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USER DESCRIPTION 81/1553-HSC 103 12 Uen C

User Description, Assignment to Other Cell

© Ericsson Radio Systems AB 2000. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be
reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Trademarks

Contents
1 Introduction

2 Glossary
2.1 Concepts
2.2 Abbreviations and acronyms

3 Capabilities

4 Technical description
4.1 General
4.2 Algorithm
4.3 Main changes in Ericsson GSM system R8 / BSS R8.0

5 Engineering guidelines
5.1 Assignment to Better Cell
5.2 Assignment to Worse Cell

6 Parameters
6.1 Main controlling parameters
6.2 Additional parameters
6.3 Value ranges and default values

7 References

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1 Introduction
A Mobile Station (MS) in idle mode moving around in the network selects a certain cell, to which it
will normally connect in case of a call set-up. At allocation of a traffic channel it may sometimes be
better to select a different cell for various reasons. The Assignment to Other Cell feature makes it
possible to assign the mobile to another cell than the one selected by the mobile.

2 Glossary

2.1 Concepts

Assignment to In case of congestion in serving cell and better cells, worse cells can be
worse cell selected at traffic channel allocation at assignment.
Assignment to A cell ranked better than the serving cell and can be selected at traffic
better cell channel allocation at assignment.
Candidate List Locating sorts the possible handover candidates as well as serving cell into
an orded list of preference. The most suitable cell is on top.

2.2 Abbreviations and acronyms

ASSOC Assignment to Other Cell

AW Assignment to Worse cell
AWOFFSET Assignment to Worse cell OFFSET
BSC Base Station Controller
BTS Base Transceiver Station
CAND CANDidate
MSC Mobile service Switching Center
SDCCH Stand alone Dedicated Control CHannel
TA Timing Advance
TCH Traffic CHannel

3 Capabilities
The Assignment to Other Cell feature operates at call set-up, during which a traffic channel is to be
assigned. (Assignment to Other Cell = a handover from the Stand alone Dedicated Control
CHannel, SDCCH, in originating cell directly to a Traffic CHannel, TCH, in target cell.) The feature
makes it possible to select a traffic channel in another cell than the one that is currently serving the
connection. The result, in terms of the effect on the entire network, depends on the radio conditions
in the target cell. The target cell is either ranked better than the serving cell in the locating
evaluations, or worse.

Better cell
When the locating evaluations start at an early stage in the call set-up procedure, the locating
evaluations may find cells with a higher locating ranking than the serving cell. To prevent
unnecessary handovers and also to improve the general interference environment, the assignment
can be redirected to these cells. This is also called Assignment to Better Cell (see User Description,
Locating).

Worse cell
If a mobile cannot connect to the selected cell due to congestion, assignment to a cell with a lower
locating ranking than the serving cell can be recommended. The probability for a call to get a

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usable connection to the network will then increase. This is in CME 20 called Assignment to Worse
Cell (see User Description, Locating). It is also, in GSM, known as Directed Retry.

4 Technical description

4.1 General
When a call is to be established, the MS starts to signal towards the serving cell using SDCCH or a
Traffic Channel (TCH) used for signalling, in the case when Immediate Assignment on TCH is used,
see User Description, Immediate Assignment on TCH. On some occasions it might be better to
allocate a traffic channel in another cell than the one currently serving the connection. On other
occasions (e.g. congestion) this might be the only possibility to succeed with the call set-up.

The logic of the Assignment to Other Cell feature is an integrated part of the Locating algorithm
(User Description, Locating).

Note:
If the parameter FASTASSIGN is set to 1 the BSC will not wait for any measurement
results before it assigns a traffic channel. This will improve the call set-up time but
also disable Assignment to Other Cell.

4.2 Algorithm
At reception of an Assignment Request signal from the Mobile services Switching Centre (MSC), the
channel allocation function in the BSC asks for a candidate list from the Locating function. The
locating algorithm selects the cells that shall be included in the candidate list. The cells in the list
will be selected for assignment in order of priority. Better cells normally have priority over the
serving cell, while the serving cell normally has priority over worse cells, see User Description,
Locating. If another cell is selected for assignment, a handover (from SDCCH or signalling TCH in
originating cell directly to TCH in target cell) is executed instead of Channel Activation in the
serving cell.

The Assignment to Other Cell feature is turned ON/OFF by parameter ASSOC. Even if it is allowed
to apply Assignment to Other Cell, a certain neighbor might not be desired as a target cell. This is
set by the CAND parameter, which is defined for each neighbor cell relation, see section 6.

Depending on the compatibility of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS's) and the BTS configurations,
cells belonging to another BSC should or should not be included in the candidate list. The IBHOASS
parameter defined per BSC determines whether assignment to another BSC is allowed or not.

Cell parameter AW defines whether worse cells can be candidates for assignment or not. Worse
cells are included in the candidate list if AW = ON. At excessive Timing Advance (TA) urgency
condition during call set-up, it is always possible to do Assignment to Worse Cell independent of the
AW state, see User Description, Locating.

