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HUAWEI

Handover analysis

Prepared by:
ETISALAT MS section
HUAWEI Radio Network Planning

15-Aug-04
Handover analysis

Context
1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................5
2 Handover principle......................................................................................................................5
2.1 Intra-Frequency measurement ..............................................................................................5
2.2 Hard handover measurement.................................................................................................7
2.3 Handover algorithms review...................................................................................................8
2.3.1 Soft handover algorithms..................................................................................................8
2.3.2 Inter system handover algorithms review.........................................................................8
2.4 Handover parameters analysis...............................................................................................9
2.4.1 Soft handover parameters................................................................................................9
2.4.2 Hard handover and compressed mode parameters.......................................................11
3 Handover optimization..............................................................................................................13
3.1 Soft handover optimization...................................................................................................13
3.1.1 Soft handover optimization overview..............................................................................13
3.1.2 SHO Optimization target.................................................................................................14
3.1.3 Drives Routes.................................................................................................................14
3.1.4 Optimization solution .....................................................................................................15
3.2 SHO Optimization Analysis Approach..................................................................................15
3.2.1 Small handover area ......................................................................................................16
3.2.2 Ping-Pong handover.......................................................................................................16
3.3 Inter-system handover optimization review..........................................................................16
3.3.1 GSM neighbor list configuration problem ......................................................................17

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Table Context

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Figure Context
figure 1 Example of Event 1A.........................................................................................................6
figure 2 Different Optimisation Phases.........................................................................................14
figure 3 the routes of 5 sites SHO optimization at sharjah...........................................................15
figure 4 Scan CPICH SC of best service .....................................................................................16
figure 5 Measure report of GSM neighbor ..................................................................................17
figure 6 3G handover to 2G required...........................................................................................18
figure 7 the route of the wrong configuration GSM neighbor ......................................................18

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1 Introduction
In WCDMA system, there are soft handover, Intra frequent hard handover, Inter frequent
hard handover, Inter system handover. Handover is the most important part of mobile manage.
It plays very important role in RNO of WCDMA system.
In this report, the principle of handover, and the optimization of the handover are presented.

2 Handover principle
A typical handover process has measurement control, measurement report, handover
evaluation, handover implement. The types of measurement involved in handover include intra-
frequency measurement, inter-frequency measurement and inter-system measurement, which
will be discussed in the following paragraphs. The handover algorithms and parameters also are
presented.

2.1 Intra-Frequency measurement

UTRAN uses the measurement control message to inform the UE what events need to
trigger measurement reporting. All intra-frequency measurement report events are identified with
1X.
Event 1A: A primary pilot channel enters the reporting range
When the measurement values satisfy the following formulas, the UE deems that a primary
pilot channel has entered the reporting range, the trig condition for Ec/Io:

 NA 
10 ⋅ LogM New + CIONew ≥ W ⋅ 10 ⋅ Log ∑ M i  + (1 − W ) ⋅ 10 ⋅ LogM Best − ( R − H 1a / 2),
 i =1 
Where,
MNew is the measurement result of the cell that has entered the reporting range
CIOnew is the cell individual offset which is configured for neighbor cells of servicing cell
Mi is the measurement result of the cells in the active set
NA is the number of cells in the current active set
MBest is the measurement result of the best cell in the current active set
W is the weight factor
R is the reporting range. With the signal strength as an example, R equals to the signal strength
of the best cell in the current active set minus a value
H1a is the hysteresis value of event 1A
In order to reduce the signaling traffic flow of the measurement report, the TIME-TO-
TRIGGER parameter is used so that the UE will not trigger measurement reporting before the
primary pilot enters the reporting range and is maintained for a certain period of time. This
parameter is also used in other events. An example of measurement reporting triggered by event

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1A is given below:

Measurement
quantity
P CPICH 1
Reporting
range

P CPICH 2

P CPICH 3 Time-to-trigger

Reporting Time
event 1A

figure 1 Example of Event 1A

Generally, if event 1A is triggered, the UE will send a measurement report to UTRAN, and
UTRAN will deliver an ACTIVE SET UPDATE signaling message to update the active set.
However, UTRAN may give no response after the UE sends the measurement report (for
example, due to insufficient capacity). In this case, the UE will shift from event reporting to
periodic reporting mechanism, and the content of the measurement report includes the
information of the cells in the active set and the cells in the monitored set that has entered the
reporting range. The UE will not stop sending periodically the measurement report until this cell
is successfully added into the active set or leaves the reporting range.

