T100 RADIOLINK-TIMEOUT

Detects the presence of the radio link by detecting SACCH frames every 480 ms. Used for re-transmission on the data link. The value varies depending on the message type. T200 is a timer of

4 SACCH multiframes. That is 1.92 seconds if the SACCH is completely absent.

T200 Data link timer

acknowledgement transmission from BTS to MS through LAPD. When BTS transmits a acknowledgement message to MS, T200 times is started in LAPD. If this acknowledgement message is not received by MS until T200 timer is expired then the transmission will be repeated (retransmission).The maximum retransmission is N200+1 times. T200 will be restarted in each retransmission. So, N200 is the maximum number of 155 ms for FACCH retransmission of LAPD (Layer-2). If until N200+1 times of retransmission the acknowledgement message, MS still doesnt receive this message, then the connection will be dropped.

This problem is may be caused by hardware problem, bad condition of Radio, or imbalance link (UL and DL).
T301 Alerting (ringing) timer T303 Mobility Management connection timer T305 Release timer T306 In-band tones release timer T308 Release timer Timer used to limit the amount of time a user has to answer a call. Time the network waits after sending a CM SERVICE REQUEST until receiving a response. This occurs before initiating call clearing procedures towards the MS. Time the network waits after transmitting a DISCONNECT message until receiving a RELEASE message. Time the network waits after transmitting a DISCONNECT message while in-band tones/announcements are provided, until receiving a RELEASE message. Time the network waits after sending a RELEASE message until receiving a RELEASE COMPLETE message. This occurs before re-transmitting the RELEASE or releasing the Mobility Management connection. Time the network waits after receiving a CALL CONFIRMED message until receiving a ALERTING, CONNECT, or DISCONNECT message before initiating clearing procedures towards the MS. Time the network waits after transmitting a CONNECT message until receiving the CONNECT ACKNOWLEDGE message before performing clearing procedures with the MS. Time the network waits after sending a MODIFY message during call mode changes, until receiving a MODIFY 20 seconds 10 seconds 10 seconds 10 seconds

10 seconds

T310 Call proceeding timer T313 Connect acknowledge timer T323 Modify complete timer

10 seconds

10 seconds

10 seconds

COMPLETE or MODIFY REJECT message before initiating call clearing procedures. T3101 Immediate assignment timer Time the network waits after sending the IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT or IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT EXTENDED message until the main signalling link is established before releasing the newly allocated channels. Time the network waits after transmitting a HANDOVER COMMAND message until receiving HANDOVER COMPLETE or HANDOVER FAILURE or the MS re-establishes the call before the old channels are released. If the timer expires and the network has not received a correctly decoded L2 (format A or B) or TCH frame, then the newly allocated channels are released. Time the network waits after sending the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message until receiving a correctly decoded L2 (format A or B) or TCH frame. This occur before retransmitting the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message or releasing the newly allocated channels. Time the network waits after transmitting an ASSIGNMENT COMMAND message until receiving the ASSESSMENT FAILURE message or the MS re-establishes the call before releasing the old and the new channels. Time the network waits after sending the CHANNEL RELEASE message before disconnecting the signalling link. Time the network waits after disconnecting the signalling link before deactivating the channel. Time the network waits after transmitting the PAGING REQUEST message until receiving the PAGING RESPONSE message. This occurs before re-transmitting the PAGING REQUEST (if the maximum number of re-transmissions have not been exceeded). The location update timer is set to zero, periodic location update by the MS are disabled. If the MS camps to the BCH and decodes a new MCC or MNC from the one it last camped on, it should perform a location update.

