BSC3153 Nokia GSM/EDGE BSS, Rel. BSS13, BSC and TCSM, Rel. S13, Product Documentation, v.

Robust AMR Signalling

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Contents

Contents
Contents 3 1 2 3 4 4.1 4.2 5 6 Overview of Robust AMR Signalling 5 Requirements for Robust AMR Signalling 7 Technical description of Robust AMR Signalling 9 Functionality of Robust AMR Signalling 11 Triggering conditions for FACCH/SACCH repetition and power increment 11 Measurement reporting and averaging parameters with SACCH repetition 12 Effect of Robust AMR Signalling on interfaces 13 User interface of Robust AMR Signalling 15

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Overview of Robust AMR Signalling

Overview of Robust AMR Signalling

Low-rate AMR FR codecs provide satisfactory speech quality in radio channels whose carrier-to-interference ratio (C/I) is up to 4 dB worse than that needed to give reliable operation of the FACCH and SACCH control channels. This results in calls being dropped even though their speech quality is still acceptable. The effective C/I for downlink FACCH and uplink/downlink SACCH can be improved by increasing the base station (BTS) Tx power for FACCH, or by repeating the FACCH/SACCH block. Robust AMR Signalling (BSS20872) is a licence-based application software product that consists of four separately controlled features:
.

FACCH and SACCH repetition for repeated ACCH capable mobiles on AMR From 3GPP Release 6 onwards, the mobile stations (MSs) and BTSs can ask for SACCH frames to be repeated exactly on transmit, so that the original frame and its repeat can be decoded together using incremental redundancy (soft combining) type decode, similar to the incremental redundancy defined for EGPRS data. The transmit repeat and incremental redundancy on decode can also be used with downlink FACCH frames. FACCH and SACCH repetition improve the C/I up to 4 dB.

FACCH repetition for legacy mobiles on AMR FR FACCH repetition for legacy mobiles on AMR HR For legacy MSs (Release 5 or older), the downlink FACCH can be repeated to give the MS two chances to decode the FACCH before each link timeout and retry of the protocol.

FACCH power increment

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For legacy MSs (Release 5 or older), the BTS Tx power for downlink AMR FACCH bursts can be increased by 2 dB up to the maximum transmission power of the BTS (Pmax). FACCH repetition and power increment together provide an improvement of up to 4 dB in C/I for FACCH decode. Benefits of Robust AMR Signalling
.

reduced dropped call rate in heavily loaded networks increased coverage, including in-building coverage, in lightly loaded networks FACCH and SACCH repetition improve the C/I by up to 4 dB.

Related topics
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Feature descriptions . Radio network performance . Enhanced Speech Codecs: AMR and EFR Install and upgrade . Software . Licensing in BSC Test and activate . Radio network performance . Activating and Testing BSS20872: Robust AMR Signalling Reference . Commands . MML commands . EE - Base Station Controller Parameter Handling in BSC . Counters/performance indicators . Call control measurements (CS) . 112 AMR Signalling Measurement . Parameters . BSS Radio Network Parameter Dictionary

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Requirements for Robust AMR Signalling

Requirements for Robust AMR Signalling

Software requirements

Table 1.

Required software Software release required

S13 EP2.0 CX6.0 CXM6.0 Not supported Not supported Not applicable Not applicable OSS4.2

Network element
BSC Nokia Flexi EDGE BTSs Nokia UltraSite EDGE BTSs Nokia MetroSite EDGE BTSs Nokia Talk-family BTSs Nokia InSite BTSs MSC/HLR SGSN Nokia NetAct

Table Required software shows the earliest version that supports Robust AMR Signalling. Hardware requirements

Table 2.

Required hardware Hardware requirements

No requirements. UltraSite and MetroSite TRXs have to be EDGE-capable or equipped with an EDGE-capable baseband unit. No requirements.

Network element
BSC BTS

TCSM

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Table 2.

Required hardware (cont.) Hardware requirements

No requirements.

Network element
SGSN

Frequency band support The BSC supports Robust AMR Signalling on the following frequency bands:
.

GSM 800 GSM 900 GSM 1800 GSM 1900

End-user equipment 3GPP Release 6 compliant MS is required for SACCH repetition. Although any MS can be used for FACCH repetition, only a Release 6 compliant MS can derive the full benefit from it.

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Technical description of Robust AMR Signalling

Technical description of Robust AMR Signalling

Interworking

AMR Full Rate and AMR Half Rate

Although you can enable the four features that comprise Robust AMR Signalling whenever the Robust AMR Signalling feature has been installed, they are in use only if AMR Full Rate, AMR Half Rate, or both are enabled, as illustrated in the following table.

Table 3.

Relationship between Robust AMR Signalling features and AMR FR/ HR AMR requirement
AMR FR AMR HR AMR FR or AMR HR (or both) AMR FR or AMR HR (or both)

Feature
FACCH repetition for legacy mobiles on AMR FR FACCH repetition for legacy mobiles on AMR HR FACCH and SACCH repetition for repeated ACCH capable mobiles on AMR FACCH power increment

FACCH repetition is possible only if the codec mode 4.75 kbit/s is the lowest one in the active AMR HR codec set and either 4.75, 5.15, or 5.9 is the lowest one in the AMR FR codec set.

