External HO B5

TELECOM
Site VELIZY
All rights reserved. Passing on and copying of this document, use and communication of its contents not permitted without written authorization from Alcatel
MOBILE COMMUNICATION DIVISION
Originator(s) S. SAADA
EXTERNAL HANDOVER RELEASE 5
Domain Division Rubric Type Distribution Codes PREDISTRIBUTION: MCD VELIZY M. Roberts E. Desorbay L. Cruchant P. Fouilland JJ. Roy A. Barnel (ffd) JF. Mailllard M. Tuchendler (fpo) D. Berthoumieux (fpo) J.P. Georges (fpo)
: : : :
ALCATEL 900/BSS PRODUCT DEFINITION SYS-TLA SYSTEM FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS Internal : External :
TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS
M. Delprat M. Dobrosielski JL. Lekmouli A. Pech
TD/BTS TD/BTS TD/IIV TD/IIV
MCD KONTICH G. Van Dijck (ffd)
SSD VELIZY J. Messiet SSD STUTTGART P. Hupperich W. Allerborn
PREDISTRIBUTION: DOC. CENTRES MCD VELIZY B. Marliac ABSTRACT This document describes the protocol for the execution of the External Handover procedure as performed by the BSS. Note the following handover types are not implemented in this release of the ALCATEL BSS: External Pseudo-synchronous External Pre-synchronous MCD ANTWERP L. Van Eyck MCD STUTTGART I. Lentzsch
Name App.
D. BERTHOUMIEUX AM
Approvals M. ROELANDTS SSAM BSC
M. DELPRAT SSAM BTS/SW
EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED

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REVIEW Not applicable

HISTORY Release 1 : Version Date 1.1.0.0 29/04/91 Author K. Wong Reason for update RSG approved version for Phase 1
Release 2 : S/P2/3.4.1.2.2 Version 2.0.0.0 2.0.0.1 2.0.1.0 2.1.0.0 Date 15/03/92 22/06/92 28/12/92 15/03/93 Author M. Roberts M. Roberts M. Roberts M. Roberts Reason for update Initial issue for Phase 2 Reviewed & corrected see Minutes TLA/132 Reviewed & corrected see Minutes TLA/141 Reviewed & corrected see Minutes RSG/157 SG approved version
Release 3 : 3BK 11202 0006 DSZZA Version 3.0.0.0 3.0.0.1 3.0.0.2 3.1.0.0 Date 17/12/93 24/02/94 06/04/94 18/05/94 Author M. Roberts M. Roberts M. Roberts M. Roberts Reason for update Initial draft of Release 3. Contains CRQ/287 & CRQ/292 Updated inaccordance with the minutes TLA/171 Updated in accordance to SYS/022 Updated in accordance to SYS/051
Release 4 : 3BK 11202 0057 DSZZA Version Date 4.0.0.0 4.0.0.1 4.0.0.2 4.0.1.0 4.0.1.0 4.1.0.0 07/11/94 15/12/94 05/01/95 03/02/95 23/03/95 03/02/95 Author B. Szelazek Reason for update First draft for release 4
B. SZELAZEK Updated after TLA review#4. See SYS/011 B. SZELAZEK Updated after TLA review#6. See SYS/127 B. SZELAZEK Updated after TLA review#6. See SYS/133 B. SZELAZEK Updated after TLA review#7. See SYS/133 B. SZELAZEK Updated after TLA review#9bis. See SDEF/95/ReportTLA44#9bis. Includes R3 CRQs 803 & 1127 B. SZELAZEK Inclusion of minimal support for half rate B. SZELAZEK S. SAADA Updated after mail review. Includes R3 CRQs 940 & 1269 & R4 CRQ 895. Include CRQ 1604
4.1.0.1 4.2.0.0 4.3.0.0
03/04/94 22/05/95 16/11/95
Release 5 : 3BK 11202 0104 DSZZA Version Date Author Reason for update EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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Ed 1 In Preparation 1 Ed 1 Proposal P1
21/03/96 26/04/96
S. SAADA S. SAADA
First draft for release 5. Includes R4 CRQs 1425, 1543, 1789, 2141 Updated afted internal review TLAr5#9. TD/SAS/LC/746.96 Includes R4 CRQ 1750. Updated after TLAr5#11. TD/SAS/LCR/966.96 Updated according to TLAr5#14 and TLAr5#15. - TD/SAS/lcr/1284.96 TD/SAS/lcr/1377.96 Includes CRs 15196, 15198, 15200, 19689, 19696, 27692, 29115. Document checked by moderator E. Desorbay. No review report.
Ed 1 Proposal R1 Ed 1 Released
24/05/96 19/07/96
S. SAADA S.SAADA
Ed 2 released
13/02/98
S. SAADA
INTERNAL REFERENCED DOCUMENTS Not applicable
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY Not applicable
OPEN POINTS Not applicable
FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS Internal Handover, External Handover BSSMAP & DTAP Messages This section details improvements between the internal and external handover procedures when an internal handover has failed, the next cell in the list is external and there are queued BSSMAP/DTAP messages. The following BSSMAP messages are considered : 1. CIPHER MODE COMMAND 2. ASSIGNMENT REQUEST The actions that should be performed by the serving BSC before sending the HANDOVER REQUIRED message to the MSC for the external handover are shown in the following table.

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Queued Message CIPHER MODE COMMAND

Action See note Send ASSIGNMENT FAILURE cause = No radio resource available Send ASSIGNMENT FAILURE, cause = Reversion to old channel Send DTAP messages to MS
ASSIGNMENT REQUEST (SDCCH->TCH or TCH->SDCCH) ASSIGNMENT REQUEST (In call modification) DTAP Messages
Interactions IHO-EHO-BSSMAP & DTAP Note : There are two possibilities for improvements between the internal and external handover procedures when an internal handover has failed, the next cell in the list is external and there is a queued CIPHER MODE COMMAND - see below.
Queued Message CIPHER MODE COMMAND
Action 1 Allow Cipher command to complete before triggering external handover.
Action 2 Send CIPHER MODE REJECT
Possible Actions of Queued CIPHER MODE COMMAND
Use of N_PREF_CELL/CLOLD in MS Failed Handovers This release does not implement the new optional information element "Cell Identifier" sent to the serving BSC in the HANDOVER COMMAND message, informing it of the target cell selected by the MSC, (see GSM 08.08 AR A002r2). This method of identifying the target cell is preferable to using the only cell in CL OLD when N_PREF_CELL = 1 since it allows the filtering of cells in the MS_CELL_REJ_LIST to be used when N_PREF_CELL >1.
END OF DOCUMENT

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SYSTEM FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
HISTORY ..................................................................................................................................................4 REFERENCED DOCUMENTS ..................................................................................................................4 GSM References .......................................................................................................................................4 Alcatel References.....................................................................................................................................4 Other References ......................................................................................................................................5 RELATED DOCUMENTS..........................................................................................................................5 PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................5 1. - Scope .................................................................................................................................................6 2. - FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................................7 2.1. - General description...........................................................................................................................7 2.1.1. - Handover Behaviour ......................................................................................................................7 2.1.2. - Handover Behaviour on Failure .....................................................................................................8 2.2. - ALCATEL BSS support for outgoing external handovers...................................................................9 2.3. - ALCATEL BSS support for incoming handovers ...............................................................................9 2.3.1. - External Handover Test Call Functionality .....................................................................................9 2.4. - ALCATEL BSS support for Phase 1 MS capabilities .........................................................................10 2.5. - ALCATEL BSS support for Phase 2 MS capabilities .........................................................................10 2.6. - External Handover Entities ...............................................................................................................10 3. - DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR......................................................................................................................12 3.1. - General Behaviour............................................................................................................................12 3.1.1. - Successful External Asynchronous Handover ................................................................................12 3.1.2. - Successful External Synchronous Handover..................................................................................16 3.1.3.Target Cell Negotiation .....................................................................................................................18 3.1.3.1. - Repeated Handover Attempts .....................................................................................................18 3.1.3.2. - MSC Rejection of Cell List ..........................................................................................................19 3.1.3.2.1. - BSC Reaction to HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT................................................................19 3.1.3.2.2. - MSC Does Not Send HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT.........................................................21 3.1.4. - Unsuccessful External Handover ...................................................................................................21 3.1.4.1. - MS Handover Failure ..................................................................................................................22 3.1.5. - Serving BSC Protocol Failures.......................................................................................................25 EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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3.1.5.1. - T_HO_REQ_LOST Expiry ..........................................................................................................25 3.1.5.2. - T8 Expiry ....................................................................................................................................27 3.1.6. - Target BSC Protocol Failures ........................................................................................................27 3.1.6.1. - T9103 Expiry ..............................................................................................................................28 3.1.6.2. - T9113 Expiry ..............................................................................................................................28 3.1.6.3. - Channel Activation Nack .............................................................................................................29 3.1.6.4. - Connection Failure Indication (Cause "Handover Access Failure")..............................................30 3.1.7. - Target BTS Protocol Failures.........................................................................................................30 3.1.7.1. - T3106 Expiry & Connection Failure Indication (Cause "Handover Access Failure") Synchronous Handover..............................................................................................................................30 3.1.7.2. - T3105 Expiry & Connection Failure Indication (Cause "Handover Access Failure") Asynchronous Handover............................................................................................................................32 3.2. - Detailed Behaviour ...........................................................................................................................35 3.2.1. - Serving BTS Protocol ....................................................................................................................35 3.2.2. - Serving BSC Protocol ....................................................................................................................35 3.2.2.1. - External Handover Decision........................................................................................................35 3.2.2.1.1. - General Rules..........................................................................................................................35 3.2.2.1.2. - External Handover Decision For SDCCH Transactions ............................................................35 3.2.2.1.3. - SDCCH External Handover Decision After Immediate Assignment ..........................................35 3.2.2.1.4. - SDCCH External Handover Decision ( After Normal Assignment) ............................................36 3.2.2.1.5. - External Handover Decision For TCH Transactions .................................................................36 3.2.2.2. - Serving BSC External Handover Protocol ...................................................................................37 3.2.2.2.1. - NULL State behaviour..............................................................................................................40 3.2.2.2.2. - Normal Events .........................................................................................................................41 3.2.2.2.3. - Unexpected Events..................................................................................................................44 3.2.2.2.4. - Events from BTS .....................................................................................................................47 3.2.2.2.5. - DTAP and BSSMAP procedures ..............................................................................................50 3.2.2.2.6. - HANDOVER REQUIRED message building.............................................................................50 3.2.3. - MSC Handover Protocol ................................................................................................. ...............51 3.2.4. - Target BSC External Handover Protocol ........................................................................................51 3.2.4.1. - SCCP Connection Establishment................................................................................................58 3.2.4.2. - SCCP Connection Failure ...........................................................................................................60 3.2.4.3. - Target BSS errors.......................................................................................................................61 3.2.4.4. - Target BSS error BLOCK message is sent..................................................................................62 3.2.4.5. - Target BSS error UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT message is sent .......................................................63 3.2.4.6. - HANDOVER REQUEST message processing.............................................................................64 3.2.4.6.1. - Detection of incoming external directed retry ...........................................................................68 3.2.4.7. - CHANNEL ACTIVATION message construction..........................................................................69 3.2.4.8. - HANDOVER REQUEST ACK message construction ..................................................................71 3.2.4.9. - Layer 3 IE HANDOVER COMMAND message construction........................................................72 3.2.4.10. - CHANNEL MODE MODIFY message construction....................................................................75 3.2.4.11. - DTAP & BSMAP procedures in the Target BSS ........................................................................76 3.2.5. - Target BTS Asynchronous Handover Protocol ...............................................................................76 3.2.6. - Target BTS Synchronous Handover Protocol.................................................................................79 3.2.6.1. BTS CHANNEL ACTIVATION message checking.........................................................................81 EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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3.2.7. - MS Handover Protocol...................................................................................................................81 3.2.7.1. - Measurement Reporting..............................................................................................................81 3.2.7.2. - Synchronous & Asynchronous Handover Procedure....................................................................82 3.2.7.3. - Releasing From The Old Channel & Serving Cell........................................................................82 3.2.7.4. - Attaching To The Target Cell ......................................................................................................82 3.2.7.5. - Attaching To The New Channel...................................................................................................83 3.2.7.6. - Reattaching to the Serving Cell...................................................................................................84 3.2.7.7. - Reattaching to the Old Channel ..................................................................................................84 3.3. - Interaction Between Other Procedures..............................................................................................85 3.3.1.- External Handover & Ciphering Procedures....................................................................................85 3.3.2. - Internal Handover, External Handover BSSMAP & DTAP Messages .............................................85 3.3.3. - External Handover & Internal Handover Procedures ...................................................................... 86 3.3.3.1. - Serving BSC ...............................................................................................................................86 3.3.3.1.1. - Internal Handover after External Handover ..............................................................................86 3.3.3.2. - Target BSC.................................................................................................................................89 3.3.3.2.1. - Subsequent Internal handover after successful External Handover for Phase 1 MSs ...............89 3.3.3.2.2. - Subsequent Internal handover after successful External Handover for Phase 2 MSs ...............89 3.3.4. - External SDCCH Or TCH Handover & Assignment Procedures .....................................................90 3.3.5. - External Handover & Trace............................................................................................................90 3.3.6. - External Handover & MS And BS Power Control ...........................................................................90 3.3.6.1. - Serving BSC during External Handover ......................................................................................90 3.3.6.2. - Target BSC during External Handover ........................................................................................90 3.3.7. - Handover algorithm & External Handover protocol ........................................................................90 4. - INTERFACE DESCRIPTIONS ............................................................................................................94 4.1. - GSM interfaces / Physical interfaces.................................................................................................94 4.2. - Internal interfaces .............................................................................................................................96 4.3. - Timer list ..........................................................................................................................................96 4.4.- Parameter list ....................................................................................................................................98 5. - Release 2, 3 & 4, 5Changes...............................................................................................................101 6. - FEATURES .........................................................................................................................................103 Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................105
02 01 ED
13/02/98 19/07/96 DATE CHANGE NOTE
MCD/TD/ MCD/TD/ APPRAISAL AUTHORITY
MCD/TD/SAS MCD/TD/SAS ORIGINATOR

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HISTORY
Ed. 01 Ed 02
19/07/96 13/02/98
REFERENCED DOCUMENTS GSM References

[1] GSM TS 04.04 [2] GSM TS 04.08 - Mobile Radio Interface Layer 3 specification [3] GSM TS 08.08 - MSC-BSS Interface Layer 3 specification [4] GSM TS 08.58 - BSC to BTS Layer 3 specification [5] GSM TS 03.09 - Handover Procedures [18] GSM TS 09.94 - Recommended infrastructure measures to overcome specific phase 1 mobile stations faults. Version numbers of the GSM Technical Specifications to be used in this release are given in ref [19]
Alcatel References
[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [19] [20] [21] [22] Call Release Internal Handover Handover Preparation Dedicated Radio Resource Control Normal Assignment Procedure Blocking, Reset Circuit & Unequipped Circuit Radio Measurements Short Message Service Point To Point Ciphering Procedure Application Document 08.08 Classmark handling System Information Management Alcatel BSS application document to GSM General overview DTX functional specification Frequency encoding algorithm LAPDm functional specification 3BK 11202 0102 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0103 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0111 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0112 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0100 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0072 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0063 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0062 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0101 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0125 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0106 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0130 DSZZA 3BK 11203 0012 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0109 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0115 DSZZA 3BK 11202 0128 DSZZA

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ED 02 RELEASED EXTERNAL HANDOVER
Not applicable
PREFACE
None
RELATED DOCUMENTS
None
Other References
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1. - Scope
This document specifies the following External Synchronous & Asynchronous inter-cell handover protocol for the ALCATEL BSS. External TCH handover; External SDCCH handover
Note External Pseudo-synchronous & External Pre-synchronised handovers are not a feature for this release of the ALCATEL BSS. The Call release & Resource release scenarios which occur as a result of failures in the protocol are specified in ref [6]. The cause values in the HANDOVER FAILURE messages are also specified in ref [6]. The referencing of events in ref [6] are provided by means of the reference and an event number within ref [6]. The event number takes the form of 1 to 4 character string followed by 4 numbers - eg ref [6] EHT0100 or ref [6] N0200. These event numbers are to be found in ref [6] together with the Call Releasing or Resource releasing scenario if applicable.

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2. - FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION
2.1. - General description

To maintain the quality of service on a radio connection it may become necessary to change the channel in the same cell, or to another cell. There are many reasons that a change of cell or channel is needed, interference, distance, signal strength etc. The process of changing the channel is called Handover. When the change is controlled by the MSC it is known as an External Handover, when controlled by the same BSC it is known as Internal Handover. The change can be to a channel in the same cell or a channel in another cell. When a handover is required the BSS decides which type of handover is to be performed, either internal or external. When an external handover is required a handover alarm accompanied by a cell list is presented to the external handover protocol by Dedicated Radio Resource in response to a handover alarm generated by the Power Control and Handover Algorithm (ref [8]). Ref [9] describes the handover decision process and how the candidate cells list is filtered. The external handover protocol function is specified in this document. Two types of external handover are possible in a GSM system, they are: MSC. Intra MSC external handover - a handover performed between cells controlled by the same
Inter MSC external handover - a handover performed between cells controlled by different MSCs. There is no difference in behaviour of the Alcatel BSS for either the inter or intra MSC external handover, and thus there is no differentiation between these in this document. It is possible to obtain an external synchronous handover as the target BSS checks to see if the serving and target cell are synchronised. If the serving cell is not controlled by the target BSC then an asynchronous handover is performed. The handover is performed between the serving and target BSCs via the MSC. The messages on the A, Abis and air interfaces are specified in Refs [2] , [3], and [4]. When the external handover is triggered the BSC regularly reports new candidate cells to the MSC in order to provide it with accurate cells for the handover attempt.
2.1.1. - Handover Behaviour

The function of the external handover protocol is to handover an MS from one BSS, (the serving BSS), to another BSS (the target BSS), under control of the MSC. This is done by providing the MSC a list of cells which the serving BSS believes are good candidates for the handover procedure based on the radio measurements made by the MS. When the handover algorithm signals that a handover is necessary (handover alarm), the candidate cells filter and handover decision functionality in the dedicated radio resource control procedure processes the cell list accompanying the handover alarm and determines the type of handover required, (see ref [9]). If an external handover is required the list is presented to the handover protocol and a handover is triggered by sending the MSC a HANDOVER REQUIRED message containing the cells presented. The list of cells is remembered by the BSC as CLOLD. If a further handover alarm is received before the MSC responds to the HANDOVER REQUIRED message the list presented to the external handover protocol is checked to ascertain whether a new cell is in the list or an old cell is no longer in the list. If either of these occurs then another HANDOVER REQUIRED message is sent to the MSC, keeping it up to date with the best cells for the handover. The new list replaces CLOLD. If, however, only the order of the cells in the list is different, no further HANDOVER REQUIRED message is sent. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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As an operator option the HANDOVER REQUIRED message may be sent with the OIE RESPONSE REQUEST. The presence of this OIE requests the MSC to respond to the serving BSS with a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message if the MSC cannot service the request for whatever reason. Timers are used to supervise the handover procedure by : Guarding against a non-response from the MSC, (T_HO_REQ_LOST) Guarding against overloading the MSC with repeated handovers (T7). Guarding against repeatedly sending a cell to which the MS has failed to handover to (T_MS_CELL_REJ)
The external handover protocol supports two additional lists that are used by the candidate cells filter, the REJ_CELL_LIST and the MS_CELL_REJ_LIST. The details are described below. If the MSC cannot perform a handover to any of the cells presented by the BSC and returns a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message, all cells that were sent to the MSC in the last HANDOVER REQUIRED message are transferred from the CLOLD list to the REJ_CELL_LIST. When subsequent handover alarms are received, any cells in the cell list accompanying the handover alarm which are also in the REJ_CELL_LIST cannot be used as candidate cells in external handover attempts on the same connection. The REJ_CELL_LIST is emptied only on the expiry of timer T7 or at the end of the external handover procedure. If the MSC does not send a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message no further HANDOVER REQUIRED messages are allowed to be sent to the MSC until timer T7 expires or radio conditions change. In the case where HANDOVER REQUIRED messages are sent at the rate of T7, this prevents the MSC being overloaded. When the MSC chooses one of the cells in the cell list CL with which to perform the handover, the target BSS is requested to allocate and activate a suitable channel to which the handover may occur. For channel allocations where the MSC has in the initial ASSIGNMENT REQUEST specified a code point forbidding channel rate change for the channel, it is the MSCs responsibility to ensure that the channel specified in the HANDOVER REQUEST towards the target BSC is the same as allocated by the initial BSC in the Chosen Channel OIE in the ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE message. Once the handover has been performed it is the new BSCs responsibility to ensure that no changes are allowed for subsequent internal handovers (see ref [9]). Once the target BSS has successfully allocated the channel it passes back to the MSC the message which will enable the MS to make the move to the activated channel. The MSC passes this to the serving BSS, which passes it to the MS. The serving BSS now awaits the successful completion of the procedure. The MS on reception of the handover message disconnects from the serving BSS (at Layer 1 & 2) switches to the assigned channels and initiates establishment of lower layer connections. The precise method of performing this is specified in ref [2] - GSM 04.08. Once communication is established with the target BSS the MS signals a successful handover to the target BSS and the MSC initiates clearing of the old connections to the serving BSS. At the end of an external handover the appropriate SCCP connections (in MSC and BSS) and RF channels (in BSS) are released.
2.1.2. - Handover Behaviour on Failure

The handover may be unsuccessful either because the MSC cannot perform a handover to any of the cells presented to it or the MS has difficulty in accessing the target cell. If the MS has any difficulty either synchronising with the target BSS or accessing the new channel it can return to the old channel of the serving cell and any call in progress will continue until the need for another handover is detected whereupon the procedure is repeated. For the case where N_PREF_CELL = 1, when this handover failure occurs, the serving BSC remembers the only cell in EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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list CLOLD in MS_CELL_REJ_LIST. When subsequent handover alarms are received, any cell in the cell list accompanying the handover alarm which is also in the MS_CELL_REJ_LIST cannot be used as a candidate cell in external handover attempts on the same connection. The MS_CELL_REJ_LIST is emptied only on the expiry of timer T_MS_CELL_REJ or at the end of the external handover procedure. Summary note: For this release MS_CELL_REJ_LIST is used only when N_PREF_CELL = 1 and the cell remembered is the best cell, ie the first in the list sent to the MSC in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message.
2.2. - ALCATEL BSS support for outgoing external handovers

External handovers are not triggered during the Assignment procedure or during the Queuing phase. Outgoing handovers supported for this release of the ALCATEL BSS are shown in Table 2./1. Serving BSS Channel type & mode Channel type Channel mode SDCCH Signalling Note 2 TCH FR/HR Signalling Note 1 TCH FR Speech or Data TCH HR Speech
Supported Not supported Supported Supported
Table 2./1 Outgoing Handover Support Note 1: The ALCATEL BSS does not support the allocation of TCH channels for signalling transactions. Note 2: SDCCH with Speech or Data is not specified in GSM.
2.3. - ALCATEL BSS support for incoming handovers

Any incoming handover for any channel configuration, speech, data or signalling can be handed over to a full rate speech or data channel. Signalling on any traffic channel is not supported. Handovers from SDCCH to SDCCH are supported. Handovers from full rate to half rate traffic channels and vice versa are supported for speech calls. Handovers to half rate channels for data calls are not supported. Handovers to traffic channels in the E-GSM band are supported for mobiles that support the E-GSM band. Handovers between different speech versions (Full Rate version 1, Full Rate version 2, Half Rate version 1) are supported.
2.3.1. - External Handover Test Call Functionality

The external handover procedure provides a facility allowing the inhibition of incoming handovers into a cell. A flag EN_IC_HO, is provided on a per cell basis which when set true will allow all incoming intercell synchronous or asynchronous handovers into the cell. It should be noted that internal intra cell handovers are not affected by this flag. Furthermore, when EXT_HO_FORCED is set to true, (ie O & M is forcing external handovers), external handovers with the same serving and target cell are allowed irrespective of the setting of the flag EN_IC_HO.

