Optimising GSM-GPRS Network PDF

Optimising a GSM/GPRS radio networks.
2002
Version 3
Wireless Facilities International Limited

74 North Street ! Guildford GU1 4AW ! United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0) 1483 400900 ! Fax +44 (0) 1483 400909 ! http://www.wfinet.com
Executive Summary
The aim of this document is to provide a guideline for the optimisation of a
GSM/GPRS network. The document is based on the practical experience of
many optimisation engineers having worked in this field for a number of years.
This document aims to provide a methodology as well as a series of essential

chronological steps necessary to improve the quality of a GSM/GPRS network. It
is written generically so that it may be applicable to all GSM/GPRS networks.
Each chapter is developed with examples and figures for a better understanding
of the reader.
© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only i

Document History
Version Prepared by Edited by Date Modifications (Do not
Write in this section)
Amir Taghol
Stephane Guirous
Imran Khan
Syed Salman Hussain
Govindasami Ravichandran
Sasan Fahim
Ozgur Ozturk
© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only ii

Table of Contents
1 ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS ....................................................................1
2 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND...................................................................4

2.1 OBJECTIVES OF NETWORK OPTIMISATION ..............................................................4
2.1.1 Definition......................................................................................................4
2.1.2 Method.........................................................................................................4
2.2 TOOLS .................................................................................................................4
2.2.1 A interface Analysis .....................................................................................4
2.2.2 A-bis interface Analysis................................................................................5
2.2.3 NSS Counters ..............................................................................................5
2.2.4 Drive Tests...................................................................................................5
2.2.5 Customer Complaints...................................................................................5
2.3 DOCUMENTS USED ...............................................................................................6
2.3.1 GSM recommendations ...............................................................................6
2.3.2 Referenced Documents ...............................................................................6
2.3.3 Prediction Maps ...........................................................................................6
2.4 GIS TOOLS ..........................................................................................................6
3 AUDIT OF THE NETWORK .....................................................................................7
3.1 MSC STATISTICS .................................................................................................7
3.1.1 Paging Performance ....................................................................................7
3.1.2 Location Updating Performance...................................................................7
3.1.3 Radio Link Failure Analysis ..........................................................................7
3.1.3.1 Ciphering Attempt Failure.....................................................................................................7
3.1.3.2 Channel Assignment Failure ................................................................................................7
3.2 BSC STATISTICS ..................................................................................................8
3.2.1 Random Access Performance......................................................................8
3.2.2 SDCCH Congestion .....................................................................................8
3.2.3 SDCCH Drop Rate.......................................................................................8
3.2.4 Call Set up Success Rate ............................................................................8
3.2.5 TCH Blocking ...............................................................................................8
3.2.6 TCH Dropped Call Rate or TCH dropped calls per Erlang............................9
3.2.7 Handover Success Rate ..............................................................................9
3.2.8 TRX deficiency or TCH Availability...............................................................9
3.3 RADIO NETWORK PARAMETERS ............................................................................9
3.3.1 Important Parameters of the Network...........................................................9
3.3.1.1 Control Channel Parameters................................................................................................9
3.3.1.2 Cell Options........................................................................................................................12
3.3.1.3 Cell Selection Parameters..................................................................................................12
3.3.1.4 RACH Control Parameters .................................................................................................13
3.3.2 Handover ...................................................................................................14
3.3.2.1 Main Objectives of Handover .............................................................................................14
3.3.2.2 Handover causes ...............................................................................................................15
3.3.2.3 Types of Handover.............................................................................................................16
3.3.2.4 Handover Criteria ...............................................................................................................17
3.3.2.5 Handover Regions .............................................................................................................18
4 RADIO NETWORK BENCHMARKING ..................................................................20

4.1 BENCHMARKING METHODOLOGY .........................................................................20
© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only iii

4.2 OPTIMISATION INDICATORS .................................................................................21
4.3 MOST W ORST CELL LIST ...................................................................................23
4.4 DATA COLLECTION TOOLS ...................................................................................24
4.4.1 Metrica .......................................................................................................24
4.4.2 Batrana ......................................................................................................25
5 NETWORK DESIGN ANALYSIS............................................................................27
5.1 NETWORK CAPACITY ..........................................................................................27
5.1.1 Traffic Model ..............................................................................................27
5.1.2 Channel Configuration on the Air Interface.................................................27
5.2 RADIO PLANNING ...............................................................................................28
5.2.1 Link Budget................................................................................................28
5.2.2 Site Location ..............................................................................................29
5.2.3 Antenna Selection......................................................................................30
6 OPTIMIZATION TASKS .........................................................................................31
6.1 NETWORK DESIGN CHANGES ..............................................................................31
6.1.1 Pre-Optimisation ........................................................................................31
6.1.2 Antennae Changes ....................................................................................32
6.1.3 Site Design Changes .................................................................................33
6.1.4 Relocation of Sites .....................................................................................33
6.1.5 Repeaters ..................................................................................................33
6.2 HANDOVER ANALYSIS .........................................................................................33
6.2.1 Intra-cell Handover Success Rate ..............................................................34
6.2.2 Intra-BSC Outgoing Handover Success Rate.............................................34
6.2.3 Inter-BSC Outgoing Handover Success Rate.............................................34
6.2.4 Handover on Quality, Handover due to Interference ..................................34
6.2.5 Handover on Distance................................................................................34
6.2.6 Handover on Level.....................................................................................35
6.2.7 Handover on Power Budget (PBGT) ..........................................................35
6.3 NEIGHBORING CELLS LIST VERIFICATION .............................................................35
6.4 DRIVE TESTS .....................................................................................................37
6.4.1 Why drive testing and when? .....................................................................37
6.4.2 Analysis of drive test results using MapInfo................................................38
6.4.3 Analysis of the layer 3 messages ...............................................................46
6.4.4 Tools available for drive testing..................................................................47
6.5 MONITORING THE INTERFERENCE ON THE NETWORK ............................................49
6.5.1 Why monitoring the interference on the Network?......................................49
6.5.1.1 Co-channel Interference Ratio ...........................................................................................49
6.5.1.2 Adjacent Channel Interference Ratio .................................................................................50
6.5.2 Some Parameter used to monitor the interference on the Network ...........51
6.5.3 Some counter used to monitor the interference on the Network .................52
6.6 MONITORING THE RX_QUALITY ON THE NETWORK ...............................................52
6.6.1 Rx_Qual Downlink .....................................................................................52
6.6.2 Rx_Qual Uplink ..........................................................................................52
6.7 FREQUENCY PLANNING AND BSIC CHANGES .......................................................53
6.7.1 Most Used Frequency reuse Pattern..........................................................53
6.7.1.1 1x3 reuse pattern ...............................................................................................................53
6.7.1.2 4x12 reuse pattern .............................................................................................................54
6.7.1.3 7x21 reuse pattern .............................................................................................................54
6.7.1.4 Other Frequency reuse Patterns ........................................................................................55
6.7.2 Frequency hopping ....................................................................................56
© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only iv

6.7.2.1 Base-band Frequency Hopping..........................................................................................56
6.7.2.2 Synthesized Frequency Hopping .......................................................................................56
6.7.3 Study of the C/I, C/A interference on the Network ......................................56
6.7.3.1 Using Planet.......................................................................................................................57
6.7.3.2 Using Asset ........................................................................................................................60
6.7.4 Automatic Frequency Planning using Planet ..............................................62
6.7.4.1 Description of the tool.........................................................................................................62
6.7.4.2 User Guideline ...................................................................................................................67
6.8 MONITORING OF THE OPTIMIZATION INDICATOR ....................................................74
6.8.1 BSC Statistics in the form of formula..........................................................74
6.8.2 Incorporation of BSC Counters ..................................................................76
6.8.3 Examples of Formulas with Counters.........................................................78
6.8.4 Typical Benchmark Values.........................................................................80
6.9 INTRODUCTION OF THE FEATURES ON THE NETWORK .........................................106
6.9.1 Discontinuous Transmission ....................................................................106
6.9.2 Power Control ..........................................................................................106
6.9.3 Enhanced Full Rate .................................................................................106
6.9.4 Hierarchical Cell Structure .......................................................................107
6.9.5 Double BCCH Allocation list.....................................................................108
6.9.6 Directed Retry ..........................................................................................109
6.9.7 Congestion Relief.....................................................................................109
6.9.8 Dynamic Channel Allocation ....................................................................109
6.9.9 Selection (C1) and Reselection (C2) Parameters.....................................109
6.9.9.1 C1 Criteria ........................................................................................................................110
6.9.9.2 C2 Criteria ........................................................................................................................111
6.9.10 Dual Band Operation................................................................................112
6.9.11 Extended Cell...........................................................................................112
6.9.12 Concentric Cells.......................................................................................113
7 STUDY OF REAL NETWORKS ...........................................................................113
7.1 SLOVENIA NETWORK ........................................................................................113
7.1.1 Network Background................................................................................113
7.1.2 Description of the Problems .....................................................................113
7.1.3 Coverage and Design Analysis ................................................................113
7.1.4 Interference Analysis................................................................................114
7.1.5 Description of the principal parameters used to benchmark the Network .114
7.1.6 Optimization indicator Monitoring .............................................................114
7.1.7 Radio Network Parameters and Features enabled on the Network ..........114
7.1.8 Frequency Planning .................................................................................114
7.1.9 Solutions introduced to improve the Performances of the Network...........114
7.2 KUWAIT NETWORK ...........................................................................................115
7.2.1 Network Background................................................................................115
7.2.2 Description of the Problems .....................................................................115
7.2.3 Coverage and Design Analysis ................................................................115
7.2.4 Interference Analysis................................................................................115
7.2.5 Description of the principal parameters used to benchmark the Network .115
7.2.6 Optimization indicator Monitoring .............................................................116
7.2.7 Radio Network Parameters and Features enabled on the Network ..........116
7.2.8 Frequency Planning .................................................................................116
7.2.9 Solutions introduced to improve the Performances of the Network...........116
8 IMPACT OF GPRS ...............................................................................................116
© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only v

8.1 WHAT IS GPRS ...............................................................................................116
8.2 GPRS ARCHITECTURE .....................................................................................116
8.3 IMPACT OF THE GPRS INTRODUCTION ON AN OPTIMIZED GSM NETWORK...........117
8.3.1 New GSM network design with GPRS .....................................................117
8.3.2 Migration from GSM to GPRS ..................................................................118
8.4 CONSIDERATIONS IN THE GPRS LINK BUDGETS .................................................119
8.4.1 RX Sensitivity VS Coding Scheme ...........................................................119
8.4.2 Body Loss ................................................................................................120
8.4.3 2dB C/I degradation in the down link........................................................121
8.4.4 Coding scheme VS clutters ......................................................................121
8.5 CAPACITY DIMENSIONING ..................................................................................121
8.5.1 Network performance...............................................................................123
8.5.2 Peak throughput.......................................................................................123
8.5.3 System C/I profile and mean data rate per channel..................................125
8.5.4 Latency ....................................................................................................128
8.6 CAPACITY CASE STUDY ....................................................................................130
8.6.1 Adding TRXs excluding dedicated TS to GPRS users..............................130
8.6.1.1 GPRS migration ...............................................................................................................131
8.6.2 Adding TRXs including TWO dedicated TS to GPRS users .....................132
8.6.2.1 GPRS migration ...............................................................................................................133
8.6.3 Adding new sites including TWO dedicated TS to GPRS users ...............134
8.6.3.1 GPRS migration ...............................................................................................................134
© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only vi

1 Abbreviations and Definitions
A Interface linking the BSC to the MSC

Abis Interface linking the BTS to the BSC
ACELP Algebraic Code Excited Linear Predictive
AFP Automatic Frequency Planning
AGCH Access Grant Channel
AMPS Advanced Mobile Communication System
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
AUC Authentication Centre
BCC Base Station Colour Code. The BCC is used to identify one
of the cells sharing the same BCCH frequency. Neighbouring
cells may, or may not, have different BCC.
BCCH Broadcast Control channel
BCS Block check sequence
BLER Block error rate
BSC Base Station Controller
BSCn BSC number
BSIC Base Station Identity Code. Code used to identify a base
station which allows mobile stations to distinguish the cells
sharing the same BCCH. A BSIC is defined by an (NCC,
BCC) combination
BSIC-NCELL BSIC of an adjacent cell
BSS Base Station Subsystem
BSSMAP BSS Management Application Part which manages BSS
radio resource and handover functions
BTS Bas Transceiver Station
BTSn BTS number
C/A Wanted Signal over Adjacent Channel Interference
C/I Wanted Signal over Co-Channel Interference
C1/C2 Cell Selection/Re-Selection Criteria
CCCH Common Control Channel. Common channel dedicated to
mobiles, which transmits signalling data on the radio
interface. A CCCH may be an AGCH, a PCH or a RACH
CCH Control Channel
CELP Code Excited Linear Predictive
CI Cell Identity
CNG Comfort Noise Generation
CRM Cell Resource Manager
DCCH Dedicated Control Channel
DL Down Link
DMS Data Management System
DSP Digital Signal Processor
DT Drive test
DTAP Direct Transfer Application Part which manages transparent
message transmission between a mobile and the MSC
1
© Copyright 2002 Wireless Facilities, International. Confidential- Internal Use Only
EIRP Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power
EFR Enhanced Full Rate
Erlang Unit of Telecommunications Traffic Intensity
The number of Erlang represents the average number of
resources or circuits occupied during a period of one hour.
FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel
FH Frequency Hopping
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node
GIS Geographical Information System
GoS Grade of Service
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GPS Global Positioning System
GSM Global system for mobile communication
HH Hand Held
HLR Home Location Register
HO Handover
IF Intermediate Frequency
IH Internet service host
IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity
IWF Inter-Working Function
KPI Key Performance Indicators
LA Location area
LAC Location Area Code
LAI Location Area Identity
LMT Link Maintenance Tool
LNA Low Noise Amplifier
LP Linear Predictive
LTFM Long Term Fade Margin
LU Location Update
LUR Location Update Request
MMC Mobile-to-Mobile Call
MOC Mobile Originating Call
MS Mobile station
MSC Mobile services Switching Centre
MTC Message transmission unit (GPRS)
MTC Mobile Terminating Call
NCC Network (PLMN) Colour Code
NCELL Neighbouring (of current serving) Cell
NCELLRXLEV Neighbouring Cells Radio Level
NMEA National Marine Electronics Association
Standards for data communication between marine
instruments NMEA-0183 data interface used for marine
instruments, GPS receivers, etc
NMS Network Management System
NSS Network and Switching Sub-system
OMC-R Operation and Maintenance Centre – Radio
OMP Operational & Maintenance Point
2
PCH Paging Channel
PCM Pulse Code Modulation (PCM terrestrial link: 2.048 Mbit/s for
E1 and 1.544 Mbit/s for T1)
PCU Packet Control Unit
PDN Packet Data Network
Perf Performance
PLMN Public Lands Mobile Network
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
Qos Quality of service
RACH Random Access Channel
RF Radio Frequency
RLC Radio Link Control
RXLEV Received Signal Level
RXQUAL Receive Signal Quality
SACCH Slow Associated Control Channel
SDCCH Standalone Dedicated Control Channel
SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node
SID Silence Descriptor
SIM Subscriber Identity Module
STS Statistics and Traffic Measurement Subsystem
SW Software
T3212 Timer 3212
TA Timing Advance (between an MS and its serving BTS)
TACS Total Access Communication System
TBF Temporary block flow
TC Transcoder
TCH Traffic Channel
TCH/F Traffic Channel – Full Rate
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
TRX Transceiver
TS Time Slot
TXPWR Transmit Power
UL Up Link
UR Utilisation Rate
USF Uplink state flag
VAD Voice Activity Detection
VLR Visitor Location Register
VMC Voice Mail Centre
X25 CCITT packet transmission protocol
SW Software
3
2 Introduction and Background
2.1 Objectives of Network Optimisation
2.1.1 Definition
Network optimisation activities are used to guarantee and improve the

performance of a network. These activities depend on and are carried out by the
operator; thus the operator defines the means used to monitor and to benchmark
the performance of the network.
2.1.2 Method
The first task is to provide a status or an audit of the network visually through the
use of pictures. These pictures can be general or detailed.
The main task is to define the criteria of performance and benchmark them with
the measurement collected using a specific methodology that we will return to at
a later point.
These optimisation activities require the collaboration of different teams with

diverse skills. The teams involved in this process could be: radio performance
team, optimisation team, BTS and BSC experts, OMC-R experts, maintenance
team, site acquisition team, customer-care team, drive-testing teams.
2.2 Tools
2.2.1 A interface Analysis
The A-interface is generally monitored via a protocol analyser. The protocol

analyser is connected to a specific PCM link and it collects the layer 2 as well as
the layer 3 messages.
The messages that are of most interest for optimisation purpose are the call
control messages and the radio resource management messages (DTAP sub-
layer) as well as the mobility management messages (BSSMAP sub-layer).
Some interesting statistics can be extracted from this messages such as call set
up success rate, handover success rate, SDCCH success rate, handover
success rate, repartition of handover by types etc….
4
2.2.2 A-bis interface Analysis
The A-bis interface is also monitored via a protocol analyser. The protocol
analyser is connected to a specific PCM link. The protocol analyser will collect
layer 2 messages as well as layer 3 messages. The most used data is the radio
signalling link data extracted from the layer 3 messages. The measurement
results are of most interest. They contain all the measurements done by the
mobile station as well as by the BTS (Rx_Qual ,Rx_Level, Timing Advance,
etc..).
2.2.3 NSS Counters
The NSS counters are stored into a database generally located in the HLR. The
most used databases are Oracle and Sybase. These databases are in turn
connected to the OMC-R via X25 network and the BSCs. The OMC-R sends
request to the database and gets access to the counters. These counters are
then used to compute some statistic such as call set up success rate, handover
success rate, SDCCH success rate, handover success rate, repartition of
handover by types etc….
Some vendor uses Metrica to compute the statistics from the NSS counters.
2.2.4 Drive Tests
Drive tests are used to monitor a geographical zone of the Network. There can
be unitary tests and statistical tests.
The radio optimisation teams perform the unitary tests. They use radio
measurement systems installed into dedicated cars or mini-van. They set up a
call and they drive along a specific path. The radio measurement data is
recorded along with the GPS position for further analysis.
The operators to perform the statistical tests sometimes use friendly users such
as taxi drivers. A specific tool is installed into their vehicle’s hook and it
automatically collects and sends the data to a remote database.
2.2.5 Customer Complaints
Customer complaints give the opportunity to detect problems that are not seen by
the other means of investigations. For this reason, the operators have constituted
customer-care teams that collect the direct complaints from the customers and
they open trouble tickets. These trouble tickets are generally seriously taken into
account and solved by the operators.
5
2.3 Documents used
2.3.1 GSM recommendations
The most used GSM recommendations for optimisation purposes are:
04.08; 08.58; 08.08; 05.08; 12.04; 12.07
2.3.2 Referenced Documents
2.3.3 Prediction Maps
A prediction map tool is used to check the coverage of the areas under
investigation. The most used tools are Planet (MSI) and Asset (Aircom).
2.4 GIS Tools
GIS Refers to software tools which use spatial / geographic techniques to

visualise and analyse data. Typically GIS relates to different types of geographic
data. GIS tools play a very important rule in order to see the network health.
They are used with the drive test tools to see the actual picture of the network
and to point out the problems present in a geographical area. Not only can a
person see the area but also observe the causes of the problem after setting up
some parameters. Most common of the GIS tools is MAP Info, WFI has prepared
a tool DT Mapping which allow us to display data from TEMS in a user-friendly
MapInfo environment. The application takes as an input one or more fmt. files
(text files exported by TEMS from the original log data) and will create several
excel files with the significant data from the DT. Additionally, the application will
create the tab (MapInfo table) and (MapInfo workspace) files which will make
immediate to ‘pop-up’ the data in MapInfo, with the desired settings. From this
software we can see almost all the stuff which is logged in the TEMS log file and
we can set accordingly the parameters which we want to display. There is also
GIMS from Ericsson for this purpose.
6
3 Audit of the Network
In this chapter we discuss some parameter that could be used to audit the
performance of the network. For each parameter we give a range of value that is
based on the experience.
3.1 MSC Statistics
3.1.1 Paging Performance
The paging success rate measures the percentage of the number of paging
attempts that have been answered either as the result of the first or the second
paging sent.
Range: 87.2%-92.8%
3.1.2 Location Updating Performance
The location updating performance is a measure of the number of location

updating attempts that have been performed successfully. This indicator reflects
the radio performance of the SDCCH and the performance of the communication
to the MSC-VLR.
Range: 97.7%-98.6%
3.1.3 Radio Link Failure Analysis
3.1.3.1 Ciphering Attempt Failure
The ciphering attempt failure is the measure of the clear request messages sent
on the A interface over the ciphering attempts that have been made during
channel allocation.
Range: less than 0.5%
3.1.3.2 Channel Assignment Failure
The channel assignment failure results mainly from the radio link timeout expiry.
It can lead to a reversion to the SDCCH or to a drop call. This parameter helps to
detect TCH TRXs deficiencies.
Range: less than 0.5%
7
3.2 BSC Statistics
3.2.1 Random Access Performance
This parameter indicates the successful attempts made to access the network by
the subscribers. When a subscriber dials a number and pushes the call button,
the mobile tries to access the network using a random access channel. Collisions
with other mobiles are possible and several attempts may be required before the
mobile is able to successfully connect to a SDCCH channel.
Range: 97.8%-99.5%
3.2.2 SDCCH Congestion
SDCCH is used during the call set-up procedure when a user initiates a call.
When all SDCCH channels are occupied, there are no signalling radio resources
available for a successful call set-up. The subscriber has to keep trying until the
successful allocation of an SDCCH channel.
Range: depends of the GoS usually 2%
3.2.3 SDCCH Drop Rate
This is a key parameter for quality of service measure. High SDCCH drop rates
will result in total loss of call and can be experienced due to inaccurate Timing
Advance, low signal strength, bad link quality or sudden loss of connection.
Range: 0.9%-2%
3.2.4 Call Set up Success Rate
The call set up success rate measures how often a call set up ordered by the
MSC has been successful.
Reason for low call set-up success rate could be TCH congestion, interference
and faulty hardware units.
Range: 99.3%-99.8%
3.2.5 TCH Blocking
This indicator primarily shows the percentage of the TCH requests that are
rejected due to congestion in the network, thereby indicating whether a cell is
capacity limited or not. The value of this parameter assists the operator in
determining the required capacity increase and the corresponding number of
additional traffic channels.
8
Range: depends of the GoS usually 2%.
3.2.6 TCH Dropped Call Rate or TCH dropped calls per Erlang
Among all failures that can happen in a GSM network, losing the radio channel
while in conversation is probably the most irritating to the user. Dropping radio
connections has therefore to be avoided at all cost.
Range: 1.3% to 2%
Another useful parameter is the Dropped Calls per Erlang. It measures the
number of dropped calls divided by the amount of traffic carried by a cell.
Range: 0.3 to 0.4
3.2.7 Handover Success Rate
The handover success rate shows the percentage of successful handover of all
handover attempts. A handover attempt is when a handover command is sent to
the mobile by the MSC.
Range: 94.8% to 97.3%
3.2.8 TRX deficiency or TCH Availability
This indicator helps to determine whether congestion is caused by faulty TCHs or

