UMTS Link Budget

and Capacity Analysis

Dr, Hatem MOKHTARI

Senior RF Systems Expert
(2G/3G/4G/WIMAX)

Link Budgets
A Link budget analysis should include

Uplink service link budget

Downlink service link budget

CPICH link budget

Link budgets should be completed for each service

and each environment type
Each link budget generates a maximum allowed
path loss result
The smallest result defines the cell range once an
appropriate path loss model has been applied

Link Budget Concepts

C/I Requirement = Eb/No Requirement Processing Gain
Eb/No
(dB)
Processi
ng Gain C/I
(dB)
(dB)

Interference Floor (dBm)

Interferenc
e margin
(dB) Noise
Thermal
(dBm)
Sensitivity
(dBm)

Sensitivity = Interference Floor + C/I Requirement

Interference Floor = kTB + Noise Figure + Interference Margin
Interference Margin = -10 LOG(1 Cell Load)

Example Uplink Service Link Budgets

Maximum uplink bit rate is 64 kbps

Service Type

Speech

CS Data

PS Data

Uplink bit rate

12.2

64

64

kbps

Maximum transmit power

21.0

21.0

21.0

dBm

Antenna gain

0.0

0.0

2.0

dBi

Body loss

3.0

0.0

0.0

dB

Transmit EIRP

18.0

21.0

23.0

dBm

Processing gain

25.0

17.8

17.8

dB

Eb/No Requirement

4.4

2.0

2.0

dB

Target loading

50

50

50

Rise over thermal noise

3.0

3.0

3.0

dB

Thermal noise density

-174.0

-174.0

-174.0

Receiver noise figure

3.0

3.0

3.0

Interference floor

-168.0

-168.0

-168.0

dBm/Hz

Receiver sensitivity

-122.8

-118.0

-118.0

dBm

RX antenna gain

18.5

18.5

18.5

dBi

Cable loss

0.0

0.0

0.0

dB

Fast fading margin

3.0

3.0

3.0

dB

Soft handover gain

2.0

2.0

2.0

dB

Building penetration loss

12

12

12

dB

Slow fade margin

10

10

10

dB

Isotropic power required

-118.3

-113.5

-113.5

dBm

Allowed propagation loss

136.3

134.5

136.5

dB

dBm/Hz
dB

Separate CS and PS link budgets

UE antenna gain and body loss
assumptions can be service specific
Eb/No includes benefit of uplink
receive diversity
Target loading is environment
dependent such that high traffic
areas have greater load and an
increased site density
MHA is assumed to compensate for
cable loss in the uplink direction
Fast fade margin is a function of UE
speed
Building penetration loss is
evironment dependent

Example Downlink Service Link Budgets

Service Type

Speech

CS Data

PS Data

PS Data

PS Data

Downlink bit rate

12.2

64

64

128

384

kbps

Maximum transmit power

32.2

35.2

35.2

38.0

40.0

dBm

Antenna gain

18.0

18.0

18.0

18.0

18.0

dBi

Cable loss

2.0

2.0

2.0

2.0

2.0

dB

Transmit EIRP

48.2

51.2

51.2

54.0

56.0

dBm

Processing gain

25.0

17.8

17.8

14.3

10.0

dB

Required Eb/N0

7.9

5.0

5.0

4.7

4.8

dB

MDC Gain

1.2

1.2

1.2

1.2

1.2

Loading

80

80

80

80

80

Rise over thermal noise

7.0

7.0

7.0

7.0

7.0

dB

Thermal noise density

-174.0

-174.0

-174.0

-174.0

-174.0

Receiver noise figure

8.0

8.0

8.0

8.0

8.0

Interference floor

-159.0

-159.0

-159.0

-159.0

-159.0

dBm/Hz

Receiver sensitivity

-110.3

-106.0

-106.0

-102.8

-98.4

dBm

RX antenna gain

0.0

0.0

2.0

2.0

2.0

dBi

Body loss

3.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

dB

Fast fading margin

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

dB

Soft handover gain

2.0

2.0

2.0

2.0

2.0

dB

Building Penetration Loss

12

12

12

12

12

dB

10
-86.0

10
-88.0

10
-84.8

10
-80.4

dB

Isotropic power required

10
-87.3

Allowed propagation loss

135.5

137.2

139.2

138.8

136.4

dB

Slow Fade Margin

dBm/Hz
dB

dBm

Service coverage is
downlink limited
Maximum downlink
transmit powers
computed by RNC RRM
Downlink Eb/No exclude
receive diversity
MDC gain represents a
soft handover gain that
reduces the Eb/No
Downlink load typically
greater than uplink load
Soft handover gain
represents a soft
handover gain that
reduces the transmit
power requirement

