UTRAN Radio Resource Management

Introduction
Handover Control
Soft/Softer Handover
BTS 3 Inter Frequency Handover
Power Control
Closed Loop Power Control
Open Loop Power Control
Interference Management
UE BTS 2
Load Control
Call Admission Control
BTS 1 Congestion Control
Packet Data Transmission
Packet Data Control
Dynamic Scheduling
References
H. Holma, A. Toskala (Ed.), “WCDMA for UMTS”, Wiley, 5th edition, Wiley, 2010
Walke, Althoff, Seidenberg: UMTS – Ein Kurs. J. Schlembach Fachverlag, 2002
H. Kaaranen, et.al., “UMTS Networks: Architecture, Mobility and Services”,
Wiley, 2001. (see chapter 4)
A. Viterbi: “CDMA: Principles of Spread Spectrum Communications,” Addison
Wesley, 1995.
J. Laiho, A. Wacker, T. Novosad (ed.): “Radio Network Planning and
Optimisation for UMTS,“ Wiley, 2001
T. Ojanperä, R. Prasad, “Wideband CDMA for Third Generation Mobile
Communication”, Artech House, 1998.
R. Prasad, W. Mohr, W. Konhäuser, “Third Generation Mobile Communications
Systems”, Artech House, March 2000.

3GPP standards:
TS 25.214: “Physical Layer Procedures“ (esp. power control)
TR 25.922: “Radio Resource Management Strategies“
TR 25.942: “RF System Scenarios“

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 2

RRM – High-Level Requirements

Efficient use of limited radio resources (spectrum, power, code space)

Minimizing interference
Flexibility regarding services (Quality of Service, user behaviour)
Simple algorithms requiring small signalling overhead only
Stability and overload protection
Self adaptive in varying environments
Allow interoperability in multi-vendor environments

Radio Resource Management

algorithms control the
efficient use of resources
with respect to
interdependent objectives:
– cell coverage
– cell capacity
– quality of service

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 3

RRM – Components

Core Network/ other RNCs

Radio Resource Management

typically in
Handover Load Packet Data RNC
Control Control Control

Medium
Power
Control Access typically in
Control NodeB

Physical layer

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 4

Handover Control: Basics
General: mechanism of changing a cell or base station during a call or session

Handover in UMTS:
UE may have active radio links to more than one Node B
Mobile-assisted & network-based handover in UMTS:
UE reports measurements to UTRAN if reporting criteria (which are set by
the UTRAN) are met
UTRAN then decides to dynamically add or delete radio links depending
on the measurement results

Types of Handover:
Soft/Softer Handover (dedicated channels)
Hard Handover (shared channels)
Inter Frequency (Hard) Handover
Inter System Handover (e.g. UMTS-GSM)
Cell selection/re-selection (inactive or idle)
All handover types require heavy support from the UMTS network infrastructure!

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Macro Diversity & Soft Handover (Wrap-Up)

NodeB 2
NodeB 1

UE

Downlink: combining in the mobile station

Uplink: combining in the base station and/or radio network controller

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Soft/ Softer Handover

In soft/softer handover the UE maintains active radio links to more than one
Node B
Combination of the signals from multiple active radio links is necessary

Soft Handover
The mobile is connected to (at least) two cells belonging to different NodeBs
In uplink, the signals are combined in the RNC,
e.g. by means of selection combining using CRC
Softer Handover
The mobile is connected to two sectors within one NodeB
More efficient combining in the uplink is possible like
maximum ratio combining (MRC) in the NodeB instead of RNC

Note:
In uplink no additional signal is transmitted, while in downlink each new link
causes interference to other users, therefore:
Uplink: HO general increase performance
Downlink: Trade-off

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 7

Soft and Softer Handover in Practice

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 Soft Handover Control

soft handover
area

NodeB 1 UE NodeB 2

• Measurement quantity, e.g.

