UMTS RAN Performance

Trouble Shooting Guidelines

Ericsson UMTS Accessibility
Performance Engineering
 Introduction
Purpose & Scope
The intent of this document is to provide UMTS Trouble Shooting and Optimization
from KPI and Counter perspectives for Ericsson (E///) Accessibility and provide
detailed analysis strategies for identifying reason for the KPI trends and offering
guidelines for improving performance by Key Optimization techniques.
The KPI/Counters described here are applicable to the P6 release of Ericsson
UTRAN.
This document is not all inclusive and is only intended to provide a quick cook
book to understand available E/// for trouble shooting and optimization best
practices Guideline Document. For any information not covered here, Ericsson
product documentation (CPI/ALEX Libraries) should be referenced.

Definitions for this Document

Term or
Definition
Acronym

3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

AS Active Set

BSIC Base Station Identity Code

BTS Base Transceiver Station

CN Core Network

CPICH Common Pilot Channel

DCH Dedicated Channel

DL Downlink

DPCCH Dedicated Physical Control Channel

DPCH Dedicated Physical Channel

DRNC Drift Radio Network Controller

FACH Forward Access Channel

FIFO First In First Out

GERAN GSM EDGE RAN

 Term or
Definition
Acronym
Global System for Mobile
GSM Communications

HCS Hierarchical Cell Structure

HSDPA High Speed Data Packet Access

IAF Intra Frequency

IE Information Element

IEF Inter Frequency

IFHO Inter Frequency Handover

Inter-RAT Inter Radio Access Technology

IRAT Inter Radio Access Technology

Iur Interface between two RNCs

KPI Key Parameter Indicator

LA Location Area

LAI Location Area Indicator

NBAP Node B Application Part

Logical node responsible for radio
transmission and reception in one or
Node B several cells

OCNS Orthogonal Channel Noise Simulator

PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

RA Routing Area

RAB Radio Access Bearer

RAI Routing Area Indicator

RAN Radio Access Network

RAT Radio Access Technology

RB Radio Bearer
Radio Base Station another name for
RBS the Node B
 Term or
Definition
Acronym

RF Radio Frequency

RL Radio Link

RNC Radio Network Controller

RRC Radio Resource Control

RSCP Received Signal Code Power

RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator

SIB System Information Block

SIR Signal to Interference Ratio

TRX Transceiver

TX Transmit

UE User Equipment

UL Uplink
Universal Mobile Telecommunication
UMTS Services

UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network

Wideband Code Division Multiple
WCDMA Access
Accessibility
Accessibility is defined as the ability of a user to access the UMTS network
successfully to utilize the available services. The metrics within Ericsson RNC and OSS
provide counters and KPIs that describe the behaviors and experience of the
subscribers while accessing the UMTS network.
This is divided up into a number of areas, CS and PS, as well as being divided on an
RRC and RAB basis.
The services which have counters for Accessibility are:
CS Voice
CS Data
SRB
Video
PS Streaming & Interactive
HSDPA Streaming & Interactive
EUL (HSUPA)
In the following sections, CS Voice, PS Interactive and HSDPA will be discussed in
detail.
Troubleshooting Flowchart
The following flowchart may be useful for troubleshooting accessibility issues based
on the problem areas
Flow chart in PowerPoint

Microsoft Office
PowerPoint 97-2003 Presentation
Voice Access Failure Rate
The metrics measures user ability to access the mobile network for circuit switched
voice calls. The metrics consists of two components of CS Access call, RRC and RAB.
RRC part of the equation measures Conversational (originating and terminating) and
Emergency calls. The RAB part of the equation measures Speech RAB and is pegged
on the best cell in the active set in Serving RNC. The RRC measures Conversational
Voice and Data (CSV+CSD) while RAB part measures only Speech for both originating
and terminating causes. The non-access stratum (signaling) part of the access call
flow is not included in this KPI.

KPIs Formula & stats availability:

KPIs are based on following formulae.
Voice Access Failures = Voice RRC Failures + Voice RAB failures

Voice Access Failure Rate (%) = 100 * (1 (Voice RRC Failure Rate* Voice RAB
Failure Rate))

Voice Access failures Breakdown

These metrics can be used to determine the breakdown of access failures on an RNC,
Market or Region level and can be shown as following to identify the distribution of
RRC / RAB failures to total Voice access failures.
This chart helps us to analyze issues impacting Voice accessibility showing the
breakdown between RRC & RAB failures and accordingly troubleshoot the prominent
failures with help of corresponding counters listed for RRC & RAB failures.

CS Voice RRC Accessibility

The counters for CS Voice RRC Accessibility are extensively available for the UMTS
Services in Ericsson OSS; however RRC access failures formula is based on two
counters. These metrics can be run on Cell /RNC/Market/Region level.
This is made up of the following counters:

Counter Description Condition MO Class

pmTotNoRrcConnectReqCs Total number The counter is increased when UtranCell
(CS RRC connection of the RRC Connection Request
requests) Conversation message
al Call is received with Establishment
(originating Cause Originating
and Conversational Call or
terminating) Terminating Conversational
and Call.
Emergency Note: This counter does not
Call RRC count repeated RRC connection
Connection requests.
attempts
pmTotNoRrcConnectReqCsS Total number The counter is increased when UtranCell
ucc (CS RRC of Successful an RRC Connection Setup
connection successes) Conversation Complete message is received
al Call following an attempt to setup
(originating an originating or terminating
and conversational call.
terminating)
and
Emergency
Call RRC
Connection
attempt

This KPI shows the percentage of RRC access failures by the total number of RRC
attempts. Following formula is used for these KPI:
To understand clearly the causes for CS RRC access failures, we would divide it in two
main categories:
a) CS RRC Setup Failures: These failures are mainly associated with RRC
rejections due to MP load, Node-B / Transport network congestion or configuration
errors, Cell Congestion (Admission Control) and insufficient licensed capacity.
b) CS RRC Access (Radio reasons) Failures: These failures are mainly due to
radio reasons. By subtracting RRC setup failures from Total RRC access failures,
we can get the numbers for RRC access failures due to radio reasons.

In Ericsson RNC, counters are available to breakdown RRC Setup failures to aid
troubleshooting of such access issues. These single counter based KPIs are available
in the same Accessibility report.
CS RRC Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for CS calls only)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
pmNoRrcConnReqBlockTnCs # RRC This counters is stepped if the UtranC
(CS RRC fails - TN Connection establishment of an RRC ell
Congestion/Blocking) Setup Connection Request with
attempts for Establishment Cause =
Circuit Originating/Terminating
Switched Conversational or Emergency, fails
calls that fail due to congestion on the user plane
due to (AAL2) or control plane (UniSaal or
Transport SCTP) of the transport network as a
Network result of user dimensioned
blocking. transport network resource
shortages.
pmNoRrcConnReqBlockNode # RRC This counter is stepped if the UtranC
Cs (CS RRC Fails - Connection establishment of an RRC ell
NodeB Blocking) Setup Connection Request - with
attempts for Establishment Cause equal to
Circuit Originating/Terminating
Switched Conversational or Emergency - fails
calls that fail due to node configuration error,
due to node node limitations or transport
blocking. network layer service unavailability.
pmNoRrcCsReqDeniedAdm # CS calls Counter is triggered when an RRC UtranC
(CS RRC rejects due to denied by CONNECTION REQUEST with the ell
Admission control) admission cause; Originating Conversational
control. Call, Terminating Conversational
Call, or Emergency call is denied
by Admission Control.
pmNoFailedRrcConnectReqC # CS calls Incremented by one when an RRC UtranC
sHw (CS RRC denied - denied by connection request with cause ell
Insufficient Licensed admission Originating Conversational Call,
Capacity) control due to Terminating Conversational call, or
insufficient emergency call is denied by
licensed admission control due to
capacity in insufficient licensed capacity in the
Counter Description Condition MO
Class
the RBS. RBS.

