Bearer Independent Call Control - BICC

Switching Core Network Signalling M14/U4

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Document change history

Date Version Name Change comment

March 3, 08

Pubate Satienpoch

Revised and update from M13 to M14/U4

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Bearer Independent Call Control - BICC

- BICC is call control protocol designed to transport call control signalling information,
independent of - used bearer technology (e.g. IP, ATM) - signalling message transport technology (e.g. MTP, MTP3b, SIGTRAN)
BICC MTP3 MTP2 MTP1 MTP3b SAAL ATM M3UA SCTP IP

- Separate set of procedure for call control signalling and bearer control signalling
- Call Control Signalling - Bearer Control Signalling
: BICC (based on ISUP) : e.g. AAL2SIG, IPBCP

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BICC functional block

Call Control
Signalling SN Call Control Signalling

CMN

Call Control Signalling

SN

Call Control Signalling

CSF

CSF

CSF

Call Bearer Control Signalling (CBC)

Call Bearer Control

Signalling (CBC)

Bearer Control Signalling

BIWF BCF

Bearer Control Signalling

Bearer Control Signalling

BIWF BCF

Bearer Control Signalling

Bearer

Bearer

SN : Serving Node Call Service Function (CSF) with associated Bearer Control Function (BCF) CMN : Call Mediation Node CSF without associated BCF BIWF : Bearer Inter-working Function, provides BCF and media mapping/switching function

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BICC in 3GPP R4
In 3GPP Rel. 4, the user plane (bearer) and the control plane (signalling and
call control) are separated. MGW takes care of the user plane and MSS controls it. BICC is to be implemented at Nc interface between MSC servers and MSSGCS CBC (Call Bearer Control) signalling is implemented at Mc interface between MSC server and MGW.
BICC CS-2 MSC IP Server/ GCS Nc H.248 IP Mc H.248 IP Sigtran IP

MSC Server Sigtran IP Mc

AAL2/AAL5 ATM Nb
MGW RTP IP MGW

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BICC in 3GPP R4
The vertical interface MGW-MSS (Mc in 3GPP) uses H.248 to convey the
bearer-related information. The needed bearer-information is transferred between MSSs in BICC through APM-mechanism
Bearer information carried in signalling messages
MSC Server IAM Bearer cntr Bearer cntr BICC Sigtran 192.168.3.2/5964 MGW MGW M3UA SCTP IP MSC Server . . IP address: 192.168.3.2 Port: 5964 Codec: AMR mode 7 . . .

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Two ways to establish a bearer

1) Use separate bearer control signalling (ATM) 2) Tunnel bearer information in call control messages (IP)

MSS

Call Control Signalling BICC or SIP

MSS
In IP backbone, no separate bearer signalling is used. The information about the bearer is tunneled in H.248 and SIP or BICC via the MSC Servers. IPBCP is used.

H.248

H.248 In ATM backbone, bearer is established via separate bearer control signalling. AAL2 signalling is used. Bearer Control Signalling AAL2 signalling

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MGW
Presentation / Author / Date / Document Number

MGW

Bearer Establishment
Different alternatives for bearer establishment between MGWs are,

(Tunneled) Fast Forward setup [IP] (Tunneled) Delayed Forward setup [IP] (Tunneled) Delayed Backward setup [IP] (Non-tunneled) Per-call bearer setup in forward direction [ATM] (Non-tunneled) Per-call bearer setup in backward direction [ATM]

Originating node always selects the bearer establishment method as well as the
used bearer characteristics (BNC-char)

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Bearer Establishment Modes - Non tunneled

MSS
Initial setup message

MSS

Forward
Bearer establishment direction

MSS

Initial setup message

MSS

Separate bearer control protocol used (AAL2 signalling)

Backward
Bearer establishment direction

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MGW
Presentation / Author / Date / Document Number

MGW

Bearer Establishment Modes - tunneled

MSS
Initial setup message (Bearer Control Information)

MSS

Fast setup

No separate bearer control protocol used

MSS

Delayed forward

Initial setup message Response Subsequent setup message (Bearer Control Information)

MSS

Used e.g. when codec is not known beforehand.

