LOAD SHARING

Counters

The performance of Inter-Frequency Load Sharing can be monitored via the

following three counters (see also Radio Network KPI):
pmTotNoRrcConnectReq gives the total number of RRC connection
requests in a cell.
pmNoLoadSharingRrcConn gives the number of RRC redirections
performed for load-sharing reason in a cell.
pmNoOfReturningRrcConn gives the number of calls that has returned
to the original frequency after an RRC-redirection. (Note that this counter
is incremented in the cell to which the UE returns, and the UE may
occasionally return to the same frequency but not to the original cell.)
The redirection intensity and success rate can be obtained from the ratio of
these counters.

Timers (Load Based HO to GSM)

The timer lbhoMinTriggerTime has expired for previous lbho attempts

in the same cell. This timer can be set to slow down the loadbased HO
functionality, so that the loadbased HO attempts happen more seldom.
Note that one or several speech users can be triggered at each occasion,
and this timer then measures the allowed time until the next occasion
where one or several users can be triggered.
The timers lbhoMinTriggerTime and tmStopGsmMeas are then started, a GSM monitored set
is created and sent to each UE, and an event 3a measurement is started in the UE. Separate
thresholds are used when the 3a measurement is triggered by load, the same
as for Service based HO, and the measurement quantity Ec/No is used.
The threshold gsmthresh3a is used for the GSM quality, the value 0 is used for
the WCDMA quality. If a GSM cell is found then a HO attempt is executed, if
no GSM cell is found before the timer tmStopGsmMeas expires then the HO
attempt is aborted. Note that when loadbased HO attempts have been started
for one or several speech users in a cell, the timer lbhoMinTriggerTime must
first expire before new loadbased HO attempts can be started in the same cell.
Admission control for the max number of allowed compressed mode users
is first performed.

Timers (Inter-frequency Load based HO)

At each detection of high Load

several speech users that fulfill conditions above can be triggered
to start HO attempts simultaneously, the max number defined by the
parameter lbhoMaxTriggeredUsers. The timers lbhoMinTriggerTime and
tmStopIfMeas are then started, an IFmonitored set is created and sent to
each UE, and an event 2b measurement is started. Separate thresholds are
used when the 2b measurement is triggered by load, and the measurement
quantity Ec/No is used. The threshold nonUsedFreqThresh4_2bEcn0 +
serviceOffset2dEcno is used for the IF quality as for normal IFHO, the value
0 is used for the WCDMA quality. If an IF cell is found then a HO attempt is
executed, if no IF cell is found before the timer tmStopIfMeas expires (20
seconds) then the HO attempt is aborted. Note that when loadbased HO
attempts have been started for one or several speech users in a cell, the timer
lbhoMinTriggerTime must first expire before new loadbased HO attempts can
be started in the same cell. Admission control for the max number of allowed
compressed mode users is first performed

Parameters
Configuration
Directed Retry to GSM is activated in an RNC by setting the flag
loadSharingDirRetryEnabled to TRUE. One GSM target can be defined for
each WCDMA cell via the cell parameter directedRetryTarget.
Care must be taken to ensure that the correct GSM targets have been defined and that they
are indeed co-located with their respective source cells in the WCDMA RAN.
3.3.3 Operation
There are two control parameters for this feature:
loadSharingGsmThreshold specifies the minimum cell load at which
off-loading to GSM begins.
pwrAdm cell load is expressed as the radio of the downlink transmitted power to the
admission limit (pwrAdm). This threshold is expressed as a percentage
rather than a fraction. A value of 0 means the feature is always on, 100
means it is always off, and 50 means off-loading starts as soon as the cell
load rises above 50% of the admission limit. (Note also that there is an idle
load in each cell due to the various common channels.)
Example: The parameter pwrAdm is expressed as a percentage
of the maximumTransmissionPower. In the default setting where
maximumTransmissionPower = 370 dBm (5 W) and pwrAdm = 75%, a
value of 80% for loadSharingGsmThreshold means off-loading will start
when the carrier power of the cell is above 5 W 0.75 0.80, or 3 W.
loadSharingGsmFraction specifies the percentage of Directed Retry
candidates to be diverted to GSM while the cell load is above the specified
load threshold. A value of 0 means no diversion will take place and a value
of 100 means all calls qualified for Directed Retry will be diverted.
Both of these parameters are cell-specific so that different values can be
chosen to suit the needs of different cells.

Parameters

No call will be diverted from a WCDMA cell unless all of the following
criteria are met.
1 The RNC-wide flag loadSharingDirRetryEnabled is set to TRUE.
2 A GSM target has been defined.
3 The parameter loadSharingGsmThreshold is set to a value below 100.
4 The parameter loadSharingGsmFraction is set to a value larger than 0.
The preferred way to temporarily turn off Directed Retry in a cell is to set
loadSharingGsmFraction to exactly 0.
a WCDMA cell makes the decision to send a call to GSM without
knowledge of the load situation in the GSM target cell. Overloading of the target
cell can occur, and congestion on the GSM side can block the attempt.
The number of speech users (Load based HO to GSM Case) connected in the cell is more than
lbhoMinSpeechUsers. This parameter can be set so that a number of
speech users are allowed to remain in the cell before the loadbased HO
is activated.
The cell is not in DL congested state.
parameters loadSharingGsmFraction and/or loadSharingGsmThreshold
can be used to limit the amount of speech calls going to GSM.
The success rate can be monitored by two counters
pmNoDirRetryAtt gives the total number of Directed Retry attempts.
pmNoDirRetrySuccess gives the number of successful attempts.

Detecting high load

Normal admission control checks are used to detect high load in a

cell. If
the Load based HO feature is On in a cell, anytime an admission
request is
evaluated and the load is above the admission limits, a load based
HO attempt
can be triggered. Any type of normal admission requests such as new
call
establishments or upswitch attempts for PS interactive connections
can trigger
the features, but note that there are no triggers without admission
requests.
A further condition is that the cell is not in DL congested state. Any of
the
following load conditions apply and can trigger loadbased HO
attempts:
DL non-HS power + HS-req power > pwrAdm
DL code tree load > dlCodeAdm
DL RBS HW load > dlHwAdm
UL RBS HW load > ulHwAdm
ASE DL > aseDlAdm
ASE UL > aseUlAdm
Iub GBR load in DL > Iub soft-congestion threshold in DL
Iub GBR load in UL > Iub soft-congestion threshold in UL

Load based HO to GSM

Description
This feature will use the Admission control functionality as a way to detect high
load in a WCDMA cell. If Admission control detects high load when evaluating
an admission request in a cell, this will be used as a trigger for LBHO to GSM
for a speech user, if the following conditions are fulfilled:
High load detected in the cell by admission control according to above.
loadbasedHoSupport is set to True and lbhoType is set to lbho_GSM
in
the cell.

Load based HO to GSM

When the function is triggered by high load in a cell according to above, a

number of conditions are checked to evaluate if there are any speech users
connected in this cell, which can be triggered to perform a GSM HO attempt.
The following conditions must be fulfilled for such a user:
CS speech only user, and it is not an Emergency call.
Compressed mode and other HO attempts not already ongoing for the user.
Service handover IE not equal to "Shall not".
fddGsmHoSupport is ON.
The connection is not originating from another RNC over Iur.
If one or several suitable speech users are present then load triggered
HO attempts can be started for these users. At each detection of high
load, several speech users that fulfill conditions above can be triggered
to start HO attempts simultaneously, the max number defined by the
parameter lbhoMaxTriggeredUsers. The timers lbhoMinTriggerTime
and
Load based.

Load based HO to GSM

The timers lbhoMinTriggerTime and tmStopGsmMeas are then

started, a GSM monitored set is created and sent
to each UE, and an event 3a measurement is started in the UE. Separate
thresholds are used when the 3a measurement is triggered by load, the same
as for Service based HO, and the measurement quantity Ec/No is used. The
threshold gsmthresh3a is used for the GSM quality, the value 0 is used for
the WCDMA quality. If a GSM cell is found then a HO attempt is executed, if
no GSM cell is found before the timer tmStopGsmMeas expires then the
HO
attempt is aborted. Note that when loadbased HO attempts have been started
for one or several speech users in a cell, the timer lbhoMinTriggerTime
must
first expire before new loadbased HO attempts can be started in the same cell.
Admission control for the max number of allowed compressed mode users
is first performed.
Loadbased HO and soft-congestion actions triggered

Inter-frequency Load based HO

Note that this functionality is similar to the GSM load based HO feature
described above.
This feature will use the Admission control functionality as a way to detect high
load in a WCDMA cell. If Admission control detects high load when evaluating
an admission request in a cell, this will be used as a trigger for LBHO to GSM
for a speech user, if the following conditions are fulfilled:
High load detected in the cell by admission control according to above.
loadbasedHoSupport is set to True and lbhoType is set to lbho_IF in
the cell.
The number of speech users connected in the cell is more than
lbhoMinSpeechUsers. This parameter can be set so that a number of
speech users are allowed to remain in the cell before the loadbased HO
is activated.
The cell is not in DL congested state.
The timer lbhoMinTriggerTime has expired for previous lbho attempts
in the same cell. This timer can be set to slow down the loadbased HO
functionality, so that the loadbased HO attempts happen more seldom.
Note that one or several speech users can be triggered at each occasion,
and this timer then measures the allowed time until the next occasion
where one or several users can be triggered.
When the function is triggered by high load in a cell according to above, a
number of conditions are checked to evaluate if there are any speech users
connected in this cell, which can be triggered to perform a GSM HO attempt.
The following conditions must be fulfilled for such a user:
CS speech only user, and it is not an Emergency call.
Compressed mode and other HO attempts not already ongoing for the user.
fddIfHoSupport is ON.

Inter-frequency Load based HO

The connection is not originating from another RNC over Iur.

If one or several suitable speech users are present then load triggered
HO attempts can be started for these users. At each detection of high
load, several speech users that fulfill conditions above can be triggered
to start HO attempts simultaneously, the max number defined by the
parameter lbhoMaxTriggeredUsers. The timers lbhoMinTriggerTime and
tmStopIfMeas are then started, an IFmonitored set is created and sent to
each UE, and an event 2b measurement is started. Separate thresholds are
used when the 2b measurement is triggered by load, and the measurement
quantity Ec/No is used. The threshold nonUsedFreqThresh4_2bEcn0 +
serviceOffset2dEcno is used for the IF quality as for normal IFHO, the value
0 is used for the WCDMA quality. If an IF cell is found then a HO attempt is
executed, if no IF cell is found before the timer tmStopIfMeas expires (20
seconds) then the HO attempt is aborted. Note that when loadbased HO
attempts have been started for one or several speech users in a cell, the timer
lbhoMinTriggerTime must first expire before new loadbased HO attempts can
be started in the same cell. Admission control for the max number of allowed
compressed mode users is first performed

Inter-frequency Load based HO

Loadbased HO and soft-congestion actions triggered by capacity management

are independent of each other. Soft-congestion actions cannot be performed on
a UE that has already started a loadbased HO attempt, but might be triggered
at the same time for other UEs.
A cell might have the following types of IF neighbors defined:
IF neighbors within the same RNC.
IF neighbors in a DRNC connected via Iur.
IF neighbors in a RNC not connected via Iur. For this case, CNHHO is
required and these cells are labeled Non-Iur external cells.
The Core Network Hard HO feature must be available for non-Iur HO, and the
RNC parameter cnhhoSupp must be set to On. If this feature is not active
then only normal IFHO is possible.
In order to support different network configurations and scenarios, the creation
of the IF monitored set is filtered when triggered by IF LBHO. The filtering is
performed as below, and configured with the parameter ifLbhoMode, but note
that the result is only useful for all settings if the CNHHO feature is available.
By setting ifLbhoMode = 2 only external CNHHO cells can be the target cells
for IF loadbased HO, even if normal IF neighbors are defined.
ifLbhoMode = 1 Include all defined IF neighbor cells.
ifLbhoMode = 2 Include only Non-Iur external IF cells used for CNHHO.
ifLbhoMode = 3 Do not include Non-Iur external IF cells used for CNHHO.

HSDPA Inter-frequency loadsharing

The HSDPA loadsharing is performed based on the number of HSDPA

users
present in the source cell and in the candidate cells. The feature can
be
controlled by cell parameters, and can be turned on/off and tuned per
cell.
The parameter hsIflsThreshUsers is used to set the trigger
threshold for
number of HSDPA users, to trigger the HSDPA loadsharing evaluation
in a cell.
The parameter hsIflsMarginUsers is used to balance the load
between cells.
A HSDPA loadsharing candidate cell is configured by defining a
coverage-relation and setting the attribute hsLoadSharing to ON.
Step 1 - Feature Active
HSDPA loadsharing can be triggered when a connection is about to be
set up
on HSDPA, for example when a new HSDPA connection is setup from
idle or
from FACH, or when a connection is switched up to HSDPA from FACH
or from
DCH. Then the following conditions are first checked:
The HSDPA loadsharing feature is available (Licence is on) and
activated

HSDPA Inter-frequency loadsharing

If these conditions are not fulfilled then the HS cell selection functionality can be
triggered instead, which is based only on capability.
Step 2 Candidate cells and Band filtering
There must be at least one HSDPA loadsharing candidate cell defined out from
the current cell. Cells on frequency bands not supported by the UE shall not
be used and are filtered out. If there are no defined candidate cells, or all are
removed by the band filtering, then HSDPA loadsharing is aborted.
Step 3 PathLoss check
If it is a HSDPA RAB setup from SRB then a pathloss check must be passed
before a blind IFHO can be triggered. Note that a pathloss check is not
performed before an upswitch from FACH. The pathloss is calculated as the
CPICH transmission power minus the UE reported DL CPICH RSCP value, the
limit is set by the cell parameter pathlossThreshold. If the pathloss is too
high
then HSDPA loadsharing is aborted.

HSDPA Inter-frequency loadsharing..

Step 4 - Evaluation
The steps below describe the evaluation to select a target cell based on
capabilities and load:
A MC capable UE shall preferably only use MC capable cells as candidate
cells. If the UE and a candidate cell have MC capability then continue
below.
HSDPA Inter-frequency loadsharing
A MIMO capable UE shall preferably only use MIMO capable cells as
candidate cells. If the UE and a candidate cell have MIMO capability then
continue below.
An EUL capable UE shall preferably only use EUL capable cells as
candidate cells. If the UE and a candidate cell have EUL capability then
continue below.
A HSDPA capable UE shall preferably only use HSDPA capable cells as
candidate cells. If the UE and a candidate cell have HSDPA capability
then continue below, otherwise stop.
The Trigger condition in source cell is defined as:
Number of HS users >hsIflsThreshUsers.
For each case above, (MC, MIMO, EUL or HSDPA )

Non-HSPA Inter-frequency loadsharing

The non-HSPA loadsharing is performed based on DL power and code tree

load. The sum of non-HS power and HS required power is used, and the code
tree utilization includes codes used by common and dedicated channels but
not codes reserved for HSDPA, as in other capacity management algorithms.
The feature can be controlled by cell parameters, and can be turned on/off
and tuned per cell.
The parameters dchIflsThreshPower and dchIflsThreshCode are used
to set the trigger thresholds for DL power load respectively DL code tree
load, to trigger the non-HSPA loadsharing evaluation in a cell. They can be
independently set to low or high values in a cell to achieve different loadsharing
behavior. Setting either parameter to 0 will disable non-HSPA loadsharing
based on power or code respectively. The parameters dchIflsMarginPower
and dchIflsMarginCode are used to balance the load between cells.
A non-HSPA loadsharing candidate cell is configured by defining a
coverage-relation and setting the attribute dchLoadSharing to ON.

Non-HSPA Inter-frequency loadsharing

...

Step 1 - Feature Active

When triggered by a RAB establishment, check the following conditions, and
if the conditions are not fulfilled then abort loadsharing and continue with the
RAB setup in the current cell.
The non-HSPA loadsharing feature is available (Licence is on) and
activated in the cell (dchIflsThreshPower and dchIflsThreshCode are
not both 0 in this cell).
It is an SRNC cell.
It is not an Emergency call.
Step 2 Candidate cells and Band filtering
There must be at least one non-HSPA loadsharing candidate cell defined out
from the current cell. Cells on frequency bands not supported by the UE shall
not be used and are filtered out. If there are no defined candidate cells, or all
are removed by the band filtering, then loadsharing is aborted and the RAB
setup in the current cell continues.
Step 3 PathLoss check
If the trigger is a RAB establishment from SRB then a pathloss check must be
passed before a blind IFHO can be triggered. Note that a pathloss check is not
performed before an upswitch from FACH. The pathloss is calculated as the
CPICH transmission power minus the UE reported DL CPICH RSCP value, the
limit is set by the cell parameter pathlossThreshold. If the pathloss is too high
then loadsharing is aborted, and the RAB setup in the current cell continues.
Step 4 - Power loadsharing

Non-HSPA Inter-frequency loadsharing

..

If dchIflsThreshPower > 0 then check if DL (non-HS power + HS required

power) > dchIflsThreshPower. If Yes continue, if No then instead check if
Code loadsharing is triggered.
Compute the remaining resource rr (regarding DL power) in the current cell and
in the non-HSPA loadsharing candidate cells: rr = 100% DL power usage
dchIflsMarginPower. Note that the value of dchIflsMarginPower from each
cell is used.
Select the cell with the most remaining DL power resources, (highest value for
rr). The candidate cell must not be in DL-DCH congested state, rr must be > 0,
and candidates must fulfill the hysteresis condition (rr in candidate cell) > (1 +
iflsHyst) * (rr in current source cell), otherwise this cell shall not be selected.
If a different cell than the current is selected, a blind IFHO is triggered. The
continue with the RAB setup.

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