1

2
3
4
CLEAR_REQUEST：the message is sent from BSC to MSC, and it shows that BSC require
MSC to release special channel resource.

5
6
As shown in the above diagram, major causes for TCH call drop are connection
failure, error indication, Abis failure, O&M manual intervention.

CLEAR_REQ is the clearance request message that BSC sends to MSC.

ERR_IND is the link error message that BTS reports to BSC.

7
8
9
1. The immediate assignment process is triggered by the random access process . It
is intended to assign a signaling channel for MS to implement signaling transmission
in the call setup phase. Normally SDCCH is assigned. When there is no SDCCH
channel or an emergency call is originated, TCH can also be assigned (as early as
possible). Therefore, when the CH_ACT_ACK is received during immediate
assignment and the type of channel directly allocated is TCH, it will be counted into
successful TCH seizures as a measurement point.

10
2. In CS_WAIT_RR_EST status, when the CH_ACT_ACK message is received and
the current channel is TCH, it will be counted into successful TCH seizures times as a
measurement point.

CS_WAIT_RR_EST is one of main call-states. Call states include main call-state and
sub-call-state. Here the main call-state and sub-call-state are combined with each
other to form the call state in the call process processing procedure. Each main call-
state corresponds to one state processing function. Processing of different messages
is related to different sub-states. For CH_REQ processing, it is mainly to apply for a
radio channel and send the CH_ACT (channel activation) command, CCB is still in
IDLE mode.

11
1. TCH assignment phase mainly involves assignment command and assignment completion.

The calling process starts with BTS channel request and ends with caller TCH
assignment completion.

Access phase mainly involves channel request, channel activation, channel activation
response, immediate assignment and service request. In this phase, MS sets up
a temporary fixed relation with BTS (BSC).

TCH assignment phase mainly involves assignment command and assignment

completion. In this phase, the TCH channel of the original call will be specified.

The terminate call process starts when MS receives BTS paging command and ends
when the conversation starts.

2.MSC assigns a traffic channel to MS through the assignment process. Normal

message process is similar to immediate assignment process. The difference is
only TCH channel is assigned in the assignment process. Compared with the
original channel get from immediate assignment, if the assigned channel changes
the information type only, it is not necessary to apply for another channel, but
directly start the mode modification process.

If the channel rate type changes, it is necessary to apply for a channel again and
send the assignment command to MS.

If the channel rate type and information type both remain unchanged, return to
ASS_CMP (assignment completion) directly.

12
Like assignment process, after the handover command is sent, MS will be ready to
access the new channel. At the same time, message and signaling on the original
channel will be forbidden and there is no DTAP message can be sent to MS any
longer.

In the new cell, MS sends the HO_Access message burst to BTS. After detecting it,
BTS will send the MSG_ABIS_HO_DETECT message to BSC and return the physical
information to MS, then BTS will require MS to stop sending the HO_Access
message burst. After that MS will send the SAMB frame and BTS will return the UA
frame and send the EST_IND message to BSC.

In intra BSC handover, when BSC receives the MSG_ABIS_HO_DETECT message,

the handover will be counted into successful TCH seizures times as the
measurement point if it’s not an SDCCH handover.

13
In incoming handover process, the channel will be allocated and activated according
to the required channel type, if this succeeds, BSC will send HO_REQ_ACK
(handover request response) to MSC. Then MSC will send the handover command to
the original BSC. After receiving handover command MS will access the network on
new channel, which is similar to handover between cells, and the difference is that
HO_Detect, Establish_Ind and HO_Cmp messages must be sent to MSC in this case.
After the handover is completed, MSC will send MSG_CLEAR_CMD to the original
BSC and release the old channel.

After MSG_ABIS_HO_DETECT message is received during incoming BSC handover,

if the handover is not an SDCCH handover, the handover will be counted into
successful TCH seizures times as the measurement point.

14
The assignment often fails due to cell congestion, or no radio resources can be
assigned. However, while the service cell of MS is short of resource, there may be
enough resource in an adjacent cell. To increase the call completion rate and lower
the call loss rate, the direct retry is designed for GSM system. In case that there is a
shortage of resources in the current service cell, a service channel of an adjacent cell
can be allocated directly to MS. By means of handover process, MS will handover to
an adjacent cell with enough resources, thus implementing the assignment process
process successfully. Therefore, direct retry can be regarded as a type of special
handover.

