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FUNCTIONAL FEATURE DESCRIPTION

GPRS in Release B6.2
This document covers the following feature: 30 00 00 GPRS

This edition differs from the previous one only for the introduction of new feature numbers for the following two features that are referenced (the old numbers being shown between parentheses): 15 27 10 (14 20 00) 30 14 30 (30 12 10) Frequency hopping (cyclic, random) Sharing between CS and GPRS channels

Contents

1. REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................. 3 2. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 6 3. ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................... 7 4. GPRS SERVICES OFFERED IN A GSM NETWORK...................................................................... 8 5. EFFICIENT USAGE OF RADIO RESOURCE .................................................................................. 9 5.1 Flexible sharing of timeslots between users .............................................................................. 9 5.2 Capacity on demand ................................................................................................................ 10 5.2.1 Reserved resources and dynamic resources ............................................................. 10 5.2.2 Reservation of resource for GPRS ............................................................................. 11 5.2.3 Reservation of resource for circuit-switched (CS) traffic ............................................ 11 5.2.4 Impact of cell load on the capacity on demand........................................................... 11 5.2.5 Impact of GPRS load on the capacity on demand...................................................... 13 5.2.6 Capacity on demand illustration.................................................................................. 13 5.3 Multislot class and allocation of multislot calls ......................................................................... 14 5.4 Dynamic allocation of radio resource ....................................................................................... 15 5.5 Initialisation of GPRS resource in a cell ................................................................................... 16
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6. GPRS RADIO INTERFACE OPTIMIZATION ................................................................................. 17 6.1 Paging co-ordination for GPRS and CS................................................................................... 17

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6.2 Support of MS of Class B and C .............................................................................................. 17

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6.3 Mobile Controlled Cell Re-selection ......................................................................................... 18 6.4 Coding Scheme Optimization................................................................................................... 18 6.5 Frequency Hopping on PDCH.................................................................................................. 19 6.6 Power Control in Open Loop.................................................................................................... 19 7. GPRS QUALITY OF SERVICE....................................................................................................... 20 8. GPRS ARCHITECTURE................................................................................................................. 21 8.1 Seamless introduction without hardware change..................................................................... 22 8.2 Sharing between CS and GPRS on A-ter/A interfaces ............................................................ 22 9. GPRS INTERWORKING ON GB INTERFACE .............................................................................. 24 9.1 Definition of Gb interface ......................................................................................................... 24 9.2 Initialisation of GPRS in a cell .................................................................................................. 24 9.3 Flow control.............................................................................................................................. 25 9.4 Blocking/unblocking ................................................................................................................. 26 9.5 Load sharing ............................................................................................................................ 26 9.6 Congestion Control over Gb Interface ..................................................................................... 27

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1. REFERENCES

GSM 04.08 version 6.2.0 GSM 04.60 version 6.2.0 GSM 05.03 version 5.3.0 GSM 08.14 version 6.0.0 GSM 08.16 version 6.1.0 GSM 08.18 version 6.2.0 GSM 08.58 version 5.3.0

Mobile Radio Interface Layer 3 Specification. GPRS MS-BSS Interface; RLC/MAC Channel Coding GPRS BSS-SGSN Interface (Gb) layer 1 GPRS BSS-SGSN Interface (Gb) Network Service GPRS BSS-SGSN Interface (Gb) BSSGP BSC-BTS interface Layer 3 Specification

ACRONYMS

A-bis A-ter AGCH BCCH BS BSC BSS BSSGP BTS BVC BVCI CCCH CIC CRC CSx DLCI DRX DSP ETSI FACCH FN FR Gb
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Telecommunication Interface between BSC and BTS Telecommunication Interface between TC/MFS and BSS Access Grant Channel Broadcast Control Channel Base Station Base Station Controller Base Station System BSS GPRS Protocol Base Transceiver Station BSSGP Virtual Connection BSSGP Virtual Connection Identifier Common Control Channel Circuit Identity Code Cyclic Redundancy Check (or code) Coding scheme x ( x=1 to 4) Data Link Connection Identifier Discontinuous Reception Digital Signal Processor European Telecommunication Standard Institute Fast Associated Control Channel Frame Number Frame Relay Telecommunication Interface between BSS and SGSN GPRS Channel Gateway GPRS Support Node General Packet Radio Service

GCH GGSN GPRS

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GPU
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GPRS Processing Unit GPRS Signalling Link Global System for Mobile communication GPRS Support Node Home Location Register Hardware International Mobile Subscriber Identity Internet Protocol International Telecommunication Union Link Access Procedure on the D Channel Logical Link Control Medium Access Control Multi-BSS Fast packet Server Mobile Station Mobile services Switching Centre Network Service Network Service Virtual Connection Network Service Virtual Connection Identifier Network Service Virtual Link Network Service Virtual Link Identifier Network Switching System Operation and Maintenance Operation and Maintenance Centre-Radio Packet Associated Control Channel Packet Access Grant Channel Packet Broadcast Control Channel Packet Common Control Channel Paging Channel Pulse Code Modulation Packet Control Unit Packet Data Channel Packet Data Protocol (such as IP or X.25) Packet Data Traffic Channel Protocol Data Unit Public Land Mobile Network Packet Notification Channel Packet Paging Channel Packet Random Access Channel Packet Timing Advance Control Channel Permanent Virtual Connection Quality Of Service Random Access Channel Radio Frequency

