Dropped and Blocked Call Event Cause

Category

Description

Ranking

IRAT HO to GSM

Dropped call occurs during IRAT

Handover

Missing Neighbor

Strong Detected Set Neighbor

occurs prior to Dropped Call

Soft HO

Dropped call occurs during SoftHandover

Poor DL Coverage

Last best server RSCP is below

user-defined RSCP threshold

DL Inteference

Last best server Ec/No is below

user-defined RSCP threshold

High UL TX Power

Last measured UL Tx Power is

6
above or equal user-defined UL Tx
Power threshold

High DL BLER

Last DL BLER is above or equal

user-defined BLER threshold

Other

None of above

WCDMA Dropped Event Cause

GSM Dropped Event Cause

Poor DL Coverage

Last best server RxLevSub is below 1

user-defined RxLevel threshold

DL Inteference

Last best server RxQualSub is

below user-defined RxQual
threshold

Other

None of above

Missing Neighbor

Strong Detected Set Neighbor

occurs prior to Blocked Call

Random Access

Blocked call occurr during Random 2

Access. RRC Connection Setup
Received

RRC Setup Complete Not Sent

No RRC Connection Setup

Complete message sent after
receiving RRC Connection Setup
message

RRC Connect Reject

RRC Connection Setup Reject

message received

Service Request Not Sent

No CM Service Request sent

Setup Not Sent

No Setup message sent

WCDMA Blocked Event Cause

Radio Bearer Complete Not Sent No Radio Bearer Setup Complete

message sent

Alerting/Connect Not Received

No Alerting or Connect message

received

Call Proceeding Not Received

No Call Processing Message

received
Radio Bearer Setup Not
Received

No Radio Bearer Setup message

received

CM Service Reject

CM Service Reject received

CM Service Abort

CM Service Abort sent

Registration

Location Update Request Sent

GSM Blocked Event Cause

Other

N/A

GSM Intracell Handovers

An intracell handover occurs when an MS is transferred from one BTS
resource to another. The main reason for this is load-balancing on the cell.
The resource can be the current timeslot (TS), the current traffic channel
(TCH) that the mobile is using to communicate with the BTS, or both TS
and TCH.
Actix uses the Advanced HO Intracell event diagram to detect GSM
intracell handovers. The following table lists the attributes that are created
by this event diagram. These attributes appear in the GSM > Event
Data folder in the Attribute Explorer.
Attribute

Indicates

Event_Intra_HO_Command

The type of intracell handover: 1 - TS

only, 2 - TCH only, 3 - TS and TCH.

Event_Intra_HO_OK

An intracell handover succeeded.

Event_Intra_TS_HO_Fail

A TS intracell handover failed.

Event_Intra_TCH_HO_Fail

A TCH intracell handover failed.

Event_Intra_TCH_TS_HO_Fail A combined TS and TCH intracell

handover failed.
Here is the Advanced HO Intracell event diagram as it appears in the Event
Diagram Viewer.

The flow of the diagram can be summarized as follows:

If the handset mode is unknown at the beginning of the stream, the

diagram waits in the Unknown @ start of file / idle state.

When a dedicated channel is assigned to the handset, the diagram

moves into the Voice/data channel assigned state.

If an RR Assignment Command message occurs before the handset

returns to idle mode, the RR Assignment Command transition is
executed and the state changes to Intracell HO (red in the picture
above). As the transition is executed, a value is set into
the Event_Intra_HO_Command attribute depending on whether the
re-allocation attempt relates to a TS, a TCH, or both. The following
pseudo code describes the algorithm that is used to determine this:

If current TCH is equal to previous TCH then

Set attribute
to "TS only" command Else
If current TS is equal to
previous TS then
Set attribute to "TCH only" command
Else
Set attribute to "TCH and TS" command
End if
End if

There are three possible ways out of the Intracell HO state:

The Intracell HO to Idle transition. This returns the flow to

the Unknown @ start of file / idle state and is executed when the
call completes or drops.

The OK transition. This is triggered by an RR Assignment Complete

message, which indicates a successful intracell handover. This sets
theEvent_Intra_HO_OK event and returns the flow to
the Voice/data channel assigned state.

The Fail transition. This is triggered by an RR Assignment Failure

message, which indicates the failure of the intracell handover. This
sets theEvent_Intra_TS_HO_Fail , Event_Intra_TCH_HO_Fail ,
or Event_Intra_TCH_TS_HO_Fail , depending on the value set in
the Event_Intra_HO_Commandattribute earlier and returns the flow
to the Voice/data channel assigned state.

