4&5GSM Radio Network Feature (Day4 & Day5)

GSM Radio Network Feature
Babak Kardel Mehrdad Sedaghat April 2008
GSM Radio Network Features
Subjects

Half-Rate Feature Dynamic SDCCH Feature FACCH Call Setup Feature Cell Load Sharing Feature Directed Retry and DADL/B Features Queuing Feature AMR (Adaptive Multi Rate) Feature Common BCCH Feature
4/8/2008
Half Rate
Overview of Half Rate

With Half Rate (HR) coding it is possible to maximize the spectrum efficiency. The Half Rate coding almost doubles the amount of radio resources, compared with the use of full rate traffic channels (TCHs). Full rate (FR) speech and data is coded and transferred using 16 kbit/s channels in the BSS. With the Half Rate coding, 8 kbit/s transmission can be used on the Abis interface. This is also possible on the Ater interface when the BSS (BTS, BSC, Transcoder) and mobile stations all support Half Rate. Each radio time slot of the BTS TRX can be configured to be a FR, HR, or dual rate (DR) TCH resource on the Abis interface. In the case of dual rate, the BSC dynamically allocates an idle radio time slot either for half rate or full rate coding on a call basis. If a TRX has one or more DR TCH RTSLs, all the RTSLs of the TRX are handled as DR TCH RTSLs in the BTS.
4 GSM Radio Network Features
Capacity of BCSU & BSC
When using half rate, pay attention to capacity of BCSUs in the BSC.
Signalling capacity
Before HR was introduced, TRXs could be configured by FR TCHs only, and 16 kbit/s or 64 kbit/s link access procedure on the D-channel (LAPD) links were used in telecom signalling. The maximum number of radio channels that could be configured in a TRX was 18, consisting of 12 SDCCHs and 6 FR TCHs. Introduction of HR enables TRX configurations of more than 18 radio channels which results in an increased load in measurement reporting; therefore a capacity of 16 kbit/s signalling link may not be sufficient in all cases. Along with the implementation of HR support a 32 kbit/s LAPD link has been introduced. With TRX configurations of more than 18 radio channels a 32 kbit/s, LAPD link is highly recommended for supporting the telecom signalling that half rate requires.
Channel rate selection based on cell load
Half Rate Parameters

The feature is controlled by two parameters that determine the values of the upper and the lower limit for FR TCH load in a cell. The parameters can be defined both on the BSC-level and the BTS-level. The feature is enabled in specific BTSs when either of the two parameters is effective. However, when the BTSspecific parameter is effective, the BSC-level parameter is not significant in TCH allocation. If the upper limit is set smaller than the lower limit the effect of the parameters is deactivated.
Half rate Parameters

TRX Half Rate Support (HRS ) : commands ERC , ERM , ERO This parameter is used for Nokia 2nd generation BTS TRX hardware bookkeeping. All TRX hardware of other BTS generations support Half Rate. Lower limit for FR TCH resources (BSC: HRL , BTS: FRL) : commands EEM , EEO , EQM , EQO Upper limit for FR TCH resources (BSC: HRU , BTS: FRU) : commands EEM , EEO , EQM , EQO TCH in handover (HRI) : commands EEM , EEO TCH rate intra-cell handover (TRIH ) : commands EQM , EQO Initial AMR channel rate (IAC) : commands EEM , EEO

TRX half rate support (HRS) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:halfRateSupport Modification:Online Range:Y/N MML default:Y Description:With this parameter you define whether the TRX hardware supports half rate. The parameter is a flag for statistics. Related command(s):ERC, ERM, ERO Note:OPTIONAL (Half Rate or AMR HR)

lower limit for FR TCH resources (FRL) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:btsSpLoadDepTCHRate Modification:Online Range:0..100 (%) MML default:100 Description:With this parameter you define the percentage of full rate TCH resources that must be available for traffic channel allocation. Full rate TCHs are allocated until the number of free full rate resources is reduced below the threshold given in the parameter. The half rate resources are then allocated. Related command(s):EQM, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (Half Rate)

upper limit for FR TCH resources (FRU) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:btsSpLoadDepTCHRate Modification:Online Range:0..100 (%) MML default:0 Description:With this parameter you define the percentage of full rate TCH resources that must be available for traffic channel allocation. Full rate TCHs are again allocated when the number of the free full rate resources increases above the threshold given by the parameter. Related command(s):EQM, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (Half Rate)
12

lower limit for FR TCH resources (HRL) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:btsLoadDepTCHRate Modification:Online Range:0..100 (%) MML default:40 Description:The parameter controls the TCH channel rate determination on the BSC level according to the cell load in traffic channel allocation. With this parameter you define the lower limit for the percentage of free full rate resources. Full rate TCHs are allocated until the number of free full rate resources is reduced below the value of the parameter. The half rate resources are then allocated. Related command(s):EEM, EEO Note:OPTIONAL (Half Rate or AMR_HR)

upper limit for FR TCH resources (HRU) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:btsLoadDepTCHRate Modification:Online Range:0..100 (%) MML default:60 Description:The parameter controls the TCH channel rate determination on the BSC level according to the cell load in traffic channel allocation. With this parameter you define the upper limit for the percentage of free full rate resources. Full rate TCHs are allocated when the number of free full rate resources exceeds the value of the parameter. Related command(s):EEM, EEO Note:OPTIONAL (Half Rate or AMR_HR)

TCH in handover (HRI)
GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:tchRateInternalHo Modification:Online Range:1..5 MML default:1 Description:With this parameter you define the traffic channel allocation during BSS internal or external handovers. The parameter controls the target cell selection and the TCH channel rate and speech codec determination in traffic channel allocation. The parameter can have the following values: 1 . The call serving type of TCH has to be primarily allocated. The call serving type of speech codec inside the call serving type of TCH can change. 2 . The call serving type of TCH and the call serving type of speech codec are preferred to be primarily allocated during the speech connection. The channel rate change is possible during data connection, if necessary, and if the radio interface data rate allows it. 3 . The channel rate and speech codec changes are totally denied. 4 . The preferred channel rate of TCH and preferred speech codec have to be primarily allocated. 5 . TCH has to be primarily allocated from the best BTS of the handover candidate list. Related command(s):EEM, EEO

TCH rate intra-cell handover (TRIH)
GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:tchrateIntraCellHo Modification:Online Range: 0 (constraints given by the BSS-level parameter TCH rate internal HO are followed) 1 (the call serving type of TCH and the call serving type of speech codec are preferred to be primarily allocated) 2 (the call serving type of TCH and the call serving type of speech codec are preferred to be primarily allocated during the speech connection. The channel rate change is possible during data connection when needed if the radio interface data rate allows it) 3 (the channel rate and speech codec changes are totally denied. The call serving type of channel is only alternative in TCH allocation) 4 (the preferred channel rate of TCH and preferred speech codec have to be primarily allocated) MML default:0 Description:With this parameter you control the TCH channel rate determination in TCH allocation and the TCH speech codec to be allocated during internal intra-cell handover. Related command(s):EQM, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (Half Rate OR Enhanced Full Rate Codec)

initial AMR channel rate (IAC) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:initAmrChannelRate Modification:Online Range: 1 = any Rate, there are no extra requirements by the parameter and the chosen channel rate is defined by taking into account the currently used information for channel allocation 2 = AMR FR is allocated despite of the values of the currently used information for channel allocation MML default:1 Description:With this parameter you define the initial channel in call setup, internal inter cell handover (HO) and external HO for an Adaptive Multi Rate (AMR) call. Related command(s):EEM, EEO Note:OPTIONAL (AMR Codec)
Signalling Channel Configuration (Dynamic SDCCH & FACCH Call Setup)
18
Signalling Channel Configuration Signalling and control channel information is organized on 51 multi frames. Only the SACCH/T and the FACCH are located on 26 multi frames. The following channel organizations on a 51 multi frame have been specified. 1) BCCH + SDCCH/4 + SACCH/C4 2) BCCH + CCCH/9 and SDCCH/8 + SACCH/C4 3) BCCH + SDCCH/4 + SACCH/C4 and SDCCH/8 + SACCH/C4
19 GSM Radio Network Features 4/8/2008
20
4/8/2008
BCCH + CCCH/9 can be only used in combination with an SDCCH/8 + SACCH/C4. The SDCCH/8 + SACCH/C4 channel combination allows dedicated signalling for up to 8 MS
21
4/8/2008
Maximum SDCCH capacity

The upper limit for the number of SDCCHs in the BSC depends on the number of TRXs that are connected to the BSC Signalling Units (BCSU) and the number of BCSUs that are working in the BSC. The maximum SDCCH capacity of the BCSU is calculated with the following formula: Max_SDCCH_count_per_BCSU = 12 * Max_TRX_count_per_BCSU Max_SDCCH_count_per_BCSU includes both the static SDCCHs, which you configure, and the dynamic SDCCH resources. With maximum TRX configurations the average SDCCH capacity per TRX equals 12 channels. However, dynamic SDCCH resources can be shared between all TRXs of the BTS. The absolute limit is that the maximum SDCCH number in a TRX must not exceed 16 channels.
With the TRX configuration of more than 18 radio channels, a 32 kbit/s LAPD link is highly recommended for supporting the telecom signalling that the half rate (HR) TCH requires 1 TRX = 1 SDCCH ( 8 ) + 12 HTCH = 20 radio channels 22 GSM Radio Network Features 4/8/2008
Dynamic SDCCH Allocation

This optional feature allows to use free TCHs for SDCCH traffic, if all static SDCCHs are occupied
Dynamic SDCCH allocation is useful especially, if signalling traffic dominates the network. This can happen, e.g. at airports, where location updates can produce sudden short time SDCCH traffic peaks. This can now be handled without any need to configure extra permanent SDCCH capacity. The SDCCH capacity required depends on many factors, e.g. the number of cells per location area. With increasing number less location updates take place, i.e. the SDCCH traffic goes down. When doing SDCCH capacity estimations, one must consider also the limited capability of the BSC signalling unit, which can handle a maximum of 384 SDCCHs.
23
4/8/2008
Dynamic SDCCH Allocation
24
4/8/2008
Dynamic SDCCH Activation
a. Activate the Dynamic SDCCH feature (WOC) ZWOC:10,42,FF; a. Deactivate the feature FACCH Call Set-up (WOC) This ensures that FACCH is not used as a signalling channel during call setup in the test case. ZWOC:10,15,0;
25
4/8/2008
FACCH Call Setup

This procedure can be used as an alternative to dynamic SDCCH allocation. If the MS requests a TCH, but no SDCCH is available, the MSis assigned a TCH from the CCCH instead of an SDCCH. For call set up signalling, the FACCH is used instead of the SDCCH.
26
4/8/2008
FACCH Call Setup

