3G Analysis Summary

Definitions
Pilot pollution:
The presence of more than a pilot with level
difference within 5-8 dB causing low Ec/No all of
them are strong but no one is strong enough to be
dominant regarding that they are of the same
frequency
Missing Neighbor:
The presence of a detected neighbor with high
RSCP for a period without adding to the AS causing
degradation in Ec/No
It may cause pilot pollution as this high neighbor
neither added to AS nor it is low enough to be
neglected (from the point of view of interference).
Overshooting
It is a case like missing neighbor but the difference
is that in case of overshooting the mentioned
neighbor is far from the detection position while in
case of missing neighbor the neighbor is near the
detection position.

Dropped calls
Cause

Pilot pollution

Low RSCP
Missing
neighbor

Ways to discover
Finding AS, MN & DN
with relatively near
RSCP levels (within 58dB) all of them are
high
The RSCP level is too
low(less than -90)
causing low Ec/No
Finding a high DN but
check the cell file to
make sure that it is
near the detection
position.
It can be noticed from
WCDMA missing
neighbor window but
make sure that it is a
real problem as TEMS
report missing
neighbor after a
certain time while this
neighbor may be
added to AS after a
longer time than that
of the TEMS.
In WCDMA missing
neighbor window we
can notice 2

Recommendation
Down tilt the
antennas of the
surrounding sites to
decrease the
interference caused
by them to have
dominant cells
Add a site in this
area to improve the
coverage
Add this neighbor to
AS

priorities :
1 priority where the
missing neighbor
must be added as the
first member in AS
and has higher RSCP
and Ec/No than the
strongest AS member.
2nd priority where it
has lower or equal
RSCP than strongest
AS member.
Finding a high DN but
check the cell file to
make sure that it is far
Overshooting
from the detection
position. Check the
cells by cell ID.
Noticing a mobile
DT problem
disconnection
UL
It can be found from
interference
System information
message SIB 7
It can be noticed also
by monitoring the
layer 3 messages and
detecting that DL
messages are
successive without UL
messages for a while
Also we notice that UE
Tx power increases
gradually until it
reaches its maximum
after checking the
st

Down tilt the

antenna to AS

No need to solve
Continue to observe
the performances of
this cell and try to
decrease the
percentage of soft
HO on this cell.

distance between the

UE and Node B and
make sure that the
increasing power is
not due to the
distance.
The RSCP is a sign to
determine the
distance between UE
and Node B.
Noticing the DT
direction, if the call
dropped in one
direction and
continued in the other
Unidirectional
as a result that a
missing
neighbor is defined in
neighbor
a direction and
missing (DN in the
problem direction with
high RSCP) in the
other.
It can be noticed by
Wrong
finding strange AS
parameters
updates
Noticing blocked or
TEMS
dropped call on the
problem
map without finding it
in layer 3 messages
DL
There is no DL layer 3
Interference
messages sent and
noticing successive UL
messages.
The Ec/No is very low
although the RSCP is

Define this neighbor

as bidirectional
neighbor.

Check the
parameters of soft
HO
No need to solve
Check traffic
performance on this
cell.
Check soft HO
parameters.
Check Inter-RAT HO

good.

Blocked calls

parameters.

Cause
Interference

Ways to discover
Noticing DL
successive

Recommendatio
n
Continue to
observe this area

Congestion

Not RF problem

messages without
UL reply or vice
versa.
Presence of call
attempt retries.
Notice the call
scenario for the
blocking if the
mobile camped on
this cell in another
time with a good
quality and
performance then
this cell maybe
congested.
Presence of reject
or noticing a
failure in any
request from RNC
to CN.

Adjust soft
handover
parameters to
decrease SHO on
this cell.
Check the 3G
phase in the
nearest sites in
this area.
Add a micro in this
area to handle
traffic there.
Continue to
observe Ainterface

Notes
From TEMS we can notice cell ID without having cell file only
in Idle mode from system information SIB 3 from cell identity
value which contains both Cell ID and RNC ID where the cell
ID is in the right side in hex format.

Also we can know cell ID from information elements: SAN

Cell ID (CI part).