Title: Evaluation and optimisation of GSM network in Jenien City, Palestine

Authors: Baha Mkheimer; Ali Jamoos

Addresses: Palestine Cellular Communications Co., Ltd (Jawwal), P.O. Box 3999, Al-Bireh, Palestine ' Electronic Engineering Department, Al-Quds University, P.O. Box 20002, Jerusalem, Palestine

Abstract: This paper presents a case study about the evaluation and optimisation of GSM network in Jenien City, Palestine. Two approaches are used to evaluate the network performance, namely: key performance indicators (KPIs) and drive test. The initial evaluation of the network showed that about 0.76% of the initiated connections are dropped. In addition, about 7.76% of the collected samples from the drive test lie in level 4 which is the worst level in terms of signal quality and signal strength. Moreover, only 65.5% of the collected samples lie in level 1 which is the best level in terms of signal quality and strength. A new traffic channel (TCH) and broadcast control channel (BCCH) frequency plans are proposed to decrease TCH drop rate, reduce interference level and boost signal quality. The proposed plans are implemented into the network. Two kinds of optimisation procedures are adopted. The first one is manual optimisation while the second one is by using specific optimisation tools. According to the comparative study, we carried-out between the performance of the network before and after optimisation, the average TCH drop rate is reduced from 0.76% to 0.62%. In addition, the percentage of samples in level 1 is increased from 65.5% to 76.8% while the percentage of samples in level 4 is decreased from 7.76% to 5.16%.

Keywords: global system for mobile; GSM networks; mobile networks; network evaluation; network optimisation; drive test; key performance indicators; KPIs; TCH drop rate; handover success rate; signal quality; signal level; Palestine.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMNDI.2012.054458

International Journal of Mobile Network Design and Innovation, 2012 Vol.4 No.4, pp.201 - 213

Published online: 25 Oct 2014 *

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