Generally, upon completion of cell selection, the MS camps on the selected cell and starts to measure the receive

levels of the BCCH carriers for the six strongest non-serving cells. In addition, the MS obtains various system information and control messages from the six best neighbor cells. If certain conditions are met, an MS leaves the serving cell and camps on another cell. This procedure is called cell reselection. The required conditions include many factors, such as the cell priority and whether accessing the cell is allowed. Signal quality is an important requirement. In other words, cell reselection is initiated when the signal strength of a neighbor cell is better than that in the serving cell. The reselection criterion C2 indicates the channel quality standard. The value of C2 is defined by the following formula: If PENALTY_TIME is not equal to 11111, C2 = C1 + CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET TEMPORARY_OFFSET x H(PENALTY_TIME - T) Here, if X < 0, H (x) = 0; if X >= 0, H (x) = 1. T is a timer and the initial value of timer T is 0. If a cell is recorded in the neighbor cell list because the receive level of the cell is among the top six, timer T of the cell is started. The precision of T is calculated by one TDMA frame (about 4.62 ms). If a cell is removed from the top-six neighbor cell list, timer T of the cell is reset. After a cell reselection is complete, the original serving cell becomes a neighbor cell, and timer T of the original serving cell is set to PT. If PT minus T is less than 0, that is, C2 = C1 + CRO, no penalty is performed on the original serving cell. If PT is 11111, C2 = C1-CRO. CRO is used to manually modify C2. The function of TEMPORARY_OFFSET: during the period between the time T is started and the time T reaches PENALTY_TIME, a penalty is performed on C2 of the original serving cell so that the MS is not reselected to the original serving cell. PT specifies the period during which TO affects C2. The value of 11111 is reserved for changing the effect of CRO on C2. CRO, TO, and PT are parameters related to cell reselection. If PI is 1, these parameters are broadcast over the BCCH. If PI is 0, these parameters are 0, so C2 equals C1. If the MS finds that the value of C2 for a neighbor cell (being in the same location area as the serving cell) exceeds the value of C2 for the serving cell for a period of 5 seconds, the MS initiates a cell reselection to camp on the neighbor cell. If the MS finds that the value of C2 for a neighbor cell (being in a different location area) exceeds the value of C2 for the serving cell by at

least CELL_RESELECT_HYSTERESIS dB as defined by the BCCH data from the current serving cell, for a period of 5 seconds, the MS initiates a cell reselection to camp on the neighbor cell. In addition, at least an interval of 15s is required for C2-based cell reselection to avoid frequent cell reselection. Signal strength-based cell reselection is implemented based on C2. C2, a parameter based on C1, takes into consideration manual adjustments to preferably select some cells or reject some cells, thus achieving better traffic balance. Cell Reselect Interval(s): This parameter specifies the interval between two NC2 cell reselections in a cell. Cell Reselection Hysteresis: To avoid ping-pong handovers, when this parameter specifies the cell reselection, the level of the target cell should higher than the total of the Min Access Level Threshold and the Cell Reselection Hysteresis. Cell Reselection MR Period in Packet Idle Mode(Seconds): This parameter specifies the period of cell reselection measurement report in packet idle mode. Cell Reselection MR Period in Packet Transfer Mode(Seconds): This parameter specifies the period of cell reselection measurement report in packet transfer mode. PI Cell Reselect Parameters Indication: (PI for short), sent on the broadcast channel, indicates whether CRO, TO, and PT are used. Actually, the MS is informed whether C2-based cell reselection is performed. For details, see GSM Rec. 0408 and 0508.In addition, a least interval of 5s is required for C2-based cell reselection to avoid frequent cell reselection. When PI is set to 1, the MS obtains the value of C2 based on the broadcast system information and determines whether a cell is reselected. When PI is set to 0, that is, C2 equals C1, the MS determines whether a cell is reselected based on the value of C1. PT(s) Penalty time: The Cell Reselect Penalty Time (PT for short) is used to ensure the safety and validity of cell reselection because it helps to avoid frequent cell reselection. For details, see GSM Rec. 05.08 and 04.08. This parameter applies to only GSM Phase II MSs. TO Temporary offset: This parameter specifies the temporary correction of C2. This parameter is valid only before the penalty time of cell reselection expires. For details, see GSM Rec. 0508 and 0408. This parameter applies only to GSM Phase II MSs.

CRO(2dB): This parameter specifies the manual correction of C2. If this parameter is properly configured, the number of handovers can be reduced and a better cell can be assigned to the MS. When PT is set to 31, it becomes more difficult for an MS to access the cell when CRO increases. Generally, the CRO should be less than 25 dB because excessively large CRO may bring uncertainties to the network.In addition, the same CRO applies to the cells with the same priority.For details, see GSM Rec. 05.08 and 04.08. This parameter affects only GSM Phase II MSs or GSM PhaseII+ MSs.

1.1 Cell Selection and Re-Selection

1.1.1 Cell Selection
When a MS is switched on, it tries to contact GSM PLMN that the SIM permits and select a proper cell to extract control channel parameters and other system information. This process is called cell selection. The priority levels of cells include normal, low, and barred. Low priority level cell is selected when there is no proper normal cell. A proper cell means:

The cell belongs to the selected network; The cell is not barred; The cell is not in the national prohibited roaming location area; The path loss between MS and BTS is under the limit set by network.

