Troubleshooting Inter-SgNB

PSCell Change KPI Degradation

RAN Optimization (AIO)
June 8th, 2023
Table of Contents

• Overview of Neighbor Relationship in ENDC

• Understanding Inter-Node NR HO KPI

• ENDC Inter-Node NR HO Failures – Case Studies

• Managing Light Weight Neighbor Relations (lwNeighborRel)

• Cell Trace Analysis for Inter-Node NR HO Failures

• Demo

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ENDC Neighbor Relationship

Mandatory LTE MOs Relation to Source NR Mandatory LTE MOs Relation to Target NR
(for ENDC setup) (for Inter SgNB PSCell Change)
ExternalGNodeBFunction LTE Node --> NR Node ExternalGNodeBFunction LTE Node --> NR Node
TermPointToGNB LTE Node --> NR Node TermPointToGNB LTE Node --> NR Node
ExternalGUtranCell LTE Node --> NR Cell ExternalGUtranCell LTE Node --> NR Cell
GUtranSyncSignalFrequency LTE Node --> NR Freq GUtranSyncSignalFrequency LTE Node --> NR Freq
GUtranFreqRelation LTE Cell --> NR Freq
GUtranCellRelation LTE Cell --> NR Cell Anchor LTE
Mandatory NR MOs Relation from Source NR Mandatory NR MOs Relation from Target
(for ENDC setup) back to LTE (Inter SgNB PSCell Change) NR back to LTE
ExternalENodeBFunction NR Node --> LTE Node ExternalENodeBFunction NR Node --> LTE Node
TermPointToENodeB NR Node --> LTE Node TermPointToENodeB NR Node --> LTE Node

Source NR Target NR
Mandatory Source NR MOs Relation from Source
(Inter SgNB PSCell Change) NR to Target NR
ExternalGNBCUCPFunction* NR Node --> NR Node
ExternalNRCellCU* NR Node --> NR Cell
NRFrequency NR Node --> NR Freq
Inter SgNB PSCell Change
NRFreqRelation NR Cell --> NR Freq
NRCellRelation/lwNeighborRel* NR Cell --> NR Cell
* With NR-NR ANR, some MOs may not be visible

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Inter-SgNB PSCell Change (ENDC Inter-Node NR HO) KPI

NR HO SR%=100*(pmEndcPSCellChangeSuccInterSgnb/pmEndcPSCellChangeAttInterSgnb)
NR HO Fails =pmEndcPSCellChangeAttInterSgnb-pmEndcPSCellChangeSuccInterSgnb
Source NR Anchor LTE
Success Scenario
• UE sends a measurement report to source NR
including the target NR PCI
pmEndcPSCellChangeAttInterSgnb
• Source NR checks its neighbor configuration to
SgNB Change Required identify the target gNB information

SgNB Change Confirm • Source NR sends the SgNB change required

message to LTE anchor with the target gNB ID
pmEndcPSCellChangeSuccInterSgnb • LTE anchor attempts to perform SgNB addition on
the target cell and responds back to Source NR
Failure Scenario Source NR Anchor LTE
based on the outcome (either confirm or refuse)

pmEndcPSCellChangeAttInterSgnb Most common refuse cause is

“target-not-allowed”
SgNB Change Required
Other causes include “MCG mobility” and
SgNB Change Refuse “no-radio-resources-available-in-target-cell”
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Inter-SgNB PSCell Change Failure– Case 1
ENDC X2 from LTE anchor towards target NR is DISABLED
Anchor LTE
Typical root cause for disabled ANR-created termpointtoGNB is “transport problem”
⚫ Validate by performing ping test from LTE IP to Target NR IP
⚫ Engage IPRAN to resolve
Source NR Target NR

Inter SgNB PSCell Change Failure

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Inter-SgNB PSCell Change Failure– Case 2
ENDC X2 from LTE anchor towards target NR is MISSING
Anchor LTE

Typical root cause is that LTE-NR ANR functionality is not working properly
⚫ On LTE anchor, confirm anrStateNR = true as per GS
⚫ On Target NR, confirm secondaryCellOnly = false as per GS
⚫ There are no UEs with LTE-NR ANR capability reporting this target NR to LTE anchor Source NR Target NR

NO termpointtoGNB from LTE K24W --> NR K52W

Inter SgNB PSCell Change Failure

Solution is fix wrong parameter on target NR

Workaround on LTE anchor

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 Consult AIO for
Inter-SgNB PSCell Change Failure– Case 2 (cont.) inter-frequency cases
ENDC X2 from LTE anchor towards target NR is MISSING Anchor LTE

Typical root cause is that LTE-NR ANR functionality is not working properly
Source NR Target NR
⚫ For inter-frequency cases, gutranfreqrelation towards target NR frequency is not defined on LTE
anchor (or defined but with B1 priority or threshold not helping ANR)
Inter SgNB PSCell Change Failure
Currently, inter-frequency PSCell change is limited to selected csd in Top 6 markets
⚫ Issue occurs at csd border Market with GutranFreqRelation to N78 on all LTE anchors Market with GutranFreqRelation to N78
only on LTE anchors co-located with N78
⚫ Solution: Define X2 manually
N78

NR FDD
(PSCell Change to Higher Prioirty)

