1.

Drop Call Analysis

Dropped Calls on TCH

Dropped Calls on TCH

Check Lost Handov er

Bad Locating
Parameter
Setting?

Y es

Correct Parameter
Setting
Perf orm
handov er
analy sis

No
Check Output Power

Y es

Most dropped
calls during
handov er?

No
Is Power
Regulation
used properly ?

No

Correct power
regulation
parameters

No

Adjust output
power

Check site position

Y es
Is the Power
Balanced?

Remov e site or
change f requency

Y es

Dragon site?

No
Y es
Check BTS Error log
Is DTX
used?

No

Introduce DTX

Y es

Is Frequency
Hopping Used?

Swap & repair HW

No

Y es

Activ ate
Frequency
Hopping

HW f ault?

No
Check link quality
& sy nchronisation

Y es
Check Dropped call reason

Bad
Quality ?

Y es

Perf orm link

inv estigation

Perf orm
Interf erence
Analy sis

Y es

No

Low Signal
Strength?

Transmission
f ault?

No

Y es

Perf orm low

Signal
Strength
analy sis

Y es

Check site
location &
TALIM

Add site

No

Best serv er
exists?

No
Y es
Timing
Adv ance?

Check MS problem

No
Sudden
Drop?

Perf orm driv e test

Check reason f or
sudden loss

Perf orm CTR recordings

No
Perf orm site surv ey
Other?

Inv estigate
possible Hardware
f ault
Check antenna installation

No
B

Figure 1-1- Drop Call Analysis Flowchart.

End

From technical perspective, dropped calls show the number of abnormal disconnections during call setup,
SMS, supplementary service activation or during conversation. They are a few different counters for
dropped calls, i.e. dropped calls due to low signal strength, bad quality, too high timing advance and
miscellaneous is used to get an indication of the reason for possible bad performance.
From a subscriber point of view, dropped calls are those that interrupt an ongoing conversation, i.e. a call
dropped on the TCH. If the call is dropped on the SDCCH the user simply re-dials again and hopefully
succeeds with the new call setup. For this analysis we will focus on the drop call on the Traffic Channel
(TCH).
TCH Drop call can be divided into a few categories:
1. Excessive Timing advance
2. Low Signal Strength UL/DL/BL
3. BL Bad Quality UL/DL/BL
4. Sudden Loss
5. Other reason (not standalone counter)
Dropped connection due to failure is counted in counter TFNDROP, which step for the number of
abnormally terminated connections. These counters are incremented when the BSC send CLEAR
REQUEST and when CLEAR COMMAND message is received if the code differs from the cause codes
CALL CONTROL and Handover successful. If the CLEAR REQUEST has been sent previously before
CLEAR COMMAND, the counter will not step.
When a call is abnormally disconnected, that is CLEAR REQUEST is sent to the MSC, a check is made in
the function Assignment or Handover if any of the following urgency state existed. If more than one type of
urgency state are indicated by the locating procedure, the following priority (highest priority first) is used to
determine the type of urgency state:
1. Excessive Timing Advance (TA)
2. Low signal strength in downlink and/or uplink
3. Bad quality downlink and/or uplink
4. Sudden loss of connection
When type of urgency is determined, one of counters of this urgency state is stepped.

1.1. Low Signal Strength Analysis

Low Signal strength is one of the reason of drop call. It can be indicated by many calls disconnected at low
signal strength by subscriber, drop calls due to excessive TA, poor handover performance and poor call
setup performance.

Low Signal Strength Analysis

Low Signal Strength Analy sis

Identif y Baseline requirement

and BSC exchange property
A

Change LOWSSDL &

LOWSSUL to a lower v alue

Is LOWSSDL &
LOWSSUL < x?
Is output
power < max?

Y es

Check Site Position

No

Does Cell
hav e
Hotspots?

Is Site isolated or
cov er a large area?

No

Sectorize Site

No

No

Is site
sectorized?

Perf orm CTR recording

Y es

Is there an UL
or DL problem?

Is it an indoor
problem?

DL

Are Antenna tilt &

orientation as
planned?

Y es
Y es

Is cov erage <

predicted?

No
No
Change Antenna
direction and orientation

Y es
A
No

Y es

Will cov erage be

increased by changing
antenna height, tilt &/
or orientation?

No

Add new site

End

Figure 1-2. Low Signal Strength Analysis.

Probable Reason

Increase output power

Poor BSC Exchange

Property setting

High LOWSSDL & LOWSSUL will give more drop reason due to SS and
this might not show the actual drop. It is because drop due to SS is
more priority than Quality.

No dominant cell

Cell might be isolated or standalone.

Antenna tilt &

orientation

Too much downtilt sometimes might not cover a larger area and the
subscriber might lose the SS.

Output Power

Low output power might cause smaller border cell.

