RMS Guidelines Ed1

Site Cascais Originator(s) Lus Santos
Mobile Communication Division RMS: Guidelines and Best Practices
Domain Product Division Rubric Type
: PCS General : GSM B7 : General user documentation : General : guidelines
Distribution codes Internal : IDDL-PCS, ISC Manager, BR Operation Manager
Pre-distribution: PCS PCS PCS/2G Eric Desblancs Frdric Jarreau Florent Colin
Abstract: The present document gives a short description of the Radio Measurements Statistics (RMS): RMS status, main problems, how to use it during network optimization, different experiences using it and existing tools. Key words: B7 release, B8 release and RMS
Appraisal and approval authorities PCS

DD-MM-YY :
Eric Desblancs
Signature :
PCS
DD-MM-YY :
Frdric Jarreau
Signature :
PCS/2G
DD-MM-YY :
Florent Colin
Signature : DD-MM-YY : Signature :
Alcatel File RMS Guidelines_ed1.doc
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Table of contents
1 2 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................... 5 RADIO MEASUREMENTS STATISTICS ............................................. 5
2.1 2.2 2.3 DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................. 5 OUTPUTS AND TEMPLATES............................................................................................ 6 RMS JOBS ACTIVATION PROCESS .................................................................................. 8
TOOLS ......................................................................................................... 9
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 RMS WITH OMC-R ...................................................................................................... 9 RMS WITH OMC-R, NPA AND RNO ........................................................................... 9 RMS WITH OMC-R AND RMSAT.............................................................................. 11 RMS WITH OMC-R AND RADAR ............................................................................. 12 RMS WITH OMC-R AND A9155V6 FP ...................................................................... 13
USAGE OF RMS FOR OPTIMIZATION PURPOSES ....................... 14

4.1 GENERAL QOS ANALYSIS WITH RMS IN RNO............................................................ 14 RMS activation ................................................................................................. 14 Global analysis of the RMS results .................................................................. 14 Detailed analysis of the worst cell ................................................................... 18 RMS template modification .............................................................................. 23 Detection of Coverage problems through RMS in RNO .................................. 25 Analysis of coverage problems through RMS in RNO ..................................... 28 Detection of Interference problems through RMS in RNO .............................. 34 Analysis of Interference problems through RMS in RNO ................................ 37 Context of the tests ........................................................................................... 40 First test results................................................................................................ 41 Second test results ............................................................................................ 42 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3 4.1.4 4.2 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.3 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.4 4.4.1 4.4.2 4.4.3
GENERAL QOS ANALYSIS WITH RMS IN RNO............................................................ 24
USAGE OF RMS IN RNO IN ORDER TO SOLVE INTERFERENCE PROBLEM ..................... 33
VOICE QUALITY STATISTICS AND USAGE OF RMS OBTAINED ON PLATFORM .............. 40
RESULTS OF FREQUENCY PLANNING THROUGH RMS ........... 46
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5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4
VODACOM FREQUENCY PLAN EASTERN REGION...................................................... 46 VODACOM FREQUENCY PLAN CENTRAL REGION ..................................................... 46 GLOBAL FREQUENCY PLAN TMN NETWORK .......................................................... 47 GLOBAL FREQUENCY PLAN JINHUA AREA - CHINA .................................................. 48
6 7
RMS STATUS USAGE AROUND THE WORLD................................ 49 ISSUES ABOUT RMS STATISTICS ..................................................... 50
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History : Edition 1 1 - DR01 Date 11/05/2005 13/05/2005 Originator L. Santos L. Santos Comments Creation of the document Update of the document according to the remarks from Florent Colin. Update of the document according to the remarks from Florent Colin and Nuno Marques.
1 - PROP01
20/07/2005
L. Santos
Edition changes : References : [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] SFD : Radio Measurements Statistics, 3BK 10204 0486 DTZZA, ed 5 A956 RNO V3 RNO Tool, 3DF 00952 2010 PEZZA, ed. 2 FFD : RMS-MAFA in Release B7, 3DC 21144 0027 TQZZA, ed. 3 OMC3 Performance & Trace management, 3BK 09634 GAAF DSZZA, ed. 6 RADAR Tool: Functional description Example of QoS analysis MND/MRA/PCS/NOD/2003 QoS analysis with EDE_RMS_TMN050304 rms with the help of RMS statistics,
Example of analysis with RMS in mono-band network, MRD/PCS/NOD/2004 statistics IN TMN network (Portugal),
Analyse et exprimentation RMS B7.2 (MR6) (RESEAU GSM ORANGE FRANCE)
[10] Frequency Plan Report - Eastern Region South Africa [11] QoS Follow up for the Central Region Frequency Plan - July 2004 South Africa [12] Implementation of Global Frequency Plan TMN Network, QOS_040726 [13] User Guide for the Radio Measurement Statistics in RNO V3, 3DF 01900 2780 VAZZA [14] Specifications on T180 and RMS integration into A955 V6 Frequency Planning 3DF 01955 6044 DSZZA [15] Short description about CFE measurements, 19-03-2005 [16] Voice Quality in Release B7, 3DF019062712VAZZA, ed. 1
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1 Introduction
The present document will describe the current status concerning the new B7 feature called Radio Measurement Statistics (RMS). The whole information related to RMS functional description, gains, description of the system impacts and subsystem impacts is described in [1]. The objective is to present the RMS status usage around the world, linked to the feedback from local units, current RMS problems, how to use it during network optimization, different experiences using it and existing tools. As RMS was designed to make far easier the work for planning and optimization of a network by providing useful statistics on reported radio measurements, a guideline how to use RMS to debug and optimize one network will be provided, in order to detect the origin of a bad QoS and optimize consequently the network parameters. Several RMS field trials will be presented and a description on the tools used on it. Chapter 2 gives some RMS definitions. Chapter 3 describes the existing tools to use with RMS counters. Chapter 4 describes how to use RMS statistics in order to optimize a network and examples of fields trials already performed. Chapter 5 describes the frequency plan results using RMS Chapter 6 describes RMS status usage around the world Chapter 7 describes the current issues about RMS statistics
2 Radio Measurements Statistics 2.1 Definitions

In every network radio measurements are performed by different means: Air interface measurements and associated post-processing tools, with trace mobiles and GPS positioning. These measurements provide a mobile user perception of the network and are very exhaustive, but they are limited to a reduce set of cells on the Downlink path only. They are more dedicated to troubleshooting issues or benchmarking issues, but cannot be reasonably performed on the whole network every day. Abis interface statistics with post-processing tools by using protocol analyzers connected physically on one or more Abis interfaces (depending on the protocol analyzer performances), the operator can retrieve useful statistics to ensure good radio conditions and calls behavior. It is however not imaginable that these kind of measurements could be performed every day, on the whole network, due to the big number of protocol analyzers that would be required and the corresponding number of post processing tools.
These type of measurements are too expensive especially in terms of manpower but in terms of equipment too. People moving on field for the installation of a number of
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measurement tools such as analyzers on the Abis interface. Once the basic measurements are collected at local places (each Abis interface), the synthetic work has to be done on a Cell basis and often on a TRX basis manually. This is very manpower consuming. Synthetic results about one day campaign are only available some days later. In those days, these type of measurements should be replaced by system measurements available every day, in order to have less expensive measurements, less limited actions reducing the number of resources and time. Radio Measurement Statistics are performed by mobiles and BTSs on TCH channels, computed by the BTSs and made available at the OMC-R through the PM application. During the observation period, the BTS stores all the requested statistics results reported by the mobiles or measured by the BTS on TCH. At the end of the observation period, the BTS builds a report (binary files) and sends it to the OMC-R. This feature allows to: Detect interfered frequencies and interferes Assess quality of the cell coverage Assess radio link quality Evaluate the voice quality
Those outputs are beginning to be mandatory for RF engineers and used on the network optimization: we can optimize the neighbourhood and frequency plan detect the origin of a bad QoS in order to optimize consequently the network parameters
2.2 Outputs and Templates

The following RMS statistics are foreseen: Statistics related to the whole serving cell (e.g.: Timing advance statistics) Statistics related to the TRXs (For each statistic is given a list of possible applications), e.g: C/I distribution for each neighbour cell: Assessment of the traffic distribution on the cell border thanks to the number of samples reported for each neighbour cell, Detection of interfered frequencies as well as interfering cells, Computation of experience matrix (frequency gap between 2 Traffic Zones). C/I distribution for each reported frequency (MAFA): Measurements on any ARFCN (BCCH or TCH), Detection of an interferer not declared as neighbour cell,
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Search of clean frequencies. Distribution of quality samples in function of level (downlink and uplink): Assessment of the quality of the cell coverage, Checking the HO parameter settings. Distribution of average TA in function of level (downlink and uplink): Detection and quantification of cell unexpected propagation. Distribution of average MS power in function of level (downlink and uplink): Checking of uplink Power Control parameter settings Distribution of CFE (Consecutive Frame Erasure): Evaluation of the speech quality on uplink. Distribution of Radio Link S: Evaluation of the Radio link quality on uplink. Distribution of Path Balance: Detection of HW or antenna problems. Voice quality statistics, e.g: Number of interfered calls (UL or DL), Number of calls with bad coverage (Bad quality and bad level), Number of calls with good or bad Frame Erasure Rate (correlation FER and BER). Using these outputs, it makes easier the radio planning and optimization, because these statistics give directly the real cell characteristics by taking into account the MS distribution. With RMS the operator can keep providing QoS at the best level and will detect QoS problems without making drive-test or Abis measurements (very greedy in time & resource) and will avoid customer complaints. RMS jobs outputs can have different forms (matrices, vectors or simple indicators). They correspond to the statistics extracted from the MS (downlink) and BTS (uplink) measurement reports. They are computed according to the template parameters associated to each cell. The whole information related to RMS jobs outputs is described in [3]. The template contains the job parameters: these data give the way RMS counters should be incremented according to the measurements performed at mobiles and BTS side. For example, RMS provides a facility to obtain the distribution of the RxLev (in uplink or downlink). This vector represents the number of measurement reports for which the value of the RxLev is within different intervals (also called RxLev bands), for each TRX. The interval bounds are defined by thresholds, which are they defined in a template. Below, the list of these parameters: Radio level bands configuration (parameters MEAS_STAT_LEV_1 to _9):
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9 parameters from -48 dBm to -109 dBm (1 dB step) Radio C/I bands configuration (parameters MEAS_STAT_C_I_1 to _9): 9 parameters from -62 dB to 62 dB (1 dB step) Radio CFE bands configuration (parameters MEAS_STAT_BFI_1 to _9): 9 parameters from 1 to 24 (step 1) Radio Link Counter S configuration (parameters MEAS_STAT_RLC_1 to _9): 9 parameters from 1 to 127 SACCH multiframes (step 1) Radio Path balance bands configuration (parameters PATH_BALANCE_1 to _9): 9 parameters from -109 dB to 109 dB (1 dB step) Parameter EN_BALANCED_CI to take care of Power Control for C/I computation (Boolean)
Voice Quality statistics are based on non-sliding averages of RxQual, RxLev measurements on both paths and FER measurements on uplink. Voice Quality configuration: VQ_AVERAGE parameter from 0 to 128 SACCH multiframes VQ_RXLEV from -47 dBm to -110 dBm (1 dB step) VQ_RXQUAL from 0.0 to 7.0 (step 0.1) VQ_RXQUAL_VS_RXFER from 0.0 to 7.0 (step 0.1) VQ_GOOD_RXFER from 0.0% to 20.0% (step 0.1%) VQ_BAD_RXFER from 0.0% to 20.0% (step 0.1%) VQ_INTF_THRESHOLD from 0% to 100% (step 1%) VQ_FER_THRESHOLD from 0% to 100% (step 1%)
As a total, 54 parameters should be tuned, so as to configure the RMS counters computation. As the tuning of these parameters for each cell of a network would be a nightmare, they have been organized according to templates: there are 16 possible templates and each parameter can have a different value on each template. Depending on the cell characteristics, the operator could apply different thresholds. For example, it is interesting to associate to a rural cell in coverage limit, intervals that would provide an accurate computation of the number of measurements in low values of the RxLev, whereas, for a micro cell, it would make more sense to look accurately at higher levels distribution. Then, at cell level, the parameters are applied according to the template used in the cell: This means that the only parameter that appears at cell level for RMS is RMS_TEMPLATE_INDEX, the index of the template to be used (2 other parameters appear at cell level for RMS, they will be presented later).
2.3 RMS jobs activation process