RRC Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for CS & PS calls together)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
pmNoRejRrcConnMpLoadC # of rejected Sending of the RRC message RRC UtranC
(RRC reject due to MP RRC connection Reject with rejection ell
load control) connections cause congestion when the
due to congestion cause has been
module MP indicated by internal load control.
load control Please Note This counter
(includes is pegged for CS & PS
incoming
Inter-RAT CC)
services.

Above mentioned counters can be used to determine the access failures caused by
Setup issues in the cell. These counters can also be used in conjunction with the
Total RRC failures for the trend analysis on the RNC/Market or Region level.
Subtracting their value from total RRC failures can give us the Voice RRC access
failures due to radio reasons

Radio Reasons CS RRC access failures = (Total CS RRC access failures)(CS

RRC Setup failures)

A special attention must be paid for using (RRC reject due to MP load control)
counter as this is pegged for both CS & PS calls, so contribution from CS & PS RRC
access failures to this counter value must be decided based on CS & PS total RRC
failures.

There are two additional counters available also which are pegged for both CS + PS
calls and Setup + Radio access failures together. So, these counters can be used
more for information & trending instead of troubleshooting.
RRC Failures Counters: (Pegged for CS + PS calls and Setup + Radio
Access failures together)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
pmTotNoUtranRejRrcConnRe Total number When an RRC Connection Request UtranC
q (Total RRC rejects by of UTRAN is received and no internal UE ell
UTRAN) rejected RRC identity
Connection is available in the RNC, or MP load
Counter
pmNoFailedAfterAdm
(RRC+RAB) Failures
after Admission
Control
(Please note this
counter also counts
RAB failures)
Description Condition MO
Class
Requests control function, or Admission
Control
function does not grant permission
to proceed, or any internal
parameter
retrieving or calculations fail, or a
DL channelization code fails to be
allocated,
A connection fails to be setup to the
RBS, this counter is increased.
Note: This counter is never stepped
if there is inter-frequency
loadsharing.
# RRC or RAB The counter is increased if a UtranC
establishmen function that has been granted ell
t requests admission for
failed after a UE fails after being admitted due
being to a problem in the RRC or RAB
admitted Setup
by admission procedure. Then the admission
control. control function must be informed
about the
release of previously requested
resources due to the failed
procedure and this counter is
increased. The counter is
increased in the cell or cells
where the UE is located. This
counter is stepped for all cells if UE
is in macrodiversity.
Note: The counter is not stepped for
D-RNC cells or at failure of repeated
RRC connection requests.

RNC/Market/Region Level Reporting

This section covers analysis of Accessibility % for Ericsson and identification of issues
using the available Ericsson accessibility counters.

CS RRC Access failures Breakdown

These metrics can be used to determine the breakdown of drops on an RNC, Market
or Region level and can be shown as following.
 VoiceRRCFailuresDistribution
CSRRC Failures_Radio Access CSRRC Failures_Setup
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
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Figure : CS RRCs accessibility mostly influenced by Radio Access Failures,
however on certain days, RRC setup failures have also increased
significantly to 60%, for example on 1/1/2009)

In the next chart, we would break up the causes for these setup failures to identify
the prominent cause for such failures:

Figure : RRC rejects due to MP Load is the main cause for CS RRC setup
failures increasing as high as 100% on certain days.
 Although this chart provides an overview of Setup issues impacting CS RRC
accessibility, yet the highlighting point of this chart is CS RRC failures due to -
NodeB Blocking (failures due to node configuration error, node limitations or
transport network layer service unavailability) which increased up to 95+% on
1/31/2009. This is where optimizers must focus their attention also to ensure Node-
Bs configuration is appropriate to meet traffic demand.

Since the counter for RRC rejects due to MP Load is stepped up for all network
access causes (CS call, PS call, SMS, Location update), hence appropriate estimation
should be made during analysis to count CS RRC failures due to this reason. This has
been done in to plot the values for RRC reject due to Mp load (CS calls) in graphs for
figure 3 & 4.
Following methodology was used
i) Ratio (%) for CS RRC attempts to total RRC attempts was calculated.
ii) Same ratio was then applied to RRC rejects due to MP Load counter value to
calculate the value for RRC reject due to Mp load (CS calls) used in this graph.

Plotting the same causes in Bar format graph to show number of failures per reason.

Figure RRC rejects due to MP Load is the main cause for RRC setup
failures increasing as high as 100% on certain days.
 Cell Analysis

CS RRC Setup Phase Failure Causes

a) CS RRC rejects due to Admission control

This counter is pegged when the RNC decides to reject the RRC connection request
because of the Admission control on the cell.
This admission control can be initiated generally due to lack of downlink power or lack
of downlink channelization codes as seen in the Northeast network until now since
commercial launch. Problem can be due to uplink causes also but downlink ideally
gets congested before uplink.
However, before concluding this admission control has been triggered due to
increased traffic in the cell, please verify following 3 main points:
i) OCNS is deactivated on the cell.
ii) Feeder length attenuation & TMA parameters are set correctly as per CIQ.
iii) Admission control parameters (Power Adm, power offset, dlcodeAdm) are
consistent to Baseline values.

b) CS RRC Fails - NodeB Blocking

This counter is stepped up fails due to node configuration error, node limitations or
transport network layer service unavailability. So, please check Transport network
availability (T1 related issues which can be checked from T1 error counters) to
identify the main cause for these failures.

c) CS RRC Fails Transport Network Blocking

This counter is stepped up fails due to congestion on the user plane (AAL2) or control
plane (UniSaal or SCTP) of the transport network as a result of user dimensioned
transport network resource shortages. So, please verify IuB link AAl2 path (ATM cells)
configuration to identify the main cause for these failures.

d) CS RRC denied - Insufficient Licensed Capacity

This counter value is stepped due to potential hardware, configuration or resource

issue in the Node-B.
Resource congestions can be verified from the Channel Element usage counters. If
traffic is low and CE usage is high, it may be due to hanging resources. However, If
traffic is high, it might be due to shortage of license keys for CE. (Compare the max
CE used counters with installed license keys in the Node-B).

Also check the number of users in Compressed Mode. Current parameter settings
allow maximum 16 users in Compressed Mode. If the number of users in compressed
 mode is high when there is no traffic in the cell it is also indicates that there is
hanging resources in the cell.

A site reset normally corrects these problems, if the problem does not clear or
repeats a ticket should be open with the field technicians to investigate. Potential
issues on the site that can cause this problem can be:
Incorrect configuration data (audit the commissioning file for any discrepancies)
Corrupt files in the NodeB (Recommissioning should resolve this problem)
Corrupt software in the NodeB (Software upgrade/ downgrade can be used to
reload the software in the site)
Faulty hardware (System module).

e) RRC rejects due to High MP Load

This counter value is generally stepped whenever the issue is RNC wide or multiple
sites connected to Main / Extension sub-Rack of RNC. It is unlikely that this will step
up for a cell specific issue.

So, please check for Core network (MSS/SGSN) outages if this counter value is
exceptionally high on any given day. MP load counters are available from Capacity 1
report to correlate these rejections with high load.

For the regularly reported values of this counter, please check sites configuration on
Main & Extension sub-racks of the RNC. As this may require, rehoming of sites from
one rack to another or addition of new Extension Sub-rack to decrease MP load on all
sub-racks.

