Project Overview

Mobile cellular systems maintain the continuity of service for wireless terminals moving between the radio coverage area or "cells", associated with different base station sites. This functionality is called "handover".

A key requirement of UMTS, member of the IMT-2000 family, is that it allows the handover to already existing 2nd generation mobile cellular systems. This handover shall facilitate customers with a dual-mode wireless terminal to roam between an initially limited UMTS coverage in a 'sea' of coverage provided by a 2nd generation system.

Mobile network operators face a multiplying number of neighbor relationships between cells supported by different manufacturer's equipment, which they have to provide consistent parameters for.

The Mobile Common Configuration Management (MCCM) Catalyst project addresses these shortcomings and it shows how mobile network operators can provision and change radio parameters for all affected GSM and UMTS cells in a flow-through process with one single tool.

Project Results

• Development of a common object model for GSM and UMTS radio network parameters including vendor specific data (submitted to 3GPP SA5)
• Definition of a Bulk CM interface solution set based on CORBA / XML / FTP (MCCM Interface Implementation Specification, TMF823, submitted to 3GPP SA5)
• Proof of concept by implementation of a MCCM prototype appli-cation supporting the processing of a new frequency plan and build up a new NodeB.

Key Business Benefits