Optimization: Introduction

Optimization: Introduction
Contents
 Global indicators
 Typical Radio Network Problem
 Coverage Problem
 Interference problem
 Unbalanced power budget problem
 Congestion problem

 Problems and responsible parties

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
4 stages of a call establishment, 2 stages
(1&2) for location update :

1. Radio link establishment Phase

2. SDCCH Phase
then only “Circuit Switch call”
3. TCH assignment Phase
4. Alerting/Connect Phase

Optimization: Introduction
 Mobile Originated Call (MOC)

MS BTS BSC MSC

Global CHANNEL REQUEST

(RACH)
CHANNEL REQUIRED

CHANNEL ACTIVATION (SDCCH)

CHANNEL ACTIVATION ACK

1. Radio Link

Indicators
IMMEDIATE ASSIGN COMMEND Establishment
IMMEDIATE ASSIGN

(AGCH)
Phase
SABM (L3 info)

(SDCCH) ESTABLISH IND (L3 info)

CR (Connection Request: L3
INFO)
UA (L3 info)
CC (Connection Complete)
(SDCCH)

LOCATION UPDATE REQUEST (IN CASE OF LU)

AUTHENTICATION REQUEST

AUTHENTICATION RESPONSE

2. SDCCH Phase CIPHERING MODE COMMAND

CIPHERING MODE COMPLETE

LOCATION UPDATE ACCEPT (IN CASE OF LU)

TMSI REALLOCATION COMPLETE (IN CASE OF LU)

SETUP

CALL PROCEEDING

ASSIGNMENT REQUEST
PHYSICAL CONTEXT REQUEST

PHYSICAL CONTEXT CONFIRM

CHANNEL ACTIVATION (TCH) TCH allocation

CHANNEL ALLOCATION ACK.

ASSIGNMENT COMMEND

(SDCCH)

SABM
ESTABLISH INDICATION
TCH UA (L3 info)

3. TCH Assignment Phase

ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE

ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE

ALERTING

CONNECT

4. Alert and Connect Phase CONNECT ACK.

CONVERSATION

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 Handover : Intracell HO
MS BTS BSC MSC
Measurement Report
MEASUREMENT RESULT

PHYSICAL CONTEXT REQUEST (old channel)

PHYSICAL CONTEXT CONFIRM (old channel)

CHANNEL ACTIVATION (new channel)

CHANNEL ACTIVATION ACK (new channel)

ASSIGNMENT CMD ASSIGNMENT COMMEND (old channel)

SABM (L3 info)

(SDCCH) ESTABLISH IND (new channel)

UA (L3 info)

(SDCCH)

ASSIGNMENT CMP ESTABLISH COMPLETE (new channel)

HANDOVER PERFORMED

RF CHANNEL RELEASE (old channel)

RF CHANNEL RELEASE ACK (old channel)

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 Handover : Internal HO
Serving Target
MS BSC MSC
Cell Cell
Meas. Report

MEASUREMENT RESULT

CHANNEL ACTIVATION

CHANNEL ACTIVATION ACK.

HO CMD HANDOVER COMMAND

HANDOVER ACCESS

HANDOVER DETECTION

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

SABM (L3 info)

UA (L3 info)
ESTABLISH INDICATION

HANDOVER COMPLETE HO CMP

HANDOVER PERFORMED

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 Handover : External HO
MS Serving Cell BSC MSC BSC Target Cell MS
MEAS_REPORT
MEAS_RESULT
HO_REQUIRED
CR (HO_REQUEST)

CC CHANNEL_ACTIVATION

CHANNEL_ACT_ACK
HO_REQUEST_ACK
HO_COMMAND (HO_COMMAND)
HO_ACCESS

HO_ACCESS
HO_DETECTION
HO_DETECTION
PHYSICAL_INFO

SABM (L3 info)

ESTABLISH_INDICATION UA (L3 info)

HO_COMPLETE
HO_COMPLETE
CLEAR_COMMAND
Cause: HO_SUCCESSFUL
Release of TCH

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators :
 SDCCH Congestion
 SDCCH Assignment Failure
 SDCCH Drop
 TCH Assignment Failure
 Call Drop
 Call Setup Success
 Call Success
 Outgoing Handover
 Incoming Handover
 Handover Causes Distribution
(Better/Level/Quality/MCHO/...)
Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 SDCCH Congestion :
MS BTS BSC
CHANNEL REQUEST
CHANNEL REQUIRED
(RACH)

NO FREE SDCCH !!!