GSL GSM GSN HLR HW IMSI IP ITU LAPD LLC MAC MFS MS MSC NS NS-VC NS-VCI NS-VL NS-VLI NSS O&M OMC-R PACCH PAGCH PBCCH PCCCH PCH PCM PCU PDCH PDP PDTCH PDU PLMN PNCH PPCH PRACH PTCCH PVC

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QOS RACH RF

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RLC
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Radio Link Control Radio Signalling Link Reception Level Reception Quality Slow Associated Control Channel Stand Alone Dedicated Control Channel Serving GPRS Support Node Short Message Service Software Timing Advance Index Transcoder Traffic Channel Terminal Control Unit Time Division Multiple Access Temporary Flow Identifier Time Of Arrival Transcoder and Rate Adaptation Unit Transceiver Transcoder Sub Multiplexer Controller Uplink Framing Error Union Internationale des Chemins de fer Radio interface Uplink State Flag Virtual Container Identity Visitor Location register

RSL RXLEV RXQUAL SACCH SDCCH SGSN SMS SW TAI TC TCH TCU TDMA TFI TOA TRAU TRX TSC UFE UIC Um USF VCI VLR

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2. INTRODUCTION
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This document deals with the feature GPRS introduced in the BSS release B6.2. The present functional feature description is a complement of the description of the features related to GPRS : the series 30 00 00 provided within the document GSM900/GSM1800 BSS Release B6.2 Features Description. The scope of the present document is hereafter detailed : In section 3, an abstract shows the benefits brought by the feature, In section 4, the services offered by GPRS in a GSM network are highlighted, In section 5, the efficiency of radio resource handling in GPRS is demonstrated, In section 6, the optimization of the radio interface is presented, in section 7, the quality of service obtained for GPRS calls is assessed, In section 8, the possible architectures of GPRS network are presented, In section 9, the way GPRS interworks in the PLMN is shown.

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3. ABSTRACT
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Data over GSM is currently very limited : - circuit switched data rate is limited today at 9.6 kbits/s, - CS users are charged on connection time not on data transferred, - circuit switched mode is not adapted to discontinuous data transmissions for which connectionless modes are better optimized, - but today GSM connectionless mode is very limited in capacity (160 characters in SMS), These limitations make it non possible for operators to deploy extensively new data services on a wide scale for both professional and private usage : - professional services such as remote database and web access require high data rates and to be cheap, - private services such as looking for a restaurant or booking a flight also require to have high service accessibility. GPRS is the new data service defined by ETSI which answers all these needs. The Alcatel GPRS solution already complies in the considered release with the following characteristics: - it provides high throughput up to 53.6 kbs raw bit rate in the considered release and a provision to higher rates up to 160 kbits/s in the future, - it enables a pricing based on volume of data exchanged which is much more attractive for professional and private users, - it provides high service accessibility since requests are almost always served* due to the timeslot sharing principle (see section 5).

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4. GPRS SERVICES OFFERED IN A GSM NETWORK

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The GPRS allows the service subscriber to send and receive data in an end-to-end packet transfer mode, without utilizing network resources in circuit switched mode. This high capacity, low cost, flexible, packet mode service benefits the user, since it allows a charging based on data volume (the resources really used), but also benefits the network operator who may then use scarce radio resources more efficiently by sharing these resources. GPRS provides packet mode transfer of data for applications that exhibit one or more of the following characteristics : - intermittent, non-periodic (i.e. bursty) data transmissions, where the time between successive transmissions greatly exceeds the average transfer delay, - frequent transmissions of small volumes of data, for example transactions consisting of less than 500 octets of data occurring at a rate of up to several transactions per minute, - infrequent transmission of larger volumes of data, for example transactions consisting of several Kilobytes of data occurring at a rate up to several transactions per hour. The main applications targeted with GPRS are of several types : - professional : - e-mail : to read, listen, send, retrieve, - fax : send, retrieve, store, forward, - personal organizer, PC, laptop - remote access to specific database, - web access or intranet access (corporate), - fleet and traffic management, - telemetry, - private : - entertainment : access audio files on the net, - news services : sports, weather, traffic, horoscope, - location : restaurant, cinema, hotel, - events : formula 1, tennis tournament, - transportation : schedules, reservation,

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5. EFFICIENT USAGE OF RADIO RESOURCE

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The radio resource available in a cell is the most priced-value resource when considering the connection between end users through the network. Therefore Alcatel has chosen a GPRS solution that offers enhanced data services with the most efficient usage of radio resource. This efficiency is achieved by two main features : - the sharing of timeslots between several users, - the capacity on demand feature. When considering multislot solutions for data, this efficiency makes the real difference which HSCSD which is much more resource consuming.

