Feature Description 30/221 04-LZA 701 6014/1 Uen B3

Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover

Contents
Introduction
o Basic Characteristics
o Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover Summary
o Additional Information
Feature Operation
o Network Requirements
o Feature Operation Sequence Diagram
Parameters
o Introduced Parameters
o Affected Parameters
Network Impact
o Capacity
o Handover
Associated Features and Affected Functions
o Prerequisite Features
o Affected Features
o Related Features
o Affected System Functions
Performance
o KPIs
o Counters
o Events
O&M Information
o Feature Activation and Deactivation
o Configure for Blind Inter-Frequency Handover
o Configure for Measurement Based Inter-Frequency Handover

1 Introduction
This document describes the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature.

The Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity feature (optionally combined

with the Mobility Control at Poor Coverage feature) allows the RBS to release the User
Equipment (UE) and direct it to an alternative LTE frequency ("release with redirect") in the
event of poor coverage in the serving cell. The purpose of the Coverage-Triggered Inter-
Frequency Handover feature is to extend this with the option of initiating a handover to a
cell on a different LTE frequency, instead of initiating a release.

The Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature provides enhanced active mode

mobility between frequencies and cells in an LTE network. When the feature is active, a UE
can be directed to do a handover between cells on different frequencies in the LTE network
while maintaining the data session.

If the Intra-LTE Inter-Mode Handover feature is activated then the source and target cells in
the inter-frequency handover can be of different types, that is source of type TDD or FDD
and target of type FDD or TDD, respectively.

Correct configuration of the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature is

required to ensure the following:

That the UE will be transferred to a cell on a different frequency for which the UE
has coverage.
That an Event A5 (serving becomes worse than threshold1 and neighbor
becomes better than threshold2) measurement is configured in the UE whenever
there are several candidate target cells, none of which covers the source cell
completely.
That the UE hands over directly, without an Event A5 measurement, whenever
there is (at least) one target cell which is known to cover the source cell
completely.

1.1 Basic Characteristics

This section describes the basic characteristics of the feature.

Feature name:
Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover

Product identity:
DU-based node, see Feature Overview

Baseband-based node, see Licensed Feature Overview

Replaces:
N/A

Dependencies

This feature requires the following RAN features to be active:

Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity

This feature affects the following RAN feature:

Non-planned PCI Range

1.2 Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover Summary

This section describes the benefits of this feature.
The added benefits of the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature, over the
Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity feature, can be summarized as
follows:

Session transition to a cell on another LTE frequency is possible with reduced

interruptions to data flows during the transition process.
Enhanced control over how the UE is transferred between frequencies and cells
is available.
Using handover to transfer a UE between cells enables the RBS to use different
admission criteria than would be used at RRC connection setup. This makes it
possible to improve the probability that a service, for example Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP), is not interrupted in a network with high load.

1.3 Additional Information

More information about this feature and related topics can be found in the following
documentation:

3GPP TS 36.331 Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol Specification

2 Feature Operation
This section describes the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature in more
detail, including network configuration requirements and operation flows.

This feature extends the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity feature

and the Mobility Control at Poor Coverage feature.

The Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity feature and the Mobility Control
at Poor Coverage feature use the Event A2 (serving cell becomes worse than threshold)
measurement process to detect poor coverage in the serving cell. The RBS determines what
other frequencies, LTE or other Radio Access Technology (RAT) devices are target
candidates for transferring the UE, and if the highest prioritized frequency which the UE can
handle (has capabilities for) is an LTE frequency.

The RBS can do one of two things:

When the RBS determines that the UE is in sufficiently poor coverage, it can
release the UE with a redirection indication for this frequency

This is referred to as "blind release with redirect" .

Start an Event A5 or A3 measurement in the UE to determine if there is a cell on

this frequency which is covering the UE

The RBS then waits until the UE sends a report for this measurement and
release the UE with a redirection indication for this frequency.
The Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature extends this with two new
options:

When the RBS determines that the UE is in sufficiently poor coverage, it can
initiate a handover for the UE to a cell on the target frequency which is known
by the RBS to cover the source cell completely

This is referred to as "blind inter-frequency handover".

Start an Event A5 or A3 measurement in the UE to determine whether there is a

cell on this frequency which is covering the UE

The RBS waits until the UE sends a report for this measurement and initiate a
handover for the UE to one of the cells received in the measurement report. This
is referred to as "measurement based inter-frequency handover".

The circumstances under which the RBS will consider a UE in sufficiently poor coverage, and
what will trigger the RBS to configure an A5/A3 measurement in the UE will vary depending
on the feature Mobility Control at Poor Coverage.

2.1 Network Requirements

This is a licensed feature. This means that for the feature to be operational, a valid license
key must be installed and the feature must be explicitly activated by setting a MOM
attribute. See Feature Activation and Deactivation for more details.

The following must be fulfilled at feature activation:

License keys must be activated to operate both the Coverage-Triggered Inter-

Frequency Session Continuity and Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency
Handover features. Details on the process required to load and activate a license
can be found in Manage Licenses.
The Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity feature must be
configured correctly. Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity
provides details on how to do this.
There must be UE in the network that has the capability do inter-frequency
handover. This is indicated in bit 13 of the featureGroupIndicators which is part
of the UE-EUTRA-Capability information element as described in 3GPP TS 36.331

2.2 Feature Operation Sequence Diagram

A Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover can be triggered in two ways:

as a blind handover, meaning that the target cell of the handover is chosen
based on pre-configured information, that is not based on measurements
performed by the UE
as a measurement based handover, meaning that the target cell of the handover
is chosen based on an Inter-Frequency LTE target measurement report received
from the UE
Details on how and when inter-frequency handover is triggered for a certain UE can be
found in Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity and Mobility Control at
Poor Coverage

If a target cell was selected for handover, the RBS proceeds to prepare and execute the
handover attempt. This is done in the same way as is described in Intra-LTE Handover,
including the decision on whether to use an X2 or S1 connection when communicating with
the RBS handling the target cell, in the case when the target cell is handled by a different
RBS than the RBS handling the source cell. The events sent from the RBS during handover
preparation and execution will contain information saying that it is an inter-frequency
handover and whether the handover was initiated based on a pre-configured target cell
(blind handover), or if an Event A5 measurement was used to find a target cell
(measurement based handover), see Events.

3 Parameters
This section describes the parameters introduced by the Coverage-Triggered Inter-
Frequency Handover feature and parameters affected by activating the feature.

3.1 Introduced Parameters

Table 1 describes the parameters introduced by the feature.

Table 1 Introduced Parameters

Parameter Description
coverageIndicator Indicates whether the coverage area of the cell indicated by the
cell relation has approximately the same coverage area
(overlap) as this cell, or whether it fully covers this cell, or if it
is fully contained in this cell
mobilityAction Preferred method to transfer a UE in connected mode to a
specific LTE frequency
covTriggerdBlindHoAllowed Indicates whether a blind handover from this cell can be
initiated when a UE reports poor coverage(1)
Exists for MO classes:
EUtranCellFDD.covTriggerdBlindHoAllowed
EUtranCellTDD.covTriggerdBlindHoAllowed
(1) Even if the value is true, the RBS will only initiate a blind handover if it finds a suitable cell.

3.2 Affected Parameters

The implementation of this feature affects no parameters.

4 Network Impact
This section describes how the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature
impacts the network functions and capabilities.
4.1 Capacity
This section provides information on the impact of the feature on network capacity.

The Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature ensures that network capacity is

enhanced by improving the possibility that the UE is served by the best available frequency
within the network.

4.2 Handover
The Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature improves the time taken for to
make connected mode transitions from a cell on one frequency to a cell on another
frequency.

5 Associated Features and Affected Functions

This section describes how the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature
affects other features and functions.

5.1 Prerequisite Features

Table 2 lists prerequisite features to the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover
feature, that is, they must be active prior to introducing the Coverage-Triggered Inter-
Frequency Handover feature.

