Inter frequency Load Sharing

UMTS on 2nd Carrier

Load Sharing - Introduction

Load sharing improves the performance of a Radio Access Network by pooling

together resources from different parts of the WCDMA network.

There are two load-sharing features in the WCDMA RAN:

Inter-Frequency Load Sharing
Directed Retry to GSM (not discussed in this presentation).

Inter-Frequency Load Sharing diverts incoming traffic from a heavily loaded cell
in one WCDMA carrier to a another WCDMA carrier with a lighter load (speech
and packet calls can be diverted).

Directed Retry to GSM is a one-way diversion from WCDMA to GSM (speech calls
with no on-going packet connections).

There is no inter-operability issue between the two load sharing features. It is

possible for a speech call to be first directed from one WCDMA frequency to
another and then further redirected to GSM later. Whether that would happen
depends on the cell load and the parameter setting at the time.

Load Sharing - Diagram

Inter-Frequency Load Sharing

IFLS improves the efficiency of a

WCDMA RAN by pooling all the
traffic among different carriers
depending on the load.
It provides means to:

Increase the trunking

efficiency
Remove any long-term
load imbalance
between the different
carriers
Steer traffic from one
WCDMA carrier to
another in an
asymmetric way

WCDMA F2
WCDMA F1

Load Sharing

GSM

IFLS Cell Load

Cell load is defined as the ratio between the
downlink transmitted carrier power and the
admission limit, as given by the cell parameter
pwrAdm:

cell _ load

tx _ power
PwrAdm

For load sharing purpose, the total resource of

a cell is the fraction of the total transmission
power up to the admission limit as given by the
cell parameter pwrAdm. Load sharing decisions
are made based on the amount of remaining
resource in the cell:

Cell Load

The Downlink Transmitted Carrier Power is

retrieved using the Downlink Transmitted
Carrier Power Monitor within the Capacity
Management function

pwrAdmPwr
IFLS Active
50%

remaining resource = 1 cell load excluded

resource

The calculation are done taking in

consideration only non-HSDPA traffic
(CS and PS R99).

Time

1.

2.

3.

The mobile starts a RRC connection

establishment procedure (NO
distinction in RRC cause is made)
If the cell load of the service cell is
higher than 50%, then the target cell is
evaluated (load-sharing neighbour).
The call will be direct to the cell with
more resources.
If the target cell is chosen, the UE will
not be instructed directly to go to the
target cell, but it will be told to scan for
a suitable cell in the frequency of the
target cell (Redirection Info
Information Element in the RRC
Connection Reject message)

Cell Load

IFLS How it works

pwrAdmPwr

50%

Time

f2
f1

IFLS Functionality Step by Step

1.
2.

3.

4.

Ue tries to establish a RRC connection.

IFLS evaluates the remaining-resource off the serving cell based on:
remaining resource = 1 cell load excluded resource (the amounts are
in percentage). Excluded resource are specified by the parameter
loadSharingMargin.
If the remaining resource < 50% then an evaluation of the target cell is
performed. If the remaining resource of the target cell is more than the
service cell then RRC Connection Reject with redirection to the second
carrier is sent back to the Ue.
Ue scan for a suitable cell in the frequency of the target cell (2nd carrier).
It can select the target cell or other cell depending of the ranking. This is
done in this way to overcome the possible coverage mismatches.

IFLS Examples
L[1] > 50 %
L[1]
<
50the
% load with the
-> Compare
-> Dont
do anything
load sharing
candidate
Second Carrier
Second
Second Carrier
Carrier

Layer 2

33%
33%
33%
33%

Layer 1

100%
100%
Free
Resource
= R[2]
Free
Resource
R[2]
Free
FreeResource
Resource===R[2]
R[2]

Load

Load

loadSharingMargin (40%)
(70%)
(10%)

>=<
Cell 2

Cell 1

First Carrier
First
First Carrier
Carrier
60%
33%
60%
100%
60%

DL power in use
DL power in use
DL power in use

Power//
Power
Power
pwrAdm
pwrAdm
pwrAdm

Free
Resource
=R[1]
= R[1]
Free
Resource
= R[1]
FreeResource
Resource==R[1]=0
R[1]
Free
Power/
Power
//
pwrAdm
Power
100% pwrAdm
100% pwrAdm
100%

L[2] == 33%
33%L[2]
40%
70%
L[2]
++ 10%
40%
== 43%
103%
= 33%
-- L[1] = 60%
L[1]
<
L[2]
Stay
Carrier
L[1]==60%,
100%,L[1]
L[1]
< L[2]
=>
Stayin>inFirst
First
Carrier
L[1]
= =>
60%
L[1]
L[2]
But R[1]=0, second
w/o margin
L[1] > evaluation
L[2]
Second
Select
Carrier
L[1] = 100%,Select
L[1] Second
< L[2] (33%)
=> go 2nd Carrier
Carrier

IFLS Coverage Mismatch

Coverage mismatch happens when

the coverage of the service cell is
different than the coverage of the
target cell in the 2nd carrier.
Ideally, both coverage should match.
However, this does not represent a
problem by itself because Ue has to
reselect to the best cell in the 2nd
carrier. In Hot Spot deployment
could be a problem.
When Ue reselect to a cell different
than target cell, it could be reject by
Admission Control since the selected
cell was not evaluated by load
sharing.

