OMD6068

Case Analysis--Call Drop

ISSUE1.1

Wireless Curriculum
Development Section

Summary
Principle
of
call
drop
rate
calculation
The cause analysis of call drop
Typical call drop cases

Principle of Call Drop Rate Calculation

key points:

Master

the calculation formula of TCH call drop rate and

statistic points.
Master

the calculation formula of SDCCH call drop rate and

statistic points.

Overview
There are two types of call drops: TCH call drop and SDCCH call
drop:

TCH call drop means TCH channel is released abnormally after it is

occupied successfully.

SDCCH call drop means SDCCH channel is released abnormally after it is

occupied successfully.

General Concepts of TCH call drop

Formula of TCH call drop rate

TCH call drop rate=Number of TCH call drops/Number of

TCH occupied successfully 100%

General Concepts of TCH call drop Rate

Statistic point of TCH call drops

When BSC originates CLEAR_REQ message to MSC, the channel

occupied is TCH.

General Concepts of TCH call drop Rate

Usually,The typical cause values for sending the Clear_Request message
are:
Radio interface message failure
O&M intervention
Equipment failure
Protocol error between BSS and MSC
Preemption

General Concepts of TCH call drop Rate

Analysis of TCH call drop Rate

Statistic Points
Statistic Point of TCH Occupied Successfully
(a)when CH_ACT_ACK message is received in the immediate
assignment process. Since there is no available SDCCH channel,
TCH channel is directly assigned.

(b) When CH_ACT_ACK message is received when the calling

status is CS_WAIT_RR_EST(Waiting RR setup status), and the
present channel is TCH.

(c) When Assignment complete message is sent in process of

assignment.

Analysis of TCH call drop Rate Statistic

Points
Statistic Point of TCH Occupied Successfully
d When the MSG_ABIS_HO_DETECT message is received during intercoming BSC handover, and the handover type is non-SDCCH handover;

e When the MSG_ABIS_HO_DETECT message is received during intraBSC handover, and the handover type is non-SDCCH handover;

f When the CLEAR-CMD message with the cause values of HO_SUCC or

CALL_CTRL is received from the MSC during inter-BTSC handover , and the
handover cause is directed retry;

Analysis of Call Flow Chart and TCH call drop

Statistic Points (I)

Immediate assignment flow chart:

Analysis of Call Flow Chart and TCH call drop

Statistic Points (II)

Analysis of Call Flow Chart and TCH call drop Statistic Points
(III)

Assignment flow chart

BSC

BTS

MS

Ass_Req

Ch_Act
Ch_Act_Ack
Ass_Cmd
Ass_Cmp

Ass_Cmd
Est_Ind
Ass_cmp

Ass_Cmp

MSC

Analysis of Call Flow Chart and TCH call drop Statistic Points
(IV)

Intra-BTSC handover flow

Analysis of Call Flow Chart and TCH call drop Statistic Points
(V)

Inter-BTSC

handover flow

Analysis of Call Flow Chart and TCH call drop Statistic Points
(VI)

Directional re-try flow

When the CLEAR-CMD message with the cause values of
HO_SUCC or CALL_CTRL is received from the MSC during
inter-BSC handover , and the handover cause is directed retry,
one statistic point is counted and added to the times of TCH
occupation success.

General Concepts of SDCCH call drop

Rate
Formula of SDCCH call drop rate
SDCCH call drop rate=Number of SDCCH call drops/Total
successful SDCCH seizures*100
SDCCH call drop include:
Number of SDCCH lost connections (connect failure)
Number of SDCCH lost connections (error indications)
Number of unsuccessful SDCCH seizures due to terrestrial (ABIS)

Analysis of SDCCH call drop Rate Statistic

Point (I)

Statistic point of SDCCH call drops

When the CLEAR_REQ and ERR_IND messages are originated to the MSC,
the channel currently seized is the SDCCH.

Statistic point of successful SDCCH seizures

(1) CH_ACT_ACK is received in the immediate assignment process. The
channel type is SDCCH
(2) CH_ACT_ACK message is received in CS_WAIT_RR_EST status and the
current channel is SDCCH
(3) HO_DETECT is received when incoming SDCCH handover is performed.
(4) HO_DETECT is received when intra-BTSC SDCCH handover is
performed.

