3G Optimization Basics

Optimization Tips

Retainability
Accessibility
IRAT Failure
UL RSSI Causes

Retainabil
ity
CS/PS
Retainability

Missing Neighbour

Check neighbor cell

availability
Add suggested
Neighbors with
WNCS/GPEH/Drive Test
data
Analyze existing
neighbors with 3G-3G
cell relation report
Analyze cell coverage by
RF Planning tool /Drive
Test data/PRACH Plots
Down tilts or other
physical optimization

Soft Handover

Uplink Sync

Check HW Alarms

Investigating the UE
TxPwr by using Drive
test data or WMRR
Check parameter for
UE TxPwr & maxSir
Analyze cell
coverage by RF
Planning tool or
Drive test data
Use of GPEH to
determine the
number of Event 6a
or number of Event
2d
Check Cells doe
RSSI Issues

Check T1 Errors
Check Cell
Availability
Determine if the
issue affects only
one cell or a RBS or
cluster
Verify for SC
Clashes

IRAT

Congestion

Identify the failing

phase.

Check down switch

counter for
congestion reason.

Audit the External

GSM Cell MO with
latest 2G dump

Investigate the RRC

Access failure due to
lack of DL power &
codes

GSM coverage
area verification
for IRAT
neighbors

Perform analysis of
coverage area and
reduce overshooting

Re-prioritization
the neighbor list
based on usage

Verify CE usage and

HW allocation and
dimensioning

Others

Transport Issue
RBS / RNC HW
issue
RF issues outside of
available counters
UE issues

Retainability-Missing Neighbor

Drops due to Missing Neighbors

Counter: pmNoSysRelSpeechNeighbr

Suggestions:
1. Run WNCS and check Missing Neighbors. Check inter-site distance to determine if
they need to be added. (Prioritize missing neighbors in the order of # of drops, #
of events, distance, average RSCP/Ec/No)
2. Check PRACH Delay to assess if it is overshooting.
3. Check neighbor cell availability. If any of the neighbor cell is down, it can cause
missing neighbor drops.

Retainability-Flow Chart-Soft Handover

High number of Drops due to
the issue could be with
SoHo
Source cell.Check
admission control
parameters such
Are
pwrAdm, DLCodeAdm,
Yes
missing
UL/DL HWAdm to see if
Nbr drops
there is sufficient
also high
resources available for
Several relations
No
SHO
having moderate
Check
Cell maybe serving
SHO fail rate
SHO
a RF area having
Success
sudden
rate per
interference
Nbr
relation
Identify some
changes.

Is relation defined
correctly in
UtranRelation MO
(Target RNC,
RelationID = Target
cellname)

High ASU
failures

No

relations with
high SHO fail
rate
Yes

yes

Delete and redefine

Reduce
interference with
tilt or CPICH
changes

Increase IndOffset to expand

HO area. Monitor power
utilization to avoid
Acc/Throughput issue

Identify
missing
Nbrs
with
WNCS &
add

Check if Coverage
overlap is sufficient.
Increase footprint
using Tilts or CPICH
Is Nbr site having HW
issues, UL RSSI,or
Congestion due to
Trasnport,pwr or other
resources. Fix nbr site
Is it Inter-RNC relation?
Check Iur Definitions &
investigate other
relations over same
Iur.
Check for SC
Collisions.

Retainability-Flow Chart-UL SYNC

High number of Drops due to
UL Sync
Are there
drops due
to missing
nbr/SHO
also

Other possible issues:

Check for HW faults esp RAX
board.
Check for Transport issues
(congestion)

Yes

Is cell
overshooti
ng

Yes

Increase minpwrRl.
Ensure cell is not
power-congested (Use
busy hour stats)

Increase rlFailureT &

nOutsyncInd.

Yes

Is Ec/No in
cells
coverage
area good
(from
WMRR)

Improve Ec/No in the

coverage area by
using downTilts or
CPICH changes
Nbring site might be
overshooting. Use WNCS to
identify boomers and control
pollution

No

Increase minpwrmax.
Ensure cell is not
power-congested (Use
busy hour stats)

Resolve missing
nbrs and SHO drops

No

Use comp mode stats

to check if CM usage is
high. Verify if enough
IRAT relations are
defined.

