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Handoff Power Control Application Note
Handoff Power Control Application Note
Handoff Power Control Application Note
Version 1.0
MOTOROLA CONFIDENTIAL
This document and the information contained in it is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION of Motorola, and
shall not be used, published, disclosed or disseminated outside of Motorola in whole or part without
Motorola's consent. This document contains trade secrets of Motorola. Reverse engineering of any or all of
the information in this document is prohibited. The copyright notice does not imply publication of this
document.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
General Discussion____________________________________________________ 3
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
Handoff Modes_______________________________________________________ 5
1.7
1.8
Database Parameters __________________________________________________ 7
1.8.1
Complex Soft Handoff Database Parameters_____________________________ 9
1.8.2
Pilot Dominance__________________________________________________ 10
1.9
RF Measurements Used in CDMA Handoff and Power Control Detection _____ 11
1.9.1
Pilot ordering for Neighbor lists _____________________________________ 13
1.10
2
Introduction ________________________________________________________ 15
2.2
2.3
Reverse Power Control Algorithm ______________________________________ 17
2.3.1
Inner Loop ______________________________________________________ 17
2.3.2
Outer Loop______________________________________________________ 18
2.4
3
Introduction ________________________________________________________ 20
3.2
Algorithm Specifics __________________________________________________ 21
3.2.1
Gain Settings ____________________________________________________ 22
3.3
Power Control Bit Description _________________________________________ 23
3.3.1
PCB Error Rate Effect _____________________________________________ 23
3.4
3.5
3.6
1.1
General Discussion
For CDMA systems, handoff detection processing will take place in the XC/SDU and in
the MM. The XC/SDU will detect the need to handoff, perform handoff preprocessing
and identify events. The MM will determine the handoff type, perform target selection
and perform channel allocation. Note: From hereon, for IS-95B capable mobiles, the
mention of TAdd, TComp and TDrop thresholds shall have the following meanings:
Above the TAdd threshold, shall mean above the Dynamic Threshold Add explained
in section 1.7, Mobile Station Operation. Above the TComp threshold, shall mean
above the Dynamic Threshold Add and Tcomp x 0.5 dB.
Below the TDrop threshold, shall mean below the max (Dynamic Threshold Drop,
TDrop/2). Refer to section 1.7, Mobile Station Operation, for more explanation of
Dynamic Threshold Drop.
For non IS-95B capable mobiles, P_Rev < 3 or Soft_Slope = 0, the mention of TAdd,
TComp and TDrop thresholds shall mean as they are, i.e., the existing IS- 95A MAHO
parameters.
1.2
IS-95 [3] allows for several types of handoff to take place. The following list elaborates
and summarizes each possible type of supported handoff. Some of the handoff types
reflect the implementation of CDMA rather than IS-95. Note that there are always two
types of soft and softer handoff. One type called an add and is used to instruct the
mobile to include new pilots in its active set. The other type called a drop that is used to
instruct the mobile to exclude old pilots from its active set. Handoffs may be triggered by
either Mobile Assisted Handoff (MAHO) or Database Assisted Handoff (DAHO)
techniques. MAHO techniques depend on measurements made by the mobile and
reported to the BTS. DAHO techniques depend on information on cell configuration
stored in the CBSC/BTS along with the systems knowledge of which cells/sectors
control a particular call.
MAHO techniques may be used to trigger soft, softer and hard handoffs. DAHO
techniques may be used to trigger hard handoffs only.
Inter BTS, intra XC/SDU Soft Handoff: This handoff type is expected to be the
highest percentage of handoffs in CDMA systems as this type contributes to the
greatest amount of reverse channel interference reduction and capacity increase.
A mobile station has simultaneous connections to two or more cells and receives
power control orders (for reverse link closed loop power control) from each cell in
the soft handoff. This term will be used fairly often within the body of the
document and can be used in a generic way.
Inter BTS, Inter-CBSC Soft Handoff: This handoff type denotes a state where a
mobile station maintains connections to multiple sectors located under control of
different CBSCs. In this case the CBSCs, controlling the BTSs, are linked by
Intra BTS, Inter Sector, Intra XC/SDU Softer Handoff: This handoff type denotes
a state where a mobile station maintains connections to multiple sectors all
based at the same cellsite location.
Inter or Intra BTS Hard Handoff: This handoff type denotes either a change in
operating frequency, a change in 1.25ms frame offset, a change from an IS-2000
radio configuration1 to another, or a handoff in which the intersection of old
active set pilots with new active set pilots is the null set.
IS-95 A/B type of radio channel are RC1 - Radio Configuration 1 and RC2 - Radio
configuration 2 on both forward and reverse link while IS-2000 1X type of radio channel
are RC3, 4, and 5 on the forward link and RC 3 or 4 on the reverse link.
Motorola Confidential and Proprietary
A call can be in inter-CBSC soft/softer handoff with multiple target CBSCs at the same
time. A call enters into inter-CBSC soft handoff when the mobile reports a viable
candidate pilot that points to an XCSECT (external sector data base), and this XCSECT
has inter-CBSC soft handoffs enabled. Note that the XCSECT can be residing in the
source CBSC or can be backhauled from target CBSC as part of a previous inter-cbsc
handoff procedure. Subsequent inter-CBSC soft and softer handoff operations may
occur with pilots that are in the neighbor list of a target CBSC cell. Target CBSC
neighbor lists are sent back to the source as part of the inter-CBSC soft/softer
procedure. In these remote neighbor lists, the source checks for matches with
candidates reported by the MS.
