GB_0505_E1 ZXG10 RADIO

PARAMETERS

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

NETWORK IDENTIFICATION PARAMETERS

CGI , BSIC, BCC/ NCC

CELL SELECTION PARAMETERS

C1 and C2

SYSTEM CONTROL PARAMETERS

RLT, CBA, CBQ and etc.

NETWORK FUNCTIONAL PARAMETERS

INTAVE, LIMITn

NETWORK IDENTIFICATION
PARAMETERS
As a global cellular mobile communication system,

the GSM strictly numbers each GSM network in each

country, or even numbers each location area, every
station or every cell in every network in order that every
cell around the globe has an sole corresponding
number.

ROLES OF IDENTIFICATION
PARAMETERS
Enable the MS to correctly identify the ID of the current network

so that it can correctly select the network the user (or telecom
operator) wants to access to in any conditions.
Enable the network to be real time informed of the correct

geographical location of the MS so that the network can normally

connect various service requests with the MS as the terminal.
Enable the MS to report correctly the adjacent cell information

during the conversation process so that the network can handover the calls when necessary to ensure the continuity of the
conversation.

CELL GLOBAL IDENTITY (CGI)

Cell Global Identity (CGI)

It is used for identifying individual cells within an LA

3 Digits

MCC

2-3 Digits

Max 16 Bits

Max 16 bits

MNC

LAC

CI

LAI
Cell Global Identity

ROLES OF CGI
The CGI information is sent along the system broadcasting

information in every cell.

When the MS receives the system information, it will extract the

CGI information from it and determines whether to camp on the

cell according to the MCC and MNC specified by the CGI.

It judges whether the current location area is changed, then

determines whether to take the location updating process. During

the location updating process, the MS will report the LAI
information to the network so that the network is fully aware of the
cell where the MS is currently located.

SETTING OF CGI

MCC Mobile Country Code : consists of 3

decimal digits, and the value range is the decimal 000

999.

MNC Mobile Network Code : consists of 3

decimal digits, and the value range is the decimal 00

999.

LAC Location Area Code : The range is

65535.

CI Cell Identity : The range is 0-65535.

1-

SETTING OF CGI
MCC resource is allocated and managed by ITU. The
MCC of China is 460 decimal).

MNC is usually allocated by the relevant

telecommunication administration department of a
country.

The LAC encoding mode is specified

correspondingly by every country. Usually, the location
area should be as large as possible.

Two or more cells in the same location area are not

allowed to share the same CI.

BASE STATION IDENTITY CODE (BSIC)

Base Station Identity Code (BSIC)

It enables MSs to distinguish between neighboring base
stations

3 Bits

3 Bits

NCC

BCC

BSIC

NCC Network/ National Color Code

Value Range: 0~7

BCC Base Station Color Code

Value Range: 0~7

NCC and BCC ROLES

NCC: In the connection mode (during conversation), the MS

must measure the signals in the adjacent cells and report the
result to the network. As each measurement report sent by the MS
can only contain the contents of six cells, so it is necessary to
control the MS so as to only report the information of cells
factually related to the cell concerned. The high 3 bits (i.e. NCC) in
the BSIC serve this purpose.

BCC: The BCC is used to identify different BS using the same

BCCH in the same GSMPLMN.

BSIC CONFIGURATION PRINCIPLE

In general, it is required that Cells A, B, C, D, E and F

use different BSIC. When the BSIC resources are not

enough, the cells close to each other may take the
priority to use different BSIC.

ROLES OF BSIC
1. Inform the MS the TSC used by the common signaling

channel of the cell.

2. As the BSIC takes part in the decoding process of the random

access channel (RACH), it can be used to prevent the BS from misdecoding the RACH, sent by the MS to an adjacent cell, as the
access channel of this cell.
3. When the MS is in the connection mode (during

conversation), it must measure the BCCH level of adjacent cells

broadcasting by BCCH and report the results to the BS. In the
uplink measurement report, MS must show BSIC of this carrier it
has measured to every frequency point.