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2.4. - ALCATEL BSS support for Phase 1 MS capabilities

It is generally agreed in GSM (but not actually stated) that the SDCCH -> SDCCH asynchronous handover for Phase 1 MSs is not guaranteed. This results from the setting of the MS timer (T3124) being made too short to ensure at least more than one reception of the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message. GSM Phase 1 MSs may support more than one Ciphering algorithm (A5/1 or/and A5/2) however a Phase 1 MS can not change Ciphering algorithm during channel changes or turn off ciphering. The ALCATEL BSS takes this behaviour into consideration when performing external handover and internal handover (ref [7]). The ALCATEL BSS never allows the stopping, starting or changing of the Ciphering algorithm during Channel changes (ie external handover, internal handover (ref [7]) & Assignment (ref [10])) for Phase 1 MSs. In this case the ALCATEL BSS will always activate Ciphering for a Phase 1 MS as indicated by the MSC. The ALCATEL BSS supports faulty phase 1 MS for directed retry, with respect to ref [18]
2.5. - ALCATEL BSS support for Phase 2 MS capabilities

Phase 2 MSs are able to support two handover types (which are not supported by this release ALCATEL BSS) they are: pseudo-synchronous & pre-synchronous handovers. A Phase 2 MS may support more than one Ciphering algorithm and may stop or start Ciphering as commanded by the Ciphering procedure (ref [14]). A Phase 2 MS can be commanded to stop, start or change the Ciphering algorithm during channel changes once ciphering has been initiated by the MSC. This type of behaviour in the MS allows the MS to be supported in a mixed Ciphering network. The ALCATEL BSS ensures during external handover that the MS Ciphering capabilities, BTS Ciphering capabilities & MSC Ciphering requirements are taken into account whilst performing the external handover procedure. The ALCATEL BSS may command Phase 2 MSs to stop, start or change the Ciphering algorithm during an external handover procedure depending on the MS Ciphering capabilities, BTS Ciphering capabilities & MSC Ciphering requirements.
2.6. - External Handover Entities

The following entities are involved in the execution of an external handover: MS Downlink measurement The MS measures: the strength, quality and distance of the serving BSS and the strength of BCCH carriers of neighbour cells. The neighbour cell list is sent to the MS in SYSTEM INFORMATION TYPE 5 family messages on the SACCH. Measurements made by the MS are then transmitted to the serving BSS by use of MEASUREMENT REPORT messages sent on the SACCH - See Note 1. Only six neighbour cells can be reported by the MS MS Handover protocol The method of performing the handover protocol. This protocol will be described in this document for completeness. The asynchronous and synchronous protocol will be shown - See Note 1. Serving BTS Uplink measurement The BTS makes measurements on the strength and quality of the Uplink signal from the MS and reports it to the BSC handover algorithm together with the MS measurements - see ref [12]. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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Serving BSC Handover algorithm The BSS takes the measurements from the MS and the BTS and analyses whether it is necessary to perform a handover - ref [8]. When a handover is required a handover alarm is sent to the serving BSC handover protocol with a list of preferred cells. The BSS handover algorithm controls the rate at which internal handover alarms are generated by the use of the timer T_FILTER - See section "Interaction of handover algorithm & external handover protocol". Serving BTS Handover protocol The Serving BTS plays no active role in the handover protocol. Its main function is to relay messages and events between the MS and the serving BSC (see section 5. - Release 2, 3 & 4, 5Changes). Serving BSC Dedicated radio resource This entity performs the first level filtering of cells for the handover process by removing cells from the candidate list that the MSC has previously rejected or that the MS has failed to handover to. It also determines what type of handover is required. Serving BSC Handover protocol This entity initiates the handover attempt towards the MSC and also performs second level filtering of candidate cells for the handover process by removing cells from the candidate list that have already been sent to the MSC and rejected for this handover attempt. This document will specify the serving BSC external handover protocol. MSC Handover protocol The MSC chooses the target cell and performs the protocol with both serving and target BSC. This document will describe, in general terms only, the protocol in the MSC for Intra MSC handover See Note 1. Target BTS Handover protocol The target BTS controls the access of the MS to the new channel of the target BSC. This document will specify the protocol to be performed. The asynchronous & synchronous protocol will be specified. Target BSC Handover protocol The target BSC performs the handover protocol. This document will specify the protocol to be performed. Target BSC Dedicated radio resource This entity verifies that the target cell can support the MS Ciphering capabilities, BTS Ciphering capabilities, MSC Ciphering requirements and channel allocation in accordance with MSC requirements. Note 1 An overview of MS & MSC functions will be given so as to aid the reader. Behaviour may deviate due to implementation choices in the MS and MSC.

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3. - DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR
3.1. - General Behaviour

This section contains the successful and major failure cases of an external handover which consist mainly of errors due to timer expiry and GSM defined messages. No account is taken in this section of message protocol errors or internal system errors, these cases are dealt with in section 3.2. Detailed Behaviour, where the checking and error handling is specified. Only Air, Abis and A interface messages are used in the message sequence charts within this section. When the BSS handover algorithm detects that a handover is required a list of cells is presented to the handover protocol, all or some of which are sent to the MSC in a HANDOVER REQUIRED message. The maximum number of cells sent is determined by the rules defined in section 3.2.2.1. External Handover Decision and the O & M parameter N_PREF_CELL.
3.1.1. - Successful External Asynchronous Handover

The following message sequence chart shows the scenario of a successful external asynchronous handover for a serving BSS.

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Fig 3./1 External Asynchronous Handover Note A: Handover alarm Note B: Call release scenario (This includes the stopping of timer T8). Note C: In some cases, the Target BSC must trigger a classmark interrogation procedure. See ref [16] 1 2 The BSC handover algorithm raises an alarm to the BSC handover protocol and provides a list of candidate cells. The BSC initiates an external handover by sending a HANDOVER REQUIRED message with cell list CL containing a maximum of N_PREF_CELLs obtained from the cell list reported in EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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the handover alarm. T7 is started to prevent the BSC from offering the same cell list CL to the MSC again too quickly when the MSC does not send a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message. T_HO_REQ_LOST is started to guard against no response from the MSC. Note the HANDOVER REQUIRED message may contain the OIE RESPONSE REQUEST depending on the O&M parameter RESP_REQ. 3 4 The MSC chooses one of the cells from cell list CL and identifies the target BSS. It then sends a HANDOVER REQUEST message to the target BSS and starts Trr2. The target BSC activates an appropriate RF channel (4a & 4b), builds the HANDOVER COMMAND message destined for the MS, sends it to the MSC in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK and starts T9113 to supervise the handover. The target BTS starts sending dedicated system information messages on the SACCH (see ref [17]). The TA in the Layer 1 header shall indicate that the timing advance information is invalid. The target BTS: starts ciphering immediately (if applied). For Phase 2 MSs the Ciphering used on the new channel may be different from the one used on the old channel. The MSC: stops Trr2; forwards the message to the serving BSS in a HANDOVER COMMAND message; and starts T3103. The serving BSC: stops T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST, sends the HANDOVER COMMAND to the MS via the BTS using the transparent message service (destined for the main DCCH), starts T8 & starts to ignore error messages from the BTS - see section on serving BSC detailed behaviour. The MS on reception of the HANDOVER COMMAND: disconnects off the old channel; synchronises to the new cell; sends continuously a HANDOVER ACCESS to the BTS (on the main DCCH of the RF channel indicated in the HANDOVER COMMAND message with a TA of 0); and starts T3124. The target BTS checks the handover reference and calculates the timing advance from the reception of the HANDOVER ACCESS, relays a HANDOVER DETECTION to the target BSC and starts deciphering (if applied). The target BSC: relays a HANDOVER DETECT to the MSC and makes the switch path (TCH only). The target BTS: sends the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message to the MS with the calculated timing advance. The timing advance algorithm is informed of the timing advance, the Layer 1 header in SACCH messages is updated with the timing advance value and timer T3105 is started. The MS stops T3124 and connects to the channel.. The MS establishes SAPI 0 with an SABM. The target BTS on reception of the SABM SAPI 0 or any correct frame stops T3105, (see Note 9a ), sends an ESTABLISH INDICATION (SAPI 0) to the target BSC (only if SABM SAPI 0 is received), starts T_CFI_tr; sends a UA to the MS and starts BS and MS power control if required and resynchronises system information messages (restarts at SYSTEM INFORMATION TYPE 5 message). The target BTS may stop sending PHYSICAL INFORMATION and the timer T3105 when it receives a correctly received frame - see ref [7]. The event that stops T3105 (ie SABM SAPI 0 or any correct frame) is controlled by the O&M parameter STOP HO ACC FAIL. The MS sends a HANDOVER COMPLETE message to the target BTS. The target BTS sends the message to the target BSC (it is a transparent message to the BTS). EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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4a 4b 5 6
9a
10
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The target BSC stops timer T9113 and forwards a HANDOVER COMPLETE message to the MSC. The MSC stops T3103. The external handover is now complete. If this is a directed retry to a Full Rate Channel allocated for speech version 1, for a phase 1 MS (see 3.2.6.4.1); then CHANNEL MODE MODIFY message is sent to the MS. The corresponding CHANNEL MODE MODIFY ACK or CHANNEL MODE MODIFY NACK is discarded. 11 The serving BSS RF channel and terrestrial resources are released. This is performed by the MSC sending the CLEAR COMMAND (cause "Handover successful") - ref [6] EHS0400, T8 is stopped.

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3.1.2. - Successful External Synchronous Handover

The following message sequence chart shows the scenario of a successful external synchronous handover for a BSS which controls both serving & target cells (BTSs) where the target & serving cells are synchronised.
Fig 3./2 External Synchronous Handover Note B: Handover alarm detected by BSC Note C: Call release scenario with serving BTS Note D: In some cases, the Target BSC must trigger a classmark interrogation procedure. See ref [16] EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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1 2
The BSC handover algorithm raises an alarm to the BSC handover protocol and provides a list of candidate cells. The external handover is initiated by sending a HANDOVER REQUIRED message with cell list CL containing a maximum of N_PREF_CELLs obtained from the cell list reported in the handover alarm. T7 is started to prevent the BSC from offering the same cell list CL to the MSC again too quickly when the MSC does not send a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message. T_HO_REQ_LOST is started to guard against no response from the MSC. Note the HANDOVER REQUIRED message may contain the OIE RESPONSE REQUEST (this depends on the O&M parameter RESP_REQ).
3 4
The MSC chooses one of the cells within the cell list and identifies the target BSS. It then sends a HANDOVER REQUEST message to the BSS and starts Trr2. The target BSC: checks the serving cell and target cell and finds that they are synchronised; activates an appropriate RF channel (see 4a & 4b); builds the HANDOVER COMMAND message (indicating synchronised handover) destined for the MS; sends it to the MSC in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK; and starts T9113 to supervise the handover. The Channel activation in this case has no timing advance information, as the information is not available in the HANDOVER REQUEST message, therefore the target BTS: starts ciphering immediately (if applied); SACCH transmission of dedicated system information messages is started immediately & any Layer 1 header sent to Air will indicate that the timing advance information is invalid. In this case the MS uses the timing advance that was set on the old channel. until timing advance is available on the new channel. For Phase 2 MSs the Ciphering used on the new channel may be different from the one used on the old channel. The MSC: stops Trr2; forwards the message to the serving BSS in a HANDOVER COMMAND message; and starts T3103. The serving BSC: stops T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST; sends the HANDOVER COMMAND to the MS via the BTS using the transparent message service (destined for the main DCCH); starts T8; & starts to ignore error messages coming from the serving BTS - see section on serving BSC detailed behaviour. The MS on reception of the HANDOVER COMMAND: disconnects from the old channel; synchronises to the new cell and sends four HANDOVER ACCESS (Timing advance 0) to the BTS (on the main DCCH of the RF channel indicated in the HANDOVER COMMAND message). The target BTS checks the handover reference and relays a HANDOVER DETECTION to the target BSC and starts deciphering (if applied). The target BSC relays a HANDOVER DETECT to the MSC and makes the switch path (TCH only). The target BTS calculates the timing advance, the timing advance algorithm is informed of the new timing advance, the Layer 1 header is set accordingly and timer T3106 is started. The MS establishes SAPI 0 with an SABM
4a
4b 5 6
8 9

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The target BTS: stops T3106 - see Note 9a, sends an ESTABLISH INDICATION (SAPI 0) to the target BSC (only if SABM SAPI 0 is received), starts T_CFI_tr, sends a UA to the MS and starts BS and MS power control if required and resynchronises system information messages (restarts at SYSTEM INFORMATION TYPE 5 message).. 9a 10 The target BTS may stop the timer T3106 when it receives a correctly received SABM SAPI 0 or any correct frame - see ref [7]. The MS sends a HANDOVER COMPLETE message to the target BTS. The target BTS sends the message to the target BSC (it is a transparent message to the BTS). The target BSC stops timer T9113 and forwards a HANDOVER COMPLETE message to the MSC. The MSC stops T3103. The external handover is now complete. If this is a directed retry to a Full Rate Channel allocated for speech version 1, for a phase 1 MS (see 3.2.6.4.1), then CHANNEL MODE MODIFY message is sent to the MS. The corresponding CHANNEL MODE MODIFY ACK or CHANNEL MODE MODIFY NACK is discarded. The serving BSS RF channel and terrestrial resources are released. This is performed by the MSC sending the CLEAR COMMAND (cause "Handover successful") - ref [6] EHS0400.
11
3.1.3.Target Cell Negotiation 3.1.3.1. - Repeated Handover Attempts

In an environment where the handover alarm is reporting new cells as candidates for the handover (or cells that were reported in the last handover alarm are no longer present) the BSC has to update the MSC with the new cell list in order that the MSC is kept up to date and best cell is chosen for the handover. If the cells do not change then there is no need for the BSC to repeat the handover attempt until timer T7 expires, (see section 3.1.3.2. - MSC Rejection of Cell List and section 3.2.2.1.1. - General Rules. The following message sequence chart shows the BSC sending repeated HANDOVER REQUIRED messages to the MSC, each with a new cell list.

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1 2
The BSC handover algorithm raises an alarm to the BSC handover protocol and provides a list of candidate cells. The cell list presented with the handover alarm is processed and a cell list CL1 (maximum of N_PREF_CELLs) is sent with the HANDOVER REQUIRED message. The cell list is remembered as CLOLD. Timers T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST are started. Before the MSC has responded to this handover attempt another handover alarm is received at the BSC with different cell information. The BSC sends a further HANDOVER REQUIRED message to the MSC with cell list CL2 (maximum of N_PREF_CELLs). CL OLD is replaced by the contents of CL2 and T7 is restarted.
3.1.3.2. - MSC Rejection of Cell List

If the MSC cannot perform a handover to any of the cells given in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message it may : Explicitly reject the cell list by sending a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message Implicitly reject the cell list by not sending a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message
The sending of this message may be requested by the serving BSC including the OIE RESPONSE REQUEST in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message. The inclusion of this OIE is an operator option controlled by the O & M parameter RESP_REQ. The presence of the OIE requests the MSC to respond to the serving BSS with the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message if the MSC cannot service the request for whatever reason. The inclusion of this OIE is described in the section HANDOVER REQUIRED message construction. Timer T7 is fundamental to the operation of the external handover procedure when the MSC cannot perform a handover to any of the cells offered in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message and the behaviour of the BSC in offering alternative cells depends on whether the MSC sends the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message or not. T7 controls the rate at which a HANDOVER REQUIRED message, containing the same sent candidate cell, is sent to the MSC. When HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT is received it also determines when internal handovers may be enabled. T7 is started after a HANDOVER REQUIRED message is sent to the MSC and stopped when : A HANDOVER COMMAND is received from the MSC (see section 3.1.2. - Successful External Synchronous Handover) T_HO_REQ_LOST expires (see section 3.1.5.1. - T_HO_REQ_LOST Expiry).
T7 is restarted (ie stopped and then started again), when a new cell list, CL, has been built and sent to the MSC in a new HANDOVER REQUIRED message The following scenarios illustrate T7 functionality both when a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT is received and when it is not. The interactions between the internal and external handover procedures are shown in section 3.3.3.1.1. - Internal Handover after External Handover.
3.1.3.2.1. - BSC Reaction to HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT

This message is accepted independently of the presence of the response request IE in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message. When the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message is received the BSS cannot offer any cells in the REJ_CELL_LIST in subsequent HANDOVER REQUIRED messages until T7 expires. After receiving any further handover alarm, it may offer alternative cells, if any are available after the cell list received has been filtered. If none is available then no HANDOVER REQUIRED message can be sent. The cell list that was sent to the MSC and rejected is held in a circular buffer REJ_CELL_LIST. The size of this buffer is 2*N_PREF_CELL max. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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Fig 3./3 HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT Sent by MSC Note A: Initial handover alarm that starts the external handover, cell list 1 Note B: Subsequent handover alarm that causes no handover, Note C: subsequent handover alarm that continues the external handover, cell list 2 1 The serving BSC detects the need for an external handover and sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED message (in this example with OIE RESPONSE REQUEST) and a list of cells (CL1), obtained from the handover alarm. T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST are started. Internal handovers are now disabled. The maximum number of cells sent in the message is controlled by the O & M parameter N_PREF_CELL. The cell list CL1 is remembered by the BSC as CLOLD. A further handover alarm is received but the cell information has not changed (eg the MS has not moved location). Consequently no HANDOVER REQUIRED message is sent to the MSC. The MSC cannot service the handover request and sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message. On reception of the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT the BSC stops T_HO_REQ_LOST. The cells sent in the last HANDOVER REQUIRED message, (CLOLD), are added to the REJ_CELL_LIST and cannot be used in subsequent external handover requests until timer T7 expires, see section 3.3.3.1.1. - Internal Handover after External Handover. CLOLD is now forgotten. Another handover alarm is reported and any cells in this handover alarm which are in the REJ_CELL_LIST or MS_CELL_REJ_LIST are not used in the next handover attempt. The cell list CL2, to be used is built (see section 3.2.2.1. - External Handover Decision). A further HANDOVER REQUIRED message with OIE RESPONSE REQUEST and containing cell list CL2 is sent to the MSC. T_HO_REQ_LOST is started and T7 restarted. .The cell list CL2 is now remembered by the BSC as CLOLD. This sequence of events is repeated until the handover succeeds, T7 or T_HO_REQ_LOST expires - see sections 3.3.3.1.1. - Internal Handover after External Handover, and 3.1.5.1. - T_HO_REQ_LOST Expiry.

