GSM-R
GSM-R: Quality of Service
Tests at Customer Trial Sites
Rudolf Schrenk
This article describes quality-of-
service (QoS) tests at railway cu-
stomer trial sites. The QoS tests
consider the GSM-R network
which has been agreed to by the
UIC to be the track-to-train com-
munication platform for the cur-
rent and future railway applica-
tions. The performance of the va-
rious applications themselves will
not be the focus hereafter.
Based on the experience gained
during several test campaigns on
railway operator’s trial tracks in
Germany, France, Switzerland
and Sweden, some recommenda-
tions are given concerning the
test and evaluation strategy of
QoS criteria. Used test tools and
typical QoS values, measured at
customer trial sites which are
equipped with Siemens GSM-R
infrastructure, are presented. The
tests‘ results demonstrate that in
a well-planned radio environ-
ment all known railway QoS re-
quirements will be fullfilled by
the installed GSM-R equipment.
1 Introduction
In 1993 the European railways organized
under the UIC (Union International des
Chemins de fer) agreed to introduce a
The Author
Dipl.Ing.(FH) Rudolf Schrenk
Born in 1949. Graduated in Electrical En-
gineering from the Munich University of
Applied Sciences. From1975 till 1985 wor-
ked on military radar tracking systems for
Siemens, Munich. Since 1985 has been wor-
king for Siemens mobile communication in
base station development. Since 1999 res-
ponsible for GSM-R issues within the sy-
stems engineering division.
Address:
Hofmannstraße 51, D-81379 München
E-Mail:rudolf.schrenk@icn.siemens.de
SIGNAL + DRAHT (92) 9/2000
GSM-based communication system for
voice and data transmission. This GSM-R
network with its own frequency spectrum
of 4 MHz (20 carriers) will be the unique
digital radio platform for the great variety
of current and future railway applications
(RAPs), like ETCS, ERTMS, FFB, Dia-
gnos-
tics, Logistics, Emercency Mgmt, Passen-
ger Information System, Ticketing, etc..
Since this decision, most of the European
railway companies have built up trial sites
with GSM-R prototypes to test and vali-
date the railway specific functions and re-
quirements, as defined,for example, in the
“UIC EIRENE (European Integrated
Railway Radio Enhanced Network) FRS
& SRS”or the “FFFIS for EURORADIO
(ETCS/ERTMS)”. The ETSI-Standard is,
of course, the binding baseline for the
GSM-R system.
The GSM-R functionality is mainly tested
at reference test beds (RTB) of the GSM-
R network suppliers. Quality-of-service,
however, can be approved and validated
better under the real operational and ra-
dio environment conditions along the rail-
track of a customer trial site (CTS).
2 Customer Trial Sites
From a QoS testing point of view, a custo-
mer trial site consists of the railtrack envi-
ronment,the GSM-R network and a set of
specific measurement equipment.
2.1 Rail Environment
A customer trial site railtrack has a typical
length of anywhere from 30 km up to 120
km. It can be in a flat terrain topography
(e.g. BANVERKET CTS Stockholm-
Nynäshamn) or it can be embedded in a
© by Tetzlaff Verlag, Hamburg
valley with surrounding hills (e.g. SBB
CTS Olten – Sempach). It can enclose no
or a lot of tunnels (e.g. ARCOR CTS
Stuttgart – Mannheim) – covered usually
by “repeaters”.
The test trains can run with a speed of 60
km/h to 330 km/h (for example the TGV
engine of SNCF at the MORANE CTS
Paris-Monchi). A train’s journey on a cu-
stomer trial site railroad, which is called a
test “run”, can be with or without stops
between the departure and the arrival sta-
tion.
The number of base station transceivers
(BTS) along the track, their antenna‘s
height and gain, the transmitter power
and the receiver sensitivity determine the
coverage which can be expected. Normal-
ly the BTS are situated a few meters away
from the track and have a typical density
of 0.1... 0.3 BTS / km.
The railway operators use special 8W mo-
bile terminals for train drivers / track-
side elements (CabRadio) and 2 W gene -
ral purpose mobiles (Handheld). Usually
they have disabled the GSM function
“MS/BS Power Control”.
The interference situation,that directly ef-
fects the radio connection quality or bit-
error-rate (BER), is essentially deter-
mined by the radio network planning ta-
king into account the topography around
the railtrack. Figure 1 shows an example
of a trial site railtrack.During a test run a
predetermined number of subscribers, ter-
minals and SIM-cards are in operation.