Analysis of SDCCH call drop Rate Statistic

Point (II)

Analysis of SDCCH call drop Rate Statistic

Point (III)
The following conditions can lead to SDCCH call drop:
When the HO_DETECT message is illegal during incoming SDCCH
handover
When the HO_CMP message is illegal during incoming SDCCH
handover
When HO_CMP message transfer fails during incoming SDCCH
handover
When TN_WAIT_HO_DETECT, and TN_WAIT_HO_CMP (SDCCH
handover) are overtime
When TN_WAIT_INTER_HO_CMP(SDCCH handover) is overtime
When TN_T8 (Out-BTSC handover complete) is overtime
When internal clearing is caused by other causes

Analysis of Cause of call drop

key points:
Master

to know the main causes of high call drop rate

Master

to know the troubleshooting approach of high call drop

rate

Overview of Causes of call drop

According to the definition of call drop statistic point, call drop is usually
caused by the following:
Radio link fault. During
the communication, messages can not be received
correctly.
T3103 counter gives no response after timeout
Other system faults (for example, the matching between BSC timer and
MSC
timer.
Timers that may cause call drops (BSC timer):
T3109
T3103

T3103

Time counting from sending up HANDOVER CMD start to receive HANDOVER

CMP end or overtime

T3109

Time counting from sending up CHAN REL to receive REL IND end or overtime

Wireless Link Fault

Signaling flow chart of radio link fault:

Wireless Link Fault

Diagram

of radio link timeout

T3103 Counter Has No Response After Timeout

Handover

flow (T3103 time counting):

Analysis of Causes of Wireless Link Fault

Analyze the causes of the fault of radio links. The causes can be:

Interference
Internal interference, external interference and the equipment
interference
Poor coverage
blind area,isolated island, uplink/downlink imbalance
parameter setting not proper
radio link timeout counter, SACCH multiframe number,
handover,power control etc.
Equipment problem (Antenna---Feeder---CDU---TRX)
Clock problem
Transmission problem

Analysis of Causes of Wireless Link Fault--Interference

Interference
Co-channel interference
Adjacent-channel interference
Intermodulation interference and other external
interferences

Analyze and Locate TCH call drop Problem (Interference)

Solution
First check equipment problems.
Make an actual drive test, check the interference area and distribution
of signal quality. Find the interference frequency.
Further search for the interference source with the spectrum analyzer.
Activate hopping, DTX and power control functions to rapidly lower the
internal cross-interference of the system

Analyze and Locate TCH call drop Problem (Interference)

Process of judgment
1. Analyze the occurring laws of interference band in the
traffic measurement.
2. Observe the receiving level performance
3. Find the poor quality handover ratio
4. Observe receiving quality performance
5. Observe call drop performance
6. The handover fails, calling re-establishment
also fail too many times.

Analysis of Causes of Wireless Link Fault--Coverage

Coverage:
1. Cross-cell coverage
2. Blind area coverage
3. Signal attenuation
4. Incomplete definition of adjacent cells
5. Imbalance of uplink/downlink

Analyze and Locate TCH call drop Problem (Coverage)

Process of judgment

Power control performance measurement

Receiving level performance measurement
Cell performance measurement/inter-cell handover performance
measurement
call drop performance measurement
Adjacent cell performance measurement
Measurement of undefined adjacent cell average level
Power control performance measurement
Out-cell handover performance measurement
Uplink/downlink balance performance measurement

Analyze and Locate TCH call drop Problem (Coverage)

Solution

Adjust network parameter

Add BTS

Analysis of Causes of Wireless Link Fault---Parameter

Setting

Main parameters that may affect the call drop rate:

1. Radio link timeout counter and number of SACCH multi-frames
2. RACH busy threshold and RACH minimum access level.
3. MS minimum receiving signal level
4. Call re-establishment permission.
5. Nation color code (NCC) permission
6. Frequency planning parameters
7. Handover related parameters. Refer to Case 6
8. Power control related parameters. Refer to Case 5
9. Version related parameters. Refer to Case 7

Analyze and Locate TCH call drop Problem (Radio Parameter Setting)

Locate and Clear Fault:

System message data table
Cell attribute table
Radio link connection counter
max. repeat times of Physical information
call drop rate performance measurement
Judge from the cause of call drop: error indication and connection failure.