BA LIST (BCCH ADJACENT LIST)

When a MS is turned on, it will scan from the BA

(Adjacent cell BCCH table) it remembered when turned

off last time. The MS will first search carriers from this
table and if none is found it will turns to find any of 30
carriers with highest levels, then try to decode BCCH
carriers one by one according to their level sequences.

CELL SELECTION C1

When the MS is turned on, it will try to contact a

public GSM PLMN, so the MS will select a proper cell

and extract from the cell the control channel
parameters and prerequisite system messages. This
selection process is called cell selection. The quality of
radio channels is an important factor in cell selection.
The GSM Specifications defines the path loss rule C1.
For the so-called proper cell, C1>0 must be ensured.

CELL SELECTION C1
C1 = RXLEV - RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN
- Max(MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH - P ,0)
where:

RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN is the minimum received level the MS is

allowed to access the network

MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH is the maximum power level of the

control channel (when MS sending on RACH);

RXLEV is average received level;

P is the maximum TX power of MS;

MAX X, Y X; if X Y.
MAX X, Y Y; if Y X.

C1 PATHLOSS CRITERION
All the candidate cells for MS must meet the path

loss criterion, i.e. C1>0. MS will select the cell with the
maximal C1 to access and will camp on this cell unless
some key conditions has changed greatly.

RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN
In order to avoid providing unsatisfactory communication

quality and avoid the unnecessary waste of radio resources if the

MS accesses to the system (the communication quality after the
access often cannot ensure the normal communication process)
at the very low received level, the GSM system regulates that,
when a MS is to access to a network, its receiving signal level
must be larger than a threshold level, i.e. the minimum receiving
level the MS is allowed to access to RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN).

Default value is 0 (-110dBm).

CELL RESELECTION C2
Cell Reselection (C2) is a process when MS change its service

cell in idle mode.

When the MS selects a cell it will begin to measure the signal

levels of the BCCH TRX of its adjacent cells, record 6 adjacent

cells whose signal levels are the strongest and extract from them
various types of system messages and control messages of each
adjacent cell.
When given conditions are met, the MS will move from the

current cell into another one. This process is called cell selection.

CELL RESELECTION C2
When C2 Parameter Indicator (PI) indicates YES the MS will

get parameters (CRO, TO and PT) , from BCCH, to be used to

calculate C2(channel quality criterion), which serves as cell
reselection norm. The equation is as follows:
C2 C1 CRO H PT T TO, when PT 31
C2 C1 CRO, when PT= 31

Where T is a timer. When a cell is recorded by MS as one of the

six strongest cells, timer starts counting, otherwise, T is reset to

zero.

PARAMETER INDICATOR (PI)

PI is used to notify the MS whether to use C2 as the
cell reselect parameter and whether the parameters
calculating C2 exist.

PI consists of 1 bit. 1means the MS should extract

parameters from the system message broadcasting in
the cell to calculate the C2 value, and use the C2 value
as the standard for cell reselect; 0 means the MS
should use parameter C1 as the standard for cell
reselect (equivalent to C2 C1 .

CRO, PT AND TO
The cell reselection initiated by the radio channel
quality regards C2 as the standard. C2 is a parameter
based on C1 plus some artificial offset parameters. The
artificial influence is to encourage the MS to take the
priority in accessing to some cells or prevent it from
accessing to others. These methods are often used to
balance the traffic in the network.

In addition to C1, there are three other factors

influencing C2, namely: CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET
(CRO), TEMPORARY_OFFSET (TO) and PENALTY_TIME
(PT).

C2 TYPICAL APPLICATIONS
In general, its not expected that MS access the cells

where the traffic is very heavy or the channel quality is

very low. In this case , the PT may be set 31, making
TO invalid, so C2=C1-CRO. Because the C2 is lowered
deliberately, the possibility that the cell will be
reselected by MS is lowered greatly. The greater the
CRO, the less possibility that the cell will be reselected,
and vice versa.

