GSM Network Optimisation Guide V0

2G Network Parameter
Optimisation
Guide
(for Huawei)

Mohamed Abarray – abarray@gmail.com

RNPO Expert
2018

Mohamed ABARRAY – abarray@gmail.com

 GSM Network Optimisation Guide V0

A. GSM UE Behaviour in Idle Mode :

1. Cell Selection : first attach to netwok

RXMIN (RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN):
Minimum received signal level for MS  8 to 10 / Range : 0-63 (-110-47dBm) /SET GCELLBASICPARA

FMSMAXOPCC (MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH):
Maximum transmit power level for an MS when it begins to access the cell and not yet received any
power control command  5 for GSM900 and 0 for DCS1800/PCS1900 / Range 0-19 / SET
GCELLCCCH

CBA (CELL_BAR_ACCESS) :
Cell selection and reselection priority along with CBQ  No / SET GCELLIDLEBASIC

CBQ (CELL_BAR_QUALIFY) :
Cell selection priority  No / SET GCELLIDLEBASIC

CBA CBQ Cell Selection Priority Cell Reselection Priority

No No Normal Normal
Yes No Forbiden Forbiden
No Yes Low Normal
Yes Yes Low Normal

2. Cell Reselection : Idle mode mobility

Cell reselection conditions (or) :

1. C1 < 0 (5 sec later reselection is initiated)

2. DSC (= 90 / BSS_Paging_Multiframe (default value is 2) = 45) <= 0 (Max is 45 but if MS decode
PCH then +1, if MS can not decode PCH then -4)
3. MS RACH transmit > MS_Max_Retrans (= 4 Rach transmission by default)
4. Current Cell is forbiden (CBA = Yes & CBQ = No)
5. C2(N) > C2 (S) [same LAC] or C2(N) > C2 (S) + CRH [# LAC] or C2(N) > C2 (S) + CRO [dualband]
(for 5 secends)

CRO (CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET ) :
Cell reselect offset  0 (2dB) / Range 0-63 (2dB step) / SET GCELLIDLEBASIC

TO (Cell_Reselect_Temporary_Offset) :
Offset to ives temporary modification in C2 within PT time  0 / range 0-7 (0=60dB & 7=infinite) /
SET GCELLIDLEAD

PT (Cell_Reselect_Penality_Time) :
Used to ensure safety and vailidity of reselcetion and avoid frequent reselection  0 / Range 0-
30,31 corresponds to 20-620s, 31 reserved to change the effect of CRO (CRO  -CRO) : SET
GCELLIDLEAD

PI (Cell_Reselect Parameters_Indication) :
Indicates if CRO, TO and PT are used  Yes (if No then C2=C1) / SET GCELLIDLEBASIC

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 GSM Network Optimisation Guide V0

CRH (Cell_Reselect_Hysteresis) :
User for reselection between two location areas  6 / range 0-14 (2dB step) / SET GCELLIDLEBASIC

3. Location Update :

a) Normal Location Update : when MS move from one LA to another LA. LA change happens
with two following procedures :
o Cell reselection : after reselection between two different LA, the new LAC is
broadcasted in BCCH. Then, LU triggeredautomatically and immediately after MS
found that new LAC is different from stored one.
o Handover : in dedicated mode and handover happens from LA to another. LU will
not be triggered immediately unitil current call is released then MS is back to Idle
Mode and trigger LU.
b) Periodic Location Update : triggered by expiracy of T3212 timer. Periodic LU is designed
to avoid MSC delivering paging for MS that are no longer powered on or out of LAC
known by MSC.
c) Attach : triggered by MS when attachement to network. When MS is power on, it reads
the parameters ATT and LAC from broadcasted system information.
o If ATT=Yes : regardless LAC is identical or not, MS will attach to network and the
ntwork will modify relevent flag of the MS to « power on » state. When MS is
power off, the detachement process will be triggered to change MS state to
« power off ».
o If ATT=No : MS will compare boradcasted LAC will stored LAC. If diffrerent, MS
will trigger LU, otherwise, no action is triggered. No detachement process is
triggered when MS is power off.

