Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Objectives
Learn about the concept, classification, and steps of a
handover in LTE
Learn about the inter-eNB handover, X2-based handover,
and S1-based handover procedures
Learn about how to analyze typical handover signaling
Learn about the common factors affecting a handover
Learn about the overall handover optimization outline and
how to analyze and resolve common handover problems
Contents
Overview
Handover Procedures
Handover Optimization Outline
Handover Related Radio Parameters
Case Study Common Problems and
Solutions
Purpose
Handover Steps
When?
After an RRC connection is established (i.e. after the UE receives an
RRCConnectionReconfiguration message)
What?
RSRP, and RSRQ
How?
Event triggered, or periodically
Overview
Handover Procedures
Handover Optimization Outline
Handover Related Radio Parameters
Case Study Common Problems and
Solutions
UE eNB
Intra-eNB Handover
An intra-eNB handover means a UE is handed Measurement Report
over from one cell to another cell of the same
eNB. It has a different procedure from the inter-
eNB handover procedure in that the handover RRC Connection Reconfiguration
preparation messages between the source and (HO Command)
target cells are transmitted within the eNB rather
than through the S1 or X2 interface.
Upon receiving a Measurement Report
RRC Connection Reconfiguration
message from the UE, the eNB determines the
Complete(HO Confirm)
necessity to initiate an intra-eNB handover. The
source cell exchanges handover messages with MSG1
a target cell within the eNB. After allocating (Random Access Preamble)
resources, the target cell notifies the source cell
of the resource information. The source cell RAR
sends an RRC Connection Reconfiguration (Random Access Response)
message to the UE over the Uu interface,
indicating the UE to perform the handover.
The eNB does not notify the CN about the intra-
eNB handover, and no S1 or X2 connection is
required during the handover. The eNB does not need to request to
switch the user data transfer path from
the CN in an intra-eNB handover.
S1 S1
9 Path Switch Rrquest
Uu Uu Delete the UE
instance
Overview
Handover Procedures
Handover Optimization Outline
Handover Related Radio Parameters
Case Study Common Problems and
Solutions
Measurement
Receive a
For any handover procedure exception, No Handover
Command?
check whether the UE, eNBs, or
Flow
11
transmission facilities operate improperly, Yes
End
Yes
The neighbor
No relation is not
configured?
The test sites
are properly
The admission control
parameters and
covered?
Troubleshoot the Yes
target cell, replace transmission facilities of
the UE, and perform Yes the target cell are Yes
the test again improperly configured,
and the target cell and
the UE operator There is UL
Optimize the
improperly? interference to
neighbor cells
the cell?
No No
Yes
Yes
End
Yes
There is UL
interference with
No the cell?
Yes
Yes
End
The UE or eNB is
faulty?
No
If the eNB is faulty,
Optimize the radio coverage
troubleshoot it; if the
and handover parameters,
UE is faulty, replace
and check the access
it, and perform the
parameters of the target cell
test again
Yes
End
The UE is handed over from the source cell A to the target cell B,
and within a predefined limited time it is handed over back to A.
The event occurs more than once, which can be easily observed
by analyzing the handover signaling procedure, i.e. check
whether the duration between two handovers in and out of the
same cell is too short, generally within 1 s.
Overview
Handover Procedures
Handover Optimization Outline
Handover Related Radio Parameters
Case Study Common Problems and
Solutions
A3
A3 Offset
A3-Offset
Entering condition for Event A3: Mn Ofn Ocn Hys Ms Ofs Ocs Off
Leaving condition for Event A3: Mn Ofn Ocn Hys Ms Ofs Ocs Off
The Off component refers to a3-Offset.
The default value is 3 dB.
In practical use, this parameter is suggested to be set to 2, 3, or 4 dB. A
greater or smaller value is not recommended, to prevent too early handover
or too many handovers.
This parameter is applicable to all neighboring cells of a cell.
Time to Trigger
TimeToTrigger (TTT)
TTT is the time period after which a UE initiates the measurement reporting
procedure when a neighboring cell has a stronger signal than the serving cell,
to avoid ping-pong handovers.