The following procedure should be performed for low signal strength analysis:
1. Identify the baseline requirement of design and BSC exchange property (setting for
LOWSSUL/LOWSSDL).
2. Check the value for LOWSSDL & LOWSSUL. If it is higher than ACCMIN, change the parameter to
a reasonable value since the drop reason will be more priority to SS compared to Quality.
3. Check the site position, antenna direction, position etc. This is to ensure the possible location is
open to interference (open water environment) or isolated. Good map is needed for this.
4. Check if the site is sectorized or Omni. If it is Omni, set the cell into sectorized cell.
5. Check if the signal strength is uplink or downlink limited. Mostly, It is designed to be downlink
limited.
6. Check the coverage cover expected area from the planet. If it is not, check the antenna tilt and
orientation. Change the direction or tilt if it is too much downtilt or pointing to a wrong direction.
7. Sometime, low output power might cause low SS. Check output power and if it is low, increase the
output power.
8. Check cell whether it has hotspots from drivetests. If found, adding new site is recommend.
9. In order to check power distribution, run Cell Traffic Recording (CTR) to that particular cell.
10. Check if the cell has indoor coverage problem. If yes, add micro site instead.

1.2. Bad Quality (Interference) Analysis

Interference can be divided into two categories:
Internal
Co-channel or Adjacent channel interference causing internal interference. Possible problem of this is
due to bad frequency plan, bad site location, congestion or too high antenna location.
External
Exists when there is another transmitter or something else acting as a transmitter outside the network
such as TV transmission, CCTV, Wireless Cord Phone, AMPS network, repeaters or microwave links.
To avoid the disturbance, the operator has to change affected frequencies or take action on the source
of the disturbance.
Uplink Interference Probable Reason
Poor MS Power
regulation

MS at cell borders areas interfered by other mobiles on the co-channel

or adjacent channel cell border as MS transmit in all directions.

Bad frequency plan

Uplink interference might no be noticed by Automatic Frequency

planning tool. The reason is that it is normally assumed that the radio
link is reciprocal, the uplink is equal to the downlink. Sometime the case
might be imbalance.

No BTS Diversity

Lack of BTS diversity might loss 3-4 dB sensitivity.

Faulty BTS receivers

Receiver sensitivity may be lower than specification.

High Antenna position

Could cause co-channel sites overhead.

Downlink Interference Probable Reason

Poor BTS Power
regulation

Non working BTS power regulation will increase the interference in cochannel cells.

Bad frequency plan

Uplink interference might no be noticed by Automatic Frequency

planning tool. The reason is that it is normally assumed that the radio
link is reciprocal, the uplink is equal to the downlink. Sometime the case
might be imbalance.

Low BTS output power

Output power is less than intended. Co-channel interferers will be

heard.

Faulty BTS transmitter

Transmitter sensitivity may be lower than specification.

Feeder problems

Water in feeders might cause disturbances.

Environment

Open water might cause too large coverage area causing disturbance.

Interf erence Analy sis

Interference Analysis
Check Drop Call perf ormance

Check Handov er perf ormance

Check Antenna Direction & Position

Check if Site is DRAGON site

Is there a cochannel site

interf ering?

Y es

Change f requency

No

Is Intracell HO
v ariation dif f erent
f rom 25% UL, 75%
DL?

Y es

Set MAXIHO to a
lower v alue

No

Locate interf erence by checking

MS rev ersion to old channel

Is outgoing BQ HO
decision basedon UL
or DL?

Uplink

Is ICM band >3

Y es

Downlink

Change Frequency

No

Is MS power
regulation set
correctly ?

End

Is BTS power
regulation set
correctly ?

No

No

Correct power
regulation settings

No

Y es
Y es
Is f requency
hopping on?

No

Turn on Frequency
Hopping if # of TRU > 1

Identif y source and

inf orm authorities

Y es
Y es

Is DTXU
of f ?

Y es

Turn DTX on

Y es

Is DTXD
of f ?

Is Interf erence
External?

No

Figure 1-3 Interference Analysis.

The following procedure should be performed for interference analysis:

1. Check the drop call performance for that particular cell. When the interference problem occurs in the
cell, the drop call will be higher than usual. This might depends on the severity of the interference
whether it is co-channel or adjacent channel.
2. Check the handover performance of the cell. The HO performance will also look bad especially
when you look into the neighbor relation that has interference. For e.g. adjacent channel. (CNA
consistency checking can detect this)
3. Check the antenna direction, position etc. This is to see whether the direction covers the right area,
open space area (this can be seen by having good and updated map)
4. Check if the site is a dragon site. If the site is a dragon site, it might be possible to get interfered by
co-channel from far away.
5. Check the co-channel sites, if found, change frequency and see the result. Mostly, changing the
frequency will solve the interference problem.
6. Check the Intracell handover (normally for Intracell handover 25% Uplink and 75% Downlink) and if
the variation is different from this. Intracell handover usually indicates bad quality and high signal
strength. Too high number of intracell handover show a bad quality cell and if possible, you can
reduce the number of intracell handover of MAXIHO to a smaller value based on the channel group.
7. Locate the interference from statistics based on MS reversion to old channel of total attempt. High
number of reversion will show that the target frequency might be interfered.
8. Check the statistics from Outgoing Handover decision due to bad quality Uplink or Downlink from
handover decision. High decision of handover due to quality will show the direction of interference.
9. Check if the interference is uplink interference (this might be an interference from other MSs) by
analyze the ICM band for other band (not include band 1). If found on ICM > 3, change frequency.
10. Check the MS power regulation setting. If any poor setting found, correct the parameter. Improper
setting of MS power regulation might cause interference. The feature used to reduce the MS power
when the MS is near to the BTS and hoping that it might not interfere the uplink.
11. Check if the frequency hopping on or off. If more than 1 TRU, turn on the frequency hopping.
Turning on the frequency will help to reduce interference by interference averaging.
12. Check if DTXU feature is on or off. If off, turn the DTX feature on. This will save the battery in the
MS and reduce the interference.
13. If the interference is downlink (causing by other BTS interference), Check BTS power regulation. If
any poor setting found, correct parameter setting.
14. Check if DTXD feature is on or off. If off, turn the DTX feature on. This is used to reduce
interference and decrease BTS power consumption
15. If changing frequency or parameter cannot solve the interference for both uplink & downlink, it might
be external interference.

16. Check antenna installation, ensure that the antenna is correctly installed
17. Check if another mobile network like AMPS is near to the location.
18. Check from the statistics if there is any pattern of bad quality reason. For example, for surveillance
purpose, the CCTV or wireless alarm system might be turn on during nighttime only.
19. If external interference problem occurs, do drive test and report the usage of the frequency to
authorities.

1.3. Sudden Loss

Sudden loss of connection is valid if none of the first three types of urgency state (excessive TA, low
signal strength or bad quality) are indicated and also the locating procedure indicates missing
measurement results from the MS.
The term Sudden Loss is used because if the network cannot establish a connection with the lost MS
after a pre-defined period, the sudden loss counter is incremented if the last reported measurement
from the MS does not fulfil any of the reasons mentioned above. Counter TFSUDLOS will step if the last
measurement report missing in period of time.
Probable Reason
Environment

Very sudden and severe drop in signal strength, such as when

subscriber enter into building, parking garages etc

Interference

Very sudden and severe occurrence of interference or bad quality

Battery or subscriber
behavior

MS running out of battery during conversation or pulling out battery

BTS H/W or MS fault

BTS Hardware fault & MS fault

Transmission fault

Synchronization or ABIS link Fault

How to analyze:
Check radio link time-out and if for a tunnel and if you find it possible to retain the call, set longer
RLINKT & RLINKUP if it possible to handle longer delays before it dropped.
Check synchronization and ABIS link faults. If possible, run command GSSTP, GSCVP (Group
switch status & Group switch clock value).
Check the location of the drop where there is tunnel or any obstacles. If it is related to human
behavior, there is nothing you can do.
Check the ratio of handover to drop calls. This is to check whether high drop call rate due to
handover performance.

1.4. Excessive Timing Advance (TA)

Drop call due to excessive TA happens when the TA value at drop call connection is higher than the cell
parameter TALIM (TADROP > TALIM) and from this counter TFDISTA is incremented.
Probable Reason
Location

High sites or sites next to water pick up traffic from far away

Parameter setting

Very low TALIM setting, which would indicate a false excessive timing

advance
How to analyze:
Check cell parameter MAXTA and TALIM. If it covers far coverage, it is possible to setting of the cell
parameters MAXTA and TALIM to a higher value (for e.g. MAXTA=63, TALIM=62)
If the cell is really covering far away from the site, other options are reducing the coverage by down
tilting the antennas, reducing antenna height, changing antenna or reducing output power
If it is a rural area and need to cover a larger area, Extended Range feature might be useful to be
considered.

1.5. Other Reason

Drop due other reason equal to total number of drops subtracts all drops with reason. If any of the
above drop reason didnt meet the criteria, the reason for drop will be in the Other Reason.
Probable Reason
H/W fault

Hardware Problem (Managed Object in BTS)

Disturbance

Link/ Transmission disturbance problem

Parameter Setting

Wrongly defined setting (for e.g. LAC Location Area Code)

Mobile Station

MS problem

Interference

Interference problem (Uplink)

How to analyze:
Check the BTS error log for hardware faults. (run commands: RXELP & RXMFP to look the
hardware faults log)
Check if ICM is indicating uplink interference in the cell.
Check with O&M regarding transmission problems, HW problems and service affecting maintenance
work during the time period. The average cell downtime and TCH availability should also be check.
It might be intermittent link connection.
Check object type MOTS, which is based on drop on Timeslot (TS) in order to find faulty devices.