Inter-frequency radio signal quality prediction for handover, evaluated in 3GPP LTE

Abstract

Radio resource management in cellular networks is typically based on device measurements reported to the serving base station. Frequent measuring of signal quality on available frequencies would allow for highly reliable networks and optimal connection at all times. However, these measurements are associated with costs, such as dedicated device time for performing measurements when the device will be unavailable for communication. To reduce the costs, we consider predictions of inter-frequency radio quality measurements that are useful to assess potential inter-frequency handover decisions. In this contribution, we have considered measurements from a live 3GPP LTE network. We demonstrate that straightforward applications of the most commonly used machine learning models are unable to provide high accuracy predictions. Instead, we propose a novel approach with a duo-threshold for high accuracy decision recommendations. Our approach leads to class specific prediction accuracies as high as 92% and 95%, still drastically reducing the need for inter-frequency measurements.