due to high traffic in the cell. The Operations and Maintenance Centre can
provide information on the faulty TCHs in a network. If that is the case the TCHs
have to be replaced immediately to make more TCH available.
Range: 100% for TCH availability.
3.3 Radio Network Parameters
3.3.1 Important Parameters of the Network
3.3.1.1 Control Channel Parameters
• Attach/Detach Allowed
This parameter is broadcasted to indicate, whether the "attach" and
"detach" procedures are required to be used or not. The IMSI attach
procedure is invoked if the Attach/Detach procedures are required by the
network and an IMSI is activated in a Mobile Station. The IMSI attach
procedure is used only if the IMSI was deactivated while the MS was in
"idle updated" state and the stored Location Area Identification is the same
9
as the one which is actually broadcast on the BCCH of the current serving
cell. In case of a difference between the stored LAI and the one received
on the BCCH of the current serving cell, a normal location updating
procedure is invoked independently of the IMSI Attach/Detach flag
indication. IMSI attach is performed by using the location updating
procedure. The location updating type information element in the Location
Updating Request message in this case indicates IMSI attach.
The IMSI detach procedure must be invoked by an MS if the MS is

deactivated or if the Subscriber Identity Module is detached from the MS.
The procedure causes the MS to be indicated as inactive in the network. If
MSs in the cell are allowed to apply IMSI attach and detach and therefore
are known to the network as active or inactive, the network needs not start
a paging request for a mobile terminated call, if the subscriber is not
active. If there is an overload on the paging channel, this parameter may
be a means to reduce the overload.
• BS-AG-BLKS-RES
This parameter specifies the number of CCCH-blocks reserved for Access
Grant Channels in a control channel multi-frame (51 TDMA frames). The
Paging Channel and the Access Grant Channel share the same TDMA
frame mapping when combined onto a basic physical channel. The
channels are shared on a block by block basis, and information within
each block, when de-interleaved and decoded allows a mobile to
determine whether the block contains paging messages or access grants.
Every PCH can be used by the system as AGCH, but it is not allowed to
the system to use AGCH-blocks to transmit paging requests. However, to
ensure mobiles’ satisfactory access to the system, a variable number of
the available blocks in each 51-multiframe can be reserved for access
grants only. The number of blocks reserved starting from, and including
block number 0 is broadcast on the BCCH. The number of paging blocks
per 51-multiframe considered to be "available" shall be reduced by the
number of blocks reserved for access grant messages. PCHs may be
used as AGCHs but not vice versa. Therefore it is useful, to set this
parameter value to the smallest value and let the system organise the use
of channels. In the case of Mobile Originated Calls more AGCHs are
needed, in the case of Mobile Terminated Calls the necessity for PCHs
increases. On the average the number of Mobile Originated Calls is very
much higher than the number of Mobile Terminated Calls. If this parameter
value is chosen too high with the result of a PCH shortage in the case of
high traffic density, there may arise an overload-indication of the PCH. If
all blocks are reserved for the AGCH, there may occur a shortage of PCHs
in times of high traffic density.
• CCCH-CONF
The Cell Resource Manager upon cell initialisation, to configure air
10
interface control channels, uses the CCCH_CONF parameter. The value
of this parameter determines the configuration of BCCH/CCCH timeslots
as well as the number of paging groups. There are four possible
BCCH/CCCH channel combinations that can be incorporated in a network;
" Non-Combined BCCH/CCCH timeslot configuration on BCCH TS 0

supporting 9 CCCH
" Combined BCCH/CCCH timeslot configuration on BCCH TS 0
supporting 4 SDCCH + 3 CCCH
" Non-Combined BCCH/CCCH timeslot configuration on BCCH TS 0 & 2
supporting 18 CCCH
" Non-Combined BCCH/CCCH timeslot configuration on BCCH TS 0,2 &
4 supporting 27 CCCH
" Non-Combined BCCH/CCCH timeslot configuration on BCCH TS 0,2,4
& 6 supporting 36 CCCH
CCCH blocks serve paging and access granted functions in the DL. Also
Paging Blocks take priority over the Access Grant Channel and can use all
the available CCCH blocks, during high traffic load, causing congestion on
the AGCH. Allocating some CCCH blocks only for the AGCH using the
BS-AG-BLKS-RES parameter can alleviate the problem.
• BS-PA-MFRMS
This parameter indicates the number of multi-frames (51 TDMA frames)
between transmissions of paging messages to the same paging subgroup.
The downlink signalling failure criterion is based on the downlink signalling
failure counter. When the value of this parameter is increased, the number
of paging groups is increased too with the advantage that idle subscribers
have to be less active. If the value is too small, there may be an overload
due to a shortage of paging channels. If the value is too high so that the
time between two paging calls is high, it may occur an overload situation in
the paging queue in the BSS. Hence, the value of this parameter should
be chosen in an appropriate way.
• T3212
Periodic updating may be used to notify periodically the availability of the
MS to the network. Using the location updating procedure, which is
controlled by the timer T3212 in the Mobile Station, performs it. This timer
is reset to 0 and started when a signalling activity has taken place on the
radio path. When the MS is powered down the current value of T3212 is
kept in memory. When the MS is powered up the timer starts running from
the value thus contained in memory. When timer T3212 reaches its time
out value, the MS initiates a location updating. As a consequence of a high
value of the timer T3212 there is a reduced load for BSC, MSC and VLR;
a small period generates more load in BSC, MSC, HLR, VLR and AC. Also
each time the MS is powered-up or does Location Update due to different
LAC of the serving BCCH, the counter is reset to its initial value. Finally,
11
the value ‘0’ indicates that the MS should not perform any periodic location
updates.
Range: (6 – 25.5 hrs) Typical values are 40 minutes to 1h 30minutes (has

to be set in relation with the implicit detach timer in the MSC).
3.3.1.2 Cell Options
• RADIO-LINK-TIMEOUT
This parameter is active in the MS, but set in the BSS and broadcast in the
system information. This parameter indicates the maximum value of the
radio link counter needed to detect a radio link failure in the downlink. The
criterion for determining radio link failure in the MS and in the BTS is
based on the success rate of decoding messages on the SACCH. For this
a radio link counter “X” exists in the MS. If the MS is unable to decode a
SACCH message, “X” decreases by 1. In case of a successful reception of
a SACCH message, “X” increases by 2. In any case “X” shall not exceed
the value of radio link time-out. If “X” reaches 0, a radio link failure is
declared.
The algorithm starts after the assignment of a dedicated channel and the
counter “X” initialised to radio link time-out value. The aim of determining
radio link failure in the MS/BTS is to ensure that calls with unacceptable
voice/data quality, which cannot be improved, either by RF power control
or handover, are either re-established or released in a defined manner.
Range: usually 20 SACCH period (approx. 10 seconds).

.
3.3.1.3 Cell Selection Parameters
• CELL-RESELECT-HYSTERESIS
This parameter indicates the value of the receiver RF power level
hysteresis required for cell reselection. It is used in the case of cell
reselection (MS in idle mode). If the chosen new cell is in a different
location area to the location area of the last cell (old LAC), on which the
MS was camped (old serving cell), the new cell shall only be selected if
the path loss criterion C1/C2 on the new cell exceeds C1/C2 on the old
serving cell by at least this parameter value for a period of 5 seconds. This
parameter is used to prevent too many location update procedures.
A high value of this parameter reduces the number of location updating

between neighbouring location areas. In case of a low value of this
parameter and the MSs move along by the border of neighboured location
areas then exists the possibility that the MSs can initiate many location
12
updates. In the location update procedure the network entities MSC,
HLR/VLR and AUC are involved.
• MS-TXPWR-MAX-CCH
This parameter indicates the maximum transmit power level a MS may
use when
accessing the system on a CCH of the cell. When accessing a cell on the
RACH and before receiving the first power command during a
communication on a DCCH or TCH, the MS uses either the power level
defined by this parameter broadcast on the BCCH of the cell, or the
maximum TXPWR of the MS as defined by its power class, whichever is
lower.
The value of this parameter depends on the size of the radio cell. A too
high value in a small cell may cause interference in the adjacent cells. The
maximum transmitter power values is a matter of cellular network planning
and should always be set to the minimum values possible for that cell to
minimise channel interference and prolongs MS battery life. In a first step,
this parameter value may be set to the same value as the Power Class of
MS to guarantee that an MS, which is accepted on the RACH, is able to
communicate with the network also on the dedicated channel. This
parameter is also used to define together with other parameters the path
loss criterion C1 for cell selection and reselection as discussed in the next
section.
• RXLEV-ACCESS-MIN
This parameter indicates the minimum received level at the MS required
for access to the system. It is used together with other parameters to
define the path loss criterion C1 for cell selection and reselection in the
following way:
C1 = (AV_RXLEV – RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN – Max (B, 0))
where AV_RXLEV (dBm) = Received level averaged over a period of 3 -

5 secs.
B (dBm) = (Max. Output Power allowed on TCH) – (Power Class of
MS)
To set this parameter to a high value means, that only those MSs make an
access attempt to the cell which are already in a location, where the
reception of the Base Station is very good. The connection is better and
the number of handover requirements may be reduced.
3.3.1.4 RACH Control Parameters
• MAX-RETRANSMISSIONS
This parameter describes the maximum number of retransmission an MS
may perform on the RACH. The MS starts reselection of a new cell, if a
13
random access attempt on a cell is still unsuccessful after number of
repetitions set in this parameter. This parameter is part of the message
System Information Type 1,2,3 and 4. This message is regularly broadcast
on the Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) by the network to all mobiles
within a cell. In case of RACH overload a decrease in this parameter
decreases the number of access attempts of the MSs and therefore the
RACH overload. If the parameter is updated, the new value is considered
in all subsequent MS decisions. Furthermore decreasing this parameter
value is a means of reducing the number of RACH-overload situations in a
cell without barring any access classes. The level of this parameter has an
impact on the RACH-load and the speed of MS-access to a cell. A high
value of this parameter will speed up the access. A low value will delay the
access, and may result in cell reselection and therefore in a delay or an
impossibility of a cell access if no other cell is available. A small value
reduces the overload situation of RACH but access to the network may
take a longer time for MS's.
• TX-INTEGER
This parameter is used to represent the maximum number of RACH-slots
an MS must wait, after an unsuccessful random access attempt, before a
new random access. The MS draws a random number between 0 and the
value of this parameter, in order to decide when to end the new access.
Hence this parameter allows the access retransmission to be spread over
a fixed number of RACH slots.
If the value of this parameter is to be decreased in case of high traffic

density on the RACH, it should be done step by step watching the load
situation on the RACH, in order to prevent overload on the RACH. A high
value may extend location update. If a small value is set for this
parameter, the situation that a small number of subscribers try to access
the system in very short intervals and produce a "temporary local"
overload may occur.
3.3.2 Handover
3.3.2.1 Main Objectives of Handover
The handover algorithm is the most important algorithm in cellular mobile

communications and the main objectives of handover are:
• Maintenance of connection during movement
• Change of channel if the interference is high enough
• Design of cell borders and structure of radio network
Handover process is done in several steps mentioned in the following table

3.3.2.1. The network element, which is involved in that step, is mentioned as well.
14
Step NO Sub-Process Involved network element
1 Measuring:
-link quality of serving cell MS,BTS
-Received level of neighbor cells MS
2 Measurement preprocessing BTS
3 Neighbor cell book keeping BTS
4 Handover Decision BTS
5 Target cell Generation BTS
6 Target cell Evaluation
-intra BSS handover BSC
-inter BSS handover MSC
7 Selection of new channel BSC
8 Handover execution MS,BTS,BSC,MSC
Table 3.3.2.1. The main steps in the process of handover
3.3.2.2 Handover causes
Handover causes are divided in two main groups as explained in the following
table 3.3.2.2.
Received Quality is too low or BER is Inter/Intra cell HO

too high
Radio Criteria Received level is too low Intercell HO
MS-BS distance is too high Intercell HO
Neighbor cell is a better cell Intercell HO
Serving cell is congested so direct Intercell HO
Network criteria retry initiates
MS-BS distance is too high or too low Intracell HO
in extended cells
MS-BS distance or Received level is Intracell HO
too low or too high in concentric cells
Table 3.3.2.2. The handover causes
The first three causes are mandatory or imperative. It means that for maintaining
the call the handover is necessary. For example if the MS is moving to coverage
area of another cell an intercell handover must happen or if the interference from
a co-channel or an adjacent cell is too high an intracell handover must happen.
Normally intracell handover should be enabled to allow a handover from a highly

interfered channel to another one with less interference inside the same cell.
However if random frequency hopping is activated it’s reasonable to disable
15
intracell handover since interference is approximately the same on all channels
and no improvement can be achieved by intracell handover.
If distance handover is disabled and radio level is enough, an MS can largely

exceed the planned cell radius without causing any handover. So the MS enters
into the coverage area of neighbor cell and provides interference on the uplink
which can cause call drop, so distance handover should be switched on.
If power budget handover is disabled no handovers with the cause “better cell”
are performed. However power budget is calculated and evaluated for the
ranking of neighbor cells within target cell list.
The fourth cause of handover is optional, i.e. the serving cell quality is good
enough but the received level of neighbor cell is better, even though the
handover is not necessary but it improves the overall performance of the
network. When MS performs handover to a better cell less transmit-power is
needed especially if power control is activated so less interference is created. If
the network is designed well, better cell handover should be the dominant
handover cause.
The fifth cause is forced handover or directed retry handover. During call setup
on SDCCH if the cell is congested i.e. no free TCH is available a handover to
TCH of neighbor cell is performed. This kind of handover is triggered by BSC not
by radio conditions on the link.
The last two causes are intracell handovers, which are performed in:
• Extended cell
• Concentric cell
In extended cell, handovers are performed from single to double time slot and
vice versa. In concentric cells, handovers are performed from inner to outer cell
and vice versa.
These handover causes can be enabled/disabled individually by corresponding
flags.
BSS internal handover has the following advantages

• Reduction of signaling load on the A interface
• Reduction of processing load in the MSC
• Faster handover execution
BSS regions should be selected in order to reduce the inter-BSC handover i.e.
the traffic mainly flows inside a BSC and not between them.
3.3.2.3 Types of Handover
According to the coverage area of one cell, different types of handover can be
16
defined. These types of handover can be enabled or disabled by corresponding
flags. The figure 3.3.2.3 below shows the different types of handover.
BSC A
1
4 MSC B
3
BSC C
BSC B
MSC A
Figure 3.3.2.3. The Handover types
1) Intracell handover
2) Intra BSC handover
3) Intra MSC and inter-BSC handover
4) Inter MSC handover
3.3.2.4 Handover Criteria
Handover criteria is evaluated based on:

• Uplink and downlink level and quality measurements
• MS-BS absolute distance
• Power budget of maximum 32 neighbor cells
The BSC trigger the handover in response to a handover request.
Three classes of handover exist in GSM

• Normal criteria or power budget HO
• All other TCH causes as alarm or imperative criteria
• Forced HO triggered by BSC
17
It is possible that condition for more than one handover is fulfilled on TCH.
Therefore it’s necessary to rank HO causes while on SDCCH no ranking is
required .
The ranking of the handover is a proprietary decision of the vendors and the
ranking given in the table 3.3.2.4 hereafter is for a particular vendor. Some other
vendor will attribute to the intra-cell handover a higher ranking just ahead of the
quality handover.
Priority Handover Cause HO Type HO class Evaluated

on
1 Extended Cell handover Intracell Imperativ TCH
e
2 Concentric Cell handover Intracell Imperativ TCH
e
3 Quality Intercell handover Intercell Imperativ TCH
e
4 Level handover Intercell Imperativ TCH
e
5 Distance handover Intercell Imperativ TCH
e
6 Power budget handover (PBGT) Intercell Normal TCH
7 Quality Intracell handover Intracell Imperativ TCH
e
8 Forced Handover Intercell Forced SDCCH
Table 3.3.2.4. Handover ranking
Other vendors have also applied the same handover causes to the SDCCHs.
3.3.2.5 Handover Regions
The following figure 3.3.2.5.a. shows the concept of handover for some
imperative handover causes. The x axe is graduated in GSM Rx_level 0 to 63
which means –110dBm to –47dBm while y axe is graduated in GSM Rx_Qual 0
to 7 which means very good quality of the signal (0) to very bad quality of the
signal (7).
18
RXQUAL L_RXLEV_XX_IH
7
Intercell handover due Intracell handover due to quality
to quality
L_RXQUAL_XX_H
Intercell HO No handover action due to quality or level

Due TO level
RXLEV
0 63
L_RXLEV_XX_H
Fig 3.3.2.5.a. Handover Regions
The table 3.3.2.5.b gives the explanation about how the different imperative
handover are triggered and their corresponding thresholds.
Name Range Meaning
L_RXLEV_XX_IH 0-63 If the quality falls below a threshold but

received level is higher than this threshold, an
intracell handover is initiated
L_RXQUAL_XX_H 0-7 If RXQUAL is higher than this threshold and
received level is low and transmit power is
maximum, a quality intercell handover is
initiated
L_RXLEV_XX_H 0-63 If RXLEV is below these thresholds and
transmit power is maximum a level handover is
initiated
Table 3.3.2.5.b. Handover thresholds
The area that says “no handover action due to quality or level” is the area where
the normal cause of handover (power budget) occurs.
19
4 Radio Network Benchmarking
4.1 Benchmarking Methodology
Any operator needs to monitor the performance of its network and locate,
analyse and correct network faults when they occur. In addition, the operator
needs instant information on how the network performs from a mobile user's
point of view. In this respect, quality of service, as experienced by the
subscribers, is certainly among the most important areas to be monitored.
Quality of service (QoS) is defined by a number of key performance indicators

(KPI), like drop call ratio and blocking rate, and a set of criteria for these. Failing
to fulfil one of the criteria, is failing to achieve the overall QoS. The criteria to be
reached need to be defined for each KPI, and the target is of course not only to
reach the criteria but preferably to exceed them.
At this point, it is important to understand that QoS criteria are redefined during
the life cycle of a cellular network. At start-up, the key issue is to achieve
coverage and capacity in a quick and efficient way, and the criteria can be set to
be less stringent. But when the network matures and subscriber numbers grow,
the quality becomes increasingly important and the criteria have become more
demanding.
As the overall target of an operator is to achieve a better QoS than the

competitor, a sound network management solution that can provide the means to
set high quality levels and to make the necessary operational procedures for
achieving and maintaining these levels, is indispensable.
The different events occurring in any GSM network are collected and counted in
a subsystem called Statistics and Traffic Measurement Subsystem (STS). For
the base station subsystem, this comprises events such as handovers, channel
assignments and dropped calls. Besides the reporting of events, a number of
status counters are provided to report the status of the network equipment, such
as the number of occupied channels for example.
The central part in STS is the Measuring Database, which collects all
measurements from the different blocks in the central processor. This data can
be transferred to an external system in a binary format, and will consist of data
about different object types. In this regard, every object type corresponds to
different types of equipment, logical units or functions in the BSC. Every object
type contains several objects that have a number of counters associated to it.
The object types can therefore be compared to database tables, where the
objects are records, and where the fields correspond to counters.
The binary output file from STS needs some processing before the counter
values can be used in calculations. This can be done by either the OSS or by
means of external tools.
20
It is now by analysing the values of different counters and by performing
calculations on them that a general understanding of the radio network behaviour
can be obtained.
The granularity of the data can be with a resolution of 1 hour, i.e. 24 samples per
day and for all the counters.
4.2 Optimisation indicators
At any time, a GSM network operator needs instant information on how the
network performs from a mobile user's point of view. In this respect, quality of
service (QoS) as observed by the subscribers, is one of the most important areas
to be monitored.
When the utilisation of the network resources is evaluated, both the overall
performance of the network system and the performance of individual network
elements need to be considered. Identification of bottlenecks and optimisation of
the network system is particularly important.
Considering the above, the network performance needs to be evaluated in terms

of accessibility, retainability, speech quality and resource utilisation.
The accessibility of the networks can be assessed by measuring parameters

such as the random access success rate, SDCCH/TCH blocking and
SDCCH/TCH availability.
Retainability can be quantified by indicators such as the SDCCH drop rate, TCH
drop call rate and number/percentage of failed handovers.
Speech quality is very difficult to measure in a GSM system, despite parameters

such as RXQUAL, which represent the raw bit error rates on the radio channel.
In practice, psycho-acoustic methods need to be used to evaluate the sound
quality over GSM connections.
Finally, the resource utilisation can be monitored by parameters such as TCH

channel utilisation. Low utilisation of resources might indicate installed over
capacity, and cost-inefficient investments. On the other hand, if utilisation is high,
the parameters can be used to plan further extensions.
Shown below is an example of performance criteria and benchmark values
21
Performance Criteria Benchmark
< 2% (for 95 % of all cells)
TCH Congestion
< 10% (for 5% of all cells)
< 0.5% (for 95% of all cells)
SDCCH Congestion
< 5 % (for 5% of all cells)
TCH Availability > 99%
SDCCH Availability > 99%
SDCCH Mean Holding Time < 4 seconds
> 90 minutes (for 90% of all cells)
Call Minutes Between Drops
< 50 minutes (for 5% of all cells)
< 1% (for 95% fo all cells)
SDCCH drop call rate
< 2% (for 5% of all cells)
> 97% (for 95% of all cells)
Inter-cell Handover success rate
Intra-cell Handover success rate
Cell with TCH channel utilisation < 30 % < 30%
Random Access Success > 99%
Originated call success rate > 95%
Terminated call success rate > 95%
Table:4.2 Performance criteria and bench mark values
22
4.3 Most Worst Cell List
The data obtained from BSC is processed for the Key Performance Indicators.
Then the values are compared against the benchmark values. The comparison
is done weekly for all the available MSCs and BSCs. As a first step a
comparison can be done among the MSCs and this will show the performance of
the BSCs parented to the respective MSCs. In turn another comparison can be
done among the BSCs and this will show the performance of the BTSs parented
to the respective BSCs. The worst cell list is generated based upon the
comparison. An operator can have sets of benchmark values for rural and urban
sites. Some times there can be drastic change in the percentage of
performances compared between today and yesterday. This can be due to
hardware failure, introduction of a new frequency planning, software corruption
etc. If the problem has been rectified and the percentages show as before then
the BTSs are in good health.
As an example considering SDCCH drop rate, SDCCH drop rate should be less
than 1% for more than 95% of the cells. The figures below show the percentage
of cells parented to the MSC via BSC that did not meet the benchmark values
during week 1. This parameter is calculated over the busy hours and it is a
measure for the frequency of radio link drops during the call set up phase. This
can happen due to excessive Timing Advance, low signal strength, bad quality or
sudden loss of connection and hand over failure. The percentage values are
below (around 72%) the minimum benchmark of 95% for the week. In that
particular case, this was due to TCH congestion (capacity limitations) during busy
hour which lead to high rate of SDCCH drop rate.
MSC MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH drop rate < 1%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 74.90%
GSR4 82.66%
Week 1
GSR3 70.66%
GSR2 76.25%
GSR1 70.14%
GSD3 64.35%
GSD2 76.67%
60.00% Percentage of cells 100.00%
Fig 4.3.a SDCCH drop rate for MSC

BSC MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH drop rate < 1%
23
B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 8 0 .4 8 %
G S U 1B 2 8 3 .2 3 %
G S U 1B 1 6 1 .4 5 %
G S R 4B 3 7 8 .1 6 %
G S R 4B 2 8 5 .0 9 %
G S R 4B 1 8 3 .0 5 %
G S R 3B 3 8 2 .7 1 %
G S R 3B 2 6 4 .4 0 %
Week 1
G S R 3B 1 6 9 .2 0 %
G S R 2B 3 6 9 .4 6 %
G S R 2B 2 8 5 .3 8 %
G S R 2B 1 7 3 .1 6 %
G S R 1B 3 6 3 .0 2 %
G S R 1B 2 7 1 .1 3 %
G S R 1B 1 7 3 .0 6 %
G S D 3B 3 6 2 .3 3 %
G S D 3B 2 5 9 .6 7 %
G S D 3B 1 6 9 .2 8 %
G S D 2B 3 6 6 .1 9 %
G S D 2B 2 8 3 .2 3 %
G S D 2B 1 7 7 .4 6 %
4 0 .0 0 % P e rc e n ta g e o f c e lls 1 0 0 .0 0 %
Fig 4.3.b SDCCH drop rate for BSC
The figure 4.3.b gives the percentage of the cells parented to the respective BSC
which did not meet the criteria.
4.4 Data collection tools
4.4.1 Metrica
Metrica/ NPR provides an infrastructure for the deployment of performance

reporting applications in a variety of telecommunications environments.
Metrica/NPR makes it very easy for development teams within an operating
company to configure and build their own reporting applications. Metrica provides
a powerful infrastructure for the rapid
deployment of a highly sophisticated and functional performance reporting
system. This functionality covers network operations, engineering and traffic
management capabilities.
24
It consists of the following:
Operator-specific developments.
In the initial deployment of Metrica/NPR the operator may make changes to the
underlying data model and to the high-level reporting applications. The
application may also be integrated into an NMS or interfaced with OSS
applications.
A technology-specific layer:
This layer provides a base data model for the representation of performance data
from technologies such as Cellular GSM, TACS/AMPS and general wire-line. A
set of reporting modules generates a range of reports from this data and provides
basic visibility of all performance counters.
The Metrica/NPR core.

