3G Optimisation Workshop

Pilot Pollution
London, 28th of April 2003
 Definition
A pilot pollution area is an area where an excessive number of
scrambling codes are received and lead to a degradation of
quality
In other words Pilot Pollution corresponds to DL interference

Practical condition:

Best server CPICH_Ec is good

And
Best server CPICH EcNo is bad
 Thresholds
A single EcNo threshold is not recommended :
>when Ec decreases, even with a single cell and no traffic, the EcNo naturally
degrades, therefore at low Ec level it is less straightforward to relate a weak EcNo to
pilot pollution
>When the Ec level is low, the main problem is coverage, not quality

Recommended thresholds:

Best server CPICH_Ec > -100 dBm

Caution:
And
for unloaded network only
Best server CPICH EcNo < -10 dB
 EcNo: theory
Formula:

Ec Ec: Energy_chip, received level on the CPICH

EcNo
RSSI RSSI: Received Signal Strength Indicator

In detail:

Ec
EcNo
PBS
PNoise (1 F ) Ec
PCPICH
 EcNo: Single cell no traffic
EcNo versus Ec: single cell, no traffic
0.0
-12 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -99 -98 -97 -96 -95 -94 -93 -92 -91 -90 -89 -88 -87 -86 -85 -84 -83 -82 -81 -80
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

-2.0

-4.0

-6.0

-8.0

-10.0

-12.0

-14.0

-16.0

-18.0
Ec level (dBm)
 EcNo: Handover, no traffic
EcNo versus Ec curves
0.0
-12 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -99 -98 -97 -96 -95 -94 -93 -92 -91 -90 -89 -88 -87 -86 -85 -84 -83 -82 -81 -80
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

-2.0

-4.0

Single
-6.0 cell
2 way
HO
-8.0
3 way
HO
-10.0 4 way
HO

-12.0

-14.0

-16.0

-18.0
Ec level (dBm)
 EcNo: typical values
Ec EcNo (1 cell) EcNo (2 cells) EcNo (3 cells) EcNo (4 cells) EcNo (15 cells)
dBm dB dB dB dB dB
-115 -15 -15.5 -16 -16 -18
-100 -4.8 -7 -8.5 -9.5 -15
> -90 -3 -6 -7.8 -9 -15

EcNo degrades with Ec level

EcNo degrades with overlaps. BLER degradation may occur only when 15 cells are
received with the same level (lab test, field test to be performed). In the field it seems
that the BLER starts degrading when EcNo < -10 dB.
EcNo is almost similar for all overlap situations at lowest Ec levels, meaning that a pilot
pollution area has a low impact on cell edge.
 Main reasons for pilot
pollution
A closer look at the formula gives reasons for a bad EcNo:

Ec
EcNo
PBS
PNoise (1 F ) Ec
PCPICH

Radio design (F factor) Traffic (P_bs)

High sites P_bs = DL power used by the Base
Station.
Large antenna beamwidth
The higher the number of users, the
Non tilted antennas stronger P_bs
More interferences at busy hours
 Solution
How can we improve Pilot Pollution areas?

2 ways:
1) Improve the Ec level of the best server

2) Reduce the Ec level from some of the interferers

Either way we need to identify and sort:

the dedicated best serving cells
the interfering cells
 Generic Process: display
First step is to display the pilot pollution areas

With either scanner or trace mobile data, this can be easily done
using the condition:

Best server CPICH_Ec > -100 dBm

And
Best server CPICH EcNo < -10 dB
 Generic Process: pre-check
Before optimising a pilot pollution area, basic questions shall be
answered:
Were there maintenance problems? - check if all sites were transmitting properly

Is there a site planned to be on air in a near future?

Is the area worth optimising? (Secondary road, hill top)
 Generic Process: identify cells
Reporting levels from cells involved in a pilot pollution area is
much easier than tracking an interferer in GSM

With a scanner, all possibly decoded SCs are reported

With a trace mobile, all SCs from the monitored set are
reported meaning that no missing neighbours shall remain
before analysing pilot pollution
 Serving and interfering cells
One basic difficulty when tackling a pilot pollution area is to define
among all reported cell:

1) Which cells are the proper dedicated best servers of the area

2) Which cells are the interferers to optimise

Both local and large scale analysis are needed

 Serving cells
The wished best serving cells are not obviously the measured
best cells:
>in the area, top cells may fluctuate
>best or 2nd best measured cell may be a remote cell that we would rather optimise

A practical approach is necessary

>define as best cells those from the closest physical sites
>keep a remote cell only if absolutely necessary (bringing useful service that closer cell
could not provide)

How many cells?

>3 cells is a typical number, as it is the size of the active set
 Interfering cells
Basically all non best server cells are the interferers

Which cells to optimise?

>It is necessary to get the big picture of the area and identify the worst interferers

Worst interferers can be defined as:

>Cells involved in a high number of pilot pollution areas
>Cells received with interfering levels without being best server. The following layer shall
be displayed:

0dB EcNo _ best _ server EcNo _ cell _ i 5dB

 Optimisation actions
We shall specify which levers may be used to optimise a pilot
pollution area. Ideally we should be able to optimise antennas,
namely:
Tilt modification
Azimuth change
Change of antenna (to get a more narrow horizontal beam-width, or an electrical tilt)

We do not recommend CPICH power changes

>The best option is tilt modification

 Optimisation actions
Ideally the Ec level reduction on the interferer shall be such that:

EcNo _ best _ server EcNo _ int erferer 10dB

Caution when optimising the interferer:

>Do not reduce useful coverage
>Do not create new pilot pollution area by reducing the Ec level where this interferer is best
server

Use the field measurements to assess what dB reduction is

needed, but use planning tool for a full simulation of the
optimisation
 Summary: flow-chart
Pilot Pollution Flow Chart
Tools required:
Field measurement
(Agilent scanner)
>Agilent Scanner
Import in post-processing
>NATSuite (post-
tool (NATSuite) process)
>NetAct planning tool
Display pilot pollution

Pre-check Note: A different process will be required

with a loaded network (to be studied)
Identify all cells
>Updated thresholds
Sort best servers from
worst interferers
>Focus on busy hours
>Traffic related optimisation
Optimise interferers and
check with planning tool
(NetAct)
 Risks specific to UMTS
In GSM: In UMTS
Frequency Planning
High number of frequency
>Few interferences
>High sites and large
antenna beam-width may
not be a problem
No Frequency Planning
All cell use the same
frequency
interferences depending on
radio design and traffic
>same radio design
as for GSM may not be
suitable
 Expectations
In the early days, few pilot pollution areas are expected (e.g. EN in Bristol),
Without load we should not drop calls due to pilot pollution

Yet feedback from areas with a higher site density of than EN Bristol will be useful

Moreover interferences will arise quickly with load and can take a few months or
more to be optimised
>therefore pre-emptive actions are advised before the network gets
uncontrollable
3G Optimisation Workshop

Pilot Pollution
London, 28th of April 2003