GSM System Information

ISSUE

Course Contents

System Information Overview Parameters Introduction Case Study

System Information Overview

System information (SYS INFO) contains network parameters sent to MS through Um interface
network identity parameters, cell selection parameters system control parameters network function parameters

System information can be sent through two kinds of logical channels

System information on BCCH System information on SACCH

SYS INFO 1
SYS INFO 1
It contains random access control information (RACH) and cell frequency allocation table (i.e. CA table). It is transmitted on BCCH.

Content
SYS INFO 1 Cell Channel Description (cell channel description format) RACH Control Parameter (random access channel control parameter)

SYS INFO 1 - Control Parameter

These control parameters include:
Maximum re-transmitting times (MAX retrans) Extended transmission timeslots (Tx_interger) Common access control level (AC) Call reestablish permitted (RE) Emergency call permitted (EC)

 SYS INFO 2 It contains access control information (RACH), network color code
permitted (NCC Permitted), and neighbor cell frequency allocation list (BA1 list). It is transmitted on BCCH. Generally speaking, SYS INFO 2, 2BIS, 2TER contains different parts of the neighbor cell BCCH frequencies. Via reading and decoding BA1 list, MS can perform cell reselection in idle mode. For a MS of GSM900 PHASE I, it only reads the neighbor cell BCCH frequencies defined in SYS INFO 2, and ignores those carried by 2BIS and 2TER.

SYS INFO 2

Conten t SYS INFO 2

Neighbor cell BCCH frequency description NCC permitted RACH Control Parameter

SYS INFO 2BIS

SYS INFO 2BIS
2BIS contains RACH control data and neighbor cell BCCH frequencies (part of BA1 list). It is optional and transmitted on BCCH. As the number of frequencies in BA1 list carried by SYS INFO 2 is limited, SYS INFO 2BIS carries the rest of the BCCH frequencies in the BA1 list that are from the same band as in SYS INFO 2.

Content
SYS INFO 2BIS Neighbor Cell Desc. RACH Control Parameter (Same as those in SYS INFO 1.)

SYS INFO 2TER

SYS INFO 2TER

2TER contains neighbor BCCH frequencies (part of BA1 list). It is transmitted on BCCH. Only dual band MS can read this information, and single band 900 or 1800 MS will ignore it. Since this information carries BCCH frequencies that belong to different band other than those in SYS INFO 2, it is unnecessary for single band MS to read.

Conte nt

SYS INFO 2TER - - Neighbor Cell Description (extended)

SYS INFO 3
SYS INFO 3
It contains LAI, cell identity, RACH control parameters and cell selection related parameters. It is transmitted on BCCH. It is one of the most important information.

Content
SYS INFO 3 - - Cell Identity - - LAI( location area identity) - - Control Channel Description - - Cell OptionBCCH - - Cell Selection Parameter - - RACH Control Parameter

Cell Identity and Location Area Identity

Cell Global Identity (CGI) consists of Location Area Identity (LAI) and Cell Identity (CI). And LAI includes Mobile Country Code (MCC), Mobile Network Code (MNC), and Location Area Code (LAC). SYS INFO 3, 6, and 4 contain all or part of the information of CGI. According to the received SYS INFO, MS decodes the CGI, and decide whether it can register in the network based on the MCC and MNC indicated by CGI. At the same time, it can judge whether the current location area is changed, so as to decide whether it is necessary to start the location updating process.

Control Channel Description

Control channel description includes the following parameters
IMSI Attach-Detach Allowed (ATT) Common Control Channel Configuration (CCCH_CONF) Access Granted Blocks Reserved (BS_AG_BLKS_RES) Paging Channel Multi-frames (BS_PA_MFRAMES) Periodic Location Update Timer (T3212)

Cell Option
Cell option contains the following parameters:
Power control indication (PWRC) Discontinuous transmission (DTX) Radio link timeout

Cell Selection Parameter

Cell selection parameters indicate how the MS should behave after the MS is powered on. It includes the following parameters:
Cell Reselection Hysteresis (CRH) Maximum power level of control channel (MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH) Minimum receiving level of MS permitted to access (RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN) Additional reselection parameter indicator (ACS) Half-rate supported (Support Half-Rate)

SYS INFO 4
SYS INFO 4 It consists LAI, RACH control parameters, cell selection parameters
and optional CBCH channel information. It is transmitted on BCCH. When the system supports cell broadcast function, CBCH together with the CBCH MA describe the configuration of CBCH and the relevant frequency information.

