FACH Trial with Huawei RAN11

Objective
1. To enable FACH in Huawei RAN11

2. FACH will be testing in both configuration
a) All HS Configuration: F1 and F2 both carry R99 and HS
b) CS/HS Configuration: F1 for R99 ; F2 dedicated for HS

3. Evaluate effectiveness of FACH in optimization Node-B
resources

Huawei Algorithm for DCH FACH
Down-switch from Cell_DCH to Cell_FACH in Huawei RAN is based on Buffer on
and govern by a Timer

64Byte
5s
Time-to-trigger
1s
DCH to FACH
Transition Time
Pending-Time-after-trigger
5s
Trigger Event
4b
DCH to FACH
Transition
When the user buffer is less than 64Byte, it will
trigger an Event-4b. For a duration of 5s, if the
buffer is still below 64Byte

=Down-switch from DCH to FACH
FACH to Idle Channel Switching in Huawei
CELL_DCH
CELL_FACH
IDLE
RRC connection
FACH to Idle
timer is 20s
20s
1025byte
FACH to DCH when
there is more than
1024byte in the
buffer
Dual-HS Configuration (Signaling Flow)
R99 / HS
R99 / HS
F2
F1
DCH
FACH
IDLE
Radio Bearer Reconfiguration (FACH triggered)
1
2
RB Reconfig Complete
3
4
RRC Release (After 20s)
DCH
FACH
IDLE
RB Reconfiguration (FACH triggered)
1
2
RB Reconfig Complete
3
4
UE transit from
FACH to DCH
using RB
Reconfiguration
RRC Release (After 20s)
UE transit from
FACH to DCH
using RB
Reconfiguration
Trial Result: CSSR
PS CSSR Success Rate
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
120.00%
5
4
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
6
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
1
2
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
1
3
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
PS CSSR Normal
CS CSSR Normal
CS CSSR Success Rate
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
5
4
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
6
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
1
2
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
1
3
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
Trial Result: PS Drop
PS Drop Call Rate
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
6.00%
7.00%
5
4
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
6
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
1
2
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
1
3
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
1. PS Drop Call Rate degraded. Notice higher peak drop during night during busy hour
2. Huawei still investigating why PS drop increased when FACH is enabled for HS. Nevertheless higher drop
rate is expected as FACH is paired with RACH on the uplink. Since both channels are not power controlled,
some degradation is expected
3. PS drop also occur in FACH state. Predominantly user has low data activity in FACH state, this drop does
not severely impact customer experience
4. Do note, PS drop refers to RF drop , not a PDP drop. Subscriber connection still active but will lead to
temporarily discontinuity of data transfer until the radio bearer is re-established.

Trial Result: FACH and DCH Channel
Switching Success Rate
1. Channel switching success is healthy. Close to 100%
2. If FACH is enabled, this KPI must be monitored to ensure channel switching does take place between FACH
and DCH

Channel Switching Success Rate
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
1
2
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
1
3
t
h

A
p
r
i
l
Trial Result: FACH To Optimize Radio
Resource (HSDPA) 1 of 2
No of Active HS Users
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
0
0
:
0
0
0
1
:
0
0
0
2
:
0
0
0
3
:
0
0
0
4
:
0
0
0
5
:
0
0
0
6
:
0
0
0
7
:
0
0
0
8
:
0
0
0
9
:
0
0
1
0
:
0
0
1
1
:
0
0
1
2
:
0
0
1
3
:
0
0
1
4
:
0
0
1
5
:
0
0
1
6
:
0
0
1
7
:
0
0
1
8
:
0
0
1
9
:
0
0
2
0
:
0
0
2
1
:
0
0
2
2
:
0
0
2
3
:
0
0
5th April (No FACH) 6th April (No FACH)
12th April (FACH) 13th April (FACH)
HS users reduced
by 3K by enabling
FACH (26%
reduction)
1. FACH can better optimize radio resources
particularly scheduler resource. During peak
hour, number of concurrent HSDPA in the
scheduler has reduced by around ~3K
2. By enabling FACH, user with low data
activity will switch to FACH state giving way
to users who require scheduler resource
3. Overall no improvement in HSDPA User
Throughput
*Huawei per cell can support 64 concurrent HSDPA users
HSDPA User Throughput
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
0
0
:
0
0
0
1
:
0
0
0
2
:
0
0
0
3
:
0
0
0
4
:
0
0
0
5
:
0
0
0
6
:
0
0
0
7
:
0
0
0
8
:
0
0
0
9
:
0
0
1
0
:
0
0
1
1
:
0
0
1
2
:
0
0
1
3
:
0
0
1
4
:
0
0
1
5
:
0
0
1
6
:
0
0
1
7
:
0
0
1
8
:
0
0
1
9
:
0
0
2
0
:
0
0
2
1
:
0
0
2
2
:
0
0
2
3
:
0
0
K
b
p
s
5th April (No FACH) 6th April (No FACH)
12th April (FACH) 13th April (FACH)
Cell Distribution of HSDPA Users (Max of the day)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Number of HSDPA Users
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

C
e
l
l
Count w/o FACH
Count w FACH
Trial Result: FACH To Optimize Radio
Resource (HSDPA) 2 of 2
1. By having FACH, we can avoid scheduler congestion by optimization radio resource
2. From the trial , cell with high number of HSDPA users reduced. Help to resolve HSDPA scheduler
congestion

Cell with extreme high
number of concurrent
HSDPA users
No of Active HSUPA Users
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
0
0
:
0
0
0
1
:
0
0
0
2
:
0
0
0
3
:
0
0
0
4
:
0
0
0
5
:
0
0
0
6
:
0
0
0
7
:
0
0
0
8
:
0
0
0
9
:
0
0
1
0
:
0
0
1
1
:
0
0
1
2
:
0
0
1
3
:
0
0
1
4
:
0
0
1
5
:
0
0
1
6
:
0
0
1
7
:
0
0
1
8
:
0
0
1
9
:
0
0
2
0
:
0
0
2
1
:
0
0
2
2
:
0
0
2
3
:
0
0
U
s
e
r
5th April (No FACH) 6th April (No FACH)
12th April (FACH) 13th April (FACH)
Trial Result: FACH To Optimize Radio
Resource (HSUPA) 1 of 2
HSUPA users
reduced by 1.4K
by enabling FACH
(24% reduction)
1. Currently in Huawei RAN , Maxis only allows
10 concurrent HSUPA user per cell
2. With such low number of supported users,
FACH is critical to ensure HSUPA resource
is given to user requiring high bandwidth by
avoiding low activity user hogging HSUPA
resource

HSUPA User Throughput
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
0
0
:
0
0
0
1
:
0
0
0
2
:
0
0
0
3
:
0
0
0
4
:
0
0
0
5
:
0
0
0
6
:
0
0
0
7
:
0
0
0
8
:
0
0
0
9
:
0
0
1
0
:
0
0
1
1
:
0
0
1
2
:
0
0
1
3
:
0
0
1
4
:
0
0
1
5
:
0
0
1
6
:
0
0
1
7
:
0
0
1
8
:
0
0
1
9
:
0
0
2
0
:
0
0
2
1
:
0
0
2
2
:
0
0
2
3
:
0
0
K
b
p
s
12th April (FACH) 13th April (FACH)
5th April (No FACH) 6th April (No FACH)
Cell Distribution of HSUPA Users (Max of the day)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
2 4 6 8 10
Number of HSUPA Users
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

C
e
l
l
Count w/o FACH
Count w FACH
Trial Result: FACH To Optimize Radio
Resource (HSDPA) 2 of 2
1. Each cell only support maximum 10 concurrent HSUPA users
2. Without FACH, close to 400 cells already loaded with maximum 10 concurrent HSUPA users
3. With FACH, number of cells with maximum 10 concurrent users has drop from 400 to around 150 cells
4. With FACH, this will help HSUPA capable cell to optimize their resources by mowing low activity user to
FACH and allow genuine HSUPA user to have a slot in the scheduler

Cell hitting
HSUPA limit of
10 concurrent
users
FACH Trial Summary for All HS
Configuration
1. All KPIs are healthy except PS drop call rate
2. Higher PS drop call rate is expected as FACH has no power control and on the uplink is paired with a
RACH channel which is a common channel on the uplink and again no power control
3. By enabling FACH, cell can better optimize the scheduler resource particular HSUPA resource as
number of supported HSUPA users are limited by noise rise. Typically each cell can only support
maximum 10 HSUPA users.
4. With FACH, low activity user will be pushed to FACH.
5. Channel switching between FACH and DCH is healthy , almost 100% success rate.
Recommendation
1. FACH is relevant and should be enabled to optimize radio resources due to proliferation of smart phones
which exhibit an always-on behavior but not necessarily downloading heavy data all the time.
2. Need to optimize FACH transmit power to ensure FACH transmission power could cover the entire cell
area since it has no power control capability. We also need optimize inactivity timer and fine tune channel
switching parameter
F1-CS and F2-HS Configuration: FACH Not working
Properly

HS
F2
F1
DCH
Radio Bearer Reconfiguration
FACH triggered
1
3
4
FACH
IDLE
Cell Update
6
RB Reconfig Complete
5
RRC Release RAN due
to state mismatch
Cell Reserved
Cell Reserved, cannot camp on
Cell:F2, UE reselect to Cell:F1
2



RNC is expecting RB reconfiguration
completed from UE via Cell: F2

Timer expired, RNC did not receive
RB Reconfiguration completed via
Cell:F2. RNC assume UE remains in DCH
state.
RNC pegged PS drop : UL Unsynchronized










RNC received cell update from UE
via F1 and realized state mismatch as RNC
presume the UE still in DCH state



RNC releases the UE due to state
mismatch
1a
2a
R99 / HS
3a
5a
Trace from RNC
Source: Huawei
FACH Trial Summary for F1-R99; F2-HS
Configuration
1. Maxis cannot enable FACH in such configuration
2. This will lead to High PS drop and uses are force to Idle state when FACH is triggered
3. Huawei is proposing not to cell-reserved F2 and uses Qoffset to maintain our F1-R99;
F2-HS configuration. This is not been tested yet in Maxis.