Channel Quality Indication (CQI) Application

in HSDPA Simulation
QUN HOU

DEXIU HUANG

Dept. of Optical & Elec. Eng.

HUST
WUHAN, HUBEI, CHINA
viphouqun@163.com

Dept. of Optical & Elec. Eng.

HUST
WUHAN, HUBEI, CHINA

Abstract CQI is the key indicator for HSDPA downlink

channel quality. UE reports CQI and HARQ-ACK feedback info
to Node-B through uplink channel HS-DPCCH. UE estimates the
CQI value through an iterative algorithm taking the
measurements of HS-PDSCH_SIR and CPICH_Ec/No into
account. Besides this the UE probes with varying parameter
values for TB size, modulation type, a reference power setting for
HS-PDSCH and an possible power adjustment value to obtain a
CQI value. This paper gives the methods how to determine SIR
of PDSCH channel, received HS-PDSCH power, the
Measurement Power Offset etc. This is very important for every
HSDPA sub-frame in HSDPA simulations.
Keywords- CQI; HSDPA simulation; WCDMA

HSDPA UE FEEDBACK DATA FRAME STRUCTURE (HSDPCCH)

The following figure (Figure 1) illustrates the frame
structure of the HS-DPCCH. The HS-DPCCH carries uplink
feedback signaling related to downlink HS-DSCH
transmission. The HS-DSCH-related feedback signaling
consists of HARQ-ACK (Hybrid-ARQ Acknowledgement)
and CQI. Each sub-frame of length 2 ms (3x2560 chips)
consists of 3 slots, each of length 2560chips. The HARQ-ACK
is carried in the first slot of the HS-DPCCH sub-frame. The
CQI is carried in the second and third slot of every HS-DPCCH
sub-frame.

I.
INTRODUCTION (HEADING 1)
HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) is a new
feature in 3GPP Release 5(WCDMA).It is based on a downlink
shared channel that allows user net-data rates of up to
10Mbit/s. It is designed to support services that require
instantaneous high rates in the downlink and lower rates on the
uplink. This feature also decreases the level of data
retransmissions, in turn allowing the reduction of delivery time.

The HARQ-ACK (ACK/NACK) transmission reflects the

results of the CRC check after the packet decoding and also
possible combining with former retransmission.

Several new physical channels are introduced by HSDPA:

HS-SCCH, HS-PDSCH and HS-DPCCH. HS-SCCH is the
High Speed Shared Control Channel. HS-PDSCH is the
High Speed Physical Downlink Shared Channel, it is the data
channel. HS-DPCCH is the Uplink Dedicated Control
Channel associated with HS-DSCH transmission.
CQI (Channel Quality Indication) is the key indicator
derived by UE for the radio conditions. Node-B will determine
the TFRC (TB size, modulation type and number of spreading
codes) based on UEs CQI.CQI is transmitted to Node-B
through HS-DPCCH uplink channel.
How UE estimates the Channel Quality and how UE
transmits the information to Node-B will be discussed in this
paper. Meanwhile the CQI application in HSDPA simulations
will be introduced in this paper as well.

II.

2 ms sub-frame
T (slot)

2 x T (slot)

2560 chips

1-bit ACK/NACK
Indication

5120 chips

HARQ-Ack
(10bits encoded)

5-bit
CQI Value

Channel Quality Indicator

(20bits encoded)

SF=256

HS-DPCCH
Sub-frame 0

HS-DPCCH
Sub-frame 1

HS-DPCCH
Sub-frame 2

HS-DPCCH
Sub-frame 3

Slot
0
1

1
0

1
1

HS-DPCCH
Sub-frame 4

g
g

1
2

g
g

1
3

1
4

Radio Frame:
T=10ms/38400chips/SFN=mod 4096

Figure 1. HSDPA uplink HS-DPCCH frame structure

U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright

1200

III.
HSDPA UPLINK DATA CODING CHAIN
HARQ-ACK and CQI data are channel coded and then
mapped onto the physical channel. Both indicator HARQ-ACK
and CQI are processed in parallel as the flows are not directly
multiplexed but are transmitted at different times onto HSDPCCH. The HARQ-ACK is transmitted onto the first slot
followed by CQI which is transmitted onto the subsequent2
slots. Figure 2 shows the Uplink HS-DPCCH coding chain
Two forms of channel coding are used, one for the channel
quality information (CQI) and another for HARQ-ACK.
The HARQ-ACK message (1 bit) to be transmitted is coded
to 10 bits. In case of ACK, 10 times repetition of 1 is coded
and in case of NACK, 10 times repetition of 0 is coded.
The CQI is coded using a (20,5) code. The code words of
the (20,5) code are a linear combination of the 5 basis
sequences Mi, n with n=15.The meaning of (20,5) is that the
code codes 5 input bits to 20 code-bits, thus 5 data bits are
channel coded to 20 code-word bits. This is a lot of redundancy
and therefore provides for a quite good error protection.
HARQ-ACK
1 bit
Channel Coding
ACK: 1111111111
NACK: 0000000000

TFRC
represents
Transport
Format
Resource
Combination. TFRC info includes TB size, Modulation Type
and Number of HS-PDSCHs.
UE measures the downlink channel quality. UE may
measure the downlink SIR of the received HS-PDSCHs if a
HS-DSCH was previously allocated. UE also measures the
received quality (Ec/No) of the CPICH in a 3 slot reference
period ending one slot before the start of the first slot in which
the CQI value is transmitted.
UE estimates the CQI value through an iterative process
taking the measurements of HS-PDSCH_SIR and
CPICH_Ec/No into account. Besides this the UE probes with
varying parameter values for TB size, modulation type, a
reference power setting for HS-PDSCH and an possible power
adjustment value to obtain a CQI value. The result considering
the used modulation type, transport channel block size etc.
shall sustain a BLER<=10%.
Figure 3 illustrates the CQI reporting principle, the updown arrows indicate which input parameters are tunable in
order to reach a BLER<=10%. The reference power adjustment
indicates a possible reduction of the HS-PDSCH
transmission power as the downlink channel quality exceeds
the possible range and physical capability of the UE.

10
bits
CPICH
Ec/No

Physical
Channel
Mapping
TB Size

Channel Coding
(20,5) Code
CQI
5 bits

HS-PDSCHs
SIR

HS-DPCCH
(256,hs)

Yes

Modulation Type

20 bits
No. of spreading codes

CQI
Value
0--30

BLER_P
<=10%?

Figure 2. Uplink HS-DPCCH coding chain

P (HS-PDSCHs)

IV.
CQI REPORTING PROCESS
As being depicted previously, UE reports HARQ-ACK and
CQI through uplink HS-DPCCH channel. How UE derives the
CQI value will be mentioned in this chapter.
The estimation of CQI is a difficult task for the UE, a
iterative algorithm might be implemented in UE to derive the
CQI value. The motivation of CQI reporting is to give the
MAC-hs in Node-B an indication about the actual channel
transfer capacity. The MAC-hs in Node-B may take the CQI
value into account for deriving the TFRC for UEs next HSDSCH transmission. By a certain CQI value, MAC-hs in NodeB is informed about:
Based on the last HS-DSCH data transfer and the current
DL channel quality a new data transfer with transport block
size X, number of HS-PDSCHs and modulation Z would be
possible. Hereby it is guaranteed, that the BLER probability is
less or equal 10%.

Reference Power
Adjustment

No

Re-adjust parameters and start again

Figure 3. CQI report process

V.

CQI TASK

TFRC info: The CQI value consists of a recommended

TFRC provided by the UE to Node-B. When a UE
reports a particular CQI, it is reporting that, for the
current radio conditions, the UE is able to receive data
with a transport format corresponding to the reported
CQI, and lower CQIs, at single-transmission BLER
probability no greater than 10%, taking the total
received
HS-PDSCH
power
of

U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright

1201

P(HSPDSCH)=P(CPICH)++(in dB) into account. If

S-CPICH is used as reference, the power offset is with
respect to the S-CPICH used by the UE; otherwise the
P-CPICH is the reference.

Out of Range Signaling: For the current radio

conditions and measurement power offset , if the UE
cannot support the minimum CQI (CQI =1) at BLER
probability <=10%, then the UE reports CQI=0, which
indicates an out of range condition to the Node-B.
Power Reduction Factor : To ensure that no UE
indicates a transport format exceeding its capabilities,
an HS-PDSCH power reduction factor value (also
known as reference power adjustment) is used to
indicate radio conditions beyond the highest transport
format. The power reduction factor should be
interpreted such that the UE is able to receive data with
the highest supported transport format assuming
P(HSPDSCH)=P(CPICH)++.
Measurement Power Offset : The measurement
power offset is signaled to the UE using RRC
signaling. It indicates a positive or negative offset of
the HS-PDSCH power compared to the received
CPICH power.
CQI Reporting Cycle: The frequency of the CQI
reports as well as the sub-frame offset during which
UE transmits CQI is controlled by RRC signaling and
HS-DSCH transmission. Lower frequency cycles are
intended for use for certain (or all) UEs when they
have low activity and/or relatively static channel and/or
low capability and/or whenever uplink loads on the
Node-B have to be regulated.
VI.