Type: Enumerated
Range: 0, 40, 64, 80, 100, 128, 160, 256, 320, 480, 512, 640, 1024, 1280, 2560,
and 5120)
The default value is 320 ms.
You can set TTT to a greater value to delay the timings of measurement
reporting and reduce the number of handovers.
In most cases, it is recommended to set TTT to 256, 320, 480, 512, or 640 ms
to avoid too many or untimely handovers.
Hysteresis
Hysteresis
This parameter is used to adjust the thresholds for a UE to enter and leave
Event A3 and determine how long the UE stays in this event.
ReportOnLeave
ReportOnLeave
This parameter indicates whether or not the UE shall initiate the
measurement reporting procedure when the leaving condition for Event A3 is
met.
Leaving condition:
cellIndividualOffset (CIO)
Layer 3 filtering
Mn: the latest received measurement result from the physical layer
Fn: the updated filtered measurement result, which is used for evaluation of
reporting criteria or for measurement reporting
a = 1/2(k/4), where k is the filterCoefficient in the system.
Type: Enumerated
Range: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19
Layer 3 filtering
T304
T304
Timer for successful completion of a handover
Type: Enumerated
Range: 50, 100, 150, 200, 500, 1000, and 2000
Unit: ms
The default value is 1,000 ms.
Overview
Handover Procedures
Handover Optimization Outline
Handover Related Radio Parameters
Case Study Common Problems and
Solutions
Handover Exception Due to Lack of Neighbor Relation
Configurations Multiple Measurement Reports
Problem Description
and Analysis:
In a drive test, an exception as shown
in the right figure occurred. The PCI of
the target cell in the previous three
measurement reports was 28 (the same
PCI with slightly different RSRP values).
However, two cells (PCI 28 and PCI 19)
appeared in the 4th measurement
report, and the RSRP of PCI 28 was 3
dB higher than that of PCI 19. The UE
then received a Handover Command
(RRCConnectionReconfiguration) Previous Three
Measurement Reports
message (see Figure 4-4), where
4th Measurement Report
PhysCellId was set to 19 rather than 28.
This indicates that PCI 28 was not
configured on the serving cell of the
UE.
Solution:
Analysis
The neighbor relation between PCI 160 and PCI 179 has already been configured.
Both the handover threshold A3-Offset and Hysteresis were properly configured, and
their values were set to 1.5 dB and 1.5 dB, respectively.
The problem lied in the UE's untimely handover to PCI 179. It remained camping on PCI
160, causing SINR to deteriorate with the decrease of RSRP of PCI 160.
One solution is to modify A3-Offset and Hysteresis to change the handover threshold,
but the modification also affects handovers on other cells of the same eNB. Therefore, it
is recommended to modify CIO of PCI 179.
Solution:
CIO is the Ocn in the aforementioned
formula, and is set to 0 by default. To
accelerate the handover from PCI 160
to PCI 179, set CIO to 2.
The analysis of UE handover data under the coverage of cell 301844_50 shows that the handover
procedure operated properly. The UE indicated the PCI of the target cell as 204 and signal
strength as -89 dBm in a Measurement Report message.
According to the cell ID carried in the Handover Required message and the PCI carried in the
Measurement Report, the target site was cell 301922_49, which had a normal neighbor relation
with cell 301844_50.
In the Handover Execution part, the source eNB received a Deactivate Bearer Request message
from the MME, indicating the release of the UE's EPS bearer context. The cause carried in the
message shows that the handover failed and the MME released the EPS bearers of the UE.
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Handover Failure Due to a Duplicated PCI
The possible reason is duplication of PCI. After the PCI of the target cell
301922_49 was modified to 501 (reserved), signaling analysis shows that the PCI
carried in the Measurement Report message was still 204. This indicates that the
PCI of another cell other than cell 301922_49 is 204.
The PCI list shows that the PCI of cell 301898_49 is also 204.
Solution:
1. Modify the PCI of the target
cell (301922_49 in this case);
2. Plan PCIs to make them
unique for each cell.
In a drive test, when the UE moved into the blue frame in the
following figure, it initiated an RRC connection re-establishment
request, but the request was rejected.
Solution: