Technical Manual

Chapter 1 General Introduction Introduction ................................................
1-1
1.1 Networking ............................................................................................. 1-1
1.2 Features ................................................................................................. 1-3
1.3 Technical Specifications ......................................................................... 1-3
Chapter 2 Functional Description .................................................................. 2-1
2.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 2-1
2.2 Service Processing Function .................................................................. 2-1
2.2.1 Packet Data Logical Channel Configuration .................................. 2-2
2.2.2 Packet Access Support .................................................................. 2-4
2.2.3 Paging Processing ......................................................................... 2-5
2.2.4 DRX Support .................................................................................. 2-6
2.2.5 Radio Resources Allocation ........................................................... 2-6
2.2.6 System Information Broadcasting .................................................. 2-7
2.2.7 Radio Link Control ......................................................................... 2-8
2.2.8 Channel Coding Schemes and CS Change Control ...................... 2-8
2.2.9 G-TRAU Frame Transmission ....................................................... 2-9
2.2.10 Radio Link Monitoring .................................................................. 2-9
2.2.11 Radio Frequency Power Control .................................................. 2-10
2.2.12 Cell Reselection Control .............................................................. 2-10
2.2.13 Flow Control and QoS Guarantee................................................ 2-11
2.2.14 Mobility Management and Communication Management ............ 2-12
2.3 Signalling Function ................................................................................. 2-13
2.3.1 Gb Interface Signalling ................................................................... 2-13
2.3.2 In-band Signalling between PCU and BTS .................................... 2-16
2.3.3 Pb Interface Signalling ................................................................... 2-16
2.4 Operation and Maintenance Function .................................................... 2-17
2.4.1 Network maintenance .................................................................... 2-17
2.4.2 Operation and Maintenance Management ..................................... 2-17
2.4.3 Configuration Management............................................................ 2-18
2.4.4 Alarm Management........................................................................ 2-18
2.4.5 Performance Measurement ........................................................... 2-18
2.4.6 Interface Tracing ............................................................................ 2-19
2.4.7 Security Management .................................................................... 2-19
Chapter 3 System Structure ........................................................................... 3-1
3.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 3-1
3.2 Hardware Architecture ............................................................................ 3-1
3.3 Software Architecture ............................................................................. 3-3
3.3.1 PCU Operating System.................................................................. 3-4
3.3.2 POMU Software ............................................................................. 3-6
3.3.3 RPPU Software .............................................................................. 3-7
3.3.4 L2PU Software ............................................................................... 3-9
3.4 Equipment Features ............................................................................... 3-10
3.4.1 Gb Interface ................................................................................... 3-10
3.4.2 G-Abis Interface ............................................................................. 3-10
3.4.3 Pb Interface.................................................................................... 3-10
3.4.4 Operation and Maintenance ........................................................... 3-11
3.4.5 Clock Synchronization ................................................................... 3-11
3.4.6 Overload Processing ...................................................................... 3-12
3.4.7 Warm Backup ................................................................................ 3-14
3.4.8 Dynamic Data Configuration .......................................................... 3-15
3.4.9 Backup of the Cells of the Same BSC ........................................... 3-16
3.4.10 Software Loading ......................................................................... 3-16
3.4.11 Satellite transmission function ..................................................... 3-19
3.4.12 On line patches ............................................................................ 3-19
3.4.13 License ......................................................................................... 3-19
Chapter 4 Interface Functions ........................................................................ 4-1
4.1 Gb interface ............................................................................................ 4-1
4.1.1 Overview ........................................................................................ 4-1
4.1.2 Signalling at Different Layers of the Gb Interface .......................... 4-2
4.1.3 Characteristics of the Gb Interface ................................................ 4-4
4.2 G-Abis Interface ..................................................................................... 4-4
4.2.1 Overview ........................................................................................ 4-4
4.2.2 Characteristics of the G-Abis Interface .......................................... 4-5
4.2.3 Physical Layer/Transmission Media .............................................. 4-6
4.2.4 A Brief Introduction to G-TRAU Frame Structure........................... 4-7
4.2.5 Characteristics of the G-Abis Interface .......................................... 4-8
4.3 Pb Interface ............................................................................................ 4-10
4.3.1 Overview ........................................................................................ 4-10
4.3.2 Internal Structure of the Pb Interface ............................................. 4-10
4.3.3 Characteristics of Huawei Pb Interface .......................................... 4-11
4.4 O Interface .............................................................................................. 4-12
4.4.1 Overview ........................................................................................ 4-12
4.4.2 Software Structure ......................................................................... 4-13
Chapter 5 Operation & Maintenance .............................................................. 5-1
5.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 5-1
5.2 Characteristics ........................................................................................ 5-3
5.3 Implementation of PCU O&M Function .................................................. 5-4
5.3.1 Configuration Management............................................................ 5-4
5.3.2 Alarm Management........................................................................ 5-6
5.3.3 Performance Measurement ........................................................... 5-7
5.3.4 Interface information Tracing ......................................................... 5-14
Chapter 6 Technical Indices ........................................................................... 6-1
6.1 Product Safety ........................................................................................ 6-1
6.1.1 Safety Standard ............................................................................. 6-1
6.1.2 Physical Protection Characteristics................................................ 6-1
6.1.3 Data Backup and Security Characteristics ..................................... 6-1
6.2 Environmental Conditions ...................................................................... 6-2
6.2.1 Storage Conditions ........................................................................ 6-2
6.2.2 Transportation Conditions .............................................................. 6-2
6.2.3 Operation Conditions ..................................................................... 6-2
6.2.4 Electromagnetic Compatibility Requirement .................................. 6-2
6.3 Power Supply ......................................................................................... 6-2
6.4 Capacity ................................................................................................. 6-3
6.4.1 Maximum Capacity ........................................................................ 6-3
6.4.2 Minimum Capacity ......................................................................... 6-3
Chapter 7 Configuration and Examples ........................................................ 7-1
Appendix A Abbreviation ................................................................................ A-1
Appendix B Basics about RLC/MAC .............................................................. B-1

B.1 Basic Concepts ...................................................................................... B-1
B.2 Basic Flow for PCU ................................................................................ B-3
B.2.1 Uplink TBF Setup and Data Transmission Flow ............................ B-3
B.2.2 Packet Paging Flow ....................................................................... B-5
B.2.3 Circuit Page Flow .......................................................................... B-6
B.2.4 Downlink TBF Setup and Data Transmission Flow ....................... B-6
HUAWEI
M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit

Technical Manual
V300R003
Huawei Technologies Proprietary

M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit
Technical Manual
Manual Version T2-030298-20050205-C-3.36
Product Version V300R003
BOM 31025698
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. provides customers with comprehensive technical support
and service. Please feel free to contact our local office or company headquarters.
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Address: Administration Building, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.,
Bantian, Longgang District, Shenzhen, P. R. China
Postal Code: 518129
Website: http://www.huawei.com
Email: support@huawei.com

Copyright © 2005 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

means without prior written consent of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Trademarks
, HUAWEI, C&C08, EAST8000, HONET, , ViewPoint, INtess, ETS, DMC,

TELLIN, InfoLink, Netkey, Quidway, SYNLOCK, Radium, M900/M1800,
TELESIGHT, Quidview, Musa, Airbridge, Tellwin, Inmedia, VRP, DOPRA, iTELLIN,
HUAWEI OptiX, C&C08 iNET, NETENGINE, OptiX, iSite, U-SYS, iMUSE, OpenEye,
Lansway, SmartAX, infoX, and TopEng are trademarks of Huawei Technologies
Co., Ltd.
All other trademarks and trade names mentioned in this manual are the property of
their respective holders.
Notice
The information in this manual is subject to change without notice. Every effort has
been made in the preparation of this manual to ensure accuracy of the contents, but
all statements, information, and recommendations in this manual do not constitute
the warranty of any kind, express or implied.

About This Manual
Release Notes
The product version that corresponds to the manual is M900/M1800 Packet Control
Unit V300R003.
Related Manuals
The following manuals provide more information about the M900/M1800 Packet
Control Unit.
Manual Content
It provides an overall introduction to the PCU,
M900/M1800 Packet Control including the functions, structure, interface,
Unit Technical Manual technical indices, configuration and examples,
etc.
M900/M1800 Packet Control

It provides information for cabinet, frame, board
Unit Hardware Description
and cable of PCU.
Manual
M900/M1800 Packet Control It provides information for installing the hardware
Unit Installation Manual of PCU.
M900/M1800 Packet Control It introduces the method to configure the data for
Unit Operation Manual- Data PCU according to the actual configuration
Configuration procedure.

It introduces the common operation offered by
Unit Operation Manual -Routine
PCU.
Operation

It introduces the basic concept; basic operation
Unit Operation
offered by performance measurement system of
Manual-Performance
PCU, it details all the measuring item as well.
Measurement

It introduces all the alarm and their related
Unit Maintenance
handling method of PCU.
Manual-Alarm Handling
M900/M1800 Packet Control It introduces the breakdown may occurred in the

Unit Maintenance maintenance of PCU and their handling
Manual-Troubleshooting methods.
M900/M1800 Packet Control It introduces all the commands offered by PCU
Unit Command Reference system.

Organization
The manual consists of the following chapters:
Chapter 1 is the general introduction of PCU.
Chapter 2 is the functional description of PCU
Chapter 3 is the system structure of PCU.
Chapter 4 is the interface of PCU
Chapter 5 is about the principle of operation and maintenance of PCU.
Chapter 6 introduces the technical indexes of PCU.
Chapter 7 is the configuration and examples of PCU.
Appendix A is the abbreviation used in this manual.
Appendix B is the basics about RLC/MAC
Intended Audience
The manual is intended for the following readers:

z Marketing staff
z Operation & maintenance personnel
Conventions
This document uses the following conventions:
I. General conventions
Convention Description
Arial Normal paragraphs are in Arial.
Arial Narrow Warnings, cautions, notes and tips are in Arial Narrow.
Headings, Command, Command Description are in
Bold
boldface.
Terminal Display
Terminal Display is in Courier New; message input by the
user via the terminal is in boldface.

II. Symbols
Eye-catching symbols are also used in the manual to highlight the points worthy of
special attention during the operation. They are defined as follows:
Caution, Warning, Danger: Means reader be extremely careful during the

operation.
Note, Comment, Tip, Knowhow, Thought: Means a complementary description.

Technical Manual
M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 General Introduction ................................................................................................... 1-1

1.1 Networking ......................................................................................................................... 1-1
1.2 Features............................................................................................................................. 1-3
1.3 Technical Specifications .................................................................................................... 1-3
Chapter 2 Functional Description................................................................................................ 2-1

2.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................ 2-1
2.2 Service Processing Function ............................................................................................. 2-1
2.2.1 Packet Data Logical Channel Configuration ........................................................... 2-2
2.2.2 Packet Access Support ........................................................................................... 2-4
2.2.3 Paging Processing .................................................................................................. 2-5
2.2.4 DRX Support ........................................................................................................... 2-6
2.2.5 Radio Resources Allocation .................................................................................... 2-6
2.2.6 System Information Broadcasting ........................................................................... 2-7
2.2.7 Radio Link Control................................................................................................... 2-8
2.2.8 Channel Coding Schemes and CS Change Control ............................................... 2-8
2.2.9 G-TRAU Frame Transmission................................................................................. 2-9
2.2.10 Radio Link Monitoring ........................................................................................... 2-9
2.2.11 Radio Frequency Power Control ......................................................................... 2-10
2.2.12 Cell Reselection Control...................................................................................... 2-10
2.2.13 Flow Control and QoS Guarantee....................................................................... 2-11
2.2.14 Mobility Management and Communication Management................................... 2-12
2.3 Signalling Function........................................................................................................... 2-13
2.3.1 Gb Interface Signalling.......................................................................................... 2-13
2.3.2 In-band Signalling between PCU and BTS ........................................................... 2-16
2.3.3 Pb Interface Signalling .......................................................................................... 2-16
2.4 Operation and Maintenance Function ............................................................................. 2-17
2.4.1 Network maintenance ........................................................................................... 2-17
2.4.2 Operation and Maintenance Management............................................................ 2-17
2.4.3 Configuration Management................................................................................... 2-18
2.4.4 Alarm Management............................................................................................... 2-18
2.4.5 Performance Measurement................................................................................... 2-18
2.4.6 Interface Tracing ................................................................................................... 2-19
2.4.7 Security Management ........................................................................................... 2-19
Chapter 3 System Structure ......................................................................................................... 3-1

3.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................ 3-1
3.2 Hardware Architecture ....................................................................................................... 3-1
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Technical Manual
3.3 Software Architecture ........................................................................................................ 3-3

3.3.1 PCU Operating System........................................................................................... 3-4
3.3.2 POMU Software ...................................................................................................... 3-6
3.3.3 RPPU Software ....................................................................................................... 3-7
3.3.4 L2PU Software ........................................................................................................ 3-9
3.4 Equipment Features ........................................................................................................ 3-10
3.4.1 Gb Interface........................................................................................................... 3-10
3.4.2 G-Abis Interface .................................................................................................... 3-10
3.4.3 Pb Interface ........................................................................................................... 3-10
3.4.4 Operation and Maintenance.................................................................................. 3-11
3.4.5 Clock Synchronization........................................................................................... 3-11
3.4.6 Overload Processing............................................................................................. 3-12
3.4.7 Warm Backup........................................................................................................ 3-14
3.4.8 Dynamic Data Configuration ................................................................................. 3-15
3.4.9 Backup of the Cells of the Same BSC .................................................................. 3-16
3.4.10 Software Loading ................................................................................................ 3-16
3.4.11 Satellite transmission function............................................................................. 3-19
3.4.12 On line patches ................................................................................................... 3-19
3.4.13 License ................................................................................................................ 3-19
Chapter 4 Interface Functions...................................................................................................... 4-1

4.1 Gb interface ....................................................................................................................... 4-1
4.1.1 Overview ................................................................................................................. 4-1
4.1.2 Signalling at Different Layers of the Gb Interface ................................................... 4-2
4.1.3 Characteristics of the Gb Interface.......................................................................... 4-4
4.2 G-Abis Interface ................................................................................................................. 4-4
4.2.1 Overview ................................................................................................................. 4-4
4.2.2 Characteristics of the G-Abis Interface ................................................................... 4-5
4.2.3 Physical Layer/Transmission Media........................................................................ 4-6
4.2.4 A Brief Introduction to G-TRAU Frame Structure.................................................... 4-7
4.2.5 Characteristics of the G-Abis Interface ................................................................... 4-8
4.3 Pb Interface...................................................................................................................... 4-10
4.3.1 Overview ............................................................................................................... 4-10
4.3.2 Internal Structure of the Pb Interface .................................................................... 4-10
4.3.3 Characteristics of Huawei Pb Interface................................................................. 4-11
4.4 O Interface ....................................................................................................................... 4-12
4.4.1 Overview ............................................................................................................... 4-12
4.4.2 Software Structure ................................................................................................ 4-13
Chapter 5 Operation & Maintenance ........................................................................................... 5-1

5.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................ 5-1
5.2 Characteristics ................................................................................................................... 5-3
5.3 Implementation of PCU O&M Function ............................................................................. 5-4
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Technical Manual
5.3.1 Configuration Management..................................................................................... 5-4

5.3.2 Alarm Management................................................................................................. 5-6
5.3.3 Performance Measurement..................................................................................... 5-7
5.3.4 Interface information Tracing ................................................................................ 5-14
Chapter 6 Technical Indices......................................................................................................... 6-1

6.1 Product Safety ................................................................................................................... 6-1
6.1.1 Safety Standard....................................................................................................... 6-1
6.1.2 Physical Protection Characteristics......................................................................... 6-1
6.1.3 Data Backup and Security Characteristics.............................................................. 6-1
6.2 Environmental Conditions.................................................................................................. 6-2
6.2.1 Storage Conditions.................................................................................................. 6-2
6.2.2 Transportation Conditions ....................................................................................... 6-2
6.2.3 Operation Conditions .............................................................................................. 6-2
6.2.4 Electromagnetic Compatibility Requirement ........................................................... 6-2
6.3 Power Supply..................................................................................................................... 6-2
6.4 Capacity ............................................................................................................................. 6-3
6.4.1 Maximum Capacity.................................................................................................. 6-3
6.4.2 Minimum Capacity................................................................................................... 6-3
Chapter 7 Configuration and Examples ...................................................................................... 7-1
Appendix A Abbreviation .............................................................................................................A-1
Appendix B Basics about RLC/MAC ...........................................................................................B-1

B.1 Basic Concepts..................................................................................................................B-1
B.2 Basic Flow for PCU ...........................................................................................................B-3
B.2.1 Uplink TBF Setup and Data Transmission Flow.....................................................B-3
B.2.2 Packet Paging Flow ................................................................................................B-5
B.2.3 Circuit Page Flow....................................................................................................B-6
B.2.4 Downlink TBF Setup and Data Transmission Flow ................................................B-6
iii
Technical Manual
M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Chapter 1 General Introduction
Chapter 1 General Introduction
The position of the PCU in the GSM/GPRS network is shown in Figure 1-1.
The GPRS BSS (Base Station Subsystem) connects to MS (Mobile Station) via the
Um interface and is responsible for packet radio transmitting/receiving and packet radio
resources management. On the other hand, the BSS is connected with the SGSN
(Serving GPRS Support Node) of NSS (Network SubSystem), realizing the
communication connection between MSs or between MS and fixed network
subscribers to transmit system signaling and user information, etc. In order to realize
the O&M of the BSS, the connection between BSS and OMS (Operation and
Maintenance Subsystem) is needed. With newly added hardware PCU, BSS supports
GPRS on the basis of existing GSM BSS along with the software upgrade of the BSC
and BTS of the original GSM network.
Um interface BTS GSM network

subsystem
A interface
LMT
GPRS network
BSC subsystem
Abis
inte
rf ace
Gb interface
ce
BTS rfa
is inte
Ab PCU
Pb
LMT
WAN/LAN
i nte
rfa
ce
OMC OMC server OMC

console Telnet
LMT console
LMT terminal
GSM/GPRS BSS GPRS/GSM OMC system
GSM/GPRS O&M subsystem
PCU: Packet Control Unit BSC: Base Station Controller BTS: Base Transceiver Station
OMC: Operation & Maintenance Center LMT: Local Maintenance Terminal
Figure 1-1 The position of the BSS in the GPRS/GSM network
The M900/M1800 BSS was developed in accordance with the GSM and GPRS
specifications issued by ETSI.
1.1 Networking
For the PCU location in the GPRS system, the ETSI protocol puts forth three
recommendations, as shown in Figure 1-2. The PCU of the M900/M1800 BSS is a
1-1
Technical Manual
piece of semi-independent equipment. Functionally, it is a part of BSC. Whereas in

terms of location, it is relatively independent. It can either be located in the BSC site, or
in the SGSN site, or even in the MSC site. In a word, the M900/M1800 PCU location is
a combination of schemes A, B and C as shown in Figure 1-2.
Um
Gb
BTS BSC site GSN site
CCU A
PCU
CCU
Abis
BTS BSC site GSN site
CCU B
PCU
CCU
BSC site GSN site

