l t e LOW t h r o u g h p u t

analysis &
improvement
techniques
objective
›  Analysis flow for low throughput investigation from
performance counters point of view
›
Demonstrate throughput improvement with
practical cases.
›
Key learnings.
objective
›  Analysis flow for low throughput investigation from
performance counters point of view
›
Demonstrate throughput improvement with
practical cases.
›
Key learnings.
Co n t en t

›  Analysis flow for DL throughput

›  Analysis flow for UL throughput
› Sample case Dl throughput investigation
› Sample case Ul throughput investigation
› Parameter settings at E NodeB
› Essential features at E NodeB
› KPI/Counters to check for throughput analysis
› Key Learnings
Analysis Flow f o r Dl t h r o u g h p u t
investigation

Total Check all important Accessibly, Mobility and Retainability KPI.

perform ance Holistic overview of performance makes analysis simpler 

RRC connected Dl Throughput would reduce with increase in number of

users connected users (pmRrcConnMax ).

CQI ,64/16QAM,TM  Av CQI, % 64QAM samples and RI indicates DL SINR status
modes  Average CQI should be high (>10%), % of 64QAM sample should be high (>10%),

PRB(DL) and High PRB and PDCCH utilization would impact the DL
PDCCH utilization Throughput (pmPrbUtilDl / pmPrbUtilUl).

DL Latency and High value of DL latency(>9ms) and RLC retransmission(> 1%)

RLC retransmission would impact DL throughput.

Power limited UE High occurrence of pmRadioTbsPwrRestricted and

and No of A2 events pmBadCovEvalReport indicates poor DL
coverage.
Basic h e a l t h c h e c k u p a n d b a s e l i n e p a r a m e t e r / f e a t u r e A u d i t a l o n g
w i t h a l l checks
A n a l y s i s F l o w f o r UL t h r o u g h p u t
investigation

Total Check all important Accessibly, Mobility and Retainability KPI.

perform ance Holistic overview of performance makes analysis simpler 

Alarm & Parameter/

Feature Check
Make Baseline Audit for Parameter and feature

High uplink RSSI would impact the throughput

RSSI
(pmRadioRecInterferencePwrPUCCH / pmRadioRecInterferencePwr  )

% of 16 QAM Low usage of 16 QAM modulations scheme in UL would impact

samples the UL throughput

PUCCH & PUSCH Poor UL SINR conditions would impact UL throughput

SINR (pmsinrpucchdistr & pmsinrpuschdistr )

High number of power limited UE indicates poor uplink

Power limited UE
coverage (pmRadioTbsPwrRestricted ,pmRadioTbsPwrUNRestricted )
DL t h r o u g h p u t
investigation
DL t h r o u g h p u t
investigation
Cell Root c ause Action p lan
090125002 Low average CQI/Low Physical optimization
use of 64 QAM samples

150166001 Low handover success Neighbor recreation/PCI

rate/PCI conflict Replan

094962003 Missing MO/Handover Parameter Audit

relations

095330003 High PRB utilization Add newsite/Bandwidth

Sample case
090125002

% o f 64 QAM s a m p l e s & Av CQI w e r e l o w , P hy o p t i m i z a t i o n ( EDT 24) w a s made.

G ood i m p r o v e m e n t i n a l l m a t r i c e s w e r e o b s e r v e d p o s t o p t i m i z a t i o n
Sample case
090125002

Good i m p r o v e m e n t i n T h r o u g h p u t & NO r e d u c t i o n i n D a t a Vo l u m e p o s t
physical optimization
Sample case
090125002
Change in
Electric down tilt
from 2 to 4

I m p r o v e m e n t i n UE p o w e r l i m i t i n g r a t i o p o s t c h a n g e s
Sample case
090125002

C l e a r i m p r o v e m e n t i n LOW RSRQ s a m p l e s p o s t c h a n g e s
(RSRQ c o m p a r i s o n is f r o m PM UE i n i t i a t e d
measurement)
S a m p l e case_150166001

CELL HAD p o o r MOBILITY & R e t a i n a b i l i t y KPI

When ALL N e i g h b o r r e l a t i o n w e r e d e l e t e d ANR c r e a t e d r e l a t i o n w i t h immed ia te N e i g h b o r i n s t e a d

o f r e m o t e r e l a t i o n w i t h SAME PCI
S a m p l e case_150166001

NBR r e l a t i o n “150166001_33420 -90427- 3” p r e v e n t e d c r e a t i o n o f

r e l a t i o n 150166001_33420-150164-3 BY ANR
As B o t h t a r g e t c e l l h a v e sa me PCI
S a m p l e case_150166001

