Professional Documents
Culture Documents
4G National RF Engineering
Organization
Network Engineering
Network Engineering (Dir)
Network Engineering (Mgr)
Author
Geof
Lubeskie
Geof
Lubeskie
Version
1.0
2.0
Name
Greg OConnor
Hui-Lin Chang
Rashmi Kumar
Date
November
2013
E-mail Address
Geof.Lubeskie@sprint.c
om
January
2013
Geof.Lubeskie@sprint.c
om
Table of Contents
1
General.........................................................................................................................
1.1
1.2
1.3
Interference Control...............................................................................................12
LTE Handoff Optimization....................................................................................13
6.1
6.2
7
8
RSRP.............................................................................................................................................8
SINR..............................................................................................................................................8
Cell Selection..............................................................................................................
4.1
4.2
4.3
5
6
RF Conditions.............................................................................................................
3.1
3.2
Purpose.......................................................................................................................................4
Responsibility...........................................................................................................................4
Revision History......................................................................................................................4
1 General
1.1
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide national and local RF
guidelines to troubleshoot and optimize Sprints 4G Network. This
document will be used by Sprint RF Engineering to understand high
level network performance metrics.
1.2
Responsibility
The 4G National RF Performance Engineering team is responsible for
updating, and monitoring the application of the guidelines described in
this document. Please contact the following, if there are questions
regarding these planning guidelines.
Geoff Lubeskie, National RF Planning and Engineering (717-344-1869)
Geoff.lubeskie@sprint.com
Dusty Wyman (703-376-4463) Manager RF Planning and Engineering
dusty.wyman@sprint.com
Rashmi Kumar (703-433-4358) Manager RF Planning and Engineering
Rashimi.Kumar@sprint.com
1.3
Revision History
Date
Version
11/15/201
3
1.0
Document
Owner
Geoff Lubeskie
Comments
Original document (1st Draft)
Site Level
Cluster Level
Market Level
At the very start, eNBs are the foundation of all LTE Networks. Contiguous
groups of eNBs form clusters and groups of clusters make up the markets.
configured according to the Golden Image (GI). A link to the latest GI for all
OEMS can be found at the link below.
http://sprintcommunities.corp.sprint.com/sites/cops/4GRFPerformance/Parameter
%20Management/Forms/AllItems.aspx?RootFolder=%2Fsites%2Fcops%2F4GRFPerformance
%2FParameter%20Management%2FGolden%20Parameters%2FGolden%20Params
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ensure each site is performing as it should
be. At the very minimum the engineer should validate and analyze the
following metrics to ensure that the eNB is performing as it should be. It
should be mentioned that each OEM has their own specific targets for each
KPI and should be referenced when analyzing the data.
Figure 2: Mapinfo file created by local RF showing areas for future optimization
A cluster drive route must be carefully designed to cover each sector of all
sites so that all major highways, roads, Sprint stores and major customer
locations are covered. Analysis of the drive data will show areas for potential
optimization changes to improve the overall user experience. All changes
made during the optimization phase should be documented for future
reference and possibly shared with other markets as a means of best
practice.
A major challenge that the engineer will face is the fact that the 4G and 3G
networks are using the same antenna. At this time, voice is still the number
one revenue source for Sprint; therefore, optimization efforts on the 4G sites
should not negatively impact the underlying 3G network.
As in Site level optimization at the very minimum the engineer should verify
the following KPIs during Cluster Optimization
RF Conditions
3.1
RSRP
3.2
SINR
Cell Selection
The cell selection process and cell selection criteria as per 3GPP standard 36.304
are:
4.1
The UE shall use one of the following two cell selection procedures:
1. Initial Cell Selection
This procedure requires no prior knowledge of which RF channels are E-UTRA
carriers. The UE shall scan all RF channels in the E-UTRA bands according to its
capabilities to find a suitable cell. On each carrier frequency, the UE need only
search for the strongest cell. Once a suitable cell is found this cell shall be
selected.
