CDMA BTS Power Budget

CDMA BTS Power Budget Fundamentals
Michael Woodmansee Wireless Network Engineering: Core RF March 14, 2003
BTS Forward Power Budget
CDMA BTS Power Budget - 1
BTS Fwd Power Domains

The BTS forward link has two power domains;
the digital domain and the analog domain.
These forward gains are proportional to voltage. The digital domain refers to algorithms involving the digital
gains that control the output level of each Channel Element (CE).
The analog domain refers to the total BTS output power from
all active CEs in the sector. The analog output power is controlled by the TRM TX analog attenuator in the upconverter and is referenced to the DPM output antenna connection (PAM output if DPM is not present).
BTS Fwd Power Domain Diagram

Digital Domain (bits2, 1/16dB, 1/16dBm)
2542
Analog Domain
Legacy: = 4000 mW = 36dBm (+ TPTLTargetPowerOffset/16) Metro Cell: 2542 = (0.2 * MaxPAMPwr * %TxPowerAvailable) + TPTLTargetPowerOffset Digital Reference=645320 bits2 31250 mW = 44.95dBm = 200% Handoff Blocking = 645320 bits2 MaxPAMPwr = 671 dBm*16 TxPowerMax/ CarrierTotalTxPowerAvailable = 665 dBm*16 Call Blocking = 258320 bits2 41.94dBm = 15620 mW = 100% 41.56dBm = 14330 mW = 92% 12510 mW = 40.97dBm = 80%
CallBlockingThreshold =387000 bits2
HandoffBlockingThreshold = 0 bits2
ExcessForwardLinkCapacity = (Digital Reference - Traffic - Overhead) bits2
10(-MinPilotToTotalPwrRatio/160) = 208
Current Traffic in bits2 Total OHead = 57780 bits2 PilotGain = 30976 bits2 2800 mW = 34.5dBm = 17.9% 1500 mW = 31.8 dBm = 9.6%
Example for: Pilot/Sync/PagingGain = 176/70/148 (full-rate paging) MinPilotToTotalPwrRatio = -211 CallBlockingThreshold = 387000 HandoffBlockingThreshold = 0 TxPowerMax/CarrierTotalTxPowerAvailable = 665 TPTLTargetPowerOffset = 0 MaxPAMPwr = 671
PagingGain = 21904 bits2 SyncGain = 4900 bits2
1060 mW = 30.3dBm = 6.8% 240 mW = 23.8dBm = 1.5%
The Digital Domain (Fwd Power Control)

The output of the channel element is a digital gain, either fixed or controlled by
forward power control algorithm within defined limits.
The overhead channels are fixed values datafilled at the BTS on a per-sector basis. The traffic channels vary within a defined range as required by forward link power control. The range for the traffic channel gains is datafilled relative to pilot power (IS-95 power control in SBS). For example, with a pilot gain of 216, an upper limit of -1dB pilot and a lower limit of -15dB pilot, the selector will send digital gains in the range 192 to 38.
Note that the pilot gain is datafilled per-sector at the BTS (PilotGain), and the
traffic channel power control reference in digital gain is defined globally at the SBS (FwdPwrCtrlRefGain).
It is the SBS FwdPwrCtrlRefGain value that is used to calculate the digital gains for the traffic channel using a dynamic range as defined by setting the offsets PTXupper and PTXlower (TxMaxGain and TxMinGain for IS-2000).
For IS-2000 forward link power control, the mobile compares measured Pilot
energy from total noise (Eb/Nt) with the current threshold that it maintains for given forward traffic channel. Based on the comparison of measured Eb/Nt with the current threshold, the mobile determines the power control bits to be sent to request the BTS to power up/down the forward traffic channel.
The datafill for fast forward link power control is contained in the SBS.
The Digital Domain (Fwd Link Capacity)

