Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic

Steering

Feature Description

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Copyright

© Ericsson AB 2020, 2021, 2022. All rights reserved. No part of this document
may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright
owner.

Disclaimer

The contents of this document are subject to revision without notice due to
continued progress in methodology, design and manufacturing. Ericsson shall
have no liability for any error or damage of any kind resulting from the use of this
document.

Trademark List

All trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
These are shown in the document Trademark Information.

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 Contents

Contents

1 Overview 1

2 Dependencies 2

3 Feature Operation 5
3.1 3CC Configuration with Two SCells Configured as Offloading
SCells 6
3.2 Offloading Mode Configuration 8
3.3 Downlink Traffic Steering Configuration 10
3.4 Offloading Threshold Configuration 10
3.5 Offloading SCells Activation and Deactivation 11

4 Network Impact 12

5 Parameters 14

6 Performance 16

7 Activate the Feature 18

8 Deactivate the Feature 19

9 Engineering Guidelines 20
9.1 Handling of VoLTE Packets in Carrier Aggregation 20

Appendix A: Feature Change History 21

Appendix A.a: 20.Q4: Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering to
Remote Downlink-Only SCells 21
Appendix A.b: 21.Q2: Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering to
FDD SCells and TDD SCells 22

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Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

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1 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering
Overview

This feature enables downlink traffic steering to selected SCells for UEs
configured with carrier aggregation (CA).

Access Type LTE

Feature Identity: FAJ 121 5237
Value Package Name: Advanced Carrier Aggregation
Value Package Identity: FAJ 801 0564
Node Type: Baseband Radio Node
Licensing: Licensed feature. One license is required for each
node.

Summary
This feature extends the CA function of downlink transmission on several carriers.
With this feature, selected downlink traffic can be transmitted to UEs using only
dedicated secondary cells (offloading SCells) as long as the capacity of these
carriers is below the configured steering threshold.

Without the feature, the CA algorithm splits downlink data among all active
carriers. Therefore, the PCell is always considered for downlink transmission to
the UE. By using this feature, the use of PCell is reduced, and the use of
offloading SCells is increased.

The feature supports downlink traffic steering from the PCell to SCells of any
type. Feature configuration is performed at node level and is applied for any
PCell with existing cell relations to offloading SCells that are configured for traffic
steering. Downlink traffic to be steered is configurable on QCI level.

The feature has the following benefits and characteristics:

— It can be configured to increase the use of offloading SCells and offload the
PCell and other regular SCells.

— It reduces the use of downlink resources on the PCell. The released resources
can be reused for other services.

— It does not affect the peak throughput of the UE. If the capacity of the
offloading SCells is not enough, other carriers are used in downlink
transmission.

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

2 Dependencies of Carrier Aggregation

Downlink Traffic Steering

The feature has dependencies to carrier aggregation-related features.

Table 1 Feature Dependencies

Feature Relationship Description

Carrier Aggregation (FAJ 121 3046) Prerequisite The Carrier Aggregation feature must
be activated for the Carrier
Aggregation Downlink Traffic
Steering feature to be operational.
3CC DL Carrier Aggregation Related The Carrier Aggregation Downlink
Extension (FAJ 121 3084) Traffic Steering feature can coexist
with the following features:
4CC DL Carrier Aggregation Related
Extension (FAJ 121 4466) — 3CC DL Carrier Aggregation
5CC DL Carrier Aggregation Related Extension
Extension (FAJ 121 4467)
— 4CC DL Carrier Aggregation
6CC DL Carrier Aggregation Related Extension
Extension (FAJ 121 5032)
7CC DL Carrier Aggregation Related — 5CC DL Carrier Aggregation
Extension (FAJ 121 5033) Extension

Dynamic SCell Selection for Carrier Related — 6CC DL Carrier Aggregation

Aggregation (FAJ 121 3063) Extension

— 7CC DL Carrier Aggregation

Extension

— Dynamic SCell Selection for

Carrier Aggregation

The dependencies of the related

features also apply to the Carrier
Aggregation Downlink Traffic
Steering feature.
ASGH-Based Spectral Efficiency Related When the ASGH-Based Spectral
Package (FAJ 121 5315) Efficiency Package feature is active,
the operator can differentiate the
SCell SINR activation and
deactivation threshold for subscriber
groups.

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 Feature Relationship Description
Basic Intelligent Connectivity (FAJ Related When the Carrier Aggregation
121 4843) Downlink Traffic Steering and Basic
Intelligent Connectivity features are
used together, offloading can cause
fluctuation in the throughput of MCG
radio resources, which can affect
PDCP flow control for EN-DC UEs.
Configurable SCell Priority (FAJ 121 Related To maximize the benefits of traffic
4701) steering, offloading carriers can be
prioritized during SCell selection by
configuring the Configurable SCell
Priority feature.
Elastic RAN (FAJ 121 4608) Related The Elastic RAN feature must be
activated for the Carrier Aggregation
Downlink Traffic Steering feature to
support traffic steering to remote
SCells.
Inter-eNodeB Carrier Aggregation Related The Inter-eNodeB Carrier
(FAJ 121 4469) Aggregation and the Carrier
Aggregation Downlink Traffic
Steering feature can coexist on the
same node.
Inter-Frequency Load Balancing (FAJ Related When calculating the subscription
121 3009) ratio, the Inter-Frequency Load
Balancing feature only considers the
capacity of the PCell and the
presence of E-RABs, while the
capacity and use of SCells are not
considered. When the Inter-
Frequency Load Balancing and
Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic
Steering features are used together,
the subscription ratio can be affected.
This can lead to suboptimal load
balancing.
LTE-NR Dynamic Spectrum Sharing Related When the Carrier Aggregation
(FAJ 121 5147) Downlink Traffic Steering feature is
activated and an offloading LTE SCell
is shared with NR, the following
impact is expected on the carrier:
— The use of LTE can increase.

— The use of NR can decrease.

When the Carrier Aggregation

Downlink Traffic Steering feature is
activated and an offloading LTE PCell

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

Feature Relationship Description

is shared with NR, the following
impact is expected on the carrier:
— The use of NR can increase.

— The use of LTE can decrease.

Supplemental Downlink for Carrier Related The Supplemental Downlink for
Aggregation (FAJ 121 3068) Carrier Aggregation feature must be
activated for the Carrier Aggregation
Downlink Traffic Steering feature to
be operational when supplemental
downlink is selected as offloading
spectrum.
Supplemental Downlink with Related The Supplemental Downlink with
License-Assisted Access (FAJ 121 License-Assisted Access feature must
4573) be activated for the Carrier
Aggregation Downlink Traffic
Steering feature to be operational
when LAA is selected as offloading
spectrum.

Hardware
No specific hardware requirements.

Limitations

— The feature does not support downlink traffic steering to Inter-eNodeB

SCells. External SCells are not considered as offloading SCells.

— When the feature is active, the QciProfilePredefined.laaSupported

attribute, or the QciProfileOperatorDefined.laaSupported attribute is
not effective for LAA SCells. Instead, the
QciProfilePredefined.caOffloadingEnabled attribute, or the
QciProfileOperatorDefined.caOffloadingEnabled attribute is effective.

Network Requirements
ENM version 21.1 or later is required for this feature.

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3 Feature Operation of Carrier Aggregation
Downlink Traffic Steering

The feature extends the carrier aggregation (CA) function by offering an

alternative way of adjusting total transmission capacity in downlink for CA
UEs. The capacity of the carrier is based on its bandwidth and current radio
condition.

Table 2 Differences between the Operation of Carrier Aggregation Downlink

Traffic Steering and Standard CA
Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Standard CA
Steering
Once configured, offloading SCells are Once configured, SCells are kept
immediately activated and kept in this deactivated as long as the UE data
state regardless of the UE data demand is below the configured
demand. activation threshold.
Aggregated capacity of activated PCell capacity is always considered
offloading SCells is considered first for first for downlink data transmission.
transmission of offloading data buffer. SCells are considered only when PCell
The PCell and other licensed SCells are capacity is less than the current UE
included in downlink data data demand.
transmission for offloading data buffer
only when the UE data demand is
more than the configured steering
data threshold.
Offloading SCells can be used for SCells can be used for downlink
downlink transmission at any time. transmission only when the UE data
demand cannot be met by the PCell.

The feature improves the use of the selected SCells and allows the following
configurations:
— Configuration of which carrier types or bands act as offloading.

— Configuration of what kind of downlink traffic (which QCI) is allowed to be

steered through offloading SCells.

— Configuration of traffic steering threshold, which is the level of UE RLC data

buffered in the eNodeB. Below this threshold, only offloading SCells are
considered in downlink transmission.

In every TTI, the feature controls which carriers are considered in downlink
transmission.

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

— If the UE RLC buffered data from offloading-enabled QCIs is below the

capacity threshold of all activated offloading SCells, only offloading SCells
are considered in downlink transmission.

— If the UE RLC buffered data from offloading-enabled QCIs is above the

capacity threshold of the offloading SCells, the PCell and all activated SCells
—including offloading and non-offloading SCells—are considered in
downlink transmission.

3.1 3CC Configuration with Two SCells Configured as

Offloading SCells
The feature controls downlink traffic steering through dedicated offloading
SCells. Traffic steering behavior depends on the volume of the buffered UE
data.

Operational Process of Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering in Low

Traffic

Buffered Data < Capacity of Offloading SCells

No Buffer Split
Buffered Data < RLC Split Limit

PCell SCell1 SCell2

L0002790A

Figure 1 Operation in Low Traffic

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 1. The size of buffered data from offloading-enabled QCIs is below the
maximum capacity of offloading SCells.

2. The size of buffered data from offloading-enabled QCIs is below the RLC
split limit. Therefore, data is only transmitted through the offloading SCell
which has the best capacity. Data is not fragmented.

Note: The RLC split limit is fixed and equals 400 bytes.

3. PCell is offloaded.

Operational Process of Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering in

Moderate Traffic

Buffered Data < Capacity of Offloading SCells

Buffer Split
Buffered Data > RLC Split Limit

PCell SCell1 SCell2

L0002791A

Figure 2 Operation in Moderate Traffic

1. The size of buffered data from offloading-enabled QCIs is below the

maximum capacity of offloading SCells.

2. The size of buffered data from offloading-enabled QCIs is above RLC split
limit. Therefore, data is only transmitted through all activated offloading
SCells.

3. PCell is offloaded.

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

Operational Process of Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering in High

Traffic

Buffered Data > Capacity of Offloading SCells

Buffer Split
Buffered Data > RLC Split Limit

PCell SCell1 SCell2

L0002792A

Figure 3 Operation in High Traffic

1. The size of buffered data from offloading-enabled QCIs is above the

maximum capacity of offloading SCells.

2. The size of buffered data from offloading-enabled QCIs is transmitted

through the PCell and all activated SCells.

Note: Buffer split results are proportional to the capacity of the carriers.

The capacity of offloading SCells is based on the bandwidth and the

current radio condition. Additionally, the capacity can be scaled with the
CarrierAggregationFunction.offloadingDataThresh attribute.

3.2 Offloading Mode Configuration

With the feature, it is possible to configure SCells as offloading SCells.

The CarrierAggregationFunction.caOffloadingMode attribute controls

which SCells serve the steering function:

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 — ENABLED_LAA_SCELLS: LAA SCells can act as offloading SCells.

— ENABLED_SDL_SCELLS: supplemental downlink SCells (FDD cells with the

EUtranCellFDD.isDlOnly attribute set to true) can act as offloading
SCells.

