3G/4G Mobile Communications Systems

Dr. Stefan Brck

Qualcomm Corporate R&D Center Germany

Chapter IX:

Mobility Control

Slide 2

Mobility Control

Handover Types

Mobility Measurements in UMTS

Mobility Procedures for HSDPA and HSUPA (E-DCH)

Mobility Measurements in LTE

X2/S1 based Mobility Procedures in LTE

Slide 3

Cell (Re-)Selection and Handover

Cell (Re-)Selection

Procedure that allows the UE to
change the cell it is camped on

(E)-UTRAN provides parameters
to control (re-)selection

Handover (Hand-off)

Procedure that allows the UE to
change from one cell to another,
while the UE has radio resources
allocated to it

Slide 4

Types of Cell (Re-)Selection and Handover

Intra-Frequency

Within the same carrier frequency

Inter-Frequency

Between different carrier frequencies

Inter-RAT

Between different Radio Access technologies (RAT), e.g. from UMTS
FDD to GSM

Soft handover

Multiple radio links exist to cells of different Node Bs

Softer handover

Multiple radio links exist to cells of the same Node B

Hard handover

Existing radio links are dropped before a new link is established

Slide 5

Handover Control: Basics

General: Mechanism of changing a cell or base station during a call or
session

UE may have active radio links to more than one Node B

Mobile-assisted & network-based handover in UMTS:

UE reports measurements to UTRAN if reporting criteria (which are set by the
UTRAN) are met

UTRAN then decides to dynamically add or delete radio links depending on the
measurement results

Types of Handover:

Soft/Softer Handover (dedicated channels)

Hard Handover (shared channels)

Inter Frequency (Hard) Handover

Inter System Handover (e.g. UMTS-GSM)

Cell selection/re-selection (inactive or idle)

All handover types require heavy support from the UMTS network
infrastructure!
6

Slide 6

Soft/Softer Handover

In soft/softer handover the UE maintains active radio links to more than one
Node B

Combination of the signals from multiple active radio links is necessary

Soft Handover

The mobile is connected to (at least) two cells belonging to different Node Bs

In uplink, the signals are combined in the RNC,
e.g. by means of selection combining using CRC

Softer Handover

The mobile is connected to two sectors within one Node B

More efficient combining in the uplink is possible like
maximum ratio combining (MRC) in the Node B instead of RNC

Note: In uplink no additional signal is transmitted, while in downlink each new

link causes interference to other users, therefore:

Uplink: HO general increase performance

Downlink: Trade-off

Slide 7

Soft Handover Example: UMTS

Multiple Node Bs are

involved

Combining and Selecting

UE combines symbols
received from each Node B
RNC selects the best radio
frame from each Node B

Slide 8

Softer Handover Example: UMTS

Only one Node B, but multiple

Cells are involved

Combining and Selecting

UE combines symbols
received from each cell

Node B combines symbols
received from each cell

Slide 9

Hard Handover Example: UMTS

Reasons for Hard Handover

Inter-frequency handover

Inter-RAT handover

Shared transport channels

10

Slide 10

Example: Soft Handover Control UMTS

soft handover
area
NodeB 2

NodeB 1 UE

Measurement quantity, e.g.

EC/I0 on CPICH

Relative thresholds add &
drop for adding & dropping

Preservation time Tlink to
avoid ping-pong effects

Event triggered measurement
reporting to decrease
signalling load

Measurement
Quantity
CPICH 1

drop

add

Tlink

CPICH 2

Link to 1

11

Link to 1 & 2

Link to 2

time

Slide 11

UMTS Soft/Softer Handover in Practice

12

Slide 12

Soft Handover Simulation Results

25%

Outage Probability
(Blocking and Dropping)

20%
1 link

15%

max 2 SHO links

max 4 SHO links

10%

max 6 SHO links

5%

0%
5

15

25

35

45

55

Offered Traffic [Erlang per site]

Soft handover significantly improves the performance, but

13

Slide 13

Soft Handover Simulation Results II

Mean Number of Active Links

1,5

0,5

0
1

Max. Active Set Size

the overhead due to simultaneous connections becomes higher!

14

Slide 14

Inter-Frequency Handover in UMTS

Hot-spot

Hierarchical cell structure (HCS)

Macro
f1

Micro
f2

Macro

Hot spot

f1

f2
f1

Handover f1 f2 always needed

between layers

15

f1

f1

Handover f1 f2 needed
sometimes at hot spot

Hard handover

Inter-frequency measurements of target cell needed in both scenarios

Slide 15

Measurement Control and Reporting in UMTS

Categories of Cells

Active Set

Cells for which a radio links is established between UE and UTRAN

UE is in soft/softer handover with all cells in the active set

Monitored (Neighbor) Set

UTRAN instructs UE to perform measurements on a list of cell in the geographic
neighborhood

All such cells that are not in the active set are in the monitored set

Most likely candidates for soft/softer handover

Detected Set

All other cells which UE has detected and measured

The UE may report such cells to the UTRAN to be added to the monitored set

Reporting is either event-triggered or periodic

Periodic reports generate a high load on the uplink

Event triggered reporting is therefore usually preferred

16

Slide 16

Parameters for Event Triggered Reporting (UMTS)

Events as a function of the Measurement Types

Intra-frequency:

Events 1a to 1f

Inter-frequency:

Events 2a to 2f

Inter-RAT:

Events 3a to 3d

Each event is associated with a set of parameters

What cells can trigger the events?

Absolute and relative threshold

Time-to-Trigger

Time-to-Trigger

Interval between event detection and report sent

Time-to-Trigger interval ranges between 0 and 5 seconds

17

Slide 17

Intra-Frequency Reporting Events (UMTS)

Event 1a: A P-CPICH enters the reporting range

Used to indicate to UTRAN when a new cell should be added to the active set

Event 1b: A P-CPICH leaves the reporting range

Used to indicate to UTRAN when a new cell should be removed from the active set

Event 1c: A non-active P-CPICH becomes better than an active P-CPICH

Used to indicate to UTRAN to replace a cell in the active set with a different cell
(active set is full)

Event 1d: Change of best cell

Used for changing cells in HSDPA

Event 1e: A P-CPICH becomes better than an absolute threshold

Used to indicate to UTRAN when a new cell should be added to the active set

Event 1f: A P-CPICH becomes worse than an absolute threshold

Used to indicate to UTRAN when a new cell should be removed from the active set

18

Slide 18

Event 1a: A P-CPICH enters the Reporting Range

19

Slide 19

Event 1c: Active Set is full

If Event 1c is received the UTRAN should replace the weakest active set with
the new rising cell

Event 1c may be configured such that the UE begins using periodic reporting
if the UTRAN does not send active set update message
20

Slide 20

HSDPA Mobility Procedures I

HS-DSCH for a given UE belongs to only one of the radio links assigned to
the UE (serving HS-DSCH cell)

The UE uses soft handover for the uplink, the downlink DCCH and any
simultaneous CS voice or data

Using existing triggers and procedures for the active set update
(events 1A, 1B, 1C)

Hard handover for the HS-DSCH, i.e. Change of Serving HS-DSCH Cell
within active set

Using RRC procedures, which are triggered by event 1D

21

Slide 21

HSDPA Mobility Procedures II

CRNC

CRNC

Source HSDSCH Node B

Target HSDSCH Node B

MAC-hs
NodeB

MAC-hs
NodeB

NodeB

s
Serving
HS-DSCH
radio link

NodeB

t
Serving
HS-DSCH
radio link

Inter-Node B serving HS-DSCH cell change

Note: MAC-hs needs to be transferred to new Node B !
22

Slide 22

HS-DSCH Serving Cell Change

Measurement
quantity
CPICH 1

Hysteresis

CPICH 2

CPICH3

Time to
trigger

Reporting
event 1D

Time

Event 1D: change of best cell within the active set

Hysteresis and time to trigger to avoid ping-pong
(HS-DSCH: 12 dB, 0.5 sec)

23

Slide 23

HSDPA Handover Procedure

Target
HS-DSCH cell

UE

Source
HS-DSCH cell

SRNC
=
DRNC
Serving HS-DSCH
cell change decision
i.e. event 1D

RL Reconfiguration Prepare
RL Reconfiguration Ready
ALCAP Iub HS-DSCH Data Transport Bearer Setup

If new NodeB

RL Reconfiguration Prepare
RL Reconfiguration Ready

Radio Bearer Reconfiguration

RL Reconfiguration Commit

RL Reconfiguration Commit

Synchronous
Reconfiguration
with Tactivation
Reset MAChs entity

Radio Bearer Reconfiguration Complete

DATA
ALCAP Iub HS-DSCH Data
Transport Bearer Release

The RNC determines the activation time for the serving HS-DSCH cell change

Time is populated by the RNC

In the RRC message TRANSPORT CHANNEL RECONFIGURATION to the UE

In the NBAP message RADIO LINK RECONFIGURATION COMMIT to the involved Node Bs

At this time the Node B commits and the UE activates a new transport channel
configuration for HS-DSCH serving cell change

24

After the transport channel configuration is completed the UE sends the RRC message
RADIO BEARER RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE

Slide 24

E-DCH Operation in Soft Handover

scheduling grant
HARQ ACK/ NACK

scheduling grant
HARQ ACK/ NACK

UE
NodeB 1

NodeB 2

Macro-diversity operation on multiple Node Bs

Softer handover combining in the same Node B

Soft handover combining in RNC (part of MAC-es)

Independent MAC-e processing in both Node Bs

HARQ handling rule: if at least one Node B tells ACK, then ACK

Scheduling rule: relative grants DOWN from any Node B have precedence

25

Slide 25

EDCH Mobility Handling

The UE uses soft handover for associated DCH as well as for E-DCH

Using existing triggers and procedures for the active set update
(events 1A, 1B, 1C)

E-DCH active set is equal or smaller than DCH active set

New event 1J: non-active E-DCH link becomes better than active one

The UE receives AG on E-AGCH from only one cell out of the E-DCH active
set (serving E-DCH cell)