5.1 Flexible sharing of timeslots between users

GPRS is a packet service that enables to share the bandwidth dynamically between several mobiles (feature 30 10 30). This is the case on a radio timeslot where the bandwidth can be shared between up to nine users on the downlink path and seven on the uplink path. The sharing thus enables to serve up to 16 GPRS requests with a unique timeslot. This makes GPRS differentiate from todays circuit-switched data services which require at least one timeslot per user. This increased efficiency is all the more noticeable when a lot of users can be served with low data rate applications. In the considered release, the radio blocks on each timeslot will be equally distributed among the users assigned on this channel. For example, in uplink, when coding scheme 2 is used, the minimum raw bit rate per user will be about 1.9 kbits/s (13.4/7) instead of 13.4 kbps. If the operator wishes to guarantee a higher minimum bit rate, he can define the parameter MAX_UL_TBF_SPDCH the maximum number of users that share a PDCH in the uplink direction between 1 and 7. The same parameter MAX_DL_TBF_SPDCH can be defined at OMC-R for the downlink direction between 1 and 9. For example, if MAX_UL_TBF_SPDCH is set to 5, the effective minimum raw bit rate per user on this PDCH will be increased from 1.9 kbits/s up to 2.68 kbits/s (13.4/5). When a PDCH reaches this sharing level, it is declared full and will definitely not accept a sixth shared user. To give full flexibility to the operator, Alcatel has also introduced the parameter N_TBF_PER_PDCH. This parameter defines for each PDCH the number of shared users preferred by the operator. This
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number, comprised between 1 and the above defined maximum, enables to ensure a good bit rate as long as GPRS load is normal that is to say under a predefined threshold (see section 5.2.3 impact of cell load).

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The setting of this parameter is therefore a compromise between the resource efficiency provided by
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the sharing and the quality of service. For example, if the N_TBF_PER_PDCH=2 and coding scheme 2 is used, the preferred raw bit rate per user will be 6.7 kbits/s (13.4/2). When the number of users on the PDCH reaches N_TBF_PER_PDCH, the PDCH is declared busy instead of active before and will preferably not accept a third user (see also section 5.3 allocation of multislot calls). The BSS will try as much as possible to respect this preferred value. This one can however be exceeded when GPRS load is such that all current PDCHs are busy and no more new PDCH can be allocated to GPRS in the cell according to the capacity on demand feature (see below). In this case, the sharing can be increased up to the above-defined absolute maximum MAL_XL_TBF_SPDCH value.

5.2 Capacity on demand

With the capacity on demand feature, the radio and A-bis traffic resources are dynamically allocated so that the global cell resource is dynamically shared between GPRS and CS (circuit switched) traffic. 5.2.1 Reserved resources and dynamic resources With the capacity on demand, both concepts of reserved resources and dynamic resources are compatible for the operator. The operator can statically reserve a number of PDCH whilst another number of PDCH can dynamically be allocated or deallocated according to instantaneous traffic load (see section 5.2.4 impact of GPRS load). Therefore, no static pool of radio transmission resources has to be reserved for GPRS, if the operator wants to closely match the real GPRS traffic load experienced in the cell at that time, and so minimize the overall amount of radio resources to be installed in the network. Thus, GPRS can be introduced in a network by re-using existing transmission resources, without adding necessarily TRX on the radio part nor PCM on A-bis part. The actual GPRS traffic load will be dynamically matched by allocating or deallocating PDCH after negotiation between the A935 MFS equipment which manages GPRS resources (see section 8) and the BSC which manages the CS resources. This coordination is achieved through the GSL link consisting of one or more 64k timeslots.

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5.2.2 Reservation of resource for GPRS

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In the capacity on demand feature, the BSC is the master in the negotiation. It is in charge of allocating the resource and the A935 MFS equipment must ask for allocation when it needs more resources. This means that without reservation, if the circuit load in the cell is heavy, there is no guarantee that a GPRS MS can establish a call. This is why Alcatel has given the possibility to the operator to reserve timeslots for GPRS in a cell, even if it is not mandatory, to make sure some GPRS calls will be possible at any time. The parameter MIN_PDCH_GROUP set at OMC-R defines the minimum number of PDCH permanently allocated to GPRS in a cell. If the operator does not want to reserve resource for GPRS in the cell, he will simply set the MIN_PDCH_GROUP to 0. 5.2.3 Reservation of resource for circuit-switched (CS) traffic If the operator wishes conversely to reserve permanently a certain amount of timeslots for CS, he will limit the number of timeslots able to operate in GPRS. The parameter MAX_PDCH_GROUP will define the maximum number of GPRS timeslots that can be reached in a cell. This is particularly important for small cells when a minimum capacity can thus be guaranteed for voice. For example, in a 2-TRX cell, limiting the number of GPRS TS to 4 will let all the other twelve permanently allocated to voice (included control channels) as a minimum capacity. This parameter is an absolute maximum which is not necessarily reached all the time. It will not be reached in the three following cases : - the GPRS load is low, - the GPRS load is high but all other timeslots are used for voice and therefore not available for GPRS at that time, - the GPRS load is high, a few TS are free but the cell is defined in high load state. In this case, another maximum applies (see below impact of cell load).

5.2.4 Impact of cell load on the capacity on demand In order to optimize resource, a second reservation parameter for CS can be used by the operator : MAX_PDCH_HIGH_LOAD. This parameter takes precedence over the MAX_PDCH_GROUP in the cell whenever a high load situation is experienced in the cell. It thus gives a new maximum number
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of GPRS timeslots per cell. Hence, by setting this new parameter lower than MAX_PDCH_GROUP, the operator can decide to have a higher number of TS reserved for voice in case of high cell load.

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The load supervision mechanism used in this process is the same as the one implemented by
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Alcatel for the target cell selection process of circuit-switched handovers. It basically consists in monitoring the number of timeslots left free in the cell. Thresholds under operator control are used to tune this algorithm. The cell is declared in high load situation when the overall number of timeslots still free decreases below a certain limit. When the load situation changes from normal load to high load, this new status triggers two kinds of behavior in the BSS depending on the currently allocated PDCHs : - if the current number of allocated PDCHs is less than MAX_PDCH_HIGH_LOAD, the BSS will limit subsequent allocations to keep within this limit, - if the current number of allocated PDCHs is already greater than MAX_PDCH_HIGH_LOAD, the BSS will start the soft preemption process to decrease it. The soft preemption process consists of marking the extra PDCH (above

MAX_PDCH_HIGH_LOAD) as not usable for new data transfer. The extra PDCHs will be selected by the following criteria in the following order : - they are at the edge of the activated PDCHs; indeed, PDCH are activated and deactivated preferably consecutively to form groups, - they carry the lowest number of users, - they are closest to the edge of the TRX (TS0 or TS7). The soft preemption process is illustrated below :

Example:

MIN_PDCH_GROUP = 2 MAX_PDCH_HIGH_LOAD = 3 n_allocated_pdch = 5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Legend
TCH Full PDCH Not full PDCH

These PDCHs are marked as unusable for new TBF

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5.2.5 Impact of GPRS load on the capacity on demand

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Between the two limits (MIN and MAX_PDCH_GROUP) defined statically by the operator, the exact number of really needed GPRS TS is allocated at any time. This is achieved by a permanent optimization of the allocation and deallocation process : - when GPRS load increases, new GPRS requests are served on existing active PDCHs first before starting to allocate new PDCHs (see below the dynamic allocation of radio resource section), - when GPRS load decreases, PDCHs are deallocated when no more used. PDCH are deallocated does not only mean that they are again available for data transfer. It means that they are available for CS or GPRS indifferently depending on further requests. However, two conditions must be fulfilled at the same time to have a PDCH deallocated : - no more data transfer is ongoing on the PDCH, - at least MIN_PDCH_GROUP other PDCHs are still allocated in the cell. 5.2.6 Capacity on demand illustration The following figure illustrates the various mechanisms of the capacity on demand :

Allocated PDCHs

MAX_PDCH_GROUP

Maximum number of PDCHs is reached High cell load: PDCHs are deallocated as soon as exceeding PDCHs become empty.

Maximum number of PDCHs in cell high load situation MAX_PDCH_HIGH_LOAD

MIN_PDCH_GROUP

time
Normal cell load
Cell is created
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High cell load

Normal cell load

A GPRS MS requests 4 timeslots

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5.3 Multislot class and allocation of multislot calls

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The standards defines the multislot class of a MS as its capability to transmit or receive on one or several channels, the switching time from receive to transmit and from transmit to receive, and its half-duplex or full-duplex capability. The Alcatel BSS will handle all the MS whatever their multislot class (feature 30 10 10). It will try to match as much as possible the number of consecutive timeslots corresponding to the multislot class for every request (feature 30 10 12). The theoretical maximum number of consecutive timeslots that can be allocated to a MS by the BSS in release B6.2 depends on whether the MS is half-duplex or full-duplex : - full-duplex MS will be allocated up to 5 timeslots for uplink and 5 timeslots for downlink, - half-duplex MS will be allocated up to 4 timeslots in the downlink path and 2 timeslots in the uplink path for TX. However, the Alcatel BSS offers the possibility to the operator to limit this number to the value of the parameter MAX_PDCH_PER_TBF. This may be used to prevent one multislot MS to use too many PDCHs each time it wants to transmit data, to the detriment of others. Therefore, this parameter can be seen as a leverage to control the overall number of GPRS MS transferring in a cell versus the quality of service offered. The BSS allocation process for a single slot request is performed according to the following priorities: - it tries first to allocate on an active PDCH in order to minimize the PDCHs in the cell, - If all PDCHs are busy, then it tries to allocate on a new PDCH if the maximum threshold of PDCHs in the cell is not reached, - if no new PDCH can be set up, it reduces the current bandwidth allocated to other users to serve this new request on an already busy timeslot. For a multislot request, the same principles apply. The algorithm tries as much as possible to match the multislot class requested by the MS. It finds the solution with the closest number of timeslots to the one requested and which also takes into account the following constraints : - the maximum number of PDCHs allowed per data transfer, - the number of allocated PDCH : it mustnt go beyond the maximum threshold, - the constraints on TS location due to a concurrent data transfer in the other direction, - the status of the already allocated PDCH : full timeslots cannot be allocated, - the status of free timeslots on the TRX : CCCH timeslots and TCH timeslosts currently busy

