10.

10.KPI
KPI
&&Optimisation
Optimisation
Summary
• GSM Network Planning Process
• GSM Overview
• Radio Propagation & Interference
• Network Dimensioning
• Network Characteristics
• KPI & Optimisation

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Parameter Planning

• Parameter Plan (1)

• Handovers (2)
• Location Areas (3)
• Frequency Plan (4)
•BCC Plan (5)

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Parameter Plan
• Parameter planning means creating a
default set of BSS parameters
• It is performed right before the network
launch
• Relevant BSS parameter for NW planning
• frequency
• transmit power
• definition of neighbouring cells
• definition of location areas
• handover parameters
• power control parameters
• cell selection parameters

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Handovers
Handover Criteria & Priority
1. Interference (UL or DL)
2. UL quality
3. DL quality Radio Resource HO
4. UL level
5. DL level
6. MS-BS distance (max or min)
7. Turn-around-corner MS
8. Rapid field drop Imperative HO
9. Fast/Slow-moving MS
10. Better cell (Power budget or Umbrella)
11. PC due to Lower quality thresholds (UL and DL)
12. PC due to Lower level thresholds (UL and DL)
13. PC due to Upper quality thresholds (UL and DL)
14. PC due to Upper level thresholds (UL and DL)

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Location Areas
Location Area Design 1/2
• Location updating
affects all mobiles in
network
major road •LocUp in idle mode
•LocUp after call
Location area 2 completion
• Location updating
causes signaling and
processing load within
the network
• Avoid oscillating
Location area 1 LocUpdate
• Trade-off between
Paging load
and Location Update
signaling

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Location Areas
Location Area Design 2/2

• Different MSC cannot use the same LAC.

• Location areas are important input for
transmission planners
• should be planned as early as possible
• Never define location area borders along
major roads!
• Dual band or microcellular networks
require more attention on LAC planning
• co-located DCS and GSM cells are defined to
the same LAC
• same MSC to avoid too much location updates
which would cause very high SDCCH
blockings

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Frequency Plan
Basics
• Tighter re-use of own
frequencies
 more capacity
 more interferences
• Target
• to minimise
interferences at an
acceptable capacity
level
D
• First when a complete
area has been
finalised R

• Automatic frequency
planning tools

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Frequency Plan
Best Method
• Do not use
• hexagon cell
patterns
• regular grids
• systematic
frequency allocation f2 f6
f3
f3
f5
• Use f5 f4
f4
f7 f2
f7 f2
f7 f6
• interference matrix f2 f6 f3
calculation f3
R f3
f5 f4
f5 f4
• calibrated f5 f4
f7
D
f2
f2
propagation models f6
f6
f3
• minimise total f3 f5
f5 f4
interference in f4
network

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Frequency Plan
Multiple Re-Use-Factor

• Capacity increase with multiple RuFs

• e.g. network with 300 cells
• bandwidth : 8 MHz (40 radio channels)
• Single RuF =12
• NW capacity = 40/12 * 300 = 1000 TRX
• Multiple RuF
• BCCH layer: re-use =14, (14 frq.)
• normal TCH: re-use =10, (20 frq.)
• tight TCH layer: re-use = 6, (6 frq.)
• NW cap. = (1 +2 +1)* 300 = 1200 TRX

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BCC Plan
Basics
NCC = Network Colour Code
BCC = Base station Colour Code
BSIC = Base station Identity Code = NCC + BCC
• For each mobile, BSIC and ARCFN
identify unambiguously a cell in the whole
network
• BCC is made by 3 binary digits  8
possible values
• The BCC plan can be done manually

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Network Optimization

• Network Optimization (1)

• Performance Evaluation (2)
• Optimization Process (3)

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Network Optimization
• Improving network quality from a
subscribers point of view
• Improving network quality from an
operators point of view

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Performance Evaluation
Basics

• Network is under permanent change

 detect problems and symptoms early!

