2.5 Radio Link Timeout (RLT) 2.5.

1 Definition When the downlink voice (or data) quality of the MS degrades to the unacceptable level during communication and cannot be improved by RF power control or handove r (that is, the so-called radio link failure), the MS will either start call reestablishment or forcedly clear the link. Since the forced link clearing actuall y introduces one calldrop process, it must be ensured that the MS deems a downlink rad io link failure onlywhen the communication quality really becomes unacceptable ( usually when thesubscribers have to hang up the call). For this reason, the GSM specification stipulatesthat the MS must have a timer (S), which is assigned wit h an initial value at the start of the conversation, that is, the downlink radio li nk timeout value. Every time the MSfails to decode a correct SACCH message when it should receive the SACCH, the S isdecreased by 1. On the contrary, every time th e MS receives a correct SACCHmessage, the S is increased by 2, but the S should not exceed the downlink radio link timeout value. When the S reaches 0, the MS w ill report the downlink radio link failure.