Ideal situation

f2
f1
Watch for load in cell X

f2

f1
Hot Spot -Potential Issue

f2
f1

IFLS Considerations

Load-sharing neighbors must be defined before any load-sharing action

can take place. They are specified by neighbor-cell relations. The
attribute loadSharingCandidate (TRUE or FALSE) specifies whether the
target cell is a load-sharing neighbor of the source cell.
For Inter-Frequency Load Sharing to work properly, there should be no
more than one neighbor per carrier for each source cell. Note that this is
assumed but not enforced.
Because of the co-location requirement, load-sharing neighbors are
assumed to be served by the same RBS. Load sharing between cells
served by different RBSs (even if they are co-located) are not allowed,
and attempts to configure such neighbors will fail.
UE will always try to be set up in the cell of the second access attempt,
regardless of the resource situation.

IFLS - PARAMETERS
Parameter

loadSharingRrcEnabled

loadSharingCandidate

loadSharingMargin

Comment
A RNC parameter used to turn on the feature.
Setting: True or False.
A UtranRelation attribute that indicates if a target cell is a load
sharing neighbor of the source cell.
Setting: True or False.
A cell-specific parameter that specifies the amount of resource
excluded from load-sharing use. Expressed as a percentage.
Default = 0, Range = 0..100.
The higher the value, the more loaded a cell will appear (artifical
load to conserve resources).

IFLS Parameters Details

DESCRIPTION

PARAMETER
loadSharingRrcEnabled

LEVEL

DEFAULT
VALUE

ATT
VALUE
0=FALSE

Indicates whether the Inter- RNC

Frequency Load Sharing
function has been enabled in
the RNC

loadSharingCandidate

Identifies whether the target UtranRelation

cell is an inter-frequency load
sharing candidate of the
source cell

N/A

loadSharingMargin

Offset added to the DL power UTRANCELL

of the cell at inter-frequency
load sharing evaluation.
Unit: 1 %

RECOMMENDED
VALUE

INFO

MOC Name RncFunction

Node Id RNC
Parameter Description Indicates whether the Inter-Frequency Load Sharing
function has been enabled in the RNC.
Data Type BooleanVals
MOM Range
Length Range
Default Value FALSE
Valid Values FALSE = 0
TRUE = 1
MOC Name UtranRelation
Node Id RNC
Parameter Description Identifies whether the target cell is an interfrequency load sharing candidate of the source cell.
In order to set the value to TRUE (i.e. to define the target cell as a
candidate for IFLS), the target cell and the source cell must belong to the
same RBS (both must refer to the same IubLink MO) and must have
different frequencies (frequencyRelationType for this UtranRelation =
INTER_FREQ). This also implies that it is only possible to set the value to
TRUE when the target is a UtranCell and not when it is an
ExternalUtranCell.
Unit: N/A
Resolution: N/A
Data Type BooleanVals
MOM Range
Length Range
Default Value FALSE
Valid Values FALSE = 0
TRUE = 1
NOTE: 1 for the overlay cell, 0 for the other cell
MOC Name UtranCell
Node Id RNC
Parameter Description Offset added to the DL power of the cell at interfrequency load sharing evaluation.
Unit: 1 %
Resolution: 1
Data Type long
MOM Range 0..100
Length Range
Default Value 0

1,0

IFLS - Scenario: 1900 on 850

On F2:
Define IFLS to F1 in cosite
ON F1:
Define ILFS to F2 in cosite
Define IRAT only on F1

UMTS F2

IFLS

UMTS F1

IRAT

GSM

IFLS - Scenario: 850 on 1900

UMTS F2

IFLS

IRAT

UMTS F1

IRAT

On F2:
Define IFLS to F1 in cosite
Define IRAT on F2
ON F1:
Define ILFS to F2 in cosite
Define IRAT on F1
outside overlaid area

PRACTICAL USE:
-Even load between two carrier.

GSM

-Steer traffic to a prefer carrier

-Divide HS traffic from R99 traffic