EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

EVOLIUM™ Radio Solutions

Alcatel GSM 900/1800/1900

A925 Compact Transcoder

Product Description

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

SCOPE

The EVOLIUM™ A925 Transcoder is an integral part of the Alcatel GSM 900/1800/1900 BSS. This
document provides a detailed overview of the technical realization. It describes the functional
behavior of the various components and gives a complete overview of the product characteristics.

This document contains a detailed description of the complete product range. Its content does not
reflect system capabilities for a particular delivery date or software release!

Notice of proprietary information

This document contains proprietary technical information belonging to Alcatel. By accepting this
material, the recipient agrees that this material will neither be reproduced nor used in whole or in part
except as otherwise agreed in writing between Alcatel and the recipient.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION AND HIGHLIGHTS.............................................................................................. 6

2. GENERALITIES ............................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 BSS Architecture ................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Functions ............................................................................................................................... 7
3. PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE .......................................................................................................... 9
3.1 Architecture and main principles............................................................................................ 9
3.1.1 Multi-BSC feature.................................................................................................... 10
3.1.2 Cluster Notion ......................................................................................................... 11
3.1.3 Internal busses........................................................................................................ 12
3.2 BSS Interfaces..................................................................................................................... 12
3.2.1 Transmission interfaces.......................................................................................... 12
3.2.2 O&M Interfaces ....................................................................................................... 14
3.2.3 X25 Interface........................................................................................................... 14
4. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................................... 15
4.1 MT120 Architecture ............................................................................................................. 15
4.1.1 Functional Blocks.................................................................................................... 15
4.1.2 Synchronisation....................................................................................................... 15
4.2 Cabinet features .................................................................................................................. 16
4.2.1 Power supply........................................................................................................... 16
4.2.2 Power consumption ................................................................................................ 17
4.2.3 Cooling.................................................................................................................... 17
4.2.4 Other features ......................................................................................................... 18
5. OPERATIONAL ASPECTS............................................................................................................ 19
5.1 Redundancy and reliability................................................................................................... 19
5.1.1 Recovery feature on DSP failure ............................................................................ 19
5.1.2 MTBF figures .......................................................................................................... 19
5.2 Faster software downloading............................................................................................... 19
5.3 Simplified logistic ................................................................................................................. 20
5.3.1 Remote inventory.................................................................................................... 20
5.3.2 Reduced module types ........................................................................................... 20
5.4 Easy on site intervention...................................................................................................... 20
5.4.1 MT120 Front panel.................................................................................................. 20
5.4.2 Hot Insertion / Extraction......................................................................................... 21
5.5 Minimum Site requirements ................................................................................................. 21

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

5.5.1 Size and floor space requirements ......................................................................... 21

5.5.2 Cables access ........................................................................................................ 22
5.5.3 Floor fixation ........................................................................................................... 22
5.5.4 Operator access ..................................................................................................... 23
5.6 Rack filling ........................................................................................................................... 24
6. DIMENSIONING AND CONFIGURATIONS.................................................................................. 25
6.1 New A925 installations ........................................................................................................ 26
6.2 A925 extension .................................................................................................................... 27
7. TECHNICAL DATA OF THE EVOLIUM™ A925 TRANSCODER ................................................. 28
8. APPLICABLE ENVIRONMENT STANDARDS .............................................................................. 29
8.1 Climatic and mechanic conditions ....................................................................................... 29
8.2 EMC conditions.................................................................................................................... 30
8.3 Safety conditions ................................................................................................................. 30
8.4 Other conditions .................................................................................................................. 30
9. ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 31

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: TC context in the PLMN ................................................................................................................... 7

Figure 2: A925 Main principles ........................................................................................................................ 9
Figure 3: A925 TC Rack ................................................................................................................................ 10
Figure 4: Multi-BSC feature ........................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 5: A925 TC Cluster Notion ................................................................................................................. 11
Figure 6: A925 TC Context............................................................................................................................ 13
Figure 7: MT120 architecture ........................................................................................................................ 15
Figure 8: Secondary power supply internal cabling - Rear view.................................................................... 16
Figure 9: 2-wire connection mode option (top view)...................................................................................... 17
Figure 10: TC Subrack .................................................................................................................................. 17
Figure 11: MT120 front panel ........................................................................................................................ 21
Figure 12: Floor plan for A925 TC................................................................................................................. 22
Figure 13: Cable entry detail.......................................................................................................................... 22
Figure 14: Site exemple................................................................................................................................. 23
Figure 15: Rack filling .................................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 16: BSC rack connection.................................................................................................................... 25
Figure 17: New A925 installations ................................................................................................................. 26
Figure 18: A925 Extension ............................................................................................................................ 27

