INTERVIEW

3G
Atunu Gorai
 WCDMA Frequency and Spectrum

• Uplink=1920MHz -1980 MHz

• Downlink= 2110MHz -2170MHz
• Bandwidth=60 MHz
Actual B.W assign to operator is 5MHz
And out of that 3.84 MHZ is utilize.
In WCDMA frequency reuse factor =1 because time and frequency
remains constant.
• Eb /NO= Bit energy/Noise energy
• Ec/No = Chip Energy /Noise Energy.

• Ec/No= Eb/No - process gain

• As per Eb/No is fixed for each service for Ex: voice =2 and
video=4
• Ec/N0= 2- 10= -8 for voice(for voice -8 is good limit)
• Ec/N0= 4-18= -14 for video(for video -14 is good limit)

• Process gain(voice) = chip rate/bit rate= 10dB

• Process gain (video) = chip rate /bit rate= 18dB
• Chip rate = 3.84Mchips in WCDMA.
The error-protected signal is then multiplied by a particular channelization code to
provide the necessary channel separation.
This is necessary since all the channels will be added together, which will produce a
composite data stream.

Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) is used to detect if there are any uncorrected errors
left after error correction

The next part in the transmitter is Forward Error Correction (FEC). The function of
this block is to help the receiver correct bit errors caused by the air interface.
 Channelization codes
In the downlink, the channelization codes are used to separate the different data
channels coming from each cell. For the dedicated channels, this represents the different
users since only one scrambling code is used for all downlink transmission from the cell.

In the uplink, the channelization codes are used to separate the different data channels
sent from the UE to the each cell. The separation of the different UEs will here be done
with different scrambling codes.

The number of codes used in the downlink is restricted to 8192 in total. This is done to
speed up the process for the UE to find the correct scrambling code. 512 of these are
primary codes (the rest are secondary codes, 15 codes per primary) divided into 64 code
groups each group containing 8 different codes. The UE can determine which scrambling
code group a cell is using by the synchronization procedure (see chapter 5). Note that
there are no restrictions for the number of codes generated by the 24 bits start key in
the uplink case
 Data Drive
• There is 3 modulation technique QPSK,16QAM,64QAM.
• For high throughput 16QAM and 64QAM should have high Utilization
• So, if There is less Utilization of QPSK in downlink than data throughput is
also high
• CQI is like SQI in speech which ensure good channel quality for data transfer.
• Retransmission of HS- DSCH(High-Speed Downlink Shared Channel) packet is
high than also throughput is decreases.
• In case of stationary Data Test- 2Mbits speed can be achieved
• In case of moving Vehicle – 800kbits to 1.2 Kbits speed can be achieved.
• Application throughput is always 85% of physical layer data rate throughput
because at application level IP inclusion and overhead information will be
there.
• Latency time is round trip time from server and for 3G it should be 150 ms
for 32 bit data .
• The modulation scheme and coding is changed on a per-user basis
depending on signal quality and cell usage. The initial scheme is
Quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), but in good radio conditions
16QAM and 64QAM can significantly increase data throughput
rates. With 5 Code allocation, QPSK typically offers up to 1.8 Mbit/s
peak data rates, while 16QAM offers up to 3.6 Mbit/s. Additional
codes (e.g. 10, 15) can also be used to improve these data rates or
extend the network capacity throughput significantly.
• Data Throughput will be also depend on MS class which support
5,10 and 15 codes resp.
• CQI- Channel quality indication may include carrier level received
signal strength indication (RSSI) and bit error rate (BER). I
• Channel quality indicators are messages that are sent on a
communication system (such as a mobile communication system)
that provide the remote connection (e.g. base station) with channel
quality information
Notes on quantities denoting signal power
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Accessability (Call set-up success rate)

Retainability (Dropped calls)
Mobility (Handover success rate)
Integrity (BLER and throughput)
Integrity- quality
Integrity-throughput

What is the major difference in link budgets between UMTS and GSM/TDMA?

In UMTS you generally have a link budget for each service (voice, data, video etc), in GSM you usually only
use 1 for voice. Each service has a different Eb/No target. In UMTS you have to consider the target traffic
load you will have and add a noise-rise margin, in GSM you may have a slight interference margin but not
normally related to traffic. In UMTS some services (like voice) will show up as uplink limited but other
services (like HSDPA, 384kbps service) will show as downlink limited. In UMTS you usually have to consider
that all users use the same power from the BTS therefore the more number of users the lower the
maximum power available per user (maximum power per connection) which is a starting point in the
link budget.
 KPI calculation

KPI Requirements Formula

(nbr_of_samples_RSCP>=-95dBm)/
CPICH RSCP ≥-95dBm N/A
(tot_nbr_of_samples_RSCP)

(nbr_of_samples_EcIo>=-12dB)/
CPICH Ec/Io ≥-12dB N/A
(tot_nbr_of_samples_EcIo)

Voice call setup (nbr_of_successful_voice_call_setup)/

Min % ≥98%
success rate (nbr_of_voice_call_attemp)

(nbr_of_voice_call_setup_time≤10s)/
≤10s ≥99% (nbr_of_successful_voice_call_setup)
Voice call setup time voice_call_setup_time =[T(CC_alerting) - T(first_RRC_connection_request)]
(Mobile to 1764440) (nbr_of_voice_call_setup_time≤9s)/
≤9s ≥95% (nbr_of_successful_voice_call_setup)
voice_call_setup_time =[T(CC_alerting) - T(first_RRC_connection_request)]

(nbr_of_voice_call_drop)/
Voice call drop rate Max % ≤2%
[(call_duration_time)/90sec]

PDP activation (nbr_of_PDP_context_activation_accept)/

Min % ≥99%
successful rate (nbr_of_PDP_context_activation_request)

(nbr_of_PDP_activation_delay≤2s)/
(nbr_of_PDP_context_activation_accept)
PDP activation delay ≤2s ≥99%
PDP_activation_delay= [T(PDP_context_activation_accept)-
T(PDP_context_activation_request)]

(downloaded_data_kbit)/
PS 384k FTP DL Avg Throughput 280kbps
(data_session_duration)

(uploaded_data_kbit)/
PS 384k FTP UL Avg Throughput 280kbps
(data_session_duration)

(downloaded_data_kbit)/
HSDPA FTP Avg Throughput 4.5Mbps
(data_session_duration)

(uploaded_data_kbit)/
HSUPA FTP Avg Throughput 1.1Mbps
(data_session_duration)
 Case 1: Drop due to missing neighbor
Problem: Detected Nighbor (DN)
• UE sends a Measurement Report that contains an event1a means adding a new RL
(cell) to Active Set
• If the reported cell is not in the current neighbor cell list and the reported Ec/No is
better than the best serving cell Ec/No in AS by some dBs (set by a RNC parameter)
• If for any reason the new cell can not be added to AS, call will be released
2. If the UE reconnects to the network immediately after call drop and the scramble of
the cell that UE camps on is different from that upon call drop, missing neighbor cell
is probable. Confirm it by measurement control (search the messages back from call
drop for the latest intra-frequency measurement control message. Check the
neighbor cell list of this measurement control message)

3. UEs might report detected set information. If corresponding scrambling code

information is in the monitor set before call drop, the cause must be missing
neighbor cell.
Weak Coverage

• Weak coverage usually refers to weak RSCP .Uplink or downlink DCH power helps to confirm the weak coverage is in
uplink or downlink by the following methods.

• If the uplink transmission power reaches the maximum before call drop, the uplink BLER is weak ,the call drop is
probably due to weak uplink coverage.

• Out of Uplink coverage may be caused by not only by low CPICH_RSCP But also by high UL_RSSI

• If the downlink transmission power reaches the maximum before call drop and the downlink BLER is weak, the call
drop is probably due to weak downlink coverage

High downlink RSSI received by UE is an indication of weak coverage during that time UE tries to increase its target
SIR to listen to the network.

Multipath propagation yields signal paths of different lengths with different times of arrival at the receiver. Typical
values of time delays (μs) are 0.2 in Open environment, 0.5 Suburban and 3 in Urban.

When coded data rates of services are incompatible,

“Rate Matching” is used to equalize the data rates.
– Rate Matching may be performed by:
􀂃 Padding with extra bits
􀂃 Puncturing of bits using a pseudo-random algorithm
 Case 2: Drop due to Poor Coverage (low RSCP)
Problem: Poor DL coverage
When UE gets to an area with low RSCP ( < -105 dBm) regardless Ec/No values there is high risk for drop.
UE will likely ramp up the transmitted power and reach its max power. The UL BLER will probably increase
and SIR target cannot maintain anymore, finally the call drops.

Explain the concept of Cell Breathing. How is the accounted for in the link Budget?

Ans: Io or No (the interference part of Ec/Io and Eb/No) increase as the traffic on the network
increases since everyone is using the same frequency. Therefore as Io or No increases the UE or BTS
needs to use more power to maintain the same Eb/No or Ec/Io. When the power required is more
than the maximum power allowed, the connection cannot be made. Users at the cell edge are
usually the first to lose service, hence the service area of a cell shrinks. The cell coverage shrinks as
the loading increases, this is called cell breathing.
As traffic decreases the reverse happens and the service area increases. They should say that it is
accounted for in the Noise Rise Margin found in the Link Budget.
 Interference
 In downlink, when the active set CPICH RSCP is greater than –85 dBm and the active set Ec/Io is >= –12 dB, the
call drop is probably due to downlink interference .Downlink interference usually refers to pilot pollution

 Interference in Uplink is detected when the Uplink RTWP exceeds a certain configurable Threshold. In general
Expected level of RTWP is formed by sum of the following components.

1.Thermal noise floor (KTB =-108.132dBm)

2.Node B noise figure (Typically 1.8 dB for our equipment)
3.Noise raise due to load (50% load in Uplink corresponds to 3 db)
4.Compensation for inaccuracies in Radio N/W algoriths (2dB)

WHAT IS THE PILOT POLLUTION ?

