Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

Sales Feature Number: Sales Feature Name: Sales Feature Subgroup: Sales Feature Group: Feature Description: CUSTOMER BENEFITS:

10255 Directed Retry (SDCCH to TCH Handover) Call Control CALL HANDLING SUPPORT FEATURES

Directed Retry (DR) is a handover from a signalling channel (SDCCH) to a Traffic CHannel (TCH) of a neighbouring cell, which can occur for both Mobile Terminated (MTC) and Mobile Originated (MOC) calls. Directed Retry mainly aims at increasing the system capacity per area, as overloaded cells can redirect call setup attempts to neighbour cells with free capacity instead of rejecting the call. Thus Directed Retry helps to increase both airtime figures, call completion rate and service quality in urban areas. FUNCTIONALITY: Overview: Directed Retry is the process of assigning a Mobile Station to a Traffic CHannel in a cell different from the serving cell. Once a signalling connection on the SDCCH has been established between MS and the BSS, the MS sends radio measurement data of the surrounding cells on the SACCH. The BSS evaluates the reported radio measurement data and determine an appropriate cell which offers a suitable radio channel for use by the MS as specified in GSM TS 05.08.

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw

Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

Implementation in Detail: Conditions for Directed Retry Directed Retry is the transition (handover) from a SDCCH in one cell to a TCH in another cell during call setup because of unavailability of an empty TCH within the first cell. Directed Retry is a means to control the traffic distribution between cells and to avoid a call rejection because of congestion in one cell. If Queueing of ASS REQs is not supported within a BSC (as required for this implementation), Directed Retry is merely triggered by the BSC by sending a Forced HO Request message to the BTS which has to respond with a "initiated" Intercell HO Cond. Indic. message. This description assumes that the Directed Retry is never triggered by radio conditions, i.e. the EN_SDCCH_HO flag is permanently set to "disabled". The BSC is able to perform BSC controlled Directed Retries if the target cell belongs to the same BSC area (this is to reduce the signalling load at the A-interface and the load for the MSC during periods of high traffic load) and supports MSC controlled Directed Retries if the target cell lies outside the BSC area. Which sort of channel is demanded in the target cell has to be decided by the BSC depending on the cause for SDCCH use only and not on basis of the cause value in the Intercell HO Cond. Ind. message. The MSC should decide the demanded channel type in the target cell on the basis of the context stored for that SDCCH call and not only on the basis of the cause value in the ASS FAIL message or HO RQD message. Chosen solution The numbers in the following text e.g. (1), (3) etc. refer to the numbers in the figure below. The figure basically indicates which algorithms and checks are necessary in which network entity (BTS; BSC and MSC) and which messages have to be conveyed between the network entities. This figure is restricted to the case Directed Retry because of congestion without Queueing of ASS REQs. This case of Directed Retry is characterized by the fact that the BSC receives an ASSIGNMENT REQUEST from the MSC (1) and no empty TCH is available. Directed Retry (in best case) result in the assignment of a TCH in a neighbour cell (7) /(8).In the worst case it results in a "TCH assignment not possible" (9). The BTS processes the measurement reports (generation of bookkeeping list etc.) (2a) but sends Intercell HO Cond. Ind. messages to the BSC only if triggered by a Forced HO Request message received from the BSC. This can be achieved easily by setting the SDCCH-HO-flag in the BTS permanently to "disabled". Therefore Intercell HO Cond. Ind. messages received by the BSC can only be responses to Forced HO Cond. Ind. messages and require always a Directed Retry HO if related to a SDCCH and if the cause value of the Intercell HO Cond. Ind. message is "forced". It can happen that the Intercell HO Cond. Indic. message does contain only an empty target cell list (If triggered by a Forced HO Request message the BTS has to send a Intercell HO Cond. Indic. message even if no suitable neighbour cell exists - in this case the target cell list is empty!). In this case a TCH can not be assigned (13) and the BSC does not send a HO RQD message to the MSC of course but sends an ASS FAIL (cause "no radio resource available"). If a target cell lies inside the BSC area, the BSC performs a BSC controlled Directed Retry to that cell: After successful execution of the Directed Retry HO the BSC shall return an ASS COMP containing the cell identifier of the new cell. A HO PERFORMED message is not to be sent in this case because the equivalent information is already provided by the ASS COMP.