Table 1: A925 TC Technical data summary.................................................................................................. 28

Table 2: Environmental conditions for EVOLIUM™ A925 Transcoder ......................................................... 29

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

1. INTRODUCTION AND HIGHLIGHTS

The EVOLIUM™ A925 TC is the latest transcoding equipment of the field proven and worldwide
successful EVOLIUM™ family. It has been designed in a modular way, permitting flexible extensions.
Investment can therefore be optimised by purchasing and deploying the configuration, best suited to
the network topology.

It provides speech transcoding between GSM and 64-kbit/s PCM coding laws, and data-rate
adaptation in the BSS. Submultiplexing on the Ater interface between TC and BSC is standard in all
configurations and reduces transmission needs or requirements on the Ater interface by up to 75 %.
The EVOLIUM™ A925 Transcoder contains powerful digital signal-processing devices, sufficient to
handle all the different available speech coding algorithms and several rate-adaptation techniques.

The highlights of EVOLIUM™ A925 Transcoders are:

Capacity

Sized to your current need with support for more capacity as your network grows,
192 A interfaces capacity, i.e. up to 5600 Erlang.

Compactness

Compact equipment practice: 19” standard rack - only 2m height,

Unrivalled compactness with only 3.75 liters per A interface.

Flexibility

Multi BSC feature simplifies your network design,

A925 product range covers all connectivity requirements up to 24 BSCs and up to 192 A
interfaces.

Minimizing your operating costs

Only one board type simplifies your logistic,

Centralized software downloading minimizes on-site intervention,
The use of state-of-art DSPs permits unrivalled low power consumption.

Future proof

A925 TC enables a smooth migration towards 3G networks,

Ready for full IP architecture,
A925 and A935 equipment practices are common, guaranteeing the future proof of the A925
product.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

2. GENERALITIES

2.1 BSS Architecture

The Transcoder is connected to other network elements via the following interfaces:

- The A-ter interface directly towards the BSC or via the MFS (Multi BSS Fast packet Server),
- The A interface towards the MSC.

OMC-R

SGSN

MFS Gb

Abis (PCU)
MSC
BTS Abis BSC TC
Ater Ater A

LMT

Figure 1: TC context in the PLMN

2.2 Functions

The functions performed by the transcoder are speech transcoding and rate adaptation together with
related O&M functions. The basic functions are:

- Speech-service functions

- Conversion of vocoder blocks (TRAU frames 320 bits) into 160 A-law PCM samples of
eight bits and vice versa
- Framing and synchronization of vocoder blocks
- Adjustment of the phase of blocks in the downlink direction for minimum delay
- Discontinuous-Transmission (DTX) functions:

- Voice-Activity Detection (VAD) downlink

- Comfort-noise measurement downlink
- Comfort-noise insertion uplink
- Speech extrapolation uplink

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

- Data-services functions

- Data-rate adaptation for V.110 formats with intermediate rates of 8 kbit/s or 16 kbit/s
- Framing and synchronization of the data blocks

- Operation & Maintenance (O&M) functions

- Self-test and alarm handling

- Setting test loops
- Supervision on 16-kbit/s and 64-kbit/s links
- Testing 16-kbit/s and 64-kbit/s links with test frame

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

3. PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE

3.1 Architecture and main principles

The new transcoder generation is based on state of the art Digital Signal Processor (DSP) devices
allowing multi-codec, multi-channels implementation and enabling an optimzed solution for
transcoding functions.

The new A925 TC transcoding equipment is based on

- New transcoding board: MT120, also compatible with EVOLIUM™ TC G2 equipment. The
MT120 module provides interfaces for 1 Ater trunk (towards BSC) and up to 4 A trunks
(towards MSC).
- New equipment practice, common for A925 and A935 products. The A925 cabinet, is provided
with a high capacity of 48 Ater interfaces and 192 A interfaces (i.e. 48 MT120 boards).

A925 TC

MT120
Ater itf trunk
Four Aitf trunks
G.703
G.703

MT120
Ater itf trunk
Four Aitf trunks
G.703
G.703

Up to 48 boards

MT120
Ater itf trunk
Four Aitf trunks
G.703
G.703

Figure 2: A925 Main principles

The new equipment practice is based on a standard 19” rack with external dimensions of 2000 mm
height, 600 mm width and 600 mm depth ; it contains four shelves (7U height), each with its three
fans cassette units (identical to those included in A9100 BTS). The Top Rack Unit (TRU), in charge
of secondary power supply distribution and protection, is located on top of the rack (2U height). A
free space is available at the bottom of the rack for an additional fifth subrack. This subrack will be
used for example to house some adaptation boards necessary for IP BSS introduction (ref 3G
Alcatel’s strategy).

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

TRU 2U

FANU FANU FANU

7U
FANU FANU FANU

40U
FANU FANU FANU

FANU FANU FANU

Stand (100mm)

Figure 3: A925 TC Rack

3.1.1 Multi-BSC feature

A TC Rack sharing notion is introduced at rack and subrack level: one MT120 board in any slot of
any subrack can be allocated to any BSC. This is a static allocation, the board is attached to the BSC
at installation (commissioning phase).

Thanks to its high capacity, the A925 TC will then serve several BSCs, possibly controlled by
different OMC-R, up to 24 BSCs (taken into account as minimum 2 MT120 per BSC).

A BSC can also be connected to several A925 TC racks (on a per cluster basis – see 3.1.2). This
offers full flexibility and scalability as the network capacity evolves.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

%6& $ $ %6&

%6&

%6& %6& %6& %6&

20&

20&

Figure 4: Multi-BSC feature

3.1.2 Cluster Notion

A group or cluster of up to 6 MT120 is allocated to one BSC rack (a G2 BSC is made of several
racks, 1 to 4 depending on configurations). The two first MT120 of the cluster are the Masters
(active/standby mode) and manage the Qmux interface (used for remote control of the transcoder) ;
the other MT120 of the clusters are “attached” to the Masters during installation/commissioning
activation phase.

A cluster is viewed from the BSC (TSC: O&M controller) as a TC G2 logical rack, means a group of 6
Ater interfaces. The TSC of the BSC rack is in charge to supervise the corresponding cluster.

Cluster 1

BSC Rack
Int

MT120
ern

O&M
al

Controler
Mu
lti

BSC Rack MT120

-M
as
ter

O&M
Controler
O&

Cluster 2
M
bu

BSC Rack
s

MT120
O&M
Controler
Ater mux interfaces
Cluster 3

Figure 5: A925 TC Cluster Notion

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

The MT120 master board is in charge to forward the supervision/configuration messages received
from the BSC to the concerned MT120 via the internal O&M bus.

At installation the operator will enter or select1, for each MT120

- the BSS identity identifying the BSC to which the board is connected.
- the number of the corresponding Ater interfaces.

3.1.3 Internal busses

O&M bus

This duplicated bus is the internal link between all MT120 modules, used for internal communication
such as forwarding of configuration from BSC, downloading from TC terminal, alarms sending to
BSC via MT120 having Qmux connection, etc… The bus is distributed within the rack among the four
subracks by backpanels strip lines and cables.

Provision for High Speed Interface

A High Speed Interface (HSI) is provided but is not used in releases B5, B6 and B7 ; it is a hardware
provision for future evolutions such as IP introduction in BSS (3G evolution). This interface allows all
traffic capacity to be routed off of the board in both directions towards an other module for dedicated
processing (IP interface board for example), and can support both TDM and packet data interfaces.

3.2 BSS Interfaces

3.2.1 Transmission interfaces

The A925 TC is connected to BSC or MFS via Ater interfaces and to MSC via A interfaces. The
Figure 6 gives the different connection configurations. In case of connection to MFS, the Ater
interface possibly conveys the N*64 kbit/s Gb interface ; in this case the N*64 kbit/s channels go
transparently through the TC.

All interfaces are standard 2.048 kbit/s G.703/G.704.

1 The list of the BSS identities already attached to the Transcoder will be provided on the Local terminal.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

A interface
Ater mux interface
(3:1 or 4:1 Mapping scheme)

SM
MT120
(ASMB)
DTC

SM MT120
(ASMB)
DTC

BSC MFS TC MSC

Figure 6: A925 TC Context

Ater transmission interfaces to BSC & MFS

The 64 kbit/s or N*64 kbit/s channels either:

- go transparently through the MT120, (e.g. SS7, OMC_R X.25, Gb interface or any other
O&M link) placed at same or different position on Ater and A interfaces.
- or are added/dropped at MT120 (only true for 64 kbit/s channels)

The 8 & 16 kbit/s HR, FR, EFR or AMR traffic channels conveyed on 16 kbit/s bearer channels
are processed in MT120.