Area where the SIR (Signal interference ratio) is too low and below the expected value (Ec/Io >= -12 dB), there is
too much interference => the mobile cannot understand the pilot channel. Excessive strong pilots exist at a
point, but no one is strong enough to be primary pilot. A cell that has a high signal strength at a location
but is not part of the active set. A cell that meets the criteria for addition into the Active Set but can not
enter because the active set is full.
Reasons for Pilot Pollution:
Cross-cell coverage of high BS
Base stations in ring layout
Signal distortion caused by street effect or strong reflection

HOW TO REDUCE THE PILOT POLLUTION PROBLEM ?

• Maximise the signal inside the best server
• Minimise the energy overshoot from the neighbor cells with some RF consideration (tilt, azimuth,…)
 Pilot Pollution

Excessive strong pilots exist at a point, but no one is strong enough to be primary pilot.

1. Definition of strong pilot (CPICH_RSCP > ThRSCP)

2. Definition of Excessive CPICH_Number > ThN

3. Definition of "no best server strong enough”

CPICH_RSCP1st-CPICH_RSCP(ThN+1)th < ThRSCP_Relative

Following is the case from cluster Mongkok West

Probable Solution : adjust engineering parameters of an antenna so that a best server forms around the
antenna. For handover problems caused by pilot pollution, adjust engineering parameters of other antennas so
that signals from other antennas becomes weaker and the number of pilots drops

For this case reduce antenna height of site SGI.

Many definitions: A cell that has a high signal strength at a location but is not part of the active set. A cell that
meets the criteria for addition into the Active Set but can not enter because the active set is full.
1.UE fails to receive active set update command (Delayed Handover)

After UE reports measurement message, the Ec/Io of original cell signals decreases sharply. When the RNC
sends active set update message, the UE powers off the transmitter due to asynchronization . The UE
cannot receive active set update message.
This may be due to, Ec/Io of original cell decreases sharply and that of the target cell increases greatly
(Turnings)

2. The best server changes frequently. Two or more cells alternate to be the best server. The RSCP of the
best server is strong. The period for each cell to be the best server is short.

Probable solution:
• Lower the triggering time for event 1a
• Adjust antennas to expand the handover area
• Adjust the antenna to form a best server
• Reduce Ping-pong handover by setting the handover parameter of 1B event
 Radio Interface Protocol Architecture
Packet Data Convergence Protocol:
C-plane signalling U-plane information
Is only for PS domain services.
GC Nt DC

Duplication avoidance

GC Nt DC
UuS boundary
L3
control
RRC

Radio PDCP
L2/PDCP
PDCP
Interface
control

control

control
control
Protocol BMC L2/BMC
Architecture

RLC RLC L2/RLC

RLC RLC
RLC RLC
RLC RLC

Logical
Channels

Logical Channel MAC L2/MAC

Transport
Transport Channel (SAP) Channels

Physical Channels PHY L1

17
UTRA Protocol Architecture

C-plane signalling
U-plane information GC General Control
GC Nt DC NT Notification
DC Dedicated Control
RRC Radio Resource Control
RRC
L3 RLC Radio Link Control
MAC Medium Access Control

RLC
RLC RLC L2/RLC
RLC Logical
Channels

MAC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels
PHY L1

Radio Interface protocol architecture

18
 Logical Channel Structure
Control Channel (CCH) Synchronisation Control Channel (SCCH) (TDD)
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)

Paging Control Channel (PCCH)

Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)

Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
Common Control Channel (CCCH)
Shared Channel Control Channel (SHCCH) (TDD)

ODMA Dedicated Control Channel (ODCCH)

ODMA Common Control Channel (OCCCH) (ODMA)

Traffic Channel (TCH) Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH)

ODMA Dedicated Traffic Channel (ODTCH)(ODMA)

Common Traffic Channel (CTCH)

19
 Channels

Transport Channels:

Dedicated Transport Channel (DCH), UL/DL, mapped to DCCH and DTCH

Broadcast Channel (BCH), DL, mapped to BCCH
Forward Access Channel (FACH), DL, mapped to BCCH, CCCH, CTCH, DCCH and DTCH
Paging Channel (PCH), DL, mapped to PCCH
Random Access Channel (RACH), UL, mapped to CCCH, DCCH and DTCH
Uplink Common Packet Channel (CPCH), UL, mapped to DCCH and DTCH
Downlink Shared Channel (DSCH), DL, mapped to DCCH and DTCH

The speech service in UMTS will employ the Adaptive

Multi - rate technique.
􀂃 This is a single integrated codec with eight source rates:
12.2, 10.2, 7.95, 7.40, 6.70, 5.90, 5.15 and 4.75 kbps. To
facilitate interoperability with existing cellular networks
some of the modes are the same as in existing networks.

20
 Channels
Physical Channels:

Primary Common Control Physical Channel (PCCPCH), mapped to BCH

Secondary Common Control Physical Channel (SCCPCH), mapped to FACH, PCH
Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), mapped to RACH
Dedicated Physical Data Channel (DPDCH), mapped to DCH
Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH), mapped to DCH
Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), mapped to DSCH
Physical Common Packet Channel (PCPCH), mapped to CPCH
Synchronisation Channel (SCH)
Common Pilot Channel (CPICH)
Acquisition Indicator Channel (AICH)
Paging Indication Channel (PICH)
CPCH Status Indication Channel (CSICH)
Collision Detection/Channel Assignment Indication Channel (CD/CA-ICH)

21
 AMR
The bit rate of the AMR speech connection is controlled by the radio access network depending on the air
interface loading and the quality of the speech connections. During high loading, such as during busy hours
it is possible to use lower AMR bit rates to offer higher capacity while providing slightly lower speech
quality. Also if the mobile is running out of the cell coverage area and using its maximum transmission
power a lower AMR bit rate can be used to extend the cell coverage area.