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3.1.3.2.2. - MSC Does Not Send HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT

If the MSC does not send a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message within the time period T7, the cells are not remembered by the BSC but may be used again, (if they are presented in the handover alarm).
Fig 3./4 HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT Not Sent by MSC Note A: Handover alarms that cause an external handover 1 The serving BSC detects the need for an external handover and sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED message with a list of cells (CL1), obtained from the handover alarm. T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST are started. The maximum number of cells sent in the message is controlled by the O & M parameter N_PREF_CELL. The cell list CL1 is remembered by the BSC as CLOLD. The MSC cannot perform a handover to any of the cells in CL1 and does not send a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message to the BSC. T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST continue to run. Subsequent handover alarms are received but the cells have not changed (eg the MS has not moved location). Consequently no HANDOVER REQUIRED messages are sent to the MSC. Timer T7 expires. Internal handovers will only be enabled in this case when T_HO_REQ_LOST expires (see section 3.1.5.1. - T_HO_REQ_LOST Expiry). A handover alarm occurs with the same cells as before. A HANDOVER REQUIRED message containing cell list CL2 is sent to the MSC. T7 is started and the cell list CL2 is now remembered by the BSC as CLOLD. This sequence of events is repeated until the handover succeeds or T_HO_REQ_LOST expires - see section 3.1.5.1. - T_HO_REQ_LOST Expiry.
3 4 5
3.1.4. - Unsuccessful External Handover

This section presents two types of unsuccessful external handover where : 1. the MS is unable to perform the handover EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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2. the MSC fails to respond to the handover request.
3.1.4.1. - MS Handover Failure

The MS may be unable to perform the handover for the following reasons: 1. Inability to find, or synchronise to the new cell (asynchronous handover); 2. Detection that the Timing advance on the new channel is out of range, (phase 2 MS only) 3. T3124 expiry (asynchronous handover, due to non reception of the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message after sending the HANDOVER ACCESS); 4. Failure to receive the UA when attempting to establish the channel, or any layer 2 or layer 1 failure. 5. Layer 3 failure (ie protocol error). In the first four cases the MS returns to the serving cell re-establishes the Layer 2 connection and sends the HANDOVER FAILURE. If N_PREF_CELL = 1 the BSC adds the only cell in CLOLD to MS_CELL_REJ_LIST when the HANDOVER FAILURE is received and starts timer T_MS_CELL_REJ. In the case 5 it has been found in the field that the MS may choose to do a combination of the following: Send an RR STATUS message Send a HANDOVER FAILURE message without establishing Layer 2 LAPDm beforehand.
In the first case the ALCATEL BSS ignores the RR STATUS message and the call will be cleared. In the second case the ALCATEL BSS sends HANDOVER FAILURE cause "Radio interface failure, reversion to old channel" the cause sent by the MS will be included in the HANDOVER FAILURE message. If the MS sends both RR STATUS and HANDOVER FAILURE then the behaviour of the ALCATEL BSS is as per the HANDOVER FAILURE case. In the case where the MS can detect that the handover cannot be performed, (eg timing advance out of range or channel mode unacceptable), then it can send a HANDOVER FAILURE on the old channel without attempting the handover access to the target BSS. In these cases prior reestablishment of the lower layer is unnecessary. The message sequence chart shown below shows the scenario for the reception of HANDOVER FAILURE.

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Fig 3./5 MS Handover Failure Note A: MS detects a problem with the new cell or RF channel Note B: Call release scenario of the target BSS 1 The MS having detected a problem sends SABM on the old channel. The serving BTS returns UA and sends an ESTABLISH INDICATION SAPI 0 to the BSC. The serving BSC has no external reaction to the ESTABLISH INDICATION of SAPI 0. A phase 2 MS may send HANDOVER FAILURE without detaching. This results in no EST IND being sent before the HANDOVER FAILURE. When the MS receives the UA it returns a HANDOVER FAILURE message to the serving BTS. The serving BTS relays the HANDOVER FAILURE transparently to the serving BSC. The serving BSC stops T8 and sends a HANDOVER FAILURE message to the MSC with cause "Radio interface failure -reversion to old channel". The only cell in CL OLD is added to the MS_CELL_REJ_LIST and timer T_MS_CELL_REJ is started (provided N_PREF_CELL is not greater than 1). Any cell in MS_CELL_REJ_LIST cannot be used in subsequent handover attempts until it is removed from the list. The MSC stops T3103 makes the switch path back to the old channel (TCH only), and the call continues on the old channel. The MSC releases the target BSS resources by sending a CLEAR COMMAND with cause "Radio interface failure, reversion to old channel" - ref [6] EHT1100. T_MS_CELL_REJ expires and MS_CELL_REJ_LIST is emptied. The cells which were in the list may again be used in handover attempts.
3 4
The following scenario illustrates the management of the MS_CELL_REJECT LIST for subsequent failures to complete a handover to the target cell.

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Fig 3./6 Multiple MS Handover Failure Note A: MS detects a problem with the new cell or RF channel Note B: Call release scenario of the target BSS 1 The MS having detected a problem sends SABM on the old channel. The serving BTS returns UA and sends an ESTABLISH INDICATION SAPI 0 to the BSC. The serving BSC has no external reaction to the ESTABLISH INDICATION of SAPI 0. A phase 2 MS may send HANDOVER FAILURE without detaching. This results in no EST IND being sent before the HANDOVER FAILURE. When the MS receives the UA it returns a HANDOVER FAILURE message to the serving BTS. The serving BTS relays the HANDOVER FAILURE transparently to the serving BSC. The serving BSC stops T8 and sends a HANDOVER FAILURE message to the MSC with cause "Radio interface failure -reversion to old channel". The only cell in CL OLD is added to EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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the MS_CELL_REJ_LIST and timer T_MS_CELL_REJ is started (provided N_PREF_CELL is not greater than 1). Any cell in MS_CELL_REJ_LIST cannot be used in subsequent handover attempts until it is removed from the list. The MSC stops T3103 makes the switch path back to the old channel (TCH only), and the call continues on the old channel. 3 4 The MSC releases the target BSS resources by sending a CLEAR COMMAND with cause "Radio interface failure, reversion to old channel" - ref [6] EHT1100. Another handover alarm is generated by the handover algorithm and a HANDOVER REQUIRED message is sent to the MSC. The cell in MS_CELL_REJ_LIST is excluded from the cell list sent to the MSC (if present in the handover alarm). CL OLD is overwritten with the cell list sent . For clarity the HANDOVER REQUEST protocol to the target BSC is not shown. A HANDOVER COMMAND is returned by the MSC to the serving BSS and forwarded to the MS. The MS fails to attach to this cell also and sends a HANDOVER FAILURE message to the serving BTS. The RR cause value contained in the message is not defined. The serving BTS relays the HANDOVER FAILURE transparently to the serving BSC. The serving BSC stops T8 and sends a HANDOVER FAILURE message to the MSC with cause "Radio interface failure -reversion to old channel". The only cell in CL OLD is added to the MS_CELL_REJ_LIST and timer T_MS_CELL_REJ is restarted. MS_CELL_REJ_LIST now contains the latest cell and the previous cell to which the handovers were attempted. T_MS_CELL_REJ expires and MS_CELL_REJ_LIST is emptied. Both cell list may again be used in handover attempts.
5 6
3.1.5. - Serving BSC Protocol Failures

The major failures exhibited during the protocol are as follows: expiry of T_HO_REQ_LOST expiry of T8.
3.1.5.1. - T_HO_REQ_LOST Expiry

This timer is used to supervise responses from the MSC and is one of the conditions that determines when the external handover procedure has finished. On expiry an O & M error report is raised. The scenario below shows several handover attempts culminating in T_HO_REQ_LOST expiring.

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Note A: Serviced handover alarms Note B : the cell list is the same, thus no HANDOVER REQUIRED is sent. 1 Measurements from MS and BTS are relayed to serving BSC. Serving BSC: detects the need to perform an external handover; sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED to the MSC with a cell list CL1. T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST are started. A further handover alarm is received with different cell information. A further HANDOVER REQUIRED message is sent with an updated cell list, T7 is restarted. This may occur several times. Further handover alarms are received but there is no different cell information to send to the MSC, no HANDOVER COMMANDS are sent. Eventually T7 will expire and HANDOVER REQUIRED messages may be sent again with the same cell information, (see section 3.1.3.2.2. - MSC Does Not Send HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT) There is no response from the MSC and T HO_REQ_LOST expires. If T7 is running at this time it is stopped and an O & M error report is raised.

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3.1.5.2. - T8 Expiry
T8 is started in the serving BSC to supervise the handover of the MS to the target BSS. The expiry of the timer indicates that the MS did not return to the old channel and the MSC has not initiated a call release scenario after a successful handover. When the clear request is generated by the serving BSC all cell lists are cleared.
Fig 3./7 Timer T8 Expiry Note A: Call release serving BSS Note B: Call release target BSS 1 2 3 T8 has expired in the serving BSC. The serving BSC initiates a Call release - ref [6] EHS0100. The MSC may choose to initiate a Call release scenario. This will depend on the events received from the target BSC.
3.1.6. - Target BSC Protocol Failures

The major failure events exhibited during the protocol with the target BSC are as follows. T9103 expiry; T9113 expiry; reception of CHANNEL ACTIVATION NACK; reception of CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION (cause "Handover access failure").
The general system strategy for handling protocol errors after the reception of the HANDOVER REQUEST is as follows: 1 2 if an internal failure is detected a HANDOVER FAILURE is sent to the MSC, this allows the MSC to retry; if a failure is detected indicating that the MS has failed to atta ch to the new channel then a CLEAR REQUEST will be sent to the MSC.
In both cases, Air interface resources and CIC (TCH only) will be released. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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3.1.6.1. - T9103 Expiry

This timer is used during the Channel activation procedure.
In the event of problems or events in the BTS, loss of CHANNEL ACTIVATION, CHANNEL ACTIVATION ACK, or CHANNEL ACTIVATION NACK messages on Abis the timer expires and the target BSC attempts to release the resource in the BTS - ref [6] EHT0200 and sends a HANDOVER FAILURE message to the MSC. These actions are carried out in parallel. The scenario shown below gives the message sequences.
Fig 3./8 Timer T9103 Expiry Note A: Channel release with target BTS 1 2 3 4 The target BSC: allocates the channel; starts to activate it by sending CHANNEL ACTIVATION message to the target BTS; and starts T9103. The target BSC detects that there is no response from the BTS by the expiry of timer T9103. The target BSC sends a HANDOVER FAILURE message to the MSC - ref [6] EHT0200. The target BSC starts T9110 to guard the response of the MSC and attempts to release the target RF channel. If T9110 expires the BSC performs a release on the A interface, see ref [6] EHT0500.
3.1.6.2. - T9113 Expiry

Once the channel has been successfully activated and the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK has been sent to the MSC. The target BSC starts timer T9113 to supervise the external handover. The timer is stopped when the HANDOVER COMPLETE is received from the MS (via the target BTS). When the timer expires, the target BSC releases towards the MS, the target BTS resources and the BSC internally reserved RF resources, at the same time the connection is cleared towards the MSC. The scenario for the Call release sequence is described in ref [6] EHT0300. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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Fig 3./9 Timer T9113 Expiry Note A: Target BSC performs Call release ref [6] EHT0300
3.1.6.3. - Channel Activation Nack

The CHANNEL ACTIVATION NACK is sent by the target BTS to the target BSC to inform it of an error during the Channel activation procedure. The reception of the CHANNEL ACTIVATION NACK will cause the allocated RF resource to be released locally within the target BSC - see ref [6] EHT0101, EHT0102 & EHT0103, and an O&M error report will be sent to O&M. When the CHANNEL ACTIVATION NACK message is received with the cause "Encryption algorithm not implemented " the BSC sends to O&M an O&M error report - it is left to O&M procedures to clear the database inconsistency. A HANDOVER FAILURE message will be sent to the MSC with the causes defined in ref [6] and T9110 is started to supervise the response of the MSC.

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Fig 3./10 Channel Activation NACK Note A: Channel release with target BTS when cause in the CHAN ACT NACK is "Channel already activated".
3.1.6.4. - Connection Failure Indication (Cause "Handover Access Failure")

The CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION (cause "Handover access failure") is sent to the target BSC by the target BTS. The reception of this message during the external handover procedure, is an indication that the MS has been able to send a correct HANDOVER ACCESS to the target BSS but has not been able to establish the Layer 2 connection or send a TCH or Layer 2 frame (see ref [7] for more detail). The connection is cleared - ref [6] EHT0400. For the System behaviour for all other cause values in the CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION refer to the section on serving and target BSC detailed behaviour.
3.1.7. - Target BTS Protocol Failures 3.1.7.1. - T3106 Expiry & Connection Failure Indication (Cause "Handover Access Failure") Synchronous Handover
Once the target BTS has received on the main DCCH a HANDOVER ACCESS message with the correct handover reference it calculates the timing advance for the MS, places it in the Layer 1 header of SACCH messages starts deciphering and starts timer T3106. Note: SYSTEM INFORMATION 5 & 6 messages are presently being sent ciphered to the MS. The target BTS has two behaviour modes controllable by the O&M parameter STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL. This parameter dictates the events that the BTS needs to receive before it stops the timer T3106 (Synchronous handover) or T3105 (asynchronous handover) - see next section. When STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL is set to SABM_SAPI0_ONLY the timer T3106 is stopped only when the BTS has received from the MS a correctly received SABM (SAPI 0). When STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL is set to ANY_FRAME the timer T3106 will be stopped when the BTS has received any correct frame (ie TCH frame or Layer 2 frame independent of the SAPI value). This EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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behaviour means that the target BTS does not ensure that the SAPI 0 connection is established during handover.
Note that the STOP HO ACC FAIL flag is implemented per a BSC. Due to testing requirements the BTS has implemented four flags: T3105_D_STOP, T3105_F_STOP, T3106_D_STOP & T3106_F_STOP. Once T3106 expires, the LAPDm will reject any attempt from an MS to establish a Layer 2 connection by sending a DM frame. It is impossible for an MS to connect to this channel, after this event has been detected.
Fig 3./11 Timer T3106 Expiry
The MS has successfully synchronised to the target cell and sends the correct HANDOVER ACCESS on 4 consecutive slots on the main DCCH (Timing advance 0). The target BTS checks the handover reference, starts deciphering (if applied) and sends a HANDOVER DETECTION message to the target BSC. The target BSC sends a HANDOVER DETECT to the MSC.
2 3
The target BTS: calculates the timing advance, informs the timing advance algorithm; sets the timing advance in the Layer 1 header on SACCH messages; and starts T3106. The MS: connects to the channel (ie may start to transmit TCH frames) & sends an SABM (SAPI 0) using the old timing advance set on the old channel; and starts T200. The target BTS: does not receive either the SABM or any correct frame (they are lost on the Air interface). EXTERNAL HANDOVER
ED
02
RELEASED
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The timer T3106 expires in the target BTS: LAPDm is placed into the idle state with the refuse option set - see Note A; and a CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION (cause "Handover access failure") is sent to the target BSC. The target BSC starts the clearing sequence -ref [6] EHT0400
5 6
T200 expires in the MS. The MS: sends the SABM once more; and starts T200. The target BTS on reception of the SABM sends a DM to the MS. The MS on reception of the DM: stops T200; and returns to the Serving cell & old channel.
Warning The target BSC starts the clearing sequence immediately towards the target BTS (ref [6] EHT0400) an incorrect setting of T3106 will mean that the target RF channel may be released whilst the MS is still there. Note A: The refuse option is a speciality of the ALCATEL BTS. When this option is set all attempts by the MS to establish a LAPDm connection will be refused by the BTS LAPDm entity. This is achieved by the sending of a DM frame to the MS when an SABM is received. In the case of message crossing (between L3 & L2 LAPDm in the BTS ie the DL-EST-IND is being sent to L3 whilst L3 is initiating the refuse option) the Layer 2 LAPDm will not accept the refuse option and allow the LAPDm to be established. see reference [22]
3.1.7.2. - T3105 Expiry & Connection Failure Indication (Cause "Handover Access Failure") Asynchronous Handover
Once the MS has sent on the main DCCH a HANDOVER ACCESS message with the correct handover reference. The target BTS: calculates the timing advance for the MS sends on the main DCCH the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message; starts deciphering (if applied); and starts the timer T3105. The target BTS has two behaviour modes controllable by the O&M parameter STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL. This parameter dictates the events that the BTS needs to receive before it stops the timer T3106 (Synchronous handover - see previous section) or T3105 (asynchronous handover). When STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL is set to SABM_SAPI0_ONLY the timer T3105 is stopped only when the BTS has received from the MS a correctly received SABM (SAPI 0). When STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL is set to ANY_FRAME the timer T3105 will be stopped when the BTS has received any correct frame (ie TCH frame or Layer 2 frame independent of the SAPI value). This behaviour means that the target BTS does not ensure that the SAPI 0 connection is established during handover. Note that the STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL flag is implemented on a per BSC basis. Due to testing requirements the BTS has implemented four flags: T3105_D_STOP, T3105_F_STOP, T3106_D_STOP, & T3106_F_STOP. The target BTS starts sending the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message at a rate of T3105 until it has received (from the MS) either an SABM SAPI 0 (when STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL == SABM_SAPI0_ONLY) or any correct frame (when STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL == ANY_FRAME). If the target BTS sends NY1 repetitions of PHYSICAL INFORMATION message without receiving the require response from the MS, then the target BTS will: send a CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION message (cause "Handover access failure"); and place LAPDm into the "idle" state with the refuse option set - see Note A. The LAPDm, whilst in this state, will reject any attempt from an MS to establish a Layer 2 connection by sending a DM frame. It is impossible for an MS to connect to this channel, after this event has been detected. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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The message sequence chart below shows the case where NY1 is 2.
Fig 3./12 Timer T3105 Expiry

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1
The MS has: successfully synchronised to the target cell; starts to send the correct HANDOVER ACCESS on the main DCCH (Timing advance 0); and starts the timer T3124. The target BTS: sends a HANDOVER DETECTION message to the target BSC. The target BSC sends a HANDOVER DETECT to the MSC.
The target BTS: calculates the timing advance; informs the timing advance algorithm o f the calculated timing advance; sets the timing advance field in the Layer 1 header of the SACCH messages; sends the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message with the calculated timing advance to the MS on the main DCCH; and starts T3105. The MS: stops T3124; stops sending the HANDOVER ACCESS; adjusts its timing to the data held in the PHYSICAL INFORMATION message; connects to the TCH channel; sends an SABM (SAPI 0); and starts T200. The target BTS: does not receive the SABM or another correct frame (they are lost on the Air interface).
4 5
The timer T3105 expires in the target BTS and the PHYSICAL INFORMATION is sent again. The timer T3105 expires (NY1 times) in the target BTS: LAPDm is placed into the idle state with the refuse option set - see Note A; and a CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION (cause "Handover access failure") is sent to the target BSC. The target BSC starts the clearing sequence - ref [6] EHT0400.
6 7
T200 expires in the MS. The MS: sends the SABM once more; and starts T200. The target BTS on reception of the SABM sends a DM to the MS. The MS on reception of the DM: stops T200; and returns to the serving cell & old channel.
Warning: The target BSC starts the clearing sequence with the target BTS immediately (ref [6] EHT0400) if the value of T3105 * NY1 is not set correctly the MS may still be on the target channel. Note A: The refuse option is a speciality of the ALCATEL BTS. When this option is set all attempts by the MS to establish a LAPDm connection will be refused by the BTS LAPDm entity. This is achieved by the sending of a DM frame to the MS when an SABM is received. In the case of message crossing (between L3 & L2 LAPDm in the BTS ie the DL-EST-IND is being sent to L3 whilst L3 is initiating the refuse option) the Layer 2 LAPDm will not accept the refuse option and allow the LAPDm to be established.

