Qualit de service et KPI

1. La qualit du Service (QoS)

Gnralement, la qualit de service ou Quality of Service (QoS) est la capacit
de transfrer dans les bonnes conditions un type de trafic donn, en termes
de disponibilit, dbit, et dlai de transition. La qualit de service pour le
rseau dtermine le degr de satisfaction de l'utilisateur aux services offerts.
Dans le but d'offrir une qualit de service acceptable il faut que certains
problmes doivent tre rsolus. Ces problmes sont principalement lis :
La couverture
Ce problme ne peut pas tre dtect par le systme mais valu par les
plaintes des abonnes et par les mesures radio. Les causes probables de ce
problme sont les suivants :
Mauvaise configuration du rseau c'est--dire problme li la
position des sites, ou les
types d'antennes ;
Problme d'installation qui peut tre due la perte des puissances
dans les cbles ;
Problme de maintenance.
La disponibilit du rseau
C'est la probabilit d'obtention d'un nouvel appel. La diminution de taux
d'appel aboutis implique que les abonnes ne peuvent pas tablir une
communication. Les actions de l'chec d'tablissement d'appel s'expliquent
par :
Le niveau d'accs minimum dans la cellule ;
L'interfrence et la mauvaise couverture radio.
La qualit de voix
L'oprateur agit contre le problme de la mauvaise qualit de
communication, par les mesures systme et par les analyseurs de la qualit
vocale. Les causes de dgradation de la qualit de la voix sont :
La hors couverture ;
La mauvaise installation ;
La qualit des terminaux.
Les coupures d'appels
La coupure de communication peut tre engendr par :
La mauvaise couverture ;
Les interfrences.

2. Les canaux de transmissions

Le Canal est un support de transmission Physique ou Logique permettant de
vhiculer une information, On distingue deux grandes catgories de canaux :
les canaux physiques et les canaux logiques.
a) Les canaux physiques
Le multiplexage frquentiel divise en canaux les plages de frquences et le
multiplexage temporel partage l'usage d'une voie de transmission etre huit
communications diffrentes. La trame, unit temporelle de base du rseau
GSM, se divise en huit intervalles temporels d'une dure de 577us et chaque
intervalle constitue un canal de communication dans lequel un message
lmentaire appel paquet est transmis priodiquement. Ce paquet est un
ensemble structur de bits. Les canaux physiques sont caractriss par une
paire de Frquence et un Time Slot particulier par Frquence.
La dure dune trame TDMA est 4.6152 ms
La largeur des canaux tant de 200 kHz.

La rpartition des canaux physiques selon la mthode daccs

F/TDMA

b) Les canaux logiques

Les Canaux Logiques peuvent tre class en deux groupes : les Canaux de
Trafic not TCH Traffic Channel) et les Canaux de Signalisations not CCH
(Control Channel).
Les canaux de trafic : Ils permettent de transmettre la parole 13 kbit/s
ou des donnes jusqu' 12 kbit/s. Il est allou aux phases d'tablissement de
communications et la transmission de courts messages alphanumriques.
Les canaux de signalisation : en rseau GSM, il y'a trois classes de canaux
de signalisation:
i)

les Canaux de mise en Veille ou canaux de diffusion :

Le BCCH : permet de diffuser les informations systmes concernant la

cellule
Le FCCH : Permet d'asservir le mobile en frquence ;
Le SCCH : Permet de faire la synchronisation et l'identification.
ii)
Les Canaux de transport communs:
Le RACH : Permet la demande d'allouer la ressource ;
LAGCH : Est la rponse au RACH, il permet d'allouer la ressource (SDCCH)
au MS ;
Le PCCH : Permet de rechercher la MS par diffusion de son identit lors
d'une rception d'appel, d'une rception des SMS, d'une Authentification.
iii)

Les Canaux de transport ddis :

Il y a trois canaux ddis, notamment le SDCCH, le SACCH et le FACCH.