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Basically, RMS job can be defined through the two Measurement Campaigns that can be launched from the OMC-R: The Permanent Measurement Campaign - In this case, there are two important parameters to tune for RMS job: The RMS start time and the RMS stop time. The scope of the RMS job is automatically all the cells of the OMC-R and the RMS job is launched every day between the same hours (RMS start time and RMS stop time) The On-Demand Measurement Campaign - In case of On-Demand Measurement Campaigns, there are more parameters to consider for RMS job: The BSS identity: indeed, on-demand RMS job can be applied only on one BSS The accumulation period: for RMS, it must be always set to 15 mn The start time and the stop time of the Job The object list: the list of cells within the selected BSC where RMS job should be launched (optional: if it is empty, the whole BSS is taken into account) Moreover, the on-demand RMS job is launched only once: it must be restarted after the RMS stop time, so as to get new RMS data. The definition of RMS job at the OMC-R is described in [4].
3 Tools 3.1 RMS with OMC-R

The OMC-R operator defines the RMS job parameters (i.e. the 54 parameters) from the OMC-R MMI. There is one job per day and per BSC and all the BSC of the OMC-R can have a job activated at the same time in order to compute full network statistics. The OMC-R operator has all the facility to configure: The template definitions (different thresholds). Up to 16 different templates can be used The preferred template to be used for each cell The frequencies to monitor through MAFA measurements for each cell
The output of the job is a binary file per BSC. Its structure is described in paragraph 7.2 described in [4].
3.2 RMS with OMC-R, NPA and RNO

If RNO is used in the operators GSM network, it will deal directly with templates definitions, MAFA frequencies definitions, and all the RMS outputs will benefit to RNO. RNO provides powerful reports based on RMS results (See [2] for RNO report samples), facility to correlate RMS results and other QoS indicators or to correlate them with changes on the network (new frequency or neighbourhood plan, parameters tuning, etc...).
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RNO can generate an experience matrix from RMS measurements for a frequency planning tool, and can recommend frequency changes thanks to MAFA results availability. The experience matrix is mandatory for frequency plan computation, since it is measured in the real network and not issued from theoretical propagation algorithms that are not always valid, especially in dense urban areas. Interference detection is empowered in RNO diagnosis module thanks to RMS C/I matrixes. RNO is able to export RMS reports in Microsoft Excel for further post-processing.
Table 1 shows the RNO RMS indicators thresholds, in order to be well interpreted:
Indicator
Sensitivity
High sensitivity
Red threshold 0.4 0.5 0.6 -85 -90 -95 0.7 0.8 0.9 -90 -95 -100 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.08 0.1 0.12
Orange threshold 0.3 0.4 0.5 -80 -85 -90 0.4 0.5 0.6 -85 -90 -95 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.06 0.08 0.1
Yellow threshold 0.2 0.3 0.4 -75 -80 -85 0.2 0.3 0.4 -80 -85 -90 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.04 0.06 0.08
RMS_UL_ConsecutiveFrameErasure_avg
Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity
RMS_DL_RxLevel_avg
Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity
High sensitivity RMS_DL_RxQuality_avg Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity RMS_UL_RxLevel_avg Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity RMS_UL_RxQuality_avg Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity RMS_Call_abnormal_bad_FER_rate Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity RMS_Call_noisy_DL_bad_coverage_rate Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity RMS_Call_noisy_DL_interference_rate Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity
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Indicator
Sensitivity High sensitivity
Red threshold 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.08 0.1 0.12
Orange threshold 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.06 0.08 0.1
Yellow threshold 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.04 0.06 0.08
RMS_Call_noisy_DL_rate
RMS_Call_noisy_UL_bad_coverage_rate
RMS_Call_noisy_UL_interference_rate
RMS_Call_noisy_UL_rate
RMS_Call_noisy_bad_FER_rate
Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity
Table 1: RNO RMS indicators thresholds Path balance thresholds cannot be implemented in RNO because it corresponds to an interval to respect and not a threshold. However, should be considerer like Figure 1.
-10
-5 Average value of Path Balance [dB]
10
Figure 1: Path balance intervals The way to know how the RMS can be used through the NPA/RNO tool chain and especially how the RMS results can be configured through this tool is described in [2].
3.3 RMS with OMC-R and RMSAT
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RMSAT is a QoS Monitoring tool for RMS, to replace NPA/RNO when not available (same scope as ANAQoS, but applied to the RMS). It is and internal Alcatel tool which must never be given to a costumer! RMSAT allows a Radio network analysis by providing an NPA/RNO-independent tool (RMS post - processing is included in RNO but some Alcatel BSS customers do not have an RNO tool), giving RMS indicators reports. Current version (version 2.3) has the next features implemented: 'Retrieve', remote retrieving PMRES 31 binary files from OMC-R Conversion, binary/ text conversion module Import, partial indicator computation and import the results into a database archive Export module: TRX, CELL and BSC, output matrix and graphs indicators reports useful to monitor and detect eventual radio problems
RMSAT is developed in Romania (by Daniela Grigorescu) with the support of PCS France.
3.4 RMS with OMC-R and RADAR

RADAR is a frequency planning tool based on the type 180 and RMS C/I statistics applied to dummy neighbour cells. Features implemented: Logging in and Session Selection: Each user has an associated directory in the Radar server computer, and each created session makes its own directory in the user directory. A user can theoretically work on one session per browser, and on unlimited number of browsers. A session can be thought of as a project. Cell List Selection: The Collector function allows a cell list to be created for use in the frequency planning session Neighbourhood Cleanup: is not needed for frequency planning, however optimization of the neighbourhood relationships can result in a slightly improved frequency allocation due to fewer constraints. This option will propose to delete unused adjacencies depending on the input settings. Dummy Neighbour Management (DNA): Dummy neighbours are needed in order to scan BCCH frequencies that are not covered by the existing real neighbours. Dummy neighbour management should be done 1 week before running a frequency plan, and during that period the network should be frozen. After a frequency plan the dummy neighbours should be re-planned. DNA automatically deletes unused dummy neighbours with each run. Traffic Trend and number of frequencies estimation using the Trend tool is compulsory before running a frequency plan. The Trend tool makes recommendations as to the number of frequencies to plan for, and bases this on the number of TRXs seen needed to meet the network needs now, or in the near future. Once Trend is run, the cell list gets augmented with number of frequencies to plan for.
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Frequency Planning: There are many frequency planning settings, but almost all can be left to their default values. To do a frequency plan with automatic allocation the Use Session Cell List button must be checked. The correct frequency bands have to be specified in the BCCH Range and TCH Range fields. At the moment it is necessary to re-plan first the BCCH, and then the TCH band. BSIC planning is done at the same time as frequency allocation. PRC Generation: The PRC Creator allows selection of frequency plan from which to generate the PRC. At the moment it will only work with a plan that combines both BCCH and TCH. There is an option to enforce BBH hopping everywhere by ticking the appropriate tick-box. Once the plan is chosen and the Process Plan button is clicked on, the PRC generator will load into memory the latest set of ACIE files (typically FTPd from the OMC early in the morning) and reprocess them to create a new PRC. This PRC will also contain references to all the cells that have neighbour relationship with the cells in the frequency plan. This PRC can than be uploaded via FTP to the OMCs that are affected by the frequency plan.
RADAR is developed in Shout-Africa by Wayne McDermid team. In order to have an overview of the RADAR tool functionality in terms of frequency planning, please see [5].
3.5 RMS with OMC-R and A9155V6 FP

