07 GO - NA14 - E1 - 1 GSM Network Interference & Solutions - 39

GSM Network Interference &
Solutions
ZTE university
Training goals
To know the classification of interference;
To master the analytical methods of interference
problem;
To master the flow of handling interference problem;
To know the analytical tool of interference problem;
To be able to handle common interference problems.

Contents
GSM Frequency Allocation
Phenomena & Classification of Interference
Flow of Handling Interference Problem
Analytical Methods of Interference Problem
Typical Cases
Frequenc
y band
UL
frequency
DL
frequency
Duplex
interval
Band
width
Carrier
frequency
interval
EGSM
880MHz
~915MHz
925MHz~960
MHz
45MHz 35MHz 200kHz
DCS1800
1710MHz~178
5MHz
1805MHz~18
80MHz
95MHz 75MHz 200kHz
Contents
Typical Cases
Phenomena of Interference
Call drop
Unable to
establish calls
Metallic noise
On-and-off
speech
Poor
speech
quality
Phenomena
Classification of Interference
Internal interference
Internal interference refers to unreasonable frequency
planning and equipment hardware faults, which could
lead to decrease in network service quality.
External interference
External interference refers to unknown signal source
out of the network, whose existence could seriously
disturb the networks signals and lead to decrease in
service quality.
UL interference
DL interference

Internal Interference _Causes
Unreasonable frequency planning
Equipment faults
Skip-zone coverage
Internal
interference
Internal Interference
_due to unreasonable frequency planning
Unreasonable frequency planning :
Frequency and adjacent cell relation may be set
unreasonable in network planning because of planning
tools or human mistakes .
Interference will be reflected in too large DL_RxQuality,
MS unable to access into network, poor speech quality,
and call drop.

Internal Interference
_due to unreasonable frequency planning
Check and confirm problem:
Use planning tool to check if co-channel exists; co-
channel is easy to be detected if it does exist.
As for cells in boundary areas, we can block co-
channel cells in the network; meanwhile, make tracing
test with DT devices at areas with emergence of large
DL_RxQuality. If co-channel interference does exist, the
DL_RxQuality value shall become smaller after the
blocking of co-channel cells, thus we can adjust the
cells frequencies to eliminate the interference.

Internal Interference _due to skip-zone coverage
Interference caused by skip-zone coverage
If the actual cell coverage greatly exceeds requirement,
interference will be increased.
Incorrect setting of engineering and network
parameters may lead to skip-zone coverage.

Internal Interference _due to skip-zone coverage
Unreasonable setting of engineering parameters:
Wrong antenna type, down-tilt and azimuth may result
in over large cell coverage, which exceeds actual
coverage need;
Unreasonable setting of network parameters:
Network parameters include: minimum access level,
BTS transmission power, MS max transmission power,
handover thresholds, etc..Improper setting of these
parameters will result in skip-zone coverage problem
and interference as well.

Internal Interference _ due to equipment fault
Interference caused by equipment fault:
Radio fault of BTS is mainly caused by defective UL
unit parts.

External Interference
Definition:
External interference refers to other interferences caused by
external factors, but not due to equipment fault or unreasonable
frequency planning.
Common external interferences:
due to wide-band repeater;
due to CDMA system (trailing signal);
due to signal jammer;
Characteristic:
Its hard to detect this kind of interference without
specific devices.
Contents
Typical Cases
Confirm
interference
range
Check
frequency,
change
frequency
points
Complete
Poor speech
quality due
to
interference
Check and
change
TRX
Check
external
interference
Check
VSWR/antenna/divider/dupl
exer
One cell
Interference
exists
One
TRX
Interference
exists
Interference
exists
Any new sites? If thorough change
of frequency parameters taken
recently?
Several
cells
Contents
Typical Cases
Analytical
Methods of
Interference
Problem
Statistical
analysis of
network
performance
indicators
Analysis of
parameter
checking
Investigation
of hardware
fault
Drive Test
and Dialing
Test
External
interference
test
- Statistical analysis of network performance indicators
Statistical analysis of network performance
indicators
Statistics of interference band : When TCHs are in idle
status, UL noise/interference is constantly being
measured by BTS, and the measurement result will be
analyzed, and interference level will be sent to BSC in 6
levels.
Statistics of handover due to UL/DL interference : We
can judge whether interference exists through statistics
of handover caused by UL/DL interference.
Collection of UL/DL RQ samples during speeches :
RxQual is an indicator to reflect speech quality, which is
based on error rate and falls into 8 grades (07).
- Statistical analysis of network performance indicators
Corresponding relation between RxQual
and Ber

- Analysis of parameter checking
Check
parameters
related to
transmitting
power
Check antenna
engineering
parameters
Check frequency
planning
parameters
Check
parameters
related to skip-
zone coverage
Parameter
checking
- Checking hardware fault
Checking hardware fault

OMCR warning analysis
Checking latent equipment fault
- Drive Test and Call Quality Test
Drive Test and Call Quality Test
Drive test can effectively detect the location
and degree of interference, which is
convenient for analyzing the cause of
interference.

