The RSRQ (Referece Signal RecivedQuality) is a measurement performed by the UE to know the Quality

of recieved Reference Signals. In 5G NR, RSRQ can be measurement for SS-Reference Siganls and CSI-
Reference Signals.

The SS-RSRQ measurements can be used for cell selection, cell reselection and mobility procedures
where as CSI-RSRQ measurements can be used for mobility procedures only.

5G NR RSRQ Pointers

It is the quantitive measure of recieved Reference Signals for SS (Sync Singal) or CSI ( Channel State
Infonnation)

RSRQ is measured in dB (decibal) where as RSSI and RSRP are measurement in dBm

The RSRQ measurement can be used for cell selection, reselection and mobility (handover) procedures.

There are two falvours of RSRQ namely SS-RSRQ and CSI-RSRQ

5G RSRQ range is defined as -43dB to 20 dB

5G RSRQ can be a positive or negative value where as LTE RSRQ is always a negative value

The specification has defined a granularity of RSRQ as 0.5dB for measurement/represent

UE does not report RSRQ is dB instead it reports an index value which is mapped to some RSRQ value by
specification

Full range of RSRQ (-43dB to 20dB ) with 0.5dB resolution can be mapped to 128 index value ( 7 bits)
where Index #0 = -43 dB RSRQ and Index #127 = 20dB

The Mapping for these Index value to absolute RSRQ value is provided within 3GPP Specification TS
38.133

The mapping is common for SS-RSRQ and CSI-RSRQ

UE reports RSRQ measurement to gNB within RRC: Measurement Report (MR) message, when gNB RRC
configures Report Quantity for RSRQ

5G RSRQ measurements are filtered at Layer 3 to remove the impact of fast fading and to help reduce
short term variations in the measurements

RSRQ Mapping with Indexes

Following table is shown Index Value and absolute RSRQ.

RSRQ Theoretica Calculation

SS-RSRQ can be defined as the ratio of SS-RSRP and RSSI multiple by no. of Resource Block (RB) N.

CSI-RSRQ can be defined as the ratio of CSI-RSRP and RSSI multiple by no. of Resource Block (RB) N.

We can calculate the theoritical value for RSRQ using above formula considering following .

RSRP range for 5G NR = -156 dBm to -31 dBm

RSSI range for 5G NR = – 120 dBm to -13 dBm

Resource Block for 5G (N) = 24 to 275 RBs

The above formulas for RSRQ calculation need to be coverted in logrithamic as RSRP (dBm) and RSSI
(dBm) are log scale. In logritham the division (/) can represented as minus (-) and multiply with plus (+)
and for RBs we need to covert them into 10 log (RBs).
Minimum value for RSRQ = -156 – (-120) + 10*log(24) = -22.19 dB

Index Value = 42

Maximum Value for RSRQ= -31 – (-13) + 10*log (275) = 6.39 dB

Index Value = 99

Calculated Practical RSRQ Value

Following formula can be used to calculate the RSRQ value in dB using the reported value by UE within
measurement report.

UE Reported RSRQ Index Value = 45

RSRQ (in dB) = 45/2 -43 = 22.5 – 43

RSRQ (in dB) = -20.5 dB

References:

5G NR (New Radio) is a new radio access technology (RAT) developed by 3GPP for the 5G (fifth
generation) mobile network.[1] It was designed to be the global standard for the air interface of 5G
networks.[2]. As with 4G (LTE), it is based on OFDM

The 3GPP specification 38 series[3] provides the technical details behind 5G NR, the RAT beyond LTE.

The study of NR within 3GPP started in 2015, and the first specification was made available by the end of
2017. While the 3GPP standardization process was ongoing, the industry had already begun efforts to
implement infrastructure compliant with the draft standard, with the first large-scale commercial launch
of 5G NR having occurred in the end of 2018. Since 2019, many operators have deployed 5G NR
networks and handset manufacturers have developed 5G NR enabled handsets