GSM KPI’s

Ehsan Roustaei
 Main KPI’s:

● CSSR

● DCR

● HOSR

● OTHER KPI’S
 CSSR

● SD Assignment ( Imm assign )

● SD Block , TCH Blocking
● SD Drop
● TCH Assignment
● HW issue/Availability/TX Issue

KPI formula:
BSS Call Setup Success Rate = (([Immediate Assignment Success Rate]*[TCH Assignment Success
Rate])*(1-[SDCCH Drop Rate]))*{100}
 SD Assignment ( Immediate assign )
Immediate Assignment Success Rate
Definition :
♦ Success rate of call setup (immediate assignment) indicates the ratio of successful accesses to the signaling channel to all channel requests.
It involves the procedure from the initiation of the channel request message to the reception of the establish indication message.
♦ Success rate of call setup (immediate assignment) is one of the most important accessibility KPIs, which reflects the probability of
successful accesses to the signaling channel. This KPI directly affects user experience.
♦ Success Rate of Call Setup (Immediate Assignment) = (Call Setup Indications (Circuit Service)/Channel Requests (Circuit Service)) x 100%

Successful Immediate Assignment Failed Immediate Assignment

A: The BSC sends an IMM ASS REJ message due to no available channel
B: The BSC sends an IMM ASS REJ message due to channel activation failure
C: The BSC sends an IMM ASS REJ message due to channel activation timeout

Measurement Point:
A1——Channel request during immediate assignment （ circuit service ）
B1——Immediate assignment command
C1——Success of immediate assignment （ Establish indication （ circuit service ）
 SD Assignment ( Immediate assign )

• 
SABM stands for Set asynchronous balanced mode, UA stands for Unnumbered Acknowledge and DA stands for Disconnected Mode.

Sampling Methods
♦ Success rate of call setup (immediate assignment) is one of traffic measurement KPIs, which can be measured through registration or report of the related
traffic measurement KPIs. Generally, this KPI is not measured through drive tests because of the limited samples and incomplete test routes.
♦ Currently, manufacturers and carriers use different formulas for calculating this KPI, thus leading to different values of this KPI.
Therefore, in actual measurement, you should register the specific counters and use an appropriate formula to calculate the value of the KPI.

Constraints on Sampling Methods

♦ Avoid sampling on occasions where burst traffic occurs.
♦ Constraints on Sampling Environment
♦ Coverage : Such coverage problems as blind coverage area, low coverage level, and cross coverage, which cannot be solved through network ptimization,
exist in the sampling environment.
♦ Interference : Unavoidable inter-network interference, interference from repeaters, or high and unavoidable intra-network interference caused by
aggressive frequency reuse exists in the sampling environment. Constraints on Sampling Environment
♦ Transmission : Avoid sampling on occasions where the transmission quality on the Abis interface is poor and transmission links on the Abis interface are
unstable.
♦ Device : Avoid sampling on occasions where a large number of terrestrial resources are unavailable or devices are faulty.
♦ Traffic volume : The traffic volume is unevenly distributed in the network. Capacity expansion is not implemented in some cells where the congestion ratio
on SDCCH is high.
 SD Assignment ( Immediate assign )

Parameters That Affect the Success Rate of Call Setup (Immediate Assignment) :

♦ MS MAX Retrans : This parameter determines the maximum number of channel request messages sent by the MS. It has a great impact on the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment). Therefore,
the value of the parameter should be as small as possible.
♦ MS Min.Access Level : This parameter affects the coverage area. If this parameter is set to a higher value, the actual coverage area of the network becomes small; if this parameter is set to a lower value, call
drops are likely to occur because of invalid access or too weak access signals, thus decreasing the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment).
♦ RACH Min Access Level : This parameter affects the coverage area. If this parameter is set to a higher value, the actual coverage area of the network becomes small; if this parameter is set to a lower value, call
drops are likely to occur because of invalid access or too weak access signals, thus decreasing the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment).
♦ RACH Busy Threshold : This parameter affects the coverage area. If this parameter is set to a higher value, the actual coverage area of the network becomes small; if this parameter is set to a lower value, call
drops are likely to occur because of invalid access or too weak access signals, thus decreasing the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment).
♦ Tx-integer : This parameter mainly affects the execution efficiency of the immediate assignment procedure. When the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment) is low, the value of this parameter can
be set to a higher value.
♦ Random Access Error Threshold : This parameter affects the coverage area. If this parameter is set to a higher value, the actual coverage area of the network becomes small; if this parameter is set to a lower
value, call drops are likely to occur because of invalid access or too weak access signals, thus decreasing the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment).
♦ Use Imm_Ass Retransmit Parameter : The BTS re-sends the IMM ASS CMD message to the MS, thus decreasing the number of channel request messages retransmitted by the MS and improving the success
rate of call setup (immediate assignment). Huawei recommends that this function be enabled.
♦ SDCCH dynamic adjustment :This function should be enabled to improve the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment).
♦ TCH Immediate Assignment : This function should be enabled to improve the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment).
 SD Assignment ( Immediate assign )

