Extending the
Battery Life of
Image licensed by Ingram Publishing
T
his article provides a practical approach to opti-
mize the long-term evolution (LTE) network to
extend the battery life of LTE devices such as smart-
phones and tablets. The majority of the commercial-
ly deployed LTE networks are optimized for data dongles
where the battery consumption is not a major concern.
With the introduction of LTE smartphones and tablets and
other handheld LTE devices, battery consumption has
become a major bottleneck to the end user. In this article,
we analyze, evaluate, and validate the key relevant features
and parameters that can potentially reduce the battery
consumption and, hence, extend the device usage time.
The objective of this article is to obtain the optimum
parameters setting for relevant LTE features to efficiently
deliver non-real-time applications with bursty traffic over
the LTE network by providing power savings without
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MVT.2014.2311571
Date of publication: 3 June 2014
38 ||| 1556-6072/14/$31.002014ieee IEEE vehicular technology magazine | JUNE 2014
Smartphones
and Tablets
A Practical Approach to
Optimizing the LTE Network
Ayman Elnashar and
Mohamed A. El-Saidny
perceptibly degrading the user experience. The connected
and idle-mode discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism
along with the user inactivity timer (UIT) are assessed
and evaluated by means of field testing in a live LTE net-
work to identify the optimal deployment scenario for the
most common data applications in a commercially
deployed LTE network.
The new-generation mobile communication system,
LTE, aims to enable users with a new mobile experience,
providing higher data rates and lower latencies that can
transform the overall industry into a new wireless ecosys-
tem of smartphone devices and applications. However,
smartphone applications put disproportionate pressure
on networks due to their typical behavior of many connec-
tions with low transmitted data volume per connection. In
addition, the energy demands of battery-powered devices
to serve these transaction behaviors for each application
may cause the battery to drain quickly, even without di-
rect interaction from the end user. The development of
new architectures and procedures to build power-aware
systems has become one of the main purposes in the de-
sign of LTE.
LTE uses the concept of DRX and, accordingly, discontin-
uous transmission to efficiently save mobile battery power
during inactivity periods [1][4]. To exploit the maximum
battery savings, the LTE system allows for use of the con-
cepts of the DRX, either in radio resource control (RRC) idle-
camped or connected states, in the radio interface between
the evolved node B (eNB) and the user equipment (UE) [2].
The DRX mechanism is mainly used at the radio interface to
save the mobile power consumed by the modem activities
when the end user or the application is inactive. The use of
the DRX mechanism will inevitably lead to extra delays for
the UE to transmit/receive data, which may be unaccept-
able for certain applications. Thus, there is a need to strike
a balance between packet delay and energy saving.
A framework for DRX parameters optimization is de-
veloped in [5] based on a novel semi-Markov process to
model the universal mobile telecommunications system
(UMTS) DRX with bursty packet data traffic. Analytic and
simulation models are proposed in [6] to study the effects
of UMTS DRX parameters on output measures, including
the expected queue length, the expected packet waiting
time, and the power saving factor. The study in [6] quan-
titatively shows how to select appropriate UIT and DRX
cycle values for various trafc patterns. In [7], an adaptive
DRX mechanism for power saving in UMTS is proposed
where the DRX period for each UE is individually and adap-
tively controlled by an extended paging indicator, which is
decided by the node B (NB) considering the current trafc
situation of each UE. In [8], a novel DRX-aware schedul-
ing method for LTE is introduced for real-time applications
by incorporating the DRX parameters into the schedul-
ing determinants so as to reduce packet loss caused by
the sleeping process during the DRX. In [9], an algorithm
to efficiently select the LTE DRX parameters to ensure a
balanced tradeoff between power saving and latency, de-
pending on applications delay requirement and UE power
constraint, is proposed. The proposed algorithm is capa-
ble of optimizing power saving while satisfying a specified
level of guarantee for the latency. A DRX tradeoff analyti-
cal model is formulated in [10] to maintain a balance be-
tween power saving and latency based on the operators
preference for power saving, and the proposed analytical
model is validated using system-level simulation results.
The approach in this article depends on optimizing the
LTE DRX key parameters and the UIT [11][13] to attain
the optimum parameters that prolong the battery standby
time without a major impact on the latency for the non-
real-time applications with bursty traffic based on the
practical field results from a live LTE network. The analysis
and recommendations in this article are crucial for the suc-
cessful deployment of the LTE DRX feature in live networks,
especially with the introduction of LTE smartphones.
JUNE 2014 | IEEE vehicular technology magazine ||| 39
Description of the DRX Mechanism
Figure 1 illustrates the different state transitions of the UE
in an LTE system [2]. As illustrated in Figure 1, the UE can
be served in an RRC idle-camped state after successfully
camping to the LTE system. The UE remains in this state as
long as there are no radio interface downlink (DL) or uplink
(UL) packet activities between the eNB and the UE. When
DL or UL activities are detected, the UE will be served in
the RRC-connected state and will remain in this state until
the UIT, configured in the eNB, expires. In this case, the
eNB will release the RRC connection and immediately trig-
ger the UE state transition to the idle-camped state.