The source CBSC remains in control of the call until no source handoff legs remain. At
this point the source determines if it should transfer control to a target CBSC via a hard
handoff. Such a hard handoff is named Anchor Handoff. In general, all procedures and
requirements specified for intra-CBSC soft and softer handoffs apply to inter-CBSC soft
and softer handoffs, unless otherwise noted. However, separate handoff execution
procedures have been specified for inter- CBSC soft handoff.
1.6 Handoff Modes
The system is required to support various handoff modes. The handoff mode defines
how the handoff detection algorithm and execution procedures operate. The mode
defines what triggers the system to add a pilot to the mobile station active set. Two
modes are defined - TAdd and TComp. When operating in the TAdd mode, any time
a pilot rises above the TAdd or the TComp threshold (i.e. a pilot has risen TComp X
0.5dB above any active set pilot), the system will attempt to add that pilot to the mobile
stations active set via a soft or a softer handoff. When operating in the TComp mode, a
pilot must rise above the TComp threshold before the system attempts to add it to the
mobile station active set.
1.7 Mobile Station Operation
IS-95B and above calls for the Add and Drop thresholds to be calculated dynamically by
the MS using the formula below,
If: P_Rev_In_Use 4 and Soft_Slope 0
dB
j
Where Active Pilot Strength1 < ... < Active Pilot Strengthn and i = 1, 2,..., n-1.
Soft_Slope, Add_Intercept and Drop_Intercept are soft handoff parameters introduced
by IS-95B and above for the calculations.
Note: The pilot strengths reported by the mobile station in a PSMM message are in dB
(logarithmic scale). They cannot be summed to calculate the aggregate value. An Ec/Io
Conversion Table is used to convert a dB value to a linear integer value which can then
be conveniently summed to provide the aggregate value of a set of pilots.
It is assumed that the mobile station operates as follows (from IS-95 [3]):
If P_Rev_In_Use 3 or Soft_Slope = 0
Any time a neighbor set or remaining set pilot rises above TAdd, the mobile station
sends an RF: Pilot Strength Measurement Message (PSMM) or RF: Extended Pilot
Strength Measurement Message (EPSMM) to the system. This is referred to as a TAdd
indication. The mobile station will add this pilot to the candidate set and no further TAdd
indications will be sent for this pilot. Subsequent PSMMs will contain strength
measurements for this pilot.
Any time a candidate set pilot rises TComp x 0.5dB above any active set pilot, the
mobile station sends a PSMM or RF: Extended Pilot Strength Measurement Message
(EPSMM) to the system. This is referred to as a TComp indication. After an RF:
Extended Handoff Direction Message or RF: General Handoff Direction Message or RF:
Universal Handoff Direction message which does not include the TComp pilot in the new
active set, the mobile station will resend the TComp indication for that pilot if the
condition persists.
The mobile station removes pilots from the candidate set as follows:
When the pilot falls below the TDrop threshold for TTDrop seconds (the handoff drop
timer has expired)
When the candidate set is full and the mobile station must add another pilot to it, the
mobile station will remove the pilot for which the handoff drop timer is closest to expiring.
A candidate pilot is added to the active set
Any pilot which crosses TAdd and TComp thresholds simultaneously is treated as a
TComp indication by the mobile station. The mobile station only sends one PSMM for
that pilot.
Any time an active set pilot falls below the TDrop threshold for TTDrop seconds, the
mobile station sends a PSMM or RF: Extended Pilot Strength Measurement Message
(EPSMM) to the system. This is referred to as a TDrop indication. After an RF: Extended
Handoff Direction Message, an RF: General Handoff Direction message, or an RF:
Universal Handoff Direction message which does not remove the TDrop pilot from the
new active set, the mobile station will resend the TDrop indication for that pilot if the
condition persists.
If: P_Rev_In_Use 4 and Soft_Slope 0
Any time a neighbor set or remaining set pilot rises above max (Dynamic Threshold Add,
TAdd/2), the mobile station sends an RF: Pilot Strength Measurement Message (PSMM)
or RF: Extended Pilot Strength Measurement Message (EPSMM) to the system. This is
referred to as a TAdd indication. The mobile station will add this pilot to the candidate
set.
Any time a candidate set pilot rises above the Dynamic Threshold Add, the mobile
station sends an RF: Pilot Strength Measurement Message (PSMM) or RF: Extended
Pilot Strength Measurement Message (EPSMM) to the system. This is referred to as a
TAdd indication. After an RF: Extended Handoff Direction Message or RF: General
Handoff Direction Message or RF: Universal Handoff Direction message which does not
include the TAdd pilot in the new active set, the mobile station will resend the TAdd
indication for that pilot if the condition persists.
Any time a candidate set pilot rises above the Dynamic Threshold Add and TComp
0.5dB above any active set pilot, the mobile station sends a PSMM to the system. This is
referred to as a TComp indication. After an RF: Extended Handoff Direction Message or
RF: General Handoff Direction Message or an RF: Universal Handoff Direction message
which does not include the TComp pilot in the new active set, the mobile station will
resend the TComp indication for that pilot if the condition persists.