C2 TYPICAL APPLICATIONS
Its expected that MS stay as much as possible in cells where

the system utilization are very low and the traffic load is light. In
this case, its recommended that CRO be ranged from 0 to 20dB.
The greater the CRO, the more possible the cells will be reselected
,and vice versa. Its also suggested that TO is equal or a little
higher than CRO. PT, whose main role is to avoid frequent cell
reselection by MS, is generally recommended to be set at 20
seconds or 40 seconds.
For cells where the traffic is moderate, the recommended value

for CRO is zero and PT=31, thus causing C2=C1, i. e. no artificial

impact will be imposed.

CELL RESELECTION HYSTERESIS

When a MS reselects a cell, if the old cell and the target cell are

in different locations, then the MS must initiate a location updating

process after cell reselection.
Due to the fading features of the radio channel, the C2 values of

two adjacent cells measured along their borders will fluctuate

greatly.
MS will frequently conduct the cell reselection, which will not

only increase the network signaling flow and lead to low efficiency
use of radio resources, but reduces the access success rate of the
system, as the MS cannot respond to paging calls in the location
updating process.

CELL SELECTION HYSTERESIS (2)

To minimize the influence of this issue, the GSM
specifications put forward a parameter called cell
reselection hysteresis (CRH), which requires that the
signal level of adjacent cell (in a different location area)
be larger than the local cell signal level, and their
difference be larger than the value specified by the cell
selection hysteresis. In this case, the MS will start the
cell reselection.

The cell reselection hysteresis is represented in

decimal numerals, its unit is dB, its range is 0 14, its
step length is 2dB, and its default value is 4.

CELL RESELECTION PRINCIPLE

If the MS calculates that the C2 value of an adjacent cell (Same

location area) surpasses the C2 value of the serving cell and

maintains for 5s or longer, the MS will start cell reselection and
access to the adjacent cell.
If the MS detects a cell that is not in the same location area with

the current cell, the calculated C2 value surpasses the sum of the
C2 value of the current cell and the cell reselection hysteresis
(CRH) parameter and if it remains for 5s or longer, the MS will
start the cell reselection and access to the new cell.

Note that the cell reselection caused by the parameter C2

should be originated at least at the interval of 15s so as to avoid

the frequent cell reselection by MS.

CELL BAR ACCESS (CBA)

In the system message broadcasting in each cell, there is a bit
information indicating whether to allow the MS to access to it, which is
called cell bar access (CBA). The parameter CBA is to indicate whether
the cell bar access is set in a cell.

The parameter is represented in character string. Its value range is:

YES: the cell is barred for access

NO: the cell is not barred for access

The CBA bit is a parameter for the network operator to set. Usually all
the cells are allowed to be accessed by MS , so the bit is set NO.
However, in special cases, the telecom operator may want to assign a
certain cells for handover service only, then the bit can be set YES.

CELL BAR ACCESS (CBA)

Area A

BTS B

BTS A
BTS C

CELL BAR QUALIFY (CBQ)

In areas where the cells overlay with each other and

differ in capacity, traffic and functions, the telecom

operator often hopes that the MS can have priority in
selecting some cells, that is, the setting of cell priority.
This function is set by way of the parameter "Cell Bar
Qualify" (CBQ).

YES:

The cell has high priority

NO:The cell has low priority

CELL BAR QUALIFY (CBQ) 2

C1 and C2 States with CBA and CBQ Configurations

EXAMPLE OF CBQ SETTING

For some reasons, the traffic of Cells A and B is apparently higher than
that of other adjacent cells. To balance the traffic in the whole area, you
can set the priority of Cells A and B as low, and set the priority of the rest
cells as normal so that the traffic in the shade area will be absorbed by
adjacent cells. It must be noted that the result of this setting is that the
actual coverage of Cell A and Cell B is narrowed. However, this is different
from reducing the transmitting power of Cell A and Cell B, the latter may
cause blind areas of the network coverage and the reduction of
communication quality.

