WCDMA Handover Principal and

Analysis
ISSUE 1.0

Huawei Confidential. All Rights Reserved

 Why

mobile
handover?

systems

need

UE mobility
The mobile system is composed of
cells which the coverage ability is
limited.
Provide continuous service in
mobile system is the basic element
in QoS.

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Objective

Upon completion this course, you will

be able to understand:

The basic definitions of Handover

The algorithms
decision

The handover flow

The parameters of handover

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of

handover

Chapter 1 Introduction to Handover

Chapter 2 Handover Measurement

Chapter 3 Basic Handovers

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The Purpose of Handover

Providing the continuous service in mobile system is the basic

element in QoS.

The load balance: sharing the resource

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The Basic Concepts of Handover

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Active Set
Monitored Set
Detected set
Event reporting
Event reporting to Periodic reporting
Periodic reporting
Radio Link (RL)
Radio Link Set (RLS)
Combination way:
maximum ratio combination
selection combination
The soft handover gain
CPICH
Soft handover, softer handover, hard handover

Types of Handover

According to the signaling characters:

Soft handover (softer handover)
Hard handover

According to the properties of source cell and target cell

Intra-frequency handover
Inter-frequency handover
Inter-mode handover (FDD <-> TDD)
Inter-system handover (UMTS <-> GSM/CDMA2000)

According to the purpose of handover

Based on Coverage
Based on Load (Optional)
Based on mobility of UE (Optional)
Based on Service (Optional)

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The Characters of Different Handovers

Comparison between soft handover and hard handover:
Item

Soft Handover

Hard Handover

The numbers of RL
in active set after
handover

Several

One

No

Yes

Interruption during
handover
The frequencies of
cells

Internal Use

Only possible in Occurs in IntraIntra-frequency frequency cells or Intercells

frequency cells

The Characters of Different Handovers

Comparison between soft handover and softer handover:

During softer handover, the uplink signaling are

combined in NodeB by maximum ratio combination, but
during soft handover they are combined in RNC by
selection combination.

Compare to later one, the maximum ratio combination

give more gain. So the performance of maximum ratio
combination is better.

Since softer handover is completed in NodeB, it does not

consume a lot of transport resource of Iub.

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Soft Handover

RNC

NodeB 1

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NodeB 2

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Softer Handover

RNC

NodeB

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Hard Handover

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Three Steps of Handover

Measurement

Measurement

Decision

Decision

Execute

Based on Measurement
The application and distribution
of resource
Mainly accomplished by RRM in
RNC

Execution

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Measurement control
Measurement execution and the
result processing
The measurement report
Mainly accomplished by UE

The process of signaling

Support the failure drawback
Measurement control refresh

13

Questions

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The differences among Soft handover,

softer handover and hard handover
Typical application scenarios

14

Summary

This chapter focus on the purpose of handovers and the

categories of handover in WCDMA.

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Chapter 1 Introduction to Handover

Chapter 2 Handover Measurement

Chapter 3 Basic Handovers

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Chapter 2 Handover Measurement

Section 1 Measurement control and
measurement report
Section 2 Basic definitions of measurement
Section 3 Intra-frequency measurement event
Section 4 Inter-frequency and
inter-system measurement event
Section 5 UE internal measurement

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Measurement Control and Measurement

Report
Measurement Control

UE

UTRAN
MEASUREMENT CONTROL

Measurement Control, normal case

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Measurement Control and Measurement

Report
Measurement report
UE

UTRAN
MEASUREMENT REPORT

Measurement report, normal case

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Chapter 2 Measurement of Handover

Section 1 Measurement control and
measurement report
Section 2 Basic concepts of measurement
Section 3 Intra-frequency measurement event
Section 4 Inter-frequency and
inter-system measurement event
Section 5 UE Internal Measurement

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Basic Concepts of Measurement

Measurement values of Handover

Intra-frequency and inter-frequency:
CPICH RSCP, CPICH Ec/No, Path loss

Inter-frequency
CPICH RSCP, CPICH Ec/No

Inter-system
GSM Carrier RSSI, BSIC Identification, BSIC Reconfirmation

Reporting methods of measurement

Periodic reporting
Event reporting

The events of reporting

Intra-frequency events 1A,1B,1C,1D,1E,1F

Inter-frequency events 2D,2F,2B,2C
Inter-system events 3A,3C
Others 6G,6F

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Measurement Model

parameters

Layer 1
filtering

Layer 3
filtering

parameters

C
C'