To prevent assignment to distant cells, which would cause unacceptable interference in the
network, Assignment to Worse Cell has to be restricted. Parameter AWOFFSET is a signal strength
offset parameter. It defines the maximum range of the signalstrength corridor between a congested
serving cell and its neighbor, in where the neighbor cells are eligible as candidates for Assignment
to Worse Cell. For example; The MS measures SS (serving cell) = -70, AWOFFSET = 15 allows
assignment to neighbor with SS = -85 or stronger. The use of AWOFFSET is analogous to that of
BQOFFSET described in the Locating feature (User Description, Locating).

HCS ranking is always applied to the candidates. The restrictions against choosing a worse cell ,
AWOFFSET, are only applied within the band. Se User Description, Hierarchical Cell Structures.

If Assignment to Other Cell fails to due to congestion, Locating and new allocation attempts are
inhibited for a time interval defined by TALLOC. When the timer expires, a new candidate list is
sent to the Channel Allocation function (see ).

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4.3 Main changes in Ericsson GSM system R8 / BSS R8.0

The restrictions against choosing a worse cell are only applied within the band. See User
Description, Hierarchical Cell Structures.

5 Engineering guidelines

5.1 Assignment to Better Cell

Assignment to Better Cell tends to improve speech quality. No disadvantages are associated with it.
The feature is therefore recommended to be enabled, i.e. ASSOC should be set to ON.

A short filter for measurement evaluations on the signalling channel is recommended and especially
a short ramping. This is because the filtered rxlev values for neighbor cells are suppressed until the
ramping up period is over or until the filter is filled. The type of filter should be one for which the
ramping can be specified separately from the filter, that means SSEVALSI = 6 to 9. The ramping
length must be short, SSRAMPSI = 2 (= default). For more information on filters and filter
lengths, see User Description, Locating.

Note that the parameter FASTASSIGN (Radio network parameters & Cell Design Data for Ericsson
GSM system) allows assignment to be done before a candidate list is received from Locating. With
quick call set-up, e.g. without authentication, FASTASSIGN = 1 could prevent Assignment to
Better Cell otherwise performed.

5.2 Assignment to Worse Cell

It is recommended to also enable Assignment to Worse Cell by setting AW to ON.

The recommended value for the AWOFFSET parameter is 10 dB. However it can be increased to 20
dB if there are no adjacent frequencies used in the neighbouring cells. If there is no interference (if
dedicated band is available) AWOFFSET could be set to its highest value. On the other hand a
smaller offset might be required if a tight frequency re-use plan is implemented in the area. Thus if
an average re-use of around 10 is used, AWOFFSET should be decreased to 5 and if a yet tighter
average re-use is implemented the offset should be decreased to 3.

6 Parameters

6.1 Main controlling parameters

ASSOC is a parameter that turns the feature Assignment to Other Cell on or off. The parameter is
set per BSC.

AW determines if an assignment to a worse cell is allowed from that cell. However, to allow
assignment to a worse cell, the parameter ASSOC has to be set to ON as well. The parameter is set
per cell.

IBHOASS determines whether an assignment to another BSC can be performed. The parameter is
set per BSC.

6.2 Additional parameters

MSC data

HNDSDCCHTCH controls whether an inter-MSC/intra-MSC inter-BSC handover from a SDCCH to a

TCH is allowed (= 1) or not allowed (= 0). This parameter is only defined for Ericsson MSCs. MAP
version 2 is requied as well as HNDBEFOREBANSW = 1 for inter-MSC assignments.

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HOMAPVERSION determines the primary MAP version to be used when establishing outgoing inter
-MSC handover dialogue towards non-anchor MSCs.

HNDBEFOREBANSW determines if inter-MSC handover and inter-MSC assignment before answer

from B-subscriber are allowed (=1) or not allowed (=0).

BSC data

AWOFFSET is a signal strength offset parameter. It defines the maximum range of the
signalstrength corridor between a congested serving cell and its neighbor, in where the neighbor
cells are eligible as candidates for Assignment to Worse Cell. For example; The MS measures SS
(serving cell) = -70, AWOFFSET = 15 allows assignment to neighbor with SS = -85 or stronger.
The parameter is set per neighbor cell relation.

CAND is set per neighbor cell relation and specifies if the neighbor cell shall be treated as a
possible candidate at assignment and at handover. The parameter can take the following values:

■ AWN, the cell is a possible candidate at assignment to a better or worse cell, but not at
normal handover.
■ NHN, the cell is a possible candidate at assignment to better cell and at normal handover.
■ BOTH, the cell is a possible candidate at assignment to a better or worse cell and at normal
handover.

6.3 Value ranges and default values

Table 1 Value Ranges and Default Values
Default
Parameter name Recommended value Value range Unit
value
ASSOC OFF ON ON, OFF
AW OFF ON ON, OFF
IBHOASS OFF ON ON, OFF
HNDSDCCHTCH 1 1 0, 1
HOMAPVERSION 2 2 1, 2
HNDBEFOREBANSW 1 1 0, 1
AWOFFSET 3 10 0 to 63 dB
CAND BOTH BOTH AWN, NHN, BOTH

7 References
1. User Description, Idle Mode Behavior
2. User Description, Locating
3. User Description, Hierarchical Cell Structures
4. Radio network parameters & Cell Design Data for Ericsson GSM system
5. User Description, Immediate Assignment on TCH

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