In idle mode, the main modem activities come from the
need to monitor the paging messages or perform cells mea-
surements. The UE monitors only one paging occasion in a
predefined cycle, referred to as the DRX cycle. This is the
shortest cycle between a UE-specific DRX cycle (if imple-
mented) and the default DRX cycle broadcasted by the cell
in system information block (SIB) 2 [2]. The default paging
cycle can take values of {32, 64, 128, and 256} radio frames,
where each radio frame is 10 ms. Between each DRX cycle,
the UE shuts down its transceiver to save the battery power.
While in the wake-up cycle after the DRX timer is expired,
the transceiver becomes active and the UE starts monitor-
ing the paging occasion to identify if it is being paged. In ad-
dition, the UE evaluates the surrounding neighbor cells for
a possible change of the serving cell when the current cell
level degrades as part of the cell reselection procedure [3].
The duration of each wake-up cycle depends on the types of
measurements needed, and this is where the battery power
is mainly consumed in the idle mode. Based on the config-
ured system parameters, the UE may perform intrafrequen-
cy, interfrequency, or intersystem measurements while in
the idle mode wake-up cycle. The UE may also choose not
to perform the measurements if the serving cell is better
than the threshold to save more battery [3].
In connected mode, since data activity is expected to
occur, the concept of DRX is different. In an LTE system,
the scheduling of users in both UL and/or DL is tightly con-
trolled by the network scheduling algorithms. A user reads
the shared physical DL control channel (PDCCH), sent in
every subframe (1 ms), to find out whether resources are
allocated in the DL and/or UL. When there is no data activity
at all, this procedure can consume much unnecessary pow-
er from the battery while in RRC-connected mode. To solve
this issue, LTE introduced the concept of DRX in connected
mode (C-DRX) [3]. C-DRX is an optional configurable feature
in the LTE network, but, once deployed, it allows the UE to
monitor the PDCCH for predefined subframes, referred to as
active duty, and the UE may then turn off its transceiver for
the rest of the DRX cycle, referred to as sleep duty. The eNB
will not schedule a transmission during the off periods of
the DRX cycle, which will save the UE battery, save the net-
work power, and reduce interference, hence serving other
users efficiently [4].
 Idle Mode
Procedures
Power On
PLMN Selection/
Initial Camping
Idle Not Camped Idle Camped
Loss of
Coverage
Radio Link Failure
Figure 1 The RRC states and procedures.
Besides the RRC idle- and connected-mode DRX mecha-
nisms, there is another mechanism that can be used in the
LTE network to specify a timer that can detect data inac-
tivity while in connected mode to enforce a release to the
RRC connection and move the UE to idle mode [2]. The
latter is a complementary procedure to bridge the benefits
of being in RRC idle and/or connected mode along with the
DRX procedures used in each state. Figure 2 summarizes
the interactions between the three mechanisms.
Key Parameters Overview
The DRX, C-DRX, and the state transition key RRC layer
parameters are shown in Figure 3. This article studies
the performance of a subset of these parameters to find
the optimum balance between power saving and the
other aspects of latencies and call performance. There
are several other factors that can be taken into account
to find the optimum balance between these objectives,
such as
the nature of the traffic transferred between the eNB
and the UE, which is based on the application type
the network topology and architecture in terms of the
RFs deployed and the different technologies [second
generation/third generation (3G)] that the UE is
instructed to measure periodically
the network vendor implementation for the interac-
tion between the underlying procedures of different
LTE protocol layers.
In idle mode, and during the wake-up cycles, the UE may
choose not to measure neighbors when the S rxlev 2 S intrasearch
[2]. S rxlev is calculated as in (1) with the parameters shown
in Table 1. Pcompensation used in all testing is 0 dB
40 ||| IEEE vehicular technology magazine | JUNE 2014
System Access
Connected
(Registration or Data
Mode
Transfer)
Procedures
Connected
Connection Release
(Dormancy, etc.)
S rxlev= Q rxlevmeas -(Q rxlevmin +Q rxlevminoffset) - Pcompensation. (1)
In RRC-connected mode, the C-DRX functionality is con-
trolled by the RRC parameters as shown in Figure 4 [2], [3].
There are two states in C-DRX mode: active duty state and
sleep duty state. During the active duty state, the UE moni-
tors the PDCCH for the possible DL transmission from the
network. While in sleep duty state, the UE will switch off its
transmitter/receiver to save power. The switching between
the said C-DRX states depends not only on the timers, which
are the on-duration timer, the DRX inactivity timer, and the
DRX retransmission timer, but also on other special situa-
tions, such as the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)
buffer and the random access channel (RACH) procedure
during the contention resolution timer.
The main parameters that are controlling the C-DRX
operation are summarized as follows [4], [9], [10]:
DRX cycles: the UE maintains two DRX cycles called
the short DRX cycle and the long DRX cycle, which
have different durations. The short DRX cycle is
optional, and, if this is configured, the UE starts with
a short DRX cycle (2640 subframes) when it enters
the DRX mode. When the configurable short DRX
timer expires, the UE switches to the long DRX cycle
(102,560 subframes). The optimal periodicity of the
DRX cycle depends on quality-of-service require-
ments, especially on the maximum latency. The long
DRX cycle impacts other features such as automatic
neighbor relation (ANR). A short sleep time in DRX
has a negative impact on the ANR measurements. A
large value of the long DRX cycle extends the channel
quality indicator (CQI) and the sounding reference
 UE Power On,
PLMN and Cell
Search
Camped
Idle Not Camped

Out of Service Radio Link Failure

UE Monitors Paging
Messages and UE Monitors DL
Active UL/DL Data PDCCH in Frequent
Evaluates Cell Available
Reselection Criteria DRX Patterns,
in Every Preconfigured Preconfigured by Several
DRX Cycle Length Network Parameters
RRC-Idle RRC-
Mandatory 3G Optional 3GPP
Camped Connected
Partnership Project Procedure
Procedure (3GPP)
Data Inactive for a Duration of User
Inactivity Timer, eNB Releases RRC
Connection

UE Receiver/Transmitter Turned Off During

DRX to Save Mobile Battery

Figure 2 The DRX and state transition mechanisms.

RRCIdle Camped RRCConnected

onDurationTimer
DRX Cycle Default Paging Cycle
UIT drxInactivityTimer
Intrafreq Cell Qrxlevmin
drxRetransmissionTimer
Reselection Qrxlevmin offset
Parameters Sintrasearch longDrxCycle

Short-Cycle DRX Supported

Indication

shortDrxCycle

drxShortCycleTimer

Battery consumption impacted by DRX

is subject to these parameters.

Optimization of these parameters can produce the best

battery consumption and end-user experience.

Figure 3 The key parameters in DRX and state transition operations.

signal (SRS) reporting periods and, therefore,
decreases the throughput and deteriorates the UL
synchronization, respectively.
The on-duration timer: This timer specifies the number
of consecutive PDCCH subframes (1200) during which
the UE shall monitor the PDCCH for possible
allocations. The on-duration timer is a part of a DRX
cycle and allows the network to define a window for
reaching each UE such that the multiuser priorities can
be considered. It also allows the network to tightly
share the time among DRX users and to effectively con-
figure control channel resources (particularly UL

JUNE 2014 | IEEE vehicular technology magazine ||| 41


Table 1The RRC idle cell reselection parameter definitions.
Parameter Definition
S rxlev Cell selection RX-level value (dB)
Q rxlevmeas Measured cell RX-level value (RSRP)
Q rxlevmin Minimum required RX level in the cell
(dBm), in SIB-1
Q rxlevmin offset Offset to the signaled Qrxlevmin taken
into account in the Srxlev evaluation
as a result of a periodic search for a
higher-priority PLMN while camped
normally in a VPLMN
Pcompensation max ^PEMAX H - PPowerClass, 0 h (dB)
P EMAX_H Maximum TX power level a UE may use
when transmitting on the UL in the cell
(dBm) defined as PEMAX_H
PPowerClass Maximum RF output power of the UE
(dBm) according to the UE power class
S intrasearch This specifies the threshold (in dB)
for intrafrequency measurements
resources). This timer stops after it expires or the UE
receives a DRX command medium access control
(MAC) control element. Upon expiration of this timer,
the UE enters the sleep time and no longer m
onitors the
PDCCH. A small value of the on-duration timer reduces
the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capacity.
The DRX inactivity timer: This timer specifies the
number of consecutive PDCCH subframes (12,560
subframes). The timer is started or restarted when
the UE monitors the PDCCH after successfully decod-
ing a PDCCH, indicating an initial UL or DL user data
transmission for this UE. Hence, this parameter pro-
vides a way for the network to keep the UE awake
beyond the on-duration period when data are buff-
ered. In VoIP applications, this parameter is less use-
ful since the buffer is typically emptied in one
transmission time interval, i.e., there is no need to
stay awake. Upon expiration of this timer, the UE
assumes a short DRX cycle if it is configured and the
short DRX cycle timer starts or restarts. Otherwise,

C-DRX Time Line and Mechanisms for DL Data (Without Retransmission)

First
Successful Short Short Short
Long PDCCH DRX DRX DRX Long
DRX Cycle Decode Cycle Cycle Cycle DRX Cycle

