LTE Inter RAT Handover

Introduction
• IRAT stands for Inter Radio Access Technology where UE can handover
between two different access technologies.
• In the current ATT project we are targeting IRAT’s between LTE & UMTS.
• IRAT triggers on the basis of two events i.e. RSRP & RSRQ where primary
trigger is RSRP and secondary trigger is RSRQ.
• In ATT project the trigger value has been set – for RSRP & -19.5db for RSRQ.
• It is not necessary that every time we will observe IRAT to be triggered at -
110dBm due to the Hysteresis that we set.
• In absence of UMTS network one can see IRAT happening to the GSM
• Network.
Lte mobility

• The LTE mobility can be divided into “Intra-LTE mobility” and “Inter-
LTE mobility” (inter-working with 2G/3G and CDMA 2000).

• It can be further divided into RRC_CONNECTED and RRC_IDLE mode

mobility. IRAT-HO (Inter Radio Access Technology Handover) is one
type of “Inter-LTE mobility” in RRC_CONNECTED mode while cell
reselection is referred to as RRC_IDLE mode mobility.
Flow chart- irat handover
Call flow irat
Selection procedure
• Like UMTS, LTE also follows to Selection Criterion S for cell selection.
• Cell Selection criterion is fulfilled when

• where

• Where
POWER CLASS MAXIMUM OUTPUT POWER
Pcompensation = max (PEMAX – PPowerClass, 0) dB
Power class 1 33dBm (2W)

Power class 2 27dBm (0.5 W)

Power class 3 24dBm (0.25 W)

3GPP Ericsson
Power class 4 21dBm (0.125 W)
Pcompensation pMaxServingCell
At this moment we wouldn’t be considering Squal in AT&T Networks
Selection procedure - Continued

The signalled values Qrxlevminoffset and Qqualminoffset are only applied when a cell
is evaluated for cell selection as a result of a periodic search for a higher priority PLMN
while camped normally in a VPLMN
Parameter calculation
• Qrxlevmin (RSRP) is only considered here.
• Neglecting Qrxlevminoffset and Pcompensation from the equation.

• UE is able to select eUTRAN cell from where it is receiving at least

-120dBm signal strength.
RESELECTION process
in lte BASED ON CELL
RESELECTION
PRIORITIES
Reselection based on cell
priorities
• Priority values in the range [0..7] are used, where 0 indicates lowest priority
and 7 indicates highest priority.

• Equal priorities between different RATs are not supported

• All parameters based on cell reselection priority are broadcasted on SIB5,

SIB6,SIB7 and SIB8 for Inter LTE freq, UMTS, GSM and CDMA respectively.

• UE performs cell reselection evaluation for E-UTRAN frequencies and inter-

RAT frequencies that are given in system information and for which the UE
has a priority provided.

• UE doesn’t consider any black listed cells as candidate for cell reselection.
Intra-Freq and Equal priority If
Cell Reselection Criterion
• Ranking Criterion applies to both Intra frequency cells and Inter frequency cells
with equal priorities.

• Where

• Qoffsetfrequency:- Frequency specific offset for equal priority E-UTRAN Frequencies

• In all cases, the UE shall reselect the new cell, only if the following conditions
are met:
• New cell is better ranked than the serving cell during a time interval
TreselectionEUTRA;
 Parameter calculation
• Rs = Qrxlevmeas + QHyst
= - 113 + 4
= - 109 dBm
• Rn = Qrxlevmeas – Qoffset
= -107 – 0
= -107 dBm
• If Rn > Rs, for TreselectionEUTRA (2 Sec)

All the parameter values are calculation purpose only. They are not golden parameter values
Measurement rules for Cell
Reselection
• For E-UTRAN Inter-frequency or Inter-RAT frequency cell
Measurements:-

• If Srxlev > SnonIntraSearchP and Squal > SnonIntraSearchQ then the UE shall search
for inter-frequency and Inter-RAT layers of higher priority at least every
Thigher_priority_search

• If the serving cell fulfils Srxlev < SnonIntraSearchP and Squal < SnonIntraSearchQ, the
UE may choose to perform measurements of E-UTRAN inter-frequencies or
inter-RAT frequency cells of equal or lower priority.

