Effect of Closed Loop Power Control on the UL RSSI

The Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) in the uplink is also affected by the parameter
settings that govern closed loop power control in LTE. Immediately after the UE completes an
RRC connection with the eNodeB, the UE uses closed loop power control on both, the PUCCH
and the PUSCH.
1.

PUSCH

In particular, the power that the UE transmits the PUSCH with is given by:

The power control formula for the uplink for the PUSCH in LTE can be broken into five key
parts. The first part is the amount of additional power that is needed based on the size of the RB
allocation. The higher the number of RBs, the higher the power that is required.

The second part is called P0. It is basically the assumed interference that the UE is expected to
overcome. P0 is composed of two subcomponents. The first is called P0_Nominal_PUSCH and
it is communicated over SIB2. It is valid for all UEs in the cell. The second component is called
P0_UE_PUSCH and it is a UE-specific value. It is optional.
The third part of this equation is the Path Loss (PL) and the impact of the PL or Alpha. PL is just
calculated, but the Alpha value communicated to the UE in SIB2. If the Alpha value is set to 1,
then all of the PL needs to be taken into account in the power control formula. Some vendors
might not allow you to change this value, though (as it is hardcoded).
The fourth part is an MCS-specific component. If the eNB wants the UE to adjust its power
based on the MCS that is assigned, it will be taken into account here.
Lastly is the f(i) value, which is simply the closed-loop feedback. This is the additional power
the UE will add to the transmission based on specific feedback by the eNB.
Hence, for the PUSCH, two parameters affect the UE transmit power, and therefore, our UL
RSSI:
a)

PO_nominal_PUSCH

b) Alpha.
2.

PUCCH:

The power control formula for the uplink for the PUCCH in LTE can be broken into four key
parts. The first part is called P0. It is basically the assumed interference that the UE is expected
to overcome. P0 is composed of two subcomponents. The first is called P0_Nominal_PUCCH
and it is communicated over SIB2. It is valid for all UEs in the cell. The second component is
called P0_UE_PUSCH and it is a UE-specific value. It is optional. The second part of this
equation is the Path Loss (PL) and the impact of the PL or Alpha (the same value used for the
PUSCH See above-). The third part is an MCS-specific component. If the eNB wants the UE to
adjust its power based on the MCS that is assigned, it will be taken into account here. Lastly is
the f(i) value, which is simply the closed-loop feedback. This is the additional power the UE will
add to the transmission based on specific feedback by the eNB. This value is different for each
format type of the PUCCH. A different value is given to the UE in SIB2 for formats 1, 1a, 1b, 2,
2a and 2b.

Hence, the parameters that controls the transmit power in the PUCCH are:
a)

PO_nominal_PUCCH

b) Alpha
The higher the value of PUCCH and the higher the value of PUSCH, the more power the UE will
transmit, the better the UL BLER, the higher the throughput and the higher the UL SINR.
However, in high capacity cell, this might not be true and the opposite effects might be
encountered. Examples of such situations are: Airports, events, convention centers, etc. It is
recommended to analyze the UL RSSI in these types of venues during high capacity scenarios
and adjust accordingly. Bear in mind that the Alpha value affects both, the PUCCH and the
PUSCH.

Lauro
UL Throughput Troubleshooting

by

Lauro

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Several are the conditions that produce low throughput in the uplink. This blog shows a simple
flowchart that attempts to guide you while troubleshooting cells with poor performance in the
uplink. Note that the flowchart is not comprehensive but rather an informative guide for you to
start.

 Lauro
Uplink Throughput Troubleshooting
by

Lauro

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In this blog we will briefly describe general troubleshooting guidelines for uplink
throughput in LTE networks with MIMO 2x2. The reader is advised to look for particular
counters and parameters in their respective OEMs documentation to address each of
the areas explored below.
The general troubleshooting strategy is described below and the covered reasons for
bad throughput are shown in the figure below.

Figure 1. Low Throughput causes in the Uplink for LTE networks.

Step 1: Identify cell with low UL (uplink) throughput
a) The first thing is to identify those cells with low throughput. What is considered as low
throughput is a threshold defined by your network policies and best practices (it also
depends on your design parameters). Reports should be run for a significant number of
days so that data is statistically valid.
Step 2: Identify Uplink interference

a) Run a report for RSSI in the uplink. Most OEM provide with counters and or tools to
assess the RSSI in a span of days. Cells with uplink interference are those whose RSSI
values are high (higher than -90dBm, for instance).
b) Typical scenarios where these values are high are indoor environments (i.e.: arenas,
airports, etc.)
c) Common sources of interference in the 700 MHz band (LTE deployment in the USA)
are: high values of traffic in the uplink, external source of interference, high values
of P0-nominalPUCCH and P0-nominalPUSCH (Consult your technical lead on the
settings of these parameters)
Step 3: BLER Values
a) Run a report for BLER in the cells identified. The BLER should be smaller or equal
than 10%. If the value is larger, then, there is an indication of bad RF environment.
b) Typical causes of bad BLER are uplink interference, bad coverage (holes in the
network, etc.)
Step 4: Low Demand
a) Run a report using the counters provided by the OEM to find
1. Maximum number of RRC connections supported per cell (parameter or feature)
2. Maximum number of RRC connections active per cell
3. Average number of RRC connections active per cell
4. Maximum number of users per TTI supported per cell (parameter or feature)
5. Maximum number of users scheduled per TTI in the cell(s) of interest
6. Average number users scheduled per TTI in the cell(s) of interest
b) If the maximum number of RRC connections active per cell is close or equal to the
maximum number of RRC connections supported, then. The cause for low throughput is
load.
c) A high number of scheduled users per TTI does not necessarily mean that demand is
the cause for low throughput.
Step 5: Scheduler Type
a) Find the scheduler types your OEM supports

