Design and Performance Evaluation of an Inter-System

Handover Algorithm in UMTS/GSM Networks

N. Saravanan† , N. Sreenivasulu† , D. Jayaram† , and A. Chockalingam‡
† Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited, 2 Church Street, Bangalore 560001, INDIA
‡ Department of ECE, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, INDIA

Abstract— In this paper, we present the performance of a (UMTS analysis [2],[3] as well as simulations [4]. However, most of
↔ GSM) inter-system handover algorithm which uses two pairs of these and other studies consider mainly intra-system handovers;
UMTS and GSM HO thresholds (Ec /Io threshold for UMTS and e.g., soft/softer handovers between cells/sectors in CDMA sys-
RSSI threshold for GSM); one pair of thresholds for making a de-
cision to handover from UMTS to GSM and another pair of thresh- tems like IS-95, WCDMA [4], or hard handovers in TDMA sys-
olds for making a decision to handover from GSM to UMTS. We tems like GSM. Some recent papers have investigated inter-system
have designed and implemented the algorithm based on a simula- handovers in UMTS (UMTS-to-GSM and GSM-to-UMTS han-
tion model of a 37-cell UMTS/GSM system consisting of an island dovers) [5]-[8]. However, the main focus of these studies is ei-
of 7 UMTS cells surrounded by 30 GSM cells. The simulation model ther on architectural/network level issues in enabling inter-system
includes mobility of all users in the system and spatial correlation
of the log-normal shadow losses in the 2.1 GHz (for UMTS) and handovers (e.g., various signalling messages and their sequence
900 MHz (for GSM) frequency bands. The test mobile is allowed to required to execute a HO) [6], or on techniques to enable mea-
move along the boundary of the UMTS and GSM cells and evalu- surements for inter-system handover (e.g., creating time gaps us-
ated the performance of the algorithm with the handover rate as a ing ‘compressed mode’ to enable signal quality measurements
function of the various handover thresholds in both the networks. by the mobiles) [8],[9], or on different events that trigger HO
We show that by properly building a hysteresis between the UMTS-
to-GSM HO threshold pair and the GSM-to-UMTS HO threshold measurements [5].
pair, a good compromise between call drop rate, and intra- and Our contribution in this paper is that, we first present a inter-
inter-system handover rates can be achieved. Further, we have anal-system handover algorithm which uses two pairs of UMTS and
ysed the effectiveness of the algorithm by applying time hysteresis
values and also by measuring the signal parameters in compressed GSM HO thresholds (Ec /Io threshold for UMTS and RSSI thresh-
mode. old for GSM); one pair of thresholds for making a decision to
handover from UMTS to GSM and another pair of thresholds for
Keywords – Inter-system handover, UMTS, GSM, handover rate
making a decision to handover from GSM to UMTS, and sec-
ond, we build a simulation model of a 37-cell UMTS/GSM sys-
I. I NTRODUCTION
tem consisting of an island of 7 UMTS cells surrounded by 30
Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems (UMTS) is a GSM cells; we allow a test mobile to move along the boundary
third generation (3G) cellular system that has been standardized of the UMTS and GSM cells and evaluate the handover rate per-
by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) with an intent formance as a function of the various thresholds involved. The
to offer enhanced multimedia services to mobile users at high simulation model includes mobility of all users in the system
data rates [1]. UMTS systems are expected to be initially de- and spatial correlation of the log-normal shadow losses in the 2.1
ployed in dense subscriber areas covered by GSM/GPRS (e.g., GHz (for UMTS) and 900 MHz (for GSM) bands. We show that
