RF & NETWORK

OPTIMISATION
 Network
WHY?Optimization

 Delight Customer with Good Quality – Differentiating Factor

 Full utilization of Network & its various subsystems

CHALLENGES:

 Frequent Change in Usage Patterns (Market dynamics)

 Managing Scarce spectrum to maximize profits

Types:

 Soft Optimization

 Physical Optimization
Why optimize a network every time? Hasn’t
everything been done during planning
phase or during the Last Quarter
Excellence exercise?

• Parameters set during

NO! the planning phase
must be reviewed according to network
statistics
• As number of users increase, network
expansions must be considered as well as
new strategies
• Frequency plan/ PN Plan may have to be
altered in order to avoid interference and
network quality degradation during
network growth
What is Network
Quality ? •
•
H/W Failure
Network Configuration
• Network Traffic
• Spectrum Efficiency
• Coverage yes/no
• Service Probability
• Quality
O C NETWORK • Call Set Up Time
P U • Call Setup Success Rate
• Call Completion Rate
E S • Mail Box, Data, Fax
R T SERVICES • HSCSD, GPRS, WAP
A O • Customer Care
T M • Faulty H/W or S/W
O E MOBILE • Mobile Quality
• Misuse of Equipment
R R • H/W Costs
COST • Subscription/Airtime costs
• Additional Services Costs
• Network Equipment Costs
• Maintenance Costs
• Site Leasing Costs
• Transmission Link Costs
 OPTIMIZATION
FLOW
• QUALITY DEFINITION
• QUALITY TARGETS
• QUALITY MONITORING
• ALARM ANALYSIS
• CONFIGURATION ANALYSIS
• TROUBLESHOOTING
• CHANGE REQUEST
• QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
Network Quality Cycle
Performance
• Monitoring
Network is under permanent change
⇒ detect problems and symptoms early!
OMC

field tests
It´s far too late
when customers customer
complain! complaints
 Performance Monitoring
Key Performance Indicators

• KPIs are figures used to evaluate Network performance

– Post processing of NMS data or
– Drive test measurements data

• Usually one short term target and one long term target
– Check the network evolution and which targets are achieved

• KPIs calculated with NMS data

– Network performance on the operator side.

• KPIs from drive test

– Performance on the subscribers side
Performance Monitoring
With NMS

• KPIs to evaluate the network performance with

NMS are:
– SDCCH and TCH congestion
– Blocking percentage [%]
– Drop call rate [%]
– Handoff failure and/or success rate
– Call setup success rate
– Average quality DL and UL
– BHCA per Sub
– Busy Hour Traffic Utlisation
– ASR
– Paging Success Rate
Performance Monitoring
With Drive Tests

• Evaluate network performance from the subscriber point

of view

• KPIs information

– Quality, CDR, Interference, Missing neighbors, Call setup time, Data throughput

• Added value of drive test measurement

– Find out the geographical position of problems like bad quality to look for a
possible interference source in the area

– Compare the performance of different networks (benchmarking)

– Display the signal level on the digital maps to individuate areas with lack of
Various Optimizations

• Hardware
• Parameters
• Transmission
 Hardware
Optimisation

• Hardware for Optimising

– Capacity Augmentation to meet varied usages Currently >60% usages
are tracked & Augmentation happens @ ~ 80% utilisation

– Interim Augmentation to meet excegencies. Hardware is shifted from

one location to the other to meet unexpected spurt in usages

– Antennae Optimisation for right footprint.

 Parameter
Optimisation
• Relevant parameters for Optimising

– Frequency
– Transmit power
– Handoff Matrix
– LA/LAIs
– Handoff/handover Thresholds
– Power control parameters
– PN offset
– Timer Value Optimisations
 Tx resource
Optimisation
• Transmission Resources for
Optimising

– Inter BSC/ Inter MSC Connectivities

– MPLS Connectivities
– Capacity utilisation based optimisation
 Optimization Process
Young Network Case

• In a young network the primary target is normally

the coverage
• In this phase usually there is a massive use of
drive test measurement
– check the signal and
– the performance of the competitors

MMAC
GPS
NMS
X
 Optimization Process
Mature Network Case

• In a mature network the primary targets are

quality indicators
– CDR, FER, Handoff failures, Interference, MTx

• Important use the information from NMS

– a general view of the network performance
Drop Call Rate (%)

• Drive test measurements are used

3.5

2.5

2 – In areas where new sites are on air Where interference and similar
Call Bids / 10000
Average
1.5
problems are pointed out by NMS data analysis Busy Hour

0.5 – In areas where new sites are on air

0
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed
 Repeaters/ IBS – Quality to Customer
Extending Coverage – Indoor
Various Access Methods
CDMA Architecture Overview
PSTN/PLMN

MSC/VLR HLR/AUC

SC

Abis

BTS -1X
WIN
Voice Only IP HA
Um Abis
BSC/ PCF (1X)
IS2000 E1 OMC
E1 Internet
STM-1
TE/MS BTS - 1X Ethernet
Router Router
(V+D)
Ethernet
IP
Abis
BSC/ PCF HSIA PDSN/FA
E1
STM-1
AAA Server
BTS - HSIA AN-AAA
CDMA Channels (Forward - Downlink)

Forward CDMA
Channels

Traffic
Pilot Sync Paging Channel Traffic
Channels Channel Channels RS1,RS2 Channel
RS3 to RS6

Auxiliary Fundamental
Pilot F-QPPH F-BCCH Code Channel
Pilot

Fundamental Supplemental
F-PCH Code Channel Code Channel
F-CCCH
CDMA Channels (Reverse - Uplink)