0.0.0.1. CS RRC Radio Access Phase Failure Causes

a) CS RRC Connections Access Failure due to Radio Reasons

These failures are mostly RF related and can be split between:
Bad Coverage (Low RSCP)
Interference (Low Ec/No)
Route cause analysis will in most cases require WMRR/drive test analysis.
Also verify that the uplink RTWP value for these sites is within acceptable range to
isolate the problem due to uplink issues.

b) CS RRC Connections Access Failure due to UE Failures

The cause for this counter can be coverage even though L1 synchronization has
been achieved it can still be that a sudden loss in coverage was experienced. If
only one site is showing a high count for this counter the most likely cause is that
it is coverage related. If this is an RNC wide problem it needs to be determine if it
 is a specific Ue type that is causing the problem, this will require advance analysis
with the help of K18 and potentially the Xmine team.
Also verify that the uplink RTWP value for these sites is within acceptable range to
isolate the problem due to uplink issues.

c) CS RRC Connections Access Failure due to RNC Failures

If the counter is showing a step change it might be related to a new software load
that was loaded on the RNC or core network side. To trouble shoot these problem
it will require in-depth analysis on the RNC which should be done by Tier 2. If only
particular sites are showing a high count for this counter investigate if there is any
common point of failure for these cells ( Same RNC, same Transmission path/
hardware) Also investigate if the T1 for these sites are error free (Look at the cell
availability and BER for T1)

Worst Cells Analysis

All of the mentioned metrics are pegged on Cell level. The Worst Offenders in an
RNC/Market/Region level should be ranked by the following metrics:
CS RRC access failures
CS Radio Reasons RRC access failures
CS RRC access failures due to Admission control
CS RRC access fails Node B/ TN Congestion

CS Voice RAB Accessibility

The metrics for CS Voice RAB Accessibility are extensively available also and similar
to RRC accessibility, CS .KPIs are based on following two counters:

Counter Description Condition MO Class

pmNoRabEstablishAttemptS Number of The counter is incremented UtranCell
peech (CS Voice RAB RAB after successful RAB Mapping
connection requests) establishmen when when a
ts attempts RANAP RAB Assignment
(Speech) Request message is received
referred to from the CN with RABs to be
the Best Cell setup or modified. The counters
in the Active shall be reported per single RAB
Set. state on Best Cell level for each
RAB that is established
Note: This counter is only
incremented in the SRNC.
pmNoRabEstablishSuccessS Number of This counter is incremented UtranCell
peech (CS Voice RAB successful after successful RAB
connection success) RAB Establishment (on DCH or
establishmen common channel) before
ts (Speech) sending the RANAP RAB
 referred to Assignment Response message
the Best Cell to the CN.
in the Active
Set.

Formula:
Following formulas are used for these KPIs:

Similar to CS RRC access failures breakdown, CS RAB access failures are also broken
down in two main categories:
c) CS RAB Setup Failures: These failures are mainly associated with RRC
rejections due to MP load, Node-B / Transport network congestion or configuration
errors, Cell Congestion (Admission Control), Lack of hardware resources, lack of
ASE and UE capability.
d) CS RAB Access (Radio reasons) Failures: These failures are mainly due to
radio reasons. By subtracting RRC setup failures from Total RRC access failures,
we can get the numbers for RRC access failures due to radio reasons.

CS RAB Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for CS calls only)

Counter Description Condition MO Class

pmNoOfNonHoReqDeniedSp Number of Speech RAB The counter is UtranCell
eech (Voice establishments rejected increased in the cell
RAB Failures due to by admission control. where admission is
Admission Control) Note: The counter is rejected.
applicable to all Speech Note: The counter is
RAB establishments not stepped when
including establishment admission is rejected
on a Speech in a D-RNC cell.
/Interactive multi RAB
configuration.
pmNoRabEstBlockTnSpeech Number of RAB This counter is UtranCell
Best (Speech establishment attempts stepped when the
RAB Block - TN for RAB-type Speech establishment of a
Congestion/Failure that are blocked due to Speech RAB fails due
(Best Cell) TN congestion or TN to UNI-SAAL or AAl2
failure, counted on the congestion, IP
best cell. resource limitations or
blocking as a result of
Counter Description Condition MO Class
user dimensioned
transport network
configured capacity.
The counter is
stepped for the
best cell in the
active set but only
if the cell is in the
SRNC.
pmNoRabEstBlockTnSpeech Number of RAB This counter is UtranCell
(Speech RAB Block - TN establishment attempts stepped when the
Congestion/Failure for RAB-type Speech establishment of a
(Blocked cell) that are blocked due to Speech RAB fails due
TN congestion or TN to congestion on the
failure, counted on the user plane (AAL2) or
blocking cell. control plane (UniSaal
or SCTP) of the
transport network as
a result of user
dimensioned transport
network resource
shortages.
pmNoRabEstBlockNodeSpee Number of RAB This counter is UtranCell
chBest (Speech RAB establishment attempts stepped when the
Block - Node for RAB-type CS Speech establishment of a CS
Congestion/Failure that are blocked due to Speech RAB fails due
(Best Cell) node congestion or to node configuration
node failure, counted error, node limitation,
on the best cell. or transport network
layer service
unavailability.

CS RAB Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for CS & PS calls)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
PmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDlPwr Number of failed Counter is stepped UtranCel
(RAB failures - Lack of DL RAB establishment when admission l
power) attempts due to lack control fails with
of DL power reject reason lack
of DL power.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDlCh Number of failed Number of failed UtranCel
nlCode (RAB failures - RAB establishment RAB establishment l
Lack of DL Channelization attempts due to lack attempts due to
code) of DL channelization lack of DL
codes. channelization
codes.
Counter Description Condition MO
Class
PmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDlAse Number of failed Counter is stepped UtranCel
(RAB failures - Lack of DL RAB establishment when admission l
ASE) attempts due to lack control fails with
of DL ASE reject reason lack
of DL ASE.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackUlAse Number of failed Number of failed UtranCel
(RAB failures - Lack of UL RAB establishment RAB establishment l
ASE) attempts due to lack attempts due to
of UL ASE lack of UL ASE.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackUlHw Number of failed The counter is UtranCel
Best (RAB failures - Lack of UL RAB establishment stepped for the l
hardware resources- Best attempts due to lack IubLink containing
cell) of UL hardware the best cell in the
resources, for the active set.
best cell in the
active set.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDlHw Number of failed The counter is UtranCel
Best (RAB failures - Lack of RAB establishment stepped for the l
DL hardware resources- Best attempts due to lack IubLink containing
cell) of DL hardware the best cell in the
resources, for the active set.
best cell in the
active set.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackUlHw Number of failed The counter is UtranCel
(RAB failures - Lack of UL RAB establishment stepped for the l
hardware resources) attempts due to lack IubLink containing
of UL hardware the first cell to fail
resources. admission in the
active set
pmNoRabEstablishFailureUeCapabilit Number of failed When the Ue UtranCel
y (RAB failures due to UE RAB establishments Capability check l
Capability) due to insufficient fails for the state to
UE capabilities which it is
established, the
counter is
incremented.

Above mentioned counters can be used to determine the access failures caused by
Setup issues in the cell. These counters can also be used in conjunction with the
Total CS RAB failures for the trend analysis on the RNC/Market or Region level.
Subtracting their value from total RRC failures can give us the CS RAB access
failures due to radio reasons

Radio Reasons CS RAB access failures = (Total CS RAB access failures)(CS

RAB Setup failures)
A special attention must be paid for using counters pegged for both CS & PS calls.
Contribution from CS & PS RAB access failures to this counter value must be decided
based on ratio of CS & PS total RAB failures.
There 1 more counter available also which are pegged for both CS + PS calls and
Setup + Radio access failures together. So, this counter can be used more for
information & trending instead of troubleshooting. (already mentioned in CS RRC
access failure part of this report)
RAB Failures Counter: (Pegged for CS + PS calls and Setup + Radio
Access failures together)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
pmNoFailedAfterAdm # RRC or RAB The counter is increased if a UtranC
(RRC+RAB) Failures establishmen function that has been granted ell
after Admission t requests admission for
Control failed after a UE fails after being admitted due
being to a problem in the RRC or RAB
admitted Setup
by admission procedure. Then the admission
control. control function must be informed
about the
release of previously requested
(Please note this resources due to the failed
procedure and this
counter also counts
counter is increased. The
RAB failures) counter is increased in the
cell or cells where the UE is
located. This counter is stepped
for all cells if UE is in
macrodiversity.
Note: The counter is not stepped for
D-RNC cells or at failure of repeated
RRC connection requests.

CS RAB Access failures Breakdown

These metrics can be used to determine the breakdown of drops on an RNC, Market
or Region level and can be shown as following.
 VoiceRABAccessFailures
VoiceRABRadio AccessFailures Voice RABSetup Failures
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
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Figure : New Jersey RABs accessibility mostly influenced by Radio Access
Failures. Everyday ~90% of the failures are reported due to Radio Reasons.

