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Case Study of WCDMA Optimization

Performance Analysis of Nastar

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Contents

Introduction to Genex Nastar

Performance analysis process

Typical cases

Summary

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Major Function Modules of Nastar

Modules of Nastar:
Performance analysis
Coverage analysis
Interference analysis
Adjacent cell analysis
Configuration analysis
Access analysis

Call drop analysis

This training material describes some application cases of the


performance analysis part only.

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Major Functions of Performance Analysis Module

Major functions of the


performance analysis module:
Traffic statistics analysis
Performance Query
Performance Report
CHR analysis
CHR Analysis

The above functions are often used during analysis and their specific applications are described in the typical cases that will
follow. Below is a brief introduction to the operations for various functions. Please refer to the online help or relevant
operation guide of Nastar for details.
Note: The TOP N Query in the above figure is also a traffic statistics analysis function of Nastar . It can automatically
complete some sorting & analysis work, but it can only analyze cell measurement indices rather than RNC and SPU

measurement indices. This limitation makes it inconvenient to use and so we do not describe this function for the time being.
You may refer to the online help of Nastar if you are interested in it.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis Module


Operation overview of performance query
Performance Query provides flexible traffic measurement index query. Before querying traffic measurement
indices, we must first make the analysis theme (a table composed of relevant traffic measurement indices is
called an analysis theme), so as to query the traffic measurement indices accordingly.
There are some default analysis themes in Nastar, as shown in the figure on the right.

The default analysis themes are simple and inflexible.


Moreover, performance problems occur to a wide scope
and various features are correlated. Obviously the default
analysis themes cannot satisfy the needs of routine
problem monitoring and analysis. Therefore, the analyzer
often needs to make the analysis theme by himself/herself.

It is a basic performance analysis skill for us to master the


methods of making and querying analysis themes.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis Module

What follows are the specific operation steps of making and querying analysis themes (here
we take Cell TOPN monitoring as an example)

Note: A table composed of relevant traffic measurement indices is called an analysis theme.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis Module (Continued)

Step 1: Right click Performance Query and then select New Perf
Func, as shown in the right figure.

Step 2: Select CELL Algorithm and Performance Measurement in the


Query Type dialog box, as shown in the right figure.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis Module (Continued)

Step 3: Input the name of the analysis theme in the Name text box
and then click Query List Setting, as shown in the right figure.

Step 4: Select the indices involved in the analysis theme from the
left index tree in the Query List Setting dialog box and then click
>, as shown in the right figure.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis Module (Continued)

Step 5: The Query List box shows the selected indices. Click OK,

as shown in the right figure.

Step 6: Click Up and/or Down to adjust the sequence of the


indices displayed in the Avail Items List box (the topmost item is the
first line of data to be output) , and then click OK to finish making the
analysis theme, as shown in the right figure.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis Module (Continued)

Step 7: The Performance Query node on the navigation tree shows


the analysis theme you have just made. Double click the analysis
theme. The Query dialog box pops up, as shown in the right figure.

Step 8: Select the begin date and end date of the data to be
analyzed as well as the time granularity on the Time Range tab
page, as shown in the right figure.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis Module


(Continued)
Step 9: Select the cell(s) to be analyzed on the Query Object tab page,
as shown in the right figure. Finally, click OK. The program will start
executing the query according to the analysis theme you have specified.

Step 10: Click the ALL icon to display all the query
results. Select a certain cell in the first line and then
click the ZA icon to sort the output data
according to the selected cell (or you can sort the
output data by other cells you select). Finally, click the
X icon to convert the outputs into Microsoft Office
Excel for display, as shown in the right figure. Till now,

the operation ends.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis Module (Continued)

Operation overview of performance report


We may combine analysis themes to form templates so as to improve the efficiency of analysis. As these
templates can be kept and transferred, repeated operations are avoided and there is great convenience in
experience accumulation and sharing. Each time you make an analysis, you just need to output reports
according to the templates you specify. This is the traffic statistic analysis mode of Performance Report.
Nastar has integrated some report templates based on experience, as shown in the following figure. It also
provides the custom report template function, that is, you can make report templates according to your own
experience. To distinguish them, here we call the integrated templates as Self-contained report templates
of Nastar and call the custom templates as Custom report templates of Nastar.
No matter whether it is a self-contained report template or a custom
report template of Nastar, the operation of outputting the report is
basically the same. Below we take the operation of outputting the RNC
Weekly Report as an example.
Note: Please refer to the online help or relevant operation guide of
Nastar for how to make a custom report template.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis


Module (Continued)
Step 1: Double click RNC Weekly Report, as shown in the right figure.

Step 2: In the dialog box that pops up, select the path to save the report,
the analyzed object and the start date and end date of the data to be
analyzed, as shown in the right figure. Finally, click OK. The program
will immediately generate a report and the operation thus ends.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis


Module (Continued)
Operation overview of CHR analysis
Nastar provides the CHR analysis function, through which the other failure causes of traffic measurement
and the doubtful & exceptional traffic statistics can be further analyzed so as to obtain more detailed
failure causes and learn the detailed exceptional process.

Below is a brief description of relevant operations of CHR analysis:

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis


Module (Continued)
Step 1: Double click SPU Subscribers Log Analysis, as shown
in the right figure.

Step 2: In the dialog box that pops up, select the start date and
time of the data to be analyzed, end date and time, abnormal
case, UE ID, procedure (by default all are selected) and the
analyzed object, and then click OK, as shown in the right

figure.

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Operation Overview of Performance Analysis


Module (Continued)
Step 3: See the following figure for the CHR analysis interface. Please refer to the relevant guide, e.g.
Instructions on Use of BSC6800V100R002B03D306 Testability Log, for a detailed description and analysis
method of this interface.

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Contents

Introduction to Genex Nastar

Performance analysis process

Typical cases

Summary

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Performance Analysis Process

General process of performance analysis


Cell TOPN
monitoring

Network-wide
KPI monitoring

Cell analysis
Parameter configuration analysis

Clearly
located?

Yes

No

CHR
analysis

Clearly
located?
Yes

Solution

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No

Problem location test


& signaling trace
analysis
(troubleshooting)

Performance Analysis Process (Continued)


Description of the performance analysis process
Network-wide KPI monitoring: Monitor the KPIs of the entire network. Exceptions indicate that the network
has severe problems, for example, when a certain KPI in the weekly/daily report is displayed in red, it means
that index is abnormal in the entire network.
Cell TOPN monitoring: Monitor the KPI TOPN distribution of cells at the monitoring time granularity of a
matter of hours, so as to avoid the case where the performance deterioration of a certain cell in a certain time
span is concealed in space and time (thus we may avoid the situation where the KPIs of the entire network are
all normal but the performance of a certain cell in a certain time span has severely deteriorated). Besides, we
can also monitor some non-KPI metrics, e.g. uplink RTWP, cell out of service, co-channel/inter-channel/intersystem handover preparation success rate, board CPU utilization, etc.
Cell analysis: Analyze the failure that occurred to the specific cell in the specific time and classify the failure

causes by cause analysis in the traffic statistics; analyze if the specific network conduct is abnormal or not, for
example, analyze if such network conducts as the proportion of RRC setup request types, RAB setup
distribution, RB distribution and DCCC rise/fall are abnormal or not.

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Performance Analysis Process (Continued)

Parameter configuration analysis: Analyze if the relevant parameter configuration is abnormal or not.
CHR analysis: Further analyze the causes unknown in cell analysis, e.g. Other causes; or analyze if the
specific procedure is abnormal or not when the specific failure cause is known through cell analysis but the
correlation analysis results indicate that the cause may be wrong (possible due to statistical error or other
problems).
Problem location test and signaling trace analysis: Perform the location test on the severest cell(s), trace the
signaling of various interfaces and all the other data that may help problem analysis & location, and then
comprehensively analyze the collected data till the problem is solved. This process is called troubleshooting.
Solution: Put forward the solution.