1 second

T3103 Handover timer

2 seconds

T3105 Physical information repetition timer

50 ms

T3107 Channel assignment timer T3109 Signaling disconnection timer T3111 Channel deactivation after disconnection timer T3113 Paging timer

3 seconds

5 seconds

500 ms

5 seconds

T3212 Location update timer

zero = infinite time

Time the network waits after sending the TMSI REALLOCATION COMMAND until receiving TMSI T3250 TMSI reallocation timer REALLOCATION COMPLETE. This occurs before aborting the procedure and releasing the Radio Resource connection. T3260 Authentication response timer T3101 (Default 3s) When: immediate assignment process Time the network waits after an AUTHENTICATION REQUEST until receiving AUTHENTICATION RESPONSE. This occurs before aborting the procedure and releasing the Radio Resource connection.

5 seconds

5 seconds

Timer T3101 is used to set the interval between the start time when an IMM ASS message is sent by BSC and the stop time when an EST IND message is reported to BSC. BSC releases the seized SDCCH if no EST IND message is received within the time specified by timer T3101. Normal flow MS RACH BSC MS IMM ASS BSC (start counting the timer) MS EST IND BSC (stop the timer)

T3101 - Huawei description

Abnormal flow 1). MS RACH BSC MS X IMM ASS BSC (start counting the timer) In this case IMM ASS message is not received by the MS. Then BSC will release the seized SDCCH after waiting the time specified by timer T3101. 2). MS RACH BSC MS IMM ASS BSC (start counting the timer) MS X EST IND X BSC In this case, ESTIND message is not sent by the MS after receiving IMM ASS message. The BSC will release seized SDCCH channel as above case. 3). MS RACH BSC MS IMM ASS BSC (start counting the timer) MS EST IND X BSC

In this case ESTIND message is sent by MS. But BSC does not receive ESTIND message. The seized SDCCH channel will release as above cases. Timers on the network side T3101: This timer is started when a channel is allocated with an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT message. It is stopped when the MS has correctly seized the channels. Its value is network dependent. NOTE: It could be higher than the maximum time for a L2 establishment attempt. T3103: This timer is started by the sending of a HANDOVER message and is normally stopped when the MS has correctly seized the new channel. Its purpose is to keep the old channels sufficiently long for the MS to be able to return to the old channels, and to release the channels if the MS is lost. Its value is network dependent. NOTE: It could be higher than the maximum transmission time of the HANDOVER COMMAND, plus the value of T3124, plus the maximum duration of an attempt to establish a data link in multiframe mode.) T3105: This timer is used for the repetition of the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message during the handover procedure. Its value is network dependent. NOTE: This timer may be set to such a low value that the message is in fact continuously transmitted. T3107: This timer is started by the sending of an ASSIGNMENT COMMAND message and is normally stopped when the MS has correctly seized the new channels. Its purpose is to keep the old channel sufficiently long for the MS to be able to return to the old channels, and to release the channels if the MS is lost. Its value is network dependent. NOTE: It could be higher than the maximum transmission time of the ASSIGNMENT COMMAND message plus twice the maximum duration of an attempt to establish a data link multiframe mode. T3109: This timer is started when a lower layer failure is detected by the network, when it is not engaged in a RF procedure. It is also used in the channel release procedure. Its purpose is to release the channels in case of loss of communication. Its value is network dependent. NOTE: Its value should be large enough to ensure that the MS detects a radio link failure. T3111: This timer is used to delay the channel deactivation after disconnection of the main signalling link. Its purpose is to let some time for possible repetition of the disconnection. Its value is equal to the value of T3110. T3113: This timer is started when the network has sent a PAGING REQUEST message and is stopped when the network has received the PAGING RESPONSE message. Its value is network dependent. NOTE: The value could allow for repetitions of the Channel Request message and the requirements associated with T3101. T3115: This timer is used for the repetition of the VGCS UPLINK GRANT message during the uplink access procedure. Its value is network dependent. NOTE: This timer may be set to such a low value that the message is in fact continuously transmitted. T3117: This timer is started by the sending of a PDCH ASSIGNMENT COMMAND message and is normally stopped when the MS has correctly accessed the target TBF. Its purpose is to keep the old channel sufficiently long for the MS to be able to return to the old channels, and to release the channels if the MS is lost. Its value is network dependent. NOTE: It could be higher than the maximum transmission time of the PDCH ASSIGNMENT COMMAND message plus T3132 plus the maximum duration of an