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Evaluation
of reporting
criteria

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Reporting Criteria
Reporting

Criteria
Decision formula: For example, 1A event :

1.Path Loss

NA

10 LogM New W 10 Log

M
i 1

(1 W ) 10 LogM Best ( R H 1a / 2),

2.Other measurement

NA

10 LogM New W 10 Log

M
i 1

(1 W ) 10 LogM Best ( R H 1a / 2),

Relative threshold,
threshold Absolute threshold, Hysteresis,
Time to Trigger
Mnew
Mi
NA
Mbest
W
R
H1a

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: measurement result of cell entering reporting range

: measurement result of cells in active set
: number of cells in active set
: measurement result of best cell in active set
: weight factor
: Reporting range
: hysteresis value of 1A event

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Key Parameters

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Chapter 2 Measurement of Handover

Section 1 Measurement control and
measurement report
Section 2 Basic definitions of measurement
Section 3 Intra-frequency measurement events
Section 4 Inter-frequency and
inter-system measurement events
Section 5 UE Internal Measurement

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Intra-frequency Measurement Events

Intra-frequency measurement events are identified with 1x :

1A

: A primary pilot channel enters the reporting range.

If active set of UE is full, UE stops reporting 1A event;

1B

: A primary pilot channel leaves the reporting range;

1C

1D

1E

1F
: The measurement value of a primary pilot channel is lower
than the absolute threshold

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: The primary pilot channel in a non active set is better

than the primary pilot channel in an active set;
: The best cell changes;
: The measurement value of a primary pilot channel exceeds
the absolute threshold

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Chapter 2 Measurement of Handover

Section 1 Measurement control and
measurement report
Section 2 Basic definitions of measurement
Section 3 Intra-frequency measurement
events
Section 4 Inter-frequency and
inter-system measurement events
Section 5 UE Internal Measurement

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Inter-frequency Measurement Events

Inter-frequency measurement events are identified with 2x:

2A

2B
: The quality of the current cell frequency is lower than a
certain threshold, but that of the non-used frequency is
higher
than a certain threshold

2C
: The estimated quality of the non-used frequency is higher
than a certain threshold

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

2E

: The estimated quality of the non-used frequency is lower

than a certain threshold

2F

: The estimated quality of the used frequency is higher than

a certain threshold

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: The best frequency changes

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Inter-system Measurement Events

Inter-system measurement events are identified with 3x:

3A: The estimated quality value of the used UTRAN frequency

is lower than a certain threshold, and that of the other system
is higher than a certain threshold;

3B: The estimated quality value of the other system is lower

than a certain threshold ;

3C: The estimated quality value of the other system is higher

than a certain threshold ;

3D: The best cell in the other system changes

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Chapter 2 Measurement of Handover

Section 1 Measurement control and
measurement report
Section 2 The basic definitions of measurement
Section 3 Intra-frequency measurement events
Section 4 Inter-frequency and
inter-system measurement events
Section 5 UE Internal Measurement

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UE Internal Measurement
UE Internal measurement events are identified with 6x :

6G

: The time difference between downlink receiving

and uplink transmission of the UE is smaller than
an absolute threshold;

6F

: The time difference between downlink receiving

and uplink transmission of the UE is bigger than
an absolute threshold;

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Questions

How many events are there in intra-frequency measurement?

What are they?
How many events are there in UE internal measurement?
How many events are there in inter-frequency measurement?
What are they?

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Summary

This chapter covers intra-frequency measurement, interfrequency measurement, inter-system measurement and UE
internal measurement from their definitions and application
scenarios.

Summary

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Chapter 1 Introduction to Handover

Chapter 2 Handover Measurement

Chapter 3 Basic Handovers

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Chapter 3 Basic Handovers

Section 1 Soft Handover

Section 2 Intra-frequency Hard Handov

Section 3 Inter-frequency Hard Handov

Section 4 Inter-system Hard Handover

Section 5 Compressed Mode

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Introduction of Soft Handover

Soft Handover Features

UE has several RLs with different cells----active set.

The handover among different cells which are in same RLS is

softer handover.

Soft handover Combination:

Selection combination in uplink
Maximum combination in downlink
Softer handover Combination:
Maximum combination in uplink and downlink

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Introduction of Soft Handover

Advantages

Soft handover gain:

Multi-Cell gain: Multiple unrelated radio links can reduces the required fading
margin.

