GSM Handover Algorithm

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Objectives

o Upon completion of this course, participant will be understand about the essentials
of GSM handover:

Outline the types of handover

Overview of the essentials of GSM handover

Handover flow

Algorithm of different handovers

Handover data configuration

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Contents

1. Handover Introduction

2. Handover Algorithm Process

2.1 General HO Process
2.2 Measure and Measurement Result Report
2.3 Measurement Report Preprocessing
2.4 Handover Judgment
2.5 Handover Implementation

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1. Handover Introduction

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Purposes of Handover
One of the key elements of a mobile phone or cellular telecommunications system, is that
the system is split into many small cells to provide good frequency re-use and coverage.
However as the mobile moves out of one cell to another it must be possible to retain the
connection.

In telecommunications there is purposes of Handover;

To keep a continuous communication with a moving MS
To improve network service performance;
To reduce call drop rate
To reduce congestion rate

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Handover classification by Reason

No DL MR Emergency HO
Timing Advance (TA) HO
1. Emergrncy Handover Interference HO
Rx_Level_Drop HO
Bad Quality (BQ) HO
Handover 2. Enhanced dual band HO
classification by
Reason EDGE HO
3. Load Handover
PBGT HO
Layer HO
4. Normal Handover
MS Fast Moving HO
Concentric Cell HO
AMR HO

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HO classification by synchronization

MSC MSC
NSS Network

BSC BSC BSC

BTS
BTS
CELL BTS BTS BTS

Case 2 Case 3
Case 1 Case 5
Case 4

Synchronous Handover: the target BTS shall not send PHY INFO message
Asynchronous Handover: the target BTS shall send PHY INFO message

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Classification by Equipment and Channel

Within the GSM system there are four types of handover that can be performed for
GSM only systems:
Intra-BTS handover: This form of GSM handover occurs if it is required to change the
frequency or slot being used by a mobile because of interference, or other reasons. In
this form of GSM handover, the mobile remains attached to the same base station
transceiver, but changes the channel or slot.
Inter-BTS Intra BSC handover: This for of GSM handover or GSM handoff occurs when
the mobile moves out of the coverage area of one BTS but into another controlled by
the same BSC. In this instance the BSC is able to perform the handover and it assigns a
new channel and slot to the mobile, before releasing the old BTS from communicating
with the mobile.
Inter-BSC handover: When the mobile moves out of the range of cells controlled by
one BSC, a more involved form of handover has to be performed, handing over not only
from one BTS to another but one BSC to another. For this the handover is controlled by
the MSC.
Inter-MSC handover: This form of handover occurs when changing between networks.
The two MSCs involved negotiate to control the handover.

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2.1 General HO Process

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General HO Process

MS goes into Dedicated Mode

1. Measure and measurement result report

2. Measurement report processing

3. Handover Judgment

4. Handover implementation

MS goes into new dedicated mode

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2.1 Measurement Report

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Measurement Report

Uplink MR includes uplink receiving level and quality.

Downlink MR includes downlink receiving level, downlink receiving

quality of the serving cell and other downlink receiving levels from the
neighbor cells. The downlink
measurement report
of the neighbor cell
(BCCH)

Neighbor cell

Serving cell

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Period of Measurement Report

The downlink MR is sent to BTS in SACCH uplink

The interval is 480ms/per time when MS is on TCH

The interval is 470ms/per time when MS is on SDCCH

480ms 4 TCH Multi-frames

12TCH 1SACCH 12TCH 1 Idle

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2.2 Measurement Report
Processing

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Rangking Processing

Measurement Report Preprocessing

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Measurement Report Interpolation

No. n+4

Continuous MR Flow
MR
MR
MR

MR

MR

MR

Missing by some reason

No. n

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Measurement Report Filtering

Continuous MR Flow
MR
MR
MR

MR

MR

MR

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2.3 Handover Judgement

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General Handover Process

MS Goes into Penalty Processing

Dedicated Mode
Ranking Processing Enhanced Dual Band HO

Measure and Measurement

Result Report OM Forced HO Load HO
Normal HO
Direct Retry
MR. Preprocessing Edge HO
Emergency HO
No DL MR HO MS Fast Moving HO

