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Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Basic Characteristics
1.2 Benefits
1.3 Additional Information
3 Parameters
3.1 Introduced Parameters
3.2 Affected Parameters
4 Network Impact
4.1 Subscriber Capacity
4.2 Network Performance
4.3 Hardware
4.4 Inter-Node Interface
4.5 Other Network Elements
6 Performance
6.1 KPIs
6.2 Counters
6.3 Events
1 Introduction
This document describes the optional feature Automatic Neighbor Relations (ANR)
Mobility and its main benefits and impacts in the WCDMA RAN.
Dependencies
1.2 Benefits
This section describes the benefits of this feature.
ANR Mobility is a Self Organizing Network (SON) feature implemented in the SRNC. The
feature off-loads the network by automatically detecting, identifying, and configuring
intra-frequency neighbor relations in the Neighbor Cell Lists (NCLs). The feature
improves the Active Set (AS), which contributes to improved retainability visible as lower
dropped calls ratio and improved mobility visible as increased number of IAF handovers
and reduced number of IRAT handovers.
The ANR Mobility feature is license controlled and activated on the RNC and cell level.
The operator can initially activate ANR Mobility in some cells and then gradually activate
ANR in additional cells. The feature is based on Detected Set (DS) measurement reports
sent by UEs in the real handover environment. It is not based on the 3GPP Rel-10 ANR
version.
The feature can perform handover to Undefined neighbor cells even when no neighbor
relation is configured from any of the AS cells to that cell (ANR-initiated handover). That
behavior increases the probability of maintaining the UE connection when a critical
neighbor relation is missing.
The main output from the feature is ANR-created intra-frequency neighbor relations in
NCLs, see Figure 1.
A General Performance Event Handling (GPEH) event is sent, which lists the relation the
ANR Mobility feature fails to create.
The GPEH event is sent if any of the following conditions are fulfilled:
ANR Mobility is based on populating and evaluating target cell candidates in statistics.
When a proper candidate is found, ANR Mobility creates a neighbor relation,
UtranRelation. The operator can prevent ANR Mobility from creating relations, and
therefore test the ANR Mobility without affecting the existing configuration.
System Description
Handover
General Performance Event Handling
This section describes the ANR Mobility feature in more detail, including network
configuration requirements and operation flows.
The license for ANR Mobility feature, CXC 403 0136 is enabled.
RNC 3820 or Evo Controller 8200/RNC is used.
The ANR Mobility feature is related to source cells in the SRNC which is the best AS cell
according to the measurement report. The feature creates intra-frequency neighbor
relations in the configuration database from a source cell in the SRNC (UtranCell):
ANR Mobility activated in the SRNC does not create neighbor relations from a DRNC cell
to any other cells.
Figure 3 gives an overview of the process steps and involved operator parameters in the
SRNC.
Figure 3 ANR Mobility Handling of Undefined Cell DS Report
The reception of an Undefined cell DS measurement report is the real-time trigger for
ANR Mobility. The trigger activates ANR Mobility if the license is enabled and the feature
is activated in the RNC and in the best AS cell. Otherwise, the DS report is discarded in
the same way as when ANR Mobility is deactivated or not supported.
The CPICH filter can be used by the operator to control ANR Mobility sensitivity to CPICH
measured values that are reported in Undefined cell DS reports. The filter is enabled with
the anrDsReportFilterEnabled parameter and uses two parameters:
When an Undefined cell DS report is received, the reported Primary Scrambling Code is
checked against the ANR Black List. Some of the intra-frequency cells listed in ANR Black
List for the best AS cell (source cell) can have the same Primary Scrambling Code as the
reported Primary Scrambling Code. In such cases, the DS report is discarded. The ANR
Black List is defined by the anrBlackTargetCells parameter.
A received Undefined cell DS report triggers cell selection among the candidates in the
ANR Mobility internal statistics having the same Primary Scrambling Code and frequency.
An ANR-initiated handover is proposed to the selected cell.
If the selected cell passes admission check, an ANR handover is attempted and the
internal statistics is updated.