Content
SYS INFO 4 - - LAI - - Cell Selection Parameters - - RACH Control Parameters - - CBCH Channel Description (optional) - - CBCH Mobile Allocation (optional) - - SI4 Rest Octets (parameters related to cell reselection)

CBCH Channel Description and CBCH MA

These two parameters are optional. When system supports cell broadcast, CBCH Channel Description explains the CBCH channel configuration situation. When CBCH Channel is in frequency hopping mode, CBCH MA is also needed.

SI4 Rest Octets

It contains the following parameters:
Cell Reselection Parameter Indicator (PI) Cell Bar Qualify (CBQ) Cell Bar Access (CBA) Cell Reselect Offset (CRO) Temporary Offset (TO) Penalty Time (PT)

SYS INFO 5
SYS INFO 5
It describes the neighbor cell BCCH frequencies(BA2 list). It is mandatory and is transmitted on SACCH. Different from SYS INFO 2, MS can read the frequency described in SYS INFO 5 in dedicated mode, report the relevant information of neighbor cells in measurement reports, and use it as the basis for handover. Similarly, for 900 MS of PHASE 1, it only recognizes the neighbor cell frequencies described by SYS INFO 5, and ignores those carried by SYS INFO 5BIS and 5TER.

Conte nt

SYS INFO 5 - - Neighbor Cell Description

SYS INFO 5BIS

SYS INFO 5BIS

5BIS describes neighbor cells BCCH frequencies.These frequencies are part of BA2 list. It is optional and is transmitted on SACCH. Generally, as the number of frequencies which can be described by SYS INFO 5 is limited, SYS INFO 5BIS carries the rest BCCH frequencies in the BA2 which belong to the same band as SYS INFO 5.

Content
SYS INFO 5BIS - - Neighbor Cell Description

SYS INFO 5TER

SYS INFO 5TER describes neighbor cells BCCH frequencies, these 5TER
frequencies are also a part of the BA2 list. It is transmitted on SACCH. Similarly, only dual band MS can read this information, and single band GSM900 or GSM1800 MS will ignore it. It carries the BCCH frequencies of neighbor cells whose band are different from the serving cells.

Conte nt SYS INFO 5TER - - Neighbor Cell Description (Extended)

SYS INFO 6

SYS INFO 6

It describes LAI, cell identity, and some parameters describing the cells functions. It is transmitted on SACCH. It is also one of the most important system information.

Content
SYS INFO 6 - - Cell Identity - - LAI - - Cell Option - - NCC Permitted

Course Contents

System Information Overview Parameters Introduction Case Study

Introduction to SYS INFO Parameters

Huawei GSM System Information Parameters:
Network Identity Parameters System Control Parameters Cell Selection Parameters Network Functional Parameters

Network Identity Parameter CGI

Network identity parameters mainly include cell global identity (CGI) and base station identity code (BSIC). CGI=MCC+MNC+LAC+CI
Once MS receives SYS INFO, it decodes the CGI information, and decides whether it can stay in the cell according to the MCC and MNC indicated by CGI. At the same time, it judges whether the current location area is changed, so as to decide whether to execute location update. During the location update process, MS will report the new LAI to the network, so that the network can know the LA in which MS is currently located.

Network Identity Parameter BSIC

BSIC=NCC+BCC
In GSM system, each BTS is allocated with a color code, which is called BSIC. MS can identify two cells with the same BCCH by the help of BSIC. In network planning, effort should be made to make sure that BCCH of neighbor cells are different from the serving cells BCCH to reduce the interference. Practically it is still possible that a same BCCH is re-used in the surrounding cells. For cells using the same BCCH in a relevant near distance, their BSIC must be different so that MS can identify two neighbor cells with same BCCH.

Mobile Country CodeMCC

Definit ion MCC consists of 3 decimal numbers. It

indicates the home country of the mobile subscriber.

For MCC is composed of 3 decimal numbers. The mat

coding range is decimal 000-999.

Mobile Network CodeMNC

Definit ion MNC is used to uniquely identify a specific GSM

PLMN network in a certain country (decided by MCC).

For MNC is composed of two decimal numbers. The mat

coding range is decimal 00-99.

Location Area CodeLAC

Definit To ion locate the location of MS, the whole area covered
by each GSM PLMN is divided into different location areas. LAC is used to identify different location areas.

For LAI contains LAC, which is composed of two bytes. mat

LAC adopts hexadecimal coding. The available range is from 0001H to FFFEH. The code 0000H and FFFFH cannot be used (please refer to specification GSM0303, 0408, and 1111). One location area can contain one or more cells.

