How to Solve TBF Establishment failure

Uplink TBF Establishment / Uplink TBF formula

The formula of Uplink TBF Successful Establishment Rate maybe different depending on carrier
appraised. Generally, the formula of Uplink TBF Successful Establishment Rate as shown in the following
table:

GPRS Uplink TBF Successful Establishment Rate = (A9002) Number of Successful Uplink GPRS TBF
Establishments/ (A9001) Number of Uplink GPRS Establishment Attempts

EDGE Uplink TBF Successful Establishment Rate = A9202 Number of Successful Uplink EGPRS TBF
Establishments/ (A9201) Number of Uplink EGPRS Establishment Attempts

Uplink TBF Successful Establishment Rate = (A9002+A9202)/ (A9001+A9201)

The Uplink TBF Successful Establishment Rate reflects PS uplink access performance, while
MS can access two channels for TBF setup (CCCH Channel and PACCH Channel)

TBF Setup MS Access CCCH TBF Setup MS Access PACCH

Channel: Channel
Uplink TBF establish on PACCH, which means that MS
MS can access CCCH channel with two different phases
establish the uplink TBF setup in Downlink Packet
If there is no PACCH in the cell, packet access will
Transmission mode.
establish on CCCH (Access using one phase channel Or
two phase channel)

Process Figure 3 As shown in.

  if MS use one phase access, it
will assign one PDCH to MS
immediately, it is faster to access
network

Figure 3 Uplink TBF establish on PACCH

 Figure 1: one phase access procedures

If MS Use Two phase access on CCCH
 If MS use two phase access, it will
assign one wireless block to MS, MS
send the Packet resource request
message to BSC on this wireless
block, then BSC will assign the
PDCH resource to MS for data
transmission.

Process Figure 2 As shown in.

Figure 2: Two phase access on CCCH procedures

1. Uplink TBF Establishment Attempts for One phase access

on CCCH
 When BSC Received CHANNEL REQUEST Message from MS, it will record as “Number of Uplink TBF
Establishment Attempts

Figure 1-1 Number of Uplink TBF Establishment Attempts

 Number of Successful Uplink TBF Establishments for One phase access on CCCH

 After Send IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT Message to MS, BSC received the first RLC block of this
MS, the uplink TBF establish successful, it will record as "Number of Successful Uplink TBF
Establishments ".

Figure 1-2 Number of Successful Uplink TBF Establishments

 Uplink TBF Establishment Attempts for Two phase access on CCCH

 In IMMEDIATEASSIGNMENT Message, The BSC assign one wireless block to MS, MS send
the Packet resource request message to BSC on this wireless block. When BSC received
the PACKET RESOURCE REQUEST Message, it will record as “Number of Uplink TBF
Establishment Attempts” As shown in Figure 2-1,.

Figure 2-1

 Number of Successful Uplink TBF Establishments for Two phase access on CCCH

 BSC send PACKET UPLINK ASSIGNMENT Message to MS, when received the uplink RLC
block from this MS, it will record as "Number of Successful Uplink TBF Establishments”
As shown in Figure 2-2

Figure 2-2
 Uplink TBF Setup attempt on PACCH

When MS was in Downlink Packet Transmission mode, if MS has some uplink LLC PDU send to server, it
shall establish one uplink TBF connection, MS will request the uplink TBF resource by PACKET
DOWNLINK ACK/NACK message which contain Channel Request description. When BSC received PACKET
DOWNLINK ACK/NACK message which contain Channel Request description, it will record as “Number of
Uplink TBF Establishment Attempts”.

Figure 3-1

 Uplink TBF establishment successful on PACCH

When BSC received PACKET DOWNLINK ACK/NACK message which contain Channel Request description,
it will send PACKET UPLINK ASSIGNMENT message to MS, then MS send the uplink RLC block, when BSC
received this RLC block, the uplink TBF establish successful, it will record as "Number of Successful
Uplink TBF Establishments ".

Figure 3-2
 Uplink TBF Establishment failure is due
Uplink TBF Establishment failure Analysis

to 3 reasons

1. No Channel (Channel Resource)
2. MS no response
3. Other causes
Below will introduce all handling steps for each reason in details

1 UP Link Establishment Failure due to No

Channel
In the uplink TBF Establish process, BSC Receives CHANNEL REQUEST (One phase access), PACKET
RESOURCE REQUEST (two phase access), PACKETDOWNLINKACK / NACK Message included CHANNEL
REQUEST, if there was no PDCH Channel resources can be assigned to MS, BSC will send IMMEDIATE
REJECT, PACKET ACCESS REJECT to reject the MS access, it will record as "Number of Failed Uplink TBF
Establishments due to No Channel"

There are 4 reasons for the Failure of Uplink TBF EST due to No Channel

1.1 TBF multiplexing

Observe the UL TBF multiplexing about the TOP Cells, if the multiplexing rate approach to the limit More
than 2 and there were a large number of TBF Establishment failed due to No channel, indicate that PDCH
resource is insufficient.