Handover Judgment Layer HO

TA HO

Interference HO PBGT HO
Handover Implementation
Rx Level Drop HO Concentric Cell HO
MS Goes into New
Dedicated Mode Bad Quality HO AMR HO

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Penalty Processing

HO Fail

Emergency
AMR HO
(TA & BQ)
Fail
HO

Penalty

Intra-cell MS Fast
HO Moving HO

Concentric
Cell HO

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Rangking Processing

The ranking result: target cell selection of handover

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M Rule

Begin

Finish to all Yes

neighbor cells? End
No
No An BSC external neighboring Yes No No Delete the cell from
Direct retry? [Inter-BSC SDCCH HO
cell& the current channel is Allowed] is Yes? the cell list?
SDCCH ?
Yes
Yes

If the cell flow is overload ?

Yes

No

RX_LEV_DL(n) < [Min DL Power Yes Delete this cell from

on HO Candidate Cell](n)+
the cell list
[Min Access Level Offset](s)?

For service cell:

No
Min Access Level Offset=0
RX_LEV_UL(n) < [Min UP Power on HO Yes
Candidate Cell](s)+
[Min Access Level Offset](s)?
M rule will remove the neighbor cells from
the candidate cell list according to the flow.
No

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K Rule
o All the candidate cells are ranked in descending order according to the K
value
Begin

Yes
Finish to calculate
value K to all cells? End

No
Yes No
Serving cell?

K=0 K = RX_LEV (n) RX_LEV (s)

Cell B
Cell A
E Cell C
Receiving Level Cell F Serving Cell
A Serving
Cell D
Cell Cell E
F C D B

Cell

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Network Feature Adjustment

o After network feature adjustment, all the candidate cells have their own 16
bits value.
o The smaller the value is, the higher the handover priority and position of the
cell are in the candidate cell list, then it is possible to be the candidate cell.

The Lowest
Weight
The Highest
Weight

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Network Feature Adjustment

o The 1st~3rd bits

The bit value indicates the priority of downlink receiving level according to
the cell signal level and the penalty process taking place beforehand.
The values come from max. 6 candidate cells and 1 serving cell according to the
level ranges from 000~110. The value for the cell with the strongest signal level is
000.

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Network Feature Adjustment

o The 4th bit: Inter-cell HO hysteresis bit.

Note: In PBGT HO, whichever the greater of the inter-cell ( of the same layer )
hysteresis and PBGT threshold, that value will be used in the PBGT HO.

Yes Is serving cell? No

RX_LEV_DL (n) >=

Always set to 0 RX_LEV_DL (s) + Yes
Set to 0
[Inter-cell HO hysteresis]

No

Set to1

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Network Feature Adjustment

o The 5th~10th bits

The bit value is decided according to their position in Huawei hierarchical network
structure.

Huawei cell layers can be divided into 4 layers and each layer can be further divided
into 16 different priorities.

So there are 64 different priorities in Huawei hierarchical cell structure

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Hierarchical Cell Structure

Umbrella Cell GSM 900 Layer 4

low

GSM 900 GSM 900

Layer 3
GSM900 Cell

GSM1800 GSM1800 GSM1800

Layer 2
GSM1800 Cell

GSM900 GSM900 GSM900 GSM900

Layer 1
Micro Cell GSM1800 GSM1800 GSM1800 GSM1800 high

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Network Feature Adjustment

o The 11th bit: The bit value is decided by cell-load-sharing criterion.

This bit is affected by 14th bit.
Yes 11th bit is
System load>=[System Flux Threshold for Load HO] or [Load
HO Allowed ] =No ? turned off

No

Yes No
Is serving cell?

No Cell load >= [Load cell load >=[ Load Rep. No

HO Threshold](s)? on Candidate Cell](n)?

Yes Yes

set to 0 set to 1 set to 1 set to 0

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Network Feature Adjustment

o 12th bit and 13th bit: Whether share the same BSC or MSC.

