Overview of HSPA+

HSPA+ is introduced in the 3GPP Release 7. It is an enhancement to HSDPA introduced in the WCDMA
protocol of R6. The use of the HSPA+ technology helps provide higher data rate on downlink radio links
and improve the throughput of a single user and cell capacity. Therefore, the HSPA+ further improves the
service experience of end users.
As the most important feature of RAN11.0, the HSPA+ benefits mobile operators and end users in the
following aspects:
64QAM: DL 64QAM allows the use of 64QAM in HSDPA to increase the number of bits per symbol and
thus to obtain higher transmission rates. The peak rate at the MAC layer can reach 21 Mbit/s. .
2x2MIMO: MIMO increases transmission rates through space multiplexing and improves channel
qualities through space diversity. The network side can dynamically select single- or dual-stream
transmission according to channel conditions. The peak rate at the MAC layer can reach 28 Mbit/s. .
DL Enhanced Layer 2: This feature allows Uu L2 to use flexible PDU size on RLC layer and
segmentation on MAC layer. The feature prevents the L2 from becoming the bottleneck of higher Uu rate
increased by MIMO and 64QAM..
CPC: CPC allows the uplink and downlink transmissions to take place at periodic intervals. This feature
reduces the transmitted power (and thus increases the UE battery life) because the UE does not have to
monitor and transmit overhead channels every TTl. This reduction in the transmitted power also helps to
increase the uplink capacity by decreasing the total interference. This improvement is especially significant
when there are users who transmit data infrequently as VoIP users.
CPC feature consists of DL-DRX, UL DTX and HS-SCCH Less Operation.
.
Enhanced CELL_FACH: Enhanced CELL_FACH operation allows the use of HSDPA technologies for
the UEs in the CELL_FACH, CELL_PCH, and URA_PCH state. The purpose is to increase the peak rates
in these states and reduce the signaling transmission delay during service setup or state transition with the
result improving the user experience.
.
The 64QAM and MIMO are the most important and commercialized features of the HSPA+ technology.
This document only involves the 64QAM, MIMO, and Enhanced Layer 2 (basis of the two important
features). Enhanced CELL_FACH and CPC are not described here.
In a cellular network, the uplink traffic and downlink traffic are unbalanced. Generally, the downlink
capability is 2–5 times the uplink capability. Therefore, the downlink capability in the WCDMA system is
limited. For the downlink coverage, the downlink transmit power of the BTS is far greater than the uplink
transmit power of the UE. Typically, the downlink transmit power of the BTS is 43 dBm, and the uplink
transmit power of the UE is 21–24 dBm. Therefore, uplink UEs are easy to obtain higher SNR. In the case
of high SNR, the higher-order modulation technology can be used to obtain the higher spectral efficiency.
Therefore, the 64 QAM high-order modulation technology is introduced in R7 (the 16 QAM modulation is
applied in R6).
From the aspects of mobile operators and terminal users, the HSPA+ has the following advantages:
 Expand the downlink capacity of the network and obtain higher spectral efficiency in the case of
higher SNR.
The HSPA+ 64QAM provides a higher data transmission rate than the HSDPA. Theoretically, if the
64QAM technology is adopted, the peak rate is 21.096 Mbit/s (Formula: TB_Size/TTI = 42192 / 2ms =
21.096 Mbit/s).
Using the space diversity method, the MIMO technology adopts the multi-antenna technology on the
transmitting side and receiving side to improve the transmission capacity of the radio communication
system by several times without increasing transmit power and bandwidth in the high SNR environment
(the transmission capacity is in proportion to the number of antennas). Theoretically, if the HSPA+ MIMO
technology is adopted, the peak rate is 27.952 Mbit/s (Formula: TB_Size/TTI = 27952 / 2ms x 2 (double
data stream) = 27.952 Mbit/s).
For operators, the use of the HSPA+ can reduce the unit cost for transmitting every mega bytes of data
stream, increase average system capability, enhance downlink data service performance of a UE, and
improves the cell throughput.
 Improve service performance of end users.
The HSPA+ offers a higher data transmission rate, short service response time, and reliable service
performance for a UE. Therefore, it improves the service experience of the UE.
 Upgrade on the existing WCDMA network.
Mobile operators concern about the expenses for building an HSPA+ network. This depends on the
equipment price and the service strategies of a single operator. As a high-rate data service enhancement
technology in the WCDMA R5, the HSPA+ is compatible with the HSPA of earlier versions and R99. The
operator can upgrade NodeBs in the existing WCDMA R99 network to introduce the HSPA+ with little
impact on the existing architecture. This helps shorten the network construction period and protect the
investments of the operator.