GSM Radio Network Optimization

(How To Optimization Network)

2024年4月17日 1
 Wireless Network Optimization

 Common procedure of network

Let’s Begin! optimization
 Data collection
 Evaluation of network
 Network optimization
 Introduce of network optimization tools

2024年4月17日 2
 Common Procedure of GSM Network Optimization

 Data collection before optimization

 Network evaluation before optimization
 Optimization scheme
 The design of optimization
implementation scheme
 Network evaluation after optimization
 Light adjustment solution
 Evaluation before completion
 Experience communion

2024年4月17日 3
 Data Collection

• Data collection of current network；

• Performance data and traffic from O
MC-R；

• Driving test data；

• Test data in special place；
• Feedback from the subscribers ；
• A interface and a-bis interface trace
data by signal analysis equipment ；
• Usage of all kinds of data

2024年4月17日 4
 Data Collection Of Current Network-1

• Parameters of BSC ： e.g. Max Capacity 、 Phase2+

support ?etc.

• Parameters of BTS equipment and Antenna_feeder ：

e.g. BTS Max power output, Max Site type 、 Loss of
components of antenna and feeder etc.

• Special function of equipment ： e.g. Distinctive

handover arithmetic.

• Wireless propagation Environment ： Clutter （ Dense

city 、 Common city 、 Sparse city 、 Suburb 、 Village ）；
Landform （ platform 、 hill 、 Land and Waters etc. ）。
Electronic map is necessary sometimes ；

2024年4月17日 5
 Data Collection Of Current Network-2

• Engineering Data ： Longitude,latitude of

sites 、 Altitude 、 Site type （ Capacity Configuration ）、
Antenna height 、 Parameters （ Gain 、、 Front_back
ratio 、 Horizontal 3db Beam width 、 Vertical 3db Beam
width 、 Electrical down tilt ）、 Azimuth of
Antenna 、 Length of feeder; TMA, Booster, Repeater
used etc. ；

• Wireless Resource Parameters ：（ MCC+MNC+LAC+CI ）、

BTS Output power 、 Frequency Hopping 、 BSIC 、 cell
selection parameters 、 cell reselection
parameters 、 handover parameters 、 BA 、 neighbor cell
list 、 SDCCH Configuration 、 LAC and PCH 、 Location
Update etc. ；
2024年4月17日 6
 OMC-R Performance Data and Traffic Statistical Data

Statistical data on busy time

Data kinds ：

 SDCCH Assign 、 Allocate 、 seizure Success Rate and number of

success
 TCH Assign 、 Allocate 、 seizure Success Rate and number of success
 TCH Handover Success Numbers and Success Rate ；
 TCH Handover Success Numbers and Success Rate Between Dual-
band;
 TCH Call Drop numbers and Drop rate
 TCH call drop reason (LAPD ,Radio Link etc.)
 SDCCH Congestion and traffic per subscriber
 TCH Congestion and traffic per subscriber
 Usable rate of TRX

2024年4月17日 7
 Test_Object And Classification

• DT test: the quality evaluation of the whole network;

• Frequency scanning test: checking internal or external
interference ;
• CW test: propagation model correction test;
• Cell reselection border test;
• Cell handover border test;
• Interference cause confirmation;
Macrocell

Microcell

2024年4月17日 8
 Test data_main content
 Mode of mobile （ No Service ， Idle ， Dedicated ）；

 The co-ordinate of site （ longitude and latitude ）；

 RxLev ， C1 、 C2 ; RxQual 、 FER 、 BER ,TA ( Only in Dedicated

mode ） etc. ；

 Decoding information and other information of neighbor cell ；

 L3 （ Layer3 ） information ； From the layer 3 information ,the

whole communication procedure can be traced ；

 The reselection information

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 CQT Test

• The special place

• Indoor test

2024年4月17日 10
 Feedback from the subscribers

 The time ；

 The place ；

 The problem description ；

 The solution ；

 The contact information of the

subscriber ；

2024年4月17日 11
 A_Interface Data

 The handover data of each cell ；

 The information of location

update ；

 The information of call drop ；

 The traffic ；

2024年4月17日 12
 A-bis data

The main information you can get ：

 The whole signal procedure ；

 The uplink signal between MS and Network ；

 From the analysis of measure report ： the distributing

information of RXLEV 、 quality and number of measure
report ； TA distributing information ； the
information of balance between uplink and downlink ；

