CH1-HANDOVER Fall 2022-2023

STRATEGIES IN GSM IUL-Dr. Soha FARHAT

 OUTLINE
Introduction
GSM Channels
GSM Architecture

Handover in GSM
Definition and aims
Types of Handover

GSM Handover Procedures

Handover Prioritization
Guard Channels
Call Admission Control
Handover Queuing Prioritization Schemes
I. INTRODUCTION TO GSM
A cellular network is made up of numbers of cells (or radio
cells).
 Each cell is allocated a band of frequencies and served by
base station(BS) consisting of transmitter, receiver and
control unit.
 Adjacent cells are assigned different frequencies to avoid
interference or cross talk.
These radio cells are combined into clusters and each
frequency is used once per cluster.
This increases the capacity of cellular network because the
same radio frequency can be reused in different area for
completely different transmission.
 GSM CHANNELS
In Europe, GSM was initially specified only for operation in the 900 MHz band
(primary band) between 890 and 915 MHz in the uplink direction (MS transmit BS
receive) and between 935 and 960 MHz in the downlink direction.
The bandwidth of 25 MHz is split into 125 channels with a bandwidth of 200
kHz each.
Due to interference to other systems, the very first carrier is not used, thus
reducing the number of carriers to 124 .
With the growing demand, an additional frequency range for GSM, which uses the
frequency band from 1710 to 1785 MHz for the uplink and from 1805 to 1880 for
the downlink.
The 1800 MHz band offers 75 MHz of bandwidth, which corresponds to 375
additional channels.
. GSM works on three frequencies
900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900
MHz
GSM CHANNELS
Due to the limited radio bandwidth GSM utilizes a
combination of FDMA and TDMA called Multi-
Carrier TDMA to access the available radio
spectrum.
In FDMA system one specific frequency is
allocated for every user during a call.
TDMA allows several users to share the same
frequency channel by dividing the signal into
different timeslots.
There are a total of eight physical
channels/timeslots per carrier.
The total number of channels in GSM system
are, therefore, 124 x 8 channels.
 GSM FRAME
8 users per channel.
Each frame contains eight physically independent
timeslots, each for communication with a different
subscriber.
Subscribers are time multiplexed by dividing the carrier
into frames with durations of 4.615 milliseconds.
The time frame of a timeslot is called a burst and the
burst duration is 577 microseconds.
Note that the slots for transmission and reception for a
given mobile are offset in time so that the mobile does
not transmit and receive at the same time.
 GSM FRAME
So every eighth timeslot on a TDMA
channel, the user transmits or receives his
information (either speech or data).
TDMA frames on all radio frequency
channels, in the downlink as well as on the
uplink, are aligned.
However, the start of an uplink TDMA
frame is delayed with respect to downlink by
a fixed period of three timeslots.

Burst Period =4.615=120/26

ms
GSM FRAME HIERARCHY
Higher order frames are called multiframe,
superframe and hyperframe.
Traffic Multiframe consists of 26 frames and have a
duration of 120 ms (26 x 4.615 ms).
Control Multiframe for slow associated control
channel (SACCH), and fast associated control channel
(FACCH). Consists of 51frames multiframe and has a
duration of 235.365 ms (51 x 4.615 ms).
One superframe consists of 51 traffic multiframes or
26 control multiframes.
The highest order frame is called a hyperframe and
consists of 2,048 superframes.
The time duration of the hyperframe is 3 hrs, 28 min,
and 52.76 sec (2,715,648 x 4.615 ms).
 GSM LOGICAL CHANNELS

