GSM RNO Subject-TCH Call Drop Troubleshooting Practice

TCH Call Drop Troubleshooting
Practice
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Contents
1 STATISTICAL POINTS......................................................................................................I
1.1 KPI DEFINITION.......................................................................................................I
1.2 CALL DROP DUE TO RF LOSS..............................................................................II
1.3 CALL DROP DUE TO HANDOVER FAILURE.......................................................III
1.4 CALL DROP DUE TO LAPD LINK FAILURE..........................................................V
2 CAUSES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF CALL DROP.....................................................V

2.1 MAIN CAUSES FOR CALL DROP DUE TO RF LOSS:..........................................V
2.2 MAIN CAUSES FOR CALL DROP DUE TO HANDOVER FAILURE....................VI
2.3 MAIN CAUSES FOR CALL DROP DUE TO LAPD LINK FAILURE.....................VII
3 FLOW OF PROBLEM HANDLING.................................................................................VII
4 ON-SITE OPTIMIZATION CASES...................................................................................IX

4.1 GSM RECEIVE QUALITY DEGRADE ANALYSIS METHOD.................................X
4.1.1 【PROBLEM DESCRIPTION】.....................................................................X
4.1.2 【PROBLEM ANALYSIS】............................................................................X
4.1.3 【PROBLEM SOLUTION】........................................................................XV
4.1.4 【SUMMARY】...........................................................................................XV
4.2 CALL DROPS AFTER HANDOVERS (CAUSED BY CO-BCCH
INTERFERENCE FROM AN ADJACENT CELL)...............................................XV
4.2.1 【PROBLEM DESCRIPTION】..................................................................XV
4.2.2 【PROBLEM ANALYSIS】........................................................................XVI
4.2.3 【PROBLEM SOLUTION】.......................................................................XIX
4.3 NETWORK INDICATOR ABNORMALITY CAUSED BY WRONG ANTENNA
JUMPER CONNECTION...................................................................................XIX
4.3.1 【PROBLEM DESCRIPTION】.................................................................XIX
4.3.2 【PROBLEM ANALYSIS】.........................................................................XX
4.3.3 【PROBLEM SOLUTION】.....................................................................XXIII
4.3.4 【SUMMARY】.........................................................................................XXV
4.4 CALL DROPS AND INTERFERENCE CAUSED BY CROSS CONNECTION OF
ANTENNAS.....................................................................................................XXVI
4.4.1 【PROBLEM DESCRIPTION】...............................................................XXVI
--
4.4.2 【PROBLEM ANALYSIS】......................................................................XXVI
4.4.3 【PROBLEM SOLUTION】...................................................................XXVIII
4.4.4 【SUMMARY】........................................................................................XXIX
--
Figure contents
Fig 1-1 Call drop due to RF loss.......................................................................................................II
Fig 1-2 T3103 expires（inter-cell handover failure）....................................................................IV
Fig 1-3 T3107 expires（intra-cell handover failure）....................................................................IV
Fig 1-4 T8 expires（inter-BSC handover failure）.........................................................................V
Fig 3-1 Flow of handling call drops................................................................................................IX
Product Type Technical Description
1 Statistical points
In mobile communications, call drop refers to the phenomenon that calls are lost or
interrupted due to some reasons after TCH assignment. Call drop brings a lot
inconvenience to subscribers, which is also the problem that subscribers complain
about most.
1.1 KPI definition

KPI Name: TCHincalldroprate(includehandover)(%)
Description ： This statistic provides the percentage of MSs which, having

successfully accessed a TCH, subsequently experience an abnormal release
caused by either radio or equipment problems. This includes RF losses and losses
during handovers.
Definition：
TCH in call drop rate (including handover) equals to the number of TCH call drop
divided by the number of TCH seizure (including handover).
Formula：
(C901070051+C901070052)/
(C901260063+C901260088+C901270063+C901270088+C901090019+C90109003
6+C901090107)
Counter list:
C901070051 Number of TCH/F drops
C901070052 Number of TCH/H drops
C901260063 Number of voice TCH/F assignment success
C901260088 Number of data TCH/F assignment success
C901270063 Number of voice TCH/H assignment success

