RRC Setup Report

Presentation Timetable
Methodology wk5

Pilot

Services

Net. Issues

Neighbours
wk5

Counters

Alarms

Drive Data

CC Disc wk1

Performance
wk5

RRC Stp wk7

Access wk4

Analysis wk3

Power Spikes
wk1

RRC Access
wk7

Common Alarms
wk4

CM Service
wk2

HC Failures
EOC

RRC Active
wk7

Common
Failures wk4

Test Nos wk3

Inter RNC HO
wk2

SHO wk6

Script bugs
wk3

TCH/BCH wk2

ISHO wk6

6650 ISHO
wk3

Table of Contents

Introduction
Detailed Descriptions
Handover Control
Admission Control
Setup Fail BTS
Setup Fail Trans
Setup Fail Frozen BTS/Internal RNC

Conclusion

Introduction

RRC Setup Phase

The RRC Setup phase starts when the UE

sends the RRC CONNECTION REQUEST
message and it is completed when the RNC,
after reserving all the necessary resources for
the RRC Connection (RNC, BTS, Radio and UE
Transmission),
replies
with
DL RRC
CONNECTION SETUP message.

Node B

RNC

RRC: RRC Connection Request (RACH)

NBAP: Radio Link Setup Request
NBAP: Radio Link Setup Response

During this phase, there are several processes

happening between the Node B and the RNC.
If any of these processes fail, the Ue will either
try again or will fail. In either case the relevant
counter will be triggered, giving the Network
Analyst clues as to why calls are failing on a
particular cell.

ALCAP: Establish Request

ALCAP: Establish Confirm
FP: Downlink Sync
FP: Uplink Sync
RRC: RRC Connection Setup (FACH)
L1 Synchronisation
NBAP: Synchronisation Indication

A schematic of the Setup phase can be seen

on the RHS.

RRC: RRC Connection Setup Complete (DCH)

RRC Setup Failures

RRC Setup Failure due to Handover Control (HC)

RRC Setup Failure due to Admission Control (AC)
RRC Setup Failure due to BTS
RRC Setup Failure due to Transmission
RRC Setup Failure due to BTS frozen
RRC Setup Failure due to RNC internal reason

Detailed Descriptions

Handover Control

Handover Control is the algorithm that is used to allow a Ue

connect to two or more cells simultaneously

RRC Setup Fail due to HC

Handover Control appears to start in the
HA3 Program Block during RRC
Setup Procedure

HC Setup Procedure in RNC

HC Setup appears to reside in

the Interface Control and

Signalling Unit (ICSU)

ICSU board resides in RNC

ICSU board has redundancy

where the redundancy unit is

only employed if the active unit
fails.

Checked RNC alarms and there

were older alarms on ICSU

boards

Admission Control

Admission Control (AC) is the algorithm that decides whether a

request to establish a RAB is admitted or not. It is also involved

during the handover procedure.

RRC Setup Failure due to AC

RRC Setup Failure for AC:
AC can block the call at RRC level if there is too much noise on a cell. (i.e. Target + Offset is exceeded)
AC also blocks calls if UL or DL is blocking. Check Cell Resource counters (Prx/Ptx total)
In general its possible to check the AC blocking in RRC setup phase by checking the Traffic counters(M1002):

DCH_REQ_LINK_REJ_UL_SRNC

DCH_REQ_LINK_REJ_DL_SRNC

Main failure reasons for AC

RRC_conn_req_nack (Cell overload on UL or DL)

No response from BRM - timer expired (indicates a cell availability problem)

RRC Setup failure AC for cell availability

A high number of RRC failures for Admission Control does not necessary mean a high traffic or
an interference problem but it might reflect a cell availability problem.

Typical detection through counters and KPIs:

High RRC Setup Failure AC Rate : There may also be a huge number of RRC attempts

(see example). This indicates that the problem is continuous.

Traffic counters may or may not reflect the full extent of the problem: in some cases the
traffic counters are not incremented because the request is not even received by the
Admission Control.(e.g. MHA Faulty)
Cell Availability << 100% (see example).
Alarm may or may not be present

Solution:
Cell Availability needs to be monitored and corrected as soon as possible after it

occurs
Cell Reset might help.

Cell Availability Example

Site GLN0395 shows high number of

RRC Setup Failures for Admission

Control on March 15.

From Service Level counters huge

number of RRC attemptsRRC

repetitions.

From Cell Resource counters:

Cell Availability
problem from
17:30

Average PrxTotal
shows nearly no
traffic nor
interference

Alarm in the
cell

RRC Setup Failure BTS

RRC Setup Failure for BTS:
main failure reasons can be:

RL_setup_failure (not enough resources) might be a WSP

problem

RL_setup_failure (hardware overload): might be some

internal BTS issue

These fails can be seen in the counters :

-

SETUP_FAIL_RL_NOT_ENOUGH_RES

SETUP_FAIL_FIRST_RL_HW_RES

RRC Setup Failure BTS

BTS Resource Issue may occur here

RRC Setup Failure Trans

RRC Setup Failure due to Transmission:
main failure reasons is:

serv_req_nack_from_nrm meaning some problem in setting up AAL2

transmission resources in Iub

NRM (Network Resource Model) is in-charge of Iub capacity

After capacity check, AAL2 signalling starts
Counter RRC_CONN_STP_FAIL_TRANS is incremented if:
Not enough Iub capacity
AAL2 setup fails

RRC Setup Failures Trans

It appears that the problem may be in this part of the setup protocol
Reason for fail is usually:
Not enough Iub capacity
AAL2 setup fails

AAL2 Setup over Iub

Iub resource reservation is performed in order such that all CAC reservations for RNC
internal and external (AAL2 path) resources are done before signaling.

If the CAC actions are successfully completed, the signaling is started and the RNC asks the
BTS to arrange its resources accordingly.

If the CAC actions fail, the signaling phase is not started at all and the signaling counters are
not aware of the connections rejected due to RNC AAL2 layer CAC.

AAL2 user plane setup over Iub (MOC)

RNC

BTS (WAM)
UE

AAL2 SIG

CAC

RRC: connection request

CAC

AAL2SIG

ATM RM RRC
Transport res. reserv. req.

resource reservation
Possible NACK
ERQ (SUGR)

AAL2 connection establishement

resource reservation

Possible NACK
ECF
AAL2 conn. estab. confirmation
RRC:connection setup

NOKIA

Others RRC Setup Failures

RRC Setup Failure Frozen BTS: the AC blocks RL

establishment to allow the setup of an emergency call(in case of

pre-emption, when BTS is frozen no new RRC connection are
allowed)

RRC Setup Failure for RNC internal reason: all other failure

reasons (e.g. parameter mismatch, timer expiry)

RRC Setup Fail RNC

Problem should affect the entire RNC (ALL THE CELLS)

Reasons are due to RNC Software/Hardware

RRC Setup Fails on Croydon RNC

AC, BTS and TRANS are the most common fails on Croydon

RNC

Numbers of fails can be huge but this does not indicate that the

issue is necessarily RNC wide. It is probably 1 site with a huge

number of fails, possibly due to repeated registration attempts.

The other fails should be at or near 0.

Conclusion
Setup Fails generally occur due to hardware issues in a low

traffic situation. They are the first counters triggered by any

attempt to access the network

The counters give us clues where to look

Some Setup Fails will occur repeatedly in response to a single

issue causing the counter appear worse than the problem really
is. Conversely, in some cases, the counters may not trigger
when a fault is occurring but this can be seen by a drop in traffic.