Ericsson 3G Directed Retry to GSM

Description
The purpose of this document is to provide a brief explanation of the load sharing between a 3G
Ericsson network element and a GSM one.

Description
Directed Retry to GSM, attempts to off-load traffic from the WCDMA RAN to a co-sited
GSM RAN.

Speech calls that have no ongoing packet connection are the only service that are
targeted since it is also the only ones that are safe to divert to GSM.

The decision is triggered by a RAB Assignment Request from the core network. This
message contains the information needed to identify the call as a speech-only call.

Incoming calls are screened for suitable candidates according to the following criteria:

• The call is a speech-only call with no ongoing packet connection.

• The UE can be handed over to GSM.

If a call is chosen for Directed Retry to GSM, the request for the speech RAB will be
rejected with cause “Directed retry” and then a request is made to the core network in
order to relocate the UE to a specific GSM cell, using the Inter-RAT handover procedure
(Handover).

This handover is a blind one since the target cell is chosen not based on the UE
measurements. Therefore, the target cell must be co-located with the WCDMA cell.

Co-located GSM cells are assumed to have similar coverage and accessibility as their
respective WCDMA cells.

Coverage mismatch near the boundary of the WCDMA RAN (and those due to blind spots in the
GSM cell) can sometimes be a problem for blind redirections.

A UE returning after failing the access to GSM will be reported to the core network,
which would reinitiate the RAB establishment procedure on behalf of the UE.

State: Draft Document N.º: 2014062902

Group Revison Author: Bruno Reis
General Revision Version: 2
Published Data: September, 13th 2014
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 Ericsson 3G Directed Retry to GSM

A speech RAB will then be set up for the UE in the WCDMA RAN following the normal
call setup procedure.

Configuration
Directed Retry to GSM is activated in an RNC by setting the flag
loadSharingDirRetryEnabled to TRUE.

loadSharingDirRetryEnabled = FALSE
BooleanVals
Indicates whether the Load Sharing via Directed Retry to GSM function
has been enabled in the RNC.

One GSM target can be defined for each WCDMA cell via the cell parameter
directedRetryTarget

directedRetryTarget
ExternalGsmCell
Reference to the ExternalGsmCell MO, containing the specification
of this Load Sharing via Directed Retry target cell.

Special values:
The default value "empty" indicates that no reference to any
ExternalGsmCell is defined.

Care must be taken to ensure that the correct GSM targets have been defined and that they are
indeed co-located with their respective source cells in the WCDMA RAN.

Parameter location on the Ericsson OSS:

Operation
There are two control parameters for this feature:

• loadSharingGsmThreshold

State: Draft Document N.º: 2014062902

Group Revison Author: Bruno Reis
General Revision Version: 2
Published Data: September, 13th 2014
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 Ericsson 3G Directed Retry to GSM

Specifies the minimum cell load at which off-loading to GSM begins.

long
loadSharingGsmThreshold = 75 { 0..100 }

Defines percentage of the guaranteed non-handover admission limit

(pwrAdm) above which Directed Retry should be invoked

Example:
If the value of loadSharingGsmThreshold is set to 100 then this means that
the threshold at which voice calls are directed to GSM is 100 % of pwrAdm.
Therefore no voice calls should be moved to GSM until the admission
threshold pwrAdm is reached.
If the value of loadSharingGsmThreshold is set to 0 then this means that the
threshold at which voice calls are directed to GSM is 0 % of pwrAdm.

Unit: 1 %

Example:

The parameter pwrAdm is expressed as a percentage of the

maximumTransmissionPower.

In the default setting where maximumTransmissionPower = 44,7 dBm (≈ 30 [w] ) and

pwrAdm = 75%, a value of 75% for loadSharingGsmThreshold means off-loading will
start when the carrier power of the cell is above approximately 16,9 [w].

42.3 ≈ 16,875 [w]

loadSharingGsmThreshold

_primaryCpichPower _maximumTransmissionPower _maxDlPowerCapability % CPICH vs Power [W]

347 447 447 10,0% 29,5

30 W X 0,75 X 0,75 = 16,875 W

• loadSharingGsmFraction

Specifies the percentage of Directed Retry candidates to be diverted to GSM while

the cell load is above the specified load threshold.

State: Draft Document N.º: 2014062902

Group Revison Author: Bruno Reis
General Revision Version: 2
Published Data: September, 13th 2014
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 Ericsson 3G Directed Retry to GSM

long loadSharingGsmFraction = 100 { 0..100 }

Defines percentage of Speech calls that can be directed to GSM after the
loadSharingGsmThreshold has been exceeded

Example:
If the value of loadSharingGsmFraction is set to 0, this means no voice calls
subject to Directed Retry should be directed to GSM (no voice calls aredirected
to GSM).
If the value of loadSharingGsmFraction is set to 100, this means that ALL of the
voice calls proposed for Directed Retry should be directed to GSM (all voice calls
that are proposed for directed retry are directed to GSM).

Unit: 1 %

Both of these parameters are cell-specific so that different values can be chosen to suit
the needs of different cells.

Note that no call will be diverted from a WCDMA cell unless all of the following criteria
are met:

1. The RNC-wide flag loadSharingDirRetryEnabled is set to TRUE.

2. A GSM target has been defined.

3. The parameter loadSharingGsmThreshold is set to a value below 100.

4. The parameter loadSharingGsmFraction is set to a value larger than 0.The

preferred way to temporarily turn off Directed Retry in a cell is to set
loadSharingGsmFraction to exactly 0.

Note also that a WCDMA cell makes the decision to send a call to GSM without knowledge of the
load situation in the GSM target cell. Overloading of the target cell can occur.

State: Draft Document N.º: 2014062902

Group Revison Author: Bruno Reis
General Revision Version: 2
Published Data: September, 13th 2014
Revision Note: N/A Página 4 de 1