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Excellentdocumentgsmoptimization
NETWORK OPTIMIZATION
Abstract
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Table of Contents
1
2
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 4
RANDOM ACCESS............................................................................. 5
2.1
PERFORMANCE
2.2
2.3
3
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
features
DROPPED CALLS............................................................................ 24
5.1
REASONS FOR DROPPED CALLS ...................................................... 24
5.2
USED FORMULAS................................ .......................................... 25
5.3
ANALYSIS .................................................................................... 26
5.3.1
SDCCH Results ................................................................ 26
5.3.2
TCH Results ..................................................................... 27
5.4
TROUBLESHOOTING ................................................................ ...... 29
5.4.1
Dropped Calls Due To Bad Quality ..................................... 29
5.4.2
Dropped Calls Due To Low Signal
30
5.4.3
Dropped Calls Due To Other
31
Strength
Reasons
6
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6.3.1
SDCCH/TCH availability .................................................... 33
6.3.2
Cell size and location analysis ........................................... 34
6.3.3
Feature activation ............................................................. 34
6.4
TROUBLESHOOTING ...................................................................... 35
6.4.1
Congestion, general .......................................................... 35
6.4.2
SDCCH Congestion.......................................................... 35
6.4.3
TCH Congestion ............................................................... 38
7
INTERFERENCE .............................................................................. 40
7.1
REASONS FOR HIGH INTERFERENCE LEVELS ..................................... 41
7.2
USED FORMULAS ......................................................................... 41
7.3
ANALYSIS .................................................................................... 42
7.3.1
Bad frequency plan ........................................................... 43
7.3.2
External interference ................................ ......................... 44
7.3.3
Congestion ....................................................................... 44
7.3.4
Missing neighbour cell relations ......................................... 44
7.3.5
Wrong antenna type or bad
45
7.3.6
HW/SW Problems and site outages ................................... 45
7.3.7
Cell parameter settings and RN
45
7.4
TROUBLESHOOTING ...................................................................... 46
7.4.1
Uplink Interference............................................................ 46
7.4.2
Downlink Interference ....................................................... 47
7.4.3
External Interference................................ ......................... 48
antenna positions
features
HANDOVER ..................................................................................... 49
8.1
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Introduction
The purpose of this document is to provide an overview on general
GSM radio network performance areas.
General GSM radio network performance areas may be summarized
as:
Random Access
Paging and Location Update
Call set-up
Dropped Calls
SDCCH & TCH
Interference
Handover
Following chapter will review each of above areas with focus on
possible reasons for poor performance, formulas for STS monitoring,
performance analysis and troubleshooting.
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1 Random Access
A Random Access burst is the first thing that will be sent when an MS
tries to access the network. The Random Access (RA) performance is
important for the accessibility performance and is linked to the BSIC
planning.
Areas with possible problems with BSIC planning, too low ACCMIN,
wrong MAXTA, interference or bad link budgets. A very high number of
not approved Random Accesses on BSC level might also indicate
problems with software file congestion in the BSC or MSC.
1.1
Used Formulas
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1.2
Analysis
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3.4.2
3.4.3
3.4.4
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Dropped Calls
The retainability performance evaluates the
systems ability to handle established
connections. Dropped calls are probably the
single most important quality item to control in
the system. The level of dropped calls in the
system is in high extent depending on the
initial RF planning, optimization and also the
system growth.
4.1
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4.2
Used Formulas
S_DR- C: Dropped SDCCH Connections of
Total Number of SDCCH Connections.
S_DR_ERLM: Erlang Minutes per Dropped
SDCCH Connection.
S_DR_SS: Dropped SDCCH Connections
due to Low Signal Strength of Total Number
of Dropped SDCCH Connections.
S_DR_BQ: Dropped SDCCH Connections
due to Bad Quality of Total Number of
Dropped SDCCH Connections.
S_DR_TA: Dropped SDCCH Connections
due to Excessive Timing Advance of Total
Number of Dropped SDCCH Connections.
S_DR_OTH: Dropped SDCCH Connections
due to Other Reasons than Low Signal
Strength, Bad Quality or Excessive Timing
Advance of Total Number of Dropped
SDCCH Connections.
T_TRAF: Average TCH Traffic Level.