T3212 :
Timer for periodic location update  20 (x6min) / range 0-255 (6min step) / SET GCELLIDLEBASIC
NB : MSC IMSI_Detach_Timer (Implicit Detach Timer) should be at least 2 times bigger than T3212,
the recommanded value is 3 times bigger (if MSC timer expires without any LU, MSC will make MS in
detach state  No paging for this MS and MSC replies directly to caller that MS is out of service)

ATT (Attach_Detach_Allowed) :
Whether to inform MSC when MS is power on/off in order to change its flag to Attach/Detach state
 Yes / SET GCELLIDLEBASIC
NB : ATT value (Yes/No) must be the same for all the cell in the same LAC, else, some MS will be
considered in Detach state even if they are power on in a cell with ATT=No because they have been
power off in another cell with ATT=Yes.

4. Paging Processing :

CCCH Conf (CCCH configuration):

Number of CCCH channels are configured  1 Non-Compounding CCCH (main BCCH) / range : 1
Compounding CCCH (combined BCCH), 1 Non-Compounding CCCH (main BCCH), 2 Non-Compounding
CCCHs (1 main BCCH and 1 Extended BCCH), 3 Non-Compounding CCCHs (1 main BCCH and 2
Extended BCCH), 4 Non-Compounding CCCHs (1 main BCCH and 3 Extended BCCH) / SET
GCELLIDLEBASIC

BSAGBLKSRES (CCCH BlocksReserved for AGCH):

CCCH blocks reserved for AGCH 2 / range 0-7 (Non-Compounding CCCHs), 0-2 (1 combined CCCH) /
SET GCELLIDLEBASIC

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 GSM Network Optimisation Guide V0

BSPAMFRAMS (Multi-framsin a cycle on the PCH):

Period for one paging cycle in terms of 51 multi-frame  2 multi-frame period / range : 2-9 / SET
GCELLIDLEBASIC

5. Access Processing :

Normal reasons for network access includes :

a. Originated Call Setup
b. Paging Response
c. Location Update
d. SMS

TX (TX-Integer) :
Used to calculate number of timeslots in the intervall between multiple channel requests send by MS
 32 (RACH timeslots, equal to TDMA frame 4.615ms) / range : 3-12, 14, 16, 20, 25, 32, 50 /SET
GCELLIDLEBASIC

RACHACCLEV (CS_RACH_Min_Access_Level) :
Minimum received level for access burst in CS domain  -109 / range : -121 to -104 (dBm) / SET
GCELLCCACCESS

PSRACHACCLEV (PS_RACH_Min_Access_Level) :
Minimum received level for access burst in PS domain  -109 / range : -121 to -104 (dBm) / SET
GCELLCCACCESS

COMMACC (Common Access Control Class) :

Used for load control of ordinary users by permitting/forbidding some classes  0000000000 /
range : Level 0-9 / SET GCELLCCBASIC

SEPCACC (Special Access Control Class) :

Used for load control of special users by permitting/forbidding some classes  00000 / range : Level
11-15 / SET GCELLCCBASIC

ERGCALLDIS (Emergency Call Disabled) :

Enable/disable emergency calls  No / SET GCELLCCBASIC

6. Other Parameters :

ECSC (Early Calssmark Sending Control) :

Whether MS is allowed to send classmark update immdiatly after link setup  Yes / range : Yes (MS
reports classmark3 to network immedialy after link setup) , No (MS is forbidden to report its
classmark3 initially and wait for MSC to send CM update request) / SET GCELLCCBASIC
NB :
o There are 3 classmarks in GSM which contains MS power capability, frequency capability and
encryption capability. CM1 and CM2  GSM900, A5/1, A5/2, A5/3 & CM3  DCS1800,
A5/4, A5/5, A5/6
o ECSC should be « Yes » for dualband networks  will shorten procedure time (handover, …)

IMMASSEN (TCH Immediate Assignement) :

Whether to allow immediate assignement of TCH in case of no SDCCH availble  Yes / SET
GCELLBASICPARA

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NB : this function is not recommanded by experience, it’s better to use dynamic SDCCH

IMMASSCBB (Immediate Assignement Optimization) :

Channel activation and immediate assignement messages are sent in the same time to reduce
signalling processing time  No / range : Yes (if Satellite transmission), No (if terrestrial
transmission) / SET GCELLBASICPARA

Direct Retry :
If no TCH is available, handover can take place instead of a TCH assignement. Direct retry is
performed according to 2 factors : Trafic Load and Received Level  Yes / SET GCELLBASICPARA