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Performance Analysis Process (Continued)


Mapping from the performance analysis process to
Nastar performance analysis function
Nastar flexibly supports network-wide KPI monitoring, cell TOPN monitoring, cell analysis and CHR analysis
through various analysis functions. The figure below shows the correspondence:

Network-wide
KPI monitoring

Cell TOPN
monitoring

Cell analysis

CHR analysis
Note: The red lines indicate the major analysis functions.

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Contents

Introduction to Genex Nastar

Performance analysis process

Typical cases

Summary

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Case 1 Plenty of Non-Service RRC Requests due to Wrong


Setting of CN Denial Cause Value

Network-wide KPI monitoring


A network has little traffic but there are plenty of non-service RRC setup requests, as shown in the following
table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

As can be seen from the above table, the number of non-service RRC setup requests is 33 times

(112391/3389=33) that of service RRC setup requests. This ratio may be abnormal.

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Case 1 Plenty of Non-Service RRC Requests due to Wrong


Setting of CN Denial Cause Value (Continued)

Cell analysis
According to the types of RRC setup requests for all cells, the number of RRC connection setup requests for
registration in some cells accounts for over 99% of the total RRC connection setup requests, as shown in the
following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.
Through the above cell analysis, we are sure that the ratio of non-service RRC setup requests to service RRC
setup requests is abnormal.

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Case 1 Plenty of Non-Service RRC Requests due to Wrong


Setting of CN Denial Cause Value (Continued)

RNC signaling analysis


Through further RNC LMT interface signaling trace, we find that there are indeed quite many RRC connection
setup requests of registration type and most of them are repeated requests from the same IMSI, as shown in
the following figure:

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Case 1 Plenty of Non-Service RRC Requests due to Wrong


Setting of CN Denial Cause Value (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


After querying the 3G HLR, we know that the IMSI 460019115045990 shown in the above figure is not a registered 3G
user. Certainly the users registration request will always be denied and thus the registration will always fail. The
problem here is why the RRC request of the same IMSI keeps appearing. According to protocol analysis, when a UE
enters the 3G system and if its registration request is denied by the CN, the UE may take one of the following actions:
a) if the denial cause is #17 cause value (network failure), then the UE will start the T3211 timer (15s). After this timer
expires, the UE will attempt three times (the Attempt Counter of the timer is then 4) and then enter the restricted state.
If in this period the T3212 timer expires, then the above procedure will be triggered again. If the LAI changes, the UE
will make the above attempt immediately in the new LAI.
b) If the denial cause is #15 cause value (no suitable cells in LA), the UE will record this LAI in the Forbidden LA list
and will not make multiple attempts as in the above case (#17 cause value). The UE will not initiate the registration
procedure again till an LA not in the Forbidden LA list appears or the UE is switched on again. After confirming with
the CN side, we know that the cause value is indeed set to #17. So the root cause is found.
In general, if 2G and 3G use the same PLMN ID in the 3G coverage area and if the 2G IMSI uses a 3G UE, the above
problem will immediately occur after the user is dropped from the 2G network. Therefore, plenty of non-service RRC

setup requests will arise and consume plenty of power, code, transport and other resources and may cause congestion.

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Case 1 Plenty of Non-Service RRC Requests due to Wrong


Setting of CN Denial Cause Value (Continued)

Solution
Modify the cause value of CN denial from #17 (network failure) to #15 (no suitable cells in LA). After the
modification, the ratio of non-service RRC setup requests to service RRC setup requests in the entire network
becomes 3467/15912 = 4.59, which is normal (the normal ratio should be less than 10 according to the data
statistics of various commercial offices), as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

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Case 2 Transport Congestion due to IUB Bandwidth


Configuration Error

Network-wide KPI monitoring


Both the service RRC connection setup success rate and the non-service RRC connection setup success rate
are low in a network, as shown in the following table:

RRC Connection Setup Success Rate(service)(>95%)

89.17%(10700/12000)

RRC Connection Setup Success Rate(other)(>95%)

91.05%(118396/130038)

Access

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

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Case 2 Transport Congestion due to IUB Bandwidth


Configuration Error (Continued)

Cell analysis
As can be seen from the right
table, the major cause of RRC
connection setup failure is that
plenty of RRC connection
requests are denied when Cells
0, 1 and 2 are busy and the RRC
connection denial rate is up to
62%. In most cases, the denial
cause is due to AAL2 setup
failure. According to routine

experience and the reply from


R&D, AAL2 setup failure is mostly
caused by transport congestion.
The three cells belong to the
same Node B.
Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

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Case 2 Transport Congestion due to IUB Bandwidth


Configuration Error (Continued)

Parameter configuration analysis


As can be see from the indices in green on the right side of the above table, the uplink/downlink RLC mean throughput and the
maximum quantity of uplink/downlink CE resources occupied are not large in the case of transport congestion, so possibly the
transport congestion is caused by IUB bandwidth configuration error.
Open the RNC MML configuration script and find the IUB configuration of the Node B with transport congestion as follows:
The Node B has two pairs of E1 and the bearer type is IMA.
The total bandwidth (PCR) configured for NCP, CCP, ALCAP and IPOA is 302 kbps.
There are two AAL2 paths. One is configured for HSDPA service and the bandwidth is 2442 kbps; the other is
for R99 service and the bandwidth is 891 kbps.

The two pairs of E1 in IMA bearer mode can provide 1860 * 2 = 3720 kpbs ATM transport capability. Excluding the common
bandwidth occupied by NCP, CCP, ALCAP and IPOA, they should be able to provide 3720 - 302 = 3418 kbps bandwidth for
traffic channels. Moreover, there are two AAL2 paths and the sharing mode should be configured between AAL2 paths, that is,
the bandwidth of each AAL2 path should be set to the maximum transport capability of traffic channels.
Therefore, the bandwidth of HSDPA and that of R99 AAL2 paths should be both set to 3418 kbps. Obviously, the bandwidth of

R99 AAL2 paths is set to 891 kbps (too small). Even without considering soft handover, 891 kbps cannot satisfy the access
needs of two 384 kbps services (R99 services), so transport congestion may occur.

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Case 2 Transport Congestion due to IUB Bandwidth


Configuration Error (Continued)

Solution
Configure the AAL2 path bandwidth of HSDPA and that of R99 to 3418 kbps. After the modification, the service
RRC connection setup success rate and the non-service RRC connection setup success rate both reach the
normal KPI requirement and the problem is thus solved, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

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Case 3 Low Paging Success Rate due to Paging Cycle


Coefficient Setting Error

Network-wide KPI monitoring


The paging success rate of a certain network is less than 35% (very low), as shown in the following figure:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Weekly Report of Nastar.
Moreover, users say that the paging response time is rather long.

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Case 3 Low Paging Success Rate due to Paging Cycle


Coefficient Setting Error (Continued)

Parameter configuration analysis


Open the RNC MML script. The CN domain paging cycle coefficient DrxCycleLenCoef is set to 8 and the
paging resend count MACCPageRepeat is set to 1.

Moreover, we know from the CN side that the CS paging resend count is set to 3, the interval between the first
paging and the second paging is 3 seconds, and the resend interval of the third paging is 4 seconds.

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Case 3 Low Paging Success Rate due to Paging Cycle


Coefficient Setting Error (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


As can be seen from the above settings, the paging detection cycle of the UE in the idle mode, that is, the DRX

(discontinuous reception) cycle is 2^8 = 2.56s. Each paging message from the CN will be sent twice in the
RNC and the paging interval is 2^8 = 2.56s. In other words, at least 22^8 = 5.12s is needed before each
paging resent by the RNC can be responded by the UE. Generally, the paging resend count and resend
interval of the CN must be considered along with the resend of the UTRAN. If the UTRAN resends the paging
once, then the resend interval of the CN should be more than two DRX cycles. Obviously, the resend interval of
the CN (3s) is less than two DRX cycles (5.12s) and so the CN starts to resend the next paging message
before the UTRAN finishes sending and resending the preceding paging message. Therefore, no paging
response is obtained and this problem is shown as paging failure in the traffic statistics of the RNC.

For the UE in the idle mode, the DRX cycle is 2^8 = 2.56s and the UEs paging response time is more than
2.56s, so the paging response time is longer than we actually feel.

