On Heterogeneous Networks Mobility Robustness

Heterogeneous network 3GPP LTE deployments are considered as a prime candidate to meet increasing demand for mobile broadband service coverage and capacity. Such deployments also need to support mobility that is as robust as in traditional macro deployments. In this paper, we analyze the handover performance in heterogeneous deployments to better understand potential behavior of automatic handover parameter adjustments. Such a Self-Organizing Network (SON) feature is commonly known as Mobility Robustness Optimization (MRO). The analyses indicate difficult challenges with handovers from low power to high power base stations, and an evolved handover procedure that improves the user experience during such times is presented. These results are key for developing an MRO algorithm for heterogeneous networks.