W h e n A l l R e l a t i o n w e r e d e l e t e d ANR c r e a t e d r e l a t i o n w i t h n a t u r a l
n e i g h b o r 150164-3 a n d KPI t u r n e d g o o d
R e l a t i o n 150166001_33420-90427-3 w a s n o t c r e a t e d a g a i n
 S a m p l e case_150166001

.Good i m p r o v e m e n t i n a l l m a t r i c e s w e r e o b s e r v e d p o s t r e l a t i o n c r e a t i o n
w i t h immediate n e i g h b o r
S a m p l e case_150166001

% o f 6 4 QAM s a m p l e s ,Av CQI,MIMO u s a g e i m p r o v e d p o s t c h a n g e s

Good i m p r o v e m e n t i n a l l m a t r i c e s w e r e o b s e r v e d p o s t r e l a t i o n c r e a t i o n w i t h i m m e d i a t e n e i g h b o r
Samplecase_094962003

ANR w a s n o t a d d i n g a n y n e i g h b o r r e l a t i o n s f o r t h i s i n d o o r c e l l .
Investigation c o n f i r m e d missing “UTRANfreqrelation” & “EUtranFreqRelation”
MO f o r t h i s c e l l
A f t e r t h e c r e a t i o n o f t h e s e MO, KPI i m p r o v e d
Samplecase_094962003

I m p r o v e m e n t i n T h r o u g h p u t a l o n g w i t h o t h e r KPI POST MO CREATION

Samplecase_094962003

I m p r o v e m e n t i n T h r o u g h p u t a l o n g w i t h o t h e r KPI POST MO CREATION

S a m p l e c a s e 095330003

SITE DF5330 is h i g h l y u t i l i z e d a n d t h r o u g h p u t f o r a l l t h r e e c e l l r e d u c e s
w i t h increase in d a t a vol ume
No u s e r l i c e n s e l i m i t a t i o n i n t h e s e c e l l s a s RRC s u c c e s s r a t e is q u i t e g o o d
95330003 D o w n l i n k PRB
utilization and Dl t h r o u g h p u t

In o f f peak h o u r s - t h r o u g h p u t is q u i t e g o o d
In peak h o u r s -High d o w n l i n k PRB u t i l i z a t i o n is l i m i t i n g t h e
downlink throughput.
95330003 D o w n l i n k PRB
utilization and Dl t h r o u g h p u t

H i gh v a l u e o f c o n n e c t e d u s e r, DL PRB a n d s c h e d u l e r u t i l i z a t i o n
Ways t o r e d u c e PRB u t i l i z a t i o n

›
There are very limited means of reducing of PRB
utilization .How ever some of these methods can be tried
on case by case basis
›
Traffic offload to less utilized neighboring cells
›
Reduce control channel resources(Before that
check PDCCH utilization)
›  Add Bandwidth (if system is operating < 20Mhz) as
Bandwidth increase would increase number of PRB
›
Reduce inactivity timer (tInactivityTimer) value so that
inactive user can be released early
 DF5330-Data Vo l u m e

Qoffsetcelleutran to -2

Qoffsetcelleutran to -6

Qoffsetcelleutran to -4

Physical optimization
an and Tilt changes

P hy s i c al o pt i m i z at i o n & Q o f f s e t c e l l e u t r a n applied f o r T r a f f i c o f f l o a d i n g t o n e i g h b o r i n g c e l l b u t i t did n o t

h e l p much.
OFFLOADING BY n e w s i t e / B a n d w i d t h a d d i t i o n / s e c o n d c a r r i e r a d d i t i o n a r e t h e a v a i l a b l e o p t i o n s
UL t h r o u g h p u t s a m p l e
cases
UL t h r o u g h p u t
investigation
Cell Root cause Action plan

93704001 Low uplink DAS Check and Audit

coverage/uplink issue
in DAS(Distributed
 Antenna system)
155980003 High RSSI/uplink UL Power control
interference parameter tuning /PIM
testing for internal
interference
S a m p l e case_93704001

CELL 93704001 (IBS c e l l ) h a s l o w t h r o u g h p u t e v e n t h o u g h DL t h r o u g h p u t

is q u i t e g o o d
S a m p l e case_93704001

*Cell 15014002 & 15014002 shown just for comparison

D a t a f r o m UL SINR c o u n t e r s c o n f i r m s p o o r SINR c o n d i t i o n a t t h e c e l l
S a m p l e case_93704001
UETR TRACES FOR CALL DROP

