There are three ways of optimizing handovers in LTE:

a) Via the modification of the parameters a3offset and hysteresisa3

b) By changing the parameter timetotriggereventa3

c) Via the modification of the parameter filtercoefficient for event a3.

These set of blogs will dealt with parameter setting for Periodic Reporting of Event A3
only. The intention is to deal with each of the cases mentioned above, one at a time.
Hence, this blog will concentrate in case a).

Definitions:

Event A3 is defined as a triggering event when a neighbour cell becomes an offset

better than the serving cell. The UE creates a measurement report, populates the
triggering details and sends the message to the serving cell. The parameters that define
the trigger include:

 a3offset: This parameter can be found in 3GPP 36.331. It configures the RRC IE
a3-Offset included in the IE reportConfigEUTRA in the
MeasurementConfiguration IE. The value sent over the RRC interface is twice
the value configured, that is, the UE has to divide the received value by 2.The
role of the offset in Event A3 is to make the serving cell look better than its
current measurement in comparison to the neighbor.
 Hysteresisa3: The role of the hysteresis in Event A3 is to make the measured
neighbor look worse than measured to ensure it is really stronger before the UE
decides to send a measurement report to initiate a handover.
 timetoTriggera3: The role of ttt in Event A3 is to avoid a ping-pong effect.
 CellIndividualoffsetEutran: This parameter is applied individually to each
neighbor cell with load management purposes. The higher the value allocated to
a neighbor cell, the “more attractive” it will be. This parameter can only be used if
the neighbor list is broadcast in SIB4 or in an RRC connection reconfiguration.
Based on the picture above, event A3 will trigger when:

RSRP(target) > RSRS(Serving) +a3offset + hysteresisa3 – cellindividualoffsetEutran

And this condition is valid for timetotriggera3.

At the expiration of timetotriggera3, if the UE does not receive an RRC connection

reconfiguration message (handover command) from the eNodeB, then it will start a
timer called reportingintervala3. At the expiration of this timer, if the conditions for
event A3 are still met and the eNodeB has not responded, then another measurement
report will be sent to the eNodeB. This process will continue until the eNodeB responds
or until a number of measurement reports given by the parameter reportingamount
have been sent.

Examples:

The table below assumes that cellindividualoffsetEutran is not used and shows when
the eventa3offset is triggered and when the UE ceases sending measurement reports.
As it can be seen from the table, eventa3 triggers at a3offset+hysteresisa3

However!!! After the first measurement result, subsequent measurement results can be
sent if the RSRP of the neighbor cell is only a3offset-hysterisisa3 dB stronger! Hence,
weaker neighbors could be reported in the measurements sent by the UE (this case is
very rare but it exists in real systems).

Therefore, it is recommended to follow the optimization rules:

a) a3offset should always be larger than hysteresisa3 if we want UE to handover to

cells with an RSRP at least equal to the RSRP value of its serving cell.

b) Ensuring a3offset > hysteresisa3 avoids ping-pongs

c) The higher the value of a3offset+hysteresisa3 the more we drag the calls to
neighboring cells. This is very useful where we have coverage holes (not a one to one
deployment scenario on top of 3G cells)

d) The smaller the value of a3offset+hysteresisa3 the faster we release the calls to
neighboring cells. This is useful in those scenarios where a large number of LTE cells
exists in a given geographical area.

e) The higher the value of a3offset+hysteresisa3 the more difficult we make it for calls
do handover to other cells.

Remember, eventa3 triggers at a3offset+hysteresisa3. Subsequent message reports

are sent when the RSRP of the neighbor cell is a3offset-hysteresisa3 (See figure
below).
In our next blog, we will discuss the parameter timetotriggera3, which is another tool for
optimizing handovers in LTE.

RRC connection Release

Lauro
18 Dec 2013 2:50 PM

 0

Often time while doing a drive test the RRC collection released gets logged by our data
collection tools and later, while debugging our drive tests we see, RRC connection Release.
Many times we wonder why we received that message. Is it because we finished our 500 GB file
download? Did we unintentionally press a button and we ended the call? What happened?

There are many cases where and when the UE receives an RRC connection release:
a) Going to idle mode: In this case, the UE will receive an RRC connection release from the
eNodeB due to the expiration of the inactivity timer (in most networks configured to
approximately 10 seconds).

Release Cause: Other

b) Drop Call - > RLC Failure: When the number of retransmissions at the RLC layer in the
Downlink direction reaches its maximum value given by the parameter MaxRetxThreshold, the
eNodeB releases the context and sends an RRC connection release to the UE.

Release Cause: Other.

c) Drop Call - > RRC Connection Reestablishment Reject: Either because the feature is not
adopted or because a race condition occurred in which the case just presented happened first, the
eNodeB responds with a RRC connection reestablishment reject to the UE.

Release Cause: Other.

d) Tracking Area Update: During a successful tracking area update, the eNodeB will send an
RRC connection release to the UE after sending a tracking area update message (from the MME)
when no new GUTI is allocated or after the tracking area update complete message is received
from the UE, if it received a new GUTI.

Release Cause: Other.

e) During Detach: Either during normal detach or abnormal detach, both by an UE initiated
detach or network initiated detach, the UE receives an RRC connection Release from the
network. Elements in the Network that may cause a detach message sent from the MME to the
UE are:

1. Expiration of timers at the P-GW for the last bearer the UE had, capacity issues or errors.
2. Errors or Capacity issues at the S-GW
3. Expiration of timers at the MME (t3412) without TAU, errors at the MME, configuration
problems, etc.

