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Optimisation and Performance Measurement
of GSM/GPRS networks

Telemanagement World Conference
Las Vegas, 29th-31st October 2002


SANDEEP RAINA
GSM & GPRS Consultant
TELSIM,TURKEY
sandeep.raina@telsim.com.tr


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Telsim - GSM 900 operator in Turkey

GSM network operations since 1994

First GPRS network in Turkey in 2000

Third GPRS network in World in 2000

GSM world award winner (community category), 2000

41 % market share


Telsim
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Content
Issues in GSM and GPRS performance data collection
Performance Indicators for GSM - Coverage, Capacity, Quality
How Performance Indicators for GPRS are different
KPIs for GPRS
Benchmarking GPRS KPIs
Optimising GPRS - Coverage, Capacity, Quality

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Issues in collecting performance data
Lack of standardisation on many interfaces ( PSTN, IN...)
A-bis (Source of Level, Quality and Interference analysis) is customised
A-interface(Source of LU, Call Setup, Handovers) has no details of
radio link info. , measurements from BTS or Mobiles
Multi-vendor environment increases volume of performance data
Matching multi-vendor info. for the simplest analysis
OMC, the main contributor, is a vendor specific device
Establishing relationship between network elements for a fault
(Contribution of each network element in providing fault info.)
Establishing correlation between faults - Symptoms, After-effects
Bad Performance could be due to Inherent / Genetic defect
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Validity of extracted data / statistics
Sufficiency of extracted data / statistics
OMC-G does not tap Gb or Gn
Tool unavailable for MS to IP layer monitoring
Drive test is still a snapshot , not the complete picture
Ascertaining the intensity of problem ; Irregular or no Customer feedback
How to set a threshold ?not enough documentation, standards
Hundreds of indicators available...how to make a choice ?
Operator experience is not shared
Inflexibility of setting thresholds of operator-interest on Abis, Gn, Gb
Too many configuration parameters
Missing link between field changes and planning specs.
One-stop controller of configurations not available
Issues in collecting performance data
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Key Performance Indicators
Set up time
Call drop rate
Cell
congestion
Cell
interference
Handover
RxLevel
Call success
rate
The operator concentrates on many varied performance indicators
assigning assumed / theoretical priorities...
PRIORITY ASSIGNED TO PERFORMANCE ISSUES : OPERATOR VIEWPOINT
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Key Performance Indicators
Call Drops
Speech
Quality
Coverage
(Indoor)
No
connection
Coverage
(outdoor)
Call set up
time
...while the subscriber judges the network on the basis of
a few basic indicators of performance
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Key Performance Indicators
It is very important to align our KPI definition
according to
what quality and performance means to

The Subscriber


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Performance Indicators for GSM :
Coverage
Signal Strength - outdoors
In building, In-Car penetration signal levels
Uplink Voice Quality
Downlink Voice Quality
Call Drops
Cell Power control
Start from the gross issues....
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Performance Indicators for GSM :
Capacity
Erlangs per Cell
TCH success
TCH assignment failures
TCH Drop calls
TCH Blocking
Cell congestion
Congestion Relief Usage
BHCA against rated MSC limit
mErl/subs. against rated MSC limit
SMS/subs. Against MSC limit
MM values(HO,LU,Paging) against limits
Overload : Voice/Signalling/Processor
...to more detailed...
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RxLev
Handovers
Call Drops
Call Success Rate
Call set up success rate
Call completion rate
Call set up time
Voice quality(MOS)
RxQual
Echo
TCH success
TCH assignment failures
TCH Drop calls
SDCCH traffic blocking
SDCCH drop calls
SDCCH Success rates
Location Area Paging
Paging per MSC
PSTN availability and quality
...and finally micro fine-tuning of the network
Performance Indicators for GSM :
Quality
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Why GPRS benchmarking is different
Multi QoS introduces layered approach to setting benchmarks
Multi handset classes makes the situation a bit more complex
Low Transmission rates on Air Interface
High Radio Link Error on Air Interface
WWW is low volumes of data and frequent transmissions
Sequencing of Data is a new concept
Data Queuing is a new concept
Blocking probability not easy to define
Different throughput requirements for different applications
FTP is high data volume and infrequent transmissions
IP layer performance also influences GPRS performance
TCP layer performance influences GPRS performance
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How GPRS Benchmarking is different
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GPRS vs GSM - Shift in importance of common indicators
GPRS GSM
Importance level
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KPI sources
KPI Sources in GSM
KPI Sources in GPRS
Air Interface
Air Interface
Switching network
Core Network
PSTN
IP network
Performance should be measured end to end, element by element
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KPIs for GPRS
GPRS KPIs can be tapped from :
AIR INTERFACE
Voice Quality
Interference
BLER
RACH Load
UL/DL PDTCH Blocking Rate
Retransmissions on TCP layer
( http, ftp, smtp, pop, wap...)
Network Congestion
Data Compression rate
GPRS contenders per Cell
Cell UL/DL throughput
SESSION STATISTICS
Session Set up success Rate
Session Completion Rate
Dropped packets
Cell Reselections
Processor Loads
Data Traffic transferred
Data blocks erroneously decoded
Data blocks retransmitted

