GSM SYSTEM

ARCHITECTURE
CONTENTS

> OVERVIEW

> PLANNING

> RF OPTIMIZATION

> TOOLS

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 OVERVIEW

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ARCHITECHTURE
A GSM network is made up of three sub-systems:
› The Mobile Station (MS)
› The Base Station Sub-system (BSS) – BSC and several BTSs
› The Network and Switching Sub-system (NSS) – MSC and associated
registers

The interfaces defined between each of these sub systems

include:
› 'A' interface between NSS and BSS
› 'Abis' interface between BSC and BTS (within the BSS)
› 'Um' air interface between the BSS and the MS

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ALU BSS

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BSS components
• BSC – controller of the BSS
› Control of the BTSs and their resources.
› Perform switching functions within the BSS.
• BTS provides the radio transmission and reception
functions for a cell, contains:
› Radio Transmitter/Receiver (TRX)
› Signal processing and control equipment
› Antennas and feeder cables
• TC – key component for the transmission function
› performs rate adaptation and encoding/decoding of speech and
data between the MSC and the BSC
• The BSS is supervised by the OMC-R

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BSS configurations
• Remote BTS
BSC
BTS

• Daisy Chain
BTS 3
BTS 1 BTS 4

BSC
BTS 2
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BSS configurations
• Star Config.

BTS 3

BTS 1

BSC

BTS 4

BTS 2

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BSS configurations
• Loop Config.

BTS 3

BTS 1

BTS 4

BSC

BTS 2
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TERMINOLOGY
• Site
• Cell
• CGI
• Feeder
• ANC
• TRX
• BCCH
• TCH
• BSIC
• …etc

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 planning

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RF NETWORK CYLCLE
Spreadsheet
Design

Model Tuning
Benchmarking

IBS Solution Site Survey

Traffic Freq.
Expansion Planning

Neighbor List
Optimization
Site Params.
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SPREADSHEET DESIGN
• Use link budget to calculate the number of sites required to
meet coverage/capacity requirements of a certain
geographical area

• Based on spreadsheet design operator agrees to buy

certain no of sites to build his network

• Calculations based on
› subscriber density
› traffic per subscriber
› expected growth in traffic, etc…

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MODEL TUNING
• Model tuning is used to
› Accurately allocate the sites.
› To achieve more accurate results from the prediction/simulation tool
deployed.
› Identification of hotspots/special coverage requirement areas.
› Tuned model can be used as a benchmark for future expansions.

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NORMINAL CELL PLAN
• Distribution of the sites across the agreed geographical
area.
• Coverage/Capacity objective details.
• The output is “search ring”, which have:
› Nominal site coordinates,
› Search radius,
› Specifications about antenna height requirements for each site, in
order that the site objectives are reasonably achieved.

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RF SITE SURVEY
• Surveys for each search ring in the network to identify the
suitable candidates which can be used for building the sites.
• Candidates identified are ranked on basis of their RF
suitability and other parameters such as structural stability,
line of sight clearance(for Tx), accessibility, costs, etc.
• Drive testing may be carried out in some cases, to assess
the RF suitability
• Once suitable candidate(s) is identified… acquisition
begins!!!
• Often due to acquisition constraints, search rings need to be
modified and sometimes even the nominal plan needs to be
changed.

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SAR
FREQUENCY planning
• GSM works on a frequency reuse pattern.
• Different techniques available for frequency plan
› Non Hopping (NH)
› Hopping - further divided into Baseband Hopping (BBH) and
Synthesized Frequency Hopping (SFH/RH)
• Can be done manually or automatically by AFP tools.
• An optimal frequency is critical to ensure good RF
performance of the network.
• Spectral challenges:
› Limited band allocation
› Traffic grow
› Tighter reused pattern

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FREQUENCY CHANNELS
• P-GSM900
› 890-915 MHz for uplink, MS to BS
› 935-960 MHz for downlink, BS to MS
› fup(n) = (890+0.2*n) MHz (with ARFCN 1 ≤ n ≤ 124)
› fdown(n) = fup(n) + 45 MHz
› Radio frequency channel spacing: 200 KHz;
› Duplex spacing: 45 MHz
• E-GSM900
› 880- 915 MHz for UL; 925-960 MHz for DL
• GSM1800
› 1710-1785 MHz for UL; 1805-1880 MHz for DL
› Radio frequency channel spacing: 200 KHz; 512≤ n ≤ 885
› Duplex spacing: 95 MHz
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FREQUENCY RE-USE
F=2
• C/I ≥ 12 dB
F=7 F=3
• C/A ≥ -9 dB
F=1
(GSM 05.05 spec.)
F=6,10 F=4,8
F=5,9
• Reused pattern
F=2
F=7 F=3 F=2
F=1 F=7 F=3

