GSM Handover and Power

control
Objectives

 At the end of this course, you will be able to:

 To understand the procedures of GSM Handover
 To understand the procedures of Power Control
 To identify parameters needed for Handover and Power
Control Operation
Contents

 Handover
 Power control
 Handover

Handover reasons

 Handover: Hand-over is a process that transfers a MS that is in

setting up or busy status to a new traffic channel
 Handover reasons ：
 Weak signal
 Bad quality
 Severe interference
 Large TA
 Macro-micro handover
 Better cell handover

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 Types of handover

 Intra-cell hand-over: hand-over occurs in the same cell.

Controlled independently by the BSC the cell attached to.
 Inter-cell hand-over of the same BSC: involving by MSC is not
needed.
 Inter-BSC hand-over of same MSC: Before and after hand-over,
the two cells belong to different two BSCs which are controlled
by the same MSC. All the MSC and BSCs are involved.
 Inter-MSCs hand-over: Before and after hand-over, the two cells
belong to different two MSCs. All the relevant MSCs and BSCs
are involved.

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 Network overview

MSC: routes the call to the other

MSC during Inter-MSC HO
BSC Evaluation and Decision
of HO
BTS measures:
Signal Strength UL, Quality UL
, TA
Signal Strength of
Neignboring Cells

BSC
MSC BTS preprocess
measurements UL and DL
BTS
MS

MS measures:
Signal Strength DL own cell
and neighboring cells, Quality
DL

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 Intra-cell handover signaling process

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 Inter-cell handover signaling process

MS BTS1 BTS2 BSC MSC

MEAS REP
MEAS RES
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
DR：HO CMD
HO CMD
HO ACCESS
HO DET
PHY INFO

SABM
EST IND
UA

HO COM
DI：HO COM
DT1：HO PERF
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

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 Handover layer

 Cell layer is relative defined by operator

 Not defined
 Upper layer
 Same layer
 Lower layer

 Handover target cell is sorted by

 Priority
 Traffic
 Radio environment

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 Measurement report

 Period 480ms
 MS downlink measurement report (carried by SACCH) :
 Downlink RXLEV
 Downlink RXQUAL(BER)
 Other adjacent cells’ downlink RXLEV （ less than 6, designated by BA list)

 Measurement report made by BTS

 Uplink RXLEV
 Uplink RXQUAL
 TA
 Interference strip

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 Preprocess of measurement report

 PROCESSING OF BTS MEASURED DATA

 RXLEV_XX （ XX ＝ DL or UL ）

For each connection, at most 32 sampling data are retained and the average of RX
level is calculated out by BSS in each SACCH period.
 Adjacent cells‘ BCCH carrier receiving level RXLEV_NCELL(n)

For each connection and each cell, the most 32 sampling data are stored by BSS to
calculate out the adjacent cells’ BCCH carrier receiving level.

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 Power budget （ PBGT)

 PBGT(n)=(Min(MS_TXPWR_MAX,P) － RXLEV_DL － PWR_C_D) －

(Min(MS_TXPWR_MAX(n),P) － RXLEV_NCELL(n))

 Where
 PWR_C_D is the difference of cell-allowed downward maximum power with
actual power
 MS_TXPWR_MAX(current traffic channel)
 MS_TXPWR_MAX(n) (adjacent cell n traffic channel)
 P is the maximum transmission power of MS

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 Parameters in Handover judgement

PARAMETER FUNCTION
UpLevTh， N， P upward level threshold
UpQualTh， N， P upward quality threshold
DwLevTh， N， P downward level threshold
DwQualTh， N， P downward quality threshold
UpIntfTh， N， P upward interference threshold
DwIntfTh， N， P downward interference threshold
MsDistTh， N， P distance threshold（ same unit with TA)
HoMargin（ n） Adjacent cells’ hand-over margin

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 Threshold Comparison

 1.Hand-over will occur if at least P out of N upward levels are

lower than UpLevTh.
 2. Hand-over will occur if at least P out of N downward levels are
lower than DwLevTh.
 3. Hand-over will occur if at least P out of N upward levels are
higher than UpQualTh.
 4. Hand-over will occur if at least P out of N downward levels are
higher than DwQualTh.