Release Cause: Other or Normal.

Given the above, the RRC connection release message is caused by many reasons. Before
arriving to a conclusion just by analyzing a simple UE logfile, a cell trace or MME trace analysis
is required to arrive to sounded conclusions.

UL Throughput Troubleshooting

Lauro
16 Dec 2013 3:31 PM

 0

Several are the conditions that produce low throughput in the uplink. This blog shows a simple
flowchart that attempts to guide you while troubleshooting cells with poor performance in the
uplink. Note that the flowchart is not comprehensive but rather an informative guide for you to
start.
DL Throughput Troubleshooting

Lauro
13 Dec 2013 1:55 PM
  0

Several are the conditions that produce low throughput in the downlink. This blog shows a
simple flowchart that attempts to guide you while troubleshooting cells with poor performance in
the downlink. Note that the flowchart is not comprehensive but rather an informative guide for
you to start.
Effect of Closed Loop Power Control on the UL RSSI

Lauro
12 Dec 2013 12:19 PM

 0

Effect of Closed Loop Power Control on the UL RSSI

The Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) in the uplink is also affected by the parameter
settings that govern closed loop power control in LTE. Immediately after the UE completes an
RRC connection with the eNodeB, the UE uses closed loop power control on both, the PUCCH
and the PUSCH.

1. PUSCH

In particular, the power that the UE transmits the PUSCH with is given by:
The power control formula for the uplink for the PUSCH in LTE can be broken into five key
parts. The first part is the amount of additional power that is needed based on the size of the RB
allocation. The higher the number of RBs, the higher the power that is required.

The second part is called P0. It is basically the assumed interference that the UE is expected to
overcome. P0 is composed of two subcomponents. The first is called P0_Nominal_PUSCH and
it is communicated over SIB2. It is valid for all UEs in the cell. The second component is called
P0_UE_PUSCH and it is a UE-specific value. It is optional.

The third part of this equation is the Path Loss (PL) and the impact of the PL or Alpha. PL is just
calculated, but the Alpha value communicated to the UE in SIB2. If the Alpha value is set to 1,
then all of the PL needs to be taken into account in the power control formula. Some vendors
might not allow you to change this value, though (as it is hardcoded).

The fourth part is an MCS-specific component. If the eNB wants the UE to adjust its power
based on the MCS that is assigned, it will be taken into account here.

Lastly is the f(i) value, which is simply the closed-loop feedback. This is the additional power
the UE will add to the transmission based on specific feedback by the eNB.

Hence, for the PUSCH, two parameters affect the UE transmit power, and therefore, our UL
RSSI:

a) PO_nominal_PUSCH

b) Alpha.

2. PUCCH:

The power control formula for the uplink for the PUCCH in LTE can be broken into four key
parts. The first part is called P0. It is basically the assumed interference that the UE is expected
to overcome. P0 is composed of two subcomponents. The first is called P0_Nominal_PUCCH
and it is communicated over SIB2. It is valid for all UEs in the cell. The second component is
called P0_UE_PUSCH and it is a UE-specific value. It is optional. The second part of this
equation is the Path Loss (PL) and the impact of the PL or Alpha (the same value used for the
PUSCH – See above-). The third part is an MCS-specific component. If the eNB wants the UE to
adjust its power based on the MCS that is assigned, it will be taken into account here. Lastly is
the f(i) value, which is simply the closed-loop feedback. This is the additional power the UE will
add to the transmission based on specific feedback by the eNB. This value is different for each
format type of the PUCCH. A different value is given to the UE in SIB2 for formats 1, 1a, 1b, 2,
2a and 2b.
Hence, the parameters that controls the transmit power in the PUCCH are:

a) PO_nominal_PUCCH

b) Alpha

The higher the value of PUCCH and the higher the value of PUSCH, the more power the UE will
transmit, the better the UL BLER, the higher the throughput and the higher the UL SINR.
However, in high capacity cell, this might not be true and the opposite effects might be
encountered. Examples of such situations are: Airports, events, convention centers, etc. It is
recommended to analyze the UL RSSI in these types of venues during high capacity scenarios
and adjust accordingly. Bear in mind that the Alpha value affects both, the PUCCH and the
PUSCH.

Effect of Open Loop Power Control on the UL RSSI

Lauro
11 Dec 2013 4:05 PM
  0

The Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) in the uplink is affected by the parameter settings
that govern open loop power control in LTE. Open loop power control is used during Random
Access.

The random access is often the first transmission from the UE, and it is a short transmission (less
than 3 ms at most). Consequently, the network does not have an opportunity to power control the
PRACH transmitted by the UE. Instead, the UE must estimate the minimum amount of power it
needs to send the access request without causing excessive interference.

The UE receives a number of key parameters for PRACH power control in SIB 2, including:

 Preamble Initial Received Target Power: The power level the eNB would like to
receive for a random access. The default value is -104 dBm.
 Power Ramping Step: The amount of additional power to be used every time the
random access is attempted again. This can be 0, 2, 4 or 6 dB.
 Preamble Trans Max: The maximum number of times a random access can be attempted
before the UE gives up, to a maximum of 10 tries.
 RA Response Window Size: The number of subframes the UE will wait for a response
after a random access, between two and 10 subframes.
 T300: the time the UE has to receive the RRC connection Setup message from the
eNodeB.
The UE will determine the initial power level based on the Preamble Initial Received Target
Power value and an estimate of the uplink Path Loss (PL) as follows:

Pinitial = min (Pmax, Preamble Initial Received Target Power + PL); where Pmax is the
maximum transmit power of the UE, based on its category.

