CLUSTER BASED OPTIMIZATION OF GSM NETWORK - PROCEDURE IN KERALA .

(VERSION-I DATED 11-12-2009)

Cluster optimization is the process in which, optimizing both the hard and soft parameters of a
group of adjacent BTSs, identified based on similarity in the terrain structure for the improvement of
both quality and coverage of that cluster without adversely affecting the neighbouring clusters . The
entire process may be divided and allotted to different units for the easy and speedy completion.

The following teams are involved in the process

1. BSS teams- Those who are maintaining the sites( One Team comprising of One SDE and One JTO
for one SDCA)

2. NQM teams( Network Quality Management ) -Those who are conducting drive test , post
processing of the drive files and analysing the data to ensure proper coverage and quality .(One
Team comprising of one SDE and one JTO for one Division)

3. RP wing- Radio parameter planning and approving team( Centralised team for one Circle)

4. OMCR team.-Database management ,KPI data collection and Soft parameter implementing
team( Centralised team for one Circle)

The main Flow of the process involved in the cluster optimization are
mentioned below along with the teams involved:

1. Initial Analysis and Planning Stage

• Defining clusters. (NQM and RP)

• Identifying clusters on priority for optimization. (NQM and RP)

• Verifying physical antennae parameters of the sites. (NQM)

• Identifying poor cells through statistical analysis & pre drive test of the entire cluster(NQM)

• After completion of the pre drive, evaluate the performance score of the cluster based on
weighted method of computation (NQM)

2. Optimization Stage

• Performing VSWR/Power measurement and correction (BSS)

 • Analyze drive files using post processing tools, drill down the issues and plan for soft/hard
parameter changes including addition of capacity (NQM)

 Implement the soft and hard parameter changes with the approval of RP(BSS ,NQM,RP,
and OMC)

• Conduct repeated localized comparison drives wherever change in soft/ hard parameters
have been made. (NQM)

• Once the optimization is complete, conduct a final post drive. (NQM)

3. Final Analysis and Reporting Stage

• Compare the Cluster wise KPIs such as Call drop, Call Set up Success Rate, Assignment Failure
Rate, Hand Over Failure etc. of Pre and Post optimisation statistics(NQM).

• Evaluate the performance score of the cluster based on weighted method of computation
(NQM).

• Prepare a detailed report containing action points for further improvement of the
performance score . (NQM)

• Repeat the optimization process for all the clusters and prepare a comparison score.

• Keep all pre/post drive data and plots for future reference.

WORK OF BSS TEAM

a. Hardware optimization which includes measurement and rectification of power and VSWR at
the BTS sites.

VSWR/Power measurement of all sites needs to be done and recorded.. VSWR should be ideally
less than 1.3. Return losses should be high. For a VSWR value of 1.01, the return Loss will be ideally
46.1 dB and for a VSWR value of 3.25, the return loss will be 5.5 dB. Thus, a large positive return loss
indicates the reflected power is small relative to the incident power, which indicates good impedance
match from source to load.
Few possible reasons for high VSWR values are
1. RF cable(waveguide) connector loose connection
2. Antenna port failure
3. Damage of waveguide/Jumper cable
4. Water leakage to the waveguide due to the improper sealing of the connector points/ antennae
port or non availability of weather proof sealing .

Before measuring the power/VSWR

a)Confirm the power assigned to each sector from OMC
 b) All the cables are to be well laid in proper order through the cable tray and tied for easy
tracing on a later stage.
c)All the cables are to be labelled properly.

b. Addition and deletion of DRX /cabinet/ Antennae at BTS sites as directed by NQM.
The above work can be executed based on the Change Request (CR) from the NQM. Capacity of the
sector are to be increased in such a way that the busy hour AMR HR penetration should not exceed
30% of the total capacity. Additional antennae / fourth sector also may be implemented based on
the approval of RP and NQM

1. Inspection of the BTS for loose cables , burnt cables , alarms etc and correction of the same.
Any loose /burnt cables in the BTS in the Tx side may affect the forward coupling power
which will be reflected at the time of power measurements.

Tools and Testers required.

1. BTS Tester
2. Power Meter.
3. Vehicle

WORK OF NQM TEAM

a)Identifying and Defining the clusters

 Identify a cluster with poor KPIs.

 Give priority to a cluster if it has any problems or some new sites have come up.

 Identify the cluster with the maximum customer complaints.

 A normal cluster size may be of 25 to 30 BTS with 75 to 90 cells.

b)Verify all the hard parameters of the site like Antenna height, Orientation, Tilt, Lat/Long etc by

actual site visit and update it in the site database

 Carefully check for any blocking in front of the antenna by the platform rails or
antennae/fixture of any operator in the case of IP sites.

c)Take the average busy hour statistics(KPI) of one week and drill down the issues of the sites

 KPIs like CSSR, call drop, assignment failures, handover failures can be obtained from the
daily reports like Cell wise reports, TDMA report and Per neighbour HO report.
d) Neighbour optimization which includes deletion of unwanted neighbours and addition of required
neighbours which are not defined.

 The neighbours, which were added long back may not be required at the present as many
new sites coming up in between .These neighbours may cause unwanted handover to a
distant cell and in turn, call may get dropped.

e)BCCH and BSIC correction.

