3G RF OPTIMIZATION

J. A. SANTOS
MARCH 2015

OBJECTIVES:
Provide an overview of the UMTS Technology
Be familiar with the UMTS Network architecture and releases
Introduce metrics for walktest
Introduce metrics for OSS KPI monitoring
Establish a process of 3G RF optimization
Discuss different types of Handover in UMTS
Familiarize with different parameters associated with each
handover type

UMTS OVERVIEW
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System. It is a 3G
mobile wireless solution that complies with the IMT-2000
standard which is designed to support multiple services with
individual QoS requirements

WCDMA is a Radio Access Technology used in UMTS radio Access

Network

The WCDMA RAN consists of the following:

User Equipment (UE)
Base Stations (Node B)
Radio Network Controllers (RNC)

UMTS and WCDMA are often used interchangeably, but these

are actually two different concepts.

MOBILE NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

UMTS NETWORK ARCHITECTURE AND INTERFACES

UTRAN COMPOSITION

UMTS RELEASE AND FEATURES:

Release 99 Established the first UMTS 3G
networks, incorporating a CDMA air interface

Release 4 introduced Media Gateway and MSC

servers

Release 5 Introduced HSDPA (provided

broadband services on the downlink)

Release 6 inter-operability with Wireless LAN

Networks and added HSUPA

Release 7 additional enhancements to High

Speed Packet Access (HSPA+), with higher data
rates and improvement to real-time applications
such as VoIP.

Release 8 Defines E-UTRA, also known as Long

Term Evolution (LTE)

RF OPTIMIZATION METRICS:
In optimizing 3G indoor sites, two types of KPIs must be taken into consideration:
Walktest KPI metrics from the actual testing
OSS KPI overall site performance accumulated over time

WALKTEST KPI can be further subdivided to three categories:

Coverage KPIs
Signal Strength CPICH RSCP
Signal Quality CPICH Ec/No
Downlink Coverage distribution
Uplink Coverage distribution
Radio Procedure KPIs
CS Call setup time
CS Call Drop rate
CS Call setup success rate
PS Call setup time
PS Call Drop rate
PS Call setup success rate
Radio Performance KPIs
HSDPA and HSUPA throughput
CQI

WALKTEST KPI:
Coverage KPIs
Signal Strength CPICH RSCP

Downlink Coverage distribution

Signal Quality CPICH Ec/No

Uplink Coverage distribution

WALKTEST KPI:

Radio Procedure KPIs

CS / PS Call setup time

CS Call Drop rate

CS Call setup success rate
PS Call Drop rate
PS Call setup success rate

WALKTEST KPI:
Radio Performance KPIs
HSDPA and HSUPA throughput
CQI
Handover Success Rate

OSS KPI:
OSS KPI provides a view of the overall performance of the site. These
can be categorized depending on the type of service provided, such as:

HS Services
R99 services
In each of the service type, the following KPIs are monitored:
Call Setup failure Rate (CSFR)
Drop Call Rate (DCR)
Traffic
Other KPIs to be considered are:
Propagation delay
HS user number
SMS setup Success rate
HS Throughput
Handover Success rate (SHO, IFHO)
RTWP

OSS KPI CS SERVICES:

AMR Traffic

AMR CSFR

AMR DCR

OSS KPI PS SERVICES:

HSDPA Traffic

HSDPA DCR

HSDPA CSFR

HSDPA Throughput

OSS KPI:
Propagation delay

SMS Failure rate

HSDPA DCR

HSDPA user number

RTWP

OSS KPI:
SHO SR

ISHO SR

OPTIMIZATION PROCESS:

RF OPTIMIZATION PARAMETER AUDIT:

Adjacency audit

To ensure continuous service for mobile UEs, adjacent cells must be defined as neighbors. Types of
adjacency relationships are as follows:

Intra frequency adjacency (same frequency adce)

Inter frequency adjacency (different frequency adce, U2100 to U900 etc)
Inter RAT adjacency (3G to 2G and vise versa)

Parameter audit

Before a new site can be unlocked, a preliminary parameter audit must first be conducted to ensure
that intended parameters are defined correctly to avoid KPI degradation.

Some parameters worth looking at are:

UCELL parameters (Cell ID, LAC, RAC, etc)

Algorithm switches (Cell Hspa Plus function switch)

Power settings (Max Transmit Power of PCPICH, Min Transmit Power of PCPICH, PCPICH Transmit
Power)
HSDPA parameters (AllocCodeMode, HsPdschMaxCodeNum, HsPdschMinCodeNum)

Attached : Huawei parameter D:\RNO\

REFERENCES\References_HT\BSC6900\U
reference:

RF OPTIMIZATION CASES

Dropped Calls

Dropped calls can be caused by Radio link and equipment failures.