Both 4:1 and 3:1 submultiplexing schemes on Ater interface are supported.

The main function of the submultiplexing on the A-ter interface is to submultiplex four
(case 4:1) or three (case 3:1) 16 kbit/s TCH into one PCM channel. With a maximum of
four (case 4:1) or three (case 3:1) PCM trunks (30 TCH each) mapped to one PCM
trunk a maximum of 120 TCH (case 4:1) or 90 TCH (case 3:1) are possible. Depending
on the amount of #7 or X.25 signalling links configured, the number of TCH per PCM
trunk may be reduced (i.e. 116 with 1 #7).

TS0 transparency configuration is supported.

A transmission interfaces to the MSC

This is standard G.703/G.704 interface that carries only 64 kbit/s.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

3.2.2 O&M Interfaces

O&M access ( mainly configuration and supervision of the board MT120 ) is performed by the BSC
via the support of the Qmux bus ; this solution permits to achieve compatibility with the current TC
G2 solution.

There is a 1+1 Qmux connection, operating in active/standby mode per cluster in

A925configurations: the two Qmux connections are carried on two 16 kbit/s channels conveyed by
the first two Ater of the group and handled by MT120 modules in A925 cabinet.

3.2.3 X25 Interface

A synchronous interface (subset of X.21) for termination of OMC-R X.25 connection is provided on
each MT120. It allows the connection of transmit and receive data signals of an X.21 interface to a
64 kbit/s timeslot of the Ater interface.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

4. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

4.1 MT120 Architecture

The MT120 is on double Europe format card 6U: 233.4 mm (high) x 280 mm (depth) x 30 mm
(width). The same module is used in both TC G2 and A925 TC racks.

4.1.1 Functional Blocks

Led 1&2 MMI RS232/USB

RI
X21 - 64k
Qmux logic OBC Fans alarms
64k Add/Drop Controller
O&M Bus

A interfaces

Synchro
G703/4

Ater interfaces
DC/DC

HIS 1 and 2
12
HSI DSP DSP

Figure 7: MT120 architecture

The Figure 7 illustrates the major functional blocks:

DSP
12 DSPs allowing multi-channels, multi-codecs implementation ; each of them handling
10 channels.
On Board Controller (OBC)
A PQUICC On Board Controller ; the software is downloaded locally from any MT120.
Transmission interfaces
Each MT120 board provides 5 G.703/G.704 interfaces with 120 Ω or 75 Ω impedances (
selection being done by software ) for E1 version and 100 Ω impedance for T1 version.

4.1.2 Synchronisation

Each MT120 synchronises itself on one reference clock selected out of the followings possibilities ;
each clock input can be enabled/disabled by software.
- one of the two HSI interface clocks,
- the extracted clock of one among its four A interfaces,
- the local oscillator.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

4.2 Cabinet features

4.2.1 Power supply

Two redundant power lines inputs are provided by A925 cabinet ; two circuit breakers (one per
branch) are provided per subrack. BATR, BAT0 and BAT1 signals are individually filtered, BATR is
common to both distribution branches.

The Top Rack Unit (TRU) is in charge of secondary power supply distribution and protection inside
the rack. 10 circuit breakers are mounted on the TRU. Each one corresponds to one subrack and to
one distribution branch.

The internal secondary power distribution is made, according to the following figure, by:

- 16 mm2 section power cables from the EMC filters to the TRU,
- ALBAC cables from the TRU to each subrack (dual 4 mm2 section conductor cable with a T
fast-on connector at both ends).

Rack EMC BAT1 BATR BAT0

enclosure

EMC filters
16 mm² 16 mm² 16 mm²
bleue black bleue

JSTRU

ALBAC
Cables
JSTC

JSTC

BAT1 BAT0
Distribution Distribution

JSTC

JSTC

Figure 8: Secondary power supply internal cabling - Rear view

When the so-called "2-wire" connection mode is required, a strap connects the BATR signal to the
Rack protective ground terminals outside the EMC enclosure.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

Figure 9: 2-wire connection mode option (top view)

Each MT120 is powered from two separate DC power supply lines with a nominal value of -48 or -60
Volts as provided by the backpanel. The on-board DC/DC converter operates within the static input
voltage range of 38.4 V to 72 V.

