Control channel

Last updated
A Cellular network tower in the Philippines. Cellsite.jpg
A Cellular network tower in the Philippines.

In radio communication, a control channel is a central channel that controls other constituent radios by handling data streams. It is most often used in the context of a trunked radio system, where the control channel sends various data which coordinates users in talkgroups.

Contents

In GSM networks, Control Channels are divided into three categories: Broadcast Channel (BCH), Common Control Channel (CCCH), and Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH).

Broadcast Channel (BCH)

The group of Broadcast Channel is subdivided into three channels:

  1. Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
  2. Frequency Correction Channel (FCCH)
  3. Synchronization Channel (SCH)

The BCCH is transmitted by the base transceiver station (BTS) at all times. The radio frequency (RF) carrier used to transmit the BCCH is referred to as the BCCH carrier. The mobile station (MS) monitors the information carried on the BCCH periodically (at least every 30 secs), when it is switched on and not in a call.

The BCCH Consists of:

a. Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH): Carries the following information:

The BCCH is transmitted at constant power at all times, and all MS that may seek to use it to measure its signal strength. “Dummy” bursts are transmitted to ensure continuity when there is no BCCH carrier traffic.

b. Frequency Correction Channel (FCCH): This is transmitted frequently on the BCCH timeslot and allows the mobile to synchronize its own frequency to that of the transmitting base site. The FCCH may only be sent during timeslot 0 on the BCCH carrier frequency and therefore it acts as a flag to the mobile to identify Timeslot 0. It has a sequence of 148 zeros transmitted by the BTS.


c. Synchronization Channel (SCH) The SCH carries the information to enable the MS to synchronize to the TDMA frame structure and know the timing of the individual timeslots. The following parameters are sent:

The MS will monitor BCCH information from surrounding cells and store the information from the best six cells. The SCH information on these cells is also stored so that the MS may quickly resynchronize when it enters a new cell. Follows the FCCH and contains BTS identification and location information.

Common Control Channels

The Common Control Channel (CCCH) is responsible for transferring control information between all mobiles and the BTS. This is necessary for the implementation of “call origination” and “call paging” functions. It consists of the following:

a. Random Access Channel (RACH) Used by the mobile when it requires gaining access to the system. This occurs when the mobile initiates a call or responds to a page.

b. Paging Channel (PCH) Used by the BTS to page MS, (paging can be performed by an IMSI, TMSI or IMEI).

c. Access Grant Control Channel (AGCH) Used by the BTS to assign a dedicated control channel to a MS in response to an access message received on the Random Access Channel. The MS will move to the dedicated channel in order to proceed with either a call setup, response to a paging message, Location Area Update or Short Message Service.

d. Cell Broadcast Channel (CBCH) This channel is used to transmit messages to be broadcast to all MS’s within a cell. The CBCH uses a dedicated control channel to send its messages, however it is considered a common channel because all mobiles in the cell can receive the messages.

Active MS’s must frequently monitor both BCCH and CCCH. The CCCH will be transmitted on the RF carrier with the BCCH.

Dedicated Control Channels

The DCCH is a single timeslot on an RF carrier that is used to convey eight Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channels (SDCCH). A single MS for call setup, authentication, location updating and SMS point to point use a SDCCH. As we will see later, SDCCH can also be found on a BCCH/CCCH timeslot, this configuration only allows four SDCCHs.

a. Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH) Conveys power control and timing information in the downlink direction (towards the MS) and Receive Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), and link quality reports in the uplink direction.

b. Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH) The FACCH is transmitted instead of a TCH. The FACCH ‘‘steals” the TCH burst and inserts its own information. The FACCH is used to carry out user authentication, handovers, and immediate assignment.

c. Stand-alone Dedicated channel (SDCCH)

All of the control channels are required for system operation, however, in the same way that we allow different users to share the radio channel by using different timeslots to carry the conversation data, the control channels share time slots on the radio channel at different times. This allows efficient passing of control information without wasting capacity that could be used for call traffic. To do this we must organize the times lots between those, which will be used for traffic, and those, which will carry control signaling. DCCH is control channel.

