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Note : See "Idle Mode Procedure" section first for the big picture. (I wrote this section with more focus on LTE, but it
is similar logic in UMTS as well).
Cell Search (Measurement, Evaluate, Detect)
"Cell Search" in this page means the collective term representing the combined procedure of Measurement, Evaluation,
Detection process.
This is very tightly related to Cell Selection process because UE goes through this search process first before it goes
through the cell selection.
Also this process influence greatly on engergy consumption of UE during the idle mode.
Basic Terminology
DRX Cycle : This is a kind of clock(Timer). Measurement/Evaluate/Detect process is performed in a specific
interval specified in number of DRX cycles. (In Idle mode case, this DRX cycle is determined by network via SIB1)
Scan : This term is not frequency used in any specification, but most of UE (I think all the UE) performs this
process. This is a process of tuning to a specific frequency and just measuring the simplest signal quality (e.g,
RSSI). Usually before Measurement, Evaluation process UE performs the scan first and select 'small number of
candidate' to go through next step (e.g, measurement, evaluate). If UE directly goes into the measurement,
Evaluation step for all the possible frequency and band, it is too time consuming and more seriously energy
consuming.
Measurement : The process of measuring RSRP, RSRQ (For non-serving cell measurement, this is done according
to T_measure_xxxxx cycle in 36.133. Also refer to following section).
Evaluate : The processing of checking Cell Selection Criteria based on the result of 'Measurement' step(For nonserving cell measurement, this is done according to T_evaluate_xxxxx cycle in 36.133 Also refer to following
section).
Detect : The process of tuning to a specific frequency and going through synchronization process and decoding
basic information of the cell (e.g, Physicall Cell ID and basic MIB/SIB information). (For non-serving cell
measurement, this is done according to T_detact_xxxxx cycle in 36.133 Also refer to following section).
(Some candidate give successful result but some would not. UE make the list of all the successful tries).
iv) From the list with successful result from step iii), UE decode MIBs for each and every candidate. With this
procedure, now UE can make a list of frequency, Physical Cell ID (PSC in case of WCDMA) and PLMN.
v) Based on USIM information and the candidate table from the step iv), can figure out which cell is the real
candidate cell to camp on and try decoding System Information and proceed to registration process.
If UE fail to find any Home PLMN cell in the step v) above and find only VPLMN cell, it would camp on the VPLMN cell.
But once it gets into Idle mode in VPLMN cell, UE would try performing searching cell with HPLMN. This process may
include all the steps described above or a little bit simplified process depending on UE implementation.
Usually these HPLM search process happens periodically as illustrated below. The search cycle (periodicity of HPLMN
search is determined by a USIM parameter, but the detailed search algorithm is up to UE implementation). The period
marked as 'backoff' is not defined by 3GPP.
If UE performs this periodic search in the area where there is no HPLMN, it would drain the battery too much.
So to save energy consumption, most of UE maker/chipset maker tend to implement a kind of 'backoff' method.
36.133 section 4.2.2.3 defines the intra frequency EUTRAN Measurement as follows :
Regarding Intra Frequency Measurement : --------------The UE shall be able to identify new intra-frequency cells and perform RSRP and RSRQ measurements of
indentified intra-frequency cells without an explicit intra-frequency neighbour list containing physical layer cell
identities.
The UE shall be able to evaluate whether a newly detactable intra frequency cell meets the reselection criteria
(36.304) within [T_detect,EUTRAN_Intra] when Treselection = 0 (i.e, T-ReselectionEUTRA in SIB3 = 0).
The UE shall measure RSRP and RSRQ at least every [T_measure,EUTRAN_Intra] for intra-frequency cells that
are identified and measured according to the measurement rules.
The major parameters mentioned in above statements came from SIB3 and 36.133 Table 4.2.2.3-1 as follows.
Regarding Inter Frequency Measurement : -------------Refer to 36.133 section 4.2.2.4 for the details.
Regarding Inter RAT UTRA_FDD Measurement : -------------Refer to 36.133 section 4.2.2.5.1 for the details.
Regarding Inter RAT GSM Measurement : -------------Refer to 36.133 section 4.2.2.5.3 for the details.