OMC

It´s far too late field tests

when customers
complain! customer
complaints
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Performance Evaluation
Key Performance Indicators
• KPIs are figures used to evaluate Network
performance
• post processing of NMS data or
• drive test measurements data
• Usually one short term target and one long
term target
• check the network evolution and which targets
are achieved
• KPIs calculated with NMS data
• network performance on the operator side.
• KPIs from drive test
• performance on the subscribers side
• Usually turn key projects are evaluated
according to some predefined KPIs figures
like drop call rate

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Performance Evaluation
With NMS
• The most reliable KPIs to evaluate the network
performance with NMS are:
• SDCCH and TCH Block
• Blocking percentage [%]
• Drop call rate [%]
• Handover failure and/or success rate
• Call setup success rate
• Average quality DL and UL
• The targets are always defined by the customer but
the following figures can be considered as
satisfactory results:
Item Target Lowest acceptable
Dropped calls <2 % 4%
Handover success >98 % 96 %
Good Qual samples (0..5) >98 % 95 %

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Performance Evaluation
With Drive Tests
• Evaluate network performance from the
subscriber point of view
• KPIs information
• DL quality, call success rate, handover success
rate, DL signal level
• not statistically as reliable as NMS information
• Added value of drive test measurement
• find out the geographical position of problems
like bad DL quality to look for a possible
interference source in the area
• compare the performance of different networks
(benchmarking)
• display the signal level on the digital maps to
individuate areas with lack of coverage
eventually improve the propagation model
• verify the neighbour list parameter plan

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Optimization Process
• There are not strict processes for
optimization because the activity is driven
by the network evolution

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Optimization Process
Young Network Case

• In a young network the primary target is

normally the coverage
• In this phase usually there is a massive use
of drive test measurement
• check the signal and
• the performance of the competitors

MMAC
GPS
NMS
X

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Optimization Process
Mature Network Case
• In a mature network the primary targets are quality
indicators
• drop call rate, average quality, handover failures
• Important use the information from NMS
• a general view of the network performance
• Drive test measurements are still used
• but not in a massive way
• in areas where new sites are on air
• where interference and similar problems are pointed
out by NMS data analysis

Drop Call Rate (%)

3.5

2.5

2 Call Bids / 10000

Average
1.5 Busy Hour

0.5

0
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed

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KPI

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KPI Definitions

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Indicators – Coverage
&&Optimisation
Optimisation

• Signal Strength -outdoors

• In building, In-Car penetration signal levels
• Uplink Voice Quality
• Downlink Voice Quality
• Call Drops
• Cell Power control

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 Indicators – Capacity
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Optimisation

• Erlangs per Cell

• TCH success
• TCH assignment failures
• TCH Drop calls
• TCH Blocking
• Cell congestion
• Congestion Relief Usage
• BHCA against rated MSC limit
• mErl/subs. against rated MSC limit
• SMS/subs. Against MSC limit
• MM values(HO,LU,Paging) against limits
• Overload : Voice/Signalling/Processor

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Indicators – Quality
&&Optimisation
Optimisation

• RxLev • TCH success

• Handovers • TCH assignment failures
• Call Drops • TCH Drop calls
• Call Success Rate • SDCCH traffic blocking
• Call set up success rate • SDCCH drop calls
• Call completion rate • SDCCH Success rates
• Call set up time
• Voice quality(MOS)
• RxQual
• Echo

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Analysis - Typical Setup

Failure Causes - Distribution

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Analysis - Typical Dropped

Call Causes Distribution

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Optimisation

Network Health Statistics

We have considered a typical network with BSC’s to analyse

the network performance. To undertake this activity stastics of
atleast 2 weeks should be analysed. The key parameters to be
considered are;

 Call Success Rate

 Call Setup Success Rate
 Handover Success Rate
 Dropped Call Rate
 SDCCH Blocking Rate
 TCH Blocking Rate

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Customer sets a bench mark for these parameters as a measure of quality of the
network and expects the performance to be equal or better than this. The typical
value of the bench marks for each of the above mentioned parameters are as
follows,

Call Success Rate - 98 %

Call Setup Success rate - 98 %
Handover Success Rate - 98 %
Dropped Call Rate - 0.5%
SDCCH Blocking Rate - 0.5 %
TCH Blocking Rate - 2 %

