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Interference Reduction

Objectives

The participant is able to

 use methods for interference reduction

Contents

1 Power Control
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Measurement Preprocessing for Power Control
1.3 Power Control Decision
1.4 Power Control Execution

2 Frequency Hopping
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Frequency Hopping System

3 Discontinuous Transmission DTX

4 Channel Allocation due to Interference Level

5 Concentric Cells

6 Exercises

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1 Power Control

1.1 Objectives

The objective of power control is to adapt the transmit power of the MS as well as of the BTS to the reception
conditions. For example a mobile station MS 1 located near the the BTS can use a lower transmit power than a
mobile station MS 2 at the edge of a cell to achieve the required uplink quality.

T
X
P
T BTS W
X R
P
W
R MS 1

MS 2

Fig. 1

There are two advantages of power control:

 reduction of the average power consumption (especially in the MS),

 reduction of the interference experienced by cochannel (for adjacent) channel users.

Power control is applied separately for the uplink and the downlink and separately for each logical channel). It
can be enabled/disabled using the following flags (administered within the PWRC object):

Specification Name DB Name Meaning

EN_MS_PC EMSPWRC Flag to enable/disable uplink power control.

EN_BS_PC EBSPWRC Flag to enable/disable downlink power control.

Fig. 2

It should be noted that downlink power control is not applied for downlink bursts using the BCCH frequency.

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1.2 Measurement Preprocessing for Power Control

Any control loop is based on measurements of the controlled system parameters. For PC purposes, for each
call in progress and for both links (downlink/uplink), measurements of:

 received signal level

 received signal quality

are carried out over each SACCH multiframe, which is 104 TDMA frames (480 ms) for a TCH and 102
TDMA frames (471 ms) for a SDCCH.

Every SACCH multiframe the MS sends in the next SACCH message block the downlink measurements on
the dedicated channel (averaged over one SACCH multiframe) via the Measurement Report message to the
serving TRX of the BTS. This means that any SACCH message will report the averaged data for the previous
reporting period only. The TRX performs the uplink measurements on the dedicated channel. The
measurement reports (uplink and downlink) referring to the same SACCH multiframe are used as input
parameters for the Measurement Report averaging procedures, implemented within the BTS.

This means that the adjustment of the transmit power of the MS and the BTS is based on following
measurement values (refer to Chapt. 4.2.1 Measurement Preprocessing for Handover):

 RXLEV_DL_FULL / SUB - RXLEV_UL_FULL / SUB

 RXQUAL_DL_FULL / SUB - RXQUAL_UL_FULL / SUB

The measurement values are preprocessed within the BTS in the same way as for the handover process, i.e. a
gliding average window and a weighting of FULL and SUB values is used. The parameters for measurement
preprocessing for powercontrol are administered in the object PWRC and are listedin the table below.

Power control correction

This mechanism is necessary to ensure full handover functionality if BS power control and frequency hopping
is enabled.

Normally, if BS PWRC is enabled the MS is informed about this by a flag in the SYS_INFO. This flag makes
the MS suppress measurement reports derived from the BCCH carrier in order to avoid the measurements to be
falsified by the ‘full power’ part of the BCCH.
If frequency hopping is disabled - which could be the case after frequency redefinition due to failure of a
TRX- the MS may hop on the BCCH carrier only. In this case all measurement reports are supressed (or
declared ‘not valid’) by the MS - which means that no handover is possible.

Enabling the power control correction mechanism has the following results:

a) The BS PWRC flag is set to ‘0’ in the SYS_INFO even if the parameter EBSPWRC=TRUE.

b) The MS thus provides valid measurement reports even for the BCCH carrier.

c) The BTS takes care that the ‘full power’ part from the BCCH carrier is correctly substracted from the
measurement reports.

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Parameters for measurement preprocessing power control

Specification Name DB Name Range Meaning

A_QUAL_PC PAVRQUAL 1-31 Averaging window size for RXQUAL values,

AQUALPC used for power control decisions

W_QUAL_PC PAVRQUAL 1-3 Weighting for RXQUAL_FULL values

WQUALPC

A_LEV_PC PAVRLEV 1-31 Averaging window size for RXLEV values,

ALEVPC used for power control decisions

W_LEV_PC PAVRLEV 1-3 Weighting factor for RXLEV_FULL values

WLEVPC

EN_BS_PWRC_CORR EBSPWCR TRUE/ Power control correction in case of BS-power

FALSE control and frequency hopping

Fig. 3

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1.3 Power Control Decision

For power control decision the average values of RXLEV_UL/DL and RXQUAL_UL/DL are compared with
some preset thresholds (O&M parameters). A flow chart of the power control decision process is shown in the
figure below.

