Radio link failure Siemens

Radio link failure

Contents
1 Radio link failure procedure 3
2 Radio link failure warning procedure 4
3 Parameters for radio link failure 6
4 Exercise 7
5 Solution 11

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1 Radio link failure procedure

In the BTS as well as in the MS, the criterion for the detection of a RLF is based on
the success rate of decoding messages on the uplink or downlink SACCH,
respectively.
In the beginning, when a connection on a dedicated channel is established, the radio
link counter S (separately for MS and BTS) is initialized with the value of the O&M
parameter RADIO_LINK_TIMEOUTMS/BTS (RLT - range 4...64, step size 4), which is
administered on a cell by cell basis. There are different parameters for uplink and
downlink to initialize the counters in the MS and BTS separately. The downlink
parameter is broadcasted to all mobiles in the respective cell.
Every time the BTS/MS is unable to decode a SACCH message on the
uplink/downlink, the respective counter S is decremented by 1. Every time a SACCH
message is successfully decoded in the BTS, the counter S is incremented by 2. In
any case the counter shall not exceed the value of the RADIO_LINK_TIMEOUT
parameter. As soon as the counter S in the BTS reaches 0, a RLF is declared and a
CONNection FAILure INDication message with cause ‘radio link failure’ is sent to the
BSC via the Abis interface and the BSC initiates a release of the concerned
connection. An analogous action is taken by the MS when the MS counter reaches 0.
• decode message on SACCH
successful: → St+1 = St + 2 but if St+1 > S0 → St+1 = S0
unsuccessful: → St+1 = St – 1
• S < 0 => downlink signaling failure;

In case of a channel change (handover) counter S is reset to its initial value

RADIO_LINK_TIMEOUT.

Note: AMR provides robust codecs (e.g. AFS4,75 , AFS5,9) that allow the network to
operate at low C/R values and still to provide sufficient voice quality. On another side,
error protection scheme for SACCH (FACCH) was designed for the network using FR
and HR speech traffic that can't cope with interference level in AMR networks. This
performance imbalance between SACCH (FACCH) and lower AMR FR codec modes
appears as increased number of call drops due to expiry of the Radio Link Timeout
timer while speech quality is reasonably good.
The problem is solved by introducing separate configurable RLT counters for UL and
DL depending on Service Group:
• higher value for RLT for AMR FR
• lower value for RLT for EFR.
Radio Link Timeout counter values for AMR are defined via attributes
pcradioLinkTimeoutBs and pcradioLinkTimeoutMs in the object SGxPCPAR (see chapter
6, Power Control section, i.e. 1.6).

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2 Radio link failure warning procedure

The radio link failure warning procedure is only applied for the uplink.
A call in progress with a good quality may suddenly experience the impact of a
severe shadowing or any other kind of high-level interference. As a consequence, a
sudden degradation of the link quality is observed. Due to the considerable delay
inherent in the regular PC process, the required power increase (if feasible) may not
be performed fast enough to properly cope with the situation.
Note that Intercell Handover due to quality or level is not allowed as long as the RF
power has not reached the permitted maximum value.
Therefore a procedure is implemented in the BTS, which immediately directs the MS
and the concerned TRX in the BTS to use their maximum RF power if a RLF Warning
occurs. The RLF warning is produced by the BTS as soon as it detects that radio
communication on the uplink of a connection is short before breakdown and a RLF
threatens to come about. The generation of RLF Warnings in the BTS can be
enabled or disabled by an O&M flag EN_PC_RLFW. The criterion for the generation
of a RLF Warning is based on the radio link counter S. Every SACCH multiframe the
radio link counter S is modified and a RLF Warning is generated if the counter S is
less than or equal to the threshold PC_TIMEOUT. The threshold PC_TIMEOUT is an
O&M parameter administered on a cell-by-cell basis. The following regularity
condition shall apply:

RADIO_LINK_TIMEOUT > PC_TIMEOUT

Upon detection of a RLF Warning in the BTS, the regular power control process on
the concerned dedicated channel is immediately suspended. Power control actions
due to RLF Warning have a higher priority than regular PC actions.
The first time a RLF Warning is detected in the BTS, the power control timers are
reset (if running), both MS_TXPWR and BS_TXPWR are set to their upper bounds
MS_TXPWR_MAX and BS_TXPWR_MAX (if not already set by the regular PC
process), respectively, and the corresponding timers for suspension of the regular
power control process are started with the value of the O&M parameter
P_CON_INTERVAL. The timers monitoring the confirmation of the commanded
power level are not used because of the irregular reception on the SACCH.
If MS_TXPWR or BS_TXPWR has already achieved its upper bound either on a
regular PC command or due to the first RLF Warning, the only action to be taken is to
restart timers for suspension of the regular power control process
(P_CON_INTERVAL), respectively. As a consequence in the case of repeated RLF
Warnings, both timers shall be restarted simultaneously.
Upon expiration of these timers the threshold comparison process of the respective
(uplink/downlink) power control process is resumed, provided that the call on the
dedicated channel is still in progress.

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RLF Counter S

RADIO_LINK_TIMEOUT = 8

Radio Link Failure Warning

Power Command

Radio Link Failure

PC_TIMEOUT = 2

SACCH Frames

decoded SACCH message

not decoded SACCH message

Fig. 1 Example for the radio link failure process

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3 Parameters for radio link failure

Specification Name DB Name/ Range Meaning

Object
EN_PC_RLFW EPWCRLFW TRUE/ Flag to enable/disable the radio
/ PWRC FALSE link failure warning mechanism.
RADIO_LINK_TIMEOUTMS RDLNKTO 0...15 Initial value of the radio link
/ BTS (4) failure counter S within the MS:
S0 = 4 + 4 * RDLNKTO.
S is increased /(decreased) by
2/(1) if a SACCH message
can/(cannot) be decoded. If S
reaches 0, the connection is
released and the MS returns to
the idle mode.
RADIO_LINK_TIMEOUTBS RDLNKTBS 4...64 Initial value of the radio link
/ PWRC (20) failure counter S within the BTS:
S0 = RDLNKTBS.
S is increased /(decreased) by
2/(1) if a SACCH message
can/(cannot) be decoded. If S
reaches 0, the connection is
released.
PC_TIMEOUT PCRLFTH 0...64 If the radio link failure counter S
/ PWRC (18) within the BS reaches
PC_TIMEOUT, the transmit
power of the MS and the BS is
set to its maximum value.
RADIO_LINK_TIMEOUTMS_ radioLinkTime 0…15 Initial value of the radio link
AMR outMs/PWRC (10) failure counter S within the MS
for AMR calls, where:
0=4SACCH frames….
15=64SACCH frames
RADIO_LINK_TIMEOUTBS_ radioLinkTime 0…15 Initial value of the radio link
AMR outBs/PWRC (10) failure counter S within the BS
for AMR calls, where:
0=4SACCH frames….
15=64SACCH frames

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4 Exercise

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Exercise 1
Title: Radio Link Failure

Task
Given a cell with a problem area of 100 m extension (very low coverage only).
Assume that the SACCH messages cannot be decoded in this area.
What should be the starting value S0 of the Radio Link Failure counter S so that for a
MS in connected mode, passing this area with 36 km/h, the connection will not drop
due to radio link timeout?

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5 Solution

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Solution 1
Title: Radio Link Failure

Task

The MS will be for 10 seconds in the problem area.

During this time, every 480 msec which is more or less every 0.5 sec, S will be
counted down by 1 step.
Therefore, the starting value S0 for the Radio Link Failure counter S must be set to a
value greater than 20.

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