[RF] RACH (Random Access Channel) Success Rate

May 19, 2011 by TheBeeliever Leave a comment

Definition :
 Random Access Channel (RACH) is used by the MS on the “uplink” to request for allocation of
an SDCCH.
 This request from the MS on the uplink could either be as a page response (MS being paged by
the BSS in response to an incoming call) or due to user trying to access the network to establish
a call.
 For all services there will CH REQ (Channel Request) from MS and in the response of CH REQ
if MS will get the IMM ASS CMD (Signaling Ch) Access to system is successful.
 Nature of this Access REQ is random so it is call Random Access Channel Request.
Analysis :
1. Identify the Bad performing Cells for RACH Success Rate
2. Take detailed report and analyze for no of failure of Request and failures.
3. The main reasons for bad RACH success rate could be access from very distant place with very
low coverage; Parameters Configuration discrepancies.
4. First Check for Parameters Configuration discrepancies and correct as per standard parameter
set.
5. Check for Hardware Issues (Ex. BTS sensitivity has very crucial role to play here)
6. Check for Uplink Interference and quality.
7. Check for UL-DL imbalance and correct if any problem.
8. After the activity check the subsequent days report and repeat the procedure for pin
pointing the actual cause.
Parameter :
MS MAX Retrans can set depending upon Traffic and Clutter.
Value Range : 1, 2, 4, 7
Default Value :
 In the areas where the radius of the cell is greater than 3 km and the traffic volume is low:7.
 In the areas where the radius of the cell is smaller than 3 km and the traffic volume is normal:4.
 For micro cells, the MS MAX Retrans is set to 2.
 For micro cells where the traffic volume is heavy and cells where congestion occurs, the MS
MAX Retrans is set to 1.
 For BTSs using satellite transmission, the MS MAX Retrans should be set to 4 or greater.
Description :
 In the areas where the radius of the cell is greater than 3 km and the traffic volume is low, such
as suburbs or rural areas, the MS MAX Retrans should be set to 7 to improve the success rate of
MS access.
 In the areas where the radius of the cell is smaller than 3 km and the traffic volume is normal,
such as urban non-busy areas, the MS MAX Retrans should be set to 4.
 For micro cells, the MS MAX Retrans should be set to 2.
 For micro cells where the traffic volume is heavy and cells where congestion occurs, the MS
MAX Retrans should be set to 1.
Tx-Integer will reduce the RACH collision and can improve RACH success rate.
Value Range : 3-12, 14, 16, 20, 25, 32, 50
 Description :
 This parameter is T for short. It indicates the number of timeslots in an interval when an MS
sends continuously multiple channel requests.
 To reduce the collisions on the RACH and to raise the efficiency of the RACH, access algorithm
is defined in GSM 04.08.
 This parameter works together with the configuration of the CCCH to determine the parameter
S.
 The relation between this parameter and the configuration of the CCCH is as follows:
 When this parameter is set to 3, 8, 14, or 50, S is 55 if the CCCH and SDCCH do not share a
channel.
 When this parameter is set to 3, 8, 14, or 50, S is 41 if the CCCH and SDCCH share a channel.
 When this parameter is set to 4, 9, or 6, S is 76 if the CCCH and SDCCH do not share a channel.
 When this parameter is set to 4, 9, or 6, S is 52 if the CCCH and SDCCH share a channel.
 When this parameter is set 5, 10, or 20, S is 109 if the CCCH and SDCCH do not share a channel.
 When this parameter is set 5, 10, or 20, S is 58 if the CCCH and SDCCH share a channel.
 When this parameter is set 6, 11, or 25, S is 163 if the CCCH and SDCCH do not share a channel.
 When this parameter is set 6, 11, or 25, S is 86 if the CCCH and SDCCH share a channel.
 When this parameter is set 7, 12, or 32, S is 217 if the CCCH and SDCCH do not share a channel.
 When this parameter is set 7, 12, or 32, S is 115 if the CCCH and SDCCH share a channel.
