FACH Congestion

FACH Congest Due to

Limited Number of users

Raise the ceiling

Decrease simultaneous
number of FACH users

Step#1: Increases number

of users from 30 to 60 users
on FACH
4B decrease

Step# 2: Unrestricted
number of FACH users.

FACH FC:
P2D & D2Idle

Resources congestion of
the logical channels
carried on FACH are
congested (CCCH, DCCH
& DTCH)

Enable FACH flow control

for the needed logical
channel type.

I.

FACH Congestion due to limited

number of users

What is the cons of having limitation in number of FACH users?

1. If D2F failed (due to max number of FACH users are reached) then UEs in the
CELL_DCH state, having little or no data to transmit, may continuously occupy the
dedicated channels and cell resource utilization may decrease as a result
2. If P2F failed then CELL_PCH UEs fail to perform data transmission or respond to
paging messages and finally enter the idle state, leading to PS service drops plus
paging failure.
3. If the number of UEs in the CELL_FACH state reaches the upper limit, cell updates
may fail, including those triggered by radio link setup failures. As a result, call
drops may occur.

Proposal

Step#1: Increase number of FACH users from 30 to 60 (but take care of FACH
resource congestion) FACH_60_USER_SWITCH-1

 Proposal

Proposal cont.

Step#2: FACH FC P2D and D2Idle:

D2Idle transition SET UCORRMALGOSWITCH command.

P2D transition SET URRCTRLSWITCH command. During a P2D transition, the RNC
delivers the UE a cell update confirm message on the CCCH, which prevents call
drops because the delivery does not use up resources designated for UEs in the
CELL_FACH state.

Proposal cont.
Proposal
Step#2: FACH FC P2D and D2Idle.
Step#3: If the number of UEs in the CELL_FACH state reaches the upper
limit, cell updates may fail, including those triggered by radio link setup
failures. As a result, call drops may occur. To prevent this, you can reserve
some UEs in the CELL_FACH state for cell updates. To set the number of
reserved users, run the SET UCORRMALGOSWITCH command and modify
the ReservedU32Para1 parameter.
If the maximum number of UEs in the CELL_FACH state is 30 and the
number of reserved UEs in the CELL_FACH state is 5, the D2F transition
shown in Figure 4-2 will not be implemented when the number of UEs in
the CELL_FACH state reaches 25. Instead, the D2Idle transition may be
triggered. The resources for reserved UEs are for the users who send cell
update messages.
Step#4: Unrestricted number of FACH users not recommended as the
FACH resource congestion may increase dramatically.
Note: from counters we cant decide that there is congestion due to number
of FACH users are congested, but we can decide the number of simultaneous
FACh users per cell from VS.CellFACHUEs (it is better to use this counter from
LMT monitor to get it per 1sec)

FACH logical channels

CCCH
New congestion counter
VS.FACH.CCCH.CONG.TI
ME only enabled on 711-2013

DCCH

DTCH

DTCH Congestion
What is the benefit of relieving the DTCH
congestion:
1. Better user experience.
2. Less PS Call Drop

DTCH Congestion

Optimized DTCH
congestion decision

DTCH Congestion depend on Delay:

The RNC considers the DTCH congested if
the following conditions are met:
FACHAdmCondSDUDelaySwitch is set
to ON.
There are 10 or more PDUs whose SDU
delay is greater
than FACHAdmSDUDelayThd in the DTCH
buffer.
The DTCH queue is congested.

P2D

D2Idle

FACH efficiency
boost

FACH efficiency boost

Data Transmission
Suspension

the RNC suspends RLC data transmission

when triggering an F2D state transition.
The RNC keeps RLC data transmission
suspended until the F2D state transition is
complete or the UE returns to the
CELL_FACH state. This ensures that userplane data is transmitted over the DCH
whenever possible.
SET
URRCTRLSWITC PROCESSSWITCH3
RNC_F2D_RLC_SUSPEND_SWITCH-1.

TVM-based P2D
Transition

This function enables UEs in

the CELL_PCH state to enter
the CELL_DCH state when the
amount of data to be
transmitted exceeds the 4A
threshold. This eliminates the
need for P2F transitions prior
to F2D transitions and
thereby improves the FACH
resource utilization
efficiency.

F2P Transition by Means of

Physical Channel
Reconfiguration
F2P transitions by means of
physical channel
reconfiguration reduce FACH
bandwidth consumption,
because physical channel
reconfiguration messages
generate 50% less air interface
traffic than RB reconfiguration
messages.

P2D (for DTCH congestion)

When the DTCH is congested, RNC triggers P2D
transition. The trigger conditions and how
DTCH flow control is implemented are as follows:
When a UE with PS services in the CELL_PCH state
initiates a cell update, a P2D transition is triggered if
the following conditions are met:
1. The PROCESSSWITCH2 parameter is set
to FACH_DTCH_CONGEST_P2D-1.
2. The UE is of Release 5 or a later version.
3. The DTCH is congested but the CCCH and DCCH are not.
4. In the cell update message triggered by PS data
transmission, the value of IE "Cell update cause" is "uplink
data transmission" or "paging response", and the
IE "Establishment cause" is not reported.

D2Idle
The following describes how a D2Idle procedure is
triggered for UEs processing PS services when the DTCH is
congested:
When PERFENH_DTCH_FACH_CONG_D2I_SWITCH is
selected under PerfEnhanceSwitch, the RNC initiates a D2F
transition request. If the DTCH is congested, the RNC
evaluates the measurement quantities (indicating the
traffic volume or throughput) contained in the uplink and
downlink 4B measurement reports. If the measurement
quantities are all 0, a D2Idle transition starts. If the
measurement quantities are not all 0, the UE remains in
the CELL_DCH state.
DTCH flow control stops once the DTCH is no longer
congested.

Time Plan
P2D (for DTCH
Congestion)

11/11

FACH 60
users

13/11
13/11

FACH Efficiency boost

Data suspension

15/11
15/11

FACH Efficiency
boost TVM
based P2D

18/11

D2Idle

21/
11

Decrease 4B

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