Power Control Decision Process

PC Decision
Process

RXQUAL_XX< yes
U_RXQUAL_XX_P

no RXLEV_XX <
yes L_RXLEV_XX_P
+ POW_RED_
STEP_SIZE

no

power decrease

X
RXQUAL_XX> yes
L_RXQUAL_XX_P
power increase
no

X
RXLEV_XX> yes
U_RXLEV_XX_P
power decrease
no

X
RXLEV_XX< yes
L_RXLEV_XX_P
power increase
no

Fig. 4

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Power Control Decision

RXQUAL

Power Increase
(bad quality)

L_RXQUAL_XX_P

Power Increase Power Decrease

(bad level) (good level)

U_RXQUAL_XX_
P
Power Decrease
(good quality)

RXLEV
0 63
L_RXLEV_XX_P U_RXLEV_XX_P

POW_RED_STEP_SIZE

Fig. 5

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The power control decision is primarily based upon the received signal quality, rather than on the received
signal level. The reason behind this, is that the transmitter power directly affects the quality of the radio link
regardless of the overall received signal level, which may be dominated by cochannel interference. If the
controlled variable (its average value) lies in the tolerance defined by the thresholds, then no control action is
taken, i.e. a “deadband” type of control response is produced. This introduces stability into the control process
and guarantees an adequate speech quality. Note, that the controlled variables involved in the algorithm are
used in accordance with their coding, e.g. RXQUAL_XX = 0 corresponds to the least BER (best signal
quality: BER<0.2%).

The test

RXLEV_XX < L_RXLEV_XX_P + POW_RED_STEP_SIZE

should prevent the control loop from oscillating, i.e. a power decrease decision for quality reasons should not
be followed by power increase decision for signal level reasons. Note, that the O&M parameter
POW_RED_STEP_SIZE is defined in terms of a difference between two transmit power levels. An unit power
level step corresponds to a nominal 2 dB step in the variation of the transmit power. Field measurements at
SIEMENS have shown that even at very low received power levels a good quality for a radio link can be
obtained with a relative high probability. Because sudden fades may deteriorate the quality very rapidly, if the
above condition is satisfied, the received power level is then compared with the corresponding lower threshold
to ensure a required minimum power level on the radio link.

Parameters for Power Control Decision

The parameters for power control decision are administered in the object PWRC and are listed in the
table below.

Specification Name DB Name Range Meaning

L_RXLEV_DL_P LOWTLEVD 0...63 RXLEV threshold on downlink/uplink for

L_RXLEV_UL_P LOWTLEVU power increase

U_RXLEV_DL_P UPTLEVD 0...63 RXLEV threshold on downlink/uplink for

U_RXLEV_UL_P UPTLEVU power decrease

L_RXQUAL_DL_P LOWTQUAD 0...7 RXQUAL threshold on downlink/uplink for

L_RXQUAL_UL_P LOWTQUAU power increase

U_RXQUAL_DL_P UPTQUAD 0...7 RXQUAL threshold on downlink/uplink for

U_RXQUAL_UL_P UPTQUAU power decrease

Fig. 6

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The following integrity conditions on the power control thresholds have to be observed:

U_RXQUAL_XX_P < L_RXQUAL_XX_P XX = UL, DL;

L_RXLEV_XX_P < U_RXLEV_XX_P XX = UL, DL.

Furthermore the power control thresholds have to harmonize with the ones for handover, i.e.:

U_RXQUAL_XX_P < L_RXQUAL_XX_P < L_RXQUAL_XX_H XX = UL, DL;

L_RXLEV_XX_H < L_RXLEV_XX_P < U_RXLEV_XX_P XX = UL, DL.

1.4 Power Control Execution

Having detected within the decision process that a change of transmit power should be carried out, the value
for this change has to be fixed. If power control would only be based on RXLEV, the difference between
RXLEV and the level threshold could be used as the step size for power control decision. However, since the
main objective is to maintain an acceptable speech quality and since there is no direct simple relation between
a change of the transmit power level and the resulting change of RXQUAL, the strategy is to change the
transmit power in small steps and then analyze the resulting RXQUAL. This means that fixed step sizes for
power increase and power decrease are used given by the parameters:

 POW_INCR_STEP_SIZE: 2,4 or 6 dB

 POW_RED_STEP_SIZE: 2 or 4 dB,

To be able to react fast enough on sudden drops of link quality one should have

POW_INCR_STEP_SIZE > POW_RED_STEP_SIZE.

The maximum range for uplink power control is given by:

13 dBm ... Min (MS_TXPWR_MAX, P) for a GSM-MS Phase 1

5 dBm ... Min (MS_TXPWR_MAX, P) for a GSM-MS Phase 2
0 dBm ... Min (MS_TXPWR_MAX, P) for a DCS1800-MS

where P is the maximum RF output power of the MS (power class) and MS_TXPWR_MAX the maximum
transmit power allowed in the respective cell. The minimum step size for transmit power adjustment is 2 dB.