In CQT, we can actually feel the speech
quality at areas being interfered, and we can
see call quality class on the test phone.

DT parameters:
C/I: co-channel carrier-to-interference ratio
RxQual 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C/I[dB] 23 19 17 15 13 11 8 4
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C/I[dB]
DT parameters:
SQISPEECH QUALITY INDEX is the comprehensive
description of BER, FER and HANDOVER EVENT by TEMS.

- Test of external interference
Confirm external interference with SITEMASTER :
persistent strong level exists within the bandwidth of
20MHz, we can conclude that serious UL interference
exists.
Confirm external interference with YBT250:
Make UL interference analysis of GSM 900M
UL frequency band with frequency scanning
meter-NetTek Analyzer(TEK company). The
model we usually use is YBT250.
Wave graph of UL interference tested by YBT250:
This output is the average value of the test results of
one minute, which shows the frequency and
strength of interference. Persistent observation is
needed to confirm if the interference continues.
Time scatter graph of UL interference tested by YBT250:
TEK frequency scanning meter features in three
dimensional recording of time, frequency and signal.The
vertical bold red lines in the graph represent the time
duration, signal level strength and frequency .
vertical
axis=time
Colour
spectrum
=strengt
h
horizontal
axis=frequency
Contents
Typical Cases

Interference caused by Excessive Strong
Back Signals of the Directional Antenna
Description:
During the drive test performed in one GSM network
optimization process, it was found that the area which
was more than one kilometer away from the site (S122)
and should be covered by cell 3 received stronger
signals from cell 1. Cell 1 signals brought severe
interference to other sites.
Cause Analysis & Procedure:
1. The engineers first walked 100 meters away from the site,
circled the BTS tower to test the signals with the MS. and the
signals of all directions were found normal.
2. The engineers walked one kilometer away from the site and
performed the test. It was found that the areas which should be
covered by cell 3, was covered by cell 1, and the signals from
cell 1 were about 5 dB stronger than that of cell 3.
3. The engineers first suspected that the jumper connection of the
antenna system was wrong, and cross connection might exist.
They checked the jumper and no problem was found.
4. The engineers checked the jumpers of the antenna and found
no problem. This problem will not affect the transmission of the
TRX and the VSWR, which can not located by SITEMASTER.
5. Therefore the engineers suspected that the directivity of the
directional antenna of one cell is poor, and the back signals are
not shielded. Because the site is space diversity, change the
TRX/Main antenna with the diversity receiving antenna.
Then it showed that the directivity of the antenna was poor,
the back signals of the antenna were not shielded, which
led to the great transmission strength of the opposite
coverage direction of the cell.
Because this cell was one TRX cell, and the power did not
deteriorated through using the combiner. Therefore the
areas which should be covered by cell 1 received better
signals from cell 1.
The antennas of cell 1 had 3 degree depression angle and
the test near the site did not show. The areas which should
be covered by cell 2 were not severely affected, because
the TRX of cell 2 is blocked from that of cell 3 by the tower.
Bad KPI of the Cell Caused by External
Interference
Description:
In one project, cells such as KBL029 had very poor
voice quality, high call drop rate and high handover
failure rate. KPIs were as follows:
Cause Analysis & Procedure:
KBL used PGSM as BCCH (105-124), and TCH used
EGSM 1*3 frequency hopping (975-995). Based on
TRX measurement, idle interference band of these cells
were distributed on TCH TRX instead of BCCH TRX,
assignment failed and most were on TCH TRX.
Interference
It was decided that the cells with strong interference
were the cells marked in red in the following figure:
Interference
Therefore the interference existed in the red areas, and the
interference is only on the TCH TRX that used the EGSM. The
engineers were required to performe a scanning test
Interference
The result shown that the EGSM frequency used
by ET was strongly interfered externally and the
interference power level was about -8 dB.
The scanning result was submitted to ET, and the
government confirmed that it was caused by the
military troops of one country and therefore the
problem could not be solved.
Questions for thinking
How is interference resulted from
wrong setting of transmitting power-
related parameters?
What is the flow of checking external
interference?

07 GO - NA14 - E1 - 1 GSM Network Interference & Solutions - 39

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