(E) GPRS QoS Monitoring Overview

(E) GPRS QoS Monitoring OVERVIEW

Prepared by: Remon Talaat

Rami Erian

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 (E) GPRS QoS Monitoring Overview

Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................3

2. MAIN PARAMETERS ..................................................................................4

3. QOS REPORTS AND INDICATORS.....................................................................5

3.1. UL/DL TBF ESTABLISHMENT: .......................................................................................5
3.2. UL/DL TBF RELEASE GRAPHS: ......................................................................................6
3.3. UL/DL TBF ACCEPTABLE RELEASE CAUSES SPLIT: ...................................................................7
3.4. UL/DL TBF DROP CAUSES SPLIT: ....................................................................................8
3.5. MAIN INDICATORS TO BE CHECKED....................................................................................9

4. VSAT PARAMETERS TUNING ........................................................................ 10

5. CASE STUDIES ..................................................................................... 11

5.1. SLEEPING GPRS CELLS ............................................................................................. 11
5.2. HIGH DL/UL TBF ESTABLISHMENT FAIL ........................................................................... 12
5.2.1. FAIL > 25% .................................................................................... 12
5.2.2. FAIL<25% ...................................................................................... 12
5.3. HIGH TBF BLOCKING DROPS ....................................................................................... 12

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1. INTRODUCTION

 The aim of this document is to provide an overview of the daily QoS monitoring for GPRS.
 In this document the most important indicators and parameters that are mainly used for daily
checkups will be explained.
 An overview of the VSAT sites as well as their parameters’ fine tuning will be explained in the
document.
 Some case studies will be presented in this document. For each problem the parameters to be
checked and how to investigate in the problem will be explained.

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2. MAIN PARAMETERS
The main parameters used in the daily investigations for the (E) GPRS problems are sated below with
their explanations:

 PREF_MARK: It is on the TRX level and it must be set to 0 so that the TRX can carry data
calls. If it is set to any other value the TRX will not carry data calls.

 EN_GPRS: This flag enables/disables the GPRS on a cell. It must be set to 1 in order to enable
the GPRS. MAX_PDCH (will be explained below) must be greater than 0 in order that the GPRS
data are carried on the cell level.

 EN_EGPRS: This flag enables/disables the EGPRS on a cell. It must be set to 1 in order to
enable the EGPRS. MAX_PDCH (will be explained below) must be greater than 0 and the TRX
used must be high power 8PSK in order that the EGPRS data are carried on the cell level. Also
good ABIS and ATERMUX dimensioning must be performed in order to avoid congestion on
these interfaces as the EGPRS data are carried with high rates which utilizes resources.

 MIN_PDCH: It is the minimum number of Packet Data Channels that are always allocated to
the MFS. It must be set to a value lower or equals than the value of MAX_PDCH_HIGH_LOAD.
If this parameter is set to high value; the congestion might increase on the GSM as high
number of resources will be always defined to the MFS for data calls.

 MAX_PDCH_HIGH_LOAD: It is the maximum number of PDCH that can be allocated to the MFS
when the CS traffic is high.

 MAX_PDCH: It is the maximum number of PDCH that can be allocated to the MFS on a cell.

 TBF_DL_INIT_CS: Initial value of the coding scheme that will be used in the DL. It is
mandatory that TBF_DL_INIT_CS <= MAX_GPRS_CS.

 TBF_UL_INIT_CS: Initial value of the coding scheme that will be used in the UL. It has to be
noted that TBF_UL_INIT_CS <= MAX_GPRS_CS

 MAX_GPRS_CS: Maximum coding scheme used for GPRS traffic in the cell.

 TBF_DL_INIT_MCS: Initial value of the modulation and coding scheme that will be used in the
DL when using EGPRS (i.e. the parameter is significant only if EN_EGPRS is enabled). It is
mandatory that TBF_DL_INIT_MCS <= MAX_EGPRS_MCS.

 TBF_UL_INIT_MCS: Initial value of the modulation and coding scheme that will be used in the
UL when using EGPRS (i.e. the parameter is significant only if EN_EGPRS is enabled). It is
mandatory that TBF_UL_INIT_MCS <= MAX_EGPRS_MCS.

 MAX_EGPRS_MCS: Maximum modulation and Coding Scheme used for EGPRS traffic in the
cell.

