TBF Troubleshooting & Parameter Brief

Description
 TBF (Temporary Block Flow)
TBFs are used to transmit PS services. If TBFs fail to be established, PS services cannot be
performed successfully.

The TBF establishment success rate indicates the capacity of a data

service network and the Um interface quality for an MS to access the network.

The possible causes of low TBF establishment success rates are as follows:

High frame error rate for Abis transmission

Insufficient channel resources
Poor Um interface quality
Incorrect parameter settings
Troubleshooting & Counter for Low TBF Establishment Success Rates

1. Select the top N cells with lower TBF establishment success rates.

2. The cells whose PS TBF establishment success rate significantly

decreases after the upgrade are regarded as top cells.

3. Check whether RL9A08:Rate of Transmitted Error Frames is larger than

1%. If yes, bit errors have occurred during Abis transmission. In this case,
contact transmission
engineers.

4. Check whether Configure Parameters are correct Defined or not as per

Planning

5. Check whether Problematic Cells Suffered from Congestion

6. Tune Parameters as per the Failure Cause & Requirements

TBF establishment failures are generally caused by

insufficient channel resources and

no MS response.

If TBF establishment failures are caused by insufficient channel resources, the

values
for the following counters are large:
– A9003:Number of Failed Uplink GPRS TBF Establishments due to No Channel

– A9103:Number of Failed Downlink GPRS TBF Establishments due to No

Channel

– A9203:Number of Failed Uplink EGPRS TBF Establishments due to No Channel

– A9303:Number of Failed Downlink EGPRS TBF Establishments due to No Channel

If TBF establishment failures are caused by no MS response, the values for the
following counters are large:

– A9004:Number of Failed Uplink GPRS TBF Establishments due to MS No

Response
– A9104:Number of Failed Downlink GPRS TBF Establishments due to MS No
Response
– A9204:Number of Failed Uplink EGPRS TBF Establishments due to MS No
Response
– A9304:Number of Failed Downlink EGPRS TBF Establishments due to MS No
Response
1. Analyze related counters. The TBF establishment success rates are lower than
80% for 10 cells.

2. Check the frame error rates for Abis transmission in these cells. The frame
error rates areall lower than 1‰.

3. Check the causes of TBF establishment failures. All TBF establishment failures
are caused by insufficient channel resources.

4. Check parameter settings. PDCHs are configured, and Allow E Down G Up

Switch isset to Open.

5. Check the counters related to the DSPs serving the problem cells. The value
for R9506:Maximum Number of PDCHs Occupied on DSP is smaller than 48 for
all the problem cells.

6. Check the value for Maximum Rate Threshold of PDCHs in a Cell. The value is
10 for problem cells but 30 for normal cells.

7. Change the value for Maximum Rate Threshold of PDCHs in a Cell

 Troubleshooting High TBF Drop Rates

The TBF drop rate is the ratio of the number of abnormal TBF releases to the
number of TBF establishment successes. The causes of high TBF drop rates are as
follows:

No MS response due to poor Um interface quality

Loss of MS uplink messages due to network transmission faults or resource

preemption

No MS response after receiving an indication message due to MS

incompatibility with the network

The causes of abnormal TBF releases are as follows:

Overflow of N3101, N3103, or N3105

Cell reselection
Channel preemption
 Troubleshooting Procedure & Counter
For the top N cells with higher TBF drop rates, check whether the value for
RL9A08:Rate of Transmitted Error Frames is larger than 1%. If the value is larger
than 1%, bit errors have occurred during Abis transmission. In this case, contact
transmission engineers.
Check the causes of abnormal TBF releases. Abnormal TBF releases are generally
caused by poor Um interface quality, lack of channel resources, or cell reselection.

If abnormal TBF releases are caused by poor Um interface quality, the values for the
following counters are large:

– A9006:Number of Uplink GPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to N3101 Overflow

(MS No Response)

– A9007:Number of Uplink GPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to N3103 Overflow

(MS No Response)

– A9206:Number of Uplink EGPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to N3101

Overflow (MS No Response)

– A9207:Number of Uplink EGPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to N3103

Overflow (MS No Response)

– A9106:Number of Downlink GPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to N3105

Overflow

– A9306:Number of Downlink EGPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to N3105