Algorithm :
1. Direct Retry is Enable, then
2. Assignement Cell Load Judge Enable is Enable, then
3. Load of serving cell >= Cell Direct Retry Forbiden Threshold (s), then
4. Liad of neighboring cell <= Direct Retry Load Access Threshold (n), then
5. Rxlev(n) > Rxlev(s) + Inter-Cell HO Hysteresis (S=>N) + Direct retry Handover Level Range
(S=>N), then
6. Trigger Direct Retry

Assignement Cell Load Judge Enable :

Wether to use Cell/Ncell direct retry load thresholds as conditions to perform Direct Retry procedure
 Disable / SET GCELLCCBASIC

Cell Direct Retry Forbiden Threshold :

Load threshold for forbidding direct retry for the cell  90% / range : 0-100% / SET GCELLOTHEXT

Direct Retry Load Access Threshold :

Load threshold for direct retry in target cell  85% / range : 0-100% / SET GCELLCBASIC

Inter-Cell HO Hysteresis :
Reduce ping-pong handovers between cells in the same layer  4 (in dense urban) and 8 (in
suburban) / range : 0-63 (dB) / ADD G2GNCELL

Direct Retry Handover Level Range :

Maximum signal level difference between neighbor cell and serving cell  72 / range : -64 to 64
(dB) / ADD G2GNCELL

RLT (Radio Link Timeout) :

Used for MS to decide downlink disconnection in case of SACCH decoding failures  32 (urban) and
52 (suburban) / range : 4-64 (SACCH Period=480ms) / SET GCELLCCBASIC

SAMULFRM (SACCH Multi-Frames) :

Used for MS to decide uplink disconnection in case of MR decoding failures  32 / range : 0-63
(SACCH Period=480ms) / SET GCELLCCBASIC

NB : Based on simulation results, RLT and SAMULFRM are recommanded to be set 32 for AMR FR/HR.

CALLRESTABDIS (Call re-establishement Forbiden) :

Informing MS wether call re-establishement is allower or not  Yes (re-establishement disabled) /
SET GCELLBASICPARA

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 GSM Network Optimisation Guide V0

NB : It’s not recommanded to enable call re-establishement in urban because it takes time (silence)
and it wastes radio ressources. It can be enabled in rural area or some special cell cases.

NCCPERMIT (NCC Permitted) :

Lists permitted NCC to be measured by MS  11111111 / range : selection 0-7, 0=not_permitted,
1=permitted / SET GCELLIDLEBASIC

MBR (Multi-Band Report) :

MS reports or not measurments of neighboring cells in multiple frequency bands  2 (MS will report
2 best GSM900 cells and 2 best DCS1800 cell among 6 reported neighbors) / range : 0-3 / SET
GCELLCCBASIC

MAXRESEND (Max Resend time of Phy. Info.) :

Maximum times for a physical information to be transmitted by BTS to MS before sending
connection failure to BSC and stop T3105  30 / range : 1-155 / SET GCELLHOAD

T3105 :
Timer started by BTS after sending Phy. Info to MS waiting for SABM frame from MS, if timeout then
BTS re-send Phy. Info again  7 (10ms step) / range : 0-255 / SET GCELLHOAD

T200 :
Timer for LAPD protocol used to avoid deadlock during data transmission on the data link layer  12
(10ms) / range : 60-2400 / SET BTSRINGATTR
NB : T200=12 (for good quality of transmission), T200=24 (for bad quality of transmission)

N200 :
Maximum number of times between LAPD frame transmission  3 / range : 1-3 / SET BTSRINGATTR

N200PARASWITCH (Use LAPDm N200) :

Wether to use N200 counter along with T200  Yes / SET GCELLCCTMR

NB) For RL optimization :

o RL in DL : change MAXRESEND and T3105
o RL in UL : change T200 and N200

CANPC (PWRC) :
Used to indicate to the MS to ignore the value of received level obtained from the timeslots of BCCH
TRX when MS measures receiving levels during base-band hopping mode  Yes / SET GCELLCCCH

MAXTA (Maximum Timing Advance) :

Determines actual coverage area of the cell  62 / range : 0-63 (bit) /SET GCELLBASICPARA

FRULDTX / HRULDTX :
User to indicate whether MS uses DTX function  Shall use / range : May use (MSC decide to use or
not), Shall use (BSC decide to use or not), Shall not use / SET GCELLBASICPARA

FRDLDTX / HRDLDTX :
User to indicate downlink DTX function is used in the cell  Yes / SET GCELLBASICPARA

