2G Drive Test Analysis with TEMS Workshop

Gaurab Dipta Barua Manager Radio Network Solution

AGENDA

BRIEF

GSM OVERVIEW

TEMS MAIN SCREENS

EXAMPLES OF INVESTIGATIONS drop call along M11 towards Cambridge Handover: influence of layer priority

Slide 2 30 July 2013

INTRO: TEMS SNAPSHOT

Slide 3 30 July 2013

Timeslot, TA, RXLEV, RXQUAL, WHAT ARE THEY !?! WHAT DO THEY DO !?!

BRIEF GSM OVERVIEW

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GSM BASIS: THE TDMA FRAME (Time Division Multiple Access)

GSM voice : 1 Time Slot <=> 1 user

0 time

1 TDMA frame = 8 Time Slots = 8 x 577 us = 4.615 ms

Slide 5 30 July 2013

SPEECH CODECs (COmpression and DECompression)

FR: Full Rate 13 kbits/s HR: Half-Rate 5.6 kbits/s => doubles network capacity EFR : Enhanced Full Rate 12.2 kbits/s AMR: Adaptive Multi-Rate ranges from 4.75 to 12.2 kbits/s

Full Rate

Half Rate Illustration: Full Rate versus Half Rate

Slide 6 30 July 2013

time

DISCONTINUOUS TRANSMISSION (DTX)

Discontinuous transmission takes advantage of silence periods in normal speech, which for a typical conversation represents roughly 50% of the conversation. Advantage of DTX : - Battery saving - Does help combating interference by inhibiting the transmission of the radio signal when not required. The interference generated is thus statistically more than halved.

I am talking
TRANSMISSION

I am listening

I am listening
NO TRANSMISSION

I am talking

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GSM FREQUENCY CHANNELS ON VODAFONE NETWORK P-GSM (Primary-GSM): 1-23, 62-99 E-GSM (Extended-GSM): 975-995 GSM-1800 (also known as DCS): 541-568
Notes: Vodafone allocate odd channels 63,65,6799 for BCCH for GSM cells (same rule applies for GSM-1800)

Example of cell configuration with 4 PGSM and 2 EGSM channels

ARFCN Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number

GSM range [0 to 1023]

Slide 8 30 July 2013

FREQUENCY HOPPING

Frequency hopping does average interference in the network.

Baseband hopping (used on Vodafone network) HSN is the Hopping Sequence Number.
HSN=0: cyclic sequence otherwise pseudo random sequence

MAIO is the Mobile Allocation Index Offset (Not used in Baseband hopping)
Frequency offset that prevents adjacent channel interference within a cell as well as co- and adjacent channel interference in co-sited cells when using synthesised frequency hopping.
Slide 9 30 July 2013

Vodafone Cell Site Prefix Information

LETTER B C D E G S P I T U W CELL TYPE UMTS Pico Cell UMTS Micro Cell DCS1800 Macro Cell Training Cell GSM900 Macro Cell GSM 900 Micro Cell DCS 1800 Indoor Cell GSM 900 Indoor Cell Test Cell DCS1800 Micro Cell UMTS Macro Cell

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PAGING and LOCATION AREA

THIS MOBILE IS CURRENTLY REGISTERED ON OUR NETWORK IN LOCATION AREA 1 => WAKING UP ALL MOBILES IN LA1 !! TRYING TO REACH THIS MOBILE

NETWORK

LA1

LA2
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CELL GLOBAL IDENTITY

MCC : Mobile Country Code MNC : Mobile Network Code LAC : Location Area Code CI : Cell Identity

Location Area Identification (LAI)

Cell Global Identity (CGI)

Example of MCC and MNC

Country United Kingdom United Kingdom United Kingdom United Kingdom Operator MCC MNC o2 Vodafone T-Mobile Orange 234 234 234 234 10 15 30 33

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SIGNAL LEVEL MEASUREMENTS (1/2)

RXLEV = Received Signal Level RXQUAL = Received Signal Quality (dedicated mode) BER = Bit Error Rate FER = Frame Erasure Rate