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Optimisation

LET’S START OPTIMIZATION

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Blocked Calls

Blocked Calls can occur due to :

•Access Failures
•SDCCH Congestion
•SDCCH Drop
•TCH Congestion

Trouble shooting cause :

•Use Layer 3 messages to analyze the cause
•Decode System Information Type 3 messages.
•Note the parameter , “max_retransmission” ;
“CCCH CONF” and “BS_AG_BLKS_RES”

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Blocked Call Analysis - L3 messages

1 3

Channel Request Channel Request

RACH .
: Imm Assignment
RACH
max_retrans Service Request
NO RESPONSE FROM N/W
ACCESS FAILURE ! Signalling
:
Signalling
2
NO TCH ASSIGNMENT
Channel Request Mobile Returns To Idle
RACH TCH BLOCKED !
Imm Assign Reject

SDCCH BLOCKED !

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Blocked Call - Cause troubleshooting

Access Failures
- CCCH Overload at the Base Station
- Uplink Interference at the Base Station
- Low Rxlev at the Base Station
- Downlink Low Rxlev ( Coverage Hole )
- Downlink Interference
- Excess Cell Range

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Access Failure - Troubleshooting
Optimisation

Access Failure - Uplink Problem

Causes:

1. AGCH Overload at Base Station

2. RACH Collisions
3. MS out of Range
4. Poor Uplink quality
5. BTS Receiver Problem

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Blocked Call Analysis
SDCCH Congestion Cause
Location Updates
to be analysed with OMC statistics first.
If high, determine the source to target cell ratio
Drive around the suspected area in the Idle Mode
Configure “Delta LAC < > Constant 0” alarms
Optimize Location Updates
Interference
Analyze OMC statistics on “ Idle Channel Interference”
Carry out Uplink Interference Measurements using Viper
Heavy Traffic
Verify from OMC statistics SDCCH Congestion
Carry Call Setup Time measurements
Optimize set up time if high, else modify channel configuration

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Blocked Call
Optimisation

TCH Blocked - Causes

•Interference
-- Verify Idle Channel Interference reports from OMC
-- If suspected, carry out uplink interference measurements

•Heavy Traffic
-- Verify the TCH Holding time and no of attempts statistics from OMC
-- During low traffic hours, Activate Cell barring in the cell
-- Carry out Time slot testing , by setting Ignore Cell Barring.

Solutions To Blocked Calls

Optimize coverage
Optimize Cell loading
Interference management
Channel configurations
Optimize neighbors

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Dropped Call
Troubleshooting

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Drop Calls Analysis
1 2

Channel Request Channel Request

Imm Assignment Imm Assignment

Service Request Service Request

Signalling SDCCH Signalling

: :
Signalling Speech
TCH
RLT = 0 ; DROPS RLT = 0 ; DROPS
SDCCH DROP ! TCH DROP !

3 SDCCH / TCH

Handover Command

Hand Access

Handover Failure

HANDOVER FAILURE DROP !

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Dropped Call Analysis

• Solutions to Dropped
• SDCCH Drops - Causes Calls
•Coverage
•Interference & Multipath
•Optimize Coverage
•BTS performance •Interference
Management
•Optimize neighbors
• TCH Drops - Causes •Optimize handover
•Coverage
•Interference & Multipath
parameters
•BTS performance •Effective Frequency
•Pre-emption Hopping
•Use of DTX & Power
control
• Handover Failure - Causes
•Threshold parameters
•Missing neighbors

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•SDCCH Drop - Coverage

•SDCCH Drop - Co- Channel Interference
•SDCCH Drop - Adjacent Channel Interference
•SDCCH Drop - Uplink Problem
•TCH Drop - Coverage
•TCH Drop - Co-Channel Interference
•TCH Drop - Adjacent Channel Interference
•TCH Drop - Uplink Problem
•Handover Failure

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Poor Quality
Optimisation

•Poor Speech Quality could be due to

•Patchy Coverage ( holes)
•No Target cell for Handover
•Echo , Audio holes, Voice Clipping
•Interference ---:
•Co-channel
•Adjacent channel
•External
•Multipath
•Noise

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Speech Quality Parameters
Optimisation

RxQUAL : Measured on the midamble.