Reverse CDMA
Channels

Access Traffic Traffic

Pilot Channel Channel
R-CCCH
RS1,RS2 RS3 to RS6

Fundamental
Code Channel

Supplemental
Fundamental
Code Channel
Code Channel
GSM Channels (U/L &
D/L)
RF Optimization
Objectives of RF
Optimization
Purpose of RF Optimization:

 Fine tune network elements

 Ensure performance and quality of network in

preparation for live traffic
• Document system performance against exit criteria
• Ensure acceptable coverage
• Minimize dropped calls, and lower originations and
terminations failure.
Starting Optimization on a New
System
RF Coverage Control
• Contain each sector’s coverage, avoiding gross spillover
into other sectors
• Tools: PN Plots, Handoff State Plots, Mobile TX plots

Search Window Settings

• Find best settings for SRCH_WIN_A, _N, _R

Neighbor List Tuning

• Groom each sector’s neighbors to only those necessary
but be alert to special needs due to topography and traffic
• Tools: diagnostic data, system logs

Access Failures, Dropped Call Analysis

• Iterative corrections until within numerical goals
Pilot Pollution
• Pilot pollution is the number of pilots(in addition to the best
serving pilot)which have a Signal Strength within a preset dB
level(Pilot pollution threshold-usually 6dB) of the best serving
sector

Correcting Corrections::::

Reduce Pilot,Page,Sync,Tch_max and Tch_Min settings

Downtilt the antenna
Reorient the antenna to a different bearing.
Replace the antenna with a lower gain model.
Lower the antenna
Move or eliminate the cell/sector
Add new site.
 Common RF Optimization
Scenarios I
• Pilot Pollution
– Low Ec/Io caused by the presence of numerous,
poor quality, non-dominant pilots
 Symptoms
 Low Combined Ec/Io
 No dominant pilot
 Above average mobile received
power
 High drop rate
 High access failure rate
Common Pilot Pollution
Scenarios
• Terrain

 Pilot Pollution can be a symptom of rapid changes in elevation or areas with

very high elevations as the RF power is more difficult to control
 Problem:
 Inadequate downtilt on the highest site causes an overshoot
 Inappropriate choice of antenna vertical beam and/or inadequate downtilt
for the lowest sites causes multiple pilot reception by the mobile
 Solution:

 The proper antenna type, orientation and downtilt

 Common Pilot Pollution
Scenarios
• Water Features
– Problem:
• Multiple pilots arrive at the
mobile due to increased
propagation over water
• Downtilt alone may not be
enough to maintain the
coverage in the network core
whilst effectively reducing the
propagation over the water
– Solution:
• Control of the cross-water
propagation by correct site
configuration:
– Antenna Type
– Orientation
– Downtilt
 Common RF Optimization
Scenarios II
• Slow/Missed Handoff
– Problem: Mobile requests a handoff to a
Neighbor Pilot but due to slow searching
• Handoff not completed as a stronger PN arrives causing
interference
• Handoff completed but new pilot has poor Ec/Io

– Solution:
• Minimization of the Active and Neighbor search
windows
– Statistical Analysis of pilot delays using a detailed drive of each
sectors’ coverage area

• Removal of unnecessary non-serving neighbors

 Common RF Optimization
Scenarios
• Forward Link III
Interference
– Problem: A mobile with adequate received
power, normal mobile transmit power that
has a high Ec/Io with high FFER
– Two Possible Scenarios:
• Pilot not in neighbor list
– Add neighbor if pilot should be providing service
– Remove pilot from the problem area by changing site
configuration if it should not be providing service

• Pilot in neighbor list but outside search window

– Re-optimize search windows if pilot should be providing
service
– Remove pilot from the problem area by changing site
configuration if it should not be providing service
 Common RF Optimization
• PN Conflict Scenarios IV
– Problem: The merged neighbor list of a mobile in soft
handoff contains a reference to two sectors with the same
PN
– Symptoms are similar to forward link interference
– Example:
• Mobile in three-way soft handoff with sectors A, B and C
• Sector D is a neighbor of sector B and sector E is a neighbor
Solution:
of sector A, Sectors D and E share the same PN
• Change PN plan if both D

sectors should provide

service C B

• Remove one of the pilots

from problem area by site A

reconfiguration if the
sector should not provide E

service
RF Optimization Issues:
 Network Design and Configuration
Coverage holes, excessive coverage overlap

 Call Processing Problems due to misconfiguration

Neighbor Lists
Search Windows
Power control parameters

 Physical Problems/Hardware Problems

Mismatched multicarrier sector coverage

 Capacity Issues
Forward and Reverse Power Control Overload
Physical resource congestion
– Channel elements, packet pipes
– IP network congestion

 Managing A New Dimension: circuit-switched and IP traffic blend

QoS-related competitive issues
Performance Monitoring/Growth
Management
Benchmark Existing Performance
Dropped Call %, Access Failure %, traffic levels

Identify Problem Cells and Clusters

Weigh cells and clusters against one another

Look for signs of Overload

TCE or Walsh minutes -- excessive ? Soft handoff excessive?
Required number of channel elements -- excessive?
Forward Power Overloads, Originations, Handoffs blocked

Traffic Trending and Projection

Track busy-hour traffic on each sector; predict exhaustion
Develop plan for expansion and capacity relief
– split cells, multi-sector expansions, multiple carriers
 Call Quality Problem
List
 Call Dropped – CHECK HANDOFF/HANDOVER

 Speech Clipping – FER/ FAULTY HARDWARE IN

MGW

 Humming Sound – FAULTY HARDWARE IN MGW

 No Service – FAULTY HARDWARE

 Disturbance in voice - FER/ FAULTY HARDWARE

IN MGW/ L3 STACK