International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:01

55

Radio Access Network Audit & Optimization in

GSM (Radio Access Network Quality
Improvement Techniques)
Mudassar Ali, Asim Shehzad, Dr. M.Adeel Akram.
Abstract Network audit is necessary to judge the network
performance and maintain QOS standards. The network audit
identifies inconsistencies or limitations in current overall
network design, helps to improve processes resulting in
optimized network and improved quality of service. Radio Access
Network audit includes many aspects of network like
performance, neighbor, parameter, frequency, competitive
benchmark audits. In this paper, real GSM Radio Access
network evaluated, and different issues, findings, trials and
improvements
have
been
summarized
and
observations/recommendations have been listed to correlate the
practical aspects of RF optimization, which affect the
performance, and QoS of an operational cellular network.

Index term RAN, BSC, MSC, BTS, CSSR, CDR, HSR, TCH,
COVERAGE, QUALITY, KPI, DT and QoS.

I. INTRODUCTION
The mobile communication aims to offer anytime and
anywhere communications between any objects. GSM , One
of the fastest growing and most demanding of all
telecommunications technologies .
GSM Network usually called as cellular network (as the
whole coverage area is divided into different cells and sectors)
is comprised of a mobile Station (MS) which is connected to
the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) via air interface. In
addition to other hardware, BTS contains the equipment called
Transceiver (TRX), which is responsible for the transmission
and reception of several radio frequency (RF) signals to/from
the end user .BTS is then connected to the base station
controller (BSC) via abis interface. BSC usually handles radio
resource management and handovers of the calls from one
BTS (or cell/sector) to the other BTS (or cell/sector) equipped
in it. BSC is then connected to Mobile Switching Centre
(MSC).
This paper focuses on audit of radio access part of GSM
network, suggestions to optimize the network and post
optimization benchmarks. Following is sequence of
Objectives.
1. Network Audit and Recommendations
2. Optimization Plan and Cluster optimization
3. Post
Optimization
Evaluations
(Benchmark
Improvements)
II. RADIO ACCESS NETWORK AUDIT
The ultimate purpose of the audit is to establish a baseline that
measures overall network design, quality, performance and
process, and to identify and characterize the areas where
improvement can be achieved. The audit is usually a

comparative process and requires an initial baseline of KPIs

and/or objectives. These can be derived from the design
guidelines, service requirements, customer expectation,
market benchmarks and others. The comparative baseline
and/or the KPIs can be re-adjusted during the audit itself to
improve its diagnostic capabilities.
Benefits of Network Audit.
Key benefits of network audit are:
Identify actions to improve network quality in problem
areas.
Discover inconsistencies or limitations in current overall
network design.
Discover practices or processes that can be improved or
optimized
Results in improved Network quality , thereby reduced
churn
Optimize overall network design:
Reduction of excess network elements
Postponement future CAPEX, leading to CAPEX
savings
It takes only a delay in the CAPEX for few BTSs to
justify the network audit investment
Streamline processes:
OPEX savings
Network Audit Steps
The audit has 3 distinct steps:
1. Information gathering (The Diagnosis)
2. Information analysis and results (The Prognosis)
3. Recommendations (The Cure)
III. INFORMATION GATHERING (DATA COLLECTION)
Following data will be collected for radio network audit
1. BSS Network Design and Performance Data.
All Site Data : sites position, antenna types,
height, tilt electric and Mechanical) and azimuth,
sector power, number of sectors, Number of
TRXs per sector
Macro Site data and Micro Layer data
BSC and transcoder designs
Coverage data
Neighbor List
Handover Parameter
Frequency Plan and Interference Analysis
OMC Statistics.
Drive Test Statistics.
2. Major Complaints from Customer Care.

108401-2727 IJET-IJENS February 2010 IJENS

IJENS

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:01

3.

IV.