city centers, shopping malls) in order to augment the capacity by properly building a hysteresis between the UMTS-to-GSM
of these existing GSM/GPRS networks. In otherwords, initial HO threshold pair and the GSM-to-UMTS HO threshold pair, a
UMTS deployments will result in UMTS hotspots in a GSM/GPRS good compromise between call drop rate, and intra- and inter-
pool. Hence, one of the critical features in the initial deploy- system handover rates can be achieved.
ments of UMTS networks is the inter-system functionality be- The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II, we
tween UMTS and GSM/GPRS. Efficient inter-working between present the provisions made in the standards for implementing
UMTS and GSM/GPRS systems will be crucial to provide con- inter-system handovers. In Sec. III, we present the proposed
tinuous service coverage to dual-mode mobiles. Among the inter- inter-system handover algorithm. Sec. IV describes the simula-
system functionalities, inter-system handover is probably the most tion model. Performance results and discussions are presented in
crucial one to ensure seamless service coverage to a mobile user Sec. V. Conclusions are given in Sec. VI.
as he/she moves from a UMTS coverage area to a GSM/GPRS
coverage area, and vice versa. The focus of this paper, accord- II. P ROVISIONS FOR I NTER -S YSTEM HO IN UMTS
ingly, is the performance evaluation of inter-system handover al-
gorithms in UMTS/GSM. In order to carry out smooth inter-system handovers, the mo-
biles in the border areas between different systems must make
Several papers in the literature have investigated handover al- measurements on the carriers of both systems and report them to
gorithms and their performances in cellular systems, both through the network to facilitate a handover decision. GSM/GPRS sys-
tems being TDMA based (i.e., transmit and receive are neither
simultaneous nor continuous), finding time gaps to go and mea-
sure on the other system carriers using one RF receive chain is
not critical. During these time gaps the receiver can be tuned to
the other system frequency, make measurements on it and come
back to the current system frequency to transmit/receive. On the
other hand, in UMTS (WCDMA) the transmit/receive are con-
tinuous and simultaneous. This means either a different RF re-
ceive chain must be provided in the handset to make measure-
ments on the other system frequency, or time gaps have to be
created in the transmissions so that the mobile can go and make
other system measurements during these time gaps. In UMTS,
the ‘compressed mode’ operation can create these time gaps for
other system measurements [10]. In addition, the 3GPP stan-
dards define the signalling mechanisms and several handover pa-
rameters necessary to perform intra- and inter-system handovers
[11],[12]. It is noted that while the standards define the neces-
sary signalling mechanisms and parameters which can be used
to perform intra- and inter-system handovers, the details of the
actual algorithm and the optimization of the handover param-
eters (e.g., HO threshold values) are left to the implementors.
For the purpose of using in making a handover decision, GSM
and UMTS standards define the following measurements and the
range of their reported values.
Measurement in GSM : The relevant measurement quantity for
handover in GSM is the RXLEV, which is also referred to as the
Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). RSSI is defined as
the average received signal power in dBm. RSSI measurement is
performed on the GSM BCCH carrier. The reportable range of
the GSM RSSI is from -48 dBm to -110 dBm [13].
Measurement in UMTS : The relevant measurement quantities
for handover in UMTS are i) Received Signal Code Power (RSCP),