CTR a l s o c o n f i r m s u p l i n k i ssue a t t h e c e l l a s t h e r e a r e m a n y c a l l
drop rel at e d t o poor uplink coverage
ISSUE f o r w a r d e d t o o&M t e a m f o r DAS AUDIT a n d CHECK a s F a u l t y DAS
was suspected as p r i m a r y cause o f p o o r p e r f o r m a n c e
S a m p l e case_93704001

*Cell 15014002 & 15014002 shown just for comparison

DL t h r o u g h p u t is q u i t e g o o d f o r t h e c e l l . DL c o v e r a g e a n d SINR is a l s o
good f o r the cell.
S a m p l e case_155980003

CELL 15598003 h a s v e r y l o w u p l i n k t h r o u g h p u t
 S a m p l e case_155980003

RLC r e t r a n s m i s s i o n r a t e a n d p a c k e t l o s s is v e r y h i g h i n u p l i n k f o r t h i s
cell
 S a m p l e case_155980003

RSSI is v e r y h i g h a t t h i s c e l l w h i c h is i m p a c t i n g t h r o u g h p u t a n d p a c k e t l o s s i n u p l i n k . A g g r e s s i v e
s e t t i n g o f p Z e r o N o m i n a l P u s c h & p Z e r o N o m i n a l P u c c h u s e d f o r t h i s c e l l b u t KPI d i d n o t i m p r o v e .
C e l l f o r w a r d e d t o o&M t e a m f o r PIM t e s t i n g a n d r u l i n g o u t i n t e r n a l i n t e r f e r e n c e
Essential Features

 IRC (interference rejection combining) should be enabled.

 Ul FSS (Ul frequency selective scheduling) should be enabled.
 Channel Bandwidth (5, 10, 15 and 20) MHz should be equal to
licensed bandwidth.
 64-QAM DL should be enabled.
 16-QAM UL should be enabled.
 Dual Antenna DL Performance Package or MIMO should be
enabled.

A l l t h e s e f e a t u r e s s h o u l d be e n a b l e d a t eNodeB f o r Good UL a n d DL
throughput
Essential Parameters
›
Radio Network MO parameters:
 –  EUtranCellFDD
› dlChannelBandwidth / ulChannelBandwidth=should be equal to license
bandwidth noOfTxAntennas for MIMO= 2
noOfRxAntennas for MIMO= 2
› transmission Mode default is 3, TxDiv and Open Loop Spatial Multiplexing (2x2
MIMO)
› pdcchCfiMode (number of OFDM symbols used for PDCCH, 1->3)
› maximumTransmissionPower = 460 (for 40 watt site)
› partOfSectorPower (for a sector)= 100
› pZeroNominalPucch  some UEs need this to be increased or ACK/NACKs are not
received successfully on PUCCH.
› pZeroNominalPusch  some UEs need this to be increased from default or lots of
errors seen on PUSCH.
 –  SectorEquipmentFunction
› confOutputPower = license power(20/40/60 Watt)
counters f o r t h r o u g h p u t analysis

›
UL Interference on PUCCH / PUSCH :
pmRadioRecInterferencePwrPUCCH / pmRadioRecInterferencePwr 
›
SINR of PUCCH / PUSCH: pmSinrPucchDistr / pmSinrPuschDistr 
› PRB Utilization in DL / UL : pmPrbUtilDl / pmPrbUtilUl
›
RLC ACK/NACK: pmRlcArqUlack|pmRlcArqUlNack
›
Transport block PWR restricted:
pmRadioTbsPwrRestricted / pmRadioTbsPwrUNRestricted
›
Scheduling activity per cell in UL and DL :
pmSchedActivityCellDl
/pmSchedActivityUeDl
›
Rank distribution MIMO/ SIMO : pmRadioTxRankDistr 
›
Number of A2 events(UE in poor coverage)
:pmBadCovEvalReport
RSS
I
U L Interference on PUCCH* :
UL interference on PUSCH :
pmRadioRecInterferencePwrPUCCH
pmRadioRecInterferencePwr 
The measured Noise and Interference Power on PUCCH
The measured Noise and Interference Power on PUSCH
PDF ranges:
[0]: N+I <= -121 PDF ranges:
[1]: -121 < N+I <= -120 [0]: N+I <= -121
[2]: -120 < N+I <= -119 [1]: -121 < N+I <= -120
[3]: -119 < N+I <= -118 [2]: -120 < N+I <= -119
[4]: -118 < N+I <= -117 [3]: -119 < N+I <= -118
[5]: -117 < N+I <= -116 [4]: -118 < N+I <= -117
[6]: -116 < N+I <= -115 [5]: -117 < N+I <= -116
[7]: -115 < N+I <= -114 [6]: -116 < N+I <= -115
[8]: -114< N+I <= -113 [7]: -115 < N+I <= -114
[9]: -113 < N+I <= -112 [8]: -114< N+I <= -113
[10]: -112 < N+I <= -108 [9]: -113 < N+I <= -112
[11]: -108 < N+I <= -104 [10]: -112 < N+I <= -108
[12]: -104 < N+I <= -100 [11]: -108 < N+I <= -104
[13]: -100 < N+I <= -96 [12]: -104 < N+I <= -100
[14]: -96 < N+I <= -92 [13]: -100 < N+I <= -96
[15]: -92 < N+I [14]: -96 < N+I <= -92
Unit: dBm/PRB [15]: -92 < N+I
Unit: dBm/PRB

