Radio Interface Capacity

The main bottlenecks in the radio interface are the downlink power, uplink interference, radio
bearers, common channels, and the channelization code tree.

Figure 6:  Radio interface

Downlink Power
The BTS controls the amount of HSDPA DL transmission power, after the powers for DCH,
HSUPA control channels, and common channels have been set up. The BTS can measure the
total power, NonHSDPA power, and HSDPA power.

1. Transmitted Total Carrier Power

Monitored
capacity The total transmitted power includes the downlink power allocated to the downlink DPCH, the
item common channels, and the E-RGCH, E-AGCH, E-HICH, HS-SCCH, and HS-PDSCH. The BTS
reports the Transmitted Carrier Power in absolute units. The classification depends on the cell
size setting (PRACHDelayRange parameter). A proactive KPI has been defined, based on the
M1000C342 - M1000C353 classification counters.

2. Counter/KPI Name, unit Target Red Description

Proactive flag
monitoring

RNC_5201 Marginal Transmitted 20 >50 Share of time when the Transmitted

a Carrier Power Time Carrier Power (TxCrPwr) is in classes 7-
Share DL [%] 8. The mapping to power value depends
on the PRACHDelayRange WCEL
parameter settings.

3. Counter/KPI Name, unit Description

Reactive RNC_5202 Overload Transmitted Share of time when the Transmitted Carrier Power
monitoring a Carrier Power Time (TxCrPwr) is in classes 9-10. The mapping to power value
Share DL [%] depends on the PRACHDelayRange WCEL parameter
settings.

RNC_964a RRC Setup FR due to RRC setup failure ratio caused by Admission Control.
AC [%]

M1000C15 RB RELEASE BY The number of radio bearers released by the dynamic link
5 DYN LINK OPT DUE optimization for NRT traffic because of RL power
TO RL POWER congestion.
CONGESTION [#]

M1000C16 RB RELEASE DUE The number of radio bearer releases by the enhanced
6 TO ENH OVERLOAD overload control using the radio link reconfiguration
CONTROL USING method.
RL RECONF [#]

M1000C14 HS-DSCH RELEASE The number of HS-DSCH allocation releases due to

9 DUE TO DL downlink overload. This counter includes both interactive
OVERLOAD [#] and background class connections. It is updated when the
user's HS-DSCH allocation is released due to the
PtxNonHSDPA >=
PtxTargetHSDPA+PtxOffsetHSDPA condition. This
counter is updated only when the HSDPA Static Resource
Allocation is used.

M1000C14 RB DOWNGRADE The number of radio bearer downgrades by the enhanced

2 BY ENH OVERLOAD overload control using the TFC subset method.
CONTROL USING
TFC SUBSET [#]

M1002C60 DL DCH SELECTED This counter is updated when the HS-DSCH cannot be
2 FOR STREAMING selected as a downlink transport channel due to
DUE TO HSDPA PtxTotal>PtxTargetHSDPA or
POWER [#] PtxNC>PtxTargetHSDPA conditions.
 RNC_969b DL DCH Selected The number of times when the HS-DSCH downlink
due to the HSDPA transport channel cannot be selected for an interactive or
power [#] background class connection due to downlink power limits.

1.  Marginal (Overload) Transmitted Carrier Power Time Share DL

4. The primary indication for highly loaded sites is the percentage of time when these sites
Analysis are in marginal and overload power classes.
2.  RRC setup failure rate due to AC
Admission control may reject setup, cell change, or handover (excluding frozen BTS
failure). Increase of failures, indicated by the RRC setup failure rate due to AC, means that
the WBTS has used all available downlink power in order to maintain the connection for the
users.
3.  RB releases and downgrades
Counters M1000C155, M1000C166, M1000C149, M1000C142, and M1002C602 react in
overload situation.

Note that the average available power for HSDPA influences the CQI seen by the UE. If the
downlink quality is bad, there is not enough power to serve the users. However, high power for
HSDPA does not necessarily mean high throughput (or low power - low throughput).

5. The system can downgrade or release a dedicated channel of a non-real-time RAB, due to
Overload excessive downlink power.

6. With the 40 W LPAs, the maximum HSDPA power can increase to 45 dBm (also concerns the
Upgrade average power). High DL power levels, together with a low throughput, indicate low coverage for
UEs. Improve the coverage by adding sites.

