OMP110040 GSM Location Area Planning ISSUE1.54

Location Area Planning
www.huawei.com
Copyright © 2011 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents
1. Location Area Overview
2. Location Area Planning Principle
3. Paging Strategies in Location Area
4. LAC capacity calculation
Copyright © 2011 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Page2
Definition of Location Area
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.
Definition of Location Update
The Purpose of location update The Time of location update
 To inform the system the  Normal location updating

LA in which the MS is to  Periodical location
facilitate paging updating
 IMSI attach
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
Contents
Location Area Planning Principle
1. It is no suggested that the size of LA is too large or too small.
 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.
2. In order to reduce the number of location update at the edge
of LA, MS’s geography distributing and behavior should
be fully used to design LA
LACn
Suburban 2
LACn
LACn
Suburban1 LAC2
Urban Suburban 3
LAC5
LAC1
LAC3
LACn
LACn LAC4
Suburban n Suburban 4
3. LA should be a continue area, avoiding or reducing BTS hybrid
networking
4. Location area design for dual-band network (please refer

to the next page)
Location Area Design For Dual-band
 There are three dual-band networking modes
Independent Networking Hybrid Networking
Independent MSC Co-MSC/ Co-BSC

Networking Independent BSC Networkin
Networking g
MSC MSC MSC MSC
BSC
BSC BSC BSC BSC
900 1800 900 1800 900 1800 900/1800

BTS BTS BTS BTS BTS BTS BTS
Independent MSC Networking
MSC MSC
BSC BSC BSC BSC
1800 cell 1800 cell

LA2
900 cell
900 cell LA1
 Location Update between GSM900 and DCS1800 is easily to happen
 Handover between GSM900 and DCS1800 is inter MSC handover
Co-MSC/Independent BSC Networking
MSC
BSC BSC BSC BSC
1800 cell 1800 cell
LA1 LA2
900 cell
900 cell
 Location Update between GSM900 and DCS1800 is not easily to happen
 Handover between GSM900 and DCS1800 is inter BSC handover while not inter MSC
Co-MSC/Independent BSC Networking
 In the early network construction stage, it is 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 frequency
band or geographic location, as shown in figure.
900M Cell 900M Cell 900M Cell

LA2 900M Cell 900M Cell 900M Cell 900M Cell
1800M 1800M 1800M 1800M 1800M 1800M

1800M Cell 1800M Cell 1800M Cell 1800M Cell
LA1
LA1 LA2
Co-BSC Networking
MSC
BSC BSC BSC BSC
1800 cell 1800 cell
LA1 LA2
900 cell
900 cell
 Location Update between GSM900 and DCS1800 is not easily to happen

 Handover between GSM900 and DCS1800 is intra BSC while not inter MSC handover
Contents
Contents
3.1 Characteristics of the Paging Message
3.2 Paging Strategies
3.3 Paging Channel and Paging Group
3.4 Parameters Related to Location Area
Characteristics of the Paging Message
„TMSI paging
strategy
„IMSI paging
strategy
„the BSC and „Unacknowledge

BTS receive d mode on the
many paging Characteristics of LAPDm layer of
messages, the Paging the Um interface
which may Message
lead to
overload
„The assignment
message and paging
message (CS paging
and PS paging) share
the downlink CCCH
Contents
Paging Strategies
LA paging or
global paging
IMSI implicit IMSI paging or
detach timer
setting TMSI paging
Paging time and

paging duration
setting
Paging Strategies
 LA paging or global paging
 The following solution is adopted according to local LA distribution
condition and subscribers’ behavior
 Dense urban
– It takes an obvious effect to adopt the whole network paging at the last time
 Marginal areas
– There is no obvious effect to adopt the whole network paging
 Network where PCH is about to overload or already overload