 All of the signal information between BTS and BSC

2024年4月17日 13
 The usage of all kinds of data
• Data collection of current network ： the basic of network
optimization;
• OMC-R performance data and traffic statistical data ： the
information shows the network quality as a whole ；
• Drive test ： the information shows the network quality as a
whole and the quality of particular place,but the result is
random.
• Test in special place ： to find the special problem and test
in hot spot ；
• Feedback from the subscribers ： complementary information
and the final information ；
• Collection data from signal analysis equipment ： you can get
the information of the whole network and detail
information ， but lack of the information of downlink um
interface and the location information ；
2024年4月17日 14
 Evaluation of Network

• Evaluation of the whole

network

• Finding reason of the

particular problem

2024年4月17日 15
 Evaluation of the whole network-1
 The coverage rate of the whole network ；

 The quality rate of the whole network ；

 The handover success rate of the whole network
 SDCCH Assign 、 Allocate 、 seizure Success
Rate and number of success ；
 TCH 、 Assign 、 Allocate 、 seizure Success
Rate and number of success ；
 TCH Handover Success Number and Success
Rate ；
 TCH Handover Success Number and Success Rate
Between Dual-band
 TCH Call Drop number and Drop rate ；
 TCH call drop reason (LAPD ,Radio Link etc.) ；
 SDCCH Congestion and traffic per subscriber ；
 TCH Congestion and traffic per subscriber ；
 Useable rate of TRX ；

2024年4月17日 16
 Evaluation of the whole network-2

• Difference indicators partition

 TCH Congestion ： 0%~2% ， 2%~5% ， 5%~10% ， 10%~20% ， >20% ；

 TCH Handover Success Rate ：

<60% ， 60%~80% ， 80%~90% ， 90%~95% ， >95% ；

 TCH Drop Rate ： <1% ， 1%~2% ， 2%~5% ， 5%~10% ， >10% ；

 Traffic Per Channel ： <0.2 ， 0.2~0.3 ， 0.3~0.4 ， 0.4~0.5 ， 0.5~0.6 ， >0.6 ；

 Through the statistical Method ,we can find the bad

cell.

2024年4月17日 17
 Special problem
 Blind coverage area ；
 The area with bad quality ；
 The area which call drops often ；
 The reason of drop ；
 The cell handover success rate ；
 The TA Distributing ；
 The congestion of the cell ；

2024年4月17日 18
 Network optimization

 Rudder of network optimization

 Common procedure of optimization
 Wireless parameter optimization
 Wireless resource parameter
optimization

2024年4月17日 19
 Network Optimization—Rudder 1

 One must analyses problem systematically in network

optimization ： Network is a system ， Any partial
adjustment must be thought in a whole network, negative
effect must be thought over 。 Specially for the Frequency
,antenna(Wireless parameters) ；
 Try your best to reduce the risk of Optimization ：
1. Avoid adjusting the network frequency continuously.
2. Using the software and equipment to simulate the result
of network optimization
3. Test in partial area
4. The good implementation procedure is needed,Especially
when the adjustment job lasts long time , the
adjustment must be executed step by step.
5. Backup of the current network data
6. Adjust in the lowest traffic time
7. Explain to the Subscribers if necessary.
2024年4月17日 20
 Network Optimization—Common Rule 2

 First the global problem ,next the particular problem ：

The global Problems must be thought about first for
example the congestion of the whole network.Next the
problems in special place be thought about.
 First the Wireless parameters （ Engineering
Parameters,Next the wireless resource Parameters.
 From the hot areas to others ：
 The main problems to minor problems 。

2024年4月17日 21
 Common Procedure

 Checking network engineering parameters ：

 Antenna and feeder ： the mistake connection of
feeder.
 The antenna type ：
 The Engineering parameters of antenna ： the
Height /Azimuth/down tilt of antenna.

