DL Performance Evaluation of a Combined Cell in
LTE Network
Rosemarie Miranda Felipe, Jennylou Banzon Caasi, Ragil Putro Wicaksono, Seiji Kunishige, Kwangrok Chang
MOTiV Research Co.
Tokyo, Japan
firstname.lastname@motiv-research.com
AbstractThis paper provides an algorithm to calculate SINR
and throughput gain in a combined cell of LTE network based on
Radio Frequency (RF) scanner measurement data containing
RSRP of the serving cell and neighbor cells. The combined cell, a
feature of 3GPP standard, is the combination of multiple physical
cells which operate at the same frequency into one cell in LTE
network system. The combined cell is able to improve the cell
edge performance in terms of SINR. It is however noted that not
all areas served by the combined cell get benefit from
the combined cell feature. Some areas show a degraded
performance in downlink throughput results from the higher
traffic load due to shared resources. In this paper, combined cell
performance is investigated to identify at what traffic level a
combined cell becomes beneficial and at what traffic level it
results in performance degradation. The investigation is made
throughout the two steps, the simulation of combined cell SINR
and calculation of new load condition. These two steps
complement each other to provide better accuracy of network
Downlink (DL) throughput evaluation of the combined cell in
LTE network. This study reveals that in order to obtain the
effective utilization of LTE combined cell feature, the feature
needs to be implemented only when the average of component
cell load is below 20-40% depending on the component cell
overlapping level.
Key wordsLTE; LTE combined cell; Single Frequency Network
(SFN); SINR; cell load; Throughput
I. INTRODUCTION
A combined cell, which is also known as Single Frequency
Network (SFN), is proven technology deployed in incumbent
LTE networks to aid coverage extension and the reduction of
signaling caused by unnecessary handovers in dense networks.
Combined cell is seen to improve RF condition through
achieving significant gains in SINR by having the significant
interfering cells transmit the same Physical Cell Identity (PCI),
which is regarded as cell level diversity [1]. The studies
regarding combined cells are done in Universal Mobile
Telecommunication System (UMTS) heterogeneous network
[2] as well as in LTE network [3] however those papers are
mainly for mobility perspective analyses. It is known that the
major drawback of combined cell is that the potential area
splitting capacity gain of LTE cells are not utilized [3]. In this
paper, the combined cell is studied for LTE network to
improve the overall DL throughput performance, not only for
mobility improvement. This study ensures the efficient
combined cell design that the combined cell system is
effectively utilized to provide superior DL throughput
performance.
The paper is structured as follows: in Section II the
obtained data measurements, simulations and calculation
derivations for the combined cell performance evaluation
quantities are discussed. The simulation and the calculation
methodologies are applied in actual field test and the combined
cell simulation results for fix load are evaluated in Section III.
The DL throughput result of a combined cell for varied load
and its relation to the limiting factors are presented in Section
IV and finally conclusions are stated in Section V.
II. COMBINED CELL CALCULATION METHOD
It is necessary in this paper to collect the measurement
quantities from LTE RF scanner (i.e. RSRP of serving and
neighbor cell) to simulate the combined cell Signal-to-Noise-
Ratio (SINR) and the throughput improvement. Reference
Signal Received Power (RSRP) is defined as the linear
average over the power contributions (in [W]) of the resource
elements that carry cell-specific reference signals within the
considered measurement frequency bandwidth [4].
A. Combined Cell SINR Calculation
One of the most significant aspects of combined cell
simulation is the calculation of combined cell SINR. It is
defined as the ratio between RSRP and one Resource Element
(RE) interference power [5]. It can be calculated as:
RSRPServing Cell
SINR= 10 log 10 { } (1)
M PDSCH x LNonSC +No W
Where,
RSRP Serving Cell: RSRP of the serving cell in mwatt,
M : Number of TX antenna used during data transmission,
PDSCH : Physical Downlink Shared Channel signal interfering the RS-
signal of the serving cell,
LNonSC : Average PRB load of neighboring cell,
NoW : Noise power which is -125.2dBm over a subchannel where
RS signal is transmitted.
It is shown in eq. (1) that SINR is calculated from the
RSRP of serving cell and the PDSCH signal of other cells
interfering the RS-signal of the serving cell. The PDSCH signal
of non-serving cell is not obtained in scanner measurements.
However, according to 3GPP [4], the ratio of PDSCH EPRE
(Energy Per Resource Element) to cell-specific RS EPRE
among PDSCH REs for each Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol is denoted by either A or B.
This A or B are signaled to higher layer by means of specific SINRCombined cell A+B = 10 log10 {
RSRPA+B
} (5)
RSRP[C+D+.] L [AB] +No W
parameter PA and PB. Based on the definition above, PDSCH
signal can be acquired using the measured RSRP and the
specific parameter PA and PB. In this paper, PA and PB To evaluate the SINR performance after cell is combined, a
parameters are termed as RSoffset. Hence, SINR calculation can mathematical SINR simulation is initially applied to the live
be expressed as network load condition in Tokyo metropolitan area. It is noted
RSRPServing Cell
that the network load condition during field measurement is
SINR= 10 log 10 { RSRP NonSC L NonSC } (2) 30%. It is shown in Fig. 3 that the data samples of poor SINR
M +No W
RSoffset exist in the cell border of a non-combined cell.
Where,
RSRPNonSC : sum of reference signal received power of non-serving cells and,
RSoffset : reference signal boost offset level.
Legend:
In this paper, the computation is performed using 3dB SINR [dB]]
boost RS-Power and 2x2 antenna system. With this Min x < 5
configuration, SINR computation can be further simplified as
5 x < 10
follows:
RSRPServing Cell 10 x < 15
SINR= 10 log10 { RSRPNonSC L NonSC +No W
} (3)
15 x < 20

Fig.1 shows the illustration of eq. (4) wherein cell A is the 20 x < 25
serving cell and all other cells surrounding it acts as an 25 x < 30
interferer. 30 x < Max

Fig. 3. Non-combined cell RSRP- SINR relation

However, when cell A and cell B are combined, SINR

improvement is observed when signal level from A and B are
similar as shown in Fig. 4. On the other hand, when cell A has
much higher RSRP compared to cell B or vice versa, the
combined cells result in no SINR improvement because its
added diversity gain becomes insignificant.

Fig. 1. SINR illustration of a single cell A.

Legend:
Single Cell A SINR: SINR [dB]]
RSRPA Min x < 5
SINRSingle Cell A = 10 log10 { } (4)
RSRP[B+C+D+.] L [A]+No W
5 x < 10
As for combined cell, the idea of obtaining SINRCombined cell 10 x < 15
is combining the significant interfering cell into the serving cell. 15 x < 20
Fig. 2 and eq. (5) illustrates the expected SINR improvement 20 x < 25
when the signal from B acting as an interferer is combined as
25 x < 30
diversity signal.
30 x < Max

Fig. 4. Combined cell RSRP- SINR relation

It is envisaged from this investigation that the combined

cell SINR improvement is mainly observed at the cell border
areas and the degree of SINR improvement becomes higher
when the combined cell RSRP increases significantly.
B. TBS Improvement
The next step is to know the impact of SINR gain in
throughput and this is explained by means of Transport Block
Fig. 2. SINR illustration of combined cell A and cell B.
Size (TBS) improvement. It can be said that TBS
Combined Cell A+B SINR: improvement is directly related to spectral efficiency
improvement. In [6], spectral efficiency is defined as
normalized user throughput capacity, which is the maximum
user throughput divided by the channel bandwidth. It is the
number of correctly received bits normalized by the consumed
resource in time and in bandwidth (bps/Hz) [7]. In LTE,
Physical Resource Block (PRB) is the smallest unit of
bandwidth assigned by the base station scheduler [8]. Hence, it
is effective to convert spectrum efficiency to TBS per PRB
(bits/ms/PRB) to be used as the metric in this study. From the
definition above, it is possible to express TBS (throughput)
improvement as the gain in the amount of TBS that can be
transmitted over a single PRB.
In this study, the effective TBS per PRB at every SINR
level is obtained from the actual full download User
Equipment (UE) measurement data collected along Yamanote
train line in Tokyo metropolitan. It is observed that with better
SINR, TBS per PRB is improved, and therefore the same
traffic volume can be transferred in a shorter period of time
with bigger TBS. As a result, TBS improvement is capable of
transmitting the same amount of traffic volume with less
required PRB or better throughput with same amount of PRB.
As an example, Fig. 5 shows that when SINR is improved
from 0dB to 6dB, the DL throughput can be doubled if the
similar number of PRBs are allocated.
Fig. 5. SINR to TBS per PRB mapping from full download UE log data
C. Combined Cell Load Simulation
Combined cell is capable of improving the cell edge
performance in terms of SINR. Nevertheless, it is noted that
capacity of the combined cell system is sacrificed because of
the shared PRB resources. Since the capacity usage is very
crucial in the design of cell combining, it is necessary to
evaluate the load condition before and after the cell is
combined.
It is described in this section the calculation of combined
cell load and the consideration of traffic volume. The traffic
volume is defined as the amount of traffic or data that UE
downloads (e.g. 5Mbytes). As for combined cell, the traffic
volume of a combined cell is equivalent to the traffic volume
of 2 component cells. This traffic volume is the product of the
amount of transmitted data in a single resource (TBS per PRB)
and the total resources needed (PRB) to obtain the desired
traffic volume. It is expressed as:
Traffic VolSFN = Traffic VolA +Traffic VolB (6)
TBS per PRBSFN PRBSFN = (TBS per PRBA PRBA )+
(TBS per PRBB PRBB ) (7)
Where,
Traffic VolSFN : traffic volume at a combined cell A and B
Traffic VolA : traffic volume at cell A,
Traffic VolB : traffic volume at cell B,
TBS per PRB : transmitted traffic or data in a single resource
PRB : number of allocated resources needed to obtain the desired
traffic volume.
It can be said that the transmitted data in a single resource in
both cells are same when cell A and cell B have the same
radio condition,
(i.e. TBS per PRBA TBS per PRBB TBS per PRBCurrent )
Then,
TBS per PRBSFN PRBSFN = TBS per PRBCurrent
(PRBA + PRBB ) (8)
Since cell A and cell B have same LTE system bandwidth,
PRBx (resources needed) is equivalent with Loadx (resources
used).
TBS per PRBSFN LoadSFN = TBS per PRBCurrent
(LoadA + LoadB ) (9)
LoadSFN = (LoadA +LoadB )
TBS per PRBCurrent
(10)
TBS per PRBSFN
Where,
LoadSFN : load of a combined cell load,
LoadA , LoadB : component cell load
TBS per PRBcurrent : transmitted traffic or data in a single resource
of a single cell.
TBS per PRBSFN : transmitted traffic or data in a single resource of
a combined cell.
From the derived combined cell load calculation (Load
SFN), eq. (10) shows the two limiting factors which greatly
affect the load condition of a combined cell. The first fact is
that combined cell results in halved available capacity since
the load (resources used) from each cell are summed while the
total PRB capacity remains the same. Hence, the combined
cell load is dependent on the loads of the component cells. The
second fact is that combined cell load is dependent on the
SINR and TBS improvement. A combined cell with improved
SINR and TBS provides better cell capability as the same
amount of traffic volume can be transmitted with less required
PRB
As an example, in the previous sample where SINR
improves from 0dB to 6dB, TBS per PRB is doubled from 100
bit to 200 bit, the new load of the combined cell becomes
(LoadA + LoadB). In other area where there are no SINR
improvement, the new load becomes 1 (LoadA + LoadB).
III. COMBINED CELL SIMULATION RESULT FOR FIX LOAD
The simulation is performed based on the scanner
measurement data collected in Tokyo metropolitan area with
three-sector eNB configuration. It is noted that the
overlapping level is also considered to evaluate the impact of
two cells being combined in a three-sector eNB. The approach
in this study is to evaluate combined cell performance at fix
30% load at different overlapping level in different area.
A. Intra-eNB Overlapping & Combined Cell Scenario TABLE II. COMBINED CELL SINR IMPROVEMENT COMPARISON
IN DIFFERENT OVERLAPPING SCENARIOS
Using scanner measurements (i.e. RSRP), overlapping Scenario A B C D
level of combined cells can be obtained. It is calculated in a SINR Improvement (dB) 2.77 1.07 -0.29 -0.46
cell edge condition wherein edge is defined when RSRP of
Top1 PCI Top2 PCI is less than 5dB. Table I shows the
obtained overlapping level of selected PCI combinations The result reveals that in a 3-sector eNB, a significant
wherein PCI 133-134 has the highest overlapping (28.40%). SINR improvement is achieved when the overlapping of two-
component cell is high. These overlapping details can also be
obtained from network Key Performance Indicator (KPI) from
TABLE I THREE-SECTOR INTRA-ENB OVERLAPPING
number of handovers between the related combined cells
PCI Overlapping normalized by the number of Connected User (CU).
Weighted
Scenario Area Combinati Level
on
PDF C. Combined Cell Load Calculation Results
Scenario A Area 1 133-134 28.40% High The next step is to calculate the load condition after the cell
Scenario B Area 1 12-133 14.20% Low combining process. The combined cell load (Load SFN) is
Scenario C Area 2 147-148 13.1% Low calculated using the derived formula in eq. (10) where SINR
Scenario D Area 2 299-147 4.70% Low improvement, TBS improvement and component cell load
served as the main inputs.
B. Combined Cell SINR Calculation Results TABLE III. COMBINED CELL LOAD COMPARISON
IN DIFFERENT OVERLAPPING SCENARIOS
In scenario A, significant SINR gain is mainly observed in
Scenario A B C D
Intra-eNB edge as shown in Fig. 6. However, some SINR
Load SFN (%) 46.5% 53.8% 61.14% 61.91%
reduction is observed on the area where it is served by other
PCI. The SINR degradation caused by other PCI is due to
additional interference coming from additional load from the Table III shows that with 30% fix component cell load, cell
combined cell. combination done in scenario A provides the least combined
cell load. This is because combined cell with high overlap
component acquired significant TBS gain which is capable to
transfer same amount of data with less required PRB hence less
load.
D. Combined Cell Throughput Calculation Results
Combined cells DL throughput performance is mainly
dependent on two limiting factors which are aforementioned
in previous section, the combined cells SINR and the
combined cells load.
In this paper, combined cells SINR is affected by the cell
overlapping level. A combined cell with high component cell
Fig. 6. SINR changes in scenario A SINR changes in scenario A overlap is capable of providing significant SINR and TBS gain.
This SINR and TBS improvement in a combined cell yields to
Fig.7 shows the overlapping condition in area 1
improved DL throughput performance. As an example, general
measurement wherein PCI133-134 have more cell overlapping
throughput improvement in area 1 can be observed when
compared to PCI 133-12. As a result, higher simulated SINR
combined cell is done between PCI 133-134 (scenario A)
improvement is observed when cell combination is done
compared to PCI 133-12 (scenario B) because scenario A has
between PCI 133-134 (scenario A) rather than PCI133-12
higher overlapping compared to B. It is shown in Table IV that
combination (scenario B) as shown in Table II.
only scenario A results to throughput improvement.

