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Abstract: This document contains all information regarding GSM HR and AMR (Full and Half Rate) necessary to understand the benefits of the feature, including real world results as well as information of which parameters to tune to make it work effectively in the field. If the reader has any questions or suggestions to improve the document, please feel free to email to above address.
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HISTORY OF REVISIONS
Revision 0.1 0.2 1.0 Date Author Revised by Changes Description draft internal review released
1 Table of Contents
1 2 3 4 5 Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................... 1 Table of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 4 Tables.................................................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction........................................................................................................................................ 6 Feature Summary............................................................................................................................... 6
5.1 5.2 Fundamentals of AMR......................................................................................................................... 6 Fundamentals of GSM Half Rate........................................................................................................ 7
MS Monitor ........................................................................................................................................ 15 8 Kbps Backhaul DSW2.................................................................................................................. 16 Impact of the 7.95 Kbps codec........................................................................................................... 16 AMR transcoder requirements, GDP2 and RXU3 .......................................................................... 16
7 8 9
GSM Half Rate transcoder requirements........................................................................................ 17 Enhanced auto-connect (EAC) mode/ cic validation ..................................................................... 18 New database parameters ................................................................................................................ 19
9.1
9.1.1 9.1.2 9.1.3
Enabling and Disabling of GSM Half Rate ...................................................................................... 25 Enable Half Rate on a carrier basis (RTF)....................................................................................... 26 Feature Control - AMR Full Rate ..................................................................................................... 26 Feature Control - AMR Half Rate and GSM Half Rate.................................................................. 27 force_hr_usage ................................................................................................................................... 27 new_calls_hr, inner_hr_usage_thres, hr_res_ts and reconfig_fr_to_hr......................................... 27 new_calls_hr ....................................................................................................................................... 27 inner_hr_usage_thres......................................................................................................................... 27
GSM HR, AMR Feature Engineering Notes __________________________________________________________________________________ 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 9.14 hr_res_ts ............................................................................................................................................. 28 reconfig_fr_hr..................................................................................................................................... 28 reconfig_fr_to_hr ............................................................................................................................... 32 Handover and Power Control ........................................................................................................... 34 Half Rate to Full Rate intra-cell handovers. .................................................................................... 37
10
10.1 10.2 10.3
11 12
12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 12.9
12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 12.16 12.17 12.18 12.19 12.20 12.21
GSM HR, AMR Feature Engineering Notes __________________________________________________________________________________ 12.22 12.23 AMR_HR_UL_CODEC_MODE_USAGE .................................................................................. 49 AMR_FR_DL_ADAPTATION..................................................................................................... 49
13
13.1
Benchmarking .............................................................................................................................. 50
Speech Quality .................................................................................................................................... 50
14
14.1 14.2 14.3
Tools.............................................................................................................................................. 54
Motorola Drive Test Tool (CTP Windows MDTT GSR7v1.0) ....................................................... 54 CTP-NT............................................................................................................................................... 56 Measurement Reports. ....................................................................................................................... 60
2 Table of Figures
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 Figure 18 Figure 19 Figure 20 Figure 21 Figure 22 Figure 23 Figure 24 Figure 25 Figure 26 Figure 27 Figure 28 Figure 29 Figure 30
Downlink Qvoice Pace vs C/I for FR, EFR and AMR Codecs. ............................................ 9 Uplink Qvoice Pace vs C/I for FR, EFR and AMR Codecs, None Hopping. ...................... 10 AMR Link Adaptation. ......................................................................................................... 11 LA In-Band control loop. ..................................................................................................... 12 Graphical representation of Link Adaptation....................................................................... 14 OMC, BSS detailed view ...................................................................................................... 23 OMC, Cell detailed view for AMR FR. ................................................................................ 24 OMC, Cell detailed view for AMR HR. ............................................................................... 25 Two carrier cell which has a total resource count of 14. .................................................... 30 Cell at 36 % Full Rate occupancy. .................................................................................... 30 Cell at 50 % occupancy. .................................................................................................... 31 Next call handed in or set up in the cell is allocated a Half Rate Channel (TCH/H). .......... 31 Flow chart of Full Rate to Half Rate reconfiguration. .......................................................... 33 Full Rate SACCH Frame. ..................................................................................................... 34 Half Rate SACCH Frame. ..................................................................................................... 34 Recommanded RxQual bands for GSM/AMR Half Rate. .................................................... 36 Qvoice Pace for different RxQual collected in Laboratory. ................................................. 37 1 Carrier probability of HR usage. ........................................................................................ 39 2Carrier probability of HR usage. ......................................................................................... 39 3 Carrier probability of HR usage. ........................................................................................ 40 GSM HR and FR QVoice Pace scores, collected under laboratory static conditions........... 50 GSM HR and FR QVoice Pace scores collected on a BSC wide basis. ............................... 51 Comparison of AMR FR/HR to EFR/GSM HR downlink speech quality. .......................... 52 Comparison of AMR FR/HR to EFR/GSM HR uplink speech quality. ............................... 53 MDTT AMR Configuration. ................................................................................................. 55 MDTT AMR Codec Log....................................................................................................... 55 MDTT AMR Graphical Parameters Display. ....................................................................... 56 AMR parameter distributions from CTP-NT ........................................................................ 57 Example of Uplink adaptation for ACS 12.2, 10.2,7.4 and 5.15 .......................................... 58 CTP_NT C/I distribution for individual carriers................................................................... 59
3 Tables
Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 List of all possible AMR codec modes. .................................................................................. 8 Motorola implemented Full rate codecs.................................................................................. 8 Motorola implemented Half Rate codecs................................................................................ 8 Parameters to enable AMR FR and AMR HR on a BSC and on a per cell basis. ................ 19 BTS Platforms that support AMR FR/HR and GSM HR. .................................................... 19 AMR LA parameters............................................................................................................. 21 Parameters to enable GSM HR on a BSC and on a per cell basis. ....................................... 26 New HDPC parameters introduced for half rate channels. ................................................... 37 Summary of Peak Pace for all codec modes. ........................................................................ 53
4 Introduction
In the first days of GSM the Motorola BSS offered GSM Full Rate (FR) as the speech codec (coderdecoder). As GSM evolved and a higher level of Quality of service, particularly speech quality was demanded by subscribers, the Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) codec was added to the BSS. The EFR codec produces higher quality speech than the original FR. From GSR 7 onwards Motorola has introduced support for AMR (Adaptive Multi Rate) and GSM Half Rate. These new features provide an opportunity to improve Quality of service even further and offer large capacity gains through the use of Half Rate channels.
5 Feature Summary
5.1 Fundamentals of AMR
When a GSM call is established a channel mode and speech version is allocated which is used throughout the BSS system and across the air interface. The channel mode and speech version is allocated based on the capabilities of the BSS and the MS. Although changes are possible, it is normally the case that the channel mode and speech version allocated at the start of the call will be used throughout the life of the entire call i.e. if GSM Speech version 2 (EFR) was allocated at the start of the call then it is highly likely that EFR would be used throughout, even taking Inter-BSC handovers and Inter-MSC handovers into account. The FR and EFR codecs are designed to overcome interference on the air interface using channel encoding techniques i.e. forward error coding. Up until a certain point the encoding scheme will be able to correct errors that occur due to interference, beyond this errors will occur in the data stream. The amount of error correction depends on the available bandwidth within the channel, if the speech codec uses less bandwidth, then there is more available for error protection. AMR has several different codecs available which give a spread of choices from high bit rate codecs with lower immunity to interference to low bit rate codecs with higher immunity to interference. The Carrier to Interference ratio C/I is used as a measure of the radio environment and indicates the level of interference compared to the wanted signal. In a high C/I environment i.e. >15dB, higher bit rate codecs offer superior speech quality. In a lower C/I environment the lower bit rate codecs that have higher error protection will offer better speech quality. AMR takes advantage of the different properties of the codecs and uses Link Adaptation to switch between the codecs depending on the C/I conditions. Link Adaptation functions independently on the Uplink and the Downlink which ensures that the lower bit rate codecs are only used when necessary on each link. Unlike a handover, switching between codecs is relatively transparent to the subscriber and a relatively quick operation ~ 160mS. In summary the AMR feature enables a theoretically higher QOS for Full Rate Channels and enhanced capacity with theoretically higher QOS for Half Rate channels when compared to the conventional GSM Half Rate Speech Version 1 codec.
