manage the QoS) and the QoS classes (requested by the MS and obtained after negotiation with the SGSN) are shown.
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When QoS management is implemented, these statistics will be key in verifying the correct dimensioning of the network to support the subscribed QoS profiles (the QoS modification will be particularly interesting). The same parameters for the radio interface (Radio Priority) are presented.
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It is important to note that coding scheme 1 is used for signaling, while coding scheme 2 is preferably used by the allocation algorithms to give higher throughput values, especially in good radio conditions. Some vendors use dynamic algorithms to move from CS1 to CS2 depending on the radio conditions, while others have a fixed CS2 allocation. In this last case, CS1 is only given by the signaling traffic.
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C Value Distribution and Statistics from example Level and Quality report
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Downlink RLC and LLC Throughput from an example RLC and LLC Throughput Stats report
Uplink RLC and LLC Throughput from an example RLC and LLC Throughput Stats report
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The distributions of the throughput valuesthe bars indicate the number of occurrences are useful for studying the nature of the traffic supported. FTP traffic will have a profile similar to that shown below with a throughput concentrated in the higher intervals, while the profile generated by web browsing will be more scattered on the different values, given the less regular pattern of the application level. Accordingly, the Uplink throughput values of an FTP download will be concentrated on low intervals, given by the acknowledge messages.
Downlink LLC and RLC Throughput Distribution from an example RLC and LLC Throughput Stats report
Uplink LLC and RLC Throughput Distribution from an example RLC and LLC Throughput Stats report
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Mean DL Throughput from an example RLC and LLC Throughput per TBF report
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DL statistics from an example RLC and LLC Throughput per TBF report
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Measurement Reports contain information concerning receive level, and in dedicated mode, the quality and timing advance.
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The statistical distribution of these elements allows engineers to assess the overall quality of the radio conditions on the test route. Peaks in the distribution of level and quality measurements may already give some indications about particular problems or specific network settings related to power control or interference. Timing advance distribution helps in identifying average serving distance (the distance to the BTS serving the test mobile) and can eventually indicate abnormally distant connections.
The number of neighbors that are within a 5 dB range from the serving cell receive level (including, of course, any neighbor for which the level would be above the server) are counted, giving indicator of the server dominance in each point of the test route. Typically, one or two neighbors within this range may be considered a "sane" situation. More than two from the server typically indicates that there is no clear dominant server cell in the area; therefore this is a potentially risky area, subject to interference. Two different reports have been designed to take into consideration the case of singleband networks and dual-band networks. In the latter case, the general approach is very similar to the single band but the count of neighbors within 5 dB from the server no longer makes sense, since the 1800 layer will usually be at a level lower than the 900 layer. So the analysis counts only those neighbors within 5 dB in the same band.
HO Quality report
When evaluating the quality of the handover procedures in a network , the classic indicator is the handover success rate. This is based on a ratio between Handover Command and Handover Complete signaling messages.
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To gain a better view of the efficiency and appropriateness of the handover procedures, we need to compare the quality of the radio link before and after the handover. The time window is five seconds before and after the handover. A statistical comparative analysis of these average values indicates if the handovers effectively improve the quality of the radio links. In fact, under normal conditions, the quality after a handover should improve. This is visualized on a graph with: A statistical distribution of average quality before and after handover. The distribution after handover normally shows a shift of the distribution towards lower RxQualthat is, higher quality. As a reference, also the overall quality distribution in the entire trace is shown. A cumulative distribution of the previous indicators.
HO Level report
An interesting indicator in analyzing handover settings along a drive test route is the level difference between the source cell and the target cell. The distribution of the level is shown in the graphic (again the time window is five seconds before and after the handover). The resulting dominant value should correspond to the handover margin defined in the handover-algorithm parameter settings.
HO Interval report
Measuring the time elapsed between two consecutive handovers is a good indicator of both the quality of the handover settings and the quality of the network design. Too many handovers at very short intervals will inevitably influence the quality of the communications as perceived by users. There is always some loss of speech information during a handover.