Yes No
Is serving cell?

Both 12th and 13th set to 0 Yes

Is [Co-BSC/MSC Adj] No Turn off
yes? 12th&13th bit
Yes No
Co-BSC?

Yes No
Co-MSC?

The same BSC: Different BSC: Different MSC:

12th set to 0 12th set to 1 12th set to 0
13th set to 0 13th set to 0 13th set to 1

See 14th bit

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Network feature adjustment

o The 14th bit: Layer HO threshold adjustment bit.

Yes No
Is serving cell?

Yes RX_LEV_DL >= [Inter-layer HO RX_LEV_DL >= [Inter-layer HO Yes

Threshold] [Inter-layer HO Hysteresis]? Threshold] + [Inter-layer HO Hysteresis]?

No No
Bit 14th set to 1, and bit
set to 0 5th ~13th are turned off set to 0

The 14th bit: Layer HO threshold adjustment bit.

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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No DL Measurement Report Handover

o When the quality of Um interface become worse and worse, it is for the
worse uplink quality that MS can not deliver downlink MR, while the
downlink quality is not bad enough for MS to receive the downlink message
normally.

Neighbor cell

Serving cell

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No DL Measurement Report

Begin
UL_Qua. (after filering)
>=[No Dl Mr.Ul Qual
No Is [No Dl Mr. HO HO Limit]?
Allowed] Yes ? Yes
Yes Only one No
Yes
cadidate cell?
No
Report 1 DL MR at lease?
No
Yes Is serving cell?
Select the candidate cell
No <=[Cons.No Dl Mr. Yes with the highest priority,
Ho Allowed Limit]? No exluding serving cell
[Intrecell HOAllowed]?
Yes Yes
No >= signal quality No >=[Forbidden time
filter length? after MAX Times]?
Yes Yes
No No Dl Mr. in Trigger
current Mr.? No DL Mr. HO

Yes

End signal quality filter length:

For TCH:[Filter Length for TCH Qual]
For SDCCH:[Filter Length for SDCCH Qual]

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 Timing Advance Handover

o Because a MS is far away from its serving BTS, the practice TA value is
more than TA threshold configured in data configuration, TA handover
is triggered.
Handover
Triggering
TA(s) TA(n)
Handover Triggering Zone
TA Threshold(n)
TA Threshold(s)
or

Time

Neighbor cell

Serving cell

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Timing advance handover

Begin

No Is [TA HO Allowed] Select the cell with the

Yes ? highest priority in the
Yes cadidate cell list

No The actual TA >=

End Yes
[TA Threshold]? Is serving cell?
No
Yes
TA(n is in the same BTS) Yes
No
Any neighbour cell <=[TA Threshold](s)?
exist? No
Yes
No Suitable cell
exist?
Yes
o Triggering condition Trigger
TA handover
The actual TA >= TA Threshold
o Object cell selection
The cell must be of the highest priority in the candidate cell sequence and meet the following
restrictions.

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Interference handover

For a MS or a BTS, when the receiving quality RX_Lev

Handover Triggering
is lower than the interference quality Zone
threshold and receiving level is higher than the Lev_Thr
interference level threshold, it is considered
that interference exists in serving cell, so
interference handover is triggered.
Qual_Thr Rx_Qual

Interference
Origin

Neighbor cell

Serving cell

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Interference Handover

Begin

Select the cell with the

No Is [Interference HO highest priority in the
Allowed] Yes ? cadidate cell list

Yes
Yes No
Is serving cell?
No UL or DL receiving
End
Quality(s)>=A?
Rx_Level(n)>=
No No
Yes [Intracell HO Allowed] yes [Inter-layer HO Threshold](n) +
& cell not punished? [Inter-layer HO Hysteresis](n)?
No
Any neighbour cell
exist? Yes Yes
Yes
No Any suitable cell
exist?
None AMR FR:
Yes
A = RXQUALn, 1<=n<=12
Trigger
AMR FR: interference handover
A = RXQUAL1, n=1;
A = RXQUALn + RXLEVoff, 2<=n<=12

