WCDMA RNO Access Problem Analysis Guidance: Huawei Technologies Co., LTD

Product Version Confidential level
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. V100R001 For internal use only

Product name: WCDMA RNP Total 39 pages
WCDMA RNO Access Problem

Analysis Guidance
For internal use only
Prepared by URNP -SANA Date 2003-10-08

Reviewed by Date
Reviewed by Date
Granted by Date
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

All rights reserved
WCDMA RNO Access Problem Analysis Guidance For internal use only
Revision Record
Date Revision Change Description Author
version
2003-10-08 1.00 First draft completed Jiao Anqiang
2003-10-14 2.00 Revision based on comments Jiao Anqiang
2003-11-11 3.00 Revision based on review comments Jiao Anqiang
20-9-8 Confidential Page 2 , Total 39

Table of Contents
1Foreword .....................................................................................................................................................6
2Access Problem Analysis Process................................................................................................................6
2.1 Preparation before Analysis.....................................................................................................................6
2.2 Access Problem Analysis Methods..........................................................................................................7
2.2.1 Traffic Statistics Data Analysis.........................................................................................................8
2.2.2 Signaling Flow Analysis..................................................................................................................10
2.2.3 Equipment Analysis.........................................................................................................................19
2.2.4 Coverage Analysis...........................................................................................................................22
2.2.5 Power Control Information Analysis..............................................................................................22
2.2.6 Access Algorithm Parameter Analysis............................................................................................25
2.2.7 UE Characteristics Analysis............................................................................................................26
3Analysis of Command Reasons for Access Problems................................................................................26
3.1 Network Reasons...................................................................................................................................26
3.1.1 Dead Spot in Signal Coverage.........................................................................................................26
3.1.2 Too Strong Uplink and Downlink Interference Signals Exist........................................................27
3.1.3 Access Problems Caused by Cell Load...........................................................................................27
3.2 Radio Parameter Settings.......................................................................................................................28
3.2.1 Too High Settings of Qqualmin and Qrxlevmin.............................................................................28
3.2.2 Improper Settings of Access Threshold..........................................................................................28
3.2.3 Inappropriate Setting of Preamble Power Ramp Step and Retransmission Times.........................29
3.2.4 Inappropriate Setting of Adjacent Cells..........................................................................................30
3.2.5 Inappropriate Setting of Synchronization Parameters....................................................................30
3.2.6 Over-Low Power Allocation Ratio for Common Channel.............................................................31
3.2.7 Over-Low Initial Power of Uplink and Downlink Dedicated Channel..........................................32
3.2.8 Over-low Setting of Uplink Initial SIR Target Value of Dedicated Channel.................................32
3.3 Equipment Reasons................................................................................................................................33
3.3.1 Insufficient RAN Device Board Sources........................................................................................33
3.3.2 Abnormality of Equipment Clock...................................................................................................33
3.4 Data Configuration Cause......................................................................................................................33
3.4.1 Insufficient IUB Bandwidth Resource............................................................................................33
3.4.2 PATH ID and NSAP Address Configuration Error of AAL2PATH..............................................34
3.4.3 Inconsistent Number of AAL2PATHs across IU/IUB Interface....................................................35
3.5 Other Reasons........................................................................................................................................35
3.5.1 Insufficient UE Access Class (AC).................................................................................................35
3.5.2 Inconsistent Security Data of UE, RNC and CN............................................................................36
3.5.3 UE not Registered in HLR..............................................................................................................37
4Outstanding Issues......................................................................................................................................37

List of Tables
Table 1 Common Channel Power Allocation Ratio..............................................................................31
Table 2 Overhead Proportion for Each Layer on IUB Interface...........................................................34
List Figures
Figure 1 Traffic Statistics Analysis Flow..................................................................................................9
Figure 2 Schematic Diagram of Radio Layer Signaling.........................................................................11
Figure 3 Schematic diagram of transport network layer signaling analysis...........................................12
Figure 4 Single User Fault Location Tool...............................................................................................13
Figure 5 Signaling Flow for RRC Setup in Each Layer of Dedicated Channel.....................................14
Figure 6 Problem Analysis Flow of RRC Setup in Dedicated Channel.................................................15
Figure 7 UE Air Interface Message Tracing...........................................................................................17
Figure 8 Access Problem Caused by Coverage Restriction....................................................................24
Figure 9 Normal Access Process.............................................................................................................25
Figure 10 UE Authentication and Security Mode Process.......................................................................36

WCDMA RNP Access Problem Analysis Guidance
Key word: access process, problem analysis, cell searching, cell selection and reselection, random access
Abstract: This document analyzes and describes the general steps of identifying access problems from the
point of view of access stratum (AS), then analyzes the usual causes of access problems and
presents the solutions.
List of abbreviations: Omitted

1 Foreword
In WCDMA network operation, low call setup rate and difficult access are the hot complaints from
subscribers, as well as the direct reflection of the quality of the radio network. This document analyzes
mainly the general solution flow of access problems, causes of access failure and the solution measures, so
as to improve the call completion rate and the network quality.
The topic of this document is access process, so the concept of “access process” should be made
understood first. From the wireless point of view, access process consists of a series of processes including
searching network after subscriber power-on, random access, RRC setup and RAB setup. From the end
user point of view, access process is the process from dialing to call completion. In this sense access
process includes not only the wireless access process, but also many processes occurring in the fixed
network. Radio network optimization cares mainly about the access process at the wireless side, and
emphasizes on survey of cell search, cell selection and reselection, random access and RRC setup, which
are also the emphases of this document.
The reason to make such consideration is that the radio port performances such as network coverage
are considered more during the network optimization phase. The cell pilot signals are measured with UE or
drive test equipment, and UE is observed to see whether it can work normally in cell searching, selection
and reselection, and whether is can initiate random access, attach and location registration/update, and
accept normal service of the network, so that NodeB site adjustment (distance between NodeB sites,
azimuth and down tilt of antennas, etc.) can be implemented. Compared with RAB setup, the success rate
of RRC setup can reflect better the radio access performance, because the process of RRC connection
setup is basically the process of cell searching, selection and reselection, initiation of random access, etc.,
which occur on the air interface, while the success rate of RAB setup has more relations with the network
factors such as equipment, transmission, etc., which are much less likely to cause access problems.
2 Access Problem Analysis Process
2.1 Preparation before Analysis
Preparation before access problem analysis is to collect information about network as sufficient as
possible before analysis of network access problems, so that the goals of network optimization can be
effectively identified and different optimization strategies and goals can be developed for different
coverage areas and different application environments. The preparation includes:
 Get familiar with the first-stage network planning, and obtain the documentation of the first-
stage network planning, such as planning report, so as to establish a general impression of the
network and find some obvious problems about the network.

 For the network in service, it may have been optimized before. All optimization history records
should be obtained so as to know all the adjustment processes and pending problems before the
commencement of the current optimization.
 If the complete planning report, capacity expansion report and optimization history records are
not available due to some reasons, the latest reliable summary sheet of the engineering
parameters must be obtained through other means. Cell parameter configuration sheet can be
read online directly from the equipment configuration data.
 Obtain the network traffic statistics and the subscriber complaint information of access about the
access problems, and the traffic statistics information can be obtained through M2000.
 Obtain the information about the radio parameter configuration, which includes the adjustments
of the baseline parameter issued by the relative version, and whether the special algorithm (such
as DRD) is applied.
 Check whether the software and the hardware versions of the equipment are correct, identify
whether the versions of various NodeBs and RNCs are consistent, and ensure whether the entire
network version is consistent and whether all NodeBs are using the same version including
patch releases.
 In case of optimization before the network is put into service, identify whether dialing test has
been carried out after each NodeB is put into service, whether the background noise of the
NodeBs has been calibrated (calibrate the receiving channel gain), and whether the standing
wave ratio of the antennas has been tested.
 In case of optimization before the network is put into service, check the clock of each device of
the system, emphasizing on checking whether the clock source of each device is rational, and
whether they are consistent with the planning, and current clock status. s
2.2 Access Problem Analysis Methods
Access process is the first step for the UE to interact with the network, and the success of access
involves many factors of various aspects. Therefore, when an access problem occurs, sometimes it is hard
to find the cut-in point to solve the problem. The following are the general methods of access problem
analysis, which follow the principle of easy-to-hard sequence lowest involvement of human and material
resources. Through the analysis of traffic statistics and signaling flow, we can reduce the problems locating
range, and identify the step of access process where the problems occurred. Then, exclude the external
factors such as equipment and coverage at the first-stage of problem location through equipment analysis
and coverage analysis, so as to avoid doing useless work. Then, if necessary, proceed with in-depth
analysis on the power control information, access algorithm and the characteristics of the UE based on the
result of the above-mentioned analyses until the problem is finally solved. The following analysis methods
for access problems can be flexibly applied during actual problem location processes according to the
actual conditions, and it is unnecessary to stick to the orders.