The exact and detailed data is the base of network

optimization 。

 Checking Wireless resource parameters ：

CGI = MCC + MNC + LAI + CI 。
BSIC AND Frequency resource 。

2024年4月17日 22
 Common Procedure2

 Confirming the probable range of the main problem

according to the network evaluation report.
 Finding the probable problems
 Analyze the main problems
 Give the solution and implementation

2024年4月17日 23
 Wireless parameters

 Types of wireless parameters ： mainly （ RF ）

Parameters ， including the Parameters of
antenna 、 height of antenna 、 azimuth 、 Down tilt 、
output power of BTS 、 Frequency 。 Others ， the
propagation Environments 。

 The method of adjustment ： Using the drive test software

and network plan software can increase the accuracy of
adjustment.

 The main problems ： The Coverage problems :The weak

signal , the overshoot ,the overlay ; The interference: co-
channel and adjacent channel interference ; The balance of
traffic 。

2024年4月17日 24
 Coverage

• Factors of coverage:

•BTS output power

•The loss of feeder System

•The antenna type

•The engineering parameters ： Azimuth 、 Down tilt

•Path Loss

2024年4月17日 25
 Coverage-Path Loss1
 Factors of Path

1. Height of antenna ： according to 20lg(h /30) ,the higher a

ntenna the less path loss 。
2. Clutter ： The building is more ,the path loss is more 。
3. The landform ： plain,hill 。
4. Forest influence ： About 10 db loss if the microwave propa
gates the forest in 20meters 。

2024年4月17日 26
 Coverage-Path Loss2
5. Water surface effect: The signal loss near water is very small and is cl
ose to the loss in free space ； the loss on water surface becomes large
r farther away from the shore, for the phase difference between the d
irect wave and the wave reflected by the water surface is 180 degree,
while the intensities are almost the same, hence the received signal is v
ery weak.
6. Obstacle ： Diffraction loss is caused by obstacles like hills and buildin
gs. The diffraction loss can be calculated by principle of Huygens. Buildi
ngs near to the BS will cause larger shadows, while shadows caused by b
uildings far away are smaller because of the multi-path propagation eff
ect.
7. Loss through buildings ： It varies significantly with buildings of differ
ent cities, structures and materials. Usually, for 900MHz ， the loss is
12~17dB (15dB is usually used) ； for 1800MHz ， the loss is 18~20dB.
The loss also varies with different floors of a building: Usually, the loss
reduces about 2dB every floor up. In cold areas, the walls of builds are
usually rather thick, and the loss for 900MHz is about 18~20dB.
8. Propagation distance ： Within 1~20km ， the propagation loss is 40dB/
dec ； longer than 20km, the loss is about 50~60dB/dec.

2024年4月17日 27
 Coverage-Antenna type

 The important Technology Parameters

1. Gain
2. Polarized ： Vertical Polarized 、 Dual_ Polarized 。
3. Vertical and horizontal 3db Beam width 。
4. Front_Back Ratio
5. Electrical Down tilt 。 3dB Beamwidth

Peak - 3dB

60° (eg) Peak

Peak - 3dB

2024年4月17日 28
 The Reason of weak signal

1. BTS Output Power 。

2. The loss of Feeder_Antenna ， Alarm of VSWR ；

WHY No signal ？

3. Between the Directional antennas （ Outside of Horizontal

3dB Beam width ）

4. The tilt of Omni_Antenna ；

5. The height of antenna ；

6. The antenna type ： For example :the gain is too low ；

7. The Path Loss is big ： Landform or forest ；

2024年4月17日 29
8. The wrong type of antenna ；
 The common method to increase the signal strength

1. Increase Output Power 。

2. Reduce the Loss of antenna and feeder ；

3. Use the high gain antenna if possible ；

4. Change the azimuth of the antenna ；

5. Change the down tilt of the antenna.

6. Higher the Height of antenna ；

7. Add new site ；

8. Use Repeater;
2024年4月17日 30
 indoor Coverage

• Macro cell

• Micro cell indoor

• Distributed system indoor

• Repeater and leaking line

2024年4月17日 31
 Coverage indoor

Antenna

BTS

Splitter
Cable Cable

Local Remot
Unit e Unit
Fiber

2024年4月17日 32
 Lonely Island

1. Phenomenon ： The coverage area of one cell is divided into two or more parts.

2. Reason ： The coverage is overshooting.

3. Result ： bring call drops if the some neighbor relations are not defined.
frequent handover ； The congestion because of the big coverage ； The island
area often have interferences ；