If the eNB fails to respond to the random access in the designated time window (RA Response
Window Size), then it can repeat the random access (after waiting at least four more subframes),
increasing its power level by the Power Ramping Step value. If no response is received after
Preamble Trans Max attempts, then the UE will return an access failed indication.

The values of Preamble Initial Target Power and Power Ramping Step directly affect RSSI. High
values of both parameters may result in high RSSI, particularly in indoor environments (i.e.:
Airports, convention centers, etc.) and events (i.e.: foot ball games at stadiums, concerts, etc.). In
this type of environments, a high concentration of UEs exists and often times, many of them try
accessing the network at the same time. Even when a different UE has selected a different
preamble and has calculated the right amount of power, the eNodeB often times will only answer
to ONE of them (this is vendor implementation dependent) per sub-frame, leading to the rest of
the UE to increase their transmit power. If this condition prevails, quickly, all UEs will be
transmitting at is maximum transmit power in less than a second, producing a high RSSI at the
eNodeB.

Values of -110 to -112 dBm are recommended for Preamble Initial Target Power and 2dB for
Power Ramping step for events and indoor environments. For outdoor environments, depending
on the load and RSSI, values of -104 dBm and 4dB could be used, respectively.

Frame Structures in LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD

Lauro
7 Aug 2012 6:08 PM

 0

So far, we have concentrated our efforts in describing LTE-FDD. However, as TD-LTE

gets deployed in the USA, more blogs on this technology will be published.

In this occasion, we will describe the frame structure of both, LTE-FDD and LTE-TDD.

Let us describe the LTE-FDD structure first.

The duration of one LTE radio frame is 10 ms. One frame is divided into 10 subframes
of 1 ms each, and each subframe is divided into two slots of 0.5 ms each. Each slot
contains either six or seven OFDM symbols, depending on the Cyclic Prefix (CP) length.
The useful symbol time is 1/15 kHz= 66.6 mircosec. Since normal CP is about 4.69
microsec long, seven OFDM symbols can be placed in the 0.5-ms slot as each symbol
occupies (66.6 + 4.69) = 71.29 microseconds. When extended CP (=16.67 microsec) is
used the total OFDM symbol time is (66.6 + 16.67) = 83.27 microseconds. Six OFDM
symbols can then be placed in the 0.5-ms slot. Frames are useful to send system
information. Subframes facilitate resource allocation and slots are useful for
synchronization. Frequency hopping is possible at the subframe and slot levels.
In LTE, radio resources are allocated in units of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs).
Each PRB contains 12 subcarriers and one slot. If the normal Cyclic Prefix is used, a
PRB will contain 12 subcarriers over seven symbols. If the extended CP is used, the
PRB contains only six symbols. The UE is specified allocation for the first slot of a
subframe. There is implicit allocation for the second slot of the subframe. For example,
if the eNB specifies one RB as the resource allocation for the UE, the UE actually uses
two RBs, one RB in each of the two slots of a subframe. When frequency hopping is
turned on, the actual PRBs that carry the UE data can be different in the two slots. In a
10 MHz spectrum bandwidth, there are 600 usable subcarriers and 50 PRBs.
Frame structure Type 2 is applicable to TDD is as shown in the figure. Each radio frame
of 10 ms in length consists of two half-frames of 5 ms in length. Each half-frame
consists of eight slots of the length Ts=5 ms and three special fields DwPTS, GP, and
UpPTS of 1 ms in length.

Different configurations, numbered zero to six, are defined in the standard for the
subframe number allocated for the uplink and downlink transmission. Subframe 1 in all
configurations and subframe 6 in configurations 0, 1, 2 and 6 consist of DwPTS, GP and
UpPTS. All other subframes are defined as two slots .

Switch-point periodicities of 5 ms and 10 ms are supported. The standard defines the

table for the uplink and downlink allocations for switch-point periodicity. In the case of a
5-ms switch-point periodicity, UpPTS and subframes 2 and 7 are reserved for uplink
transmission.

In the case of a 10-ms switch-point periodicity, UpPTS and subframe 2 are reserved for
uplink transmission and subframes 7 to 9 are reserved for downlink transmission.
Subframe 0 and 5 are always for the DL. The subframe following the special SF is
always for the UL. The DwPTS field carries synchronization and user data as well as
the downlink control channel for transmitting scheduling and control information. The
UpPTS field is used for transmitting the PRACH and the Sounding Reference Signal
(SRS).

LTE-FDD vs. LTE-TDD (a.k.a LTE-TD)

Lauro
12 Jun 2012 6:33 PM

 0

In the previous blog a brief description of the motivations for LTE-TDD (Time Division
Duplexing) were presented. In this occasion, a brief comparison of LTE-FDD and LTE-
TDD is presented. Which one do we choose?