Relation between RXQUAL and BER

RXQUAL 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Slide 13 30 July 2013

0.2% 0.4% 0.8% 1.6% 3.2% 6.4% 12.8%

BER BER < 0.2% < BER < 0.4% < BER < 0.8% < BER < 1.6% < BER < 3.2% < BER < 6.4% < BER < 12.8% < BER

SIGNAL LEVEL MEASUREMENTS (2/2)

C/I = Carrier over Interference ratio SQI: Speech Quality Index

NOTE: Use RxLev Sub, RxQual Sub measurements when DTX is activated (RxLev, RxQual are measured over 104 TDMA frames whilst Rx Sub measurements are reported over 12 TDMA frames only)

Slide 14 30 July 2013

TIMING ADVANCE (Adaptive Frame Alignment) GSM network computes TA parameter and asks mobile to send frames earlier to compensate flying time differences between signals.

Without TA compensation => Overlap

With TA compensation

30 km

TA=1 means BTS-MS distance = 550 meters

Slide 15 30 July 2013

MS POWER

MS power control level :

Mobile station transmit power mapped to a number between 0 and 31

according to the transform in GSM 05.05, ch. 4. Valid only in dedicated mode.

GSM 400 and GSM 900 and GSM 850

Power control level 0-2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19-31
Slide 16 30 July 2013

Nominal Output power (dBm) 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5

33 dBm = 2 W

RADIO LINK TIMEOUT

1 If SACCH frame : not successfully decoded => counter = counter - 1 successfully decoded => counter = counter + 2
Slide 17 30 July 2013

Counter=0 DISCONNECTION !!

IDLE MODE CELL SELECTION / RESELECTION

Selection criteria : C1>0 otherwise NO SERVICE !! with C1 = RXLEV - RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN (simplified formula)
RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN Minimum received signal level in dBm at the MS for permission to access the network

Reselection criteria : C2 candidate cell > C2 current cell with C2 = C1 - CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET (simplified formula)

TEMS snapshot cells sorted by C1, C2

Slide 18 30 July 2013

DEDICATED MODE HANDOVER Handover :

The switching of a call in progress from one radio channel to another to secure the continuity of an established call

Received Signal Level -60 dBm -80 dBm

-100 dBm

I AM JUST ABOUT TO DO A HAND ...

distance

Slide 19 30 July 2013

CLICK

OVER !!

BROADCAST CONTROL CHANNEL (BCCH)

The BCCH is transmitted FULL POWER by a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) to provide the signalling information required by the MS (Mobile Station) to access and identify the network.

Slide 20 30 July 2013

BASE STATION IDENTITY CODE (BSIC)

Base Station Identity Code (BSIC) is a 6 bit 'colour code' broadcast on the SCH (Synchronisation Channel) in GSM systems, which uniquely identifies the beacon frequency. BCCH = 73 BSIC = 46 BCCH = 73 BSIC = 54

Slide 21 30 July 2013

LOGICAL CHANNELS AND SIGNALLING

RACH : Random Access CHannel
Uplink channel used by mobiles to request a service to the network AGCH : Access Grant CHannel Downlink channel used by network to allocate mobile a dedicated channel SDCCH : Stand Alone Dedicated Control CHannel carries signalling information for authentication, call establishment, and for sending SMSs TCH : Traffic CHannel to carry voice traffic (e.g. TCH/F for Full rate, TCH/H for Half rate)

SACCH : Slow Associated Control CHannel Associated with dedicated channel, carries signal measurement, power control, Timing Advance
FACCH : Fast Associated Control CHannel used at handover command

TCH TCH FACCH TCH TCH

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GSM CALL FLOW : Mobile Originating Call

Mobile
IDLE MODE
RACH

Network
Mobile requests Network for allocation of radio resource Network transmitting radio resource (channel, frequency, Timeslot, etc)

AGCH

CHANNEL REQUEST IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT CM SERVICE REQUEST

