WCDMA Air Interface Training

Part 3
CDMA Capacity Considerations

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 1 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

1
 Cell Planning
• FDMA systems
Ø Frequency Reuse Planning

Ø SNR Link Budget

• TDMA systems
Ø Frequency Reuse Planning

Ø Timeslot Allocation

Ø SNR Link Budget

• CDMA systems
Ø Code Reuse Planning

Ø SNR Link Budget

Ø Interference Link Budget

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 2 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

FDMA systems
In systems based on FDMA technologies, for example AMPS, careful
planning of where frequencies are used and where these can be reused is
very important since this will have an impact on the performance of the
network. This is known as frequency reuse planning. Power must also be
planned to maintain the signal to noise ratio required to maintain
connections in the network. This type of planning is referred to as SNR link
budget planning.
• TDMA systems
In systems based on TDMA technologies, for example GSM, frequency
reuse planning is also important since different frequencies are used to
separate base stations and transmitters in those base stations. Another type
of planning, particular to this type of access system is timeslo t allocation
that is the number of available timeslots for a particular area must be
carefully planned. As with other systems SNR link budget planning is also
required.
• CDMA Systems
As all transmitters in a CDMA system operate on the same frequency there
is no need to perform frequency reuse planning, however careful planning
on the reuse of PN codes is required. This type of planning is called code
reuse planning. As with other systems SNR link budget planning is also
required. Another type of planning required in CDMA systems known as
interference link budget. Here the amount of acceptable interference in the
network must be carefully planned.

2
 Frequency Reuse
• Basic Reuse Pattern of 7, 4 and 3

F2
F2 F7 F3 F2
F7 F3 F1 F4 F3 F2 F2 F2
F1 F6 F2 F1 F2 F3 F3 F3
F4
F6 F4 F5 F2 F4 F3 F4 F3 F1 F1 F1
F5 F2 F7 F3 F1 F2 F1 F2 F2 F2 F2
F2 F7 F3 F1 F4 F3 F3 F3 F3 F3
F7 F3 F1 F6 F4 F2 F1 F2 F1 F1 F1 F1
F1 F6 F4 F5 F4 F3 F4 F3 F2 F2 F2
F6 F4 F5 F2 F1 F2 F1 F3 F3 F3
F5 F2 F7 F3 F4 F3 F1 F1 F1
F7 F3 F1 F1
F1 F6 F4
F6 F4 F5
F5

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 3 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

The diagram to the left shows how a frequency reuse pattern of 7 is

achieved. This type of pattern results in very good separation between
sectors on the same frequency and is typically used for TDMA sys tems like
AMPS and TACS.
Using a pattern will ensure that there are always several cells of isolation
between cells on the same frequency. In the diagram we can see that there is
a two cell isolation between occurrences of the same frequency. This type of
planning places restrictions on the overall system capacity as it will dictate
the maximum number of carriers that can be used in each sector. For
example if there were 140 carriers available in the system then a maximum
of 20 (140/7) could be used in each cell.

Also shown is two other frequency reuse patterns, that is, 4 and 3.
These do not provide as good separation as reuse pattern 7 since there is
only one cell of isolation between cells on the same frequency. However this
level of separation is adequate for digital systems like GSM where
interference reducing techniques like frequency hopping can be used. Using
these lower frequency reuse patterns will increase the system capacity in
relation to the 7 reuse pattern. Taking the same available carriers (140) using
reuse pattern 4 would allow 35 (140/4) carriers per sector and 46 (140/3)
using the 3 reuse pattern. This explains why GSM is said to give a more
efficient use of the air interface than TACS or AMPS.