IMMEDIATE ASSIGN COMMEND

IMM. ASS. REJECT (OPTION)

(AGCH)

 MS will try to request again for a certain of times

 If still failures, it will
 Wait for a certain of time without reception of
immediate_assign message
 Try an automatic cell_reselection in case of LU
(no impact for subscriber)
 Notify a network error for call establishment (call
setup failure for subscriber)
Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 SDCCH Congestion : Main causes

 Too much SDCCH “normal” traffic for cell

SDCCH design
 Logical cell design, extra TRX, new site
 “Common Transport Effect”
 Difficult to avoid for small cells
 LA border at crowded area
 Abnormal SDCCH traffic
 “phantom” channel requests
 Inadequate LAC design, causing too much LU
 Redesign LAC
 Problem with neighbor cells belong to other LAC

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 SDCCH RF Failure : main causes
MS BTS BSC MSC
CHANNEL REQUEST
CHANNEL REQUIRED
(RACH)

CHANNEL ACTIVATION (SDCCH)

CHANNEL ACTIVATION ACK

IMMEDIATE ASSIGN COMMEND

IMMEDIATE ASSIGN

(AGCH)

??? no message from MS

 Real radio problems

 Unbalanced power budget
 Bad coverage
 Interference

In case of radio failure, MS will retry as in case of

SDCCH congestion
Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 SDCCH RF Failure : main causes
 “Phantom/Ghost/Spurious/Dummy...RACH ”

 Channel request received but not sent : 3 causes

1. Noise decoding
2. Reception of channel request sent to a neighbor
cell
3. Reception of HO_ACCESS sent to a neighbor
cell

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 SDCCH RF Failure : main causes : Phantom RACH

1. Noise decoding
 GSM 05.05: “0.02% of RACH Frame can be
decoded without error without real input signal ”
(this extra-load has no impact for the system)
 BCCH not combined: 156 phantom RACCH/hour
(or about 0.08 Erlang SDCCH)
 BCCH combined: 83 phantom RACH/hour
 During period with low real traffic (night), high rate
of phantom RACH
 No impact for subscriber
 But impact on indicator SDCCH RF access failure

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 SDCCH RF Failure : main causes : Phantom RACH

2. Channel request sent to neighbor cell

 Subscriber is not impacted ( the real transaction is

performed elsewhere)

 But SDCCH RF access failure is impacted

 Usual radio planning rules are sufficient to avoid the

trouble (BSIC and BCCH frequency plan)

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 SDCCH RF Failure : main causes : Phantom RACH

3. Channel request due to handover

 During HO, first message sent to target cell is HO
access which is an access burst like channel_request
 If received on BCCH, can be understood as a
channel-request
This case is the most dangerous
 MS is sending usually a sequence of HO Access
message, every frame !!
 In some cases, this can create phantom RACH if the
frequency of TCH is co- or adjacent to one of the
interfered BCCH
 Can block very easily SDCCH

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 SDCCH Drop :
MS BTS BSC MSC

Radio connection loss

CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION
(cause : radio link failure)
CLEAR REQUEST
(cause : radio interface failure)

 Loss of connection during SDCCH phase = SDCCH

Drop
 3 causes of SDCCH drop
 Radio problems when connected on SDCCH
 BSS problems (Transcoder and Internal BSS
problems)
 Call lost during an SDCCH HO (handover failure
without reversion to old channel)

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 TCH assign failure : Congestion
MS BTS BSC MSC

ASSIGNMNET REQUEST

no RTCH available on request cell

ASSIGNMENT FAILURE
cause No Radio Resources Available

 4 sub causes of congestion

 A: Queuing is not allowed

 B: Queue is full
 C: T11 expired
 D: RTCH requests is de-queued due to a high
priority (i.e. emergency call) request to be queued

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 TCH assign failure : Radio

MS BTS BSC MSC

ASSIGNMENT REQUEST
PHYSICAL CONTEXT REQUEST

PHYSICAL CONTEXT CONFIRM

CHANNEL ACTIVATION (TCH) TCH allocation

CHANNEL ALLOCATION ACK.

ASSIGNMENT COMMEND
(SDCCH)

TCH
Radio Problem
ASSIGNMENT FAILURE
Radio interface failure

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 TCH assign failure : BSS

MS BTS BSC MSC

ASSIGNMENT REQUEST
PHYSICAL CONTEXT REQUEST

PHYSICAL CONTEXT CONFIRM

CHANNEL ACTIVATION (TCH) TCH allocation

CHANNEL ALLOCATION ACK.