F o r g o o d t h r o u g h p u t i n UL- RSSI v a l u e s h o u l d be l o w (< -105 dbm)

UL SINR
SINR of PUCCH: SINR for PUSCH:
pmSinrPucchDistr  pmSinrPuschDistr 

Distribution of the SINR values calculated for PUCCH . Distribution of the SINR values calculated for PUSCH .

› PDF ranges: › PDF ranges:

› [0]: SINR <= -15 › [0]: SINR <= -5
› [1]: -15 < SINR <= -12 › [1]: -5 < SINR <= -2
› [2]: -12 < SINR <= -9 › [2]: -2 < SINR <= 2
› [3]: -9 < SINR <= -6 › [3]: 2 < SINR <= 6
› [4]: -6 < SINR <= -3 › [4]: 6 < SINR <= 10
› [5]: -3 < SINR <= 0 › [5]: 10 < SINR <= 14
› [6]: 0 < SINR <= 3 › [6]: 14 < SINR <= 17
› [7]: 3 < SINR › [7]: 17 < SINR
› Unit: dB › Unit: dB
Condition: Each SINR value for PUCCH per UE calculated Condition: Each SINR value for PUSCH per UE calculated
on a TTI basis yields one sample in the distribution. on a TTI basis yields one sample in the distribution.

F o r g o o d t h r o u g h p u t i n UL - FEW S a m p l e s i n p o o r SINR r a n g e s
PRB u t i l i z a t i o n
PRB Utilization in Dl :
pmPrbUtilDl
 A distribution that shows the downlink Physical
Resource Blocks (PRB) utilization (total
number of used PRB by available PRB) on
the Physical Downlink Shared Channel
(PDSCH).
PDF ranges:
[0]: 0 % <= Utilization < 10 %
[1]: 10 % <= Utilization < 20 %
[2]: 20 % <= Utilization < 30
% [3]: 30 % <= Utilization <
40 % [4]: 40 % <= Utilization
< 50 % [5]: 50 % <=
Utilization < 60 % [6]: 60 %
<= Utilization < 70 % [7]: 70
% <= Utilization < 80 % [8]:
80 % <= Utilization < 90 %
[9]: 90 % <= Utilization
Unit: -
Condition: One sample should be the utilization
during the sample gathering period.
F o r Good UL a n d DL t h r o u g h p u t - UL a n d DL PRB u t i l i z a t i o n s h o u l d
be l o w r e s p e c t i v e l y ( <80%)
PRB Utilization in UL:
pmPrbUtilUl
 A distribution that shows the Physical
Resource Blocks (PRB) utilization (total
number of used PRB by available
PRB) on the Physical Uplink Shared
Channel (PUSCH).
PDF ranges:
[0]: 0 % <= Utilization < 10 % [1]:
10 % <= Utilization < 20 %
[2]: 20 % <= Utilization < 30 %
[3]: 30 % <= Utilization < 40
% [4]: 40 % <= Utilization <
50 % [5]: 50 % <= Utilization
< 60 % [6]: 60 % <=
Utilization < 70 % [7]: 70 %
<= Utilization < 80 % [8]: 80
% <= Utilization < 90 % [9]:
90 % <= Utilization
Unit: -
Condition: One sample should be the
utilization during the sample gathering
period.
UL RLC NACK
RLC ACK: RLC NACK:
pmRlcArqUlack pmRlcArqUlNack

›
The total number of successful
›
The total number of
RLC PDU transmissions unsuccessful RLC PDU and
(ACKs) in the uplink direction. RLC PDU segment
transmissions (NACKs) in the
›
Unit: -
uplink direction.
›
Condition: Continuous ›
Unit: -
measurement for Radio
Bearers aggregated to cell
›
Condition: Continuous
level.. measurement for Radio
Bearers aggregated to cell
level.
F o r g o o d t h r o u g h p u t i n UL –U  L RLC NACK RATIO s h o u l d be l o w
Power re str ic te d
t r a n s p o r t block-UL
Transport block PWR restricted: Transport block PWR restricted:
pmRadioTbsPwrUNRestricted
pmRadioTbsPwrRestricted

