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GPRS/EGPRS Channel Administration

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Purpose of GPRS Channel Administration

• to allocate system recourses for packet data traffic

• to reserve transmission resources for a mobile user

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The Circuit- and Packet Switched Domain

• Channels for GPRS are allocated, from the Circuit

Switched Domain (CSD), as Packet Data Channels
(PDCH).
• The PDCHs constitute the Packet Switched Domain
(PSD).
• In a cell, PDCHs will coexist with traffic channels from the
CSD.
• To start a TBF a reservation of the allocated PDCH(s) is
necessary.

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Allocation of system resources

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PSET
• PDCHs are allocated in PSETs
• A complete PSET consists of 8 PDCHs
• One connection can only use one PSET
• Several connections can use the same PSET

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Dedicated and On-demand PDCHs

• Allocation of two types are possible:

Dedicated: the number of PDCHs set by the operator.

Allocated from the CSD to the PSD

On-demand: taken from the CSD only when needed. They

are returned to the CSD when there is no need or when
needed by the CSD

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Physical Channels Used

• PDCHs allowed only in UL-subcell (if OL/UL)

• PDCHs can be allocated on the frequencies within the P-
GSM band and in the complete E-GSM if the BCCH is
allocated in the G1-GSM

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Deallocation of on-demand PDCHs

The PDCHs are returned to the CSD when they have had
no reservations for a certain time, or whenever the CSD
needs them.
• Deallocation of idle on-demand PDCHs
– PDCHs that are not reserved for GPRS traffic, are put in a PSD
idle list. After a limited time in the PSD idle list, the PDCHs are
deallocated from the PSD and returned to the CSD.
• Deallocation of on-demand PDCHs due to pre-emption
– a request for PDCH pre-emption is sent to the PSD, in the case
there are any on-demand PDCHs in the cell.

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Deallocation of idle on-demand PDCHs

• On-demand PDCHs that become idle in both directions,

are linked into the PSD idle list
• The timer PILTIMER is started
• When the timer expires for a PDCH, the PDCH is
deallocated in the PSD and returned to the CSD
• The value range of the PILTIMER is 1 s. to 3600 s. A low
value of PILTIMER implies more allocations and
deallocations of PDCHs and requires more capacity

03813-LZU 108 5958 Uae Rev A Slide 9 (33)

Deallocation of on-demand PDCHs due to pre-

emption

• When request for PDCH pre-emption from CSD arrives

• Operator can choose to allow pre-emption of:
– Only idle PDCHs
– Only non essential PDCHs (not carrying TAI) and Idle PDCHs
– All PDCHs
• This is controlled by the parameter GPRSPRIO

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Deallocation of dedicated PDCHs

• The dedicated PDCHs that are removed by Dedicated

operator command are not returned to the PDCHs

CSD immediately, but will be marked as on-

On-demand
demand PDCHs. If the PDCHs to be marked PDCHs
as on-demand do not carry PS traffic they
are put in the PSD idle list. PSD
Idle List

PILTIMER sec.
Idle TCH

03813-LZU 108 5958 Uae Rev A Slide 11 (33)

Configuration of dedicated PDCHs

• Up to eight dedicated PDCHs can be configured per cell

• The dedicated PDCHs are only available for GPRS traffic
• The dedicated PDCHs in a cell can either be placed on
non hopping TCH on the BCCH frequency as a first
choice, last choice or as no preference according to the
parameter PDCHALLOC

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PDCHALLOC

• PDCHALLOC is a parameter that regulates if the

allocation of PSETs should be placed on a non-hopping
BCCH or not
• The possible settings are: FIRST, LAST, NO
PREFERENCE
• The effect of PDCHALLOC is different for on-demand and
dedicated PSETs

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PDCHALLOC: Dedicated Channels

• The primary dedicated PSET must be placed according

to parameter PDCHALLOC. If this is not possible, no
primary PSET will be allocated
• The secondary dedicated PSET will not be placed on a
non-hopping BCCH if PDCHALLOC is set to FIRST
• For on-demand PSETs, PDCHALLOC is only used as a
preference parameter, i.e. if a PSET can not be placed
according to PDCHALLOC, it will be placed elsewhere

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Before adding dedicated PDCHs