15
16
17
As shown in the above diagram, main causes of SDCCH call drop are connection
failure, error indication, Abis failure, and so on.

18
19
20
21
22
Radio link fault: When radio link timeout timer is reduced to 0, the channel will be
released, a call drop will occur, and cause of this call drop will be recorded as a radio
link fault. In network running, such call drops are the most common.

23
Radio link fault means that the communication link is lost during communication.
During communication, due to interference in the system or low receiving level, the
voice or data often becomes too deteriorated to be accepted. And finally as a result,
MS or network cannot decode correctly the information sent from an opposite
terminal, moreover this cannot be controlled in any other ways. In this case, the
system will conclude that a radio link fault occurs. In this case, MS will either start call
re-establish or forcedly disconnect the link. Forced link disconnection will lead to a
call drop. Therefore, a radio link fault will be concluded by the system only when the
communication quality is unacceptable.

In Huawei system, in [System Information Table], define the parameter Radio Link
Timeout, which is used by MS to decide when to disconnect the call (downlink) if
SACCH decoding fails. In [Cell Attribute Table], define the parameter SACCH multi-
frame number, which is used by BTS to inform BSC of the radio link connection
failure (uplink).

In monitoring the radio link fault, the control of the uplink and downlink should be
consistent. The radio link fault algorithms at BTS and MS are thus consistent. That is,
when a special channel is assigned to MS, it will start counter S. Then each time
when an SACCH message cannot be translated, S will reduce by 1, and each time
when an SACCH message is translated correctly, S will increase by 2. When this
value is reduced to 0, radio link failure will be reported.

24
Counter T3103 timeout leads to a call drop.

When BSC sends the Handover Command to BTS, counter T3103 will start counting.
When receiving Handover Complete from the handover destination cell or Handover
Failure from the original cell, BSC will reset counter T3103. After sending the
Handover Command to BTS, if BSC still can not receive the message after counter
T3103 is timeout, it will conclude that there is a radio link failure in the original cell
and then release its channel.

25
26
Interference mainly includes co-channel, adjacent-channel and inter-modulation
interference and external interference.

When MS receives intensive co-channel or adjacent-channel interference signals in

the service cell, BER will be deteriorated and will resulted in call drop.

When there is serious inter-modulation interference in BTS, it will result in call drop.

27
Equipment problems: Due to self-excitation of TRX or tower-mount amplifier, the
system noise coefficient becomes larger and the sensitivity is deteriorated. Inter-
modulation of the antenna is also an equipment problem.

Analyze according to driving test data: Interference area, signal quality distribution
and the overlapping that cause interference.

Adjust the downtilt of BTS antenna, transmission power, relation between adjacent
cells, handover parameter of the relevant cells or adjust the frequency planning to
avoid interference.

28
1. 1. If there are many data in the interference band 3, 4, and 5, usually
the interference problem should be taken into consideration.

The interference band is reported to BSC by the BTS -- through observation of how
the uplink channel is interfered -- via the RF resource indication message when the
carrier channel is idle. It should also be noted that the interference band condition of
this channel will not be shown in the traffic measurement when the channel is blocked
or busy.

2. If there are too many times of high level and low quality, it means that there is co-
frequency and adjacent frequency interference or external interference at the
frequency of this TRX.

3. In cell measurement function/inter-cell handover measurement function, or

outgoing inter-cell handover measurement function, outgoing handover attempts due
to various causes are measured. If there are too many times of handover caused by
low quality, this indicates possible interference. The handover times due to low uplink
and downlink quality gives proof of how the uplink and downlink are interfered.

4. Measure the average receiving quality level of TRX for reference.

5. Record the average level and quality upon call drop for reference.

6. There may exist interference in the target cell, just for reference.

29
1. Isolated island phenomenon.

For some reasons, the service cell covers a too large area, including the adjacent
cells. As a result, after MS goes beyond the coverage scope defined for the adjacent
cell B and reaches cell C, it still occupies the signal of the original service cell A.
However, cell A does not define cell C and at this time MS will perform handover
according to the adjacent cells table provided by the original service cell A. In this
case, call drop will be occurred because the appropriate target cell cannot be found.
(Isolated island phenomenon)

2. There are clear-cut signal coverage hold at the common boundary between cells.

3. Signal fading: Serious fading occurs during signal propagation so that handover
cannot be implemented in time and this causes a call drop.

4. The adjacent cell definition is incomplete so that MS keeps conversation in the

current cell until it goes beyond this cell coverage edge and as a result, call drop
occurs.

