Basics

Existing Speech CODECS

 Currently there are two speech coding schemes

used in GSM.
 FR - Full Rate (The original coding scheme)
 EFR - Enhanced Full Rate ( An enhancement of FR)

 EFR offers better quality speech.

 Most modern mobiles are EFR capable.
Why change from what we’ve got ?

 The traditional “fixed” coding schemes (FR or EFR) use a

fixed amount of bandwidth - some dedicated to encode the
speech and the rest used to offer data protection - Forward
Error Coding, Checksums etc.
 When poor RF conditions exist, there may be “errors” in the
speech data which cannot be corrected or recovered. The
“errors” will be heard as an interruption in the speech.
 With EFR or FR, we can only achieve a “best effort” with the
coding scheme and protection available - AMR offers some
improvements.
 What is AMR
Adaptive Multi-rate (or AMR) Codec in GSM is a new variable
rate voice coding algorithm/technique that increases capacity
and improves voice quality while reducing cost.
 AMR allows multiple different coding schemes to be used. The
higher speech bandwidth schemes offer good speech quality -
with lower error protection. The lower speech bandwidth
schemes offer slightly lower speech quality - with much higher
error protection.

4.75 5.15 5.9 6.7 7.4 7.95 10.2 12.2 13

kbps kbps kbps kbps kbps kbps kbps kbps kbps

EFR FR

Better Protection

Better Speech Quality

PRINCIPLE
Principle of AMR
 In EFR the vocoder operates at fixed rate of 13 Kbps
with 22.8 Kbps global rate irrespective of radio
condition (C/I)
 In AMR there are Multiple Codecs with multiple
modes offering variable levels of protection and source
coding depending on radio condition
 We can easily understand from the following slides.
 Bad C/I EFR

Good C/I Global Rate: 22.8 Kbps

AMR HR Bad C/I AMR FR

Global Rate : 11.4 kb/s Good C/I

Global Rate : 22.8 kb/s
Principle Contd….

 When the transmission is good, a high rate

vocoder is chosen and the number of bits
dedicated to the channel protection is low.

 In case of degraded radio conditions, the

vocoder rate is decreased, in order to provide
a better channel protection and allow a better
voice quality
AMR FR and AMR HR

 AMR can operate in FR or HR - this is called “Channel Mode”

 Within HR or FR domain there is a set of Voice Codec- “Codec
Mode”
 AMR FR provides better tolerance to interference and thus extra
coverage and VQ.
 AMR HR provides extra capacity by allowing two users in a TS.
AMR HR Bad C/I AMR FR

Global Rate : 11.4 kb/s

Good C/I
Global Rate : 22.8 kb/s
Source coding
Channel coding
 AMR Channel and Speech Codec
Channe l Channe l So urce co ding Ne t bit-rate , Channe l Channe l
m o de co de c bit-rate , spe e ch in-band co ding co ding
Mo de channe l bit-rate , bit-rate , in-
spe e ch band
CH0-FS 12.20kbit/s (GSMEFR) 0.10 kbit/s 10.20 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s
CH1-FS 10.20 kb it/s 0.10 kbit/s 12.20 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s
CH2-FS 7.95 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 14.45 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s
TCH/FR CH3-FS 7.40 kbit/s (IS-641) 0.10 kbit/s 15.00 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s
CH4-FS 6.70 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 15.70 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s
CH5-FS 5.90 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 16.50 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s
CH6-FS 5.15 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 17.25 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s
CH7-FS 4.75 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 17.65 kbit/s 0.30 kbit/s
CH8-HS 7.95 kbit/s (*) 0.10 kbit/s 3.25 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s
TCH/HR CH9-HS 7.40 kbit/s (IS-641) 0.10 kbit/s 3.80 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s
CH10-HS 6.70 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 4.50 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s
CH11-HS 5.90 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 5.30 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s
CH12-HS 5.15 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 6.05 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s
CH13-HS 4.75 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s 6.45 kbit/s 0.10 kbit/s
(*) Re quire s 16 kbit/s TRAU. The re fore it is not see n a s a fe a sible code c m o de a nd w ill not be
supported by Nokia BSS10 .

