CSG INDICATOR

Hi
Can you please let me know whether PLMN1 and PLMN2 can have a configuration such that in a particular tracking
area (TA), PLMN1 subscribers can use PLMN2's CSG cell (femto cell) to receive services via PLMN2 but they can
not use PLMN2's normal cell to receive same services
Thanks

I'd guess this could be possible via shared RAN (the CSG cell broadcasts both PLMN1 and PLMN2
identities), whereas using equivalent PLMN setting wouldn't work because the also normal cells of PLMN2
would be accessible by PLMN1 subscriber

The "CSG" cell in question could be configured either as a hybrid cell (A cell broadcasting a CSG indicator set to
false and a specific CSG identity. This cell is accessible as a CSG cell by UEs which are members of the CSG and as
a normal cell by all other UEs) or as a CSG cell (A cell broadcasting a CSG indicator set to true and a specific CSG
identity). However, in the latter case, somehow the the CSG membership would have to be provided for the PLMN1
subscriber(s), too. But in either case, I suppose there needs to be an agreement between PLMN1 and PLMN2
operators. Also, if connected mode mobility i.e. handovers are needed, the network configuration and interfaces need
to be coordinated/shared between the operators, which might be a bit tricky in practise.
Finally, I suppose PLMN2 operator can handle the configuration of the "CSG" cells in tracking area level, however
this should also be possible down to a cell level.
I'm not an expert of the network topics, so I hope more knowledgeable people can follow up on this.

LTE Quick Reference

CSG(Closed Subscriber Group)/OAM(Open Access Mode)

CSG is a set of user (UEs, Subscribers) which allowed for a specific cell (usually femto cell). The cell with CS
Indication set to be 'TRUE' is called CSG cell is called 'CSG Cell'.
Non CSG Cell (Ordinary Cell) allows any UE to camp on as long as the UE has proper PLMN info and the cell
barred, but CSG Cell allows only UEs belonging to a specific CSG.

You may ask how a cell declare "I am CSG cell" or "I am a Normal Cell". You can do it by using two inform
elements in System Information BlockType 1 (SIB1) as shown below.
SIB1 IE
csg-Indication

Normal Cell

CSG Cell

FALSE

TRUE

csg-Identity

Absent

Present

A Network can allocate a certain range of PCI (Physical Cell ID) to be reserved for CSG. This can be defined
There are two information elements in SIB 4, csg-PhysCellIdRange.start and csg-PhysCellIdRange.range. If
PhysCellIdRange.start = n, csg-PhysCellIdRange.range = K. The PCI is distributed between Normal Cell and
as shown below.

PCI for Normal Cell

PCI for CSG Cell

PCI for Normal Cell

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ...

n n+1 n+2 ... n+K

... 500 501 502 503

If you go into details, this is also pretty complicated concept. I will leave it up to you to find details from ot
as follows.
Fixed Mobile Convergence Forum : Member CSG cell (If this link does not work, try here)
Novel Mobile Radio Research (nomor) : LTE Home Node Bs and its enhancements in Release 9
Qualcomm : 3GPP Femtocells: Architecture and Protocols

Followings are RRC messages and information elements which are related to CSG operation. For now, I wou
you just list of RRC messages and format. I will describe later on how these messages interplay.

+-c1 ::= CHOICE [systemInformationBlockType1]

+-systemInformationBlockType1 ::= SEQUENCE [000]
+-cellAccessRelatedInfo ::= SEQUENCE [1]
| +-plmn-IdentityList ::= SEQUENCE OF SIZE(1..6) [1]
| +-trackingAreaCode ::= BIT STRING SIZE(16) [0000000000000000]
| +-cellIdentity ::= BIT STRING SIZE(28) [0000000000000000000000000000]
| +-cellBarred ::= ENUMERATED [barred]
| +-intraFreqReselection ::= ENUMERATED [allowed]
| +-csg-Indication ::= BOOLEAN [TRUE]
| +-csg-Identity ::= BIT STRING SIZE(27) [000000000000000000000000000] OPTIONAL:Ex
+-cellSelectionInfo ::= SEQUENCE [0]
+-p-Max ::= INTEGER OPTIONAL:Omit
+-freqBandIndicator ::= INTEGER (1..64) [1]
+-schedulingInfoList ::= SEQUENCE OF SIZE(1..maxSI-Message[32]) [1]
+-tdd-Config ::= SEQUENCE OPTIONAL:Omit
+-si-WindowLength ::= ENUMERATED [ms1]
+-systemInfoValueTag ::= INTEGER (0..31) [0]
+-nonCriticalExtension ::= SEQUENCE OPTIONAL:Omit
+-c1 ::= CHOICE [systemInformation]
+-systemInformation ::= SEQUENCE
+-criticalExtensions ::= CHOICE [systemInformation-r8]
+-systemInformation-r8 ::= SEQUENCE [0]
+-sib-TypeAndInfo ::= SEQUENCE OF SIZE(1..maxSIB[32]) [1]
| +- ::= CHOICE [sib4]
|
+-sib4 ::= SEQUENCE [001]
|
+-intraFreqNeighCellList ::= SEQUENCE OF OPTIONAL:Omit
|
+-intraFreqBlackCellList ::= SEQUENCE OF OPTIONAL:Omit
|
+-csg-PhysCellIdRange ::= SEQUENCE [1] OPTIONAL:Exist
|
| +-start ::= INTEGER (0..503) [0]
|
| +-range ::= ENUMERATED [n4] OPTIONAL:Exist
|
+-EXTENSION ::= SEQUENCE [0]
|
+-lateNonCriticalExtension ::= OCTET STRING OPTIONAL:Omit
+-nonCriticalExtension ::= SEQUENCE OPTIONAL:Omit
+-c1 ::= CHOICE [systemInformation]
+-systemInformation ::= SEQUENCE
+-criticalExtensions ::= CHOICE [systemInformation-r8]
+-systemInformation-r8 ::= SEQUENCE [0]
+-sib-TypeAndInfo ::= SEQUENCE OF SIZE(1..maxSIB[32]) [1]
| +- ::= CHOICE [sib9]
|
+-sib9 ::= SEQUENCE [1]
|
+-hnb-Name ::= OCTET STRING SIZE(1..48) [000....000] OPTIONAL:Exist
|
+-EXTENSION ::= SEQUENCE [0]
|
+-lateNonCriticalExtension ::= OCTET STRING OPTIONAL:Omit
+-nonCriticalExtension ::= SEQUENCE OPTIONAL:Omit