› The number of Transport Blocks on MAC level

›
The number of Transport Blocks on MAC scheduled in uplink where the UE was NOT
level scheduled in uplink where the UE was considered to be power limited.
considered to be power limited. ›
Unit: -
›
Unit: - › Condition: A Transport Block is considered to
› Condition: A Transport Block is considered be power limited when the estimated required
to be power limited when the estimated transmit power is higher than the UE maximum
required transmit power is higher than the transmit power.
UE maximum transmit power. ›
Counter type: PEG
›
Counter type: PEG ›
Scanner: Not included in any predefined
›
Scanner: Not included in any predefined scanner 
scanner 

R a t i o o f p o w e r l i m i t e d t o n o n p o w e r l i m i t e d b l o c k s s h o u l d be l o w
F o r Good t h r o u g h p u t i n UL- R a t i o s h o u l d be l o w ( < 50%)
CQ
I
CQI Is a feedback mechanism from UE to eNB in downlink

 –  pmRadioUeRepCqiDistr gives CQI distribution in DL

 –  pmRadioUeRepCqiDistr is a PDF counter and it gives value in range
from 0 to 15
 –  CQI 1-6 map to QPSK
 –  CQI 7-9 map to 16QAM
 –  CQI 10-15 map to 64QAM

F o r g o o d t h r o u g h p u t i n DL- A v e r a g e CQI s h o u l d be h i g h (>10)

MIMO RANK d i s t r i b u t i o n u s a g e
Rank distribution MIMO/ SIMO : pmRadioTxRankDistr 
The transmission mode / rank distributions gives more detailed information on how much each each
transmission mode and rank is used.
PDF ranges:
[0]: Transmit diversity  same information both branches
[1]: Open L oop SM Rank 1 SIMO
[2]: Open L oop SM Rank 2 MIMO
[3]: Closed Loop SM rank 1
[4]: Closed Loop SM rank 2
Unit: -
Counter type: PDF
Scanner: Not included in any predefined scanner SM
stands for Spatial Multiplexing

F o r Good t h r o u g h p u t i n DL- H i g h s a m p l e s o f MIMO R a n k 2

MIMO is u s e d c u r r e n t l y u s e d i n DL
E r i c s s o n s u p p o r t s TM2(PDF r a n g e 1) & TM3(PDF R ange 2)
currently
 M o d u l a t i o n s c h e m e u s a g e DL

›
QPSK Samples (%) = 100 * (pmMacHarqDlAckQpsk/
(pmMacHarqDlAckQpsk + pmMacHarqDlAck16qam
+ pmMacHarqDlAck64qam))
›
16 QAM Samples (%) = 100 *
(pmMacHarqDlAck16qam / (pmMacHarqDlAckQpsk +
pmMacHarqDlAck16qam + pmMacHarqDlAck64qam))
›
64QAM Samples(%) = 100 *
(pmMacHarqDlAck64qam/ (pmMacHarqDlAckQpsk +
pmMacHarqDlAck16qam + pmMacHarqDlAck64qam))

F o r g o o d DL t h r o u g h p u t - H i gh u s a g e o f 64 QAM a n d 16 QAM s c h e m e i n DL
M o d u l a t i o n scheme usage
UL

QPSK Samples (%) = 100 * ((pmMacHarqUlSuccQpsk/

(pmMacHarqUlSuccQpsk+ PmMacHarqUlSucc16qam ))
16 QAM Samples (%) =100 *
((mMacHarqUlSucc16qam/ (pmMacHarqUlSuccQpsk+
PmMacHarqUlSucc16qam ))

F o r g o o d UL t h r o u g h p u t - H i gh u s a g e o f 16 QAM s c h e m e i n UL
KEY
LEARNING
›
Check all important KPI in cases of low throughput as it
make analysis simple and help in finding the root
cause faster.
›
Do basic parameter and feature audit before proceeding
further 
›
Check RSSI at the cell and UL power control parameter
setting.
›
Rule out any transmission issue by checking DL latency
and packet loss rate.
›
DL throughput is mostly impacted by poor DL SINR.
Low
 Avg CQI/ 64 QAM sample/RI indicated poor DL SINR.
›
UL throughput is mostly impacted by poor UL coverage
check CTR traces & UL SINR counters for this.