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3.2. - Detailed Behaviour

3.2.1. - Serving BTS Protocol

The serving BTS provides: remote transcoder alarm filtering (TCH channel only); message passing service and information regarding events in the serving BTS and events detected by the serving BTS and the MS, during the external handover protocol. The serving BTS is unaware of the external handover protocol taking place. The serving BTS will not refuse access to the MS in the event of an Air interface failure on the old channel. No error detected on the Air interface on the old channel side will cause the serving BTS to automatically release the MS connection (it is the BSCs responsibility to release the RF resources). The Remote transcoder alarms will be filtered as shown in the target BTS section of this document. This filtering is performed for all active TCH RF channels.
3.2.2. - Serving BSC Protocol

The serving BSC external handover protocol has the following functions to perform: External Handover decision Given the cell list from the BSS handover algorithm and a set of O&M flags, this function decides whether an external handover is to be performed. External Handover protocol Once the external handover detection mechanism indicates that an external handover is required, this function initiates and completes the external handover with the MSC.
3.2.2.1. - External Handover Decision 3.2.2.1.1. - General Rules

The candidate cells list is produced as specified in ref [9]. This is further refined in the external handover protocol by comparing the list against CLOLD, checking for any new cell in the list or an old cell no longer in the list. The O & M Parameters and other variables listed in section 4.4 are then used to determine whether an external handover should be attempted.
3.2.2.1.2. - External Handover Decision For SDCCH Transactions

There are two types of SDCCH external handover decision algorithms. One after the Immediate assignment procedure, the other after the Normal Assignment procedure.
3.2.2.1.3. - SDCCH External Handover Decision After Immediate Assignment

External handover procedures are not allowed to be started during the assignement procedure. For this reason, the condition ASSGN is used. In order to allow the MSC to initiate and complete the ciphering and identification procedures without interruption from a handover, a mechanism is foreseen to hold off any potential handover alarms at the beginning of the transaction. This mechanism uses the parameter SDCCH_COUNTER and the variable DOT. The rules for deciding whether an external SDCCH handover is possible after an Immediate assignment procedure are as follows:

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if (BCE == TRUE OR
(BCE == FALSE
AND NOT("Intra-cell alarm") AND EXT_HO_FORCED == TRUE AND EN_IC_HO (target cell) == TRUE))
/*Best cell is really external or O&M forces ext HO*/ AND HO_INTERCELL_ALLOWED == TRUE AND HO_SDCCH_INHIBIT == FALSE /*O&M allows SDCCH HO*/ AND SDCCH_COUNTER <= DOT /*Hold off time is exceeded*/ AND ASSGN == FALSE /*No Assignment in progress*/ then initiate external SDCCH HO else if BCE == FALSE then see Internal handover - ref[7].
3.2.2.1.4. - SDCCH External Handover Decision ( After Normal Assignment)

External handover procedures are not allowed to be started during the assignement procedure. For this reason, the condition ASSGN is used. The rule for deciding whether an external SDCCH handover is initiated as follows: if (BCE == TRUE OR (BCE == FALSE AND NOT("Intra-cell alarm") AND EXT_HO_FORCED == TRUE AND EN_IC_HO (target cell) == TRUE))
/*Best cell is really external or O&M forces ext HO*/ AND HO_INTERCELL_ALLOWED == TRUE AND HO_SDCCH_INHIBIT == FALSE /*O&M allows SDCCH HO*/ AND ASSGN == FALSE /*No Assignment in progress*/ then initiate external SDCCH HO else if BCE == FALSE then see Internal handover - ref[7].
3.2.2.1.5. - External Handover Decision For TCH Transactions

External handover procedures are not allowed to be started during the assignement procedure, or during in-call modification procedure. For this reason, the condition ASSGN is used. The rule for deciding whether an external handover is possible is as follows: if (BCE == TRUE OR (BCE == FALSE AND NOT("Intra-cell alarm") AND EXT_HO_FORCED == TRUE AND EN_IC_HO (target cell) == TRUE))
/*Best cell is really external or O&M forces ext HO*/ AND HO_INTERCELL_ALLOWED == TRUE AND ASSGN == FALSE /*No Assignment in progress*/

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then
initiate external TCH HO else if BCE == FALSE then see Internal handover - ref[7]
3.2.2.2. - Serving BSC External Handover Protocol

When an external handover is to be attempted, (see section 3.2.2.1. - External Handover Decision) it is initiated by the serving BSC sending the HANDOVER REQUIRED message (see section 3.2.2.2.6. - HANDOVER REQUIRED message building), starting T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST. The figure on the following page shows the states in the serving BSC for the handover protocol and the major events only that cause state transitions. The full list of events is defined in the state tables in this section. The expiry of T_MS_CELL_REJ causes no state change and is handled in every state. The only action on expiry is the emptying of the list MS_CELL_REJ_LIST.

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DrhyChqrQprqr
CP6yh782@rhy
IVGG
CP6yh782@rhy
Send HO REQUIRED
ThU& ThUfCPfS@RfGPTU
TU&
8yrh
TrqPH@Sr
Send HO REQUIRED
SrhU&
UfCPfS@RfGPTU@ CP6yh U&@ 8Gqvssrr CP8hq
ThUfHTf8@GGfS@E U'@ TU& TUfCPfS@RfGPTU ThU'
@CPDv
CPS@RS@E TUfCPfS@RfGPTU 8GPG93S@Ef8@GGfGDTU
pryyv8GPG9
3HTf8@GGfS@EfGDTU
TrqCPA6DG
TU'
CPSr Srw
U&@
@CPD Qt
CP6yh8Gqvssrr @S@Ef8@GGfGDTU CPAhvy
TrqPH@Sr
Send HO REQUIRED
CP8hq ThUfCPfS@RfGPTU ThU&
Send HO REQUIRED
TU& ThU' ThU&
TUfCPfS@RfGPTU ThU'
TUfCPfS@RfGPTU
UThr@CPDQt
CP8hq
CP6yh
T7 Exp
CPS@RS@E
UfCPfS@RfGPTU@
Fig 3./13 Serving BSC State Diagram & Major Events (See notes overleaf)

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Notes : 1. CLOLD is only cleared when entering the NULL state; when updated in any other state it is always overwritten with new information. 2 Any entry to the NULL state will clear CLOLD and REJ_CELL_LIST but not MS_CELL_REJ_LIST.
STATE DESCRIPTION This state represents one of the entry and exit states of the external handover protocol. (note an external handover may be initiated during an internal handover, when the next cell in the preferred cell list is external to the serving BSS) The serving BSC has initiated an external handover (by sending the HANDOVER REQUIRED), T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST are running and the serving BSC is awaiting a response from the MSC or a change in radio conditions. The serving BSC has received the HANDOVER COMMAND and is awaiting either the failure or success of the procedure. T8 is running. The serving BSC has sent a HANDOVER REQUIRED to which the MSC has replied with a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT. All cells in CL OLD have been added to REJ_CELL_LIST. T7 is running. The serving BSC has sent a HANDOVER REQUIRED and T7 has expired. T_HO_REQ_LOST is running.
ABBREVIATION NULL
EXT HO INIT.
EXT HO IN PROG
HO REQ REJ
T7 EXP
Table 3./1 Serving BSC Logical States In following tables, when next state is not specified, it implicitly means that there is no state transition.

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3.2.2.2.1. - NULL State behaviour

The NULL state represents an entry state to the external handover procedure, it is a logical state and is used for representation in this document. In fact an external handover may be triggered from within an internal handover procedure where the next best cell in the preferred cell list is external to the serving BSC. The serving BSC will service the events shown in table 3./2 in the NULL state.
EVENT Handover Alarm (Best cell external)
ACTION Send HANDOVER REQUIRED to MSC with cell list CL Store CL as CLOLD Start T7 Start T_HO_REQ_LOST Next state (EXT HO INIT) Internal handover attempted, see ref 15.
Handover Alarm (Best cell not external)
Table 3./2 NULL State events

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3.2.2.2.2. - Normal Events

STATE EVENT HANDOVER COMMAND
EXT HO INIT stop T7 stop T_HO_REQ_LOST send HO CMD to MS start T8 next state (EXT HO IN PROG)
EXT HO IN PROG Discard the message Note 1
T7 EXP stop T_HO_REQ_LOST send HO CMD to MS start T8 next state (EXT HO IN PROG) stop T7
HO REQ REJ
send HO CMD to MS start T8 next state (EXT HO IN PROG)
HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT
stop T_HO_REQ_LOST Add CLOLD to REJ_CELL_LIST Next state (HO REQ REJ)
Discard
stop T_HO_REQ_LOST
next state (NULL)
Discard (note 2)
T7 EXPIRY
Empty REJ_CELL_LIST Next State (T7 EXP)
Not Applicable
Not applicable
Empty REJ_CELL_LIST Next State (NULL)
T8 EXPIRY
Not Applicable
T_HO_REQ_LOST expiry
Stop T7 Send O & M Event Empty REJ_CELL_LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL)
Queued DTAP messages are discarded(see section 3.2.2.2.5) ref [6] EHS0100 Next state (NULL) Not applicable
Not applicable
Not Applicable
Send O & M Event Next state (NULL)
Not Applicable

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Handover Alarm
See Note 3 Send HANDOVER REQUIRED to MSC with cell list CL Store CL as CLOLD restart T7
Discard
See Note 3 Send HANDOVER REQUIRED to MSC with cell list CL Store CL as CLOLD restart T7 Next State (EXT HO INIT)
See note 3 Send HANDOVER REQUIRED to MSC with cell list CL Store CL as CLOLD restart T7 start T_HO_REQ_LOST Next State (EXT HO INIT)
HANDOVER FAILURE
Not Applicable
Send HO FAIL (cause "reversion to old channel") Stop T8 If N_PREF_CELL = 1 Add 1st cell of CLOLD toMS_CELL_REJ_LIST Start T_MS_CELL_REJ_LIST (note 7) endif Queued DTAP messages are discarded (see section 3.2.2.2.5) Ref [6] EHS0200 Next State (NULL)
Not Applicable
Not Applicable

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CLEAR COMMAND (Cause Handover successful)
Note 4 stop T7 stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0600 Next State (NULL)
Note 5 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST stop T8 Queued DTAP messages are discarded (see section 3.2.2.2.5) ref [6] EHS0400 Next State (NULL)
Note 4 Stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST stop T_HO_REQ_LOST ref [6] N0600 Next State (NULL)
Note 4 Stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0600 Next State (NULL)
Table 3./3 Normal Events State Table Note 1: The serving BSC is in a state where there is an external handover already in progress. The HANDOVER COMMAND will be discarded. Note 2 In this state a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT has already been received for the handover attempt. Note 3 An alarm is always accompanied by a cell list which is processed as defined in section 3.2.2.1. - External Handover Decision. If the cell list CL is not empty then there are new cells to send to the MSC for this handover attempt. Note 4: The CLEAR COMMAND (cause "Handover successful") is only expected in the state EXT HO IN PROG. As it has appeared in a state where it is unexpected a Call release will occur independent of the cause. Note 5: The CLEAR COMMAND (cause "Handover successful") is only expected in this state, the MS is no longer on the channel. Note 7 While this timer runs the cell cannot be used in subsequent handover attempts on this connection. The MS_CELL_REJ_LIST will be emptied when the timer expires. Note 8 T_HO_REQ_LOST is not running at this point, (HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT previously received). When T7 expires, (for example if no new cells are reported in the handover alarms), if T _MS_CELL_REJ is not running then internal handovers may be performed since the external handover procedure has terminated..

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3.2.2.2.3. - Unexpected Events

STATE EVENT CLEAR COMMAND Note 1
EXT HO INIT stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL) ref [6] N0600
EXT HO IN PROG Deferred until outcome of Ext HO Note 3
T7 EXP stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL) ref [6] N0600 stop T7
HO REQ REJ
stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL) ref [6] N0600
SCCP-N-DISC
stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL) ref [6] N0500
Deferred until outcome of Ext HO Note 6
stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0500 Next state (NULL)
stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0500 Next state (NULL)
DTAP message
Send to MS via BTS
Queue message (see section 3.2.2.2.5) Discard message
Send to MS via BTS
Send to MS via BTS
CIPHER MODE COMMAND
Perform Ciphering External Handover continues
Perform Ciphering External Handover continues
Perform Ciphering

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ASSIGNMENT REQUEST
stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL_LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL) Abandon handover; Perform Assignment
Discard message
stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL)
stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL)
Perform Assignment
Perform Assignment
RESET
A i/f: SCCP release immediate Note 7 Air: Deferred until outcome of Ext HO Note 4
stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ
stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST
Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL) ref [6] N0900
Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL) ref [6] N0900
RESET CIRCUIT
A i/f: SCCP release immediate Note 7 Air: Deferred until outcome of Ext HO Note 4 & 5
stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL) ref [6] N1000
stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST Next state (NULL) ref [6] N1000
Table 3./4 Unexpected Event Handling A Interface & DTAP EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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TELECOM
Note 1: All cause values with the exception of "Handover successful". Note 3: The release on A interface (ie sending CLEAR COMPLETE) will be initiated when either the MS sends the HANDOVER FAILURE on the old RF channel or when the timer T8 expires no HANDOVER FAILURE is sent to the MSC.. The release on Abis & Air interface is initiated when the MS sends the HANDOVER FAILURE on the old RF channel (in this case, the DTAP messages queued during the procedure are sent to the MS before the release, see section 3.2.2.2.5)or when the timer T8 expires (in this case, the DTAP messages queued during the procedure are discarded). Scenario ref [6] - N0600 applies. Note 4: The release of the A interface A Channel is done when either the MS sends the HANDOVER FAILURE on the old RF Channel (in this case, the DTAP messages queued during the procedure are sent to the MS before the release, see section 3.2.2.2.5)or when the timer T8 expires (in this case, the DTAP messages queued during the procedure are discarded) . The release on Abis & Air interface is initiated when the MS sends the HANDOVER FAILURE on the old RF Channel or when the timer T8 expires. Note 5: The release on A interface (ie sending RESET CIRCUIT ACK) will be initiated when either the MS sends the HANDOVER FAILURE on the old RF Channel or when the timer T8 expires. Note 6: Any DTAP message received from the MSC in a SCCP RELEASED message and reported in the SCCP N DISC IND is queued (if free space in the queue). The release on the Abis & Air interface is initiated when the MS sends the HANDOVER FAILURE on the old RF Channel (in this case, the DTAP messages queued during the procedure are sent to the MS before the release, see section 3.2.2.2.5)or when the timer T8 expires (in this case, the DTAP messages queued during the procedure are discarded). . Note 7: The release of the SCCP connection (ie the sending of the SCCP RELEASE message at the SCCP level) is immediately performed. However the Circuit associated to the connection (if any) will not be released in the BSC until the whereabouts of the MS is known. Only at this point in time will the release of the A interface circuit be initiated. During this period of time the A interface circuit will be unavailable for use by the MSC.

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TELECOM
3.2.2.2.4. - Events from BTS

STATE EVENT CONN FAIL INDIC (Radio-link Fail)
EXT HO INIT Stop T7 Stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0700 Next state (NULL)
EXT HO IN PROG Discard message
T7 EXP Stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0700 Next state (NULL)
HO REQ REJ Stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0700 Next state (NULL)
CONN FAIL INDIC (Remote Trans Failure)
Stop T7 Stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0800 Next state (NULL)
Discard message
Stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0800 Next state (NULL)
Stop T7 stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0800 Next state (NULL)
EST INDIC SAPI 0
Dont care
Note 5
Dont care
Dont care

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TELECOM
ERR REP (O&M intervention)

stop T8 Queued DTAP messages are discarded ref [6] N0400
ERR REP SAPI 0 (Msg seq err)
Discard message
ERR INDIC SAPI 0 (Note 2)
stop T7 Stop T_HO_REQ_LOST stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0100 Next state (NULL)
Discard message
ERR INDIC SAPI 0 (Note 3)
Dont care
Discard message
Dont care
Dont care

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TELECOM
REL INDIC SAPI 0
stop T7 Stop T_HO_REQ_LOST
Discard message
stop T_MS_CELL_REJ Empty REJ_CELL LIST Empty MS_CELL_REJ_LIST ref [6] N0200 Next state (NULL)
Table 3./5 Handling of Events and Errors from Serving BTS. Note 2 Causes: T200 expiry (N200 + 1); Unsolicited DM response: Multi frame established state; & Sequence error. Note 3 All other causes, other than those mentioned in Note 2. Note 5 No external events are generated by the BSC at this point in time, however the BSC performs some internal actions.

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3.2.2.2.5. - DTAP and BSSMAP procedures

The processing of DTAP and BSSMAP in the serving BSS during external handover (ie whilst in the EXT HO IN PROG, state) are as follows: Up to 5 DTAP messages will be buffered by the BSC. DTAP messages received when the buffer is full will be discarded. During dequeuing,when the channel change procedure completes, only the first SAPI 3 message is sent to the MS if the SAPI 3 connection is already established or the establishment of a SAPI 3 connection has been initiated (in which case, the first SAPI 3 message is forwarded to the MS as soon as the connection is established). If the SAPI 3 connection isnt already established or initiated, then no SAPI 3 messages are forwarded to the mobile during dequeuing..
ASSIGNMENT REQUEST, HANDOVER COMMAND & CIPHER MODE COMMAND messages for the connection will be discarded.
The MSC is not meant to send DTAP messages whilst an external handover is in progress, see Ref [15].
3.2.2.2.6. - HANDOVER REQUIRED message building

To initiate an external handover the serving BSC sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED message to the MSC containing cell information for the MSC to act upon. Information element Message type Cause Setting or Algorithm Set to HANDOVER REQUIRED The cause will be set to either: Uplink quality; Uplink strength; Downlink quality; Downlink strength; Distance; or Better cell. This will depend on the reason in the handover alarm - see Refs [8]. The response request information element will be included only when the parameter RESP REQ is set to TRUE. The RESP REQ is an O&M modifiable operator parameter. The cell list when built will contain no more cells than indicated by the N PREF CELL parameter. When the O&M flag CGI REQD is set to TRUE, then the OIE CELL IDENTIFIER LIST PREFERRED will contain cells identified by use of the whole Cell Global Identification (CGI) coding. Otherwise the cells will be identified by use of the Cell Identification Discriminator coding (CELL DISC = 1, LAC + CI is used). The N PREF CELL is an O&M modifiable operator parameter. This IE contains the mode and the channel currently used. It is only included if O&M flag EN_SEND_OLD_CHAN_MODE is set to TRUE. Always included if channel mode is "speech" AND if flag EN_SEND_SPEECH_VER is set to TRUE. Table 3./6 HANDOVER REQUIRED Message The handover cause is mapped to the Cause information element as defined in Ref [15]
OIE RESPONSE REQUEST MIE CELL IDENTIFIER LIST (Preferred)
OIE Current Channel
OIE Speech Version (used)

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3.2.3. - MSC Handover Protocol

The ALCATEL BSS has to interface to many MSCs. This section gives the reader an insight into the MSC behaviour so as to grasp a better knowledge of the protocol whilst testing, only the inter-MSC protocol is described. The MSC when it receives a HANDOVER REQUIRED from a BSS initiates an external handover protocol. The MSC external handover protocol may consist of the following functions: an evaluation of the CELL IDENTIFIER LIST PREFERRED may be performed, so as to select a cell which is not heavily loaded. A cell is selected and the target BSS is sent a HANDOVER REQUEST message - see ref [14] for the MSCs requirement for the setting of the PERMITTED ALGORITHM setting. The timer Trr2 is started to supervise the activation of the channel for the handover. If the OIE RESPONSE REQUEST is present in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message and Trr2 expires the MSC may send a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT to the serving BSC. When this occurs the BSC will consider all cells sent in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message as rejected. When the MSC receives the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK message it stops Trr2, sends a HANDOVER COMMAND to the serving BSS and starts the timer T3103 to supervise the handover with the MS. At this point in time the MSC should disable the DTAP transparent message passing function and prevent or queue any RR or MM procedure (for example ciphering, identify etc). The MSC is now awaiting the outcome of the handover. In the successful case the MSC will receive a HANDOVER DETECT followed by a HANDOVER COMPLETE from the target BSS. In this case the MSC, stops the timer T3103, performs the switch through (TCH only), releases the serving BSS by using a CLEAR COMMAND (cause "Handover successful"), where upon the handover is deemed to have finished. At this point in time the MSC re-enables the DTAP function and allows RR, MM and other procedures to run. In the unsuccessful case the MSC will receive a HANDOVER FAILURE message (cause "Reversion to old channel") from the serving BSS. The MSC will, stop the timer T3103, perform the switch back (if necessary TCH only), release the target BSS by sending a CLEAR COMMAND (cause "Radio interface failure, reversion to old channel"), where upon the handover is deemed to have finished. The MSC can only wait for the next HANDOVER REQUIRED message for a new handover procedure to occur. If T3103 expires the MSC may decide to clear the call or let the connection continue until a failure is signalled to the MSC from the serving BSS. For TCH calls the MSC may choose to make the switch path at two different points in the protocol either when it receives the HANDOVER DETECT message or the HANDOVER COMPLETE is received from the target BSS. In fact some MSCs may perform the switch through before the reception of the HANDOVER DETECT message.
3.2.4. - Target BSC External Handover Protocol

This section deals with the handling of the Layer 3 message of the target BSC during the external handover protocol. For more detail on the processing of the HANDOVER REQUEST message and the SCCP connection establishment for external handovers refer to the relevant sections in this chapter. The following table gives the actions carried out (when congestion is present) by the BSC for TCH transactions depending on, the MSC queuing requirements, and the internal BSC queue status, before the state tables are entered. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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MSC Queuing requested Queuing Requested Queuing Requested Queuing is Not Requested Queuing is Not Requested
Internal BSC queue status Can queue
Actions
Can not queue Can queue
Can not queue
Start T_qho Send QUEUING INDIC next state (AWAIT TCH RESOURCE- QUEUING) ref [6] EHT0800 start T9110 next state (AWAIT MSC RESPONSE) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "No radio resource available") start T9110 next state (AWAIT MSC RESPONSE) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "No radio resource available") start T9110 next state (AWAIT MSC RESPONSE)
Table 3./7 TCH Transactions and Queuing During Congestion The following table gives the actions carried out by the BSC for SDCCH transactions depending on the SDCCH Congestion of the target cell before the state tables are entered.
Target cell SDCCH Congestion status No SDCCH Congestion
Actions Start T9103 Send CHANNEL ACTIVATION next state (AWAIT CHAN ACT ACK) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "No radio resource available") start T9110 next state (AWAIT MSC RESPONSE)
SDCCH Congested
Table 3./8 SDCCH Transactions During Congestion

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STATE DESCRIPTION
ABBREVIATION AWAIT TCH RESOURCE (QUEUING) AWAIT CHN ACT ACK AWAIT HO DETECTION
There is a congestion situation and the request is queued (TCH calls only) The Target BSC has allocated and is attempting to activate a channel to which the handover may occur The target BSC has successfully activated the channel, has sent the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK to the MSC, and is awaiting the successful completion of the procedure The target BSC has received the HANDOVER DETECTION from the target BTS. It has made the switch path (TCH only) and is awaiting the ESTABLISH INDICATION message The target BSC has received the ESTABLISH INDICATION and is now awaiting the HANDOVER COMPLETE message from the MS The target BSC has detected a failure in either the HANDOVER REQUEST or the activation of the target BTS channel and has sent a HANDOVER FAILURE to the MSC. The target BSC is awaiting either another HANDOVER REQUEST or a CLEAR COMMAND. Timer T9110 is running to supervise the MSC response. This state represents the entry and exit state of the external handover protocol. Table 3./9 Target BSC Logical States
AWAIT ESTAB IND
AWAIT HO CMPLT
AWAIT MSC RESP
NULL
STATE EVENT TCH available
AWAIT TCH RESOURCE (QUEUING) Stop T_qho Start T9103 Send CHAN ACT to target BTS next state (AWAIT CHN ACT ACK) Send HANDOVER FAILURE ref [6] EHT0800 start T9110 Next state (AWAIT MSC RESP) Stop T_qho Send HANDOVER FAILURE ref [6] EHT0800 Start T9110 Next state (AWAIT MSC RESP)
T_qho expiry
Pre-emption by another request (Handover or Assignment)
Table 3./10 State Table for Expected Events (During Queuing - TCH Only)