If FACCH call set up is activated (discussed in the following), in situations of SDCCH congestion, the MS can be assigned to a TCH from the CCCH at the time of immediate assignment. If both FACCH call set up and dynamic SDCCH allocation are activated, usually the latter has higher priority. FACCH call set up is performed, however, in the following cases. The configuration of any dynamic SDCCH resource in the BTS is not possible All TCH resources of the BTS are just in use
27
4/8/2008
FACCH Call Setup Parameters

new establishment causes support (NECI)
GSM reference: Q3 name: Modification: Range: MML default: Description:
No ref. newEstabCausesSupport Online Y/N N With this parameter you define whether the BSC supports new establishment causes. EQM, EQO
Related command(s):
28
4/8/2008

enable ordinary calls on FACCH (EOF) GSM reference: Q3 name: Modification: Range: No ref. ordinaryCallOnFacch Online Y (enable ordinary calls setup on FACCH) N (disable ordinary calls setup on FACCH) N With this parameter you enable or disable the ordinary call setup on FACCH. FACCH call setup is only possible when SDCCH congestion occurs. EEM, EEO OPTIONAL (FACCH Call Set Up) You can set the FACCH call setup feature ON or OFF in PRFILE.
4/8/2008
MML default: Description:
Related command(s): Note:
29

enable emergency call on FACCH (EEF)
GSM reference: Q3 name: Modification: Range: No ref. emerCallOnFacch Online Y (enable emergency call setup on FACCH) N (disable emergency call setup on FACCH) N With this parameter you enable or disable the emergency call setup on FACCH. EEM, EEO Emergency call setup on FACCH is only possible in those cells in which emergency calls are not restricted (the EQF command, parameter EC). FACCH call setup is only possible when SDCCH congestion occurs.
30
4/8/2008

enable call re-establishment on FACCH (ERF)
GSM reference: Q3 name: Modification: Range: No ref. reestablishOnFacch Online Y (enable call re-establishment setup on FACCH) N (disable call re-establishment setup on FACCH) N With this parameter you enable or disable the call re-establishment setup on FACCH. FACCH call setup is only possible when SDCCH congestion occurs. EEM, EEO OPTIONAL (FACCH Call Set Up) Call re-establishment setup on FACCH is only possible in those cells in which call reestablishment is allowed (the EQF command, parameter RE). You can set the FACCH call setup feature ON or OFF in PRFILE. 4/8/2008
31
Cell Load Sharing (Adaptive Multi Handling-AMH)
32
Cell Load Sharing Overview

the traffic load in the cells are monitored if a cell has too high load, MSs close to the cell border are made to perform a handover the handovers are carried out if the receiving cell has low enough load Note: Load share evaluations are only performed for existing TCH-connections, i.e. it is not applied during the assignment phase.
33
Cell Load Sharing Overview

Cell load sharing does: Cut high load peaks Allows a higher average load while GOS (allowed congestion level) remains the same Increases the number of handovers in parts of the network with high, and unevenly distributed traffic.
34
AMH (Adaptive Multi-Handling)

Advanced Multilayer Handling (AMH) concept consists of three different features, which all are related to network load. The AMH features are:
BSC-initiated Traffic Reason Handover. IUO load control. Multilayer load control.
With the AMH the operator can relief the load of the congested cells
and balance the load over the network. The operators can also direct traffic to use only overlay network during low traffic periods, thus avoiding additional handovers between two layers. The AMH can also be applied efficiently with the IUO to avoid congestion in overlay layer providing more trunking gain. In general, by using AMH and setting AMH related parameters, operators can move the capacity between different layers according to the prevailing traffic.
35
AMH
BSC-initiated Traffic Reason Handover
Traffic Reason Handover (TRHO) is based on radio frequency resource indications of idle channel interferences which are sent from the base transceiver station (BTS) to the base station controller (BSC). TRHO is also based on resource indications which are sent from the BSC to the mobile services switching centre (MSC). It is also based on radio interface measurements which are used in selecting a target cell for handover. This procedure is used by the MSC for asking the BSC to determine a given number of mobile stations (MS) for handover from one specified cell to other specified cells. The possible handovers are controlled by the MSC. The reason for a handover can be, for example, an excessive load in the cell.
36
AMH
IUO load control
AMH can be applied with Intelligent Underlay-Overlay (IUO) to avoid congestion in overlay layer and thus it provides more trunking gain. AMH is able to redistribute the traffic from congested regular layer to other cells, selecting the best mobile and cell combination which is likely to survive and give good quality on the new cell. AMH can be used to prevent the use of IUO during very light traffic and thus keep the mobiles only in the overlay network. The solution is based on the traffic load of the serving cell. If the traffic load of the serving cell does not exceed AmhLowerLoadThreshold , the IUO handover and the Direct Access to super-reuse TRX are not allowed. If the traffic load of serving cell exceeds AmhLowerLoadThreshold , the IUO handover and Direct Access to super-reuse TRX are allowed again. The functionality is controlled by parameter AmhTrafficControlIUO .
AMH
Multilayer load control
Many operators build capacity by using micro cells or a dual band solution. As the number of network layers increases, also the handovers between the layers increase. When the traffic is low, i.e. at night, extra capacity is not needed and the underlay capacity is not necessarily needed either. Therefore, the adequate capacity can be achieved by using only the overlay network. On the other hand, at night most of the traffic happens outside, particularly from the fast moving vehicles. Furthermore, fast moving mobiles (FMMS) in the micro cell network generate a lot of handovers with relative high speed. Therefore, it is more reasonable to keep the traffic in the overlay network instead of the underlay to provide better quality to the end users. Advanced Multilayer Handling (AMH) can be used to prevent the use of the micro cell/GSM 1800 or GSM 1900 layer during low traffic and thus keep the mobiles only in the macro/GSM 900 or GSM 800 network, once they have camped on it. If the traffic load of the serving cell goes under the predefined threshold, AmhLowerLoadThreshold , the FMMS, MS Speed Detection and Umbrella handovers are not allowed to the lower layer cells. The functionality is controlled by the parameter AmhTrafficControlMCN
AMH Parameters
AMH lower load threshold (ALT) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhLowerLoadThreshold Modification:Online Range:0100 or N MML default:N Description:With this parameter you define the lower threshold for the load of the base station. The parameter is used to trigger advanced multilayer handling functionality with IUO and/or Dual Band/microcell features. Related command(s):EQM, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (AMH)
AMH Parameters
AMH upper load threshold (AUT) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhUpperLoadThreshold Modification:Online Range:0100 or N MML default:N Description:With this advanced multilayer handling parameter you define the upper threshold for the load of the base station. The parameter is used to trigger BSCcontrolled traffic reason handovers. Related command(s):EQM, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (AMH)
AMH Parameters
AMH lower load threshold (ALT) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhLowerLoadThreshold Modification:Online Range:0..100 (%) MML default:20 Description:With this parameter you define the lower threshold for the load of the base station. The parameter is used to trigger advanced multilayer handling functionality with IUO and/or Dual Band/ microcell features. Related command(s):EEM, EEO Note:OPTIONAL (Advanced multilayer handling) If a cell level parameter has some other value than N, it replaces the corresponding BSC-level parameter.
AMH Parameters
AMH upper load threshold (AUT) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhUpperLoadThreshold Modification:Online Range:0..100 (%) MML default:80 Description:With this parameter you define the upper threshold for the load of the base station. The parameter is used to trigger BSC-controlled traffic reason handovers. Related command(s):EEM, EEO Note:OPTIONAL (Advanced multilayer handling) If a cell level parameter has some other value than N, it replaces the corresponding BSC-level parameter.
AMH Parameters
AMH max load of target cell (AML) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhMaxLoadOfTgtCell Modification:Online Range:0100 or N MML default:N Description:With this advanced multilayer handling parameter you define the maximum traffic load in the adjacent cell that is allowed to be the target cell for a traffic reason handover (TRHO). Related command(s):EQM, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (AMH)
AMH Parameters
AMH max load of target cell (AML) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhMaxLoadOfTgtCell Modification:Online Range:0..100 (%) MML default:70 Description:With this advanced multilayer handling parameter you define the maximum traffic load in adjacent cell allowed for a target cell of traffic reason handover (TRHO). Related command(s):EEM, EEO Note:OPTIONAL (Advanced multilayer handling)If a cell level parameter has some other value than N, it replaces the corresponding BSC-level parameter.
AMH Parameters
AMH TRHO pbgt margin (ATPM) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhTrhoPbgtMargin Modification:OnlineRange:-24 .. 24 (dBm) or N MML default:N (not active) Description:With this parameter you define the power budget margin used in Advance Multilayer Handling when the load of the cell exceeds the value defined with the amh upper load threshold <option> (AUT) parameter of the EEM command. Related command(s):EHC, EHG, EHO Note:OPTIONAL (Advanced Multilayer Handling, AMH)
AMH Parameters
TRHO target level (TRHO) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:trhoTargetLevel Modification:Online Range:-109..-47 (dBm)N (not in use) MML default:N Description:With this parameter you define the minimum signal level when a traffic reason handover is allowed to an adjacent cell.Related command(s):EAC, EAM, EAO
AMH Parameters
TRHO guard time (TGT) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhTrhoGuardTime Modification:Online Range:0120 or N MML default:N Description:With this parameter you define the guard time after a BSC-controlled or an MSCcontrolled TRHO, during which a handover back to the original cell is not allowed. Related command(s):EQM, EQO
AMH Parameters
TRHO guard time (TGT) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhTrhoGuardTime Modification:Online Range:0..120 (s) MML default:30 Description:With this parameter you define the guard time after a BSC-controlled or an MSC-controlled TRHO, during which a handover back to the original cell is not allowed. Related command(s):EEM, EEO Note:If a cell level parameter has some other value than N, it replaces the corresponding BSC-level parameter.
AMH Parameters
AMH traffic control IUO (ATCI) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhTrafficControlIUO Modification:Online Range:Y/N MML default:N Description:With this parameter you indicate whether the Advanced Multilayer Handling is used with Intelligent Underlay-Overlay. Related command(s):EHC, EHG, EHO Note:OPTIONAL (Advanced Multilayer Handling, AMH)
49
AMH Parameters
AMH traffic control MCN (ATCM) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:amhTrafficControlMCN Modification:Online Range:Y/N MML default:N Description:With this parameter you indicate whether the Advanced Multilayer Handling is used with micro cells or dual band. Related command(s):EHC, EHG, EHO Note:OPTIONAL (Advanced Multilayer Handling, AMH)
50
Directed Retry and DADL/B Features
Directed Retry & DADL/B Concept
52
Directed Retry & DADL/B Difference

Directed Retry for Nokia Base Station Controller (BSC) is a procedure used when there is congestion in the accessed cell (No free TCH): in the call set-up phase , the mobile station is assigned to a traffic channel in a cell other than the serving cell. DADL/B for Nokia BSC is a procedure used when the load of accessed cell be higher than BTS Load threshold (BLT): in the call set-up phase, the mobile station is assigned to a traffic channel in a cell other than the serving cell.
Directed Retry & DADL/B
54
DADL/B Procedure
55
DADL/B usage determination

If DADL/B is enabled in the BSC, its use in the call set-up is determined according to the following: If the load of the accessed cell is higher than btsLoadThreshold (BLT) defined for the accessed cell and adjacent cells have been defined as DADL/B handover target cells by using the dadlbTargetCell parameter, DADL/B is applied. The adjacent cells are verified according to the MS capabilities (single band, dual band, or tri-band). Target cells are selected according to the MS capabilities and the adjacent cells according to the activated features Note also that only intra-BSC DADL/B handovers are possible. Therefore target cells have to be handled by the same BSC as the accessed cell.
Target cell selection for DADL/B HO

The target cells for a DADL/B handover have to fulfill the following criteria: the adjacent cell is handled by the same BSC as the accessed cell the adjacent cell can be a target cell for the DADL/B handover (set via O & M) the signal level of the adjacent cell exceeds hoLevelUmbrella The adjacent cells that are considered as DADL/B HO target cells are sorted according to the adjacent cell priority and the load factor ( hoPriorityLevel(n) or hoPriorityLevel(n) hoLoadFactor(n) if the adjacent cell is loaded with TCH traffic).
DADL/B Timing
58
Directed Retry Parameters

directed retry used (DR) GSM reference:ETS 300 590 (GSM 08.08) Q3 name:drInUse Modification:Online Range:Y/N MML default:N Description:With this parameter you define if the directed retry feature is in use in the cell. Related command(s):EQF, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (Directed Retry)

directed retry method (DRM)
GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:drMethod Modification:Online Range: 0 (basic directed retry method) 1 (threshold evaluation method) MML default:0 Description:With this parameter you define which method is used in directed retry procedure when candidate cells are evaluated. This parameter is also used to switch off directed retry method improvements. Related command(s):EQF, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (Directed Retry OR Intelligent Directed Retry (IDR))

