CDMA (IS-41) Call Flows

Technical Tutorial

Nov.09

Overview

Basic SS7 Concepts Important Identities used in IS-41 MAP IS-41 Call Flows

Basic SS7 Concepts

Basic SS7 Concepts

Typical SS7 (Signaling System No. 7) protocol stack is depicted below:

OMA P etc. GSM MAP IS-41 MAP I S U P

TCAP SCCP MTP-3 MTP-2 MTP-1

If compared with the OSI model, the MTP layer-1 does the function of Physical layer, MTP-2 provides the Data Link layer capabilities, the MTP-3 and SCCP layers provide Network & Transport layer functionalities. The different User Parts (UPs like ISUP, TUP etc.) and Application Parts (APs like Mobile Application part MAP etc.) provide the application layer functionalities.

Basic SS7 Concepts

At the MTP layer (3), the routing function uses the PC (Point Code) of the SEPs (Signaling End Points) to address them. The MTP layer, inherently, provides ConnectionLess services only. The SCCP layer can provide the ConnectionLess as well as the ConnectionOriented services. It also provides the Global Title (GT) translation services. TCAP layer provides the Database Query / Response kind of services. Some examples are Number translation services, IN based services like CUG (Closed User Group) / VPN (Virtual Private Network) or Mobile Application Parts (GSM MAP / IS-41 MAP) etc.

Important Identities used in IS-41 MAP

Important Identities used in IS-41 MAP

Some of the important identities used in CDMA networks (in AS-41 MAP layer) are listed below:
MSID: An MSID (Mobile Station Identity) can be in one of the two forms the MIN (Mobile Identification Number): a 10-digit number identifying a subscription in CDMA network; or the IMSI (International Mobile Station Identity): a 15-digit number conforming to E.212 standard. ESN: The Electronic Serial Number (ESN) is the number assigned by the manufacturer to the Mobile Equipment. MDN: Mobile Directory Number is an addressable (or diallable) number on which the subscriber can be called on. MSCID: MSC Identity is assigned to each network element (e.g. MSC, HLR, SMSC etc.) in an CDMA network. PC_SSN: Point Code and SubSystem Number of the Network Element. MSCIN: MSC Identity Number is the Global Title address (or the number) assigned to the MSC.

Some of the parameters (like the MSCIN or PC_SSN) are included at the MTP / SCCP layer too. But, the value provided in the IS-41 MAP layer override the values of the PC/SSN or the GT digits received at the MTP / SCCP layer.

IS-41 Call Flows

IS-41 Call Flows

This presentation shows some of the important & most basic call flows for CDMA networks. The following call flows are included in this presentation:
Registration Voice Call Origination Voice call Termination SMS Origination SMS Termination

IS-41 Call Flows : Registration

In any mobile services network, the most important network elements are the Mobile Switching Center / Visitor Location Register (MSC / VLR) and the Home Location Register (HLR). Being the most essential network elements, they are also called as Core Network elements. All the other network elements, required for other supplementary or value added services are called as Adjunct Network elements (like SMSC, SCP, VMS, OTAF etc.). As the name suggests, its the HLR, which is responsible to keep track of the current location of a Mobile Station. Whereas the VLR holds a temporary copy of the subscribers profile downloaded at the visited network & maintained only as long as the mobile is roaming in that network. Its the combined responsibility of the MS (Mobile Station) and the MSC that, they should keep the HLR updated about the MSs current location. This is done by virtue of Registration process.

IS-41 Call Flows : Registration.Contd..

To keep the location of an MS to be the latest, there are different events when the registration can take place. Some of these events are:
MS Power On registration MS Power Down de-registration Timer based registration Zone based registration Distance based registration Autonomous registration Etc.

IS-41 Call Flows : Registration.Contd..

MSC / VLR 1 HLR / AuC MSC / VLR 2 a b c d

REGNOT (MIN, ESN, MSCID, PC_SSN, SMSAddress) Location Update Request regnot (MDN, Profile)

REGCANC (MIN) regcanc ()

a.

b.

c. d.

