.

PN Offset Planning Guide

For
CDMA and 1xEV-DO

Version III

Author Name Department Contact Information

Chu Rui (Reid) Chang Core RF Engineering (972) 685-7067

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Table of Contents
Chapter I: Background Information ……………………………………..3
1.1 Pseudo-Noise and PN Phase
1.2 Parameters and Terms

Chapter II: Challenges and Potential Problems …………………………9

2.1 Adjacent PN Confusion
2.2 Co-PN Confusion
2.3 Alias Problems in the Composite Neighbor List
2.4 Challenges from Highly Non-Uniform Network
2.5 Discussions
2.5.1 The Size of W_n vs. Pilot_INC/PilotIncrement
2.5.2 Comparing Frequency Planning and PN-Offset Planning

Chapter III: Design Criteria ……………………………………………21

3.1 Criterion to Avoid Adjacent-PN Confusion
3.1.1 Why S/I >= 24 dB?
3.1.2 Boomer Cell and Virtual PN
3.2 Criterion to Avoid co-PN Confusion
3.3 Practices to Avoid Alias PN in the composite Neighbor List
3.4 PN Allocation Method
3.4.1 Adjacent PN Allocation
3.4.2 PN-Allocation for Small Cells and Large Cells

Chapter IV: Comparing PN –Planning for CDMA and 1xEV-DO …...32

Summary ………………………………………………………………….36

References ………………………………………………………………...37

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Chapter 1: Background Information

1.1 Pseudo-Noise (PN) and PN-Phases
In a CDMA or 1xEV-DO network, every sector and cell share the same frequency, it is
the PN-offset of the pilot signal that is used to identify the sector. The pilots from
different sectors are spread by the same PN sequences, but are distinguished from each
other by different time offsets1. Since there is only one PN sequence, the only thing the
mobile needs to do is to search for the right PN phase.

If a different PN sequence were used for each sector, each sector would have to first "tell"
mobiles its PN sequence, and then the mobile has to search for the right phase. This two-
step process can be simplified into a one-step process by taking advantage of a special
property of the PN sequence. If the same PN sequence is offset by more than one chip (1
chip = 0.8138 micro-second), then the original PN sequence and the PN sequence with an
offset have almost no correlation with each other [1] (Fig.1). This means that if the PN
sequence is delayed or advanced by more than 1 chip, it behaves completely like a new
PN sequence. Therefore, if every sector uses the same PN sequence, but is shifted in
phase from each other by more than one chip, then the result is the same as if every sector
has a different PN sequence.

Fig. 1 Auto-correlation for PN code: it is maximum at zero phase shift, and almost zero
if offset by more than one chip.

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1
The PN short code has a total length of 2 chips and the same PN pattern is repeated. So PN sequence is
15
not truly random (although it looks random in a short time window), but is periodic with period of 2
chips, “PN-offset” and “PN-phase” can be used interchangeably.
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Using the same PN sequence but different time offset means that different PN offsets are
distinguished at the mobile by their phases. The phase is computed from the measured
arrival time Ti and using the following formula [2]:

[1]  i  Ti  64  PILOT _ PN mod 215

where PILOT_PN is defined in the next section.

In a mobile propagation environment, different multipath components of the same signal

will have different propagation delays and thus will also have different PN phases at the
mobile. That is, if a signal with PN value of PNo at the transmitter, arriving at the
receiver, the phases of K different multipath components will become
PN o   1 , PN o   2 ,.....PN o   K . If the  j < 1 chip, it will be treated as the same phase
as PNo since multipath of difference < 1 chip is not distinguishable; if  j >1 chip, it will
be treated as a different PN phase.

The question is: if the PN phase is used to distinguish signals, how does a mobile
distinguish a signal from a different BTS sector from a signal that is from a different
multipath component of the same sector? This distinction is important because the
multipath component of the same signal contains the same information therefore should
be resolved by Rake fingers; energy from a different sector (unless in soft/softer handoff)
do not contain the same information therefore should not be combined by the Rake
receiver.

CDMA and 1xEV-DO system solve this problem by using very large PN-offset
differences for different sectors. The difference is large enough so that in general
multipath will not produce such a larger phase difference. The valid PN-offset values
among sectors must be at least 64 chips apart, or PILOT_INC*64 chips apart (for
CDMA) or PilotIncreament*64 chips apart (for 1xEV-DO). (PILOT_INC/PilotIncrement
>=1 is an integer which will be defined in next section). As will be explained in Chapter
3, 1 chip = 0.244 km of propagation delay, so 64 chips = 15.6 km. Hopefully this phase
difference of PILOT_INC*64 chips is larger than the phase difference that can normally
be produced by multipath delays (typically propagation path difference due to multipath
is only a few hundred meters to a few km, much less than 15.6 km).

To properly resolve multipath components produced by each signal, several search

windows are defined around each “valid” PN-offset values (“valid” means those PN
values that are multiple of (PILOT_INC/PilotIncrement)*64 chips). Mobile Rake fingers
will only search for signal phases inside the search window for each valid PN, but not
outside (Fig.2).
 Any signal component with phase falling into the Active Set search window of a
particular signal’s phase will be treated as a multipath component of that signal.

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 Any signal component with phase falling into the Active Set search window of a
different signal’s phase will be treated as a multipath component of that different
signal.
 Signal components with PN phase falling outside of all search windows cannot be
found by the Rake finger (because the searching finger does not search outside of the
window), so their energy will be treated as ordinary interference.
Pilot_Inc Pilot_Inc Pilot_Inc Pilot_Inc
Pilot_inc
......

Window Around Each Valid PN-Offset

PN Phase
...... [64 Chips]
Window Valid PILOT_PNs Window Window
Size Size Size
Fig. 2 There are a total of (512 / PILOT_INC) valid PN_offsets. There is a W_n for
each PN in the Neighbor Set, and one W_r for each PN in the Remaining Set. The search
finger will only search for pilot’s phases within the search window of each valid PN-
offsets.

There are three kinds of search windows:

Active Set Search Window (SRCH_WIN_A, or W_a)

 This window is used for capturing the multipath components of a signal that is in the
active set. That is, any signal with its phase that falls into W_a will be considered
multipath component of the same signal, and may be despreaded by the Rake
receiver.
 The center of the search window for each pilot is the earliest arriving usable multipath
component of the active pilot. This center position is updated every scan to track the
new location of the earliest arriving multipath component.