Measurement
EC/I0 on CPICH
Quantity • Relative thresholds add &
CPICH 1 drop for adding & dropping
• Preservation time Tlink to
drop
avoid “ping-pong” effects
add Tlink • Event triggered measurement
reporting to decrease
CPICH 2
signalling load

Link to 1 Link to 1 & 2 Link to 2 time

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Soft Handover – Simulation Results

25%

20%
(Blocking and Dropping)
Outage Probability

1 link
15%
max 2 SHO links
max 4 SHO links
10%
max 6 SHO links

5%

0%
5 15 25 35 45 55
Offered Traffic [Erlang per site]

Soft handover significantly improves the performance, but …

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Soft Handover – Simulation Results II

2
Mean Number of Active Links

1,5

0,5

0
1 2 4 6
Max . Active Set Size

… the overhead due to simultaneous connections becomes higher!

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Inter-Frequency Handover

Hierarchical cell structure (HCS) Hot-spot

Macro Micro Macro Hot spot

f2 f2
f1 f1 f1 f1 f1

Handover f1 f2 always needed Handover f1 f2 needed

between layers sometimes at hot spot
Hard handover
Inter-frequency measurements of target cell needed in both scenarios
Mobile-assisted handover (MAHO)
slotted (compressed) mode for inter-frequency measurements to find suitable
target cell
also supports GSM system measurements
Database assisted handover (DAHO)
no measurements performed on other frequencies or systems
use cell mapping information stored in data base to identify the target cell

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 12

Power Control: Basics
Controls the setting of the transmit power in order to:
Keep the QoS within the required limits, e.g. data rate, delay and BER
Minimise interference, i.e. the overall power consumption

Power control handles:

Path Loss (Near-Far-Problem), Shadowing (Log-Normal-Fading) and
Fast Fading (Rayleigh-, Ricean-Fading)
Environment (delay spread, UE speed, …) which implies different
performance of the de-interleaver and decoder

Uplink: per mobile

Downlink: per physical channel

Three types of power control:

Inner loop power control
Outer loop power control (SIR-target adjustment)
Open loop power control (power allocation)

Downlink power overload control to protect amplifier

Gain Clipping (GC)
Aggregated Overload Control (AOC)

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Near-Far Problem – Power Control

Near-Far Problem:
• Spreading sequences are not orthogonal
(multi-user interference)
• Near mobile dominate
UE 1 • Signal to interference ratio is lower for far
mobiles and performance degrades

The problem can be resolved through

dynamic power control to equalize all
received power levels
NodeB

AND/OR

By means of joint multi-user detection

UE 2

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Closed Loop Power Control
Closed loop power control is used on channels, which are established in both
directions, such as DCH
There are two parts
Inner Loop Power Control (ILPC): receiver generates up/ down
commands to incrementally adjust the senders transmit power
Outer Loop Power Control (OLPC): readjusts the target settings of the
ILPC to cope with different fading performance

SIR > SIRtarget ?

target adjustment
BLERtarget

Inner Loop
Outer Loop
(1500 Hz)
( 100Hz)
UE
RNC
control command: Up/Down NodeB
Example: Uplink Closed Loop Power Control

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Impact of Power Control
speed = 3 km/h
8

6
Eb/N0 [dB]
5

2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

6
4
power/ fading [dB]

2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
time [sec]

Example: UMTS Closed Loop Power Control in the slow fading channel

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Power Control Performance

7.5

Required UL SIR [dB] 7

6.5

5.5
PedA
VehA
5
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Velocity [km/h]

SIR requirement strongly depends on the environment (due to different

fast fading conditions – Jakes models)
outer loop power control needed to adapt SIR

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 Open Loop Power Control

Open loop power control is used on channels that cannot apply closed
loop power control, e.g. RACH, FACH
The transmitter power is determined on the basis of a path loss estimate
from the received power measure of the opposite direction
To avoid excessive interference, probes with incremental power steps
until a response is obtained: “power ramping”

