2/7/2015

LearningLTE:CircuitSwitchedFallback(CSFB)

LearningLTE

Articles, updates on LTE from 3GPP standard specifications

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TUESDAY,MARCH1,2011

CircuitSwitchedFallback(CSFB)
CS domain services are the services that can be offered today in GSMUMTS networks. Examples ofsuch
services are: voice and its supplementary services (e.g. call waiting, call forwarding), USSD, LCS, SMS, E911,
LI, and even CS DUI video, etc. This rich set of CS domain features and capabilities are the result of years
of standardization works in 3GPP and operators investments to their GSMUMTS network.

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LABELS

Attach Procedure (1)

Bearer (3)
Control Channels (2)

In EPS, richer features/services can be offered to the enduser together with voice via IMS. While this is
the case for EPS, it is challenging for some operators to launch EPS with data and voice/IMS from day one.
Hence, these operators need a migration path to allow them to start from EPS with data only and allow
the reuse of CS domain services until they get to the point where IMS voice can be added to the EPS.

CSFB (2)

Such migration path is possible with CS Fallback (CSFB) feature. CSFB is introduced in 3GPP Rel8 to allow
an UE in EPS to reuse CS domain services by defining how the UE can switch its radio from EUTRAN access
to other RAT (e.g. GERAN/UTRAN/1xRTT access) that can support CS domain services. In addition, CSFB
specification TS 23.272 also defines how the SMS is transferred to the UE natively via EPS from the MSC. It
should be noted that this type of SMS delivery mechanism is defined in CSFB specification but the UE is not
falling back to GERAN/UTRAN/1xRTT access.

EPC (1)

With CSFB, UE under EPS can enjoy the fast PS data access and can switch over to GERAN/UTRAN/1xRTT
access for CS domain services when needed. In addition, UE can also utilize the SMS feature supported by
CSFB architecture.

EUTRAN (1)
EUTRAN + 2G/3G (1)
eNB (1)
Handover (3)
Identity's (1)
IMS (1)
IMSI (1)
LTE (1)
LTE InterTechnology Mobility (2)
LTE Layer 1 (2)
LTEAdvanced (1)
MAC (1)

UE, which wants to use CSFB, must first register itself to the CS domain via EPS. For GSMUMTS CSFB
feature, UE performs a combined EPS/IMSI Attach/TAU procedure. In the EPS Attach/TAU response
message, the network indicates back to the UE whether CSFB (including SMS) is supported, SMSonly,
CSFB Not Preferred, or none of these features are supported. CSFB Not Preferred is an indication to
allow data centric devices to continue reside in EPS and to allow CSFB (including SMS) features to be used.
On the other hand, a voice centric device receiving CSFB Not Preferred or SMSonly will assume CSFB is
not supported in this network and will try to reselect to other networks (i.e. 2G or 3G) to obtain voice
services. In 1xRTT CSFB features, the UE is aware that the network supports 1xCSFB by examining the
system information broadcast information over EUTRAN access and performs the 1xCS registration to the
1xRTT MSC via the CDMA2000 signaling tunnel between the UE (via EPS) and 1xCS IWS. This 1xCS registration
request and response is transparent to the EPS.
After the UE has successfully registered itself to the CS domain (and has received positive response from
MME that CSFB is possible in GERAN/UTRAN case), it can then request the MME to perform CSFB procedures
whenever it wants to use CS domain services (e.g. originating a voice call or answer to a terminating voice
call). Besides voice call, USSD, MOLR, MTLR, NILR, and callindependent Supplementary Services
procedures (e.g. activates CFB) can also trigger CSFB procedures. In the CS terminating scenario, an active
UE has the ability to reject terminating call request while it still resides in EPS. This is particularly useful
when the enduser is watching a streaming video under EPS and does not want to answer a call from an
unknown number to avoid any streaming disruption in the streaming video due to unwanted CSFB
procedures.
For the GSMUMTS CSFB feature, EPS can perform the CSFB procedure with PS handover procedure,RRC
connection release with redirection information, or cell change order with NACC (for GERAN only). This is
based on network configuration and deployment option. For 1xRTT CSFB feature, CSFB can be done with
RRC connection release with redirection information or 1xSRVCC based signaling (known as enhanced
1xCSFB). 1xRTT CSFB UE may also have dualRx/dualTx or DualRx/SingleTx capability. DualRx/dualTx
1xRTT CSFB UE can simultaneously transmit and receive on both EPS and 1x at the same time. This allows
the UE to obtain 1x voice service from 1xRTT system while maintaining the data stream over EPS at the
same time. This is also based on network configuration and deployment option, and UE capability. Dual
Rx/SingleTx 1xRTT CSFB UE allows simplification in EPS network deployment because there is no
coordination is required between the E UTRAN and 1xRTT network (i.e. S102 is not required).

