WCDMA/UMTS Network

Mobile Communication
DS CDMA Multiple Access and Duplexing
Spreading and De-spreading
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DS-CDMA) i.e.
bandwidth of user data increased after being multiplied by
the spreading sequence.

Spreading sequence bit rate = 3.84 Mchips/sec. 5 MHz

carrier.
Pulse Shaping and QPSK Modulation

Pulse shaping in UMTS :Root raised cosine, roll-

off = 0.22

Bandwidth = Chip Rate * (1 + roll-off) = 4.68 MHz

With 0.16 MHz of guard band on either side the

total bandwidth is 5 MHz.

WCDMA/UMTS Networks 4
Spreading and De-spreading
Spreading Concept
WCDMA concept assumes that wide frequency channels are used but the signal is
originally narrowband. It means that before transmission the signal must be spread.

Spreading concept. Two services, voice transfer and video transfer,

occupy originally different bandwidth but after spreading they are
transmitted in the same frequency band.
Basic Aspects of DS-CDMA
After the signal is spread and modulated, all the users occupy the whole
5 MHz band and thus contribute to the overall noise at the receiver.

A scenario can arise that may cause a UE with low pathloss jamming the
overall cell. This is known as near far effect. The solutions to this
problem are Fast Power Control and Soft/Softer Handover.

Coverage and Capacity are related.

= Chip
Rate/Bit
Rate
Source: WCDMA Design Handbook
UMTS Voice Example
Vocoder rate 12.2kbps
Chip rate 3.84Mbps

3.84 10 6
PG dB 10log 3
25dB
12.2 10

Required Eb/No ratio for voice after de-
spreading is around 5dB
Signal can have S/(N+I) of -20dB and still be
received successfully
DS CDMA allows demodulation of signals that
are below interference and/or noise floor
Eb/No = (S/N) * Processing Gain
Where Processing Gain = Chip Rate / Bit Rate
Processing gain is derived through
reshaping of the power spectrum density
in the frequency domain

Despreading
Ec/No

Received Energy per chip divided by the Noise Power Density.

Noise

Important term in WCDMA systems for decision making in radio resource

management.

Practically a value of Ec/Io > -10 dB is considered good.

Wideband CDMA Advantages

Increased multiple MS capability.

Good wideband interference resistance.

Good narrowband interference resistance.

Cell breathing

In Downlink, all connections share the same power amplifier. In a lightly loaded
system, a UE relatively far from BTS may be able to connect. However in a heavily
loaded system, the UE at the cell fringe may not be able to connect due to
unavailability of DL power.

In the uplink, more the users, more will the noise floor will be raised, thus limiting the
uplink coverage.

Therefore the cell is planned for certain system loading.

 Power Control

In order to avoid scenarios such as Near-Far effect and optimizing the capacity,
received power at the BS from all the UEs should ideally be equal.

In uplink, UEs power is controlled by the BTS. BTS continuously estimates the
received Signal to Interference Ratio (SIR) and compares it to the target SIR to
increase/decrease the UE output power. Fast power control (with power control
commands 1500 times per sec) is implemented in WCDMA.

In downlink, there is no near-far problem. However power control is required in

downlink to;
Conserve DL Tx power.
More power required for low speed mobiles as coding does not work effectively.
Power Control Outer Loop

Due to varying radio conditions at the UE side the SIR Target needs to be adjusted, so
as to keep the interference level at the BTS under desired limits. This requires further
optimization of the UE Tx power.

Outer loop PC adjusts the target SIR at the BTS for an individual radio link aiming at
constant quality (defined in terms of BER and BLER).

Node B reports the results of frame decoding to the RNC, which based on these
measurements adjusts the target SIR at the BTS.
 Soft Handover
Without Soft HO there would be near far scenarios of a UE penetrating from one cell
deeply into the other, without being power controlled.

Very fast and frequent handovers could largely avoid this problem. But there will be
delays incurred causing the near-far problem could be developed.
Soft Handover
Soft Handover along with Power Control are powerful interference mitigating tools.

Uplink Power Control in Soft Handover state Downlink Power Control in Soft Handover state
Multipath and RAKE receiver

Arrival of signal energy at distinct points of time due to multipath components.

Energy is smeared into multipath profile.

Fast fading due to destructive interference of multipath components.

 RAKE receiver
To counter the effects of multipath, RAKE
receiver is employed.
o Delay Dispersive Energy is combined
using multiple fingers of the RAKE.
o Fast power control and the diversity
reception are used to mitigate fast
fading problem.
o Strong coding helps signal recovery in
deep fades.

Assign individual RAKE finger to a multipath

component with significant energy.

Within each finger, track the fast-changing

phase and amplitude values originating from
fast fading.

Combine the demodulated and phase-

adjusted symbols across all fingers.