Voice over LTE

Network Research Department China Mobile Research Institute

Content

Alternatives of LTE voice solution

Voice over LTE solution

SRVCC enhancement

Industry status on Voice of LTE

Different strategies for LTE voice service provision

Voice service can be provided both by CS network or LTE network No impact to legacy CS network if voice service remains in CS LTE system is an all-IP network without CS domain VoIP service can be provided on LTE system with IMS based voice call control functionality

Strategy 1: Voice over CS

CS coverage
RAN/GERAN

CS
Voice continuity MME eNodeB

Voice service keeps in legacy CS network LTE system provides only high speed data service

IMS

Strategy 2 : Voice over LTE

LTE system provides VoIP service and high speed data service simultaneously IMS is used for voice call control Voice should be provided in CS network when out of LTE 3 coverage

SAE
LTE covertage

Alternatives of LTE voice solution

VoIMS+SRVCC: Providing IMS-based

Voice over LTE

Multi-mode Single-standby

voice over LTE, and supporting PS/CS interworking between LTE and 2/3G

3GPP Standard Solution

CS Fallback (LTE First)If voice

is needed, reselecting from LTE to 2/3G to provide.

Voice over CS
CS Fallback (2/3G First)First
select 2/3G, if data service is needed, reselecting from 2/3G to LTE based on some condition

3GPP Standard Solution

Multi-mode Dual-standby Single-USIM

Multi-mode Dual-standby Single-USIM Terminal

Voice over CS

The UE access 2G/3G and LTE simultaneously, voice over 2G or 3G, data service over LTE or 2G/3G

Network Independent Solution 4

Content

Alternatives of LTE voice solution

Voice over LTE solution

SRVCC enhancement

Industry status on Voice of LTE

General Principle of Voice over LTE

Legacy After LTE and IMS are introduced

Internet

IMS network

IMS based call control

CS network Voice & SMS services

PS nework Data service

2G/3G

CS network
Voice & multimedia 2G/3G services

Internet
PS nework Data service
EPC provides beaers for IP services

LTE

LTE terminal 2G/3G terminal LTE terminal

Legacy networks provide different services via CS and PS domains CS domain provides voice and SMS services PS domain provides data service

VoIP service and high speed data service are simultaneously offered over LTE Due to lack of call control function, EPC network needs IMS network for call control and service provision IMS network provides voice continuity from LTE to CS by anchoring voice call LTE terminal uses the same MSISDN in LTE and CS 6 networks

VoIMS+SRVCC: Target Solution for Voice over LTE

SRVCC: VoLTE Target Solution
The consensus has been reached by the industry that the target solution for VoLTE should be based on IMS. SRVCC provides the voice continuity from LTE coverage to 2/3G CS, necessarily ensuring the pleasant experience for VoLTE users at early stage of commercial deployment.

SRVCC Principle
VoLTE UE under LTE coverage initiates voice sessions via IMS network, which will anchor the session and provide SIP-based session control and applications. When the UE moves from LTE to 2/3G CS coverage with the ongoing IMS session, IMS switches the session to the CS domain, keeping both parties of the session unaware of the handover. CS
RAN/GE RAN MGW SCC AS MSC Server SR-IWF Voice continuity SV HSS MGC F CSCF

SRVCC Enhancements
The first version of SRVCC solution has been specified in 3GPP Release 8, but the handover performance of this version need to be enhanced. The Work Item of SRVCC enhancement was created and completed in 3GPP Release 10, aiming at the comparable handover performance with legacy CS network.
SGW/PGW

IMS
PCRF

LTE SRVCC UE

MME
ATCF

SCC AS

eMSC
2G/3G
ATGW

P-CSCF

I/SCSCF

IMS

eNodeB

MME SAE-GW

Internet

EPC

2G/3G

MSC Server

MGW

Remote UE

Single Radio Voice Call Continuity

SRVCC fundamental
Within LTE coverage voice call is initiated from LTE/EPC via IMS, which controls and anchors the voice call When the UE leaves the coverage of LTE, IMS will transfer the ongoing call to CS network
SCC AS
MGW MSC Server
MGCF

RAN/GE RAN

IMS
PCRF

IWF
Voice continuity

CS
HSS

CSCF

SV

SRVCC features
SRVCC applies to the scenario that LTE coverage is not continual SRVCC applies to multi-mode single radio UE SRVCC is essentially a handover procedure, including transport level handover and session level handover Considering the impacts to the networks introduced, SRVCC is not recommended until LTE becomes middle level coverage SRVCC requires deployment of IMS network Currently SRVCC only supports voice continuity from LTE to CS 8

MME
SAE-GW

Internet

EPC
eNodeB

Sv interface between MSC server and MME is defined to handle SRVCC procedure

SR-VCC general procedure

UE E-UTRAN MME MSC Server Target UTRAN/GERAN 3GPP IMS

Measurement Reports Handover to UTRAN/GERAN required

Initiates SRVCC for voice component Handles PS-PS HO for non-voice if needed CS handover preparation IMS Service Continuity Procedure

Handover CMD Handover execution

To eUTRAN Coordinates SRVCC and PS HO response

CS HO response to MME

1. EUTRAN indicates MME of SRVCC handover after measurement; 2. MME initiates SRVCC procedure via Sv interface to MSC server; 3. MME also handles PS handover procedure for non-voice sessions 4. MSC Server reserves bearers in CS network, then initiates IMS session transfer procedure; 5. After successful bearer reservation, MSC Server indicates MME, who will then notify UE to reselect to UTRAN/GERAN; 6. UE continues the ongoing call when successfully reselecting to UTRAN/GERAN

Content

Alternatives of LTE voice solution

Voice over LTE solution

SRVCC enhancement

Industry status on Voice of LTE

10

The problem of handover performance in existing SRVCC solution

Since SRVCC is an IMS based inter-RAT handover procedure from LTE to the 2G/3G CS, it is much more complex than that of the legacy 2G/3G networks, the question is how to keep the comparable handover performance?
SCC AS

signal media

Remote IMS UE

IMS
CSCF MGCF HSS

interrupt time T2
MSCS SRVCC eMSC

MME

SAE-PGW

CS
MGW MGW

Sv

EPC

2G/TD
interrupt time T1

LTE

1. SRVCC UE initiates voice call to another IMS UE via LTE. 2. The call is successfully established, with voice media between UEs 3. SRVCC happens when SRVCC UE leaves LTE coverage. SAE network informs SRVCC MSC to prepare for handover. MSC completes the resource reservation 4. The UE is informed to switch to 2G/3G. The voice is interrupted during the switching procedure, for about 200ms in T1 5. SRVCC MSC informs the remote UE to receive voice media from SRVCC MSC, not SRVCC UE 6. The remote UE switch media connection to SRVCC MSC 7. voice media will be interrupted again during the media switching procedure above, for about 800ms(if remote UE is roaming, the interruption could be longer) The whole interruption time 800ms The longest voice interrupt could be more than1s

SRVCC UE

SRVCC UE

SRVCC performance issues Session transfer and remote UE update may need a long time No sync between session transfer and RAT retuning procedures The performance issues have notable negative impact on user experience

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SRVCC optimization alternatives

SRVCC optimization targetvoice interruption less than 300ms in roaming and the non-roaming; no
impact to UE; the impact to the network is minimized.
LTE Wireless access network

User plane before SRVCC User plane during SRVCC User plane after SRVCC
MME SGW/PG W
SCC AS

UE 2G/3G Wireless access network

2G/3G MSC Server IWF

IMS

UE

The media is anchored in visited network during call setup The anchor point redirects media flow to CS when SRVCC Pros good performance Cons Impacts to visited network, requiring visited network support

LTE Wireless access network

User plane before SRVCC User plane after SRVCC

MME SGW/PGW
MR FP SCC AS

UE

2G/3G

IMS
IWF

UE

2G/3G Wireless access network

MSC Server

The media is anchored in home network during call setup The anchor point bi-cast media flow to LTE and CS during SRVCC Pros Little impact on network, easy to deploy Cons Local breakout is impossible All session need to be anchored back to home network Synchronize IMS session transfer procedure with RAT retuning procedure to overlap the interruptions Pros Little impact on network, easy to deploy Cons Difficult to accurate synchronization 12 Performance not optimized, the best result is no better than the longer one in the two interruptions

User plane before SRVCC User plane after SRVCC

LTE Wireless access network MME SGW/PGW
SCC AS

UE

2G/3G 2G/3G Wireless access network MSC Server IWF

IMS
UE

eSRVCC standardizations
In order to enhance the handover performance of SRVCC, a WI named eSRVCC (SRVCC enhancement) is established in 3GPP SA2 in Release 10, with China Mobile as the rapporteur on July 1, 2010, in the conference call of eSRVCC work group, the solution of eSRVCC to be standardized was determined out of 12 alternatives IMS based solution, i.e. anchoring the media in visited IMS network, is selected
All 3GPP standardization work has been completed in March, 2011

Sol 12media anchored in SGW Sol 10media anchored in PGW Sol 4 media anchored in MGW Sol 11 media anchored in ALG/TrGW
UE

IMS based solution

Access Leg Serving Leg MSC Server

Media anchored in visited network

UE

After transfer

After transfer

ATCF

Home Leg SN HN After transfer Before transfer Mw

I/S-CSCF, SCC AS

Remote Leg

Remote End

Gm Before transfer

Sol 8media surface anchors on MRFC/MRFP of home network Sol 1synchronization based on measurement Sol 2serial handover Sol 5ST optimization based on sol 2

Media anchored in home network

UE

EPC based solution

After transfer
CS-MGW

synchronizatio n performance not fulfiled

UE Before transfer S/P-GW

UL voice media DL voice media

Durin g tran sfer

Before and during transfer

Remote end

Sol 9 synchronization based on packet check

13

eSRVCC solution
The solution is based on IMS anchoring, which introduces new entities ATCF (Access Transfer Control Function) and ATGW (Access Transfer Gateway) As functional entities, ATCF and ATGW can be collocated with other entities, e.g. P-CSCF, IBCF, or MSC Server ATCF, anchor point for SIP signaling, stays in the SIP signaling path during registration and session setup, controling ATGW to anchor the voice media when required when SRVCC happens, ATCF indicates ATGW to redirect the media flow to CS, keeping other part of media path unchanged

EPC network

LTE wireless access network

MME

SGW/PGW
SCC AS

Sv

ATCF

P-CSCF

SRVCC UE CS network
2G/3G wireless access network eMSC

I/SCSCF

IMS
Remote UE

ATGW

MSC Server

MGW

Voice media is anchored in visited network, therefore the media redirection is executed locally, which is much faster, normally less than 100ms IMS session transfer and remote update procedures are avoided Interruption by RAT change can not be avoided, which is normally 200ms 14 The total interruption time will be less than 300 ms

Control and user planes during SRVCC handover

Both the control plane and user plane are anchored in the network which the SRVCC UE is attached, the handover is executed locally
Access Leg Serving Leg UE After transfer MSC Server After transfer ATCF Home Leg SN HN After transfer Before transfer Mw

I/S-CSCF, SCC AS

Remote Leg

Remote End

The change on control plane during SRVCC handover

UE Gm Before transfer P-CSCF

SN UE After transfer
CS-MGW

Af

ter tr

ans f

er

The change on control plane during SRVCC handover

Before transfer ATGW Remote leg Remote end Media Path of Remote Leg

UE

Before transfer

Serving GW

Before transfer

PDN GW

Media Path of Serving Leg

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Content

Alternatives of LTE voice solution

Voice over LTE solution

SRVCC enhancement

Industry status on Voice of LTE

16

VoLTE standardization status

LTE introduced SRVCC defined
SRVCC supporting midcall VoLTE emergency call rSRVCC vSRVCC VoLTE roaming architecture

IMS introduced

SRVCC enhancement

R5-R7

Rel-8

Rel-9

Rel-10

Rel-11 (ongoing)

VoLTE basic requirements IR.92 defines VoLTE profile

VoLTE international roaming & interworking

VoLTE futher requirements IR.64 IMS Service Centralization and Continuity Guidelines

Requirements for VoLTE roaming architecture VoLTE roaming architecture

IR.65 defines principles for IMS roaming & interworking

IR.88 defines LTE roaming architecture for VoLTE

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VoLTE roadmap of the industry

11Q1 11Q2 11Q3 11Q4 12Q1 12Q2 12Q3 12Q4 13Q1 13Q2 13Q3 13Q4 14Q1

VoLTE Roadmap of operators

Operator 1

Operator 2

Operator 4 Operator 3

Vendor 1
eSRVCC roadmap of nw vendors

Vendor 3

Vendor 5

Vendor 2

Vendor 4 Chip vendor 2

SRVCC roadmap of chip vendor

Chip vendor 1

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