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 1
C901270088 Number of data TCH/H assignment success
C901090019 Number of BSC-controlled inter-cell incoming handover success
C901090036 Number of MSC-controlled incoming handover success
C901090107 Number of intra-cell handover success
Statistical point of TCH call drop: BSC sends CLEAR_REQ message to MSC, the
channel currently occupied by MS is TCH.
Call drop falls into the following types:
 Call drop due to RF loss (i.e. radio link fault);
 Call drop due to handover failure;
 Call drop due to LAPD link failure.
1.2 Call drop due to RF loss
MSC BSC BTS Ms
Measure Report
Measure Result
Clear Request
(Radio Interface Connection failure
Failure)
Fig 1-1 Call drop due to RF loss
Call drop due to RF loss consists of two parts:
A. DL failure: according to GSM regulations, there is a timer S (T100), which is given

an initial value when the MS starts talking, that is （radio_link_time out）. The value
is broadcasted on BCCH. Each time when MS can’t decode an SACCH message (4
SACCH BLOCK), S is deducted by 1. Each time when MS decodes an SACCH
message, S is increased by 2. But S won’t exceed the initial value defined by “radio
link_time out”. When S is 0, MS will quit connecting to network and enter idle mode.
Hence call drop happens once.
B. UL failure: the parameter for inspecting UL failure is “link fail”. When BTS can’t
decode an SACCH message, a counter in HDPC (whose max value is defined by
“link fail”) is deducted by 1; when BTS decodes an SACCH message correctly, the
counter increments by 2 (the value shall not exceed what defined by “link fail”).
When the counter shows 0, BTS stops sending DL SACCH and starts timer rr_t3109
(rr_t3109>T100)at the same time. When MS T100 expires, MS returns to idle mode,
hence call drop occurs. BTS releases radio channel when timer rr_t3109>T100
expires. BSC needs to send a message Clear-request to MSC.
Either of UL and DL fails, BTS and MS will stop sending SACCH to each other, thus
force the counterpart to release TCH. Each time “link_fail”happens on TCH,
“RF_LOSSES_TCH” increments.
1.3 Call drop due to handover failure

Principle of call drop due to handover failure: After the original cell received
Handover Command or Assignment (corresponding handover control timer is
started by BSC), MS hasn’t accessed into the target cell, nor has it returned to the
original cell. i.e. MS not only failed to occupy TCH in target cell and send Handover
Complete or Assignment Complete, but also failed to return to TCH in original cell
and send Handover Failure or Assignment Failure, thus it is disconnected with
network. At the same time, the BSC-controlled handover control timer expires, and
MSC will be notified to clear the release, and it will count this abnormal call as call
drop due to handover failure.
Handover control timer in BSC is classified into: T8 expires (inter-BSC handover),

T3103 expires (inter-cell handover under one BSC), T3107 expires (intra-cell
handover).
Fig 1-2 illustrates call drop due to handover failure.
MS Old BTS: New BTS BSC
CHANNEL ACT
CHANNEL ACT ACK
A1
HANDOVER COMMAND HANDOVER COMMAND
SET T3103
T3103
Timeout
A2
Fig 1-2 T3103 expires（inter-cell handover failure）
MS BTS:TRX BSC
CHANNEL ACTIVATE
CHANNEL ACTIVATE ACK
A1
ASSIGNMENT COMMAND
SET T3107
T3107
Timeout
A2
Fig 1-3 T3107 expires（intra-cell handover failure）
T3103 expires（inter-cell handover failure）

MS Old BTS: New BTS BSC
CHANNEL ACT
CHANNEL ACT ACK
A1
HANDOVER COMMAND HANDOVER COMMAND
SET T8
T8 Timeout
A2
Fig 1-4 T8 expires（inter-BSC handover failure）
1.4 Call drop due to LAPD link failure

Explanation: when LAPD link breaks, calls on carriers will be interrupted. BSC
counts after it receives message showing that LAPD link is broken.
2 Causes for different types of call drop
2.1 Main causes for call drop due to RF loss:

