Call Setup Problem Investigation

Overview

Contents Front page

The NHA will carry out automatic cause analysis for the Call Setup problem - in the following areas:

MSC Connection TCH Blocking Call Setup Assignment

To begin in estigating this problem! see the cause information! the "etector information an" the line of reasoning presente" for the call setup problem# $n a""ition! the issues i"entifie" below may be use" to carry out further in estigation into why the problem is occurring#

General
Active alarms
Active alarms $f there are acti e alarms at the Site or Cell these shoul" be fi%e" first# Note that any alarms acti e at the site may affect all cells un"er that site# Intermittent alarms &epeating intermittent alarms can also cause poor call setup# $f any alarms are repeating fre'uently they shoul" be fi%e"#

Active NHA problems

$f there are acti e NHA problems for the Site or Cell! these shoul" be checke" as they may in"icate why the problem is occurring# (se the NHA)s *+ther ,roblems on this -e ice* menu option# The type of problems that are most likely to contribute to a poor Call Setup success rate are:

High Secon" Assignment &ate High TCH Blocking High &S. (tilisation High MT. (tilisation High /,&+C (tilisation .ow $ncoming Han"o er Success &ate -e ice +utages 0for e%ample! &S. ++S! MT. ++S an" so on1

Common LCF

$f there is poor Call Setup on more than one site! then check if the sites are using a common .C2#

$f so! an" if there is spare capacity! consi"er mo ing a site from one .C2 to another# This will show if the .C2 is causing the problem# (se the "isp3processor comman" to check the status of the suspect .C2# $f there is a problem with the .C2! then resetting the .C2 may fi% the problem#

MTL Not Carrying Traffic

$f there are problems with all cells in the BSS! then it may be worthwhile to check the MT.s to see if they are all carrying traffic# Check the statistics MT,3MS43T5 an" MT,3MS43&5 to make sure that there is traffic in both "irections on all MT.s# All MT.s shoul" be carrying traffic in both "irections at all times#

Repeated R L O!tages
$f the &S. 0the signalling link1 is out of ser ice then this will effect all cells at the site# .ook for a repeate" outage of any &S. to the site 0&S. ++S1# A loss of signalling messages will affect the call setup performance# Check any Alarms on MMSs for the BSS! for e%ample:

Synchroni6ation .oss Alarms# &emote Alarm Threshol"# 2rame Slip Alarms# &e" Alarms 7 sync loss on T8 links# SN& Alarms 7 signal to noise on H-S. links#

.ook for B9& alarms on the links to the site 0MMSs1# The MMS)s to check are those for the link back from the BTS to the BSC! inclu"ing any interme"iate links if there is a "aisy chain configuration#

Recent site wor"

Check for any recent acti ity at the site! it is possible that this may ha e cause" the problem# 2or e%ample! there may ha e been a site isit to replace har"ware# Check if the call setup rate got worse after the site isit#

Cell parameters
The NHA checks for the correct settings of the following cell parameters: link_fail ! radio_link_timeout # +ther parameters that shoul" be checke" inclu"e: Unusual configuration of this cell compared to other cells Check if the configuration of this cell "iffers from the configuration of other similar cells# Recent configuration change to problem cell Check if there ha e been recent configuration changes to the cell# New carrier Has a new carrier been a""e" recently to the problem cell! if so! has it been configure" correctly# Also! check if a co:a";acent channel carrier was a""e" recently to a neighbour cell#

Frequency change Check if there ha e been any recent changes in problem cell! or fre'uency change in a neighbour cell where the new fre'uency is co:a";acent to carrier in problem cell# New neighbour $f new cells:neighbours ha e been a""e" recently! check if they are configure" correctly < especially outgoing neighbours#

M C Connection
Mobile terminated s!pplementary services
A high olume of mobile-terminate" supplementary ser ice attempts may impact the "etection of poor Call Setup Success! because as mobile-terminate" supplementary ser ice attempts are completely transparent to the BSS an" cannot be measure"! e ery mobile terminate" supplementary ser ice will be counte" as a faile" call setup attempt# 9%amine the MSC statistics to see if it is happening# $n estigate whether the MSC is configure" to use (SS- messages 0mobile terminate" supplementary ser ices1 to in"icate to pre-pai" users their cre"it balance# =erify this by making some mobile originate" pre-pai" T9Ms test calls an" after the call is terminate" an" the MS returns to i"le mo"e checking if the MS is page" an" &9/$ST9&:2AC$.$T> messages are e%change" on the S-CCH#

!bscriber be#avio!r
Subscriber beha iour can account for a significant percentage of call setup failures# This shoul" be taken into account when analysing why the network is showing a re"uction in call setup performance# 2or instance! any of the following can affect the early stages of call setup:

The user may "eci"e to clear a call "uring setup! or the user may "eci"e to power-off "uring call setup# The user may ask for a ser ice to which they are not subscribe"# A high number of wrong numbers#

C$C congestion
The C$C is a terrestrial circuit to the MSC that is use" for a call# Circuit $"entity Co"e 0C$C1 congestion occurs if there a no free C$Cs for a call - in this situation an assignment re'uest will not be sent an" the call will be cleare"# C$C congestion may contribute to early failures in call setup# To "o some analysis of C$C congestion: 8# Note the alue for the ma%imum number of C$Cs in use "uring the inter al:

?# @#

Check the highest alue for B(S>3C$C3MA5# Check the highest alue for B(S>3C$C3M9AN#