RANDOM ACCESS
Random access is the process that messages being

transmitted on RACH when a MS turns from idle to

specialized mode. The main parameters includes:
MAXRETRANS
AC
RE (Re-establishment Enable)

MAX RETRANS
When starting the immediate assignment process (e.g,

when MS needs location updating, originating calls or

responding to paging calls), the MS will transmit the
"channel request" message over the RACH to the
network. As the RACH is an ALOHA channel, in order to
enhance the MS access success rate, the network allows
the MS to transmit multiple channel request messages
before receiving the immediate assignment message.
The numbers of maximum retransmission (MAX
RETRANS) are determined by the network.

MAX RETRANS

The MAX RETRANS is often set in the following ways:

For areas (suburbs or rural areas) where the cell radius is more
than 3km and the traffic is smaller, the MAX RETRANS can be set
11 (i.e. the MAX RETRANS is 7).

For areas (not bustling city blocks) where the cell radius is less
than 3km and the traffic is moderate, the MAX RETRANS can be
set 10 i.e. the MAX RETRANS is 4).

For micro-cellular, its recommend that the MAX RETRANS be

set 01 i.e. the MAX RETRANS is 2).

For microcellular areas with very high traffic and cells with
apparent congestion, its recommend that the MAX RETRANS be
set 00 i.e. the MAX RETRANS is 1).

ACCESS CONTROL AC
In some special conditions, the telecom operator wants to bar
all or part of MS from sending out the access request or paging
response request in some special areas. For example, in case
some areas are in emergency state or in case a GSM PLMN
encounters a serious fault. For this reason, GSM
Specification 02.11 stipulates that each GSM subscriber
(ordinary subscriber) is allocated with an access level. The access
level ranges from 0 to 9 and is stored in the SIM card of the
subscriber. The GSM Specifications reserves 5 special access
levels for some special subscribers, which range from 11 to 15.
These levels usually have higher access priority. Special
subscribers can have one or more access levels (11~15), and their
access levels are also stored in the SIM cards.

ACCESS CONTROL AC
The access levels are distributed as follows:

C 0 C9: ordinary subscribers;

C11: used for PLMN management;
C12: used by the security department;
C13: public utilities e.g. water, gas ;
C14: emergency service;
C15: PLMN staff.

SETTING OF AC
In the BS installation and commissioning process or in the

process of maintaining or testing some cells, the operator can set

C0 C9 as 0 to forcedly forbid the access of ordinary subscribers
so as to reduce the unnecessary effects on the installation or
maintenance work.

In some cells with very high traffic, the congestion will occur in

busy hours. For example, the RACH conflict happens frequently,

the AGCH is overloaded and the Abis interface flow is overloaded.
The network operator can set proper access control parameters
C0 C15 to control the traffic of some cells.

RE-ESTABLISHMENT ENABLE (RE)

For the drop calls caused by the radio link fault, the MS can
start the call reestablishment process to resume the conversation,
but the network is entitled to determine whether the call
reestablishment is allowed or not. 0=Yes, 1=No.

In some special circumstances, the drop call may occur when

the MS goes through a blind area during the conversation. If the
call reestablishment is allowed, the mean drop call rate will be
reduced. However, the call reestablishment process will occupy a
longer period of time, most of the subscribers have hung up
before the reestablishment process is over, as a result, the call
reestablishment failed to achieve its purpose and wasted many
radio resources. We recommend that the call reestablishment be
not allowed in the network except for some individual cells.

LIMITn
According to GSM Specification 05.08, the BTS must measure

the interference levels of the upward links of all the free channels
for the purpose of providing basis for managing and allocating
radio resources.
Moreover, the BTS should analyze its measured results, divide

the interference levels into 5 grades and report them to the BSC.
The division of the 5 interference grades (i.e. the so-called
interference bands) is set by the operator through the manmachine interface. The parameter "Interference band border
(LIMITn) determines the borders of the 5 interference bands.