3
 Frequency Reuse
• Cell Sectorization+-

Reuse Pattern Reuse Pattern Reuse Pattern

7/21 4/12 3/9

20
19 A1 C3 C2 D3 B3 B2 A1
21 B1 C3 C2 B1 C3 C2 B1
8 2
7 1
2 9 17 3 11 A3 A2 B1 D1 D2 C1 A3 A2 B3 B2 A1 B3 B2 A1 B3 B2
1 16 10
17 3 11 18 14 12 5
16 13 D3 B3 B2 A1 C3 C2 D3
10 4 C1 A3 A2 C1 A3 A2 C1
18 14 12 5 15 20 6
13 4 19 D1 D2 C1 A3 A2 B1 D1 D2
5 15 20 6 8 21 2 C3 C2 B1 C3 C2 B1 C3 C2
4 19 7 1
6 8 21 2 9 17 3 A1 C3 C2 D3 B3 B2 A1
7 1 16 A1 B3 B2 A1 B3 B2 A1
2 9 17 3 11 18 14
1 16 10 13 A3 A2 B1 D1 D2 C1 A3 A2
3 11 18 14 12 5 15 A3 A2 C1 A3 A2 C1 A3 A2
10 13 4 D3 B3 B2 A1 C3 C2 D3
14 12 5 15 20 6 8
13 4 19 7 B1 C3 C2 B1 C3 C2 B1
15 20 6 8 21 2 9 D1 D2 C1 A3 A2 B1 D1 D2
19 7 1
21 2 9 17 3 B3 B2 A1 B3 B2 A1 B3 B2
1 16 A1 C3 C2 D3 B3 B2 A1
3 11 18
10 C1 A3 A2 C1 A3 A2 C1
A3 A2 B1 D1 D2 C1 A3 A2
12

D3 B3 B2 A1 C3 C2 D3

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 4 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

The diagrams above show how the 7, 4 and 3 frequency reuse pattern is
increased to 21, 12 and 9 respectively by converting the omni-directional
cells to three sector sites. The 21 frequency reuse pattern is what is used in
most mature AMPS and TACS networks while the 12 and 9 reuse pattern is
commonly used in systems like GSM.
The process of converting one sector to three is sometimes called “cell
splitting”.

4
 Nytt Förslag :CDMA Efficiency vs. FDMA, TDMA
Multiple Frequency Carriers Users Users
Access Reuse per 5 MHz per Carrier per Cell
patters and 5 MHz

AMPS FDMA 1/7 – 7/21 166 1 8 - 24

IS-136 TDMA 1/7 – 7/21 166 3 24 - 72

[1]
GSM TDMA 1/3 – 4/12 25 8 17 - 67

IS-95 CDMA 1 3 [2] 13-20 41 - 63

(Practical)

[3]
WCDMA CDMA 1 1 note note[3]

Notes:

[1] GSM also uses frequency hopping, and other techniques to opt imize cell planning efficiencies.

(2) Three single carriers of 1,25 MHz can be deployed within 5 MHz, including a total guardband.of 1 MHz. 250 kHz = 5 % of the
bandwith is not used. Therefore, when calculating the number of users wit hin 5 MHz one must take this into account.
(2] Theoretical capacity of WCDMA (and cdma2000) depends on orthogonal code allocations, and is therefore dependent on the
mix of users and data rates. Practical capacity will depend on t hese and many other factors.

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 5 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

The bandwidth of AMPS is 30 kHz, therefore 166 (5 MHz/30 kHz) carriers will fit into 5
MHz. If we use a frequency reuse pattern of 7 each cell can have 24 (166/7) carriers, and
since the number of users per carrier for AMPS is 1 this system can support 24
simultaneous users per cell with a bandwidth of 5 MHz.

The bandwidth of IS-136 or D-AMPS is also 30 kHz, however this system supports 3 users
per carrier by using timeslots, therefore this system can support 24-72 simultaneous users
per cell with a bandwidth 5 MHz, depending on the reuse pattern.

The bandwidth of GSM is 200 kHz, therefore only 25 (5 MHz/200 kHz) carriers will fit into
5 MHz. If we use a frequency reuse pattern of 12 each cell can have 2.1 (25/12) carriers,
and since the number of users per carrier for GSM is 8 this system can support 17
simultaneous users per cell with a bandwidth 5 MHz. This will increase to 67 using
frequency reuse pattern 3.