Received Total Wideband Power

The power control allows access to as many users as possible while minimizing the interference
caused by these users. At the same time, the capacity of a WCDMA system is proportional to the
level of interference in the system.
The cell-specific load control in the RNC maintains the estimated received wideband power
value for the resource allocation of the RNC. The estimated received wideband power value
represents the received interference of transferred active bearers, which are allocated in the RNC
(such as DCHs). It does not include the contribution of the bearers, which have an E-DCH
established with the scheduled transmission, as follows:
 If the HSUPA has not been configured in the cell, the estimated received wideband
power value represents the received total wideband power (PrxTotal), measured and
reported by the BTS.
 If the HSUPA has been configured in the cell, the estimated received wideband power
value represents the received total non-E-DCH scheduled transmission wideband power
(PrxNonEDCHST). The PrxTotal is not estimated in the HSUPA cell.
1. Received Total Wideband Power
Monitored
capacity The Received Total Wideband Power (RTWP) reflects the total noise level within the UMTS
item frequency band of one single cell. This is measured by the BTS.

The RNC limits the uplink noise using the PrxTarget parameter, which defines the maximum
allowed increase in uplink noise in relation to the background noise floor. A high RTWP level
indicates an increase in interference in the cell.

2. Counter/KPI Name, unit Target Red Description

Proactive flag
monitoring

RNC_5203 Percentage of RTWP in 10 - Share of time when the received total

a marginal area [%]
wideband power is in classes 13-16.
The KPI is based on the M1000C320-41
counters. The total uplink power
(RTWP) measurement report samples
the power values that are within a
particular class range. The counter
takes into account the whole received
power, including HSDPA and Common
Channels.

3. Reactive Counter/KPI Name, unit Description

monitoring

M1000C14 RB DOWNGRADE BY The number of RB downgrades by priority-based

7 PBS DUE TO scheduling (PBS) due to interference congestion.
INTERFERENCE
CONGESTION [#]

M1000C15 RB RELEASE BY PBS The number of radio bearers released by priority-based

9 DUE TO scheduling (PBS) due to interference congestion.
INTERFERENCE
CONGESTION [#]

M1000C15 RB DOWNGRADE BY The number of RB downgrades by pre-emption due to

2 PRE-EMPTION DUE interference congestion.
TO INTERFERENCE
 CONGESTION [#]

M1000C16 RB RELEASE BY PRE- The number of radio bearers released by pre-emption

4 EMPTION DUE TO due to interference congestion.
INTERFERENCE
CONGESTION [#]

RNC_970a SRB Reject Rate UL [%] The number of SRB requests that have been rejected on
the UL.

RNC_972a AMR Service Reject The number of voice call requests that have been
Rate UL [%] rejected on the UL.

RNC_974a CS Data Service Reject The number of video call requests that have been
Rate UL [%] rejected on the UL.

RNC_976a PS Data Service Reject The number of PS data call requests that have been
Rate UL [%] rejected on the UL.

RNC_661d HSDPA Access Failure HSDPA access failure rate due to the associated UL
Rate due to UL DCH DCH.
[%]

1.  Total Interference in UL

4. Analysis The primary indication for a highly loaded BTS.
2.  Service Rejections
Counters M1000C147, M1000C159, M1000C152, M1000C164 and KPIs RNC_970a,
RNC_972a, RNC_974a, and RNC_976a react in overload situation.
3.  HSDPA Access FR due to the UL DCH
An increase in the HSDPA Access FR due to the UL DCH indicates that there is no room
for more UEs to be connected to that particular cell due to UL power congestion.

There are no predefined thresholds for the frequency of rejections, downgrades, or releases.

5. The system can downgrade or release a dedicated channel of a non-real-time RAB (controllable
Overload load), due to excessive uplink congestion situations. When the load is still too high, the power
control cannot mitigate failures due to non-controllable load.

6. Upgrade -

Common Channel Capacity

The air interface physical channels map to transport channels in UTRAN:
1.  PCCPCH (Primary Common Control Physical Channel), mapped to the BCH (Broadcast Channel)
2.  SCCPCH (Secondary Common Control Physical Channel), mapped to the PCH (Paging Channel) or
FACH (Forward Access Channel). There can be up to three SCCPCH channels configured in the cell.
3.  PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel), mapped to the RACH (Random Access Channel)
These channels are not the subject of the dynamic power control. The transmission powers of the
downlink common physical channels are determined during radio network planning, and their bit
rates are not configurable by the user. The system measures the loads indirectly, by measuring
the loads on corresponding transport channels (RACH, FACH, PCH, and BCH).
Common channel load consists mainly of FACH, RACH, and PCH loads on the SCCPCH
channel(s). RACH and FACH load have separate control plane and user plane load: RACH-u,
RACH-c, FACH-u, and FACH-c. The total load of the common channels is thus the sum of these
loads.
There can be up to three SCCPCHs configured in the cell. If only one SCCPCH is used in a cell,
it will carry FACH-c (containing DCCH/CCCH/BCCH), FACH-u (containing DTCH), and
PCH. FACH and PCH are multiplexed into the same SCCPCH (see Figure 7 Common channels
mapped to one SCCPCH).