The fields compared are:

a) Duplexing: The most significant difference, of course, is the duplexing approach that
these systems utilize. In general, FDD spectrum is symmetric by nature due to the way
regulations are created. In other words, the government agencies usually have
symmetric bandwidth for uplink and downlink for FDD such as 10 MHz in the DL and 10
MHz in the UL.

b) Asymmetry: LTE supports asymmetric bandwidth in the UL and DL. LTE-TDD can
be configured to favor one link over the other. Due to the existence of an additional
guard time in LTE-TDD, LTE-TDD is slightly less efficient than LTE-FDD, however, it
offers more flexibility to serve asymmetric traffic (i.e.: http, ftp, etc.)
c) Hardware Design: Since only transmission or reception is done at a given instant, the
designs of the UE and the eNB are much simpler.

d) Channel Estimation: Since TD-LTE uses the same frequency bandwidth for the DL
and the UL, the eNB can potentially observe the UL channel conditions to infer the DL
channel conditions due to channel reciprocity. Hence, in theory, frequency and the
amount of UE feedback about the DL channel conditions could be lower in TD-LTE.

Another fundamental difference is the so-called S-Subframe to make way for switching
between DL mode to UL mode. This enables both the UE and the eNB to adjust to
either transmitting or receiving data.

The Special Subframe is denoted as an “S” subframe. TD-LTE supports two types of
switching periodicity

a) The 5-ms periodicity: This is used to accommodate delay-sensitive (and symmetric)

applications like voice. Also, a 5-ms periodicity makes it feasible for the UE to have
compatible operations with WiMAX and TD-SCDMA/UTRA TDD, which also have a
frame structure of 5 ms. The downside of using 5-ms periodicity is the additional
signaling overhead and the wasting of resources for preparation to switching between
the DL and UL.
b) The 10-ms periodicity: This method overcomes the limitations of higher signaling and
provides good spectral efficiency. But it can only support asymmetric delay-insensitive
applications. Voice applications will be difficult to implement with this kind of frame
structure.

The S- subframe is 1 ms in duration and consists of three fields – the DL Pilot Time Slot
(DwPTS), the Guard Period (GP) and the UL Pilot Time Slot (UpPTS).

RACH Capacity (Part 1 of 2)

Lauro
21 Mar 2012 3:01 PM

 2

In this blog, an approximation to the Random Access Channel Capacity is provided. To

this aim, several assumptions are utilized.

The number of sub-frames utilized for random access is provided for by the parameter
prachconfigurationindex by means of the following table.
When prachconfigurationindex has a value of 3 (See highlighted row), then:

a) The preamble format used is 0 (which means that the maximum cell radius is 14 km)
b) The UE can send the preamble in any frame number.

c) The UE HAS to send the preamble in subframe 1 only.

Maximum RACH Capacity:

a) Let us assume that the number of preambles available for initial access given by
parameter numberofRA-Preambles is 56 (the other 8 are reserved for Contention Free
Random Access, that is, for handover). In this is situation, up to 56 users could be trying
to access the system simultaneously.

b) Let’s assume then, that 56 UE are trying to access the system simultaneously and
that each of them picked a different preamble.

c) Let’s assume that the eNodeB responds to only one UE despite the fact that in 10
ms, up to 56 UE are trying to access.

Given this situation, the maximum RACH capacity, can be approximated by:

Max # of UE supported (RACH) = 1 UE per Frame*No. Frames/second

= (1 UE/frame)*(100 frames/second)

= 100 UE/second.

Minimum RACH Capacity:

a) Let us assume that all 56 UE are trying to access at the same time, as in the previous
case.

b) Let us also assume that the enodeB only responds to one UE per t300 period.

Given this situation, the maximum RACH capacity, can be approximated by:

Min # of UE supported (RACH) = 1 UE per t300 period*(number of t300 periods

per second)

= (1 UE/t300)*(1 sec/t300)

Hence, if t300 is set to 400 ms, the Min # of UE supported per RACH = (1)(1000/400) =
2.5 users.

RACH Capacity (Part 2 of 2)

Lauro
23 Mar 2012 4:30 PM

 1
In the previous blog, we discussed the RACH capacity in LTE given the number of sub-
frames reserved for the RACH channel. In this blog, we will discuss how many sub-
frames we should allocate to the RACH channel given the type of cell we are covering
(i.e.: low traffic, medium traffic, etc.).

The table below, taken from 3GPP specifications, shows the PrachConfigurationIndex
paramter and their associated Preamble format, system frame number and sub-frame
number.

For RACH capacity allocation, let us assume that we have four types of cells in our
system, based on capacity demand:

a) Low traffic

b) Medium traffic

c) High traffic

d) Very high traffic

Now, let us allocate a color to each of these demands :

a) Low traffic (gree)

b) Medium traffic (yellow)

c) High traffic (blue)

d) Very high traffic (purple)

Under these conditions, let us proceed to allocate a value of PrachConfigurationIndex

to each traffic zone.
RACH Capacity Design :

a) Low capacity cells typically get allocated a prachconfigurationindex with a

value between 0 to 5 for Preamble format 0 (See green rows in columns 1 to 4).

b) Medium capacity cells typically get allocated a prachconfigurationindex with a

value between 0 to 8 for Preamble format 0 (See yellow rows in columns 1 to 4).

c) High capacity cells typically get allocated a prachconfigurationindex with a

value between 9 to 11 for Preamble format 0 (See Blue rows in columns 1 to 4).
 d) Very High capacity cells typically get allocated a prachconfigurationindex with
a value between 12 to 14 for Preamble format 0 (See Purple rows in columns 1 to
4).