– It is suggested to adopt LA paging at the second or third time
 Segmental network
– It may adopt the whole network paging at the last time if paging capacity is enough
Paging Strategies
 IMSI paging or TMSI paging
Depending on the MSC

paging strategy
IMSI paging
TMSI paging
There is only IMSI while
no TMSI information in It needs to carry TMSI
paging message and IMSI (used to
calculate paging group
by BSC) information in
paging message.
Paging Strategies
 Paging time and paging duration setting
 Paging time and paging duration setting is based on signaling
analysis in A interface
 It is suggested to set the paging time to be more than 2 times
 Generally, paging duration is suggested to set to around 10s, no

more than 20s
Paging Response Delay Paging Duration
Also available in MSC side

The Second Paging
Response
Paging Time
signaling analysis in A interface
Paging Strategies
 IMSI implicit detach timer (in MSC) setting
 If the duration of the  If the duration of the
periodic location update is periodic location update is
less than 30min, the duration more than 30min, the
of this timer is recommended duration of this timer is
to be set to five minutes plus recommended to be set to 5-
twice the duration of the 10 minutes plus the duration
periodic location update. of the periodic location
update.
Therefore, it is advised to set the duration of the IMSI
Implicit Off-line Timer to 1.1-2.1 times as the duration
of periodic location update in the BSC.
Paging Combination
 Paging combination is used to improve the utilization of the Um
interface.
The paging command
The BTS combines the issued by the BSC to the
most possible paging BTS contains the
commands for the MSs information of only one
that belong to the same MS
paging group and sends
one paging request to Paging command1
these MSs
Paging command2
Paging Paging command3
command
1&2&3&4 Paging command4
MS1
BTS BSC
MS4 MS3
MS2
Speech Service Paging Preferred
 Basic Principle
New CS Paging
CS Paging3
…
The first non-CS paging
SM Paging2
Paging queue
(SM paging or PS
CS Paging2 is full paging) is replaced by
PS Paging1 the CS paging message
SM Paging1
CS Paging1
PCH3 …
 Performance Analysis
 This function helps to ensure the quality of speech services in
paging overload conditions where groups of short messages are
transmitted. However, the quality of short message services and PS
services may be affected.
Contents
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)
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 1 12- 4 4 46-

0 1 2-5 6-9 10 16-19 20-39 42-45 50
Number 1 15 0 1 49
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 4 4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13-46 47 50
Number 8 9
F:FCCH; S:SCH; B:BCCH; C:CCCH; I:IDLE; R:RACH
Structure of Combined BCCH
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
12 16 22 26 32 36 42 46
Frame 2- 6-
0 1 10 11 - - 20 21 - - 30 31 - - 40 41 - - 50
Number 5 9
15 19 25 29 35 39 45 49
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
Structure of Logical Channel
Combination Frame-Main SDCCH
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- 4 5
0-3 4-7 8-11 48
Number 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47 9 0
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
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.
 Display command: LST GCELLIDLEBASIC
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: 1 (non-combined CCCH)
 Configuration command: Set GCELLIDLEBASIC
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
CCCH Configuration
The CCCH can be configured on the TS0 of C0 in BCCH+CCCH mode, or on the three
extended group sets on the TS2, TS4, and TS6 in CCCH mode.
The CCCH configuration is indicated by CCCH_CONF parameter. The code must be

consistent with the actual configuration of CCCH.
Number of CCCH Blocks in

CCCH-CONF Code Meaning
One BCCH Multi-Frame
One physical channel is used for the CCCH but
000 9
not combined with the SDCCH.
One physical channel is used for the CCCH and
001 3
combined with the SDCCH.
Two physical channels are used for the CCCH
010 18
but not combined with the SDCCH.
Three physical channels are used for the CCCH
100 27
Four physical channels are used for the CCCH
110 36
PAGING_GROUP
 The GSM system supports a maximum of 9×9=81 paging groups. the MS
can be divided into 81 sub-groups at most from the opinion of the paging
group.
 No matter what kind of combination mode is adopted, the number of blocks

used for paging in every 51 multi-frame does not exceed 9. The system
enables the 51 multi-frame to cycle again , with a quantity of “BS-PA-
MFRAMS” (number of frames of the same paging) of 51 multi-frames as a
period.
 Suppose that the number of frames of the same paging is 7 and the number
of paging blocks (9or3-BS_AG_BLKS_RES: number of access granted
reserved blocks) of each 51 multi-frame is 4. Then the paging group number
cycles between 0-27 (28 in total).
PAGING_GROUP
AGCH AGCH PCH1 1 8 Multi-
The
frame
First AGCH AGCH PCH10 2
form
.
Paging 1 Non-Compounding CCCH . （PCH N—the Nth paging channel） one
BS_AG_BLKS_RES=2
period BS_PA_MFRAMES= 8 Multi-frame period .(51 frames) period
.
AGCH AGCH PCH56 8
AGCH AGCH PCH1 9