Example Downlink CPICH Link Budget

Service Type

CPICH

Transmit power

33.0

dBm

Antenna gain

18.0

dBi

Cable loss

2.0

dB

Transmit EIRP

49.0

dBm

Ec/Io Requirement

-15.0

dB

Loading

80

Rise over thermal noise

7.0

dB

Thermal noise density

-174.0

Receiver noise figure

8.0

dBm/Hz
dB

Interference floor

-159.0

dBm/Hz

Receiver sensitivity

-108.2

dBm

RX antenna gain

0.0

dBi

Body loss

3.0

dB

Fast fading margin

0.0

dB

Building Penetration Loss

12

dB

Slow Fade Margin

10

dB

Isotropic power required

-83.2

dBm

Allowed propagation loss

132.2

dB

CPICH transmit power typically 10 % of the

total transmit power capability
CPICH Ec/Io requirement may be planned to
a more stringent value, e.g. 12 dB
No soft handover in CPICH link budget

Using Link Budget Results

In this example, overall coverage is CPICH limited and the resultant maximum
allowed path loss is 132.2 dB
This figure can be used to trigger inter-system handovers, i.e. when the UE
measures a CPICH RSCP which corresponds to a path loss of 132.2 dB
RSCP which corresponds to 132.2 dB:
33 dBm 2 dB +18 dBi 132.2 dB = -83.2 dBm
Slow fade margin and building penetration loss should be removed
because UE incurs these prior to making the measurement, thus
-83.2 dBm 10 dB 12 dB = -105.2 dBm
Link Budget results can also be used in a planning tool to define the downlink
coverage thresholds, e.g. if planning tool is run with a downlink EIRP of 50 dBm
then the planning threshold = 50 dBm 132.2 dB = -82.2 dBm. The EIRP is
arbitrary and does not matter.
Link budget results can also be used to define RF scanner drive test coverage
thresholds

WCDMA Radio Environment

The WCDMA radio environment has an impact upon:

Eb/No requirement

Power control headroom

Diversity

Soft handover gains

Orthogonality

Inter-cell interference

Power control generated rise in inter-cell interference

Each impacts coverage and/or capacity

Eb/No Requirement (I)

Eb/No is the energy per L2 bit divided by the noise spectral density
Eb/No impacts both coverage and capacity
Eb/No requirement is a function of
BLER requirement
bit rate
transmission time interval (interleaving depth)
channel coding
UE speed
power control step size and algorithm
propagation channel
receiver and transmitter implementation
Eb/No form part of the RNC data build

Eb/No Requirement (II)

RNC contains up to 15 sets of Eb/No tables. These tables can be
selected on a per cell basis using the WCEL parameter EbNoSetIdentifier
Uplink figures used for:
Each set of tables contains:
EbNoPlannedCSAMRULEbNoPlannedCSAMRDL
EbNoCSAMRclassAUL EbNoCSAMRclassADL
EbNoCSAMRclassBUL EbNoCSAMRclassBDL
EbNoCSAMRclassCUL EbNoCSAMRclassCDL

Calculation of rate matching

Attributes

EbNoPlannedDataUL
EbNoPlannedSLUL

Evaluating capacity requests

EbNoPlannedDataDL
EbNoPlannedSLDL

EbNoCSspeechULmax
EbNoCSspeechULmin
EbNoDataULmax
EbNoDataULmin
EbNoSLULmax
EbNoSLULmin RNC data build Eb/No do not
include DPCCH overhead

Calculation of initial target SIR

Downlink figures used for:

Calculation of rate matching
attributes
Evaluating capacity requests
Calculation of maximum
downlink transmit power

Power Control Headroom (I)

Power control headroom is the transmit power margin required to
track fast fading (fast fading margin)

