mpact Of Pilot Channel Pollution - Document Transcript 1.

A white Paper presentation on Impact of Pilot channel Pollution in CDMA Systems By Prateek Sharma MS in Telecommunications 110312789 May 11th 2009 ENTS 689L: Cellular Network infrastructure Cell site design and components A. James Clark School of Engineering University of Maryland 2. Abstract: This paper highlights a detailed study of most critical issue faced by most of the CDMA operators in current times. The paper would discuss the theory behind the term Pilot channel pollution and would provide a logical reasoning for its existence. The general causes for this phenomenon and remedies to solve this issue have also been discussed in brief. The primary concentration of this paper is to provide an impact analysis of the Pilot pollution phenomenon. What is a Pilot Channel? Each CDMA Base Station (BS) transmits a pilot code to aid the handset with demodulation and to measure BS strength. The pilot code is a pseudo random sequence, the same for each BS, but is uniquely identified by its PN sequence offset for each base station. [13] The pilot channel carries no data but it is used by the subscriber unit to acquire the system and assist in the process of soft handoffs, synchronization and channel estimation. A separate pilot channel is transmitted for each sector of the cell site. The detection of Base stations with PN sequence: PN sequence with an offset in time is nearly orthogonal to the original PN sequence [1]. This is the principle that allows a CDMA mobile to distinguish between multiple BSs that transmit on the same frequency. This is also the same principle that PN scanners use to scan for offsets of the pilot PN code. Each offset detected is a different time shift of the PN code and is the result of a direct transmission path or a multipath. Figure 1 depicts the relationship between BS PN offset and GPS time. Figure: CDMA Time Offsets 3. What is Pilot Channel Pollution? Pilot pollution is referred to a situation where a mobile device receives several pilot signals with strong reception levels but none of them is dominant enough that the mobile device can track it. This is nothing but poor reception due to signal interference. [1] Pilot coverage from neighboring Base stations should overlap in fringe areas to accommodate hand-off. However, the overlap should not be excessive or have a large number of BS in the same overlap. Each Base station that has significant power in the overlap area will raise Io, decrease Ec/Io & Gated output power Closed loop power range Access probe power tests Open Loop Power control test capacity or quality will suffer. This phenomenon is nothing but pilot pollution[14] Impact of Pilot Pollution on Handovers: We all know that soft handovers not only enable seamless handover from a cell to another, but also introduce gain for network performance. [4] The

overall performance of Soft handover events can be analyzed by comparing the average level of the strongest measured pilot signal to average level of the best pilot to Active set. If there is no difference, it can be concluded that soft hand overs are working perfectly considering 1st pilot in active set. In heavily pilot polluted areas: Soft handover algorithm is incapable of making decisions, as many pilots are entering/leaving Soft handover window. In a research done on the impact of Pilot pollution on soft handoff performance [6] : Pilot pollution in WCDMA radio network was analyzed with simulations and measurements. It was pointed out that pilot pollution can be reduced by using tighter antenna downtilting. By analyzing pollution free and pilot polluted areas separately it was observed that soft handovers perform better when there is only a limited amount of pilot signals hearable, providing also better network performance in pollution free areas. Ec/I0 (received energy per chip to noise energy ratio) of the pilot signal is used to indicate the quality of the radio channel between UE (user equipment) and the particular cell. Soft handoff algorithm uses Ec/I0 of each pilot to decide on which cell a user equipment is connected to. The large number of transmissions from different BTSs increases the total interference thereby reducing the Ec/Io and increasing the area thereby creating an area with a high rate of dropped calls and unsuccessful call attempts.[11] Identifying coverage area affected by Pilot pollution: The first step to ensure the decline in pilot pollution is to identify the overlap sectors through Power tests for Mobile stations. The power tests are not just for power-accuracy measurements but also for power functional test as to perform basic call processing. Following are the common test methods in practice: 4. Cell layout and base station planning: Every cell layout has boundaries between cells and at some point those cell boundaries come together in triple-points. So avoiding two-cell or three coverage zones will be impossible as these are omnipresent. A typical two or three cell region layout is shown below The zones with four or more equal cells should be avoided as in these zones, each CDMA channel is interfering with too many carriers and a user terminal is offered too many choices. We call such an area as valley, i.e. an area with pilot pollution problems. A ring of six cells would create a severe valley. The pilot pollution problem is not that the pilots are equal; it is the several radio signal paths are nearly equal. The valley is a zone of difficult CDMA capacity performance, a problem area even if there is no single point where all competing base stations are equal in the radio path gain. Sector boundaries are also a contributor to pilot pollution. Once the cells are laid out to minimize four-cell valleys, the sectors should be oriented so that their boundaries do not cross the triple points and valleys. [14] In laying out cells for CDMA, we want to maintain the local character of the hexagonal cell grid. It is not so important that distant cells follow the local

pattern. Thus, the cell grid can be modified to follow the contours of geography or subscriber demand as long as small clusters of cells follow a local grid pattern. This is called as warped grid and is shown below: For the case of High traffic density, we would opt for cell splitting. The most preferred technique is three-toone cell spitting. We would add cells on a smaller grid at the triple points of its existing large cell grid. In the grid representation the small cell is shown as a smaller hexagon as illustrated below. 5. But in reality, the three-to-one cell split is not a small hexagon, it is a triangle. The advantage about triangle is that it bigger then hexagon so, it serves one half a large cell area instead of serving one-third. This is shown as below. [14] Cause behind low CDMA capacity in Pilot Pollution Pilot pollution hampers the performance and reduces the capacity of the system both by draining excess power from the BTS and by increasing the interference. Its mostly assumed or derived from the explanation of pilot pollution that primary reason for the low capacity of CDMA systems is the presence of too many equally strong pilot signals. Whereas with research, it has been discovered that it is the comparative radio paths which is causing the capacity loss. The sector boundaries also contribute to the Pilot pollution. Once the cells are laid out to minimize the four cell valleys, the sectors should be oriented so that their boundaries do not cross triple points and valleys. The Forward overhead transmissions are also sometimes described as pilot pollution as the coverage of control channels must greater then compared to the traffic channels. 6. Antenna Downtilt: Antenna downtilt is typically used to decrease the amount of inter-cell interference in the network by controlling cell coverage areas. The downtilting reduces the radio signal path gain further from the base station by moving the high-gain, narrow beam vertical lobe of the antenna away from those areas. Downtilting also increases the path signal gain nearer the base station because that high gain vertical lobe is now serving user equipments closer in. Below show is an illustration for this measure. Cell Splitting: This again is a popular remedy for minimizing pilot pollution. In a four-to- one cell splitting, we create four cell zones. With small cell grid having holes in it, the splitting grows a CDMA system with very few high pilot pollution cell zones left with [3] Solution in terms of RF engineering: The pilot pollution can be reduced by making one channel dominant enough to be in sync with mobile all the time in the coverage area. This can be achieved with the help of directed cell beams, sectored cells and antenna tilts. Resolving the problem for an in house installation: This means that more than 2 pilot channel with similar Ec/Io exist inside the coverage. Now, we can adjust donor antenna to make sure the Ec/Io of primary pilot channel is at least 8dB better than secondary channel. Make sure the donor antenna is