Table 2 Prerequisite Features

Feature Description
Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity
5.2 Affected Features
This feature affects no other feature.

5.3 Related Features

Table 3 lists features that are related to the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover
feature.

Table 3 Related Features

Feature Description
Data Forwarding at The Data Forwarding at Intra-LTE handover feature is designed to
Intra-LTE Handover maintain a high data throughput to UE that under take handover from
one RBS to another. As part of the handover process, unacknowledged
downlink data and downlink data that has not yet been transmitted to
the UE is forwarded to the target cell to minimize the reduction in data
throughput following the handover.
Table 3 Related Features
Feature Description
Automated The Automated Neighbor Relations feature removes the need for the
Neighbor Relations manual configuration of neighbor cell lists for intra-LTE handover. The
feature automatically constructs and maintains a list of the best
neighbor cells to be used for handover based upon measurement
reports from UE. The Automated Neighbor Relations feature is
activated on a cell by cell basis.
Packet Forwarding The Packet Forwarding at S1 Handover feature is designed to reduce
at S1 Handover packet loss during S1 handover. Data is buffered between the time UE
decodes the handover command from the source RBS and the target
RBS decodes the handover confirm from the UE.
Coverage-Triggered The Coverage-Triggered CDMA-eHRPD Session Continuity feature
CDMA-eHRPD provides basic connected mode mobility to a CDMA-eHRPD network.
Session Continuity When the feature is active, the UE can be directed to transfer from the
LTE network to the CDMA-eHRPD network while maintaining the data
session.
Coverage-Triggered The Coverage-Triggered WCDMA Session Continuity feature provides
WCDMA Session basic connected mode mobility to a WCDMA network. When the
Continuity feature is active, the UE can be directed to transfer from the LTE
network to the WCDMA network while maintaining the data session.
Coverage-Triggered The Coverage-Triggered GERAN Session Continuity feature provides
GERAN Session basic connected mode mobility to a GERAN network. When the feature
Continuity is active, the UE can be directed to transfer from the LTE network to
the GERAN network while maintaining the data session.
Coverage-Triggered The Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Session Continuity feature
Inter-Frequency provides basic connected mode mobility between frequencies in the
Session Continuity LTE network. When the feature is active, the UE can be directed to
transfer between frequencies in the LTE network while maintaining the
data session.
Coverage-Triggered The purpose of the Coverage-Triggered WCDMA IRAT Handover
WCDMA IRAT feature is to extend the functionality in the Coverage-Triggered
Handover WCDMA Session Continuity feature with the option of initiating a
handover to a WCDMA cell, instead of initiating a release. The feature
also has functionality to handle an incoming handover (to an LTE cell)
from a WCDMA cell.
Coverage-Triggered TDD only: The purpose of the Coverage-Triggered TD-SCDMA IRAT
TD-SCDMA IRAT Handover feature is to extend the functionality in the Coverage-
Handover Triggered TD-SCDMA Session Continuity feature with the option of
initiating a handover to a TD-SCDMA cell, instead of initiating a
release. The feature also has functionality to handle an incoming
handover (to an LTE cell) from a TD-SCDMA cell.
Intra-LTE Inter- The Intra-LTE Inter-Mode Handover feature provides the possibility to
Mode Handover initiate a handover from an LTE TDD/FDD cell to a LTE FDD/TDD cell.
This is beneficial for operators that have a LTE network where TDD
and FDD cells coexist in the LTE RAN.
Non-planned PCI The Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature used to
Range support inter frequency S1 iandover to the Non-planned PCI Range
feature.
Table 3 Related Features
Feature Description
UE Level Oscillating In a radio network with a high rate of unnecessary handover, this
Handover feature may decrease the number of unnecessary handover, and thus
Minimization decrease the signaling load and potentially increase throughput.
Shared LTE RAN The Shared LTE RAN feature allows the operators to share a common
RAN. This provides operators with substantial cost reductions and a
reduced environmental footprint.
Mobility Control at The Mobility Control at Poor Coverage feature extends the mobility
Poor Coverage control functionality by replacing the bad coverage thresholds with
search and critical thresholds.
SGW Relocation at The SGW Relocation at X2 Handover feature makes it possible to
X2 Handover change Serving Gateway (SGW) at X2 handover. Through this feature
core network can balance network load and utilize network resources
more efficiently.
Inter-Frequency The purpose of this feature is to offload traffic load above an offload
Offload threshold from an E-UTRAN cell to a Ericsson or non-Ericsson EUTRAN
FDD or TDD cell.
This feature uses the method introduced by Inter-frequency Load
Balancing for the assessment of traffic load based on the presence of
Evolved Radio Access Bearers (E-RAB) in the cell and the Quality of
Service (QoS) class to which they belong.
This feature is an alternative feature to Inter-frequency Load
Balancing(IFLB). The main difference to IFLB is that there is no load
information exchange between the cells in Inter-Frequency Offload.
Automated Mobility The Automated Mobility Optimization feature automatically optimize
Optimization mobility configuration to reduce the occurrence possibility of radio
connect failure before, during or after handover procedure.
Multiple Frequency Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover is affected by the
Band Indicators Multiple Frequency Band Indicators feature. For more information, see
Multiple Frequency Band Indicators.
5.4 Affected System Functions
This feature affects no system functions.

6 Performance
This section describes performance indicators, counters, and events associated with the
Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature.

6.1 KPIs
Table 4 lists the main Key Performance Indicators (KPI) associated with this feature.
Table 4 KPIs
KPI Description
Mobility success More information can be found in Key Performance Indicators in the
rate section on Mobility.
6.2 Counters

Table 5 lists the counters associated with the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover
feature.

Table 5 Counters
Counter Description
pmBadCovEvalReport Total number of traffic Bad Coverage measurement reports
received
Exists for MO classes:
EUtranCellFDD.pmBadCovEvalReport
EUtranCellTDD.pmBadCovEvalReport
pmHoExeAttLteInterF Number of outgoing intra-LTE inter-frequency handover execution
attempts
pmHoExeSuccLteInterF Number of successful outgoing intra-LTE inter-frequency
handovers
pmHoPrepAttLteInterF Number of attempts to start outgoing intra-LTE inter-frequency
handover preparation
pmHoPrepSuccLteInterF Number of successful outgoing intra-LTE inter-frequency handover
preparations

More information about counters can be found in Managed Object Model (MOM).

6.3 Events

Table 6 lists the events associated with the Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover
feature.

Table 6 Events
Event Event Parameter Description
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_PREP EVENT_PARAM_HO_SOURCE_OR_TA Indicates the RAT of the
_S1_OUT RGET_TYPE target cell
Will have the value
EVENT_VALUE_LTE_INTE
R_FREQ when an LTE
inter-frequency handover
preparation was
performed.
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_PREP EVENT_PARAM_HO_TARGET_SELEC Type of selection for the
_S1_OUT TION_TYPE handover target cell:
blind (non measurement
based, that is, based on
preconfigured
Table 6 Events
Event Event Parameter Description
information), or
measurement based
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_PREP EVENT_PARAM_HO_SOURCE_OR_TA Indicates the RAT of the
_S1_IN RGET_TYPE source cell
Will have the value
EVENT_VALUE_LTE_INTE
R_FREQ when an LTE
inter-frequency handover
preparation was
performed.
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_EXEC EVENT_PARAM_HO_SOURCE_OR_TA Indicates the RAT of the
_S1_OUT RGET_TYPE target cell
Will have the value
EVENT_VALUE_LTE_INTE
R_FREQ when an LTE
inter-frequency handover
execution was
performed.
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_EXEC EVENT_PARAM_HO_TARGET_SELEC Type of selection for the
_S1_OUT TION_TYPE handover target cell:
blind (non measurement
based, that is, based on
preconfigured
information), or
measurement based
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_PREP EVENT_PARAM_HO_SOURCE_OR_TA Indicates the RAT of the
_X2_OUT RGET_TYPE target cell
Will have the value
EVENT_VALUE_LTE_INTE
R_FREQ when an LTE
inter-frequency handover
preparation was
performed.
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_PREP EVENT_PARAM_HO_TARGET_SELEC Type of selection for the
_X2_OUT TION_TYPE handover target cell:
blind (non measurement
based, that is,based on
preconfigured
information), or
measurement based
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_PREP EVENT_PARAM_HO_SOURCE_OR_TA Indicates the RAT of the
_X2_IN RGET_TYPE source cell
Will have the value
EVENT_VALUE_LTE_INTE
R_FREQ when an LTE
inter-frequency handover
preparation was
performed.
Table 6 Events
Event Event Parameter Description
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_EXEC EVENT_PARAM_HO_SOURCE_OR_TA Indicates the RAT of the
_X2_OUT RGET_TYPE target cell
Will have the value
EVENT_VALUE_LTE_INTE
R_FREQ when an LTE
inter-frequency handover
execution was
performed.
INTERNAL_PROC_HO_EXEC EVENT_PARAM_HO_TARGET_SELEC Type of selection for the
_X2_OUT TION_TYPE handover target cell:
blind (non measurement
based, that is, based on
preconfigured
information), or
measurement based

