Troubleshooting for GSM KPIs (SD Block & SD Drop)

KPIs to be monitored:

SD Blocking

SD Drop

SDCCH Channel:
SDCCH channel is a dedicated channel which is using for LAC updation, Call Setup, SMS in Ideal mode. Itworks in U
L & DL

SD Blocking:
SD Blocking means that you are not getting SD resource for the call origination. When MS connects with Networkthe
n RACH and AGCH are provided. After AGCH, SDCCH is provided but if SDCCH is not provided at this timedue to so
me problem or due to unavailable of SD by BSC.

KPI Formula in Ericsson:

SDCCH CONGESTION = (CCONGS / CCALLS) * 100

CCONGS - Congestion counter.

CCALLS - Channel allocation attempt counter (on SDCCH).

Reason for SD Blocking:

LAC Boundary

High Volume of SMS

SD utilization is high

Time Slot faulty

Adaptive configuration of logical channel switch off

Wrong SD Dimension

Incorrect CHAP Settings

Hardware Issue

Solution for Removal of SD Blocking:

Check the no of SD channels available, if less, then increase SD channel while TCH Blocking should be takencare.
Check LAC boundary, if location update is more, then change the LAC of that site and set C2 and HYS.
Use of dynamic SDCCH (it is a BSC parameter)
Shift SD to new time slot
Adaptive configuration of logical channel switch ON
Check for T3212 value

Need to check which parameter:

1. CHAP (Channel Allocation Profile): Its Immediate Assignment Process on TCH, It
on strategies,
CHAP 0: Immediate assignment on TCH is not permitted,

provides differentchannel allocati

CHAP 1: Immediate assignment on TCH is last preference, where in TCH is allocated at immediateassignment only
when there is no Idle SDCCH is available
CHAP2: Immediate assignment on TCH is first preference where in SDCCH may only be allocatedwhen there are no
idle TCH is available.
2. Adaptive configuration of logical channel (ACLP): The purpose of this features dynamic reconfiguration ofIdle TCH C
hannel to SDCCH Channel, when there is SDCCH High load
S LEVEL Defines: Reconfigure of an Idle TCH to an SDCCH will take place; Default 0 Congested ratefor a cell is incr
ease S LEVEL 2
S TIME Define Minimum Time Interval between SDCCH, Can be reconfigured back to TCH, Defaultvalue 20s, Range
15s to 3600s
3. T3212: Periodic update timer value: High volume of LAC Border can cause SD Congestion so optimizethe periodic r
egistration timer. Irrespective of the location, coverage, activity, the mobile has to update itslocation to the MSC after
a defined time/period.

4. CRH (Cell Reselection Hysteresis) :Receiving Signal strength hysteresis for required cell reselection overlocation are
a border, In order to overcome the Ping-Pong effects in cell reselection across location areaborders, CRO and PT ca
n also used to delay reselection in LAC Borders.(Location area code is anidentity number given to the site of a base s
tation)

SD DROP:
When SD is assigned for a mobile during call connection process and during this time due to anyproblem or any mis
match occurs by which SD loss occurs, It is between allocation of SD and before TCHallocation.

KPI Formula in Ericsson:

SDCCH Drop Rate = (CNDROP-CNRELCONG/CMSESTAB)*100
CNDROP- Total number of dropped SDCCH channels in a cell (for the measurement Period).
CNRELCONG- Total number dropped (released) connections on SDCCH due to TCH or Tran-coder congestion.
CMSESTAB - Total number of successful MS channel establishment on SDCCH.

Reason for SD Drop:

Overshooting

Shift the SD time slot

Interference

It may be uplink or downlink issue in which cells foe UL put TMA in that cell and DLprovide tilt

HW Issue

Wrong parameter planning

Bad coverage

MAIO mismatch

High Pathless

High LAPD utilization

Wrong Power control settings

Check the Timer T 3101

Check the Timer T 200(20ms)

Solution for Removal of SD Drop:

Interference:

Check the BCCH Plan(C/I or C/A)

Co-BSIC & Co- BCCH

To find out proper frequency to reduce interference

Overshooting:

LAC Planning

If a cell is picking call from long distance, check the sample log according to TA

Cell orientation need to defined according to clutter

Bad Coverage:

If the drop call is due to low signal strength uplink, check the receive path of this particularTRX. Check receiver sensi
tivity, VSWR, feeder connection and etc. Drops due to LowSignal Strength.

If the drop call reason is due to low signal strength downlink, then, check the transmitpath. Check cards, feeder and
etc.
Hardware Fault:

Check Alarms.

TRX condition.

Check Path Imbalance.

VSWR of the Cell.

Connector Connection.