4.2.2 Power consumption

Current estimation on MT120 is maximum 50 Watts. As a consequence the total power consumption
of full A925 TC configuration is lower than 2500 Watts.

4.2.3 Cooling

So high compactness in such equipment with powerful DSPs requires a forced cooling based on
fans. Each subrack is equipped (when MT120 is present) with 3 fans cassettes (FANU: identical to
those used in A9100 BTS).

FANU FANU FANU

Figure 10: TC Subrack

Top and bottom plates as well as front and rear doors are perforated to provide sufficient air flow
inside the rack for the cooling.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

Each MT120 is equipped with a sensor for permanent temperature measurements. Three thresholds
are defined:

- If the low threshold is reached, MT120 sends an alarm to the BSC. This does not impact the
traffic.
- If the medium threshold is reached, the MT120 stops some DSPs and sends to the BSC
alarms on these channels for blocking. These channels are no more available for traffic.
- If the high threshold is reached, MT120 sends to BSC alarm and goes to out of order state.
MT120 is no more available for traffic ; but automatic restart is performed when temperature
decreases.

The fans speed is software controlled to reduce at maximum the noise level. Each MT120 controls
the fan of the same subrack ; the fans speed depends on the highest MT120 temperature in the rack
(for cooling efficiency, all fans in the rack have the same speed).

4.2.4 Other features

Cabling

Cables with eight pairs (either Flex 3 for 75 Ohms coaxial or L 907 for 120 Ohms pair) are
used for connection to the customer Distribution frame (DDF) . This cabling can be done from
bottom or from top of the rack.
This cabling is offered on subrack granularity.

External alarms

No external alarms signal (neither input nor output) is provided.

Weight

250kg fully equipped.

EMC Protection

The shielding is performed at rack level.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

5. OPERATIONAL ASPECTS

5.1 Redundancy and reliability

5.1.1 Recovery feature on DSP failure

Thanks to high processing power of the DSPs, it is possible to transfer channel processing task from
one DSP in failure to the 11 others. This recovery mechanism is performed autonomously by the
MT120 board and keeps call transmission ressources in usage.

The recovery mechanism can only apply in case of a single DSP failure (failure on a second DSP
requires the blocking of the corresponding traffic channel).

A non urgent alarm will be reported on MT120 in case of the first DSP failure: MT120 replacement
can be grouped or phased with other on site intervention. An urgent alarm will be reported in case of
second DSP failure.

5.1.2 MTBF figures

Hardware failure

MT120 MTBF: 18.4 years - 161 000h

Hardware failure with recovery feature

MT120 MTBF: 22.5 years - 197 000h

Taken as a basis a 4 hours MTTR, the unavailability in mn per year is: 10.7.

Functional MTBF

MT120 MTBF: 45.7 years - 400 000h

Only hardware failure impacting the availability of the Ater interface is taken into account.

5.2 Faster software downloading

The A925 TC products provides the central software downloading feature: all the software of all
MT120 modules are downloaded from a central local point, i.e. one MT120 connected to the local
terminal.

This feature reduces drastically the software download phase (more than a factor 10 gain: from
10mn per Ater in TC G2 to only less than 1mn per Ater in A925 TC).

The MT120 board provides the memory capacity to store two software versions: if the download or
activation fails, the module switches back to the previous SW.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

The download is done as a “preload” function, i.e. with two steps

- Pre-loading of the software: during this phase the telecom functions remain fully operationnal,
- Software activation, the traffic outage is limited to this phase.

5.3 Simplified logistic

5.3.1 Remote inventory

A925 TC supports the remote inventory (RI) feature that simplifies logistic. Manufacturing and
maintenance information, production date, serial number...of MT120 board, rack and fans modules
are stored and are available at local terminal.

The MT120 RI is stored in a dedicated EPROM, whereas the rack and fans RI are stored in each
MT120 in flash memory. The rack and fans RI are entered by local terminal which guarantees the
consistency of these informations, in particular, at MT120 extension (same rack and fans RI value is
sent to this MT120 by TC terminal).