Mobile Station moves from MSC/VLR2 to MSC/VLR1. The Mobile Station requests for Location Update to the network. The MSC/VLR-1 sends IS-41 message called Registration Notification (or REGNOT in short) to the HLR with different parameters included in it. Most important parameter being the MIN. MIN is used as the primary key by the HLR to find the subscribers record in its database. HLR compares the received MSCID / PC_SSN parameter against the value of these parameters stored in its dynamic database. As the HLR finds that the MS (identified by the MIN) was registered at MSC/VLR-2, earlier, it sends a message called as Registration Cancellation (REGCANC) to the MSC/VLR-2. The MSC/VLR-2 deletes the record of this MIN from its database and sends the response to REGCANC to the HLR. The HLR stores the new MSCID / PC_SSN parameter in its dynamic data. On receipt of regcanc from MSC/VLR-2, the HLR sends the regnot response to the MSC/VLR-1 with the subscribers profile included in it. The profile includes the MDN of the subscriber, Call Origination / Termination capabilities, SMS origination/termination capabilities, Data Services capabilities, other supplementary service like Call Waiting, Call Conferencing, Call Forward etc. For further details about Registration Process visit :: http://ashishgayal.8m.net/registration.htm

IS-41 Call Flows : Voice Call Origination

Once a Mobile Station is registered in a given MSC / VLR area, the subscribers call origination capabilities are known to VLR. As such, at the time of call origination, the MSC checks the subscribers profile in VLR to allow or disallow the origination of calls to the given subscriber. Apart from Authentication, at the time of Call Origination no other IS-41 messages are exchanged.

IS-41 Call Flows : Voice Call Termination

In the mobile environment, a Mobile Station belongs to one and only one HLR. Even though the subscriber might be roaming across different networks or the MSC/VLRs, the latest location information is stored at the subscribers HLR. As such, for every terminating call (or, for that matter, for every Terminating SMS too) the HLR needs to be interrogated to find out the subscribers current location. The detailed call flow for a terminating call is given in the following slide.

IS-41 Call Flows : Voice Call Termination ..contd..

G-MSC PSTN ISUP Call HLR MSC / VLR 1 a b c d

LOCREQ (MDN, MSCID, PC_SSN) ROUTREQ (MIN) routreq (MIN, TLDN) locreq (TLDN, InterSystemTermination)

ISUP Call (TLDN) An ISUP call arrives at an G-MSC (Gateway MSC) for a Mobile Station. a. The G-MSC sends a message called Location Request (LOCREQ) to the HLR that is serving the dialed MDN. The LOCREQ message includes the dialed number & the MSCID / PC_SSN of the GMSC. b. By virtue of Registration Process the HLR knows that the subscriber is registered in MSC/VLR-1 area. The HLR sends a message called as Routing Request (ROUTREQ) to get a temporary routable number using which, the G-MSC can establish a voice call with the Serving MSC (i.e. MSC/VLR-1, in this case). c. On receipt of the ROUTREQ message, the Serving MSC checks the subscribers current status (whether busy or otherwise etc.) and if the MS is found to be available, it picks up a temporary routing number from its pool of numbers called as TLDN (Temporary Local Directory Number). The Serving MSC stores the association between the MIN and the TLDN in the call context memory (temporary storage area) & starts the timer for holding the TLDN. d. On receipt of TLDN from the serving MSC, the HLR sends locreq response to the G-MSC with the TLDN. The G-MSC, uses the TLDN to establish voice path to the Serving MSC. On receipt of the ISUP call, the Serving MSC, finds out the MIN (using the TLDN as a key) from the memory & pages the MS & release the TLDN for reallocation for the next call.

IS-41 Call Flows : SMS Call Flows

Origination Home Direct SMDPP SMDPP Indirect SMDPP Destination Home

Network

Network

MC
SMDPP / SMPP

MC

In case of CDMA networks, each MS belongs to one and only one Message Center (MC or the SMSC). SMS being a store-and-forward type of application, it is the responsibility of the Home MC of any given CDMA subscriber, to store & subsequently deliver the terminating message to the subscriber. When a CDMA user originates a Short Message, there are two methods of routing the message to its destination. One method is called as the Direct method & the other is called as Indirect method of routing. In case of the Direct method, the Originating MSC delivers the message to the Destination subscribers MC. In case of Indirect method, the message is first delivered to Originators MC & then forwarded to the Destination subscribers MC. Ultimately, the message gets deposited in the destination subscribers MC for delivery.

IS-41 Call Flows : SMS Call Flows (A) Contd..