 Verification of existing BCCH plan and correct so that no co-channel and adjacent channel
frequencies occur in the cluster.
 It is very necessary to see that no cells are planned with same BCCH and BSIC in
the same vicinity.

f)Conduct the drive test through maximum roads and analyse using post processing tools before the
actual optimization and after the optimization

 Post processing tool can be used for Coverage Analysis, Quality Analysis, Event Analysis
etc. The drive test data is loaded and the OMC data can be linked to it.

 Event based analysis is used for Call drop Analysis, SDCCH drop analysis, Handover
failure analysis etc.

 Overshooting cell identification, Cable swap issues, Neighbour list optimization etc can
also be done with the help of post processing tool.

 Finding out the ARFCN reuse load is possible with post processing tools.

g)Plan for the orientation / tilt / height changes based on the inputs from drive as well as the OMC
statistics and implement it .
 Changing the physical parameters of antenna will help to improve the coverage/ reduce
the overshooting of the sector and to solve the issues related to overshooting like
interference and High level of Handover failure.

h) Prepare a CR for the Changes in the BCCH ,BSIC ,Add / Delete neighbour , if require HO Margin or
any other parameter and forward it for the approval of RP for the implementation
i) Evaluate the performance score of the cluster based on weighted method of computation.

Score can be calculated both for pre and post drive and results can be compared.

j)Compute Final Performance Score

 After the entire process of optimization and post drive is complete, post optimization
performance score needs to be computed.
 Detailed report needs to be prepared highlighting the action points required for further
performance improvement.
  Cells with poor KPIs may be identified and reasons for the poor performance evaluated.
 Keep record of all pre/post drive data and plots.
 The entire process needs to be repeated for all clusters and Performance score of
clusters can be compared for relative performance evaluation and preparation of future
action plan.
Note: Suitable data collection formats needs to be prepared to make the entire process of
work flow smooth.

WORKS OF RP.

a. Verification of BCCH/BSIC corrections and neighbour addition / deletion suggested by NQM and
implement.
b. Allotment of equipments and other store items for adding capacity.

WORKS OF OMC
a. Take the relevant reports from the database in the required format and pass it to NQM for
further analysis.
b. Implement the CRs approved the RP wing for parameter changes

Commonly found issues

1. The most common and repeated cause for poor performance of a site is cable swap. When a cable
swap is suspected , Check each cables by tracing from top to bottom if possible.
2. Burnt cables (PA out) in case of Nortel BTS.
3.High VSWR
4. Improper neighbor definitions. ( missing neighbours and unwanted neighbours)
5. Different power for different TRXs.
6. TRX fault.
7. Sleeping TRX.
8. BSIC/BCCH clashes.
9. MAIO clashes.
10. Loose connectors or improper connector fixing.
11. Antenna degradation.
12. Water in the feeder cables.
13. Congestion in Ater.
14. SDCCH congestion.
15. Huge LAC updations.
16. PingPong handovers.
17. One way speech and call mute.
18. Cross talk.
19. Echo.
Few Tips for Cluster wise optimization
1. If two sectors of a site are having problem, then there is a chance for swap.
2. Always identify the cables and see that the cable labelling are correct before the cables are
removed for Maintenance.
3. If any modification of configuration/ maintenance activities are done, then the statistics has to be
checked for next few days.
4. If a site shows low coverage all of a sudden, other than power/VSWR related problems, LNA fault /
Surf fault also are to be checked ie , the uplink path also is to be checked.
5. Define LAC carefully to balance between Heavy LAC up-dations and Paging load.
6. Re-parent sites to a less utilised BSC, if any BSC is overloaded.

7. Call drop: common reasons

1. Interference/quality.
2.Neighbour issues due to missing neighbour / Co BCCH & BSIC clashes.
3. MAIO clashes
4. Low coverage
5.No of Frequencies in MA list of a sector is less than other sectors.
6. TRX fault.
7.Error in Abis.
8.Faulty Transcoding Modules( drop in multiple sites )
9.Faulty switching cards in BSC( Multiple sites) or BTS .
10. Presence of a Jammer in the coverage area.
11. MUX problems.

8. Handover failures : common reasons

1. Poor quality in the destination cell.
2. Co BCCH/ BSIC issue .
3. Wrong BSIC/BCCH propagation to neighbours in OMC /BSC.
4. Wrong Neighbours .
5. TRX malfunction.
6. Cable swap.
7. BTS_BSC Synchronisation loss.
8. Handover parameters wrongly defined in OMC.
9. Overshooting cells , multipath and stray signals.
10. More neighbours leads to less averaging of each neighbour measurement for uplink and
hence less accurate. So define only the required neighbours
Note: No Hand Over Failures will happen due to a congestion in destination cell. If there is
congestion in the Destination cell, No Hand over command will be issued by BSC/MSC to that
cell.

9. Access failures : common reasons

1. SDCCH/TCH congestion.
 2. Interference/poor quality.
3. TRX malfunction.
4. Error in Abis.
5. Feeder Cable swap and the internal BTS RF cables fault.
6. Sleeping DRX.
7. Wrong definition of dual band parameters.
8. Jammers.
9. Congestion in Ater.
10. Processor overload in BSC.
11. CDMA interference.

10.Cross Talk : common reasons

1. Wrapping problems during Stream wiring. (This can also lead to echo)
2. Same frequency in more than one TRX in a single site
3. TRX fault.
.
11.Echo : common reasons.
1. TRX faults.
2. Stream Problems.
3. Problem in Echo Canceller.

12.Mute : common reasons.

1. Interference.
2. TRX fault.
3. Stream Fault.
4. Faulty Trancoding modules.

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