Figure 7:  Common channels mapped to one SCCPCH

If the user configures two SCCPCHs in a cell, the primary CCPCH will always carry PCH only
and the second SCCPCH will carry FACH-u and FACH-c (see Figure 8 Common channels
mapped to two SCCPCHs).
Figure 8:  Common channels mapped to two SCCPCHs

The system measures the RACH load in the NBAP interface in terms of acknowledged PRACH preambles.
There is no overload control algorithm for RACH, but the RACH load measurements are used by the RNC
for load control, when the downlink channel type (common or dedicated) is selected.

1. Common Channel Capacity

Monitored
capacity The main proactive KPI for the common channel load is the average SCCPCH channel load,
item calculated indirectly from the transport channels, which map to it. Assuming fixed transmit rates
for each transport channel, the user can follow the load proactively.

Additionally, the user can monitor each common transport channel proactively.

2. Proactive Counter/KPI Name, unit Target Red Description

monitoring flag

RNC_979a SCCPCH - - Average SCCPCH channel load - including the

Average PCH in the measurement period.
Load [%]
Average PCCPCH load: if one SCCPCH is used
in a cell, it will carry FACH-c (containing
DCCH/CCCH/BCCH), FACH-u (containing
DTCH), and PCH.

RNC_2029 FACH-u Load - - FACH-u Load Ratio provides information about

a Ratio [%] the FACH transport channel user plane data load
(the FACH channel throughput is divided by the
corresponding transport channel maximum bit
rate to get the load ratio).

RNC_2030 FACH-c Load - - FACH-c Load Ratio provides information about

 a Ratio [%] the FACH transport channel control plane data
load (the FACH channel control data throughput
is divided by the corresponding transport channel
maximum bit rate to get the load ratio).

RNC_2032 RACH-u - - RACH-u Load Ratio provides information about

a Load Ratio the RACH transport channel user plane data load
[%] (the RACH channel user data throughput is
divided by the corresponding transport channel
maximum bit rate to get the load ratio).

RNC_2033 RACH-c Load - - RACH-c Load Ratio provides information about

a Ratio [%] the RACH transport channel control plane data
load (the RACH channel control data throughput
is divided by the corresponding transport channel
maximum bit rate to get the load ratio).

3. Reactive Counter/KPI Name, unit Description

monitoring

- - -

4. Analysis You can use RNC_979a to see how loaded the physical channel (SCCPCH) is in this
configuration. When two SCCPCHs are used, this will contain all other transport channels
except PCH.

5. Overload If there is only one SCCPCH, the system gives PCH traffic a higher priority compared to the
FACH. When the system notices congestion on this channel, it is likely that the FACH channel
will suffer.

6. Upgrade The SCCPCH load (PCH+FACH, or PCH only) can be reduced by:

1.  Increasing the number of available SCCPCHs (for example, by introducing a second
SCCPCH)
2.  Evaluating whether there is a high level of signaling generated by cell, URA, location area,
or routing area updates. If so, consider adjusting the area boundaries or reducing the size
 of the location and routing areas.
3.  Evaluating whether there is excessive user plane data transfer within the CELL_FACH. If
so, consider reducing the RLC buffer thresholds that trigger the transition to CELL_DCH.
4.  Upgrading the Node B configuration with an additional carrier
5.  Using the 24 kbps Paging Channel feature if the PCH is loaded.

Channelization Code Tree

The available codes in the Channelization Code Tree in the BTS can become a capacity
bottleneck in the downlink direction, especially when HSDPA and HSUPA are enabled in the
cell. There is a fixed number of codes reserved for Common Channels. REL99 services require a
certain number of codes, depending on the service bit rate. HSDPA can reserve 5, 10, or 15
codes.
In uplink, the code tree is arranged per each UE; therefore no capacity bottleneck is expected.

1. Channelization Code Tree

Monitored
capacity Channelization Code Occupancy provides an indication of the percentage of codes, that the
item system uses or blocks. The channelization codes, which the system assigns to both common
and dedicated downlink channels, are included in the KPI. Furthermore, there are also counters
to monitor the maximum and minimum code occupancy. This can be used to detect the cell’s
busy and non-busy hours.

Channelization Code Blocking is the percentage of code allocation attempts, that block because
of code tree congestion.