— ENABLED_SDL_AND_LAA_SCELLS: supplemental downlink SCells (FDD cells

with the EUtranCellFDD.isDlOnly attribute set to true) and LAA SCells
can act as offloading SCells.

— ENABLED_SELECTED_SCELLS: any of the following cell types can act as

offloading SCells:
— FDD

— TDD

— LAA

— Supplemental downlink

Offloading Configuration with the ENABLED_SELECTED_SCELLS Mode

When the CarrierAggregationFunction.caOffloadingMode attribute is set to
ENABLED_SELECTED_SCELLS, traffic steering can be configured on the following
levels:
— On the frequency level, setting the
EUtranFrequency.caOffloadingEnabled attribute to true enables
offloading on every SCell on the configured frequency.

— On the frequency relation level, PCells can be configured as offloaded to the

offloading frequencies.

By default, offloading is enabled on all frequency relations. Setting the

EUtranFreqRelation.caOffloadingEnabled or
EUtranFreqRelationUnlicensed.caOffloadingEnabled attribute to
false restricts the PCell from offloading to the configured frequency.

RELATED INFORMATION

Dependencies of Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

3.3 Downlink Traffic Steering Configuration

It is possible to configure the type of downlink traffic to be steered with the
feature.

The QciProfilePredefined.caOffloadingEnabled or the

QciProfileOperatorDefined.caOffloadingEnabled attribute controls what
kind of downlink traffic is to be steered through offloading SCells.
— If the QciProfilePredefined.caOffloadingEnabled or
QciProfileOperatorDefined.caOffloadingEnabled attribute is set to
true, the downlink data of QCIs is sent through only activated offloading
SCells. This requires the capacity of the offloading SCells (scaled with the
CarrierAggregationFunction.offloadingDataThresh attribute) to be
enough to send this data in time. Otherwise, the data can also be sent
through other carriers (PCell and activated non-offloading SCells).

— If the QciProfilePredefined.caOffloadingEnabled or the

QciProfileOperatorDefined.caOffloadingEnabled attribute is set to
false, the downlink data of QCIs is sent through only the PCell and
activated non-offloading SCells.

3.4 Offloading Threshold Configuration

The CarrierAggregationFunction.offloadingDataThresh attribute
controls the offloading level.

The CarrierAggregationFunction.offloadingDataThresh attribute defines

the minimum time needed to transmit all buffered downlink bits in offloading-
enabled QCIs through offloading SCells.

The minimum time is the sum of downlink bits buffered in all offloading-enabled
QCIs, divided by the number of bits that can be transmitted in one TTI through all
active offloading SCells. For this calculation, the UE is assumed to be assigned
with all downlink resources in all active offloading SCells.

If the calculated minimum time is below the

CarrierAggregationFunction.offloadingDataThresh attribute, only
offloading SCells are considered in downlink transmission. Otherwise, the PCell
and all active SCells are considered.

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3.5 Offloading SCells Activation and Deactivation
If this feature is activated, offloading SCells, once configured for downlink
traffic steering, are activated and ready for downlink transmission.

The following configurations control the activation and deactivation of

offloading SCells:
— The configured offloading SCells cannot be deactivated based on data-
triggered deactivation. That means that the
CarrierAggregationFunction.sCellActDeactDataThres or the
UnlicensedAccessFunction.laaSCellActDeactDataThres attribute does
not affect offloading SCells (but it still affects non-offloading SCells).

— The configured offloading SCells can be deactivated based on poor

coverage-triggered deactivation. The
CarrierAggregationFunction.sCellScheduleSinrThres attribute can be
set to deactivate the offloading SCells or keep them activated, even if
coverage is poor.

— The activation and deactivation of the configured offloading SCells can be

differentiated for UEs in subscriber groups by using the
SubscriberGroupProfile.sCellScheduleSinrThresOffset attribute
when the ASGH-Based Spectral Efficiency Package feature is active.