attempt to establish a data link in multiframe mode. T3119: This timer is started by the sending of a RR-CELL CHANGE ORDER message and is normally stopped when the MS has correctly accessed the new cell. Its purpose is to keep the old channels sufficiently long for the MS to be able to return to the old channels, and to release the channels if the MS is lost. Its value is network dependent. NOTE: It could be higher than the maximum transmission time of the RR_CELL CHANGE ORDER, plus T3134, plus the maximum duration of an attempt to establish a data link in multiframe mode. T3141: This timer is started when a temporary block flow is allocated with an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT message during a packet access procedure. It is stopped when the mobile station has correctly seized the temporary block flow. Its value is network dependent.

Timers on the Mobile Station Side

T3122: This timer is used during random access, after the receipt of an IMMEDIATE ASSIGN REJECT message. Its value is given by the network in the IMMEDIATE ASSIGN REJECT message. T3124: This timer is used in the seizure procedure during a hand-over, when the two cells are not synchronized. Its purpose is to detect the lack of answer from the network to the special signal. Its value is set to 675 ms if the channel type of the channel allocated in the HANDOVER COMMAND is an SDCCH (+ SACCH); otherwise its value is set to 320 ms.

The timer T3124 is located in the MS. T3124 is started when the MS sends the rst HND_ACC to the new BSS; it is stopped when the MS receives a PHYS_INFO from the new BSS. If T3124 times out, the MS tries to switch back to the old BSS, sends a HND_FAI message, and resumes normal operation as if no handover has happened. This is of course only possible if the old radio link is good enough for communication; otherwise the call is lost.
T3126:This timer is started either after sending the maximum allowed number of CHANNEL REQUEST messages during an immediate assignment procedure , Or on receipt of an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT REJECT message, whichever occurs first. It is stopped at receipt of an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT message, or an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT EXTENDED message. At its expiry, the immediate assignment procedure is aborted. The minimum value of this timer is equal to the time taken by T+2S slots of the mobile station's RACH. S and T. The maximum value of this timer is 5 seconds. T3128: This timer is started when the mobile station starts the uplink investigation procedure and the uplink is busy. It is stopped at receipt of the first UPLINK FREE message. At its expiry, the uplink investigation procedure is aborted. The value of this timer is set to 1 second. T3130: This timer is started after sending the first UPLINK ACCESS message during a VGCS uplink access procedure. It is stopped at receipt of a VGCS ACCESS GRANT message. At its expiry, the uplink access procedure is aborted. The value of this timer is set to 5 seconds. T3110: This timer is used to delay the channel deactivation after the receipt of a (full) CHANNEL RELEASE. Its purpose is to let some time for disconnection of the main signaling link. Its value is set to such that the DISC frame is sent twice in case of no answer from the network. (It should be chosen to obtain a good probability of normal termination (i.e. no time out of T3109) of the channel release procedure.)

