Dedicated Control Channels
The DCCH is a single timeslot on an RF carrier that is used to convey eight Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channels (SDCCH). A single MS for call setup, authentication, location updating and SMS point to point use a SDCCH. As we will see later, SDCCH can also be found on a BCCH/CCCH timeslot, this configuration only allows four SDCCHs.
a. Associated Control Channels (ACCH) These channels can be associated with either an SDCCH or a TCH. They are used for carrying information associated with the process being carried out on either the SDCCH or the TCH.
b. Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH) Conveys power control and timing information in the downlink direction (towards the MS) and Receive Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), and link quality reports in the uplink direction.
c. Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH) The FACCH is transmitted instead of a TCH. The FACCH ‘‘steals” the TCH burst and inserts its own information. The FACCH is used to carry out user authentication, handovers and immediate assignment.
All of the control channels are required for system operation, however, in the same way that we allow different users to share the radio channel by using different timeslots to carry the conversation data, the control channels share timeslots on the radio channel at different times. This allows efficient passing of control information without wasting capacity that could be used for call traffic. To do this we must organize the timeslots between those, which will be used for traffic, and those, which will carry control signaling.
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