Constraints between KPIs:

♦ Paging success rate : If you increase the MS MAX Retrans to improve the paging success rate, the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment) is decreased. In this case, the value of the success rate of
call setup (immediate assignment) cannot be guaranteed (theoretically, the impact of retransmitted channel requests on the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment) cannot be eliminated). Therefore,
the number of retransmitted channel requests should be reduced on the basis that parameter setting, environment, and functions are considered.
Parameters that affect the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment) also have an impact on paging success rate. Therefore, the success rate of call setup (immediate assignment) and paging success rate
are interrelated.
 SD Assignment ( Immediate assign )
What we should do :
• Checking the Coverage
• Interference on BCCH TRX
• High location updating
• Availability problems
• Overshooting
• HW issue in BCCH TRX
• SDCCH congestion
• Pushing traffic to U/O
• Change SD location
• Reset on BCCH TRX
 SD Assignment ( Immediate assign )

• Interference
 SD Assignment ( Immediate assign )

• High location updating

Command:
• LST GCELLIDLEBISAC
• LST GCELLIDLEAD

Location updating parameter

T3212
Cell Reselect Hysteresis(CRH)
On Lac border we can increase
the CRH till 14
 SD Assignment ( Immediate assign )

• Overshooting
 SD BLK

SDCCH congestion is probably caused by one of the following causes:

The traffic volume on an SDCCH increases sharply. As a result, new services cannot be assigned to the
SDCCH, leading to an immediate assignment failure.
The configuration data is inappropriate, such as the location area (LA) planning, dual-band network
parameters, and timer settings.
The number of functional SDCCHs decreases because some TRXs carrying SDCCHs are faulty, but the traffic
volume remains unchanged.
Congestion Rate on SDCCH per Cell (Due to Busy) =
[K3001:Failed SDCCH Seizures due to Busy SDCCH] x{100}/[K3000:SDCCH Seizure Requests]
 TCH , SD Block

TCH/SDCCH congestion parameters :

• Cell Reselection parameters
Push traffic with positive C2 on neighbor sites and negative C2 on site
• Half-Rate Channel parameters
Increased HR usage
• Handover parameters
load Hover allow set to yes
• Assignment Cell Load Judge Enable
When this parameter is set to Yes, the directed retry procedure is performed during the assignment procedure if the following conditions are met: the cell supports directed retry and the load of the cell
is greater than or equal to Cell Direct Try Forbidden Threshold. By default, this parameter is set to No.
• TRX Expansion
• Change Channel

Adding SDCCH in 1800 TRX

• Different Band SDCCH Using Optimize = No -> Yes
• Dynamically Adjust Inter-Freq Band SDCCH = No -> Yes
• TA Pref. of Imme-Assign Allowed = No -> Yes
• TA Threshold of Imme-Assign Pref = 0
 TCH , SD Block