5.3.2 Reduced module types

Reduced number of modules reduces logistic costs. With A925, Alcatel offers the most efficient
transcoder: only one new module type is introduced with this new TC generation (MT120 module) ;
the fans cassettes (FANU) are identical to those used in A9100 BTS equipment.

Furthermore, there is only one variant module for 75 and 120 Ohms (E1 version) ; impedance is
software controlled.

5.4 Easy on site intervention

5.4.1 MT120 Front panel

The MT120 has 8 monocolour LEDs. In operational state, the LED1 to LED4 are used for A itf PCM
links status, LED5 for Ater PCM link, LED6 for power supply, LED7 for traffic indication and LED8 is
used for MT120 hardware faults status.

Besides the LEDs, the front panel is equipped with following interfaces:

- MMI interface: an RS232 and an USB interface(hardware ready),

- A test and debug interface on MMI RS232 connector.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

Figure 11: MT120 front panel

5.4.2 Hot Insertion / Extraction

MT120 and FANU modules supports the hot insertion / extraction feature.

5.5 Minimum Site requirements

5.5.1 Size and floor space requirements

Depending on the TC site configuration, one or several EVOLIUM™ A925 TC cabinets can be used
and can be bolted together to form a suite. The cabinet is designed for commercial buildings with a
minimum ceiling height of 2.5 meters. Reinforcement of the floor is not necessary due to the
lightweight design of the cabinets.

Sufficient clearance must be allowed for handling, maintenance and inspection procedures, and for
equipment cooling purposes. In particular, front and rear access to the cabinets must be provided
(access by locked doors).

Minimum clearances are as follows:

At left or right side: 700 mm. (only one side is necessary)

At top: 250 mm

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

1000 mm
600 mm

A925 TC A925 TC A925 TC

700 mm 600 mm
1000 mm

Figure 12: Floor plan for A925 TC

5.5.2 Cables access

Top or bottom cable entry is offered depending on customer request or site constraint ; configuration
is done on site during installation.

Cable entry detail

Cables from up to 18 mm diameter can be accommodated on 4 rows of 280 mm long,

sufficient for 4x15 FLEX3 8-pair 75 Ohms cables (they are bigger than 120 Ohms cables),
corresponding the maximum A925 TC capacity. Each row can be individually removed to ease
operations.

V
V
VV
VV V
VV V
VV V
VV V
VV V
VV V
VV V
VV V
VV V
Cable

EMC gasket

Figure 13: Cable entry detail

5.5.3 Floor fixation

The A925 racks are fixed and stand on adjustable lifting screws. An optional earthquake protection
kit can be offered.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

5.5.4 Operator access

Operator access on the A925 TC equipment is limited to:

- The circuit breakers located on the TRU,

- The LED’s indicators located on each installed MT120 board,
- The MMI and MTI RS232 maintenance ports on the MT120 front panel.

The following figure shows the installation and cabling of a site composed of one EVOLIUM™ A925
TC (cables access from bottom), one AC to DC Power Equipment Rack, one digital distribution
frame (DDF), one modem, one Local Maintenance Terminal PC and a ground plate.

Figure 14: Site exemple

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

5.6 Rack filling

It is possible to put any MT120 in any position in the four subracks ; however for easy operationnal
procedures the simplest filling rule has been adopted: the rack is filled on a MT120 modularity
(beyond the 2 first for each BSC) from left to right, and from bottom to top (see Figure 15 left) if
cabling is performed from bottom or from top to bottom (see Figure 15 right) if cabling is performed
from top.

TRU TRU

FANU FANU FANU FANU FANU FANU

FANU FANU FANU FANU FANU FANU

FANU FANU FANU FANU FANU FANU

FANU FANU FANU FANU FANU FANU

Stand (100mm) Stand (100mm)

Figure 15: Rack filling

The connection information (it means which BSC connected to which MT120) is available via the
Maintenance Terminal.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

6. DIMENSIONING AND CONFIGURATIONS

The new transcoder generation offers full flexibility in terms of network dimensioning and
configurations with the multi-BSCs feature.

- Up to 24 BSCs can be connected to the same A925 TC,

- A925 TC can be managed by several OMC-R,
- Thanks to Alcatel BSS architecture choices, A925 TC and G2 BSC can be located on the
same site (BSC centralized network topology) or can be separate (remote BSC network
topology).