Under radio link (RL) failures, causes can be:

a. Interference (internal, external interference)

b. Poor / limited coverage (coverage holes, dead spot, uplink and downlink imbalance)
c. Incorrect parameter setting (handover settings, etc)
Handover problems

In UMTS, handover can be categorized as SHO and HHO;

Under SHO, failures can be caused by:

a.
b.
c.
d.

Coverage problem
Pilot pollution
Incorrect parameter settings (event trigger and hysteresis, CIO)
Missing neighbor definition

. Failures in HHO:
a. Compressed mode failure (incorrect parameter settings and ping-pong CM trigger)
b. Uplink and downlink imbalance
c. Missing neighbor definition

RF OPTIMIZATION CASES

Access Problems

Setup failures in the RRC can be caused by the following:

a. Uplink RACH problem

b. Power Congestion during the allocation of downlink FACH
c. Equipment fault
d. Improper cell reselection parameters
Interference problem
Types :
a. According to interfered objects
Abnormal uplink interference
When uplink interference exists, the RTWP of the Node B will increase resulting to interference
of adjacent cells. High RTWP will cause poor uplink quality, thereby increasing the chances of
the call being dropped.

Abnormal downlink interference

Characterized by a high UE background noise, increasing BLER and subsequently decreasing
SIR leading to call setup failures and dropped calls.

RF OPTIMIZATION CASES

Interference problem
Types :
b. According to the source of interference
Spurious emission
From other systems which utilizes the frequency band close to the WCDMA
frequency band. This can cause both uplink and downlink interference.

Intermodulation
When several systems are installed in same area, different frequencies of these
systems maybe cause Intermodulation interference

PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION
Cell Selection and reselection
The changing of cell on which UE camped in idle mode or in Cell FACH, Cell PCH, URA PCH states. That assures UE
camping the most suitable cell, receiving system information and establishing an RRC connection on a best serving cell.

PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION
Handover
Handover in UMTS can either be Soft Handover (SHO), Softer Handover and Hard
handover (ISHO and IRAT)
Soft handover - Soft handover means that the radio links are added and
removed in a way that the UE always keeps at least one radio link to the UTRAN.
Soft handover is performed by means of macro diversity, which refers to the
condition that several radio links are active at the same time.
Softer Handover - Softer handover is a special case of soft handover where the
radio links that are added and removed belong to the same Node B (i.e. the site
of co-located base stations from which several sector-cells are served).
Hard handover means that all the old radio links in the UE are removed before
the new radio links are established. Hard handover can be seamless or nonseamless. Seamless hard handover means that the handover is not perceptible to
the user. In practice a handover that requires a change of the carrier frequency
(inter-frequency handover) is always performed as hard handover.

HANDOVER

Soft Handover

HANDOVER

Softer Handover

SOFT HANDOVER

Soft Handover
SHO events
event 1A: A Primary CPICH enters the reporting range; addition of a radio link.
event 1B: A primary CPICH leaves the reporting range; removal of a radio link.
event 1C: A non-active primary CPICH becomes better than an active primary CPICH;
replacement of the worst cell in AS.
event 1D: Change of best cell

SOFT HANDOVER
Event 1a

A : Signal curve of the best cell in the

active set
B : Signal curve of a cell in the

SOFT HANDOVER

Event 1a related parameters

SOFT HANDOVER
Event 1b

A : Signal curve of the best cell in the

active set
B : Signal curve of a cell in the

SOFT HANDOVER

Event 1b related parameters

SOFT HANDOVER
Event 1c

A : Signal curve of the best cell in the

active set
B : Signal curve of a cell in the monitored
set
C : Signal curve of the worst cell in the

SOFT HANDOVER

Event 1c related parameters

SOFT HANDOVER
Event 1d

A : Signal curve of the best cell in the active

set
B : Signal curve of a cell in the active or

SOFT HANDOVER

Event 1d related parameters

HANDOVER

Hard Handover

HARD HANDOVER

Compressed Mode

In order to perform inter-frequency and inter-RAT handover, compressed mode is

necessary to measure the inter-frequency cell or Inter-RAT cell under FDD mode.
Measurement quantity:
CPICH RSCP

CPICH Ec/No
Reporting mode:
Periodic reporting
Event trigger reporting
Event trigger reporting to Periodic reporting
Event type:
2B,2C,2D,2F

HARD HANDOVER
Inter-frequency measurement events:
Event 2D - When the current signal quality is lower than the preset threshold , the

UTRAN enables the compressed mode and starts inter-frequency measurement.

Event 2F - When the current signal quality is higher than the preset threshold, the
UTRAN disables the compressed mode and stops inter-frequency measurement.

HARD HANDOVER

END

QUESTIONS?