HANDOVER TYPES

IN ALCATEL
(HANDOVER DETECTION /
HANDOVER THRESHOLD COMPARISON)

FIRST OF ALL
WHAT IS HANDOVER?
Moving from one channel/cell to other channel/cell.
WHY CALLS NEED TO BE HANDED OVER?
Due to mobility level or quality of serving cell degraded OR neighbor
cell(s) having better path loss.
Due to interference move to better channel/cell
Due to traffic move to the unloaded cell(s).
Change the channel OR cell to which is in better condition.
HOW MANY TYPES OF HO IN ALCATEL?
Two main basics of HO types:
Experiencing bad level/quality (emergency) 12
Neighbor cells having better condition (better cell ho) 11

IN WHICH PART OF THE PROCESS?

The need for handovers often comes to compare a predefined

threshold with a radio measurement. That is why this process is
sometimes called HO threshold comparison.

EMERGENCY HO (sorted by priority)

Cause 7
Cause 17
Cause 18
Cause 2
Cause 4
Cause 3
Cause 5
Cause 6
Cause 10
Cause 11
Cause 15
Cause 16

Bad SACCH frames Microcell

too low level UL Microcell
too low level DL Microcell
too low quality UL
too low quality DL
too low level UL
too low level DL
too long distance MS-BS
inner to outer UL
inner to outer DL
interference UL
interference DL

EMERGENCY HO Causes 7, 17, 18 Microcells

Parameters:
EN_MCHO_RESCUE flag for enabling cause 7 ho
U_RXLEV_DL_MCHO Downlink level threshold for Microcell to Macrocell handover
U_RXLEV_UL_MCHO Uplink level threshold for Microcell to Macrocell handover.
EN_MCHO_H_UL flag for enabling level-ul-microcell ho cause 17
EN_MCHO_D_DL flag for enabling level-dl-microcell ho cause 18
A_LEV_MCHO Window size for level averages for microcell handover.
W_LEV_MCHO Weight applicable to level samples for microcell handover when no DTX is applied.

EMERGENCY HO Causes 2 and 4 too low quality UL/DL

Parameters:
L_RXQUAL_UL_H lower threshold on UL quality
L_RXQUAL_DL_H lower threshold on DL quality
RXLEV_UL_IH UL-lev thres. for decision b/w intra or inter cell HO of bad UL qual case.
RXLEV_DL_IH DL-lev thres. for decision b/w intra or inter cell HO of bad DL qual case.
OFFSET_RXQUAL_FH=OFFSET_HOPPING_PC offset for hopping channels
EN_RXQUAL_DL flag enabling the dl quality ho
EN_RXQUAL_UL flag enabling the ul quality ho
MS_TXPWR_MAX max power permitted for the mobiles
BS_TXPWR_MAX max power permitted for the bts
A_QUAL_HO Window size for quality averages for handover

EMERGENCY HO Causes 3 and 5 too low level UL/DL

Parameters:
L_RXQUAL_UL_H lower threshold on UL quality
L_RXQUAL_DL_H lower threshold on DL quality
L_RXLEV_UL_H UL lower threshold for HO.
L_RXLEV_DL_H DL lower threshold for HO.
OFFSET_RXQUAL_FH=OFFSET_HOPPING_PC offset for hopping channels
EN_RXLEV_DL flag enabling the dl lev ho
EN_RXLEV_UL flag enabling the ul lev ho
MS_TXPWR_MAX max power permitted for the mobiles
BS_TXPWR_MAX max power permitted for the bts
A_LEV_HO Window size for level averages for handover

EMERGENCY HO Cause 6 Too Long distance MS-BS

Parameters:
U_TIME_ADVANCE -> upper threshold for TA limit
EN_DIST_HO flag to enable the Distance HO
A_RANGE_HO windows size for Distance HO

EMERGENCY HO Causes 10 and 11 Inner to Outer UL/DL

The above two handover causes are specific to concentric or multiband cell
configurations.
checked only if CELL_PARTITION_TYPE = CONCENTRIC, and
the active channel is a TCH, and
the ZONE_TYPE = INNER_ZONE (it means that the channel is in the inner zone
partition).
Parameters:
RXLEV_UL_ZONE -> lower threshold of ul rxlev as a border of UL innerzone
RXLEV_DL_ZONE -> lower threshold of dl rxlev as a border of DL innerzone
MS_TXPWR_MAX_INNER -> max power of ms in inner zone area
BS_TXPWR_MAX_INNER -> max power of bts in inner zone area

EMERGENCY HO Causes 15 and 16 Interference UL/DL

Parameters:
L_RXQUAL_UL_H lower threshold of UL rxqual
L_RXQUAL_UL_H lower threshold of DL rxqual
OFFSET_RXQUAL_FH=offset_hopping_ho offset given for hopping channels
RXLEV_UL_IH UL-lev thres. for decision b/w intra or inter cell HO of bad UL qual case.
RXLEV_DL_IH DL-lev thres. for decision b/w intra or inter cell HO of bad DL qual case.
EN_INTRA_UL flag to enable UL intra cell ho
EN_INTRA_DL flag to enable DL intra cell ho
EN_INTRACELL_REPEATED flag to enable repeating the intracell ho

BETTER CELL HO (sorted by priority)

Cause
Cause
Cause
Cause
Cause
Cause
Cause
Cause
Cause
Cause
Cause

21
14
12
13
20
25
23
24
26
27
28

preferred band ho
speed discrimination
power budget ho
outer to inner ho
forced directed retry
GPRS redirection
traffic ho
general capture ho
hr to fr due to bad quality
fr to hr due to good quality
fast traffic ho

BETTER CELL HO Cause 21 preferred band ho

Parameters:
MULTIBAND_TRAFFIC_CONDITION values of ANYLOAD, LOW or HIGH
L_RXLEV_CPT_HO (0,n) min rxlev from neighbor-cells for this capture HO
MS_TXPWR_MAX permitted maximun power of mobiles
EN_PREFERRED_BAND_HO flag for enabling preferred band HO

BETTER CELL HO Causes 14 speed discrimination

Parameters:
L_RXLEV_CPT_HO(0,n) min rxlev from neighbor-cells for this capture HO
EN_MCHO_NCELL flag enabling this HO

BETTER CELL HO Cause 12 (1) power budget ho TCH to TCH

Parameters:
HO_MARGIN(0,n) different pbgt b/w serving and neighbor-cells
OFFSET_HO_MARGIN_INNER offset given to inner zone
DELTA_HO_MARGIN(0,n)
DELTA_DEC_HO_MARGIN correction factor for condition high load in serving cell and less
load in neighbor cell(s)
DELTA_INC_HO_MARGIN correction factor for condition less load in serving cell and high
load in neighbor cell(s)
RXLEV_LIMIT_PBGT_HO limit of rxlev above which no need for pbgt ho
EN_PBGT_HO flag enabling this pbgt-HO

BETTER CELL HO Cause 12 (2) power budget ho SDCCH to SDCCH

Parameters:
HO_MARGIN(0,n) different pbgt b/w serving and neighbor cells
RXLEV_LIMIT_PBGT_HO limit of rxlev above which no need for pbgt ho
EN_PBGT_HO flag for enabling this HO

BETTER CELL HO Cause 13 outer to inner ho

Parameters:
RXLEV_UL_ZONE Uplink level threshold for inner to outer zone handover.
RXLEV_DL_ZONE Downlink level threshold for inner to outer zone handover.
ZONE_HO_HYST_UL Hysteresis applied to RXLEV_UL_ZONE for outer to inner zone
handover.
ZONE_HO_HYST_DL Hysteresis applied to RXLEV_DL_ZONE for outer to inner zone
handover.
MS_TXPWR_MAX_INNER maximum mobile power permitted in inner zone
BS_TXPWR_MAX_INNER maximum bts power permitted in inner zone
NEIGHBOR_RXLEV(0,n) Threshold of maximum received level from the neighbour cells for
cause 13.
EN_BETTER_ZONE_HO flag for enabling this HO

BETTER CELL HO Cause 20 forced directed retry

Parameters:
L_RXLEV_NCELL_DR(n) Minimum level received from neighbour cell n to allow forced
directed retry to cell n.
EN_FORCED_DR flag for enabling force directed retry
A_PBGT_DR Window size for neighbour cell level averages for forced directed retry.

BETTER CELL HO Cause 25 GPRS redirection

Parameters:
L_RXLEV_NCELL_DR(n) Minimum level received from neighbour cell n to allow forced
directed retry to cell n.

BETTER CELL HO Cause 23 traffic ho

Parameters:
HO_MARGIN(0,n) different in PBGT b/w serving and neighbor cell(s)
OFFSET_HO_MARGIN_INNER offset given to inner zone
DELTA_HO_MARGIN(0,n)
DELTA_DEC_HO_MARGIN correction factor for condition high load in serving cell and less
load in neighbor cell(s)
DELTA_INC_HO_MARGIN correction factor for condition less load in serving cell and high
load in neighbor cell(s)
EN_TRAFFIC_HO(0,n) flag for enabling this HO

BETTER CELL HO Cause 23 general capture ho

Parameters:
CAPTURE_TRAFFIC_CONDITION values of ANYLOAD, LOW or HIGH
L_RXLEV_CPT_HO(0,n) min rxlev from neighbor-cells for this capture HO
MS_TXPWR_MAX maximum mobile power permitted
EN_GENERAL_CAPTURE_HO flag for enabling this HO

BETTER CELL HO Cause 26 hr to fr due to bad quality

Parameters:
THR_RXQUAL_CA_NORMAL Threshold for channel adaptation under normal load.
THR_RXQUAL_CA_HIGH Threshold for channel adaptation under high load.
OFFSET_RXQUAL_FH offset given for hopping channels/cells
OFFSET_CA_NORMAL/HIGH Offset for AMR channel adaptation hysteresis under normal/high
load.
RXLEV_UL_IH UL-lev thres. for decision b/w intra or inter cell HO of bad UL qual case
RXLEV_DL_IH UL-lev thres. for decision b/w intra or inter cell HO of bad UL qual case
EN_AMR_CA flag for enabling this HO

BETTER CELL HO Cause 27 fr to hr due to good quality

Parameters:
THR_RXQUAL_CA_NORMAL Threshold for channel adaptation under normal load.
THR_RXQUAL_CA_HIGH Threshold for channel adaptation under high load.
OFFSET_RXQUAL_FH offset given to hopping channel
EN_AMR_CA flag for enabling this HO
EN_AMR_HR flag for enabling this HO

BETTER CELL HO Cause 28 fast traffic HO

Parameters:
L_RXLEV_NCELL_DR(n) Minimum level received from neighbour cell n to allow forced
directed retry to cell n.
FREElevel_DR(n) Minimum number of free TCHs in neighbour cell n to allow forced
directed retry to cell n.
EN_CAUSE_28 flag for enabling fast traffic HO