More information about events can be found in PM Event List (DU-based node) or Lists
(Baseband-based node).

7 O&M Information
This section provides Operation and Maintenance (O&M) information for the Coverage-
Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover feature.

7.1 Feature Activation and Deactivation

Activating the feature requires that the corresponding license is installed. When the license
is installed, an MO instance InterFrequencyLteHandover is automatically created.

Table 7 Feature MO Instance

Node type MO instance
DU Radio Node MO instance is OptionalFeatureLicense =InterFrequencyLteHandover
Baseband Radio Node MO instance is FeatureState =InterFrequencyLteHandover

Feature activation and deactivation is described in Manage Licenses.

7.2 Configure for Blind Inter-Frequency Handover

To indicate that blind handover can be used for this target LTE frequency, the operator
needs to configure the RBS in the following way:

The attribute covTriggerdBlindHoAllowed (

EUtranCellFDD.covTriggerdBlindHoAllowed or
EUtranCellTDD.covTriggerdBlindHoAllowed ) for the serving cell must be set to
the value TRUE.
 The mobilityAction attribute must have the value HANDOVER for MO
EUtranFreqRelation representing the target frequency under the source cell in
the MOM.
There has to exist a EUtranCellRelation below the target EUtranFreqRelation that
indicates a cell that is covering the serving cell completely, and therefore is safe
to send the UE to from the serving cell without measuring. This is achieved in
the EUtranCellRelation by setting the coverageIndicator attribute to the COVERS
value. Also, the isHoAllowed attribute must have the value true. This cell relation
represents the target cell in the resulting blind handover.

7.3 Configure for Measurement Based Inter-Frequency Handover

To indicate that measurement based handover can be used for a LTE target frequency, the
operator needs to configure the RBS as follows:

If the feature Mobility Control at Poor Coverage is active the

ueMeasurementsActiveIF attribute must be set to the value true. Otherwise, the
ueMeasurementsActive attribute must be set to the value true.
The mobilityAction attribute must have the value HANDOVER for the
EUtranFreqRelation MO representing the target frequency under the source cell
in the MOM.
For every cell that should be possible to use as a target cell, a
EUtranCellRelation must exist below the target EUtranFreqRelation where the
isHoAllowed attribute has the value true.

Ericsson AB 2016. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced in any
Copyright form without the written permission of the copyright owner.

The contents of this document are subject to revision without notice due to continued progress
Disclaimer in methodology, design and manufacturing. Ericsson shall have no liability for any error or
damage of any kind resulting from the use of this document.

All trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. These are shown
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Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover

Coverage-Triggered Inter-Frequency Handover
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