Table 1
Due to limitations in some of the BTS platforms, Motorola offer a sub-set of the ETSI defined codecs. The AMR codecs supported by Motorola are shown in Tables 2 and 3.
AMR Full Rate Codecs 12.2 kbps 10.2 kbps 7.4 kbps 6.7 kbps 5.15 kbps Table 2 Motorola implemented Full rate codecs. AMR Half Rate Codecs 7.95 kbps 7.4kbps 6.7 kbps 5.9 kbps 5.15kbps Table 3 Motorola implemented Half Rate codecs.
The sub-set of codecs offered by Motorola is in no way seen to cause any problems with respect to the operation of AMR or the Quality of Service offered. The unsupported 4.75Kbps codec has been shown by ETSI in performance modelling to produce marginally better performance than 5.15Kbps at very low ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 8 Motorola Internal Use Only
C/I values, however from a speech quality point of view it is perceived that the difference will be negligible. The other two unsupported Full Rate AMR codecs 5.9Kbps and 7.95Kbps are more than adequately covered by the 6.7Kbps and 7.4Kbps codecs. The following charts Figures 1 and 2, show examples of tests performed in a lab environment using a fader to generate a dynamic RF path (6 tap TU50 profile). The tests were performed using QVoice, an end to end speech quality test tool. The C/I environment was generated artificially using a signal generator with a GMSK modulator. Approximately 40, five second duration speech samples were captured at C/I levels of 20, 15, 13, 11, 9 and 7dB. How to read figures 1 and 2. The X axis shows C/I, towards the left hand side there are lower values of C/I meaning higher interference, towards the right hand side there are higher levels of C/I (less interference). The Y axis shows PACE, this is the unit of speech quality measurement provided by QVoice. A PACE value of up to 5 represents perfect CD quality speech, a PACE value of 1 indicates virtually no speech or silence. To interpret the charts, there is better speech quality given by the higher bit rate codecs on the right hand side good C/I. The speech quality of the 5.15Kbps codec is the best on the extreme left hand side of the chart poor C/I.
Horizon CTU TU50 Full Rate Downlink - No Hopping
4 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.2 3 2.8
PACE
2.6 GSM FR 2.4 2.2 2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 7 9 11 13 dB C/I 15 17 19 GSM EFR AFS 12.2 AFS 10.2 AFS 7.4 AFS 6.7 AFS 5.15
Figure 1 Downlink Qvoice Pace vs C/I for FR, EFR and AMR Codecs.
GSM FR GSM EFR AFS 12.2 AFS 10.2 AFS 7.4 AFS 6.7 AFS 5.15
17
19
Figure 2
Uplink Qvoice Pace vs C/I for FR, EFR and AMR Codecs, None Hopping.
Note: At this point in the document it should be noted that the encoding and error protection applied to the SACCH channel does not change for AMR or GSM Half Rate. The extra protection offered by lower bit rate codecs applies only to speech and not link control data. With this information in mind there are predicted to be no changes in drop call rate or RF loss statistics. The choice of which codecs and when is operator definable and will be covered in more detail later in this document.
Mobile
BTS
BSC
XCDR
MSC
Codec
Channel Coder
KSW / DSW 2
DSP
64Kbps PCM
Encodes and decodes air interface to and from Microphone and ear piece
Encodes and decodes 8Kbps or 16Kbps TRAU to and from air interface
Encodes and decodes 8Kbps or 16Kbps TRAU to and from 64Kbps PCM
Figure 3
The block diagram in Figure 3 shows the system components that perform encoding and decoding functions in the system as far as the speech path is concerned. Each of the three components needs to encode and decode using the same coding scheme and transport frames (TRAU) at the same time i.e. if the channel mode is EFR, then the codec in the mobile and the channel coder in the BTS have to use EFR encoding; similarly the DSP device in the XCDR has to encode / decode EFR TRAU frames. Every time that Link Adaptation is performed i.e. a change from one codec to another, each of the three system components has to change in unison to ensure that end to end speech is preserved. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 11 Motorola Internal Use Only
MS
CMR-CMI-CMR-CMI
Downlink C/I Estimate
BTS
CMR-CMI-CMR-CMI
Uplink C/I Estimate
RXCDR
CMC-CMI-CMC-CMI
CODEC
XCDR DSP
Figure 4
The diagram in Figure 4 shows the control loop used to perform Link Adaptation in AMR. The control loop is implemented within the channel itself i.e. there is no extra signalling channel associated. This is known as In-Band signalling. There are three types of control message used: CMI Codec Mode Indicated CMC Codec Mode Command CMR Codec Mode Request A CMI message indicates the current codec being used on a particular link. In AMR Link Adaptation, the uplink and downlink are treated separately since the radio conditions may well be different on each link. As an example the uplink radio conditions may be good so an uplink CMI may indicate 12.2 Kbps, while at the same time there maybe heavy interference on the downlink and the downlink CMI may be indicating 5.15 Kbps. A CMC message is a command message that originates from the BSS. The CMC message is only found on the Downlink and is used to command the mobile to use a certain codec in the uplink direction. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 12 Motorola Internal Use Only
A CMR message is a request message sent from the mobile. The mobile sends this message to request that a certain codec is used in the downlink direction. Each control message (CMI, CMC or CMR) takes 20mS to transmit. When in an AMR call, the In-Band signalling link for the uplink (MS to BSS) contains a continuous stream of alternate CMI and CMR messages. The downlink In-Band signalling link of the same call contains a continuous stream of CMI and CMC messages. There will be a new CMI and CMC command sent to the mobile every 40mS and a new CMI and CMR request sent to the BSS every 40mS. To enable Link Adaptation to function, both the BTS and MS have a C/I estimator implemented. The purpose of the C/I estimator is to estimate the Carrier to Interference ratio on a particular link. The C/I ratio determines the behaviour of AMR link adaptation. Downlink C/I is estimated by the mobile every 20mS. Uplink C/I is estimated by the BTS every 20mS.
6.2.2 Active Codec Set, Initial Codec Mode and Threshold & Hysterisis table
To understand the system operation of AMR Link Adaptation, the following terms have to be explained. Active Codec Set (ACS) Initial Codec Mode (ICM) Threshold and Hysterisis tables. The Active Codec Set (ACS) defines the codecs that will be used during Link Adaptation. There may be a maximum of four codecs defined per channel mode i.e. up to four codecs for Half Rate AMR and up to four codecs for Full Rate AMR. For link adaptation there must be at least two codecs defined. The ACS is common between the uplink and downlink, even though the codec used on the uplink and downlink may be different at any one time, the codecs used on each link will be chosen from the same ACS. The Initial Codec Mode (ICM) is set to define the codec in which the call will start. The ICM has to be one of the codecs within the ACS and again is common for both the uplink and downlink. After the call is established Link Adaptation will dictate any changes necessary for the codec mode used independently for the uplink and downlink. The Threshold and Hysterisis table contains a set of C/I thresholds which dictate at which C/I estimate a change in codec will be made. There are separate tables for uplink and downlink for both Full Rate AMR and Half Rate AMR. Additionally there are individual settings for cells that employ frequency hopping and for those that dont. When a C/I estimate falls below a threshold, a codec change to the next lowest codec is instigated (if possible there will be no affect if the lowest codec mode is already in use). The C/I estimate has to rise ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 13 Motorola Internal Use Only
above a threshold by an additional hysterisis amount before a move to the next highest codec in the ACS is started. It is only possible to move up or down one codec in the table at one time. . Initial field trial results showed that the uplink C/I environment led to excessive link adaptation and often the mobile was instructed to spend too much time in the lower codec modes. This led to slightly worse speech quality than expected. To resolve this problem, there is now a dependency on Uplink Bit Error Rate i.e. the uplink C/I estimate is used in conjunction with the Uplink Residual Bit Error Rate to determine uplink link adaptation behaviour. In simple terms this means that to link adapt to a lower codec mode, both the conditions of poor Bit Error Rate and C/I threshold have to be met. This may lead to confusion when performing lab demonstrations of uplink link adaptation. It is recommended that an uplink interfering signal is used to generate a poor BER environment in addition to variations in C/I to demonstrate uplink adaptation. The high BER environment has not been found necessary in the downlink direction.
