Handover Optimization

Contents

 Basic Concepts
 Handover Signaling Procedure
 Handover-related Radio Parameters
 Case Study
 Basic Concepts (1)

 All handovers in LTE are hard handovers

 There are not such concepts as “idle handover” and “access
handover” in LTE. The counterpart concept is “cell reselection”
 Intra-eNodeB handover
 Inter-eNodeB handover
 S1-based
 X2-based

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 Basic Concepts (2)

 S1: The interface between the E-UTRAN

and the EPC. It includes two parts,
 S1-MME  S1-U:
 The control plane interface between the eNB  The user plane interface between
and the MME the eNB and the S-GW

User plane
S1-AP
PDUs

GTP-U
SCTP
UDP
IP
IP
Data link layer
Data link layer
Physical layer Physical layer

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 Basic Concepts (3)

 X2: The interface between eNodeBs for transmitting

 Load and interference information
 Handover information

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 Basic Concepts (4) - Measurement

 Sent to the UE via the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message

 Measurement configuration parameters includes:
 Measurement objects
 Reporting configurations: including reporting criterion and reporting format
 Measurement identities (IDs): One ID links one object
 Quantity configuration: One quantity configuration is configured per RAT
type. The quantity configuration defines the measurement quantities and
associated filtering.
 Measurement gaps

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 Basic Concepts (5) – Handover Event

 Intra-RAT handover events: A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

 Event A1: Serving cell becomes better than absolute threshold
 Event A2: Serving cell becomes worse than absolute threshold
 Event A3: Neighbour cell becomes better than an offset relative to the
serving cell
 Event A4: Neighbour cell becomes better than absolute threshold
 Event A5: Serving cell becomes worse than one absolute threshold and
neighbour cell becomes better than another absolute threshold

 Inter-RAT handover events: B1, B2

 Event B1: Neighbour cell becomes better than absolute threshold
 Event B2: Serving cell becomes worse than one absolute threshold and
neighbour cell becomes better than another absolute threshold

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Contents

 Basic Concepts
 Handover Signaling Procedure
 Handover-related Radio Parameters
 Case Study
 Signaling Procedure – Intra-eNodeB Handover
eNodeB
Source Target S1 S11 S5 PDN-
UE MME S-GW
CELL CELL GW

Handover
decision

Preparation Phase
Handover
Request

Radio Resource
Allocation
Handover Request ACK
RRC Reconfiguration
(Handover Command)

Handover Confirm

Execution Phase
(Synchronization, RRC
Reconfiguration Complete)
Release
Resource
Radio Resource
Release

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 Signaling Procedure – S1-based Handover
S1

 Before handover UE
Source Target S1 MME
S11
S-GW
S5
PDN-GW
MME eNodeB eNodeB

Handover
S1 S1 decision
Handover Required

Preparation Phase
Handover Request
X2
eNodeB2 Radio Resource
eNodeB1
allocation

Handover Request ACK(Handover Command)

Uu
Handover Command

Handover Command

Handover Confirm
 After handover Handover Notify

MME

Execution Phase
User Plane Update Request

User Plane Update Response

S1 S1 UE Context Release Command

X2 Radio Resource
eNodeB2 Release
eNodeB1
UE Context Release Complete

Uu

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 Signaling Procedure – X2-based Handover
S1

 Before handover Source X2 Target

S1
1 S5 PDN-
UE MME S-GW
eNodeB eNodeB GW

Handover
S1 S1 decision

Preparation Phase
Handover Request
X2
eNodeB2
eNodeB1 Radio Resource
Allocation
Handover Request ACK(Handover
Command)
Uu Handover Command

Handover Confirm
Path Switch
Request
User Plane Update

 After handover Request

User Plane Update

Execution Phase
Response
MME Path Switch Request
ACK
Release Resource

S1 S1 Radio Resource
Release

X2
eNodeB2
eNodeB1

Uu Uu

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Contents

 Basic Concepts
 Handover Signaling Procedure
 Handover-related Radio Parameters
 Case Study
 Radio Parameters (1) -- Measurement

 Configure handover-related measurement parameters in the OMC

1. Find the measurement configuration index

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 Radio Parameters (1) – Measurement

2. Configure the index for handover

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 Radio Parameters (2) – Handover Mode

 S1-based handovers are certain to occur

 X2-based handovers may take place
 If X2 interface is configured, the X2-based handover is preferred
 In the case of X2 interface association, configure the remote port as 36422
 Enable X2 in neighbor cell configuration (The X2 is enabled by default)

 Reporting mode
 Event-triggered reporting (Event A3)
 Periodical reporting

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 Radio Parameters (3) – A3-triggered Reporting

 Parameters configuration

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (3) – A3-triggered Reporting

 Event A3 related parameters

Event A3 entering condition: Mn  Ofn  Ocn  Hys  Ms  Ofs  Ocs  Off
leaving condition: Mn  Ofn  Ocn  Hys  Ms  Ofs  Ocs  Off
Of which,
Mn: The measurement result of the neighbouring cell, not taking into account any offsets
Ofn: The frequency specific offset of the frequency of the neighbour cell
Ocn: The cell specific offset of the neighbour cell, which is set to zero if not configured for the
neighbour cell
Hys: The hysteresis parameter for this event
Ms: The measurement result of the serving cell, not taking into account any offsets
Ofs: The frequency specific offset of the serving frequency
Ocs: The cell specific offset of the serving cell, which is set to zero if not configured for the
serving cell
Off: The offset parameter for this event
If the values of Ofs and Ocs of the servicing cell are configured the same as the values of
Ofn and Ocn of the neighbor cell during the network planning, the entering condition can
simplified as

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (3) – A3 Threshold

A3事件的离开条件为：

 a3-Offset
 Off in the entering/leaving condition is a3-Offset
 Its default value is 3 dB

 The recommend value is 2, 3 or 4 dB. A greater or smaller value is

not recommended because it may lead to delayed handover and
too many handovers at a time
 This offset is applicable to all neighbor cells

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (4) – TimeToTrigger

A3事件的离开条件为：

 TimeToTrigger (TTT)
 This parameter specifies the value range used for time to trigger parameter,
which concerns the time during which specific criteria for the event needs to
be met in order to trigger a measurement report.
 Value range: enumerated (0, 40, 64, 80, 100, 128, 160, 256, 320, 480, 512, 640,
1024, 1280, 2560, 5120)
 Default value: 320 ms。
 A high TTT can put off measurement reporting and reduce handovers.
 Recommended values: 256, 320, 480, 512 or 640 ms.

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (5) – Hysteresis

A3事件的离开条件为：

 Hysteresis
 Hysteresis, used to adjust the entering/leaving threshold of event-triggered
reporting, determines the period the UE stays at Event A3.

 Default value is 0。
 If ReportOnLeave is not enabled，the recommended value is 0。

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (6) – ReportOnLeave

A3事件的离开条件为：

 ReportOnLeave
 This parameter indicates whether or not the UE shall initiate the
measurement reporting procedure when the leaving condition is met.

 Default value is False (no reporting)

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (7) – CIO

A3事件的离开条件为：

 Cell Individual Offset (CIO)

 Event A3 entering condiction

 Ocn in the formula is CIO

 Enumerated (-24,-22,-20, -18, -16, -14, -12, -10, -8, -6, -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24), unit: dB
 To quicken handover from the serving cell to one neighbor cell or to lower
the handover threshold, you can increase the CIO of the neighbor cell by 1 to
3 dB.