In the next chart, we would break up the causes for these setup failures to identify
the prominent cause for such setup failures:

VoiceRABSetupFailuresDistribution
CSRABBlock -Node Congestion/Failure(Best Cell) CSRABFailures_AdmControl

CSRABBlock -TN Congestion/Failure(Blocked cell) CSRABBlock -TN Congestion/Failure(Best Cell)

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
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Figure 6: CS RAB failures due to Node Congestion is the main cause for
CS RAB setup failures.

Although Figure 6 chart provides an overview of setup issues impacting CS RAB

accessibility, yet the highlighting point of this chart is CS RAB failures due to
Admission Control which has increased from 2/1/2009 . This site has high traffic but
verifying the parameter settings before concluding these rejects are caused due to
increased traffic.
Plotting the same causes in Bar format graph to show number of failures per reason.

VoiceRABSetupFailuresDistribution
CSRABBlock -Node Congestion/Failure(Best Cell) CSRABFailures_AdmControl
CSRABBlock -TN Congestion/Failure(Blocked cell) CSRABBlock -TN Congestion/Failure(Best Cell)

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1,200
1,000
800
600
400
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Figure : CS RAB failures due to Node Congestion is the main cause for
CS RAB setup failures.

Following flowchart also explains how Capacity management system works in E/// OSS
system.

This flowchart helps us to understand Downlink/Uplink power, channelization codes,

ASE, Hardware resources and UTRAN parameters are the key aspects we must look at
before concluding congestion in the cell is due to increased traffic.
The following set of system resources are relevant within the Capacity Management
scope:

Per Cell:

Downlink channelization codes

Downlink transmitted carrier power, non-HS part and HS-required part
Air Interface Speech Equivalents (ASE) in uplink and downlink
Uplink Received Total Wideband Power (RTWP)
The number of radio links per DL Spreading Factor (not including the codes
(spreading factor = 16) reserved for or used by HSDPA connections)
The number of radio links per UL Spreading Factor (not including codes used by
EUL)
The number of radio links in compressed mode
The number of serving HS connections
The number of serving EUL connections
The number of non-serving EUL connections

Per Hardware Pool:

RBS hardware utilization in uplink (both DCH and EUL) and downlink (both DCH
and MTCH)

To monitor the system resources, Capacity Management performs periodic and event
based measurements and keeps track of every radio connection setup, deletion and
modification in a cell.

Since the counter for RAB failures due to lack of Tx Power/channelization

codes/ASE/Hardware resources are stepped up for CS & PS calls, hence appropriate
estimation should be made during analysis to count CS RAB failures due to this
reason.

In the next chart, counters for Downlink path has been shown for clear visibility in the
graph as RAB setup failures due to admission control are only in downlink & not in
uplink.
 RABSetupFailuresDistribution
RABfailures - Lackof DLpower RABfailures - Lackof DLChannelization code
RABfailures - Lackof DLASE RABfailures - Lackof DLhardwareresources

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

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Figure : CS RAB setup failures due to lack of Downlink Tx power is the
main cause for CS RAB setup failures.

Although this chart highlights lack Downlink Tx Power is the prominent cause
triggering admission control in this market, however attention must be paid to RAB
setup failures due to lack of channelization code.

In the next section, root causes for such failures have been explained.

CS RAB Setup Failure Causes

a) CS RAB Setup Failure Due to Admission Control
Same as CS RRC admission control

b) CS RAB Failures - NodeB Blocking (Best Cell)

Same as CS RRC NodeB Blocking

c) CS RRC Fails Transport Network Blocking(Best cell) / (Blocked

cell)
Same as CS RRC Transport Network Blocking

d) CS RAB Setup Failure Due to lack of DL/UL Tx power

Same as CS RRC admission control

e) CS RAB Failures Due to lack of DL Channelization Codes

Same as CS RRC admission control . However, along with checking Admission
control parameters & OCNS activation status, channelization code (code tree)
utilization trend must be checked to confirm the lack of resources.
 f) CS RAB Failures Due to lack of DL / UL ASE
Uplink / Downlink ASE admission policy provides a way to limit excessive
interference in the respective direction (UL / DL) avoiding large variations in cell
breathing. Hence, whenever RAB failures are reported due to lack of ASE, high
interference should be observed in that cell for the respective link asking for UMTS
radio network optimization.
However, current baseline settings has disabled DL & UL ASE admission policy,
hence counters for CS RAB Failures Due to lack of DL/UL should not be
pegged.

g) CS RAB Setup Failure Due to lack of DL/ UL Hardware Resources

Whenever the hardware utilization in uplink and downlink by means of Channel
Elements (CE) usage for dedicated channels is higher than utilization thresholds
(separate for UL and DL), this counter is stepped up indicating towards the need of
additional hardware in RBS to support traffic demand.
Thresholds for CE usage are related to the HW cost-model of the RBS. There may
be different cost models for different channels types and for different RBSs
(depending on HW type used), and therefore the HW cost-model in uplink may
differ.

h) CS RAB Setup Failure Due to UE Capability

RAB Failure due to Non-supported Request. RAB setup attempt is not started due
to requested parameters are not supported by the RNC. (e.g. CS data calls) It
should be looked into if this is a specific device that is requesting the unsupported
RAB configuration, this investigation can only be done with the help of K18 or
similar advance tracing equipment.

Voice RAB Radio Access Failure Causes

a) Voice RAB Access Failure Due to Radio Reasons
Same as CS RRC access failures due to MS
b) Voice RAB Access Failure Due to UE failures
Same as CS RRC access failures due to MS
c) Voice RAB Access Failure Due to RNC Internal Failures
Same as CS RRC setup failures due to RNC

Worst Cells Analysis

All of the mentioned metrics are pegged on Cell level. The Worst Offenders in an
RNC/Market/Region level should be ranked by the following metrics:
Voice RAB access failures
Voice RAB access failures Radio Reasons
 Voice RAB access failures Admission Control
Voice RAB access failures Node B/ TN Congestion

Packet Interactive Access Failure Rate

This metrics measures user ability to access the mobile network for PS (interactive)
including HSDPA. The metrics consists of two components of PS Access call, RRC and
RAB. The RRC part of the equation measures PS (Interactive) for both originating and
terminating calls. For multiple RRC connection request only one is considered
corresponding to one call. The RAB part of the equation measures PS interactive (R99
and HS) RAB and is pegged on the best cell in the active set in Serving RNC. The non-
access stratum (signaling) and PDP access part of the access call flow for Streaming is
not included in this KPI.
After RRC setup, PS interactive RAB type depends on service requested by the UE,
resources availability and features enabled in UTRAN network, e.g. R99 interactive
RAB, HSDPA interactive, R99 streaming, HSDPA streaming, EUL (HSUPA) etc.
Since R99 streaming, HSDPA streaming, EUL features are not currently activated in
the network, hence we are only covering R99 interactive RAB & HSDPA interactive
RAB accessibility in this document.
For easier understanding and clarity, R99 interactive access failure section has been
separated from the HSDPA interactive access failures section in this report. Hence,
PS Interactive Access failures are now classified in 3 sub sections for detailed
discussion.
a) Packet Interactive RRC Access Failure Rate (common for both R99 & HSDPA)
b) R99 Interactive RAB Access Failure Rate
c) HSDPA Interactive RAB Access Failure Rate

KPIs Formula & stats availability:

2 KPIs are available in T-PIM accessibility detailed report and these KPIs are based
on following formulae.
PS Interactive Access Failures = PS Int RRC Failures + PS Int RAB failures

PS Interactive Access Failures (%) = 100 * (1 (PS Int RRC Failure Rate* PS Int RAB
Failure Rate))
 PS Interactive Access failures Breakdown
These metrics can be used to determine the breakdown of access failures on an RNC,
Market or Region level and can be shown as following.