The ACS, ICM and Threshold & Hysterisis tables are set at a per cell level in the Motorola implementation. As part of the AMR call setup and inter cell handover process, the AMR mobile will be sent the threshold and hysterisis table to be used for the duration of the call, while the mobile is in a particular cell. The transfer of the table is achieved through use of the multi rate configuration element which is contained in the Layer3 Assignment Command and Handover Command messages.
12dB
+2
10.2 Kbps
Figure 5
There are four codecs shown in the ACS i.e. 12.2, 10.2, 7.4 and 5.15 Kbps. The 15, 12 and 7 dB thresholds have been set as the switching thresholds and there is a +2dB hysterisis value. The blue arrow indicates the current C/I estimation at approximately 10dB and the current codec mode is 7.4 Kbps. If the C/I estimate were to fall below 7dB then a codec change to 5.15 Kbps would result. If the C/I estimate rises to at least 12dB + 2dB (hysterisis) = 14dB then a code change from 7.4 Kbps to 10.2 Kbps would occur. Note that the hysterisis value is included to reduce oscillation between codec modes and is only employed in the up direction.
6.3 MS Monitor
The accuracy of the C/I estimator in the BTS and the mobile is important for correct operation of Link Adaptation. The accuracy of the BTS C/I estimator is set by the Motorola design and therefore can be controlled. The accuracy of the mobile C/I estimator is however not necessarily controllable by Motorola i.e. Motorola has no control over the accuracy of a Nokia mobile C/I estimator. To overcome this potential problem an MS Monitor is provided. The purpose of the MS monitor is to track the Codec Mode Requests (CMR) being sent from an AMR mobile and compare them to the downlink interference (RxQual) being reported. If the mobile CMR is continually requesting that the BSS uses a low codec mode on the downlink, but the downlink RxQual (reported via measurement reports) is good it is likely that the mobile is estimating lower than actual C/I values. Conversely, if the mobile is continually requesting high codec modes and the downlink RxQual indicates poor quality, it is likely that the mobile C/I estimator is providing higher than actual C/I estimates. The MS Monitor detects over or under estimating conditions and then applies a fixed C/I offset to the codec switching thresholds. The period over which the MS is monitored is user definable via the db parameter AMR_MS_MONITOR_PERIOD and is entered as a number of SACH periods. If the number of CMRs being request over this period exceeds either AMR_MS_HIGH_CMR or AMR_MS_LOW_CMR then providing the criteria below for RxQual is also met the MS will be instructed to adjust its thresholds and hysteresis by an amount specified by AMR_DL_THRESH_ADJUST. i.e. IF total CMRs requesting the highest codes rate (i.e. 12.2) during AMR_MS_MONITOR_PERIOD > AMR_MS_HIGH_CMR And average RxQual during AMR_MS_MONITOR_PERIOD > AMR_MS_HIGH_RXQUAL THEN adjust thresholds and hysteresis by AMR_DL_THRESH_ADJUST.
The frequency of the AMR codec changes in the downlink can be restricted by the data base parameter AMR_DL_LA_MODE_CHANGE_MIN, see section 9.
Original GDP cards may still be used for transcoding AMR channels however there maximum number of channels supported is 15. Two original GDP cards may be used as a pair to provide 30 channels of all channel modes, however this leaves an overall system capacity reduction. To address this situation a new GDP card has been developed (GDP2). The GDP 2 card performs the same system functions as the GDP but provides the capability for transcoding 60 channels of GSM Full Rate speech, Enhanced Full Rate speech, AMR Half Rate speech, AMR Full Rate speech and Phase 2 data services. The original GDP card has one E1 connection provided, this is sufficient for 30 channels of transcoding plus a 64 Kbps timeslot for routing a control channel (MTL, OML etc). To provide 60 channels of transcoding, the GDP2 card has been designed with two E1 connections. To take advantage of the additional capacity offered by the GDP2, it is necessary to deploy an accompanying new cabinet the RXU3. The RXU3 cabinet supports the dual E1 connection GDP2 and makes provision for additional E1 termination points on the top of the cabinet. The GDP2 card can still be fitted to existing RXU cabinets but with only one E1 connection available. The advantage of the new GDP2 card fitted in an existing RXCDR cabinet (not RXU3) is that the GDP2 will support 30 channels of GSM Full Rate, EFR, AMR Half Rate, AMR Full Rate and Phase 2 Data Services as opposed the 15 channels offered by the original GDP. Note: The original XCDR card does not support any AMR Channels or GSM HR.
(* GSR8 only)
Since it is possible to have a mixture of transcoding capabilities at a remote RXCDR i.e. AMR FR/HR and GSM HR etc, cic_validation must be enabled along with at least one XBL link. This is so that the BSC can determine a CICs transcoding capability and down grade accordingly, if necessary. Note: AMR/GSM HR can be enabled for a BSS when CIC Validation is disabled, but no AMR/GSM HR calls will be possible, i.e. the BSC will default to FR\EFR in order to avoid being allocating a CIC through an incompatible transcoder board. Note: EAC mode does not need to be equipped in order to make AMR or GSM HR calls, only if 8Kbps back haul across the Ater interface is required. Since there is no fixed mapping of CICs on the Ater interface the CICs can now be considered as a separate pooled resource between RXCDRs and BSCs. This pooling means that it is no longer necessary to have the same number of CICs going through an RXCDR as Aters from the BSC to the RXCDR. If the CIC - Ater provisioning is equal then EAC mode is not needed and the system will revert back to auto connect mode. Note: Since a BSC may interconnect with several RXCDRs, and vice-versa, it is possible for Static Mode, Auto Connect Mode, and Enhanced Auto Connect Mode to all be in use at one time (one mode per BSC-RXCDR combination), this is seamless to the user.
Having less Aters than CICs through the RXCDR assumes that a percentage of calls will utilise 8Kbps back haul, if this proves not to be true, capacity will be lost due to lack of Ater resources. To avoid this ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 18 Motorola Internal Use Only
scenario the BSC provides a means of blocking CICs at the MSC when the number of Aters available to a RXCDR reaches a define threshold. These thresholds are set by cic_block_thresh and cic_unblock_thresh parameters and by default are disabled. The user is prompted for the block thresholds when EAC mode is enabled.
Table 4 Parameters to enable AMR FR and AMR HR on a BSC and on a per cell basis.
AMR Half Rate and GSM HR can only be enabled on BTS platforms that support those speech versions. Table 5 indicates the platforms that currently support AMR Half Rate. BTS Platform MCell 2 MCell 6 Horizon Macro I Horizon Macro II Radio Type TCU A, TCU B TCU A, TCU B CTU, CTU2 CTU, CTU 2
Table 5 BTS Platforms that support AMR FR/HR and GSM HR.
Description This BSC parameter specifies the minimum delay between downlink adaptations. i.e. The delay between the MS requesting a new codec and the downlink using the requested rate. Note: There is a minimum round trip delay of between 7 to 12 frames, giving an effective delay range of 240ms to 1.26s amr_ms_monitor_period 10 to SACH 40 This defines the period over which 1200 periods. the number of CMRs sent from the mobile will be counted. See section 6.5. amr_ms_high_cmr 50 to Percentage 95 Threshold of requested codec 100 changes to highest codec mode to trigger MS Monitor. amr_ms_low_cmr 50 to Percentage 99 Threshold of requested codec 100 changes to lowest codec mode to trigger MS Monitor. amr_ms_high_rxqual 0 to 7 BER Qbands 4 If MS monitor has detected a high percentage of CMRs requesting the highest codec, then if the average rxqual over the period amr_ms_monitor_period > this threshold value the MS is requesting the highest codec but RxQual is poor. This indicates the MS C/I estimator is incorrect. The MS Monitor function will instruct the mobile to increase its LA thresholds by the value set in amr_ms_low_rxqual. This will reduce the probability of being in ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 20 Motorola Internal Use Only of
Parameter amr_dl_la_mode_chg_min
Range 0 - 63
Default 5
amr_ms_low_rxqual
0 to 7
BER Qbands
amr_dl_thresh_adjust
1 to 7
dbs
0 or 1 0 or 1 0 or 1 0 or 1
1 1 1 1
the highest codec mode with poor RxQual. If MS monitor has detected a high percentage of CMRs requesting the lowest codec, then if the average rxqual over the period amr_ms_monitor_period < this threshold value the MS is requesting the lowest codec but RxQual is good. This indicates the MS C/I estimator is incorrect. The MS Monitor function will instruct the mobile to decrease its LA thresholds by the value set in amr_ms_low_rxqual. This will reduce the probability of being in the lowest codec mode with good RxQual. This represents the number of dbs the downlink LA threshold can be adjusted if the MS monitor function detects the MS C/I estimator is incorrected. Enables Link adaptation. Enables Link adaptation. Enables Link adaptation. Enables Link adaptation.