 The timeslot for sending messages is a random value from the collection of {0, 1…, MAX (T, 8)-
1}.
 The number of timeslots between two adjacent channels is a random value from the collection
of {S, S+1, …, S+T-1}.
 When T increases, the interval between two adjacent channel requests increases, and RACH
conflicts decrease.
 When S increases, the interval between two adjacent channel requests increases, and RACH
conflicts decrease, thus improving the usage of AGCH and SDCCH.
Remarks :
 The access time of the MS, however, is prolonged and the network performance is threatened
when T and S increase.
 Thus, an appropriate T value should be adopted to ensure that S is as low as possible, and that
AGCH and SDCCH are not overloaded.
 When the network traffic is heavy, the success rate of immediate assignment is low if
the sum of S and T is low.
 Thus, the value of T should be properly adjusted to make the sum of S and T greater.
T3122 waiting time for next network access. T3122 : Immediate Assignment Reject Wait
Indication timer.
Description :
 This parameter indicates the timer carried by the WaitIndcation IE when the BSC sends
an Immediate Assignment Reject message to an MS.
 The MS receives the Immediate Assignment Reject message attempts to access the
network after the period specified by this parameter.
 RACH Min.Access Level(dbm) very important parameter for low coverage rural areas.
Value Range : -121 to -47 dBm
Description :
 For the versions later than the BTS3X and double-transceiver BTSs, the RACH Min Access Level
function affects the access of an MS. The effect indicates that the BTS determines the threshold
of the level for the random access of the MS.
 When the receive level of the RACH burst is lowler than the threshold, the BTS regards this
access as an invalid access and no decoding is performed. Only when the receive level for the
burst timeslot of the random access is greater than the threshold, the BTS regards that this
timeslot has an access request.
 Because the RACH Busy Threshold must be greater than the RACH Min Access Level, infer that
the RACH Min Access Level of the BTS24 is already shielded. For BTS2X (excluding BTS24), this
parameter is invalid.
 This parameter must be set according to the actual sensitivity of the BTS and the minimum
access level of the MS so that calls can be made when there is signal.
Remarks : The RACH Busy Threshold must be greater than this parameter.
RACH Busy Threshold : must be greater than RACH Min.Access Level(dbm)
Value Range : 0-63 dB
Description :
 For BTS3X series and dual-transceiver BTSs, this parameter indicates the level threshold of MS
random access for the system to determine the RACH busy state. When the receive level of the
random access burst timeslot is greater than this threshold, the BTS considers that the timeslot
is busy. In the BTS3X, this parameter only indicates whether the timeslot is busy. The threshold
setting does not affect the normal access of the MS.
 In the BTS2X version (BTS24 not included), this parameter indicates the level threshold for the
system to determine MS random access. When the receive level of the random access burst
timeslot is greater than this threshold and the access demodulation is successful, the BTS
considers that the timeslot is busy and determines whether the RACH access is valid based on
the parameter Random Access Error Threshold. In the BTS2X version, the parameter RACH
Busy Threshold determines whether the timeslot is busy and affects the normal access of the
MS. The MS access is allowed only when the level of the MS random access burst is greater than
the RACH Busy Threshold.
 In the BTS24 version, this parameter indicates the level threshold of the MS random access for
the system to determine the RACH busy state. When the receive level of the random access
burst timeslot is greater than the threshold, the BTS considers that the timeslot is busy. This
parameter also indicates whether the MS access is allowed. The MS access is allowed only when
access level (including random access and handover access) is greater than the threshold.
Remarks :
 In the BTS2X version (BTS24 not included), this parameter indicates the level threshold for the
system to determine MS random access.When the receive level of a random access burst
timeslot of the RACH is greater than this threshold, the BTS considers that the timeslot is busy.
This parameter must be set based on the actual sensitivity of the BTS and the lowest access
level of the MS to ensure the uplink and downlink balance. This parameter also affects
handover access of RACH BURST during asynchronous handover.