T3134: This timer is used in the seizure procedure during an RR network commanded cell change order procedure. Its purpose is to detect the lack of answer from the network or the lack of availability of the target cell. Its value is set to 5 seconds. T3142: The timer is used during packet access on CCCH, after the receipt of an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT REJECT message. Its value is given by the network in the IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT REJECT message. T3146:This timer is started either after sending the maximum allowed number of CHANNEL REQUEST messages during a packet access procedure. Or on receipt of an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT REJECT message during a packet access procedure, whichever occurs first. It is stopped at receipt of an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT message, or an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT EXTENDED message. At its expiry, the packet access procedure is aborted. The minimum value of this timer is equal to the time taken by T+2S slots of the mobile station's RACH. S and T are defined in section 3.3.1.2. The maximum value of this timer is 5 seconds. T3164: This timer is used during packet access using CCCH. It is started at the receipt of an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT message. It is stopped at the transmission of a RLC/MAC block on the assigned temporary block flow, see GSM 04.60. At expire, the mobile station returns to the packet idle mode. The value of the timer is 5 seconds. T3190: The timer is used during packet downlink assignment on CCCH. It is started at the receipt of an IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT message or of an PDCH ASSIGNMENT COMMAND message when in dedicated mode.It is stopped at the receipt of a RLC/MAC block on the assigned temporary block flow, see GSM 04.60. At expiry, the mobile station returns to the packet idle mode. The value of the timer is 5 seconds. 1.10 Immediate Assignment Procedure The purpose of immediate assignment is to establish a radio connection (RR connection) between MS and system at Um interface. 1.10.1 Network Access License and Random Access Request The request of MS for channel assignment is controlled by its own access level and the access grant level broadcast in cell. Each MS has one access level of the ten levels from 0 to 9. In addition, it may also have one or several levels of the five special access levels from l1 to 15. Access level is stored in SIM card. BCCH system information broadcasts access levels and special access levels that the network grants and the information that whether all MSs allow emergency call or allow special access levels only. If the mobile originated call is not emergency call, the MS can access to network only when it belongs to the granted access level or granted special access level. If the mobile originated call is emergency call, the MS can access to network only when all the MSs in the cell allow emergency call or it belongs to the granted special access level. When an MS wants to establish connection with the network, it sends a channel request to network through RACH channel. Channel request information contains 8-bit useful signaling information, among which 3 bits6 bits are used as the minimal indicator of access cause. The system processes different channel requests based on this rough indication. It differentiates the granted calls from the denied calls and assigns proper channels for the granted calls. This kind of process is especially useful when the network is overload and the flow control is required. Since the channel capacity is limited, this indicator cannot transfer all the information from MS, such as the detailed cause of channel request, user identity and the features of mobile equipment. These kinds of information are sent in the following SABM messages. The 8-bit information also contains the random discriminator sent by the MS and the immediate assignment command (it contains information about the assigned channel). Immediate assignment command carries the discriminator sent by the previous MS. MS compares this