As well as enabling and disabling link adaptation (LA) on a cell by cell basis it might also be necessary to have different cells configured to perform LA with different codec choices, adaptation thresholds or hystersis. This is made possible by the inclusion of the chg_acs_params command. This command allows for discrimination between uplink and downlink LA thresholds as well as frequency hopping and non-frequency hopping thresholds. It allows the specification of the following codec settings and thresholds for all combination of uplink, downlink, FR/HR, hopping and non-hopping. ACS: Active Codec Set, up to 4 codec to be used ICS: Initial Codec Set, the initial codec mode used when the call is first established. Threshold: The levels of C/I at which the codec mode should switch to a lower/higher rate. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 21 Motorola Internal Use Only
Hysteresis: The offset level that should be added to a Threshold when moving up codec modes to avoid unnecessary bouncing between to codec modes. Note: The values of Thresholds and hysteresis entered using this command are in dBs steps.
AMR Half Rate active codec set 2345 . . . AMR Half Rate link adaptation thresholds 40 30 20 [actual 20dB 15dB 10dB] AMR Full Rate uplink adaptation hysteresis: 5 8 10 [actual 2.5dB 4dB 5db] When the C/I estimate reaches < 20dB the codec mode would switch from 2 ( 7.95Kbps) to 3 (7.4Kbps), but only when the C/I > 22.5dB would a switch from 3 (7.4Kbps) to 2 (7.95Kbp) occur. Note: disp_acs_params allows the current AMR configuration to be displayed for a given cell. disp_acs <cell id> AMR Full Rate active codec set: 0 1 3 6 AMR Full Rate initial codec mode: 1 AMR Full Rate uplink adaptation thresholds: 32 24 16 The acs displayed via the disp_cell <cell-id> full command is displayed in a bit map format:amr_fr_acs = 210 = 0xD2 = 11010010 (binary) i.e. codec 0 bit 7(msb). Code 6 = bit 1 (lsb+1) Hence codecs 0,1,3,6 have been selected.
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
As shown in Figures 7 and 8, the codecs for the ACS are selected form the pop-up box and then applied.
9.5 Feature Control - AMR Half Rate and GSM Half Rate
The BSS implementation of Half Rate channel allocation is the same for AMR Half and GSM Half Rate. This section of the document will treat AMR Half Rate and GSM Half Rate the same and use the general term Half Rate. There are a number of methods available to provide a Half Rate Channel. force_hr_usage new_calls_hr reconfig_fr_to_hr
9.6 force_hr_usage
This is a BSC wide parameter which when enabled will result in the BSS forcing a Half Rate resource (assuming a resource is available) in response to an assignment request from the MSC which contains either AMR Half Rate or GSM Half Rate in the speech version. In cases where a mobile supports both AMR Half Rate and GSM Half Rate the MSC preference list will be used to determine the speech version allocated.
9.8 new_calls_hr
Parameter new_calls_hr Range 0 to 101 Setting Default Steps of 1% 101 per Cell Description Sets a percentage threshold as to the amount of resources being used in a cell before any new calls entering the cell would be allocated a Half Rate resource. A value of 101 disables the functionality.
9.9 inner_hr_usage_thres
Parameter inner_hr_usage_thres Range 0 to 101 Setting Default Steps of 1% 101 per Cell Description Sets a percentage threshold as to the amount of resources being used on the inner zone of a multi zone cell before any new calls entering the cell would be allocated a Half Rate resource. A value of 101 disables the functionality.
9.10 hr_res_ts
Parameter hr_res_ts Range 0 to 255 Setting Integer steps Default 2 Description Sets the number of Half Rate capable timeslots to reserve within each zone of the cell.
9.11 reconfig_fr_hr
Parameter Reconfig_fr_to_hr Range 0 to 101 Setting Default Steps of 1% 101 per Cell Description Sets a percentage threshold as to the amount of Full rate resources being used in a cell before existing Half Rate capable calls are reconfigured from Full Rate to Half Rate. A value of 101 disables the parameter.
new_calls_hr is used to set a threshold, using an implementation similar to congestion relief, where when the threshold is exceeded any call setups or calls handing in (from mobiles that are GSM and/or AMR Half Rate capable) will be allocated a Half Rate resource. The threshold is a percentage of the total resource being used in the cell and if in a multi-zone cell (i.e. Single BCCH) is measured on the outer zone only. For multi zone cells i.e. Single BCCH, before the new_calls_hr or the reconfig_fr_hr thresholds can be active the inner_hr_usage_thres threshold must be exceeded. The calculations for Total Resource and Busy Resource to determine whether the inner_hr_usage_thres has been exceeded for the inner zone are the same as described for the outer zone. To disable this functionality in a multi zone cell, set inner_hr_usage_thres to a value of 101. hr_res_ts This parameter sets a soft reserve for the number of Half Rate capable timeslots on the inner and outer zone (if applicable). The default value is 2, meaning that 2 timeslots will be kept free in each zone until such time as they are needed by either Full Rate or Half Rate calls. The term soft reserve means that the timeslots are not reserved solely for the use of half rate calls. The timeslots will be the last to be allocated. The intent of this parameter is for cells which have a small amount of AMR / GSM Half Rate capable resources assigned i.e. one carrier, the likelihood is that the reserved timeslots will still be available for use. If the reserve was not in place then all Half Rate capable timeslots may have been allocated to full rate calls meaning no half rate calls would be possible. In addition the parameter could be used to keep Half Rate resources available in the inner zone. To disable this functionality set hr_res_ts to a value of 0. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 28 Motorola Internal Use Only
Carriers that do not have the half rate capable flag set on the RTF (carriers which are not half rate capable), will show in use timeslots marked as TCH/F. Carriers that have the half rate capable flag set and the system has been configured for GSM / AMR Half Rate will show in use timeslots marked as TCH/H Active. TCH/G is the classification used to describe generic timeslots (timeslots that are idle but may be configured for multiple purposes) i.e. TCH/F, TCH/H and GPRS. To calculate the Total resource in the cell the following formula is used. Total Resource = (TCH/G + (Busy TCH/H) / 2 + Idle TCH/F + Busy TCH/F). The busy (in use) resource is calculated using the following formula. Busy Resource = ((Number of Busy TCH/H) / 2 + Number of Busy TCH/F). To determine whether the new_calls_hr threshold has been exceeded the following calculation is performed. (Busy Resource / Total Resource) X 100 % > new_calls_hr Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12 demonstrate the concept of the new_calls_hr parameter. For the example shown assume that the new_calls_hr threshold has a value of 50 i.e. when over 50% of the cells resources are used, any half rate capable new call setups or hand-ins to the cell will be allocated a half rate resource.
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Cell at 50 % occupancy.
This is exactly on the limit of the 50% new_calls_hr threshold. Assuming the existing seven calls remain, when the next call arrives from a setup or hand in, and the call is GSM or AMR Half Rate capable, it will be assigned a Half Rate channel.
Figure 12
Next call handed in or set up in the cell is allocated a Half Rate Channel (TCH/H).
Half Rate resources will continue to be allocated to capable calls until either the cell runs out of resource (blocking) or the level of traffic drops below the 50% new_calls_hr threshold.
9.12 reconfig_fr_to_hr
This parameter works in a similar fashion to new_calls_hr and the method for determining if the threshold has been exceeded uses the same calculations previously shown. The purpose of the reconfig_fr_hr parameter is to set a threshold that when exceeded will reconfigure existing Full Rate calls (that are Half Rate capable) from Full Rate to Half Rate timeslots in the same cell. When the reconfig_fr_hr threshold is exceeded, all of the calls that are Half Rate capable will be evaluated using the congestion relief criteria (assuming that the conventional congestion relief threshold has not been reached). Any calls that qualify for conventional congestion relief will be excluded from the reconfiguration operation. Up to a maximum of 16 remaining mobiles will be reconfigured from Full Rate to Half Rate channels using intra-cell assignment commands. The flow chart in Figure 13 shows the system operation for reconfig_fr_hr.
