KSA NETWORK LTE ASSESMENT

Nokia
October 30 , 2017 Jeddah

1 © Nokia 2017
RRC Setup Optimization

2 © Nokia 2017
 RRC SETUP OPTIMIZATION
Below RRC connection establishment signaling flow shows relevant parameters and KPIs

LTE_5569a E-UTRAN RACH Setup Completion Success Rate

100 * SUM(RACH_STP_COMPLETIONS)/
SUM(RACH_STP_ATT_SMALL_MSG + RA Preamble
RACH_STP_ATT_LARGE_MSG +
MSG2/MSG1
RACH_STP_ATT_DEDICATED) PRACH
MSG3/MSG1
LTE_1056d Complete RACH Setup Success Rate
100 * SUM(RRC_CON_RE_ESTAB_ATT + RA Response
RACH_MSG3_UL_DATA_NON_SYNC +
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_MO_S + PDSCH
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_MT +
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_MO_D + RRC connection request
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_OTHERS +
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_EMG + PUSCH
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_HIPRIO +
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_DEL_TOL)
LTE_729b ECM-IDLE to ECM-CONNECTED
/ SUM(RACH_STP_ATT_SMALL_MSG + Success Ratio
RACH_STP_ATT_LARGE_MSG)
100 * SUM(SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_COMP)
RRC connection setup
/ SUM(SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_MO_S +
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_MT + PDSCH
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_MO_D +
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_OTHERS +
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_EMG +
MSG5/MSG3
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_HIPRIO + RRC connection setup compl
SIGN_CONN_ESTAB_ATT_DEL_TOL)
LTE_5a SRB1 Setup Success Ratio MSG5/MSG4 PUSCH
3 © Nokia 2017
100 * SUM(SRB1_SETUP_SUCC) / SUM(SRB1_SETUP_ATT)
RRC SETUP OPTIMIZATION ( PARAMETERS )
Zain Network has low LTE_1056d Complete RACH Setup Success Rate , which
is simply ratio of MSG3/MSG1 although MSG5/MSG3 ( connection setup success
rate is at good value ) .
It is recommended below actions for improving RACH accessibility :

 Activation of LTE1235 Optimization PRACH/RACH power

 It gives flexibility of adjusting PRACH target power based on interference

 Introduces new counters that can help analysing contention access and
retransmission
RACH_ONE_PREAMBLE_SUCC numberOfPreamblesSent =1 in the
UEInformationReport
RACH_RETX_PREAMBLE_SUCC numberOfPreamblesSent >1 in the
UEInformationReport RACH_PREAMBLE_COLLISIONS

 Reduction of raSmallVolUl from 144 bits to 56 bits. This will improve MSG3 coverage by 3 dB due to using 1 PRB instead
of 2 PRBs ( RRC message 48 bits which is padded to 144 bits , 1 PRB =72 bits , MCS=5 , QPSK )
 Increasing harqMaxMsg3 from 3 to 5. This would be still not aligned with harqMaxTrDl and harqMaxTrUl used for Msg4
and Msg5

To improve RA SR and HARQ processing gain with LN5.0/LNT3.0 (PR131557ESPE02) changes in HARQ algorithm for msg3 were introduced.
Modifications:
Contention based RA procedure is ONLY aborted if the INITIAL msg3 transmission is received as DTX
HARQ procedure will be maintained for retransmission even if it is detected as DTX
This approach helps to avoid unwanted RA ghosts allocation during initial attempt but allows to have HARQ processing gain for msg3 retransmission

 4Reduce iniMcsUl ( from 5 to 2 ) and ulsMinTbs ( from 104 to 72 ) to have more robust connection (msg5 )
© Nokia 2017
 RRC SETUP OPTIMIZATION ( TIMERS )
UE eNB
PRACH: RA Preamble (msg1)

10 TTI (10 ms) waiting time for the RA response from

sending the corresponding RA preamble is defined by
parameter raRespWinSize ( (10 TTI for Zain ) + 3 TTIs 3 TTI (3 ms) processing delay by 3GPP 36.321
processing delay
If no RAR , then transmit preamble raRespWinSize + 3 PDSCH: RA Response (msg2)
TTIs +4TTI (36.213 )

Expects msg 3 after min 6 TTI ( 36.213 )

PUSCH: RRC Connection Setup Request (msg3)