1.Weak coverage area, poor signal;
2.Interference: like internal interference caused by inappropriate frequency planning

and external interference;
3.Unreasonable radio parameters:
(1) Minimum receive level is set too low, which leads to MS suffering from call drop
in weak coverage area.
(2) Unreasonable setting of NCC Permitted: in some networks, the serving cell and
adjacent cells may adopt different NCC, which requires input of NCC adopted by
adjacent cells in NCC Permitted. Once the setting is not reasonable, adjacent cells
of an NCC won’t be detected by MS, which will result in handover nonoccurance
and call drop.
(3) Value of radio link timer is set too small (radio link will time out soon), which
leads to call drop when it expires due to sudden deterioration in radio environment;
if it’s set too large, use ratio of TCH will decrease.
(4) Unreasonable power control parameters: such as unreasonable power control

threshold for level and quality, which may cause MS power to decrease when signal
and quality are poor.
(5) Unreasonable FH parameters: wrong setting of Maio leads to co-channel

interference within a site.
(6) Definition of adjacent cell data is set wrong or not complete, which disables MS
to improve signal quality by handover, hence call drop due to signal deterioration.
(7) Unreasonable handover parameters, which disables MS to improve radio quality

through handover when necessary, hence call drop is resulted.
(8) Congestion in adjacent cells: it causes call drops, because MS is unable to

improve radio quality through handover. the congestion problem shall be solved
first.
(9) Hardware fault: such as too low output of power amplifier, big difference between
in transmission power of different carriers, faults of carrier transmitter, combiner and
divider.
(10) Antenna system fault: such as difference in down-tilt and azimuth of two
antennas; too large feeder VSWR; overlarge coverage caused by unreasonable
antenna height or down-tilt; all these will cause skip-zone coverage, thus creates
isolated-island effect and call drop is resulted.
(11) MS malfunction: for example, power-fail due to poor contact of battery, etc..
2.2 Main causes for call drop due to handover failure

We need to take into consideration optimization of handover success rate
(especially that of success rate of outgoing handover) when trying to solve problem
about call drop due to handover failure.
1.Interference: like internal interference caused by inappropriate frequency planning

and external interference.
2.Hardware fault: clock malfunction in target cell or serving cell, too low output of
power amplifier, big difference between in transmission power of different carriers,
faults of carrier transmitter, combiner and divider.
3.Unreasonable settings of radio parameters
(1) Co-BCCH and co-BSIC in target cell, high outgoing handover failure rate is
caused, thus call drop is resulted;
(2) Inappropriate adjacent cell relation or wrong adjacent cell data, high outgoing
handover failure rate is caused, thus call drop is resulted;
(3) Unreasonable settings of handover parameters ， Pingpong handover will be

caused, thus call drop is resulted.
2.3 Main causes for call drop due to LAPD link failure
BTS transmission problem: like interruption in transmission and unstable
transmission (on and off), etc.;
BTS hardware problem: like unreliable E1, problems about CMM board and
backboard connection lines;
BSC hardware problem: like problem about LAPD processing module.
3 Flow of problem handling
Checking of radio parameters and hardware is advised for locating problems.
Flow of handling call-drop problem:
Analysis of performance report: to confirm the cause of call drop in cell with high call
drop rate;
For call drops due to different reasons, make analysis accordingly;
If there are more call drops due to RF loss, the following procedures are
recommended:
(1) Check radio parameters: adjust the unreasonable settings of radio parameters;
(2) Check indicators like BER and level of idle interference band, reduce or eliminate
radio interference;
(3) Check if coverage problem exists through DT. For weak coverage, focus on
hardware problem checking; for skip-zone coverage, focus on checking power
parameters, handover parameters and antenna down-tilt, etc.;
(4) Check and eliminate equipment fault; change panels with problems;
(5) Check antenna system, especially the parts with problems.
If there are more call drops due to handover failure, the following procedures are
recommended:
(1) Check radio parameters: adjust the unreasonable settings of radio parameters;
(2) Check indicators like BER and level of idle interference band, reduce or eliminate
radio interference;
(3) Check and eliminate equipment fault; change panels with problems;
If there are more call drops due to LAPD link failure, the following procedures are
recommended:
(1) Investigate equipment problem at BSC;
(2) Investigate BTS transmission;
() Investigate hardware problem at BTS.
Basic flow of handling call drops:

A cell suffers from
high TCH call drop
rate
Analysis of call
drop types
Call drop of
Call drop of RF loss Call drop of LAPD
handover failure
If radio No Adjust No If radio Eliminate Yes Any hardware

parameters set radio parameters set hardware
reasonably? parameters reasonably? fault at BSC?
fault
Yes Check& Yes Eliminate Any fault with

If interference If interference Yes
eliminate transmission BTS
exists? exists?
interference fault transmission?
Yes Eliminate Yes

Any coverage Improve Any hardware
hardware
problem? coverage fault at BTS?
fault
Eliminate
Any equipment Yes Yes An equipment
equipment
hardware fault? hardware fault?
fault
Yes Eliminate
Any antenna
antenna
system fault?
fault
Complete
Fig 3-5 Flow of handling call drops
4 On-site Optimization Cases
4.1 GSM Receive Quality Degrade Analysis Method
4.1.1 【Problem description】
From Aug 9th, we received customer’s complain that in one city when the subscriber
are making a call, they cannot hear each other clearly and it’s very easy to get call
drop. Detail analysis is requested.
4.1.2 【Problem Analysis】
1.Check Related KPI
TCH Call Drop
From Aug 9th, the TCH call drop rate and total TCH call drop of a BSC is increasing
very obviously.
HOSR
From August 9th, the HORS is decreasing clearly;
RxQual for UL&DL
From August 9, the UL quality is also deteriorating. UL 0~3 quality share decreased
for about 3%, and UL 6~7 share increased for more than 1%.The downlink RQ is
generally stable both for RX 0~3 and RX 6~7 share
ICM 3-5 band share
From August 9, Mean number of idle TCHs with interference band （ 3 to 5

percentage, ICM ） rise up Sharply, idle mode interference is showing sharply
increase, from less than 0.4% increased to 6%, keeps almost stable.
(1)Main CS KPI degrading analysis conclusion
From above data and graphs, we are sure that the CS KPI degrading is because of
the sudden increase of external interference. So we have selected out all these Cell
with high ICM3~5 share, and found that only about 20 cell have high interference (all
these cell is 900M cells), as list below:
TCH Drop
UL
BTS per UL RQ
Start Time Location(LAC) CI(CI) ICM(3-4-5) RQ(0-
NAME Erlang 6~7
3)
(float)
2011-8-10 0:00 OROBSH1 7112 2221 100.00% 1.418 61.23% 14.58%
2011-8-10 0:00 ORITM3 7112 2703 95.00% 0.6223 88.72% 3.15%
2011-8-10 0:00 ORJOLD2 7112 2532 94.74% 2.0974 85.04% 3.61%
2011-8-10 0:00 ONADEJ3 7112 10613 94.44% 0.7139 85.77% 4.29%
2011-8-10 0:00 OROBSH3 7112 2223 94.44% 4.6905 66.93% 15.56%
2011-8-10 0:00 OKZAGR2 7112 10542 94.12% 0.6682 90.61% 2.78%
2011-8-10 0:00 ORJOLD3 7112 2533 94.12% 1.9632 58.12% 14.00%
2011-8-10 0:00 ORAKKU2 7112 2422 92.86% 4.8098 72.73% 9.72%
2011-8-9 0:00 ORTHEA2 7112 252 92.86% 2.295 83.54% 5.32%
ORUGOZ
2011-8-10 0:00 1 7113 2331 92.31% 0.1355 89.33% 2.19%
2011-8-10 0:00 ORAKKU3 7112 2423 92.31% 1.3854 83.54% 5.05%
2011-8-9 0:00 ORLRAY2 7112 1102 88.89% 1.0914 87.49% 4.05%
2011-8-10 0:00 ORZENT3 7112 2503 84.62% 1.0093 85.65% 4.34%
2011-8-9 0:00 ORSTAD2 7112 2172 61.54% 3.1309 78.26% 7.98%
2011-8-9 0:00 ORMET3 7112 2133 53.85% 0.4052 85.99% 3.48%
2011-8-10 0:00 OKSKHP1 7114 2211 18.75% 1.2112 59.74% 14.32%
2011-8-9 0:00 ORLRAY1 7112 1101 15.00% 0.9823 92.49% 1.92%
2011-8-10 0:00 OINTEK2 7112 2192 8.33% 0.2877 94.76% 1.28%
2011-8-9 0:00 ORHOSP3 7112 10553 8.33% 0.3647 92.50% 1.58%
2011-8-9 0:00 ORBSC3 7112 2273 8.33% 0.405 95.34% 1.09%
(2)Geographic analysis on Google map
CNO Map location
We put all these cells with high ICM band on maps, and find out that, all these cells
is locate at the south-west corner of the city.And from the geographic distribute, we
guess that the interference source is located in about below area. Red mean serious
idle TCHs with high ICM share, blue and green means lower ICM share.
Google Map location
Red mean serious idle TCHs with interference band.
We got information from Local engineer, there is a prison located in Serious

