Robust SON System with Enhanced Handover
Performance System
Dhanesswaran R.Nagarajan1, Siva Priya Thiagarajah1, Mohammad Yusoff Alias1
Faculty of Engineering1, Multimedia University,
Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
Email: siva.priya.thiagarajah@mmu.edu.my
Abstract—Self-Organizing Network (SON) is seen as a good
way to enhance Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks and
infrastructure. By using proper optimized handover values,
handover errors can be reduced and network performance can
be enhanced in terms of network throughput, jitter and delay.
This paper proposes a handover method which is optimized
and complies with SON criterion for highly mobile users. The
Time-To-Trigger (TTT) and Hysteresis values are optimised
to enhance network performance. The Distance Sequenced
Distance Vector (DSDV) routing protocol is used to create a
fully self-organizing network which is capable of making the
system more robust. Results show that the use of this protocol
along with optimised TTT and Hysteresis values have
increased the overall system’s performance by 30% in terms
of network delay, jitter and throughput.
Keywords—SON; LTE; Handover; Routing Protocol;
I. INTRODUCTION
Self-organizing network (SON) deployment has been
identified as one way forward to achieving the sustainability
and capacity goals if Fifth Generation (5G) wireless mobile
services. SON comprises of three main features, which are
self-configuration, self-optimization and self-healing [1]. Self-
configuration is the first phase of SON, which involves the
concept of plug and play for the newly deployed base stations
(BS) [2]. Using Automatic Network Relation (ANR), the BS
can detect the technology used by neighbouring BSs [2].
These base stations do not require extensive pre-deployment
frequency planning. Once deployed, it can auto-configure
itself after detecting the neighbouring BS frequency
allocations. The self-healing feature allows the system to
detect power failures in peer nodes and to temporarily serve
the failed coverage while waiting for the failed nodes to be
reactivated [2]. The self-healing feature also allows the failed
node to assess itself and reactivate itself after self-trouble
shooting [2]. The self-optimization phase is a continuous
process that allows the enhancement of mobility robustness
and mobility load balancing [3]. This means that the system is
capable of executing nearly perfect handovers while balancing
the system traffic by evenly distributing the traffic among its
BSs to obtain energy saving [3]. Perfect handovers provide
better energy consumption and can increase revenue for the
company as the connection provided is more reliable.
Optimization of the two most important parameter in
mobile handover which is the Time-to-Trigger (TTT) and
Hysteresis will ensure a near perfect handover. Hysteresis is
the value that is basically used to ensure that the neighbouring
cells looks worse than what it actually is. This ensure the
trigger necessary to initiate a handover to avoid the
phenomenon of either too-early or too-late handover [1]. The
TTT is the value used as a window for the occurrence of
handover in the system. TTT is responsible in avoidance of the
ping pong effect in adjacent mobile system [1]. The ping-pong
effect occurs when the affected user moves around the edges
of the BS or E-Node-B (eNB) and causes unwanted handovers
between the serving and target cells. When the UE is
transferred from one cell to another continuously without
stable connection is it known as ping pong handover.
The Distance Sequence Distance Vector (DSDV) was
first introduced in [4]. DSDV is a proactive (Table Driven)
protocol in which each of its nodes maintains its very own
routing information for all known destinations. It is an
extension of the Bellman-Ford algorithm [4]. The routing table
contains all the available destinations, next node to reach
destination, and also the number of hops to reach the
destination. The routing information is updated periodically
and uses shortest path routing. The DSDV protocol basically
keeps the simplicity of the Distance Vector [4] protocol but
guarantees loop free routing, allowing fast reaction to