Indicates poor speech quality due to radio interface impairments

FER : Measured on the basis of BFI ( Ping -Pong effect on speech )

Preferred under Frequency Hopping situation

Audio holes : Blank period of speech, due to malfunctioning of Transcoder

boards or PCM circuits.

Mean Opinion Score (MOS) : ITU standard for estimating speech quality.

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Speech Quality Parameters
Optimisation

Mean Opinion Score

Criteria for Voice Quality : A set value “x” at which “y” percent of customers
rate the voice quality at Circuit Merits(CM) 4 - 5.
MOS Quality Scale

5 Excellent ( speech perfectly understandable)

4 Good ( speech easily understandable, some noise)

3 Fair ( speech understandable with a slight effort,

occasional repetitions needed)
2 Poor ( speech understandable only with
considerable effort, frequent repetitions needed)
1 Unsatisfactory ( speech not understandable)

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Troubleshooting
Handover Problems

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Troubleshooting - No Handover
Optimisation

Weak Neighbors - Reported by Phone

Create a Handover PLAN

Total Attempted Calls

Total Dropped Calls
Total Blocked Calls
RxQual Full
RxLeve Full
RLT Current Value
ARFCN
Neighbor Cell Measurements
RR Message
Phone State
Sequency Number

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Analyzing - No Handover

No Neighbor( very weak)

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Missing Neighbors
Real Time
Frequency Re-
BCH Analyzer : TOP N = 7 use
Configure an Alarm for Missing Neighbor 'B' NET
“Subset BCH TOP N not-subset Value ARFCN” CH 35
BSIC
16

'B' NET
CH 35 'B' NET
'A' NET BSIC
'A' NET
21 CH 40
CH 88 BSIC
BSIC 15
53
CH 98 'B' NET
BSIC
'B' NET
57 CH 25
CH 29 BSIC
'B' NET BSIC 17
PHONE REPORTS
CH RxQual RxLev 22
27 1 -80
CH 27 'A' NET
BSIC
35 -85
23
CH 72
40 -83 BSIC
25 -95 75
Channel 29 is not in the neighbour list !
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Troubleshooting - Handover Parameter
&&Optimisation
Optimisation

Settings

•Decide the Target Cell for handover in the Trouble Spot

•Filter the Handover.txt file on Handover Attempts ( before AND after numbers)
•Filter again on Neighbor ARFCN = Target Cell ARFCN
•Create another column as HO_Margin , with Delta for Neighbor_Level to RxLev
•Plot this on the MAP and see wether Handover Margin can be reduced to improve
quality OR increased to avoid Ping-Pong effects
•If handover margin settings are proper, and still handover is not occurring then it
could be a problem with Handover decision and processing parameters at the
BSC.

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Troubleshooting - Uplink Interference

•Uplink Interference can be due to:

• Mobiles in reuse and adjacent channel cells
•External sources

•Interference due to Mobiles will be bursty and intermittent.

•The behavior and its effect on quality will be time dependent.
•More interference during heavy traffic hours.
•Interference from external sources can be continous or also
time dependent if the source is not continously ON.

•Uplink Interference measurement needs long term monitoring ,

collection of data, processing the data and estimating the
probability of interference , and also estimating the source.

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Optimization for Interference

After drive test - Co-Channel benchmarking, we know which
cells are generating severe co-channel problem
We also know by decoding BSIC , the interefering source
Following processes could be adopted to optimize
interference
---- Power Control
---- Antenna Tilts
---- Frequency Reallocations
---- Transmitter Tests
---- Mobile dispatch inspection
---- Space Diversity
---- Frequency Hopping /DTX

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Optimisation

Antenna Tilts
M N
A
50m

x
6 km 1 km


Point x is having problem of C/I from Cell M

Estimate the C/I improvement required at Point x.

Refer to the Antenna Vertical Pattern, and calculate the tilting angle required

Example : To get an improvement of 3 dB , a tilt of 10 degrees is required.