interference Area. So the cause is clear.
4.1.3 【Problem Solution】
It shows that there is external interference source in abovementioned location, and

it’s suggested to contact to the owner of the interference source and take necessary
action to eliminate the interference.
4.1.4 【Summary】
This document shows the step of how to analyze suddenly drops of BSC receive
quality, checking the BSC KPI step by step and locate the reason of the
degradation, and then check the sites level KPI to find out which sites cause the
problem, so trouble shooting can be implemented to solve the problem.
By the use of Google earth, we can check the sites’ position and analyze if the
problem happen in a area or just some spots, this can help us to locate it is RF part
problem or from some unknown external factors.
4.2 Call Drops After Handovers (Caused by Co-BCCH Interference

From an Adjacent Cell)
4.2.1 【Problem Description】
During a drive test (DT) in Chizhou, the engineers found that after the MS performed
a handover to a cell in the reverse direction, the RxLev and RxQual became very
poor and the call dropped.
The DT was conducted from west to east. After the MS seized the signals in Cell LA
Vehicle Management Bureau-2, it tried to perform a handover to Cell LA Vehicle
Management Bureau-3. However, the RxLev deteriorated suddenly, which then led
to a call drop.
The engineers checked the frequency configuration and found that Cell LA Seed Company-1 and Cell
Vehicle Management Bureau-3 were co-BCCH but were not co-BSIC.
Signaling analysis showed that when the MS moved toward the east from Cell LA
Vehicle Management Bureau-2, a frequency point 73 of some neighbor cell was
detected and the further the MS moved eastwards, the stronger the RxLev of the
frequency point 73 was. The system decoded the frequency point as BSIC 65 of Cell
LA Vehicle Management Bureau-3 (the engineers suspected that this frequency
point was actually of the signals from Cell LA Seed Company-1). When the MS
performed a handover to Cell LA Vehicle Management Bureau-3, the RxLev
decreased suddenly from –62 dBm to –90 dBm. The call dropped because of co-
BCCH interference.
In normal conditions, this spot should be covered by signals from Cell LA Seed
Company-1 and the signals should be quite strong.
Before the handover, because of the superposed co-BCCH field strength, the RxLev
measured by the MS was wrong. After the handover, the RxLev and RxQual were
very poor, which then led to the call drop. Therefore, the engineers should pay
attention to this problem when planning frequencies and avoid co-BCCH
configurations for adjacent cells.
4.3 Network Indicator Abnormality Caused by Wrong Antenna

Jumper Connection
During the SDR swap project of one office, the subscribers complained that it was
hard to make calls, call drops are frequent, and the call quality was poor.
After analyzing the background performance indicators, engineers found that the
number of call drop at two cells under one GSM 900M BTS was large, their handover
success rate was low, and the DL level and quality were poor. Detailed performance
indicators are listed in Table 1.
Table 1 Statistics of Performance Indicator Abnormalities

