Accessibility KPI Optimization – 2G

Prepared By
Makavana Sachinkumar
Nidhi Bakshi
S Ramya
Jaya Ram T K
 agenda

Accessibility Definition;

Accessibility KPI;

Random Access;

SDCCH Congestion;

SDCCH Drop;

TCH Blocking;

TCH Assignment success rate;

 Accessibility Definition

• The ability of a service to be obtained, within specified tolerances

and other given conditions, when requested by the user.

• The network access process can be divided into the following

phases:
– Random Access
– SDCCH assignment and completion
– TCH Assignment success rate
 GSM CALL FLOW
UE side Transmit Network side Transmit
FCCH
SCH
BCCH
Channel Request RACH Random Access
AGCH Immediate Assignment
(Assign SDCCH)
CM Service Request
SDCCH
SDCCH Authentication Request
Authentication Response SDCCH SDCCH Assignment
and Completion
SDCCH Ciphering mode command
Ciphering mode complete SDCCH

Setup SDCCH
SDCCH Call Processing
SDCCH Assignment command
(Assign TCH, FACCH)
Assignment complete FACCH/TCH
FACCH/TCH Alerting TCH Assignment and
FACCH/TCH Completion
Connect
Connect Ack FACCH/TCH
 Accessibility KPI

% Call Setup Success Rate = 100*( 1-TCH Blocks/TCH Assignment Attempt)*

(1-SDCCH Drops/ SDCCH Assignment Success)* (1- SDCCH Int Cong/ SDCCH
Assignment Attempts)
 RANDOM ACCESS SUCCESS RATE
• Random Access Channel (RACH) is used by the MS on the “uplink” to
request for allocation of an SDCCH. This request from the MS on the uplink
could either be as a page response (MS being paged by the BSS in
response to an incoming call) or due to user trying to access the network
to establish a call.

• Key Parameters Involved

– ACCMIN - ACCMIN controls the access threshold to the system, Often the setting of
ACCMIN is decided by non-technical reasons, A low setting of ACCMIN can cause RA
failures, TCH drops and bad quality and A high setting of ACCMIN can stop users
accessing the system resulting in lost revenue.
– MAXRET - MAXRET controls the number of Random Access retries allowed when the MS
accesses the system, A lower setting of MAXRET can improve RA performance but also
result in MSs not being able to access the system.
– TX - the randomness in the time interval between each of these access request is
defined by the parameter TX.
 RANDOM ACCESS SUCCESS RATE
• Root causes for degradation

– Poor BSIC Plan

– Poor BCCH Plan
– weak coverage
– Incorrect ACCMIN and CRO
– Faulty Antenna / Cable
– Incorrect MAXRET and TX

• Actions /Resolution:

– Check for BCCH / BSIC plan for RACH success rate affected cells .
– Improve weak coverage areas by physical optimization.
– Check for correct ACCMIN based on clutter and CRO based on boundaries.
– Do the complete BTS health check and replace the faulty / suspected HW.
– Set the appropriate MAXRET and TX values.
 SDCCH CONGESTION
• SDCCH is a control channel and is used for system signaling (UL/DL) during
Location Updating, IMSI Attach, IMSI Detach, Mobile Originated Calls,
Mobile Terminated Calls, SMS and etc. In short SDCCH plays a big part in
call setup process as the call setup attempts go from a successful
Random Access to TCH via SDCCH.

• Key Parameters Involved

– MAXNOSDCCHTRX – this parameter limits the max number of SDCCHs that can be
defined in a cell.
– INCRSDCCHCAP – needs to be set to 1 to leverage the benefit of MAXNOSDCCHTRX
parameter.
– T3212 - Periodic location update timer value.
– CRH, CRO & PT - Cell reselection hysteresis, cell reselection offset and Penalty timer -
Too high value of CRH can result in SDCCH drops and too less may increase load on
SDCCH.CRO, PT can also be used to delay reselection in LAC borders.
 SDCCH CONGESTION
• Root causes for degradation
– High volume of LAU
– High volume of SMS
– High volume of Call Setup

• Actions /Resolution:

– Add an extra SDCCH/8 if blocking occurs continuous for a certain period of time
– Check for T3212 (Periodic location update timer) value.
– Verify cell Accmin value. Too high value may result in high SD usage.
– Check for CRH at cell in LAC boundaries.
– Verify MAXNOSDCCHTRX – this parameter limits the max number of SDCCHs that can be
defined in a cell. Note : INCRSDCCHCAP needs to be set to 1 to change the
MAXNOSDCCHTRX parameter.
 SDCCH Drop
• A drop on SDCCH does not mean a failed call set-up since it can be used
for procedures that require an SDCCH like a location area update or SMS.