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For downlink power control the range is determined by the maximum output power P BTS of the BTS and the
static reduction BS_TXPWR_RED (refer to chapter 1.3.4) of the BTS output power:

BS_TXPWR_MAX = PBTS - 2 * BS_TXPWR_RED

BS_TXPWR_RED = 0, 1, ... 6, Unit: 2 dB.

The range for downlink power control is then given by:

BS_TXPWR_MAX - 30 dB ... BS_TXPWR_MAX with a step size of 2 dB.

In the case of a power control decision a MS/BS Power Control message is created wherein the MS/BS is
requested to adjust its transmit power level to:

REQ_TXPWR = CONF_TXPWR + POW_INCR_STEP_SIZE (Power Increase)

REQ_TXPWR = CONF_TXPWR - POW_RED_STEP_SIZE (Power Decrease)

where CONF_TXPWR is the confirmed power level used by the MS or BTS on the concerned channel. If
these values of REQ_TXPWR are not within the range for power control, the nearest value within the range is
used instead.

Having requested a transmit power REQ_TXPWR, the power control decision process is suspended and it is
waited for a confirmation that the transmit power of the MS/BTS is adjusted to requested value, i.e.

CONF_TXPWR = REQ_TXPWR.

If such a confirmation is not received within an interval of P_CONFIRM SACCH multiframes, the power
control decision process is immediately resumed using the most recently reported confirmed value.

If a confirmation is received, the power control decision process is suspended for a certain number of SACCH
multiframes given by the parameter P_CON_INTERVAL. The reason for this is to allow an observation of the
effect of one power control decision before initializing the next one; by this means the power control process
is stabilized. Thus it is recommended to set

P_CON_INTERVAL > A_QUAL_PC

in terms of a number of multiframes.

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The processes and time relations are illustrated in the figure below:

(1) requested transmit power confirmed

request CONF_TXPWR resume

TXPWR = REQ_TXPWR Power Control

(1) (2) suspension of PC decision

P_CON_INTERVAL

time

P_CONFIRM

resume (2) requested transmit power

Power Control not confirmed

Fig. 7

Time relations for power control execution:

 case 1:requested transmit power confirmed

 case 2:requested transmit power not confirmed

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Parameters for Power Control Execution

Specification Name DB Name Range Meaning

/Object

MS_TXPWR_MAX MSTXPMAX / 2...15 GSM maximum TXPWR an MS may use in the

BTSB 0...15 DCS serving cell
* 2 dB 2 = 39 dBm, 15 = 13 dBm (GSM900)
0 = 30 dBm, 15 = 0 dBm (DCS1800)
Range for uplink power control:
13 dBm ... MAX (GSM, phase 1)
5 dBm ... MAX (GSM, phase 2)
0 dBm ... MAX (DCS)
MAX = Min (MS_TXPWR_MAX, P)
P: power class of the MS

BS_TXPWR_RED PWRRED 0, 1...6 Static reduction of the TRX output power:

/ TRX * 2 dB BS_TXPWR_MAX
= PBTS - 2 * BS_TXPWR_RED
Range for downlink power control:
BS_TXPWR_MAX - 30 dB ...
BS_TXPWR_MAX

POW_INCR_ PWRINCSS DB2,DB4,DB6 Step size for power increase in dB

STEP_SIZE / PWRC

POW_RED_ PWREDSS DB2,DB4 Step size for power reduction in dB

STEP_SIZE / PWRC

P_CONFIRM PWRCONF 1...31 Maximum interval for waiting for a

/PWRC * 2 TSACCH confirmation of the new transmit power level.

P_CON_INTERVAL PCONINT 0...31 Minimum interval between changes of the RF

/ PWRC * 2 TSACCH transmit power level (time for suspension of a
power control decision after a power control
execution)

Fig. 8

Relations to be observed:

To avoid an oscillating power control due to level the following inequality shall be fulfilled:

POW_RED_STEP_SIZE < POW_INCR_STEP_SIZE

< U_RXLEV_XX_P - L_RXLEV_XX_P XX = UL, DL

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2 Frequency Hopping

2.1 Introduction

The principle of Frequency Hopping used within GSM is that successive TDMA bursts of a connection are
transmitted via different frequencies - the frequencies belonging to the respective cell according to network
planning. This method is called Slow Frequency Hopping (SFH) since the transmission frequency remains
constant during one burst (in contrast to fast frequency hopping where the transmission frequency changes
within one burst).

