2G/3G INTER-RAT HANDOVER PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

A. Mohammed H. Kamal2, S. AbdelWahab2

,

'Department ofSignal Processing, Blekinge Institute of Technology, 372 25 Ronneby, Sweden

2Alcatel-Lucent, Egypt

Keywords: GSM, UMTS, Handover Performance, Handover In this paper we propose an analytical model where the signal
Algorithms.
quality in the UL (uplink) is also considered as one of the
handover initiation parameters for the 3G-2G HO direction.
Real data from live networks is also used to complement the
Abstract
analytical results.
One of the most interesting UMTS networks features is their
integration with the 2G networks that provides seamless End- The two handover directions; 3G-to-2G inter-RAT HO and
to-End services. Current widely deployed 2G and 3G 2G-to-3G inter-RAT HO will be considered.
networks provide InterRAT (Inter Radio Access Technology)
mechanisms enabling interoperability between them in a
manner that is almost transparent to the subscriber. These 1) 3G-to-2G Inter-RAT HO direction.
enable maximum benefit from 3G services while ensuring
wireless coverage continuity in geographically extended Due to the channel fading conditions faced by the UE,
networks, where 3G coverage halls exist. These mechanisms received signal sees fluctuations that might cause unnecessary
include InterRAT idle mode reselection, InterRAT dedicated handovers, even for non-moving mobiles. In order to reduce
mode reselection for PS (Packet Switching) services, and these unnecessary handovers, a proper design for the
InterRAT handover for voice calls. The aim of this paper is to handover initiation conditions is required. Unlike in 2G
evaluate the InterRAT hand-over (HO) performance between technology, in 3G networks, the traffic is considerable, as it
2G and 3G networks. Analysis of the performance would be has a direct effect on the network QoS. The noise level
presented in the two HO directions. We propose an analytical increases with the increase of active users in the cell. In this
model where the introduction of the 3G cell's load as one of paper we propose the consideration of the 3G-cell traffic,
the HO initiation parameters is considered. In addition, an which is related to the noise level seen at the Node_B, for the
Inter-RAT HO ping-pong defensive mechanism is proposed.
3G-to-2G HO triggering conditions, beside the signal quality
evolution done by the UE, which is specified by 3GPP
standard. 3G-cell traffic could be evaluated by the Node B,
1 Introduction
based on the noise level received from each UE in the UL
The purpose of the inter-RAT HO (handover) procedure is to direction. 3G-cell capacity is usually limited by the UL
keep the service provided to the UE (User Equipment) while interference level generated by the increased number of users
moving away from the coverage are of one RAT (GSM or messaging the Node B at the same time and on the same
UMTS) to another (UMTS or GSM). Before the handover frequency. Beside the signal quality measured by the UE and
process is completely achieved, different phases should take expressed by the CPICH Ec/Jo, corresponding BER value
place; HO triggering conditions, measurements done by the could be obtained from individual link level simulations, the
mobile UE on the neighbor cells, and selection of the best cell load is also added to the HO triggering conditions. The
candidate cell that fulfills the handover criteria condition. The UE signal quality reflects only the interference level received
handover initiation could be based on several criteria; whether by the UE and not the interference level received by the
signal level, and UE distance away from the BS, or even Node-B. After the completion of the handover triggering
based on the desired service. Over facilitating the HO conditions, the UE goes into CM (Compressed Mode) status
procedures might cause the mobile terminals to handover where it could make measurements on the 2G neighbor cells.
their calls from one cell to another and return back to the first The UE sends the measurements results to the network to
cell after a very short period causing the increase of the decide which cell is the best for HO after the fulfillment of
signaling messages on the network, which is known by the the HO criteria.
Ping-Pong effect.
The HO criterion for the Inter-RAT case is the (event 3a)
In the opposite sense, handovers might be designed in
way
criteria as specified by 3GPP standard. The criteria states that,
not to be performed easily, which would increase the call "The estimated quality of the currently used 3G frequency is
drop rate due to signal level degradation received by the UE. below a certain threshold and the estimated quality of the 2G
A tradeoff between fast and easy HO and between delayed system is above a certain threshold".
a

HO exists.

