ANR

Automatic Neighbor Relation

NRT Contents

ANR Process

 - Consider as in the above picture, Serving Cell is Cell A (UE is

in RRC Connected State) and Cell B is the Target Cell:
1. The UE sends a measurement report regarding cell B.
This report contains Cell Bs PCI, but not its ECGI.
eNodeB checks if the reported PCI is already included in the
Neighbor Database, then the HO proceeds in the normal way.
If reported PCI is not included in the Neighbor Database then
eNB proceeds to add the PCI to its NRT.
2. Once eNB receives a UE measurement report containing the
PCI, the eNB instructs the UE with another RRC Connection
Reconfiguration Message, using the newly discovered PCI as
parameter.
Instruct UE to read the ECGI, the TAC and all available PLMN
ID(s) of the related neighbor cell.
To do so, the eNB may need to schedule appropriate idle
periods to allow the UE to read the ECGI from the SIB1 of the
detected neighbor cell.
The UE reads the requested information from SIB1 on PDSCH.

3.

When the UE has found out the new cells ECGI, the UE
reports the detected ECGI to the serving cell eNB.
In addition the UE reports the tracking area code and all
PLMN IDs that have been detected.
If the detected cell is a CSG or hybrid cell, the UE also
reports the CSG ID to the serving cell eNB.

4.

The eNB decides to add this neighbor relation, and can use
PCI and ECGI to:
Look upa transport layer address to the new eNB.
Update theNeighborRelation List.
If needed, setup a new X2 interface towards this eNB.

ANR Explained

With ANR function is active, every active mobile terminal is configured to

report discovered cells if their signal strength exceeds a predefined
threshold.
This is achieved by configuring a so called A4 Event on the mobile
terminal. The corresponding threshold is denoted as A4 threshold
In comparison to the A3 Event, which is used as a trigger for handovers,
the A4 threshold will be chosen such that the event occurs before the A3
event.
This is to allow mobile terminals to report an A4 event, give the eNodeB
some time to set add neighbor relation entry and set up an X2 interface
to the target cell, and directly perform a handover afterwards.
In principle, LTE also permits to implement ANR functionality using A3
events only. In this case, an eNodeB would interpret the A3 event as a
trigger for both, neighbor cell identification and handover
The neighbor cell identification and X2 interface setup would have to be
performed right before the handover to that neighbor is initiated. Such
realization is prone to timing issues between ANR measurements and the
handover procedure

ANR Explained

After an A4 event is configured by its serving eNodeB, the mobile terminal

starts measuring the neighbor cells Physical Cell IDs (PCI)
If the signal of a neighbor cell stays above the A4 threshold for a
predefined time interval, the so-called TimeToTrigger, the terminal reports
this neighbor to its serving cell.
The measurement report contains the measured cells Physical Cell
Identifier (PCI).
The detection of the unique E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier (ECGI), which is
used to globally identify cells, requires a further measurement. Therefore
the eNodeB instructs the mobile terminal to determine the ECGI of the
neighbor cell with this PCI
The mobile terminal has to decode the neighbor cells broadcast channel
to determine the ECGI . This procedure takes time and is only successful if
the signal strength of the candidate cell remains strong enough for a
certain amount of time. When the mobile terminal has reported the ECGI
to its serving eNodeB, the eNodeB will add this neighbor relation to its
Neighbor Relation Table (NRT).
The NRT contains one neighbor relation (NR) per neighbor cell, which
includes the cells PCI and ECGI. The eNodeB will then use the ECGI to
retrieve the transport layer address of the neighbor cell and, if needed, will
setup a new X2 interface towards this eNodeB using the SCTP protocol.

ANR Signaling

Types of ANR

Intra-LTE/frequency ANR:
The eNB serving cell with ANR function, instructs each UE to perform measurements on
neighbor cells, as a part of the normal call procedure. The eNB may use different policies
for instructing the UE to do measurements, and when to report them to the eNB.
When UE discovers new cells ECGI, the UE reports the detected ECGI to the serving
cell eNB. In addition the UE reports the tracking area code and all PLMN IDs that have
been detected. The eNB adds this Neighbor relation to NRT.