The effect of Frequency Hopping is that link quality may change from burst to burst, i.e. a burst of high bit
error rate may be followed by a burst of low bit error rate since

 short term fading is different on different frequencies,

 the interference level is different on different frequencies.

Since the information for one speech frame is interleaved over 8 successive burst and the successful decoding
of a speech frame depends on the average bit error rate over these 8 bursts, a speech frame may be decoded
even if there were some bursts with bad quality. Without hopping in general all 8 bursts are either good or bad.
Hence the benefit of Frequency Hopping is a kind of equalization of the link quality of all connections by

 frequency diversity - averaging of short term fading,

 interference diversity - averaging of interference.

To achieve interference diversity, connection in different co-channel cells may not hop in a synchronous, but
in an uncoordinated way. The corresponding hopping mode is called (Pseudo) Random Hopping: uncorrelated
hopping sequences are used in different co-channel cells. Hence the probability of a collision (interference) of
two specific connections in co-channel cells is inverse proportional to the number of frequencies used in the
hopping sequence. A hopping sequence is characterized by the so-called Hopping Sequence Number HSN.

In GSM there are 63 uncorrelated pseudo random hopping sequences (HSN = 1, ..., 63). Furthermore, there is a
Cyclic Hopping Mode, characterized by HSN = 0.

These two Hopping Modes are illustrated in Fig. 9.

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Cyclic Hopping:
Hopping Sequence Number HSN = 0
f1
f2 connection 1
f3 connection 2
f4
frame
+: optimum frequency diversity
(averaging of Rayleigh fading)
- : no interference averaging

Pseudo Random Hopping:

Hopping Sequence Number HSN = 1 e.g. HSN = 27 for reuse cell
collision probability = 1 / no. frequencies

cell 1 cell 2 (same frequencies as cell 1)

f1 f1
f2 f2
f3 f3
f4 f4
frame frame

+: interference averaging
- : no optimum frequency diversity

Fig. 9

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Frequency Hopping Gain:

1. Averaging of Short Term Fading

Signal to noise ratio required to obtain 0.2 % residual BER for class 1b bits:

frequency hopping diversity TU3 TU50 HT100

none none 11.5 7.5 6.8
2 frequencies none 10.0 6.5 6.7
4 frequencies none 8.3 6.0 6.6
8 frequencies none 7.5 6.0 6.6
none yes 6.8 - -
2 frequencies yes 5.5 - -
4 frequencies yes 4.6 - -
8 frequencies yes 4.1 - -

Fig. 10 Typical Frequency Hopping and Antenna Diversity Gain for GSM

For low speed of the MS, each doubling of the hop step number results in an 1.5 dB improvement. For higher
speed and for hilly terrain, frequency hopping does not give additional gain, since short term fading is already
averaged by motion. The gain of FH increases with increase number of frequencies.

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2. Interference Levels:

In the following a simple example for the effect of interference averaging is given:

Let us assume that if the sum of all interferences is so high, that C/I is less than 5.0 (7 dB), a call is disturbed.
It is recommended to obtain a C/I > 10 dB in most areas of a cell. We give an example for C/I ratios in a cell
with 4 frequencies with and without frequency hopping.

CELL A: f1, f2, f3, f4

Interferer CELL B: f1, f2, f5, f6

Interferer CELL C: f3, f4, f5, f6

f1 f2 f3 f4
MS to BTS interference 0.10 0.14 0.25 0.28
level without FH C/I = 10 dB C/I = 8.5 dB C/I = 6 dB C/I = 5.5 dB
MS to BTS average 0.19
interference level with FH C/I = 7.2 dB
BTS to MS interference 0.10 0.10 0.28 0.28
level without FH C/I = 10 dB C/I = 10 dB C/I = 5.5 dB C/I = 5.5 dB
BTS to MS average 0.19
interference level with FH C/I = 7.2 dB

Fig. 11 Interference levels for cell A

This means that without FH two calls have low link quality (C/I < 7 dB), whereas with FH the quality of all
calls is just above the threshold of C/I = 7 dB.

Frequency Hopping Techniques in SBS

In BR2.1 we use baseband hopping as the standard technique. The bursts belonging to one connection are
switched to different high frequency boards in the BTSE. In this release, each BTSE can serve a fixed number
of frequencies (RFC, TRX). The BS 20/21 can serve 2, the BS 60/61 can serve 6. The number of hopping
frequencies is restricted to the number of frequencies per cell. In BR2.1 there are maximum 4 frequencies
allowed, because there are combiner 4:1 available.

Synthesizer Hopping is introduced since release BR3.7. In this technique we use tunable power amplifier
which change the frequency for every burst to be transmitted. If one PA can tune to any frequency, it is
possible to hop over more than 2 frequencies even with a BS20/21.