MME (2)
NAS (4)
Paging (1)
PDN Connectivity (1)
PGW (1)
Physical Layer (1)
Protocols (2)
QoS (2)
Quality Indicators (1)
Radio Access (1)
Radio Channels (2)
RRC (1)
RRM (1)
SCFDMA (2)
Security (2)
SGW (1)
SlideShare Presentations (5)
SRVCC (2)
TAU (2)
UE Capability (1)
UE POSITIONING (1)
VoLGA (1)
CELLULARTECHNOLOGYCONCEPTS

Cyclic Delay Diversity

Spatial Multiplexing
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple
Access (OFDMA)
Advantages & Disadvantages of OFDM
OFDM Basics

After the UE is redirected to GERAN/UTRAN/1xRTT access via one of the above procedures, the existing CS
setup procedure is taken over for the remaining of the call.

BLOGARCHIVE

In Rel9, IDLE mode camping mechanism is enhanced in the EPS and GPRS to allow the network toinfluence
the UEs RAT camping policy so that a CSFB UE will select GERAN/UTRAN access when it is in IDLE condition.
The intention is to minimize the occurrence of CSFB procedure from EPS to allow the UE to invoke the CS
domain services directly from GERAN/UTRAN as much as possible. On the other hand, this requires
additional intelligence in the cell reselection policy in the GERAN/UTRAN access in order to move the UE in
active state to EPS to enjoy the fast PS access when appropriate. There are also optimization
enhancements to Rel9 for speeding up the overall CSFB procedure.

2012 (8)

http://lteepc.blogspot.com/2011/03/circuitswitchedfallbackcsfb.html

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2011 (16)
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2/7/2015

LearningLTE:CircuitSwitchedFallback(CSFB)
March (2)

As indicated earlier, SMS delivery via CS Domain is also defined as part of the CSFB feature. UE can utilize
this feature after it has successfully attached itself to the CS domain. It should be noted that EPS has the
option to support only the SMS feature and not the CSFB feature which redirect the UE to another RAT. For
GERAN/UTRAN CSFB, MME can indicate this condition by having an SMSonly indicator to the UE during their
combined EPS/IMSI Attach/TAU procedure. For 1xRTT CSFB, this indication is not specified, as the 1xCS
registration procedure is transparent to the EPS. UE receiving the SMSonly indicator will not invoke the
CSFB request and should not expect any CS paging coming from EPS.

Functions of various CSFB

architectural elements
Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB)
February (4)
January (4)
2010 (18)

When interworking with a 3GPP MSC, SMS is delivered via the SGs interface. For MOSMS, UE
first establishes a NAS tunnel to transfer the SMS PDU to MME. MME then transfer these SMS PDU over
toMSC via the SGs. MTSMS works the same way by having the MME establish a NAS tunnel to UE overE
UTRAN access.
When interworking with 1xMSC, the UE establishes a CDMA2000 tunnel with the 1xCS IWS via EPS andSMS is
delivered via that tunnel. EPS is transparent to this process.
3GPP also defines the CSFB UE in voicecentric and datacentric mode of operation in TS 23.221.
Voicecentric CSFB UE will always attempt to find a RAT where voice services can be supported. In the
example of UE receiving an SMSonly or CSFB Not Preferred indication from the network during combined
EPS/IMSI attach procedure, the voicecentric UE will autonomously switch to UTRAN/GERAN access if
coverage is available so voice service is possible to this user. With a datacentric mode of operation, the
CSFB UE will not switch to UTRAN/GERAN given the same scenario with the SMSonly indication from the
network and will forgo the voice services or CS domain services altogether. This is because the data
centric mode UE wants the best possible PS access and voice is not the determining factor to move away
from EPS.

2009 (19)
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Sameer Kunal said...

Worth reading. Nice Article on CSFB. The procedure was clearly explained in simple manner for easy
understanding. If possible, Please explain PS handover, RRC release with redirection and CCO w/NACC in
more detail.
Friday, January 27, 2012

said...
Very Good Article. Thanks for your shre
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
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