Channel Combination

The different logical channel types mentioned are grouped into what are called channel combination. The four most common channel combination are listed below:

1. Full Rate Traffic Channel Combination – TCH8/FACCH + SACCH

2. Broadcast Channel Combination – BCCH + CCCH

3. Dedicated Channel Combination – SDCCH8 + SACCH8

4. Combined Channel Combination – BCCH+CCCH+SDCCH4+SACCH4

5. Half Rate Traffic Channel Combination – TCH16/FACCH +

The Half Rate Channel Combination (when introduced) will be very similar to the Full Rate Traffic Combination.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution</span> Digital mobile phone technology

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), also known as 2.75G, Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC), and Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution, is a 2G digital mobile phone technology for data transmission. It is a subset of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) on the GSM network and improves upon it offering speeds close to 3G technology, hence the name 2.75G. It is also recognized as part of the International Mobile Telecommunications - 2000 (IMT-2000) standard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Packet Radio Service</span> Packet oriented mobile data service on 2G and 3G

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), also called 2.5G, is a mobile data standard on the 2G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). Networks and mobile devices with GPRS started to roll out around the year 2001. At the time of introduction it offered for the first time seamless mobile data transmission using packet data for an "always-on" connection, providing improved Internet access for web, email, WAP services, and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time-division multiple access</span> Channel access method for networks using a shared communications medium

Time-division multiple access (TDMA) is a channel access method for shared-medium networks. It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using its own time slot. This allows multiple stations to share the same transmission medium while using only a part of its channel capacity. Dynamic TDMA is a TDMA variant that dynamically reserves a variable number of time slots in each frame to variable bit-rate data streams, based on the traffic demand of each data stream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transmitter</span> Electronic device that emits radio waves

In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna with the purpose of signal transmission up to a radio receiver. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating current, the antenna radiates radio waves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communication channel</span> Physical or logical connection used for transmission of information

A communication channel refers either to a physical transmission medium such as a wire, or to a logical connection over a multiplexed medium such as a radio channel in telecommunications and computer networking. A channel is used for information transfer of, for example, a digital bit stream, from one or several senders to one or several receivers. A channel has a certain capacity for transmitting information, often measured by its bandwidth in Hz or its data rate in bits per second.

cdmaOne First CDMA-based digital cellular technology

Interim Standard 95 (IS-95) was the first digital cellular technology that used code-division multiple access (CDMA). It was developed by Qualcomm and later adopted as a standard by the Telecommunications Industry Association in TIA/EIA/IS-95 release published in 1995. The proprietary name for IS-95 is cdmaOne.

A subcarrier is a sideband of a radio frequency carrier wave, which is modulated to send additional information. Examples include the provision of colour in a black and white television system or the provision of stereo in a monophonic radio broadcast. There is no physical difference between a carrier and a subcarrier; the "sub" implies that it has been derived from a carrier, which has been amplitude modulated by a steady signal and has a constant frequency relation to it.

Terrestrial Trunked Radio, a European standard for a trunked radio system, is a professional mobile radio and two-way transceiver specification. TETRA was specifically designed for use by government agencies, emergency services, for public safety networks, rail transport staff for train radios, transport services and the military. TETRA is the European version of trunked radio, similar to Project 25.

IS-54 and IS-136 are second-generation (2G) mobile phone systems, known as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), and most often referred to as TDMA, are a further development of the North American 1G mobile system Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS). It was once prevalent throughout the Americas, particularly in the United States and Canada since the first commercial network was deployed in 1993. D-AMPS is considered end-of-life, and existing networks have mostly been replaced by GSM/GPRS or CDMA2000 technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Base station</span> Type of radio station

Base station is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Base station subsystem</span> Section of cellular telephone network

The base station subsystem (BSS) is the section of a traditional cellular telephone network which is responsible for handling traffic and signaling between a mobile phone and the network switching subsystem. The BSS carries out transcoding of speech channels, allocation of radio channels to mobile phones, paging, transmission and reception over the air interface and many other tasks related to the radio network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional mobile radio</span> Field radio communications systems