This introduction of the 3G-cell traffic is expected to reduce performed. In this section we present the HO initiation and
the noise generated in the 3G cell and hence, the enhancement execution analytical model that will be used in this paper.
Two different models will be used for the two different HO
of the 3G system performance is anticipated.
directions: 3G-to-2G HO and 2G-to-3G HO.
Different from [1], the signal quality (BER) is considered as
one of the HO initiation conditions in our analysis beside the 1) 3G-to-2G Inter-RATHO direction.
UL noise level seen by the Node B. In the next section our
The mobile UE performs measurements on the 2G neighbor
proposed analytical model will be presented.
cells, once the triggering conditions are fulfilled. These
triggering conditions take into consideration the signal quality
2) 2G-to-3G Inter-RAT HO direction.
at the mobile UE denoted by Qused, presented by the measured
In the GSM to UMTS direction, it's desirable to have all CPICH Ec/Jo value, and also the cell load presented by the
Mobile Station (MS) terminals that are UMTS ready to be UL interference level seen by the Node B denoted by ULin-.
served in the UMTS service layer. Nowadays operators The best cell among the neighbor cells that fulfills the HO
deploy 3G services in two strategies. The first strategy is to criteria (event 3a) is to be selected for HO execution.
extend the coverage of the deployed GSM network, and the
other is to co-locate UMTS sites side-by-side of the existing Event 3a criteria could be denoted mathematically as:
GSM sites, which aims at introducing new 3G services as a
new service layer.
QUsed< ThUsed -H3a and Qtarget +CfOtarget Thtarget +H3a
>

Decision to handover the UE/MS from the serving GSM cell

to one possible target 3G cell must ensure acceptable radio
conditions in the target 3G cell. Radio conditions of the target
3G cells is defined by two main quantities [3] CPICH Ec/Jo
and CPICH RSCP, which are the received energy per chip of
the primary common pilot channel of neighbor 3G cell and
the Received Signal Code Power of the primary common
pilot channel, respectively. CPICH RSCP reflects 3G radio
propagation conditions at the UE/MS location. CPICH Ec/Jo
reflects 3G cell signal quality at the UE/MS location, as well
as load situation in target 3G cell [4], recalling that noise level
in 3G is affected by the number of UE/MS served by the cell.

where Qused is the quality of the 3G cell signal measured by

the UE and presented by CPICH Ec/Jo, Qtarget is the quality of
the target 2G cell presented by the received signal level in
dBm, CIO is the Cell Individual Offset of the target 2G cell.,
H3a is the hysteresis margin for event 3a, Thused is the
threshold value for the received CPICH Ec/Jo, Thtarget is the
2G cell received signal level threshold for event 3a.

The measured CPICH Ec/Jo reflects the signal quality

received by the mobile UE. The common pilot channel
(CPICH) is the channel that has to be detected by all the
mobile UEs everywhere in the cell. If the UE is not able to
detect the CPICH of certain (x) cell, this UE is said to be: "not
Joint optimization of GSM to UMTS handover and UMTS to covered' by this (x) cell. Hence CPICH defines the coverage
GSM handover is necessary in order to minimize call drop area for the cell and it is transmitted by 10% of the total
probability encountered in both radio access technology and Node_B power.
to minimize probability of unnecessary handovers. These
unnecessary handovers result in unnecessary increase in We propose the division of the CPICH Ec/Jo range into three
signaling load, and is considered the main cause of the regions defined by two thresholds Th1 and Th2; a) HO is
undesired ping-pong phenomena. In this paper we propose a needed region, where CPICH Ec/Jo < Th1. b) No HO is
defensive mechanism to reduce the effect of ping-pong needed region, where CPICH Ec/Jo Th2. and c) HO might
phenomena between GSM and UMTS without a great effort be needed region, where Th1 < CPICH Ec/Jo < Th2. In the
in optimizing handover detection thresholds. Such defensive third
region the UE receives somehow a degraded signal
mechanism could be implemented in either BSS, or UTRAN. quality due to the quite increased interference level. At this
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we point another metric needs to be confirmed before activating
demonstrate handover process in both GSM to UMTS the CM and
2G
triggering the measurements on the
direction and visa versa. We underpin the model by cells. This metric is the UL interference level neighbor
which
(ULint)
performance metrics proposition that can be used for the presents the 3G cell load. Figure 1 shows the three
regions on
purpose of handover process optimization. Section 3 includes the CPICH Ec/ Jo axis.
numerical results extracted from field measurements. Section
4 proposes the ping-pong defensive mechanism. Finally,
CPICH-EcIo
Th2
Section 5 concludes the paper.
>

