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1.2.2 Solutions
1Find out weak covered areas
Through traffic statistic analysis, first we shall make sure whether cells call drop rate is high
(accompanied by high outgoing handover failure rate) and handovers are mostly rescue Rxlev
handover but other indicators are normal. If so, we shall check whether it is coverage problem,
then we ascertain weak covered areas through DT. In addition, we shall analyze whether call
drop is caused by special topography, such as tunnel, supermarket, subway entrance and hollow.
Generally, this kind of call drop focuses on a certain direction; we can solve it through adding
micro-beehive.
2T3103 overtime
T3103 is overtime: T3103 starts to record when BSC sends message HANDOVER COMMAND
to MS, T3103 reset when BSC receives message HANDOVER COMPLETE from target cell
for incoming handover or message HANDOVER FAILURE from the original cell. BSC will
send message HANDOVER COMMAND to BTS, if T3103 receives none of the upper two reply
messages, BSC regards that radio link fails in the original cell and then release channel of the
original cell. Signaling flow is shown in Figure 4.
1.3.3 Solutions
Carry out DT in a large extent, because handover is taken place among cells and BTS, call
drops in one cell may be because of unreasonable handover setting with its neighbor cells. Pay
high emphasis on cells have topological relation with the original cell and have high congestion
rate, and check whether blind cell exists around the original cell. If call drop is caused by these
two reasons, we shall modify relevant frequency and add new sites, or expand the coverage of
the original site. If call drop is due to unreasonable handover setting, we can modify handover
parameter according to the field test. As to call drops caused by unbalanced traffic and target BTS
has no channel to hand over on busy hour, we can adjust the traffic to solve it.
1.5.3 Solutions
1Eliminate uplink interference
This is the main interference at present. Uplink interference often occurs on a period with the
maximum traffic. It mainly comes from co-channel interference or exterior interference. Co-
channel interference is related to the traffic of intra-frequency cell; the higher traffic, the larger
interference. Exterior interference is intermodulation interference. Uplink interference can be
solved by analyzing related reports in DT, modifying co-channel frequency in intra-frequency
cell, increasing distance between two intra-frequency cells (statistic shows that signal strength
attenuates along with the 4 power of the distance) or using spectrum analyzer. It can also be
decreased through diversity and effective power control.
3Use discontinuous transmission (DTX), hopping technology, power control and diversity
technology
DTX includes uplink DTX (set by parameter DTXMODE) and downlink DTX (set by parameter
CELLDTXDOWNLINK); both of them use VAD technology and stop transmitting when voice
signal isnt transmitted (only a group of SID frame is sent in each 480ms to meet the measure
requirement of BTS). Then useless information is restrained from sending and effective
transmitting time is decreased, so that systems interference level can be depressed and life of
the battery can be prolonged. Hopping can improve radio signals transmitting quality effectively,
especially to the transmitting quality of slowly-moving object. This is because hopping makes
transmitting TRX hop on each unit length of burst that can obviously decrease co-channel
interference and frequency selectivity fading effect. But DTX has to be adjusted according to
practical surrounding radio environment and relations with neighbor cells. If the receiving signal
of the mobile phone is not good, call drop may occur when using DTX. It is because that when
DTX is used in downlink and mobile phone is in connected status, BTS transmitting power gets
strong while the subscriber is talking and gets weak on gaps. In this way, on the one hand we can
decrease interference to other BTS, but on the other hand if there is interference surrounds the
BTS then discontinuous transmission of downlink signal makes call quality worse; and when BTS
decrease transmitting power, call quality deteriorates and even call drop occurs in some places
where receiving signal is relatively weak and interference signal is relatively strong.
1.6 Call drop caused by antenna and feeder
4Call drops due to too short distance between antennas for diversity or unparallel Rx and Tx
antennas
A certain horizontal distance between two pairs of antennas should be insured to realize diversity
receiving; otherwise receiving sensitivity will be decreased and call drops will occur. When we
use diversity receiving antenna, generally an ideal effect will be obtained and gain is 3dB if
distance between Rx and Tx antennas is about 3 to 5 meters. But diversity receiving will be hard
to realize if the distance between Rx and Tx antennas is shorter than 1 meter. Besides, if Rx and
Tx antennas are unparallel, or even transmitting antenna directs receiving antenna, or there is a
very tall iron pole not far away from Rx and Tx antennas, signals will be obstructed and reflected
easily and interference will be produced.
5Call drops due to too strong backward signal strength from directional antenna
If backward signal from a cells directional antenna is too strong, call drops when MS occupies
the signal but cant find its neighbor cell.