The forward link Call and HandoffBlockingThresholds are datafilled in terms of ExcessForwardLinkCapacity which is a bits-squared value. ExcessForwardLinkCapacity is calculated as follows:
1. Square the pilot gain (e.g. 2162 is 46656) 2. Divide by MinPilotToTotalPowerRatio (e.g. 46656 divided by -7.5dB (in linear terms, 10(-7.5/10)) is 262365). The result is called the digital reference. 3. Sum up the bits-squared over all channel elements 4. Subtract item 3 from item 2. The result is the ExcessForwardLinkCapacity.
If the ExcessForwardLinkCapacity is less than the CallBlockingThreshold, then new calls are blocked with a reorder message sent to the mobile. If the ExcessForwardLinkCapacity is less than the HandoffBlockingThreshold, then handoffs are blocked.
Handoffs are blocked with the method of sending the Handoff Direction without the new sector. Once blocked, the mobile may attempt the handoff again by sending a new PSMM.
Note that there is no action if the digital reference is crossed, although EFLC will never be reported as a negative number.
The Digital Domain (HW Power Limiting)

The Metro Cell contains two power limiting
mechanisms:
Software power limiting Hardware (TX channelizer) power limiting
The hardware power limiting is a much faster

control loop that can be turned on or off via the attribute ChannelizerPowerLimitingEnabled.
Channelizer Power limiting is triggered when the

threshold, (TxPowerMax average Tx gain), is exceeded.
TxPowerMax = MaxPAMPwr * PercentCarrierTxPower %
The Analog Domain (SW Power Limiting)

The software power limiting is a slower response control loop that is automatically active
when hardware power limiting is disabled.
Only available on SFRM. HW power limiting can not be disabled on MFRM. When hardware power limiting is enabled, software power limiting is automatically turned off.
SW Power limiting is triggered when the threshold, TxPowerMax, is exceeded.

TxPowerMax = MaxPAMPwr * PercentCarrierTxPower %
When power limiting is triggered, the user traffic gains do not meet the power control
requirements.
Forward link power control will act in opposition to the power limiting, possibly causing an unstable situation. This degrades the quality of service due to higher FER and increased likelihood of dropped calls.
For this reason, this algorithm should be viewed as an HPA protection mechanism only,
Triggering power limiting should be avoided, especially channelizer power limiting, to maintain quality. The BTS should be kept to less than 10% power limiting.
and the blocking thresholds should be set such that Power Limiting is a rare occurrence.
The Analog Domain (TPTL)

The Transmit Power Tracking Loop (TPTL) adjusts the Tx digital gain
to compensate for variations in Tx analog gain from temperature changes or component aging.
TPTL maintains a constant calibration set point that relates the

transmitted RF power to a corresponding digital power.
TPTL maps the digital gains to the analog power transmitted over the
forward link as follows: 2542 = W mapping = (0.2 * 10^(MaxPAMPwr/160-3)) * (PercentCarrierTxPower/1000) * 10^(TPTLTargetPowerOffset/160) MaxPAMPwr is divided by 3 for MFRM.
TPTLTargetPowerOffset (TPTLTPO) can be used to increase or

decrease the forward link analog power in 1/16 dB steps. TPTLTPO will scale all overhead and traffic channel gains, call blocking threshold and handoff blocking threshold.
BTS Power Management Block Diagram

PilotGain CE (pilot) CE (sync) TxAttenNormal PagingGain CE (paging) HPA Dup SyncGain
Traffic Gain CE from SBS (traffic) FwdPwrCtrlRefGain PTXupper PTXstart PTXlower PrTXerror Traffic Gain CE from SBS (traffic)
(WiltBloss)/BBWStepSize WiltBlossStepPeriod (TxPowerMax)/CarrierTotalTxPowerAvailable Power Limiting Alogorithm TPTL Algorithm TPTLEnabled TPTLTargetPowerOffset TPEFilterDecayExponential
TxPwrFilterDecayConst
Feed to: SectorTxPower BTSPerformanceData Feed to calculations for: ExcessForwardLinkCapacity Call and Handoff Blocking BTSPerformanceData (CallBlockingThreshold HandoffBlockingThreshold MinPilotToTotalPwrRatio)
ForwardPowerEstimationEnabled
BTS Fwd Power Budget