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw

Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

Please note, that for these BSC controlled Directed Retry HOs a fix time restriction exists: The ASS COMP message must arrive at the MSC before expiry of the MSC timer which guards the time between ASS REQ and ASS COMP (within the SIEMENS MSC: 27sec.!). Otherwise the MSC will release this call by sending an CLEAR CMD to the BSC. If a target cell lies outside the BSC area, the BSC sends an ASSIGNMENT FAILURE message (cause value: directed retry) to the MSC before the mandatory HO RQD message (cause value: directed retry). If the target cell list contains cells from inside and outside the BSC area and if e.g. the first and second cell is inside, the third outside and the fourth inside the BSC area then the Directed Retry attempts are carried out as BSC controlled Directed Retries to the first and second one. If these Directed Retries are not possible for any reason (e.g. no empty TCH) then the third attempt and all following attempts (independently whether the fourth and the following cells lie in- or outside the BSC area) shall be executed as MSC controlled Directed Retry. If in case of a MSC controlled HO the MS cannot access the new cell and the MSC receives a HO FAIL (cause "radio interface failure, reversion to old channel") from the old BSS, it can happen that the MSC generally releases this SDCCH connection by sending a CLEAR CMD message (cause "radio interface failure, reversion to old channel") to the BSC independently. HO algorithm/generation of the target cell list Which algorithm, decision or message generation is performed in which network entity can easily be seen in the figure below. Nevertheless in this chapter some specific details of certain procedures are given. BTS: The BTS performs the processes "Measurement averaging including power budget evaluation", "Neighbour cell book-keeping" and - if triggered by a Forced HO Req. "Generation of preferred target cell list" only. The BTS has to send the Intercell HO Cond. Indic. messages toward the BSC. Please note that the sending of an Intercell HO Cond. Indic. message for a SDCCH may only be triggered by a BTS external event: The BSC sends a Forced HO Request because of "no TCH available". An Intercell HO Cond. Ind. message triggered by a Forced HO Req. message is sent immediately but eariest after having received two adjacent cell measurements and latest after 8 SACCH multiframes after Channel Activation. In case of no handover condition because of radio criteria have been detected and a Forced HO request message has been received, all neighbour cells that satisfy the condition (average of received level of neighbour cell n) rxlev_ncell[n] > rxLevMinCell + FhoRxLevMinOffset will be send within the target cell list. The list will be ordered in decreasing priority values. Even if no suitable neighbour cell exists, the BTS shall send an Intercell HO Cond. Indic. message. In this case the target cell list ("Cell Identif. List Pref. IE") is empty! The cause of the Intercell HO Cond. Indic. message shall be FORCED.