When a user enables HSDPA, the system can dynamically adjust the number of SF16 codes
reserved for HSDPA, depending on the R99 usage of codes. There are counters for monitoring
the number of HSDPA channelization code downgrades due to congestion of the RT or NRT
DCH.

The user can monitor the impact of code tree congestion reactively, using counters related to
HSDPA code and radio bearer downgrades/releases.

2. Counter/KPI Name, unit Target Red Description

Proactive flag
monitoring

RNC_113a Average code tree 70 80 Average code tree occupancy

occupancy [%]

  RNC_519b Min code tree occupancy - - Minimum code tree occupancy

[%]
  RNC_520b Max code tree occupancy 80 90 Maximum code tree occupancy
[%]

  RNC_949b Spreading code blocking 5 >5 Spreading Code Blocking rate of a

rate in DL [%] cell over the reporting period. This
measurement is based on Cell
Resource Measurement, where the
code tree situation of a cell is
measured.

3. Reactive Counter/KPI Name, unit Description

monitoring

M1000C248- DURATION OF HSDPA It is possible to calculate the average number of

258 xx(5-15) CODES reserved SF16 codes for HSDPA, based on the
RESERVATION duration counters for each code (original transmitted
xy (5-15) codes with QPSK or 16QA, M5000).

M1000C266 HSDPA CH CODE The number of HSDPA channelization code

DOWNGRADE DUE TO downgrades due to congestion of RT DCH requests.
RT [#] It is updated when the code downgrade is started
due to a RT-over-HSDPA prioritization.

M1000C267 HSDPA CH CODE The number of HSDPA channelization code

DOWNGRADE DUE TO downgrades due to congestion of NRT DCH
NRT DCH [#] requests. It is updated when the code downgrade is
started due to an NRT DCH-over-HSDPA
prioritization.

M1000C148 RB DOWNGRADE BY The number of RB downgrades by priority-based

PBS DUE TO scheduling (PBS) due to spreading code congestion.
SPREADING CODE
CONGESTION [#]

M1000C153 RB DOWNGRADE BY The number of RB downgrades by pre-emption due

PREEMPTION DUE TO to spreading code congestion.
SPREADING CODE
 CONGESTION [#]

M1000C165 RB RELEASE BY PRE- The number of radio bearers released by pre-

EMPTION DUE TO emption due to spreading code congestion.
SPREADING CODE
CONGESTION [#]

M1000C160 RB RELEASE BY PBS The number of radio bearers released by priority-

DUE TO SPREADING based scheduling (PBS) due to spreading code
CODE CONGESTION [#] congestion.

1.  Average code tree occupancy

4. Analysis At the average code occupancy of 70%, code blocking can start to affect the QoS at the
level of 70%. At the level of 80%, service blocking can start.
2.  Min code tree occupancy
The minimum code occupancy is 3%, when the common channels are active. When
HSDPA is active, but there are no users, the system reserves five codes, bringing the total
occupancy to 35%.
3.  Max code tree occupancy
The user can use the Maximum code tree occupancy KPI as a triggering point to upgrade
(second carrier). The occupancy ranges from 35% to 100%. When the maximum code
occupancy is less than 80%, the code allocation failure rate still remains close to 0% and
less than approximately 90% of maximum code occupancy means that the code allocation
failure rate is <1%. Therefore, the user can use the 85-90% limit.
4.  HSDPA channelization code downgrades RT (NRT)
This counter indicates the code tree congestion related to simultaneous REL99 and
HSDPA traffic in the cell. Because of congestion, the system frees the codes allocated to
HSDPA, when required by the RT/NRT DCH allocation. Cells with HSDPA reserve a
minimum of five SF16 codes for HSDPA at the start. If there is HSDPA traffic, and there is
no need for R99 codes, the system will try to use up to fifteen SF16 codes for HSDPA.
The RT traffic (normal voice) has the highest priority, so high voice traffic can keep the
number of SF16 codes for HSDPA at the minimum of five codes.

5. Overload With the increase of code occupancy (that is, the R99 traffic increase) the throughput per user
decreases.

6. Upgrade Two basic solutions for avoiding the effect of code congestion are:

1.  Reduce the code usage

 Reduce the initial R99 bit rate from 128 kbps to 64 kbps or even 16 kbps. Allow R99 NRT
to take codes from HSDPA, for example, allow two SF16 codes to be taken. It is not
recommended to enable the high rate features if there are no 15-code UEs in the network,
or if there are other limits (for example, in the BTS or Iub).
2.  Add new codes with new carrier
To obtain more codes, install an additional carrier.

= 6]>
Id: 0900d805807a3fd0 ©2010 Nokia Siemens Networks
DN0972569