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Data Configuration of interference HO
Default Value
Receiving Level(-110dBm) Receiving Quality
Parameter
RXQUAL1 <=30 70

RXQUAL2 =31 60

RXQUAL3 32~35 59

RXQUAL4 36~38 58

RXQUAL5 39~41 57

RXQUAL6 42~45 40

RXQUAL7 46~48 55

RXQUAL8 49~52 54

RXQUAL9 53~55 53

RXQUAL10 56~58 52

RXQUAL11 59~62 51

RXQUAL12 >=63 50

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Rx_Level_Drop Handover

Begin

No [Rx_Level_Drop HO Select the cell with the

Allowed] Yes ? highest priority in the
Yes cadidate cell list

Satisfy the Formula&

No The lastest RX_LEV_UL(s) < Yes No
End Is serving cell?
[Edge HO UL RX_LEV Threshold]?

No Priority is higher than

End
Yes serving cell?
No
Any neighbour cell Yes
exist? Trigger
Yes Rx_Level_Drop handover

( A1 10)X 1 + ( A2 10)X 2 + ( A3 10)X 3 + ( A4 10)X 4 +

Formula:
( A5 10)X 5 + ( A6 10)X 6 + ( A7 10)X 7 + ( A8 10)X 8 < B

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Bad Quality Handover

Begin

No Is [BQ HO Allowed]
Select the cell with the
Yes ?
highest priority in the
Yes
cadidate cell list
UL_Rx_Q(s)>=[UL Qual.
No
End Threshold] or DL_Rx_Q(s) Yes No
>=[DL Qual. Threshold]? Is serving cell?

No RX_LEV_DL (n) > RX_LEV_DL (s) No

Yes [Intracell HO Allowed] yes
+ Inter-cell HO hysteresis(s)
No & cell not punished? -BQ HO Margin(s) ?
Any neighbour cell
exist? Yes Yes
Yes
No Suitable cell
exist?
Yes
Trigger
BQ handover

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Enhanced Dual Band Handover

o Enhanced dual band cell is two different band cells which locate a
common site, and have the same azimuth.
o Purpose
During the procedure of channel assignment and handover, 900M cell and
1800M cell can share their resource.
Assign the channel with low load in UL to MS preferentially.
Make MS handover from the high load cell to the low load cell.

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Channel Assignment of Enhanced Dual Band HO

o TCH assignment (SDCCH channel in UL)

Begin
from UL

No [Assignment Optimization Yes

of UL Subcell Allowed
or not] ?
Cell load of UL > Yes
[UL Subcell General
No Overload Threshold(%)]?
Yes
No
A
Assign TCH in UL
or direct retry identification No Any idle TCH Yes
or queuing Available in OL?
Assign TCH
in OL
A: RX_LEV_OL>= [Incoming OL Subcell HO level Threshold(dB)] and
RX_LEV_UL RX_LEV (n) >[Distance Between Boundaries of UL and OL Subcells(dB)]

Attention:
RX_LEV (n): RX_LEV of the strongest neighboring cell which has the same frequency band and layer
with under laid subcell, but locates in a different BTS. If there is no such a cell, this value is -110dBm
If [ATCBHoSwitch] is [Close], the second condition is turn off.

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Channel Assignment of Enhanced Dual Band HO

o TCH assignment (SDCCH channel in OL)

Begin
from OL

No [Assignment Optimization Yes

of OL Subcell Allowed or
not ] No ?
Cell load of UL<
Yes No
[UL Subcell Lower
Load Threshold]?
Assign TCH
in UL Yes Any idle TCH No
Available in OL?
Assign TCH
in OL
No Any idle TCH Yes
Assign TCH in OL Available in UL?
or direct retry identification Assign TCH
or queuing in UL

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Enhanced Dual Band HO(UO )

o Triggering condition for TCH Load HO from UL to OL for high load in UL

[Load HO From UL Subcell No

Begin to OL Subcell Allowed] Yes ? End

Yes

Refresh cell load Yes Cell load of UL>=[UL Subcell No

per second Serious Overload Threshold(%)]?

