Load Balance Features For ZTE

Load Balance
Feature Guide
Load Balance
Load Balance
Version Date Author Reviewer Notes
Feng Ke Yazhu, Wu
V1.00 2014/07/04 First edition
Hong Xiuling
© 2014 ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved.

ZTE CONFIDENTIAL: This document contains proprietary information of ZTE and is not to be disclosed or used
without the prior written permission of ZTE.
Due to update and improvement of ZTE products and technologies, information in this document is subjected to
change without notice.
ZTE Confidential Proprietary 1

Load Balance
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Feature Attribute ............................................................................................... 5
2 Overview ............................................................................................................ 5
2.1 Feature Introduction ............................................................................................. 5
2.1.1 ZWF21-04-011 Load Balance .............................................................................. 5
2.2 License Control .................................................................................................... 7
2.3 Correlation with Other Features ........................................................................... 7
3 Technical Description ....................................................................................... 8

3.1 Inter-frequency Load Balance .............................................................................. 8
3.1.1 Load Balance Based on Blind Handover .............................................................. 8
3.1.2 Load Balance Based on Measurement .............................................................. 18
3.2 Inter-RAT Load Balance..................................................................................... 21
3.2.1 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM ..................................................................... 21
3.2.2 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE................................................................... 28
3.3 Load Balance When Inter-frequency Adjacent Cells and Inter-RAT Adjacent
Cells Coexist ...................................................................................................... 28
4 Parameters....................................................................................................... 30
4.1 ZWF21-04-011 Load Balance ............................................................................ 30
4.1.1 Common Parameters ......................................................................................... 30
4.1.2 Load Balance Based on Blind Handover Parameters ......................................... 33
4.1.3 Load Balance Based on Measurement Parameters ........................................... 39
4.1.4 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM Parameters .................................................. 41
4.1.5 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE Parameters ............................................... 44
5 Related Counters and Alarms ........................................................................ 45

5.1 Related Counters ............................................................................................... 45
5.1.1 Inter-frequency Load Balance Counters ............................................................. 45
5.1.2 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM Counters...................................................... 46
5.1.3 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE Counters ................................................... 46
5.2 Related Alarms .................................................................................................. 46
6 Engineering Guide .......................................................................................... 46

6.1 Application Scenario .......................................................................................... 46
6.2 Feature Activation Procedure ............................................................................. 47
6.3 Feature Validation Procedure............................................................................. 54
6.4 Feature Deactivation Procedure......................................................................... 55
6.5 Network Impact .................................................................................................. 55

Load Balance
6.5.1 Impact on the Performance after Enabling the Blind Handover Based
Inter-frequency Load Balance Feature ............................................................... 55
6.5.2 Impact on the Performance after Enabling the Measurement-based
Inter-frequency Load Balance Feature ............................................................... 56
6.5.3 Impact on the Performance after Enabling the Load Balance from UMTS to
GSM Feature ..................................................................................................... 57
6.5.4 Impact on the Performance after Enabling the Load Balance from UMTS to LTE
Feature .............................................................................................................. 57
7 Abbreviation .................................................................................................... 57
8 Reference Document....................................................................................... 58

Load Balance
TABLES
Table 2-1 License Control List ............................................................................................ 7

Table 3-1 Candidate Cell List .............................................................................................14
Table 3-2 Candidate Cell List .............................................................................................15
Table 4-1 Common Parameters List ..................................................................................30
Table 4-2 Load Balance Based on Blind Handover Parameters List ..................................33
Table 4-3 Load Balance Based on Measurement Parameters List .....................................39
Table 4-4 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM Parameters List ...........................................41
Table 4-5 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE Parameters List .........................................44
Table 5-1 Inter-frequency Load Balance Counter List ........................................................45
Table 5-2 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM Counter List .................................................46
Table 5-3 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE Counter List...............................................46

Load Balance
1 Feature Attribute
RNC version: [ZXWR RNC V3.13.10.15/ZXUR 9000 V4.13.10.15]
Node B version: [ZXSDR V4.13.10.20]
Attribute: [Mandatory]
Involved NEs:
NE Name Related or Not Special Requirements
UE √ None
Node B √ None
RNC √ None
iTC - None
MSC - None
MGW - None
SGSN - None
GGSN - None
HLR - None
√”: involved
“-”: not involved
2 Overview
2.1 Feature Introduction
2.1.1 ZWF21-04-011 Load Balance
This feature includes load balance among multiple carriers belonging to WCDMA band
and inter-system load balance. Traffic can be distributed among multiple carriers or
WCDMA and GSM systems those cover the same area, making best use of the system
resources and improving the system capacity and QoS.

Load Balance
Load balance among multiple carriers is to select an optimal cell for carrying a call. A cell,
with lightest load among different cells which cover the same area as the current cell, is
selected to establish the call when the load of the current cell is too high. This process
occurs in the following stages:
 RRC connection establishment
 RAB assignment
 Handover
 Relocation from other systems or other RNCs
 Call re-establishment triggered by CELL UPDATE
 State transition from non-CELL_DCH to CELL_DCH
If the carriers belong to different frequency bands defined by 3GPP, UE’s frequency
compatibility to the target carrier should be considered during the load balance
procedure.
Scenarios of resource limitation may be variable: some are restricted by downlink power
and some are restricted by channelization code resources. The ZTE RAN evaluates the
cell load by the following factors:
 Uplink interference (RTWP)
 Downlink power (TCP)
 Downlink channelization code
The inter-RAT load balance is that if the cell UE camping now is overloaded during RAB
assignment stage, the UE will be re-directed to the GSM system via inter-RAT relocation
procedure.
The ZTE RAN supports that different service types such as CS speech and RT can have
different load balance standards, which enables operators to control the load-based
network balance more flexibly. For example, it is preferred that the NRT service is

Load Balance
deployed on one carrier and the CS speech and RT services are deployed on another
carrier.
When different carriers cover the same area or the balance is from a micro cell to a
macro cell, the load balance can be achieved through blind handover, which avoids
activating the compressed mode as much as possible. However there are some
scenarios that different carriers cover different areas. For example, the coverage might
differ due to the different features of the bands though they share a site, and the
coverage of the cells is difficult to be identical due to the influence from the load. In these
cases, the RNC issues an inter-frequency measurement to the UE and chooses a cell
with better quality to bear service for the UE according to the measurement reports and
the load of the target cells. The success rate of load balance is enhanced.
So during call setup stage, if the cell UE camping is in high load and the load of its
inter-frequency neighbor cell is light, after the call is established in current cell, RAN
requests UE to perform inter-frequency measurement with compressed mode. When a
neighboring cell satisfies inter-frequency handover trigger, the UE is indicated to
handover to this neighboring cell.
Without decreasing service quality, load balance is enabled to allocate the UEs in
different cells to get service. In this way, load is balanced among cells, network capacity
is increased and block probability is decreased.
2.2 License Control
Table 2-1 License Control List
License Configured Sales

Feature ID Feature Name
Control Item NE Unit
ZWF21-04-011 Load Balance N/A N/A N/A
2.3 Correlation with Other Features
1. Required Features

Load Balance
ZWF21-05-021 Directed Retry to GSM
2. Mutually Exclusive Features
None
3. Affected Features
ZWF21-04-022 Frequency Priority
3 Technical Description
This feature includes inter-frequency load balance and inter-RAT load balance, which is
described respectively below.
Load balance parameters differ under different radio scenarios. Different scene
templates can be indexed through the parameter UUtranCellFDD.LoadBalanceScene.
3.1 Inter-frequency Load Balance
The inter-frequency load balance is categorized into two kinds: one is based on
measurement while the other is not (balance based on blind handover).
3.1.1 Load Balance Based on Blind Handover
3.1.1.1 Intra-RNC Balance
3.1.1.1.1 When to Trigger the Load Balance
The load balance can be triggered in the following four situations.
 The load balance is triggered when the RRC connection is initially established.
The inter-frequency load balance can be triggered as long as the following three
conditions are satisfied. The factors to be considered and the policies of balance

Load Balance
are described in the following chapters. Otherwise, the access is only made in the
cell where the current RRC connection is established.
i. The load balance switch UPlBal.InitRrcLBSw is set to “1: Inter-frequency

Switch On”;
ii. There are inter-frequency adjacent cells which cover or overlap (identified
through UUtranRelation.ShareCover) the current cell where the UE is
camping;
iii. URncFunction.GresPara44 (bit2) is “0: Off”, the frequency band of the target
cell for service balance is consistent with that of the cell where the current
RRC connection is established. URncFunction.GresPara44 (bit2) is “1: On”,
the frequency band of the target cell for service balance is consistent with that
of the cell where the current RRC connection is established or is U2100.
Where, the target cell for load balance and the cell where the current RRC
connection is established need to be in the same band, which is to avoid the
balance failure due to balancing the UE to an unsupported band, because it is
unable to know whether the UE supports other bands or not when the RRC
connection is initially established. However, U2100 is the default band in
UMTS, that it is supported by the UE is taken for granted, so the special
handling of U2100 is made.
Note 1: The RRC connection establishment causes are categorized into “CS
service”, “PS service” and “other service”. The categorization method is as follows:
 It is regarded as the “CS service” if the establishment cause is any of the

followings: Originating Conversational Call, Terminating Conversational Call,
Emergency Call or Inter-RAT Cell Reselection.
 It is regarded as the “PS service” if the establishment cause is any of the

followings: Originating Streaming Call, Originating Interactive Call, Originating
Background Call, Terminating Streaming Call, Terminating Interactive Call,
Terminating Background Call, Originating High Priority Signaling, Terminating
High Priority Signaling, Call Re-establishment, Inter-RAT Cell Change Order
or Originating Subscribed Traffic Call.