Macro Diversity Combining gain: Gain for the link demodulation of the soft
handover:

Load balance:

Different cells receive the signal from a UE in uplink, which can decrease the
transmission power of UE.

Similarly, UE receive signal from different cells, which also can decrease the
required transmission power of base station.
Decrease the possibility of call drop caused by ping-pong handover.

Disadvantages

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More resource needed in downlink, especially for the code resource of BE service.

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Measurement of Soft Handover

The measurement of soft/softer handover

Measurement value CPICH RSCP, CPICH Ec/No, Pathloss

Process of Measurement Layer 1 filter, Layer 2 filter

Reporting way

Periodic reporting
Event reporting
Event type 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1F
Reporting rules: Trigger condition, Relative threshold (or
Absolute threshold), Hysteresis, Time_to_Trigger
Event reporting to periodic reporting

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The Events of Soft Handover Measurement

Soft/softer handover measurement events

Intra-frequency events reporting:

1A : A primary pilot channel enters the reporting range.
If active set of UE is full, UE stops reporting 1A event;
1B : A primary pilot channel leaves the reporting range;
1C : The primary pilot channel in a non active set is better
than the primary pilot channel in an active set;
1D : The best cell changes;

1E : The measurement value of a primary pilot channel

exceeds the absolute threshold
1F : The measurement value of a primary pilot channel is
lower than the absolute threshold

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Decision Algorithm of Soft Handover

Soft/softer handover decision

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1A
1B
1C
1D

: Add RL into active set

: Delete RL from active set
: Replace cell
: Change best cell

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Execution of Soft Handover

Soft handover execution

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The principal of measurement control

Configure the neighbor cells and the parameters
according to best cell

RLC mode
UM mode is used for measurement control
AM mode is used for measurement reporting

The compensation and restriction of soft handover

From event reporting to periodic reporting
Parameters Periodic reporting time interval
Number for reporting times

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Soft Handover Flow (Add RL)

The execution of soft handover (Add RL)

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Soft Handover Flow (Del RL)

The execution of soft handover (Del RL)

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Key Parameters To Optimize

Relative threshold
Set 1A, 1B value separately
1A < 1B which makes deleting RL is more difficult, and it can avoid ping-pong
handover
Usually 1A: 3dB;
1B: 6dB

Time to trigger
Each event can be set separately
Usually, 1B>1A which makes deleting RL is more difficult, and it can avoid
ping-pong handover
Usually, 1A: 320ms, 1B: 640ms

Layer 3 filter coefficient

Only one value for all intra-frequency measurement
Sensitive to the delay of event trigger and ping-pong handover
Usually 3

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Chapter 3 The Basic Handovers

Section 1 Soft Handover

Section 2 Intra-frequency Hard Handov

Section 3 Inter-frequency Hard Handov

Section 4 Inter-system Hard Handover

Section 5 Compressed Mode

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Characteristic of Intra-frequency Hard Handover

Characteristic

Advantages

Enhance the efficiency of the OVSF code and hardware resource

Disadvantages

UE has one RL with one cell in the process of handover

Disconnect UE from the original cell, then hand it over to target cell
The working frequency of source cell and target cell are same

High call drop possibility because of the intra-frequency interference

Application scenarios

No Iur interface between two RNCs or the Iur interface congested (only
happened in inter-RNC handover).

Handover of BE services that exceeds threshold rate.

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Measurement, Decision and Execution of Intrafrequency Hard Handover

Measurement

Decision

Similar to soft handover

1D event

Execution

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Intra-frequency Hard Handover Flow

Intra-frequency hard handover flow

UE

Target
NODEB

Source
NODEB

SRNC

1.RADIO LINK SETUP REQUEST

2. RADIO LINK SETUP RESPONSE

3.ALCAP establish
4. PHYSICAL CHANNEL RECONFIGURATION
5. RADIO LINK
FAILURE INDICATION
6. PHYSICAL CHANNEL RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE
7. RADIO LINK
DELETION REQUEST
8. RADIO LINK
DELETION RESPONSE

9.ALCAP release

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Key Parameters

Handover decision threshold based on BE rate

UE should do soft handover when the rate of BE service is less than

the threshold.

UE should do intra-frequency hard handover when the rate of BE

service is greater than the threshold.

The parameters about 1D event:

Time to trigger Hysteresis

The parameters should be set accord with the Qos

MML Command: SET HOCOMM

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Chapter 3 The Basic Handovers

Section 1 Soft Handover

Section 2 Intra-frequency Hard Handov

Section 3 Inter-frequency Hard Handov

Section 4 Inter-system Hard Handover

Section 5 Compressed Mode

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Introduction of Inter-frequency Hard Handover

Characteristic

Advantages

Compare to intra-frequency hard handover, the success possibility is

higher
To balance the load among cells of different frequencies

Disadvantages

The working frequency is different after handover

The compressed mode needed if the UE only has one receiver

Compressed mode results in extra radio resource occupied

The timing re-initiation hard handover increase the time of handover and
the risk of call drop

Application scenarios

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Disconnected coverage
Handover based on load

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Inter-frequency Hard Handover Measurement

Values and Events

Inter-frequency hard handover measurement values

Measurement values:
CPICH RSCP, CPICH Ec/No

Different handover purpose for different measurement type:

At the edge of carrier coverage: CPICH RSCP
At the center of carrier coverage: CPICH Ec/No

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Measurement Values and Events of Inter-frequency

Hard Handover

Measurement reporting
Periodic reporting
Event reporting
2A: The best frequency changes;
2B: The estimated quality value of the used frequency is lower than a certain
threshold, and that of the non-used frequency is higher than a certain
threshold;
2C: The estimated quality value of the non-used frequency is higher than a
certain threshold;
2D: The estimated quality value of the used frequency is lower than a certain
threshold
2E:The estimated quality value of the non-used frequency is lower than a
certain threshold
2F:The estimated quality value of the used frequency is higher than a certain
threshold

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Compressed Mode Initiation in Inter-frequency

Hard Handover

Conditions to initiate Compressed Mode (CM) measurement

2D event

Used to enable the compressed mode to perform interfrequency measurement.

Conditions to stop measurement

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2F event

Used to stop compressed mode. When used frequency quality

exceeds the threshold.

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Inter-frequency Hard Handover Decision Algorithm

The inter-frequency hard handover decision

Coverage trigger handover

2B event
the quality of current serving cell is lower than absolute
threshold, but the quality in other cell is higher than
another absolute threshold.
Both cells are of different frequency

Load triggers handover

2C event
the quality of another frequency is higher than an
absolute threshold

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Execution of Inter-frequency Hard Handover

Execution of Inter-frequency hard handover

UE report the timing information

UE with two receivers does not need compressed mode.
Synchronization hard handover
Using the original DOFF

UE does not report timing information

UE with a single receiver has to initiate compressed mode
If the NodeB of target cell is different from the cells in active set :
Timing re-initiation hard handover
Re-configure DOFF

If the NodeB of target cell is the same which the cells in active set:
Calculate the target cell timing relationship
Synchronization hard handover
Using the original DOFF

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Inter-frequency Hard Handover Flow

Signaling flow
UE

Target
NodeB

Source
NodeB

SRNC

1.RADIO LINK SETUP REQUEST

2. RADIO LINK SETUP RESPONSE

3.ALCAP established
4. PHYSICAL CHANNEL RECONFIGURATION
5. RADIO LINK
FAILURE INDICATION
6. PHYSICAL CHANNEL RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE
7. RADIO LINK
DELETION REQUEST
8. RADIO LINK
DELETION RESPONSE

9.ALCAP released

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Key Parameters (I)

Inter-frequency coverage handover parameters:

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Inter-frequency measurement reporting:

periodic reporting or event reporting
Inter-frequency measurement values:
CPICH Ec/No or CPICH RSCP
Inter-frequency measurement layer 3 filter coefficient, delay trigger time
and hysteresis
Inter-frequency initiated and stopped threshold:
Considering the different demands of CPICH Ec/No and CPICH
RSCP for PS domain and CS domain, the different 2D and 2F
parameters are configured.
Inter-frequency handover based on coverage:
the quality threshold of target cell
Using frequency quality threshold in inter-frequency hard handover
The minimum access threshold for inter-frequency handover

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Chapter 3 The Basic Handovers

Section 1 Soft Handover

Section 2 Intra-frequency Hard Handov

Section 3 Inter-frequency Hard Handov

Section 4 Inter-system Hard Handover

Section 5 Compressed Mode

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Introduction of Inter-system Hard Handover

Application scenarios

Characteristic

Different radio access technology is used after handover

Usually, compressed mode should be used to help the
measurement

Advantages

WCDMA FDD < >GSM

WCDMA FDD < >WCDMA TDD
WCDMA FDD < >CDMA2000

For coverage, it can solve the problems from one system to

another system
For capacity, it can enhance the utilization efficiency of old
equipments(2G->3G)

Disadvantages

Internal Use

The flow is complicated, and it demands higher compatibility for

equipments
Demands more complicated UE

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Measurement for Inter-system Compressed

Mode Initiated

The inter-system measurement (GSM measurement)

Measurement type:
GSM Carrier RSSI
BSIC Identification
BSIC Reconfirmation

Internal Use

Measurement reporting
Event reporting
2D Event: initiate GSM measurement
2F Event: stop GSM measurement

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Inter-system Hard Handover Decision Algorithm

The inter-system hard handover decision

Inter-system handover due to coverage issue

Event reporting:
3A event
The estimated quality value of UTRAN frequency is lower than a
certain threshold, and that of the other system is higher than a
certain threshold

Periodic reporting:
Evaluation According to periodic report GSM RSSI
measurement value and the BSIC confirming state of target cell
of GSM system, and UE evaluates GSM RSSI of target cell is
greater than the absolute threshold, then consider the cell.

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Inter-system handover not because of coverage issue

Event reporting
3C event:
event
The estimated quality value of the other system is higher than
an absolute threshold.

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Inter-system Handover Flow

The execution of inter-system handover

UE

Node B

SRNC

CN
1. Relocation
Required

6. Relocation
Command

MSC
2. Prepare
Handover

5. Prepare
Handover
Response

BSC

3. Handover
Request
4. Handover
Request Ack

7. DCCH : Handover
from UTRAN Command
8. Handover
Detect
9. Handover Complete

12. Iu Release
Command
13. Iu Release
Complete

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11. Send
End
Signal
Request

10. Handover
Complete

14. Send End

Signal Response

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Key Parameters (I)

Parameters for Inter-system handover

Inter-system measurement initiated and stopped threshold:

threshold
Considering different demands of CPICH Ec/No and CPICH RSCP for
PS domain and CS domain, the different 2D and 2F parameters are
configured

Inter-system measurement values (2D, 2F)

CPICH Ec/No
CPICH RSCP

Configure the GSM RSSI threshold of CS domain and PS domain

separately

Using inter-system frequency quality handover threshold

Trigger time delay, Hysteresis for each event

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Chapter 3 The Basic Handovers

Section 1 Soft Handover

Section 2 Intra-frequency Hard Handov

Section 3 Inter-frequency Hard Handov

Section 4 Inter-system Hard Handover
Section 5 Compressed Mode

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Purpose of Compressed mode

Purpose

Cause:

Internal Use

Measure the inter-frequency cell or inter-system cell under FDD

mode

Since one receiver only can work in one frequency, the UE has
to stop working in current frequency if it is going to measure the
signal from another frequency cell. To ensure the downlink
service unaffected, the remained data should be sent in the
limited time.

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Compressed Mode Sketch Map

One frame
(10 ms)

Internal Use

Transmission gap available for

inter-frequency measurements

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Realization Methods of Compressed mode

CM Methods

Reduce SF by half
This double the data rate. But since amount of data not changed, it halves the
time in which it is sent, open up a gap.
Advantage: easy to handle for RNC
Disadvantage: occupied the resource of NodeB, decrease the utilizing efficiency
of OVSF

Puncturing
Decrease the coding redundancy
Advantage: easy to handle for RNC;
Disadvantage: limited to the property of channel coding; decreased the coding
gain

Higher layer scheduling

Higher layer permit only some transport format to be used in CM, to generate
gap. Appropriate for variable-rate service.
Complicated method

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Questions

What are the differences between soft handover and softer

handover?
What is compressed mode?
Draw out the hard handover signaling flow.

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Summary

This chapter focus on the basic handovers in WCDMA: soft handover,

softer handover, intra-frequency hard handover, inter-frequency hard
handover and inter-system hard handover. It also introduced the
application scenarios for these different handovers

Meanwhile, compressed mode is introduced in this chapter

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Huawei Confidential. All Rights Reserved