Figure 1: Example of
a trial site railtrack
The traffic profile depends on the applica-
tion intention of the railway operator. It
can comprise voice and/or data calls,
transmission rates of 2.4/ 4.8/ 9.6 kbps
transparent or non-transparent, point-to-
point (PTP) or voice group (ASCI) call
services, permanent or short connections,
single or multiple (parallel) calls.
2.2 Network Configuration
Figure 2 shows a typical GSM-R network
configuration as used for quality-of-ser-
vice tests at different customer trial site.
61
GSM-R
Figure 2: A typical GSM-R network configuration as used for quality-of-service tests at
different customer trial site
The GSM-R infrastructure consists of a
number of “on-air” cells (BTS) along the
railtrack,their controller (BSC),an opera-
tion & maintenance center (OMC), a
transcoding & rate adaption unit (TRAU)
and a mobile switching center (MSC),
which realizes the circuit switch to the
operator’s fixed network (e.g. ISDN), and
the rail specific radio block center (RBC).
The RBC contains the fixed terminals
(phones/ modems/ PCs) needed for the
QoS test. Often the entities OMC, BSC,
TRAU and MSC are co-located within
the RBC.
At the trackside there is an engine that
usually pulls a test coach.
2.3 Measurement Equipment
The test coach carries at least one 8 W
CabRadio (Kapsch) with a GPS receiver
and a trace-PC (TPC), one 2 W Handheld
(Sagem) and a couple of antennas on the
roof with a coax-panel in the test cabin.
Both mobile types (MS) are able to hand-
le the GSM bearer services BS24/25/26 as
well as the new voice broadcast /group
call services VBS/ VGCS (ASCI functio-
nality). For multiple parallel calls additio-
nal mobiles (8 W-MS and/or 2 W-MS), as
well as MS from other suppliers can be, of
course, taken along.
The air interface between the MS and the
BTS (Um) can only be observed by built-
in tracers of the MS suppliers. For exam-
ple, the Kapsch-TPC traces the messages
and user data received from and transmit-
ted to the Um-interface and inserts locati-
on data from a GPS-receiver into the tra-
ce on a unique time base.
The signalling on the standard GSM inter-
faces between BTS and BSC (Abis), bet-
ween BSC and MSC (A) and between
MSC and the ISDN network (I) can be
observed by so-called “GSM protocol tra-
cers”.In order to have a unique and accu-
62
rate time base for the messages that are
transported through the GSM-R system it
is important that all the involved interfa-
ces are plugged to the same tracer. There
are protocol tracers of different suppliers
on the market, but the K1205 from TEK-
TRONIX has proved efficient in many
QoS tests.
The OMC is used to set certain test para-
meters (data base) and to collect state sta-
tus infos and performance measurement
counters during the runs. At the RBC the
received contents of data calls (short com-
mands or long files) are saved on the mass
storage units of the TPC. QoS tests can be
organized efficiently if the OMC, the
K1205 and the fixed test terminals are co-
located within the RBC. Otherwise, addi-
tional staff and coordination effort are
needed to obtain comprehensive test re-
sults. It is advisable to have a GSM-R -in-
dependent communication channel (pu-
blic GSM,analogue radio) during the test
runs for test coordination purposes.
3 Testing
A QoS test campaign lasts 3 to 5 days with
4 to 8 runs per day, depending on the test
focus and the customer trial site
characteristics. For an optimal test executi-
on,7 skilled testers are needed in a typical
customer trial site configuration: two at
the mobile terminals, two at the fixed ter-
minals, one at the K1205,one at the OMC
and one test coordinator (TC). The TC sits
in the RBC or goes with the train, depen-
ding on the test activities.
3.1 Test Strategy
The TC negotiates the QoS test campaign
with the operator, plans the test proce-
dures and distributes individual “test
schedules” to each tester before the runs.
© by Tetzlaff Verlag, Hamburg
The sheets contain time, equipment, pho-
ne numbers to be dialled and trace file na -
mes for each action.
During the runs, the testers have to proto-
col relevant events and subjective percep-
tions of the speech quality on these sheets.
For a reliable statistical QoS evaluation at
least 600 calls of different types and 200
handovers should be generated during the
whole test campaign.