A9155V6 FP module is being tested with RMS data. A9155 FP team is comparing the predictions of A9155V6 with real C/I values from the field because A9155V6 is today computing pessimistic C/I values in case of hopping. For all cells, RMS creates a C/I report for each neighbour and this measured interference is used by A9155 for frequency planning.
RMS Measurement Neighbour C/I
A9155 Generate RMS Creates IM
New FP based on RMS
RMS Measurements
OMC-R
A9155
A9155
Figure 2: A9155 FP algorithm As the RMS measurements are done only for declared neighbours in OMC-R, artificially neighbours should be created as in RADAR (3.4) and called Dummy Neighbours. This allow to detect interferer BCCH frequencies, which are not real neighbours and a RMS interference matrix that reflects the complete network interference. The first off for A9155 FP with RMS was planned to the end of February, in Russia. A9155V6 FP was tested in China during the field trial presented on section 5.4.
Parameters
The contact point for this tool is Cristian Ioan Inta.
4 Usage of RMS for optimization purposes 4.1 General QoS analysis with RMS in RNO
This chapter summarizes one example of analysis to be performed on a network using RMS statistics seen from the RNO tool. It is focused how RMS can be used to find QoS problems that are difficult to detect by traditional QoS. This analysis is just an example; it is clear that other ways exist, so as to perform network analysis and optimization from RMS on RNO tool. This analysis has been done in B7 MR5. For detailed QoS analysis performed in live networks, please refer to [6], [7], [8] and [9].
4.1.1 RMS activation RMS counters (type 31) should be activated for the OMC, as a permanent measurement campaign (refer to 2.3), during a larger period that will not cause any RMS C/I statistics constraint (please refer to Chapter Error! Reference source not found. problems) but will include the busy hours. Table 2 shows an example of indicators to check if the RMS measurement is enough. Cell Cell_A Cell_B Cell_C RMS_meas_results_total 920785 156743 13776 RMS_seized_TCH_total 12930 1306 16
Table 2: Example to define the RMS start/stop time during RMS activation In above case, it is interesting to see that Cell_C do not show enough TCH seizures that can lead to unreliability of the RMS results. Template 1 (with default values) should be used at the first analysis.
4.1.2 Global analysis of the RMS results If the network in analysis is a dual band network, the main RMS unit indicators and the main QoS indicators should be extracted from RNO tool, for whole working zone and two frequency bands (this lead only to compare the 2 bands). Table 3 shows the main RMS indicators, concerning radio link quality and voice quality (just an example from an urban working zone where the classical band is 1800 band):
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Main RMS unit indicators RMS_meas_results_total (RMMSALN) ( nb ) RMS_seized_TCH_total (RMMSTSN) ( nb ) RMS_UL_ConsecutiveFram eErasure_RxLevel_total (RMFETN) ( nb ) RMS_UL_ConsecutiveFram eErasure_avg (RMFEAN) ( nb ) RMS_PathBalance_avg (RMPBAN) ( dB ) RMS_PathBalance_total (RMPBTN) ( nb ) RMS_DL_Power_avg (RMQLDPW AN) ( dBm ) RMS_UL_Power_avg (RMQLUPW AN) ( dBm ) RMS_RadioLinkCounter_avg (RMRLAN) ( nb ) RMS_RadioLinkCounter_total (RMRLTN) ( nb ) RMS_DL_RxLevel_avg (RMQLDLVAN) ( dBm ) RMS_DL_RxQuality_RxLevel_total (RMQLDSATN) ( nb ) RMS_DL_RxQuality_avg (RMQLDQUAN) ( nb ) RMS_UL_RxLevel_avg (RMQLULVAN) ( dBm ) RMS_UL_RxQuality_RxLevel_total (RMQLUSATN) ( nb ) RMS_UL_RxQuality_avg (RMQLUQUAN) ( nb ) RMS_TimingAdvance_avg (RMQLUTAAN) ( nb ) RMS_TimingAdvance_greater_threshold (RMTAGTN) ( nb ) RMS_TimingAdvance_greater_threshold_rate (RMTAGTR) ( % ) RMS_TimingAdvance_max (RMTAMXN) ( nb ) RMS_TimingAdvance_threshold (RMAXTAN) ( nb ) RMS_call_abnorm al_bad_FER (RMVQFEAN) ( nb ) RMS_call_abnorm al_bad_FER_rate (RMVQFEAR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_DL (RMVQDNON) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_DL_bad_coverage (RMVQDLVN) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_DL_bad_coverage_rate (RMVQDLVR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_DL_interference (RMVQDIFN) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_DL_interference_rate (RMVQDIFR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_DL_rate (RMVQDNOR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_DL_undefined (RMVQDUKN) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_DL_undefined_rate (RMVQDUKR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_UL (RMVQUNON) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_UL_bad_coverage (RMVQULVN) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_UL_bad_coverage_rate (RMVQULVR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_UL_interference (RMVQUIFN) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_UL_interference_rate (RMVQUIFR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_UL_rate (RMVQUNOR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_UL_undefined (RMVQUUKN) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_UL_undefined_rate (RMVQUUKR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_bad_FER (RMVQFEBN) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_bad_FER_rate (RMVQFEBR) ( % ) RMS_call_noisy_good_FER (RMVQFEGN) ( nb ) RMS_call_noisy_good_FER_rate (RMVQFEGR) ( % ) W ORKING ZONE (49 Cells) 29016080 471944 28392992 0.16 -9.3 28577949 40.9 31.9 75 28940120 -73.72 28729949 0.3 -88.78 29021816 0.29 47.66 0 0 522 8 137166 29.06 17011 4564 0.97 12387 2.62 3.6 60 0.01 19857 13302 2.82 6426 1.36 4.21 129 0.03 14882 3.15 5683 1.2 1800 (24 Cells) 23172767 337140 22770957 0.14 -11.9 (corrected : 1.1) 22898963 40 35.2 (corrected : 22.2) 75 23144994 -72.23 23037294 0.3 -88.17 23217397 0.23 22.32 0 0 239 8 82752 24.55 13519 3182 0.94 10315 3.06 4.01 22 0.01 10902 8117 2.41 2728 0.81 3.23 57 0.02 8582 2.55 2583 0.77 900 (25 Cells) 5843313 134804 5622035 0.24 1 5678986 41.9 29.2 75 5795126 -79.73 5692655 0.33 -91.21 5804419 0.54 26.12 0 0 283 8 54414 40.37 3492 1382 1.03 2072 1.54 2.59 38 0.03 8955 5185 3.85 3698 2.74 6.64 72 0.05 6300 4.67 3100 2.3
Table 3: Main RMS unit indicators on the working zone and the two frequency bands Note: In this table, the figures in gray are not valid and the figures in red are the most important ones. The below remarks can be made from the figures in Table 3: 1800 cells take almost three times more traffic (in terms of TCH seizures and measurements) than the 900 cells: more capacity in 1800, and preferred band HO go from 900 to 1800. The average received level on downlink and uplink path on 900 cells is lower than on 1800 cells: around 7.5 dB lower in downlink and 3 dB lower in uplink. This lower received level in 900 cells do not bring quality problems on the downlink path: on 1800 and 900 cells, average DL RxQual is fair (considering a bad average RxQual starting at 0.5) and noisy call rate on downlink path is rather low: 4.01 % on 1800 cells, 2.59 % on 900 cells (indicating that quality problems on downlink path are perhaps more in 1800 cells, perhaps due to a tighter frequency planning (ref. also to distribution causes of noisy calls on DL path)). On the contrary, on the uplink path, lower received level in 900 cells seem quite problematic:
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The average UL RxQual is higher than 0.5 in 900 cells, twice the value of average UL RxQual in 1800 cells. The average Consecutive Frame Erasure is 0.24 in 900 cells, 0.14 in 1800cells The noisy call rate on uplink path is 6.64% in 900 cells, more than twice the value in 1800 cells and the main cause of this UL noisy calls in 900 cells is bad coverage. 70% of these UL noisy calls in 900 cells suffer from bad Frame Erasure Rate (4.67% compared to 6.64%), indicating probable voice quality problems (also shown by the high UL Consecutive Frame Erasure). Abnormal bad Frame Erasure Rate is more than 40% in 900 cells, whereas it is around 25% in 1800 cells (however, these high values are quite suspicious, perhaps due to a wrong tuning of the voice quality counters, i.e., the threshold on FER should be put higher). The good values of average path balance (close to 0 dB) in 900 cells and 1800 cells seem to show that there is neither hardware nor installation problem at BTS sites that could explain such UL quality problems (however, to be sure on that, a deeper analysis on a per TRX basis on each cell should be performed). The power control settings does not seem to be suspicious as it can be seen that average MS and BTS power in 900 cells are rather high, proving that the powers must be often at maximum level, so as to compensate coverage problems (BTS Power Control is also often always ? - disabled).
Note: Average path balance and average MS power must be corrected (remove 13 dB to MS power, add 13 dB to path balance) in 1800 cells due to a wrong MS power level decoding in the BTS for this band. The average Radio Link Counter could also be applied to characterize uplink radio link quality in 900 cells. However, the corresponding thresholds in the RMS templates are wrongly tuned, giving always the same value for this average. One explanation for these UL quality problems in 900 band could be that mobiles in the 900 bands are the ones that could not be captured by 1800 cells. So these mobiles have naturally low received levels (especially when 900 and 1800 cells are co-located) and are more likely to suffer from interference (in case of coverage reappearance). Timing advance indicators could also show that mobiles in 900 cells are further from the sites, compared to mobiles in 1800 cells. However, the maximum and average timing advance are wrongly consolidated on a per cell zone basis (this problem has been reported to TD but no FR has been written on it). The timing advance greater threshold rate could be applied with a lower threshold (2 for example) in order to get this information. More investigations can be performed while selecting the worst cell in 900 band and analyzing deeper RMS data for this cell. When looking at the main QoS indicators on a per BSC and a per band basis (ref. to Table 4), it can be clearly seen that the UL quality problems in 900 cells detected
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through RMS has a major impact on QoS figures in this band (however, others reasons for this bad QoS could also be found, as outgoing handover problems due to high congestion rate in 900 cells).
Main QoS indicators SDCCH_drop_BSS_rate (SDCDBR) ( % ) SDCCH_drop_HO_rate (SDCDHR) ( % ) SDCCH_drop_radio_rate (SDCDRR) ( % ) SDCCH_drop_rate (SDCDR) ( % ) call_cong_rate (QSCGR) ( % ) call_drop_BSS_rate (QSCDBR) ( % ) call_drop_HO_rate (QSCDHR) ( % ) call_drop_radio_rate (QSCDRR) ( % ) call_drop_rate (QSCDR) ( % ) call_setup_success_rate (QSCSSR) ( % ) call_success_rate (QSCCR) ( % ) W ORKING ZONE (49 Cells) 0 0.06 0.73 0.79 2.74 0.04 0.22 0.54 0.8 98.49 97.7 1800 (24 Cells) 0 0.04 0.38 0.42 2.1 0.03 0.14 0.3 0.48 99.07 98.6 900 (25 Cells) 0 0.09 1.52 1.61 4.28 0.07 0.53 1.44 2.03 96.86 94.89
Table 4: Main QoS figures applied on the BSC and the two frequency bands The most important values are in red. Next step (or the first step for a mono-band network) is a global analysis on the network/working zone should be performed with the Top Worst RNO reports in order to detect the main problems in terms of radio link quality and voice quality: Alc_warning_top_worst_rms_radio_link Alc_warning_top_worst_rms_ul_voice_quality Alc_warning_top_worst_rms_dl_voice_quality Average RxLevel (UL/DL) Average RxQuality (UL/DL) Average Power (UL/DL) Average PathBalance Average Uplink RadioLinkCounter Average Timing Advance Average Uplink Consecutive Frame Erasure
From Alc_warning_top_worst_rms_radio_link, the worst cells can be filtered by:
From Alc_warning_top_worst_rms_ul/dl_voice_quality, the worst cells can be detected by: Split of uplink/downlink noisy calls causes Bad Coverage Interference Undefined On important investigation, are the UL quality problems; the worst cell is to be found in the UL voice quality report (and also in some specific UL measurements as Consecutive Frame Erasure and Radio Link Counter, that can be found in the radio link report).
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Lets take the next example:

