Random Access (RACH) Success 2.

1 Define
There are in all 12 types of logical channels in GSM, of which two are used for traffic; nine used for control signalling1 and one used for message distribution (CBCH). These 9 control channels are subdivided into 3 groups Broadcast Channel (BCH, Downlink Only): FCCH, SCH and BCCH. Common Control Channel (CCCH): PCH, RACH and AGCH. Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH): SDCCH, SACCH and FACCH.

Random Access Channel (RACH) is used by the MS on the uplink to request for allocation of an SDCCH. This request from the MS on the uplink could either be as a page response (MS being paged by the BSS in response to an incoming call) or due to user trying to access the network to establish a call. Availability of SDCCH at the RBS will not have any impact on the Random Access Success. In the transceiver, the timeslot handler in charge of the RACH channel listens for access burst from mobiles (on the timeslot that transmits BCCH). These bursts contain a check sequence (8 bits) that is used to determine if the message is valid. The number of times an MS tries to access the network (repeated access in the event of no response from the BS in the form of immediate assignment or immediate assignment reject on AGCH) is decided by the BSS parameter MAXRET (maximum number of retransmissions) and the randomness in the time interval between each of these access request is defined by the parameter TX.

2.2 Measure
A failed Random Access Burst does not necessarily lead to call setup failure as MS sends many RA (Random Access) burst each time it tries to connect to the network. 2.2.1 STS Counters and stats for monitoring Random Access Failure Random Access Success Rate = (CNROCNT)/ (CNROCNT+RAACCFA) * 100 STS Object Type: RANDOMACC and RNDACCEXT RAACCFA: Failed Random Access CNROCNT: All accepted Random Access RATRHFAEMCAL: this counter is stepped up for every rejected CHANNEL REQUIRED in TRH2 with establishment cause Emergency Call RATRHFAREG: this counter is stepped for every rejected CHANNEL REQUIRED in TRH with establishment cause Location Update.
1

Signaling between RBS and BSC (LAPD) is taken care by TRHs - Transceiver Handlers (RPG3A) in BSC. Between BSC and MSC the signaling is taken care C7 (A interface) signaling Terminals (also RPG3A). This is Common Channel Signaling and BSSAP protocol is used there.

TRH: Transceiver Handler, the component in the BSC which handles the radios (TRXs). TRH-RPG2 (RPG is the Regional Processor that controls the TRH) can handle up to 24 TRXs and TRH-RPG3 (based) can handle up to 32 TRXs. The TRH which is controlled by RPG is directly responsible for supporting LAPD signalling (or the ABIS interface) where as TRAU is the component within the BSC which supports speech on the ABIS.

RATRHFAOTHER: this counter is stepped up for every rejected CHANNEL REQUIRED in TRH with all other establishment causes. 2.2.2 STS Counters for monitoring the RA request type RAANPAG: This counter gets Incremented when the MS responds to an incoming page (Mobile Terminated Call). RAEMCAL: This counter gets incremented when the MS sends in an emergency call request. RACALRE: Call Re-establishment or if TCH/F needed or Originating Call. RAOSREQ: Other Service Request. All other cases: RAOTHER.

2.3 Analyze
2.3.1 Fish Bone diagram for the root cause analysis of poor Random Access Success

5. Faulty Antenna/Cable

3. Poor Coverage/ Spill

1. Poor BSIC Plan

Poor RA Succ Rate

MAXRET and TX

6. CRO and ACCMIN

4. Phantom RACH

2. BCCH Plan

Figure 1 : Fish Bone diagram for root cause analysis of poor Random-Access Success Rate

2.3.2 Description of the root causes for poor RA Success Rate Poor BSIC Plan: A high number of RA failures often are caused by bad BSIC plan. If a BSC is seen to have poor RA Success with all the other root causes not fitting the profile of the concerned BSC, then check for excess use of co-BCCH/BSIC plan within the BSC and for cells from immediate surrounding BSCs. Minimize excess use of co-BCCH/BSIC across the same BSC and also for close in cells from the surrounding BSCs. Poor BCCH plan: When an MS tries to access the network either in response to a page from the network or in the form of a mobile originating call, it does so using the timeslot carrying the BCCH frequency. Excess levels of interference (co and adjacent) on the BCCH carrier can cause poor RA Succ Rate Poor Coverage / Spillage: Poor signal strength coverage within a cell can cause poor RA success Rate especially from across the rapid fading (received signal strength on UL) cell boundaries. If the cell/cells within the BSC shows symptoms of poor coverage (check the stats for high percentage contribution on TCH Drop due to weak DL/UL coverage, confirm