PHICH: HARQ Ack

Once RRC Connection Request has been T300 ( majority 200 ms for Zain ) : started when UE L3
transmitted, the UE starts sends RRC Connection Request to L2/L1 and stopped in
ContentionResolutionTimer (raContResoT :32ms case of RRC Connection Setup or RRC Connection Reject
for Zain) and restart ContentionResolutionTimer at is received Timer T300 supervises the RRC connection
each HARQ retransmission establishment procedure. T300 should be set according
raContResoT > harqMaxTrDl ( 7 for Zain )x 8.6 ms worst case scenario, e.g. UE does not get any response
PDSCH: Contention Resolution + RRC Connection Setup (msg4) from eNB for msg3 or msg4 until the very last sent
preamble which then leads to successful transmission of
raContResoT should be set to 64 ms PUCCH: HARQ Ack
msg3
in order to maintain worst case msg4
retransmissions
Only one round of preamble re-tx :
Majority 1 sec = (raRespWinSize + 3ms + 6ms + raContResoT)
PUSCH: RRC Connection Setup Complete (msg5)
=19ms+64ms = 83 ms
PHICH: HARQ Ack
Our preamble tx max is set to 10 times.
T300( 200 ms )
Zain setting

5 © Nokia 2017
Link Adaptation

6 © Nokia 2017
 LINK ADAPTATION RECAP
PDCCH OLLA PDCCH AMC PDCCH PC CCE re-adaptation Load adaptive PDCCH
• Every TTI , Aggregation level (1,2,4,8 ) is selected on CCE
level
• Based on wideband CQI reports
• QPSK modulation used only
• OLLA is possible PDCCH

CQI  Modulation Order  • Every TTI , TBS and MCS is selected from 0-28 at one go
Target C.R
• Based on frequency selective CQI reports
Modulation Order  possible
TBS index • Retransmissions on same MCS

TBS index , # of PRB • If AMC is OFF , then iniMcsDl is used

( Effective CR = Target CR ) • Max 256 QAM ( FL16A)

TBS index size  MCS PDSCH

• Every TTI , event triggered ( EDG/FUG ) +-1 MCS

• BLER based ( E-ULA ) , SINR based ( F-ULA)
• Output is MCS and PRB
• Max 64 QAM ( FL16)
• OLLA check ACK/NACK for every transmission and increase
or decrease some counters till it reaches max ( FUG ) , or min
( EDG)
• ATB decides maximum number of PRBS to be allocated to UE
7 © Nokia 2017
based on PHR, BLER , max/min bitrate PUSCH
 PDCCH ADAPTATION

vv

vv

Blocking occurs at Agg1 as expected

Majority of parameters related to PDCCH Majority of Agg2 is due to Agg4 is mainly due to fixed Many cells have good average
configuration are at recommended values and CCE re-adaptation Agg level for SI, CQI at BH , so they could be fine-
features like OLLA , PC , AMC lower introduced by RL40 RAR,Paging tuned for PDCCH parameters
Aggregation, load based usage all active.
PDCCH utilization in L900 is high and Agg1
blocking is more than 12 % at BH (
Aggregated at BH of a week ) as a natural
consequence of spectrum and PDCCH
algorithms.
Knowing the fact that cells are time-
synchronized and majority of cells are under
good radio conditions , it is recommended to
optimize pdcchAlpha ( from 0.8 to 1 ) and
pdcchCqiShift ( from -2 to 0 ) case by case
for high utilized cells
8 © Nokia 2017
 UL LINK ADAPTATION
UL link adaptation has been selected as eUlLa , which uses
ACK/NACK counting for MCS upgrade or downgrade .
Furthermore such UG/DG is at the level of MCS +1 or MCS -1
Therefore it takes long time to reach optimum MCS required for
radio conditions .

fUlLa algorithm , from the other hand , performs MCS selection

based on SINR mapping . This makes very fast MCS selection
also more robustness to rapidly changing radio conditions .
It also improves UL capacity by reducing PRB allocation

Zain Network , use fUlLa only 6.8 % of cells and rest is

using eUlLa algorithm.

Above graph depicts SINR vs MCS mapping ( from daily figures ,

each cell is one dot ) and fUlLa distribution shows obvious
benefit over eUlLa in terms of robustness and higher MCS for same
SINR .
fUlLa algorithm take average MCS at least 2-3 steps to higher

9 © Nokia 2017
UL SCHEDULING
LNCEL: ulsNumSchedAreaUl (default=3 ) sets the number of allocation areas used by the Interference/Channel Aware
Scheduler and it is configurable from 2 to 6 - Contiguous areas keep approximately the same size.

Configurable number of scheduling areas allows more precise bandwidth allocation and consequently better adaptation to
different uplink interference scenarios

Zain network currently uses 3 scheduling areas by default.

Below are the use cases for Zain network :
PUSCH PUSCH PUSCH
PUCCH scheduling area 1 scheduling area 2 scheduling area 3 PUCCH - 4 sector and 6 sector sites should use by default
fulfilling same number of scheduling areas to avoid
overlaps

- Benefit is expected further for time synchronized

networks , not only for throughput but also
accessibility ( MSG3 )

PUSCH PUSCH PUSCH PUSCH PUSCH PUSCH - It is recommended to implement on cluster level to
scheduling scheduling scheduling scheduling scheduling scheduling
PUCCH area 1 PUCCH
see the benefit
area 2 area 3 area 4 area 5 area 6

- It is online change but still requires eNB reset after

implementation

10 © Nokia 2017
 CAS vs IAS
Except low PHR UEs, rest of
them are allocated randomly

Almost all the cells have IAS activated , minority has CAS ( just 72 cells )
Both have good solutions but CAS has better performance
compared to IAS under high load with very less SRS
overhead on PUSCH ( 1 % )

Plots show PRBs allocation per TTI

Based on measured interference per
scheduling area low PHR UEs are
allocated to least interference area
Best CSI UEs are
allocated to least
interference area

PRB allocation is random. All PRBs
are used all the time for all UEs
11 © Nokia 2017
Rest of UEs are allocated based
on channel state information
(SRS/PUSCH measurements) Red UE is always allocated on
lower part of bandwidth, based
on SRS/PUSCH measurements
CAS vs IAS

Distribution of individual MCSs (from system counters)

The most significant outcome of the

Channel Aware Scheduler is the
increase in average MCS. This
results from intentional selection of
CAS best PRB allocations for individual
CUS UEs, based on reported CSI.

Increased MCS translates into

increased uplink throughput
(and also cell capacity)

12 © Nokia 2017
Load Balancing

13 © Nokia 2017
 LOAD BALANCING OVERVIEW
Connected Mode Load Balancing w/o measurement gaps, intra frequency LB HO’s take place ( > HLT AC :
Features
LTE1140 – Intra-Frequency Load Balancing (RL70/RL55TD) (n)GBR,PDCCH load) . CIO is tuned (cell​Ind​Off​Neigh + cellIndOffNeighDelta
Intra Frequency
) , load info exchanged . A5 and A3 events
IFLB feature based on (non)GBR Load of source ( > high Load Th ) and AC &
LTE1387 – Intra-eNB Inter-Frequency Load Balancing (RL40) Intra LTE RSRP&RSRQ of target cell ( < Target Load TH ,>thresholdRsrp(q)IFLBFilter
).Load information exchanged btw same eNB cells.UE idlecon
(iFLBBearCheckTimer)
LTE1170 – Inter-eNB Inter-frequency Load Balancing Extension of LTE1387 to inter eNB inter frequency cells .Blind HO to other eNBs
(RL50/RL35TD/RL50FZ) Intra LTE (unknown CAC to bottom of TCL ) , PDCCH load also calculated , Rejected
Target blacklisted
LTE1531 – Inter-frequency Load Balancing Extensions iFLBRetryTimer is assigned to all active UEs to trigger a cyclic re-check if they
(RL60/RL45TD) Intra LTE
can be Inter-frequency load balancing candidates ( more UE candidates)

LTE1841 – Inter Frequency Load Equalization No more blind load handovers to IF target cells but load equalization by resource
(RL70/RL55TD)
Intra LTE
status reporting ( RSR )

Idle Mode Load Balancing Features

CRL0632 – Basic Idle mode Load Balancing (RL40)
(LNBTS:actIdleLb = true)
LTE487 – Idle Mode Load Balancing
(RL50/RL35TD/RL50FZ)
LTE1677 – Idle Mode Load Balancing Extensions
(RL60/RL45TD)
LTE2050 – Load Triggered Idle Mode Load
Balancing (RL70/RL55TD)
Intra LTE Dedicated cell Reselection Priorities only for Intra LTE Frequencies,
RRCConnectionRelease (idleModeMobilityControlInfo IE) + T320
Intra LTE /Inter Extension to basic feature with predefined RRC released UE % ,
RAT Subscriber Mobility Profile and Redirection/CSFB equal priorities ( RR )
Intra LTE /Inter Extension to LTE487 , no dedicated priorities but their weights are defined
RAT and dedicated priority list is created based on WRR method
Intra LTE /Inter Extension : Triggering of IMMLB features are based on calculated CAC of
RAT GBR/NonGBR/PDCCH load compared to idleLBCapThresh

