GO_NAST3014_E01_1 GSM TCH Call Drop and Solutions_43

GSM TCH Call Drop &
Solutions
Training goals
 To master definitions of call drop indicators and

relevant counters
 To master causes of the three types of call drop
and the corresponding solutions
 To know analysis of call drop and location of call
drop problem with traffic statistics
Contents
 Indicator definition
 Call drop due to radio link fault
 Call drop due to handover failure
 Call drop due to LAPD link failure
 Handling of call drop problem
 Typical cases
Indicator definition
 TCH call drop rate (incl. HO)
Definition
 TCH call drop rate (incl. HO) = Number of TCH call
drops  100%/Number of TCH seizures (including

handover)
Formula
 ((C900060054 + C900060055)  100%/(C900060017
+ C900060235 + C900060028 + C900060036 +

C900060199 + C900060210 + C900060098
+C900060102 + C900060120)
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 C900060017: Number of signaling TCH/F assignment
success for assignment
 C900060028: Number of voice TCH/F assignment success
 C900060036: Number of data TCH/F assignment success
 C900060054: Number of TCH/F drops
 C900060055: Number of TCH/H drops
 C900060098: Number of BSC-controlled inter-cell
incoming handover success


 C900060102: Number of MSC-controlled incoming
handover success
 C900060120: Number of Intra-cell handover success
 C900060199: Number of voice TCH/H assignment
success
 C900060210: Number of data TCH/F assignment success
 C900060235: Number of signaling TCH/H assignment
success

Recommend Risk Value

Value
One Site 0.8% 0.5%
Cluster 0.8% 0.5%
Whole Network 0.8% 0.5%


 Two types:
 One is with handover included
 The other is without handover (excluding handover)
 Indicator value:

One is with handover
= ++0.2%
The other is with
excluded handover included

Factors That Affect the TCH Call Drop Rate
 Hardware failure
 Transmission problem
 Parameter setting
 Intra-network and inter-network interference
 Coverage problem
 Antenna system problem
 Imbalance between uplink and downlink
 Repeater problem
 Version upgrade

Factors That Affect the TCH Call Drop Rate
 Parameter setting
 SACCH Multi-Frames
 Radio Link Timeout
 RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN
 Min DL Power on HO Candidate
 Min Access
 MAIO
 T3103/T3109/T3111/T305/T308

Contents
 Typical cases
Call drop due to radio link failure
UL failure
？？？ DL failure
C901240037 Number of
drops due to the bad ？？？
quality
of UL receive C901240038 Number of
drops due to the bad
quality
of DL receive

MS BTS BSC MSC
Measurement report(SACCH)
Measurement report(SACCH)
Measurement report(SACCH) Connection Failure

Indication
Radio link timeout
Start T3109 A
Clear request
Stop T3109
F1 Clear Command
RF Channel Release
RF Channel Release
ACK
Clear Complete
C901230010 Number of call drops due to TCH radio link

failure

 Causes for call drop due to radio link failure & handling
procedures
Main causes Handling procedures
 Weak coverage, poor radio signal;  Check radio parameters. Adjust

unreasonable settings of radio
 Interference;
parameters;
 Unreasonable settings of radio
 Check indicators like BER and level
parameter; of idle interference band, reduce or
 Handover failure ； eliminate radio interference ;
 Equipment hardware fault;  Check if coverage problem exists
through DT;
 Antenna system fault;
 Check and eliminate equipment
 Subscriber’s behavior.
fault ;
 Check antenna system.

Contents
 Indicator definitions
 Typical cases
Call drop due to handover failure
Classification of Handover control
Principle
原理 timer in BSC
After the original cell received Handover

Command or Assignment (corresponding
handover control timer is started by BSC), MS
hasn’t accessed into the target cell, nor has it
returned to the original cell. i.e. MS not only  T3107 expires (intra-cell
failed to occupy TCH in target cell and send
Handover Complete or Assignment Complete, handover
but also failed to return to TCH in original cell
and send Handover Failure or Assignment  T3103 expires (inter-cell
Failure, thus it is disconnected with network. At
handover under one BSC)
the same time, the BSC-controlled handover
control timer expires, and MSC will be notify to  T8 expires (inter-BSC
clear the release, and it will count this abnormal
call as call drop due to handover failure. handover)

 Call drop due to intra-cell handover failure
MS BTS:TRX BSC MSC
CHANNEL ACTIVATE
CHANNEL ACTIVATE ACK
A1
ASSIGNMENT COMMAND
SET T3107
T3107 Timeout
Clear Request
A2

 Call drop due to intra-cell handover failure

 C901230011 Number of TCH Handover call drops
 Description ：

During Handover, if Handover Command or Assignment Command (intra-cell
handover) has been sent, but BSC doesn’t receive Handover message or
Assignment Complete message during guard time, handover is failed and intra-cell
handover and BSC controlled intercell handover will be interrupted. This counter
records the call interruption condition caused by handover failure.

