WCDMA RAN, Rel.

WCDMA 16, Operating Documentation, Issue 05

(HTML) > Reference > Counters > RNC Counters - RNW Part > Measurement: Service level
(RRC and RAB connections) (M1001)

Introduction to service level (RRC and RAB connections) measurement

The service level measurement provides RRC and RAB connections -related information.

Both RRC and RAB connection are divided into three phases: setup, access, and active phase.

The figures below show the triggering of the most important counters and how the phases are

defined.

In addition to the counters presented in the figures below, this measurement provides

information on incoming handovers and SRNC relocations, RAB holding times, DCH holding

times per NRT RAB type, RRC and RAB setup times, and multi-RABs.
Note: If a failure which leads to RRC connection release occurs during any RAB phase,
both RRC active and RAB (setup, access or active) failure counters are updated with an
appropriate cause.
Note: An AMR multimode call is an AMR call that is triggered by a RANAP: RAB
ASSIGNMENT REQUEST message where Maximum Bit Rate parameter is greater than
Guaranteed Bit Rate. In an AMR singlemode call, these two parameters are equal. An
additional condition for AMR multimode related counters to be updated is that the feature
be enabled and admission control accept the call as multimode.
Note: This measurement also provides counters for reference cell changes. They can be
used to explore RRC and RAB performance on the cell level.
The first reference cell is the cell through which the RRC connection has been established.
The reference cell is not changed until the current reference cell is deleted from the active
set. When it is deleted, the next reference cell will be the cell with the greatest CPICH
Ec/No value in the last RRC: MEASUREMENT REPORT.
For more information on call phases, see Call Setup and Release.

1. RRC setup attempts. For more details, see RRC setup.

2. RRC setup attempts per setup cause. Details in the section RRC setup causes.
Figure: Triggering of the most important RRC counters

3. RRC setup failures due to

o handover control
 o admission control

o transport (Transmission)

o RNC internal

o frozen BTS

o BTS

o ICSU overload

Details in the section RRC setup.

4. RRC setup failures per setup cause.

Details in the section RRC setup causes.

5. RRC setup complete. Details in the section RRC setup.

6. RRC access failures due to

o radio interface

o UE

o RNC internal

RRC access releases

Details in the section RRC access.

7. RRC access complete. Details in the section RRC access.

8. Special reason: RRC active release due to

o SRNC Relocation

o Pre-emption
o User inactivity

o RNC HW resources

o Inter-system handover to GAN (Generic Access Network)

o Inter-system handover to GSM

o Intra-frequency inter-RNC hard handover

o Inter-frequency inter-RNC hard handover

Details in the section RRC active.
Figure: Triggering of the most important RAB counters
 9. RRC active failures due to

o Iu interface (transport)

o radio interface (synchronisation)

o BTS

o Iur interface (DRNC)

o RNC internal

o UE

o Transmission

Details in the section RRC active.

10. RRC active complete. Details in the section RRC active.

This measurement provides also RAB counters with higher granularity which are not shown in

this picture. Note that RAB active phase is completed also when CN sends RANAP: Iu Release

Command.

1. RAB setup attempts. Separate counter per each RAB type. Details in the section RAB

setup.

2. RAB setup failures due to

o admission control

o transport (transmission)

o RNC internal

o frozen BTS
o BTS (RT only)

o anchoring (NRT only)

o capacity license (for CS voice RAB only)

Separate counter for each RAB type. Details in the section RAB setup.

3. RAB setup complete. Separate counter per each RAB type. Details in the section RAB

setup.
4. RAB access failures due to

o UE
 o RNC internal

Separate counters per each RAB type. Details in the section RAB access.

5. RAB access complete. Separate counters per each RAB type. Details in the

section RAB access.

6. Special reason: RAB active release due to

o SRNC relocation

o pre-emption

o capacity license pre-emption (only for CS voice RAB)

Separate counters per each RAB type. Details in the section RAB active.

7. RAB active failures due to

o Iu interface (transport)

o radio interface (synchronisation)

o BTS

o Iur interface (DRNC)

o RNC internal

o UE

o Transmission

Separate counters per each RAB type. Details in the section RAB active.

8. RAB reconfiguration attempts. Details in the section RAB reconfiguration.

9. RAB reconfiguration failures. Details in the section RAB reconfiguration.

10. RAB active complete. Separate counters per each RAB type. Details in the

section RAB active.

WCDMA RAN, Rel. WCDMA 16, Operating Documentation, Issue 05

(HTML) > Reference > Counters > RNC Counters - RNW Part > Measurement: Service level
(RRC and RAB connections) (M1001) > Introduction to service level (RRC and RAB
connections) measurement

Failure and abnormal release causes

The failure and abnormal release causes for RRC and RAB phases are presented in the tables

below.
Figure: Failure/release causes used in different RRC/RAB phases

Table: Failure/release cause explanations

Failure / abnormal releaseExplanation
Admission control Admission control rejects setup, cell change or handover
(excluding frozen BTS failure)
Frozen BTS Admission control blocks RL establishment to ensure the setup of
emergency calls
Handover control Handover control entity reports a failure
Transport (Transmission) Any transport failure (RRC/RAB setup); transport failure excluding
Iu transport (RRC/RAB active)
RNC internal RNC internal failure (examples: L2 failure, capacity problem)
BTS Unsuccessful radio link setup (RRC setup); radio link
reconfiguration preparation (RT RAB setup); other BTS reason
excluding synchronisation failure (RRC/RAB active)
Anchoring NRT RAB setup requested, but NRT RAB is not allowed during
anchoring
UE / Uu UE failure (based on RRC messages)
Radio interface Radio interface synchronisation failure (based on NBAP)
Iur Procedure failure in drift RNC (example: radio link reconfiguration
failure in DRNC)
Iu Iu transport failure (RRC/RAB active)
Pre-emption RAB and RRC connections are released in order to make room for
a higher priority RAB, for example, emergency call
SRNC relocation RAB/RRC release due to SRNC relocation
Unspecified RANAP: IU RELEASE COMMAND or RANAP: RAB
ASSIGNMENT REQUEST message with cause "unspecified
error" is received from CN
RNTI allocation RNTI allocation failure due to RRMU overload
Iub transport Lack of Iub AAL2 transport resources for RT
Iur transport Lack of Iur AAL2 transport resources for RT
Iu transport Lack of Iu AAL2 transport resources for RT
UE capability Requested parameters are not supported by the UE
Not supported parameters Requested parameters are not supported by the RNC
License Procedure fails due to AMR capacity licence exceeded
User inactivity RRC connection released due to user inactivity in Cell-PCH or
URA-PCH state
RNC HW resources RRC connection released due to the shortage of HW resources in
ICSU/DMCU units
Note: There are separate counters for RAB active failures in PCH state.
WCDMA RAN, Rel. WCDMA 16, Operating Documentation, Issue 05
(HTML) > Reference > Counters > RNC Counters - RNW Part > Signaling diagrams > 3G
mobility

UE-not-involved SRNC relocation (CS voice)

Figure: UE-not-involved SRNC relocation (CS voice)

WCDMA RAN, Rel. WCDMA 16, Operating Documentation, Issue 05
(HTML) > Reference > Counters > RNC Counters - RNW Part > Signaling diagrams > 3G
mobility

UE-not-involved SRNC relocation (CS+PS)

Figure: UE-not-involved SRNC relocation (CS+PS)

Figure: UE-not-involved SRNC relocation (CS+PS) (cont.)