GPRS Dimensioning and

Performance Workshop
-
Performance Management
BSS

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 1 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Performance Management - BSS

 What do we need to measure in a GPRS network and why?

 Performance monitoring in an Ericsson GPRS network
 Overview of STS
 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Counters for GPRS
Radio Network Performance
 Other measurement functions

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 2 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
What to Measure and Why?
 Need to measure performance per:
– User
– Node
– Interface
 Why to measure performance:
– Discover and detect actual and potential problems
– Dimensioning support and inputs
– Generate trends and characteristics

 Application performance:
– FTP
– WWW
– SMS/E-mail

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 3 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
GPRS Performance
Management
Part 2: Performance
Monitoring in an
Ericsson GPRS Network

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 4 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Operation & Maintenance of a GPRS Network
O&M System Network Management

Configuration Performance Fault handling

BTS BSC MSC/VLR

SOG

HLR
AUC
MS SGSN GGSN

SMS-G/IW MSC BGw

ISP/Corporate
Backbone Network
PTM-SC Network

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 5 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
GPRS Performance
Management
Part 3: Overview of
STS

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 7 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
STS Overview Floppy

Counters SP
X25
CP
APT, APZ
STS
C Harddisk
o
u Database
n
t
e Processing
r
s

I/O Device
03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 8 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Object and Object Type Definition

Object Type

Object Object Object Object

Counter 3 Counter 3 Counter 3 Counter 3

Counter 2 Counter 2 Counter 2 Counter 2
Counter 1 Counter 1 Counter 1 Counter 1

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 9 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Example of object types and counters

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 10 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
GPRS Performance
Management
Part 4: Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs) and
Counters for GPRS Radio
Network Performance

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 11 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
PDCH allocation, usage and preemption
Average number of allocated PDCH

ALLPDCHACC Number of allocated PDCHs accumulator. Every 10 seconds

the number of allocated PDCH in the cell is recorded and
added to an accumulator. Divide by ALLPDCHSCAN to get the
average number of allocated PDCH during the measurement
period

ALLPDCHSCAN Number of accumulations. The same value for both the

allocated and active accumulators.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 12 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
PDCH allocation, usage and preemption

Average number of active PDCH

CGP_PDCAC= ALLPDCHACTACC
ALLPDCHSCAN

ALLPDCHACTACC Number of active PDCHs accumulator. Every 10

seconds the number of active PDCH (carrying an
uplink and/or downlink TBF) in the cell is recorded
and added to an accumulator. Divide by
ALLPDCHSCAN to get the average number of active
PDCH during the measurement period.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 13 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
PDCH allocation, usage and preemption

Peak usage

ALLPDCHPEAK

ALLPDCHPEAK The peak number of allocated and active PDCHs during

the last 15 minutes. If the measurement period is 1
hour then this value represents the peak for the last
15 minutes of the hour.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 14 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
PDCH allocation, usage and preemption
Packet channel allocation failure rate

PCHALLFAIL Number of packet channel allocation failures. A

failure is when zero PDCH could be allocated due
to lack of basic physical channels over the air
interface. Note that the failure relates to the
inability of the system

PCHALLATT Number of packet channel allocation attempts.

Stepped at every attempt by the system to
allocate a set of one or more PDCH.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 15 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
PDCH allocation, usage and preemption

Number of failed PDCH allocations due to no

PCU resources
ALLPDCHPCUFAIL Number of failed PDCH allocations in the
measurement period due to no PCU resources.

Number of preempted PDCHs

PREEMPTPDCH Total number of preempted active PDCHs
(carrying one or more TBFs) in the measurement
period.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 16 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Radio Link Quality
Retransmitted radio blocks of total number of radio blocks DL
RETRANSDL x100%
RBCDL
RETRANSDL Counts the number of GPRS RLC data blocks
retransmitted on the downlink by the PCU.

RBCDL Incremented every time a downlink RLC data block

in the cell is transmitted to a mobile station by the
PCU.
Retransmissions are included. MAC signaling blocks
are excluded. The RLC data blocks contain either
user data or signaling above RLC/MAC level (for
example PDP Context Activation, Mobility
Management signaling etc). This type of
signaling requires a TBF.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 17 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Access attempts

PDRAC Incremented once for each Packet Channel Request

message, originating from a set of random access
bursts on RACH, successfully received by the PCU
from the BSC.

PDPRAC Incremented once for each Packet Channel Request

message, originating from a set of random access
bursts on PRACH, successfully received by the PCU
from the BSC.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 18 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Quality of service per BSC
The main objective of these measures is to allow the operator to check
that their QoS parameter settings result in the system sharing resources
in the desired way.

Since the crucial function of the BSC/PCU and BTS system is the transfer
of LLC PDUs between the SGSN and the MS this is done by measuring, for
each combination of QoS class and Maximum bit rate (MBR), the:

• Average LLC PDU throughput

• Average amount of LLC PDU data per TBF and active PFC
• Number of TBFs that carried an active PFC

From these measures the distribution of resources to each combination of

QoS class and MBR can be analyzed.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 19 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Quality of service per BSC
Average LLC throughput for all periods of PFC

PFCLIFETIME Accumulated transmission time in seconds of all the

LLC PDUs transmitted during an active PFC with a
specific combination of characteristics. For each
active PFC during a TBF, the transmission time of the
transmitted LLC-PDUs is added to the corresponding
instance of the counter.
NUMBERLLCPDU Accumulated number of LLC PDU octets transmitted
by active PFCs with a specific combination of
characteristics. For each active PFC during a TBF, the
transmitted LLC-PDUs data is added to the
corresponding instance of the counter.
03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 20 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Quality of service per BSC
Average amount of LLC PDU data per TBF

NUMBERTBF Accumulated number of TBFs that have carried

active PFCs with a specific combination of
characteristics. For each active PFC during a TBF,
the corresponding instance of the counter
is incremented.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 21 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Quality of service per Cell
The main objective of these measures is to allow the operator check that
each cell is providing the desired level of service to the GPRS/EDGE user.

Cells that are performing poorly and degrading the overall BSS performance
can be identified.

For each combination of QoS class the following can be measured:

• Average LLC PDU throughput per TBF and active PFC
• Average amount of LLC PDU data per TBF and active PFC
• Number of TBFs that carried an active PFC

The LLC PDU throughput is as close as possible to the users perceived

throughput as can be measured in the BSS and therefore an excellent key
performance indicator.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 22 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Quality of service per Cell
GPRS Quality of Service counters for cell consists of 24 counters.

“xy”GTHR Accumulated throughput per active PFC for GPRS

where x=UL or DL and y=THP1 or THP2 or THP3 or BG.
Units: kbit/s

“xy”GPFC Accumulated number of active PFCs for GPRS where

x=UL or DL and y=THP1 or THP2 or THP3 or BG.
Units: integer

“xy”GDATA Accumulated total LLC PDU data for GPRS where x=

UL or DL and y=THP1 or THP2 or THP3 or BG.
Units: kbit

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 23 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Quality of service per Cell
Average LLC throughput per TBF and active PFC (GPRS, uplink,
QoS class = THP1) during the measurement period

Average LLC PDU data per TBF and active PFC (EGPRS, uplink,
QoS class = ’background’) during the measurement period

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 24 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Interruptions affecting the LLC throughput counter
        Less PDCH allocated than requested by the user

        TBF failure

        Access grant channel congestion

        PDCH preemption by CS user

        TBF preemption

        Cell change

        Timeslot failure

        RPP failure

        QoS scheduling prioritizing another user more

        PCU processor load being high

        GSL device availability being low

        # TBFs/PDCH (#user) being high

        Suspend/Resume initiated

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 25 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
GPRS/EGPRS traffic load
If the LLC PDU throughput in a particular cell is lower than average then it is
most likely because either the traffic load is high and/or the radio link quality is
poor.

The GPRS/EGPRS traffic load counters aim to give an indication of how

heavily the allocated and active PDCHs are being loaded with GPRS/EGPRS
traffic. The following can be measured:

• Average number of simultaneous TBFs

• Average number of simultaneous TBFs per active PDCH

If the average number of TBF per PDCH is greater than 1, then taking action to
reduce this (usually by increasing the number of PDCH available for PS traffic)
will increase the average LLC PDU throughput.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 26 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
GPRS traffic load
TBFULGPRS Number of simultaneous GPRS UL TBFs in the cell.