Load Balance
 It is regarded as the “other service” if the establishment cause is any of the

followings: Registration, MBMS reception, MBMS ptp RB request, Detach or
Terminating – cause unknown. (Note: “Other service” is accessed in the
source cell, no load balance.)
 If the establishment cause is “Originating Low Priority Signaling” or

“Terminating Low Priority Signaling”, decide according to the parameter
UPlBal.RrcSigLowPriBalSta. The value “0:Classified as PS Service” is for “PS
service”, “1:Classified as CS Service” for “CS service” and “2:Classified as
Other Service” for “other service”.
 The load balance is triggered when the RAB is being assigned.
cell where RAB is assigned.
i. The load balance switch UPlBal.RabAssLBSw is set to“1: Inter-frequency

Switch On” or “3: Inter-frequency and Inter-system Switch On”;
ii. There are inter-frequency adjacent cells which cover or overlap (identified
camping;
iii. The UE supports the band to which the target cell for load balance belongs.
Note 2:
 Load balance is executed when the first service is being assigned. The
concurrent services do not execute load balance;
 For a CS service, a decision has to be made according to UPlBal.CsBalSwch.

If the switch is set to “1: On”, inter-frequency load balance is allowed; if “0: Off”,
no inter-frequency load balance.
 The load balance is triggered during a call holding procedure.

Load Balance
When to trigger the inter-frequency load balance during a call holding procedure
refers to the time when there is transfer from non-CELL_DCH to CELL_DCH.
current cell.
i. The load balance switch UPlBal.CallHoldLBSw is set to “1: Inter-frequency

Switch On”;
ii. There exist inter-frequency adjacent cells which cover or overlap (identified
admitted/handed over;
iii. The UE supports the frequency band to which the target cell for load balance
belongs.
 The load balance is triggered during a handover/call reestablishment procedure.
When to trigger the inter-frequency load balance during a handover or call

reestablishment procedure refers to the time when there is call reestablishment
triggered by handover (including common handover, forced handover and blind
handover), by relocation from other system/RNC to the current RNC and by CELL
UPDATE.
target cell for handover or the cell where call is reestablished (these cells are
reported in the measurement report).
i. The load balance switch UPlBal.HoCalRestblLBSwch is set to “1:

Inter-frequency Switch On”;
ii. There exist inter-frequency adjacent cells which cover or overlap (identified
admitted/handed over;

Load Balance
iii. The UE supports the frequency band to which the target cell for load balance
belongs.
3.1.1.1.2 Factors Considered for Load Balance
For the R99 service, the load balance takes the transmission bandwidth, DL power, code
resources and UL interference into consideration. How to evaluate these factors is
described below.
1. Transmission bandwidth
This factor is controlled by the switch UPlBal.LdBalBwSwch. If the available

transmission bandwidth of the candidate cell is not enough for the service to access,
it means the transmission bandwidth is limited, which indicates this candidate cell is
not qualified to be the target cell for load balance.
2. DL power
This factor is controlled by the switch UPlBal.DlLdBalPwrSwch.
The DL power is indicated by “AvailableLoad_Tcp”. The bigger the

“AvailableLoad_Tcp”, the lighter the load, which indicates the cell is very likely to be
selected as the target cell for load balance. How to calculate “AvailableLoad_Tcp” is
described in the following formula.
AvailableLoad_Tcp = 100% - TCP_Load (3.1.1-1)
“TCP_Load” is the “Transmitted Carrier Power” reported by the Node B in the TCP
common measurement report.
3. Code resources
This factor is controlled by the switch UPlBal.LdBalCdSwch.
The DL channelized code resources are evaluated through the idle codes
(“AvailableLoad_Code”) whose SF = 128 in a code list. The bigger the
“AvailableLoad_Code”, the lighter the load, which indicates the cell is very likely to

Load Balance
be selected as the target cell for load balance. How to calculate

“AvailableLoad_Code” is described in the following formula.
AvailableLoad_Code = 100%- CodeLoadLev (3.1.1-2)
CodeLoadLev = OccuCodeNum/128*100% (3.1.1-3)
“OccuCodeNum” is the number of occupied/blocked codes whose SF is 128.
4. UL interference
This factor is controlled by the switch UPlBal.UlLdBalPwrSwch.
The UL interference is indicated by “AvailableLoad_Rtwp”. The bigger the

“AvailableLoad_Rtwp”, the lighter the load, which indicates the cell is very likely to
be selected as the target cell for load balance. How to calculate
“AvailableLoad_Rtwp” is described in the following formula.
AvailableLoad_Rtwp =( UlOverLd-UlRtwpEffLoad )/ UlOverld*100% (3.1.1-4)
“UlOverld” is the common UL overload threshold, which is got from the parameter
ULdCtrl.ulOverLdThr.
“UlRtwpEffLoad” is the RTWP reported by the Node B in RTWP common

measurement report.
3.1.1.1.3 Load Balance Policies
When it is time to trigger the load balance and in the meantime the conditions for
inter-frequency load balance are satisfied, the target cell for load balance is selected in
the following way.
Note: The “source cell” mentioned below refers to the currently accessed cell or the
target cell for handover reported in the measurement report.
1. Step 1: How to decide the load of transmission resources.
Make a list of candidate cells composed of the source cell and inter-frequency
adjacent cells that cover or overlap the source cell. And then divide the list into two

Load Balance
categories according to whether the transmission resources are restricted –

candidate cell list (hard resources not restricted) and candidate cell list (hard
resources restricted), as shown in Table 3-1. The candidate cell list (hard resources
not restricted) can go to step 2. The candidate cell list (hard resources restricted)
should be sorted by the transmission resources, starting from the lightest.
Table 3-1 Candidate Cell List
Candidate Cell List (Hard Resources Not Candidate Cell List (Hard Resources
Restricted) Restricted)
2. Step 2: How to evaluate the load of each cell listed in the candidate cell list.
 If the switch UPlBal.DlLdBalPwrSwch of the source cell is enabled and

“AvailableLoad_Tcp” in the candidate cell is greater than “DlPwrThd”, the load
of the candidate cell is regarded to be light; otherwise, the load of the
candidate cell is regarded to be heavy. “DlPwrThd” is the DL power balance
threshold. When the service type is CS service, get “DlPwrThd” from
UPlBal.DlPwrThdCs. When the service type is PS service, get “DlPwrThd”
from UPlBal.DlPwrThdR99Ps.
 If the switch UPlBal.LdBalCdSwch of the source cell is enabled and

“AvailableLoad_Code” in the candidate cell is greater than “DlCdThd”, the load
candidate cell is regarded to be heavy. “DlCdThd” is the code resources
balance threshold. When the service type is CS service, get “DlCdThd” from
UPlBal.DlCdThdCs. When the service type is PS service, get “DlCdThd” from
UPlBal.DlCdThdR99Ps.
 If the switch UPlBal.UlLdBalPwrSwch of the source cell is enabled and

“AvailableLoad_Rtwp” in the candidate cell is greater than “ UlLdThd”, the load
candidate cell is regarded to be heavy. “UlLdThd” is the UL interference
balance threshold. When the service type is CS service, get “UlLdThd” from
UPlBal.UlLdThdCs. When the service type is PS service, get “UlLdThd” from
UPlBal.UlLdThdR99Ps.