IS-95 is a second generation system based on CDMA technology with a bandwidth of 1.25
MHz, but a totoal guardband of about 1 MHz is needed, therefore 3 carriers will fit into 5
MHz. If we use a frequency reuse pattern of 1 since this is a CDMA system, each cell can
have 3 carriers. This system uses 64 orthogonal (Walsh) codes to provide channel
separation, however 1 of these is reserved for a pilot, 1 for the broadcast and 7 for paging
channels leaving 55 available for traffic. Due to uplink interfe rence however this figure
drops to 35 users per carrier, but due to cell breathing the practical number has been found
to be 13-20. In theory this system could support 140 (35·4) simultaneous users per cell with
a bandwidth 5 MHz, however this figure drops to 41-63 in practice.

WCDMA which has a carrier bandwidth of 5 MHz will only allow 1 carrier per sector for 5
MHz of spectrum and like CDMA2000 the number of users will depend on the service and
data rate they are using.

5
 CDMA Code Planning
CDMA Frequency Reuse: 1
PN 2
PN Code Reuse Factor: 7
PN 2 PN 7 PN 3
Sectorization: 3- Sector (7/21) Reuse
PN 7 PN 3 PN 1
PN 1 PN 6 PN 4
PN 6 PN 4 PN 5 PN 2 Codes available for code planning:

PN 5 PN 2 PN 7 PN 3 IS-95: 512*
PN 2 PN 7 PN 3 PN 1 cdma2000: 512*
PN 7 PN 3 PN 1 PN 6 PN 4 WCDMA: 512
PN 1 PN 6 PN 4 PN 5
PN 6 PN 4 PN 5 PN 2
* IS-95 and cdma2000 use 512 discrete
PN 5 PN 2 PN 7 PN 3 time offsets of the same PN code to facilitate
PN 7 PN 3 PN 1 cell planning.

PN 1 PN 6 PN 4 In practice, IS-95 consecutive codes are

avoided in order prevent potential time
PN 6 PN 4 PN 5 overlap of transmissions from widely
PN 5 spaced cells. The maximum number of
available codes is therefore 256.

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 6 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

The diagram above shows a 7 code reuse pattern used in CDMA systems.
This can be increased to 21 by performing cell sectorization.
IS-95 and cdma2000 use 512 discreet time offsets of the same PN code and
avoid using consecutive codes. For this reason the number of available
codes for these networks is reduced to 256.

6
 CDMA Capacity
• What determines the capacity of an FDMA system?
Ø

• What determines the capacity of a TDMA system?

Ø

• What determines the capacity of a CDMA system?

Ø

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 7 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

(FDMA) Available bandwidth, frequency reuse, cell sectorization

(TDMA) Available bandwidth, frequency reuse, cell sectorization, Time slot allocation
strategies and in the case of GPRS: Packet loading statistics, link quality
(CDMA) Number of frequencies, available bandwidth, cell sectorization (Note: frequency
reuse not a factor!)

7
 CDMA Capacity
• Factors influencing CDMA capacity
Ø Eb/N0 (Energy per bit - to - Noise ratio)
Limited by transmit power;
All base station transmissions share a single transmit power budget

Ø Eb/I 0 (Energy per bit - to Interference Ratio)

Uplink: SSMA interference from mobiles in same cell, mobiles in other cells
Downlink: SSMA interference from surrounding base stations, distant base stations
Excessive interference associated with imperfect power control
Spread Spectrum Processing Gain is reduced at higher data rates

Ø Multipath reflections, doppler shift, near-far ratio, obstructions, etc.

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 8 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

Eb/N 0 Energy per bit to noise ratio

As the noise in the system increases the energy per bit must be increased to
maintain the required Eb/N 0 hence this will be limited by the transmit power.
Since all base station transmissions share the same power source some
connections that require a lot of power to maintain an acceptable Eb/N 0 ratio
will use valuable resources that could be used for more connections.

• Eb/I0 Energy per bit - to Interference Ratio

This ratio will be affected differently in the uplink and downlink. It can be
drastically affected by interference associated with imperfect power control.
On the other hand as spread spectrum processing gain is reduced at higher
data rates the Eb/Io ratio will have to be increased to maintain an error free
connection.