Transmit power
requirement

Change in path
loss

Power control headroom impacts coverage

Power control headroom is a function of

UE speed
Propagation channel
Inner loop power control step size and algorithm

Max. tx
power
Av. tx
power

Power Control Headroom (II)

Power control headroom has greatest impact upon slow moving
UEs
Channel coding performs best when bit errors are evenly
distributed throughout a block of data
Bit errors generally occur in bursts and deinterleaving is
responsible to re-distributing them
If fades are wide i.e. slow moving UE, then deinterleaving is
less able to avoid consecutive bit errors (depends upon TTI)
Slow moving UE

Max. tx
power
Av. tx
power
Narrow bursts of
errors

Transmit power
requirement

Transmit power
requirement

Fast moving UE

Max. tx
power
Av. tx
power
Wide bursts of
errors

Diversity
Time diversity is provided by interleaving over the Transmission Time
Interval (TTI)
Effectiveness of interleaving depends upon the width of any bursts of bit
errors
Multi-path diversity is provided by the combination of delay spread
components within the rake receiver
Delay spread has to be > 1 chip (path difference > 78 m) to be resolved
Space diversity can be introduced by using multiple antenna elements to
cover the same coverage area
Space diversity may be used in the uplink (receive diversity) and/or
downlink (transmit diversity)

Soft Handover Gains

Soft handover gain is another form of diversity gain
The greater the multi-path, time or space diversity already present, the
smaller the incremental soft handover gain
Soft handover gains appear at both the transmitter and receiver there are
three types of soft handover gain:
reduction in Eb/No (impacts capacity and coverage)
reduction in fast and slow fading margins (impacts coverage)
reduction in the rise of intercell interference (impacts capacity)

Orthogonality
Orthogonality is a measure of how transparent one code channel is to
other code channels
OSVF codes are completely orthogonal when time synchronised
OSVF codes are transmitted in a time synchronised fashion from the Node
B
Multi-path delay spread introduces non-synchronised components
Delay spread is small within an indoor environment relative to an outdoor
environment resulting in a greater orthogonality
Orthogonality impacts downlink capacity
Scrambling codes are not orthogonal to one another i.e. inter-cell
interference does not benefit from orthogonality
Introducing a secondary scrambling code e.g. for capacity reasons, has an
impact upon orthogonality
Orthogonality forms part of the RNC data build

Intercell Interference Ratio

Some overlap between cells is essential to support soft handover and
provide contiguous coverage
Excessive overlap results in a reduced system capacity in both the uplink
and downlink directions
Inter-cell interference ratio is defined as:

Intercell Interference Ratio

=

Iother
Iow
n

Intercell interference ratio does not form part of the RNC data build

Rise in Uplink Intercell Interference Ratio

Uplink intercell interference ratio may be increased by power spikes
received from UEs whose transmit power is being controlled by a
neighboring cell
Serving cell provides UE with inner loop power control commands to
maintain constant power at its receiver
Power received by neighboring cells is not constant and may be spikey
Power spikes cause an increase in the level of intercell interference
Serving cell

Received
power
(relatively
strong and
constant)

Fading
1

TPC
command
s

Fading
2

Other cell
interferenc
e

Neighbor
cell
Received
power
(relatively
weak but
spikey)

Node B Capacity
Node B capacity is defined by:
Dedicated channel (DCH) capacity
Random access channel (RACH) capacity
Forward access channel (FACH) capacity
Paging channel (PCH) capacity
The DCH capacity is typically assumed to be the
bottleneck
The DCH capacity is determined by:
WSP card configuration
Radio network plan, e.g. intercell interference,
cell range
Node B RF configuration, e.g. sectors, carriers
Channelisation code configuration
Capacity is often expressed in terms of kbps for a
specific traffic mix

Uplink Air-Interface Capacity

Uplink air-inteface capacity is defined by the maximum allowed increase in
uplink interference
Uplink air-interface capacity can be estimated using the uplink load
equation
Eb/No
Requirement Rise in Intercell
Interference Ratio

Uplink Load
jN

UL j
j 1

Eb / No j
W / Rj

1 a * i

Activity Chip Bit

Factor Rate Rate

Intercell
Interference Ratio

Number of connections can be computed for a specific uplink load

Result is sensitive to the Eb/No requirement

Downlink Air-Interface Capacity

Downlink air-inteface capacity is defined by the maximum downlink transmit
power capability
Downlink air-interface capacity can be estimated using a combination of the
downlink load equation and a downlink link budget calculation
Eb/No
Requirement