ASSIGNMENT COMMEND

(SDCCH)

BSS Problem

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 TCH Drop : Radio

MS BTS BSC MSC

Alerting Connection Phase or Communication : at any time

Radio Problem CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION

(cause : radio link failure)
CLEAR REQUEST
(cause : radio interface failure)

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 TCH Drop : BSS
MS BTS BSC MSC

Alerting Connection Phase or Communication : at any time

Radio Problem CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION

(Remote transcoder failure)
CLEAR REQUEST
(Equipment failure)

 Transcoder reported problem

 Abis transmission Problem: Microwave, Microwave
antenna, fixed line problems.
 Problem on TC boards (hardware problem)

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 TCH Drop : BSS

MS BTS BSC MSC

Alerting Connection Phase or Communication : at any time

CLEAR REQUEST
BSS problem O&M intervention
Radio interface failure

 Other BSS problem (excluding TC)

 Hardware or software failures of BSC/BTS

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 TCH Drop : Handover

MS BTS BSC MSC

Alerting Connection Phase or Communication : at any time

HO failure without reversion CLEAR REQUEST

Radio interface message failure

 Call drop during handover

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 Intracell HO Failures

 Congestion
 Reversion to Old Channel (ROC)
 Drop Radio
 BSS problem

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 Intracell HO Failures : Congestion

Serving
MS BSC MSC
BTS
Measurement Report
MEASUREMENT RESULT

No Free TCH/SDCCH

 Intracell HO Failures : Drop

MS BTS BSC MSC
ASSIGNMENT CMD
ASSIGNMENT COMMAND (old channel)

Release of old and new channels

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 Intracell HO Failures : Reversion to Old Channel
Serving Serving
MS MSC
BTS BSC
ASSIGNMENT CMD ASSIGNMENT COMMEND (old channel)

SABM (new channel)

ESTABLISH IND (new channel)

UA (new channel)
X
SABM (new channel)

UA (new channel)
X
SABM (old channel)
ESTABLISH INDICATION (old channel)
UA (old channel)

ASSIGNMENT FAIL ASSIGNMNENT FAILURE

RF CHANNEL RELEASE (old channel)

RF CHANNEL RELEASE ACK (old channel)

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 Internal HO Failures : Reversion to Old Channel
Serving Target
MS BSC MSC
Cell Cell
HO CMD HANDOVER COMMAND

HANDOVER ACCESS

HANDOVER DETECTION

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

SABM (L3 info)

UA (L3 info)
ESTABLISH INDICATION

HANDOVER COMPLETE
X
SABM
ESTABLISH INDICATION
UM

HO FAILURE HO FAILURE

Release of new channel

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 Internal HO Failures : Drop
Serving Target
MS BSC MSC
Cell Cell
Meas. Report

MEASUREMENT RESULT

CHANNEL ACTIVATION

CHANNEL ACTIVATION ACK.

HO CMD HANDOVER COMMAND

Clear_request

Clear_command

Release of old and new TCH

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 External HO Failures : Congestion

MS Serving Cell BSC MSC BSC Target Cell MS

MEAS_REPORT
MEAS_RESULT
HO_REQUIRED
CR (HO_REQUEST)

HO_FAILURE
Cause: no radio resource available
HO_REQUIRED_REJECT

 External HO Failures : A int. Congestion

MS Serving Cell BSC MSC BSC Target Cell MS
MEAS_REPORT
MEAS_RESULT
HO_REQUIRED
CR (HO_REQUEST)

HO_FAILURE
Cause: terrestrial circuit already allocated
HO_REQUIRED_REJECT
Requested trerestrial resource unavailable
BSS not equipped

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 External HO Failures : Reversion to Old Channel

MS Serving Cell BSC MSC BSC Target Cell MS

MEAS_REPORT
MEAS_RESULT
HO_REQUIRED
CR (HO_REQUEST)

CC CHANNEL_ACTIVATION

CHANNEL_ACT_ACK
HO_REQUEST_ACK
HO_COMMAND (HO_COMMAND)
HO_ACCESS
X
HO_ACCESS
X
SABM
ESTABLISH_INDICATION
UA

HO_FAILURE(reversion to pld channel)

CLEAR_COMMAND
Radio interface fail:
Reversion to old channel Release connection

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
 External HO Failures : Drop

MS Serving Cell BSC MSC BSC Target Cell MS

MEAS_REPORT
MEAS_RESULT
HO_REQUIRED
CR (HO_REQUEST)

