NokiaEDU

5G Accessibility Optimization, internal

version [5G20A]

RA57353-V-20A0

RA57353-V-20A0 © Nokia 2021

 Module Objective
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• discuss the steps involved in the NSA accessibility procedures

• recognize the features that have an impact in the relevant steps

• list and explain the main counters and KPIs to monitor the accessibility performance

• describe the factors impacting the RACH procedure

• analyze different ways to monitor the RACH performance and how to optimize it

• recall the logic of the admission control algorithm and how to optimize rejections due to
admission control

• monitor E2E NSA accessibility and cell availability

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 Index
• Introduction to Accessibility
• NSA Accessibility Process
• Admission Control
• Cell availability
• Quiz

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 Index
• Introduction to Accessibility
• NSA Accessibility Process
• SA Accessibility Process
• Admission Control
• Cell availability
• Quiz

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 5G Accessibility
Introduction
• Accessibility is an important procedure within radio optimization as no access to the network
translates into no service.
• The process starts with an UE camped on a cell.
• Idle mode parameters are used so the UE camps on an EN-DC anchor cell (NSA mode) or on
a 5G cell (SA mode).
• UEs not supporting SA mode (EN-DC UEs) can only camp on an LTE cell to be used as anchor
cell.
• For UEs supporting SA mode, the operator must decide:
1. the preferred mode (SA or NSA) and
2. (in case of SA) the 5G frequency layer preferred
• This module covers the different steps involved in the NSA and in the SA accessibility
procedures including the relevant features, counters and KPIs

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 Index
• Introduction
• NSA Accessibility Process
• SA Accessibility Process
• Admission Control
• Cell availability
• Quiz

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 NSA accessibility NSA

Overall Process
UE LTE eNB 5G gNB

Step A X2 connection existing

Step B 4G RRC connection

setup
Step C E-RAB setup
(Step D) SgNB Addition Request Step E
Admission control

RRC Connection SgNB Addition Request Ack

Step F
Reconfiguration

RRC Connection
Reconfiguration Complete
SgNB Reconfiguration
Complete

SN Status Transfer Step G

Cell Detection (PSS and SSS)

Prior to step A there must be an X2 link between the LTE eNB and the 5G gNB (X2
link establishment) System Information decoding

The process starts with the UE in RRC idle mode on a 4G cell and it ends when the
5G RACH procedure has been completed on the 5G cell, including the RRC Step H Random Access Procedure
establishment in LTE.
E-RAB modification Indication
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 5G Accessibility NSA
X2 link establishment
• Pre-requisite for establishing a 5G connection is to have an X2 link established between the
LTE eNB and 5gNB
• The number of setup requests from KPIs (next slide) when looked from the eNB and the gNB
should be the same i.e. NR_5000a and LTE_6420a

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 X2 establishment NSA
KPIs
KPI id KPI name Formula
LTE 6420a E-UTRAN EN-DC X2 Setup Attempts en_dc_x2_setup_att
LTE 6419a E-UTRAN EN-DC X2 Setup Success Ratio en_dc_x2_setup_succ / en_dc_x2_setup_att
NR_5000a 5G Number of incoming X2 setup request received endc_x2_setup_request_received
from LTE eNB
NR_5001a 5G X2 setup procedure success ratio endc_x2_setup_response_sent / endc_x2_setup_request_received

NR_3a 5G Number of not started X2 setup after SCTP endc_x2_setup_request_not_rcvd

association establishment
NR_4a 5G X2 setup procedure failure ratio (endc_x2_setup_fail_nosup + endc_x2_setup_fail_confusion

+ endc_x2_setup_fail_max_x2 + endc_x2_setup_fail_processing

+ endc_x2_setup_fail_nocell + endc_x2_setup_fail_locked)

/ endc_x2_setup_request_received
NR_5a 5G Number of unsuccessful X2 setup procedures endc_x2_setup_fail_nosup + endc_x2_setup_fail_confusion

+ endc_x2_setup_fail_max_x2 + endc_x2_setup_fail_processing

+ endc_x2_setup_fail_nocell + endc_x2_setup_fail_locked

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 Step A: EN-DC Capable UE camps on LTE anchor cell NSA

• UEs with a 5G subscription will camp on the LTE anchor carrier when in idle mode.
• Operators decide what 4G carrier frequencies can act as LTE anchor for the EN-DC
connections e.g. all, a subset or one.
• This is done using mobility profiles based on a combination of UE capability and
subscriber profile ID (SPID).
• Parameterization on LTE side is complex and must consider also the legacy LTE layer
strategy

Note: After the EN-DC has camped on the LTE anchor cell, in case of Mobile Terminated Connections there would
be another step in which the MME sends the paging request to the eNB and the eNB sends it out on the radio
interface. It is not EN-DC specific and legacy LTE optimization procedures apply if needed.

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 Step A: EN-DC Capable UE camps on LTE anchor cell NSA
Features
• List of relevant features for deciding the LTE anchor carrier strategy

Feature id Feature name

LTE490 Subscriber profile ID selective neighbor cell list
LTE487 Idle Mode Load Balancing
LTE1677 Idle Mode Mobility Balancing Extensions
LTE2166 Dedicated Idle Mode Mobility Priorities
LTE2050 Load Triggered Idle Mode Load Balancing
LTE2051 Measurement Based Idle Mode Load Balancing
LTE2601 CA aware Idle Mode Load Balancing
LTE4154 CA aware Idle Mode Load Balancing II
LTE4945 TM9 aware IMLB
LTE5150 EN-DC capability-based mobility trigger
LTE5501 EN-DC aware idle mode load balancing
LTE5654 LAA prioritization over EN-DC (SRAN20C)

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 Step A: EN-DC Capable UE camps on LTE anchor cell NSA

Features

LTE5150: EN-DC capability mobility LTE5501: EN-DC aware idle mode load balancing
trigger • It considers EN-DC mobility as part of the load
• Feature can be used to move EN- balancing.
DC capable users to a specific • When a UE connection is released the eNB compares:
carrier by doing a handover
immediately after the RRC • the UE supported EN-DC band combinations,
connection is established. • the NR bands enabled for EN-DC IMLB and
• (optionally) the B1 measured NR coverage
and creates a list of LTE layers where the UE can be
LTE 5654: LAA prioritization over EN- directed.
DC
• Allows the eNB to prioritize LAA
SCells over EN-DC
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 Step A: EN-DC Capable UE camps on LTE anchor cell NSA
KPIs
• The values of these KPIs need to be checked for each LTE layer to confirm if the result is in line
with the planned strategy

KPI id KPI name KPI formula

LTE_6435a Average number of UEs capable for EN- AVG_CAP_UE_SCG / 100
DC
LTE_1907b Share of 4G RRC connections done with (AVG_CAP_UE_SCG / 100) /
EN-DC capable EU RRC_CONNECTED_UE_AVG
LTE_6429a E-UTRAN Initial E-RAB Setup Attempts for ERAB_STP_ATT_MCG_NR_PDCP
MCG bearer with NR PDCP

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 Step A: EN-DC Capable UE camps on LTE anchor cell NSA
KPIs
• Trend example for average number of UEs capable for EN-DC

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 Step A: EN-DC Capable UE camps on LTE anchor cell NSA
Examples from real networks
• Number of NR ERAB setup attempts from the different LTE layers.
• In the network, L2100 is the main anchor layer and LTE800 is used in low coverage locations.
• Most of the NR ERABs are set up from these two layers as per design.