No
Identify Half Rate capable calls Build a list of the calls that do not meet congestion relief criteria PBGT > Congestion margin
Reconfigure from Full Rate to Half Rate the first 16 calls from the list while idle Half Rate resources remain.
No
valid_candidate_period expired ?
Yes
Figure 13
480 mS
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Full Rate
Figure 14 Full Rate SACCH Frame.
Speech A Speech B
Speech A
Speech A
SACCH
IDLE
480 mS
SACCH B
SACCH A
Speech B
Speech B
Speech B
Speech B
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech B
Speech B
Speech A
Speech A
Speech B
Speech B
Speech B
Speech A
Speech A
Speech A
Speech B
Speech A
Half Rate
Figure 15 Half Rate SACCH Frame.
Since the Half Rate channel mode uses half the number of bits when compared to full rate, the impact of losing bits from disturbance on the air interface (bit errors caused by interference) is higher for Half ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 34 Motorola Internal Use Only
Speech A
Speech A
Speech B
Rate. In other words, given the same interference levels a half rate call is likely to suffer worse quality of service (speech quality) than a full rate call. This does not mean that there will be more dropped calls with half rate in fact the drop call rate should be identical between full and half rate as the encoding used for the uplink and downlink Sacch are identical for Full Rate and Half Rate channel modes. To counteract the difference in speech quality caused by bit errors in Half Rate channel modes, new receive quality based (rxqual) handover and power control thresholds have been introduced. The principle behind the new parameters is to provide a method of protecting half rate channels more than full rate channels (if required) so that power control and quality based handovers take place in lower BER environments compared to full rate. There have been no changes made to any of the Rxlevel based parameters since there are no differences in RF levels between full rate and half rate channel modes. Figure 16 shows how the half rate power control and quality handover thresholds can be set differently to the full rate parameters in the same cell.
Half Rate 0
u_rxqual(ul/dl)_p_hr
2 3
l_rxqual(ul/dl)_p l_rxqual(ul/dl)_h
4 5 6 7
l_rxqual(ul/dl)_h_hr
Quality Handover
Figure 16
Note the parameters affect both GSM and AMR Half Rate and either QBand units or BER may be specified dependant on the setting of alt_qual_proc.
From experiments conducted in the laboratory it was observed that speech quality (measured using Qvoice; Pace) was not affected for GSM HR calls until RxQual was greater than 5 (453 BER), the default value for l_rxqual(ul/dl)_h. Hence to avoid unnecessary handovers it is suggested that l_rxqual(ul/dl)_h_hr be set to the current settings of l_rxqual(ul/dl)_h used within the network, providing this value is not greater than 5, (453 BER).
UL HR Pace Vs RXQUAL
40 35
Num Samples
30 25 20 15 10 5 0 -5
6 4.
1.
1.
1.
2.
2.
2.
3.
3.
3.
4.
Pace
Figure 17
l_rxqual_dl_h_hopping_hr l_rxqual_dl_h_hr l_rxqual_dl_p_hopping_hr l_rxqual_dl_p_hr l_rxqual_ul_h_hopping_hr l_rxqual_ul_h_hr l_rxqual_ul_p_hopping_hr l_rxqual_ul_p_hr u_rxqual_dl_p_hr u_rxqual_ul_p_hr
Table 8
4.
is the same as the existing intracell handover process except a half rate instead of full rate channel is specified. The parameter hr_intracell_ho_allowed has been introduced to control the behaviour of half rate intracell handovers. There are effectively two circumstances where intracell handovers will take place to or from Half Rate channels. Reconfigure threshold exceeded intracell from Full Rate to Half Rate Quality reasons intracell from Half Rate to Full Rate and if configured (hr_intracell_ho_allowed = 3) Intracell from Half Rate to Half Rate. There are 4 settings of the parameter:0 The BSS does not perform intracell handovers, a handover required message is sent to the MSC. 1 Half Rate intracell handovers are disabled, no handover required message is generated. 2 Half Rate intracell handovers are enabled but only handovers from Half Rate channels to Full Rate channels are permitted. 3 Half Rate intracell handovers are enabled; handovers from Half Rate to Half Rate and Half Rate to Full Rate are permitted. In addition to the control of Half Rate intracell handovers another new parameter has been added to control the number of Half Rate intracell handovers allowed before escalation to an inter-cell quality handover. There is an existing parameter:- hop_count which is used in conjunction with hop_count_timer to provide this functionality for Full Rate channels. The parameter hop_count_hr has been added and is used with the existing hop_count_timer to control the number of Half Rate intracell handovers allowed.
10 Parameter Optimisation
Parameter optimisation can be split into 3 categories. Thresholds for half rate channel usage for both GSM Half Rate and AMR Half Rate. HDPC settings - GSM Half Rate and AMR Half Rate. AMR link adaptation thresholds, hysterisis and codecs.
The choice of where, when and how Half Rate channels are used is really a decision for the Network operator and their network strategy. Unnecessary use of Half Rate could lead to degradation in Quality of Service and in contrast, if Half Rate channels are not allocated until there are few resources left in a cell then the full capacity gain will not be realised.
Prob of HR access 3 8 14 20 100% 100% 100% 100% 75% 89% 93% 95% 53% 78% 87% 90% 35% 68% 80% 86% 21% 57% 74% 81% 11% 48% 67% 76% 5% 39% 61% 72%
Thresh 2 4 57% Prob of in call change to HR 3 8 14 20 2% 88% 100% 100% 6% 95% 100% 100% 15% 98% 100% 100% 30% 99% 100% 100% 50% 100% 100% 100% 72% 100% 100% 100% 90% 100% 100% 100%
Overall prob of HR 3 8 14 20 100% 100% 100% 100% 77% 99% 100% 100% 60% 100% 100% 100% 54% 100% 100% 100% 60% 100% 100% 100% 75% 100% 100% 100% 90% 100% 100% 100%
3 H 100% 76% 56% 44% 40% 43% 48% F 0% 24% 44% 56% 60% 57% 52%
Traffic Dist 8 14 H F H F 100% 0% 100% 0% 94% 6% 97% 3% 89% 11% 93% 7% 84% 16% 90% 10% 79% 21% 87% 13% 74% 26% 84% 16% 69% 31% 81% 19%
Figure 18
2 Carriers Thresh 1 0 0% 1 7% 2 14% 3 21% 4 28% 5 35% 6 42% 7 50% 8 57% 9 64% 10 71% 11 78% 12 85% 13 92%
Prob of HR access 4 8 14 20 1 100% 100% 100% 80% 89% 93% 95% 62% 78% 87% 90% 45% 68% 80% 86% 31% 57% 74% 81% 20% 48% 67% 76% 12% 39% 61% 72% 6% 31% 55% 67% 3% 24% 49% 63% 1% 17% 43% 58% 1% 12% 38% 54% 0% 8% 32% 49% 0% 5% 27% 45% 0% 3% 23% 41%
Thresh 2 7 50% Prob of in call change to HR 4 8 14 20 0% 13% 94% 100% 0% 22% 97% 100% 0% 34% 99% 100% 1% 49% 100% 100% 2% 65% 100% 100% 5% 78% 100% 100% 12% 88% 100% 100% 23% 95% 100% 100% 39% 98% 100% 100% 59% 99% 100% 100% 77% 100% 100% 100% 91% 100% 100% 100% 98% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Overall prob of HR 4 8 14 20 100% 100% 100% 100% 80% 91% 100% 100% 62% 86% 100% 100% 45% 84% 100% 100% 33% 85% 100% 100% 24% 89% 100% 100% 22% 93% 100% 100% 28% 96% 100% 100% 41% 99% 100% 100% 59% 100% 100% 100% 78% 100% 100% 100% 91% 100% 100% 100% 98% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
4 H 100% 80% 62% 45% 32% 22% 17% 17% 22% 30% 39% 46% 49% 50% F 0% 20% 38% 55% 68% 78% 83% 83% 78% 70% 61% 54% 51% 50%
Traffic Dist 8 14 H F H F 100% 0% 100% 0% 90% 10% 97% 3% 82% 18% 93% 7% 76% 24% 90% 10% 71% 29% 87% 13% 68% 32% 84% 16% 66% 34% 81% 19% 64% 36% 78% 22% 61% 39% 75% 25% 58% 42% 72% 28% 56% 44% 69% 31% 54% 46% 66% 34% 53% 47% 64% 36% 52% 48% 61% 39%
20 H F 100% 0% 98% 2% 95% 5% 93% 7% 91% 9% 88% 12% 86% 14% 84% 16% 81% 19% 79% 21% 77% 23% 75% 25% 73% 27% 71% 29%
Figure 19
3 Carriers Thresh 1 0 0% 1 4% 2 9% 3 14% 4 19% 5 23% 6 28% 7 33% 8 38% 9 42% 10 47% 11 52% 12 57% 13 61% 14 66% 15 71% 16 76% 17 80% 18 85% 19 90% 20 95%