LTE2051 – Measurement
14 © Nokia 2017 Based Idle Mode Load Intra LTE /Inter Extension : RSRP/RSRQ validation of the layer that is selected by WRR to
Balancing (FL15A/TL15A) RAT main target frequency layer ( A4 supervision timer : reportTimerIMLBA4 )
 LTE1841 – INTER FREQUENCY LOAD EQUALIZATION
Each measured DL Load (ML) is reflected as Relative Load (RL)
 Relative Load defines measured load in relation to configured Target Load Threshold (TL)
 Target Load Threshold is configured via parameters:
LNCEL:LoadSettings:targetLoadGbrDl, targetLoadNonGbrDl, targetLoadPdcch
 Relative load is a subcomponent in calculation of DL Available Capacity (AC)
Available Capacity = [100% - RL]
DL Composite Available Capacity is the minimum of all AC:
CACDL = min(ACGBR, ACnonGBR, ACPDCCH)

DL GBR Load PDCCH Load non-GBR Load

dlChBw = 20MHz (100PRBs) dlChBw = 20MHz (100PRBs) dlChBw = 20MHz (100PRBs)
maxGbrTrafficLimit = 75% maxNrSymPdcch = 3 # of PRBs allocated on GBR = 0
 Available GBR resource = 75 PRBs  Available # of CCEs = 87 CCEs  Available non-GBR resource = 100 PRBs
# of PRBs allocated on GBR = 25 # of CCEs being used = 20 CCEs schedulWeight of non-GBR QCI = 5
PRBs  PDCCH load = 20/87 = 23% nomNumPrbNonGbr = 1
 DL GBR load = 25/75 = 33%
Measurements of CACS and exchange with neighbours (LNCEL:mlbEicicOperMode : all , nonGBRPDCCH,
nonGBRonly )
ResourceStatusReport (RSR ) measures DL load via X2  No Blind HO , no CACt then no HO
AMLE state of source cell is determined :1: CACS < AMLEPR:maxCacThreshold 2: CACT ≥ AMLEPR:cacHeadroom
3: CACT - CACS > AMLEPR:deltaCac .. (LNREL:amleAllowed=true)

When Inter Frequency Load Balancing QCI1 Bearer Check Timer or Inter Frequency Load Balancing Retry Timer is
expired UE is checked if it can be Candidate for offloading

A4 measurements ( configuration hardcoded ) of neighbor frequencies are triggered ( RSRP>-140 dBm ) .TCL created
and filtered LNHOIF:thresholdRsrp(q)IFLBFilter , CAC(T) < < AMLEPR:cacHeadroom , ∆CAC < AMLEPR:deltaCac

15Inter frequency
© Nokia Handover preparation phase is started . Intra-eNB, X2 or S1-based handover is prepared towards the
2017
chosen target cell with Handover Cause =“Reduce Load in Serving Cell. First cell in TCL , if fails then 2nd cell in TCL
PRB UTILIZATION PER BAND (I)
Below graphs depict average DL PRB utilization per TTI during busy hours of
consecutive 4 days ( 19:00 ,20:00 , 21:00 ) for Golden Cluster

Each dot represent a collocated cell of respective LTE bands as a

function of DL PRB utilization

Ideal case should be similar to y=x graph , assuming equal utilization for each
band for fair and optimum performance but deviation from ideal behavior is
significant on L900 layer , even at equal priority and similar coverage LTE
bands of 1800Mhz vs 2100 Mhz
Also important to note that , this is busy hour trend where load
equalization should have worked much better

16 © Nokia 2017
PRB UTILIZATION PER BAND (II)
As noticed here ,LTE1841 is the only active feature among the range of load balancing features.It is quite useful feature taking into
account target load ( no blind load HO )

Mainly between L1800 <-> L2100

relationships ( AMLEPR object )

No parameter optimization ,
default values are used for all the
cell traffic profiles .
Only differentiation is
deltaCac values between
bands

˗targetLoadGbrDl (%50), targetLoadNonGbrDl (%75),

CACDL = min(ACGBR, ACnonGBR, ACPDCCH) targetLoadPdcch )%85)

CRITERIUM 1: CACS < AMLEPR:maxCacThreshold (100 : Always Active AMLE )