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MGW Presentation / Author / Date / Document Number

MGW

Bearer Establishment Modes - tunneled

MSS

Initial setup message Response (Bearer Control Information)

MSS

Delayed backward

No separate bearer control protocol used

MGW

MGW

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BICC call control related messages

Message ACM Code 0000 0110 Description Address Complete Message

ANM
APM COT CPG CON IDR IRS INF INR

0000 1001
0100 0001 0000 0101 0010 1100 0000 0111 0011 0110 0011 0111 0000 0100 0000 0011

Answer Message
Application Transport Message Continuity Call Progress Connect Identification Request Identification Response Information Information Request

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BICC Maintenance related messages

Message Code Description

CGB
CGBA

0001 1000
0001 1010

Circuit / CIC Group Blocking

Circuit / CIC Group Blocking Acknowledgement

GRS
GRA CGU CGUA CQM CQR

0001 0111
0010 1001 0001 1001 0001 1011 0010 1010 0010 1011

Circuit / CIC Group Reset

Circuit / CIC Group Reset Acknowledgement Circuit / CIC Group Unblocking Circuit / CIC Group Unblocking Acknowledgement Circuit / CIC Group Query Message Circuit / CIC Group Query Response

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BICC Maintenance related messages

Message Code Description

CFN
FAA

0010 1111
0010 0000

Confusion
Facility Accepted

FAC
FRJ FAR RSC UCIC

0011 0011
0010 0001 0001 1111 0001 0010 0010 1110

Facility
Facility Reject Facility Request Reset Circuit / CIC message Unequipped Circuit Identification Code

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General BICC PDU format (ASN1)

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Format of BICC message

Formats and codes for BICC protocols are specified in ITU-T Q.1902.3 They are very much similar to ISUP.

BICC message (BICC PDU)

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CIC (Call Instance Code)

CIC in the BICC protocol is used to identify signalling relation between peer BICC
entities and associate all the PDUs to that relation. Bilateral agreement is required with regard to the CIC values provisioned.

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Application Transport Mechanism - APM

Allows applications to send application specific data between nodes using call
control messages Specified for BICC use in ITU-T Q.765.5 An application is running in the node besides call control instance Application specific data may be sent in CC messages, or, if none is available, as a separate APM message. Application specific data is send using APP (Application Transport Parameter)

appl
CC CC message + application data Application data CC message + application data
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appl
CC

APM Functionality in Rel. 4

The application using APM for bearer control is called Bearer Association
Transport - Application Service Element (BAT-ASE) APM for BICC defines among others Action indicator (forward/backward) BNC ID (reference used to associate the bearer with a call) BIWF address (MGW address) Codec(s) Tunneling related information (used/not used, bearer control payload) Carried in APP parameter

MSS BAT-ASE
param APP para m IAM

MSS BAT-ASE

E.g. IAM or APM message

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Application Transport Parameter (APP)

Q.1902.3

Q.765.5

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List of identifiers

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Contents of identifiers
Action indicator It can have codes like connect forward, connect backward etc. Backbone network connection identifier The content is bearer specific with maximum length of 4 octets (BNC_ID). Interworking function address Interworking function address is in NSAP format (BIWF Address). Codec list In the codec list, single codec information elements are listed in decreasing order of preference level. Single codec Single codec information element has a field called Organization identifier and codec information subfield. Subfield has information about the codec type and codec configuration. Bearer Network Connection Characteristics Codes here identifies the bearer used e.g. IP/RTP, AAL2, TDM etc. Bearer control information It contains PDU (Protocol Data Unit) of BCTP. Bearer control tunnelling It indicates whether tunnelling is used or not . Bearer control unit identifier It contains information about the BCU. It includes Network ID and Local BCU-ID.