Can be measured Should be measured
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CORE COMPLEX
SS7 links congestion
D/L TBF set up success
U/L TBF releases
U/L D/L TBF set up time
Throughput on UL /DL
Data Compression Rates
PDP Context activations
RA updates (subscriber mobility)
Timeslot usage UL and DL
KPIs for GPRS
IP NETWORK
Internet Congestion (Beyond Gi)
Internet Delay (Gi and beyond)
IP traffic per APN
IP traffic on different services
End to end application delays
Round Trip Time
Delays due to Routers and Switches
Can be measured Should be measured
GPRS KPIs can be tapped from :
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Tools to collect GPRS KPIs ?
Collect info. from L2 and L3 layers :
RR, MM, MAC, RLC, LLC, GMM, SM, SNDCP
Pick up relevant indicators
Analyse causes and reasons for below-standard
performance
Graphical ,tabular interpretation
Combinations of indicators
Cross-relationship between GPRS indicators
Relationship between GSM and GPRS indicators
C-Value variance vs RLC DL Throughput
(non-hopping)
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Throughput (bps)
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FTP throughput over Rx level
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Test Number
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Rx level FTP Throuhput
Delay over Rx level
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Test number
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Rx level Delay in dsec
Drive Test measurements, RTT measurements
K1205 Gb protocol tester
Tools to collect GPRS KPIs ?
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How to use GPRS KPIs ?
Some calculations derived from basic KPIs


What is available ?
U/L and D/L bandwidth (CS1 and CS2) available per cell
What is consumed ?
U/L and D/L Channel Loading Factor - Percentage of the available bandwidth in use
Air Interface Data blocks / Total Available air bandwidth
GPRS Channel Occupancy - Total data transmit time of GPRS channels of cell/
Total time a channel can be used
No. of PDP context activations / subs. - Calculated from GGSN statistics

U/L and D/L Radio Bandwidth - Cell throughput indicator
What is the frequency of access ?
GPRS Access per AGCH - Assignment messages sent on the AGCH of a cell,calculated at OMCR

GPRS Access per PCH - Paging Request messages sent on the PCH of a cell, calculated at OMCR

GPRS Access per RACH - Channel Request messages sent on the RACH of a cell, calculated at OMCR
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What is the external influence ?
Network IP traffic figure at GTP layer - Directly related to the IP traffic per SGSN/GGSN

Application Overhead Factor - IP Data size in Bytes / IP data actually sent in bytes

Application Throughput - IP Throughput * Application Overhead Factor
What is the rejection ?
PDP activation reject rate - Calculated from stats at GGSN

GPRS Attach reject rate - Calculated from stats at SGSN

Total no. of lost packets in the network - Calculated from statistics at SGSN and GGSN
What is the usage pattern?
U/L and D/L RLC Throughput - Total RLC data transmitted / time the GPRS channels were used

