Broadcast Approach for UMTS Mobility

Database Recovery

Sok-Ian Sou (蘇淑茵),

EE, NCKU

1
 Outlines

• Background
• GPRS MM/SM
• Broadcast Approach
• Analytic Model
• Numerical Results
• Conclusions

2
Background

3
 台灣電信業務開放近程

開放CT-2

開放四項行動通信業務(行動電話,呼叫器,行動數據,特哥大)

2007:
3G MNP WiMAX

‘94 ‘96 ‘97 ‘98 1999 2000 2002 2005

Fixed Line

Source: 中華電信研究所
4
Introduction (1/2)

• Based on the existing GSM infrastructure

• Provide end-to-end packet-switched services
• GPRS standard
¾ Initialized by ETSI/SMG in 1994
¾ The main set of GPRS specifications was
approved by SMG#25 in 1997.
¾ Completed in 1999
• GPRS core network is designed for GSM, IS-
136, and 3G.

5
Introduction (2/2)

• New radio channels are defined.

• The allocation of these channels is flexible.
¾ One ~ eight time slots
¾ Several active users can share a single time slot.
¾ The uplinks and the downlinks are allocated
separately.
¾ 4 radio channel coding schemes
• 9 Kbps ~ 150 Kbps
¾ GPRS fast reservation

6
GPRS System

GSM

Visited Gateway
MSC/VLR MSC/VLR PSTN

BSS
HLR
PCU
Gb
Gn Gi 外部
SGSN GGSN 數據
網路

GPRS

7
GPRS MM/SM

8
GPRS Service Domain

• The core network consists of two service

domains:
¾ Circuit-switched service (CS) domain
¾ Packet-switched service (PS) domain
• Note that a GPRS MS can be
¾ IMSI-attached and GPRS-attached
¾ GPRS-attached only
¾ IMSI-attached only
• The IMSI attach is the same as that for a GSM MS.

9
GPRS MM/SM
• To transfer a packet in PS domain, two
important issues:
• Mobility Management
¾ Mobility Management context, MM context
¾ Attach, Detach, Routing Area Update,
Security
• Session Management
¾ Packet Data Protocol context, PDP Context
¾ PDP Context Activation, Deactivation, PDP
Context Modification
¾ Quality-of-service (QoS) profile

10
MM Context v.s. PDP Context

MM Context
PDP Context
PDP Context
QoS Profile PDP Context

QoS Profile
QoS Profile

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GPRS Attach Procedure

• Step 1: Both the MM states in MS and the

SGSN are moved to the READY state.
• Step 2: An MM context (Mobility Management
context) is created in each of MS and SGSN.
• Step 3: Authentication/Ciphering may be
performed.
• Step 4: A logical link is established between MS
and SGSN.

12
Mobility Management (MM) Context
• The MM context consists
¾ MM state
¾ Other MM-related information:Routing area, cell
identity, VLR number, P-TMSI, MSISDN, IMSI.
¾ Both in MS and SGSN

13
 Mobility Management State

• Three states in the state

machine
Idle
¾ IDLE: MS is not known
to GPRS.
¾ STANDBY: MS is
attached to GPRS. MS is Standby
tracked by the SGSN at
the RA level.
¾ READY: MS is tracked
at the cell level. Packet Ready
data units can only be
delivered in this state.

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Mobility Management Finite
State Machine (1/2)
• T1 (Idle→Ready): MS perform
GPRS attach.
• T2 (Ready→Idle): MS is
detached from the GPRS. Idle
• T3 (Standby→Ready): MS T1
sends a packet to SGSN. T5
• T4 (Ready→Standby): a Ready Standby
timer is timeout.
• T5 (Standby→Idle): when T3
T4 T2
tracking of MS is lost.
Ready

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 Location Update vs. Paging

• The transitions from cell tracking to RA tracking affect

the location update and paging signaling cost.

READY State STANDBY State

SGSN SGSN

Location update Low paging cost High paging cost Location update
High location update cost Low location update cost
RA changed

Cell changed

RA
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 Mobility Management Finite
State State (2/2)
• Exercised in both the SGSN and the MS.
• In Mobility Management Context

MS MM MM SGSN
context context
PDP content PDP content
activation Deactivation
HTTP session
data

Ready Standby Ready Standby Ready

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 PDP (Packet Data Protocol)

• To create a data transmission path,

MS initiate PDP Context Activation
procedure.
¾ Two PDP states: ACTIVE or INACTIVE. Active
¾ PDP context in ACTIVE state contains
mapping and routing information for
packet transmission between MS and
GGSN. Inactive
• The PDP contexts stored in MS, HLR,
SGSN, and GGSN.

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3G and B3G Architecture (1/2)

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3G and B3G Architecture (2/2)

3GPP R6 3GPP R7

HSPA

GGSN GGSN GGSN

SGSN SGSN Direct SGSN Direct

tunnel tunnel

RNC RNC

NodeB NodeB BTS with

RNC
funct.