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with a CS call cannot be allocated,

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Then, if several solutions with the same number of timeslots satisfy the above criteria, it chooses the
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best one according to the following ranked priorities : - the solution minimizes the number of busy PDCHs allocated, - the solution minimizes the number of additional needed PDCH, - the new needed PDCHs are close to already allocated PDCHs and fill holes between PDCH if any, - the solution has the lowest number of established GPRS MSs. If no multislot solution can be found, the BSS handles it as for a single slot request (see above).

5.4 Dynamic allocation of radio resource

Allocation methods have been specified differently between the uplink and downlink paths in the standards. In downlink path, each RLC/MAC block contains the address of the called party : any user receives all the blocks and just takes into account the ones relevant for him. In uplink path, the standard proposes different methods of allocation (fixed, dynamic, extended dynamic). The dynamic allocation has been chosen by Alcatel to start in B6.2. With this method (feature 30 10 20), the BSS manages dynamically the radio resource allocated to MS individually on the uplink path, on a per radio block basis. The dynamic allocation is all the more important for bursty applications when several users can thus share the same resource on a time basis. In this case, the radio blocks of the PDCH are shared by the different corresponding data transfers. The radio blocks are dynamically allocated and a multiplexing algorithm ensures that the data transfers assigned on that PDCH are correctly multiplexed. The dynamic allocation on a per radio block basis means that the BSS indicates on the downlink block number N which MS should transmit on the uplink block N+1. The MS who is granted the right to transmit is denoted by means of the so-called Uplink State Flag (USF). This granularity of one block does not prevent a MS from being allocated several blocks consecutively. In this case, its USF will be simply broadcast several times consecutively on the downlink path. The number N of consecutive blocks allocated to a MS is called the fixed credit. It can be configured

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per cell and per direction (uplink/downlink) with the parameters UL_POLL_FACTOR and DL_POLL_FACTOR. The granularity of single block reveals efficient - in particular compared to the granularity of four blocks also proposed by the standards - considering that :

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- it provides a high reactivity for the sharing process : the BSS is able to increase or decrease very quickly the bandwidth allocated to a particular MS by allocating more or less blocks, - the fixed credit can be set to any value and therefore can be better tuned according to packet size, - no constraint on data transfer length in terms of blocks. The Alcatel BSS multiplexing algorithm also reveals efficient by performing a cyclic polling applied to every MS for whom data transfer blocks remain to be scheduled. Thus, on any PDCH assigned with a fixed credit of N, each assigned MS is granted N consecutive radio blocks and once the N blocks have been transmitted, the N data transfer blocks of following MS are being processed. All the data transfers are scheduled in turn in such a way. With this method, both in uplink and downlink directions, short data transfers of less than N blocks are transmitted in one shot.

5.5 Initialisation of GPRS resource in a cell

When the cell is in the status unlocked (by operator) and operational, GPRS service becomes available. This means system informations start to be broadcast and GPRS attached MS can send requests. The A935 MFS equipment asks the BSC to allocate MIN_PDCH_GROUP timeslots for GPRS in the cell. This minimum resource will be allocated in one step or progressively depending on the free timeslots available at that time. A timer can be configured to speed up this process.

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6. GPRS RADIO INTERFACE OPTIMIZATION

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6.1 Paging co-ordination for GPRS and CS

The paging coordination facilitates the paging in circuit switched (CS) mode of MS and brings the following advantages : - for the operator it reduces the signaling load on paging channels, - for the end user, it enables the class B mode of operation to a wider scale of MS. With the coordination, when the mobile is in idle mode and GPRS attached, the paging messages for incoming CS calls are broadcast only in the routing area instead of the whole location area. When the mobile is in GPRS transfer mode, the paging message is not broadcast but sent directly to the MS through the established GPRS radio connection currently in use. The area where CS paging messages are sent is therefore limited in both idle and transfer mode. As a result, it reduces the global radio interface signaling load on paging channels. In both cases, the BSS will receive the paging messages from the SGSN via the Gb interface. This is possible if the Gs interface is present between the SGSN and the MSC. In this situation, the network works in the so-called operation mode I which brings similar advantages for the location update and attach/detach functions. Also, the end-user is always in a position to be paged even when engaged in a GPRS transfer. Thus, the class B service is possible without having to monitor the paging channel which makes it available on a wide scale of MS. The end-user can then simply accept or reject the circuit-switched call.