Load Balance
 If at least two of the three switches (the DL power, code resources and UL
interference switches) are enabled, the load of the candidate cell is not
regarded to be light unless the load decided by these considered factors is
light as well; otherwise, the load of the candidate cell is regarded to be heavy.
After evaluating the load of the candidate cells, put the cells of light load to the light
load list and cells of heavy load to the heavy load list. And then go to step 3.
Table 3-2 Candidate Cell List
Candidate Cell List (Hard Resources Not Restricted) Candidate Cell List (Hard
Light Load List Heavy Load List Resources Restricted)
Note: The parameters “AvailableLoad_Tcp”, “AvailableLoad_Code” and

“AvailableLoad_Rtwp” mentioned in step 2 are described in chapter 3.1.1.1.2
Factors Considered for Load Balance.
3. Step 3: Sort the cells of light load and heavy load respectively.
Use the formula below to calculate the “LoadWeight” of those cells. And then sort
the “LoadWeight” from biggest to smallest. The bigger the “LoadWeight”, the bigger
the available load is.
k
LoadWeight  （(AvailableL oad i  Deltai )  AvailableL oadThrd i）* Weight i
i 1
(3.1.1-5)
“k”: This parameter indicates the number of factors already enabled. The maximum
value of “k” is “3”, indicating the three factors - DL power, code resources and UL
interference are all considered.
AvailableLoadi: This parameter indicates the available load of the candidate cell in
which the load balance factor switches are enabled, and respectively corresponds
to “AvailableLoad_Tcp”, “AvailableLoad_Code” and “AvailableLoad_Rtwp”
described in chapter 3.1.1.1.2 Factors Considered for Load Balance.

Load Balance
AvailableLoadThrdi: This parameter indicates the available load balance threshold

of the candidate cell in which the load balance factor switches are enabled. This
parameter is set separately for R99 CS service and R99 PS service. It is taken from
the respective configuration of the candidate cell. The corresponding parameters
include:
 DL power: When the user’s service type is “CS service”, get it from the
parameter UPlBal.DlPwrThdCs; when the user’s service type is “PS service”,
get it from the parameter UPlBal.DlPwrThdR99Ps.
 Code resources: When the user’s service type is “CS service”, get it from the
parameter UPlBal.DlCdThdCs; when the user’s service type is “PS service”,
get it from the parameter UPlBal.DlCdThdR99Ps.
 UL interference: When the user’s service type is “CS service”, get it from the
parameter UPlBal.UlLdThdCs; when the user’s service type is “PS service”,
get it from the parameter UPlBal.UlLdThdR99Ps.
Note:
i. Please refer to Note 1 in chapter 3.1.1.1.1 When to Trigger the Load

Balance for how to classify the CS/PS service when establishing the RRC
connection.
ii. When the user’s service including both the CS and PS service, all the load
balance factor thresholds conform to those of the CS service.
Weighti: This parameter indicates the weight of the load balance factors enabled.
The bigger the Weighti, the more important role the factor plays in the load balance.
The “Weighti” of the DL power factor is taken from UPlBal.DlLdBalPwrWeight; the
“Weighti” of the code resources factor is taken from UPlBal.LdBalCdWeight; the
“Weighti” of the UL interference factor is taken from UPlBal.UlLdBalPwrWeight. The
sum of the weight of these factors is “1”, which is ensured through dynamical
process by the RNC according to the configuration.
Deltai: If the candidate cell is the source cell, “Deltai” indicates the load balance
threshold difference of the factors enabled. “Deltai” is taken from
UPlBal.ExtraCDeltaTrd (DL power), UPlBal.ExtraCDeltaCdTrd (code resources)

Load Balance
and UPlBal.ExtraCDeltaTru (UL interference) of the source cell; otherwise (in other
words, the candidate cell is not the source cell), Deltai =0.
4. Finally, decide the target cell for load balance based on the result of sorting in step
3.
If the source cell is in the light load list, the source cell is preferred to be the target
cell. Try to avoid the load balance when the load is light because the load balance
causes delay and call drop.
If the source cell is not in the light load list, the bigger the LoadWeight, the higher
the priority is to be the target cell.
Note: A user has two access attempt chances to improve the success rate of
access. If the candidate cell with the highest priority fails to be accessed, the other
candidate cell with the second highest LoadWeight is selected for another access
attempt.
3.1.1.2 Inter-RNC Load Balance
The inter-RNC load balance adopts the standard IUR interface defined by 3GPP.
3.1.1.2.1 When to Trigger the Load Balance
Due to the limited information, the inter-RNC load balance is only executed when the
RAB is assigned for the first time.
What triggers the inter-RNC load balance during the RAB assignment is the same as that
described in “The load balance is triggered when the RAB is being assigned” in chapter
3.1.1.1.1 When to Trigger the Load Balance.
3.1.1.2.2 Factors Considered for Load Balance
The factors considered for inter-RNC load balance are the same as those for intra-RNC
load balance, namely transmission bandwidth, DL power, code resources and UL
interference.

Load Balance
3.1.1.2.3 Load Balance Policies
Currently, the load of the IUR interface is not available. As a result, the load balance
cannot be executed based on the load information in the DRNC cells. The inter-RNC
load balance is simplified as follows.
 If the best cell is a DRNC cell during the RRC signaling establishment, there is no
inter-frequency load balance;
 If an inter-frequency adjacent cell which covers or overlaps the source cell is a

DRNC cell, the adjacent cell is directly listed on the top of the heavy load list.
The rest load balance policies are the same as those described in chapter 3.1.1.1.3.
3.1.1.3 How to Handle the Load Balance Failure
After the RNC decides to execute the load balance and initiates a handover, it is possible
that the UE will return a message indicating a failure due to the synchronization failure of
the UE’s physical layer. To enhance the access success rate of the user, the UE is given
another chance: After the UE returns a message indicating a failure, the RNC will make
the UE go back to the source cell to try to establish the radio bearer.
This function is controlled by the switch URncFunction.BalFailOpSwch. With this switch

is enabled, if the UE returns a message indicating a failure, the RNC will try to establish
service for the UE again in the source cell for all kinds of load balance except those
triggered during the RRC connection establishment and relocation.
3.1.2 Load Balance Based on Measurement
3.1.2.1 Load Balance Policies
The load balance based on measurement is applied during the RAB assignment only.
The UE will not be informed of executing the inter-frequency measurement until the RAB
is successfully established. After the UE reports the measurement result, the RNC will
decide whether to execute the load balance and the target cell for load balance. But this
function only works in the cells of the current RNC.

Load Balance
Whether to enable the measurement-based load balance is decided by the following

three conditions.
1. The measurement-based load balance switch URncFunction.RabMeaBalStaSwch

is enabled.
2. The load balance switch UPlBal.RabAssLBSw is enabled.
3. For an inter-frequency adjacent cell which covers or overlaps the source cell,
URncFunction.CoverMeaBalSwch is enabled. There is no need for the adjacent cell
which neighbors or is contained in the source cell to decide this condition.
The measurement-based load balance policies are as follows:
When the user is accessing, if the measurement-based load balance conditions are met,
make the user establish connection successfully in the source cell during the RAB
assignment, and then the RNC issues inter-frequency measurement control (issuing
event 2C) to activate the inter-frequency compressed mode and inform the UE of starting
the inter-frequency measurement. For the related parameters, please refer to chapter
3.1.2.2 Measurement Associated with Load Balance.
After the RNC receives the event 2C reported by the UE, the cells not belong to the
current RNC are eliminated from the measurement report. Make a list of candidate cells
composed of the rest cells and the source cell (already in service), and then calculate the
LoadWeight of each candidate cell according to the policies described in chapter
3.1.1.1.3 Load Balance Policies. Sort the LoadWeight from the biggest to the smallest.
If the cell with biggest LoadWeight is the source cell, deactivate the compressed mode
and reset the timer “Timer_Meas (Timer_Meas is described in the following Note 2”;
otherwise, select the cell in the top of the list for handover.
Note:
1. If a large number of users activate the compressed mode due to load balance, the
system capacity will be influenced. To avoid this, the number of users who activate
the compressed mode concurrently in a cell is restricted. If the number of users who
has activated the compressed mode is greater than or equal to
UCelInfoFDD.SimCompUserNum, new users are not allowed to activate the
compressed mode; otherwise, new users are allowed to activate the compressed

Load Balance
mode. This restriction only works for the activated compressed mode due to load
balance.
2. If the compressed mode has been activated for a long time, the system capacity will
be influenced. To avoid this, the duration of inter-frequency measurement triggered
by load balance is restricted. If no measurement result is reported within a period of
time (Timer_Meas), the user is required to deactivate the compressed mode and
consequently there is no load balance. “Timer_Meas” is decided by
URncFunction.MeasBalTimer. The timer is initiated along with activating the
compressed mode.
3. If any event 2D triggered by the inter-RAT measurement is received or any

handover is triggered based on the UL power/DL power/UL BLER (for details, refer
to ZTE UMTS Handover Control Feature Guide, ZTE UMTS Transmitted Power
Based Handover Feature Guide and ZTE UMTS Quality Based Handover Feature
Guide) during the initiation of Timer_Meas, terminate the timer Timer_Meas, reset
the timer used to wait event 2E reported and reconfigure the measurement quantity
and events for the sake of future handover based on coverage/UL power/DL
power/UL BLER.
3.1.2.2 Measurement Associated with Load Balance
The measurement parameters associated with the load balance are described in ZTE
UMTS Handover Control Feature Guide. The difference between the coverage-based
inter-frequency handover lies in:
1. The event 2D is not essential to trigger the compressed mode activating; the
compressed mode can be activated after the RAB is established in the source cell;
2. Two parameters UCelInfoFDD.SimCompUserNum and

URncFunction.MeasBalTimer are added for activating the compressed mode due to
load balance;
3. The inter-frequency measurement issued always adopts the event 2C.