Adaptive multi-rate also contains error concealment. The purpose of frame substitution is to conceal the
effect of lost speech frams. If several frames are lost muting is used to prevent possibly annoying sounds as
a result of the frame substitution. In P5, with AMR NB it is possible to use lower speech codec ratesthan
12.2 kbps. The radio network also supports 7.95 kbps, 5.9 kbps and 4.75 kbps AMR codecs. There is no
adaptation in the sense that AMR codecs are changed during an ongoing speech connection; rather there
is a possibility to adapt the rate at initial .selection.
 Link Budget

• Cell range & cell capacity are limited by the same parameters:
 Interference in uplink
 Power in downlink

• Cell breathing phenomenon

23
 “Power” Link Budget

Tx power + All Gains – Path Loss – Other losses = Rx power

Path loss = Tx Signal + All Gains – Other losses – Rx power

Max Path loss = Tx Signal + All Gains – Other losses – Rx sensitivity

 Initial Cell Search

The initial Cell Search is carried out in three steps:

Step 1: Slot synchronisation - using the primary synchronisation

channel.

Step 2: Frame synchronisation and code-group identification-

using the secondary synchronisation channel.
Step 3: Scrambling-code identification-identified through symbol-
by-symbol correlation over the primary CCPCH with all
the scrambling codes within the code group.

25
 P-SCH1 P-SCH2

Slot Synchronization

1 Slot = 667ms P-SCH3

P-SCH1
S-SCH1 P-CCPCH P-CCPCH

P-SCH2
S-SCH2 P-CCPCH P-CCPCH

P-SCH3
S-SCH3 P-CCPCH P-CCPCH P-CCPCH

UE synchronizes on the strongest correlation peak

26
 Frame Synchronization P-SCH

S-SCH

512 Primary Scrambling Codes divided into 64 groups

Scrambling slot number
Code Group #0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14
Group 0 1 1 2 8 9 10 15 8 10 16 2 7 15 7 16
Group 1 1 1 5 16 7 3 14 16 3 10 5 12 14 12 10
Group 2 1 2 1 15 5 5 12 16 6 11 2 16 11 15 12
Group 3 1 2 3 1 8 6 5 2 5 8 4 4 6 3 7
Group 4 1 2 16 6 6 11 15 5 12 1 15 12 16 11 2
…
Group 61 9 10 13 10 11 15 15 9 16 12 14 13 16 14 11
Group 62 9 11 12 15 12 9 13 13 11 14 10 16 15 14 16
Group 63 9 12 10 15 13 14 9 14 15 11 11 13 12 16 10

Slot # ? Slot #? Slot #?

P-SCH acp acp acp ……..

S-SCH 16 11 2
Group 4
256 chips
Slot 12,13,14
2560 chips
27
 P-SCH1 P-SCH2

Slot Synchronization

1 Slot = 667ms P-SCH3

P-SCH1
S-SCH1 P-CCPCH P-CCPCH

P-SCH2
S-SCH2 P-CCPCH P-CCPCH

P-SCH3
S-SCH3 P-CCPCH P-CCPCH P-CCPCH

UE synchronizes on the strongest correlation peak

28
 Cell Information

P-SCH: Coverage indication, Slot Synchronization

S-SCH: Frame Synchronization, Group identification

P-CPICH: Scrambling Code Identification

P-CCPCH: System Information Broadcast

Logical Channel Transport Channel Physical Channel

BCCH BCH P-CCPCH

Bit Rate: 12.3 kbps RLC Mode: transparent OVSF Cch,256,1

Mac-B: transparent Primary Scrambling Code
Transmitted during 9/10th slot

29
 Intra-Frequency Cell Reselection
Quality
sample Treselections

Serving Cell Serving Cell

Qmean,s + Qhyst2s

Qqualmin +
SIntraSearch
Qmean,n - Qoffset2s,n

Qqualmin
Neighboring Cell

Neighboring
cell criterion S
is fulfilled and is
ranked Neighboring Cell

UE perform Neighboring cell UE perform cell Time

intra-frequency better ranking reselection
measurements than Serving cell

30
 Cell selection and reselection： Cell Selection criteria

The cell selection criterion S is fulfilled when:

for FDD cells: Srxlev > 0 AND Squal > 0

for TDD cells: Srxlev > 0

for GSM cells: Srxlev > 0

where

Squal = Qqualmeas – Qqualmin

Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas - Qrxlevmin - Pcompensation

Pcompensation ＝ max(UE_TXPWR_MAX_RACH – P_MAX, 0)

31
Cell Selection Parameters

Parameter Object Range Default Value Recommended Value Class

qQualMin CellSelectionInfo Int [-24..0] -10 -16 C2

(dB)

qRxLevMin CellSelectionInfo Int [-115..-25] -45 -115 C2

Step = 2 (dBm)

maxAllowedUlTxPower UlUsPowerConf Int [-50..33] 33 33 C3

(dBm)

