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UMTS CS Call Drop Analysis

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L O W C H A R T T O T E S T C A L L D R O P S B Y
DT
Call drop dataThe call drop data refers to the CNT test data and RNC signalingtracing data.Call drop
spotsUse CNA to analyze the call drops to acquire the location wherecall drops happen. Then acquire
the following data: pilot datacollected before and after call drops, active set and monitoringset
information collected by the cell phone, and signaling flow.Stability of the primary serving cellThe
stability of the primary serving cell refers to its changes. Ifthe primary serving cell is stable, then analyze
RSCP and Ec/Io.If the primary serving cell changes frequently, then thehandover parameters should be
changed to avoid the ping-pingeffect.RSCP and Ec/Io of the primary serving cellCheck the RSCP and
Ec/Io of the optimal cell, and then
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When the RSCP is bad, the coverage is poor.

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When the RSCP is normal, while the Ec/Io is bad, pilotpollution or DL interference exists.
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When RSCP and Ec/Io are both normal, if cells in the activeset of the UE are not the optimal cells (which
can be checkedthrough playback of data), then the call drops may becaused by missed neighbor cell or
untimely handovers; ifcells in the active set of the UE are the optimal cells, thencall drops may be
caused by UL interferences or abnormalcall drops.Reproducing of problems with DTSince you
cannot collect all necessary information by one DT,then multiple DTs shall be performed to collect
sufficient data. Inaddition, multiple DTs can also help to ascertain whether the calldrop is random or
always happens at the same spot. Generally,if call drops always happen at the same spot, this problem
mustbe solved, or if call drops happen randomly, multiple DTs mustbe performed to find inner
reasons.
Analyzing Call Drops byTrafficStatistics
When analyzing the traffic statistics, check the call drops indexon the RNC firstly to learn the operating
status of the wholenetwork. Meanwhile, a cell-by-cell analysis can be performed toacquire the detailed
call drop indexes of each cell. During theanalysis, the traffic statistic analyzing tool can be used
toanalyze the call drop situations of different services and thepossible causes.Acquire data about cells
with abnormal KPIs through the trafficstatistics. If KPIs of these cells used to be normal, then
theabnormal KPIs may be brought by software version, hardware,transmission, antenna, or data, then
you can check theseaspects based on the alarms. If no obvious abnormal cells exist,the statistics can be
classified based on the carrier in each sector,then cells with poor KPIs can be screened out. Further
analyzethe traffic statistics of these cells, such as analyzing morerelated KPIs, such as
analyzing data at a shorter interval, oranalyzing KPIs that are more likely to cause call drops, such
ashandover. Meanwhile, you can analyze the reasons for call dropsbased on system logs. During the
analysis, you should considerthe effect of other KPIs when focusing on a certain KPI. It shouldbe
specified that the result of traffic statistics is meaningful onlywhen the traffic volume reaches a certain
amount. For example,a 50% of call drop rate does not mean that the network is bad.This value is
meaningful only when the calling number, succeedcalling number, call drop times all make
statistical significances.
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UMTS CS Call Drop Analysis

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Procedure of KPI Analysis

The commonly used KPI analysis method is the TOP cell method,which means the top cells will be
screened out according tocertain index, then these top cells are optimized and then thetop cells are
selected again. After several repetitions, the relatedKPI can be speedily converged. At the initial stage of
networkconstruction, there are few subscribers in the network. At thisstage, the KPIs of
many cells might be unstable, such as calldrop rate. You can collect the data in seven days or
longerperiods, then select the top cell and then perform theoptimization. For example,
optimization of call drop rate of CSservices. When selecting top cells, you can select the cell withcall
drop numbers exceeding the specified threshold, and thenarrange the priority based on the call drop
rate.The procedures of top cell selection are the same as theprocedures of handling input information
from other team ofengineers (complains or single site acceptance), and are shownin the following
figure.
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Basic Methods to Analyze KPIs