This layer provides the basic infrastructure for the management of the
performance data provided by the network elements or element management
systems. The configuration of sub-systems in this layer forms the major part of
initial deployment, and the maintenance of these sub-systems forms the bulk of
system administration tasks.
The Metrica/DMS data management system.

Metrica/DMS is a powerful data management system specifically designed for the
storage, analysis and presentation of technical data. The product is generally
available and deployed in a wide range of applications both in
telecommunications and in other industries.
4.4.2 Batrana
BATRANA is a network quality analysis program developed by the Network

Optimisation Group of Siemens Shanghai Mobile Communication Ltd. From the
traffic measurement report export file from OMC_B (*.exp file), or binary file form
LMT or OMP (*.log file), BATRANA extracts useful information out and stores
them in a project specified database using Microsoft Access (*.mdb file). After
necessary information is imported, reports concerning different network
performance aspects such as Call Drop Rate, load of the cell etc are made in a
form of table and graph, each of which can be pasted to write report. BATRANA
can process BR4.0, BR5.0, and BR5.5. Check the current SW release when
opening the program.
BATRANA reads the ASCII file and stores the information by converting Region-
District-BSCn-BTSn into LAC-CI. The ASCII file name is also considered. For
example, if the ASCII file name is bsc52.asc, then the entire export file from the
BSC must be named as bsc52.exp. That is to say, they must have the same file
name.
The Import ->Cell Info icon can be selected to set up the conversion table. After
the conversion table is set up, the Import -> BSS Measure icon needs to be
25
selected in order to import the OMC-B measurement. At the end of the import,
BATRANA displays the BSCn/BTSn whose configuration information was
missing from the conversion table.
Once the database is opened, or new database information is imported, make

report of the network quality. The Report->Formula Definition is used to define
the formula needed, if the required formula exists in the formula list, no need to
define the formula again. Finally the Report and BSS Perf icons are used to open
a dialog window displaying the desired cell statistics.
Figure: 4.4.2. A Sample Report from BATRANA
26
5 Network Design Analysis
5.1 Network Capacity
5.1.1 Traffic Model
The traffic model incorporates specifications provided by the operator.

Listed below is some example values taken into account while planning a
GSM network.
Network Capacity (Subscriber) 15,000

Traffic per Subscriber 30mErlang
MOC 50 %
MTC 40 %
MMC 10 %
Blocking Rate – Air-IF (TCH) 2%
Blocking Rate – Asub-IF 0.1 %
Blocking Rate (PSTN, VMS) 0.01 %
Utilisation Rate (UR) 95 %
IWF 1%
IWF-Fax 0.6%
IWF-Data 0.4 %
Furthermore the following is assumed:
100% of MOC directly routed to the PSTN

30% of MMC calls are intra MSC calls
100% of the MTC go directly from PSTN to the MSC
The total traffic demand in the network will be 15,000 x 30mErl = 450Erl.
5.1.2 Channel Configuration on the Air Interface
The calculation of the number of TRX is based on the Erlang B formula.

Given a GOS of 2% a blocking at TCH of 2% and a blocking at SDCCH of
0.5% is assumed. An overview of the calculation results is given in the
table below.
27
TRX BCCH/SDCC TCH /cell Capacity sub/cell
H /Erl @30mErl
1 1 COMB 7 2.94 98
2 1/1 14 8.20 300
3 1/2 21 14.04 468
4 1/2 29 21.04 701
5 1/3 36 27.34 911
6 1/3 44 34.68 1156
All traffic channels in the above example are considered to work in full rate
mode (TCH/F).
5.2 Radio Planning
5.2.1 Link Budget
The table hereafter gives an example for the calculation of the link budget.
General data
Max.output-power of mobile 2.00 Watts
BTS peak-power (no combiner loss) 50 Watts
Frequency 900.0 Mhz
Antenna gain 15.5 DBi
MS antenna height 1.5 M
BS antenna height 25 M
Location probability edge 92.5 %
Location probability area 98.0 %
Standard deviation urban 6.0 DB
Resulting LTFM 8.6 DB
Indoor loss urban/dense urban 20 DB
Indoor loss suburban 15 DB
Car Loss 8 DB
Body loss (applicable for HH-mobiles 3 DB
only)
Cable loss BTS <-> antenna 3 DB
Interference degradation margin 3 DB
28
Rayleigh Fading Margin 0 DB
Down Link Up Link

Receiving end MS BS
Min. input signal level -102.0 -109.0 dBm
Combined FH & Antenna diversity gain 3.0 dB
in uplink
RX antenna gain 0.0 15.5 dBi
RX antenna cable loss 0.0 3.0 dB
Pre-amplifier gain 0.0 dB
Input-power for 50% loc.area prob. -102.0 -124.5 dBm
Input-power for 98% Loc. area prob. -93.4 -115.9 dBm
Outdoor coverage class level -87 dBm
Incar coverage class level -79 dBm
Indoor suburban coverage class level -72 dBm
Indoor (dense-) urban coverage class -67 dBm
level
Transmitting end BS MS
Mean TX power over burst 47.0 33.0 dBm
Back-off 0 dB
Combiner and duplexer loss 5.2 dB
Power at top of rack 41.8 dBm
EIRP(equivalent isotr.radiated power) 54.3 33.0 dBm
EIRP(equivalent isotropical radiated 268.5 2.0 W
power)
Maximum path loss, 98%, outdoor 141.7 142.9 dB
5.2.2 Site Location
Sites location should be selected by taking into account the morphology and
construction type used in surrounding area. A properly tuned planning tool can be
used to have a predicted footprint of sites. This process is normally done during
the initial phase of network design. Visuals can be performed after that in order to
verify the morphology and clutter type used in the model and in actual. Site
locations should be chosen in order to have sufficient overlaps between adjacent
cells, which is necessary to have continuous coverage, especially on
roads/highways. However, care must be taken while designing for Dense
Urban/Urban area, as capacity not coverage is the primary concern in this case.
Proper load sharing can make efficient use of available cell resources.
29
5.2.3 Antenna Selection
Antenna selection is another important factor in designing a mobile network. The

choice of antenna used in a network depends upon certain factors like clutter
type, distance between adjacent sites and area morphology etc. For
rural/highway sites antennae with higher forward gain and narrow vertical beam-
width are preferred. Also, if the coverage area is clear or with few low height
constructions like in Sub-Urban areas a large horizontal beam-width antenna can
be used. In case of dense urban cities, interference issues should be taken into
account between neighbouring sites and narrow horizontal beam-width antennae
with less forward gain are recommended. Finally, the height of antennae should
be selected keeping in mind the average building/construction height in
surrounding area. Typical antenna heights are 25m in Dense Urban/Urban sites
while 40m for Rural/Highway sites.
The most used antennae for urban area are cross-polar antennae with 65
degrees beam-width and electrical down tilt of 2 degrees to 12 degrees. These
antennae have also side-lobe suppression as well as upper-lobe reduction.
30
6 Optimization Tasks
Optimisation is basically the fine-tuning of the network and this in general

depends on the technology employed and the tools used for optimisation. Hence
the optimisation engineer should have a good knowledge of the system and
parameters he is going to optimise, and the tools he is going to use. In the final
instance, the knowledge and experience of the engineers determines the
solutions to be applied, and hence the quality of the network. In most cases,
solving a particular problem may cause unexpected results in other parts of the
system. Several criteria has to be taken into account, such as availability and/or
complexity of the solution, cost, time, site acquisition and/or implementation
issues, future of the network, etc.
6.1 Network Design Changes
The design process is done via models and predictions. However, the actual
quality of the network differs from what was expected to be, due to inaccuracies
of the design stage. So some changes are introduced into the network, to meet
coverage, interference, handover, capacity etc. criteria.
If some parameter of the network is changed, and if there are subscribers

present, the traffic level changes have to be observed carefully to be sure that
the cell capacity requirements are not effected, or effected tolerably.
6.1.1 Pre-Optimisation
When dealing with a network, optimisation can be performed at mainly two

distinct phases. These can be referred to as (i) pre-optimisation and (ii) post-
optimisation phases. The purpose of pre-optimisation is to provide at least the
minimum service quality for the commercial launch of the network. Typically,
there may be no subscriber present at this stage and hence, no traffic statistics
available. So, the targets in pre-optimisation are the initial adjustments of the
coverage, interference and handover criteria, to ensure that the design objectives
have been met and the system can be turned on at some acceptable condition.
Before performing pre-optimisation, some tasks have to be completed:

• Frequency and BSIC plan has to be ready and implemented.
• Neighbouring cells list has to be ready and implemented.
• All sites should be checked according to technical site survey data.
• Drive-test routes have to be identified.
• Optimisation tools should be prepared and checked.
31
After analysing the drive-test data (or, sometimes, during drive-test) the
optimisation engineer decides whether any change is necessary in the network.
Once these changes are applied, new drive testing may be necessary to observe
the effect of revisions.
Post-optimisation, however, is an ongoing effort, which starts after system

commercial launch, as the prefix “post” implies. When the post-optimisation does
start? This is a decision taken by the operator, and in some cases, there may be
several years between system launch and the start of post-optimisation. So, the
pre-optimisation gains high importance since there is the possibility that the
system may be operated without any further improvement for a long time.
In the post-optimisation phase, normally, subscribers are present and we have

access to the traffic statistical data. Data such as dropped and blocked call
statistics may help us in analysing interference and capacity.
In case of network growth, the situation may be termed as a mixture of pre-and

post-optimisations. As new sites are added, we have to make sure that these do
not effect the previous network considerably, and are integrated into the system
without loss of quality.
6.1.2 Antennae Changes
Perhaps the most important and widely used method in hardware changes due to
optimisation consists of changes in the antennas. Basically, these include
changes in antenna tilt, antenna orientation, antenna height and the antenna
itself. For most of the case the Operators increase the number of sites and
consequently they will need to change the antennae of the existing sites from 90
degrees horizontal beam-width to 65 degrees horizontal beam-width. These
changes in order to apply a more aggressive frequency planning reuse pattern
and reduce the interference.
Antenna tilt: The simplest and most widely applied technique is to change the tilt
of an antenna to get the desired result.
Basically performed to prevent a cell from interfering to other cells (in case
of down-tilt), but may cause in a reduction of coverage, and results in a new
cell boundary.
To provide extra coverage, an up-tilt may be applied, with the risk to create
some interference.
Antenna re-orientation: This method is also widely used, because of its simplicity,
but we have to make sure that no extra problems are created.
Antenna height: To increase or decrease the antenna height may help
sometimes for better results. However, this method is not as easily applied
as the previous two.
Change of antenna: Higher or lower gain antennas, and their different radiation
patterns has to be taken into account while looking for a solution. But pay
attention to the differences in the physical dimensions.
32
6.1.3 Site Design Changes
Apart from the antenna changes, some of the hardware parameters such as
feeders, LNA (if used) etc. as well as some of the software parameters such as
Handover Margin, Radio Link Timeout etc. can be changed also.
At the beginning of the network, relatively high values of RL Timeout are used,
while as the network grows and coverage holes are reduced, lower values are
preferred.
The HO Margin should be increased to avoid Ping-Pong phenomena, and it

should be reduced if faster handovers are required.
6.1.4 Relocation of Sites
Relocation of sites may be a solution in some cases, but it’s costly and
sometimes impossible from site acquisition point of view.
6.1.5 Repeaters
If there is a coverage problem in a small area and if the isolation required to

operate the repeater in its full potential is got, then the use of a repeater may be
a solution. With the repeater, the signal is amplified typically 60-80 dB. A typical
example is a tunnel for this application.
Repeaters are generally cheap and small, and may be easily integrated into the
system. However, due to site acquisition constraints, the installation of a repeater
can create problems. Especially if some site is planned in the future for the
problem area, it is better to avoid the use of repeaters and look for some other
solution.
6.2 Handover Analysis
The MSC decides for an MS to be handed over to another cell by the following
criteria with the following order of priority (GSM 05.08):
• RXQUAL
• RXLEV
• DISTANCE
33
• PBGT
A typical handover success rate is 95%, but normally this varies depending on
the market.
6.2.1 Intra-cell Handover Success Rate
Intracell handover is normally performed if the RXQUAL is low but the RXLEV is
relatively high on the serving cell, i.e., a symptom of interference. Here, handover
takes place from one CH/TS to another CH/TS in the same cell. This can occur
either to a TS on a new carrier or to a different TS on the same carrier. The new
channel should provide a lower level of interference.
For a multiband MS, intracell handover from one band of operation to another is
allowed.
Intracell handover can be carried out by the BSC, without support from the MSC,
depending on the operator’s choice.
Typically, the range of occurrence for intracell handover is up to 1 %
6.2.2 Intra-BSC Outgoing Handover Success Rate
An MS changes the BTS but not the BSC, in intra-BSC handover.

As for intracell handover, this type of handover may be performed by the BSC,
without the support of MSC. The handover is “outgoing”, from the point of the
“old” BTS.
Typical range of occurrence for this type of handover is ... %
6.2.3 Inter-BSC Outgoing Handover Success Rate
Here the MS changes not only the BTS, but the BSC as well. Another term is
external handover for this type. The MSC is necessarily in charge. In general, the
inter-BSC handover has less occurrences than the intra-BSC handover. Some
rule of thumb: avoid two sites on each side of the bridge that belongs to two
different BSC.
A typical range of occurrence for this type of handover is ... %.
6.2.4 Handover on Quality, Handover due to Interference
This type of HO is performed especially when averaged UL/DL measurements

show a low RXLEV and a high (i.e. bad) RXQUAL value for the intercell case this
is the handover on Quality. Whether high RXLEV and high RXQUAL values are
for the intracell case and the handover due to interference.
The range of occurrence for this type of handover is 3 to 7 % for handover on
quality and less than 1% for handover on interference.
6.2.5 Handover on Distance

34
Handover on distance is based on a comparison of the averaged absolute BS-
MS distance with a threshold.
The range of occurrence is less than 1 %.
6.2.6 Handover on Level
RXLEV HO is not performed unless the capabilities of power control are not
sufficient, in principle (e.g. MS_TXPWR and BS_TXPWR are maximum).
RXLEV HO is done when the average received level on the UL/DL is lower than
the threshold values. The range of occurrences is 8 to 15%
6.2.7 Handover on Power Budget (PBGT)
PBGT HO is based on a comparison of the RXLEV_DL with RXLEV_NCELL.

The primary condition for PBGT HO is that Power Budget must be greater than
the threshold value. Moreover, the minimum condition for target cell list
generation should also be fulfilled. In case of Hierarchical Cell Structure, the
priority of the neighbour cell must be better or equal of the serving cell priority.
The range of occurrence for PBGT HO is 80 to 90 %
6.3 Neighboring Cells List Verification
The creation and the verification of a neighbouring cells list is perhaps the most
important task in pre-optimisation. As the name implies, a neighbouring cells list
shows which cell is a “neighbour” to another one in the network, from coverage
point of view. For correct handover actions, a correct neighbour list is necessary.
A neighbouring cells list may be created manually or automatically with PlaNET.
The main criterion for a neighbour list is that it shouldn’t have missing or too
many neighbour definitions, since a missing neighbour may cause call drops due
to improper handover, and too many neighbours may restrict the frequency
planning and cause false handover decisions. Especially in the manual creation
of a neighbour list, one typical mistake is forgetting the other sectors of a site for
one sector.
Before the manual preparation of a neighbour list, the boundaries threshold
should be defined, a Best Server array should be created, and an equal power
boundaries plot should be taken from (or displayed on) PlaNET.
35
Figure 6.3.a Equal Power Boundaries Plot from PlaNET
With the use of this plot, a neighbour list can be prepared manually, checking
each sector one by one. The responsible RF engineer for the region should
prepare the neighbour list, since he knows the concrete situation. Special
attention must be paid for the outer areas, since generally one site do not
dominate them. Another important point is the regions that suffer interference,
and defining one-way neighbours may help sometimes (not always), i.e., if the
interferer site sets up the call, then handover to closer sites, but not vice versa.
However, this is not a real solution at all, since the main task is to remove (or
minimise) interference, so one has to consider this as a temporary case and try
to define two-way neighbours in general.
If the neighbour list will be created

automatically, the handover window is
used in PlaNET. Here the RF engineer
has to define mainly, the maximum and
minimum neighbours and borders, and
handover margin. After these
definitions, PlaNET creates the
neighbour list automatically. Experience
shows that the list so created must be
checked in detail by the RF engineer
who knows the actual physical situation
of the area, since it may lead to
inaccurate results sometimes.
The neighbouring cells list is
implemented in the BSC’s by the OMC
staff. Once this is done, a careful
analysis of handover data shows us if
there is any problem in the list, missing
neighbourhood definitions, incorrect
implementation, any need to improve
the neighbour list, etc. The optimisation
engineer has to pay special attention to
36
handover events, during drive-test, from the point of the neighbour list.
Neighbour lists are so critical that sometimes operators pay million dollars for
correcting their neighbour lists.
Figure 6.3.b Handover Window of Planet
6.4 Drive Tests
Optimisation process depends heavily on drive-testing. The collected data during

drive-tests provides information about the problems in the system such as
coverage, interference, handover problems etc. and the optimisation engineer
has to develop solutions to these.
6.4.1 Why drive testing and when?
Drive-testing lies at the heart of optimisation process, since this is the main
source of data collecting.
Depending on the project schedule, drive-testing can start when a group of sites
which can be said to form a cluster, are on air. However, before starting drive-
tests, make sure that :
• Frequency and BSIC plans, and neighbour list are ready and implemented.
• Sites are checked according to site survey drawings, and are ready.
• Drive-test routes are clearly defined.
• Vehicles, software's and all the tools are ready.
There are two modes of drive-tests to be performed:

• Scan mode: In this mode, we scan the predetermined frequencies, to see
their signal strength. TEMS, for example, has a scan tool for this (In the
Control menu), which monitors the RXLEVs of the selected frequencies from
the ARFCN list, together with BSIC info, graphically also. The data collected
via scan mode drive-testing helps us determine the actual coverage situation
of the network, coverage holes (if there are any) which were not expected, as
well as frequency reuse possibilities and cell neighbourhood.
• Dedicated mode: Here we set up a call, and follow this call along the drive-
test route. This type of drive-test is the basic resource in defining the actual
RF behaviour of the network. Here, for the serving cell, RX_LEV and
RX_QUAL values, BCCH, TCH and BSIC info, Timing Advance and
MS_TXPWR are the basic data collected in the log file; while for the
neighbour cells, BCCH, BSIC and RXLEV are collected.
The drive-test route has to cover all important areas and roads in the specified
region, and contain enough turns around sites. It also has to extend the planned
coverage area, to see the actual signal behaviour. Special attention has to be
paid for the handover regions, and the route has to be driven in both directions to
see the handover actions.
37
6.4.2 Analysis of drive test results using MapInfo
The data collected via drive testing can be imported to MapInfo for analysing in
the following way (MapInfo 6.0 version together with TEMS is considered here);
• As a first step, the vector files (roads, streets etc.) of the related city (or
region) should be converted to *.tab files for MapInfo processing. If you
don’t have these files converted already, use PLANET_X.MBX Macro (with
PlaNET of course), via the Run Ma-Basic Program Menu of MapInfo.
Usually there are more than one vector files for a city, each showing one
type of “vector”. All of these files should be ready. A vector file seems
something as the following figure 6.4.2.a.
Figure 6.4.2.a Vector file in MapInfo
• Next step is to open the drive-test data in MapInfo. For this, choose Open
Table from the menu, and select all the DM, HO and MSG files that you
want to process. The preferred view is “Current Mapper”.
• Then go to Table / Create Points menu. Select all tab files (HO, DM and
MSG) in Create Points, for table option, respectively.
38
Figure 6.4.2.b. Create Points page of MapInfo
To get the final raw map Go to File / Open Workspace menu and then choose the
workspace file with name you gave as main name in DTMapping. This is a *.wor
file, without the vectors. Hence, add the vectors to this view, via Open table
command and selecting the respective vectors. A (raw) MapInfo example is given
in following figure 6.4.2.c..
Figure 6.4.2.c Raw MapInfo view for the drive-test data (Kayseri-Turkey)
39
• The next step is to impose the site data into this view. We usually have to
prepare site info, which includes frequency and BSIC data as well as some
others. So, we can use this file to insert into MapInfo as shown on the figure
6.4.2.d.
Figure 6.4.2.d Site data file
Save this file in Excel format. Then, via the Open Table menu, open this *.xls file
in MapInfo. Start the range from A2 in order to exclude the headings, and select
Use Row above Selected Range for Column Titles box.
Figure 6.4.2.e Excel Information for MapInfo
Next, use the Site-See 2.3.mbx macro, prepared by WFI:
Figure 6.4.2.f Running WFI macro to transfer site data (see below figure also).
40
Figure 6.4.2.f.1
Then, save the new *.tab file created accordingly (here, “Site_Info2).
• The next step is creating the channel labels. Choose Create Channel Labels
from Site-See submenu, as shown on the figure 6.4.2.g.
41
Figure 6.4.2.g Creating Channel Labels
• In the same way, create site labels from the Create Site Labels submenu of
Site-See.
Figure 6.4.2.h Creating Site Labels

42
Now we have a view as seen on the figure 6.4.2.i below.
Figure 6.4.2.i MapInfo view
• Now we have to give colours to have a clear view. For this, go to Map –
Create Thematic map. Then select rxlevtems and choose next.
In the next step, choose Rxlevelfull and next as shown in our example figure
6.4.2.j below.
43
Figure 6.4.2.j Step 3 for Thematic Map Creation
Here arrange the ranges, styles and legend in the way you want.
• Repeat the same sub-procedure for rxqual and status of the sites, etc. which
info you want to see or analyse.
The final coloured view can be seen on the figure 6.4.2.k.
44
Figure 6.4.2.k Final view for Analysing drive-test data with MapInfo.
By changing some of the above-mentioned parameters, different plots can be

taken from MapInfo, e.g. separate or combined views for RXQUAL or RXLEV
etc., for analysis purposes.
45
6.4.3 Analysis of the layer 3 messages
The messages between the BTS and MS can be followed during drive-test and
analysed later by the use of the TEMS monitoring mobile.
With the use of TEMS, Layer 3 messages can be displayed and collected
provided that these are chosen in the External/ Control MS logging menu :
Figure 6.4.3 TEMS Page for Layer 3 messages
The log files corresponding to these data can be analysed after drive-test.
For instance, in the Layer 3 messages we see 4 kind of messages about

handovers: (1) HO Command. This tells to which cell the HO Command is given.
For successful handover, after this message, we should see (2) HO Access and
(3) HO Complete. If, however, a failure occurs during handover, we observe the
(4) HO Failure message. In the HO Failure message, TEMS also displays the
cause of failure. The Handover.log file may be analysed after drive-test to
46
determine the handover success and failures.
6.4.4 Tools available for drive testing
The table 6.4.4 hereafter outlines the tools available on the market for Network
Planning, Network quality monitoring, Optimisation, and frequency planning.
Sno Company Name of the Tool Standards Functionality Description