LIMITn

Default:LIMIT1 4

LIMIT2 8

LIMIT3 15

LIMIT4 25

The division of the interference bands should be favorable in describing the

interference in the system. Generally the default values are recommended. In the
ordinary situations, the free channel interference level is smaller, so the LIMIT1 4
value should be smaller. When apparently large interference appears in the system,
you can properly increase the LIMIT1~4 values in order to know the exact
interference.

IMSI ATTACH/ DETACH (ATT)

An ATT mark should be set as YES so that the network will no longer
process the paging process for the called MS after the MS shuts down,
thus saving the processing time of the network entities and saving lots of
network resources.

Please note that the ATT in different cells but in the same location area
should be set the same. Because the shutdown of the MS in cells where
the ATT is YES will start the IMSI detach process, and the network will
record the fact that the MS is in the non-working state and reject all the
connection requests when using MS as the called. When the MS restarts
and is in the same location area (so the location update process is not
started) as when it shuts down but is in a different cell and the ATT of the
cells is set as NO, so the MS will not start the IMSI attach process, either.
In this case, the MS cannot become the called party until it starts the
location updating process.

IMSI ATTACH/ DETACH (ATT)

The IMSI detach process is that: the MS notifies the network that it is
moving from the working state to the non-working state, or the process of
the SIM card being taken from the MS.

When receiving the notification from the MS, the network will indicate
the IMSI subscriber to be in the non-working state, so the connection
request ending the subscriber as the called party will be rejected. The
corresponding IMSI attach process is that the MS notifies the network
that it has been in the working state , or the SIM card is re-inserted into
the MS.

When the MS re-enters the working state, it will detect whether the
current LAI is the same as the LAI finally recorded in the MS. If they are
the same, the MS will start the IMSI attach process, otherwise the MS will
start the location updating process (instead of the IMSI attach process).
When receiving the location updating or IMSI attach process, the network
will indicate the IMSI subscriber being in the working state.

CCCH_CONF
The CCCH can be one or more physical channels. The CCCH
and SDCCH can share the same physical channel. The
combination mode of the common control channel in a cell is
determined by the CCCH_CONF

CCCH_CONF
The CCCH_CONF is determined by the telecom

operation department according to the traffic model of

a cell. It is often decided in the system design period.
The common configurations in practice are the
following:
If a cell has 1 or 2 TRX, we recommend that the CCCH uses
one basic physical channel and shares it with the SDCCH
If a cell has 3 or 4 TRX, we recommend that the CCCH uses
one basic physical channel but does not share it with the
SDCCH.

AGBLK
Since the CCCH consists of the access grant channel (AGCH)

and paging channel (PCH), it is necessary to set how many blocks

of the CCCH information blocks are reserved and dedicated to the
AGCH. To let the MS know about the configuration information, the
system message of every cell contains a configuration parameter,
that is, the access grant reserve blocks (AGBLK).
AGBLK is represented in decimal numerals, and its value range

is:
CCCH is not combined with SDCCH: 0 7.
CCCH is combined with SDCCH: 0 2.

AGBLK
SETTING AND IMPACT OF AGBLK

The AGBLK setting principle is: given that the AGCH is not
overloaded, try to reduce the parameter as much as possible to
shorten the time when the MS responds to the paging and
improve the quality of service of the system.

The recommended value of AGBLK is usually 1 (when the

CCCH is combined with the SDCCH), 2 or 3 (when the CCCH is
not combined with the SDCCH).

BS-PA-MFRMS
According to the GSM specifications, every mobile subscriber belongs to a
paging group. In every cell, every paging group corresponds to a paging
subchannel, the MS calculates the paging group to which it belongs by its own
IMSI, then calculates the location of the paging subchannel belonging to the paging
group.

In an actual network, the MS only "receives the contents in the paging

subchannel to which it belongs but ignores the contents in other paging
subchannels, or even turn off the power supply of some hardware equipment of the
MS for other paging subchannels to save the MS power overhead (i.e. DRX source).

The BS-PA-MFRMS refers to how many multi-frames are used as a cycle of a

paging subchannel. This parameter in fact determines how many paging subchannels are to be divided from the paging channels of a cell.