= control plane
= user plane

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Broadcast Approach

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UMTS Broadcasting Architecture

UTRAN e
signaling
signaling and data CBC
3 5
4
RA2 f
Node B 2 OMC
1
MS a
3 d
2
RA2 RNC SGSN
b
Node B
MS

SGSN: Serving GPRS Support Node MS: Mobile Station

RNC: Radio Network Controller Node B: Base Station
CBC: Cell Broadcast Center RA: Routing Area
UTRAN: UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network
OMC: Operations and Maintenance Center

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Message Flow for the Registration of MS

• Suppose that after the SGSN has restarted, an

MS performs the RA update procedure.
MS SGSN

1.1 Routing Area Update Request (P-TMSI)

1.2 Routing Area Update Reject (Network Failure)

2.1 PS Attach Request (IMSI)

2.2 PS Attach Accept (P-TMSI)

2.3 PS Attach Complete

•If the MS is “smart” enough to detect that the MM

context does not exist in the SGSN, it can directly
perform PS attach without executing RA update. 23
The Broadcast Approach

• When the OMC is alerted by the restart of a

recovered SGSN, a specific broadcast
message “MM Reset” issued from the OMC.
• The MSs in the serving area of the SGSN listen
to this message via the broadcast channel.

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 Broadcast Approach through
BCCH/PBCCH
• The first method utilizes the L3 message (RRC SYSTEM
INFORMATION TYPE 3) on the broadcast channel.
• Through BCCH/PBCCH, the UTRAN broadcasts this L3
message where the MM Reset information is carried in the
reserved field.
• The delivery path is (1)Æ(2)Æ(3)

MS UTRAN OMC SGSN

1. Restart Indication
2.2 MM Reset 2.1 MM Reset
(through BCCH/PBCCH)

3.1 PS Attach Request (IMSI)

3.2 PS Attach Accept (P-TMSI)

3.3 PS Attach Complete

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(a) MM Reset message sent through BCCH/PBCCH
Broadcast Approach through CBCH

• The second method utilizes the CBC to deliver a SIM-specific

broadcast short message.
• Through CBCH, the MM Reset information which in a SIM-based
message is broadcast.
• The delivery path is (4)Æ(5)Æ(2)Æ(3)

MS CBC OMC SGSN

1. Restart Indication
2.2 MM Reset
2.1 MM Reset
(through CBCH)

3.1 PS Attach Request (IMSI)

3.2 PS Attach Accept (P-TMSI)

3.3 PS Attach Complete

(b) MM Reset message sent through CBCH

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 Analytic Model

• Input Parameters
¾ Tr : the fixed retransmitted period
¾ Nr : the maximal number of retransmissions
¾ µB : the rate that a wireless link is in Bad state
¾ µG : the rate that a wireless link is in Good state
¾ λu : the normal SGSN registration rate
¾ λp : the incoming packets arrival rate
• Output Measures
¾ Pf : the probability that the MS fails to receive the
MM Reset message with Nr+1 transmissions
¾ E[NL] : the expected number of lost packets
between when the SGSN restarts and when the
MM context of the MS is re-established
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 Derivation for Pf

• The output measure Pf is derived as

− ( µ B + µG )Tr Nr
⎛ µG ⎞ ⎡ µG + µ B e ⎤
Pf = ⎜ ⎟⎢ ⎥
µ
⎝ B + µ G ⎠⎣ µ B + µG ⎦

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Derivation for E[NL]

• The output measure E[NL] is derived as

⎛ λ p ⎞ ⎧⎪ ⎡ µG (1 − PBB ) ⎤ ⎧1 − PBB Nr e − λuTr [1 − (e − λuTr PBB ) Nr ] ⎫ ⎫⎪
E[ N L ] = ⎜ ⎟ ⎨ ⎢ ⎥⎨ − − λuTr ⎬ + Pf ⎬
⎝ λu ⎠ ⎩⎪ ⎣ µ B + µG ⎦ ⎩ 1 − PBB 1− e PBB ⎭ ⎭⎪

where
⎛ 1 ⎞ − ( µ B + µG )Tr
PBB = ⎜ ⎟ ⎡⎣ µ B + µ B e ⎤⎦
⎝ µ B + µG ⎠ 29
Effects of Tr and Nr on Pf

µG = 10µB, VB = 1/µB2 and VG = 1/µG2

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Effects of µB on Pf

• Tr = 5/µB, VB = 1/µB2 and VG = 1/µG2

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Effects of VB on Pf

• Tr = 5/µB and µG = 10µB

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Effects of Tr on E[NL]

• Nr=2, µG = 10µB, VB = 1/µB2, VG = 1/µG2 and

1/λp = 5/µB

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Effects of Nr on E[NL]

• Tr=5/µB, µG = 10µB, VB = 1/µB2, VG = 1/µG2 and

1/λp = 5/µB

34
 Conclusions
• We studied the UMTS mobility database recovery.
• We described a broadcast approach that allows the MS to
detect lost MM context in SGSN, and speeds up the process
for SGSN recovery.
• A broadcast message is periodically retransmitted Nr times
with period Tr.
• Pf decreases as Tr increases, Pf decreases as the rate µB
increases.
• When Nr=0, Pf is not affected by the variance VB and VG. For
Nr>0, Pf is significant increases when VB (or VG) increases.
• E[NL] is a decreasing function of the normal SGSN
registration rate λu, E[NL] decreases as Nr increases.

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