GSM Radio Network Tuning Handover

Babak Kardel Mehrdad Sedaghat March 2008

GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

Subjects
1. Overview 2. Handover Decision 3. Target Cell Selection 4. Algorithms 5. Power Budget Handover 6. Level & Quality Handover 7. Umbrella Handover Combined Umbrella & Power Budget MS Speed 8. Imperative Handover 9. Timers for Handovers

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4/8/2008

HANDOVER PROCESS: Causes

Uplink Quality Downlink Quality Uplink Level Downlink Level MS Speed Timing Advance AV_RXQUAL_UL_HO AV_RXQUAL_DL_HO AV_RXLEV_UL_HO AV_RXLEV_DL_HO AV_MS_SPEED AV_RANGE_HO DISTANCE DISTANCE RAPID RAPID FIELD FIELD DROP DROP Adjacent Cells AV_RXLEV_NCELL(n) CHANNEL CHANNEL ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATION DIRECTED DIRECTED RETRY RETRY IMPERATIVE HO QUALITY QUALITY & & INTERFERENCE INTERFERENCE LEVEL LEVEL MS MS SPEED SPEED THRESHOLD COMPARISON

Others: Intelligent Underlay Overlay Traffic Reason .

3 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course
POWER POWER BUDGET BUDGET UMBRELLA UMBRELLA PERIODIC CHECKS

HANDOVER PROCESS
Handover Decision
Handover process may be triggered by Quality, field strength or distance values fall below/exceed their threshold Periodic checks Power budget HO Umbrella HO

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HANDOVER PROCESS Handover Priority

Handover priority 1. Uplink and downlink Interference 2. Uplink quality 3. Downlink quality 4. Uplink level 5. Downlink level 6. Distance 7. Rapid Field Drop 8. Slow moving MS 9. Better cell i.e. Periodic check (Power Budget HO or Umbrella HO) 10. PC: Lower quality/level thresholds (UL/DL) 11. PC: Upper quality/level thresholds (UL/DL)

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HANDOVER PROCESS
Handover Algorithms
In all Handover cases (in imperative HO only requirement) 1. AV_RXLEV_NCELL(n) > rxLevMinCell(n) + Max (0, A) P = depending on MS Classmark A = msTxPwrMax(n) - P

Except for Umbrella Handover 1. AV_RXLEV_NCELL(n) > hoLevelUmbrella(n)

The additional condition 2. PBGT > hoMarginPBGT(n) where PBGT = ((msTxPwrMax - msTxPwrMax(n)) - (AV_RXLEV_DL_HO AV_RXLEV_NCELL(n)) - (btsTxPwrMax - BTS_TXPWR)) where A > hoMarginLev/Qual(n) A = (AV_RXLEV_NCELL(n) - AV_RXLEV_DL_HO)-(btsTxPwrMax BTS_TXPWR) If enableHoMarginLevQual = Y

2.

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HANDOVER PROCESS Target Cell Selection (1/2)

Best candidates to RR Management: Only for Adjacent intra BSC HO max 16 cells under the same BSC as the source cell inter BSC HO numberOfPreferredCells Cell of the same BSC Load check of Candidates by btsLoadThreshold (0..100%) 1. If overloaded priority decreased by hoLoadFactor (0...7)

2.

Comparison of priorities of Candidates (hoLevelPriority (0..7)) If two or more Adjacent cells with equal priorities

3. -> Ranking based on radio properties

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HANDOVER PROCESS
Target Cell Selection (2/2)
All cells have equal priority cell Rx_Level 1. Load hoLoadFactor 2. Priority New Priority 3. Rx_Level => cell list a -75 overl. 1 3 2 -75 c , a ,b b -80 overl. 1 3 2 -80 c -83 n.overl. 1. 1 3 2. 3 One cell has higher priority because of some reason cell Rx_Level Load hoLoadFactor Priority New Priority a -75 n./overl. 2 4 4/2 -75 b -80 n.overl. 1 3 3 c -83 n.overl. 1 3 3

3. Rx_Level => cell list => cell list

-80/-80 -83

a,b,c (if cell a is not overload) b,c,a

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HO flow chart
Eq. 1 or Eq. 1' Adj1.. Adj2. Adj3. -------------------------------------------------Adj32 Adj1 Adj3 ---------------Adjn Eq.2 or Eq.2'

Target Cell Evaluation

Load information from the RR management

Adj1 Adj3 ------Adji .