Th

HO might be needed

2 Analytical Model

HITs nee4d

The HO process passes by phases before it is completely Figure 1: CPICH Ec/Jo regions.

7needed
No HO
is

The handover procedures of initiation and execution for 3Gto-2G HO direction are explained in Figure 2.

and also indicates whether these tasks shall be performed

when RXLEV (Received Signal level from GSM cell in dBm)
of the serving cell is below or above the threshold.

Qsearch C can take the value from two different sets. It

controls either if the UE/MS search for 3G cells if signal level
below threshold (0-7): -98, -94, ..., -74 dBm, oo (always) or
above threshold (8-15): -78, -74, ..., -54 dBm, oo (never) [2].
Appropriate setting of Qsearch C reduces number of
unnecessary measurement reporting and hence affects
handover probability.
Moreover, setting of this parameter directly reflects operator
UMTS deployment strategy. Setting Qsearch C such that
UMTS measurement is triggered only if GSM level is below a
certain threshold is a preferable scenario in case UMTS cells
are deployed in areas where GSM coverage holes exist. In
this case, it becomes reasonable to set Qsearch C in 0 to 6, as
handover becomes necessary only the UE/MS experienced
degradation in GSM signal level. In case UMTS sites are colocated with GSM sites, it is reasonable to trigger UMTS
measurements if GSM level is above a certain threshold. This
is because in this case the GSM signal strength will be almost
always higher than UMTS signal strength. Hence it makes no
sense just to wait until the GSM signal strength is degraded,
as 3G signal won't be good anyway. Recommended setting is
"Always search for 3G neighbors".

The UE/MS measures the neighbor UMTS cells indicated by

the network. FDD REP_QUANT parameter controls which
measurement quantity (RSCP or Ec/Jo) the UE/MS shall
measure. In the rest of this paper we assume that the UE/MS
yes
measures CPICH Ec/Jo. In case Transmit diversity is applied
on primary CPICH the received energy per chip (Ec) from
HO execution|
each antenna shall be separately measured and summed
into a total received energy per chip on the Primary
together
Figure 2: 3G-to-2G Handover initiation and execution
before
CPICH,
calculating the Ec/Jo. The UE/MS reports best
analytical model.
UMTS cells, which is part of the neighbor cell list. The
From the previous analytical model, conditions for a HO from number of reported UMTS cells is controlled by the GSM
network according to the value of the parameters
3G cell to 2G cell to be occurred are;
FDD_MULTIRAT REPORTING in case of UMTS FDD and
TDD MULTIRAT REPORTING in case of UMTS TDD.
by
{[Qused < Th1] or [(Th1 < Qused < Th2) and (ULint > Ith)]} and
{Qused < Thused -H3a} and {Qtarget + ClOtarget > Thtarget + H3a} The network keeps a bookkeeping of the reported UMTS
and {Qtarget = max [Qt, t =1,.N]}
(1) cells and evaluates if handover is needed to be performed
Where ULint is the UL interference level seen by the NodeB, towards a target cell. Cells are ranked for handover condition
evaluation according to the reported value of Ec/Jo, so that
and Ith is the interference threshold value.
best cells are considered first. In order to compensate fast
fluctuations in radio environment the network performs a
window averaging algorithm on the reported
sliding
2) 2G-to-3G Inter-RAT HO direction
measurement quantity (CPICH Ec/Jo). TEC/IO is the handover
For GSM to UMTS handover the UE/ME has to measure the detection threshold. Handover to a UMTS cell is performed if
UMTS neighbour cells. UMTS cells that should be measured the condition in Equation (2) is fulfilled.
by the UE/MS are identified and sent to the mobile on
(2)
Signaling Associated Control Channel (SACCH).The network Average (Ec /IO ) > TE /Io
controls the measurements of UMTS cells by the parameter
Qsearch_C sent on SACCH. Qsearch_C defines a threshold