The mobile station removes pilots from the candidate set as follows:
When the pilot falls below the TDrop threshold for TTDrop seconds (the handoff drop
timer has expired)
When the candidate set is full and the mobile station must add another pilot to it, the
mobile station will remove the pilot for which the handoff drop timer is closest to expiring.
If more than one such pilot exists, the mobile station shall delete one such pilot that has
the lowest strength. If no pilot in the candidate set has an enabled handoff drop timer,
the mobile station shall delete from the candidate set the pilot that has the lowest
strength.
A candidate pilot is added to the active set
Any pilot which crosses Dynamic Threshold Add and TComp thresholds simultaneously
is treated as a TComp indication by the mobile station. The mobile station only sends
one PSMM for that pilot.
Any time an active set pilot falls below the max(Dynamic Threshold Drop, TDrop/2) for
TTDrop seconds, the mobile station sends a PSMM to the system. This is referred to as
a TDrop indication. After an RF: Extended Handoff Direction Message or RF: General
Handoff Direction Message or RF: Universal Handoff Direction message which does not
remove the TDrop pilot from the new active set, the mobile station will resend the TDrop
indication for that pilot if the condition persists.
1.8 Database Parameters
The following are the database parameters which apply to handoff detection. Refer to
the System Command Reference Manual for further information and default values.
TAdd - Pilot Detection Threshold - The threshold above which a pilot must rise in order
for the MS to transmit a pilot strength measurement message. The system sends this
parameter to the mobile station in the RF: Extended System Parameters Message, RF:
Extended Handoff Direction Message, RF: General Handoff Direction Message, RF:
Universal Handoff Direction message and the RF: In Traffic System Parameters
Message.
TComp - Active Versus Candidate Set Comparison Threshold - The threshold which a
candidate set pilot strength must rise above an active set pilot to cause the MS to
transmit a pilot strength measurement message. The system sends this parameter to the
mobile station in the RF: Extended System Parameters Message, RF: Extended Handoff
Direction Message, RF: General Handoff Direction Message, RF: Universal Handoff
Direction message and the RF: In Traffic System Parameters Message. This parameter
is also used for handover detection event discrimination in the XC/SDU sub-system.
TDrop - Pilot Drop Threshold - The threshold below which a pilot strength must drop in
order for the MS to transmit a pilot strength measurement message. The system sends
this parameter to the mobile station in the RF: Extended System Parameters Message,
RF: Extended Handoff Direction Message, RF: General Handoff Direction Message, RF:
Universal Handoff Direction message and the RF: In Traffic System Parameters
Message.
TTDrop - Active or Candidate Set Drop Timer - The amount of time in seconds the MS
will allow an active or candidate set pilot strength to remain below the drop threshold
before action is taken to remove the pilot from the active or candidate set. The system
sends this parameter to the mobile station in the RF: Extended System Parameters
Message, RF: Extended Handoff Direction Message, RF: General Handoff Direction
Message, RF: Universal Handoff Direction message and the RF: In Traffic System
Parameters Message.
Soft_Slope - The slope use by the mobile station to calculate the Add and Drop
thresholds for adding a pilot to the active set, or dropping a pilot from the active set. The
system sends this parameter to the mobile station in the RF: Extended System
Parameters Message, the RF: In Traffic System Parameters Message, RF: Universal
Handoff Direction message, and the RF: General Handoff Direction Message.
Add_Intercept - The intercept use by the mobile station to calculate the Add threshold
for adding a pilot to the active set. The system sends this parameter to the mobile station
in the RF: Extended System Parameters Message, the RF: In Traffic System
Parameters Message, RF: Universal Handoff Direction message, and the RF: General
Handoff Direction Message.
Drop_Intercept - The intercept use by the mobile station to calculate the Drop threshold
for dropping a pilot from the active set. The system sends this parameter to the mobile
station in the RF: Extended System Parameters Message, the RF: In Traffic System
Parameters Message, RF: Universal Handoff Direction message, and the RF: General
Handoff Direction Message.
HandOffMode - Specifies to the XC/SDU which handoff mode to use. Currently two
modes are defined. TAdd mode and TComp mode. TAdd mode tells the system to add a
pilot to a call as soon as it crosses the TAdd threshold. TComp mode tells the system to
wait for a pilot to rise above the TComp threshold before it is added to a call. This data
exists in the XC/SDU database, not in the MIB.
PilotInc - Pilot PN Sequence Offset Index Increment - The mobile station uses this field
to determine how remaining set pilots should be searched. It is set to the largest
increment such that the pilots of the neighboring sectors are integer multiples of the
increment. This data is sent to the mobile station in the RF: Neighbor List Message and
the RF: Neighbor List Update Message. The XC/ SDU must use the same value as is
contained in the MIB. The scope of this parameter is per sector.
NeighborList - Neighbor List - This list contains the entire neighbor sector PN offsets for
the current call. This parameter is passed to the XC/SDU in both the SCAP: CDMA
Update Parameters Message.
DAHO - DAHO Indicator - This parameter indicates whether a sector-carrier is near a
border and contains neighboring or overlapping sectors operating on another frequency
and/or non-CDMA signalling scheme.