UL TBF Multiplexing means number of MSs who can access the same PDCH at same time

Possible reason:

 The MAXPDCHRATE was low

 PDCH was Faulty due to abnormal transmission

  TRX resource was not enough due to high CS service volume.

1.2 PDCH Channel Resource

It need to monitor the usage of CS and PS service in TOP CELL, to confirm that if the parameter
Reasonable, or the CS Business volume was large.

If the cause of no channel was reaching board Specification, please migrates this cell to other idle DSP.
Counter R9346: Number of Dynamic PDCH Requests without Application Attempts Because the Number
of Activated PDCHs Reaches Board Specification

It need to monitor the PDCH Resource Performance Measurement in TOP CELL, if there were a large
number of R9346(Number of Dynamic PDCH Requests Without Application Attempts Because the
Number of Activated PDCHs Reaches Board Specification). And monitor the DSP PDCH Performance
Measurement, if there were many DSP which Maximum active PDCH reached the limit (The DPUd:48,
The DPUg:110/64).

If the Maximum activated PDCH has reached the upper limit for most DSPs, and the Average activated
PDCH is higher, that indicate DSP resources was insufficient, we suggest to expand DPU Board. If there
are big cells which Maximum activated PDCH exceed 48, we suggest to expand DPUg Board. If only some
cells's Maximum activated PDCH has reached the upper limit, and most DSP was not very busy. we
suggest to use the command " SET PSCELLTODSP " to do the cell re-distribution, move some cells

If the cause of no channel was no Available Abis Timeslot, please Expands Abis resource.

R9347: Dynamic to apply PDCH But no to request times (of Insufficient Abis Timeslot)

If there were a large number of R9347 (Dynamic to apply PDCH But no to request times (of Insufficient
Abis Timeslot)) in the cell, that indicate the Abis resource was insufficient, we suggest to expand the
Abis transmission resource.

If the cause of no channel was no Convertible TCHs, please Expands TRX resource, or modify the
TCHBUSYTHRES.

R9394: Number of PDCH Application Failures due to no Convertible TCHs

If there were a large number of R9394 (Number of PDCH Application Failures due to no Convertible
TCHs) in the cell, that indicate the TRX resource was insufficient, we suggest to expand the TRX resource

If the cause of no channel was CELL PDCH Ratio Thresh, please modify the MAXPDCHRATE.

R9395: Number of PDCH Application failures For CELL PDCH Ratio Thresh

If there were a large number of R9395 (Number of PDCH Application failures For CELL PDCH Ratio
Thresh) in the cell, that indicate the Maximum Rate Threshold of PDCHs in a Cell is low, we suggest to
increase the “MAXPDCHRATE”.

Recycling has load PDCH Number

R9344: Number of Reclaimed Busy Dynamic PDCHs

TCH Turn PDCH Success rate

AR9345: Successful Rate of PDTCH Distribution

1.3 Channel out-of-synchronization

It need to monitor the PDCH Resource Performance Measurement in TOP CELL, if R9305(Minimum
Number of Available PDCHs) is less than the static PDCH Channel number from cell configuration, that
indicate the PDCH is out-of-synchronization, please check the transmission quality first

R9305: Minimum Number of Available PDCHs

1.4 License Limited

Analyze the alarm whether there are some license overload alarm（ID=20259）, and use the command
(DSPLICUSAGE) to check the license usage. If License was restricted, it will cannot convert enough PDCH
Channel, caused TBF Establishment failure due to no channel
2 UP Link Establishment Failure due to MS
No Response
In the uplink TBF Establish process, BSC Receives CHANNEL REQUEST (One phase access), PACKET
RESOURCE REQUEST (two phase access), PACKETDOWNLINKACK / NACK Message included CHANNEL
REQUEST, if there was no response from MS, BSC will send IMMEDIATE REJECT, PACKET ACCESS REJECT
to reject the MS access, it will record as "Number of Failed Uplink TBF Establishments due to MS no
Response"

There are 3 reasons for the Failure of Uplink TBF EST due to MS no Response

 Wireless environment

 Abis Transmission Quality

 Abnormal terminal

Abis Transmission Quality

It needs to observe G-Abis Transmission Quality in TOP cells, to confirm whether bad G-Abis
Transmission Quality lead to TBF establish failed. If the Rate of Transmitted Error Frames (ABIS over E1)
is higher than 1%, or the BER (ABIS over IP) is higher than 1%, that indicate G-Abis transmission quality is
very poor. We need to check whether transport interface are loose , clock is locked, exists DXX Timeslot
cross connection equipment, also we can use the ABIS BER Loopback function to find the transmission
issue.