Analyze and Locate TCH call drop Problem (Handover Parameter

Setting)
Process of Judgment
Inter-cell handover performance measurement: it occurs frequently that
the handover fails and the calling re-establishment also fails.
Inter-cell handover performance measurement: handover occurs many
times and re-establishment succeeds many times.
Measurement of undefined adjacent cell performance: level of the
undefined adjacent cells and number of reports.
Out-cell handover performance measurement: the success ratio of outcell handover is low (for a specific cell). Find the adjacent cell where the
handover success ratio is low and find the cause.
In-cell handover success ratio is low. The handover verdict parameter
setting of the opposite cell is not proper.
TCH performance measurement: handover times are not in proportion to
the success times of TCH call occupation.(handover/call>3)

Analyze and Locate TCH call drop Problem (Handover Parameter

Setting)

Solution:
Add adjacent cells as necessary
Adjust improper handover parameters

Parameter name

Value

before Value

change

after

change

PBGT watch time

PBGT valid time

PBGT HO threshold

72

68

Hando UL qual. threshold

ver
Min. DL level candidate cell

70

60

10

15

Analyze and Locate TCH call drop Problem (Power Control

Parameter Setting)

Parameter name
UL Qual. Or RX_LEV
Power
control

compensation
PC interval

filter length for stable

Value before

Value after

change

change

50

80

10

Analysis of Causes of Wireless Link Fault--Equipment Problem

call drop arising from equipment problem
Hardware problem
Transmission problem
Antenna & feeder fault
Other causes

Analyze and Locate TCH call drop Problem by Traffic

Measurement (Equipment Fault)

Process of judgment

TCH performance measurement

Excessive failure times of A interface when TCH is occupied

TCH availability abnormal.
Excessive call drop and disconnection times of terrestrial links.

If a cell always suffers from high call drop rate and congestion rate, some
equipment in this cell may be faulty.

Typical call drop Cases

Case 1
l

Fault Description
The BTS distribution of an area is as illustrated in the diagram (red
numbers stand for BCCH frequency. No hopping, DTX). Some users
complained that call drop in cell 2 of base station C is serious.
(hardware fault is ruled out).

Step 1: please
confirm whether
the frequency
distribution in the
BTS cells are
correct?

Case Analysis
Here is the conclusion from the analysis of BTS topology: the frequency are well
planned.
Next step: View the interference band of traffic measurement:
09:00~10:00

IB1

cell 1:

2.85

cell 2:

4.09

cell 3:

03:00~04:00 IB 1

cell 1:

2.85

cell 2:

4.09

cell 3:

IB2

IB3

14.25

1.14

12.57

4.28

0.01

0.25

0.37

IB3

IB4

IB5

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.12 0.00

0.54

0.03

13.27

IB2

IB5

0.27

3.14

2.92

2.89

IB4

0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00

Is there anything abnormal

indicated by the
interference? What does it
imply?

Case Analysis
Actual drive tests: It is found that the quality is lower when the receiving level is
high.
Observe traffic measurement: It is found that when the call drop rate is high, the
handover is mostly caused by quality problems and channel allocation
failure ratio is also high.
Here is the conclusion from the analysis of comprehensive traffic measurement
and route test result: there is interference.

What index can support

this conclusion from the
traffic measurement?

Case Analysis
A site investigation shows that the operator has a repeater . It is
a broadband repeater . It transmits the signals from a remote
TACS site through optical fiber to the local end for amplification
and sends it. In this way, digital signals are amplified and then
interference occurs, interfering cell 2 of base station C.

Fault has been located: Interference causes the call drop.

Please take proper measures.

Troubleshooting Procedure
Finally, lower the power of the repeater and it works. The
interference band is lowered immediately from IB2, IB3 to IB1.
Now the high call drop rate problem at site C is solved.

Summary
Discussion

Common methods and procedures of

Checking and clearing call drop due to interference.

Typical call drop Cases

Case 2
Fault Description
13 RF hopping is used in a specific site. After expansion, TCH channel allocation
failure rate is continuously high (due to radio link fault), accompanied by high TCH
call drop rate and incoming handover failure rate. SDCCH call drop rate is normal.

Since the channel allocation failure rate and

Incoming handover failure rate are high, what are the causes?