C-DRX State

Subframe 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

On Duration
DRX
Inactivity
When DRX Inactivity Expires, Short DRX Timer When Short DRX Timer Expires,
Start Short DRX Timer UE Enters Long DRX Cycle

UL Transmission Example During C-DRX

Long DRX Cycle

DRX Inactivity
7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
On Duration On Duration
UE Sends UE Sends UL UE Receives
UE Decodes UE Receives UE Retransmits
SR on Data on PUSCH DL ACK
PDCCH with UL DL NACK Again on PUSCH
PUCCH
Grant

C-DRX Sleep Duty C-DRX Active Duty

Figure 4 The C-DRX operation in RRC-connected mode. PUCCH: Physical uplink control channel; PUSCH: physical uplink shared channel;
ACK: acknowledgment; and NACK: nonacknowledgment.

42 ||| IEEE vehicular technology magazine | JUNE 2014

 the UE assumes the long DRX cycle if the short DRX Testing Environment and
cycle is not configured. Validation Methodology
The DRX retransmission timer: If the UE has received The performance testing is conducted in a commercially
data that were not decoded properly and this was not deployed LTE 1,800-MHz network with 20-MHz channel
associated with a broadcast HARQ process, then, fol- with a single user in each test case. An LTE category 3
lowing the expiration of the HARQ round-trip time battery-powered UE is connected to a laptop with logging
(RTT), which specifies the earliest time at which the and tracing tools for both modem and current consump-
UE could expect a retransmission, the DRX retransmis- tion readings. Stationary and mobility testing are con-
sion timer is started (133 subframes). The UE must ducted. The stationary testing was executed in near- and
wait for this timer to expire and continue to monitor far-cell scenarios to evaluate the impact of the intrafre-
the DL before it can enter DRX sleep state. quency measurement on battery consumption. The near-
In this article, seven test cases with different sets of cell conditions are tested with a UE-measured RSRP of
parameters as shown in Table 2, where DRX parameters greater than 80 dBm, and far-cell conditions with an
are illustrated in Figure 3, are analyzed and evaluated to RSRP of less than 100 dBm. Seven test cases with a
obtain the optimum set of parameters within a subset of unique set of parameters for each test case are evaluated
the DRX parameters that provide the best balance be- and analyzed. The mobility test route covers ~35 km with
tween power savings and latency. an urban morphology, where only test case 1 and test
The idle-mode default paging cycle (i.e., the DRX cy- case 7 are conducted based on the o utcome of the sta-
cle) and the reselection parameters (i.e., the first four pa- tionary testing. The test is performed in a good LTE cov-
rameters in Table 2) are kept the same for all test cases erage area to avoid any extra power consumed due to
to avoid any impact on the paging and intrafrequency cell intersystem measurements (i.e., 3G measurements). The
reselection and to keep the RACH procedure performance LTE network supports a single frequency, and there are
stable. With these reselection parameter settings, the UE no LTE interfrequency measurements performed by the
will start performing intrafrequency measurements when UE in this study.
the reference signal received power (RSRP) is less than Different test cases are executed to evaluate the per-
88 dBm, as explained in (1). Two different state transi- formance of each set of parameters using bursty-type ap-
tions through the UIT settings (20 s and 60 s) are analyzed plications. The applications are ping latency testing with
(i.e., the fifth parameter in Table 2). The connected-mode different packet sizes, Web browsing with different Web
C-DRX parameters (i.e., the sixth to the last parameter in pages and contents, and file download. All test case pro-
Table 2) are exercised with different ranges to evaluate cedures are carefully executed for the exact testing du-
the performance of each combination for each parameter ration to guarantee a rational evaluation. The values are
setting. Therefore, the combination of these settings is averaged more than 15 min, except in the cases where we
expected to offer different performance of battery sav- indicated min or max (such as for ping latency).
ings and latency.
There are several other pa-
rameters that could be taken into Table 2The DRX and state-transitions parameters set test cases.
account to further enhance the
overall performance, such as the Test Cases
UE-reported CQI and SRS, which are DRX/UIT Parameters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
used in connected mode and can Default paging cycle (s) 1.28 1.28 1.28 1.28 1.28 1.28 1.28
be related to C-DRX, especially af- Q rxlevmin (dBm) 120 120 120 120 120 120 120
ter the UE switches to active duty
Q rxlevmin offset (dB) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
mode following a deep sleep. These
parameters are not evaluated in S intrasearch (dB) 32 32 32 32 32 32 32
this study, and, therefore, the same UIT (s) 60 20 20 20 20 60 20
values for these parameters are OnDuration timer (ms) OFF OFF 2 10 3 10 10
used with all test cases. In addition
drxInactivity timer (ms) OFF OFF 3 60 100 200 200
to the C-DRX timers described in
drxRetransmission OFF OFF 8 16 2 2 2
Figure 3, the eNB can order the UE timer (ms)
to enter C-DRX mode with a com-
Long Drx cycle (ms) OFF OFF 40 40 40 320 320
mand from the MAC layer, which is
Short-cycle DRX OFF OFF ON OFF ON ON ON
a way to implement C-DRX activity supported indication
by lower layers for quick adapta-
ShortDrxCycle (ms) OFF OFF 5 None 20 20 20
tions to the traffic. This scenario is
drxShortCycle timer OFF OFF 8 None 1 2 2
not analyzed in this article.

JUNE 2014 | IEEE vehicular technology magazine ||| 43

Impact of DRX on Battery Consumption
The UE handset used in this study has a battery capaci-
ty of 6,100 mAh. Multiple tests are performed as follows:
Parameters in test case 1 without any UL or DL activi-
ty where the UE is always served in idle mode. This is
the benchmark test to indicate the baseline of the
battery current consumption in idle mode.
Parameters in test case 1 with continuous file down-
load where UL and DL data are always active and the
UE is always served in connected mode. This is the
benchmark test to show the baseline of the battery
current consumption in connected mode with contin-
uous data activity.
Then, the remaining test cases are all exercised with
a ping application 5,000 B in size with sufficient inter-
vals between the pings to ensure the UE will perform
the state transitions as well.
During all test cases, the UE screen is always turned on
except in the first test, in which the screen is turned off.
Figure 5 illustrates the current consumption for the
seven test cases in the near-cell stationary scenario. As
shown in Figure 5, the baseline current consumption with-
out any user activity in idle mode is 6.57 mA. test cases
6 and 7 (i.e., the C-DRX feature is activated) consumed
the minimum current (~501 and 488 mA, respectively).
Test case 1 (i.e., the C-DRX feature is deactivated with a
long time in connected mode) consumed the maximum
current for ping-type applications (~734 mA), while test
case 2 (i.e., the C-DRX was deactivated with a shorter time
in connected mode) provided similar current consump-
tion as in test cases 35 (i.e., the C-DRX is activated).
The comparison of the instantaneous current consump-
tion in milliamperes between test cases 7 and 5 for 15 min
is shown in Figure 6, which is a screenshot from the power
measurement tool used in the testing. In general, test case 5
showed similar current consumption results as test cases 3
1,400
1,180.98
1,200
1,000
Current (mA)
800 734.51
641.78
600
400
200
6.57
0
Test Test Test Test
Case 1 Case 1 Case 1 Case 2
No UL FTP
Activity Download
Idle Mode Connected
Mode
Figure 5 The battery current consumption in a near-cell stationary scenario. FTP: file transfer protocol.
44 ||| IEEE vehicular technology magazine | JUNE 2014
and 4. The reason for choosing test case 5 to compare with
test case 7 is that the difference in the C-DRX parameters is
minimal, and, hence, it is easier to understand the source of
improvements produced by test case 7.
In test case 5, there are two main current consumption
levels: 700 mA and 400 mA. The 400 mA is the level where
the UE is transitioned to idle mode. The UE is transitioned
to idle mode after the expiry of the 20 s (i.e., the UIT). In
every interval of 100 s, there are approximately four cy-
cles at 400 mA, which indicate the transition to idle mode
every ~20 s with the UE screen always on. 700 mA is the
level where the UE is in connected mode and transmitting/
receiving the ping packets. In test case 7, there are three
main current consumption levels: 700, 500, and 400 mA.
The entrance to the 700- and 400-mA levels is executed for
similar reasons as in test case 5, but 500 mA is the level
for which the UE remains in a long DRX cycle before being
transitioned to idle mode. This state is visible in test case 7
because the long DRX cycle is much longer than in test
case 5: 320 ms and 40 ms, respectively.
The transition to the 500-mA level for a longer period of
time is the key reason that the average current consumption
of test case 7 is less than test case 5, which tends to stay in
700 mA for a longer duration. Meanwhile, test case 7 tends to
cut the time in 700 mA shorter and move to the lower level
faster. The setting of a higher long DRX cycle is the main dif-
ference for better battery savings for this type of application,
while the other parameters, such as shorter on duration and
DRX cycle timer parameters for test case 5, do not offer a sig-
nificant impact. All other parameters are the same in these
two test cases and for test cases 3 and 4 as well.
In a far-cell scenario, test case 7 provides the minimum
current consumption as well, as illustrated in Figure 7.
Test case 6 is dropped from this scenario as test case 7 has
the same parameters except that the UIT is 20 s and, there-
fore, it is ranked as in Figure 5. By comparing test case 1
628.76 641.07 634.59
501.71 488.86
Test Test Test Test Test
Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Case 7
Ping TestIdle Connected Mode
 Measured Power Data
2,000
Test Case 5: Battery 1,800
Current Consumption 1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000
Time (s) mA
Measured Power Data
2,000
Test Case 7: Battery 1,800
Current Consumption 1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000
Time (s) mA