Layer Share of LTE_6429 (NR ERAB setup attempts)

L0800 50%
L1800 4%
L2100 39%
L23TD1 4%
L23TD2 3%
Others 0%

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 Step A: EN-DC Capable UE camps on LTE anchor cell NSA
Examples from real networks
• Share of 4G RRC
connections done with EN-
DC capable UEs ( per cell in
golden cluster, averaged
over 7 days)
• LTE_1907 can be used to
estimate potential 5G traffic
in a cell before installing 5G
BTS

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 Step A: EN-DC Capable UE camps on LTE anchor cell NSA
Examples from real networks
• Average number of UEs capable
of EN-DC versus the actual 5G
users, 5G BTS.
• EN-DC capable terminals may
not use 5G for reasons such us:
• Lack of 5G radio coverage,
• EN-DC capability is not for
the operator’s band
combination
• Wrong UE implementation

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 Step B: LTE RRC connection establishment NSA

• Step purely related to LTE performance. It does not contain any EN-DC specifics.
• There are no specific parameters or counters/KPIs to follow the performance.
• PCMD or Emil traces are required to show the performance of EN-DC UEs.
• In case optimization is needed, it should be LTE optimization.

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 Step C: NR PDCP E-RAB and DRB is setup on LTE cell NSA

• An E-RAB is established between the UE and the MME and, as part of it, a DRB is established
between the UE and the eNB.
• DRB setup is a subset of the E-RAB setup:
• If the DRB setup success ratio (SR) is low, the LTE radio conditions need investigation
• If E-RAB setup SR is lower than DRB setup SR, the signalling between the eNB and the core
needs investigation
KPI id KPI name KPI formula
LTE_6430a E-UTRAN Initial E-RAB Setup Success Ratio for MCG ERAB_STP_SUCC_MCG_NR_PDCP /
bearer with NR PDCP ERAB_STP_ATT_MCG_NR_PDCP
LTE_6646a E-UTRAN Additional E-RAB Setup Success Ratio for ERAB_ADD_STP_SUCC_MCG_NR_PDCP /
MCG bearer with NR PDCP ERAB_ADD_STP_ATT_MCG_NR_PDCP
LTE_6650a E-UTRAN Initial DRB Setup Success Ratio for MCG DRB_INI_STP_SUCC_MCG_NR_PDCP /
bearer with NR PDCP DRB_INI_STP_ATT_MCG_NR_PDCP
LTE_6652a E-UTRAN Additional DRB Setup Success Ratio for DRB_ADD_STP_SUCC_MCG_NR_PDCP /
MCG bearer with NR PDCP DRB_ADD_STP_ATT_MCG_NR_PDCP

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 Step C: NR PDCP E-RAB and DRB is setup on LTE cell NSA

• Successful E-RAB setup may not lead to a 5G radio link establishment attempt.
• Reasons:
• UE must have an EPS Bearer with a QCI and an ARP value within the range enabled for
EN-DC
• UE must not have an ‘NR Restriction’ flag included within its Handover Restriction List
• 5G secondary cell addition will not happen if:
• A VoLTE call is ongoing when feature LTE5524: Ongoing QCI1 Prevents EN-DC Setup is
enabled
• There is a failed LTE carrier aggregation and LTE4575: Blind Carrier Aggregation with
LTE-NR DC Option 3X is enabled

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell NSA

• A 5G cell can be identified using:

Blind addition: When latency is Measurement based addition: Typical case. When
important and there is 5G radio 4G BTS provides the UE with information on 5G
coverage e.g. indoor cell or when cells and how they should be measured and the
using LTE and 5G on same frequency UE reports back to the 4G BTS when it has found
band with same antennas a suitable cell

• Both cases require the definition of at least one 4G-5G neighbour using the object
LNADJGNB. One instance is required as minimum.
• On cell level, object LNRELGNBCELL points to the specific 5G cells within the 5G BTS.
• Co-siting, co-sectored scenarios: the co-sited, co-sectored cell should be added as
minimum.
• If separate antennas and different azimuths for 4G and 5G then, it is also recommended to
add the co-sited, non co-sectored 5G cells.

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell NSA
Features

Feature id Feature name

LTE4193 Dynamic Trigger for LTE-NR DC Option 3X
LTE CR-30927 LTE EN-DC NR band priority
LTE CR-32313 Block B1-NR for an RRC connection after multiple 5G drops
LTE CR-31925 Anticipation of LTERLCR-31711- LTE EN-DC NR Periodic B1 Measurements
LTE CR-31168 LTE EN-DC NR band priority NIDD
LTE5740 Configurable Measurement Period for B1
LTE5226 Increased number of NR carriers
CB006613 EN-DC Establishment Robustness
CB007258 NR MFBI support in EN-DC [5G20B/SRAN21A]
5GC001416 Multi-Frequency Band Indicator NR support [5G20B/SRAN21A]

• LTE4193: main feature related to the identification of the 5G cell

• CR-30927, CR-31168 and LTE5226: related to the prioritization of specific 5G carriers
• CR-31925 and LTE5740: Dealing with measurement gaps

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell NSA
Parameters
• Several parameters control the measurement based SgNB addition
• The RSRP threshold and the RSRP time-to-trigger are the main ones that can be
tuned/optimized
b1ThresholdNrRsrp
Too high values:
• More difficult to find suitable 5G cells
• 5G radio connections are not attempted
• Reduction of end-user throughput and
• Limitation of off-loading from 4G to 5G
Too low values:
• 5G cell have bad radio conditions
• RACH procedure cannot be completed
• Worse retainability (connection will drop)
• Potentially, worst LTE throughput

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell NSA
b1ThresholdNrRSRP
RSRP threshold at which B1 measurements are triggered to find a 5G cell
Considerations when the optimal value:
• 5G bandwidth relative to the aggregated 4G bandwidth: large 5G bandwidth can give good
user throughput even if the 5G radio link conditions are bad.
• Its value needs to be higher than A2 threshold when 5GC00194: Introduction of A2 based
SgNB release is enabled to avoid ping-pong between establishing and releasing the
connection.

• Field tests are needed to determine the best settings in a network

• Set threshold relatively low if scope is to maximise time on 5G
• If scope is maximize end-throughput set threshold so 5G is used when 5G
radio is good while preventing the use of 5G when link is bad to avoid RACH
failures or 5G radio link drops

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell NSA
b1ThresholdNrRSRP
• Example of how increased B1 RSRP threshold (from -121 dBm to -116 dBm) lead to reduced
RACH failure ratio and higher combined 4G/5G application throughput without significantly
reducing the time-on-5G.