In high-error conditions more bits are used for error correction to obtain error robust coding,
while in good transmission conditions a lower amount of bits is needed for sufficient error
protection and more bits can therefore be allocated for source coding
CODEC RATE
AMR Codec Rates
 Up to 4 codec modes are allowed in AMR at any one time - This is
known as the Active Codec set.
 The Active codec set may contain something like :-
 12.2, 7.95, 5.9 and 4.75 kbps.
 AMR switches between the 4 rates - independently on the Uplink and
the Downlink - based on the prevailing RF conditions on each link.
 Under good RF conditions - a Rate of 12.2 kbps may be used which is
similar to EFR. Under poor conditions 4.75 kbps may be used -
offering lower quality speech - but higher protection against errors.
Available AMR CODECs
Channel mode C/I Codec Kbps
Channel Codec Bit Rate (kbps) [> 7 dB] 10.2
12.2 (~GSM EFR) [8dB, 5 dB] 6.70
FR
10.2 [6dB, 3dB] 5.90
7.95 [< 4dB] 4.75
7.40 [> 15 dB] 6.70
FR 6.70
HR [16dB, 10 dB] 5.90
5.90
5.15
[<11dB] 4.75
4.75
7.95
7.40
6.70
HR 5.90
5.15 • Best performing codecs
4.75
• Codecs providing the most continuity
• Codecs with most efficient implementation
• Codecs with most capacity benefits
AMR Codec Rate Switching

 AMR will switch modes within the active codec set, based on
C/I and RxQual calculations.

C/I

12.2
kbps
Hysterisis
7.95
kbps Hysterisis
5.9 kbps
Hysterisis
4.75
kbps
Adaptation : principle
 Principle : the MS and the BTS evaluate the C/I of each frame, compare this
value to a set of thresholds and deduce an appropriate codec mode .

AMR FR
C/I

10.2

6.7

5.9

4.75
t
ADAPTATION
 Codec Mode Adaptation
 At call setup, the mobile (MS) is assigned an AMR Half Rate or Full Rate channel
based on
 Mobile capabilities
 Network capabilities
 Radio conditions
 Mobile is given information about
 Codec mode set
 Initial codec mode
 Thresholds and hysteresis
 During the communication
 Mobile and network compare assigned codec to C/I
 Requested and applied codec info is exchanged
 Mobile is told which codec to use for uplink
 Network makes decision on which codec to use for downlink and MS sends its
recommendation based on DL measurements
 Codec Mode Adaptation
 The purpose of AMR codec mode adaptation is to provide the "best" compromise
between data rate of codec mode and channel protection, according to the link
quality. This adaptation is done for uplink and downlink and there is no
interdependence between the 2 links, but both sets of codec have to be identical.

 Each 40ms, according to the requested codec mode and the applied codec mode, the
BTS :
 increases by one step the rate of the codec mode, if the requested codec mode
(CMR) is greater than the applied codec mode,
 decreases by one step the rate of the codec mode, if the requested codec mode
(CMR) is lower than the applied codec mode,
 keeps the same codec mode, if the requested codec mode (CMR) is equal to the
applied codec mode.
Codec Mode Adaptation
 For each mobile, the following set of parameters has to be defined :
 one threshold per codec mode and per link (4+4 in FR and 3+3 in HR
channel for UL and DL),
 one hysteresis (the same value is used for each codec mode, but one for
FR and another one for HR channel).