Early classmark sending

The BSC has to know the repeated ACCH capability of the MS before sending a CHANNEL ACTIVATION message to the BTS. The capability is indicated in the Mobile Station Classmark 3 information element that the MS sends on the SDCCH if the value of the segment-specific parameter early sending indication (ESI) is Y (Yes).

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If the BSC does not receive the information before sending the CHANNEL ACTIVATION message, it considers the MS to be incapable of ACCH repetition.

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Functionality of Robust AMR Signalling

4
4.1

Functionality of Robust AMR Signalling

Triggering conditions for FACCH/SACCH repetition and power increment
FACCH repetition and FACCH power increment for legacy MS FACCH repetition and/or power increment is triggered if the MS requests the lowest downlink codec, which for AMR FR calls is either 4.75, 5.15, or 5.9 kbit/s, and for AMR HR calls 4.75 kbit/s. The retransmission of the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message, following the expiry of the timer T3105, is also a trigger. Note that FACCH repetition is enabled separately for AMR HR and AMR FR. Power increment only applies when the Tx power used for the call is less than the maximum power capability of the TRX (TRXmax). Furthermore, since the BCCH carrier power level must remain constant, the power increment applies only to FACCH bursts sent on non-BCCH carriers. If the BCCH power level is less than TRXmax, then the FACCHs may be sent at a power level that is 2 dB higher than the BCCH power level. FACCH repetition for Rel. 6 compliant MS FACCH repetition is triggered if the MS requests the lowest downlink codec, which for AMR FR calls is either 4.75, 5.15, or 5.9 kbit/s, and for AMR HR calls 4.75 kbit/s. For AMR HR calls, the expiry of the timer T200 for the frame is also required. The retransmission of the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message, following the expiry of the timer T3105, is also a trigger.

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SACCH repetition for Rel. 6 compliant MS In the downlink direction, SACCH repetition is triggered if a Rel.6 compliant MS requests for SACCH frames to be repeated. In the uplink direction, triggering SACCH repetition depends on the number of uplink SACCH single decode block errors and the value of the SACCH Repeat Window (SRW) parameter. If the value of the parameter is 1, a decoding failure of a SACCH block means that a repeat command is sent to the MS in the next downlink SACCH block. Values 2 to 15 can be used to define the number of consecutive SACCH blocks that can contain two decoding failures before a repeat command is sent to the MS. For example, if the value is 3 and the BTS fails to decode two of the preceding three blocks, it commands the MS to repeat a SACCH block.

4.2

Measurement reporting and averaging parameters with SACCH repetition

When the BTS fails to decode the uplink SACCH and therefore cannot receive the MEASUREMENT REPORT message from the MS, it sends only the uplink measurements to the BSC in the MEASUREMENT RESULT message for that SACCH period. With uplink SACCH repetition, the MS resends the same MEASUREMENT REPORT message during the next SACCH period. Because the BTS cannot determine whether the message sent by the MS is the same or a new one, it always sends the MEASUREMENT REPORT message to the BSC when it is correctly decoded. This may cause the same report to be used twice in the averaging of serving and adjacent cells.

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Effect of Robust AMR Signalling on interfaces

Effect of Robust AMR Signalling on interfaces

Radio interface The Repeated ACCH Capability field of the Mobile Station Classmark 3 information element in the CLASSMARK UPDATE message indicates whether the MS supports FACCH/SACCH repetition. Abis interface The optional ACCH Control information element in the CHANNEL ACTIVATION message is used by the BSC to inform the BTS whether it can use FACCH/SACCH repetition or FACCH power increment during the call. The AMR Signalling Data Information field in the Uplink Measurements information element in the MEASUREMENT RESULT message contains information on the preceding SACCH period. This information includes the following:
.

whether uplink SACCH was decoded using soft combining whether the MS requested downlink SACCH repetition whether the BTS ordered uplink SACCH repetition whether the BTS repeated a downlink SACCH frame the number of downlink FACCH blocks that were repeated the number of downlink FACCH blocks that were not repeated.

The Uplink Measurements information element also contains the BTS's estimation whether the MS used discontinuous transmission (DTX) in the reporting period and information on the validity of the estimation.

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A interface No effect. Gb interface No effect.

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User interface of Robust AMR Signalling

User interface of Robust AMR Signalling

Parameters The following BSC radio network object parameter is used for handling Robust AMR Signalling:
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SACCH repeat window (SRW)

MMLs
.

Base Station Controller Parameter Handling in BSC (EE)

The following commands are used for handling Robust AMR Signalling: EEO, EEQ

Licence and Feature Handling (W7)

Counters

112 AMR Signalling Measurement contains the counters related to Robust AMR Signalling. These counters are updated according to the information received in the AMR Signalling Data Information field in the Uplink Measurements information element in the MEASUREMENT RESULT message
Number
112000 112001 112002 112003 112004 112005

Name
TCH SEIZURES FOR REP ACCH CAPABLE MS UL SACCH FRAME SOFT COMBININGS REPEATED DL SACCH FRAMES UL SACCH REPETITION REQUESTS REPEATED DL FACCH BLOCKS NON REPEATED DL FACCH BLOCKS

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For more information, see 112 AMR Signalling Measurement under Reference/Counters/performance indicators in the PDF view.

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