Cluster drive test, 5G19A, 600 MHz

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell NSA
b1ThresholdNrRSRP
• Example of how reduced B1 RSRP threshold from -106 dBm to -116 dBm lead to increased 5G
footprint.

Cluster drive test, 5G19, 2.6GHz

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell NSA
b1TimeToTriggerRsrp

b1TimeToTriggerRsrp
Too high values:
• Control Plane latency can be unacceptably high
Too low values:
• Higher risk that SgNB addition happens with bad 5G radio link

• Low CP latency is important in the initial setup and, in case 5G handover is not enabled, as a
way to facilitate a quick establishment to another sector after a release.
• b1TimeToTriggerRsrp can be used to select a preferred layer in case of multiple 5G layers by
using a shorter time-to-trigger in the preferred layer and longer time-to-trigger in the non
preferred ones.

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell NSA
Prioritization of 5G carriers
• Other way to prioritize specific 5G carriers is using the sequence of defined NR carriers in the
NRDCDPR.nrDcMeasConfig object so the higher priority is defined first using the following
features:

• CR-30927: Allows to give higher priority to FR2 cells if an operator has 5G on FR2(mmWave)
and FR1 frequencies. When UEs are in FR2 coverage, they will use the high bandwidth of FR2
and when FR2 coverage not available, UE still will be able to use 5G with a lower bandwidth.
• CR-31168: Feature includes a parameter for T1 timer and introduces a new priority level.
Highest priority: FR2, medium priority: FR1-TDD bands, lowest priority : other FR1 bands ( TDD
or FDD)
• LTE5226: allows the operator to give priority levels to each target 5G NR carrier and it
increases the number of carriers the UE measures from two to eight.

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell NSA
b1TimeToTriggerRsrp

• Example from LTE19A / 5G19A, 600 MHz Cluster drive test

• Scenario: 5G handover is not enabled, the 5G connection has just dropped in one 5G sector
and is then established again in a neighbor sector. The 4G connection is kept.
• Average 5G SCG addition time with different b1TimeToTriggerRsrp settings:

b1TimeToTriggerRsrp 640 ms 320 ms 80 ms

5G SCG addition time (ms) 820 ms 460 ms 320 ms

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell
Measurement Gaps
• Some chipsets (e.g. Qualcomm SDX55) require LTE measurement gaps to do the B1-NR
measurements.
• They reduce achievable throughput so operators may not want to use them.
• There are several options to deal with measurement gaps based on the LTE BTS SW version:

• LTE19B introduces measGapEnableB1NR to enable/disable them.

• SRAN19B with CR-31925 it is possible to allocate measurement gaps for the first 3 sec. of an
RRC connection to minimize throughput degradation.
• SRAN20B with LTE5470 it is possible to configure for how long the B1 thresholds are active
and how long it takes to reactivate them when they are deactivated.

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 Step D: Identification of the 5G cell
UE implementation

• The UE may autonomously decide that it will not use a 5G connection

• The reason can either be to prevent overheating or to conserve battery power

• The exact implementation is depending on the UE vendor

• Typically the UE will not generate B1 reports even though there is a 5G signal available

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 Step E: SgNB addition
Introduction
• Once the UE has found and reported a suitable 5G cell in the B1 measurement report, the eNB
can start the SgNB addition procedure.
• If LTE5003 feature is activated the eNB monitors the data volume of the EN-DC eligible bearer
and it triggers the SgNB addition procedure if:
• B1 NR measurement is received and
• the data volume is about a defined threshold

Feature id Feature name Data

LTE5003 Data buffer trigger for EN-DC

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 Step E: SgNB addition NSA

• Most steps of SgNB addition procedure happen inside the gNB with no involvement of the 4G
or 5G radio interface. Very high success ratios expected
• Only relevant for optimization is Admission Control

1. eNB sends SgNB addition request on X2 interface

2. gNB receives SgNB addition request on X2 interface
3. gNB-CU makes Admission Control for CU
4. gNB-CU sends UE context setup request on F1
5. gNB-DU receives UE context setup request on F1
6. gNB-DU makes Admission Control for DU
7. gNB-DU sets up the UE context
8. gNB-DU confirms to CU (via F1 interface) that the UE context has been set up
9. gNB-CU receives confirmation on F1 interface that the UE context has been set up
10. gNB-CU confirms to eNB (via X2 interface) that the SgNB addition has been done
11. eNB receives confirmation on X2 interface that the SgNB addition has been done

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 Step E: SgNB addition
SgNB addition Counters
Counter id Counter name Step Counter id Counter name Step
M8080C0 SCG_ADD_PREP_ATT 1 M55117C01004 NF1CD_UECTXT_STP_IPNOTSUPP 8
M55110C00034 X2_SGNB_ADD_REQ_REC 2 M55117C01005 NF1CD_UECTXT_STP_FAILMISC 8
M55114C00001 SGNB_NSA_ADMISSION_REQ 3 M55113C01002 NF1CC_UECTXT_STP_RESPRECD 9
M55114C00002 SGNB_NSA_ADMISSION_SUCC 3 M55113C01003 NF1CC_UECTXT_STP_QCINOTSUPP 9
M55114C00003 SGNB_NSA_NGBR_DRB_REQ 3 M55113C01004 NF1CC_UECTXT_STP_IPNOTSUPP 9
M55114C00004 SGNB_NSA_NGBR_DRB_SUCC 3 M55113C01005 NF1CC_UECTXT_STP_FAILMISC 9
M55114C00005 SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_CPUE 3 M55112C00002 X2_SGNB_ADD_REQ_ACK_SENT 10
M55114C00006 SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_NSA 3 M55112C00010 X2_SGNB_ADD_REQ_REJ_SENT 10
M55114C00007 SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_NGBR 3 M55112C01002 NX2CC_BEARER_FAIL_TYP_NOT_SUPP 10
M55113C01001 NF1CC_UECTXT_STP_REQSENT 4 M55112C01003 NX2CC_BEARER_FAIL_SEC_NOT_SUPP 10
M55117C01001 NF1CD_UECTXT_STP_REQRECD 5 M55112C01004 NX2CC_BEARER_FAIL_QCI_NOT_SUPP 10
M55115C00002 SGNB_DU_NSA_ADMISSION_REQ 6 M55112C01005 NX2CC_BEARER_FAIL_IP_NOT_SUPP 10
M55115C00003 SGNB_DU_NSA_ADMISSION_SUCC 6 M55112C01006 NX2CC_BEARER_FAIL_MISC 10
M55115C00004 SGNB_DU_NSA_ADMISSION_UNSUCC 6 M55112C01501 X2_SGNB_REQ_REJ_MISSING_UE_CAP 10
M55115C00005 SGNB_DU_NSA_ADMISSION_NO_PUCCH 6 M8080C1 SCG_ADD_PREP_FAIL_SGNB 11
M8080C2 SCG_ADD_PREP_FAIL_T 11
M55117C01002 NF1CD_UECTXT_STP_RESPSENT 8
M8080C3 SCG_ADD_PREP_SUCC 11
M55117C01003 NF1CD_UECTXT_STP_QCINOTSUPP 8