which is the received code power measured on the CPICH (com-
mon pilot channel), ii) UMTS carrier RSSI, and iii) CPICH
Ec /Io which is essentially the ratio between RSCP and UMTS
carrier RSSI. The reportable range of Ec /Io is from -24 to 0 dB
[14].
In addition to the above measurements, other parameters in-
cluding, for example, transport channel block/bit error rates can
be measured and used for handover purposes [14]. The proposed
inter-system handover algorithm that we present in the following
section uses only the reported values of GSM RSSI and UMTS
CPICH Ec /Io .
III. (UMTS ↔ GSM) I NTER -S YSTEM HO A LGORITHM
In this section, we present the proposed inter-system handover
algorithm. We consider handovers between UMTS and GSM
systems while the subscriber is on a circuit-switched voice call.
For a given mobile subscriber on a voice call, the algorithm (to
be executed on the network side) operates based on the Ec /Io
values of all neighbouring UMTS cells and RSSI values of all
neighbouring GSM cells as measured and reported by that mo-
bile. We define two pairs of UMTS and GSM HO thresholds
(Ec /Io threshold for UMTS and RSSI threshold for GSM); one
pair of thresholds for making a decision to handover from UMTS
to GSM and another pair of thresholds for making a decision to
handover from GSM to UMTS. In addition, we also define two
threshold hysteresis values for UMTS-to-UMTS and GUMS-to-
GSM intra-system handovers. Accordingly, we define the fol-
lowing thresholds:
• UTHU2G : UMTS Ec /Io threshold (in dB) used for mak-
ing a inter-system handover decision from UMTS to GSM
• GTHU2G : GSM RSSI threshold (in dBm) used for mak-
ing a inter-system handover decision from UMTS to GSM
• GTHG2U : GSM RSSI threshold (in dBm) used for mak-
ing a inter-system handover decision from GSM to UMTS
• UTHG2U : UMTS Ec /Io threshold (in dB) used for mak-
ing a inter-system handover decision from GSM to UMTS
• HYSU2U : Hysteresis (in dB) in the UMTS Ec /Io thre-
shold used for a making intra-system handover decision from
UMTS to UMTS
• HYSG2G : Hysteresis (dB) in the GSM RSSI threshold
used for making a intra-system handover decision from GSM
to GSM
• T HYS: Time hysteresis in msec for making a inter-system
handover decision from UMTS ↔ GSM
The handover algorithm works as follows.
UMTS → UMTS Handover:
• Once a mobile is in UMTS, it will continue to be in UMTS
as long as the reported Ec /Io of the currently assigned UMTS
cell (base station) is above the UMTS threshold UTHU2G .
This condition implies that the mobile is connected to a
‘strong-enough’ UMTS cell.
While in UMTS, intra-cell handovers to strongest neigh-
bouring UMTS cells can occur when the Ec /Io of the strongest
neighbouring UMTS cell gets larger than the Ec /Io of the
currently assigned UMTS cell by an amount in excess of
the hysteresis HYSU2U dB. This hysteresis helps to avoid
frequent U → U intra-system handovers.
UMTS → GSM Handover:
• While in UMTS, i) if the Ec /Io of the currently assigned
UMTS cell falls below the UMTS threshold UTHU2G (im-
plying that the connected UMTS cell is not ‘strong-enough’),
and ii) if there is no other UMTS neighbouring cell whose
Ec /Io is larger than UTHU2G , then the algorithm looks
for GSM cells to handover.
If conditions i) and ii) above are met, and if the RSSI of the
strongest GSM cell is above the GSM threshold GTHU2G
continuously for T HYS msec,then the mobile is instructed
to do a inter-system handover from U → G; otherwise the
mobile continues with UMTS (in which case the call qual-
ity, in terms of received Ec /Io may get worse, eventually
leading to a call drop if no suitable GSM cell or better
UMTS cell is found).
GSM → GSM Handover:
• Once a mobile is in GSM, it will continue to be in GSM
 Call in Progress UMTS GSM
thresholds thresholds