CI UL noisy call rate due 11075 12.8% 12175 11.7% 13463 10.3% to bad coverage due 10.55% 4.72% 7.93% to interference with bad F E R Average CF E average R LC <2% 10.72% 0.32 74.8 6.83% 7.39% 0.3 74.5 <2% 8.89% <0.3 75
Table 5: Worst cells according to UL voice quality Note: It is also important that these figures are based on sufficient calls, so as to give reliable statistics. In the case of the three cells above, each of them had more than 5000 calls during the RMS job. It is seen as quite sufficient to get reliable results. From Table 5, it can already been seen that cell 11075 and 13643 suffers from serious coverage problems (perhaps due to some coverage holes) whereas cell 12175 seems to suffer more from interference (for example due to coverage re-appearance). However, others cells could be found, for example if main criteria was Consecutive Frame Erasure. For example, cell CI 13647 shows the highest average CFE (0.42) but calls do not suffer from bad RxQuality: they suffer only from bad frame Erasure Rate. Thats why, for this cell, UL noisy call rate is low (below 5 %) but calls suffering from abnormal bad FER (bad FER while RxQual is fair) are a lot: more than half of the calls (exactly 54 %) suffer from bad FER. It is not quite clear in which radio conditions such results can be found. From the QoS point of view (even if its not presented here), it seems that it is the cell 11075 that is the worst cell: In terms of call drop rate, cells 11075 and 12175 are respectively ranked as the second and the fourth worst cell in the BSC (with call drop rate equal to respectively 3.48% and 2.95%, with a large part due to radio problems) In terms of call setup success rate, cells 11075 and 12175 are respectively ranked as the second and the eighth worst cell in the BSC (with a call setup success rate equal to respectively 95.24% and 96.11%). In terms of incoming HO unsuccess rate, cell 11075 is ranked as the seventh worst cell (with the highest incoming handover failure rate, equal to 7.72%). In terms of outgoing HO unsuccess rate, these cells are not seen in the 10 worst cells. This can be seen as normal as radio problems in one cell do not really impact its outgoing HO success rate.
So, it seems more valuable to investigate RMS on the cell 11075, so as to try to improve not only the radio link quality in this cell but also the quality of service provided to subscribers (another important criteria to take into account would also be the amount of traffic in this cell compared to the total traffic in the BSC, but this was not done in this example).
4.1.3 Detailed analysis of the worst cell
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The worst cell detected on the previous example (cell 11075) is a 900 cell with only one TRX. From the UL RxLevel distribution (See Figure 1), it can be seen that a lot of measurements show low received level on uplink path in this cell: almost 50% of the measurements show an uplink received level lower than 90 dBm.
Uplink RxLevel distribution
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm )
% RxLev distrib
Figure 3: UL RxLevel distribution According to the Average UL RxQuality according to UL RxLevel graph (See Figure 2), these low UL received levels correspond to high RxQual: 0.8 between 91 dBm and 96 dBm, 2.7 between 97 dBm and 103 dBm, 5.2 between 104 dBm and 110 dBm.
Uplink RxQuality per RxLevel
6 5 4 3 60000 2 1 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 40000 20000 0 140000 120000 100000 80000
RxQuality Avg Nb Lev Samples
Figure 4: Average UL RxQuality according to UL RxLevel graph This can be seen also on the average Consecutive Frame Erasure according to UL RxLevel (See Figure 3): the average CFE is higher than 1 between 96 dBm and 103 dBm and higher than 2 between 104 dBm and 110 dBm and this concerns 18% of the measurements.
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Uplink CFE per RxLevel

140000 120000 100000 80000 3 60000 40000 20000 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 2 1 0 6 5 4
Nb Lev Samples CFE Avg RxQuality Avg
Figure 5: Average Consecutive Frame Erasure according to UL RxLevel So, these low UL received levels are not acceptable, from the radio and voice quality point of view. It can be deduced that these low UL received levels are not to be expected (like in an open area, with sensitivity limited environment) but they are due to coverage hole (bad network design) and/or interference (bad frequency planning). The Average Timing Advance according to UL RxLevel graph (See Figure 4) indicates that these low received levels do not correspond to high Timing Advance: a little more than 1 unit, that is 550 meters, for UL received level below 90 dBm.
Uplink Timing Advance per RxLevel
1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 140000 120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0
TA Avg Nb Lev Samples
Figure 6: Average Timing Advance according to UL RxLevel graph This means that the coverage and/or interference problem should not be at cell border (cell environment is not dense and intersite distance must be more than 1 kilometer) but they are more likely to be in the service area of the cell. This is confirmed by the Average Timing Advance according to UL RxQuality graph (Figure 5), where it can be seen that the highest Timing Advance is obtained at RxQual = 4, indicating that the quality should be rather fair at cell border.
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Uplink Timing Advance per RxQuality

1.4 1.2 1 0.8 150000 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RxQuality ( nb ) 100000 50000 0 300000 250000 200000
TA Avg Nb Samples
Figure 7: Average Timing Advance according to UL RxQuality graph On the contrary, RxQual higher than 4 correspond to lower average Timing advance, indicating that coverage and/or interference problems are not at cell border . At this level, it can be interesting to look at the power control behavior, to check if it does not reduce too much MS power, leading to this quality problems at low received levels on the uplink path. For this to be possible, it is interesting to look at the Average MS power according to UL RxLevel graph and the Average MS power according to UL RxQuality graph (See Figures 6 and 7).
Uplink Power per RxLevel
35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 140000 120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0
MS Power Avg Nb Lev Samples
Figure 8: Average MS power according to UL RxLevel graph
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Uplink Power per RxQuality

33 32.5 32 31.5 31 30.5 30 29.5 29 28.5 28 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RxQuality ( nb ) 0 100000 50000 150000 250000 200000 300000
MS Power Avg Nb Qual
Figure 9: Average MS power according to UL RxQuality graph These graphs show that the MS power is not at maximum level at the lowest received level (32 dBm) and at highest RxQual (32.4 dBm and 32.2 dBm at respectively RXQUAL =5 and 6). The case of RxQual = 7 is particular for the MS power because it is often linked to the Minimum Coupling loss. So, it could be interesting to modify power control settings, so that it ensures maximum MS power in the bad radio conditions. However, the power control settings is already very conservative: Upper and lower thresholds are high (upper at 80 dBm and lower at 90 dBm). POW_INC_FACTOR and POW_RED_FACTOR (Power increase and reduction factor) have default tuning (0.8 for the increase, 0.5 for the reduction). POW_INC_STEP_SIZE and POW_RED_STEP_SIZE (Power increase and reduction step size in case of only quality problems) are equal respectively to 6 dB and 2 dB. One could imagine to make the power control more reactive while putting POW_INC_FACTOR to 1.0, so that the MS power is quicker increase when quality and level problems occur. However, power control fine tuning does not seem to be the sufficient solution for this problem. The good solution would be to identify the coverage hole where UL interference occur (one could for example, imagine a high building where indoor is not well covered and interfered by many cells at high floors). So as to identify the possible interferers on cell 11075, it can be quite interesting to study the C/I overlap according to neighbour cells (See Figure 10).
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CI overlap per Neighbour cells

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
12 17 3 11 26 7 (1 2, 29 ) (1 3, 31 ) 11 07 3 (1 3, 54 8) 11 56 6 (8 ,5 5) 11 26 6 40 15 6 (3 9, 25 ) 11 26 2 11 22 1 40 15 2 (1 4, 41 ) (1 0, 59 1) (9 ,6 8) (1 1, 25 ) (1 4, 52 2) (1 5, 55 0) 11 26 1
300000 250000 200000 150000 100000 50000 0
C/I overlap Nb C/I Samples
Neighbour cells ( nb )
Figure 10: C/I overlap per neighbour cells The C/I overlap correspond to the average C/I computed from C/I distribution. It is called overlap because more than interference, it shows the overlap between cells, that may or cannot interfere (for example, co-located 900 and 1800 cells will have a very low C/I but it does not mean they interfere each other, it only means that they have a strong overlap between them). From Figure 10, it is possible to see that several 900 cells have large overlap with 900 cell 11075 (leading to possible interference). However, these cells do not show very low C/I (it is higher than 12 dB) but this could be due to the C/I thresholds in the RMS template: indeed this one does not really allow precise value at low C/I. Moreover, as these cells will low C/I are not identified as neighbour cells by RNO (they are not expressed in CI but in (BSIC, BCC)), a search should be performed in the vicinity of the cell 11075, so as to identify these possible interferers.
4.1.4 RMS template modification Based on the first analysis of RMS results, it would be possible to change the RMS applied to all the cells where RMS was activated in order to have a better distribution between the samples. Lets take the following example (this change is very specific according to the network in analysis): C/I : changed from to CFE : changed from to Path Balance : changed from To -63, -9, 1, 7, 11, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23, 63 -63, -6, 4, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 33, 63 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 25 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 25 -110, -20, -19, -16, -11, 0, 11, 16, 19, 20, 110 -110, -15, -11, -7, -4, 0, 4, 7, 11, 15, 110
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Radio Link Counter : changed from To
0, 1, 4, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 128 0, 1, 9, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 128
After these modifications, the same analysis as before should be performed. Example of some improvements after template modification: C/I: The samples are better distributed between the bands but still high number of samples in highest band for some cells CFE: The samples in the high bands are better evaluated but the precision on the low values of CFE is reduced. This leads to higher CFE average Path Balance: Intervals smaller around 0 make average more precise and more variable Radio Link counter: No modification in the results
There are 16 possible templates and each parameter can have a different value on each template. Depending on the cell characteristics, the operator could apply different thresholds. For example, it is interesting to associate to a rural cell in coverage limit, intervals that would provide an accurate computation of the number of measurements in low values of the RxLev, whereas, for a micro cell, it would make more sense to look accurately at higher levels distribution.
4.2 General QoS analysis with RMS in RNO

Coverage problems are often detected through RxLevel and RxQuality measurements. Indeed, coverage problems are linked to many calls with low RxLevel and bad RxQuality measurements (the case of good low RxLevel and bad RxQuality is identified as being interference problems). In this section, it will be shown how coverage problems in a network can be detected through the RNO reports RMS_DL_Voice_Quality, RMS_UL_Voice_Quality and RMS_Radio_Link_Quality. Note : These reports can be found in RNO tool either through mono evolution reports (one object during several days), multi comparison reports (several objects during one day), warning top best, top worst or threshold reports (several objects filtered and sorted according to the value of one indicator). The analysis of a coverage problem on one particular cell can be performed based on the correlation of RxLevel, RxQuality and Timing Advance measurements. In this section, it will be shown how coverage problems in one particular cell can be analyzed through the RNO reports Alc_mono_UL_RxQuality_RxLevel, Alc_mono_DL_RxQuality_RxLevel, Alc_mono_Timing_Advance and Alc_mono_radio_link _detailed.
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0,2 0
-100 -90 -80 -70 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0
0,8 0,6 0,4
1,2 1
Louis_Leipoldt_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 60613)

Welgedacht_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 24272)
In the graphs below the cells are sorted according to the lowest Rxlevel, worst RxQuality and highest Timing advance.
Radio link reports (RMS_Radio_Link_Quality reports) allow the viewing of for example the worst cells in one area according to the basic measurement RxLevel, RxQuality and Timing Advance.