3Feeder problem
If feeder is broken or get corroded, then VSWR will be so high that it may impact receiving and
transmitting performance.
2.3 Solutions
1We shall check cells incoming handover execution failure rate for better locating the problem
Ascertain whether handover failure rate ((handover execution handover success) / handover
execution) is related to assignment failure rate. It is because the process that MS establishes the
second layer link with handover target cell is similar to the channel assignment process when call
is set up.
2We shall check hardware fault when assignment failure rate is high (higher than 5%)
If it may be TRX problem, operation and maintenance engineers shall check OMC-R alarm
record (mostly a receiving module or transmitting module has problem). If there is no problem
discovered in OMC-R, then use Abis interface monitor to find out the faulted TRX that causes
assignment failure (equipment SN is TEI).
4Eliminate interference
Other situations occur when high assignment failure rate is caused by interference, such as lots
of handovers triggered by quality problem (high BER), or too high RACH decoding level. We
can find out system interior interference by carrying out DT. If uplink and downlink levels are
high but signal quality is bad, then interference may exist. Then we check whether the occupied
channel (BCCH TRX) is hopping or not. If BCCH TRX has interference, we re-plan the frequency
of co-channel cell and adjacent channel cell.
If there is no hardware fault but TRX voice quality is bad, then it means frequencies it uses have
interference. One solution is to optimize cells that have the same MA list with the cell; another
solution is to suppose the cell isnt in hopping mode and set TRX on each frequency on MA list,
so as to find out frequencies get interference. Of course, network quality will be decreased if we
use this solution, so we suggest using it on non-busy hour.
3 SDCCH/TCH congestion
3.1 Problem description
There are two kinds of congestions: one is that network has no signaling channel to use in
immediate assignment; another is that network has no TCH to use in voice channel assignment.
In this section we mainly analyze congestion problems as well as propose solutions and balance
method to signaling load and traffic load.
In immediate assignment, SDCCH assignment failure counter accumulates once BSC sends
IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT REJECT according to command that channel cant be activated.
When there is no available SDCCH or ground resource on Abis interface, T3122 is included
in IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT REJECT message sent by BSC to MS. T3122 defines the
minimum interval for MS to set up the next call.
Signaling flow is shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6 SDCCH congestion signaling flow
When assigning TCH, assignment failure occurs (reason is congestion) if BSC has no resource
when receives ASSIGN REQUEST or HO REQUIRED from MSC, or no available ground circuit
resource when sends channel activation. If this happens, BSC sends ASSIGN FAILURE to MSC
(reason is no radio resource), and TCH assignment failure counter accumulates once. Please refer
to Figure 5.
Through analysis, we can solve these two kinds of congestions separately.
3Hardware fault
Faulted or unstable hardware such as TRX will trigger that BSC cant activate the channels
ground resource in immediate assignment.
4Neighbor cell fault
Neighbor cells fault will cause server cell congestion because it absorbs some extra traffic.
3Decrease T3101
Adjust T3101 to reduce system resource waste. Generally, immediate assignment can be
accomplished within 3 seconds. Then we set T3101 as 3 seconds to avoid BSC from assigning
resource because of resending channel request and to release resources that have been wasted for
other requests.
6Adjust T3122
We can prevent subscribers from frequently sending channel request message which will increase
network RACH and CCCH load by increasing T3122 when system has no resource (normally we
set T3122 as 10s, or 30s when SDCCH traffic is very large). This timer shall be set as shorter as
possible when channels traffic isnt much big.
2Handover problem
Unreasonable call model caused by too frequent handovers among cells will decrease system
capacity. Ping Pong handover caused by boundary problem, coverage problem, interference,
hardware fault or parameter problem will trigger TCH congestion. When system has interference
or hardware problem, MS receiving level will be high but signal quality is bad. If this happens,
MS may be handed over out due to bad signal quality and handed over in due to power budget
reason, and then Ping Pong handover occurs.
Some similar situations happen such as MS can also be handed over out due to TA reason and
handed over in due to power budget reason.
3Transmission problem
If transmission breaks off for an instant or high error rate occurs on Abis interface, because the
fault hasnt been transmitted to BSC and ground circuit resource is unavailable when BSC is
activating channel, it is counted as congestion. It is especially obvious after queuing function has
been activated.
This problem will also trigger severe incoming handover failure. Because MSC doesnt know
the BTS has transmission problem and still sends incoming handover request to the BSC, then
consequently incoming handover request fails. BSC will also count this event as congestion. This
problem will last till MS that try to handover in deletes the cell on handover cell list reported to
the system.