If the SubscriberGroupProfile.sCellScheduleSinrThresOffset
attribute is configured, the threshold for the UEs in a subscriber group is the
sum of the following attributes:
— CarrierAggregationFunction.sCellScheduleSinrThres

— SubscriberGroupProfile.sCellScheduleSinrThresOffset

For the UEs that are not in the subscriber group, the
CarrierAggregationFunction.sCellScheduleSinrThres attribute
determines the SCell activation and deactivation threshold.

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

4 Network Impact of Carrier Aggregation

Downlink Traffic Steering

The feature can increase the carrier load on the offloading frequency.

Capacity and Performance

Steering towards SCells of low transmission quality is not recommended, it can
impact the transmission related KPIs of the UEs.

Using the feature in networks with FDD SCells or TDD SCells can increase the
carrier load on the offloading frequency. If the offloaded traffic exceeds capacity
on the SCell, the throughput of standard traffic can decrease. To avoid high load,
it is recommended to configure bands with the least amount of traffic as
offloaded. Alternatively, the offloading level can be controlled with the
CarrierAggregationFunction.offloadingDataThresh attribute.

When traffic steering is configured for downlink-only SCells, the throughput of

standard traffic is unaffected. Therefore, the level of offloading can be configured
to the highest value to maximize the benefits of traffic steering and the
offloading of the PCell. The throughput of LAA cells can be increased if the
feature is used in networks with a significant number of LAA-capable UEs that
have a good coverage of offloading SCells. The throughput is increased only if the
LAA-capable UEs have traffic associated with offloading-enabled QCIs. Most of
the data in offloading-enabled QCIs are transmitted through offloading SCells
and the PCell is significantly offloaded. In this case, distribution of modulation
schemes on the PCell can be different. Share of higher modulation schemes
(64QAM and 256QAM) can decrease, while share of lower modulation schemes
(QPSK and 16QAM) can increase.

When traffic is steered towards carriers of lower transmission quality than PCell
(for example higher PDCCH error rate or higher PDSCH BLER) RLC success ratio
can be negatively affected.

Negative KPI impact on UE DRX Sleep Ratio can occur. The decrease of the UE
DRX Sleep Ratio is because of more occurrences of DRX inactivity timer restarts
when the Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering maintains activation of
offloading SCells.

The Average Number of Simultaneous Active UEs in DL per Cell KPI cannot be
used to evaluate traffic conditions if Carrier Aggregation is in use, because of the
PM counter limitations.

E-RAN limitations, such as the number of supported SEs per TTI per SCell can
reduce the performance of traffic steering to many remote SCells, compared to
the performance of similar configurations with only local SCells.

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 Interfaces
No impact.

Other Network Elements

No impact.

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

5 Parameters for Carrier Aggregation Downlink

Traffic Steering

The feature introduces new parameters to control the offloading mode, the
offloading threshold and the supported QCIs.

Table 3 Parameters for Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

Parameter Type Description
CarrierAggregationFu Introduced See MOM description.
nction.caOffloadingM
ode
CarrierAggregationFu Introduced
nction.offloadingDat
aThresh
EUtranFrequency.caOf Introduced
floadingEnabled
EUtranFreqRelation.c Introduced
aOffloadingEnabled
EUtranFreqRelationUn Introduced
licensed.caOffloadin
gEnabled
QciProfileOperatorDe Introduced
fined.caOffloadingEn
abled
QciProfilePredefined Introduced
.caOffloadingEnabled
CarrierAggregationFu Affecting The
nction.sCellSchedule CarrierAggregationFu
SinrThres nction.sCellSchedule
SinrThres attribute is
SubscriberGroupProfi Affecting
used to determine SCell
le.sCellScheduleSinr
activation and
ThresOffset
deactivation threshold.
The
SubscriberGroupProfi
le.sCellScheduleSinr
ThresOffset attribute
can affect the activation

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 Parameter Type Description
and deactivation of the
offloading SCell.
When the ASGH-Based
Spectral Efficiency
Package feature is
active, the operator can
configure differentiated
SCell activation and
deactivation threshold
for the UEs in subscriber
groups by using the
SubscriberGroupProfi
le.sCellScheduleSinr
ThresOffset attribute.
If the
SubscriberGroupProfi
le.sCellScheduleSinr
ThresOffset attribute is
configured, the threshold
for the UEs in a
subscriber group is the
sum of the following
attributes:
— CarrierAggregatio
nFunction.sCellSc
heduleSinrThres

— SubscriberGroupPr
ofile.sCellSchedu
leSinrThresOffset

For the UEs that are not

in the subscriber group,
the
CarrierAggregationFu
nction.sCellSchedule
SinrThres attribute
determines the SCell
activation and
deactivation threshold.
For more information,
see MOM description
and ASGH-Based
Spectral Efficiency
Package.

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

6 Performance of Carrier Aggregation

Downlink Traffic Steering

The feature introduces counters to observe scheduling and the degree of

offloading.

KPIs
This feature has no associated KPIs.

Counters
The feature introduces the following counters to observe traffic steering:
— EUtranCellFDD.pmCaSchedDlOffloadingDistr

— EUtranCellTDD.pmCaSchedDlOffloadingDistr

The feature introduces the following counters to improve the scheduling

observability of LAA SCells:

— EUtranCellFDD.pmLaaScheduledDlDistr

— EUtranCellFDD.pmLaaScheduledDlEranDistr

The feature introduces the following counters to track the amount of offloaded
downlink traffic:
— EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellOffl

— EUtranCellTDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellOffl

— EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellEranOffl

— EUtranCellTDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellEranOffl

On offloaded PCells, an increase can be observed in the following counters:

— EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCell

— EUtranCellTDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCell

— EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellEran

— EUtranCellTDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellEran

— EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellLaa

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 — EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellExtLaa

On offloading SCells, an increase can be observed in the following counters:

— EUtranCellFDD.pmDlAssigsTransScell

— EUtranCellTDD.pmDlAssigsTransScell

— EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpVolDlScell

— EUtranCellTDD.pmRadioThpVolDlScell

— EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpResDl

— EUtranCellTDD.pmRadioThpResDl

Events
This feature has no associated events.

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

7 Activate Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic

Steering

To use the feature, it must be activated following the usual feature

activation procedure.

Prerequisites

— The license keys for the prerequisite features are installed and activated on
the node.

— The license key is installed in the node.

— CCTR is active for at least one week before this procedure to collect enough
troubleshooting data.

Steps

1. Set the FeatureState.featureState attribute to ACTIVATED in the

FeatureState=CXC4012496 MO instance.

After This Task

Keep CCTR active for at least one week after this procedure for continued
collection of troubleshooting data.

RELATED INFORMATION

Dependencies of Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

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8 Deactivate Carrier Aggregation Downlink
Traffic Steering

If the feature is no longer needed, it can be deactivated following the usual

feature deactivation procedure. It must also be deactivated before the
activation of any conflicting feature.

Prerequisites

— CCTR is active for at least one week before this procedure to collect enough
troubleshooting data.

Steps

1. Set the FeatureState.featureState attribute to DEACTIVATED in the

FeatureState=CXC4012496 MO instance.

After This Task

Keep CCTR active for at least one week after this procedure for continued
collection of troubleshooting data.

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

9 Engineering Guidelines for Carrier

Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

9.1 Handling of VoLTE Packets in Carrier Aggregation

For the optimal feature operation, it is recommended not to configure
VoLTE QCIs as offloading-enabled.

In the case of PDCCH transmission, the SINR for CA UEs is updated when only
the PCell is used. When the Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering feature
is active, the rare updating of the SINR can result in the decrease of VoLTE KPIs.
To refine the SINR and the KPIs, VoLTE services can be disabled on the SCells by
setting the CarrierAggregationFunction.pdcchEnhancedLaForVolte
attribute to false. As a result, both VoLTE and non-VoLTE traffic can contribute
to the PDCCH SINR of the PCell. However, the maximum throughput of non-
VoLTE traffic can also increase while using VoLTE services.