The BTS has only a finite amount of RF power available to
provide CDMA service, and this available power needs to be used wisely to provide the maximum capacity possible throughout the network.
The BTSfwdpowerbudget worksheet helps with managing this

power.
The following 3 examples show the effects a TPTLTPO values

on the BTS forward power.
Datafill input boxes are green Select MFRM carriers (TxPowerDistribution Select FRM configuration, 11)
254 gain = 0.2 * MaxPAMPwr =
Key results in yellow 1 1 4.5 0 3.8 1 Carrier DPM - Outdoor Watts 1/16dB Watts 0.706 dB NPM IMFuninstalled uninstalled IMF 9)
Metro Cell w/ MFRM

Use these settings if system is entirely Metro Cell only. Adjust TotalTxPowerAvailable to suit HPA
TPTLTargetPowerOffset Resulting reference power
Additional Datafill
Percentag dB relative % of Tot Pwr % of of pilot to pilot at Ant Port CallBlocking 100.00 0.00 9.60 11.99 15.82 -8.01 1.52 1.90 70.71 -1.51 6.79 8.48 186.53 8.28
Pages/hr (System Wide)
Pilot Sync Paging PRAT (Full = 0, Half = 1) Total Overhead Typical User Traff CH Pwr (8k=1, 13k=2, RC3=3, RC4=4) QPCH Configuration NumberOfQPCH QPCH_Rate QPCH_PowerLevelPage MinPilotToTotalPowerRatio
4) 5) Power Power SectorKey Calculation Datafill Bits square(Watts) (dBm) TxPower a 176 30976 1.82 32.60 b 70 4900 0.29 24.59 c c^2*(1-PRAT*0.5) 148 21904 1.29 31.09 0 d a+b+c 57780 3.39 35.30 570 e (ADG^2)*VAF*1.15 3 2563 0.150 21.78 Avg Gain (% of MaxGain 27% 72 <-- Avg Traffic Gain IZP zones Carriers FBP 0 1 1 off 0=4800, 1=9600 0 0 - 7 {-5dB to 2dB} 0 0.000 #NUM! f -211
Example 1: TPTLTPO = 0 Using recommended RF datafill. Total overhead is 17.9% of total power. New calls will block at 80% of total power.
2.71 -10.82
% mobiles monitoring the QPCH
17.91
22.37
% of typical user traffic channel power
100000
100%
0.00
0.00
BAND_CLASS Digital Reference CallBlockingThreshold HandoffBlockingThreshold g h i
800 MHz datafill "0" or "1"
0 645320 387000 0 387000 0 37.88 45.78 22.72 0.00

% CarrierTotal Pilot % of TxPowerAv Call/HO block ailable pwr
a^2 / 10^(f/160)
738
2083
13.19
Low risk of BTS power limiting.

80.07 200.02 100.00 249.81
Calls will block at: Handoffs will block at:
j k
g-h g-i
258320 645320
15.16 41.81 37.88 45.78
674 738
80.1 200.0 Capacity Stuff 78.2
11.99 4.80
Number of connections Sectors per user Sector Capacity

ExcessForwardLinkCapacity (no calls)
t u v w
(j - d)/e 2.2 t/u g-d 100% 1000 768
587540 63.10 20.44 18.94 2.28 48.00 43.10 42.77 33.58 768 690 684
35.6 Pilot % Pilot dB down 2.88 8.90 9.60 -15.40 -10.51 -10.18 333.13 107.92 100.00 416.07 134.79 124.89
PercentCarrierTxPower (1000, 1437, or 2817) MaxPAMPwr CarrierTotalTxPowerAvailable x Power output at antenna connector y FwdPwrCtrlRefGain
a * 1.122
197
38809
RC1 Forward Power Control
PTXlower PTXupper PTXstart PTXlower PTXupper PTXstart TxMinGain TxMaxGain TxInitGain TxMinGain TxMaxGain TxInitGain
Digital Datafill Gain -3584 -512 -1024 -3072 0 -512 -72 -12 -28 -71 -8 -19
Power Power (Watts) (dBm) 39 0.0907 19.58 156 1.43751 31.58 124 0.90701 29.58 49 0.14375 21.58 197 2.2783 33.58 156 1.43751 31.58 24 0.03611 15.58 139 1.14185 30.58 87 0.45458 26.58 25 0.03825 15.83 156 1.43751 31.58 114 0.76315 28.83
Key results in yellow 1 1 4.5 56 8.5 1 Carrier DPM - Outdoor Watts 1/16dB Watts 0.706 dB NPM IMFuninstalled uninstalled IMF 9)
Metro Cell w/ MFRM