UMTS call UMTS GSM call

or GSM call
?
UTH G2U GTH U2G

G
(e.g., −14 dB) (e.g., −90 dBm)

U
Y E 2 > U1 N N Y
R 2 > G2
? ?

Y E 1 > U1 N N Y
R 1 > G2

U
? ?
UTH U2G GTH G2U
N

N
N (E Y R 1 > G1
1 E 2)
> H1 ? ?
? ?
Y Y
Do (U −> U) HO
from CBS to SNBS
E 1 : (Ec / Io) SNBS
Y
Is
R 1 > G1 N
E 2 : (Ec / Io) CBS
for T_HYS
msec
R 1 : (RSSI) SNBS ? ?
R 2 : (RSSI) CBS
Do (U −> G) HO
from CBS to SNBS
CBS : Currently assigned BS
SNBS : Strongest Neighbouring BS
Fig. 1. Flowchart for Inter-system Handover Algorithm
as long as the reported RSSI of the currently assigned GSM
cell is above the GSM threshold GTHG2U . This condition
implies that the mobile is connected to a ‘strong-enough’
GSM cell.
While in GSM, intra-cell handovers to strongest neighbour-
ing GSM cells can occur when the RSSI of the strongest
neighbouring GSM cell gets larger than the RSSI of the
currently assigned GSM cell by an amount in excess of the
hysteresis HYSG2G dB. This hysteresis helps to avoid fre-
quent G → G intra-system handovers.
GSM → UMTS Handover:
• While in GSM, i) if the RSSI of the currently assigned GSM
cell falls below the GSM threshold GTHG2U (implying
that the connected GSM cell is not ‘strong-enough’), and
ii) if there is no other GSM neighbouring cell whose RSSI
is larger than GTHG2U , then algorithm looks for UMTS
cells to handover.
If conditions i) and ii) above are met, and if the Ec /Io
of the strongest UMTS cell is above the UMTS threshold
UTHG2U continuously for T HYS msec, then the mo-
bile is instructed to do a inter-system handover from G →
U; otherwise the mobile continues with GSM (in which case
the call quality, in terms of received RSSI may get worse,
eventually leading to a call drop if no suitable UMTS cell
or better GSM cell is found).
The flowchart depicting the above inter-system handover al-
gorithm is shown in Fig. 1.
Note: It is noted that the intra-system handovers in GSM (i.e., G
→ G HO) are hard handovers and a mobile is connected to only
one cell at any given time. However, the intra-system handovers
in UMTS (i.e., U → U HO) are typically soft handovers and a
mobile may be simultaneously connected to more than one cell.
Since our main focus in this study is on U ↔ G inter-system
handovers, we consider that a UMTS mobile is connected to one
UMTS cell at a time. However, the algorithm with minor mod-
G
E 1 > U2 Y (R N (e.g., −16 dB) (e.g., −100 dBm)
1 R 2)
> H2
Fig. 2. Hysteresis between UMTS and GSM HO threshold pairs
Do (G −> G) HO
from CBS to SNBS
N
Is
E 1 > U2 Y
U1 : UTH U2G
ifications can be made applicable to UMTS mobiles being con-
G1 : GTH U2G
for T_HYS
msec U2 : UTH G2U nected to multiple UMTS cells.
G2 : GTH G2U
Do (G −> U) HO
from CBS to SNBS H1 : HYS U2U
On the Choice of HO Threshold Values:
It is noted that {UTHU2G , GTHU2G } is the UMTS and
H2 : HYS G2G
T_HYS : Time Hysteresis
in msec
GSM threshold pair used to make a handover decision from UMTS
to GSM. We may want to delay the occurrence of a UMTS to
GSM inter-system handover as much as possible, which may be
achieved by choosing a ‘weak’ (low value) UTHU2G thresh-
old and a ’strong’ (high value) GTHU2G threshold. On the
other hand, once the mobile moves to GSM, we may want to
give preference to GSM to GSM handover and delay the GSM
to UMTS inter-system handover as much as possible. This may
be achieved by proper choice of the {UTHG2U , GTHG2U }
threshold pair used to make a handover decision from GSM to
UMTS, i.e., choose a ‘weak’ GTHG2U and a ‘strong’ UTHG2U .
Typically, a hysteresis between the U → G and G → U threshold
pairs, as shown in Fig. 2, is desired in order to avoid frequent
inter-system handovers from UMTS to GSM and vice versa (i.e.,
ping-pong effect). In otherwords, the thresholds can be chosen
such that
GTHU2G > GTHG2U , and UTHG2U > UTHU2G .
IV. S IMULATION M ODEL
In this section, we present the simulation model of the multi-
cell UMTS/GSM system that we developed to evaluate the per-
formance of the inter-system handover algorithm presented in
the previous section.
Cellular system: We consider a 37-cell UMTS/GSM hexago-
nal layout system consisting of an island of 7 UMTS cells sur-
rounded by 30 GSM cells, as shown in Fig. 3. GSM cells use a
7-cell frequency reuse pattern as shown. Each cell consists of N
mobiles which are uniformly distributed over the cell area.
Propagation and channel model: The transmitted signals un-
dergo losses due to distance, shadow and multipath fading. We
assume that the short-term multipath fading is averaged out in
the measurement process. As in most literature, we take the path
loss exponent η that characterize the loss due to distance to be 4,
and assume the shadow loss to be log-normally distributed [15].
Since we are interested in evaluating the handover performance,
user mobility and hence the spatial correlation in the log-normal
 Parameters UMTS GSM
Cell layout Hexagonal Hexagonal
Number of cells 7 30
Cell size 5 Km 5 Km
UMTS Cells
Users per cell 50 50
Carrier frequency 2.1 GHz 900 MHz
Pilot power 0.15 W 1W
UC 1
Tx. antenna gain 14 dB 14 dB
UC 2 GSM Cells Rx. antenna gain 2 dB 2 dB
GC 1 Ref. distance, d0 100 m 100 m
GC 2
Path loss exponent 4 4
SD of shadow loss 4.3 dB 7.5 dB
Correlation coeff. 0.3 0.82
Correlation Dist. 10 m 100 m
Test mobile moves along this line D/L Power control -110 dBm N/A
Chip rate 3.84 Mcps N/A
Data rate 12.2 Kbps 12.2 Kbps
Fig. 3. 37-cell mixed UMTS/GSM System Mobile velocity 3.6,18,36,54 Km/h 3.6,18,36,54 Km/h
TABLE I
shadow loss must be incorporated in the simulation model. Ac-
cordingly, we employ the spatial-correlation model for shadow
fic channels on the downlink and thermal noise power. Since
loss proposed by Gudmundson [16] in our simulations. In this
CDMA systems are interference-limited, we ignore the thermal
model, the spatial correlation in the received signal A(n) is given
noise. All UMTS mobiles traffic channels are power controlled
by
|k|vT /D on the downlink by their assigned base stations. The transmit
RA (k) = σ 2 (εD ) (1) power from the base station on the traffic channel towards each
where v is the velocity of the mobile, vT is distance moved in T mobile is adjusted such that the signal is received at a constant
secs, εD is the correlation between two points separated by dis- desired power at the mobile. The Ec /Io at ith mobile from
tance D, and variance σ 2 is usually in the range between 3 to 10 jth UMTS cell is determined (as the ratio of the RSCP and the
dB. From [16], for GSM mobiles in the 900 MHz band, we take UMTS RSSI) as follows:
the standard deviation of the log-normal shadow loss σ to be 7.5
 (j,cpich)
dB, and the correlation at distance of 100 m (ε100 ) is taken to Ec PRi
= (3)
be 0.82. Likewise, for UMTS mobiles in the 2.1 GHz band, we Io ij 
N
(k∈B[i])  
N
(k∈B[i])
take σ to be 4.3 dB and ε10 to be 0.3. The simulation of the cor- PRi + PRi
k=1
k
=i B[i] k=1
related log-normal shadow loss variables has been implemented
using the procedure given in [15]. (j,cpich)
where PRi in the numerator is the received power at the ith
Received Power: With the above propagation/channel model, the
received signal power PR (in dBm) is given by [15] mobile on the jth cell’s pilot channel, B[i] denotes the UMTS

