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Uu: UE to NodeB
1. Physical layer (Layer 1, L1): used to transmit data over the air, responsible for channel
coding, interleaving, repetition, modulation, power control, macro-diversity combining.
2. Link layer (L2): is split into 2 sub-layers – Medium Access Control (MAC) and Radio
Link Control (RLC).
MAC: responsible for multiplexing data from multiple applications onto physical
channels in preparation for over-the-air transmition.
RLC: segments the data streams into frames that are small enough to be transmitted over
the radio link.
3. Upper layer (L3): vertically partitioned into 2 planes: control plane for signaling and user
plan for bearer traffic.
RRC (Radio Resource Control) is the control plan protocol: controls the radio resources
for the access network.
In implementation:
3. Briefly describe UMTS air interface channel types and their functions.
There are 3 types of channels across air interface – physical channel, transport channel and
logical channel:
1. Physical Channel: carries data between physical layers of UE and NodeB.
2. Transport Channel: carries data between physical layer and MAC layer.
3. Logical Channel: carries data between MAC layer and RRC layer.
Common control channel: P-CCPCH, S-CCPCH, P-SCH, S-SCH, CPICH, AICH, PICH,
PDSCH, PRACH, PCPCH, CD/CA-ICH.
o Dedicated channel: DPDCH, DPCCH.
Transparent mode corresponds to the lowest service of the RLC layer, no controls and no
detection of missing data.
Unacknowledged mode offers the possibility of segment and concatenate of data but no
error correction or retransmission therefore no guarantee of delivery.
Acknowledged mode offers, in addition to UM mode functions, acknowledgement of
transmission, flow control, error correction and retransmission.
8. Which layer(s) perform ciphering function?
9. What is OVSF?
Yes, cell capacity can be hard-limited by code space. Take CS-12.2k for example:
13. What are the symbol rates (bits per symbol) for BPSK, QPSK, 8PSK and 16QAM?
BPSK: 1.
QPSK: 2.
8PSK: 3.
16QAM: 4.
Capacity Management is responsible for the control of the load in the cell. It consists of 3 main
functions:
1. UE uses the primary synchronization channel (P-SCH) for slot alignment (TS
synchronization).
2. After aligning to NodeB time slot, UE then uses secondary synchronization channel (S-
SCH) to obtain frame synchronization and scrambling code group identification.
3. UE then uses scrambling code ID to obtain CPICH, thus camping to a NodeB.
4. What could be the cause of soft handover failure?
UE issue.
Resource unavailable at target NodeB.
Inadequate SHO threshold defined.
o Etc.
Active set – the list of cells which are in soft handover with UE.
Monitored set – the list of cells not in active set but RNC has told UE to monitor.
o Detected set – list of cells detected by the UE but not configured in the neighbor
list.
6. What are the major differences between GSM and UMTS handover decision?
GSM:
Time-based mobile measures of RxLev and RxQual – mobile sends measurement report
every SACH period (480ms).
o BSC instructs mobile to handover based on these reports.
o
UMTS:
e1a – a Primary CPICH enters the reporting range, i.e. add a cell to active set.
e1b – a primary CPICH leaves the reporting range, i.e. removed a cell from active set.
e1c – a non-active primary CPICH becomes better than an active primary CPICH, i.e.
replace a cell.
e1d: change of best cell.
e1e: a Primary CPICH becomes better than an absolute threshold.
o e1f: a Primary CPICH becomes worse than an absolute threshold.
e3a: the UMTS cell quality has moved below a threshold and a GSM cell quality had
moved above a threshold.
e3b: the GSM cell quality has moved below a threshold.
e3c: the GSM cell quality has moved above a threshold.
e3d: there was a change in the order of best GSM cell list.
Access failure and handover failure: may attempt to access to a wrong scrambling code.
Dropped call: UE not aware of a strong scrambling code, strong interference.
Poor data throughput.
Poor voice quality.
Etc.
When access failure is high we can try the following to improve RACH performance:
11. What are the conditions you typically set to trigger IRAT handover?
RSCP ≤ -100dBm.
Ec/Io ≤ -16dBm.
12. What are the typical KPIs you use to measure a network and what criteria?
Missing 2G relations
Non availability of 2G Resources
Poor 2G Coverage
Missing 3G Relations
18. What is Paging Success Ratio? What is the typical PSR that you have seen in a UMTS
network?
20. What are the possible causes for a Drop Call on a UMTS network?
Study the Pilot spillover from the 3rd Tier SC and control its coverage
Even after controlling the coverage, if the spillover is there, Add the neighbor.
Delayed Handover
Loss of Synchronization
Fast Fading
Pilot Pollution / Spillover issues
24. What is the typical Call Setup Time for a 3G UE to 3G UE Call? What are the possible
RF related causes for a delayed CST in this type of call?