Similar reasoning is followed for preamble formats 1 to 3.

prachconfigurationindex Allocation:

The PRACH Configuration for a High Capacity eNodeB is given here as an example.
See Figure below.

This is a typical deployment in a small arena, where the RACH capacity is expected to
be high. Similar deployments can be done with different expected capacities.

To calculate the number of supported RACH attempts, see previous blog on RACH
(part 1).

IRAT Reselection - Optimization Hints (LTE to 1xEV-DO and 1xEV-DO to

LTE)

Lauro
14 Mar 2012 2:56 PM

 0
Optimization of IRAT reselection is very critical in idle mode. If the parameters
governing this reselection are set incorrectly, ping-pong could result (the UE in idle
mode goes to 1xEV-DO and the UE in 1xEV-DO in dormant goes back to LTE and so
on).

LTE to 1xEV-DO:

Parameters:

 qRxLevmin (in SIB3) defines the minimum RSRP values measured by the UE in
a cell to be able to get unrestricted coverage-based service in that cell.
 sIntraSearch, when added to the qRxLevmin value, will set the threshold for the
UE to decide if it has to do intra-frequency cell measurements for potential cell
reselection. If the current measured RSRP value for the cell is greater than the
threshold set up by the sIntraSearch parameter, then the UE is not required to do
intra-frequency measurements. If the current value of RSRP measured by the UE
drops below the line, then the UE is required to do intra-frequency
measurements for potential cell reselection.
 sNonIntraSearch is similar in nature to sIntraSearch except that it dictates when
the UE has to do inter-frequency measurements for cell reselection purposes.
Note that, when inter-frequency measurements are done, the UE will still
continue to do intra-frequency measurements as well.
 Threshservinglow when added to qrxlevmin indicates the best cell reception
level (RSRP) used in reselection evaluation towards 1xEV-DO. That is, if the
RSRP measured is below this threshold, the UE is in conditions to reselect to
1xEV-DO if other conditions are also met (See below). The value sent over the
 RRC interface is half the value configured (the UE then multiplies the received
value by 2)
 ThreshXLowHRPD represents the minimum level the Ec/Io of the 1xEV-DO pilot
must have so that the UE decides to reselect 1xEV-DO rather than LTE.
 Treselectioncdmahrpd is the time that the RSRP of the best cell must be under
Threshservinglow and the measured Ec/Io of the 1xEV-DO pilot must be above
ThreshXLowHRPD so that the UE decides to reselect 1xEV-DO.

Step 1: The UE is in idle mode in LTE. It starts measuring:

a) LTE neighbors when:

RSRP of best cell < Qrxlevmin (SIB3)+ Sintrasearch

Example: Qrxlevmin = -120 dBm

Sintrasearch = 62 dB

Then, the UE starts measuring RSRP of neighboring cells in LTE in the same frequency
band.

b) 1xEV-DO neighbors when:

RSRP of best cell < Qrxlevmin (SIB3)+ SNonintrasearch

Example: Qrxlevmin (SIB3)= -120 dBm

Sintrasearch = 14 dB

Then, the UE starts measuring RSRP of neighboring cells in LTE in the same frequency
band AND the pilot Ec/Io of 1xEV-DO candidates.

Step 2: The UE camp on to a 1xEV-DO cell if the following conditions are met (See
figure below):

RSRP of best cell in LTE (dBm) < Qrxlevmin (SIB3)+ThreshServingLow (dBm)

AND

Ec/Io of Pilot in 1xEV-DO (dB) > ThreshXLowHRPD (dB)

For a time given by the parameter treselectioncdmahrpd

Example: If ThreshServingLow = 4 dB, threshXLowHRPD = -7 dB and

treselectioncdmahrpd = 5 seconds, then the UE will go to 1xEV-DO (assuming it
could not find another LTE cell) if the
RSRP of the serving cell < Qrxlevmin(SIB3) +ThreshServingLow = -120dBm+4dB=-
116 dBm

And the Ec/Io of Pilot in 1xEV-DO (dB) > ThreshXLowHRPD (dB) = -7dB

And this conditions hold for 5 seconds.

1xEV-DO to LTE:
A user will come back from 1xEV-DO to LTE if the

RSRP of the candidate cell (dBm) > Qrxlevmin (SIB1)(dBm) – Qrxlevminoffset(dB)

Example: If Qrxlevmin (SIB1) = -120dBm and Qrxlevminoffset = 14dB, then, the UE

will camp back onto LTE if the RSRP of the candidate cell is at least -106 dBm.

Optimization rules:

a) In order to avoid ping pong:

Qrxlevmin (SIB1)(dBm) – Qrxlevminoffset(dB) > Qrxlevmin

(SIB3)+ThreshServingLow (dBm)

The difference has to be at least, say, 8 dB. Note that the larger the difference, the
less likely the UE will go back to DO.

b) The bigger Qrxlevmin(SIB3) +ThreshServingLow, the quicker the UE is sent to 1xEV-

DO to camp on to that system

c) The lower Qrxlevmin(SIB3) +ThreshServingLow, the more the UE is retained in LTE

in idle mode.

d) Border cells must have different configured values than core cells.
Handover Parameters (Part 1 of 3)

Lauro
22 Feb 2012 8:17 PM

 4

There are three ways of optimizing handovers in LTE:

a) Via the modification of the parameters a3offset and hysteresisa3

b) By changing the parameter timetotriggereventa3

c) Via the modification of the parameter filtercoefficient for event a3.

