The signalling of the inter-cell handover is presented in the signalling diagram below.

The phases of the signalling are the following:-

1. Start of handover in BSC

The BSC receives measurements (the MEASUREMENT_RESULT message) from the BTS.It

processes the measurements and decides on the handover algorithm.If thresholds have been triggered for the handover, the BSC generates a candidate cell list and starts the handover attempt.

If the parameter disableIntHo is set, an external handover is started. If another BSC controls the first cell of the candidate cell list, an external handover is started. If the first cell of the candidate cell list is the same cell as the serving one, an internal intra-cell handover is started. If none of the above-mentioned requirements are met, an internal inter-cell handover is started. In an internal inter-cell handover, several cells can be used as candidate cells.

2. Channel reservation and queueing in BSC

The BSC tries to reserve a new channel for a handover attempt. The priority, queueing, interference band, channel type information and type of A interface circuit pool are also used when reserving a channel (for more information, see Radio Channel Allocation). In an internal handover, the MSC sends this information in the ASSIGNMENT_REQUEST message at the beginning of the call.

If a free channel is found from the candidate cell(s), the handover attempt continues. Otherwise, if queueing is allowed, the BSC starts to queue for a free channel (in an external handover the BSC sends a QUEUEING_INDICATION message to the MSC). If queueing is not allowed or if no free channel is found by queueing, the handover attempt is terminated (in an external handover, the BSC sends a HANDOVER_FAILURE message to the MSC) and the call continues on the old channel.

3. Channel activation in BSC

The BSC requests the BTS to activate a new channel by sending a CHANNEL_ACTIVATION

message. If a CHANNEL_ACTIVATION_ACKNOWLEDGE message is received from the BTS before time supervision elapses, the handover attempt continues. If the activation of a channel fails and the BTS sends a CHANNEL_ACTIVATION_NEGATIVE_ACKNOWLEDGE message to the BSC, the handover attempt is terminated (in an external handover, the BSC sends a HANDOVER_FAILURE message to the MSC) and the call continues on the old channel.

4. Connection of unidirectional speech path in BSC

If the handover attempt is allowed at the current phase of the call, the BSC connects a unidirectional speech path so that the MS is immediately able to hear the speech from the MSC. The BSC starts the buffering of messages from the MSC.

5. Handover command / assignment command in BSC

In an internal handover, a HANDOVER_COMMAND (inter cell) message is sent to the MS on the old channel. After the channel has been activated at the target BSC, the BSC sends a HANDOVER_REQUEST_ACKNOWLEDGE message to the MSC. The message includes information that is needed for the HANDOVER_COMMAND message, including the BCCH and BSIC of the target cell. The MSC sends the HANDOVER_COMMAND message to the source BSC which passes it to the MS on the old channel.

If the cell identifier or the selected BCCH frequency and BSIC are not correct in the source BSC's BSDATA, the source BSC selects a wrong cell as the candidate cell. This has two possible consequences:

The MSC finds the candidate cell from the radio network and the handover attempt is continued. The MSC sends the HANDOVER_COMMAND message which was created in the target BSC

to the MS via the source BSC. However, because radio measurements belong to another cell, the handover attempt fails and the call continues on the old channel.

The candidate cell is not found in the radio network, the MSC rejects the handover attempt and the call continues on the old channel.

If the BSC notices events like the ones mentioned above, it interrupts the handover attempt and generates an alarm which indicates this failure. If the MS fails to move into a new channel, it can return to the old channel by sending a HANDOVER_FAILURE or ASSIGNMENT_FAILURE message to the old BTS which passes it to the BSC. In an external handover, the BSC sends the HANDOVER_FAILURE message to the MSC. The handover attempt is terminated and the call continues in the old channel. If the MS fails to move into the new channel and does not return to the old channel, the handover attempt is terminated and the call is cleared.

6. Handover detection in BSC

After receiving an access burst from the MS, the BTS sends a HANDOVER_DETECTION message to the BSC. In the case of an external handover, the HANDOVER_DETECTION message is sent to the MSC.

7. Indication of handover establishment in BSC

After the BTS has received an SABM (Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode) frame, it sends an ESTABLISH_INDICATION message to the BSC.

8. Connection of bidirectional speech path in BSC

In an internal handover, unidirectional and bidirectional speech paths are switched through. If the connection fails, the handover attempt is terminated and the call is cleared. In an external handover, the bidirectional speech path is connected. The target BSC sends a HANDOVER_REQUEST_ACKNOWLEDGE message to the MSC. The message contains the handover command information which the MSC sends to the source BSC. If the connection fails, the handover attempt is terminated by sending the HANDOVER_FAILURE message to the BSC and the call continues in the old channel.

9. Handover / assignment complete in BSC

After the MS has established the main signalling link successfully, it sends the HANDOVER_COMPLETE (internal inter-cell) or the ASSIGNMENT_COMPLETE (internal intra-cell) message in the new channel. In an internal handover, the BSC sends the HANDOVER_PERFORMED to the MSC.

10. Release of the old channel in BSC

In an internal handover, after the MS has completed the handover, the BSC releases the old channel by sending an RF_CHANNEL_REL message to the BTS.The old channel is released by sending an RF_CHANNEL_REL message to the BTS and a CLEAR_COMPLETE message to the MSC.