Event 1B: A primary pilot channel leaves the reporting range


When the following formulas are satisfied, the UE deems that a primary pilot channel has left the reporting
range
 NA 
10 ⋅ LogM old + CIOold ≤ W ⋅ 10 ⋅ Log ∑ M i  + (1 − W ) ⋅ 10 ⋅ LogM Best − ( R + H 1b / 2),
 i =1 
Where,
MOld is the measurement result of the cell that has left the reporting range
CIOold is the cell individual offset which is configured for neighbor cells of servicing cell
Mi is the measurement result of the cell in the active set
NA is the number of cells in the current active set
MBest is the measurement result of the best cell in the current active set
W is the weighted factor
R is the reporting range
H1b is the hysteresis value of event 1B
If several cells satisfy the reporting condition simultaneously after the trigger delay, the UE
will sort the cells according to the measurement values and report all the measurement results.

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Event 1C: The primary pilot channel in a non active set is better than the primary pilot
channel in an active set
When the following formulas are satisfied, a non-active set cell replaces an old active set cell and becomes
an active set cell.
10 ⋅ LogM New + CIO New ≥ 10 ⋅ LogM InAS + CIO InAS + H1c / 2,

MNew is the measurement result Ec/Io of the cell not included in the active set.
CIONew is the individual cell offset for the cell becoming better than the cell in the active set if an
individual cell offset is stored for that cell. Otherwise it is equal to 0.
MInAS is the measurement result Ec/Io of the cell in the active set with the lowest measurement
result.
CIOInAS is the individual cell offset for the cell in the active set that is becoming worse than the
new cell
H1c is the hysteresis parameter for the event 1C, which is Hystfor1C.

Event 1D: The best cell changes

When the following formulas are satisfied, the best cell will be changed.
10 ⋅ LogM NotBest ≥ 10 ⋅ LogM Best + H1d / 2,
where:
MNotBest is the measurement result Ec/Io of a cell not stored in "best cell".

MBest is the measurement result Ec/Io of the cell stored in "best cell".

H1d is the hysteresis parameter for the event 1D, which is Hystfor1D.

2.2 Hard handover measurement

Inter-frequency measurement events are identified with 2X. The frequency quality estimation
involved in events 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E and 2F is defined as follows:

 NA j 
Qcarrier j = 10 ⋅ LogM carrier j = W j ⋅ 10 ⋅ Log  ∑ M i j  + (1 − W j ) ⋅ 10 ⋅ LogM Best j − H / 2,
 i =1 
Where,
Qcarrierj is the logarithmic form of the estimated quality value of frequency j
Mcarrier j is the estimated quality value of frequency j
Mi j is the measurement result of cell i with the frequency of j in the virtual active set
NA j is the number of cells with the frequency of j in the virtual active set
MBest j is the measurement result of the best cell with the frequency of j in the virtual active set
Wj is the weight factor
H is the hysteresis value

Event 2D: The estimated quality value of the used frequency is lower than a certain threshold

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Event 2D can be used to enable the compressed mode to perform inter-frequency measurement. This
threshold is specified by IE “Threshold used frequency” in the measurement control message delivered by
UTRAN.

Event 2F: The estimated quality value of the used frequency is higher than a certain threshold
Event 2F can be used to disable the compressed mode to stop inter-frequency measurement. This threshold
is specified by IE “Threshold used frequency” in the measurement control message delivered by UTRAN.

2.3 Handover algorithms review

The soft handover algorithms example and Inter-RAT handover algorithms example will be
introduced. Handover algorithms control measurement control and handover evaluation.

2.3.1 Soft handover algorithms

1) When event 1A report is received, if the active set is not full, then links are sequenced
and added in the order of good quality to poor quality (CPICH Ec/No) (in case that multiple cells
report event 1A), until the active set is full; if the active set is already full, no processing will be
made.
2) When event 1B is received, if there are more than one links in the active set, then the
braches are sequenced and removed in the order of poor quality to good quality (CPICH Ec/No)
(in case that multiple cells report event 1B), until only one link is left; if there is only one in the
active set, no processing will be made.
3) In case of event 1C, the UE will report the replacing and replaced cells in the event
trigger list. If the active set is not full, then the triggered cell link will be added; if the active set is
already full at this moment and the replaced cell is not the best cell in the active set, then this cell
link will be removed.
4) In case of event 1D, if the triggered cell is an active set cell, then it will be marked as the
best cell and measurement control is updated; if the triggered cell doe not belong to the active
set, then this cell link will be added (if the active set is full, one of the non-best cell will be
removed before this link is added) and marked as the best cell, with measurement control
updated.