2.2.1 Traffic Statistics Data Analysis
Check RNC traffic statistics data “calling setup success rate”. The formula of the calling setup
success rate is as follows:
CallSetupSuccRate  RRCSetupSuccRate  RABSetupSuccRate  100%
Where,
Number of RRCs set up in all four QoS services
RRCSetupSuccRate   100%
Number of RRC requests in all four QoS services
Number of RABs set up in all four QoS services

RABSetupSuccRate   100%
Number of RAB requests in all four QoS services
In the same way, statistics of the calling setup success rate of each QoS can be implemented
respectively. The sign of RRC connection setup success is the “RRC Connection Setup Complete”
message. Therefore, the RRC connection setup success rate is calculated through statistics of the number
of the “RRC Connection Setup Complete” messages and the number of the “RRC Connection Request”
messages. The sign of RAB assignment is the “RAB Assignment” message (the content of the message is
RAB assignment). Therefore, the RAB assignment success rate is calculated through the statistics of the
number of successful RABs setup in the “RAB Assignment Response” message and the number of “RAB
Assignment Request” messages.
This index statistics is cell-oriented and it reflects the call setup situation of the network. Statistics
can be either implemented together for the four QoS services of Conversation, Streaming, Interactive and
Background, or implemented respectively. Analysis of traffic statistics data can give a rough direction to
the solution of problems from the statistics point of view. Among traffic statistics data, in addition to the
proportion data, the statistics the original counter data (i.e. the number of connection request messages
received by RNC from RRC) should also be emphasized. Besides, we should be familiar with the
corresponding relations between the original counter data and the proportion data, the meanings of these
data and the position of these data in the setup process of signaling service.
The calling setup success rate is obtained from the product of RRC setup success rate and RAB setup
success rate. This can be simplified during the actual traffic statistics analysis process. Namely, RRC setup
success rate and RAB setup success rate can be analyzed separately and even analysis specific to
Conversation, Streaming, Interactive and Background can be performed separately. Through the analysis
on the traffic statistics data related to RRC setup and RAB setup, we can locate the possible parts of access
process where problems have occurred and determine the direction for further analyses. After all, traffic
statistics analysis is an approximation analysis method in the sense of statistics. Traffic statistics analysis
of access process is show in Figure 1 .

Analyze RNC traffic statistics data “call

setup success rate”
Analyze “RRC setup success rate”
Analyze “number of RRC setup

request messages”
Analyze “RAB setup success rate”
Analyze “RB setup success rate”
Determine the direction of further analysis
Figure 1 Traffic Statistics Analysis Flow
RRC setup success rate reflects the subscriber call success rate of the network to a great extent,
because RRC setup is closer to the radio interface from the access point of view, and the probability of
exceptions is higher than that of RAB. RRC setup success rate may have two opposite behaviors in traffic
statistics: one is that traffic statistics shows high access rate, but the subscribers still complain about access
difficulty. This is because the access process failed before RRC CONNECT REQUEST is sent. If “RRC
CONNECT REQUEST” is added during creation of a performance statistics task, this value will be found
much smaller than the normal statistics value (or the experience value). The reason is that traffic statistics
cannot reflect this situation with the index of RRC setup success rate if UTRAN has not received RRC
setup request message, but it only supports query of the statistics index of the number of RRC connection
request messages. In this case, mainly analyze such processes as cell searching before RRC connection
setup, cell selection and reselection, and random access.
The other behavior is low RRC setup success rate, which reflects truly the problem of access
difficulty. In this case, it is not certain that the access failure occurs after RRC connection setup. “Number
of RRC CONNECT REQUEST messages” should be checked. If it is much lower than the normal
statistics value, factors before RRC connection setup should be considered; if it is approximately the
normal statistics value, it is time to emphasize on analyzing the flow after UTRAN received the RRC
CONNECT REQUEST message.
The key process of RAB setup is RB setup (having air interface message interchange with UE).
When analyzing RB setup success rate, we analyze the RAB setup success rate as the main point, because
the other processes except RB setup mainly include message interchange through ground interface and

within the equipment. The formula of RB setup is as follows. If RB setup success rate is high while RAB
setup success rate is low, check the equipment condition and the transport layer configuration of the
ground interface.
RB setup success times

RB setup success rate 
RB setup request times
Among access-related traffic statistics data, in addition to RRC setup success rate and RAB setup
success rate and related original counter data, other statistics data related to RRC and RAB can also be
analyzed, for example, the ratio of RRC and RAB setup failure because of congestion. If the congestion
ratio is high, it means that the cell is overloaded. For detailed descriptions, refer to the relevant document
about traffic statistics indices, HUAWEI 3G WCDMA PART: Performance Management Indices - RNC.
2.2.2 Signaling Flow Analysis
The failed part of the entire access process can be viewed directly through signaling flow. Through
signaling flow analysis, most access problems can be solved, including restricted downlink capacity. The
analysis steps of signaling flow basically follows the “top layer bottom layer, exterior to interior, and
control plane to user plane” principle. “Top layer to bottom layer” refers to analyzing signaling of L3, L2,
physical layer and transport layer, layer by layer. NAS signaling is transparently transmitted, and it should
be traced and analyzed in the core network. “Exterior to interior” refers to analyzing the standard interface
signaling first, and if it is impossible to obtain sufficient information through standard interface signaling
analysis, it is necessary to analyze inter-board signaling and board-module signaling within the equipment.
2.2.2.1 Identifying abnormality of signaling flow on standard signaling interface
There are three observation points for access problem analysis: monitoring background of UE,
maintenance console of NodeB and RNC. Since RNC basically includes all the other access-side standard
interfaces, the actual operation mainly includes observation and analysis of RNC signaling. There are only
two cases of abnormality: (1) a failure message is received after the request message is sent, and (2) no
request message or response message is received. Thus the direction of problem location can be
determined, and the range of problem location can be reduced.
If a failure message is received after the L3 request message is sent, we can be sure that no problem
is with the bottom layer transmission (it is possible that transmission error codes have caused the ASN. 1
decoding error, which hard occurs, and has not occurred till now). The cause is either the wrongly filled
request message that has been received, or the abnormal processing of the receiver.
In case of failure to receive a request message or a response message, there are two possibilities. One
is that the sender has failed to send the messages, which is possibly due to abnormalities of internal process
of the sender. The other possibility is that the message packet has been lost during the transmission
process. For example, if RRC CONNECT REQUEST message has not been received, one of the possible

reasons may be that UE has failed to send the message, and this can be observed from UE background
printing and message; another possible reason may be pocket loss due to NodeB decoding error or packet
loss due to IUB interface (can be observed with a network hawk).
2.2.2.2 Analysis of standard signaling of radio network layer
Radio network signaling includes signaling of four standard interfaces of UU, IU IUB and IUR.
When an abnormality occurs in the signaling flow, open the message packet traced on the maintenance
console and check the relevant IEs in the message for abnormal value assignment. Especially when one
party in message interaction received a failure message or a reject message, the cause value of failure can
be obtained directly through message resolution, so as to prepare for the subsequent location steps. As
shown in Figure 5, in the RL SETUP REQUEST message, the default value of the uplink initial sir target
has been always 0dB, which causes out-of-sync of UE during the access process. The reason is that the out
loop power control lags behind that of the in loop power control, and in this too low a SIR setting during
this period of time will cause a low emission power of UE uplink dedicated channel, resulting in uplink
out-of-sync.
Figure 2 Schematic Diagram of Radio Layer Signaling
2.2.2.3 Analysis of Standard Signaling of Transport Network Layer
Transport network layer signaling includes SAAL and ALCAP signaling tracing of the IUB
interface, and SAAL, ALCAP, MTP3B and SCCP signaling tracing of the IU and IUR interfaces. If a fault
occurs in the transport network layer, for example, AAL2 CHANNAL setup failure, the transport layer
signaling can be traced for analysis. As shown in Figure 3, the ESTABLISH REQUEST message of
ALCAP on the IUB interface is traced. The NASP address at the NodeB end is
Ox3902030405060708090009080706050403020100. If the NASP addresses at both sides are not
consistent during data negotiation between RNC and NodeB, AAL2 CHANNAL setup failure will occur,
and RNC will send RRC CONNECT REJECT message to UE, with the cause value being UNSPECIFIED.