P_Max = maximum UE output power (dBm) according to its class

Power Class Maximum Output Power (dBm)

1 33

2 27

3 24

4 21

32
Cell Reselection Procedure

Squal

SintraSearch
Threseholds given as example

SinterSearch
Measurement on SinterRAT
same frequency Measurement on
other frequencies Measurement on
other RAT

If Squal = CPICH_Ec/No – qQualMin < Threshold

Associated measurements are performed

Thresholds are broadcasted in SIB 11

In UMTS02, 2 types of measurements are done: Intra frequency and inter RAT

33
 Cell Reselection Parameters
Parameter Object Range Default Value Recommended Value Class

qHyst1 CellSelectionInfo Int [0..40] (dBm) 10 4 C2

Step = 2

qHyst2 CellSelectionInfo Int [0..40] (dB) 4 6 C2

Step = 2

qOffset1sn GSMCell Int [-50..50] (dB) 0 TBD C0

qOffset2sn UMTSFDDNeighbouring Int [-50..50] (dB) 0 TBD C0

qualMeas CPICH_EcNo or CPICH_EcNo N.A. Static

CPICH_RSCP

tReselection CellSelectionInfo Int [0..31] (s) 31 6 C2

34
 Measurements
The different types of air interface measurements
are:
• Intra-frequency measurements: measurements on downlink physical channels at the
same frequency as the active set. A measurement object corresponds to one cell.

• Inter-frequency measurements: measurements on downlink physical channels at

frequencies that differ from the frequency of the active set. A measurement object
corresponds to one cell.

• Inter-RAT measurements: measurements on downlink physical channels belonging to

another radio access technology than UTRAN, e.g. GSM. A measurement object
corresponds to one cell.

35
 Handover (Handoff)
• There are following categories of handover (also referred to as handoff):

• Hard handover means that all the old radio links in the UE are removed before
the new radio links are established. Hard handover can be seamless or non-
seamless. Seamless hard handover means that the handover is not perceptible
to the user. In practice a handover that requires a change of the carrier
frequency (inter-frequency handover) is always performed as hard handover.

• Soft handover means that the radio links are added and removed in a way that
the UE always keeps at least one radio link to the UTRAN. Soft handover is
performed by means of macro diversity, which refers to the condition that
several radio links are active at the same time.

• Softer handover is a special case of soft handover where the radio links that are
added and removed belong to the same Node B (i.e. the site of co-located base
stations from which several sector-cells are served.

36
 Handover (Handoff)
• The most obvious cause for performing a handover is that due to its movement a user
can be served in another cell more efficiently (like less power emission, less
interference). It may however also be performed for other reasons such as system
load control.

• Active Set is defined as the set of Node-Bs the UE is simultaneously connected to (i.e.,
the UTRA cells currently assigning a downlink DPCH to the UE constitute the active
set).
• The maximum active set size at the RNC is determined by the parameter
MaxAciveSetSize
• 3 to 4 cells, the larger the active set size the more likely it is that Iub link efficiency is
reduced (more than one resource for a single connection due to SHO)

• Cells, which are not included in the active set, but are included in the CELL_INFO_LIST
belong to the Monitored Set.

• Cells detected by the UE, which are neither in the CELL_INFO_LIST nor in the active
set belong to the Detected Set. Reporting of measurements of the detected set is only
applicable to intra-frequency measurements made by UEs in CELL_DCH state.

37
 PRIMARY CELL ELECTION ALGORITHM (MONITORED SET
UPDATE)

• The primary cell election algorithm applies

to soft HO. It is used for monitored set
determination and a pointer to mobility
parameter.

• The Monitored Set should be updated each

time the primary cell of active set changes. A
measurement control message is sent (with
measurement commend set to modify) is
sent to the UE in order to update the
monitored set. The message contains the cell
to add/remove from the monitored and Measurement control used for monitored set update
should follow the ACIVE SET UPDATE
message.

• The primary cell algorithm is called from SHO

algorithm; therefore it is performed each
time a MEASUREMENT REPORT is received
by the SRNC.

38
In pre-launch optimization, how are missing neighbors usually
detected?
Usually you use a scanner and compare the best pilots in Ec/Io from the scanner against that of
the active set and monitored set from an active UE. If there is a stronger pilot from a nearby
cell that appears on the scanner but not on the UE, there is a possible missing neighbor. One
would then verify that the neighbor appears in defined neighbor list from the OSS.
 Compressed mode
• Compressed mode is when the mobile goes into a slotted transmit mode whereby it opens up an idle period
(transmission gap) where it can monitor another carrier or technology (GSM). The impact is that to maintain the
same bit rate, it halves the SF, and therefore increases power level causing higher interference to the network. If
the SF cannot be halved then the bit rate of the bearer decreases. If they seem knowledgably, ask them if they
know what messages and events trigger and configure compressed mode on/off. 2D event for on, 2F for
off. Messages would for configuration would be RADIO BEARER RECONFIGURATION, TRANSPORT CHANNEL
RECONFIGFURATION or PHYSICAL CHANNEL RECONFIGURATION.
• Before UE can perform inter-frequency or IRAT handover, it needs to have some time to lock on to the control
channel of the other frequency or system and listen to the broadcast information. Certain idle periods are created
in radio frames for this purpose and is called “compressed mode”.
• During inter-frequency handover the UE’s must be given time to make the necessary measurements on the
different WCDMA carrier frequency. 1 to 7 slots per frame can be allocated for the UE to perform this intra
frequency (hard handover).