Sometimes you will find issues on BCCH TRX. In this case BCCH shift from one to otherTRX will reduce SD drop

Need to check Which Parameter:

Drop Reason mainly Low signal strength (UL & DL), Bad Quality (UL & DL) and Excess Timing Advance
And High Interference (Co-BCCH & Co-BSIC), Wrong Power control Settings and Too High of CRH Can result inSDC
CH drops
Power control settings: Lack of good power control settings for SDCCH can lead to excess drop. Two types ofpower c
ontrol 1.MS Power control 2.BTS Power Control
SDCCHREG: Function of this parameter Enable (1)/Disable (0), Enable the power control to minimize the drops
INIDES (Initial desires signal strength): For the SDCCH UL and DL, Default value -70dbm, especially UL impactof dro
p rate, because extremely sensitive to interference, for INDIES from -70 dbm to -85dbm this will reduce thecumulative

power emitted by mobile closer to base station (which need not transmit at very high power tocommunicate with the B
S) and this will reduce the interference
Due to ICM Band (CDMA):

Some time SD drops takes place due to near sites of CDMA.

Check the ICM band value of that site.

Use BPF (Band pass filter).

Reason for SDCCH DROP in GSM Network

Low Rx level DL& UL, Bad Qual (Interference ) DL & UL, and High TA
Drop on LAC boundary.
SW congestion
Due to TCH Congestion.
Hardware issue, Timeslot Faulty, High VSWR, Alarm or Antenna Faulty, mismatch combining.
Interference or error on E1.
Drop due to radio failure.
SD drop due to MS faulty.
SD drop due to mismatch Rxlev_access_min value & RACH busy threshold

SD drop due to mismatch BA2 list, due to drop occur during HO.

CDMA 1X- KPI

Below are the main KPIs of 1X services
1. AFR (Access Failure Rate)
2. CSSR (Call Setup Success Rate)
3. CDR (Call Drop Rate)
4. HOSR (Handoff Success rate)
5. Blocking
6. FFER (Forward Frame Error Rate)
7. RFER (Reverse Frame Error Rate)

Access Failure Rate: - Whenever network fail to assigned services to MS during Call Setup this is
considered as access failures. Its the ratio of origination call failure number to Total number of
originated calls.
AFR=No of Failed originated call*100 / (No of failed attempt + No of Successful call attempt)

An access attempt failure can occur at any point in the process:

During origination Access probes exhausted (not received by BTS)
Access probes exhausted (seen by system but ACK not receive by Mobile Station)
Acknowledgement received by Mobile Station but Channel Assignment Message not seen.
Channel Assignment Message seen at mobile but mobile station does not acquire Forward Traffic
Channel.
Mobile station acquires Forward Traffic Channel but system does not acquire Reverse Traffic Channel.
System acquires Reverse Traffic Channel but Service Connect Message is not seen at mobile station

Reason of Access failures: (AFR)

If the mobile does not hear acknowledgment from the BTS within certain time, this could mean either:
The BTS did not hear the mobile.
Maybe the mobile collided with another mobile transmitting at the same time.
Maybe mobile was too weak to overcome the existing reverse noise level at the BTS.
In either case another probe should solve the problem, provided PI is set reasonably and additional
probes are allowed (RF Team).
The BTS is acknowledging but the mobile cannot hear the acknowledgment.
If the mobile cant hear the BTS acknowledging, Ec/Io is likely quite poor. If so, check whether this is
due to weak signal (poor coverage) or pilot pollution (RF Team).
One Dreaded Possibility during this process is: Reorder.
Mobile beeps and displays Call Failed System Busy results Access fail.
If this problem happens frequently, the BTS traffic overload must be relieved.
Here are some steps to try:
Investigate BTS TX hardware to ensure everything is working correctly and properly calibrated,
particularly the BTS Cards/RRU i.e. Radio Frequency Subsystem unit of BTS (BSC and O&M Team).
Check the antenna VSWR status, which should not exceeds more than 1.3 (BSC and O&M Team).
To free up more forward power for traffic channels. Basically optimize the carrier level power
allocation threshold. Like SCH_Setup_Threshold, Call_Setup_Threshold, Soft_HO_Threshold,
T_Setup_RF, T_HO_RF, power_setup_size etc.(RF Team)
3. After hearing the BTS acknowledgment.
The mobile will stop probing and wait for further instructions on the paging channel.
If the mobile does not hear the Channel Assignment Message within 12 seconds, the mobile will beep
and display Call Failed.
Possible causes:
The BTS did not transmit the Channel Assignment Message. (BSC and Switch Team)
Check system logs to see if this was not transmitted.(BSC Team)
4. The BS (BSC and BTS include) transmit the Channel Assignment Message, but the mobile did not hear
it.(BSC & O&M& Tx Team) Check from OMC end, is there any Abis media alarms between BSC and BTS
physical link. E.g. ES and SES alarms on Abis media, continuous media fluctuation of Abis link. If any
hardware alarm persist in BTS media communication card .

