21 A Interface

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 21 A Interface ................................................................................................................ 21-1 21.1 Overview ........................................................................................................................ 21-1 21.2 Protocols on the A-Interface .......................................................................................... 21-2 21.2.1 Physical Layer ..................................................................................................... 21-2 21.2.2 Message Transfer Part (MTP)............................................................................. 21-2 21.2.3 Signaling Connection & Control Part (SCCP) ..................................................... 21-5 21.2.4 BSSAP ................................................................................................................ 21-7 21.3 A-Interface Management at BSS Side......................................................................... 21-11
Huawei Technologies Proprietary i
BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface
Chapter 21 A Interface
21.1 Overview
A-interface is the standard interface between BSS and MSC, so that M900/M1800 BSS can be easily deployed in any network in which the MSC of other vendor is being used. It is a standard GSM interface specified to achieve the following targets. The standard interface is adopted so as to:
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Support BSSs of different vendors in any PLMN Support MSCs of different vendors in any PLMN Use different BSSs in any PLMNs. Use different MSCs in any PLMNs. Ensure the independent developments of MSC and BSS technologies Ensure the independent development of O&M functions Enable lower speech coding rate Support all GSM Phase II services
The reference model of A-interface signaling protocol in M900/M1800 BSC is shown in Figure 21-1, which describes the hierarchical structure of A-interface:
MSC BSS BSSAP DTAP BSSMAP BSSAP DTAP BSSMAP
Allocation function SCCP MTP Physical layer A
Allocation function SCCP MTP
DTAP: Direct Transfer Application Part MTP: Message Transfer Part SCCP: Signaling Connection Control Part BSSAP: Base Station Subsystem Application Part BSSMAP: Base Station Subsystem Management Application Part
Figure 21-1 A-interface signaling protocol reference model
Huawei Technologies Proprietary 21-1
21.2 Protocols on the A-Interface

21.2.1 Physical Layer
The physical layer of the A-interface is of 120-ohm symmetrical twisted pair or 75-ohm coaxial cable whose rate is 2 Mbit/s. The physical layer of A-interface has the following features:
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The 2 Mbit/s transfer rate complies with G.703. Frame structure, synchronization and timing comply with G.705. Fault management complies with G.732. CRC4 check complies with G.704.
21.2.2 Message Transfer Part (MTP)

The main function of MTP is to ensure reliable signaling message transfer in the signaling network. In case of system and signaling network faults, it can take measures to avoid or reduce the loss. MTP protocols are defined in ITU-T Q.701710 Recommendations. MTP comprises three functional levels: signaling data link function, signaling link function and signaling network function.
I. Signaling data link function

Signaling data link (layer 1) is the channel used for signaling transmission. It comprises two data channels of the same data rate but two opposite working directions. A semi-permanent path between the signaling processing equipment of BSS and digital trunk equipment is established through the digital-switching network. The former one occupies a timeslot to provide 64 kbit/s. The digital trunk equipment actually implements the first level function of MTP. The advantage of semi-permanent connection is, any TS (except synchronous TS) can be used as the signaling data link, which can be configured through the man-machine commands.
II. Signaling link function

Signaling link function (layer 2) regulates the functions and procedures to send the signaling to the data link, and guarantees to provide reliable signaling message transfer between two directly connected signaling points. Functions of layer 2 include: signaling unit delimitation, signaling unit alignment, error detection, error correction, initial alignment, processor fault, level-2 flow control, and signaling link error rate monitoring.
The BSS signaling processing equipment executes the above functions. In addition, different error control means can be set for it through the OMC. The basic error correction method applies to the terrestrial signaling links and the international signaling links whose unidirectional transmission delay is less than 15 ms. The preventive cyclic retransmission mode applies to the international signaling links with the unidirectional transmission delay more than or equal to 15 ms and to all the signaling links established through satellites.
III. Signaling network function