UE

NodeB
Open Loop Power Control on RACH

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 18

CDMA Overload

• CDMA systems tend to

become unstable
– More traffic increases the
interference
– More interference requires
higher power
– More power increases the
interference …
• Methods are required to limit
the system load
– Restrict the access to the
system
– Overcome overload
situations

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 19

Interference in CDMA Networks

Interference Problem
Inter-Symbolinterferenz (ISI) Delayed components from the
same user signal interfere due to
multipath propagation
Multiple Acces Interference – MAI Different user signals interfere
dependent on the access scheme
Intra-Cell Interference Interference caused by the users
belonging to same cell
Inter-Cell Interferenz Interference caused by the users
belonging to neighbor cells.

Frequency reuse factor is one

CDMA is subject to high multiple access interference
Soft capacity: CDMA capacity (e.g. number of users) determined by the
interference is soft
Handling of interference is the main challenge in designing CDMA networks

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 20

Cell Breathing
CDMA systems: cell size depends on the actual loading
Additional traffic will cause more interference
If the interference becomes too strong, users at the cell edge can no
more communicate with the basestation
CDMA interference management
Restriction of the users access necessary
Cell breathing makes network planning difficult

Example: cell brething with increasing traffic

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 21

Cell Breathing (contd.)

Coverage depending on load: load causes interference, which reduces the

area where a SIR sufficient for communication can be provided
coverage coverage coverage
low load medium load high load

yellow area: connection may drop or blocked

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 22

Coverage vs. Capacity

Capacity depends on:

QoS of the users (data rate, error performance (bit-error-rate))
User behaviour (activity)
Interference (out of cell)
Number of carriers/ sectors
Coverage (service area) depends on:
Interference (intra- & inter-cell) + noise
Pathloss (propagation conditions)
QoS of the users (data rate, error performance (bit-error-rate))
Thus, trade-off between capacity and coverage

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Coverage vs. Capacity
13kbps circuit switched service capacity versus maximum cell radius
3.5

2.5
Maximum cell radius (km)

1.5
Downlink

0.5
Uplink

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Erlangs (2% GOS)

Downlink limits capacity while uplink limits coverage

Downlink depends more on the load (users share total transmit BS power)

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 Example of Coverage and Best Server Map

best server map

coverage map

Application: RF engineering (cell layout) Application: HO decision

Legend: violet indicates high signal level, yellow Legend: color indicates cell with best
indicates low level CPICH in area

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Load Control: Basics
Main objective:
Avoid overload situations by controlling system load
Monitor and controls radio resources of users
Call Admission Control (CAC)
Admit or deny new users, new radio access bearers or new radio
links
Avoid overload situations, e.g. by means of blocking the request
Decisions are based on interference and resource measurements
Congestion Control (ConC)
Monitor, detect and handle overload situations with the already
connected users
Bring the system back to a stable state, e.g. by means of
dropping an existing call

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Resource Consumption

• Service/BLER-dependent
resource consumption
• Uplink example:
– Service I: Voice
Rb = 12.2kbps, Eb/Nt = 5dB
I = 0.99%
– Service II: Data
Rb = 144kbps, Eb/Nt = 3.1dB
II = 7.11%

• In downlink there is additional

dependency on the location
of the user
– Cell center low
consumption
– Cell edge high
consumption

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 27

Admission/ Congestion Control

Basic algorithm
• Admission control is triggered
when load thr_CAC
– New users are blocked
– Existing users are not
affected as long as load <
thr_ConC
• Congestion Control is
triggered when load
thr_ConC
– Reduce consumption of one
or several users
– Simple action: drop the user
– Repeat until load <
thr_ConC

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 28

 Call Admission Control: Simulation Results I
Tradeoff between blocking and dropping
Example: 64k per user, urban

50% 20%
thr_CAC = 50% thr_CAC = 50%
45% thr_CAC = 75% 18% thr_CAC = 75%
thr_CAC = 90% thr_CAC = 90%
40% 16%