2. Stored Information Cell Selection
This procedure requires stored information of carrier frequencies and optionally
also information on cell parameters, from previously received measurement control
information elements or from previously detected cells. Once the UE has found a
suitable cell the UE shall select it. If no suitable cell is found the Initial Cell
Selection procedure shall be started.
NOTE: Priorities between different RAT or frequencies provided to the UE by system
information or dedicated signaling are not used in the cell selection process.
4.2
10
normally in a VPLMN [5]. During this periodic search for higher priority PLMN the
UE may check the S criteria of a cell using parameter values stored from a different
cell of this higher priority PLMN.
Srxlev Cell Selection RX level value (dB)
Qrxlevmeas Measured cell RX level value (RSRP).
Qrxlevmin Minimum required RX level in thecell (dBm)
Qrxlevminoffset Offset to the signalled Qrxlevmin taken into account in the Srxlev
evaluation as a result of a periodic search for a higher priority PLMN
while camped normally in a VPLMN [5]
Pcompensation [FFS]
4.3
Cell Reselection
Cell reselection parameters are broadcast in system information and are read from
the serving cell as follows:
Qoffsets,n
Qoffsetfrequency
Qhyst
Qrxlevmin
TreselectionRAT
11
Threshx, low
Threshserving, low
12
RAT.
Sintrasearch
Snonintrasearch
TCRmax
NCR_M
NCR_H
TCRmaxHyst
13
Interference Control
Downlink (DL) inter cell interference which reduces the signal quality is a major
factor contributing to degraded service. It usually impacts cell-edge users which
lack good quality RF signal due to the presence of multiple serving sectors of
similar signal strength. DL inter-cell interference scenario can also be observed in
dense urban areas where multipath factor can results in strong signals from
various sectors in one geographic region. DL interference if not corrected can lead
to poor throughput performance on both downlink and uplink. Therefore an
improved DL coverage in terms of both signal strength and quality provides better
user experience.
Indicators such as low Signal to noise ratio (SINR), low scale Channel quality
indicator (CQI), Transmission mode (transmit diversity), low Reference Signal
Received Quality (RSRQ) and high Block error rate (BLER) are common indicators of
DL interference. Low SINR and low CQI reports result in lower and more robust
modulation scheme for data transmission. The first step in optimization efforts is to
improve the coverage and quality of existing serving cells resulting in good quality
of service (QoS).
RSRQ is defined in TS 36.214 as:
Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) is defined as the ratio NRSRP/(E-UTRA
carrier RSSI), where N is the number of RBs of the E-UTRA carrier RSSI
measurement bandwidth. The measurements in the numerator and denominator
shall be made over the same set of resource blocks.
E-UTRA Carrier Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), comprises the linear
average of the total received power (in [W]) observed only in OFDM symbols
containing reference symbols for antenna port 0, in the measurement bandwidth,
over N number of resource blocks by the UE from all sources, including co-channel
serving and non-serving cells, adjacent channel interference, thermal noise etc.
The reference point for the RSRQ shall be the antenna connector of the UE.
If receiver diversity is in use by the UE, the reported value shall not be lower than
the corresponding RSRQ of any of the individual diversity branches.
Other than general optimization practices to control interference, LTE also offers
features such as Inter cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) technique which
dynamically controls interference based on UEs CQI reports.
Privileged & Confidential Information
This information is subject to Sprint policies regarding use and is the property of Sprint and/or its relevant affiliates and may contain restricted, confidential
or privileged materials intended for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any review, use, distribution or disclosure is prohibited without authorization
14
6.1
15
Event A1
Event A2
Event A3
Event A4
16
17
In active mode measurements are performed only when Serving Cell RSRP falls
below a configurable threshold (Smeasure)
The A3 event parameters for Active mode measurement are transmitted via RRC
Connection Reconfiguration Message
The parameter a3offsetdefines the (neighbor + offset > serving) criteria.