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Case 3 Low Paging Success Rate due to Paging Cycle


Coefficient Setting Error (Continued)

Solution
Modify the paging cycle coefficient of the CN domain DrxCycleLenCoef from 8 to 6 (baseline). After the
modification, the DRX cycle is reduced from 2.56s to 0.64s and the paging success rate of the entire network is
larger than 85%, as shown in the following figure. The problem is thus solved.

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Weekly Report of Nastar.

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Case 4 Low Paging Success Rate due to 2G&3G


Combined Paging

Network-wide KPI monitoring


The paging success rate of a certain network is less than 10% (very low), as shown in the following figure:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Weekly Report of Nastar.

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Case 4 Low Paging Success Rate due to 2G&3G


Combined Paging (Continued)

Parameter configuration analysis


Check the RNC MML script. The parameter configurations related to paging are found normal.

Site investigation
Because the paging success rate kept being rather low for a number of days, we preliminarily determined that
there was little possibility of weak coverage. We checked the CN and found that the 2G&3G combined paging
policy was set in the MSC, that is, any paging message destined to 2G or 3G would be initiated to all the LACs
in the 2G and 3G networks so as to guarantee paging response.

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Case 4 Low Paging Success Rate due to 2G&3G Combined


Paging (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


The above combined paging policy will surely cause the 3G paging success rate to be low. Because there
are quite many 2G subscribers at the site, plenty of paging messages to 2G subscribers will also be sent in
the 3G network and because the called subscribers are 2G subscribers, the 3G network will surely not
receive any paging response. Therefore, the 3G paging success rate will surely be low. The more paging
messages to 2G subscribers, the lower 3G paging success rate.

The 2G/3G combined paging policy may be used in some scenarios to improve the paging response
probability to some extent, but it may also bring the following troubles:

1.

Paging channel congestion;

2.

The PCHs consume plenty of power;

3.

Increased air interface interference.

In sum, the 2G&3G combined paging policy has little gain but may easily bring other severe performance
problems. It is seldom used.

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Case 4 Low Paging Success Rate due to 2G&3G Combined


Paging (Continued)

Solution
Change the CN paging policy to the normal policy, that is, paging by LAC. After the modification, the paging
success rate of the entire network is higher than 85% and the problem is solved, as shown in the following
figure:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Weekly Report of Nastar.

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Case 5 Abnormal Load due to Unreasonable Common


Channel Power Ratio Configuration

Cell TOPN monitoring


In a network with many cells

Cell Max. Tx Power

empty-loaded, the ratio of the


power to the total power (i.e.
the downlink load) is between
3% and 38%, as shown in the
right table. Normally, the load
of a cell empty-loaded should
be about 20%, so the value

between 3% and 38% is


severely abnormal.

Note: You can get the above


table by combining
Performance Query of
Nastar and Excel.

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Empty Load Power Ratio

Case 5 Abnormal Load due to Unreasonable Common Channel


Power Ratio Configuration (Continued)

Parameter configuration analysis


The load abnormality in the case of empty load is usually caused by unreasonable common channel power ratio configuration.
Below is a comprehensive analysis of the script settings:
In the above table, the load of some cells empty-loaded is very huge. Lets take 38% here to make the calculation. After we deduct
the load of the empty-loaded cell, the admission redundancy (20%) and the power (30%) statically allocated to HSDPA, the power
left for R99 services is only 12% (100% - 38% -20% -30% = 12%), which is little and may very easily cause power congestion, that
is, the capacity is restricted.

Whats more, the load of some cells empty-loaded is very little, e.g. 3%, which is also abnormal. We may conclude through
calculation that such cells cannot be accessed due to pilot Ec/Io deterioration when the load of these cells is about 30%, so the
maximum load of such cells will be about 30%. Again because for the admission algorithm (Algorithm 1), load control algorithm and
other algorithms it is necessary to compare the current load with the corresponding threshold value (e.g. 75%) so as to decide
whether to start the corresponding algorithm, possibly the current load cannot be more than the corresponding threshold value and
the algorithms may fail.
We further check the script configuration and find that the following problems exist for the power ratio configuration of the cells with
abnormal load:
1.

The pilot power configuration is from 27 dBm to 37.8 dBm whereas the maximum transmit power of the cells is
mostly set to 44.8 dBm.

2.

The power ratio configuration of common channels such as PSCH, SSCH, PCH and FACH is far larger than the
baseline configuration.

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Case 5 Abnormal Load due to Unreasonable Common Channel


Power Ratio Configuration (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


Because the power of other channels uses pilot power as a reference, too high or low pilot power is the major reason why the load of cells
empty-loaded is too high or low. The pilot power should be reasonably set according to the maximum power of the cell. According to the
planning (simulation) requirements, the pilot power should be 10 dB less than the maximum transmit power of the cell. Too high pilot power

will result in capacity loss as mentioned above, whereas too low pilot power will cause the algorithms to fail and may bring other problems
such as mute. If we need to reduce the pilot power in special cases, we should also lower the configured maximum transmit power of that
cell, so that the pilot power is 10 dB less than the maximum transmit power of the cell. For instance, suppose we set the pilot power to 27
dBm, then we should configure the maximum transmit power of the cell to 37 dBm.
In some guidance documents about RF optimization, we are often told to modify pilot channel power as an optimization means. We do not
recommend this. Because the modification of pilot power in a large scope will result in numerous problems such as uplink-downlink
unbalance, service coverage void in the soft handover area and severe adjacent cell interference in the uplink. Therefore, we should start
with antenna parameters to solve RF problems such as weak coverage and pilot pollution. We should not adjust the pilot power unless in
special cases.
When the power ratio configuration of common channels such as PSCH, SSCH, PCH and FACH is far larger than the baseline
configuration, the load of cells empty-loaded may be too high. The baseline configuration of power ratio for common channels has been

verified in Beta tests and commercial offices. We should not modify the baseline configuration as a routine RF optimization means.
Moreover, we should use the smaller power ratio to attain a better balance between common channel coverage and traffic channel coverage
during the optimization, so that the common channel power ratio after the optimization is not far larger than the baseline configuration.

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Case 5 Abnormal Load due to Unreasonable Common Channel


Power Ratio Configuration (Continued)

Solution
Take the following measures:
1.

Optimize the configurations of the pilot power and cell maximum transmit power, so that the pilot power
is 10 dB or more less than the cell maximum transmit power, for example, Pcpich = 27 dBm, TCP = 37
dBm, Pcpich = 34.8 dBm and TCP = 44.8 dBm.

2.

Restore the power ratio configuration of common channels (PSCH, SSCH, PCH, FACH, etc. )t to the

corresponding baseline configuration.


After the above measures are taken, the cell loads restore to normal and the problem is thus solved without bringing
any other troubles, as shown in the following table:
Cell Max. Tx Power

Empty Load Power Ratio

Note: You can get the above table by combining Performance Query of Nastar and Excel.

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Case 6 Access Failure and Call Drop due to


External Interference

Cell TOPN monitoring


In a certain network, the average RTWP of quite many cells during some days is above 85 dBm, as shown in

the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

As can be seen from the above table, the cells with a high average RTWP have normal services (they are not
out of service) and very little traffic, so very probably external interference may cause the RTWP to raise.

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Case 6 Access Failure and Call Drop due to


External Interference (Continued)

Correlation analysis of RRC setup failure and interference

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.
As can be seen from the above table, the cause of RRC setup failure is that the UE does not reply and for the
cells whose failure rate is high with many failures, the average RTWP is above 95 dBm (rather high).
Moreover, there is very little traffic in these cells. Therefore, very probably the abnormal raise of RTWP may
cause plenty of RRC setup failures.

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Case 6 Access Failure and Call Drop due to


External Interference (Continued)

Correlation analysis of RAB setup failure and interference

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

As can be seen from the above table, the cause of CS RAB setup failure is air interface failure (mostly RB no
response) and for the cells whose failure rate is not high but with many failures, the average RTWP is above
92 dBm (very high). Moreover, there is very little traffic in these cells. Therefore, very probably the abnormal
raise of RTWP may cause CS RAB setup failure.

