LTE Handover & Mobility Overview
LTE Nodes & Interfaces (Logical View)
S1 Handover - Source eNB
S1 Handover - Target eNB
X2 Handover - Source eNB
X2 Handover - Target eNB
Intra-LTE HO (within one MME pool).
S/P-GW
MME/ S-GW VI VII S1 IV I X2 eNode B II III VII V eNode B S1
I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII.
Handover Request Handover Request Ack Handover Command Start Packet Forwarding Handover Confirm Path Switch Path Switch Ack Release Resource
Source
Target
CP & UP message sequence flow
Interworking with 2G/3G.
PMM_CONNECTED CELL_DCH Handover
EMM_CONNECTED GSM_Connected E-UTRA RRC_CONNECTED Handover GPRS Packet transfer mode CCO, Reselection Connection establishment/release Reselection E-UTRA RRC_IDLE EMM_IDLE CCO, Reselection + PDP context est*
CELL_FACH CCO with NACC Reselection Connection establishment/release
CELL_PCH URA_PCH Connection establishment/release UTRA_Idle PMM_IDLE
Reselection Reselection + PDP context est*
GSM_Idle/GPRS Packet_Idle
PMM_DETACHED
Cell change (without signaling)
EMM_DETACHED
Cell change (without signaling)
Idle
* PDP Context establishment is needed if no PDP context exists
LTE to 3G Handover
PDN-GW
19 20
3 18 7 8
target S-GW
4 21 2 17
source S-GW
10
11
SGSN
5 6 15 16 9
MME
12
RNC
13 14
eNode B
Node B
1. Handover Required 2. Forward Relocation Request 3. Create PDP Context Request 4. Create PDP Context Response 5. Relocation Request 6. Relocation Request Ack 7. Update PDCP Context Request 8. Update PDP Context Response 9. Forward Relocation Response 10. Create Bearer Request 11. Create Bearer Response 12. HO Command 13. HO from E-UTRAN Command 14. HO to UTRAN Complete 15. Relocation Complete 16. Forward Relocation Complete 17. Forward Relocation Complete Ack 18. Update PDP Context Request 19. Update Bearer Request 20. Update Bearer Response 21. Update PDP Context Response
LTE to 3G Cell-reselection
PDN-GW
6 7
S-GW
5 8 2 4
SGSN
1b 3
MME
1a. Routing Area Update Request 1b. Routing Area Update Request 2. Context Request 3. Context Response 4. Context Acknowledge 5. Update Bearer Request 6. Update Bearer Request 7. Update Bearer Response 8. Update Bearer Response 9. Routing Area Update Accept 10. Routing Area Update Complete
RNC
10 9
eNode B
Node B
1a