Neighbor Set Search Window (SRCH_WIN_N, or W_n)

 This window is not used for multipath, but is used to cover the DIFFERENCE
between two neighbor cell radii (e.g., one cell may have cell radius = 2 km, its
neighbor may have cell radius of 12 km, the difference is 10 km).
 The center of each W_n is at each expected valid PN-offset value. Each individual
mobile use its own time reference and PILOT_INC to calculate all valid PN-offset
values (Fig.2).
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 Since mobile’s time reference is based on its current reference pilot. If the neighbor
cell radius is larger than the cell radius of the reference cell, the signal from the
neighbor cell will experience a longer propagation delay than the delay experienced
by the reference signal, so the neighbor pilot’s phase will appear “late” in mobile’s
time reference. On the other hand, if neighbor cell radius is smaller, its signal will
have less propagation delay than the reference signal, so neighbor cell’s pilot phase
will appear “early” in mobile’s time reference (Fig.3).
 Therefore, the mobile cannot only search for PN at expected phase according to its
current time reference, but must also take into account those phases that appear
“early” and “late”. So it needs a window around each valid PN.

Fig.3 An example of a mobile located on the edge of the handoff area between a Cell A
(large cell) and Cell B (small cell). (Top): time frame of the BTS; (Middle): Time frame
of the mobile if its time reference is from small cell; (Bottom): time frame of the mobile
if its time reference is from large cell.

Remaining Set Search Window (SRCH_WIN_R, or W_r)

W_r is very similar to W_n, except it is used for Remaining Set pilots instead of
Neighbor Set pilots.

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1.2 Parameters and Terms

There are a number of parameters and terms that come into play when discussing PN
offsets and their functions in CDMA.

System Time

All base station transmission times are referenced to a common CDMA system-wide time
scale that uses the Global Positioning System (GPS). The GPS time scale is traceable to
and synchronous with the Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) [3].

Time Reference

In order to obtain the system time, the mobile must first establish a time reference. This
time reference is the earliest arriving multipath component being used for demodulation
[4]. This tells us that "the mobile's fix on system time" is offset by delay associated with
the shortest active path.

Pilot PN

The pilot's PN sequence offset index, in units of 64 chips. ( 0  PILOT _ PN  511).

The minimum separation between any two pilots is 64 chips (if PILOT_PN=1). The total
length of the short code is 215 = 512 X 64 [chips].

Active Set

The Active Set contains pilots from BTSs the mobile is currently having communication
with [5].

Candidate Set

The Candidate Set contains pilots that are not currently in the Active Set but have been
received by the mobile station with sufficient strength to indicate that the associated
Forward Traffic Channels could be successfully demodulated.

Neighbor Set

The mobile maintains a Neighbor Set that contains all pilots this mobile received from
the Neighbor List message sent by the BTS. If the mobile is in soft handoff with K BTSs,
the composite neighbor list will be a union of the K neighbor lists from these K BTSs. A
maximum of 20 pilots can be in the Neighbor Set. If there are more than 20 pilots in the
composite neighbor list, only the first 20 will be kept into the Neighbor Set, the others
will be truncated.
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Remaining Set

Remaining Set contains pilots that are not in Active, Candidate or Neighbor Set.

Pilot Arrival

The pilot arrival time is the time of occurrence of the earliest arriving usable multipath
component of a pilot relative to the mobile's time reference [7]. Therefore the pilot arrival
component represents the time delay of the pilot relative to the time reference.

Pilot_PN_phase

The mobile does not identify pilots by their offset index directly, but by their phase
measurement. The mobile computes the reported PILOT_PN_PHASE as a function of the
PILOT_ARRIVAL and PILOT_PN [8].

PILOT_INC (for IS-95) PilotIncrement (for 1xEV-DO)

The separation between pilots, in units of 64 chips. 1  PILOT _ INC  15 , which
means the minimum separation is 64 chips and the maximum separation is 960 chips.

To mobile: in the Remaining Set, only valid pilots (i.e., those pilots that are multiple of
PILOT_INC) will be scanned. For example, if PILOT_INC = 3, then only 0, 3, 6, 9...
507, 510 will be scanned.

To base station: it is used to properly translate pilot's phase back to pilot offset index
(PILOT_PN).

For 1xEV-DO, the default value for PilotIncrement is 4 (i.e., 4*64 chips for adjacent
PN’s phase separation). If one does not want to use this default value, the system needs to
send a message to the mobile to specifically change this parameter’s default value.

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Chapter 2: Challenges and Potential Problems

2.1 Adjacent PN Confusion

For IS-95 or 1xRTT systems, the Pilot_PN information of a sector is given in the Synch
and Paging channel. So if a mobile reads the Synch or Paging channel, it will not make
mistake on a sector’s PN-offset value. However, an active mobile will not read Synch or
Paging channel, instead, the searching finger will measure the incoming pilot’s phase and
try to determine its PN-offset value from Eq.[1]. The rest 3 traffic fingers are busy in
demodulating traffic channel information.
 When a mobile is doing a cold start, it searches for Pilot, then read Synch and Paging
channels. So it always gets the right PN-offset value in a cold start.
 Idle mobiles also read the PN information in the paging channel. So no mistake on
PN value for idle mobiles either.
 An active mobile does not read the paging channel, it only rely on the phase
measurement of incoming pilot signal and determines its PN-offset value using
formula [1]. This formula usually gives the right answer, only under extremely rare
situation it could give a wrong answer. This is explained in the following.

A potential problem of using measurement to determine PN-offset values is that for an

extremely large cell (with PN_k) with very large propagation delay which causes extra
phase delays of PN_k at the mobile, if PN_k falls into W_a of PN_(k+1), it will be
confused as a multipath component of PN_(k+1).

Fig. 3 shows one such example. Assume that the phase of PN sequence of Path A is
PN_k (advanced) and that of the Path B is PN_(k+1) (delayed). The difference is T
seconds (>= 64chip). Now assume that the Path A is much longer than the Path B so that
the propagation delay of the path 1 is also T - (W_a /2) seconds longer than that of path 2,
then at the mobile, the initial time offset of the two pilots A and B will be set back by the
difference in the path delay. As long as both signal’s phases fall into the Active Set
search window of the same PN_(k+1), the mobile cannot tell the signal from Path A is
from a different base station, and the Rake receiver will de-spread and destructively
combine the two unrelated forward traffic channel (Fig. 4).

If the phase of Pilot A does not fall into the W_a of Pilot B, Pilot A cannot be found by
the mobile’s searching finger so it will be treated as an ordinary interference. Note that
there is a significant difference between “ordinary interference” and “PN confusion”.
CDMA operates on an interference-limited environment, so ordinary interference cannot
be avoided (it should be reduced as much as possible), but PN confusion must be
avoided.