1 Quotient Quantum Radio GSM900 Network Its is a tool to support
Network Planning GSM1800 Planning and the key business
& Analysis tool GPRS Analysis tool processes involved in
WCDMA the radio network
design, services
planning, traffic
planning, site
acquisition, network
implementation and
Optimisation. It includes
a GIS tool to produce a
3 dimensional modelling
structure, environment
and behaviour of 2G &
3G networks, all on a
single platform.
2 Comarco EDX Signal Pro GSM 900 Network It includes the complete
Wireless VER 4 GSM 1800 Planning and set of the most accurate
Technologie WCDMA Analysis tool propagation prediction
s From 30 models, including
MHz to custom and data derived
60 GHz models. Systems can
range from 30 MHz to 60
GHz
47
3 Ericsson TEMS Cell GSM900 Cell Planning & It’s a PC Base tool for
Planner 3.4 With GSM1800 Optimisation design, realisation &
3G Module GSM1900 tool Optimisation of mobile
GPRS radio networks. It helps
HSCSD you with network
TETRA dimensioning, traffic
TDMA planning, site
AMPS configuration &
NMT450 frequency planning. It
NMT900 incorporates a GIS,
TACS which can be connected
ETACS to a NMEA compatible
WCDMA GPS and use site
placement and locate
your position on the
earth.
4 Ascom QVOICE GSM Optimisation It’s a quality monitoring
GPRS tool and network analysis
CDM tool. It is used to
perceive the speech
quality of the user and
also monitors all the
parameters on the air
interface like call set-up,
layer 3 etc. We can have
a portable version of this
tool as well (optional)
5 Ericsson Tems Investigation GSM, Optimisation It’s a portable test tool
CDMA 1, tool for trouble shooting,
GPRS, verification, optimisation
TDMA and maintenance of
IDEN mobile networks. It
WCDMA automatically detects the
network problem and
can be used with the site
information to improve
trouble shooting
capabilities.
48
6 Agilent CellOpt AFP GSM Optimisation It is a tool from Agilent
IS136 Frequency which not only helps in
IDEN Planning tool Automatic frequency
PDC planning but also
TACS provides Prediction
TDMA modelling; Analysis of
drive test data; grouping
of carriers for multi layer
networking and has its
own optimiser which
helps in having the
problem analysis
Table 6.4.4: Tools available on the market for drive testing.
6.5 Monitoring the interference on the Network
6.5.1 Why monitoring the interference on the Network?
Due to limited frequency spectrum resource, cellular radio systems must employ
frequency reuse; and consequently, some interference is inevitable. They are two
types of interference problems: Co-channel interference and adjacent channel
interference. The ratio between the wanted signal and the interferer is denoted
C/I and C/A respectively.
Measurement tools are available on the market and are dedicated to the
monitoring and the analysis of C/I and C/A interference.
6.5.1.1 Co-channel Interference Ratio
Co-channel interference in a cell ‘best server area’ is caused by the presence of

carriers with the same frequency propagating from other cells. The figure 6.5.1.1
49
below illustrates the situation.
dB Carrier, f1 Interferer, f1
C/I > 0
I Distance
Figure.6.5.1.1. Co-Channel interference
The GSM specification recommends that the C/I must be larger than +9 dB. For
frequency planning via a propagation prediction tool, a larger co-channel
interference protection ratio is required due to inherent inaccuracies of the tool
used to estimate them. The rule of thumb is to use a C/I greater than +12 dB as a
planning criterion, based on experience.
If frequency hopping is implemented, the C/I planning value can be reduced to

the value of the GSM recommendation C/I > +9 dB.
The introduction of the GPRS in the network might impose to increase this value
to C/I > +21 dB to reach the maximum throughput required for CS-4 (see chapter
8 for more details about GPRS)
6.5.1.2 Adjacent Channel Interference Ratio
Adjacent channel interference is caused by an adjacent channel, i.e. frequencies

shifted ±200 kHz with respect to the carrier. Even though the signals are at
different frequencies, interference could occur due to limited channel selectivity.
The figure 6.5.1.2 below illustrates the situation.
50
Adjacent
Channel, f2
dB Carrier, f1 f2=f1±200kHz
C/A < 0
C Distance
Figure.6.5.1.2. Adjacent-Channel Interference
The GSM specification states that the signal strength ratio, C/A between the
carrier and the adjacent frequency interferer must be larger than –9 dB. For
frequency planning via a propagation prediction tool, a larger co-channel
interference protection ratio is required due to the inherent inaccuracies of the
tools used to estimate them. The rule of thumb is to use a design criteria of C/A >
-4 dB (-4 dB, -3dB..).
6.5.2 Some Parameter used to monitor the interference on the Network
• Radio Link failure: an excess of radio link failure is a consequence of bad

radio signals quality. Both TRX deficiency and bad interference are the
source of this excess.
• Intra-Cell Handover: this feature allows the operator to allocate the best
available timeslot to the user. The interference is constantly monitored and
the call is diverted to the less interfered timeslot.
• Resource Indications: provide the averaged interference level class over a
period of time for idle channels.
• Monitoring the NCELLRXLEV: in dedicated mode, the mobile monitors the six
strongest neighbour cells of the serving cell. Neighbour cell level information
is obtained in the measurement results A-bis messages. The C/I or C/A
interference is then computed. Using C as the level of the serving cell, and I
or A as the level of the neighbour cell.
• BSIC: A non-decoded BSIC at the mobile reception is an indication of a
strong interference.
51
6.5.3 Some counter used to monitor the interference on the Network
The vendors have defined counters that monitor the interference. Some of the
counters monitor the interference on channel in idle mode and some other
monitor the interference on channel in dedicated mode.
• Non-decoded RACH: gives the average level of the RACH burst that is not
decoded by the BTS because of interference.
• Grade of Interference on TCH or SDCCH: gives the grade of interference on
SDCCH and on TCH in idle mode and in dedicated mode.
6.6 Monitoring the Rx_Quality on the Network
RXQUAL is one of the basic parameters that define network performance.

Usually, in high priority areas, the RXQUAL value should be below 5 (in the scale
0 – 7, higher values are worse) 95 % of time. Increasing RXQUAL is a symptom
of interference, if not coverage. In lower priority areas, this value should be below
5 for 90% of time. An optimisation tool like TEMS normally produces a log file
that includes info about the percentages of RXQUAL, as well as graphical
presentation of quality.
RXQUAL indicates the BER (Bit Error Rate) measured on the air interface. The
relation between GSM RXQUAL and BER can be shown as below:
RXQUAL VALUE BER ASSUMED BER

0 BER<0.2% 0.14%
1 0.2%<BER<0.4% 0.28%
2 0.4%<BER<0.8 0.57%
3 0.8%<BER<1.6% 1.13%
4 1.6%<BER<3.2% 2.26%
5 3.2%<BER<6.4% 4.53%
6 6.4%<BER<12.8% 9.05%
7 BER>12.8% 18.1%
6.6.1 Rx_Qual Downlink
The downlink RXQUAL can be displayed with TEMS, following the procedures
defined in Section 6.4.2 above. We can see in different colours which area has
problems with quality, and produce solutions according to this.
6.6.2 Rx_Qual Uplink
If path balancing is based on path loss, the implicit assumption is that the quality
is acceptable in both the uplink and downlink. However, this is not always
guaranteed and there may be some distortions due to interference.
52
The uplink measurements are collected at the switch. To determine
RXQUAL_UL, the IMSI of the mobile unit used in drive-test is entered to the MSC
database, and at the end of the test, this data is analysed.
6.7 Frequency Planning and BSIC Changes
Frequency reuse is the heart of GSM system. For frequency reuse, sites are
grouped in clusters. A cluster is a group of cells in which the available
frequencies are used only once. This means that same frequencies may be used
in neighbouring clusters, hence interference can be a problem. To avoid
interference, the frequency reuse distance should be as large as possible. On the
other hand, this distance should be small in order to maximise capacity.
Therefore, there is a trade-off between capacity and interference in frequency
planning. Below are presented some reuse patterns.
Frequency planning can be done manually or automatically (e.g. with PlaNET).

The reuse pattern is particularly important in manual planning. However,
especially if there are relatively large number of sites, automatic planning should
be preferred.
BSIC is a local colour code to allow the MS to distinguish between neighbour
sites. It is a 6 bit length code, with the first 3 digits for the NCC (Network Colour
Code), and the last 3 digits account for the BCC (BTS Colour Code) (GSM
03.03).
6.7.1 Most Used Frequency reuse Pattern
Depending on the number of allocated frequencies, different patterns for

frequency reuse may be chosen. Most popular are the 4x12, 7x21 patterns, but
1x3 pattern may be treated here also.
6.7.1.1 1x3 reuse pattern
Here we have 3 groups of frequencies, namely A1, A2 and A3. Figure 6.7.1.1
below shows the case with this scheme.
53
A1 A3 A2 A1
A3 A2 A1 A3 A2
A1 A3 A2 A1
A3 A2 A1 A3 A2
Figure 6.7.1.1 1x3 Reuse pattern
This frequency reuse pattern is mostly used in a pico-cells environment or for

TCH frequency planning when using synthesised frequency hopping.
Here there are 4 three-sector sites in one cluster, supporting 12 cells using 12
frequency groups as shown in the figure 6.7.1.2.
A3 A2 B1 D3 D2 C1 A3 A2
D1 B3 B2 A1 C3 C2 D1
D3 D2 C1 A3 A2 B1 D3 D2
A1 C3 C2 D1 B3 B2 A1
A3 A2 B1 D3 D2 C1 A3 A2
D1 B3 B2 A1 C3 C2 D1
Figure 6.7.1.2. 4x12 Reuse Pattern
This is a very aggressive BCCH frequency planning with medium to low site
height profile.

54
There are 7 sites in a cluster supporting 21 frequency groups. This pattern has a
long reuse distance, so it’s recommended for networks sensitive to interference.
B1 C3 C2 D1 B3 B2 A1 D3 D2 G1
B3 B2 A1 D3 D2 G1 A3 A2 E1 G3 G2
G1 A3 A2 E1 G3 G2 F1 E3 E2 C1
G3 G2 F1 E3 E2 C1 F3 F2 B1 C3 C2
C1 F3 F2 B1 C3 C2 D1 B3 B2 A1
C3 C2 D1 B3 B2 A1 D3 D2 G1 A3 A2
A1 D3 D2 G1 A3 A2 E1 G3 G2 F1
A3 A2 E1 G3 G2 F1 E3 E2 C1 F3 F2
F1 E3 E2 C1 F3 F2 B1 C3 C2 D1
F3 F2 B1 C3 C2 D1 B3 B2 A1 D3 D2
D1 B3 B2 A1 D3 D2 G1 A3 A2 E1
D3 D2 G1 A3 A2 E1 G3 G2 F1 E3 E2
Figure 6.7.1.3 7x21 Reuse Pattern
6.7.1.4 Other Frequency reuse Patterns
Other frequency reuse patterns can be derived from the above presentation, e.g.
3x9 reuse scheme. In a real network, the sequencing of sites and the allocation
of channels to cells may not be as uniform as in the figures, due to traffic and
morphology. However, the reuse patterns give us the basic idea about how to
make the cell and frequency planning.
55
6.7.2 Frequency hopping
In frequency hopping, the call in progress continuously changes carrier

frequency, and this is done to prevent fast fading, it provides frequency diversity.
It is implemented at the BTS and MS sites. Here the carrier changes in each
TDMA frame, but at the same TS. In other words, the information is transmitted
on one frequency during one Time Slot and on another frequency for the next
time slot. The transmission quality is then averaged over several carriers.
In GSM there are 64 patterns of frequency hopping, one of which is a simple

sequential pattern. The remaining 63 are known as pseudo-random patterns that
an operator can choose from. There are two types of frequency hopping: base-
band frequency hopping and synthesised frequency hopping.
6.7.2.1 Base-band Frequency Hopping
For base-band frequency hopping, each transceiver transmits information at a

fixed frequency. The base-band signal is switched between the different TRXs,
on time slot by time slot basis. The base-band signal is connected to only one
TRX.
Base-band frequency hopping can be performed with only two frequencies but
the BTS-MS quality is ideally improved with at least 4 frequencies.
6.7.2.2 Synthesized Frequency Hopping
For synthesised frequency hopping, each TRX can change frequency. This gives
the chance for hopping over more frequencies than base-band hopping. Hopping
over 6 frequencies improves substantially the quality of a network compared with
the same network without FH. The ideal situation is when using 12 to 14
frequencies per sector, this implies the network operator to have a large
spectrum of frequency.
6.7.3 Study of the C/I, C/A interference on the Network
The carrier-to-interference ratio is the ratio between the signal strength of the
serving cell and the interfering signals. This is a very critical parameter and one
of the basic criteria to define the performance of a network.
On the other hand, the carrier-to-adjacent ratio is the one between the signal
strength of the serving carrier frequency and of its neighbour frequencies. Due to
the presence of poor filters and combiners, the signal spills over to adjacent
channels. Because of this phenomenon, in frequency planning, the carriers
assigned to a base station are separated by a certain amount with each other.
56
6.7.3.1 Using Planet
While performing frequency planning with PlaNET, the C/I and C/A interference
are of primary importance. Here the first step is to define the minimum channel
spacing between channels on different sectors of the same site, between multiple
channels on the same cell, between neighbour cells and between neighbours of
neighbour cells. This is done with the automatic frequency planning window.
Figure 6.7.3.1.a Automatic Frequency Planning Window of PlaNET
The next step is the creation of an interference table, which is done via the
interference table window.
57
Figure 6.7.3.1.b Interference Table Window of PlaNET
Now, apart from the clutter weights, what is necessary is the C/I weights info,
which contributes to interference table creation. The C/I Weights Editor is used
for this aim. The C/I Weights Editor provides a means to view and edit weighting
values for both adjacent and co-channel interference.
58
Figure 6.7.3.1.c C/I Weights Editor Window
The required C/I values are 9 dB for co-channel and –9 dB for adjacent channel
in GSM. But an extra 3 dB or more is advisory for safety. Typically we use 12 dB
for co-channel and –4 for adjacent channel. Standard deviation is 6 and the
correlation value is 0.4 for both (again, typical values). Other parameters will not
be considered here, and once they are fixed, an interference table can be
created.
To display the C/I and C/A data on PlaNET, an array has to be created including
the information we want to display. This can be done via the
Coverage/Interference Layers Window. Here there are worst and/or total C/I and
worst and/or total C/A options for displaying.
59
Figure 6.7.3.1.d Coverage/Interference Layers Window
6.7.3.2 Using Asset
With Asset, for the frequency plan, we create an interference table also. Here, an
interference weights table has to be produced first. The interference weights
table describes the probability that the average C/I within a pixel is worse than
the desired level. The default interference weights table may be used, or the user
may change the values if necessary.
Figure 6.7.3.2.a Graph of the default Interference Weights table of Asset.

60
The frequency planning tool of Asset is called ILSA(Intelligent Local Search
Algorithm) and is an add-on to Asset which is licensed separately. ILSA uses the
interference table to attempt to minimise the interference generated by the
frequency plan. The Frequency Planning Dialog Box of Asset looks like:
Figure 6.7.3.2.b Frequency Planning Window of Asset
The use of an interference table in frequency planning process of ILSA is optional

but advised (if the propagation model is reliable).
The next step is to define the way in which ILSA will try to minimise the
interference. This can be defined as traffic only, area only, or a combination of
both, depending on your circumstances. Once this is chosen, the frequency plan
can be created with ILSA.
In order to display the C/I characteristics of the network with Asset, like PlaNET,
the necessary arrays has to be created first. Arrays calculate the mean C/I values
within a pixel, with the use of the prediction model employed, due to the serving
cell and the interferer. To display arrays, first, from Tools-Array Settings menu,
define your parameters. Here, in the adjacent channel offset pane, you have to
61
define the offset value to derive the adjacent channel C/I from the co-channel C/I,
which is –18 dB as a default. The other parameters are self clear, and will not be
considered here, and they have to be set in the way you want.
Two types of arrays are of special importance when studying the C/I in the
network with Asset :
Worst Interferer Arrays

Total Interferer Arrays
Both of these arrays require a best server array for displaying. For the first type,
the carrier with the worst C/I is determined, for each pixel. This provides the
interferer cell with the worst C/I for displaying. In the second type, the C/I values
for all carriers are summed up, so the total interference at each pixel is provided
for displaying. This is especially important in cases of frequency hopping.
6.7.4 Automatic Frequency Planning using Planet
6.7.4.1 Description of the tool
Automatic frequency planning with PlaNET is easy and saves time, provided
that the parameters are well defined and chosen. There are a number of
requirements before creating a frequency plan, such as :
• The CI Weights file exists

• The Carrier Types are defined
• All cells are assigned a cell equipment type
• The list of sites which are going to be planned is defined
• Predictions for these sites are ready (20 km predictions are advised)
• A neighbour list is ready
• An interference table is created
• A channel demand for each cell is defined
• Channel spacing requirements, thresholds and exceptions are defined
• Method is chosen
Now let’s follow the procedures to create a frequency plan. The AFP window is
the main window for this task and is re-displayed in the figure 6.7.4.1.a below.
62
Figure 6.7.4.1.a AFP window of PlaNET
Here the upper field is used to define the thresholds and exceptions for the
carrier type we choose (here BCCH). The minimum channel spacing are to be
defined within a site, within a cell, between neighbours and between 2nd order
63
neighbours. Previously defined settings can be loaded, or the new settings can
be stored. The exceptions window will be considered later in this chapter.
In the Global Thresholds field, the affected area means the coverage area of
each cell which is considered to be acceptable to be affected by interference.
Note that this value may be entered either as a percentage or as an absolute
value in squares km. Similarly, this can be alternatively defined as the traffic
value, again either as a percentage or an absolute value in mE.
The carrier types cost factors may be applied if we wish to define the cost factor
depending on whether the specified carrier is interferer or a victim of interference.
One can play with this factors to distinguish some of the cells which are thought
to have more importance than the others.
The method may be chosen as MSI Fast or MSI Optimiser. MSI Fast method
stops whenever a feasible plan is found. However, MSI Optimiser method tries to
minimise the total of all interference and violation costs, and hence to get the
best plan obtainable. This also depends on the Quality/Speed choice on the
Advanced Settings window shown on the figure 6.7.4.1.b.
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Figure 6.7.4.1.b AFP-Advanced Settings Window
Here the Quality/Speed setting provides a trade-off between these two criteria. In
this window, the percentage of interference, which can be ignored during the
planning process can be defined, as well as some costs that give an idea of
importance between different types of violations. The random seed value is
interesting in that the AFP runs through different processes when this value is
changed, and one can play with this value to obtain different frequency plans
based on the same criteria and thresholds – i.e. it may be worth trying if we want
to get a perfect plan (if such a thing occurs).
The Interference table creation window and the Handover window will not be
explained here since these were (at least partly) considered in the previous
subsections. What should be studied is the Exceptions window, which is
presented in the figure 6.7.4.1.c below.
65
Figure 6.7.4.1.c Exceptions Window of PlaNET
Defining exceptions is particularly important when there may be some

inaccuracies due to the model employed, distance definitions for predictions are
not enough, or some other factors, so that the AFP produces inaccurate results,
e.g. it can’t see some cells directed towards each other as interferers at some
distance. This was the case in Kuwait project, where a special strategy was
applied, i.e. “group planning”, such that certain frequencies were allocated to
sectors with the same/similar azimuth. Newer versions of PlaNET includes group
planning as an option, however, older versions do not.
Here the channels are distributed to groups such as G1, G2, G3 etc. If we want a
cell to use only G1 group of frequencies, we define this in a negative way, i.e. we
say that G2 and G3 groups are “illegal channels” for this cell, in the exceptions
window. If we take the azimuth of the cell as the criteria, we can push PlaNET to
plan according to our grouping. To define illegal channels for all the sites, the
AFP exceptions file was changed according to our constraints (This file can be
observed via the Settings-files menu, and is usually a file like “afp.exceptions”). In
66
the case of Kuwait network, a frequency re-use pattern of 7-21 was used.
Moreover, the MSI Fast method proved to be more reliable in this case of “group
planning”.
Once the requirements are completed, a frequency plan can be created via the
Create Plan button. When created, the statistics of a plan can be displayed. Apart
from these, what is important is the BSIC Planning, which should be done
together with AFP. From the Tools – Colour Code Planning window, we get :
Figure 6.7.4.1.d BSIC Planning Window
With the planning of colour codes, AFP will try to maximise the reuse distance
between colours. However, the NCC (Network Colour Code) has to be set prior
to BSIC planning.
6.7.4.2 User Guideline
The Automatic Frequency Planning tool in PlaNet (AFP) provides facilities that
enable you to create a frequency plan. The steps followed are given below in
bullets for each window associated with Automatic Frequency Planning
• The first time you attempt to create a plan, ensure that the AFP CI
Weights file exists and is not empty.
• Set up Carrier Types, to reflect the correct frequency re-use for the
network.
• Check that all cells are assigned a Cell Equipment Type and that the
set covers all carrier types.
• Create a list of sites that will be planned, unless planning all active
sites.
• Create predictions for all sites affecting the area to be planned.
• Create a neighbour cell list using the Handover tool.
• Create an interference table, to include all sites affecting the area to
be planned (use the Automatic Frequency Planning tool and,
optionally, the Traffic package).
• Enter a channel demand for each cell to be planned, into the carrier
67
database. The traffic package can be used to automatically generate
channel demand.
• Enter appropriate channel spacing requirements, thresholds and any
exceptions to frequency allocation: country border restrictions, for
example.
• Select method parameters and create a plan.
AFP Window Contents
• Interference Table:
• Open the Interference Table window.
• Handover:
• Access the Handover tool, so that you can create or load a neighbour
list.
• Display:
• Open the AFP Displays window.
• Thresholds and Spacing for Carrier Type:
• identifies the current carrier type. This field has an associated pull-
down menu, from which you may select other relevant carrier types.
• Load:
• Opens a file chooser window, from which you can select a file
containing previously defined settings, and load these.
• Store:
• Opens a file chooser window, in which you can either select an
existing file to be overwritten, or specify a new file in which to store the
exceptions, thresholds, channel spacing and optimisation settings for
each carrier type.
• Exceptions:
• Opens the Frequency Planning Exceptions window.
• Minimum Channel Spacing:

• Site: The value in this field indicates the minimum channel spacing to
be used between channels on different sectors of the same site.
• Cell: The value in this field indicates the minimum channel spacing to
be used between multiple channels on the same cell.
• Neighbour: The value in this field indicates the minimum channel
spacing to be used between neighbour cells.
• 2nd order Nbr: The value in this field indicates the minimum channel
spacing to be used between neighbours of neighbour cells.
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• Global Thresholds:
• Affected Area: The coverage area of each cell which you consider
acceptable to be affected by interference. You may specify this as a
Percentage of the coverage area or as an Absolute value in km sq.
• Affected Traffic: The amount of traffic handled by a cell which you
consider acceptable to be affected by interference. You may specify
this as a Percentage of the total traffic carried by the cell or as an
Absolute traffic value in mE.
• Optimisation Settings:
• Carrier Type Cost Factors fields for Interferer and Victim. You may
wish to apply a different factor to scale the cost, depending on
whether the specified carrier is an interferer or victim of interference.
A Cost Choice option selection matrix. This allows you to select one of the
values specified under global thresholds, as the target cost for minimisation.
• Sites to Plan:
• Active or Site List selection lets you plan all Active cells across the
network or to restrict planning to only those sites set up in the Site
List, using the site list editor.
• The Carrier Types to: pull-down menu options determine which
carrier types you wish to plan and/or keep. These, together with the
carrier types list which appears immediately beneath, affect planning
as follows:
• Keep: ensures that those channels that have already been assigned
in the carrier database are kept, for any carrier types selected from
the list. Assigned channels are kept only when the plan which includes
them has been stored in the carrier database.
• Plan: ensures that AFP plans all channels for any carrier types
selected from the list.
• Selecting both Keep and Plan ensures that all existing channel
assignments are kept and any additional requirements are planned,
for any carrier types selected from the list.
• The Method field defines the optimisation method to be used for
allocating frequencies. Two methods are available as standard: MSI
Fast or MSI Optimiser.
• The Advanced Settings command button opens the AFP Advanced
Settings window, which provides further options for fine tuning the
planning process.
Advance Settings
• Quality/Speed
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• enables you to set the trade-off between these two conflicting requirements.
• In planning, AFP makes use of random number generation. The pattern
taken by these random numbers is governed by the use of a Seed number.
The Random Seed field allows you to choose this seed number for a
particular plan. This could be a useful aid in fine-tuning, in that you can run
a plan more than once, using different seed numbers each time, thus
producing results which differ slightly between runs, and then choose the
best of these.
• The Use Carrier Database as Starting Point tick box enables you to make
use of an existing plan. This could be useful if, for example, your existing
plan is of high quality and you are making only a small number of changes
or additions.
The Ignore Interference Less Than (%) field lets you specify a percentage
value below which interference may be safely ignored in planning. This means
that you can filter out very low interference values which would otherwise
unnecessarily complicate (and thus slow down) the planning process.
70
Figure 6.7.4.2.a AFP Advance Settings Window
Interference Table Creation
• Create a coverage array for the area to be planned, or load a previously

created one. You may skip this step if planning GSM, ESMR, AMPS or
TACS systems and will be selecting Use: Clutter at step 2. You must create
the array however, if you will be selecting Use: Traffic at step 2.
• Use the Traffic Tool to create an Erlang map and select Use: Traffic, or
select
• Use: Clutter and enter or load clutter weights.
71
• Select the required option under Include Sites If and set appropriate values
for the associated fields.
• If your plan includes both macrocells and microcells, select the Use HCL
option.
• If you need to check or amend interference weights, access the CI weights
editor, by clicking on the CI Weights button.
• Click Create Table.
Figure 6.7.4.2.b AFP for Interference Table Creation Window
72
Exception Window
• The exceptions window enables pre-conditions to be entered into the

frequency planning algorithm, these are:
• Channels that may not be used anywhere in the network, site list, or cell
frequency plan.
• Channel separations required between particular cells.
• Restrictions on channels used near country borders.
• A cost factor for particular cells. This is used by the MSI Optimiser planning
method.
Exceptions are stored in the file specified in the File Defaults window, in the AFP
Exceptions field. This file is automatically loaded when Planet is started. To
clear the AFP exceptions database, load an empty file.
Figure 6.7.4.2.c Frequency Planning Exceptions Window
• To add or remove illegal channels:
• Select Network, Site List, or Cell. If you select Cell, choose the cell
by clicking on it in the main Planet window.
• Enter the numbers of the illegal channels that you want to add or
remove at the Channels field. Enter the channel numbers as a
comma-separated list of channels, or ranges separated by a hyphen:
73
for example; 86,90-95,99.
• Choose Add Channels or Remove Channels.
• To add channel separations:
• Select Cell.
• Select an individual cell by clicking on the main Planet window. If a
coverage array has been created then draw the equal power
boundaries to identify where to click for each cell. If a coverage array
has not been created then Planet selects the cell closest to the point
clicked.
• Choose Add Cells.
• Select the individual cell that must have a specified channel separation
from the cell you selected at step 2. (You can select this in the way set
out at step 2 above.) Enter the channel separation required in the
Separation field and press Return.
• Repeat steps 4 and 5 for additional cells.
Click STOP when finished
• To remove channel separations:

• Repeat steps 1 and 2 from the previous procedure.
• Choose Remove Cells.
• On the main Planet window, select the individual cell you want to
remove from the Cell Channel Separation list.
• Repeat step 3 for additional cells.
Click STOP when finished.
6.8 Monitoring of the Optimization Indicator
6.8.1 BSC Statistics in the form of formula
The Key Performance Indicators discussed in the section 4 can be represented

by the formulas as shown below.
Random Access Success
Total number of RA attempts - Number of Failed RA

Random Access Success = .100 [%]
Total number of RA attempts
SDCCH Congestion
This is the percentage of SDCCH requests that where rejected because all
SDCCH channels were occupied.
74
Number of SDCCH channel rejections due to congestion
SDCCH Blocking = .100 [%]
Total number of SDCCH seizure attempts
Call set up success rate

The call set up success rate measures how often a call set up ordered by the
MSC has been successful.
Total number of Normal Seizures

Call Set up success rate = .100 [%]
Total number of Normal Attempts
SDCCH Drop rate

This parameter is a measure for the frequency of radio drops during the call-set-
up phase.
Dropped SDCCH connections

SDCCH drop rate = .100 [%]
Total number of SDCCH connections
This value will be calculated with the exclusion of the SDCCH drops due to TCH
congestion, as the latter is already accounted for in the TCH blocking statistics.
TCH blocking
Blocking implies that TCH requests are rejected due to congestion in the
network, i.e. due to insufficient resources. As this seriously affects the user’s
accessibility to the network, this parameter should be kept as low as possible.
Capacity extensions should be triggered BEFORE blocking occurs.
Number of rejected TCH requests due to congestion

TCH blocking = .100 [%]
Total number of TCH seizure attempts
TCH Drop rate

Among all failures that can happen in a GSM network, losing the radio channel
while in conversation is probably the most irritating to the user. Dropping radio
connections has therefore to be avoided at all cost.
Dropped TCH connections

TCH drop rate = .100 [%]
Total number of TCH connections
Handover Success Rate
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number of successful inter - cell HO
Inter - cell HO Succes rate = .100 [%]
total number of inter - cell HO decisions
TCH Availability
This can be used to decide whether congestion is caused by faulty TCHs or due
to too much traffic in the cell.
Available TCHs
TCH availabili ty = .100 [%]
Total number of defined TCHs
6.8.2 Incorporation of BSC Counters
The Key Performance Indicators where calculated over busy hour or 24 hours,
depending on the parameter:
Random Access Success 24 hours

SDCCH Congestion Busy hour
Call set-up success rate 24 hours
SDCCH drop rate Busy hour
TCH Congestion Busy hour
TCH drop call rate Busy hour
Inter-cell Handover success rate 24 hours
TCH Availability 24 hours
The busy hour is taken to be the busy hour for each cell individually, and not as
the BSC, MSC or Network busy hour, as most benchmarks required the Key
Performance Indicators parameter to be calculated by cell. In these cases, the
number of cells fulfilling a specific criterion is counted for the whole network as
well as for each MSC and BSC individually.
In order to calculate the Key Performance Indicators and compare against the
benchmark values, counters are used. The events taking place in a GSM
network is monitored by the respective counters and the counters are
incremented. Given below are the examples of counters with definition
associated with a Base Station Controller of an Ericsson network.
CNROCNT: Number of accepted random accesses.
RAACCFA: Number of failed Random Access. The counter is incremented for a

random access received with too high Timing Advance (TA), values that are not
used or in case of "software file congestion
CCONGS: Congestion counter. The counter is stepped every time an allocation
attempt fails due to no idle SDCCH. If the cell is structured in sub-cells, a failed
allocation attempts only in the under-laid sub-cell increments this counter.
76
CCALLS: Call attempt counter. The counter is stepped every time an allocation
attempt is made for an SDCCH
CNDROP: Number of dropped connections due to a failure. The counter is

incremented when the BSC sends CLEAR REQUEST message, or when CLEAR
COMMAND is received if the cause code differs from the cause codes "Call
control" and "Handover successful". The counter is not incremented if CLEAR
REQUEST has been sent previously.
CNRELCONG: Number of SDCCH released due to a radio resource congestion.

The counter is incremented when a connection on SDCCH is released due to a
radio resource congestion, that is when there is congestion on TCH or
congestion on transcoder resources. The counter is stepped when a CLEAR
COMMAND message with cause "No radio resource available" is received. The
counter CNDROP is also stepped at the same time. The counters are not
incremented if CLEAR REQUEST has been sent previously.
CMSESTAB: Number of successful MS channels establishments on SDCCH.

The sum of this counter is for both overlaid and under-laid. The counter is
incremented per cell when a signalling link between the MS and MSC is
established, i.e. an SCCP CONNECTION CONFIRMED message is received
from the MSC.
CNRELCONG: Number of SDCCH released due to a radio resource congestion.

The counter is incremented when a connection on SDCCH is released due to a
radio resource congestion, that is when there is congestion on TCH or
congestion on transcoder resources. The counter is stepped when a CLEAR
COMMAND message with cause "No radio resource available" is received. The
counter CNDROP is also stepped at the same time. The counters are not
incremented if CLEAR REQUEST has been sent previously.
TFNRELCONG: Number of released TCH due to radio resource congestion.

The counter is incremented when a TCH connection used for signalling and
allocated as a result of immediate assignment is released due to a radio resource
congestion, that is when there is congestion on transcoder resources. The
counters are incremented even when there is resource congestion during Inter
BSC Handover. The counters are stepped when a CLEAR COMMAND message
with cause "No radio resource available" is received. The counter TFNDROP is
also stepped at the same time.
TASSALL: Number of assignment attempts to a TCH. The counter is increased

each time an assignment attempt to a TCH is done.
TASSATT: Number of assignment attempts to a TCH from an SDCCH for all MS

power class.
77
TFCASSALL: Number of assignment complete for all MS power class (TCH/Full
Rate). The counter is incremented when an ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE is sent
to the MSC.
TFCASSALLSUB: Number of assignment complete in overlaid sub-cell for all

MS power class (TCH/Full Rate). The counter is incremented when an
ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE is sent to the MSC.
TFNDROP: Number of dropped connections due to a failure. The counter is

incremented when the BSC sends CLEAR REQUEST MESSAGE, or if the cause
code in the CLEAR COMMAND message differs from the cause codes "Call
control" or "Handover successful". The counter is not incremented if CLEAR
REQUEST has been sent previously.
TFMSESTB: Number of successful MS channel establishments. The MS is

regarded to have established a connection on the TCH when an ASSIGNMENT
COMPLETE, HANDOVER PERFORMED or in target BSC, HANDOVER
COMPLETE is sent to the Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC). The counter
is also stepped when a Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP)
CONNECTION CONFIRM is received from the MSC.
HOVERSUC: Number of successful handovers to the internal neighbouring cells.

This counter is incremented when the CLEAR COMMAND message due to
successful handover is received from the MSC or when HANDOVER
PERFORMED or ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE is sent to the MSC.
HOVERCNT: Number of handover commands sent to the neighbouring cell. This

counter is incremented when the BSC sends HANDOVER COMMAND to the
MS.
TAVAACC: Available channels for traffic channels accumulator. This counter is

periodically increased with the current number of available channels. The
available channels are increased with 1 when a TCH is available for traffic, and
decreased with 1 when a TCH not is available for traffic. The period is 10
seconds.
TAVASCAN: Number of accumulations TCHs. This counter is increased with 1

every time the accumulator is increased.
TNUCHCNT: Number of defined channels. The counter is set by command. The

number is 8 multiplied by the number of absolute RF channels in the cell, minus
one per BCCH and SDCCH/8 defined for the cell.
6.8.3 Examples of Formulas with Counters
The formulas shown in section 6.8.1 can be represented using the above
counters. The data obtained from BSC is processed for KPI where calculated
78
over busy hour or 24 hours, depending on the parameter.
Calculation of random access success using Ericsson counters:
CNROCNT
RA_SUC = .100 [%]
CNROCNT + RAACCFA
Calculation of SDCCH congestion using Ericsson counters:
CCONGS
S_CONG = .100 [%]
CCALLS
Calculation of Call Set up success rate using Ericsson counters:
TFCASSALL + TFCASSALLS UB
CallSetupSucess = .100 [%]
TASSATT
Calculation of SDCCH drop rate using Ericsson counters:
CNDROP - CNRELCONG
S _ DR = .100 [%]
CMSESTAB
Calculation of TCH blocking using Ericsson counters:
CNRELCONG + TFNRELCONG
T_CONG = .100 [%]
TASSALL
Calculation of TCH drop rate using Ericsson counters:
TNFDROP
T_DR_C = .100 [%]
TFMSESTB
Calculation of inter-cell handover success rate using Ericsson counters:
HOVERSUC
H_SUC = .100 [%]
HOVERCNT
79
Calculation of TCH availability using Ericsson counters:
TAVAACC
T_AVAIL = .100 [%]
TAVASCAN * TNUCHCNT
6.8.4 Typical Benchmark Values
The calculated KPI values are compared against the benchmark values for each
performance parameter. The results can be projected at Network Level, MSC
level and BSC level weekly. The comparison can between MSCs or BSCs for
the total network.
As an example a study done in Saudi Arabia on an Ericsson network is show

below for the KPI Random Access Success. The KPI and the benchmark values
are tabulated in Table No 4.2.a
Network MINIMUM benchmark for random access success
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
W eek 4 9 8 .6 8 %
W eek 3 9 8 .5 9 %
W eek 2 9 8 .5 9 %
W eek 1 9 8 .7 7 %
9 5 .0 0 % 9 9 .0 0 %
MSC MINIMUM benchmark for random access success
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G SU1 9 8 .6 7 %
G SR4 9 8 .9 2 %
G SR3 9 8 .4 8 %
Week 1
G SR2 9 9 .6 7 %
G SR1 9 9 .5 7 %
G SD3 9 7 .4 6 %
G SD2 9 8 .6 6 %
9 5 .0 0 % 1 0 0 .0 0 %
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G SU1 9 8 .7 4 %
G SR4 9 8 .7 2 %
Week 2
G SR3 9 8 .4 9 %
G SR2 9 9 .6 4 %
G SR1 9 9 .5 3 %
G SD3 9 6 .3 7 %
G SD2 9 8 .5 7 %
9 5 .0 0 % 1 0 0 .0 0 %
80
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G SU1 9 8 .6 3 %
G SR4 9 8 .8 1 %
Week 3
G SR3 9 8 .5 0 %
G SR2 9 9 .5 9 %
G SR1 9 9 .5 6 %
G SD3 9 6 .9 9 %
G SD2 9 8 .1 4 %
9 5 .0 0 % 1 0 0 .0 0 %
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G SU1 9 8 .5 7 %
G SR4 9 8 .9 7 %
Week 4
G SR3 9 8 .5 0 %
G SR2 9 9 .5 6 %
G SR1 9 9 .5 6 %
G SD3 9 7 .3 5 %
G SD2 9 8 .3 3 %
9 5 .0 0 % 1 0 0 .0 0 %
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for random access success
B en chm ark 99 .00 %

G S U 1B 3 98 .57 %
G S U 1B 2 99 .18 %
G S U 1B 1 98 .35 %
G S R 4B 3 99 .08 %
G S R 4B 2 98 .70 %
G S R 4B 1 99 .04 %
G S R 3B 3 99 .18 %
G S R 3B 2 97 .46 %
G S R 3B 1 99 .11 %
Week 1
G S R 2B 3 99 .35 %
G S R 2B 2 99 .86 %
G S R 2B 1 99 .76 %
G S R 1B 3 99 .60 %
G S R 1B 2 99 .58 %
G S R 1B 1 99 .55 %
G S D 3B 3 95 .67 %
G S D 3B 2 97 .48 %
G S D 3B 1 98 .34 %
G S D 2B 3 98 .18 %
G S D 2B 2 98 .24 %
G S D 2B 1 99 .42 %
92 .00 % 10 0.0 0%
81
B enc hm a rk 99 .00%
G S U 1B 3 98 .58%
G S U 1B 2 99 .17%
G S U 1B 1 98 .53%
G S R 4B 3 99 .06%
G S R 4B 2 98 .62%
G S R 4B 1 98 .61%
G S R 3B 3 99 .19%
G S R 3B 2 97 .23%
G S R 3B 1 99 .35%
Week 2
G S R 2B 3 99 .21%
G S R 2B 2 99 .86%
G S R 2B 1 99 .78%
G S R 1B 3 99 .54%
G S R 1B 2 99 .48%
G S R 1B 1 99 .57%
G S D 3B 3 94 .18%
G S D 3B 2 95 .69%
G S D 3B 1 98 .05%
G S D 2B 3 96 .98%
G S D 2B 2 98 .77%
G S D 2B 1 99 .35%
92 .00% 10 0.00 %
82
B enchm ark 99.00%
G S U 1B 3 98.60%
G S U 1B 2 99.13%
G S U 1B 1 98.22%
G S R 4B 3 99.20%
G S R 4B 2 98.75%
G S R 4B 1 98.62%
G S R 3B 3 99.17%
G S R 3B 2 97.38%
G S R 3B 1 99.22%
Week 3
G S R 2B 3 99.21%
G S R 2B 2 99.74%
G S R 2B 1 99.77%
G S R 1B 3 99.57%
G S R 1B 2 99.55%
G S R 1B 1 99.56%
G S D 3B 3 95.71%
G S D 3B 2 96.16%
G S D 3B 1 98.34%
G S D 2B 3 96.46%
G S D 2B 2 98.36%
G S D 2B 1 99.10%
92.00% 100.00%
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 9 8 .4 7 %
G S U 1B 2 9 9 .2 3 %
G S U 1B 1 9 8 .1 2 %
G S R 4B 3 9 9 .3 1 %
G S R 4B 2 9 8 .8 0 %
G S R 4B 1 9 8 .9 1 %
G S R 3B 3 9 9 .0 3 %
G S R 3B 2 9 7 .4 8 %
G S R 3B 1 9 9 .1 5 %
Week 4
G S R 2B 3 9 9 .1 5 %
G S R 2B 2 9 9 .7 2 %
G S R 2B 1 9 9 .7 5 %
G S R 1B 3 9 9 .6 0 %
G S R 1B 2 9 9 .6 0 %
G S R 1B 1 9 9 .5 0 %
G S D 3B 3 9 6 .0 7 %
G S D 3B 2 9 6 .7 6 %
G S D 3B 1 9 8 .5 0 %
G S D 2B 3 9 7 .1 9 %
G S D 2B 2 9 8 .2 9 %
G S D 2B 1 9 9 .1 8 %
9 2 .0 0 % 1 0 0 .0 0 %
83
Network MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH congestion < 0.5%
Benchmark 95.00%
Week 4 97.77%
Week 3 97.68%
Week 2 97.84%
Week 1 98.58%
MSC MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH congestion < 0.5%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 98.38%
GSR4 98.61%
Week 1
GSR3 98.29%
GSR2 98.72%
GSR1 98.48%
GSD3 97.67%
GSD2 99.58%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 97.65%
GSR4 98.21%
Week 2
GSR3 96.71%
GSR2 98.42%
GSR1 96.86%
GSD3 96.83%
GSD2 99.61%
84
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 97.01%
GSR4 98.58%
GSR3 96.73%
Week 3
GSR2 98.27%
GSR1 96.57%
GSD3 96.03%
GSD2 99.56%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 97.19%
GSR4 99.24%
Week 4
GSR3 96.63%
GSR2 97.66%
GSR1 96.45%
GSD3 96.26%
GSD2 99.46%
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH congestion < 0.5%

B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 9 9 .4 2 %
G S U 1B 2 9 6 .0 4 %
G S U 1B 1 9 9 .2 6 %
G S R 4B 3 9 8 .9 7 %
G S R 4B 2 9 8 .3 3 %
G S R 4B 1 9 8 .6 6 %
G S R 3B 3 9 9 .0 6 %
G S R 3B 2 9 7 .0 9 %
G S R 3B 1 9 9 .0 5 %
Week 1
G S R 2B 3 9 7 .2 5 %
G S R 2B 2 9 9 .5 6 %
G S R 2B 1 9 9 .1 5 %
G S R 1B 3 9 9 .2 0 %
G S R 1B 2 9 8 .6 9 %
G S R 1B 1 9 7 .8 3 %
G S D 3B 3 9 9 .3 2 %
G S D 3B 2 9 5 .5 2 %
G S D 3B 1 9 8 .6 4 %
G S D 2B 3 9 8 .8 6 %
G S D 2B 2 1 0 0 .0 0 %
G S D 2B 1 9 9 .6 7 %
85
B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 9 8 .5 9 %
G S U 1B 2 9 4 .9 3 %
G S U 1B 1 9 8 .9 8 %
G S R 4B 3 9 7 .9 3 %
G S R 4B 2 9 8 .4 2 %
G S R 4B 1 9 8 .1 3 %
G S R 3B 3 9 6 .7 0 %
G S R 3B 2 9 5 .7 4 %
Week 2
G S R 3B 1 9 7 .7 2 %
G S R 2B 3 9 6 .0 0 %
G S R 2B 2 9 9 .3 4 %
G S R 2B 1 9 9 .5 7 %
G S R 1B 3 9 7 .2 4 %
G S R 1B 2 9 7 .6 4 %
G S R 1B 1 9 5 .7 6 %
G S D 3B 3 9 8 .9 9 %
G S D 3B 2 9 3 .8 8 %
G S D 3B 1 9 8 .2 1 %
G S D 2B 3 9 9 .0 5 %
G S D 2B 2 9 9 .8 7 %
G S D 2B 1 9 9 .7 3 %
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH congestion < 0.5% (continued)
B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 9 6 .8 9 %
G S U 1B 2 9 5 .1 4 %
G S U 1B 1 9 8 .7 9 %
G S R 4B 3 9 8 .3 9 %
G S R 4B 2 9 9 .1 0 %
G S R 4B 1 9 7 .8 8 %
G S R 3B 3 9 6 .6 7 %
G S R 3B 2 9 5 .3 8 %
G S R 3B 1 9 8 .1 9 %
Week 3
G S R 2B 3 9 5 .5 1 %
G S R 2B 2 9 9 .3 4 %
G S R 2B 1 9 9 .5 7 %
G S R 1B 3 9 7 .2 4 %
G S R 1B 2 9 7 .4 8 %
G S R 1B 1 9 5 .2 0 %
G S D 3B 3 9 8 .1 4 %
G S D 3B 2 9 2 .8 7 %
G S D 3B 1 9 7 .6 1 %
G S D 2B 3 9 8 .9 8 %
G S D 2B 2 9 9 .5 3 %
G S D 2B 1 1 0 0 .0 0 %
86
B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 9 7 .6 1 %
G S U 1B 2 9 5 .3 1 %
G S U 1B 1 9 8 .3 7 %
G S R 4B 3 9 9 .6 0 %
G S R 4B 2 9 9 .1 8 %
G S R 4B 1 9 9 .1 5 %
G S R 3B 3 9 7 .5 3 %
G S R 3B 2 9 6 .4 3 %
G S R 3B 1 9 6 .2 5 %
Week 4
G S R 2B 3 9 4 .7 4 %
G S R 2B 2 9 9 .2 3 %
G S R 2B 1 9 8 .6 3 %
G S R 1B 3 9 6 .1 1 %
G S R 1B 2 9 7 .0 5 %
G S R 1B 1 9 6 .0 0 %
G S D 3B 3 9 8 .8 1 %
G S D 3B 2 9 2 .8 8 %
G S D 3B 1 9 7 .8 1 %
G S D 2B 3 9 8 .8 2 %
G S D 2B 2 9 9 .4 6 %
G S D 2B 1 9 9 .9 2 %
87
Network MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH drop rate < 1%
Benchmark 95.00%
Week 4 71.70%
Week 3 71.60%
Week 2 72.82%
Week 1 74.11%
MSC MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH drop rate < 1%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 74.90%
GSR4 82.66%
Week 1
GSR3 70.66%
GSR2 76.25%
GSR1 70.14%
GSD3 64.35%
GSD2 76.67%