Why is compressed mode needed?

• In UTRAN FDD, transmission/reception by the mobile is continuous : no idle periods are available for monitoring
other frequencies if the UE has only a single receiver
How is it done?
• Transmission gaps are created in the radio frame in DL and/or UL to allow the UE to switch to another frequency,
perform measurements on another carrier (FDD, TDD or GSM) and switch back
• Transmission gaps are positioned in one radio frame or at the boundary of 2 radio frames in regular intervals
referred to as a transmission gap pattern sequence
• no more than 7 slots are used in any one radio frame to create the transmission gap.
 Compressed Mode
• How is it done?
– Two approaches can be taken in creating the transmission gaps of the transmission gap pattern
sequence
• Modify the physical layer parameters (by puncturing or spreading factor reduction) to allow all
information bits to be transmitted.
• Restrict the bit rate (by higher layer scheduling) to match the fewer available transmission
slots in a compressed radio frame.
– In both approaches, the goal is to not loose transmission frames
• Who controls it?
– Compressed mode is under the control of the UTRAN
– Compressed mode is configured by the RNC per UE in the form of transmission gap pattern
sequences
• given to the UE via RRC signalling
• given to the node B via NBAP signalling
• a transmission gap pattern sequence is associated with a specific measurement purpose:
– FDD measurements,
– TDD measurements,
– GSM initial BSIC identification, GSM BSIC reconfirmation,
GSM RSSI measurement

41
 Physical layer Aspects
Compressed Mode Methods

• Three methods are available to create

transmission gaps
– Puncturing: additional puncturing/fewer repetitions are performed compared to
normal mode
• to be used only in DL
• to be used only in the case of mapping to fixed positions
• scrambling and channelisation code remain unchanged

– Spreading Factor Reduction: SF is divided by 2

• can be used in UL and DL
• can be used with mapping to flexible positions
• to be used only when SF>4
• only 2nd DTX insertion and physical channel mapping is modified
• may lead to channelisation code shortage and the need to use a secondary scrambling code

42
 Cell Shakedown
• Purpose
– To test Call Setup (Voice and FTP) in each cell
– To test Handoffs (Soft and Softer) between Cells
– Verify antenna orientation
– Primary Pilot Ec/Io
– Scrambling Code for each cell
– UE transmit power
– Path Balance
• Method
– By driving clockwise and anticlockwise within a designated route around the base station
(about 30% of the site coverage area).

43
 Difference between Scanner data & UE Data Collection
•Difference in data collection
Antenna
Cable
Sampling
•Solution: Perform a calibration drive.
• Scanner
• Primary Common Pilot Channel (P-CPICH)
scrambling code measurements
• Continuous Wave (CW) measurements
• Spectrum analysis
• Synchronization Channel (SCH) code word
measurements
44
An overview of cluster
performance based on
scanner Best Serving CPICH
RSCP and Ec/Io measured
data.
• UE
• Data/Voice/Video Calls
• Layer 3 messages logging
• Layer 2 messages logging (Transport channel)
• RRC State logging
• UE Transmit Power
• SIR
• Serving Cell / Active Set / Monitored Set
• Events
• GSM neighbor measurements
 Power control
In the uplink the base station measures the received Signal-to- Interference Ratio (SIR) and compares
this to a target SIR. If the measured SIR is below the target then the base station requests the mobile
to increase its power (and vice versa). This type of power control is known as the Inner-loop power
control and is capable of adjusting the transmit power in steps of, for example 1 dB at a rate of 1500
times per second. Inner-loop power control is only applicable for connections on dedicated channels

Explain Inner and Outer loop power control and who controls them.
If they start talking about Open and Closed Loop PC, tell them you want Inner/Outer Closed
Loop PC. Inner loop power control is performed by the NodeB to set the transmit power of the
UE and BTS to compensate for signal variations due to fading or path loss to maintain the set SIR
(occurs up to 1500 times per sec). Outer loop power control is performed by the RNC to set the
target SIR based on the required BER/BLER for the requested services (occurs up to 100 times per
sec).
 Drop after active set update

Symptom:
• Normally, the observed sequent messages in the UE side are:
– UTRAN -> UE: Active set update (to request the UE to remove a cell, e.g. SC281)
– UE -> UTRAN: Active set update complete
– UTRAN -> UE: Measurement Control (update neighbour list)
– UE -> UTRAN: Measurement report (to propose to add7)
– UTRAN -> UE: Active set update (to request the UE to add SC 137)
– DROP.......(since no Active set update completion was sen after 12 secs )
• The radio performances no matter DL and UL are very good.
Possible solution: No solution, check this problem with UE vendor.

In Soft Handover the UE is connected to more than one Radio Base Station (RBS) simultaneously. At least
one radio link is always active and there is no interruption in the dataflow during the actual handover.
The signals are received in the UE and combined in the RAKE receiver to give protection against fading.