Directed Retry threshold (DRT)
GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:drThreshold Modification:Online Range:-110 .. -47 (dBm) MML default:-100 Description:With this parameter you define the threshold value of the signal strength in the adjacent cell for the Directed Retry procedure. If the signal strength level in the cell is lower than this threshold value, adjacent cell is not accepted as a candidate in directed retry. Related command(s):EAC, EAM, EAO Note:OPTIONAL (Directed Retry OR Intelligent Directed Retry (IDR))

min time limit directed retry (MIDR) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:minTimeLimitDirectedRetry Modification:Online Range:0..14 (s) MML default:0 Description:With this parameter you define the period starting from the assignment request during which the target cell evaluation for the directed retry handover is not allowed. Related command(s):EQF, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (Directed Retry OR Intelligent Directed Retry (IDR))

max time limit directed retry (MADR) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:maxTimeLimitDirectedRetry Modification:Online Range:1..15 (s) MML default:5 Description:With this parameter you define the maximum time period starting from the assignment request during which the target cell evaluation for the directed retry handover is allowed. Related command(s):EQF, EQO Note:OPTIONAL (Directed Retry OR Intelligent Directed Retry (IDR))
DADL/B Parameters
BTS load threshold (BLT) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:btsLoadThreshold Modification:Online Range:0..100 (%) MML default:70 Description:With this parameter you define which proportion of reserved or unavailable channels in all channels is acceptable.BTS load threshold is one of the parameters used for the handover control process. If the threshold is exceeded, the BTS is considered to be overloaded, and handovers to that BTS will be avoided. Related command(s):EQM, EQO
DADL/B Parameters
target cell of direct access to desired layer (DADL) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:dadlbTargetCell Modification:Online Range:Y/N MML default:N Description:With this parameter you define whether the direct access to desired layer/band handover is applied to the adjacent cell. Related command(s):EAC, EAM, EAO Note:OPTIONAL (Direct Access to Desired Layer/Band)
DADL/B Parameters
HO level umbrella (AUCL) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:hoLevelUmbrella Modification:Online Range:-110..-47 (dBm) MML default:-47 Description:With this parameter you define the minimum signal level of an adjacent cell, when a handover is allowed to an adjacent umbrella cell. Related command(s):EAC, EAM, EAO
DADL/B Timers
There are no new timers for DADL/B handover. The existing Directed Retry (DR) minTimeLimitDirectedRetry and maxTimeLimitDirectedRetry timers are also used in DADL/B handovers.
67
Queuing Feature
Queuing Concept
The purpose of radio resource queuing in the BSC is to increase the number of successfully completed calls in a temporary congestion situation in the BTS and thereby to increase radio network efficiency. Radio resource queuing enables the setting of the radio channel request to the queue, and when a suitable radio resource is available again, the interrupted call set-up can be continued. Consequently, there is no need to cut off a started transaction owing to a temporary radio channel congestion in the actual BTS. The queued radio resource is always a TCH, never an SDCCH.
Queuing possibility
call attempt: the actual BTS is used as the queuing target internal intra-cell handover: the actual BTS is used as the queuing target external cell handover (target BSC): the BTS identified by the MSC in a HANDOVER REQUEST message is used as the queuing target.
70
Queuing Parameters
max queue length (MQL) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:maxQueueLength Modification:Online Range:0..100 (%) MML default:50 Description:With this parameter you define how many call and handover attempts can be queued to wait for a TCH release in a BTS. The parameter value is a percentage (0 - 100%) of the TCHs in use in a BTS. Related command(s):EQH, EQO
Queuing Parameters
time limit call (TLC) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:timeLimitCall Modification:Online Range:0..15 (s) MML default:10 Description:With this parameter you define the maximum queuing time for call attempts (incoming or outgoing) in the BTS in seconds. Value 0 deactivates call attempt queuing. Related command(s):EQH, EQO
Queuing Parameters
time limit handover (TLH) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:timeLimitHandover Modification:Online Range:0..10 (s) MML default:5 Description:With this parameter you define the maximum queuing time for handover attempts (both urgent and non-urgent) in the BTS in seconds. Related command(s):EQH, EQO
Queuing Parameters
queue priority used (QPU) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:queuePriorityUsed Modification:Online Range:Y/N MML default:Y Description:With this parameter you define whether the BSC internal queuing type priority (parameters queueing priority call (QPC), queueing priority urgent handover (QPH) and queueing priority non-urgent handover (QPN)) is taken into account in queue handling. Related command(s):EQH, EQO
Queuing Parameters
queueing priority call (QPC) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:queueingPriorityCall Modification:Online Range:1..14 (1 = highest priority) MML default:10 Description:With this parameter you define the call attempt priority in the BTS.Queueing priority call is one of the queuing type priorities. The others are: urgent handovers (parameter QPH) and non-urgent handovers (parameter QPN). Note that you have to define the QPU parameter value as Y before the queuing type priorities are taken into account. Related command(s):EQH, EQO
Queuing Parameters
queueing priority urgent handover (QPH) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:queueingPriorityHandover Modification:Online Range:1..14 (1 = highest priority) MML default:9 Description:With this parameter you define the urgent handover attempt (queuing type) priority in the BTS.Queueing priority urgent handover is one of the queuing type priorities. The others are: call attempts (parameter Queueing Priority Call) and non-urgent handovers (parameter Queueing Priority non-urgent handover). Note that you have to define the Queue Priority Used parameter value as Y before the queuing type priorities are taken into account. Related command(s):EQH, EQO
Queuing Parameters
queueing priority non-urgent handover (QPN) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:queuePriorityNonUrgentHo Modification:Online Range:1..14 (1 = highest priority) MML default:9 Description:With this parameter you define the non-urgent handover attempt (queuing type) priority in the BTS.Queueing priority non-urgent handover is one of the queuing type priorities. The others are: call attempts (parameter QPC) and urgent handovers (parameter QPH). Note that you have to define the QPU parameter value as Y before the queuing type priorities are taken into account. Related command(s):EQH, EQO
Queuing Parameters
MS priority used (MPU) GSM reference:No ref. Q3 name:msPriorityUsedInQueueing Modification:Online Range:Y/N MML default:Y Description:With this parameter you define whether the call priority in the ASSIGNMENT REQUEST message (or the HANDOVER REQUEST message in handover) from the MSC is taken into account in queue handling. Related command(s):EQH, EQO
AMR (Adaptive Multi Rate)
79
Summary
Know how AMR works The purpose and planning aspects of the feature Understanding of AMR parameters Inter-working of AMR with other features HW/SW requirements for AMR Impact of AMR on network performance
Table of Contents
AMR Introduction AMR Benefits AMR Codecs Nokia AMR Link Adaptation and codec mode adaptation Nokia AMR interaction with other Nokia features AMR support in Nokia system Nokia AMR parameter Nokia AMR planning aspects AMR implementation
AMR Introduction
Hard/Soft Blocking
Hard Hardblocking blocking The Thewhole wholeradio radioresource resourceis isin inuse use--no nomore morecalls callscan canbe beestablished established due dueto tolack lackof offree freeradio radiotimeslots. timeslots.
Dominates with large reuse factors = Wideband deployment
Soft Softblocking blocking The Thecapacity capacityof ofindividual individualcells cellsis islimited limitedby bythe thelevel levelof ofthe theinterference interference rather than the number of TRXs available rather than the number of TRXs available
Is dominating with tight reuse patterns = Narrowband deployments 83 GSM Radio Network Features
Spectral Efficiency & Performance

Standard Measure: Erl/km/MHz Nokia Measure: Effective Frequency Load ( Erl/MHz) Spectral Efficiency is equivalent to performance Assuming no lack of radio resources or HW blocking
Performance is a trade-off between capacity AND quality
Key Performance Indicator CDR, BQS Operating Point Two alternative solutions
Targeted quality level
Quality Enhancement is measured in terms of increased quality for the same load
Dropped calls due to coverage gaps Traffic Load Capacity Increase is measured in terms of additional load at the same quality level
Increased Increasedperformance performance (spectral efficiency) (spectral efficiency)delivers delivers improved quality and/or improved quality and/or higher highercapacity capacityfor forthe thesame same quality criteria quality criteria
Effective Frequency Load Defined

EFL is a measure of the average frequency utilization in the area Represents how loaded each frequency can be across the system EFL is proportional to spectral efficiency EFL is directly proportional to the carried traffic x % higher EFL = x % more carried traffic
Busy hour area level average Erlangs/cell
ErlBH 1 EFL = Tot# freq Ave# (TCH ) TRX

Total number of frequencies used to carry the traffic GSM Radio Network Features Average number of timeslots/TRX
85
Effective Frequency Load Explained

EFL is a measure of the average frequency utilization in the area Represents how loaded each frequency can be across the system Assume 1.2 Mhz (6 x 200 kHz carriers) of hopping frequencies in addition to the BCCH carrier Assume in each cell 5 simultaneous voice users on the average In this case the Effective frequency load is ~ 5 Erlangs / 48 timeslots = e 10.4% m i r
s ot l es tim rr a rc e p ie
200 kHz
200 kHz
200 kHz
200 kHz
200 kHz
200 kHz
Frequency
86
6 frequencies @ 200 kHz each
Adaptive Multi-Rate Codec (1/2)

Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) codec consists of a family of codecs (source and channel codecs with different trade-off bit-rates) operating in the GSM FR and HR channels modes The AMR system exploits the channel performance and robustness added by the coding rates by adapting the speech and channel coding rates according to the quality of the radio channel AMR adapts its error protection level (select its optimum channel mode and codec mode) to the local radio channel and traffic load conditions to deliver the best possible combination of speech quality and system capacity Codec mode adaptation for AMR is based on received channel quality estimation in both MS and BTS, followed by a decision on the most appropriate speech and channel codec mode to apply at a given time The basic AMR codec mode sets for MS and BTS are provided by BSC via layer 3 signaling MS shall support all speech codec modes, although only a set of up to 4 speech codec modes is used during a call
Adaptive Multi Rate Codec (2/2)

GSM FR/EFR channel gross bit-rate is 22.8 kbit/s in GSM FR/EFR: 13 kbit/s speech coding and 9.8 kbit/channel coding (HR channel gross bit rate 11.4 kbit/s) For AMR case, different codecs use different bit rate to encode speech (source coding). The rest of the gross bit-rate is used for channel protection 25
Channel bit-rate (kbit/s)
20
Channel coding Speech coding
Robustness
15 10 5 0
FR 12.2 FR 10.2 FR FR 7.4 FR 6.7 FR 5.9 FR 7.95 5.15 FR 4.75 HR HR 7.4 HR 6.7 HR 5.9 HR 7.95 5.15 HR 4.75
Speech Qual
AMR codec mode
88
Algorithms Related to AMR

In order to select the codec, MS and infrastructure vendors implement the Link Adaptation algorithm or Codec Mode Adaptation Additionally, there is another algorithm to change the channel rate between FR and HR codecs, which is called Channel Mode Adaptation
Set of Codecs Codec Mode Adapt. Channel Mode Adaptation AMR

AMR Benefits
Capacity and Coverage Gain

Link level results show very high improvement in the terms of TCH FER when robust AMR modes are used As high as 6 dB improvement at 1% FER in C/I can be achieved Therefore, high capacity gain can be expected when robust AMR modes are utilized In addition, increased robustness to channel errors can be utilized in the cell coverage, i.e. lower C/I can be allowed at the cell edge However, in the mixed traffic case the cell coverage has to be planned according to EFR mobiles With respect to signaling channels, the retransmissions schemes used by SACCH and FACCH channels maintain the probability of signalling success even for very degraded conditions
Capacity Increase with AMR