4. Solution ： Reduce the coverage,adjust the down tilt of the cell etc.

ISLAND
CELL A L L CE
B

2024年4月17日 33
 Coverage Overlap
1. Some area covered by two or more cells is needed between
two cell ： The area can provide coverage area
continuously and handover well 。
2. The Overlap Area is Suitable for 20%~30% to the whole
coverage area. If the overlap coverage area is big, the
error handovers and call drops appear possibly.
3. Solution ：
Adjust the wireless parameters ， plan coverage area for
each cell carefully .Just like adjust the down tilt of
antenna and output power of BTS 。

2024年4月17日 34
 The interference problems

 The Problems brought by the interference

1. Noise
2. Call Drop
3. Low Handover Success Rate
4. Can’t Page information increase

2024年4月17日 35
 Reduce the interference
 Object ： Increase the signal of main service cell ,reduce the
signal strength of interference

1. Increase the signal of BTS

2. Reduce the coverage area of the main cell
3. Good frequency Plan.
4. Select the suitable antenna
5. Adjust Down tilt of the interference cell
6. Adjust the height of antenna

2024年4月17日 36
 Antenna Down tilt

 Calculate the down tilt degree of antenna

1. Think about the vertical beam width

of antenna.
2. Calculate method ： dh/tg(a-t/2) ，
d: radius of cell covering ， h the ef
fective height of antenna ， a the d
own tilt degree ， t : the vertical be
am width of antenna 。
3. The above formula ， need 。
Height of Comparat Down tilt Distance Cell No. Remark
antenna ive height to site

37 57 10 1088 Wuzhi_A The geographic situation is uneven.

2024年4月17日 37
 Down tilt

 Unsuitable big direct down tilt can bring big problems through
the alternant coverage.
 We suggest that we use direct and electro-down tilt together if
the down tilt is too much.

No down tilt electro- down tilt

Down tilt too much

2024年4月17日 38
 Frequency Planning
 The problems solved by Frequency optimization

1. Solve the co-channel problem

2. Solve the adjacent channel problem
 Main point of frequency optimization

1. The regular BCCH Reuse :at least 4*3 ， better 5*3.

2. BCCH use the continuous frequency used by BCCH only.
3. BCCH not frequency hopping.

2024年4月17日 39
 Wireless Resource Parameters Optimization

1. The content of wireless resource parameters ：， Set at

OMC_R ,About the parameters how to use wireless
resource ， e.g. CGI 、 CCCH combine method 、 PCH
blocks 、 SDCCH 、 cell select parameters 、 cell reselect
parameters 、 cell handover parameters 、 power control
parameters etc..

2. How to adjust the wireless resource parameters ：

Analysis the performance data ,drive test data to get a
resolved method.

3. the problems can be dealt with ： capacity /call drop /

others 。

2024年4月17日 40
 TCH Congestion

1. MORE TRX ， Calculate by Erl_B 。

2. Reduce the coverage Area ；

3. Adjust the Selection Parameters for example

:RAM 。

4. Adjust the reselection Parameters for exampl

e: CRO 。

5. Adjust the Handover Parameters for example:

UPLEV 。

6. Directional Retry ；

2024年4月17日 41
 SDCCH Congestion
 The Reason of SDCCH Congestion
1. Location update frequently 。
2. High traffic
 SDCCH Congestion Cell Features
1. At the border of location
2. Alone cell LAC
3. High traffic 。
 SDCCH Channel Method
1. SDCCH/4
2. SDCCH/8
 The solution to solve SDCCH congestion

Increase the SDCCH channel number

2024年4月17日 42
 Power control

 Static power control

Control TRX Max output power

 Dynamic Power Control

1. Reduce the noise of whole cell
2. Reduce the power of MS

2024年4月17日 43
 Adjacent cell
 The neighbor relation

1. At MOST :32 ；
2. Enough is OK ,At first,you can define many ,and reduce some ；
3. If some adjacent cell is left, maybe cause the handover success
rate is low,and if the adjacent cell is important, call drop
increase 。