Only the two following rules have to be considered to determine the possible A925 TC configurations:

- Each BSC rack (a G2 BSC is made of several racks, 1 to 4 depending on configurations) has
to be connected to a single A925 rack: it means that the connections of BSC configuration 4 (2
racks) towards TC can be splited between two A925 racks (see following figure). This rule is
explained in the chapter 3.1.2 (cluster notion paragraph).

B B
S S Legend
C C
B B
S S BSCmade of
2 BSCracks
T T C C
C C
B
S BSCRack
C

MSC T
A925 TC Rack
C

Figure 16: BSC rack connection

- Minimum 2 Ater per BSC (for redundancy purpose).

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

6.1 New A925 installations

The simplest situation can be summarized in the following figure: A925 TC connection with different
BSC racks.

B B B B
S S S S
C C C C

T
C

MSC

Figure 17: New A925 installations

The number of BSC it is possible to connect per A925 rack depends on network topology, BSC
configuration and A interfaces dimensioning per BSC. This question has to be carefully studied when
dimensioning the network. Indeed sufficient capacity margin has to be taken at initial phase to avoid
recabling during extension phases.

A minimum of 2 Ater interfaces is requested per BSC: thus a maximum of 24 BSCs can be
connected to one single A925 rack. However if the traffic grows (more TRX connected and more
traffic per TRX, for each BSC rack), 2 Ater interfaces may be not sufficient and thus, no more free
slot in the TC rack leads to a recabling (to transfer some BSC-TC Ater PCMs to another TC rack).

In the other extreme case, maximum 6 Ater interfaces can be connected per G2 BSC rack: thus at
minimum 8 BSC racks can be connected per A925 rack. However, in many networks 6 Ater per BSC
rack is over-dimensioned: in an optimised network, 6.5 or 7 TRXs can be assumed per A itf ; taking
108 TRXs connected per BSC rack, it leads to roughly 4 Ater interfaces and thus 12 BSC racks per
A925 rack.

Examples of possible A925 Configurations (per cabinet)

Maximum 24 BSCs
Maximum 24 BSC racks
Minimum 8 BSCs configutation 2
Minimum 2 BSCs configuration 8
If 6 Ater itfs are equipped per BSC rack: 8 BSC racks
If 4 Ater itfs are equipped per BSC rack: 12 BSC racks
If 2 Ater itfs are equipped per BSC rack: 24 BSC racks

Of course, G2 BSC extension (additional rack) can be achieved with additional A925 rack (paragraph
6.2).

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

6.2 A925 extension

As explained in the previous paragraph, some BSC rack extension will require A925 rack extension.

B B B B B
S S S S S
C C C C C

T T
C C

MSC

Figure 18: A925 Extension

In the previous figure, a BSC G2 extension from configuration 4 (2 racks) to configuration 6 (3 racks)
may require a new A925 TC rack if the first one is already filled.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

7. TECHNICAL DATA OF THE EVOLIUM™ A925 TRANSCODER

Power supply -48V / -60V DC

Power consumption 50 W for each equipped Ater-interface trunk
(max.2500W for the full configuration)
Cabinet dimensions Height: 2000 mm
Width: 600 mm (19” standard rack)
Depth: 600 mm
Weight 250 kg (including 10kg cables)
Maximum number of A interfaces 192
Maximum number of Ater interfaces 48
Maximum mumber of connected BSCs 24
Transmission impedance 75 Ω or 120 Ω (controlled by SW) for E1
100 Ω for T1
Interfaces E1 or T1
Access Front and rear
Cables access Top or bottom
MTBF MT120 161 000h
MTBF MT120 with recovery feature 197 000h

Table 1: A925 TC Technical data summary

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

8. APPLICABLE ENVIRONMENT STANDARDS

8.1 Climatic and mechanic conditions

The EVOLIUM™ A925 Transcoder is compliant with the following requirements:

• For storage
ETS 300 019-1-1 class 1.1
Conditions are valid for the non-packed equipment (rack).
Icing and frosting are not allowed.
• For transport
ETS 300 019-1-2 class 2.2
• For operation
ETS 300 019-1-3 class 3.1
Heat and solar radiation are not allowed.