6.2 Support of MS of Class B and C

GPRS Mobile Stations have the possibility to operate according to two modes of operation in release B6.2, named classes B and C. The MS will select one of these two modes depending on its capabilities, on its current attachment to services and on the Network Operation Mode. Class B : Supports simultaneous attach, simultaneous activation and simultaneous monitor. Simultaneous traffic is not supported. The mobile user can make and/or receive calls on either of the two services sequentially but not simultaneously. Class C : Supports only non-simultaneous attach. Alternate use only. If both services (GPRS and Circuit Switched) are supported then a Class C MS can make and/or receive calls only from either GPRS or Circuit Switched service.
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6.3 Mobile Controlled Cell Re-selection

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In the considered release, the Alcatel BSS implements the mobile controlled re-selection. This is a kind of handover which is autonomously performed by the MS. It allows the MS to change of cell with the following advantages : - it minimizes the signaling load, as the BSS does not need to collect neighbor cells information from the MS, - it allows the MS to react autonomously under changing conditions. In this mode, the BSS transmits cell reselection configuration parameters. These parameters are used by the MS in its own selection process. The MS may explicitly indicate the change of cell or change of routing area to the network.

6.4 Coding Scheme Optimization

The Alcatel BSS provides the coding schemes CS-1 and CS-2 on the GPRS radio path. The CS-1 coding scheme provides a raw bit rate of up to 9.05 kbits/s per physical channel over the radio path. It is the minimum coding scheme mandatory to provide GPRS service. The Alcatel BSS will use it in the following cases : - the BSS and MS will use it for signaling transport (e.g. mobility high level information) or for acknowledgment, - in terms of user data transfer, the BSS will rather use the CS-1 coding scheme under bad radio conditions because it is highly protected. The CS-2 coding scheme provides a raw bit rate of up to 13.4 kbits/s per radio physical channel. This higher data rate is allowed under good radio conditions due to less redundancy in relation to CS-1. Thus, even if not mandatory, it increases the overall bandwidth available on the radio path. The CS-2 implementation has been designed in compliance with the GSM TS 05.03 and is used for user data only, as recommended. Granted the advantages shown above for CS-1 on one hand and CS-2 on the other hand, the Alcatel BSS has been designed to benefit from advantages of both sides. Thus, the Alcatel BSS will select dynamically the appropriate coding scheme when it best suits, so as to maximize the global offered data throughput.
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The selection will be based on the experienced radio conditions. This is furthermore performed on a per MS basis to provide the optimum throughput to all MS.

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This coding scheme adaptation is under control of the Alcatel BSS for both uplink and downlink data
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transfers and is possible within a connection : - in downlink path, the BSS changes the coding scheme, - in uplink path, the MS changes the coding scheme after being notified by the network. The BSS will decode with the new coding scheme as soon as the MS changes. The adaptation process is controlled by the parameter EN_CS_ADAPTATION which enables or not it.

6.5 Frequency Hopping on PDCH

Frequency hopping improves the bit error rate and therefore contributes to the overall network quality. It is already provided for circuit-switched channels (see feature 15 27 10). For GPRS, frequency hopping will also be possibly used on the PDCH physical radio channels. The BSS will send the hopping law when setting up a connection. All GPRS channels of a carrier will then use the same hopping law in a synchronized scheme.

6.6 Power Control in Open Loop

The power control feature enables to decrease the level of interference in the network. It is already available in CS mode. It is also useful for GPRS in order not to deteriorate the speech quality in the network and to keep a low bit error rate for data transmission. The Alcatel BSS implements in release B6.2 the power control in open loop which applies on the uplink path where interference is mainly disturbing. The BSS will broadcast the configuration parameters necessary for the MS. When it first accesses a cell, the MS sets its output power as defined on the system information. Then, it will set its output power according to the parameters broadcast and to an evaluation of the uplink path loss.

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7. GPRS QUALITY OF SERVICE

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The following table presents an overview of the Quality of Service (QoS) defined in the standards as it is handled by the BSS in release B6.2. However, the SGSN is in charge of the main part of the QoS and the responsibility of the BSS is limited to some basic functions : QoS attributes Precedence class Delay class Reliability class QoS mechanisms implemented in BSS release B6.2 All PDUs are considered with the same precedence attribute in the BSS. The BSS rather takes into account the PDU lifetime and uses it in the PDUs queuing process. The BSS part of reliability class support consists in the support of both acknowledged and unacknowledged modes of transmission at RLC/MAC level. Peak throughput class Mean throughput class The maximum throughput is allocated to a MS depending on its multislot class. The mean throughput allocated to each MS depends on the maximum throughput it has been allocated together with the total number of other MS using the same PDCHs. QoS radio priority levels The persistence level of each radio priority level can be set by the operator, thus controlling the uplink TBFs establishment delay.

With the current status of the standards, it is not possible to implement a real uplink QoS and an access control mechanism due to the following : - the SGSN has no precise idea of the actual radio capacity available in the BSS, - the BSS has nothing at disposal to indicate to the SGSN a change in radio capacity, - the BSS does not manage the PDP contexts. Therefore, the BSS cannot guarantee a quality of service higher than Best Effort in the considered release.