5. If the uplink signal coverage is larger than the downlink signal coverage, the
downlink signal of the cell edge will become weak and can easily be “submerged” by
the intensive signals of other cells.

If the downlink signal coverage is larger than the uplink signal coverage, MS has to
remain under this intensive signal. However, if the uplink signal is too weak or the
voice quality is too bad, call drop will occur.

30
Driving test is the most direct means to track down a coverage problem. Traffic
measurement can be another useful method.
1. In power control measurement function, the average uplink and downlink signal
intensity is too low.
2. In receiving level measurement function, the proportion of low receiving level times
is too large.
3. In cell measurement function/inter-cell handover measurement function, the level
when originating a handover is too low and the average receiving level is too low.
4. In call drop measurement function, the level during a call drop is too low and the
TA value before a call drop is abnormal.
5. In undefined adjacent cell measurement function, the undefined adjacent cell
average receiving level is too high (over-shooting coverage).
6. The average level of undefined adjacent cells is too high (isolated island
phenomenon).
7. In power control measurement function, the Max. distance between MS and BTS in
multiple consecutive time segments exceeds the normal value.
8. In out-cell handover measurement function, the handover success rate to an
adjacent cell is low.
9. Register “uplink and downlink balance measurement function” in traffic
measurement and analyze whether uplink and downlink are virtually unbalanced.
Whether uplink and downlink are balanced should be checked depending on the
system performance indices.

31
1. According to traffic measurement analysis, make sure that the cell has a high call
drop rate and a high outgoing inter-cell handover failure rate. And most handovers
are caused by low signal level or bad quality, but all other indices are normal. If this is
the case, it is necessary to check whether there exists the coverage problem. The
driving test can be feasible to find out the areas with insufficient coverage. Analyze
whether it is caused by landform reasons, such as tunnels, large shopping centers,
entrances of subway. Generally speaking, most of this kind of call drops occur in one
direction and this problem can be solved by adding a micro-cell.

2. Find out the areas with insufficient coverage. The BTS coverage can be increased
by adding new BTS or in some other ways, increasing the Max. BTS transmission
power, adopting the zero fill antenna, and changing azimuth and downtilt of the
antenna.

3. Restrict the BTS coverage scope. In terms of hardware, adjust BTS downtilt or
antenna height. As for software, lower the Max. transmission power or increase the
Max. receiving level (RXLEV ACCESS MIN) and RACH min.access level parameters
so as to restrict the coverage range.

4. Check whether the adjacent cells are defined completely and whether they are in
mutual symmetrical relation. Pay more attention to external adjacent cell data.

32
5. Judge whether the uplink and downlink are balanced.

Check the tower-mount amplifier, power amplifier, antenna feeder and

combiner, and check the alarm condition to make comprehensive analysis.

Check the BTS antenna. If the diversity receiving antenna is connected

inversely, the diversity receiving gain of the antenna will be greatly reduced
and the uplink signal will become worse than the downlink signal.

Observe the MA10 measurement report. Check BSC data configuration (MS,
BTS transmitting power, the RXLEV_ ACCESS_MIN).

According to the TA value, check whether BTS coverage scope is too large or
whether the signal is reflected. In this case, some weak uplink MS signals will
be dropped out very easily after accessing the network.

33
1. Radio Link Timeout and SACCH Multi-Frames

When these two parameters are too small, the radio link fault is easily occurred and
thus call drop will happen.

If difficult access or serious call drop is caused by too bad downlink radio
environment, properly increase the value of the Radio Link Timeout parameter. If
difficult access or serious call drop is caused by too bad uplink radio environment,
properly increase SACCH multi-frames.

2. RACH min. access level

It indicates the level threshold value that the system uses to judge MS random access.

It is used to control uplink access (call, paging response, handover). Adjustment of

this parameter can get a compromise between coverage and call drop rate.

3. RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN

RXLEV-ACCESS-MIN indicates the Min. receiving signal level for MS to access the
system.

If this parameter is too low, the requirement of the access signal level will also be low.
As a result, many MS will try to reside in this cell and the cell load will be increased
and call drop be more frequent occurred. Therefore, it should be set according to the
balance condition between uplink and downlink.

34
4. Call re-establishment permitted

In case of the call drop due to a radio link fault because of sudden interference
or building “coverage hole”, MS will start the call re-establishment process to
recover conversation. Call re-establishment enabled can lower the average
call drop rate, but it takes longer time .It applies to suburbs or city areas with
bad coverage.

