CQI Definition

HSDPA Channel Structure

• HS-DSCH - High-Speed Downlink Shared Channel
• HS-PDSCH - High-Speed Physical Downlink Shared Channel
• HS-SCCH - High-Speed Shared Control Channel(s)
• HS-DPCCH - High-Speed Dedicated Physical Control Channel
• A-DCH (DPDCH+DPCCH) - Associated Dedicated Channel

A-DCH
HS-DSCH

RBS B
RBS A
 CQI - Channel Quality Indicator
• Channel quality knowledge at UE needed in the RBS
– Link adaptation
– Scheduling

• CQI
– UE measures and reports a recommended transport format to the RBS
– Accounts for channel conditions and UE receiver performance
– UE shall report the highest tabulated CQI value for a single HS-DSCH sub-frame

• Transport format
– Transport block size, number of HS-PDSCH codes and modulation scheme etc

• Measured in a 3-slot reference period ending 1 slot before the start of the first slot in
which the reported CQI value is transmitted
 CQI - Channel Quality Indicator
Scheduling decision

start data transmission

HS-SCCH

HS-PDSCH

~7.5 slot ~2.5 slot

HS-DPCCH A/N CQI

CPICH meas. 1 slot

reference period ~7.5 slot

 CQI - Channel Quality Indicator
• For the purpose of CQI reporting, the UE shall assume a total received HS-PDSCH
power of
PHSPDSCH  PCPICH    
• The measurement power offset Γ is the parameter hsMeasurementPowerOffset value

• The reference power adjustment Δ is given by tables in 3GPP 25.214

• The UE uses the "guessed" HS-PDSCH power (according to the formula) to derive
likely BLER values for each of the transport formats corresponding to each CQI
values

• UE reports the highest of these CQIs that still satisfies BLER < 10%

• The algorithm is UE vendor dependent but one possibility is to use table lookup
based on the known UE receiver behavior
CQI Mapping Table
CQI mapping table for UE categories 11 and 12.

Transport Number of Reference power

CQI value
Block Size HS-PDSCH
Modulation adjustment 

1 137 1 QPSK 0

2 173 1 QPSK 0

3 233 1 QPSK 0

4 317 1 QPSK 0

5 377 1 QPSK 0

6 461 1 QPSK 0

7 650 2 QPSK 0

8 792 2 QPSK 0

9 931 2 QPSK 0

10 1262 3 QPSK 0

11 1483 3 QPSK 0

12 1742 3 QPSK 0

13 2279 4 QPSK 0

14 2583 4 QPSK 0

15 3319 5 QPSK 0
CQI Mapping Table
CQI mapping table for UE categories 11 and 12.

Transport Number of Reference power

CQI value
Block Size HS-PDSCH
Modulation adjustment 

16 3319 5 QPSK -1

17 3319 5 QPSK -2

18 3319 5 QPSK -3

19 3319 5 QPSK -4

20 3319 5 QPSK -5

21 3319 5 QPSK -6

22 3319 5 QPSK -7

23 3319 5 QPSK -8

24 3319 5 QPSK -9

25 3319 5 QPSK -10

26 3319 5 QPSK -11

27 3319 5 QPSK -12

28 3319 5 QPSK -13

29 3319 5 QPSK -14

30 3319 5 QPSK -15

 hsMeasurementPowerOffset
• Drive test was conduced in a trial cluster in one customer’s network

• With parameter hsMeasurementPowerOffset set to 80 (8dB) better distribution is

achieved (full range is used)

• For the same radio conditions (EcNo) better throughput is achieved with
hsMeasurementPowerOffset set to 8dB
 CQI Distribution
CQI PDF
18

16 hsMeasurementPowerOffset=0dB

hsMeasurementPowerOffset=8dB
14

12
PDF [%]

10

0
(0,2) (2,4) (4,6) (6,8) (8,10) (10,12) (12,14) (14,16) (16,18) (18,20) (20,22) (22,24) (24,26) (26,28) (28,30)

CQI
 Throughput Distribution
Throughput vs. EcNo
1400

hsMeasurementPowerOffset=0dB
1200

hsMeasurementPowerOffset=8dB

1000
Throughput [kbps]

800

600

400

200

0
(-4,-6) (-6,-8) (-8,-10) (-10,-12) (-12,-14) (-14,-16) <-16

EcNo [dB]