Load Balance
3.2 Inter-RAT Load Balance
The inter-RAT load balance refers to the load/service sharing among the UMTS, GSM
and LTE systems, which maximizes the network capacity.
3.2.1 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM
In principle, the load balance between UMTS and GSM is decided by the load
information transmitted through the IUR-G interface defined by 3GPP. In case there is no
IUR-G interface or there exists the IUR-G but the load information fails to be transmitted
to the UMTS system, the UMTS system decides the load balance based on the GSM
load information configured by the UMTS system itself.
3.2.1.1 When to Trigger the Load Balance
The load balance from UMTS to GSM is triggered during the RAB assignment only.
The inter-RAT load balance can be triggered as long as the following three conditions are
satisfied. The factors to be considered and the policies of balance are described in the
following chapters.
1. The load balance switch UPlBal.RabAssLBSw is set to“2: Inter-system Switch On”
or “3: Inter-frequency and Inter-system Switch On”;
2. There are inter-RAT adjacent cells which cover or overlap (identified through
UGsmRelation.GsmShareCover) the current cell where the UE is camping;
3. The UE supports GSM.
3.2.1.2 Factors Considered for Load Balance
Since the GSM system has better AMR coverage and lower PS rate, the load balance
from UMTS to GSM is executed only for the R99 AMR service.
To evaluate the load of the UMTS and GSM systems with the same standard, both the
UMTS cells and GSM cells are evaluated through the number of AMR 12.2k users they

Load Balance
are capable of bearing. In other words, the evaluation standard is the number of available
equivalent AMR 12.2k users of the cell.
The following content describes how to calculate the number of available equivalent
AMR 12.2k users in the UMTS system and in the GSM system respectively.
1. How to calculate the number of available equivalent AMR 12.2k users in the UMTS
system:
In the UMTS system, the number of available equivalent AMR 12.2k users is
calculated through the available DL power margin, available UL interference margin
and available code resources margin. Whether any of three factors is considered is
controlled by different switches. The DL power is controlled by the switch
UPlBal.DlLdBalPwrSwch, the UL interference is controlled by the switch
UPlBal.UlLdBalPwrSwch and the code resources are controlled by the switch
UPlBal.LdBalCdSwch.
i. If UPlBal.DlLdBalPwrSwch for the DL power factor is enabled, the number of

available equivalent AMR 12.2k users is converted from the available DL
power margin.
The power of every single AMR12.2k user is:
 Eb   
 N  
 0  req  Ptx ,CPICH   m ax   m in  
Ptx ,amr      m in  L  k1 
 Ptx ,total 
PG E
 c cpich   
 1  k 10 k2 
 N 0  (3.2.1-1)
“ Ptx , total ” indicates the current DL power of the cell; its value is 50% of the
maximum cell power UUtranCellFDD.maximumTransmissionPower.
Eccpich
“ ” is the signal to interference ratio of the pilot channel; its value is
N0
taken from UCelInfoFDD.CpichEcN0.

Load Balance
“ Ptx ,CP ICH ” is the transmit power of the cell’s pilot channel, which is taken from
UUtranCellFDD.primaryCpichPower.
 : Its value is “0.5”.
 Eb 
 N 
 0  req
: Its value is “5.1”.
PG: Its value is “25dB”.
The formula to convert the available DL power margin to the number of

available equivalent AMR 12.2k users is:
100 %  TCP_Load
AvailableTcpUser 
Ptx ,amr
(3.2.1-2)
“TCP_Load” is the Transmitted Carrier Power reported by the Node B in the

TCP common measurement report.
“100%- TCP_Load” is the DL power margin.
“Ptx_amr” indicates the necessary transmit power for every single AMR user.
ii. If UPlBal.UlLdBalPwrSwch for the UL interference factor is enabled, the

number of available equivalent AMR 12.2k users is converted from the
available UL interference margin.
The UL interference raised by every single AMR12.2k user is:
CL
I Single  I total 
1   CL (3.2.1-3)
“ I total ” is taken from the Node B common measurement; its value is 50% of the
background noise UCelInfoFDD.OriBckNoise.
 = 1 - N0 / Itotal; its value is “0.5”.

Load Balance
1
C L  (1  i ) 
PG
1
  (3.2.1-4)
“  ” is the UL activation factor of the service; its value is “0.67”.
“ i ” is the UL interference factor from the adjacent cell; its value is “0.5”.
“Β” is EbN0, the UL service quality factor; its value is “4.2”.
“PG”: Its value is “25dB”.
The formula to convert the available UL interference margin to the number of

UlOverLd  UlRtwpEffL oad

AvailableRtwpUser 
I Single
(3.2.1-5)
“UlOverLd-UlRtwpEffLoad” is the UL interference margin.
“UlOverLd” is the general overload threshold of the UL load, taken from

ULdCtrl.ulOverLdThr.
“UlRtwpEffLoad” is the RTWP reported by the Node B in the RTWP common

measurement report.
“ I Single ” is the UL interference raised by every single AMR12.2k user.
iii. If UPlBal.LdBalCdSwch for the code resources factor is enabled, the number
of available equivalent AMR 12.2k users is converted from the available code
resources margin.
The code resources occupied by every single AMR12.2k user are: one code
word whose SF=128.
The formula to convert the available code resources margin to the number of

Load Balance
AvailableCodeUser =128- OccuCodeNum (3.2.1-6)
“OccuCodeNum” is the number of occupied or blocked code words whose

SF=128.
iv. When the DL power factor, UL interference factor and the code resources
factor are all considered simultaneously, the number of available equivalent
AMR 12.2k users in the UMTS system is:
AvailableUtUser  MinAvailableTcpUser , AvailableRtwpUser , AvailableCodeUser 

(3.2.1-7)
2. How to calculate the number of available equivalent AMR 12.2k users in the GSM
system:
The UMTS system calculates the number of available equivalent AMR 12.2k users
of the GSM cell according to the load information returned by the IUR-G interface.
i. If the RT load is got from the IUR-G interface, the number of available
equivalent AMR 12.2k users of the GSM cell is calculated as follows:
AvailableGsmUser = (100%-RT_Load) * GsmCelCariNum*8 (3.2.1-8)
“RT_Load” is the maximum of UL RT occupation rate and DL RT occupation

rate), which are transmitted through the IUR-G interface. The UL RT
occupation rate is “IE Uplink RT Load Value” while the DL RT occupation rate
is “IE Downlink RT Load Value”.
“GsmCelCariNum” is the number of carriers configured in the GSM cell, taken

from UPlBal.GsmCelCariNum.
Note: In the GSM cell, one carrier bears at most 8 FR speech, so

“GsmCelCariNum” is multiplied by “8”.
ii. If the RT load is not got, the number of available equivalent AMR 12.2k users
of the GSM cell is calculated as follows:
AvailableGsmUser= 50%* GsmCelCariNum*8 (3.2.1-9)

Load Balance
“GsmCelCariNum” is the number of carriers configured in the GSM cell, taken

from UPlBal.GsmCelCariNum.
Note: In the GSM cell, one carrier bears at most 8 FR speech, so

“GsmCelCariNum” is multiplied by “8”.
3.2.1.3 Load Balance Policies
When it is time to trigger the inter-RAT load balance and in the meantime the conditions
for the inter-RAT load balance are met, the load balance from UMTS to GSM is executed
as follows.
1. When the directed retry (without load comparison) switch

UPlBal.DRWithoutLdComSwch is disabled:
First, decide the load of the UMTS source cell.
 If the load of the UMTS source cell is light, put this source cell to the top of the
candidate cell list. In other words, access to the UMTS source cell is preferred.
 If the load of the UMTS source cell is heavy, make a candidate cell list
composed of UMTS cells and GSM cells. Calculate the number of available
equivalent AMR 12.2k users (“AvailableUtUser” and “AvailableGsmUser”) of
every candidate cell according to the method described in chapter 3.2.1.2
Factors Considered for Load Balance. Sort the result from the biggest to the
smallest. The bigger the value, the more available resources (in other words,
the less the used load). Finally, select a cell with the biggest available
equivalent AMR 12.2k user quantity as the target cell for access.
How to decide the load of the UMTS source cell:
 If DL power factor switch of the UMTS source cell is enabled, and in the
meantime its “AvailableLoad_Tcp” is greater than “DlPwrThd_GSM”, the load
of this source cell is regarded to be light; otherwise, the load of this source cell
is regarded to be heavy. “DlPwrThd_GSM” is the DL power balance threshold,
taken from UPlBal.DlPwrThdCs4G;