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (8) – filterCoefficient

A3事件的离开条件为：

 Layer 3 filtering, filterCoefficient

 The reported measurement by the UE is the result filtered at layer 3.
 Mn: The measurement result at the physical layer
 Fn : The filtered measurement result, used to evaluate whether the reporting
criteria or for measurement reporting is met
 Fn-1: The old filtered measurement result, where F0 is set to M1 when the
measurement result is received from the physical layer for the first time
 a = 1/2(k/4), where k is the filterCoefficient
 Value range: enumerated (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19)

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (8) – filterCoefficient

A3事件的离开条件为：

 If k is set to 0, layer 3 filtering will not work

 Default value is 4
 In some fast fading scenarios (corner or shadowing area), the filterCoefficient
should be decreased.

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (9) – ReportInterval and

ReportAmount
 ReportInterval and reportAmount
 Event triggering: reportInterval shall be used with reportAmount. When
reportAmount is greater than 1, reportInterval is valid.
 Periodical reporting: ReportInterval is the period to report the measurement
 Value range of ReportInterval: enumerated (120, 240, 480, 640, 1024, 2048,
5120, 10240, 60000, 360000, 720000, 1800000, 3600000), unit: ms
 Value range of ReportAmount: enumerated (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, Infinity), unit:
times
 Recommend value for ReportInterval is 480ms, and that for ReportAmount is
4.

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 A3事件的进入条件为：

Radio Parameters (10) – T304

A3事件的离开条件为：

 T304
 Timer waiting for handover success
 Value range: enumerated (50, 100, 150, 200, 500, 1000, 2000), unit: ms
 Default value: 1000 ms

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Contents

 Basic Concepts
 Handover Signaling Procedure
 Handover-related Radio Parameters
 Case Study
 Case Study

 Handover failure due to improper radio parameter settings

 Problem description
 The cluster KPI analysis report shows there is about 5% call drop because of MR
(measurement report) not processed.
 In a cluster, the call drops because of MR (measurement report) not processed even
account for over 50% of the call drops excluding those arisen from poor coverage.
 Handover configuration: S1-based; the handover request is triggered when the
neighbor cell’s RSRP is 3.5 dB higher than the serving cell’s.

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 Case Study

 Problem description

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 Case Study

 Problem description
 After receiving a handover
request from an eNB, the MME
processes the request.
 If the MME receives another
handover request from the eNB
within 1s, it will ignore this
second handover request.

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 Case Study

 Problem analysis
 Current parameter configuration
 HO Prepare Timer = 1 s
 (Upon receiving one UE’s MR request, the source eNB sends the
“handoverRequired” messages to MME at an interval of 1 s.)
 Intra-frequency Reporting Interval for Event = 1024 ms
 Intra-frequency Amount of Reporting for Event = 1
 (If the target cell meets the MR reporting criterion, the UE reports MR every 1024ms
and the total times is 1.)
 If the UE performs handover to two neighbor cells one by one in 1 second,
and the amount of reporting is only 1, the second handover request message
will be bypassed by the 1s timer on the core network side. As a result, the
handover fails and call drop occurs.

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 Case Study

 Problem analysis: handover time sequence

HO prepare timer time-out,
handover process is
Receive MR Receive cancelled; trigger a 2nd
Trigger handover 2nd MR handover based on 3rd MR

eNB

950 ms

UE
0 480 ms 960 ms 1440 ms 1920 ms 2400 ms 2880 ms

Trigger 1st MR Trigger 3rd MR

Trigger 2nd MR Trigger 4th MR

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 Case Study

 Problem solution

Setting
Parameter Explanation
before after
In an S1-based handover, the source eNB sends
the HandoverRequired message to the core
network, and starts this timer; After receiving
HO Prepare Timer 1s 950 ms
handover command from the core network, it
stops this timer. If the timer reports a timeout, it
means an abnormality.

Intra-frequency
The parameter indicates the interval to report the
Reporting Interval for 1024 ms 480 ms
MRs interval after event triggering.
Event

Intra-frequency
The parameter indicates the maximum report
Amount of Reporting 1 4
times after event triggering.
for Event

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 Summary

 Common handover optimization methods

 Neighbor cell optimization
 RF optimization
 Radio parameter optimization
 ANR

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