TCH Call
Numbe
Drop Number
Local Handove r of UL RQ (0- DL RQ (0-
Rate of
Starting Ending Cell r TCH 3) 3)
Cell (Excludin handove
Time Time Identit Success Call Proportio Proportio
g r
y Rate (%) Drops n n
Handover Failures
) (%)

2010-4- 2010-4- A
58761 20.56% 66.88% 15 36 97.47% 72.75%
17 17 G1
2010-4- 2010-4- A
58762 30.48% 77.30% 21 46 99.11% 68.77%
17 17 G2
2010-4- 2010-4- A
58761 21.34% 65.44% 20 45 96.42% 67.24%
18 18 G1
2010-4- 2010-4- A
58762 25.23% 72.31% 22 32 98.67% 72.31%
18 18 G2
Possible Causes
Call drop categories and the possible causes of call drop are listed below:
Call drop due to radio link problems
Causes of radio link problems that lead to call drop:

Category of Causes Subcategory of Causes
Improper Configuration of radio parameters -
Internal interference
Interference
External interference
TRX problem
Problem of the base station hardware
Transmission problem
Wrong antenna jumper connection
Problem of the antenna system
High VSWR
Coverage problem -
Subscriber’s behavior -
Call drop due to handover failure
Causes for handover failure that leads to call drop:

Same BCCH and same BISC
Improper Configuration of radio Improper cell neighbor relationship or
parameters miss configuration of neighbor cells
Improper handover parameter settings

Internal interference
Interference
External interference
Clock problem
Problem of the base station hardware TRX problem
Wrong antenna jumper connection
Problem of the antenna system
High VSWR
Coverage problem -
LAPD call drop
LAPD call drop may be caused by:

BSC-side hardware problem -
Hardware problem
Base station problem
Fault Location
The engineers checked the following items to locate the fault:
They checked the OMC alarms reported in the recent days.
No abnormal alarms were found, which means that there was no hardware TRX fault
that might lead to coverage shrinkage, handover failures and finally call drops.
They checked the frequency interference around the faulty BTS by using the CNO-G
planning tool to locate the problem of poor downlink quality.
The engineers checked whether there is the same frequency or the neighbor frequency
in the co-site, whether there is the same BCCH or BISC within 15 km from the faulty
BTS, and whether the frequencies of the serving cell and the neighbor cells are the
same. The surrounding frequency distribution was appropriate and no obvious
abnormality was found, which means that handover failures and call drops were not
caused by interference.
They checked the radio parameter configuration on OMC.
The check showed that all relevant parameters, including the TRX transmission power,
handover threshold, CRO, CBA, and CBQ, were properly set, which means that the fault
was not caused by improper radio parameter configuration.
They checked the network performance indicators before and after the swap and
compared them.
The comparison showed that the traffic volumes of G1 and G2 changes drastically. The
engineers analyzed the “handover statistic measurement” in these two cells and found
that the number of requests for handovers between the serving cell and neighbor cells
changed greatly. They began to suspect that it was caused by wrong antenna
connection and asked the DT engineers to make a field test.
Usually, the wrong antenna connections fall into the following three cases:
TCH antenna jumpers are mismatched. In this case, the BCCH signals and TCH signals
of the same cell will not be in the same sector. As shown in the following figure, after the
TCH antenna jumpers of Sector α and Sector β are mismatched, the TCH signals of
Sector α will be transmitted in Sector β while the TCH signals (from TRX 3/4) will be
transmitted in Sector α.
Mismatched TCH antenna jumpers
BCCH antenna jumpers are mismatched. In this case, the logical signals of the peer cell
will be received in the local coverage zone. As shown in the following figure, after the
BCCH antenna jumpers of Sector α and Sector β are mismatched, the signals of Sector
α will be received in Sector β while the signals of Sector β will be received in Sector α.
All the antennas of the whole sector are mismatched, that is, the BCCH antenna and the
TCH antenna of a cell are both mismatched with those of another cell, and as a result,
the logical signals of the two cells are completely exchanged.
The DT result showed that the problem was caused by the third case.
During the swap, the antenna jumpers of two cells were mismatched, which caused the
abnormalities of performance indicators.
Following figures show the retest result after the antenna is connected correctly.
Retest result after the antenna of G2 was correctly connected
Retest result after the antenna of G3 was correctly connected.
Table 2 Comparison of Indicators Before and After the Adjustment
4.3.4 【Summary】
Incorrect connection of antennas may lead to some common network problems, such as
poor coverage, poor communication quality, high call drop rate, low call setup success
rate, imbalanced traffic volume distribution, high interference, and ping-pong handover. It
is very hard to locate the incorrectly connected antennas merely by background
analysis. In most cases, we have to perform the investigation on site. Currently, there
are two ways to check for incorrectly connected antennas. 1. Locate the cell that
might have incorrectly connected antennas by analyzing the traffic statistics. Then
perform the investigation on site.
Locate the problem by DT or CQT.
Most incorrectly connected antennas are located by method two. From this, we can see
that it is inefficient to check for antenna connection problems by network optimization
instruments. Therefore, strict engineering quality control and single site acceptance test
are crucial to locate this kind of problem. Meanwhile, field investigation is also applicable
to single site acceptance test.
4.4 Call Drops and Interference Caused by Cross Connection of