De_Tijger_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 65091)
Parow_North_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 29833)
N1_City_Mall_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 23551)

Tygerberg_Hospital_ 3 (LAC = 203, CI = 60593)
N1_City_Mall_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 23553)

Welgedacht_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 24271) Parow_North_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 29832)
4.2.1.1 Detection through Radio link reports
4.2.1 Detection of Coverage problems through RMS in RNO

Tygerberg_Hospital_ 2 (LAC = 203, CI = 60592)
Parow_West_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 26762)
Figure 11: Average RxLevel

N1_City_Mall_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 23551)
Figure 12: Average RxQuality

De_Tijger_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 65092)
Average RxLevel
Average RxQuality
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Karl_Bremmer_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 60602) Louis_Leipoldt_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 60612) Parow_North_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 29833)
Welgemoed (LAC = 203, CI = 24040)
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UL RxQual avg DL RxQual avg
Parow_West_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 26761)
Parameters
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DL RxLevel avg UL RxLevel avg
Parameters
Average Timing Advance

3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0
Welgedacht_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 24272) Welgedacht_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 24271) De_Tijger_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 65093) De_Tijger_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 65092) Parow_North_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 29833) Parow_North_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 29831) Parow_North_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 29832) N1_City_Mall_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 23551) De_Tijger_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 65091) Parow_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 23511)
TA avg
Figure 13: Average Timing Advance In these graphs, it can be seen that Welgedacht_2 has the lowest average UL received level (-87.12 dBm) and the highest average Timing advance (3.32). But it does no show bad RxQual, neither in UL path, nor in DL path. So, even if this cell has a wide coverage, there is no reason why coverage should be improved. On the contrary, Parrow_North_3 shows a low average UL and DL received level (-86.27 dBm in UL, -79.93 in DL), a high average Timing advance (2.64) and a rather bad average UL and DL Quality (0.71 in UL, 0.67 in DL). On this cell, we can suspect a significant coverage problem.
4.2.1.2 Detection through Voice Quality reports Voice Quality reports (RMS_DL_Voice_Quality and RMS_UL_Voice_Quality reports) allow the viewing of for example the worst cells in one area according to some call statistics that correlate RxLevel, RxQuality and FER (only on the UL path) measurements. In the graphs below the cells are sorted according to the highest rate of noisy calls (in UL and DL path) and the highest rate of UL noisy calls with bad FER.
Split of uplink noisy calls causes
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
% Undefined % Bad Coverage % Interference % noisy call
De_Tijger_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 65093)
De_Tijger_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 65092)
Parow_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 23513)
Parow_West_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 26762)
Parow_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 23512)
Figure 14: Split of Uplink noisy calls causes
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900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0
1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

Tygerberg_Hospit al_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 60592) N1_City_Mall_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 23551) N1_City_Mall_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 23552)
Tygerberg_Hospital _2 (LAC = 203, CI = 60592) N1_City_Mall_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 23551)
De_Tijger_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 65093)

De_Tijger_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 65092) Parow_North_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 29833)

De_Tijger_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 65092)
Figure 15: Uplink noisy calls with bad FER
Figure 16: Split of downlink noisy calls causes
Figure 17: Downlink noisy calls with bad coverage

De_Tijger_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 65092)
N1_City_Mall_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 23553)
In these graphs, it can be seen that the cell Parrow_North_3 has one the highest UL noisy call rate (with a value of 9.6 %, this means that 9.6 % of the calls in this cell suffer from bad UL radio link quality). This high UL noisy call rate is due in majority (88% of the cases) to bad coverage (that is low UL RxLevel and bad UL RxQuality).
Parow_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 23513)
These UL noisy calls are also suffering from bad FER : 7.09 % of the calls (out of the 9.6% of noisy calls) show 30% of call samples with a FER above 3%.

Parow_North_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 29832) Loevenstein (LAC = 203, CI = 26750) N1_City_Mall_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 23553) Louis_Leipoldt_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 60612) Welgedacht_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 24272)
Louis_Leipoldt_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 60612) Parow_North_1 (LAC = 203, CI = 29831)
Uplink noisy calls with bad FER
Split of downlink noisy calls causes
Downlink noisy calls with bad coverage
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5 4,5 4 3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0
Parow_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 23512)
Loevenstein (LAC = 203, CI = 26750)
Parow_West_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 26762)
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% Bad coverage Bad coverage
Karl_Bremmer_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 60602)
N1_City_Mall_2 (LAC = 203, CI = 23552)

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Parow_West_3 (LAC = 203, CI = 26763)
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8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Bad FER % Bad FER
% noisy
Undefine
Bad coverage Interfere
Parameters
On the downlink path, it can be seen that no cells present a majority of noisy calls due to bad coverage: for all the cells with highest DL noisy call rate, DL noisy calls come mainly from interference problems. However, if the cells are sorted according to the highest DL noisy call rate due to bad coverage, it can be seen that Parrow_North_3 is in good position : 3.81% of the calls in this cell are noisy calls due to bad coverage on the downlink path. The fact that the bad coverage issue can be detected both on the UL and DL path makes clear that the problem should come from a coverage hole in the service area or at the edge of the cell. Otherwise (if the detection can be done only in UL or DL path), the bad coverage issue could also be linked due to path balance problems. Such idea will be developed in the section hereafter.
4.2.2 Analysis of coverage problems through RMS in RNO The coverage problems can be characterized according to the way it has been detected: If the coverage problem has been detected only on one path, especially the UL one, a path balance problem can be suspected If the coverage problem has been detected both in the UL and DL path and for all the TRXs of the cells, the problem can be seen as a coverage hole
4.2.2.1 Analysis of Path balance problems When Path balance problems are suspected during the detection phase, such problems can be confirmed through the RNO report RMS_Radio_Link_Quality. The graph below, from this report, shows an example of the representation of the average path balance applied on all the cells of one BSC.
Average PathBalance
20 15 10 5 0
PathBalance avg
Metz_C2r_DCS_1
Metz_Centre_DCS_1
Metz_CSP_1 (LAC =
Metz_Csp_Dcs_1
Metz_Centre_1 (LAC =
Metz_Gare_1 (LAC =
Metz_C2r_1 (LAC =
Metz_Cci_1 (LAC =
Metz_Queuleu_1 (LAC
Remilly_1 (LAC =
Semecourt_3 (LAC =
Magny_1 (LAC = 7301,
Marly_1 (LAC = 7301,
Peltre_1 (LAC = 7301,
St_Julien_3 (LAC =
Sanry_Sur_Nied_2
Metz_Borny_Actipole_
Metz_Vallieres_1 (LAC
Metz_Vantoux_1 (LAC
St_Julien_dcs_3 (LAC
Retonfey_2 (LAC =
Sablon_2 (LAC =
Vigny_3 (LAC = 7301,
-5
Figure 18: Average Path Balance On this graph, it is quite easy to identify cells with path balance problems : it concerns all the cells with a path balance higher than 10 dB.
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Verny_3 (LAC = 7301,
Borny_Village_1 (LAC
Vigy_3 (LAC = 7301,
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Parameters
In these cells, the UL path loss is lower than the DL path loss: this can come from the usage of TMA that increases the sensitivity of the BTS and thus decreases the UL path loss. In this case, it should not lead to coverage problems: it should more be a solution for them. On the contrary, cells with negative path balance should be considered as faulty: indeed in this case the UL path loss is higher than the DL path loss and it can easily lead to coverage problems on the UL path. The graph below shows an example of path balance distribution, coming from the report Alc_mono_radio_link_detailed and applied to a cell with such path balance problem.
PathBalance Distribution
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 [-110,- [-50,-30[ [-30,-20[ [-20,-10[ [-10,0[ 50[ [0,10[ [10,20[ [20,30[ [30,50[ [50,110] 35000 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0
% PB distrib Nb PB Samples
Path Balance ( dB )
Figure 19: Path Balance distribution In such case, it is interesting to apply this path balance distribution (or to apply a specific RNO report RMS_Radio_Link_Quality) to every TRXs of the cell, in order to be able to detect a specific TRX with hardware problems (thats an usual explanation of such phenomena).
4.2.2.2 Analysis of coverage hole A coverage hole must be analyzed and localized through of course Timing Advance measurements but also through Rxlevel, RxQuality measurements. Indeed, mobile with a high Timing Advance are not always suffering from bad radio link quality. On the other hand, it can happen that due to some field topology aspects, mobiles close to the site are suffering from coverage problems The analysis of coverage hole can thus follow two axis: one concerning the coverage hole at the border of the cell and another concerning the coverage hole within the service area of the cell. Coverage hole at the border of the cell Such coverage issue can be characterized through the viewing of the average timing advance according to Rxlevel and RxQuality measurements that can be found in the report Alc_Mono_Timing_Advance. The way to interpret such matrices in this case is described in the Figure 20 below :
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Acceptable coverage limit : Sufficient level Good quality Not acceptable coverage limit : Too low level Too bad quality Figure 20: Uplink average TA distribution In Figure 20, a rough idea of the localization of the coverage limit can be obtained : in both case, the coverage limit would be at a timing advance around 7 or 8 units (that is around 4 kilometers from the site). In practice, this matrix must be associated with other representations, in order to get a complete and precise picture of some possible problems of coverage hole at the border of one cell. Below, an example gathering the different representations (that can be found in RNO reports Alc_Mono_Timing_Advance and Alc_mono_radio_link_detailed) and how such representations can be interpreted :
Figure 21: Uplink average TA distribution
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The matrix above shows that the cell border corresponds to very low Rxlev and to possibly high RxQual on the UL path. It also corresponds to a Timing advance around 11 units (that is around 6 kilometers from the site).
12 10 8 6 4 2 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 400000 350000 300000 250000 200000 150000 100000 50000 0
TA Avg Nb Lev Samples
Figure 22: Uplink Timing Advance per RxLevel The distribution of average timing advance value and number of measurements according to the Rxlevel intervals show that a majority of measurements are done at low received level (below 91 dBm) and that it corresponds to high average timing advance (above 7 units). 20 % of the measurements are done at the lowest Rxlevel interval and the highest timing advance.
Uplink TA and RxQual per RxLev
3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
RxQuality Avg TA Avg
Figure 23: Uplink Timing Advance and RxQuality per RxLevel These 20% of measurements are linked to a very bad RxQual in average : 2.4. Whereas the measurement with an Rxlevel in the next interval does not suffer from bad RxQual: the average is 0.4. This means clearly that these 20% of measurements are no longer in the service area of the cell : they correspond to a coverage hole at the border of the cell. This can be due to lack of overlap between the cells. Coverage hole in the service area of the cell
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Such coverage issue can be characterized through the viewing of the average timing advance according to Rxlevel and RxQuality measurements that can be found in the report Alc_Mono_Timing_Advance. In this case, no clear distinction can be done between the radio conditions at the cell border and the radio conditions within the cell, as both conditions can be linked to low RxLev and bad RxQual. The example below shows this phenomena:
Figure 24: Uplink average Timing Advance distribution In this graph, the average timing advance values on the UL path are very distributed and they are very close to each others (often between 0.5 and 1.5 units, that is around 500 meters). The possible existence of a coverage hole with the service area must be checked through the other representation of Timing Advance with RxLev and RxQual measurements :
1,4 1,2 1 0,8 0,6 0,4 0,2 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 140000 120000 100000 80000
TA Avg
60000 40000 20000 0
Nb Lev Samples
Figure 25: Uplink Timing Advance per RxLevel In this graph, almost 50 % of the measurements show an RxLev below 91 dBm with an average timing advance always around 1.2 units (around 600 meters).
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Uplink TA and RxQual per RxLev