3G coverage hole.
Upilt or increase
CPICH. Verify nbr site
faults.
Yes

Is cell in
area with
good 3G
site
density?

No

If the RF serving area

has Sudden Ec/No
changes
(tunnels,bridges)
Increase (or decrease)
Individual offset to
improve SHO area

Possible external
interference. Check UL
RSSI

Reduce 2d Thresholds
to allow IRAT quickly
before drop

Retainability due to speech

congestion

Drops due to Speech Congestion

Counter: pmNoOfTermSpeechCong
This counter is Incremented by one when the speech call release is due to
congestion. The connection is terminated by RNC.

Suggestions:
1. Check admission counters(LackdlCode, lackdlpwr, UL/DLHwAdm) on RAB
establishment to find out the resource bottleneck.
2. Check for MPLoad. (Suggest temporary traffic-offloading)
3. Check for Iub congestion. (Suggest temporary traffic-offloading)
4. Verify CE usage and HW allocation and dimensioning
5. Check for special events (sports/festivals/holidays/accidents) or if a site
nearby was down.

Retainability-Drops due to Others

KPI Formula:
Drop Due to Other = pmNoSystemRabReleaseSpeech
pmNoSysRelSpeechUlSynch pmNoSysRelSpeechSoHo pmNoOfTermSpeechCong
Basically all other speech drops which were not pegged in any of the speech drop
counters described in the previous slides.

Suggestions:
1. Resolve missing nbrs, SoHo, UL sync issues if any before other drops
2. Check Alarms/T1/UL RSSI/HW/VSWR/MPLoad for the cell.
3. Check WMRR and Propagation Delay to improve radio condition and coverage
range.
4. Assess the terrain profile and see if tilt can be adjusted.
5. Check Iub Congestions.
6. Check SHO/IRAT/IFHO failure rates. Optimize the respective (SHO/IRAT/IFHO)
nbr list
7. Trial hotype and Adjust 2d thresholds (usedFreqThresh2dRscp,
usedFreqThresh2dEc/No) if coverage is weak in the area.
8. Check for RAX/TX board errors, may require a restart.
9. Check Scrambling Code Collision.
10. Check CPICH Power with the major neighbors. Keep the delta small to maintain
UL balance in SHO border. CPICH Power should be between 8-10% of
maxTxPwr.
11. Restart the site if all the above has been checked and still cannot find out the
problem.
12. Usually drops due to others are radio related(RU/CBU/FU). A site restart or HW
replacement might be needed.

IRAT Failure
Identify the phase in which the failures are occurring.
IRAT Preparation Phase
GSMRadioCongestion
IMT Trunk Congestion between GSM & UMTS Switch (NDR
query could be used)
UMTS-GSM Nbr definition has incorrectvalues (BCCH,LAC, CID,
BSIC, etc)
IRAT Execution Phase
Co-Channel GSM BCCH
Poor GSM Uplink condition
IRAT Confirmation Phase
Typically poor RF conditions on both UMTS & GSM

CS IRAT handover FLowchart

UL RSSI & Possible Causees

What is UL RSSI?
Received Signal Strength Indicator of the total wideband received power within the
entire channel bandwidth
Note that RSSI does not distinguish between own, other, or any other unwanted
internal or external interference
How is UL RSSI measured in the Ericsson system?
The RSSI is measured every 100 ms. An average value is then calculated every second
and stored as a PDF step range, [65] long (-110 to -65 dBm, with the resolutions 0.5
dBm and 5 dBm).
Counter pmaverageRSSI, MO Class Carrier and incremented on the RBS level
Too high UL RSSI (>-90 dbm) can be caused by:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

External sources of uplink interference

Inter-mod product (antenna faults)
Incorrect plumbing
Parameter TMA ulGain setting does not match the real TMA gain (Compare AMOS with RFDS)
Faulty devices along the Rx path

Loose Connectors

Tight Cable Bends

High UL RSSI caused by external interference has significant impact on UL capacity and coverage
of a cell.

Too Low UL RSSI (<-110 dbm) can be caused by:

1.

Mostly due to TMA not powered up and incorrect TMA settings

2.