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2.2 Frequency Hopping System

In this chapter we discuss the implementation of a frequency hopping system in SBS and the different
algorithms for the evaluation of hopping sequences. A hopping sequence is the time dependent sequence of
used output frequencies. One parameter used in the creation of a frequency hopping system is the so called
Mobile Allocation MOBALLOC which is the list of all frequencies used in the sequence. There are two
possibilities to administrate these sequences:

Cyclic hopping:

The cyclic hopping is mainly used to combat the Rayleigh fading. The frequencies are used one after another.
If the MOBALLOC = f1, f2, f3, f4 is created a cell, the parameter for allocating cyclic hopping is Hopping
Sequence Number HSN = 0. The result is a hopping f1, f2, f3, f4, f1, f2, f3, f4,..... The start frequency for the
hopping is administrated with the parameter Mobile Allocation Index Offset MAIO. Its value depends on the
number of given frequencies.

Pseudo Random hopping:

If another value for HSN is taken, the output sequence is pseudo random. The Random hopping is used mainly
to improve the C/I level for example in cells with the same frequencies if a different HSN is given.

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Objects and parameters in SBS for administration of frequency hopping:

With the SBS system frequency hopping is configurated by creating frequency hopping system objects
(CREATE:FHSY-BTSN-FHSYN) and by assignment of radio channels to these hopping systems.

Specification Name Object/ DB Name Range Meaning

Package

HOPP_MODE BTS/BTSO HOPMODE BBHOP Flag indicates wether baseband or

SYNHOP synthesizer hopping is used

BTS_ISHOPPING BTS/BTSO HOPP TRUE Flag to enable/disable FH within the BTS

FALSE

FH_SYS_NUMBER FHSY FHSY 1...10 number to identify a frequency hopping

FHSYN system

HSN FHSY HSN 0...63 hopping sequence number

0: cyclic hopping
1...63: random hopping

MA FHSY MOBALLOC 0...1023, mobile allocation:

..., list of frequencies within the FH system
0...1023 (maximum number of frequencies = 16).

FH_SYSTEM_ID CHAN FHSYID 0, 1, ...10 specifies the frequency hopping system

(given by FHSYN) to which a channel
shall belong. (0: no hopping)

MAIO CHAN MAIO 0...63 mobile allocation index offset: defining

the starting frequency (number in the MA
frequency list) for a hopping sequence at
a certain frame number FN, i.e. different
channels using the same FH system shall
have different MAIOs.

Fig. 12

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TRX 0 TRX 1 TRX2 TRX 3

f0 f1 f2 f3

BCCH SDCCH SDCCH TCH

CHAN0 FHSYID = 0 FHSYID = 2 FHSYID = 2 FHSYID = 2
MAIO = 0 MAIO = 0 MAIO = 1 MAIO = 2

TCH TCH TCH TCH

CHAN1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1
MAIO = 0 MAIO = 1 MAIO = 2 MAIO = 3

TCH TCH TCH TCH

CHAN2 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1
MAIO = 0 MAIO = 1 MAIO = 2 MAIO = 3

TCH TCH TCH TCH

CHAN3 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1
MAIO = 0 MAIO = 1 MAIO = 2 MAIO = 3

TCH TCH TCH TCH

CHAN4 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1
MAIO = 0 MAIO = 1 MAIO = 2 MAIO = 3

TCH TCH TCH TCH

CHAN5 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1
MAIO = 0 MAIO = 1 MAIO = 2 MAIO = 3

TCH TCH TCH TCH

CHAN6 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1
MAIO = 0 MAIO = 1 MAIO = 2 MAIO = 3

TCH TCH TCH TCH

CHAN7 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1 FHSYID = 1
MAIO = 0 MAIO = 1 MAIO = 2 MAIO = 3

FH_SYSTEM_ID: FHSYID = 0 -> No Hopping

FH_SYSTEM_ID: FHSYID = 1 -> MOBALLOC = f0, f1, f2, f3

FH_SYSTEM_ID: FHSYID = 2 -> MOBALLOC = f1, f2, f3

Fig. 13 Example for channel configuration for frequency hopping

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3 Discontinuous Transmission DTX

DTX has been developed for satellite systems some years before. In GSM it is used the first time in a mobile
communication system. The goal is to reduce MS power consumption and to reduce the interference in a cell.
During a normal conversation, the participants speak only 50% of time. Each direction of transmission is
occupied about 50% of time. DTX is a mode of operation where the transmitters are switched on only for those
frames containing useful information. The difficulty is to find techniques to distinguish noisy speech from real
noise even in a noisy environment. These algorithms are implemented in the VAD (Voive Activity Detection)
function. The background acoustic noise has to be evaluated in order to transmit characteristic parameters to
the receive side. The receive sides generates a similar noise called comfort noise during periods where the
radio transmission is cut.

SBS parameter for DTX / VAD administration:

Specification Name Object/ DB Name Meaning

Package

DTX indicator uplink BTS/BTSO DTXUL 0: MS may use DTX (if possible)
1: MS shall use DTX
2: MS shall not use DTX

DTX indicator BTS/BTSO DTXDL FALSE: downlink DTX disabled at BTS

downlink TRUE: downlink DTX enabled at BTS

Fig. 14

The goal of DTX is to reduce the speech data rate from 13 kbit/s (user speaking) to 500 bit/s. This low rate is
enough to encode the background noise. This means instead of one frame of 260 bits per 20 ms only one frame
per 480 ms is sent. These so called SID frames (Silence Descriptor Frames) are sent at the start of every
inactivity period, then all 480 ms, as long as the inactivity lasts between BTS and MS. Between TRAU and
BTS these comfort noise frames are sent all 20 ms. The time behavior looks like following:

TRAU <-> BTS

SSSSCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCSSCCCCCCCS

BTS <-> MS

SSSSC C C C SSC C S

where S = speech frame

C = comfort noise frame

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The so called TRAU frame contains not only these 260 bit:

number of bits, UL number of bits, DL

frame synchronization 35 35
discrimination: speech, data, full 5 5
rate, half rate
time alignment 6 6
bad frame indication 1
DTX mode 1 1
other info 3 1
speech 260 260
spare 5 9

Fig. 15 Contents of a speech block for transmission at 16 kbit/s, details in GSM 08.60

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4 Channel Allocation due to Interference Level

The BTS performs measurements of the (uplink) received level on all its idle traffic channels (TCHs) in the
same way as for the busy channels described in Chapter 4.2.1, i.e. the level values in [dBm] in each TDMA
frame are averaged over one SACCH period. The averaged value is mapped on an RXLEV value (0, ..., 63), as
described in Chapter 4.2.1.

Since these measurements are related to idle channel the measured level is interpreted as interference level
caused by a mobile in another cell using this channel or an adjacent channel (or by an external source of
interference).

The information on the interference level can be taken into account at channel selection to assign the channel
with the lowest interference level which is expected to guarantee the best link quality.

An improvement of link quality by this mechanism is only possible if there is a choice, i.e.

 in cells with low traffic load where some idle channels are available for assignment

 if the interference level on idle channels differs significantly (this is not the case if random frequency
hopping is applied).

The following section describes the classification and selection of traffic channels due to interference level in
more detail.

Having measured the interference level for some SACCH multiframes, an arithmetic mean RXLEV_IDLE of a
certain number of of successive interference level samples, given by a parameter INTAVE, is calculated if the
channel has been idle for the whole measurement period INTAVE * T SACCH.

Using this averaged interference level, an idle traffic channel is classified as a channel of

Interference Band 1 if 0 < RXLEV_IDLE < X1

Interference Band 2 if X1 < RXLEV_IDLE < X2

Interference Band 3 if X2 < RXLEV_IDLE < X3

Interference Band 4 if X3 < RXLEV_IDLE < X4

Interference Band 5 if X4 < RXLEV_IDLE < X5 = 63

where X1, X2, ... X5 denote the boundaries (O&M parameter) of the five interference bands.

0 < X1 < X2 < X3 < X4 < X5 = 63

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RXLEV_IDLE low quality

X5
Interference Band 5
X4
Interference Band 4
X3
Interference Band 3
X2
Interference Band 2
X1
Interference Band 1
0
high quality

Fig. 16

If a traffic channels has not been idle during the whole measurement period, it is not taken into account in the
classification procedure.

Having classified all the traffic channels which have been idle during the whole measurement period, the TRX
immediately sends the result of this classification to the BSC (RF Resource Indication message) where it is
used in the channel allocation process.

The period for sending the RF Resource Indication message can be set by a parameter
RF_RES_IND_PERIOD.

The time relations between measurements in the BTS and information sending to the BSC is illustrated in the
figure below.

RF resource indication period

RF_RES_IND_PERIOD = 15
averaging averaging
period period
INTAVE = 5 INTAVE = 5

time

SACCH_ RF RES IND

Multiframe RF RES IND (TRX -> BSC)
(TRX -> BSC)

Fig. 17

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In the case of a call setup as well as in the case of a handover a traffic channel out of the best non-empty
interference class is allocated.

A condensed form of the information on the “quality” of the idle traffic channels at a certain BTS is sent from
the BSC to the MSC using the RESOURCE INDICATION message. This message contains, for a specified
cell (BTS), the number of idle TCHs which are available separately in each of the five interference bands.