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STATE EVENT CHANNEL ACTIVATION ACKNOWLEDGE CHN ACT NACK (Request transcoding rate unavailable)
AWAIT CHN ACT ACK stop T9103 send HO REQ ACK start T9113 next state(AWAIT HO DETECTION) stop T9103 send HO FAILURE for "data" connection, use ref [6] EHT0101 for "speech" connection, use ref [6] EHT0106 start T9110 next state(AWAIT MSC RESP) stop T9103 Send HO FAILURE ref [6] EHT0102 start T9110 next state (AWAIT MSC RESP) stop T9103 send HO FAILURE ref [6] EHT0103 start T9110 next state(AWAIT MSC RESP) send HO FAILURE ref [6] EHT0200 start T9110 next state(AWAIT MSC RESP)
CHN ACT NACK (Encryption algorithm not implemented) CHN ACT NACK (All other causes)
T9103 EXPIRY
Table 3./11 State Table for Expected Events During Channel Activation

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STATE EVENT HANDOVER DETECTION
AWAIT HO DETECTION Switch through connection path on a per call basis depending on the full rate/half rate requirements of the connection. (TCH only) send HO DETECT next state(AWAIT ESTAB IND) Note 2; Switch through connection path on a per call basis depending on the full rate/half rate requirements of the connection (TCH only) Note 8 BSC starts MS & BS Pwr Ctrl as required; next state(AWAIT HO CMPLT) Note 3; stop T9113 Switch through connection path on a per call basis depending on the full rate/half rate requirements of the connection(TCH only) send HO CMPLT : BSC starts MS & BS Pwr Ctrl as required; if this is a directed retry to full rate speech version 1 TCH with a phase 1 MS send CHANNEL MODE MODIFY. see note 26 Enable DTAP note 25 next state(NULL)
AWAIT ESTAB IND Dont care
AWAIT HO CMPLT Dont care
ESTABLISH INDICATION SAPI 0
Dont care : BSC starts MS & BS Pwr Ctrl as required; next state(AWAIT HO CMPLT)
HANDOVER COMPLETE
Note 4; stop T9113 send HO CMPLT : BSC starts MS & BS Pwr Ctrl as required; if this is a directed retry to full rate speech version 1 TCH with a phase 1 MS send CHANNEL MODE MODIFY. see note 26 Enable DTAP note 25 next state(NULL)
stop T9113 send HO CMPLT if this is a directed retry to full rate speech version 1 TCH with a phase 1 MS, send CHANNEL MODE MODIFY. see note 26 Enable DTAP note 25 next state(NULL)
Table 3./12 State Table for Expected Events During Channel Change The reception of these events in other states (ie during AWAIT TCH RESOURCE or WAIT MSC RESP) are either not applicable or ignored. There is only one exception to this which is the reception of the HANDOVER REQUEST message during the WAIT MSC RESP state.

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STATE EVENT T9113 EXPIRY CONN FAIL IND (Handover access failure) CLEAR COMMAND Note 17 HANDOVER REQUEST T9110 expiry
AWAIT HO DETECTION ref [6] EHT0300 Note 2; ref [6] EHT0400 Stop T9113 ref [6] EHT1100 Not Applicable Not Applicable
AWAIT ESTAB IND ref [6] EHT0300 ref [6] EHT0400
AWAIT HO CMPLT ref [6] EHT0300 Not Applicable
WAIT MSC RESP Not Applicable Not Applicable Stop T9113 ref [6] EHT1100 Note 5 stop T9110 ref [6] EHT0500
Stop T9113 ref [6] EHT1100 Not Applicable Not Applicable
Stop T9113 ref [6] EHT1100 Not Applicable Not Applicable
Table 3./13 State Table for Expected Events During Channel Change
STATE EVENT
AWAIT TCH RESOURC E A Int Note 15 NC Note 13
AWAIT CHN ACT ACK
CLEAR COMMAND Note 18
A Int Note 15 NC Note 19
AWAIT HO DETECT ION A Int & NC Note 24
AWAIT ESTAB IND A Int & NC Note 24
AWAIT HO CMPLT A Int & NC Note 24
WAIT MSC RESP Stop T9110 ref [6] EHT09 00 Stop T9110 ref [6] EHT1000 Stop T9110 A Int is released locally Stop T9110 A Int is released locally Discard or reject message Note 23 Discard message Discard message
SCCP-N-DISC Note 20
A Int & NC Note 14
A Int & NC Note 14
A Int & NC Note 14
RESET
A Int & NC Note 14
A Int & NC Note 14
A Int & NC Note 14
RESET CIRCUIT
A Int & NC Note 14
A Int & NC Note 14
A Int & NC Note 14
DTAP message
CIPHER MODE COMMAND ASSIGNMENT REQUEST
Discard or reject message Note 23 Discard message Note 12 Discard message Note 12
Discard or reject message Note 23 Discard message Note 12 Discard message Note 12
Queue message Note 12 Discard message Note 12 Discard message Note 12
Table 3./14 Unexpected Event Handling - A Interface & DTAP

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STATE
EVENT CONN FAIL IND Note 9
AWAIT CHN ACT ACK Not Applicable
AWAIT HO DETECTION Dont care
AWAIT ESTAB IND Dont care
AWAIT HO CMPLT Dont care
CONN FAIL IND (Radio-link fail) ERR REP (O&M intervention) ERR REP SAPI 0 (Msg seq err) ERR IND SAPI 0 (Note 6) ERR IND SAPI 0 (Note 7) REL IND SAPI 0
Not Applicable
Dont care
Dont care
Dont care
ref [6] EHT 1200
ref [6] N0400
ref [6] N0400
ref [6] N0400
Dont care
Dont care
Dont care
Dont care
Not Applicable
Dont care
Dont care
Dont care
Not Applicable
Dont care
Dont care
Dont care
Not Applicable
Dont care
Dont care
Dont care
AWAIT MSC RESP Not Applicabl e Note 11 Not Applicabl e Note 11 Not Applicabl e Note 11 Not Applicabl e Note 11 Not Applicable Note 11 Not Applicable Note 11 Not Applicable Note 11 Not Applicable
MEASURE RESULT
Not Applicable
Note 21
Note 21
Note 22
Table 3./15 Handling of Errors from Target BTS Notes : 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: the HANDOVER DETECTION message was lost on Abis. the HANDOVER DETECTION and ESTABLISH INDICATION message were lost on Abis. the ESTABLISH INDICATION message was lost on Abis. The HANDOVER REQUEST message processing is entered once more. Causes: T200 expiry (N200 + 1); Unsolicited DM response: Multiframe established state; & sequence error. All other causes other than those in Note 6. In cases where a message is missing and the missing message causes an event on the A interface as for example the HANDOVER DETECTION is lost then no HANDOVER DETECT will be sent to the MSC. CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION (cause "Transcoder failure") is valid for TCH connections only. In this state there should be no resources allocated in the BTS, therefore there should be none of these events coming from the BTS. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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12: 13: 14: 15: 17: 18: 19: 20:
The MSC should not be sending any of these messages at this time in the protocol - see ref [15]. The request in the queue is de-queued and the waiting timer (T_qho) is stopped. The release on the A (A interface Circuit), Abis & Air interfaces are deferred until either T9113 expires or the BSC receives the HANDOVER COMPLETE from the MS. The release of the A interface is initiated immediately. The CLEAR COMMAND contains the cause "Radio interface failure, reversion to old channel". All other causes other than "Radio interface failure, reversion to old channel". The Channel activation procedure continues. The Channel will be released with the appropriate Resource release scenario. If the cause is "SCCP inactivity timer expiry" then a Reset circuit procedure will be initiated for TCH connections so as to Clear the connection. In the case where it is the reception of SCCP RELEASED any A interface channel associated to the connection is released. The Power control and handover algorithms are started when the MS is connected after the reception of the ESTABLISH INDICATION & therefore these messages are ignored. The messages are processed by Power control & handover Algorithms. For SAPI 0 the message is discarded. For SAPI 3 the message is rejected with a SAPI "N" REJECT message, cause = "Protocol Error between BSC and MSC". The release of the A interface is initiated immediately and the release of the Abis and Air interfaces is initiated with release scenario Ref [6] EHT1101. In some cases, the Target BSC must trigger a classmark interrogation procedure. See ref [16] To recognise an incoming directed retry, see section 3.2.4.6.1. The CHANNEL MODE MODIFY message is sent without starting any timer. When CHANNEL MODE MODIFY ACK or CHANNEL MODE MODIFY NACK is received, it is discarded. see ref [18].
21: 22: 23
24 25 26
3.2.4.1. - SCCP Connection Establishment

The SCCP connection may be established in the following ways as shown in the message sequence charts below. The first shows the establishment of the SCCP connection without any exchange of Layer 3 messages. The HANDOVER REQUEST is sent after the SCCP connection has been established. The second shows the establishment of the SCCP connection where the initial SCCP CONN REQ has within it a HANDOVER REQUEST message.

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Fig 3./14 HO Request after SCCP Establishment 1 2 3 The MSC sends an SCCP CONN REQUEST to the target BSC without any message contained. The target BSC: returns the SCCP CONN CONFIRMATION to the MSC. Once the SCCP connection is established the MSC now sends the HANDOVER REQUEST message.
Fig 3./15 HO Request during SCCP Establishment 1 The MSC sends an SCCP CONN REQUEST to the target BSC with a HANDOVER REQUEST message contained within it. 2 The target BSC: returns the SCCP CONN CONFIRMATION to the MSC.

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The third shows an SCCP CON REQ where the message contained is unknown. In this case the SCCP connection is confirmed and the timer T9110 runs to supervise the reception of the HANDOVER REQUEST message.
It must be noted that the SCCP connection is always confirmed before either, the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK, or HANDOVER FAILURE, or CLEAR REQUEST messages are sent.
Fig 3./16 HO Request after SCCP Establishment with Unknown L3 Message 1 The SCCP CON REQ is sent with a message. This message is either unknown or incorrect (eg CIPHER MODE COMMAND). The SCCP CON REQ has no error, thus the connection is confirmed. The timer T9110 is started to supervise the reception of the HANDOVER REQUEST. The MSC sends the HANDOVER REQUEST and the timer is stopped.
2 3
3.2.4.2. - SCCP Connection Failure

The SCCP connection may fail in the MSC as shown below in figure 18. The first is a failure of the SCCP protocol either due to unknown addresses of the SCCP or some format error. In this case the SCCP CONN REQ is explicitly refused by an SCCP CONN REFUSE.
Fig 3./17 HO Request during SCCP Connection - SCCP Failure 1 2 The SCCP CONN REQ with a format error or addressing error The target BSC responds with an SCCP CONN REFUSE message.
The second is a failure of the MSC to send a HANDOVER REQUEST. This is signalled by the expiry of T9110. In this case an SCCP RELEASED is sent to the MSC.

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Fig 3./18 SCCP Establishment with T9110 Expiry 1 2 3 The SCCP connection is established but no HANDOVER REQUEST is received or an unknown message or incorrect message is received. The timer T9110 is started so as to ensure that the SCCP connection is not left hanging without a transaction associated with it. The timer expires and the SCCP is released.
3.2.4.3. - Target BSS errors

The section "HANDOVER REQUEST message processing" shows in short form the behaviour of the target BSS when it has detected that there is a problem with the received HANDOVER REQUEST message. This section shows the general behaviour of the target BSS when these errors are detected, with the exception of the unknown A interface circuit or Blocked circuit cases which are shown in the following sections. When an error is detected the target BSS immediately fails the external handover attempt by sending a HANDOVER FAILURE message and starts the timer T9110. This timer allows the MSC to either Clear the SCCP connection normally or (in cases where there are error in the A Interface circuit selected) to try another external handover attempt for the same MS connection - see following sections. The message sequence diagram below shows the Target BSS behaviour.

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Fig 3./19 HO Request Error Behaviour 1 2 The SCCP connection is initiated by the MSC for the external handover to take place. The target BSS confirms the SCCP connection request. The HANDOVER REQUEST is sent by the MSC. The target BSS detects an error in the Request and refuses the external handover by sending a HANDOVER FAILURE message - for cases and error causes see section in this document "HANDOVER REQUEST message checking". The target BSS starts the timer T9110. The timer T9110 allows the MSC to either: 1) release the SCCP connection; 2) or to send another HANDOVER REQUEST. For case 2 the MSC can initiate another attempt to perform an external handover.
3.2.4.4. - Target BSS error BLOCK message is sent

If in the HANDOVER REQUEST message the MSC has selected an A interface Circuit which is unable to be used by the target BSS the target BSS refuses the Request, by sending a HANDOVER FAILURE (for causes see section "HANDOVER REQUEST message checking"). In addition the target BSS sends a single BLOCK message to the MSC. This message is sent in connectionless mode. Unlike the Blocking procedure there is no timer started for this procedure. On reception of the BLOCK message the MSC should remove the indicated circuit from the free A interface circuit list maintained by the MSC and mark it as Blocked. When the A interface circuit is once more available for use in carrying traffic the BSS will trigger Unblocking procedure so that the A Interface circuit is once more available for traffic in the MSC - see ref [11].

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Fig 3./20 HO Request on Unavailable Circuit 1 2 The SCCP connection is initiated by the MSC for the external handover to take place. The target BSS confirms the SCCP connection request. The HANDOVER REQUEST is sent by the MSC. The target BSS detects that the A interface circuit is not usable in the target BSS, so an HANDOVER FAILURE message is sent (for cause values see section "HANDOVER REQUEST message checking"). The target BSS starts the timer T9110 in this case the target BSS is awaiting the MSC to possibly reselect the A Interface circuit and initiate another external handover procedure. The target BSS also sends a BLOCK message in connectionless mode for the A interface circuit contained in the original HANDOVER REQUEST. One BLOCK message is sent by the target BSS in this case, there is no timer started by the target BSS to supervise the response from the MSC - see ref [11] for more information.
3 4
3.2.4.5. - Target BSS error UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT message is sent

The UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT message is only sent when the BSS is operating in the GSM Phase 2 mode (ie GSM PHASE == PHASE 2). In addition the message may be disabled from being sent by use of the O&M Parameter (UNEQUIP_CIR_EN). If in the HANDOVER REQUEST message the MSC has selected an A interface Circuit which is either: Unknown; Known but not equipped or configured (this does not include X25 or SPL circuits); or in use for CCITT No 7; by the target BSS the target BSS refuses the Request, by sending a HANDOVER FAILURE (for causes see section "HANDOVER REQUEST message checking"). In addition the target BSS sends a single UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT message to the MSC. This message is sent in Connectionless mode. On reception of the UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT message the MSC should remove the indicated circuit from the free A interface circuit list maintained by the MSC. It is up to O&M procedures in the MSC to trigger Maintenance or Configuration actions to align MSC & BSS A interface circuit configurations and states. The following message sequence chart shows the procedure when the target BSS is operating in GSM Phase 2 mode on A interface and the UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT is allowed to be sent by the target BSS.

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Fig 3./21 HO Request on Unequipped Circuit 1 2 The SCCP connection is initiated by the MSC for the external handover to take place. The target BSS confirms the SCCP connection request. The HANDOVER REQUEST is sent by the MSC. The target BSS detects that the A interface circuit is either: not known; known but not equipped or configured (this does not include X25 or SPL circuits); or in use for CCITT No 7 signalling; in the target BSS, so an HANDOVER FAILURE message is sent (for cause values see section "HANDOVER REQUEST message checking"). The target BSS starts the timer T9110 in this case the target BSS is awaiting the MSC to possibly reselect the A Interface circuit and initiate another external handover procedure. The target BSS also sends an UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT message in connectionless mode for the A interface circuit contained in the original HANDOVER REQUEST - see ref [11] for more detail.
3 4
3.2.4.6. - HANDOVER REQUEST message processing

Before the target BSC enters the handover protocol the following checks and actions are taken on the HANDOVER REQUEST message before proceeding with the handover. For processing of classmark IEs, see ref [16] Event Optional information element CIC is present Actions Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Protocol error between MSC and BSC") - ref [6] EHT0600 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP). Table 3./16 Specific checking for EHO towards SDCCH

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OIE CIC is not present

OIE CIC is present but indicates timeslot 0 OIE CIC is present but is unavailable due to O&M intervention
OIE CIC is present but is unavailable due to its use in another connection OIE CIC is unknown or is known but not equipped or configured (this does not include X25 or SPL circuits) or is in use for CCITT No 7 MIE Channel Type octet 3 indicates data & octet 4 indicates half rate or a non supported data rate The BSC recognises no code point for a codec, amongst all proposed in MIE Channel Type octet 5. Requested codecs in MIE Channel Type octet 5 do not match any codec allowed in the cell
Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Protocol error between MSC and BSC") - ref [6] EHT0600 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP). Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause Requested terrestrial resource unavailable) -ref[6] EHT0705 Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Requested terrestrial resource unavailable") - ref [6] EHT0603 Send a single BLOCK message ref[11] Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Terrestrial resource already allocated") - ref [6] EHT0604 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "BSS not equipped") - ref [6] EHT0605 send UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT message - See Note 1 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP).
Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Requested transcoding/ rate adaption unavailable") - ref [6] EHT0602 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Requested speech version unavailable") - ref [6] EHT0620 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Requested speech version unavailable") - ref [6] EHT0620 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Table 3./17 Specific checking for EHO towards TCH
Note 1: The UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT message is sent only if the GSM_PHASE == PHASE 2 and enabled by O&M parameter (EN_UNEQUIPPED_CIRCUIT) - see ref [11] for more detail.
OIE Cell Identifier (Target) is present and does not match to the one held in the BSS See Note 1
Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Invalid cell") - ref [6] EHT0601 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Table 3./18 Specific checking for Single Cell BSS
Note 1: If this IE is not present for a Single cell BSS then it is accepted, this behaviour is independent of the GSM PHASE flag.

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OIE Cell Identifier (Target) is not present

OIE Cell Identifier (Target) is present but does not match one known to the BSS
Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Protocol error between MSC and BSC") - ref [6] EHT0600 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Invalid cell") - ref [6] EHT0601 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Table 3./19 Specific checking for Multi-Cell BSS
MIE Channel Type combination not supported - See Note 2 MIEs Encryption Info or Classmark Info or Cell Identifier (serving) is missing OIE Radio Channel Identity is present OIE Interference Band is present MIE Encryption Information field Permitted algorithms is coded "00000000" see Note 1 MIE Encryption Information Length field value is more than 9 (key length is more than 8 octets) If at least one encryption algorithm is allowed and cipher key is not present (MIE ENCRYPTION INFORMATION has a length of 1)
Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Protocol error between MSC and BSC") - ref [6] EHT0600; start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Send HANDOVER FAILURE(cause "Protocol error between MSC and BSC") - ref [6] EHT0600 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Ignore IE Ignore IE Send HANDOVER FAILURE(cause "Protocol error between MSC and BSC") - ref [6] EHT0600 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Incorrect value") ref[6] EHT0607 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "IE or field missing") ref[1] EHT0608 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP)
Table 3./20 General Message Checking Note 1: This coding is not allowed by GSM. Note "00000001" is used to indicate No encryption. Note 2: Signalling on: full rate or half rate channels is not supported. Note that the BSC will handle the coding of the Channel type field independent of the GSM PHASE mode.

