Fast power control for voice in GERAN

The capacity of a GSM system can be increased with fast power control. By sending four consecutive power control commands/measurement reports-instead of one-in the four bursts reserved for the slow associated control channel (SACCH), the system capacity can be increased by 10% for slow mobiles, and by 40% for fast mobiles. This gain is obtained with relatively small changes in the standard. The power control signaling is robust enough to handle low C/I situations. By simultaneously modifying its channel coding, the performance of the SACCH can be improved. This scheme will be part of Release 5 of the GSM/EDGE radio access network standard and is called enhanced power control.