The Abis TDM For example.

Involved counters are as follows:

Abis TDM (BER) RL9A08: Rate of Transmitted Error Frames

Abis IP (BER) (L9B03 +L9B04)/ (L9B01 +L9B03 +L9B04)

Wireless Environment

The wireless UM environment is very import to TBF establish, it include uplink and downlink balance,
interference band, planar distribution of Rxlev. If the UM quality was bad, need to adjust RF parameter
or check it at site, it will caused TBF failed due to MS no response.

Possible reasons are:

 BEP Distribution,

 Uplink and Downlink Balance

 Interference Band

 distribution of Rxlev

 TA Distribution

If the cause is BEP Distribution It needs to observe MEAN_BEP in TOP cells, to verify whether the most
cause for TBF failure was bad UM quality. If the rate which MEAN_BEP level was bigger than 17 is
low(less than 70 %), we suggest to optimize UM quality.

Counter: The percentage of UPLINK_8PSK_MEAN_BEP is N (S9601 - S9632)

Counter: The percentage of UPLINK_GMSK_MEAN_BEP is N (S9501 - S9532)

This measurement provides the number of times that UPLINK_8PSK_MEAN_BEP = N carried in the data
blocks that the BTS sends to the BSC. This value indicates the Um interface quality on the downlink in
8PSK modulation mode. The greater the value of N, the better the Um interface quality

If BEP distribution indicate that Um quality was bad, please analyze the main factors as following steps:

Step 1 If the cause Uplink and Downlink Balance.

It needs to observe UL / DL balance in TOP cells, to confirm whether the wireless environment change to
lead to TBF establish failed. If the rate which UL / DL balance level 1 and 2 is greater than 15%, the
downlink loss is too large, and the downlink transmission power is too low. If the rate which UL / DL
balance level 11 is greater than 15%, the uplink loss is too large, and the uplink transmission power is
too low. We suggest to check the TRX and antenna, if the transmit / receive path work normally.

Step 2 if the cause is Interference Band.

It needs to observe interference band in TOP cells, to confirm whether the wireless environment change
to lead to TBF establish failed. If the rate which interference band 4 , 5 level is higher, the downlink loss
is too large, we suggest to check the TRX and antenna, if the transmit / receive path work normally, if
has external interference. The TCHF Channel interference band, for example

Step 3 the cause is distribution of Rxlev.

It needs to observe planar distribution of Rxlev in TOP cells, to confirm whether the wireless
environment change to lead to TBF establish failed. If it was low Rxlev(level 0 to 2) or low quality(level 6
~ 7), or both low Rxlev and low quality, we suggest to check the RF coverage. The downlink TCHF
Channel planar distribution of Rxlev, for example”.
Step 4 the cause is TA Distribution.

It needs to observe TA Distribution in TOP cells, to confirm whether coverage problem lead to TBF
establish failed. If there are many large TA in TOP cells, we suggest check the wireless coverage

TA (N) Measuring report number Counter S440(N)A: Number of MRs (TA = N)

Abnormal Terminal

Use Insight sharp Tools to analyze the GPSR Log, filtering uplink TBF Establishment failure records by
IMSI If TBF Establishment failed due to one TOP terminal, please make the trace for PS signal user, and
please check the user's GPRS account, if the SIM card support GPRS service, do the GPRS test by this
terminal
3 UP Link Establishment Failure due to
Other Cause
In the uplink TBF Establish process, BSC Receives CHANNEL REQUEST (One phase access), PACKET
RESOURCE REQUEST (two phase access), PACKETDOWNLINKACK / NACK Message included CHANNEL
REQUEST, , BSC will send IMMEDIATE REJECT, PACKET ACCESS REJECT to reject the MS access, it will
record as "Number of Failed Uplink TBF Establishments due to other causes

There are 2 reasons for the Failure of Uplink TBF EST due to other causes

XPU Flow Control

When BSC received the uplink resource request, if the XPU flow control conditions are met, BSC will not
assign the PDCH to MS, also not send reject message, it will wait the Waiting timer, and record as
Number of Failed Uplink TBF Establishments due to Other Cause

DSP Flow Control

When BSC received the uplink resource request, if the DSP flow control conditions are met, BSC will
send reject message to MS, and record as Number of Failed Uplink TBF Establishments due to Other
Cause