Before the runs the correctness of the
SW-versions / data base (DB) settings has
to be checked and the measurement
equipment has to be installed and calibra-
ted, if needed. All system and test tool
clocks have to be synchronized, as well as
the testers‘ watches. Specific DB para-
meters have to be set (e.g. MEAS_
REPORT=ON) and relevant performan-
ce measurement scanners have to be crea-
ted at the OMC.
3.2 Test Procedures
Radio Environment
It is suggested that the first 2 to 4 runs be
used to check the coverage and interfe-
rence situation, the functioning of the
tools and the availability of the system
components in particular. It does not ma-
ke sense to measure QoS. if the prerequi-
sites concerning the radio conditions and
system stability are not fullfilled.
- there/back run: single permanent voice
call using a 8W-Kapsch,
- there/back run: single permanent voice
call using a 2W-Sagem,
- supervise availability & stability (state
status) of the system resources during
the runs.
Data Calls
Depending on the RAP the data service
can, in principle, be: at a rate of 2.4,4.8 or
9.6 kbps. transparent (T) or non-transpa-
rent (NT), in uplink (UL) or downlink
(DL) direction
- single permanent data call using 8 W-
MS (repeated short commands T),
- single permanent data call using 8 W-
MS (long file transfer NT),
- single permanent data call using 2 W-
MS (long file transfer NT),
- multiple short data calls (MOC/MTC)
with Kapsch (UL & DL transmission),
- multiple short data calls (MOC/MTC)
with Sagem (UL & DL transmission),
- MMC data calls from train (8 W or
2 W) to trackside (8 W or 2 W),
- MMC data calls from trackside (8W or
2 W) to train (8 W or 2 W),
- mass (parallel) data calls using Kapsch
& Sagem,
- mixed (permanent & short) data calls,
- mixed voice & data calls in parallel.
Voice (point-to-point) Calls
- multiple short voice calls (MOC/MTC)
using 8 W-Kapsch,
- multiple short voice calls (MOC/MTC)
using 2 W-Sagem,
- multiple short voice calls (MMC)
Kapsch <-> Sagem (both within the
train),
SIGNAL + DRAHT (92) 9/2000
 GSM-R

- multiple short voice calls (MMC) flecting coverage) and RXQUAL (reflec- mands) and can,therefore, only be investi-
Kapsch <-> Sagem (one at the tracksi- ting bit-error-rate BER) values of the gated together with the specific RAP.
de), “MEASUREMENT_RESULT”messages For voice based applications the BER is a
- mass (parallel) voice calls using Kapsch traced with the K1205 on the Abis-interfa- simple approach for the interference situ-
& Sagem. ces during the first 4 runs. The downlink ation in general. Studies have shown that
Voice (group) Calls and the uplink have to be assessed separa- RXQUAL values of less than or equal to
- multiple voice group calls using tely. 3 (corresponding to a BER<1.6 %) are
Kapsch, For railways, the coverage is regarded as subjectively perceived as “good” speech
- multiple voice group calls using Sagem, sufficient when 95 % of the RXLEV va- quality.
- multiple voice group calls using Kapsch lues are greater than –90 dBm along the
& Sagem mixed, entire track during the whole train run 4.2 Event Analysis
- voice broadcast calls (VBS) in different (location & time probability).
group area (GCA) configurations, The effect of higher BER on the QoS of The aim of the event analysis is to identify
- voice group calls (VGCS) in different RAPs, which are based on bearer services, problems which would degrade the QoS.
group area (GCA) configurations, depends on the frequency, length and sa- Events which are relevant for QoS consi-
- voice broadcast calls in different sub- fety protocol of the data blocks (com- derations are regular voice & data call se-
scriber scenario (dispatcher/talker/ li-
stener), Figure 3: Example of
- voice group calls in different subscriber an event profile of a
scenario (dispatcher/talker/listener), real test run plotted on
- voice group calls with different “call a scaled map
priority” conditions.
Interworking
At customer trial sites, where equipment
of different suppliers (e.g. Siemens- and
Nortel-BSS at the MORANE French and
German trial sites) is distributed along the
railtrack, a test focusing on the correct in-
terworking at the supplier (BSC area)
borders must be conducted:
- outgoing handover behaviour of voice
& data calls using Kapsch & Sagem,
- incoming handover behaviour of voice
& data calls using Kapsch & Sagem.

4 Evaluation

The evaluation of the results of QoS trial

Typical
tests can be divided into the three phases QOS Parameter Type Values MP Remarks
“radio environment assessment”, “event
Radio Environment
analysis” and “performance evaluation”.