Compare the ma%imum B(S>3C$C alue against the actual number of C$Cs e'uippe"# $f the B(S>3C$C3MA5 alue is close to the number if C$Cs e'uippe"! an" the B(S>3TCH3M9AN is high then C$C Congestion is causing a significant number of call setup failures# There may be a nee" to increase the number of C$Cs between the BSC an" MSC#

Fail!re in %TA& proced!res

-TA, 0-irect Transfer Application ,art1 proce"ures co er the early part of call setup when the mobile is communicating with the MSC transparently through the BSS# The proce"ures inclu"e

authentication! mobile i"entification! an" TMS$ reallocation# Analyse the -TA, proce"ures by carrying out in estigation at: The MSC or A-$nterface:

Authentication Check the success rate of the Authentication proce"ures# That is! check that at least ABC of A(TH9NT$CAT$+N &9D(9STS are followe" by an A(TH9NT$CAT$+N &9S,+NS9# Mobile Identity Check the success rate of the $"entity &e'uest proce"ures# That is! check that at least ABC of $-9NT$T> &9D(9STS are followe" by an $-9NT$T> &9S,+NS9# TM I Reallocation Check the success rate of the TMS$ reallocation proce"ures# That is! check that at least ABC of TMS$ &9A..+CAT$+N C+MMAN-S are followe" by an TMS$ &9A..+CAT$+N C+M,.9T9#

'ncryption fail!res
At the MSC an" BSS: Check that both are using the same encryption algorithm# 2or the BSS use the MM$: disp!a"!alg!pr This shoul" match the 9NC&>,T$+N $N2+&MAT$+N fiel" in the A-$nterface C$,H9& M+-9 C+MMAN-#

TCH (loc"ing
O!tgoing #andovers
#utgoing $andover Fail % Recover $f outgoing han"o ers from a cell are not succee"ing an" the calls are successfully returning to the source cell! this can lea" to TCH blocking on the source cell# The cell may be ha ing to ser ice calls that shoul" be carrie" by a neighbour cell but the han"o er isn)t working so they are staying on the source cell# Check for a high rate of han"o er faile":reco ere" to the source cell# $f the alue is significant! the low outgoing H+ success rate is likely to be contributing to the TCH blocking# $andover Attempts &ersus $andover Requests The TCH blocking may be affecte" by outgoing han"o ers being attempte" but not attempte"# A low percentage woul" in"icate that mobiles on the congeste" cell want to "o a han"o er but no han"o er is being attempte"# This may be cause" by congeste" neighbour cells! or by neighbour cells with incoming han"o er "isable"# $t may also be worth looking for an ++S neighbour cell#

Call et!p Assignment

RF iss!es
The NHA will "o some automatic analysis of &2 $ssues! an" may report that the cell has &2 problems 0B9&! 29&! $+$1! howe er it may be useful in cases where the cause is not i"entifie" to consi"er some of the following:

T'()* $f this timer is set too short it coul" cause interference type problems to occur# This timer pre ents the reallocation of a channel! following the "etection of an uplink ra"io link loss# Make sure this time is set to a alue greater than ra"io3link3timeout# This will ensure that channels will be release" as soon as is safely possible following a ra"io link loss! increasing channel a ailability! a oi"ing any unnecessary S-CCH or TCH congestion# The recommen"e" alue for this timer is +))) msecs# T'((( This can also cause interference-like problems if it is set too short# Note that in BSS ersion 8EFF! this timer is split to co er S-CCHs an" TCHs separately! the Motorola recommen"e" alues for these timers are: T3111: 8?FF msecs T3111_SD: 8?FF msecs T3111_TCH: BGF msecs $f any of the abo e timers is set too low then the channel coul" be allocate" to a new mobile before the ol" mobile has stoppe" using it! causing interference# +therwise! if the alue of the timer is set too high it can waste resources by hol"ing the channel for too long# bssmap!t() assign!successful The settings of the Site timer *bssmap3t8F* an" BSC timer *assign3successful* can cause poor TCH &2 assignment success if they are set too short# $f bssmap3t8F is un"er 8H secon"s! consi"er increasing it to 8H secon"s# $f assign3successful is un"er 8G secon"s! consi"er increasing it to 8G secon"s# These changes are recommen"e" by Motorola! especially if the current alues are less than G secon"s#

bssmap!t() is the time the ,T message from the mobile #

waits for an Assignment -omplete

assign!successful is the time the , - waits .in case the ,T message gets lost/0 This should be about ( second longer than bssmap!t()0

Frequency reuse on hopping carriers NHA will report if you ha e co- or a";acent reuse in neighbour cells but only for carriers that are not hopping# $f any type of hopping is use"! it will be necessary to "o some manual checks for fre'uency reuse# $ N configuration and MAI# between sectors $f synthesise" fre'uency hopping is enable" on more than one cell on a site an" there is a";acent or co- channels between hopping systems on two cells then check that the same hopping se'uence number 0HSN1 is use" on cells at the site an" check that manual Mobile Allocate" $n"e% +ffset 0MA$+1 has been implemente" correctly# -o1 ad2acent frequencies for cells in the same area .not neighbours/ The NHA currently looks or co- or a";acent channels in neighbour cells# $t may also be useful to look for co- or a";acent channels at other cells in the same area as the problem cell! regar"less of whether it is a neighbour#

Antenna select

Check the alue for antenna_select against the configuration of the site# $n some cases you may see ba" path balance if the antenna_select configuration is not set correctly in the BSS "atabase# The antenna_select parameter specifies the &5 antenna attache" to a -&$:&C(# The alue of antenna_select is only use" if the ra"io is in one of the following cabinet types: /SMAFF MCellE! /SMAFF TC( E! Hori6on Macro! Hori6on Macro 9%tension#