Similarly, if sufficient signaling cannot be obtained through radio network signaling analysis, the
following transport network layer should be analyzed.
Figure 3 Schematic diagram of transport network layer signaling analysis
2.2.2.4 Internal Signaling Flow Analysis
If the problem cannot be solved by signaling analysis of radio layer and transport layer, internal
message flow analysis should be considered. The main content is internal message flow tracing and
printing analysis. For the internal flow of RNC calling, refer to the document RR Flow 20020916. PRZ.
This method is not recommended in existing networks, because once internal tracing and printing is
enabled, the congestion of the internal message channel will occur, resulting expected failures of the
equipment.
Internal message flow analysis can be conducted for both RNC and NodeB by means of the
debugging console or serial port. For the specific methods refer to WCDMA NodeB V100R002 Algorithm
Subsystem Debugging Console User’s Manual; for RNC, refer to Online Help for WCDMA RNC Test
Console Transparent Messages. Moreover, for RNC, a CDR tool (single user fault tracing) has been
developed recently, which can trace all information about the specified UE, including standard interface
messages, internal messages, primitives between L2 and L3 and all the printed information about the
specified UE (including the location information of user plane and signaling plane), as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 4 Single User Fault Location Tool
2.2.2.5 RRC Connection Setup Signaling Analysis Process
RRC setup is an import issue in access process optimization. The signaling flow of RRC setup in
each layer of the dedicated channel is shown in Figure 5. RRC setup covers the interaction of RRC, NBAP,
Q.AAL2 and FP protocols, and the failure of a single part will lead to the failure of the entire process.

UE NODEB MSC
RRC CONNECT REQUEST

RRC RRC
RADIO LINK SETUP REQUEST

NBAP NBAP
RADIO LINK SETUP RESPONSE

NBAP NBAP
ESTABLISTH REQUEST
Q.AAL2 Q.AAL2
ESTABLISH CONFIRM
Q.AAL2 Q.AAL2
DOWNLINK SYNCHRONISATION
DCH-FP DCH-FP
UPLINK SYNCHRONISATION
DCH-FP DCH-FP
RRC CONNECT SETUP

RRC RRC
RRC CONNECT SETUP COMPLETE

RRC RRC
RADIO LINK RESTORE

NBAP NBAP
Figure 5 Signaling Flow for RRC Setup in Each Layer of Dedicated

Channel
For RRC setup in dedicated channel, , according to the signaling flow shown in Figure 5, problem
analysis can be performed in the following steps, as shown in Figure 6. Site engineers can locate the rough
range of the problem and collect the relevant on-site location information according to the flow chart. If it
is necessary to make in-depth location on the site, refer to WCDMA Expert Group, WCDMA System
Problem Location Manuel, 20030102 Edition.

UE initiate
access
RNC receives
N
RRC connection 1
request
Y
N
RL successfully
set up? 2
Y
AAL2PATH
N
successfully set 3
up?
Y
DCH FP N
successfully set 4
up?
Y
N
UE receives
RRC setup 5
Y
RNC receives N
RRC setup 6
complete
Y
N
RNC receives RL
RESTORE 7
RRC successfully set up

in dedicated channel
Figure 6 Problem Analysis Flow of RRC Setup in Dedicated Channel
1、 RNC fails to receive RRC CONNECT REQUEST messages: Through UU interface tracing of
RNC, no RRC connect request message is found. Firstly, check with network hawk whether the
RRC connect request message has been sent to the IUB interface. If it is found, analyze whether
the problem is with cell search, random access or due to NodeB internal abnormality. This can
be located with the help of UE background print and NodeB debugging console; if an RRC
connect request message appears on the IUB interface, it is possibly because of pocket loss on
the IUB interface or RNC internal abnormal processing. Check pocket loss on the IUB interface

with network hawk; for the abnormal RNC internal processing, view the RNC alarm subsystem,
board serial port printing, board operation log and internal message tracing.
2、 Radio link setup failure: It is not likely to occur. However, if it occurs, a possible reason is the
internal abnormality of RNC or NodeB. View the alarm subsystem and perform radio link to
establish message resolution. If it is necessary to make an in-depth location, the internal flow can
be located by using the debugging console of RNC and NodeB.
3、 AAL2 link setup failure of bearer air interface signaling: Check the data configuration of
AAL2PATH of RNC and NodeB, emphasizing on VPI/VCI of AAL2PATH, ATM address of
NodeB, ALL2PATH ID, PVC flow and type, AAL2PATH bandwidth and CID consumption.
4、 DCH FP synchronization failure: The transmission channel of DCH FP is synchronized through

the interaction of the uplink and the downlink synchronization frames. Observe these two control
frames on the IUB interface with network hawk. If DCH FP synchronization fails, the possible
reasons include inconsistent AAL2PATH configuration at the both sides, too long IUB interface
delay or equipment clock abnormality. These reasons can be checked one by one.
5、 UE fails to receive RRC CONNECT SETUP message: Check from RNC, following the
sequence of UU interface tracing of RNC, IUB interface (with network hawk), AAL2 link of
IUB interface, E1/T1 status and NodeB processing, to locate the problem.
6、 RNC fails to receive RRC CONNECT SETUP COMPLETE message: Refer to Section 2.2.2.6,
Signaling Analysis Cases.
7、 RNC fails to receive RL RESTORE message: If RNC fails to receive the RL RESTORE
message within a certain period of time, NodeB uplink synchronization is considered to have
failed, and RNC will initiate link removal. Check whether the configuration of uplink
synchronization parameters such as N_INSYNC_IND, N_OUTSYNC_IND and T_RLFAILURE
are reasonable.
2.2.2.6 Signaling Analysis Cases
Phenomenon: RNC fails to receive the RRC CONNECT SETUP COMPLETE message from
UE【7】.
For RRC connection setup in the dedicated channel, the RRC CONNECT COMPLETE message is
the first message of uplink DPCH. Whether this message is received successfully or not is the sign of
successful setup of uplink DPCH and the transmission quality. Check whether UE has received the RRC
Connect Setup message and whether the RRC Connect Setup Complete message has been sent out by
viewing the printed information and message tracing of UE. The UE of Beijing Research Institute of
Huawei has the above-mentioned observation points, and the NEC UE needs to be observed with its
dedicated maintenance tool (if NEC UE is faulty, the UE of Beijing Research Institute of Huawei can be
used for problem location).

If RNC fails to receive the RRC CONNECT SETUP COMPLETE message from UE, there are three
possible reasons: UE fails to send the message, the message is lost during transmission, and UE fails to
receive RRC CONNECT SETUP.
UE fails to send the RRC Connect Setup Complete message.
Location steps:
There are two ways to identify whether UE has received the RRC CONNCET SETUP message:
1) Check whether the printed information is available on the HyperTerminal indicating that the RRC
CONNECT SETUP message has been received. If such information is not available, the SETUP message
has not been received.
Open the air interface message reported by RRC, and check the RRC CONNECTION REQ message
is followed by the RRC CONNECTION SETUP message. If so, check whether the UE IDs of these two
messages are consistent. If they are not consistent, the SETUP message has not been received (After
receiving the air interface message, UE will report to the background first before it processes the message,
so the SETUP message seen at the background is not necessarily from this UE. It is necessary to compare
the UE IDs for confirmation).
The air interface message reported by RRC is as the follows:
Figure 7 UE Air Interface Message Tracing
2) After UE receives the SETUP message, it releases RB0 (random access channel), starts power
control after the completion of release before the protection timer times out, and proceeds with establishing