BTS
CCU C
PCU
CCU
Packet switching Circuit switching (16kbit/s or 64kbit/s) Gb
PCU: Packet Control Unit BTS: Base Transceiver Station CCU: Channel Code Unit
Figure 1-2 The location of PCU
The typical networking method is shown as Figure 1-3.
BSS
PCU Gs
BSC
BTS Gr
MSC/VLR
SS7
Gb
BSS
HLR
SGSN
BSC
BTS
Figure 1-3 Typical networking mode of PCU
PCU connects to BSC or SGSN with E1 trunk and the connection between PCU and
SGSN can be based on PTP frame relay or frame relay network.
1-2
Technical Manual
In the physical location, PCU can be located at BSC site or SGSN site.
PCU is located at BSC site. This networking mode is applicable to the case when
PCU and BSC are located at the same site or the BSC equipment are distributed
closely in the local network construction. Since initially local GPRS user traffic is
comparatively low, in this way, the data from several BSCs can be converged by
PCU and the transmission cost is reduced.
PCU is located at SGSN site. This networking mode is applicable to the case when
newly added equipment of GPRS are distributed closely in the local network. In
the case when BSC sites are scattered, close distribution of GPRS equipment
facilitates the management.
1.2 Features
M900/M1800 PCU has the following features:

Modular structure, supporting smooth expansion of the network.
Large capacity and high processing capability.
Pre-processing for measurement.
Uplink open-loop power control.
Optimal G-Abis interface solutions.
Supporting CS-1, CS-2, CS-3 and CS-4.
CS dynamic adjustment algorithms.
PDCH dynamic conversion.
Flexible networking modes.
Gb interface downlink flow control.
Warm backup.
Cell backup in the same office direction.
1.3 Technical Specifications
M900/M1800 PCU follows the relevant GSM/GPRS technical specifications stipulated

by ETSI and relevant IETF standards.
The relevant ETSI GSM/GPRS technical specifications include:

EN 301 344, GSM 03.60 V7.4.0, ETSI
EN 300 940, GSM 04.08 V7.5.1, ETSI
EN 301 349, GSM 04.60 V7.3.0, ETSI
TS 101 351, GSM 04.64 V7.3.0, ETSI
TS 101 297, GSM 04.65 V7.3.0, ETSI
EN 300 908, GSM 05.02 V7.4.0, ETSI
EN 300 911, GSM 05.08 V7.3.1, ETSI
TS 101 299, GSM 08.16 V7.1.0, ETSI
TS 101 343, GSM 08.18 V7.3.0, ETSI
1-3
Technical Manual
The relevant IETF standards include:

RFC854, Telnet Protocol specification
1-4
Technical Manual
M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Chapter 2 Functional Description
Chapter 2 Functional Description
2.1 Overview
The signalling plane of GPRS BSS is shown in Figure 2-1. It mainly achieves the
functions at the RLC/MAC, BSSGP, NS protocol layers, and fulfills the related functions
of the air interface RF.
GMM/SM GMM/SM
LLC LLC
Relay
RLC BSSGP
RLC BSSGP
Network Network
MAC MAC
Service Service
GSM RF GSM RF L1bis L1bis
MS Um Gb
BSS SGSN
GMM: GPRS Mobility Management LLC: Logical Link Control

RLC: Radio Link Control MAC: Medium Access Control
BSSGP: Base Station System GPRS Protocol SM: Session Management
Figure 2-1 Signalling plane of the GPRS BSS
PCU is a kind of semi-independent equipment that processes the main service flows of
GPRS BSS, including the implementation of functions at the RLC/MAC, BSSGP, NS
protocol layers. BTS mainly implements RF-related functions at the air interface while
BSC establishes the link between PCU and BTS to transparently transmit packet data.
2.2 Service Processing Function
The GPRS PCU provides the following service functions:

Packet data channel configuration
Packet radio access support
Paging processing
Radio resources allocation
System information broadcasting
Radio link control
Channel coding/decoding and CS change control
G-TRAU frame transmission
2-1
Technical Manual
Radio link monitoring

RF power control
Cell reselection control
Flow control and Quality of Service (QoS) guarantee
Mobility management and communication management
2.2.1 Packet Data Logical Channel Configuration
I. Types of Packet Data Logical Channels
PDCH (Packet Data CHannel) is of the following four types:

1) PDTCH (Packet Data Traffic CHannel)
PDTCH transmits the user data in the mode of packet switching with a transmission
rate of 0~22.8kbit/s. All packet data traffic channels are uni-directional, either uplink
(PDTCH/U), for a mobile originated packet transfer or downlink (PDTCH/D) for a mobile
terminated packet transfer.
2) PBCCH (Packet Broadcast Control CHannel)
The PBCCH broadcasts parameters used by the MS to access the network for packet
transmission operation. In addition to those parameters, the PBCCH reproduces the
information transmitted on the BCCH to allow circuit switching operation. The MS in
GPRS attached mode monitors the PBCCH only, if it exists. The existence of the
PBCCH in the cell is indicated on the BCCH. In the absence of PBCCH, the BCCH shall
be used to broadcast information for packet operation.
3) PCCCH (Packet Common Control CHannel)
PCCCH includes the following:
PPCH (Packet Paging CHannel): Downlink only, used to page MS.
PRACH (Packet Random Access CHannel): Uplink only, used to request
allocation of one or several PDTCHs (for uplink or downlink direction).
PAGCH (Packet Access Grant CHannel): Downlink only, used to allocate one or
several PDTCHs.
PNCH (Packet Notification CHannel): Downlink only, used to notify MS of PTM-M
call.
If no PCCCH is allocated, the information for packet switching operation is transmitted
on the CCCH. If a PCCCH is allocated, it may transmit information for circuit switching
operation.
4) Packet dedicated control channels
The packet dedicated control channels are:
PACCH (Packet Associated Control CHannel): Bi-directional, used to transmit the
packet signalling in data transmission.
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Technical Manual
PTCCH/U (Packet Timing advance Control CHannel Uplink): Used to transmit

random access bursts to allow estimation of the timing advance for one MS in
packet transfer mode.
PTCCH/D (Packet Timing Advance Control CHannel Downlink): Used to transmit
timing advance updates for several MS. One PTCCH/D is paired with several
PTCCH/U's.
PCU supports all the functions of packet channels.
II. Combination of Packet Data Logical Channels
The types of combinations are:

PBCCH + PCCCH + PDTCH + PACCH + PTCCH
PCCCH + PDTCH + PACCH + PTCCH
PDTCH + PACCH + PTCCH
Among which, PCCCH = PPCH + PRACH + PAGCH + PNCH.
When configuring PBCCH in a cell, the first combination is adopted, and the cell can
only have one such channel combination. In the case of many MSs in a cell and the
PCCCH is busy, one or more second channel combinations can be configured. In a cell,
the second channel combination cannot be configured unless the first type has be
adopted.
The channel combination of the third type is used for the uplink and downlink packet
data transmission. A cell can be configured with one or more channels of such
combination.
GPRS PCU system supports all types of channel combinations. Among them, the
channels of the third type can be divided into fixed PDCHs and dynamic PDCHs. The
fixed PDCHs are dedicated to the transmission of GPRS packet data and can not be
seized by circuit services. The dynamic PDCHs can be converted between TCH and
PDTCH according to the need of services. That is, when the system is being initialized,
it serves as TCH; when there is a demand for packet services, it can be converted into
PDCH, and when there is a demand for circuit services, it can be converted from PDCH
to TCH.
III. Mapping of Logical Channels onto Physical Channels
The GPRS packet channel adopts the 52-multiframe structure. Each channel has 52
multiframes and every four frames constitute a radio block. Therefore, a radio channel
has 12 radio blocks and 4 idle frames. The structure is shown in Figure 2-2.
2-3
Technical Manual
B0 B1 B2 X B3 B4 B5 X B6 B7 B8 X B9 B10 B11 X
B0~B11: 12 Radio Blocks X: Idle Frame
Figure 2-2 Radio channel structure
Among which
PBCCH: It can be mapped in the above sequence to radio blocks of B0, B3, B6
and B9, with the number of blocks depending on how busy the broadcast channel
is.
PCCCH: PAGCH and PPCH can be mapped to any radio block of the downlink
channels (except the radio block seized by the PBCCH). The PRACH is the
corresponding uplink frame when PBCCH, PAGCH, PPCH, etc. occupy the radio
blocks.
PDTCH: It can be mapped to any radio block for the transmission of packet data.
PACCH: It can be mapped to any radio block for the transmission of air interface
radio signalling.
PTCCH: The 12th and 38th uplink frames of every 52 multiframes are PTCCH/U,
and the 12th and 38th downlink frames of two adjacent 52 multiframes constitute a
PTCCH/D.
2.2.2 Packet Access Support
When the upper layer of the MS has data to send, the RLC/MAC of the MS will initiate
the packet access process. MS packet access is performed in either of the following
methods: short access, one phase access, two phase access, single block without TBF
establishment access, paging response, cell update, mobility management procedure,
etc.
When the data for transmission are fewer than 8 RLC blocks, the channel request
type of MS will be the short access, and the number of data blocks shall be
calculated assuming channel coding scheme CS-1.
When the data for transmission are more than 8 RLC blocks and the required RLC
mode is the acknowledged mode, the channel request type of MS will be either
one phase access or two phase access.
When the data for transmission are the MS measurement report, the channel
request type will be the single block without TBF establishment access.
Apart from the above, there are other channel request types, such as the paging
response, cell update, mobility management procedure, etc. However, those
channel request types are generally treated as the one phase access or two phase
access.
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In the case of short access and one phase access, the radio resources are assigned for
MS once and for all (such as the TFI, dynamic allocation USF or the fixed allocation
radio block bitmap, etc.), and then the MS starts to transmit data.
For the two phase access channel request, a radio block is first assigned to MS for the
MS to transmit the packet resource request, then resources are assigned to the MS for
the second time (including the TFI, USF or the fixed allocation radio block bitmap), then
the MS starts to transmit data over the assigned resources. Since the PACKET
CHANNEL REQUEST is an only 8-bit or 11-bit access burst, it carries comparatively
less information. Whereas the PACKET RESOURCE REQUEST is a RLC/MAC
signalling packet with CS-1 codes carrying comparatively more information (including
TLLI of MS, multislot capabilities of MS, wireless priority, etc.), which facilitates the
assignment of appropriate resources to MS.
PCU supports all access methods, among which the paging response, cell update,
mobility management procedure etc. are generally treated as the two phase access
method.
2.2.3 Paging Processing
In the GPRS/GSM system, the paging includes packet paging and circuit paging, which
are described respectively below:
I. Packet paging
When transmitting downlink data to MS, the SGSN will initiate packet paging to locate
the MS. The paging request message originated by the SGSN is transmitted via the Gb
interface to the PCU, which in turn translates it into the PACKET PAGING REQUEST of
the Um interface. If the BSS is configured with PCCCH, the message will be
transmitted over the PPCH; if the BSS is not configured with PCCCH, the PCU will
forward the message via the Pb interface to the BSC, which will then send it over the
PCH.
When the MS receives the packet paging message, it will initiate the uplink TBF
(Temporary Block Flow) establishment procedure, then it will send via the Um interface
the paging response packet in form of data to the PCU, and the PCU will forward it to
the SGSN. After receiving the paging response, the SGSN will process it and be ready
to transmit the downlink data.
II. Paging Co-ordination
In the GSM network, when a circuit paging has reached an MSC, the MSC locates the
registered location area of MS and sends circuit paging message to all the BSCs within
the location area.
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If there exists a Gs interface between SGSN and MSC, the GPRS/GSM system runs in
network operation mode I, the circuit paging messages of GSM service can be sent via
the GPRS packet channel. That is, if a certain MS has been attached to the GPRS, then
the circuit paging will be sent via the Gs interface, Gb interface, through MSC and
SGSN, and finally to PCU. The PCU will decide on which channel to send the message.
In the network operation mode I, if the MS has been assigned the PDCH, the message
will be sent over PACCH. If it has not been assigned with the PDCH, but the system has
been configured with the PCCCH, the message will be sent over the PPCH. If it has not
been assigned with the PDCH and the system has not been configured with PCCCH,
then the PCU will forward the message via the Pb interface to the BSC, and the BSC
will send it over the PCH.
If there exists no Gs interface between SGSN and MSC, the GPRS/GSM system can
only work in operation mode II or III. In this case, the system sends the circuit paging
message over the CCCH.
When the MS receives the circuit paging message, it will access the RACH and initiate
the circuit link establishment process. If the MS is right now handling the GPRS service,
the MS will start the GPRS SUSPEND process to suspend the GPRS service and will
not recover the GPRS service until the circuit link is released.
PCU supports the above mentioned packet paging and circuit paging functions.
2.2.4 DRX Support
M900/M1800 PCU supports DRX, and the MS concerned should support DRX too.
The MS that supports DRX receives only the paging message (packet or circuit paging)
of the corresponding paging group in the paging channel, whereas the MS that does
not support DRX has to translate all the paging messages in the paging channel. It is
thus obvious that the MS that supports DRX greatly reduces its power consumption.
2.2.5 Radio Resources Allocation
I. Medium Access Modes
M900/M1800 PCU supports dynamic allocated medium access modes.
The radio blocks used by MS are allocated by PCU temporarily. In allocating radio
resource to MS, the PCU allocates several radio channels and the corresponding USF
(Uplink State Flag) value corresponding to every radio channel. When the MS receives
the assignment message, it starts to monitor the USF value of the downlink radio block
in the assigned channel. If the value is the same as the assigned USF, the MS will start
to transmit data in the corresponding uplink radio block.
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II. Multislot Capability of the MS
M900/M1800 PCU supports MS of 1~12 classes. It can make optimal resources

allocation according to the MS multislot capability and the radio resources.
The MS is divided into 29 classes according to the multislot capability. For further
details, see ETSI GSM 05.02 Protocol. The number of packet channels used at the
same time varies with the MS class. When allocating radio resources to the MS, the
PCU takes into consideration the factors from multiple perspectives, such as the data
transmission volume of the MS, the required QoS grade, available radio channels, etc.
2.2.6 System Information Broadcasting
The system information is mainly used to broadcast the parameters necessary for MS
to access the network required by the service. When the cell supports the GPRS
service, the SI13 message has to be added to BCCH. If not, SI13 will not be broadcast.
The cell may or may not be configured with PBCCH. The existence of PBCCH will be
notified to MS via the SI13 message. The PBCCH broadcasts the packet system
information dedicated to the GPRS.
The packet system information is of the following kinds: PSI1, PSI2, PSI3, PSI3bis,
PSI4, PSI5 and PSI13.
PSI1 includes such information as cell selection, PRACH control, control channel
description, power control parameters, etc.
PSI2 includes such information as the reference frequency lists, cell allocation lists,
GPRS mobile allocation lists, PCCCH description, etc.
PSI3 includes such information as the BCCH allocation list of the neighboring cell,
serving cell /non-serving cell selection parameters, etc.
PSI4 includes the PDCH list for MS measurement in the serving cell.
PSI5 includes such information as measurement reports, network controlled cell
reselection, etc.
Similar to the SI13 broadcast over the BCCH, PSI13 includes the access-related
information specific to GPRS cells.
PSI1~PSI4 can be broadcast over PBCCH or sent over PACCH. PSI5 can only be
broadcast over PBCCH; and PSI13 can only be sent over PACCH. When a cell has
PBCCH, it does not send PSI13 message over PACCH. Instead, it broadcasts PSI1
periodically. When a cell has no PBCCH, it only broadcasts PSI13 over PACCH
periodically.
BSS has the capability of sending all GPRS-related system information, achieves the
controlled, high-speed and low-speed retransmission of system information, and
controls the transmission of system information over PACCH according to the
configuration of cell PBCCH/PCCCH.
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2.2.7 Radio Link Control
RLC (Radio Link Control) layer is responsible for the segmentation and re-assembly of
LLC-PDUs. It uses a slide window protocol adopting the acknowledged and
unacknowledged modes to ensure the transmission of data between the peer layers.
The size of RLC slide window of GPRS is 64.
In the acknowledged mode, each data block sent by TBF (Temporary Block Flow)
requires the acknowledgement by the receiving side; otherwise, it has to be
retransmitted. It will not release TBF until all the data have been sent and it has
received the acknowledgement from the receiving side. In the unacknowledged mode,
the data block sent by TBF does not require the acknowledgement by the receiving side.
Filling bit replaces the data block that is missing or has errors in transmission. When all
the data has been transmitted, TBF is ready for release.
PCU system supports both the acknowledged and unacknowledged modes, specifies
the RLC mode for sending uplink data according to the request message of MS, and
determines the RLC mode for sending downlink data according to the type of downlink
LLC-PDUs.
2.2.8 Channel Coding Schemes and CS Change Control
The GPRS has four channel coding schemes altogether. The allowable transmission
rates and sizes of the RLC/MAC packet are shown in Table 2-1.
Table 2-1 Channel coding schemes
Size of RLC/MAC data blocks

Channel coding scheme Rate (kbit/s)
(octets)
CS-1 23 9.05
CS-2 33 13.4
CS-3 39 15.6
CS-4 53 21.4
Different channel coding schemes have different transmission rates and different radio
transmission quality requirements. The higher the transmission rate, the higher the
quality requirements for air radio transmission. In data transmission, the BSS can
dynamically adjust the channel coding schemes according to the change of radio
quality to make full use of radio resources, and to increase the transmission rate based
on ensuring the transmission quality.
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At present, PCU supports the four coding schemes from CS-1 to CS-4 and has the
capability to change dynamically between the four coding schemes according to the
radio transmission quality.
2.2.9 G-TRAU Frame Transmission
The communication between PCU and BTS adopts the self-designed G-TRAU frame
structure.
RLC/MAC blocks are encapsulated in the G-TRAU frame. In downlink transmission, the
PCU processes the data and control messages, forms a RLC/MAC block and transmits
it via the G-TRAU frame to BTS. While in uplink transmission, the BTS decodes and
transmits the whole RLC/MAC block via the G-TRAU frame to the PCU which in turn
processes the RLC/MAC block. Besides the RLC/MAC block, both the uplink and
downlink G-TRAU frames carry inband signalling, including synchronization
information, measurement information, control information, check information, etc. For
different G-TRAU frame formats, there is different inband signalling. Through the
inband signalling, the PCU and BTS jointly achieve the GPRS BSS functions with
minimum changes to the BSC module of the original circuit switching.
2.2.10 Radio Link Monitoring
To improve the transmission reliability in the GPRS system, several link-monitoring

