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Cell Reselection
Cell Reselection is a kind of mechanism to change cell after UE is camped on a cell and stay in
IDLE mode. This is to let UE get connected to cell which has the best condition among all the
cells to which the UE is allowed to camp on. But UE does not change cells randomly, it uses a
set of pretty complicated criteria and algorithms for this reselection process. The details of
these criteria andalgorithms will be described later but the high level guideline is as follows :
First Level Criteria : Absolute Priority

Second Level Criteria : Radio Link Quality

Third Level Criteria : Cell Accessibility

When you power on UE, usually it goes on with the following sequence.
i) Cell Detection/Search
ii) Cell Selection
iii) RACH and Completion of Registration
iv) < In IDLE >
v) Keep measuring RSRP/RSRQ for the cell it registered
vi) if RSRP/RSRQ is very poor or undetectable, go to step i) for finding other cell
if RSRP/RSRQ is measureable at least, it evaluate < Cell Reselection Criteria >
perform Cell Reselection if the criteria is met
stay in the current cell if the criteria is not met
Step vi) is the most complicated process going on during the idle stage and in this page I will
mostly deal with < Cell Reselection Criteria >. Understanding this criteria is the most imporant
thing in implementing and testing Cell Reselection.
Following is the topics that I will deal with in this page.
How Cell Reselection Priority is determined ?

Which SIBs involved in Cell Reselection process ?

How to detect and reselect to another LTE cell while in LTE Cell (LTE to LTE Cell
Reselction) ?
How to detect and reselect to LTE cell while in WCDMA (WCDMA to LTE Cell
Reselction) ?
How to detect and reselect to WCDMA cell while in LTE (LTE to WCDMA Cell
Reselction) ?

A little bit detailed criteria can be described as follows and you will see ever
further details after this.
UE always have to measure frequecies and RAT with higher priority

UE has to have to measure frequecies and RAT with lower priority in

the following fashion

o UE has to perform intra-frequency measurement only when

SrxLev of the serving cell <= SintraSearch

o UE has to perform lower or equal priority inter

frequency/InterRAT measurement only when SrxLev of the

serving cell <= SnonintraSearch
LTE cell reselection uses priority based levels. (These priorities can
be specified in LTE SIB4,5,6,7 and RRC Connection Release). Priority
0 indicate the lowest priority and 7 indicate the highest priority. The
priority cannot be same for WCDMA and LTE, meaning that it must be
set differently for different RAT.
Among the cell power and priority, which one plays more critical role
in cell reselection ? Cell Power defines the minimum condition. Once
the minimum condition is met, Priority plays more critical role. For
example, let's assume that UE is now camped in WCDMA cell and
detected a neighbouring LTE cell with higher priority than the serving
WCDMA cell, UE will perform cell reselection to LTE cell as long as the
LTE cell is above the minimum signal strength threshold. In the same
logic, if a UE camped on LTE cell detected a neighbouring WCDMA cell
with higher priority than the serving LTE cell, UE will perform cell
reselection to WCDMA cell as long as the WCDMA cell is above the
minimum signal strength threshold.
WCDMA SIB19 specifies the LTE frequencies (EARFCN) and priorities.
A maximum of 8 EARFCNs (4 FDD + 4 TDD) can be listed in SIB 19.
For each EARFCN, you can configure a max 16 blacklisted cells. The
blacklisted cell is the cell UE should not make reselection to.
Using the eutraDetection parameter in SIB19, you can make UE to
detect and display the presence of lower priority LTE frequencies while
it is in WCDMA cell.
LTE SIB6 specifies the WCDMA frequencies (DL ARFCN) and the
parameters used for absolute priority based cell reselection.

How Cell Reselection Priority is determined ?

There are roughly three different ways of informing UE of Reselection Priority as listed before :
(refer to 36.304 5.2.4.1 Reselection priorities handling for details).
i) System Information
ii) RRC Connection Release message
iii) Inheriting from another RAT
Note 1 : if the priority is specified in both i) and ii), the one specified in ii) takes effect.
Note 2 : The UE shall only perform cell reselection evaluation for E-UTRAN frequencies and
inter-RAT frequencies that are given in system information and for which the UE has a priority
provided.
Note 3 : The UE shall not consider any black listed cells as candidate for cell reselection
Which SIBs involved in Cell Reselection process
There are many SIBs that are involved in Cell Reselection process and which SIBs are involved
gets different depending on the specific cell reselection scenario. I will put down the examples
of all of these SIBs for Cell Reselection as an examples (template). The SIBs shown here is

