Inter Frequency Handover
UMTS on 2nd Carrier
Inter-Frequency Handover
Inter-frequency handover (IFHO) allows the
UTRAN to switch the serving frequency of the
UE during dedicated channel state.
Like the inter-RAT handover, the inter-frequency
handover procedure consists of two steps:
The inter-frequency measurements
The inter-frequency handover
Since IFHO is a hard handover, it employs
compressed mode to facilitate inter-frequency
measurements.
Enabling IFHO
RNC
Parameter
Level
at&t Default
fddIfHoSupp
RNC
FALSE *
defaultHoType
RNC
1*
Level
at&t Default
Comment
Indicates if the RNC supports Inter-Frequency Handover.
* Should be set to TRUE to enable IFHO.
For performing IFHO or IRAT HO for UEs that have drifted to
another RNC, the SRNC needs to know the handover type for cells
in the DRNC. This information is set in defaultHoType in the
WcdmaCarrier MO and is defined for each carrier that serves as a
DRNC. IFHO_PREFERRED = 0, GSM_PREFERRED = 1
NONE = 2 *Should be set to 0 to allow IFHO in the drift RNC.
Cell
Parameter
hoType
Cell
1*
Comment
This parameter indicates per cell if GSM HO, IFHO or none shall
be attempted: IFHO_PREFERRED = 0, GSM_PREFERRED = 1
NONE = 2 * Should be set to 0 to enable IFHO.
UeRc
Parameter
Level
at&t Default
Comment
C_IfHoAllowed
UeRc
0*
Indicates per UeRc state if Inter-Frequency HO is allowed;
0 = Not Allowed, 1 = Allowed * Should be set to 1 to enable IFHO
C_gsmHoAllowed
UeRc
Indicates per UeRc state if Inter-RAT HO is allowed;
0 = Not Allowed, 1 = Allowed
IFHO Block Diagram
1
2
This part is
common to
IF and IRAT
Call Start: DCH ESTABLISHED AND UE
CAPABILITIES CHECK
CONNECTION QUALITY MONITORING START
BAD QUALITY DETECTED
(event 2d or 6d)
no
yes
IF neighbours exist AND
hoType condition fullfilled AND
IFHO allowed for current UeRc
IF EVALUATION STOP
IF EVALUATION START
(Compressed Mode)
4a
4b AS or RAB state change
IF neighbours not available OR
IFHO not allowed for current UeRc
5
6
GOOD QUALITY DETECTED
(event 2f or 6b)
yes
IFHO CONDITIONS FULLFILLED
(event 2b)
IFHO EXECUTION
UE moves to new carrier
Connection Quality Monitoring
Connection Quality Monitoring consists of measurements based on:
DL P-CPICH Ec/No and DL P-CPICH RSCP measurements running
in parallel;
UL UE Tx power measurements.
uplink
Ue Tx Power
downlink
quality = good if all
measurement items are good
CPICH RSCP
CPICH Ec/No
quality = bad if at least
one measurement is bad
CONNECTION QUALITY MONITORING
Configurable
thresholds for DL
based event
triggering
RSCP
Ec/No
bad
good
bad
UeTxPwr
good
good
bad
Max UE Tx pwr for
UL based event
triggering
Bad Quality Detected
3
UE
BAD QUALITY DETECTED
(event 2d or 6d)
RNC
RRC Connection Request
MEASUREMENT REPORT
Reporting event type
Event 2d with indication if it is referring to
Ec/No or RSCP measurements
Event 6d (UETX pwr)
RRC Connection Setup
RRC Connection Setup Complete
RRC Measurement Control
RRC Measurement Report
Connection Quality Status Update
e2d Ec/No
E
E
e2f Ec/No
OR
e2d RSCP
OR
Ec/No
RSCP
UeTx
e6d
e2f RSCP
e6b
Event 2d: If the WCDMA quality on the current used frequency goes below usedFreqThresh2d threshold minus the corresponding
hysteresis, and the condition is maintained during timeToTrigger2d. (can be EcNo or RsCP)
Event 6d: If the UE Tx Power reaches the maximum and the condition is maintained during a time period timeToTrigger6d
Event 2f: If the WCDMA RAN quality on the current used frequency goes above usedFreqRelThresh2f+usedFreqThresh2d threshold plus
the corresponding hysteresis, and the condition is maintained during timeToTrigger2f. (can be EcNo or RsCP)
Event 6b: If the UE Tx Power goes below ueTxPowerThresh6b threshold, and the condition is maintained during a time period
timeToTrigg6b
IFHO Evaluation Start
4 Compress Mode
Compressed Mode Methodology is dependant on the Bearer type:
For conversational bearers, compressed mode is accomplished by accelerating the
data transmission rate (by halving the spreading factor) for a brief period of time
to allow a break in transmission for IFHO OR IRAT measurements
For non-conversational class bearers, data transmission is briefly suspended by
higher layers (layer2) to allow for IFHO or IRAT measurements to be performed
Due to limitations in the Compressed Mode gap patterns used, measurements
for Inter-Frequency Evaluation and Inter-RAT Evaluation are not performed
simultaneously. A decision has to be made on whether evaluation should be
made for Inter-Frequency handover or Inter-RAT handover or Inter-RAT CellChange.