Prob of HR access 8 14 20 30 1 100% 100% 100% 89% 93% 95% 97% 78% 87% 90% 94% 68% 80% 86% 90% 57% 74% 81% 87% 48% 67% 76% 84% 39% 61% 72% 81% 31% 55% 67% 78% 24% 49% 63% 74% 17% 43% 58% 71% 12% 38% 54% 68% 8% 32% 49% 65% 5% 27% 45% 62% 3% 23% 41% 59% 2% 19% 37% 56% 1% 15% 33% 53% 0% 11% 29% 50% 0% 9% 26% 47% 0% 6% 22% 44% 0% 4% 19% 41% 0% 3% 16% 38%
Overall prob of HR 8 14 20 30 100% 100% 100% 100% 89% 95% 100% 100% 78% 91% 100% 100% 68% 89% 100% 100% 58% 89% 100% 100% 49% 91% 100% 100% 41% 93% 100% 100% 36% 95% 100% 100% 33% 97% 100% 100% 36% 98% 100% 100% 42% 99% 100% 100% 53% 100% 100% 100% 66% 100% 100% 100% 79% 100% 100% 100% 89% 100% 100% 100% 95% 100% 100% 100% 98% 100% 100% 100% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
8 H 100% 89% 78% 68% 58% 48% 40% 33% 29% 26% 27% 31% 36% 41% 45% 48% 49% 50% 50% 50% 50% F 0% 11% 22% 32% 42% 52% 60% 67% 71% 74% 73% 69% 64% 59% 55% 52% 51% 50% 50% 50% 50%
30 H F 100% 0% 98% 2% 97% 3% 95% 5% 94% 6% 92% 8% 90% 10% 89% 11% 87% 13% 86% 14% 84% 16% 83% 17% 81% 19% 79% 21% 78% 22% 76% 24% 75% 25% 73% 27% 72% 28% 70% 30% 69% 31%
Figure 20
The tables shown in Figures 18, 19 and 20 show the probabilities of a subscriber being allocated a Half Rate channel depending on the settings of the new calls and reconfigure threshold versus traffic loading in the cell. Figure 14 represents a 1 carrier cell, Figure 15 a 2 carrier cell and Figure 16 a 3 carrier cell. To interpret the tables, Thresh 1 represents the new calls threshold as a percentage and Thresh 2 represents the reconfigure threshold as a percentage. The row of numbers highlighted in yellow show the traffic level in Erlangs. The row highlighted in green shows the probability figures for the recommended typical settings for the thresholds. Example: From Figure 18:New calls threshold = 33% - i.e. half rate channels are allocated when more than 33% of the cells resource is used. Reconfigure threshold = 52% - i.e. mobiles are reconfigured to half rate when over 52% of resources are in use. The probability of a subscriber being allocated a half rate channel when there are 8 Erlangs of traffic in the cell is 31%, 55% at 14 Erlangs, 67% at 20 Erlangs and 78% at 30 Erlangs. The probability of a subscriber being handed over from a full rate channel to a half rate channel while in call in the cell is 7% at 8 Erlangs, 89% at 14 Erlangs, 100% at 20 Erlangs and 100% at 30 Erlangs. The other two columns in the table show the overall probability of a subscriber being allocated a half rate channel at any time while in the cell and the split between Half Rate and Full Rate usage in the cell all dependant of traffic level. The tables in Figures 18, 19 and 20 may be useful in estimating the effects of changing the thresholds dependant on traffic load. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 40 Motorola Internal Use Only
The settings of 33% new calls and 52% reconfigure in a 3 carrier cell offer a compromise and ensure that half rate channels are allocated early enough before resources are exhausted. As previously mentioned the network operator will have to decide on the exact settings of the thresholds.
AMR Half Rate Half Rate Active Codec Set: 3(=7.4kbps), 5(=5.9kbps), 6=(5.15kbps) Half Rate Initial Codec Mode: 5(=5.9kbps) Half Rate Uplink adaptation thresholds with no hopping: 28(=14db), 22(=11db) Half Rate Uplink adaptation hysteresis with no hopping: 1 (=.5db), 1 (=.5db) Half Rate Uplink adaptation thresholds with hopping: 28(=14db), 22(=11db) Half Rate Uplink adaptation hysteresis with hopping: 1 (=.5db), 1 (=.5db)
8K backhaul between BSC and BTS equipped Additional MMS links between BSC and BTS fitted where required. Additional RSL timeslots equipped where required. The amount of traffic carrying resource was expanded. Additional traffic will naturally lead to an increase in the amount of signalling and therefore the MTL, RSL and LCF capabilities need to be recalculated and increased if necessary. Some of the BTS sites had no timeslots left to add additional RSL links; this mandated a need for additional transmission.
12 Statistics
As with most other new features, GSM Half Rate and AMR have lead to the introduction of new statistics and have changed the implementation of some of the existing statistics. Further information may be found in the Statistics manual. The new and modified existing statistics are described below.
12.1 MA_REQ_FROM_MSC
Existing statistic:- modified to include a count of the number of assignment requests from the MSC for AMR HR, AMR FR and GSM HR channel types.
BIN 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Name FR EFR AMR_FR AMR_HR SISNALLING DATA GSM_HR Description Counts the number of full rate assignment requests from the MSC Counts the number of enhanced full rate assignment requests from the MSC Counts the number of Adaptive Multi-rate full rate assignment requests from the MSC Counts the number of Adaptive Multi-rate half rate assignment requests from the MSC Counts the number of SDCCH channel assignment requests from the MSC. Counts the number of data assignment requests from the MSC. Counts the number of GSM half rate assignment requests from the MSC.
12.2 MA_COMPLETE_TO_MSC
Existing statistic:- modified to include a count of the number of successful assignment complete messages to the MSC for AMR HR, AMR FR and GSM HR channel types.
BIN 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Name FR EFR AMR_FR AMR_HR SISNALLING DATA GSM_HR Description Counts the number of full rate assignment requests forwarded Counts the number of enhanced full rate assignment requests forwarded from the MS to the MSC. Counts the number of Adaptive Multi-rate full rate assignment requests forwarded from Counts the number of Adaptive Multi-rate half rate assignment requests forwarded from the MS to the MSC. Counts the number of SDCCH channel assignment requests forwarded from the MS Counts the number of data assignment requests forwarded from the MS to the MSC. Counts the number of GSM half rate assignment requests forwarded from the MS to the MSC.
12.3 HO_REQ_FROM_MSC
Existing statistic:- modified to include a count of the number of handover requests from the MSC for AMR HR, AMR FR and GSM HR channel types.
BIN 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Name FR EFR AMR_FR AMR_HR SISNALLING DATA GSM_HR Description Counts the number of full rate handover requests from the MSC Counts the number of enhanced full rate handover requests from the MSC Counts the number of Adaptive Multi-rate full rate handover requests from the MSC Counts the number of Adaptive Multi-rate half rate handover requests from the MSC Counts the number of SDCCH channel handover requests from the MSC. Counts the number of data assignment handover from the MSC. Counts the number of GSM half rate handover requests from the MSC.
12.4 HO_REQ_ACK_TO_MSC
Existing statistic: - modified to include a count of the number of successful ho_req_ack messages to the MSC for AMR HR, AMR FR and GSM HR channel types. Formerly known as HO_REQ_MSC_OK.
BIN 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Name FR EFR AMR_FR AMR_HR SISNALLING DATA GSM_HR Description Counts the number of full rate handover request acknowledgements sent to the MSC. Counts the number of enhanced full rate handover request acknowledgements sent to the MSC. Counts the number of Adaptive Multi-rate full rate handover request acknowledgments sent to the MSC. Counts the number of Adaptive Multi-rate half rate handover request acknowledgments sent to the MSC. Counts the number of SDCCH channel handover request acknowledgments sent to the MSC. Counts the number of data handover request acknowledgments sent to the MSC. Counts the number of GSM half rate handover request acknowledgments sent to the MSC.
