Robust Air Interface Signaling Feature Parameter Description

GSM BSS
GBSS14.0
Robust Air Interface Signaling

Feature Parameter Description
Issue
02
Date
2013-04-12
HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
Copyright Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. 2013. All rights reserved.

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written
consent of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
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All other trademarks and trade names mentioned in this document are the property of their respective holders.
Notice
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customer. All or part of the products, services and features described in this document may not be within the
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and recommendations in this document are provided "AS IS" without warranties, guarantees or representations
of any kind, either express or implied.
The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Every effort has been made in the
preparation of this document to ensure accuracy of the contents, but all statements, information, and
recommendations in this document do not constitute a warranty of any kind, express or implied.
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Address:
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Issue 02 (2013-04-12)
Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Copyright Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
GSM BSS
Robust Air Interface Signaling Feature Parameter
Description
Contents
Contents
1 Introduction....................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Scope..................................................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Intended Audience..............................................................................................................................................1
1.3 Change History...................................................................................................................................................1
2 Overview.........................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................................................3
2.2 Benefits...............................................................................................................................................................4
3 Technical Description...................................................................................................................5
3.1 Repeated Downlink FACCH..............................................................................................................................5
3.1.1 Overview...................................................................................................................................................5
3.1.2 Implementation in the BSS........................................................................................................................5
3.2 Repeated SACCH...............................................................................................................................................6
3.2.1 Overview...................................................................................................................................................6
3.2.2 Implementation in the BSS........................................................................................................................6
4 Related Features.............................................................................................................................8
4.1 Prerequisite Features...........................................................................................................................................8
4.2 Mutually Exclusive Features..............................................................................................................................8
4.3 Impacted Features...............................................................................................................................................8
5 Network Impact.............................................................................................................................9
5.1 System Capacity.................................................................................................................................................9
5.2 Network Performance.........................................................................................................................................9
6 Engineering Guidelines.............................................................................................................10
6.1 When to Use Robust Air Interface Signalling..................................................................................................10
6.2 Required Information.......................................................................................................................................10
6.3 Planning............................................................................................................................................................10
6.4 Deployment......................................................................................................................................................11
6.5 Performance Monitoring...................................................................................................................................11
6.6 Parameter Optimization....................................................................................................................................12
6.7 Troubleshooting................................................................................................................................................13
7 Parameters.....................................................................................................................................14
8 Counters........................................................................................................................................17
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9 Glossary.........................................................................................................................................18
10 Reference Documents...............................................................................................................19
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iii
GSM BSS
Description
1 Introduction
Introduction
1.1 Scope
This document describes the GBFD-113721 Robust Air Interface Signalling feature, including
its implementation principles, parameters, related features, network impact, and engineering
guidelines. This feature consists of two functions: Repeated Downlink FACCH and Repeated
SACCH.
1.2 Intended Audience

This document is intended for personnel who:
l
Need to understand the Robust Air Interface Signalling feature
Work with Huawei GSM products
1.3 Change History

This section provides information about the changes in different document versions.
There are two types of changes, which are defined as follows:
l
Feature change: refers to a change in the Robust Air Interface Signalling feature of a specific
product version.
Editorial change: refers to a change in wording or the addition of information that was not
described in the earlier version.
Document Issues
The document issue is as follows:
l
02 (2013-04-12)
01 (2012-04-28)
Draft A (2012-02-15)
Issue 02 (2013-04-12)

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Description
1 Introduction
02 (2013-04-12)
This is the second release of GBSS14.0.
Compared with Issue 01 (2012-04-28) , 02 (2013-04-12) incorporates the changes described in
the following table.
Change Type
Change Description
Parameter Change
Feature change
None
None
Editorial change
Optimized the descriptions

throughout the document.
None
01 (2012-04-28)
This is the first release of GBSS14.0.
Compared with issue draft A (2012-02-15) of GBSS14.0, issue 01 (2012-04-28) of GBSS14.0
has no change.
Draft A (2012-02-15)
This is the draft release of GBSS14.0.
Compared with issue 01 (2011-01-15) of GBSS13.0, issue Draft A (2012-02-15) of GBSS14.0
has no change.
Issue 02 (2013-04-12)

GSM BSS
Description
2 Overview
Overview
2.1 Introduction
On networks with tight frequency reuse, strong interference, and poor radio transmission
performance, signaling messages sent using fast associated control channel (FACCH) or slow
associated control channel (SACCH) messages may be lost because of the high bit error rate
(BER) on the Um interface. Huawei addresses this issue through the Robust Air Interface
Signalling feature, which enables the BTS and MSs to repeatedly send FACCH and SACCH
messages, making FACCH and SACCH links more immune to interference and the BSC and
MSs more likely to successfully receive signaling messages.
Robust Air Interface Signalling consists of the following functions:
l
Repeated Downlink FACCH

If an MS supports Repeated Downlink FACCH and the receive quality in the downlink
measurement report (MR) sent by the MS is lower than a specified threshold, the BTS will
retransmit FACCH messages to increase the probability that the MS will receive signaling
messages.
FACCH signaling messages are retransmitted using stolen frames. Therefore, Repeated
Downlink FACCH slightly affects voice quality.
Repeated SACCH
NOTE
Repeated SACCH requires support from 3GPP Release 6 MSs (hereafter referred to as R6 MSs).
If the BTS fails to correctly decode SACCH messages from an MS that supports Repeated
SACCH, it instructs the MS to retransmit the last SACCH message. If the MS fails to
correctly decode SACCH messages, it requests the BTS to retransmit the last SACCH
message.
If the radio transmission quality is poor:
Downlink signaling message retransmission reduces the number of call drops caused
by decoding failures.
Uplink signaling message retransmission increases the probability that uplink MRs can
be decoded, thereby making handover and power control decisions more accurate.
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2 Overview
2.2 Benefits
Robust Air Interface Signalling provides the following benefits:
l
Repeated Downlink FACCH increases the FACCH performance of common MSs by about
2 dB and the FACCH performance of R6 MSs by about 4 to 5 dB.
Repeated SACCH increases the SACCH performance of R6 MSs by about 4 to 5 dB.
The improvements in FACCH and SACCH performance reduce the call drop rate and make
handover and power control decisions more accurate.
NOTE
For more information about the capability of R6 MSs to support Robust Air Interface Signalling, see 3GPP
TS 44.006.
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3 Technical Description
Technical Description
3.1 Repeated Downlink FACCH

3.1.1 Overview
During a call, a great number of messages must be transmitted over the FACCH, for example,
messages during the voice group call service (VGCS) notification, dual tone multiple frequency
(DTMF) protocol control, and handover procedures. The retransmission of handover commands
during the handover procedure is especially important because these commands carry
information about the target cell and the encryption information about services. Whether MSs
can receive and correctly decode the handover commands is central to a successful handover.
Repeated Downlink FACCH applies to networks with a tight frequency reuse pattern and a high
BER on the Um interface. After the Repeated Downlink FACCH function is enabled, the BTS
retransmits downlink FACCH messages to MSs if the downlink quality is poor. This increases
the probability that MSs will correctly receive messages on the downlink FACCH.
3.1.2 Implementation in the BSS

The BSS implements Repeated Downlink FACCH as follows:
1.
The REPEATDLFASET parameter is set to YES(Yes) so that the cell supports Repeated
Downlink FACCH.
2.
When activating full-rate or half-rate channels, the BTS obtains the value of the Repeated
ACCH Capability bit of an MS by decoding the Repeated ACCH Capability field contained
in the Channel Active information element (IE). The value of this bit indicates the capability
of the MS to support Robust Air Interface Signalling.
3.
The BTS compares the receive quality in the downlink MR with the value of the
REPEATDLFATHRED parameter to determine whether to retransmit downlink FACCH
messages.
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NOTE
According to 3GPP TS 44.006, the BTS retransmits FACCH messages according to the following rules:
l For MSs whose Repeated ACCH Capability is set to 0, the BTS retransmits only LAPDm command
frames carried in an FACCH message, not LAPDm response frames. For MSs whose Repeated ACCH
Capability is set to 1, the BTS retransmits both types of frames.
l FACCH messages are retransmitted in the following way: If the first burst of the first FACCH message
is sent in TDMA frame M, the first burst of the retransmitted FACCH message is sent in TDMA frame
M+8 or M+9 (the latter corresponds to cases where the two FACCH messages are separated by either
an SACCH message or an idle frame).
3.2 Repeated SACCH

3.2.1 Overview
The MS transmits link quality reports and MRs that contain the signal strengths of the serving
cell and its neighboring cells to the BSC over the uplink SACCH. These reports are crucial to
MS handovers because the BSC determines which target cell to hand over an MS to according
to these reports. The downlink SACCH transmits information about power control and timing
advance (TA) values.
Adaptive multirate (AMR) FR speech frames are more robust than SACCH messages, that is,
AMR FR speech frames have better performance than SACCH messages when the radio channel
quality is poor. Therefore, after the AMR feature is enabled, calls may drop because of signaling
transmission failures on the SACCH before calls are terminated by subscribers due to poor
speech quality.
After Repeated SACCH is enabled, MSs or the BTS may retransmit SACCH messages to the
peer end, thereby increasing the success rate of message transmission.
Repeated SACCH applies when the AMR feature is enabled.
NOTE
After AMR is enabled, the call drop rate on the traffic channel (TCH) may increase. For details, see "Impact
on KPI" in AMR Feature Parameter Description.
3.2.2 Implementation in the BSS

The BSS implements Repeated SACCH as follows:
1.
The REPEATSASET parameter is set to YES(Yes) so that the cell supports Repeated
SACCH.
2.
When activating full-rate channel or half-rate channel, the BTS obtains the capability of
an MS to support Robust Air Interface Signaling by decoding the Repeated ACCH
Capability in the Channel Active IE.
3.
Repeated SACCH is triggered in the following case:

l If the BTS fails to decode the SACCH frame correctly, it sets the SACCH Repetition
Order(SRO) in the downlink SACCH to 1 and instructs the MS to retransmit the last
SACCH frame.
l If the MS fails to decode the SACCH frame correctly, it sets the SACCH Repetition
Request(SRR) in the uplink SACCH frame to 1 and requests the BTS to retransmit the
message on the SACCH.
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SRR and SRO are IEs in SACCH messages. For more information about the two IEs, see 3GPP
TS 44.004. Table 3-1 describes the values and meanings of SRR and SRO.
Table 3-1 Values of the SRR and SRO
Issue 02 (2013-04-12)
Value
Description
Repeated SACCH not required
Repeated SACCH required

GSM BSS
Description
4 Related Features
Related Features
4.1 Prerequisite Features

None
4.2 Mutually Exclusive Features

None
4.3 Impacted Features

None
Issue 02 (2013-04-12)

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Description
5 Network Impact
Network Impact
5.1 System Capacity

None
5.2 Network Performance

Repeated Downlink FACCH
l
Reduces call drops due to failures in decoding the handover command by MSs and increases
the handover success rate. This is true when the carrier-to-interference ratio (CIR) is low
or greatly fluctuates.
Slightly affects voice quality because stolen frames are used.
Repeated SACCH
l
Reduces call drops caused by expiry of a radio link timer.
Increases the probability of interpreting uplink MRs, making handover decisions more
accurate.
Makes power control more effective when the CIR is low.

NOTE
Below is an instance of how Robust Air Interface Signaling affects network performance. After Robust
Air Interface Signaling is enabled at a site on a live network, the call drop rate decreases by 0.05% and the
handover success rate increases by 0.2%. The specific gains depend on various factors, such as the network
KPIs, whether AMR services are used, and the R6 MS penetration rate.
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6 Engineering Guidelines
Engineering Guidelines
6.1 When to Use Robust Air Interface Signalling

Enable Repeated Downlink FACCH when the Um interface quality is poor and the interference
is strong, for example, in top 10 cells with poor LQIs.
Enable Repeated SACCH when AMR is enabled and R6 MSs are used.
6.2 Required Information

Before enabling Robust Air Interface Signalling, collect the following information:
l
Coverage and Um interface interference level: The gains of this feature are significant in
scenarios with weak coverage or strong interference.
TCH handover success rate: The gains of this feature are significant when the handover
success rate is low.
TCH call drop rate: The gains of this feature are significant in scenarios with a high TCH
call drop rate.
R6 MS penetration rate: When other conditions remain unchanged, the higher the R6 MS
penetration rate, the greater the gains of this feature.
Whether the AMR feature is enabled: Repeated SACCH applies only to networks enabled
with AMR.
6.3 Planning
RF Planning
N/A
Network Planning
N/A
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Hardware Planning
N/A
6.4 Deployment
For details about how to activate, verify, and deactivate this feature, see Configuring Robust
Air Interface Signalling.
6.5 Performance Monitoring

Feature performance can be monitored by counters. For details about these counters, see 8
Counters.
The gains provided by this feature can be monitored by counters related to the handover success
rate and call drop rate.
1.
Counters related to the handover success rate

Compare the values of the counters listed in Table 6-2 before and after Robust Air Interface
Signalling is enabled. After this feature is enabled, the handover success rate should
increase. The increased value depends on various factors, such as the Um interface quality,
original handover success rate, and R6 MS penetration rate.
Table 6-1 Counters related to the handover success rate
Issue 02 (2013-04-12)
Counter ID
Counter Name
Description
1278078483
CELL.HO.SUCC.RATE
RH303:Handover Success
Rate
1278078484
CELL.RD.HO.SUCC.RA
TE
RH303A:Success Rate of
Radio Handover
1278077526
CELL.INTRABSC.HO.S
UCC.RATE
RH303B:Intra-BSC
Handover Success Rate
1278077527
CELL.INTRABSC.RD.H
O.SUCC.RATE
RH303C:Intra-BSC Radio
Handover Success Rate
1278080469
CELL.INTERBSC.INCEL
L.HO.SUCC.RATE
TH343:Success Rate of
Incoming External InterCell Handovers
1278080482
CELL.INTERBSC.INTO.
CELL.RD.HO.SUCC.RA
TE
RH303D:Success Rate of
Incoming External InterCell Radio Handovers
1278081560
CELL.INTERBSC.OUTC
ELL.HO.SUCC.RATE
TH333:Success Rate of
Outgoing External InterCell Handovers
1278081578
CELL.INTERBSC.OUT.C
ELL.RD.HO.SUCC.RATE
RH303E:Success Rate of
External Outgoing Cell
Radio Handovers

11
GSM BSS
Description
2.
Counter ID
Counter Name
Description
1278078485
CELL.DOUBLE.FH.HO.S
UCC.RATE.900.1800
RH303F:Success Rate of
Dual-Band Handovers
(900/850/810-1800/1900)
1278078486
CELL.DOUBLE.FH.HO.S
UCC.RATE.1800.900
RH303G:Success Rate of
Dual-Band Handovers
(1800/1900-900/850/810)
Counters related to the call drop rate

Compare the values of the counters listed in Table 6-5 before and after Robust Air Interface
Signalling is enabled. After this feature is enabled, the call drop rate should decrease. The
decreased value depends on various factors, such as the Um interface quality, original call
drop rate, and R6 MS penetration rate.
Table 6-2 Counters related to the call drop rate
Counter
ID
Counter Name
Description
12780725
94
CELL.RATE.TCH.CALL.DROP.INCLUDE.H
O
ZTR304:Call Drop
Rate on TCH per cell
(including Handover)
12780725
95
CELL.RATE.TCH.CALL.DROP.EXCLUDE.H
O
ZTR304A:Call Drop
Rate on TCH per cell
(Excluding Handover)
12784734
73
CELL.RATIO.CALL.DROP
ZTR308:Traffic Call
Drop Ratio per cell
12780725
96
CELL.TCH.RD.DROP
RM333:Radio Drop
Rate of TCH
12780754
92
CELL.CALL.CMP.SUCC.RATE
RA333B:Call
Complete
Establishment Success
Rate
6.6 Parameter Optimization

Repeated Downlink FACCH slightly affects voice quality because this function uses stolen
frames. The value of REPEATDLFATHRED determines the probability of FACCH message
retransmission. This parameter helps operators balance the voice quality, handover success rate,
and call drop rate.
The larger the value of this parameter, the less likely the FACCH messages will be retransmitted
and the smaller impact Repeated Downlink FACCH will have on voice quality.
The smaller the value of this parameter, the more likely the FACCH messages will be
retransmitted and the greater impact Repeated Downlink FACCH will have on voice quality.
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6.7 Troubleshooting
N/A
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13
GSM BSS
Description
7 Parameters
Parameters
Table 7-1 Parameter description

Parameter ID
NE
MML
Command
Feature ID
Feature Name
Description
REPEATDLF
ASET
BSC6900
SET
GCELLCCBA
SIC
GBFD-113721
Robust Air
Interface
Signalling
Meaning:When
the cell supports
Repeated
Downlink
FACCH, the
BTS enables the
repeated
transmission of
FACCH frames
if the measured
downlink
quality is higher
than "Repeated
Downlink
FACCH
Threshold".
GUI Value
Range:NO(No),
YES(Yes)
Unit:None
Actual Value
Range:NO, YES
Default
Value:NO(No)
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GSM BSS
Description
7 Parameters
Parameter ID
NE
MML
Command
Feature ID
Feature Name
Description
REPEATDLF
ATHRED
BSC6900
SET
GCELLCCBA
SIC
GBFD-113721
Robust Air
Interface
Signalling
Meaning:If the
cell supports the
Repeated
Downlink
FACCH
function and the
measured
downlink
quality is lower
than the
downlink
quality
threshold, the
BTS enables the
repeated
transmission of
FACCH frames.
GUI Value
Range:0~7
Unit:None
Actual Value
Range:0~7
Default Value:5
Issue 02 (2013-04-12)

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Description
7 Parameters
Parameter ID
NE
MML
Command
Feature ID
Feature Name
Description
REPEATSASE
T
BSC6900
SET
GCELLCCBA
SIC
GBFD-113721
Robust Air
Interface
Signalling
Meaning:Wheth
er to support
Repeated
Downlink
SACCH in a
cell. Assuming
that a cell
supports
Repeated
Downlink
SACCH and an
MS in the cell
supports
Repeated
SACCH. If the
BTS cannot
correctly parse
SACCH frames,
it instructs the
MS to retransmit
the latest
SACCH frame.
If the MS cannot
correctly parse
SACCH frames,
it requests the
BTS to
retransmit the
latest SACCH
frame.
GUI Value
Range:NO(No),
YES(Yes)
Unit:None
Actual Value
Range:NO, YES
Default
Value:NO(No)
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Description
8 Counters
Counters
Table 8-1 Counter description

Counter ID
Counter Name
Counter
Description
NE
Feature ID
Feature Name
1282431774
TRX.REPEAT.
FACCH.NUM
S4233A:Numbe
r of
Retransmitted
Downlink
FACCH Frames
BSC6900
GBFD-113721
Robust Air
Interface
Signalling
1282431775
TRX.REPEAT.
SACCH.NUM
S4233B:Numbe
r of
Retransmitted
Downlink
SACCH Frames
BSC6900
GBFD-113721
Robust Air
Interface
Signalling
1282431776
TRX.REPEAT.
SACCH.IND.N
UM
S4233C:Numbe
r of Indications
to MS for
Retransmitting
SACCH Frames
BSC6900
GBFD-113721
Robust Air
Interface
Signalling
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9 Glossary
Glossary
For the acronyms, abbreviations, terms, and definitions, see the Glossary.
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10
10 Reference Documents
Reference Documents
1.
3GPP TS 44.001 "Mobile Station - Base Station System (MS - BSS) Interface General
Aspects and Principles"
2.
3GPP TS 44.003 "Mobile Station - Base Station System (MS - BSS) interface Channel
structures and access capabilities"
3.
3GPP TS 44.004 "Layer 1 General requirements"
4.
3GPP TS 44.005 "Data Link (DL) layer General aspects"
5.
3GPP TS 24.007 "Mobile radio interface signalling layer 3; General aspects"
6.
3GPP TS 44.018 "Mobile radio interface layer 3 specification; Radio Resource Control
Protocol"
7.
3GPP TS 45.002 "Multiplexing and multiple access on the radio path"
8.
3GPP TS 48.056 "Base Station Controller - Base Transceiver Station (BSC - BTS)
interface; Layer 2 specification"
9.
3GPP TS 48.058 "Base Station Controller - Base Transceiver Station (BSC - BTS)
interface; Layer 3 specification"
Issue 02 (2013-04-12)

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GSM BSS

Robust Air Interface Signaling

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Copyright Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. 2013. All rights reserved.

Trademarks and Permissions

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Huawei Industrial Base

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

1.2 Intended Audience

Need to understand the Robust Air Interface Signalling feature

Work with Huawei GSM products

1.3 Change History

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Optimized the descriptions

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Repeated Downlink FACCH

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Repeated SACCH increases the SACCH performance of R6 MSs by about 4 to 5 dB.

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

3.1 Repeated Downlink FACCH

3.1.2 Implementation in the BSS

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

3.2 Repeated SACCH

3.2.2 Implementation in the BSS

Repeated SACCH is triggered in the following case:

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Repeated SACCH not required

Repeated SACCH required

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

4.1 Prerequisite Features

4.2 Mutually Exclusive Features

4.3 Impacted Features

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

5.1 System Capacity

5.2 Network Performance

Slightly affects voice quality because stolen frames are used.

Reduces call drops caused by expiry of a radio link timer.

Makes power control more effective when the CIR is low.

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

6.1 When to Use Robust Air Interface Signalling

6.2 Required Information

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

6.5 Performance Monitoring

Counters related to the handover success rate

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Counters related to the call drop rate

6.6 Parameter Optimization

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Table 7-1 Parameter description

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Table 8-1 Counter description

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential

3GPP TS 44.004 "Layer 1 General requirements"

3GPP TS 44.005 "Data Link (DL) layer General aspects"

3GPP TS 24.007 "Mobile radio interface signalling layer 3; General aspects"

3GPP TS 45.002 "Multiplexing and multiple access on the radio path"

Huawei Proprietary and Confidential