DAHOHysTimer - DAHO Hysteresis Timer - This parameter is used to prevent pingpong handoffs between two sectors which have been marked with the DAHO flag. After
a hard hand-in, origination, or termination in a border sector, majority border checks will
be disabled for a period of time in seconds equal to the value of this parameter.
HandoffMethod - Handoff Method - This parameter specifies the method (none, hard,
soft trunking, soft aplus) to be used to hand the call off to a sector external to the CBSC.
The scope of this parameter is per carrier and per external CDMA sector.
Inter-CBSC Soft Handoff Override - This parameter is used to turn-off Inter- CBSC
soft handoffs between two MMs. It is checked by both source (in handoff detection) and
target procedures. When override is allowed, the alternative action of either no handoffs
or hard handoffs is indicated (no handoffs, hard, no override). The scope of this
parameter is per inter-CBSC trunk group.
AnchorHoMeth - Anchor Handoff Method - This per CBSC parameter indicates the
condition upon which trigger the source MM to move a mobile in Inter- CBSC soft
handoff from a source (or anchor) MM to a target MM once all the source legs have
been dropped.
Num_Cand - Number Candidates - The maximum number of candidate pilots reported
by the mobile station that will be considered, in strength order, for handoff.
ICTRKGRP:: ConnToggle: Indicates whether ICSRCHAN based or IP based interCBSC handoff connection type shall be used to conduct the soft handoff.
CBSC:: N-Way Hard Hand Out flag - This flag indicates whether N-way Hard Hand Out
is turned on, turn on for hand down only, or turned off.
Sector/Carrier::Radio Configuration Class Capability: This parameter indicates
whether the BTS is capable of supporting 2Gvoice and packet data calls only, OR 2G
voice and packet data calls and also 3G voice calls, or 2G voice and pacekt data calls
and 3G voice and packet data calls, or 3G packet data calls only. The scope of this
parameter is per carrier/sector.
CBSC::MSCIntVer: Indicates the IOS compliance of the MSC. This parameter can be
set to Pre-3G or IOS_4_1
1.8.1 Complex Soft Handoff Database Parameters
To support Complex Soft Handoff, sixteen sets of the following MM database
parameters will be supported. All parameters are provisioned on a per CARRIER
(carrier/sector) basis. Each CARRIER will point to one of the sixteen sets of available
parameters. This will allow flexibility by allowing an operator to quickly alter the
parameters affecting the operation of the Complex Soft Handoff feature. The strongest
pilot in the MMs internal active set will determine the set of parameters used for the next
detection operation. For performing detection for the first SCAP: Handover Recognized
received during a call, the set of parameters associated with the originating/terminating
sector will be used.
MaxActSetSz - Maximum Active Set Size - This per CARRIER parameter specifies the
maximum number of active legs (both soft and softer) allowed for the call. The maximum
number of legs supported by currently deployed mobiles is six. RF : maxactivesetsize
MaxCEPerCall - Maximum Number of channel elements allowed in a call at any one
time - This parameter specifies the maximum number of channel elements that may be
allowed in a call. Current transcoder design allows only three simultaneous channel
element connections.
MaxBTSLegs[N] - Maximum Number of Softer Legs Per BTS - There are three versions
of this parameter, one for each of the total number of BTSs that may be involved in the
call (range 1 - 3 with current transcoder hardware). The parameter is used to specify the
maximum number of softer legs supported per BTS with N number of BTSs involved in
the call.
Tcomp_Enab_Thresh - TCOMP Enable Threshold - For shuffle checks, handoff
detection requires that the single pilot strength be greater than the value of this
parameter before the shuffle is performed. For the case of the active pilot aggregate
strength being greater than or equal to AggrStr, the XC/SDU uses this parameter to
determine if the PSMM is pursuable, and the MM uses this parameter and XCTComp to
determine which candidate pilots are pursuable. RF: tcompenathrsh
AggActLimit[N] - Aggregate Active Limit - This parameter set (three values) defines
four buckets for PM statistics. This parameter is used to define buckets for both XC/SDU
sub-systems and MM statistics.
EnaSofterShuffle - Enable Softer Shuffle - This parameter determines whether or not
softer shuffle checks will be performed on candidate pilots reported to the MM in a
SCAP: CDMA Handoff Recognized message from the transcoder subsystem.
EnaBtsShuffle - Enable BTS Shuffle - This parameter determines whether or not BTS
shuffle checks will be performed on candidate pilots reported to the MM in a SCAP:
CDMA Handoff Recognized message from the transcoder subsystem.
EnaSoftShuffle - Enable Soft Shuffle - This parameter determines whether or not soft
shuffle checks will be performed on candidate pilots reported to the MM in a SCAP:
CDMA Handoff Recognized message from the transcoder subsystem.
Soft_shuffle_comp - Soft Shuffle Comparison - Used in the soft shuffle check operation
to determine if a soft shuffle operation should be performed, given the relative strengths
of the candidate pilots. RF: softshufflecomp.
BTS_shuffle_comp - BTS Shuffle Comparison - Used in the BTS shuffle check
operation to determine if a BTS shuffle operation should be performed, given the relative
aggregate signal strengths of the candidate BTSs. RF: btsshufflecomp.