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 Step E: SgNB addition
SgNB addition KPIs
• Table shows the main KPIs. There are more detailed formulas covering the various failure
causes.
KPI id KPI name KPI formula Step(s)
NR_5014b 5G Radio admission success ratio for NSA SGNB_NSA_ADMISSION_SUCC / 3
user SGNB_NSA_ADMISSION_REQ
NR_454a 5G Radio admission success ratio for NSA SGNB_DU_NSA_ADMISSION_SUCC / 6
user per DU (SgNB Addition) SGNB_DU_NSA_ADMISSION_REQ
NR_189a 5G UE context setup success ratio per DU NF1CD_UECTXT_STP_RESPSENT / 5 to 8
NF1CD_UECTXT_STP_REQRECD
NR_5009a 5G UE context setup success ratio NF1CC_UECTXT_STP_RESPRECD / 4 to 9
NF1CC_UECTXT_STP_REQSENT
LTE_6945b E-UTRAN SgNB Addition Preparation SGNB_ADD_PREP_SUCC / (SGNB_ADD_PREP_ATT - 1 to 11
Success Ratio for Initial Access SGNB_ADD_PREP_ATT_IE_HO_X2)

NR_5004b 5G SgNB addition preparation success ratio X2_SGNB_ADD_REQ_ACK_SENT / 2 to 10

(X2_SGNB_ADD_REQ_ACK_SENT +
X2_SGNB_ADD_REQ_REJ_SENT)

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 Step F: RRC reconfiguration NSA

• The most critical part of this procedure is the communication between the UE and the eNB
over the 4G radio interface.
• Guard timers are running on both 4G (rrcGuardTimer) and 5G (tDCoverall) sides.
• The values of these timers should be aligned.

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 Step F: RRC reconfiguration NSA
RRC Reconfiguration KPIs

KPi id KPI name KPI formula

NR_5005a 5G SgNB reconfiguration success ratio X2_SGNB_RECONF_ACK_RECEIVED /
(X2_SGNB_RECONF_RECEIVED +
X2_SGNB_RECONF_T)
LTE_6947a E-UTRAN SgNB Addition DRB Establishment DRB_SGNB_ADD_SUCC /
Success Ratio DRB_SGNB_ADD_ATT

Note that NR_5005a will not capture the scenario where the RRC Connection Reconfiguration procedure fails.

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 Step G: Switching user plane to gNB (SN Status Transfer) NSA

• eNB informs the gNB about the exact place in the PDCP data stream where gNB takes
responsibility i.e. the Sequence Number (SN) is transferred.
• eNB informs the EPC that the user plane connection between RAN and EPC should be
switched from eNB to gNB
• There are no relevant optimization actions during this step except monitoring the
performance.

KPi id KPI name KPI formula

NR_5016a 5G Status Transfer received ratio during SgNB X2_SN_STATUS_TRANSFER_RECEIVED /
addition
(X2_SN_STATUS_TRANSFER_RECEIVED +
X2_SN_STATUS_TRANSFER_T)
LTE_6951a E-UTRAN SgNB Addition Completion Success SGNB_ADD_COMPL_SUCC / SGNB_ADD_COMPL_ATT
Ratio

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure PSS: Primary Synchronization Signal
SSS: Secondary Synchronization Signal
Overview PBCH: Physical Broadcast Channel

• The UE requests the connection to the network using the Random Access (RACH) Procedure
via common uplink resources.
• RACH procedure is initiated by the RRC Reconfiguration Procedure.
• With the RRC Connection Reconfiguration message the UE detects the PSS, SSS and PBCH of
the NR gNB.
• After successful detection, the UE performs the RACH procedure to the PSCell of the gNB.
• RACH procedure is not only used in SgNB addition or initial access but also in scenarios like
handover or other procedures to establish, re-establish the radio connection such as loss of
UL synchronization, beam recovery request and time alignment at SCell addition.
• 5G RACH procedure is also used in SA deployments.
• Most of the parameters and counters are the same for NSA and SA RACH.

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Procedure types
• There are two possible types of RACH Procedures
• Contention based
• Contention-free RACH procedure: From 5G19A with feature 5GC001874: Non contention
based random access procedure.

Note: 5GC001874 requires

the SRAN20C feature
LTE5667: Extended B1
measurement report for NR.

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
Factors impacting the RACH procedure
RACH Procedure is impacted by:
• Radio link quality: Its optimization is covered in the dedicated module of the training.
• RSI (Root Sequence Indicator) planning:
• Root Sequences are used to generate the PRACH preambles.
• They need to be allocated with a re-use distance, so a cell never receives PRACH
transmissions from a UE using the same Root Sequence within another cell.
• Root Sequence Index collisions generate PRACH load and poor PRACH performance.
• The RSI plan can be validated using tools (e.g. MUSA)
• RACH parameter settings
• UE implementation (in practice)

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Performance Monitoring: drive test logs
• UE informs the eNB of the 5G RACH procedure failures using the existing RRC connection.
• Reasons for RACH procedure failures:

• UE is not receiving msg2: The preamble transmission is repeated

• Max. number of preamble transmissions has been reached: The UE sends
“scgFailureInformationNR-r15” to the eNB with failureType =
“randomAccessProblem”
• UE cannot synchronize to the 5G signal or it receives msg2 and sends msg3 but
does not receive the contention resolution via PDCCH:
The UE sends “scgFailureInformationNR-r15” to the eNB with failureType =
“synchReconfigFailureSCG”

• “scgFailureInformationNR-r15” message is visible in the UE drive test logs.

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Performance Monitoring: PM counters
• M5116 counters capture failures that can be detected also with drive test logs.
• M55306 counters capture the received msg1 and msg3 and the sent msg2

Counter id Counter name Comment

M55306C00001..64 RA_ATT_CONT_A_PRMBL_SSB_00..63 Received contention-based preambles. Includes ghost
preambles
M55306C03001 RA_COMP_CONT_A_PRMBL Transmitted msg2 messages. Includes msg2
associated with ghost preambles
M55306C06001 RA_MSG3_RECEP Msg3 receptions. Can be related to initial access,
handover or beam recovery
M55116C00009 RLF_INITIATED_UE_RACH_FAIL Incremented if UE reports “randomAccessProblem”
M55116C00012 RLF_INITIATED_UE_SCG_CHGE_FAIL Incremented if UE reports “synchReconfigFailureSCG”
M55112C01001 NX2CC_UE_RELEASE_ABNORMAL If only 5G leg is used to transfer DL UP data, RACH
failure means no user plane data is arriving and it is
incrementing this counter instead of the failure ones.