Parameters for Channel Allocation due to Interference Level

The parameters are administered in the object BTS in the package BTSI and are listed in the table below.

Specification Name DB Name Range Meaning

EN_INT_CLASS INTCLASS TRUE/ Flag to enable the classification procedure in the

FALSE BTS

INTAVE INTAVEPR Period for averaging the measured interference

averaging 1...31 level. A traffic channels which has not been idle
Period * TSACCH during the whole measurement and averaging
period, it is not take into account in the
classification procedure.

X1, X2, ..., X5 INTAVEPR Boundaries of the interference classes/ bands.

interference 0...63
Thresholds
Boundaries

RF_RES_IND_PERIOD RFRSINDP 0...255 Period for sending the classification information

* TSACCH to the BSC.

Fig. 18

Relations:

0 < X1 < X2 < X3 < X4 < X5 = 63

INTAVE < RF_RES_IND_PERIOD

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5 Concentric Cells

Concentric Cells means two logical cells within one GSM/DCS cell: Inner area and complete area.The TX
power of the TRX’s belonging to the inner area is strongly reduced, which results in a lower radius.

Comple te Are a

Inner Area

Fig. 19 Cell configured as concentric

This feature can be used to introduce an additional frequency re-use pattern for the frequencies in the inner
area, i.e. a new frequency re-use pattern can be used with a shorter re-use distance. This will increase the
network capacity without appreciable increase of interference.

A flag is used to define whether the cell is a concentric one or not., furthrermore it has to be specified per TRX
wether this TRX should belong to the inner area or to the complete area.One set of signalling channels -BCCH
& SDCCH- in the complete area is used for both areas.

Objects and parameters in SBS for installation of concentric cell configuration:

Object/ DB Name Range Meaning

Package

BTS/BTSB CONCELL TRUE/ Flag indicates wether concentric cell configuration is used or not
FALSE

TRX PWRRED 0...6 Static reduction of TRX output power:

* 2 dB BS_TXPWR_MAX = PBTS - 2 * BS_TXPWR_RED

TRX TRXAREA NONE This parameter specifies the area the TRX belongs to
INNER
COMPLETE

Fig. 20

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Intracell handovers between the two areas are depending on field strength level and the location of the mobile.
These handovers are executed on level / distance conditions defined by appropriate thresholds in the handover
package. Moreover, during the call setup procedure in a concentric cell the same values are also evaluated to
determine whether the call is set up on a TCH belonging to an inner or complete area TRX

Parameters for Concentric Cell handover behaviour

EN_CON_CELL_DIST

Object Package DB Name Range Step Size Unit

HAND CCDIST TRUE/

FALSE

Fig. 21

Flag to enable/disable whether the distance should also have an impact on the intracell handover decision in
addition to the RXLVI / RXLVO within the concentric cell intracell handover algorithm.

HO_RXLEV_DL_INNER

Object Package DB Name Range Step Size Unit

HAND HORXLVDLI 0...63 1 1 dB

Fig. 22

This attribute defines the receive signal strength threshold on downlink which is evaluated for the intracell
handover from a TRX belonging to the inner area to a TRX belonging to the complete area of a concentric
cell.

The condition which must be fulfilled to perform an intracell handover from inner- to complete area is:

RXLEV_DL (serv. cell) < RXLVI

The RXLEV_DL (serv. cell) is the averaged value derived from the handover measurement preprocessing; refer to
chapter 4.2.2

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HO_RXLEV_DL_OUTER

Object Package DB Name Range Step Size Unit

HAND HORXLVDLO 0...63 1 1 dB

Fig. 23

This attribute defines the receive signal threshold level on downlink which is evaluated for the intracell
handover from a TRX belonging to the complete area to a TRX belonging to the inner area of a concentric
cell, furthermore the TCH assignment is influenced by this threshold.

The condition which must be fulfilled to perform an intracell handover from complete- to inner area, or to
assign a TCH directly in the inner area is:

RXLEV_DL (serv. cell) > RXLVO

HO_CON_CELL_DIST

Object Package DB Name Range Step Size Unit

HAND HOCCDIST 0...35 1 1 Km

Fig. 24

This attribute specifies the distance limit between inner and complete area of a concentric cell which is taken
into account for the intracell andover in addition to the attribute hoRxlevDinner respectively hoRxLevDlouter.

The condition which must be fulfilled to perform an intracell handover from inner- to complete area is:

RXLEV_DL (serv. cell) < RXLVI or

BS_MS_DIST > HCCD (if ENCCD=TRUE)

The condition which must be fulfilled to perform an intracell handover from complete- to inner area, or to
assign a TCH directly in the inner area is:

RXLEV_DL (serv. cell) > RXLVO and

BS_MS_DIST < HCCD (if ENCCD=TRUE)

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EN_INNER_INNER_HO

Object Package DB Name Range Step Size Unit

HAND ININHO TRUE/

FALSE

Fig. 25

Flag to enable/disable the intercell handover from inner to inner area in sectorized concentric cells.