6 5 4 3 0,6 2 1 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 0,4 0,2 0 1,4 1,2 1 0,8
Figure 26: Uplink Timing Advance and RxQuality per RxLevel These measurements correspond to high average RxQual values : 0.8 between 91 and 96 dBm, 2.7 between 97 and 103 dBm and 5.2 between 104 and 110 dBm As the timing advance is very close between these different radio conditions, one can say that it is not linked to cell border : these bad radio conditions are met within the cell. It is even more obvious in the downlink path, where the worst radio conditions (lowest Rxlevel, worst RxQual) is not linked to the highest value of average timing advance :
Downlink TA and RxQual per RxLev
2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 1,4 1,2 1 0,8
RxQuality Avg
0,6 0,4 0,2 0
TA Avg
Figure 27: Downlink Timing Advance and RxQuality per RxLevel Such coverage hole in the service area of the cell can be explained by specific field topology aspects. In urban and dense urban environment, it is often linked to bad coverage of indoor or deep indoor and if too critical, it can require dedicated indoor designs.
4.3 Usage of RMS in RNO in order to solve interference problem

Interference problems are often detected through RxLevel and RxQuality measurements. Indeed, interference problems are linked to many calls with high RxLevel and bad RxQuality measurements. In this section, it will be shown how coverage problems in one particular cell can be analyzed through the RNO reports Alc_mono_UL_RxQuality_RxLevel,
Parameters
Alc_mono_DL_RxQuality_RxLevel, Alc_mono_Timing_Advance and Alc_mono_radio_link _detailed.
4.3.1 Detection of Interference problems through RMS in RNO 4.3.1.1 Detection through Radio link reports Radio link reports (RMS_Radio_Link_Quality reports) allow the viewing of for example the worst cells in one area according to the basic measurement RxLevel, RxQuality and Timing Advance. In the graphs below the cells are sorted according to the highest Rxlevel, worst RxQuality and lowest Timing advance.
Average RxLevel
0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50 -60 -70 -80 -90 -100 CALin CAIm2 CAIm1 CAV1 CAVD3 CAX2 CAIO2 CBRE1 CAVD1 CAV2 CAVD2 CAX2d CAIO2d CBRE3 CAIO1 CBRE2 CAX1 CAIO1d CAX1d
DL RxLev avg UL RxLev avg
Figure 28: Average RxLevel
Average RxQuality
1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0
1 2 1d 2d E1 C AI O 1d C AI O 2d C AI m 2 D 1 1 E2 E3 D 2 D 3 1 2 2 1 C AX C AX C AI O C AI m C AV C AV C AI O C AX C AX BR BR AV AV AV BR AL in
DL RxQual avg UL RxQual avg
Figure 29: Average RxQuality
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Average Timing Advance

2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0
1 2 C AL in C AI O 1 C AI O 1d C AI O 2 C AI O 2d E1 E3 D 1 D 2 1d 2d 1 2 D 3 C AI m C AI m C AX C AX C AX AV AV C AX BR BR C C AV AV BR AV E2 1 2
TA avg
Figure 30: Average Timing Advance In these graphs, it can be seen that CAV1 has a rather of bad average UL and DL Quality (1.57 in UL, 0.78 in DL) and one of the highest average UL and DL received level (-81.05 dBm in UL, -69.5 in DL). According this and the Timing Advance (1) we can suspect an interference problem. CAX1 shows too a rather of bad average UL and DL Quality (1.31 in UL, 0.97 in DL), but this cell have a low average UL received level (-89.49 dBm). On this cell we can suspect a coverage problem.
4.3.1.2 Detection through Voice Quality reports Voice Quality reports (RMS_DL_Voice_Quality and RMS_UL_Voice_Quality reports) allow the viewing of for example the worst cells in one area according to some call statistics that correlate RxLevel, RxQuality and FER (only on the UL path) measurements. In the graphs below the cells are sorted according to the highest rate of noisy calls (in UL and DL path) and the highest rate of UL noisy calls with bad FER.
Split of uplink noisy calls causes

100.00% 90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00%
2 E1 C AV 2 C BR E3 C AI m 2 C AV D 1 C AX 2d C AV D 3 C AI O 2d C AI O 2 C AV D 2 C AX 1d C BR E2 C AI O 1d 1 1 1 AL in C AI m C AV C AX C AX C AI O BR 1
16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Undefined Bad Coverage Interference % noisy call
Figure 31: Split of Uplink noisy calls causes
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Uplink noisy calls with interference

180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
2 1 1d 2d 2d E3 D 3 D 1 D 2 E1 E2 1d 2 1 1 C AX C AX AL in 1 2 C AI m C AX C AX C AI O C AI O C AI O C AI O C AI m C AV C AV BR AV AV AV BR BR 2
2.5 2 1.5
Interference
1 0.5 0
% Interference
Figure 32: Uplink noisy calls with interference
Split of downlink noisy calls causes

100.00% 90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00%
2 1 1d 2d 2 1d D 3 C AX C AX AL in D 1 C AI m C AI O C AI O C AI m C AV C AV D 2 E1 E2 E3 C AX C AX C AI O C AI O BR AV AV BR BR AV 2d 1 2 1 2 1
25 20 15 10 5 0
Undefined Bad coverage Interference % noisy call
Figure 33: Split of downlink noisy calls causes
Downlink noisy calls with interference

1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0
1 2 1d 2d E1 D 1 D 2 D 3 E2 E3 1d C AX C AX C AI m C AI O C AI O C AI m C AV C AV C AX C AX AL in C AI O C AI O BR AV AV BR AV BR 2d 1 2 1 1 2 2
25 20 15
Interference
10 5 0
% Interference
Figure 34: Downlink noisy calls with interference In these graphs, it can be seen that the cell CAV1 the highest DL noisy call rate (with a value of 23.24 %). This high DL noisy call rate is due in majority (91.36 % of the cases) to interference problems. On the uplink path, it can be seen two groups of cells: CAV1, CAV2 and CAX2 present a majority of interfered calls compared with all the others. However, if the cells are sorted
Parameters
according to the highest rate of calls suffering from interference problem on downlink path, it can be seen that CAV1 have more than 20%.
4.3.2
Analysis of Interference problems through RMS in RNO
If the interference problem has been detected both in the UL and DL path and for one TRXs (case of non-Hopping) or for all TRXs (case of Hopping) of the cells, the problem can be seen as an interference problem.
4.3.2.1 Analysis of Interference problem An interference problem must be analyzed through Rxlevel and RxQuality measurements. Indeed, mobile with a high RxQuality is not always suffering from interference problems. Such interference can be characterized through the viewing of the samples distribution between RxLevel and RxQuality intervals in the reports Alc_Mono_DL_RxQuality_Rxlevel and Alc_Mono_DL_RxQuality_Rxlevel. The way to interpret such matrices in this case is described in the Figure 35 and Figure 36 below :
Figure 35: Uplink average samples distribution
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Figure 36: Downlink average samples distribution In the circles presented on Figure 35 and Figure 36, it is possible to see that the corresponding cell has many samples with good RxLevel and bad RxQual. In practice, this matrix must be associated with other representations, in order to get a complete and precise picture of some possible problems of interference.
Downlink TA and RxQual per RxLev
4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] RxLevel ( dBm ) 2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0
Figure 37: Downlink Timing Advance and RxQuality per RxLevel On above figures, it can be seen that the downlink RxQuality starts with high values in good RxLevel intervals: 1.2 of RxQuality between 60 and 66 dBm. The interference source should be detected in order to solve the problem. Such source interference can be detected through the report Alc_Mono_Carrier_over_interference:
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Figure 38: Cumulative C/I Distribution per Neighbour Cell
Figure 39: C/I Distribution per Neighbour Cell
Figure 40: Distribution of C/I Distribution samples per Neighbour Cell
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Figure 41: C/I overlap per Neighbour Cell The firsts analysis is to filter the neighbours with no significant samples measured. In Figure 40, the neighbours with just green values should be despicable, because no many samples and the results can be wrong. The second step consists in checking the neighbour cells with the lowest C/I: no cochannel or adjacent frequencies should be applied between these neighbour cells and the serving cell. If it is the case, the frequencies should be changed. Another way to detect an interfered frequency on one cell is to study the RMS statistics (especially RxQual statistics) on a per TRX basis, considering that each TRX corresponds to one particular frequency. However, such method has the drawback to require the disabling of all the hopping modes (Base band Hopping, Radio Hopping) , in order to see which frequency is the cause of interference. After, there should the frequencies that are causing the problem should be changed. In order to find new frequencies, it is possible to declare extra-frequencies to be monitored by the MS when it is in dedicated mode. The selected method is the application of the Extended Measurement Reporting (GSM feature MAFA). The way to apply such feature is described in [13].
4.4 Voice Quality statistics and usage of RMS obtained on platform