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Performance Monitoring: KPIs

KPI id KPI name KPI formula Comment

NR_5013a 5G Contention based RACH RA_MSG3_RECEP / Ghost preambles will
setup success ratio normally cause this
RA_ATT_CONT_A_PRMBL_SSB_00..63
formula to show bad
values.
NR_5022a 5G Active RACH setup success RA_MSG3_RECEP / Best available RACH
ratio success KPI although it has
(RA_MSG3_RECEP +
some considerations (next
RLF_INITIATED_UE_RACH_FAIL +
slide)
RLF_INITIATED_UE_SCG_CHGE_FAIL)
NR_568a 5G Contention based RACH RA_COMP_CONT_A_PRMBL / Msg1 to msg2 success
response ratio RA_ATT_CONT_A_PRMBL_SSB_00..63 ratio. It includes ghost
preambles
NR_5011a 5G Contention free RACH setup RA_COMP_DED_PRMBL / No msg3 when
success ratio contention-free RACH is
RA_ATT_DED_PRMBL_SSB_00 ..63
used

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Performance Monitoring: KPIs
• NR_5022a: Main KPI to measure 5G RACH success ratio based on:
successes/(successes + failures)

• Considerations when using NR_5022a:

1. Only works if there is no SA traffic in the cell as the UE does not report the RACH failures in
case of SA although the numerator is still incremented by SA calls.
2. If HO procedure uses contention-based RACH, then 5G handovers also increment the
counters
3. Beam recoveries also increment the counters
4. If DL UP does not use the LTE leg, the counter NX2CC_UE_RELEASE_ABNORMAL is
incremented instead of the two RACH failure counters used in the denominator. If only the
5G leg is used for data transfer and the 5G RACH fails, there is no any UP data.

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Performance Monitoring: KPIs
• NR_568: msg1-to-msg2 success ratio (i.e. if the BTS responds to a received preamble) is
usually close to 100%.
• It degrades when there is a large number of received preambles and the BTS is not able to
transmit enough msg2 messages.

Example of how the msg2 response ratio

decreases when the number of received
preambles become very large. 5G19A, 3.5
GHz

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Optimization (1/4)
RACH can be optimized by optimizing the Radio Link Quality, having a good RSI plan in place
that avoids RACH collisions or via RACH parameterization.
For RACH parameterization the following actions can be taken:
1. Increase the RSRP threshold and or time to trigger parameters for finding a suitable 5G cell.
Parameters: b1ThresholdNrRSRP and/or the b1TimeToTriggerRsrp.

• A high threshold means a stronger 5G

RSRP level making the RACH procedure
more likely to succeed.
• It helps in retainability KPI, but it can
reduce end-user throughput (as 5G is
used in a smaller area) and prevent off- Example of how increasing b1ThresholdNrRSRP leads
loading from 4G to 5G. to better RACH SR. Cluster drive test, 600 MHz,
5G19A

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Optimization (2/4)
2. Separate the PRACH in the frequency domain and in the time domain at least for cells of the
same gNB.
Parameters: msg1FrequencyStart and prachConfigurationIndex

Improvement in RACH
setup SR when getting
PRACH frequency
diversity by using
different
msg1FrequencyStart in
all cells

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Optimization (3/4)
3. Maximize the probability of receiving a preamble sent from a UE while minimizing the risk
of receiving a ghost preamble (i.e. generated by noise or from another UE in other cell).
Parameters: pfaTargetPRACH and prachTresholdOffsetDb

Example of PRACH SR improvement by tuning BTS

thresholds by distinguishing between ghost and real
preambles). 3.5GHz, 5G19

Improvement only happens in counter-based KPI value.

End user likely not to notice difference unless the
amount of ghost preambles is very high.

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 Step H: 5G RACH Procedure
RACH Optimization (4/4)
4. Features activation:
• 5G001300: Frame structure enhancement, Preamble format C2-120kHz and
• 5GC001301: Frame structure enhancement, Preamble format C2-30kHz
activate the C2 RACH format which allows a larger cell ranges than the B4 and A2
formats.
The proportion of UEs at maximum cell range can be known from M55305: RACH timing
advance counters.

• CRL32313: Block B1-NR for an RRC connection after multiple 5G drops or

• CB006613: EN-DC Establishment Robustness
prevent repeated failed RACH attempts that can make the 4G throughput unstable due to
the continued switch of user plane traffic between 4G BTS and 5G BTS.

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 NSA E2E KPI formulas
NSA

• The amount of started connection attempts in the 4G BTS should be compared with the
amount of successfully ended RACH procedures in the 5G BTS.
• Due to the n-to-m mesh network that follow the 4G-5G neighbour relations is it difficult to
have a KPI formula that covers the4G and 5G so separate formulas are used instead

4G-5G neighbor mesh network. EN-DC connections with eNB-25 as anchor BTS are scattered among 5 different gNBs –
but the number of users in those 5 gNBs cannot simply be summarized and compared with eNB-25 because each gNB is
also connected to other eNBs

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 NSA E2E KPI formulas NSA

KPI id KPI name KPI formula Comment

LTE_6985b E-UTRAN Total SgNB SGNB_ADD_COMPL_SUCC / From eNB sends SgNB Addition
Addition Success (SGNB_ADD_PREP_ATT - Request (i.e. the UE has reported strong
SGNB_ADD_PREP_ATT_IE_HO_X2) enough 5G signal) until the EPC has
switched the user plane to gNB

NR_5020d 5G NSA call (X2_SGNB_ADD_REQ_ACK_SENT / From when the gNB receives SgNB
accessibility, 5G side (X2_SGNB_ADD_REQ_ACK_SENT + Addition Request until the gNB has
X2_SGNB_ADD_REQ_REJ_SENT) received the SgNB Reconfiguration
Complete message (i.e. before 5G
*
RACH procedure has been completed).
(X2_SGNB_RECONF_ACK_RECEIVED / Includes also the inter-gNB HO scenario
(X2_SGNB_RECONF_RECEIVED +
X2_SGNB_RECONF_T))
NR_5022a 5G Active RACH setup RA_MSG3_RECEP / Covers the 5G RACH procedure
success ratio (RA_MSG3_RECEP +
RLF_INITIATED_UE_RACH_FAIL +
RLF_INITIATED_UE_SCG_CHGE_FAIL)

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 Index
• Introduction
• NSA Accessibility Process
• SA Accessibility Process
• Admission Control
• Cell availability
• Quiz

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 SA Accessibility SA
Overall Process
• SA accessibility covers the events from when the UE is in RRC idle mode on a 5G cell until the
5G procedure has been completed on the 5G cell.
• Only 5G RAN and 5G
Core Network are
involved in the
procedure. The LTE
network is not involved.

5G radio connection setup in

SA network

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 Step A: 5G Paging SA
Overview
• 5G paging procedure is applicable to the 5G SA case as the UE is allowed to camp on the 5G
network. In NSA the 4G paging procedure applies instead.
• Similar 4G and 5G paging procedures but an important difference is that the 5G procedure
does not allow a UE to be addressed by the IMSI.
• Paging procedure is used:
• By the core network (AMF) to initiate a connection establishment for a UE in RRC: Idle mode
• By the gNB to inform the UE of a SIB update or an ETWA warning message

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 Step A: 5G paging SA
Factors impacting paging and paging monitoring
• Paging performance depends on several factors:
• AMF paging policy
• Tracking Area design
• Paging channel congestion
• gNB parameter settings for DCI paging aggregation level
• Radio link quality
• AMF counters are needed to monitor the paging success ratio.
• It is not possible to derive the paging success ratio from gNB counters as paging messages
are sent to all gNBs within a tracking area (UE does not update the network while moving
within the registered tracking area), but the paging response happens only in one of the gNBs.