The priority level of a cell is determined by CELL_BAR_QUALIFY (CBQ) and CELL_BAR_ACCESS (CBA).
Table 1-1 Cell priority level CBQ 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
CBA Cell priority level Cell re-selection status

Normal Barred Low Low

Normal Barred Normal Normal

1.1.2 Cell Selection Process

To perform cell selection and re-selection, MS requires all the frequencies monitored to stay at the unweighted average value of Relev RLA_C.
I. Cell Selection When MS Storing No BCCH Information

MS searches all RF channels (at least 30 channels for 900 M, 40 for 1800 M, and 40 for PSC1900) in the system to obtain the Relev of each RF channel, and calculate the RLA_C based on at least five samples in three to five seconds, and then arrange these levels in descending order to select the proper BCCH. MS selects the cells with normal priority first. If the proper cells have low priority, MS will select the cell with the highest Relev. MS has already decoded and identified all these frequencies by now. If there is no proper cell, MS will keep on searching. It takes a maximum of 0.5 s to synchronize a BCCH TRX and 1.9 s to read the synchronized BCCH TRX data, except that it takes n*1.9s(n>1)to obtain the system information.

II. Cell Selection When MS Storing BCCH Information

If MS stores the BCCH frequency list of the former selected networks, MS will perform measurement sampling procedure (only for the stored BCCH TRX) according to this list. If the cell selection within this list fails, common cell selection will be performed. If all the cells have low priority level, MS will select the cell with the highest Relev. MS has already decoded and identified all these frequencies by now. When a 900 M MS enters the 900/1800 network, MS will probably choose 900 M network and ignore the priority level, because the MS stores all the 900 M frequency information in BCCH frequency list.
III. Cell Selection Criteria

Parameter C1 is the path loss criteria for cell selection, C1 of the service cell must exceed 0, the formula is as follows: C1= RLA_C - RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN- MAX ((MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH- P), 0) (2-1) For DCS 1800 cells: C1 = RLA_C - RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN- MAX ((MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH + POWER OFFSET- P), 0) In the formula: RLA_C: Average value of Relev RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN: Minimum Relev that MS allows MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH: Maximum transmit power on control channel P: Maximum transmit power of MS POWER OFFSETPower offset related to MS_TXPWR_MAX_CCH used by DCS1800 cells.

1.1.3 Down Link Failure

Downlink failure criteria are based on DSC. When a mobile phone stays in a cell, DSC is initialized to an integer most close to 90/N ( N is BS_PA_MFRMS, range value: 29). Each time when mobile phone successfully decodes a message on its paging subchannel, DSC increases by 1, but DSC cannot exceed the initial value; when decoding fails, DSC decreases by 4. When DSC<=0, downlink failure occurs. Down signaling link failure will lead to cell re-selection.

1.1.4 Cell Re-Selection Process

In cell re-selection, mobile phone will synchronize and read the information from six BCCH TRXs (in BA list) with strongest signals outside the service area. For multi-frequency mobile phones, the TRXs with strongest signals may be in different frequency bands. In idle mode, mobile phone monitors all the BCCH TRXs in BA list and averages each Relev from BCCH TRX within 5 s to Max {5, ((5 * N + 6) DIV 7) * BS_PA_MFRMS / 4} s. N is the number of BCCH TRXs

outside service area in BA list. Each RLA_C requires at least five level measurement samples and has to be updated from time to time. Service area samples the Relev at least once for each paging block to mobile. RLA_C is calculated by averaging the level samples received from 5s to Max {5s, five consecutive paging blocks of that MS}. Each RLA_C update is followed by the update of the six BCCH TRXs outside the service area in BA list. And the latter update may be even faster. Mobile phone decodes all the BCCH data in a service cell every other 30 s and the BCCH data blocks related to cell re-selection parameters of the six BCCH TRXs with strongest signals every other five minutes. When the mobile phone detects that a new BCCH TRX becomes one of the six TRXs with strongest signals, this BCCH TRX data should be decoded within 30 s. Mobile phone checks the BSICs of the six BCCH TRXs with strongest signals to make sure they are in the same cell. If the BSIC of a TRX is changed, the MS will regard the TRX as new TRX and reread the BCCH data. MS will re-select a neighbor cell as service cell under certain condition. This condition includes several factors, such as RLA_C, cell restriction (decided by cell_bar and cell_bar_qualify), and access state of the neighbor cell. Cell re-selection adopts C2 algorithm. The calculation formula is as follows:

When PENALTY TIME is not 11111

C2=C1+CELL_RESELECT_OFFSETTEMPORARY_OFFSET*H (PENALTY_TIMET);

When PENALTY_TIME is 11111

C2=C1-CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET. When X>0, function H(x) =0; when XO, function H(x) =1. T is a timer; its initial value is 0. When a cell is included in the six neighbor cells with strongest signals by MS, the timer T of this cell begins to time; when a cell is excluded from the six neighbor cells with strongest signals by MS, T will be reset. CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET adjusts the value of C2. After T starts, TEMPORARY_OFFSET will modify the C2 algorithm according to the defined value before the penalty time in order to avoid a micro cell or a cell with small coverage area is selected by a fast moving MS. If the defined penalty time is out, the temporary offset will be ignored. Penalty time can avoid the frequent cell re-selection in those coverage areas like express highway. These parameters in C2 algorithm works only when CELL_RESELECTION_INDICATION is activated. Otherwise, MS will ignore the setting of CELL_RESELECT_OFFSET, TEMPORARY_OFFSET, and PENALTY_TIME, under such circumstances, C2=C1. Cell re-selection will be triggered under the following conditions:

The C2 value of a certain cell (belonging to the same location area with the current cell) exceeds that of the current cell by 5 seconds successively; The C2 value of a certain cell (belonging to different location area from the current cell) exceeds the sum of the C2 value of the current service cell and cell selection hysteresis value by 5 seconds successively; The current service cell is barred; MS detects downlink failure; The C1 value of the service cell is less than 0 for 5 seconds successively.