LTE PRE LAUNCH OPTIMIZATION

Nov 2017
Agenda

 Drive Test Radio Parameters

 Coverage Problems Identification & Optimization

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DT Radio Parameters
RSRP : Reference Signal Received Power

RSRP (dBm) can be calculated by the following formula :

RSRP = RSSI (dBm) -10*log (12*N)

where RSSI = Received Signal Strength Indicator
N: number of RBs across the RSSI is measured and depends on the BW

Significance : RSRP is the most basic of the UE physical layer measurements and is the linear average power (in watts) of the
downlink reference signals (RS) across the channel bandwidth for the Resource elements that carry cell specific Reference
Signals. Knowledge of absolute RSRP provides the UE with essential information about the strength of cells from which path
loss can be calculated and used in the algorithms for determining the optimum power settings for operating the network.
Reference signal receive power is used both in idle and connected states
his counter counts the uplink service time during which the eNodeB buffer becomes empty from being not empty, not including
the data transmission time for tail packets and data completed through one data scheduling.

Range : -44 to -140 dBm

Comparison (Reference) : RSRP term is used for coverage same as RSCP in 3G

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DT Radio Parameters
RSRQ : Reference Signal Received Quality

RSRQ (dB) can be calculated by the following formula :

RSRQ = RSRP / (RSSI / N) (dBm) -10*log (12*N)

where RSSI = Received Signal Strength Indicator
N: number of RBs across the RSSI is measured and depends on the BW

Significance : It provides the Indication of Signal Quality . Measuring RSRQ becomes particularly important near the cell
edge when decisions need to be made, regardless of absolute RSRP, to perform a handover to the next cell. Reference
signal receive quality is used only during connected states

Range : -3 to -19.5 dB

Comparison (Reference) : RSRQ term is used for quality same as Ec/No in 3G

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DT Radio Parameters
SINR : Signal to Interference + Noise Ratio

SINR can be calculated by the following formula :

SINR = S / ( I + N)
where S = Average received signal power
I : Average Interference Power
N : Noise Power

Significance : SINR is a way to measure the Quality of LTE Wireless Connections. As the energy of signal fades with
distance i.e Path Loss due to environmental parameters ( e.g. background noise , interfering strength of other
simultaneous transmission)

Range : 0 to 30
0 to 5 : Poor
5 to 15 : Average
15 to 25 : Good
25 to 30 : Excellent

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DT Radio Parameters
RSSI : Received Signal Strength Indicator

RSSI can be calculated by the following formula :

RSSI = Wide Band Power = Noise + Serving Cell Power + Interference Power

RSSI = 12 x N x RSRP
where N : number of RBs across the RSSI is measured and depends on the BW

Significance : It is the parameter represents the entire received power including the wanted power from the serving cell
as well as all the co channel power & other sources of noise

Values : If RSSI <= -110 (Good, no issues)

If RSSI >= 100 or -95 (Interference Issue)

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DT Radio Parameters
CQI : Channel Quality Indicator

Significance : CQI is a measurement of the communication quality of wireless channels i.e. it indicates the downlink
mobile radio channel quality as experienced by the UE .CQI can be a value representing a measure of channel quality for
a given channel. Typically, a high value CQI is indicative of a channel with high quality and vice versa.

CQI is measured in Dedicated Mode Only

CQI depends on RF Conditions

Range : 0 to 15 (Higher the CQI is better the DL Throughput would be received & vice versa)

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DT Radio Parameters
PCI : Physical Cell ID

Significance : PCI used to identify the cell

Formula For Calculation :

PCI = PSS + 3 * SSS

Where,
PSS – Primary Synchronization Signal ( Identifies Cell ID i.e. 0,1,2)
SSS – Secondary Synchronization Signal (Identifies Cell ID Group, i.e. 0 to 167)

Guidelines for PCI Planning :

• Co‐PCI assignment for close sites needs to be avoided

• Sectors on the same eNode B should have the same SSS code but different PSS (assuming three sectored sites).
This is not mandatory but helps synchronization of UEs and improves traceability of the PCI assignment.
• Co‐PCI assignment for the neighbors needs to be avoided. If the neighbors are Co‐PCI, the handover process
may fail. Also, this is the trickiest requirement. (We will be adding an analysis in the LTE toolbox that evaluates
the PCI assignment and detects this condition)
• It is common to allocate a separate set of PCIs for outdoor cells and indoor cells. The reason is again
management of the PCIs and the fact that indoor cells are rarely tri‐sectored. They are usually deployed in
variety of antenna configurations.

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Significance of Coverage Optimization

Superior radio coverage is essential for the quality and indicators of a

mobile communication network. With appropriate parameter
configuration, a radio network can deliver high performance. However,
there is always severe co-channel interference in LTE networks because
co-channel networking solutions are generally used in the LTE
networks. Therefore, excellent coverage and interference control are of
great significance for network performance.
Coverage Problem Description

 Common coverage problems in a mobile communication network are as follows:

 Coverage blindspots: UEs can neither be registered to the network nor provided with any
network services.
 Weak coverage: an area with a low access success rate, high call drop rate, and bad user
perception.
 Overshoot coverage: an “island” area with bad user perception due to call drops during UEs’
movement.
 Absence of a primary cell: an area with bad channel quality, low access success rate, and low
downloading rate due to interference
 Inappropriate neighboring cell configuration: an area with high call drop rate and unstable
downloading rate due to ping-pong handover of UEs
 All the problems severely affect user perception because the KPIs of the radio network cannot
meet the requirements.
Causes for Coverage Problems

The accuracy of network planning involves accurate selection and

Inaccurate radio network planning correction of propagation models, digital maps, simulation parameter
settings, and simulation software.

Desirable site locations fail to be obtained due to various reasons,

Actual and planned location deviation
resulting in coverage problems during network construction.

The actual antenna height, azimuth, downtilt angle, and antenna type
Inconsistent actual and planned parameters are not matched to the planned ones due to bad installation quality,
resulting in coverage problems after network construction.

The wireless environment changes with the construction of high

Changes in the wireless environment buildings in cities.
The waveguide effect and the reflection from water surfaces likely
result in radio coverage problems.

The network coverage changes due to expansion of coverage areas,

New coverage requirements
addition or relocation of sites.

LTE co-channel networking, hard handover, and coverage optimization must focus
on strengthening primary cells and controlling co-channel interference.
Superior radio coverage is essential for the quality and indicators of a mobile
communication network.
LTE Coverage Optimization Goals
 Outdoor coverage optimization
What needs to  Outdoor coverage optimization aims
to eliminate the following coverage
be done to problems in an LTE network: coverage
optimize blindspots, weak coverage, overshoot
coverage, and absence of a primary
coverage? cell. Coverage blindspots are actually
weak coverage problems, while
overshoot coverage and absence of a
primary cell can be viewed as cross
coverage problems. Therefore, from
the perspective of actual
implementation, the aim of coverage
optimization is to eliminate weak
coverage and cross coverage.
 Developing coverage optimization
goals is to work out a standard to
solve above problems to a maximum
extent based on the network
construction on site.
Thank you