• A check is made to see if it is possible to add more
dedicated PDCHs in the Regional Processor (RP)
handling the cell.
• The parameter ONDEMANDGPHDV is a limit of the
minimum number of B-PDCHs reserved for on-demand
PDCHs for each RP
• The parameter ONDEMANDGPHDV64 is the
corresponding limit of the minimum number of E-PDCHs
and G-PDCHs reserved for on-demand E-PDCHs or G-
PDCHs for each RP

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Adding dedicated PDCHs to the PSD

• Fill dedicated PSET with up to eight dedicated PDCH.
• Transform on-demand PDCH to dedicated PDCH.
• Create dedicated PSET
Primary PSET
Example:
B S

Secondary PSET

Dedicated PDCH

On-demand PDCH

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Removing dedicated PDCHs

• Select the secondary dedicated PSET if there is one, otherwise select
the primary dedicated PSET.
• In the selected PSET, mark dedicated PDCHs as on-demand PDCHs
so the number of dedicated PDCHs is in accordance with the
requested number of PDCHs.
Primary PSET
Example:
B S
Secondary PSET

Dedicated PDCH

On-demand PDCH

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Allocation of the Master PDCH

GPRSNWMODE Gs interface MPDCH present
present
0 x
1 x x
2
3 x

• ”Master PDCH” above, means that a Master PDCH will be

allocated if there is (at least) one dedicated PDCH in the
cell.

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Handling of Packet Data Traffic (Abis interface)

• When recourses are needed for a PS connection, PDCHs

are reserved in accordance with:
– MS Type (EGPRS capable or not)
– Multislot Class
– Channel Load
– Available channel resources
• 16K Abis data rate is not sufficient for GPRS CS-1 to CS-4
and EGPRS connections
• The feature SARA handles the 64K Abis allocation

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Service Oriented Allocation of Abis Resources

(SARA)
• Adapt Abis interface to CS3/4 and EGPRS
• Increase Abis bit rate per Air-interface TS to 64kbit/s
• 64k Abis needed for:
– GPRS CS-3 and CS-4 (G-PDCH)
– EGPRS MCS-1 to MCS-9 (E-PDCH)
• 16k Abis used for:
– CS-1 and CS-2 (B-PDCH)

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SARA, example

TS0 TS1 TS2 TS3 TS4 TS5 TS6 ……………....

TCH4
TRX Sig TCH5
PCM (OML, TCH0 TCH1 TCH2 TCH3 TCH6
Sync RSL) 64k 64k 64k 64k TCH7
64k 16k

Abis, 2Mbit PCM (32 channels)

BSC

03813-LZU 108 5958 Uae Rev A Slide 21 (33)

SARA, example: allocation of BPSs

• A request for 24 BPCs for non hopping CHGR-1are made

– 9 are to support GPRS and EGPRS
– 4 are to support GPRS CS-1 to CS-4
• This will look like the table below

TN0 TN1 TN2 TN3 TN4 TN5 TN6 TN7

f0 E-TCH E-TCH E-TCH E-TCH E-TCH E-TCH E-TCH E-TCH
f1 B-TCH B-TCH B-TCH G-TCH G-TCH G-TCH E-TCH G-TCH
f2 B-TCH B-TCH B-TCH B-TCH B-TCH B-TCH B-TCH B-TCH

Note: If this would have been CHGR-0, the network would not have
allocated 64K Abis for the BCCH and SDCCH timeslots and also
TN7 depending on the setting of TN7BCCH.

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PDCH reservation for PS connections

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PDCH reservation

• Resources are provided for PS connections by PDCH

reservation.
• PDCHs are reserved on a PSET as a Temporary Block
Flow (TBF), uplink and/or downlink, in accordance with the
GPRS multislot class and QoS requirements.
• Many users can share the same PDCH

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Multislot Maximum number of slots

class

MS Classes for 1
2
Rx
1
2
Tx
1
1
Sum
2
3

Multislot capability 3
4
5
2
3
2
2
1
2
3
4
4
6 3 2 4

• There are 29 different

7 3 3 4
8 4 1 5
9 3 2 5
multislot classes 10
11
4
4
2
3
5
5
12 4 4 5
13 3 3 NA
14 4 4 NA
15 5 5 NA
16 6 6 NA
17 7 7 NA
18 8 8 NA
19 6 2 NA
20 6 3 NA
21 6 4 NA
22 6 4 NA
23 6 6 NA
24 8 2 NA
25 8 3 NA
26 8 4 NA
27 8 4 NA
28 8 6 NA
29 8 8 NA

