ANR Management

25th January, 2012

www.huawei.com

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES Co., Ltd. HUAWEI Confidential

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
Objective

The object of below slides is to describe the ANR management for LTE system.
 Overview of ANR

ANR is a self-optimization function. It automatically maintains the integrity and

effectiveness of Neighbor Cell Lists (NCLs) to increase handover success rates and
improve network performance. In addition, ANR does not require manual intervention,
which reduces the costs of network planning and optimization.
Concept related to ANR
Classification
Based on neighbor relations, ANR is classified into intra-RAT ANR and inter-RAT ANR

Neighbor list management

1) NCL Neighbor cell list

2) NRT Neighbor relation table
3) TempNRT Temporary NRT
4) HO Blacklist Handover black list
5) HO Whitelist Handover white list
6) PCI Physical cell ID
7) Abnormal Neighboring Cell Coverage
Neighbor list management
NCL

An NCL contains the information about the neighboring cells of a cell. Each cell has an intra-RAT
NCL and inter-RAT NCLs. An NCL includes the E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifiers (ECGIs), PCIs,
and E-UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Numbers (EARFCNs) of the neighboring cells.
The eNodeB adds newly detected neighboring cells to the NCL.

NRT
An NRT contains the information about the neighbor relations between a cell and its
neighboring cells. NRTs are classified into intra-RAT NRTs and inter-RAT NRTs. Each cell has an
intra-RAT NRT and inter-RAT NRTs.

TempNRT
A TempNRT is a temporary NRT. It has the same data structure as the NRT. Each cell has an
intra-RAT TempNRT but does not have an inter-RAT TempNRT. After detecting a new intra-RAT
neighbor relation, the eNodeB adds it to the intra-RAT TempNRT. Then, the eNodeB regularly
analyzes the neighbor relation in the TempNRT. If the new neighbor relation is normal, the
eNodeB adds it to the intra-RAT NRT.
Neighbor list management
HO Blacklist

An HO black list contains the information about neighbor relations that cannot be removed
automatically from the NRT by ANR or used for a handover. The neighbor relations in the HO
Black list must meet the following conditions:

NO Remove = TRUE
NO HO = TRUE

HO Whitelist

An HO white list contains the information about neighbor relations that cannot be removed
automatically from the NRT by ANR but can be used for a handover. The neighbor relations in
the HO white list must meet the following conditions:

NO Remove = TRUE
NO HO = FALSE
Neighbor list management
PCI

A PCI is the identifier of a physical cell. A maximum of 504 PCIs are supported, therefore, PCI
collisions occur inevitably.

The PCI of an E-UTRAN cell corresponds to:

The Primary Scrambling Code (PSC) of a UTRAN FDD cell
The cell ID of a UTRAN TDD cell
The Base Station Identity Code (BSIC) of a GERAN cell
The Pseudo Number (PN) offset of a CDMA2000 cell

Abnormal Neighboring Cell Coverage

Abnormal neighboring cell coverage refers to the coverage of a cell that is not adjacent to
the serving cell but can be detected by a UE in the serving cell. The eNodeB regards this cell
as a neighboring cell of the serving cell and therefore attempts to add the neighbor relation
to the NRT. The signals of an abnormal neighboring cell are generally unstable and therefore
the success rate of handovers to this cell is low.
Procedure for detecting a missing neighboring cell
1) The source eNodeB delivers the
measurement configuration to the UE
and requests the UE to measure
neighboring cells that meet the
measurement configuration
2) The UE detects that the PCI of cell B
meets the measurement configuration
and reports it to the source eNodeB.
Then, the source eNodeB checks
whether the NCL of cell A includes the
PCI of cell B. If yes, the procedure ends.
If no, the following steps continue.

3) The source eNodeB instructs the UE, using the newly discovered PCI as a parameter, to read
the ECGI, Tracking Area Code (TAC), and Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) ID list of cell B.
4) The source eNodeB schedules appropriate idle periods to allow the UE to read the ECGI,
TAC, and PLMN ID list of cell B over the broadcast channel (BCH).
5) The UE reports the detected ECGI, TAC, and PLMN ID list of cell B to the source eNodeB.