Cell IdentityCI

Definit To uniquely identify each cell in the GSM PLMN, the ion
network operator needs to allocate one code for each cell, which is the cell identity (CI). Cell identity, together with LAI, is used for identity of each cell in the world. (specification 0303).

For mat CI is composed of 16 bits, The available range is

from 0 to 65535.

Network Color CodeNCC

Definit NCC is a part of BSIC. MS uses it to distinguish ion

adjacent BTS that belong to different GSM PLMN.

For NCC is composed of 3 bits, with mat

the range of 0 to 7.

BS Color CodeBCC

Definit ion BCC is a part of BSIC. For its function, please

refer to above sections.

For BCC is composed of 3 bits. The mat

available range is from 0 to 7.

System Control Parameters

ATT CCCH_CONF BS_AG_BLKS_RES BS_PAMFRAMES T3212 Radio Link Timeout Neighbor Cell Description NCC Allowed

MS MAX Retrans TX-Integer Common Access Control Class MBR ECSC Power Deviation Indication Power Deviation

ATT

Value range: Yes, No ContentIt is used to inform MS whether IMSI attach-detach

is allowed in this cell. If it is set to Yes, the network will not process the connection to the called mobile subscriber when MS is power-off. Thus network processing time and radio resources are saved. Otherwise the network will process the connection even though the MS has been powered off. RecommendationYes

CCCH_CONF
Value range: 1 Non-Compounding CCCH, 1 Compounding
CCCH, 2 Non-Compounding CCCHs, 3 Non-compounding CCCHs, 4 Non-compounding CCCHs. Content: It is Common Control Channel Configuration. CCCH configuration determines the capacity of PCH, AGCH and RACH. This parameter can be automatically configured by the BSC Data Auto Configuration System according to the TRX channel configuration. Recommendation: When there is one TRX in the cell, one combined CCCH is recommended (in a system with few paging messages in location area). For others, it is configured according to the number of TRX in the cell.

BS_AG_BLKS_RES

Value range: 0~2 (1 combined CCCH), 0~7 (others) Unit: Block Content: It is also called Access Granted Blocks
Reserved. It is the number of CCCH channel message blocks that are reserved in one multi-frame for access granted channels (AGCH). Recommendation: 2 (non-combined CCCH)

BS_PA_MFRAMES

Value range: 29 Unit: Multi-frame period (51 frames) Content: It is Paging Channel Multi-frames. It defines the
number of multi-frames used as a cycle of paging subchannels. Recommendation: 2

T3212

Value range: 0~255 Unit: 6 minutes Content: It is the Periodic Location Update Timer. It
defines the interval of periodic location update. Recommendation: 30 (for urban area), 20 (for suburban area)

Application of T3212

LA C Ping-pong Reselect A T3212= 4 B T3212= 8

Even if T3212 setting is less than the system (MSC) query time, the system will still sometimes voice The subscriber you dialed is powered off.

Radio Link Timeout

Value range: 4~64, the step size is 4 Unit: SACCH period (480ms) Content: This parameter is used for MS to decide downlink disconnection in case of SACCH decoding failures. Recommendation: 20~56

Application of Radio Link Timeout

Poor coverage

P A

Q B

Impact of radio link timeout

Neighbor Cell Description

There are table BA1 and table BA2. Table BA1 describes BCCH frequencies of the adjacent cells to be measured when the MS is in idle mode. Table BA2 describes BCCH frequencies of the adjacent cells to be measured when the MS is in dedicated mode.

Application of Neighbor Cell Description

B A D C A

B C D
Actual Neighbor Cells

Theoretical Neighbor Cells

Application of Neighbor Cell Description

B
A

NCC Allowed

Value range: Check box, including options 0~7. Content: Network Color Code, sent in system information 2
and 6. It lists NCC that need be measured by MS. If a neighbor cells NCC is permitted, MS will report MRs of it to the network. Recommendation: Subject to the concrete conditions.

MS MAX Retrans
Value range: 1, 2, 4, 7 Unit: Time Content: It is one of the random access control parameters. MS
MAX Retrans is the upper limit of times that MS is allowed to send Channel Request in one immediate assignment procedure.

Recommendation:
Set to 7 for areas with low traffic (suburban or rural area) and the cell radius more than 3 km. Set to 4 for areas with ordinary traffic (non-busy area in the city) and the cell radius is less than 3km. Set to 2 for micro-cell Set to 1 for micro-cell with heavy traffic or with obvious congestion. Set to 4 or 7 for satellite transmission BTS.