methods are adopted. PCU achieves the following link monitoring functions specified in
the protocol.
I. The link monitoring in the mode of uplink dynamic allocation
When the MAC is in dynamic allocation mode, the PCU allocates resources to each
TBF via USF. The MS determines its authority of using the uplink channels by
measuring its own USF in the allocated channels. Once the MS detects its own USF, it
will send the data block on the corresponding uplink channel. If the MS can not correctly
receive the USF due to poor radio link quality, it will not be able to send data blocks to
the network on the corresponding uplink channel. As required by the protocol, the PCU
judges the validity of the link on the monitored size of counter N3101. N3101 is initially
set to zero at the time of TBF establishment. The network shall increment counter
N3101 for each radio block allocated to that mobile station if no data is received. Once
it receives the data block of the MS, N3101 will be cleared to zero. When N3101
exceeds its maximum value N3101_max, the PCU will start the timer T3169. When
T3169 expires, TBF will be released and the corresponding resources will be reused.
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II. Downlink monitoring
For the downlink TBF, the PCU sets RBBP in the downlink data block. In this way, it
allocates an uplink signalling channel to the MS. The PCU monitors the signalling
channel via the counter N3105 and thus checks the validity of TBF. N3105 is initialized
to zero at the time of TBF establishment. The network shall increment counter N3105
for each radio block allocated to that mobile station with the RRBP field if no RLC/MAC
control message is received. Once it receives the message correctly, N3105 will be
reset. When N3105 exceeds its maximum value N3105_max, the PCU will start the
timer T3195. When T3195 expires, TBF will be released and the corresponding
resource will be reused.
III. Uplink release monitoring
In line with the protocol, the PCU guarantees the normal release of uplink TBF via the
counter N3103. N3103 is initially set to zero at the time of TBF establishment. When the
PCU correctly receives all the data of uplink TBF, it will send the Packet Uplink
Ack/Nack (FAI=1) message to MS and set RRBP for the MS to acknowledge the
message. If the PCU has not received the correct Packet Control Ack message, N3103
will increment by one. If N3103 exceeds its maximum value, the PCU will start the timer
T3169. When T3169 expires, TBF will be released and the corresponding resource will
be reused.
2.2.11 Radio Frequency Power Control
PCU provides the uplink open-loop power control algorithm. For details, see ETSI GSM
05.08 Protocol. The basic idea of open-loop power control is presuming that the uplink
and downlink have the same path fading, so the MS thus can adjust the output power
based on the received signal level.
2.2.12 Cell Reselection Control
I. The network control modes of cell reselection
The GPRS network control modes are of the following three kinds: NC0, NC1 and NC2.
NC0: The MS shall perform autonomous cell re-selection and not send the
measurement report.
NC1: The MS shall perform autonomous cell re-selection and send the
measurement report.
NC2: It is controlled by the network. The MS shall send the measurement report
and accept the cell re-selection controlled by the network.
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M900/M1800 BSS determines the network control modes according to user's data
configuration. At present, it supports the NC0 mode.
II. Autonomous cell reselection
The MS monitors the PBCCH/BCCH carriers of the neighboring cell at any time,
determines the optimal cell according to carrier signal intensity and base station color
codes in the carriers, and starts the cell update process to notify the network of the cell
where it stays.
III. Cell change control
According to the parameters of cell system information broadcast, the MS periodically

submits the measurement report to the BSS. The BSS in turn sends to the MS the
packet cell change order message and orders MS to select new cell, according to the
factors of MS measurement reports, the loads of each neighboring cell, etc.
2.2.13 Flow Control and QoS Guarantee
I. Flow control
As the Gb interface and the Um interface have different physical media and transfer
protocols, they have different transmission rates. The transmission rate of the Gb
interface is higher than that of the Um interface. In addition, in the downlink data
transmission, the data transmission at the Um interface is subject to the influence of
such factors as the MS multislot capability, radio quality, and available radio channels in
the cell. The data transmission rate is not constant, which makes the flow control of the
downlink data necessary.
Note:
The cell bucket is the maximum packet data volume that can be stored in the cell,
which varies with the number of packet channels in the cell.
The MS bucket is the maximum packet data volume that can be stored for the MS,
which varies with the number of packet channels allocated to the MS.
When the cell works normally, the PCU will start the flow control process, and reports
periodically the bucket size and bucket leak rate according to the condition of the
packet channels in the cell. According to radio resources used by MS, it also
periodically submits reports of the bucket size and bucket leak rate of the MS The
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SGSN adjusts the downlink data flow speed of the cell and each MS according to the
reported parameters, so that it can control the downlink data flow.
Note:
The bucket leak rate is the rate of data transmission. The PCU system controls the
downlink data flow, periodically submits to SGSN the bucket size and bucket leak rate
of the current cell and the current MS, and adjusts the reported parameters according
to the change of cell packet resources and the resources occupied by the MS.
II. Quality of service guarantee
The GPRS QoS (Quality of Service) includes the following indexes: precedence class,
delay class, reliability class, peak throughput class, mean throughput class etc., all of
which can be further divided into many sub-classes. Since all these indices are applied
to the end-to-end packet data transmission which involves multiple factors such as the
air interface radio resource, Gb interface frame relay link resource, GPRS backbone
network transmission bandwidth, processing capability of all kinds of GPRS equipment,
etc., they are all set to meet the QoS according to the “best effort” class, that is, the
principle of optimal utilization of resources to transmit data as quickly and correctly as
possible.
As the services of different QoS classes occupy different system resources and the
QoS of the users are also different, the telecom operator may choose a flexible
charging strategy according to different QoS classes and different user classes, which
will be conducive to the promotion of the GPRS service.
PCU can to allocate radio resources to MS based on the radio precedence class, peak
throughput class and mean throughput class necessary for data transmission. The MS
that has the highest precedence class and highest peak throughput class is allocated
with the resource first, meeting the QoS according to the “best effort” class.
2.2.14 Mobility Management and Communication Management
I. Mobility management
The mobility management function is applied to PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) to
keep track of the current location of the MS. The mobility management function of the
GPRS network is similar to that of the current GSM. One or more cells constitute a
routing area (it is a subset of a location area), and one SGSN provides service to one or
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more routing areas. The tracking of MS depends on the MS mobility management

state.
The GPRS mobility management includes the GPRS Attach/Detach, cell/RA (Routing
Area) update, combined routing area/location area update, paging, etc. When an MS
finishes the GPRS Attach, the SGSN will create a MM context for the MS to store the
information of the user current location and state. Later, when the MS roams between
different cells and routing areas, it will start the cell/routing area update procedure, and
the SGSN will also store the latest information of the MS. In this way, the tracking of the
MS location is performed. When the MS starts the combined GPRS Attach/IMSI Attach,
combined location area/routing area update or other procedures, the SGSN will
communicate the MS location information with the MSC through the Gs interface. In
such a way, one mobility management process alone can realize the tracking of the MS
in the packet switching service and circuit switching service. For the specific process,
please refer to the ETSI GSM 03.60 Protocol.
Due to the characteristic of layer-by-layer encapsulation of packet data, all the rest
signalling in the mobility management procedures except the paging procedure are
transmitted as data in the BSS, that is, the BSS involves only the paging function in the
mobility management. When the BSS receives the paging packet sent by the SGSN, it
picks out the needed information and sends the paging message via the air interface.
II. Communication management
The GPRS communication management includes the session management, charging

management, etc. But as all of the upper layer signalling is transmitted as encapsulated
data units, basically, the BSS transmits the signalling data without participating in the
session management process. In addition, the charging information is collected at the
SGSN and GGSN. The BSS does not participate in the charging management.
2.3 Signalling Function
2.3.1 Gb Interface Signalling
The Gb interface signalling plane is shown in Figure 1-1. The protocols of all layers at
the Gb interface are described respectively below.
I. FR
The frame relay sub-layer FR of the Gb interface is part of the NS layer sub-network
service protocol. The frame relay module fulfills the interworking among sub-networks,
and helps to establish the connection (point-to-point) between the PCU and the SGSN
through the direct dedicated leased line or through the frame relay network The point to
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point connection refers to the direct connection between PCU and SGSN. In general,
the PCU is DTE and the SGSN is DCE. (The intermediate network connection), as
shown in Figure 2-3.
Gb
PCU SGSN
Figure 2-3 Gb interface point-to-point frame relay connection
The connection between PCU and SGSN based on frame relay net is showed in Figure
2-4.
Frame Relay
Network
Gb Gb
PCU SGSN
Figure 2-4 Gb interface intermediate frame relay network connection
PCU supports the above two ways of connections.
For the sake of user convenience, the Local Management Interface (LMI) of the PCU
frame relay sub-layer of Huawei supports not only the ITU-T Q.933 Appendix A
regulated in GSM protocol, but also ANSI T1-617 Appendix D, thus tremendously
improving the network compatibility. At present, it supports the management and
maintenance of PVC (Permanent Virtual Circuit). In supporting the PVC, the frame
relay layer provides flexible bandwidth choices for the NS layer. User can configure the
NS-VC bandwidth in the range of 1kB~1984kB.
For the physical layer of the frame relay, PCU currently supports the E1 access mode.
In case of network congestion, the frame relay layer will submit in time the congestion
indication, and the layer above the NS layer will control the congestion.
II. NS
NS here refers to the network service control part of the NS protocol. The NS protocol
layer is distributed at both sides of the Gb interface and its functions are symmetric on
both sides. The NS layer protocol mainly achieves the functions of transmitting the NS
SDUs (Service Data Unit) through the Gb interface, configuring the NS-VC and
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managing its state, providing the network congestion state and network state reports to
the upper layer service module, and sharing the load of the user data.
All the messages transmitted through the Gb interface are transmitted in form of NS
SDU at the NS layer. The normal running of the NS layer provides a reliable path and
guarantee for the normal running of the upper layer protocol. Normally, when the NS
SDUs are transmitted at the NS layer, the NS layer will guarantee its sequence, which
is realized through LSP (Link Selection Parameters). But in abnormal conditions (say,
the load sharing), the sequence may not be well guaranteed.
The NS-VC state management function includes the reset, block, unblock and test
operations on the NS-VC. To stop using a certain NS-VC, the BSS or the SGSN will
send the BLOCK message to the peer entity and block the NS-VC. At the same time, it
will change the NS layer load sharing and share the traffic on the NS-VC to other
NS-VCs. To use the blocked NS-VC, the BSS or the SGSN will send the UNBLOCK
message to the peer entity to unblock the NS-VC. At the same time, it will re-share the
load at the NS layer and inform the NS user (such as the BSSGP layer) of the new NS
layer transmission capability. After a new NS-VC between the peer NS entities is
established or the system is recovered from fault, the BSS or the SGSN will reset the
NS-VC. After the reset, the NS-VCs on both sides of the Gb interface are blocked and
activated. To check whether the end-to-end communication exists in a certain NS-VC,
the BSS or SGSN will send the test message to the peer entity for the testing operation.
The testing operation can only be conducted after the successful reset, and it will
periodically repeat the transmission of test messages.
When detecting that the bottom layer link is faulty or in congestion, the NS will notify the
NS layer users through the congestion indication and state message, and send the
transmission capability to the NS layer users who will then act accordingly.
The most important function of the NS layer is the load sharing of user data. When the
users above the NS layer send data to the NS layer, the NS layer will allocate an LSP
value to every user, which will be transmitted together with the data packet to the NS
layer. The NS layer guarantees the sequence of user data transmission according to
the LSP value. The NS layer may choose one or more NS-VCs to transmit the user data
packet according to the LSP and BVCI values, so as to make sure that the NS layer
load is evenly distributed to all the unblocked NS-VCs of the same NSE.
PCU supports all the NS layer functions of data transmission, NS-VC link management,
user data load sharing, etc.
III. BSSGP
The BSSGP protocol layer is distributed at both sides of the standard Gb interface, but
the functions are asymmetric. The BSSGP protocol implements the transmission of
signalling message and user data, downlink data flow control, BVC blocking and
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unblocking, BVC dynamic configuration and management, interface message error

detection, etc. The BSSGP protocol includes the following basic procedures: uplink and
downlink data transmission process, paging procedure, notification procedure of radio
access capability, radio access capability update procedure, radio state procedure,
suspend and resume procedure, FLUSH_LL (Logic Link) procedure, flow control
procedure, PTP BVC blocking and unblocking procedure, BVC reset procedure and
trace procedure.
PCU reports in time to SGSN the default bucket size and bucket leak rate of the MS and
the cell according to the data configuration. According to the change of the MS and cell
radio resources in the process of transmission and in cooperation with the SGSN, it
reports in time to SGSN the actual bucket size and bucket leak rate of the MS and cell
to control the downlink data flow.
Upon request, PCU can start the MS radio access capability update and other
procedures, in time gets the MS radio access capability from SGSN so as to optimize
the resource allocation for MS.
PCU has the capability to start the GPRS service suspend and resume procedures in
light of the MS service change, so as to ensure the correctness of data transmission
and avoid unnecessary data retransmission. PCU also has the capability to start the
radio state procedure in light of the radio link quality of data transmission and the
availability of current MS. It timely reports to SGSN the radio state of MS, cooperates
with the SGSN to complete the FLUSH_LL procedure, and transfers or deletes the data
temporarily stored for the MS.
PCU has the capability to start PTP BVC blocking, unblocking and resetting procedures
according to the cell state and NS-VC state.
2.3.2 In-band Signalling between PCU and BTS
The signalling between PCU and BTS is transmitted via the G-TRAU frame, including
the synchronization information, measurement information, control information and
check information.
2.3.3 Pb Interface Signalling
PCU is a kind of semi-independent equipment. The PCU and BSC are connected via
the Pb interface. The Pb interface is a nonstandard interface that mainly realizes the
MS-originated packet data transmission procedure in CCCH and the resource
coordination between PCU and BSC.
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2.4 Operation and Maintenance Function
2.4.1 Network maintenance
PCU can communicate with Network Maintenance Center via SNMP interface. The
SNMP subsystem of PCU offers the following function:
1) Network maintenance center can get the configuration data of PCU by SNMP
interface. The configuration data include system information and Gb interface
configuration information.
2) PCU can report the alarm information to network maintenance center by the TRAP
in SNMP interface.
3) Network maintenance center can inquire the result of performance measurement
by SNMP interface
PCU supports SNMP sampling based on the granularity of cell, PCU frame or BSC.
2.4.2 Operation and Maintenance Management
The main functions are as follows:
I. Service related
Inquire/block/unblock/reset cell
Inquire/block/unblock LAPD
Inquire/block/unblock PCIC
Inquire/block/unblock PDCH
Inquire/block/unblock/reset PTP
Inquire/reset SIG BVC
Inquire/block/unblock/reset NSVC
Inquire/activate/deactivate/delete PVC
II. Hardware related
View hardware version

Power on/off POMU board and RPPU board
Reset board
Switch over active and standby POMUs
Format or partition hard disk and query the status of hard disk
III. Software version related
View software version

Load software
Software patch
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IV. Software status related
Configure network parameters

Configure OMC parameters
V. Operation related
Configure the language of Man-machine interface (Chinese/English)

User priority management
Query log of operation
2.4.3 Configuration Management
The GPRS PCU configuration management is achieved mainly via PCU-DB. The
PCU-DB provides the following functions:
PCU configuration data validity check
Configure PCU data
Inquire PCU data
Add, delete and modify PCU data
Reverse compilation of PCU configuration data
2.4.4 Alarm Management
The GPRS PCU alarm management system collects and processes the alarm
messages of the PCU system. The alarm messages are stored in the hard disk of the
POMU board and sent to the OMC server for centralized storage when the system is
connected to OMC server. When the GPRS PCU host is abnormal, the system will
send the message as an alarm to the visible user interface, notify the maintenance
personnel of the current state of the system and recommended solutions.
2.4.5 Performance Measurement
The GPRS PCU traffic measurement management includes:

Register the performance measurement task
Collect and process the performance measurement result
Inquire task state
Inquire task measurement results
Delete performance measurement task
Backup the results of measurement between active POMU and standby POMU.
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2.4.6 Interface Tracing
The interface tracing function can intercept the messages of Um, Pb, Gb, and
Huawei-developed interfaces. It can interpret the bytes in the message and provide a
means for the maintenance personnel to locate the problems. For different interfaces, it
provides the means of setting the filtering conditions to facilitate the user in viewing
different types of messages at the interface.
The filtering conditions at the Um interface: Cell number, TRX number, dummy
message, null paging message and system information message.
The filtering conditions at the Pb interface: Cell number, paging message and
maintenance message.
The message tracing function at the Gb interface includes the BSSGP PTP BVC
message tracing and BSSGP SIG BVC message tracing.
The filtering conditions for the BSSGP PTP BVC messages tracking are 15-Byte or
16-Byte cell ID.
The filtering conditions for the BSSGP SIG BVC messages tracing are Nsei.
2.4.7 Security Management
M900/M1800 take steps to improve the stability and security in both software and
hardware aspects.
The PCU software provides backup mechanism for the boards and supporting
functions. If, during the system running, the board is detected faulty (hardware or
software fault), the system will act accordingly to handle it automatically or provide the
alarm message for the maintenance personnel to handle it manually.
I. Board backup mechanism
It sends the fault message to the alarm console or maintenance console to notify
the maintenance personnel to make timely maintenance.
The system provides the abnormality processing for the software fault, keeps the
on-site fault information, so that the maintenance engineer may locate the system
fault with the help of the message.
In case that there is a standby board, the active board will timely backup data to it,
thus maintaining the consistency of running data in the active and standby boards.
Once the active board is faulty, the standby board will be started.
For the faulty board, the board will be automatically reset upon the end of software
abnormality handling procedure so as to reduce the recovery time.
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II. Supporting functions
Inter-board communication between the active and standby POMU boards

(IPC_SYS).
Handshaking between the active and standby POMU boards.
Board running state check by CPCI communication layer.
Abnormality protection.
Data backup between active and standby board.
Manual switchover.
Fetch on-site abnormal message.
View board task state.
View board state.
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M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Chapter 3 System Structure
Chapter 3 System Structure
3.1 Overview
M900/M1800 PCU adopts modular structure formed by placing several PCU frames
together. PCU frame is composed of three modules, i.e. POMU, RPPU and HSC.
The PCU logic structure is shown in Figure 3-1.
OMC server LAN switch

E1
SGSN
PCU frame 1 1+1

RPPU
E1
E1
POMU
BSC BTS
PCU frame 2
High-speed data bus
Figure 3-1 PCU logic structure
3.2 Hardware Architecture
PCU cabinet is 19” standard cabinet. The empty cabinet (containing no distribution
box or LAN switch) weighs about 173 kg and the fully configured cabinet (containing
no distribution box or LAN switch) weighs about 280 kg. The size of the cabinet is
shown as following: (width, depth, height; unit: mm)
600 (without side door)×795 (without door) × 1945 (without top cover)
680 (with two pieces of side door) × 800 (with door) × 2100 (with top cover)
The basic unit of PCU is the PCU processing frame (sometimes referred to as “PCU
frame”). The configuration of a PCU cabinet is shown in Figure 3-2. Each PCU cabinet
can hold up to 3 PCU processing frames connected with OMC via LAN switch for
centralized monitoring.
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2U Power distribution frame

2U LAN Switch
12U PCU processing frame
Figure 3-2 PCU cabinet configuration
The PCU frame configuration is shown in Figure 3-3. The PCU frame contains 2
POMUs (Packet Operation & Maintenance Unit), 2 HSCs (Hot Swap Controller) and
12 RPPUs (Radio Packet Processing Unit). It is recommended that the No.0~No.5
and No.10~No.12 RPPU boards should be used for the Pb interface and
No.13~No.15 RPPU boards for the Gb interface.
The POMU software operates in the POMU board, the RPPU software in the RPPU
board, and HSC is used for the hot swap control.
1 1 1 1 1 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
0 1 2 3 4 5
R R R R R R R R R R R R
P H P H
P P P P P P O O P P P P P P
S S
P P P P P P M M P P P P P P
U C U C
U U U U U U U U U U U U
Figure 3-3 PCU processing frame configuration
The hardware architecture of a PCU processing frame is shown in Figure 3-4.
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PMC SGSN
RPPU
PMC SGSN
BSC L2PU
RPPU
POMU
BSC L2PU L2PU SGSN
RPPU
N+1
L2PU SGSN
PCU处处处 1+1
LAN Switch
Figure 3-4 PCU hardware architecture
In the PCU processing frame, the POMU board is in 1+1 warm backup mode. One
BSC can be connected to several RPPU boards. One RPPU can be connected with
maximal four BSCs, but it can only handle the data from one BSC at a time.
3.3 Software Architecture
The PCU software architecture is shown in Figure 3-5. The PCU software can be
divided into the following parts:
PCU Operating system
POMU software
RPPU software
L2PU software
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PCU software
POMU software RPPU software L2PU software
State monitoring &

management State monitoring &
management
Link layer
Fault management protocol
Fault management processing
Software
management
Software
management
Database
PCU operating management
system
Database Performance
management measurement
OS core module RLC/MAC