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8. GPRS ARCHITECTURE
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Alcatel solution is based on an innovative approach where the key GPRS functions are split between the BTS (only software upgrade) and a new equipment named A935 MFS or Multi-BSS Fast packet Server located at the transcoder site. The Alcatel BSS GPRS solution architecture is illustrated below :

OMC-R Gb BSS BSS BTS MS BTS A bis BSC A ter PCU PCU TC A MFS

SGSN

MSC

This A935 MFS supports nearly all the GPRS specific functions of the BSS defined in the GPRS standards. This includes the Packet Control Unit function mainly in charge of the GPRS resource management and allocation (feature 30 10 00) and the Gb interface termination function mainly in charge of traffic regulation over Gb (feature 30 22 00). The A935 equipment is preferably positioned next to the transcoders and MSC. There is one A935 equipment per MSC site, typically. The operation and maintenance of the A935 equipment is integrated in the OMC-R. The resulting advantages of this architecture are the following : - No hardware modification to the well-proven EVOLIUM GPRS introduction is minimized, - As no additional board is needed in the BSC, no room is taken and therefore full BSC capacity is preserved, - Due to the centralized architecture and multi-BSS capabilities of the Alcatel A935 MFS, GPRS equipment redundancy is obtained with less hardware than in case of PCU integrated into the BSC, - it allows stepwise introduction of circuit-switched and GPRS services in a network.
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radio solution,

- No BSC site visit is required to introduce GPRS in an existing network, and the BSS outage at

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The A935 MFS is based on redundant IT platforms for control aspects and dedicated GPRS
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processing boards (known as GPU) for Gb interface termination and the PCU function. A single A935 equipment can be shared by several BSC terminated at the same site and its capacity can be incrementally increased to match GPRS traffic build-up. The standard Gb interface is supported and allows for interworking in a multi-vendor environment.

8.1 Seamless introduction without hardware change

The Alcatel approach for the implementation of GPRS in the BSS basically leads to a smooth and cost-effective introduction of GPRS based on the compatibility of the EVOLIUM solution. In particular, nearly all the existing types of Alcatel BTS are compatible with the introduction of GPRS, without any hardware upgrade required for the introduction of the GPRS radio channels. From the BTS perspective, the radio channels can be configured as TCH or PDCH. Only software upgrade is needed on the installed BTS, BSC and OMC-R. The operation and maintenance of the A935 equipment is integrated in the OMC-R. Since the initial GPRS traffic load will be low, it is not expected that additional TRX ( nor A-bis PCM) will be required to support it and so no BTS nor BSC site visit are foreseen for the initial deployment of GPRS service.

8.2 Sharing between CS and GPRS on A-ter/A interfaces

The A935 MFS equipment is generally co-located with the Transcoding equipment and with the MSC (for economical reasons). The traffic on A-ter interface between the BSC and the A935 MFS can be handled in two ways : - dedicated GPRS PCM links carrying only GPRS traffic, - PCM links with multiplexed CS and GPRS traffic. In the second case, the sharing of PCM resource between CS and GPRS traffic results in transmission cost savings. When this feature (30 14 30) is used, the number of time-slots (64kbits/s) assigned to GPRS (within the A-ter Multiplexed interface from the BSC to the A935 MFS) is statically allocated by the Operator.
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The feature is mainly interesting when GPRS traffic load is low, typically at introduction of GPRS in a
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network and when there is spare transmission capacity on the existing A-ter interface. In this case, complete physical lines dedicated to GPRS are not needed and this feature will prevent from the installation of new PCM for initial roll-out of GPRS. The sharing can also be done on A interface. The main reasons of sharing CS and GPRS resource are : - on the A-ter interface; when A935 MFS and transcoders are co-located, it is interesting to share the transmission lines between them and the remote site of BSC, - on the A interface; when both the MSC and the SGSN are remote from the A935/TC location, it is interesting to use existing links between the TC and the MSC to bring GPRS traffic to the MSC and then through the MSC backbone to the SGSN. When sharing on A-ter is used, three architectures are then possible for the Gb interface between the A935 MFS and the SGSN : - the A935 is directly connected to the SGSN (1), - the A935 is connected to the SGSN via the MSC (2), - the A935 is connected to the SGSN via the transcoder and the MSC (3). In this case, sharing on A interface is also performed. These typical architectures are illustrated below :
(3)

BSC

TC

MSC

(2)

SGSN MFS
(1)

GGSN
In all these three cases, the links between the A935 MFS and the SGSN (1) or between the MSC and the SGSN (2 and 3) can be direct point to point physical connections, or an intermediate Frame Relay network can be traversed.
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9. GPRS INTERWORKING ON GB INTERFACE

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9.1 Definition of Gb interface