Le SDCCH : Permet de faire la signalisation des usagers, il a un SACCH
associ. Ce sont des canaux vus comme des TCH, mais ils sont utiliss pour
la signalisation ;
Le SACCH : permet de faire la transmission des mesures radio lectrique. Il
est associ aux autres canaux ;
Le FACCH : Se substitue un TCH pour couler rapidement de la
signalisation lors d'un HANDOVER.

Fi
gure rcapitulative des canaux de transmissions.

3. Les indicateurs de performances

Afin de permettre aux oprateurs d'obtenir des informations sur la qualit du
service offert par leur rseau et de l'optimiser, des indicateurs de
performance appels KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) qui spcifient le
fonctionnement radio des cellules ont t galement dfinis. En effet, un KPI
est une valeur reprsentative permettant d'valuer la performance de
systme.
Ces indicateurs permettent la localisation des anomalies de rseau et par
suite, l'identification et le diagnostic des causes de ces problmes afin de
ragir avec des actions correctives adquates.

2G KPIs en fonction de la nature du service (CS ou PS)

3G KPIs en fonction de la
phase du service

CS

Indicateu
rs de
l'accessib
ilit et de
russite
dappel

Indicate
urs de
continuit

Indicate
urs de
mobilit

PS

-Call Setup
Success Rate
-SDCCH
Indicateurs
Request
d'tablisse
-SDCCH
ment TBF
Congestion
Rate
-TCH assign
Fail rate

-TBF Requests,
-TBF
Establishment
Success Rate...

-Call
Indicateurs de
Drop
sortie TBF
Rate
-TCH
Drop
Rate
Handove
r
Success
Rate

-SDCCH
Trafic
Indicateurs de
-TCH
Dbit
Available
Ressourc
es.

Indicateurs
daccessibi
lit

-Call setup
Success Rate
-RRC Setup
Success
Rate

Indicateurs
de
disponibilit

-RRC
Congestion
Rate
-RAB
Congestion
Rate
-Call
Admission
Refused
Rate

Indicateurs
de
continuit

-CS Service
Drop Rate
-AMR Call
Drop Rate

Indicateur
s de
mobilit:

-Handover
Success Rate

Indicateurs
de traffic

-UL Streaming
Traffic Volume
-DL Streaming
Traffic Volume

Call setup success rate

- Call Set up Success Rate is one of the most important Key performance
Indicators (KPIs) used by all mobile operators.
- there is no standard measurement possible for this parameter. Therefore the
different operators can measure it differently
1) real cssr is calculated as ratio of the assigned TCHs to the channel
requests

(1)
NB: The other procedures, which can be completed with an SDCCH, like SMS,
location updating etc. are not counted because they do not represent the request
for the speech call.
NumTCHAssig represents the number of successfully assigned TCH (number of
ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE messages)
NumCHReaqSpeech represents the number of CHANNEL REQUEST messages
(see Fig. 2) but related only to request for a mobile originated (MO) or mobile
terminated (MT) call.
2) implemented cssr:
* Up to now it is not possible to distinguish between the requests for the speech
call and other ones.
* One of the possibilities how to solve this problem could be using of simplified
formula:

NumCHReq represents total number of CHANNEL REQUEST messages

or
NumCHReq = NumCHReqSpeech + NumCHReqNonSpeech,
So the implemeted cssr can be expressed as

Under condition that

NumCHReqNonSpeech/NumCHReqSpeech 20 %
0.2 * NumCHReqSpeech

NumCHReqNonSpeech

The implemeted cssr formula can be modified using binomial series as follows:

the absolute error in measurement is calculated as follow

In case that NumCHReqNonSpeech is equal to zero, real cssr =

implemented cssr
Nevertheless NumCHReqNonSpeech/NumCHReqSpeech is on the range of
tenths of percent (10%) which can lead to the big systematic error.
Therefor mobile operators only use this formula only if
NumCHReqNonSpeech/NumCHReqSpeech 1 % is true

3) Second possibility could be to use in the denominator of the real cssr the
number of TCH attempts (NumTCHAttempt) instead of NumCHReqSpeech.