TX-Integer

Value range: 3~12, 14, 16, 20, 25, 32, 50 Unit: RACH timeslot (equals to a TDMA frame, 4.615ms) Content: Used to calculate the number of timeslots in the interval
between multiple channel requests sent by MS. Recommendation: 20 (If the cell immediate assignment success rate is low, set the S with a larger value. Select 32 for satellite transmission, so as to reduce satellite transmission delay).

Calculation of S

T 3 , 8 14 5 , , 0 4 9 1 , , 6 5 10 2 , , 0 6 11 2 , , 5 7 12 3 , , 2

S
Combined CCCH Non-combined CCCH

5 5 7 6 10 9 16 3 21 7

4 1 5 2 5 8 8 6 11 5

Common Access Control Class

Value range: Check box, including level 0 forbidden,lever 1

forbidden,, till level 9 forbidden Content: One of the parameters of random access control information. It is used for load control of ordinary subscribers, to permit or forbid the network access of some common level users. 1 stands for forbidden and 0 for permitted. Recommendation: 0000000000

Special Access Control Class

Value range: Check box, including level 11 forbidden,level12

forbidden,, till level 15 forbidden Content: It is used for load control, permitting or forbidding the network access of some special level users. 1 stands for forbidden and 0 for permitted. Recommendation: 00000

MBR

Value range: 0~3 Content: Multi-band Reporting. It is used to inform MS

to report the adjacent cells in a controllable way. It is sent in the System Information 2ter and 5ter.

Application of MBR

ECSC

Value range: Yes, No Content: Early Classmark Sending Control. It indicates if an

MS in the cell is allowed to use early Classmark sending. See Protocol 0408. Recommendation: No.

Cell Selection Parameter

CBQ(Cell Bar Qualify) CBA (Cell Bar Access) MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN PI (Cell Reselect Parameters Indication) CRO(Cell Reselection Offset) TO(Temporary Offset) PT(Penalty Time) CRH( Cell Reselection Hysteresis)

Cell Selection Process

There are two kinds of cell selection.
Normal cell selection Stored list cell selection

In fact, the process might be different for different MSs

Cell Reselection Process

Cell reselection for cells in same location area
If the C2 value of the target cell is higher than that of the serving cell for longer than 5 seconds, a cell reselection process will be performed and the MS tunes to the new cell.

Cell reselection for cells in different location areas

If the C2 value of the target cell is higher than that of the serving cell by at least the value of CRH for longer than 5 seconds, a location update process and the cell reselection process will be performed.

Two consecutive cell reselections caused by C2 have a time interval of 15 seconds. In other words to say, if because of C2 a MS reselected to a cell, then the MS cannot reselect to another cell by the cause of C2 within 15 seconds. If current serving cell is prohibited, or down link fails, or C1 is less than 0 continuously for 5s, cell reselection will also be triggered. MS starts a cell reselection if the access times exceed the MAX retrans .

CBQ

Value range: Yes(1) , No(0) Unit: None Content: Cell Bar Qualify. CBQ only affects the
selection of cells but is not related to cell reselection. It works with CBA to define the access priorities of cells. Recommendation: No.

CBA

Value range: Yes, No Content: Cell Bar Access, worked together with CBQ to set
the priority status of the cell in idle mode for cell selection and reselection. Recommendation: Yes

Application of CBQ

The traffic of cell A and B is heavy. Set these two cells with CBA=No, CBQ=No.

Application of CBA

A B

B is a micro cell. Set B to Normal and A to Low.

Application of CBA

D B C

CBQ(A) = NO CBA(A) = NO

MS TXPWR_MAX_CCH

Value range: 0~31 Unit: level Content: This parameter determines the maximum
allowed output power of the MS when it begins to access a cell and has not yet received power control command. Recommendation: 5(900MHz), 0(1800MHz)

RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN

Value range: 0~63 Unit: Level Content: It means the minimum receive signal level
required for MS to access a cell. Recommendation: 8

PI

Value range: Yes (1), No (0). Unit: None Content: Cell Reselect Parameters Indication, sent on
the broadcast channel of the cell. It is an indication to the existence of Cell Reselect Offset(CRO), Temporary Offset(TO) and Penalty Time(PT). Recommendation: Yes.

CRO

Value range: 0~63, the corresponding level value:

0~126dB, stepped every 2dB. Unit: None Content: Cell Reselect Offset. It is a parameter in C2 calculation to give an intentional modification in MS cell reselection. Recommendation: 0

TO

Value range: 0~7 , the corresponding value is 0~60dB, 7

corresponds to Infinite. Unit: None Content: Cell Reselect Temporary Offset. It is a parameter in C2 criterion to give a temporary modification within PT time. Recommendation: 0

PT

Value range: 0~31, the corresponding time is 20~620s.