Performance protocol
measurement processing
Gb interface
I/O processing processing
Pb interface
processing
System
initialization G-Abis interface
processing
Figure 3-5 PCU software logic structure
3.3.1 PCU Operating System
The PCU operating system is composed of the OS core module, input/output

processing module and system initialization module. Please note that the operating
system of M900/M1800 PCU is completely the same as that of M900/M1800 GSN.
I. OS core module
PCU OS core module supports the following functions:

OS initialization
Real-time allocation of CPU time (task scheduling)
Dynamic management of the system memory
Communication and synchronization of tasks
System timing
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System date and time management

Measurement of the CPU occupancy
II. Input/output processing module
The input/output processing module has the following functions:

Inter-processor communication (IPC)
Message reception and distribution
Message transmitting and routing
TCP/IP Socket communication
Serial port communication
IPC serves for the communication between boards and communication between
frames, TCP/IP Socket for remote operation and maintenance as well as for the
communication between frames, and the serial port communication for local operation
and maintenance.
III. System initialization module
The system initialization module provides the following functions:

Software loading and bootstrap
Initialization of the applied modules and the synchronization of the initialization
processes
Active/standby switchover initialization
The PCU operating system is based on Huawei mature operating system VOS
(Virtual Operation System). It is a virtual interface layer between the operating system
and application programs based on a certain multi-task operating system. VOS can
be applied to various commercial operating systems including VxWorks, pSOS, Unix
and Windows 9x/NT. VOS shields the differences in the basic operating systems,
enabling the convenient transplantation of the software of the whole system.
VOS builds up a transaction and message driving mechanism. As a task has more
than one message queues, and the transaction for each message queue has different
priorities, the mechanism enjoys better real-time feature than the pure message
driving mechanism. Besides, as OS uses a unified format in the distribution of
transaction and message and a unified format in transaction processing functions, the
upper layer applied modules need only the message processing functions to build the
whole software system, thus greatly improves the reliability of the whole product.
VOS participates in the management of memory, task, transaction, message,

semaphore and time, provides plenty of debugging means and real time monitoring
functions. For the abnormal errors, OS has perfect recovery measures such as the
preservation of abnormal site, the restarting of abnormal tasks, the active and standby
switchover, which increases the stability and the robustness of the system.
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VOS unifies the formats and processing methods of the PCU internal message,
employs the same interface in receiving and sending module messages within a
board and among boards. This facilitates not only the distributed processing of the
whole system that improves the overall performance but also the tracing of messages
and the debugging of programs.
3.3.2 POMU Software
POMU software is divided into the following 5 modules:
I. State management and monitoring module
The state management and monitoring module supports the following functions:
Monitor the running status of all the hardware equipment within a PCU frame.
Process the state change requests (originated internally or in operation and
maintenance activities) from the hardware equipment.
Control the running status of all the hardware units within a PCU frame.
II. Fault management module
The fault management module achieves the alarm detection and hardware fault
management functions, including the alarm detection, fault detection, fault diagnosis,
fault isolation and service recovery.
III. Software management module
The software management module supports the software upgrade by way of local or
remote loading. Through the software loading, the module can upgrade the software
in the POMU board and RPPU board. The local loading is based on the serial port
communication whereas the remote loading is based on TCP/IP communication.
IV. Database management module
The database management module provides the data and parameters necessary for
the running of the system, which include the following:
Configuration of the equipment physical and logic parameters
Gb interface configuration data
G-Abis interface configuration data
Pb interface configuration data
Cell system information parameters
Cell measurement preprocessing algorithm parameters
Cell power control algorithm parameters
Cell CS change algorithm parameters
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Cell flow control algorithm parameters

The data and parameters necessary for the system running of PCU are stored in the
PCU configuration database, a relational database with each relational table mutually
independent, describing a group of data that are related to each other. The database
provides multilevel indexing mechanism and a dichotomy algorithm. The PCU
configuration database is also a distributed database composed of the main database
in the POMU board and the local databases in the individual processing unit (RPPU
boards).
The local databases in the processing units are the subsets of the main database.
They store the configuration parameters necessary for the normal running of the local
processing units. When the data in the main database are modified, the database
processing module uses the commands of insert, modify and delete to notify the
processing interface to update the main database. Such a mechanism of principal and
subordinate databases working together can, on one hand, improve the efficiency in
processing the local transactions and, on the other hand, guarantee the consistency
and reliability of the databases.
The database management module can be divided into the relational database
management system (RDBMS) and the data interface module. The RDBMS is a
highly efficient and reliable distributed database developed by Huawei. It uses the
transaction mechanism in which the transaction submission and scroll mechanism
guarantees the consistency and completeness of the database being operated. The
data interface module provides a unified interface for the other applied modules of the
system to query and modify the database. The applied modules can have convenient
access to and unified operation on the configuration database through the database
interface module.
V. Performance measurement module
The performance measurement module provides the measurement reports

concerning the system performance. The statistical data and reports are of great
significance to the establishment and perfection of GPRS traffic model and even the
optimization of GPRS network planning.
3.3.3 RPPU Software
Each module in the POMU software has a corresponding module in the RPPU
software that serves as its subordinate module.
For example, the update process of a database is driven by the database

management module of the POMU software. If the above process affects the
database view resident in the RPPU, it can be fulfilled by activating a subordinate
process of a certain database management module in the RPPU software.
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The RPPU software also contains the software management module, state
monitoring and management module, fault management module, database
management module and performance measurement module.
Besides, RPPU contains the following processing modules:
I. RLC/MAC protocol processing module
The RLC/MAC protocol processing module accomplishes the radio interface

RLC/MAC layer functions stipulated in the ETSI GPRS Specifications. It is the most
essential and complicated service functional module of RPPU. It completes the
following functions:
Packet radio channel mapping, including the mapping of PBCCH, PCCCH,
PDTCH and PACCH.
Packet system information broadcasting
Paging scheduling
Access grant scheduling
The channel class and block class allocation of the radio resources
PDCH/TCH dynamic switch
TBF establishment and release
The RLC data packet transmission of TBF
The assembly of uplink LLC PDUs and the segmentation of downlink LLC PDUs
The measurement report preprocessing
Power control decision
CS dynamic change decision
Downlink flow control decision
II. Gb interface processing module
The Gb interface links PCU and SGSN and provides a reliable channel for the
exchange of the signalling information and the user data between them. Different from
A interface, the Gb interface allows multiple users to use the same physical resource,
thus tremendously increasing the utilization ratio of the physical resource. What's
more, the Gb interface accomplishes the functions of load sharing, user data flow
control, data compression and sliding window management.
The main function of Gb interface processing module is the processing of the

protocols of the three layers, i.e., L1 layer, NS layer and BSSGP layer, among which
the NS layer can be further divided into sub-network service part and network service
control part. The sub-network service layer uses the FR protocol. The Gb interface
processing module is composed of the FR processing sub-module, NS protocol
processing sub-module and BSSGP processing sub-module.
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FR (Frame Relay) protocol is realized in the L2PU board. For details, refer to the
software part of L2PU.
The functions of the NS protocol processing sub-module are symmetrical along the
Gb interface. The NS protocol processing sub-module completes the following
functions:
Transmission of NS SDUs via the Gb interface
Configuration and state management of NS-VC
Provision of network congestion signal and network state report to BSSGP
module
Load sharing between NS-VCs within the same NSE
The BSSGP layer processing sub-module completes the following functions:
Transmission of signalling data and user data
Downlink data flow control
Acquisition of MS radio access capability
Blocking and unblocking of BVC
Dynamic configuration and management of BVC
Suspend and resume of GPRS operation
Radio status report of MS
III. G-Abis interface processing module
The G-Abis interface processing module has the following functions:

E1 physical interface function
Processing of G-TRAU frame (including the in-band signal processing between
BTS and PCU)
TDMA frame synchronization between PCU and BTS CCU
IV. Pb interface processing module
The Pb interface processing module has the following functions:

E1 physical interface function
LAPD processing
Reception and distribution of Layer 3 messages at the Pb interface
Routing and transmission of Layer 3 messages at the Pb interface
3.3.4 L2PU Software
The L2PU is a card inserted in the RPPU board. It mainly fulfills the link protocol
processing functions as follows:
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I. LAPD protocol processing module
LAPD protocol processing module fulfils the link maintenance of LAPD. It has the
following functions:
LAPD link connection and disconnection
Link monitoring
Transmission and reception of Layer 3 messages at the Pb interface
II. Frame relay protocol processing module
The frame relay protocol processing module provides the communication between
sub-networks and realizes the point-to-point connection or indirect connection via
intermediate frame relay network between the PCU and the SGSN. The FR layer
processing sub-module has the following functions:
Support the standard ITU-T E1 interface and the ANSI T1 interface
Apart from the ITU-T Q933 Appendix A regulated in GSM protocol, the Local
Management Interface (LMI) supports ANSI T1-617 Appendix D
Support the management and maintenance of Permanent Virtual Circuits
(PVCs)
III. TRAU protocol processing
The TRAU protocol processing supports the following functions:

The multiplexing and de-multiplexing of Z-TRAU frame
E1 exchange and transparent transmission, and Pb interface multiplexing
The multiplexing of A interface and Gb interface
3.4 Equipment Features
3.4.1 Gb Interface
For the features of Gb interface, refer to the 4.1.3 Characteristics of the Gb Interface.
3.4.2 G-Abis Interface
For the features of the G-Abis interface, refer to the 4.2.5 Characteristics of the
G-Abis Interface.
3.4.3 Pb Interface
The M900/M1800 PCU supports the networking in very flexible ways. One PCU can
be connected with multiple BSCs.
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The PCU connected with multiple BSCs can converge the packet services at the base
station side, thus tremendously cuts down customer’s investment in the equipment in
the area with a comparatively small GPRS volume, especially at the initial stage of the
GPRS operation.
For the networking mode of Pb interface and Gb interface, refer to 1.1 Networking.
For other features of Pb interface, refer to 4.3.3 Characteristics of Huawei Pb

Interface.
3.4.4 Operation and Maintenance
I. Integrated OMC system
The operation and maintenance of M900/M1800 PCU realizes the seamless

integration with that of the M900/M1800 BSS. The integrated and unified operation
and maintenance interface enables the user to conduct integrated operation and
maintenance of the GSM circuit-switched network and packet-switched network.
II. Convenient remote login maintenance
M900/M1800 PCU supports the operation and maintenance of the system through the
LAN or by remote login through WAN. Through the remote login operation and
maintenance, the user can achieve the remote management and maintenance of the
GSM/GPRS network. Especially, the remote management and maintenance of the
GSM/GPRS network through the Internet greatly brings down the user's investment in
the operation and maintenance equipment.
III. Local maintenance with complete functionality
In the local maintenance mode, through the standard Windows hyper terminal the
user can complete most of the functions normally achieved through the remote login
maintenance.
3.4.5 Clock Synchronization
The PCU uses different clock resources at the Pb interface side and the Gb interface
side. At the Pb interface side, the PCU achieves synchronization with the BSC
connecting to the PCU through the E1 link and meets the transmission requirements
of the clock synchronization of the whole circuit-switched GSM network. At the Gb
interface side, there are two cases. If the PCU directly connects with the SGSN, the
clock of PCU synchronizes that of SGSN. If the PCU is to synchronize the SGSN
through the frame relay network, it synchronizes the frame relay network directly
connected with it (SGSN also synchronizes the frame relay network directly
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connected with it). In either case, PCU has the end-to-end clock synchronization with
the frame relay network connected directly to it, thus meets the requirements of the
frame relay transmission.
3.4.6 Overload Processing
The PCU provides flexible and efficient overload processing mechanism. When
detecting any overload, the PCU will automatically activate the overload processing
procedure to bring down the load of the system and guarantee the system reliability in
case of heavy traffic. PCU overload might be roughly divided into the following cases:
Processor overload
Radio resource overload
I/O equipment overload
Message queue overload
The PCU overload processing is achieved through the system traffic reduction by
controlling the uplink flow and the downlink flow. In either case, the control is done at
the flow source.
The uplink flow control is achieved by controlling the access requests originated from
MS (including the paging response) or delaying the answer to the MS access
requests. The control of the uplink access requests is achieved by controlling the
random access of the PRACH/RACH whereas delaying the answer to the MS access
requests is achieved by the packet access queuing indication procedure.
Bringing down the random access of the PRACH/RACH can be achieved by

extending the interval for the random access retransmission or forbidding certain
classes of MS accesses. Although the former may bring down the answering speed of
the system in some degree and affect the system service quality, it is useful in
expanding the system capacity and therefore can be used in a reasonable way. The
latter may severely harm the system service quality, so normally it is not adopted.
The downlink flow control is mainly achieved through controlling the transmission of
LLC PDUs of the SGSN through Gb interface. When necessary, the transmitted LLC
PDUs or paging requests may be discarded to bring down the downlink flow of the
system.
For different classes of overloads, PCU has different strategies.
Take the radio resource overload as an example. The system generally takes the
following measures according to the precedence class to bring down the load to the
normal level.
Delay the answer to the access request with low QoS or reject the access
request with low QoS
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Control the downlink flow of the MS with low QoS (i.e. reduce the number of LLC
PDUs sent to MS by SGSN through the downlink flow control)
Release the TBF of the MS with low QoS
Discard some paging requests
Block alternately the access of some MSs according to the access classes
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Note:
There are 16 MS access classes in a PLMN among which classes 0~9 are
randomly assigned to subscribers, classes 11~15 are assigned to subscribers with
special priority level and class 10 is assigned for emergency calls.
If the system is in congestion and certain MS accesses have to be prohibited to
bring down the system load, generally the MSs of classes 0~9 should be
prohibited and to guarantee fairness, the access prohibition is done alternately
between the MSs of classes 0~9.
3.4.7 Warm Backup
To improve the error tolerance of the equipment, the PCU system supports warm
backup. The difference between warm backup and hot backup is that during warm
backup the active and standby POMU boards and all the RPPU boards are reset and
the service is temporarily interrupted. The warm backup has the following functions:
I. Data backup
When the system is in normal operation, the active POMU board backups the
configuration data, traffic statistics and alarm data to the standby POMU board on real
time basis. After the switchover between the active and standby POMU boards, the
user can still view traffic statistics and alarm data obtained before the switchover, and
the data configured before are still effective.
II. RPPU board fault detection
The POMU board gives real-time detection to the status of the RPPU board. When a
fault occurs, the system takes relevant measures as shown in Table 3-1.
Table 3-1 Measures for PCU faults
Faults Corresponding measures taken by the system

Software and The system generates alarm for RPPU board faults, migrates
hardware faults, the cells of the board to the designated board, resets the RPPU
system breakdown board (the board reset may fail in case of a hardware fault)
The system generates alarm for the recovery of the RPPU
Fault recovery board faults, migrates the cell back, i.e., moves the cells back
to the original place
RPPU board can not

reach the normal The system generates alarm and resets the RPPU board
operation status
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Faults Corresponding measures taken by the system
RPPU board reset The system generates reset alarm
III. System clock synchronization
The active POMU board, the standby POMU board and all the RPPU boards will
regularly synchronize the system time to ensure the time consistency for all the
boards of the system.
3.4.8 Dynamic Data Configuration
The PCU provides the function of dynamic data configuration, which minimizes the
influence of configuration on the service.
The PCU uses the dynamic data configuration method when the related attribute data
of the cell are configured. When the configuration is finished, it only needs to restart
the related cell to make the configuration effective without restarting the board which
may affect the normal service of other cells. But in the process of configuring the data
of physical link attributes, it is necessary to restart the concerned boards after the
change of configuration, because it involves the bottom-layer physical transmission
paths.
The change of data in the dynamic data configuration follows the procedures below:
For the cells that are not started, the configuration data can be changed freely. For the
cells that are already started, first de-activate the cells with the maintenance
commands, then activate the newly configured data to make them effective. For
convenience, a command is provided to update and make effective all the
configuration data in a cell. The user only needs to change the data. The de-activation
and activation of the cell is done by the command automatically.
Note:
When a cell is in active state, the record of the cell is saved in an RPPU board; the
cell can be initialized. When the state of the O&M is normal, this cell can provide
packet service.
When a cell is in inactive state, the record of the cell is not saved in any of the
RPPU board and this cell can not provide packet service.
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3.4.9 Backup of the Cells of the Same BSC
To further improve the fault-tolerance of the system, reduce the negative effect
brought by the RPPU board faults and minimize the possibility of the service
interruption, the PCU system provides the backup of the cells in the same BSC.
When configuring the data of the cell, the subscriber needs to configure the active and
standby RPPU boards that are connected to the same BSC. Normally, the cell runs
the active RPPU board. But in case of a fault on the active RPPU board, the cell can
be run on the standby RPPU board through the function of cell migration, then the cell
can continue to work on the standby board.
The system monitors the status change of the RPPU board and at the same time
monitors and records the operation status of all the cells of the system.
When the system detects that the status of RPPU changes from normal to faulty, it will
check the cells configured on the board and their operation status, migrate the cells
using the RPPU board to the standby board, activate the cell to continue the service.
To reduce the standby RPPU board load and improve efficiency, the PCU will migrate
the cell back when the RPPU fault is cleared. When the system detects that RPPU
changes from faulty to normal, it will check the cells configured on the board and their
operation state. It first de-activates the cells using the standby RPPU board, then
activates the cells on the recovered RPPU board, migrate the cells from the standby
RPPU board to the active RPPU board.
3.4.10 Software Loading
The PCU provides a perfect software upgrade scheme by employing the popular
Client/Server structure.
I. The process flow of PCU software loading
POMU board software loading flow
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Maintenance terminal Serial port terminal FTP server
TCP/IP
TCP/IP
POMU board Serial port processing
program FTP client
Figure 3-6 POMU software loading flow1
As shown in Figure 3-6, the PCU board software loading is performed through the
serial port terminal or network port terminal with the FTP fetching the target file. When
all the data are transmitted, the FTP client writes them into the Flash memory once
and for all.
In order to load software to POMU board from remote location where the condition in
the above methods can not be satisfied, PCU also offers software loading method for
standby POMU board as that for the RPPU board. If the software need to be loaded to
the active POMU, the active POMU should be first swapped to be the standby one.
RPPU board software loading flow
Telnet terminal LOAD Server

