WCDMA Access Problems Analysis

Review

Access is associated with the call setup

success rate of the network. This KPI can be
optimized by means of Call setup test and the
consequent trouble-shooting based on access
failure analysis.

Objectives

When finished this course,you will be able to:

Be

familiar

with

the

access

procedure in UMTS

Do analysis on access problems

independently

Course Contents

Definition of access failure

Access problem analysis process

Common reasons for access problems
Case study

Definition of access failure

General originating call setup signaling flow:

Definition of access failure

General terminating call setup signaling flow:

Definition of access failure

Call setup succeeds when the call setup
phase is completed (when CC Connect is
received). If the call fails to reach the CC
Connect stage, it should be pegged as an
access failure .

Course Contents

Definition of access failure

Access problem analysis process

Common reasons for access problems
Case study

Access problem analysis process

Preparation before Analysis

Access problem analysis

methods

Preparation before analysis

Be familiar with the planning information which can be obtained from planning
reports;
Be familiar with history records of optimization;
Get the latest reliable summary sheet of the engineering parameters;
Get the latest configuration of radio parameters;
Obtain the network traffic statistics and the subscriber complaint information of
access.

Access problem analysis process

Preparation before Analysis

Access problem analysis

methods

Access problem analysis methods

General methods of access problem analysis:

Traffic statistics data analysis

Custom complaint collection

Call setup test in specific area

Coverage analysis

Signaling analysis

Access problem analysis methods

Traffic statistics data and custom complaint
collection reveal problems exactly, further
trouble-shooting can be carried out by call setup
test. While for a pre-commercial or trial network,
call setup test is the effective way.

Course Contents

Definition of access failure

Access problem analysis process

Common reasons for access problems
Case study

Common reasons for access problems

RF reasons

Radio Parameter Settings

Other reasons

RF reasons
Poor coverage

Strong Uplink or downlink Interference

Common reasons for access problems

RF reasons

Radio Parameter Settings

Other reasons

Radio parameter settings

Improper threshold of Qqualmin and Qrxlevmin
Improper settings of access threshold
Inappropriate settings of preamble power ramp step and retransmission times
Inappropriate setting of adjacent cells
Inappropriate setting of synchronization parameters
Unsuitable power allocation rate for common channel
Unsuitable initial power of uplink and downlink dedicated channel
Unsuitable setting of uplink Initial SIR target value of dedicated channel

Common reasons for access problems

RF reasons

Radio Parameter Settings

Other reasons

Other reasons
Data configuration problems

Access problems caused by cell load

Course Contents

Definition of access failure

Access problem analysis process

Common reasons for access problems
Case study

Case study

Access failure due to synchroni-za

tion failure

Access failure during RB setup

Access failure during handover pr

ocess

Access failure due to terminating

UE

Access failure due to synchronization failure

Access failure location:

Access failure due to synchronization failure

UE Txpower reaches maximum value 21 dBm during VP call setup. So this call
setup failure may be caused by Uplink synchronization failure:

Access failure due to synchronization failure

UE does not send RRC Connection Setup Complete to RNC after receiving RRC
Connection Setup message from RNC

Case study

Access failure due to synchroni-za

tion failure

Access failure during RB setup

Access failure during handover pr

ocess

Access failure due to terminating

UE

Access failure during RB setup

Access failure location:

Access failure during RB setup

UE Tx power is very low and downlink pilot Ec is high before access failure,but
Ec/Io is not very good :

Access failure during RB setup

The cause of call setup failure is Requested circuit/channel not available:

Access failure during RB setup

RNC didnt receive RB
Setup Complete message
after it has sent RB Setup
message to UE. Timeout of
RNC is reached after 1.5s:

Case study

Access failure due to synchroni-za

tion failure

Access failure during RB setup

Access failure during handover pr

ocess

Access failure due to terminating

UE

Access failure during handover process

Access failure location (Scanner Rscp ):

Access failure during handover process

ScannerEc/I0 :

Access failure during handover process

Scanner BestServer :

Access failure during handover process

During access process, UE Txpower is rising rapidly :

Access failure during handover process

And the downlink Bler reaches 100%:

Access failure during handover process

UE report the measurement of cell Sc508 which request the active set update:

Access failure during handover process

The report was
received properly and
RRC_ACTIVE_UPDATE
was sent as response
while UE didnt received it
which results in the
access failure:

Access failure during handover process

Lets turn to the performance of the terminating UE. During the access process,
the measurements from the terminating UE were not satisfactory either:

Access failure during handover process

Access failure during handover process

While the radio links
hold on till successful
handover is completed:

Access failure during handover process

Then the originating UE loses connection to the network and access released
where the cause is destination out of order from the signal traced by the
terminating UE:

Case study

Access failure due to synchroni-za

tion failure

Access failure during RB setup

Access failure during handover pr

ocess

Access failure due to terminating

UE

Access failure due to terminating UE

Access failure location (UE Ec/I0 ):

Access failure due to terminating UE

The coverage is not bad where the UE originates the VP access:

Access failure due to terminating UE

CN send disconnect message with the cause bearer capability not authorized
before access failure:

Access failure due to terminating UE

setup signaling procedure for RRC and RAB have already finished. The cause of
disconnect is the same:

Access failure due to terminating UE

The reason is: we use two mobile to test video phone, for the originating call
mobile camped in 3G network, but the terminating call mobile camped in 2G network
that moment, so video call setup failed, the missing signaling of terminating UE can
also explain it:

Summary

Access process is complicated since different devices are

involved and scenario varies. Careful study from signal
distribution to signaling procedure makes things easy.
Examples above are derived from tests carried out before,
which give general idea of trouble shooting, advanced
researches will be supplemented. .