Due to robust AMR codec modes, very low TCH FER compared to EFR In 850 MHz case all mobiles are AMR capable, but this comparison illustrates the capacity gain AMR provides when it is introduced in a typical network
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
AMR MS penetration: 0% AMR MS penetration: 25% AMR MS penetration: 50% AMR MS penetration: 75% AMR MS penetration: 100%
~150% gain relative to EFR
2 Capacity gain 1 based on the 0 2% outage of

the bad TCH FER samples
Relative Frequency TCH FER > 5.4 % (%)
7.5
10
12.5
15
Effective Frequency load (%)
92
ONE-LAYER ONE-LAYER(RF-hopping (RF-hopping2/2, 2/2,no no BCCH BCCHincluded) included)
Improved BCCH Plan

Since the average C/I found in a cell area can be measurably less than that used in a non-AMR network and still provide comparable quality to EFR, the existing clean BCCH layer can be tightened, potentially releasing frequencies to be used on the non-BCCH layer This offers improved speech quality and extra capacity for TCH, especially in the narrow band deployment (frequency band less than 5 MHz) However, if EFR roaming mobiles are to be taken care of, the BCCH will have to be planned accordingly How to plan networks to ensure the quality for the old EFR mobiles? One method is to use more aggressive power adjustment for AMR mobiles in order to decrease the average interference level in the network Therefore, the overall interference decreases in the network (smaller average transmission power) and thus the quality of the existing EFR connections increase
Half-Rate Utilization in AMR Codec

Half-rate is an efficient way to increase capacity in the case of limited number of TRXs per cell AMR HR codec obtains remarkable better speech quality than previous GSM EFR HR codec AMR FR obtains better quality than AMR HR only when higher FR modes than 7.4 are used (due to higher number of speech coding bits) AMR FR 7.4 kbit/s mode and AMR HR 7.4 kbit/s mode have the same speech quality when the C/I is high (error free case) AMR HR channels can be then used in high C/I conditions without noticeably speech quality loss In theory for ideal frequency hopping about 11-12 dB C/I is required for AMR HR to obtain the evaluated good speech quality limit (in real networks, depending on the BTS configuration and on FH mode used, it might be necessary 1-4 dB higher) Based on this, all connections having at least 12 dB C/I could be handed over to HR channel remaining the good speech quality
Benefits For Operator

100%
fs475iFH
Capacity / Coverage Gains
fs515iFH fs590iFH fs670iFH fs740iFH fs795iFH fs102iFH fs122iFH
10% TC H FER 1% 0% 6 C/I [dB] 4 2 0
10
Approx. 5.5 dB link level gain in hopping layer This turns into approx. 140% capacity gain for AMR-FR Coverage enhancement (>4dB) Tighter BCCH reuse schemes. Saving of resources by deploying AMR-HR
Benefits of AMRSummary
Speech quality enhancement: AMR maintains good speech quality in the situation where the connection faces low C/I or low signal level Capacity and coverage gain: Link level simulation results illustrated improvement in terms of TCH FER (up to 5.5dB at 1% FER in C/I) Signalling channel performance: due to retransmissions schemes used by these channels the probability of signalling success maintain very high even for very degraded conditions Improved BCCH plan: tighter frequency reuse or better quality with same frequency reuse, potentially releasing frequencies to be used on the non-BCCH layer. HR utilisation increases the hardware capacity of the cell since two half-rate connections can be allocated to fill only one timeslot.
When compare AMR HR to previous GSM HR codec, it is noticed that AMR HR obtains remarkable better speech quality
AMR Codecs
Channel and Speech Codecs for AMR

C hannel C hannel mode codec Mode C H0-FS C H1-FS C H2-FS TC H/FR C H3-FS C H4-FS C H5-FS C H6-FS C H7-FS C H8-HS TC H/HR C H9-HS C H10-HS C H11-HS C H12-HS 12.20kbit/s (G S ME FR) 10.20 kbit/s 7.95 kbit/s 7.40 kbit/s (IS -641) 6.70 kbit/s 5.90 kbit/s 5.15 kbit/s 4.75 kbit/s 7.95 kbit/s (*) 7.40 kbit/s (IS -641) 6.70 kbit/s 5.90 kbit/s 5.15 kbit/s Source coding bit-rate, speech Net bit-rate, in-band channel 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s C hannel coding bit-rate, speech C hannel coding bit-rate, inband 10.20 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s 12.20 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s 14.45 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s 15.00 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s 15.70 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s 16.50 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s 17.25 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s 17.65 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s 3.25 kbit/s 3.80 kbit/s 4.50 kbit/s 5.30 kbit/s 6.05 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s
C H13-HS 4.75 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 6.45 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s (*) Requires 16 kbit/s TR AU. Therefore it is not seen as a feasible codec mode and will not be supported by Nokia BS S 10.
In high-error conditions more bits are used for error correction to obtain error robust coding, while in good transmission conditions a lower amount of bits is needed for sufficient error protection and more bits can therefore be allocated for source coding
Benefits of AMR 2/2

HR utilisation doubles the capacity of the cell When compare AMR HR to previous GSM HR codec, it is noticed that AMR HR obtains remarkable better speech quality
M OS 5 .0
E x p e r im e n t 1 b - T e s t R e s u lt s
4 .0
3 .0
2 .0
EF R 7 .9 5 7 .4 6 .7 5 .9 5 .1 5 4 .7 5 FR HR C o n d i tio n s
1 .0 N o Er r o r s EF R 7 .9 5 7 .4 6 .7 5 .9 5 .1 5 4 .7 5 FR HR 4 .2 1 4 .1 1 3 .9 3 3 .9 4 3 .6 8 3 .7 0 3 .5 9 3 .5 0 3 .3 5 4 .0 4 3 .9 3 3 .9 6 3 .9 5 3 .9 0 3 .8 2 3 .6 0 3 .4 6 C /I= 1 9 d B C /I= 1 6 d B C /I= 1 3 d B 4 .2 1 3 .3 7 3 .5 2 3 .5 3 3 .7 2 3 .6 0 3 .4 2 3 .5 0 C /I= 1 0 d B 3 .7 4 2 .5 3 2 .7 4 3 .1 0 3 .1 9 3 .3 8 3 .3 0 3 .1 4 3 .2 4 C /I= 7 d B 3 .3 4 1 .6 0 1 .7 8 2 .2 2 2 .5 7 2 .8 5 3 .1 0 2 .7 4 2 .8 0 1 .2 1 1 .3 3 1 .8 4 2 .0 0 1 .5 0 1 .9 2 C /I= 4 d B 1 .5 8
99
Nokia AMR Link Adaptation
Link Adaptation in AMR Codec (1/2)

Link Adaptation is the capability of AMR feature to vary the codec used according to the link conditions Both network, for uplink, and MS, for downlink, measure the radio conditions in each link and take decisions on which codec should be applied to each way AMR codec mode adaptation is done independently in UL and DL There are two link adaptation (LA) modes; the ETSI specified fast LA and the Nokia proprietary slow LA slowAmrLaEnabled: if it is set to "N" (default) it is used ETSI fast LA; if it is set to "Y" it used Nokia slow LA With slow LA, BTS allows in-band codec mode changes only on the SACCH frame interval of 480 ms Two different types of link adaptation algorithms are defined: Codec Mode Adaptation and Channel Mode Adaptation AMR codec mode adaptation algorithm adapts the bit-rate partitioning between the speech and channel coding for a given channel mode to track changes in the radio link and to account for specific input conditions (speech signal characteristics, acoustic environmental characteristics, etc.) AMR channel mode adaptation algorithm allocates a half-rate or full-rate channel according to channel quality and the traffic load on the cell in order to obtain the best balance between quality and capacity
Link Adaptation in AMR Codec (2/2)

C/I
30 C/I EFR operation AMR mode
AMR Mode
AMR FR HR 12.2 10.2 7.95
25
12.2 kbit/s
20
7.95 kbit/s
[dB]
15
6.70 kbit/s
7.4 6.7
5.90 kbit/s
7.4 6.7 5.9 5.1
10
5.9 5.15
5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
4.75 4.7 5
Time[s]
102
Codec Mode Adaptation
Codec Mode Adaptation

Codec Mode Adaptation or Link Adaptation (LA) is the algorithm that selects which codec has to be used each moment by the MS (in UL) or by the network (in DL direction). The basic AMR codec mode sets for MS and BTS are provided by BSC via layer 3 signalling Both the MS and the network implement their own C/I measurement algorithms C/I measurement algorithms are vendor dependant / proprietary Nokia has common UL/DL link adaptation thresholds
104
Objective of Codec Mode Adaptation

Select the codec that provides the best speech quality depending on radio conditions
4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
MOS
FR 12.2 MOS FR 7.4 MOS FR 5.9 MOS FR 4.75 MOS HR 7.4 MOS HR 5.9 MOS HR 4.75 MOS
C/I (dB)
105
Parameters for Link Adaptation

When deploying AMR the following parameters are important for the Link Adaptation: ACS (Active Codec Set) which defines the codecs that can be used in a BTS during a call. Thresholds used: Defines the CIR value to change the codec from a less robust codec to the immediate more robust one in the ACS Hysteresis: the values in dB to add to the thresholds in order to go from a robust codec to the immediate less robust one in the ACS. For instance: ACS= [AFS12.2, AFS7.9, AFS4.75], Thresholds: 12dB, 8dB, Hysteresis: 1dB, 1dB With these settings the change from codec AFS7.9 to AFS4.75 will happen when the CIR is below 8dB, while from AFS4.75 up to AFS7.9 it will be with 9dB.
Channel Mode Adaptation
Channel Mode Adaptation

Channel Mode Adaptation is an intra BTS HO algorithm that aims at select the correct channel rate (FR or HR). The selection of the channel rate depends on 2 main factors: load and quality
load
Good Quality
FR FR
packing unpacking Bad Quality
HR HR
Packing Procedure
109
Channel mode adaptation: Packing

Handover between AMR FR and AMR HR is intra-cell (intra BTS) handover Spontaneous packing of FR AMR calls to HR AMR calls is triggered when the cell load is high enough, the number of free full rate resources reduces below the value of the parameter btsLoadDepTCHRate (HRL). Packing continues until the cell load is low enough, the number of free full rate resources increases above the value of the parameter btsLoadDepTCHRate (HRU).
Free FR TCHs Upper limit for free FR TCHs btsLoadDepTCHRate(HRU)
Lower limit for free FR TCHs btsLoadDepTCHRate(HRL) Time No packing of AMR FR calls GSM Radio Network Features 110 Packing of AMR FR calls No packing of AMR FR calls
Packing from AMR FR to AMR HR (1/2)

Spontaneous Packing of AMR FR to AMR HR call is triggered when
free full rate resources reduces below the value of the parameter btsLoadDepTCHRate(HRL) or btsSpLoadDepTCHRate (FRL) HRL is a BSC level parameter FRL is a BTS level parameter, once defined, it can overwrite HRL AND FR calls which quality is better than amrHandoverFr(IHRF) for both UL and DL
Px: The Px of Threshold quality DL Px (QDP) is used. Nx: The Nx of Threshold quality DL Nx (QDN) is used.
Note:
Packing quality threshold is for both UL/DL threshold Packing quality does not have its own Px/Nx Packing quality does not have its own averaging windows and weighting
Packing from AMR FR to AMR HR (2/2)

Packing happens to permanent HR channels Packing happens to DR channels which half has been occupied Packing happens when there are even number of FR calls to DR channels.
Packing continues until the number of free full rate resources increases above the value of the parameter btsLoadDepTCHRate (HRU) or btsSpLoadDepTCHRate (FRU)
HRU is a BSC level parameter FRU is a BTS level parameter, once defined, it can overwrite HRU
Packing is triggered by new TCH allocation Queueing is not allowed for packing procedure
Un-Packing Procedure
113
Unpacking from AMR HR to FR