 These parameters are linked to a set of factors, some of them being determined
by the BTS (frequency hopping, MS speed), others being network dependent
(environment profile…).
 The operator using one parameter (AMRAdaptationSet on bts object)
and the BSS using the TS configuration and the MS speed applies the
appropriate set.
PARAMETER
Basic Parameter AMR
Parameter Description
 AMR FR and AMR HR are activated by changing BSC exchange properties. Transcoder pools for AMR FR
and AMR HR must also be defined in order for AMR to work. Note if AMR HR shall be activated the feature
Half Rate Channels must have been purchased by the operator.
 AMRFRSUPPORT
Indicates if AMR FR is turned ON or OFF and also which full rate codec set that shall be used within the BSC.
 AMRHRSUPPORT
Indicates if AMR HR is turned ON or OFF and also which half rate codec set that shall be used within the BSC.
 Codec sets 3 and 4 for both FR and HR channels can be defined per BSC using the command RLADC. The
following parameters are set using this command:
 SET :Indicates which of the codec sets for a specific channel rate that shall be modified.
 MODE :Specifies the codec modes that shall be included in the codec set. For Full Rate all 8 codec modes can
be used, expressed as a numeral between 1 and 8, and defined in ascending order.
1 = 4.75 kbps
2 = 5.15 kbps to
8 = 12.2 kbps
For Half Rate only the 5 lower codec modes can be used.
1 = 4.75 kbps to
5 = 7.4 kbps
 THR :Specifies the thresholds between the codec modes in the codec set, expressed as a numeral between 0
and 63, in steps of 0.5 dB.
 HYST :Specifies the hysteresis values for the threshold in the codec set. It is expressed as a numeral between 0
and 15, in steps of 0.5 dB.
EFFECTS AND BENEFIT
AMR effect on HO
 RXLEV and Power Budget HO parameters are identical for AMR and EFR
 AMR call would handover at the same point as an EFR call.
 Separate RXQUAL threshold settings for AMR
 Default set to “worse” values than EFR. (e.g. EFR =4, AMR = 5)
 With these default settings AMR calls would be expected to have fewer HO due to quality
 No difference in RXQUAL measurement method between EFR and AMR
 EFR call and AMR call in identical location should show identical RXQUAL
measurements
 Packing/Unpacking
 Unpacking from HR to FR is always based on RX quality
 In congested cell with no available TS for unpacking, Inter-cell HO required based on
RXQUAL.
 Improved robustness in AMR over EFR
 AMR better able to handle poor radio conditions - low RXLEV, poor RXQUAL, low C/I
 Optimization of separate AMR parameters is important to ensure no negative impact to
HO. Different environments will need different parameter settings to optimise the
performance. Other AMR parameters should have no negative impact in a network
designed for EFR
 AMR effect on KPIs

 The AMR feature itself will not impact the individual connections DCR, but it
will affect the overall system DCR since the interference generated in the
network is lower due to the AMR power control settings.
 Radio Link Timeout can be adapted to AMR in order for dropped calls to
maintain the same correlation with voice quality degradation as with EFR
 Quality -> better perceived speech quality.
 Traditionally, GSM voice quality has been usually benchmarked based on BER
measurements
 With Frequency Hopping and AMR, BER becomes increasingly meaningless
and therefore alternative indicators are needed to benchmark the voice quality
AMR effect on Capacity & Coverage
 AMR provides a significant performance enhancement that can be translated into a
tradeoff between quality and capacity

 AMR feature impact and deployment strategy depends strongly upon the AMR capable
mobile penetration

 AMR gains:

 Quality -> AMR maintains good speech quality in the situation where the connection
faces low C/I or low signal level. Also due to retransmissions schemes used by these
channels the probability of signaling success maintain very high even for very
degraded conditions
 Capacity -> HR utilization doubles the hardware capacity of the cell since two half-
rate connections can be allocated to fill only one timeslot. Practically the gain is up to
150% higher capacity for the same quality
 Coverage -> additional 3-4 dB effective coverage
 Cost (HR hardware efficiency) -> 20-40% lower number of TRXs
 Improved BCCH plan: tighter frequency reuse or better quality with same frequency
reuse, potentially releasing frequencies to be used on the non-BCCH layer
AMR Benefit
 AMR Half Rate nearly doubles capacity
 Increased Spectral Efficiency: AMR codec allows for more aggressive
fractional frequency reuse solutions
 Improved Voice Quality:AMR FR has 4 - 6 dB of extra tolerance as
compared to EFR. This can result in improved in-building penetration as well
as better coverage at the cell-edge at least from a speech quality point of
view*.
 Reduced Hardware Cost: AMR Half Rate modes increase capacity per
radio without adding new equipment or sites.
 Capacity gain is the highest when both AMR FR and AMR HR modes
are used in conjunction.
 AMR HR allows higher capacity by allowing 2 users per TS under good
C/I conditions
What AMR brings
to the operator & to the subscriber
-

Best voice
quality

Double capacity on
part of the cell
Best indoor
Same voice quality
as Std EFR Even from here, penetration
I still can hear you!
Hi, I am listening to you (AMR FR)
(AMR HR)

Hi, I am listening to you

AMR
(Standard EFR) Extended
Cell limit
Can you repeat ? Standard
(Standard HR) Cell limit
THANK YOU