The
second AGCH AGCH PCH10 10
.
Paging .
.
period .
AGCH AGCH PCH56 16
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
Determination of CCCH_GROUP and
PAGING_GROUP for MS in Idle Mode
 MS’s CCCH_GROUP(0，...，BS_CC_CHANS -1)
=((IMSI mod 1000) mod (BS_CC_CHANS x N ))div N
 MS’s PAGING_GROUP(0，…， N-1)

=((IMSI mod 1000) mod (BS_CC_CHANS x N)) mod N
 where
 N = (CCCH _ CONF  AGB)  BS - PA - MFRMS
 IMSI = International Mobile Subscriber Identity
 mod = Modulo.
 div = Integer division.
Contents
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
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)
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.
Contents
Location Area Planning Procedure
The number of paging The maximum paging times
1 blocks sent in each 3
in each second (set to P)
second (set to N)
×
Paging time in each
2
paging block (set to B) 4 Erlang in each LA (set to T)
5
The number of TRXs in
each LA (set to NTRX）
The number of
6 subscribers in
each LA (set to S)
 Step1: The number of paging blocks sent in each second (set to N)
 1 frame = 4.61ms
 1 multiframe = 51 frames = 0.2354s
(CCCH _ CONF  AGB)

N  ( PB / S )
0.2345
 4.25  (CCCH _ CONF  AGB)( PB / S )
 For non-combined BCCH：N＝4.25  (9  AGB)( PB / S )
 For combined BCCH： N＝4.25  (3  AGB)( PB / S )
 Step2: Paging time sent in each paging block (set to B)
 For IMSI paging strategy，B=2 (PT/PB）
 For TMSI paging strategy, B=4 (PT/PB）
Each Paging Block

1 2 3
2 IMSI pagings
2 TMSI and 1 IMSI pagings
4 TMSI pagings
 Step3:The maximum paging times in each second (set to P)
P  4.25  (CCCH _ CONF  AGB)( PB / S )  B（PT / PB）
 For non-combined BCCH：
P  4.25  (9  AGB)( PB / S )  B（PT / PB）

 For combined BCCH：
P  4.25  (3  AGB)( PB / S )  B（PT / PB）
 Step4: Traffic volume in each LA (set to T)
 For expansion network
 Check traffic statistics ”Paging Measurement per BSC\Abis
Interface Paging Measurement per Cell\Delivered Paging Message
for CS Service”, and calculate paging time/second, which should
not more than the value basing on the step before, besides, it’s
suggested to check ”Call Measurement\Flow Control Measurement
per Cell\OVERLOAD rate of paging”
 For new-built network

 Calculate basing on a traffic model supposed (refer to the next slide)
 For new-built network
 Average holding time: D seconds
 MOC:MTC:PTP SM (receiver) = E:F:G

EF
 Call times corresponding to each paging:
F G
 Paging resend ratio: C= 1+Sencond Paging Ratio
 Average paging load: M ( that is to say, paging channel may be

congested when more than maximum paging capacity M )
4.25  (9  AGB)  B  ( E  F )  D  M
Then T
C ( F  G)
4.25  (9  AGB)  B  (CS _ paging _ ratio )  D  M
or T
(1  the _ sec ond _ paging _ ratio )  MTC _ ratio
 Step5: The number of TRXs in each LA (set to NTRX）
Site Channel Erlang Average Traffic Average Traffic

Type Number table Volume per cell Volume per TRX
T
NTRX＝
(1  TCHH Ratio)  (Average Traffic Volume per TRX )
 Step6: The number of subscribers in each LA (set to S)
 Busy hour traffic volume per subscriber: G Erlang
T
S＝
G
Question1
Given Condition
( )paging blocks in 1 multiframe
 non-combined BCCH, AGB=2 ( ) paging blocks can be sent in a second
 IMSI paging:50% ( )paging times can be sent in each