Figure 6 The instantaneous current consumption for test cases 5 and 7.

and 2 in Figures 5 and 7, it is observed that these two test
cases, where the C-DRX feature is deactivated, provide the
maximum current consumption for ping-type applications
by an increase of ~14% in the current consumption. This is
mainly due to the fact that the UE stays in connected mode
for an extended amount of time without any C-DRX sleep du-
ties between the ping packets. This is a strong reason that
the UIT alone may not introduce significant battery savings
for bursty applications. In this case, imple-
menting C-DRX combined with a shorter
UIT produces the optimum battery sav- 900
ings, which is fully exercised in test case 7.
800
The signaling load due to a shorter UIT is
700
Current (mA)
In addition, during idle-mode wake-up cycles, the UE
will be required to perform intrafrequency neighbor cell
measurements in far-cell RF conditions when compared to
near-cell RF conditions for cell reselection purposes. This
also explains the difference in current consumptions for
test cases 1 and 2 in different RF conditions. The results
imply that optimizing cell reselection parameters can
have an impact on the idle-mode current consumption.
776.43 783.84
656.49 650.92 649.27

not expected to have a significant impact 600

479.99
similar to the UMTS system where the 500
signaling load on the radio network con- 400
troller of the UMTS system is a bottleneck 300
200
for capacity expansion. This is because
100
the signaling processors hit the maximum
0
load before the data processors, while, Test Test Test Test Test Test
with LTE, the signaling load will be mini- Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6
mal as this load will be managed by the Ping TestIdle Connected Mode
eNB and will not be transferred to the mo-
bility management entity. Figure 7 The battery current consumption in a far-cell stationary scenario.

JUNE 2014 | IEEE vehicular technology magazine ||| 45

 test is performed with different packet
Battery Lifetime sizes. The Web-browsing test is per-

Modem Battery Usage (%)

Expected Battery Time (h)

14
12
10
8 15
6 and by clearing the cache between
4 each run. Figure 9 demonstrates the
2
0 0
Test Test Test Test Test Test Test
Case 1 Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Case 7
Ping TestIdle Connected Mode
FTP
Download
Expected Battery Life
Connected
Mode % of Battery Consumption by Modem Activity
Figure 8 The expected battery life for ping and FTP applications.
Consequently, cell reselection and RACH performance
shall be monitored so as not to negatively impact the per-
formance of these important procedures.
In Figure 8, it is shown that test case 7 provides the best
battery life and lowest battery usage by modem activity.
For continuous file download activities, the battery life can
sustain for ~5 h while the screen is on. Test case 7 shows
~8% of battery consumption produced by modem activities
(i.e., PDCCH monitoring and measurements) because of the
frequent modem sleep duty cycles, while test case 1 shows
20% of the battery consumption coming from continuously
monitoring the PDCCH and measurements in the absence of
modem sleep duty. It is worth noting that, if a longer period
such as 640 ms was used, it would probably consume less
energy, but it would also engender a longer delay.
Impact of DRX on Latency
In this section, we evaluate the impact of C-DRX on ping
latency and Web page loading time (which can also be
expressed as user session throughput). The ping latency
25
formed by loading different Web pages
20 that have different types of content
and Java applications multiple times
10
5 ping latency for different test cases. It
is shown that the ping packet delay
Test
(or RTT) is impacted when the C-DRX
feature is enabled. The impact is ~10
ms of extra RTT compared to when
the C-DRX feature is deactivated. This
is due to the C-DRX mechanism decid-
ing how the parameters allow a fast
adaptation to monitor the PDCCH
when the traffic activity starts.
It is evident that test case 7 still provides graceful deg-
radation in terms of ping RTT even with the aggressive
sleep duty settings for higher power saving purposes.
This is evident especially for higher ping packet sizes for
which this test case can provide acceptable latency and
minimum current consumptions. Because of the small
increase in average RTT, the impact on the end-user
experience is almost negligible with the non-real-time
applications considered in this article. For real-time ap-
plications, the packet losses and delays may be strictly
tied to the performance of the C-DRX parameters and
shall be evaluated separately in future work.
To further analyze the results in Figure 9, test case 4
yields higher latency compared to test case 7, although
the latter has a higher long DRX cycle because test case 4
has a lower DRX inactivity timer (60 ms) compared to test
case 7 (i.e., 100 ms). The ping intervals were kept small,
and, hence, with a higher DRX inactivity timer, the UE goes
to inactive mode for less time, which keeps the ping la-
tency lower with test case 7 in this scenario. This is also in

70
64
55 32 B 640 B 1,460 B 5,000 B
60 56
52
50 48 47
50 49 51
50 44
42 45 42 44 42
38
RTT (ms)

40 37 37
29
30
19
20
13 13 10 11 9 12
8 7 6 6 8
10

0
DRX Off Test Test Test Test Difference Difference Difference
(Test Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 7 (Best (Worst (Average
Cases 1 with DRX On- with DRX On- with DRX On-
and 2) DRX Off) DRX Off) DRX Off)

Figure 9 The ping RTT in good RF conditions.

46 ||| IEEE vehicular technology magazine | JUNE 2014

 Web-Browsing Performance
16 250
Web Page Load Time (s)
14

Content Data Size (KB)

200

Web Site Average

12
10 9 9 150
8 8
8 7
6 5 100
3 4 3
4 3
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 50
2 1

0 0
YouTube.com Apple.com Facebook.com Google.com
DRX Off (Test Cases 1 and 2) Test Case 4
Test Case 5 Test Case 7
Test Case 3 Web Site Average Data Size

Figure 10 The Web page loading time for common Web sites.

line with test cases 3 and 5. In test case 3, this timer is set
to 3 ms, which yields a latency of 64 ms (higher than test
cases 4 and 7). This is true for high ping packet sizes such
as 5,000 B. For a lower ping packet size such as 320 B, we
can observe that test case 4 outperforms test case 7, and
this is now due to the higher long DRX cycle in test case 7.
The Web page loading time is depicted in Figure 10 for
different Web sites. In general, there is no major perfor-
mance degradation of Web page loading time between
the test cases with the C-DRX feature activated or deac-
tivated, and a maximum of 1-s delay is encountered, with
an average of 0.5 s. In addition, the Web page loading time
clearly depends on the contents and the nature of the
Web page server. As shown in Figure 10 and Table 3, high-
er Web site data contents in kilobytes can be loaded very
quickly for the Apple.com Web site compared to You-
Tube.com or Google.com. The user session throughput is
maintained the same among all test cases without any im-
pact when the C-DRX is activated. These results demon-
strate that the C-DRX, with a good battery consumption
configuration as in test case 7, provides a good end-user
experience with an extended battery life.
the UIT, multiple sync sessions consisting of one or up
to five data transactions can occur, triggering RRC state
transitions. A data transaction takes the UE from idle to
connected state and back to idle, as shown in Figure 11,
depending on the configured UIT.
In a further look into the Facebook client sync pattern,
the application is evaluated for 22 h and the patterns are
observed as summarized in Table 4, which are collected
using application-profiling tools. In another case of a
typical loaded scenario where multiple applications are
required to sync for updates on the Android operating
system (OS), the nature of sync patterns become different,
as shown in Table 4, which are collected using the same
application-profiling tool. The table shows the sync pat-
terns of 18 active applications and widgets in the Android
OS for a 1-h duration.
For such applications, C-DRX with test case 7 will help
minimize battery consumption without a noticeable impact
on latency as shown in previous sections. Figure 12 shows
the significant improvement in battery life with test case 7
over other test cases, especially when the DRX feature is

Application Traffic Behavior Table 3The average user session DL throughput in Mb/s for Web browsing
and DRX Impact of common Web sites.
It is important to evaluate the C-DRX in Average User Session DL Throughput (Mb/s)
terms of smartphone/tablet applications
behavior. This section provides an over- YouTube.com Apple.com Facebook.com Google.com
view of some applications behavior and DRX OFF
their impact on battery life, with differ- (Test cases 1 0.386 1.946 1.110 0.484
and 2)
ent C-DRX parameter configurations.
An Android client sync pattern is illus- Test case 3 0.358 1.894 1.154 0.571
trated in Figure 11. Sometimes Android Test case 4 0.431 1.867 1.254 0.374
client sync sessions cannot be finished
Test case 5 0.385 1.849 1.155 0.503
within one data transaction. And when
Test case 7 0.373 1.852 1.114 0.508
intervals between packets are larger than

JUNE 2014 | IEEE vehicular technology magazine ||| 47

 Installed
Applications in
Smartphones

Client Initiated

Client Initiated

Client Initiated

Client Initiated

Client Initiated
16 s 2s 2s 12 s 2s RRC-Idle
Camped
30 s 60 s 60 s ~5 min

RRC-
Time Connected
DL Volume (B) 2,538 748 782 794 742
UL Volume (B) 2,156 748 668 888 668

One Sync Session Can Generate Five Different Transactions

Figure 11 An example of an Android application client sync pattern.

Table 4 A summary of the Facebook client sync pattern and the fully loaded application sync pattern.