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Action Indicator : used for a lot of categories of indication

Bearer Setup Control, for example

no indication connect backward connect forward connect forward, no notification connect forward plus notification required

Bearer Setup Indication, for example

connected

Codec Selection and Modification, for example

selected codec modify codec successful codec modification codec modification failure mid-call codec negotiation

DTMF Interaction, for example

start signal, notify start signal, no notify stop signal, notify stop signal, no notify

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Codec list
CODEC LIST Single Codec IE

Single codec IE

Organization Identifier

Single codec IE Codec type (codec ID)

Single codec IE

Codec configuration

Organization ID 0x00 no indication

Codec Type (Codec ID)

ITU-T
0x00 0x01 0x02 No indication G.711 (64 kbps, A-law) G.711 (64 kbps, u-law) 0x00 0x01 0x02 0x03 0x04 0x05 0x06

ETSI
GSM FR GSM HR GSM EFR GSM FR AMR GSM HR AMR UMTS AMR UMTS AMR2

0x01
0x02

ITU-T
ETSI

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BCTP Bearer Control Tunnelling Protocol

The BICC bearer control tunnelling protocol (BCTP) is a generic tunnelling
mechanism for the purpose of tunnelling bearer control protocols (BCP) over the horizontal BICC interface between call control units (CCUs) and the vertical call bearer control protocol (CBC) interface between CCU and bearer control unit (BCU). BCTP is defined in ITU-T Q.1990

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IPBCP IP Bearer Control Protocol

IPBCP is used for the exchange of media stream characteristics, port numbers and IP addresses of the source and sink of a media stream to establish and allow the modifications of IP bearers. IPBCP uses the Session Description Protocol (SDP) defined in RFC 2327 to encode the information. IPBCP uses four messages to convey information between peers Request It is sent by a BIWF to initiate an IP bearer establishment or modification request. Accepted It is sent by a BIWF that receives an IP bearer establishment or modification message if it accepts the request. Confused It is sent by a BIWF in response to an IP bearer establishment or modification message if it cannot process the received message. Rejected - It is sent by a BIWF in response to an IP bearer establishment or

modification message if it rejects the request

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IPBCP

Each IPBCP message consists of following SDP fields: Session and time description fields 1. Protocol version (v) 2. Origin (o) 3. Session name (s) 4. Connection data (c) 5. Time (t) 6. Session attribute (a) Media description fields 1. Media announcement (m) 2. Media attribute

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IPBCP in SDP format

Example content of IPBCP is shown in the figure
SDP version (v) : 0 Owner/Creator, Session ID (o) : Owner Username : Session ID : 0 Session Version : 0 Owner Network Type : IN Owner Address Type : IPv4

v= 0 IPBCP o= - 0 0 IN IP4 10.33.16.136 s= IP Tunneling c= IN IP4 10.33.16.136 t= 0 0 a= ipbcp:1 Request m= audio 1026 RTP/AVP 96 a= rtpmap: 96 VND.3GPP.IUFP/16000

Owner Address : 10.33.16.136

Session name (s): IP Tunneling Connection Information (c): Connection Network Type : IN Connection Address Type : IPv4 Connection Address : 10.33.16.136 Time Description, active time (t) : Session Start Time : 0 Session Stop Time : 0 Session Attribute (a) : Session Attribute Fieldname : ipbcp IPBCP protocol version : 1 IPBCP command type : Request Media Description, name and address (m): Media Type : audio Media Port : 1026 Media Proto: RTP/AVP Media Format : 96 Media Attribute (a) : Media Attribute Fieldname : rtpmap

Media Format : 96
MIME Type : VND.3GPP.IUFP

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Codec Selection : Tandem Free Operation (TFO) vs Trancoder Free Operation (TrFO)
- TFO

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Codec Selection : Tandem Free Operation (TFO) vs Trancoder Free Operation (TrFO)
- TrFO : Codec negotiation using BICC APP parameter

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Successful BICC codec negotiation

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