The RMS features impact on the Voice Quality is through the efficient and constant cell by cell monitoring of both the radio and Voice quality. This allows a fast and efficient intervention to improve the Voice Quality and saves a lot of time and resources. In this section is presented an example of some results obtained on platform that shows the link between RMS Voice Quality statistics and usage of RMS.
4.4.1 Context of the tests The conditions during the tests were the following: RMS jobs launched on Voice Quality platform:
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Degraded radio conditions on uplink path Use of AMR mobiles in Full Rate mode
The tests were performed in two steps: First test: Analysis of the different RMS indicators Reference with all AMR mobiles Second test: Use of non-AMR mobiles in EFR mode Correlation with Abis trace analysis
4.4.2 First test results Figure 42 presents the number of uplink measurement samples according to the RXLEV and RXQUAL classification. During tests, uplink level was fixed to -57 dBm with low C/I.
Figure 42: Uplink Samples Matrix The average uplink RXQUAL obtained was 4.53 and uplink RXLEV -56 dBm. Consecutive Frame Erasure is a measurement based on loss of consecutive speech frames over one SACCH multiframe. It is directly linked to Voice Quality because consecutive speech frames badly received creates some perceptible holes in the speech. This measurement can be directly compared to RXQUAL measurements as it is based on the same measurement period (one SACCH multiframe). Figure 43 presents the Consecutive Frame Erasure Matrix.
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Figure 43: Consecutive Frame Erasure Matrix The Average CFE obtained was 0.01; In this case no degradation of speech quality, thanks to AMR FR codec.
4.4.3 Second test results
Figure 44 presents the number of uplink measurement samples according to the RXLEV and RXQUAL classification. During tests, uplink level was fixed to -57 dBm with low C/I.
Figure 44: Uplink Samples Matrix The average uplink RXQUAL obtained was 5.08 and uplink RXLEV -56 dBm. Figure 45 presents the Consecutive Frame Erasure Matrix.
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Figure 45: Consecutive Frame Erasure Matrix In second test worst UL radio conditions and EFR calls lead to worst CFE results. The average CFE was 0.14. During second test, a correlation between Abis traces and RMS results were performed. Next figures present the correlation between UL RXQUAL and RXLEV:
Figure 46: Results from Abis traces
Uplink RxQuality per RxLevel

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 [-110,-104[ [-104,-97[ [-97,-91[ [-91,-85[ [-85,-79[ [-79,-72[ [-72,-66[ [-66,-60[ [-60,-53[ [-53,-47] 7000 6000 5000
RxQuality Avg
4000 3000 2000 1000 0

Nb Samples
RxLevel ( dB )
Figure 47: Results from RMS statistics
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As it can be seen on the previous figures, no direct correlation can be found: The tests were performed in two steps: Different shapes Different scales
Figure 48: Results from Abis traces
PathBalance Distribution
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 [-110,-20[ [-20,-10[ [-10,-6[ [-6,-3[ [-3,0[ [0,3[ [3,6[ [6,10[ [10,20[ [20,110] 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0
% PB distrib Nb Samples
Path Balance ( dB )
Figure 49: Results from RMS statistics As it can be seen on the previous figures, equivalent results were obtained. The average Path Balance with RMS statistics can have strange values, in this case 30.5dB, because is computed taking in account the number of samples per Path Balance intervals. Concerning Voice Quality Indicators: Voice Quality indicators are based on calls: Noisy calls are detected and they are characterized with a cause: bad coverage, interference or undefined. On UL path, calls are also characterized through the FER measurements. It can be compared to RXQUAL measurement through a specific indicator.
Results from 2 EFR calls and 9 AMR calls :
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Split of uplink noisy calls causes Bad Coverage Interference Undefined % noisy call Nb noisy call Seized TCH 31/05/2002 0 11 0 100.00% 11 11
Uplink noisy calls with bad FER Bad FER % Bad FER Seized TCH Uplink noisy Calls with good FER Good FER % Good FER Seized TCH Uplink abnormal calls with bad FER Bad FER % Bad FER Seized TCH
31/05/2002 2 18.18% 11 31/05/2002 10 90.91% 11 31/05/2002 0 0.00% 11
All the calls are detected as noisy on the uplink, due to interference EFR calls seem to be identified as having bad FER samples One EFR call seem to be identified as having also good FER samples (maybe due RMS thresholds) No bad FER when good quality.
Parameters linked to VQ indicators need to be fine tuned. This fine tuning may be done as follows: First, the initial default thresholds should be set.: An adequate initial set of thresholds based on field data is given here below. These thresholds are to be fine tunned during field trials to correspond to each operators QoS standards and network maturity: VQ_AVERAGE = 6 SACCH Multiframes VQ_INTF_THRESHOLD = 20% VQ_RXLEV = -90 dBm VQ_RXQUAL = 4.0 VQ_RXQUAL_VS_RXFER = 4.0 VQ_BAD_RXFER = 6% VQ_GOOD_RXFER = 1% VQ_FER_THRESHOLD = 20% Then we check the percentage of Noisy calls If this percentage is very high or very low, we readjust the thresholds and check the percentage again until we obtain a good definition of the Noisy calls in the
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area which will finally be considered as a good end user figure of merit. It is the deviation from this percentage which will be considered as degradation in the QoS. The tuning of the RMS thresholds will require in depth on the field study and will depend from operator to operator and even from area to area according to the QoS/configuration of the network. So the parameters should be performed on a per zone basis in order to obtain a good definition of the Noisy calls in the zone. Indeed a Noisy call in a well covered open area could be considered not bad in a dense urban area. That is why when activating an RMS job, the choice of thresholds is available from 16 different templates available at the Omc-R.
5 Results of frequency planning through RMS 5.1 Vodacom Frequency plan Eastern Region
One example of RMS statistics usage for frequency planning was performed on Vodacoms network in the Eastern Region on the 5th of May 2004. The RADAR tool generated frequency plan involved 26 BSCs and around 1135 cells. A 26% improvement in quality-related handovers was achieved, as well as noticeable improvements in voice quality indicators. Key indicators remained stable at good levels. The Frequency plan method with RADAR was: Dummy neighbour cells are added to existing serving cells in order to allow interference measurements of BCCHs used in the network. The measurements are reported via RMS statistics and collected by RADAR Using interference and handover measurements, the RADAR algorithm allocates BCCH frequencies using a process similar to simulated annealing. TCH planning is done after the BCCH plan. The algorithm performs several passes to take into account the interdependency between frequencies (a frequency allocated in one cell could cause a higher or lower interference probability in other cells) When no further improvements can be achieved (these are quantified by penalties assigned to the different frequencies), the algorithm stops. The plan is optimal. The plan is put into a format required by the MLU (Massive Logical Update) process Following some checks, the plan is downloaded and implemented
A slight improvement in SDCCH assignment failures could be noticed and the rate of quality-triggered handovers improved significantly by 26% (from a mean of 7.81% down to a mean of 5.78%). For detailed analysis on this Frequency plan, please refer to [10].
5.2 Vodacom Frequency plan Central Region
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Other example of RMS statistics usage with RADAR tool is the frequency plan performed on Vodacoms network in the Central Region on the 2nd of July 2004. The frequency plan was generated by RADAR and the planned area consisted of 19 BSC's and 979 Cells with the same method as on Error! Reference source not found.. Results: The Call Drop Rate has decreased from 0.95% to 0.91% i.e. an improvement of 4.69% TCH Assignment Failures decreased with 15.2% SDCCH Drops decreased with 9.79% Incoming- and Outgoing Handover successes have improved with the Incoming Handover Failure decreasing from 2.22% to 2.01% i.e. an improvement of 9.5% and the total Incoming Handover Success improving with 0.44% The Outgoing Handover Drops has shown a bigger improvement from 0.26% to 0.23% i.e. an improvement of 12.39% and the total Outgoing Handover Success improved with 0.22% Better Cell Handovers have increased with 2.52%, Quality Handovers decreased with 18.88% and Interference Handovers decreased with 19.24% Improvements in the Call Retention Rate (0.05%) Call Setup Success Rate improved by 0.14% Call Success Rate improved by 0.18%
The new frequency plan not only resulted in visible improvements for most of the key quality indicators, but statistical voice quality measurements also showed a great improvement. The most important effect of the frequency plan can be seen in the huge improvement on Quality- and Interference Handovers. These are more visible for some of the regional areas where the BCCH/TCH split was not present before the plan. For detailed analysis on this Frequency plan, please refer to [11].
5.3 Global Frequency Plan TMN Network

Example of RMS statistics usage with RADAR, in a Frequency plan, was performed on TMNs network in the west region on 14th of July 2004. This Frequency Plan involved 11 BSCs, 788 cells GSM and DCS, TCH and BCCH frequencies. All cells are configured with Baseband Hopping (BBH). The Plan was developed using the Alcatel tool RADAR, which uses the RMS statistics of the BSCs. The method was the same as used in South Africa. An improvement was noticed in Quality handovers (reduction from 24.07% to 21.68%), which means less 10% of Quality handovers. It is necessary to note that this area had been
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already optimized in frequencies (TCH frequencies) during 2003 using the SONAR tool, and that it is constantly optimized by the RNE with deep knowledge of physical field aspects. Results from Qvoice measurements done in a Voice Quality measurement campaign confirm these results and show an increase of Good/Excelent samples (from 90.8% to 92.3%). For detailed analysis on this Frequency plan, please refer to [12].
5.4 Global Frequency Plan Jinhua area - China