Additional Datafill
Example 2: TPTLTPO = 56 Using recommended RF datafill. Total overhead is 40% of total power. New calls will block at 179% of total power.
2.71 -10.82
40.09
22.37
100000
100%
0.00
0.00
0 645320 387000 0 387000 0 84.81 49.28 50.86 0.00

a^2 / 10^(f/160)
794
2083
13.19
Very high risk of BTS power limiting. Average traffic channel consumes twice as much power. Datafill changes required to prevent power limiting. Capacity will decrease.
333.13 107.92 100.00 185.85 60.21 55.79
j k
g-h g-i
258320 645320
33.95 45.31 84.81 49.28
730 794
11.99 4.80
179.25 447.79
100.00 249.81

t u v w
(j - d)/e 2.2 t/u g-d 100% 1000 768
587540 63.10 20.44 18.94 5.10 48.00 43.10 42.77 37.08 768 690 684
35.6 Pilot % Pilot dB down 6.45 19.92 21.49 -11.90 -7.01 -6.68
a * 1.122
197
38809
Key results in yellow 1 1 4.5 -24 2.7 1 Carrier DPM - Outdoor Watts 1/16dB Watts 0.706 dB NPM IMFuninstalled uninstalled IMF 9)
Metro Cell w/ MFRM

Additional Datafill
Example 3: TPTLTPO = -24 Using recommended RF datafill. Total overhead is 12.7% of total power. New calls will block at 56.7% of total power.
2.71 -10.82
12.68
22.37
100000
100%
0.00
0.00
0 645320 387000 0 387000 0 26.82 44.28 16.08 0.00

a^2 / 10^(f/160)
714
2083
13.19
Very low risk of BTS power limiting.

56.68 141.60 100.00 249.81
j k
g-h g-i
258320 645320
10.74 40.31 26.82 44.28
650 714
11.99 4.80

t u v w
(j - d)/e 2.2 t/u g-d 100% 1000 768
Risk reduced call performance if neighboring cells are transmitting at much higher power.
587540 63.10 20.44 18.94 1.61 48.00 43.10 42.77 32.08 768 690 684
35.6 Pilot % Pilot dB down 2.04 6.30 6.80 -16.90 -12.01 -11.68 333.13 107.92 100.00 587.71 190.39 176.42
a * 1.122
197
38809
Overhead Channels
Overhead Channel Overview

The overhead channels consist of a Pilot channel, a Sync
channel, and a Paging channel (full or half rate).
Each overhead channel consumes a Walsh code and transmits

power proportional to their digital gain values, independent of each other.
Changing the Pilot gain for a sector has no effect on the other
individual overhead channels of that sector, however, the change will affect the call/handoff blocking levels and intercell interference.
The traffic channels upper, lower, and initial gains (or dynamic range) are calculated relative to the global FwdPwrCtrlRefGain at the SBS. The Paging and Sync channel powers can be set independent from Pilot, but set proportional to pilot so that the mobile can properly demodulate those channels. The call blocking level is affected when the digital gain for the Pilot channel is adjusted.
Overhead Channels Pilot

The primary goals when datafilling the overhead channel gains
is to balance the interaction between: Increasing access reliability Lowering interference Increasing power available for traffic Providing proper channel estimation
The pilot defines the handoff borders and strongly influences

the coverage area of the forward link. The early Qualcomm simulations of CDMA systems showed that a pilot, which is 17 to 20% of the total power available was the optimum amount for best performance of the system. However, these simulations assume that the base stations are uniformly loaded between 80 to 100% of full power.
Overhead Channels Pilot (Contd)

In practice, a wireless network is not uniformly loaded to 100%, for
two major reasons: Non-uniform traffic distributions mean that, even when some sectors are overloaded, most sectors in the system carry well below maximum load. A sector that is transmitting close to full power will block 100% of new calls. Operators targets are closer to 1 or 2% blocking. Therefore, operators are unlikely to tolerate a sector that is on transmitting average powers in the 80 to 100% range.
The evaluation of datafill settings in various markets have shown a

pilot channel gain should be approximately 9 to 10%[4] of the HPA power to achieve good channel estimation. Power ratios lower than this amount may be achievable, but they have not yet been evaluated in a network. When there is good channel estimation, reliable coherent detection of the traffic channel by the mobile is possible.