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Case 6 Access Failure and Call Drop due to


External Interference (Continued)

Correlation analysis of CS call drop and interference

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.
As can be seen from the above table, the cause of CS call drop is RF failure (mostly uplink synchronization
failure and UU interface no response). For the cells whose failure rate is high with many failures, the average
RTWP is above 92 dBm (very high). Moreover, there is very little traffic in these cells. Therefore, very
probably the abnormal raise of RTWP may cause CS call drop.

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Case 6 Access Failure and Call Drop due to


External Interference (Continued)

Correlation analysis of PS call drop and interference

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

As can be seen from the above table, the cause of PS call drop is RF failure (mostly uplink synchronization
failure and UU interface no response). For the cells whose failure rate is high with many failures, the average
RTWP is above 95 dBm (rather high). Moreover, there is very little traffic in these cells. Therefore, very
probably the abnormal raise of RTWP may cause PS call drop.

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Case 6 Access Failure and Call Drop due to


External Interference (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


According to the routine interference monitoring results and the correlation analysis between RRC setup
failure/RAB setup failure/call drop and the average RTWP, we may infer that possibly there exists strong
external interference that causes the RTWP of some cells to abnormally raise. The plenty of RRC setup
failures, RAB setup failures and call drops are all closely linked to the abnormal raise of RTWP.

For this reason, we carefully surveyed the radio environment at the site and searched for interference.
Through tests and problem location, we found that the strong interference came from the radio equipment
of the army. With our efforts, the customer requested the local radio commission to remove the existing
interference source or lower the power of the radio equipment. These external interference was gradually
reduced. The latest statistics show that the number of cells with abnormal raise of RTWP will decrease
with the weakening of abnormal raise of the average RTWP.

49

49
49

Case 6 Access Failure and Call Drop due to


External Interference (Continued)

Solution
Continue to push the customer and the local radio commission to shut off the interference source or reduce the
transmit power of the interference source so that the interference is within the acceptable range.

50

50
50

Case 7 Power Congestion due to Resource Restriction

Cell TOPN monitoring


Power congestion occurs to many cells in a network, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

As can be seen from the above table, power congestion mainly occurs in the PS RAB setup phase and
accounts for over 50% of all congestions. The congestion rate during PS RAB setup is as high as 16.55%.
Obviously, power congestion is quite severe.

51

51
51

Case 7 Power Congestion due to Resource


Restriction (Continued))

Parameter configuration analysis


Open the MML script to see the call admission parameter configuration of the cells with power congestion:

The downlink call admission algorithm uses Algorithm 1


(NBMDLCACALGOSELSWITCH=ALGORITHM_FIRST)

The maximum transmit power of the cell is 20W (MAXTXPOWER=430)

The call admission threshold of PS services is 75% (DLOTHERTHD=75)

Therefore, the power threshold for access denial of PS services is 10lg (20000*75%) = 41.76 dBm. We can
see from the above table that the transmit power of the cells with power congestion is above 41.92 dBm,
which is more than the admission threshold 41.76 dBm. Thus we know that the power congestion is normal.
Moreover, the maximum number of CEs in the downlink reaches 97 when congestion occurs, indicating that
there is indeed big traffic and power resource congestion is a fact.

52

52
52

Case 7 Power Congestion due to Resource Restriction


(Continued))

Solution
Solve power resource congestion by the following means:
1.

Optimize PS policies (e.g. DCCC, state transition, etc.)

2.

Increase carrier frequencies

3.

Increase micro cells in hot spots

4.

Cell splitting

5.

Introduce HSDPA

6.

Other means

Select the specific solution according to the actual situation.

53

53
53

Case 8 Code Congestion due to Resource Restriction

Cell TOPN monitoring


Code congestion occurs to quite many cells in a network, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.
As can be seen from the above table, code congestion mainly occurs in the PS RAB setup phase and accounts
for 100% of all congestions. The congestion rate during PS RAB setup is as high as 7.78%. Obviously, code

congestion is quite severe.

54

54
54

Case 8 Code Congestion due to Resource Restriction


(Continued))

Correlation analysis of code congestion, code utilization rate and traffic


As can be seen from the right green part in the above table, the average code utilization rate is over 60% when

code congestion occurs. Therefore, code congestion may easily occur. Moreover, the maximum number of CEs
in the downlink reaches 105 when the congestion occurs, indicating that there is indeed big traffic and code
resource congestion is a fact.

55

55
55

Case 8 Code Congestion due to Resource Restriction


(Continued))

Solution
The same as power resource congestion, we may solve code resource congestion by the following means:
1.

Optimize PS policies (e.g. DCCC, state transition, etc.)

2.

Increase carrier frequencies

3.

Increase micro cells in hot spots

4.

Cell splitting

5.

Introduce HSDPA

6.

Other means

Select the specific solution according to the actual situation.

56

56
56

Case 9 IUB Transport Congestion due to Resource


Restriction

Cell TOPN monitoring


Transport congestion occurs to quite many cells in a network, as shown in the following table

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.
As can be seen from the above table, IUB transport congestion mainly occurs in the PS RAB setup phase and
accounts for over 90% of all congestions. The congestion rate during PS RAB setup is as high as 31.33%.

Obviously, IUB transport congestion is quite severe.

57

57
57

Case 9 IUB Transport Congestion due to Resource


Restriction (Continued))

Parameter configuration analysis


Here we select Cell1211 to make an analysis. Open the MML scrip to see the relevant IUB transport bandwidth
configuration as follows:

The Node B to which the cell belongs has a pair of E1s and the bearer type is UNI

There is one AAL2 path for R99 services and the bandwidth is 1812 kbps

As can be seen from the above configuration, the IUB bandwidth configuration of the Node B is OK for the
physical bandwidth of one E1. However, we can see from the right green part in the above table that the
average downlink throughput is as high as 104.85 kbps when IUB transport congestion occurs to the cell and
so the cell traffic is rather high. Moreover, the Node B has two cells and the traffic of the two cells together will
be even higher. Therefore, one E1 cannot satisfy the actual bearer requirements and thus IUB transport
congestion may easily occur.

Therefore, IUB transport congestion is caused by limited transport resources.

58

58
58

Case 9 IUB Transport Congestion due to Resource


Restriction (Continued))

Solution
Solve transport resource congestion by the following means:
1.

Optimize PS policies (e.g. DCCC, state transition, etc.)

2.

Expand the capacity of transport resources

3.

Increase micro cells in hot spots

4.

Other means

Select the specific solution according to the actual situation.

59

59
59

Case 10 Plenty of RRC Connection Setup Failures due to


Node B Version Defect

Network-wide KPI monitoring


The RRC connection setup success rate in a network is rather low, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

60

60
60

Case 10 Plenty of RRC Connection Setup Failures due to


Node B Version Defect (Continued)

Cell analysis
RRC connection setup failure mostly occurs to such cells as 30843, 30863, 30252 and 30382. It is nearly 100%
for these cells and the major failure cause is that the UE does not reply, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

61

61
61

Case 10 Plenty of RRC Connection Setup Failures due to


Node B Version Defect (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


As can be seen from the right green part in the above table, the cells are in normal service, the RTWP is about -106
dBm and the maximum transmit power of the cells is about 36 dBm when RRC connection setup failed, so there is no
transport problem or uplink interference.
Assisted by the onsite engineers, we performed the dialing test on Cell 30843 and started IOS tracing. The failure
symptom is as follows: After receiving RRC CONNCET REQ, the RNC normally sends RRC CONNECT SETUP.
However, RRC connection setup failed because RRC CONNECT SETUP COMPLETE is not received. Finally, the
RNC initiates RL to release the link. See the figure below:

62

62
62

Case 10 Plenty of RRC Connection Setup Failures due to


Node B Version Defect (Continued)

Open the RRC CONNCET REQ message, as shown in the following figure:

As can be seen from the above figure, the downlink Ec/No is about (44-49)/2 = -2.5 dB when the RRC
connection setup request is initiated. Therefore, the downlink signal quality is OK and there should be no
downlink weak coverage or downlink interference problem.