B. GSM Multiple Rate Algorithm and Parameters :

In GSM, there are 7 speech version :

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 GSM Network Optimisation Guide V0

Full Rate Speech Version 1 FR (Full Rate)

Speech Version 2 EFR (Enhanced Full Rate)
Speech Version 3 AMR FR
Speech Version 5 WB AMR
Half Rate Speech Version 1 HR (Half Rate)
Speech Version 2 /
Speech Version 3 AMR HR

Speech Version :
Indicates which speech version is supported  1111010 / range : FR version 1(FR 13kb/s), FR version
2 (EFR 12.2kb/s), FR version 3 (AMRFR) HR version 1 (HR), HR version 2, HR version 3 (AMRHR), FR
version 5 (WB-AMR)/ SET GCELLCCACCESS

NB : For normal FR/HR, if user occuppy a FR/HR channel, he stays FR/HR until end of channel
occuppation. But, in AMR FR/HR, user can perform FR to HR and HR to FR handovers.

Support Half Rate :

Indicates whether the Half Rate function is supported in the cell  Yes / SET GCELLCCCH

TCH Rate Adjust Allow :

Indicates if the cell can adjust Full Rate channels to Half Rate channels  Yes / SET GTRXDEV

Enhanced TCH Adjut Allowed :

Indicates if channel rearrangement is allowed (2 TCHH are rearranged as TCHF)  Yes / SET
GCELLCHMGBASIC

TCH Traffic Busy Threshold :

Channel occupancy threshold to start assigning TCHH channels  60 / 1-100 (%) / SET
GCELLCHMGAD

AMR (Adaptive Multi Rate) :

Full Rate AMR supports 8 voice coding modes : 12.2kb/s, 10.2kb/s, 7.95kb/s, 7.40kb/s, 6.70kb/s,
5.90kb/s, 5.15kb/s, 4.75kb/s

Half Rate AMR supports 6 voice coding modes : 7.95kb/s, 7.40kb/s, 6.70kb/s, 5.90kb/s, 5.15kb/s,
4.75kb/s

Impact of AMR on voice quality :

Accorning to the simulation result, when C/I is greater than 6, the voice quality performance in
descending order is AMRFR, EFR, AMRHR,TCHFR and TCHHR.
The voice quality performance of AMRHR is similar to FR. However, radio bandwidth occupied by
AMRHR in radio interface is only Half of that occupied by FR. Therfore, AMRHR can not only ensure
the good voice quality but also can increase system capacity effectively.

1. AMR Basic data parameters :

A interface Tag :

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Phase Tag for GSM protocols supported by A interface  GSM_PHASE_2Plus / range :

GSM_PHASE_1 (GSM900/CS), GSM_PHASE_2 (GSM900/DCS1800/GPRS), GSM_PHASE_2Plus
(GSM900/DCS1800/GPRS/EDGE) / SET BSCBASIC
NB : GSM_PHASE_2Plus is recommanded when AMR, inter-RAT Handover, interfces over IP

Abis interface Tag :

Phase Tag for GSM protocols supported by Abis interface  GSM_PHASE_2Plus / range :
GSM_PHASE_1 (GSM900/CS), GSM_PHASE_2 (GSM900/DCS1800/GPRS), GSM_PHASE_2Plus
(GSM900/DCS1800/GPRS/EDGE) / SET BSCBASIC

Um interface Tag :
Phase Tag for GSM protocols supported by Um interface  GSM_PHASE_2Plus / range :
GSM_PHASE_1 (GSM900/CS), GSM_PHASE_2 (GSM900/DCS1800/GPRS), GSM_PHASE_2Plus
(GSM900/DCS1800/GPRS/EDGE) / SET BSCBASIC

2. ACS and Starting Mode :

ACS (AMR Activated Voice Coding Set) should be set based on radio environement. However,
because of radio environement complexity and user behaviour randomness, not all the coding mode
can be activated. The number of coding modes (data rates) is determined by the ACS. According to
GSM specifications, the ACS supports 4 data rates at most : generally, the best one, the worst one
and two other modes between them are selected.