CC CHANNEL_ACTIVATION

CHANNEL_ACT_ACK
HO_REQUEST_ACK
HO_COMMAND (HO_COMMAND)
HO_ACCESS
X
HO_ACCESS
X
SABM
X
SABM
X
SABM
X
CLEAR_COMMAND
Radio interface fail Release connection

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : SDCCH Congestion Rate

 Definition: Rate of SDCCH not allocated during

radio link establishment procedure due to congestion
on Air interface
 Comment: Check SDCCH Erlang : if not critical,
SDCCH availability/allocation problem, or HO
access on a nearby cell side effect or interference on
the carrier handling SDCCH (the last 2 can lead to
high rate if Phantom RACH

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : SDCCH Assign Failure Rate

 Definition: Rate of SDCCH seizure failed (BSS

problem, radio access problem) during radio link
establishment procedure over the total amount of
SDCCH seizure requests during radio link
establishment procedure

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : SDCCH Drop Rate

 Definition: Rate of dropped SDCCH (SDCCH is

established for any transaction OC, TC, LU, ...)

 Comment: Drop radio + Drop HO + Drop BSS

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : TCH Assign Failure/Congestion Rate

 Definition:
 TCH Assign Failure Rate: Rate of RTCH seizure
failed (BSS problem, radio access problem) during
normal assignment procedure over the total amount
or RTCH request for normal assignment procedure
 TCH Assign Congestion Rate: Rate of RTCH not
allocated during normal assignment due to
congestion on Air interface

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : Call Drop Rate

 Definition: Rate of dropped calls over the total amount

of calls with a successful end
 Comment:
 Drop BSS + Drop radio + Drop HO
 TCH drop occurring after successful assignment but
before speech connection are considered as call drop
even if from customer’s point of view it is a call
setup failure
Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : Call Setup Success Rate

 Definition: Rate of calls going until TCH successful

assignment, that is not interrupted by SDCCH drop
neither by assignment failures
 Comment:
 Subscriber : call not established at the first attempt

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : Call Success Rate (BSS view)

 Definition: Rate of calls going until normal release, that

is not interrupted by SDCCH drop neither by assignment
failures and neither by CALL DROP
 Comment:
 1 call success =
 1 call successfully established
 Without any call drop
Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : Outgoing Handover Success Rate

 Definition: Rate of outgoing external and internal

intercell TCH and SDCCH handover successes over the
total amount of outgoing external and internal intercell
TCH and SDCCH handover required

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : Incoming Handover Success Rate

 Definition: Rate of incoming external and internal

intercell TCH and SDCCH handover successes over the
total amount of outgoing external and internal intercell
TCH and SDCCH handover requests

Optimization: Introduction
Global Indicators
Important indicators : Handover Cause Distribution

 Definition: Distribution of Handover requests by cause: UL

Qual, UL Lev, DL Qual, DL Lev, Better Cell, UL
Interference, DL Interference, Interband, Micro cells HO,
Concentric cell causes

Optimization: Introduction
Typical Radio Problems

i. Coverage Problem
ii. Interference problem
iii.Unbalanced power budget
problem
iv. Congestion problem

Optimization: Introduction
Typical Radio Problems

Several sources of information for

optimization

 QoS indicators
 Coverage predictions
 Customer complaints
 Drive tests
 Abis/A traces
 Other teams information (NSS statistics)

Optimization: Introduction
i. Coverage Problem

Bad coverage :
A network facing coverage problems has bad
RxLev. RxQual can be bad at the same time.
Sometimes the RxLev can look OK on the
street (i.e. from drivetest) but coverage inside
the buildings can be poor due to building
losses. Building losses can range from 10 to
30 dB or more.

Optimization: Introduction
i. Coverage Problem
 Indications :
 Customers complain about dropped calls and/or
“No Network”
 OMC QoS indicators
– TCH failure rate
– Call drop rate
– Low proportion of better cell HO
– High rate of DL & UL Level HO (possibly also
DL/UL quality HO)
 A interface indicators
– High rate of Clear Request message, cause radio
interface failure
 Drive Test
– Poor RxLev ( < -95 dBm)

Optimization: Introduction
i. Coverage Problem
 Investigation and Optimization :
 If actual coverage is not the one predicted
by planning tool
– Check antenna system (azimuth, crossed
sector?)
– Check prediction in the tool (EIRP, Clutter
Type, Obstructing building?). Most of the time
the prediction will be incorrect, as it is only a
computer simulation
– Increase or decrease antenna down-tilt
– Check BTS output power set in the OMC-R
(BS_TXPWR_MAX: should always be set at
0)

Optimization: Introduction
i. Coverage Problem
 Investigation and Optimization :
 If actual coverage OK compared to
predicted ones
– Improve coverage by adding Macro site,
Microcell site (Border or Shadow areas), or
IBC site (In-building coverage).
– Use parameter setting ex. Bi-layer Handover.