63

63
63

Case 10 Plenty of RRC Connection Setup Failures due to


Node B Version Defect (Continued)

Try deactivating the cells and then activating them. The cells can be connected, as shown in the following figure:

Therefore, the problem is caused by Node B equipment fault.

The R&D confirmed that the problem was due to software version (V16 041) defect of Node B of BTS3812E

type and could be solved by upgrading the software version to V16 061.

64

64
64

Case 10 Plenty of RRC Connection Setup Failures due to


Node B Version Defect (Continued)

Solution
Upgrade the software version of the Node B of BTS3812E type to V16 061. After the software version upgrade,
the RRC connection setup success rate in the network reaches the normal KPI requirements and thus the

problem is solved, as shown in the following table:

65

65
65

Case 11 Power Congestion due to Unreasonable


Admission Parameter Setting

Cell TOPN monitoring


Power congestion in RRC setup

Power congestion occurs to

the cells in the right figure


(mainly 50201 and 50203) in
the RRC connection setup
phase and RAB setup phase.
Power congestion in RAB setup

According to the maximum


number of CEs when the
congestion occurs, we know
that the traffic is not very big.

Note: You can get the table on


the right via custom report or
Performance Query of
Nastar.

66

66
66

Case 11 Power Congestion due to Unreasonable


Admission Parameter Setting (Continued)

Parameter configuration analysis


Open the MML script. The uplink call admission algorithm of the two cells uses Algorithm 2. We can see
from the traffic that there is no uplink congestion. The downlink call admission algorithm uses Algorithm 1.
The downlink threshold of the conversational AMR voice service is 70%, that of conversational non-AMR
voice service is 70% and that of other services is 60%. Below are relevant MML commands:

ADD CELLCAC:CELLID = 50201, DLCONVAMRTHD = 70, DLCONVNONAMRTHD = 70,


DLOTHERTHD = 60
ADD CELLCAC:CELLID = 50203, DLCONVAMRTHD = 70, DLCONVNONAMRTHD = 70,
DLOTHERTHD = 60

Comparing the above with the baseline configurations and the corresponding settings of various
commercial offices, we can see that the values of the above call admission thresholds are too small.

67

67
67

Case 11 Power Congestion due to Unreasonable Admission


Parameter Setting (Continued)

Solution
Change the downlink thresholds of conversational AMR voice service, conversational non-AMR voice service
and other services respectively to 80%, 80% and 75% (the baseline values of RNC1.5). Then the power
congestion problem disappears.

68

68
68

Case 12 Code Congestion due to Unreasonable Setting of


DCCC and Soft Handover Parameters

Cell TOPN monitoring


Code congestion often occurs to Cells 50201 and 50203.

Note: You can get the table on the right via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

69

69
69

Case 12 Code Congestion due to Unreasonable Setting of


DCCC and Soft Handover Parameters (Continued)

Correlation analysis (1)


As viewed from RB distribution, in the downlink at 20:00 the two cells had quite many DL PS384k services,
some PS144k streaming services as well as some other services:

Note: You can get the above table via Performance Query of Nastar.

70

70
70

Case 12 Code Congestion due to Unreasonable Setting of


DCCC and Soft Handover Parameters

Further analysis reveals that the actual average RB traffic of PS high-speed service is not high:

So the DCCC related parameter configuration may be unreasonable.

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

71

71
71

Case 12 Code Congestion due to Unreasonable Setting of


DCCC and Soft Handover Parameters
The DCCC monitoring results show that there is no channel switching and there is no DCCC-related RB
reconfiguration in the entire network, as shown in the following table:

Possibly the DCCC switch is off.

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

72

72
72

Case 12 Code Congestion due to Unreasonable Setting of


DCCC and Soft Handover Parameters

Parameter configuration analysis (1)


Open the MML scrip. The DCCC switch is indeed off (SET CORRMALGOSWITCH:CHSWITCH =
DCCC_SWITCH-0).

We recommend that the DCCC switch be on (the DCCC-related parameters may temporarily use the default
ones or they can be optimized as needed so as to ensure that the users will not obviously feel the change).

When the DCCC switch is on, the code resources that do not need to be occupied will be released and the
corresponding power resources will also be released. In this way, code congestion and power congestion can
be alleviated to a certain extent.

73

73
73

Case 12 Code Congestion due to Unreasonable Setting of


DCCC and Soft Handover Parameters

Correlation analysis (2)


As can be seen from the following table, the ratio of 1A events to 1B events is even higher than 100.

Note: You can get the above table via Performance Query of Nastar.

74

74
74

Case 12 Code Congestion due to Unreasonable Setting of


DCCC and Soft Handover Parameters
Most of the weak links in the active set release resources by the out-of-sync mechanism, as can be verified in the
following table:

Note: You can get the above table via Performance Query of Nastar.

75

75
75

Case 12 Code Congestion due to Unreasonable Setting of


DCCC and Soft Handover Parameters

Parameter configuration analysis(2)


Open the MML script. The relevant threshold of RNC-level 1B is set to 14 (7 dB) and the trigger time is set to

2560 (2560 ms), which will make it hard to trigger the 1B event.

When the 1B event cannot be timely triggered, some links cannot be timely released and as a result some
code resources that do not need to be occupied will be occupied, thus easily causing code congestion.
Moreover, transport congestion and power congestion are likely to occur, too.
Lets have a look at Hong Kongs settings:The relative threshold of RNC-level 1B is set to 14 (7dB) but the
trigger time is set to 640 (640 ms). The ratio of 1A events to 1B events is within 2 and so the set values are
reasonable.

76

76
76

Case 12 Code Congestion due to Unreasonable Setting of


DCCC and Soft Handover Parameters

Solution
Take the following measures:
1.

Open the DCCC switch.

2.

Modify 1B parameters with reference to Hong Kongs relevant parameter configuration: the
relative threshold of RNC-level 1B is 14 (7 dB) and the trigger time is 640 (640 ms).

After the above are done, code congestion has disappeared.

77

77
77

Case 13 High Call Drop Rate due to Unreasonable Setting of 1D


Parameters and Inter-System Handover Parameters

Cell TOPN monitoring


Call drop occurs to the following cells:
As can be seen from the

above table, many cells in


the entire network have a
high CS or PS call drop
rate, mainly because of
RLC reset, uplink out-ofsync and UU interface no
response.
Note: You can get the
table on the right via
custom report or
Performance Query of
Nastar.

78

78
78

Case 13 High Call Drop Rate due to Unreasonable Setting of


1D Parameters and Inter-System Handover
Parameters (Continued)

Parameter configuration analysis


The above call drop is usually caused by weak coverage. We can find some problems from the MML:
1.

The RNC soft handover 1D hysteresis is set to 10 (5 dB) and the 1D trigger time is set to 1280

(1280 ms), which will make it hard to trigger the 1D event. So the list of best cells cannot be timely

updated,
causing the UE unable to obtain the appropriate adjacency and ultimately resulting in no

handover at all or delayed handover, which will further cause call drop (e.g. RLC reset, uplink outof-sync, UU interface no response , etc.). The below soft handover failure due to UE no response is
a case of call drop due to UU interface no response:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

79

79
79

Case 13 High Call Drop Rate due to Unreasonable Setting of


1D Parameters and Inter-System Handover
Parameters (Continued)

Lets have a look at the settings in Hong Kong and Brunei: 1D hysteresis is set to 8 (4 dB) and the
1D trigger time is set to 640 (640 ms), so the 1D event is more easily to trigger, which can be
verified by the ratio of 1D events to 1A events. In Hong Kong and Brunei, 1D events are about half
of 1A events,
but in this case the ratio is 1/8. So we recommend that the settings be changed to

the same as in Hong Kong and Brunei so that soft handover becomes more smooth and the call
drop rate can be improved.
2.