Spontaneous unpacking of AMR HR calls to AMR FR calls is triggered when the quality of a AMR HR call degrades below the amrHandoverHr(IHRH) for either UL or DL
Px: The Px of Threshold quality DL Px (QDP) is used. Nx: The Nx of Threshold quality DL Nx (QDN) is used.
Queuing is allowed for unpacking procedure
114
Nokia AMR Interaction with Other Nokia Features
Interaction with other features

DADL/B New adjacent cell parameter to handover AMR calls from non-AMRcapable cells to co-located AMR-capable cells during call set-up phase Handover Prioritization of AMR capable cells during internal and external handovers (AMR capable cells which load is low (BTS load threshold (BLT) parameter), are on the top of the handover target cell list) New RxQual thresholds for AMR FR and AMR HR New RxQual thresholds for HOs between AMR channel rates (relates to AMR FR call packing and AMR HR call unpacking)
Interaction with other features

Power Control
New RxQual thresholds for AMR FR and AMR HR
IFH and IUO

New good and bad C/I thresholds for AMR FR and AMR HR
117
Radio Link Timeout Background

3GPP 05.08 states that Radio Link Failure (RLF) in the MS is determined by the success rate of decoding messages on the downlink SACCH The aim of determining RLF in the MS is to ensure that calls with unacceptable voice/data quality, which cannot be improved either by RF power control or handover, are either re-established or released in a defined manner The Radio Link Timeout (RLT) parameter controls that a forced release (drop) will not normally occur until the call has degraded to a quality below that at which the majority of subscribers would have manually released it The RLF procedure is implemented in the RRM at the BSC and is as follows: After the assignment of a dedicated channel a counter is initialized to RLT When a SACCH message is unsuccessfully decoded the counter is decreased by 1 When a SACCH message is successfully decoded the counter is increased by 2 If the reaches 0 a RLF is declared Call is released GSM Radiocounter Network Features
118
Radio Link Timeout AMR FR vs. EFR - Test 1

EFR
AMR
Number of Number of unaccepta ble unacceptable samples samples (FER>50%) (FER>25 %)
The RLT is based on SACCH erased frames, which are independent of speech frames The tests were aimed to find RLT value producing the same speech degradation in AMR as EFR would suffer with default RLT value for this traffic (i.e. 20) The indicator used was number of BQS-FER (with FER>50%/25%) between the time when the counter starts decreasing from its top value (64) to the point where the link would be released (i.e., when the counter is decreased by the RLT parameter)
Time
RLT
FER
Time
RLT
FER
Number of unacceptable samples (FER>50%) 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
RLT to select
Number of unaccepta ble samples (FER>25 %) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
00:25:55:82 64 00:25:56:30 64 00:25:56:78 63 00:25:57:26 62 00:25:57:74 64 00:25:58:23 63 00:25:58:71 62 00:25:59:20 64 00:25:59:68 64 00:26:00:16 63 00:26:00:64 62 00:26:01:12 64 00:26:01:60 64 00:26:02:08 63 00:26:02:56 62 00:26:03:05 61 00:26:03:53 60 00:26:04:01 59 00:26:04:49 61 00:26:04:97 60 00:26:05:45 59 00:26:05:93 61 00:26:06:41 60 00:26:06:89 59 00:26:07:37 58 00:26:07:85 57 00:26:08:34 56 00:26:08:82 55 00:26:09:30 54 rivada: 00:26:09:78 RLT = 44 is equivalent to 53 0 when using FIXED RLT 52 00:26:10:26 equal to 20 (DEFAULT 00:26:10:74 51 NOKIA VALUE) 00:26:11:23 50 00:26:11:71 49 00:26:12:19 48 00:26:12:67 47 00:26:13:15 46 00:26:13:63 45 00:26:14:11 44
13 42 54 25 50 42 54 38 50 54 46 58 58 46 67 75 58 67 58 75 54 58 79 58 88 92 63 88 83 88 88 88 75 75 83 83 96 92 83
00:26:01:79 00:26:02:27 00:26:02:76 00:26:03:24 00:26:03:72 00:26:04:20 00:26:04:68 00:26:05:16 00:26:05:65 00:26:06:13 00:26:06:61 00:26:07:09 00:26:07:58 00:26:08:06 00:26:08:54 00:26:09:02 00:26:09:50 00:26:09:99 00:26:10:47 00:26:10:95 00:26:11:43 00:26:11:91 00:26:12:40 00:26:12:88 00:26:13:36 00:26:13:84 00:26:14:32 00:26:14:80 00:26:15:28 00:26:15:76 00:26:16:25 00:26:16:73 00:26:17:21
64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 39 38 37 36 35
29 43 75 50 29 50 29 70 21 63 63 82 92 78 58 71 92 91 67 88 88 83 100 63 70 96 88 80 88 82 95 78 92
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 25 26 27 28 29
26
27
RLT has very high impact on DCR
Radio Link Timeout AMR-FR vs. EFR Test 2

Aim is to evaluate when AMR-FR is used which RLT value will result in comparable performance (point at which call is released) to the recommended RLT for EFR The RLT is based on SACCH erased frames, which are independent of speech frames. The principle of the tests is to find RLT value producing the same speech degradation (FER > 15 % MOS < 1.5 no audible speech during 30 sec before dropping) in AMR as EFR would suffer with default RLT value for this traffic (i.e. 20) The driving route started at a good coverage location and ended at a bad coverage area Radio Link Timeout can be adapted to AMR in order for dropped calls to maintain the same correlation with voice quality degradation as with EFR (RLT value could be moved from 20 to 36, for instance)
AMR Support in Nokia System
Elements Needed for AMR Feature

Following network elements and mobile phone are needed to get AMR system feature to work:
BTS: Nokia Talk-Family DF6, Nokia Prime Site DF6, Nokia MetroSite CXM3.0-2, Nokia Ultra Site CX3, Connect Site. S10.5 TCSM: TCSM2 with an AMR capable pool (23) MSC: M10 NMS: NetAct OSS3.1 MS: AMR capable phones
122
AMR Support in Nokia BTS's

Nokia 2nd Generation BTS (DE21 BTS:)
Nokia's 2nd generation BTS will not support AMR.
Nokia Talk-family BTS (DF34 BTS):

Nokia's Talk-family BTS will have AMR support for FR
Nokia PrimeSite BTS:
modes 4.75, 5.9, 7.4 and 12.2 as well as for HR modes 4.75, 5.9 and 7.4 (*). With this approach, the link adaptation between full scale of FR modes and almost full scale of HR can be achieved (note that only 4 codecs can be selected to be used during a call).
TALK-family BTS: Full Rate Half rate
12.2
10.2 7.95 7.95
7.4
6.7
7.4
6.7
5.9
5.15
5.9
5.15
Nokia PrimeSite will have same AMR support as Talk. The 4.75
4.75
frequency hopping functionality will be removed from PrimeSite BTSs to enable this modification. Last PrimeSite SW release supporting frequency hopping will be DF5.0.
Nokia InSite BTS:

Nokia InSite BTS will not support AMR
Nokia MetroSite and UltraSite BTS:

support.
Nokia's MetroSite and UltraSite will have full AMR
Nokia AMR Parameters
Link Adaptation Related Parameters
125
Steps to configure Link Adaptation

First, selection of the Active Codec Set (codecs to be used during the calls for both FR and HR). FRC & HRC parameter Then, selection of CIR thresholds to change codecs and hysteresis Selection of the initial codec to be used at the beginning of the allocation (ICMI- FRI & FRS for FR and ICMIHRI and HRS for HR) Selection of standard Link Adaptation (every 40 ms) or Slow Link Adaptation (every 480ms) (SLA)
Link Adaptation Related Parameters

BTS level parameters
Q3 NAME amrConfigurationFr: codecModeSet amrConfigurationFr: hysteresis1 amrConfigurationFr: hysteresis2 amrConfigurationFr: hysteresis3 amrConfigurationFr: initCodecMode amrConfigurationFr: startMode amrConfigurationFr: threshold1 amrConfigurationFr: threshold2 amrConfigurationFr: threshold3 amrConfigurationHr: codecModeSet amrConfigurationHr: hysteresis1 amrConfigurationHr: hysteresis2 amrConfigurationHr: hysteresis3 amrConfigurationHr: initCodecMode amrConfigurationHr: startMode amrConfigurationHr: threshold1 amrConfigurationHr: threshold2 amrConfigurationHr: threshold3 Acronymn FRC FRH1 FRH2 FRH3 ICMI(FRI) FRS FRT1 FRT2 FRT3 HRC HRH1 HRH2 HRH3 ICMI(HRI) HRS HRT1 HRT2 HRT3 RANGE UNIT MML EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ EQ 0-31.5dB EQ 0-31.5dB EQ 0-31.5dB EQ kbit/s EQ 0-7.5dB EQ 0-7.5dB EQ 0-7.5dB EQ EQ EQ dB EQ dB EQ dB EQ kbit/s 0-7.5dB 0-7.5dB 0-7.5dB MML Default 12.2 7.40 5.9 4.75 2 2 2 0 0 8 14 22 7.40 5.90 4.75 2 2 0 0 0 22 28 0
0 0 0 0
... 15 ... 15 ... 15 / 1 00, 01, 10,11 0 ... 63 0 ... 63 0 ... 63
0 0 0 0
... 15 ... 15 ... 15 / 1 00, 01, 10,11 0 ... 63 0 ... 63 0 ... 63
127
Definition of the Active Codec Set

amrConfigurationFr: codecModeSet (FRC) & amrConfigurationHr: codecModeSet (HRC)
Codecs supported in different BTS models BTS 2nd Generat Talk Family Metro & Ultrasite AMR FR AFS 475, AFS590, AFS740, AFS122 All codecs AMR-HR AHS475, AHS 590, AHS 740 All exepct AHS790
Maximum of 4 codecs can be included in ACS, although it can be less (or even disable)
Values Range: 0..240 (0 or 1-4 values Range: 0..30 (0 or 1-4 values from from these: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 & 128) these: 1, 2, 4, 8 & 16) 0 (0000 0000) = disabled 1 (0000 0001) = 4.75 kbit/s 2 (0000 0010) = 5.15 kbit/s 4 (0000 0100) = 5.90 kbit/s 8 (0000 1000) = 6.70 kbit/s 16 (0001 0000) = 7.40 kbit/s 32 (0010 0000) = 7.95 kbit/s 64 (0100 0000) = 10.2 kbit/s 128 (1000 0000) = 12.2 kbit/s Example (default) 1001 0101 = (4.75, 5.90, 7.40 & 12.2) 0 (0000 0000) 1 (0000 0001) 2 (0000 0010) 4 (0000 0100) 8 (0000 1000) 16 (0001 0000) = disabled = 4.75 kbit/s = 5.15 kbit/s = 5.90 kbit/s = 6.70 kbit/s = 7.40 kbit/s
0001 0101 = (4.75, 5.90 & 7.40)
128
Codec mode adaptation: Threshold and hysteresis

Both Threshold and hysteresis has 0.5 dB step One threshold to go from one codec to the closest higher or lower one FR Example:
AFS122, C/I < 11 dB, AFS122 AFS740 AFS740, C/I > 11+1 dB, AFS740 AFS122 Codec Mode (kbit/s) 4 (12.2) 3 (7.4) 2 (5.9) 1 (4.75)
Threshold (C/I) TH3 (11 dB) TH2 (7 dB) TH1 (4 dB)
Hysteresis (C/I)
H3 (1 dB) H2 (1 dB) H1 (1 dB)
Codec mode adaptation: Threshold and hysteresis