Softer_shuffle_comp - Softer Shuffle Comparison - Used in the softer shuffle check to
determine if a softer shuffle operation should be performed, given the relative strengths
of the candidate pilots. RF: softershufflecomp.
AggrStr[N] - Aggregate Active Set Strength Threshold - The MM and XC/ SDU
aggregate active set threshold when the number of channel elements N (one to three
channel elements) are in the active set.
XCTComp - XC/SDU TCOMP - Used in the aggregate strength check of the CPP/SDU
to determine whether to send a SCAP Handover Recognized message to the MM. The
MM uses this parameter and Tcomp_Enab_Thresh to determine which candidate pilots
are pursuable, if the active pilot aggregate strength is greater than or equal to AggrStr.
1.8.2 Pilot Dominance
The transcoder filtering function - also referred to as pilot dominance - aims to lower the
soft handoff rate and soft handoff factor by reducing unnecessary additions of pilots to
the active set. By filtering PSMMs at the XC level, MM utilization is reduced by
eliminating unnecessary handoff activity. Often in a call, PSMMs are generated by the
mobile with add requests, but the Ec/Io level is relatively poor. In this case, adding the
10
pilot to the active set would contribute little help to the call, but would increase activity in
the MM by requiring a handoff operation and would raise the soft handoff factor. Upon
receiving a PSMM, there are three conditions under which the CPP will send a handoff
recognized message to the mobility manager:
Strongest candidate is XCTComp greater than any keep active and greater
than TCompEnaThrsh
TDrop event
*A keep active refers to an active pilot in a PSMM with the keep flag set to one.
The aggregate strength check is done to eliminate the need to add more pilots when the
active set already exceeds a certain Ec/Io value. If the active set does not meet this
value, a handoff recognized message is passed to the MM for handoff consideration.
However, if the active set does meet this threshold, a second back door check is done
to allow a strong candidate to be added even though the active set is relatively strong. It
requires that the candidate be stronger than a minimum threshold (TcompEnaThrsh),
and that it exceeds the strength of the weakest active pilot by some level (XCTComp).
This back door check helps to ensure that the filter does not cause more dropped calls
to occur under rapidly changing pilot conditions. To help guard against dropped calls due
to discarded PSMMs, an enhancement is added to the pilot dominance algorithm. The
enhancement uses PMRMs (Power Measurement Report Messages) generated by the
mobile to trigger additional PSMMs. When a PSMM is discarded by the transcoder, a
flag is set. If a PMRM is subsequently received and the flag is set, the aggregate
strength of the pilots in the PMRM is compared to the appropriate AggStrengthN
threshold. If the aggregate strength is below this threshold, a PMRO (Pilot Measurement
Request Order) is sent to the mobile requesting another PSMM, and the flag is reset.
1.9 RF Measurements Used in CDMA Handoff and Power Control Detection
While TDMA systems offer a plethora of RF related measurements to use in handoff
detection, CDMA seems to be rather sparse in this regard. Nevertheless, there appears
to be some latitude for creativity in this area. The list below elaborates on the usefulness
of each measurement. Specific usage of measurements can be found in the procedures
sections dealing with handoff and power control. Due to the particulars of the CDMA air
interface, it will not be possible to use the GSM 05.08 algorithm to perform handoff
detection. Instead, CDMA relies on the mobile station to provide an event to the
infrastructure equipment to serve notice that a threshold has been crossed as well as
provide MAHO measurements to assist in establishing target suitability.
For handoff, the main piece of data to contend with is the contents of the pilot strength
measurement message. The RF: Pilot Strength Measurement Message or RF: Extended
Pilot Strength Measurement Message is sent autonomously by the mobile station in
response to a particular pilot crossing the T_ADD, T_COMP, or T_DROP thresholds.
The message contains PN phase measurements and strengths of the pilots that the
mobile station is monitoring. The PN phase measurements are in chip offsets relative to
the zero phase pilot offset (i.e. relative to system time).
The pilot strength measurement is actually a chip to noise power ratio whose value is
always less than 1.0. The mobile returns a logarithmic compression of this measurement
equal to
11
2 10 log10
Ec
I0
Where Ec is the received pilot energy per chip and I0 is the total received spectral density
(note this results in the higher the value the lower the measurement, and vice-versa).
Thus, pilot strengths and PN phase will be used in tandem both to determine the need to
handoff as well as choose appropriate targets.
On the reverse link, frame errors or frame quality depending on the frame rate is
detected by the MCC. The frame quality and data rate will be reported by the MCC in the
encoded frame to the selector. The selector determines frame erasures from this
information. A frame erasure rate (FER) can be generated in the XC/SDU after a
sufficient number of frames have been received to begin forming the statistic. Typically,
1% of the frames in error will be tolerated in the system for a voice application. Note that
due to soft handoff, the reverse FER for a call is not necessarily determined by an
individual MCC circuit. Reverse FER is determined after frame selection from all MCCs
involved in the call.
On the forward link, frame errors are detected by the mobile station and reported to the
base station equipment in the RF: Power Measurement Report Message or EIB. This
RF: Power Measurement Report message contains the number of errors detected over a
certain number of frames. The mobile station may send this message either periodically
or when a threshold of bad frames has been reached. The message also contains a
report of pilot strengths for pilots included in the current mobile station active set.