GSU1 72 .76 %
GSR4 83 .42 %
Week 2
GSR3 71 .36 %
GSR2 75 .06 %
GSR1 68 .46 %
GSD3 61 .22 %
GSD2 73 .98 %
60 .00 % P ercen tag e of c ells 10 0.0 0%

Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 71.30%
GSR4 80.82%
GSR3 70.54%
Week 3
GSR2 75.02%
GSR1 68.67%
GSD3 62.16%
GSD2 70.60%
88
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 69.87%
GSR4 82.24%
Week 4
GSR3 69.70%
GSR2 74.34%
GSR1 65.20%
GSD3 61.44%
GSD2 75.23%
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH drop rate < 1%

G S U 1B 3 80 .48 %
G S U 1B 2 83 .23 %
G S U 1B 1 61 .45 %
G S R 4B 3 78 .16 %
G S R 4B 2 85 .09 %
G S R 4B 1 83 .05 %
G S R 3B 3 82 .71 %
G S R 3B 2 64 .40 %
Week 1
G S R 3B 1 69 .20 %
G S R 2B 3 69 .46 %
G S R 2B 2 85 .38 %
G S R 2B 1 73 .16 %
G S R 1B 3 63 .02 %
G S R 1B 2 71 .13 %
G S R 1B 1 73 .06 %
G S D 3B 3 62 .33 %
G S D 3B 2 59 .67 %
G S D 3B 1 69 .28 %
G S D 2B 3 66 .19 %
G S D 2B 2 83 .23 %
G S D 2B 1 77 .46 %
40 .00 % P ercen tag e of cells 10 0.0 0%
89
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for SDCCH drop rate < 1% (continued)
B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 8 1 .9 7 %
G S U 1B 2 8 2 .4 5 %
G S U 1B 1 4 9 .3 9 %
G S R 4B 3 7 5 .5 2 %
G S R 4B 2 8 3 .3 5 %
G S R 4B 1 8 1 .6 4 %
G S R 3B 3 8 3 .4 9 %
G S R 3B 2 6 5 .0 5 %
G S R 3B 1 6 7 .6 9 %
Week 3
G S R 2B 3 6 8 .2 9 %
G S R 2B 2 8 3 .9 3 %
G S R 2B 1 7 2 .0 7 %
G S R 1B 3 6 1 .3 5 %
G S R 1B 2 7 1 .0 9 %
G S R 1B 1 7 0 .3 1 %
G S D 3B 3 5 9 .8 3 %
G S D 3B 2 5 1 .3 2 %
G S D 3B 1 7 2 .4 0 %
G S D 2B 3 5 5 .8 2 %
G S D 2B 2 8 0 .9 5 %
G S D 2B 1 7 0 .7 7 %
B enchm ark 95.00 %

G S U 1B 3 81.90 %
G S U 1B 2 83.35 %
G S U 1B 1 44.40 %
G S R 4B 3 79.04 %
G S R 4B 2 85.73 %
G S R 4B 1 81.03 %
G S R 3B 3 84.36 %
G S R 3B 2 63.68 %
G S R 3B 1 66.24 %
Week 4
G S R 2B 3 67.69 %
G S R 2B 2 82.35 %
G S R 2B 1 72.19 %
G S R 1B 3 54.34 %
G S R 1B 2 67.59 %
G S R 1B 1 69.02 %
G S D 3B 3 62.77 %
G S D 3B 2 51.84 %
G S D 3B 1 68.82 %
G S D 2B 3 63.64 %
G S D 2B 2 82.88 %
G S D 2B 1 75.91 %
40.00 % P ercenta ge of cells 100.0 0%
90
Network MINIMUM benchmark for TCH blocking < 2%
Benchmark 95.00%
Week 4 96.43%
Week 3 96.71%
Week 2 97.18%
Week 1 97.79%
MSC MINIMUM benchmark for TCH blocking < 2%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 98.38%
GSR4 98.61%
Week 1
GSR3 98.29%
GSR2 98.72%
GSR1 98.48%
GSD3 97.67%
GSD2 99.58%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 97.65%
GSR4 98.21%
Week 2
GSR3 96.71%
GSR2 98.42%
GSR1 96.86%
GSD3 96.83%
GSD2 99.61%
91
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 97.01%
GSR4 98.58%
GSR3 96.73%
GSR2
Week 3
98.27%
GSR1 96.57%
GSD3 96.03%
GSD2 99.56%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 97.19%
GSR4 99.24%
Week 4
GSR3 96.63%
GSR2 97.66%
GSR1 96.45%
GSD3 96.26%
GSD2 99.46%
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for TCH blocking < 2%
B enc hm ark 95 .00%

G S U 1B 3 97 .19%
G S U 1B 2 88 .69%
G S U 1B 1 91 .90%
G S R 4B 3 99 .89%
G S R 4B 2 99 .27%
G S R 4B 1 99 .60%
G S R 3B 3 98 .82%
G S R 3B 2 97 .61%
G S R 3B 1 99 .05%
Week 1
G S R 2B 3 95 .12%
G S R 2B 2 98 .90%
G S R 2B 1 98 .62%
G S R 1B 3 97 .27%
G S R 1B 2 98 .45%
G S R 1B 1 96 .20%
G S D 3B 3 10 0.00 %
G S D 3B 2 97 .56%
G S D 3B 1 97 .62%
G S D 2B 3 98 .57%
G S D 2B 2 10 0.00 %
G S D 2B 1 10 0.00 %
80 .00% P ercentage of c ells 10 0.00 %

92
B enc hm a rk 95.00%
G S U 1B 3 94.70%
G S U 1B 2 83.94%
G S U 1B 1 90.98%
G S R 4B 3 99.65%
G S R 4B 2 99.41%
G S R 4B 1 99.53%
G S R 3B 3 97.29%
G S R 3B 2 96.79%
G S R 3B 1 98.74%
Week 2
G S R 2B 3 95.00%
G S R 2B 2 97.91%
G S R 2B 1 98.30%
G S R 1B 3 98.31%
G S R 1B 2 98.21%
G S R 1B 1 96.21%
G S D 3B 3 100 .00 %
G S D 3B 2 97.04%
G S D 3B 1 96.93%
G S D 2B 3 98.48%
G S D 2B 2 99.93%
G S D 2B 1 99.93%
80.00% P erc enta ge o f cells 100 .00 %

BSC MINIMUM benchmark for TCH blocking < 2% (continued)
B enchm ark 95.00%

G S U 1B 3 94.34%
G S U 1B 2 81.85%
G S U 1B 1 90.40%
G S R 4B 3 99.89%
G S R 4B 2 99.32%
G S R 4B 1 99.20%
G S R 3B 3 96.82%
G S R 3B 2 95.53%
G S R 3B 1 98.35%
Week 3
G S R 2B 3 94.26%
G S R 2B 2 97.49%
G S R 2B 1 98.19%
G S R 1B 3 96.47%
G S R 1B 2 97.96%
G S R 1B 1 96.11%
G S D 3B 3 98.98%
G S D 3B 2 97.03%
G S D 3B 1 96.42%
G S D 2B 3 98.88%
G S D 2B 2 99.60%
G S D 2B 1 99.47%
80.00% P ercen tage o f cells 100.00%
93
B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 9 3 .6 8 %
G S U 1B 2 8 2 .3 8 %
G S U 1B 1 8 9 .9 9 %
G S R 4B 3 9 9 .6 0 %
G S R 4B 2 9 8 .3 3 %
G S R 4B 1 9 9 .0 7 %
G S R 3B 3 9 7 .1 2 %
G S R 3B 2 9 4 .6 9 %
G S R 3B 1 9 7 .5 3 %
Week 4
G S R 2B 3 9 4 .5 9 %
G S R 2B 2 9 7 .8 3 %
G S R 2B 1 9 8 .6 3 %
G S R 1B 3 9 6 .8 1 %
G S R 1B 2 9 7 .9 1 %
G S R 1B 1 9 6 .0 0 %
G S D 3B 3 9 9 .4 1 %
G S D 3B 2 9 5 .3 7 %
G S D 3B 1 9 5 .8 2 %
G S D 2B 3 9 8 .3 7 %
G S D 2B 2 9 9 .6 1 %
G S D 2B 1 9 9 .3 0 %
94
Network MINIMUM benchmark for TCH drop rate < 2%
B e nch m ark 95 .0 0%
W e ek 4 89 .8 0%
W e ek 3 90 .2 4%
W e ek 2 89 .6 8%
W e ek 1 89 .6 3%
70 .0 0% P e rce ntage o f ce lls 10 0.00%
MSC MINIMUM benchmark for TCH drop rate < 2%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 74.42%
GSR4 99.44%
Week 1
GSR3 85.06%
GSR2 95.43%
GSR1 97.09%
GSD3 80.54%
GSD2 93.53%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 75.70%
GSR4 99.33%
Week 2
GSR3 84.54%
GSR2 95.62%
GSR1 97.86%
GSD3 79.32%
GSD2 93.46%
95
B en ch m a rk 95 .0 0%
GSU1 77 .2 8%
GSR4 99 .1 6%
GSR3 84 .3 7%
Week 3
GSR2 95 .2 5%
GSR1 97 .2 5%
GSD3 80 .3 7%
GSD2 95 .6 4%
60 .0 0% P erce nta ge of cells 10 0.00%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 76.21%
GSR4 99.06%
Week 4
GSR3 83.33%
GSR2 95.72%
GSR1 97.62%
GSD3 80.31%
GSD2 94.44%
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for TCH drop rate < 2%

B en chm ark 95 .00%
G S U 1B 3 73 .04%
G S U 1B 2 90 .04%
G S U 1B 1 62 .38%
G S R 4B 3 99 .89%
G S R 4B 2 99 .78%
G S R 4B 1 98 .86%
G S R 3B 3 85 .88%
G S R 3B 2 84 .33%
G S R 3B 1 85 .27%
G S R 2B 3 86 .23%
Week 1
G S R 2B 2 99 .89%
G S R 2B 1 98 .94%
G S R 1B 3 91 .96%
G S R 1B 2 99 .59%
G S R 1B 1 97 .20%
G S D 3B 3 75 .84%
G S D 3B 2 81 .47%
G S D 3B 1 82 .13%
G S D 2B 3 91 .24%
G S D 2B 2 96 .39%
G S D 2B 1 92 .29%
40 .00% P ercentage of c ells 10 0.00 %

96
G S U 1B 3 75 .43 %
G S U 1B 2 89 .11 %
G S U 1B 1 64 .19 %
G S R 4B 3 99 .65 %
G S R 4B 2 99 .26 %
G S R 4B 1 99 .20 %
G S R 3B 3 85 .04 %
G S R 3B 2 84 .23 %
G S R 3B 1 84 .52 %
Week 2
G S R 2B 3 86 .50 %
G S R 2B 2 99 .89 %
G S R 2B 1 99 .26 %
G S R 1B 3 93 .40 %
G S R 1B 2 99 .51 %
G S R 1B 1 98 .64 %
G S D 3B 3 74 .07 %
G S D 3B 2 77 .98 %
G S D 3B 1 83 .09 %
G S D 2B 3 91 .74 %
G S D 2B 2 95 .72 %
G S D 2B 1 92 .42 %
40 .00 % P ercentage of cells 10 0.0 0%
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for TCH drop rate < 2% (continued)

G S U 1B 3 76 .64 %
G S U 1B 2 90 .27 %
G S U 1B 1 66 .54 %
G S R 4B 3 99 .54 %
G S R 4B 2 99 .17 %
G S R 4B 1 98 .94 %
G S R 3B 3 86 .44 %
G S R 3B 2 83 .61 %
G S R 3B 1 83 .81 %
Week 3
G S R 2B 3 85 .77 %
G S R 2B 2 99 .67 %
G S R 2B 1 99 .04 %
G S R 1B 3 92 .64 %
G S R 1B 2 99 .76 %
G S R 1B 1 97 .20 %
G S D 3B 3 73 .73 %
G S D 3B 2 77 .09 %
G S D 3B 1 86 .46 %
G S D 2B 3 90 .28 %
G S D 2B 2 97 .59 %
G S D 2B 1 97 .54 %
40 .00 % P ercentage of cells 10 0.0 0%

97
B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 7 4 .8 1 %
G S U 1B 2 9 0 .7 5 %
G S U 1B 1 6 4 .9 6 %
G S R 4B 3 9 9 .2 0 %
G S R 4B 2 9 8 .8 5 %
G S R 4B 1 9 9 .1 5 %
G S R 3B 3 8 4 .7 7 %
G S R 3B 2 8 3 .1 9 %
G S R 3B 1 8 2 .5 3 %
Week 4
G S R 2B 3 8 6 .5 5 %
G S R 2B 2 9 9 .7 4 %
G S R 2B 1 9 9 .6 3 %
G S R 1B 3 9 3 .1 0 %
G S R 1B 2 9 9 .9 0 %
G S R 1B 1 9 7 .7 9 %
G S D 3B 3 7 3 .8 6 %
G S D 3B 2 7 8 .4 1 %
G S D 3B 1 8 5 .1 6 %
G S D 2B 3 8 9 .6 0 %
G S D 2B 2 9 7 .3 5 %
G S D 2B 1 9 5 .0 3 %
98
Network MINIMUM benchmark for handover success rate > 97%
Benchmark 95.00%
Week 4 58.16%
Week 3 59.48%
Week 2 61.02%
Week 1 55.79%
MSC MINIMUM benchmark for handover success rate > 97%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 49.16%
GSR4 87.99%
Week 1
GSR3 61.04%
GSR2 77.44%
GSR1 63.74%
GSD3 23.57%
GSD2 40.48%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 51.47%
GSR4 89.94%
Week 2
GSR3 59.29%
GSR2 77.82%
GSR1 63.05%
GSD3 25.94%
GSD2 46.35%
99
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 52.12%
GSR4 87.96%
Week 3
GSR3 57.13%
GSR2 75.86%
GSR1 62.80%
GSD3 26.23%
GSD2 43.31%
Benchmark 95.00%
GSU1 49.90%
GSR4 89.18%
Week 4
GSR3 62.29%
GSR2 76.27%
GSR1 62.94%
GSD3 24.14%
GSD2 45.98%
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for Handover success rate > 97%

G S U 1B 3 48 .42 %
G S U 1B 2 61 .95 %
G S U 1B 1 38 .84 %
G S R 4B 3 85 .13 %
G S R 4B 2 94 .02 %
G S R 4B 1 86 .30 %
G S R 3B 3 59 .83 %
G S R 3B 2 55 .60 %
G S R 3B 1 66 .67 %
Week 1
G S R 2B 3 56 .89 %
G S R 2B 2 89 .05 %
G S R 2B 1 83 .78 %
G S R 1B 3 47 .45 %
G S R 1B 2 74 .38 %
G S R 1B 1 62 .90 %
G S D 3B 3 29 .59 %
G S D 3B 2 16 .43 %
G S D 3B 1 26 .52 %
G S D 2B 3 30 .06 %
G S D 2B 2 60 .65 %
G S D 2B 1 32 .83 %
10 .00 % P ercen tag e of cells 10 0.0 0%

100
B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 4 9 .8 1 %
G S U 1B 2 6 0 .5 9 %
G S U 1B 1 4 0 .5 2 %
G S R 4B 3 8 6 .4 1 %
G S R 4B 2 9 2 .1 9 %
G S R 4B 1 8 8 .3 3 %
G S R 3B 3 6 2 .5 6 %
G S R 3B 2 5 9 .4 2 %
G S R 3B 1 6 4 .6 9 %
Week 2
G S R 2B 3 5 7 .9 8 %
G S R 2B 2 8 7 .0 1 %
G S R 2B 1 8 1 .4 6 %
G S R 1B 3 5 1 .1 9 %
G S R 1B 2 7 0 .5 1 %
G S R 1B 1 6 6 .6 7 %
G S D 3B 3 2 7 .9 8 %
G S D 3B 2 1 5 .6 0 %
G S D 3B 1 3 0 .4 2 %
G S D 2B 3 3 4 .5 5 %
G S D 2B 2 5 8 .8 6 %
G S D 2B 1 4 1 .5 0 %
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for handover success rate > 97% (continued)
B enchm ark 95.00 %

G S U 1B 3 50.87 %
G S U 1B 2 62.01 %
G S U 1B 1 42.86 %
G S R 4B 3 87.57 %
G S R 4B 2 91.53 %
G S R 4B 1 89.90 %
G S R 3B 3 60.07 %
G S R 3B 2 56.47 %
G S R 3B 1 61.70 %
Week 3
G S R 2B 3 57.27 %
G S R 2B 2 88.77 %
G S R 2B 1 84.75 %
G S R 1B 3 47.11 %
G S R 1B 2 71.76 %
G S R 1B 1 62.90 %
G S D 3B 3 33.16 %
G S D 3B 2 15.10 %
G S D 3B 1 31.39 %
G S D 2B 3 25.56 %
G S D 2B 2 62.38 %
G S D 2B 1 45.47 %
10.00 % P ercenta ge of cells 100.0 0%

101
B e n c h m a rk 9 5 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 5 1 .2 0 %
G S U 1B 2 6 3 .4 9 %
G S U 1B 1 4 3 .1 4 %
G S R 4B 3 8 5 .2 5 %
G S R 4B 2 8 9 .7 8 %
G S R 4B 1 8 7 .9 1 %
G S R 3B 3 5 8 .6 1 %
G S R 3B 2 5 6 .5 4 %
G S R 3B 1 5 6 .8 1 %
Week 4
G S R 2B 3 5 6 .7 7 %
G S R 2B 2 8 6 .3 7 %
G S R 2B 1 8 1 .9 8 %
G S R 1B 3 4 7 .3 8 %
G S R 1B 2 7 1 .3 5 %
G S R 1B 1 6 2 .6 2 %
G S D 3B 3 3 1 .8 0 %
G S D 3B 2 1 5 .5 1 %
G S D 3B 1 3 2 .4 2 %
G S D 2B 3 2 4 .6 7 %
G S D 2B 2 5 9 .5 9 %
G S D 2B 1 4 0 .7 0 %
102
Network MINIMUM benchmark for TCH availability
B e nch m ark 99 .0 0%
W ee k 4 99 .5 0%
W ee k 3 99 .7 0%
W ee k 2 99 .8 7%
W ee k 1 99 .9 7%
95 .0 0% P e rce n ta g e o f ce lls 10 0.00 %
MSC MINIMUM benchmark for TCH availability
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G SU1 9 9 .9 0 %
G SR4 9 9 .9 5 %
G SR3 9 9 .9 2 %
Week 1
G SR2 9 9 .8 7 %
G SR1 1 0 0 .0 0 %
G SD3 9 9 .8 7 %
G SD2 1 0 0 .0 0 %
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G SU1 9 9 .9 1 %
G SR4 9 9 .4 5 %
Week 2
G SR3 1 0 0 .0 0 %
G SR2 9 9 .9 5 %
G SR1 9 9 .8 8 %
G SD3 9 9 .8 9 %
G SD2 1 0 0 .0 0 %
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G SU1 9 9 .9 2 %
G SR4 9 8 .8 0 %
Week 3
G SR3 9 9 .5 5 %
G SR2 9 9 .9 5 %
G SR1 9 9 .9 3 %
G SD3 9 9 .8 2 %
G SD2 1 0 0 .0 0 %
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G SU1 9 9 .9 4 %
G SR4 9 7 .6 3 %
Week 4
G SR3 9 9 .8 5 %
G SR2 9 9 .8 2 %
G SR1 9 9 .8 2 %
G SD3 9 9 .9 1 %
G SD2 9 9 .8 7 %
103
BSC MINIMUM benchmark for TCH availability

G S U 1B 3 99 .81 %
G S U 1B 2 99 .95 %
G S U 1B 1 99 .96 %
G S R 4B 3 10 0.0 0%
G S R 4B 2 99 .98 %
G S R 4B 1 99 .91 %
G S R 3B 3 10 0.0 0%
G S R 3B 2 99 .70 %
G S R 3B 1 99 .99 %
Week 1
G S R 2B 3 99 .73 %
G S R 2B 2 99 .99 %
G S R 2B 1 99 .85 %
G S R 1B 3 99 .99 %
G S R 1B 2 99 .95 %
G S R 1B 1 10 0.0 0%
G S D 3B 3 99 .64 %
G S D 3B 2 99 .86 %
G S D 3B 1 99 .99 %
G S D 2B 3 10 0.0 0%
G S D 2B 2 99 .99 %
G S D 2B 1 99 .93 %
92 .00 % P ercen tage of cells 10 0.0 0%
B enc hm a rk 99 .00%
G S U 1B 3 99 .92%
G S U 1B 2 99 .81%
G S U 1B 1 99 .97%
G S R 4B 3 99 .92%
G S R 4B 2 98 .76%
G S R 4B 1 99 .82%
G S R 3B 3 10 0.00 %
G S R 3B 2 99 .95%
G S R 3B 1 10 0.01 %
Week 2
G S R 2B 3 99 .91%
G S R 2B 2 99 .95%
G S R 2B 1 99 .98%
G S R 1B 3 99 .95%
G S R 1B 2 99 .77%
G S R 1B 1 99 .97%
G S D 3B 3 99 .63%
G S D 3B 2 99 .94%
G S D 3B 1 99 .99%
G S D 2B 3 10 0.00 %
G S D 2B 2 99 .98%
G S D 2B 1 99 .98%
92 .00% P erc enta ge of ce lls 10 0.00 % 104

BSC MINIMUM benchmark for TCH availability (continued)
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 9 9 .8 4 %
G S U 1B 2 9 9 .9 8 %
G S U 1B 1 9 9 .9 7 %
G S R 4B 3 1 0 0 .0 0 %
G S R 4B 2 9 6 .9 4 %
G S R 4B 1 9 9 .7 8 %
G S R 3B 3 1 0 0 .0 0 %
G S R 3B 2 9 8 .8 2 %
G S R 3B 1 9 9 .9 8 %
Week 3
G S R 2B 3 9 9 .9 9 %
G S R 2B 2 9 9 .9 5 %
G S R 2B 1 9 9 .9 2 %
G S R 1B 3 9 9 .6 6 %
G S R 1B 2 1 0 0 .0 3 %
G S R 1B 1 9 9 .9 8 %
G S D 3B 3 9 9 .7 6 %
G S D 3B 2 9 9 .8 7 %
G S D 3B 1 9 9 .7 9 %
G S D 2B 3 1 0 0 .0 0 %
G S D 2B 2 9 9 .9 4 %
G S D 2B 1 9 9 .9 9 %
B e n c h m a rk 9 9 .0 0 %
G S U 1B 3 9 9 .9 3 %
G S U 1B 2 9 9 .9 9 %
G S U 1B 1 9 9 .9 1 %
G S R 4B 3 9 9 .9 8 %
G S R 4B 2 9 3 .7 6 %
G S R 4B 1 9 9 .8 1 %
G S R 3B 3 9 9 .8 6 %
G S R 3B 2 9 9 .7 7 %
G S R 3B 1 9 9 .9 3 %
Week 4
G S R 2B 3 9 9 .4 9 %
G S R 2B 2 9 9 .9 8 %
G S R 2B 1 9 9 .9 6 %
G S R 1B 3 9 9 .9 3 %
G S R 1B 2 9 9 .7 7 %
G S R 1B 1 9 9 .8 1 %
G S D 3B 3 9 9 .8 6 %
G S D 3B 2 9 9 .9 2 %
G S D 3B 1 9 9 .9 3 %
G S D 2B 3 9 9 .9 4 %
G S D 2B 2 9 9 .7 1 %
G S D 2B 1 9 9 .9 8 %
105
6.9 Introduction of the features on the Network
6.9.1 Discontinuous Transmission