2.3.2 Inter system handover algorithms review

In the early time of WCDMA system, Inter-system handover from WCDMA to GSM is very
important, the algorithms can be :
1) Inter-system handover is enabled only in cells located at the verge of WCDMA FDD

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system coverage.
2) For inter-system handover, CPICH RSCP is used as the physical measurement quantity
and events 2D and 2F are used to decide enabling or disabling the compressed mode.
3) For inter-system handover, three compressed mode style sequences are used for
concurrent measurement of GSM RSSI, BASIC identification and BASIC reconfirm, and the
configuration of parameters is oriented to the cell type, namely, the parameters can be selected
and configured based on the cell characteristics and user mobility statistics characteristics.
4) Periodic measurement reports are used for inter-system handover, and the RNC decides
whether to implement hard handover according to the measurement reports.
5) Handover judgement, while the compressed mode is started and this following formulas is
satisfied, Inter-system handover will be implemented.

Mother_RAT + CIO  Tother_RAT + H/2


Where:
Mother_RAT is the estimated quality value RSSI of inter-system frequency
Tother_RAT is the GSM RAT measurement init_threshold, the minimum signal Rxlev requirement for GSM
cell as a handover target cell.
CIO is Cell individual offset , the measurement signal Rxlev offset for GSM cell
H is the hysteresis for GSM RSSI threshold.

2.4 Handover parameters analysis

2.4.1 Soft handover parameters

The main parameters of SHO are: intra-frequecy relative report range, filter coefficient,
hysteresis, time to trigger, cell individual offset.

1. Report range (SHO relative threshold)


These parameters define the difference between the quality of a cell and the overall quality
of the active set (if w=0, then it is the quality of the best cell). The relative threshold parameters
for soft handover include IntraRelThdFor1A (relative threshold for event 1A) and
IntraRelThdFor1B (relative threshold for event 1B).
The parameters determine the size of the soft handover area and the soft handover
subscriber proportion. In a CDMA system, it is required that the UE proportion in soft handover
should be 30% to 40%. If report range is too larger, monitor cell adds to active set cell very
easily, soft handover area is too larger and the forward capacity will be waste serious; if the 1A
and 1B report range is too small, monitor cell is difficult to join to active cell and SHO can’t
implement smoothly, and handover success rate may be low.

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2. Inter-frequency measurement filter coefficient


The filter is configured at Layer 3 intra-frequency measurement report. This parameter used
to smooth the influence of shadow fading and some fast fading burrs. The formula is used to filter
layer1 measurements:
Fn = (1 − a ) ⋅ Fn −1 + a ⋅ M n
Where,
Fn: the updated measurement result after filtering processing.
Fn-1: the old measurement result of the previous moment after filtering processing.
Mn: the latest measured value received from the physical layer.
α = (1/2)(k/2), where, k comes from "Filter coefficient", namely the local FilterCoef. When
α is set to 1, it means there is no Layer 3 filtering.
We can find, the bigger the filter coefficient is, the stronger the smoothing capability of the
burr will be, but the lower the signal tracing capacity will be. If if this parameter is too small,
unnecessary soft handover and ping pong handover will influence the system; if the filter is too
bigger, soft handover can’t implement in time and the call will always dropped in handover area.

3. hysteresis
To limit the amount of event-triggered reports, a hysteresis parameter may be connected
with each reporting event given above. The value of the hysteresis is given to the UE in the
Reporting criteria field of the Measurement Control message.
The bigger the hysteresis is, the stronger the signal fluctuation resistance capability will be,
and the better the ping pong effect will be suppressed; however, the response speed of the
handover algorithm on signal changes will be decreased. Therefore, the radio environment (slow
fading characteristics), the actual handover distance and the user moving speed should be fully
considered for the setting of this parameter.

4. time to trigger

The effect of the time-to-trigger is that the report is triggered only after the conditions for the
event have existed for the specified time-to-trigger.
Mobile stations moving at different speeds respond differently to the time-to-trigger value.
The call drop rate is more sensitive to the time-to-trigger value when the mobile station is in high-
speed movement, while it is less sensitive when the mobile station is in low-speed movement,
and ping-pong handover and mis-handover are suppressed to a certain extent. Therefore, for
cells where there are more high-speed moving mobile stations, this value can be relatively small,
while for cells where there are more low-speed moving mobile stations, this value can be
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relatively big.