35% 14%

Dropping Probability
Blocking Probability

30% 12%

25% 10%

20% 8%

15% 6%

10% 4%

5% 2%

0% 0%
5 15 25 35 45 55 5 15 25 35 45 55

Offe r ed Traffic [Erlang pe r s ite ] Offe re d Tr affic [Erlang pe r s ite]

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 29

Call Admission Control: Simulation Results II
Cell load depending on CAC threshold
Example: 64k per user, urban

90%
80%
70%
60%
Cell Loading

50%
40%
30%
20% thr_CAC = 50%
10% thr_CAC = 75%
thr_CAC = 90%
0%
5 15 25 35 45 55
Offered Tra ffic [Erla ng per site ]

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Packet Data Control: Channel Switching
Flexibility of packet services
Asymmetrical data rates
Very low to very high data rates
Control information/user information

Efficient transmission making good use of CDMA characteristics

Dedicated channel (DCH)
Minimise transmission power by closed-loop power control
Independence between uplink and downlink capacity
Common channel
Random access in the uplink (RACH)
Dynamic scheduling in the downlink (FACH)
Adaptive channel usage depending on traffic characteristics
Infrequent or short packets Common channel (Cell_FACH)
Frequent or large packets Dedicated channel (Cell_DCH)
No packet transmission UE “stand by” modus (URA_PCH)

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 31

Channel Switching – Example

CELL_DCH CELL_FACH CELL_DCH

DCH Active Time

“Chatty Applications”
Page Download Time Reading Time

Example: Web service

Chatty apps.: keep alive message, stock tickers, etc.
(e.g. 100 bytes every 15 sec)
Second stage: when no activity in CELL_FACH then switch to URA_PCH

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 Power Control vs. Rate Adaptation

Power Control:
– Balances user received quality (BLER, SIR)
– Users at cell center get less share of BTS
transmit power assigned than at cell edge
– Occurrence of power overload
UE 1 Rate Adaptation:
– Transmit power ~ data rate
– Users at cell edge get lower data rate assigned
than at cell center
– Reduces also power overload
NodeB On DCH combination of power control and
rate adaptation
high data rate – Rate assignment at begin of a transmission
area based on load and user location
low data rate – Rate adaptation when ongoing transmission
area UE 2 according to power consumption and overload
– Based on RRC-signaling (time horizon:
100msec … 10sec)

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 33

Rate Adaptation Performance

UM TS_urban, 50 k Byte UM TS_urban, 50 k Byte

40% 8
384k
35% 64k 7
adaptive
30% 6 384k
Outage Probability

64k

Mean Delay [sec]

25% 5
adaptive

20% 4

15% 3

10% 2

5% 1

0% 0
200 300 400 500 600 200 300 400 500 600
Ce ll Throughput [k Bit/s e c] Ce ll Throughput [kBit/s e c]

Rate adaptation significantly improves the RRM performance on DCH.

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Dynamic Scheduling

Sample Flow • “Statistical multiplexing” of data

packets from different data
flows on one shared medium,
Flow #1 e.g. on DSCH or HSDPA
• Scheduling with time-horizon of
UE 1
2msec … 1sec
• Optimised usage of radio
Flow #2
resources
NodeB • Exploitation of the short-term
variations on the radio
Flow #3
UE 2 channels (opportunistic
scheduling)
• Can provide certain degree of
QoS

UE 3

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2011 35

Summary/ Outlook
Basic RRM algorithms presented here:
Handover Control
Power Control
Load Control
Packet Data Control

RRM procedures not discussed here:

Spreading code management
RRM for TDD mode: time-slot management

Related issue: RF engineering

With HSPA scope of resource allocation has been changed esp. for packet data
Dynamic scheduling in NodeB to quickly (re)allocate radio resources
Distribution of RRM between NodeB and RNC

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