downlink dedicated channel (configuration of radio link and transmission channel and MAC). After RRC
receives all the configuration primitives of each layer before the protection timer times out, it starts the
T312 timer, and stops this timer after it receives N312 CPHY_SYNC_IND primitives before the T312
timer times out. Then it starts establishing uplink dedicated channel (radio link) and configures RLC (RB1-
RB4). After RRC receives all the configuration primitives of each layer before the protection timer times
out, it starts measurement, configures the maximum transmit power of the UE, and starts the SRB
DELAY timer (waiting for NodeB to perform uplink synchronization). It sends the RRC CONNECTION
SETUP COMPLETE message after the SRB DELAY timer times out.
In each configuration stage, if RRC fails to receive all the configuration primitives of each layer
before the protection timer times out, UE will fail to send out the RRC CONNECTION SETUP
COMPLETE message. Mainly the primitives for instance creation, configuration and release sent by RLC,
MAC and the physical layer are involved. The most common situation is that RRC fails to receive N312
CPHY_SYNC_IND primitives (indicating downlink synchronization failure) when the T312 timer times
out, and this causes UE’s failure to send the RRC CONNECTION SETUP COMPLETE message. In case
of synchronization failure, we can enable “Power Control Information Display” of UE background to
observe the measured values of downlink RSSI and SIR. If RSSI is smaller than -100dBm and the
measured value of SIR has been all the time lower than the target value of Sir, check whether the setting
range of NodeB transmit power is correct (observe through the radio link setup message of Iub). Note that
corresponding options in “Display Setting” should be set before the information can be displayed.
Packet loss caused by abnormality in NodeB
Check the relevant statistics information of demodulating DSP and decoding DSP through the NodeB
debugging console, and identify whether NodeB has received data packets at the new uplink DPDCH or
whether the packets received are all wrong ones. For detailed operation, refer to the help document of
NodeB debugging console.
Packet loss on the IUB interface
The RRC CONNECT SETUP COMPLETE message may have been lost on the IUB interface, which
can be analyzed from lower layers to upper layers (E1->ATM->FP).
Check whether there is an E1 alarm first by viewing whether there is “E1 signal loss alarm” in alarm
subsystem, and then execute DSP E1T1 at RNC maintenance console to check the corresponding E1 state
of AAL2PATH. In case of E1 link disconnection, carry out loop-back operation respectively at the RNC
and NodeB ends, through which the problem can be basically located in RNC, NodeB or transmission.
Bottom layer transmission is probably implemented in the IMA group mode. In this case, check that the
IMA group numbers at both ends of each E1 in the IMA group are consistent.
If E1s are in normal state, check whether AAL2PATH of the ATM layer is in normal state, and
check the state of PATH with the MML command “DSP AAL2PATH”, with PATH ID, NASP address, E1
link No. and PVC as the major points to check.

If there is no abnormality in AAL2PATH, check the FP layer in user plane of IUB. Packet loss of FP
layer will probably occur due to expiration time. For more about expiration time, refer to relevant
documents.
RNC receives the RRC CONNECT SETUP COMPLETE message after timeout.
The timer times out 5 seconds after RNC stats to wait for a message. Check the timer setting with the
MML command “LST STATETIMER”. If the configuration is improper, revise it with MOD
STATETIMER. Confirm the timeout event through the printed information of RNC SPU board. In
addition, too much UE printing or too much NodeB main control printing may also cause this problem. In
this case, disable the printing function.
2.2.3 Equipment Analysis
Obtain the general information about network equipment operation by viewing the alarm
information of RNC, NodeB, UMSC and SGSN, viewing equipment operation logs and running
corresponding MML command for automatic test of the equipment. The equipment analysis process is
equivalent to a process of pre-diagnosis to exclude any problem about equipment that may influence
access, so as to avoid doing useless work in the consequent problem location process and avoiding wasting
lots of human and material resources. As equipment analysis can work twice the result with half the effort
in the actual problem location process, so it is necessary at the early stage of problem location. For
instance, detailed printed information of abnormality of RNC is available in the operation log.
The operation log of RNC is in the directory of BSC6800\LoadData\FamLog\. The file name format
is as follows: FNLOGyyyymmddhhnnss.log. FN: frame No., two-digit numeral string; yyyy: year; mm:
month; dd: date; hh: hour; nn: minute; ss: second. The above-mentioned time refers to the moment when
the log us uploaded. If there is no file that is after the above-mentioned time, the log buffer area is
probably not full, and log files can be uploaded by means of the MML command for uploading log files.
(ULD LOGFILE: FN = frame No.).
Alarm information can be exported. Open the alarm window, select the alarm to be saved and save it
with another name; or run the command “exp tbldata” to export the alarm information to the directory
BSC6800/FTP. Alarms that affect access mainly include transmission alarms of the carrier signaling
(E1/T1, SAAL, NCP/CCP, MTP3B, internal IPC and AAL2PATH) and equipment alarms (clock, CPU,
DSP, etc.). If such alarms occur, find out the causes and eliminate these alarms thoroughly.
Run the MML command TST SYS for equipment automatic test. The system can automatically
detect equipment faults of the transport layer and link fault of transport signaling layer. The contents of the
self-diagnosis are as follows: board status and subsystem status diagnosis; board auto-test results
diagnosis; board clock state diagnosis; WMUX/WFMR board temperature diagnosis; transport layer link
diagnosis within/between WRBS frames; transport layer link diagnosis between WRBS frame and WRSS
frame; DSP, HPI and TDM diagnosis of WFMR board; RFN status; internal PVC configuration. If the

self-diagnosis function is successfully enabled, after a certain period of time, the diagnosis results will be
reported and saved in the text format under the directory of “BSC6800 installation\LOADDATA\
WRBSFAD” of the BAM. If LMT and BAM are separated, query the information through FTP Client of
operation and maintenance system on the LMT. The naming rule of the diagnosis result files is “frame No.
+ FADRESULT + year month date hour minute”. For instance, the diagnosis result file
“WRBS01FADRESULT2002-1101-10-49.TXT” means the text file of fault diagnosis for WRBS frame 1
reported at 10:49, November 1, 2002. Now take the diagnosis result analysis for Subsystem 0 of SPU
board of Slot 10 in Frame 3 as an example:
*********************BOARD SPU10 DIAGNOSE BEGIN*****************************
[SPU10:(Board Enable)]
//Board is normal
------------------- Board Self-Test Diagnose -----------------
[SPU10 SubSystem0:(Chip Self-Test OK)]
[SPU10 SubSystem1:(Chip Self-Test OK)]
//Board chip self-test is normal
-------------------Board Clock Status Diagnose -----------------
[SPU10 Clk Status:(Clock 8K OK)]
//Clock status normal
-------------------CPU Usage Diagnose -----------------
[SPU10 Cpu No0: (33%)]
[SPU10 Cpu No1: (13%)]
// Current CPU usage of two subsystems
-------------------Intra Control-Plane IPC Status Diagnose-----------------

[Src-SubSystem(10,0) <-> Dest-SubSystem(1 ,0): (Dest-SubSystem Absent)]
[Src-SubSystem(10,0) <-> Dest-SubSystem(3 ,0): (OK)]
[Src-SubSystem(10,0) <-> Dest-SubSystem(13,0): (Dest-SubSystem Absent)]
[Src-SubSystem(10,0) <-> Dest-SubSystem(15,0): (Dest-SubSystem Absent)]
[Src-SubSystem(10,0) <-> Dest-SubSystem(10,1): (OK)]
//The IPC channels between SPU board to FMR, XIE and MUX of this frame is normal; the reason
for the abnormality is that the board is not plugged
-------------------Inter SPU-SPU IPC Status Diagnose -----------------
[Src-SubSystem(3,10,0) <-> Dest-SubSystem(1 ,10,0):(Diagnose Fail!)]
//The IPC channels between SPU of Frame 3 and SPUs of Frame 1 and Frame 4 are not through
because Frame 1 and Frame 4 are not configured.
-------------------Inter SPU-HPU IPC Status Diagnose -----------------

//Communication between SPU of Frame 3 and HPU of Frame 2 is not available because HPU of
Frame 2 is not in position.
The document of common methods for NodeB V1.3 equipment analysis has not been outputted till
now, so related contents are to be supplemented.
2.2.4 Coverage Analysis
Access difficulties caused by coverage problems are frequently seen. Coverage absence, shaded area
and border of the network are the areas where access failure occurs usually. Perform the pilot coverage test
on those areas with imperfect access success rate, and record the distribution of RSCP and Ec/Io of the
pilot channel with drive test equipment E7476A under the conditions of different services and different
loads. Furthermore, because coverage is closely related to capacity, coverage absence will probably happen
at cell border if the cell load increases. Therefore during the actual coverage test, select a high-load time
segment of a cell as the test time segment (refer to traffic statistics data), or perform downlink OCNS test
with simulated load in a time segment when the user traffic is low.
If coverage absence exists in the test area, consider the major network engineering parameters
(azimuth, downtilt, height, etc.), micro cells or repeaters; in case of indoor application, it is necessary to
carry out indoor coverage design.
2.2.5 Power Control Information Analysis
The access process of UE involves open loop, inner loop and outer loop power control.
Open loop power control: the preamble initial power of the UE at PRACH can be observed at UE
background;
Preamble_Initial_Power = PCPICH_DL_Tx_Power - CPICH_RSCP + UL_Interference + Const

Value
Initial transmit power of UE at uplink DPCCH;
DPCCH_Initial_power = DPCCH_Power_offset － CPICH_RSCP, DPCCH_Power_offset is

configured by RNC.
Initial transmit power of UTRAN at downlink DPCCH;
P=（Ec/Io）req-CPICH_Ec/Io + Ppcpich

Preamble_Initial_Power has influences on random access, and the initial transmit power of dedicated
channels has influences on uplink and downlink synchronization of radio links. If it is too low, the
synchronization will fail.
Inner loop power control: Control of the transmit powers of NodeB and UE through the target values
of uplink and downlink SIR. We can view the UE transmit power, UE receiving power, uplink and
downlink TPC values, and downlink test SIR and target SIR emulation. Mainly check whether UE transmit
power is full, whether the uplink TPC is saturated and whether the receiving power of UE is low.
Furthermore, uplink and downlink TPC values, uplink test SIR and target SIR emulation can also be
observed on the NodeB debugging console. When establishing uplink and downlink dedicated channels,
pay attention to the setting of the initial SIR target value, because there is a delay of outer loop power
control compared with inner loop power control, and too low an initial SIR target value will lead to link
out-of-synchronization.
Outer loop power control: Control of the transmit power of NodeB and UE by correcting SIR target
value. Currently, the BLER target value of signaling is 1%.
Here is an example of UE access failure after coverage restriction. As shown in the diagram below,
call drop occurs when the code transmit power of NodeB and UE uplink transmit power requested by
uplink TPC both reach the maximum value, which occurs at the cell border or in case of coverage absence.
However, after call drop, UE will conduct cell search and residing, read the system broadcast information,
initiate random access and implement location update. As shown below, UE cannot obtain the complete
information because of coverage restriction, and it is repeatedly reading the information without being able
to get accessed.

Figure 8 Access Problem Caused by Coverage Restriction
After comparing the drive test results with planning results of the pilot coverage, it is found that this
position is out of the planning area. Therefore, when getting into the covered area, UE performs cell
residing, receives system information broadcast again normally and initiate location update, as shown
below.

Figure 9 Normal Access Process
2.2.6 Access Algorithm Parameter Analysis
Analyze whether the relevant algorithm parameters are appropriate, and adjustment properly under a
certain precondition, and the precondition is that you must know very well these parameters. The following
are parameters that should be paid attention to in each phase of the access process. For the meaning of each
parameter, refer to Section 3.2.
Cell selection: minimum quality criterion (Qqualmin), minimum receiving level (Qrxlevmin);
Random access: Preamble threshold of random access (PreambleThreshold, shown in common

channel setup request of IUB interface), constant value used in calculation of the initial transmit power of
random access (ConstantValue), preamble power ramp step (PowerRampStep), maximum preamble
retransmission times (PreambleRetransMax), power offset between the preamble and message control
parts (PowerOffsetPpm), power allocation ratio for the common channel (AICH power), and access
preamble test threshold;
RRC setup in dedicated channel: uplink synchronization and out-of-synchronization parameters

(N_INSYNC_IND, N_OUTSYNC_IND and T_RLFAILURE), downlink synchronization and out-of-
synchronization parameters (T312, N312, T313, N313 and N315), signaling waiting timer (the default
value is 5 seconds), uplink initial SIR TARGET, and DPCCH_power_offset.
The parameters above have default values at the issue of the version, and the default values can be
adjusted appropriately in the access problem location process. When adjusting one parameter, pay attention
to the influence on other relevant parameters , and consider the balance among the parameters. For

example, the preamble power ramp step, the maximum preamble retransmission times the synchronization
counter and timer are interrelated with one another.
2.2.7 UE Characteristics Analysis
UE characteristics have important relations with network access performance. For the same network,
the access performance of UEs from different manufacturers may be different. According to integrated test
and IOT test, the differences of UE performances include: hardware performance difference, algorithm
implementation difference and difference in protocol support. If an access problem is related to UE of a
certain brand or type, the UE characteristics should be analyzed.
For instance, let’s compare the UE of Beijing Institute of Huawei with the UE of NEC. Since the UE
of Beijing Institute of Huawei is a test UE, its various performances are better than those of NEC. During
trial system test processes, many problems appeared in NEC UE. For example, bad support to cell
reselection: NEC UE usually goes dead-locked when in IDLE status in handover areas; an internal
parameter within the UE is improperly set (the WINDOW SIZE parameter, originally set at 0x80, now
0xFF in Huawei network), which causes failure in receiving the RB SETUP COMPLETE message and
thus access failure. Such differences between UEs have obvious influences on network access index
optimization. In the actual problem location process, if the performance indices are still poor after the
common factors are excluded, consider UE performance differences and indicate them in the problem
location report.
3 Analysis of Command Reasons for Access Problems
Reasons for access problems can be classified generally into network reasons, radio parameter setting
reasons and equipment reasons, which are described as follows:
3.1 Network Reasons
3.1.1 Dead Spot in Signal Coverage
The signal coverage does not meet the requirement and coverage dead spots or dead zones exist.
In this case, the UE is in network search state for a long period after powered on, and cannot stay in a
cell, or the UE displays very weak signal strength. While performing forced cell search with the UE of
Beijing Institute of Huawei, there is no result display but always “Searching network” on the panel. The
drive test equipment E7476A shows that the RSCP and Ec/Io are both low. According to the experience
data, the problem of signal coverage should be considered when RSCP is lower than -100dBm and Ec/Io
lower than -15dB.
There are different requirements for RSCP and Ec/Io for different services. If RSCP is too low, the
receiving sensitivity requirement will not be satisfied. Even if RSCP is not low, but if the downlink
interference is strong, Ec/Io may fail to meet the UE demodulation requirement. Refer to the Document

WCDMA RNP Special Subject Study - Pilot Receiving Strength Requirement Analysis under Given Power
Allocation Ratio. doc.
Adjustment recommendation:
Plan the network appropriately to reduce the dead spots of network coverage. Consider adjusting the
antenna azimuth and down tilt, adding repeaters and RRUs or adding micro cells.
3.1.2 Too Strong Uplink and Downlink Interference Signals Exist
Uplink and downlink interference signals within a cell may come from outside interference, NodeBs
of adjacent cells, UEs in the local cell and adjacent cells, etc. If the uplink and downlink interference is too
strong during the access process, the receiving party may fail to perform signal demodulation, and the
sending party may use up the maximum power.
The uplink interference is too strong: During the random access process, even if the preamble power
has been increased to the maximum UE transmit power, it is still unable to meet the requirement of NodeB
demodulation, resulting in failure of random access process. It is found from NodeB debugging console
that RSSI has been always high (higher than -00dBm), and uplink BLER is also high. Uplink interference
comes probably from the outside. Too heavy cell traffic may also result in strong uplink interference.
Too strong downlink interference: During the random access process, the UE is unable to demodulate
or wrongly demodulates the access indicator (AI) delivered by NodeB, or the downlink synchronization
fails at radio link establishment, or the UE cannot complete cell search process at all.
Plan the network appropriately. Prevent unnecessary interference, especially pilot pollution, from
falling into the coverage range of cells; in case of outside interference, carry out frequency clearance to
eliminate interference sources; in case of uplink interference caused by high traffic, properly allocate the
cell load, and start load and access control mechanism to reject access of new mobile stations when the cell
load is high; or add NodeBs directly to solve problems of traffic hot spot area.
3.1.3 Access Problems Caused by Cell Load
Due to the admission control mechanism, RNC will reject the access of UEs under when the access
of UEs may cause cell load to exceed the preset threshold. This can be observed in the following aspects:
Seen from RNC signaling tracing, it is possibly RRC setup failure or RAB setup failure, because
RRM admission control mechanism functions during these two processes. In case of RRC setup failure,
RNC will send the RRC CONNECTION SETUP message to UE, the reason of which is “congestion”; in
case of RAB setup failure, RNC will send the RAB ASSIGNMENT RESPONSE message to CN, result is
failure, and the reason value is also “No Resource Available”.
The curve charts of the receiving power of the cell uplink total bandwidth (RTWP) and the cell
downlink total transmit power (TCP) can be obtained at the RNC background. The two values are found to

be close to the system preset access threshold values. The uplink and downlink load factors of various
services can be observed with MML command【LST CELLCAC】.
View the RNC traffic statistics data. You can find that the number of times of call failure caused by
congestion is far higher than the normal statistics values.
If these three conditions are met, we can be sure that the cause of UE access failure is cell overload.
Call admission control (CAC) algorithm is to forecast the changes on system load brought by
admission of call access request according to the current load of the system and call access request to judge
whether the system can run normally with new load conditions. If the changed load has not exceeded the
normal operation limit of the system, this access request will be permitted; otherwise, the access request
will be rejected. Therefore, the call admission control algorithm is based on load forecast. For this reason,
our algorithm always performs load forecast first, and then judges whether the forecast load value exceeds
the preset system load threshold. If forecast does not exceed the preset threshold, the access will be
admitted; otherwise, the access will be rejected.
Allocate cell traffic appropriately; increase the capacity directly by adding NodeBs.
3.2 Radio Parameter Settings
3.2.1 Too High Settings of Qqualmin and Qrxlevmin
In this case, UE reads Qqualmin and Qrxlevmin from SIB3 during cell selection, and identify
whether the current cell is suitable to reside in by the S Criteria: if the S Criteria is met, this cell is
considered as a suitable cell for UE, and the UE will reside in this cell, and read other system information
required. Then UE will initiate location registration process. If Qqualmin and Qrxlevmin settings are too
high, on one hand, when the UE goes too far from the NodeB during the conversation, UE may fail to
reside in the cell after off-hook. Power control can ensure that the link remains connected when UE is
moving afar, and that UE can perform cell reselection after off-hook. Since the common pilot channel
signal is already weak, if Qqualmin and Qrxlevmin are set too high, UE will hardly succeed in cell
reselection. On the other hand, UE initial access will become difficult, and it can be seen from UE
background of Beijing Institute of Huawei that the UE cannot complete cell residing.
Set proper Qqualmin and Qrxlevmin values according to actual conditions, check system set values
with MML Command【LST CELLSELRESEL】, and then modify them with【MOD CELLSELRESEL】.
3.2.2 Improper Settings of Access Threshold
Access threshold herein refers to preamble threshold of PRACH.

The preamble threshold defines the PRACH preamble test threshold, and RNC informs NodeB in
common transmission channel setup signaling on the IUB interface (default configuration is 32, equivalent
to -20dB). This preamble can be is acknowledged only when the ratio between the preamble power and the
noise level received during the preamble cycle is larger than this threshold. If the parameter setting is too
small, the random access preamble signal will be judged wrongly and false alarms will increase, which
will lower the demodulation quality of random access, especially under the condition of lack of
demodulation resources. False alarms can also lead to invalid data transmission of downlink AICH, which
wastes downlink power and increases the downlink interference. False alarms probability can be viewed at
debugging console. The criterion is one thousandth, and any value high than this figure means that the
false alarm probability is too high; if the preamble threshold setting is too large, the access difficulty will
increase, and the preamble signal capture probability will be reduced; if the UE uplink transmit power is
too high, the PRACH uplink interference will increase. This parameter decides the demodulation quality of
random access and subscriber access success rate, and has relations with access distance (access channel
coverage radius × 2), and different NodeB configurations (four-antenna diversity mode and OTSR mode).
Processing recommendation:
Adjust access threshold value appropriately, and default values of current system are: preamble
threshold: 32, corresponding to -20.0dB.
3.2.3 Inappropriate Setting of Preamble Power Ramp Step and Retransmission Times
UE can obtain maximum preamble retransmission times and preamble power ramp step by receiving
SIB3. If UE has not received AI at preset time slot after sending out Preamble, the preamble power will be
increased by one step, and the retransmission counter will be reduced by 1, until the counter value becomes
0, when retransmission will be stopped.
Setting of preamble power ramp step has influence on the increasing speed of access preamble
transmit power. If it is set too small, the number of times of subscriber access attempts will increase, which
increases the probability of preamble collision; if it is set too large, the access preamble power value may
greatly exceeds the value required, which increases interference to the system.
Generally, if the step remains unchanged, the larger the Preamble_Retrans_Max value is, the higher
the success rate of random access will be, but the PRACH load will increase consequently. In cells of high
traffic, if the maximum retransmission times value is too large, radio channel overload and congestion will
be caused, and the probability of UE access collision will be increased greatly, which will reduce call
completion rate and radio resource utilization. On the other hand, if the Preamble_Retrans_Max value is
set too small, the preamble transmit power of the UE cannot rise to the required value, and the UE access
success rate will be reduced. Therefore, an appropriate Preamble_Retrans_Max setting is an important
means for making full use of network radio resources and improving call completion rate.

These two parameters jointly control the UE access preamble ramp process. When setting these
parameters, pay attention to reduction of system uplink interference, improvement of access success rate
and reduction access delay. Therefore, it is necessary to set appropriate values according to the actual
situation.
3.2.4 Inappropriate Setting of Adjacent Cells
The pilot measurement information about the current cell and the adjacent cells attached to UE can
be seen from the RRC CONNECTION REQUEST message. Such measurements are all conducted by UE
at cell selection. If there are too many adjacent cells of the main cell in system message broadcast, The UE
will need a long time to measure the pilot signal quality of all the adjacent cells, and this will influence
subscriber access speed. So an important task of network optimization is to plan appropriately the list of
adjacent cells of each main cell defined in the pre-planning stage. In certain pre-commercial applications,
useless adjacent cells are deleted by traffic statistics tools. For instance, two cells are adjacent cell to each
other and a handover area exists, but because there are geographic barriers (such as a river) between the
two cells, cross-cell handover never or seldom occurs. In this case these two cells should not be adjacent
cells to each other. Such factors cannot be taken into consideration because of map and estimation reasons
in the pre-planning stage and must be optimized. In case of the contrary situation, missed configuration of
adjacent cells also needs to be considered. When UE is moving at cell border away from the NodeB, if
there is no adjacent cell configured in the moving direction of the UE, access failure is likely to occur to
the UE.
Optimize the configuration of adjacent cells according to the actual situation.
3.2.5 Inappropriate Setting of Synchronization Parameters
Phenomenon 1: Too slow synchronization. During radio link establishment, RNC will start a timer
and wait for NodeB to report the RL RESTORE message. If the radio link fails to be synchronized before
timeout, RNC will initiate link removal. Phenomenon 2: Too fast out-of-synchronization. NodeB will send
RL FAILURE message to RNC immediately once it detects the out-of-synchronization information.
Uplink synchronization and out-of-synchronization parameters (N_INSYNC_IND,

N_OUTSYNC_IND, and T_RLFAILURE): In uplink synchronization, the radio link set remains in the
initial state until it receives N_INSYNC_IND successive synchronization indications from L1. At this
time, the NodeB triggers the radio link restoration process, indicating that the radio link set has been
synchronized. Once the radio link restoring process is triggered, the radio link set will be considered to be
in the synchronized state. When the radio link set is in the synchronized state, NodeB needs to start the
timer T_RLFAILURE after receiving N_INSYNC_IND successive synchronization indications. After
receiving N_INSYNC_IND successive synchronization indications, the NodeB needs to stop and reset the
timer T_RLFAILURE. If the timer T_RLFAILURE times out, the NodeB will trigger the radio link failure
process, and will indicate which radio link set is in the non-synchronized state.

Downlink synchronization and out-of-synchronization parameters (T312, N312, T313, N313, and
N315): When UE starts to establish dedicated channels, it starts the T312 timer, and stops the T312 timer
when UE detects N312 successive synchronization indications from L1. Once the timer times out, it means
failure of physical channel setup. UE starts the T313 Timer when it detects N313 successive
synchronization indications from L1, and it stops the T313 timer when UE detects N315 successive
synchronization indications from L1. Once the timer times out, it means radio link failure.
Adjust the parameters according to the actual situation (slow synchronization or fast out-of-sync).
Pay attention to the balance between parameters. For uplink synchronization parameters, query them by
the MML Command 【LST CELLSETUP】, and modify the parameters by 【MOD CELLSETUP】 after
cell setup. For downlink synchronization parameters, query them by the MML Command 【 LST
CONNMODETIMER】, and modify the parameters by【MOD CONNMODETIMER】 after cell setup.
3.2.6 Over-Low Power Allocation Ratio for Common Channel
Phenomenon: The call can be kept connected when UE moves afar, but once after off-hook, the UE
is no longer to get accessed to the network. The reason is that power control makes the power of uplink
and downlink dedicated channel to increase continuously when the UE moves afar, while the common
channel power decreases continuously due to the lack of power control As a result, the UE fails in cell
reselection after off-hook thus fails to reside in the cell. The power allocation rate for the common channel
should not be too large; otherwise it will affect the capacity. If it is too small, it will lead to bad coverage
of the common channel, which will cause access failure of subscribers. Generally, it is appropriate to
allocate 20% of the total power to the common channel.
Based on Errison and Nokia data and some of our outside plant data, the following typical values are
given for reference:
Table 1 Common Channel Power Allocation Ratio
Channel Power relative to MAX BS power[dB] Duty cycle Power contribution
SCH -13 0.1 0.63%
Primary CCPCH -12 0.9 5.68%
Secondly CCPCH (carrying PCH) -13 0.25 1.58%
Secondly CCPCH (carrying FACH) -13 0.25 1.58%
CPICH -10 1 10.00%
AICH -15 1 3.16%
PICH -15 1 3.16%
Ratio of common channel power in total power (with 1 SCCPCH channel) 25.01%
Ratio of common channel power in total power (with 2 SCCPCH channels) 27.52%