Load Balance
 If code resources factor switch of the UMTS source cell is enabled, and in the
meantime its “AvailableLoad_Code” is greater than “DlCdThd_GSM”, the load
is regarded to be heavy. “DlCdThd_GSM” is the code resources balance
threshold, taken from UPlBal.DlCdThdCs4G;
 If UL interference factor switch of the UMTS source cell is enabled, and in the
meantime its “AvailableLoad_Rtwp” is greater than “UlLdThd_GSM”, the load
is regarded to be heavy. “UlLdThd_GSM” is the UL interference balance
threshold, taken from UPlBal.UlLdThdCs4G.
 If at least two of the three switches (the DL power, code resources and UL
interference factor switches) are enabled, the load of the source cell is not
regarded to be light unless the load decided by these considered factors is
light as well; otherwise, the load of the source cell is regarded to be heavy.
2. When the directed retry (without load comparison) switch

UPlBal.DRWithoutLdComSwch is enabled:
First, decide the load of the UMTS source cell.
 If the load of the UMTS source cell is light, put this source cell to the top of the
candidate cell list. In other words, access to the UMTS source cell is preferred.
 If the load of the UMTS source cell is heavy, the UE is directly balanced to the
GSM cell.
How to decide the load of the UMTS source cell is the same as that described
above.
The AMR service balance is achieved through the inter-RAT directed retry procedure
which balances the UE to the GSM system. For details, please refer to ZTE UMTS
Directed Retry to GSM Feature Guide.

Load Balance
3.2.2 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE
Currently, the LTE only bears the PS service; therefore, the service balance from UMTS
to LTE merely takes the PS service into consideration.
The service balance from UMTS to LTE is controlled by UPlBal.U2EBalSwch.
When UPlBal.U2EBalSwch is set to “1: Eutran Service Balance” and in the meantime the
following three conditions are met, the user is directly redirected to the LTE system:
 “Establishment cause” in the RRC CONNECTION REQUEST message is

categorized into PS service” (How to decide the PS service is described in chapter
3.1.1.1.1 When to Trigger the Load Balance);
 “Pre-redirection info” is carried in the RRC CONNECTION REQUEST message;
 The UE supports LTE, which is indicated by that “Support of E-UTRA FDD” or

“Support of E-UTRA TDD” of “Pre-redirection info” in the RRC CONNECTION
REQUEST message is set to “True”.
How to be redirected from UMTS to LTE is described below:
The RNC sends the UE the RRC CONNECTION REJECT message. Fill in the
“Inter-RAT info” of “Redirection info” with LTE frequency information; information of at
most 8 DL center frequencies can be filled, at most 4 for FDD and TDD respectively.
3.3 Load Balance When Inter-frequency Adjacent Cells

and Inter-RAT Adjacent Cells Coexist
If adjacent cells of different modes (for example, the UMTS adjacent cells and GSM
adjacent cells) which cover or overlap the current cell coexist, and in the meantime the
load balance switch of RAB assignment procedure UPlBal.RabAssLBSw is set to “3:
Inter-frequency and Inter-system Switch On” during the load balance, the coupling effect
caused by the load balance when inter-frequency adjacent cells and inter-RAT adjacent
cells coexist has to be considered. Select a proper cell as the target cell to achieve the
load sharing in the whole system.

Load Balance
When the inter-frequency adjacent cells and the inter-system adjacent cells coexist, the
load balance policies are as follows:
1. Calculate the number of available equivalent AMR 12.2k users of every UMTS
inter-frequency cell and every GSM inter-RAT cell listed in the candidate cell list
(AvailableUtUser and AvailableGsmUser) according to the method described in
chapter 3.2.1.2 Factors Considered for Load Balance.
2. To make a certain mode preferred by the user, the number of UMTS/GSM user
offset is defined. In other words, for a UMTS inter-frequency cell, the number of
available equivalent AMR 12.2k users is: Amr_AvailableUtUser = AvailableUtUser +
UserNumoffset_UMTS; for a GSM inter-RAT cell, the number of available
equivalent AMR 12.2k users is: Amr_AvailableGsmUser = AvailableGsmUser +
UserNumoffset_GSM. “UserNumoffset_UMTS” is taken from
UPlBal.UtraUserNumOff and “UserNumoffset_GSM” is taken from
UPlBal.GsmUserNumOff.
3. Select the candidate cell which has the biggest number of available equivalent AMR
12.2k users (Amr_AvailableUtUser or Amr_AvailableGsmUser) as the target cell for
access. If the target cell selected is a GSM cell, access the GSM system through
directed retry; if a UMTS cell is selected, go to step 4.
4. Filter the candidate list to find all UMTS cells. And then select the UMTS cell for
access (including the chance to attempt twice) according to the method described in
chapter 3.1 Inter-frequency Load Balance.

Load Balance
4 Parameters
4.1 ZWF21-04-011 Load Balance
4.1.1 Common Parameters
Table 4-1 Common Parameters List
Recom
Parameter Value Default mende
GUI Name Parameter Description Unit
Name Range Value d
Value
This parameter indicates

the neighboring
relationship between a
serving cell and its GSM
neighboring cell. It is used
0:
in load balancing and
Neighbor
handover policies. Load
1:
UUtranRel balancing policies can be 0:
Share Cover Overlap 1:
ation.Shar applied to a neighboring N/A Neighb
Indication 2: Covers Overlap
eCover cell that has an overlap or or
3:
containment relationship
Containe
with the serving cell.
d in
Handover policies can be
applied to a neighboring
cell regardless of its
relationship with the
serving cell.
This parameter sets the 0: Off

load balance switch that 1: Inter-
indicates whether the load frequency
Load Balance
balance function is Switch
UPlBal.Ra Switch of RAB
available for RAB On N/A 0: Off 0: Off
bAssLBSw Assignment
assignment procedure. If 2:
Procedure
this switch is on, when UE Inter-syst
accesses to network em
during RAB assignment Switch

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
procedure, it may be On
balanced according to 3:
cell's load. Inter-freq
uency
and
Inter-syst
em
Switch
On
This parameter is a switch

indicating whether load
balance based on
bandwidth resource is
enabled or not. If the
parameter is enabled, the
RNC performs load
UPlBal.Ld Load Balance balance based on
0: Off
BalBwSwc Switch for bandwidth among different N/A 0: Off 0: Off
1: On
h Bandwidth carriers and users can be
distributed to carriers that
occupy less bandwidth so
that better services can be
offered. If the parameter is
disabled, load balance
based on bandwidth is not
triggered.
This parameter sets the

Load Balance
UPlBal.DlL switch indicating whether
Switch for 0: Off
dBalPwrS load balance based on N/A 1: On 1: On
Downlink 1: On
wch downlink transmitting
Power
power is available or not.

UPlBal.Ld Load Balance switch indicating whether
0: Off
BalCdSwc Switch for load balance based on N/A 1: On 1: On
1: On
h Code downlink channelization
code resource is available

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
or not. If this switch is on,
the UE may be balanced
according to cell's
downlink channelization
code resource.

switch indicating whether
Load Balance load balance based on
UPlBal.UlL
Switch for uplink RTWP is available 0: Off
dBalPwrS N/A 0: Off 0: Off
Uplink or not. If this switch is on, 1: On
wch
Interference the UE may be balanced
according to cell's uplink
RTWP.
The parameter indicates

the service type category 0:Classifi
of "original Low Priority ed as PS
RRC Balance
Signaling" and "terminating Service
Strategy with
Low Priority Signaling" in 1:Classifi 0:Class 0:Class
UPlBal.Rrc Cause "Low
RRC Connection Request. ed as CS ified as ified as
SigLowPri Priority" in N/A
If the value is 0, the service Service PS PS
BalSta RRC
is classified as PS service. 2:Classifi Service Service
Connection
If the value is 1, the service ed as
Request
is classified as CS service. Other
If the value is 2, the service Service
is classified as other.
The parameter indicates

0:Close
typical load balance
UUtranCell Load 0:Close 1:Open
scenarios. For each
FDD.Load Load Balance Balance Load Load
scenario, the N/A
BalanceSc Scene 1:Open Balanc Balanc
corresponding load
ene Load e e
balance parameters can
Balance
be set as different values.