Mobile initiating connection with Network

D E D I C A T E D M O D E

AUTHENTICATION REQUEST Network checks if the subscriber has been authenticated AUTHENTICATION RESPONSE SDCCH CIPHER MODE COMMAND CIPHER MODE COMPLETE Network initiates ciphering of the data being sent on the channel. The channel is ciphered so as to protect the call from eavesdropping. Setup message contains the dialed digits and other information needed for call establishment. The mobile is informed that the call setup is in progress. Network assigns a Traffic CHannel to mobile Network informs the mobile that the called subscriber is being alerted via a ring

SETUP CALL PROCEEDING

ASSIGNMENT COMMAND ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE ALERTING

TCH

CONNECT CONNECT ACKNOWLEDGE

Network informs the mobile that the call has been answered.

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TEMS SNAPSHOTS

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MAP PRESENTATION
Legend : 5543 SITE

SERVER

NEIGHBOUR LINK to Neighbour

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BAR CHARTS
IDLE MODE DEDICATED MODE (Plain colour=Serving cell)

Neighbours received signal level Speech Quality Index R X Q U A L

Frame Erasure Rate

Carrier / Interference

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EVENT SYMBOLS AND THEIR MEANING

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IDLE MODE REPORTS

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DEDICATED MODE REPORTS

Slide 29 30 July 2013

LAYER 3 SIGNALLING

RXLEV Mapping (3GPP TS 05.08)

RXLEV RXLEV RXLEV 0 1 2 : : RXLEV 62 RXLEV 63 less than -110 dBm -110 dBm to -109 dBm -109 dBm to -108 dBm

Slide 30 30 July 2013

-49 dBm to -48 dBm greater than -48 dBm

EXAMPLES OF INVESTIGATIONS

Slide 31 30 July 2013

EXAMPLE 1 : HIGH DROPPER ALONG M11 TOWARDS CAMBRIDGE

Cell G1011.1 % TCH DROP

2.5

1.5 TARGET

0.5

50 90 1

50 90 2

50 90 3

50 90 4

50 90 5

50 90 6

50 90 7

50 90 8

50 90 9

50 91 0

50 91 1

=> CELL G1011.1 DOES NOT MEET THE 1% DROP TARGET !!

Slide 32 30 July 2013

50 91 2

EXAMPLE 1 : ANALYSIS

G5543.1 good !!
5543

DIFFICULT AREA !!

G5543.2 weak !!

G1011.1 weak !!

1011
Slide 33 30 July 2013

EXAMPLE 1 : SOLUTION
=> Try to make cell G5543.1 more attractive, especially more than cell G1011.1

Cell G1011.1 % TCH DROP

2.5

1.5

AFTER 6 dB offset between G5543.1 and G1011.1 !!

TARGET

0.5

50 90 1

50 90 3

50 90 5

50 90 7

50 90 9

50 91 1

50 91 3

50 91 5

50 91 7

50 91 9

50 92 1

Slide 34 30 July 2013

50 92 3

EXAMPLE 2 : LAYER PRIORITY AND HANDOVER

-79 dBm much stronger than -93 dBm WHY DO NOT WE HANDOVER FROM D5779.1 TO G1194.2 !!!?
Slide 35 30 July 2013

EXAMPLE 2 : EXPLANATION To improve capacity of the network, Vodafone use Hierarchical Cell Structure (HCS) feature that helps efficiently distributing traffic between cells. Layer 1 : Sxxxx Street Level Micro cell (SLM) Layer 2 : Dxxxx 1800 macro cell Layer 3 : Gxxxx 900 macro cell

As long as signal does not go below LayerThr - LayerHyst (-87 dBm) mobile wont handover from D5779.1 to G1194.2
Slide 36 30 July 2013

even though -79 dBm is better than -93 dBm

REFERENCES
ERICSSON Active Library Explorer http://alex.vfl.vodafone/cgi-bin/alex BSS R11

TEMS Investigation Users Manual (HELP)

3GPP Specifications http://www.3gpp.org/specs/numbering.htm

Slide 37 30 July 2013

THANK YOU

Slide 38 30 July 2013