VoLTE Signaling Presentation

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO. ， LTD.

Contents

1 Overview

2 Registration

3 Basic call

4 SRVCC

5 IP Short Message

6 Appendix

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO. ， LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 2

 Overview of VoLTE

 Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is expected to become the mainstream solution for providing voice services in commercial LTE
networks in the upcoming years, it integrates voice over IP (VoIP), LTE radio network (i.e., E-UTRAN), LTE core network
(i.e., EPC), and the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) to support voice services.
 The SIP (Session Initiation protocol) protocol plays a essential role in VoLTE calls. It is used to create, update and
terminate a VoLTE call. During a VoLTE call, there’re SIP messages resembling those in 2G/3G voice call such as CALL
SETUP, SETUP, ALERTING, CONNECT etc.
 SIP messages are transmitted in QCI5, which is a default EPS bearer from UE towards IMS APN, so the SIP Signaling is
actually not in conventional CS(Circuit Switch) domain, but in PS(Packet Switch) domain.

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IMS NEs
 Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service depends on deployment of IMS which is a complex subsystem, and consist of
many new NEs. Some of the typical NEs are listed in the table below.

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 Bearers for VoLTE
 QCI1/QCI2/QCI5 are setup in order to support voice & video call over LTE networks recommended by 3GPP . Each QCI’s
parameters is standardized for different purposes such as priority/PLR etc.
The bellow table lists the relevant QCIs’ Attributes defined by 3GPP
QCI Resource Priority Packet Delay
Budget
Packet Error Loss
Rate
QCI purpose
Type
1 2 100 ms 10-2 Conversational Voice
GBR
2 4 150 ms 10-3 Conversational Video (Live Streaming)
5 No-GBR 1 100 ms 10-6 IMS Signalling

 Radio network may setup QCI5&CQI1&QCI2 bearers for VoLTE services. These QCIs have higher priority of scheduling,
Less PLR, lower latency, and so on.
The bellow table shows us the combination of bearers in different scenarios.

Non-VoLTE UE VoLTE UE
Idle Voice call Over LTE Voice & Video call Over LTE

QCI9 QCI5+QCI9 QCI1 + QCI5 + QCI9 QCI1 +QCI2+QCI5+QCI9

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 VoLTE Procedures
 The figure below indicates the standard procedures when a VoLTE UE power on, including registration, calling, and
termination.

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 Architecture of SIP stack
 The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is an application-layer control protocol (defined in RFC3261) stipulated by IETF for
creating, modifying, and terminating sessions with one or more participants.
 SIP runs on top of IP. The network-layer protocol is IP and the transport-layer protocol is TCP or UDP (recommended).
The bellow figure shows the SIP protocol stack.

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SIP Messages
 SIP messages are either requests or responses
 A SIP request is named by a word, to indicate a special purpose.

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SIP Messages
 A SIP respond is a Status-Code of 3-digit integer that indicates the outcome of an attempt to
understand and satisfy a request;
 The first digit of the Status-Code defines the class of response

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Contents
1 Overview

2 Registration

3 Basic call

4 SRVCC

5 IP Short Message

6 Appendix

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 EPS Attachment(1)
 Registration procedure includes EPS attachment and IMS registration.
 3GPP IR.92 standard recommends VoLTE to use dual APN architecturE. Internet APN and IMS APN.
 VoLTE UE sets up QCI9 radio bearer when attaching to Internet APN, and sets up QCI5 radio bearer when attaching to
IMS APN

Default bearer (GBR) QCI=8/9 Internet APN

Default bearer (Non-GBR) QCI=5 IMS APN

 VoLTE UE indicates it’s voice domain preference and SRVCC ability in Attach request message.

 EPC indicates whether CN support voice over LTE by responding Attach accept message .

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 EPS Attachment(2)
 The procedure of IMS APN attachment & QCI5 Activation.

PDN Connectivity Request

RRC UL Information Transfer S1AP UL NAS TRANS

Activate Default EPS Bearer Context request (QCI5)

RRC Connection Recfg(ADD EPS Bear) ERAB SETUP REQ(QCI5)

RRC Connection Recfg Cmp ERAB SETUP RSP

Activate Default EPS Bearer Context Accept

RRC UL Information Transfer S1AP UL NAS TRANS

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 Instance
 This is an example of EPS Attachment, including Combined attach request, QCI9&QCI5 activated. And some key IE are
marked.