Inter-RAT/Inter-frequency ANR:
The eNB serving cell with ANR function can instruct a UE to perform measurements and
detect cells on other RATs/frequencies .during connected mode. The eNB may use
different policies for instructing the UE to do measurements, and when to report them to
the eNB.
The UE reports the PCI of the detected cells in the target RATs/frequencies. When the
eNB receives UE reports containing PCIs of cell(s), eNB may instruct the UE to read the
CGI and the RAC of the detected Neighbor cell in case of GERAN detected cells and CGI,
LAC and, RAC in case of UTRAN detected cells. For the Interfrequency case, the eNB may
instruct the UE to read the ECGI, TAC and all available PLMN ID(s) of the inter-frequency
detected cell.
The eNB updates its inter-RAT/inter-frequency Neighbor Relation Table after receiving
relevant info from UE.

Measurements for Other

types of ANR

Blacklists

While the ANR function is active, mobile terminals report an A4

event to the eNodeB for every PCI that has been detected. Many
of those measurement reports are superfluous, in case PCI and
ECGI of the reported cell are already known to the eNodeB, i.e.
have already been reported by another mobile terminal.
These measurement reports consume uplink bandwidth and
reduce battery life of mobile terminals. For that reason, ANR
functionality should be disabled when the NRTs appear to be
settled and activated again if new PCIs are reported within A3
events
If the ANR was not enabled when a previously unknown PCI is
reported, handover failures due to missing ECGI of the newly
reported PCI would occur.

ANR Related Parameters

ANR Functions

ANR Neighbor relation creation function:

The ANR Neighbor relation creation function builds up the Neighbor relations
by
requesting the UEs to search for Neighbor cells, or by receiving the Neighbor
relations from the Neighbor eNB.

ANR Neighbor relation maintenance function:

The ANR Neighbor relation maintenance function (aka garbage collection)
deletes
the obsolete Neighbor relations and obsolete X2 links.

ANR synchronization function:

Since the operator can enter the new Neighbor relations through SAM or
modify
the Neighbor relations created by ANR even when ANR is activated, the ANR
synchronization function is needed to provide the automatic synchronization
between eNB and SAM.

ANR Neighbor Relation Maintenance

Function (Garbage Collection)

ANR will delete NRs with parameter noRemove=false that have

not been used for
7 days. In LA3 and 4 this 7 days was hard coded. Starting LA5 this
was
configurable from 1-31 days
ANR will delete X2 links with parameter noRemove=false that
are not used by any NRs.

ANR Phase Descriptions

Active Phase
This corresponds to the phase where an eNB is first put into service with the ANR function
activated, or when the ANR function is first activated for the eNB, or when the ANR
function
is reset. The eNB triggers a specific and accelerated Neighbor discovery procedure, which
ends when the Neighbor cell list is considered complete.

Dormant Phase
When the eNB considers its Neighbor cell list to be complete, it enters the dormant phase.
It does not actively search for new Neighbor relations, and will only be awakened by a UE
requesting a handover towards a cell (ie PCI) unknown to the eNB.

Wake-up Phase
During the dormant phase of ANR, a UE requesting a handover towards a cell (ie PCI)
unknown to the eNB (the PCI of the best reported cell is unknown) will cause the eNB to
"wake up": for a short, time-limited period the eNB will actively attempt to discover the full
identity of the new cell. This wake-up phase is cell-specific; in other words, one of the
eNB's
cells may be in the wake-up phase while the other cells remain in dormant phase.

WiPS view of ANR related parameters used during

active phase for detection of NRs

WiPS View of parameters related to

ANR completion

Checking Active State of ANR On SAM

Logical Object Manager on SAM can be used to see each cells ANR
completion state

Event Log can be used to see ANR completion event for each cell

White and Black Listing

White Listing disallows ANR garbage collection from deleting unused NR

and X2s.
Blacklisting disallows a NR or X2 link from being established and/or used.
It also prevents ANR garbage collection from deleting as well.