F=6,10 F=4,8 F=1

F=5,9 F=6,10 F=4,8
F=5,9

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CRITICAL FACTORS FOR
GOOD RF NETWORK
• Grid based RF design.
• Maintain standard azimuths while sectorizing cells – This
makes frequency plan easier.
• Correct choice of antenna type for specific coverage
requirements.
• Use of optimal antenna heights – Should be sufficient to
cater to the coverage area, but should not exceed the
requirement, else it results into large spillovers and
interference, making reuse difficult!!
• Use optimal tilt – Electrical tilt as far as possible. In some
cases combination of electrical and mechanical tilts.

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ANTENNA
• Types - Omni, Sector
• Antenna pattern - the graphical representation of the
radiation properties of the antenna as a function of space

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ANTENNA
• Lobes – portions of the pattern, can be a main lobe, a side
lobe, a back lobe
• Gain (dBi decibel relative to isotropic radiator) - the ratio of
the power gain in a given direction to the power gain of a
reference antenna in the same direction

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ANTENNA
• HPBW
• VSWR – reflect how well the impedance of cable (feeder,
jumper), connector, antenna are matched. The typically
acceptable value is 1.5 which is ~ 4% of original power was
loss

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ANTENNA
• Mechanical tilt • Electrical tilt

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 OPt IMIZATION

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OVERVIEW
• Parameter – BSC, Cell, TRX level
• Timer – at MS, Cell, BSC
• Counter
• Indicator – Dimensioning, HO, QoS, Resource Availibility &
Usage, Traffic Load
• KPI – Key Performance Indicator
› OSS KPIs
› Accessibility
› Retainability
› Mobility
› Drivetest KPIs
› Coverage
› Quality
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OPTIMIZATION CYCLE
Network Rollout

Traffic Network Pre-

Optimization Optimization

Hardware
RF Fine Tuning
Optimization

Parameter Physical
Optimization Optimization

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HW OPTIMIZATION
• Hardware Optimization is a process in which failing network
elements which affect the performance of BSS (Access
Network) are troubleshooted.
• In most cases, hardware failures on a BTS/BSC or any part
of the access network – alarms are generated at the OMC,
which help in identifying the fault
• Key statistics from OMCR could point towards hardware
failures – Typical statistics which indicate such problems are
› Poor assignment success/High assignment failure rate
› High TCH/SD RF loss
› High handover failure rate
› Lower call volume/traffic on the cell

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HW OPTIMIZATION
• Faulty TRX/combiner – one of the most common problem.
Immediate step to be taken is to ‘lock’ the particular
timeslot/TRX/combiner from the OMC and escalate the fault
to the BSS team.
• Sleeping TRX/Cell - this is a temporary problem and gets
resolved by performing a ‘reset’ on the particular.
• Path balance – This is also one of the common causes for
poor cell performance.
› Path is balanced if DL receiving level – UL receiving level = 0
› (Pow(TRE TX) - RXLEV(DL)) - (Pow(MS TX) - RXLEV(UL)) = 0
› PB < 0 means losses in the UL (poor UL RX)
› PB > 0 means losses in the DL (weak DL TX)
› PB in [-5; 5] is acceptable
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HW OPTIMIZATION
• Path balance – If path is unbalanced, possible things that
could go wrong are
› High VSWR due to faulty feeder cable
› Improper connection
› Faulty combiner
• Steps for Hardware Optimization
› Check from OMCR statistics for indications of hardware faults
› Check event logs from OMCR to find out if any alarms were
generated
› Conduct call test on the site/cell in question – check for assignment
failures, handover failures, from layer 3 messages
› Isolate the problem to the specific TRX. This can be done by
‘locking’ the suspicious TRX.
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HW OPTIMIZATION
• Steps for Hardware Optimization
› Check for downlink receive level on each TRX. In some cases the
downlink receive level on a particular TRX may be very low, due to
faulty radio.
› Request VSWR test to be performed if the problem appears to be
related to poor path balance.
› Check for improper connection, improper antenna installation. One
loose connector could skew the performance of the entire cell
› If the problem is not isolated to a bad TRX/ other BTS hardware –
further investigations needed to check other possible faulty
hardware in the BSC/TC

