Handoff Algorithms

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Handoff Algorithms

z Introduction to Handoff z Handoff Procedure in PACS

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NCCU Wireless Comm. Lab.

Introduction to Handoff
z What is handoff The process of transferring a mobile from one channel or basestation to another is called handoff When a mobile moves into a different cell while a conversation is in progress, the MSC(Mobile Switch Center) automatically transfers the call to a new channel belonging to the new basestation

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Introduction to Handoff
z What is the purpose of handoff Rescue handoff To rescue the connection with poor quality If quality of a communication has become worse than a threshold, a decision of handoff is made for rescuing this connection Confinement handoff To minimize interference When the mobile can employ lower transmission power in another cell than in current one, a handoff can be triggered to confine the transmission power
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Introduction to Handoff
z What is the purpose of handoff Traffic handoff(Load sharing) It takes account of capacity and load If a new call set-up occurs, a traffic handoff will be triggered owing to the congestion in current cell A certain established call in the congested cell will be handed over to another cell so that the new call can be set up

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Introduction to Handoff

z When to initiate a handoff It is important to ensure that the drop in the measured signal level is not due to momentary fading and that the mobile is actually moving away from the serving base-station The base-station monitors the signal level for a certain period of time before a handoff is initiated

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Introduction to Handoff

z When to initiate a handoff The length of time needed to decide if a handoff is necessary depends on the speed at which the vehicle is moving If the slope of the short term average received signal level in a given time interval is steep, the handoff should be made quickly

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NCCU Wireless Comm. Lab.

Introduction to Handoff
z Handoff type By destination base-station Intercell handoff Call is handed off to another base-station Intracell handoff The destination base-station is current base-station By connection method Soft handoff [1] The connection is never suspended Hard handoff [1] The connection is suspended at first and then recovered at the destination base-station
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Introduction to Handoff

z Handoff margin (Fig.1) [1] This margin, given by =Pthreshold -Pminimum, cannot be too large or too small If is too large, unnecessary handoffs which burden the MSC may occur If is too small, there may be insufficient time to complete handoff before a call is lost due to weak signal conditions

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NCCU Wireless Comm. Lab.

Handoff Procedure in PACS

z Three kinds of radio link measurements Received Signal Strength Indicator(RSSI) The measurement of the received RF signal strength and the translation of this measurement to quantity that can be logically manipulated Quality Indicator(QI) The estimate of the eye opening of a radio signal that relates to the radio of signal to interference plus noise Word Error Indicator(WEI) An indication of whether one or more bit errors occur in a burst due to any radio link degradation
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Handoff Procedure in PACS

z Trigger ALT/TST Procedure(Fig.2~Fig.3) [2] The SU sorts 3 RPs in the short list in descending order according to the QI(Quality Indicator), and the measurements for QI and RSSI(Received Signal Strength Indicator) should be used to identify if any of the 3RPs is suitable to do ALT(Automatic Link Transfer)/TST(Time Slot Transfer) This process should run once every NS211 frames and then reset Cup and Cdown, where NS211 sets the window size used for examining short term word error counts to detect trouble situation on both the uplink and downlink

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

z Trigger ALT/TST Procedure(Fig.2~Fig.3) A dwell timer, TS204, indicates the minimum time between allowable ALTs After ALT fails, a timer TS206 is set to prevent the target channel from being reconsidered

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

z Intra-RPCU ALT Procedure(Fig.4~Fig.6) [2] The message sequence is shown in Fig.7 while executing an ALT The SU temporarily suspends the conversation by transmitting a LINK_SUSPEND message to the old RP on the old channel Upon receipt of an ALT_REQ message, the RPCU grants access with a START_CIPHER message on the new RP channel within 20 msec After receiving ALT_COMP from the SU, the new RP resumes conversation and ALT suceeds

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NCCU Wireless Comm. Lab.

Introduction to handoff
Received signal level (a) Improper handoff situation Level at point A Handoff threshold Mimimum acceptable signal level

Level at point B(call terminated)

Time Received signal level Level at point B (b) Proper handoff situation

Level at which handoff is made

Time

A.
Radio tower

B
Radio tower

BS1

BS2

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

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NCCU Wireless Comm. Lab.

Handoff Procedure in PACS

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

The SUsends A LT_R EQto the R PC U(onthe X thR P) ? (The SUstarts TS201.) Success Fail

SU
TheSUsends A LT_R EQ totheR PC U (onthenewR P). A fter theSUtransm its prim itive, theSUstarts TS201.

R PC U
T heR PC Ureceives A LT _R E QfromtheSU (ontheX thR P).

T he R PC Uchecks these 2 fram es w hether w ord error occurs, or collisionoccurs, or them arkedavailable tim eslot becom es anidle tim eslot; if som eof themoccur, re-transm it=1; otherw ise, re-transm it=0.

re-transm it=1? N o

Y es

F ail

1.TheR PC Uchanges thetim eslot stateas busystate. 2.TheR Pselects m arkedavailabletim eslot again.

Success

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

SU

Old RP LINK_SUSPEND ALT_REQ*

New RP

Conversation is interrupted.

START_CIPHER* ALT_COMP

* These message are not enciphered.

Conversation resumed on the new link

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

A/D

Analogy Receiver

Diversity Selection

Digital Front End

Differential Phase

Frequency Offest & Symbol Timing Estimator Symbol Timing Frequency Offest

RAM Delay

Gate

Coherent Carrier Recovery

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

Differential Phase
6 64x8

cos4
8

sin4 64x8
8

13

16 ACCUMs
7

16 ACCUMs
6 6 7

13

tan 4
6

-1
4096x6

128x8

Square Table
8

Square Table
8

128x8

Frequency Register

Frequency Offset Estimation

Load if positive

Biggest Register

Signal Quality (QI)

Time Index

Timing Register

Symbol Timing

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

1.2 1 Prob.{QI<Abscissa} 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 QI 35 40 45 50 55 60 63

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

1

0.1 Word Error Rate

0.01

0.001

0.0001 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 CIR(dB)

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

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Handoff Procedure in PACS

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Reference

[1] Theodore S. Rappaport, Wireless Communications., New Jersey: Practice Hall, 1996. [2] PACS Air Interface Specification,April 1995.

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