CQI APPLICATION

IN HSDPA SIMULATION

Within the HSDPA simulations, CQI estimation is the main

step for every HSDPA sub-frame.
The Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) can be estimated at
the UE as:
CQI = 10 lg( SIR HS PDSCH ) + 4 . 5
(1)
The SIRHS-PDSCH can be determined as:

SIRHS PDSCH =

Prx, HS PDSCH 16

P
c

rx , int racell ,
int er SC

Prx, HS PDSCH + SC Prx, int racell, + Prx , int ercell + N UE

int ra SC

(2)

The factor 16 in the above formula reflects the spreading

factor of the HS-PDSCH, Note that for CQI estimation all HSPDSCH are considered to be on the same code tree as the
PCPICH,
Since the transmission power for the HS-PDSCH can be
determined as

Ptx ,HS PDSCH = Ptx, PCPICH

(3)

The reference power adjustment is considered to be

0.0dB for the complete CQI determination.
About the determination of the Measurement Power Offset
, In general, the measurement power offset is signaled by
higher layers to the UE. It must, however, in the simulation be
exactly determined. This can be done by calculating Ptx, HSPDSCH and evaluating its difference to Ptx,PCPICH:

Ptx , HS PDSCH
Ptx , PCPICH

(5)

Ptx,PCPICH of a cell is a configuration parameter and thus

known. Ptx,HS-PDSCH is, like the HSSCCH transmission power
Ptx,HS-SCCH, part of the total HSDPA transmission power
Ptx,HSDPA.
In order to determine Ptx,HS-PDSCH, Ptx,HSDPA is to be
determined. Ptx,HSDPA depends hereby on the cell's HSDPA
power mode. Furthermore, Ptx,HS-SCCH is needed. Ptx,HS-SCCH will
change every sub-frame due to possibly different scheduled
UEs. Consequently, the measurement power offset must also
be determined freshly for every sub-frame.
When the HSDPA power mode PCPICHOffset is applied,
can be calculated as:

Ptx , HSDPS Ptx, HS SCCH ,last _ frame

Ptx , PCPICH

= PCPICHOffset

Ptx , HS SCCH ,last _ frame

(6)

Ptx , PCPICH

The value PCPICHOffset is exactly defined as the

difference between the Ptx,HSDPA and Ptx,PCPICH. It is a
configuration parameter for every cell.
When the HSDPA power mode Residue is applied, can
be calculated as:

Ptx , HSDPS Ptx , HS SCCH ,last _ frame

Ptx , PCPICH

(7)

VII. CONCLUTION
CQI reflects quality of the downlink HSDPA channel HSPDSCH, UE reports HARQ-ACK and CQI to Node-B through
uplink channel HS-DPCCH. UE estimates the CQI value
through an iterative process. CQI has 5 tasks as reporting
TFRC info, Measurement Power Offset etc. The methods of
HSDPA simulation parameter determination are reported in
this paper. Through the analysis of CQI characteristic, The
simulation method includes the calculation of SIR of PDSCH
channel, received HS-PDSCH power, the Measurement Power
Offset etc. This is very important for every HSDPA sub-frame
in HSDPA simulations.

The received HS-PDSCH power can be estimated as:

Ptx, HS PDSCH = Ptx, PCPICH = RSCPPCPICH (4)

U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright

1202

REFERENCES
[1]

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS): Physical layer

aspects of UTRA High Speed Downlink Packet Access (3GPP TS
25.848 version 4.0.0 Release 4)

[2]

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS): High Speed

Download Packet Access (HSDPA) enhancements (3GPP TS 25.899
version 6.1.0 Release 6)

[3]

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS): Physical

channels and mapping of transport channels onto physical channels
(FDD) (3GPP TS 25.211 version 5.2.0 Release 5)

[4]

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Physical layer

procedures (FDD) (3GPP TS 25.214 version 5.7.0 Release 5)

[5]

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); UTRA HighSpeed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA); Overall Description. (3GPP
TS 25.308 version 5.5.0 Release 5)

[6]

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS): Physical layer;

Measurements (FDD) (3GPP TS 25.215 version 5.1.0 Release 5)

[7]

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS): Vocabulary

for 3GPP specifications (3GPP TS 21.905 version 5.8.0 Release 5)

[8]

Universal
Mobile
Telecommunications
System
(UMTS);
Requirements for support of radio resource management (FDD)
(3GPP TS 25.133 version 5.3.0 Release 5)

U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright

1203