B-C B

No Cell load of UL>=[UL Subcell

General Overload Threshold(%)]?
Adjust HO zone basing
on HO step and HO period
Yes
No A & Satisfy P/N & Yes No
not within penalty time? Any MS in HO zone?

Yes
B=[UL Subcell Load Hierarchical HO Period(s)] Trigger
C=[Modified Step Length of UL Load HO Period(s)] UL to OL
HO step: [Step Length of UL Subcell Load HO(dB)]
HO zone: [Incoming OL Subcell HO level Threshold(dB)]~-47dBm
HO Period: [UL Subcell Load Hierarchical HO Period(s)]
RX_LEV_OL >= [Incoming OL Subcell HO level Threshold(dB)] and
A:
RX_LEV_UL RX_LEV (n) > [Distance Between Boundaries of UL and OL Subcells(dB)]

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Enhanced Dual Band HO(OU )

o Triggering condition for TCH HO from OL to UL for moving

Begin

Yes
No
A End
Yes
No
Satisfy P/N?
Generally, Object cell maybe UL or
Yes other neighbor cell is
Select Neighbor cell
with the highest priority

Trigger
OL to UL

RX_LEV_OL <[Outgoing OL Subcell HO level Threshold(dB)] or

A:
RX_LEV_UL RX_LEV (n) < [Distance Between Boundaries of UL and OL Subcells(dB)]
[Distance Hysteresis Between Boundaries of UL and OL Subcells(dB)]

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Enhanced Dual Band HO(OU )

o Triggering condition for TCH Load HO from OL to UL for low load in UL

Begin
End

[Load HO of OL Subcell No
to UL Subcell Enable] Yes ?
Confirm:
Yes HO zone and HO step
Refresh cell load
No
per second Any MS in HO zone?

Yes
No Cell load of UL <[UL Subcell The object cell must be
Lower Load Threshold(%)]? the underlaid subcell Trigger OL to UL
and satisfy condition A
Yes
No
Satisfy P/N?
Yes

HO zone: [Outgoing OL Subcell HO Level Threshold(dB)] ~ -47dBm

HO step: [Step Length of OL Subcell Load HO(dB)]
A: RX_LEV_UL >= Inter-layer HO Threshold + Inter-layer HO Hysteresis

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Load Handover
Handover triggering zone

Load of Neighboring Cell

Load HO
Threshold Load Req. on Candidate
Cell

Time

Normal cell

Congested cell Congested cell

Congested cell

Normal cell Normal cell

Normal cell

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Load Handover

o As load HO may trigger several HOs, we need to consider the CPU

load (system flow level) before triggering it. In addition, load HO is
executed step by step, that is, the edge HO thrsh. raises according to
certain step and period and will stop when out of the Load HO Zone.
Load HO zone Normal HO border

Cell A Cell B

Load HO bandwidth
CONF_HO_RXLEV+CLS_Offset Edge HO threshold
CONF_HO_RXLEV

Load HO step level

CONF_HO_RXLEV+CLS_Ramp

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Load Handover

Begin
Select the cell with the highest
No Is [Load HO Allowed] priority in the cadidate cell list
Yes ?
Yes
Yes
Is serving cell?
Current system flux<=
End [System Flux Threshold No
No for Load HO]?
Yes No
Yes BSC internal cell?
No No
No Load of service cell >= C&D C
[Load HO Threshold]?
Yes Yes
Yes
No Load HO timer No Suitable cell Yes Trigger
T begin? End
exist? load handover
Star timer T Yes
No Load HO timer Yes
B: [Edge HO_DL_RX_LEV Threshod]<DL_RX_Lev(s)
T overflow? < [Edge HO_DL_RX_LEV Threshod]+A
C: RX_LEV (n)>= [Inter-layer HO Threshold] +
Caculate A= Caculate A=
T [Inter-layer HO Hysteresis]
( + 1) Step [Load HO Bandwidth]
Period D: load(n)< Load Req. on Candidate Cell
Step: [Load HO Step Level]
No Yes Period: [Load HO Step Period]
B
[Load HO Bandwidth]
Step A
A [Load HO Bandwidth] 0 TT ( 1) Period
Step