Note: FER_GSM_FR_EFR replaced FER_NON_AMR from 1760 onwards. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 45 Motorola Internal Use Only
12.6 INTRA_CELL_HO
Existing statistic:- modified to take into account Half Rate to Half Rate, Full Rate to Half Rate and Half Rate to Full Rate Intra cell handovers.
BIN 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Name INTRA_CELL_HO_REQ INTRA_CELL_HO_ATMPT_FR_FR INTRA_CELL_HO_ATMPT_HR_HR INTRA_CELL_HO_ATMPT_HR_FR INTRA_CELL_HO_ATMPT_FR_HR INTRA_CELL_HO_SUC INTRA_CELL_HO_LOSTMS INTRA_CELL_HO_RETURN INTRA_CELL_EQUIP_FAIL INTRA_CELL_HO_CLEARED Description Number of assignment commands sent to MS during a full-rate to full-rate intra-cell handover. Number of assignment commands sent to MS during a half-rate to halfrate intra-cell handover. Number of assignment commands sent to MS during a half-rate to full-rate intra-cell handover. Number of assignment commands sent to MS during a half-rate to full-rate intra-cell handover. Number of assignment commands sent to MS during a full-rate to half-rate intra-cell handover. Number of successful intra-cell handovers. Number of failed intra-cell handovers that also failed to recover to the original cell. Number of failed intra-cell handovers that recovered to the original cell/channel. Number of attempted intra-cell handover failures due to equipment failure. Number of incoming intra-cell handovers aborted due to call clearing. This scenario corresponds to the receipt of a Clear Command, SCCP Released, or Release Done (internal message) during the handover procedure.
12.7 INTRA_BSS_HO_CAUSE_SUC
Existing statistic:- modified pegging of the Congestion bin to include Full Rate to Half Rate handovers. Also the Uplink / Downlink Interference bins will peg for Half Rate to Full Rate quality based handovers.
BIN 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cause UPLINK_QUALITY UPLINK_LEVEL DOWNLINK_QUALITY DOWNLINK_LEVEL DISTANCE UPLINK_INTERFERENCE DOWNLINK_INTERFERENCE POWER_BUDGET CONGESTION Description Handovers due to uplink quality. Handovers due to uplink level. Handovers due to downlink quality. Handovers due to downlink level. Handovers due to distance. Handovers due to uplink interference. Handovers due to downlink interference. Handovers due to power budget. Handovers due to congestion.
12.8 TCH_CONGESTION_HR
New Statistic:- Same implementation as existing Full Rate TCH_CONGESTION. The statistic tracks the duration of time when there are no half rate AMR and/or GSM Half Rate TCHs available. For multi ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 46 Motorola Internal Use Only
zone cells, this measurement indicates AMR Half Rate and/or GSM Half Rate TCH congestion for the outer zone.
12.9 TCH_CONG_INNER_ZONE_HR
New Statistic:- Same implementation as existing Full Rate TCH_CONG_INNER_ZONE. The statistic tracks the duration of time when there are no AMR Half Rate and/or GSM Half Rate TCHs available in the inner zone of a multi zone cell.
12.10 BUSY_TCH_HR
New Statistic:- Same implementation as existing Full Rate BUSY_TCH. The statistic tracks the number of GSM Half Rate and / or AMR Half Rate TCHs allocated during the statistics interval.
12.11 BUSY_TCH_CARR_HR
New Statistic:- Same implementation as existing Full Rate BUSY_TCH_CARR. The statistic reports a maximum and average value for the amount of AMR Half Rate and/or GSM Half Rate TCHs in use on a per carrier basis.
12.12 AVAILABLE_TCH_HR
New Statistic:- Same implementation as existing Full Rate AVAILABLE_TCH. The statistic reports a maximum and average value for the amount of AMR Half Rate and/or GSM Half Rate TCHs that are in use or available to be used within the cell.
12.13 ALLOC_TCH_HR
New Statistic:- Same implementation as existing Full Rate ALLOC_TCH. The statistic tracks the number of successful AMR Half Rate and/or GSM Half Rate TCH allocations within a cell for both call originations and hand-ins.
12.14 ALLOC_TCH_FAIL_HR
New Statistic:- Same implementation as existing Full Rate ALLOC_TCH_FAIL. The statistic tracks the
number of unsuccessful allocations of an AMR Half Rate and/or GSM Half Rate TCH within a cell for both call origination and hand in. Cases involving Immediate Assignment Reject are also included in the peg count.
12.15 RF_LOSSES_TCH_HR
The statistic tracks the number of calls lost while using a half rate AMR and/or GSM TCH. This statistic pegs the number of calls that were terminated because of RF problems. It is composed of calls lost while using a half rate AMR and/or GSM TCH.
12.16 CALL_SP_VERS_DOWNGRADE_MONITOR
This statistic tracks the number of call rejects and call downgrades due to not supporting requested speech versions. The statistic keeps a count of the number of times that the codec mode was downgraded for EFR, HR AMR FR AMR and GSM HR calls on a per BSS basis.
Bin 0
Cause EFR_REQUEST_DOWNGRADE
1 2 3
Description Pegged when the call is downgraded due to CIC capabilities Assignment request for or including EFR Handover request for or including EFR In call modification request for or including EFR. Pegged when the full-rate AMR call is downgraded. Pegged when the half-rate AMR call is downgraded. Pegged when the half-rate GSM call is downgraded.
12.17 AMR_DECREASE_THRESH_ADJUST
This statistic keeps a count of the number of times that the BSS MS monitor decreases the C/I codec mode adaptation thresholds for AMR calls on a per-cell basis. The statistic pegs each time that the BSS MS monitor decreases the downlink codec mode adaptation thresholds due to inaccurate C/I estimation by the MS.
12.18 AMR_INCREASE_THRESH_ADJUST
This statistic keeps a count of the number of times that the BSS MS monitor increases the C/I codec mode adaptation thresholds for AMR calls on a per-cell basis. The statistic pegs each time that the BSS MS monitor increases the downlink codec mode adaptation thresholds due to inaccurate C/I estimation by the MS.
12.19 AMR_FR_DL_CODEC_MODE_USAGE
This statistic keeps a count of each AMR full-rate codec mode used on the downlink of AMR full-rate calls on a per-cell basis.
Bin 0 1 2 3 4 Description AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 12.2kbps AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 10.2kbps AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 7.4kbps AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 6.7kbps AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 5.15kbps
12.20 AMR_FR_UL_CODEC_MODE_USAGE
This statistic keeps a count of each AMR full-rate codec mode used on the uplink of AMR full-rate calls on a percell basis.
Bin 0 1 2 3 4 Description AMR full-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 12.2kbps AMR full-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 10.2kbps AMR full-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 7.4kbps AMR full-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 6.7kbps AMR full-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 5.15kbps
12.21 AMR_HR_DL_CODEC_MODE_USAGE
This statistic keeps a count of each AMR half-rate codec mode used on the downlink of AMR half-rate calls on a per cell basis.
Bin 0 1 2 3 4 Description AMR half-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 7.95kbps AMR half-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 7.4kbps AMR half-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 6.7kbps AMR half-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 5.9kbps AMR half-rate DL codec mode usage of AFS 5.15kbps
12.22 AMR_HR_UL_CODEC_MODE_USAGE
This statistic keeps a count of each AMR half-rate codec mode used on the uplink of AMR half-rate calls on a per cell basis.
Bin 0 1 2 3 4 Description AMR half-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 7.95kbps AMR half-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 7.4kbps AMR half-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 6.7kbps AMR half-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 5.9kbps AMR half-rate UL codec mode usage of AFS 5.15kbps
12.23 AMR_FR_DL_ADAPTATION
This statistic keeps a count of the number of times the codec mode is adapted on the downlink of fullrate AMR calls on a per-cell basis. There are up to four codecs in the Active Codec Set (ACS) and the format of this statistic allows for this. The codecs are referenced sequentially from the lowest speech coding rate to the highest. The lowest speech coding rate is called the 1st codec. If there are less than four codecs in the ACS, the higher bit rates are not valid and contain the value zero.
Bin 0 1 2 3 4 5 Description AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage adaptation from 1st to 2nd codec mode. AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage adaptation from 2nd to 3rd codec mode. AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage adaptation from 3rd to 4th codec mode. AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage adaptation from 2nd to 1st codec mode. AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage adaptation from 3rd to 2nd codec mode. AMR full-rate DL codec mode usage adaptation from 4th to 3rd codec mode.
