Quick guide to DC-HSDPA

applications
Purpose:
Purpose of this paper to show overview of Dual carrier HSDPA
(DC-HSDPA) and review field drive test throughput testing

Overview
Similar to Long Term Evolution (LTE), the HSPA technology is also influenced by the
multi-carrier aggregations. The performance and throughputs of HSPA can be improved
by using more bandwidth provided by multi-carrier. The throughputs of end users thus
can be double or more as compared to single carrier HSPA.
In releases earlier than Release 8, only a single carrier can be used for the HSDPA
transmission of a UE. This is called single carrier HSDPA (SC-HSDPA) in this document.
The first phase of Multi-Carrier HSPA (MC-HSPA) based on 3GPP R8 Technical
Specifications (TSs) uses two consecutive carriers in the downlink to transmit data for
one subscriber and named as Dual Carrier HSDPA (DC-HSDPA). The 3GPP R9 and beyond
TSs specify the use of more than two carriers for a single subscriber without the
restrictions on the use of same frequency band.
The following figure shows the 3GPP evolution of MC-HSDPA.
Figure 2-1 Overview of MC-HSDPA

The requirements of DC-HSDPA are listed in the following table.

Table 2-1 Requirements of the DC-HSDPA

Item

Requirement

CN

The CN needs to support the downlink peak rate of 42 Mbit/s provided by

downlink DC-HSDPA with 64QAM.

RNC

The RNC needs to support downlink enhanced L2.

The RNC provides the radio bearer scheme for DC-HSDPA.

NodeB

DC-HSDPA requires NodeB to support MAC-ehs. A single MAC-ehs entity

supports HS-DSCH transmission in more than one cell served by the same
Node-B (FDD only).

UE

The UE can monitor a maximum of six HS-SCCHs in the two cells of DCHSDPA. In each cell, the UE can monitor a maximum of three HS-SCCHs at
the same time.
HS-DSCH categories 21, 22, 23, and 24 of the UE are added to support DCHSDPA.

Basic Principle
DC-HSDPA allows a UE to set up HSDPA connections with two inter-frequency
synchronous cells that have the same coverage. In the downlink, the UE can receive
different data through HS-DSCHs from the two cells simultaneously. In the uplink,
however, the UE sends data only through its primary cell. Figure 3-1 DC-HSDPA
principle

The two cells (primary cell and secondary cell) of DC-HSDPA follow the following
restrictions:

The two cells belong to the same sector of a NodeB and are inter-frequency samecoverage neighboring cells.

The two cells operate on adjacent carriers with a frequency spacing of 5 MHz in the
same frequency band.

The two cells have the same timing (Tcell).

The two cells support HSDPA and enhanced L2.

The two cells belong to the same operator.

The dual cell transmission only applies to HSDPA physical channels.

The uplink of DC-HSDPA UE is in only the primary cell but not in the secondary cell.

DC-HSDPA improves the throughput and QoS of end users in the whole cell area even on
the cell edges. Theoretically, DC-HSDPA with 64QAM can provide a peak rate of 42
Mbit/s in the downlink. This rate doubles the peak rate provided by only 64QAM.

Cell Configuration
DC-HSDPA cell group consists of two cells: primary cell and secondary cell.
From the perspective of a UE, the two cells are as follows:

Primary cell (also called anchor cell) carries all the types of channel for a UE. Each UE
has only one primary cell.

Secondary cell (also called supplementary cell) carries only three types of downlink
(DL) channel for a UE. Each UE has only one secondary cell.
The three types of DL channel are as follows:
High-speed

shared control channel (HS-SCCH)

High-speed

physical downlink shared channel (HS-PDSCH)

Primary

common pilot channel (P-CPICH)

Figure 3-2 shows the physical channels involved in DC-HSDPA for a UE.
Figure 3-2 Cell Configuration from the perspective of a UE

From the perspective of the network, both the cells can work as primary cell and
secondary cell. The two cells can be deployed equivalently with the same configuration,
as shown in the following figure.

Figure 3-3 Equivalent deployment of primary cell and secondary cell

In equivalent deployment of primary and secondary cells, the RNC selects the primary
cell for UEs based on the load and radio bearer scheme. Both cells can work
independently for non-DC-HSDPA UEs or legacy HSDPA UEs.
Alternatively, the primary cell is configured with all channels whereas the secondary cell
is configured with only HS-DSCH and P-CPICH. The secondary cell cannot work
independently. This is called non-equivalent deployment. In RAN12.0, non-equivalent
deployment is not supported.

UE Categories
HS-DSCH categories 21, 22, 23, and 24 of the UE are added to support DC-HSDPA, as
listed in Table 3-1. This table is extracted from 3GPP TS 25.306.
Table 3-1 FDD HS-DSCH physical layer categories 21 to 24
HSDSCH
Categ
ory

Maximu
m
Number
of HSDSCH
Codes
Receive
d

Minimu
m InterTTI
Interval

Maximu Total Supported Supported Supported

m
Numbe Modulatio Modulation Modulations
Number r of
ns
s
with Dual Cell
of Bits Soft
Without
SimultaneoOperation
of an
Chann MIMO
us with
HSel Bits Operation MIMO
DSCH
or Dual
Operation
Transpor
Cell
and
t Block
Operation Without
Receive
Dual Cell
d Within
Operation
an HSDSCH
TTI

Catego 15
ry 21

23370

345600 -

Catego 15
ry 22

27952

345600

QPSK,16QAM

HSDSCH
Categ
ory

Maximu
m
Number
of HSDSCH
Codes
Receive
d

Minimu
m InterTTI
Interval

Maximu Total Supported Supported Supported

m
Numbe Modulatio Modulation Modulations
Number r of
ns
s
with Dual Cell
of Bits Soft
Without
SimultaneoOperation
of an
Chann MIMO
us with
HSel Bits Operation MIMO
DSCH
or Dual
Operation
Transpor
Cell
and
t Block
Operation Without
Receive
Dual Cell
d Within
Operation
an HSDSCH
TTI

Catego 15
ry 23

35280

518400

Catego 15
ry 24

42192

518400

QPSK,16QAM,64
QAM

The requirements for the UEs of different HS-DSCH categories when DC-HSDPA is not
configured are as follows:

The UE of HS-DSCH category 21 needs to support at least one of HS-DSCH categories

9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18.

The UE of HS-DSCH category 22 needs to support at least one of HS-DSCH categories

10, 14, 16, and 18.

The UE of HS-DSCH category 23 needs to support at least one of HS-DSCH categories

13, 14, 17, 18, 19, and 20.

The UE of HS-DSCH category 24 needs to support at least one of HS-DSCH categories

14, 18, and 20.

The peak rate can reach 42.192 Mbit/s (= 2 x TB_Size/TTI = 2 x 42192/2) at the MAC
layer, with the support of the CN.
The DC-HSDPA UEs and MIMO UEs can co-exist in the same cell, but one UE cannot use
MIMO and DC-HSDPA together.

DC-HSDPA THROUGHPUT TESTING

DC HSPA Drive with
Probe.pptx