Revenue Churn report from Revenue assurance

department

INFORMATION ANALYSIS-RADIO NETWORK AUDIT FLOW

CHART
Algorithm for audit methodology used for test case of
network of city K is given in Fig.1

56

The paging success rate measures the percentage of how many

paging attempts that have been answered, either as a result of
the first or the second repeated page.

PSR

Time _ of _ Paging _ Re sponses

Time _ of _ Paging

Possible reasons for poor Paging Performance could be:

Paging congestion in MSC
Paging congestion in BSC
Paging congestion in Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
Poor paging strategy
Poor parameter setting
Poor coverage
High interference
2. SDCCH Access Success Rate.
SDCCH access success rate is a percentage of all SDCCH
accesses received in the BSC.
Possible reasons for poor SDCCH Access Performance could
be:
Too High Timing Advance (MHT)
Access Burst from another Co-channel, Co-BSIC
Cell
Congestion
False Accesses due to High Noise Floor
Unknown Access Cause Code
3. SDCCH Drop Rate
The SDCCH DROP RATE statistic compares the total number
of RF losses (while using an SDCCH), as a percentage of the
total number of call attempts for SDCCH channels. This
statistic is intended to give an indication of how good the
cell/system is at preserving calls.

SDCCH _ Drop _ Rate

SDCCH _ Drops
SDCCH _ Seizures

Possible reasons for SDCCH RF Loss Rate could be:

Fig. 1. Radio Network Audit Flow Chart

V. RADIO NETWORK PERFORMANCE AUDIT

All the events being occurred over air interface are
triggering different counters in the Base Station
Controller (BSC). The KPIs are derived with the help of
these counters using different formulations.
A. Accessibility
Service accessibility is : The ability of a service to be
obtained, within specified tolerances and other given
conditions, when requested by the user. In other words:
Total _ NO _ of _ Successful l _ Calls _ Setup
Acessibility
Total _ Calls _ Accesses _ to _ Network
Listed below are the KPIs connected to accessibility.
1. Paging Success Rate

Low Signal Strength on Down or Uplink

Poor Quality on Down or Uplink
Too High Timing Advance
Congestion on TCH

4. Call Setup Success Rate

The Call Setup success rate measures successful

TCH Assignments of total number of TCH
assignment attempts.

CSSR 1 SDCCH _ Congestion _ Rate * TCH _ Assignment _ Success _ Rate

SDCCH_Overflows

1
* 1 TCH_Congestion_Rate * 1 TCH_Assignment_failureRate * 100
SDCCH_Call_Attempts
Reasons for low call setup success rate could be:
TCH congestion
Interference
CSSR

108401-2727 IJET-IJENS February 2010 IJENS

IJENS

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:01

Poor coverage
Faulty HW units

5. Call Setup TCH Congestion Rate

The Call Setup TCH Congestion Rate statistic provides the
percentage of attempts to allocate a TCH call setup that were
blocked in a cell.
Call _ Setup _ TCH _ Congestion_ Rate

No _ of _ TCH _ Blocks( Excluding _ HO )

No _ of _ TCH _ Attempts

Possible reasons for call setup block could be:

Increasing Traffic Demand
Bad Dimensioning
HW Fault & Installation Fault
High Antenna Position
High Mean Holding Time (MHT)
Low Handover Activity
Congestion in Surrounding Cells
B. Retain ability
Service retain ability is The ability of a service, once
obtained, to continue to be provided under given conditions
for a requested duration. In other words:

Re tainabilit y

Total _ Calls _ Completed

Total _ Successful _ calls _ setup

Listed below are the KPIs connected to retain ability.