E-DCH and HSDPA serving cell must be the same

Hard Handover, i.e. change of serving E-DCH cell

Using RRC procedures, which maybe triggered by event 1D

Could be also combined with Active Set Update

26

Slide 26

EDCH Mobility Procedures

SRNC

SRNC

MAC-es

MAC-es

MAC-e

MAC-e

MAC-e

MAC-e

NodeB

NodeB

NodeB

NodeB

s
Serving
E-DCH
radio link

t
Serving
E-DCH
radio link

Inter-Node B serving E-DCH cell change within E-DCH active set

Note: MAC-e still established in both Node Bs !
27

Slide 27

Serving E-DCH Cell Change

Target serving
E-DCH cell

UE

Source serving
E-DCH cell

SRNC
=
DRNC
Serving E-DCH cell
change decision
i.e. event 1D

RL Reconfiguration Prepare
RL Reconfiguration Ready
RL Reconfiguration Prepare

If new NodeB

RL Reconfiguration Ready

Radio Bearer Reconfiguration

RL Reconfiguration Commit

RL Reconfiguration Commit

Synchronous
Reconfiguration
with Tactivation

Radio Bearer Reconfiguration Complete

UE receives now
AG & dedicated RG
from target cell

Handover of E-DCH scheduler

control

No changes in UL transport bearer

No MAC-es RESET
28

Handover of HS-DSCH serving

cell

DL transport bearer setup

MAC-hs RESET
Slide 28

Mobility Measurement Reporting in LTE

LTE mobility measurements are similar as in UMTS

Event triggered

Event triggered with periodic reporting

Periodic reporting

Event

29

Purpose

A1

Serving cell becomes better than an absolute threshold

A2

Serving cell becomes worse than an absolute threshold

A3

Neighbor E-UTRA cell becomes an offset better than the serving cell

A4

Neighbor E-UTRA cell becomes better than an absolute threshold

A5

Serving cell becomes worse than an absolute threshold AND neighbor

E-UTRA cell becomes better than another absolute threshold

B1

Inter-RAT neighbor cell becomes better than an absolute threshold

B2

Serving cell becomes worse than an absolute threshold AND inter-RAT

neighbor cell becomes better than an absolute threshold

Slide 29

Intra-LTE Handover Types

LTE supports two types of handover signaling

X2 based handover

S1 based handover

From the air interface perspective

Handovers are hard

Procedure is identical for intra- and inter-frequency

Random access is required for synchronization

From the core network perspective, handover type depends on the network
topology

Intra- or Inter-MME/S-GW handover

30

Slide 30

LTE Handover

LTE uses UE-assisted network controlled handover

UE reports measurements; network decides when handover and to which cell

Relies on UE to detect neighbor cells no need to maintain and broadcast
neighbor lists

Allows "plug-and-play" capability; saves BCH resources

For search and measurement of inter-frequency neighboring cells only carrier

frequency need to be indicated

X2 interface used for handover preparation and forwarding of user data

Target eNB prepares handover by sending required information to UE
transparently through source eNB as part of the Handover Request Acknowledge
message

New configuration information needed from system broadcast

Accelerates handover as UE does not need to read BCH on target cell

Buffered and new data is transferred from source to target eNB until path switch
prevents data loss

UE uses contention-free random access to accelerate handover

31

Slide 31

LTE Handover: Preparation Phase

Target
Target
eNB
eNB

Source
Source
eNB
eNB

UEUE

MME
MME

sGW
sGW

Measurement Control
Packet Data

Packet Data
L1/L2
signaling

UL allocation
Measurement Reports

L3 signaling
User data

HO decision
HO Request
Admission Control
HO Request Ack
DL allocation
RRC Connection Reconfig.

SN Status Transfer

HO decision is made by source eNB based on UE measurement report

Target eNB prepares HO by sending relevant info to UE through source eNB as
part of HO request ACK command, so that UE does not need to read target cell
BCH
32

Slide 32

LTE Handover: Execution Phase

Target
Target
eNB
eNB

Source
Source
eNB
eNB

UEUE

MME
MME

sGW
sGW

Packet Data
Detach from old cell,
sync with new cell

Deliver buffered packets and forward

new packets to target eNB

L1/L2
signaling

DL data forwarding via X2

L3 signaling

Buffer packets from

source eNB

User data

Synchronisation
UL allocation and Timing Advance
RRC Connection Reconfig. Complete
Packet Data

UL Packet Data

RACH is used here only so target eNB can estimate UE timing and provide
timing advance for synchronization

33

RACH timing agreements ensure UE does not need to read target cell P-BCH
to obtain SFN (radio frame timing from SCH is sufficient to know PRACH
locations)

Slide 33

LTE Handover: Completion Phase

UEUE

Target
Target
eNB
eNB

Source
Source
eNB
eNB

MME
MME

sGW
sGW

DL Packet Data
DL data forwarding
Packet Data
Path switch req
User plane update req
End Marker

Switch DL path
Path switch req ACK

Release resources
Flush DL buffer,
continue delivering
in-transit packets

L1/L2
signaling
End Marker

L3 signaling
User data

Release resources

Packet Data

34

User plane update response

Packet Data

Slide 34

LTE Handover: Illustration of Interruption Period

Source
Source
eNBeNB

UEUE

UEs stops
Rx/Tx on the old cell
UL

Measurement
Report
U- plane active

Handover
Interruption
(approx 35 ms)

Target
Target
eNB
eNB

HO Request
HO Confirm

Handover Preparation

HO Command

approx
20 ms

sync
DL DL
synchronisation
+ RACH (no contention)
+
+ Timing
Timingadvance
Adv
+
+ UL Resource Req and
UL resource
Grantrequest/grant

Handover
Latency
(approx 55 ms)

HO Complete
ACK

U- plane active

35

Slide 35