Increase the power allocation ratio for the common channel appropriately.
3.2.7 Over-Low Initial Power of Uplink and Downlink Dedicated Channel
Phenomenon: up link or down link synchronization fails at initial link creation.
One reason for link synchronization failure is that the DPCCH pilot bit power is not strong enough .
The pilot bit power of downlink DPCCH is equal to the sum of DPDCH power and PO3, and the PO3
value is usually 3dB. Downlink open-loop power control is used for identifying the initial transmit power
of DPDCH, which can be expressed as follows:
P=（Ec/Io）req - CPICH_Ec/Io + Ppcpich
Where, “(Ec/Io) req” is the Ec/Io required for the UE to receive signals of this dedicated channel
properly, which can be set according to the specific Service by means of MOD TYPSRB. “CPICH_Ec/Io”
is the Ec/Io of common pilot channel measured by UE, which is reported to UTRAN through RACH, and
its default value is -18dB. This value can be revised by MML command SET FRC. Ppcpich is the transmit
power of common pilot channel.
Calculation formula of uplink initial transmit power:
DPCCH_Initial_power = DPCCH_Power_offset － CPICH_RSCP
Where, CPICH_RSCP is measured by the UE, and DPCCH_Power_offset is sent by RNC to the UE
through the RRC CONNECT SETUP message.
Increase the uplink and downlink initial transmit powers appropriately. Inner loop power control can
decrease the over-high power rapidly after success uplink-downlink synchronization. Furthermore, we can
adjust the maximum and minimum powers of the downlink dedicated channel by MML command 【MOD
CELLCAC】to adjust the downlink initial transmit power. The initial transmit power must also be limited
within this range. If it goes out of the range, adopt the boundary value. This method is usually used in the
environment of test adjustment.
3.2.8 Over-low Setting of Uplink Initial SIR Target Value of Dedicated Channel
Phenomenon: uplink out-of-synchronization occurs soon after UE initial link creation, and it can be
seen from the IUB interface that link removal is caused by RL FAILURE reported by NodeB.
If the initial uplink SIR target value is set too low, the uplink generating power of UE will decrease
due to inner loop power control. Since there is a lag before outer loop power control functions, out-of-
synchronization may have occurred during this period.

Increase the uplink and downlink initial SIR target values appropriately by MML Command【MOD
TYPRABRLC】.
3.3 Equipment Reasons
3.3.1 Insufficient RAN Device Board Sources
Phenomenon: The request for a certain system source fails at service setup, which can be seen only
from the internal message flow or serial port output. In typical cases, DSP is not available, and RNC needs
to request for L2 instance source (DSP) at RRC link setup. If the number of FMR boards is insufficient or
a certain DSP is abnormal, the resource request is likely to fail.
Cause of this problem is the insufficient board sources or board fault.
Add or replace boards.
3.3.2 Abnormality of Equipment Clock
Abnormality of clock will lead to one of the most common problems: expiration time problem
(massive pocket loss on the IUB interface). During the access process, the phenomenon is that a certain air
interface message is lost when being transferred through the IUB interface. This phenomenon can be seen
on the NodeB debugging console or through network hawk on the IUB interface.
Clock of network equipment has great influence on synchronization. RNC and NodeB clock
synchronization is not required in WCDMA. If clock is not accurate enough or wanders, the problem of
expiration time will occur on the IUB interface, which leads to massive pockets loss on the IUB interface.
There are four kinds of RNC clock sources: BITS clock, clock obtained on the Iu interface, satellite
synchronization clock received by satellite receiver and local clock. There are also four kinds of NodeB
clock sources: GPS signal, trunk signal from RNC, BITS signal from synchronization network and local
crystal oscillator. In actual applications, RNC rarely utilizes the local clock, which has a poor precision.
Therefore, clock source should be obtained from superior network as much as possible. In case of GPS
clock, because a long time is required to lock the GPS clock, if services are started before the clock is
locked, quantities of expiration time windows will occur; after GPS clock is locked, the expiration time
problem will occur in case of BFN transient.
Calibrate system clock, or a high-precision clock source. The operation should be conducted when
the subscriber traffic is low.
3.4 Data Configuration Cause
3.4.1 Insufficient IUB Bandwidth Resource

Phenomenon: AAL2PATH CHANNAL setup of transport layer fails, which can be seen from
ALCAP signaling tracing. Insufficient IUB bandwidth can also cause massive pocket loss on the IUB
interface, that is, the expiration time problem, which can be seen on the IUB interface with network hawk,
and massive pocket loss alarms can be seen in the serial port printed information of equipment.
In an AAL2PATH, distribution of 256 CIDs is admitted, each CID means an AAL2 CHANNAL, and
each AAL2 LINK corresponds to an FP. For instance: a voice service, or a DCH, corresponds to an AAL2
CHANNAL identified by a CID. For an AMR voice service, two AAL2 Channels will be established, one
of which bears signaling, and the other bears traffic. CIDs are dynamically allocated, and the total
bandwidth of all AAL2 Channels must not exceed bandwidth of AAL2 PATH.
The IUB interface bears the signaling plane, user plane and management plane. The signaling plane
includes NCP, CCP and ALCAP; the plane includes AAL2 PATH, and the management plane is the IPOA
operation and maintenance path of the NodeB. There is no problem with the capacity of signaling and
management plane in actual applications, and the bottleneck is usually on AAL2 PATH. Micro paths are
established dynamically on AAL2 PATH in each calling process. If the available bandwidth of AAL2
PATH (bandwidth mapped to E1) is insufficient, access failure will occur.
The following paragraphs will describe the bandwidth allocation on AAL2 PATH, with a 64k data
service as an example. On the IUB interface, for a 64k service, besides its own service traffic, the
overheads also include FP overhead, AAL2 overhead, ATM overhead and E1 overhead. According to the
calculation, the specific overhead proportion is as listed in Table 5.
Table 2 Overhead Proportion for Each Layer on IUB Interface
Service FP AAL2 ATM E1

3.4K signaling 24% 12.2% 9.4% 6.25%
64K service 4% 8.3% 9.4% 6.25%
Data flow (64K data service)
＝ 64Kbps / (1-FP overhead) / (1-ATM overhead) /(1-AAL2 overhead) / (1-E1 overhead) +

3.4Kbps/(1-FP overhead) / (1-ATM overhead) /(1-AAL2 overhead) / (1-E1 overhead) ＝64Kbps / 96% /
90.6%/ 91.7% / 93.75% + 3.4Kbps/ 76% / 90.6%/ 87.8% / 93.75%＝ 91.60Kbps
If the available bandwidth resource of E1 is smaller than 91.60Kbps, service can not access normally.
Check the IUB interface bandwidth and increase transmission resources.
3.4.2 PATH ID and NSAP Address Configuration Error of AAL2PATH
The phenomenon is also link setup failure in the transport layer, and the reason is that the peer ATM
node can not be reached. An AAL2PATH is identified uniquely with node number + PATH ID. The NSAP
address is the terminal address for AAL2 connection setup. UMSC\NodeB\DRNC connected with RNC all