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw

Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

FHO_RXLEV_MIN_OFFSET is a cell specific O&M-parameter to select only target cells for forced HO which the MS can access without any problems. It is a result of radio planning for each individual cell. It allows to influence the amount of Forced HOs failed because of empty target cell list, the amount of HO attempts back to the "old" cell and the success rate of HO ACCESSes to the target cell. A proper default value of FHO_RXLEV_MIN_OFFSET could be 6dB. BSC: As shown in the figure below, the HO algorithm and the generation of the target cell list does not affect the BSC. The BSC is in charge of triggering the Forced HOs, of checking the received Intercell HO Cond. Indic. messages and of performing the required kind of intra- and inter-BSC-HO. Prevention of "back-HOs" Please note: The described method of prevention of "back-HOs" works only reliable if the MSC always includes the cause IE with cause value of the HO RQD message into the HO REQ message if the cause value in the HO RQD message is "Directed Retry" and if the target BSS supports the same procedure described in the following or a similar one. A major general problem of forced HO (Directed Retry is one sort of forced HO!) is the probability of HO due to PBGT back to the "old" (congested) cell. Its drawbacks are: 1. increased load at the Abis-interface because of periodic sending of Intercell HO Cond. Indic. messages in intervalls of T7 2. increased load at the A-interface in case of inter-BSC-HO because of the same reason 3. additional processor capacity in BSC (and MSC) is required for HO trials BTS: For the Channel Activation message a new optional information element "Cell Identifier List (no target)" is defined. This information element contains the cell identifier (CI) of a cell from which a handover request (intra- or inter-BSC) because of forced HO was received. If this information element exists in the Channel Activation message, the BTS shall not trigger a (TCH-) HO due to PBGT for the time TFho if the PBGT condition is fulfilled for the indicated cell only and shall not include the indicated cell identifier(s) in the target cell list in this case for the time TFho (i.e. for the condition HO due QUAL/LEV/DIST the indicated cell identifier may be part of the target cell list): in case of an alarm criteria occurs during running timer these cells will not be sent within the target cell list. TFho is a timer that limits the mentioned prohibitions. It has to be set by O&M command. Its value range shall be 10 to 3200 seconds in steps of 10sec. BSC: If a HO is necessary the target BSC has to generate the Channel Activation message. The target BSC inserts the Cell Identifier List (no target) IE into this message in case of intra BSC HO if the Intercell HO Cond. Indic. message contains the cause "FORCED" (i.e. if the Intercell HO Cond. Indic. belongs to a former Forced HO Request) - in this case the BSC derives the cell identifier for the Cell Identifier List (no target) IE from the stored context or in case of inter BSC HO if the HO REQ message from the MSC contains the cause "Directed Retry" - in this case the target BSC shall derive the cell identifier for the Cell Identifier List (no target) IE from the mandatory Cell Identifier (serving) IE of the HO REQ message. Impacts on the BSC if the MSC does not support Directed Retry

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw

Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

If the MSC does not support Directed Retry HOs the BSC may perform BSC controlled Directed Retries (approximately 75% of all Directed Retries) only. In this case the EN_INTER_SDCCH_HO flag in the BSC is set to "disabled" and the BSC has to check the target cell list of Intercell HO Cond. Indic. messages belonging to a SDCCH connection. All cell identifiers not belonging to the BSC area are skipped and if there remain cell identifiers belonging to the BSC area the corresponding HO shall be performed to strongest (if impossible to the second strongest, third strongest etc.) remaining cell. If the target cell list does not contain a remaining or any cell identifier of the same BSC area, this Intercell HO Cond. Indic. message is discarded and the BSC releases this SDCCH connection (Sending of an ASS FAIL with cause "no radio resource available").

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw

Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

Flow Diagramm Directed Retry:

fig.1: only Directed retry - simplified version of old fig.1 of FRS0528 v.0.7
Installation: by software download

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw

Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

Parameters: Name
FHO_RXLEV_MIN_OFFSET

Related Related Message Object

adjacentC ellHandov er

Default Value Range

6 0 ... 24

Steps
1

Unit
dB

TIMER_FORCED_HO (TFho) EN_FORCED_HO EN_SDCCH_HO handover Recogniti on

120 diabled 1

10 ... 3200 enable, disable enable, disable

10 -

sec -

EN_INTER_SDCCH_HO W_ZZZ_HO A_ZZZ_HO

? 1 (fix) 9

enable, disable ?