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If the MIE Encryption Information field Permitted algorithm has more than one bit set
Send HANDOVER FAILURE(cause "Protocol error between MSC and BSC") - ref [6] EHT0600 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) (The BSC does not allow this handover to occur as it does not know what Ciphering algorithm is in use on the old channel) Table 3./21 Ciphering Checks - GSM Phase 1 MSs
If the MS Ciphering capabilities do not match with the BTS ciphering capabilities or the allowed MSC ciphering requirements (as specified in the MIE Encryption Info field Permitted algorithms - see ref [14])
Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Ciphering algorithm not supported") - ref [6] EHT0606 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP)
Table 3./22 Ciphering Checks - MS & BTS Capabilities & MSC Requirements (With exceptions as shown in Table 3./21)
After all the above checks are successfully made, the target BSC performs the following: For TCH calls, the associated CIC is allocated to the SCCP transaction - this is required in case of an abnormal SCCP release where upon a Reset circuit procedure would have to be carried out; Send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "Requested terrestrial resource unavailable") - ref [6] EHT0701 Start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) Table 3./23 Unsuccessful CIC allocation if the CIC allocation is successful (TCH only) a request is made to allocate an RF resource - ref [9].
if it was an unsuccessful CIC allocation

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if it was a successful resource allocation

if the queue is full
if the timer T_qho expired in the queuing algorithm. ie the request was in the queue too long if the queuing request was pre-empted by a higher priority request
if there is an internal BSC problem allocating the RF channel If the cell is unavailable due to O&M
if incoming handover is inhibited in the cell (EN_IC_HO is set to FALSE
Send a CHANNEL ACTIVATION message to the BTS - see section on CHANNEL ACTIVATION message building Start T9103 next state is AWAIT CHN ACT ACK. If a CIC is allocated then CIC state is made FREE send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "No radio resource available") start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) If CIC is allocated then CIC state is made FREE send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "No radio resource available") - ref [6] EHT0800 start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) If a CIC is allocated then CIC state is made FREE send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "No radio resource available") - ref [6] EHT0800 start T9110 next state (WAIT MSC RESP) If a CIC is allocated then CIC state is made FREE send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "No radio resource available") - ref [6] EHT0702 start T9110 next state(WAIT MSC RESP) If a CIC is allocated then CIC state is made FREE send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "O&M intervention") ref [6] EHT0704 start T9110 next state(WAIT MSC RESP) If a CIC is allocated then CIC state is made FREE send HANDOVER FAILURE (cause "O&M intervention") ref [6] EHT0704 start T9110 next state(WAIT MSC RESP) Table 3./24 Actions after Resource Request Returns
3.2.4.6.1. - Detection of incoming external directed retry

The incoming request may be an external directed retry. Since some special procedures must be performed in this case, the target BSC should recognise that the HANDOVER REQUEST message concerns an external directed retry to a full rate channel for speech version 1, for a phase 1 MS. There are several means, depending of the MSC construction of the HANDOVER REQUEST message. If one of the following condition is fulfilled, then the incoming request is assumed to be an incoming external directed retry to a full rate channel for speech version 1, for a phase 1 MS : If OIE Current Channel is present in HANDOVER REQUEST message: CARSPECIAUX Channel Mode field in OIE Current Channel (if present) is "signalling only" AND Channel Type is "full rate speech version 1" (*) AND MS revision level is "Phase 1" If OIE Current Channel is not present in HANDOVER REQUEST message :

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Channel Type is "full rate speech version 1" (*) AND MS revision level is "Phase 1. The cause is not checked.
(*) : this means : speech/data indicator field is "speech" AND channel rate and type field is "full rate TCH Bm" AND permitted speech version is only "GSM speech full rate version 1".
In this case, at the end of the external directed retry protocol, the BSC shall send to the MS a CHANNEL MODE MODIFY message, without starting any timer. When CHANNEL MODE MODIFY ACK or CHANNEL MODE MODIFY NACK is received, it is discarded.
3.2.4.7. - CHANNEL ACTIVATION message construction

Once an RF channel has been allocated the target BSC builds a CHANNEL ACTIVATION message. This message is sent to the target BTS to activate the channel. The BSC uses the following information in the HANDOVER REQUEST message and O&M flags and parameters in the building of this message: MIE Channel Type MIE Encryption Info MIE Classmark Info OIE Downlink Dtx Flag (used in TCH speech calls only) O&M PARAMETERS and FLAGS DTX-INDICATOR DTX-INDICATOR_SACCH BS_TXPWR_MAX MS_TXPWR_MAX DOWNLINK_DTX_ENABLE

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Information element MIE Channel number MIE Activation type
Info field
Setting or Algorithm Indicates the RF Channel allocated by the Dedicated radio resource manager - see ref [9] If serving cell is not controlled or unknown by the target BSC then asynchronous handover is indicated If the serving cell & target cell are synchronised the synchronous handover is indicated, else asynchronous handover is indicated.
MIE Channel mode
DTXd DTXu Speech or Data Ind (octet 4) Chan rate and Type (octet 5) Speech encoding algorithm (octet 6)
see reference [20] see reference [20] Set equal to octet 3 of the MIE Channel Type in the HANDOVER REQUEST message. Set to "SDCCH" if Speech or Data Ind indicates "Signalling". else its value ("Full rate TCH channel Bm or half rate channel Lm") depends on the radio resource allocation procedure (see ref [9]. If Speech or Data Ind indicates "Signalling" - set to "no resource required" If Speech or Data Ind indicates "Speech" - set to "GSM speech coding algorithm version 1" or to "GSM speech coding algorithm version 2" If Speech or Data Ind indicates "Data" if T/NT of octet 5 of the MIE Channel Type in the HANDOVER REQUEST message indicates "Transparent Service" - set equal to octet 5 of the MIE Channel Type in the HANDOVER REQUEST message. if T/NT of octet 5 of the MIE Channel Type in the HANDOVER REQUEST message indicates "Non Transparent Service" - and Rate of octet 5 indicates 6Kbit/s or 12Kbit/s - set equal to "12 Kbit/s", see Note 1.
OIE Channel Ident
The Channel Identification IE contains the 04.08 Channel Description & 04.08 Mobile allocation for the activated channel. The Channel Description field use in this message may be used in the building of the HANDOVER COMMAND message
OIE Encryption Info element CIE Handover reference
This IE is always sent. The setting is as specified in ref [3 & 9] This IE is included for this procedure It is calculated by the target BSC and should be randomly generated. The BTS uses this value to compare with the value in the HANDOVER ACCESS when the MS performs the handover access procedure.

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OIE BS Power OIE MS Power
set to BS_TXPWR_MAX - the maximum allowed power is used at the start so as to ensure a high success rate of handover. Is set to min(MAX_PWR_MOBILE, MS_TXPWR_MAX) where MAX_PWR_MOBILE is obtained from the CLASSMARK INFO in the HANDOVER REQUEST. The MS should start transmitting at the maximum allowed power in the cell or at the maximum that it can transmit, this will ensure a high success rate of handover. Not used This is never used in an asynchronous handover as the timing advance is calculated when the MS performs the handover access procedure. In synchronous handover the timing advance can not be included as the information is not held in any of the messages sent in the external handover protocol. The timing advance is calculated when the MS sends the HANDOVER ACCESS message. Not used Not used Not used This element contains the setting of system information filling on SACCH for THIS channel. It is included only if there are additional or modified system information messages to be transmitted. If present, it updates the system information previously intended to be transmitted. see ref [17] Table 3./25 Channel Activation Message
CIE Timing advance
OIE BS Power parameters OIE MS Power parameters OIE Physical context OIE SACCH Information
Note 1 : For this release the Alcatel BSS only supports data calls on full rate channels with 12Kbit/s rate adaption
3.2.4.8. - HANDOVER REQUEST ACK message construction

Once the channel has been successfully activated (ie reception of CHANNEL ACTIVATION ACK) the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK message is built and sent back to the MSC.
Information element MIE Message type MIE Layer 3 Information OIE Chosen channel OIE Chosen Encryption algorithm
Setting or Algorithm Set to HANDOVER REQUEST ACK See the next section on HANDOVER COMMAND message construction for the building of this IE. This IE is sent only when the BSS was given a choice by the MSC. This IE is sent when the MSC allows the BSC to choose from more than one ciphering algorithm.

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OIE Speech Version (chosen)
This IE is included when the target BSS made the choice of the codec to use, among more than one given by the MSC.
Table 3./26 Handover Request Ack Message:
3.2.4.9. - Layer 3 IE HANDOVER COMMAND message construction

The Layer 3 Information element in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK contains the HANDOVER COMMAND message which is to be passed to the MS. The following table shows the construction of the HANDOVER COMMAND message towards a channel which is fully supported by the E-GSM band (G1 range and/or P-GSM range). Information element MIE Cell description MIE First Channel description, after time MIE Handover reference MIE Power command and Access type OIE Synch info Setting or Algorithm For P-GSM, set NCC, BCC & BCCH ARFCN (High & Low part <1..124>) to the values allocated to the target BTS. Set to the same coding given in the Channel Description field, in the Channel Identification MIE of the CHANNEL ACTIVATION message. Set as sent to the BTS in the CHANNEL ACTIVATION message. Set to MIN(P, MS_TXPWR_MAX target cell) Field Access type is set to "sending of HANDOVER ACCESS is mandatory" Phase 1 MS : This IE is always included as required in GSM ETR 09.94 (see reference [18]). Phase 2 MS : This IE is only included for synchronous Handover. ROT bit is settable depending on customer request NCI bit is settable depending on customer request CIE Frequency short list, after time This IE is used when a G1 band TCH is allocated by the dedicated radio resource entity and frequency hopping is to be applied on the TCH. For the format to use, see ref [21]. This IE is sent only if "CIE Frequency list, after time" is not sent. See note 1. This IE is used when a G1 band TCH is allocated by the dedicated radio resource entity and frequency hopping is to be applied on the TCH. For the format to use, see ref [21]. This IE is sent only if "CIE Frequency short list, after time" is not sent. See note 1. This IE is used when a P-GSM band TCH or SDCCH is allocated by the dedicated radio resource entity and frequency hopping with more than one frequency is to be applied on the channel and when CIE Frequency Channel Sequence, after time cannot code all the frequencies used. Bitmap 0 format is used. Used together with CIE Mobile Allocation, after time to describe frequency hopping sequence EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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CIE Frequency list, after time
CIE Cell chan description
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OIE Mode of the first channel OIE Channel description of the second channel OIE Mode of the second channel CIE Frequency channel sequence, after time
Sent only if the channel mode is changed. See note 3. Not used - relevant to Lm + Lm. Not used - relevant to Lm + Lm. This IE is used when a P-GSM band TCH or SDCCH is allocated by the dedicated radio resource entity and frequency hopping with more than one frequency is to be applied on the channel, and if this IE can code all frequencies.
In the non hopping case the MS receiving this message with this information element included should be aware that the channel is non hopping from the CHANNEL DESCRIPTION MIE therefore this IE should be ignored. CIE Mobile allocation, after time OIE Starting time CIE Real time difference CIE Timing advance CIE Frequency short list, before time CIE Frequency list, before time OIE Channel description of the first channel, before time OIE Channel description of the second channel, before time CIE Frequency channel sequence, before time CIE Mobile allocation, before time OIE Cipher mode setting Used only if CIE Cell channel description is used. Not used (used during Frequency redefinition). Not used (Used for Pseudo synchronous handover) Not used (Used for Pre-synchronous handover) Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Not used (used during Frequency redefinition, for Lm + Lm, and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Never sent to Phase 1 MSs. GSM Phase 2 MSs - Always sent indicating the Ciphering algorithm chosen - see ref [14]. Table 3./27 Handover Command Message towards a GSM900 channel Note 1 : The sending of the "Frequency short list, after time" or the "Frequency list, after time" is dependant on the range of the frequencies. See ref [21]

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HANDOVER COMMAND (Inter-cell Synchronous & Asynchronous) for Phase 1 or 2 MSs towards a DCS channel.
Information element MIE Cell description MIE First Channel description, after time MIE Handover reference MIE Power command and Access type OIE Synch info
Setting or Algorithm Set NCC, BCC & BCCH ARFCN (High & Low part <0..1023>) to the values allocated to the target BTS Set to the same coding given in the Channel Description field, in the Channel Identification MIE of the CHANNEL ACTIVATION message. Set as sent to the BTS in the CHANNEL ACTIVATION message. Set to MIN(P, MS_TXPWR_MAX target cell) Field Access type is set to "sending of HANDOVER ACCESS is mandatory" Phase 1 MS : This IE is always included as required in GSM ETR 09.94 (see reference [18]). Phase 2 MS : This IE is only included for synchronous Handover. ROT bit is settable depending on customer request NCI bit is settable depending on customer request
CIE Frequency short list, after time CIE Frequency list, after time CIE Cell chan description OIE Mode of the first channel OIE Channel description of the second channel OIE Mode of the second channel CIE Frequency channel sequence, after time CIE Mobile allocation of the second channel OIE Starting time CIE Real time difference CIE Timing advance CIE Frequency short list, before time CIE Frequency list, before time OIE Channel description of the first channel, before time ED 02 RELEASED
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This IE is sent if hopping is applied and if the "Frequency list, after time" is not used - see Note 1 This IE is sent if hopping is applied and if the "Frequency short list, after time" is not used - see Note 1 & 2 Not used. Sent only if the channel mode is changed. See note 3. Not used - relevant to Lm + Lm Not used.- relevant to Lm + Lm Not used.. Not used - relevant to Lm + Lm Not used (used during Frequency redefinition). Not used (Used for Pseudo synchronous handover) Not used (Used for Pre-synchronous handover) Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). EXTERNAL HANDOVER
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OIE Channel description of the second channel, before time

Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Not used (used during Frequency redefinition and only sent to Phase 2 MSs). Never sent to Phase 1 MSs. GSM Phase 2 MSs - Always sent indicating the Ciphering algorithm chosen - see ref [14].
CIE Frequency channel sequence, before time CIE Mobile allocation, before time OIE Cipher mode setting
Table 3./28 Handover Command Message towards a DCS cell
Note 1 : The sending of the "Frequency short list, after time" or the "Frequency list, after time" is dependant on the range of the frequencies. See ref [21] Note 2 : It is possible (by BSS parameter) to choose between the inclusion of the "Frequency list, after time" or "Frequency short list, after time". Note 3 : If one of the following conditions is fulfilled, the OIE Mode of the first channel must not be included in HANDOVER COMMAND message : In HANDOVER REQUEST message, Current Channel IE and Channel Type IE indicate both "signalling". In HANDOVER REQUEST message, Current Channel IE and Channel Type IE indicate the same radio interface data rate. In HANDOVER REQUEST message, Current Channel IE and Channel Type IE indicate both "speech" AND the chosen speech version is the same as in Speech Version IE.
In the building of the HANDOVER COMMAND message the synchronisation indication tells the mobile which type of protocol is to be performed on the Air interface. In the case where the Synchronisation indicates synchronous, the MS knows that the timing advance that it is presently using will be used in the target cell, this matches the setting given in the CHANNEL ACTIVATION message given to the target BTS. The power used by the MS is set to the maximum capable (or allowable if smaller) for the MS on the new channel, this ensures a high probability of success. The reason for not using the MS power obtained from the PHYSICAL CONTEXT CNF message, is due to the fact that there is no relationship between the power used on the serving cell to the reception of the MS on the new target.
3.2.4.10. - CHANNEL MODE MODIFY message construction

The CHANNEL MODE MODIFY message is sent in some cases defined in note 26, p. 62. Information element MIE Channel Description MIE Channel mode Setting same as in HANDOVER COMMAND set to "speech full rate version 1" since the message is only sent in this context.

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3.2.4.11. - DTAP & BSMAP procedures in the Target BSS

The handling of DTAP and BSMAP in the target BSS during an external handover are as follows:
From the sending of the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK), to either: the reception of the HANDOVER COMPLETE message; or the expiry of T9113 (ie during the AWAIT HO DETECT, AWAIT ESTAB IND & AWAIT HO CMPLT states): DTAP messages will buffered (up to 5 messages will be buffered); ASSIGNMENT REQUEST messages will be discarded; HANDOVER COMMAND messages will be discarded; CIPHER MODE COMMAND message will be discarded.
All previously received messages will be discarded on failure, when the A interface connection is released (this also includes the case of a DTAP message received from the MSC in a SCCP RELEASED message). The queued DTAP messages are sent on the reception of the HANDOVER COMPLETE from the MS. During dequeuing, only the first SAPI 3 message is sent to the MS if the SAPI 3 connection is already established or the establishment of a SAPI 3 connection has been initiated (in which case, the first SAPI 3 message is forwarded to the MS as soon as the connection is established), subsequent SAPI 3 messages in the queue are discarded. All connection oriented messages received before the sending of the HANDOVER REQUEST ACK will be discarded (with the exception of the TRACE message).
3.2.5. - Target BTS Asynchronous Handover Protocol

Once the channel is activated the target BTS immediately starts the ciphering (if applied) of any frames sent to the air interface. The target BTS can only decode access bursts coming in from the air interface whilst it is awaiting the HANDOVER ACCESS message. The target BTS should exhibit the following behaviour during an asynchronous handover procedure (internal or external). A list of logical BTS states is shown below. STATE DESCRIPTION The BTS is awaiting the HANDOVER ACCESS message from the MS and Enciphering is applied The BTS is awaiting the SABM from the MS, the PHYSICAL INFO message is being sent and the timer T3105 is running The LAPDm is established and the timer T_CFI_Tr is running. During this state all transcoder alarms are ignored. This state is introduced as the exit state Table 3./29 BTS States - Asynch HO ABBREVIATION AWAIT HO ACC AWAIT SABM or AWAIT ANY CORRECT FRAME T_CFI_Tr RUNNING ACTIVE

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STATE EVENT
AWAIT HO ACC
AWAIT SABM or ANY CORRECT FRAME Dont care
T_CFI_Tr RUNNIN G N/A
ACTIVE
HANDOVER ACCESS Note 4
Decipher (if applied) Set connection with TR (TCH) Note 2 Send HANDOVER DETECTION Decode normal bursts Calculate TA Set TA in L1 header of SACCH msgs and TA algorithm Send PHYS INFO with TA in unack mode X=0 Start T3105 next state(AWAIT SABM or ANY CORRECT FRAME
N/A
Table 3./30 Target BTS State Table - Asynch HO

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STATE
EVENT DL ESTAB IND BTS Layer 2 -> BTS Layer 3 or any correct frame Note 5
AWAIT HO ACC N/A
AWAIT SABM or ANY CORRECT FRAME Stop T3105 Start Radio-link fail alg Send EST INDIC Start T_CFI_Tr next state(T_CFI_Tr RUNNING)
T_CFI_Tr RUNNING Stop T_CFI_Tr Start T_CFI_Tr Note 1
ACTIVE Start T_CFI_Tr next state (T_CFI_Tr RUNNING) Note 1
T3105 EXPIRY
N/A
X == NY1 Send CONN FAIL IND (cause "HO acc fail") Send DL REFUSE REQ Note 6 next state (ACTIVE) X < NY1 X=X+1 Send PHYS INFO in unack mode Start T3105
N/A
N/A
T_CFI_Tr EXPIRY
N/A
N/A
next state (ACTIVE) Note 1
Not Applicable Note 1 Send CONN FAIL IND (Remote transcoder failure ) Note 1
Remote transcoder alarm
N/A
Send CONN FAIL IND (Remote transcoder failure)
Discard Note 1
Table 3./31 Target BTS State Table - Asynch HO (Cont) Note 1: These states and actions are also in the serving BTS. Note 2: When the transcoder connection is set (for TCH only connections) the BTS awaits the reception of TRAU frames from the BSC. It is at this point in the protocol that the detection of Transcoder failure in the BTS starts. When the BSC receives the HANDOVER DETECT message it is meant to perform the switch through in which case the BTS will start to receive these TRAU frames Note 3: MS & BS Power control is started when the Layer 2 LAPDm SAPI 0 connection is established. However BS Power control may be inhibited for certain channels on a FU which is carrying the BCCH frequency see ref [8] for BS Power control inhibition. Note 4: Only a correct HANDOVER ACCESS will be accepted. Any incorrect HANDOVER ACCESS will be discarded. Note 5: The event which will be accepted at this point will depend of the T3105_D_STOP or T3105_F_STOP parameter. If the parameter(s) is set to ONLY SABM, then only the EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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reception of an SABM for SAPI 0 will stop the timer. If the parameter(s) is set to ANY FRAME, then any correctly received TCH or Layer 2 frame will cause T3105 to be stopped. In both cases, only SABM SAPI 0 will cause the sending of ESTABLISH INDICATION.
Note 6: The Layer 2 LAPDm Refuse option is set at this point. Note this feature is an ALCATEL BTS feature and is not specified in GSM.
3.2.6. - Target BTS Synchronous Handover Protocol

Once the channel is activated the target BTS immediately starts the ciphering (if applied) of any frames sent to the air interface. The dedicated SYSTEM INFORMATION messages are immediately sent. In the case of external synchronous handover the Layer 1 header will indicate that the Timing advance information is invalid. In the case of internal synchronous handover the Layer 1 header will indicate the timing advance given in the CHANNEL ACTIVATION message. If the timing advance information is not present then the Layer 1 header will indicate that the Timing advance information is invalid. The target BTS can only decode access bursts coming in from the air interface whilst it is awaiting the HANDOVER ACCESS message. The target BTS should exhibit the following behaviour during a synchronous external or synchronous internal handover procedure. A list of logical BTS states are shown below.
STATE DESCRIPTION The Channel is activated and the BTS is awaiting the HANDOVER ACCESS from the MS The BTS is awaiting for either the SABM SAPI 0 or any correct frame from the MS. The timer T3106 is running. The LAPDm is established and the timer T_CFI_Tr is running. During this state all transcoder alarms are ignored. This State is introduced as the exit state for the procedure, after the end of a successful access by the MS Table 3./32 BTS States - Synch HO
ABBREVIATION INTRA AWAIT HO ACC INTRA AWAIT SABM or ANY CORRECT FRAME T_CFI_Tr RUNNING ACTIVE

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STATE
INTRA AWAIT HO ACC
EVENT
INTRA AWAIT SABM or ANY CORRECT FRAME N/A
T_CFI_Tr RUNNING
ACTIVE
HANDOVER ACCESS
Start Deciphering (if applied) Send HANDOVER DETECTION Sets the Transcoder (TCH only) Note 1 Calculate TA Set TA in Layer 1 header & TA Algorithm Start T3106 next state (INTRA AWAIT SABM or ANY CORRECT FRAME)
N/A
N/A
INCORRECT HANDOVER ACCESS DL ESTAB IND BTS Layer 2 -> BTS Layer 3 or any correct frame - see Note 2
Dont care
Dont care
N/A
N/A
Dont care
Stop T3106 Send ESTABLISH INDICATION Start Radio link failure algorithm Start T_CFI_Tr next state (T_CFI_Tr RUNNING)
Stop T_CFI_Tr Start T_CFI_Tr
Start T_CFI_Tr next state (T_CFI_Tr RUNNING)
T3106 EXPIRY
N/A
Send DL-REFUSEREQ Send CONN FAIL IND (HO acc fail) next state(ACTIVE)
N/A
N/A
T_CFI_Tr EXPIRY Remote transcoder alarm(TCH only)
N/A N/A
N/A Send CONN FAIL IND (Remote transcoder alarm)
next state (ACTIVE) Dont care
N/A Send CONN FAIL IND (Remote transcoder alarm)
Table 3./33 Target BTS State Table - Synch HO EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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Note 1: When the transcoder is set (TCH only). The target BTS expects to receive the TRAU frames from the Transcoder. It is at this point that the target BTS will start to detect transcoder failure as the BSC has not yet made the switch path. When the BSC receives the HANDOVER DETECTION message it is meant to perform the switch through in which case the BTS will start to receive these TRAU frames. In the event that the HANDOVER DETECTION message is lost (on Abis) the BSC will make the switch through either on the reception of the ESTABLISH INDICATION SAPI 0 or upon the HANDOVER COMPLETE (in the case where the ESTABLISH INDICATION SAPI 0 is lost as well). Note 2: The event which will be accepted at this point will depend of the T3106_D_STOP or T3106_F_STOP parameter. If the parameter(s) is set to ONLY SABM, then only the reception of an SABM for SAPI 0 will stop the timer. If the parameter(s) is set to ANY FRAME, then any correctly received TCH or Layer 2 frame will cause T3106 to be stopped. In both cases, only SABM SAPI 0 will cause the sending of ESTABLISH INDICATION.
3.2.6.1. BTS CHANNEL ACTIVATION message checking

see reference [7]
3.2.7. - MS Handover Protocol

This section describes in general terms the functions and procedures which the MS performs so as to make the handover algorithm possible.
3.2.7.1. - Measurement Reporting

The MS carries out the following measurements and reports them to the serving BSS in the MEASUREMENT REPORT message on the uplink SACCH. For the serving cell the MS reports: Downlink level measurements; Downlink quality measurements; & Distance between the serving BSS and MS.
For Neighbour cells the MS reports (only 6 but may measure more of the Neighbours cells found in the SYSTEM INFORMATION 5 message): the BSIC & BCCH frequency number; & Downlink level.
The MS will only measure those Neighbour cells which have a BSIC whose PLM colour code IE matches with the coding in the PLMN PERMITTED IE transmitted to the MS in the SYSTEM INFORMATION 6. This rule allows the MS to provide measurements for neighbour cells of different PLMN and therefore makes a handover between two PLMNs is possible. However GSM does not allow inter PLMN handovers. Obviously an internal handover can never occur between two PLMNs, this would be performed using an external handover, where the MSC would make the decision to handover to a different PLMN and allow charging to be applied as appropriate. Whilst performing these measurements the MS keeps information on the synchronisation and TDMA timing of all the cells which it is measuring. These measurement are used to ensure quick synchronisation with the target cell when required.

