3G/2G Selection &

Reselection Handover
Content

Overview
Basic Theory
Typical Flows
 When making the 3G/2G selection and
reselection handover, the function mainly
refers to cell selection and reselection, as
well as handover and reselection of CS
and PS services. Among which, 3G/2G
chooses the reselection handover of the
CS service currently in the handover way
while 3G/2G chooses reselection
handover of the PS service currently in
the reselection way, and will support the
handover way in the future. For the video
call service, the 3G to 2G handover will
be made in the way in which the visible
telephone returns to the voice telephone
and the return process should be handled
on the 3G side. Because the handover
process is the same as that of the
Overview
common voice call, this document doesnt
describe this process.
Content

Overview
Basic Theory
Typical Flows
Cell Selection and Reselection
A 3G user selects the 3G network in priority and
always stays in the 3G network during the 3G
network initial construction period. This way could
guarantee 3G registered users who directly and
fast enjoy more fruitful and colorful service
functions so as to avoid unnecessary handover
and roaming from GSM to WCDMA. During the 3G
network initial construction period, the network
capability is not an issue for guiding 3G users to
select the 3G network and effectively alleviating
the load of 2G network. During the network
mature period, the network should also guide 3G
users to select 3G network in priority. When the
problem of network capability is serious, the
network should be extended and keep the
telephone traffics balance based on services and
handover of load.
 The modes of the PLMN selection and reselection
have two types: automatic and manual.
Automatic network selection is that UE should
automatic select a PLMN according to the priority
sequence of PLMN, while the manual network
selection could show users all current usable
networks and could be selected by users. The
target of the PLMN selection and reselection is to
select a usable PLMN. For this purpose, the UE
should maintain a PLMN list, which makes sort
for the PLMN according to priority and makes
search in this selection process according to this
priority.

Cell Selection Strategy

Case one: The user manually requests to
enable the PLMN reselection;
Case two: The UE registers to the visited
network (VPLMN) and periodically
searches the home network (HPLMN), this
period could be configured by the
operators.

the PLMN reselection needs to be run in

the following two cases
Method one: the 3G network uses the same
PLMN numbers as the 2G network; under this
circumstance the network sets the 3G
configuration as a prior wireless access
technology, and the UE could use the
WCDMA as a wireless access in priority when
the UE makes the PLMN selection.
Method two: 3G and 2G have the different
PLMN numbers: under this circumstance the
network deploys 3G as HPLMN.

Method
The principle of the cell reselection also guarantees 3G
users to be hosted in the 3G network as the network
selection strategy.
Make use of cell reselection to realize inter-system
roaming and reselection under the idle mode, and
implement the process as the follow strategies:
Strategy one: The UE only makes the cell reselection
from 3G to 2G when the UE leaves the 3G coverage
area, and then keeps the continuity of the coverage.
Strategy two: Once the UE returns to the coverage
area of 3G, it makes the cell reselection from 2G to 3G.

Cell Reselection Strategy

Principle one: When the load of the 3G network is
normal:
If the quality of the 3G network could cater for the
requirements of the lowest service rate and UE can be hosted
in 3G network.
T2G3G > T3G2G , Makes 3G users hosted in the 2G network
could easily reselect the 3G network;
Principle two: When the load of the 3G network is
high:
Increase threshold from 2G to 3G, make sure the 2G network
can share the load of 3G network.
This process could be automatically implemented and there is
reversibility according to the network load

the cell reselection threshold

Step one: Trigger condition: Current 3G
cell CPICH Ec/No<
Qqualmin+Ssearch,RAT
Step two: Cell filter: S criterion
Step three: Cell sort: R criterion
Step four: Cell selection: Treselection

Cell Reselection Processes

 If the 3G cell reselection list contains the frequency points of
UTRAN, MS could be reselected to the UTRAN when MS meets the
conditions provided as follows:
Condition one: Trigger condition, Qsearch_I (Idle State)/
Qsearch_C (Dedicated State) satisfies the diff-system test
threshold.
Condition two: The RSCP of the adjacent cell measured by MS is at
least FDD_Qoffset higher than the RLA_C of all the adjacent cells
and keeps at least 5 seconds (If MS reselect to GSM cell within 15
seconds, then FDD_Qoffset also needs a 5db increment.
Condition three: If Ec/ No (measured by MS) FDD_Qmin, the
time lasts 5 seconds;
Besides, MS could not make the cell reselection of the UTRAN after
it is reselected to the GSM within 5 seconds. If many UTRAN cells
meet the above criterions, MS needs to select the best cell of the
RSCP.