5. NCC permitted

NCC permitted, NCC permitted is sent in system messages 2 and 6. It lists the
combinations of cell NCC codes that MS must measure. MS will not report the
adjacent cell’s measurement report whose NCC is set as 0, if this parameter is
not set properly, call drop will be caused for MS cannot normally originate
handover in dedicated mode.

6. Set handover-related parameters properly to lower the call drop rate.

For example: PBGT handover easily take place, so as to avoid interference

and lower the call drop rate. Set the emergency handover threshold properly
so that emergency handover can be triggered before a call drop so as to
reduce call drops.

7.Optimize the power control parameter to make it more sensitive. In addition,

the level after power control must be intensive enough to ensure normal
conversation.

35
System information table: Radio Link Timeout (effective on MS), 32 or 56
recommended.

Cell attribute table: SACCH multi-frames, 31 recommended..

Radio link connection timer, Max. retrans times of physical information is related to
handover call drop.

Find out call drop causes through call drop rate performance traffic measurement

Judge from the cause of call drop: The cause “error indication (when the cause value
is 0x01)”is usually caused by T200 timeout.

36
37
38
Add adjacent cells reasonably.

Adjacent cell missing is the ultimate cause for unavailable handover and call drop in
the end.

Adjust improper handover parameters.

Common adjustment parameters: “Min. DL level on candidate cell”, “Min. access level
offset ”, “Inter-cell HO hysteresis”, “PBGT Thrsh.”, various PN judgement duration
time, and “Edge HO UL RX_LEV Thrsh.”.

39
Power control parameter adjustment:

Modify the power control parameter to make the power control more sensible, and
make the level after power control intensive enough to ensure normal conversation.

For example : If the uplink expectation level is too low and the filter length is too long,
power control will become insensible.

40
Popular methods of judging call drop resulted from equipment problems
A. Hardware troubleshooting
1. For call drop due to hardware problems, check relevant hardware alarms in OMC.If
there is no hardware alarm information in OMC, there may be something wrong with
the TRX or diversity receiver part. The allocation failure rate and the uplink and
downlink quality handover rate at this time are certainly very high. In this case,
monitor Abis interface or block all other TRX in the cell to perform calling test on the
suspected TRX to locate the fault. Generally speaking, when there is something
wrong with the frame processing unit, the assignment failure rate and uplink and
downlink quality handover will be quite serious. When there is something wrong with
the receiving part, the assignment and uplink quality handover will be relatively
serious. When there is something wrong with the transmission part, the assignment
failure rate and downlink quality handover will be quite serious. It is also advisable to
judge whether there are some problems with TRX according to the TCH assignment
failure rate. When there are some problems with TRX, usually the TCH congestion
rate and access failure rate are very high, monitor Abis interface to locate the faulty
TRX (whose equipment No. is TEI).
Analyze according to the attempt ratio of handover trigger causes. If there are some
hardware problem in the uplink, the receiving level of the MS seizing this TRX will be
very weak and the receiving quality will also bad. When the downlink quality or the
ratio of handover triggered by the level is high, the fault may exist on the downlink
equipment hardware, such as TRX, power amplifier, transmission antenna or feeder.
When the ratio of handover triggered by the uplink quality is rather high, the fault may

41
exist on the equipment hardware of the radio antenna uplink.

41
2. In addition, the hardware fault may also generate internal interference that leads
to a call drop

Due to possible mistake in TRX or performance decrease of some parts, TRX

amplification circuit self-activation may occur, thus internal interference will be
generated.

CDU or SPL fault. The active amplifier is used in CDU divider or SPL. If the
performance is not good, self-activation interference can also be generated easily.

If the out-band stray of the power amplification module exceeds limits, or the
separation of receiving and sending of the duplexer in CDU is too small, the
interference on the receiving channel will occur. In addition, if CDU intermodulation
indices do not meet requirements, the intermodulation component of transmission
signals will also enter the receiving channel to generate interference.

For interference caused by hardware problems, we can start with various sections
of the radio signals to find out the cause for interference with the exclusive method.

BTS RF signal path: outside - antenna - feeder - CDU - TRX.

42
Interference may be generated in any link of this path. The spectrum analyzer can
be used to test step by step from bottom to top, so as to identify the interference
source. Here we’ll take BTS3X as an example to see the basic procedure for
locating the uplink interference.