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EDGE Handover

Handover
RX_Lev Triggering

As a MS moves to the edge of a cell, when the

RX_LEV Thr receiving level of MS or BTS is lower than the edge
handover threshold, handover is triggered in order
to look for a better serving cell.
Time
P/N
P: Watch Time
N: Valid Time

Neighbor cell

Serving cell

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EDGE Handover

Begin

No
Is [Fringe HO Allowed]
Yes ? Select cell(n) whose 16 bit value is
Yes higher than serving cell and
whose level satifys P/N rule(n)
basing on A
UL_Rx_Lev(s) < [Edge HO Yes Refresh
UL RX_LEV Threshod]? its timer

No No
Any neighbor cell?
Yes
Satisfy P/N rule(s)?
Yes
No
Trigger
DL_Rx_Lev(s) < [Edge HO Yes Refresh Edge handover
DL RX_LEV Threshod]? its timer

No
No
End Satisfy P/N rule(s)?
A: DL_Rx_Lev(n)>
Yes
DL_Rx_Lev(s)+[Inter-cell HO Hysteresis]

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Fast Moving Handover
Time Handover Triggering

1 1 2 3 Cells
Number
P/N
P: Watch Cells
N: Valid Cells

The condition of MS Fast-Moving Handover is that a MS is moving fast (for example moving on a highway), and the area is covered by
two layers, that is micro cell and macro cell.
MS Fast-Moving Handover is mainly used to solve the handover of MS during fast-moving, that is to say, to avoid MS handover to the
micro cell to increase handover time and signaling flow, thereby increase service quality
MS Fast-moving time Threshold If the time used by MS to pass this cell is less than this threshold, it means that MS passes the cell
quickly.
MS Fast-moving watch cells P The total number of cells for judging whether a MS is fast moving or not.
MS Fast-moving valid cells N Total N of actual cells that MS fast passes.
When N equal to or more than P cells that MS lately passes are fast passing ones, the fast moving handover algorithm will be started.

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Fast Moving Handover

Begin

No Is [MS Fast Moving HO

Allowed] Yes ?
Yes
Yes Is the target cell
the serving cell?
No

Yes Is the serving Refresh timer(s)

cell on layer 4?
No
End
Is the best neighbor No
Yes
cell is the last
original cell?

No Yes Select the neighbor cell with the highest priority &
Satisfy P / N rule? on the 4th layer & satisfy RX_LEV(n)>= Inter-layer
HO threshold(n) + Inter-layer HO hysterisis(n)

No Yes Trigger MS fast-

Any cell satisfy the
condition above? moving handover

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Layer Handover

Begin

Is [Level HO No
Allowed] Yes ?
Yes
No
Any neighbor cell exit? End

Yes

16 bit valu(n)< No
16 bit value(s)l? Identify the next cell

Yes

A & ( layer(n)< layer(s) No

or level(n)<level(s) )?

Yes
No
Satisfy P/N rule(n)?
Yes
Trigger A: RX_LEV(n)>= Inter-layer HO threshold(n)
layer handover + Inter-layer HO hysterisis(n)

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Power Budget Handover

In areas with densely distributed cells, the actual radio coverage

range has become far larger than the distance between BTS. If
Handover MS keeps the conversation within a cell, it will not be effectively
Triggering
Path Loss (dB) handed over to a nearby cell with low transmission power and
that will lead to over shooting, thus increasing the interference
of radio environment and complicating network planning and
PBGT HO 5 optimization. To solve this problem, Huawei develops PBGT
Threshold
handover algorithm that is based on path loss.
PBGT handover algorithm is intended for the handover based on
Time path loss, in real time, it seeks a cell with lower path loss and
P/N P: Watch Time meeting certain system requirements, and judges whether its
N: Valid Time necessary to perform handover.

126-119=7dB>5dB

119dB

126dB

Neighbor cell

Serving cell

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Power Budget Handover
Begin

Is [PBGT HO No
Allowed] Yes ?