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 Threshold Comparison

 5. Hand-over will occur if the latest P out of N upward levels are

higher than UpIntfTh and condition 3 is met at the same time.
 6. Hand-over will occur if the latest P out of N downward levels
are higher than DwIntfTh and condition 4 is met at the same
time.
 7. Hand-over will occur if the latest P out of N TAs are higher
than MsDistTh.
 8. Hand-over will occur if PBGT of some adjacent cell is higher
than its corresponding HoMargin.

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 Selection of target cell

 Principle 1 ( All type of handover )

 AvRxLevNCell(n) > RXLEV_MIN(n) + MAX(0,(MS_TXPWR_MAX(n)- P(n)))

 Principle 2 ( PBGT handover )

 PBGT(n ) > HO_MARGIN(n)

 Principle 3 ( Quality handover )

 AvRxLevNCell(n) > avRxLevDL + HO_MARGIN_QUAL(n)

 Principle 4 ( Signal level handover )

 AvRxLevNCell(n) > avRxLevDL + HO_MARGIN_LEVEL(n)

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 Sort order of target cell

 Principle:
 Cell dynamic priority
 PBGT

 Dynamic priority
 Static priority: 0 ～ 7
 Ratio of cell resource: idle TCH/ total TCH

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 Handover penalty strategy

 Inter-cell handover
 PenaltyLevOffset
 PenaltyCount <= 3

 Intra-cell handover
 TMaxIHo
 IHoCount
 MaxIHo

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Contents

 Handover
 Power control
 Purpose of power control

 Lower interference within a cell

 Save power
 Consideration: Call quality or data transmission quality be
guaranteed

A B

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 Power control procedure

MS MEASURED
MEASUREDDATA
DATA

BTS AVERAGE
AVERAGEMEASURED
MEASUREDDATA
DATA

BSC POWER
POWERCONTROL
CONTROLDECISION
DECISION
Power
control
SACCH period:
SEND
SENDPOWER
POWERCONTROL
CONTROLCOMMAND
COMMAND 480ms

MEASURED
MEASUREDDATA
DATACORRECTION
CORRECTION

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 Relation of level with power control

63
Fast power control zone

High
Upper limit

Normal

Lower limit

Low
Fast power control zone
0

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 Relation of BER with power control

0
Fast power control zone

Low
Upper limit

Normal

Lower limit

High
Fast power control zone
7

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 Relationship between RXQUAL and BER

RXQUAL BER (%) Typical(%)

0 BER<0.2 0.14
1 0.2<BER<0.4 0.28
2 0.4<BER<0.8 0.57
3 0.8<BER<1.6 1.13
4 1.6<BER<3.2 2.26
5 3.2<BER<6.4 4.53
6 6.4<BER<12.8 9.05
7 12.8<BER 18.10

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 Power control strategy

Normal Level LEVELCAUSE = 0 Normal BER ： QUALCAUSE = 0

Low Level ： LEVELCAUSE = 1 Low BER ： QUALCAUSE = 1
High Level ： LEVELCAUSE = 2 High BER ： QUALCAUSE = 2

LEVELCAUSE QUALCAUSE OUTPUT

0 2 INCREASE
1 0 STAY
1 1 STAY
1 2 INCREASE
2 0 DECREASE
2 1 DECREASE
2 2 INCREASE

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 RANGE OF POWER CONTROL

 BTS Power Control

 BTS has 6 classes of static power configured by network, each class has 15 levels of
dynamic power which can be configured by network.

 MS Power Control
 GSM900 class A MS power capability 43dbm （ 20W ）
 GSM900 class B MS power control 39dbm （ 8W ）
 GSM900 class C MS power capability 37dbm （ 5W ）
 GSM900 class D MS power capability 33dbm （ 2W ）
 GSM900 class E MS power capability 29dbm （ 0.8W ）
 GSM900 power control range of MS is 43dbm ~ 5dbm ， at least 2dbm one
step
 DCS1800 class A MS power control capability 30dbm （ 1W ）
 DCS1800 class B MS power control capability 24dbm （ 0.25W ）
 DCS1800 class C MS power control capability 36dbm （ 4W ）
 DCS1800 power control range 36dbm ~ 0dbm ， 2dbm one step
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