Location Area Planning

www.huawei.com

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Definition of Location Area

GSM mobile communication network is divided into multiple
service areas according to the codes of location areas.

Location area is the basic unit of paging areas in GSM system.

The paging message of a subscriber is sent in all cells of a
location area.

A location area contains one or more BSCs, but it belongs to one

MSC only.

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page2

1
Definition of Location Area

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page3

Location Area Code LAC

Definition
To locate the location of MS, the whole area covered by each
GSM PLMN is divided into different location areas. LAC is used
to identify different location areas.

Format
LAI contains LAC, which is composed of two bytes. LAC
adopts hexadecimal coding. The available range is from 0001H
to FFFEH. The code 0000H and FFFFH cannot be used
(please refer to specification GSM0303, 0408, and 1111). One
location area can contain one or more cells.

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page4

2
Location Update

Purpose of location update:

To inform the system the LA in which the MS is to

facilitate paging

When need the MS perform location update

Getting into a new LA

Periodical location update

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page5

Size of location areas

The size of a location area, plays a key role in a GSM system.

If the size of location area is too big, the paging traffic will be higher,
perhaps PCH will be congestion.

If the size of location area is too small, the MS will occur more
location update process. The signaling traffic is higher, SDCCH
channel perhaps be congestion.

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page6

3
Paging VS Location update Traffic
signaling
traffic

Paging Location update

optimum number # of cells in Loc. area

of cells in Loc. area

minimize signaling traffic

optimum varies with network evolution

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page7

Division of location areas

If two or more location areas are present in a big city of great
traffic, the landforms, such as mountains and rivers within this city
can be used as edges of the location areas.

If no such landforms available within this city, the areas (such as

streets and shopping centers) with great traffic cannot be used as
edges of the location areas.

In the intersected areas of urban areas and suburban areas, to

avoid frequent location update, should design the edges of
location areas near the outer base stations.

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page8

4
Location Area Design For Dual-band
If 1800 MHz cells and 900 MHz cells are under the control of two
MSCs respectively, their location areas are different.

Related parameters should be set to maintain the mobile stations

stay in the 1800 MHz cells where the traffic is absorbed. In this
case, the times for the mobile station to handover between the two
bands and reselect cells will decrease.

Designing signaling channels, fully consider the load resulted from

location update.

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page9

Location Area Design For Dual-band

If 1800 MHz cells and 900 MHz cells share a MSC, at the early
network construction stage, they are suggested to use the same
location area without affecting the network capacity.

If the restriction on paging capacity is present, two location areas

must be divided for them either in terms of band or geographic
location, as shown in Figure .

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page10

5
Location Area Design For Dual-band

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page11

Location Area Design For Dual-band

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page12

6
Location Area Design For Dual-band
If the location is divided in terms of geographic location, the
frequent location updates resulted from inter-band handover and
cell reselection can be avoided.
However, need to modify the related data of the original 900 MHz
network. In addition, at the edges of the location areas, because
the location updates caused by intra-band and inter-band
handover and cell reselection is present simultaneously, the
signaling flow is huge at these edges. As a result, carefully design
the edges of the location areas.

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page13

Physical Combination of Logical Channel

26-frame multi-frame
TCH/F+SACCH/F (full-rate TCH)
TCH/H+SACCH/H (half-rate TCH)

51-frames multi-frame
FCCH+SCH+BCCH+CCCH (main BCCH)
FCCH+SCH+BCCH+CCCH+SDCCH/4+SACCH/4 (combined BCCH)
BCCH+CCCH (extended BCCH)
SDCCH/8+SACCH/8 (main SDCCH)

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page14

7
 Structure of Main BCCH
1 multi-frame (51TDMA Frames) 235.38ms Downlink
Group3,4
Group Group1 Group2 (same as Grpup5
Group2)

Channel F S BX4 CX4 F S CX4 CX4 …… F S CX4 CX4 I

Frame
0 1 2-5 6-9 10 11 12-15 16-19 20-39 40 41 42-45 46-49 50
Number

1 multi-frame (51TDMA Frames) 235.38ms Uplink

Channel R R R R R R R R R R R R R R……R R R R R

Frame
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13-46 47 48 49 50
Number