Optimization: Introduction
i. Coverage Problem
Example on thresholds :

 From Drive test or Abis Interface

 RxLev < -95 dBm

and
 RxQual > 4

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem

Interference :

A network facing interferences

problems presents good RxLev
and bad RxQual in the same time
on some areas.

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem
 Indications :
 Customers complain about bad speech quality
(noisy calls) and/or call drops
 OMC QoS indicators
– SDCCH/TCH Drop
– Low proportion of better cell HO
– High rate of DL/UL quality HO and interference
HO
– Low HO success rate
 A interface indicators
– High rate of Clear Request message, cause radio
interface failure
 Drive Test
– RxQual > 4 with RxLev > -85 dBm

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem
Typical causes :

 GSM interferences
 Co-channel
 adjacent

 Non GSM Interference

 Other Mobile Network
 Other RF sources

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem

Level
Co-channel interference :
 C/I = Carrier-to-interference ratio
 +12 dB is taken into account for +12 dB

Alcatel ( +9 dB according to GSM

standard) (i.e. interference can be 9
 12 dB weaker than serving cell to
cause poor RxQual).
f(cell1)=f(cell2) Frequency

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem
Co-channel interference :
 Indications
 Downlink and/or Uplink Interference
 High rate of quality handover, call drop, and call
setup failure
 Investigation
 Drive test analysis
 Lumpini: Co-channel checking
 Check prediction to verify which cell could be
causing the interference
 Frequency plan C/I < 12 dB

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem

Co-channel interference :
 Optimization
 Antenna optimization
 Change frequency
 Reduce BTS power (not an option in TA Orange
network)
 Concentric cell

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem
Co-channel interference: Optimization: Concentric cell
 Concept  Conclusion from Alcatel trial on
Orange’s network (Suburban area)

 Concentric cell is difficult to

optimize, and hence is rarely used
in the network today.

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem
Adjacent channel interference :
 C/A = Carrier-to-adjacent ratio
 -6 dB is taken into account for Alcatel ( -9 dB
according to GSM standard).
Level

f(cell1) f(cell2)

-6 dB

E.g.
f(cell1)= Ch.573
f(cell2)= Ch.574

f(cell2)=f(cell1)+1 Frequency

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem
Adjacent channel interference :
 Indications
 Downlink and/or Uplink Interference
 High rate of quality handover, call drop, and call
failure
 Investigation
 Adjacent HO statistics (if they are defined as
neighbors). If they often handover, then adjacent
channel interference could be a problem.
 Drive test analysis
 Lumpini: Adjacent channel checking
 Cell coverage prediction
 Frequency plan C/I < -6 dB

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem

Adjacent channel interference :

 Optimization
 Antenna optimization
 Change frequency
 Reduce BTS power (not an option in TA Orange
network)
 Concentric cell

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem
Interference : Forced Directed Retry
 MS should connect to Cell_A, but no TCH
available.
 MS connects to Cell_B with forced directed
retry
 MS is emitting at high level (due to long
distance from Cell_B) Cell_B: Ch.573

 UL interference for Cell_C

 Cell_B is emitting at high level (if DL PC is
being used)
 DL interference at Cell_C
 MS is serving on the 2nd or 3rd best server: Cell_A: Ch.569
increases chances of interference problem Cell_C: Ch.572

(poor C/I & C/A as “C” is lower)

