LTE HANDOVER ANALYSIS

CONTENT

1. Hand Over Overview

2. Type of HO (Inter/Intra,S1/X2)

3. LTE Call Flows for S1 and X2 Based HO

4. LTE Inter Frequency Connected Mode Mobility

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 HANDOVER
The process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel to
another in a cellular network.

Basic reasons why a handover might be conducted:

The user has moved out of range
The base station is full

It is a key component in cellular network mobility management as it requires a

specific latency on server interruption time.

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 TYPE OF HANDOVERS
There are Two types of Hand Over in LTE :
Intra- and Inter-frequency handovers.

AN INTRA-FREQUENCY HANDOVER is where the UE remains on the

same LTE channel and merely moves to another cell on the same frequency.

AN INTER-FREQUENCY HANDOVER is when the UE moves to a different

LTE channel; an operator may have multiple LTE channels in their market in
order to serve high traffic demands.

There is also an inter-RAT (Radio Access Technology) handover is where the UE

moves to an entirely different radio network, such as UMTS or 1xEV-DO.

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 MOBILITY TYPES

There are Two types of Handover procedures in LTE for UEs in Connected Mode:

S1-HANDOVER PROCEDURE
HO should be done via MME between Source and Target eNodeBs

No X2 interface established between the Source and Target eNodeBs

Configured to initiate handover towards a particular target eNodeB via

the S1 interface
X2-HANDOVER PROCEDURE
The handover is directly performed between two eNodeBs
make the preparation phase quick
Data forwarding may be operated per bearer in order to minimize data
loss
The MME is only informed at the end of the handover procedure
once the handover is successful
in order to trigger the path switch
The release of resources at the source side is directly triggered from the
target eNodeB
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CALL FLOW- S1 BASED INTER ENODEB HANDOVER

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CALL FLOW- X2 BASED INTER ENODEB HANDOVER

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LTE INTER FREQUENCY CONNECTED MODE MOBILITY
Event A1 Serving RSRP becomes better than A1 Event threshold

Event A2 Serving RSRP becomes worse than A2 Event threshold

1) Associated with two thresholds
2) > Entering Coverage Alarm: Higher threshold used to start measurement gaps
3) > Below Serving Floor: Lower threshold used for connection release and blind redirection

Event A3 Neighbor RSRP becomes better than an offset relative to the serving cell RSRP.
Normally used for LTE Intra-Freq Handovers.

Event A4 Neighbor RSRP becomes better than serving cell RSRP. Normally used for LTE Inter-
Freq carrier offloading.

Event A5 Serving RSRP becomes worse than threshold1 and neighbor RSRP becomes better
than threshold2. Normally used for LTE Inter-Freq Handovers

Event B1 IRAT neighbor becomes better than threshold. Normally used for CS Fall back
Event B2 Serving becomes worse than Threshold1 and IRAT becomes better than threshold2.

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LTE INTER FREQUENCY CONNECTED MODE MOBILITY

A1(Leaving-Coverage-Alarm)

A2 (Below-Serving-Floor)
A2 (Entering-Coverage-Alarm)

A2 (Below-Serving-Floor)

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LTE INTER FREQUENCY CONNECTED MODE MOBILITY

A1(Leaving-Coverage-Alarm) -95

A2 (Entering-Coverage-Alarm) -100

A2 (Below-Serving-Floor) -120

UE always measure Event A3 with measurementPurpose =Mobility-Intra-Freq

UE always measure Event A2 with measurementPurpose = Below-Serving-Floor

De-configure event A1(measurementPurpose = Leaving-Coverage-

Alarm)
De-configure event A5(Mobility-Inter-Freq-to-EUTRA)
De-configure eventB2 (Mobility Inter-RAT)
Configure A2(Entering-Coverage-Alarm)

De-configure A2(Entering-Coverage-Alarm)
Configure A1(Leaving-Coverage-Alarm)
Configure A5(Mobility-Inter-Freq-to-EUTRA)
Configure B2 (Mobility Inter-RAT

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LTE INTER FREQUENCY HANDOVER EXAMPLE
Event A5 based LTE Inter frequency Handover
RSRP RSRP
Trigger Event
Serving B25 cell A2 Condition 1 of A5 UE trigger EventA5 Target B41 cell
fulfilled for HO towards
B41 neighbor

A1 -97dbm

A2_CA -100dbm

A5_Thr1-105dbm

reportamount
A5_Thr2-110dbm

timeToTrigger (480 ms) Time

Condition 2 of A5 fulfilled

reportinterval (240 ms)

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