Cell ranked according to priority/load

BSC

HANDOVER PROCESS
Power Budget Handover (1/2)
Trigger
Periodic Check ( hoPeriodPBGT )

Candidate Selection
Equation 1 & 2 used Priority and Load Considered

Performed ONLY between cells of the same "Layer" if:

umbrella HO is enabled in inter-band HO case Parameter hoPeriodPBGT enablePwrBudgetHandover rxLevMinCell(n) msTxPwrMax(n) hoMarginPBGT(n)
10 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

Value 1 ... 63 (SACCH Period) Y/N HOC -110 -47 dBm 5 43 dBm ADJC -24 63 dB

HANDOVER PROCESS
Power Budget Handover (2/2)
Equations 1 and 2 are used Serving Cell: AV_RXLEV_DL_HO = -90 dBm msTxPwrMax = 33 dBm (= 2W) btsTxPwrMax = 42 dBm (= 16 W) BTS_TX_PWR = 42 dBm = (16 W) hoMarginPBGT(n) = 6 dB Best Adjacent Cell: AV_RXLEV_NCELL(n) = -80 dBm rxLevMinCell(n) = -99 dBm msTxPwrMax(n) = 33 dBm (= 2W) btsTxPwrMax = 42 dBm (= 16 W)

1. AV_RXLEV_NCELL(n) > rxLevMinCell(n) + Max (0, msTxPwrMax(n) - msTxPwrMax) -80 dBm > -99 dBm + (33 dBm - 33 dBm) = -99 dBm

2. PBGT = ((msTxPwrMax- msTxPwrMax(n)) - (AV_RXLEV_DL_HO AV_RXLEV_NCELL(n)) - (btsTxPwrMax - BTS_TXPWR) PBGT = ((33dBm-33dBm)-(-90 - -80)-(42dBm-42dBm) = 10 dB 10 dB > 6 dB OK !!!!
11 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

HANDOVER PROCESS
Handover due to Level (1/2)
Trigger
Threshold Comparison ( hoThresholdsLevUL/DL (px - nx) )

Candidate Selection
Equation 1 used Equation 2 used if enableHoMarginLevQual = N Equation 2' with hoMarginLev used if enableHoMarginLevQual = Y Priority and Load Considered Parameter Value hoThresholdLevUL/DL px nx rxLevMinCell(n) msTxPwrMax(n) hoMarginLev(n)
12 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

-110 -47 1 32 1 32 -110 -47 dBm 5 43 dBm -24 24 dB

HOC

ADJC

HANDOVER PROCESS
Handover due to Level (2/2)
Equations 1 and 2 are used if parameter enableHoMarginLevQual is set Yes

hoMarginLev = 4 dB Trigger for Handover due to Level A Threshold -95 dBm B => Cell B is not selected as candidate for HO due to level since 2dB < 4 dB (Lev) 2 dB

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HANDOVER PROCESS
Handover due to Quality (1/2)
Trigger
Threshold Comparison ( hoThresholdsQualUL/DL (px - nx) )

Candidate Selection
Equation 1 used Equation 2 used if enableHoMarginLevQual = N Equation 2' with hoMarginQual used if enableHoMarginLevQual = Y Priority and Load Considered Parameter hoThresholdQualUL/DL px nx rxLevMinCell(n) msTxPwrMax(n) hoMarginQual(n)
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Value 07 1 32 1 32

HOC

-110 -47 dBm 5 43 dBm ADJC -24 24 dB

HANDOVER PROCESS
Handover due to Quality (2/2)
Equations 1 and 2 are used if parameter enableHoMarginLevQual is set Yes

hoMarginQual = 0 dB Trigger for Handover HO due to Quality A 2 dB B

=> Cell B is selected as potential candidate for HO due to Quality since 2 dB > 0 dB

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HANDOVER PROCESS
Trigger : Threshold Comparison

Handover due to Interference (1/2)

Threshold Comparison for Quality ( hoThresholdsQualUL/DL (px - nx) ) Threshold Comparison for Level ( hoThresholdsInterferenceUL/DL (px nx) )

Candidate Selection
Priority for InterCell / Intracell HO selected at BSC independently for UL / DL Priority InterCell HO Quality HO if any candidate If not IntraCell HO Priority IntraCell HO Parameter hoThresholdInterferenceUL/DL px nx enableIntraHoInterfUL/DL hoPreferenceOrderInterfUL/DL
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Value -110 -47 1 32 1 32 Y/N

HOC

INTER / INTRA BSC BSC

HANDOVER PROCESS
Handover due to Interference (2/2)
Equations 1 and 2 are used if parameter enableHandoverMarginQual is set Yes

hoThresholdQual =4 hoThresholdInterferenceDL = -85 dBm hoPreferenceOrderInterfDL = intra

Trigger for Handover due to Interference

Threshold (Interference Lev) -85 dBm

A B 0

- Field strength higher than threshold - Bad quality => interference => intra cell handover !!