CALL SETUP SUCCESS RATE

CSSR: Definition: Ratio of Successful call attempt to total attempt CSSR= (No of Successful call)*100/
Total Call Attempt OR (100-AFR)%
CALL DROP RATE

Call Drop: The release of traffic channel made by mobile station or base station without the permission
of users. In other words, a call drop is a process of an abnormal release. If the radio link fails after the
mobile sends the Service Connect Complete Message then it will be considered as a dropped call.
Call Drop Rate: In a specific (assigned) period, all the call drop times divided by call origination
success number. It is an important indicator to evaluate the CDMA system.
CDR =No of drop calls*100/No of successful originated Calls
Factor affecting Call Drops
Improper neighbors defined in sector neighbor list. (RF Team)
Radio Capacity limitation Walsh Code, Channel Element or Power Blocking (RF Team)
Check the RF parameter. Like RSSI, Ec/Io, FER etc. (RF Team)
Check the Abis (E1/T1 fluctuation) media stability. (Tx Team)
Check the hardware alarms of BTS(GPS , RRU, Optical fiber, other BTS cards). (BSS Team)
BTS fluctuation. (BSS Team)

HANDOFF SUCCESS RATE

HOSR : It is the ratio of successful handoff count to total no of handoff attempt in the network.
HOSR= No of successful handoff*100/Total no of handoff attempts.
Handoff Fail Analysis: Handoff fails due to mainly below mentioned reason:
1. Neighbor list and priority not properly defined. (RF Team)
2. Need to check the Handoff parameter at BSC end. (BSC & RF Team)
3. Need to check the blocking of neighbor cells. (RF Team)
4. Need to check the E1/T1 alarms at the sites. (Tx Team & BSC Team)
5. GPS failure at sites (BSS Team)
6. Hardware Issue at BTS (BSS team)

Blocking
Block call: If the system responds that no services is available at the time for any origination or
termination call attempt then this call attempt is called as block call.
Blocking= No of block call attempt*100/ Total no of call attempted.
Mainly three types of Blocking:
1. Power Blocking
2. Walsh code blocking
3. Resource Blocking ( CE blocking)
4. Abis/backhaul Blocking

1.Power Blocking:-Blocking happens when the sector processing the mobile call request does not have
sufficient forward power resources to support the call, a condition called power blocking.
Resolution: Parameter level optimization-Power step size, HO threshold, Call setup threshold, SCH
threshold. (RF Team)
2. Walsh code blocking: If Walsh code blocking happens then it is recommended to change the radio
configuration Like Dynamic change RC3(63codes)RC4(128 codes) (BSC, RF Team)
3. CE Blocking: Call will be block from origination or termination on a cell when there are no traffic
equipped channel elements to service these calls. (BSC and RF Team).
-Due to shortage of CE at BTS level,
-Due to PP blocking
4. Abis Blocking:
-Check Abis Utilization
- Check Alarms at abis link
- Shortage of E1s If abis/backhaul blocking is there then we need to add more E1s at immediate basis.
And this we need to monitor the E1 utilization report on regular basis .(BSC and Tx Team)

FORWARD FRAME ERROR RATE

Definition: The frame error rate is defined as the ratio of the number of bad frames received over a
period of time to the total number of frames received in that same duration. FFER= No of bad frame
on FL*100/Total no of frame transmitted on FL Optimization Steps for FFER: The optimization steps
suggested for FFER will be identical to those recommended to manage drop calls. This is because
typically most drop calls will be preceded by a period of high FFER. The converse is also true, that is,
an area with high FFER will also be an area with a high likelihood for drops.
REVERSE FRAME ERROR RATE
Definition: The frame error rate is defined as the ratio of the number of bad frames received over a
period of time to the total number of frames received in that same duration. The RFER may always be
computed precisely by the network because the information is captured right at the network. All the
frames sent by the mobile are captured by the network, which subsequently evaluates whether these
frames are received in error or not.
RFER= No of bad frame on RL*100/Total no of frame received on RL
Optimization Steps for RFER: As with FFER, all of the recommendations for optimizing drop call
performance also apply to managing RFER performance. In addition to this there may be problem in the
reverse link that could result in performance degradations only in that link.
a. External Interference on Reverse Link Carrier Only.
b. Loss of Reverse Link Diversity.