UMTS Planning & Optimization

Diplexer
A diplexer is a passive device that implements
frequency domain multiplexing.
Two ports (e.g., L and H) are multiplexed onto a
third port (e.g., S). The signals on ports L and H
occupy disjoint frequency bands. Consequently,
the signals on L and H can coexist on port S
without interfering with each other.
It uses Low Pass Filter & High Pass Filter
Different from Combiner & Splitter:
Ports of Diplexer are Frequency selective,
where as not in case of combiner/splitter
There is also a power "loss" difference - a
combiner takes all the power delivered to the
S port and equally divides it between the A
and B ports. A diplexer does not.
A diplexer multiplexes two ports onto one port,
but more than two ports may be multiplexed: a
three-port to one-port multiplexer is known as a

Cell Breathing
The cell coverage shrinks as
the loading increases, this is
called cell breathing.
In the uplink, as more and
more UE are served by a cell,
each UE needs to transmit
higher power to compensate
for the uplink noise rise. As a
consequence, the UE with
weaker link (UE at greater
distance) may not have
enough power to reach the
NodeB therefore a coverage
shrinkage.
In the downlink, the NodeB
also needs to transmit higher
power as more UE are being
served. As a consequence UE
with weaker link (greater

Pilot Pollution
When the number of strong cells exceeds the active set size, there is
pilot pollution in the area. Typically the active set size is 3, so if
there are more than 3 strong cells then there is pilot pollution.
Definition of strong cell: pilots within the window size from the
strongest cell. Typical window size is between 4 to 6dB. For example, if
there are more than 2 cells (besides the strongest cell) within 4dB of
the strongest cell then there is pilot pollution.
Possible solutions to overcome pilot pollution shall be:
The direct solution is to remove the cells overlapping by changing the
antenna configurations or reducing pilot powers of the unwanted cells.
The most effective solution is to increase the pilot channel power
Primary CPICH power of the desired cell.

Admission Control

The purpose of Admission Control is to selectively deny access

request in order to limit the load, and so avoids excessive triggering
of congestion control.
Normally Admission Control is applied at cell level on dedicated
radio link setup, addition or modification where additional resources
are required.
the situations of high load the input for admission about resources
causes Admission Control to block new requests.

Congestion Control
The purpose of Congestion Control is to solve overload situations.
An overload situation occurs due to, for example, fluctuations in the
UL in interference and/or the used DL power.
Congestion Control is applied at cell level and becomes active when
the current cell load exceeds predefined limits.
The activation of Congestion Control results in a set of actions on
the admitted services in a cell to reduce the cell load.
Congestion Control reduces the load until it is back to an
acceptable level.