Internal Use Only

1 Paging
1.1

Paging Principle
Radio paging is a communication process in which MSC finds out MS through paging.
Only when the mobile subscriber has been found out can MSC carry out next call
connection.

This document contains proprietary information of ZTE Corporation and is not to be disclosed or used
except in accordance with applicable agreements.

Internal Use Only

Fig. 4-1 Schematic Diagram of Sending Paging Message

1.2

Basic Signaling Flow of Radio Paging

Fig. 4-2 Basic Signaling Flow of Radio Paging

From Fig. 4-2, it is known that MSC will send, after getting the current LAC
information of MS from VLR, paging messages to all BSCs in the LAC. After receiving
the paging message, BSC will send out Paging Command to all cells within it under
this LA. After BTS received the Paging Command, it will send out, on the paging subchannel of the paging group the IMSI is in, Paging Request, which carries IMSI or
TMSI number of the paged subscriber. After receiving the Paging Request, MS will
request through RACH for SDCCH allocation. And BSC will assign this SDCCH to MS
through Immediate Assignment message in AGCH after it confirmed the activation of
the needed SDCCH by BTS. And MS will use this SDCCH to send Paging Response.
BSC will then forward this Paging Response to MSC, finishing a radio paging
successfully.
Now, the switch in GSM network usually adopts second paging with a paging interval
of 5 seconds. After MSC obtains the current LAC information of the MS from VLR, it
will send out paging message for the first time to all BSCs under the LAC the MS is
in, if no paging response is received within 5 seconds, MSC will send out paging
message again to all BSCs under the LAC the MS is in. If there is still no paging
response within 5 seconds, this radio paging fails, and MSC will send a voice
notification the subscriber you dialed cannot be connected for the moment to the
MOC subscriber.

1.3

Paging Group
After MS succeeds in decoding BCCH and system information, it could work out the
paging channel it should monitor. The size of a paging group could be defined in

This document contains proprietary information of ZTE Corporation and is not to be disclosed or used
except in accordance with applicable agreements.

Internal Use Only

OMC. It defines that how many paging sub-channels the paging channels in a cell
could be divided into. In actual network, MS monitors only the paging sub-channel it
belongs to and ignores the contents in other paging sub-channels.
The larger the paging group, i.e. the more the paging sub-channels in a cell, the fewer
the subscribers in each paging sub-channel. Thus, the average service time of the
MS battery could be extended. By large paging groups, the paging capacity in system
could be increased; but the average time delay of paging messages on radio channel
will be extended, lowering system service performance.
By small paging groups, the paging response could be speeded up, but the MS
battery will be used up quickly and the system paging capacity will also be small.
The number of paging groups is determined by BS-AG-BLKS-RES and BS-PAMFRMS.

1.4

BS-AG-BLKS-RES
BS-AG-BLKS-RES indicates the number of message blocks in CCCH reserved for
Access Granted Channel. After CCCH configuration is finished, this parameter
actually shows the proportion of AGCH and PCH allocated on CCCH. The setting of
this parameter will affect both the time for MS to respond to paging and the system
service performance. If PCH is idle when all AGCHs are fully occupied, it could be
used for sending Immediate Assignment Command. If BS-AG-BLKS-RES is set as 0,
Immediate Assignment will have to be sent on idle paging channels.

1.5

BS-PA-MFRMS
BS-PA-MFRMS refers to the number of multi-frames that could form a period of
paging sub-channel. This parameter actually defines how many sub-channels the
paging channels in a cell could be divided into. The larger the BS-PA-MFRMS, the
more the paging sub-channels in a cell; this parameter should be set to the minimum
value, provided no paging channel overload occurs. The running networks should be
measured regularly about whether overload occurs on paging channels. Based on
this, the value of BS-PA-MFRMS could be adjusted moderately. Any paging
messages in the same LA (the same LAC) should be sent simultaneously in all cells
under the LA, so the paging channel capacity in a cell should be the same as or close
to that of other cells under the same LA (the number of paging sub-channels in each
cell finally calculated).
If BS-PA-MFRMS = 9, the MS belonging to a paging group will be paged every nine
multi-frames, with an interval of 2.1 seconds (235.4ms*9).

1.6

Relation between Paging Group, BS-PA-MFRMS, and BS-AG-BLKS-RES (AGB

Number of paging groups for combined BCCH/SDCCH = (3-AGB)*BS-PA-MFRMS

This document contains proprietary information of ZTE Corporation and is not to be disclosed or used
except in accordance with applicable agreements.

