Basic Of GSM

Which is
needed
IN Drive Test

Written By
GURU ,
9473656410 8
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8527939572 gurumit93@gmail.com

Call Drop Reasons:

1) Interference
2) Bad Rx level
3) High VSWR
4) Bad Rx Quality
5) High BER
6) Handover is not defined
7) When RLT= 0 , call drop occurs

Handover Reasons:
1)Rx Level
2)Rx Quality
3)Interference
4)Power budget
5)Timing Advance

Handover Failure Reasons:

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

Handover is not defined

Due to distance b/w two BTS
Due to not availability of TCH
Interference
Overshoot
Congestion
Proper handover is not defined

Beam width & Tilt:

Antenna beam width & tilt improves the
coverage of the planned area.
Beam width= 65 Dbi

Reduce co-channel interference:

1) Proper frequency planning
2) Proper reuse pattern
3) Physical parameters like tilt ,orientation
EIRP= Effective isotropic radiated power
CCSR= Call complete success rate

GSM 900Band
Uplink= 890-915 MHz
Downlink= 935-960 MHz

GSM 1800Band
Uplink= 1710-1785 MHz
Downlink= 1805-1880 MHz

WCDMA Band
Uplink=1920-1980 MHz
Downlink=2110-2170 MHz

RX Level:
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It is the received signal strength of serving

cell.
Unit = dbm
Range= -0 to -120
Good= -50 to -75
Avgas =
Bad=

-75 to -90
-90 to -105

RX Quality:
It is the quality of voice which is measured on
the basis of BER.
Range: 0 to 7
Good = 0 to 4
R.Q

BER

0to 0.2 %

0.2to 0.4 %

0.4 to 0.8 %

0.8to 1.6%

1.6to 3.2%

3.2to 6.4%

6.4to12.8%

greater than

12.8%
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BER: Bit Error Rate

It is the ratio of number of error bits to
the total number of bits Transmitted on a given time
interval.
RX Quality depends on BER.

FER: Frame Erasure Rate

It is the ratio of discarded frame to the total
number of frames transmitted on a given time interval.
Range: 0 to 13 %
Best: 0
Good: 0 to 4 %

RL Time Out Counter:

This defines the maximum value of the radio link
counter expressed in SACCH blocks.
Range= 4 to 64 in step size 4 when RLT = 0 , then
call drop occurs.

SQI: Speech Quality Index

It is the quality of voice. It depends on BER & FER.
Range= -20 to 30
Good= 20 to 30
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Interference:
It is the unwanted signal.
Two types of interference
1) Co-channel Interference
2) Adjacent channel Interference

Co-channel Interference:
Several cells use same set of frequency. These cells
are called co-channel cells & interference produced on
these cells is called co-channel cells.

Adjacent Channel Interference:

This is produced due to the adjacent cells.
+ 1 & - 1 Difference

C/I: carrier to interference ratio

It is the ratio of signal strength of serving cell to the
ratio of signal strength of undesired cells.
Range: 9 to 30
Good = 15 to 25
For Hopping: 9 to 11
For Non Hopping: 12 to 30

BASIC: Base Station Identity Code

It is the combination of NCC (Network Color Code)
& BCC (Base station color code).
NCC= 0to 7
BCC= 0 to 7

Link Budget In GSM:

It is used for path balance b/w uplink & downlink.

Reduction of C/I:
1) Interference
2) Proper handover is not defined
3) Check Mechanical & Electrical Tilt
4) Due to Power

Channels in GSM:
1)
2)

Physical Channel
Logical Channel

Logical Channel:
1) Control Channel
2) Traffic Channel

Control Channel:
1) Broadcast Control Channel
2) Common Control Channel
3) Dedicated Control Channel

Traffic Channel:
1) Half Rate
2) Full Rate

BCCH (Broadcast Control Channel):

It is Downlink channel.
This channel contains system parameters needed to
identify the network.
This parameter includes LAC (Location Area Code), MNC
(Mobile Network code) & frequency of neighboring cells.

FCCH (Frequency Correction Channel):

It is Downlink channel.
This channel contains frequency correction bursts.
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SCCH (Synchronization Channel):

It is Downlink channel.
This channel is used by the MS to learn the BSIC & as well
as TDMA frame number.

Cell Broadcast Channel:

It is Downlink channel.
It is used to broadcast specific information to n/w
subscribers such as weather, traffic, sports, stocks.

CCCH (Common Control Channel):

1) Random Access channel
2) Paging channel
3) Access grant channel

RACH (Random Access Channel):

It is only Uplink channel.
This channel is used by MS to request an initial dedicated
channel from the BTS. This would be the first transmission
by MS to access the network.

AGCH (Access Grant Channel):

It is Downlink channel.
This channel is used by the BTS to notify the MS of the
assignment of an initial signaling.

Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH):

1) SDCCH
2) SACCH
3) FACCH

SDCCH (Stand Alone Dedicated Control

Channel):
It is used as uplink & downlink channel. It is bi-directional
channel.
This is signaling channel. It is used for call setup b/w the
MS & BTS.
It is used for call setup, authentication, location update,
SMS on idle mode.

SACCH (Slow Associated control Channel):

It is used as uplink & downlink channel. It is bi-directional
channel.
It is used to transfer signal when MS have ongoing
conversation on traffic or while SDCCH is used.
It used for updating of RX level, RX Quality, BCCH.

FACCH(Fast Associated Control Channel):

It is used as uplink & downlink channel. It is bi-directional
channel.
It associates with TCH only.
It is used for handover.

Full Rate Traffic Channel:

Voice= 13kbps
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Data= 9.6kbps

Half Rate Traffic Channel:

Voice= 6.8kbps
Data=4.8kbps

Frequency Hopping:
Frequency hopping is the change of frequency on a
particular time interval.
1) Improved coverage capacity.
2) Reduce Interference.

Two Types:
1) Baseband hopping
2) Synthesizer Hopping

Baseband Hopping:
Call is transferred from TRX to TRX.
In this method, there are several TRX & each have a fixed
frequency within the hopping plan.
No. of TRX = NO. Of frequency for hop.
Each TRX would be assigned a single time slot within a
TDMA frame.

Synthesizer Hopping:
Call is transferred from time slot to time slot.

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This requires to TRX itself to change frequency according

to the hopping sequence.
So, One TRX would hop b/w multiple frequencies on the
same sequence that the MS is required to.

Hopping Parameter:
Mobile Allocation:
Set of frequency in which mobile is allowed to hop.

HSN (Hopping Sequence Number):

It determines the orders of hopping.
Range= 0 to 63
0= Cyclic Hopping
1= Pseudo Random Hopping

MAIO (Mobile Allocation Index Offset):

It is the number which tells from which frequency,
frequency hopping has to be started from given MA list.

Swapping:
It means interchange.
Three types of swapping occur in drive test.
1) Sector Swapping
2) Cyclic Swapping
3) Diversity Swapping

Sector Swapping:
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BCCH of 1st sector occurs in 2nd sector & BCCH of 2nd sector
occurs in 1st sector. Then is the sector swapping b/w 1st &
2nd sector.

Cyclic Swapping:
BCCH of all sectors are interchanged i.e
1-2
2-3
3-1

Diversity Swapping:
It occurs due to interchange of TX/RX cable.

Handover:
Handover is a process in which call is transferred from
one cell to another cell without disconnecting the call.
There are two types of handover.
1) Intra cell handover: B/W two sectors of same BTS.
2) Inter cell handover: B/W two different BTS.

Tilt:
1) Mechanical Tilt
2) Electrical Tilt

Mechanical Tilt:
Mechanical Tilt is used for horizontal direction. It is used
to increase the coverage. There should be less mechanical
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tilt in the city; eg.-2, if we will give 2 MET then we will get
good coverage.
If we will give 4 or 5 MET in the city than back lob will get
produced which will affect the back sites. In the rural area
MET is given to get coverage for a long distance.

Electrical Tilt:
Electrical tilt is used for vertical direction. It is used to
spread the coverage. We can use 4 or 5 electrical tilt in
the city.

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WCDMA OR 3G
Wide band code division multiple access
Frequency Band: 2100
UPLINK: 1920 to 1980 MHz
DOWNLINK: 2110 to 2170 MHz
Duplex Scheme:
Frequency division duplex (FDD)
Time division duplex (TDD)
Channel Spacing: 5 MHz
25 times the channel spacing of GSM (200 KHz)

Codes Used In WCDMA:

1) Channelization Code
2) Scrambling Code

Channelization Code:
Downlink: Separates different users within a cell.
Uplink: Separates physical channel of one user.

Scrambling Code:
Downlink: Separate cells in same carrier frequency.
Uplink: Separate users.
The common pilot channel (CPICH) is broadcast from every
cell. It carries no information & can be thought as a

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Beacon constantly transmitting the scrambling code of

the cell.
WCDMA cells are identifies by their SC.
Its like a BCCH in GSM.

RSCP:

Received signal code power.

It is the signal strength after spreading. It is the received

power of a particular CPICH.
Range: -30 to -120
Good: -50 to -75

RSSI: Received signal strength indicator. It is the signal

strength before spreading.
Range: -30 to -140
Good: -60 to -90

EC/Io:

It is the ratio of energy per chip to the total

noise spectral density.
Range: 0 to -13
Good: 0 to -7

Handover Types:
1) Softer Handover
2) Soft Handover
3) Hard Handover
4) I- RATE Handover

Softer Handover:

Handover occur b/w two sectors

of same Node B (BTS)

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Soft Handover:

Handover occur b/w two different

Node B (BTS).

Hard Handover:

Handover occur b/w different RNC.

I-RAT Handover:

Handover occur b/w two different

band, or handover occur b/w 3G to GSM.

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