1. Call Drop Rate
This KPI gives rate of drop call. Percent of TCH dropped after
TCH assignment complete.

57

Congestion
Link Connection or HW Failure
Bad Antenna Installation
The MS Measures Signal Strength of another Co-orAdjacent Cell than Presumed
Incorrect Handover Relations
Incorrect Locating Parameter Setting
Bad Radio Coverage
High Interference, Co-channel or Adjacent

VI. NEIGHBOR, PARAMETERS AND FREQUENCY AUDIT.

It is important for the neighbor list to be updated and
optimized as it directly affects handover decisions in a
mobile network. Wrong or missing neighbor relations may
cause an on-going connection to drop or be handed over to the
wrong neighbor cell. Excessive neighbor relations in a cell, on
the other hand, may cause wrong handover decision on the
part of the BSS because of inaccurate measurements.
Neighbor relations and parameters are cross checked to
identify and remove
One way neighbors
Illogical neighbor Relations
Methods used to assign frequencies in the network are
reviewed and the steps are taken to control interference and
maximize network capacity through frequency planning.
BCCH/BSIC reuse is crosschecked. MA (Moblile Allocation)
List is cross verified.
VII. COMPETITIVE BENCHMARK AUDIT
In competitive benchmarking, coverage and quality
comparison of network is performed with competitors.
Below is coverage and quality comparison for two operators
for a city, Results are taken Drive test tool, TEMS.

Total _ TCH _ Drops

CDR
TCH _ Normal _ Assignment _ successes inco min g _ DR Inco min g _ HO _ Successes Outgoing _ HO _ successes

*DR is directed retry

Possible reasons for TCH Drop Call Rate could be:

Low Signal Strength on Down or Uplink

Lack of Best Server
Congestion in neighboring cells
Battery Flaw
Poor Quality on Down or Uplink
Too High Timing Advance
Antenna problems
Low BTS Output Power
Missing Neighboring Cell Definitions
Unsuccessful Outgoing Handover
Unsuccessful Incoming Handover

Coverage Comparison :
As visible from Plots mentioned in Fig.2 and Fig .3 operator 1
have better coverage than operator 2. which is also visible in
KPIs.

2. Handover Success Rate

The handover success rate shows the percentage of successful
handovers of all handover attempts. A handover attempt is
when a handover command is sent to the mobile.

HOSR
Possible reasons for poor handover success rate could be:
Fig. 2 . Coverage Plot for Operator 1 For City K :

108401-2727 IJET-IJENS February 2010 IJENS

IJENS

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol:10 No:01

58

Fig. 5. Quality Plots for Operator 2 for city K

Legend For Quality Plots is as follows :

Fig. 3. Coverage Plot for Operator 2 for City K

Legend For Coverage is given below .

Formula for Quality:
( RX _ Qual0 RX _ Qual1 RX _ Qual2 RX _ Qual3) ( RX _ Qual4 RX _ Qual5 RX _ Qual6 ) .07
Re ceive _ Quality
Total _ Samples

Results for receive quality for operator 1 and operator 2 taken

for city K.

KPI

Formula For Coverage Rate:

Covergae_ Rate

No _ of _ samples _ having _ Signal _ strength 90dbm

* 100

Operator 1

Rx QUALITY

88.19%

Operator 2
87.18%

Total _ Samples

Results for Coverage rate for operator 1 and operator 2 taken

for city K are given below

KPI

Operator 1 Operator 2

COVERAGE
RATE

[1]
[2]
[3]

94.64%

72.77%

[4]

VIII. REFERENCES
Halonen T., Romero J., Melero J.: GSM, GPRS and EDGE
Performance. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2003.
ITU-T recommendation G.1000 (2001), Communication quality of
Service: A framework and definition.
Jens Zander. Radio Resource Management for Wireless
Networks. Artech House Inc., 2001
[4] Bilal Haider,M.Zafarrullah Khan, M.K.Islam: Radio Frequency
Optimization and QOS in operational GSM network.

Quality Comparison:
As visible from plots mentioned in Fig 4 and Fig 5 , Operator
1 has better quality than operator 1 , which is also visible in
KPIs

Fig. 4. Quality Plots for Operator 1 For City K.

108401-2727 IJET-IJENS February 2010 IJENS

IJENS