In GRPS, the KPIs mainly define the quality level of a connection from the MS to the GGSN; therefore, they

focus on the core network, rather than on the physical layer. The GPRS KPIs are classified in the following categories: Reliability; Delay Peak throughput; Mean throughput; GPRS utilization; Attach attempts failure rate

What is TBF: A Temporary Block Flow (TBF) is a logical connection used by two General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) entities to support the unidirectional transfer of lower layer compatibility (LLC) protocol data units (PDUs) on packet data physical channels(PDCHs)(or timeslots). In a typical GPRS system, the network needs to establish a downlink (DL) TBF to transfer data in the DL direction and an uplink (UL) TBF to transfer data in the UL direction. TBFs are typically short-lived and are generally only active during data transfers. The GPRS blocking of resources is linked with the temporary block flow (TBF) set up failure, due to the lack of PDTCH resources. TBF is the physical connection that is used to support the unidirectional transfer of LLC PDU on packet data physi-cal channels. TBF is allocated in one or more TCH channels and comprises a number of RLC/MAC blocks carrying one or more LLC PDUs. A TBF is temporary as its name denotes and is maintained as long as data is transferred. PDTCH access failure can be separated in two types. The first type is called hard blocking, and the second one is called soft blocking. Hard GPRS blocking. Hard blocking describes the situation when no radio resources are assigned after the GPRS service request. For instance, if we consider the case when a user requests three time slots (TSLs) to download a file using ftp and no resources at all are assigned, this is characterized as hard GPRS blocking. Soft GPRS blocking. Network operators usually operate their GPRS networks using at least one dedicated channel. For that reason hard blocking occurs rarely, and a more common situation is the soft GPRS blocking where users are assigned a portion of the resources they request. For example a user who requests three time slots for a service will finally receive one or two. Session Release Success Rate This KPI discriminates the various reasons for abnormal TBF release expressing the

percentage of TBF dropped sessions due to bad radio conditions as well as due to high circuit-switched traffic, where the prioritized voice requests are served by assigning traffic slots from the default GPRS territory. The session release success rate indicates the impact of circuit-switched (CS) traffic on packet-switched (PS) traffic (TBF drops) when radio resources (TCHs) are not sufficient, and CS accom-modated traffic is served also by using traffic slots from the default GPRS territory. Data Connection Success Rate Whenever a mobile station is admitted to access the GPRS channels and requests a service, the network will establish a connection that supports the unidirectional transfer of LLC PDU. This connection is the TBF one that was described in the previ-ous section. There are three TBF types when a mobile station is in data transfer: Uplink TBF; Downlink TBF; Simultaneous uplink and downlink TBF. The TBF is assigned to the radio resources of one or more PDTCH and com-prises a number of RLC/MAC blocks carrying one or more LLC PDU. The TBF set up failure due to the lack of PDTCH resources results in soft or hard blocking in GPRS. The following formulas present the uplink and downlink hard blocking rate in PDTCH.

Delay The delayis another critical KPI that does not occur due to congestion in the radio resources, but it appears and is considered in the core network. It specifies the end-to-end transfer delay measured in the transmission of SDUs through the GPRS net-work. This KPI has direct interaction with the use of the CCCH of the CS channels, such as RACH, AGCH, and PCH (which are called PRACH, PAGCH, and PPCH when they are used in GPRS). A big delay is strongly linked with congestion in the above resources. GPRS Utilization Another very useful KPI, especially in this early working phase of the GPRS net-work, is the monitoring of usage of the related resources as well as the total amount of data transmitted in a specific period of time. It indicates how many time slots the

GPRS traffic consumes on average during this period. This information is useful, for example, in forecasting the need for applying capacity extensions, and it represents Erlangs on PDTCH. The idea behind this indicator is the amount of GPRS territory resources usage measured in Erlangs or TSLs, meaning how many TSLs were occu-pied during a specific period of time in order for a known amount of data to be transferred. The allocation of physical channels for GPRS usage can be done for transferring either normal data or signaling data. The calculation of the traffic is made on the basis of the number of RLC layer blocks transmitted in a specific period of time based on the data that can be sent in one TSL for the same period Method for the early establishment of uplink TBFs:A mobile station operating in EGPRS mode needs to the early establishment of an uplink TBF although has not data to send, at the only precautionary purpose of preventing an intolerable latency negatively affecting the subsequent delay-sensitive transmissions. To this aim, the mobile sends a Packet Channel Request message in one phase access mode including a new establishment cause called "Early TBF establishment". The network establishes an uplink TBF indicating the requester and assigns a radio resource on one PDCH channel or more. Then the network schedules the transmission from the mobile station also when it does not have data to transmit other than dummy packets. This is performed through the USF flags in the usual manner. As soon as actual data become available for transmission, the mobile send them instead of dummy packets. In an alternative embodiment the mobile sends the Packet Channel Request message in two phase access mode. As soon as the Packet Uplink Assignment message is received by the mobile station, it sends a Packet resource Request message including Extended Uplink TBF information How to fix high TBF block rate:

Try use most BCCH TRX TS for PDCH Make sure (E)GPRS link adaptation is enabled. If frequency change doesn't get good result limit the (E)GPRS coding scheme up to MCS7 instead of MCS9. MCS7 is more robust than MCS9 Reduce no. of users per PDCH Check PCU congestion/Utilization