b) Select the one that is more convenient for the type of cell you are investigating.
Examples of schedulers are: round robin, proportional fairness, maximum C/I, equal
opportunity, etc. OEMs allow you to switch the scheduler in your network but
recommend one in particular.
c) The wrong scheduler may be the reason for bad throughput.
Step 6: Power Headroom
a) Run a report to find out the average power headroom that UEs have in your network.
b) A low value of power headroom means that UEs do not have available power to
transmit in the uplink and hence, the throughput is low.
c) Low values of power headroom are 5 dB or smaller.
d) Typical causes of low power headroom are uplink interference and/or incorrect power
control parameter settings, to mention a few.
Step 7: Other
a) Run a VSWR report or ask your OEM to run it for you.
b) High values of VSWR result in low throughput due to losses.
c) Check your backhaul capacity. Often times, the backhaul links are shared among
multiple RATs. Make sure your backhaul is properly dimensioned.

At the end of this methodology, you will be able to determine if the reasons for low
throughput in your cells is one of the following or a combination, thereof:
- BLER (bad coverage)
- Uplink Interference (high RSSI)
- Low Power headroom
- Scheduling algorithm
- Low Demand
- Other (VSWR, Backhaul capacity)

Preguntas, amigos?
Lauro
Handover Parameters (Part 3 of 3)
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Lauro

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Filter Coefficient for Event a3

Once the UE is configured to do measurements, the UE starts measuring reference signals from
the serving cell and any neighbors it detects. The next question is whether the UE should look at
just the current measurement value, or if the recent history of measurements should be
considered. LTE, like other wireless technologies, takes the approach of filtering the currently
measured value with recent history. Since the UE is doing the measurement, the network conveys
the filtering requirements to the UE in an RRC Connection reconfiguration message.
The UE filters the measured result, before using for evaluation of reporting criteria or for
measurement reporting, by the following formula:

where

Mn is the latest received measurement result from the physical layer;

Fn is the updated filtered measurement result, that is used for evaluation of reporting
criteria or for measurement reporting;

Fn-1 is the old filtered measurement result, where F0 is set to M1 when the first
measurement result from the physical layer is received; and

a = 1 / 2(k/4), where k is the filterCoefficent for the corresponding measurement quantity

received by the quantityConfig.

Then, the UE adapts the filter such that the time characteristics of the filter are preserved at
different input rates, observing that the filterCoefficent k assumes a sample rate equal to 200 ms.
The parameter a defines the weight given to current value and (1-a) (i.e., the remaining weight
is given to the last filtered value). For example, if filter coefficient k = 4, then a = ^(4/4) =1/2.

This means that new measurement has half the weight and the last filtered measurement gets the
other half of the weight.
Example of Filter coefficient values are:

Case 1: value k = 8 , a = , Fn = Old + New

Case 2: value k = 4, a = , Fn = Old + New

Optimization Rules:
a) A high value of the parameter filtercoefficient will provide higher weight to old
measurements (more stringent filter)(the opposite is true)
b) The higher the values of filtercoefficient the higher the chances of eliminating fast fading
effects on the measurement reports
1. This eliminates reporting a cell which RSRP was suddenly changed due to multipath or
fast fading
2. Which in turns eliminates the chances to handover to a cell which RSRP was strong for
some milliseconds
3. Therefore reducing the chances for Ping-Pong effects
c) A value of 8 is typically used in the network although a value of 16 might also be used in
dense urban areas.
Lauro
Cell Radius in LTE (Part 1 of 3)
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Lauro

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The cell radius in LTE is affected and/or determined by three factors:

a) The Preamble Format
b) The Cyclic Shift the corresponds to the ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig parameter and,
c) The Cell Radius Parameter

A) Preamble Format

LTE FDD supports four preamble formats (as of today, not all of them currently supported by the
equipment manufacturers). The preamble consists of a cyclic prefix (to handle multipath
interference) followed by an 800 s sequence. In preamble formats 2 and 3, the sequence is
repeated. The total length of the cyclic prefix and the sequence(s) determines how long it takes to
transmit the preamble. Since the actual physical transmission occurs in units of sub-frames (1
ms), the remaining time determines how far away the UE can be without overlapping another
UE's access attempt (the guard time). For further details, refer 3GPP TS 36.211 - Physical
Channels and Modulation.
The operator typically must pick a preamble format to determine the coverage area desired. In
the event of remote sites deployment, the length of the fiber to the remote cells must be
considered as part of the cell radius (this includes Distributed Antenna Systems -DAS- ). Since
the speed of electromagnetic waves over fiber is only two thirds of the speeds in free space, the
total cell radius reduces to the values shown in the table below.