These set of blogs will dealt with parameter setting for Periodic Reporting of Event A3
only. The intention is to deal with each of the cases mentioned above, one at a time.
Hence, this blog will concentrate in case a).

Definitions:

Event A3 is defined as a triggering event when a neighbour cell becomes an offset

better than the serving cell. The UE creates a measurement report, populates the
triggering details and sends the message to the serving cell. The parameters that define
the trigger include:

 a3offset: This parameter can be found in 3GPP 36.331. It configures the RRC IE
a3-Offset included in the IE reportConfigEUTRA in the
MeasurementConfiguration IE. The value sent over the RRC interface is twice
the value configured, that is, the UE has to divide the received value by 2.The
role of the offset in Event A3 is to make the serving cell look better than its
current measurement in comparison to the neighbor.
 Hysteresisa3: The role of the hysteresis in Event A3 is to make the measured
neighbor look worse than measured to ensure it is really stronger before the UE
decides to send a measurement report to initiate a handover.
 timetoTriggera3: The role of ttt in Event A3 is to avoid a ping-pong effect.
 CellIndividualoffsetEutran: This parameter is applied individually to each
neighbor cell with load management purposes. The higher the value allocated to
a neighbor cell, the “more attractive” it will be. This parameter can only be used if
the neighbor list is broadcast in SIB4 or in an RRC connection reconfiguration.
Based on the picture above, event A3 will trigger when:

RSRP(target) > RSRS(Serving) +a3offset + hysteresisa3 – cellindividualoffsetEutran

And this condition is valid for timetotriggera3.

At the expiration of timetotriggera3, if the UE does not receive an RRC connection

reconfiguration message (handover command) from the eNodeB, then it will start a
timer called reportingintervala3. At the expiration of this timer, if the conditions for
event A3 are still met and the eNodeB has not responded, then another measurement
report will be sent to the eNodeB. This process will continue until the eNodeB responds
or until a number of measurement reports given by the parameter reportingamount
have been sent.

Examples:

The table below assumes that cellindividualoffsetEutran is not used and shows when
the eventa3offset is triggered and when the UE ceases sending measurement reports.
As it can be seen from the table, eventa3 triggers at a3offset+hysteresisa3

However!!! After the first measurement result, subsequent measurement results can be
sent if the RSRP of the neighbor cell is only a3offset-hysterisisa3 dB stronger! Hence,
weaker neighbors could be reported in the measurements sent by the UE (this case is
very rare but it exists in real systems).

Therefore, it is recommended to follow the optimization rules:

a) a3offset should always be larger than hysteresisa3 if we want UE to handover to

cells with an RSRP at least equal to the RSRP value of its serving cell.

b) Ensuring a3offset > hysteresisa3 avoids ping-pongs

c) The higher the value of a3offset+hysteresisa3 the more we drag the calls to
neighboring cells. This is very useful where we have coverage holes (not a one to one
deployment scenario on top of 3G cells)

d) The smaller the value of a3offset+hysteresisa3 the faster we release the calls to
neighboring cells. This is useful in those scenarios where a large number of LTE cells
exists in a given geographical area.

e) The higher the value of a3offset+hysteresisa3 the more difficult we make it for calls
do handover to other cells.

Remember, eventa3 triggers at a3offset+hysteresisa3. Subsequent message reports

are sent when the RSRP of the neighbor cell is a3offset-hysteresisa3 (See figure
below).
In our next blog, we will discuss the parameter timetotriggera3, which is another tool for
optimizing handovers in LTE.

Handover Parameters (Part 2 of 3)

Lauro
2 Mar 2012 5:45 PM

 0

TimetoTrigger Event a3

As explained in part 1 of these blogs, if the RSRP of a neighbor cell is a3offset+

hysteresisa3 dB stronger than the serving cell for a time period equal to
timetotriggera3 then the UE sends the first measurement report to the eNodeB
indicating that eventa3 has occurred. timetotriggera3 typical values are [0, 40, 64, 80,
100, 128, 160, 256, 320, 480, 512, 640, 1024, 1280, 2560, 5120] milliseconds.

Clearly, the utilization of timetotriggera3 is highly dependent on the parameters

a3offset and hysteresisa3. However, some general troubleshooting guidelines are
provided here to minimize ping pong effects.
Rules:

a) If a3offset+ hysteresisa3 is relatively large (i.e.: 6dB or stronger), then a value of

timetotriggera3 under 100 ms is acceptable.

Explanation: Since the RSRP of the neighbor cell is already stronger than the value of
the source cell, the time to trigger should not be large.

b) If a3offset+ hysteresisa3 is relatively small (i.e.: 2dB), then a value of

timetotriggera3 should be around 320 to 640 ms.

Explanation: Since the RSRP of the neighbor cell is not much stronger than the value of
the source cell, the time to trigger should not large to ensure the value remains the
same for a long period of time.

c) If a3offset = hysteresisa3, see b)

d) If a3offset > hysteresisa3, see a)

e) If a3offset < hysteresisa3, see a)

However, these recommendations depend much on the speed of the mobile and the
coverage scenarios.

