Power control

It is essential that all transmitting entities in the radio access network use as low
transmission powers as possible as any WCDMA system is limited by interference (the less
interference there is, the more capacity the system can ofer to the users). The purpose
of power control is to maintain the connection quality using as little radio resources as
possible. It is the task of power control to allow access to as many users as possible while
keeping the interference caused by these users at a minimum. Eery user
equipment (UE) accessing the network generates a signal which, from the point of iew of
the base transceier station (BTS), increases interference in the system. At the same
time, the capacity of a WCDMA system is proportional to the leel of interference
in the system! The less interference there is, the more capacity the system can
o"er! This way, fast and accurate power control is of the utmost importance, particularly in
the uplink. !ithout it, a single oerpowered "E can block a whole cell.
Interference in the radio path is a limiting factor in !#$%& radio access, and also the most
di'cult thing to control. (ower control ad)usts the transmission power of the "E in the
uplink, and of the *T+ in the downlink. ,or a *T+ receier to be able to recoer the signal
emitted by a "E, there must be a diference in power between the signal mentioned and the
interference leel. In the conte-t of power control, a alue called signal.to.interference
ratio (S#$) is used to represent this power diference. &s a result, power control aims at
using the minimum +I/ required for the su'cient connection quality. (ower control works on
a connection basis.
(ower control proides protection against large changes in shadowing, the immediate
response to fast changes in signal and interference leels. (ower control is also needed to
handle the near.far problem and to bring the signal.to.interference ratio (+I/) back close to
the target +I/ as fast as possible after each transmission gap in the compressed mode.
In !#$%& radio access network (/&0), accurate power control is essential mainly because
of three reasons1
The "Es transmit simultaneously.
!#$%& /&0 ery often uses only one frequency.
Inaccuracy in power control immediately increases interference and, as a result,
decreases the capacity of the network.
The optimum strategy to ma-imi2e capacity is to equalise the receied power per bit of all
"Es at all times. This way, the power control algorithms in the $%C and in the *T+ aim at
balancing the transmission power of all transmitting elements against each other. (art of this
balancing process handles the near.far problem illustrated in the 3gure 0ear.far problem in
!#$%& radio access network. The near.far problem refers to the fact that "Es moe around
in the cell and 3nd themseles at arying distances from the *T+ at diferent points in time.
The further away from the *T+ a "E is, the more power it has to use4 so, the power has to be
ad)usted continuously. The *T+ also receies equally strong signals from all "Es at all times
despite the continuously arying distances. The signals from the three "Es in ,igure Near-far
problem in WCDMA radio access network must always be equally strong ((56(76(8) at the
receiving end, although the distances between the "Es and the *T+ difer ($59$79$8). The
"Es and the *T+s must always use the lowest possible transmission power.
Figure 1: Near-far problem in WCDMA radio access network
The +I/ is independently ad)usted for each connection based on the estimated quality of the
connection. The task of the *T+ is to keep the +I/ as close as possible to the target +I/ set
by the /0#. In other words, the *T+ and the "E immediately respond to :uctuations in
signal and interference leels. This way, power control proides protection against large
changes in shadowing (changes in signal strength due to obstacles in the radio path).
0o matter how fast and accurate the power control is, admitting additional "Es always
increases the interference leel to some e-tent. Therefore, power control is related to
admission control and load control, functions that determine whether an additional radio
bearer can be set up in the system. The admission control algorithm estimates the load
increase that the establishment of a new radio bearer (containing a number of radio links)
would cause in the network, both in the uplink and the downlink. #ell load is related to the
+I/, but it is not a linear relationship. It is relatiely easy to control interference up to a
certain percentage of the cell load4 beyond that point it becomes ery di'cult to keep
interference in check.
;ptimum power control also means that the "E must be linked to the *T+ with the strongest
signal4 in this sense power control is linked to handoer control.
The task of power control is to keep the transmission powers used for a connection, both by
the "E and the *T+, at a minimum. The minimum amount of power needed is dependent on
the quality requirements of the radio access bearer ($AB), set by admission control.
In !#$%& /&0, the "Es and the base stations transmit simultaneously, and use the same
frequency. *ecause of this, there is an eer.present risk that one of the "Es oerpowers all
the others, thereby efectiely drowning them out. The other "Es, detecting that their
transmissions are not being acknowledged, could react by ramping up their own
transmission power, creating a ripple efect. This would quickly lead to a situation where all
transmitting elements in the !#$%& network were transmitting at full blast in order for their
signal to be detected at the other end of the radio path.
Transmission power is closely connected to interference, which in turn determines the
capacity that the system can ofer. #onsequently, in order to make sure that the capacity
remains high, accurate and fast power control is needed in !#$%& radio access networks.
(ower control uses the following functions to ad)ust the transmission power both in the
uplink and downlink direction1
open loop power control (initial access)
slow power control for downlink common physical channels (&AC'<$+#=)
fast closed loop power control (inner loop power control) (DC'<CPC'<$+#=)
outer loop power control ($#=<#(#=).
power balancing ($> $#=s in the soft handoer)
Figure 2: Power control loops in WCDMA
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