1. 1. Why CQI?

Some Questions answered<br />

2. 2. Why CQI<br />Several times weve asked ourselves these questions:<br />Q:
Why do we get poor Ec/No when conducting HSDPA Drive Test?<br />Q: What
is the calculations behind Ec/No going low when HSDPA session is initiated?
<br />Q: Why do we consider CQI as a Quality Metric when conducting HSDPA
Drive Test instead of Ec/No?<br />Take a look at the following slides <br />
3. 3. Why CQI<br />Note the CQI value is 27 (good) while EcNo is about to
explode (-12db)<br />
4. 4. Lets start by establishing some basics:<br />Ec/No for most of you is a Quality
& Capacity measuring Metric. It generally gives us the idea how good or bad the
link Quality is. However, by definition, its quite confusing <br />CPICH Ec/No
= Pilot channel quality energy per chip over total received power spectral density
<br />OR<br />RSCP = RSSI + Ec/No<br />EcNo = RSCP - RSSI<br />Lets go
back to developing Basics<br />WHAT?!?!?<br />Ok..<br />
5. 5. RSCP: The Received Signal Code Power: That's the power level the pilot
channel of a cell is received with and usually expressed in dBm (mW on a
logarithmic scale). With this parameter, different cells using the same carrier can
be compared and handover or cell reselection decisions can be taken.<br />RSSI:
In UMTS that's the signal power over the complete 5 MHz carrier which includes
all components received, including the signals from the current and neighboring
cells on the same frequency. In an isolated cell having only CPICH power to
transmit and with none of the other channels utilized, the effective RSSI as seen
by the UE would be (fraction of) PCPICH power. However, the RSSI changes
when the 5Mhz carrier will carry power for other dedicated or control channels. In
that case, the effective power perceived by the UE would be the transmitted
power of the serving cell + the power transmitted by neighbor cells over the same
carrier frequency.<br />EcNo: That's the received energy per chip (Ec) of the pilot
channel divided by the total noise power density (No). In other words the EcNo is
the RSCP divided by the RSSI. And again in other words: The better this value the
better can a signal of a cell be distinguished from the overall noise. The EcNo is
usually expressed in dB as it's a relative value. The value is negative as the RSCP
is smaller than the total received power. As the RSCP this value can be used to
compare different cells on the same carrier and handover or cell reselection
decisions can be taken.<br />Lets go back to developing Basics<br />
6. 6. It is believed that Ec/No is an expression of signal-to-noise ratio and is
therefore, an indicator of signal quality. <br />IT IS NOT (just that)!<br />The
N0 consists of three things: interfering (non-orthogonal) power, thermal noise,
and, non-interfering (orthogonal) power.<br />In situations where N0 consists
mainly of "in-cell" power (e.g., during HS-DSCH bursts), Ec/N0 can be "low",

whereas the objective signal quality is high. This will be shown in the following
slides<br />Misconceptions about Ec/No <br />
7. 7. Further, Ec is an expression of power in the CPICH, not in the downlink
DPxCH. <br />Though the dynamic range of downlink DPxCH power is often
expressed relative to the CPICH, downlink power control will do its best to ensure
that downlink SNR is whatever it needs to be to meet the transport channel quality
target. <br />The point being: The traffic channel SNR has almost nothing to do
with pilot Ec/N0.<br />It is also to be noted that UE is only capable of receiving
Pilot RSCP and RSSI on the carrier. EcNo is calculated by the UE by the formula
(RSCP-RSSI) and sent in the UL.<br />Misconceptions about Ec/No <br />
8. 8. Dont be shy. I know were still Confused .. <br />Basics.<br />
9. 9. Then, <br />Ec/No for a UE is<br />The measure of PCPICH (code power)
over Total Wideband Power on that particular carrier<br />Measure of PCPICH =
RSCP dBm (right?) <br />Measure of Total Wideband power = RSSI dBm<br
/>So our Ec/No will become Ec/No = RSCP / RSSI (cannot divide dBm values so
we have to apply logarithmic rules) <br />Ec/No = RSCP RSSI (db) (dBm
dBm = value in dB)<br />For the sake of simplicity, just imagine that youre in a
test-bed, being served by a single cell<br />
10. 10. Hope youre able to make a picture of how Ec/No works.<br />If yes,
proceed further to find what happens when an HSDPA session is initiated<br />If
not, I suggest you discuss this concept first before proceeding.<br />Are you there
yet?<br />
11. 11. Lets take a look at how the POWER of a CELL is distributed among different
channels<br />For simplicity, check the diagram below.<br />Notice that HSDPA
uses the REMAINING power of the cell after power is allocated to Common and
Dedicated channels (check more detailed figure in the next slide)<br
/>HSDPA<br />Cell Power Distribution<br />Dedicated channels (power
controlled)<br />Total available cell power<br />Common channels (not power
controlled)<br />
12. 12. Cell Power Distribution<br />The figures highlight the following
points:<br />Common Channels have the highest priority for Power. Their power
is fixed<br />DCH come second in priority Power control is applicable<br />All
that remains after DCH utilization can be used up for HSDPA power<br />So if a
cell is less loaded, a single UE HS session can utilize the whole HSDPA power
space which is lying unused. <br />
13. 13. Now imagine yourself conducting a test in Test Bed on a cell having ZERO
DCH or HS Traffic. <br />Assuming only 10% cell power is dedicated to CPICH
(33dBm = 2watt)<br />Cell MAXTXPOWER is 20W or 43dBm<br />Ideally, if
you have NO traffic on this cell, your UE will calculate the CPICH Ec/No in the

following manner<br />Ec/No = 10 log (CPICH power / Total Transmit

power)<br />Ec/No = 10 log (2w/2w) = 10 log (1) = 0 dB (VERY high, but thats
IDEAL!!!)<br />OR (in dBm)<br />Ec/No = RCSP RSSI<br />Ec/No = 33
(dBm) 33 (dBm) = 0 *<br />Ec/No Computation No Load<br />
14. 14. Ec/No Computation One HSDPA user<br />Now assume you start an HS
session.Since there is no DCH traffic, all the REMNANT power is given to
HSDPA<br />Cell Transmit power is now 2W for CPICH and REMNANT power
(18W) for HSDPA so ideally, Cell is utilizing almost 100% power<br />So UE
will measure the Ec/No in the following manner<br />Ec/No = 10 log (CPICH
power / Total Transmit Power) <br />Ec/No = 10 log (2W / 20W)<br />Ec/No =
10 log (0.1) = -10dB (Very low again very IDEAL!)<br />OR (in dBm)<br
/>Ec/No = RCSP RSSI<br />Ec/No = 33 (dBm) 43 (dBm) = -10 dB<br />
15. 15. Why CQI<br />From above computations, we establish the following:<br />In
Idle mode and with no resources allocated, a UE will measure as low as 0 dB
Ec/No <br />In HS Mode and with no resources allocated on DCH, a UE will
measure as low as -10dB. It cannot report ANY better than -10dB<br />Hence,
that means, in a live network where resources of cell are shared between many
users, and Interference from other cells also plays its part, the Ec/No will always
give a FALSE value for an HSDPA user. And it will show a very poor value<br
/>What you should be asking yourself: <br />What happens when more users join
in to share the REMNANT power?<br />Will Ec/No improve or degrade further
with addition of DCH or HS user? <br />
16. 16. So, we establish that, <br />The CPICH Ec/No measurements collected during
HSDPA Transmission could mask the true radio conditions<br />To avoid this, we
have to monitor the Ec/No in IDLE mode only, which is a true reflection of
Interference and coverage problems <br />HSDPA session adds to the overall load
of the cell which is taken into consideration during computing Ec/No. As
calculations above proved that this does not, necessarily, depict the TRUE radio
Conditions.<br />So, what is the ALTERNATIVE to Ec/No in HS session? <br
/>Its called Channel Quality Indication<br />CQI<br />Why CQI<br />
17. 17. What is CQI<br />HSDPA utilizes link adaptation techniques to substitute
power-control and variable spreading factor<br />The HS-DSCH link-adaptation
algorithm at the Node-B is very dynamic, and adjusts the transmit bit rate on the
HS-DSCH every 2-ms TTI.<br />The UE periodically sends a CQI to the serving
HS-DSCH cell on the uplink high-speed dedicated physical control channel (HSDPCCH)<br />The CQI tells the NodeB scheduler, the data rate the UE expects to
be able to receive at a given point in time.<br />NOTE: The HSDPA system
defines a different CQI mapping table for different categories of UEs. The
category is determined according to the capability of UE<br />In addition to CQI,
UE also sends HARQ on HS-DPCCH<br />

18. 18. Below figure shows the steps how CQI helps in determining the initial
throughput that a UE terminal demands from the system<br />STEPS<br
/>SINRis used to evaluate the channel quality as observed by the receiver, where
a standard single antenna Rake is used because it is the most common in the SISO
HSDPA terminals.<br />CQI value for a given SINR is done via a linear mapping,
as shown in figure<br />Contd..<br />HSDPA CQI involvement<br />
19. 19. HSDPA CQI involvement<br />STEPS<br />The CQI values are used by
the link adaptation algorithm at the Node-B. Every CQI value reported
corresponds to the Transport Block Size (TBS) that can be granted on a particular
Modulation type and Number of codes<br />Example of a UE category 10 CQI
values from 0 to 30 are shown in the figure. Other UE categories are shown in the
following slide<br />The CQI is further defined as the TBS that can be supported
with a BLER no greater than 10% -<br />
20. 20. STEPS<br />While CQI is sending UEs requirement to the system in UL,
there is BLER calculation going on and UL HARQ (Hybrid Auto Repeat Request)
mechanism is helping in maintaining the BLER to below 10%. <br />So the
system (NodeB) is essentially calculating the Data Rate to be scheduled to the
user based on CQI reports and BLER which it receives from the UE<br />So
DATA RATE (bps) = TBS (bits)/ TTI (sec) * (1-BLER)<br />HSDPA CQI
involvement<br />
21. 21. HSDPA UE Categories 1-12<br />
22. 22. Thank you for reading<br />