Incorrect plumbing Bad Connectors,Cables etc

Accessibil
ity
CS/PS
Accessibility
(Ericsson Classification)

RRC

RAB

AccessibilityRRC
Hardware/Ante
na alarms,
VSWR

MP Load

Check MP load
for Main Racks /
Extension Sub
Racks High??
Check for Core
Network (Call
servers / SGSN )
outages ,affects
all cells in RNC.
Re-home Sites

CS/PS Accessibility
(RRC)

Admin Control

Check Parameter
settings for:

a) Feeder
length/TMA
b) Adm Control
c) Check available
resources (Downlink
Tx power,
Channelization
codes).This is low
possibility since ,at
this stage, resources
required are much
lower than at RAB
stage.

Node Blocking

License

RBS specific
parameters
Verify /correct
individual licensed
capacity levels for
the node. (via
AMOS )
Check Channel
elements usage
trends

Check for node

configuration
error/mismatch,
node limitations
or transport
network layer
service
unavailability.

Transport Blocking

Check for
congestion on
user plane
(AAL2)/ control
plane (UniSaal
/SCTP) for IuB
resources.
Expand TN
bandwidth
Check IuCs / IuPs
succ rate, affects
all cells in RNC

RRC Succ rate could be low due to RF related issues

also.(Poor RF in RACH, FACH) Investigate the RF using
WMRR and trial maxfach1power and
constantValueCprach

AccessibilityRAB
Hardware/An
tenna
alarms,
VSWR

Congestion

CS/PS Accessibility

(RAB)

Node Blocking

Check for node

configuration
error, node
limitations or
transport
network layer
service
unavailability.

Transport Blocking

Check for congestion on user

plane (AAL2)/ control plane
(UniSaal /SCTP) for IuB resources.
Expand TN bandwidth (add
T1s,define more Vc)
Check T1 Errors
Check Locked T1s
Check Iub/TD (Vc/Vp) Mismatches
Share Traffic with Nbrs
(qoffset2sn)
Reduce CPICH or Tilt or qrxlevmin
to take less traffic
Increase Directed Retry to Offload
to GSM

AccessibilityRAB

CS/PS Accessibility

(RAB)

Congestion

DL Power

* Check if Maximum
Transmission Power is
aligned with
MaxDlCapability
* Check Maximum
Transmission Power and
CPICH ratio
* Increase PwrAdm,
Reduce PwrOffset
* Explore IFLS with
other Carrier
* Enable or Increase
Directed Retry to GSM
* Reduce
sf16Adm/sf8Adm
*Consider increasing
power license
Add another Carrier

Code

ASE

*Verify settings for

*Check dlCodeAdm dlASEAdm,
values if adjustment UlAseAdm
is still possible
*Check for R99
*Reduce 384k Users traffic load on the
on DL (sf8Adm)
cell.
*Reduce HS-PDSCH *Trial higher value
Codes
for releaseAseDlNg
*Reduce HS-SCCH
and releaseAseDl
Codes
Optimize radio
network to reduce
interference / pilot
pollution.

Hardware Resource

*Check Locked TX/RAX

Boards
*Check hanging CE
(restart)
*Check HS/EUL resource
allocation,ul/dlHwAdm
parameter in Iublink
Reduce
eulServing/NonServingA
dm
Add,Replace RAX/TX
Boards

Connection Limit

*Verify
Admission
settings /Usage
trends for
different SF
RAB.
*Fine tune
parameter
settings to
maintain
balance
between
Accessibility &
throughput.

AccessibilityRRC/RAB
CS/PS Accessibility

(RRC/RAB)

Hardware Fault

RSSI

*Incorrect
Attenuation/Losses
TMA UL Gain
Parameter Check
Verify RFDS
*External
Interference(UL RSSI
problem even during
off-peak hours)

Errors/Crashes

T1 Errors

Alarms

*Restart Board
*Cold Restart Node
*Verify SW on node
(Utran Report/OSS
SMO)
*Swap Cards/Boards
*Replace
Cards/Boards

Escalate

Escalate

Accessibility/Block Reasons-Summary

Common Failure Reasons

Lack of DL Power
Lack of DL Code
Lack of UL/DL Hardware Resource
Exceed Connection Limits (for PS)
Iub Congestions
UL RSSI
HW or T1 Faults
Neighbor site/cell down

Admission Control- Set of rules that determines whether a UE is

granted access on making a connection request. Admission control
is also used when adding a RAB , or a new RL via SHO or upswitch
of services