3 Results

7lul:::: iwI(Eb

In this section we would present how the probability that a

connection executes a handover from 3G cell to 2G cell has
been calculated. The calculations are based on both the
analytical model presented previously and also on the
measurements results from real live networks.

(3)

N,)*R*v

where ilj, is the load factor, W is the chip rate, R is the bit
rate of the service, Eb /NO is the required energy per bit over
the noise power spectral density to establish a connection
with a service bit rate R, and activity factor v.

A. UMTS to GSM Handover

1) Handover Probability

Figure 5 shows the load factor for three different services (bit
rates), Speech AMR (Adaptive Multi Rate) 12.2 kbps, PS64
kbps, and PS384 kbps, respectively. It is clear from the figure
Figure 3 shows the CDF (Cumulative Distribution Function) that the load increases with the required bit rate for the
for the received CPICH Ec/Jo, based on measurements in a different services. As the load increases, also the noise level
typical urban outdoor mobile environment. Normally the CDF in the cell increases. They are directly related by the
should change for different environments and also depending following equation:
on the number of installed base stations.
NoiseRise= 1/1 - '71u
(4)
CDF
Load Factor

25%
20%
15%
10%
5%

0%
-25

-23

-21

-19

-17

-15

-13

-11

-7

-9

-5

64000

12200

-3

CPICH EcIIO (dB)

Figure
Figure

3: CDF for outdoor measurements

shows the

signal level) in
environment.

CDF

for the

on

CPICH

obtained

384000

Se rvIice Rate (bps)

Ec/Jo.

Qu,sed (received

typical outdoor rural 2G mobile

CDF
0.9
0.8

Figure 5: Load factor for different services

connection.

per

one

Figure 6 shows the PDF of the UL interference in different

3G cells deployed in a rural radio propagation environment.
We can notice that the cells are facing low UL interference
level. These curves are the output of averaging process over
several days. Actually in nowadays 3G networks the traffic is
low especially for PS services. One of these curves has been
used to calculate the HO probability in case the load exceeds
a certain threshold.

0.7
0.6

PDF

0.5

0.8|

0.4

-Cell 1
Cell 2
Cell 3
Cell 4
+ Cell 5

0.3

0.2
0.1

-120

-110 -100

-90

-80

-70

-60

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

Cell 6

2G Rx Level (dBm)

Cell 7
-Cell8
-

Figure 4: CDF for outdoor measurements

signal level.

on

the 2G received

In [6], it has been shown that the uplink load factor caused by
one connection in the WCDMA system depends on the
service the connection is establishing with the network.

-108

-106

-104

-102

-100

-98

-96

-94

-92

0.7
0.6

0.5
0.4
0.3

0.2
0.1

-90

UL interference (dBm)

Figure 6: The PDF of the UL interference level received at

the Node B.

For loaded cells these curves are expected to shift to the right.
In addition, as the UL interference level increases this might
cause call drops due to: 1) PRACH (Packet Random Access
Channel) failure 2) RRC (Radio Resources Control)
connection failure. One of the major interests in deploying 3G
networks is to reduce the interference.

received CPICH Ec/Jo (CPICH energy per chip over the total
noise received in the band) is less than -19 dB at the UE
level. The CPICH Ec/Jo is directly related to the CPICH
Eb/No by the processing gain of the established service by the
user.

This minimum CPICH Ec/Jo value is then depending on the

Using the previous analytical model, the cumulative service; Table 2 shows the minimum CPICH Eb/No values,
distribution functions obtained from the live network corresponding to -19 dB CPICH Ec/Jo value, for different
measurements, beside the CDF of the chosen cell with the UL services.
interference values: the probability that the handover
conditions are satisfied is calculated. Figure 7 shows the
Service
Minimum CPICH
probability curves as a function of the threshold (Th1), and for
Eb/NO
different values for the hysteresis margin H3a that varies from
-44 dB
Speech AMR 12.2 kbps
0 to 4. The other parameters have been set as shown in
CS 64 kbps
-36.8 dB
Table 1.
PS 128 kbps
-33.8 dB
PS 384 kbps
-29 dB
Parameter
Value
0
CIO
Table 2: Minimum CPICH Eb/No values corresponding to
minimum CPICH Ec/Jo.
-12 dB
Thused
-95 dBm
ThTarget
In order to calculate the CDP (Call Drop Probability) due to
-5 dB
Th2
unsuccessful HO to a 2G cell, the following model has been
-100 dBm
ULint
assumed for a call drop to occur;
Table 1: Parameters used for 3G-2G HO probability a- The received CPICH Ec/Jo by the UE is below a certain
calculations.
threshold, and
b- The HO to a 2G cell is unsuccessful.
P_2G3G

This model could be expressed by the following equation;

0.03
0.027

- H3a=0
H3a= 1
H3a=2
H3a=3
H3a=4

CDP = P{(Ec Io) < ThCd } * {1- P(3G _2G)}

0.024
0.021

where

0.018

Th,d is the threshold for minimum received CPICH

Ec/Jo value before the call drops, and P(3G 2G) is the

0.015

probability that a HO occurs from 3G cell to 2G cell.

0.012

0.009

CDP

0.006
0.003

-.H3a =01 Th =-10

-26 -24 -22 -20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0.025

0.02-

Thl (dB)

0.015-

0.01

Figure 7: Probability of 3G to 2G HO curves.

We can notice that, when the "HO might be needed" region
becomes smaller, whether by increasing Th1 or by decreasing
Th2, the probability that a handover occurs from the 3G cell to
the 2G cell increases. This could be explained, as the HO
triggering conditions becomes harder, the HO probability

decreases.

2) Call Drop Probability

The call drop rate is an important metric used to evaluate the
QoS in cellular networks. Call drop could be caused by uplink
or downlink break [5]. The Downlink break is our point of
interest in this paper. The link is assumed to break when the

0.0050

-20

-19

-18

-17

-16
-15
-14
Call Drop Ec/lo threshold (dB)

-13

-12

Figure 8: Call drop probability due to unsuccessful UMTS to

GSM Handover.
For considerable values for the DL interference the CDP
increases. The DL interference is shown in the previous
equation in the term:

P{(Ecl Io) < ThCd }

Using the same parameters mentioned in Table (1), with H3a which is a typical value in case of Inter-BSC Handover.
set to zero, and Th1 to -OdB, the CDP has been calculated
2) Handover Probability
and the results are shown in
Figure 98.
GSM to UMTS handover probability indicates the degree by
which the GSM network is off loaded and UMTS service is
Although in nowadays live 3G networks, the traffic (load) is preferred. Figure 10 shows evolution of GSM to UMTS
low, but in case one PS 128 kbps user performs HO to a 2G Handover probability with different values of TEC/IO. The
cell; that would decrease the cell load by about 15-16% and effect of setting Qsearch C is also shown. For simplicity, the
hence the UL interference level would be decreased by effect of averaging sliding window is not taken into account.
0.75dB. For a PS 384 kbps user a decrease of 1.5dB could However this should not affect the results because its rule is
be achieved.
to compensate fast fluctuations in measured value, and not
affecting the Handover detection process. The Handover
probability is computed numerically as:
B. GSM to UMTS Handover
1) Call Interruption Time
JP(Ec Jlo > TECI )x P(RxLev < Q), Q(belo-w)
(5)
Jo>
>
A measurement campaign was carried out to assess call
HO
interruption time due to handover. The test was designed such
that several handover types are experienced by the UE/MS. Where Ec/Io is the CPICH Ec/Io measured by the UE/MS in
During the test the UE/MS experienced 20 handovers from GSM dedicated mode,
TEC/IO is the Handover detection
GSM to UMTS, 14 handover from UMTS to GSM, and 46 threshold based upon CPICH Ec/Jo value, RxLev is the GSM
Intra-GSM handovers. The call interruption time due to signal level in dBm, and Q is the Qsearch_C parameter as
handover is computed as the time difference the UE/MS specified in [2][2].
receives "Handover Command" message from the old cell
and sends "Handover Complete" message to the new cell. Qsearch C limits probability of GSM to UMTS handover, as
This does not take into account the Handover decision time, stated in previous section, and it should reflect Operator
as during that period the UE/MS is still in call.
strategy of employing UMTS technology. In case UMTS is
employed for coverage extension, it is reasonable to trigger
Figure 9 illustrates the call interruption time encountered due UMTS search in case GSM RXLEV is below Qsearch C
to Inter-RAT Handover and compared to Intra-GSM value. When UMTS is co-located with GSM, it is reasonable
Handover. Similar performance was encountered for GSM to to trigger UMTS search in case GSM RXLEV is above
UMTS handover and for UMTS to GSM Handover. This is Qsearch_C value.
explained by the fact that signaling path is the same for the
Inter-RAT Handover case. On the average the User
3) Call Drop Probability
experiences 200 milliseconds of call interruption, which
should not affect voice quality compared to Intra-RAT Hardening Handover decision by increasing handover
handover.
detection threshold is a good choice to reduce the chance of
unnecessary handovers. Reducing unnecessary handovers has
a direct impact on reducing Call drop in UMTS side as the
350.00
' 300.00
probability of underestimating radio conditions in UMTS
E
vanishes. Also it has an influence on reducing ping-pong
250.00
.2
* Average
effect.
Q 200.00

lP(Ec

* Maximum
r StdDiv

.$ 150.00
i,

G)

100.00

50.00-

t._
n

0.00

0co

2G-2G HO

2G-3G HO

3G-2G HO

Handover Direction

Figure 9: Call Interruption time in milliseconds for the three

cases of GSM-GSM HO, GSM-UMTS HO, and UMTS-GSM
HO.

TECIO)x P(RxLev Q), Q(above)J

0.97
0.8

Alwayes Search UMTS

0.....a...Q=-2(below)

05,

Q=-78(below)
Q=-74(below)

0
IL

0.4

Q=-78(above)

0.3 0.2-

0Q=-74(above)
Q=-70(above)

u.1
0-

llN"D

.K$~~l
~ ~,~'b lb 'l0I,Z
TEcIIo

The Intra-GSM Handovers in Figure 9 includes both Inter and

Intra BSC Handovers. The maximum call interruption period Figure 10: GSM to UMTS Handover probability. Effect of
in case of Intra-GSM Handover was around 330 milliseconds, setting Qsearch_C on Handover probability is shown.

