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Bell Labs Innovations

Engineering Guideline

EG19: Abis Interface

LM: 4

401 - 380 - 349

Version 0.9
February 1998

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This document contains proprietary information of Lucent Technologies and is not to be
disclosed or used except in accordance with applicable agreements.
Copyright © 1998 by Lucent Technologies
Unpublished and Not for Publication
All Rights Reserved
Engineering Guideline EG19: Abis Interface

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Engineering Guideline EG19: Abis Interface

This material is protected by the copyright and trade secret laws of the United States and
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accurate at the time of printing. However, information is subject to change.

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Engineering Guideline EG19: Abis Interface

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Engineering Guideline EG19: Abis Interface

Table of Contents

1.1 About this Guideline 7

1.2 Overview 7

1.3 Dimensioning the Abis Interface 8

1.3.1 LM4 Abis Interface timeslot allocation 9
1.3.2 LM5 Abis Interface timeslot allocation 10
1.3.3 Example 1 11
1.3.4 Example 2 12

1.4 References 13

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Engineering Guideline EG19: Abis Interface

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Engineering Guideline EG19: Abis Interface

1.1 About this Guideline

This Engineering Guideline provides a description of the physical characteristics of the
Abis interface and defines how the Abis interface is dimensioned within the “Lucent
GSM Network”.

1.2 Overview
The Abis Interface supports signalling and traffic circuits between the Base Transceiver
Station(BTS) and the Base Station Controller Frame (BCF). The Abis Interface is based
on the PCM30 transmission principles of the ITU-T at a data rate of 2.048 Mbit/s. The
PCM30 interface carries 32 x 64 Kbit/s channels.
Functions implemented at the Abis Interface are:
• Voice/Data traffic exchange
• Signalling exchange between the BCF and BTS
•
Transport of O&M information between the BTS and the BCF.
The bandwidth of each Abis interface is shared by31 timeslots1. Some timeslots are
allocated to carry traffic and others to carry signalling information.
“Traffic” timeslots are subdivided into 4 x 16 Kbit/s subrate GSM1800/GSM900 traffic .
channels.2 The situation is shown schematically in

BTS-2000 BCF-2000

2.048 Mb/s

TS0 TS1 TS31

8 Bit
frames either or

Bit transfer
64Kbit/s Rate 16 16 16 16
64Kbit
Kbit Kbit Kbit Kbit

Signalling Lucent LM5 method

link LAPD signalling concentration
4 Sub-rate Traffic
16 16 16 16 channels in every function
Kbit Kbit Kbit Kbit timeslot
Lucent LM4 method

3 13
Abis Physical
Kbit Kbit Characteristics
Vocoded
Speech
Over-
head

Figure 1:Physical characteristics of the Abis Interface.

1
E1 has 32 timeslots but timeslot 0 is utilised for frame synchronisation.
2
These are termed “full-rate” 16 Kbit/s traffic channels. “Half-rate” 8kbit/s traffic channels will be
available in the future.

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Engineering Guideline EG19: Abis Interface

1.3 Dimensioning the Abis Interface

Lucent BTS-2000 products can have up to 3 Abis interface connections. (e.g. 3 x E1
2.048Mbit/s links)3
• 2 Abis interfaces to a BCF
• 1 Abis link output to provide the multidrop capability
Alternatively
• 1 Abis interface to a BCF
•2 Abis interface outputs to provide the multidrop capability
One exception is the Lucent BTS-Compact which has a maximum of 2 Abis interfaces.
• 1 Abis interface to a BCF
• 1 Abis link output to provide the multidrop capability.

3
Lucent also supports the T1 transmission system. This is not detailed in this document but may be
included at a later date.

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1.3.1 LM4 Abis Interface timeslot allocation

Each TRX connected via the Abis interface requires three timeslots.
• 2 for voice traffic/data
•
1 for signalling
Each Cell/Sector connected via the Abis interface requires 1 timeslot for O&M signalling.
Example: for a 3-sectored (3,3,3) site
# Timeslots = 3 x # TRXs + # Cells
= 3 x 9 + 3 = 30 timeslots required.
The Lucent BSS configuration allows a maximum of 7 multidropped BTSs on a single
Abis Interface connection.4
The maximum number of TRXs which can be placed on a single Abis is 10.
i.e. 3 x # TRXs + # Cells
= 3 x 10 + 1
= 31 (Max. No. of timeslots available on a single Abis.
A single cell cannot be split across different Abis links. An omni 11 or omni 12 cannot be
supported with LM4 software release. A 3-sectored 4,4,4 or 4,4,3 can be supported by
placing the 3rd cell on a second Abis.
Timeslot allocation summary (LM4)
Number of Multidrops
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Maximum TRXs 10 9 9 9 8 8 8
Timeslots 31 29 30 31 29 30 28