Antennas
After the cutover of one site, call drop rate of Cell 2 and Cell 3 reached above 2%, and
SDSR of Cell 2 was low, which was only about 92%.
The engineers made the following analysis:
1. They queried the alarms on the OMC-R and found dry connect alarm instead of
VSWR alarms, which might cause the problem. To ensure the steady operation of the
BTS, they notified the after-sales engineers to handle this alarm.
2. The site was cutover, and its ARFCNs and frequency hopping parameters were
unchanged. If data configuration is correct, low SDSR and high call drop rate problems
will not occur. The engineers checked the radio parameters of this BTS on the OMC-R,
and data configuration was correct.
3. They created call drop measurement task and TRX measurement task on the OMC-
R. Based on statistics, call drops were mainly caused by handover and radio link failure.
Call drops of Cell 2 and Cell 3 were mainly of TRX 3 and TRX4. And handover success
rate of these TRXs was low.
The possibility was small that the four TRXs of the two cells had hidden faults or two
CDUs or antennas had faults simultaneously. What is more, the interference bands of
these four TRXs were normal: most were in band 1. Therefore, they suspected that the
TRXs of the cell might be wrongly connected. It needed to be further confirmed whether
the TCH TRXs or BCCH TRXs were wrongly connected.
4. On site, SDSR were defined as follows:
SDSR = (C900060242-C900060053)/ (C900060003+C900060038+C900060010)
C900060242: Number of SDCCH assignments success
C900060053: Number of SDCCH drops
C900060003: Number of SDCCH seizure attempts for assignment
C900060038: Number of signaling TCH/H seizure attempts for assignment
C900060010: Number of signaling TCH/F seizure attempts for assignment
There are two factors that will affect SDSR: SD congestion rate and the number of SD
assignment successes.
Cell 2 of this site did not have SD congestion. The engineers created SD measurement
task and found that the SD assignment success rate of MOC, MTC, and LOC were not
high. SD channels of Cell 2 were configured in the TRX of BCCH. They checked TRX1
of Cell 2 and found that there were numerous sampling values in the downlink
RQ6~RQ7, and after the cutover of this site, SDSR of one neighbor cell decreased also.
The engineers used CNO-G to check the BCCH ARFCNs and site locations of these two
sites According to the following figure, if BCCH TRXs of Cell 2 and Cell 3 of Site
kintap_kecil were cross-connected, neighbor-frequency interference with Cell 1 of Site
kintapura_MG would exist. According to handover measurement report, there were
many handovers between Cell 2 of Site kintap_kecil_MG and Cell 1 of Site
Kintapura_MG, and few handovers between Cell 2 of Site kintap_kecil_MG and Cell 2 of
Site kintapura_MG. The situation for Cell 3 of Site kintap_kecil_MG was opposite. This
proved that BCCH TRXs of Cell 2 and Cell 3 of Site kintap_kecil were cross-connected.
DT engineers together with the engineering personnel arrived at the site and began to
perform troubleshooting. They found that the jumpers and feeder cables of BCCH TRXs
of Cell 2 and Cell 3 were cross-connected. DT engineers received the signals of Cell 2 in
the area that should be covered by Cell 3, and the signals of Cell 3 in the area that
should be covered by Cell 2.
After the jumpers were adjusted, the problem was solved, and KPIs of Cell 2 and Cell 3
of this site were improved.
4.4.4 【Summary】
1. Engineering quality is one of the important factors that affect the network KPIs.
2. It is suggested to use various tools and methods to locate the problem and
improve network optimization efficiency.