Sufficient power must be supplied to the pilot channel at all
times so that the mobile may successfully, coherently demodulate the sync, paging, and traffic channels. Typically, an optimized CDMA network has a best-server Ec/Io of 12 dB or better throughout the cell coverage area. The cell handoff boundary area is defined by the pilot Ec/Io.
Reliable channel estimation as a result of the pilot channel is

required for both idle and traffic modes. In idle mode, the paging channel gain is proportional to the pilot gain and shared between many users.
All these users react to the channel characteristics equally.

In traffic mode, the traffic channel gain is referenced to the FwdPwrCtrlRefGain and is controlled for each individual user via the power control sub-channel (PTXupper, PTXlower, and PTXstart).
FwdPwrCntlRefGain is the forward pilot transmit gain, which sets the forward link power control reference. It does not effect the amount of pilot power at the BTS. Each user assigned to a traffic channel will react to channel characteristics differently and will depend on the traffic demodulation and coding scheme used.
The mobile needs enough traffic channel power to maintain at least 4

to 5 dB Eb/No receive power due to the demodulation and coding schemes defined in the CDMA standard[6]. This statement is valid for an AWGN channel. Testing has shown for traffic channels in a mobility environment that the mobile needs 9 to 10 dB Eb/No.
Pilot vs. Total Output Power

This figure provides an example of the
relationship between pilot power, total power, and bit errors (channel estimation).
The bit error rate can be correlated to other

measurable performance metrics: Forward traffic channel gain Received pilot Ec/Io Received FER on forward link
Bit Error Rate Pilot to Total Output Power Ratio
As pilot Ec/Io goes up to the point of

perfect channel estimation, then the forward traffic Eb/No required to maintain the FER setpoint goes down.
The lowest point in the curve is the optimal setting of pilot for the
network defined.
The nature of the curve is subject to network design, mobility, and

fading.
Overhead Channels Paging and Sync

Reducing the PilotGain at the BTS does not automatically
reduce any of the other overhead channels or the traffic channels. The paging and sync gains must be explicitly reduced to maintain the desired ratio.
The paging channel strength is dictated by the needs in the

core of the system where it must be strong enough to be decoded reliably. When the overhead gains are lowered, the overall interference in the system is lowered which goes some way to maintaining the paging signal to interference level.
The sync channel is vital for the mobile to be able to acquire

the timing necessary to arrive on the paging channel.
Overhead Channels Paging and Sync (Contd)

If the sync gain is reduced to a percentage of power too low with
respect to the total power, then the mobile may not be able to acquire sync on the CDMA channel. May revert to AMPS or endlessly search CDMA (depends on the mobile manufacturer/model).
It is recommended that sync channel gain not be less than

approximately 1.9% of the call blocking power level. Thus, the reduction of power in the overhead channels should be focused primarily on the pilot and paging channels. The sync channel uses 1.2 kbps, which allows for a much higher processing gain than paging and traffic channels it can be transmitted at much lower power relative to the paging and traffic channels. Since the sync channel is transmitted at such a low power to begin, trying to lower the sync channel even further will not offer much benefit, and the added benefit is not worth the chance of the mobile not being able to acquire system timing.
Forward and Reverse Link Service
Fwd vs. Rvs Service Distance

The Okumura-Hata propagation model is used to
determine the service area of a CDMA cell.
CDMA is reverse link limited, as the forward link

service area is greater than the reverse link service area.[7]
This means the reverse link will be the determining factor in defining the service area provided by a CDMA cell.
Use the Nortel reverse link budget.
Fwd vs. Rvs Service Distance (Contd)

The service distance of the forward link as defined by the pilot
determines: Channel estimation
Nortel recommends for the dominant pilot an Ec/Io of 12 dB to achieve good channel estimation. The mobile controls the soft(er) handoff boundary based on the received Ec/Io. Ec/Io as low as 14 dB can provide acceptable coherent detection when in soft(er) handoff.
Soft(er) handoff boundary