installed lower than 8F. [2] Systematically adjusting sector power allocations: This is done in two steps:- a) Identifying areas of sector overlap b) For each area, adjusting power allocation in one or more of the overlapping sectors so as to create a dominant sector and to reduce the total noise from other sectors. The invention is particularly advantageous in a hybrid EV-DO/1xRTT system. Poor network planning Possible remedies to this problem: Pilot pollution can be cured by many alternatives like: balancing the links, by adjusting the pilot power, by increasing the transmission slope through the antenna downtilt and by narrowing the antenna beam between two sectors. In case there is no dominant one of the sites can be altered to provide a dominant pilot channel. Low efficiency. Poor or Hard Handoff Dropped Calls Effect of Pilot Pollution on the CDMA capacity Pilot polluted areas can probably never be totally avoided in the network, but by decent radio network planning, the amount of pilot polluted areas can be minimized [5] The following could be broadly defined as the negative implications of Pilot pollution: 7. Recommendation: Practical implementation to solute pilot pollution To ensure pilot pollution can be effectively managed, a cell plan must be generated in which only one dominant pilot is present. There are many methods that can control pilot power, but this report will highlight one solution for a detailed study. The user equipment requires a sufficient E c/Io to lock in to, or remain active in th e system. A user equipment may not be able to initiate a network connection in an area with a low Ec/Io which is typically caused by low pilot ERP or excessive pathloss. Pilot pollution contributes to the forward link interference.[6] Since the Io is often the same as total overhead power from all the neighboring base stations, reducing their collective power reduces this kind of interference. The pilot can be thought of as a beacon, which aside from its radio technique utilities such as a phase reference, is responsible for the following: a) Adding cells to the active set in a handover scenario b) Providing a channel estimate at the user equipments receiver c) Setting the maximum coverage of the cell Reducing the pilot strength in an isolated cell (that is, a cell on the periphery of the UMTS coverage area) will cause a reduction in that cells coverage area. As shown in the figure below if there is more than one cell providing contiguous coverage and the pilot power is reduced, this will create the effect of moving the periphery of the cell towards the other cell. However if the pilot power is increased, this will have the opposite effect of reducing the periphery of the cell and therefore has a marked effect on coverage. [6] 8. Conclusion This paper purposes and discusses about the phenomenon of Pilot pollution, the impact of that on CDMA systems capacity and ways to solute the

problems created by pilot pollution. Though the problem has not been studies deeply with respect to finding the solutions but still, the inferences and negatives brought about by the pilot pollution can be effectively managed by the concepts of pilot power modification, antenna downtilt and cell splitting. All of these solutions have their own applications depending upon region, terrain and population density. This study readily provides comparative performance analysis that can be utilized for system design, optimization, and deployment of CDMA/W-CDMA systems. References [1] Introduction to 3G mobile communications By Juha Korhonen [2] http://www.remotek.com.tw/supports.htm [3] CDMA capacity and quality optimization By Adam N. Rosenberg, Sid Kemp [4] J. Laiho, A. Wacker, and T. Novosad. Radio Network Planning and Optimisation for UMTS. John Wiley & Song Ltd, 2002. [5] J. Niemel and J. Lempiinen. Mitigation of pilot pollution through base station antenna configuration in WCDMA. In Proc. 60th Vehicular Technology Conference, Los Angeles, 2004. [6] http://www.cs.tut.fi/tlt/RNG/publications/docs/topology/SHOpPPpDT.pdf [7] Robet T. Love & Khaled A. Bashir: A pilot optimization technique for CDMA cellular systems. Motorola Network Planning [8] VincentOByrne : Increase in Performance of a New or Deployed System by Cell Site Re-configuration GTE Labs [9]Iana Siomina &Dion Yuan : Soft Handover Overhead Control in Pilot Power Management in WCDMA Networks; 2004 ]10]Mustafa M.El- Said : Pilot Pollution Interference Reduction Using Multi-Carrier Interferometry; Univ. of Louisville [11] Korowajczuket al : Designing cdma2000 Systems Wiley &Song Ltd. 2004 [12]Clint Smith: Practical Cellular & PCS Design Mc-Graw Hill Telecommunications 1998 [13] Hsiao-Hwa-Chen : The next generation CDMA Technologies John Wiley & Song Ltd. 2007 [14] UMTS network planning and development By Chris Braithwaite, Mike Scott; New Age Publication