TABLE IV DL THROUGHPUT IMPROVEMENT COMPARISON

IN DIFFERENT OVERLAPPING SCENARIOS
Scenario A B C D
Throughput
1.05 -0.66 -1.78 -1.81
Improvement (Mbps)

IV. COMBINED CELL SIMULATION RESULTS FOR VARIED LOAD

In this section, combined cell performance at varied
component load is evaluated. Scenario A is used for the
evaluation of high component cell overlap while scenario B is
used for low component cell overlap.
Fig. 7 Overlapping level in area 1
A. Combined cell load condition results at varied component
cell load
The combined cell load (Load SFN) is calculated using the
derived formula in eq. (10). Evaluation of combined cell with
varied component cell load was done separately for both high
and low overlapping as shown in Table V and VI.
TABLE V HIGH-COMPONENT CELL OVERLAPPING-LOAD CONDITION
TBS
SINR
Component Load Improvement
Improvement Load SFN
Cell Load A+B SINRSFN Factor
SINRcurrent TBS per PRBcurrent/
TBS per PRBSFN
10% 20% 2.62 0.83 16.6%
Fig. 8 Combined cell average throughput with component cell load relation in
20% 40% 2.72 0.80 31.8% high component cell-overlapping
30% 60% 2.77 0.78 46.5%
40% 80% 2.81 0.76 60.8% However, throughput improvement of a combined cell
50% 100% 2.84 0.75 74.9% with low component cell overlap is achievable at lower
60% 120% 2.86 0.74 88.8% component cell load. The reasonable component cell load will
70% 140% 2.88 0.73 100.0%
further reduce to maintain throughput efficiency of a combined
cell. Fig. 9 shows that combine cell throughput improvement
TABLE VI LOW-COMPONENT CELL OVERLAPPING-LOAD CONDITION with low component cell overlap is acquired when component
SINR
TBS cell load is below 20%. Hence, combined cell with low overlap
Component Load Improvement results to smaller cell capability because component cell loads
Improvement Load SFN
Cell Load A+B SINRSFN Factor are accumulated but there is no TBS improvement to
SINRcurrent TBS per PRBcurrent/
TBS per PRBSFN compensate the additional loads.
10% 20% 0.90 0.93 18.7%
20% 40% 1.00 0.91 36.5%
30% 60% 1.07 0.90 53.8%
40% 80% 1.11 0.88 70.7%
50% 100% 1.15 0.87 87.4%
60% 120% 1.19 0.87 100.0%
70% 140% 1.21 0.86 100.0%

The evaluation shows that with varied component cell load,

higher SINR and TBS gain is achieved in a high overlapping
component cell compared to low overlapping cell. As a result,
better cell capability is observed when combined cell is
implemented in a high component cell overlap as less load in
combined cell is utilized to transfer same amount of data.
B. Combined cell throughput results at varied component cell
load
Fig. 8 shows that with high component cell overlap,
combined cell throughput obtained superior DL performance
compared to non-combined cell only when component cell load
is less than 40%. However, combined cell throughput is
expected to degrade when the component cell load is more than
40%. This is because the PRB resources of two cells are shared
in a combined cell.
Fig. 9 Combined cell average throughput with component cell load relation in
low component cell-overlapping
The study discloses that combined cell can provide
superior DL throughput performance when the component cell
load is varied from ~20% to 40% depending on the component
carrier overlapping level. This explains that a component cell
load limit for combining cells must be design accordingly to
avoid degradation on end users DL throughput performance.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, DL performance of LTE combined cell is
evaluated based on component cell overlapping level and
component cell load. The study shows that combined cell
provides large SINR/throughput improvements in the
component cell overlapping area with slight degradation on
the nearby cell. The degradation is mainly observed due to
additional load on the combined cell that provides higher
interference to the neighboring cell. Moreover, SINR and
throughput gain in relation with component cell overlapping
become significant as the overlapping level between
component cells become larger. Whereas, SINR/throughput
reduction in relation with component cell average load is
observed as the total of combined cell load becomes higher.
Thus, in order to obtain reasonable improvement level and
effectively utilized combined cell feature in LTE network, it is
recommended to implement this feature only when the
average of component cell load is below 20-40% depending
on the component cell overlapping level.
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