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3. QOS REPORTS AND INDICATORS

Concerning the QoS reports; the main report is Alc_Mono_GPRS_Telecom which consists of
several graphs as shown below:

3.1. UL/DL TBF establishment:

These charts show the number of UL and DL requests success or failed due to any reason
(i.e. radio, BSS, GB or DSP load, ATER, ABIS, CPU or air cong)

Fig1: DL TBF Establishment

Fig2: UL TBF Establishment

Any sudden degradation on UL/ DL TBF establishment should be reported to support in order to
reinitialize GPRS or change PREF_MARK of the TRXs if it is cell problem. If the degradation is noticed
on the BSC level; the GPRS can be re-initialized on all the cells of the BSC or to reset the GPUs of the
BSC or checking the alignment state between the BSC and the MFS.

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3.2. UL/DL TBF Release graphs:

The charts show the number of success of TBF established and completed without any kind of drops
(normal release), the number of drops without specifying the cause of drop and number of the
accepted release TBFs which will be explained below.

Fig3: DL TBF Release

Fig4: UL TBF Release

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3.3. UL/DL TBF Acceptable release causes split:

The charts show the causes which make the BSC/MFS consider the drop as acceptable
release (NC0, NC2, Radio preemption or Suspend mode).

Fig5: DL TBF Acceptable Release

Fig6: UL TBF Acceptable Release

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3.4. UL/DL TBF drop causes split:

The charts below shown the TBF drop causes in details

Fig7: DL TBF Drop Causes

Fig8: UL TBF Drop Causes

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3.5. Main Indicators to be checked

 Below are the main indicators to be checked in addition to the Alc_Mono_GPRS_Telecom
report.
 It has to be mentioned that the down stated indicators are for the DL. For the UL each DL in
the name of the indicator should be replaced by UL.

 To calculate the EDGE penetration in a network the down stated formula is used:

GPRS_DL_useful_bytes_MCSx_ack .
GPRS_DL_useful_bytes_ack

 To calculate the GPRS penetration in a network the down stated formula is used:

GPRS_DL_useful_bytes_CSx_ack .
GPRS_DL_useful_bytes_ack

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4. VSAT PARAMETERS TUNING

 The VSAT sites are sites having their ABIS or ATER connected through satellite instead of
terrestrial links.

 Hence; for (E) GPRS some parameters must be fine tuned from the default values to other
values to be more suitable for VSAT sites.

 Below is a table summarizing the parameters that are fine tuned for the VSAT sites

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5. CASE STUDIES
5.1. Sleeping GPRS cells
The cell is sleeping when it is not carrying GPRS data. This can be known from the indicators called
“GPRS_UL_TBF_REQ” or “GPRS_DL_TBF_REQ” which determine the number of TBF requests in the UL
or the DL. So when this indicator gives a zero value; that means that the cell is not seeing any request
in the UL or DL then it is not carrying GPRS data.

The cell might enter a sleeping mode after one of the down stated events:
 The migration of the cell from one BSC to another one.
 The migration of the cell from one LAC/RAC to another one
 The migration of the BSS release.
 It can occur without any cause. So that; this check must be performed on all the cells each
day.

Solution:

If the problem is on all the cells under a specific BSC; so it is a GPU problem. The problem will be
solved if the GPU is reset.

If the problem is on the cell level; the cell must be reset in order to refresh it as most probably the
problem will be in the TCUCs or the TRXs that are carrying GPRS. Then; the cell will be able to see
again the UL/DL TBF requests sent from the TE’s.

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5.2. High DL/UL TBF establishment fail

5.2.1. FAIL > 25%
If the fail is very high (i.e. UL/DL establishment fail >25%); then most probably it is HW issue

Solution:

The down stated actions might be performed to solve the problem:

1. Reset the TRXs on the cell.
2. Reset TCUC
3. Change the PREF_MARK and make the high efficiency TRXs carry the GPRS
4. Delete and create the cell

5.2.2. FAIL<25%

5.2.2.1. It can be a parameter problem:

A check on the values of the parameters TBF_DL/UL_INIT_CS or TBF_DL_INIT_MCS must be
performed. This is because if these parameters are set to high coding schemes; in bad radio
conditions this will cause high DL/UL TBF establishment fail.

5.2.2.2. It can be frequency problem:

This can be known from the GSM and RMS indicators e.g. RMS_DL_rxquality_avg, SDCCH drop, SDCCH
assign fail etc…

Solution:

The bad frequency must be changed

5.3. High TBF Blocking drops

If the cell is suffering from high blocking drop we can have two problems:

Dimensioning problem: This will be discussed in another document.

Parameters problem: If the two MFS parameters ttbfactiv and ttbfbckrel are not set to a proper
value; this might cause a high TBF Blocking Drop. The default values of these two parameters are 5
and 30 seconds respectively.

End of Document

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