SDCCH Parameter
GCELLCHMGBASIC:
Idle SDCCH Threshold : Threshold of idle SDCCHs in a cell. When the number of idle SDCCHs in a cell is smaller than or equal to the threshold, the BSC attempts to convert available TCHs or
dynamic PDCHs into SDCCHs.
If this parameter is set to a large value, SDCCHs in a cell are in idle mode and traffic volumes on the TCHs during peak hour decreases when the number of SDCCH allocation requests is small. If this
parameter is set to a small value, the BSC fails to process the SDCCH requests from the MS due to insufficient SDCCHs when the number of SDCCH allocation requests is large, decreasing the
network access success rate.
Actual Value Range: 0~63 , Recommended Value: 4
Cell SDCCH Channel Maximum : Maximum number of SDCCHs in a cell. Before initiating dynamic conversion from TCHs or dynamic PDCHs to SDCCHs in a cell, the BSC checks the number of SDCCHs in
the cell. If the number of SDCCHs is greater than the value of this parameter, the BSC does not initiate channel conversion.
If this parameter is set to a small value, dynamic adjustment cannot be triggered due to insufficient SDCCHs in the cell when a large number of MSs initially access the cell, decreasing the network access success rate. If
this parameter is set to a large value, the TCH traffic volume decreases.
Actual Value Range: 0~255 , Recommended Value: 250
TCH Minimum Recovery Time : Minimum interval for an SDCCH to be converted back to a TCH when the TCH or dynamic PDCH is first converted to the SDCCH.
If this parameter is set to a small value, the idle state of the current SDCCHs cannot be indicated correctly, and consequently the rollback of SDCCHs immediately triggers adjustment and affects the access success rate.
If this parameter is set to a large value, sensitivity of the channel allocation algorithm decreases. As a result, SDCCHs are in the idle state, and cannot be rolled back for a long time, decreasing traffic volumes in TCHs.
Dynamically Adjust Inter-Freq Band SDCCH : Whether to dynamically convert the TCHs on the frequency band where non-BCCH TRXs work into SDCCHs.
If there are insufficient SDCCHs whose frequency band is compatible with the frequency band used by the BCCH TRX, enabling this function decreases the call setup success rate of MSs supporting only the frequency
band used by the BCCH TRX.
Num of TSs Convertible to SDCCHs per TRX: Number of timeslots that can be converted to SDCCHs on a TRX. If a large number of timeslots on a TRX can be converted into SDCCHs, the number of
TCHs is reduced.
 TCH , SD Block
command
 TCH traffic Busy Threshold
• LST GCELLCHM AMR TCH/H prior Allowed
AMR TCH/H prior cell load ..
 TCH traffic Busy overlay Threshold
TCH traffic Busy underlay Threshold
 TCH , SD Block

Command: SET GTRX DEV

SET GCELLCHMGBASIC TCH Rate Adjust Allow ( active HF on
Enhanced TCH Adjust Allow TRX)
 TCH , SD Block

Command:
• LST GCELLIDLEBISAC
• LST GCELLIDLEAD
Cell Reselect offset (CRO)
Cell Reselect Penalty Time(PT)

Location updating parameter

T3212
Cell Reselect Hysteresis(CRH)
 TCH , SD BLK

Pushing traffic to U/O

 TCH , SD BLK

Change Chanel

Command:
•LST GTRXCHAN
 TCH , SD BLK

Handover

For easy/Hard Ho to NBR we can change the parameters :

Increase the value can reduce the HO to NBR
 SD Drop

Definition
SDCCH Call Drop Rate indicates the probability of call drops that occur when MSs occupy SDCCHs.
SDCCH Call Drop Rate is one of accessibility KPIs. This KPI reflects the seizure condition of signaling channels.
If the value of this KPI is high, user experience is adversely affected.
SDCCH Call Drop Rate = Call Drops on SDCCH/ Successful SDCCH Seizures

 
After Immediate Assignment, if assigned SDCCH released abnormally due to Um
interface failure or other failures (BSC, CORE), SDCCH Drop will increase.
 SD Drop

KPI formula:
SDCCH Drop Rate = ([Call Drops on SDCCH]/[Successful SDCCH Seizures])*{100}

Analysis process:
1.Identify the route cause of SDCHH drops by checking the following counters. The total number of SDCCH drops is given by:
Call Drops on SDCCH = [Call Drops on Radio Interface (SDCCH)]+[Call Drops due to No MRs from MS for a Long Time (SDCCH)]+[Call Drops due to Abis Terrestrial Link Failure
(SDCCH)]+[Call Drops Due to Equipment Failure (SDCCH)]+[Call Drops due to Forced Handover (SDCCH)]:

• Call Drops on Radio Interface (SDCCH): the drop is due to radio. Check for missing neighbours. Check radio environment/signal strength at
drop points. Adjust antenna parameters appropriately to improve coverage if this is the problem. Check whether the drops are during handover. Check
interference.
• Call Drops due to No MRs from MS for a Long Time (SDCCH): After seizing an SDCCH, the MS sends a measurement report to the
BSC every 470 ms. When the BSC does not receive a measurement report within a certain period of time, the BSC sends a CLEAR REQUEST message to
the MSC to release the call, and this counter is incremented by one. Check UL coverage and quality (interference). Check for possible MS problem.
• Call Drops due to Abis Terrestrial Link Failure (SDCCH): transmission problem on Abis. Check relative alarms.
• Call Drops Due to Equipment Failure (SDCCH): BSC hardware or software failure. Check alarms to discover the exact cause.
• Call Drops due to Forced Handover (SDCCH): After an MS seizes a channel, if the system initiates a forced handover and the handover
fails, the BSC may initiate a call release procedure. Check why the handover failed: Timer expired? Check whether the emergency handover is due to
preemption, or blocking of cell/TRX/channel.
 SD Assignment ( Immediate assign )

• High location updating

Command:
• LST GCELLIDLEBISAC
• LST GCELLIDLEAD

Location updating parameter

T3212
Cell Reselect Hysteresis(CRH)
On Lac border we can increase
the CRH till 14
 TCH Assignment

 
SABM stands for Set asynchronous balanced mode, UA stands for Unnumbered Acknowledge
and DA stands for Disconnected Mode.
 TCH Assignment

Environment Factors That Affect Congestion Ratio on TCH

Coverage : Network optimization cannot solve such coverage problems as blind coverage area, low coverage level, or cross coverage.
Interference : Unavoidable interference can be the inter-network interference, interference from repeaters, or intra-network interference caused by aggressive frequency reuse.
Transmission : Poor transmission quality and unstable transmission links over the Abis interface and the A interface
Device : A large number of unavailable terrestrial resources or faulty devices
Antenna System : Failed assignments due to inconsistency in the directions of transmit and receive antennas
Traffic volume : Imbalanced distribution of traffic volume in the network leads to serious TCH congestion in some cells.
Directed retry : It is recommended that this function be enabled to improve TCH Assignment Success Rate. By default, this function is enabled.
Half-Rate Service: This function can be used to expand the capacity of a cell. Therefore, the congestion of TCHs in the cell is relieved to some extent, and TCH Assignment Success Rate is
increased.
AMR : This function can ensure voice quality when half-rate TCHs are used. Therefore, channel congestion in a cell can be relieved to some extent, and TCH Assignment Success Rate is increased.
Congestion ratio on TCH : The assignment success rate inevitably decreases if Congestion Ratio on TCH is high.
Success Rate of Immediate Assignments: If the SDCCH dynamic adjustment function is enabled in the cell where many immediate assignment requests exist, TCH
congestion may occur and TCH Assignment Success Rate decreases.
Voice quality : Full-rate TCHs are assigned to ensure voice quality. In this case, TCH congestion may occur and TCH Assignment Success Rate decreases.

Some times you don't have TCH assignment failures in per TRX but you have HO failures per TRX it is
suspicions to same BISC neighbor
Also VSWR alarm affect the assignment
 TCH Assignment

Environment Factors That Affect on TCH assignment failures

• HW problem such as TRX ,feeders, cabling
• Coverage gap between 1800 and 900 band
• Sector swap ,feeder swap
• No Abis , no A interface resource
• Over shooting
• Interference
• not adjusted antenna (azimuth and tilt)
• TCH availability problems
• TCH congestion
 TCH , SD BLK

Pushing traffic to U/O

 TCH Assignment

Check Main & Diversity swap

 TCH Assignment

TCH assignment failures

• Coverage gap between 1800 and 900 band

 check Antenna Tilts of 1800,900
1800 tilt should be less than 900 tilt
TA report in1800
TRXs

TA report in 900
TRXs
 TCH Assignment

• TCH assignment due to wrong Cell configuration normal to

concentric
 TCH Assignment

command MOD GCELL.

Cell IUO Type to Concentric_cell(Concentric Cell)
Enhanced Concentric Allowed to an appropriate value.

command SET GTRXIUO

Concentric Attribute to OVERLAID(Overlaid Subcell) or UNDERLAID(Underlaid Subcell)

command SET GCELLHOBASIC.

Concentric Circles HO Allowed to YES(Yes).

SET GCELLHOIUO command to set the handover parameters in the concentric cell based on the
current network status.

