2/4/2018 LTE CS Fallback (CSFB) Call Flow Procedure | 3GLTEInfo

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 3GPP LTE CS Fallback (CSFB) Call Flow Procedure



LTE CS Fallback (CSFB) Call Flow

Procedure

 Prashant Panigrahi  November 3, 2016  3

LTE is an all-IP network with no CS support. To support voice

communication operators have many options.

Voice Over LTE

Voice Over WiFi
CS Fallback

Let’s check brie y about the above options for voice communication.

Voice Over LTE (VoLTE)

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VoLTE is the true solution for voice communication over the all-IP LTE
network. It uses the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) to initiate, connect and
terminate voice communication.

The service is heavily dependent on many new core network elements.

I wrote a complete beginners guide on VoLTE which you can nd here.

Voice Over WiFi – VoWiFi

Some operators use VoWiFi to o oad voice tra c over a WiFi network.
Though VoWiFis is the commercial name, the service is sometime referred
as EPDG, WiFi O oad, etc.

Similar to VoLTE, VOWiFi uses the IMS to initiate, connect and control voice
communications.

Some operators support all the above options and some support only CS
Fallback (CSFB). The basic reason behind this is the cost to implement
VoLTE and IMS.

In this tutorial we will check simple CSFB signalling call ows. We will check
cases for both MO (Mobile Originated) and MT (Mobile Terminated) calls.

CS Fallback (CSFB)

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When LTE was introduced there was practically no option for voice
communication. VoLTE was on development phase and was not actively
rolled out. To support voice and other CS services CS Fallback was
introduced.

Simply speaking, when a UE or mobile phone starts a voice call the network
move the UE to a legacy UMTS (3G) or GSM (2G) network. The UE use the
legacy network to initiate the call and complete the call. After the call is over
UE again move back to the LTE network.

When in legacy network (3G/2G) the UE can have PS data sessions. PS data
is supported in 2G network only when DTM (Dual Transfer Mode) is
supported. When UE supports DTM it can have both voice and data
simultaneously.

NOTE: The network must support the SGs interface to support CS Fallback.

The big advantage CSFB is that in the initial phase operators did not need
to roll out IMS VoLTE.

LTE MO CS Fallback Call Flow

The precondition is the UE is registered to the LTE network. We do not have

any VoLTE service available. So when the UE will originate the call, the
network will ask the UE to move to 3G to initiate the call.

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+-----------+ +------------+ +-----

| UE | | EUTRAN | | U
+-----------+ +------------+ +-----
+-------------------------------------------------------
| | UE is in EUTRAN IDLE state
+-------------------------------+-----------------------
| |
| |
MO Call Initiated |
| |
| |
LTE Idle to Active transition Including Extended Service Re
| |
| RRCConnectionRelease |
| (RedirectedCarrierInfo) |
+<-------------------------- |
| |
Tune to UTRAN, Acquisition |
| |
| System Information (MIB)
| <--------------------------+-----------------------
| |
| System Information (SIB1/3/5/7)
| <--------------------------+-----------------------
| |
| System Information (SIB11/12/19)
| <--------------------------+-----------------------
| |
| |

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| RRC connection setup

| |
| |
| NAS end-to|end CS call setup
| |
| |
| |

Let’s discuss what happens for the MO call.

Initially UE is registered on EUTRAN network and is idle state. This is the

precondition.
When UE starts the call it goes from idle to active state. The eNodeB now
redirect the UE to a legacy network.

This is done through the RRC Connection Release message. This message
contains the IE RedirectedCarrierInfo . It also has the details about the
target UARFCN(WCDMA) or ARFCN(GSM).

When UE receives this message it tune into the target network. In our
example the target network is UTRAN.

In the target network the UE reads the MIB (Master Information Block) and
other required System Information Blocks. You can know more about UMTS
MIBs and SIBs here.

The next step is to start the RRC connection procedure to initiate the voice
call in UTRAN network.

LTE MT CS Fallback Call Flow

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In case of MT call, our UE is registered and is in LTE network. It receives a

CS service notification EPS mobility management message for an
incoming call. The LTE network will redirect the UE to UMTS network to
complete the call.

CS Service Noti cation message: This message is sent by the network

when a paging request with CS call indicator was received via SGs for a UE,
and a NAS signalling connection is already established for the UE.

For more information about CS Service Noti cation message check 3GPP
24.301 speci cation.

In response to this the UE sends the Extend Service Request message. In

this message it mention the service type as “mobile terminating CS
fallback”.

Also, it sets that the CSFB request is accepted by the UE.

After receiving this message, the UE prepares itself for CSFB procedure. It
starts the timer T3417.

The network then sends the RRC connection release message with
redirectedCarrierInfo .

The UE does a IRAT Redirection. After moving to WCDMA it reads the MIB
and necessary SIBs.

Then it triggers the RRC Connection Request with cause

terminatingConversationalCall .

+-----------+ +------------+ +-----

| UE | | EUTRAN | | U
+-----------+ +------------+ +-----

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+-------------------------------------------------------
| | UE is in E|UTRAN IDLE state
+--+----------------------------+-----------------------
|
MT call|Received |
|
CS Service Notification |
| |
LTE Idle to Active transition Including Extended Service Re
| |
| RRCConnectionRelease |
| (RedirectedCarrierInfo) |
+<-------------------------- |
| |
Tune to UTRAN, Acquisition |
| |
| System Information (MIB)
| <--------------------------+-----------------------
| |
| System Information (SIB1/3/5/7)
| <--------------------------+-----------------------
| |
| System Information (SIB11/12/19)
| <--------------------------+-----------------------
| |
| |
| RRC connection setup
| |
| |
| NAS end-to|end CS call setup
| |
| |

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| |

 Posted in 3GPP
 Tagged LTE

 3 COMMENTS

 Pankaj
 5 months ago  Permalink

Does MO call take more time than MT call to establish? Is paging a

reason. will need little information on this

 Karuna
 5 months ago  Permalink

Hi
We facing an issue in MT calls during CSFB in paricular in one sector.
What could be the reason.

 SANDHYA
 2 days ago  Permalink

GOOD ONE

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