Speedily Collecting the Field Data
To locate the problem, you have collect data from manydifferent spots between the UE and the pdn
server. While,speedy and accurate collection of the field data is essential tolocate and solve the problem
and to improve the KPIs. Datacollection can be divided into multiple layers.Collecting UE log,
RNC signaling, KPI data, alarms, abnormalprobes, and packet captured at the Iub interfaceNodeB and
RNC debug logSome common skills are required to collect data of the first layer,and the network
optimization & maintenance personnel caneasily master these skills. At present, most field questions
canbe located through the data analysis at this layer. Collection ofthe debug log of the second layer
should be performed orremotely supported by the relative R&D engineers. Data at thislayer can help to
solve some deep layer problems.The following chapter focuses on the data collection tool andmethod
for the first layer data, and only gives a briefintroduction to that of the second layer.
Health Check of Sites
For sites where alarms are reported, you should first performthe health check for the site, which
mainly covers the followingaspects:
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Alarms
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Frequently added or removed common transport channels

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UL & DL power
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Radio link restore

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Balance level between two antennas

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Statistics of service failuresThe RL restore rate is shown by the NodeB cell measurementrecorded
by PMC as shown in the following figure, and isaccumulated since the establishment of cells. If the RL
restorerate of a cell is lower than 80%, the cell is treated as abnormal,and the possible causes are as
follows:
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UL interferences
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Insufficient cell radius or overshooting

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Reuse of the same PSC

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Abnormal UL RF channel
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UMTS CS Call Drop Analysis
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For these possible causes, you may check them combining othermeasurement results and data
analysis.
KPI Analysis Tools
Signal Trace
This tool traces signaling of RNC, you can trace the signaling atthe Iu, Iur, Iub, and Uu interfaces, TNL
signaling, and RNLsignaling through this tool. The most commonly used method tocheck the KPIs is to
trace the RNL signaling. This tool is veryuseful, and can trace the signaling on the basis of cell
(tracesignaling of multiple UEs) and IMSI (trace signaling of one UE).It should be emphasized that
signaling tracing by cells can onlytrace the UE that initiates the call from this cell. The UE can betraced
as long as it remains in the same RNC, even if it ishanded over to other cells. However, if a UE initiates
the callfrom other cells and then is handed over this call, and its calldrop happens in this cell, it cannot
be traced. Therefore, whenyou trace the signaling of a cell with high call-drop rate, thesignaling of cells
in close handover relation with this cell shouldalso be traced, then the result would be more
comprehensive.The RNC R&D engineers also develop a RNC signaling tracingtool, WinSigAn, which
can mark the call drop spots more clearly.
RNC Association Log
This tool helps to record the context of the abnormal systemflow, and then the context would be
counted and analyzed tolocate the network problem.It is usually used when the system is abnormal
and no RNCsignaling is traced. It can help to locate the problem by the timewhen the system
exception happens. The exception can bequeried on the basis of IMSI and CELL ID.
NodeB LMT
Besides all functions of OMCB, NodeB Local MaintenanceTerminal (LMT) can also provide detailed cell
and UEinformation.The NodeB LMT consists of EOMS, EFMS, DMS, and PMS.
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NodeB Exception Probe

In the field of the WCDMA commercial network, this tool caneffectively help to monitor the operating
status of the NodeB.Different modules of the NodeB would record the informationwhen exceptions
happen, thus facilitating the location ofproblems. However, specialized knowledge is required.
You haveto understand the functions and interfaces of different boards. Ifthe field engineers cannot
analyze the report, they can simplysend these data to the R&D engineers.The exception probe reported
by different NodeBs can be savedon different OMCB servers based on the RNC they belong to.Then,
this tool would download the file from different OMCB FTP,and then analyze them.
CTS
CTS is the tool for the CN, and it can be used to perform deepsignaling by IMSI. Unlike SignalTrace,
which is applicable to thesignaling tracing within one RNC, CTS can perform the signalingtracing across
the RNC border, Therefore, it is applicable to thesignaling tracing of VIPs.CTS can trace the interactive
signaling among different NEswithin the CN, and can trace the signaling at the Iu and Uuinterfaces, and
this is called deep tracing. The working principlesof CTS is as follows: First establish an IMSI task on
CTS server,and then sent this IMSI task to the CN, which is further sent todifferent modules through the
arranged interfaces, then eachmodule collects the signaling related to IMSI, and then thecollected
signaling is transmitted back to the CTS server throughthe CN. The above interfaces are all
private interfaces, thus thistool only work on ZTE CN and RNC.
UE Log
DT is an important means to analyze KPIs. Many problems,signaling tracing at the network side and
tracing of problemswhich are hard to be located, can be finally located aftercombining the UE
logs. The commonly used DT software isQXDM/APEX(QCAT), CNT/CNA, and TEMS.
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