HUAWEI BSC6000 Base Station Subsystem BSS Signaling Analysis Guide

4 Immediate Assignment

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About This Chapter

Immediate Assignment

This topic describes immediate assignment including its internal BSC signaling procedure and abnormal cases. 4.1 Immediate Assignment Procedure The purpose of immediate assignment is to establish a Radio Resource (RR) connection between an MS and the network on the Um interface. The immediate assignment procedure is initiated by the MS. 4.2 Internal BSC Signaling Procedure of Immediate Assignment This topic describes the internal BSC signaling procedure of immediate assignment. 4.3 Abnormal Immediate Assignment Cases This topic describes the abnormal immediate assignment cases.

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4.1 Immediate Assignment Procedure

The purpose of immediate assignment is to establish a Radio Resource (RR) connection between an MS and the network on the Um interface. The immediate assignment procedure is initiated by the MS. Figure 4-1 shows the immediate assignment procedure. Figure 4-1 Immediate assignment procedure
MS Channel Request(1) RACH Channel Required(2) Channel Activation(3) Channel Activation Acknowledge(4) Immediate Assignment Command(5) AGCH SABM(6) main DCCH UA(7) main DCCH Establish Indication(8) Start T3101 BTS BSC

Stop T3101

1.

The MS sends the BTS a Channel Request message on the RACH. The Channel Request message contains the Establish Cause and Random Reference parameters. It has eight bits. Bits 3 to 6 indicate the access cause, and bit 5 to 2 carry the identifier. Based on a Channel Request message, a maximum of 32 MSs are discriminated. The UA response messages on the Um interface are used to discriminate more MSs.

2.

The BTS sends the BSC a Channel Required message. The Channel Required message contains the Request Reference and Access Delay parameters. The Request Reference parameter contains the random access reference value and the absolute frame number of the received access burst. The Access Delay is the delay of the access burst.

3.

Upon receiving the Channel Required message, the BSC assigns a signaling channel and sends the BTS a Channel Activation message to activate a radio channel. The Channel Activation message carries the activation type, channel mode, level, and TA.
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4.

Upon receiving the Channel Activation message, if the channel type is correct, BTS2 turns on the power amplifier on the specified channel to receive information in the uplink direction and sends a Channel Activation Acknowledge message to the BSC. The BSC sends through the BTS to the MS an Immediate Assignment Command message. The Immediate Assignment Command message is sent on the AGCH. It carries the Immediate Assignment Extend message and the assignment information of two MSs. The Immediate Assignment Command message has the following information elements:
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5.

Dedicated mode or TBF The Dedicated mode or TBF information element requests the MS to decode the rest of the message to an Immediate Assignment message or to allocate a Temporary Block Flow.

Page Mode The Paging Mode information element controls the action of the MSs in a paging group. Channel Description The Channel Description information element describes an assigned channel and the corresponding SACCH. It carries the Channel Type, TDMA offset, timeslot, and absolute RF channel number.

Request Reference The Request Reference information element contains the random access reference value and the absolute frame number of the received access burst. The Access Delay is the delay of the access burst.

Time Advance This Time Advance information element provides the initial timing advance value.
NOTE

If the BSC has no available channels, it sends the MS an Immediate Assignment Reject message or an Immediate Assignment Extend Reject message.
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After receiving the Immediate Assignment Reject message, the MS starts timer T3122 upon receiving one of the last three channel requests. Before timer T3122 expires, the MS is not permitted to access the network nor initiate access attempts except emergency calls in the same cell. It returns to idle mode and waits on the paging channel. If the Immediate Assignment Reject message is received for the first time, the MS starts timer T3126. Timer T3126 starts when the number of Channel Request messages sent by the MS reaches the maximum value. When timer T3126 expires, the immediate assignment procedure fails.

6.

The MS sends an SABM frame on the main DCCH. The SABM is a frame in the LAPDm protocol at the data link layer. It is the first frame to establish a multiple frame acknowledged mode. The messages on the Um interface come in two types, signaling messages and short messages. They are identified by the Service Access Point Identifier (SAPI). The service access point is the point at which the data link layer provides services to layer 3. SAPI 0 supports the transfer of signaling, and SAPI 3 supports the transfer of short messages. In the GSM network, an SABM frame carries a signaling message, the layer 3 service request message. The layer 3 service request message contains the identity of MS and indicates which service MS is requesting. The layer 3 service request messages are categorized into CM service requests, location update requests, IMSI detach, and paging responses. These messages contain the IMSI, detailed access cause, and classmarks.