In inter-system handover, RSCP is used as the measurement (RNC level) and the compressed
mode enable threshold INTERRATPSTHD2DRSCP is set to -115 dBm. This threshold value is
too low, as a result the compressed mode may not be enabled before the call drop or call drop
may occur very easily in the inter-system handover after the compressed mode is enabled. These
call drop causes are also shown as RLC reset, uplink out-of-sync and UU interface no response.
Therefore, we recommend that the value of INTERRATPSTHD2DRSCP be changed to -105 dBm
or larger.

80

80
80

Case 13 High Call Drop Rate due to Unreasonable Setting of


1D Parameters and Inter-System Handover
Parameters (Continued)

Solution
Take the following measures:
1.

Modify 1D parameters with reference to relevant parameter configuration in Hong Kong and
Brunei: 1D hysteresis is set to 8 (4 dB) and the 1D trigger time is set to 640 (640 ms).

2.

Change the value of INTERRATPSTHD2DRSCP to -105dBm or a greater value, so as to


avoid call drop due to weak signals during signal switching.

After the above are done, both the CS call drop rate and the PS call drop rate are improved, as shown in
the following table:

Note: You can get the table on the right via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

81

81
81

Case 14 High Call Drop Rate due to RNC Traffic


Measurement Defect

Cell TOPN monitoring


Call drop occurs to the following cells:

We can see from the right


table that the PS call drop
rate is very high for cells
3062, 1362, 1403, etc.
and most are due to
Other causes.

Note: You can get the


table on the right via

custom report or
Performance Query of
Nastar.

82

82
82

Case 14 High Call Drop Rate due to RNC Traffic


Measurement Defect (Continued)

CDL analysis

Because the call drop cause is Other, we should first check the relevant CDL log.
Below is the log of Cell 1403 on May 3:
======No. 57======
Interface: RNCAP_NBM_NBAP_INTERFACE
Msg: NBAP_RL_RECFG_READY
======No. 58======
Interface: RNCAP_INTRA_INTERFACE
Msg: RNCAP_RL_SYNC_RECFG_RSLT

RL
reconfiguration is
complete

======No. 59======
FSM ID:RNCAP_RB_FSM_ID
CSS:RB SETUP
CS:RNCAP_CSS_RB_WAIT_UE_RB_SETUP_FAIL
======No. 60======
Alarm in RNCAP_AlcfgAlSetupConnType1Rsp:Received Iub AAL2 type1 setup responce message
from AL but result is 85 not success!
======No. 61======
Interface: RNCAP_INTRA_INTERFACE
Msg: RNCAP_MAIN_RUNTIME_ABNORMAL_MSG

83

83
83

AL configuration failed

Case 14 High Call Drop Rate due to RNC Traffic


Measurement Defect (Continued)
======No. 62======
Interface: RNCAP_CCB_STATE_TIMER_INTERFACE
Msg: RNCAP_TI_RB_WAIT_UE_RB_SETUP_FAIL
======No. 63======
FSM ID:RNCAP_RB_FSM_ID
CSS:RB SETUP
CS:RNCAP_CSS_RB_WAIT_UE_RB_SETUP_RSP

RB setup begins

======No. 64======
Interface: RNCAP_RNCAP_RRC_INTERFACE
Msg: RRC_RB_SETUP_CMP
======No. 65======
Interface: RNCAP_INTRA_INTERFACE
Msg: RNCAP_RB_SETUP_SUCC

RB setup is
complete

======No. 72======
Interface: RNCAP_INTRA_INTERFACE
Msg: RNCAP_RAB_SETUP_RSLT
======No. 73======
RAB Setup Procedure Succeed.
======No. 74======

Signaling plane setup succeeded


and the RNC returns the RAB
setup success message to the CN

FSM ID:RNCAP_IDLE_FSM_ID
CSS:IDLE
CS:RNCAP_CSS_IDLE

84

84
84

Case 14 High Call Drop Rate due to RNC Traffic


Measurement Defect (Continued)

======No. 75======
ENTER RNCAP_MainBackupRabSetupD2D . usCcbIndex = 127

User plane setup


failed

======No. 76======
Err in RNCAP_CcbCheckAbnormalFlags: User Plane Fail!RAB Fail Cn Domain id = 1, Rab Id = 5
======No. 77======
Err In RNCAP_CcbCheckAbnormalFlags: User Plane Fail! Table Type is : 9, Table Index is 2252
======No. 78======
Err In RNCAP_CcbCheckAbnormalFlags: User Plane Fail! Cause is 184945367

======No. 79======
Enter in RNCAP_RabRelReq for PS: Cause = 184945367, enRabRelReqType = 4.

The error code 184945367 can be interpreted as


RR_ERR_RNCAP_ALCFG_IUB_AAL2_MAX_BIT_RATE_FOR_FW_NOT_A
VAIL, that is, the limited transport bandwidth caused user plane setup failure.
The RNC enters the RAB release procedure

According to the above CDL procedure analysis: a) the RNC returns the RAB setup success message to the CN after completing
RL reconfiguration and RB setup (this is merely the setup success in the NBAP signaling plane); b) the limited transport bandwidth
caused the user plane setup failure during the NBAP user plane setup, so the RNC then initiates the RAB release procedure. The
Other cause in the above traffic statistics means the abnormal release here.

85

85
85

Case 14 High Call Drop Rate due to RNC Traffic


Measurement Defect (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


The above analysis shows that the call drop in traffic statistics is actually access failure and the RNC should
not count the RAB release procedure that follows as call drop.

The R&D has confirmed that this is a known bug of the current RNC version (R005C03B065) and it can be
avoided by installing the SP05 patch.

86

86
86

Case 14 High Call Drop Rate due to RNC Traffic


Measurement Defect (Continued)

Solution
After the SP05 patch is installed for the RNC, almost all the call drops with the cause being Other have
disappeared and the PS call drop rate is obviously lower, as shown in the following table. The problem is thus
solved.

Note: You can get the table on the right via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

87

87
87

Case 15 Power Congestion due to HSDPA


Measurement Switch Off

Network-wide KPI monitoring


The PS RAB setup success rate in a network is 79% (extremely low), as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

88

88
88

Case 15 Power Congestion due to HSDPA Measurement


Switch Off (Continued)

Cell analysis
The cell analysis results show that the PS RAB setup failure mostly occurs to such cells as 8881, 8882
and 25282 and the major failure cause is power congestion, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

89

89
89

Case 15 Power Congestion due to HSDPA Measurement


Switch Off (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


As shown in the above table, when power congestion occurs, the maximum transmit power of the cell is 39 dBm
(not high) and it should not cause power congestion. Further analysis of CDL reveals that the PS RAB setup
failure is due to power congestion that is caused by access denial (in many cases the denial based on the
equivalent user number) . Because the script parameters use Alg_First, there should not be any judgment of
the equipment user number. The only possibility is that the power cannot be predicted. Because the cell is H
cell and the power occupied by H channel needs to be known during the call admission, the algorithm provides
a switch HSDPA measurement. The measurement can be made and call admission based on power
prediction can be performed only when this switch is on. In the script, this switch is off for the network and thus
the call admission uses the equivalent user number to make the power prediction and a big deviation arises
(this is also why we should avoid using the equivalent user number for call admission) to cause the denial that
should not happen. Thats the reason why we see power congestion in the traffic statistics although the actual
power is not high.

90

90
90

Case 15 Power Congestion due to HSDPA


Measurement Switch Off (Continued)

Solution
Open the HSDPA measurement switch, as shown in the following figure to solve the problem.