Figure : PS RRC Access Failures are the main cause for PS Access failures.

This chart helps us to analyze issues impacting Packet Interactive accessibility

showing the breakdown between RRC & RAB failures and accordingly troubleshoot
the prominent failures with help of corresponding counters listed these failures.
Contrary to Voice Access failures trend, PS RRC failure rate is higher PS RAB failure
rate.

Cell/RBS Analysis
PS access failure metrics are pegged on Cell level. The Worst Offenders in an
RNC/Market/Region level could be ranked by the following metrics:

PS Interactive access failures

PS Interactive RRC access failures
 PS Interactive RAB access failures

Now in the next 3 sub sections, we would discuss in detail the following 3 main KPIs.
a) Packet Interactive RRC Access Failure Rate (common for both R99 & HSDPA)
b) R99 Interactive RAB Access Failure Rate
c) HSDPA Interactive RAB Access Failure Rate
PS Interactive RRC Accessibility
The KPI for PS Int RRC access failures is the PS Interactive RRC Access Failure Rate%.
This KPI is cumulative for R99 Interactive + HSDPA interactive.
Following counters are directly making up these PS interactive RRC access failures:

Counter Description Condition MO Class

pmTotNoRrcConnectReqPs Total number of Counter is increased UtranCell
(PS RRC connection 'Originating when the RRC
requests) Interactive Call', Connection Request
'Terminating message is received
Interactive Call', with Establishment
'Originating Cause 'Originating
Background Call', Interactive Call',
'Terminating 'Terminating Interactive
Background Call' or Call', 'Originating
'Originating Background Call',
Subscribed Traffic 'Terminating
Call', RRC connection Background Call', or
attempts. 'Originating Subscribed
Traffic Call'.
pmTotNoRrcConnectReqPsS Total number of The counter is UtranCell
ucc (PS RRC Successful increased when an RRC
connection successes) 'Originating Connection Setup
Interactive Call', Complete message is
'Terminating received following an
Interactive Call', attempt to setup
'Originating Originating Interactive
Background Call', Call', 'Terminating
'Terminating Interactive Call',
Background Call', or 'Originating Background
'Originating Call', 'Terminating
Subscribed Traffic Background Call' or
Call' RRC connection 'Originating Subscribed
setups. Traffic Call'.
Above mentioned counters can be used in the following formulae to calculate PS RRC
access failures & Failure rate (%):

To understand clearly the causes for PS RRC access failures, we would divide it in two
main categories:
a) PS RRC Setup Failures: These failures are mainly associated with RRC
rejections due to MP load, Node-B / Transport network congestion or configuration
errors, Cell Congestion (Admission Control) and insufficient licensed capacity.
b) PS RRC Access (Radio reasons) Failures: These failures are mainly
due to radio reasons. By subtracting RRC setup failures from Total RRC access
failures, we can get the numbers for RRC access failures due to radio reasons.
PS RRC Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for PS calls only)

Counter Description Condition MO Class

pmNoRrcConnReqBlockTnPs Number of This counters is stepped if the UtranCell
(PS RRC fails - TN RRC establishment of an RRC
Congestion/Blocking) Connection Connection Request with
Setup Establishment Cause =
attempts for Originating/Terminating
Packet Interactive or Background or
Switched Originating Subscribed Traffic
calls that fail Call, fails due to congestion on
due to the user plane (AAL2)or control
Transport plane (UniSaal or SCTP) of the
Network transport network as a result of
blocking. user dimensioned transport
network resource shortages.
pmNoRrcConnReqBlockNode Number of This counter is stepped if the UtranCell
Ps (PS RRC Fails - RRC establishment of an RRC
NodeB Blocking) Connection Connection Request - with
Setup Establishment Cause equal to
attempts for Originating/Terminating
Packet Interactive, or Background or
Switched Originating Subscribed Traffic
calls that fail Call - fails due to node
due to node configuration error, node
blocking. limitations or transport network
layer service unavailability.
pmNoRrcPsReqDeniedAdm Number of PS Counter is stepped after denied UtranCell
(PS RRC rejects due to calls denied admission after an RRC
Admission control) by admission CONNECTION REQUEST with
control. any of the cause values
'Originating Interactive Call',
'Terminating Interactive Call',
'Originating Background Call',
'Originating Subscribed Traffic
Call' or 'Terminating
Background Call' has been
received.
pmNoFailedRrcConnectReqP Number of PS Incremented by one when an UtranCell
sHw (PS RRC denied - calls denied RRC connection request with
Insufficient Licensed by admission cause Originating
Capacity) control due to Conversational Call,
insufficient Terminating Conversational call,
licensed or emergency call is denied by
capacity in admission control
the RBS.
RRC Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for CS & PS calls together)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
pmNoRejRrcConnMpLoadC # of rejected Sending of the RRC message RRC UtranC
(RRC reject due to RRC Connection Reject with rejection ell
MP load control) connections cause congestion when the
due to module congestion cause has been
MP load control indicated by internal
(includes load control. Please Note
incoming Inter- This counter is pegged for
RAT CC)
CS & PS services.
Above mentioned counters can be used to determine the PS RRC access failures
caused by Setup issues in the cell. These counters can also be used in conjunction
with the Total RRC failures for the trend analysis on the RNC/Market or Region level.
Subtracting their value from total RRC failures can give us the PS RRC access
failures due to radio reasons

Radio Reasons PS RRC access failures = (Total PS RRC access failures)(PS

RRC Setup failures)

A special attention must be paid for using (RRC reject due to MP load control)
counter as this is pegged for both CS & PS calls, so contribution from CS & PS RRC
access failures to this counter value must be decided based on CS & PS total RRC
failures.

There are two additional counters available also which are pegged for both CS + PS
calls and Setup + Radio access failures together. So, these counters can be used
more for information & trending instead of troubleshooting.
RRC Failures Counters: (Pegged for CS + PS calls and Setup + Radio
Access failures together)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
pmTotNoUtranRejRrcConnRe Total number When an RRC Connection Request UtranC
q (Total RRC rejects by of UTRAN is received and no internal UE ell
UTRAN) rejected RRC identity
Connection is available in the RNC, or MP load
Requests control function, or Admission
Control
function does not grant permission
to proceed, or any internal
parameter
retrieving or calculations fail, or a
DL channelization code fails to be
allocated,
Counter Description Condition MO
Class
a connection fails to be setup to the
RBS, this counter is increased.
Note: This counter is never stepped
if there is inter-frequency
loadsharing.
pmNoFailedAfterAdm # RRC or RAB The counter is increased if a UtranC
(RRC+RAB) Failures establishmen function that has been granted ell
after Admission t requests admission for
Control failed after a UE fails after being admitted due
being to a problem in the RRC or RAB
admitted Setup
by admission procedure. Then the admission
control. control function must be informed
about the
release of previously requested
(Please note this resources due to the failed
procedure and this
counter also counts
counter is increased. The
RAB failures) counter is increased in the
cell or cells where the UE is
located. This counter is stepped
for all cells if UE is in
macrodiversity.
Note: The counter is not stepped for
D-RNC cells or at failure of repeated
RRC connection requests.

PS RRC Access failures Breakdown

These metrics can be used to determine the breakdown of drops on an RNC, Market
or Region level and can be shown as following.
 Figure : PS RRCs accessibility mostly influenced by Radio Access Failures,
however on certain days, RRC setup failures have also increased
significantly to 60%, for example on 1/1/2009)

In the next chart, we would break up the causes for these setup failures to identify the
prominent cause for such failures:

Figure : RRC rejects due to MP Load is the main cause for PS RRC setup
failures increasing as high as 99% on certain days,
Although this chart provides an overview of Setup issues impacting CS RRC accessibility,
yet the highlighting point of this chart is CS RRC failures due to - NodeB Blocking
(failures due to node configuration error, node limitations or transport network layer
service unavailability) which increased up to 100+% on 1/31/2009. This is where
optimizers must focus their attention also to ensure Node-Bs configuration is appropriate
to meet traffic demand.