FHO_RXLEV_MIN_OFFSET ("RXLEV_MIN offset for forced-handover") is a cell specific O&M-parameter used within the BTS to select only target cells for forced HO which the MS can access without any problems. It is a result of radio planning for each individual cell. It allows to influence the amount of Forced HOs failed because of empty target cell list, the amount of HO attempts back to the "old" cell and the success rate of HO ACCESSes to the target cell. Tfho (TIMER_FORCED_HO) TFho (bho=back handover) is a network wide O&M parameter. It is the value of a timer running in the BTS that controls the duration how long a former serving cell from which forced HO was performed to the new serving cell may not be considered in the HO decision algorithm of the new seving cell and may not be contained in the target cell list. It is started at the reception of a Channel Activation message containing a Cell Identifier (no target) IE. EN_FORCED_HO: enable sending of Forced HO Requests This BSC specific O&M flag allows to enable/disable the sending of Forced HO Request messages for running SDCCH connections (e.g. queued or not queued ASS REQs which do not find an empty TCH). It is used to enable/disable Directed Retry. This flag should be set to "disable" by an operator if in a network the MSC which the BSS is connected to or other adjacent BSSs do not support the prevention of "back-HO". EN_SDCCH_HO: enable SDCCH-HO due to radio conditions This BTS specific O&M flag allows to enable/disable the sending of Intercell HO Cond. Ind. messages for SDCCHs because of radio reasons by the BTS. But it shall not impact(disable) the measurement processing and averaging, the neighbour cell book-keeping and the generation of target cell lists induced by Forced HO Req. messages within the BTS. I.e. if this flag is set to "disable" and the BTS receives a Forced HO Request for a SDCCH the BTS shall return an Intercell HO Cond.Ind. message with cause "FORCED" and a target cell list according to the results of the measurement processing for that SDCCH. Note: In BR 3.0 this flag shall be permanently set to "disabled" within the database.

permanently set to disabled in BR3.0

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

EN_INTER_SDCCH_HO: enable inter BSC SDCCH-HO This BSC specific O&M flag allows to enable/disable inter BSC SDCCH-HOs (i.e. SDCCH-SDCCH-HO and Directed Retry). It simply prevents the sending of HO RQD messages for SDCCH connections to the MSC. If it is set to "disable" the BSC shall skip all cell identifiers of the target cell list of the Intercell HO Cond. Ind. message which belong to another BSC area. The flag should be set to "disable" by an operator (or better only by the staff installing the network) if the MSC does not support Directed Retry. W_ZZZ_HO These parameters already exist for the TCH HO. Concerning TCH HO they have to be splitted into W_ZZZ_HO (TCH/F and TCH/H) and W_ZZZ_HO (SDCCH). Due to the lower statistical reliability of SDCCH measurements (base on 12 bursts per double multiframe; TCH/F on 100bursts) the weighting factor W_ZZZ_HO(SDCCH, TCH sub) is not configurable by O&Mcommand and set to 1. A_ZZZ_HO The value A_ZZZ_HO is adjustable by O&M. A_ZZZ_HO is not splitted in different parameters for TCH/F, TCH/H and SDCCH. Related Abis Messages: Name Meaning From To BTS

Forced_HO_Request Triggers the transmission of an Intracell HO Condition BSC Indication message or an Intercell HO Condition Indication message. Channel_Activation Forced HO Request SIEMENS propriatary Abis message Activates a channel BSC

BTS

This message is set from BSC to BTS to trigger the transmission of an Intracell HO Condition Indication message or an Intercell HO Condition Indication message. Information Element Message discriminator Message type Channel number GSM 08.08 cause Reference 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3.1 3.3.3.35 Presence M M M M Format V V TV TLV Length 1 1 2 3-4

note: Cause "FORCED" triggers Intercell HO Condition Indication messages only. Message discriminator: non-transparent Dedicated Channel Management Messages Bit-coding: G7 G6 G5 0 0 0 Message type: Forced HO Request G4 0 G3 1 G2 0 G1 0 T-bit 0

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw

Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

GSM 08.08 cause: A new cause value "FORCED" (not specified in GSM 08.08) is needed. proposed bit coding: bit Class 7 6 0 0 5 1 Value 4 3 1 0 2 0 1 0