BS-PA-MFRMS (2)
BS-PA-MFRMS is represented in decimal numerals and its value range
is 2 9, its unit is multiframe 51 frames , its default value is 2

PERIODIC UPDATING TIMER (T3212)

The reasons for the location update in the GSM system are of
two types: one is that the MS finds its location area changed
(with a different LAC), the other one is that the network requires
the MS to periodically update its location.

The frequency of periodic location update is controlled via the

network and the period length is determined by the parameter
T3212.

In general, in areas with larger traffic and signaling flow, you

should select the larger T3212 e.g. 16 hours, 20 hours or even
25 hours , but in areas with smaller traffic and lower signaling
flow, you can set the smallerT3212 (3 hours or 6 hours, etc.). In
areas where traffic is far beyond the system capacity, we
recommend that you set T3212 as 0.

NCCPERM
In the connection mode (during the conversation), the MS will

report the measured signals of the adjacent cells to the BS, but
each report may contain at most 6 adjacent cells, Therefore, let the
MS only report the information of the cells that may become the
hand-over target cells, do not let the MS report the information
merely according to the signal level without selection (usually do
not let the MS report other GSMPLMN cells).

The above functions can be fulfilled by limiting the MS to

merely measure the cells whose NCC have been specified. The
NCCPERM lists the NCCs of cells to be measured by the MS.

NCCPERM (2)
In general, each area is allocated with one (or

several) NCC. The NCCPERM of each cell in the area

should contain the NCC of the area, otherwise a large
number of cross-cell drop calls will occur and the cell
reselection will fail. To ensure the normal roaming
between different areas, the border cells of an area
should contain the NCC of its adjacent areas

RADIO LINK TIMEOUT (RLT)

During the MS conversation-, when the downward voice (or

data) quality is degraded to be unacceptable and cannot be

improved through the RF power control or handover (i.e. the socalled radio link fault), the MS will either start the call reconnection or forcedly disconnect the link.

As the forced disconnection actually means a "drop call"

process, the MS will regard it as a downward radio link fault when

the communication quality is unacceptable (usually the user has
to hang up). In this case, it is provided in the GSM specifications
that the MS needs a counter S to assign an initial
value--"downward radio link timeout"--. When S is counted to 0,
the MS will report the downward radio link fault.

MBCR (1)

In the single band GSM system, when the MS reports the

adjacent cell measurement result to the network, it only needs to

report the contents of the 6 adjacent cells with the strongest
signals in a band. When multiple bands form a network, the
telecom operator often, according to the actual situation of the
network, wants the MS to access to a frequency band with priority
during the handover, so the operator hopes that the MS will report
the measurement result on the basis of not only signal strength
but signal band as well. The parameter "multiband indication
(MBCR)" is used to notify the MS that it should report the
multiband adjacent cell contents.

The value is 0-3

MBCR (2)

0: Based on the signal strength of adjacent cells, the MS

reports the measurement results of 6 adjacent cells whose signals

are the strongest, whose NCC are known and allowed no matter in
which band the adjacent cells lie. The default value is 0

1: The MS should report the measurement result of an adjacent

cell in each band (not including the band used by the current
service area) in the adjacent table, whose signal is the strongest
and whose NCC is already known and allowed. It should also
report in the rest position the adjacent cells in the band used by
the current service area. If there are still rest positions, it will
report the information of the rest adjacent cells no matter in which
band these adjacent cells lie.

MBCR (3)

2: The MS should report the measurement results of two

adjacent cells in each band (not including the band used by the
current service area) in the adjacent table, whose signals are the
strongest and whose NCC are already known and allowed. It
should also report in the rest position the adjacent cells in the
band used by the current service area. If there are still rest
positions, it will report the information of the rest adjacent cells no
matter in which band these adjacent cells lie.
3: The MS should report the measurement results of three

adjacent cells in each band (not including the band used by the
current service area) in the adjacent table, whose signals are the
strongest and whose NCC are already known and allowed.