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HANDOVER PROCESS
Umbrella Handover (1/2) Trigger
Periodic Check ( hoPeriodUmbrella )

Candidate Selection
Equation 1' used Consistency between mobile classmark and target cell power constraints Priority and Load Considered
Macro cell

Multi-Layered Network
Example GSM MS class 4 (33 dBm) gsmMacrocellThreshold = 35 dBm gsmMicrocellThreshold = 33 dBm msTxPwrMax(n) = 33 dBm hoLevUmbrella = -85 dBm hoThresholdLevDL = -90 dBm

Umbrella Handover A -85 dBm -90 dBm B Umbrella Handover

Micro cell

Handover due to Level

6 dB

Handover due to Level

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HANDOVER PROCESS Umbrella Handover (2/2)

Max power capability of MS >= gsmMacrocellThreshold HO allowed only to a macrocell ( MS_TXPWR_MAX(n) >= gsmMacrocellThreshold )
gsmMicrocellThreshold < Max power capability of MS < gsmMacrocellThreshold
HO only to middle size cell ( gsmMicrocellThreshold < MS_TXPWR_MAX(n) < gsmMacrocellThreshold )

Max power capability of MS <= gsm MicrocellThreshold HO allowed only to microcell ( MS_TXPWR_MAX(n) <= gsmMicrocellThreshold ) Parameter Value

enableUmbrellaHandover hoPeriodUmbrella hoLevelUmbrella gsmMicrocellThreshold gsmMacrocellThreshold

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Y/N 0 63 (SACCH) HOC -110 -47 5 43 5 43

BSC

HANDOVER PROCESS
Combined Umbrella & Power Budget
When enablePowerBudgetHo = Yes & enableUmbrellaHo = Yes
Power Budget Handover to cells of the same layer Umbrella Handover to cells of different layer Based on gsmMacrocellThreshold, gsmMicrocellThreshold, msTxPwrMax, msTxPwrMax(n), AdjacentCellLayer UMB MS classmark RR
PBGT

umbrella HO radio reason HO power budget HO

macrocells

PBGT,RR UMB,RR PBGT,RR UMB,RR

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microcells

HANDOVER PROCESS Adjacent Cell Layer Definition

Three layers visible to serving cell To be used in
Fast moving MS handling in macro cell HOs based on MS speed (BSS6) Power budget HO when combined with Umbrella

Supports multilayer networks

upper layer (macro) Parameter adjacentCellLayer

same layer (serving layer)

lower layer (micro)

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N (not in use)

HANDOVER PROCESS
MS Speed
Multi-Layer Network
Slow Moving MS in Microcells Fast Moving MS in Macrocells Methods (Nokia specific)

Problem :
Determine the MS speed Direct MS to correct Layer

Fast moving MS handling (S5) MS speed detection (S6)

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HANDOVER PROCESS
MS Speed : Fast Moving MS Handling
Fast Moving MS Handling in macro layer
# of measurements received from adjacent microcells

slow or fast moving MS

Macro cells parameters for each adjacent micro cell: fastMovingThreshold 0 .. 255 rxLevMinCell hoLevelUmbrella Counter for each adjacent micro cell +2 measurement and over rxLevMinCell -1 no meas. or bad level Target cell selection based on adjacent cell RX_LEVEL and on hoLevelUmbrella BSC

micro 23 macro as serving cell GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

Handover because of fast/slowmoving MS

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HANDOVER PROCESS
MS Speed
hoLevelUmbrella = -85 dBm

FMMS Example

macrocells time t

measured signal strength RxMinCell = -95 dBm HO FMT Threshold=40

HO

microcells

time t

FMT Counter

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HANDOVER PROCESS
MS Speed
hoLevelUmbrella = -85 dBm RxMinCell = -85 dBm measured signal strength HO HO

FMMS Example
macrocells time t

microcells FMT Threshold=40

time t FMT Counter 26 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

HANDOVER PROCESS
MS Speed : MS Speed Detection (1/3)
BTS detects the MS speed by using crossing rate algorithm The method cannot be used in the following cases:
the BTS does not support the measurement of MS speed the call is on a stand alone dedicated control channel (SDCCH) frequency hopping (base band or RF hopping) is being used in the BTS (see Frequency Hopping), with the exception of RF hopping when the call is on the non-hopping BCCH transceiver.