Since the counter for RRC rejects due to MP Load is stepped up for all network access
causes (CS call, PS call, SMS, Location update), hence appropriate estimation should be
made during analysis to count PS RRC failures due to this reason. This has been done in
to plot the values for RRC reject due to Mp load (PS calls) in graphs for figure 3 & 4.
Following methodology was used
iii) Ratio (%) for PS RRC attempts to total RRC attempts was calculated.
iv) Same ratio was then applied to RRC rejects due to MP Load counter value to
calculate the value for RRC reject due to Mp load (PS calls) used in this graph.

Plotting the same causes in Bar format graph to show number of failures per reason.

PSRRCSetupFailuresDistribution
RRC reject due to MP load control (PS Calls) PSRRC rejectsdue to Admission control
PSRRC denied - Insufficient Licensed Capacity PSRRC fails - TN Congestion/Blocking
PSRRC Fails - NodeB Blocking

3,000,000

2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

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Figure : RRC rejects due to MP Load is the main cause for RRC setup
failures increasing as high as 99% on certain days; e.g. 1/31/2009
 Cell Analysis

PS RRC Setup Phase Failure Causes

a) PS RRC Setup Failure Due to Admission Control

Same as CS RRC admission control

b) PS RAB Failures - NodeB Blocking (Best Cell)

Same as CS RRC NodeB Blocking

d) PS RRC Fails Transport Network Blocking(Best cell) / (Blocked

cell)
Same as CS RRC Transport Network Blocking
d) PS RRC denied - Insufficient Licensed Capacity
Same as CS RRC Transport Network Blocking

e) PS RRC rejects due to High MP Load

Same as CS RRC admission control

f) PS RRC Setup Failures Due to lack of DL/UL Tx power

Same as CS RRC admission control

g) PS RRC Failures Due to lack of DL Channelization Codes

Same as CS RRC admission control . However, along with checking Admission
control parameters & OCNS activation status, channelization code (code tree)
utilization trend must be checked to confirm the lack of resources.

PS RRC Radio Access Failure Causes

a) PS RRC Connections Access Failure due to Radio Reasons

Same as CS RRC access failures due to Radio Reasons

b) PS RRC Access Failure Due to UE Failures

Same as CS RRC access failures due to MS

c) PS RRC Access Failure Due to RNC Internal Failures

Same as CS RRC setup failures due to RNC
 Worst Cells Analysis
All of the mentioned metrics are pegged on Cell level. The Worst Offenders in an
RNC/Market/Region level should be ranked by the following metrics:
PS RRC access failures
PS Radio Reasons RRC access failures
PS RRC access failures due to admission control
PS RRC access fails Node B/ TN Congestion

R99 Interactive RAB Accessibility

In Ericsson OSS, same metrics for R99 interactive RAB Accessibility are available as
for CS RAB accessibility. R99 interactive RAB accessibility is also based on two
counters which are pegged on the best cell in the active set in Serving RNC. These
metrics can be run on Cell/RNC/Market/Region level. The counters are as follows:

Counter Description Condition MO Class

pmNoRabEstAttemptPsIntN Number of Incremented by one when a UtranCell
onHs (R99 Interactive RAB RANAP RAB Assignment
RAB connection establishment Request message is received
requests) attempts for from the CN with RABs to be set
the PS up or modified, after successful
Interactive RAB mapping to PS Interactive.
RAB in a non- The counter is reported per
HS single RAB state for each RAB
configuration that is attempted, on the best
(that is on cell in the active set, only when
DCH or FACH). the last reattempt is on a non-
Reported on HS configuration (that is on
the best cell in DCH/DCH or RACH/FACH).
the active set.
PmNoRabEstSuccessPsIntN Number of Incremented by one after UtranCell
onHs (R99 Interactive successful RAB sending the RANAP RAB
RAB connection establishment Assignment Response message
successes) s for the PS to the CN, indicating a
Interactive successful PS Interactive RAB
RAB in a non- establishment. The counter is
HS reported per single RAB state
configuration for each RAB that is established,
(that is on on the best cell in the active
DCH or FACH). set, only if the last reattempt is
Reported on on a non-HS configuration (that
the best cell in is on DCH/DCH or RACH/FACH).
the active set.
Formula:

However, this formula is not implemented in XPM and we only get the values of PS
R99 Interactive RAB access failures based on following formula and not the failure
rate (%).

In Ericsson RNC, there are counters available that breakdown some of R99 interactive
RAB Access failures to aid the troubleshooting of issues. All these single counter
based KPIs are available in T-PIM Accessibility detailed report.

R99 Interactive RAB Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for PS calls

only)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
pmNoOfNonHoReqDeniedSpe Number of Interactive Incremented by one UtranC
ech (PS RAB establishments when admission is ell
Interactive RAB rejected by admission rejected.
Failures due to control.
Admission Control) Note: The counter is
Note: The counter is not incremented when
applicable to all admission is rejected
Interactive RAB in a DRNC cell.
establishments
including
establishment on a
Speech/Interactive
multi RAB
configuration.
pmNoRabEstBlkNodePsIntNo Number of RAB This counter is stepped UtranC
HsBest (R99 Int RAB establishment attempts when the establishment ell
Block - Node for RAB-type PS of a PS Interactive RAB,
Congestion/Failure Interactive that are excluding PS Interactive
(Best Cell) blocked due to node for HS, RAB fails due to
congestion or node node configuration error,
failure, counted on the node limitation or
best cell. transport network layer
service unavailability.
pmNoRabEstBlockTnPsIntNon Number of RAB This counter is stepped UtranC
Hs (R99 Int RAB establishment attempts when the establishment ell
Block - TN for RAB-type PS of a PS Interactive RAB,
Counter Description Condition MO
Class
Congestion/Failure Interactive that are not including PS
(Blocking cell) blocked due to TN Interactive for HS, fails
congestion or TN due to congestion on the
failure, counted on the user plane (AAL2) or
blocking cell. control plane (UniSaal or
SCTP) of the transport
network layer as a result
of user dimensioned
transport network
capacity.
pmNoRabEstBlockTnPsIntNo Number of RAB Step counter when the UtranC
HsBest (R99 Int RAB establishment attempts establishment of a PS ell
Block - TN for RAB-type PS Interactive (excluding
Congestion/Failure Interactive that are HS) RAB fails due to UNI-
(Best Cell) blocked due to TN SAAL or AAl2 congestion,
congestion or TN IP resource limitations or
failure, counted on the blocking as a result of
best cell. user dimensioned
transport network
configured capacity.

The counter is
stepped for the best
cell in the active set
but only if the cell is
in the SRNC.
pmNoFailedREstAttExcConnLi Number of failed PS Counter is stepped when UtranC
mit (PS RAB failures - RAB establishment admission control fails ell
Exceeded connection attempts due to with reject reason value
limit) exceeding the SF8, SF16, or SF32.
configured connection
limit when allocating
Spreading Factor ('SF
Histogram' in
Admission Reject
signal)
Since, there is no direct counter available for R99 Interactive RAB Failures due to
Admission Control, so we can calculate it by using the following formula based on
other 2 KPIs from this accessibility report (listed as # 1 & #2 in the table shown
above).
R99 Int RAB Failures due to Admission Control =
(PS Int RAB Failures due to Admission Control) (HSDPA Int RAB Failures
due to Admission Control)

To calculate the values for R99 RAB failures due to radio reasons, we can use the
following formula
R99 RAB access failures (Radio Reasons) =
(Total R99 RAB access failures) (R99 RAB setup
failures)

Additional counters are also available to provide insight on R99 RAB

accessibility failures but these are pegged for both CS & PS RABS, hence a
fair estimation is required to correlate these reasons to R99 Interactive RAB
access failures.