T_CONGT: TCH Time Congestion of Total
Measurement Interval.
T_AVAIL: Available TCHs (not blocked) of
Total Number of Defined TCHs.
T_DWN: Average Cell downtime for active
cells
H_SUC: Successful Handovers of Total
Number of Handover Attempts.
T_DR-S: Dropped TCH Connections of Total
Number of Calls Terminated in the Cell.
T_DR_ERLM: Erlang Minutes per Dropped
TCH Connection.
T_DR_SS_DL: Dropped TCH Connections
due to Low Signal Strength on Downlink of
Total Number of Dropped TCH Connections.
T_DR_SS_UL: Dropped TCH Connections
due to Low Signal Strength on Uplink of Total
Number of Dropped TCH Connections.
T_DR_SS_BL: Dropped TCH Connections
due to Low Signal Strength on both links of
Total Number of Dropped TCH Connections.
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4.3
4.3.1
Analysis
SDCCH Results
If a high drop rate on SDCCH has been
noticed the following actions is
recommended in order to proceed and solve
the problems.
Improvements for dropped calls on TCH will
improve the drop call rate on SDCCH. I.e.
recommend to trouble shoot the TCH drop
calls first if there is poor performance on both
TCH and SDCCH.
The drop call rate on SDCCH can be
improved if the congestion on TCH is
decreased. Recommend to use the feature
assignment to worse cell or increase the
capacity on TCH.
The reasons for low SS drops could be too
few sites, wrong output power, shadowing,
no indoor coverage or network equipment
failure.
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4.3.2
TCH Results
If a high drop rate on TCH has been noticed
the following actions is recommended in
order to proceed and solve the problems.
High drop rate due to high outage time or
low availability. Inform the operation and
maintenance department about the problems
or check the reasons for the downtime.
Check also the alarm list or BTS error log.
Another way is also to check the resolution
time for the different alarm categories. Many
problems with dropped calls are often related
to insufficient O&M routines and not to radio
problems.
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4.4
Troubleshooting
The trouble shooting of dropped calls is
divided into three areas, dropped calls due to
bad quality, low SS and other reasons.
4.4.1
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4.4.2
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4.4.3
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5.1
5.2
Used Formulas
RA_OTHER: Random Accesses with Cause
All Other Cases, e. g. Location Updating,
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5.3
5.3.1
Analysis
SDCCH/TCH availability
From the STS data it can be seen how much
of the hardware that is being used. Normally
the availability for SDCCH and TCH should be
100%. For the cells showing low availability,
check the BTS error log to make sure that
there are no problems with the hardware error
logs.
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5.3.2
5.3.3
Feature activation
In this chapter it is described how short-term
actions can be taken to decrease congestion
and improve the capacity of the system.
5.3.3.1
SDCCH Congestion
Selecting the number of time slots in a cell that
are going to be used for signalling is a critical
part of network optimization. Increased use of
subscriber services such as Short Message
Service can make the demand for SDCCHs
more unpredictable.
The feature Immediate Assignment on TCH
can be used to lower the load on SDCCH.
Note, however, that the SDCCH first strategy
is recommended, i.e. an idle SDCCH is always
allocated and in case of SDCCH congestion,
the signalling is performed on a TCH instead.
If the optional feature "Adaptive Configuration
of Logical Channels" is available and activated
in the BSC, the system can automatically
assign SDCCHs. The way the feature should
be used depends on the channel dimensioning
strategy and therefore great care should be
taken when implementing this feature. No
recommended parameter values are given in
the User Descriptions.
5.3.3.2
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TCH Congestion
Make sure that the congestion is not caused
by hardware problems or link Make sure that
5.4
5.4.1
Troubleshooting
Congestion, general
Check if the congestion can depend on a
short-term growth or a long-term growth:
Short term growth
If the high traffic related to an occasional
event, like sport event, fairs, conference, a
temporary solution might be considered.
Long term growth
If there is a long-term growth the network
capacity has to grow according to the demand.
Check if there is an expansion planned in the
near future for the TCH congested cells.
Check if the congestion is on SDCCH, TCH or
both.
5.4.2
SDCCH Congestion
The time congestion should be used instead of
congestion based on access attempts as there
is no way to estimate the number of access
attempts a single mobile does.
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