All soft handoff decisions are based on the Ec/Io information and the keep-flag status
from the PSMM (Pilot Strength Measurement Message) sent by the mobile station. The
PSMMs are triggered when a Tadd, Tcomp, or a Tdrop event occurs. The soft handoff
parameters are set on a sector basis, and are sent to the mobile station by the System
Parameter Message on the Paging Channel or by the Extended Handoff Direction
Message on the Forward Traffic Channel.
The System Parameter Message is sent at least once every 1.28 seconds over the
Paging Channel. The Extended Handoff Direction Message is sent each time a handoff
criteria is met. If there are more than one sector in the Extended Handoff Direction
Message (i.e. calls that are instructed to transition into a soft handoff state), the MM will
use the following criteria in selecting the soft handoff parameters in those instances
when the values are different for each of the involved sectors (Figure 1):
1. The value of TDrop shall be the largest value from each of the sectors
involved
2. The value of TAdd TComp and TTDrop shall be the smallest value from
each of the sectors2
3. The value of SrchWinA, SrchWinR, SrchWinN shall be the largest value
from each of the sectors involved
12
Always send a Neighbor List Update on a handoff add situation (either soft or
softer).
Send a Neighbor List Update on a handoff drop situation only if the last time the
list was sent to the mobile station had to be truncated (i.e. was > N8m, or 20,
neighbors)
The maximum number of pilots in a neighbor list created by the base station is 20
neighbor pilots. The MM will enter the neighbor pilots into the list in the order of
decreasing priority, as determined by the order of the neighbors in the system database.
In the case of the mobile station having more than one pilot in the active set, the MM will
merge the database entries in a round robin order. When the total amount of neighbor
pilots associated with each of the pilots in the active set exceeds 20, the lowest priority
neighbors will be truncated off the list. Please refer to the following Soft Handoff
Neighbor List Merge Example (Figure 2).
13
14
2.1 Introduction
In the current CDMA system, the reverse power control procedures are based upon a
Motorola method which has been created from system and channel simulations in the
receiver technology group and receiver performance testing both on the bench and in
the field.
Note that only the MCCce being assigned as fundamental channel does the reverse
power control.
2.2 Open and Closed Loop
Reverse power control consists of open and closed loop components. The open loop,
which is performed at the mobile (Figure 4), accounts for common or symmetrical losses
on the reverse and forward links mainly due to pathloss and shadowing (lognormal or
slow fading). It is by necessity then, relatively slow (with respect to the closed loop)
Motorola Confidential and Proprietary
15
generating new updates roughly every 20 ms. The amount of mobile transmit power
necessary to close the reverse link is estimated by subtracting total noise plus
interference measured at the mobile antenna from a turn around factor (k). The open
loop mobile transmit power estimate will be re- fined by reverse closed loop power
control.
Pt m = k Prm
N oW = N thW + I oW + I coW
Where, Pt m is the transmitted power from the serving mobile to the base station, Prm is
the total power measured at the mobile antenna, N thW is receiver thermal noise and
other non-CDMA system noise, and ambient noise components, I o is the home cell
power spectral density, and I co is the other CDMA cell interference power spectral
density.
The closed power control loop consists of an inner and outer loop. The outer loop is
maintained at the base station and involves feedback based on frame erasures (FE) to
determine an Eb/No setpoint in order to maintain a constant FER. The inner loop is
distributed between the mobile and the base station where the feedback mechanism is
based on the power control bit (PCB). The closed loop accounts for non-symmetrical
(uncorrelated) losses between the reverse and forward links due to Raleigh/Rician (fast)
fading, interference level variations (e.g. voice activity or loading), differences in an
antennas transmit and receive gain, and other associated losses (combiners,
connectors, duplexers, etc.). It is the fast power control loop being updated at an 800 Hz
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rate (once every power control group) that effectively mitigates small to medium power
variations due to fast fading. Fast power control is most effective at slow speeds where
interleaving is not. (Note: the smaller the power swings or variations measured at the
serving base station for each mobile the smaller can be the transmitted mobile power
necessary to achieve a 1% FER. This lower required power level results in less
interference and hence allows more channels to be supported.) The portion of the closed
loop reverse link power control algorithm performed at the base station is shown in
Figure 5,
2.3
M =
5
n=0
m (n )
17
18
2.4
Database Parameters
reportdelay - Forward Power Control Report Delay. The period that the MS
delays before restarting its bad frame counter after sending a power
measurement report message. Its value is in units of 4 frames. Please refer to
applicable IS-95 standard for complete definition. Valid range 0, 4, 8, ..., 120, 124
frames. Optional parameter; if skipped, uses current value. Initial standard value
8.
nomebno - Reverse Power Control Nominal Eb/No. Specifies the Eb/No starting
point of the power control threshold. This data is used to derive the threshold
used on the MCC. Valid range 2.0 - 14.9 dB, in 0.1 increments. Optional
parameter; if skipped, uses current value. Initial standard value 9.0.