2G Cell Reselection To 3G Cell

The handover between the 3G->2G systems
mainly contains the follow three types:
First type: handover based on quality
Second type: handover based on load
Third type: handover based on mobile
speed of the MS
Besides, there are some inter-system
handovers which are based on BLER,
uplink/downlink power and service types.

3G->2G Inter-system
Handover Types
Blind handover: When the GSM and the UMTS exist in
one coverage cell, the UE could directly make the
handover process without opening the compression mode
and diff-system test after the handover condition is met.
Oriented-retry: When the UE launches the service in the
UTRAN cell which has satisfied the threshold of load
balance, the service could be set up in the GSM adjacent
cell at the RAB stage.
The handover of opening the compression mode: After
the UE meets conditions of handover, the UE runs the
compression mode and measures inter-system adjacent
cells, then makes inter-system handover according to
results of measurement.

handover types
 The typical handover process includes the follow steps:
Measurement control-> Measurement report-> Handover decision->
Handover implementing.
When the UE stays in the edge of the 3G system and triggers the
threshold of inter-system test from 3G to 2G, the 3G RNC notifies the
double-mode UE and starts the diff-system test.
After the UE makes measurement and satisfies the threshold, it
reports the measurement event while the RNC judges if to start the
inter-system handover signaling flow.
The UE that is at the connection state in the 3G system can work
continuously within the designated frequency in all the time period,
so it is required to enable the condensation mode (as the UE has only
one transceiver) for the 3G system and the dual mode in the dif-
system measurement so as to keep the session during the period of
dif-system measurement.

CS Service 3G->2G Handover

After the UE starts the CS services in the 2G cell, the
UE should measure the 3G adjacent cells and report
the 3G adjacent cell measurement periodically.
When the measurement of 3G adjacent cells meets
the threshold of handover (this measurement is
judged by BSC), the BSC should launch the handover
process. Among which the UE covered by 2G cell
makes measurement for 3G adjacent cells, or could
realize clock opening inter-system measurement
through different configurations or opens the inter-
system test after meets conditions.
The GSM system doesnt use the UE event report to
determine the handover.

CS Service 2G->3G Handover

The handover ways of the PS service are different
according to the state before the handover of the UE.
When the UE stays in the DCH state, the UTRAN
launches a cell change command for handover.
When the UE stays in the FACH state or the PCH state,
the UE automatically launches the cell reselection.
The idle UE launches the cell reselection automatically
while the reselection flow should also take the process
of the context interaction between the new and the old
SGSN PDP as the UE with the FACH state or PCH state
stays at the PMM connection state.

PS Service 3G->2G Handover

Making handover from 2G to 3G is a cell
reselection self-made by the UE. The UE
launches the RRC connection and
registration in the 3G cell through the way
of cell reselection.
After the 3G cell is registered, the UE could
send the direct message service request for
applying for resources when the UE has
requirements for signaling or data services.

PS Service 2G->3G Handover

As the GSM doesnt support that the UE uses
CS and PS services at the same time for
hybrid concurrent services of CS+PS, the
handover of the hybrid service from 3G to 2G
makes sure that the successful handover of
the CS services is the main function.
The PS service will be released, but keeps the
PMM connection state. After the UE releases
the CS service in the 2G cell, the PS services
can be recovered.

CS+PS Concurrent Service 3G-

>2G Handover
Content

Overview
Basic Theory
Typical Flows
2G->3G Cell Reselection
The UE gets the basic parameters of 3G measurement
through the 2Quater system messages,
After the UE gets the signal measurement of 3G
adjacent cells, whether to launch the 5 seconds timer,
and the signal strength of 3G cell could be observed
through the GPRS RR 3G Reselection Measurements
of UE code flow.
The UE launches the reselection processes after it
satisfies the conditions of reselection, the starting and
the end of reselection all could be observed from
EVENT messages of UE internal.