Signaling network functions (level 3) refer to the functions and procedures that transfer management information between signaling points to guarantee the reliable transfer of signaling information when the signaling links and signaling transfer points in the signaling network fail. Signaling network functions include signaling message processing and signaling network management. 1) Signaling message processing message processing function sends signaling messages to the
Signaling
corresponding signaling links or user parts (such as TUP, ISUP and SCCP) on the basis of analyzing message flags. Signaling message processing functions comprise three parts: message routing (MRT), message discrimination (MDC) and message distribution (MDT), as shown in Figure 21-2.
MTP user part
Message allocation Message to local office Message to other SP
Message discriminition
Message routing
MTP L3 signaling message processing
MTP L2 signaling link function
Figure 21-2 Signaling message processing flow

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Message Routing
Message Routing function is used at each signaling point to determine the signaling link group and the signaling link to destination signaling point. The message route should be identified by the route flag and the service indicator in message signaling
unit. The routing function is fulfilled by message routing part according to the network indicator in message, DPC and SLS in route flag, as well as the routing data of relevant destination signaling point.
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Message Discrimination (MDC)
Message Discrimination (MDC) part is designed to receive the messages from Layer 2 to ascertain whether the destination of the messages is the local signaling point. If the destination is the local signaling point, the MDC part will send the messages to the Message Distribution (MDT) part. If the destination is not the local signaling point, the MDC part will send the messages to the Message Routing (MRT) part.
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Message Distribution (MDT)
Message Distribution (MDT) part is designed to allocate the messages from the MDC part to the user part and the signaling network management and test & maintenance part accordingly. 2) Signaling network management
Signaling network management is to re-construct the signaling network and to keep and recover the normal transfer ability of the signaling unit when the signaling network fails. Signaling network management includes three parts: signaling traffic management, signaling link management and signaling route management.
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Signaling Traffic Management (STM)
Signaling Traffic Management (STM) is used to transit the signaling flow from one link/route to another or multiple available links/routes when the signaling network fails. It is also used to temporarily reduce signaling traffic in case of congestion at the signaling point.
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Signaling link management
Signaling link management is used to recover or startup the signaling link in the signaling network or to exit from the signaling link, and to ensure the provision of certain pre-determined link groups. The connection between the signaling data link and the signaling terminal is normally established by the man-machine commands. Operations in the signaling system can not automatically change the above connection relationship.
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Signaling route management
Signaling route management is used to ensure the reliable exchange of signaling route availability information between signaling points so as to block or unblock signaling routes when necessary. It mainly comprises such procedures as transfer prohibited, transfer allowed, controlled transfer and restricted transfer, signaling route group test, and signaling route group congestion test. These procedures are used only when the signaling services from the originating point reach the destination through the signaling transfer point.
21.2.3 Signaling Connection & Control Part (SCCP)