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 Step B: 5G RACH procedure SA
Overview
RACH procedure for SA deployments is similar to the NSA RACH procedure.
Random Access procedure is needed for:
• Initial access
• Transition from RRC_INACTIVE to RRC_CONNECTED
• Handovers
• Loss of UL synchronization
• Beam failure recovery request
• Establishing time alignment during SCell addition
• Scheduling request failure
• During synchronous reconfiguration

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 Step B: 5G RACH procedure SA
Procedure

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 Step B: 5G RACH procedure SA
Differences between SA and NSA RACH Procedure

The contention resolution message

Contention free initial access is not (msg4) is done via the RRC Setup
possible in SA: message instead of the UL grant sent
The 5G BTS needs to provide first a on the PDCCH.
preamble in case of contention-free RACH
so it needs to be already a connection
between the 5G BTS and the UE. As in SA there is no established 4G
In NSA deployments contention-free connection, operators may decide to
access is possible since 5G19A. try RACH at lower RSRP levels
compared with NSA mode so there is a
possibility of higher failure ratio due to
lower RSRP.

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 Step B: 5G RACH procedure SA
Optimization and performance monitoring
Optimization actions for SA RACH are the same as for NSA RACH i.e.:
• Optimizing the Radio Link Quality
• Having a good RSI plan
• Using the RACH parameterization: Same parameters need to be set for SA and NSA.

Performance monitoring: Differences with SA are:

• The expected number of RACH procedures are not known from the X2 messages so NR_5021
5G RACH setup success ratio after SgNB addition KPI does not apply.
• The UE does not report failed RACH procedures via the 4G RRC connection so NR_5022a 5G
Active RACH setup success ratio does not apply as the denominator is not updated (failures)
whereas the successes in the numerator are still incremented by SA calls.

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 Step B: 5G RACH procedure SA
KPIs

KPI id KPI name KPI formula Comment

NR_5013a 5G Contention based RACH ra_msg3_recep / Ghost preambles will normally
setup success ratio cause this formula to show bad
ra_att_cont_a_prmbl_ssb_00..63
values.
NR_568a 5G Contention based RACH ra_comp_cont_a_prmbl / Msg1 to msg2 success ratio. It
response ratio ra_att_cont_a_prmbl_ssb_00..63 includes ghost preambles

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 Step C: RRC connection establishment SA
Overview
• UE sends the RRC Setup Request msg3 including the establishment cause: “MO Data”, “MT
Access”, “MO Signaling”…
• The gNB does the admission control first in the DU and then in the CU and it sends the RRC
Setup back to the UE that responds with RRC Setup Completed.
• The procedure can fail because:
1. Software problems
2. Lack of capacity in the gNB (admission control rejection)
3. Problems with the radio connections preventing either the RRC Setup or RRC Setup
Complete

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 Step C: RRC connection establishment SA
Procedure
• UE sends the RRC Setup Request msg3 including
the establishment cause: “MO Data”, “MT
Access”, “MO Signaling”…
• The gNB does the admission control first in the
DU and then in the CU and it sends the RRC
Setup back to the UE that responds with RRC
Setup Completed.
• The procedure can fail because:
1. Software problems
2. Lack of capacity in the gNB (admission
control rejection)
3. Problems with the radio connections
preventing either the RRC Setup or RRC
Setup Complete

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 Step C: RRC connection establishment SA
RRC Re-establishments
• The UE can also send an RRC Reestablishment request instead of an RRC Setup Request when
an existing connection has been terminated due to radio link failure.
• RRC Reestablishments also require admission control and result in RRC Setup and RRC Setup
Complete messages.
• Counters for admission control and RRC setup completion do not distinguish between initial
requests and re-establishments.
• Re-establishments are included in the accessibility KPI formulas.
• KPI may show lower values as RRC re-establishments happen after a radio link failure

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 Step C: RRC connection establishment SA
KPIs
KPI id KPI name KPI formula Comment
NR_5167b 5G SA RRC connection NRRCC_RRC_STPSUCC_TOT / RRC reestablishments are included in the
establishment success (NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_MO_SIGNALLING + formula
ratio NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_MO_DATA +
NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_MT_ACCESS +
NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_EMERGENCY +
NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_HIPRIO_ACCESS +
NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_MO_VOICECALL +
NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_MO_VIDEOCAL +
NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_MO_SMS +
NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_MPS +
NRRCC_RRC_STPREQ_MCS +
RRC_REESTAB_FALLBACK)
NR_5162a 5G SA Radio admission SGNB_SA_ADMISSION_SUCC / CU admission control. Failures are
success ratio for SA users SGNB_SA_ADMISSION_REQ probably caused by capacity issues

NR_xxx 5G SA DU Radio SGNB_SA_DU_ADMISSION_SUCC / DU admission control. Failures are

admission success ratio for SGNB_SA_DU_ADMISSION_REQ probably caused by capacity issues
SA users
NR_5079a 5G SA Admission control SGNB_SA_DU_RAC_REJ_DUE_PUCCH / Failures caused by too many CSI report
rejection ratio due to lack SGNB_SA_DU_ADMISSION_REQ resources needed
of PUCCH resources

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 Step D: AMF Selection SA
Overview
• 5G20A feature 5GC000740: NG-C Flex (SA mode) introduces the support of an NG-C Flex
interface which enables the gNB to connect up to 32 AMFs.
• Advantages:
• Lower sensitivity to failures in the NG-C interface
• Load balancing across AMFs
• Higher network scalability

• When the gNB receives the RRC: RRC Setup Complete, it selects the desired AMF and sends
the NGAP: Initial UE Message to the AMF.

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 Step D: AMF Selection SA
Monitoring
• The process can be monitored by looking at:
• The start and end points ( Initial UE Message and RRC Setup Complete Message)
• The dedicated AMF selection counters in the M55155 measurements (starting from 5G20A)

KPI id KPI name KPI formula

NR_4145b AMF selection success ratio AMF_SELECTION_SUCC /
AMF_SELECTION_ATT
NR_1224a 5G SA Initial UE message sent success ratio NNGCC_INIT_UE_MSG_SENT /
NRRCC_RRC_STPSUCC_TOT

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 Step E: Establishment of the NG-C Connection SA

• Within this step the gNB sends the NGAP: Initial UE message to the AMF and the AMF replies
with the NGAP: Initial Context Setup Request.
• There are no radio optimization actions as all activities happen in the core network.
• The NGAP connection establishment can be monitored with the formula below.
• The formula is not expected to have values of 100% as while normal call establishments
generate both messages, signaling procedures (e.g. Tracking Area Updates) only generate the
NGAP: Initial UE message).
• However, it should be monitored to detect changes that may require troubleshooting within
the core network.