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BS_a

Remote Cell

Da
Path A

BS_b

Db
Path B
Home Cell
Mobile

Short Code Length = 215 = 32768 Chips

Propagation
Delay
Pilot from BS_a (phase advanced)

Delayed Pilot from BS_a

PN_Offset
Pilot from BS_b (phase behind)

Time [chips]
Fig. 4 Adjacent PN Phase Confusion (Top) The mobile is close to the BS_b and far
away from BS_a. (Bottom) If the DIFFERENCE in propagation delay is large enough so
that the phase of A’s signal (with an earlier phase) is shifted backward and falling into
the search window of B’s signal (with a later phase), adjacent-PN confusion will happen.

The PN confusion problem is more harmful than the ordinary interference. It is well
known that in CDMA, after the despreading process, the signal will have an advantage
over interference due to the processing gain, i.e., the signal has a processing gain,
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interference does not, so conventional interference will only contribute to the background
noise. However, when a Rake-receiver confuses a wrong PN as “signal”, the energy of
this wrong PN (which should be treated as interference and should not have the
processing gain) will be despreaded by a Rake finger so it also has a processing gain. The
effect is destructive combing and if the wrong energy is strong enough, it will cause
100% frame error and call drop.

What does it mean by “destructive combing”? It can be explained in the following:

 Data from each forward traffic channel are first scrambled by a user-specific long
code, and then finally spreaded by sector-specific short PN code.
 Under normal situation:
o A user can only despread its own traffic channel. The information contained
in the home signal can be obtained because mobile knows its own user-
specific long code and can despread the short PN code.
o Different multipath components of the home signal can be despreaded in the
same manner, and information from different multipaths of the same signal
are constructively combined. The result is improved signal reception (Fig.5
(top)).
o Traffic channels for other users will act as background noise to this user,
because their short PN code cannot be despreaded by this user.
 When PN confusion happens, a traffic channel for another user is confused as a
multipath component of the home traffic channel, so its PN code is despreaded, but
the contained data, scrambled by a wrong long PN code, will not be understandable
by this mobile. The Rake receiver combing “true signal” with “wrong signal” will
produce something that cannot be understood by the Veterbi decoder, so it will
generate an error frame. (Fig.5 (bottom))

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Fig. 5 (Top) Constructive combing two paths containing the same information but going
through different fading. (Bottom) Destructive combing: one path is treated as a signal
but contains 100% garbage. The resulting frame will become an error frame.
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2.2 Co-PN Confusion

Co-PN confusion problem in the Active Set is somewhat similar to the co-channel
interference in AMPS system, except as was explained in the previous section, PN
confusion is worse than ordinary interference.

In Fig. 6, Cell A and Cell B both uses the same PN-offset (omni-cells are the worst-case
scenario, for sectored BTSs, co-PN sectors can be arranged no to point at each other). Co-
PN confusion problem will happen if the two co-PN pilots from two different cells fall
into the same SRCH_WIN_A of the mobile, and both become one of the three strongest
signal components. The Rake fingers then tries to despread and destructively combine the
two unrelated signals. If the wrong signal is strong enough, the forward link frame-error
will likely reach near 100% and call will drop.

Fig.6 Active Set co-PN Confusion. Blue and red are signals from two different BTSs and
contain un-related information. But they use the same PN and both fall into the same
W_a, so mobile think they are two different multipath components of the same signal.

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2.3 PN Alias Problem in Composite Neighbor List

This kind of problem will happen more often in real network than Co-PN and Adjacent-
PN confusion problem mentioned in previous two sections. The main reason is that this
problem is not as obvious so it is much harder to detect at the initial network design
stage. Most design code cannot predict this kind of error either, because it is not a
function of propagation delay or search windows, it can only happen after the network is
being built.

Fig.7 shows an example of the situation.

 Red and Blue are two different PN reuse clusters.
 The same PN-offset 92 is used in Red cluster and used in Blue cluster exactly once,
so there is no alias problem in either Red cluster or Blue cluster itself.
 However, in Red cluster, PN92 is in the neighbor list of Red Cell with PN84; in Blue
cluster, PN92 is in neighbor list of Blue Cell with PN18.
 Suppose a mobile is in soft handoff with Blue Cell (PN18) and Red Cell (PN84), the
mobile will get a composite neighbor list, which is the union of Blue Neighbor List
and Red Neighbor List.
 Now PN92 appears TWICE in the composite neighbor list, and there is no way of
telling which PN92 belongs to the Red cluster and which PN92 belongs to the Blue
cluster.
 Suppose a mobile later drives into the Red cluster and wants to handoff to the PN92
in the Red cluster. However, since there is no way of telling which one is which, there
is a 50% chance the system may set up handoff resources in the wrong cell, i.e., in
Blue Cell with PN92 but not in the Red Cell.
 The mobile hands off to the Red Cell, but since the Red cell does not send the right
information, mobile Rake receiver destructively combines right information with
wrong information and the call will drop (See Fig.15 at the end of Chapter 4).

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Fig. 7 PN alias problem in the composite Neighbor List

2.4 Challenges from Highly Non-Uniform Network

If all the cells in a market are of the same size, then both the frequency planning of a
narrow band system and PN-offset planning of a CDMA system are relative simple. In
AMPS system with re-use pattern of 7 and 3-sectors/cell, we simply divides the available
traffic channels by 21 and assign one group to each sector, and let the 7-cell cluster repeat
itself.

In CDMA, the forward channels are modulated by the short code with length

215  512  64 chips

The minimum separation between PN offsets is 64 chips (PILOT_INC = 1). If the whole
system uses this minimum separation, there will be a total of 512 distinct PN_offsets, and
the re-use pattern for a tri-sector network is simply 512/3 = 170. Thus the 512 PN-offsets
seem to be more than enough and the task of PN-offset planning looks simple.

However, there are following problems:

The minimum separation of 64 chips (PILOT_INC = 1) is not enough for most situations,
unless the network contains only microcells. For normal cell sizes, PILOT_INC = 4 is
more adequate; for larger cell sizes, one may need PILOT_INC = 6. If PILOT_INC = 4,
then the total number of available PN-offset reduce to 512/4 =128. If choose PILOT_INC
= 6, this number further reduced to 512/6 = 85. Here are the trade-offs:

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 Using large PILOT_INC/PilotIncrement value will increase the separation between

adjacent PN phases, which reduces the chance of adjacent PN-offset confusion, but it
will reduce the total number of available PN-offsets and thus reduces the reuse
distance and increase the chance of co-PN-offset confusion.
 To reduce the co-PN-offset confusion, on the other hand, one needs a large reuse
distance, which requires large number of available PN-offsets, which in turn requires
reducing PILOT_INC/PilotIncrement value.
 So the two kinds of PN confusion problems have exactly the opposite requirements,
and there is a trade-off so one must carefully balance the two factors to eliminate both
co-PN and adjacent-PN confusion problems.
o Adjacent-PN confusion problems will only likely occur in large cells with
large propagation delays. So a network with large cell radii needs larger
PILOT_INC/PilotIncrement value.
o Co-PN confusions are likely to happen in small cells where signal from one
cell can propagate beyond several tiers of neighbor cells. So a network with
small cell radii needs small PILOT_INC/PilotIncrement value so the reuse
distance can be increased.
o What if a network has both very large cells and very small cells?
If cell radii in a market are drastically different, and if only one kind of PN-offset reuse
pattern is used, mixing small cells with big cells in a cluster requires sufficient reuse
distance to avoid Co-PN interference. The situation is even more visible in the transition
region between the small cells and large cells. There are always overlapping and in many
cases the small cells are overlaid on top of large cells.