Professional mobile radio are person-to-person two-way radio voice communications systems which use portable, mobile, base station, and dispatch console radios. PMR systems are based on such standards as MPT-1327, TETRA, APCO 25, and DMR which are designed for dedicated use by specific organizations, or standards such as NXDN intended for general commercial use. These systems are used by police, fire, ambulance, and emergency services, and by commercial firms such as taxis and delivery services. Most systems are half-duplex, in which multiple radios share a common radio channel, and only one can transmit at a time. Transceivers are normally in receive mode, the user presses a push-to-talk button on his microphone when he wants to talk, which turns on his transmitter and turns off his receiver. They use channels in the VHF and UHF bands, giving them a limited range, usually 3 to 20 miles depending on terrain. Output power is typically limited to 4 watts. Repeaters installed on tall buildings, hills or mountain peaks are used to increase the range of systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cellular network</span> Communication network

A cellular network or mobile network is a telecommunications network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless and the network is distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver. These base stations provide the cell with the network coverage which can be used for transmission of voice, data, and other types of content. A cell typically uses a different set of frequencies from neighboring cells, to avoid interference and provide guaranteed service quality within each cell.

In the GSM cellular mobile phone standard, timing advance (TA) value corresponds to the length of time a signal takes to reach the base station from a mobile phone. GSM uses TDMA technology in the radio interface to share a single frequency between several users, assigning sequential timeslots to the individual users sharing a frequency. Each user transmits periodically for less than one-eighth of the time within one of the eight timeslots. Since the users are at various distances from the base station and radio waves travel at the finite speed of light, the precise arrival-time within the slot can be used by the base station to determine the distance to the mobile phone. The time at which the phone is allowed to transmit a burst of traffic within a timeslot must be adjusted accordingly to prevent collisions with adjacent users. Timing Advance (TA) is the variable controlling this adjustment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E-UTRA</span> 3GPP interface

E-UTRA is the air interface of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) upgrade path for mobile networks. It is an acronym for Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access, also known as the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access in early drafts of the 3GPP LTE specification. E-UTRAN is the combination of E-UTRA, user equipment (UE), and a Node B.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Speed Packet Access</span> Communications protocols

High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunication networks using the WCDMA protocols. A further-improved 3GPP standard called Evolved High Speed Packet Access was released late in 2008, with subsequent worldwide adoption beginning in 2010. The newer standard allows bit rates to reach as high as 337 Mbit/s in the downlink and 34 Mbit/s in the uplink; however, these speeds are rarely achieved in practice.

Synchronization Channel is a downlink only control channel used in GSM cellular telephone systems. It is part of the Um air interface specification. The purpose of the SCH is to allow the mobile station (handset) to quickly identify a nearby cell and synchronize to that BTS's TDMA structures. Each radio burst on the SCH contains:

ATSC-M/H is a U.S. standard for mobile digital TV that allows TV broadcasts to be received by mobile devices.

The Um interface is the air interface for the GSM mobile telephone standard. It is the interface between the mobile station (MS) and the Base transceiver station (BTS). It is called Um because it is the mobile analog to the U interface of ISDN. Um is defined in the GSM 04.xx and 05.xx series of specifications. Um can also support GPRS packet-oriented communication.

GSM radio frequency optimization is the optimization of GSM radio frequencies. GSM networks consist of different cells and each cell transmit signals to and receive signals from the mobile station, for proper working of base station many parameters are defined before functioning the base station such as the coverage area of a cell depends on different factors including the transmitting power of the base station, obstructing buildings in cells, height of the base station and location of base station. Radio Frequency Optimization is a process through which different soft and hard parameters of the Base transceiver stations are changed in order to improve the coverage area and improve quality of signal. Besides that there are various key performance indicators which have to be constantly monitored and necessary changes proposed in order to keep KPIs in agreed limits with the mobile operator.

References