B.1 GAN A/Gb mode ARFCN/BSIC for handover-to-GAN

3GPP43.318Generic Access Network (GAN)Release 17Stage 2TS

Selection of ARFCN may use the following guidelines:

1. The ARFCN should not be allocated from the operator’s existing BCCH pool so that a scarce BCCH is not used.

2. The ARFCN maybe desired to be the same unique number across the whole operator network to minimize the BSS configuration effort.

The following are available options for the selection of the ARFCN:

1. Ideally, the GAN is assigned an ARFCN value, which is not in the frequency bands currently used by the operator.

2. Typically, different PLMNs in the same country have disjoint frequency allocations. For each PLMN, some of the frequencies are reserved for BCCH beacon; BCCH will be transmitted with constant max power on time slot 0. Other frequencies are dedicated as traffic channels. The GAN ARFCN could use any non-BCCH frequency from the carrier’s existing frequency pool. Standard GSM MSs will be able to tune onto this channel but will not be able to find the FCCH burst.

3. Alternatively, in a PCS-only (1 900 MHz) network, ARFCN can be any value falling within the GSM (900 MHz) or DCS (1 800 MHz) band. Standard GSM handsets operating in PCS-only mode will ignore this ARFCN. Tri-band handsets supporting automatic band change will not be able to find a BCCH on the associated frequency.