findings using MRR3 recordings and trace results graphs for coverage and Timing Advance for MS and BS) work to improve coverage in hot spot areas (antenna tilts, azimuth, height, transmit power setting revisions for both MS and BS, power control setting revision for both MS and BS, use of TMA etc). Phantom RACH: In the transceiver, the timeslot handler in charge of RACH channel constantly listens for access burst from MS. These access bursts contain a check sequence (8 bits) that is used to determine if the message is valid. When the traffic in a cell is low, there will not be many access burst coming to the RBS. In such cases most of the received signal will be noise and if the receiver at the RBS is sensitive, some of this received noise will be interpreted as an access burst (cases where certain bit pattern in the noise matching the 8 bit checks sequence). This is called as Phantom RACH and is unavoidable (unless you diminish the receiver sensitivity , introduce powerful filtering function in the signal processor by optimizing the type of filtering that is used in the RBS and/or optimize CRO 4 and ACCMIN for the cell. When the traffic is high this problem is not as disturbing as most of the noise will be covered by genuine access bursts. In case of no traffic at the cell, its seen that 0.02% of the incoming noise can be interpreted as access burst. Since there are 217 bursts per second on an air timeslot, 0.434 access burst/sec could be a phantom random access for a cell that carries very little traffic, which means one access burst every 23 seconds could be a phantom access for these types of cells and will give a call setup failure. The more traffic you have on the cell, less noise will be received in the RACH channel handler (this is because the signal strength levels of traffic will be higher than that of noise) and thus less phantom RACHs will be reported by the BTS. As a conclusion for BSCs with cells carrying very low traffic, it is possible to receive upto 120 phantom RACHs per hour per cell. This is a normal phenomenon and is according to GSM specification 05.05 (this should therefore not be taken into account when measuring the call setup performance of the Ericsson System). ACCMIN5 and CRO6: These are idle mode cell reselection parameters directly controlling the way MS does cell reselection when in idle mode. Default value for ACCMIN is -110; this figure can cause excess call setup failures, especially in cases where there is high traffic distribution across weak cell boundaries. Higher settings for ACCMIN (-104) will ensure that the MS will camp on a cell if the received signal strength on the downlink is good enough (this will work in favour of weaker uplink). Default value for CRO is 0 and each increment in CRO represents 2 dB. If the neighbouring cells to a cell which is suspected to have poor RA Succ Rate due to excess traffic from poor signal strength cell boundary , is kept higher than the cell in question , it will make the neighbouring cells more appealing for idle mode MS reselection across the cell boundaries. This approach can improve the RA Succ Rate for cells with excess traffic on weak cell boundary (with good neighbours). Faulty Antenna / Cable: If the other root causes are not fitting the profile check for faulty antenna, loose /damaged jumper/feeder cables, VSWR alarms etc. MAXRET and TX: for cells with ABIS over VSAT, it is recommended that MAXRET be set to 4 and TX be set to 32. This will limit the number of retransmission from the MS. When the ABIS is over a VSAT, delay in response from the BSS to the received RACH from MS can be sluggish, thats the reason from keeping the number of retransmission of RACH low and keeping the repeat interval a bit longer. Impact on RA Success Rate due to Location Updating failures: Use the following formula [(RATRHFAREG)/( RATRHFAREG+ RATRHFAEMCAL+ RATRHFAOTHER)]*100 ; this equation will give us percentage contribution of Random Access Failure due to Location Area Updating process to the net Random Access Failure Rate. This stat could also be used while analysing the cause for excess Location Area Updating, and also will give an approximate value for loading on SDCCH for the cell due to Location Updating Requests.

MRR (Measurement Report Recording) is usually initiated for a period of time either at cell level or at BSC level, the data collected and graphically presented are RF measurements like signal strength UL/DL, Timing Advance, RxQual UL/DL etc. To measure GSM Layer 3 messages (cell level) use CTR (Cell traffic Recording). 4 CRO (Cell reselection Offset) lower value of CRO will favour the neighbouring cells on Idle mode reselection by the phase 2 MS (C2 reselection) where as a higher (say -104 instead of the default -110) setting of ACCMIN will make surrounding cells more favourable on idle mode reselection 5 ACCMIN : minimum received signal strength at the MS (DL) to allow access to the cell , ACCMIN controls the C1 reselection (phase 1 and phase 2 phones) as per the equation C1=(Receaved_RxLevDL ACCMIN) max (CCHPWR P,0). 6 C2=C1+CRO-TO : CRO apart from ACCMIN controls the idle mode reselection by a phase 2 MS of a cell