WCDMA RNP Link Budget

WCDMA RNP Link Budget

July 11, 2016

Link Budget in WCDMA

The link budget is used to calculate

path loss to maintain a link between th
and the receiver on a specific environm
corresponding cell range can be derive
loss with a propagation model.

Contents
Introduction
Parameters of Link Budget
Example of Link Budget

Introduction
Link Budget
Forward link :

Difficult to assess: depends on the cell edge level of interference on

the location of the mobile

Reverse link:

Easy to assess
Largely used in RND / RNO

Introduction
Interference

WCDMA is intrinsically Interference limited system

Coverage and capacity depend on the interference experimented by

the receiver

Introduction
Interference on the Forward link
Primary source of interference: typically power broadcasted by
surrounding cells
Secondary source of Interference: other links in the same cell
serving other UE

Introduction
Interference on the Reverse link
Primary source of interference: other UE in the same cell
Secondary source of Interference: other UE outside the
cell. These UE are not under the power control of the cell.

Introduction
Interference reduction during RNP

critical
Need of thorough guidelines in order to:
Reduce co-channel interference
Reduce adjacent frequencies interference
own network
Network of Competitors

Contents
Introduction
Parameters of Link Budget
Example of Link Budget

Link Budget Parameters

Analysis Scenarios
Maximum Transmission Power of DCH
Cable Loss & Body Loss
Antenna Gain
EIRP(Equivalent isotropic Radiation Power)
Noise Figure
Required Eb/No
Sensitivity of receiver

Link Budget Parameters

Interference margin
Margin of Background Noise
Fast Fading Margin
Minimum Required Signal Strength
Penetration Loss
slow Fading Margin
Soft Handover Gain
Propagation Model

Analysis Scenarios
Morphology

Generally, there are 5 types of planning area:

Dense Urban
Urban
Suburban
Rural Area
Highway

The type of area impacts:

Mean penetration loss
Standard deviation of slow fading
Propagation Model & the factor of path loss

Analysis Scenarios
Morphology (Cont.)

Various planning strategies are applied according to the type of area.

It is necessary to configure following parameters:

Channel model
Sectorization
Indoor coverage
Target service (seamless coverage)
TMA and Diversity mode
Cell loading
Average antenna height
Cable loss

Analysis Scenarios
Channel model

The channel model defines the number of signal path, relative path
loss and delay variance to abstract the wireless channel.
According to specifications of 3GPP R4(TR25.943 V4.0.0), typical
channel models are used as following:

Static: no multipath
TU3: typical urban area, pedestrian, 3km/h
TU50: typical urban area, vehicle, 50km/h
TU120: typical urban area, vehicle, 120km/h
RA120: rural area, vehicle, 120km/h
RA250: rural area, vehicle, 250km/h
HT120: high terrain, vehicle, 120km/h

Analysis Scenarios
Channel model (Cont.)

Values of some parameters vary with the channel in the wireless

environment. The variances are acquired generally by the link
simulation.
Link performance: required EbNo in both channels
Downlink interference margin: due to the variance of orthogonal
factor in different channel environments
Fast fading margin (Power control headroom): due to different link
performance
Soft handover gain over fast fading margin: due to different link
performance

Analysis Scenarios
Sectorization

Three types of sectorization are commonly used:

Omni
3-sector
6-sector

The item cause changes:

Antenna gain: the antenna type is different with the sectorization.
Cell loading: the area of cell coverage and thus soft handover
overhead vary with sectorization.

Analysis Scenarios
Bearer Type

This is the bit rate that the user service requires.

Generally in UMTS the following options are supported:

4.75 kb/s
5.15 kb/s
5.9 kb/s
6.7 kb/s

7.4 kb/s
7.95 kb/s
10.2 kb/s
12.2 kb/s
(AMR Voice Codec)

64 kb/s LCD&UDD
144 kb/s LCD&UDD
384 kb/s LCD&UDD
The requirements
of EbNo are different with bearers or services.

Analysis Scenarios
Diversity mode

The diversity in Node B

Uplink receive diversity
two-antenna
four-antenna

Downlink transmit diversity

None
STTD (Space Time Transmit Diversity)
Closedloop-Mode1
Closedloop-mode2

The link performance, required EbNo, is improved by the diversity.

Analysis Scenarios
Tower Mounted Amplifier (TMA)

TMA will boost signal strength to overcome the effect of noise in

the first amplifier on the receiver.
It can be very useful when the feeder loss is so large.
The noise figure of the receiver will be improved if TMA is used.