A highly non-uniform network typically have the following situation:

 Clusters of small cells near down town area and suburban areas.
 Inside down town area, there may be microcells deployed or indoor cells in the future,
so some PN-offset values should be saved for these purposes.
 At the outer parts of the network the cell radii are usually much larger (Fig. 8) and
these large cells also cover the major highways.

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Large Cells in Rural/Sub

and Hwy

Small Cells
Near the Center

Microcells
Near downtown

Fig.8 Small cells and large cells have large overlapping areas. In this case, it is very
difficult to use a single PN-offset re-use pattern.

2.5 Discussions
2.5.1 The Size of SRCH_WIN_N and PILOT_INC / PilotIncrement

The size of PILOT_INC / PilotIncrement value must be chosen large enough so that

(PILOT _ INC)  64(chips )  SRCH _ WIN _ N  SRCH _ WIN _ A

The PILOT_INC/PilotIncrement not only represents the spacing between valid

PILOT_PNs, but it also defines a window centered about the valid PN_offsets through
which the base station will be able to translate the phase measurement returned by the
mobile into the PILOT_PN/PilotIncrement of a neighbor set pilot.

Fig. 9 (A) shows the situation of (PILOT_INC) * 64 > SRCH_WIN_N. Fig. 9 (B) shows
the case of (PILOT_INC) * 64 < SRCH_WIN_N. It is clear that for the case (B) the
ambiguity may happen because the measured phase in the overlapping area belongs to

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both window of PN_k and PN_(k+1), so the BTS could incorrectly identify the
PILOT_PN for the neighbor set pilot.

0.5*SRCH_WIN_N 0.5*SRCH_WIN_N

PILOT_INC X 64 (chips)

PILOT_PN(j) PILOT_PN(j+1)
(A)
0.5*SRCH_WIN_N
0.5*SRCH_WIN_N

PILOT_INC X 64 (chips)

(B)
PILOT_PN(j) PILOT_PN(j+1)

Fig.9 Case (A): The measured PILOT_PN is clearly either PILOT_PN(j) or

PILOT_PN(j+1). Case (B): A PILOT_PN(j) found in the overlapping area may be
mistakenly identified as PILOT(j+1), and vice versa.

Nearest Neighbor Algorithm (NNA): NNA adds an extra intelligence to reduce the
chance of interpreting the pilot’s phase to the wrong PN value. Instead of simply map the
measured phase into a PN value using [1], it maps the phase to the nearest PN in the
Active or Neighbor Set, and then verifies if the phase is within the search window
centered at this nearest PN.

Note that NNA reduces the chance of misinterpretation, but does not completely avoid it.
If the two W_n of adjacent PN overlap, and the two adjacent PNs are indeed in the
Neighbor Set, then if the measured PN phase falls into the overlapping region, it still can
misinterpret the phase to the wrong PN. To completely avoid misinterpretation, the W_n
should be smaller than (Pilot_Inc / PilotIncrement )*64 chips so there is no W_n
overlapping.

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2.5.2 Comparing Frequency Planning with PN-Offset PLanning

In analog systems, the major task of frequency planning is to avoid or to minimize co-
channel interference and adjacent channel interference.
 The co-channel interference is managed via sufficient re-used pattern / re-use distance
and the antenna configurations. So the main factors are
o Propagation path losses
o Frequency re-use patterns
o Antenna horizontal beam widths and antenna main-beam directions
o Antenna height, down tilt,…
 The adjacent channel interference is managed through the application of frequency
planning so that the adjacent frequencies are not used in the same sector.
o The main cause of adjacent channel interference is the fact that channel filters
have finite protection against interference from adjacent channels (finite
adjacent-channel-interference-rejection-ratio (ACIRR)), consequently the
same sector should not use the adjacent channels, otherwise the mobile may
have difficulty in receiving the right channel without being interfered by its
adjacent channels.

In CDMA systems, frequency planning is not needed. The main problems in PN-offset
planning are co-PN confusion, adjacent-PN confusion and Alias in the Composite
Neighbor List.
 The co-PN confusion is somewhat similar, but not identical to the co-channel
interference in AMPS. The main difference is the difference between “PN-confusion”
and “ordinary interference”. The methods to avoid Co-PN confusion are the same as
methods to avoid co-channel interference, i.e., using sufficient large PN reuse pattern,
antenna down tilt, antenna re-orientation, etc.
 The adjacent PN confusion problem is NOT the same as adjacent channel interference
problem in AMPS. As was explained in Section 2.1, the cause of adjacent PN
confusion problem in CDMA is large difference in propagation delay, but the cause
of adjacent channel interference in AMPS is the insufficient ACIRR from the channel
filter. So these two are completely different, therefore, the solution should also be
different. The solution to avoid co-PN confusions are:
o Increase PILOT_INC/PilotIncrement value. This is comparable to increase
frequency separation between adjacent channels.
o Try to reduce the difference in propagation delay. For example, put adjacent
PN-offsets to adjacent sectors. This is just the opposite from frequency
planning. In frequency planning, adjacent channels should be physically
separated as far apart from each other as possible; in PN-offset planning, the
adjacent PN-offsets should be physically located as close to each other as
possible so the difference in propagation delay can be minimized. This point
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will be further illustrated in Chapter 3. Please refer to “PN Allocation

Scheme” in the next chapter for further discussion.

The following Table summarizes similarities and difference between frequency planning
and PN-offset Planning.