RAB Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for CS & PS calls together)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
PmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDl Number of failed RAB Counter is stepped UtranC
Pwr (RAB failures - establishment when admission ell
Lack of DL power) attempts due to lack of control fails with
DL power reject reason lack of
DL power.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDl Number of failed RAB Number of failed UtranC
ChnlCode establishment RAB establishment ell
(RAB failures - Lack of DL attempts due to lack of attempts due to lack
Channelization code) DL channelization of DL channelization
codes. codes.
PmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDl Number of failed RAB Counter is stepped UtranC
Ase (RAB failures - establishment when admission ell
Lack of DL ASE) attempts due to lack of control fails with
DL ASE reject reason lack of
DL ASE.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackUl Number of failed RAB Number of failed UtranC
Ase (RAB failures - establishment RAB establishment ell
Lack of UL ASE) attempts due to lack of attempts due to lack
UL ASE of UL ASE.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackUl Number of failed RAB The counter is UtranC
HwBest (RAB failures - Lack establishment stepped for the ell
of UL hardware resources- attempts due to lack of IubLink containing
Best cell) UL hardware resources, the best cell in the
for the best cell in the active set.
active set.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDl Number of failed RAB The counter is UtranC
HwBest (RAB failures - Lack establishment stepped for the ell
of DL hardware resources- attempts due to lack of IubLink containing
Best cell) DL hardware resources, the best cell in the
for the best cell in the active set.
active set.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackUl Number of failed RAB The counter is UtranC
Hw (RAB failures - establishment stepped for the ell
Lack of UL hardware attempts due to lack of IubLink containing
resources) UL hardware resources. the first cell to fail
admission in the
Counter Description Condition MO
Class
active set

pmNoRabEstablishFailureUeCapa Number of failed RAB When the Ue UtranC

bility (RAB failures due establishments due to Capability check fails ell
to UE Capability) insufficient UE for the state to
capabilities which it is
established, the
counter is
incremented.

RNC/Market/Region Level Reporting

These plots should be used as an indication of issues that should be investigated
further on a Cell/RBS basis.

R99 RAB Access failures Breakdown

These metrics can be used to determine the breakdown of drops on an RNC, Market
or Region level. However, counters reporting R99 RAB Access failures are not being
reported correctly by T-PIM currently, hence graphs to show this breakdown could not
be prepared.

Worst Cells Analysis

All of the mentioned metrics are pegged on Cell level. The Worst Offenders in an
RNC/Market/Region level should be ranked by the following metrics:
R99 interactive RAB access failures
R99 interactive RAB access failures Radio Reasons
R99 interactive RAB access failures Admission Control
R99 interactive RAB failures - Exceeded connection limit
R99 interactive RAB access failuresNode B/ TN Congestion
HSDPA Interactive RAB Accessibility
HSDPA interactive RAB accessibility is also based on two counters which are pegged
on the cell level in Serving RNC. These metrics can be run on Cell/RNC/Market/Region
level. The counters are as follows:

Counter Description Condition MO Class

pmNoRabEstablishAttemptPacketInter The number The counter is UtranCell
activeHs (HS Interactive RAB of attempted incremented after
connection requests) RAB successful RAB Mapping
establishmen when a RANAP RAB
ts for PS Assignment Request
Interactive message is received
RAB mapped from the CN with RABs
on HS-DSCH. to be setup or modified.
The counters are
reported per single RAB
state after successful
HS-DSCH selection on
Serving HS-DSCH cell at
RAB establishment for
HS.
pmNoRabEstablishSuccessPacketInter The number The counter is stepped UtranCell
activeHs (HS Interactive RAB of successful for the selected Serving
connection successes) RAB HS-DSCH cell at RAB
establishmen establishment after the
ts for PS successfully transition
Interactive SRB-DCH to PS
RAB mapped Interactive 64/HS - HS-
on HS-DSCH. DSCH.
Formula:

In Ericsson RNC, counters are available to breakdown some of HS interactive RAB

Access failures to aid the troubleshooting of issues. All these single counter based
KPIs are available in T-PIM Accessibility detailed report.
HSDPA Interactive RAB Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for HSDPA
calls only)

Counter Description Condition MO Class

pmNoOfNonHoReqDeniedHs Number of Interactive Incremented by one UtranCell
(HSDPA Interactive RAB RAB establishments when admission is
Counter Description Condition MO Class
Failures due to on a (High Speed) rejected.
Admission Control) HS configuration
rejected by admission Note: The counter
control. is not incremented
when admission is
rejected in a DRNC
cell.
pmNoRabEstBlockNodePsInt Number of RAB This counter is UtranCell
HsBest (HS Int RAB Block establishment attempts stepped when the
- Node for RAB-type PS establishment of a PS
Congestion/Failure Interactive for HS that Interactive RAB for HS
(Best Cell) are blocked due to RAB fails due to node
node congestion or configuration error,
node failure, counted node limitation or
on the best cell. transport network
layer service
unavailability.
pmNoRabEstBlockTnPsIntHs Number of RAB This counter is UtranCell
(HS Int RAB Block - TN establishment attempts stepped when the
Congestion/Failure for RAB-type PS establishment of a PS
(Blocking cell) Interactive for HS that Interactive RAB for
are blocked due to TN HS, fails due to
congestion or TN congestion on the
failure, counted on the user plane (AAL2) or
blocking cell. control plane (UniSaal
or SCTP) of the
transport network
layer as a result of
user dimensioned
transport network
capacity.
pmNoRabEstBlockTnPsIntHsB Number of RAB This counter is UtranCell
est (HS Int RAB Block - establishment attempts stepped when the
TN Congestion/Failure for RAB-type PS establishment of a PS
(Best Cell) Interactive for HS that Interactive RAB fails
are blocked due to TN due to UNI-SAAL or
congestion or TN AAl2 congestion, IP
failure, counted on the resource limitations
best cell. or blocking as a result
of user dimensioned
transport network
configured capacity.

The counter is
stepped for the
best cell in the
active set but only
if the cell is in the
SRNC.
pmNoFailedREstAttExcConnLi Number of failed PS Counter is stepped UtranCell
mit (PS RAB failures - RAB establishment when admission
Exceeded connection attempts due to control fails with
exceeding the reject reason value
Counter Description Condition MO Class
limit) configured connection SF8, SF16, or SF32.
limit when allocating
Spreading Factor ('SF The counter is
Histogram' in stepped for the
Admission Reject best cell in the
signal) active set in the
SRNC for both R99
& HS RABs .

To calculate the values for HSDPA RAB failures due to radio reasons, we can use
the following formula

HS RAB access failures (Radio Reasons) =

(Total HS RAB access failures) (HS RAB Setup failures)

Aadditional counters are also available to provide insight on RAB

accessibility failures but these are pegged for both CS & PS RABS, hence a
fair estimation is required to correlate these reasons to HS Interactive RAB
access failures.
RAB Setup Failures Counters: (Pegged for CS + PS calls together)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
PmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDlPwr Number of failed Counter is stepped UtranCel
(RAB failures - Lack of DL RAB establishment when admission l
power) attempts due to lack control fails with
of DL power reject reason lack
of DL power.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDlCh Number of failed Number of failed UtranCel
nlCode (RAB failures - RAB establishment RAB establishment l
Lack of DL Channelization attempts due to lack attempts due to
code) of DL channelization lack of DL
codes. channelization
codes.
PmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDlAse Number of failed Counter is stepped UtranCel
(RAB failures - Lack of DL RAB establishment when admission l
ASE) attempts due to lack control fails with
of DL ASE reject reason lack
of DL ASE.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackUlAse Number of failed Number of failed UtranCel
(RAB failures - Lack of UL RAB establishment RAB establishment l
Counter Description Condition MO
Class
ASE) attempts due to lack attempts due to
of UL ASE lack of UL ASE.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackUlHw Number of failed The counter is UtranCel
Best (RAB failures - Lack of UL RAB establishment stepped for the l
hardware resources- Best attempts due to lack IubLink containing
cell) of UL hardware the best cell in the
resources, for the active set.
best cell in the
active set.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackDlHw Number of failed The counter is UtranCel
Best (RAB failures - Lack of RAB establishment stepped for the l
DL hardware resources- Best attempts due to lack IubLink containing
cell) of DL hardware the best cell in the
resources, for the active set.
best cell in the
active set.
pmNoFailedRabEstAttemptLackUlHw Number of failed The counter is UtranCel
(RAB failures - Lack of UL RAB establishment stepped for the l
hardware resources) attempts due to lack IubLink containing
of UL hardware the first cell to fail
resources. admission in the
active set
pmNoRabEstablishFailureUeCapabilit Number of failed When the Ue UtranCel
y (RAB failures due to UE RAB establishments Capability check l
Capability) due to insufficient fails for the state to
UE capabilities which it is
established, the
counter is
incremented.
There 1 more counter available also which are pegged for both CS + PS calls and
Setup + Radio access failures together. So, this counter can be used more for
information & trending instead of troubleshooting. (already mentioned in CS RRC
access failure part of this report)
RAB Failures Counter: (Pegged for CS + PS calls and Setup + Radio
Access failures together)