KPI id KPI name KPI formula

NR_1225a 5G SA NGAP connection establishment success ratio NNGCC_UE_CTXT_STP_REQ_RECD /
NNGCC_INIT_UE_MSG_SENT

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 Step F: PDU session(s) establishment SA
Overview
• A PDU session can be established:
• During the initial context setup (starting with NGAP Initial Context Setup Request and
ending with NGAP: Initial Context Setup Response)
• At a later stage using a dedicated procedure (starting with NGAP: PDU Session Resource
Setup Request and ending with NGAP: PDU Session Resource Setup Response)
• Signaling procedures for both are shown in next slides
• Most of the activities happen within the gNB but the UE and radio interface are also involved.

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 Step F: PDU session(s) establishment SA
Signalling for PDU established during the initial UE context setup

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 Step F: PDU session(s) establishment SA
Signalling for PDU established with dedicated procedure

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 Step F: PDU session(s) establishment SA
Failure scenarios and monitoring
Failure scenarios:
• High load in gNB: Check admission control counters in CU and in DU.
• UE or radio link problems: Check success ratios of the Security Command and RRC
Reconfiguration procedures.
KPI id KPI name KPI formula
NR_5168a 5G Initial context setup success ratio NNGCC_UE_CTXT_STP_RESP_SENT /
NNGCC_UE_CTXT_STP_REQ_RECD
NR_5143b 5G SA PDU session resource setup success ratio NNGCC_PDU_SES_STP_RESP_SENT /
NNGCC_PDU_SES_STP_REQ_RECD
NR_545a 5G Non-GBR DRB radio admission success ratio for SGNB_SA_NGBR_DRB_SUCC /
SA users SGNB_SA_NGBR_DRB_REQ
NR_xxx 5G Non-GBR DRB radio admission success ratio for SGNB_SA_DU_NGBR_DRB_SUCC /
SA users in DU SGNB_SA_DU_NGBR_DRB_REQ
NR_xxx Security mode success ratio NRRCC_SEC_MOD_CMP_RECD /
NRRCC_SEC_MOD_CMD_SENT
NR_5166a 5G SA RRC reconfiguration success ratio NRRCC_RRC_RECONF_CMP_RECD /
NRRCC_RRC_RECONF_SENT

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 E2E KPI formulas SA
5G SA Accessibility
The best E2E SA accessibility formula:

NR_5151a: 5G SA Accessibility success ratio =

5G SA RRC CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT SR * 5G SA INITUEMESSAGE SR * 5G SA INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP SR

Some aspects of the e2e SA accessibility are not included:

• Paging success ratio:
Only the AMF knows if the paging procedure is successful
• RACH procedure:
Very difficult to measure in SA deployment
• NG-C connection establishment success ratio:
Not all requests lead to a UE context, so this component cannot be expected to be 100%
• Dedicated PDU session procedure:
There are often very few of these procedures, so even small number of failures can heavily impact the E2E KPI

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 Index
• Introduction
• NSA Accessibility Process
• SA Accessibility Process
• Admission Control
• Cell availability
• Quiz

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 Admission Control
Overview
• The purpose of the Radio Admission Control (RAC) is to protect L1 and L2 resources
against high load.
• High load may be caused by high utilization of radio resources of due to L1 or L2
processing power need.
• Admission control is performed when a new connection is established and when there are
incoming handovers. By default, both processes have same priority but it is possible to
give more priority to incoming handovers.
• Admission control is also responsible for selecting the best combination of carriers in case
5G carrier aggregation is in use.

Feature id Feature name

5GC000480 Radio Admission Control for NSA mode 3x operation
5GC001836 Spillover from 5GC000480 Radio Admission Control for NSA mode 3x
operation
5GC000876 Radio Admission Control – SA mode

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 Admission Control
Overview
• Admission control is performed separately in the Centralised Unit (CU) and in the Distributed
Unit (DU).
• Admission control in the Central Unit accepts or rejects request after performing checks on:
• Number of active UEs operating in SA mode or NSA mode 3x per 5G cell (NRCELL) and per
5G cell group (NRCELLGRP) where a cell group is made of multiple cells on different carrier
frequencies covering the same sector
• Number of non-GBR DRBs of active UEs operating in SA mode or NSA mode 3x per 5G cell
group (NRCELLGRP)
• Number of users per CP-UE
• Number of non-GBR DRBs per CP-UE
• Admission control in the Distributed Unit checks if there is enough PUCCH capacity to send
the CSI (Channel Status Indicator) reports from the UE to the BTS.

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 Admission Control KPIs also include possible rejection causes

Performance Monitoring (PM KPIs) NSA

KPI id KPI name KPI formula

NR_5124a 5G Average number of NSA users AVE_NUMBER_OF_NSA_USERS /
AVE_NUMBER_OF_NSA_USERS_DENOM
Used to check the lack of PUCCH capacity
NR_5125a 5G Maximum number of NSA users PEAK_NUMBER_OF_NSA_USERS
Used to check the lack of PUCCH capacity
NR_5126a 5G Average admission holding time of NSA users AVE_NSA_USER_HOLDING_TIME /
AVE_NSA_USER_HOLDING_TIME_DEN
NR_5014b 5G Radio admission success ratio for NSA user SGNB_NSA_ADMISSION_SUCC / (SGNB_NSA_ADMISSION_REQ +
SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_CPUE +
SGNB_NSA_RAC_RE_DUE_TO_NGBR)
NR_50a 5G Radio admission success ratio for NSA user in handover SGNB_NSA_HO_ADMISSION_SUCC /
SGNB_NSA_HO_ADMISSION_REQ
It can be improved by increasing the value of the parameter
NRCELLGRP: addNumOfHoUser

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 Admission Control
Performance Monitoring (PM KPIs) NSA

KPI id KPI name KPI formula

NR_272b 5G Radio admission rejection ratio per SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_CPUE / (SGNB_NSA_ADMISSION_REQ+
cause lack of CP-UE capacity SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_CPUE + SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_NGBR)
NR_273b 5G Radio admission rejection ratio per SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_NGBR / (SGNB_NSA_ADMISSION_REQ+
cause lack of non-GBR capacity SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_CPUE + SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_NGBR)
It can be improved by increasing the value of the parameter NRCELL:
maxNumOfNonGBRBearers

NR_274b 5G Radio admission rejection ratio per SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_NSA / (SGNB_NSA_ADMISSION_REQ +

cause lack of NSA user capacity SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_CPUE + SGNB_NSA_RAC_REJ_DUE_TO_NGBR)
It can be improved by increasing the value of the parameter NRCELL:
maxNumOfUsersPerCell

NR_5075a 5G NSA Admission control rejection ratio SGNB_DU_NSA_ADMISSION_NO_PUCCH / SGNB_DU_NSA_ADMISSION_REQ

due to lack of PUCCH resources

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 Admission Control
Performance Monitoring (PM KPIs) SA