TBFDLGPRS Number of simultaneous GPRS DL TBFs in the cell.

TBFPULGPRS Sum of the number of simultaneous GPRS UL TBFs

on each PDCH in the cell.

TBFPDLGPRS Sum of the number of simultaneous GPRS DL TBFs

on each PDCH in the cell.

PDCHULGPRS Number of PDCHs in the cell that carried one or more

GPRS UL TBF.

PDCHDLGPRS Number of PDCHs in the cell that carried one or more

GPRS DL TBF.

TRAFFGPRSSCAN Number of scans (accumulations).

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 27 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Example showing a 1 TRU cell with 2 DL TBFs
and 1 UL TBF distributed over 3 PDCHs

Which values will the relevant GPRS traffic

load counters have?

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 28 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Radio Link Quality
If there is poor LLC PDU throughput in a particular cell it could be that poor
radio link quality exists. This means that the RLC/MAC protocol cannot utilize
higher rate coding schemes and/or must schedule a number of retransmissions.

Measuring the average radio link bit rate achieved during each and every TBF
and presenting the results as a distribution gives an excellent representation
of the radio link quality as experienced by the mobiles.
If we assume perfect link adaptation and the mobiles are spread evenly within
the cell then the distribution can be considered analogous to a C/I distribution
(very low radio link bit rate as a result of very low C/I).

Note that these counters are only for downlink TBFs, using RLC acknowledged
mode, in either CS-1/2/3/4 or EGPRS mode.

There are 16 EGPRS/GPRS Radio Link Bit rate counters per cell.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 29 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Example of Link Bit rate counters

INT8BRGPRSTBF Number of TBFs with bit rates in the 8 kbit/s (X < 9 )

interval for GPRS.
INT10BRGPRSTBF Number of TBFs with bit rates in the 10 kbit/s interval
(9 <= X < 11) for GPRS.
INT12BRGPRSTBF Number of TBFs with bit rates in the 12 kbit/s interval
(11 <= X < 13) for GPRS.
INT14BRGPRSTBF Number of TBFs with bit rates in the 14 kbit/s interval
(13 <= X < 15) for GPRS.
INT16BRGPRSTBF Number of TBFs with bit rates in the 16 kbit/s interval
(15 <= X < 17) for GPRS.
INT18BRGPRSTBF Number of TBFs with bit rates in the 18 kbit/s interval
(X=> 17) for GPRS.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 30 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Example of GPRS Radio Link Bit rate
In one GPRS TBF eight of the RLC data blocks are coded using CS-2 and
transmitted for the first time. The radio link quality then improves and in
the same TBF seven RLC data blocks are coded using CS-3 and transmitted
for the first time.
Each RLC data block occupies 20ms of air interface time.

Which GPRS Radio Link Bit rate counter is stepped:

a) If all radio blocks are successfully received by the MS?

b) If 5 of the radio blocks have to be retransmitted once?

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 31 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
GPRS Performance
Management
Part 5: Other
measurement functions

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 32 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
Other Measurement Functions
 STS for Circuit Switched GSM
 Idle Channel Measurement (ICM)
 Mobile Traffic Recording (MTR)
 Cell Traffic Recording (CTR)
 Channel Event Recording (CER)
 Measurement Result Recording (MRR)
 Neighboring Cell Support/Expert (NCS/NOX)
 Frequency Allocation Support/Expert (FAS/FOX)
 Protocol Analyzer
 Spectrum Analyzer

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 33 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop
TEMS Total Tools for GPRS
Real time Network Optimization Tools
 TEMS Investigation
The successor of TEMS. Has got support for C/I
measurements. Has GPRS support included and support
for GPRS prediction via C/I. Also functions as TEMS
Pocket.
 TEMS Pocket
Mobile phone with enhanced functionality. Can not be
connected to PC.
 TEMS Light
Used to measure indoor coverage.
 TEMS Optimization
Tool for drive tests.
 TEMS Automatic
Automatic monitoring of network quality.

03813-LZU 108 5402/1_4 Rev. B Slide 4 - 34 GPRS Radio Dimensioning and Performance Workshop