In case of softer handover, all ANR handover attempts are assumed to be successful, as
the UE is already synchronized with the RBS of a cell from the AS.
3 Parameters
This section describes parameters introduced by the ANR Mobility feature and parameters
affected by activating the feature.
4 Network Impact
This section describes how the ANR Mobility feature impacts the network functions and
capabilities.
4.1 Subscriber Capacity
No feature-specific information is identified.
ANR Mobility is based on ANR internal statistics where target cell candidates are
populated and evaluated with handover attempts to the candidates. To evaluate neighbor
relation, a number of handover attempts is required.
After evaluation period, ANR Mobility improves retainability shown in lower dropped calls
ratio.
4.3 Hardware
This section provides information on the impact of the feature on hardware.
RNC 3820
Evo Controller 8200/RNC
The following interfaces are affected when the ANR Mobility feature is activated:
It is also recommended, but not required, to activate the OSS-RC feature, FAJ 121 3701:
Automatic Scrambling Code Selection. The feature limits the risk of scrambling code
collisions in the network which can have an adverse effect on the ANR relation detection
accuracy.
6 Performance
This section describes performance indicators, counters, and events associated with the
ANR Mobility feature.
6.1 KPIs
Table 4 lists the main Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) associated with the ANR
Mobility feature.
Table 4 KPIs
KPI Description
Retainability (or drop rate) It is expected to improve in the long term (AS becomes better), after the ANR
Mobility evaluation period.
Mobility It is expected to improve in the long term (AS becomes better), after the ANR
Mobility evaluation period. IRAT HO (to GSM) is expected to reduce, IAF HO is
expected to increase.
Soft/Softer handover It can change over time. For example, it can be increased initially when ANR
Mobility is activated and decreased in the long term when ANR mobility
contributes to better ASs.
ANR-Initiated handover The handover counter on UtranCell level can be compared with the sum of all
handover counters on UtranRelation (IAF) level. The difference corresponds to
ANR-initiated handovers.
6.2 Counters
More information about counters can be found in Managed Object Model RNC and
Managed Object Model RBS.
When the ANR Mobility feature is activated, Undefined cell DS reports received by the
SRNC are handled by ANR Mobility instead of being discarded. The feature uses ANR
internal statistics where target cell candidates are evaluated by handover attempts. As a
result, some PM counters listed in Table 6 can be affected, especially during the ANR
Mobility candidates evaluation period.
Table 6 lists a number of existing counters that the ANR Mobility feature can affect.
Definitions of counters do not change. However, the counter valuse can change since
ANR Mobility performs handover to Undefined cells during its evaluation of target cell
candidates.
6.3 Events
Table 7 provides the events introduced by the ANR Mobility feature, Table 8 lists the
events that are modified, and Table 9 lists events that are affected.
Neighbor Cell
List (NCL) is
full in a source
cell.
Writing of
detected
relations is
deactivated
either on RNC
or source cell
level.
There is no
space for
another intra-
frequency
neighbor
relation in
SIB11 of a
source cell.
Table 8 Events Modified by ANR Mobility
Event Event Parameter Description
INTERNAL_SOFT_HANDOVER_EXECUTION EVENT_PARAM_ANR_INITIATED, The GPEH event
EVENT_VALUE_ANR_ADD_CELL_ATTEMPT with the
indicated
parameter is
generated when
ANR Mobility
triggers an ANR
handover
attempt.
Another way to mitigate high GPEH data volumes is to activate the ANR
Mobility in clusters rather than in a whole RNC directly.
This section provides Operation and Maintenance (O&M) information for the
ANR Mobility feature.
7.1.1 Preconditions
The feature is license-controlled for each RNC (CXC 403 0136). The
operator can activate ANR in the chosen cells and then gradually increase
the number of ANR-activated cells.
To activate the feature, do the following:
7.2.1 Preconditions
If the Undefined Cell which the UE reported belongs to a neighbor RNC but
is not configured as ExternalUtranCell or as RemoteUtranCell in the
SRNC, then ANR Mobility cannot perform handover attempts to that cell.