A field trial tool place between w515-w521 in Jinhua area China: 7 BSC 480 cells (suburban: non hopping, urban: BBH) 1379 TRX 6655 HO relations Frequency Band GSM900; 1-94 A9155 V6.2.1 was used for all steps during frequency planning
Using A9155 Dummy Management algorithm, 6139 dummy neighbours have been declared; during RMS measurements there were in total 12794 HO relations. Table 6 presents QoS without and with dummy neighbours:
% Call Success Rate 98.81% 98.77% -0.04% SDCCH assign fail rate 2.66% 2.58% -3.01% % RTCH assign failure BSS 0.012619% 0.016209% 28.44%
Day Average- without dummy (5 days monitoring) Average with dummy (5 days monitoring) Difference %
Call drop rate 0.45% 0.47% 4.44%
% SDCCH Drop 0.38% 0.42% 10.53%
Table 6: QoS without and with dummy neighbours All RMS files were used by A9155 to create an RMS interference matrix. The Computation time was less than 2 min. for 35 files (7 BSCs x 5 measurement days, around 13 MB). Several frequency plans were generated and evaluated using EasyRNP tool (Frequency planning tool based on T180 counters), but the best considered FP was the pure RMS: FP using only predicted interference matrix
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FP using only RMS matrix FP using mixed matrix (using different weighting factors): RMS: 8/9 Predicted: 1/9 (ex. Final Pint = Pint_RMS x 8/9 +Pint_Predictedx1/9) RMS: 15/16 Predicted: 1/16 RMS: 25/26 Predicted: 1/26
The network has been monitored 5 days before and 5 days after FP implementation and the statistics presented bellow have been developed using the tool AnaQoS 1.8.0.
% Call Succes Rate 98.69% 98.92% 0.23% SDCCH assign fail rate 2.65% 2.21% -16.60% % RTCH assign failure BSS 0.38% 0.28% -26.32%
% Call Drop Average before Average after Delta [%] 0.48% 0.4% -16.67%
% SDCCH Drop 0.44% 0.36% -18.18%
Table 7: Call Statistics
% Incoming HO Fail Average before Average after Delta [%] 1.95% 1.51% -22.56%
% HO Incoming Congestion * 0.9% * 1.52% * 68.89% *
% HO Outgoing Drop 0.18% 0.15% -16.67%
* This parameter was not stable during entire field trial. For example before dummy neighbours implementation it has the value 1.64%!
Table 8: HO statistics
% Overall Emergency (Percent) 37.98% 36.23% -4.61%
% Better cond (Percent) Average before Average after Delta [%] 62.02% 63.77% 2.82%
% Emergency Level (Percent) 28.35% 28.09% -0.92%
% Emergency Quality (Percent) 9.63% 8.13% -15.58%
% Micro Cell 0.01% 0.01% 0.00%
Table 9: HO distribution As it can be seen on the tables above, the main improvement was on Call Drop rate, SDCCH Drop rate and on Better Cell Handover ratio.
6 RMS status usage around the world

This chapter summarizes the RMS status usage around the world, linked to the feedback from local units. This is just a few information concerning where RMS is enabled linked to the exchanges during B7 support issues.
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Country Portugal South-Africa Thailand Nigeria Vietnam Austria China Srilanka Brazil Indonesia France France TMN
Operator Vodacom TA Orange GlobaCom Telering Jiangsu MCC MTN Networks Oi Networks CAC project Orange France SFR
Table 10: RMS status around the world
7 Issues about RMS statistics

This chapter refers to the noticed problems concerning RMS statistics: Some FU/CU restart on G2 BTS noticed in B7.2 MR6 ed. 3: FR A45/148526 and A45/144004; In South Africa they have G2 BTS and no problems noticed. Call Drop increase after RMS activation was solved since B7.2 MR5 (FR A45/122539). C/I consolidation per cell does not work on NPA/RNO tool (NPA crashes when number of neighbour cells reported by RMS is greater than 42 on one cell); FR A45/130402 -> Corrected in B7 MR6 MS power in 1800 incorrect; FR A45/130884 -> Corrected in B7 MR6 MS Path Balance values are incorrect for DCS 1800 cells; FR A45/131698 Corrected in B7 MR6 RMS_TimingAdvance_Greater_Threshold not accurate enough; FR A45/130425 RMS statistics missing for some BSC's; FR A45/132059 There are no RMS results populated for some BTS' (especially G2 BTS); FR A45/132740 Timing Advance and MS/BTS power statistics are not well consolidated on a per cell zone basis - FR on this issue could have been written by Gilter Montero Maciel ->
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Wrong ordering of MAFA results on RNO report; FR A45/146864 MAFA report show negative value (MR5 Ed 3); FR A21/146855
Other issues concern the interpretation of RMS results and the adaptation of RMS templates : Average RLC is then always quite close to 75. Case of RADIOLINK_TIMEOUT_BS = 22: All value of the S counter equal to RADIOLINK_TIMEOUT_BS = 22 will be evaluated in the last RLC interval [22,128] (default values for MEAS_STAT_S). As in the RNO report Average_Uplink_RadioLinkCounter is presented the average, all the samples in this last interval are considered as having the medium value of the interval (22+(128-22)/2 = 75). And as often S counter stays equal to RADIOLINK_TIMEOUT_BS, the average RLC is then always quite close to 75. To overcome this phenomenon, it is sufficient to shift MEAS_STAT_S interval definition from one: If RADIOLINK_TIMEOUT_BS = 22 and because all samples should be near this value, the last interval should be [23, 128]; the previous interval should be [22,23[. In this way, every time the S counter is equal to 22, it will be taken into account in the average computation as having a value of 22. RLC intervals can be as follows: 0, 1, 9, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 128. % > TA thres = 0 and TA average is greater than the TA threshold Normally we don't have many samples classified greater than TA thres; the number of samples greater than TA thres should be despicable if it compared with the number of samples less than TA thres. On other hand, % > TA is directly reported from the BTS as an integer, so if the value is 0.3 for example, the value reported from the BTS will be 0 and so on in RNO. If TA average is greater than the TA threshold, it means there are a considerable number of samples with TA > TA thres. So in this case the problem of % > TA directly reported from the BTS as an integer should not be seen, and % > TA should be greater than 0%. In networks like MTN (Sri-Lanka), this was not seen: RMS_TimingAdvance_Threshold = 8 TA_average = 11.6 RMS_TimingAdvance_greater_threshold = 0
In Portugal, it was observed values of indicator "RMS_TimingAdvance_greater_threshold" higher than 0, for example, in TMN network (Portugal), we had for 620 cells 4 cells with % > TA thres different from 0 (TA_STAT = 8). Such indicator has not been tested in platform because it is not possible to test high values of Timing Advance there. This issue has been reported in FR A45/130425 but it has not really been taken into account.
Date 21/07/05
Edition 1.0
Page 51
Parameters
RMS start time: It was seen a problem by starting the RMS job too early. Reported from one network : We had start time set to 04h00 in the beginning but found that spurious BCCH/BSIC measurements at that time of the night/morning filled up the list of possible BCCH/BSIC places within the BSS software 42. This meant that we often wasted numerous positions in this list of BCCH/BSIC's to be scanned with unnecessary ones and the real 'interfering cells' that used other BCCH's did not get scanned. So the trick was to start the job when a reasonable amount of traffic was on the network to allow most BCCH's to be scanned. One way to solve this problem is to delay the start time, because the traffic during the night is not so significant if it compared with the traffic during the day. The RMS overload indicators can follow this action: At the end of the RMS job, some RMS counters are reported from the BSS, giving some information about the TRXs where the RMS data were collected and also about the possible problems that happened during this collection. These RMS counters can be seen at RNO side through indicators that are available only on TRX basis (they are not consolidated on NPA tool). These indicators are gathered in a family called "TRX information" (they begin with "RMS_info"). Problems concerning computation of C/I statistics: The indicator RMS_info_CI_overload_indication shows that the limit of 42 neighbour cells as been exceeded during this RMS job. This limit can be reached even if the number of declared neighbour cells is below 42: indeed, the RMS statistics take into account all the cells reported by the mobiles: the declared neighbour cells (with a couple (BCCH,BSIC) known by the BSC) or the nondeclared neighbour cells (with a couple (BCCH,BSIC) unknown by the BSC). If the limit is reached, all the new neighbour cells reported by the mobiles wont be taken into account in the RMS The indicator RMS_info_Partial_restart_indication shows that some C/I statistics (MAFA frequencies or neighbour cells or both) were restarted during the RMS job. This can happen when the set of MAFA frequencies or the handover relationships are modified during the RMS job. In this case, no statistic is available for the concerned C/I. The indicator RMS_info_overload_indication shows that the RMS job has been interrupted due to TRX overload. In this case, reported RMS data only deal with a part of the RMS job duration The indicator RMS_info_Complete_restart_indication shows that the RMS job has been restarted during the expected job duration, due to RMS parameter modification or TRE restart
END OF THE DOCUMENT
Date 21/07/05
Edition 1.0
Page 52

RMS Guidelines Ed1

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Site Cascais Originator(s) Lus Santos

Mobile Communication Division RMS: Guidelines and Best Practices

Domain Product Division Rubric Type

: PCS General : GSM B7 : General user documentation : General : guidelines

Distribution codes Internal : IDDL-PCS, ISC Manager, BR Operation Manager

Appraisal and approval authorities PCS

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USAGE OF RMS FOR OPTIMIZATION PURPOSES ....................... 14

GENERAL QOS ANALYSIS WITH RMS IN RNO............................................................ 24

USAGE OF RMS IN RNO IN ORDER TO SOLVE INTERFERENCE PROBLEM ..................... 33

VOICE QUALITY STATISTICS AND USAGE OF RMS OBTAINED ON PLATFORM .............. 40

RESULTS OF FREQUENCY PLANNING THROUGH RMS ........... 46

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5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4

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Analyse et exprimentation RMS B7.2 (MR6) (RESEAU GSM ORANGE FRANCE)

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2 Radio Measurements Statistics 2.1 Definitions

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2.2 Outputs and Templates

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2.3 RMS jobs activation process

3 Tools 3.1 RMS with OMC-R

3.2 RMS with OMC-R, NPA and RNO

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Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity

Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity

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Sensitivity High sensitivity

Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity

Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity

Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity

Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity High sensitivity

Medium sensitivity Low sensitivity

-5 Average value of Path Balance [dB]

3.3 RMS with OMC-R and RMSAT

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3.4 RMS with OMC-R and RADAR

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3.5 RMS with OMC-R and A9155V6 FP

RMS Measurement Neighbour C/I

A9155 Generate RMS Creates IM

New FP based on RMS

The contact point for this tool is Cristian Ioan Inta.

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From Alc_warning_top_worst_rms_radio_link, the worst cells can be filtered by:

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