Tilting of Antenna in certain cases may reduce coverage also.

Tilting of Antenna should be done after proper study.

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Optimisation

Co-Channel Optimization
 Static Power Control

 Antenna Tilting

 Trade Off with EC/No

 Frequency Reallocation

 Implementing Features like

Dynamic Power Control, DTX and
Frequency Hopping

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&&Optimisation
Optimisation

DRT & Queuing

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Optimisation
Directed Retry (DR)

• DR used to avoid the loss of a call in call-setup if the accessed cell is congested
• When no TCH is available in serving cell, TCH can be allocated in an adjacent cell (SDCCH  TCH HO)
• Mobile Originated (MOC) and Mobile Terminated (MTC) Calls
• Target cell entry based on DR Method; TCH
• Method 0 - RxLevAccessMin SDCCH
• Method 1 - drThreshold
•Imperative Handover (only equation 1)
• Candidates ranked based on radio properties.
congested
• Steps through candidates (if congested) until MaxTimeLimitDR expires

• Queuing can take place in source cell, not in target cell.

Time DR not allowed : improves the reliability of

minTimeLimitDR the measurements of adjacent cells and gives the
queuing process time
Assignment DR allowed
Request
maxTimeLimitDR

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Optimisation
Directed Retry parameters

Parameters Value

drInUse Yes / No
MinTimeLimitDR 0 … 14 sec.
MaxTimeLimitDR 1 … 15 sec.
drMethod 0: (Improvement not in use)

1: (Threshold evaluation method)

drThreshold -47 … -110 dBm

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Optimisation
Directed Retry

macro cell

DR congestion
DR

congestion

micro cells

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&&Optimisation
Optimisation
Intelligent Directed Retry
macro cell (GSM cell)
• Based on Directed Retry : Target Cell selection depends on IDR micro cells
• Classmark of the MS or MS Priority congestion
(MCN cells)
• Adjacent Cell Type MCN
• Subscribers Classified in GSM or MCN subscriber
• Based on Classmark ( bitmap in BSC associates
classmarks to GSM / MCN )
• Based on MS Priority ( bitmap in BSC associates MS • •No
NoTCH
TCHAvailable
Availableon
onAccessed
AccessedCell
Cell
Priorities to GSM / MCN ) • GSM or MCN subscriber ?
• GSM or MCN subscriber ?
• Criterion defined in the BSC
• •MCN => IDR in Use in the Cell ?
• DR and IDR enabled / disabled independently on cell basis. MCN => IDR in Use in the Cell ?
• •Yes => Directed Retry Only to MCN
Yes => Directed Retry Only to MCN
Cells
Cells
• No => Reject Call
• No => Reject Call
• GSM => DR in Use in the Cell ?
• GSM => DR in Use in the Cell ?
•Yes => Directed Retry (any Cell)
•Yes => Directed Retry (any Cell)
• No => Reject Call
• No => Reject Call
Parameters Value
macro cell (GSM cell)
IdrUsed Yes/No DR
CellType GSM / MCN congestion
AdjCellType GSM / MCN micro cells
GSM (MCN cells)
subscriber

NOKIA TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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&&Optimisation
Optimisation
Queuing of Radio Resources
• Used to avoid rejecting call set-up or HO attempt by waiting for the release of a suitable
TCH

• Queuing Environment
• queuing is a BTS specific procedure (controlled by the BSC)
• each BTS has a queue of its own
• individual queue parameters and queue management for each BTS
• call attempts and handovers in the same queue
• the maximum queue length is relative to the number of traffic channels
• the maximum queuing time can be set individually for both queue types
• the queuing can be de-activated by setting queuing time or queue length to zero
• different priorities according to queue type (call/HO) and/or MS priority
Entering the queue:
• The queue is entered when there is no traffic channels available of requested kind and
if
• queuing is allowed in the BTS
• queuing enabled in the assignment request from MSC
• queue is not full (of higher or equal priority requests)