The proposed cause value is in GSM 08.08 the first one that is "Reserved for national use" (i.e. "...may be used by operators without the need of international standardisation"). This cause value "FORCED" may never be used at the A-interface! Handover Condition Indication A Forced HO Request message to a SDCCH/TCH will be answered by one Handover Condition Indication message with cause "FORCED" independent of the SDCCH handover has been disabled by means of the enableSdcchHO flag or the TCH handover has been disabled by means of the enableIntercellHO flag. In case of the timer 7 is running the Forced Handover Request message will not be answered before it is expired. In case of the upper number of target cells that have to be sent is set to zero (NCell = 0) the Information Element "Cell Identifier List" will not be sent at all (A-Specification). Channel Activation (BSC - BTS) Information Element Message Discriminator Message Type Channel Number Activation Type Channel Mode Channel Identification Encryption Information Handover Reference BS Power MS Power Timing Advance Physical Context Cell Identifier List Pref.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Reference 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3.1 3.3.3.3 3.3.3.6 3.3.3.5 3.3.3.7 3.3.3.9 3.3.3.4 3.3.3.13 3.3.3.24 3.3.3.16 3.3.3.34

Presence M M M M M O 6) O 1) C 2) O 3)7) O 3)7) C 3)4) O 5) O 8)

Format V V TV TV TLV TLV TLV TV TV TV TV TLV TLV

Length 1 1 2 2 6-9 8 >=3 2 2 2 2 >=2 >=5

The Encryption Information element is only included if ciphering is to be applied. The Handover Reference element is only included if activation type is handover. If BS Power, MS Power and/or Timing Advance elements are present, they are to be used to set the initial transmission power and the initial L1header. The Timing Advance element must be included if activation type is intracell channel change. Optional element for additional physical channel information. For BR 2.1 this element is not analyzed by the BTS. Included if compatibility with phase 1 is required. For BR 2.1 this element is not analyzed by the BTS. The MS Power and BS Power elements should be present if an intracell channel change from an SDCCH to a TCH or from a TCH to a TCH takes place (activation type normal assignment). If they are missing the BTS uses the maximum MS Power and BS Power levels permitted. This information element contains the cell identifier (CI) of a cell from which a handover request (intra- or inter-BSC) because of forced HO (e.g. Directed Retry, O&M intervention, Preemption etc.) was received. If this information element is included in the Channel Activation message, the BTS shall not trigger a HO due to PBGT for the time TFho if the PBGT condition is fulfilled for the indicated cell only and shall not include the indicated cell identifier in the target cell list in this case for the time TFho (i.e. in case of HO due QUAL/LEV/DIST the indicated cell identifier may be part of the target cell list).

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw

Mobile Radio Networks

Sales Feature Description

The Cell Identifier List Pref. (no target) IE is coded as specified in GSM 08.08 sect. 3.2.2.27 "Cell Identifier List". Message flow (intra-BSC HO):
BTS Intercell HO Cond. Indic. -----------------------> cause FORCED BSC Channel Activ. ------------------------> contains: Cell Identif. (no target) BTS

Message flow (inter-BSC HO):

BTS serving BSC MSC BSC target BTS Intercell HO Channel Cond. Indic. HO RQD HO REQ Activ. ------------> ------------> ------------> ------------> no Cell Id. Cell Id.(serv.) Cell Id.(no cause FORCED cause cause target) Dir. retry Dir. retry

RESTRICTIONS: This feature does not include a SDCCH to SDCCH handover. No specific interworking foreseen with Queuing. The MSC controlled Directed Retry depends on the MSC capabilities (refer to SSS feature list for information on the delivery schedule) REFERENCES: 03.09 04.08 08.08, 08.58

File: L50026-B-F37 Directed retry SDCCH to TCH.doc

Author: BrandSource: Menzel, Koye, Grtner, Sachsenw