Codec mode
FR12.2 (codec 4)
1dB FRH3
FR7.4 (codec 3)
1dB FRH2
FR5.9 (codec 2) 1dB FRH1 FR4.75 (codec 1)
4dB FRT1
5dB
7dB FRT2
8dB
11dB 12dB FRT3
C/I estimatio n
130
Initial Codec Mode Indicator

Separate parameters for FR and HR: FR: amrConfigurationFr: initCodecMode (ICMI) (FRI) Initial codec mode for call set-up and HO 0 = Initial codec mode is defined by the implicit rule provided in GSM 05.09 1 = Initial codec mode is defined by amrConfigurationFr: startMode (FRS) 00: Codec mode 1 (most robust within
ACS) 01: Codec mode 2 10: Codec mode 3 11: Codec mode 4
HR: amrConfHrStartMode (HRS)
amrConfigurationHr: initCodecMode (ICMI) (HRI) HR 7.4 cannot be used as start mode

Slow Link Adaptation

slowAmrLaEnabled (SAL): Y/N
enable slow link adaptation. This is a proprietary algorithm where codec mode changes happen every SACCH period (480ms) instead of as fast as 40ms.
132
Packing/Unpacking Parameters and Channel Rate allocation

BSC level parameters
Q3 NAME btsLoadDepTC HRate btsLoadDepTC HRate Acronymn HRL HRU 0 0 RANGE ... ... 100 100 UNIT % % MML EE EE MML Default 100 0
Q3 NAME
BTS level parameters Acronymn

FRL FRU IHRF IHRH 0 0 0 0
RANGE ... ... ... ... 100 100 7 7
UNIT % %
MML EQ EQ EH EH
MML Default 100 0 0 4
btsSpLoadDepTC HRate (BTSlevel) btsSpLoadDepTC HRate (BTSlevel) amrHandoverFr amrHandoverHr
133
Channel allocation: Call set-up and handovers

btsLoadDepTCHRate (HRL) and btsLoadDepTCHRate (HRU) are considered in call set-up and handovers only when IAC=1
HR is to be assigned if free resources go below HRL FR is to be assigned if free resources go above HRU
In channel allocation for Handovers, there is an additional parameter that can be used to set further control
tchRateInternalHo (HRI) is used to control the speech and channel type changes in handover when IAC=1 If set HRI=1, channel type and speech codec used in source BTS are primarily allocated in the target BTS

1. New channel allocation
Case 1.
2. BSC make Intra-cell HO (Packing TS4&5 calls into HR calls TS7) Free FR resources increased by one
Case 2.
TCHF MBCCHC TCHD
2. Packing TS4 FR call into HR call TS7 Free FR resources increased by one
FR call HR call
135

Case 3.
2. No packing (due to lack of TCHD resources)
BSC performs packing for FR AMR calls only when Rxqual is above the amrHandoverFr (IHRF)
136
Channel mode adaptation: Unpacking Case 4.

1. Unpacking due to Rx qual
2. Packing due to load
Unpacking of HR AMR calls to FR AMR calls is triggered when the quality of a HR AMR call degrades below the amrHandoverHr (IHRH). IHRH = 3, RxQual 3 to 7 will be unpacked Cell load does not have an effect
137
Packing/Unpacking RXQUAL Threshold Selection from Field Tests
138
Channel mode adaptation: Additional notes

HRL and HRU are set on BSC level but load evaluation is based on working FR TSLs for CS in individual BTS. Lower limit for FR TCH resources (FRL) and upper limit for FR TCH resources (FRU) are BTS specific parameters. They have priority over (HRL) and (HRU) The feature is disable when set HRU <= HRL or FRU <= FRL Requirements for maximum usage of HR HRU = 99 HRL = 98 IAC = 1 IHRF = 3, RX Qual 0, 1, 2, 3 are required for packing IHRH = 4, Rx Qual 4, 5, 6, 7 triggers unpacking TRIH = 0, no restriction, channel rate selection based on HRI
Other parameters affecting channel allocation in HOs
140
amrConf lnHandover
amrConf lnHandover
1 = the currently used multirate configuration is preferred 2 = the multirate configuration of target BTS is preferred
amrSetGradesEnabl Y/N
Y = downgrades and upgrades are applied N = downgrades and upgrades are not applied
If multirate configuration of source and target BTS are the same, these 2 parameters has no impact.
amrConflnHandover
If multirate configuration of source and target BTS are difference (e.g. Talk family BTS supports less codecs than UltraSite and MetroSite), the multirate configuration can be aligned before or after HO. Recommendation amrConflnHandover = 2 amrSetGradesEnabl = Y Mode modify is triggered for BTS and MS on source side before HO if target BTS support less codec (downgraded, UltraSite Talk family) Mode modify is triggered for BTS and MS on target side after HO if target BTS support more codec (upgrade, Talk family UltraSite) In order to make it possible to connect unidirectional speech path on target side, the multirate configuration on both sides should be the same (reduce muting period during HO).

With this parameter you control the TCH channel rate determination in TCH allocation and the TCH speech codec to be allocated during internal intra-cell handover. TRIH = 0 No Constraints. Follows HRI settings TRIH = 1 Call serving type TCH and speech codec are preferred
Preferred over different type TCH and speech codec
Only when same type TCH and speech codec is not avaialble
TRIH = 2
Call serving type of TCH and speech codec are preferred for speech Channel rate change is possible for data if the radio interface data rate allows it

TRIH = 3 Channel rate and speech codec changes are totally denied
Not allowed
Allowed
TRIH = 4 Preferred channel rate of TCH and preferred speech codec have to be primarily allocated Recommended value = 0 (default)
144
AMR specific Hand-Over and Power Control Parameters
145
Power Control Parameters

Separate thresholds for AMR-HR Different PC thresholds for AMR than for EFR AMR allows to use more aggressive PC thresholds (1-2 classes lower) Same voting used as for EFR (px/nx)
AMR Parameters
AMR PC Control Thresholds - BTS level parameters
Q3 NAME amrPowerC ontrolFr *lower threshold dl Rx Qual* amrPowerC ontrolHr *lower threshold dl Rx Qual* amrPowerC ontrolFr *lower threshold ul Rx Qual* amrPowerC ontrolHr *lower threshold ul Rx Qual* amrPowerC ontrolFr *upper threshold dl Rx Qual* amrPowerC ontrolHr *upper threshold dl Rx Qual* amrPowerC ontrolFr *upper threshold ul Rx Qual* amrPowerC ontrolHr *upper threshold ul Rx Qual* Acronymn LDRF LDRH LURF LURH UDRF UDRH UURF UURH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 RANGE ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 UNI T MML EU EU EU EU EU EU EU EU MML Default 4 3 4 3 0 0 0 0
147
RXQual Handover Parameters

Separate thresholds for AMR-FR than for AMR-HR Different HO thresholds for AMR than for EFR Same px/nx values used for both AMR and EFR AMR allows to use more aggressive HO thresholds (1-2 classes lower) BTS level parameters
Q3 NAME Threshold dl Rx qual AMR HR Threshold dl Rx qual AMR FR Threshold ul Rx qual AMR FR Threshold ul Rx qual AMR HR Acronymn QDRH QDRF QURF QURH 0 0 0 0 RANGE ... ... ... ... 7 7 7 7 UNI T MML EH EH EH EH MML Default 4 5 5 4
148
Relation with other HOs: Priority

Interference (UL or DL) NonBCCHLayerExit Uplink quality Downlink quality AMR unpacking due to UL level HO threshold and UL quality (unpacking is started instead of UL level based HO if both, UL level and UL quality for unpacking triggers) 6. Uplink level 7. AMR unpacking due to DL level HO threshold and DL quality (unpacking is started instead of DL level based HO if both, DL level and DL quality for unpacking triggers)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
8. Downlink level 9. MS-BS Distance 10. Turn-around-corner MS 11. Rapid field drop 12. Fast/Slow moving MS 13. Better cell (Power budget HO
or Umbrella HO) 14. Load based HO in Common BCCH from BCCH/nonBCCH layer to non-BCCH layer 15. AMR packing 16. AMR unpacking
* Priority applies when criteria are fulfilled at the same time
Nokia AMR KPI
AMR Performance Monitoring

AMR brings new speech codecs and channel encoders into air interface Speech Codecs impact would be reflected in the speech quality perceived Channel encoding enhancement is translated into better error correction capabilities (lower FER for same RawBER), which, in turn, enhances the speech quality Traditional performance monitoring indicators based on RXQUAL distribution, or Drop Call Rate, etc. does not reflect clearly the perceived speech quality by the end user. New methods to monitor the performance of AMR closer to speech quality perceived by the user. 2 Main indicators are proposed: FER and O-MOS (Objective MOS).
O-MOS is not simple to measure (BSS 10.5) FER is available in UL, but DL FER will be reported when R99 MS come. In the meantime DL FER is just estimated from RXQUAL values
RXQUAL
FER
O-MOS
AMR KPIs
RXQUAL: Reported raw bit error rate RXLEV: Reported received power FER: Frame Erasure Rate (after decoding) Codec distribution MOS - speech quality FER per codec Call Drop Rate and other standard benchmarking measures Network collected measurements:
Microsoft Word Document
AMR Effect on HO_QUALITY

RXLEV and Power Budget HO parameters identical for AMR and EFR AMR call would handover at the same point as an EFR call. Separate RXQUAL threshold settings for AMR Default set to worse values than EFR. (e.g. EFR =4, AMR = 5) With these default settings AMR calls would be expected to have fewer HO due to quality No difference in RXQUAL measurement method between EFR and AMR EFR call and AMR call in identical location should show identical RXQUAL measurements Packing/Unpacking Unpacking from HR to FR is always based on RX quality In congested cell with no available TS for unpacking, Inter-cell HO required based on RXQUAL.
AMR Effect on HO_Failures

Improved robustness in AMR over EFR AMR better able to handle poor radio conditions - low RXLEV, poor RXQUAL, low C/I Separate RXQUAL HO threshold for AMR Effort to squeeze more performance from AMR could have negative impact in case parameters are not properly set up and/or traffic is low Packing/Unpacking Congestion could cause negative impact to HO_Fail No available TS for unpacking within cell. Inter-cell HO required Conclusion Optimization of separate AMR parameters is important to ensure no negative impact to HO_Failures. Different environments will need different parameter settings to optimise the performance.
Unpacking algorithm under congested conditions may negatively impact HO_Failures
AMR Effect on DCR

The AMR feature itself will not impact the individual connections DCR, but it will affect the overall system DCR since the interference generated in the network is lower due to the AMR power control settings. Radio Link Timeout can be adapted to AMR in order for dropped calls to maintain the same correlation with voice quality degradation as with EFR (RLT value could be moved from 20 to 36, for instance)
AMR Effect on BH_Congestion

Use of AMR HR will decrease BH_Cong Special dimmensioning techniques are required:
% of HR capable terminals -> system level Load in busy hour (C/I distribution) determines % of HR terminals which can use HR -> cluster level HR Dimmensioning tables determine the traffic (Erlangs) to be carried for a certain TSL configuration, a certain grade of service and % of HR traffic -> cell level
156
Nokia AMR Planning Aspects
Link Level Performance of AMR
158
C/I vs. FER performance, AMR FR

Frame Error Rates (FER) for ARM, EFR and FR Codecs on Different C/I conditions (FR -Channel)
C/I [dB] 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0.00%
2.00% GSM EFR GSM FR AMR 12.2 kbit/s AMR 10.2 kbit/s AMR 7.95 kbit/s AMR 7.4 kbit/s AMR 6.7 kbit/s AMR 5.9 kbit/s AMR 5.15 kbit/s AMR 4.75 kbit/s GSM HR
4.00%
8.00%
10.00%
TU3-iFH
12.00%
14.00%
FER [%]
56dB
6.00%
C/I vs. FER performance, AMR HR