have ATM addresses, which are destination addresses of AAL2 connections. During AAL2 route
configuration, these destination addresses must be consistent by negotiation.
In addition, these two parameters are specially mentioned because the problem is somewhat
concealed, not easily found without service access, and once there is service access, it will appear and
make troubles.
Check negotiated parameters by the MML commands 【 LST AAL2PATH 】 and 【 DSP
AAL2PATH】. If the parameters of both sides are not consistent, remove the path with the related MML
command and then create an AAL2PATH.
3.4.3 Inconsistent Number of AAL2PATHs across IU/IUB Interface
AAL2PATH is used to bear user plane data, the processes of data transmission through the IU/IUB
interfaces are all AAL2 link creation processes initiated automatically by RNC. When multiple
AAL2PATHs exist on the interfaces, in order to guarantee evenly distribution of user plane load, RNC
selects the AAL2PATHs alternatively. If the number of AAL2PATHs is bigger than that at the peer end,
the access process may fail, in a certain proportion. For instance, if four paths are configured at the RNC
side, of which the PATH IDs are 1, 2, 3 and 4, and two paths are configured at the MSC side, of which the
PATH IDs are 1 and 2, when RNC selects paths 3 and 4 for link creation, access failure will occur, and the
failure proportion is 50%. If the number of RNC AAL2PATHs is smaller than that at the peer end, such a
problem will not occur.
If failure and success occur alternatively during the access process, and a fixed failure ratio exists,
the reason might by this type of errors.
Check negotiated parameters with the MML Commands 【 LST AAL2PATH 】 and 【 DSP
AAL2PATH】, and remove the redundant AAL2PATHs on the RNC.
There are many similar data configuration errors, such as inconsistent signaling point codes of
MTP3B layer, etc., which will not be listed here one by one. It is easy to locate such errors, and all we
need are signaling flow and MML commands.
3.5 Other Reasons
3.5.1 Insufficient UE Access Class (AC)
For the operators, there are two ways for restricting an access cell. One is specifying the state of this
cell (reserved for operator due to control); and the other is admission control, denying the access of
subscribers in a certain AC range. In order to avoid channel overload under the critical condition in

operation, all UEs have been randomly assigned with AC 0 through AC 9. Furthermore, UEs can also be
assigned with one or more special access classes (AC 11 through AC 15), which belongs to specified
superior subscribers. From the point of view of subscribers, the access is denied because of system load.
However, access is allowed for subscribers with special ACs. The AC of a subscriber is stored in the
USIM.
View the access control information in the cell system information and adjust the cell access control
policy.
3.5.2 Inconsistent Security Data of UE, RNC and CN
The security processes involved in UE access process: authentication (NAS layer) and security mode
process (AS layer). The detailed flow is shown in Figure 10.
UE RNC CN
1.RRC SETUP COMPLETE
2.INIT DT
3. Authenticaton Process
4.SECURITY MODE COMMAND

5.SECURITY MODE COMMAND
6.SECURITY MODE COMPLETE
7.SECURITY MODE COMPLETE
Figure 10 UE Authentication and Security Mode Process
1． In the RRC SETUP COMPLETE message, UE sends the START value, and the UE encryption
ability (UEA) and UE integrity protection ability (UIA) information to RNC and simultaneously informs
RNC about the GSM Classmark 2 and Classmark 3 information according to the requirement of RRC
setup message.
2. UE carries the user identity and the KSI (Key Set Identifier) in the initial direct-transmission
message (location update request, CM service request, location are update request, attach request and
paging response) to inform CN.
3. CN decides on the IK/CK to be used according to the KSI. It performs authentication, and
informs the UE about the new IK/CK. Meanwhile, CN decides on the UIAs and UEAs permitted for use.
4. CN sends the RANAP message SECURITY MODE COMMAND to RANAP to start encryption
and integrity protection.

5. RNC selects an algorithm supportable by UE among the algorithms provided by CN, and
generates a random number FRESH required by the integrity protection algorithm. RNC carries out
judgment according to the ability reported by UE: if the UE ability cannot support these algorithms, RNC
sends the SECURITY MODE REJECT message to CN in response, and then RNC triggers the release
flow.
RNC sends an RRC message SECURITY MODE COMMAND to the UE. This message includes UE
integrity protection ability, GSM encryption ability (optional, if received in the RRC setup complete
message), UIA and FRESH. RNC performs integrity protection of this message.
6. After UE receives RRC message SECURITY MODE COMMAND, it compares the UE ability
information in the message. If it is the same with the UE ability information saved locally, it will be
deemed legal. UE performs integrity protection check on the SECURITY MODE COMMAND message
received. If it is correct, UE sends an RRC message SECURITY MODE COMPLETE to RNC. This
message also requires integrity protection.
If the security mode configuration fails, UE sends the SECURITY MODE FAILURE message to
RNC.
7. After receiving the success response message from UE, RNC performs integrity protection
check. If it is correct, RNC sends an RNCAP response message SECURITY MODE COMPLETE to CN,
which includes the algorithm selected. Then the flow ends.
If RNC receives the SECURITY MODE FLILURE message, or if the security mode configuration
fails, RNC sends the SECURITY MODE REJECT message to CN, and then triggers RRC release.
Currently, all the security processes of equipment are provided with switches. If the support of
authentication encryption by UE and network side is not consistent, UE access will surely fail. This
problem can be identified through the RNC and CN messages.
Adjust the security parameter configuration of the UE so that it can consistent with the network side.
3.5.3 UE not Registered in HLR
If the UE is not registered in the HLR, UE location update will fail, and a location update reject
message can be found on the UMSC maintenance console, with the cause value being “imsi unknown in
hlr”. In this case, check the UE subscription information in the HLR. However, the probability of this
situation is very low.
Add the UE subscription information in the HLR.
4 Outstanding Issues

1. For the radio parameters that affect access, the influences are only qualitatively analyzed, and the
reference values for various radio environments are not given. Such reference values can be available after
further test and study.
2. Because there are many core network devices, the interface protocols are very complicated, and
there are differences between R99 and R4 devices on the network (CS is replaced with MSC server and
MGW), this document only presents the most common causes that affect access, so this part of contents are
to be supplemented.

Lists of References：
[1] 3GPP R1999 25_series, 2002/09
[2] Chenqi, WCDMA RNP Special Technology Research Key Signaling Process Analysis
Access Process,2003/06
[3] Zhou Xinjie, WCDMA RNP System Parameter Configuration Guidance,200/04
[4] Luo Biqun, CDMA 1X Call Drop Analysis GuidanceV1.0,2003/01
[5] Wang Dekai/Xie Zhibin/Wanpeng, WCDMA RNP V100R002 Downlink Common Channel Power
Distribution Rate Outfield Test Report,2002/11
[6] Joint Test Group, GMCC-HUAWEI WCDMA Dongguan Test Office Second Phase Radio
Network Optimization Report (Internal Version), 2003/4
[7] WCDMA Expert Team, WCDMA System Problem Location Manual 20030102 Version, 2003/1

WCDMA RNO Access Problem Analysis Guidance: Huawei Technologies Co., LTD

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Product Version Confidential level

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. V100R001 For internal use only

WCDMA RNO Access Problem

Prepared by URNP -SANA Date 2003-10-08

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

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WCDMA RNP Access Problem Analysis Guidance

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2 Access Problem Analysis Process

2.1 Preparation before Analysis

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2.2 Access Problem Analysis Methods

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2.2.1 Traffic Statistics Data Analysis

Number of RABs set up in all four QoS services

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Analyze RNC traffic statistics data “call

Analyze “RRC setup success rate”

Analyze “number of RRC setup

Analyze “RAB setup success rate”

Analyze “RB setup success rate”

Determine the direction of further analysis

Figure 1 Traffic Statistics Analysis Flow

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RB setup success times

2.2.2 Signaling Flow Analysis

2.2.2.1 Identifying abnormality of signaling flow on standard signaling interface

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2.2.2.2 Analysis of standard signaling of radio network layer

Figure 2 Schematic Diagram of Radio Layer Signaling

2.2.2.3 Analysis of Standard Signaling of Transport Network Layer

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Figure 3 Schematic diagram of transport network layer signaling analysis

2.2.2.4 Internal Signaling Flow Analysis

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Figure 4 Single User Fault Location Tool

2.2.2.5 RRC Connection Setup Signaling Analysis Process

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RRC CONNECT REQUEST

RADIO LINK SETUP REQUEST

RADIO LINK SETUP RESPONSE

RRC CONNECT SETUP

RRC CONNECT SETUP COMPLETE

RADIO LINK RESTORE

Figure 5 Signaling Flow for RRC Setup in Each Layer of Dedicated

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RRC successfully set up

Figure 6 Problem Analysis Flow of RRC Setup in Dedicated Channel

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4、 DCH FP synchronization failure: The transmission channel of DCH FP is synchronized through

2.2.2.6 Signaling Analysis Cases

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UE fails to send the RRC Connect Setup Complete message.

The air interface message reported by RRC is as the follows:

Figure 7 UE Air Interface Message Tracing

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Packet loss caused by abnormality in NodeB

Packet loss on the IUB interface

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2.2.3 Equipment Analysis

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*BOARD SPU10 DIAGNOSE BEGIN*********