Load Balance
4.1.2 Load Balance Based on Blind Handover Parameters
Table 4-2 Load Balance Based on Blind Handover Parameters List
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value

load balance switch that
indicates whether the RRC
load balance function is 0: Off
1: 1:
Load Balance available for initial RRC 1:
Inter-fre Inter-fre
UPlBal.Init Switch of procedure used for Inter-freq
N/A quency quency
RrcLBSw Initial RRC accessing. uency
Switch Switch
Procedure If this switch is on, when Switch
On On
UE accesses to network On
during RRC procedure, it
may be balanced
according to cell's load.
This parameter is a CS
balance switch which
CS Balance
indicates whether the
UPlBal.Cs Switch of RAB 0: Off
balance function is N/A 0: Off 0: Off
BalSwch Assignment 1: On
supported for CS service
Procedure
during RAB assignment
procedure.

load balance switch that
indicates whether load
0: Off
balance function is
Load Balance 1:
available for the call
UPlBal.Call Switch of Call Inter-freq
holding procedure. The N/A 0: Off 0: Off
HoldLBSw Holding uency
application scenes
Procedure Switch
includes handover,
On
relocation,RAB
re-establishment and
FACH->DCH.
UPlBal.Ho Load Balance This parameter is a load 0: Off

N/A 0: Off 0: Off
CalRestblL Switch of balance switch that 1:

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
BSwch Handover and indicates whether the load Inter-freq
Call balance function is uency
Reestablishm supported during the call Switch
ent Procedure hold process. It is used for On
handovers, relocation,
RAB, and re-establishment
and FACH->DCH.
Permitted
Payload
Difference
the downlink TCP load
Downlink
UPlBal.Ext difference threshold
Available
raCDeltaTr between inter-frequency (0..100)% % 10% 10%
Load
d cells. It is Delta threshold , step 1%
Threshold in
of TCP load between
Inter-frequenc
target and source cell.
y Cells
(Power)
Permitted
Payload
the downlink
Difference
channelization code
UPlBal.Ext Downlink
threshold for load balance
raCDeltaC Available (0..100)% % 10% 10%
between inter-frequency
dTrd Load , step 1%
cells. It is Delta threshold
Threshold in
of code between target
Inter-frequenc
and source cell.
y Cells (Code)
Permitted
Payload This parameter indicates
Difference the uplink RTWP load
Uplink difference threshold
UPlBal.Ext
Available between inter-frequency
raCDeltaTr (0..100)% % 10% 10%
Load cells. It is Delta threshold
u , step 1%
Threshold in of uplink RTWP load
Inter-frequenc between target and source
y Cells cell.
(Interference)

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value

the weight of downlink
transmitting power. When
Downlink evaluating the cell load,
UPlBal.DlL
Power Weight several factors such as
dBalPwrW (1..100)% % 50% 50%
for Load downlink channelization
eight , step 1%
Balance code, downlink
transmitting power, uplink
RTWP are taken into
account for load balance.

the weight of downlink
channelization code. When
evaluating the cell load,
UPlBal.Ld Code Weight
several factors such as
BalCdWeig for Load (1..100)% % 50% 50%
downlink channelization
ht Balance , step 1%
code, downlink
transmitting power, uplink
RTWP are taken into

the weight of uplink RTWP.
When evaluating the cell
Uplink load, several factors such
UPlBal.UlL
Interference as downlink channelization
dBalPwrW (1..100)% % 1% 1%
Weight for code, downlink
eight , step 1%
Load Balance transmitting power, uplink
RTWP and HSDPA
throughput are taken into
UTRAN This parameter indicates

Downlink the downlink available load
UPlBal.DlP Available threshold of CS service for
(0..100)% % 45% 45%
wrThdCs Load Balance load balance between
, step 1%
Threshold UTRAN cells. If the
(Power) for downlink available load of

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
CS local UTRAN cell is less
than the threshold of this
parameter, the downlink
load balance judgment is
performed and the UE in
local cell may be balanced
to other inter-frequency
UTRAN cell.

the downlink available load
threshold of R99 PS
service for load balance
UTRAN
between UTRAN cells. If
Downlink
UPlBal.DlP Available
of local UTRAN is less
wrThdR99 Load Balance (0..100)% % 45% 45%
Ps Threshold , step 1%
(Power) for
R99 PS
UTRAN cell.

the uplink available load
threshold of CS service for
load balance between
UTRAN
UTRAN cells. If the uplink
Uplink
available load of local
Available
UPlBal.UlL UTRAN cell is less than
Load Balance (0..100)% % 1% 1%
dThdCs the threshold of this
Threshold , step 1%
parameter, the uplink load
(Interference)
balance judgment is
for CS
UTRAN cell.

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value

threshold of R99 PS
service for load balance
UTRAN
between UTRAN cells. If
Uplink
the uplink available load of
UPlBal.UlL Available
local UTRAN cell is less
dThdR99P Load Balance (0..100)% % 1% 1%
s Threshold , step 1%
parameter, the uplink load
(Interference)
balance judgment is
for R99 PS
UTRAN cells.

the downlink available
channelization code load
balance threshold of CS
service. If the local UTRAN
UTRAN
cell's downlink available
Downlink
channelization code usage
UPlBal.DlC Available
ratio is less than the (0..100)% % 42% 42%
dThdCs Load Balance
threshold indicated by this , step 1%
Threshold
(Code) for CS
performed and some UEs
may be balanced to other
inter-frequency UTRAN
cell.
UTRAN This parameter indicates

Downlink the downlink available
UPlBal.DlC Available channelization code load
dThdR99P Load Balance balance threshold of R99 (0..100)% % 50% 50%
s Threshold PS service. If the local , step 1%
(Code) for UTRAN cell's downlink
R99 PS available channelization

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
code usage ratio is less
than the threshold
indicated by this
performed and some UEs
may be balanced to other
inter-frequency UTRAN
cell.
This parameter is a switch

that enables or disables
optimization upon load
balancing failure during the
RAB establishment
procedure.
When the switch is turned
on, the RNC attempts to
establish a RAB on the
original carrier if load
Switch of
URncFunct balancing occurs during an
Optimization 0: Off
ion.BalFail RAB establishment N/A 1: On 1: On
When Load 1: On
OpSwch procedure but the UE
Balance Fail
responds with a failure
message.
When the switch is turned
off, the RNC determines
that an RAB establishment
procedure fails if load
balancing occurs during
the procedure but the UE
responds with a failure
message.

User Number
UPlBal.Utr the balance tendency
Offset of
aUserNum when UTRNA neighboring 0.. 256 N/A 0 0
UTRAN for
Off cell, GSM neighboring
Balance
cells in multimode system

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
and common GSM
neighboring cells exist at
the same time. The larger
the value is, the easier it is
to balance UTRAN
neighboring cells.
bit2: This parameter is

used to control whether
inter-band (working
frequency band to U2100)
inter-frequency balance is
permitted in initial RRC
URncFunct Global bit2:
procedure. bit2: bit2:
ion.GresPa Reserved 0: Off N/A
0: Off. No inter-band 0: Off 1: On
ra44 Parameter 44 1: On
balance.
1: On. Permit the
inter-band balance to the
inter-frequency adjacent
cell belonging to the band
U2100.
4.1.3 Load Balance Based on Measurement Parameters
Table 4-3 Load Balance Based on Measurement Parameters List
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value

Inter-Frequen balance switch based on
URncFunct
cy Balance measurement. If this
ion.RabMe 0: Off
Switch Based switch is on, neighboring N/A 0: Off 1: On
aBalStaSw 1: On
on cells with "neighbor" or
ch
Measurement "contained in" relation use
measurement-based

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
balance; neighboring cells
with "Overlap" or "Covers"
relation may also use
measurement-based
balance only if
CoverMeaBalSwch is on
too. Otherwise, only blind
handover-based balance
will be performed to the
neighboring cells with
"Overlap" or "Covers"
relation.

balance switch based on
measurement. If the
RabMeaBalStaSwch and
Inter-Frequen CoverMeaBalSwch is on,
cy Balance balance based on
Switch Based measurement will be
URncFunct
on performed to the
ion.Cover 0: Off
Measurement neighboring cells with N/A 0: Off 1: On
MeaBalSw 1: On
with overlapping or covering
ch
Overlapping relation, otherwise,
or Covering balance based on blind
Relation handover will be
performed to the
neighboring cells with
overlapping or covering
relation.
User Number This parameter indicates

with the number of users with
UCelInfoF Compressed compressed mode
DD.SimCo Mode activated for the balance 0..255,
N/A 16 16
mpUserNu Activation for strategy based on step 1
m Balance measurement. When a
Strategy new user accesses and
Based On measurement balance

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
Measurement requirements are satisfied,
if the number of current
users in compressed mode
is not less than this
parameter, compressed
mode will not be activated,
compressed mode will be
activated after rab
assignment procedure.

timer of deactivating
Timer of compressed mode for the
Deactivate balance strategy based on
Compressed measurement. When the
URncFunct
Mode for timer expires, if no 1..255,
ion.MeasB s 6 6
Balance inter-frequency event (2C) step 1
alTimer
Strategy is reported, the RNC will
Based On determine whether
Measurement compressed mode is
deactivated based on
current signal quality.
4.1.4 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM Parameters
Table 4-4 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM Parameters List
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
UPlBal.Gs GSM Cell's

Number of Carriers of a
mCelCariN Carrier 1..32 N/A 4 4
GSM Cell
um Number
UPlBal.DR Directed Retry This parameter indicates 0:Off

N/A 0:Off 0:Off
WithoutLd Without Load the switch of directed retry 1:On

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
ComSwch Comparison without load comparison. If
Switch this parameter is set to "0:
Off", whether to perform
load balancing is
determined based on the
load balancing threshold,
signal quality threshold
and load comparison
between UMTS and GSM.
If this parameter is set to
"1: On", whether to
perform load balancing is
determined based on the
load balancing threshold
and signal quality
threshold only.

