Professional Documents
Culture Documents
UMTS is one of the Third Generation (3G) mobile systems being developed within the ITU's
IMT-2000 framework. It is a realisation of a new generation of broadband multi-media mobile
telecommunications technology. The coverage area of service provision is to be world wide in
the form of FLMTS (Future Land Mobile Telecommunications Services and now called
IMT2000). The coverage will be provided by a combination of cell sizes ranging from 'in
building' Pico Cells to Global Cells provided by satellite, giving service to the remote regions of
the world. The UMTS is not a replacement of 2nd generation technologies (e.g. GSM,
DCS1800, CDMA, DECT etc.), which will continue to evolve to their full potential.
2. What are the optimization tools you use?
Drive test, analysis, others?
2. Are System Information Blocks (SIB) transmitted all the time?
No, system information block is multiplexed with synchronization channel. Synchronization
channel occupies the first time slot (TS) and SIB occupies the other 9 time slots.
3. How does UE camp (synchronize) to a NodeB?
1. UE uses the primary synchronization channel (P-SCH) for slot alignment (TS
synchronization).
2. After aligning to NodeB time slot, UE then uses secondary synchronization channel (S-SCH)
to obtain frame synchronization and scrambling code group identification.
3. UE then uses scrambling code ID to obtain CPICH, thus camping to a NodeB.
4. What could be the cause of soft handover failure?
UE issue.
Resource unavailable at target NodeB.
Inadequate SHO threshold defined.
Etc.
5. What are the three sets in handover?
The 3 sets in handover are:
Active set the list of cells which are in soft handover with UE.
Monitored set the list of cells not in active set but RNC has told UE to monitor.
Detected set list of cells detected by the UE but not configured in the neighbor list.
6. What are the major differences between GSM and UMTS handover decision?
GSM:
Time-based mobile measures of RxLev and RxQual mobile sends measurement report every
SACH period (480ms).
Missing Neighbor
SC Collisions
Delayed Handovers
No resource availability (Congestion) for Hand in
Loss of Synchronization
Fast Fading
Delayed IRAT Triggers
Hardware Issues
External Interference
21. A UE is served by 2 or 3 SC in AS. It is identifying a SC from 3rd tier, Stronger
and meets the criteria for Event1a or Event1c. But SHO did not happen because of
missing neighbor relations? How do you optimize this issue?
Study the Pilot spillover from the 3rd Tier SC and control its coverage
Even after controlling the coverage, if the spillover is there, Add the neighbor.
22. A UE is served by 2 SC in AS, a SC is coming in to Monitored Set and Event1a is
triggered. But UE is not receiving Active Set Update from NodeB and the call drops.
What could be possible causes for this drop?
Delayed Handover
Loss of Synchronization
Fast Fading
Pilot Pollution / Spillover issues
23. What is Hard Handover in UMTS? When will it happen?
Hard Handover in UMTS is a break before make type Handover
It can happen in the inter RNC boundaries where there is no Iur link.
24. What is the typical Call Setup Time for a 3G UE to 3G UE Call? What are the
possible RF related causes for a delayed CST in this type of call?
6 to 9 seconds
Multiple RRC Attempts (UE is on poor coverage need more than Access Attempt)
Delayed Page Responses
High Load on Paging and/or Access Channel
Paging / Access Parameters
25. What is Soft Handover Overhead? What is the typical value in UMTS network?
Soft Handover Overhead is calculated in two ways. 1) Average Active Set Size Total Traffic /
Primary Traffic. 2) Secondary / Total Traffic
Typical Values are like 1.7 (Avg Active Set Size) or 35% (Secondary / Total )
26. What will happen to the Soft Handover Overhead when you apply OCNS on the network?
And Why?
With OCNS, the interference (load) increases. This leads to reduction in Ec/Io of a Pilot, which
reduces the pilot spillovers. Reduction in Pilot Spillover will reduce the Soft Handover
Overhead.
27. What are the possible causes for an Access Failure in UMTS?
Missing Neighbors
Poor Coverage
Pilot Pollution / Spillover
Poor Cell Reselection
Core Network Issues
Non availability of resources. Admission Control denies
Hardware Issues
Improper RACH Parameters
External Interference
28. (FOR ERICSSON EXPERIENCED) What is RTWP? What is the significance of it?
Received Total Wide-band Power
It gives the Total Uplink Power (Interference) level received at NodeB
29. (FOR ERICSSON EXPERIENCED) What is the System Reference Point at which all
the Power Levels are measured in Ericsson NodeB?
System Ref Point for E/// NodeB is at the output of TMA (Between TMA and Antenna)
30. What are the typical values for reportingrange1a and reportingrange1b?
3 dB and 5 dB respectively.
31. What will be the impact when you change reportingrange1a from 3 to 4 dB and
timetotrigger1a 100 to 320 ms, without changing any other parameters?
Reduction in number of Event1a
Delayed Event1a trigger
Reduction in Average Active Set Size
Delay in Event1a could increase DL interference, which could lead to a drop call or increase in
Average Power Per User (reduction in cell capacity)
32. What is Admission Control?
Admission Control is an algorithm which controls the Resource Allocation for a new call and
additional resource allocation for an existing call. Incase, if a cell is heavily a loaded and
enough resources in terms of power, codes or CEs are not available, admission control denies
permission for the additional resource requirement.
33. What is Congestion Control?
Congestion Control monitors the dynamic utilization of specific cell resources and insures that
overload conditions do not occur. If overload conditions do occur, Congestion Control will
immediately restrict Admission Control from granting additional resources. In addition,
Congestion Control will attempt to resolve the congestion by either down switching, or
terminating existing users. Once the congestion is corrected, the congestion resolution actions
will cease, and Admission Control will be enabled.
How to calculate a WCDMA link budget?
To calculate it you need to know:
- Type of service (data type and speed)
- Type of environment (terrain, building penetration)
- Behaviour and type of mobiles (speed, max power level)
- System configuration (BTS antennas, BTS power, cable losses, handover gain)
- Required coverage probability
Please see an example on Link Budget page
.
What are the UMTS frequencies and channel spacing?
1900-1920 and 2010-2025 MHz Time Division Duplex (TDD, TD/CDMA) Unpaired, channel spacing is 5
MHz and raster is 200 kHz. Tx and Rx are not separated in frequency
1920-1980 and 2110-2170 MHz Frequency Division Duplex (FDD, W-CDMA) Paired uplink and
downlink, channel spacing is 5 MHz and raster is 200 kHz. An Operator needs 3 - 4 channels (2x15 or
2x20 MHz) to be able to build a high-speed, high-capacity network.
1980-2010 and 2170-2200 MHz Satellite uplink and downlink
What are the UMTS air interface logical channels?
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
Paging Control Channel (PCCH)
Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
Common Control Channel (CCCH)
Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH)
Common Traffic Channel (CTCH)
For complete listing of logical, transport and physical channels including directions and mapping
seeUMTS Channels page
What are the UMTS data rates of the services?
2.048Mb/s for pico-cell (and micro-cell) applications.
384kb/s for medium size cells. (micro and small macro cells)
144kb/s and 64kb/s for large cell applications. (Large macro cells)
14.4kb/s for continuous low speed data applications in very large cells.
12.2kb/s for speech (4.75kb/s - 12.2kb/s)
9.6kb/s globally (satellite)
How does UMTS paging work?
First, get the latest 3GPP specifications 25-211, 25-304 and 25-331
Note:
PI = Paging Indicator (value calculated by higher layers)
Pq = Paging Indicator (indicator set by physical layer)
25-304 Chapter 8 shows how Paging Occasion and PI is calculated:
Paging Occasion = {(IMSI div K) mod (DRX cycle length div PBP)} * PBP + n * DRX cycle length +
Frame Offset
Where n = 0,1,2 as long as SFN is below its maximum value.
PI = DRX Index mod Np
'In FDD mode, Np = (18,36,72,144) is the number of Page Indicators per frame, and is given in IE
"Number of PI per frame", part of system information in FDD mode.'
25-211 (FDD) Chapter 5.3.3.10 shows how Pq is calculated for channel mapping, the structure of
paging indicator channel and the mapping of paging indicators Pq to PICH bits.
25-331 is also worth reading.
ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/latest/Rel-4/26_series/26234-400.zip
Consider downloading the latest releases 5 (March2002) or release 6 (not yet frozen) files.
Is there any interface from UMTS core network to other mobile networks?
UMTS specifications do not have any special interface planned for other mobile networks, but
all telephone networks can be connected to UMTS core network with standard S7 (or other)
signalling system using E1s or T1s. Than enables voice calls to be made to all other telephone
networks. If other networks support additional services like "call forwarding", "calling line
identity", fax, slow-speed data ect, technically that is possible to implement this between
networks.
All telephone networks are designed to work with each other and UMTS networks will use
standard interfaces towards all other networks. S7 and IP (internet protocol) will be the most
commonly used interfaces standard, but all UMTS vendors can offer tens of different countryspecific interface protocols if required.