But in this case the result of the calculation will be TCH Assignment Success
rate which is different than Call Set up Success Rate.
4)
so back to the first equation, we try to find a way to calculate
NumCHReqSpeech.
From this message flow for the call set up in GSM , we can extract the next model
(Model for calculation of NumCHReqSpeech)

message flow for the call set up in GSM

Model for calculation of NumCHReqSpeech

ImmAssSuccRate represents Immediate Assignment Success Rate given by

formula:

NumEstInd represents the number of ESTABLISH INDICATION messages

SDCCHSuccRate represents SDCCH Success Rate given by formula:

Therefore, from the previous model we can express NumTCHAttempt as follow

then for NumCHReqSpeech we can write

Replacing NumCHReqSpeech in the first equation (real cssr)

This equation is the best approach and is provided for by Siemens, it provides
exactly the Call Set up Success Rate in case the Direct TCH Assignment
feature is disabled. Possible distortion when this feature is enabled
5)
Some of the vendors (for example Siemens) provide the possibility to assign TCH
directly. In this case the result of Immediate Assignment procedure is
occupation of Fast Associated Control channel (FACCH) instead of SDCCH.
On the Siemens side the Direct TCH assignment is used for emergency calls
when usually authentication and ciphering are excluded and the call set up is
provided up to 1 second instead of standard time frame from 3 to 4 seconds.
Therefore, when Direct TCH Assignment feature is enabled the result of
Immediate Assignment procedure for some of channel requests can be
occupation of FACCH instead of SDDCH. The Direct TCH Assignment is used in
order to decrease time needed for call set up in such a way that authentication
and ciphering are excluded It means that FACCH is occupied only very short time
in comparison to SDCCH occupation which leads to FACCH Success Rate close
to 100 %
The model for calculation of NumCHReqSpeech becomes

Model for calculation of NumCHReqSpeech when Direct TCH assignment

is enabled

From this model follows

Or SDCCHSuccRate 1SDCCHDropRate
Then

In practice, SDCCHDropRate does not exceed 0.5 %, we can the previous result
using

NumCH Re qSpeech :

Replacing it in real cssr equation

It represents exact formula that should be used for calculation of Call Set up
Success rate when Direct TCH Assignment feature is enabled

However this quotient

cannot be calculated
So we use the expression of real cssr with DIRECT TCH ASSIGNMENT IS
DISABLED
Absolute error

Relative error

The relative error in the worst case will be equal to SDCCHDropRate which is
maximum 0.5 %.

SDCCH Congestion Rate

SDCCH congestion rate is one of the important counters that indicate

accessibility in circuit service, this counter provides the ratio of failed SDCCH
seizures due to busy SDCCH to the total requests for the SDCCH. SDCCH
congestion rate indicates the failed requests for the SDCCH for various reasons.
SDCCH congestion rate also indicates the status of the SDCCH resource utilization
Huawei defines SDCCH congestion rate as the ratio of failed SDCCH seizures due
to busy SDCCH to the total request for the SDCCH.

SDCCH congestion rate formula

SDCCH seizures (capture)

The request for SDCCH in GSM are mainly made in the following two procedure
A. The procedure for requesting the SDCCH for services such as point to point
calls, location updating (only SDCCH), call re-establishment or short
messages.
B. The procedure of SDCCH handovers (including both the intra-BSC and interBSC handovers)

Signaling procedure and measurement points

A1: Immediate assignment request

B1: Failed immediate channel assignment due to busy SDCCHs or failed SDCCH
configurations