BTS sends MS speed indications every SACCH multiframe period (480 msec.)
Speed Indications are not valid if ( * ) UL DTX was used during the SACCH period ( ** ) MS was changing output power during the SACCH period

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HANDOVER PROCESS
MS Speed : MS Speed Detection (2/3)

BSC Averages MS speed indications

W indow Size is msSpeedAveraging ( pre processing in BTS ) Result is AV_MS_SPEED BSC ignores non valid speed indications ( * , ** )

AV_MS_SPEED is compared with Thresholds

LowerSpeedLimit UpperSpeedLimit px and nx are in common

Averaging of MS speed procedure

Example:
The example below indicates the averaging procedure where the samples available are either valid (0) or non-valid (1). The averaging window size (parameter MS speed averaging) is 6

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HANDOVER PROCESS MS Speed : MS Speed Detection (3/3)

LowerSpeedLimit : Enables identification / triggers handover for slow-moving MS UpperSpeedLimit : Enables identification / triggers handover for fast-moving MS Target Cell Selection
Fast-moving to upper / Slow-moving to lower layer adjacent cells Equation 1' used Priority considered

Parameter msSpeedAveraging lowerSpeedLimit upperSpeedLimit msSpeedThresholdNx msSpeedThresholdPx adjCellLayer hoLevelUmbrella

30 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

0 means "Not Used"

Value
HOC

1 ... 32 (SACCH Period) 0 255 0 255 1 32 1 32

HOC

N / Same / Upper / Lower -110 ... -47 dBm ADJC

HANDOVER PROCESS
MS Speed
Combination of Fast Moving MS Handling (BSC) and MS Speed Detection (BTS)
macrocell with RF hopping

fast MSs

BTS

BSC

BSS6/MS speed

BSS5/Fast MS

Adjacent cell measurements meas_res HO&PC algorithm BTS Crossing rate algorithm

slow MSs

microcell(s) , no RF hopping 31 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

HANDOVER PROCESS
Imperative Handover
Handover considered to be imperative:

Handover due to Distance Rapid Field Drop

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HANDOVER PROCESS
Imperative Handover: Distance
Distance Process Distance Process ---> msDistanceBehaviour (0,1..60,255) in BSC 0 : Release immediately 1 - 60 : Release after certain time 1 - 60 s, try handover during that time 255 : No release, only imperative Handover attempt

Parameters enableMsDistanceProcess msDistanceHoThresholdParam px nx msDistanceBehaviour

Value Y/N 0 63 1 32 1 32 0, 1 60, 255

HOC BSC

HANDOVER PROCESS
Imperative Handover: Rapid Field Drop (1/2)
Trigger
Threshold Comparison ( ThresholdRapidLevUl (px) )

Rx_Lev_UL (Not averaged / Only UL) Candidate Selection

Only Chained adjacent cell Equation 1 only / no priority

MS Serving Cell

Chained Cell

Multi-Layered Network

Parameter hoThresholdLevULforRapidFieldDrop hoThresholdRapidLevU1N chainedAdjacentCell

34 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

Value -110 ... -47 dBm 0 ... 32 HOC Y/N

ADJC

HANDOVER PROCESS
Imperative Handover: Rapid Field Drop (2/2)
Serving Cell Chained Cell MS

Example hoThresholdRapidLevUl = - 93 dBm hoThresholdRapidLevUlN (px) = 2 Serving Cell chainedAdjacentCell = Yes

-93 dBm 1st Rapid Field Drop Handover . . 2nd

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HANDOVER PROCESS
Enhanced Rapid Field Drop (1/3)
In case of DDE (Deep Dropping Edge), the averaging window
sizes and power budget period are reduced level downlink window size level uplink window size adjacent cell averaging window size handover period power budget

Signal Level

A MS moves away from cell site, the signal is dropping gradually

Signal Level

MS moves away from cell site, the signal is dropping gradually MS turns a corner, the signal drops faster than moving in straight line

A MS turns a corner, the signal drops rapidly

Figure 7 Signal Strength of a Fast Moving MS

Time

Figure 8 Signal Strength of a Slow Moving MS

Time

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HANDOVER PROCESS
Enhanced Rapid Field Drop (2/3)
Parameter erfdEnabled ddeThresholdLev Nx Px ddeWindow modifiedAveWinNcell modifiedNOZ erfdOver Value DIS, UL, DL or UDL 0 63 dB 1 32 1 32 1 32 SACCH 1 32 1 32 1 64 sec
HOC