 Call drop due to intra-BSC handover failure
MS Old BTS: New BTS BSC MSC
CHANNEL ACT
CHANNEL ACT ACK
HO_Command HO_Command
SET T3103
T3103 Timeout
Clear request
H1

 Call drop due to intra-BSC handover failure

 Call drop due to inter-BSC handover failure
MS Old BTS Old BSC MSC New BSC New BTS
HANDOVER REQUIRED
CHL_ACT
CHL_ACT_ACK
HO_REQ_ACK
HANDOVER COMMAND HANDOVER COMMAND HANDOVER COMMAND
SET T8
T8 Timeout
Clear request
I1

 Main causes for call drop due to

handover failure & handling procedures

 Interference;  Check radio parameters, adjust the
 Hardware fault; unreasonable settings, and add
 Unreasonable settings of radio necessary neighbor relations;
parameters;  Check indicators like BER and level of
 Congestion in adjacent cell; idle interference band, reduce or

eliminate radio interference;
 Inappropriate adjacent cell relation
or wrong adjacent cell data;
 Check equipment hardware, change
panels with problems.
 Unreasonable settings of handover
parameters ,which results in Ping-
Pong handover.

Contents
 Typical cases
Call drop due to LAPD link failure

 Principle:

When LAPD link breaks, calls on carriers will be interrupted. BSC counts after it
receives message showing that LAPD link is broken.
 Main causes for call drop due to LAPD link failure & handling procedures
 Investigate & eliminate BTS

 BTS hardware fault
hardware fault;
 BTS transmission  Investigate & eliminate BTS
transmission problem;
problem
 Investigate & eliminate BSC
 BSC hardware fault hardware fault

Contents
 Typical cases
Flow of handling call drops A cell suffers from
high TCH call drop
rate
Analysis of call
drop types
Call drop of
Call drop of RF loss Call drop of LAPD
handover failure
If radio No Adjust No If radio Eliminate Yes Any hardware

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

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

Any coverage Improve Any hardware
hardware
problem? coverage fault at BTS?
fault
Yes Eliminate Yes

Any equipment An equipment
equipment
hardware fault? hardware fault?
fault
Yes Eliminate
Any antenna
antenna
system fault?
fault
Complete

Locate & analyze call drop with traffic statistics
Analytical framework
1 2 3 4 5
Locate cell with Confirm call Confirm call drops Analyze casue Problem solved
high call drop rate drop type on carrier
 performance  Performance  BTS  Analysis of  Analysis of Traffic

report of BSC report of cell level measurement common statistics
level CS basic problem
 Cell
radio  Signaling analysis
measurement
 performance measurement  Analysis of  Othernetwork
report of cell  Warning statistics specific problem
level optimization
 Warning analysis methods
 From macro to  Convenient for  Count call drops  from common  Execution
&
micro view problem location on carrier to specific problem solution
and analysis

Locate & analyze call drop with traffic statistics
 Common causes for call drops

Unreasonable setting
of handover
parameters
Equipment hardware
UL/DL unbalance
fault
Result in call drop
Unreasonable settings
Interference
of other parameters
Coverage problem
Common problem is
analyzed

Contents
 Typical cases
Cases 1:Severe call drops caused by the illegal us
er
 Description:
 2 cells of the GSM network in XX had severe call drop problem, about dozens
of times per hour in the day time.
 Cause Analysis & Procedure:

 According to the 24-hour performance statistics, most of the call drops were i
n the daytime. While very few of them were in the night. So the engineer susp
ected that the problem was related with the user behavior.

Cases 1: Severe call drops caused by the illegal u
ser
 After tracing the Abis interface signaling, we found:
(1) The handsets with the call drop problem all used the same IMEI
number.
(2) The dialed numbers were all the emergency number: 112;
(3) The call drop occurred about 10s after the call was connected. A
fter the call drop, the user continued to dial 112 again and again.
 Based on the above factors, we made the judgment: the call drop was caused
by the user himself. For example, the workers in a factrory were testing the ba
tteries of handsets, and they took out the battery while the call was still going
on. So if we disable the emergency call function of the cell, the user will try to
use another operator's network. After the operation, we found that the amou
nt of call drops in the cell was greatly reduced. After we enabled the emergen
cy call function later, the call drop problem didn't occur any more, becasue th
e user selected another operator's network.