The handoff boundary is proportional to the traffic service area given

that the mobile achieves acceptable channel estimation of the traffic channel within the service distance. The traffic channel gain is defined proportional to the pilot gain so that the area serviced by traffic is within the handoff boundary and greater than the distance serviced by the reverse link. The maximum traffic channel power is recommended to be 1 dB below pilot (applies to RC1).
References

[1] Core RF Recommended Datafill Spreadsheet Nortel [2] BTSfwdpowerbudget_NBSS10.x Nortel [3] RF Optimization and RF Performance Update Nortel [4] CDMA RF Datafill, Power Management, and Power Control Nortel [5] IS-2000 CDMA Air Interface Standard [6] CDMA: Principles of Spread Spectrum Communication Andrew J. Viterbi [7] CDMA RF System Engineering Samuel C. Yang [8] IEEE (DS/CDMA Coherent Detection System with a Suppressed Pilot Channel) Sadayuki Abeta, et al Minh-Hung Bui, et al
[9] IEEE (Channel Estimation Algorithms for DS/BPSK-CDMA Communication Systems) [10] IEEE (Optimal Power Allocation in CDMA Forward Link Using Dependency between
Pilot and Traffic Channels) Seung Jong Park, et al
[11] IEEE (On the Capacity of a Cellular CDMA System) Klein S. Gilhousen, et al [12] IEEE (Overview of Cellular CDMA) William C. Y. Lee

CDMA BTS Power Budget

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CDMA BTS Power Budget Fundamentals

Michael Woodmansee Wireless Network Engineering: Core RF March 14, 2003

BTS Forward Power Budget

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 1

BTS Fwd Power Domains

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 2

BTS Fwd Power Domain Diagram

CallBlockingThreshold =387000 bits2

ExcessForwardLinkCapacity = (Digital Reference - Traffic - Overhead) bits2

PagingGain = 21904 bits2 SyncGain = 4900 bits2

1060 mW = 30.3dBm = 6.8% 240 mW = 23.8dBm = 1.5%

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 3

The Digital Domain (Fwd Power Control)

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 4

The Digital Domain (Fwd Link Capacity)

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 5

The Digital Domain (HW Power Limiting)

The hardware power limiting is a much faster

Channelizer Power limiting is triggered when the

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 6

The Analog Domain (SW Power Limiting)

SW Power limiting is triggered when the threshold, TxPowerMax, is exceeded.

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 7

The Analog Domain (TPTL)

TPTL maintains a constant calibration set point that relates the

TPTLTargetPowerOffset (TPTLTPO) can be used to increase or

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 8

BTS Power Management Block Diagram

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 9

BTS Fwd Power Budget

The BTSfwdpowerbudget worksheet helps with managing this

The following 3 examples show the effects a TPTLTPO values

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 10

Metro Cell w/ MFRM

TPTLTargetPowerOffset Resulting reference power

% of typical user traffic channel power

BAND_CLASS Digital Reference CallBlockingThreshold HandoffBlockingThreshold g h i

800 MHz datafill "0" or "1"

0 645320 387000 0 387000 0 37.88 45.78 22.72 0.00

Low risk of BTS power limiting.

Calls will block at: Handoffs will block at:

15.16 41.81 37.88 45.78

80.1 200.0 Capacity Stuff 78.2

Number of connections Sectors per user Sector Capacity

(j - d)/e 2.2 t/u g-d 100% 1000 768

RC1 Forward Power Control

RC2 Forward Power Control

RC3 Forward Power Control

RC4 Forward Power Control

CDMA BTS Power Budget - 11

Metro Cell w/ MFRM

TPTLTargetPowerOffset Resulting reference power

% of typical user traffic channel power

BAND_CLASS Digital Reference CallBlockingThreshold HandoffBlockingThreshold g h i

800 MHz datafill "0" or "1"

0 645320 387000 0 387000 0 84.81 49.28 50.86 0.00

Calls will block at: Handoffs will block at:

33.95 45.31 84.81 49.28

179.2 447.8 Capacity Stuff 78.2

Number of connections Sectors per user Sector Capacity

(j - d)/e 2.2 t/u g-d 100% 1000 768

RC1 Forward Power Control

RC2 Forward Power Control