LTE Handover

By-Rakesh Raj
 What is LTE handover ?
 Handover occurs when a device moves from the cell coverage  serving it toward another.
 Within LTE , The UE can be in two modes Connected or idle, So for handover UE has  to be in
connected mode.
 Events in LTE
 A1- Serving signal strength having  better than threshold
 A2- threshold signal strength having better than source
 A3-Neighbour signal strength having better than serving cell.
 A4-Neighbour signal strength having better than threshold
 A5- Serving become worse than threshold and neighbour become better than threshold.
 LTE supports hard Handover

 Hard Handover- hard handover using break before make concept. It is two type 1-
Intra System, type- Inter System
 Soft Hanover is a concept of Make before break , It means UE  moving from 1
base station to another base station it communicate both before taking decision of to
leave one of them. Maximum 3 cell to communicate at a time. Advantages: Always
in Best Cell, UE performance will increase, Reduced interference. Disadvantages:
UE will engage with 3 cell at time so it will draining battery. Wastage of resources
due to several base station resources using. 
Types of LTE Handover
 Intra –LTE Handover
 Inter-LTE Handover
 Inter-RAT Handover

Categorization of Handovers in
two types
 X2 Handover
 S1 Handovers
 Intra LTE Handover- Handover between One MME and multiple eNB connected
to UE.
 Inter LTE Handover- Handover between one MME to another MME.
 I RAT Handover- Handover between to networks is called I-RAT handover 
 Basic Concept of selection of X2 and S1
Handovers selection
 Decision-: for X2 handover the E-UTRAN decides to execute a handover based on
measurement reports received from UE.
 X2 handover will come into picture when handover preparation will start.
 S1 handover happens when X2 handover set fails. Due to unreachability or error
response.
X2 Interface Establishment
 Step-1 – Measurement Control

Measurement Config;
Measurement Object-
Carrie frequency-
Physical cell id -
Event type-A3/A5-
 Step-2 – Measurement Report (UE to S eNB)

 Meas Result- RSRP Result- 

                         RSRQ Result-                                      
 Measurement  ID- 
 Measurement repot 
   Neighbor cells
 CGI  Info-
 PLMN ID, Cell Id
 Step-3 X2- interface
 Interface between source enodeb and Target enodeb.
Step-4 Handover Request
Source eNB will Handover request to Target eNB with UE security capability, E-
RAB Setup.
Step-5 – Target eNB will prepare Handover command to UE
Target eNB allocate C-RNTI , Rach Preamble , Create DRB of UL and DL
 Step-6 Handover request Ack
 Step-7 RRC Connection Reconfiguration
Rach Preamble assignment , target C-RNTI, Target eNB security algorithm
 Step-8 X2AP transfer status
downlink PDCP sequence no. and Uplink PDCP sequence no.
 Step-9 Rach Preamble
UE uses to assign preamble in handover command to send RACH to the
target eNodeB .
 Step-10 Rach Response
UE will receive Rach response with Timing Advance, target CRNTI uplink
grant.
 Step-11 RRC Connection Reconfiguration Complete (Handover Complete)
Target CRTNI
the UE uses the assigned resources to transmit the handover confirm message.
( RRC connection reconfiguration complete.)
 LOG ANALYSIS OF LTE HANDOVERS

 Intra-Band LTE handover- Handover between two different cells but with in
same LTE frequency.
Required snippets for LTE Intra–band Handover
 For LTE Intra-Band Handover
we have to see first DUT is in
connected mode and then observe
Changes in Physical cell id with same
frequency.
 Inter-Band LTE handover- Handover between two different cells but with
different LTE frequency.
 Required snippets for LTE Inter–band Handover
 For LTE Intra-Band Handover 
    we have  to see first DUT is in          
   connected mode  and then observe 
  Changes in Physical cell id different 
    frequency.
LTE Inter technology Handover
 Inter RAT 4G-3G
 The handover that happens
      among different RAT
     (Radio Access Technology)
   like 4G- 3G or 4G to 2G. 
Inter RAT 4G-3G
 Reason of LTE Handover failure
 Handover Preparation
• Target cell is overload
• Target cell is unavailable
• TAC not defined on Site.
• License /Software issue.
 Handover Execution fails
• PCI Conflict
• Poor RF condition
• Alarms on Target cell
Thankyou