The GSM standard defines the Gb interface between the BSS and the GPRS backbone network. The standard Gb interface is supported by the A935 MFS (BSS part) and the SGSN equipment (backbone part). The Gb physical interface consists in one or more 64 kbits/s channels, on one or more ITU-T G.703 or G703/G.704 physical lines at 2.048 Mbits/s. Any 64 kbits/s channel (but slot 0) of an E1 line can be used for the Gb interface. Both individual 64 kbits/s and n*64 kbits/s channels are supported by the A935, on each E1 line as mentioned in the GSM TS 08.14 and in compliance with ITU-T G704 recommendation. This Gb physical interface may bear several possible topologies : - direct point-to-point Frame Relay connections between the A935 and the SGSN, - intermediate Frame Relay network between the A935 and the SGSN. In both cases, intermediate network elements such as transcoders or MSC may be inserted when sharing is used (see feature 30 14 30 and section 8.2). The BSS and the SGSN communicate across the Gb interface by means of virtual circuits : the NSVC. The NS-VC are organized in groups pertaining to same BSS. The NS-VC are used to bear two kinds of information over Gb interface : - the PtP (point-to-point) BVC which carries all the data traffic originated from a cell, - the signaling BVC which carries all the signaling of a BSS, e.g. paging (see feature 30 16 40).

9.2 Initialisation of GPRS in a cell

At cell initialization, this means when the operator has set the cell unlocked and the cell operational status is enabled, the A935 MFS , in charge of the Gb termination function, will unblock the BVC corresponding to this cell on this interface.

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9.3 Flow control

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In order to maintain a global end-to-end quality of service, which highly depends on radio part, the SGSN and the BSS must exchange information to estimate traffic load conditions. This is the flow control mechanism addressed in GSM TS 08.18. The flow control enables to regulate the downlink traffic between the SGSN and the BSS. This is particularly important for two main reasons : - radio bandwidth is the most scarce resource - the radio bandwidth allocated for GPRS may vary in the BSS (see capacity on demand feature 30 10 40) and the SGSN not be aware of it. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the BSS to prevent from any congestion situation on the radio path that would create queue overflow or discarding of frames not transferred over the radio interface. To anticipate these congestion situations, the Alcatel BSS will regularly send to the SGSN flow control information concerning the actual radio status per MS and per BVC. With this information, the SGSN should be capable of assessing the situation and may slow down its output traffic in the SGSN to BSS direction when needed. The flow control will be applied at two levels : - first, traffic should be reduced by using the MS flow control mechanism, - second, traffic should be reduced by using the BVC flow control mechanism. The flow control has been designed in compliance with the GSM 08.18 TS.

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9.4 Blocking/unblocking
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This features designates the capability of the BSS to remove from use (block) or bring into use (unblock) virtual connections over Gb interface. It applies for both BVC and NS-VC and may be used in two ways : - either statically by O&M command, - or dynamically in case of equipment or link failure. Static definition of traffic BVC can be set from the OMC-R. The BSS will apply the definition which could provide the following modifications at network level : - setting a cell out of GPRS service by locking the administrative state of the cell, - restoring a cell into GPRS service by unlocking the administrative state of the cell. Static definition of NS-VC will also provide the facilities for the following goals : - troubleshooting (blocking), - restoring (unblocking), - parameters redefinition (blocking/unblocking), - remapping of NS-VC onto the bearer channels. This feature has been designed in compliance with the GSM TS 08.18 and 08.16.

9.5 Load sharing

.One or more NS-VC may be used between one BSS and the SGSN. The load sharing function will distribute the traffic over the unblocked NS-VC. The sharing is involved at two levels : - at data transfer uplink initialization, one of the NS-VC is selected on which an uplink bandwidth is reserved. This NS-VC will be kept during all the transfer (except unavailability), - in case of unavailability (or blocking) of one NS-VC, reconfiguration can put traffic on other NSVC. The NS-VC will be released at the end of the data transfer. The load sharing function enables a smooth traffic distribution over the Gb interface. For example, different data transfers of the same cell can be carried by different NS-VC.
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In the same time, the sharing guarantees the ordering of the blocks for a given MS to preserve the message.

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9.6 Congestion Control over Gb Interface

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According to the GSM standards, the Gb interface is based on Frame Relay in the considered release. Frame relay features the provision for congestion control mechanisms. Based on these frame relay mechanisms, an efficient congestion control has been designed between the Alcatel BSS and the SGSN on the uplink path at two levels : on each NS-VC and on the global Gb. The control on NS-VC will be based on two different indicators : - control of the queue occupation, - control of backward explicit congestion notification(BECN) information transmitted by the network. In case of control by queue occupation, two states are defined for the NS-VC : - not congested, then the CIR is strictly followed and is not exceeded, - congestion-level1, then the NS-VC shall not be allocated any new traffic if possible (see load sharing feature 30 22 30). The transfer from one state to the other is controlled by an hysteresis based on two thresholds to be more reliable. In case of control by BECN information, the frame relay network is able to ask the user to reduce its transfer rate until the frame relay network comes back to normal operation mode. The reduction will be dependent on the throughput used at that time and on the CIR information. If the flow becomes congested on the whole Gb this means on all the NS-VCs of Gb, a flow regulation will be performed by limiting the incoming traffic of some cells.

End of Document

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