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HANDOVER PROCESS
Enhanced Rapid Field Drop (3/3)
Example ddeWindow = 3 SACCH (n = 3) ddeThresholdLev = 10dB, px = 2 and nx =3 the BSC compares the most recent measurement sample 8 (multiframe k) with the measurement sample 5 (multiframe k-n).
Sample Signal level 1 -71 dBm 2 -68 dBm 3 -70 dBm 4 -71 dBm 5 -69 dBm 6 -70 dBm 7 -75 dBm 8 -83 dBm

DDE_LEVEL = RXLEV(k- ddeWindow) RXLEV(k) = -69 dBm (-83 dBm) = 14 dB

38 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

HANDOVER PROCESS
Timers
Minimum time between consecutive handovers related to the same connections
MinIntBetweenHoReq

Minimum time between handover attempts after a failure

MinIntBetweenUnsuccHoAttempt Applied differently in Intercell / Intracell handovers

Additional Guard Periods are used for Back-handovers

Quality Distance Traffic reason Interference Parameter minIntBetweenUnsuccHoAttempt minIntBetweenHoReq
39 GSM Radio Network Tuning Course

Value 0 ... 30 (seconds) HOC 0 ... 30 (seconds)

HANDOVER PROCESS Timers (HO Failure)

Reversion to old channel OR no radio resource available MinIntBetweenUnsuccHoAttempt applied only to intra-cell handover attempts Other failure cases (BSS failures) MinIntBetweenUnsuccHoAttempt applied to all types of handover attempts Reversion to old channel ( 1 + NUMBER_OF_HO_FAIL ) * MinIntBetweenUnsuccHoAttempt applied to handover attempts to the same target cell No Radio Resource Available MinIntBetweenUnsuccHoAttempt applied to handover attempts to the same target cells ( all those in the list ) Other Failure Cases
MinIntBetweenUnsuccHoAttempt applied to all types of handover attempts

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HANDOVER PROCESS Timers ( Guard period for back - handover ) (1/2)

after a HO due to quality (UL/DL) and interference (UL/DL):
a Power Budget HO back is not allowed during GUARD_TIME = 2 * HoPeriodPBGT an Umbrella HO back is not allowed during GUARD_TIME = 2 * HoPeriodUmbrella

For slow-moving MSs a handover from the serving cell back to the lower layer cell is not allowed during a guard time if the call has been handed over from the lower layer cell in question to the serving cell due to bad quality (UL/DL) or interference (UL/DL). The guard time value is: GUARD_TIME = 255 seconds

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HANDOVER PROCESS Timers ( Guard period for back - handover ) (2/2)

after an inter-cell HO due to MS-BS distance:
a HO back to the source cell is not allowed during GUARD_TIME = 20sec + MinIntBetweenHOReq

after a Traffic Reason HO:

Power Budget HO and Umbrella HO back to the source are not allowed during GUARD_TIME = 20sec + MinIntBetweenHOReq

Repetitive Intra Cell HO not allower during

GUARD_TIME = 4 * MinIntBetweenUnsuccHoAttempt

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HANDOVER Causes OSS Report

UL quality...................................../c4023 58005 ( 7.08 %) UL level......................................./c4024 104923 ( 12.80 %) DL quality...................................../c4025 34083 ( 4.16 %) DL level......................................./c4026 24962 ( 3.05 %) Distance ....................................../c4027 0 ( 0.00 %) UL interference .............................../c4029 62239 ( 7.59 %) DL interference .............................../c4030 192458 ( 23.48 %) Umbrella ....................................../c4031 218965 ( 26.72 %) Pbdgt ........................................./c4032 50447 ( 6.16 %) Directed retry ................................/c4079 38137 ( 4.65 %) Rapid field drop ............................../c4087 0 ( 0.00 %) Aif circuit type change (S5).................../c4099 3638 ( 0.44 %) Slow moving MS (S5) .........................../c4091 2668 ( 0.33 %) MS slow speed (S6) ............................/c4105 0 ( 0.00 %) MS high speed (S6) ............................/c4106 0 ( 0.00 %) Enhanced rapid field drop (S7)................./c4111 0 ( 0.00 %) BSC controlled TRHO (S8)......................./c4035 21897 ( 0.00 %) DADLB (S8)...................................../c4129 7092 ( 0.01 %)
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