9Coverage problem
These problems exist in urban areas:
Too large coverage caused by too high antenna height or unreasonable antenna down/up tilt angle;
BS TXPWR MAX is set too high due to RXLEV ACCESS MIN is set too low; the BTS overlaps
its neighbor cells because its coverage is perfect in some directions (such as in square, lake or
highway) that makes some traffic cant be handed over out normally and causes congestion due to
too concentrated traffic.
10Hardware is instable
Instable BTS equipment (like TRX) will impact channels availability and channel cant be
activated while assigning channel that will trigger congestion.
10Adjust antennas installation height as well as down tilt angle and up tilt angle
Possibly control BTS coverage by adjusting antennas installation height as well as down tilt angle
and up tilt angle, so as to optimize traffic load. But we shall prevent blind area from appearing.
In the area of city boundary, when more INTRA-MSC handover failure happens, and excludes
other possible failures, here check whether frequency change on boundary neighbor cell, which
results in isolated effectiveness.
For a pair of neighbor cells, if higher handover execution failure due to isolated effectiveness,
Abis interface test could be done to find isolated cell by checking time ahead (TA). Then bigger
down tilt could abate isolated effectiveness, or change BSIC to eliminate same BCCH/BSIC.
Check whether neighbor cell table matches BTS parameters, if not, modification should be done
in OMC-R.
5Coverage issue
If there is not enough overlap coverage between originating cell and target cell (shown in Figure
11), handover could fail because MS is not able to capture TCH of target cell. In the situation,
replacement is difficult with lower probability.
If make sure terrible coverage results in failure, we have to use relevant approaches to improve
overlap coverage.
6Interference issue
If interference exists, it is difficult for MS to capture TCH of target cell. And here, RX power level
is better, but uplink / downlink signal quality is terrible.
If handover-in execution failure rate is high, it is necessary to check cell interference. Checking
handover-in and handover-out execution failure rate of every pair of cells could indicate
interference exists in single cell or in multi-cell, and further estimate interference area and
interference property.
If handover-out execution failure rate is high, probably downlink interference exists in originating
cell, MS could not decode HANDOVER COMMAND message from BTS, here T3103 time out
results in call drop. The reason of higher handover-out execution failure rate may be due to
downlink / uplink interference in target cell. Therefore, it is necessary to check every indicator
of every pair of cells to help estimating interference, at the same time check correlation between
handover-in execution failure rate and allocation failure rate of target cell. Higher handover failure
rate caused by interference always accompanies high allocation failure rate.
To confirm cell interference, proportion of handover due to uplink / downlink quality could be
estimated.
If confirming cell interference, change cell frequency in time or eliminate interference source.
7Antenna issue
Due to obstruction before antenna or two antennae coverage asymmetry of the same cell, for
solution, please see allocation failure analysis.
8Repeater issue
for analysis and solution, please see call drop analysis.
9Parameters issue
Due to inconsequent or mismatch parameters, e.g. configuring T3103 with a small number results
in MS could not capture channel if target cell.
If parameter description of neighbor cell about LAC and CI of target cell, it will result in higher
handover selection failure rate.
2Hardware problem
It may be downlink hardware problem if handover failure rate is high, such as BTS transmitter,
power amplifier, transmitting antenna or feeder has problem.
3GSM interference
Check whether co-channel interference or adjacent channel interference exists. If there is severe
interference inside system, quality handover will also be triggered during the call because of bad
voice quality even if subscriber can occupy the assigned channel. But quality handover usually
causes Ping Pong handover: if quality handover is triggered by interference, then commonly the
original cells signal strength is high but quality is bad; therefore MS will be handed over back
into the original cell again because of power budget even if it was handed over out due to quality
reason.
5.1.3 Solutions
1Parameter checking
Check whether cell handover parameter is set properly.
5.2.3 Troubleshooting
1Parameter checking
Check the parameters of cell handover.
2Check the hardware
If there are problems concerning uplink hardware, loss of cell or some TRX will be great. At the
same time, we shall check the failure rate of handover in. Because if uplink BER is high, even if
the downlink is normal, handover can be hard to carry out.
If there are problems concerning the uplink, handover due to uplink power level, assignment
failure and RL failure will be more than normal cell.
3Eliminate external interference
Take the following measures to make sure whether its caused by BCCH uplink interference:
check related RACH demodulation level; analyze and check GSM uplink frequency band using
spectrum analyzer in BTS; track Aibs; check uplink & downlink balance and uplink distributed
level ; check BTS transmission cable etc.