Analysis Scenarios
Indoor coverage

Whether indoor coverage is available depends on the intention of

the operator.
The penetration loss and the standard deviation of slow fading are
subject to the requirement for indoor coverage.

Maximum Transmission Power of TCH

Uplink TX Power

For a UE, the maximum transmission power of DCH is the same as

its nominal maximum output power.
The UE is assumed to transmit the maximum power in the link
budget. According to 3GPP TS 25.101 V3.7.0, four classes of
output power are specified for UE:
Power Class
1
2
3
4

Nominal maximum
output power
+33 dBm
+27 dBm
+24 dBm
+21 dBm

Tolerance
+1/-3 dB
+1/-3 dB
+1/-3 dB
2 dB

Maximum Transmission Power of TCH

Downlink TX Power

The maximum transmission power for a TCH in the downlink is

determined by the RNC and varies with the service.
In the link budget, it can be configured according to the service
type, capacity requirement and concern of link balance.

Cable Loss
The cable between the cabinet and the antenna or TMA often
introduces loss of signal power.
The cable loss impacts:
Noise Figure of the receiver in the uplink
EIRP in the downlink
For the 7/8 cable, the loss is about to be 6dB per hundred- meter
length in 2G frequency band. Besides, the loss of jumper and
connector should be included.

Body Loss
Introduces the effect of the human being handling the
terminal in the link budget.
And depends on the operational conditions.
Typical values are about 3dB for voice service and 0dB for
data service.

Antenna Gain
Accounts for the gain at the antennas of the mobile terminal
and Base Station
Typical values for the Mobile station are 0dBi .
Base station antennas gains are dependant on
configuration.

EIRP
Equivalent Isotropic Radiation Power (EIRP) is defined as
follows in Link Budget:

EIRP(dBm) MaximumTra nsmissionPowerOfDCH (dBm)

CableLoss (dB ) BodyLoss (dB ) GainOfAntenna (dB )

Noise Figure
UE

Typical value for UE receiver is 7dB

BS

Define the cable connector of the antenna as the reference point for NF
calculation to accommodate the cases of with and without TMA
In the case of without TMA and 3 dB for cable loss, according to the
following diagram and the formula of NF calculation,

NF

XdB

NF at this port:
2.72 dB

Cable

NodeB

Gain
-XdB
the noise figure can be calculated
as follows:

NF NFCable

NFCabinetTop 1
GCable

10 lg(10

0.3

10 0.272 1

) 5.72
0.3
10

Noise Figure
BS (Cont.)

In the case of with TMA and 3dB for cable loss,

NF

Gain

0.5dB

2.0dB

XdB

Jumper
before TMA

TMA

Cable

-0.5dB

12dB

-XdB

NF at this port is Channel Gain

related, See Table Below

NodeB

similarly the noise figure can be calculated as follows:

NFCabinetTop 1
NFTMA 1
NFCable 1
NF NFJumper

GJumper
GJumper GTMA GJumper GTMA GCable
Note: the NFCabinetTop is a variable parameter because of gain adjustment
to compensate gain variance and maintain a constant RF channel gain.

Required EbNo
Needed by the user service to maintain the link with
acceptable quality.
Output from Link-level Simulation according to the following
factors:

Channel type
Mobile speed
QoS
Receiver implementation

Sensitivity of the Receiver

Minimum signal power on the cable connector of antenna needed
by the receiver to demodulate signal with specific BER or BLER
target.
In the Link Budget, the sensitivity of receiver is determined by
performance of BS or UE itself and required Eb/No.
Diversity, service and channel-related impacts on the sensitivity of
receiver are included in the relevant required Eb/No

S log 10( KTW ) NF EbN 0 log 10(W / Rb)

log 10( KT ) NF EbN 0 log 10( Rb )
K: Koltzmann constant
T: temperatures in degrees Kelvin
W: receiver bandwidth
NF: Noise Figure of the receiver on the cable connector of antenna
EbNo: required demodulation threshold
Rb: bit rate of service

Sensitivity of the Receiver

Note that the concept of sensitivity of the receiver is different from that
defined in the specification of 3GPP TS25.104 V3.7.0 in the following
aspects:

Reference point: it is the cable connector of the antenna whether a TMA is

available in the link budget; comparatively in the protocol it is defined as where the
figure indicates:

BS
cabinet

External
LNA

External
di plexer
or
RX filter

(if any)

(if any)

From
antenna connector

Diversity mode: it is assumed a receiver with available diversity in the link budget;
but none for the requirements in the protocol.
Test port A
Test port B
Channel model: only static channel is assumed in the specification requirements.