The type of handover to be attempted is set by the parameter
hoType (IFHO_PREFERRED, GSM_PREFERRED, NONE) and
per carrier frequency for external DRNC cells (defaultHoType).
IFHO Condition Fulfilled
5
IFHO CONDITIONS FULFILLED (event 2b)
UE
RRC Connection Request
RNC
Ec/No or RSCP
Used frequency
RRC Connection Setup
Ec/No / RSCP
Non-used frequency
RRC Connection Setup Complete
RRC Measurement Control
Execute handover
(event 2b)
RRC Measurement Report
Start IF meas.
RRC Measurement Control
RRC Measurement Report
Condition on used frequency:
Ec/No < UsedFreqThresh2dEcno + UsedFreqRelThresh4_2bEcno - Hyst4_2b / 2
RSCP < UsedFreqThresh2dRscp + UsedFreqRelThresh4_2bRscp - Hyst4_2b / 2
RSCP < UsedFreqThresh2dRscp + UsedFreqRelThresh4_2bRscp + utranRelThreshRscp - Hyst4_2b / 2
AND
Depending on whether the IF measurements were started
due to Ec/No or
RSCP or
UE Tx power
time
Condition on non-used frequency:
Ec/No > NonUsedFreqThresh4_2bEcno + Hyst4_2b / 2
AND
RSCP > NonUsedFreqThresh4_2bRscp + Hyst4_2b / 2
IFHO Condition Fulfilled
If the Inter-Frequency Handover Evaluation
receives an event 2b MEASUREMENT REPORT
while it is already processing another
MEASUREMENT REPORT, the new one is
buffered.
There is one buffer for the only specified
event 2 MEASUREMENT REPORT. The buffer
holds only the last received report so a new
received report overwrites a report already in
the buffer.
If no event 2b report is buffered, then IFHO
attempts shall be repeated. The number of
IFHO Execution
6 Flow Diagram
The Execution part assesses the amount
of resources in the target WCDMA RAN
cell, according to the proposal received
from the Inter-Frequency Handover
Evaluation algorithm. It interacts with the
Capacity Management functions.
If the attempt succeeds, the actions
necessary to fulfill the handover proposal
are executed.
If execution fails, exception handling is
performed to return to stable situation and
keep the UE connection on the source
WCDMA RAN frequency.
IFHO EXECUTION
IFHO Parameters
Parameter
usedFreqThresh2dEcNo
usedFreqThresh2dRSCP
timeToTrigger2dEcNo
Level
Cell
Cell
RNC
at&t Default
-12 (HHO)
-15 (SHO)
Comment
Threshold for event 2d (the estimated quality of the currently used
WCDMA RAN frequency is below a certain threshold).
Used if measurement quantity is configured to be Ec/No.
-103 to -109 (HHO)
-112 (SHO)
Threshold for event 2d (the estimated power level of the currently used
WCDMA RAN frequency is below a certain threshold).
Used if measurement quantity is configured to be Rscp.
320
Time in milliseconds (ms) between detection of event 2d and sending
of the measurement report, when the measurement quantity is CPICH
EC/NO.
Time in milliseconds (ms) between detection of event 2d and sending
of the measurement report, when the measurement quantity is CPICH
RSCP.
timeToTrigger2dRSCP
RNC
320
hysteresis2d
RNC
Hysteresis for event 2d (Unit: 0.5 dB).
usedFreqRelThresh2fEcno
RNC
Relative threshold for event 2f vs event 2d for the used frequency
when the measurement quantity is Ec/No.
usedFreqRelThresh2fRscp
RNC
Relative threshold for event 2f vs event 2d for the used frequency
when the measurement quantity is RSCP.
timeToTrigger2fEcNo
RNC
640
Time in milliseconds (ms) between detection of event 2f and sending
of the measurement report, when the measurement quantity is CPICH
EC/NO.
Time in milliseconds (ms) between detection of event 2f and sending
of the measurement report, when the measurement quantity is CPICH
RSCP.
timeToTrigger2fRSCP
RNC
640
hysteresis2f
RNC
Hysteresis for event2f (Unit: 05.dB).