LTE

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Inter-SgNB PSCell Change Failure– Case 3
NR PCI conflict manually configured on source NR
Anchor LTE
Root cause is manual configuration on source NR of one or more
neighbors with the same NR PCI on different target gNodeBs
⚫ Ericsson does NOT have NR PCI conflict feature
⚫ When PCI is reported, Ericsson will randomly select the gNB ID so no guarantee Source NR

to have successful PSCell change

⚫ Solution: Delete one relation from source NR and change PCIs on the neighbor
Inter SgNB PSCell Change Failure

gNodeB ID 5678 gNodeB Id PCI gNodeB ID 1234

PCI 100 1234 100 PCI 100
5678 100

NR-NR Relation
from KBC to
K03CP is deleted

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Inter-SgNB PSCell Change Failure– Case 4
Same PCI but one NR relation form source NR node towards far target gNB instead of the near-by target gNB

Typical root case is NR-NR ANR creates relation to far gNBID before
the near gNBID
⚫ NR-NR ANR do not create duplicate PCIs Anchor LTE

⚫ If NR PCI is already added for far gNB, same PCI from near gNB can be added gNodeB ID 5678
PCI 100
⚫ NR-NR ANR keeps relation active if PCI is reported even if PSCell change fails
⚫ Solution: Delete far relation on source NR and let ANR creates the required relation Source NR

Inter SgNB PSCell Change Failure

gNodeB Id PCI gNodeB ID 1234

5678 100 PCI 100

Lightweight NR Relation to
C05A removed

ANR created lightweight NR

Relation to C62AB instead

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Inter-SgNB PSCell Change Failure– Case 5
NR Relation on the source NR with wrong/old gNB ID instead of correct gNB ID
Anchor LTE

Typical root cause is migrating NR cells from one BB to another in same site
⚫ Relations from neighbors may remain pointing to old gNB ID
⚫ We established a process with Ericsson to fix all relations from neighboring nodes (LTE and Source NR
NR) towards old gNB during the activity of BB swap. Process may not be 100% perfect
gNodeB ID 1234
⚫ Solution: Delete NR relations towards wrong gNB ID on source NR and let ANR creates the Inter SgNB PSCell PCI 100
required relation towards correct gNB ID Change Failure
gNodeB Id PCI
5678 100
gNodeB ID 5678

Lightweight NR Relation to
3510009/118 removed

ANR created lightweight NR

Relation to 3510008/118 instead
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Inter-SgNB PSCell Change Failure– Case 6
Duplicate gNBID causing LTE anchor has termpointtoGNB Enabled but with wrong IP address
gNodeB Id IP
MME
1234 10.1.1.1
Typical root cause is duplicated gNB ID for more than one NR node 1234 10.2.2.2

⚫ Each node has its own IP address

⚫ LTE anchor fetches IP address from MME (LTE-ANR Feature) ENDC X2 ENABLED
Anchor LTE

⚫ Every time termpointtoGNB goes down, there is risk it will come up with the gNodeB ID 1234
PCI 200
other IP address IP 10.2.2.2

Source NR
⚫ Solution: Remove gNB ID duplication

Inter SgNB PSCell Change Failure

gNodeB Id PCI gNodeB ID 1234

PCI 100
5678 100 IP 10.2.2.2

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Light Weight Neighbor
Different MO than NRCellRelation
⚫ get NRCellCU=T52LJNX lwNeighborRel$ ⚫ hget NRCellCU=T52LJNX lwNeighborRel@gnbid$|nrpci 3533822

⚫ accn NRCellCU=T52LJNX displayNRCellRelation

⚫ accn NRCellCU=T52LJNX displayNRCellRelation mcc=302,mnc=720 22 3533822 8102 57898147750 true 1

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How to Remove Light Weight Neighbor
Cannot be edited or manually deleted
To enable editing or deleting, the lightweight relation must first be converted to a full relation (NRCellRelation)
⚫ If ExternalGNBCUCPFunction and ExternalNRCellCU MOs are not visible, they have to be manually created first before promoting the
lightweight relation
As per Ericsson CPI

Not Mentioned in Ericsson CPI

• If ExternalGNBCUCPFunction MO is
visible and the requirement is to delete
all lightweight relations towards that
target gNB ID

• Deleting this MO was proven to

directly remove all lightweight relations

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Locating and Decoding NR CTR

CTR files are already configured and generated for each ROP
⚫ Located under /ericsson/pmic1/CELLTRACE or /ericsson/pmic2/CELLTRACE
⚫ CTRs for each ROP under the node’s folder
⚫ CTR files are auto deleted (within 2-3 hours for ENM1 and 6-7 hours for ENM1)
⚫ For NR signalling analysis, decode the file ending with “celltracefile_CUCP0_1_1.gpb.gz” using command “nrCellTraceFileDecoder”
⚫ Output zipped csv file in /ericsson/tfd_cli_output/NR_CELLTRACE/
⚫ Move the decoded file to your local folder

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NR CTR Analysis for PSCell Change Failures

Focus on the events related to SgNB Change

⚫ From CuCpX2SgnbChangeRefuse, the refuse cause can be identified
⚫ CuCpProcX2SgnbChange provides the summary
▪ SgNB change result (success/ failure/abort)
▪ Target gNB ID
▪ LTE anchor eNB ID

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Our Target
Close the gap between intra-SgNB and inter-SgNB PSCell Change Success Rate KPI

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Thank you

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