Transaction DL Payload UL Payload Who Initiat-

Application Sync Interval Duration Size (B) Size (B) ed the Call Comments
Facebook 1035 min; Mostly 2 s, 835 ~ 18,388 595 ~ 1,744 Client Six syncs consist of two
61 syncs in up to 11 s transactions separated by
22 h due to pack- <1 min, all initiated by the
ets delay client
Fully loaded 679 s; 144 1 ~ 14 s 0 ~ 5,486 0 ~ 2,588 Client or More data transactions
applications data transac- network with a smaller payload per
scenario tions in 1 h transaction

deactivated. Test case 7 provides a battery life of 343 h with

400 only Facebook sync activities. Also, Figure 12 provides the
343.42
331.59

Facebook Application battery life by applying the current consumption measure-

350 Loaded Application Scenario ments to the fully loaded pattern scenario as shown in Ta-
ble 4. It is demonstrated that test case 7 provides maximum
258.88

257.53

259.16

300
233.39

battery savings compared to the other test cases. The re-

220.21

250 sults show that with the optimized DRX parameter settings,
Battery Life (h)

the UE can benefit from the power savings provided by the

200 C-DRX feature, even with several unsynchronized applica-
tions running in the background with updated status. On
150
the other hand, in the case of no C-DRX, the battery stand-
100 by time is impacted by the sync patterns of these loaded
56.22
54.28
42.42
42.38

42.16

applications installed in the smartphone or tablet.

36.05

38.2

50
Conclusions
0 In this article, we have analyzed the DRX mechanism for
Test Test Test Test Test Test Test
Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Case 7 power saving of the UE battery in the LTE system. It has
been demonstrated that the DRX is tightly connected
Figure 12 The expected battery life for the Facebook application with the parameter settings and all other RRC proce-
and the loaded application sync patterns scenarios. dures such as idle-mode DRX and state transitions

48 ||| IEEE vehicular technology magazine | JUNE 2014

timers. The C-DRX feature has been applied to mitigate
the impact of non-real-time applications by adopting the
optimum parameters that can provide the maximum
battery life with an acceptable latency.
As shown in the analysis, the battery consumption is
highly impacted by the C-DRX parameter settings and
the state transition of the UIT. We have analyzed multiple
test cases with different sets of parameters and demon-
strated that a higher long DRX cycle value with aggres-
sive UIT can provide the maximum battery life without
degrading the end-user session throughput for non-real-
time applications. The ping RTT showed an increase in
latency for any C-DRX parameter setting. Nevertheless,
the C-DRX latency with the recommended parameters
(i.e., test case 7) is gracefully degraded.
Future work may include more innovative approaches
by implementing C-DRX, DRX, and state transition pa-
rameters that can be optimized per the device, applica-
tion types and behaviors, and network load.
Acknowledgments
We wish to express our appreciation to our colleagues in
du for their cooperative support during the course of test-
ing and evaluation.
Author Information
Ayman Elnashar (ayman.elnashar@du.ae) received the
B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Alexandria Uni-
versity, Egypt, in 1995 and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in
electrical communications engineering from Mansoura Uni-
versity, Egypt, in 1999 and 2005, respectively. He has more
than 17 years of practical experience in the telecommuni-
cations industry, including global system for mobile com-
munications (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS)/
enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE), and univer-
sal mobile telecommunications system/high-speed packet
access/long-term evolution (LTE). He was part of three
major start-up telecom operators in the Middle East and
North Africa region (Mobinil/Egypt, Mobily/KSA), and du/
United Arab Emirates (UAE) and held key leadership posi-
tions. Currently, he is the senior director of Wireless Broad-
band, Terminal, and Performance with the Emirates
Integrated Telecommunications Co. du, UAE. He is in
charge of mobile and fixed wireless broadband networks
and terminals. He has published more than 20 articles in
the wireless communications arena in highly ranked jour-
nals such as IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propaga-
tion, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, and IEEE
Transactions on Circuits and Systems I; in other publications
such as IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine and IET Signal
Processing; and in international conference proceedings. He
is the main author of a book titled Design, Deployment, and
Performance of 4G-LTE Networks: A Practical Approach
(Wiley, 2014). His research interests include practical
JUNE 2014 | IEEE vehicular technology magazine ||| 49
performance analysis of cellular systems (code division
multiple access and orthogonal frequency-division multi-
plexing based), third-generation/fourth-generation mobile
networks planning, design, and optimization, multiuser
detection, smart antennas, multiple-input and multiple-
output, and robust adaptive detection and beamforming.
Mohamed A. El-Saidny (mohamede@qualcomm.com)
received the B.Sc. degree in computer engineering and
the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the Univer-
sity of Alabama in Huntsville in 2002 and 2004, respectively.
From 2004 to 2008, he was with the code division multiple
access technology division at Qualcomm Inc., San Diego,
California, where he was responsible for the performance
evaluation and analysis of Qualcomm universal mobile
telecommunications system and software chip set solu-
tions used in the user equipment. Since 2008, he has been
working in the Qualcomm Corporate Engineering Services
division in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. His current special-
ties include system studies and design of third-generation
and fourth-generation technologies: Release-99, high-speed
packet access(+), and long-term evolution.
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