1. Register traffic statistic, mainly TCH measurement function, cell measurement

function, cell frequency scanning, up-downlink balance measurement function. The
period of traffic statistic can be set as 30 minutes or even shorter.

2. Leave one TRX and block all others in this BTS to observe the traffic statistic
result. This step is intended to view whether it is the intermodulation interference. If
the interference band disappears, it means that it is the intermodulation interference,
perform step 6. If the interference band does not disappear, perform step 3.

3. Disconnect the main/diversity input cables of TRX and connect the dummy load
(existing at the unused receiving ports of CDU), observe the interference band
reported by Abis interface. If the interference band is high, it means that the
interference comes from the TRX and this TRX should be replaced. If the
interference band is completely within the interference band 1, it means that the
interference comes from before TRX, perform step 4.

43
4. Recover the connectors and cable of the TRX and connect the power meter and
dummy load to the CDU connection input port (TX/RX). Set the tributary input
signal of main receiving as 0 while absorbing its output power. And at the same
time, disconnect the CDU diversity receiving cable, connect the matching load, and
also set its input signal as 0. Observe the interference band reported by Abis
interface. If the interference band is very high, it means that the interference comes
from CDU, which should be replaced. If CDU and TRX replacement takes no effect,
there may be some problem with the BTS clock. Check TMU13M clock, the clock
bus between TMU and TRX, the clock-matching DIP switch and the rack-top clock
matcher. If interference bands fall completely within interference band 1, it means
that the interference comes before CDU, then perform step 5.

5. Recover CDU connectors and cable, disconnect the RF jumper of the rack-top
TX/RX and RXD of this cell, and connect the matching load to the rack-top TX/RX
and RXD ports. Then observe the interference band reported by Abis interface. If
the interference band is very high, it means that the interference comes from the
RF cable between CDU and the rack-top ports, which should be replaced. If all
interference bands fall within interference band 1, it means that the interference
comes before rack-top, and perform step 6.

44
6. Unblock all TRX, interchange the antenna & feeders of this cell with the adjacent
cell (where there is no interference) at the rack top, then observe the interference
band reported by Abis interface. If the interference band is very high, it means that
the interference comes from BTS internal intermodulation interference. In this case,
replace CDU and TRX. If the interference band is completely within interference
band 1, it means that the interference comes from steps before antenna or feeder,
perform step 7.
7. Change the frequency and observe the interference band reported by Abis
interface. If the interference band is still very high, it means that the interference
comes from the BTS antenna & feeder or broadband external interference. In this
case, check the antenna & feeder, and replace the antenna & feeder or use the
spectrum analyzer and directional antenna to find the external interference source. If
the interference band is completely within interference band 1, it means that the
interference comes from the internal co-frequency and adjacent frequency
interference. In this case, perform frequency optimization.
B. Transmission troubleshooting
If the transmission link is unstable, it will cause signaling loss and low-layer link
instability, and even call drop. Many Abis call drops can be avoided if stable
transmission quality is ensured.
Fault messages of Abis interface are: BSC does not receive the measurement report
from BTS, some signaling failures during handover and internal causes, or BER
influence on Abis interface.
There are less A interface failures, which are mainly handover (between BSC or
MSC) failures. The reason is that the data for handover are improper, or the target
cell can not be accessed via handover.

45
C. Antenna and feeder troubleshooting

Judge call drop due to antenna and feeder problems

1. Azimuth and downtilt of the antenna

If the azimuth of these two antennas of one sector are different, possibly the MS can
receive SDCCH, MS maybe call drop because of the TCH signal strength very poor.

46
Solutions:

Observe transmission and board alarms (TC board fault, A interface PCM loss alarm,
LAPD link disconnection, power amplifier, HPA, TRX board alarm, and CUI/FPU
alarm). According to the alarm data, analyze whether transmission is interrupted or
there is a faulty board (such as transmission grounding mode, TRX damage or poor
contact).

The fault can be located by blocking TRX and registering temporary traffic statistics
tasks (call drop rate and congestion rate).

47
48
Frequency planning principles:

1. Same frequency cannot exist in the same BTS.

2. The frequency interval of BCCH and TCH in the same cell should better be above
400K.

3. When there is no frequency hopping, the frequency interval between TCHs in the
same cell should better be above 400K.

4. In non- 1*3 frequency reuse mode, the direct adjacent BTS cannot have the same
frequency (even if the directions of the antenna main lobes are the same, the
interference of side lobes and back lobes cannot be predicted easily due to antenna
and environment causes).