Logical channels are divided into the two

categories, TCHs (traffic)and control(or
signaling) channels.
The name stems from the fact that each
of the data types is transmitted on specific
timeslots that are parts of physical
channels. 
We are interested in the DEDICATED
CONTROL Channels for the handover.
DEDICATED CONTROL
CHANNELS
1. The Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH) is transmitted on the same
timeslot as a TCH. It is used to send urgent signaling messages like a handover
command.
2. no dedicated physical bursts are allocated to the FACCH. Instead, user data is
removed from a TCH burst.
3. To inform the mobile device of this, the stealing bits to the left and right of the
training sequence are used.
DEDICATED CONTROL
CHANNELS
oThe Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH) is also assigned to a dedicated
connection.
oIt is used in the uplink direction to report signal quality measurements
of the serving cell and neighboring cells to the network.
oThe network then uses these values for handover decisions and power control.
oIn the downlink direction, the SACCH is used to send power control commands to
the mobile device.
GSM ARCHITECTURE
The GSM system consist of several
functional elements including:
1. mobile switching centers (MSC),
2. base stations (BSC) with associated
base transceivers (BTS),
3. an operation and maintenance
center (OMC)
4. and gateway MSC.
GSM ARCHITECTURE
BSC are connected are connected to
MSC through dedicated line or radio
communication link.
The BSC reserves radio frequencies,
manages the handover of mobile
station from one cell to another with in
the BSS (base station subsystem).
GSM ARCHITECTURE
MSC interface to the PSTN (public
switched telephone network) is called
the gateway MSC.
 MSC incorporate functions including
home location register (HLR), visitor
location register (VLR), authentication
register (AuC) and equipment identity
register (EIR) .
The HLR and VLR together with
MSC provide the call routing and
roaming capabilities of GSM.
GSM ARCHITECTURE
The HLR stores information both
permanent and temporary about each
of the mobile station that belongs to it.
 The VLR register maintains
information about mobile station that
is currently physically in the region
covered by MSC.
 VLR becomes important when user
leaves the area served by his home
MSC. The two registers are used for
authentication and security purpose.
GSM ARCHITECTURE
The EIR is a database that contains a list
of all valid mobile equipment on the
network, where each mobile station is
identified by its international mobile
equipment identity (IMEI). It helps in
security and prevents uses of network by
mobile station that haven been approved.
The AuC holds the authentication and
encryptions keys that are stored in each
user SIM card for authentication and
encryption over radio channel.
HANDOVER IN GSM
WHAT IS HANDOVER?
Handover or Handoff is a process of transferring a
mobile station (MS) from one base station (BS) or
channel to another while a call is in progress.
Changing the channel associated with the current
connection can be through a time slot, frequency band,
code word, or combination of these. ( for time-division
multiple access (TDMA), frequency- division multiple
access (FDMA), code-division multiple access
(CDMA), or a hybrid scheme, respectively)
It is often initiated either by crossing a cell boundary or
by a deterioration in quality of the signal in the current
channel.
WHY HANDOVER?
1. To keep calls going on during movement.
2. To improve network service quality, like reducing the interference that a call in
one cell may cause to calls in another cell.
3. To decrease call drop rate caused by the excessive cochannel interference within
the cell.
4. To decrease congestion rate by moving some calls from a highly
congested cell to a cell that is not so congested.(Load Balancing)
HANDOVER TYPES
HARD HANDOVER

o The mobile is able to transmit only on one frequency at a time, the connection must be broken before it can
move to the new channel where the connection is reestablished.

o No voice or data transmission takes place during the break period.

o This type of handover is also known as BREAK-BEFORE-YOU-MAKE

o The break is for very short duration hardly noticed by user.

o GSM uses hard handovers and maintains interruption of 60 ms.

 SOFT HANDOVER
oSoft Handover does not provide interruption or breaking of radio link for cell-to-cell transfer of a
call.
oA new connection is established before the old one is released.
oknown as MAKE-BEFORE-YOU-BREAK.
oConnection goes seamless during this type of handover 3G technologies like CDMA, UMTS
uses soft handover.
oIn CDMA whole of frequency spectrum is available to all the users for the whole time. Therefore
it is possible to have neighboring cells on the same frequency and hence there is no need to break
the connection during handover.
HANDOVER IN GSM
We consider Horizontal Handover in GSM: it means when a mobile terminal changes its
point of connection within the same type of network.
In GSM, Handover is Network-controlled, mobile terminal assisted. It means that the
network takes the handover decisions and the mobile terminal supervises and reports its
signal quality.
We can classify the handover within 4 types:

1. Intra-cell or Intra BTS.

2. Intra-BSC
3. Intra- MSC
4. Inter-MSC
INTRA-CELL BTS HANDOVER
The terms intra-cell and intra BTS handover are used both for frequency change of a
going call.
The frequency change occur when the quality of the communication link degrading
and the measurements of the neighboring cells better than the current cell.
In this case mobile will be locked to the same BTS but the channel allocated to that
mobile/time slot will change.
The communication link degradation is caused by the interference as the
neighboring cell using the same frequencies and it’s better to try another channel.
 INTRA-BSC HANDOVER
The intra-BSC handover is
performed when the MS changes
the BTS but not the BSC.
The mobile moves out of the
coverage of one BTS into another
BTS and both BTSs are controlled 1. Assume that the initial mobile call is established through
by the same BSC. MSC (a) to BSC (I), through link l a to cell 1. MSC a is
called anchor MSC
BSC will take care of the 2. If the measurements by the mobile and the BSC indicate
handover by allocating a channel that the adjoining cell 2 is a better choice, the BSC selects
for the user in the second BTS. link I b and a new voice channel and informs the mobile to
tune to this new channel.
3. The new speech path becomes MSC (a) to BSC (I), through
link 1b to cell 2.
4. The initial link la is released
INTRA-MSC HANDOVER
The BSC decides that handover is required but the targeted cell is controlled by different BSC
then it needs assistance from the connected MSC.
The MSC contacts the targeted BSC for allocation of the resources and inform the BSC when
they are ready.
After the successful resources allocation the MS instructed to access the new channel and the
call is transferred to the new one.
It is the same as Inter-BSC handover
 INTER-MSC HANDOVER
The inter-MSC handover is performed when the two cells
belonging to different MSC in the same system.
 The MSC currently serving the call is named as MSC-A
(anchor MSC) and the targeted cell is connected to different
MSC named as MSC-B.
MSC (a) will extend the fixed telephone link to the new MSC
(b), but retain supervision of the call.
The MSC (a) delegates activation and deactivation to MSC (b)
during future handover to a new MSC.
The voice channel path in this case becomes MSC (a) to MSC
(b) to BSC (3), through link 3a or 3b to the mobile. From the
anchor MSC to the target MSC.
When the MS enters a cell that depends on another MSC to
MSC link 4, a new transit link is prepared by MSC, in this case
link 4 (from MSC [a]), and replaces the old link 3 between itself
and the old MSC (b). MSC B will be no longer part of the call.
HANDOVER
PROCEDURES(PROTOCOLS)
INTRA-CELL HO SIGNALING
 INTRA-BSC HO SIGNALING
1. Based on the received MR(Measurement Report) BSC may
determine that a change of channel or cell (BTS-2) is necessary.
2. The BSC requests a new channel from BTS-2 with an "RSM
Channel Activation" message.
3. BTS-2 allocates a channel, if available, and responds with an "RSM
Channel Activation Acknowledge" message to the BSC.
4. The BSC then sends an "RIL3-RR Handover Command" message
to the MS on the FACCH, via BTS-1 (mobile is currently talking
through BTS-I), assigning the new channel, its characteristics, the
power level to use, and whether to use synchronous or
asynchronous handover. The message will also include the
assignment of a new SACCH.
5. Upon receiving this message, the MS initiates the release of the old
channel and the connection to the new one.
INTRA-MSC HO SIGNALING
FLOW
INTER-MSC HO SIGNALING FLOW
HANDOVER PRIORITIZATION
The objective of Handover prioritization is to reduce the call dropping probability and
call blocking probability.
One approach is to reduce the handover failure rate is to prioritize handover call over
new calls.
Such scheme permits high utilization of bandwidth while guaranteeing the quality of
service of handover calls.
Basic method of handover prioritization schemes are:

1. Guard channels (GC).

2. Call admission control (CAC)
3. Handover queuing schemes.

Sometimes these schemes are combined together to obtain better results.

GUARD CHANNELS(GC)
Guard Channel scheme is still used in
telecommunications with the name of Cutoff Priority
Schemes.
GC scheme improves the probability of successful
handover by simply reserving a number of channels
exclusively for handover in each cell.
The remaining channels can be shared equally between
handover and new calls.
GC are established only when the number of free channels
is equal to or less than the predefined threshold G.
In this situations fresh calls are bypassed and only
handover request are served by the cell until all channels
are occupied.
The GC scheme is feasible because new calls are less
sensitive to delay than the handover calls.
 GUARD CHANNELS(GC)
For illustration:
A cellular network is considered with C, the total number of channels in a given cell.
 According to GC scheme reserve channels for handover are C-T, where T is the predefined
threshold.
The GC will not accept any new call until the channel occupancy goes below the
threshold.

C-T T
CALL ADMISSION CONTROL
(CAC)
The call admission control scheme refers to the task of deciding whether new call
requests are admitted into the network or not.
In the CAC the arrival of new calls are estimated continuously and if they are
higher than the predefined threshold level then some calls are restricted (blocked)
irrespective of whether a channel is available or not to decrease the probability of
dropping handover calls.
 In the CAC both the new and handover calls have access to all channels.
If a new call that is generated in cell cannot find an idle channel the call is
discarded immediately. There is no queue provided for the new calls to wait.
CALL ADMISSION CONTROL
(CAC)
The CAC scheme can be classified into different schemes that consider:
1. the local information like (the amount of unused bandwidth in cell where the user currently
resides)
2. remote information (the amount of unused information bandwidth in the neighboring cells)

CAC based on knowledge of both network and user characteristics, keeps the track
of available system capacity and accommodates new call request while ensuring
quality of service for all existing users.
Decisions in CAC are performed in each BSC in a distributed manner and there is
no central coordination.
HANDOVER QUEUING
SYSTEM
This scheme queues the handover calls when all the channels are occupied in the
BSC. It is done when the received signal strength of the BSC in the current cell
reaches to certain defined threshold.
The call remains queued until either a channel is available in the new cell or the
power by the base station in the current cell drops below the receiver threshold.
If the call reaches the receiver threshold and no free channel is found then the call
is terminated.
 When a channel is released in the BSC, it is assigned to one of the handover calls
in the queue. And new call are not assigned a channel until all the handover request
in the queue are served.
 First in first out (FIFO) scheme is the most common queuing scheme where the
handover requests are ordered according to their arrival.
Handover Queuing
Algorithm
HANDOVER QUEUING
SYSTEM
A new call request is assigned a channel if the queue is empty and if there is at least
one free channel in the BSC.
This scheme is effective only when the handover requests arrive in groups and
traffic is low.
In fact, It reduces the call dropping probability at the expense of the increased call
blocking probability .
Note that Queuing handover is possible due to the overlap regions between the
adjacent cells in which the mobile station can communicate with more than one base
station. This makes provision of the queuing the handover requests for certain time
period equal to the time of the mobile host existence in the overlapping area.