Maintenance terminal
TCP/IP
TCP/IP
POMU board
Telnet server SYS LOADER
Data bus
Data bus
RPPU board
RPPU's Flash memory
Figure 3-7 RPPU software loading flow
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The RPPU board software loading flow is shown in Figure 3-7. The LOAD Server is
similar to FTP Server. It is specially used for PCU software loading. SYS LOADER is
one of the operating tasks on the POMU board.
L2PU/PMC software loading flow
Maintenance terminal Telnet terminal LOAD Server
TCP/IP
TCP/IP
POMU board Telnet server SYS LOADER
Data bus
Data bus
RPPU board
IO LOADER
Data bus
L2PU board Data bus
L2PU/PMC's Flash memory
Figure 3-8 L2PU/PMC software loading flow
The L2PU/PMC software loading flow is shown in Figure 3-8. In it, IO LOADER is one
of the tasks running in the RPPU board that receives data from the data bus between
POMU and RPPU, and writes them into the Flash memory of the L2PU/PMC through
the data bus between RPPU and L2PU/PMC.
II. Features of the PCU software loading
Simple user interface with high operability. All the software loading of the board
is performed through the POMU board. The software loading of POMU, RPPU
and L2PU can be done by using simple loading command through the Telnet
terminal. The software loading of the POMU board can be performed through the
serial port terminal too.
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All the software loading via the Telnet terminal support remote link. PC (run with
LOAD Server or Telnet terminal) can load software to the PCU based on dialing
network.
The POMU board supports 1+1 backup mode and the operation will not be
interrupted by software upgrading.
Powerful fault tolerance measures. Apart from the application programs, the
Flash memory of every board has a BIOS program, which can be chosen to run
for reloading when the board cannot be normally started in case of software
upgrade failure.(it is not applied to Standby POMU board software loading
through Telnet terminal)
3.4.11 Satellite transmission function
In some area, for the reasons of topography, the general E1 can not be adopted as
the trunk between BSC and BTS or between PCU and SGSN. M900/M1800 PCU can
use satellite to transmit signaling and data.
3.4.12 On line patches
M900/M1800 PCU supports on line patching, By patching, the function of software

can be enhanced without interruption of the service. This operation can be made at
remote area and conveniently undo, thus reduce the cost and probability of failure for
updating.
The management of patches is the core for this function, which comprises the
following four aspects:
1) Loading the patches, activating the patches, deactivating the patches, removing
the patches and confirming the patches based on MML
2) Reporting the information of patches to the operator with MML output and alarm
3) Query the information of patches by MML.
4) Auto-recovery of the patching after restart of the system
3.4.13 License
For the service providers’ advantage, M900/M1800 PCU offers license function to
help service provider to reduce the investment. The service provider can select the
license according to the traffic and function needed.
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M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Chapter 4 Interface Functions
Chapter 4 Interface Functions
4.1 Gb interface
4.1.1 Overview
The Gb interface is an interface between the SGSN and GPRS BSS. Through this
interface, the SGSN communicates with the BSS to fulfill packet data transmission, flow
control and mobility management. This interface is mandatory for the GPRS
networking. The location of the Gb interface in the GPRS system is somewhat similar to
the A interface in the GSM network. The A interface is located between the BSS and the
MSC network subsystem, while the Gb interface is located between the BSS and the
GSN core network. The difference is that the Gb interface provides functions and
characteristics that are more suitable for packet services.
I. The layered protocol structure at the Gb interface
Figure 4-1 shows the location of the Gb interface and the structure of its protocol stack.
LLC
RELAY
BSSGP
RLC BSSGP
MAC NS NS
L1 L1
Gb
BSS SGSN
Figure 4-1 Gb protocol stack
Layer 1 is the physical layer of the Gb interface adopting the FR (Frame Relay)
protocol. In the actual implementation, it can be connected either through the
point-to-point frame relay connection or through the frame relay network
(multipoint-to-multipoint).
The NS (Network Service) Layer 2 protocol of the Gb interface completes the
transmission function of NS SDUs at Gb interface and the function of NS-VC
configuration and state management, etc.
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The BSSGP Layer 3 protocol of Gb interface implements uplink/downlink

transmission of signalling and data of the upper layer (LLC layer), flow control of
downlink data, operation and maintenance functions such as block, unblock and
reset of BVC (BSSGP Virtual Connection).
II. Gb-related protocols
Similar to A interface, the Gb interface also involves the interconnections between

products of different manufacturers, so its definition is strictly stipulated in the GSM
specifications so as to ensure excellent interworking between the GPRS BSSs of
different manufacturers and the GPRS core network subsystem.
Main relevant protocols of the Gb interface are introduced as follows:

GSM03.60 defines the location of the Gb interface and its protocol stack structure.
GSM08.14 stipulates the FR protocol used by the physical layer of the Gb
interface between BSS and SGSN.
GSM08.16 stipulates details of the Layer 2 protocol NS of the Gb interface
between BSS and SGSN.
GSM08.18 stipulates details of the Layer 3 protocol BSSGP of the Gb interface
between BSS and SGSN.
4.1.2 Signalling at Different Layers of the Gb Interface
I. FR
The physical layer of the Gb interface adopts the FR (Frame Relay) protocol, while the
physical media can be E1 or T1. The Frame Relay provides interworking between
subnetworks, allowing direction connection of the PCU to the SGSN through the
dedicated line connection (point-to-point mode) or through the frame relay network
(intermediate network mode).
Frame Relay is a mature and general physical layer protocol, and its use is not limited
to the GPRS Gb interface.
II. NS
NS protocol layers are distributed on both sides of the standard Gb interface. Its
functions on both sides are symmetrical to each other. But as a whole, the interface
services it provides to the upper layer BSSGP are relatively simple and clear-cut. It
provides the following three service functions:
1) Completion of the transmission of upper layer data units
All the messages transmitted at the BSSGP layer are transmitted in the form of NS
SDUs (Service Data Units) at the NS layer. The normal operation of the NS layer
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provides reliable path and guarantees the normal operation of the upper layer
protocols.
2) Network congestion detection
When the NS layer detects a link congestion or congestion cleared at the bottom layer,
the NS layer will inform the upper layer through the congestion indicator, so that the
latter can make necessary processing.
3) Network status detection
When the NS layer detects that no transmission can be done due to link fault at the
bottom layer or faults have been eliminated at the bottom layer, it informs the upper
layer which will make necessary processing accordingly.
III. BSSGP Layer 3 Protocol
BSSGP protocol layers are distributed on both sides of the standard Gb interface, but
the functions on the two sides are not entirely the same. Figure 4-2 depicts the service
models realized by the BSSGP protocol on the BSS and SGSN sides.
Service model in a BSS Service model in an SGSN
RELAY GMM NM LLC GMM NM
GSM 03.64 RL GMM NM BSSGP GMM NM
RLC/MAC BSSGP BSSGP
GSM 08.16 GSM 08.16
Network service Network service
Figure 4-2 BSSGP service models
In terms of service models, the functions provided by BSSGP for the upper layer
include three parts:
Between NM and BSSGP: This part mainly provides the network management
function at the Gb interface, including downlink data flow control, block, unblock
and reset of BVC (BSSGP Virtual Connection), and mobile station tracing, etc.
Between GMM and BSSGP: This part implements GPRS mobility management
at the Gb interface, including such GPRS services as calling the MS on the
network side, MS radio access capability synchronization and service
suspend/resume.
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Uplink/downlink data transmission: Although the data transmission services

provided by the Gb interface on BSS and SGSN bear different names (called
service between RL and BSSGP at the BSS side and between LLC and BSSGP at
the SGSN side), the function it realizes is completely the same, i.e. it provides the
function of transparent transmission of uplink/downlink upper layer data.
4.1.3 Characteristics of the Gb Interface
I. Flexible physical interface and LMI support
M900/M1800 PCU not only supports E1 interfaces of ITU-T standards, but also
supports T1 interfaces of ANSI standards.
Besides ITU-T Q933 Appendix A stipulated in GSM protocol, the Local Management
Interface (LMI) also supports ANSI T1-617 Appendix D, thus facilitating the
interworking with the equipment of other manufacturers.
II. Flexible FR BC bandwidth and NS-VC bandwidth allocation strategy
The bandwidths of the FR layer bearer channels of M900/M1800 PCU can be flexibly
allocated within 1×64kbit/s and 31×64kbit/s; while the rate of NS layer's NS-VCs can be
flexibly configured within 1kbit/s~1984kbit/s.
III. Load sharing function at the NS Layer
M900/M1800 PCU supports the complete load sharing between NS-VCs under one
NSE. NS-VCs can be located in different boards. This is quite important for enhancing
the transmission reliability and utilization ratio of the Gb interface.
IV. Entity backup function at the BSSGP Layer
M900/M1800 PCU supports the backup of BSSGP PTP and BSSGP SIG entities.
When a certain PTP/SIG entity is unavailable due to board fault, the services on the
entity can be switched over to the standby board. So this backup function greatly
enhances the reliability of the BSSGP layer.
4.2 G-Abis Interface
4.2.1 Overview
The G-Abis interface is an internal interface between PCU and BTS of Huawei BSS.
The PCU communicates with BTS via this interface to implement packet signalling/data
transmission, in-band signalling transmission and block synchronization, etc. It is
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similar to the Abis interface between BSC and BTS, but the difference is that the G-Abis
interface provides functions and characteristics suiting packet-switched services.
4.2.2 Characteristics of the G-Abis Interface
For the position of PCU, the GSM/GPRS specifications only describe three feasible
schemes, without any substantial stipulation for the interface between BTS and PCU,
so the implementation of the G-Abis interface by different manufacturers also varies.
Huawei GPRS G-Abis interface utilizes the transmission bandwidth to the full extent,
and effectively supports the processing of packet service data and signalling. The
characteristics of Huawei G-Abis interface are listed below:
Transmit packet-switched service data and signalling via the G-TRAU frame.
Transmit packet data of coding schemes CS-1/CS-2/CS-3/CS-4 by providing
16kbit/s and 32kbit/s bandwidths, refers to Table 4-1.
Adopt G-TRAU frame transmission with abundant in-band signalling contents,
including a series of mechanisms such as BTS measurement, BTS power control,
RLC/MAC block coding scheme indication, air interface block synchronization,
etc.
Table 4-1 Transmission parameters relating to coding schemes
Scheme Code rate Coded bits Data rate (kbit/s)

CS-1 1/2 456 9.05
CS-2 2/3 588 13.4

CS-3 3/4 676 15.6
CS-4 1 456 21.4
In the case of supporting coding schemes CS-1/2, the G-Abis interface bandwidth can
be less than 16kbit/s, but when supporting coding schemes CS-3/4, the G-Abis
interface needs to provide a bandwidth of 32kbit/s.
The coding scheme of RLC/MAC block is sent to BTS by PCU through the G-Abis
interface. For downlink data, the BTS encodes radio blocks based on this coding
scheme; and for uplink radio blocks, BTS also decodes radio blocks based on this
coding scheme.
The Packet Data Channel (PDCH) used by the GPRS adopts 52-multiframe structure
for its air interface, of which the RLC/MAC block keeps a strict mapping relation with the
G-TRAU frame of the G-Abis interface. Synchronization information is exchanged
between PCU and BTS through in-band signalling. After a synchronization process, the
RLC/MAC block transmitted by PCU to BTS can immediately establish an accurate
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time sequence relation with the TDMA frame number of BTS, thus minimizing the time
delay in processing uplink/downlink RLC/MAC blocks at the BTS.
4.2.3 Physical Layer/Transmission Media
Like the Abis interface, the G-Abis interface physically uses 2Mbit/s E1. The E1 is
transmitted to BTS through the BSC trunk. For the data at the G-Abis interface, the
BSC only functions as a physical trunk.
Packet traffic channels of the G-Abis interface and LAPD channels of the Pb interface
are both borne by the sub-timeslots of the E1 between PCU and BSC, as shown in
Table 4-2. On the E1 from BSC to BTS, there are packet traffic channels of the G-Abis
interface, circuit traffic channels of the Abis interface, RSL (Radio Signalling Link for
circuit switching) and OML (Operation and Maintenance Link for circuit switching).
Depending on the availability of signalling channel resources, the G-Abis interface and
Abis interface may share the same E1 and both occupy the sub-timeslots on the E1, as
shown in Table 4-3.
Table 4-2 Example of the timeslot configuration for the G-Abis interface (PCU-BSC)
Timeslot Subtimeslot 0 Subtimeslot 1 Subtimeslot 2 Subtimeslot 3 Usage

E1
synchroniz
0 0 1 2 3
ation
timeslot
Packet
1 4 5 6 7 traffic
channel
Packet
n 4n 4n+1 4n+2 4n+3 traffic
channel
Slave
timeslot,
additional
m 4m 4m+1 4m+2 4m+3 packet
traffic
channel
supporting
CS-3/CS-4
LAPD
31 124 125 126 127
channel
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Table 4-3 Example of the timeslot configuration for the G-Abis interface (BSC-BTS)
Timeslot Subtimeslot 0 Subtimeslot 1 Subtimeslot 2 Subtimeslot 3 Usage

E1
0 0 1 2 3 synchroniza
tion timeslot
Circuit traffic
channel or
1 4 5 6 7 packet
traffic
channel
Slave
timeslot,
additional
packet
n 4n 4n+1 4n+2 4n+3
traffic
channel
supporting
CS-3/CS-4
m 4m 4m+1 4m+2 4m+3

RSL
... ... ... ... ...
31 124 125 126 127 OML
The radio channels of the air interface can be dynamically switched between the TCH
supporting voice service and the PDCH supporting GPRS. The subtimeslots on the E1
can be dynamically allocated to the Abis interface or G-Abis interfaces. The
sub-timeslots used for the Abis interface transmit voice data through the E-TRAU frame
(GSM08.60 V600), whereas the sub-timeslots used for the G-Abis interface transmit
packet data through the G-TRAU frame.
4.2.4 A Brief Introduction to G-TRAU Frame Structure
A G-TRAU frame is bidirectionally transferred every 20ms between BTS and PCU over
each PDCH. The structure of G-TRAU frame is explained in Table 4-4.
Table 4-4 Structure of the G-TRAU frame
G-TRAU frame
Description
domain
Used for G-TRAU frame synchronization between BTS and
Frame header PCU. It is a special bit sequence for defining the G-TRAU
frame.
RLC/MAC data block produced from BTS decoding, or coded
Data field
RLC/MAC data block transmitted by PCU to BTS.
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G-TRAU frame
Description
domain
In-band signalling
Complete signalling interaction between PCU and BTS.
contents
The signalling between PCU and BTS is in-band signalling, and it is a part of the
G-TRAU frame.
The in-band signalling contents of the G-TRAU frame are abundant, including a series
of complicated mechanisms, such as BTS measurement, BTS power control,
RLC/MAC block coding scheme indication, block synchronization of the air interface
between BTS and PCU.
4.2.5 Characteristics of the G-Abis Interface
I. Semi-independent PCU equipment and flexible physical location
As mentioned in before, no substantial stipulation on the G-Abis interface between

PCU and BTS is given in the GSM/GPRS Specifications. Logically, PCU is a part of the
GPRS BSC, but physically, it can be either built-in equipment, or semi-independent
equipment. In terms of physical location, PCU can be positioned in BTS, BSC or SGSN.
The M900/M1800 PCU is semi-independent equipment, and it can be physically
positioned in either BSC or SGSN (also can be in MSC in some special networking
mode).
In the network, the semi-independent PCU has the minimum impact on the existing
circuit-switched GSM network. The existing BTS and BSC can support GPRS without
hardware upgrade. The semi-independent PCU can meet the requirement of
processing capability because of the introduction of packet-switched services, thus
minimizing the impact on the processing capability of the BSS already planned.
The semi-independent PCU also allows a maximum flexibility in selecting the site for
networking. With regard to its physical location, the PCU can either be in the BSC site,
or in the SGSN site, or even in the MSC site in a special networking mode. For
description of M900/M1800 BSS networking modes, refer to Section 3.2 in chapter
System Feature - General Introduction.
II. Dynamic additional sub-timeslot technology
Over the past few years, the advanced GSM BSS generally uses 16kbit/s link (also
called 16kbit sub-timeslot) for its Abis interface. Under coding schemes CS-1/CS-2, the
BSS also uses 16kbit/s link for its G-Abis interface. Under coding schemes CS-3 and
CS-4, the rate of one PDCH is 15.6kbit/s and 21.4kbit/s respectively, so one PDCH can
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be mapped onto two 16kbit/s links. However, the coding scheme the PDCH adopts will
be rectified in a dynamic way, depending on the change of radio transmission
environment for the MS occupying this PDCH. If the fixed mode is used to map one
PDCH onto two 16kbit/s links, the multiplex ratio of the G-Abis interface and then the
availability of G-Abis interface transmission equipment can be greatly reduced.
The use of dynamic additional sub-timeslot technology by the M900/M1800 BSS solves
the problem of transmission at the G-Abis interface under the coding schemes CS-3 or
CS-4. With the dynamic additional sub-timeslot technology, it is able to allocate in a
static way a master 16kbit/s sub-timeslot for the G-Abis interface of each PDCH using
CS-3 or CS-4, and dynamically allocate an additional 16kbit/s sub-timeslot. By using
the dynamic additional sub-timeslot technology, the GPRS BSS can support coding
schemes CS-3 and CS-4, without hardware grading of BTS, BSC and PCU. When
supporting CS-3 and CS-4, it greatly increases the multiplex ratio at the G-Abis
interface, thus reducing the subscriber's investment in the G-Abis interface
transmission equipment.
The dynamic additional sub-timeslot technology the M900/M1800 BSS uses has the
following characteristics:
Any idle 16kbit/s sub-timeslot at the G-Abis interface can be an additional 16kbit/s
sub-timeslot, thus making full use of every idle sub-timeslot.
Within the same site, an additional sub-timeslot can be dynamically attached to
different master timeslots, so the availability of additional sub-timeslots will be
increased on the basis of the statistical multiplex rules.
The location of additional 16kbit/s sub-timeslot can be relatively flexible and need
not be adjacent to the 16kbit/s master timeslot.
Data packets can be assembled and disassembled through the software means,
thus sparing the hardware upgrade due to alteration of product specifications.
III. Quick and smooth time synchronization mechanism for data blocks over
the air interface
Because of the advanced synchronization mechanism and synchronization algorithm,

after the completion of the system initialization, the PCU can realize a smooth
synchronization of the air interface frame number with the CCU (Channel Codec Unit)
within 1 TDMA multiframe period (240ms), taking a channel as a unit.
The smooth air interface block synchronization between PCU and CCU is essential to
ensuring a normal GPRS cell packet system information broadcast and high radio
transmission efficiency for GPRS cells.
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IV. Good and expandable G-TRAU frame
Forward compatibility and backward compatibility have been fully considered in the
structure definition of the G-TRAU frame, so it has good expandability. The 3-bit version
number is defined in the frame header of the G-TRAU frame, capable of supporting
G-TRAU of different versions. By means of the G-TRAU version mechanism, the
M900/M1800 BSS has good forward and backward compatibility at the G-Abis
interface.
4.3 Pb Interface
4.3.1 Overview
The Pb interface is the interface between PCU and BSC. Since the PCU is functionally
a semi-independent equipment and a part of the BSS, the interface between PCU and
BSC is a non-standard interface, and the technical realizations varies with
manufacturers.
GSM Specification puts forward three feasible schemes for the positioning of PCU
(Please refer to Figure 1-2), it does not give out any substantial stipulation with regard
to the interface between PCU and BSC.
In the design of the GPRS system, the PCU is functionally a part of the BSS. But as a
piece of independent physical equipment, it can either be put together with BSC, or be
put together with SGSN. One PCU frame (12 RPPU boards at the most) can be
connected to multiple BSCs through E1s, but one BSC can be connected to only one
PCU frame (but to multiple RPPU boards simultaneously).
To realize such flexible design of system networking, the realization of Pb interface

functions is an essential factor. Huawei Pb interface realizes management of shared
resources between PCU and BSC, including cells, packet channels and E1 trunks,
system information. It also supports dynamic channel conversion, access of MS on
CCCH, etc.
4.3.2 Internal Structure of the Pb Interface
As non-standard interface, the Pb interface has the following hierarchical structure:

Layer 1 -- physical layer is realized by using the sub-timeslot of E1 line. In fact, the
Pb interface and G-Abis interface multiplex one and the same physical link by
dividing sub-timeslots. E1 is divided into 128 sub-timeslots of 16kbit/s, of which 4
sub-timeslots are used for synchronization, some are used as physical links of the
G-Abis interface, some as physical links of the Pb interface, and the rest as idle
sub-timeslots, or multiplexed as a part of the A interface.
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Layer 2 -- link layer adopts the LAPD protocol, which is a general data link layer
protocol. It receives data transmission service from the physical layer, and
provides connection or connectionless service to Layer 3. In short, the aim of
LAPD is to realize reliable end-to-end information transmission among the entities
of Layer 3 by means of the interfaces on the physical layer.
Layer 3 protocol is a suite of self-defined signalling messages and is the core part
of the Pb interface. It mainly realizes the information management of resources
related to GPRS between PCU and BSC, supports the switchover of dynamic
channels between packet service and voice service, and also supports the access
of MS on CCCH and voice paging message transmission, etc.
Since the standard LAPD protocol is used for the lower layer, so the Pb interface
protocol often refers to the Layer 3 signalling procedures.
4.3.3 Characteristics of Huawei Pb Interface
1) Support of dynamic channel conversion between packet service and voice service
During the actual realization, channels are divided into the following categories: fixed
packet channels, voice channels and dynamic channels. The fixed packet channels,
like PBCCH, PCCCH and PDCH, are exclusively used for packet services. The voice
channels, like TCH, BCCH and SDCCH, are exclusively used for voice service.
Dynamic channel serves as voice TCHs during at first initialization, but it can be
dynamically converted between TCH and PDCH.
When the packet service is heavy and voice service is relatively light, the PCU would
apply to BSC for conversion from dynamic channel to dynamic packet channel. If the
BSC finds that the voice service is heavy, it can take back from PCU the channels
converted. During this process, the voice service precedes packet service, so as to
guarantee the voice service originally provided by the equipment operator.
2) Support of the MS request for access on CCCH
As the BTS is unable to identify the access request message sent by the MS on CCCH,
only after analyzing by BSC can the request be determined as a packet access request.
If the request is a packet access request, it will be transferred to PCU. Accordingly, the
immediate assignment message by the PCU must be processed by the BSC before it is
transferred to BTS. Therefore, the access of the MS on CCCH and PCCCH are
processed by the BSS in different modes.
The technique of the MS that supports the access on CCCH is relatively simple. This
access mode is common during the initial stage of GPRS service. Huawei Pb interface
makes it possible for the PCU to support two different MS access modes
simultaneously, thus greatly improving the adaptability of the system to various kinds of
MSs.
3) Transmission of circuit paging messages
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When the network operates in network operation mode I, and no PCCCH is existent,
the circuit paging messages sent by MSC will be transferred through the Gs interface
(MSC-SGSN interface), Gb interface (SGSN-PCU interface) and forwarded by PCU to
the BSC through the Pb interface, and will finally be transmitted by the BSC on CCCH
(For details of network operation modes, refer to the Appendix).
4) Support of Suspend/Resume message sent by MSs in class B mode
MSs in class B mode are unable to operate circuit service and packet service
simultaneously. So after conversion from packet transmission to voice service, the MS
will send the GPRS Suspend request to the BSC, then the BSC will transfer the
message to PCU through Pb interface for processing. And when the circuit service of
the MS is completed, the BSC will send to the PCU a GPRS Resume request. The
processing of messages of this kind improves the system capability to support MSs in
class B mode.
4.4 O Interface
4.4.1 Overview
The O interface refers to the interface between PCU and OMC (Operation and
Maintenance Center). Huawei GPRS system is an expansion and upgrade of the GSM,
and its OMC use the original GSM-OMC software. Therefore, they are basically the
same in terms of software structure, software application and hardware networking. As
shown in Figure 4-3, to the OMC subsystem, the PCU is only a newly added network
element like MSC, BSC, HLR and GSN, etc.
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O interface
MSC
BSC
OMC Server
DCN
...
PCU
...
GSN OMC WS
OMC WS
GPRS/GSM equipment
Figure 4-3 The O interface of GPRS/GSM
Generally speaking, there is an exclusive BAM computer in the MSC, BSC, HLR of
GSM, serving as a bridge between the boards and the OMC subsystem. It is
responsible for collecting information of the equipment and for the communication with
the OMC subsystem, realizing functions of the O interface. Whereas in the GPRS
equipment like PCU, SGSN, there is no BAM, and the bridge function between the
system equipment and the OMC subsystem is realized by the OMA module (OMC
Agent Module) on each operation and maintenance board (for instance, POMU board
for PCU). As for different equipment, although the maintenance and management
module of their OMC consoles are similar in the user interface, their interior functional
realizations such as message analysis are different.
After the GSM system is upgraded to GPRS, corresponding changes of the network
entities on both ends of the O interface have taken place to the entities. But as a
non-standard interface, the O interface itself has not changed. Even if new equipment
is added to the GSM system later, the basically same interface will still be used
between the equipment and the OMC subsystem so as to keep uniformity of the entire
OMC subsystem and enhance the operability for users.
4.4.2 Software Structure
Different from the network bottom layer interfaces like Gb and Pb, the O interface is an
interface of the application layer, relatively simple in message structure and protocol
hierarchy. The bottom layer of the O interface is based on the TCP/IP, hence the OMC
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system has a very great capability in remote networking. In terms of system

composition, the software of the O interface mainly includes four parts as shown in
Figure 4-4: OAM/BAM program, OMC Server/DB, OMC Shell and OMC console
program. Its functions and characteristics are as follows:
OAM BAM
......
PCU BSC
TCP/IP LAN/WAN
OMC Shell
Comm. Server
Message tracing
measurement
Database Server
Alarm
Traffic
Work Station OMC Server/ DB
Figure 4-4 Software structure of the O interface
OAM and BAM are different in terms of hardware and software realization, and also
different in terms of messages and information administered by different equipment,
but have the same basic software functions.
The OAM has two functions. The first is to serve as a communication bridge between
the OMC system and the network equipment, transferring the operation/maintenance
commands from the OMC to the PCU boards and directing the PCU response to the
corresponding terminal equipment of OMC. The second is to serve as a server in the
Client/Server network model. Besides the management of database and management
of test and traffic measurement tasks, the OAM also implements storage and transfer of
charging information, alarm information and traffic statistics data. It stores various
important data into hard disks, and delivers the data to compact discs or the OMC
server.
Various service processes are operated on the OMC server, including communication
server, database server, etc. The communication server is the core part of the whole
system, while the other parts are connected to it through application agents. The
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communication server provides an identifier to each application part connected to it.

During the message transfer, the communication server receives messages from
different parts, and then determines the destinations for those messages before
transferring those messages or getting them properly processed. In response to the
request from the OAM/BAM or application consoles, various database servers carry out
management of various data through interaction with the DataBase Management
System (DBMS). Besides, there are some other application servers and management
modules on the OMC server.
The OMC Shell is a user interface that implements management, operation and
maintenance over GSM objects, and is a communication interface that communicates
with various console programs. With the OMC Shell, the visual management via a
client on any equipment of the entire GSM system can be performed, embodying the
centralized operation and maintenance management functions.
The OMC Shell program is composed of two parts, i.e. user interface module and
communication module. The user interface module provides a visual operation
interface, including the tree list and map window. Through the interface, the status of
GSM objects can be observed and the direct operation, maintenance and management
of the GSM objects can be performed. The communication module is mainly
responsible for communication management.
The OMC WorkStation (WS) is a set of application functions. With regard to different
equipment, the functions of the WSs are somewhat different. The OMC WS of the PCU
includes traffic measurement console, alarm console and message tracing console.
Since the design of the whole system is to divide the modules according to the
functions, the functions of the OMC WS can be easily rectified in accordance with the
user requirements, thus substantially meeting the specific requirements of the end
users.
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M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Chapter 5 Operation & Maintenance
Chapter 5 Operation & Maintenance
5.1 Overview
The operation and maintenance module of the PCU provides the functions of operation
and maintenance management, data configuration management, fault management,
performance measurement management, security management, etc. It also provides
the means for users to remotely monitor the operation state of the PCU, maintain the
PCU equipment, locate faults, evaluate network performance, etc.
The O&M of the PCU uses the Client/Server structure to support both the remote logon
to and maintenance of Telnet and the maintenance on OMC GUI (Graphical User
Interface). The system can support 5 Telnet clients simultaneously. The number of GUI
clients supported depends on the model and amount of the OMC servers. The OMC
server using one Ultra60 supports 10 GUI clients simultaneously. The OMC server
using one Sun E3500 supports 30 OMC terminals simultaneously. The number of
Telnet clients does not affect the number of GUI clients.
The positioning of the O&M of PCU in the whole GSM/GPRS network is shown in
Figure 5-1. It is integrated in the maintenance system of Huawei GSM/GPRS OMC and
can be managed as a whole.
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GSM NSS
BSC
BTS Serial terminal
PCU
GSM/GPRS BSS GPRS NSS
NM server
R
LAN/WAN
Telnet
R
terminal
NM client OMC console OMC console
OMC server
NM client
SNMP network management system GPRS/GSM OMC system
O&M system
Figure 5-1 GSM/GPRS O&M system
The O&M software of the PCU resides in the POMU board and RPPU board. Its
position in the PCU software and its relationship with the application modules are
shown in Figure 5-2 and Figure 5-3.
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POMU board
Alarm & traffic RPPU board
measurement
O&M commands
Alarm report
Measurement data
Send command Receive data
O&M result RPPU O&M
POMU O&M
Command Inter-board
interpretation communication RLC/MAC
OAM Telnet server
TCP/IP
Telnet client
OMC
Figure 5-2 PCU O&M system
OMC system
TCP/IP
OMC OMC Shell GUI Client

OAM Server
POMU Local WS GUI Client
Figure 5-3 The connection between PCU and OMC
5.2 Characteristics
The characteristics of the PCU O&M are:

Easy to operate
The PCU O&M was designed in the Client/Server structure with the computer network,
multiwindow visualization and other advanced technologies. It can provide the
multiwindow operation interface for easy operation.
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Remote/centralized maintenance function

The PCU O&M achieves the remote/centralized maintenance functions through the
computer network, Telnet and OMC Server.
Client/Server structure
All the operation and maintenance tasks are done in the Client/Server mode, which
supports the multi-point local/remote data configuration, maintenance and operation
simultaneously.
Strong message tracing and monitoring functions
The PCU O&M can trace, interpret and display the messages of the PCU nonstandard
and standard interfaces (such as Um, Pb and Gb interfaces).
5.3 Implementation of PCU O&M Function
5.3.1 Configuration Management
I. Modules of PCU-DB
The PCU-DB can be functionally divided into five modules:

CDB (Configuration DB)
The CDB is a data management system in the distributed environment. The essential
CDB interface is the interface connecting the application part and the CDB kernel,
which is used by all the application parts of CDB through the invocation of functions.
Command line interface module
The command line interface module is connected with the Telnet module to provide
command line, command line help information and configuration functions.
Validity check module
The validity check module checks the validity of the data entering the system from the
command line, rejects invalid data, and invokes relevant functions to operate the valid
data, such as Add, Delete and Modify operations.
Upper layer API module
The upper layer API module provides for the protocol modules the data manipulation
functions including data inquiry and modification.
Data compilation module
The data compilation module provides the function of decompiling the data in the
memory into the text command lines.
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II. Database Loading
The configuration data are stored in the Flash memory of the POMU board. When the
POMU board starts to work, the Telnet task is created, and the task interprets the data
stored in the Flash memory of the POMU board into command lines for execution. As a
result, the data for RAM (Random Access Memory) will be generated.
III. Data Configuration Processing Procedures
The data configuration function of PCU-DB writes the valid data into CDB after the
successful validity check of the data. To insert, modify and delete data in the table, it
only needs to invoke the API function provided by CDB.
IV. System Expansion Process
The data configuration in the case of system expansion is rather complicated. It has to
configure plenty of tables. In this section, only two of the most basic configurations are
cited as examples: Physical configuration (add boards, etc.) and logic configuration
(add cells, etc.).
In the case of adding boards, it is mandatory to configure the information of slot position,
including the slot sequence number, board type, etc.
In the case of logic configuration such as adding cells, it is mandatory to add the
configuration information of the logic cells.
V. Data Storage and Recovery
1) Data storage
In the mode of advanced maintenance or supervisor configuration, commands may be
used to store the data of RAM into the Flash memory of the POMU board. To store the
data of RAM of the equipment into the hard disk of PC, the LOG function of the Telnet
client can be used.
2) Data Recovery
In the mode of supervisor configuration, commands may be used to delete the data in
the FLASH memory that can not be automatically recovered by the system. But by
restarting the system, changing the command line of the configuration data into a text
file and utilizing the function of sending script file through the hyper terminal,
configuration data can be quickly recovered.
VI. System Data Management
After the system is started, the configuration management part reads the configuration
file from the Flash memory, and the command line interpreter interprets and modifies
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the contents of the database. In the course of operation, the database provides the
function interface for the application layer to invoke, inputs/modifies data through the
command line interpreter and the function interface for the application layer,
decompiles the contents in the database to command lines and stores them into the
Flash memory.
5.3.2 Alarm Management
I. Characteristics of Alarm Management
The GPRS PCU alarm system has the following characteristics:

1) Realtime
When the Host gives out an alarm, the alarm management system will process the
alarm immediately and send it to the user interface, feed back the information to the
maintenance personnel immediately. This is very helpful for timely troubleshooting.
2) Multilevel control
In GPRS PCU, all possible alarms are classified into four levels with different priorities
(critical, major, minor and warning). Those serious alarms with a higher priority are
handled in the first place.
3) Convenient and flexible display
The alarm message can be inquired through the OMC alarm console. The detailed
message can also be inquired through the Telnet terminal connected to the POMU
board via LAN switch. For example, when the system generates a software fault alarm,
you can get the information through the alarm terminal about the frame No., board No.
and software module where the alarm occurred. The alarm terminal also provides
suggestions on handling the alarm. Besides, the alarm file stored in the PCU POMU
board hard disk can be fetched through FTP.
II. Alarm Processing Modes
After the GPRS PCU alarm management system receives the alarm, it will first process
the alarm information, then send the alarm information to the user interface.
The alarm processing modes include:

After the alarm information is generated, the system first stores the alarm
information into the hard disk for later inquiry.
If the Telnet realtime alarm terminal is set, the alarm will be displayed at the Telnet
terminal. If the OMC maintenance console and SNMP maintenance are set, the
alarm information will send to them too.
Among the alarm information, whether they are stored in the hard disk or sent to
the background, those with a higher priority will be processed first.
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The acknowledgement and retransmission mechanism is adopted for the alarm

information sent to OMC. This ensures the safe and complete transmission of the
alarm information.
5.3.3 Performance Measurement
I. Overview
The GPRS PCU traffic measurement (statistics) module completes the traffic
measurement function. It is composed of the traffic measurement module in the active
POMU board, the traffic measurement module in the RPPU board and the traffic
measurement codes added into all of the service modules. The counters for the traffic
analysis are distributed among all the service modules of the RPPU board.
The traffic measurement module of RPPU takes charge of the maintenance of all the
counters used for measurement and send the original data collected to the POMU
board.
The counter is composed of the built-in global counter (the main part) and the dynamic
counter (as a supplement which collects the original data necessary for the traffic
measurement).
The traffic measurement module of the POMU board serves as the connection with the
Telnet terminal or OMC, collects and stores of the data measured.
The system structure is shown in Figure 5-4.
Term 1 Term 2 ... Term n OMC Server
Measurement interface
(external) TCP/IP
Traffic Save Offline

POMU measurement DATA analysis
module result
FTP
Measurement interface
(internal)
Inter-board communication layer
Traffic Traffic ... Traffic ......

measurement measurement measurement
module module module
RPPU RPPU RPPU
Figure 5-4 Structure of the GPRS PCU traffic measurement system
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II. Performance Measurement Management
The performance management function of the GPRS PCU traffic statistics system
includes the following aspects:
1) Measurement task
The task here means the measuring process of a group of measured objects and items
as a set within certain time and measurement characteristics. For example, in
registering the task of "Paging request measurement", the title of the task is "Paging
request measurement", but the paging request performances of cell 1, cell 2... cell n
can be measured at the same time according to the selection of parameters by the
user.
For the input of the task parameters, the system provides three choices: SELECT
SINGLE, SELECT MULTIPLE and SELECT ALL. The SELECT ALL is directed at the
full configuration, and SELECT SINGLE or SELECT MULTIPLE requires for specific
parameters. SELECT MULTIPLE is restricted to 40 at the maximum by the system.
For instance, in the full configuration of 128 cells, the user selects SELECT ALL, then
the task will be to measure the paging request performances of the 128 cells. Or, the
user may choose at random to measure one or several of the cells.
If the user wants to create a task of "NS transmission performance measurement" and
chooses SELECT ALL, then the task will count up to NS transmission of 1024 NSVCIs.
The system allows the registration of up to 80 measurement tasks.