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NOTE

HUAWEI BSC6000 Base Station Subsystem BSS Signaling Analysis Guide

The main DCCH is the primary signaling channel and is generally the SDCCH, FACCH, and SACCH.

7.

The BTS responds with a UA frame on the main DCCH. The UA frame is an unnumbered acknowledge frame of the LAPDm protocol at the data link layer. It confirms the SABM frame. When the Channel Request messages sent by two MSs have the same contents, the two MSs may be assigned the same dedicated channel. Upon receiving the SABM frame, the BTS sends the MS a UA frame that contains the same information as the received SABM frame. If the IMSI contained in the SABM frame is different from that in the UA frame, the MS leaves this channel and starts another access attempt. If the IMSI contained in the SABM frame is the same as that in the UA frame, the MS stays on the assigned channel.

8.

The BTS sends the BSC an Establish Indication message. This Establish Indication message indicates the establishment of a radio connection in multi-frame mode and contains parameters Link Identifier and L3 Information. The Link Identifier parameter identifies the signaling channel type and the message priority of SAPI and SAPI 0. The L3 Information parameter is a complete L3 message.

4.2 Internal BSC Signaling Procedure of Immediate Assignment

This topic describes the internal BSC signaling procedure of immediate assignment.
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Upon receiving the Channel Required message from the BTS, the BSC assigns a signaling channel according to the specified channel type and channel algorithm. During random access, upon receiving the Establish Indication message from the BTS, the BSC sends the MSC a CM Service Request message that carries the target CGI based on the MCC, MNC, LAC, and CI parameters in the Cell Attributes window.

4.3 Abnormal Immediate Assignment Cases

This topic describes the abnormal immediate assignment cases. 4.3.1 Failure in Receiving an Establish Indication Message After Channel Activation This topic describes the fault, probable causes, and handling suggestions. 4.3.2 BSC Sending an Immediate Assignment Reject Message This topic describes the fault, probable causes, and handling suggestions.

4.3.1 Failure in Receiving an Establish Indication Message After Channel Activation

This topic describes the fault, probable causes, and handling suggestions.

Fault
The BSC sends the MS an Immediate Assignment Command message but does not receive an Establish Indication message from the BTS.
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Probable Causes
The probable causes are as follows: 1. The design of the MS does not comply with the protocols. The MS sends the Channel Request message for many times and the BSS assigns and activates multiple signaling channels. Even when the BSS is functional, the MS may send several Channel Request messages during one RR connection attempt. The BSS activates multiple signaling channels, but the MS uses only one of them. The BSC cannot receive the Establish Indication messages from other channels and therefore releases the channel after timer T3101 expires. If the number of slots for spread transmission (Tx-integer) is set properly, the reason may be that the BTS receives the uplink signals correctly but the MS cannot receive the downlink signals. Meanwhile, as indicated in the signaling tracing on the Um interface on the MS side, the BSC does not receive a response message from the BTS after sending a Channel Request message. The Tx-integer and the CCCH are not set correctly. The settings of the Tx-integer and the CCCH affect the interval at which an MS resends the Channel Request messages.

2.

3.

Handling Suggestions
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Use another MS to determine whether the problem lies in the MS itself. Check whether the received level and received quality on the uplink and downlink are normal. If the MS is near the BTS, but the received level and received quality is low, check whether the antenna system, MS antenna, and MS battery are functional. Check whether the Tx-integer and the CCCH are set correctly.

4.3.2 BSC Sending an Immediate Assignment Reject Message

This topic describes the fault, probable causes, and handling suggestions.

Fault
Upon receiving the Channel Required message, the BSC sends the MS an Immediate Assignment Reject message.

Probable Causes
The probable causes are as follows: 1. 2. The BSC finds no suitable signaling channel, that is, a SDCCH or a TCH, to assign to the MS. This is because that the channels are busy or blocked. Upon receiving a Channel Activation message, the BTS sends the BSC many Channel Activation Negative Acknowledge messages.

Handling Suggestions
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Check whether the channels are busy or blocked and whether the TRXs are functional. Add TRXs to the BTS, modify the access threshold, and enable the directed retry. Check whether the channel states on the BSC and the BTS are the same. If not, you can infer that the transmission on the Abis interface is unstable. Check also the BTS boards.
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