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Optimisation
Queuing of Radio Resources
Prioritisation:
• The placement in the queue is determined by:
• queue type (priority)
• call set-up
• handover attempt (non-urgent)
• urgent handover attempt
• MS Priority level in the PIE element of Assignment Request or Handover
Request
• time of entering the queue
Allocation of TCH
• When a TCH is released (in either channel release or TSL/TRX lock) the queue is
checked from top to bottom in order to find a queuer whose requirements match with the
released channel
• If a suitable queued call is found the TCH is allocated to the queued call and the queue is
re-organised

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Optimisation
Queuing of Radio Resources

Leaving the Queue

• A queuer is removed from the queue when
• No suitable channel is released within queuing time limit => timer expires
• Higher priority subscriber (queue type and/or MS priority) replaces a lower priority queued
entry when the queue is full
• The queuing TRX/TSL is blocked (call release)
• Queue size is reduced due to removing TRX’s

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Optimisation
Queuing of Radio Resources
• Queuing reserves SDCCH

• SDCCH occupation for call setup 7 seconds.

• If maximum queuing time for calls is 10 s
• => in case of queuing 50-60 % more load on SDCCH / call attempt!!

• (2 TRXs cell) with Combined BCCH / SDCCH

• If maximum queue is 50 % of TRX x 8 = 8 queuing positions
 If there are 4 call attempts in queue, SDCCHs are fully booked
 no space for short messages or for location updates on SDCCH

cell is fully overloaded!!

Netwing 2008 – NWT

10.
10.KPI
KPI
&&Optimisation
Optimisation
Queuing of Radio Resources
Queuing and Handover

• Internal inter cell Handover

• Ranked list is produced by the Handover algorithm and passed to RR management
• Maximum sixteen cells as alternative target cells
• The best candidate with free traffic channel is selected
• If all BTSs in the list are congested
 queuing possibility is checked in the candidates according to ranking
• External inter cell Handover
• The BTS identified by the MSC in a HANDOVER_REQUEST message is used as queuing
target

• Averaging and processing for HO continues during queuing

• The timers for hoPeriodPBGT or hoPeriodUmbrella are stopped during queuing

Netwing 2008 – NWT

10.
10.KPI
KPI
&&Optimisation
Optimisation
Queuing of Radio Resources
Queuing and Directed Retry (DR)

• Directed retry and queuing are parallel procedures

• When the queuing and DR processes are both active for a call;
• If MaxTimelImitDR expires without any DR attempt, the queuing will be terminated even
if the queuing timer(s) have not elapsed
• If a TCH is released in the serving cell during the period when DR is not allowed/allowed,
DR process is terminated

Netwing 2008 – NWT

10.
10.KPI
KPI
&&Optimisation
Optimisation
Queuing of Radio Resources
Queuing Parameters

Parameters Values

maxQueueLength 0 ... 100 %

timeLimitCall 0 ... 15 (s)

timeLimitHandover 0 ... 10 (s)

msPriorityUsedInQueuing Yes / No
queuePriorityUsed Yes / No

queuingPriorityCall 1 ... 14
queuingPriorityHandover 1 ... 14
queuingPriorityNonUrgentHO 1 …14

Netwing 2008 – NWT

10.
10.KPI
KPI
&&Optimisation
Optimisation
Dropped Call Control
Call re-establishment
Radio Link Timeout
• In case of a Radio Link Failure
• A counter is initialised at the value of the
(radioLinkTimeout) within 20 seconds.
radioLinkTimeout
• Measurements averaged over 5 seconds for
• When SACCH is not correctly received
serving Cell BCCH
•Counter decremented by 1
adjacent Cell BCCHs
• Strongest is considered
• When SACCH correctly received
BCCH data decoded (cell selection param.)
Counter incremented by 2
If: C1 greater than 0, Cell not barred
Cell belong to selected PLMN,
•When counter reaches 0 call is released
Call re-establishment allowed
• Call re-establishment attempted
• Same behaviour UL and DL

Parameters Values
radioLinkTimeout 4 ... 64 SACCH
callReestablishmentAllowed Yes/No

Netwing 2008 – NWT

10.
10.KPI
KPI
&&Optimisation
Optimisation
SDCCH ASSIGNMENT

Netwing 2008 – NWT