discriminator with its own discriminator and judges whether it is the message for itself from network. Since there are at most 5 bits in the 8 bits information carrying discriminator, only 32 MSs can be differentiated at the same time. Further discrimination of the MSs requires the response information at Um interface. Channel request information belongs to internal information of BSS. In GSM, RACH is a kind of ALOH. In order to reduce the collision on RACH during MS access to network and improve the efficiency of RACH channel and MS access. GSM specifies the required access algorithm for MS. This kind of algorithm defines three parameters: Tx_interger T, the maximum retransmission times RET, and parameter S related to T and channel combination. T represents the number of timeslots between two transmissions when continuous channel requests are sent. S is an intermediate variable depends on T and the configuration of CCCH. See the description of this parameter in Chapter 7. RET is the MS maximum retransmission times allowed in order to avoid access collision. Each time after MS sends access request, T3120 is to receive (or reject) immediate assignment message. MS will retransmit access request for the messages that are not received or rejected when T3120 times out under the premise that RET is not exceeded and restart the T3120. When the retransmission times reaches RET and T3120 times out, T3126 will be started to receive (or reject) immediate assignment message. When T3126 times out, cell re-selection will be initiated. 1.10.2 Initial Immediate Assignment After decoding the channel request information, BTS sends a channel required message to BSC. This message contains important additional information and the estimation of TA by BTS. After receiving this message, BSC selects a proper channel for this request and activates the land resources by sending a channel active message to BTS. BTS returns a channel active acknowledge message to BSC. If BSC receives this message, BTS will send an immediate assignment command or immediate assignment extended message on CCCH. In order to improve channel efficiency, GSM introduces the message layout of immediate assignment extended that contains the assignment information of two MSs. The immediate assignment message contains the assignment information of one MS. According to GSM specifications, MS must identity the immediate assignment (extended) information for the last three channel requests. If there is no channel to activate, BSC will send an immediate assignment reject or immediate assignment extended reject message to MS. After receiving the reject message, MS stops T3120 based on one of the last three channel requests and starts T3122. During the specified time of T3122, MS has no access to network and turns into idle mode. Before T3122 times out, MS cannot initiate connection attempt except emergency call within the same cell. After receiving immediate assignment message, MS compares the received assignment command with the information stored in its channel request and judges whether this message is for itself. If this message matches one of its last three channel requests, MS will stop T3120 or T3126 and switch to the assigned channel. Then it starts to establish the signaling link by using Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode (SABM) command. 1.10.3 Initial Message After receiving immediate assignment message and decoding it, MS adjusts its configuration of transmission and reception to the assigned channel and transmits signaling according to the TA value specified by BSS and the initial maximum transmission power broadcast in BCCH system information (see the description of msTxPwrMaxCCH). MS sends an SABM frame on assigned SDCCH/TCH to establish the asynchronous balanced mode (SAPI=0) that is used to establish signaling message link layer connection under acknowledgement mode. According to GSM protocol, SABM carries an initial message that contains layer 3 service request information. When two MSs send the same channel requests (which is possible in high traffic volume area), the two MSs may respond to the same dedicated channel. in order to save this problem, after receiving SABM frame, BTS makes no modification but sends a UA frame (no frame number acknowledgement) containing the same information as that of initial message. If the information of UA frame is different from that of SABM frame, MS will abandon this channel and start reaccess process. Only the right MS can stay on this channel. SABM frame carries four kinds of initial messages: CM service request (such as call setup, short message, and supplementary service), location updating request (generic location updating, periodic location updating, and IMSI attach), IMSI detach, and paging response. All these messages contain the identity of MS, detailed access cause, and MS class mark (indicating some key features such as

transmission power level, encryption algorithm, short message capacity, and frequency capacity). After receiving the initial message, BTS sends an establish indication message to BSC. BSC receives this message and sends complete layer 3 information to MSC to request SCCP connection to MSC. Layer 3 information carries the causes for CM service request, which includes mobile originated call, Emergency call, location updating, and short message service. This information also carries cipher key Sequence number, MS identification number, and some physical information of the MS such as transmit Power level, ciphering algorithm, pseudo-synchronization, and short message. After receiving this Information, MSC sends connection confirmed message to BSC (if the connection cannot be established, MSC will send SCCP refused message) to indicate that the signaling link between MS and MSC has been established. By this time, MSC can control the transmission properties of RR management; BSS monitors the transmission quality and prepares for handover. Then the MM connection begins. Authentication or encryption is triggered when required in the following processing. In the immediate assignment process, T3101 starts when BSC sends channel active message to BTS and ends when the establish indication is received. If T3101 times out before signaling channel is established, the activated channel will be released. 1.10.4 Immediate Assignment Failure If a failure occurs to the underlaying MS on the new channel before the establishment of signaling link, the network releases the assigned channel of MS. The following processing depends on the failure type And previous actions. If the failure is caused by the mismatch of message field in decision contention And no re-assignment is initiated, the immediate assignment is restarted. If the failure is caused by other reasons or if the re-assignment triggered by the mismatch of message Field in decision contention is carried out and the assignment still fails, MS turns into idle mode and Triggers cell re-selection. If the available information is not sufficient to define a channel after the MS receives immediate Assignment message, RR connection fails. If the assigned frequencies of MS belong to two or more than two frequency bands, RR connection fails. If the assigned frequency of MS is not consistent with the requested frequency but supported by MS, MS accesses the channel with the frequency used in channel request. If MS does not support the Assigned frequency, RR connection fails. If T3101 times out before the signaling channel is established, network releases the assigned channel. Network cannot tell whether MS resends the access attempt or not.