Note: The NCP bandwidth should be above 100 kbps if we want to open the HSDPA measurement switch.
After the switch is on, the PS RAB setup success rate of the entire network reaches the normal KPI
requirements and the problem is solved, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

91

91
91

Case 16 Rising PS Call Drop Rate due to Incorrect Setting of


Support Capability for PS Inter-System Handover

Network-wide KPI monitoring


The PS call drop rate of a network is larger than 30% (extremely high), as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

92

92
92

Case 16 Rising PS Call Drop Rate due to Incorrect Setting of Support


Capability for PS Inter-System Handover (Continued)

Cell analysis
The cell analysis results show that the cells with severe call drop are 24181, 3783, 19083, etc. and the major
causes of call drop are RLC reset, uplink synchronization failure, UU interface no response or other RF
problems, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

93

93
93

Case 16 Rising PS Call Drop Rate due to Incorrect Setting of Support


Capability for PS Inter-System Handover (Continued)

Parameter configuration analysis


The call drop with the cause being RF problems is often due to weak coverage. However, the results of

checking and analyzing the MML script show that the 2G cell support capability needed for inter-system
handover of PS services in the network is EDGE (ADD TYPRABBASIC REQ2GCAP= EDGE whereas it is
GPRS (ADD GSMCELL RATCELLTYPE=GPRS) in GSM cell attribute configuration. Because the capability
required by the services is higher than the support capability of GSM cells, PS services will not start the
compressed mode for inter-system handover. Therefore, PS service call drop may easily occur at the edge of
the network with the call drop cause being RF problems.

94

94
94

Case 16 Rising PS Call Drop Rate due to Incorrect Setting of Support


Capability for PS Inter-System Handover (Continued)

Solution
Change REQ2GCAP=EDGE in the PS service attributes to REQ2GCAP=GPRS. The PS service call drop
rate is improved to a certain extent, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

95

95
95

Case 17 PS Inter-System Handover Success Rate Is Zero due to


RNC Traffic Measurement Defect

Network-wide KPI monitoring


The PS inter-system handover success rate of a network is 0, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

96

96
96

Case 17 PS Inter-System Handover Success Rate Is Zero due to


RNC Traffic Measurement Defect (Continued)

Cell analysis
The cell analysis results show that the PS inter-system handover failure mostly occurs to such cells as 45552,
5552, 25652 and 45151 and the major failure cause is Other, as shown in the following table:
IRATHO.FailOut IRATHO.FailOut VS.IRATHO.Fail
VS.IRATHO.FailO VS.IRATHO.AttO
PSUTRAN.Cfg PSUTRAN.Phy OutPSUTRAN.
utPSUTRAN.Cell
utPSUTRAN
Unsupp
ChFail
Other
44
44
0
0
44

RNCId

Cell Id

Cell Name

Date

72

45552

CELL:45552

2006-4-17

72

5552

CELL:5552

2006-4-17

38

38

37

72

5553

CELL:5553

2006-4-17

32

32

31

72

16033

CELL:16033

2006-4-17

29

29

29

72

2333

CELL:2333

2006-4-17

22

22

21

72

5243

CELL:5243

2006-4-17

22

22

21

72

23543

CELL:23543

2006-4-17

21

21

20

72

44552

CELL:44552

2006-4-17

19

19

19

72

26741

CELL:26741

2006-4-17

16

16

16

72

23541

CELL:23541

2006-4-17

13

13

13

IRATHO.FailOut IRATHO.FailOut VS.IRATHO.Fail


VS.IRATHO.FailO VS.IRATHO.AttO
PSUTRAN.Cfg PSUTRAN.Phy OutPSUTRAN.
utPSUTRAN.Cell
utPSUTRAN
Unsupp
ChFail
Other
54
54
0
3
51

RNCId

Cell Id

Cell Name

Date

74

25652

CELL:25652

2006-4-17

74

45151

CELL:45151

2006-4-17

24

24

24

74

20451

CELL:20451

2006-4-17

18

18

18

74

18492

CELL:18492

2006-4-17

12

12

10

74

22352

CELL:22352

2006-4-17

12

12

12

74

11892

CELL:11892

2006-4-17

11

11

74

25292

CELL:25292

2006-4-17

10

10

10

74

25393

CELL:25393

2006-4-17

10

10

74

25291

CELL:25291

2006-4-17

74

45152

CELL:45152

2006-4-17

Note: You can get the above table via Performance Query of Nastar.

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Case 17 PS Inter-System Handover Success Rate Is Zero due to


RNC Traffic Measurement Defect (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


We tested the cells with frequent failures at the site and found that the PS inter-system handover actually succeeded
but the RNC PS traffic statistics indicated failure.
Through further signaling trace and analysis, we found that the CN did not send the SRNC CONTEXT REQUEST
message during PS inter-system handover whereas at present the RNC will not count the success unless it receives
the SRNC CONTEXT REQUEST message (so the PS inter-system handover success count is always 0 in the

statistics). At present, our CN will send the SRNC CONTEXT REQUEST message, so we failed to discover this
problem during the test of V15 office. (On the earlier days, the RNC would directly judge the cause value of IU REL
CMD but later we discovered in Uruguay Beta Test that the CN (not our CN) would always send the release command
even if the 2G system did not support inter-system handover and the RNC would count the handover as being
successful as long as the release cause value was Normal Release , so we changed the rule to the present way so

as to avoid incorrect measurement: the RNC will not count the handover as being successful unless it receives the
SRNC CONTEXT REQUEST message).
It is not stipulated in the protocols that the CN should send the SRNC CONTEXT REQUEST message during PS intersystem handover. Instead, the CN does not need to send this message if it is not necessary to restore the PDP
context.
Therefore, the PS inter-system handover success rate being 0 is due to the incorrect traffic measurement method of
RNC.

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Case 17 PS Inter-System Handover Success Rate Is Zero due to


RNC Traffic Measurement Defect (Continued)

Solution
Change the measurement method of PS inter-system handover success as follows: During the PS inter-system
handover, if the RNC receives the IU RELEASE COMMAND message after sending the CELL CHANGE
ORDER FROM UTRAN message and if the cause value in the IU RELEASE COMMAND message is
Successful Relocation or Normal Release or an other normal cause value, then it indicates that the PS

inter-system handover procedure succeeded and the success should be counted. Merge this change into the
RNC V17 version.

There still exists this problem: When the CN sends the IU RELEASE COMMAND message that carries the
normal cause value in the case of inter-system handover failure, the RNC will also count the handover as being
successful. This problem cannot be avoided and at present our RNC cannot solve it.

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Case 18 High PS Call Drop Rate due to FACH


State Support Defect

Network-wide KPI monitoring


The PS call drop rate of a certain network is higher than 30% (extraordinarily high), as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

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Case 18 High PS Call Drop Rate due to FACH State


Support Defect (Continued)

Network conduct analysis


According to RB reconfiguration conduct analysis, channel switching between common channels
(FACH) and dedicated channels occurred many times:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

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Case 18 High PS Call Drop Rate due to FACH State


Support Defect (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


Open the MML script. The BE service state transition switch is already on. It is learned from the R&D that the
present RNC has defect in the support for FACH state, that is, the channel switching between common
channels and dedicated channels may easily cause call drop. Therefore, a major reason of the high call drop
rate may be that this function switch is on.

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Case 18 High PS Call Drop Rate due to FACH State


Support Defect (Continued)

Solution
Close the BE service state transition switch. The PS service call drop rate is greatly lowered, as shown in the
following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

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Case 19 Low CS Inter-System Handover Success Rate due to


2G Parameter Configuration Error

Cell TOPN monitoring


CS inter-system handover failure frequently occurs to the following cells and the failure rate is even as high as
100% with the major failure cause being physical channel failure, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

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Case 19 Low CS Inter-System Handover Success Rate due to


2G Parameter Configuration Error (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


Physical channel failure is generally caused by weak signals of 2G cells, interference at the 2G side or other
problems. Later these causes were ruled out at the site and ultimately we found that the problem was because
the 2G MSC did not set cell encryption in the handover response message after the AMR function was
provisioned for the GSM of the customer.

Till now, we were sure that the problem was caused by 2G MSC.

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Case 19 Low CS Inter-System Handover Success Rate due to


2G Parameter Configuration Error (Continued)

Solution
Because the 2G network was provided by our competitor E, we asked the customer to push E to handle the
problem. After then, the CS inter-system handover failure rate obviously decreased and the problem was thus
solved, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

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Case 20 High VP Service Call Drop Rate due to Too High Logic
Channel Priority

Network-wide KPI monitoring


After the RNC version of a network is upgraded from BSC6800V100R003 to BSC6800V100R005, the VP call
drop rate rises from less than 1.44% to about 3.39% , as shown in the comparison of KPIs below (the left table
is the data before the upgrade and the right table is the data after the upgrade):

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

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Case 20 High VP Service Call Drop Rate due to Too High Logic
Channel Priority (Continued)

Cell analysis
The cell analysis results show that VP call drops are randomly distributed in space and time and the call drop is
due to RF problems. The cells are in normal service and the RTWP is also normal when the call drop occurs,
as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via custom report or Performance Query of Nastar.