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 SIP registration
 QCI5 bearer is activated during a VoLTE UE attaching to IMS APN, but a VoLTE call can’t be initiated unless the VoLTE
UE registers with the IMS network, and the SIP registration messages run over the QCI5. The following figure shows the
procedure of SIP registration

 The procedure of SIP registration:

1) Register: UE reads the IMSI, and sends a Register message to the P-CSCF on the visited IMS network;
2) 401: The P-CSCF takes & save the IK and CK, and forwards the RAND and AUTN to UE in SIP respond 401;
3) Register: UE calculates a RES using the shared key and RAND, constructs a new Register message that contains the
RES, and sends the message to the P-CSCF.
4) 200 OK: The P-CSCF sends a 200 message(constructed by S-CSCF) to the UE, indicating that the basic registration is
successful.

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 Instance
 A basic SIP registration flow with message detail information are shown in this page.

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Contents
1 Overview

2 Registration

3 Basic call

4 SRVCC

5 IP Short Message

6 Appendix

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO. ， LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 16

Voice Call
Invite ：当 MO( 主叫 ) 发起一个呼叫，会
 A voice call over LTE 向 MT( 被叫 ) 发送一个 Invite 请求；
100 Trying ： MT(called) or IMS
network also require SIP responds Invite request by 100 Trying, to
protocol to initiate a indicate the Invite request is in handling.
183 session progress ： This respond
session between MO and indicates a session is in process,
MT. especially a bearer resource is allocated
while precondition mode is enabled,
usually sent by MT(called) or IMS.
 The figure in the middle PRACK ： PRACK is subsequent to 183
session progress, to indicate the bearer
shows a basic flow of SIP resource is creating.
when a Voice call over LTE UPDATE ： UPDATE request is used to
negotiate the parameters between MT
is made. Meanwhile, the and MO, such as media type etc.
usage of the typical SIP 180 Ringing ： This respond send from
MT to inform MO that the bell is ringing
requests & responds are 200 OK ： similar with 180 Ring, it’s sent
listed behind it. by MT, but this respond means called
has already answered the phone.

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Voice Call
 The figure in left shows a
basic voice call flow between
MO and P-CSCF(part of IMS).
 There are 2 sorts of
messages. 1st one is SIP
message which is already
explained in previous page.
2nd is L3 message of UU
interface, please note the
messages in rectangle which
are used to activate the
bearer of QCI1.
 Activation of QCI1 is trigged
by 183 session progress.

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Call delay
 As shown in previous pages, the call
events are corresponding to the SIP
messages, such as 180 means alerting,
200 means answer, therefore the call delay
is also defined with interval of SIP
messages.
(1)Caller delay: [Time(180) – Time(Invite)]
(2)Called delay: [Time(Ack) – Time(200)]
(3)E2E delay:[Caller delay + Called delay] =
[Time(180) – Time(Invite)] + [Time(Ack) –
Time(200)]
 Caller delay is affected by alerting type.
(1)Early alerting: alerting before QCI1 activated.
(2)Late alerting: alerting after QCI1 activated.

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 Instance
 This is an example of basic voice call over LTE of MO.

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Termination
 During the termination of
voice call over LTE, the
signaling messages here
are also consist of 2 sorts
of message, 1st one is
SIP message, 2nd one is
L3 messages.
 For the SIP messages,
either MO or MT can
terminate the call by
initiating a Bye request.
 The messages in
rectangle shows how
QCI1 deactivated.

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 Instance
 This is an example of termination of Voice call over LTE.

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Contents
1 Overview

2 Registration

3 Basic call

4 SRVCC

5 IP Short Message

6 Appendix

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO. ， LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 23

 SRVCC – Architecture and Principle
 VoLTE provides very excellent voice quality and experience to users in LTE hotspot area. However, when UE moves to
weak coverage area of the LTE network, the call may drop and lead to a complaint. SRVCC is an expected mechanism
that can guarantee the voice service continuity.

 When UE moves to weak coverage area

of LTE network, a SRVCC handover
should be triggered, the Voice should be
handover to CS domain of 2G/3G.

 In order to support SRVCC handover

function, 2G/3G CN require to upgrade
to provide Sv interface.
Interface Description Protocol
Sv Sv interface between the Mobility Management Entity (MME) or Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and 3GPP MSC server enhanced for SRVCC. Sv 3GPP TS29.280
interface is used to support Inter-RAT handover from VoIP/IMS over EPS to CS domain over 3GPP UTRAN/GERAN access or from UTRAN (HSPA) to
3GPP UTRAN/GERAN access. It’s based on GTPv2 protocol.