13 Benchmarking
13.1 Speech Quality
Ascom Qvoice was used to collect speech samples for all speech versions supported in GSR 7, EFR, FR, AMR FR, AMR HR and GSM HR.
DL HR Pace 3.3
DL FR Pace 3.4
UL HR Pace 3.2
UL FR Pace 3.3
1.3
1.6
1.9
2.2
2.5
2.8
3.1
3.4
3.7
4.3
4.6
Pace
Figure 21 GSM HR and FR QVoice Pace scores, collected under laboratory static conditions.
4.9
60.0%
% Voice Samples
50.0% 40.0%
DL HR Pace 3.3
UL FR Pace 3.6
Figure 22
1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5
Pace
% Samples
1.4
1.8
2.2
2.6
3.4
3.8
4.2
4.6
Pace
Figure 23 Comparison of AMR FR/HR to EFR/GSM HR downlink speech quality.
% Samples
1.3
1.6
1.9
2.2
2.5
2.8
3.1
3.4
3.7
4.3
4.6
Pace
Figure 24 Comparison of AMR FR/HR to EFR/GSM HR uplink speech quality.
All samples were collected during a BSC wide drive test, the selected route was considered urban and was well optimized. The results show that AMR FR performs as good as EFR in the downlink direction and better in the uplink. This is as expected for a well optimized dive test route, since the AMR codec rate 12.2kbps has ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 53 Motorola Internal Use Only
4.9
the same voice quality as EFR. Only in poor RF environments will the benefits of AMR FR become apparent. To demonstrate the true advantage of AMR FR over EFR care should be taken to select a drive test route that includes a significant percentage of poor quality audio calls. AMR HR speech quality is as good as GSM FR and significantly better the GSM HR which has the poorest speech quality of all the speech codecs. However, the peak pace for all speech versions is greater that 3.1 which can be classified as excellent using the Motorola specified grading of pace scores shown below. BAD PACE <1.9 GOOD PACE 1.9 < 3.2 EXCELLECNT PAVE >= 3.2
14 Tools
14.1 Motorola Drive Test Tool (CTP Windows MDTT GSR7v1.0)
Three new monitoring functions have been added to MDTT for AMR, they can be selected from the Monitor options on the MDTT user interface. From these data windows information on link adaptation, codec mode usage and the AMR call configuration can be determined. The AMR config window shows the AMR call type, Full Rate or Half Rate and the uplink and downlink active codec sets, i.e. those specified using chg_acs_params command. The current active codec mode is shown in parenthesis, also displayed is the adaptation thresholds, the hysteresis values and the downlink FER values.
The AMR Codec Log window shows the in band signalling taking place between the mobile and the BSS to select the required codec mode. The CMI UL/DL indicates the current codec mode, whilst CMC is what the BSS is requesting the mobile uses on the uplink and the CMR is the mobile requesting what the BSS should use on the downlink. In the example shown below the BSS is requesting the mobile use codec mode 7.4 (CMC = 7.4), the following period the CMI UL has changed to 7.4 indicating that the mobile is now using the requested mode in the uplink. The table also shows the downlink C/I in dBs averaged over the last 480ms SACH period.
Figure 26
The AMR Params Graph window displays the long term codec mode usage in a graphical format. This is useful when a lot of link adaptation is occurring.
Figure 27
14.2 CTP-NT
Call trace allows the distribution of AMR parameters to be displayed for selected cells on selected network elements, determined by the user filter criteria. Figure 28 below shows the output of AMR distribution application, each parameter can be viewed separately either in graphical or tabular format and the average or individually distribution of each carrier or cell displayed, as shown in figure 29/30. FER: This shows the ratio of correctly decoded uplink AMR speech frames to incorrectly decoded speech frames over a 480ms period (average of 24 frames). The distribution is split into bins 0 to 9 ranging from 0% errors to 100% errors. No distinction is made between AMR FR and AMR HR speech frames. RBER: Is a ratio of the number of bits received as errors to the total number of bits received for frames classified as good frames. The distribution is over bins 0 to 7 with bin 0 = 0 to 0.2 BER and bin 7 > 12.8 BER. C/I (sub/full): The is a distribution of the uplink C/I estimate expressed in dBs the C/I is estimated every 20ms and averaged over a 480ms SACH period. For the sub values only SID and SACH frames are averaged over the 480ms period, i.e. during periods when uplink dtx is evoked. The full takes into account all frames.
CMI (up/down): Codec mode Indicate, in band signalling used to indicate the current codec mode used by the mobile and BSS. The four bins represent the four codec modes specified using chg_acs_params, with bin 0 being the lowest (most protected) and bin 3 being the highest codec rate (least protected). CMR/CMC: This is a distribution of the Codec Mode Requests, i.e. the uplink/downlink requesting a codec mode changes. The bins are similar to CMI. Up/Down link Adaptation: This is a distribution of adaptations between two consecutive codec rates. Assume an ACS with 12.2, 10.2, 7.4 and 5.15 then the Up/Down link adaptation distribution can be interpreted as shown below in figure 29.
Figure 28
Note: Different cells and call configurations (AMR-FR/AMR-HR) will have different codec modes defined in there active codec set (ACS). Therefore prior knowledge of the ACS and the selected cells is needed to determine the bins classification. Therefore care should be taken to limit the scope of the data ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 57 Motorola Internal Use Only
used for CMI/CMC/CMR and LA distributions to a known ACS and speech version to provide meaningful debug data.
120 100 80 60 40 20 0 5.15 to 7.4 7.4 to 5.15 7.4 to 10.2 10.2 to 7.4 10.2 to 12.2 12.2 to 10.2
Figure 29
C/I (Sub)
11 All Data (StdDev=7.5) Hopping Carrier (StdDev=5.01) Carrier 806 (StdDev=5.68) Carrier 808 (StdDev=8.47)
10
Figure 30
MEASUREMENT REPORT #6 DRI 0 TS 1 TCH(full) EQ MODE: Rel BSS: DTX 0 RXL 1/0 RXQ 5/5 FER 0 RBER 0 TA 0 BS PWR 6 MS PWR 19 MS: BA 1 DTX 0 MV y RXL 50/52 RXQ 0/0 REL TA 0/0 NCELLS 0 freq/bsic/rxl: 65535/00h/00 65535/00h/00 65535/00h/00 65535/00h/00 65535/00h/00 65535/00h/00
What fields mean what?? -----------------------CMR = CMRs received from MS requesting codec in DL SUMS CMR = Running sum of CMR data for MS Monitor purposes (resets every MS Monitor period) UCMI = CMIs received from MS in UL indicating UL codec being used by MS DCMI = CMIs sent to MS in DL indicating DL codec being used by BTS Assuming ACS uses 4 codecs: Codec 0 = most protected codec Codec 3 = least protected codec CMR: Codec 0 / Codec 1 / Codec 2 / Codec 3 UCMI: Codec 1 / Codec 0 / Codec 3 / Codec 2 DCMI: Codec 1 / Codec 0 / Codec 3 / Codec 2 ULA: Codec 1->0 / Codec 0->1 / Codec 2->1 / Codec 1->2 / Codec 3->2 / Codec 2->3 DLA: Codec 1->0 / Codec 0->1 / Codec 2->1 / Codec 1->2 / Codec 3->2 / Codec 2->3 ___________________________________________________________________________________ Page 60 Motorola Internal Use Only
SUMS CMR: Codec 0 / Codec 1 / Codec 2 / Codec 3 C/I: an unsigned 8 bit number (need to convert to signed and divide by 2 to get value) MR data alignment (see example log below): - The data in a MR log is grouped as follows: - the 4 lines starting with MEASUREMENT REPORT #... - the 2 MS Monitor lines immediately above MEASUREMENT REPORT #... - the RSS HO line immediately above MEASUREMENT REPORT #... - All of these data sets correspond to the same MR period
The RxQual values contained within the first MS Monitor line correspond to the RxQual of the current MR report and the average RxQual over the MS monitoring period respectively. The default presentation is BER as determined by alt_qual _proc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
yes
yes force_hr_useage? no yes new_calls_hr exceeded? no FR resource Avail? no no Changes allowed after initial assignment HR Allowed? yes
no
no
yes
yes
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
no
yes
no