just examples to show you which SIB carries what kind of parameters and you should change
the values of each of the parameters (IE) depending on your own test cases. Blind copy of this
example may not work for your specific scenario.
Following is the contents of SIB1 for your reference (The parameter shown here is just an
example. You have to set it properly based on your own test requirement)
c1: systemInformationBlockType1 (1)
systemInformationBlockType1
cellAccessRelatedInfo
plmn-IdentityList: 1 item
Item 0
PLMN-IdentityInfo
plmn-Identity
<...>
cellReservedForOperatorUse: notReserved (1)
trackingAreaCode: 0001
cellIdentity: 00000000
cellBarred: notBarred (1)
intraFreqReselection: allowed (0)
.... ..0. csg-Indication: False
cellSelectionInfo
q-RxLevMin: -130dBm (-65)
p-Max: 23dBm
freqBandIndicator: 4
schedulingInfoList: 3 items
<...>
si-WindowLength: ms20 (5)
systemInfoValueTag: 0
nonCriticalExtension

Following is the contents of SIB3 for your reference (The parameter shown here is just an
example. You have to set it properly based on your own test requirement)
sib-TypeAndInfo item: sib3 (1)
sib3
cellReselectionInfoCommon
q-Hyst: dB0 (0)
cellReselectionServingFreqInfo
s-NonIntraSearch: 62dB (31)
threshServingLow: 62dB (31)
cellReselectionPriority: 7
intraFreqCellReselectionInfo
q-RxLevMin: -140dBm (-70)
s-IntraSearch: 62dB (31)
.0.. .... presenceAntennaPort1: False
neighCellConfig: Not all neighbour cells
have the same MBSFN subframe allocation as serving cell (0)
t-ReselectionEUTRA: 0s
lateNonCriticalExtension: <MISSING>
s-IntraSearch-v920
s-IntraSearchP-r9: 62dB (31)
s-IntraSearchQ-r9: 0dB
s-NonIntraSearch-v920

s-NonIntraSearchP-r9: 62dB (31)

s-NonIntraSearchQ-r9: 0dB
q-QualMin-r9: -34dB
threshServingLowQ-r9: 0dB
Following is the contents of SIB4 for your reference (The parameter shown here is just an
example. You have to set it properly based on your own test requirement). This gets involved
in LTE-LTE Intrafrequency cell reselection
sib-TypeAndInfo item: sib4 (2)
sib4
intraFreqNeighCellList: 1 item
Item 0
IntraFreqNeighCellInfo
physCellId: 1
q-OffsetCell: dB3 (18)
Following is the contents of SIB5 for your reference (The parameter shown here is just an
example. You have to set it properly based on your own test requirement). This gets involved
in LTE-LTE Interfrequency cell reselection
sib-TypeAndInfo item: sib5 (3)
sib5
interFreqCarrierFreqList: 1 item
Item 0
InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo
dl-CarrierFreq: 5790
q-RxLevMin: -110dBm (-55)
p-Max: 23dBm
t-ReselectionEUTRA: 0s
threshX-High: 4dB (2)
threshX-Low: 2dB (1)
allowedMeasBandwidth: mbw25 (2)
.... .0.. presenceAntennaPort1: False
cellReselectionPriority: 4
neighCellConfig: No MBSFN subframes are present in all neighbour cells (1)
q-OffsetFreq: dB3 (18)
Following is the contents of SIB6 for your reference (The parameter shown here is just an
example. You have to set it properly based on your own test requirement). This gets involved
in LTE-WCDMA InterRAT/Interfrequency cell reselection
sib-TypeAndInfo item: sib6 (4)
sib6
carrierFreqListUTRA-FDD: 1 item
Item 0
CarrierFreqUTRA-FDD
carrierFreq: 10700
cellReselectionPriority: 3
threshX-High: 12dB (6)
threshX-Low: 12dB (6)
q-RxLevMin: -89dBm (-45)
p-MaxUTRA: 24dBm
q-QualMin: -24dB
t-ReselectionUTRA: 0s
Following is the contents of SIB7 for your reference (The parameter shown here is just an

example. You have to set it properly based on your own test requirement). This gets involved
in LTE-GSM InterRAT/Interfrequency cell reselection
sib-TypeAndInfo item: sib7 (5)
sib7
t-ReselectionGERAN: 0s
carrierFreqsInfoList: 1 item
Item 0
CarrierFreqsInfoGERAN
carrierFreqs
startingARFCN: 5
bandIndicator: dcs1800 (0)
followingARFCNs: explicitListOfARFCNs (0)
explicitListOfARFCNs: 0 items
commonInfo
cellReselectionPriority: 2
ncc-Permitted: 80 [bit length 8, 1000 0000 decimal value 128]
q-RxLevMin: -79dBm (18)
p-MaxGERAN: 27dBm
threshX-High: 12dB (6)
threshX-Low: 12dB (6)

How to detect and reselect to another LTE cell while in LTE Cell (LTE to LTE Cell
Reselction) ?
In order for UE to reselect from one LTE cell to another LTE Cell, the internal evaluation result
in UE side (SrxLev and Squal) should meet a certain criteria, otherwise it may not even
monitor (measure) neighboring cell and in result would not perform reselection. LTE
SIB1,SIB3 and SIB4 defines various parameter to influence the evaluation result and the
expected UE side behavior is described in 36.304 5.2.4.2 Measurement rules for cell reselection.
If your device does not perform Cell Reselection, first Check if Cell Measurement Criteria is
met and the check if Cell Reselection Criteria is met and also check if following condition is
met (Following statement come from 36.304 5.2.4.1 Reselection Priority Handling. I saw some
UE ignore this requirement but some UE strictly follows this requirement.)
The UE shall only perform cell reselection evaluation for E-UTRAN frequencies and inter-RAT
frequencies that are give in system information and for which the UE has a priority provided.

< LTE to LTE Intra Frequency Measurement >

If the serving cell's evaluation result is as follows, UE may not perform intra frequency
measurement.
SrxLev > S_IntraSearchP
Squal > S_IntraSearchQ
Note : If neither of S_IntraSearchP nor S_IntraSearchQ is specified, UE applies the default
value (S_IntraSearchP = Infinity, S_IntraSearchQ = 0 based on 36.331)
If the serving cell's evaluation result does NOT meet following criteria, UE perform intra
frequency measurement.

SrxLev > S_IntraSearchP

Squal > S_IntraSearchQ
Note : If neither of S_IntraSearchP nor S_IntraSearchQ is specified, UE applies the default
value (S_IntraSearchP = Infinity, S_IntraSearchQ = 0 based on 36.331)
< LTE to LTE NonIntra Frequency Measurement >
If the serving cell's evaluation result is as follows, UE may not perform intra frequency
measurement.
SrxLev > S_NonIntraSearchP
Squal > S_NonIntraSearchQ
Note : If neither of S_IntraSearchP nor S_IntraSearchQ is specified, UE applies the default
value (S_IntraSearchP = Infinity, S_IntraSearchQ = 0 based on 36.331)
If the serving cell's evaluation result does NOT meet following criteria, UE perform intra
frequency measurement.
SrxLev > S_NonIntraSearchP
Squal > S_NonIntraSearchQ
Note : If neither of S_IntraSearchP nor S_IntraSearchQ is specified, UE applies the default
value (S_IntraSearchP = Infinity, S_IntraSearchQ = 0 based on 36.331)

How to detect and reselect to LTE cell while in WCDMA (WCDMA to LTE Cell
Reselction) ?
UE must measure the LTE frequencies and detect the available LTE cell in order to perform cell
reselection to LTE.

UE measures two physical properties called for WCDMA signal. One is CPICH RSCP and
CPICH EcNo. RSCP determines Srxlev and EcNo determines Squal.
Srxlev = Qrxlevemeas - qRxLevMin. Qrxlevemeas is RSCP level measured by UE and
qRxLevMin is the value specified in SIB.
Squal = Qqualmeas - qQualMin. Qqualmeas is EcNo level measured by UE and
qQualMin is the value specified in SIB.
The detection measurement of LTE frequencies should be done at least once every 60s
for higher priority LTE frequencies.
In following condition, detection measurements of lower priority LTE frequency is not
required.
Srxlev > absPrioCellRes.sPrioritySearch1
Squal > absPrioCellRes.sPrioritySearch2
In following condition, UE should detect once every 30s for both lower and higher
priority LTE frequencies
Srxlev <= absPrioCellRes.sPrioritySearch1
Squal <= absPrioCellRes.sPrioritySearch2
The maximum number of LTE FDD Frequencies are 4. In this case, UE should have
performed measurement for detecting LTE cells on all 4 LTE frequencies once every 240
(4 x 60) s or 120(4 x 30) s depending if UE measures above or below parameter
threshold absPrioCellRes.sPrioritySearch1