8
 CDMA Capacity
• Example of E b /N0 and Eb /Io capacity limitations

Cell 2
Cell 1

Ò
UE3 UE1

Ò Cell 1 cannot accommodate UE3 because: Ò

UE2

Ò Cell 2 cannot accommodate UE2 because:

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 9 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

The diagram above shows two scenarios where these ratios have limited the
capacity of the base station.
Cell 1 cannot accommodate MS3 because the increase in interference in the
uplink by adding this connection would be too great. In this exa mple the
uplink interference has limited the capacity of the cell.
In the second scenario we can see that Cell 2 cannot accommodate UE2
because it is using all its available power resources to maintain the
connections to the other mobiles. In other words the base station has not
enough power to achieve the required Eb/No ratio required at UE2. Another
way to understand this is to imagine that the base station has a total power
output of 10 W and allocates 5 W to broadcasting common channels leaving
5 W available for traffic. In this instance it requires 1 W for each of the 5
ongoing connections and has no available power to accommodate UE2. This
time the capacity is limited by the downlink.

9
 CDMA Capacity
• Digital SNR: Eb /No

S
Eb = Energy per bit (Eb )
equals the average signal power (S) divided by the data bit rate (Rb )
Rb

N
N0 = Noise power density (N0)
The total noise power in the signal bandwidth, divided by the si gnal bandwidth
B

Energy per bit (Eb ) - to - Noise Ratio

The Signal-to -Noise Ratio (SNR) times the Processing Gain

Eb  S 1   S B 
= =  = SNR ⋅ G p
N 0  Rb N 0   N Rb 

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 10 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

Eb = S · B = S·B
No Rb ·No N · Rb

In a CDMA system the bandwidth will be proportionate to the chip rate,

therefore the processing gain (Gp ) can be expresses as B/Rb.
Therefore Eb /N o = S/N x Gp
An increase in the processing gain will increase the Eb/N o ratio. To increase
the processing gain we could either increase the system chip rate or reduce
the bit rate.

10
 CDMA Capacity
• E b /No vs. Probability of Error (BPSK, QPSK)
100

For QPSK Modulation,

an Eb/N0 of ~ 7.5 dB is required to achieve a Pe of 10-3

10- 2
P e (Probability of bit error)

1  Eb 
10- 4 Pe = erfc 
 N 
2  0 

10- 6

10- 8

10- 10

10- 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Eb/No (dB)

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 11 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

The graph above shows the probability of bit error verses Eb /N o in dB

showing the curve produced by using BPSK or QPSK RF modulation. The
point indicated on the graph shows that an Eb /N o of approximately 7.5 dB is
required to achieve an error probability of 10-3 or 1 bit error in every 1000.
It should be remembered that this is the probability of error before error
correction.
It can be clearly seen that to reduce the probability of error we must increase
Eb /N o . This is logical since the higher the Eb/N o the less likely it is for the
decoder to mistake a 1 for a 0 or visa verse.

11
 CDMA Capacity
• Uplink Capacity Limit due to SSMA Interference

C 1
=
Desired Signal I M −1
Interfering Carrier-to-Interference Ratio
Signals The carrier- to-interference ratio for
any single user. (Assumes perfect
power control; all users received at
the same power)

Energy per bit (Eb ) - to - Interference Ratio

The Signal-to -Interference ratio times the Processing Gain

Eb Eb  1  B   1 
= =     =  ⋅Gp
I0 (I / B )   M − 1  Rb   M − 1 

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Noise is not the fundamental problem in CDMA, it is interference due to the cross
correlation properties of PN codes which produces noise-like interference.
If we consider the uplink capacity for a cell with only one user, only the desired signal will
be present after correlation, however as other users are added they will produce increasing
levels of interference after correlation. These will build up around the desired signal. In this
example of a cell with 10 simultaneous users being received at the base station at equal
levels due to fast power control out of the 10 users 9 would represent interference.
If we consider that the main cause of interference in a CDMA system will be caused by the
users in the system then the total interference can be expressed as:-
I = C · number of interferes
Where C is the signal power.
Since the wanted user in a cell cannot be regarded as an interference source then I can be
expressed as:
I = C(M-1) where M is the total number of users
If we look at some equations for the capacity in the uplink we can derive an equation for the
energy per bit to interference power density ratio (Eb /Io ) in relation to the processing gain
(Gp ).
Firstly we can see that the energy per bit (Eb ) will be defined as the average signal power
(C) divided by the data bit rate (Rb ) as shown: Eb = C/ Rb
We also know that the interference power density (I0 ) is defined as the total noise power
(N) divided by the signal bandwidth (B) as shown: I0 = I/B
Therefore: Eb = C B = C B
I0 Rb I I Rb

However we know that the processing gain(Gp ) is defined as B/Rb .

12
 CDMA Capacity
• Uplink Capacity Limit due to SSMA Interference
Solving for M (The number of users that can be accommodated at a given Eb /I 0):

 Gp 
M = 1+  
 (E b / I 0 )
Assuming that M >> 1;

 Gp  The number of users

M ≈ 
 (E b / I 0 )
equals the SSMA processing Gain
divided by the desired Eb /I 0

Taking into account Voice Activity Factor:

 Gp 1 Voice Activity Factor

M ≈ •  ranges from 0.35 to 0.65

 ( Eb / I 0 ) v f 

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Since voice connections are not always active due to discontinuous

transmission the data rate required for voice by using the AMR techniques is
reduced. This will increase the processing gain and hence the number of
simultaneous users.

13
 CDMA Capacity
• Theoretical Uplink Capacity Example (one MS, one cell)
Gp = 128 Spread Spectrum Processing Gain; vf = 0.5

Case I: Desired Pe = 10-3 ; Eb /I 0 = 7.5 dB = 5.62

Case II: Desired Pe = 10-2 ; Eb /I 0 = 5.1 dB = 3.23

Approximately 45 SSMA users can co -exist

in a single-cell system
with a P e of 10 -3 if each has a processing gain of 128

 128 1 
M Pe=10 − 3 ≈  ⋅ ≈ 45
 5.62 0.5 

 128 1 
M Pe =10 − 2 ≈  ⋅  ≈ 79
 3.23 0.5 

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Case I: Desired probability of error 10-3 which from the previous graph
equates to an Eb/Io value of 7.5 dB.
Therefore 7.5 = 10 log (Eb/Io)
7.5/10 = log( Eb/Io)
log-10 .75 = Eb/Io
Therefore Eb/Io = 5.62.
Case II: Desired probability of error 10-2 which from the previous graph
equates to an Eb/Io value of 5.1 dB.
Using the same equation as above we get a value of Eb/Io of 3.23.
For both cases we can assume a spread spectrum processing gain(Gp) of 128
and a voice activity factor(Vf ) of 0.5.
If we substitute these values into the previous equation we can calculate the
maximum number of users that a cell can support for both cases.

14
 CDMA Capacity
• Uplink Capacity in a multi-cell network
Required Eb /No in a single-cell network:

Eb  1 
= Gp ⋅ 
I0  M − 1
Required Eb /No in a multi-cell network:
Interference from other cells during soft handover is given by f;

Eb  1 
= Gp ⋅  
 (M − 1 ) ⋅ (1 + f ) ⋅ (v f )
Also Taking into account Voice Activity Factor
I0

 1  Inter-cell interference factor increases with the

M MAX = Gp ⋅  
 ( E b / I 0 ) ⋅ (1 + f ) ⋅ (v f ) 
standard deviation of path loss; typical values
of (f) range from 0.4 to 2.6 (V. Garg, “IS-95 and
cdma2000”, Table 13-1)

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The previous equations were based on a network that contained only one
base station. For a more accurate equation we must take into consideration
the interference from other mobiles that are in soft handover with the cell.
This value (ƒ) is known as inter-cell interference and has typical values
ranging from 0.4 to 2.6 depending on the deviation of the path loss between
the cells and how accurate the power control is.
This value ƒ is explained in detail in in “IS-95 and CDMA2000” written by
V.Garg and will reduce as the number of handovers increases, that is a
system with allot of 3 way soft handovers will have a lower ƒ than one that
only has 2 way handovers.

