Internal

OMF001003 GSM BSS Communication Flow

ISSUE 2.0
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 Course Purpose:

Grasp the means of interface trace and the method of analyzing it to aid us for fault handling.
How to learn this course:

Copy the interface trace result files. Use the maintenance consoles interface trace review function to study,
Attention:

It is strictly forbidden to use the interface tracing function when the system is busy or the system is under heavy duty.

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Chapter 1 Location Update Flow Chapter 2 Call Setup (Originating) Chapter 3 Intra-BSC Handover

Chapter 4 Inter-BSC Handover

Chapter 5 BSC Normal Release Chapter 6 BSC Local-end Release Chapter 7 Case Analysis

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Location Update Flow

Purpose of location update:

To inform the system the LA in which the MS is to facilitate paging

When need the MS perform location update

Getting into a new LA Periodical location update

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Location Update Flow

MS BTS BSC MSC

Channel_req
SABM: Set asynchronous balanced mode

Channel_Required
Channel_Active Channel_Active_Ack

commandinitial access frame

UA: Unnumbered acknowledgement

IMMEDIATE ASSIGN COMMAND

response

First SABM
UA

Establish_IND(Location Updating Req)

CR(Complete_L3_ information) CC

Location Updating Accepted TMSI Reallocation Complete(NOTE 2) (NOTE 3)

(NOTE 1)

Clear_CMD Clear_CMP

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Notes

NOTE 1:Authentication, Encryption, Identity

there might be authentication and encryption in an intact location update flow. For Huawei MSC, authentication and encryption are all optional. And normally authentication is mandatory and encryption is optional in practical situation. Huawei BSS system supports encryption algorithm A5/1 and A5/2.

After establishing the SCCP connection between BSC and MSC

Identification: The ID in Est_IND message reported by the MS is

TMSI. When VLR cannot identify the TMSI or TMSI authentication fails, MSC will start Identification flow. That means MSC will send transparent transfer message Identity Request to MS and MS will report Identity Response message which involves IMSI.
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Notes

NOTE 2:
To reallocate TMSI or not during location update is

optional in MSC.
If MSC chooses Reallocate TMSI during location

update to No, MS will not report TMSI Reallocation Complete message.

NOTE3:
In this flow we have simplified the release flow.

To know more detailed refer to the BSC Normal Release Flow.

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Abnormal Occasion
BSC receives Location Updating Rejected message from

MSC. The possible reason is listed below: A. MSC has not configured the CGI which has been configured in BSC. B. Communication failed between MSC and VLR. C. MS has not been registered in HLR.

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Chapter 1 Location Update Flow Chapter 2 Call Setup (Originating) Chapter 3 Intra-BSC Handover

Chapter 4 Inter-BSC Handover

Chapter 5 BSC Normal Release Chapter 6 BSC Local-end Release Chapter 7 Case Analysis

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Call Setup Flow (Originating)

MS Channel_req BSC MSC Channel_Required Channel_Active Channel_Active_Ack IMMEDIATE ASSIGN COMMAND First SABM Establish_IND(CM Service Req) CR(Complete_L3_information) UA CC (NOTE 1) CM Service Accepted Setup Call Processing (NOTE 2) Assignment_Req Channel_Active Channel_Active_Ack ASSIGNMENT COMMAND First SABM Establish_IND UA ASSIGNMENT CMP Assignment_CMP Alerting Connect Connect Ack Conversation (NOTE 3) Disconnect Release Release Complete Clear_CMD (NOTE 4) Clear_CMP BTS

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NOTE 1: Class Mark Update Flow

1. Authentication, encrytion, identification are optional. See Note 1 in Location Update Flow.

2. Class mark update flow: For dual-band MS, after the SCCP connection is established and before receiving message "CM Service Accepted" there will be a class mark update flow. CR message reports the information of class mark 2. And in the class mark update flow, MS will report class mark 3 information which is related to the dual-band capabilty.

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NOTE 2: Assignment Method

Very Early Assignment

In IMMEDIATE ASSIGN COMMAND ,TCH is directly assigned. When MSC sends Assignment _Req message, BSC will not assign new channel but perform Mode_Modify flow. After that, MS will report Assignment _CMP message to MSC.
Early Assignment

MSC sends Assignment_Req before Alerting.

Very Early Assignment

Late Assignment

MSC sends Assignment_Req after Alerting.

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Abnormal Situation
Abnormal Occasion 1: MSC has sent Assignment_Req and BSC

does not send ASSIGNMENT CMD but sends a Assignment_Fail message. Possible reasons: A. BSC has not available TCH. B. The CIC assigned by the MSC is not idle in BSC. C. There are transmission faults or interference in the uplink, so BTS cannot receive the uplink signal correctly.
Abnormal Occasion2: BSC has sent ASSIGNMENT CMD message

but MS sends ASSIGNMENT FAIL. Possible reason: Downlink bit error rate is too high.

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Chapter 1 Location Update Flow Chapter 2 Call Setup (Originating) Chapter 3 Intra-BSC Handover

Chapter 4 Inter-BSC Handover

Chapter 5 BSC Normal Release Chapter 6 BSC Local-end Release Chapter 7 Case Analysis

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Intra-BSC Handover
MS BTS1 BSC BTS2 Measure Report from MS Channel_Active Channel_Active_Ack HANDOVER COMMAND Handover Access (NOTE 1) PHYINFO PHYINFO First SABM UA MS MSC

Handover_Detect

Establish_IND

HANDOVER COMPLETE
Handover_Performed (NOTE 2)

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Notes

NOTE1:Asynchronous Handover and Synchronous Handover

BTS1 and BTS2 do not belong to the same BTS. Thus the target BTS shall send PHY INFO message.

Intra-BSC asynchronous handover:

Intra-BSC synchronous handover:

BTS1 and BTS2 belong to the same BTS. Actually they are two cells of one BTS. In such occasion there will not be PHY INFO message, After Handover Access message, MS will send SABM directly.

NOTE2
After reporting Handover_Performed message to MSC, BSC will

start the local-end release flow for the previous channel (in BTS 2).

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Abnormal Occasion

Abnormal Occasion

In case of intra-BSC asynchronous handover, when BTS1 has

sent PHY INFO message to the maximum time but the MS still cant access the new channel, BTS1 will send CONN FAIL IND message. Its causing value is handover access failure. When

BSC receives this message, it will start local-end release flow

to release the new channel in BTS1.

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Chapter 1 Location Update Flow Chapter 2 Call Setup (Originating) Chapter 3 Intra-BSC Handover

Chapter 4 Inter-BSC Handover

Chapter 5 BSC Normal Release Chapter 6 BSC Local-end Release Chapter 7 Case Analysis

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Inter-BSC Handover
MS
BTS1 BSC1
(NOTE 1) Measure Report from MS Handover_Required Handover_Request Channel_Active

MSC

BSC2

BTS2

MS

Channel_Active_Ack
Handover_Request_Ack Handover_CMD HANDOVER COMMAND Handover_Detect Handover_Detect Handover Access PHY INFO PHY INFO First SABM Establish_INO Clear_CMD Clear_CMP Handover_Cmp

UA

HANDOVER COMPLETE

(NOTE 2)

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Notes

NOTE1: Two different handover occasions of inter-BSC handover

Intra-MSC inter-BSC Handover:

Two BSCs belong to the same MSC.

Inter-MSC Handover:

Two BSCs do not belong to the same MSC. The A-interface messages are the same for the two occasions above.

NOTE2

When BSC1 receives Clear_CMD message from MSC, it will start local-

end release flow for the previously occupied channel in BTS1.

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Chapter 1 Location Update Flow Chapter 2 Call Setup (Originating) Chapter 3 Intra-BSC Handover

Chapter 4 Inter-BSC Handover

Chapter 5 BSC Normal Release Chapter 6 BSC Local-end Release Chapter 7 Case Analysis

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BSC Normal Release Flow

MS BTS
(NOTE 1)

BSC
Disconnect
Release

MSC

Release Complete Clear_CMD CHANNEL RELEASE Deactive_SACCH First DISC UA Release_IND RF_Release_Req RF_Release_Req_ACK Clear_CMP

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Notes

NOTE1Two occasions of release

NSS originating release MS originating release In these two different occasions all the messages are

the same except the direction of the first 3 messages.

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Chapter 1 Location Update Flow Chapter 2 Call Setup (Originating) Chapter 3 Intra-BSC Handover

Chapter 4 Inter-BSC Handover

Chapter 5 BSC Normal Release Chapter 6 BSC Local-end Release Chapter 7 Case Analysis

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Local-end Release Flow

MS BTS BSC MSC

Deactive_SACCH Release_Req(LOCAL END) (NOTE 1)

Release_Confirm
RF_Release_Req RF_Release_Req_ACK

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Chapter 1 Location Update Flow Chapter 2 Call Setup (Originating) Chapter 3 Intra-BSC Handover

Chapter 4 Inter-BSC Handover

Chapter 5 BSC Normal Release Chapter 6 BSC Local-end Release Chapter 7 Case Analysis

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Case Description
BSCs ASSIGNMENT CMD message has been sent but the

BTS sends several EST IND messages. Later MS sends ASSIGNMENT FAIL message and the causing value is Protocol error unspecified.

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Case Analysis

By analyzing the messages we can find that MS has reported several

EST IND messages before ASSIGNMENT FAIL message.

When BTS receives a SABM frame it will report an EST IND message

to BSC. So we know now that the MS must have sent many SABM frames to the BTS.
BTS can decode the SABM frame sent by MS but MS cannot decode

the UA frame sent by BTS. And this causes that the BTS reports many EST IND messages.

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Case Analysis

Case realize:
In

the lab we can simulate. Disconnect the TX antenna to make the downlink signal pure. Trace the A-bis signaling we can find that BTS sends several EST IND messages to BSC for the newly assigned TCH but cant succeed. And then MS sends ASSIGNMENT FAIL via the previous SDCCH and the causing value is Protocol error unspecified.

Conclusion:

In the practical field, when many ASSIGNMENT FAIL messages appear, the main reason might be the pure downlink receiving power level or receiving quality.

Connection between TRX and SCU (CDU).

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Appendix: Power Class

Phase 2 MS output Power Class and the exact power relations.

p o w e r G S M 9 0 0 M a x D C S 1 8 0 0 M a x T o l e r a n c e ( d B ) T o l e r a n c e ( d B ) p e a k p o w e r p e a k p o w e r_ n o r m a l _ e x t r e m e c l a s s 1 2 1 W ( 3 0 d B m ) + / 2 0 . 2 5 W ( 2 4 d B m ) 2 + / 2 . 5 2 . 5 2 . 5 2 . 5 2 . 5

3 5 W ( 3 7 d B m ) 4 W ( 3 6 d B m ) 2 4 2 W ( 3 3 d B m ) 5 0 . 8 W ( 2 9 d B m ) 2 2

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Power Control Level

Phase 2 MS
p o w e r o u t p u t T o l e r a n c eT o l e r a n c eP o w e ro u t p u tT o l e r a n c eT o l e r a n c e c o n t r o l p o w e r _ n o r m a l _ e x t r e m ec o n t r o l p o w e r _ n o r m a l _ e x t r e m e d B m ) ( d B ) ( d B ) l e v e l ( d B m ) ( d B ) ( d B ) e v e l ( l 0 2 3 9 2 2 . 5 2 9 3 6 2 2 . 5 3 3 7 3 4 3 0 3 4 3 4 4 3 5 3 4 3 1 3 2 3 4 5 3 3 3 4 0 3 0 3 4 6 3 1 3 4 1 2 8 3 4 7 2 9 3 4 2 2 6 3 4 8 2 7 3 4 3 2 4 3 4 9 2 5 3 4 4 2 2 3 4 1 0 2 3 3 4 5 2 0 3 4 1 1 2 1 3 4 6 1 8 3 4 1 2 1 9 3 4 7 1 6 3 4 1 3 1 7 3 4 8 1 4 3 4 1 4 1 5 3 4 9 1 2 4 5 1 5 1 3 3 4 1 0 1 0 4 5 1 6 1 1 5 6 1 1 8 4 5 1 7 9 5 6 1 2 6 4 5 1 8 7 5 6 1 3 4 4 5 1 9 3 1 5 5 6 1 4 2 5 6 1 5 2 8 0 5 6

Power control level and the exact power relations.

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Thank You
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