Coverage UL 96.8 % Abis RXLEV >
The post-processing is based on the info- DL 97.5 % - 90 dBm
sources: K1205 trace files, TPC trace files, Interference Situation UL 99.8 % Abis RXQUAL <=
OMC state & performance counter logfi- DL 98.8 % 3 (1.6 %)
les and tester protocols. Correlating the System Performance
different sources provides a complete pic- System Availability NE, Links 100 % OMC
Ressorces
ture of what has happened within the
Call Success Rate 99.5 % A
GSM-R system during the runs.
Call Drop Rate 0.1 % A
Handover Success Rate 99.5 % A
4.1 Radio Environment Assessment Probability of Transmission Interruption 0.3 % A
Time Performance
A good system performance can only be
Call Setup Time voice group call EMC 1.0 sec A
achieved in an optimal radio environ- VBS/VGCS 1.9 sec
ment.A range of factors will influence the point-to-point call MOC/MTC 3.1 sec
MMC 6.2 sec
outcome: topography, BTS density, fre-
Call Release Times 0.6 sec A
quency planning, interference situation,
Handover Break Times Signalling 420 msec Abis
terminal equipment,RF adapters, etc.. The User data 300 msec TPC
corres- Handover Recreation Times Max 10 min A Low D&V
ponding QoS criteria are coverage and in- min 30 sec High D&V
terference. Both can be calculated by a
Figure 4: Typically measured QoS values
statistical evaluation of the RXLEV (re-

SIGNAL + DRAHT (92) 9/2000 © by Tetzlaff Verlag, Hamburg 63

GSM-R
tups and releases, unintended call re-
leases (call drops), expected handovers,
assignment and handover failures, unex-
pected handovers (e.g. intra-cell / back-/
ping-pong-HOVs) and unavailability of
resources.
A detailed analysis of an event’s occur-
rence, especially in the case of an irregula-
rity, should be conducted. This should in-
clude the relevant system conditions (ti-
me, train position/ velocity/ acceleration/
direction,cell-ID, mobile-ID, used channel
type, equipment status) and radio conditi-
ons (GSM-R frequency, measured recei-
ving level of serving & neighboring cells,
quality, TX power levels, timing advance).
Figure 3 shows an example of an event
profile of a real test run plotted on a sca-
led map.
The “GSM causes”assessment is also part
of the event analysis and is important as
well. For example, all handovers which
were successful but not caused by “better
cell” are potential trouble areas and have
to be investigated and minimized.
Call setup attempts which failed due to
“user busy” signals have to be discarded
from the “call success rate” calculation.
4.3 Quality-of-Service Calculation
The aim is to achieve reliable values for
the QoS parameters. They are only valid
for a certain test campaign at a specific
trial site. As far as the customer trial site
represents the radio and operational envi-
ronment of the whole railway operator’s
GSM-R network, these values can be ge-
neralized to cover this environment. Figu-
re 4 shows typically measured QoS values
as obtained during well-coordinated test
campaigns at well-covered customer trial
sites equipped with Siemens GSM-R tech-
nology. The table also shows the source
(measurement point MP) from which the
QoS values can be derived.
The system availability is the percentage
(probability) of the time in which the con-
figured resources (entities, links, radio &
terrestrial channels) of the GSM-R system
could be used over the time of the whole
test campaign. It only takes into conside-
ration the GSM-R infrastructure compo-
nents. The QoS value is derived from the
accumulated state status reports recorded
on the OMC logfiles.
The call success rate (CSR) is the percen-
tage (probability) of call setup attempts
which result in an established call (con-
nection).In a good radio environment and
a well-prepared and coordinated test cam-
paign the CSR is nearly 100%.Significant-
ly worse CSR, observed at some QoS
runs, were associated with test coordinati-
on deficits (calls to busy users, dialling
wrong numbers....).
The call drop rate (CDR) is the percenta-
ge (probability) of connected calls which
have been released unintensionally
(drop). The strong railway requirements
of CDR<0.1% can only be achieved un-
64
der optimal radio conditions at the trial si-
te. Significantly higher CDRs, observed at
some QoS runs, could be attributed to
faulty mobile coax adapters, coverage
gaps or interworking problems.
The handover success rate (HSR) is the
percentage (probability) of handover at-
tempts which result in a successful swit-
chover to the new (target) cell. In case of
failure the call is switched back to the old
(serving) cell. A lower HSR hints at unn-
essessary handover attempts. This has to
be analyzed and avoided.