F:FCCH; S:SCH; B:BCCH; C:CCCH; I:IDLE; R:RACH

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page15

Structure of Combined BCCH

1 multi-frame (51TDMA Frames) 235.38ms Downlink

Group Group1 Group2 Group3 Group4 Grpup5

B C C C D0 D1 D2 D3 A0 A1
Channel F S F S F S F S F S I
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

B C C C D0 D1 D2 D3 A2 A3
Channel F S F S F S F S F S I
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Frame 12- 16- 22- 26- 32- 36- 42- 46-

0 1 2-5 6-9 10 11 20 21 30 31 40 41 50
Number 15 19 25 29 35 39 45 49

1 multi-frame (51TDMA Frames) 235.38ms Uplink

Channel D3 4 R R A2 4 A3 4 R……R D0 4 D1 4 R R D2 4
Channel D0 4 R R A0 4 A1 4 R……R D0 4 D1 4 R R D2 4
Frame 0-3 4 5 6-9 10-13 14-36 37-40 41-44 45 46 47-50
Number

F:FCCH; S:SCH; B:BCCH; C:CCCH; D:SDCCH ;A:SACCH; I:IDLE; R:RACH

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page16

8
 Structure of Logical Channel
Combination Frame-Main SDCCH
1 multi-frame (51TDMA Frames) 235.38ms Downlink

D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 A0 A1 A2 A3
Channel I I I
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 A4 A5 A6 A7
Channel I I I
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Frame 12- 16- 20- 24- 28- 32- 36- 40- 44-
0-3 4-7 8-11 48 49 50
Number 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47

1 multi-frame (51TDMA Frames) 235.38ms Uplink

A5 A6 A7 D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 A0
Channel I I I
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
A1 A2 A3 D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 A4
Channel I I I
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Frame 15- 19- 23- 27- 31- 35- 39- 43- 47-
0-3 4-7 8-11 12 13 14
Number 18 22 26 30 34 38 42 46 50

D:SDCCH; A:SACCH; I:IDLE

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page17

ATT
Value range: Yes, No

Content It is used to inform MS whether IMSI attach-detach is

allowed in this cell. If it is set to “Yes”, the network will not
process the connection to the called mobile subscriber when MS
is power-off. Thus network processing time and radio resources
are saved. Otherwise the network will process the connection
even though the MS has been powered off.

Recommendation Yes

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page18

9
CCCH_CONF
Value range: 1 Non-Compounding CCCH, 1 Compounding CCCH, 2
Non-Compounding CCCHs, 3 Non-compounding CCCHs, 4 Non-
compounding CCCHs.
Content: It is “Common Control Channel Configuration”. CCCH
configuration determines the capacity of PCH, AGCH and RACH. This
parameter can be automatically configured by the BSC Data Auto
Configuration System according to the TRX channel configuration.
Recommendation: When there is one TRX in the cell, one combined
CCCH is recommended (in a system with few paging messages in
location area). For others, it is configured according to the number of
TRX in the cell.

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page19

BS_AG_BLKS_RES
Value range: 0~2 (1 combined CCCH), 0~7 (others)

Unit: Block

Content: It is also called Access Granted Blocks Reserved. It is

the number of CCCH channel message blocks that are reserved
in one multi-frame for access granted channels (AGCH).

Recommendation: 2 (non-combined CCCH)

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page20

10
 BS_PA_MFRAMES
Value range: 2 9

Unit: Multi-frame period (51 frames)

Content: It is Paging Channel Multi-frames. It defines the

number of multi-frames used as a cycle of paging sub-
channels.

Recommendation: 2

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page21

T3212
Value range: 0~255

Unit: 6 minutes

Content: It is the Periodic Location Update Timer. It defines the

interval of periodic location update.

Recommendation: 30 (for urban area), 20 (for suburban area)

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page22

11
CRH
Value Range: 0~14, the step size is 2dB

Unit: dB

Default Value: 6

Description: Cell Reselection Hysteresis. It is the parameter used

when cell reselection happens between two location areas.

Location: Cell Attributes/Idle Mode/Basic Idle Parameters

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page23

TCH Immediate Assignment

Value Range: Yes, No

Default Value : No

Description: Option "Yes" means that TCH channel can be

immediately assigned as signaling and traffic channel when
SDCCH has no available resource. The option "No" means that
only SDCCH can be assigned.