Case Analysis
Since assignment failure is accompanied with high call drop rate and
incoming handover failure rate, basically the causes may be as
follows:
A problem occurs when TCH channel is assigned
The band or timeslot occupied by this communication is
not stable or affected by interference
Since SDCCH call drop rate is normal, it is unlikely that the
interference comes from the carrier of BCCH band and the BCCH
band. Accordingly, the carrier of non-BCCH band and hopping band
may attribute to the interference.

Case Analysis
Find the problem:
1. Check the equipment hardware, antenna & feeder and the
transmission stability. No problem is found.
2. In the drive test, it is found that high level and low quality
problem is very serious.
3. Make a site calling test to find that the communication quality is
poor.
4. In checking the parameter, it is found that the MAIO of the new
carrier is the same as that of another carrier.

The fault: There exists conflict of hopping bands.

Case Analysis
Troubleshooting:

Set a new value for the MAIO of the new carrier. The related
indexes such as call drop rate are normal.

What other hopping parameters may cause the

co-channel or adjacent-channel conflict?

Typical call drop Cases

Case

III

Fault description
In a drive test, it is found that an MS occupies a cell but can not
call out. Communication is unidirectional. call drop occurs
frequently at a specific distance from the cell and after frequently
handover.

Analysis
It may be caused by ?

Case Analysis
The drive test phenomena as mentioned above is usually caused
by:
Uplink/downlink imbalance
It is possible that the power is unbalanced because uplink signal
is much lower than the downlink signal.
Make a driving test
During the test, move the MS to the cell boundary. At the same
time, trace and capture data at the BTS side with an MA10
signaling analyzer. (see the figure below).

Case Analysis
Capture data with MA10:

Case Analysis
Judge, check and clear the problem of unlink/downlink
imbalance

1. Check whether the service area of the cell is too large.

2. When the unlink power control is enabled, improper setting
Of power control parameters will also cause obvious unbalanced
Power.

Summary
call drop due to unbalanced uplink/downlink
1. If the cell coverage is too
Large, reduce the BTS transmit power or increase MS access threshold
And handover threshold of the cell.
2. Adjust
Higher the uplink compensation factor and shorten the stable signal
Filter.

Typical call drop Cases

Case 4 call drop due to interference at the repeater
Fault description
The call drop rate in CELL3 of a BTS is 10%, while the call drop rate
and congestion ratio in CELL1 and CELL2 are normal.

Case Analysis
Fault analysis and clearing
1. The congestion rate remains high even if the RC channel of the cell is
blocked in rotation.
2. Check and analyze the traffic measurement task data, interference band
and traffic and call drop rate. They are all regular.
3. Change band. Change the band of CELL3 to 1M away from the previous
band. But the problem persists.
4. Judge whether The equipment itself is faulty.
5. Locate external interference.

Case Analysis
5. Make a scanning test with a spectrum analyzer.
A suspect signal with 904.14 center frequency, 300K spectrum
bandwidth is found. It is similar to an analog spectrum and it exists
continuously.
At the distributor output port of CELL3, the signal intensity is
27dBm. CELL2 is 40dBm, CELL3 is 60dBm. It accord with the
degree of interference.
Traffic is higher in the day time than that at night.
Now the problem is found: 904M external interference source.

Case Analysis
Perform a drive test with a spectrum analyzer to locate the problem.
Perform all tests on top of buildings.
Acknowledge interference signal by interrupting test.

Typical call drop Cases

Case 5 call drop due to island effect
Fault description
Users complained that telephone calls often drop out from the 5 th
floor and above in a building.

User complaint is also an important source of information

about the network quality.

Case Analysis

Step 1: Perform site test

There is call drop and noise on the site
The test mobile phone shows that before the call drop the phone
is always in a service zone of a remote BTS-A.

Step 2: Check traffic measurement

Make sure the cell in the BTS-B is 3-4 kilometers from this
building. It is determined that the BTS cell signal received in this
area is the reflection of a obstacle . Thus an isolated island
coverage is formed in this area.

Case Analysis
Step

3: Check data configuration

In BSC data configuration, only cell 2 but not cell 3 of BTS-A is configured
as the adjacency of BTS-B

Analyze

the call drop

When the MS uses the signal of cell 2 of BTS-B in this area, the signal of
cell 3 of BTS-A is strong. But cell2 of BTS-B and cell3 of BTS-A are not
adjacent, therefore, handover fails.
The signal in cell 2 of BTS-B is the result of multiple reflections. When the
signal of BTS-B received by the mobile phone is weakened suddenly, an
emergency handover is needed. However, cell2, cell3 of BTS-A are not best
candidate cells for cells of BTS-B, so the signal may be handed over other
BTS-C. But the mobile phone can not receive signals from BTS-C, hence
the call drop occur.