 cell to which mobile i belongs, and B[i] denotes the set of all
d (k∈B[i])
PR = PT + GT + GR + K − 10η log10 + ψ, (2) UMTS cells other than B[i] (i.e., other cells), and PRi is the
d0
interference power received at the ith mobile on the kth mobile’s
where PT is the transmit power (in dBm), GT and GR are the traffic channel in cell B[i].
transmit and receive antenna gains (in dB), respectively, K = User mobility model: The handover statistics are collected at a
−20 log10 (4πd0 /λ), d0 is the reference distance for the antenna test mobile over the simulation of several calls. Each call lasts
far-field, λ is the carrier wavelength, d is the distance between for 120 secs. At the beginning of each call, fresh locations for
the transmitter and receiver, η is the path loss exponent, and ψ is the mobiles (uniformly distributed in their cell areas), and their
a Gaussian distributed r.v. with mean zero and variance σ 2 that log-normal shadow losses are chosen. In addition, a velocity
denotes the log-normal shadow loss (in dB). and direction of motion are chosen for each mobile. The mobile
GSM RSSI: All GSM base stations transmit BCCH carriers at a velocities are chosen among 3.6, 18, 36 and 54 Km/h with equal
fixed pilot power. For the purposes of computing the GSM RSSI, probability. The direction of motion is chosen uniformly in the
PT in (2) corresponds to this transmit Pilot power on the BCCH range 0 to 2π. Each mobile then moves in a straight line from its
carrier. starting location at its chosen velocity and direction till the end
of the call.
UMTS Ec /Io : All UMTS base stations transmit their common
pilot channels (CPICH) at a fixed pilot power. The RSCP (re- V. P ERFORMANCE R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSIONS
ceived signal code power) is computed based on this CPICH
transmit pilot power and channel parameters as per (2). The We implemented the simulation model described in the previ-
UMTS RSSI is the total received power including the interfer- ous section in Matlab and carried out the simulations to charac-
ence power (intra-cell as well as inter-cell) from mobile traf- terize the handover performance of the proposed algorithm. The
 1
0 0 10
UMTS Ec/Io
−10
from UC2 (dB)
−10