NOTES: The UE shall search every layer of higher priority at least every Thigher_priority_search = (60 * Nlayers) seconds, where
Nlayers is the total number of configured higher priority E-UTRA, UTRA FDD, UTRA TDD, CDMA2000 1x and HRPD carrier
frequencies and is additionally increased by one if one or more groups of GSM frequencies is configured as a higher priority.

At this moment we wouldn’t be considering Squal in AT&T Networks

Ericsson doesn’t support SnonIntraSearchQ at this time
Parameter calculation
• If Srxlev < SnonIntraSearch
• Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + SnonintraSearch
< -120 + 10
< - 110 dBm
E-UTRAN IF and IRAT Cell
Reselection Criterion
• For High priority LTE cell to Low priority LTE inter frequency or Inter-RAT
frequency

• If ThreshServingLow is provided in SystemInformationBlockType3, cell reselection

would perform if
• The serving cell fulfils Srxlev < ThreshServingLow and a cell of a lower
priority RAT/ frequency fulfils Srxlev > ThreshXLow during a time interval
TreselectionRAT;

3GPP Ericsson

TreselectionRAT TreselectionEUTRA (for LTE target frequency)

TreselectionRAT TreselectionUTRA (for UMTS target frequency)

 High prio. LTE to Low prio.
UMTS Case 1
Signal strength

UMTS (Low priority) signal

Reselection to
UMTS
Snonintrasearch(LTE)
Threshservinglow (LTE)
Threshxlow (UMTS)

LTE (High priority) signal

Qrxlevmin (LTE or UMTS)
Time
Starts measuring TreselectionUTRA
IF or IRAT freq
Condition 1

Condition 2

Satisfied
 High prio. LTE to Low prio.
UMTS Case 2
Signal strength

UMTS (Low priority) signal

TreselectionUTRA
Reselection to
UMTS
Snonintrasearch(LTE)
Threshservinglow (LTE)
Threshxlow (UMTS)

LTE (High priority) signal

Qrxlevmin (LTE or UMTS)
Time
Starts measuring
IF or IRAT freq
Condition 1

Condition 2

Satisfied
 Parameter calculation
• If Srxlev (serving LTE)< ThreshServingLow
• Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + ThreshServingLow
< - 120 + 8
< - 112 dBm

• And if Srxlev (non-serving IF LTE or IRAT)> ThreshXLow

• Qrxlevmeas > Qrxlevmin + ThreshxLow
> -119 + 6
> -113 dBm

• For TreselectionRAT (2 Sec)

Parameter Tech MO Class Value Unit Range Resolution

Qrxlevmin LTE EUtranCellFDD-ETRANFreqRelation -120 dBm -140..-44 1
Qrxlevmin LTE EUtranCellFDD-UTRANFreqRelation -119 dBm -119..-25 1
ThreshXLow LTE EUtranCellFDD-ETRANFreqRelation 6 dB 0..62 2
TreselectionEutra LTE EUtranCellFDD-ETRANFreqRelation 2 sec 0..7 1
TreselectionUtra LTE SIB6 struct in the MO class EUtranCellFDD 2 sec 0..7 1
ThreshXLow LTE EUtranCellFDD-UTRANFreqRelation 6 dB 0..62 2
ThreshServingLow LTE SIB3 struct in the MO class EUtranCellFDD 8 dB 0..62 2
All the parameter values are calculation purpose only. They are not golden parameter values
E-UTRAN if and IRAT Cell
Reselection Criterion - Continued

• For Low priority LTE cell to High priority LTE inter frequency or Inter-RAT
frequency

• If ThreshServingLow is provided in SystemInformationBlockType3, cell reselection

would perform if
• A cell of a higher priority Inter RAT/ frequency fulfils
Srxlev > ThreshXHigh during a time interval TreselectionRAT; and
• More than 1 second has elapsed since the UE camped on the current
serving cell.

3GPP Ericsson

TreselectionRAT TreselectionEUTRA (for LTE target frequency)

TreselectionRAT TreselectionUTRA (for UMTS target frequency)
 low prio. LTE to High prio.
UMTS Case 1

Signal strength

UMTS (High priority) signal

Reselection to
UMTS
Snonintrasearch(LTE)

ThreshxHigh (UMTS)
LTE (Low priority) signal

Time
Starts measuring
TreselectionRAT
IF or IRAT freq

Condition
Satisfied
 low prio. LTE to High prio.
UMTS Case 2

Signal strength

UMTS (High priority) signal

Reselection to
UMTS
Snonintrasearch(LTE)

ThreshxHigh (UMTS)
LTE (Low priority) signal

Time
TreselectionRAT

Starts measuring
IF or IRAT freq
Condition
Satisfied
 Parameter calculation
• If Srxlev (non-serving IF LTE or IRAT) > ThreshXHigh
• Qrxlevmeas > Qrxlevmin + ThreshxHigh
> -119 + 6
> -113 dBm

• For TreselectionRAT (2 Sec)

Parameter Tech MO Class Value Unit Range Resolution

Qrxlevmin LTE EUtranCellFDD-ETRANFreqRelation -120 dBm -140..-44 1
Qrxlevmin LTE EUtranCellFDD-UTRANFreqRelation -119 dBm -119..-25 1
ThreshXhigh LTE EUtranCellFDD-ETRANFreqRelation 6 dB 0..62 2
TreselectionEutra LTE EUtranCellFDD-ETRANFreqRelation 2 sec 0..7 1
TreselectionUtra LTE SIB6 struct in the MO class EUtranCellFDD 2 sec 0..7 1
ThreshXhigh LTE EUtranCellFDD-UTRANFreqRelation 6 dB 0..62 2

All the parameter values are calculation purpose only. They are not golden parameter values
SIb6
• Parameters for reselection towards WCDMA is supplied
through SIB 6.
UMTS TO LTE RESELECTION BASED ON CELL
RESELECTION PRIORITIES
Reselection from UMTS to LTE
• Reselection from UMTS to LTE is only supported for UEs in idle mode and
URA_PCH mode
Reselection for IRAT E-UTRA
cells
with given Absolute Priorities
• Two different mechanisms for cell reselection are supported in
WCDMA:
• Legacy (or ranking based) cell reselection. This mechanism applies for
intra-frequency cell reselection and inter-frequency cell reselection
within WCDMA as well as for cell reselection from WCDMA to GSM.
• Priority based cell reselection. This mechanism applies for cell
reselection from WCDMA to LTE.

• Both legacy based- and priority based cell reselection can be active
at the same time.
• If both these criterion come up with two cells from two different
technologies, ranking criterion applies on top of it.
Reselection for IRAT E-UTRA
cells
with given Absolute Priorities
• The LTE frequencies and the parameters for priority based cell reselection is
sent on the broadcast channel in System Information Block type 19 (SIB19).

• If the UE detects a neighboring LTE cell with higher priority than the serving
WCDMA cell it will attempt a cell reselection even if the measured signal
strength is lower for the LTE cell compared to the WCDMA cell. The signal
strength must however be above a minimum threshold.

• A maximum of 8 EARFCNs can be listed in SIB19.

• A maximum of 9 black listed cells per UTRAN cell can be used to speed up
the cell reselection procedure in border areas if different operators use the
same LTE frequencies.
Measurement rules for iRAT (e-UTRA Cells)
with given Absolute Priorities

• The rate of these measurements may vary depending on whether

Srxlev and Squal of the serving cell are above or below Sprioritysearch1 and
Sprioritysearch2.

• If SrxlevServingCell > Sprioritysearch1 and/or SqualServingCell > Sprioritysearch2 then

the UE shall search for E-UTRA layers of higher priority at least every
Thigher_priority_search.

• If SrxlevServingCell <= Sprioritysearch2 or SqualServingCell <= Sprioritysearch2 the UE

shall search and measure E-UTRA frequency layers of higher or lower
priority in preparation for possible reselection.

NOTES: The UE shall search every layer of higher priority at least every Thigher_priority_search = (60 * Nlayers) seconds, where
Nlayers is the total number of configured higher priority E-UTRA, UTRA FDD, UTRA TDD, CDMA2000 1x and HRPD carrier
frequencies and is additionally increased by one if one or more groups of GSM frequencies is configured as a higher priority.

