BSC RNC

Knowledge Sharing Presentation

TAKUDZWA.B.CHISEKO
 INTRODUCTION

 A base station controller is a telecommunication network

component responsible for the control of one or more Base
Transceiver station in a GSM network.
 In UMTS(3g) network we have got the radio network controller
which does almost the same functionality and the BTSs to be
controlled are now named NodeB's .
 The BSC is referred to as a mediator and physical Link between the
BTS and the core network.
How a BSC is connected to other nodes
How an RNC is connected to other nodes Interfaces
 Interfaces

Abis: it is the interface between the BSC and the BTS.

A: It is the interface between the BSC and MSC or MGW.
Gb: It is the interface between the BSC and the SGSN.
Iub: the interface between the RNC and the NodeB
Iur: the interface between RNC and RNC
Iu-CS: the interface between the RNC and the mobile switching
center (MSC) or media gateway (MGW)
Iu-PS: the interface between the RNC and the serving GPRS support
node (SGSN
 Functionalities

 BSC is responsible for the establishment, release and maintenance

of all connections of cells that are connected to it.
• If a subscriber wants to establish a voice call, send an SMS, and so on, the mobile
device sends a channel request message to the BSC. The BSC then checks if an
SDCCH is available and activates the channel in the BTS.
• Afterward, the BSC sends an immediate assignment message to the mobile
device on the AGCH that includes the number of the assigned SDCCH. The
mobile device then uses the SDCCH to send DTAP messages. The mobile device
then uses the SDCCH to send DTAP messages that the BSC forwards to the MSC.
 Functionalities of a BSC

 The BSC is responsible for establishing signaling channels for

incoming calls or SMS messages.
• In this case, the BSC receives a paging message from the MSC, which contains
the IMSI and TMSI of the subscriber as well as the location area ID in which the
subscriber is currently located.
• The BSC in turn has a location area database that it uses to identify all cells in
which the subscriber needs to be paged.
• Once the mobile device and the MSC have exchanged all necessary information
for the establishment of a voice call via an SDCCH, the MSC sends an assignment
request for a voice channel to the BSC. The BSC then verifies if a TCH is available
in the requested cell and, if so, activates the channel in the BTS. Afterward, the
mobile device is informed via the SDCCH that a TCH is now available for the call.
 Functionalities of a BSC

 The another important task of the BSC is the maintenance of the

connection.
• . As subscribers can roam freely through the network while a call is ongoing, it can happen that the
subscriber roams out of the coverage area of the cell in which the call was initially established. In this case,
the BSC has to redirect the call to the appropriate cell. This procedure is called handover.
• To be able to perform a handover to another cell, the BSC requires signal quality measurements for the air
interface. The results of the downlink signal quality measurements are reported to the BSC by the mobile
device, which continuously performs signal quality measurements that it reports via the SACCH to the
network. The uplink signal quality is constantly measured by the BTS and also reported to the BSC.
• Apart from the signal quality of the user’s current cell, it is also important that the mobile device reports the
quality of signals it receives from other cells. To enable the mobile device to perform these measurements,
the network sends the frequencies of neighboring cells via the SACCH during an ongoing call. The mobile
device then uses this information to perform the neighboring cell measurements while the network
communicates with other subscribers and reports the result via measurement report messages in the uplink
SACCH.
• The network receives these measurement values and is thus able to periodically evaluate if a handover of an
ongoing call to a different cell is necessary. Once the BSC decides to perform a handover, a TCH is activated
in the new cell.
 Functionalities

 The another important task of the BSC is the maintenance of the

connection.
• Important information elements of the message are the new frequency and
timeslot number of the new TCH. The mobile device then changes its transmit
and receive frequency, synchronizes to the new cell.
• The BSC has to release the TCH in the old cell and has to inform the MSC of the
performed handover before the handover is finished from the network’s point of
view. The message to the MSC is only informative and has no impact on the
continuation of the call.
 Functionalities

The BSC is also in charge of controlling the transmission power for

every air interface connection.
• For the mobile device, an active power control has the advantage that the
transmission power can be reduced under favorable reception conditions.
Transmission power is controlled by using the signal quality measurements of the
BTS for the connection.
• If the mobile device’s transmission power has to be increased or decreased, the
BSC sends a power control message to the BTS. The BTS in turn forwards the
message to the mobile device and repeats the message on the SACCH in every
frame. The BSC is also able to control the power output of the base station. This
is done by evaluating the signal measurements of the mobile devices in the
current cell.
BSC RNC Hardware Block diagram
 BSC RNC Subsystems

Interface Processing system

• The interface processing subsystem processes transport
network messages. It also hides the differences between
transport network messages within the BSC .
• On the uplink, the interface processing subsystem terminates
transport network messages at the interface boards.
• It also transmits the user plane, control plane, and
management plane datagrams to the corresponding service
processing boards.
• The processing of the signal flow on the downlink is the reverse
of the processing of the signal flow on the uplink.
• Example of interface boards are GOUc and FG2C
 BSC RNC Subsystems

Switching Subsystem
• Provides data and signaling switching
• −Intra-subrack Media Access Control (MAC) switching
• Provides OM channels
• Distributes clock signals to each service board
• Each subrack should have a switching board
• Example of a switching board is the SCUb
 BSC RNC Subsystems

Service Processing Subsystem

• User data and signaling processing
• Radio channel ciphering and deciphering
• Radio resource management and control
• System information and user message tracing
• Manages the user plane resources; manages the load sharing of the user plane resources between subracks
 BSC RNC Subsystems

Clock Subsystem
• Responsible for the synchronisation.
• E.g of clock board is a GCUa
 BSC RNC Subsystems

OM subsystem
• OM of the BSC RNC is performed in the following scenarios:
• routine maintenance, emergency maintenance, troubleshooting, device upgrade, and capacity expansion
• Example is the OMUc board
 BSC TYPES IN NETONE

In NetOne we have 2 Huawei BSC types which are BSC6900 an

BSC6910.
The BSC 6900 are the ones which are configured as GU meaning it
has got both the GSM and UMTS functionality.
On BSC6900 GU we have got HRE BSC11_GU and
BYO_BSC5_GU
 BSC TYPES IN NETONE

The BSC 6910 are the ones which are configured as either
BSC6910 _GO or BSC6910_UO.
BSC6910 _GO –They are GSM only
They have got the GSM functionality only
On BSC6910_GO we have got the following:
• BYO BSC4_GO
• HRE BSC12_GO
• HRE BSC13_GO
 BSC RNC TYPES IN NETONE

BSC6910 _UO -They are UMTS only

BSC6910 _UO have got the UMTS functionality only.
They are named Radio network controllers (RNCs) since they are used for
UMTS
On BSC6910 _UO we have got the following:
• HRE RNC1_UO
• BYO RNC6_UO
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