Reference Guide

Table Of Contents
Apex Lifestyle Small Cell features
Apex Lifestyle Small Cell
Reference Guide
1-20
Mobility and service continuity
Mobility refers to the cell change when the UE is in idle mode, while service
continuity refers to the cell change when the UE is in connected state, thus requiring
the handover of a voice call or a data connection.
Given that the Apex Lifestyle Small Cell is a low power node, it is critical that the UE
uses not only the best serving cell criteria, but also the priorities for cell reselection.
Both cell re-selection based on RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and RSRQ
(Reference Signal Received Quality) are included in the solution, including the
support of Absolute Priority Based Cell Reselection (Hierarchical Cell Selection) and
its related configuration parameters.
The handover procedures are exactly the same than the procedures performed by the
macrocells, but slightly different if they are performed from one Apex Lifestyle Small
Cell to another Apex Lifestyle Small Cell than from a Apex Lifestyle Small Cell to a
macro cell (and vice-versa) when using a HeNB-GW as the MME should support
some extra features.
In that sense in terms of S1AP and X2 interfaces, the entire control plane messaging is
compliant at least with Rel.10 for supporting a full integration of the HeNB-GW. The
system supports SRVCC to avoid any degradation in the voice call during the
handover procedure.
The Apex Lifestyle Small Cell implements CSFB (Circuit Switching Fall Back) to
re-direct the UE to the available 3G or 2G network when the LTE system is
configured this way.
Regarding the data connection handover, the system supports blind handover,
handover with system information to reduce the latency, and handover based on
measurements, with thresholds and priorities.
For the service continuity from Apex Lifestyle Small Cell to Apex Lifestyle Small
Cell, the software supports both S1-based Handover and X2-based Handover, in order
to minimize the signaling load sent to the EPC.
The handovers from LTE Small Cells to LTE macro-cells and vice-versa are
supported (both intra-frequency and inter-frequency), and all the corresponding
parameters are configurable. Furthermore, the Apex Lifestyle Small Cell management