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3.2.7.2. - Synchronous & Asynchronous Handover Procedure

The MS synchronous & asynchronous handover procedure consists of the following procedures:
Releasing of the old channel and serving cell
This process starts after the reception of the HANDOVER COMMAND message. Attaching to the target cell
This process provides the synchronisation to the new cells TDMA frame synchronisation, so as to allow access to the new channel. Attaching to the new channel
This process provides the method by which the MS may gain access to the slot on the TDMA frame. Re-attaching to the serving cell
In case of failure, this procedure allows the re-synchronisation to the old cells TDMA frame. Re-attaching to the old channel
In case of failure, this procedure allows the MS to gain access to the old channel.
3.2.7.3. - Releasing From The Old Channel & Serving Cell

The release from the old channel is initiated when the MS receives the HANDOVER COMMAND message. It is performed by: suspending the sending of all signalling messages except for RR management messages; releasing the LAPDm connection using a local end release; and then disconnecting the Physical layer.
Note at this point in time, GSM seems to imply that RR procedures running (for example Ciphering) may still send messages to the LAPDm entity, it is a assumed that these are queued like all the other messages coming from other sub-layers in the MS. The releasing of LAPDm before the disconnection of the Physical layer may cause anomalies to occur at Layer 2. The serving BSC at this point in time should be ignoring these errors. The MS RR function may (as an option) store the context of the serving cell. This would include the synchronisation, timing and the SYSTEM INFORMATION 5 & 6 for use if the procedure fails.
3.2.7.4. - Attaching To The Target Cell

The attaching procedure to the target cell, involves the synchronisation to the cell. This involves the accessing of the FCCH and SCH. The MS uses information gathered during the handover measurement procedures for use in the handover procedure. The MS can only use this information if it can recognise the target cell in the HANDOVER COMMAND with a Neighbour cell which it has previously measured. This information should enable the synchronisation to the target cell to be made quicker. If the target cell cannot be identified by the MS from previous information obtained in the handover measurement procedures it (this is possible since the MS only keeps measurements on neighbour cells for a certain length of time): 1 tunes to the BCCH frequency and detects the burst on the FCCH channel this is used to provided the tuning to the carrier frequency. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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This process may take up to 460 ms to find the first FCCH burst and there after the time will depend on the MSs phase lock loop performance.
2 and then accesses the bursts on the SCH channel which contain the SYNCHRONISATION CHANNEL INFORMATION. This message contains the BSIC of the target cell and the current TDMA frame number. If the BSIC found in these burst does not match to the BSIC passed in the HANDOVER COMMAND message the MS will abort the handover and return to the old channel - see re-attaching to the serving cell and old channel. The TDMA frame number in this message allows the MS to synchronise itself to the TDMA frame. The SCH burst is always placed after the FCCH burst thus allowing an easy access to the channel during the synchronisation phase. If the target cell can be identified from previous information measured by the MS. The MS will 1 tune to the BCCH frequency and program the internal synthesiser to the setting previously measured. 2 the TDMA frame number is set accordingly.
The MS, during the handover measurements, ensures that the TDMA frame numbers are also synchronised. When the MS has no information as to the synchronisation of the target cell, the procedure is likely to be slow. Once the MS has synchronised to the carrier and then to the TDMA frame it may proceed to attach to the new channel
3.2.7.5. - Attaching To The New Channel

The attaching procedure for asynchronous handover to the new channel (indicated by the CHANNEL DESCRIPTION IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND) consists of: 1 the sending (continuously) on the main DCCH, (or SACCH for phase 2 MSs) a HANDOVER ACCESS message and starting the timer T3124. The burst requires: to be formatted as a random access burst should contain the BSIC value passed to the MS in the CELL DESCRIPTION IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND message sent with the power specified in the POWER COMMAND IE sent in the HANDOVER COMMAND message; the burst is sent un-ciphered with a timing advance set to 0.
The message requires the HANDOVER REFERENCE value found in the HANDOVER REFERENCE IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND message.
When the MS receives a PHYSICAL INFORMATION message, the MS: stops the timer T3124; uses the timing advance in the PHYSICAL INFORMATION for the sending of bursts activates the Physical channels in sending and receiving mode starts ciphering starts sending MEASUREMENT REPORTS on the Uplink SACCH and attempts to establish a LAPDm connection by sending an SABM SAPI 0 EXTERNAL HANDOVER RELEASED
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At this point the TSC sent to the MS in the CHANNEL DESCRIPTION IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND message is used in the coding of the bursts.
When the MS receives the UA SAPI 0, the MS sends in acknowledge mode a HANDOVER COMPLETE message to the BSS. Only when the HANDOVER COMPLETE is acknowledged at Layer 2 will the handover procedure be deemed to have finished in the MS.
The attaching procedure for synchronous handover to the new channel (indicated by the CHANNEL DESCRIPTION IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND) consists of: 1 the sending on the main DCCH, (or SACCH for phase 2 MSs) four consecutive HANDOVER ACCESS messages. The burst requires: to be formatted as a random access burst; should contain the BSIC value passed to the MS in the CELL DESCRIPTION IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND message; it is sent with the power specified in the POWER COMMAND IE sent in the HANDOVER COMMAND message; the burst is sent un-ciphered with a timing advance set to 0.
The message requires the HANDOVER REFERENCE value found in the HANDOVER REFERENCE IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND message. 2 The Physical channels are connected immediately for receiving and transmission, Deciphering is started immediately using the ciphering key that was used on the old channel, the timing advance previously used on the old channel is now used on the new channel and the MS attempts to establish a LAPDm connection by sending an SABM SAPI 0. At this point the TSC sent to the MS in the CHANNEL DESCRIPTION IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND message is used in the coding of the bursts. When the MS receives the UA SAPI 0, the MS sends in acknowledge mode a HANDOVER COMPLETE message to the BSS. Only when the HANDOVER COMPLETE is acknowledged at Layer 2 will the handover procedure be deemed to have finished in the MS. In the successful case (after HANDOVER COMMAND is acknowledged) the MS does not automatically establish signalling connections that were in existence on the old channel (for example SAPI 3 SMS). This action needs to be commanded by upper layers in the MS. These layers would have been informed of the handover taking place and are aware that the SAPIs which were in use need to be re-established.
3.2.7.6. - Reattaching to the Serving Cell

The MS, on failure of the handover procedure to the target cell/channel, retrieves the context of the serving cell. This will consist of frequency synchronisation and TDMA frame numbering.
3.2.7.7. - Reattaching to the Old Channel

Attaching back to the old channel consists of: retrieving the context of the previous connection; retrieving the old timing advance and TSC for use in the burst transmission and coding; connecting and enabling the sending and transmission of frames starting ciphering and Deciphering immediately; EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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establishing SAPI 0; and then sending the HANDOVER FAILURE message.
After the HANDOVER FAILURE has been sent on the old channel, the MS will establish automatically all signalling connections which where in existence before the reception of the HANDOVER COMMAND message. The state of the individual SAPIs upon the reception of the HANDOVER COMMAND message may cause a message to be sent to the upper layers (SMS, CC, MM) in the MS to inform them of message loss on these connections. The upper layers may then use this signal to resend messages or (for SMS) to ask for re-establishment of SAPI 3. The object is to attempt to establish the connection as if nothing had happened. Obviously if there was message loss due to the handover then the upper layers will be informed and then may retry.
3.3. - Interaction Between Other Procedures 3.3.1.- External Handover & Ciphering Procedures
The MSC is responsible for the synchronisation of the Ciphering and external handover procedures. In cases where a Ciphering procedure is in progress the MSC will ensure that this procedure finishes before the initiation of the external handover procedure or any other procedure. The BSS takes no notice of the result of the Ciphering procedure. On reception of the HANDOVER REQUEST the BSS checks the MS capabilities, MSC requirements & BSS capabilities as specified in ref [14] and in this document. Note some special support for Phase 2 MSs (not supporting A5/1) operating in Phase 1 networks is specified.
3.3.2. - Internal Handover, External Handover BSSMAP & DTAP Messages

This section details the interaction between the internal and external handover procedures when an internal handover has failed, the next cell in the list is external and there are queued BSSMAP or DTAP messages. The following BSSMAP messages are considered : CIPHER MODE COMMAND ASSIGNMENT REQUEST ASSIGNMENT REQUEST followed by CIPHER MODE COMMAND CIPHER MODE COMMAND followed by ASSIGNMENT REQUEST The actions performed by the serving BSC before sending the HANDOVER REQUIRED message to the MSC for the external handover are shown in the following table.

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Queued Message DTAP messages

Action Proceed DTAP messages as indicated in section 3.2.2.2.5 before BSSMAP messages handling Proceed with ciphering Proceed with assignment MSC should not send CIPHER MODE COMMAND before the outcome of the assignment. Discard CIPHER MODE COMMAND. The MSC should await the outcome of the ciphering procedure before proceeding with the assignment. Process ASSIGNMENT REQUEST after CIPHER MODE COMMAND.
CIPHER MODE COMMAND ASSIGNMENT REQUEST ASSIGNMENT REQUEST followed by CIPHER MODE COMMAND CIPHER MODE COMMAND followed by ASSIGNMENT REQUEST
Table 3./34 Interactions Internal Handover - External Handover - BSSMAP If any of these BSSMAP messages are received after the HANDOVER COMMAND is received by the BSC they are discarded.
3.3.3. - External Handover & Internal Handover Procedures 3.3.3.1. - Serving BSC
If the BSC is in the process of performing an internal handover procedure and a HANDOVER COMMAND is received from the MSC. The BSC will respond by sending a HANDOVER FAILURE with the cause "reversion to old channel". An external handover procedure may be triggered following the failure of an internal handover procedure when one of the subsequent preferred cells in the preferred cell list of the internal handover alarm indicates a cell which is not controlled by the BSC - see ref [7]. Note that for the case of queuing MSCs, all inter-cell internal handovers must be forced to be external for a good interworking.
3.3.3.1.1. - Internal Handover after External Handover

When a handover alarm is received, if after processing the cell list, the best cell is external then all the cells in the cell list CL are considered to be external irrespective of the actual status of the cell (ie internal or external) and only external handovers will be performed until : If the MSC has sent a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message - the expiry of T7. If the MSC has not sent a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message - the expiry of T_HO_REQ_LOST.

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Fig 3./22 Interactions between Internal & External Handover - MSC sends HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT Note A Handover alarms serviced by external handover Note B Non serviced handover alarms Note C Handover alarms serviced by internal handover 1 Measurements from MS and BTS are relayed to the serving BSC. The Serving BSC detects the need to perform an external handover and sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED to the MSC with cell list CL1. The best cell is an external cell, all others are internal. T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST are started. The MSC rejects the handover request. On reception of the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message the BSC stops T_HO_REQ_LOST and adds CLOLD to the REJ_CELL_LIST. A further handover alarm is received with all internal cells. After processing the cell information the BSC sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED message to the MSC with cell list CL2, T7 is restarted and T_HO_REQ_LOST started. The MSC rejects this second cell list. On reception of the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message the BSC stops T_HO_REQ_LOST and adds the cells sent in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message to the REJ_CELL_LIST. T7 is left running.

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A further handover alarm is received before T7 expires with the same cell information (ie all internal cells). No handover is attempted as after processing, the cell list CL is not different from that sent in the previous handover attempt. T7 expires and the REJ_CELL_LIST is emptied. A further handover alarm occurs : If the best cell is internal the BSC will attempt an internal handover and the external handover procedure is terminated. If the best cell is external the above procedure is repeated.
6 7.
The following scenario illustrates the interaction between the external and internal handover when the MSC does not send a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message.
Fig 3./23 Interactions between Internal & External Handover - MSC does not send HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT Note A Handover alarms serviced by external handover Note B Non serviced handover alarms Note C Handover alarms serviced by internal handover
Measurements from MS and BTS are relayed to the serving BSC. The Serving BSC detects the need to perform an external handover and sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED to the MSC with cell list CL1. The best cell is an external cell, all others are internal. T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST are started. The MSC does not reject the handover request with a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message. T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST are left running.

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A further handover alarm is received with all internal cells. After processing the cell information the BSC sends a HANDOVER REQUIRED message to the MSC with cell list CL2, T7 is restarted. The MSC does not reject the handover request with a HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message. T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST are left running. A further handover alarm is received before T7 expires with the same cell information (ie all internal cells). No handover is attempted as after processing, the cell list CL is not different from that sent in the previous handover attempt. T7 expires, T_HO_REQ_LOST is still running. No handover alarms occur before T_HO_REQ_LOST expires. Another handover alarm occurs with the same internal cells that sent in (3). The BSC now attempts an internal handover since the best cell is internal and there are no external handover procedure timers running. The external handover procedure is terminated.
3 4
5 6 7.
3.3.3.2. - Target BSC

On successful completion of the procedure the internal handover behaviour with respect to Ciphering will be governed by the revision level of the MS (GSM Phase 1 or 2) and its Ciphering capabilities the target cell Ciphering capabilities and the Permitted algorithms.
3.3.3.2.1. - Subsequent Internal handover after successful External Handover for Phase 1 MSs
The permitted algorithm will only have ever one option allowed, this will dictate what ciphering (if any) will be used in subsequent internal handovers. In the case where Ciphering has been initiated successfully by the MSC the internal handover algorithm will only ever perform handovers to cells which can support the ciphering in use by the Phase 1 MS.
3.3.3.2.2. - Subsequent Internal handover after successful External Handover for Phase 2 MSs
The permitted algorithm may have a multitude of options available as shown in the table below. Note it is necessary to remember in the special case (GSM PHASE == PHASE 1) where the MSC has asked for A5/X when the MS does not support the ciphering algorithm the permitted algorithm defaults to No encryption.

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Permitted Algorithm Setting No Encryption A5/X, Y
Internal handover behaviour Only non ciphered handovers will be performed Only Ciphered handovers will be performed which match the set of algorithms given by the MSC which match both MS Ciphering capabilities and Cell capabilities. Ciphered and Unciphered handovers will be performed. Unciphered handovers will be performed to Cells which have no support for the Algorithms indicated in the permitted algorithms or the MS Ciphering capability. Ciphered handovers will be performed which match the set of algorithms given by the MSC which match both MS Ciphering capabilities and Cell capabilities. Table 3./35 Permitted Algorithm Options
A5/X, Y & No encryption
3.3.4. - External SDCCH Or TCH Handover & Assignment Procedures

During an external handover procedure the MSC should not initiate an Assignment procedure. If an ASSIGNMENT REQUEST is received after the HANDOVER COMMAND has been received by the BSC it will be discarded.
3.3.5. - External Handover & Trace

The MSC can command a Trace at any point the SCCP is established on the new channel even before the target BSS has successfully allocated or activated an RF channel.
3.3.6. - External Handover & MS And BS Power Control

During external handover the BSS is required to trigger the starting of MS & BS power control algorithms as described in ref [8]. This section specifies the requirements of the BSC and BTS. It should be noted that BS Power control is inhibited in certain cases as specified in ref [8].
3.3.6.1. - Serving BSC during External Handover

The serving BSC does not inhibit the MS or BS Power control algorithm during handovers. During the period where the MS is not on the serving cell the Algorithms operate as described in ref [8].
3.3.6.2. - Target BSC during External Handover

The target BSC will start MS & BS Power control algorithms when the ESTABLISH INDICATION SAPI 0 is received. If the HANDOVER COMPLETE message is received which is not preceded by an ESTABLISH INDICATION SAPI 0 then the BSC will start MS and BS Power control algorithms on this event.
3.3.7. - Handover algorithm & External Handover protocol

This section of the document specifies the behaviour of the handover algorithm & external handover protocol, and defines the maximum repetition rate of the HANDOVER REQUIRED message. Timer T_FILTER is a timer running in the handover algorithm, (see ref [8]), and ensures that internal alarm messages are filtered. If different cells are presented in the internal handover alarm sent from the handover algorithm the maximum repetition rate of HANDOVER REQUIRED will be T_FILTER as EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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shown in the following message sequence chart. Note that this is independent of whether the MSC sends the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message.
Fig 3./24 T_FILTER & Maximum HANDOVER REQUEST RATE
The BTS sends the MEASUREMENT RESULT regularly to the BSC handover algorithm - see ref [8]. Note the messages are not shown in the message sequence chart for simplification. The BSC handover algorithm has detected the need to perform a handover, an internal alarm is sent to the BSC handover protocol and T_FILTER is started. If the best cell is external and the rules in section 3.2.2.1. - External Handover Decision are satisfied, the BSC handover protocol initiates an external handover to the MSC by sending a HANDOVER REQUIRED message, starting T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST. T_FILTER expires and the need for a handover is detected by the BSC handover algorithm which sends another internal alarm to the BSC handover protocol. Another HANDOVER REQUIRED will be sent if there are different cells in the internal alarm irrespective as to whether these cells are internal or external (see section 3.3.3.1.1. - Internal Handover after External Handover), in which case the maximum repetition rate of the HANDOVER REQUIRED message is T_FILTER..
2 3

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If different cells are not presented in the internal handover alarm sent from the handover algorithm the maximum repetition rate of HANDOVER REQUIRED will be T7 as shown in the following message sequence chart. This is also independent of whether the MSC sends the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message.
Fig 3./25 T_FILTER & Maximum HANDOVER REQUEST RATE
The BTS sends the MEASUREMENT RESULT regularly to the BSC handover algorithm - see ref [8]. Note the messages are not shown in the message sequence chart for simplification. EXTERNAL HANDOVER
ED
02
RELEASED
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2 3
The BSC handover algorithm has detected the need to perform a handover, an internal alarm is sent to the BSC handover protocol and T_FILTER is started. If the best cell is external and the rules in section 3.2.2.1. - External Handover Decision are satisfied, the BSC handover protocol initiates an external handover to the MSC by sending a HANDOVER REQUIRED message, starting T7 and T_HO_REQ_LOST. T_FILTER expires and the need for a handover is detected by the BSC handover algorithm which sends another internal alarm to the BSC handover protocol. After processing the cell list the BSC the cell list is no different from that previously sent, so no new HANDOVER REQUIRED messages is sent. This is repeated for each internal alarm that arrives. T7 expires and the cell list sent to the MSC in the previous HANDOVER REQUIRED is discarded, any cells in the REJ_CELL_LIST are also discarded. T_FILTER expires and the need for a handover is detected by the BSC handover algorithm which sends another internal alarm to the BSC handover protocol. Since T7 has expired the cell list although no different from that previously sent may be sent again in a HANDOVER REQUIRED message. The maximum repetition rate of the HANDOVER REQUIRED message is thus T7.
5 6.