• Root causes for degradation

– Poor signal strength

– High Interference / Poor Quality
– TCH / Transcoder Congestion
– High TA
– Wrong Power Control Settings
– Fluctuating Dip ( E1 Link )
 SDCCH Drop
• Actions /Resolution:

– Check the Accmin and RLT values.

– If SDCCH drop % is huge (>10 or 20%) probable cause may be faulty TRXs
– Check for VSWR/Diversity alarms.
– Enable AHOP – Antenna hopping.
– Check for CRH . High CRH may result in high SD drops.
– Incase of high quality drops check if BCCH is clean, look for co-BCCH co-BSIC and adj-
BCCH co-BSIC issues.
– Check if SDCCHs can be moved from hopping CHGR to BCCH CHGR and vice versa to
improve quality.
– Check for A-interface, A-ter congestion/fluctuation if all cells in a BSC are affected.
– Check for Cell Barring status for the neighboring cells.
– Check for site fluctuation and A-bis error issues.
– Install CDMA reject filters incase if ICM band is high and CDMA interference is
suspected.
 TCH Blocking
• Primary cause of TCH congestion is lack of enough TCH resources to cater
for the offered traffic.

• Key Parameters Involved

– DHA - Controls the activation of Dynamic Half Rate Allocation Root causes for
degradation.
– SCLD - Subcell load distribution.
– LOL - Path loss threshold. It defines the OL subcell coverage border in terms of the
pathloss from the serving cell.
– CLS - Cell load sharing
– KOFFSETP - Signal strength positive offset in dB when evaluating K-cells.
– HCS - Hierarchical Cell Structures
 TCH Blocking
• Root causes for degradation

– High HR traffic
– Over utilized resources (TRX)
– Sleeping TRX
– Wrong LOL & SCLD settings
– CLS feature switched off
– Nearby site availability Issue
– Need to check Transcoder setting
• Actions /Resolution:

– High HR traffic. - Check for DHA setting for AMR and tune it.
– Over utilized TRX - Check for adding additional TRX
– Check for sleeping TRX.
– CLS – Cell load sharing can be used. Wrong parametric settings can cause congestion.
– Adjust the KOFFSETP of neighbor cell ( Low traffic ) to push the traffic towards it, reduces TCH
blocking.
– Tried all the options, then plan for fourth sector, else go for a new site to offload.
– Hierarchical Cell Structures (HCS) - provides a mechanism whereby the traffic may be directed
towards cells belongings to the lower layer, so as the lower layer cells can serve all the traffic with
sufficient signal strength.
 TCH Assignment SUCCESS RATE
• The TCH assignment success rate measures how often a call set-up,
ordered by the MSC, has been successful.

• Key Parameters Involved

– CLS - Cell load sharing

– AMR - AMR half rate thresholds - Avoid congestion by using AMR HR instead of AMR FR
at high load.
– HCS - Hierarchical Cell Structures

• Root causes for degradation

– Low Signal strength or no dominant serving cell.

– Interference
– Congestion on TCH
– Incorrect use of Capacity features
– Faulty Hardware or transmission
– Incorrect Output power
 TCH Assignment SUCCESS RATE
• Actions /Resolution:

– Overlaid/Underlaid Subcells - The fundamental idea is that traffic close to the site is
moved to the Overlaid subcell while traffic closer to the edge of the cell is carried on the
Underlaid.
– AMR Half-rate (AHR) - Possibility of doubling the AMR capacity by using AHR instead of
AFR. DHA allocates AMR HR at call set-up and handover when few idle TCHs remain in
the cell.
– CLS – Cell load sharing - Helps avoiding congestion at pre-defined load
– Hierarchical Cell Structures (HCS) - provides a mechanism whereby the traffic may be
directed towards cells belongings to the lower layer, so as the lower layer cells can serve
all the traffic with sufficient signal strength.
– Expansions need to be planned in advance – Before capacity is needed.