5. In consideration of the complexity of antenna height and propagation environment,

the two opposite cells cannot be arranged same frequency.

6. Usually, 1*3 frequency reuse should ensure that the number of hopping frequency
should be more than two times of the carriers participating hopping.

7. Make sure to avoid the situation that the same BCCH or BSIC exists in adjacent
areas.

8. Enable PBGT handover. After the adjacent frequency interference is under-

controlled through parameter adjustment, the adjacent frequency can be used in
direct adjacent cells.

49
50
Why the uplink interference can be confirmed when there is an interference band as
high as of level 3 - 5?

1. Concept of interference band: BSS measures the uplink characteristics of the radio
channel , and calculates and reports the channel interference condition of Idle
channel, thus to provide judgement bases for BSC to assign channels. Interference is
divided into six levels artificially according to the intensity of interference signals. The
level amount used to divide these levels is called interference band threshold.
2. When there are many channels working in interference mode, it can be concluded
that there is interference in the system. Therefore, the interference band
measurements result can be used as the basis for various threshold settings and
interference analysis.
3. For internal interference, generally the interference band increases with the traffic
while external interference has little bearing on the traffic (of course, the interference
caused by the TACS network will also vary with the traffic).

51
1. Interference bands as high as of level 3-5 appear.

2. High congestion rate. During signaling transmission, since the signaling channel
suffers from external interference, SDCCH or TCH assignment fails.

3. The call drop rate is far higher than the normal. Due to external interference, too
high BER will lead to handover failure.

4. High BER. Sometimes even if the uplink receiving level is up to -70dBm, the
receiving BER may also be bigger than 12.8%.

5. Check the traffic statistic of handover causes to make judgment

When there are many handovers triggered by uplink signal quality deterioration, it can
be judged as to be caused by uplink interference or hardware fault.

When there are many handovers triggered by downlink signal quality deterioration, it
can be judged that downlink interference or hardware fault cause it.

If there are many handovers triggered by both uplink and downlink signal quality
deterioration, hardware fault should be ruled out firstly, and then check interference.

52
The repeater will amplify the interference signals while amplifying the desired uplink
and downlink signals of BTS. As a result, the signal quality will decrease and finally
call drop will occur. The accompanying phenomenon is the obvious increase of
channel assignment failure rate.

53
The repeater is widely used in early phase of network construction to extend the BTS
coverage. Due to its own characteristics, it will interfere the BTS when being used
improperly. The repeater has the two following interference modes:

1) As installation of the repeater doesn’t conform to relevant standard, there is no

enough separation between the host antenna and transmit antenna. As a result, self-
activation is formed and the normal work of the BTS which this repeater relies to is
affected.

2) Since the repeater is a broad frequency band and non-linear amplifier, its
intermodulation indices are far larger than protocol requirements. If the power is too
large, its intermodulation signal will also be strong and it can interfere adjacent BTS
very easily.

Why the repeater can interfere the BTS: When the uplink background noise level of
the repeater host is too large, the BTS channel will be blocked.

54
Clear uplink interference
Currently this is the major interference, which mainly occurs in traffic peak time and
originates from co-channel interference, or external interference. Co-channel
interference is related to the traffic of the co-channel cell. If the traffic is high, the
interference will also be high. External interference is mainly intermodulation
interference. The uplink interference can be analyzed and cleared by modifying the
co-channel frequency of the co-channel cell base on analyzing related reports in
driving test, increasing the distance between two co-channel cells. Interference can
also be reduced by diversity receiving and effective power control.
Clear downlink interference
Downlink interference are mainly co-channel interference and adjacent-channel
interference of some cells due to inappropriate frequency planning. The interference
source can be found out with the spectrum analyzer.

55
56
Judge whether there is some problem with TRX according to the TCH assignment
failure rate. When there is something wrong with TRX, generally the TCH congestion
rate will be very high and the assignment failure rate will also be rather high. Measure
Abis interface to find the faulty TRX (equipment No. is TEI).

When there is something wrong with the receiving part, the assignment failure rate
and the uplink quality handover will be relatively serious.

When there is something wrong with the transmitting part, the assignment failure rate
and the downlink quality handover will be relatively serious.

57
Therefore, first check whether there is something wrong with the equipment and then
judge the interference by the traffic statistic analysis, driving test data analysis and
parameters checking.