A trade off between hardening and easing handover decision

is required. As Handover decision gets harder, Probability of
call drop increases as a result of signal strength degradation in
the serving cell. Figure 11 demonstrates increase of call drop
probability in correspondence to increasing TEC/Io- Call drop
probability is simplified as [1]:

4 Inter-RAT Handover Ping-Pong Defensive

Mechanism Proposal

GSM to UMTS handover as described in Section 2 is

considered a better cell handover, in which the network will
always keep trying to send the UE/MS to the UMTS cell as
long as the radio conditions are good. This raises the risk of
effect, as the UE/MS oscillate back and forth
(6) ping-pong
PDrop = P(RxLev < RxLevMin)x [1- PHO]
between the GSM and UMTS cells in case of variations in
radio conditions, and sensitive reactivity of the handover
where PDrop is the probability of call drop due to GSM to triggering thresholds.
UMTS Handover, RxLevMin is the minimum level in dBm of
accessing a GSM cell specified in [2] as One possible way to minimize such undesired effect is to
RXLEV ACCESS-MIN, and PHO is the GSM to UMTS harden or prevent handover decision from a serving GSM cell
handover probability in Equation (5).
to a target UMTS cell, if the GSM access request indicates
handover from UTRAN. We modify handover detection in
Equation (2) to be:
100
006
GSM UMTS HO Prob

+
0.90

Call Drop Prob|

Average (Ec Io) > TEClIO + Hp

o 80

670

0.04

160

02

G40

(7)

Where Hp is a penalty in dB added to the TEC/IO threshold, if

the call is handover from UMTS.

Handover to UMTS must be enabled again by neglecting Hp

value after a certain time. We define T1p as time during which
handover decision is based on (4). After expiry of TIp timer the
0.00
.
0.00L
decision must be based on (2) again to enable GSM
handover
-24
-8
-6
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-22
to UMTS handover again. A similar defensive mechanism
could be employed in UMTS to prevent handover to GSM if
Figure 11: Call drop probability due to delayed GSM to call access request is indicating handover from GSM.
UMTS Handover versus GSM to UMTS Handover
Probability.
5 Conclusions
00

0.0

2003

0.0

TEcIlo

In practice Call drop probability experienced by the UE/MS is

much less than the values shown in Figure 11; as the figure
shows only call drop that might be encountered if GSM to
UMTS was not probably triggered. Typically this is not the
case, as the UE/MS has a chance to handover to another GSM
cell if degradation is encountered in the serving cell. Call
drop model that capture all GSM system dynamics should
take into account the following Call drop events:

1) Call drop due to radio interface failure.

2) Call drop during handover execution, which include,
Intra-cell, Inter-cell, Inter-BSC, and Inter-RAT
Handovers.

an
important
handover
is
InterRAT
2G/3G
telecommunication feature in nowadays heterogeneous
wireless networks. We provided a brief description of this
feature in the two directions, as well as analysis for its
performance through probability calculations and
measurements from live networks. An analytical model, and
suggested algorithms that should bring improvement to the
performance of these telecommunication procedures have
been proposed. Tuning of different algorithms parameters was
elaborated and tested in a commercial network.

6 Acknowledgements

Many people have been involved in the preparations and

execution of the tests, and have provided support led to this
3) Call drop due to System failures, which include, paper. The authors would like to acknowledge the
Hardware failures, Software failures, and contributions of their colleagues, in particular Ervin Farkas at
Transmission subsystem failures.
Alcatel-Lucent Romania, Florent Colin and Didier
Esclamadon at Alcatel-Lucent France, Hesham Sabry at
4) Call drop due to explicit preemption. As it's Alcatel-Lucent Egypt, and Idris Yusof at Alcatel-Lucent
common to have a grade of service assigned to
Indonesia.
individual subscribers, The GSM network can
explicitly pre-empt calls in case of congestion so that
"The views presented in this work are of the authors, and
it gives priority to a higher grade subscribers.
does not represent Alcatel-Lucent position regarding the
2G/3G HO".

References
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[2] 3GPP TS 45.008 "Radio subsystem link control".
[3] 3GPP TS 25.215 "Physical layer - Measurements
(FDD)".
[4] 3GPP TS 25.331 "Radio Resource Control (RRC)
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[5] C. Brunner, A. Garavaglia, M. Mittal, M. Narang, J. V.
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[6] H. Holma and A. Toskala, "WCDMA FOR UMTS".
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