CRITERIUM 2: CACT ≥ AMLEPR:cacHeadroom (0 : Always ready candidate )
CRITERIUM 3: CACT - CACS > AMLEPR:deltaCac
17 © Nokia 2017
 LOAD CALCULATION
nomNumPrbNonGbr parameter sets the steps and speed of load sharing , the lower it is the less triggering of
load sharing .
It needs to be finetuned cell by cell based on average number of active Ues in the cells ( different treat for cell
with 5 active UE at BH and 50 active UE at BH )

2 User  25 PRBs each 3 User  16 PRBs each

50 free PRBs 50 free PRBs

LTE1800 LTE2100 LTE1800 LTE2100

18 GBR
Non © Nokia 2017= 2.8 %
load Non GBR load = 4.2 %
CAC (T)-CAC(S) < 5 % !
MAXIMUM ACTIVE UE (ALL BANDS )
Below graph represents cumulative distribution function of maximum active UEs for each cell of each band averaged busy
hours of consecutive days ( 19:00,20:00,21:00 )

As noticed on the graph , maximum

active UE during busy hour is less than
16 for 80 % of cells in the busiest band
L1800.
Therefore , it is evident that setting a
CAC delta 20 % , corresponding to 14
UE will already exhaust all the cell
capacity and minimize the impact of
the load equalization

19 © Nokia 2017
CAC shares (LTE1800 vs LTE2100 )
Each dot represent a collocated cell of respective LTE bands as a function of CAC % in the ranges ( aggregated 4 days
BH )

Ideally, feature targets balancing the

CAC of LTE1800 and LTE 2100
therefore graphs should follow y=x
graph in terms of load .
More than 50 % of 1800 cells have
CAC values between ( 80% , 100 % )
which means that feature do not
function efficiently

20 © Nokia 2017
Mobility

21 © Nokia 2017
 MOBILITY THRESHOLDS ( GENERAL )
UE triggers Intra Freq & InterFreq UE triggers UE triggers threshold2MobRsrq =-20 dB threshold2aRsrq =-10 d
Coverage HO . Coverage SRVCC&PS HO to SRVCC&PS HO to
Handover is already disabled GERAN WCDMA UE starts UE starts UE stop
measurements measurements measurements
WCDMA InterFreq/GERAN InterFreq/InterRAT
UE redirection to
UTRAN

-103 dBm
-106 dBm

-104 dBm
-120 dBm

-114 dBm
-112 dBm

-108 dBm

-98 dBm

-90 dBm
-95 dBm
b2Threshold2RssiGERAN
b2Threshold1GERAN

threshold2GERAN
threshold3a

threshold2wcdma
threshold3

b2Threshold1Utra
threshold3InterFreq

threshold2a
b2Threshold2UtraRscp

threshold2InterFreq
threshold4

threshold3aInterFreq
qrxlevmin

Threshsrvlow :6dB
InterFrqThrH :0
InterFrqThrL:0

% 18 blind
redirections % 30 SRVCC PSHO Disabled on
22 © Nokia 2017
handovers adjacency level
MOBILITY THRESHOLDS (REDIRECTION )
Graph shows world wide settings ( 1.9M cells ) of threshold 4.
Although default value is set at -122 dBm , In reality -120dBm is
Default : -122 dBm the highest used value.
Max % : -120 dBm
This is inline with qxlevmin ( Def : -130dBm ) , highest used value
being -124dBm .

Drawbacks with Zain settings :

Zain: -112 dBm
1. High number of redirection attempts. Redirection is the last exit
before a coverage dip. It is much better to trigger a PS HO at
these level to secure the service
2. Big gap with qrxlevmin 8 dB, what about such UEs , accessing
network, set default bearer and go to other RAT blindly
3. No flexibility for further reducing SRVCC or PS HO thresholds
4. It also do not matches future strategies of further U2100
refarming to L2100 by loading 3G at edge of coverage

18 % blind redirection for golden cluster shows

that even at low site to site distance , still -
112dBm is quite conservative for LTE layer to be
changed
23 © Nokia 2017
MOBILITY THRESHOLDS (SRVCC & PS HANDOVER )
Graph shows world wide settings ( 1.9M cells ) of b2threshold1.
Although default value is set -117 dBm , -118 dBm is the highest
Max : -118 dBm
used value.
Zain network value is extremely conservative almost not similar
values world wide.

Default : -117 dBm PSHO is not allowed on almost all of the UTRAN neighbours (
Zain: -103 dBm disabled on LNREL)

Zain network use common PS handover thresholds for QCI1 and

other NonGBR QCI’s.
As a result of very conservative settings , total 30 % of QCI1
setups end with an SRVCC handover to other technologies .

In fact, weaker values than -103 dBm is still acceptable value for
LTE coverage and it will provide sufficient service for VoLTE calls.
Any call in alerting phase will experience SRVCC handover with
aggressive threshold.
PS handover is disabled on adjacency level for majority of cases ,
but recommended to be enabled at low RSRP levels.

%30 of all QCI1 ERABs are being handed over to UTRAN & GERAN .
Such high percentage is due to SRVCC threshold being at -103 dBm.
It not only creates risk for dropping the call , but also leads poor voice
24 © Nokia 2017
quality in other technologies .
 VoLTE DROP CAUSES ( REDIRECTION )
Graph shows major release counters which could be counted as
drops . As noticed , 40 % of such drops are due to
redirections and although it may not be included in the drop
formula , they are call drops as user perceived

Also important to note that such drops appears although

SRVCC is triggered earlier ( 9 dB) .

a2RedirectQci1 is already disabled to exclude drops due to

Redirections

It needs to be investigated reason why it did not improve

redirection drops ( recommended to try without rsrq threshold 2
measurement thresholds )

Another option is to reduce redirection threshold to more

aggressive values and benchmark the shift from Redirection
HO drops also keeps a big share , again knowing the fact that
related cause to other radio causes .
SRVCC handovers takes place at a rate of 30 % , reducing
Of course , it may impact VoLTE drop rate (Based on KPI) but
triggering thresholds will improve HO drops
definitely will improve end user perception .

25 © Nokia 2017
 CSFB STRATEGIES
Majority of CSFB happens in connected
GSM900 mode for L900 due to idle mode priorities

L900

U2100

L1800

L2100

U2100 may not be proper CSFB layer , even though RSRP vs
RSCP differs around 8 dB , knowing the fact that L900 will have at
least 3dB better propagation loss ( indoor 6-8 dB better ) . When
we compare wideband power in connected mode , LTE will be
covering deeper indoor and long delays would be expected for 2G
in case of CSFB .
A possible Solution would be activating CSFB with PSHO with 3G ,
under layed with blind redirection to 2G
26 © Nokia 2017
Fast Return to LTE is great feature to reduce unnecessary
signaling and fast transition to LTE , but L900 has not been
defined on 2G network
This causes inconvenience not only signaling point of view ,
but also some UE’s going to search mode whenever proper
LTE layer has not been found by UE
VoLTE DROPS ( DRX )
DRX feature may be turned off during poor RF conditions based on CQI value and turned on after good RF condition established
This may improve some dropped calls

These dropped calls could be caused by additional delays caused by DRX

-Measurement delays for handovers
-Measurement inaccuracies of CQI (reported CQI in DRX active state might not correctly reflect the RF quality due to the DRX
sleep state)
-Due to this the LA might not work accurately and fast enough to be able to react on changing CQI in poor RF and UE might never
hear the HO command

27 © Nokia 2017
 DATA SESSION PROFILING
With LTE1819 when a new RRC connection request is received the
eNodeB checks for the same S-TMSI from the database and adapts
UE inactivity timer based on UE data session short term history 10 state changes
RRC_CONNECTED
- If S-TMSI is found and the timestamp indicated data activity in
very recent history, the eNodeB applies a long operator
configurable inactivity timer for the UE
time
- Otherwise a short operator configurable timer is applied
RRC_IDLE
• LTE1819 Data Session Profiling is reducing network signaling
load due to fewer RRC setup procedures shortly after same UE has
been RRC released
4 state changes
RRC_CONNECTED
• With LTE1819 operator can lower standard UE inactivity timer
therefore UE battery life is enhanced and number of
RRC_CONNECTED UEs per eNodeB are decreased as only
selected UEs are kept RRC active for longer than the minimum time
due to LTE1819 UE inactivity timer adaptation algorithm time
RRC_IDLE
• Web browsing delays are shorter as browsing users can be kept
with a higher probability RRC_CONNECTED during a browsing
session

28 © Nokia 2017
Data Session Profiling adapts the UE inactivity timer based on UE data session short term history
Carrier Aggregation