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cdlthresh - High Set Point Count Threshold. The threshold for the number of
consecutive times during a call that a TCH was unable to increase the reverse
channel set point due to maximum set point ceiling. The threshold is used for the
Reverse TCH Power Control Metric stored in the CDL. Valid range 0 - 255.
Optional parameter; if skipped, uses current value. Initial standard value 128.
rpcmaxecio - This is the minimum reverse pilot channel chip energy to spectral
energy ratio. The range is: -31.875 to 0 dB, in 0.125 increments. The default is: 22.00. This is an optional parameter.
rpcnomecio - This is the nominal reverse pilot channel chip energy to spectral
energy ratio. The range is: -31.875 to 0 dB, in 0.125 increments. The default is: 23.00. This is an optional parameter.
rpcminecio - This is the maximum reverse pilot channel chip energy to spectral
energy ratio. The range is: -31.875 to 0 dB, in 0.125 increments. The default is: 25.00. This is an optional parameter.
3.1 Introduction
This section discusses the forward power control mechanisms provided by the SuperCell
system.
The purpose of forward channel power control is to minimize the amount of power
transmitted to a particular mobile station on the forward link. Minimizing power in a
CDMA system reduces interference and thus increases forward channel capacity.
However, there is a trade-off between the amount of forward link power dedicated to a
mobile station and the forward link voice quality that mobile station will experience. The
power control algorithm must balance power against acceptable voice quality.
The CDMA air interface IS-95 [3] provides a mechanism for forward power control but
does not specify the algorithm for the infrastructure to implement. IS-95 allows the
infrastructure to control how a mobile station generates and transmits RF: Power
Measurement Report Messages. This message specifies the number of frame errors a
mobile station has experienced. The mobile station can be directed to generate this
message periodically and/or when an error threshold is reached. J-STD-008 and some
IS-95 standards support Erasure Indicator Bit (EIB) for Rate Set 2 calls. The EIB
indicates whether a forward frame was an erasure frame or not. This is a good indication
of whether the forward power gain should be adjusted or not.
Rate Set 1 and 2 calls
The basic idea of the algorithm is that the MCCs will periodically reduce a traffic
channels forward gain setting will be periodically reduced. Reducing the gain has the
effect of reducing the power delivered to a mobile station. At some point, the MCCs may
reduce the gain may be reduced to a point where acceptable voice quality is no longer
being delivered to the mobile station. The mobile station will generate and transmit the
RF: Power Measurement Report Message (PMRM) specifying the number of frame
errors received and the total number of frames over which these errors occurred. This
essentially provides a short term FER for the forward channel to the infrastructure.
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The XC receives the PMRM and determines that the error threshold has been reached.
The XC then sends the SCAP: CDMA Increase Forward Gain Message to the MCCs
involved in the call. Upon receiving this indication, the MCCs will increase the current
forward channel gain setting restoring voice quality to an acceptable level.The MCCs
then restart tThe periodic gain reductions will then be restarted.
3.2 Algorithm Specifics
The automatic forward power control algorithm specified in this version of the SFS is the
algorithm currently implemented in the CDMA simulator. The algorithm is based on the
Qualcomm algorithm as specified in the paper Power Control Issues. Note that the gain
redistribution described in this paper is not being used. There are at least two
advantages to this equal gain approach:
Allows optimization of the forward link by minimizing soft handoff region size.
Allows for constant fraction of traffic channel power to pilot power for all forward
links corresponding to a particular mobile which is helpful (although not
necessarily optimal) when the mobile is weighting its fingers based on finger
Ec/Io for combining.
The algorithm uses minimum gain settings which prevents the power to a mobile station
from falling below a certain level. The reason for doing this is to mitigate the stop sign
effect. The stop sign effect is that when a mobile station comes to rest in a good
coverage location long enough such that its power level drops significantly. When the
mobile station resumes motion, it power requirements will increase faster than the
forward channel power control loop can deliver. The minimum gain is therefore a tradeoff between minimum gain and forward link voice quality.
The algorithm allows the TCH gain floor (minimum gain threshold) and ceiling (maximum
gain threshold) as well as a nominal gain threshold to be set as a function of the number
of forward links determined by the handoff state. It is expected that minimum gain
threshold setting can be lowered for the 2 and 3 forward link case because the stop sign
effect has a much higher probability of being mitigated for this case than for the single
forward link case. That is, due to the channel characteristic achieved with multiple
forward links a single gain increase performed on reception of a RF: Power
Measurement Report Message (PMRM) is enough to mitigate further frame errors. The
nominal thresholds are used for synchronization of TCH gain on adding soft forward
links and for reducing interference when the TCH gain is above the nominal level on
adding soft or softer forward links. The nominal thresholds are chosen to be at a level
that would be slightly less than the expected TCH gain would be for a loaded system.
Although not done in practice it is also possible to set the maximum gain threshold
differently dependent on the number of forward links. Depending on system design
(including handoff parameter settings) the diversity benefit of soft/softer hand off can
exceed the degradation caused by the additional interference found in multi-coverage
areas. When this is the case, the 3 way gain settings would be lower than 2 way gain
settings, and the 2 way gain settings would be lower than the 1 way settings.
The current system requires that power control and control channel parameter settings
be input as digital gain settings. Conversion back and forth between gain settings and
ERP is possible.