Internal Use Only

Number of paging groups for Non-combined BCCH/SDCCH =
MFRMS

(9-AGB)*BS-PA-

The relation between paging group, BS-PA-MFRMS, and BS-AG-BLKS-RES is as

follows:

BS-PA-MF
RMS

1.7

Time between

Number of paging groups

Number of paging groups

Combined BCCH/SDCCH

Non-Combined BCCH/SDCCH

transmission of

3 paging blocks

2 paging blocks

9 paging blocks

8 paging blocks

each paging group

per multi-frame

per multi-frame

per multi-frame

per multi-frame

AGB=0

AGB=1

AGB=0

AGB=1

0.47

18

16

0.71

27

24

0.94

12

36

32

1.18

15

10

45

40

1.41

18

12

54

48

1.65

21

14

63

56

1.89

24

16

72

64

2.12

27

18

81

72

Paging Strategies
If the LA of an MS is already known in VLR, the first paging message will be
broadcasted only in the LA the MS registered, i.e. local paging. If the MS does not
respond to the first paging, MSC will initiate the second paging, which is usually
broadcasted also in the original LA; however, for devices from some manufacturers,
the second paging could be sent to all cells within the MSC, i.e. global paging. The
latter will increase the paging success rate. In the paging process, TMSI or IMSI
could be used to differentiate MSs.

This document contains proprietary information of ZTE Corporation and is not to be disclosed or used
except in accordance with applicable agreements.

Internal Use Only

2 Calculation of LA Capacity
2.1

Calculation of LA Capacity
The method to calculate LA capacity is as follows:
Number of paging blocks per second X Number of paging messages per
paging block = Maximum number of sending paging messages per
second( Each hour support paging number of times) Maximum
number of sending paging messages allowed in an hour Traffic
allowed in an LA

Number of paging blocks per second

1 multi-frame = 51 frames = 0.2354s. If the number of

BS_AG_BLK_RES is AGB, the formula to calculate the number of
paging blocks per second is as follows

Non-combined BCCH: the number of paging blocks/s = 9AGB/0.2354 (paging blocks/s)

Non-combined BCCH: when AGB=2, the number of paging blocks/s =

27.9 paging blocks/s. When AGB = 0, the number of paging blocks/s=
38.2 paging blocks/s.

Number of Sending Paging Messages per Paging Block

There are 23 octets in each paging block, which could send two IMSI
paging messages (a); or two TMSI paging and one IMSI paging
messages (b); or four TMSI paging messages (c).
If IMSI paging mechanism is adopted, each paging block could send
paging messages for X times in average,
X2

Number of Sending Paging Messages/paging blocks

If TMSI paging mechanism is adopted, then,

X=4

Number of Sending Paging Messages/paging blocks

Maximum Number of Sending Paging Messages per Second (P)

This could be calculated through the following formula,

Non-combined BCCH: P =9-AGB/0.2354 (paging blocks/s) X

(number of sending paging messages/paging blocks)

IMSI paging mechanism: to non-combined BCCH, when AGB=2,

P=59.47 times of sending paging messages/s;
TMSI paging mechanism: to non-combined BCCH, if AGB=2, P=118.95
times of sending paging messages/s
Therefore, the paging capacity in IMSI paging is half that in TMSI
paging.
This document contains proprietary information of ZTE Corporation and is not to be
disclosed or used except in accordance with applicable agreements.

Internal Use Only

Traffic allowed in an LA (T)

An important principle in planning LA capacity is that the size of the LA

shall not exceed the maximum capacity it could bear. As to expanded
network, the number of sending paging commands in busy hour
forwarded by BSC could be collected in OMC, and then converted into
the number of paging commands per second. This number shall not
exceed the value calculated above. If there is no traffic statistics could
be referred to, e.g. newly established networks, the calculation should
be based on a hypothetical traffic model:

Average call duration90s

The proportion of the number of successful MTC calls (cause

paging and generate TCH traffics) in the total number of call
attempts: 50%

Then, the call duration for 90 seconds is corresponding to 1/90 times of

call attempts/(second.Erl), in which, 50% is caused by MTC calls,
therefore, 50% of successful MTC calls are corresponding to: 1/90*50%
= 0.0056 times of successful MTC calls/(second.Erl).
Given that 75% of MSs respond in the first paging, that 25% respond in
the second paging, and that those respond in the third paging are
ignored (this is the basis for the hypothesis, and the actual network data
should be used in practical calculation), it needs 1.25 times of paging for
each MTC call (25% of paging need to be sent for the second time),
thus,
Y=0.0056*(1+25%)=0.007
second.Erl

times

of

sending

paging

messages/

If IMSI paging mechanism is adopted, the traffic allowed in an LA is:

T=P*50%/Y = 4247.86 Erl

(AGB=2non-combined BCCH)

This document contains proprietary information of ZTE Corporation and is not to be

disclosed or used except in accordance with applicable agreements.