2) Register performance measurement task
The traffic measurement module in the POMU board receives the operation of
registering the performance measurement task sent over from the OMC traffic statistics
console. It then checks the parameter validity, and decides whether it is successful in
registering the task according to the resource state of the measurement task. If it is
successful, the system will assign it a task sequence number and create a unique
corresponding file in the hard disk of the POMU board to store the measurement result.
3) Collect and process performance measurement result
The performance measurement task has absolute life cycle and measurement period
attributes. For instance, there is a task named "Paging request measurement ", the
measurement will be performed once in every 30 minutes from 9:00 to 21:00 every day,
and the measurement task will last for a period of 60 days beginning from June 6, 2000.
In this case, the system decides whether to fetch the measurement result according to
the absolute timer of the system.
It is specified that the minimum measurement period of a performance measurement

task is 5 minute. The traffic measurement module in the POMU board will judge
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whether there are any tasks can be activated every 1 minute. Whether or not a task is
activated depends on whether it has met all the following 4 conditions:
The current date of the task is within the range from "the start date of the
measurement" to "the end date of the measurement";
The current time of the task is within the range from "the start time of the
measurement" to "the end time of the measurement";
The difference between the current time and "the start time of the measurement" is
the integer multiple of the measurement period.
Those whose time type is Statistic by week or month are only activated at the
configured days.
The POMU board sends at a fixed time interval the information of the activated task to
the RPPU board. When RPPU board receives the message, it fetches the related
measurement result data from the board for the task, and sends them back to the
POMU board. The POMU board receives the measurement result data from the RPPU
board before the end of the measurement period. As the measurement result data is
the state value, yet the result of a measurement period is the difference between the
"measured value at the end of the measurement period" and the "measured value at
the start of the measurement period", it is necessary to calculate the difference, then
put them together for analysis and classification, and store them in the task result file.
4) Inquire task state
The information of the current successfully registered tasks can be inquired through the
OMC traffic statistics console.
5) Inquire task result
The measurement result of a measured task for a certain time segment can be inquired
through the OMC traffic statistics console. The traffic measurement file in the POMU
board can also be fetched through FTP.
6) Delete traffic measurement task
The traffic measurement module in the POMU board receives the traffic measurement
task Delete operation sent from OMC, checks the parameters, clears the task resource
if the parameters are accepted, and deletes the corresponding traffic measurement file
from the POMU board hard disk.
7) Traffic statistics data synchronization in the active and standby POMU boards
When the active and standby POMU boards work normally, they can achieve the data
synchronization in the Timed writ-in mode, i.e., when the original traffic statistics data of
the active POMU board is written into the hard disk and then sent to the standby POMU
board, the standby POMU board receives and then stores them. If the communication
between the active and standby POMU is abnormal, the active POMU will log the
periods of task result (maximum number is 100) which are not confirmed by the standby
POMU and resend them when the communication recovers.
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III. Performance Measurement Types Supported
The performance measurement type is the essential element in the performance

measurement. Many performance measurement types constitute the measurement set
of the performance measurement system. As one practical measurement set of the
performance measurement system has many elements, to facilitate the use and inquiry,
the PCU traffic measurement system divides the performance measurement types into
many measurement subsets according to a certain rule. The logic relationship between
the measurement subsets and performance measurement types is shown in Table 5-1.
Table 5-1 PCU performance measurement types
Measurement function Traffic measurement task

CPU performance
CPU performance measurement
measurement
BSC overall performance

BSC overall performance measurement
measurement
NS performance measurement NS transmission performance measurement

BSSGP performance
BSSGP performance measurement
measurement
G-Abis interface performance
TRAU link measurement
measurement
Pb interface performance
LAPD link measurement
measurement
Packet access performance measurement on
Cell performance measurement
CCCH
PCU overall performance Packet access performance measurement on
measurement subsets PCCCH
Packet access performance measurement on
PACCH
Rate of successful packet assignment
Paging request measurement

Uplink TBF establishment/release measure
Downlink TBF establishment/release
measurement
Uplink LLC data transmission measurement
Downlink LLC data transmission measurement
Uplink RLC data transmission measurement
Downlink RLC data transmission measurement
Cell radio channel performance measurement
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Measurement function Traffic measurement task

Resource maintenance performance
measurement
PDCH resource performance measurement
PDCH extremum value measurement
IV. Performance Measurement Data Record
The performance measurement data are recorded and stored in the form of a file in the
hard disk of the POMU board. Each task has one and only one file folder with the name
"/hda1/ms/PcuMsXXX" (XXX is the task number in the form of three-digital integer.) and
stored as a binary file. The task number resources are limited (0~79 numbers). Once
distributed, the resources can not be redistributed before the release. If new
performance measurement tasks are to be registered when all of the task number
resources have been distributed, the system will suggest the user to "delete the traffic
measurement task" that has been registered and releases the resources. Otherwise,
new performance measurement tasks can not be registered.
V. Performance Measurement Data Transmission
The data transmission is necessary in the following three stages:

1) When the POMU board fetches the measurement data of the performance
measurement task from the RPPU board, the RPPU board sends the snapshots of
performance measurement data to the POMU board. The data transmission is
based on the inter-board communication, that is, via the socket of Voxworks.
1) When inquiring the performance measurement data via the OMC traffic statistics
console, the POMU board sends the answer frames to the OMC. The data
transmission is mainly based on TCP/IP.
2) In the case of remote control, FTP is used to fetch measurement data.
VI. Performance Measurement Log
The performance measurement log will be kept in the following cases:

After receiving the command frames from the host or the client terminal, it will
check the validity of the frame structure, length and contents (such as the validity
of task type) and write it into the log if it is invalid.
In executing the memory operation, opening, reading and writing the files, the
system is necessary to check whether the operation is unsuccessful. If it fails, it
will be written into the log.
The performance measurement log file has the following structure:
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File name: PcuMs.log

Key information: date, time, abnormality description information, and faulty source
code file name and fault source code line number.
VII. Performance Measurement Data Processing
1) Difference value processing

The value stored by the counter in the RPPU traffic measurement module is the
measured state value at a certain time, whereas the traffic measurement task needs
the D-value between two measurement periods. The calculation of the D-value is done
in the POMU board. For example as follow.
Now perform the "Uplink LLC data transmission measurement" for cell 5. Suppose the
measurement types of "Uplink LLC data transmission measurement" has the following
3 items:
Value (5, 211) = status (5, 211, k) - status (5, 211, k -1)
Among which, status here is the measured state value of a certain item of a cell during
the kth period, and value here is the final value of a certain item of a cell.
Status (i, j, k): i is the cell number, j is the measurement item number and k is the period
number.
Value (i, j): i is the cell number, j is the measurement item number.
2) Ratio processing
In general, the measurement index is the "quantity" or "times" of a certain
measurement item. Some indices are the ratio of two measuring counters, such as the
Cell radio channel performance measurement, Uplink PDTCH/PACCH utilization rate,
Downlink PDTCH/PACCH utilization rate. In this case, it is mandatory to specially
process such indices on the basis of previous data structure. The counters and buffer
counters of the POMU board and RPPU board, for each index with the "ratio"
characteristic, will be provided with two counters, one as the numerator and the other
as the denominator, which provide the internal interfaces respectively for cumulative
operation. When the POMU board sends the message of fetching data to the RPPU
board, the RPPU board will return the values of the two counters at the same time.
When processing the data from OMC traffic statistics console, it can process the data
specially by calculating the ratio. For example as follow.
Now perform the "Cell radio channel performance measurement" measurement for cell
5. The value of measurement indexes “Uplink PDTCH/PACCH utilization rate” is
value (5, 335) = [status (5, 332, k) - status (5, 332, k - 1) ] /

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[status (5, 335, k) - status (5, 335, k - 1) ]
Among which, status here is the measured state value of a certain index of a cell during
the kth period, and value here is the result value of a certain index of a cell.
status (i, j, k) ----------i is the cell number, j is the measurement item number and k is
the period number
value (i, j) -------------- i is the cell number, j is the measurement item number
3) Error control
Due to the influence of the system operation environment, the communication between
the RPPU board and the POMU board may become abnormal in practice; or due to the
abnormal operation of RPPU board, the POMU board can not process the returned
data within a certain period, which makes the data of next period unusable the adjacent
periods of the measurement are related to each other. In this case, it is mandatory to
have error control over the data returned by the RPPU board. For example as follow.
Now conduct the "Paging request measurement" measurement for cell 5, the
measurement is done once every 60 minutes from 9:00 to 24:00 every day, and lasts
from August 1, 2000 to August 10, 2000. Suppose from 9:00 to 11:00 of August 7, 2000,
the RPPU board in cell 5 is faulty, then the result of the following period should be set as
invalid:
Period 1: 9:00--10:00
Period 2: 10:00--11:00
Period 3: 11:00--12:00
The system processes as follows: Period i of cell 5 of task 3 returns the measurement
data, sets the period number of cell 5 of task 3 to i. When the next period comes, it
checks whether the period number of the same cell has one period different from the
current period. If not, please perform the error processing.
The current period: i-1 i i+1 i+

2
Period judgement: (i-1)- (i-2)=1 ---> (not updated) ------->i+1- (i-1)>1 ---->
(i+2)- (i+1)=1
Store result: Result valid Result invalid Result invalid Result valid
Store the period number: i - 1 -----> (not updated) --------> i +1 -----> i

+2
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5.3.4 Interface information Tracing
The interface tracing can intercept the messages between interfaces as demanded by
the user and send them to the OMC maintenance console, so as to provide the user
with a means to view the system operation state, detect and locate the problem in time
and efficiently.
I. Characteristics of Interface Tracing
1) Real time
When there are messages sent among the interfaces monitored by the tracing system,
the tracing system processes the messages in time, judges if they satisfy the trace filter
conditions, and then sends the messages that meet the user's demand to OMC
maintenance console.
2) Pertinence
The interface tracing function makes the tracing of multiple interfaces and setting
different tracing filtering conditions for each interface possible. It supports the user to
dynamically input the tracing filtering conditions via the OMC maintenance console and
dynamically establish the tracing. The tracing filtering conditions thus better serve the
interface tracing function.
3) Data completeness and visualization
The tracing system copies the intercepted messages completely to the OMC
maintenance console, where the user can view every byte of the message. The
interface tracing also provides the function of message interpretation, which, with the
use of message interpreting template, can interpret every byte of a message, thus
making the data more visualized and convenient to use.
4) Data reviewability
The interface tracing function achieves the message saving and reviewing. The user
can save the traced messages for later review. It provides a means for reviewing the
system operation state and problems.
II. Realization of Interface Tracing Function
The interface tracing function is realized by the PCU O&M module. The whole interface
tracing system is divided into two parts that run in the active POMU board and the
RPPU boards respectively. The interface tracing systems of the active POMU board
and the RPPU boards maintain their specific interface tracing description tables and
record the messages of each tracing.
The user sends the tracing command and views the traced results via the OMC
maintenance console. The interface tracing system run in the active POMU board
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receives the tracing request from the OMC, and forwards it to the interface tracing
systems of corresponding RPPU boards.
When the user establishes the tracing via the OMC, the OMC sends the interface
chosen by the user and the appointed interface tracing conditions to the interface
tracing system in the active POMU board. When the active POMU board receives the
request to establish tracing from the OMC, it checks the validity of the request. For
invalid requests, it rejects them and sends to the OMC the reason of rejection. For valid
requests, it records the tracing in the interface tracing description tables and
establishes the information of the tracing at the maintenance console. And in the mean
time, it forwards the request to the corresponding RPPU boards in line with the filtering
conditions.
The interface tracing system of the RPPU records the tracing in its interface tracing
description table and sends the acknowledgement to the active POMU board to confirm
the establishment of the tracing. When the active POMU board receives the affirmation,
it affirms the established acknowledgement in the local interface tracing descriptive
table, and sends the response of successful establishment of tracing to the OMC.
Otherwise, the active POMU board deletes the corresponding record from the local
tracing descriptive table and feeds back the failure of establishment of tracing to the
OMC.
The interface tracing system in the RPPU board is in charge of monitoring and
intercepting the message transmissions between interfaces. According to the tracing
recorded in the local interface tracing descriptive table, it decides whether the message
meets the interface tracing filtering conditions and accomplishes the filtering of
messages in this board. The RPPU board sends the messages that meet the filtering
conditions to the active POMU board, which in turn establishes the information of
tracing in the OMC maintenance console according to the local tracing descriptive table,
and sends the intercepted interface messages to the OMC maintenance console that
has established the tracing.
When the user closes the interface tracing window or the OMC maintenance console,
the OMC will send the request of stopping tracing to the interface tracing system of the
active POMU board. Upon receiving such request, the active POMU board will check
the validity of the request, reject the invalid request if any, and feed back the reason of
rejection to the OMC. For the valid request, it forwards the request of stopping tracing
to the corresponding RPPU board in line with the filtering conditions of the request.
When the RPPU board receives the request, it deletes the corresponding tracing
record from the local interface tracing descriptive table, sends the answer to the active
POMU board and affirms the deletion of the tracing. When the active POMU board
receives the answer to stopping tracing from the RPPU board, it deletes the
corresponding tracing record from the local interface tracing descriptive table, and
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feeds back the success of stopping tracing to the OMC. By now, an interface tracing
has been successfully stopped.
III. Types of Interface Tracing Supported
It now supports the tracing of Um interface, Pb interfaces, BSSGP cell message and
BSSGP signalling message.
The filtering conditions supported by the Um interface tracing are: Cell number,
TRX number, filtering dummy messages, filtering null paging messages, filtering
system information and filtering data blocks;
The filtering conditions for Pb interface tracing are: cell number, tracing calling
messages, tracing maintenance messages;
The filtering condition for BSSGP cell messages tracing is the cell ID;
The filtering condition for BSSGP signalling messages tracing is NSEI number.
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M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Chapter 6 Technical Indices
Chapter 6 Technical Indices
6.1 Product Safety
6.1.1 Safety Standard
The equipment should be grounded and have lightning protection measures. This
shall be done in line with the Grounding Specifications.
All the contacts, nodes and similar devices with the voltage of 24V~500V (valid
value or DC voltage) should have protective measures (such as shields) against
direct connection with charged bodies, and have corresponding alarm symbols.
Obvious labels, alarm measures, protective measures and other measures should
be provided in parts where hazards may occur. Any vulnerable part should have
automatic protection measures.
Any testing point with a voltage of more than 30V should have measures against
direct contact.
During installation and maintenance, safety measures should be taken for the
personnel.
Key parts should have signs, notes or measures against incorrect operation.
The noise limit on the overall system should be not more than 65~75dB.
Electrical (bare conductor) clearance: 48V (over 1.5mm), 220V (over 2.5mm).
6.1.2 Physical Protection Characteristics
The protection features of the PCU equipment conform to the GR-63-CORE standard.
The outside packing is waterproof and damp-proof.
The vent and ventilation have dustproof nets.
The vent of product should be rat-proof.
For the parts which may be frequently opened and closed, the devices against
bumping and shaking shall be provided.
6.1.3 Data Backup and Security Characteristics
The POMU board of the PCU supports 1+1 backup on realtime basis.
The RPPU board supports N+1(N≤4) backup in the same BSC, which allows other
RPPU boards connected to the same BSC to take over the operation in case a
fault occurs to a certain RPPU board.
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Set passwords for the network management and equipment management, and set
levels for OMC operation and command line operation, different levels have
different operation authorities.
The anti-virus measures should be prepared by the user.
6.2 Environmental Conditions
6.2.1 Storage Conditions
In line with the storage criteria of ETS 300 019-1-1, 1.3E category of equipment, the
PCU is stored in the environment with relative humidity 8% ~ 100% and temperature
–45 °C ~ +45 °C.
6.2.2 Transportation Conditions
In line with the transportation criteria of ETS 300 019-1-2, 3.2 category of equipment,
the PCU is stored in the environment where the temperature range is -45 °C ~ +70 °C.
6.2.3 Operation Conditions
Temperature: Normally 15°C ~ 35 °C; -5 °C ~ +55 °C for safe operation.
Relative humidity: Normally 30% ~ 65%; 10% ~ 95% for safe operation.
6.2.4 Electromagnetic Compatibility Requirement
The electromagnetic compatibility and electronic safety of the PCU equipment meet the
GR-1089-CORE specifications.
6.3 Power Supply
The power supply of the PCU equipment is -48V DC.
The M900/M1800 PCU equipment works normally with power within the following
ranges in Table 6-1.
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Table 6-1 Voltage of DC supply for the GPRS PCU
Power supply type DC

Nominal value (V) -48
Voltage fluctuation
-40 ~ -57
range
0Hz ~ 300Hz ≤400mV peak-peak value
300Hz ~
≤2 mV noise meter balanced noise
3400Hz
3.4kHz ~ Single frequency≤5mV(valid Broadband 100mV (valid

Noise 150kHz value) value)
volta 150kHz ~ Single frequency≤3mV (valid
ge 200kHz value)
Broadband 150kHz ~
200kHz ~ Single frequency≤2mV (valid
30MHz ≤30mV (valid
500kHz value)
value)
500kHz ~ Single frequency≤1mV (valid
30MHz value)
6.4 Capacity
6.4.1 Maximum Capacity
The processing capability of the PCU is measured by the activated PDCHs that can be
processed in the Um interface and the throughput in the Gb interface. The processing
capability of a fully configured single-frame PCU is shown in Table 6-2. Up to 6 frames
can be configured.
Table 6-2 The processing capability of the PCU with the maximum configuration
The number of The number of E1s Gb interface The number of E1s

activated PDCHs of Pb interface throughput of Gb interface
1080 72 24Mbit/s 12
6.4.2 Minimum Capacity
In the case of the minimum configuration of PCU, only one single frame is needed to
accommodate two RPPU boards. In this case, its processing capacity is shown in
Table 6-3.
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Table 6-3 The processing capability of PCU with the minimum configuration
The number of The number of

The number of Gb interface
E1s of Pb E1s of Gb
activated PDCHs throughput
interface interface
120 8 8Mbit/s 4
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M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Chapter 7 Configuration and Examples
Chapter 7 Configuration and Examples
The processing capability of Huawei PCU equipment is measured by the number of

packet channels simultaneously activated. At present, the minimum PCU configuration
can support 120 packet channels, while its maximum single frame configuration is able
to support 1080 packet channels.
PCU has two main processing elements: RPPU and POMU. The RPPU implements
service functions on various protocol layers, while the POMU fulfills the operation and
maintenance functions.
When the RPPU board provides only the Pb interface, each RPPU board can support
120 packet channels activated at the same time and are configured in the N+1 backup.
When the RPPU provides only the Gb interface, each RPPU board can support about
8Mbit/s data flow, and are configured in load-sharing mode. The POMUs are configured
in the 1+1 backup mode.
Taking the 1024 carrier frequencies that Huawei large-capacity BSC can support as an
example, the PCU configuration is considered as follows:
Suppose GPRS packet channels are 10% of all the channels, and then the number of
packet channels is about 820.
Minimum number of RPPU boards used for Pb interface = 820/120 =6.83 ≈ 7 pcs.
Number of RPPU boards actually configured for Pb interface = 7+2 (used for N+1
backup)=9 pcs
Number of Pb interface E1s = 7×2+2×2 =18 pcs.
Minimum number of RPPU boards used for Gb interface = 820×11kbit/s
/(8Mbit/s×70%) = 1.61 ≈ 2 pcs.
Number of RPPU boards actually configured for Gb interface =2+1 (used for
backup)
Number of E1s actually used for Gb interface = 7+4=11 pcs.
Suppose coding scheme CS-2 is used, the data transmission rate of the Gb interface
corresponding to each radio packet channel is 11kbit/s. Table 7-1 shows the PCU
configuration list of the above example.
Table 7-1 PCU configuration example 1
Item for PCU configuration Qty. (pcs)

PCU cabinet 1
RPPU board for Pb interface 9
7-1
Technical Manual
Item for PCU configuration Qty. (pcs)

RPPU board for Gb interface 3
POMU board 2
Pb interface E1 18
Gb interface E1 10
When one PCU is connected to several BSCs, since each RPPU board can be
connected to only one BSC (except for the RPPU boards used for backup), the RPPU
boards needed for the Pb interface processing should be calculated individually by the
number of BSCs, while the number of Gb interfaces can be calculated together. Under
this circumstance, the PCU plays a big role in converging service volume. An example
is given below:
Suppose one PCU is required to connect two BSCs, with each BSC supporting 1024
carrier frequencies, and GPRS packet channels share 5% of all the channels, then the
number of packet channels for each BSC is 410.
Minimum number of RPPU boards used for Pb interface connected with BSC1 =
410/120 = 3.41 ≈ 4 pcs.
Minimum number of RPPU boards used for Pb interface connected with BSC2 =
410/120 = 3.41 ≈ 4 pcs.
Number of RPPU boards used for backup on Pb interface = 1 pcs.
Number of Pb interface E1s for BSC1 = 4×2+2 (used for backup) = 10 pcs
Number of Pb interface E1s for BSC2 = 4×2+2 (used for backup) = 10 pcs.
Minimum number of RPPU boards used for Gb interface = 820×11k /(8M×70%) =
1.61 ≈ 2 pcs.
Number of RPPU boards actually used for Gb interface =2+1 (backup)=3 pcs
Number of E1 used for Gb interface = 7+4=11 pcs.
Table 7-2 shows the PCU configuration of the above example.
Table 7-2 PCU configuration example 2
Item for PCU Configuration Qty. (pcs)