Optimization: Introduction
ii. Interference Problem
Non GSM interference :
 Other mobile network
 Inter-modulation with GSM BTS/MS receiver
 Other RF interferers
 Radar
 Shop anti-theft mechanism
 Medical devices
 Other man-made radio transmission
 Illegal usage of GSM frequencies (e.g. illegal
imported devices, illegal usage of other
organization, ...)
 ...
Optimization: Introduction
iii. Unbalance power budget Problem
 A cell facing unbalanced power budget problems
presents a too high path-loss difference between UL
and DL (often DL>UL)
 Lower Rx diversity gain of cross polarized antenna in
rural area compared to dense area
 Crossed feeders
 Traffic not directly in boresight of antenna, where
cross-polar discrimination is lower
 Loose connectors
 Faulty antenna, feeder, TMA
 Rule : try to have delta as small as possible to avoid
access network possible only in 1 direction (usually
BTS->MS : OK and MS->BTS : NOK), i.e. uplink
limited
Optimization: Introduction
iii. Unbalance power budget Problem
 Indicators :
 OMC QoS indicators
– High ratio of Uplink level Handover cause
– Low incoming HO success rate
– DL level looks OK for HO, but UL is too weak when
HO is attempted
– Degradation of TCH failures and OC call drop
indicators
 A interface indicators
– High rate of Clear Request message, cause radio
interface failure
 O&M Alarms
– Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR)
– TMA

Optimization: Introduction
iii. Unbalance power budget Problem
 Investigation :
 Abis monitoring:
– ABS(delta Path loss) > 10
» Check if problem is occurring for 1 TRX or
all.
– ABS(delta path loss) = ABS(UL Path loss – DL
Path loss)
– UL Path loss = MS transmitted power – measured
received UL level
– DL Path loss = BTS transmitted power – combiner
loss – measured received DL level
– Large difference between uplink and downlink
level triggered HO.
 Use PM observation counter (in OMC-R)
– RT11

Optimization: Introduction
iii. Unbalance power budget Problem

 Optimization : This equipment should

be checked
 TRX types (MP, HP)
 Antennas or common RF components,
TMA (common to all TRX of the BTS)
 TRX RF cables, LNA

Optimization: Introduction
iv. TCH congestion Problem
TCH Congestion :

 TCH Congestion rate (TCH

Assignment Phase) is too high
(more than 2%)
 Rule : try to meet the offered
traffic (asked by users) by
providing the right number of
resources (TRX extension)

Optimization: Introduction
iv. TCH congestion Problem
 Indications :
 Customers complain about “Network busy”
 OMC QoS indicators
– High “TCH Congestion rate”, “RTCH
Assignment fail-Congestion”
– Low “incoming Intra/Inter BSC HO success
rate” (no TCH available)
– High “Directed Retry rate or Congestion Relief
(Motorola)” if activated
 A interface indicators: “BSS Congestion failure in
OC”
– High rate of Assignment Failure message, No
radio resource available
 Drive Test
– Handover to better cell is slow, or never occurs
Optimization: Introduction
iv. TCH congestion Problem
 Optimization :

 Special events :
– Foreseeable: football match, important
meeting, Exhibition, etc.
» Add some extra TRXs
» Add special mobile BTSs (Cell on
Wheel)
» Activate HR (may not always be
possible due to BSC capacity
limitations)
– Not foreseeable: car crash on the highway

Optimization: Introduction
iv. TCH congestion Problem
 Optimization :

 Daily periodic problems : At busy hour:

– Hardware solution :
» Add TRX(s)
» Concentric cell
» New site
» Optimize cell boundaries (i.e. antenna
optimization) to share traffic with
surrounding cells

Optimization: Introduction
iv. TCH congestion Problem
 Optimization :

 Daily periodic problems : At busy hour:

– Software solution :
» Directed Retry
» Traffic Handover
» Half Rate (Alcatel)
» Congestion Relief (Motorola)
» Flow control (Motorola)

Optimization: Introduction
Problems and responsible parties
 Coverage problem :
 If the measured RxLev does not match
the prediction
– Check the prediction, check panoramic
pictures for obstructions
– Field Operation team to check physical
configuration (tilt, azimuth, antenna
height...). Also check for faults in the
antenna system (VSWR, sweep antennas,
DTF test, etc.)
– If Field Operation find no problem,
antenna optimization may be required (if
necessary)
Optimization: Introduction
Problems and responsible parties
 Coverage problem :

 If the field reality match the prediction

– RF team to add new sites (tri-sector, micro
cellular, indoor cells) to improve poor/no
coverage area (Optimizer requests for
some new sites to RF team regarding to
the drive test result)

Optimization: Introduction
Problems and responsible parties
 Interference problem :
 Optimization team to identify the interference
source and request Spectrum Management team
to correct it in case of internal source (new
frequency planning...)

 Unbalanced power budget problem :

 Field Operation team to check the impacted
BTS (Antenna, TMA, RF cables, LNA,
diversity system...) according to request from
Optimizer.

Optimization: Introduction
Problems and responsible parties

 TCH Congestion problem :

 Regional RF to request TRX

expansion.

Optimization: Introduction