Typical Flows
 The UE gets the inter-system measure
parameters from the system message SIB3
The UE gets the adjacent cells selection
parameters of the diff-system from the
system message SIB11
The UE detects the 2G signal and makes
queuing.
The UE launches the reselection flow and
completes the reselection after the 2G signal
meets the conditions of reselection.

3G-2G Cell Reselection

 The UE reports the 2D events in the 3G cell, which represents the quality
of the 3G signal to become worse.

CS Service 3G->2G Blind

The RNC decision makes blind handover after the 2D event is reported;

Handover Process
it should directly send the retry request,
while it doesnt need to launch the compression mode during the blind-handover
process.
 The
UE launches the CS service from the 3G cell
CS Service 3G->2G
and the service Directed
cant be accessed because of
reaching the conditioning threshold of the load,
Retry
the RNC responds to the messages about the
RAB allocation failure because of directed retry.
 Once the RNC responds to the RAB allocation
CS Service 3G->2G
failure, it sends the requestsDirected
of retry and
Retry
makes the handover among systems. The
reason of the retry is also a directed retry.
 The UE launches the CS service and reports the 2D event
in the 3G cell when the signal quality becomes worse because of coverage.

CS Service 3G->2G Handover Based On

Coverage
CS Service 3G->2G Handover Based On
Coverage
The RNC sends the inter-system measure control to the UE, notifies
the UE to make inter-system measure while the RNC issues the
inter-system measure parameter 3A or 3C and the compressed mode parameters
 The RNC issues the compressed mode parameters to the NODEB.

CS Service 3G->2G Handover Based On

After the UE tests the signal strength of diff-system adjacent cells
Coverage
satisfies the report threshold of event, the UE forward tells the test reports. This example is 3C.
 The RNC launches the retry flow and makes the inter-system
handover after the UE reports the 3C.

CS Service 3G->2G Handover Based On

Coverage
 The RNC receives the
Relocation Request
issued from CN and
indicates the requests of
accessible office retry.
After the RNC notifies the
NODEB to set up a
wireless link, the RNC
responds the
RelocationDetect and the
RelocationComplete to
the CN for wireless
resources successful
allocation, and then the
RNC indicates the retry is
successful. The RNC
makes interaction with
the UE and allocates the
CS Service 2G->3G Handover
new RNTI as well as the
RNC transmits the UTRAN
Mobility Information.
 After the UE sets up the PS service, it stops transmitting data.

PCH State 3G->2G Handover

The state becomes the PCH state after the user-panel reports 4B0,
and then the user-panel deletes the wireless link.
 The UE makes handover
to the 2G adjacent cells
through the way of
reselection under the PCH
state. Because of staying
under PMM connection
state, the RNC could
receive the request
messages of the SRNC
contexts and make
transmission for the PDP
contexts and
retransmission of the PDU
buffer. Eventually the RNC
PCH State 3G->2G Handover
releases the IU interface
and completes the
handover.
 The UE stops transmitting for data after the UE sets up the PS service
and the user-panel reports 4B0.

FACH State 3G->2G Handover

The user-panel becomes FACH state after it reports 4B0, and then it deletes the
wireless link.
 The UE makes handover
to 2G adjacent cells by
the way of reselection
under the FACH state.
Because of staying under
PMM connection state,
the RNC could receive
the request messages of
the SRNC contexts and
make transmission for
the PDP contexts and
retransmission of the
PDU buffer. Eventually
the RNC releases the IU
interface and completes
FACH State 3G->2G Handover
the handover.
 After the UE sets up the PS service in the 3G cell, it should report the
2D event because of the worse signal quality.

DCH/HS State 3G->2G

Handover
DCH/HS State 3G->2G
Handover
DCH/HS State 3G->2G
Handover
The RNC issues the compression mode parameters to the NODEB.
The UE reports the test reports to RNC after the measurements
of diff-system adjacent cells meet the 3C threshold.