4Eliminate GSM interior interference
Please refer to the cause of handover due to downlink quality.
6.4 Troubleshooting
1Confirm the time when error occurs
Check the time when RACH access failed and whether it still exists and is caused by incident.
2Make sure whether its caused by hardware or interference
Compare the following running status: handover in, establish requests, and assign requests.
If its caused by BCCH uplink interference, it will not affect handover greatly, and RACH
demodulation level and channel assignment success rate will be reduced. If its caused by
hardware, access success rate will be very low.
3Eliminate hardware malfunction
If there is hardware error in uplink, network will not be able to assign channels responding to MS
channel requests. In this case, check site hardware, especially TRX, antenna and feeder. If the
problem is not sure, do Abis analysis and check link budget.
4Eliminate interference
If the problems dont lie in hardware and connection, then there is great possibility that its caused
by interference. Check whether there is newly-added RF equipment around the cell based on the
time that error arises and the duration. Check frequency scheme to make sure that there is no intra-
frequency interference and adjacent cell interference. If its the case, modify BCCH frequency to
see whether RACH level is changed also. If its necessary, do DT, use spectrum analyzer or RF
receptor to check the features of interference signaling. Please refer to interference chapter.
5Remove the effect of repeater
Attention shall be given to wideband repeater. The function of wideband repeater is to enhance
network coverage and is mainly used in suburbs and rural areas. In the cities, indoor repeater is
mainly used for coverage of large buildings and basements. The usage of repeaters will change
the coverage condition, so coverage range shall be controlled. Interference will not be caused
in the area with no signaling from other sites, but the balance of uplink & downlink shall be
guaranteed. In the cities the repeater will cause great interference especially uplink interference.
If the equipment is good, most problems of RACH inefficiency is caused by the interference from
the repeaters. So if repeater is needed, closed circuit repeaters are strongly recommended or install
narrow-beam antenna beside the site to control transmission power.
9.2 Others
1Signaling block
New buildings block the propagation of the electromagnetic wave and make the signaling
become weak and users in far area cant use normally. The high buildings near the sites will have
greatest effect on the propagation.
2Propagation ambience changes
The change of propagation environment of electromagnetic makes the receiving signaling fade.
Especially in mountainous region, the propagation there rely much on the reflection of the hills
and if the plantation changes, the signaling may fade and cant reach the user.
3Technical indicator of the terminal descends
The descending of the MS power and sensitivity may affect the reception of the radio signaling.
The feeder which is used to transmit signaling and the connector shall be in good condition.
We can seen from the above that the descending of the site coverage is caused by many reasons.
Thus we shall make daily maintenance and do troubleshooting timely to guarantee smooth running
of the system.
when signaling of cell C drifts to cell A, if cell A defines cell B as its adjacent celland the
frequency of cell B and C are the same, MS standing in A may select cell C. At this time, MS
will monitor BA(BCCHtable broadcast by Cell Cfrequency of cell A may not in the table,
and signaling of BCCH tends to be weak, therefore, MS may not receive drift signaling of cell C
and will make cell reselection again. This will make signaling fluctuate.
10.4 Signaling fluctuate during MS making calls
1Equipment malfunction
If TCH and BCCH of MS dont belong to one carrier, and the transceiver works
unsteadilysignaling is weaksignaling of MS in idle state will appear strong but is weak
during communication.
2Problems brought by handover
When MS handover is frequent, signaling of MS may fluctuate.
When adjacent cells of handover are too many, frequency samplings in BA table for MS may be
less and results in incorrect measurement level and frequent handover.
10.6 Other
1When MS originates calls and returns to idle state, MS cant dial in a while. Its because MS
receives immediate assignment refuse messagedue to signaling channel congestionwhich
includes refuse connect timer T3122thus MS is hard to get access to the network
2Bad voice quality when MS is making calls
When MS is making calls with PSTN subscribervoice quality of MS is bad while the other
party is fair (receiving level is high), there may be error or interference in downlink of the
standing cell of MS. So, check downlink hardwaretransceiver ,frame processor, combiner and
feeder etc firstthen use traffic statistics to check whether there are too many handover of
downlink handover due to quality.
When voice quality of PSTN subscriber is bad, it may be caused by uplink error or interference
of MS standing cell. Check uplink hardware such as transceiver, frame processor, combiner and
feeder etc
If it happens between two MS, two network situation shall be taken into consideration.