topology changes.
Research done in [5] focuses on handovers in Event A3
report management. The Event A3 form of report management
is the most widely used handover method. [5] discusses the
dependency between Received Signal Received Power
(RSRP) and Event A3, as well the dependency between speed
of the mobile user and frequency of handover. The values of
Hysteresis and TTT are changed to ensure no unnecessary
handovers is triggered. A sliding time frame is used to further
ensure the handovers do not take place too early or too late neighbouring node in terms of the shortest, safest and fastest
and to avoid ping-pong handovers. The work presented in [6] route to be taken to reach the destination.
is not entirely self-organizing as the values chosen for the
sliding windows are constant and not dynamic. Research done
in [7] proposes a femto cell inside a macro cell to increase
system capacity. The work suggests frequency reuse at cell
edges and the use of a SON model in the femto cell. Although
no clear SON method is proposed in this work, the inclusion
of a femto cell inside a macro cell leads to better coverage
which in turn makes the system’s power efficiency higher.
The work done in [8] uses Event A3 its report
management and introduced a threshold level for handover
triggers. The work deploys an adaptive method by varying the
TTT values and user speeds while keeping the Hysteresis
value constant at 6dB. The performance of system was
Figure 1: System layout in NS2.
measured by using the Radio Link Failure (RLF) and ping-
pong rate. However, this paper only focuses on one parameter Figure 1 shows the system setup with 2 BS and 13 users
of handover. This means that a more robust system can be using the NS2 simulator. The system is a homogeneous
achieved if the Hysteresis value is also optimized. The system, with both the BSs running on the same technology.
optimization of both the TTT and the Hysteresis were Each user speed varies in an increasing manner throughout the
proposed where two experiments were conducted with one simulation. Once the handover process is initiated, the
variable being constant while the other was tested and vice Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) is measured by the
versa [1]. However, the work in did not incorporate a routing User Equipment (UE) between the two BSs. Based on this, the
protocol which makes in entirely self-organizing [1]. [9] request for handovers takes place. While this process is going
proposed the use of a routing protocol to enhance system on, the Hysteresis and TTT values are manipulated to know
performance. The work suggested the use of a distance vector which values gives the best results. In this paper the
routing protocol or an optimized link state routing to be used parameters such as network delay, jitter, throughput are tested.
to make the system self-optimizing. Optimized link state They are tested with and without the use of the DSDV routing
routing (OLSR) protocol is a proactive table driven algorithm protocol. Through the use of the DSDV, a fully SON system is
based on link state algorithm. Routing information protocol introduced which is capable of fully routing the data packets
(RIP) protocol is a standardized distance vector which uses and identifying the nearest nodes and shortest path to reach the
hop count. [9] showed that the RIP protocol performed better destination. The outcome of inserting this protocol is analysed
than the OLSR. with the network performance indicators of network jitter,
This paper is focused on deploying a SON system which delay and throughput.
finds the optimum values of TTT and Hysteresis and then Network throughput is defined as total number of packets
incorporating a routing protocol which can immensely that are delivered over the total simulation time derived using
enhance the system. This issue can be solved by including the Equations (1) and (2) [9]. Better connectivity leads to higher
DSDV routing protocol, an enhanced version of the RIP throughput.
protocol, to ensure the system is self-organizing and capable
of knowing the safest and fastest route and hence better
handover performance.

II. METHODOLOGY
The methodology proposed in this paper is two-fold.
Firstly, the optimum values for Hysteresis and TTT are found
and then the system is made entirely self-organizing by using
the DSDV routing protocol. The correlation of user speed with Average end-to-end delay is defined as the average time
the Hysteresis and TTT factors and how they overall affect the taken by data packet to reach its destination. Network delay
handover process is also analyzed. The DSDV protocol is is defined by [9] :
aimed to provide each node in the system an update of the

Network Jitter is calculated as the variation in the delay of the
received packets. Congestion in the IP network is also
generally known as jitter.
Figure 2: Proposed Algorithm with Insertion of DSDV
Figure 2 shows the proposed algorithm that incorporates
the DSDV with the optimally obtained Hysteresis and TTT
values. The optimized Hysteresis and TTT values are obtained
through simulation in ns2. The simulation is run with the
Hysteresis value being constant and set at 4dB while changing
the TTT values between 40 to 480ms. Then the TTT value is
set constant at 320ms while the Hysteresis value is changed
between 0.5 and 6dB. The setting of the constant Hysteresis
and TTT values, as well as then range of selected variations
for the Hysteresis and TTT values are taken from values
proposed in literature. When the optimized Hysteresis and
TTT value are obtained, the DSDV protocol is inserted
together to test the outcome with network performance
indicators such as network throughput, network jitter and
delay time.
III. RESULTS & ANALYSIS
Figure 3: Performance of Hysteresis vs Throughput
6dB is the optimum Hysteresis value found as all the
eNBs produce the lowest value of jitter time at 6dB. The
average throughout for both enB1 and enB2 obtained with use
of the DSDV routing algorithm is shown by the red line in
Figure 3 and all subsequent figures in this paper. The blue line
depicts the output of enB1 while the green line shows output
from enB2. Both the blue and green lines indicate the non-use
of the DSDV protocol. Figure 3 shows that throughput is
higher by 55% when DSDV is used compared to when not
using it. This is because once the optimum Hysteresis value of
6dB is set, the routing protocol will identify the best route to
transfer the data. The immediate use of the best route will
ensure a better throughput performance.
Figure 4 show the performance of Hysteresis vs jitter
time. It is found that DSDV reduces jitter time by 32.47%. A
value of 6dB is seen as an optimum value as it provides the
least jitter time. By having high Hysteresis value, the system
becomes more stable as unnecessary handovers do not occur,
reducing the ping-pong effect. Figure 5 shows the correlation
between TTT and jitter time. At the start of the system, the
jitter time is highest and then reduces. This is because it is in a
state of configuration. As the TTT increases the jitter time
reduces because bigger time frame gives lower congestion rate
compared to smaller time frame. The insertion of DSDV network throughput increased three times when DSDV routing
protocol has lowered the jitter time by 34.49%. protocol is used. This shows that when the UE knows the
route is needs to take, the overall throughput increases
dramatically.

F
igure 4: Performance of Hysteresis vs Jitter time

Figure 6: Performance of Hysteresis vs Delay Time

Figure 5: Performance of Time-To-Trigger vs Jitter Time

Figure 6 shows the graph of performance of hysteresis vs

delay time. The use of the Hysteresis value of 6dB gives the
lowest delay since the network is able to avoid unnecessary Figure 7: Performance of Time-To-Trigger vs Network
handovers. Using DSDV protocol, the system can be enhanced Throughput
by 35.5%.
Figure 8 shows that DSDV protocol has decreased the
Figure 7 shows that the usage of DSDV enhances the
system delay time by 40.867%. A higher TTT leads to a
system significantly in terms of network throughput. The
higher delay time. As the time frame for handover increases
the transfer of data gets delayed. However, the proposed
routing enable a much more lower delay time for the given
TTT.
Generally, the throughput is expected to decrease as
mobile user causes more handover errors compared to static
users. Figure 9 shows that as the user speed increase from
4km/h to 14km/h and due to the usage of the routing
protocol the user throughput increases despite the increasing
speed. The routing protocol calculates the shortest, fastest
and safest route to be taken by the data packets. By knowing
which route ensures all these criteria are met, the data packet
is then forwarded. This greatly increases overall throughput
of the system.
Figure 8: Graph of Time-To-Trigger vs Delay Time
Figure 9: User Mobility vs Throughput
IV. CONCLUSION
The self-optimization criteria of SON is used in this paper
to improve the handover performance of a highly mobile users
homogeneous wireless system. Two major parameters which
are the Hysteresis and Time-To-Trigger are optimized and
then used with the DSDV routing protocol to enhance
handover performance. The performance of the systems using
the proposed algorithm is evaluated using the network
performance parameters network delay, jitter and throughput.
Based on the results obtained, a Hysteresis value of 6dB and
the TT values of both 256ms and 320ms is found to be
optimum for enhanced handover performances when DSDV is
incorporated. The combined use of the optimum values and
the DSDV protocol have drastically increased throughput
while decreasing the delay time and also network jitter. This is
due to the fact that the DSDV protocol knows the shortest,
fastest and safest route to reach its destination. On average, the
combined use of the optimum Hysteresis and TTT values with
this protocol has increased the network jitter and delay
parameter of the system by 30% and network throughput by
an average minimum of 55%. By utilizing such a network
protocol, a robust SON with enhanced handover performance
system can be implemented.
V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work is partly funded by the Fundamental Research
Grant Scheme 2 financed by the Ministry of Higher
Education, Malaysia.
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