Additionally, there is a cell individual offset that can be configured per neighbor
(Ind_offset).
This criterion must be satisfied over a configurable period of time for the
measurement report to be done (TimeToTrigger).
The measurement criteria can be based on RSRP or RSRQ and is configurable
(TriggerQuantity).
The measurement report can be configured to report RSRP/RSRQ or both
(ReportQuantity).
18
Periodic reports can be generated after the Event criteria are met based on a
configurable parameter (reportInterval).
Number of reports generated based on the event is controlled using a
configurable parameter (reportAmount)
19
6.2
Idle mode handover or cell reselection is the process used by UE and network to
monitor UEs location without it requiring radio resources. In Idle mode, UE remains
attached at MME level but remains RRC idle unless it requires RRC resources (for
e.g. To perform TAU or Paging procedures)
Maintaining most current and updated neighbor list on the eNBs is critical to
facilitate successful handover. Neighbor list must be updated frequently to
accommodate addition of new sites and sectors in the network.
Condition where multiple handovers are recorded within a very short period
between same two cells in stationary or mobile scenario is known as Ping-Pong.
Ping-Pong condition affects the end user as more processing time results in poor
user experience. This situation arises when both source and target sectors meet
the handover thresholds and are equivalent in signal strength. Ping-Pong can occur
in both strong and weak conditions. A3 offset, S-measure, Hysteresis and Cell
individual offset are some parameters which can be tweaked to reduce Ping-Pong
rate.
EUTRAN and CDMA2000 handover can be useful when both networks are overlaid on same
geographical region. A user traveling out of LTE coverage area can hand down to HRPD
while maintaining the same data session and uninterrupted data transfer. This feature is
helpful in cases where a new LTE network is deployed on a matured CDMA2000 network
and UE can rely on underlying network whenever it goes out of coverage on LTE
Implementation of Neighbor list for underlying CDMA network is needed to facilitate
EUTRAN to CDMA2000 handover. On LTE side, appropriate neighboring sectors with PN and
channel information are populated. Right HRPD neighbors can be selected based statistics
such as Handover matrix (HOM) data of CDMA network. Optimization drive test can also
give useful information in defining missing or appropriate neighbors for EUTRAN to
CDMA2000 interworking.
Below table explains Parameters and Events used on EUTRAN to CDMA2000 interworking:
Message
RRC Connection
Reconfiguration
IE
B2 Event
Parameter
b2Threshold1Rsrp
Description
RSRP threshold1 used for
triggering the EUTRA
measurement report for
CDMA2000 HRPD Event B2.
20
b2Threshold1Rsrq
RRC Connection
Reconfiguration
b2Threshold2Cdma200
0
qOffsetFreq
hysteresisB2
timeToTriggerB2
reportIntervalB2
reportAmountB2
maxReportCellsB2
triggerQuantityB2
RRC Connection
Reconfiguration
A2 Event
a2ThresholdRsrp
a2ThresholdRsrq
reportIntervalA2
21
hysteresisA2
timeToTriggerA2
reportAmountA2
maxReportCellsA2
reportQuantityA2
filterCoefficientEUtraRs
rp
22
RRC Connection
Reconfiguration
A1 Event
filterCoefficientEUtraRs
rq
a1ThresholdRsrp
a1ThresholdRsrq
triggerQuantityA1
reportQuantityA1
maxReportCellsA1
hysteresisA1
timeToTriggerA1
reportIntervalA1
reportAmountA1
23
systemTim
eInfo
CellReselec
tion
Parameters
CDMA 2000
timieAndPahseSynchCri
tical
bandClass
cellReselectionPriority
threshXHigh
threshXLow
tReselectionSfUsageHR
PD
tReselectionHRPD
tReselectionSfHighHRP
D
tReselectionSfMediumH
RPD
searchWindowSize
24
RAN Parameters
25
26
References
https://Systems.samsungwireless.com
Network Vision > Publications > Sprint > 4G RAN > Manuals
27