Overflow
If abnormal TBF releases are caused by lack of channel resources, the values for the
following counters are large:
– A9010:Number of Uplink GPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to No Channel
– A9210:Number of Uplink EGPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to No Channel
– A9109:Number of Downlink GPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to No Channel
– A9309:Number of Downlink EGPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to No Channel

If abnormal TBF releases are caused by cell reselection, the values for the
following counters are large:

– A9009:Number of Uplink GPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to FLUSH

– A9209:Number of Uplink EGPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to FLUSH
– A9108:Number of Downlink GPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to FLUSH
– A9308:Number of Downlink EGPRS TBF Abnormal Releases due to FLUSH
Poor Um interface quality
Co-channel and adjacent-channel interference, frequency collision due to frequency
hopping (FH), or uplink and downlink imbalance may lead to RLC block decoding
failures and N3101/N3103/N3105 overflow, resulting in abnormal TBF releases. In
this case, optimize the frequency planning, FH parameter settings, power control
parameter settings, and transmit power settings

Lack of channel resources

– Check whether any boards are faulty. If any boards are faulty, replace the boards.
– Check the values for R9343:Number of Reclaimed Dynamic PDCHs and
R9344:Number of Reclaimed Busy Dynamic PDCHs. If the values for the two
counters are large, dynamic PDCHs have been preempted by CS services during
peak hours. In this case, expand the BTS capacity.

Cell reselection
Check whether the cells and routing areas are properly planned. If no, replan
them.
 N3103

MO GCELLSTANDARDOPTPARA
Parameter ID N3103
Parameter Name Maximum Value of N3103

NE BSC6900
MML Command SET GCELLSTANDARDOPTPARA

Meaning Maximum value of N3103. Upon receiving the last RLC data block during uplink
transmission, the BSC sends an MS a Packet Uplink Ack/Nack message containing the
FAI field with the value being 1, and starts N3103. If the BSC does not receive a Packet
Control Ack message within the time reserved for receiving the control blocks from the
MS, N3103 increases, and the BSC resends the MS the Packet Uplink Ack/Nack
message. When the value of N3103 overflows, T3169 starts. When T3169 expires, the
current uplink TBF is abnormally released.

Impact on Radio The smaller the value of this parameter, the larger the number of abnormal uplink TBF
Network Performance releases due to N3103 overflow.
The larger the value of this parameter, the longer the uplink TBF is released due to
poor Um interface quality. This wastes the network resources. Based on the actual
condition of network (for example, the N3103 overflow caused by the bad Um
interface quality, the unstable transmission link quality, and the MS activities), you
should properly adjust this parameter to ensure the uplink TBF does not abnormally
release due to the frequent overflow of the N3103.
 T3168

MO GCELLPSBASE
Parameter ID T3168
Parameter Name T3168

NE BSC6900
MML Command SET GCELLPSBASE

Meaning T3168 is used to set the maximum duration for the MS to wait for the uplink assignment
message. After the MS originates the uplink TBF setup request by sending the packet resource
request or the channel request in the packet uplink acknowledge message, the timer T3168 is
started to wait for the packet uplink assignment message on the network side. If the MS
receives the packet uplink assignment message before T3168 expires, T3168 is reset.
Otherwise, the MS originates the packet access request for four times. Then the MS regards
this as the TBF setup failure

Impact on Radio Network If the timer is set to a lower value, the MS can detect the TBF establishment failure within a
Performance shorter period. If the TBF establishment fails, the average delay of packet access is short, but
the success rate of TBF establishment in bad radio environment decreases. In addition, the
small timer value increases the probability of the retransmission of the packet access request,
thus increasing the probability of reassignment by the PCU and wasting system resources.
If the timer is set to a higher value, the MS takes a longer period to detect the TBF
establishment failure. If the TBF establishment fails, the average delay of packet access is long,
but the success rate of TBF establishment in bad radio environment increases.
 UPDEFAULTCS

MO GCELLPSCS
Parameter ID UPDEFAULTCS
Parameter Name Uplink Default CS Type
NE BSC6900
MML Command SET GCELLPSCS
Meaning Default coding scheme used on the uplink data block for the GPRS
channel.

Actual Value Range CS1, CS2, CS3, CS4

Impact on Radio If this parameter is set to a higher value and the quality on the
Network Um interface is poor, the speed of increasing the PS service rate
Performance is lower. If this parameter is set to a lower value and the quality
on the Um interface is good, the speed of increasing the PS
service rate is lower.