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HO Classification report
Besides the quality difference, level difference and handover intervals described above, a fast and efficient analysis process is to classify handovers based on their type. Unfortunately, the cause value for which the handover was triggeredwhich is the ideal indicator in this type of analysisis only available on the A interface in the network structure. It is, however, possible to produce similar results to those obtained from A-interface HO analysis. The handover types can be computed from a combination of parameters, on which a statistical analysis is then run in a second step.
Handovers can be classified according to the average value of the following parameters or indicators, in a window corresponding to the averaging window set in the handover algorithm parameterization: Average quality before handover Average level before handover Average server and target cell level difference before handover By comparing these average values to the trigger levels defined in the handover algorithm settings, we can create a matrix of handover types. A normal handover (better cell) should occur in the following conditions: Average quality is acceptable (in the report: less than or equal to 3) Average level is sufficient to guarantee the stability and quality of the call (in the report: greater than or equal to 92 dBm) Level difference between server and target cell exceeds a reasonable handover margin (in the report: greater than 6 dB)
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In a classical Power Control setting, power will always be at a maximum at call setup or after a handover. Only after sufficient measurement reports have been received by the BTS will the power be adjusted down to the adequate level. So, a normal statistical distribution would show the highest power levels as dominant. The distribution should decrease until the lowest level is attained, as all intermediate levels are necessary steps to reach a stable state. Note that some equipment manufacturers propose specific settings or algorithms to optimize the power level during handovers. The influence of these algorithms and their efficiency can be visualized on the MS Tx Power distribution plot, since not all intermediate steps are used to reach a stable power level in this case. So, the distribution will not be regularly decreasing towards lower Tx power levels, but will present gaps. These will be more or less visible, depending on the environmenturban with low Tx levels, or rural with higher Tx levels. From the total power samples, it is possible to compute the average transmit power for the entire drive-test route. This is a good indicator of the general design and behavior of the network. It is also a perfect indicator for competitive benchmarking, as the average power level directly influences the MS battery life. In dual-band networks, transmit power values in the 900 band and in the 1800 band can easily be separated. In fact, all 900-band power values are odd values, while 1800-band power values are even values. It is therefore very easy to compare results from the tow bands, or alternatively, to analyze them separately.
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The statistical distribution of these intervals should clearly show a peak corresponding to the interval value defined in the parameter settings. Smaller values are usually related to handovers, while bigger values indicate that the power has been stabilized. The latter is a good indication of the proper tuning of the Power Control algorithm, but also gives a view on the dynamics of the radio link. A drive test at low speed in an area of good coverage will show the occurrence of longer intervals, while for a high-speed drive test along a highway, the power will almost never stabilize.
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Combined analysis 40
4 Combined analysis
User applications, IP protocols and radio link
A complete set of indicators is available for the analysis of user applications (http, WAP, email, FTP, etc.) and the protocols (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc. on top of IP). These let you investigate the user perception of the quality of the offered services. You can build specific queries and reports to combine the performances with the radio link status. The different equipment vendors use similar methodologies for their drive test data testing products. However, they do use different terminology. Analyzer uses a common terminology, independent from any individual vendor terminology. From the drive test files you can obtain the following attributes (the actual number of available attributes will depend on the collection device):
Attributes Connection Setup Time Connection Duration Connection Failures Successful Connections Dropped Connections Connection IP Address
Application Measurements
Application Throughput UL and DL (Average, Peak, Minimum, Instantaneous) Application Received Bytes Application Transmitted Bytes Application Elapsed Time Application Delay UL and DL (Average, Peak, Minimum, Instantaneous) Application Round Trip Time (RTT) Application Round Trip Time Max
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Combined analysis 41
Attributes IP Throughput ICMP Throughput PPP Throughput TCP Throughput Protocol Received Bytes Protocol Transmitted Bytes Protocol Elapsed Time
Using an IP sniffer allows an independent collection of many of the previous attributes, complementing them with other parameters such as: For IP IP Address (source and destination) Header and Payload Length Indicators of QoS class (precedence, delay, reliability)
For TCP
TCP port number (source and destination: it allows the identification of the application) TCP connection establishment TCP connection closure TCP connection establishment abort TCP retransmissions TCP transmissions timeout Session Payload Length Acknowledges Time with no acknowledge TCP Session duration and others.