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Maximum number of Temporary Block Flows

(TBFs) per PDCH
• Maximum number of TBFs per PDCH DL is eight
• Maximum number of TBFs per PDCH UL is six on the
MPDCH, else seven
• Maximum number of TBFs per PSET is 32 (UL and DL)
• TBFDLLIMIT preferred number of TBF per PDCH DL
• TBFULLIMIT preferred number of TBF per PDCH UL

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Reservation of MS on a PSET

TBFDLLIMIT=2 (1-8)
TBFULLIMIT=2 (1-6)

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Main controlling parameters

FPDCHs is a preference parameter for number of

dedicated PDCH, set per cell.

PDCHALLOC is a parameter that regulates if the

allocation of PSETs should be on a non-hopping BCCH or
not.

PILTIMER is a parameter for time-out of idle on-demand

PDCH, set in steps of 1 s. and per BSC.

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Parameters for special adjustments

• NUMREQCS3CS4BPC is set per CHGR, and is used to set the

wanted amount of BPCs for a CHGR to be G-TCHs.
• NUMREQEGPRSBPC is set per CHGR, and is used to set the
wanted amount of BPCs for a CHGR to be E-TCHs.
• ONDEMANDGPHDV is a parameter for minimum number of B-
PDCHs (16 kbits/s devices) reserved for on-demand PDCHs
per RP, set per BSC.
• ONDEMANDGPHDV64 is a parameter for minimum number of
E-PDCHs and G-PDCHs (64 kbits/s devices) reserved for on-
demand PDCHs per RP, set per BSC.
• PSETCHKPERIOD is a parameter for periodic check of optimal
allocation of the primary dedicated PDCHs. The value 0 means
no periodic check.
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Parameters for special adjustments

• TBFULLIMIT is a preference parameter for the number of simultaneous TBFs per
PDCH. The total number of reservations is calculated as mean values counting the
reservations on all the PDCHs in the cell capable of supporting each TBF mode.
This means that checks against the limit in uplink direction are performed in priority
order for each of the following combinations of PDCHs: B capable (=E+G+B)), G
capable (=E+G), and E capable (=E). New on-demand PDCHs are requested from
CSD when the limit has been reached and it is possible to acquire new PDCHs.
• TBFDLLIMIT is a preference parameter for the number of simultaneous TBFs per
PDCH. The total number of reservations is calculated as mean values counting the
reservations on all the PDCHs in the cell capable of supporting each TBF mode.
This means that checks against the limit in downlink direction are performed in
priority order for each of the following combinations of PDCHs: B capable
(=E+G+B)), G capable (=E+G), and E capable (=E). New on-demand PDCHs are
requested from CSD when the limit has been reached and it is possible to acquire
new PDCHs.
• TN7BCCH is set per cell, and is used to define if TN7 is allowed to carry EGPRS
on the BCCH frequency. Note that the parameter will affect all TN7 in CHGR-0 if
Frequency Hopping is used.

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Parameter ranges and default values

Parameter name Default value Rec. value Value range Unit

FPDCH 0 - 0-8
GPRSNWMODE 2 - 0-3
NUMREQCS3CS4BPC 0 - 0-128
NUMREQEGPRSBPC 0 - 0-128
ONDEMANDGPHDV 20 20 1-256
ONDEMANDGPHDV64 5 - 0-63
PDCHALLOC no preference no preference first, last, no
preference
PILTIMER 20 20 1-3600 s.
PSETCHKPERIOD 5 - 0-60 min.
TBFDLLIMIT 2 2 1 to 8
TBFULLIMIT 2 2 1 to 6
TN7BCCH GPRS - GPRS/EGPRS

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Interaction With other Features

• OL/UL: PDCHs allowed only in UL (if OL/UL)

3:rd bit=1, in the binary representation of GPRSPRIO⇒
on-demand PDCHs regarded as busy in Sub-cell Load
distribution
• CLS: 2:nd bit=1, in the binary representation of GPRSPRIO⇒
on-demand PDCHs regarded as busy in CLS
(CLSLEV comparison)
• FH: All frequencies can hop including
MPDCH
• ICM: No ICM on idle PDCHs
• DTX: No DTX
• X-range: X-range for single-slot only
• BTS PC: BTS Power control is not supported for GPRS.
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GPRSPRIO

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