Maximum code power of radio link

A reference service method is employed to define the maximum code power of a radio
link. First, a reference service, for example, CS AMR12.2, defines the downlink
coverage or downlink service area by defining its maximum allowed code power in
relation to the transmission power of the primary CPICH. When this has been done, all
the services that are allowed to use equal service area, the maximum code power is
defined from the maximum reference service power by scaling with the planned Eb/No
and DCH bit rate differences. The algorithm is explained in detail below.
The maximum transmission code power of the reference service is defined with the following
equation:

Figure 59 Maximum reference transmission power (Ptx,ref,max)

Ptx,CPICH is the value of the Transmission power of the primary CPICH
channel (PtxPrimaryCPICH) power control management parameter that determines
the transmission power of the primary CPICH.

Quantity Ptx,off defines the power of the primary CPICH in relation to the maximum code
power of the reference service. Its value is defined with the cell-specific Offset of
the P-CPICH and reference service powers (CPICHtoRefRABoffset)
management parameter.
The maximum code power of the radio link is solved with the equation:

Figure 60 Maximum code power of radio link

EbNoDCH is the (linear) value of the planned downlink Eb/No of the service transferred
on the DCH, EbNoRAB specific RM, and the EbNoCell. The RNC defines the planned Eb/Nos
for the services internally. EbNoCell is specified by the parameter Cell offset in
the DL Eb/No definition (EbNoDCHTxDiv). The parameter EbNoDCHTxDiv is
read from the WRAB object identified by the Eb/No parameter set identifier
(EbNoSetIdentifier)management parameter.
RDCH is the maximum transport channel user bit rate of the downlink DCH.
Rref is the maximum DCH bit rate of the reference service. Its value is defined with the
Reference service in the max code power definition
(RefServForCodePower) management parameter.
EbNoref is the (linear) value of the planned downlink Eb/No of the reference service.
Besides the DCHs of the reference service, only the SRB3.4 DCH is included in the
downlink CCTrCH. The value is specified in an analogous way to the EbNoDCH value.
Ptx,DPCH,max is the value of the PtxDPCHMax management parameter.

In order to prevent a situation where a packet-switched interactive or background

service uses the entire available BTS transmission power, there are means to restrict its
service coverage for its maximum DCH bit rates. Therefore, a quantity Ptx_AbsMax is
defined with two radio network planning parameters as specified below.
The cell-specific Planned maximum downlink transmission power of a
radio link (PtxDlAbsMax) management parameter defines the value of the
Ptx_AbsMax for the non-real-time radio access bearers. It is applied to limit the transmission
code power of a radio link carrying a DCH of an interactive or background RAB.
It is not applied when the DCH of the real-time (RT) bearer only has a non-zero bit rate.
The cell-specific Maximum transmitted code power of PS streaming RAB
(PtxPSstreamAbsMax) management parameter defines the value of the
Ptx_AbsMax for the PS streaming RABs. It is applied to limit the transmission code
power of a radio link carrying a DCH of the PS streaming RAB when there is no nonzero
bit rate NRT DCH allocated for the RRC connection.

When a PS streaming RAB has a DCH allocated for the RRC connection, the
PtxPSstreamAbsMax and PtxDlAbsMax management parameters together define
the value of Ptx_AbsMax for the radio link in the DCH scheduling for an NRT bearer:
If the value of the PtxDlAbsMax PtxPSstreamAbsMax, the DCH data rate of the
NRT bearer is scheduled so that the maximum allowed code power of the radio link
does not exceed the value of PtxDlAbsMax, that is, Ptx_AbsMax = PtxDlAbsMax.

If the value of the PtxDlAbsMax > PtxPSstreamAbsMax, the DCH data rate of the
NRT bearer is scheduled so that the maximum allowed code power does not exceed
the value Ptx_AbsMax achieved with the following equation:

RT(RL) is the set of RT DCHs, and NRT(RL) is the set of the NRT DCHs of the radio
link. RIDCH is the maximum user bit rate of DCH, and DCH is the planned Eb/No.
The derived initial code power must not exceed the maximum code power of the radio
link; otherwise the maximum code power is also used as the initial power.