Discontinuous transmission (DTX) is a means of saving battery power in
handsets and reducing interference by automatically switching the transmitter off
when no speech or data are to be sent.
This feature is implemented in the transcoder and in the MS.
DTX alternates between:

- speech-active phase with transmission of one speech frame of 20 ms each.
- Speech-inactive phases, with transmission of comfort noise characteristics at
a rate of one frame in every 480 ms.
The transcoder performs the speech activity detection in the downlink direction. If
no speech is detected in the TC, SID-frames (Silence Descriptor) are sent to the
MS. SID-frames include the characteristics of the background noise. This enable
comfort noise generation.
If no speech detection has been detected at the Mobile Station, a similar kind of
function takes place. The parameters of the background noise are sent to the TC,
which is then able to generate the comfort noise.
6.9.2 Power Control
It is used by the BSS to adjust power output according to distance between

mobile and Base station, the closer the mobile is to the Base station the less
power it has to transmit and vice versa. It saves battery and also reduces the co-
channel and adjacent channel interference. Both the uplink and the downlink
power of the system can be controlled but it depends on the decision of the
operator.
Several kind of power control are in use by the operators. The most common
ones are the step by step power control and the one shot power control.
In the step by step, the power of the MS or the BTS is increased or decreased
with fixed steps of power. Typically, steps of 4 dB to increased the power of the
MS or the BTS and steps of 2 dB to decrease the power.
In the one shot, the power can be increased or decreased more dynamically and
the maximum steps can reach 10 dB when increasing the power.
6.9.3 Enhanced Full Rate
The EFR-GSM algorithm uses silence compression or discontinuous

transmission to reduce the transmitted bit rate during the silent intervals of
106
speech. Voice Activity Detection (VAD) and Comfort Noise Generation (CNG)
algorithms are used to enable the transmission of Silence Descriptor (SID)
frames during the periods of silence. This provides the additional advantage of
using lower processing loads and DSP bandwidth resource during silence
intervals.
The GSM EFR speech codec uses the algebraic code excited linear prediction
(ACELP) algorithm, which is an analysis-by-synthesis algorithm and belongs to
the class of speech coding algorithms known as code excited linear prediction
(CELP). Therefore, the speech decoder is primarily a subset of the speech
encoder. For every 20-ms speech frame, the EFR encoder extracts 57
parameters, as well as VAD information. These parameters include short-term
(LP) parameters, adaptive excitation parameters, and algebraic code excitation
(CODE) parameters. Each speech frame is equally divided into four sub-frames.
Except for LP parameters, which are extracted once per frame and therefore are
frame parameters, the parameters are all sub-frame parameters. These
parameters are quantised into 244 bits, resulting in a transmission rate of 12.2
kbits/s. In the EFR decoder, the quantised parameters are decoded and adding
the adaptive and innovative code vectors scaled by their respective gains
generates a synthetic excitation. The synthetic excitation is then filtered through
the LP synthesis filter to generate the synthetic speech waveform, which is
processed by a so-called post-filter to further improve the speech quality.
6.9.4 Hierarchical Cell Structure
In a matured GSM network capacity is a serious problem. The network will have
small cells and large cells. Small cells give limited coverage where as large cells
give limited capacity. This leads to a situation when and where to favour a cell.
The network will have microcell and macrocell deploying multiband frequencies
of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz.
Hierarchical cell structure can be achieved by defining two or three layers in a

network. Large cells form as umbrella cells and small cells to provide extra “hot
spot” capacity. Hierarchical cell structure makes it possible to pass between
layers in a controlled way. This means traffic is directed to lower layers as well.
Hierarchical cell structure deploys a technical algorithm. There exists a signal

strength threshold for each cell in layer 1 and layer 2. Hand over to higher layer
cell or cell in the same or lower layer is performed when signal strength falls
below threshold.
107
Figure 6.9.4.a Hierarchical cell structure
6.9.5 Double BCCH Allocation list
Double BCCH list has two lists namely Idle BCCH Allocation list and Active
BCCH Allocation list.
When a mobile station is in Idle mode it needs some information about the
network in order to be capable of knowing right frequencies and finding the right
cells. This is provided by the Idle BCCH Allocation List. This information is
actually related to Radio Resource Management and Mobility Management
because information contains frequencies, ID’s of cells, location area ID’s and
cell access parameters. Also this list is used to ease the cell search procedure.
It can also be used to restrict mobile station getting to 900 or 1800 layer.
Active BCCH Allocation list is used by dedicated mode mobile stations. When
108
the mobile is in the dedicated mode it has to look for the neighbouring cell
frequencies. Basically this is the list of the neighbour list of a cell, which enables
the mobile station to look for. Strictly speaking the neighbour list can have 6
frequencies.
6.9.6 Directed Retry

Directed retry is the feature of GSM, which can be activated on per sector basis.
It’s basically a temporary solution for the congestion. We can define the
neighbours to handover the cued calls and the calls will be handed over when the
congestion arises. We can define either one or all the neighbours, which are
defined in the neighbour list of the sectors.
6.9.7 Congestion Relief
Congestion relief is a feature of GSM which can be activated on per sector basis.
It is basically a temporary solution for the congestion. We can define it for
congestion monitored the calls cued to the site will be handover to the best
neighbours according to the level of the neighbour which we give. The calls will
be handed over only if the criteria of the level which we specify met. We can add
either one or all the neighbours from the neighbour list and specify the condition
of handover only if the subscriber is at least on the level of which we desired. It is
going to be superimposed on the level handovers when the congestion arises.
6.9.8 Dynamic Channel Allocation
On cell initialisation the CRM ensures that each air-interface timeslot is

configured in line with database inputs. However, during call processing the CRM
can dynamically re-configure channels. In other words switch from TCH to
SDCCH/8 or vice versa, as channel requirement fluctuates. This feature can be
implemented at places like airports, underground train stations where there is a
sudden need of SDCCH only for a short period of time. This is because the MS
needs to register itself to the network after being in out-of-GSM-coverage area for
sometime. However, the dynamic channel re-configuration process will only take
place if sufficient TCHs are available in the cell for operation in dedicated mode
after channel-reconfiguration, as TCH generates most of the revenue in a
network.
6.9.9 Selection (C1) and Reselection (C2) Parameters
When designing a network, the models used to simulate the coverage area of the
cellular hexagons. In practise however, cell borders are not regular hexagons
and they are determined by two criteria:
• Propagation conditions.
109
• Algorithms for changing serving cell based on link measurements.
These algorithms are named as:

• Cell selection/reselection in Idle mode.
• Handover in dedicated mode.
The cell selection /reselection algorithm is implemented in MS based on the

parameters broadcasted from BSS to MS. There are two different types of
handsets: phase1 and phase2.
Phase1 handsets use only C1 criterion when Phase2 handsets can use either C1
or C2 criterion.
6.9.9.1 C1 Criteria
The MS measures 5 uniformly selected samples of received carrier over a period

of 3-5 seconds and calculates the average.
AV_RXLEV=(RXLEV1+RXLEV2+…RXLEV5)/5
Parameter C1 is defined as:
C1= (AV_RXLEV) – (RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN)-MAX(0, (MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH)

-P)
RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN Minimum downlink received level threshold

MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH Maximum allowed MS transmit power to access
RACH
P MS transmit power
The condition C1 > 0 is called C1 criterion. The last term in C1 formula is

considered for having sufficient uplink received level for low transmit power MSs .
If P < MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH then the C1 criterion is equivalent to:
AV_RXLEV > (RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN) - (MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH) -P
In that case, the received downlink level must be greater than

RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN by a margin to have a reserve for the uplink in case of
low transmit power MSs. The general strategy for cell selection is to find the
suitable cell with highest C1.
When the MS moves within radio network, another cell from neighbour list of
serving cell maybe more appropriate to serve the MS, so cell reselection initiates.
From radio propagation point of view it’s worth to select a new cell as server if the
received level of neighbour cell exceeds the received level of current serving cell.
For phase1 MSs this is expressed in terms of C1 as:
110
C1(neighbour cell) > C1(serving cell)
6.9.9.2 C2 Criteria
As soon as one cell is placed in the list of 6 strongest neighbour cells a timer is
switched on so 6 timers are switched on for 6 neighbour cells and when the
neighbour cell is removed from list the corresponding timer is switched off.
Designating the PENALTY_TIME with T, and timer time with t the parameter C2
for phase2 MSs is defined as :
If PENTIME ≠ 31 & t < T then:

C2=C1 + (CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET) - (TEMPORARY_OFFSET)
If PENTIME ≠ 31 & t > T then:

C2=C1 + (CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET)
If PENTIME=31 then C2 is independent of T :

C2=C1-CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET
Table 6.9.9.2 hereafter shows PENTIME values and it’s corresponding penalty
time.
PENTIME PENALTY_TIME (Sec)
0 20
1 40
2 60
…. …..
30 600
31 C2 is independent of penalty time
Table 6.9.9.2 Relation between PENTIME and PENALTY_TIME (Sec)
Fig 6.9.9.2 hereafter shows a graphical representation of C1 & C2 parameters.
111
C2
C1 CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET
TEMPORARY_OFFSET
PENALTY_TIME t
Fig 6.9.9.2 A graphical representation of C1 and C2 parameters
A positive value for TEMPORARY_OFFSET decreases the neighbour cell priority

in the neighbour list because the cell with lower value for C2 has lower chance
to be selected.
A positive value for CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET increases the neighbour cell
priority in neighbour list because the cell with higher value for C2 has greater
chance to be selected.
This mechanism is used in hierarchical cell structures in order to keep fast
moving MSs in Macro-cell and slow moving MSs in Micro-cell. A fast moving MS
leaves the coverage area of the micro-cell sooner than penalty time expiration
thus the micro-cell will not be selected. On the other hand a slow moving MS will
stay in the coverage area of micro-cell even after penalty time expiration.
6.9.10 Dual Band Operation
This configuration can be used for capacity gains in a network. If deployed as

collocated sites, this offers a very cost-effective solution to increasing capacity.
Also by using proper algorithms (duration-of-stay-counters, thresholds etc) it is
possible to prioritise the different cell layers for dual band mobiles, ensuring that
the maximum potential of each cell layer is fully exploited.
6.9.11 Extended Cell
Extended Range Cell is an optional feature that enables a network operator to

extend the coverage of a cell site beyond the 35-km GSM limit. Normally, GSM
cells can serve mobile stations within 35 km of the serving base station, based
upon existing RF conditions. This is based upon a maximum timing advance of
63 bit periods, or 233 microseconds. As a mobile moves away from a serving
base station, it is instructed to advance the timing of its transmissions to the BSS
to compensate for the increasing propagation delay. The Extended Range Cell
feature enables the base station to successfully handle the uplink transmissions
112
of a mobile whose timing advance exceeds 63 bit periods.
The method by which the range extension is achieved is based upon the use of
multiple timeslots. As the mobile moves beyond the standard range, the mobile’s
transmission begins to arrive at the base station in the guard-band and timeslot
adjacent to the timeslot in which the transmission is expected. This is due to the
additional propagation delay resulting from the distance the signals have to
travel. This feature facilitates the extension of cell coverage by allocating a
second timeslot to those mobiles operating beyond the 35-km theoretical limit.
By allocating an adjacent timeslot, the solution also takes advantage of the
guard-band between the timeslots as well. This provides an additional 156-bit
period, thus enabling a maximum range of 120 km. The actual range extension
achieved is highly dependent upon RF conditions, as well as RF equipment
planning.
6.9.12 Concentric Cells
This feature enables the operator to achieve greater capacity with the same
bandwidth.
7 Study of Real Networks
7.1 Slovenia Network
7.1.1 Network Background
There are three GSM-mobile operators in Slovenia namely Mobitel with nearly 1
million subscriber, Si-Mobile with about 60,00 subscribers and Western Wireless
International (WWI) with 7,000 subscribers. WWI was commercially launched in
December last year and has over 200 On-Air sites until now. WWI is using
Lucent equipment in its network and is operating in GSM-1800 MHz band only.
There are only Macro cells incorporated in the network so far. The coverage
penetration of WWI alone is 65% but due to its roaming agreement with Mobitel
the coverage penetration is 98%.
7.1.2 Description of the Problems
The terrain profile of Slovenia is quite varying with mountains, hilly area,
seashores and coastal regions. Only one type of antenna with 65-degree
horizontal, 7-degree vertical beam-width and 2-degree electrical down-tilt has
been used throughout the network because of which optimising the network is a
bit challenging.
7.1.3 Coverage and Design Analysis
113
Since WWI network is in its initial stage therefore the network is basically
coverage limited. The only dense urban part of the network is in the city of
Ljubljan where the carrier configuration is 2/2/2. One carrier per sector is used
otherwise throughout the network. The average site height is 25 meters with no
Omni-sectored cells. Cross-polarised antennae are used throughout the network.
7.1.4 Interference Analysis
There are no major interference issues in the network because of very good
frequency re-use pattern of 10/30, which is chosen by the client.
7.1.5 Description of the principal parameters used to benchmark the Network
In order to periodically monitor the network performance, the following are the
key network statistics.
Drop call rate typical value < 0.9%

Overall handover success rate typical value >98%
Call set-up success rate Typical value >98%
TCH RF Loss Typical value<0.5%
SDCCH RF Loss Typical value <0.2%
RX Qual as measured from DT Typical value <3% (Only in VEGA coverage
area as per level threshold)
OPAS and Actix tools were used to analyse drive test data while Agilent drive
test trial tool was used for data collection.
7.1.6 Optimization indicator Monitoring
The main network monitoring parameters are Quality and Received Signal Level
in the DL. Handover analysis and neighbour cell verification are also performed
based on the drive trial results.
7.1.7 Radio Network Parameters and Features enabled on the Network
Following are the features enabled in the network

• Directed retry (congestion relief)
• Call Re-establishment
• DTX in UL only
7.1.8 Frequency Planning
The frequency re-used pattern is 10/30 throughout the network. The ARFCNs
used are from 512-586 that equals 15MHz bandwidth.
7.1.9 Solutions introduced to improve the Performances of the Network
114
Use of Variable down-tilt antennae in the network. EIRP reduction for sites on
high sites.
7.2 Kuwait Network
7.2.1 Network Background
Kuwait Network is a dual band GSM network.
The operator is wataniya Telecom using Siemens equipment's. Hierarchical cell

structure is used in the network. Basically 1800MHz band is the primarily band
while 900 MHz band is used for areas where coverage not capacity is the main
goal. Traffic distribution among the two layers is 75% 1800 MHz and band 25%
900MHz. The network comprises of over 400 Macro-sites and over 50 Micro-
cells.
Kuwait city is covered as well as some desert roads.
7.2.2 Description of the Problems

7.2.3 Coverage and Design Analysis
The coverage is mainly provided in Kuwait City. The average site height is 25
meters mainly sectorized sites. They are using mainly cross-polarised and the
space diversity is only used in sites in desert.
The network was designed for 40 mE per subscriber. Some in-building micro-
sites have been built.
7.2.4 Interference Analysis

7.2.5 Description of the principal parameters used to benchmark the Network
In order to periodically monitor the network performance, the following are the
key network statistics.
Drop call rate typical value < 1%

Overal handover success rate typical value >96%
Intracell handover success rate typical value > 97%
Call setup success rate Typical value >97%
TCH RF Loss Typical value<0.5%
SDCCH RF Loss Typical value <0.5%
RX Qual as measured from DT Typical value <3%
In addition to this MapInfo is used for post-processing of Tems drive test data.
115
Cell tracker is also used to track statistics for a cell at a given time.
7.2.6 Optimization indicator Monitoring

7.2.7 Radio Network Parameters and Features enabled on the Network
Following are the features enabled in the network

• Synthesised frequency hopping for both 900 and 1800 MHz layers
• Directed retry (congestion relief)
• Extended cell
• Concentric cell
7.2.8 Frequency Planning

7.2.9 Solutions introduced to improve the Performances of the Network
8 Impact of GPRS
8.1 What is GPRS
GPRS is a packet switched data service in GSM for mobile access to the Internet
and other packet data networks (PDN). It provides higher user data rates by
using traffic channel combining and different coding schemes. GPRS allows the
service subscriber to send and receive data in an end-to-end transfer mode
without utilising network resources in circuit switched mode. Resources are used
only in case of data transmission. This allows volume-dependent charging; i.e.
the user only pays for the transferred data.
The GPRS system provides a basic solution for Internet Protocol (IP)
communication between Mobile Stations and Internet Service Hosts (IH) and
provides:
• efficient use of scarce radio resources
• a flexible service, with volume-based (or session duration-based) charging
• fast set-up/access time
• efficient transport of packets in the GSM network
• simultaneous GSM and GPRS, co-existence without disturbance
• connectivity to other external packet data networks, using the Internet
Protocol.
8.2 GPRS Architecture
Packet-orienting functionality requires some new network elements. GPRS is

logically implemented on the GSM structure through the addition of two network
nodes, the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and the Gateway GPRS
116
Support Node (GGSN).
Fig 8.2 shows the overview of the GPRS logical architecture.
Fig8.2 : The overview of the GPRS logical architecture.
In addition to adding multiple GPRS nodes and a GPRS backbone, some other
technical changes need to be added to a GSM network to implement a GPRS
service. These include the addition of Packet Control Units (PCU); often hosted
in the Base Station Subsystems (BSS), mobility management to locate the GPRS
Mobile Station (MS), a new air interface for packet traffic, new security features
such as ciphering and new GPRS specific signalling.
8.3 Impact of the GPRS introduction on an Optimized GSM Network
There are two scenarios to be considered in GPRS design . One involves a new
design for GPRS services and the other migration from GSM to GPRS network.
8.3.1 New GSM network design with GPRS
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Designing a new 2.5G GSM air interfaces from scratch (one which would cater
for Internet) is much easier than optimising the existing GSM air interface to
accommodate GPRS.
In the new design for GPRS all parameters regarding GPRS will be included in
the link budgets. In the new design the cell radius will have been already
calculated with GPRS in mind. As a result the network will be designed according
to the market requirements to ensure QoS. Further more, the allocation of time
slot to GPRS could also be determined from the beginning to ensure the required
throughput with regards to capacity study.
8.3.2 Migration from GSM to GPRS
In this case the existing GSM network is analysed to accommodate GPRS

services. The steps that must be taken to ensure the migration is shown in the
Figure 8.3.2 . The design involves for coverage and capacity dimensions.
118
Inp u t P aram eters
D ata Sub scrib ers/ A pplicatio ns an d Traffic p er
Subscriber/ Q oS/ A reas to be covered
C ov era ge Plan ning T ra ffic Pla n ning

H ow m any subscriber w ill use
D esig n of R adio C ells (L inkb udget)
w hich app licatio ns w ith w hich
and Interference A nalysis for all C S
data rate an d Q o S accordin g to
w hich traffic m od el?
R esu lts: R esu lts:

* C ell D iam eter *N um b er of needed PD C H s per rad io cell
*R ed uction o f m ean thro ughp ut by Interference *N um b er of new radio cells/ BT S
*T otal N um b er of R adio C ells for C ov erag e *M ean D ata T hrou ghp ut
R esu lts:
N um ber o f n ew equ ipm ent units needed in the netw o rk!
Figure 8.3.2: Migration from GSM to GPRS
8.4 Considerations in the GPRS link budgets
As we will see there are a few new aspects regarding link budget in the GPRS
design that we will have to take into account.
8.4.1 RX Sensitivity VS Coding Scheme
It is known that for a given BLER each type of modulation and coding scheme
requires a minimum signal to noise ratio (C/N), which at bit level is stated as
Eb/No. The Receive sensitivity is depending on this C/N as shown here. To
achieve the required BLER (eg 10%) each coding scheme requires a certain
level of C/N, therefore due to the different C/N requirements of each coding
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schemes, the receive sensitivity will be different for each one of them too. As the
data rates increases the error protection is reduced and therefore more C/N is
required.
As an example here is a table 8.4.1 with some results based on simulation of
propagation condition TU50 with ideal frequency hopping and without receive
diversity.
Required BS Sensitivity for Talk

Service QoS Family from NOKIA
C/N
Speech RBERII<8% 6.0 dB -108 dBm
CS-1 BLER<10% 6.2 dB -107.8 dBm
CS-2 BLER<10% 9.8 dB -104.1 dBm
CS-3 BLER<10% 12 dB -102,0 dBm
CS-4 BLER<10% 19.3 dB -94,7 dBm
Table 8.4.1: Changes in BTS Sensitivity for different coding schemes
8.4.2 Body Loss
The typical 3 dB body loss associated with voice service has to be excluded from
the GPRS service link budgets. This give GPRS services a 3 dB benefit. In effect,
this result in CS-1 is achieving a higher tolerable path loss than the voice service,
while CS-2 becomes comparable to the voice service. So the cell radio for CS-1
and CS-2 is usually bigger or similar than for voice service. Therefore, in terms of
coverage, the service for CS-1 and CS-2 will be available at least in the area that
would have been covered in a GSM voice network.
The table 8.4.2 shows the parameters that have differences in maximum
allowable path loss in case of sensitivities for various coding schemes and for the
GSM voice traffic.
Service Speech CS-1 CS-2 CS-3 CS-4

Required C/N 6.0 dB 6.2dB 9.8dB 12.0dB 19.3
-107.8 -102.4 -94.7
BTS Sensitivity -108dBm -104.1dBm
dBm dBm dBm
Body Loss 3 dB 0 dB 0 dB 0 dB 0 dB
Link budget
difference
related to talk --- +2.8 dB -0.8 dB -3.0 dB -10.3 dB
family Speech
service
Table 8.4.2: GPRS maximum allowable path loss differences related to GSM due
to change in sensitivity
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8.4.3 2dB C/I degradation in the down link
One factor affecting the interference level is the actual load factor of the
interferers. Simulations performed have indicated that the effect of GPRS load on
the existing GSM service will be of the order of up 2dB C/I degradation in the
downlink TCH case, but less on the uplink. No effect would be anticipated on the
downlink BCCH case. That is because on the TCH case, the amount of
interference generated depends on the loading of the TRXs and the power
control Since downlink power control to GPRS terminal is not used (at least in the
phase 1) and extra load can be anticipated, there will tend to be an increase in
interference levels when GPRS services are introduced. On the BCCH case,
permanently keyed carriers and the absence of downlink power control serve to
keep the interference at a fixed amount.
As the power control is implemented in the uplink case, the effect of the GPRS
traffic is not a problem and there are not any differences between BCCH and
TCH cases.
So, in the link budgets, 2 dB have to be added in the computation of the MAPL
for downlink to take this factor into account.
8.4.4 Coding scheme VS clutters
Operators may choose different coding schemes for different clutters. The
reasons may be based on:
• The forecasted demand for the data rate,
• The capability of offering the coding schemes without (or with the
minimum) changing in the existing GSM network,
• Or other reasons based on their business
8.5 Capacity dimensioning
The notion of running a new data service on residue capacity in the GSM network
may seem at first to relegate GPRS to the status of a second class service.
However, a few simple calculations will show us that the residue capacity in a
typical cell is more than enough to provide a high level of service to IP traffic.
Table 8.5a shows the capacity of a shared 4 carriers (30 channel) cell operating
at a circuit switched blocking level of 1% - a typical design level.
Cell capacity 30 channels