Yes
Is current channel Yes
End
signal channel?
No
Search next
neighborcell
No

No Satisfy P / N rule?
layer(n)=layer(s)&
level(n)=level(s)? Yes
Yes
Trigger
No PBGT HO
Path loss (s) Path loss (n)
>PBGT HO Threshold

Yes

Refresh timer(s)

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Concentric Cell

o Purposes
Maximize coverage area

Reduce interference and improve frequency reuse density

o Construction methods
Different combiner loss

Different propagation loss

Modify the transmission power of TRX, the down tilt of antennas, etc.

By HO parameters

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Classification and HO Judgment of
Concentric Cell

Normal concentric
cell Enhance concentric
cell

Receiving level Receiving level

Time advance Time advance

Quality Quality
A

o
ATCB

Cell load of underlaid

There are two kinds of concentric cell handover:

Normal concentric cell handover
Enhance concentric cell handover
The difference of these two handovers is that enhance concentric cell handover takes
into account the cell load of underlaid.

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Normal Concentric Cell HO

underlaid
Receiving Level Threshold
Receiving Level Hysteresis

Receiving Qaulityl Threshold

TA Threshold
overlaid
TA Hysteresis

Division of underlaid and overlaid is decided by MS downlink receive level ,TA value and
quality.

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Normal Concentric Cell HO(OU )

o Flow for TCH HO from overlaid to underlaid

No
[OL to UL HO Yes [Penalty Time of OtoU No
Begin End
Allowed] Yes ? HO Fail(s)] overflow ?

Yes

No [RX_LEV for UO No [RX_QUAL for UO [TA for UO HO No

HO Allowed] Yes? HO Allowed] Yes? Allowed] Yes?
Yes Yes
No
Rx_Dl_Level<=[RX_LEV thshold] Rx_Dl_Quality>= Current TA>=[TA Threshold]+ No
-[RX_LEV Hysteresis] [RX_QUAL Treshold]? [TA Hysteresis]?
Yes Yes Yes
No
P/N rule? End
Yes
Trigger OL to UL

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Normal Concentric Cell HO(UO )

o Criterion for TCH HO from underlaid to overlaid

[Penalty Time of UtoO No

Begin HO Fail(s)] overflow ?
Yes
[UL to OL HO Yes Time of HO failure< No
Allowed] Yes ? [MaxRetry Time after UtoO Fail]? End
No Yes
Yes Rx_Dl_Level >= No
End [RX_LEV for UO [RX_LEV Threshold] +
HO Allowed] Yes? [RX_LEV Hysteresis]
No Yes
Yes Rx_Dl_Qual<= No
[RX_QUAL for UO [RX_QUAL Treshold]?
HO Allowed] Yes?
No Yes
[TA for UO HO Yes Current TA<=[TA Threshold]- No
Allowed] Yes? [TA Hysteresis]?
No
No
P/N rule?
Yes
Trigger UL to OL

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Enhance Concentric Cell HO

o Division of underlaid and overlaid is decided by MS downlink

receive level, quality, TA value and cell load of underlaid.

underlaid
U to O HO Receiving Level Threshold
O to U HO Receiving Level Hysteresis

Receiving Qaulityl Threshold

TA Threshold
overlaid
TA Hysteresis

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Enhance Concentric Cell HO(UO )

o User selection flow from UL to OL for high load in UL

[UtoO Traffice
Begin HO Allowed] Yes ?

Yes End
Refresh cell load
per second

Yes Cell load of UL>=[En Iuo Out No

Cell Serious OverLoad Thred]?
No Cell load of UL>=[En Iuo Out
Cell General OverLoad Thred]? (B-1)/second B

Yes
Adjust HO zone basing
on HO step and HO period

No
B=[Underlay HO Step Period(s)] Any MS in HO zone?
HO step: [Underlay HO Step Level]
Yes
HO period: B-1 or B
Trigger
HO zone: begin from -47dBm UL to OL

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Enhance Concentric Cell HO(OU )

o Flow for TCH HO from overlaid to underlaid for low load in underlaid
[UtoO Traffice
Begin HO Allowed] Yes ?