At this moment we wouldn’t be considering Squal in AT&T Networks

Parameter calculation
• If SrxlevServingCell <= Sprioritysearch1
• Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + Sprioritysearch1
< -119 + 16
< -103 dBm
Reselection for IRAT E-UTRA
cells
with given Absolute Priorities -Continued
• For Low priority UMTS cell to High priority LTE Inter-RAT frequency
• the SrxlevnonServingCell of a cell on an evaluated higher absolute priority layer is greater than
Threshhigh during a time interval Treselection

Qrxlevmin (LTE)
Parameter calculation
• For Low priority UMTS cell  High priority LTE cell
• Reselection occurs if SrxlevnonServingCell > Threshhigh for Treselection (2sec)
Qrxlevmeas > Qrxlevmin + Threshhigh
> -120 + 12
> -108 dBm
 Reselection for IRAT E-UTRA
cells
with given Absolute Priorities -Continued
• For High priority UMTS cell to Low priority LTE Inter-RAT frequency
• SrxlevServingCell < Threshserving,low or SqualServingCell < 0 and the SrxlevnonServingCell of a cell on an
evaluated lower absolute priority layer is greater than ThreshLow during a time interval
Treselection

Qrxlevmin (LTE or UMTS)

 Parameter calculation
• For High priority UMTS cell  Low priority LTE cell
• Reselection occurs if SrxlevServingCell < Threshserving,low
Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + Threshserving,low
< -119 + 4
< -115 dBm
• And SrxlevnonServingCell > Threshlow
Qrxlevmeas > Qrxlevmin + Threshlow
> -120 + 14
> -106 dBm

Parameter Tech MO Class Value Unit Range Resolution

Threshhigh WCDMA UtranCell-ETRANFreqRelation 12 dB 0..62 2
absPrioCellRes.ThreshServingLow WCDMA UTRANCell 4 dB 0..62 2

All the parameter values are calculation purpose only. They are not golden parameter values
 For high priority LTE and low
priority UMTS
• UE starts its measurements when Srxlev < SnonIntraSearch
Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + SnonintraSearch
< -120 + 10 < - 110 dBm

• UE reselects to UMTS if Srxlev (serving LTE)< ThreshServingLow

Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + ThreshServingLow
< - 120 + 8 < - 112 dBm

• And if Srxlev (non-serving IF LTE or IRAT)> ThreshXLow for TreselectionRAT (2 Sec)

Qrxlevmeas > Qrxlevmin + ThreshxLow
> -119 + 6 > -113 dBm

• UE in UMTS system starts its LTE measurements if Srxlev (ServingCell) <= Sprioritysearch1
Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + Sprioritysearch1
< -119 + 16 < -103 dBm

• UE reselects to LTE if Srxlev (nonServingCell) > Threshhigh for Treselection (2sec)

Qrxlevmeas > Qrxlevmin + Threshhigh
> -120 + 12 > -108 dBm

All the parameter values are calculation purpose only. They are not golden parameter values
 For low priority LTE and high
priority UMTS
• UE starts its measurements when Srxlev < SnonIntraSearch
Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + SnonintraSearch
< -120 + 10 < - 110 dBm

• UE reselects to UMTS if Srxlev (non-serving IF LTE or IRAT) > ThreshXHigh for TreselectionRAT (2 Sec)
Qrxlevmeas > Qrxlevmin + ThreshxHigh
> -119 + 6 > -113 dBm

• UE in UMTS system starts its LTE measurements if SrxlevServingCell <= Sprioritysearch1

Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + Sprioritysearch1
< -119 + 16 < -103 dBm
• UE reselects to LTE if Srxlev (ServingCell) < Threshserving,low
Qrxlevmeas < Qrxlevmin + Threshserving,low
< -119 + 4 < -115 dBm

• And SrxlevnonServingCell > Threshlow

Qrxlevmeas > Qrxlevmin + Threshlow
> -120 + 14 > -106 dBm

All the parameter values are calculation purpose only. They are not golden parameter values
Requirements
UE Requirements
• The subscription for the UE allows roaming between the
networks
• The UEs are capable of using the frequency bands used in the
LTE network