The purpose of SCCP is to provide complete network layer functions with the help of MTP. According to OSI model, network layer provides connectionless services and connection-oriented services. SCCP protocols are defined in ITU-T Q.711716 Recommendations. The application of SCCP enables:
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Interconnection of signaling networks. New services and functions in mobile communications, e.g., intelligent network and intelligent management. ISDN supplementary services. Data transfer between network management centers
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In general, SCCP provides reliable services for any information exchange on the basis of MTP. SCCP not only provides network service functions, but also has certain routing functions and network management functions. The routing function of SCCP is mainly used in addressing with such information as DPC + SSN (destination signaling point code + subsystem No.) and GT (global title), etc. SCCP network management function mainly executes signaling point state and subsystem state management, active/standby subsystem switchover, state information broadcast and subsystem state testing. 1) Basic services of SCCP
SCCP services can be classified into four classes: Basic connectionless service, in-sequence delivery connectionless service, basic connection-oriented service and flow control connection-oriented service. 0 and 1 are connectionless service, while 2 and 3 are connection-oriented. Various SCCP services are introduced as follows: -Connectionless service In connectionless service, users do not establish the signaling connection before data transfer, but use the routing function of SCCP and MTP to transfer data information directly in the signaling network. This service is flexible and simple and it applies to the transfer of a small amount of data. Class-0 service does not guarantee the sequential transfer of messages. Class-1 service guarantees the sequential transfer of messages depending on the coordination of SLS (Signaling Link Selection) and MTP. Connectionless services transfer user data by adopting the Unit Data Message (UDT) and Extended Unit Data Message (XUDT). UDT messages do not have data
segmentation/concatenation capability and can transfer only a small amount of user data. XUDT messages have the segmentation/concatenation capability and can transfer up to 2 kbyte user data. -Connection-oriented service Connection-oriented services require the establishment of signaling connection (virtual connection) through the acknowledged mode between the originating point and the destination point before the transfer of signaling information. In such cases, there is no need to select routes by using the SCCP routing function when transferring data. Instead, the data is transferred through the established signaling connection. When the transfer of data is finished, the signaling connection need not be released. This class of service applies to the transfer of large volumes of data because the destination has confirmed to be able to receive data before the data is transmitted, and hence the invalid transmission of data batches can be prevented. At the same time, the pre-established connection results in no SCCP routing for the subsequent data transfer, so the transfer delay of data batches can be effectively curtailed. 2) SCCP routing control
The SCCP routing control provides a powerful address translation function, which is required for connectionless and connection-oriented service. The following specific address information can be found in SCCP:
z z z
DPC DPC + SSN or GT (or both) GT + (SSN)
DPC is the destination point code used by MTP in addressing. SSN, the subsystem number, is used to identify different SCCP users in the same node, such as ISUP, MAP, TCAP, and BSSAP. It eliminates the disadvantages of the small number of MTP message users, and the addressing range can be expanded to meet the requirements of future new services. GT (Global Title) is a dialed number, such as international and national telephone numbers, ISDN numbers, and E.214 numbers that are unique in GSM. It does not represent directly routing information in the signaling network, and can be obtained only through GT code translation. GT codes differ from DPC. DPC is meaningful only in the designated signaling network while GT is meaningful in the global range. The address range of GT is far larger than that of DPC, which enables the transfer of information unrelated to circuits between any two signaling points in the global range. The powerful addressing capability of GT is an important feature of SCCP. 3) SCCP management
SCCP management (SCMG) is to keep the network functionality by re-routing or adjusting traffic in case of network faults or congestion. This function is accomplished
by transferring SCCP management messages and primitives. The management messages adopt class-0 UDT. SCCP management includes signaling point management, subsystem management, active/standby subsystem switchover, state information broadcast, and faulty subsystem state testing.
21.2.4 BSSAP
I. Protocol overview
The BSSAP protocol, which serves as A-interface specification, describes two kinds of messages: BSSMAP and DTAP message. The former, which is responsible for traffic flow control, needs to be handled by the internal functional module of the A-interface accordingly. For the latter, the A-interface is equivalent to a transmission channel. It is transported directly to the radio channel at the BSS side while it is transported to the corresponding functional processing units at the NSS side. BSSAP protocols are defined in ETSI GSM 08.08 and ETSI GSM 04.08 specifications.
II. Typical message contents

-DTAP messages According to the functional units of the NSS that process the DTAP messages, the DTAP messages can be divided into Mobile Management (MM) messages and Call Control (CC) messages. The MM messages consist of messages related to authentication, CM service request, identification request, IMSI detach, location update, MM state, TMSI re-allocation, etc. The call control messages consist of alerting, call proceeding, connection, setup, modification, release, disconnection, notification, state query, DTMF startup messages, etc. -BSSMAP messages The BSSMAP messages can be divided into connectionless and connection-oriented messages.
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The connectionless messages consist of Block/Unblock, Handover, Resource, Reset, Paging messages, etc.
The Block/Unblock messages include Block & Block ACK messages and Unblock & Unblock ACK messages. The Circuit Group Block/Unblock messages include Circuit Group Block message, Circuit Group Block ACK message, Circuit Group Unblock and Circuit Group Unblock messages.
Handover messages include Handover Candidate Enquire and Handover Candidate Enquire Response. The resources messages include Resources Request and Resource Indication messages. The Reset messages include Reset and Reset ACK messages.
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The connection-oriented messages include Assignment, Handover, Clear and Cipher messages.
The Assignment messages include Assignment Request, Assignment Complete and Assignment Error messages. The Handover messages include Handover Request, Handover Request ACK, Handover Command, Handover Complete and Handover Error messages. The Clear messages include Clear Request and Clear Complete messages. The Cipher messages include Cipher Mode Command and Cipher Mode Complete messages.
III. BSSAP protocol functionality