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Case 20 High VP Service Call Drop Rate due to Too High Logic
Channel Priority (Continued)

Problem analysis & location


The RF-attributable call drop is generally caused by weak coverage, but there was little possibility that the coverage changed a
lot in a large scope within the two days of upgrade, so we suspected that the rise of the VP call drop rate was closely related
with the RNC upgrade.

Through troubleshooting, we found that BSC6800V100R003 and BSC6800V100R005 had slight difference in the specific
implementation: In RNC V1.3, the priority allocation of logical channels is implemented in the codes and cannot be modified via
any command, whats more, signaling priority is higher than service priority; in RNC V1.5 and later versions, flexibility is added
and the priority allocation is configurable via the background with such factors as service type differentiation fully considered,
meanwhile default configurations are provided for priority parameters.

We found through the verification test on the simulation platform that the service priority in the default configurations of RNC
V1.5 was too high and the logical channel priority of some services was even higher than signaling priority, which caused cell
coverage edges. When the transmit power of the UE is close to the maximum value, the UE will enter the uplink TFC selective
sending state and then the uplink signaling cannot be sent, thus causing call drop. The relationship between logical channel
priority and transport channels is not clarified in the protocols. According to the test results, it is this parameter that helped the
VP call drop rate of various commercial offices to decrease.

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Case 20 High VP Service Call Drop Rate due to Too High Logic
Channel Priority (Continued)

Solution
Change the default value of logical channel priority of VP service RB in BSC6800V100R005 from 1 to 4 (SET
LOCHPRIO: CSCONVLOCHPRIO=4 ), so that the service priority is not larger than the signaling priority. The
VP call drop rate obviously decreases and the problem is thus solved, as shown in the following table:

Note: You can get the above table via RNC Daily Report/RNC Weekly Report or custom report of Nastar.

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Contents

Introduction to Genex Nastar

Performance analysis process

Typical cases

Summary

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Experience Summary

Experience 1: Get familiar with traffic measurement indices


Performance analysis is largely based on traffic statistics, so we should be familiar with traffic measurement indices.
We are sure which to analyze only after we know the traffic measurement indices and their meanings and measuring
time.

The Help file of RNC traffic measurement provides the structure diagram of traffic measurement indices (index tree) as
well as a description of the index meanings and measuring time. We should understand all the indices covered in this
Help file. Of all the indices, the indexes of cell measurement and RNC overall performance measurement are
especially important. We must completely master them.
The raw traffic measurement indices in Nastar
come from the RNC product and the index
trees of the two are the same, as shown in the
right figure (the left is the index tree of RNC
and the right is that of Nastar). Therefore, you
will be familiar with the traffic measurement
index structure of Nastar and find it easy to

use once you are familiar with the Help file of


traffic measurement.

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Experience Summary (Continued)

Experience 2: Be good at designing analysis themes


As we mentioned before, a table composed of relevant traffic measurement indices is called an analysis theme. There is no
constraint for the design of analysis themes. Any group of relevant traffic measurement indices can become an analysis theme, as
long as they can guide the discovery or analysis of problems. The aforesaid cases have given many examples of analysis themes.
Although there is no constraint for the design of analysis themes, analysis themes have a lot in common in terms of the analysis
principle, for example, most performance problems are related to equipment state, interference, capacity and coverage, so we may
combine the indexes related to equipment state, interference, capacity and coverage into a standard correlated index set to
serve as a reference for analyzing a specific performance problem. Practice shows that the correlated index set may have a great
role: It enables the analyzer to analyze problems from a wider angle and to further confirm problems or discover new exceptions.
Below is the correlated index set often used in Cell TOPN monitoring and Cell analysis. It is given here for your reference
only.

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Experience Summary (Continued)


How well you design analysis themes and how efficient they can help problem discovery and problem analysis will depend on how well
you understand the traffic measurement indices, master the systematic knowledge and accumulate analysis experience. Moreover, as
mentioned before, analysis themes can be integrated in templates to enable knowledge transfer and experience sharing. Therefore, the

analysis theme function of Nastar is a powerful weapon to expand your thoughts and bring into play your wisdom and potentials. It
enables your experience to be conveniently shared to others.
Below are some common analysis themes based on a summary of past experience. There are already report templates accordingly for
your reference, which provide the basic information needed for routine monitoring and analysis of performance problems and help you
efficiently complete performance monitoring & analysis.

A link to
report
template. It is
for your
reference only.

Example of Analysis
Theme Report Template of
Nastar

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114

Experience Summary (Continued)

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Experience Summary (Continued)

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Experience Summary (Continued)

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Experience Summary (Continued)

Experience 3: Get familiar with auxiliary problem analysis & location methods

As we have mentioned before, Nastar supports network-wide KPI monitoring, cell TOPN monitoring, cell
analysis and CHR analysis. However, we can only discover problems and preliminarily troubleshoot them by
merely these monitoring and analysis methods. Still plenty of other means, e.g. IOS, CDR, alarm and other
problem location tests and data collection & analysis means, are needed to solve some hard-to-crack problems.

Moreover, we may improve the problem analysis efficiency through use of more auxiliary analysis tools, for
instance, OMStar can clearly display the network topology and transport layer configuration, and can quickly
complete the comparative check of radio layer parameters; Microsoft office excel has many functions and the
macro function that can greatly help improve the analysis efficiency.

We should be familiar with these auxiliary analysis means. For details, please refer to the relevant guidance
book or online help document.

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Experience Summary (Continued)

Experience 4: Get familiar with parameter configuration


Parameter configuration is a key factor influencing the network performance. At present, most of the
performance problems we have discovered are caused by parameter setting errors. Whats more, we often
need to combine parameter configuration to make the analysis during problem location. Therefore, we should
get familiar with and master the configuration of various parameters. Here the parameter configuration mainly
refers to radio layer related parameters and among them the parameters related to network planning and
management are especially important. In addition, because we should focus on the capacity expansion of
transport resources during network planning, we must also master the configuration of transport layer
parameters.

There are quite many documents for guiding parameter configuration. You can consult them if necessary.

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Experience Summary (Continued)

Experience 5: View problems from system perspective


Many factorsinfluence performance and are complex. For example, access problem and call drop problem may be
related to coverage problem, interference problem, transport problem, equipment function defect and/or parameter
configuration errors. Therefore, we cannot say that the access or call drop problem whose symptom indicates RF
problem is always caused by coverage problem. For example again, the resource access and congestion problem may
be related to the actual resource condition, admission policy, DCCC policy, state transition policy, HSDPA bearer policy
and/or congestion control policy, so we cannot simply think that capacity expansion is needed once there arises
resource access or congestion problem.
In sum, we should view problems from the system perspective so as to avoid noticing only the superficial symptom and
being blind to the problem nature.
How to do this? First, we should learn the coverage, load and resource configuration & utilization of the whole network,
understand the network conducts (e.g. QoS negotiation, RB distribution, cell throughput, traffic distribution, etc.),
master the parameter configurations (such as function switches, admission control, handover & roaming policies and

PS policies of the whole network) before analyzing the specific problem in the global point of view.
Always viewing problems from the system perspective will help you avoid detours during problem analysis and help
you efficiently solve problems.

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Experience Summary (Continued)

Experience 6: Dare to cast doubt


Most performance issues are end-to-end and involve many intermediate NEs, and every NE may be
problematic. Therefore, we should dare to cast doubt on each link based on the actual data during in-depth
analysis of the problem, and should be good at organizing relevant resources to troubleshoot the problem. In
this way, we can achieve double effect with half efforts during problem location and solving.

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