Counter Description Condition MO

Class
pmNoFailedAfterAdm # RRC or RAB The counter is increased if a UtranC
(RRC+RAB) Failures establishmen function that has been granted ell
after Admission t requests admission for
Control failed after a UE fails after being admitted due
being to a problem in the RRC or RAB
admitted Setup
by admission procedure. Then the admission
control. control function must be informed
about the
release of previously requested
(Please note this resources due to the failed
 Counter Description Condition MO
Class
procedure and this
counter also counts counter is increased. The
RAB failures) counter is increased in the
cell or cells where the UE is
located. This counter is stepped
for all cells if UE is in
macrodiversity.
Note: The counter is not stepped for
D-RNC cells or at failure of repeated
RRC connection requests.

RNC/Market/Region Level Reporting

This section covers analysis of HSDPA RAB Accessibility % for Ericsson UMTS network
and identification of issues using the available Ericsson accessibility Counters.

HSDPA RAB Access failures Breakdown

These metrics can be used to determine the breakdown of drops on an RNC, Market
or Region level and can be shown as following.

0.0.0.1. HSDPA RAB Access failures Breakdown

These metrics can be used to determine the breakdown of drops on an RNC, Market
or Region level and can be shown as following.
 HSDPARABAccessFailures
HSRAB Radio AccessFailures HSRAB Setup Failures
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
9
0
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/1
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1

9
0
/1
2
9
0
/1
2
Figure : HSDPA RABs accessibility was mostly influenced by Radio Access
Failures. But after launching new sites on 2/1/2009, failures due to setup
causes are also increasing .

In the next chart, we would break up the causes for these setup failures to identify
the prominent cause for such setup failures:
HSDPARABSetupFailuresdistribution
HSRABBlock -NodeCongestion/Failure(Best Cell) HSDPARABFailures_AdmControl

HSRABBlock -TNCongestion/Failure(Blockingcell) HSRABBlock -TNCongestion/Failure(Best Cell)

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
9
0
2
/1
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0
/2
1
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9
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9
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1
9
2
0
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1
9
0
2
/3
1

9
0
/1
2
9
0
/1
2

Figure : HS RAB failures due to Admission Control is the main cause for
HSDPA RAB setup failures, however HS RAB failures due to Node
Congestion are also on rise in the last 2 days.

Plotting the same causes in Bar format graph to show number of failures per reason.
 HSDPARABSetupFailuresdistribution
HSRAB Block -Node Congestion/Failure(Best Cell) HSDPARABFailures_AdmControl

HSRAB Block -TN Congestion/Failure(Blocking cell) HSRAB Block -TN Congestion/Failure(Best Cell)

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0
/1 9
0
2
/2
1 9
0
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1 9
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9

/1
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29
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9
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1

9
0
/1
2
9
0
/1
2
Figure : HS RAB failures due to Admission control is the main cause for
HSDPA RAB setup failures.

As seen in Figure 14 &15 graphs, HS RAB failures due to Admission Control is

the prominent cause for these HS RAB access setup failures, Hence in the next step,
we would analyze those counters which are pegged in case of congestion / lack of
resources in the cell to understand better the causes of this admission control.
In the next chart, counters for Downlink path has been shown for clear visibility in the
graph as RAB setup failures due to admission control are only in downlink & not in
uplink.

RABSetupFailuresDistribution
RABfailures - Lackof DL power RABfailures - Lackof DL Channelization code
RABfailures - Lackof DL ASE RABfailures - Lackof DL hardware resources
HSDPARABFailures_AdmControl_Usersallowed

7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
9
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/1
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/2
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/0
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/2
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/2
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1

9
0
/1
2
9
0
/1
2
Figure : HS RAB setup failures due to Admission control triggered by
number of users allowed in the cell is the main cause for HS RAB setup
failures.

Although this chart highlights the limitation of HS Users allowed in the cell is the
prominent cause triggering admission control for HSDPA RABs access failures,
however attention must be paid to HSDPA RAB setup failures due to lack of Downlink
Tx Power to troubleshoot all causes.

In the next section, root causes for such failures have been explained.

HS RAB Setup Failure Causes

a) HSDPA RAB Setup Failure Due to Admission Control
Same as CS RRC admission control . However as explained, HSDPA Admission
parameters settings limiting the number of users must be verified to baseline
settings.

b) HSDPA RAB Failures - NodeB Blocking (Best Cell)

Same as CS RRC NodeB Blocking

c) HSDPA RAB Fails Transport Network Blocking(Best cell) /

(Blocked cell)
Same as CS RRC Transport Network Blocking

d) HSDPA RAB Setup Failure Due to lack of DL/UL Tx power

Same as CS RRC admission control

e) HSDPA RAB Failures Due to lack of DL Channelization Codes

Same as CS RRC admission control . However, along with checking Admission
control parameters & OCNS activation status, channelization code (code tree)
utilization trend must be checked to confirm the lack of resources.
f) HSDPA RAB Failures Due to lack of DL / UL ASE
Same as CS RAB Failures Due to lack of DL/UL ASE

g) HSDPA RAB Setup Failure Due to lack of DL/ UL Hardware

Resources
Same as CS RAB Failures Due to lack of DL/UL Hardware Resources

h) HSDPA RAB Setup Failure Due to UE Capability

 Same as CS RAB Failures Due to Ue capabilities.

HSDPA RAB Radio Access Failure Causes

a) HSDPA RAB Access Failure Due to Radio Reasons

Same as CS RRC access failures due to MS

b) HSDPA RAB Access Failure Due to UE Failures

Same as CS RRC access failures due to MS

c) Voice RAB Access Failure Due to RNC Internal Failures

Same as CS RRC setup failures due to RNC

Worst Cells Analysis

All of the mentioned metrics are pegged on Cell level. The Worst Offenders in an
RNC/Market/Region level should be ranked by the following metrics:
HS interactive RAB access failures
HS interactive RAB access failures Radio Reasons
HS interactive RAB access failures Admission Control
HS interactive RAB access failuresNode B/ TN Congestion
Configuration Management
Configuration Management tools and methods should also be used in improving
accessibility. Some of these items have been discussed already but these include:
Admission Control Parameters
CS / Multi RAB Features implementation

xConfig should also be used to ensure all parameters are consistent with the FSC
Baseline Set unless otherwise agreed for performance reasons.
Troubleshooting Tools
The following tools can be used for troubleshooting:
GPEH
The General Performance Event Handling (GPEH) tool is a feature in
Ericsson OSS that provides capability similar to a protocol analyzer. This
also has visibility of internal RNC events such as Missing neighbour etc
This can be run on an RNC level
More detail on this tool can be found in ALEX
CTR
The Call Trace (CTR) tool is a feature in Ericsson OSS that provides
capability similar to the GPEH Tool
This can be run on a Cell level for specific cell troubleshooting. These
files can be read in Actix
More detail on this tool can be found in ALEX
UETR
The User Equipment Trace (UETR) tool is a feature in Ericsson OSS that
provides capability similar to the GPEH Tool
This is run on a particular IMSI for specific issue troubleshooting,
typically a test SIM attempting to recreate problem conditions. These
files can be read in Actix
More detail on this tool can be found in ALEX