29 © Nokia 2017
 CARRIER AGGREGATION
Configuration and activation of
Carrier Aggregation feature
Adding the secondary cells to
the given CA-capable UE
Activation of the secondary
cells for the UE
Division of the DL UE buffer
into PCell and SCells and data
scheduling
Deactivation of the secondary
cells for the UE
Releasing of the secondary
30 cells for 2017
© Nokia the UE
 All cell can play regular cell for non CA users
 PCELL-SCELL is defined in CAREL object bidirectional ( not default)
 Pcell & Scell carry same set of parameters (mainly PUCCH)
 Some special settings for n1PucchAn , deltaPucchShift
 CA and band capability is checked by eNB and any cell is added :
 UE-AMBR(DL) ≥ caMinDlAmbr * 1000 , no TTI bundling , on CSFB , no RAC (maxNumCaConfUe)
 Adding Scell will increase RRC connections but not active UE in Scell
 FL16 basic features makes Scell addition based on buffer (numTxWithHighNonGbr=0 ) , not immediate
 sCellActivationMethod : Blind , Buffer Based ,Buffer Based stepwise
 Buffer Based : Every sCellActivationCyclePeriod (0.5s majority ) If all non-GBR data in the buffer of that UE is
greater than the certain dynamically calculated and drained by scellActivationLevel (1 TTI )
 Stepwise : SCell with lower Normalized Load Compare Value (PDCCH , nonGBR load) is activated in the first place
 Only non GBR data on Scell , not necessarily every TTI data on Scell ( depends on buffered data and Scheduler split
 The non-GBR scheduling weight for the CA-capable UEs is modified (multiplied) by two components: fairness factor
(database parameter) , throughput correction factor (derived from past average and current conditions)
 The buffered non-GBR data is divided between PCell and SCell according to non-GBR throughput share achieved in
the past
 Scell can be deactivated if no data scheduled during specific timer duration sCellDeactivationTimerEnb (128rf)
 No HARQ feedback was received during sCellDeactivationTimerEnb
 Deactivation means no transmission scheduled on Scell to UE and no CSI report for Scell , It is not a release
 Secondary cell is released if: RRC connection is released , RRCConnectionReestablishmentRequest message is
sent to the UE , TTI bundling is about to be switched on , due to any kind of handover
 If LTE1541 feature activated – Secondary cell is also de-configured due to prolonged inactivity or bad SCell radio
channel conditions
CARRIER AGGREGATION SUMMARY

Charts show CA characteristics of all 3 layers . As observed here ,

L900 have higher 2 CC & 3CC aggregation ratio and also secondary
cell data volume whenever it is configured as primary cell.
This is due to fact that its radio conditions are good, aggregated
bandwidth is higher for secondary cells , 900 supporting UEs mainly
support L2100 and L1800 ( but vice versa )
Such diverse pattern of CA usage on 3 carriers , with 3 different
radio conditions make it compulsory to introduce some CA
features to enhance carrier aggregation performance

31 © Nokia 2017
CARRIER AGGREGATION FEATURES
LTE1541: ADVANCED SCELL MEASUREMENT HANDLING
Before After
• If available, SCells were always added for CA capable UE • SCells are added only when serving cells can not satisfy the UE
(even only PCell would be sufficient for data throughput needs
transmission)
• SCells are released when they are not detectable or not used
• There was no possibility to release SCell in case of poor anymore by the UE
radio conditions (cells with not fully overlapping coverage)
• SCells are released when they are not used anymore by the UE (
• Scell is released only during RRC release or TTI data inactivity ) without waiting RRC connection release
bundling activation

LTE2276 : MEASUREMENT BASED SCELL SELECTION

Before After
eNB adds a SCells blindly based on parameters configuration eNB can choose a SCells to add, based on the UE measurements
• Added SCell may be not optimal from RSRP/RSRQ point of • eNB adds the SCell, measured and reported by UE, with the
view RSRP or RSRQ level above configured thresholds
Improve Scell resource utilization , throughput

LTE2275 : PRIMARY CELL SWAP

Before After
No possibility to proactively change the PCell with one of the There is possibility to proactively change the PCell with one of the
serving Scell(s) of CA configured UEs current serving SCell(s) of CA configured UEs
• No chance to optimize uplink resource utilization for UEs UL throughput might be improved in comparison with current serving
• No32 chance to optimize the number of CA configured UEs in
© Nokia 2017 Pcell .The uplink resource utilization for UEs is optimized
the serving PCell Also pcell swap based on layer scell priorities is possible
DROP TRIGGERS