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SRVCC – Control flow
 The procedure of SRVCC handover
seems a duplication of data
interRAT handover’s in radio part.
 SRVCC handover transmit UE from
PS domain of LTE to CS domain of
UMTS/GSM, the information can be
observed in “handover Required”.
 For VoLTE SRVCC with data
service accompanied, there are 2
scenarios: (1)CS only SRVCC ,
data service could be recovered in
a few seconds after RAU;
(2)CS+PS SRVCC, data service
could be recovered in hundreds of
millisecond

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SRVCC – Media flow
 When a Voice over LTE service with data service accompanied needs SRVCC handover, the MME will handover the
voice service to legacy CS domain with cooperation of eMSC, and the data service to legacy PS domain.

 When SRVCC handover occurs,

service interruption duration is
about 0.5s ~1s, so eSRVCC is
introduced to minimum the service
interruption duration

 ATCF and ATGW are deployed in

IMS as the media anchor to reduce
the service interruption duration to
300ms.

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 Instance
 This is an example of SRVCC handover.

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Contents
1 Overview

2 Registration

3 Basic call

4 SRVCC

5 IP Short Message

6 Appendix

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO. ， LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 28

 Registration
 IP SMS is a sole service like the VoLTE call. A new NE named IP-SM-GW is required to deploy thise service. Registration
to IP-SM-GW is also necessity.
 The Registration request and response are SIP messages, so they run on QCI5. 2 SIP messages can be observed in UU
interface – Register(indicating that UE supports IP short messages by Key IE in contact section of SIP head) and 200 OK.
 QCI1 is not required In IP SMS service.

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IP Short Message flow
 The SIP messages transported in UU interface contains 4 steps:
1. UE sends a MESSAGE request to the P-CSCF(proxy-call session control function), The P-CSCF forwards the MESSAGE
request to the serving-call session control function (S-CSCF).
2. The IP-SM-GW sends a 202 respond to UE, indicating that the IP-SM-GW has received the short message.
3. The IP-SM-GW sends a MESSAGE request to UE after the short message has been delivered.
4. UE returns a 200 respond to the IP-SM-GW.

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 Instance
 This is an example IP SMS.

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Contents
1 Overview

2 Registration

3 Basic call

4 SRVCC

5 IP Short Message

6 Appendix

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO. ， LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 32

 CSFB & VoLTE selection
 How the CSFB and IMS capable UE which supports E ‑UTRAN can make use of the following indications/settings prior to
accessing E-UTRAN:
A) UE's usage setting
(1) Indicates voice centric when this field is set to 0
(2) Indicates data centric when this field is set to 1
B) Voice domain preference for E-UTRAN
(1) Indicates CS voice only when this field is set to 0
(2) Indicates IMS PS voice only when this field is set to 1
(3) Indicates "CS voice preferred,
IMS PS voice as secondary“ when this field is set to2
(4) Indicates "IMS PS voice preferred,
CS Voice as secondary“ when this field is set to 3
 The figure illustrates the UE behaviour when performing combined EPS/IMSI attach, with setting : "prefer IMS PS Voice with
CS Voice as secondary".

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Appendixes – Call between VoLTE and UMTS/GSM
HLR/HSS/ HLR/HSS/
UPCCENS/IMS- STP1 STP2 UPCCENS/IMS-
HSS 1 HSS 2

Other Domain

I/S CSCF 1 I/S CSCF 2

TMSS TMSS
MGCF 1 MGCF 2

PCSCF/ SBC PCSCF/ SBC

1 2

VMSC 1 VMSC 2

TMGW1 TMGW2
VMGW2
VMGW1

S/P GW MME/SGSN S/P GW

MME/SGSN GGSN
GGSN
Signaling
Media

2G/3G Network 2G/3G Network 4G Network

4G Network

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Appendixes –Call between VoLTE and Other Domain
HLR/HSS/ HLR/HSS/
UPCCENS/IMS- STP1 STP2 UPCCENS/IMS-
HSS 1 HSS 2

Other Domain

I/S CSCF 1 I/S CSCF 2

TMSS TMSS
MGCF 1 MGCF 2

PCSCF/ SBC PCSCF/ SBC

1 2

VMSC 1 VMSC 2

TMGW1 TMGW2
VMGW2
VMGW1

S/P GW MME/SGSN S/P GW

MME/SGSN GGSN
GGSN
Signaling
Media

2G/3G Network 2G/3G Network 4G Network

4G Network

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Acronyms and Abbreviations
 Blank.

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 Thank you !

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