Care must be taken in setting the parameter values which affect how the mobile station
generates RF: Power Measurement Report Messages (PMRMs). It is possible to cause
the mobile to send this message every 5 frames (every 100ms). Not only is this likely to
Motorola Confidential and Proprietary
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significantly degrade reverse link voice quality, but also depending on how many mobile
stations there are the XC could be overloaded attempting to process the messages.
This algorithm does not presume that PMRMs are being generated in either the
threshold or periodic modes. Anytime a PMRM is received, the number of errors is
compared with a threshold. If the threshold is reached, the MCCs are requested to
increase the forward gain settings.
Note that if threshold reporting is turned on, the parameter FwdPwrThresh must be set
to be less than or equal to PwrRepThresh. If it is not, the XC will never detect excess
errors and consequently the forward power control algorithm will not work.
3.2.1 Gain Settings
The following equations below show the desired relationship between Page and Sync
power to Pilot power. These ratios are determined based on analysis and simulations of
idealized and non-idealized (XLOSS and measured pathloss data) systems with
verification through field trials. The values were chosen to minimize the interference
caused by the paging and sync channel, in order to maximize forward link capacity while
maintaining adequate paging and sync channel coverage.
Ppage(9600) = 0.75Ppilot
Ppage(4800) = 0.40Ppilot
Psync(1200) = 0.10Ppilot
Where,
Ppilot is pilot power at the top of the site interface frame (SIF)
Ppage is the page power at the top of the SIF
Psync is the sync power at the top of the SIF
The pilot, page, sync, and traffic channel powers are set by setting corresponding digital
gain levels which are proportional to voltage. Hence, we have the relationship:
Ppage = (rate/9600bps)*(Gpage/Gpilot)^2*Ppilot
Ptch = (Gtch/Gpilot)^2*Ppilot
Where rate is the baud rate of the paging channel. Note traffic channel gains are full
rate.
For example, the increase in TCH power could be determined from a TCH gain increase
by
Ptch2 = (Gtch2/Gtch1)^2*Ptch1 = [(Gtch1+x)/Gtch1]^2*Ptch1
= [1+X/Gtch1]^2*Ptch1
Where
Gtch1 is the traffic channel gain of mobile k before a gain increase
Gtch2 is the traffic channel gain of mobile k after the gain increase
X is the traffic channel gain increase
The dynamic range of a TCH can easily be derived:
Ptch_max = (Gtch_max/Gpilot)^2*Ppilot where Gtch_max = 127 (currently)
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23
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shown. For a supplemental channel, the Min, Nom, and Max gain corresponding to a
handoff state will be factored by a parameter Supp_Scale_Factor received in the SCAP:
CDMA Supplemental Channel Assignment or SCAP: CDMA RF Supplemental Resource
Configure message.
MinGain1 - This is the lowest forward traffic channel digital gain level to which
the MCC will trickle down when a mobile is not in a soft or softer handoff.
NomGain1 - This is the starting forward traffic channel digital gain level for a
mobile which is not in a soft or softer handoff, except on an origination,
termination or hard handoff (see OrigGain).
MaxGain1 - This is the maximum forward traffic channel digital gain level for a
mobile which is not in a soft or softer handoff, except on an origination,
termination or hard handoff (see OrigGain). The MCC channel elements increase
gain levels as directed by the XC.
MinGain2 - This is the lowest forward traffic channel digital gain level to which
the MCC will trickle down when a mobile is in a 2 way soft or softer handoff.
NomGain2 - This is the starting forward traffic channel digital gain level for a
mobile which has entered a 2 way soft or softer handoff.
MaxGain2 - This is the maximum forward traffic channel digital gain level for a
mobile which is in a 2 way soft or softer handoff. The MCC channel elements
increase gain levels as directed by the XC.
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MinGain3 - This is the lowest forward traffic channel digital gain level to which
the MCC will trickle down when a mobile is in a >=3 way soft or softer handoff.
NomGain3 - This is the starting forward traffic channel digital gain level for a
mobile which has entered a >=3 way soft or softer handoff.
MaxGain3 - This is the maximum forward traffic channel digital gain level for a
mobile which is in a >=3 way soft or softer handoff. The MCC channel elements
increase gain levels as directed by the XC.
PwrRepFrames - This specifies to the mobile station the number of frames over
which it will count frame errors. This parameter can be set to certain values
between 5 and 905 frames (refer to IS-95). This parameter is sent to the mobile
station in the RF: System Parameters Message as PWR_REP_FRAMES.
PwrRepDelay - This parameter specifies to the mobile station how many frames
to delay after sending an RF: Power Measurement Report Message before it
resumes counting frames and frame errors. It can be set to values between 0
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and 124 in intervals of 4 frames. This parameter is sent to the mobile station in
the RF: System Parameters Message as PWR_REP_DELAY.
MinPcbGain - This parameter specifies the minimum gain setting for the reverse
channel closed loop power control bits transmitted on the forward channel.
PcbGainFact - This parameter is used in specifying the final factor the MCC card
multiplies the current full rate forward channel gain setting to determine what the
power control bit gain should be set to. Its range is 0.25 - 5.00, increments of
0.25. Optional parameter; if skipped uses current value. Initial standard value 1.
Note that the PCB gain is also a function of the number of forward links active.
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