46
 Soft/Softer Handover
Radio Link Addition and
Radio Link Removal.

Reference:User Description and Engineering Guidelines 75/1551-HSD

101 02/1 Uen B2
© Ericsson
47 AB 2003 - All Rights Reserved
 Drop after active set update, Cont.

BLER is getting worse

RF condition
is o.k.
48
 Drop after active set update, Cont.

No Active Set Completion

was sent after Active Set
Update.

49
Name the 4 RRC Connected Modes If a UE is on a data call (CELL-DCH state) and
(states) and describe the characteristics there is in no activity for awhile what would
of each. you expect to see occur?
Cell-DCH: UE has been allocated a dedicated UE should go from CELL-DCH to CELL-FACH
physical channel in then if still no activity to either CELL-PCH or
uplink and downlink. URA-PCH (via CELL-FACH). If they talk about
Cell-FACH: UE listens to RACH channel (DL) and inactivity timers and mention that the state
is allocated a FACH channel (UL). Small amounts goes from CELL-DCH straight to CELL-PCH or
of UL/DL data can be transfers in this state. The
URA-PCH, that is also possible. Bonus
RNC tracks the UE down to the cell level and cell
they say they would see RADIO BEARER
reselections are possible with the CELL UPDATE
message. RECONFIGURATION messages when the
Cell-PCH: UE monitors (using discontinuous states are changing.
reception) a PCH channel (PCH) indicated by the
PICH channel. The RNC tracks the UE down to the
cell level and cell reselections are possible with the
CELL UPDATE message. No data can be
transferred in the UL in this state.
URA-PCH: UE monitors (using discontinuous
reception) a PCH channel (PCH) indicated by the
PICH channel. The RNC tracks the UE down to the
URA level.
most widely Used Strategy to deploy 2nd Carrier in UMTS Network?

- Random Camping on F1 and F2

- Prefer Camping on F1 or F2.

The best is to deploy Dual carrier functionality or you might want to have voice on one carrier and data on 2nd
carrier, Or you can have two carrier's separate from each other .
Camping is, in my opinion, better random, but check Inter frequency load sharing algorithm so you can balance
traffic on each carrier . For frequent relocation try to optimize interFreq handover with changing offset on IFHO
neighbours.
Only way to increase no of HSDPA codes is to add additional carrier :-(
F2 strategy will depend on the carrier frequencies if both carriers are on the same band or one carrier has a
lower frequency. This will give the carrier on the lower frequency a larger coverage.
Even If both carriers are on the same frequency it is better to vary qRxLevMin and qQualMin and event 2d
settings between the carries to reduce the reselection and IFHO.
You can also use inter-frequency load loading to assist in traffic balancing since this is done at the RRC level.
Random camping is better in my opinion
Code tree is fix you can only increase code by adding more carries. Random camping is good to avoid RRC
rejection at call setup on high loaded sites but beware that if calls are balanced between the 2-3 layers without
any consideration of the service type (Cs or Ps) it may decrease voice quality and performance of the Cs calls
(CSSR, CDR and increase HHO to GSM/DCS). HSDPA and HSUPA calls (Ps traffic) are very bursty and it affect Cs
calls.
Very high CE usage on Uplink as compared to DL?

The consumption of UL CE is higher than the DL and this is normal. Specially when u have HSDPA which
consumes less than one CE in theory. The UL uses much more CEs specially if u have HSUPA deployed. The
higher the UL speed u have available the higher the UL CE consumption. HSUPA can reach 48 CE for a speed of
5.5Mbps this is the same in all vendors.
CE usage is always high in U/L as compare to D/L.... for HSDPA CE and Codes are reserved ..for HSUPA ..not .
If u want to control ur UL CE consumption... u have to check first that which service is taking maximum .. usually
R99 services ...
u can disable that particular SF disable ur half. UL CE consumption is high because of HSUPA Services as rightly
pointed by above 2 members.
HSDPA uses shared channel so whether there is 1 user or many users latched to a cell the HSDPA resource
utilization will be same only DCH assigned to every user using HSDPA will use some CE resources usually less
than 1.
To decrease UL CE consumption you can decrease UL Initial Bit Rate for R99 if R99 users are high, also you can
decrease HSUPA Initial Bit Rate if HSUPA Users are high.
You can also enable LDR at RNC+NodeB+Cell Level with first Action being BE rate Reduction and 2nd action
being CS IRAT Load HO. Channel element is a fundamental baseband processing element resource. Its function
is to do modulation/ demodulation of signals. Acc to RF fundamentals, since demodulation & error detection/
correction are to be done in UL as against DL, so UL CE usage will always be higher than DL. This will be
applicable to all types of PS services & all type of vendors. Also, as ppl mentioned above, higher bit rates will
require more CEs & hence disabling HSUPA (which has the highest bit rates in UL), might help to reduce CE
utilization substantially. You can check your HSDPA/R99 inactivity timer values in RNC. If it is high like 10 seconds
then it is occupying the CE's for 10 secs without any activity. Reduce it & you will see the reduction in CE
Consumptions
Call block on all the 3 carrier. can anybody help me to identify the problem? what might
be the cause and what info I need to look in Layer 3?