AMR ACS (F) :

Active Coding Set for AMR Full Rate  12.2, 7.95, 5.90, 4.75 / range : 12.2, 10.2, 7.95, 7.40, 6.70,
5.90, 5.15, 4.75 / SET GCELLCCAMR

AMR Starting Mode (F) :

Specifies the codding rate in the ACS to be adopted on a full rate channel when a call is initially
established  3 / range : 0(Lowest), 1(Low), 2(High), 3(Highest) / SET GCELLAMR

AMR ACS (H) :

Active Coding Set for AMR Half Rate  7.95, 5.90, 4.75 / range : 7.95, 7.40, 6.70, 5.90, 5.15, 4.75 /
SET GCELLCCAMR

AMR Starting Mode (H) :

Specifies the codding rate in the ACS to be adopted on a half rate channel when a call is initially
established  3 / range : 0(Lowest), 1(Low), 2(High), 3(Highest) / SET GCELLAMR

3. Coding Rate Adjustement Threshold and Hysteresis (FR/HR) :

AMR UL Coding Rate Adj.th1/2/3 (F):

RQI thresholds for uplink AMRFR rate adjustements (RQI=2*C/I)  15/19/28 / range : 0-63 / SET
GCELLAMR

AMR UL Coding Rate Hyst1/2/3 (F):

Hystersis for rate uplink AMRFR adjustements  2/3/3 / range : 0-15 / SET GCELLAMR

AMR DL Coding Rate Adj.th1/2/3 (F) :

RQI thresholds for downlink AMRFR rate adjustements (RQI=2*C/I)  12/17/25 / range : 0-63 / SET
GCELLAMR

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 GSM Network Optimisation Guide V0

AMR DL Coding Rate Hyst1/2/3(F) :

Hystersis for rate uplink AMRFR adjustements  2/3/3 / range : 0-15 / SET GCELLAMR

AMR UL Coding Rate Adj.th1/2/3 (H):

RQI thresholds for uplink AMRHR rate adjustements (RQI=2*C/I)  23/31/61 / range : 0-63 / SET
GCELLAMR

AMR UL Coding Rate Hyst1/2/3 (H):

Hystersis for rate uplink AMRHR adjustements  3/4/15 / range : 0-15 / SET GCELLAMR

AMR DL Coding Rate Adj.th1/2/3 (H) :

RQI thresholds for downlink AMRHR rate adjustements (RQI=2*C/I)  23/31/63 / range : 0-63 / SET
GCELLAMR

AMR DL Coding Rate Hyst1/2/3 (H) :

Hystersis for rate uplink AMRHR adjustements  3/4/15 / range : 0-15 / SET GCELLAMR

NB : AMR coding ode adjustement is done in BTS level not in BSC and Hysteresises are used juste for
going up from lowest rate to highest one, for going down only thresholds are used.

4. Enhanced Signalling Link Techniques :

AMR improves voice quality (trafic quality) but it can’t imporve signalling quality. So, repeated
FACCH/SACCH are designed to improve signalling quality.

Repeated Downlink FACCH :

Whether repeated downlink transmission of FACCH frames is activated to improve probability of MS
receiving FACCH fames in poor radio conditions (if measured downlink quality is higher than a
Repeated Downlik FACCH Threshold)  Yes / SET GCELLCCBASIC

Repeated Downlink FACCH Threshold :

Threshold to trigger repeated downlik FACCH function  5 / 0-7 (RxQual Levels) / SET GCELLCCBASIC

Repeated SACCH :
Whether repeated SACCH function is supported in the cell  Yes / SET GCELLCCBASIC

5. AMR Radio Channel Management Parameters :

AMR TCH/H Prior Allowed :

Whether to enable BSC assign AMRHR channels preferentially according to TCH seizure ratio of the
cell  On / SET GCELLCHMGAD

AMR TCH/H Prior Cell Load Threshold :

Load threshold for assigning AMRHR channels (Similar to TCH Traffic Busy Threshold but in AMR
mode)  60 / 1-99 (%) / SET GCELLCHMGAD

6. AMR Handover Parameters :

AMR handover is controlled by [Intracell F-H HO Allowed] and [Intracell HO Allower].

Intracell HO Allowed :
Whether intracell handover is allowed in the cell  Yes / SET GCELLHOBASIC

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Intracell F-H HO Allowed :

Whether handover between full rate and half rate channels is allowed in the cell  Yes / SET
GCELLHOBASIC

Intracell F-H HO State Time (s) :

Time threshold that satisfies full rate to half rate handover  ? / range : 1-16 (s) / SET
GCELLHOBASIC

Intracell F-H HO Last Time (s) :

Time period that satisfies full rate to half rate handover  ? / range : 1-16 (s) / SET GCELLHOBASIC

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