PCU cabinet 1
Pb interface RPPU board 9
Gb interface RPPU board 3
POMU board 2
Pb interface E1 20
Gb interface E1 11
7-2
Technical Manual
Huawei PCU allows flexible Pb/Ater interfaces networking modes. Under this
circumstance, the semi-permanent connection function provided by the RPPU board
that processes Pb interface is adopted, and extra E1 ports could possibly be occupied.
However, it will not limit the processing capability of RPPU boards, as each RPPU
board can provide 4 E1 ports, which under most cases are sufficient.
7-3
Technical Manual
M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Appendix A Abbreviation
Appendix A Abbreviation
A
AB Access Burst
AC Access Class (C0 to C15)
ACC Automatic Congestion Control
ACCH Associated Control CHannel
ACK ACKnowledgment
AGCH Access Grant CHannel
ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One
ARFCN Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number
ARQ Automatic ReQuest for retransmission
B
BA BCCH Allocation
BCC Base Transceiver Station (BTS) Colour Code
BCCH Broadcast Control CHannel
BCD Binary Coded Decimal
BER Bit Error Rate
BFI Bad Frame Indication
BN Bit Number
BSC Base Station Controller
BSIC Base transceiver Station Identity Code
BSIC-NCELL BSIC of an adjacent cell
BSS Base Station System
BSSAP Base Station System Application Part
BSSGP Base Station System GPRS Protocol
BSSMAP Base Station System Management Application Part
BSSOMAP Base Station System Operation and Maintenance
Application Part
BTS Base Transceiver Station
C
CA Cell Allocation
A-1
Technical Manual
CC Call Control
CCCH Common Control CHannel
CCH Control Channel
CCU Channel Codec Unit
CI Cell Identity
CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio
CKSN Ciphering Key Sequence Number
CM Connection Management
CMD CoMmanD
COM COMplete
C/R Command/Response field bit
CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check (3 bit)
D
DB Dummy Burst Dummy
DCCH Dedicated Control CHannel
DCS-1800 Digital Cellular System at 1800MHz
DL Data Link (layer)
DLCI Data Link Connection Identifier
DRX Discontinuous reception (mechanism)
DTAP Direct Transfer Application Part
DTE Data Terminal Equipment
DTX Discontinuous transmission (mechanism)
E
EA External Alarms
EIR Equipment Identity Register
EMC ElectroMagnetic Compatibility
EMMI Electrical Man Machine Interface
EPROM Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory
ERR ERRor
ETR ETSI Technical Report
ETS European Telecommunication Standard
ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
F
A-2
Technical Manual
FACCH Fast Associated Control CHannel

FB Frequency correction Burst
FCCH Frequency Correction CHannel
FCS Frame Check Sequence
FH Frequency Hopping
FN Frame Number
G
GMSC Gateway Mobile-services Switching Centre
GMSK Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (modulation)
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile communications
GSM PLMN GSM Public Land Mobile Network
H
HDLC High level Data Link Control
HLR Home Location Register
HPLMN Home PLMN
HSC Hot Swappable Control
HSN Hopping Sequence Number
I
I Information frame
ID IDentification/Identity/IDentifier
IE (signalling) Information Element
IEI Information Element Identifier
IMEI International Mobile station Equipment Identity
IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
ISO International Organization for Standardization
ITU International Telecommunication Union
IWF InterWorking Function
K
Kc Ciphering key
Ki Individual subscriber authentication key
L
A-3
Technical Manual
L1 Layer 1
L2PU Layer 2 Process Unit
L2R Layer 2 Relay
L3 Layer 3
LA Location Area
LAC Location Area Code
LAI Location Area Identity
LAPDm Link Access Protocol on the Dm channel
LCS Location Service
LLC Logical Link Control (layer)
LLC-PDU Logical Link Control Packet Data Unit
LPLMN Local PLMN
LU Location Update
M
M Mandatory
MA Mobile Allocation
MAC Medium Access Control
MAI Mobile Allocation Index
MAIO Mobile Allocation Index Offset
MCC Mobile Country Code
ME Mobile Equipment
MM Mobility Management
MMI Man Machine Interface
MNC Mobile Network Code
MO Mobile Originated
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
MS Mobile Station
MSC Mobile-services Switching Centre, Mobile Switching
Centre
MSCM Mobile Station Class Mark
MSISDN Mobile Station International ISDN Number
MT Mobile Terminated
N
NB Normal Burst
A-4
Technical Manual
NCC Network (PLMN) Colour Code

NCELL Neighbouring (of current serving) Cell
NM Network Management
NSAP Network Service Access Point
NT Non Transparent
O
O Optional
OAM Operation Administration Maintenance
O&M Operations & Maintenance
OMC Operations & Maintenance Centre
OML Operations and Maintenance Link
OS Operating System
OSI Open System Interconnection
OSI RM OSI Reference Model
P
PACCH Packet Associated Control CHannel
PAGCH Packet Access Grant CHannel
PBCCH Packet Broadcast Control CHannel
PCCCH Packet Common Control CHannel
PCH Paging Channel
PCM Pulse Code Modulation
PCU Packet Control Unit
PD Protocol Discriminator
PDCH Packet Data Channel
PH PHysical (layer)
PICS Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement
PIN Personal Identification Number
PLMN Public Lands Mobile Network
POMU Packet Operation & Maintenance Unit
PP Point-to-Point
PPCH Packet Paging Channel
PRACH Packet Random Access CHannel
PSI Packet System Information
A-5
Technical Manual
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

Q
QoS Quality of Service
R
RA RAndom mode request information field
RACH Random Access Channel
REJ REJect(ion)
REL RELease
REQ REQuest
RF Radio Frequency
RFCH Radio Frequency CHannel
RFN Reduced TDMA Frame Number
RFU Reserved for Future Use
RLC Radio Link Control
RPPU Radio Packet Process Unit
RRBP Relative Reserved Block Period
RSL Radio Signalling Link
RXLEV Received signal level
RXQUAL Received Signal Quality
S
S/W SoftWare
SABM Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode
SACCH Slow Associated Control CHannel
SAP Service Access Point
SAPI Service Access Point Indicator
SB Synchronization Burst
SCH Synchronization Channel
SDCCH Stand-alone Dedicated Control CHannel
SDU Service Digital Unit
SGSN Service GPRS Support Node
SI13 System Information 13
SIM Subscriber Identity Module
SMG Special Mobile Group
A-6
Technical Manual
SMS Short Message Service

SMSCB Short Message Service Cell Broadcast
SMS-SC Short Message Service - Service Centre
SMS/PP Short Message Service/Point-to-Point
SS Supplementary Service
SS System Simulator
SS7 Signalling System No. 7
T
TA Terminal Adaptor
TA Timing Advance (between an MS and its serving BTS)
TAF Terminal Adaptation Function
TBF Temporary Block Flow
TCH Traffic Channel
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
TE Terminal Equipment
Tei Terminal endpoint identifier
TFI Temporary Flow Identity
TI Transaction Identifier
TLLI Temporary Logical Link Identity
TMN Telecommunications Management Network
TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity
TN Timeslot Number
TOA Time of Arrival
TRX Transceiver
TS Time Slot
TS Technical Specification
TSC Training Sequence Code
U
UPD Up to date
USF Uplink State Flag
V
VLR Visitor Location Register
A-7
Technical Manual
VMSC Visited MSC

VPLMN Visited PLMN
A-8
Technical Manual
M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit Appendix B Basics about RLC/MAC
Appendix B Basics about RLC/MAC
B.1 Basic Concepts
I. Radio Block
A radio block is a 4-normal-burst sequence that carries a RLC/MAC PDU (Protocol

Data Unit).
II. TBF (Temporary Block Flow)
The TBF is a physical connection for data transfer between the RR entity of the MS and
that of the BSS. It only exists during the process of data transfer.
III. TFI (Temporary Flow Identity)
The TFI is the identity for the TBF, which is uniquely identified by the TFI and the data
transfer direction. TFI is 5-bitand ranges 0~31. Different channels in the same TRX can
use the same TFI, which can identify the same TBF or different TBFs. Any TFI at the
same channel uniquely belongs to an uplink or downlink TBF at any time. The uplink
and downlink TBFs can use different TFIs at the same time, or they can use the same
TFI.
IV. USF (Uplink State Flag)
The USF is an uplink state flag which is responsible for controlling radio channels used
by multiple MSs when the MAC mode is a dynamic allocation mode. USF is 3-bitand
ranges 0~7.
V. GPRS MS Type
To meet various GPRS user requirements, the GPRS standard specifies three classes
of GPRS MSs: Class A, Class B, and Class C demonstrating different capabilities of the
MS in implementing GPRS and circuit-based services. GPRS MS classes are as
follows:
1) Class A
A Class A mobile phone can implement both GPRS and circuit services at the same
time, including simultaneous attach, activation, monitoring, and dispatch. GPRS and
circuit services are implemented over different timeslots. Therefore a Class A mobile
phone requires 2 timeslots at least to complete two services concurrently.
B-1
Technical Manual
2) Class B
A Class B mobile phone can implement simultaneous attaches, activation and
monitoring in GPRS and circuit services, except dispatch. GPRS and circuit service
data must be transmitted in a certain sequence. The Class B mobile phone processes
these two services at different timeslots.
3) Class C
A Class C mobile phone separates GPRS and circuit services. To implement another
service, it is necessary to reattach and initialize.
VI. Network Operation Mode
The GPRS network provides the combined circuit/packet paging function. Combined
paging means that the network transmits packet and circuit pages over the same
channel, and the MS only needs to monitor a channel.
Combined paging can improve the utility of radio resources. It is supported by network
operation mode. The GPRS network defines the following three operation modes:
z Network operation mode 1: for GPRS attached MS, network transmits circuit
pages either over the same channel (PCH or PPCH) with that transmitting packet
pages, or packet service channel. The MS only needs to monitor a paging channel.
If it is assigned a PDCH, then it is likely to receive circuit pages from this PDCH.
z Network operation mode 2: for GPRS attached MS, network transmits circuit
pages over a PCH, which is also used for packet paging. The MS only needs to
monitor the PCH. Even if the MS is assigned a PDCH, the circuit page to it is also
transmitted over the PCH.
z Network operation mode 3: for GPRS attached MS, network circuit pages over the
PCH, and transmits packet pages over the PPCH (if the cell comes with the
PCCCH) or PCH. In order to receive both circuit and packet pages, MS need
monitor the PCH and PPCH (if a cell is configured with the PCCCH). In this mode,
combined circuit/packet paging is out of the question.
z When the Gs interface of MSC-SGSN is provided, circuit pages to the GPRS
attached MS are transmitted along MSC--SGSN--BSS, and the network supports
combined circuit/packet paging as operation mode 1.
If this Gs interface is not available, circuit pages to the GPRS attached MS are
transmitted through the A interface of MSC-BSS. Combined Circuit/packet paging can
not be supported, and the network operation mode is either of the following two:
z Operation mode 2: if the cell is not configured with PCCCH , packet pages are
transmitted over the PCH;
z Operation mode 3: if the cell is configured with PCCCH, packet pages are
transmitted over the PPCH.
B-2
Technical Manual
The network operation mode is broadcast to the MS as part of the system message. All
the cells in a routing area use the same operation mode.
B.2 Basic Flow for PCU
B.2.1 Uplink TBF Setup and Data Transmission Flow
When there are data to be transmitted at the upper layer, the RLC.MAC of the MS
originates a packet channel request. The BSS assigns MS the radio resources for the
setup of the TBF connection. Then the MS begins to transmit data, and releases the
TBF connection at the end of data transmission.
When the data to be transmitted are less than 8 RLC blocks, the channel request type
for the MS will be the short access type, and packets are calculated by CS-1 coding. If
the data are more than 8 RLC blocks in size and the RLC modes is required to be the
ACK mode, then the channel request type for the MS is one phase access or two phase
access. If the measurement report (MR) of the MS is to be transferred, the channel
request type is single block request of not-set-up TBF. In addition, channel request
types include response to page, cell update, and mobility management. But the BSS
processes these channel request types as one phase or two-phase access.
The processing flow for short access and one phase access are as shown in
Figure B-1.
MS BSS
PACKET CHANNEL REQUEST
PACKET UPLINK ASSINGMENT
Start to transmit uplink data
Figure B-1 TBF setup flow for short access and one phase access
As for short access and one phase access, the BSS assigns at one time the MS radio
resources (for example: the TFI, dynamically assign USF or stably assign radio block
bit table). Then the MS begins to transfer data.
The processing flow for two-phase access is as shown in Figure B-2.
B-3
Technical Manual
MS BSS
PACKET CHANNEL REQUEST
PACKET RESOURCE REQUEST
Data transfer begins
Figure B-2 Flow for two-phase access TBF setup
As for the two-phase access channel request, the BSS assigns the MS a radio block for
the first time, and the MS transfers the PACKET RESOURCE REQUEST message
over the assigned single radio block. Then BSS assigns the MS radio resources
(including the TFI, USF or radio block bit table) for a second time, and the MS begins to
transmit data over the assigned resources. The PACKET CHANNEL REQUEST is just
an 8-bit or 11-bit access burst carrying a small volume of information. The PACKET
RESOURCE REQUEST is a RLC/MAC signaling packet encoded by CS-1, carrying
more information (including MS' TLLI, MS' multi-TS capability, and radio preference). It
is optimal for BSS to assign the MS appropriate resources.
There are two RLC modes for data transmission: ACK mode and non-ACK (NACK)
mode. In ACK mode, it is necessary to receive an ACK message from the receiver each
time when an RLC data block is sent. Only when all the data are transmitted and
positive acknowledgment messages are received will TBF be released; in NACK mode,
TBF can be released once the data are transmitted.
The flow for Uplink ACK data transmission is as shown in Figure B-3.
B-4
Technical Manual
MS BSS
data
data
PACKET UPLINK ACK/NACK
data
PACKET UPLINK ACK/NACK
data
data(CV=0)
PACKET UPLINK ACK/NACK(FAI=1)
PACKET CONTROL ACK
Figure B-3 Flow for uplink ACK data transmission
During data transmission, the BSS acknowledges the data transmitted to the MS, which
considers the retransmission of data blocks according to the acknowledgment. When
the final No. BS_CV_MAX (BS_CV_MAX is the broadcast parameter in the system
message) of data are transmitted, the MS starts the countdown process. When the
BSS receives a data block whose CV is 0, a PACKET UPLINK ACK/NACK message is
sent to the MS. If all the data blocks are correctly received, then the BSS set the FAI in
the message as 1. To retransmit some data blocks, then set the FAI as 0. If the MS
receives a PACKET UPLINK ACK/NACK message whose FAI is 1, then the PAKCET
CONTROL ACK message is sent, and then TBF is released.
The uplink NACK mode transmission flow is basically the same as the ACK data
transmission, except that no data are retransmitted during data block transmission in
NACK mode.
B.2.2 Packet Paging Flow
When the MS is in the Standby status, if some downlink data are to be transmitted to
the MS, then the SGSN will originate pages. A paging request message originated by
the SGSN is transferred to the BSS through the Gb interface, and then converted to the
PACKET PAGING REQUEST message by BSS at the Um interface and issued over
the PPCH or PCH.
On receiving a page message, the MS initiates an uplink TBF setup process. It

transmits the page response PDU packet in data form via Um interface to the BSS. The
BSS forwards this packet t to the SGSN, which labels the MS as Ready. Now downlink
data can be transmitted.
B-5
Technical Manual
B.2.3 Circuit Page Flow
When the combined IMSI/GPRS attached MS serves as a called party in the circuit
services, the MSC will originate a circuit service page request to the SGSN via the Gs
interface. This page request is issued over the PPCH/PCH or PACCH after transmitted
to the BSS via the Gb interface.
On receiving this message, the MS accesses over the RACH and starts the circuit
connection setup process. The MS will initiate the GPRS SUSPEND process to
suspend GPRS service, and will not restore it until the circuit connection is released.
B.2.4 Downlink TBF Setup and Data Transmission Flow
When the MS is in the ready state, the SGSN may transmit the downlink data to the MS.
The downlink data are transmitted to the BSS via the Gb interface. The BSS initiates
the downlink TBF setup flow. The downlink TBF setup flow is as shown in Figure B-4.
MS BSS
PACKET DOWNLINK ASSINGMENT
PACKET CONTROL ACK
Data transfer begins
Figure B-4 Downlink TBF setup flow
On receiving a packet, the BSS transfers the downlink assignment message to the MS
directly over the PAGCH/AGCH, and requires the MS to send back a control
acknowledgement message. On receiving this control acknowledgment message, the
BSS will begin to transmit downlink data.
The downlink ACK data transmission flow is as shown in Figure B-5.
MS BSS
data
data(Placed in RRBP field)
PACKET DOWNLINK ACK/NACK
data
data(FBI=1,Placed in RRBP field)
PACKET DOWNLINK ACK/NACK(FAI=1)
Start T3193, and release TBF
when timeout
Figure B-5 Downlink data transmission flow
B-6
Technical Manual
During data transmission, the MS acknowledges data blocks received, and the BSS
retransmits data with transmission errors. When transmitting the final data block, the
BSS sets the RRBP field in the RLC/MAC data block header and set the FBI as 1 and
set FBI as 1. On receiving this data block, the MS will send the PACKET DOWNLINK
ACK/NACK message. When the MS has correctly received all the data blocks, it sets
the FBI in this message as 1. On receiving this message, the BSS starts T3193 and
releases TBF when T3193 is timeout, so as to reuses the resources taken up by this
TBF. If there are errors in the data received by the MS, the BSS will retransmit the data
with transmission errors till they are all correctly received.
The downlink NACK mode is basically the same as the ACK mode, except that data are
not retransmitted in the ACK mode.
B-7

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Chapter 1 General Introduction Introduction ................................................

Appendix A Abbreviation ................................................................................ A-1

Appendix B Basics about RLC/MAC .............................................................. B-1

M900/M1800 Packet Control Unit

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

Manual Version T2-030298-20050205-C-3.36

Product Version V300R003

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Address: Administration Building, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.,

Bantian, Longgang District, Shenzhen, P. R. China

Postal Code: 518129

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

All Rights Reserved

No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

, HUAWEI, C&C08, EAST8000, HONET, , ViewPoint, INtess, ETS, DMC,

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

M900/M1800 Packet Control

M900/M1800 Packet Control

M900/M1800 Packet Control

M900/M1800 Packet Control

M900/M1800 Packet Control It introduces the breakdown may occurred in the

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

The manual consists of the following chapters:

Chapter 1 is the general introduction of PCU.

Chapter 2 is the functional description of PCU

Chapter 3 is the system structure of PCU.

Chapter 4 is the interface of PCU

Chapter 5 is about the principle of operation and maintenance of PCU.

Chapter 6 introduces the technical indexes of PCU.

Chapter 7 is the configuration and examples of PCU.

Appendix A is the abbreviation used in this manual.

Appendix B is the basics about RLC/MAC

The manual is intended for the following readers:

This document uses the following conventions:

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

Caution, Warning, Danger: Means reader be extremely careful during the

Note, Comment, Tip, Knowhow, Thought: Means a complementary description.

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

Chapter 1 General Introduction ................................................................................................... 1-1

Chapter 2 Functional Description................................................................................................ 2-1

Chapter 3 System Structure ......................................................................................................... 3-1

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

3.3 Software Architecture ........................................................................................................ 3-3

Chapter 4 Interface Functions...................................................................................................... 4-1

Chapter 5 Operation & Maintenance ........................................................................................... 5-1

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

5.3.1 Configuration Management..................................................................................... 5-4

Chapter 6 Technical Indices......................................................................................................... 6-1

Chapter 7 Configuration and Examples ...................................................................................... 7-1

Appendix A Abbreviation .............................................................................................................A-1

Appendix B Basics about RLC/MAC ...........................................................................................B-1

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

Chapter 1 General Introduction

Um interface BTS GSM network

OMC OMC server OMC

GSM/GPRS O&M subsystem

Figure 1-1 The position of the BSS in the GPRS/GSM network

Huawei Technologies Proprietary

piece of semi-independent equipment. Functionally, it is a part of BSC. Whereas in

BSC site GSN site

Packet switching Circuit switching (16kbit/s or 64kbit/s) Gb

Figure 1-2 The location of PCU

The typical networking method is shown as Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3 Typical networking mode of PCU