5. cell individual offset.


This offset mechanism provides the network with an efficient tool to change the reporting of
an individual primary CPICH.
The bigger this parameter is, the more easily soft handover will occur, and the more UEs will
be in the soft handover state, but the more forward resources will be occupied; the smaller this
parameter is, the more difficultly soft handover will occur, which will be likely to affect the
receiving quality

2.4.2 Hard handover and compressed mode parameters

Presently, the main purpose of inter-RAT handover is to extend the signal coverage range,
so that the UEs at the verge of WCDMA coverage can implement handover to the GSM system
without communication interruption.
There have inter-frequency measurement filter coefficient, hysteresis, time to trigger,
compressed mode enable /disable threshold.

1. 2D event threshold
UE will start compressed mode and measure GSM signal as a handover target cell when the
value of RSCP is below the setting.

2. 2F event threshold
UE will stop compressed mode l when the value of WCDMA cell RSCP is higher than the
setting.
When a cell is at the verger of carrier frequency coverage, it will use RSCP measurement
value as the decision criterion for 2D and 2F. If the compressed mode is expected to start as
early as possible, set the 2D event threshold to a big value; otherwise set it to a small value. To
reduce ping pong start/stop of the compressed mode, increase appropriately the difference
between the 2D and 2F thresholds.

3. GSM RSSI threshold

The minimum signal Rxlev requirement for GSM cell as a handover target cell. The inter-RAT
handover decision threshold is Tother_RAT in the formula described before..

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4. Inter-RAT handover trigger time

If the inter-RAT quality always satisfies the inter-RAT handover decision condition within the
time specified by this parameter, the network will start the inter-RAT handover process.

This parameter and the hysteresis are jointly used to prevent mis-decision caused by burst
jitters of signals in inter-RAT handover decision.
In view that the UEs are already at the verge of the system, this parameter should not be too
big.In high-speed cells, as mobile stations usually move fast, they pass through the handover
area very quickly. In addition, as the shadow fading variance in a high-speed cell is small and
signal jitter after filtered by mobile stations is relatively small, this parameter can be set to
2000ms or lower for high-speed cells.
With reference to the simulation result in simulation reports, the time-to-trigger settings
2000ms and 4000ms satisfy the call drop rate requirement for medium-speed and low-speed
cells. However, considering the inter-RAT handover delay, it is more appropriate to set the time-
to-trigger parameter to 2000ms for medium-speed and low-speed cells.
The time-to-trigger setting should not be lower than the interval of periodic inter-RAT
measurement reports; otherwise it will make no sense. This value can be decreased
appropriately for high-speed cells, for example, to 1200ms, and increased appropriately for
medium-speed and low-speed cells. However, the setting should not exceed 4000ms; otherwise
the inter-RAT handover delay will be too long.

5. Cell individual offset


The measurement signal Rxlev offset for GSM cell. This parameter is used for the inter-RAT
handover decision process, and it is to be set according to the terrain characteristics of the GSM
cells. The UE use the sum of the original cell measured value and this offset as the
measurement result for the UE handover decision. It plays the role of moving the cell boarder in
the handover algorithm. The bigger this parameter is, the higher the handover priority of the
GSM cells will be

6. hysteresis
The hysteresis for GSM RSSI threshold and the setting of which can reduce the probability of
mis-decision caused by signal jitter. This parameter is used to prevent mis-decision caused by
burst jitters of signals in inter-RAT handover decision. This parameter and the inter-RAT quality
thresholds jointly determine whether to trigger an inter-RAT handover decision

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7. Filter Coefficient
The physical meaning and measurement model of this parameter are the same as those for
inter-frequency measurement. The report cycle is 480ms. For the specific analysis, refer to Intra-
frequency Measurement Filter Coefficient

3 Handover optimization

3.1 Soft handover optimization

3.1.1 Soft handover optimization overview

Parameter optimization should be conducted after RF optimization to resolve the drop calls
where the RF conditions should be good exclude the coverage problem. Soft handover
optimization is the most important stage. The network structure isn’t always idea, so some
network problems that RF optimization can’t be done, some drop calls, such as Ping-Pong
handover, small soft handover area, the soft handover optimization can be effective.
SHO optimization is a parameters tuning procedure.The report range can control the
handover area, the filter coefficient can confirm the measurement result, hsyteresis can limit
event report, the time to trigger cofrim the measurement result, CIO changes the report of the
individual cell.
The optimization flow can be found from figure 2 .

