LTE CQI (Downlink)

NS-3 has been implemented based on FemtoForum Specifications. In the FemtoForum

specification document [FFSpec], we can find a reference for the types of CQI format.
According to [FFSpec], in Section 4.3.2.4, there are 9 types of CQI format (P10, P11,
P20, P21, A12, A22, A20, A30, A31). Ok, now lets understand the meaning of these
types.
Well, the 'P' and 'A' in the CQI types stand for Periodic and Aperiodic. LTE standard
defines these two types of CQI report.
The UE can be configured to send periodic CQI report to eNodeB using the Physical
Uplink Control CHannel (PUCCH). This channel is exclusive for this kind of report.
On the other hand, the eNodeB can request a CQI report from the UE. In this case,
we have an aperiodic CQI that is sent through Physical Uplink Shared CHannel
(PUSCH). The CQI report is embedded into a resource schudeled for uplink
transmission [Sesia].
There are also different granularity for CQI reporting process. CQI reports can be
classified as:
Wideband feedback:The UE reports one wideband CQI value for the whole
system bandwidth.

eNodeB-configured sub-band feedback: The UE reports a wideband CQI

value for the whole system bandwidth. In addition, the UE reports a CQI value
for each sub-band, calculated assuming transmission only in the relevant subband.

UE-selected sub-band feedback: The UE selects a set of preferred subbands within the whole system bandwidth. The UE reports one wideband CQI
value and one CQI value reflecting the average quality of those selected subbands.

The numbers in the CQI format types (P10, P11, etc) are used to identify the modes
of CQI reporting [TS-36.213], concerning the granularity of the CQI report and
the use of the Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), as can be seen in the Table 1.

Table 1: CQI feedback reporting modes

In the current release (ns3.16), NS-3 only has support for P10 and A30 CQI reports.

NS-3 LTE CQI (Uplink)

In LTE networks, the eNodeB relies on CQI reporting to be aware of the downlink
channel quality. For the uplink direction we note some differences.
The first mechanism of Channel State Information (CSI) are the Sound Reference
Signals (SRS). If the UE has received a grant for uplink transmission, it sends the CSI
data using the SRS in the PUSCH.
For the case when the UE has not received a grant for uplink transmission, it uses the
PUCCH to send the CQI report.
There is also one more case, when the UE does not have access to a PUCCH. In this
context, the UE must use the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) to get access
to a PUCCH.