Frame Error Rates (FER) for ARM HR Codecs on Different C/I conditions (HR -Channel)
C/I [dB] 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Better Performance than 0.00%GSM-HR and GSM-FR 2.00% (previous slide)

4.00% GSM HR FER [%] 6.00% 8.00% 10.00% 12.00% 14.00% AMR 7.95 kbit/s AMR 7.4 kbit/s AMR 6.7 kbit/s AMR 5.9 kbit/s AMR 5.15 kbit/s AMR 4.75 kbit/s
TU3-iFH
Coverage Enhancement
161
AMR Coverage Improvement (link budget)

AMR 12.2 Uplink Transmitter TX power1 Combiner losses Cable and connector losses Body loss TX antenna gain Receiver: Antenna gain Body losses2 Link: SNR requirement Receiver sensitivity Max. allowed path loss Fading marging Range [km] 4) Estimated performance for 1% FER in TU3 multipath channel with frequency hopping 9 dB4 -107.4 149.4 7.4 9 dB4 -103.4 154 7.4 4 dB -112.4 155.4 7.4 4 dB -106.4 159 7.4 15 dBi 0 dB 0 dBi 3 dB 15 dBi 0 dB 0 dBi 3 dB 30 dBm 0 0 3 dB 0 dBi 45 dBm 3.4 dB 2 dB 0 15 dBi 30 dBm 0 0 3 dB 0 dBi 45 dBm 3.4 dB 2 dB 0 15 dBi Downlink AMR 5.15 Uplink Downlink
162
Dimensioning with AMR-HR
163
Dimensioning with AMR-HR

Erlang B table can not be used for dimensioning when AMR-HR penetration is foreseen That is, if all TSL are configured as DR, then the maximum traffic that can be served with less than 2% GoS is not the one provided by Erlang-B table when doubling the amount of channels. The reason is because now AMR-HR is not used in all TSL but only in those that has good radio conditions. New tables have been produced taking the percentage of traffic that could be handled by HR. These tables have been produced using a mathematical model based on Markov processes (see reference at the end of the material).
Example of reduction of TSL required with AMR-HR

Saving Factor = % of resources (TS) saved by using AMR-HR
Saving in resources
2% GoS # Time Slots 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 24 32 40 48 56 0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 10% 0.2% 0.8% 1.0% 1.3% 1.6% 2.0% 2.2% 2.5% 2.8% 3.0% 3.1% 3.2% 3.3% 3.4% 3.5% 3.6% 4.0% 4.2% 4.2% 4.2% 4.2%
% of users with good conditions to use AMR-HR (for example C/I > 12dB) 20% 0.5% 2.5% 3.2% 4.1% 4.8% 5.4% 5.9% 6.4% 6.7% 7.0% 7.3% 7.4% 7.6% 7.7% 7.9% 8.0% 8.6% 8.8% 8.9% 9.0% 8.9% 30% 1.2% 5.2% 6.6% 8.1% 9.2% 10.0% 10.6% 11.1% 11.5% 11.8% 12.1% 12.3% 12.5% 12.6% 12.8% 12.9% 13.6% 13.8% 13.9% 14.0% 14.0% 40% 2.3% 9.2% 11.1% 12.9% 14.3% 15.2% 15.9% 16.4% 16.7% 17.1% 17.3% 17.5% 17.7% 17.9% 18.0% 18.1% 18.7% 18.9% 19.1% 19.2% 19.3% 50% 3.7% 13.9% 16.2% 18.3% 19.6% 20.5% 21.1% 21.6% 21.9% 22.2% 22.5% 22.7% 22.9% 23.0% 23.1% 23.2% 23.8% 24.0% 24.2% 24.3% 24.3% 60% 6.5% 19.7% 22.1% 24.1% 25.3% 26.1% 26.6% 27.0% 27.3% 27.6% 27.8% 28.0% 28.1% 28.2% 28.4% 28.4% 28.9% 29.1% 29.3% 29.4% 29.5% 70% 7.5% 25.7% 28.3% 30.0% 31.0% 31.7% 32.1% 32.5% 32.7% 33.0% 33.1% 33.3% 33.4% 33.5% 33.6% 33.7% 34.1% 34.3% 34.4% 34.5% 34.6% 80% 17.2% 32.5% 35.3% 36.5% 37.2% 37.6% 38.0% 38.2% 38.4% 38.5% 38.7% 38.8% 38.9% 38.9% 39.0% 39.1% 39.4% 39.5% 39.6% 39.7% 39.8% 90% 34.0% 41.4% 42.6% 43.2% 43.6% 43.8% 44.0% 44.1% 44.2% 44.3% 44.3% 44.4% 44.4% 44.5% 44.5% 44.5% 44.7% 44.8% 44.9% 44.9% 44.9% 100% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0% 50.0%
By using AMR-HR, when 70% of the network has conditions for AMRHR, we can save 34% if 24 AMR-HR capable TS are available (we would need 36 TS with only FR to serve the same traffic)
165
AMR-HR DIMENSIONING ISSUES

Erlang B table can not be used for dimensioning when AMR-HR penetration is foreseen this table displays the traffic that can be served for different number of Time Slots (TS) available and different penetrations of AMR-HR for example, 70% HR penetration the number of TS required to serve 16.7 Erlangs is just 16, while for pure AMR-FR it would require around 24 time slots to serve the same traffic (around 33% saving in resources)
2% GoS # Time Slots 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 24 32 40 48 56 0% 0.0204 0.2236 0.6024 1.0927 1.6578 2.2769 2.9367 3.6287 4.3468 5.0864 5.8443 6.6178 7.405 8.204 9.0137 9.8328 16.636 23.729 30.998 38.387 45.863 10% 0.02 0.23 0.62 1.12 1.71 2.35 3.04 3.77 4.53 5.31 6.11 6.92 7.75 8.60 9.45 10.32 17.50 24.98 32.62 40.36 48.16 20% 0.02 0.24 0.65 1.18 1.81 2.50 3.24 4.01 4.82 5.65 6.51 7.37 8.25 9.15 10.06 10.98 18.60 26.52 34.61 42.80 51.05 % of users with good conditions to use AMR-HR 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.25 0.28 0.32 0.37 0.45 0.70 0.77 0.87 1.01 1.19 1.28 1.42 1.59 1.82 2.10 1.96 2.17 2.42 2.73 3.11 2.71 2.99 3.31 3.71 4.19 3.51 3.85 4.25 4.74 5.32 4.35 4.76 5.24 5.81 6.50 5.21 5.70 6.25 6.92 7.71 6.11 6.66 7.29 8.05 8.94 7.02 7.64 8.35 9.20 10.20 7.94 8.65 9.43 10.37 11.48 8.89 9.66 10.53 11.56 12.77 9.85 10.69 11.64 12.76 14.08 10.82 11.74 12.77 13.98 15.41 16.74 11.81 12.79 13.90 15.21 19.94 21.52 23.27 25.33 27.72 28.37 30.52 32.93 35.75 39.04 36.98 39.74 42.82 46.41 50.59 45.71 49.08 52.84 57.20 62.28 54.51 58.52 62.96 68.09 74.07 80% 0.06 0.58 1.44 2.47 3.60 4.80 6.06 7.36 8.69 10.05 11.44 12.84 14.26 15.70 17.15 18.61 30.62 42.99 55.58 68.32 81.16 90% 0.11 0.79 1.80 2.97 4.25 5.60 7.00 8.45 9.93 11.45 12.98 14.53 16.11 17.69 19.29 20.91 34.13 47.73 61.55 75.52 89.60 100% 0.22 1.09 2.28 3.63 5.08 6.61 8.20 9.83 11.49 13.18 14.90 16.63 18.38 20.15 21.93 23.73 38.39 53.43 68.69 84.10 99.62
166
Introducing AMR HR (e.g. 2 TRX Cell)

Phase 0: Existing EFR FR: 16 Ch/Cell, 13 Voice Ch/Cell, Max. 7 Erl/Cell*
TS L TR X1 TR X2 0 S F 1 S F 2 F F 3 F F 4 F F 5 F F 6 F F 7 G F
Phase 1: Adding 1 DR TSL per TRX: 18 Ch/Cell, 15 Voice Ch/Cell, Max. 9 Erl/Cell*
TS L TRX1 TRX2 0 S D 1 S F 2 D F 3 F F 4 F F 5 F F 6 F F 7 G F
Phase 2: All Voice TSL are DR: 29 Ch/Cell, 26 Voice Ch/Cell, Max. 18 Erl/Cell*
TS L TR X1 TR X2 0 S D 1 S D 2 D D 3 D D 4 D D 5 D D 6 D D 7 G D
Phase 2 essentially DOUBLES the voice capacity compared to phase 0. Signaling load between BSC and MSC has to be considered as well
* at 2% Blocking rate, using Erlang B considering HR is used without Radio Link Constrains
Common BCCH
Content
1. Solution description 2. Segment 3. Multi BCF 4. HO Control 5. Parameters
169
Common BCCH
Dual Band Operation
every BTS has its BCCH and SDCCH channels
Common BCCH Control

improved spectral efficiency (one BCCH) optimised use of signalling channels tighter reuse of non BCCH carriers better quality (decreased number of HOs)
Cell 1 BCCH/SDCCH
BCCH freq. BTS BCCH/SDCCH
Cell 2 BCCH/SDCCH 170 GSM Radio Network Features
Non BCCH freq. BTS
Common BCCH for GSM800/GSM1900
GSM1900
BCCH
BCCH
GSM1900 GSM800
GSM800
171
Common BCCH in S10.5

allows integration of TRXs from different frequency bands into one cell (segment) provides service to MSs in all frequency bands which they support improved spectral efficiency: different bands of a cell share the same BCCH BCCH is allowed in any of the supported frequency bands improved trunking gain
172
Common BCCH
BCCH Allocation mainly similar to the single band network implementation adjacency information sent to the mobile station is based on the BCCH frequency of a common BCCH segment other frequency layers in a segment are invisible to the mobile stations
MS sees a segment as one BCCH frequency cell MS sees many segments as a BCCH frequency network
modified BA list to an MS on the non BCCH frequency layer of a segment

173
the BCCH frequency of the segment itself is added among the BCCH frequencies the MS measures GSM Radio Network Features

initial SDCCH on the BCCH carrier band the multiband capabilities of an accessing mobile station are not known at the time of the initial SDCCH allocation no way to define the usability of the non-BCCH layer of the segment because the MS starts sending measurement reports only after it has moved to a dedicated channel While the MS is on an SDCCH the BSC receives in Classmark Change message Mobile Station Classmark 3 indicating the terminal's frequency capability of using other frequency bands than BCCH frequency band
174

Initial SDCCH allocation
1. SYS INFO 1 (BCCH) - CA list of BCCH frequency band BCCH freq.
layer
2. IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT COMMAND (AGCH) SDCCH SDCCH - MA list of BCCH frequency band (if FH)
Non BCCH freq. layer
Initial SDCCH allocation always from BCCH frequency band

UltraSite base stations have better link budget than Talk Family base stations (2dB difference) Talk Family base stations and UltraSite base stations are regarded as two different layers of a segment if there are both Talk Family base stations and UltraSite base stations in a SEG and the BCCH carrier is in an UltraSite BTS then the initial SDCCH is allocated among the UltraSite resources only no way to define the usability of the non-BCCH layer of the segment because the MS starts sending measurement reports only after it has moved to a dedicated channel
Common BCCH & Multi BCF in S10.5
Segment
segment = telecom cell segment may consist of several BTS objects BTSs of a segment are co-located and synchronized a BTS in a segment is a group of similar TRXs a BTS in a segment must consist of TRXs of the same frequency band (PGSM900, EGSM900, GSM1800 / GSM800, GSM1900 separated) a BTS in a segment must consist of TRXs of the same base station site type
177
Segment
OLD: Cell = BTS NEW: Cell = SEG = several BTSs
BCCH
BCCH
178
Multi BCF
allows combination of several BTSs into one logical cell allows the operator to increase the capacity of a cell up to 36 TRXs while maintaining the maximum spectral efficiency (no extra BCCH) site expansion path from Talk Family to UltraSite evolution path to EDGE (operator can take EDGE in use in Talk Family cell by expanding it with UltraSite base station that will have EDGE capability) BSC supports Multi BCF Control for Talk family, UltraSite and MetroSite base stations in the case of MetroSite the BSC allows only MetroSite base stations in a multi BCF segment Talk family and UltraSite base stations support Multi BCF Control
Multi BCF, example