15
 CDMA Capacity
• Example 1: Uplink Capacity in a multi-cell IS-95 network
SSMA Bandwidth (B) 1.25 MHz
Intercell Interference f = 0.6 (typical for 3-way soft handover, path loss deviation 8 dB)
Voice Activity Factor Vf = 0.5
Required P e 10-3 (E b /I 0 = 7.5 dB = 5.62) for 9.6 kbps
10-4 (E b /I 0 = 8.5 dB = 7.62) for 14.4 kbps

Case I: Data rate = 9.6 kbps; Gp = 1.2288 Mcps / 9.6 kbps = 128

 1 
M MAX , 9 .6 kbps = 128 ⋅   ≈ 28
 ( 5.62 )(1 + 0.6)( 0.5) 

Case II: Data rate = 14.4 kbps; Gp = 1.2288 Mcps / 14.4 kbps = 85.33

 1 
M MAX ,14 .4 kbps = 85 ⋅   ≈ 15
 ( 7.1)(1 + 0 .6)( 0.5) 

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We can use this equation to calculate the maximum number of users

supported by an IS-95 cell for two error probabilities, that is 10-3 which is
required for speech at 9.6kbs and 10-4 which is required for a new speech
coder at at 14.4 kbs. As this is an IS-95 network the chip rate will be
1.2288Mcps. For both cases we will assume a inter-cell interference factor
(f) of 0.6 and a voice activity factor Vf of 0.5.
This type of vocoder was not introduced in the IS-95 network since it halved
the system capacity.

16
 CDMA Capacity
• Example 1: Uplink Capacity in WCDMA
SSMA Bandwidth (B) 3.84 MHz (equal to W -CDMA chip rate for this example)
Intercell Interference f = 0.6 (typical for 3-way soft handover, path loss deviation 8 dB)
Voice/data activity 0.5
Required P e 10-3 (E b /I 0 = 5.62)

Case I: Data rate = 12,2 kbps; Gp = 3.84 Mcps / 12,2 kbps ≈ 315

 1 
M MAX , 12 , 2 kbps = 315 ⋅   ≈ 69
 (5 .62 )(1 + 0 .6 )( 0 .5 ) 

Case II: Data rate = 384 kbps; Gp = 3.84 Mcps / 384 kbps = 10

 1 
M MAX , 384 kbps = 10 ⋅   ≈ 2 ,5
 ( 5.62 )(1 + 0.6)( 0 .5) 
Many other factors will affect actual capacity... see next page

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 17 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

17
 CDMA Capacity
• Other factors influencing capacity
Ø Other Factors that increase capacity:
Cell Sectorization
Antenna Gain
Antenna Diversity
Soft Handover Macrodiversity Gain
Use of higher-strength error protection (e.g., turbo coding)
Statistical multiplexing of packet data users

Ø Other Factors that decrease capacity:

Imperfect Power Control
Downlink Interference from other Base Stations
Absorption (body, terrain, structural, atmospheric...)
Use of lower strength error protection on high-speed channels
Multipath fading
Frequency- selective fading

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There are also some other factors that influence CDMA capacity, for
example some factors that could INCREASE capacity are:-
• Cell sectorization: That is dividing an omni cell into three sectors, thus
allowing more power to be devoted to each sector and hence increasing
capacity.
• Antenna gain: An increase in antenna gain reduces the power output
required from both the mobile and base station and hence an increase in
capacity.
• Antenna diversity: Using antenna diversity will improve the signal to
noise/interference ratio of connections and hence increase capacity.
• Soft handover increases capacity by allowing the mobile to make use of
macro diversity in the same way as antenna diversity improves capacity.
• By using higher strength error protection (turbo coding) the required Eb/Io
can be reduced and hence capacity increased.
• Statistical multiplexing if packet data users increase capacity since these
users are only allowed to use resources that are not used for other
connections. This type of service is called “best effort”, that is all packet
data users are multiplexed and transferred using any unused resources and
de-multiplexed at the receiving end. In other words all packet users get to
use the unused resources at the same time. The rate of each connection will
depend on the traffic on the cell and the number of packet users using the
cell.