+-c1 ::= CHOICE [proximityIndication-r9]

+-proximityIndication-r9 ::= SEQUENCE
+-criticalExtensions ::= CHOICE [c1]
+-c1 ::= CHOICE [proximityIndication-r9]
+-proximityIndication-r9 ::= SEQUENCE [1]
+-type-r9 ::= ENUMERATED [entering] // entering or leaving
+-carrierFreq-r9 ::= CHOICE [eutra-r9] // eutra or utra
| +-eutra-r9 ::= INTEGER (0..maxEARFCN[65535]) [0]
+-nonCriticalExtension ::= SEQUENCE [00] OPTIONAL:Exist
+-lateNonCriticalExtension ::= OCTET STRING OPTIONAL:Omit
+-nonCriticalExtension ::= SEQUENCE OPTIONAL:Omit

+-c1 ::= CHOICE [measurementReport]

+-measurementReport ::= SEQUENCE
+-criticalExtensions ::= CHOICE [c1]
+-c1 ::= CHOICE [measurementReport-r8]
+-measurementReport-r8 ::= SEQUENCE [1]
+-measResults ::= SEQUENCE [1]
| +-measId ::= INTEGER (1..maxMeasId[32]) [1]
| +-measResultPCell ::= SEQUENCE
| | +-rsrpResult ::= INTEGER (0..97) [0]
| | +-rsrqResult ::= INTEGER (0..34) [0]
| +-measResultNeighCells ::= CHOICE [measResultListEUTRA] OPTIONAL:Exist
| | +-measResultListEUTRA ::= SEQUENCE OF SIZE(1..maxCellReport[8]) [1]
| |
+-MeasResultEUTRA ::= SEQUENCE [0]
| |
+-physCellId ::= INTEGER (0..503) [0]
| |
+-cgi-Info ::= SEQUENCE OPTIONAL:Omit
| |
+-measResult ::= SEQUENCE [00]
| |
+-rsrpResult ::= INTEGER OPTIONAL:Omit
| |
+-rsrqResult ::= INTEGER OPTIONAL:Omit
| |
+-EXTENSION ::= SEQUENCE [1]
| |
+-VERSION-BRACKETS1 ::= SEQUENCE [1] OPTIONAL:Exist
| |
+-additionalSI-Info-r9 ::= SEQUENCE [11] OPTIONAL:Exist
| |
+-csg-MemberStatus-r9 ::= ENUMERATED [member] OPTIONAL:Exist
| |
+-csg-Identity-r9 ::= BIT STRING SIZE(27)
[000000000000000000000000000] OPTIONAL:Exis
| +-EXTENSION ::= SEQUENCE [00]
|
+-VERSION-BRACKETS1 ::= SEQUENCE OPTIONAL:Omit
|
+-VERSION-BRACKETS2 ::= SEQUENCE OPTIONAL:Omit
+-nonCriticalExtension ::= SEQUENCE [11] OPTIONAL:Exist
+-lateNonCriticalExtension ::= OCTET STRING SIZE(ALIGNED) OPTIONAL:Exist
+-nonCriticalExtension ::= SEQUENCE OPTIONAL:Exist
Conformance Test Requirement
Followings are the list of test cases defined in 36.523-1 which are directly related to CSG.

6.3 Closed Subscriber Group cells

6.3.1 Inter-Frequency cell reselection/From E-UTRA RRC_IDLE non CSG cell to E-UTRA RRC_IDLE CS
6.3.2 Inter-RAT cell reselection/From GSM_Idle/GPRS Packet_Idle to E-UTRA idle CSG cell
6.3.3 Inter-RAT cell reselection/From UTRA_Idle to E-UTRA RRC_IDLE CSG cell
6.3.4 Inter-RAT cell reselection/From UTRA_PCH state to E-UTRA RRC_IDLE CSG Cell
6.3.5 Manual support for CSG ID selection
6.3.6 Ignoring CSG cells in cell selection/reselection when allowed CSG list is empty or not supporte
6.3.7 Inter-RAT Cell reselection from E-UTRA idle non-CSG cell to a UTRA CSG Cell
6.3.8 Inter-RAT CSG Cell Reselection from E-UTRA CSG cell to UTRA CSG Cell
6.3.9 Manual CSG ID selection across PLMNs

6.3.10 Intra-Frequency cell selection/From E-UTRA_Idle to E-UTRA RRC_IDLE/CSG cell on same PLM
previously visted CSG cell
6.3.11 Inter-RAT cell reselection/From UTRA_Idle to E-UTRA RRC_IDLE/CSG cell
6.3.12 Inter-RAT cell selection/From E-UTRA RRC_IDLE to UTRA_Idle/CSG cell on same PLMN as pre
visited CSG Cell