Case Analysis
Solution
Modify the data in BA1 (BCCH) table, BA2 (SCCH) table and cell
adjacency relation table in BSC data configuration.
Set cell 3 of BTS-A as an adjacent cell of cell 2 of BTS-B.
Optimize the network parameter to eliminate the island effect.

The test results show that the call drop problem is solved.

Summary
Commentary
Two methods to solve island problem:
Adjust the antenna of the isolated cell, to eliminate the island problem.
Define new adjacent cells for the isolated cell.

Typical call drop Cases

Case 6 Optimize handover parameter to reduce call drop
In a drive test from A to B, it is found that the call drop occurs many
times at the tunnel near the BTS due to the failure of handover
immediately.

Case Analysis
The tunnel is near the BTS. When the MS enters the tunnel, the
power of the destination cell is satisfactory, 80dbm. But the signal
of source cell goes down quickly to less than 100dbm. Before the
MS enters the tunnel, the downlink power of the two cells is good
and no handover is triggered. When the MS enters the tunnel, the
level of the source cell goes down rapidly. The call drop occurs
before the time statistics are received.

Think it over: How to solve problems of this type?

Case Analysis
Modify related parameter table as follows:

Parameter name
PBGT watch time
hand PBGT valid time
over PBGT threshold

Value

before Value

change

change

72

68

after

Case Analysis
Modify related parameter table as follows:

Parameter name

Value

Hand
over

change
UL

qual.

threshold

before Value
change

of 70

60

Min. DL level on candidate cell 10

15

emergency handover

after

Summary

Optimize and adjust handover parameter to reduce call drop

On condition that there is no ping-pong handover and excessive voice
interruption, PBGT handover take places easily, so as to resist
interference and lower call drop rate.
Set emergency handover trigger threshold properly, make sure the
emergency handover is triggered correctly before the call drop so as to
reduce call drops.

Typical call drop Cases

Case 7 call drop due to faulty TRX board
Fault description
In the calling test, it is found that call drop occurs frequently in cell 2.
Fault analysis
Check the traffic measurement to find that TCH congestion ratio of this cell is
over 10% and inward handover failure rate is high. Check the remote
maintenance console to find that one TRX board of this cell is abnormal. A
preliminary conclusion is that board problem causes the call drop.

Typical call drop Cases

Fault clearing
Lock the band with a test mobile phone and perform dial test for many
times. It is found that call drop only occurs in timeslots 1, 3, 5,7 while
communication is timeslots 2, 4, 6, 8 are normal. Move this board to
another slot, and the problem exists. Move other good boards to this
slot, and the communication is normal.Move this defective board to
other cabinet, the problem arises. This TRX proves defective. When it
is replaced with a standby board, the communication is recovered.

Typical call drop Cases

Comments:
The BTS side test should guarantee that communication should
be successful not only in each RC but also in each timeslot of
each RC. It must ensured that each TCH channel provides
bidirectional communication and the communication is of high
quality.

Typical call drop Cases

Case 8 call drop due to clock problem
Fault description
A cell 1800A in an area is

connected to the network. When

communication is set up in a cell of Site B, the call is handed over

to the 900M cell located the same

site address. After 2~5

seconds, call drop is found in 900M, and at a high call drop rate.

Typical call drop Cases

Fault analysis
In the test it is found that the clock synchronization between 900 and 1800
is slow. When a call created on 1800 is handed over to 900, the drive tester
shows that FER soars to the maximum suddenly and then it goes down
gradually to zero. And it is the same case with the handover from 900 to
1800. Monitor the signaling to find that the conversation before the call drop
for several seconds is actually call re-establish, but the test mobile phone
indicates the call is already handed over to cell 900. The clock
synchronization problem is serious. Then the manufacturer of 900M adjust
the clock, The abnormal call drop problem is cleared.

Typical call drop Cases

Comments
Dual frequency requires that the clocks of 900 and 1800
should be exactly synchronous.