LTE Downlink Capacity Improvement

Ericsson-Kuwait

April-2016

Bashar Manko - EBASHMA

 summary
› Objective:
To show the excellent improvements that we have achieved in LTE DL capacity (DL PRB utilization, DL Throughput & DL
Data volume) in two nominated LTE sites {L3853D–DUS41,L3880A-DUS31} as represented in the next slides after optimizing
the following parameters :

1) pdcchCfiMode from 4 to 5
2) pdcchLaGinrMargin from 100 to 50

› Problem:
DL PRB utilization was used to fall down whenever the number of connected users exceed 200 and this result to inefficient
PRB resources usage during busy hour. This problem is affecting both DUS types (31 & 41) .

› Way Forward:
Further tuning may be still required to make sure PRB utilization is within the optimum range (>90%) however the objective
here is just to highlight a hidden problem which needs deep analysis and investigations especially during busy hours intervals.

› LRAN Configuration:
– SW release L14B-IP6.
– 18% of the cells have connected users >200 & 45% of the cells have connected users >100 during busy hour.
– Number of sites = 1050 sites.
– Band configuration : 1800-20MHz & 800-10MHz .
– DUS Types : 60% of sites with DUS31 and 40% of the sites with DUS41.

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 2

PRB utilization Vs connected user
with DUS41 Case(Site L3853D).
• The following parameters have been changed in site L3853D on 1 Dec :

1. Change pdcchCfiMode from 4 to 5.

 To have enough PDCCH capacity where changing CFI mode from 4 to 5 will increases number of OFDM symbols available for
PDCCH from 2 to 3. This will increases the number of available PDCCH resources so more SE/TTI can be scheduled.

2. Reduce pdcchLaGinrMargin from 100 to 50.

 PDCCH is a suspected bottleneck on the troubled sites. With default setting, PDCCH LA is too conservative: the eNB uses more
CCEs than necessary for successful PDCCH reception by the UE. By reducing the margin we should be able to schedule more
SE/TTI by using PDCCH resources more efficiently.

• Below table represents the improvement in PRB utilization during busy interval (5-10PM) after
implementing the above changes :

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 3

 PRB Utilization Vs Connected Users
Site L3853D– S1

DL PRB Utilization has been improved during busy intervals for s1 from 55% to 89%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 4

DL User Throughput Vs DL Data Vol
Site L3853D– S1

DL User throughput has been improved by 27.3% and data volume increased by 18.2%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 5

DL Cell Throughput Vs DL Data Vol
Site L3853D– S1

DL Cell throughput has been improved by 18.5% and data volume increased by 18.2%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 6

 PRB Utilization Vs Connected Users
Site L3853D– S2

DL PRB Utilization has been improved during busy intervals for s2 from 79% to 97%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 7

DL User Throughput Vs DL Data Vol
Site L3853D– S2

DL User throughput has been improved by 14.3% and data volume increased by 3.4%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 8

DL Cell Throughput Vs DL Data Vol
Site L3853D– S2

DL Cell throughput has been improved by 3.8% and data volume increased by 3.4%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 9

 PRB Utilization Vs Connected Users
Site L3853D– S3

DL PRB Utilization has been improved during busy intervals for s3 from 66% to 75%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 10

DL User Throughput Vs DL Data Vol
Site L3853D– S3

DL User throughput has been improved by 18.6% and data volume increased by 10.2%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 11

DL Cell Throughput Vs DL Data Vol
Site L3853D– S3

DL Cell throughput has been improved by 10.2% and data volume increased by 10.7%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 12

PRB utilization Vs connected user
with DUS41 Case(Site L3853D).
• The following parameters have been changed in site L3880A on 10 Dec :

1. Change pdcchCfiMode from 4 to 5.

 To have enough PDCCH capacity where changing CFI mode from 4 to 5 will increases number of OFDM symbols available for
PDCCH from 2 to 3. This will increases the number of available PDCCH resources so more SE/TTI can be scheduled.

2. Reduce pdcchLaGinrMargin from 100 to 50.

 PDCCH is a suspected bottleneck on the troubled sites. With default setting, PDCCH LA is too conservative: the eNB uses more
CCEs than necessary for successful PDCCH reception by the UE. By reducing the margin we should be able to schedule more
SE/TTI by using PDCCH resources more efficiently.

• Below table represents the improvement in PRB utilization during busy interval (5-10PM) after
implementing the above changes :

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 13

 PRB Utilization Vs Connected Users
Site L3880A– S1

DL PRB Utilization has been improved during busy intervals for sector1 from 86% to 97%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 14

DL User Throughput Vs DL Data Vol
Site L3880A– S1

DL User throughput has been improved by 11.4% and data volume increased by 6.5%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 15

DL Cell Throughput Vs DL Data Vol
Site L3880A– S1

DL Cell throughput has been improved by 6.2% and data volume increased by 6.5%

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 16

EBASHMA | 2016-04-12 | Page 17