Environmental Operation Transport Storage

parameter Unit ETS 300 019-1-3 ETS 300 019-1-2 ETS 300 019-1-1
class 3.1 class 2.2 class 1.1
Low air temperature °C +5 -25 -5
High air temperature °C +40 +40 +45
Low Relative humidity % 5 --- 5
High relative humidity % 85 95 95
Low absolute humidity g/m³ 1 --- 1
High absolute humidity g/m³ 25 60 29
Low air pressure kPa 70 70 70
High air pressure kPa 106 --- 106
Sand mg/m³ 30 In air: 0.1 30
Dust (suspension) mg/m³ 0.2 --- 0.2
Dust (sedimentation) mg/(m²h) 1.5 3 1.5
Stationary vibration,
sinusoidal:
- Peak-displacement mm 0.3 3.5 1.5
amplitude
2
- Peak-acceleration m/s 1 10 15 5
amplitude
- Frequency range Hz 2 to 9 9 to 200 2 to 9 9 to 200 to 2 to 9 9 to 200
200 500
Non-stationary vibration
including shock:
Shock-response spectrum
type L, peak acceleration m/s² 40 --- 40
Shock-response spectrum
type II, peak acceleration m/s² --- no ---
Table 2: Environmental conditions for EVOLIUM™ A925 Transcoder

Seismic conditions
• ETS 30019-2-3 Amendment 1 June 1997

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

8.2 EMC conditions

Emission Conduction Class A - Radiation Class A

Harmonised standard (EC) EN 300386-2 (1997)

Immunity (*)

EN 300386-2 (1997)
(*) including ESD, radiated immunity, fast transients, surges, radio frequency conducted
immunity

CE marking

Emission and immunity

Directive: 89/336/ECC ; amendments 92/31/EEC and 93/68/EEC

8.3 Safety conditions

EN 60950 Ed 2 (1992) and amendments 1 to 4

CE marking

Low voltage
Directive 73/23/EC, amendment 93/68/EEC

8.4 Other conditions

Power Supply

DC: ETS 300132-2 (9/96

Installation

Grounding of the equipment units of the Telecom centers

ETS 300253 (01/95)

Acoustic

ETS 300753 (1997-10) Equipment Engineering (EE) ; Acoustic noise emitted by

telecommunications equipment.

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

9. ABBREVIATIONS

AMR Adaptative MuliRate

ASMB Ater SubMultiplexer type B
ASMC Ater SubMultiplexer type C
ATBX Alcatel Transmission Branching and switching board
BCCH Broadcast Control Channel
BPA BackPanel Assembly
BSC Base Station Controller
BSS Base Station System
BTS Base Transceiver Station
CMA Configuration Management Application
CS Circuit-Switched
DC Direct Current
DDF Digital Distribution Frame
DSP Digital Signal Processor
DT16 Dual Transcoder with 16 channels
DTC Digital Trunk Controller
E1 ITU-T G.703/G.704 physical interface
EFR Enhanced Full Rate
ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
FANU FANs Unit
FR Frame Relay
FR Full Rate
FW FirmWare
Gb Telecommunication interface between BSS and SGSN
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GPU GPRS Processing Unit
GSL GPRS Signaling Link
GSM Global System for Mobile communication
HLR Home Location Register
HR Half Rate
IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity
IMT Initialization and Maintenance Terminal (MFS LMT)
IP Internet Protocol
ISDN Integrated Service Digital Network
IT Information Technology
JBMTE See MT120
LMT_CT Local Maintenance Terminal _ Craft Terminal (used for TC G2).
MFS Multi-BSS Fast packet Server
MMI Man Machine Interface
MS Mobile Station
MSC Mobile Services Switching Center

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 EVOLIUM™ A925 Compact Transcoder Product Description

MT120 Multi rate Transcoder 120 channels, also called JBMTE

MTI Man Test Interface
NSS Network Switching Subsystem
NTL Network Termination Line
O&M Operation and Maintenance
OCB On board Controller
OMC-R Operation and Maintenance Center – Radio part
OTP O&M and Transmission Processor (the controller of MT120)
PCM Pulse Code Modulation
PCU Packet Control Unit
PDCH Packet Data Channel
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
QoS Quality of Service
RI Remote Inventory
SBL Security BLock
SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node
SW SoftWare
T1 ITU-T G.703/G.704 physical interface
TC TransCoder
TCIL TransCoder Internal Link
TFO Tandem Free Operation
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
TRU Top Rack Unit
TRX Transceiver
TSC Transcoder Submultiplexer Controller
U Standard Unit 1U = 44,45mm
USB Universal Serial Bus
VLR Visitor Location Register

End of Document

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