Downlink transmit power calculations

Admission control calculates the maximum, minimum, and initial downlink transmit
powers.
Calculations are completed for new radio links and for reconfigured existing radio
links.
Maximum and minimum transmit power calculations are based only on the RNC
databuild.
Initial transmit power calculations account for measurements provided by the UE
and WBTS.
The maximum downlink transmit power calculation for a 3.4 kbps standalone SRB
includes an additional 2 dB to help increase downlink coverage.
The initial downlink transmit power calculation for a 3.4 kbps standalone SRB
includes an additional 6 dB to help improve initial synchronization.
Bit rates used in the calculations include the layer 2 overheads for SRB but not for
the user plane.
If dynamic link optimization (DyLO) is applicable then the maximum downlink
transmit power is effectively 2 dB less than the calculated result.
 In the case of radio link addition for soft handover, the WBTS transmits at the
minimum downlink transmit power until uplink synchronization has been achieved.
In the case of radio link addition for softer handover, the initial downlink transmit
power is based on the existing radio link at the WBTS.

Maximum and minimum downlink transmit power calculations should be completed.

Maximum downlink transmit powers should be compared with those assumed within link
budget calculations. Initial downlink transmit power calculations should be completed if
there is a requirement for troubleshooting or validation of admission control algorithms.
In general, the default RNC databuild should be applied. A standalone SRB bit rate of
13.6 kbps may be used if there is pressure to reduce connection establishment delays.
The value assigned to the CPICHtoRefRABOffset parameter may be increased if
there are issues with downlink capacity. The value of PtxDLabsMax may be increased
if dynamic link optimization is triggered too frequently.
The standalone SRB bit rate is usually configured with a value of 3.4 kbps unless there
is pressure to reduce the connection establishment delay. The main drawback of using
a standalone SRB bit rate of 13.6 is the impact upon Iub capacity. The impact is greatest
on the Iub capacity because the Iub is not reconfigured to a lower bit rate once the 13.6
kbps is reconfigured to 3.4 kbps during RAB establishment. The connection admission
control (CAC) makes use of the RNC databuild parameter UsedSRBALCSet to include
an SRB activity factor when evaluating the Iub capacity required for a SRB. This reduces
the impact of assigning a 13.6 kbps SRB. The coverage of a 13.6 kbps SRB is less than
the coverage of a 3.4 kbps SRB, but assuming that the network has been planned to
support at least 64 kbps, then this should not be an issue.

The recommended value for CPICHtoRefRABOffset has been decreased from 2 dB

to 0 dB. The new recommended value increases the maximum assigned downlink
transmit powers and thus improves downlink coverage. Field tests have shown that in
general, coverage is downlink limited and system performance benefits from an
increase in the maximum downlink transmit powers. The value for
CPICHtoRefRABOffset can be further decreased to -1 or -2 dB in areas with high
HSDPA activity. The drawback of decreasing the CPICHtoRefRABOffset parameter
is a reduction in the downlink air-interface capacity. In some networks downlink transmit
power dynamic range is increased. A 15 dB dynamic range means that in many scenarios
the WBTS is not able to power down sufficiently and the downlink BLER is less than
the target BLER. This provides increased quality of service to the end user at the cost
of downlink capacity. The PtxDLabsMax parameter is often configured with a value that
is greater than the default. The default value of 38 dBm means that DyLO is triggered at
36 dBm. This is relatively low and may cause frequent bit rate downgrades. DyLO is
often disabled using the RNC databuild parameter HHoMaxAllowedBitrateDL.

A set of example downlink transmit powers is presented in Table 27 Example downlink

transmit powers.
These figures are based on the recommended RNC databuild with the exception that
PtxDLabsMax has been increased to 40 dBm. The maximum downlink transmit power
is capped by PtxDLabsMax and PtxDPCHmax for the 384 kbps data service. The
minimum downlink transmit power is capped by PtxDPCHmin for the 3.4 kbps and 13.6
kbps standalone SRB as well as for the 12.2 kbps speech service. The standalone SRB
initial downlink transmit powers are based on a CPICH Ec/Io measurement of -8 dB and
a PtxTotal measurement of 36 dBm. The speech and data service initial downlink
transmit powers are based on a PtxAverage measurement of 24.7 dBm, that is, equal
to the initial downlink transmit power of the 3.4 kbps SRB, and a standalone SRB bit rate
of 3.4 kbps.

The RNC databuild parameters relevant to downlink transmit power calculations are
presented in Table 28 RNC databuild parameters relevant to downlink transmit power
calculations.