MSC-1 MC-2 HLR-2
regnot (profile) SMDPP (SMS Bearer, MDN) smdpp (ACK) SMSREQ (MDN)

MSC-2
a b c d e f g h

REGNOT (SMSAddress)

smsreq (MIN, SMSAddress) SMDPP (MIN, SMS Bearer) smdpp (ACK)

SMS Call Flows (A) explains the successful SMS delivery scenario. a. MS B registers at MSC/VLR-2. MSC sends REGNOT message to the HLR with its own address (PC/SSN) as SMSAddress to the HLR. b. HLR Stores the SMSAddress and sends regnot response to the MSC/VLR-2. c. MS A sends an SMS for MS B. The MSC-1 delivers the message to the MC of MS B (i.e. MC-2) through the IS-41 message called as SMDPP (Short Message Delivery Point-to-Point). d. The Message Center sends smdpp response to acknowledge the receipt of the message. e. The MC-2 sends SMSREQ (SMS Request) message to the HLR of MS B, to find out the subscribers current location & status. f. If HLR finds that the MS B is registered, it sends smsreq response with the MIN & the SMSAddress (the address of the serving MSC) to the MC-2.

IS-41 Call Flows : SMS Call Flows (A) Contd..

g. h. On receipt of response to SMSREQ the MC-2 sends SMDPP message to the MSC identified by the SMSAddress. The MSC-2 pages the MS B & delivers the message & sends successful response to the MC-2 in smdpp message.

IS-41 Call Flows : SMS Call Flows (B) Contd..

MSC-1 MC-2 HLR-2
MSINACT (MIN) msinact () SMDPP (SMS Bearer, MDN) smdpp (ACK)

MSC-2
a b c Power Down DeRegistration

A
SMDPF flag set

SMSREQ (MDN) smsreq (MIN, SMSAccessDeniedReason) REGNOT (MIN) regnot (Profile) SMSNOT (MIN) smsnot ()

d e f g h i j k l Power Up Registration

SMDPF flag reset

SMDPP (MIN, SMS Bearer) smdpp (ACK)

SMS Call Flows (B) explains the first unsuccessful SMS delivery attempt. a. MS B de-registers from MSC/VLR-2. MSC sends MSINACT message to the HLR, which indicates to HLR that the MS B is not available any more. b. HLR marks the MS B as Inactive and sends msinact response to the MSC/VLR-2. c. MS A sends an SMS for MS B. The MSC-1 delivers the message to the MC of MS B (i.e. MC-2) through the IS-41 message called as SMDPP (Short Message Delivery Point-to-Point).

IS-41 Call Flows : SMS Call Flows Contd..

d. e. f. The Message Center sends smdpp response to acknowledge the receipt of the message. The MC-2 sends SMSREQ (SMS Request) message to the HLR of MS B, to find out the subscribers current location & status. HLR finds that the MS B is marked as Inactive and sends smsreq response with the SMSAccessDeniedReason parameter set to a value indicating that the SMS to this MS (B) can not be delivered at this moment. The HLR also sets a flag called SMS Delivery Pending Flag (SMDPF) indicating that there was an attempt to deliver an SMS to this MS, but, it was not delivered. After some time when the MS B turns ON, it performs Power-Up Registration. The MSC/VLR-2 sends REGNOT to the HLR. HLR responds to REGNOT with the subscribers profile. The HLR also finds that, against this MIN, the SMDPF flag is set. Because the SMDPF flag for MS B was set, the HLR sends a message called SMSNOT (SMS Notification) to the Home MC of MS B. The SMSNOT message includes the MIN, MDN & the SMSAddress. The MC-2 responds with smsnot to the HLR. On receipt of the smsnot message, the HLR resets the SMDPF flag. On receipt of SMSNOT, the MC-2 comes to know that the MS B is now available & is located at the MSC identified by the SMSAddress received in SMSNOT. The MC-2 retries the delivery of message by sending SMDPP message to the MSC-2. On successful delivery of message to MS B, the MSC sends the smdpp response message to the MC-2. If the originating MS had requested for delivery acknowledgement, then the MC-2 forms the delivery confirmation message to be sent to MS A & goes ahead with SMS delivery call flow for message delivery confirmation to MS A.

g. h. i.

j. k.

l.

References / Related sites

Details of MTP, SCCP & TCAP layers (ITU-T) can be found in a shared folder called ITUT in my PC (IP Address = 202.75.201.112). Username (if required) is agayal & password is RKway123. MTP layers are defined in Q.701 to Q.705; SCCP layers in Q.711 to Q.715 and TCAP in Q.771 to Q.775. All CDMA related standards (IS-41, IS-771, IS-826 etc.) can be downloaded from http://www.3gpp2.org/Public_html/specs/index.cfm Other interesting sites are:
http://www.howcdmaworks.com http://www.ifast.org http://www.cdg.org