Ask your RAN technical support engineer to run a trace in the RBS/RNC nodes. That's the most practical and
easiest way to find out in details what is going on during call setup and call termination. Also, check the
relevant PM counters individually to get a detailed overview of the fault. From these info, you should be able
to draw up exactly what is happening.

But before delving into deeper water, check the states of all your managed objects both iperationally and
administratively.
check LAC & RAC definitions on all the 3 elements NodeB , RNC & CN. Aside as per Oliver take reports with
complete info regarding counters & check is the blocking on RNL or TNL.
. Is there any RRC block or RAB block? I should check the type of RAB or RRC block. When you have blocks on
the 3 carriers, oftentimes, the problem is about congestion on the node. Oftentimes, the 3 carriers, are set
up on the same CE board and, for that reason, the block are produced on the 3 carriers in the same time.
Many sites which have good RSCP but with very bad Ec/No due to which we have
high Drop call rate
check the EcIo of these sectors in a Drive Test in the midnigth? when the load cell is low...

If the EcIo is better when you don't have users in these sectors, it's mean that the EcIo is bad because there is high load of
users.

In fact, if you have a lot of users in a sector, the RTWP is bad and the Drop Call rate is bad.
Normally we check RTWP in uplink interference? so in this case we have to monitor as well ?
suppose I choose 4 points so in four points I will get 7 MN and 1 AS and all has Bad Ec.NO? if there is high interference from
neighbors so we can use electrical or mechinal to reduce the outer SC but what about parameter?

Actually its very populated area so we cant cover by just one cell. what other can you suggest.
The RTWP can help us to check the interference in uplink, when the RTWP is bad, over -96 dBm, it causes that drop call rate
worsen.

In the same way, RTWP and EcIo are affected when a sector have a lot of users in Dedicated State (DCH).

When a external interference (Uplink or Downlink) degrade the RTWP and EcIo (respectively), both are bad at any instant of
time, with or without users.

In the case exposed, "suppose I choose 4 points so in four points I will get 7 MN and 1 AS", this pilot pollution, and you can only
improve (EcIo) through changes EDT/MDT. Really I don´t know parameters to improve the EcIo.

In the other hand, to improve RTWP you can modify the cqifbk from D2 to D8 (Huawei), it helps you in the case of high load, no
external interference
Self-Organizing Network (SON)

Technology Minimizes the Lifecycle Cost of Running a Wireless Carrier Network

Self-Organizing Network (SON) technology minimizes the lifecycle cost of running a wireless carrier
network by eliminating manual configuration of equipment at the time of deployment, right through
to dynamically optimizing performance and troubleshooting during operation. This can significantly
reduce the cost of the carrier’s services, improving the OpEx to revenue ratio.

Amid growing demands for mobile broadband connectivity, wireless carriers are keen to capitalize on
SON to minimize rollout delays and operational expenditures associated with their ongoing LTE and
small cell deployments.

Originally targeted for the Radio Access Network (RAN) segment of wireless carrier networks, SON
technology is now also utilized in the mobile core and mobile backhaul segments. Furthermore, the
SON ecosystem is increasingly witnessing convergence with other technological innovations such as
Big Data analytics and Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).

Despite challenges relating to implementation complexities and multi-vendor interoperability, SON

revenue is expected to grow to more than $3 Billion by the end of 2016, exceeding conventional
mobile network optimization revenue by over 20%.
SMS in UMTS is sent using the SRB. At a logical level this is the DCCH. From a
transport level this can be mapped to FACH or DCH (or if you are using SRB
over HS on your network even the HS-DSCH can be used). At a physical level
this is mapped on to the DPDCH (in case of DCH transport channel) or the
SCCPCH (in case the UE happens to be in CELL_FACH and listening to the
FACH).

I am not really a core network guy, but from a core network perspective the
SMSC is connected to a MSC(s). The SMS is forwarded to the MSC which then
uses the IuCS interface to forward the SMS to the RNC. From there on the
paragraph above applies.

If the UE is IDLE then it will have to be paged to set up the RRC connection
(with the associated SRB). If the UE is in FACH it will be paged with a Paging
message Type 2 to send the Paging Response required to set-up the IuCS
connection. If the UE is in DCH state with an ongoing CS connection (i.e.
speech) it will be sent using the existing IuCS connection and no paging is
required. If the UE is in DCH state with a PS connection the same as FACH
applies.
FINAL WORDS

• For network tuning, we need to relay on field measurements which require extensive drive tests
• Finding the best possible configuration for antenna heights, tilts, azimuths and parameter setting for
all the present cells/sectors in the network and also for any new sites that might be needed to
improve coverage
• Power adjustment can also be used for network tuning but can become complicated and result in
poor network performance
• Use of Remote Electrical Tilt (RET) Antenna is preferred over mechanical tilt antenna
• Neighbour definition is of prime importance in UMTS network (Soft handover gain and interference
reduction). Keep neighbour list upto 20.
• Automated tools are needed that could suggest the best possible neighbour relations, antenna
heights and tilts by using both the field measurements and the propagation models & simulations
• Skilled people, right methods and advanced tools are needed to perform 3G tuning and optimisation