Location: Cell Attributes

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page24

12
Calculating For Location Area
Generally, the capacity of a location area is calculated as
follows:

The number of paging blocks sent in each second the

number of paging messages sent in each paging block =
the maximum paging times in each second.

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page25

Calculating For Location Area

The number of paging blocks sent in each second

1 frame = 4.61ms,

1 multiframe = 51 frames = 0.2354s;

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page26

13
Calculating For Location Area
suppose the number of access grant blocks is AGB, the number of
blocks, the number of paging blocks sent in each second is
calculated by the following formulas:

For non-combined BCCH, the number of paging blocks sent in

each second = (9 – AGB)/0.2345 (paging block/second).
For non-combined BCCH, the AGB is 2 according to Huawei BSC.
Therefore, the number of paging blocks sent in each second is 29.7
(paging block/second).

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page27

Calculating For Location Area

suppose the number of access grant blocks is AGB, the number of
blocks, the number of paging blocks sent in each second is
calculated by the following formulas:

For combined BCCH, the number of paging blocks sent in each

second = (3 – AGB)/0.2345 (paging block/second).
For combined-BCCH, the AGB is 1, so the number of paging blocks
sent in each second is 8.5 (paging blocks/second).

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page28

14
Calculating For Location Area
The number of paging messages sent in each paging block
(X)
According to protocols, each paging block has 23 bytes, and
can send 2 IMSI pages, or 2 TMSI and 1 IMSI pages, or 4
TMSI pages.

According to the paging strategies of Huawei MSC, if the IMSI

paging mechanism is adopted, the number of paging
messages sent in each paging blocks is 2 (paging times/paging
block); if the TMSI paging mechanism is adopted, it is 4
(paging times/paging block)

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page29

Calculating For Location Area

If the IMSI paging mechanism is adopted, for non-combined
BCCH
when AGB = 2, P = 59.47 (paging times/second);
For combined-BCCH
when AGB = 1, P = 16.99 (paging times/second);

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page30

15
Calculating For Location Area
If the TMSI paging mechanism is adopted, for non-combined
BCCH,
when AGB = 2, P = 118.95 (paging times/second);
For combined BCCH,
when AGB = 1, P = 33.98 (paging times/second);

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page31

Calculating For Location Area

Paging Capability (Hour)= [(CCCH CONF-BS AG BLKS
RES) Paging Strategy 3600] / [51 TDMA period
(1+Sencond Paging Ratio)]

Paging Strategy: IMSI paging or TMSI paging

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page32

16
Calculating For Location Area
LAC Capability (ERL)= [(CCCH CONF-BS AG BLKS
RES) Paging Strategy Average Holding Time Average
Paging Load at BTS ] / [51 TDMA period (1+Sencond
Paging Ratio) MTC Ratio]

Paging Strategy: IMSI paging or TMSI paging

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page33

Calculating For Location Area

LAC Capability (TRX)= LAC Capability (ERL) / Average
Traffic Volume per TRX (1+TCHH Ratio) ]

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page34

17
Calculating For Location Area
CCCH CONF Main BCCH

BS AG BLKS RES 5

Sencond Paging Ratio 15%

Paging Strategy TMSI

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page35

Calculating For Location Area

CCCH CONF 9
BS AG BLKS RES 2
BS PA MFRMS 2
Sencond Paging Ratio 15%
MTC Ratio 50%
Average Paging Load at BTS 50%
TCHH Ratio 70%
Average Holding Time 58
Paging Strategy TMSI
Average Traffic Volume per TRX 4.8

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page36

18
Calculating For Location Area

[(9 - 2) × 2 × 4 × 3600]
Paging Capability (Hour) = = 372813
51× 0.00461× 2 × (1 + 0.15)

[(9 - 2) × 4 × 58] × 0.5

LAC Capability (ERL) = = 6006
51× 0.00461× (1 + 0.15)× 0.5

LAC Capability (TRX)= 6006 / 4.8 (1+ 0.7) ] =736

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page37

Copyright © 2009 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Page38

19
Thank you
www.huawei.com

20