31 is to change the formula of C2. Unit: None Content: Cell Reselect Penalty Time. Recommendation: 0

CRH

Value range: 0~14 , the step size is 2 Unit: dB Content: Cell Reselection Hysteresis. It is the parameter
used when cell reselection happens between two location areas. Recommendation: 4

Network Function Parameter

PWRC (Power Control Permitted) UL DTX (Uplink Discontinuous Transmission) Support Half-Rate (New-Establishment Cause Indication) Call Re-establishment Allowed (RE) EC Allowed (Emergency Call Allowed)

PWRC
Value range: Yes, No. Unit: None Content: It is used to indicate MS weather to reduce received level value obtained from the timeslots of BCCH when MS measures receiving level during base band hopping mode. When it is set to No, it means the influence of receiving level on BCCH is not in consideration. If it is set to Yes, process it in the way mentioned above. Recommendation: Yes

UL DTX

Value range: May use, Shall use, Shall not use. Unit: None Content: It is used to indicate whether MS uses DTX
function. In System Information 3, it is 2-bit coding. In System Information 6, it is 3-bit coding. It shows the DTX state of the MS in the previous measurement period. Recommendation: Shall use.

Support Half-Rate

Value range: Yes, No. Unit: None Content: Informing MS whether half-rate service are
supported in the cell.

Call Re-establishment Allowed

Value range: Yes, No Unit: None Content: Informing MS whether call reestablishment is
allowed or not.

Recommendation: No

EC Allowed

Value range: Yes, No Unit: None Content: Emergence Call Allowed . When EC
Allowed is set to Yes, it means emergency call is permitted. Otherwise it is prohibited. Recommendation: Yes.

Others in Data Configuration System

System Information Usage Regular Transmission Regular Transmission Interval

System Information Usage

Value Range: It is a check box, including system information

1~12, 2bis, 2ter, 5bis, 5ter, 10bis. Unit: None Content: It is used to determine whether a type of system information should be sent. A selected box means to send. Recommendation: Select system information 1~6, 2bis, 2ter, 5bis, 5ter

Regular Transmission
Value range: Yes, No Unit: None Content: It shows whether BSC chooses to update system
information contents transmitted by BTS. If it is Yes, BSC will send system information to BTS at a certain interval (it is decided by Regular Transmission Interval). Otherwise, system information can only be updated manually by using BSC maintenance system. Recommendation: Yes

Regular Transmission Interval

Value range: 0~255 Unit: Minute Content: It stipulates the time interval that BSC
updates system information to BTS. Recommendation: 10 minutes

Course Contents

System Information Overview Parameters Introduction Case Study

Case Study
Case 1: Island effect Description Case
During the process of optimization in a certain area, it is found out that the signal is poor in a certain section of suburban highway. The signal strength measured is less than -95dBm.

Handling Procedure
Modify the data in BSC. Add neighbor relationship to Cell A and B for each other. The coverage problem is thus solved.

B -9 2

-8 0

-9 5

Case Study
Case 2: Incorrect CGI causes MS unable to register on the network. Case description
The subscriber complained that MS could not register to the network, or it was difficult to register to the network between BTS A and B, or no network mark was displayed on the MS, but MS indicated that the signal was very good. Some subscribers also complained that MS could make MTC could not make MOC.

Cause analysis
CGI of the cell was modified. So the network register flow was not normal. Although the signal was very good, MS could not get registered in the network.

Recommendation and summary

CGI is a very important parameter and should be configured correctly, thus to ensured that the CGI data in BSC and MSC are the same.

Case Study
Case 3: RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN causes signal fluctuation. Case description
Subscribers complain that the signal fluctuates in a certain area. Onsite test shows that this phenomenon does exist. From the testing mobile, we can see that there are a lot of cells signals in this area. Some frequencies are the suburb BTS signals far away from this area. The cell reselection of MS is rather frequent.

Handling procedure
Modify parameter RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN of all cells in urban area and make them consistent with each other. The problem of signal fluctuation is solved.

Recommendation and summary

In area with complicated coverage, the RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN of each cell should be kept same.

Case Study
Case 4Too small T3212 causes MS lose connection with network.
Case description
A local GSM network has more than 6000 subscribers. There are four BTSs. The network has been working properly. But from sometime on, some MS often lost connection with network suddenly. The complaint from subscribers in urban area increased.

Handling procedure
Modify T3212 to 10, i.e. 60 minutes. Modify the corresponding time of MSC to 180 minutes. Two days observation shows no subscriber complaint and the problem is solved.