 TMSI paging:50% paging block
( )paging times can be sent in

each second
 Average paging load: 50% ( )paging times in an hour
 MSC paging resend ratio: 1.1 ( ) paging times
 Average holding time: 60s Traffic volume is ( )ERL for each

call
 MOC:MTC:SM(receiver)=5:5:1 ( )ERL corresponds( )paging

times
How much Traffic volume is there in each LA?
Question1
 TCHH ratio: 70％

 Traffic volume per TRX: 4.8Erlang support( )TRXs
 How many TRXs can be
support in each LA？
Busy hour traffic volume per


subscriber: 0.03ERL support( )subscribers

 How many subscribers in
each LA？
Question2
Given Condition
CCCH CONF 9
BS AG BLKS RES 2
1.How much Traffic volume(Erl) is
BS PA MFRMS 2 there in each LA?
The second Paging Ratio 15%
MTC ratio 50%
Average Paging Load 50%
TCHH Ratio 70%
Average Holding Time 58
Paging Strategy TMSI
2.How many TRXs can be support
Call times corresponding to
50% in each LA？
each paging
Average Traffic Volume per
4.8
TRX
Question3
Given Condition
( )paging blocks in 1 multiframe
 non-combined BCCH, AGB=2 ( ) paging blocks can be sent in a second
 TMSI paging strategy ( )paging times can be sent in each

paging block
( )maximum paging times can be

sent in each second
 Average Paging Load: 50% ( )paging times in a second
 Average Holding Time: 60s ( )call times/(s.Erl) in 60s
 the ratio of MS successful MTO ( )successful MOC/(s.Erl)

times to total call times: 30％
 MSC paging resend ratio: 1.25 ( )paging times/(S.Erl)
 1.How much Traffic volume(Erl) is there in each LA? s.Erl is Erlang/second

2.How many TRXs can be support in each LA？
(Without TCHH)?
Thank you
www.huawei.com

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Location Area Planning

Copyright © 2011 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

2. Location Area Planning Principle

3. Paging Strategies in Location Area

4. LAC capacity calculation

The Purpose of location update The Time of location update

 To inform the system the  Normal location updating

Paging Location update

optimum number # of cells in Loc. area

minimize signaling traffic

2. Location Area Planning Principle

3. Paging Strategies in Location Area

4. LAC capacity calculation

 If the size of location area is too small, the MS will occur

4. Location area design for dual-band network (please refer

Independent Networking Hybrid Networking

Independent MSC Co-MSC/ Co-BSC

900 1800 900 1800 900 1800 900/1800

BSC BSC BSC BSC

1800 cell 1800 cell

 Location Update between GSM900 and DCS1800 is easily to happen

 Handover between GSM900 and DCS1800 is inter MSC handover

BSC BSC BSC BSC

1800 cell 1800 cell

 Location Update between GSM900 and DCS1800 is not easily to happen

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

900M Cell 900M Cell 900M Cell

1800M 1800M 1800M 1800M 1800M 1800M

BSC BSC BSC BSC

1800 cell 1800 cell

 Location Update between GSM900 and DCS1800 is not easily to happen

2. Location Area Planning Principle

3. Paging Strategies in Location Area

4. LAC capacity calculation

3.2 Paging Strategies

3.3 Paging Channel and Paging Group

3.4 Parameters Related to Location Area

„the BSC and „Unacknowledge

3.2 Paging Strategies

3.3 Paging Channel and Paging Group

3.4 Parameters Related to Location Area

Paging time and

 Network where PCH is about to overload or already overload

Depending on the MSC

 It is suggested to set the paging time to be more than 2 times

 Generally, paging duration is suggested to set to around 10s, no

Paging Response Delay Paging Duration

Also available in MSC side

signaling analysis in A interface

3.2 Paging Strategies

3.3 Paging Channel and Paging Group

3.4 Parameters Related to Location Area

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

Frame 1 12- 4 4 46-

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

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

Group Group1 Group2 Group3 Group4 Grpup5

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

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

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

D:SDCCH; A:SACCH; I:IDLE

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

 Recommendation: 1 (non-combined CCCH)