UltraSite 8+8+8 configuration in S9: altogether 6 BCCH carriers
BTS-3, BCCH-3 - BB hopping - 6 TRXs BTS-4, BCCH-4 - RF hopping - 6 freq, f1-f6 - 2 TRXs BTS-1, BCCH-1 - BB hopping - 6 TRXs BTS-5, BCCH-5 - RF hopping - 6 freq, f1-f6 - 2 TRXs
UltraSite 8+8+8 configuration in S10 (and S10.5): improved spectral efficiency, 3 BCCH BTS-3, BCCH-3 - BB hopping - 6 TRXs carriers
BTS-4 - RF hopping - 6 freq, f1-f6 - 2 TRXs BTS-2, BCCH-2 - BB hopping - 6 TRXs BTS-6 - RF hopping - 6 freq, f1-f6 - 2 TRXs
BTS-2, BCCH-2 - BB hopping - 6 TRXs BTS-6, BCCH-6 - RF hopping - 6 freq, f1-f6 - 2 TRXs
BTS-1, BCCH-1 - BB hopping - 6 TRXs BTS-5 - RF hopping - 6 freq, f1-f6 - 2 TRXs
180

From the channel allocation point of view the most important points are different capabilities of terminals (Common BCCH) different propagation properties of frequency bands (Common BCCH) link budget difference between base station site types (Multi BCF)
181
Common BCCH
maximum transmission power level for mobile station
New parameters MsTxPwrMaxCCH1x00 (TXP1x00) and GPRSMsTxPwrMaxCCH1x00 (GTXP1x00) are introduced to be used in cells where the BCCH is either on GSM1800 or GSM1900 frequency band Existing parameters MsTxPwrMaxCCH (TXP) and GPRSMsTxPwrMaxCCH (GTXP) are used in cells where the BCCH is either on GSM800 or GSM900 frequency band
Common BCCH
Parameter MsTxPwrMaxCCH1x00
maximum transmission power an MS may use when accessing a CCH in the cell
Range:
Default: GSM1900 Modify: Online MML commands: EQG, EQO

030 dBm GSM1800 033 dBm GSM1900 30 dBm GSM1800 and
Common BCCH
Parameter GPRSMsTxPwrMaxCCH1x00
maximum transmission power an MS may use when accessing a PCCCH in the cell
Range:
036 dBm GSM1800 033 dBm GSM1900 Default: 30 dBm GSM1800 and GSM1900 Modify: Online MML commands: EQG, EQO / EAC, EAM, EAO

SDCCH handover based on duration of reservation
Because the allocation of the initial SDCCH takes place in the band where the BCCH is a method is defined to trigger SDCCH handovers to other band(s) based on the SDCCH reservation duration on the initial band guided by a parameter IntraSegSdcchHoGuard SDCCH reservation duration exceeds IntraSegSdcchHoGuard there are resources outside the initial band in a cell MS has the required support for the other resource types

Parameter IntraSegSdcchHoGuard Guard time for attempting an SDCCH handover from the BCCH BTS resource layer to another resource layer in a segment Range 0..255 secs
0: no time limit set for starting an SDCCH handover attempt from the BCCH BTS resource layer, attempt can be made as soon as possible 1..254: time after which an SDCCH handover from the BCCH BTS resource layer is attempted 255: no SDCCH handover from the BCCH BTS resource layer is attempted based on SDCCH reservation duration
Default value 255 secs Modifying online MML commands: EEQ, EEO

In case of an intra cell SDCCH handover from BCCH frequency band to non BCCH frequency band the following criterion must be fulfilled:
AV_RXLEV_DL NonBcchLayerOffset >= NonBCCHLayerAccessThreshold
AV_RXLEV_DL, terminals averaged signal level on the initial SDCCH NonBcchLayerOffset, BTS specific offset for a BTS on the non BCCH layer NonBCCHLayerAccessThreshold, a new threshold parameter

Parameter NonBCCHLayerAccessThreshold Predefined threshold value for the estimated downlink signal level on non BCCH layer for moving MS from BCCH layer to non BCCH layer Range: -110 -47 dBm Default value: -90 dBm Modifying: Online MML-commands: EHS, EHO

MS indicates its capabilities while on an SDCCH => BSC finds out if non BCCH frequency band resources could be included in channel allocation for the terminal MS reports the downlink signal level on the SDCCH => BSC finds out if radio conditions are good enough for the MS to use non BCCH frequency resources of the segment with the criterion RXLEV_DL NonBcchLayerOffset >= NonBCCHLayerAccessThreshold With the decisions above the BSC determines the applicable frequency bands of a segment for an MS during call setup when the MS moves from an SDCCH to a TCH
Common BCCH & Multi BCF in S10.5 EQ - Base Transceiver Station Handling in BSC
Parameter BTSLoadInSEG load limit for a BTS used in controlling the load distribution between BTSs in a segment Range 0 ...100 % Default value 70 % Modifying online MML commands: EQM, EQO
190

as long as the load in each BTS of a segment is below the respective limit the BTSs are filled evenly after the load limit for some BTS has been reached the TCH allocation to that BTS is aborted when each BTS has reached its load limit the allocation continues in the BTSs where the load is less than the highest load threshold value among the BTSs after the highest load threshold has been reached in every BTS the allocation continues according to the following preference between resource types
Talk Family BTS on non BCCH frequency band 1 UltraSite BTS on non BCCH frequency band 2 Talk Family BTS on BCCH frequency band 6 UltraSite BTS on BCCH frequency band
1
191

Handover for balancing load
BSC initiates an intra cell handover when TCH load in a some BTS of the segment reaches a level defined with the BTS level parameter BTSLoadInSEG.
triggering level = BTSLoadInSEG +((100 - BTSLoadInSEG )/2)
BSC checks the load of the BTSs every time it receives a TCH request for the segment BSC accepts as target only the segment's BTSs
whose load is below the respective BTSLoadInSEG value in which the radio conditions are good enough
which are not same resource type as the source BTS and the BCCH BTS
the handover is primarily used to move TCH load from the BCCH resource type but handovers can also be made between other resource types

Intra cell handover from non BCCH layer based on signal level
BSC initiates an intra cell handover from non BCCH layer to BCCH layer when the averaged downlink signal level on serving channel decreases below the threshold defined by parameter NonBcchLayerExitThreshold (RX_LEV, N, P) this decreases the number of inter cell handovers from non BCCH layer handover is applicable in cells where BCCH layer has more coverage than non BCCH layer BSC uses general Power Control and Handover Algorithm functions to trigger the handover If intra cell handover fails then inter cell handover can be triggered
Common BCCH & Multi BCF in S10.5 Resource usability definition in intra cell handover
When the call is going on on a non-BCCH frequency band the usability of different types of resources is defined based on the averaged BCCH measurement results. The following formulas are used: AV_BCCH_RXLEV_DL NonBcchLayerOffset >= rxLevAccessMin AV_BCCH_RXLEV_DL NonBcchLayerOffset >= NonBCCHLayerAccessThreshold The first formula is used to evaluate the usability of BCCH frequency resources of the segment. The second formula is used to evaluate the usability of non-BCCH frequency resources of the segment.
Common BCCH & Multi BCF

Intercell Handover
In BSC internal handovers between separate cells the applicability BCCH frequency band resources in a target cell is defined using the BTS specific offset parameter and a neighbour parameter defined for the target cell: AV_RXLEVNCELL NonBcchLayerOffset >= rxLevMinCell In BSC internal handovers between separate cells the applicability of non BCCH frequency band resources in a target cell is defined using the BTS specific offset parameter and a new threshold parameter defined for the target cell: AV_RXLEVNCELL - NonBcchLayerOffset >= NonBCCHLayerAccessThreshold
applies to both SDCCH and TCH allocation cases

PBGT handover from non BCCH resource with less coverage
Own BCCH Server
Adj. BCCH
On the non BCCH resource with less coverage the segment's own BCCH is used instead of the serving TCH in comparisons with the neighbours
Common BCCH & Multi BCF In S10.5

PBGT handover from non BCCH frequency band with more coverage
Own BCCH
Adj. BCCH
Server
On the non BCCH resource with more coverage the serving TCH is used in comparisons with the neighbours
Propagation Differences Between GSM 900 and 1800 Outdoor

120 100
# s a m p le s
80 60 40 20 0
-15 -12 -9 -6 -3 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
Co-located site with separate DCS and GSM antennas Outdoor urban environment Difference in downlink signal level RESULTS : Average diff. = 9.5dB, Range = -6 to 22 dB
198
Common BCCH improvements in BCT03

Traffic distribution between 1900/850 Total DCR DCR (1900/850) Access/Exit thresholds Load Thresholds 1900/850
10/90%
7.6%
-109/-110
0%/100%
25/75%
5.8% 2.8/6.6%
-80/-90
90%/25%
50/50%
5.8% 1.9/11.4%
-90/-100
90%/0%
199

4&amp;5GSM Radio Network Feature (Day4 &amp; Day5)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

4&amp;5GSM Radio Network Feature (Day4 &amp; Day5)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

GSM Radio Network Feature

Babak Kardel Mehrdad Sedaghat April 2008

GSM Radio Network Features

GSM Radio Network Features

GSM Radio Network Features

Overview of Half Rate

Capacity of BCSU & BSC

GSM Radio Network Features

Channel rate selection based on cell load

GSM Radio Network Features

Half Rate Parameters

Half rate Parameters

GSM Radio Network Features

Half rate Parameters

Half rate Parameters

Half rate Parameters

GSM Radio Network Features

Half rate Parameters

Half rate Parameters

Half rate Parameters

Half rate Parameters

Half rate Parameters

Signalling Channel Configuration (Dynamic SDCCH & FACCH Call Setup)

GSM Radio Network Features

GSM Radio Network Features

GSM Radio Network Features

Maximum SDCCH capacity

Dynamic SDCCH Allocation

GSM Radio Network Features

Dynamic SDCCH Allocation

GSM Radio Network Features

Dynamic SDCCH Activation

GSM Radio Network Features

FACCH Call Setup

GSM Radio Network Features

FACCH Call Setup

GSM Radio Network Features

FACCH Call Setup Parameters

GSM reference: Q3 name: Modification: Range: MML default: Description:

GSM Radio Network Features

FACCH Call Setup Parameters

MML default: Description:

Related command(s): Note:

GSM Radio Network Features

FACCH Call Setup Parameters

MML default: Description:

Related command(s): Note:

GSM Radio Network Features

FACCH Call Setup Parameters

MML default: Description:

Related command(s): Note:

GSM Radio Network Features

Cell Load Sharing (Adaptive Multi Handling-AMH)

GSM Radio Network Features

Cell Load Sharing Overview

GSM Radio Network Features

Cell Load Sharing Overview

GSM Radio Network Features

AMH (Adaptive Multi-Handling)

GSM Radio Network Features

BSC-initiated Traffic Reason Handover

GSM Radio Network Features

IUO load control

4&5GSM Radio Network Feature (Day4 & Day5)

4&5GSM Radio Network Feature (Day4 & Day5)