 For the BTS3X series and double-transceiver BTSs, this parameter does not affect MS access
but affects the report of CCCH_LOAD_IND. If the level received by the BCCH at the network side
is greater than the RACH Busy Threshold, the CCCH_LOAD_IND is counted once whether the
decoding is successful. The RACH whose level is lower than the RACH Busy Threshold and
whose decoding is successful is also counted. The measurement period is the RACH mean load
timeslot. If the value of this parameter is too small, the BTS easily considers that the RACH
timeslot is busy and reports overload messages to the BSC. If the value is too high, the BTS
cannot determine the state of the RACH timeslot correctly. In the BTS24 version, if this
parameter is used to judge busy timeslot, its setting is consistent that in the BTS30. If this
parameter is the level threshold for valid random access, its setting is consistent with that in
the BTS20. The setting of this parameter for the BTS312, BTS3001C, BTS3001C+, BTS3002C
and the double-transceiver BTSs is the same as that in the BTS30.
CCCH conf” & “BS_AG_BLKS_RES” check properly defined or not? Because if you have overload
with AGCH “IMM ASS” can’t be send in the response of CH REQ.
CCCH Conf
Value Range : 1 combined CCCH, 1 non-combined CCCH, 2 non-combined CCCH, 3 non-
combined CCCH, 4 non-combined CCCH
Default Value :
 For the cell with one TRX, Huawei recommends that you configure a combined CCCH (in the
system that has a small number of LA paging messages).
 For other types of cells, the configuration of CCCHs depends on the number of TRXs in the cell.
 For a system that has both main and extended BCCHs, the number of non-combined CCCHs
equals the number of BCCHs.
 The BS_AG_BLKS_RES and CCCH Conf. parameters can be changed according to the type of
channel 0 on the TRX that carries main BCCH in the cell.
 If this parameter is set to a value rather than 1 combined CCCH, the default value of
BS_AG_BLKS_RES can be set to 2.
 The parameter ranges from 1 to 7. If this parameter is set to 1 combined CCCH, the default
value of BS_AG_BLKS_RES can be set to 1.
 The parameter ranges from 1 to 2. If channel 0 on the TRX that carries main BCCH is set to
Combined BCCH or BCCH+CBCH, this parameter can be set to 1 combined CCCH.
 If channel 0 on the TRX that carries main BCCH is set to Main BCCH, this parameter can be set
to N non-combined CCCH, where N means the sum of channels 0, 2, 4, and 6 that are configured
as main BCCHs and BCHs.
Description :
 This parameter indicates the CCCH configuration in a system.
 In a corresponding BCCH multi-frame, the number of CCCH message blocks may be 3, 9, 18, 27,
or 36.
 CCCH configuration determines the capacity of PCH, AGCH, and RACH.
Remarks :
 Particularly, the PCH capacity of all cells in a local area should be consistent, or that the cell
with the least PCH capacity has enough capacity to bear all the TRXs in the local area.
BS_AG_BLKS_RES
 Value Range : 0-2 (a combined CCCH), 0-7 (others)
Unit : Blocks
Default Value :
1 (combined CCCH) 2 (non-combined CCCH) When the cell is configured with CBCHs, the
BS_AG_BLKS_RES parameter must be equal to or greater than 1, that is, the parameter cannot
be 0.
Description :
 This parameter indicates the number of CCCH blocks reserved for the AGCH.
 After the CCCH is configured, this parameter actually indicates the CCCH usage for AGCH and
PCH.
 This parameter affects the paging response time of an MS and the system performance.
Remarks
 As specified in the protocol, this parameter must be greater than 0 in the following
cases: System information is transmitted on the extended BCH. The system is configured with
CBCHs. The GSMR system is configured with NCHs.
Algorithm :
1. Faulty antenna cable
2. MAXRET and TX
3. CRO and ACCMIN
4. Poor Coverage
5. Phantom RACH
6. Poor BSIC Plan
7. BCCH Plan
Source : KPI Optimization ALU-HW