Factors that DECREASE capacity include the following:-

• Imperfect power control resulting in some near- far interference in the 18
uplink.
 CDMA Capacity
• Downlink Capacity

Ø Fundamental Capacity Limitation is available RF transmit power

One RF power budget must be split between all User Equipments!
Fixed portion of RF power Budget allocated to Pilot, Broadcast, Paging channels

Ø SSMA interference from other Base Stations

Growing problem in Microcellular and Hierarchy topologies

Ø Traffic channel power is allocated based on User Equipments needs

More power allocated to distant UE’s; less to nearby UE’s
IS- 95B provides 20msec downlink power update for 14.4 kbps data rate
WCDMA, cdma2000 use fast power control on the downlink traffic channels

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 19 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

Interference from other base stations is another factor that influences the
capacity in the downlink. This will increase the required signal level at the
mobile to achieve the minimum Eb/No and hence increase the demand for
power at the base station. As networks grow and begin to use hierarchy
topologies with a resultant increase in the number of base stations in the
network this will become a greater problem.

Another factor that must be remembered is that the traffic channel power is
allocated according to the needs of the mobile, distant mobiles will require
more power than those closer to the base station. In other words the
downlink could accommodate a large amount of close mobiles but only a
small numbers of distant ones. This power is adjusted in the same way as
mobile power is, using fast power control.

19
 Soft Blocking
• Soft vs. Hard Blocking
FDMA/TDMA: When all frequencies and/or timeslots are used, calls are blocked
CDMA: When interference levels are too high, calls are blocked

New User No
New User Interference Admission
requests Block Access
requests within limits? Control
Access
Access

Yes
• Reduce packet data throughput
Load
Reduce error protection (Congestion)
No • Send users to other cells, Control
Grant Interference frequencies, or systems
Access within limits?
• Reduce non-CBR data rates

Yes • Ignore downlink TPC from MS

• Selectively drop calls

No Adjust
Making enough
Interference
money?
Limit

Yes

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 20 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

As opposed to the type of blocking experienced on FDMA and TDMA

systems which is termed as hard blocking, that is, there is a definite limit to
the available capacity and once this is exceeded no more traffic is possible,
blocking on CDMA systems is not as clear cut and is termed as soft
blocking.
Two procedures are used to control the blocking on CDMA systems. These
are Admission control which decides whether a new user may be added to
the cell depending on what effect this will have on the interference and Load
or Congestion control which will continue to monitor the level of
interference and use the following methods to reduce it if necessary:
•Reduce packet data throughput which again will increase processing gain
and reduce interference.
•Send users to other cell’s frequencies or systems. In future WCDMA could
handover voice or data calls to GSM.
•Reduce non-Constant Bit Rate data rates and hence increase the processing
gain and reduce the required Eb/I0 , lower power and ultimately interference.
•Ignore downlink Transmit Power Control from the the Mobile Stations. By
ignoring commands to raise the power the system interference will be
reduced.
•Selectively drop calls. If all the other methods are not proving successful
the system will resort to dropping calls.
The operator will also have the ability to adjust the allowed interference
limits to allow base stations to accept a higher load if enough revenue is not
been made.

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 Summary: CDMA Capacity
• Summary
Ø Cell capacity not determined by size of Orthogonal Code set!

Ø Uplink capacity is usually interference-limited

Ø Downlink capacity limited by both RF power allocation to traffic channels

and interference from other base stations

• Experience from IS-95

Ø Typical per-sector capacity of 13 to 16 mobile stations
Some operators report up to 20 mobiles per sector on a single CDMA carrier

Ø DL capacity sometimes higher, sometimes lower than UL capacity

• And in the final analysis...

3/038 13 - EN/LZU 108 5306 Rev B Part 3: 21 of 22 WCDMA Air Interface

For WCDMA we will have to wait and see. The operators will use trial and
error to adjust the capacity to an acceptable, profit- making compromise.

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