Yes End
[OL to UL HO No
Allowed] Yes ?
Yes
Adjust HO zone basing
Refresh cell load
on HO step and HO period
per second

No
Any MS in HO zone?
No Cell load of UL<[En Iuo Out
Cell Low Load Thred]?
Yes
Yes Trigger
UL to OL

HO period: [En Iuo Cell Load Classification HO Period]

HO step: [En Iuo Cell Load Classification HO Step]
HO zone: begin from[OtoU HO Received Level Threshold] to -47dBm

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 Enhance Concentric Cell HO(OU )

o Flow for TCH HO from overlaid to underlaid for moving

No
[OL to UL HO Yes [Penalty Time of OtoU No
Begin Allowed] Yes ? HO Fail(s)] overflow ? End

Yes

No [RX_LEV for UO No No [RX_QUAL for UO [TA for UO HO No

HO Allowed] Yes? [ATCBHoSwitch] Allowed] Yes?
Open? HO Allowed] Yes?
Yes Yes
No No Rx_Dl_Qual> No
Rx_Dl_Level>[OtoU HO A Current TA>[TA Threshold]+
Received Level Threshold] [RX_QUAL Treshold]? [TA Hysteresis]?
Yes Yes Yes Yes
No
P/N rule? End
Yes
Select the underlaid subcell or
the neighbour cell with the Trigger OL to UL
highst priority in 16 bits list
A: RX_LEV_UL RX_LEV (n) < [Distance Between Boundaries of UL and OL Subcells(dB)]
[Distance Hysteresis Between Boundaries of UL and OL Subcells(dB)]

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Channel Assignment strategies of
Concentric HO

Channel Assignment Strategies of Concentric Handover

Immediate Intra-BSC
Incoming Cell
Assignment Inter-cell
Assignment Handover
Handover

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Immediate Assignment

o The preferred SDCCH channel in two layers is controlled by parameter TA

pref. Of Imme-Assign Allowed
If "No", system prefers the channel in Underlaid subcell

If Yes", system prefers the channel according to in Channel Request message

TA Smaller
TA bigger

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Assignment

o Preferred assignment in the overlay or underlay cell

o Assign the channel of overlay or underlay cell according to the Rx_level and
TA in the measurement report

TA Smaller,
RxLevel higher

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Intra-BSC Inter-Cell Handover

o In the case of intra-BSC inter-cell handover, the MS can be handed

over to the underlay or overlay cell first.

o If System Optimization is selected, the preferred assignment is

conducted according to the level value in the measurement report.

According to the Rx-level

Overlaid
Underlaid

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Intra-BSC Handover

o For the inter-BSC Handover, if the target cell is concentric cell , the
channel of underlay cell should be assigned first.

BSC_1 BSC_2

Assign underlaid first

Overlaid
Underlaid

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AMR Handover Flow
Begin
A: Cell load > [AMR TCH/H Prior
Cell Load Threshold]
No Are [Intracell HO
Allowed] & [Intracell F-H HO
Allowed Yes ?
Yes
No
End Is current channel
TCH & version3?

Yes
Yes During [Penalty Time
after AMR TCHF-H HO
Fail(s)]?
No
Yes No
current channel is FR

No No
RQI/2 >[F2H HO th] & A RQI/2 <[H2F HO th] End

Yes Yes

No Yes Trigger internal cell

Satisfy P/N rule?
AMR handover

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2.4 Handover Judgments

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Handover Implementation

Begin

No Is [Power boost befor HO Yes

enabled or notYes ?

BTS(s) keeps current BTS(s) uses the max.

power output For BTS power output

BSC send HO
Command to MS

No power control HO execute

during handover in order to make
sure the handover is successful

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Handover Implementation

Begin

No Is [MS Power Prediction Yes

after HO Yes ?

MS uses the highest

power to access For MS BSC predict power

BSC send HO MS will use this predict

Command to MS power in new cell after
finishing this handover

No power control HO execute

during handover in order to make
sure the handover is successful

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