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Combined analysis 42
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Combined analysis 43
Data merging and synchronization / correlation module Open data import and export module These features are described in the online help. Some examples of troubleshooting using ad hoc analysis are provided below. You can use these as the basis for creating other types of analysis, depending on the specific type of investigations required.
Example 1
Operators are focused on verifying the service as perceived by the subscribers. To do that, it is necessary to identify the services used and evaluate the user perceived performance indicators (typically throughput and delay). It is possible to use predefined queries (provided during the training courses) that give the overall view of the single tasks (FTP sessions in this case):
The proposed drive test shows a connection (result of the PdP Context Activation), and then a ping is performed. The pingalthough not a user applicationis often used to provide an indication of the minimum delay that the network can support. The actual service used is an FTP download and upload of 30K and 15K. The throughput results are generally good: around 30 kbps using 3 timeslots (see below).
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Combined analysis 44
Only one task (row 6, highlighted in the previous screenshot) is not showing a performance in line with the others, and should be investigated in more detail. The following chart enables us to visualize the content of the complete drive test, and shows the user-perceived metrics (application throughput and delay), combined with the corresponding network parameters (LLC and RLC throughput):
Again, task number 6 shows a throughput discontinuity, responsible for the overall low throughput.
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Combined analysis 45
We can now investigate to see if radio events like cell reselection are responsible for the throughput degradation. In the screenshot below, the DL TBF number (TFI) is displayed and shows a regular pattern.
The cell reselection has an impact on the next task but not on number 6. We can focus on the task filtering it by selecting the task in the Statistics Explorer and clicking the Filter button:
Filtering a task
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Combined analysis 46
Looking at the DT GPRS Radio link performance analysis module (see below) it is clear that one of the two cells driven during that task (automatically everything has been filtered in accordance to it) has a quality problem (mean Rx Quality = 3 with mean C-value of 61 dBm):
To make this more explicit, the report on the level and quality can be run on that cell. The interference analysis graph shows what is clearly an interference problem:
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Combined analysis 47
The result of the analysis is, therefore, that the application is showing a good performance, but a specific cell is showing interference. This can be eliminated, for instance by revising the frequency plan.
Example 2
This example focuses on studying the throughput on the different layers (application, TCP, IP and RLC), using the information from the drive test combined with the IP sniffer data. The first step is to display a summary with a query in the Statistics Explorer:
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Combined analysis 48
The task type (i.e. application in use) is obtained using the TCP source port number (that indicates the type of application that is generating the downlink traffic) and ICMP type (some pings are occurring between the FTP downloads). The focus is on the first FTP session, filtering it and using the reports of the radio link module. The radio performance is good: level and quality, RLC and LLC throughput, timeslot allocation is 3 TS all the time, the CS used is CS2 92% of the time. However, the throughput is not maintained at the maximum all the timethis is unexpected since FTP is used and 3 timeslots are constantly allocated.
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Combined analysis 49
Cell Explorer filtered on the first task: level and quality are very good
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Combined analysis 50
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Combined analysis 51
If there is no radio problem, let us raise the analysis to the higher layers, displaying the attribute TCP_Data_Pending_AckDL (indicates the total bytes with an acknowledgement pending indownlink), and TCP_Network_Bytes_Acknowledged (indicates the total bytes acknowledged from every acknowledgement message):
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Combined analysis 52
The red ellipse above corresponds to the red square shown below. They show that the packets in downlink are no longer acknowledged, and the pending bytes accumulate until they reach the size of the TCP receiving window (equal to 16072 bytes). At that point, the receiving buffer is full and the packets would be discarded, so the transmission is stopped. In fact, the throughput goes to zero. The figure below shows that the packets are received on the PC COM port (the sequence number continues to be incremented) but the corresponding acknowledgements do not (the uplink packets maintain the same acknowledgement number): the FTP application on the PC is probably causing this. When it is able to send the updated acknowledge, the transmission restarts.
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Combined analysis 53
Also in the rest of the session there are other events like this, but they have a smaller effect on the throughput because the receiving window does not saturate again (the acknowledge restart before the pending bytes reach the window size). So, in this example, an application problem was found in that the FTP client on the PC was not able to process all the received data. In case we want to analyze other tasks, we would need to go back to the old query and disable the filter on task number 1, select another task and repeat the analysis.
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Combined analysis 54
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