Interference Margin
The interference margin is used to account for the increase
in the interference level within the cell due to other users.
It introduces in the Link Budget a way for accounting for the
loading of the cell.
The more loading is allowed the larger margin is needed.
Typical values for the interference margin are between 13dB corresponding to 20%-50% loading in the uplink.

Uplink Loading
The loading factor can be defined as:
1

UL 1 i

j 1

1
W 1

( Eb / N 0 ) j R j v j

Where Rj is the bit rate of the j-th link in the cell

j is the user activity factor
i is the other to own cell interference ratio
EbN0 is the target for the j-th link in the cell
W is the chip rate

Uplink Interference Margin

The uplink interference margin should be equal to the
maximum planned noise rise in BS receiver:
IM UL NoiseRise

1
1 UL

Downlink Loading
In the Downlink the loading factor can be expressed as
N

DL

1
W 1
j 1
1

( Eb / N 0 ) j R j v j

(1 j i j )

Where j is the orthogonality factor in the downlink

Rj is the bit rate of the j-th link in the cell
j is the user activity factor
ij is the other to own cell interference ratio of j-th link
Eb/N0 is the target for the j-th link in the cell
W is the chip rate

Downlink Interference Margin

The downlink interference margin should be equal to the
planned maximum noise rise in the receiver of UE on cell
edge. For a user j on cell edge:

NoiseRise j

I Total ( j )
PN

PN I SC I OC

PN
1

( j i j ) PBS _ TX / CL j

1 ( j i j )

PN
N
PCCH
( E / N ) CL
[ vn b 0 n n ]
CL j PN n 1
W / Rn CL j

1 DL

Downlink Interference Margin

Where j is the orthogonality factor in the downlink
Rj is the bit rate of the j-th link in the cell
j is the user activity factor
ij is the other to own cell interference ratio
Eb/N0 is the target for the j-th link in the cell
W is the chip rate
PCCH is the common channel power transmitted by the BS
PN is the noise floor of UE
CLj is the coupling loss, which is the loss between the antenna
connectors
of BS
cabinet and
UE
receiver for
j-thlink
CL PathLoss
BodyLoss
Penetratio
nLoss
GainsOfAnt
ennae
CableLoss

Downlink Interference Margin

Assuming there are enough users in the cell and demodulation
performance is irrelevant to location, such approximation can be
supposed:
N

[ vn
n 1

( Eb / N 0 ) n
(E / N )
CLn ] N E{vn b 0 n CLn ]} N SIR CL
W / Rn
W / Rn

DL

1
W 1
j 1
1

( Eb / N 0 ) j R j v j

N E{[vn

( Eb / N 0 ) j
W / Rj

( Eb / N 0 ) j

j 1

W / Rj

(1 j i j ) [vn

(1 j i j )]} N SIR ( i )

(1 j i j )]

Downlink Interference Margin

So the downlink interference margin can be written as:

IM DL NoiseRise j
N
PCCH
( E / N ) CL
[vn b 0 n n ]
CL j PN n 1
W / Rn CL j
E{1 ( j i j )
}
1 DL

1 ( j i j )
1

( j i j )
1 DL

N
PCCH
( E / N ) CL
[vn b 0 n n ]
CL j PN n 1
W / Rn CL j

1 DL
PCCH / CL j
PN

DL CL

)
i CL j

Note: mean values without subscript j refer to averaging over all users in the cell;
mean values with subscript j refer to averaging over users on the cell edge.

Interference Margin (IM) vs. Load Factor

An example of downlink interference margin vs. downlink
loading with balanced links is depicted as:

Interference Margin vs. Load Factor

It indicates a nonlinear relationship between downlink
interference margin and load factor.
While downlink load factor approaches unit, the system
reaches its pole capacity and the noise rise over thermal
goes to infinity.
Because of common channel power, the noise rise over
thermal is a non-zero value while no user accesses to the
cell. It is different from that of uplink.

IM vs. Load Factor vs. Coupling Loss

According to the following figure, it should be noticed that
the variation of coupling loss on the cell edge will impact
the noise rise of UE there.

Total Transmission Power vs. Load Factor

In the downlink, it is important to estimate the total amount
of BS transmission power required.

Total Transmission Power vs. Load Factor

Starting from the same point where load factor is zero,
power requirements reach the maximum limited by the
power amplifier in different rates, and with different
downlink loading.
And the figure also presents that the larger the cell range,
the faster the increase rate and the less load factor while
hitting the limit.
It means that for a large cell, the BS should allocate more
power for compensating path loss instead of more links
than the BS of a small cell does.

Optimal Design with PA and Capacity

Generally, the larger maximum transmission power , the
more available capacity. But regarding the issue of costperformance ratio, there is a optimal design with capacity
and maximum transmission power, which determines the
cost of the power amplifier, the most valuable component of
BS hardware.

Another Definition of DL Load & IM

Due to the limit of transmission power in downlink, the
loading can be estimated by:

DL

PBS _ TX
PMAX

PCCH

PMAX

PDCH ( j )
j

PMAX

Accordingly, the interference margin in downlink is:

IM DL NoiseRise j
E[1 ( j i j )
1 ( j i j )

PMAX DL
]
PN CL j

PMAX DL
PN CL j

Note that mean values of j, ij and CLj are caculated by

averaging over users on the cell edge.

Another Definition of DL Load & IM

With given j, ij, CLj and maximum transmission power, the
interference margin changes linearly with the load in the
DL.
Due to an intuitive linear relationship, together with the
concern of the link between transmission power and
capacity in the downlink, this definition of DL load and
interference margin is applied in the link budget.

Margin of Background Noise

Accounts for the environmental noise above the thermal noise of
the receiver.
The background noise is introduced by other systems, human
beings and so on.
A non-zero margin of background noise means:

Reduced cell range of the network

Reduced capacity of the network

MGN (dB ) ( X (dBm) Y (dBm)) X (dBm)

Fast Fading Margin

In the link budget, the required EbNo is estimated by the linklevel simulation with the assumption of perfect power control.
The assumption will be invalid If a terminal transmits with
maximum power on the cell edge and subsequently suffers
from fast fading. It is because the terminal cannot respond to
the power increase command issued by power control
algorithm from RNC.
The fast fading margin, or PC headroom, is included to
account for the additional headroom needed in the mobile
station transmission power to maintain adequate power.
Consequently, fast fading margin can be calculated as:

PC _ headroom EbNo _ noPC EbNo _ perfectPC

Minimum Required Signal Strength

On the base of sensitivity of the receiver, together with
gains, losses and margins, the minimum signal strength
required for achieving link quality can be estimated by:

For the uplink

Minimum Required Signal Strength Sensitivity of Receiver - Anetnna Gain
Interference Margin Fast Fading Margin
SHO Gain over Fast Fading
Margin for Background Noise

For the downlink

Minimum Required Signal Strength Sensitivity of Receiver - Anetnna Gain
Cable Loss Body Loss Interference Margin
Fast Fading Margin SHO Gain over Fast Fading
Margin for Background Noise

Penetration Loss
If indoor coverage is guaranteed, penetration loss should
be included in the link budget.
Angles of incidence, building structures and material are
among the factors determining penetration loss.
It is assumed that penetration loss is log-normal distributed
and described with standard deviation and mean value.
In the link budget, the standard deviation of penetration
loss combine with that of path loss to calculate the standard
deviation of indoor loss according to the following formula:

TOT 2 PathLoss 2 PenetrationLoss

Slow Fading Margin

If the Transmitter cannot increase its output power and
compensate the path loss to ensure minimum required
signal strength on the Receiver, the link will be failed and
outage occurs.
In order to ensure the coverage probability, or keep a
certain link outage probability, the Slow Fading Margin must
be considered.
Slow Fading Margin is relative to the coverage probability,
slop of path loss and Std Dev of slow fading.

Slow Fading Margin

The outage probability is:

Pr_ outage(d ) Pr{PUE _ max PL(d ) S min }

Pr{PUE _ max PL(d ) S min }
Pr{PUE _ max S min PL(d ) }
Pr{(d ) } Pr{ (d )}
Where (r ) PUE _ max S min PL(r ) PLmax PL(r ) , it represents the difference
between maximum permitted path loss and average path loss at a location
with the distance of r.
It is obvious that when a UE is located on the cell edge, it is of
most possibility for a outage to occurs.

Slow Fading Margin

With given standard variation of slow fading and maximum outage
probability on the cell edge, the cell range can be deduced by following
diagram:

Pr_ outage( R ) R PL( R ) R

1

R Q -1[Pr_ outage( R)]

PL( R) PLUE _ max S min ( R )

slow fading margin and

reserved in the calculation of path loss to ensure
3
Reverse
path loss function specified by Propagation Model
the coverage reliability.
More common than outage probability, minimum edge coverage probability
or area coverage probability are used in the target of network planning.

Slow Fading Margin

Considering the following expression:
(r ) PUE _ max S min PL(r ) PLmax PL(r )

It is assumed Smin is unrelated to the location. It is true for the

uplink.
Because the interference margin in the downlink is subject to the
location, the assumption is somewhat invalid.
But for the purpose of simplification, the slow fading margin in
both directions are supposed to be the same.

Soft Handover Gain

Soft handover gain accounts for the diversity gain achieved
during soft handover conditions .
In link Budget, we divide it into two parts as follows:

SHO gain over fast fading (Macro Diversity Combining Gain)

Reduce the requirement for EbNo on the cell edge
Estimated in different circumstances by the link-level simulation

Soft Handover Gain

SHO gain over slow fading (Multicell Gain)

More uncorrelated paths available to reduce the outage probability
The outage probability on the cell edge in SHO area is estimated by:

R _ SHO a 2
1 2
PrOutageSHO ( R)
e
[
Q
(
)] d

b
2
The gain can be resulted from:

G R _ Single R _ SHO

Propagation Model
With the path loss calculated in the link budget, the cell
range for the specific analysis scenario can be figured out
by using propagation model

COST231-Hata, Asset standard macrocell,

COST231-Hata model:

Propagation Model

Asset Standard Macro model is specified as following:

Contents
Introduction
Parameters of Link Budget
Example of Link Budget

Scenario of Link Budget

PL_DL

Soft Handover
Area

Antenna

Cable

Duplexer

SHO Gain

Slow Fading Margin

Penetration Loss

Interference Margin
Fast Fading Margin
Margin for
Background Noise

PL_UL
TX RX
Node B

Antenna

Duplexer
TX RX
UE

Body Loss
Interference Margin
Fast Fading Margin
Margin for Background
Noise

Receiver Sensitivity
PDCH_Max
Minimum Required Signal Strength
EiRP
PUE_Max

Uplink Budget
PL _ UL Pout _ UE Ga _ BS Ga _ UE Lc _ BS Lf _ BS
Mf G _ Mf Ms G _ Ms MI _ UL MBn Lp Lb S _ BS

PL_UL: maximum Path Loss in uplink

Pout_UE: maximum transmission power for traffic channel of UE
Lc_BS: cable loss in BS
Lf_BS: feeder loss in BS
Ga_BS: antenna gain in BS
Ga_UE: antenna gain in UE
Mf: margin of fast fading (TPC headroom)
G_Mf: SHO gain over fast fading
Ms: margin of slow fading (slow fading)
G_Ms: SHO gain over slow fading
MI_UL: margin of interference in uplink
MBn: margin of background noise
Lp: mean value of penetration loss
Lb: body loss
S_BS: sensitivity of BS receiver

Downlink Budget
PL _ DL Pout _ BS Lc _ BS Lf _ BS Ga _ BS Ga _ UE
Mf G _ Mf Ms G _ Ms MI _ DL MBn Lp Lb S _ UE

PL_DL: maximum Path Loss in downlink

Pout_BS: maximum transmission power for traffic channel of BS
Lc_BS: cable loss in BS
Lf_BS: feeder loss in BS
Ga_BS: antenna gain in BS
Ga_UE: antenna gain in UE
Mf: margin of fast fading (TPC headroom)
G_Mf: SHO gain over fast fading
Ms: margin of slow fading (slow fading)
G_Ms: SHO gain over slow fading
MI_DL: margin of interference
MBn: margin of background noise
Lp: mean value of penetration loss
Lb: body loss
S_UE: sensitivity of UE receiver

Example of Link Budget

Example of Link Budget

Example of Link Budget

Cell Coverage Calculation

The coverage area for one site is a hexagonal
configuration, which is estimated from

S K * R^2
S: coverage area
K: constant accounting for sector configuration
r: maximum cell range
Site configuration
Value of K

Omni
2.6

2-sectored 3-sectored 6-sectored

1.3
1.95
2.6