The value allocated to timetotriggera3, hence, depends on:

 Parameter setting of a3offset and hysteresisa3,

 Morphology (dense urban, urban, suburban, rural)
 Speed of UE in the cells (freeways and or suburban roads).

So far, we have discussed two methods for optimizing event A3. In out next blog we will
talk about the benefits of optimizing another parameter called, filtercoefficient for event
A3 that will allow us to eliminate some of the effects of fast fading in the UE
measurements.

Handover Parameters (Part 3 of 3)

Lauro
9 Mar 2012 4:37 PM

 2

Filter Coefficient for Event a3

Once the UE is configured to do measurements, the UE starts measuring reference signals from
the serving cell and any neighbors it detects. The next question is whether the UE should look at
just the current measurement value, or if the recent history of measurements should be
considered. LTE, like other wireless technologies, takes the approach of filtering the currently
measured value with recent history. Since the UE is doing the measurement, the network
conveys the filtering requirements to the UE in an RRC Connection reconfiguration message.

The UE filters the measured result, before using for evaluation of reporting criteria or for
measurement reporting, by the following formula:

where

 Mn is the latest received measurement result from the physical layer;

 Fn is the updated filtered measurement result, that is used for evaluation of reporting
criteria or for measurement reporting;
 Fn-1 is the old filtered measurement result, where F0 is set to M1 when the first
measurement result from the physical layer is received; and
 a = 1 / 2(k/4), where k is the filterCoefficent for the corresponding measurement quantity
received by the quantityConfig.

Then, the UE adapts the filter such that the time characteristics of the filter are preserved at
different input rates, observing that the filterCoefficent k assumes a sample rate equal to 200
ms.

The parameter “a” defines the weight given to current value and (1-a) (i.e., the remaining
weight is given to the last filtered value). For example, if filter coefficient k = 4, then a = ½^(4/4)
=1/2. This means that new measurement has half the weight and the last filtered measurement
gets the other half of the weight.

Example of Filter coefficient values are:

 Case 1: value k = 8 , a = ¼, Fn = ¾ Old + ¼ New

 Case 2: value k = 4, a = ½, Fn = ½ Old + ½ New

Optimization Rules:

a) A high value of the parameter filtercoefficient will provide higher weight to old
measurements (more stringent filter)(the opposite is true)

b) The higher the values of filtercoefficient the higher the chances of eliminating fast fading
effects on the measurement reports
 1. This eliminates reporting a cell which RSRP was suddenly changed due to multipath or
fast fading
2. Which in turns eliminates the chances to handover to a cell which RSRP was strong for
some milliseconds
3. Therefore reducing the chances for Ping-Pong effects

c) A value of 8 is typically used in the network although a value of 16 might also be used in
dense urban areas.

Event A3 Parameters Setting

Lauro
2 Nov 2011 8:35 PM

 0

The most important parameters involved in event a3 reporting are listed below:

- eventA3offset
- hysteresis
- timeToTrigger
- sMeasure
- cellIndividualOffset
- triggerQuantity
- reportAmount
- reportInterval
- filterCoefficientRsrp

LTE R8 uses hard handover. Therefore, one of the main optimization concerns is to avoid ping
pongs between cells. Ping pongs significantly reduce user throughput and increases signaling in
the E-UTRAN (in the case of X2 handovers) and in the EPC (in the event of an S1 handover).
The table below shows an example with three different combinations for the parameters
eventA3offset and hysteresis.

Assuming a cellindividualoffset = 0, then:

Event a3 will trigger when

RSRPsource + eventa3offset +hysteresis <= RSRPtarget + hysteresis

Event a3 will not be further valid when

RSRPsource + eventa3offset +hysteresis > RSRPtarget + hysteresis

Under these circumstances:

a) CASE 1:

a. Event a3 will trigger when the RSRP of the target cell is 2dB stronger than the RSRP
of the serving cell

b. The UE will cease sending measurement reports when the RSRP of the target cell is
less than 2dB stronger than the RSRP of the serving cell

b) CASE 2:

a. Event a3 will trigger when the RSRP of the target cell is 2dB stronger than the RSRP
of the serving cell

b. The UE will cease sending measurement reports when the RSRP of the target cell is
weaker than the RSRP of the serving cell

c) CASE 3:

a. Event a3 will trigger when the RSRP of the target cell is 2dB stronger than the RSRP
of the serving cell

b. The UE will cease sending measurement reports when the RSRP of the target cell is -
2dB or weaker than the RSRP of the serving cell

Clearly, case 3 could be counterproductive since a candidate can be reported to the source cell
when the target is weaker than the source cell!!

A healthier approach is to provide a value of say, 3dB to a3offset and a value of 1 dB to the
hysteresis parameter (for core cells). This will ensure that the target cell is at least 4 dB to trigger
the event a3 and the handset will not report a candidate when the target is not at least 2dB
stronger than the source cell (assuming that the number of measurement reports given by
reportamount haven't expired).
Also, in order to ensure that the target cell is strong enough than the source cell for a good
amount of time, the parameter timetotrigger should be set to values of 480, 512 or 640
miliseconds. However, a drive test is recommended before and after these parameters have been
modified along with the creation of counter reports for X2 and S1 handovers.

RS Power Reduction

Lauro
28 Oct 2011 5:17 PM

 0

There are some scenarios in which cell size reduction is required in LTE. Reasons may include,
but are not limited to traffic reduction, deployment of new cell in congested areas, etc.