Inter-RAT load balance between RAT
Downlink systems. If the downlink
UPlBal.DlP Available available load of local
wrThdCs4 Load Balance UTRAN cell is less than (0..100)% % 42% 42%
G Threshold the threshold of this , step 1%
(Power) for parameter, the downlink
CS load balance judgment is
to other RAT systems.

Inter-RAT
Uplink
Available
UPlBal.UlL load balance between
Load Balance (0..100)% % 1% 1%
dThdCs4G different RAT systems. If
Threshold , step 1%
the uplink available load of
(Interference)
local cell is less than the
for CS
threshold of this

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
parameter, performs the
uplink load balance
judgment and UE of local
cell may be balanced to
other RAT systems.

(codes) threshold of the
CS service for load
balancing between RAT
Inter-RAT systems. If the downlink
Downlink available load (codes) of
UPlBal.DlC Available the local UTRAN cell is
(0..100)% % 42% 42%
dThdCs4G Load Balance less than or equal to the
, step 1%
Threshold value of this parameter,
(Code) for CS the downlink load
balancing determination is
performed, and the UE in
the local cell may be
balanced to another RAT
system.

the balance tendency
when UTRNA neighboring
User Number cell, GSM neighboring
UPlBal.Gs Offset of GSM cells in multimode system
mUserNum in Multi-Mode and common GSM 0.. 256 N/A 0 0
Off System for neighboring cells exist at
Balance the same time. The larger
the value is, the easier it is
to balance multimode
GSM neighboring cells.
This parameter indicates 0:

UGsmRela 0:
Share Cover the neighboring Neighbor 1:
tion.GsmS N/A Neighb
Indication relationship between a 1: Overlap
hareCover or
serving cell and its GSM Overlap

Load Balance
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
neighboring cell. It is used 2: Covers
in load balancing and 3:
handover policies. Load Containe
balancing policies can be d in
applied to an adjacent cell
that has an overlap or
containment relationship
with the serving cell.
Handover policies can be
applied to an adjacent cell
regardless of its
relationship with the
serving cell.
4.1.5 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE Parameters
Table 4-5 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE Parameters List
Recom
Name Range Value d
Value
0:Off
1:Eutran
1:Eutra
UTRAN to This parameter is the Service
n
UPlBal.u2 EUTRAN switch which controls load Balance
N/A 0:Off Service
EBalSwch balance or service balance from 2:Eutran
Balanc
switch UTRAN to EUTRAN. Load
e
Balance
(Invalid)

Load Balance
5 Related Counters and Alarms
5.1 Related Counters
5.1.1 Inter-frequency Load Balance Counters
Table 5-1 Inter-frequency Load Balance Counter List
Counter ID Name
C311765664 Number of load balance attempt: RRC start access

Number of load balance attempt: DRBC and channel
C311765665
changing
C311765666 Number of load balance attempt: call reestablish
Number of load balance attempt: new service setup in
C311765667
phase of RAB
C311765668 Number of load balance attempt: handover
Number of load balance attempt: incoming relocation
C311765670
balance
C311765671 Number of load balance success: RRC start access
Number of load balance success: DRBC and channel
C311765672
changing
C311765673 Number of load balance success: call reestablish
Number of load balance success: new service setup in
C311765674
phase of RAB
C311765675 Number of load balance success: handover
Number of load balance success: incoming relocation
C311765677
balance
C311765678 Number of load balance attempt: DL power
C311765679 Number of load balance attempt: code resource
C311765680 Number of load balance attempt: UL RSEPS
C311765682 Number of load balance success: DL power
C311765683 Number of load balance success: code resource
C311765684 Number of load balance success: UL RSEPS

Load Balance
5.1.2 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM Counters
Table 5-2 Load Balance from UMTS to GSM Counter List
Counter ID Name
Number of attempted relocation preparation for

C310352914
outgoing CS inter-RAT handovers, Directed Retry
Number of successful relocation for outgoing CS

C310356583
inter-RAT handovers, Directed Retry
5.1.3 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE Counters
Table 5-3 Service Balance from UMTS to LTE Counter List
Counter ID Name
Number of attempted relocation preparation for

C312106776
outgoing PS inter-RAT handovers(Utran to EUtran)
Number of RRC connection release for redirection to

C310086973
LTE
5.2 Related Alarms
This feature has no related alarms.
6 Engineering Guide
6.1 Application Scenario
In the case that the operator has deployed at least two carriers in the network, the
inter-frequency load balance functionality distributes the load to these carriers to balance
the load of each carrier. As a result, the wireless resources of these carriers are fully
used, enhancing the system utilization. If the inter-frequency cells which share a site fail
to have the same coverage due to the traffic, or it is difficult for these inter-frequency cells
to share a site, the measurement-based inter-frequency load balance feature is

Load Balance
suggested to be enabled to enhance the load balance success rate and have the load
shared.
In the case that the operator has a network where the GSM and UMTS coexist, and both
the UMTS AMR traffic and the UMTS PS throughput is high, the load balance from
UMTS to GSM feature is suggested to be enabled. When the UMTS load is heavier, the
AMR service is balanced to the GSM system to ensure the quality of the AMR service. In
addition, the PS users in the UMTS network can have better experience.
In the case that the operator has a network where the UMTS and LTE coexist: the LTE
has a whole coverage, and in the early commercial release period the LTE user quantity
is not large, the load balance from UMTS to LTE feature is suggested to be enabled. LTE
subscribers are guaranteed the LTE resources as much as possible. As a result, the
wireless resources are fully utilized, the PS user experience is enhanced, and the UMTS
load is shared. In the meantime, the user experience of the CS and PS users who do not
support the LTE system is improved as well.
6.2 Feature Activation Procedure
The purpose of this chapter is just to guide the reader how to find the GUI location of the
parameters which are related to the deployment of this feature. The values indicated by
the captures possibly are not the real value to configure. Please refer to the last column
of table in chapter 4 for the practical configuration value.
In the configuration resource tree window, open the [Modify Area->Managed

Element->UMTS Logical Function Configuration-> UTRAN Cell] interface and set the
parameter “Load Balance Scene” for cell1, as shown in Figure 6-1 .

Load Balance
Figure 6-1 Parameters configuration interface 1
In the configuration resource tree window, open [Modify Area->Managed

Element->UMTS Logical Function Configuration-> UTRAN Cell-> Load Balance
Information] interface and set the parameter “Load Balance Switch of Call Holding
Procedure”, “CS Balance Switch of RAB Assignment Procedure”, “UTRAN Downlink
Available Load Balance Threshold (Code) for CS”, “UTRAN Downlink Available Load
Balance Threshold (Code) for R99 PS”, “Load Balance Switch for Downlink Power”,
“Downlink Power Weight for Load Balance”, “UTRAN Downlink Available Load Balance
Threshold (Power) for CS”, “Inter-RAT Downlink Available Load Balance Threshold
(Power) for CS”, “UTRAN Downlink Available Load Balance Threshold (Power) for R99
PS”, “Permitted Payload Difference Downlink Available Load Threshold in
Inter-frequency Cells (Code)”, “Available Load Threshold in Inter-frequency Cells
(Power)”, “Permitted Payload Difference Uplink Available Load Threshold in

Load Balance
Inter-frequency Cells (Interference)”, “Load Balance Switch of Initial RRC Procedure”,

“Load Balance Switch for Code”, “Code Weight for Load Balance”, “Load Balance Switch
of RAB Assignment Procedure”, “Load Balance Switch for Uplink Interference”, “Uplink
Interference Weight for Load Balance”, “UTRAN Uplink Available Load Balance
Threshold (Interference) for CS”, “UTRAN Uplink Available Load Balance Threshold
(Interference) for CS”, “UTRAN Uplink Available Load Balance Threshold (Interference)
for R99 PS”, “Load Balance Switch for Bandwidth”, “User Number Offset of UTRAN for
Balance”, “User Number Offset of GSM for Balance”, “GSM Cell's Carrier Number”,
“UTRAN to EUTRAN balance switch”, “Load Balance Switch of Handover and Call
Reestablishment Procedure”, “RRC Balance Strategy with Cause "Low Priority" in RRC
Connection Request”, “Inter-RAT Downlink Available Load Balance Threshold (Code) for
CS” and “Directed Retry Without Load Comparison Switch” for cell 1, as shown in
Figure 6-2.