The BSSAP protocol can deliver its own functions in connection-oriented mode and connectionless mode of SCCP. When MS needs to exchange service-related messages over radio resources with the network side while there is no MS-related SCCP connection between MSC and BSS, a new connection will be established. A new connection shall also be set up for external handover. There are two kinds of connection setup:
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While MS sends the Access Request message on the RACH, BSS allocates a dedicated radio resource (DCCH or TCH) to MS. After the L2 connection is set up on the SDCCH (or FACCH) where resources are allocated, BSS starts the connection setup.
When MSC decides to execute an external handover (the target BSS might be the original BSS), it must reserve a new DCCH or TCH from the target BSS. In this scenario, MSC starts the connection setup.
The BSSAP protocol implements the functional flow using the connection and connectionless messages. 1) Assign
Assign is to ensure the dedicated radio resources are allocated or re-allocated properly to the MS. The initial MS random access and immediate assignment to a DCCH is processed automatically by BSS but not controlled by MSC. 2) Block/Unblock
During circuit assignment, MSC selects an available terrestrial channel. If this channel is no longer available then BSS notifies it to MSC. The Block/Unblock procedure can carry out this function. 3) Resource Indication
Resource indication serves to notify MSC:Amount of the radio resource available for TCH in BSS;Amount of all available radio resource (i.e. able to provide service or have been specified).It is not easy to get this information from the MSC-controlled services. These must be considered when MSC decides an external handover. 4) Reset
Reset is to initialize the BSS or MSC. For instance, if BSS goes faulty or loses all the reference messages about processing, BSS sends a Reset message to MSC, which releases the affected calls, deletes the affected reference messages and sets all the circuits related to the BSS to idle. If MSC or BSS is only locally faulty, the affected parts can be cleared using the Clear procedure. 5) Handover Request
BSS may send a handover request to MSC requesting to perform handover of the MS, to which dedicated resources have been allocated, for the reasons as listed below:BSS detects a radio cause for handover;MSC starts the Handover Candidate Enquirer procedure. The MS is waiting for the handover.Due to congestion, the serving cell needs to be changed during the call setup such as directed retry. The Handover Request messages should be re-sent once in a while till one of the following situations occurs:Receive the "Handover Command" message from MSC;Reset message is received;All communications with MS will be interrupted and the processing is aborted. Processing is over, such as call clearing. 6) Handover Resource Allocation
Handover Resources Allocation enables MSC to request for resources from BSS based on the handover request. The target BSS will reserve resources and wait for an MS to access this channel. 7) Handover Procedure
This is the procedure in which MSC instructs MS to access the radio resources of another cell. When handover is carried out, the original dedicated radio resources and terrestrial resources are maintained all the time until MSC sends a Clear Command message or Reset occurs. 8) Release of Radio Resources and Terrestrial Resources
When processing is done, MSC sends a Clear Command to BSS to release radio resources. On receiving the command, BSS starts the Clear procedure at the radio
interface, then sets the configured terrestrial circuit to idle and returns a Clearing Complete message to MSC, which in turn releases the terrestrial resources of the local end. If resources need to be released by BSS, BSS will send a Clear Request to notify MSC to start the release procedure to release the terrestrial and radio resources concerning MSC and BSS. 9) Paging
The paging to MS is transported with the SCCP connectionless service through BSSMAP. If BSS receives the Paging Response message at the radio channel interface, it will establish an SCCP connection to MSC. The paging response message, which is loaded in the BSSMAP Full L3 Message, is transported on the signaling connection to MSC. 10) Flow Control Flow control can prevent the entities from receiving too much traffic. Flow control on the A-interface is implemented by controlling the traffic at the traffic source. Two levels of flow control are available. Flow control can be implemented based on subscriber classes. 11) Classmark Update Classmark Update serves to notify the class messages received from MS to the receiving entities. Generally, BSS notifies MSC after receiving the class messages from MS. It is also likely that when handover is complete, MSC sends the corresponding MS Classmark messages to the new BSS through the A-interface. 12) Cipher Mode Control The Cipher Mode Control procedure allows MSC to transport the cipher mode control messages to BSS and start the subscriber equipment and signaling cipher equipment with a correct Kc. 13) Queuing Indication This procedure is designed to notify MSC that BSS wants to delay the allocation of necessary radio resources. This procedure is valid only when the queuing function is introduced for traffic channel assignment and traffic channel handover in the BSS. 14) Load Indication Load indication serves to notify the traffic state of a cell to all the adjacent BSSs so that an overall control over the handover services in an MSC can be exercised. In a certain valid period, the traffic state of the adjacent cells will be taken into account by the adjacent BSS during handover.
21.3 A-Interface Management at BSS Side