58
Frequency hopping can effectively improve the quality of radio signal, especially the
quality of slowly moving MS. The reason is that frequency hopping can make the
transmission carrier jump on the basis of burst pulse sequence, so that the co-
channel interference and frequency selective fading effect can be decreased greatly.

However, note whether there is conflicting frequency hopping offset (MAIO) between
TRX in one cell. The unreasonable setting of relevant parameters such as MA HSN
can also lead to call drop.

59
MAIO (Mobile Allocation Index Offset)

Position: Radio channel configuration table.

Value range: 0 ~ (N - 1). Here N is the number of frequency in MA. Pay attention to
the hopping modes supported by the BTS when planning MAIO and avoid co-channel
and adjacent-channel conflicts under the same cell of the same BTS.

HSN (Hopping Sequence Number)

Position: Hopping data table

Value range: 0 ~ 63. Here 0 represents the cyclic hopping (0 is prohibited for some
devices) and other values represent pseudo random hopping. In principle, all
channels of all TRX in the same BTS must use the same HSN, so as to avoid co-
channel and adjacent-channel conflicts by properly setting MAIO. Since the
consistency of frame numbers cannot be ensured in different BTS, keep HSN of
different BTS different to minimize conflict possibility, especially when the same
hopping frequency group is used.

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A radio link has two directions: uplink and downlink. The actual coverage range
should depend on the weaker one. If the uplink signal coverage is larger than the
downlink signal coverage, the cell edge downlink signal will be relatively weak and
easy to be covered by intensive signals of other cells. If the downlink signal coverage
is larger than the uplink signal coverage, the MS will be forced to stay under this
intensive signal. However, if the uplink signal is too weak, MS will not be able to
originate a call or it may lead to bad quality or even call drop.

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Compare the receiving levels of BTS and MS respectively and observe whether the
downlink signal is still good enough for MS to stay in this cell when the uplink signal
reaches the lowest receiving threshold level.

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In areas with very complicated landforms, make power control as sensitive as
possible. When the power control makes the power of MS decrease and the uplink
signal turns poor suddenly, call drop will occur due to too weak uplink signal if the
power control is very dull at this time.

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1. Because no matter which channel of this cell is blocked, the congestion rate is
always relatively high. There can be interference or the terrain in the coverage range
of the cell is possibly complicated.

2. It is concluded that, by viewing and analyzing the traffic statistic data, the
interference band of cell 3 basically stays at 4 or 5 in daytime, and it stays at band 1
or band 2 between 23:00 FM and 7:00 AM. In addition, the call drop rate and the
interference band are regular.

3. First take co-channel and adjacent-channel interference into consideration. Change

the frequency. The frequency interval of cell 3 is changed to 1M . But the problem
persists.

4. Then consider the equipment problems. Interchange the antenna& feeder of cell 3
with that of cell 1, but cell 3 interference remains the same. Therefore, it can basically
be concluded that there is no problem with the BTS devices below the antenna and
feeder. After the above possibilities are excluded, the fault can be located as external
interference.

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1. Although there is a 10M distance between this frequency band and that used in this
cell, it is a continuous signal and it can be more possibly to conflict and
intermodulation with other signals. Some parts of intermodulation components may
fall within the receiving band, thus forming interference.

2. In daytime the traffic is larger than that at night ， so the intermodulation

components(interference) are also more than those at night..

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It is found that, after multiple on-site dialing tests, there really exist call drops and
noise. However, it can be seen from the test MS that MS always stays in a service
cell of a non-local BTS A before call drop, and its TA value is about 17, and the
receiving signal strength is about -80dBm. Therefore, it can be concluded that MS
stays at the second cell of a BTS about 9km away from the dialing position.

Thus, a coverage area like an isolated island is formed in this area.

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Isolated island problem: When there is an isolated coverage island from a cell in an
area, if MS stay in this cell at the island area and make a call. No matter how the
signal changes, handover cannot be implemented normally until a call drop occurs.
To avoid such situation, two means can be used. The better one is to adjust the
antenna of the cell to eliminate the isolated island phenomenon. However, due to the
complexity of radio propagation, usually multiple experiments are required to
eliminate the isolated island effect while the coverage area is not obviously affected.
In addition, it is difficult to completely eliminate the isolated island phenomenon of
high buildings. The another means is to define new adjacent cells for the cell with
isolated island.

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