IFHO Parameters
Parameter
Level
at&t Default
ueTxPowerThresh6b
RNC
21
Comment
Threshold for event 6b.
Time between detection of event 6b and sending of the measurement
report.
timeTrigg6b
timeTotrigger6d
usedFreqRelThresh4_2bEcNo
RNC
1280
RNC
N/A
320 *
RNC
Time between detection of event 6d and sending of the measurement
report
* Default value by Ericsson has replaced timeTrigg6a
-1
Relative threshold for event 2b vs event 2d, when the 2d measurement
with measurement quantity CPICH EC/NO was started.
This parameter is used to compute the absolute 2b Ec/No used
frequency threshold, by adding it to the current 2d Ec/No threshold
(absolute 2b Ec/No used frequency threshold = usedFreqThresh2dEcno
+ usedFreqRelThresh4_2bEcno).
usedFreqRelThresh4_2bRSCP
RNC
-3
Relative threshold for event 2b vs event 2d when the 2d measurement
with measurement quantity CPICH RSCP was started.
This parameter is used to compute the absolute 2b Rscp threshold, by
adding it to the current 2d Rscp threshold (absolute 2b Rscp used
frequency threshold = usedFreqThresh2dRscp +
usedFreqRelThresh4_2bRscp).
nonUsedFreqThresh4_2bEcNo
RNC
-13
Threshold for measurement 4 event 2b for the non-used frequencies
when the measurement quantity is Ec/No.
nonUsedFreqThresh4_2bRSCP
RNC
-105
Threshold for measurement 4 event 2b for the non-used frequencies
when the measurement quantity is RSCP.
IFHO Parameters
Parameter
utranRelThreshRSCP
timeTrigg4_2b
Level
RNC
RNC
at&t Default
Comment
Relative threshold used during bad connection quality, when the
measurement quantity is CPICH RSCP.
The absolute 2b used frequency threshold will be calculated as:
absolute 2b Rscp used frequency threshold = usedFreqThresh2dRscp +
usedFreqRelThresh4_2bRscp + utranRelThreshRscp.
100
Time between detection of event 2b and sending of the measurement
report, for measurement 4.
Unit: 1 ms
Hyst4_2b
RNC
10
Hysteresis for measurement 4 event 2b.
Unit: 0.1dB
IfhoAmountPropRepeat
RNC
Maximum number of repeated proposals of non-used frequency cell(s)
for handover based on the same measurement report
Minimum time interval between proposals of the same non-used
frequency cell for handover based on the same measurement report.
Unit: 0.2 seconds
IfHoPropRepeatInterval
RNC
IFHO Scenario Overlay
Adding the second carrier where capacity increase is most needed.
As the traffic in the network increases, the second carrier coverage is then
expanded gradually.
Call continuity to support for
mobile units leaving and
entering the multi-carrier area
while in Cell_DCH stateis
usually provided through IFHO
UMTS F2
UMTS F1
IFHO Scenario Overlay
Cell Reselection
IRAT
IFLS
IFHO
IRAT
IFHO
IFHO
IFHO
IRAT
IRAT
IRAT
F2
IRAT
GSM
B
B
UMTS F2
B
B
B
UMTS F1
F1 IRAT and F2 - IFHO
Border setting for 2d
thresholds for EDGE f2 cells.
usedFreqThresh2dEcNo,
usedFreqThresh2dRSCP.
Ensure quality on non used freq
before event 2b.
nonUsedFreqThresh4_2bEcNo,
nonUsedFreqThresh4_2bRSCP
These thresholds should always
be higher than 2d triggers so
ping-pong hard handovers dont
occuer.
F1
IFHO Scenario Infill sites
A F2 cell is added where there is a coverage hole.
Scenario is only caused when F1 cell cannot be built in the area.
Requires the spectrum to be cleared for both band!
Long term plan should be to either
convert the F2 cell into F1 or dual
banding the infill site
UMTS F2
UMTS F1
IFHO Scenario Infill sites
Cell Reselection
IFHO
IRAT
IFHO
IRAT
IFHO
F2
IFHO
IRAT
F1 IRAT/IFHO and F2 IFHO
2d thresholds for F2 are set
to border settings for quicker
IFHO
2d thresholds for F1 are set
to interior settings for slower
IFHO.
F1
GSM
Small road
Drop Call!
UMTS F2
UMTS F1
Due to limitations in the Compressed
Mode gap patterns used, measurements
for Inter-Frequency Evaluation and InterRAT Evaluation are not performed
simultaneously. A decision has to be
made on whether evaluation should be
made for Inter-Frequency handover or
Inter-RAT handover or Inter-RAT CellChange.
Highway