An interface management in M900/M1800 BSC includes terrestrial channel management (or A interface circuit resource management), management of part of the radio resources, and so on.
I. A Interface Circuit Resource Management

The purpose of the terrestrial channel management between BSS and MSC is to keep the states of terrestrial circuits at both ends consistent. An idle circuit can be found when the MSC "assigns circuit" in calling and assigns terrestrial circuit during MS handover to make sure a successful call/handover. Procedures included in the interface circuit resource management are Circuit Block/Unblock, Circuit Group Block/Unblock, Unequipped Circuit, and Reset Circuit. General principles of the circuit control includes:
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The circuit management messages, except Reset Circuit, are initiated by BSC. The MSC can only block/unblock the local circuits without affecting the circuit state of the BSS. The BSS can not change the circuit state that has been changed at the local end of the MSC. For circuits blocked on the maintenance console at MSC side, the BSS has no authority to unblock or reset the circuit.
1)
Block Circuit
The process of blocking the circuit is shown in Figure 21-3.

BSC MSC
Block circuit
Block acknowledged
Figure 21-3 Process of blocking the circuit
Circuit Block procedure means the circuits corresponding to the BSS and the MSC are blocked simultaneously. This procedure can be initiated by the maintenance console of the BSC or by the allocation of circuit during call process or during handover request. This procedure can be used in Phase I and Phase II. When there is no "Block ACK" message received by BSC for a certain period of time, this message will be sent again. Even if BSC does not receive Blocking ACK, the
circuit at BSC side is still in the blocked state. When BSC is sending Block message, an alarm will generate at BSC. The Circuit Group Block procedure does not affect the circuits in service, that is, the busy circuit will not be blocked until the communication is completed. 2) Unblock the Circuit
The process of unblocking the circuit is shown in Figure 21-4.

BSC MSC
Unblock circuit
Unblock acknowledged
Figure 21-4 Process of unblocking the circuit
The purpose of Circuit Unblock is to unblock the circuit blocked by the BSC. This procedure can be originated by maintenance console or originated during equipment fault recovery. The Circuit Unblock procedure is generally started by the maintenance console and can be used by GSM Phase 2 and Phase 1. When there is no "Unblock ACK" message received by BSC for a period of time, this message will be sent again. Even if BSC does not receive the Unblock message, the circuit at BSC side is still in idle state. When BSC is sending the unblocking message, an alarm will be generated at BSC. 3) Group-unblock the Circuit
The process of blocking the circuit is shown in Figure 21-5.

BSC MSC
Group block
Group block acknowledged
The purpose of the Circuit Group Block is to block multiple A-interface circuits simultaneously. This procedure can be started by the maintenance console or by trunk equipment itself automatically. This procedure is used for Phase 2 only. When there is no "Group Block Ack" message received by BSC for a certain period of time, this message will be sent again. Even if BSC does not receive the message of Group Block ACK, the circuits at the BSC side are still in the blocked state. When BSC is sending Group Block message, an alarm will generate at BSC. The Circuit Group Block procedure does not affect the circuits in service, that is, the busy circuit will not be blocked until the communication is completed. 4) Group-unblock the circuit
The process of unblocking the circuit is shown in Figure 21-6.

BSC MSC
Group unblock circuit
Group unblock acknowledged
The purpose of the Circuit Group Unblock is to unblock multiple A-interface circuits simultaneously. This procedure can be started by the maintenance console or by trunk equipment itself automatically. This procedure is used for Phase 2 only. When there is no "Group Unblock ACK" message received by BSC for a period of time, this message will be sent again. Even if BSC does not receive the Group Unblock ACK message, the circuits at BSC side are still in the idle state. When BSC is sending the group-unblocking message, an alarm will be generated at BSC. 5) Unequipped Circuit
The Unequipped Circuit procedure is shown in Figure 21-7.

BSC MSC
Unequipped circuit
Unequipped circuit
Figure 21-7 Process of unequipped circuit
The Unequipped Circuit procedure is used by BSC or MSC to inform the peer end that the circuit does not exist and cannot be used. This procedure can be initiated during any procedures related to circuits. This procedure is used for Phase II only. The unequipped circuit will not be sent again. When BSS or MSC sends Unequipped Circuit message, alarms will be generated. 6) Reset circuit
The Reset Circuit procedure is shown in Figure 21-8.

BSC MSC
Reset circuit
Reset circuit acknowledged
Figure 21-8 The process of resetting the circuit
The purpose of Reset Circuit is to recover the system resource information of the MSC and BSC when the fault (e.g. abnormal release of SCCP) affects only a small part of the equipment. Figure 21-8 shows the Reset Circuit procedure initiated by the BSC. When the MSC receives the Reset Circuit message, it clears the possible calls on the circuit and sets the circuit to idle state. Then it returns the Reset Circuit ACK message. The Reset Circuit procedure initiated by MSC is similar to the above figure, the only difference is the direction of the messages. If a BSC does not receive Reset Circuit ACK message and time is out, Reset Circuit message will be sent repeatedly. The repetition times can be set through software. Even if the BSC does not receive the Reset Circuit ACK message, the circuit at the
BSC side is still in the idle state. When BSC is sending the resetting message, an alarm will be generated at BSC. Similar procedure is followed by MSC. The Reset Circuit can also be initiated through maintenance console to be used for maintenance and testing.
II. A-Interface Radio Resources Management

A-interface radio resource management mainly includes Resource Indication and Clear procedures. 1) Resource Indication
The Resource Indication procedure is shown in Figure 21-9. The purpose of the Resource Indication procedure is to inform MSC about the number of idle radio resources in BSS which can be used as traffic channels, as well as the total available radio resources (resources able to provide services or already assigned). The MSC may consider the relevant information when identifying the external handover.
BSC MSC
Resource indication request
Resource indication
Figure 21-9 Resource indication process at A interface
There are four types of resource indications including automatic indication, single indication, periodic indication and no indication. No indication is the default mode. In the automatic indication mode, the cell corresponding to the BSS will continuously send Resource Indication messages to MSC according to the cycle set in the Resource Indication Request message when resource of the cell satisfies the conditions. In the single indication mode, the BSS instantly return a Resource Indication message about the corresponding cell to MSC. In the periodic indication mode, the BSS continuously sends Resource Indication Request message according to the cycle set in Resource Indication Request, until it receives the new Resource Request message or Reset message. The period shall be set by the MSC, and the actual period are 100 ms multiply the original value.
In the non-indication mode, the BSS immediately returns a single Resource Indication" message without any resource information, and the procedure is finished. For each idle channel, the BSS calculate the average value of the interference level within a period. And the average result shall divide the idle channel into 5 interference sections according to the interference level. The Resource Available Information Elements includes two pieces of information for each of the five interference bands: number of available half-rate traffic channels in the interference band and number of available full-rate traffic channels in the interference band. 2) Clear process
The purpose of the Clear procedure is to release all relative terrestrial circuit resources and radio resources. This procedure includes two cases: Clear initiated by MSC and Clear initiated by BSS. The clear process originated by MSC is illustrated in Figure 21-10.
BSC MSC
Clear command
Clear complete
Figure 21-10 Clear procedure initiated by MSC
The clear process originated by BSS is illustrated in Figure 21-11.

