Mobility management in

connected mode in LTE (RRC

Connection Release with Redirection as another
possibility to handle inter-RAT mobility in LTE)

MACIEJ URBANOWICZ - OLNC/NAD/RAN

Table of Contents

 Connected mode mobility management (LTE ->HSPA)

 LTE Inter-RAT Handover vs. Redirection
 RRC Connection Release with Redirection – feature
description and basic parameters
 Redirection: feature activation – Orange Moldova (Huawei
eRAN 2.1)
 Redirection: feature testing in live network (Orange Moldova)
 Evaluation of the time needed for redirection (temporary
stop in data transfer)
 Optimization of the LTE-HSPA redirection triggers
 Conclusions
LTE-UMTS mobility in connected mode issue – OMD
mobility strategy to use redirections from LTE to
UMTS in case LTE coverage is at low end

 OMD mobility strategy in connected mode:

 LTE – UMTS , mobility in connected mode
realized through “Redirection” – i.e. a
substitute for handovers
 Redirection has to be used instead of
handovers because at early stages PS
handovers are not supported by the terminals
 UMTS-LTE handovers , not supported in RAN12
Redirection – feature description

 In case serving cell coverage is poor, eNB can redirect

the call to other RAT – redirection is not a handover !!!
 event A2 triggers redirection i.e. if A2 event is
triggered then RRC connection release with redirection
message is sent to the UE with target RAT indicated
 Once UE sends event triggered measurement report A2
eNB sends RRC: rrcConnectionRelease with target RAT
information to UE
Parameters responsible for triggering event
A2 i.e. for redirection

 Basic parameters associated

with triggering event A2
 InterRatHoA2ThdRSRP
 InterRatHoA2ThdRSRQ
 InterRatHoA1A2Hys
 InterRatHoA1A2TimeToTri
g
 The above parameters allow
to optimize the moment
when redirection is triggered,
they do not activate
‘redirection’ (feature)
Conditions required for redirection activation:
UMTS neighbors and Blind HO allowed
(Huawei

eRAN2.1)
After testing different configurations the final settings at which redirections
worked were found:
 UMTS neighbors with appropriate parameters have to be defined
 BlindHoPriority in a neighbor UMTS cell has to be >0 (BlindHoPriority=0
means blind HOs are not allowed)
 Redirection has to be activated and PS HOs deactivated
 UtranRedirectSwitch – 1, UtranPsHoSwitch – 0
(ENODEBALGOSWITCH/HoModSwitch)
 Target RAT (UTRAN in our case)
 In order to force redirection InterRatHoA2ThdRSRP was set to -100 dBm
(default -109dBm)
 L3 signaling – RRC messages during

redirection
The following RRC messages
have to be sent when
redirection works:
 RRC Connection Reconfiguration
 RRC Connection Reconfiguration
Complete
 RRC Connection Release

RRCConnectionRelease (3GPP TS 36.331 ver 9.5.0 Rel 9)

DL-DCCH-Message
message
c1
rrcConnectionRelease
rrc-TransactionIdentifier :2
criticalExtensions
c1
rrcConnectionRelease-r8
releaseCause : other
redirectedCarrierInfo
utra-FDD : 10664

Data (hex):
2C 22 54 D4 00
RRC SIGNALING MESSAGE
 Event A2 – trigger for redirections: thresholds
RRCConnectionReconfiguration (3GPP TS 36.331 ver 9.5.0 Rel
9) triggerType
DL-DCCH-Message event Event A2 triggered at RSRP = -100dBm
eventId
message
……………………………………………. eventA2
physCellId : 145 a2-Threshold
………………………….
threshold-RSRP : 41
triggerType hysteresis : 4
RRCConnectionRelease (3GPP TS 36.331 ver 9.5.0 Rel 9)
event timeToTrigger : ms640
DL-DCCH-Message
eventId triggerQuantity : rsrp
message
reportQuantity : both
eventA3 maxReportCells :1 c1
a3-Offset :4 reportInterval : ms480 rrcConnectionRelease
reportOnLeave : false reportAmount : infinity rrc-TransactionIdentifier :2
hysteresis :4
reportConfigToAddModList value 4 criticalExtensions
reportConfigId : 9
c1
timeToTrigger : ms320 reportConfig
rrcConnectionRelease-r8
triggerQuantity : rsrp reportConfigEUTRA
releaseCause : other
triggerType
reportQuantity : sameAsTriggerQuantity event redirectedCarrierInfo
maxReportCells :4 eventId utra-FDD : 10664
reportInterval : ms240 eventA1
reportAmount : infinity a1-Threshold
Data (hex):
threshold-RSRQ : 30 2C 22 54 D4 00
reportConfigToAddModList value 2
hysteresis : 4 RRC SIGNALING MESSAGE
reportConfigId :7 timeToTrigger : ms640
reportConfig triggerQuantity : rsrq
reportQuantity : both
reportConfigEUTRA
maxReportCells :1
triggerType reportInterval : ms480
event reportAmount : r1
reportConfigToAddModList value 5
eventId
reportConfigId : 10
eventA1 reportConfig
a1-Threshold reportConfigEUTRA
triggerType
threshold-RSRP : 43
event
hysteresis :4 eventId
timeToTrigger : ms640
eventA2
triggerQuantity : rsrp a2-Threshold
reportQuantity : both threshold-RSRQ : 28
hysteresis : 4
maxReportCells :1
timeToTrigger : ms640
reportInterval : ms480 triggerQuantity : rsrq
reportAmount : r1 reportQuantity : both
maxReportCells :1
reportConfigToAddModList value 3
reportInterval : ms480
reportConfigId :8 reportAmount : infinity
reportConfig ……….
RRC SIGNALING MESSAGE
reportConfigEUTRA
Redirection – FTP download started on LTE and
ended on HSDPA without DROP

 sssss
Transmission on HSDPA resumed
REDIRECTION

Transmission on LTE stopped

Evaluation if the interruption time during
redirection, L3 signaling has been used to
asses the interruption
 The exact interruption time depends on how the start and the
end point are defined
 If Nemo Outdoor (L3 signaling) is to be used to evaluate the
interruption time and
 Start point :16.59.06.663 – RRC Connection Release (LTE)
 End point: 16.59.11.788 – Modify PDP Context Accept (UMTS)
 Then the Interruption time – 5.125 seconds
 Interruption in data transfer – around 5 seconds, in practice
unnoticeable for users during FTP download (middle or big size
files)
 It has to mentioned that the interruption time measured from the
E2E perspective can be slightly different (longer)
Conclusions

 Redirection feature works well and the interruption time is close to Huawei’s
commitment (discrepancies might be attributed to different ways of
measurement)
 In order to achieve the most fluent and efficient redirection from LTE to HSPA
the trigger point for redirection should be optimize, as there is no point in
keeping the UE on LTE if better performance can be achieved on HSPA
 The values of InterRatHoA2ThdRSRP and InterRatHoA2ThdRSRQ should be fine
tuned in order to achieve the best user experience during redirections
 Drive tests
 KPIs (if enough samples)
 No ping pongs are possible in connected mode since only LTE-UMTS mobility
available
 Idle mode parameters should be tuned/reviewed so that they are consistent
with LTE-UMTS connected mode parameters, a kind of a loop like LTE idle ->
LTE connected ->UMTS connected->UMTS idle->LTE idle should be avoided
THANK YOU
Annex: Measurement Gap
 A measurement gap: a time period during which the UE
measures a neighbor frequency of the serving frequency
 Measurement gaps are used for inter-frequency and
inter-RAT measurements
 Two Gap Pattern type are specified
 Pattern 1: gap=6ms, period=40ms
 Pattern 2 gap=6ms, period=80ms
LTE Radio KPIs

MACIEJ URBANOWICZ - OLNC/NAD/RAN

Table of contents

 High Level LTE radio performance indicators

 LTE Radio KPIs considered as the most crucial ones
 Possible issues with LTE KPIs – experiences from
Orange Moldova
 Conclusions
High Level LTE radio performance
KPIs
 The main goal of the corporate KPIs is to:
 Allow general high level assessment of the network
 Benchmark vendors
 Provide a basic set of KPIs for new LTE Mcos
 The corporate KPIs are defined and improved thanks
to the contribution from many experts from different
companies in the FT Group
 The KPI documents are evolving all the time and is
adjusted to the new features and SW releases
LTE KPIs
LTE DCR – issue noticed in Orange
Moldova
 During the LTE trial in Moldova, DCR of up to 50% was noticed
 Other KPIs as well as DTs show perfect performance (no drops experienced
by the users, no drops registered by DT tools during static tests)
 High DCR has been associated with the LTE terminals behavior
 Terminals get IP addresses (default eRAB is established) when power
is on
 When a user disconnects the terminal (physically) then eRAB is
released and considered as an abnormal release
 The way how the eRAB abnormal release counter pegs makes the DCR KPI
unreliable
 The change of inactivity timer decreases DCR (decreases only KPI, not
number of real drops but on the other hand increases RTT , signaling etc)
 In later eRAN releases Huawei is going to check the buffer and consider as
abnormal eRAB releases only those releases during which the buffers are
not empty (i.e. something is about to be sent)
DCR issue in Huawei

 According to HUAWEI:
 According to current implementation by Qualcomm, if we force UE to detach when user
disconnect, UE will try to acquire LTE network and start attach again(Because of always-on
feature). If UE can’t attach to LTE, then it will try to acquire less priority RAT network(3G/2G).

 LTE mobility states:

 EMM DEREGISTERED (RRC IDLE, ECM IDLE)
 EMM REGISTERED (RRC CONNECTED, ECM CONNECTED)
 EMM REGISTERED (RRC IDLE, ECM IDLE)
 It seems there is no need to force the UE to detach, it
should be enough to go to idle when the user clicks
‘disconnect’ button
EMM – EPS Mobility Management
ECM - EPS Connection Management
EPS – Evolved Packet Switched
Conclusions

 The first release of the corporate LTE radio KPIs is

planned by the end of 2011
 New counters are being developed by suppliers, at
the moment FT has an opportunity to request for
some specific counters
 Except for Huawei, no other vendor’s KPIs tested in
the field
 The corporate LTE KPIs are under development so
any contribution is welcome
THANK YOU
Annex: LTE Mobility States