SYNC ST T T ST T T ST T T ST T T ST T T
TRX1

TRX2

TRX3

TRX4

TRX5

T or T or T or T or T or T or
ST T T ST T T ST T T S01
S07 S06 S05 S04 S03 S04
TRX10
TRX6

TRX7

TRX8

TRX9

Where T =Traffic Channel

ST = TRX Signalling
S0n = Signalling for Cell n

Figure 2: Timeslot allocation with LM4 software release.

4
Multidrop indicates that more that one BTS can utilise the same Abis interface
connection

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1.3.2 LM5 Abis Interface timeslot allocation

LM5 provides the LAPD Link Concentrator Function. This allows the concentration of 4
logical signalling links onto one physical timeslot on the Abis Interface. (i.e. .4 x 16Kbit/s
subrate slots). This allows a more economical use of the Abis transmission capacity. Both
TRX related signalling and cell(O&M) related signalling can be combined into a single
timeslot, but all signalling channels sharing a timeslot must be in the same cell.
Each TRX connected via the Abis interface requires:
• 2 timeslots for voice traffic/data
• 1 timeslot for signalling . 1 timeslot can accommodate signalling for:
• up to 4 TRXs (all TRXs must be in the same cell) OR
• 3 TRXs + 1 O&M ( all TRXs must be in the same cell and O&M
must relate to that cell).
With these capacity increases, a single Abis interface can support up to 12 TRXs in
multicell or single cell configurations

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1.3.3 Example 1
For a 3-sectored (4,4,4) site:
Traffic Timeslots required = 2 x # TRXs = 2 x 12 = 24
Perform the signalling timeslot calculation on a per cell basis.
# Signalling Timeslots for cell A = # TRX + 1 = 4 + 1 = 2
4 4
Signalling Timeslots required for cell B and C are the same in this example.
Total # signalling channels required = 3 x 2 = 6
Total # Timeslots required = # Signalling timeslots + # Traffic timeslots = 6 + 24 = 30.
The situation is shown schematically in Figure 3.

Cell 1 Cell 2

SYNC S01 S4T T T T T T T T T S02 S4T T T T T

TRX1

TRX2

TRX3

TRX4

TRX5

TRX6
Cell 2 Cell 3

T T T T S03 S4T T T T T T T T T
TRX10

TRX11

TRX12
TRX7

TRX8

TRX9

Where T =Traffic Channel

SnT = Signalling for n TRXs
S0n = Signalling for Cell n

Figure 3:Timeslot allocation for 4,4,4 configuration, with LM5 release.

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Engineering Guideline EG19: Abis Interface

1.3.4 Example 2
For a 2 x 2-sectored 3,3 on a single Abis:

Traffic Timeslots required = 2 x # TRXs = 2 x 12 = 24

Perform the signalling timeslot calculation on a per cell basis.
# Signalling Timeslots for cell A = # TRX + 1 = 3 + 1 therefore 1 timeslot required
4 4
Signalling Timeslots required for cell B and C are the same in this example.
Total # signalling channels required = 4 x 1 = 4
Total # Timeslots required = # Signalling timeslots + # Traffic timeslots = 4 + 24 = 28

Cell 1 Cell 2

S3T+ S3T+
SYNC T T T T T T T T T T T T
S01 S02
TRX1

TRX2

TRX3

TRX4

TRX5

TRX6
Cell 3 Cell 4

S3T+ S3T+
T T T T T T T T T T T T
S03 S04
TRX10

TRX11

TRX12
TRX7

TRX8

TRX9

Where T =Traffic Chanel

SnT = Signalling for n TRXs
S0n = Signalling for Cell n

Figure 4: Timeslot allocation for 2 x 2 sectored 3,3 on a single Abis, using release LM5 software.

The Lucent BSS configuration at LM5 allows a maximum of 7 multidropped BTSs on a

single Abis Interface connection.

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1.4 References
[Ref. 1] BSS Network Configuration Training Course (WL9011), Issue A, June 19 1997
[Ref. 2] Lucent Network Design Tool (NDT). Available through Offer Engineering, Swindon, England

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