Factors for SDCCH Congestion Rate in GSM

Congestion caused by faults on equipment or transmission (the fault on

BTS, BSC, and Abis interface cause the SDCCH congestion. The alarm
Excessive Loss of E1/T1 Signals in an Hour also cause the SDCCH
congestion).
Congestion caused by insufficient signaling resources (the heavy traffic
and bursts cause the SDCCH congestion. Proper setting of the numbers of
SDCCHs and TCHs, and SDCCHs dynamic dynamic conversion function can
relieve the congestion).
Congestion caused improper data configuration (the SDCCH congestion
related to the relevant parameters of the BSC such as SDCCH availability,
LAC, and T3101 (Timer used in immediate assignment procedure), and
T3112 (the timer used for periodic updating). If these parameters set
correctly, the SDCCH congestion can be relieved. In addition, if the
assignment procedure is set to Late Assignment, the timer of the SDCCH
being occupied increases, which may lead to congestion).
Congestion caused by interference (Interference on the Um interface also
causes congestion. For example, if the main BCCH in the serving cell and
the TCH in neighboring cell share the same TRX frequency and BTS BSIC,
the handover access on this TCH may be mistaken as random access. As a
result, the SDCCH is abnormally allocated and congestion occurs. The
excessive receive sensibility can make the interference signal mistaken as
access signal, which lead to congestion.

TCH Call Drop Rate

Definition and formula

TCH one of the most significant KPIs for telecom operators, is related to
retainability and defined as the ratio of call drops to successful TCH seizures after
the BSC successfully assign TCHs to MSs. A too high TCH call drop rate adversely
affect the users experience. The TCH call drop can be measured from the from
the following aspects.

TCH call drop rate (including handover)

TCH call drop rate (excluding handover)

TCH call drop rate (including handover) = (Number of TCH Call Drops + Number
of TCH Call Drops during very early assignement ) / Number of successful TCH
seizures x 100%
TCH call drop rate (excluding handover) = Number of call drops on TCH /
( Number of successful TCH seizures + Number of successful incoming internal
inter cell handovers + Number of successful incoming external inter cell
handovers Number of succssful outgoing internal inter cell handover Number
of successful outgoing external inter cell handover ) x 100%
Through analysis you can find out that the TCH call drop rate (including
handover) is lower than TCH call drop rate (excluding handover). The number of
TCH Call Drops during the very early assignement is small, therefore the
difference between the numerators of both ratios can be omitted. Including the
TCH seizures in the case of handovers, the denominator of the formula for the
TCH call drop rate (including handover) is greater than the denominator of the
formula for TCH call drop rate (excluding handover). Therefore the result of the
formula for TCH call drop rate (including handover) is smaller than the formula for
TCH call drop rate (excluding handover).

Signaling Procedure and Measurement Points

Immediate assignment procedure

Assignment procedure

Intra-BSC handover Procedure

handover procedure

Incoming BSC

Note: The meaning of measurement points

TCH-SUCC: indicates the number of successful TCH seizures during the

very early assignment procedure
TCH-SUCC-A: indicates the number of successful TCH seizures.
TCH-SUCC-B: indicates the number of successful incoming internal intercell handovers plus the number of successful internal intra-cell handovers.
TCH-SUCC-C: indicates the number of successful incoming external intercell handovers

Facts affect the TCH Call drop rate

According to the user complaints and network optimization experience, the major
factors that affect the TCH call drop rate are as follow:

Hardware failure (when TRX or a combiner is faulty, seizing the TCH

become difficult)
Transmission problem (when the transmission quality one the A or Abis
interface is poor)
Version upgrade ( after upgrade BTS and BSC versions can be
incompatible)
Parameter setting (the setting of some parameters on the BSC and MSC
sides may affect the TCH call drop rate)
Intra-network and inter-network interference (interference from
scramblers, privately installed antennas, intermodulation interference from
BTSs, intra network co-channel and adjacent channel interference)
Coverage problem (discontinuous coverage (blind areas), poor indoor
coverage, insufficient coverage (signal from antenna is blocked)...)
Antenna system problem ( antennas are improperly connected . if a
directional cell has a main and diversity antennas, the BCCH and SDCCH of
the cell may be transmitted from different antennas and if the two
antennas have different pitch angles or azimuths the coverage areas are
different. A MS can receive the BCCH signals from one antenna and when a
call is made the MS cannot seize the SDCCH transmitted by the other
antenna )
Imbalance between uplink and downlink (transmit power of the BTS is high,
tower mounted amplifier TMA or BTS amplifier does not work properly )
Repeater problem (uplink and downlink gain is inappropriately set, wide
frequency repeater is used and the gain is set to a great value strong
interference may occur ..)

Temporary Block Flow TBF establishment success rate