GSM RNO Subject-TCH Call Drop Troubleshooting Practice

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GSM RNO Subject-TCH Call Drop Troubleshooting Practice

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TCH Call Drop Troubleshooting

2 CAUSES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF CALL DROP.....................................................V

3 FLOW OF PROBLEM HANDLING.................................................................................VII

4 ON-SITE OPTIMIZATION CASES...................................................................................IX

1.1 KPI definition

Description ： This statistic provides the percentage of MSs which, having

C901070051 Number of TCH/F drops

C901070052 Number of TCH/H drops

C901260063 Number of voice TCH/F assignment success

C901260088 Number of data TCH/F assignment success

C901270063 Number of voice TCH/H assignment success

C901270088 Number of data TCH/H assignment success

C901090019 Number of BSC-controlled inter-cell incoming handover success

C901090036 Number of MSC-controlled incoming handover success

C901090107 Number of intra-cell handover success

Call drop falls into the following types:

 Call drop due to RF loss (i.e. radio link fault);

 Call drop due to handover failure;

 Call drop due to LAPD link failure.

1.2 Call drop due to RF loss

MSC BSC BTS Ms

Fig 1-1 Call drop due to RF loss

Call drop due to RF loss consists of two parts:

A. DL failure: according to GSM regulations, there is a timer S (T100), which is given

1.3 Call drop due to handover failure

Handover control timer in BSC is classified into: T8 expires (inter-BSC handover),

Fig 1-2 illustrates call drop due to handover failure.

MS Old BTS: New BTS BSC

CHANNEL ACT ACK

Fig 1-2 T3103 expires（inter-cell handover failure）

CHANNEL ACTIVATE ACK

Fig 1-3 T3107 expires（intra-cell handover failure）

T3103 expires（inter-cell handover failure）

CHANNEL ACT ACK

Fig 1-4 T8 expires（inter-BSC handover failure）

1.4 Call drop due to LAPD link failure

2 Causes for different types of call drop

2.1 Main causes for call drop due to RF loss:

2.Interference: like internal interference caused by inappropriate frequency planning

3.Unreasonable radio parameters:

(4) Unreasonable power control parameters: such as unreasonable power control

(5) Unreasonable FH parameters: wrong setting of Maio leads to co-channel

(7) Unreasonable handover parameters, which disables MS to improve radio quality

(8) Congestion in adjacent cells: it causes call drops, because MS is unable to

2.2 Main causes for call drop due to handover failure

1.Interference: like internal interference caused by inappropriate frequency planning

3.Unreasonable settings of radio parameters

(3) Unreasonable settings of handover parameters ， Pingpong handover will be

BSC hardware problem: like problem about LAPD processing module.

3 Flow of problem handling

Checking of radio parameters and hardware is advised for locating problems.

Flow of handling call-drop problem:

For call drops due to different reasons, make analysis accordingly;

(5) Check antenna system, especially the parts with problems.

(1) Investigate equipment problem at BSC;

(2) Investigate BTS transmission;

() Investigate hardware problem at BTS.

Basic flow of handling call drops:

If radio No Adjust No If radio Eliminate Yes Any hardware

Yes Check& Yes Eliminate Any fault with

Yes Eliminate Yes

Fig 3-5 Flow of handling call drops

4 On-site Optimization Cases

4.1 GSM Receive Quality Degrade Analysis Method