The format of the RR Assignment Command (hopping / non-hopping) is as

follows:
L3 DL RR Assignment Command Channel Type: TCH/F + FACCH/F and
SACCH/F TimeSlot: 5 TrainingSeq: 4 Hopping: Yes, MAIO: 1
HoppingSeq (HSN): 0 MsTxPower Ordered: (2 GSM) CA List: 9 13 19
71 (Bit Map 0) Channel Mode: Speech full rate or half rate
version 1 MA: 1 2 3 4
Or:
L3 DL RR Assignment Command Channel Type: TCH/F + FACCH/F and
SACCH/F TimeSlot: 4 TrainingSeq: 2 Hopping: No, ARFCN: 88
MsTxPower Ordered: (5 GSM) Channel Mode: Speech full rate or half
rate version 1
Related Topics

1 When SDCCH are required?

The requests for the SDCCH in GSM are mainly made in the following two
procedures:
A. The procedure for requesting the SDCCH for services such as point-to-point
calls, location updating (only SDCCH), call re-establishment, or short messages;
B. The procedure of SDCCH handovers (including both the intra-BSC and interBSC handovers)
2 Principles of SDCCH Congestion Rate:
SDCCH congestion rate is one of the important counters that indicate
accessibility in circuit service. This counter provides the ratio of failed SDCCH
seizures due to busy SDCCH to the total requests for the SDCCH. SDCCH
congestion rate indicates the failed requests for the SDCCH for various reasons.
SDCCH congestion rate also indicates the status of the SDCCH resource
utilization.
3 Definition & Formula of SDCCH Congestion :
The definition and formula of SDCCH congestion rate are as follows:
Definition:
Ratio of failed SDCCH seizures due to busy SDCCH to the total requests for the
SDCCH
Formula:
SDCCH congestion rate = Failed SDCCH seizures due to busy SDCCH/Total
requests for the SDCCH x 100%
4 Factors of SDCCH Congestion Rate in GSM :
4.1 Congestion Caused by Faults on Equipment or Transmission :
The faults on BTS, BSC, and Abis interface, such as broken LAPD link, cause the
SDCCH congestion. The alarm "Excessive Loss of E1/T1 Signals in an Hour" also
causes the SDCCH congestion.
4.2 Congestion Caused by Insufficient Signaling Resources :
The heavy traffic and burst traffic cause the SDCCH congestion. Proper setting of
the number of SDCCHs and TCHs, and the SDCCH dynamic conversion function
can relieve the congestion.
4.3 Congestion Caused by Improper Data Configuration :
The SDCCH congestion relates to the relevant parameters of the BSC such as
SDCCH Availability, LAC and T3101 (the timer used in the immediate assignment
procedure), and T3212 (the timer used for periodic updating). If these
parameters are set correctly, the SDCCH congestion can be relieved. In addition,

if the assignment procedure is set to Late Assignment, the time of the SDCCH
being occupied increases, which may lead to congestion.
4.4 Congestion Caused by Interference :
Interference on the Um interface also causes congestion. For example, if the
main BCCH in the serving cell and the TCH in the neighboring cell share the
same TRX frequency and BTS BSIC, the handover access on this TCH may be
mistaken as random access. As a result, the SDCCH is abnormally allocated and
congestion occurs. The excessive receive sensibility can also make the
interference signal mistaken as access signal, which leads to congestion.
5 Analysis Procedure of SDCCH Congestion Rate :
SDCCH congestion rate is classified into BSC-level and cell-level according to the
statistic object of the counter. The SDCCH congestion rate of a BSC is composed
of the SDCCH congestion rate of a series of cells. Procedure of SDCCH
congestion rate analysis is as shown below:
SD Optimization.jpg
First, determine the level of the SDCCH congestion rate. If the congestion occurs
in a large area, check the traffic volume and the setting of T3212. Then,
calculate the SDCCH capacity to check whether it meets the system demand
and whether the faults exist on system-level equipment or transmission. If
congestion occurs in only a few cells, check the hardware, data configuration,
and Um interface quality of the cell.
Below given is the analysis & optimization procedure for SDCCH
Congestion Rate :
1 Checking Channel Configuration :
Query the traffic statistics to see whether the traffic volume on the SDCCH and
TCH are higher than the normal value. If the congestion is caused by excessive
traffic on the SDCCH, for multi-TRX BTSs, enable SDCCH dynamic allocation
function or increase the number of SDCCH channels to relieve the congestion.
For cells with only one TRX or without extra channels, enable the very early
immediate assignment procedure. In the very early immediate assignment
procedure, the TCH channel is immediately assigned when the SDCCH has no
available resource during the processing of access request. In this case, a TCH
can be used as only one SDCCH, which is a waste of the TCH resources.
All the services such as location updating, MS attach/detach, call setup, short
messages are performed on the Schiff a certain service causes burst traffic, the

SDCCH congestion may occur.

In this case, check whether the abnormity of Channel Requests, Successful
Immediate Assignments or Successful SDCCH Seizures is caused by the service
of location updating, MOC, paging, or short message. Note that you should
check the history traffic statistics when querying these traffic counters to see
whether they fluctuate during a certain period.
If the SDCCH congestion is caused by certain burst services such as location
updating and short messages, use the following methods according to the
specific configuration of the BTSs.
a. For the BTS with multiple TRXs, enable the SDCCH dynamic allocation
function or increase the number of SDCCH channels.
b. For the cell with only one TRX or without extra channels, enable the
immediate assignment procedure. In the immediate assignment procedure,
the TCH is immediately assigned when the SDCCH has no available resource
during the processing of access request.
c. Increase the number of TRXs.
It is difficult to avoid the SDCCH congestion caused by network burst services;
however, you can take some relief measures such as increasing the number of
SDCCHs or enabling the SDCCH dynamic conversion function.