COLOCATED_CELL

Object Package DB Name Range Step Size Unit

HAND CCELL BTS0...BTS119- 1 BTS-number

BTS0...BTS119

Fig. 26

The attribute defines the cells belonging to the sectorized concentric cells for which it is possible to perform
an intercell handover into the inner area.

The condition which must be fulfilled to perform an intercell handover into the inner area of a collocated
neighbour cell is:

RXLEV_NCELL (adj. cell) > RXLVO(n) and

BS_MS_DIST < HCCD(n) (if ENCCD(n)=TRUE)

In this case the BSC sends a message: 'preferred_area_request' to the serving BTS together with the relevant
parameters of the target cell. The BTS calculates wether a intercell handover directly into the inner area is
possible or not. The BSC is informed with message: 'preferred_area' and assigns an appropriate TCH.

To avoid handover oscillation between inner and complete area, the following recommendations have to be
concidered:

RXLVO > RXLVI

RXLVO - RXLVI > BS_TXPWR_MAX(Complete) - BS_TXPWR_MAX(Inner)

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6 Exercises

Exercise 1: Power Control

Consider a mobile station (of GSM phase 1) of maximum output power P MS = 39 dBm. Within the cell serving
that MS the follwoing parameters are set:

MS_TXPWR_MAX = 33 dBm
BS_TXPWR_MAX = 43 dBm
POW_INCR_STEP_SIZE = 6 dB
POW_RED_STEP_SIZE = 4 dB

Furthermore, the following thresholds for the uplink power control decision are set:

L_RXQUAL_P = 4 L_RXLEV_P = 20
U_RXQUAL_P = 3 U_RXLEV_P = 26

In the table below some examples for the measured and average (uplink) RXLEV and RXQUAL as well as for
the last confirmed TXPWR are given. What are the corresponding values for the new commended TXPWR?

Example last confirmed RXQUAL RXLEV new commanded

TXPWR (dBm) TXPWR

1 25 2 23 ?

2 21 4 28 ?

3 15 2 30 ?

4 31 5 25 ?

5 17 5 34 ?

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Exercise 2: Channel Allocation due to Interference Level

Consider a cell with the following parameters or interference classification:

INTAVE = 2 X1 = 10
RF_RES_IND_PERIO = 4 X2 = 20
X3 = 30
X4 = 40
X5 = 63

The following levels have been measred by the BTS on its channels each SACCH frame

chan 1 B 19 21 23 15 15

chan 2 B B B B B B B: busy channel

chan 3 12 14 14 16 14 14

chan 4 20 22 18 18 17 18

1 2 3 4 5 6 SACCH frame

Last RF Resource indication message

To which interference bands do channel 1-4 belong at SACCH frame 7?

Which channel is allocated this time in the case of an assignment request?

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Solutions

Exercise 1: Power Control

Example 1: 2 = RXQUAL < U_RXQUAL_P  Power decrease by 4 dB

but: RXLEV - 4 dB = 19 < L_RXLEV_P  no power control

Example 2: no power control due to quality, but due to level

28 = RXLEV > L_RXLEV_P  power decrease by 4 dB
TXPWR (new) = 21 - 4 dBm = 17 dBm

Example 3: 2 = RXQUAL < U_RXQUAL_P  power decrease 4 dB

TXPWR (old) - 4 dB = 11 dBm < 13 dB lower transmit power for phase
1 MS)  TXPWR (new) = 13 dBm

Example 4: 5 = RXQUAL > L_RXQUAL_P  power increase by 6 dB

TXPWR (old) + 6 dB = 37 dBm lower than PMS, but greater than
MS_TXPWR_MAX = 33 dBm = TXPWR (new)

Example 5: Through there is a good RXLEV > U_RXLEV_P we hacve

5 = RXQUAL > L_RXQUAL_P  power increase by 6 dB
TXPWR (new) = (17 + 6) dBm = 23 dBm

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Exercise 2:Channel Allocation due to Interference Level

Since RF_RES_IND_PERIOD = 4, the relevant resource indication message has been sent directly after
SACCH frame 4 using the levels in frames 3 and 4 for averaging and classification.

 AV_RXLEV (chan1) = ½ (21+23) = 22  interference band 3

 channel 2 busy within measurement period  interference band 5

 AV_RXLEV (chan3) = ½ (14+16) = 15  interference band 2

 AV_RXLEV (chan4) = 18  interference band 2

 channel 3 or 4 is allocated.

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