BSC Clear request Clear command Clear complete MSC
Figure 21-11 Clear procedure initiated by BSS
III. Other A-interface Management Procedures

There are some other A-interface management procedures, which are Classmark Update, Reset, Flow Control, Queuing, Error Handling, SCCP Link Control and Load Indication. 1) Classmark update
The purpose of Classmark update is to notify MSC about the class information received from MS. This process is applied when the power Classmark of a dedicated resource occupied by MS is changed. See Figure 21-12.
BSC MSC
Classmark update
Figure 21-12 Process of Classmark update 2) Reset process
Reset procedure is to initialize the BSS or MSC in the event of failure so that all resources can be released. Reset at BSS: BSS releases all resources and sends the Reset message to the MSC, which will release all calls and connection resources and set all circuits related to BSS as idle. After guard period T2 seconds, the MSC returns the Reset ACK message to the BSS, indicating that the reset is successful. See Figure 21-13.
BSC MSC
Reset
Reset acknowledged
Figure 21-13 BSS reset process
Reset at MSC: MSC releases all resources and sends the Reset message to the BSC, which will release all calls and connection resources upon the receipt of the message. After guard period T13 seconds, a Reset ACK message is returned to the MSC, indicating that the reset is successful. See Figure 21-14.

BSC MSC
Reset
Reset acknowledged
Figure 21-14 MSC reset process 3) Flow Control Process
The purpose of Flow Control at the BSC side is, when the MSC is overloaded, the BSC can control the flows from MS. System malfunction or congestion will not be caused, and the flow of calls can be controlled within a reasonable range. When the MSC is overloaded, A-interface at the MSC side will generate the Overload message to inform the BSC to control the traffic flow. The control algorithm used is the flow control algorithm stipulated by the GSM specifications, which is executed by using the specific design developed by Huawei. That is, a dynamic sliding window is adopted, which is started in overloading, and the size of the window can be modified according to the size of the traffic so as to control the traffic. The window is invalid when the MSC is no longer overloaded. See Figure 21-15.
BSC Overload Overload Overload MSC
Figure 21-15 Flow Control Process
Note: When BSC is overloaded, BSC will send "Overload" message to MSC. MSC implements flow control. BSC side also has the corresponding flow control measure.
4)
Load Indication
Load Indication procedure informs the traffic condition of a cell to all neighboring BSS. This procedure is used to control the handovers.
After the MSC receives the Load Indication message, it forwards the information to the BSS, which contains this cell, according to the cell list attached to the message. 5) SCCP Link Control
In case of the abnormal disconnection on the SS7 link, A-interface will stop sending control messages through software. When the SS7 link recovers, A-interface continues sending control messages. Due to the long-time disconnection, A-interface shall start clearing the resources as soon as the link is recovered to prevent the hang-up of resources. 6) Error handling
As errors may occur on the transmission links, messages transferred may not be understandable. Therefore, A-interface shall omit the error messages and send selectively "confusion" messages (these messages are used in GSM Phase 2+).

21 A Interface

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21 A Interface

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Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

Huawei Technologies Proprietary i

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

Allocation function SCCP MTP Physical layer A

Allocation function SCCP MTP

Figure 21-1 A-interface signaling protocol reference model

Huawei Technologies Proprietary 21-1

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

21.2 Protocols on the A-Interface

21.2.2 Message Transfer Part (MTP)

I. Signaling data link function

II. Signaling link function

Huawei Technologies Proprietary 21-2

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

III. Signaling network function

Message allocation Message to local office Message to other SP

MTP L3 signaling message processing

MTP L2 signaling link function

Figure 21-2 Signaling message processing flow

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

Message Discrimination (MDC)

Message Distribution (MDT)

Signaling Traffic Management (STM)

Signaling link management

Signaling route management

Huawei Technologies Proprietary 21-4

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

21.2.3 Signaling Connection & Control Part (SCCP)

Huawei Technologies Proprietary 21-5

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

DPC DPC + SSN or GT (or both) GT + (SSN)

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

II. Typical message contents

Huawei Technologies Proprietary 21-7

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

III. BSSAP protocol functionality

Huawei Technologies Proprietary 21-8

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

Huawei Technologies Proprietary 21-10

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

21.3 A-Interface Management at BSS Side

I. A Interface Circuit Resource Management

The process of blocking the circuit is shown in Figure 21-3.

Figure 21-3 Process of blocking the circuit

Huawei Technologies Proprietary 21-11

Feature Description M900/M1800 Base Station Subsystem

BSS Interfaces Chapter 21 A Interface

The process of unblocking the circuit is shown in Figure 21-4.

Figure 21-4 Process of unblocking the circuit

The process of blocking the circuit is shown in Figure 21-5.