Circuit switched capacity @ 1% blocking 20 Erlang, i.e. 20
channels average
Resultant capacity for IP data traffic 10 channels
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Resultant end user IP throughput available 1 100kbit/s
Table 8.5a: Typical loading capability of a GSM cell (4 carriers)
Note 1: assumes Coding Scheme 2 (CS2) i.e. approximately 10kbit/s per
channel.
What this tells us is that in a cell where we can support an average of 20 voice
users we can also support a data throughput of 100kbit/s. If each of the data
users requires an average throughput of 5kbit/s (not untypical in a bursty data
environment) the cell can also support 20 data users. In practice since only 10-
20% of data users will want to
transfer data simultaneously, the peak data rate available per user will be in the
region of 25 – 50kbit/s.
This simplistic calculation needs to be refined to take account of the probability of
multiple users all requiring instantaneous transmission of large files of data, but in
practice when such occasions arise the end result will simply be that all users will
experience slow data transfer, the files will still transfer successfully.
Theoretically a GSM network having 2% blocking and having 1 TRX a sector will
have traffic 2.9 Erlangs. This means there is 7 timeslots available for usage. A
cell offering a circuit-switched load of 2.9 Erlangs with 7 circuits will, on average,
have 4.1 spare circuits. However, there is a certain overhead associated with the
division of the circuit-switched area and the GPRS area. Due to this reason by
simulation tests done the available circuits for GPRS is reduced from 4.1 to 3.1
circuits. On the other hand if this overhead in not considered this will lead to
adverse effects of increased blocking percentage. Therefore the mean free time
slots in a circuit-switched environment will be 1. This can be extended to 14, 22
etc timeslots depending on the traffic with a blocking of 2% as shown in the table
8.5.b.
No of TRX (TCH) GSM Traffic @ Mean free TCH for Mean free Time
2% blocking (Erl) GPRS (2% Slots in Circuit
blocking) Switch
1(7) 2.9 3.1 1.0
2(14) 8.2 4.3 1.5
3(22) 14.9 5.6 1.5
4(30) 21.9 5.6 2.5
5(38) 29.2 5.8 3.0
6(46) 36.5 6.5 3.0
7(54) 43.9 7.1 3.0
8(62) 51.5 6.5 4.0
Table 8.5b: Mean free time slots for GPRS in a circuit-switch
What the foregoing example tells us is that for a large number of cells in a GSM
network, the existing capacity of the network will suffice to provide a good quality
data service to a large community of data customers. In practice, the take-up of
GPRS will not be instantaneous across the GSM customer base from day one,
so it will be possible to monitor usage and performance as GPRS usage grows,
to validate performance expectations.
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There are a number of cases where the existing capacity of a GSM network will
not be sufficient to provide a satisfactory level of service to GPRS users:
• In existing network hotspots, where the circuit switched network is
congested.
• In locations where high usage of GPRS data service is encountered (e.g.
in-building cells)
• In multi-layer networks where one layer of the network is used in high
utilisation mode – i.e. where the blocking level on circuit switched traffic is
knowingly driven up in order to achieve high levels of channel utilisation.
In all these cases, additional carrier capacity must be provided to offer GPRS
traffic suitable throughput.
The real answer to the radio network dimensioning challenge will come from
experience. Experience will tell us whether the busy hour for voice traffic (circuit
switched) coincides with that for data traffic. Experience will also tell us whether
the geographic spread of data usage matches that of voice. Finally, experience
will tell us what sort of use customers make of GPRS, what sort of file sizes are
transported, and what sort of speeds they require. Careful monitoring of loading
and service levels experienced on GPRS in the growth phase of the service will
enable dimensioning decisions to be made ahead of growth.
All the foregoing analysis and discussion has assumed provision of equal
performance across GPRS users on a GSM network. However, the GPRS
standards proved for users to be given differential service levels. In particular,
users may be offered a precedence class that promotes their data to ‘ first in the
queue’ when encountering shared radio (or Core network) resources. Once this
feature is developed by equipment vendors it will be possible to offer a subset of
GPRS users premium service, guaranteeing high levels of throughput even if the
cell they are in is heavily loaded.
8.5.1 Network performance
The two major measures of GPRS performance are:

• Peak Throughput: the rate at which data is transferred
• Latency: the time taken for data packets to pass through the GPRS bearer
8.5.2 Peak throughput
An overview of GPRS peak throughputs based on the number of timeslots

available in GPRS handsets, and the Coding Schemes supported by the network
is shown in Table 8.5.2.a
Timeslots CS-1 (kbps) CS-2 (kbps)

Raw throughput/ Useable Raw throughput/
data Useable data
1 9.05/7.41 13.4/11.11
2 18.1/14.29 26.8/22.22
3 27.15/22.22 40.2/33.33
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4 36.2/28.57 53.6/40
Table 8.5.2.a Typical GPRS Peak Throughputs
The key drivers for peak throughput are:

• Mobile terminal timeslots / available radio capacity
• Radio coding scheme
• Protocol overhead
• Radio blocking level
Timeslots - As shown in the table 8.5.2.a the number of timeslots (TS) that a
mobile terminal has will drive the peak throughput. Initial GPRS terminals are
expected to be on the order of 1 TS uplink and 2 TS downlink (1U/2D). Future
handsets are likely to have at least 4 TS downlink, and perhaps multiple uplink
TSs. It is also important to remember that the throughputs in Table 8.5.2.a are
‘peak’ throughputs and are only achievable if there is sufficient capacity available
in the radio network support them. In busy times when multiple GSM and GPRS
users are looking for the same timeslots, the actual throughput will vary and will
often be well below the peak level.
Coding Schemes - The second key driver of throughput is the radio interface-
coding scheme. As shown in Table 8.5.2.a higher coding schemes offer greater
throughputs. GPRS offers four coding schemes, but initial supplier GPRS radio
infrastructure offerings are expected to be limited to CS-1 and CS-2. Higher CS
levels also result in greater C/I levels which results in reduced coverage areas.
For CS-2 the coverage area is not significantly lower that CS-1, but coverage is
progressively reduced for CS-3 and CS-4. Due to the reliability of CS1 this coding
scheme is always used for signalling packets. Whereas it is planned that a
bursty data transfer always start with CS1 for the first data packets. The resource
management shall use a higher CS if it is possible. The actual performance of
each of these CS is dependent upon the channel C/I. The interference has an
influence to the BER. That means data services have specific minimum and
optimum C/I requirements. These requirements are higher than for voice.
Figure 8.5.2 shows the possible throughput for the different CS as a function of
the C/I.
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Fig. 8.5.2: Data throughput Vs C/I for GPRS coding schemes
All four coding schemes are based on a standard GPRS coded block of 425 bits,
which consists of the Uplink State Flag (USF), the user data block (which is of
varying size depending on the coding scheme being used) and a Block Check
Sequence (BCS for error detection). For CS1, CS2 and CS3, this ‘radio block’ is
then further coded with a ½ rate convolution code. For CS2 & CS3 this is then
punctured (some of the resulting bits of the code are removed) in order to return
the total coded length back to 456 bits for transmission. For CS4, no forward
error correction code is used and the only error checking is the BCS.
The full parameters of the coding schemes are shown in Table 8.5.2 b, together
with the achieved ‘raw user data’ rates.
Coding Code USF Pre- Radio BCS Tail Coded Punctured Raw
Scheme rate bits coded Block bits bits bits bits User
USF bits excl. Data
bits USF and rate
BCS kb/s
CS-1 ½ 3 3 181 40 4 456 0 9.05
CS-2 ≈2/3 3 6 268 16 4 588 132 13.4
CS-3 ≈3/4 3 6 312 16 4 676 220 15.6
CS-4 1 3 12 428 16 - 456 - 21.4
Table 8.5.2.b: Coding Parameters for the Coding Schemes.
8.5.3 System C/I profile and mean data rate per channel
The C/I for a given user will depend on the location within the cell. Depending on
125
the C/I ratio and the frequency reuse factor, the probability of the C/I range within
the cell for each reuse factor can be compared.
Taking into consideration of a log-normal fading (Standard deviation of 7)
simulation tests show typical C/I distributions for different reuse patterns. This is
shown in the figure 8.5.3.a .
Figure 8.5.3a: C/I distribution, 3-sector sites, 65 degree antennas, K=3,9 and 12
Also the data rate depends on the C/I and the coding schemes used. The figure
8.5.3b shows the comparison of data rates for different C/I intervals.
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Figure 8.5.3b: Typical data rate per C/I interval
Considering the probability and data rate for each C/I interval the mean data rate
can be calculated using the formula shown.
D = ∑ ri p i
i
The results of the above formula are tabulated in the Table 8.5.3a showing for
omni, sector, reuse patterns and the data rate for the coding schemes.
Configuration Mean data rate Mean data rate

(optimum) kbps (optimum) kbps
(CS-1 and 2) (CS-1, 2, 3 and 4)
Omni, K=3 9.8 12.4
Omni, K=9 12.5 17.3
Omni, K=12 12.8 18.2
3-Sector, K=3 11.4 15.1
3-Sector, K=9 12.9 18.7
3-Sector, K=12 13.1 19.3
Table 8.5.3a: Mean data rate per channel for different coding schemes and
configurations
Protocol Overhead – This causes the true user throughput to be significantly less
than the peak raw throughput. The ‘raw user data’ rates assume an error free
channel, and exclude any higher layer protocol overheads, such as TCP/IP, and
the link establishment and control overheads. Therefore, the ‘true peak user
throughput’ rates for any of these coding schemes will be lower, as shown earlier
in Table 8.5.2.b
An overview of the GPRS protocols that impact the useable peak data rate is
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shown below in Table 8.5.3b
CS2, 2 TS CS2, 4 TS
Application Data 20.44kb/s 40.88 kb/s
TCP/IP 22.2 kb/s 44.44 kb/s
SNDCP 22.32 kb/s 44.64 kb/s
Logical Link 22.62 kb/s 45.24 kb/s
Radio Link 23.2 kb/s 46.4 kb/s
Radio Layer 26.8 kb/s 53.6 kb/s
Table 8.5.3b : Impact of GPRS protocol overheads on peak throughput
By adding headers and error detection trailers, each protocol reduces the
effective amount of useable data that is transmitted with a given packet. The
method used earlier for useable data is the throughput that includes the TCP/IP
overhead. This is consistent with data rates quoted for other Internet
communications; however, TCP/IP itself adds a 40 bytes header per packet,
leaving the final peak throughout of actual application data at 6.81 kbps for CS-1
or 10.22 kbps for CS-2, assuming no header compression.
Radio Blocking – Finally, the actual useable peak throughput will be influenced
by the quality of the radio environment. The numbers for useable throughput
described in this section is all based on an ideal radio environment. The useable
throughput achieved in a real world radio environment is likely to be less than
this, and can vary widely at different times and locations in the network based on
radio blocking levels and number of required re-transmissions.
8.5.4 Latency
The major elements of latency and representative latency figures are provided
below in Table 8.5.4
Latency Element Uplink TBF Ongoing Downlink TBF Ongoing

Establishment Uplink Establishment Downlink
1TS Latency 1 TS 2TS Latency 2TS
MS Delay 250 ms 100 ms 150 ms 150 ms
TBF Establishment 400 ms 0 1000 ms 0
Over the Air Delay 400 ms 400 ms 200 ms 200 ms
SGSN/GGSN 50 ms 50 ms 50 ms 50 ms
Latency
Total 1.1 seconds 0.55 seconds 1.4 seconds 0.4 seconds
Table 8.5.4: GPRS Latency Examples for 1 TS Uplink, and 2TS Downlink
These latency calculations are from the Mobile Station (MS) to the Gi GGSN
interface to external networks. Any delays in external to the GPRS network
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from interconnections via the Internet or in application processing are not
included.
In this example, a round trip ‘ping’ which measures the time to send a packet to a
server outside the network and receive a response, the total time would be at
approximately 2.5 seconds (1.1 uplink plus 1.4 downlink). Based on a 500 ms
variance, a round trip ‘ping’ should generally take 2-3 seconds since radio
resources must be allocated for a one time ping. Subsequent transfers would
only require about one second round trip as long as the radio resources are
allocated to GPRS, since Temporary Block Flow (TBF) establishment would not
be necessary.
The actual latency experienced by the user could also vary based on the specific
way the infrastructure is implemented by suppliers and the applications
accessed. More operational experience is required to understand which types of
applications will require frequent TBF set-ups and hence have greater latency.
The key elements of GPRS latency are defined below:
RLC Block Error Rate - the time taken to retransmit erroneous information due to
errors caused by the hostile radio environment. This rate is highly variable
depending on radio conditions. For the purposes of the examples in Table 8.5.4
ideal radio conditions are assumed and no delay is accounted for.
Mobile Station (MS) delay - the time taken by the Mobile Station (MS) to process
an IP data-gram and request radio resource. This includes the delay from the PC
to MS, and the MS processing time. This delay is typically less than 100ms, with
the exception of the processing to establish a request for an uplink TBF channel,
which could be in the order of 100-200 ms.
Temporary Block Flow (TBF) Establishment/Clear-down Time - the time it takes

the BSS/PCU to provide and release the radio resources required by the user to
enable data transfer to take place in either the uplink or downlink. This only
occurs on the first transmission, and is not required for subsequent transmissions
as long as the resources are allocated to GPRS. The time for TBF establishment
can be on the order of 500 ms to 1s and is independent upon the amount of data
to be transferred.
Throughput over the air delay - the rate at which user data is physically
transmitted from the MS to the SGSN once a TBF is established. This delay is
directly related to the size of the IP data-gram being sent. The smaller the packet
sizes the shorter the delay. For the examples used we are assuming an MTU
(Message Transmission Unit) of 400- 600 Kbytes for a 400ms delay for 1 TS.
This delay is proportionally reduced for multiple timeslot MSs.
SGSN/GGSN delay - the delay for the packet to transit through the SGSN and
GGSN. This should be almost negligible, and is assumed to be less than 50ms.
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8.6 Capacity Case Study
In this chapter we investigate GPRS migration and its impact on existing GSM
network capacity. The following example aims to shed light on the various
options available to the network planners.
Assumptions
• Assume a city with 30,000 subscribers
• The city is covered by 9 base stations regularly located in a grid (3x3)
• Each base station is 3-sectored with 3 TRXs per sector
• Traffic demand is almost uniform geographically
• 20m Erlang per subscriber during busy hour- GSM
• 2% blocking probability
• For GPRS Coding schemes 1 & 2 will be offered
8.6.1 Adding TRXs excluding dedicated TS to GPRS users
There are 9 sites (all with three sectors). So the number of the subscribers per
sector will be:
30000 / 27 = 1111.1111 Subscribers
The required traffic per sector:
1111.1111 x 20 mE = 22.2222 Erlangs/ sector
Considering 2% blocking, from the Erlang B table 14.9 Erlangs can be offered
with 3 TRXs per sector. However the traffic offered is 22.22 Erlangs. Therefore
the network suffers with a 15.7% blocking which is not acceptable. So we need to
increase the TRXs to meet the required blocking.
According to the Erlang-B equation we can offer a 21.9 Erlangs traffic with 4
TRXs for 2% blocking. The traffic offered is 22.22 Erlangs. This is very close to
our need but is still not enough.
So let’s try to find how many more TRXs we need after adding one TRX to each
sector.
With 4 TRXs/sec sites we will offer:
21.9 x 27= 591.3 Erlangs traffic offered
While the demand for traffic is:
30000 x 0.020 = 600 Erlang
That means we still need to offer 8.7 Erlangs more:
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600 – 591.3 = 8.7 Erlangs
for offering an additional of 8.7 Erlang we need to change some of the sectors to
5TRXs from 4TRXs. Any change from 4TRXs to 5TRXs gives us 7.3 Erlang
more for that sector:
29.2 [the traffic offered by 5TRXs] – 21.9 [the traffic offered by 5TRXs] = 7.3
Erlangs more
8.7 [the required traffic] / 7.3 = 1.4 sectors or approximately 2 sectors. In
other words 2 sectors will have to be upgraded with 5 TRXs.
This can be achieved by adding only two more TRXs in total. (i.e. all the sectors
should be up graded to 4 TRXs except two of them that should be 5 TRXs).
In fact, in a real network we usually don’t have a uniform traffic and it is very likely
to have more traffic in some regions. In that case, with taking the statistics into
account these two sectors can be chosen.
8.6.1.1 GPRS migration
According to Table 8.5.b the number of free time slots in a circuit switched
territory for 4TRXs sectors we have to leave 2.5 TSLs in order to not to exceed
2% blocking during GPRS usage.
We have then:
TSL available for GPRS = Total channels - used traffic - 2.5

= 30 - 21.9 - 2.5
= 5.6 Timeslots available for GPRS
The mean data rate per Timeslot for CS1 & CS2 having the frequency reuse
configuration of 3 sec./ 9 is 12.9 kbps. That means:
Total Data Rate in Cell = 12.9 x 5.6 = 72.24 kbps (in busy hour)
According to the number of free time slots in a circuit switched territory for 5TRXs
sectors we have to leave 3 TSLs in order not to exceed 2% blocking during
GPRS usage.
We have then:
TSL available for GPRS = Total channels - used traffic - 3

= 38 – (21.9 + 8.7/2) - 3
= 8.7 Timeslots available for GPRS in the 5TRXs sectors
That means:
Total Data Rate in Cell = 12.9 x 8.7 = 112.23 kbps (in busy hour)
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8.6.2 Adding TRXs including TWO dedicated TS to GPRS users
In this case we consider two dedicated TSLs for each sector. There are 9 sites
(all with three sectors). So the number of the subscribers per sector will be:
30000 / 27 = 1111.1111 Subscribers
The required traffic per sector:
1111.1111 x 20 mE = 22.2222 Erlangs/ sector
Considering 2% blocking, from the Erlang B table 14.9 Erlangs are offered with 3
TRXs per sector. From the previous analysis this network suffered from 15.7%
blocking which is not acceptable. Again the situation will be even worse with the
GPRS usage. Because after assigning two TSLs for GPRS, GSM traffic will we
left out with 20 TSLs which causes 21.5% blocking. So we need to increase the
TRXs to meet the required blocking.
The number of available TSLs for GSM after dedicating two channels for GPRS
will be:
Considering 4 TRXs per sector Available TSLs for GSM= 32 – 2 [for control
channels] – 2 [for GPRS] = 28 TSLs
TRXs (28 TSLs) for 2% blocking. This is close to our need but is still not enough.
So let’s try to find how many more TRXs we need after adding one TRX to each
sector.
With 4 TRXs/sec sites we will offer:
20.2 x 27= 545.4 Erlangs traffic offered
While the demand for traffic is:
30000 x 0.020 = 600 Erlang
That means we still need to offer 54.6 Erlangs more:
600 – 545.4 = 54.6 Erlangs
The available TSLs for GSM with 5 TRXs are:
Available TSLs for GSM= 40 – 2 [for control channels] – 2 [for GPRS] = 36 TSLs
132
TRXs (36 TSLs) for 2% blocking. Which 20.2 of it is already considered. That
means for each sector with 5 TRXs 7.2 more Erlangs is offered. The no. of the 5
TRXs sectors can be found then:
27.4 [Erlangs offered by 5TRXs] – 20.2 [Erlangs offered by 4TRXs] = 7.2

[Erlangs added]
And:
Number of Sectors with 5 TRXs = 54.6 / 7.2 = 7.6 (or 8 sectors)
According to the Table 8.5.b number of free time slots in a circuit switched
We have then:

= 30 – 20.2 - 2.5
= 7.3 Timeslots available for GPRS
Total Data Rate in Cell = 12.9 x 7.3 = 94.17 kbps (in GSM busy hour)
According to the number of free time slots in a circuit switched territory for 5TRXs
sectors we have to leave 3 TSLs to not to exceed 2% blocking during GPRS
usage.
We have then:
TSL available for GPRS = Total channels - used traffic - 3

= 38 – (20.2 + 54.6/8) - 3
= 7.975 Timeslots available for GPRS in the 5TRXs
sectors
That means:
Total mean Data Rate in Cell = 12.9 x 7.975 = 102.88 kbps (in busy hour)
For both 4 TRX sectors and 5 TRX sectors we will have the minimum data rate
of:
12.9 x 2 [dedicated TSLs to GPRS] = 25.8 kbps

133
8.6.3 Adding new sites including TWO dedicated TS to GPRS users
The demanded traffic is:
0.020 x 30000 =600 Erlangs
The offered traffic is:
13.2 [for 20 TSLs] x 27 [sectors] = 356.4 Erlangs
We need to offer 243.6 Erlangs more:
600 – 356.4 = 243.6 Erlangs
Then the required no. of sites ( based on 3 TRXs per sector) will be :
243.6 / (13.2 x 3) = 6.15 Sites (or 7 sites)
The traffic handled by each sector is:

600 [demanded traffic] / (9 + 7) x 3 = 12.5 Erlangs
According to the Table 8.5.b number of free time slots in a circuit switched
We have then:

= 24 – 2 [control] – 12.5 [used traffic] - 1.5
=8 Timeslots available for GPRS
Total mean Data Rate in Cell = 12.9 x 8 = 103.2 kbps (in GSM busy hour)
And the minimum data rate will be:
12.9 x 2 [dedicated TSLs to GPRS] = 25.8 kbps
134

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Optimising a GSM/GPRS radio networks.

Wireless Facilities International Limited

This document aims to provide a methodology as well as a series of essential

© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only i

© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only ii

1 ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS ....................................................................1

2 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND...................................................................4

4 RADIO NETWORK BENCHMARKING ..................................................................20

© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only iii

© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only iv

© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only v

© Copyright 2002Wireless Facilities, Inc. Confidential- Internal Use Only vi

A Interface linking the BSC to the MSC

2.1 Objectives of Network Optimisation

Network optimisation activities are used to guarantee and improve the

These optimisation activities require the collaboration of different teams with

2.2.1 A interface Analysis

The A-interface is generally monitored via a protocol analyser. The protocol

2.2.3 NSS Counters

2.2.4 Drive Tests

2.2.5 Customer Complaints

2.3.1 GSM recommendations

The most used GSM recommendations for optimisation purposes are:

04.08; 08.58; 08.08; 05.08; 12.04; 12.07

2.3.2 Referenced Documents

2.3.3 Prediction Maps

2.4 GIS Tools

GIS Refers to software tools which use spatial / geographic techniques to

3.1 MSC Statistics

3.1.1 Paging Performance

3.1.2 Location Updating Performance

The location updating performance is a measure of the number of location

3.1.3 Radio Link Failure Analysis

3.1.3.1 Ciphering Attempt Failure

Range: less than 0.5%

3.1.3.2 Channel Assignment Failure

Range: less than 0.5%

3.2.1 Random Access Performance

3.2.2 SDCCH Congestion

Range: depends of the GoS usually 2%

3.2.3 SDCCH Drop Rate

3.2.4 Call Set up Success Rate

3.2.5 TCH Blocking

Range: 0.3 to 0.4

3.2.7 Handover Success Rate

Range: 94.8% to 97.3%

3.2.8 TRX deficiency or TCH Availability

This indicator helps to determine whether congestion is caused by faulty TCHs or

Range: 100% for TCH availability.

3.3 Radio Network Parameters

3.3.1 Important Parameters of the Network

3.3.1.1 Control Channel Parameters

The IMSI detach procedure must be invoked by an MS if the MS is

" Non-Combined BCCH/CCCH timeslot configuration on BCCH TS 0

Range: (6 – 25.5 hrs) Typical values are 40 minutes to 1h 30minutes (has

3.3.1.2 Cell Options

Range: usually 20 SACCH period (approx. 10 seconds).

3.3.1.3 Cell Selection Parameters

A high value of this parameter reduces the number of location updating

C1 = (AV_RXLEV – RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN – Max (B, 0))

where AV_RXLEV (dBm) = Received level averaged over a period of 3 -

3.3.1.4 RACH Control Parameters

If the value of this parameter is to be decreased in case of high traffic