6 to 9 seconds
Multiple RRC Attempts (UE is on poor coverage – need more than Access Attempt)
Delayed Page Responses
High Load on Paging and/or Access Channel
Paging / Access Parameters
25. What is Soft Handover Overhead? What is the typical value in UMTS network?
Soft Handover Overhead is calculated in two ways. 1) Average Active Set Size – Total
Traffic / Primary Traffic. 2) Secondary / Total Traffic
Typical Values are like 1.7 (Avg Active Set Size) or 35% (Secondary / Total )
26. What will happen to the Soft Handover Overhead when you apply OCNS on the
network? And Why?
With OCNS, the interference (load) increases. This leads to reduction in Ec/Io of a Pilot,
which reduces the pilot spillovers. Reduction in Pilot Spillover will reduce the Soft
Handover Overhead.
27. What are the possible causes for an Access Failure in UMTS?
Missing Neighbors
Poor Coverage
Pilot Pollution / Spillover
Poor Cell Reselection
Core Network Issues
Non – availability of resources. Admission Control denies
Hardware Issues
Improper RACH Parameters
External Interference
28. (FOR ERICSSON EXPERIENCED) What is RTWP? What is the significance of it?
29. (FOR ERICSSON EXPERIENCED) What is the System Reference Point at which all
the Power Levels are measured in Ericsson NodeB?
System Ref Point for E/// NodeB is at the output of TMA (Between TMA and Antenna)
30. What are the typical values for ‘reportingrange1a’ and ‘reportingrange1b’?
3 dB and 5 dB respectively.
31. What will be the impact when you change ‘reportingrange1a’ from 3 to 4 dB and
‘timetotrigger1a’ 100 to 320 ms, without changing any other parameters?
Congestion Control monitors the dynamic utilization of specific cell resources and
insures that overload conditions do not occur. If overload conditions do occur,
Congestion Control will immediately restrict Admission Control from granting additional
resources. In addition, Congestion Control will attempt to resolve the congestion by
either down switching, or terminating existing users. Once the congestion is corrected,
the congestion resolution actions will cease, and Admission Control will be enabled.
1. What are the major 4 KPIs in propagation model tuning and typical acceptable values?
The 4 KPIs are standard deviation error, root mean square error, mean error and correlation
coefficient. The typical acceptable values are:
2. What is the minimum number of bins required for a certain propagation model?
The more bins the more likely to come up with a good model. Usually a minimum of 2,000
bines is considered acceptable, but sometimes as low as 500 bins may be accepted.
There are 512 scrambling codes in the downlink and 16,777,216 codes in the uplink.
5. Can we assign same scrambling codes to sister sectors (sectors on same site)?
No, because scrambling code on the downlink is used for cell identity. As a requirement,
scrambling codes have to maintain a safe separation to avoid interference.
No, scrambling codes are not orthogonal since they are not synchronized at each receiver. They
are pseudo random sequences of codes.
Yes.
8. In IS-95 we have a PN reuse factor (PN step size) and therefore cannot use all 512 PN
codes, why isn’t it necessary for UMTS scrambling codes?
Because IS-95 is a synchronized network, different PN codes have the same code sequence with
a time shift, therefore we need to maintain a certain PN step size to avoid multi-path problem.
For example, if two sectors in the neighborhood have a small PN separation then signal arriving
from cell A may run into the time domain of cell B, causing interference.
UMTS, on the other hand, is not a synchronized network and all scrambling codes are mutually
orthogonal so no need to maintain a step size.
The coverage thresholds are based on UE sensitivity, fading and penetration loss. Assuming UE
sensitivity of -110dBm, fade margin of 5dB:
The Ec/Io target typically is between -12 to -14dB. However, if a network is designed for data
then the Ec/Io target could go higher to around -10dB because server dominance is more critical
for a data network – since there isn’t software in the downlink.
Since UMTS coverage is dependent on the loading, static coverage and quality analysis (RSCP
and Ec/Io) represents the network performance in no-load condition. Monte Carlo simulation is
therefore used to illustrate network performance under simulated loading consition.
12. What is the key difference between a static analysis and a Monte Carlo simulation?
Static analysis can only show RSCP and Ec/Io in no-load condition. Monte Carlo simulation not
only can show RSCP and Ec/Io in simulated loading condition but also can show many more
others: mean served, cell loading, uplink and downlink capacity limits reached, etc.
13. What should be run first (what information should be ready and loaded) before
running a Monte Carlo simulation?
Before running Monte Carlo simulation, the following should be completed or in place.
Run prediction.
Spread the traffic.
Define terminal types.
14. How many snap shots and iteration do you usually have when running Monte Carlo
simulation?
16. What plots do you usually check after running Monte Carlo for trouble spots?
17. What are the typical reasons of failure in Monte Carlo simulation?
“Traffic spread” means spreading traffic (number of terminals) in a cell coverage area.
(Depends).