KPI id KPI name KPI formula

NR_5128a 5G Average number of SA RRC AVE_NUMBER_OF_SA_RRC / AVE_NUMBER_OF_SA_RRC_DENOM
connected users
NR_5129a 5G Maximum number of SA RRC PEAK_NUMBER_OF_SA_RRC_USERS
connected users
NR_548a 5G Average RRC connection AVE_SA_RRC_HOLDING_TIME / AVE_SA_RRC_HOLDING_TIME_DEN
duration for SA users

NR_5162a 5G Radio admission success ratio SGNB_SA_ADMISSION_SUCC / SGNB_SA_ADMISSION_REQ

for SA users
NR_5163a 5G Radio admission success ratio SGNB_SA_HO_ADMISSION_SUCC / SGNB_SA_HO_ADMISSION_REQ
in handover for SA users
NR_5079a 5G SA Admission control rejection SGNB_SA_DU_RAC_REJ_DUE_PUCCH /
ratio due to lack of PUCCH
SGNB_SA_DU_ADMISSION_REQ
resources

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 Admission Control DU: Distributed Unit

Optimizing admission control rejections due to PUCCH Capacity

• Admission control in the DU checks if there is enough PUCCH capacity to send the CSI reports
from the UEs to the BTS
• Rejections can happen with small number of users based on the setting of the
csiReportPeriodicity parameter. Example: 5G19A, 3.5GHz

csiReportPeriodicity=320 slots (max. value) When avg. number of users (NR_5124) is

Beamforming enabled Cell capacity: 40 greater than 35, admission control rejections
TD-LTE frame structure connected users increase
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 Admission Control
Optimizing admission control rejections due to PUCCH capacity
1. Increase csiReportPeriodicity so each user needs less PUCCH capacity for CSI reports.
Note: Scheduling request periodicity is also decided by the csiReportPeriodicity so if
increased it should be considered to use proactive UL scheduling to achieve low latency.
2. Decrease nsaInactivityTimer so connections are released quicker, leaving resources for
other users
3. Disable beamforming in cell with high number of users: it reduces the coverage of the cell
but UEs only send once the CSI report per interval instead of two reports i.e. disabling
beamforming doubles the number of users that can be handled.
4. Use 5G19B feature 5G001940: Spillover part 2 TDD scheduler for Multi-UE support that
allows to double the PUCCH capacity by creating additional sub-cells for PUCCH.

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 Index
• Introduction
• NSA Accessibility Process
• SA Accessibility Process
• Admission Control
• Cell availability
• Quiz

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 Cell Availability
Overview
• Cell availability shows if the services on a cell are available for end users assuming the gNB is
working.
• It is not possible yet to distinguish between different unavailability scenarios e.g. if due to BTS
integrated but non on air (blocked by user status) or if due to genuine SW issues.
• A manual analysis is needed if the BTS is supposed to be on air.
• Cell availability related counters:

Network Element Counter id Counter name NetAct name

gNB M55601C00001 Cell availability denominator DENOM_CELL_AVAIL
gNB M55601C00002 Samples when the cell is available SAMPLES_CELL_AVAIL

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 Cell Availability
PM Sequence Chart
• SgNB-DU interfaces check whether Operation
State of the cell is enabled.
• With every check, that takes around 1 s, the
counter DENOM_CELL_AVAIL (samples when
cell availability is checked) is incremented.
• If the value of the parameter
MRBTS/NRBTS/NRCELL/operationalState =1 the
counter SAMPLES_CHECK_AVAIL (number of
samples when the cell is available) is
incremented.
• Otherwise, the verification procedure is
repeated.

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 Cell Availability To have a network with high cell availability both,
KPIs NR_5150a and NR_576a, must show high values

KPI id KPI name KPI formula

LTE_5239a E-UTRAN Cell Availability, excluding SAMPLES_CELL_AVAIL / (DENOM_CELL_AVAIL -
blocked by user state (BLU) SAMPLES_CELL_PLAN_UNAVAIL)
NR_5150a 5G Cell availability ratio SAMPLES_CELL_AVAIL / DENOM_CELL_AVAIL
NR_576a 5G Samples counter availability ratio DENOM_CELL_AVAIL / (60 x MEASUREMENT_PERIOD x
Number of cells that report M55601C00001)

• NR_5150a only detects problems if there are available counter values.

If gNB is down for a measurement period, neither the numerator nor the denominator will be
incremented and issues with cell availability are not noticed.
• NR_576a avoids it by providing the counter availability. It checks the DENOM_CELL_AVAIL is
reported for the whole time of period observed.
If a cell provides counter values during part of the report period but not for the whole period,
the KPI will show less than 100%

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 Cell Availability
KPIs

KPI id KPI name KPI formula

NR_5000a 5G Number of incoming X2 setup ENDC_X2_SETUP_REQUEST_RECEIVED
request received from LTE eNB

NR_278a 5G Number of F1 setup procedure F1_SETUP_ATT

attempts

• X2 and F1 setup requests amounts can also be used as problem indicators: If the interface
goes down due to some problems, the gNB will try to re-establish the interface, and this will
increment the attempt counters.

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 Cell Availability
Example from live network
• Cell availability KPIs are useful when
troubleshooting issues in specific cells. They
are not useful when averaged over a whole
network (specially in roll-out projects where
many cells can be already integrated but
not on-air yet (‘blocked by user’).
• If averaged over a whole network or over
many cells, consider excluding the
maintenance period of those cells from the
calculation to obtain values closer to the
actual scenario

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 Cell availability
Sleeping cells RS: Reporting Suite

• 5G networks also have 5G sleeping cells. There is not a commonly agreed method to detect
them.
• 5G19B RS contains the script 5G228: Sleeping Cell Detection to extract the relevant KPIs.
• Alarms also need to be checked e.g. with reports in RS 5G030: Alarm Statistics and 5G031:
Alarms per type/severity/ID
• There are features that automatically detect and recover sleeping cells.
Feature id Feature name Release
5GC002388 Sleeping cell 1, RACH detection 5G19A
5GC002083 Sleeping cell 2 detection and recovery via RACH 5G20A

• 5GC002338 uses a set of conditions based on RACH counters to detect if a given cell appears
to be “sleeping”. If these conditions are met, an alarm is raised.
• 5GC002083 enhances the functionality by being automatically resetting either the baseband
unit or the entire BTS in case a sleeping cell is found.

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 Index
• Introduction
• NSA Accessibility Process
• SA Accessibility Process
• Admission Control
• Cell availability
• Quiz

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 Quiz 1-1

Measurement based SgNB addition is based on event…

A2

A3

B1

<Nokia Internal>
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 Quiz 1-2

Which statement is NOT a reason for RACH procedure failure?

The maximum number of preamble transmissions has been reached.

The UE does not receive the contention resolution via PDCCH.

The UE does not send the Msg. 2

<Nokia Internal>
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 Quiz 1-3

The admission control in the _______ checks if there is enough PUCCH capacity
to send the CSI reports from the UE to the BTS.

Centralized unit

Distributed unit

<Nokia Internal>
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 Field test exercise 1

Open the Log file 2019-12-04-14-33-13-0000-0000-0412-5514-S.sqc

From e2e perspective, there is no 5G accessibility. What is the reason?

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