Average Number of Handovers and Call Drops Per Call

−20

Measured GSM RSSI from GC1 (dBm)

−30 0
−20 10
Measured Ec/Io from UC2 (dB)

GSM RSSI
from GC1 (dBm) −40

−30 −50

−60 −1
−40 10
−70

−50 −80

−90
−2
10 UTH (U2G) = −16 dB
−60 (U − U) Handovers
−100 GTH (G2U) = −100 dBm (G − G) Handovers
UTH (G2U) = −14 dB (U − G) Handovers
T_HYS = 100 msec (G − U) Handovers
−110
−70 Call Drops
−120
−3
10
−80 −130 −70 −75 −80 −85 −90 −95 −100
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 2.25 2.5 2.75 3
UC1 GSM RSSI Threshold value, GTH (U2G) dBm
UC2 GC1 GC2 4
x 10
Distance (metre)
Fig. 5. Intra- and inter-system handover rates and call drop rate as a function
of GSM RSSI threshold, GTHU2G . UTHU2G = −16 dB, UTHG2U =
Fig. 4. Variation of RSSI from GSM cell GC1 (in dBm) and Ec /Io from −14 dB, GTHG2U = −100 dBm,HYSU2U = 3 dB, HYSG2G = 3 dB
UMTS cell UC2 (in dB) as a function of time at a mobile, as the mobile moves and T HYS = 100 msec.
from UMTS cell UC1 towards GSM cell GC2 shown in Fig. 3 at a speed of 54
Km/h. RSSI and Ec /Io values averaged over 25 passes of the mobile moving
from UC1 towards GC2. all mobiles. We observed that the received GSM RSSI value at
the test mobile is in the range of -105 dBm to -55 dBm when it is
various system parameters used in the simulations are given in connected with the GSM network and if it is connected with the
Table I. UMTS network it receives the Ec /Io value in the range of -19
dB to -7 dB.
A. Simulation Results Figure 5 shows the various handover rates performance of the
Figure 4 shows an illustrative output from the simulations that proposed algorithm in terms of the average number of handovers
depicts the variation of RSSI from GSM cell GC1 (in dBm) and per call (statistics collected over 1000 calls) as a function of the
Ec /Io from UMTS cell UC2 (in dB) as a function of time at GSM RSSI threshold, GTHU2G . The other threshold values
a mobile, as the mobile moves from UMTS cell UC1 towards set are: UTHU2G = −16 dB, UTHG2U = −14 dB, and
GSM cell GC2 shown in Fig. 3, at a speed of 54 Km/h. The sys- GTHG2U = −100 dBm. The hysteresis values for U → U and
tem simulation is run at a time resolution of 1 sec (i.e., the RSSI G → G handovers are HYSU2U = 3 dB, HYSG2G = 3 dB.
and Ec /Io values at the test mobile is computed every second, The time hysteresis (T HYS) value is taken to be 100 msec.
accounting for the time variation in distance and shadow losses, The test mobile speed is 54 Km/h. The number of users per cell
etc). The plots in Fig. 4 show the RSSI and Ec /Io values av- is 50. From Fig. 5, the following observations can be made. As
eraged over 25 passes of the mobile moving from UC1 towards the GSM RSSI threshold GTHU2G is reduced from -70 dBm
GC2. It can be seen that, as expected, the Ec /Io and RSSI peak to -100 dBm, the UMTS-to-GSM inter-system HO rate increases
at mobile locations close to the UMTS base station location UC2 (from 0.025 U → G handovers per call to 0.64 handovers per
and GSM base station GC1, respectively. call), since, by allowing a GSM carrier with a lower RSSI as ad-
equate enough for a handover, we allow more and more UMTS
The performance measures of interest in this simulation study
calls to be handed over to GSM. By doing so (i.e., by preferring
are the various handover rates (U → U handover rate, U → G
to handover to a weak GSM carrier), the UMTS-to-UMTS intra-
handover rate, G → G handover rate, and G → U handover rate).
system handover rate gets reduced from 7.2 to 2, as seen from
These handover statistics are collected at a test mobile over sev-
Fig. 5. Fig. 5 also shows the call drop performance. An outage
eral calls, each call lasting 120 secs. Specifically, the test mobile
(or call drop) is declared if neither a UMTS carrier stronger than
is allowed to move in a circular path along the boundary of the
-20 dB Ec /Io nor a GSM carrier stronger than -110 dBm RSSI
UMTS and GSM cells (as shown in Fig. 3). This path was cho-
is available for the call. It can been seen that, as expected, the
sen for it corresponds to a very representative scenario where
outage (in terms of average number of call drops per call dura-
inter-system handovers are more likely and hence the effects of
tion) gets reduced as the GSM entry threshold GTHU2G is re-
the various handover thresholds on the performance can be more
duced. These handover vs call drop performance tradeoff curves
clearly observed.
are useful in making good choice of HO algorithm parameters.
The system simulation is run at a time resolution of 100 msec
(i.e., the RSSI and Ec /Io values at the test mobile is computed B. Handover Simulation with Compressed Mode
every 100 msec, accounting for the time variation in distance and
We obtained the performance results in the previous subsec-
shadow losses, etc). Also, the handover algorithm is executed
tion by performing Ec /Io and RSSI calculations from instanta-
once 100 msec. At the end of a call, a new call is started with
neous received signal level values sampled at every 100 msec
fresh mobile locations, shadow losses, velocity and directions for
time-tic in the simulations. In practice, the UTRAN uses com-
 GSM Carriers 10
1

are measured
C 1C 2C 3C 4C 5C 6C 7C 8C 1C 2 C 3C 4C 5C 6C 7C 8C 1C 2C 3C 4 C 5C 6C 7C 8C 1C 2C 3C 4C 5C 6