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4. - INTERFACE DESCRIPTIONS
4.1. - GSM interfaces / Physical interfaces

The following interface descriptions describe the messages specific to the external handover procedure. AIR interface CHANNEL MODE MODIFY Target BSC -> MS sent on FACCH for compliancy with ref [18]. HANDOVER ACCESS MS -> target BTS sent continuously on main DCCH of target cell. HANDOVER COMMAND Serving BSC -> MS (transparent to the BTS) sent on main DCCH, initiates handover with the MS. HANDOVER COMPLETE MS -> Target BSC (transparent to target BTS) sent on main DCCH, initiates completion of the procedure HANDOVER FAILURE MS -> Serving BSC (transparent to serving BTS) Sent on main DCCH, initiates failure of handover. MEASUREMENT REPORT MS -> BTS sent on the Uplink SACCH, conveying measurements of the Downlink serving cell and Neighbour cells. PHYSICAL INFORMATION Target BTS -> MS sent ciphered on the main DCCH. SABM SAPI 0 Layer 2 LAPDm MS -> BTS UA SAPI 0 Layer 2 LAPDm BTS -> MS Confirms reception of SABM ABIS interface BS POWER CONTROL BSC -> BTS Power control by BSC . CHANNEL ACTIVATION BSC -> BTS Commands the activation of an RF channel. CHANNEL ACTIVATION ACK BTS -> BSC Acknowledges successful activation of an RF channel.

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CHANNEL ACTIVATION NACK BTS -> BSC Indicates the unsuccessful activation of an RF channel.
ESTABLISH INDICATION SAPI 0 BTS -> BSC Sent from the BTS to the BSC. During Channel change procedures it is sent without the Layer 3 information IE. HANDOVER DETECTION BTS -> BSC Sent by the BTS when the BTS detects a correct HANDOVER ACCESS message sent by the MS. MEASUREMENT RESULT BTS -> BSC () Conveys Uplink measurements and Downlink measurements. MS POWER CONTROL BSC -> BTS () Power control message by BSC A interface HANDOVER COMMAND MSC -> Serving BSC Initiates handover towards the MS. HANDOVER DETECT Target BSC -> MSC Indicates that the target BSS has received a correct HANDOVER ACCESS from the MS. It is sent by the target BSC when the HANDOVER DETECTION message is received from the target BTS. HANDOVER COMPLETE Target BSC -> MSC Initiates end of successful procedure HANDOVER FAILURE Target or serving BSC -> MSC Target BSC sends this message on either unsuccessful allocation or unsuccessful activation of an RF channel Serving BSC sends this message when it receives the HANDOVER FAILURE message (air) from the MS. Initiates end of unsuccessful procedure. HANDOVER REQUIRED Serving BSC -> MSC Initiates external handover, conveys preferred cell list for MSC. HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT MSC -> Serving BSC Sent by the MSC (normally only if the OIE RESPONSE REQUEST is set in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message) when it can not perform the external handover. HANDOVER REQUEST MSC -> Target BSC Initiates external handover with target BSS. HANDOVER REQUEST ACK Target BSC -> MSC Acknowledges the reservation and successful activation of an RF channel for the handover.

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UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT Target BSC -> MSC Sent by the target BSC (if GSM PHASE == PHASE 2 & enabled by O&M Parameter (EN_UNEQUIPPED_CIRCUIT)) to the MSC when the Circuit indicated in the HANDOVER REQUEST is unknown to the Target BSC. SCCP MESSAGES SCCP CONN REQ MSC -> Target BSC for external handover Request an SCCP connection. SCCP CONN CNF Target BSC -> MSC for external handover Confirms the request. SCCP CONN REF Target BSC -> MSC for external handover Refuses a connection request.
4.2. - Internal interfaces

HANDOVER ALARM sent by handover algorithm (ref [8]) -> serving BSC. Contains: handover alarm cause; Preferred cell list. RESOURCE ALLOCATION sent by Dedicated resource management (ref [9]) -> Target BSC. Contains: Result of allocation; & optionally allocated RF channel or CIC. DL EST IND sent by LAPDm -> BTS. Contains: SAPI; & optionally L3 information. LAPDM REFUSE ESTAB Target BTS -> LAPDm changes state of LAPDm so as to refuse establishment at Layer 2. TRANSCODER ALARMS Internally detected alarm indicating that the transcoder is not attached, from Layer 1 to BTS Layer 3.
4.3. - Timer list

The following list of timers describes the use of the timers specific to the external handover protocol. BTS TIMERS T200 MS, BTS timer. Supervises the repetition of Layer 2 frames on LAPDm. T3105_D (DCCH) Target BTS. Supervises the rate of sending PHYSICAL INFORMATION messages to the MS for DCCH connections.

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T3105_F (FACCH) Target BTS. Supervises the rate of sending PHYSICAL INFORMATION messages to the MS for FACCH connections.
T3106_D (DCCH) Target BTS. Supervises the time which the MS should establish the LAPDm SAPI 0 connection from reception of the correct HANDOVER ACCESS. Used in synchronous handovers for DCCH connections. T3106_F (FACCH) Target BTS. Supervises the time which the MS should establish the LAPDm SAPI 0 connection from reception of the correct HANDOVER ACCESS. Used in synchronous handovers for FACCH connections. T_CFI_Tr BTS timer. Used to filter the internally detected transcoder alarm after DL EST IND from LAPDm. THO_min BTS timer. In the event that a handover condition is detected in the BTS, it controls the rate at which the PREPROCESSING MEASUREMENT RESULT message (indicating handover conditions) are sent to the BSC whilst a handover condition exists. T_SYNC BTS & Transcoder timer. This timer is used in both entities to guard the consistency of the Speech path between both BTS & TC. BSC TIMERS T_HO_REQ_LOST Serving BSC timer. This timer serves to guard against no response from the MSC T7 Serving BSC - MSC load timer. Prevents the BSC from offering the same cell(s) too quickly in the event that the MSC does not use the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message to reject candidate cells. T8 Serving BSC timer. Supervises the handover with the MS. T_MS_CELL_REJ Serving BSC timer. Guards against target cells which the MS has failed to hand over to being presented in subsequent handover request for a specific time period. T9103 Target BSC timer. Supervises activation of an RF channel in the serving & target BTS. T9104 target BSC timer. Supervises the response of the MSC after sending the CLEAR REQUEST due to reception of CONNECTION FAILURE INDICATION (cause "Handover access failure"). T9110 Target BSC timer. Guards the response of the MSC when no resources are allocated to the SCCP connection. Guards also the response of the MSC when a HANDOVER FAILURE has been sent (HANDOVER REQUEST or CLEAR COMMAND awaited) T9113 Target BSC timer. Supervises the handover with the MS. T_FILTER This timer runs in the BSC handover algorithm in both Modes A or B. It controls the rate of BSC internal handover alarms in the BSC.

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T_qho Target BSC timer. Determines the length of time the handover request is queued for.
MSC TIMERS The following list is given for information only. T3101 MSC timer. Supervises the handover with the MS, target and serving BSS. Trr2 MSC timer. Guards the activation of the target cell. MS TIMERS T200 MS, BTS timer. Supervises the repetition of Layer 2 frames on LAPDm. T3124 MS timer. Supervises the establishment of LapDM on the target cell after reception of the PHYSICAL INFORMATION.
4.4.- Parameter list

The following parameter list is specific to the external handover procedure. BTS PARAMETERS NY1 The number of repetitions of PHYSICAL INFORMATION messages that can be sent from the target BTS to the MS during a handover. T3105_D_STOP This parameter is used in the BTS to control which event will stop the timer T3105_F_STOP This parameter is used in the BTS to control which event will stop the timer T3106_D_STOP This parameter is used in the BTS to control which event will stop the timer T3106_F_STOP This parameter is used in the BTS to control which event will stop the timer BSC PARAMETERS BS_TXPWR_MAX Maximum power that the BTS can transmit with. CGI_REQD When set TRUE, dictates that the encoding of cell identifiers will use the CGI encoding rules. DOWNLINK_DTX_ENABLE When set TRUE, The operator requires that downlink DTX be enabled (else disabled). Note : This flag only specifies the requirement for the operator - see section on Channel activation for details on the control of downlink DTX by this flag and the control by the MSC. DTX_INDICATOR Indicates if DTX is to be used in the Uplink direction. EFR_ENABLED Enable/Disable EFR operation. EN_IC_HO Enabled (= True): Intercell synchronous and asynchronous handovers may be made into the cell. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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Disabled (= False): Intercell synchronous and asynchronous handovers may not be made into the cell.
EN_SEND_OLD_CHANNEL_MODE When set ENABLED, allows the serving BSS to include OIE Current Channel in HANDOVER REQUIRED message. EN_SEND_SPEECH_VER When set ENABLED, allows the serving BSS to include OIE Speech Version in HANDOVER REQUIRED message. EN_UNEQUIPPED_CIRCUIT O & M parameter which enables the UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT message to be sent by the BSC. EXT_HO_FORCED When set TRUE, all internal intercell handovers are forced to be handled as external. GSM_PHASE This flag indicates the mode of operation/behaviour that the BSS needs to adopt on A interface. It is set to either PHASE 1 or PHASE 2. HO_SDCCH_INHIBIT When set TRUE, all handovers for SDCCH are ignored. HO_INTERCELL_ALLOWED When set FALSE, all Inter-cell handovers are inhibited. HR_ENABLED Enable/Disable Half-Rate Operation. MS_TXPWR_MAX Maximum power that the MS can transmit with. NCI O & M Parameter which controls the setting of the NCI field in the Synchronisation IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND message. This parameter is settable on a BSC basis and is changeable online. When set TRUE the MS is commanded to trigger a Handover Failure for an out of range timing advance. N_PREF_CELL The value of this counter dictates the maximum number of cells that may be contained in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message sent to the MSC. RESP_REQ When set TRUE, the RESPONSE REQUEST OIE in the HANDOVER REQUIRED message will be included. ROT O & M Parameter which controls the setting of the ROT field in the Synchronisation IE in the HANDOVER COMMAND message. This parameter is settable on a BSC basis and is changeable online. When set FALSE the MS is commanded not to include the Time Difference IE in the HANDOVER COMPLETE message. SDCCH_COUNTER The value of this counter delays the handling of handover alarms for SDCCH connections after the establishment of an SDCCH during the immediate assignment procedure. STOP_HO_ACC_FAIL This flag is a generic name associated to the flags (T3105_D_STOP, T3105_F_STOP, T3106_D_STOP & T3106_F_STOP) and controls on a per BTS basis the behaviour of the BTSs which it controls during the handover access procedure. Due to testing requirements in the BTS, the BTS has implemented four flags on to which this single EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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BSC flag maps. These flags appear in the BTS CONF DATA message and are named: T3105_D_STOP, T3105_F_STOP, T3106_D_STOP & T3106_F_STOP, (see above).
with-synchronised-handover Flag readable at the OMC-R, allowing synchronous handover. BSC INTERNAL VARIABLES SDCCH_COUNTER This is a parameter which delays the handover of an SDCCH after an Immediate assignment procedure. It is coded in terms of the number of SACCH multiframes. DOT This variable contains the Duration Of the Transaction in SACCH multiframe periods. That is to say the length of time from the start of the transaction (reception of the first SABM from the MS) after the Immediate assignment procedure. BCE This stands for Best Cell is External. The condition where the first cell in the cell list CL is external. ASSGN This stands for Assignment. When this condition is TRUE the connection has received an ASSIGNMENT REQUEST message for an Assignment procedure and the procedure is either: delayed due to queuing (TCH assignment only); or is in progress (ie ASSIGNMENT COMMAND has been sent to the MS and the ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE or ASSIGNMENT FAILURE is awaited). T7 This variable is set to either RUNNING or NOT RUNNING depending on the state of the timer T7 T_HO_REQ_LOST This variable is set to either RUNNING or NOT RUNNING depending on the state of the timerT_HO_REQ_LOST T_MS_CELL_REJ This variable is set to either RUNNING or NOT RUNNING depending on the state of the timer T_MS_CELL_REJ MS_CELL_REJ_LIST The list of cells that the MS has failed to handover to. The size of the list is 4. REJ_CELL_LIST The list of cells that the MSC has rejected as being candidate cells for the handover. The size of the list is 2*N_PREF_CELLmax CL The cell list that has been produced by excluding cells present in the MS_CELL_REJ_LIST and REJ_CELL_LIST from the list of cells received in the handover alarm. CLOLD The list of cells that was sent to the MSC in the previous HANDOVER REQUIRED message.

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5. - Release 2, 3 & 4, 5Changes

BTS Release 2
The BTS stops send PHYSICAL INFORMATION on reception of an SABM
BTS release 3 1 The BTS may stop sending PHYSICAL INFORMATION on reception on either a correctly received TCH frame or Layer 2 frame Or only on the reception of an SABM frame. See Parameter section.
BSC Release 2 1 2 supports a single algorithm A5/1 and only Phase 1 MSs. Ciphering algorithm can not change during any Channel change procedure.
BSC release 3 1 2 3 4 5 The BSC supports both Phase 1 & 2 MSs in GSM Phase 1 & 2 Networks. That is to say that ETR 09.90 is supported for the Phase 1 Network. Ciphering algorithm may be changed between external handovers as part of the support for Multiple algorithms. The causes "Invalid cell & Encryption algorithm not supported" are sent on the A interface. The UNEQUIPPED CIRCUIT may be sent to the MSC. Note Only when allowed and when GSM PHASE == PHASE 2. External handover may be performed successfully if the old Channel Mode and new Channel Mode are different.
BSC release 4 1 Timer T7 no longer guards the handover procedure. Its function is to : a) provide a time period before which cells rejected by the MSC in a HANDOVER REQUEST REJECT message cannot be offered again in subsequent HANDOVER REQUESTS. b)provide a time period for cells that were offered to the MSC but which have not been explicitly rejected in the HANDOVER REQUIRED REJECT message from being offered again to the MSC. These cells are remembered in the list REJ_CELL_LIST in the BSC. Timer T_HO_REQ_LOST now guards the handover procedure. On expiry an O & M error report is raised. A cell to which the MS fails to handover to is remembered for a time period T_MS_CELL_REJ and cannot be offered to the MSC in that time. Incoming handovers may be inhibited by an O&M flag (EN_IC_HO) on a per cell basis. Introduction of half rate feature. An incoming handover may be performed to a half or full rate channel (half rate - speech only) if commanded by the MSC. Introduction of E-GSM support. An incoming handover may be performed for an E-GSM mobile (TCH only).
2 3 4 5 6
BSC release 5 1. 2. BSC can now support multiband handovers. The IE SACCH Info has been added to allow dynamic management of System Information on a per call basis. The Target BSC can optimize the length of HANDOVER COMMAND message by removing the OIE Mode of the first channel. EXTERNAL HANDOVER 02 RELEASED
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3. 4.
The BSC supports incoming External Directed Retry. Support of EFR New cause "speech version unavailable" is used.
5.

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6. - FEATURES
Release 5 feature list
FD/3.13 Multiband Operation in one BSC FD/11.25 Support of Enhanced Full Rate mobiles. Release 4 feature list FD/10.2 Minimal E-GSM Support FD/4/10.1c Minimum support of half rate mobiles FD/11.6 Handover Protocol Improvements FD/4/0.31.54 Disabling of external handover due to return to old channel by MS Release 3 feature list FD/3/6.1 A interface compatibility FD/3/6.2 Air interface compatibility FD/3/5.1 A5/2 version for A900/A1800 Release 2 feature list B2314 Use of CGI over A interface B2884 08.08 Handover required reject B2886 08.08 Handover detection B4010 BSC control of down-link DTX Release 1 & 0 feature list B2217 08.58 Handover detection B2229 04.08 MS handover access B2345 08.08 HO resource allocation (HO request) B2837 Handover from TCH/F to TCH/F B2843 Handover from SDCCH to SDCCH EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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B2861 MSC controlled external handover: intra-BSC, inter-BTS

B2862 MSC controlled external handover: inter-BSC B2856 08.58 Channel activation: for asynchronous handover B2869 08.58 Channel activation: for synchronous handover B2881 08.08 Handover required with cell-list B2885 08.08 Handover execution B2887 08.08 Handover detection (internal) B2889 04.08 RR Handover: asynchronous B2890 04.08 Handover: synchronous

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Glossary
Definitions After time
This notation is used in GSM phase 2 to indicate during Channel change procedures with or without Frequency redefinition procedure what the Channel configuration is after the Starting time on the indicated channel has been passed. In the case where there is no Frequency redefinition there is no Starting time included. Asynchronous handover A handover where the serving and target cells are not synchronised or synchronous handover is not allowed. Before time This notation is used in GSM Phase 2 to indicate during the Frequency redefinition procedure the Channel configuration before the Starting time on the indicated channel has been passed. This generic term is used to designate either DCS 1800 or DCS 1900. The frequency band 1710.2 - 1784.8 MHz / 1805.2 - 1879.8 MHz The frequency band 1850.2 - 1919.8 MHz / 1930.2 - 1989.8 MHz This is used in State transition tables to indicate that when an event is received it will be ignored. This refers to the extended frequency band used by GSM (P-GSM range + G1 range) This is a frequency range added to the initial GSM frequency allocation (880.2 - 890.0 MHz / 925.2 - 935.0 MHz) BSS Internal signal indicating that a handover is required Not applicable This is used to indicate in State transition tables that an event should not be received in a specific state. If the event is received then it is ignored This refers to the primary frequency range used by GSM (890.2 - 915.0 MHz / 935.2 - 960.0 MHz)
DCS DCS 1800 band DCS 1900 band Dont care E-GSM band G1 range Handover alarm NA
P-GSM range Restart
When used in the context of timers, eg restart T7, this is equivalent to : stop T7, start T7. Serving BSS/BTS/BSC The BSS/BTS/BSC which is presently handling the MS connection. Target BSS/BTS/BSC The BSS/BTS/BSC which is going to handle the connection. Abbreviations ACT ASSGN BCCH BSC BSIC BSS BTS CGI CIE CL ACTivation Assignment Broadcast Control CHannel Base Station Controller Base Station Identification Code Base Station System Base Transceiver Station Cell Global Identifier Conditional Information Element Candidate cell List - A list of cells derived from the cell list accompanying the handover alarm and which may be sent to the MSC in a HANDOVER REQUIRED message. EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED
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CLOLD CMD CMP CR CC CRef DCCH DI DM DR DT1 DTX EFR EST IND FCCH GSM HO HR IE MEAS MIE MS MSC O&M OIE PHY INFO PLMN REF REP REQ RES RESP RR SABM SACCH SAPI SCCP SCH SDCCH TCH TDMA UA UI UDI
Candidate cell list sent to the MSC in the last HANDOVER REQUIRED message, CoMmanD CoMPlete Connection Request (SCCP) Connection Confirm (SCCP) Connection Refused (SCCP) Dedicated Control Channel Data INDication (Abis) Disconnect Mode Data REQuest (Abis) DaTa form 1 (SCCP) Discontinuous Transmission Enhanced Full Rate. ESTablish INDication Frequency Correction CHannel Global System for Mobile communications HandOver Half Rate Information Element MEASurements Mandatory Information Element Mobile Station Mobile Switching Centre Operations & Maintenance Optional Information Element PHYsical INFOrmation Public Land Mobile Network REFUSE REPort REQuest RESults RESPonse Radio Resource Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode Slow Associated Control CHannel Signalling Access Point Identifier Signalling Connection Control Part Synchronisation CHannel Standalone Dedicated Control CHannel Traffic CHannel Time Divi sion Multiple Access Unnumbered Acknowledge Unnumbered Information Unit Data Indication (Abis)

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TELECOM

MOBILE COMMUNICATION DIVISION

EXTERNAL HANDOVER RELEASE 5

TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS TD/SAS

M. Delprat M. Dobrosielski JL. Lekmouli A. Pech

TD/BTS TD/BTS TD/IIV TD/IIV

MCD KONTICH G. Van Dijck (ffd)

SSD VELIZY J. Messiet SSD STUTTGART P. Hupperich W. Allerborn

Approvals M. ROELANDTS SSAM BSC

M. DELPRAT SSAM BTS/SW

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REVIEW Not applicable

4.1.0.1 4.2.0.0 4.3.0.0

03/04/94 22/05/95 16/11/95

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INTERNAL REFERENCED DOCUMENTS Not applicable

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY Not applicable

OPEN POINTS Not applicable

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Queued Message CIPHER MODE COMMAND

Queued Message CIPHER MODE COMMAND

Action 1 Allow Cipher command to complete before triggering external handover.

Action 2 Send CIPHER MODE REJECT

Possible Actions of Queued CIPHER MODE COMMAND

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SYSTEM FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS

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13/02/98 19/07/96 DATE CHANGE NOTE

MCD/TD/ MCD/TD/ APPRAISAL AUTHORITY

MCD/TD/SAS MCD/TD/SAS ORIGINATOR

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REFERENCED DOCUMENTS GSM References

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ED 02 RELEASED EXTERNAL HANDOVER

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EXTERNAL HANDOVER ED 02 RELEASED

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2.1. - General description

2.1.1. - Handover Behaviour

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2.1.2. - Handover Behaviour on Failure

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2.2. - ALCATEL BSS support for outgoing external handovers

Supported Not supported Supported Supported

2.3. - ALCATEL BSS support for incoming handovers

2.3.1. - External Handover Test Call Functionality

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2.4. - ALCATEL BSS support for Phase 1 MS capabilities

2.5. - ALCATEL BSS support for Phase 2 MS capabilities

2.6. - External Handover Entities

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3.1. - General Behaviour

3.1.1. - Successful External Asynchronous Handover

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