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New Sites Integrated

Single Site Verification

Cluster of sites No
ready?

Yes

RF Optimisation

Services Testing &


Parameter Optimisation

Regular Reference Route


Testing & Stats Analysis

Yes Re-optimisation No
Needed?

figure 2 Different Optimisation Phases

3.1.2 SHO Optimization target

In the early phase of the network, from KPI target, soft handover success rate for event
1A&1B&1C should be larger than 95%, and the call drop rate should be smaller than 5%.

3.1.3 Drives Routes

In the early phase of the network, because KPI result don’t change in evidence prior and
post optimization, GPS drive test is very important .It is essential to use identical drive routes
prior and post any optimization changes in order to accurately quantify the impact of such
changes.
When possible, two-way drive tests should be conducted. The follow figure is the routes of 5
sites SHO optimization at sharjah.

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figure 3 the routes of 5 sites SHO optimization at sharjah


The 5 sites are Layyah, Majaz, Shj ExpoCenter, Ansar Mall, Kentucky and the routes are all two-
ways.

3.1.4 Optimization solution

Many handover problems can be resolved through adjusting the soft handover parameters, such
as:
 1A & 1B report range
 time to trigger
 intra-frequceny measurement filter coefficient
 CIO
 hysteresis

3.2 SHO Optimization Analysis Approach

Some RF problems such as high interference at handover area, small handover area that
can’t be solved by RF technique and handover parameters problem at some scenario or cell can
be resolved through SHO optimization.
Small handover area issues, Ping-Pong handover problem, services code error rate high at
handover area, soft handover parameters setting problem are always found.

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3.2.1 Small handover area

This issue may be RNP problem but sometime this can’t be resolved at RF optimization
stage and also could be due to soft handover configuration problem. This will be causing call
dropped .The parameters can be tuned:
Enlarge 1A &1B report range to make the UE monitor cell easily add to active set;
Short 1A time to trig to make the measurement report in time, also can optimize the intra-
frequency measurement coefficient;
This problem can be found at cell handover success rate of cell KPI.
In the early phase of network, the sites are not enough and some RF or RNP problem can’t
be solved by RF means. So the small handover area issues are always RF problem. RF
optimization ended at the following picture sites, we can see there exits some small handover
problems.

figure 4 Scan CPICH SC of best service

3.2.2 Ping-Pong handover

This issue may be RF problem, and also cell soft handover configuration problem.
Cells with many Ping-Pong handover may be causing call dropped and poorer cell capacity.
This can enlarge intra-frequency measurement coefficient and time to trigger.

3.3 Inter-system handover optimization review

Presently, the main purpose of inter-RAT handover is to extend the signal coverage range,

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so that the UEs at the verge of WCDMA coverage can implement handover to the GSM system
without communication interruption.
The configuration GSM neighbor list of WCDMA cells is very important and always make
wrong. At the same time, the parameters optimization is very important.
The optimization solution is parameters configuration such as: 2D & 2F Event threshold,
GSM RSSI threshold, Inter-RAT handover trigger time, intra-frequceny measurement filter
coefficient, CIO and Hysteresis.

3.3.1 GSM neighbor list configuration problem

UE measures the UE GSM neighbor RSSI and BSIC when UE wants to handover from
WCDMA cell to GSM cell, we can always find that one GSM cell frequency RSSI is very strong,
but the GSM cell is always non-Verified. This is always the GSM neighbor configuration problem.
There is a GSM neighbor configuration problem example from the fellow figures:

figure 5 Measure report of GSM neighbor


In this figure, we can see that the GSM neighbor cell RSSI of frequency 117 is very strong, but
the BSIC is non-verified.

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figure 6 3G handover to 2G required


From the target ID, we can find that the the BSIC and cell frequency of GSM cell: CID =
"0x140D",NCC = 6,BCC = 4,BCCHARFCN = 117, From the measure control we can judge that
the GSM neighbor cell BSIC is wrong configuration.
Also from the RNC message, we can found the the road and the WCDMA cell. The follow
figure is the route of GSM neighbor configuration problem.

figure 7 the route of the wrong configuration GSM neighbor

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