Multiplexing Mode in command ADD BTS is set to MODE4_1

MR.Preprocessing in command SET GCELLHOCTRL is set to BTS preprocessing

Sent Freq.of preprocessed MR in command SET GCELLHOCTRL is set to Once every second.
 TCH Assignment

• TCH reassignment
It is recommended that this function be enabled to improve
TCH Assignment Success Rate. By default, this function is
enabled SET/LST GCELLCCBASIC
 HW issue/Availability/TX Issue

For any HW issue / TX issue we should check relative alarms on the BSC/BTS in order to locate
any hardware/software fault
 DCR

𝐷𝐶𝑅=100∗(𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑏𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠 ) / (𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙

𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠+𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑏𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠)

If a call is abnormally disconnected, a Clear Request is sent to the MSC .If the Call is
disconnected in a normal Fashion then Clear Message with cause code Call Control is sent. It is
important to establish what types of calls are failing, and over what percentage of the
network it is occurring.
Call Drop Rate on TCH per cell(Excluding Handover)
Call Drop Rate on TCH per cell(including Handover)
 DCR

Environment Factors that affect TCH Call Drop Rate

• Checking the Coverage , Overshooting
• Interference on BCCH & TCH TRX
• Transmission , Availability problems , HW issue
• Device
• Antenna system
Call drops are likely to occur if the coverage is poor because the pitch angles of two uni-polarization antennas are different or because the feeder is faulty. The fault of the feeder may
cause a high voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), thus indirectly decreasing the transmit power and receive sensitivity.

• Traffic volume
Imbalanced distribution of traffic volume in the network
 DCR

Network Parameters that affect TCH Call Drop Rate

Radio link Timeout
If this timer is set to a lower value, a call drop is likely to occur when the receive level of the MS attenuates greatly because of the terrain.
If this parameter is set to a higher value, the network releases the related resources only after the timer expires though the speech quality is unsatisfactory. Therefore, the utilization of resources is
decreased. It is recommended that you set the parameter to a higher value in the rural areas with low traffic volume and to a lower value in the areas with high traffic volume.
SACCH multi-frames
Similar to Radio Link Timeout, this parameter is used for the uplink.
RXLEV_ACCESS_ MIN, RACH Min.Access Level, and RACH Busy Threshold
These parameters relate to the network coverage, and the balance between the uplink and the downlink. If these parameters are set to small values, MSs in the areas of poor coverage can access the
network and call drops are likely to occur.
If the settings of these parameters cause the imbalance between the uplink and the downlink, call drops are likely to occur.

Network Functions that affect TCH Call Drop Rate

Power control and DTX
These functions can suppress the interference in the entire network and reduce the number of call drops due to interference. It is recommended that these functions be enabled.
Frequency hopping
When the frequency resources are insufficient, frequency hopping can average the interference to reduce the number of call drops due to interference. Therefore, in the case of insufficient frequency
resources, it is recommended that frequency hopping be enabled.
PBT, transmit diversity, four way Receive diversity, and TMA
All these functions can be used to improve the network coverage in the areas with poor coverage, thus reducing call drops. It is recommended that these functions be used on the basis of the local
network coverage.
Concentric cell
In concentric cells, the coverage of the underlaid subcell is different from that of the overlaid subcell; therefore, call drops are likely to occur.
It is recommended that appropriate cell parameters be set to reduce call drops in concentric cells.
Power boost before Handover
This function can be used to significantly reduce call drops in the areas with high traffic volume; however, this function does not take much effect in the areas with low traffic volume. Interference may
be caused when this function is enabled. This function is recommended in the areas with high traffic volume.
DCR
 DCR

Definition
􀂇 Call Drop Ratio on TCH indicates the ratio of the number of call drops to the number of successful TCH seizures after the BSC successfully assigns TCHs to MSs.
􀂇 Call Drop Ratio on TCH contains the following aspects: the probability of call drops after the establishment of TCHs and the probability of call drops during call establishment.
􀂇 Call Drop Ratio on TCH is one of retainability KPIs. It reflects the probability of call drops due to various reasons after the MSs access the TCHs properly. If Call Drop Ratio on TCH is
high, user experience is adversely affected.

• In the assignment procedure, if directed retry is performed successfully, the number of Successful TCH Seizures is incremented by one. In other words, after receiving the
SSIGNMENT REQUEST message from the MSC, the BSC initiates an outgoing inter-cell handover based on the neighbor cell information in the MR sent by the MS if no channel is
available in the serving cell and if system supports directed retry.

• In a handover procedure, this counter is incremented by one when the handover procedure fails because of any cause after the MS accesses the TCH assigned by the BSC.

Hw issue, wrong Cell

configuration definition

TA Radio link failures report