DCH/HS State 3G->2G

Handover
The RNC notifies the UE to make inter-system cells modification
after it receives the test report 3C, and the notification messages
contain the basic parameters of the GSM cell.
 The UE begins to
make interactive
processes of the
SRNC contexts and
makes transmission
for the PDP contexts
and retransmission
of the PDU buffer
after the UE
completes
reselection.
Eventually the UE
releases the IU
DCH/HS State 3G->2G
interface and
completes the
Handover
handover.
 The UE firstly launches the request of the RRC connection
by the way of reselection from 2G to 3G because of the
PS Service 2G->3G Handover UE Directly
inter-system cell reselection.

sends SERVICE REQUEST

 Considering about the initial direct transmission message here, the UE takes FOR=1
in Route Area Updating from the initial direct messages, this parameter describes

PS Service 2G->3G Handover UE Directly

that the UE has the requirements of signaling and data. Besides, if the value taken
by the PDP CONTEXT STATUS in RAU is 0x200, then it presents the PDP is active
sends SERVICE REQUEST
which appears the UE is under connection state in the GSM side before the UE
reselects to 3G. However, if the value is 0x00, it represents the PDP is inactive
and shows the UE is under idle state in GSM side before the UE reselects to 3G.
 The UE immediately launches the Service Request for setting up
PS service after the UE finishes RAC update. Whether the UE carries
the PDP CONTEXT STATUS message also could be observed.

PS Service 2G->3G Handover UE Directly

sends SERVICE REQUEST
The PS service is set up after the CN responds Service Accept to
the RNC and issues RAB allocation.
 The UE makes handover from 2G to 3G through the way of reselection. Firstly,
the UE launches the RRC connection requests for the inter-system cell reselection.

PSConsidered
Service about the2G->3G Handover
initial direct transmission UELaunch
message here, the takes FOR=0 PS
service via RRC connection
in Route Area Updating, this parameter describes that the UE doesnt have the requirements
of signaling and data. However, the value taken by the PDP CONTEXT STATUS is
0x200, then it presents the UE has been already under PMM connection state.
 From the above diagram, the IU
resources are immediately released
by the subsequent CN.

PS Service 2G->3G Handover Launch PS

service via RRC connection
PS Service 2G->3G Handover Launch PS
service viawith RRC connection
It is noteworthy of considering that the UE sends another direct message
Services Request the active PDP information for setting up the service
after the IU is released. Because of the released IU resources, the above message is abandoned.
 The UE launches the RRC connection request again, the reason is that the UE
launches the interactive service for setting up the PS service.

PS Service 2G->3G Handover Launch PS

service via RRC connection
After the RRC connection is set up, the UE could directly send the service request
affixed with the PDP CONTEXT STATUS message, which represents the UE stays
under the PMM connection state. If the UE stays in IDLE state, then the UE sets up
the PS service by the PDP active request and not by sending service request directly.
 The UE sets up the CS+PS concurrent service. Because the quality of
the local cell becomes worse, the UE reports the 2D events, while the RNC
issues the parameters of the measure control and the compression mode
as well as the UE launches the measure of the diff-system.

CS+PS Concurrent 3G->2G

Handover
The UE reports the 3C event when the UE finds the signal strength of the diff-system
meets the measure reports thresholds in the diff-frequency testing.
CS+PS Concurrent 3G->2G
Handover
When the RNC launches the processes of the CS service retry,
the CS service makes handover to 2G, and then the CN issues
messages about the IU release because of retry successful.
The PS service is interrupted as well as kept the PMM connection state.
 From the observed signaling, the UE keeps CS calling about 9 seconds

CS+PS Concurrent 3G->2G

in the 2G side and on-hooks the CS service, (From retry completed
to SRNS context requests received: 10:29:12-10:29:21). After the
CS service is on-hooked, the PS service has a demand on the recovering.

Handover
The RNC receives the SRNS contexts requests as well as makes the
retransmission of the PDP contexts and the data PDU, and then the
PS service of the 2G side is recovered.