Average Number of Handovers and Call Drops Per Call

0 40 80 120
msec msec msec msec 10
0

TGL = 6.67 msec TGL = 6.67 msec TGL = 6.67 msec

10 Slots 10 Slots 10 Slots
−1
10
TGPL = 40 msec TGPL = 40 msec TGPL = 40 msec
4 frames 4 frames 4 frames
TGL : Transmission Gap Length
TGPL : Transmission Gap Pattern Length
C 1 C 2 C 3 . . . C 8 : 8 GSM Carriers 10
−2
UTH (U2G) = −16 dB
GTH (G2U) = −100 dBm (U − U) Handovers
Fig. 6. Compressed mode pattern UTH (G2U) = −14 dB (G − G) Handovers
(U − G) Handovers
(G − U) Handovers
Call Drops

pressed mode to create time gaps in the transmission (referred 10

−3

−70 −75 −80 −85 −90 −95 −100

to as Transmission Time Gap - TGL) for the purpose of making GSM RSSI Threshold value,GTH (U2G) dBm

GSM RSSI measurement while the mobile is in UMTS network.
Periodic time gaps are created in the transmission. Typically,
time gap of TGL secs is created every Time Gap Pattern Length
(TGPL) secs. Received signal samples measured during these
time gaps are averaged to obtain the RSSI value. The compressed
mode feature and the relevant parameters are given in [14].
Fig. 6 shows the compressed mode parameters as we chose
for the HO simulation. TGPL = 4 frames1 (i.e., 40 msec). TGL
= 10 slots (i.e., 6.67 msec). In each TGL slot, one RSSI sample
from one GSM carrier is measured. So, number of GSM carrier
RSSI samples in each TGL = 10. We measure the RSSI on the
8 strongest GSM carriers. We obtain the RSSI as the average
over 3 RSSI samples per GSM carrier. Handoff decisions are
executed every 120 msec time-tic. The HO rates and call drop
rate performance obtained from the HO simulations implement-
ing the compressed mode for RSSI measurement is given in Fig.
7, which corroborates well with the results obtained from the
instantaneous signal level measurements carried out using Time
hysteresis shown in Fig. 5.
VI. C ONCLUSIONS
We proposed and verified (UMTS ↔ GSM) inter-system han-
dover algorithm which uses two pairs of UMTS and GSM HO
thresholds (Ec /Io threshold for UMTS and RSSI threshold for
GSM); one pair of thresholds for making a decision to handover
from UMTS to GSM and another pair of thresholds for mak-
ing a decision to handover from GSM to UMTS. We simulated
a 37-cell UMTS/GSM system and evaluated intra- and inter-
system handover rates and call drop rate of a test mobile moving
along the boundary of the UMTS and GSM cells. The simulation
model included mobility of all users in the system and spatial
correlation of the log-normal shadow losses in the 2.1 GHz (for
UMTS) and 900 MHz (for GSM) frequency bands. We showed
that by properly building a hysteresis between the UMTS-to-
GSM HO threshold pair and the GSM-to-UMTS HO threshold
pair, a good compromise between intra- and inter-system han-
dover rates and call drop rate can be achieved. We also intro-
duced a time hysteresis in the handover algorithm, which re-
sulted in reduction of inter-system handover rate. Further, we
presented compressed mode parameters for measuring GSM RSSI
1 Note
that in UMTS, 1 frame = 15 slots = 10 msec.
Fig. 7. Intra- and inter-system handover rates and call drop rate as a function
of GSM RSSI threshold. Compressed mode is used for measuring GSM RSSI.
UTHU2G = −16 dB, UTHG2U = −14 dB, GTHG2U = −100 dBm,
HYSU2U = 3 dB, HYSG2G = 3 dB.
while in UMTS network. We also evaluated and presented the
HO performance by implementing this compressed mode in the
simulation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank S. Vijay Anand and Eshan Ka-
math of Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited, Bangalore for their
valuable discussions and help during this work.
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