Some of recommended approaches to decrease cell size include:

a) Antenna changes,

b) Electrical and Mechanical Down tilting,

c) Azimuth changes and

d) RS Power Reduction.

However, there are certain cases where power reduction of the RS deems necessary (i.e.: indoor
coverage via DAS deployment or when cell size reduction cannot be achieved via any of the
other antenna methods). In such cases, a specific approach must be followed, as described below.

The Reference Signal Power is typically specified in dB/RE (RE = Resource Element) in most of
vendor implementations. All other power levels for other channels are either expressed in dB
offsets from the RS power, dBm/antenna or dBm/2 antennas (in the case of MIMO 2x2). In
these cases, the recommended way to decrease the RS transmit power is the following:

a) Reduce the Reference Signal Power

b) Set other power parameters for maximum DL power at the same value than the RS power.

c) Do not modify the rest of other channel settings (since they are expressed as offsets of the
RS power).

d) A cell site reboot might be necessary after the power changes.

The cell radius in LTE is affected and/or determined by three factors:

a) The Preamble Format

b) The Cyclic Shift the corresponds to the ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig parameter and,

c) The Cell Radius Parameter

A) Preamble Format

LTE FDD supports four preamble formats (as of today, not all of them currently supported by
the equipment manufacturers). The preamble consists of a cyclic prefix (to handle multipath
interference) followed by an 800 μs sequence. In preamble formats 2 and 3, the sequence is
repeated. The total length of the cyclic prefix and the sequence(s) determines how long it takes to
transmit the preamble. Since the actual physical transmission occurs in units of sub-frames (1
ms), the remaining time determines how far away the UE can be without overlapping another
UE's access attempt (the guard time). For further details, refer 3GPP TS 36.211 - Physical
Channels and Modulation.

The operator typically must pick a preamble format to determine the coverage area desired. In
the event of remote sites deployment, the length of the fiber to the remote cells must be
considered as part of the cell radius (this includes Distributed Antenna Systems -DAS- ). Since
the speed of electromagnetic waves over fiber is only two thirds of the speeds in free space, the
total cell radius reduces to the values shown in the table below.
  RSS for posts

Cell Radius in LTE (Part 2 of 3)

Lauro
23 Aug 2011 2:52 PM

 0

In the previous part (1 out of 3) we discussed the relationship between the preamble format and
the cell radius. In this delivery, we will discuss how the ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig parameter
affects the cell radius.

The parameters ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig and RootSequenceIndex are used to generate 64

random access signatures in each cell (all these access signatures should be different in each
cell). Both, the ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig and the RootsequenceIndex paramaters are broadcast
in SIB2. The random access sequences are built via the selection of a Zadoff-Chu sequence (one
out of 839) given by RootSequenceSequence and a cyclic shift (used 64 times to generate the 64
random access signatures from the Zadoff-Chu sequence selected). The cyclic shift is indirectly
given to the UE by the parameter ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig, as shown in the table below (see
columns two and three and note that the cyclic shift has limited values). The available cyclic
shifts are listed in 3GPP TS 36.211 table 5.7.2.-2.
The cyclic shift is also related to the cell size. The relationship between the cyclic shift and the
cell size is given by equation (1):

(NCS - 1) * (800 μs/839) ≥ RTD + Delay Spread (1)

In the equation, RTD stands for Round Trip Delay (twice the cell radius). Hence:

RTD = 2 R/c (2)

Then, the cell radius is given by:

R ≤ [c/2]*[(NCS - 1)*(800 μs/839)-Delay spread ] (3)

For instance, if we assume that ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig is 12, then from the table above, Ncs
= 119. Furthermore, if the delay spread = 6 μsec, then the cell size will be approximately
15.97km. Note that the smaller the cyclic shift, the smaller cell size.

The delay spread in the equation above should be calculated by the RF engineer after a drive test
is carried out in the areas of interest. The value of the delay spread is typically different for
rural, suburban, urban and dense urban environments.

Cell Radius in LTE (Part 3 of 3)

Lauro
3 Oct 2011 8:03 PM
  1

The third factor that affects the cell radius in LTE is the parameter cell radius. Equipment
manufacturers typical offer a parameter called cellradius, that allows the modification of the cell
radius. The units of this parameter are typically Kilometers.

EXAMPLE:

Let's assume that the preamble format picked (or the only one currently available) is type 0
(which offers a maximum cell radius of approximately 14 km). The possible values of the
parameters PrachconfigurationIndex are, therefore, 0 to 15. A network operator may decide to
classify their cells into rural, suburban, urban and dense urban cells. Furthermore, the operator
may allocate a cell radius to different morphologies, say: Rural = 14 km, Suburban = 8 km,
urban = 5 km and dense urban = 2 km. In this case, the values of the parameters associated with
the cell radius could be:

PrachConfigurationIndex = Any number between 0 and 15 (Preamble Format 0).

Cellradius = 14 (rural), 8 (suburban), 5 (urban), 2 (Dense urban),

ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig = 12 (rural), 9 (suburban), 8 (urban) and 4 (dense urban).

Notes:

a) The value of PrachconfigurationIndex affects the RACH capacity (addressed in a future blog).

b) The value of ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig affects the cell radius as explained in a previous

blog (See table below).