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PHYSICAL RF OPTIMIZATION
• A well designed RF is key to good network performance.
• Physical RF Optimization is an essential requirement during
the network pre-optimization stage.
• The process comprises of conducting a drive test for the
entire cluster, which may comprise of one or several BSC
areas.
• The drive test results are plotted on a GIS map and
deficiencies in coverage/interference problems are identified
by plotting Rxlev/Rxqual values.
• RF optimization is helpful in resolving specific coverage
problems or interference problems, overshooting, no
dominant server issues, etc.

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PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION
• Access parameters
› The MS uses a "path loss criterion" parameter C1 to determine
whether a cell is suitable to camp on.
› C1 ensure that, if a call was attempted, it would be done with a
sufficient downlink and uplink received level based on 2
parameters, broadcast on BCCH
› RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN (dBm) - minimum level to access the cell
› MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH (dBm) - maximum level for MS emitting
› evaluated every 5 sec (minimum)
› C1 = A - MAX(0,B) > 0
› A = RxLev - RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN
› B = MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH – Pmax_MS

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PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION
• Access parameters
› In case of reselection from one cell to another in the same location
area – the C1 value of target cell must be higher than that of the
source cell
› In case of reselection to a target cell in a different location area –
the C1 value must be greater than that of the source cell by a
database parameter “cell_reselect_hysteresis”
› C2 is an option GSM feature which can only be used for cell
reselection, it can be enabled or disabled on a cell basis.
› If C2 parameters are not being broadcasted, the C1 process is
used for reselection.
› Why C2?
› Cell prioritization
› As a means of encouraging MSs to select some suitable cells in
preference to others
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PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION
• Access parameters
› CELL_RESELECT_PARAM_IND= not present THEN C2=C1
else
› C2 = C1 + CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET - TEMPORARY_OFFSET (T)
(for PENALTY_TIME  31)
› if T > PENALTY_TIME, TEMPORARY_OFFSET(T) = 0
› C2 = C1 - CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET
(for PENALTY_TIME = 31)
› One reselection criterion is compared to C2s
› C2neighbor > C2current if cells belong to same LA
› C2neighbor > C2current + Cell_Reselect_Hysteresis if cells from a
different LA

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PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION
• Access parameters
› Paging
› SDCCH – Radio failure, congestion, drop
› Directed Retry

• Call handling parameters

› DTX prevents unnecessary transmissions when there is no need to
transfer information.
› Power Control (UL/DL) is used to optimise the transmitted signal
strength so that the signal strength at the receiver is still adequate.
› Frequency Hopping – BBH, SFH/RF

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PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION
• Handover parameters
› There’re many types of Handover Causes, which can be divided
into 3 main families
› Emergency HO – DL/UL Quality, Level, Interference
› Better condition HO – PBGT
› Channel adaptation HO – HR-FR
› The cause value contained in the handover request message will
affect the evaluation process in the BSC

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PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION

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PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION
• Better cell HO (Power budget HO)
› There is another cell with a better power budget i.e. the link quality
can be improved or maintained with a reduced transmission power
of both the MS and the BTS.
› This cause is especially designed to cope with the requirement that
the mobile should be connected with the cell with which the lowest
possible output powers are used.
› To assess which of the cells is the "best cell", the algorithm
performs the comparison of the path loss in the current and in the
neighbor cell every measurement reporting period.
› The mobile measures the adjacent cell signal levels and reports
the six best ones

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PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION
• Better cell HO (Power budget HO)

› The power budget gives the difference in path loss between the
current cell and the adjacent cells.

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CALL FLOW

Call Flow

• Radio link establishment

• SDCCH phase
• TCH phase
• Alerting phase

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KPI
• Call Setup Success Rate

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KPI
• Call Drop Rate

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PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS
• Coverage problem

• Interference problem

• Unbalanced power budget problem

• Congestion problem

Typical problems
& solutions

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