To ensure that VoLTE services are never offloaded from the PCell, the
QciProfileOperatorDefined.caOffloadingEnabled attribute of a QCI must
be set to false when the service type of the QCI is set to VOIP.

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 Feature Change History

Appendix A: Feature Change History

This section lists changes that affected this feature and the impact it had on
the network.

Appendix A.a: 20.Q4: Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering to Remote Downlink-
Only SCells
This enhancement supports remote downlink-only SCells for UEs configured
with carrier aggregation (CA).

Feature Name: Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

Feature Identity: FAJ 121 5237
Value Package Name: Advanced Carrier Aggregation
Value Package Identity: FAJ 801 0564
Node Type: Baseband Radio Node
Access Type: LTE

Benefits
The enhancement increases the use of remote LAA and supplemental downlink
SCells (FDD cells with the EUtranCellFDD.isDlOnly attribute set to true) and
offloads of other carriers. Therefore, the use of downlink resources on the primary
carrier can be reduced or reused for other services. The enhancement also
increases the use of E-RAN and makes CA deployment more flexible.

Capacity and Performance

The performance of traffic steering to remote SCells is similar to the performance
of traffic steering to local SCells, as long as the amount of steered traffic does not
exceed the E-RAN limitations. In dense E-RAN configurations, the performance
of traffic steering to many remote SCells can be lower than the performance of
similar configurations with only local SCells.

Operation
No impact.

Interfaces
No impact.

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 Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

Hardware
No special hardware requirements.

Other Network Elements

ENM version 20.3 or later is required for this feature enhancement.

Appendix A.b: 21.Q2: Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering to FDD SCells and TDD
SCells
This enhancement supports downlink traffic steering to FDD SCells and TDD
SCells for UEs configured with Carrier Aggregation (CA).

Feature Name: Carrier Aggregation Downlink Traffic Steering

Feature Identity: FAJ 121 5237
Value Package Name: Advanced Carrier Aggregation
Value Package Identity: FAJ 801 0564
Node Type: Baseband Radio Node
Access Type: LTE

Benefits
The enhancement supports CA downlink traffic steering to FDD SCells and TDD
SCells. This way, downlink resource use can be reduced and the resources can be
used by other services. The enhancement can also make NR NSA deployments
more flexible by offloading bands that are shared between NR and LTE, and
steering traffic to non-shared LTE bands.

Capacity and Performance

In networks with FDD or TDD SCells, the enhancement can increase the load of
carriers on the offloading frequency. If the offloaded traffic overflows on the
SCell, the throughput of standard traffic can decrease. To avoid high load, it is
recommended to configure bands with the least amount of traffic as offloaded.
Alternatively, the offloading level can be controlled with the
CarrierAggregationFunction.offloadingDataThresh attribute.

Operation
The CarrierAggregationFunction.caOffloadingMode attribute is updated
with the ENABLED_SELECTED_SCELLS value, which enables the operator to select
the offloading SCells manually.

The enhancement introduces the following attributes to configure offloading

SCells:

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 Feature Change History

— EUtranFrequency.caOffloadingEnabled

— EUtranFreqRelation.caOffloadingEnabled

— EUtranFreqRelationUnlicensed.caOffloadingEnabled

The enhancement introduces the following PM counters to observe the benefits

of downlink traffic steering:
— EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellOffl

— EUtranCellTDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellOffl

— EUtranCellFDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellEranOffl

— EUtranCellTDD.pmRadioThpVolTxDlSCellEranOffl

— EUtranCellTDD.pmCaSchedDlOffloadingDistr

Interfaces
No impact.

Hardware
No special hardware requirements.

Other Network Elements

ENM version 21.01 or later is required for this feature enhancement.

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