An important feature of a mobile wireless system such as LTE is support for seamless mobility across eNBs and across MME/GWs. Fast and seamless handovers (HO) are particularly important for delay-sensitive services such as VoIP. The handovers occur more frequently across eNBs than across core networks because the area covered by MME/GW serving a large number of eNBs is generally much larger than the area covered by a single eNB. The signaling on X2 interface between eNBs is used for handover preparation. The S-GW acts as anchor for inter-eNB handovers.
In the LTE system, the network relies on the UE to detect the neighboring cells for handovers and therefore no neighbor cell information is signaled from the network. For the search and measurement of inter-frequency neighboring cells, only the carrier frequencies need to be indicated. An example of active handover in an RRC CONNECTED state is shown in Figure 1 where a UE moves from the coverage area of the source eNB (eNB1) to the coverage area of the target eNB (eNB2). The handovers in the RRC CONNECTED state are network controlled and assisted by the UE. The UE sends a radio measurement report to the source eNB1 indicating that the signal quality on eNB2 is better than the signal quality on eNB1. As preparation for handover, the source eNB1 sends the coupling information and the UE context to the target eNB2 (HO request) on the X2 interface. The target eNB2 may perform admission control dependent on the received EPS bearer QoS information. The target eNB configures the required resources according to the received EPS bearer QoS information and reserves a C-RNTI (cell radio network temporary identifier) and optionally a RACH preamble. The C-RNTI provides a unique UE identification at the cell level identifying the RRC connection. When eNB2 signals to eNB1 that it is ready to perform the handover via HO response message, eNB1 commands the UE (HO command) to change the radio bearer to eNB2. The UE receives the HO command with the necessary parameters (i.e. new C-RNTI, optionally dedicated RACH preamble, possible expiry time of the dedicated RACH preamble, etc.) and is commanded by the source eNB to perform the HO. The UE does not need to delay the handover execution for delivering the HARQ/ARQ responses to source eNB.
Figure 1: Active handovers.
After receiving the HO command, the UE performs synchronization to the target eNB and accesses the target cell via the random access channel (RACH) following a contention-free procedure if a dedicated RACH preamble was allocated in the HO command or following a contention-based procedure if no dedicated preamble was allocated. The network responds with uplink resource allocation and timing advance to be applied by the UE. When the UE has successfully accessed the target cell, the UE sends the HO confirm message (C-RNTI) along with an uplink buffer status report indicating that the handover procedure is completed for the UE. After receiving the HO confirm message, the target eNB sends a path switch message to the MME to inform that the UE has changed cell. The MME sends a user plane update message to the S-GW. The S-GW switches the downlink data path to the target eNB and sends one or more “end marker” packets on the old path to the source eNB and then releases any user-plane/TNL resources towards the source eNB. Then S-GW sends a user plane update response message to the MME. Then the MME confirms the path switch message from the target eNB with the path switch response message. After the path switch response message is received from the MME, the target eNB informs success of HO to the source eNB by sending release resource message to the source eNB and triggers the release of resources. On receiving the release resource message, the source eNB can release radio and C-plane related resources associated with the UE context.
During handover preparation U-plane tunnels can be established between the source eNB and the target eNB. There is one tunnel established for uplink data forwarding and another one for downlink data forwarding for each EPS bearer for which data forwarding is applied. During handover execution, user data can be forwarded from the source eNB to the target eNB. Forwarding of downlink user data from the source to the target eNB should take place in order as long as packets are received at the source eNB or the source eNB buffer is exhausted.
For mobility management in the RRC IDLE state, concept of tracking area (TA) is introduced. A tracking area generally covers multiple eNBs as depicted in Figure 2. The tracking area identity (TAI) information indicating which TA an eNB belongs to is broadcast as part of system information. A UE can detect change of tracking area when it receives a different TAI than in its current cell. The UE updates the MME with its new TA information as it moves across TAs. When P-GW receives data for a UE, it buffers the packets and queries the MME for the UE’s location. Then the MME will page the UE in its most current TA. A UE can be registered in multiple TAs simultaneously. This enables power saving at the UE under conditions of high mobility because it does not need to constantly update its location with the MME. This feature also minimizes load on TA boundaries.
Figure 2: Tracking area update for UE in RRC IDLE state.
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