NOKIA BSS

Traffic Channels

Training Document

Document Number/Issue Copyright © Nokia Telecommunications Oy 1 (62)

NTC CTXX 0408/3.0 en Training Document
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No. of Edited by/Translator Author Approved by Previous issue

pages (2.0) approved
10-Oct-97 10-Oct-97 10-Oct-97 03-Jun-97
62/TT Miia Sjögren Helena Itkonen Stefan Flick
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. The Traffic Channels in the BSS .................................................................8

2. A Interface....................................................................................................12

3. Transcoder, TCSM2E..................................................................................15
3.1. Inband signalling between TCSM2E and TRX in the BTS....................18
4. Ater Interface...............................................................................................23

5. Base Station Controller, BSC.....................................................................28

6. The Abis Interface.......................................................................................33

7. TRU and D Channel....................................................................................36

8. The Base Transceiver Station, BTS............................................................41

9. Air Interface.................................................................................................46
10. Traffic Channels in Different Interfaces..................................................50

11. Exercises......................................................................................................55
 Ater Interface

1. THE TRAFFIC CHANNELS IN THE BSS

The traffic channels are described in the down link direction (from MSC to MS)
in different interfaces and network elements.
 Ater Interface

A B C D E F G H I

MSC BSC

ET BTS
TCSM2E
ET
ET TRU

ET MS
ET

ET
 Ater Interface

Fig. 1.1 The traffic channels in the BSS network.

The following interfaces and network elements are handled:

A) A interface

B) Transcoder

C) Ater interface

D) Base Station Controller

 Ater Interface

E) Abis interface

F) Transmission Unit

G) Base Transceiver Station

H) Air interface

I) Mobile Station
 Ater Interface

2. A INTERFACE
The A interface is based on the CCITT recommendation G.703 (electrically) and
G.704 (frame structure). The traffic channels’ baud rate in the A interface is 64
kbit/s and they are located in the time slots 1 - 15 and 17 - 31.

TS 16 in A-interface is normally used for the CCS7 signalling and its baud rate
is 64 kbit/s.
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TS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0
1 TCH
2 TCH
3 TCH
4 TCH
5 TCH
6 TCH
7 TCH
8 TCH
9 TCH
10 TCH
11 TCH
 Ater Interface

Fig. 2.1 The A interface.

 Ater Interface

3. TRANSCODER, TCSM2E
The speech signal is divided into 20 ms samples (160 2Mbit/s frames). Each
sample is taken from the MSC and passed into the Transcoder where the Digital
Signal Processor (DSP) performs the RPE-LTP coding of the sample (Regular
Pulse Excitation - Long Term Prediction). The resulting coded sample is known
as the vocoded block, which contains 260 bits for full rate traffic channels or
112 bits for half rate. Each vocoded block is inserted into a TRAU frame, which
contains a vocoded block plus synchronization bits and control bits giving a
total of 320 bits (16 kbit/s) for full rate or 160 bits (8 kbit/s) for half rate. The
 Ater Interface

frame is reassembled in the DSP in the Transceiver unit of the BTS. Each traffic
time slot has its own DSP for transcoding.
 Ater Interface

2 M b it/s fr a m e s f r o m th e T r a n s c o d e r to th e B S C ( S M 2 M )

2 0 m s s a m p le , 1 6 0 x 2 M b it/s F r a m e s
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 160 159 158 157 156 157 154 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 160 159 158 157 156 157 154
D S P fo r T S 1

2 M b it/ s F r a m e , 1 2 5 u s 2 M b it/s F r a m e , 1 2 5 u s
31 30 29 28 2 1 0 31 30 29 28 2 1 0 T R A U F ra m e
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8
D S P fo r T S 3 1 6 4 k b it/s T im e s lo t, 8 b its 6 4 k b it/s T im e s lo t, 8 b its TS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B 1 a n d B 2 u s e d fo r th e T C H B 1 a n d B 2 u s e d fo r th e T C H 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TS 1
B1 B2 1 1 1 1 1 1 B1 B2 1 1 1 1 1 1 TS 2 1 C1 C2 C7
TS 3 C 8 C 15
TS 4 1 D1 D7
TS 5 D 8 D 15
TS 6 1
TS 7 D 23 D 30
TS 8 1 D 31
TS 9 D 28
TS 10 1
TS 11 D 53
TS 12 1
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Fig. 3.1 TRAU frame structure

3.1. Inband signalling between TCSM2E and TRX in the

BTS
The bit rate after transcoding is 16 kbit/s for full rate traffic channels, which
includes 13 kbit/s of transcoded speech/data and 3 kbit/s of control data. For
half rate the bit rate is 8 kbit/s, which includes 5.6 kbit/s of speech/data and 2.4
 Ater Interface

kbit/s of control data. This control data is used for inband signalling between the
DSP in the Transcoder and the DSP in the Transceiver Unit of the BTS.

The BTS controls the transcoder with this signalling information for the
following purposes:

- shifting between speech and data

- shifting between half and full rate radio channels
- controlling rate adaptation functions for data calls
- timing down link frames for speech frames and
 Ater Interface

- transferring DTX (discontinuous transmission) information.