Cases 1: Severe call drops caused by the illegal u
ser
 Summary:
 By analyzing the Abis signaling file, we can make judgement about the call dr
op problem and find out the regularity of the problem. The network performa
nce index and user experience may be harmed when the network resource is
occupied by some illeagle user. We can find out the illeagle user by signal tra
cing or analyzing the CDR from the switching side.

Cases 2: Network Indicator Abnormality Caused
by Wrong Antenna Jumper Connection
 Description:
 During the SDR swap project of one office, the subscribers complained that it
was hard to make calls, call drops are frequent, and the call quality was poor.
After analyzing the background performance indicators, engineers found that
the number of call drop at two cells under one GSM 900M BTS was large,
their handover success rate was low, and the DL level and quality were poor.
Detailed performance indicators are listed in the following table.

 Description:
Starting Ending Cell Local Cell TCH Call Drop Number Number
Time Time Identity Rate(Excluding of TCH of
Handover)(%) Call Handover
Drops Failures
4-17 4-17 A G1 58761 20.56% 15 36
4-17 4-17 A G2 58762 30.48% 21 46

 They checked the OMC alarms reported in the recent days.No abnormal
alarms were found, which means that there was no hardware TRX fault that
might lead to coverage shrinkage, handover failures and finally call drops.

Step 1:Hardware Problem
1.Check the OMC alarms reported in the recent

days.
Conclusion:No abnormal alarms were found,
which means that there was no hardware TRX
fault.

Step 2:Interference
1.Check whether there is the same frequency or the

neighbor frequency in the co-site.
2.Check whether there is the same BCCH or BISC within 15
km from the faulty BTS.
3.Check whether the frequencies of the serving cell and
the neighbor cells are the same.
Conclusion:No obvious abnormality was found.

Step 3:Radio Parameter
1.Check all relevant parameters, including the TRX

transmission power, handover threshold, CRO, CBA,
and CBQ and so on.
Conclusion:No obvious abnormality was found.

Step 4:Network Performance Indicator
1. Check the network performance indicators

before and after the swap and compared them.
2. Analyze the “handover statistic measurement”
in these two cells.
Conclusion: Suspect that it was caused by wrong
antenna connection and asked the DT engineers to
make a field test.

Step 5:Antenna mismatch
Conclusion: The DT result showed that the

problem was caused by the antenna jumpers
of two cells were mismatched, which caused
the abnormalities of performance indicators.

Date Cell Local Cell TCH Call Drop Number Number of

Indentity Rate(Excluding of TCH Handover
Handover)(%) Call Drops Failures
Before the A G1 58761 20.56% 15 36
Adjustment
A G2 58762 30.48% 21 46
After the A G1 58761 0.00% 0 5

adjustment
A G2 58762 0.00% 0 3

 Summary
Incorrect connection of antennas may lead to some

common network problems, currently, there are two ways
to check for incorrectly connected antennas.
1. Locate the cell that might have incorrectly connected

antennas by analyzing the traffic statistics. Then perform
the investigation on site.
2. Locate the problem by DT or CQT.

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GSM TCH Call Drop &

 To master definitions of call drop indicators and

 TCH call drop rate (incl. HO)

drops  100%/Number of TCH seizures (including

+ C900060235 + C900060028 + C900060036 +

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 TCH call drop rate (incl. HO)

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 TCH call drop rate (incl. HO)

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 TCH call drop rate (incl. HO)

Recommend Risk Value

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 TCH call drop rate (incl. HO)

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

Measurement report(SACCH) Connection Failure

C901230010 Number of call drops due to TCH radio link

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 Weak coverage, poor radio signal;  Check radio parameters. Adjust

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

After the original cell received Handover

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 Call drop due to intra-cell handover failure

MS BTS:TRX BSC MSC

CHANNEL ACTIVATE ACK

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 Call drop due to intra-cell handover failure

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 Call drop due to intra-BSC handover failure

MS Old BTS: New BTS BSC MSC

CHANNEL ACT ACK

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 Call drop due to intra-BSC handover failure

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 Call drop due to inter-BSC handover failure

MS Old BTS Old BSC MSC New BSC New BTS

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 Main causes for call drop due to

Main causes Handling procedures

 Unreasonable settings of radio necessary neighbor relations;

parameters;  Check indicators like BER and level of

 Congestion in adjacent cell; idle interference band, reduce or

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 Call drop due to LAPD link failure

Main causes Handling procedures

 Investigate & eliminate BTS

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

If radio No Adjust No If radio Eliminate Yes Any hardware

Yes Check& Yes Eliminate Any fault with

Yes Eliminate Yes

Yes Eliminate Yes

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 performance  Performance  BTS  Analysis of  Analysis of Traffic

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 Common causes for call drops

Result in call drop

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

 Cause Analysis & Procedure:

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved

© ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved