Handover

and
Power Control

Hand-over
Hand-over is a process that transfers a MS that is in
setting up or busy status to a new traffic channel.
Generally, hand-over will occur under the following two
conditions:
1. A busy MS which is moving from a cell into another;
2. A MS is making a call at overlapping area of two cells,
one of which is very busy in traffic. BSC notify MS to
measure signal intensity and channel quality of adjacent
cells. This call will be handed over to the cell which is not
busy in traffic. This kind of hand-over is occurred to
balance inter-cell traffics.

Causes Resulting Hand-over

1 Weak signal level

2 Bad signal quality
3 Severe interference, i.e., the channel a MS is
occupying is interfered suddenly and therefore
is forced to use another channel of the same
cell;
4 The MS is far away from the BS;
5 A more appropriate cell exists. This hand-over
is based on the whole system consideration
aiming to reduce the overall system
interference;

Purpose of Hand-over
1 Save the calls in progress bad quality)
2 Cell-boundary handing over to improve ongoing
calls (weak signal)
3 Intra-cell hand-over reducing interference within a
cell (severe interference)
(4) Compelled hand-over to balance traffic distribution
of inter-cells.

Types of Hand-over
1 Intra-cell hand-over: hand-over occurs in the
same cell. Controlled independently by the BSC the cell
attached to.
2 Inter-cell hand-over of the same BSC: involving
by MSC is not needed.
3 Inter-BSC hand-over of same MSC: Before and
after hand-over, the two cells belong to different two BSCs
which are controlled by the same MSC. All the MSC and
BSCs are involved.
4 Inter-MSCs hand-over: Before and after handover, the two cells belong to different two MSCs. All the
relevant MSCs and BSCs are involved.

Hand-over inside BSC

M
BTS

BSC
M
BTS

In this case, BSC should set up a new link with new BTS and
assign a TCH in the new cell for MS.

Monday, Sept

Hand-over between Different BSCs

BSC

M
S

Old Link
New Link

MSC/VLR
BSC

M
S

1)
2)
3)

The old BSC make a hand-over request to MSC which then establish new
link with new BSC and new BTS, and retain an idle TCH in the new cell for
MS.
MSC is responsible for releasing the old link.
After the call is completed, MS should originate location updating because
of the change of LAI.

Inter-MSC Hand-over

MSCA

BSC

New Link

5
2 3 4 4 6

MSCB

3
3

BSC
B

Old Link

M
S

Hand-over Procedures
1 BSCA sends hand-over request to MSCA when deemed
necessary according to MSs measurement report.
2 MSCA sends this request to MSCB which is responsible for
setting up links with BSCB and BTSB.
3 MSCB sends back radio channel acknowledgement to MSCA.
4 Communication links are established between MSCA and
MSCB according to Hand-over Number(HON).
5 MSCA send hand-over command to MS who then handed over
to a new TCH.
6 BSCB send to MSCB, then to MSCA the command of handover completion.
7 MSCA controls BSCA and BTSA to release the old TCH.

Hand-over Classification
1 Synchronous: MS use the same TA both in destination
and target cell. This usually applies to hand-over of same cell or
different sectors within the same cell. This is the hand-over with
highest speed.
2 Asynchronous: MS dont know the TA to be used in
target cell. When either of the two cells doesnt synchronize with
BSC, this mode should be used. The hand-over speed is low.
3 Pseudo-synchronous: MS is able to calculate out the TA
it should use in the target cell. When both cells have
synchronized with BSC, this mode may be used. The hand-over
speed is fast.

Hand-over flow chart

MS

BTS1

BSC

BTS2

MEAS REP

MEAS RES
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
DRHO CMD

HO CMD
HO ACCESS

HO DET

PHY INFO
SABM

EST IND

UA
HO COM

RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

DIHO COM

DT1HO PERF

MSC

Queuing and Forced Disconnection

1 Queuing: To increase the successful rate of hand-over,
when no radio resource is available, the applicant of handover may be put into queuing and wait for release of radio
resources.
2 Forced disconnection: when in emergency and no
radio resource is available, some subscribers with lower
priority may be disconnected, or handed out forcibly to
ensure that the subscribers with higher priority could keep
their calls continuously.

Base Station Pre-processing 1

The base station receives the following meas_rpt:
1 Meas_rpts made by MS and reported from
SACCH
Downlink RXLEV
Downlink RXQUAL(BER)
Other adjacent cells downlink RXLEV
less than 6, designated by BA list)
Interference strip

 2 Measurement report made by BTS

Uplink RXLEV
Uplink RXQUAL
TA

Base Station Pre-processing 2

Processing of BTS measurement data
1 RXLEV_XX XX DL or UL
For each connection, at least 32 sampling data are
retained and the average of RX level is calculated out
by BSS in each SACCH period.

 2 Adjacent cells BCCH carrier receiving level

RXLEV_NCELL(n)
For each connection and each cell, the latest 32
sampling data are stored by BSS to calculate out the
adjacent cells BCCH carrier receiving level.

Base Station Pre-processing 3

3 Power Budget PBGT
For each connection and each allowable cell, BSS calculates
PBGT as follows

PBGT(n)
=(Min(MS_TXPWR_MAX,P)
RXLEV_DL

PWR_C_D)
(Min(MS_TXPWR_MAX(n),P)
RXLEV_NCELL(n))

Where,
RXLEV_NCELL(n) and RXLEV_DL are got by above
definitions.
PWR_C_D is the difference of cell-allowed downward
maximum power with actual power
MS_TXPWR_MAX(current traffic channel)
MS_TXPWR_MAX(n) (adjacent cell n traffic channel)
P is the maximum transmission power of MS

Base Station Pre-processing 4

4 TA
For each connection, BSS calculate the TA using
parameters Hreqt and Hreqave
5 Interference strip
BSS averages interference ( using INTAVE) on idle
time-slots and maps to five classes called strips.

Parameters in connection with hand-over

1 UpLevTh N P upward level threshold
2 UpQualTh N P upward quality threshold
3 DwLevTh N P downward level threshold
4 DwQualTh N P downward quality
threshold
5 UpIntfTh N P upward interference
threshold
6 DwIntfTh N P downward interference
threshold
7 MsDistTh N P distance threshold
same unit with TA)
8 HoMargin n Adjacent cells hand-over margin

Threshold Comparison (1)

1. Hand-over will occur if at least P out of N upward
levels are lower than UpLevTh.
2. Hand-over will occur if at least P out of N downward
levels are lower than DwLevTh.
3. Hand-over will occur if at least P out of N upward levels
are higher than UpQualTh.
4. Hand-over will occur if at least P out of N downward
levels are higher than DwQualTh.

Threshold Comparison (2)

5. Hand-over will occur if the latest P out of N upward
levels are higher than UpIntfTh and condition 3 is met at
the same time.
6. Hand-over will occur if the latest P out of N downward
levels are higher than DwIntfTh and condition 4 is met at
the same time.
7. Hand-over will occur if the latest P out of N TAs are
higher than MsDistTh.
8. Hand-over will occur if PBGT of some adjacent cell is
higher than its corresponding HoMargin.

Hand-over Algorithm
The hand-over algorithm BSC adopts is based on the
following equation:
RXLEV_NCELL(n) > RXLEV_MIN(n) + Max (0, Pa) (1)
where: Pa = (MS_TXPWR_MAX(n) P)
PBGT n ) HO_MARGIN(n) > 0

(2)

BSS selects from all adjacent cells that both meets

equation (1) and (2) and queue them from large PBGT
to small ones and serves as candidate adjacent cells.

Power Control
Purpose of Power Control
BTS Power Control Strategy

Purpose of Power Control

Lower interference within a cell
Save power
Premises: Call quality or data transmission
quality be guaranteed

Power Control Procedures

Save measured data

Average measured data

Power control decision

Send power control command

Measured data correction

Relation of Level and Power Control

63
Fast power control zone

High
Upper limit

Normal
Lower limit

Low
Fast power control zone

Relation of BER with Power Control

0
Fast power control zone

Low
Upper limit

Normal
Lower
limit

High
Fast power control zone

BTS Power Control Strategy

Keep current transmission power when received level is normal.
Lower the transmission power when received level is high.
Increase the transmission power when received level is low.
Keep current transmission power when BER is normal.
Increase the transmission power when BER is high.
Lower the transmission power when BER is low.

Corresponding Relation between

RXQUAL and BER

RXQUAL

BER (%)

Typical(%)

BER<0.2

0.14

0.2<BER<0.4

0.28

0.4<BER<0.8

0.57

0.8<BER<1.6

1.13

1.6<BER<3.2

2.26

3.2<BER<6.4

4.53

6.4<BER<12.8 9.05

12.8<BER

18.10

MS Power Control Strategy

Normal Level LEVECAUSE = 0

Low Level LEVELCAUSE = 1
High Level LEVECAUSE = 2
0
1
1
1
2
2
2

Normal BER QUALCAUSE = 0

Low BER QUALCAUSE = 1
High BER QUALCAUSE = 2
2
0
1
2
0
1
2

INCREASE
STAY
STAY
INCREASE
DECREASE
DECREASE
INCREASE

Range of Power Control

1 BTS Power Control
BTS has 6 classes of static power configured by network, each class has 15 levels
of dynamic power which can be configured by network.
2 MS Power Control
GSM900 class A MS power capability 43dbm 20W
GSM900 class B MS power control 39dbm 8W
GSM900 class C MS power capability 37dbm 5W
GSM900 class D MS power capability 33dbm 2W
GSM900 class E MS power capability 29dbm 0.8W
GSM900 power control range of MS is 43dbm ~ 5dbm at least 2dbm one step
DCS1800 class A MS power control capability 30dbm 1W
DCS1800 class B MS power control capability 24dbm 0.25W
DCS1800 class C MS power control capability 36dbm 4W
DCS1800 class D MS power control range 36dbm ~ 0dbm 2dbm one step