 Ater Interface

TCSM2E BSC
BTS
TRX
64 kb 16 kb 16 kb 16 kb
DSP1
ET ET TRU DSP 33,8 kb
2M 2 Mbit/s GSW 2 Mbit/s 13 kb
MS
DSP90
 Ater Interface

Fig. 3.2 Inband signalling between the TCSM2E and the TRX.
 Ater Interface

4. ATER INTERFACE
The A-ter interface is based on the CCITT recommendation G.703 (electrically)
and G.704 (frame structure). The traffic channels and signalling channels
coming from three different PCMs from the MSC are reallocated in the
transcoder.
 Ater Interface

MSC BSC

ET BTS
TCSM2E
ET
ET TRU
MS
ET
ET
 Ater Interface

Fig 4.1 Ater interface.

Ater Interface
 Ater Interface

Fig. 4.2 The Ater interface frame structure.

 Ater Interface

5. BASE STATION CONTROLLER, BSC

 Ater Interface

MSC BSC

ET BTS
TCSM2E
ET
ET TRU
MS
ET
ET

ET
 Ater Interface

Fig. 5.1 The Base Station Controller in GSM/DCS 1800 network.

The traffic channels in the Ater interface coming from the transcoder are
connected to the BSC Exchange Terminal, ET, and from there to the Group
Switch, GSW.

The GSW connects a traffic channel to the correct time slot which is then sent
to the ET and further on to the BTS. The GSW is controlled by the Marker and
Cellular Management Unit (MCMU).
 Ater Interface

BSC

GSW
ET BTS
TRU

MS
TCSM2E
ET
 Ater Interface

Fig. 5.2 The traffic channels in the BSC.

 Ater Interface

6. THE ABIS INTERFACE

The Abis is the interface between the BSC and the BTS. It is a 2 Mbit/s
interface which can carry up to 96 channels. The capacity of the Abis depends
on the type of signalling used between the BSC and the BTS. When using 64
kbit/s signalling, the 2 Mbit/s link capacity is 80 traffic channels. Using 16 kbit/s
signalling, the 2 Mbit/s link capacity is 96 traffic channels.
 Ater Interface

MSC BSC

ET BTS
TCSM2E
ET
ET TRU
MS
ET
ET

ET
 Ater Interface

Fig. 6.1 The Abis interface.

Fig. 6.2 The traffic and signalling channels in the Abis interface.
 Ater Interface

The Transmission Unit, TRU, provides the A-bis interface to the BSC and also
the D channel to the TRXs.

The traffic channels and signalling channels are reallocated in the TRU and
connected to the correct unit (BCFU or TRX).
 Ater Interface

Tch 1,2
Sig 25 (1,2) BBM HW Address 1
TRUA TRX 1 Logical Adds 1

A bis D1 Bus Tch 5,6

Sig 26 (1,2)
BBM HW Address 3
TRX 3 Logical Adds 3

Branching Tch 9,10

Tables Sig 27 (1,2) BBM HW Address 5

Dir1
TRX 5 Logical Adds 5

Dir2 DBus
Dir3

Sig 31 (1,2) BCFU

 Ater Interface

Fig 7.1 TRU and the D channel.

Ater Interface
 Ater Interface

Fig. 7.2 The D channel.

Ater Interface
 Ater Interface

ET
TX
ET TRU BBM AFE
RX
ET

ET
ET

ET

Base Transceiver Station

 Ater Interface

Fig. 8.1 The Base Transceiver Station.

The baseband part of the transceiver unit, TRX, is responsible for:

(in down link direction)
1. the block coding
1. the convolutional coding
1. the interleaving
 Ater Interface

1. the encryption
1. the TDMA formatting.

The Transmitter part, TX, of the TRX is responsible for:

(in down link direction)
1. GMSK modulation
1. Up conversion
1. power amplification.
 Ater Interface

The signal from the TX part is connected to the Antenna Filter Unit, AFE.

In the up link direction, the signal from the received antenna is connected first
to AFE and then to the RX part of the TRX.
 Ater Interface

The Air interface is located between the BTS and the MS.The traffic channels in
the Air interface are allocated onto a TDMA frame. The TDMA frame consists
of 8 time slots. Generally, all time slots are used for traffic channels. Time slot 0
and sometimes also time slot 1 can be used for the signalling between the BTS
(BSC, MSC) and the MS.
 Ater Interface

ET
ET
ET TRU

ET
ET

ET
 Ater Interface

Fig. 9.2 The air interface.

 Ater Interface

Fig. 9.3 The TDMA frame.

Ater Interface
 Ater Interface

BSC
T
BTS
M C
G
S S E E T A

M
S R TRX F
Air
Ater T T Abis U E
C 2 W
E
A

5
4
Ater Interface
 Ater Interface

A Interface Ater Interface Abis Interface D-Bus TDMA

1 2 3 4 5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ater Interface
 Ater Interface

3.1. Label the frame structures used within the BSS interfaces.
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1 2 3
Ater Interface
 Ater Interface

4 5 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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3.2 Specify the bitrate used in the A-interface

______________________________________________________________

3.3 List the five main functions of the transcoder

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

3.4 Name the element which is responsible for connecting the Ater- and Abis-
Interface traffic channels.

_______________________________________________________________
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3.5 Name the element within the BTS which terminates the 2 Mbit/s
connection

_______________________________________________________________

3.6. Name the element within the BTS which is responsible for the TDMA
frame
 Ater Interface

_______________________________________________________________
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DATE ISSUE AUTHOR SUMMARY OF

CHANGES
21-MAR-96 1.0 P.Lepist first release
13-FEB-97 1.1 H.Itkonen added half rate, and
exercises
03-Jun-97 2.0 S.Flick approval
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09-Oct-97 2.2 S.Flick page 10&11 failure

removed
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NTC CTXX 0651/1.0 en BSSSOM course program

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(Document number) (Name of attached document)

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