Table 1 Comparing Frequency Planning and PN-offset Planning

Frequency Planning PN-Offset Planning

Co-Channel Cause: Two or more co-
Interference channel traffic channels
received by the same mobile
Symptom: Poor C/I, cross-
talks possible.
Cure: Increase frequency re-
use distance, antenna down
tilt, …etc.
Adjacent Cause: Insufficient ACIRR
Channel from channel filters.
Interference
Symptom: Poor C/I.
Cure:
1. Increase adjacent channel
frequency separation.
2.Frequency planning to
physically separate adjacent
channels
No comparable problem in Neighbor Cause: The same PN-offset value
AMPS reported.
Co-PN- Cause: Two or more co-PN traffic
Confusion channels fall into the same W_a and
become the 3 strongest signals
Symptom: Call drop.
Cure: Increase frequency re-use distance,
antenna down tilt, …etc.
Adjacent Cause: Very large difference in
PN propagation delay that causes a signal
Confusion with phase PN_k looking like phase
PN_(k+1) at the mobile
Symptom: Call drop.
Cure:
1.Increase PILOT_INC / PilotIncrement
2. PN allocations to reduce differences in
propagation delay.
List PN (representing two different sectors)
Alias appears more than once in the Composite
Problem Neighbor List.
Symptom: Call drop if the mobile hands
off to the wrong sector.
Cure:
1.Increase PN-reuse distance
2.Trimme the size of neighbor list to
absolute minimum; try not to include
sectors that are not physical neighbor into
the neighbor list

20
.

Chapter 3: Design Criteria

From the discussion of the previous chapter, we can see that there is a trade off in
selecting the value of PILOT_INC / PilotIncrement (separation of the PN offsets). The
separation between the two adjacent offset pilots must be large enough to prevent
adjacent-PN confusion, but not too large so that there are still sufficient numbers of
available PN-offsets to produce a large re-use pattern to minimize the chance of co-PN
confusion. This chapter establishes the required design criteria to avoid potential
problems mentioned in previous chapter.

3.1 Criteria to Avoid Adjacent-PN Confusion

This section calculates the minimum required adjacent PN phase separation (i.e., the
value of PILOT_INC) in order to avoid adjacent-PN confusion.

In this calculation it is convenient to express distance in the unit of chips. For a chip rate
of 1.2288 Mchips/sec, each chip has duration of 0.8138  106 (sec)  0.814  sec . During
one chip time, RF wave propagating with speed of light will travel a distance of 244
meters. Therefore, one chip in the measurement of distance is:

1 Chip  244(m)

In Fig.4, a mobile is located in its home cell (BTS_b) and its distance to the home cell BS
is Db. The pilot from a remote base station (BTS_a) will reach the mobile after
propagating a distance of Da. Obviously, in order not to have the remote pilot confused
with the local pilot, the separation of the PN-offset M [chips] between these two pilots
must be bigger than their path difference Db – Da [unit: chip]:

[2] M  Db  Da

Theoretically, equation [2] cannot always be satisfied no mater how large the separation
M is, because there is no limit on how large will be the path difference Db – Da.. For an
infinite network, for any chosen PN separation M, you can always find a remote site that
is far enough so that Db – Da > M. So Eq. (2) tells us: adjacent-PN confusion cannot be
completely avoided (just like in the narrow band system, the co- and adjacent channel
interference cannot be completely avoided). We must then design the network to control
the unwanted energy from remote cell to a sufficient low level compared to the wanted
energy from the home cell (S/I). So what is the minimum acceptable (S/I)? Qualcomm
[10] states that the ratio of the home pilot to one remote pilot has to be about 24 dB or
higher, i.e.,

21
.

Home _ Energy ( signal )

[3]  24[dB]
Re mote _ Energy ( Interference)

Using a simplified path loss formula:

 1   1 
Signal(S)    Interference(I)   
Db  Da 

 1 
  
S  Db  D 
   a 
I  1  Db 
 
 Da 

where  is the propagation path loss exponent, 3.2    4.8 for most US. cities [11].
We will use the minimum value of =3.2 (New York city) for the worst case (minimum
propagation loss corresponding to the maximum interference).

Substitute into Eq. [3] and express into log scale we get:

Da 
10 log10    24[dB]
 Db 
[4]
 Da 
   10 24/ 10  
 Db 

We now have to solve (2) together with (4). Which means that we have to choose PN-
offset separation M such that either (a) the adjacent-PN confusion does not happen at all,
or (b) if it does happen the unwanted energy is at least 24 dB lower the wanted energy.
From Eq. [2] we get

D 

M  Db  a  1  Db 1024 /10  1
Db 

Note that since cell radius R >= Db, so replace Db into R, we will have a more
conservative case:


M  R 10 24 / 10    1 
Note also that the remote pilot’s phase does not have to be in perfect synchronization
with the home pilot in order to cause confusion. As long as its phase falls into the active

22
.

window of the home pilot, the mobile will think it is a multi-path of the home pilot and
confusion will happen. So in order to avoid confusion, we should have

[5] 
M  R  W A / 2 10 24 /(10 )  1 
where W_A = half the search window size of the active set. Since it is used to capture the
multipath components, its size should be a function of environment. That is, if an
environment has large multipath spread, W_A needs to be larger, and vice versa. Assume
W_A = 28 chips, so W_A/2 = 14 chips.

Both Eq.[4] and Eq.[5] show that the separation M is proportional to cell radius R. The
following table gives the average cell radius from our MTAs for different morphologies.

Table 2 Typical Cell Radii

Cells Ave. Cell Radius [km]

Microcells 0.5  R  1.0(km) ; many networks do not have microcells

Normal Cells 1.0(km)  R  6.0(km)
Large Cells: 6.0(km)  R  15.0(km)

For large cells, the minimum required PN-offset separation for the worst case can be
calculated by substituting into (5)  = 3.2, R = 15 (km) = 61.5 chips, S = 14 chips:

M  (61.5  14)  1024 / 32   1  75.5  4.623  349(chips )

we choose the separation to be an integer times of 64 chips:

ML  6  64  384(chips)

(we have an extra room of 384-349 = 35 chips)

For normal cells, use the worst case of R = 6.0 (km) = 24.6 chips, and the minimum
offset separation is:

M  (24.6  14)  4.623  178(chips)

we choose

M S  3  64  192(chips )

(we have an extra room of 192-178 =14 chips).

23
.

Ideally, one would like to use PILOT_INC = 3 for small cells, and PILOT_INC = 6 for
large cells. However, without the In_Traffic_Parameter_Update Message, PILOT_INC is
a global parameter that cannot be changed within a BSC while a mobile is active. So we
must use the same PILOT_INC value if the entire area is served by one BSC. For
different BSC, the PILOT_INC may be different. The parameter PILOT_INC is updated
in the Neighbor_List_Update Message. In Chapter 3.4, we establish a method using
PILOT_INC =3, but can make the adjacent PN separation for large cells “look” like 6*64
chips.

Discussion:
3.1.1 Why S/I >= 24 dB?
We now can discuss an unanswered question in the above derivation. Eq.(3) indicate that
the true signal strength must be at least 24 dB stronger than a false signal strength. Why
24 dB ?

Since during PN confusion, both the true signal and false signal are despreaded, they both
have a processing gain. Therefore the overall S/I should be at least 18 dB (i.e., the true
signal must be 18 dB stronger than the sum of all the false signals, the same as in a
narrow band system). In the worst case there can be two fingers lock on to two false
signals and one finger lock on to the true signal. In this case the S/I is:

S True_ Signal
  18[dB]
I False_ Signal#1  False_ Signal# 2

If False_ Signal#1  False_ Signal# 2 , then the ratio of the true signal to one false
signal should be 3 dB higher:

S True_ Signal
  21[dB]
I False_ Signal

Using S/I = 24 dB leaves some safety margin (in case a few false signals have identical
propagation delay).

3.1.2 Boomer Cell and Virtual PN

One extreme case where the adjacent PN confusion is very significant is the boomer cell
application. The maximum radius of a CDMA800 boomer cell can reach more than 200
km. This extra large cell radius will cause handoff problem in the transition region
between a regular cell and a boomer cell.

24
.

For example, if the cell radius of a regular cell is 15 km, and cell radius of a boomer cell
is 200 km. In the transition region between these two cells, the difference in propagation
delay is 200 – 15 = 185 km = 758 chips = 11.8*64 chips. This means even if one chooses
an extremely large PILOT_INC of 12, this extra large propagation delay will still make
PN_k look like PN_(k+1) at the mobile.

Fig.9 shows the situation. When a mobile moves from a regular cell to boomer cell,
initially the mobile’s time reference is from the regular cell, so the phase of the signal
from the boomer cell, due to the extra 185 km of propagation delay, will be late for 758
chips. This phase will fall into the search window of next PN_(k+1).

Similarly, if a mobile is moving from a boomer cell into a regular cell, initially the
mobile’s time reference is from the boomer cell, so the phase of the signal from the
regular cell, due to the 185 km less propagation delay, will be early for 758 chips. This
phase will fall into the search window of the previous PN_(k-1).

Either way, the adjacent PN confusion will surely happen, unless the PILOT_INC is so
large (say = 15). Such a large PILOT_INC will significantly reduce the number of valid
PNs, if the network also contains small cells, the total available valid PNs will not be
enough.

One solution is to introduce the so-called “virtual PN”. The idea behind virtual PN is that,
since the propagation difference is so big that PN_k will look like either PN_(k-1) or
PN_(k+1), instead of having a very large W_n and a very large PILOT_INC value, one
can “lie” to the mobile in the Neighbor List Message by telling the mobile that the
expected PN-offset from this neighbor is PN_(k-1) or PN_(k+1). The BTS actually
transmits PN with phase PN_k, but when the signal arrives at the mobile, the PN phase
becomes PN_(k-1) or PN_(k+1) in mobile’s current time reference, so the mobile can
find signal with the right phase. This will eliminate the need of using extremely larger
PILOT_INC and extremely large Neighbor Set search window W_n.

Assume the boomer cell uses PN_k, and the regular cell uses PN_j. The boomer cell
should datafill PN_(j-1) into its neighbor list as the virtual PN; and regular cell should
datafill PN_(k+1) in its neighbor list as the virtual PN. This way
 A mobile (Red car in Fig.10) in the boomer cell driving into the regular cell will find
the regular cell’s pilot phase near PN_(j-1)
 A mobile (Blue car in Fig.10) in the regular cell driving into the boomer cell will find
the boomer cell’s pilot phase near PN_(k+1)

25
.

Fig.10 Handoff Region between a regular cell and a boomer cell. Difference in
propagation delay causes the phase of the signal to shift into adjacent PN’s phase.

3.2 Criteria to Avoid co-PN Confusion

This section calculates the minimum required PN-reuse separation (i.e., the size of the
PN-reuse cluster) in order to avoid co-PN confusion.

In Fig. 11, Cell A and Cell B both uses the same PN-offset (omni-cells are the worst
case). Co-PN confusion problem will happen if the two co-PN pilots from two different
cells fall into the same SRCH_WIN_A of the mobile, and both become one of the three
strongest signal components. Note that if one pilot signal propagates much longer than
the other, so that the difference in propagation delay causes the remote pilot’s phase to
"fall out" of the mobile's SRCH_WIN_A, the mobile's search finger will never find the
remote pilot and the co-PN confusion can be avoided. Therefore a sufficient condition
to avoid co-PN confusion is a sufficient large difference in propagation delay.

In Fig.11, assume the distance between Cell A and Cell B is D. Further assume the
worst case scenario that a mobile is located between these two cells and its distance to
the home Cell A (the cell in which the mobile establishes its time reference from) is dH,
and its distance to the remote Cell B is (D - dH).

26
.

Figure 11 Criterion to avoid co-PN confusion in the Active Set

To guarantee the remote pilot "fall out" of the Active Set Search Window, one needs
[6]  D  d H   d H  W2A
Since d H  R , from the above Eq. we obtain the minimum required physical separation
between two BTS that reuse the same PN-offsets to be:
W
[7] D  A  2R
2
If Cell A and Cell B have different radii, then R should be the maximum cell radius.

Assuming the number of cells in a PN reuse cluster is K, then the reuse distance is
approximately
[8] D  R 3K

which reduces proportional to the cell radius R. Since the search window WA should be
W
independent of R, the required co-PN distance, D  A  2 R , does not decrease
2
proportionally with R. Therefore small cells will be much more vulnerable to co-PN
confusion since they tend to have a very small reuse distance.

Another reason that small cells are vulnerable to co-PN problem is that small cells are
usually used to cover Urban or Dense Urban, and Suburban areas, the signal level near
the cell edge is very high (because an additional 15 - 20 dB margin is provided for
building penetration). This high signal level at the cell edge is achieved by "packing" site
antennas very close to each other. Packing antennas very close to each other also means
that the signal from one cell can spill over several tiers of neighbor cells; which means
the probability of co-PN-offset confusion is very high. In this case we need a very large
PN-offset reuse pattern to reduce the chance of co-pilot confusion.

27
.

The reuse distance Dr for a reuse pattern of K is given in Eq.[8]. If using K = 37 for small
cells (Fig.12), it leads to a reuse distance of 10.5 R. The total number of PN used =
3*3*37 = 333 (assume 3-sector per site and PILOT_INC = 3). The signal to co-PN
interference from one cell, for re-use pattern of 37 is (again assume path loss exponent of
3.2):

3.2
S  Dr 
 10.5
3.2
   1872.9  32.7(dB)  24(dB)
I  R

Fig. 12 A 37-cell PN-reuse cluster

For large cells that cover rural, high way or some suburban areas, the overlapping
between neighbor cells is usually much less. Because very little building penetration
margin is needed, site antennas are located much farther apart. Since the signal level near
the large cell edge is already very low, the chance of a pilot interfering a remote cell that
is located several tiers away is much smaller. For large cells, the main thing needs to be
worried about is adjacent PN confusion, so a larger PN phase difference between adjacent
PN is required.

3.3 Practices to Avoid Alias PN in Composite Neighbor List

Unlike the previous two problems, this problem is not a confusion problem in the Active
Set, but is a problem in the Composite Neighbor List which can cause mobiles to handoff
to the wrong sector. In the Neighbor List of each cell, there is no PN alias, the alias only

28
.

happens in the union of Neighbor List, i.e., in the Composite Neighbor List. Therefore, it
is not easy for human to detect this kind of problem in the design stage, nor can most
design tools like PlaNet detect this kind of problem.

However, the following general practice helps to minimize the chance of this problem:

 Increasing the reuse distance by using a large reuse cluster, so that co-PN sectors
are physically separated by several tiers of cells. This reduces the probability that
the union of Neighbor Lists will contain duplicated PNs.
 Trim down the size of Neighbor List. Note that most of time this kind of problem
occurs because cells include remote cells that are not their physical neighbor into
the Neighbor List. It is best that each sector only contain sectors that are true
physical neighbors into its Neighbor List. Don’t include non-neighbor-sectors into
the Neighbor List “just in case”.

If a non-neighbor sector has a strong presence in a place where it should not be there, it
is likely caused by RF energy spill and the poor coverage control. Tighten the RF
coverage is the right solution (e.g., antenna down tilting). Build a large Neighbor List is
not the right way to solve the problem. In fact, it will cause many side effects such as
slow Neighbor Set searching time (the larger the size of the Neighbor List, the longer it
takes to search for a pilot), Composite Neighbor List alias problem, etc.

3.4 PN Allocation Methods

3.4.1 Adjacent PN Allocation

As was mentioned in Table 1, for frequency planning, the adjacent frequency channels
should be physically separated as far apart from each other as possible (Fig.13 (right)).
For PN-offset planning, the adjacent PN-offset channels should be physically allocated as
close to each other as possible (Fig.13 (left)). This section gives a detailed explanation
why.

29
.

(A) (B)

Fig. 13 Different ways to assign adjacent channels/PNs: (A) adjacent PNs are assigned to
adjacent cells; (B) adjacent channels are NOT assigned to adjacent cells (at least
separated by one cell).

In narrow band systems, adjacent channels should not be allocated close to each other or
intolerable adjacent channel interference may happen in the overlapped area. Thus the
adjacent channels should be allocated to remote sectors, the farther away from each other
the better. Therefore option (B) is preferred.

However, in PN-offset assignment we are facing a totally different problem. It is the path
difference that causes the difference in propagation delay, which in turn is the cause
adjacent PN confusion. Therefore, the bigger the path difference, the bigger the
separation (see Eq. (5)) will be required.

In Fig. 14, it is clear that the neighbor sector/cells are less likely to produce a large path
difference with the home pilot (if the 2 pilots starting at the same point (same BTS) and
ending at the same point (same mobile), the difference in propagation delay between
them is zero). Therefore, the adjacent PN-offsets should be assigned to adjacent
sectors/cells. This way, pilots with small separations are close to each other, and those
that are far from each other will also have large PN-offset separations.
Large Reflector
neighbor
sector

Reflected A home
Path sector

mobile

Direct Path

B remote
sector

Fig. 14 A remote sector is much more likely to produce a large path difference than the
neighbor sectors. Therefore the adjacent PN-offset should be assigned to the neighbor
sectors and PN-offsets with large differences should be assigned to remote sectors.

30
.

3.4.2 PN Allocation for Small Cells and Large Cells

This section gives an example for PN allocation for very non-uniform networks (so large
cells need to be allocated differently from small cells). For networks that are less non-
uniform, one can use PILOT_INC = 4 as a compromise for large cells and small cells and
use the same PN allocation for all.

When the ratio of (Max_Cell_Radius / Minimum_Cell_Radius) is very large, one may

need to use the following PN allocation scheme:

For small cells, use adjacent PN separation = 3*64 chips, PN re-use pattern of K=37. A
total of 37*3*3 =333 distinct PN-offsets are needed, and they are:

(3) , 6  , 9  , 12  ,......, 37  3  3

For PILOT_INC = 3, valid PN-offset values in the Remaining Sets must be a multiple of
3. Values such as 1, 2, 4, 5, ... etc. are not used. The general expression for PILOT_PN
assignment for small cell is:

-Sector offset = 9m+3;

[9] -Sector offset = 9m+6;
-Sector offset = 9m+9;

where m = 0, 1, 2, 3, ...., 36.

For large cells, adjacent PN separation of 6*64 chips can be used. Every alternate PN
offset of 3 will be skipped to fulfilled PN separation of 6 (e.g. 6, 12, 18, 24,…). The
main reason is that PILOT_INC cannot change for an active mobile within the service
area of a BSC without the In-Traffic_Parameter_Update message, to satisfy the small
cells, PILOT_INC has to be 3, so one has to skip every other one to create a PN phase
separation of 6*64 chips.

Therefore, use PN separation = 6*64 chips, PN-reuse pattern K=9, and a total of 9*3*6 =
162 distinct offsets are allocated to large cells. They are:

6 , 12 , 18 , 24 ,........, 9  3  6

Values such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13,... etc. are not used.

31
.

For PILOT_INC = 3, values such as 3, 6, 9, … are all valid PN values in the Remaining
Set, but we skip values such as 3, 9, 15, …etc., so that the effective PN separation is 6,
not 3. The general expression for PILOT_PN assignment for large cell is:

-sector offset = 18n + 6;

[10] -sector offset = 18n + 12;
-sector offset = 18n + 18;

where n = 0, 1, 2, 3, ...., 8.

32
.

Chapter 4. Comparing PN-Planning for DO and

CDMA
1xEV-DO is a data-only (DO) technology in CDMA2000 family. Currently, 1xEV-DO
must overlay with 1xRTT system so 1xRTT supports voice service and 1xEV-DO
supports data service.

There are many similarities for PN-planning in 1xRTT/IS-95 and 1xEV-DO. In fact,
when 1xEV-DO system was designed, designers had in mind that the DO system is to be
overlaid with 1xRTT system. Therefore, DO’s pilot searching algorithm, soft handoff
algorithm,… have many similarities with 1xRTT; and it was intended to have DO
network to reuse the same PN-plan as the 1xRTT network, so the two overlaid networks
can have identical PN plan.

There are minor differences between DO’s PN and 1xRTT’s PN. However, these
differences will not change the DO network’s PN planning. Here are the main similarities
and difference of two technologies related to PN [13]:
Similarities:
 DO also uses the same chip rate (=1.2288*10^6 chips/sec), thus has the same channel
bandwidth as 1xRTT.
 DO also uses a short code of 2^15 = 32768 chips in length for pilot PN sequence
 The different sectors in DO are also distinguished by different PN-offset values, with
minimum PN-offset separation of 64 chips
 DO uses the same mechanism to measure a pilot’s phase, as specified in Eq.[1].
 DO also uses similar search windows W_a, W_n and W_r, window sizes are defined
exactly the same as IS-95/1xRTT.
 The searching priority for DO is the same as for IS-95/1xRTT, i.e., the Active Set and
Candidate Set pilots have the highest priority; the Neighbor Set pilots have the
medium priority and the Remaining Set pilots have the lowest priority.

Differences:
 The zero offset PN sequence in DO is the time-reversal version of the corresponding
zero-offset IS-95 pilot sequence. This eliminates the possibility false acquisition of
nearby IS-95 systems with the same carrier frequency.
 DO pilot is transmitted as a short burst of 96 chips duration. 1xRTT/IS-95 pilot is a
separate channel that transmits continuously. So DO mobile can only search for pilot
in a small time window of 96 chips and determine the PN phase from this time
window.
 DO only supports reverse link soft handoff, forward link soft / softer handoff are not
supported.
 DO added a “SearchWindowOffsetIncluded” in its search windows. This only gives
added flexibility, if this field is not used, then it is the same as IS-95/1xRTT.
33
.

One important parameter in DO is the PilotIncrement. At early versions of HDR, the

minimum adjacent PN offset separation is at least 256 chips, i.e., at least 4*64 chips. In
1xEV-DO, the PilotIncrement is defined, but the earlier standard says that its value can
only be 4N, where N >= 1 [14]. This means the minimum adjacent PN phase separation
is still 4*64. At the newest standard IS-856-1, the value of PilotIncrement can be reduced
to 1, same as IS-95. However, its default value is still 4, so if PilotIncrement of 3 is used
in the network, the system needs to update this parameter over-the-air to mobiles so they
will search for pilot phases with increment of 3*64 chips [15].

Since 1xEV-DO has the same W_a, W_n and W_r, it also uses similar (although not
identical) short code with 512 possible PN-offset values, it will have the same kind of
potential PN confusion problems and solutions.

In fact, 1xEV-DO will have a slightly lower probability of having PN-confusion

problems than IS-95/1xRTT, mainly because 1xEV-DO does not have forward link soft
handoff. From Chapter 2, it is clear that PN confusion happens in the forward link where
mobile’s Rake fingers destructively combine unrelated energies. In particular, the alias
problem in Composite Neighbor List is the most common PN planning problem in IS-
95/1xRTT networks. When this happens, an IS-95/1xRTT handset handoff to a wrong
sector (with co-PN) will be dropped.

In case of 1xEV-DO, only reverse link can have soft handoff.

 In reverse link, the RNC is doing selective combining. If the mobiles handoff to a
wrong sector, the RNC will not receive the expected reverse frames from the wrong
sector, so the there will be no diversity gain, handset will Tx higher power, and
reverse capacity will be worse. But this may not be severe enough to cause call drop
(Fig.15).
 In the forward link, unless the wrong sector actually becomes the dominant server,
the handset will not switch to it. Only when it does become the dominant server, the
handset switching to the wrong sector will be dropped. However, the area where the
wrong sector is a dominant server will be much smaller than the soft handoff area
(Fig.15).

Therefore, PN confusion in 1xEV-DO seems to be less problematic than IS-95/1xRTT, so

if a PN-plan is good for IS-95/1xRTT, it will be good for 1xEV-DO.

34
.

BTS A”
BTS B
BTS A

Soft Handoff
Area
RNC
BTS B is the BTS A” is the
Dominant Server Dominant Server

Fig.15 Alias problem in the Composite Neighbor List. BTS A and BTS A” use the same
PN. System “thinks” the mobile is handoff to BTS A (so the RNC sets up backhaul links
to BTS A and BTS B), but in fact the mobile is handoff to BTS A” (so the mobile has
reverse air links to BTS B and BTS A”).

35
.

Summary
 The major task of PN-offset planning is to control the co- and adjacent- PN confusion
problems, and minimizing the probability of alias problem in the Composite Neighbor
List.
o The co-PN-confusion is more severe for small cells.
o The adjacent PN-confusion is the major concern for large cells.
o Alias problem is mainly caused by including non-physical neighbors into the
Neighbor List, consequently the Composite Neighbor List contains duplicated
copies of the same PN (representing different co-PN sectors).
 The following planning criteria reduces the probability of PN confusion:
o Sufficient adjacent PN phase separation
o Sufficient PN-reuse distance
o Minimizing the size of neighbor list to including only physical neighbors
 For a highly non-uniform network, the challenge is that opposite requirement are
needed to avoid both the adjacent and co-PN confusions. For the same total number
of available PNs, a large PN reuse cluster requires a small adjacent PN separation. A
large adjacent PN separation results a small PN reuse cluster. So one must carefully
balance the two.
 Different techniques can be used for highly non-uniform network
o Virtual PN used for Boomer cell applications
o Two different sets of PNs (with different adjacent PN separations) can be used for
large cells and small cells
o Intelligent PN allocation schemes can be used to further reduce the probability of
PN confusion
 When 1xEV-DO network is overlaying with 1xRTT network, the PN plan used for
1xRTT can be reused for 1xEV-DO.

36
.

Reference
[1] R. Dixon, "Spread Spectrum Systems with Commercial Applications", 3rd Edition,
John Wiley & Sons, 1994. pp 165-166.

[2] CDMA System Engineering Training Handbook, Vol. 1, 1994. Qualcomm Inc., pp. 5-
5.

[3] EIA/TIA/IS-95-A, Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-

Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System, Sec. 1.2

[4] ibid., Sec. 6.1.5.1.

[5] ibid., Sec. 6.6.6.1.2.

[6] ibid., Sec. 6.6.6.2.1

[7] ibid., Sec. 6.6.6.2.4

[8] CDMA System Engineering Training Handbook, Vol. 1, 1994. Qualcomm Inc., pp. 5-
25, 5-26.

[9] M. Yacoub, "Foundations of Mobile Radio Engineering", CRC press, 1993. pp 40-41.

[10] CDMA System Engineering Training Handbook, Vol. 1, 1994. Qualcomm Inc., pp
5-25, 5-26.

[11] W. Lee, "Mobile Cellular Telecommunications", 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1995,

pp 110.

[12] CDMA System Engineering Training Handbook, Vol. 1,1994. Qualcomm Inc., pp 5-
15, 5-17.

[13] TIA/EIA/IS-856-1, Addendum1, January, 2002.

[14] 1xEV-DO Upper Layer [v 0.55] Aug. 17, 2000 version. P. 6-57.

[15] D. Paranchych and T. Young, private communication.

37