How to detect and reselect to WCDMA cell while in LTE (LTE to WCDMA Cell
Reselction)?
Measurement Criteria (From High Priority LTE Cell to Lower Priority WCDMA Cell): When LTE
cell has higher priority than WCDMA, it would stay in LTE cell but it performs measurement for
the low priority WCDMA if UE is under the following condition :
Srxlev of the serving cell < sNonIntraSearch (SIB3),
If we express this using dB/dBm, Srxlev of the serving cell < (2 x
sNonIntraSearch (SIB3))
where Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas - qRxLevMin (SIB1),
If we express using dB/dBm, Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas [dBm] - (2 x qRxLevMin
(SIB1)) [dBm]
where Qrxlevemeas = measured RSRP level, qRxLevMin = minimum RSRP
level for camping
Measurement Criteria (From Lower Priority LTE Cell to Higher Priority WCDMA Cell): When LTE
cell has lower priority than WCDMA (WCDMA cell priority defined in SIB6 is higher than the
serving cell priority),The UE always have to perform measurements on WCDMA cell. How often
UE has to measure for WCDMA depends on whether Srxlev of the serving cell is greater or
lower than sNonIntraSearch(SIB3). If no parameter is set (meaning in default condition),
detection of WCDMA cell should be performed at least every 60 seconds.
Reselection Criteria (From High Priority LTE Cell to Lower Priority WCDMA Cell): If UE in LTE
cell is under the following condition with the duration longer than tReselectionUtra (SIB6), it
should reselect to WCDMA cell.
Srxlev of LTE cell (serving cell) < threshServingLow (SIB3),
where Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas - qRxLevMin (SIB1),
where Qrxlevemeas = measured RSRP level, qRxLevMin = minimum RSRP
level for camping
Srxlev of WCDMA cell > threshXLowP (SIB6),
where Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas - qRxLevMin (SIB1),
If we express using dB/dBm, Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas [dBm] - (2 x qRxLevMin
(SIB1)) [dBm]
where Qrxlevemeas = measured RSCP level, qRxLevMin = minimum RSCP
level for camping
Note : If more than one WCDMA meet this condition, UE should select to the cell with highest
Srxlev
Note : If these values are not specified in SIB and UE has to apply default values, UE has to
perform reselection when LTE RSRP is lower than -145 dBm and WCDMA cell is better than
-119 dBm for at least 2 seconds.
Reselection Criteria (From Lower Priority LTE Cell to Higher Priority WCDMA Cell): If UE in LTE
cell is under the following condition with the duration longer than tReselectionUtra (SIB6), it
should reselect to WCDMA cell.
Srxlev of WCDMA cell > threshXHighP (SIB6),
where Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas - qRxLevMin (SIB1),
where Qrxlevemeas = measured RSCP level, qRxLevMin = minimum RSCP
level for camping

Parameters related to Cell Reselection

These parameters are defined in 36.304 5.2.4.7 Cell reselection parameters in system
information broadcasts. Some of the important parameters and descriptions are as follows :
ThreshXHighP : The threshold of target cell Srxlev to perfrom reselection from a low priority to
a high priority cell. (i.e, a large ThreshXHigh value makes reselection harder)
ThreshXLowP : The threshold of target cell Srxlev to perfrom reselection from a high priority
to a low priority cell. (i.e, a large ThreshXLow value makes reselection harder)
ThreshXHighQ : The threshold of target cell Squal to perfrom reselection from a low priority to
a high priority cell. (i.e, a large ThreshXHigh value makes reselection harder)
ThreshXLowQ : The threshold of target cell Squal to perfrom reselection from a high priority to
a low priority cell. (i.e, a large ThreshXLow value makes reselection harder)
SIntraSearchP : The threshold of current cell Srxlev to perform intra-frequency. If the current
cell Srxleve is lower than this value, UE perform measurement for intra-frequency.
SIntraSearchQ : The threshold of current cell Squal to perform intra-frequency. If the current
cell Squal is lower than this value, UE perform measurement for intra-frequency.
SnonIntraSearchP : The threshold of current cell Srxlev to perform inter-frequency or interRAT
measurement. If the current cell Srxleve is lower than this value, UE perform measurement
for inter-frequency or interRAT cells.
SnonIntraSearchQ : The threshold of current cell Squal to perform inter-frequency or interRAT
measurement. If the current cell Srqual is lower than this value, UE perform measurement for
inter-frequency or interRAT cells.