Layered paging in URA_PCH

2016-09-13 – Osama Riad

 Contents

– Overview
– Functionality
– Parameters
– Affected Counters, KPIs and Field Test Elements
– Trial Area and Implementation Plan
– Performance Results
– Conclusion

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 Overview

With the increasing penetration rate of smart phones, UE paging, especially PS paging, is triggered more
and more by applications. Conventionally, the RNC directly pages a UE in URA_PCH mode in the entire
URA. However the large paging scope results in a large number of unnecessary Uu-interface paging
messages, which increases PCH channel congestion and paging discard rate. The layered paging in
URA_PCH (WRFD-140206) feature enables the RNC to page a UE in URA_PCH state by two-level
mechanism, which reduces Uu-interface paging messages and lowers PCH congestion probability.
 Without Layered Paging in URA_PCH, the
SRNC pages the UE throughout the entire
URA.
 With Layered Paging in URA_PCH, the
SRNC first pages the UE in cells A through
G. If the first-layer paging fails, the SRNC
then pages the UE throughout the entire
URA.
 The RNC performs the first-layer paging in
cells A through G, regardless of whether
these cells belong to the same URA.

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 Functionality

 This feature is performed on RNC.

 The layered paging in URA_PCH implements the following procedure:
1. Records the cells where UEs in the URA_PCH state camped last. (In this document, these cells are referred to as
the last camped-on cells.)
2. First-layer paging: After the SRNC receives a PAGING message or packet switched (PS) packet from the CN, the
SRNC pages these UEs in the last camped-on cells and their neighboring cells under the same RNC.
3. Second-layer paging: If the first-layer paging fails, the SRNC pages these UEs throughout the entire URA.

 With Layered Paging in URA_PCH, the SRNC creates and maintains a record of the last camped-on cell for UEs in the
URA_PCH state
 When the UE enters the URA_PCH state, the SRNC
records the last camped-on cell for the UE.

 If the UE exits the URA_PCH state, the SRNC clears

the record.

 If the UE moves to another URA or performs a periodic

URA update, the SRNC replaces the cell in the record
with the cell in which the UE sends or receives the
latest message to or from the SRNC.

 Upon receiving a PAGING message or a packet

switched (PS) packet from the CN, the SRNC
determines whether to perform layered paging. If the
decision is YES, the SRNC reads the record for the
follow-up layered paging. If the decision is NO, the
SRNC does not read the record.

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 Functionality (cont.)

layered paging differs from the conventional paging in the following ways:
 Upon receiving the message or packet, the SRNC pages the UE in the
last camped-on cell and its neighboring cells under the same SRNC by
sending a PAGING TYPE 1 message.
 If the first-layer paging succeeds, the UE performs a cell update.
 If the first-layer paging fails, the SRNC then sends a PAGING TYPE 1
message throughout the entire URA to page the UE.
 Layered paging reduces the number of paging messages without
compromising the paging success rate.

Layered paging differs in the following ways:

 Upon receiving the message or packet, the SRNC pages the UE in the
last camped-on cell and its neighboring cells under the same SRNC by
sending a PAGING TYPE 1 message.

- If the first-layer paging succeeds, the UE performs a cell update.

- If the first-layer paging fails, the SRNC then sends a PAGING
TYPE 1 message throughout the entire URA to page the UE.

 Layered paging reduces the number of paging messages without

compromising the paging success rate.

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 Parameters

Parameter ID NE MML Command Description

25)URAPCH_LAYERED_PAGING_RT_SWITCH. Whether the RNC allows Layered Paging in URA_PCH for
a UE processing real-time services.
1: This switch is turned on. The RNC sends paging messages to the cell on which a UE processing real-
time services camped recently and to the neighboring cells of this cell. The RNC pages the UE in the
entire UTRAN registration area (URA) only when it does not receive a response from the UE. This
significantly reduces the number of paging messages on the Uu interface.
0: This switch is turned off. The RNC directly pages the UE in the entire URA.
PROCESSSWITCH BSC6910 SET URRCTRLSWITCH
26)URAPCH_LAYERED_PAGING_NRT_SWITCH. Whether the RNC allows Layered Paging in URA_PCH
for a UE processing non-real-time services.
1: This switch is turned on. The RNC sends paging messages to the cell on which a UE processing non-
real-time services camped recently and to the neighboring cells of this cell. The RNC pages the UE in
the entire URA only when the RNC does not receive a response from the UE. This significantly reduces
the number of paging messages on the Uu interface.
0: This switch is turned off. The RNC directly pages the UE in the entire URA.

Copyright© 2014 MTN Irancell. All rights reserved

 Affected Counters, KPIs and Field Test Elements

Gains
This feature reduces Uu-interface paging messages for UEs in URA_PCH state. The number of reduced messages
is reversely proportional to the average number of neighboring cells, and is directly proportional to the number of
cells in the entire URA and the success rate of level 1 paging.
Network Impact
System capacity
This feature reduces paging signaling traffic for UEs in URA_PCH, which expand the system paging capacity
Network Performance
For layered paging in URA_PCH, if the RNC initiates level 2 paging without receiving level 1 paging response
from the UE, extended delay occurs in end-to-end service connection.

Counter ID
VS.Paging1.Att1.URA.RealTime.Cell
VS.Paging1.Succ1.URA.RealTime.Cell
VS.Paging1.Att1.URA.NoneRealTime.Cell
VS.Paging1.Succ1.URA.NoneRealTime.Cell
VS.Paging1.TotalSucc.URA.RealTime.Cell
VS.Paging1.TotalSucc.URA.NoneRealTime.Cell
VS.UTRAN.Paging1.Att.UraPCH
Description
Number of Level-1 Paging Attempts for UEs Processing Real-Time Services in the URA_PCH State
for Cell
Number of Successful Level-1 Paging Attempts for UEs Processing Real-Time Services in the
URA_PCH State for Cell
Number of Level-1 Paging Attempts for UEs Processing Non-Real-Time Services in the URA_PCH
State for Cell
Number of Successful Level-1 Paging Attempts for UEs Processing Non-Real-Time Services in the
URA_PCH State for Cell
Number of Successful Layered Paging Attempts for UEs Processing Real-Time Services in the
URA_PCH State for Cell
Number of Successful Layered Paging Attempts for UEs Processing Non-Real-Time Services in the
URA_PCH State for Cell
Number of PAGING TYPE 1 Messages Sent from the RNC to UEs in the URA_PCH State for Cell

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 Trial Area and Implementation Plan

This feature is recommended for RNCs that cover urban areas. This feature is not
recommended for RNCs that cover areas where most UEs are moving at high speeds, such
as RNCs that cover highways
The feature will be activated on HARNCH01 as it is the only RNC with enables URA_PCH
state.
We will turn on RAPCH_LAYERED_PAGING_NRT_SWITCH first.
If the paging congestion is still severe and users are not delay-sensitive to real-time services,
we will turn on RAPCH_LAYERED_PAGING_RT_SWITCH.
Layered Paging in URA_PCH is an RNC-level feature.

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 Performance Results

No major enhancement
witnessed in paging loss due
to PCH congestion

No major enhancement
witnessed in paging success rate

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 Performance Results cont.

1st page success rate is

around 33% which
means that about 67%
of the calls are delayed
because of this feature

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 Conclusion

- The feature gain wasn’t achieved as the congestion is not heavy.

- 1st Paging success rate is around 33% which means that about 67% of the calls
are delayed because of this feature.
- The feature is not beneficial and we recommend to fallback and try it later in a
more heavy congested scenario

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