Load Balance

Load Balance

Element->UMTS Logical Function Configuration] interface and set the parameter
“Inter-Frequency Balance Switch Based on Measurement”, “Inter-Frequency Balance
Switch Based on Measurement with Overlapping or Covering Relation” and “Timer of
Deactivate Compressed Mode for Balance Strategy Based On Measurement” and
“Switch of Optimization When Load Balance Fail”, as shown in Figure 6-3.

Load Balance

Element->UMTS Logical Function Configuration] interface and set the parameter
“Inter-Frequency Balance Switch Based on Measurement”, “Inter-Frequency Balance
Switch Based on Measurement with Overlapping or Covering Relation” and “Timer of
Deactivate Compressed Mode for Balance Strategy Based On Measurement” and
“Switch of Optimization When Load Balance Fail”, as shown in Figure 6-4.

Load Balance

Element->UMTS Logical Function Configuration UTRAN Cell->Adjacent Relation
Configuration->GSM Neighboring Cell] interface and set the parameter “Share Cover
Indication”, as shown in Figure 6-5.

Load Balance
6.3 Feature Validation Procedure
Table 6-1 Feature Validation Procedure
Test Item Load Balancing

Load Balance
Test Item Load Balancing
1. WCDMA system is ready.

2. Cell1 and Cell2 support HSUPA, HSDPA and DCH. and belong to
RNC/NodeB1.
3. Cell1 and Cell2 have the different frequencies. Configures Cell1
Preconditio and Cell2 adjacent cells with the same coverage.
ns 4. Configures rational DL power balance parameters for Cell1and
Cell2.
5. UE1 and UE2 camp on Cell1 in Idle mode.
6. UE1 and UE2 support R99 and subscribe interactive or
background service, MBR = UL2Mbps/ DL2Mbps,
1. UE1 activates a PS service in Cell1 and starts FTP downloading.

Test Steps 2. UE2 activates another PS service in Cell1and is balanced to Cell2.
3. Deactivate both the PDPs.
Anticipative
1. In step2, UE2 is balanced to Cell2.
Result
6.4 Feature Deactivation Procedure
Table 6-2 RNC parameter list 2
Managed Object. Default Deactivatio

GUI Name
logic name Value n Value
0:Close 0:Close
UUtranCellFDD.LoadB Load Load
alanceScene Load Balance Scene Balance Balance
6.5 Network Impact
6.5.1 Impact on the Performance after Enabling the Blind Handover Based
Inter-frequency Load Balance Feature
The advantages of activating this feature are:

Load Balance
Users can be spread to different carriers based on their load. As a result, the wireless
resources of these carriers are fully used, enhancing the system and spectrum utilization
and improving the user experience.
The disadvantages of activating this feature are:
 The load balance during the RRC establishment might change a carrier. Since it is
blind handover, changing a carrier might influence the RRC establishment success
rate if the user is on a cell edge. Though the user can try the access for a second
time in the source cell after the load balance fails to enhance the RRC
establishment success rate, it somehow increases the RRC establishment delay as
well.
 The load balance during the RAB assignment, call holding and handover process
might influence the service establishment/inter-frequency handover success rate.
6.5.2 Impact on the Performance after Enabling the Measurement-based

Inter-frequency Load Balance Feature
Users can be spread to different carriers based on their load. As a result, the wireless
resources of these carriers are fully used, enhancing the system and spectrum utilization
and improving the user experience.
Compared with the blind handover based inter-frequency load balance, the handover
success rate will not be influenced since it is based on the UE’s measurement results.
This feature is particularly applicable to scenarios where there are no inter-frequency
cells which cover or overlap the current cell which the UE camps on.
This feature is based on the inter-frequency measurement. Currently, most UEs cannot
initiate the measurement unless they activate the compressed mode. But the
compressed mode consumes more power. Consequently, enabling this feature will
slightly influence the system capacity.

Load Balance
6.5.3 Impact on the Performance after Enabling the Load Balance from
UMTS to GSM Feature
AMR users can be spread to networks of different modes based on their load. As a result,
the wireless resources of these networks are fully used, enhancing the system and
spectrum utilization and improving the AMR user experience and PS user experience.
This feature is achieved through blind directed retry to GSM. Therefore, in the areas
where the GSM coverage is not very good, the paging success rate of AMR service
might be influenced.
6.5.4 Impact on the Performance after Enabling the Load Balance from
UMTS to LTE Feature
In the early commercial release period, the LTE subscribers are guaranteed the LTE
resources as much as possible. As a result, the wireless resources are fully utilized, the
PS user experience is enhanced, the system capacity is boosted, and the UMTS load is
shared. In the meantime, the user experience of the CS and PS users who do not
support the LTE system is improved as well.
This feature is achieved through the redirection during the RRC establishment. Therefore,
in the areas where the LTE coverage is not very good, Ping-Pong reselection between
the UMTS and LTE systems might occur, which makes it very difficult for users to
establish the PS service. The PS user experience is influenced.
7 Abbreviation
Abbreviations Full Name
CS Circuit Switch
DL Down Link

Load Balance
GSM Global System for Mobile communications
LTE Long Term Evolution
PS Packet switch
RAB Radio access bearer
RNC Radio Network Controller
RRC Radio resource control
RSCP Received Signal Code Power
RTWP Received total wide band power
UE User equipment
UL Up Link
UMTS Universal mobile telecommunication system
8 Reference Document
[1] ZXUR 9000 UMTS (V4.13.10.15) Radio Network Controller Radio Parameter
Reference
[2] ZXWR RNC (V3.13.10.15) Radio Network Controller Radio Parameter Reference
[3] ZXUR 9000 UMTS (V4.13.10.15) Radio Network Controller Performance Counter
Reference
[4] ZXWR RNC (V3.13.10.15) Radio Network Controller Performance Counter

Reference
[5] ZTE UMTS Handover Control Feature Guide
[6] ZTE UMTS Directed Retry to GSM Feature Guide
[7] ZTE UMTS Transmitted Power Based Handover Feature Guide
[8] ZTE UMTS Quality Based Handover Feature Guide

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© 2014 ZTE Corporation. All rights reserved.

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 1

1 Feature Attribute ............................................................................................... 5

3 Technical Description ....................................................................................... 8

5 Related Counters and Alarms ........................................................................ 45

6 Engineering Guide .......................................................................................... 46

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 2

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 3

Table 2-1 License Control List ............................................................................................ 7

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 4

Node B version: [ZXSDR V4.13.10.20]

2.1 Feature Introduction

2.1.1 ZWF21-04-011 Load Balance

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 5

 RRC connection establishment

 Relocation from other systems or other RNCs

 Call re-establishment triggered by CELL UPDATE

 State transition from non-CELL_DCH to CELL_DCH

 Uplink interference (RTWP)

 Downlink power (TCP)

 Downlink channelization code

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 6

2.2 License Control

Table 2-1 License Control List

License Configured Sales

ZWF21-04-011 Load Balance N/A N/A N/A

2.3 Correlation with Other Features

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 7

ZWF21-05-021 Directed Retry to GSM

2. Mutually Exclusive Features

ZWF21-04-022 Frequency Priority

3.1 Inter-frequency Load Balance

3.1.1 Load Balance Based on Blind Handover

3.1.1.1 Intra-RNC Balance

3.1.1.1.1 When to Trigger the Load Balance

The load balance can be triggered in the following four situations.

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 8

i. The load balance switch UPlBal.InitRrcLBSw is set to “1: Inter-frequency

 It is regarded as the “CS service” if the establishment cause is any of the

 It is regarded as the “PS service” if the establishment cause is any of the

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 9

 It is regarded as the “other service” if the establishment cause is any of the

 If the establishment cause is “Originating Low Priority Signaling” or

 The load balance is triggered when the RAB is being assigned.

i. The load balance switch UPlBal.RabAssLBSw is set to“1: Inter-frequency

 For a CS service, a decision has to be made according to UPlBal.CsBalSwch.

 The load balance is triggered during a call holding procedure.

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 10

i. The load balance switch UPlBal.CallHoldLBSw is set to “1: Inter-frequency

 The load balance is triggered during a handover/call reestablishment procedure.

When to trigger the inter-frequency load balance during a handover or call

i. The load balance switch UPlBal.HoCalRestblLBSwch is set to “1:

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 11

3.1.1.1.2 Factors Considered for Load Balance

This factor is controlled by the switch UPlBal.LdBalBwSwch. If the available

This factor is controlled by the switch UPlBal.DlLdBalPwrSwch.

The DL power is indicated by “AvailableLoad_Tcp”. The bigger the

AvailableLoad_Tcp = 100% - TCP_Load (3.1.1-1)

This factor is controlled by the switch UPlBal.LdBalCdSwch.

ZTE Confidential Proprietary 12

be selected as the target cell for load balance. How to calculate

AvailableLoad_Code = 100%- CodeLoadLev (3.1.1-2)