Cellular systems like GSM have, in princi-
ple, short call interruptions at the cell bor-
ders (handover). These interruptions are
less critical than often stressed, because
they are normally inaudible in a speech
call and they do not result in data losses in
a data call because of the safety protocol
layers (e.g. HDLC) used in data commu-
nications. A general railway requirement
is that the interruptions not be very often,
not be too long and that there should be
enough “recreation” time between two
handovers for re-transmitting lost railway
application telegrams.
The probability of transmission interrup-
tion (PTI) is the accumulated handover
break times divided by the complete train
run times and multiplied with the proba-
bility of being in an ongoing call (traffic
value in Erlang).A typical value at custo-
mer trial sites is a PTI of about 0.3 %.
The handover break time can be derived
from the time stamps of the HANDO-
VER_COMMAND and the HANDO-
VER_COMPLETE message on the Abis-
trace. It includes the elapsed processing ti-
me of the involved GSM-R components.
The break in the transmitted user data
stream can only be calculated from the
TPC-trace at the receiver side. There the
lost data blocks can be searched taking in-
to account the used bearer service (baud
rate). The break in the user data is, of
course, always shorter than the complete
handover processing time. The measured
values meet the requirements of a hando-
ver break if less than 1 sec.
The handover recreation time is the re-
main-
ing time between two successive hando-
vers. This time is needed for RAPs with a
strong real-time requirement like FFB or
ETCS to repeat lost commands. Depend-
ing on the BTS density and the train velo-
city, values from 30 sec to 10 min occured
at real trial sites. This meets the require-
ment of a recreation time between two
handovers of longer than 6 sec. This QoS
value decreases rapidly, if unexpected
handovers occur. Therefore, the number
of handovers have, in general, to be mini-
mized (equal to number of cells).
Since many railway applications do not
need permanent connection but connec-
tion on demand,the fast call setup and re-
lease within the GSM-R network is of im-
portance. Note that the times consumed in
the RAP (for establishing safety layers
e.g.) are not included here.
© by Tetzlaff Verlag, Hamburg
The call setup time can be derived from
the time stamps between the connection
request and the connection acknowledge-
ment on the A-trace. Point to point and
voice group calls have to be distinguished
as well as MOC/MTC and MMC. The
strong requirement of establishing a rail-
way emergency call within 1 sec needs
special operational measures, like auto-
answering of the MS, disabling ciphering
& authentication.
The call release time can be derived from
the time stamps between pushing the dis-
connect button and releasing all resources
for that connection by the GSM-R system.
5 Conclusion
The QoS tests performed at trial sites of
railway customers in various European
countries provide the assurance that all
known railway requirements are fullfilled
with the installed GSM-R equipment. The
strong requirements concerning call drop
& transmission interruption probability
asume a well planned, installed and opti-
mized radio environment.
In order to evaluate the “end-to-end”
quality-of-service it is recommended that
QoS tests be performed at CTS which in-
clude the different railway applications.
Zusammenfassung
GSM-R – Test der Dienstgüte auf
den Versuchsstrecken
Der Beitrag beschreibt Dienstgüte
(quality-of-service QoS) Tests auf Ver-
suchsstrecken von Eisenbahngesell-
schaften. Die QoS Tests betrachten das
GSM-R System, das von der Organisa-
tion der europäischen Bahnen (UIC)
als einheitliche Plattform für die ver-
schiedenen derzeitigen und künftigen
Dienste ausgewählt wurde. Die Dienst-
güte der Applikationen selbst ist nicht
Gegenstand des Aufsatzes.
Basierend auf Erfahrungen, die in
einer Reihe von Meßfahrten auf Test-
strecken verschiedener Bahnbetreiber
in Deutschland, Frankreich, der
Schweiz und Schweden gemacht wur-
den, werden Empfehlungen zur Test-
strategie und zur Bewertung von Dienst-
güte-Kriterien (QoS Parameter)
gegeben. Verwendete Testgeräte und
typische QoS Werte – gemessen an
Versuchsstrecken, die mit Siemens
GSM-R Technik ausgerüstet sind –
werden präsentiert. Die Ergebnisse
zeigen, dass bei guter Funknetzplanung
alle bekannten Bahnanforderungen
bezüglich der Dienstgüte mit dem in-
stallierten GSM-R System erfüllt wer-
den.
SIGNAL + DRAHT (92) 9/2000