 Define the neighbor relation

1. The map ；
2. Drive test

2024年4月17日 44
 Dual_Band Network
 Strongpoint

1. Provide a method for big capacity

2. Use the same site location of GSM 900M , Cost is low ；
 Method of optimization

1. Handover parameters 。
2. Reselect parameters for traffic ；
GSM900 macro
GSM1800 macro
900 micro 1800 micro
P-cell P-cell

2024年4月17日 45
 Tool Introduction

• Planning soft ： planmastertm2.0 ；

• Drive test tools ： TEMS ， SAFCO ， ANTPILOT ；

• Signal analysis equipment ： ocean ；

GPS

2024年4月17日 46
 PlanMasterTM2.0

 Function
1. Evaluate the radio environment by coverage analysis, co-channel
interference analysis, and adjacent channel interference analysis.
Simulate and analyze the adjustment effect of radio parameters
for optimization.

2. Adopt e-map to make the most of the distribution information of

landforms, natural features and buildings to determine the antenna
down tilt more reliably.

3. Provide the set of adjacent cells of each cell after the radio
parameters are adjusted.

4. Discover radio problems by analyzing the Drive test data.

2024年4月17日 47
 PlanMasterTM2.0
 Overshooting coverage

BS8107A

2024年4月17日 48
 PlanMasterTM2.0
 Overlap coverage

BS8101A service
area including
BS8105 、
BS8102 、 BS8108
etc.

2024年4月17日 49
 PlanMasterTM2.0
 Interference
Interference analysis

2024年4月17日 50
 PlanMasterTM2.0
 Drive test analysis

Drive test
analysis

2024年4月17日 51
 PlanMasterTM2.0
 Drive test analysis

2024年4月17日 52
 Ant
 Received signal level

2024年4月17日 53
 Ant
 Rxqual

2024年4月17日 54
 Ant
 Handover

2024年4月17日 55
 Ant

 Data replay

2024年4月17日 56
 OCEAN
 Data statistics at A interface-Failure rate of TCH
channel

The statistics shows the rate

of abnormally released TCH
after the TCH assignment
command is given, including
reasons like TCH assignment
failure and TCH call drop. The
TCH failure rate showed in
the figure is ： 2.7%.

2024年4月17日 57
 OCEAN
 Data statistics at A interface-Failure rate of TCH connection

The statistics shows the rate

of abnormally released TCH
after the TCH connection is
established, including reasons
like TCH call drop. The TCH
connection failure rate showed
in the figure is ： 0.6%.

2024年4月17日 58
 OCEAN
 Data statistics at A port –Handover success rate

For most cells, the

handover success rate is
above 95%. This function
reflects the handover
success rate between any
two cells

2024年4月17日 59
 OCEAN
 A-bis interface-Coverage across cells

For the Mechanical Factory

District 3, there are some
calls for TA 20 ， while there
is no call from TA 10 to TA
20, which is definitely an
island phenomenon.

2024年4月17日 60
 OCEAN
 A-bis interface-Interference

Sometimes there is fairly

strong interference for some
time slots in the District 3 of
the Police Hospital. It is
because the remote areas like
District 3 of the Police
Hospital are covered by co-
channel cells, or adjacent-
channel cells of strong
intensity, and when the
handset uses channels of co-
channel or adjacent-channel
cells, it is inevitable for the
handset signal to interfere
some time slots of the cell.
2024年4月17日 61
 OCEAN
 A-bis interface-Interference

For the District 3 of the Police

Hospital, RQ is larger than 2
when the received level is still
85dBm ， which shows that
there is significant
interference in the cell.

2024年4月17日 62
 OCEAN
 Measure report analysis:
1. Fault phenomenon: the signal coverage of the BS in Qidu of
Chizhou Unicom, Anhui, is comparatively weak, but there is
no alarm.
2. Problem location: shut down the power control of uplinks an
d downlinks of this BS ， and trace the measure reports of
some call processes at the A-bis interface of the BS with t
he signaling analyzer. According to the principle of equal los
s for uplinks and downlinks, use the following formula:
PoutAnt  Pms  PrvUp  PrvDown
Take the average from many measure reports to determine
whether the output power at the transmitting end of the
antenna is normal
3. Result of data analysis: the output power is comparatively
small.
4. Solution: Replace the power amplifier, and it can be settled.
2024年4月17日 63
2024年4月17日 64