33 © Nokia 2017
 RRC CONNECTION RE-ESTABLISHMENT

PDCCH transmission taking into account the PCFICH errors with

transmission parameters specified in Table 7.6.1-2
BLER of reference n310 =7 ( 20 times )
PCFICH + PDCCH
out-sync

out-sync

out-sync

out-sync

out-sync

out-sync

out-sync

out-sync

in-sync

in-sync

in-sync
10%
2%

Two successive in-sync/out-of- time

sync indications from physical
layer shall be separated by at
least 10ms Measurement window size T310 =2000 ms
Without DRX With DRX T311 = 15000 ms
DRX cycle length [s] Evaluation time
n310 : 7 ( n20 )
Qout  200 ms (200 TTI )
Qin  100 ms (100 TTI )
≤ 0.01
0.01 < DRX cycle ≤0.04
Same as w/o DRX
20 × DRX cycle
n311: 0 ( n1 )
0.04 < DRX cycle ≤ 0. 64 10 × DRX cycle
0.64 < DRX cycle ≤ 2.56 5 × DRX cycle

20 x 1 DRX cycle ( 40ms ) =0.8 sec

20 n310 (consecutive ) * 0.04sec = 0.8
34 © Nokia 2017 sec
Totally 1.6 sec till T310 start
 DROP TRIGGERS
UE detected Radio Link Problems eNB detected Problems eNB initiated releases

• T310 expiry • PUSCH RLF • TA Timer Expiry at eNB or UE

• Maximum number of RLC • CQI RLF • Maximum RLC Retrans Exceeded at
retransmissions • HARQ RLF eNB
• Handover failure (T304 expiry) • SRS RLF • GTP-U failure at eNB
• Non-HO related random access problem • PDCCH Order failure • S1 reset
UE and eNB keeps timeAlignmentTimer and
Hardcoded to max 16 retransmissions SRS RLF detection counts
consecutive missed SRS
whenever UE do not get TA command (
(drbAmMxRtxTh)
transmission periodic or on need ) till timer expires ,it goes
RRCConnectionReconfiguration
RLF ON : nSrsDtx/RLF OFF: out of sync.
RRC Conn ReConf with MobilityInfo (”HO nSrsRec
If MAC layer receives nCqiDtx
command”) T304 start. HO failure if PRACH to eNodeB may receive a “GTP-U Error Indication”
consecutive reports from UL PHY,
target cell fails ( no RAR ) will T304 expires. T304 on an active S1 bearer(s) (S-GW has rejected
the MAC declares CqiRLF_ON
 2000ms (def:1000ms) the reception of uplink data packets)
CqiRLF_OFF nCqiRec
This failure cause happens in X2 handover if S-
ACK/NACK DTX GW relocation is attempted, or due to non-
PDCCH order ( UE data arrival while UE out of sync 3GPP compliant UEs
Time: rlpDetMaxTimeDl
intentionally or un-intentionally )
Counter: rlpDetMaxNoDl
RA Scheduling Request
Recovery : rlpDetEndNoDl
When the S1 interface is reset either by the
PUSCH DTX eNB or the MME to recover errorneous situation
Time: rlpDetMaxTimeUl , the eNB releases all affected RRC
RRC CONNECTION RE-ESTABLISHMENTCounter: rlpDetMaxNoUl connections
35 © Nokia 2017
Recovery : rlpDetEndNoUl
T_RLF = T310 + T311 + 2200ms
Capacity

36 © Nokia 2017
ACTIVE UE VS IP THROUGHPUT

Throughput depends on several factors :

1. PRB Utilization ( Resource share)
2. Channel Quality ( Modulation order)
3. Channel Quality ( MIMO usage )
4. Latency ( Congestion )
5. Transport limitation
6. Rate capping / throttling

37 © Nokia 2017
PRB UTILIZATION

Low PRB usage , small data applications , VoLTE

etc for high active UE and low PRB utilization

PRB utilization reach to 90 %

PRB utilization vs DL throughput has
exponentially and cutting 80 %
linear function , where 80 % PRB
threshold at average active UE per TTI
utilization represents 20 % of
@3
maximum average throughput

38 © Nokia 2017
LATENCY

Average Latency increases exponentially after 60 % PRB utilization and

reaches 250 % more at full PRB utilization

39 © Nokia 2017
PRB UTILIZATION VS CQI

As noticed on below graph , average CQI do not differ drastically based on

PRB utilization
Also important to note that L1800 have significantly worst radio conditions
compared to other two layer

40 © Nokia 2017
YOUTUBE VIDEO QUALITY

Name Resolution Min Bitrate

Standard 320 x 240 pixels 175 kbps
High quality 480 x 360 500 kbps
HD 720p 1280 x 720 2000 kbps
Full HD 1080p 1920 x 1080 3000 kbps
2K 2048 × 1080 5000 kbps
4K 4096 x 2160 10000 kbps

41 © Nokia 2017
42 © Nokia 2017
 Thank You

43 © Nokia 2017