Coding Scheme Usage Ratio - Percentage of coding scheme usage per cell (RLC CS1 / RLC CS2)
How to use GPRS KPIs ?
Some calculations derived from basic KPIs
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GPRS Benchmarking
RxQual (CS2) 0.5 uM
C/I for CS1 9 dB uM
C/I for CS2 12 dB uM
BLER (CS2) 10 % uM
UL PDTCH Blocking Rate < 2% uM
DL PDTCH Blocking Rate <2% uM
TCP Retransmissions <10% uM
RLC/MAC Retransmissions <10% uM
Network Congestion <2% uM
GPRS users per cell(4 ts, CS2) 4 uM
Data Compression Rate 50 % uM
Session set up time 900ms. uM,Core
GPRS BENCHMARK VALUE SOURCE
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Session set up success rate 98 % uM,Core
(PDP context activation success)
Session drop rate 2 % uM, Core
SS7 link congestion 0.1% Core
DL set up success rate 98 % Core
UL TBF release 2 % Core
UL TBF set-up time 200 ms uM
DL TBF set-up time 400 ms uM
UL throughput (1 ts,CS2) 9 kbps uM
DL throughput (4 ts,CS2) 40 kbps uM
RA updates per subscriber network design value PCU,Core
GPRS pages per subscriber network design value Core
Dropped packets 2% uM,Core,IP
GPRS BENCHMARK VALUE SOURCE
GPRS Benchmarking
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Cell reselections Core
Data blocks retransmitted uM
Internet (ISP) Congestion < 3% IP
Internet (ISP) delay < 25 ms(local),<400ms(ext.) IP
Peak data traffic per subscriber network design value
(100 KB/hr.) uM,SGSN
End to end application delay
Round trip latency 900 ms uM,Core,IP

Router/switch delays < 5 ms Core,IP
GPRS BENCHMARK VALUE SOURCE
GPRS Benchmarking
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GPRS Optimisation-
Capacity
Radio channel capacity GSM channel utilisation GPRS Channel utilisation
Staggered peaks of GSM and GPRS traffic
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2400 1200 2300 hours
GSM + GPRS channel utilisation
Free Channel Capacity
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GPRS Optimisation-
Capacity

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Radio channel capacity GSM channel utilisation GPRS Channel utilisation
Concurrent peaks of GSM and GPRS traffic
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GSM + GPRS channel utilisation
Free Channel Capacity
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Accelerator Softwares : Reduction in Data Volume



Application Type

1. Email (SMTP)
2. Text file transfers
3. Zip file transfers
4. JPEGs,GIFs transfers
5. Heavily animated webpages
6. Normal HTML webpages
GPRS Optimisation-
Capacity
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Data
in
bytes
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GPRS Optimisation
Throughput
Accelerator softwares : Test results

Internet webpage downloads faster
msn.com : 2.2 times faster
nasa.com : 3 times faster
nytimes.com : 3.4 times faster
heavily animated pages : 10 times faster

FTP transfers faster
jpeg file transfer : 2.7 times faster
exe file transfer : 2.7 times faster
zip file transfer : 1.6 times faster

E-mail faster
Uplink Email : 2.3 times faster
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Reduce Interference to support higher coding schemes

Expand GPRS in areas that promise high traffic
No need to reserve timeslots across the network for GPRS
Introduce CS3 and CS4 coding schemes to conserve
GSM/GPRS capacity
GPRS Optimisation
General
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2. OSS devices for GSM and specially GPRS need to be more analytic

1. In complex GSM/GPRS networks the role of OSS for management is key

Summary
3. GPRS network management and performance indicators require different
treatment and analysis from those of GSM
4. Performance measurement / Optimisation of GPRS is a vital learning exercise
for 3G network management
5. QoS is a big question mark for GPRS and therefore for 3G too
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And what will be the performance standards for
MMS, Audio/Video Streaming formats ?
Current Performance/Optimisation methods provide Best effort services
So, how shall we improve our methods
to provide Guaranteed performance ?
THATS THE REAL CHALLENGE NOW !
Challenge
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SANDEEP RAINA
GSM & GPRS Consultant
TELSIM
TURKEY
sandeep.raina@telsim.com.tr
THANK YOU