Downlink Load

jN

DL (1 SHO _ OH )

j 1

Soft
handover
overhead

Eb / No j
j

W / Rj

Activity Chip Bit

Factor Rate Rate

Rise in Intercell
Interference Ratio

1 * i

Intercell
Interference Ratio

Transmit power consumed by the common channels must be accounted for

The link budget calculation computes the transmit power requirement per UE

Mast Head Amplifiers

Dedicated
antenna
system

Shared
feeders

Friis' equation used to evaluate the

composite receiver noise figure.
Benefit depends upon receiver feeder
length
Dedicated Feeders

MHAs

DC line

Diplexor
s
BiasTs

GSM WCDMA

Shared Feeders

Feeder
Loss

NF without
MHA

NF with
MHA

Benefit

NF without
MHA

NF with
MHA

Benefit

1.0 dB

4.0 dB

2.6 dB

1.4 dB

4.6 dB

2.7 dB

1.9 dB

2.0 dB

5.0 dB

2.8 dB

2.2 dB

5.6 dB

2.9 dB

2.7 dB

3.0 dB

6.0 dB

3.0 dB

3.0 dB

6.6 dB

3.2 dB

3.4 dB

4.0 dB

7.0 dB

3.3 dB

3.7 dB

7.6 dB

3.5 dB

4.1 dB

Receiver sensitivity improved by

reduction in noise figure
Capacity affected by downlink
insertion loss and greater isotropic
path loss

Higher Order Receive Diversity (UL SRC)

Dual branch uplink receive diversity generally included as
standard

2 spatially
separated cross
polar antennas

Higher order receive diversity planned on a site by site basis

Direct impact is to decrease Eb/No requirement

Mobile PTx (dBm)

30

Mean Ptx = 4.4 dBm (2 Rx Div)

20 Mean Ptx = 1.57 dBm (4 RX Div)

10

Able to simultaneously
improve both coverage and
capacity

0
-10
-20

Precise gain dependent upon

the radio channel, typically
2.5dB

200 400 600 800 1000

Distance along
Mobile transmission route (m)
power is reduced
on average 2.8 dB

Impact upon capacity

dependent upon
capacity limitation - UL
or DL
Coverage gain similar
to that provided by
Mast Head Amplifiers

2 cross polar
antennas in
single housing

RF Carriers
Majority of 3G operators have 2 or 3 FDD carriers assigned by
regulator
Provides the simplest and most effective means of increasing system
capacity
Coverage improves while cell loading is reduced - returns to normal
once the level of traffic increases such that cell load is equal to
original load
Node B transmit power capability is used most efficiently when spread
across the maximum number of carriers i.e. 2 carriers each with 10W
has greater capacity than 1 carrier with 20W
Carrier increase can be done with only additional TRXs or additional
TRXs and WPAs
Doubling the number of carriers and doubling the number of WPAs
leads to at least twice the cell capacity - more than twice when Radio
TRX
PA
TRX
TRX load
PA balancing
TRX
TRX
PA
PA
Resource Management
supports
across
carriers
trunking gain
1 carrier
2 carrier
2 carrier
Rx Rx
Tx

capacity = x

Rx Rx
Tx

Rx Rx
Tx

typical capacity =
1.6x
(scenario

Rx Rx
Tx

Rx Rx
Tx

capacity =
2x

Transmit Diversity (DL SRC)

Increases the downlink system capacity by reducing the downlink Eb/No
requirement
Functionality is mandatory in the UE
Benefit is greatest when there is little multipath and little time
diversity
Microcells may benefit from up to 70% capacity increase
Macrocells typically benefit from up to 30% capacity increase
Multi-carrier transmit diversity configurations may share PA
modules
Reduction in downlink Eb/No requirement

Modified Vehicular A

Duplexor
Rx Rx
Tx

TRX

Rx Rx
Tx

TRX

PA

Pedestrian A

3 km/h

50 km/h

120 km/h

3 km/h

Open Loop Mode

1.0 dB

0.5 dB

0.5 dB

3.0 dB

Closed Loop Mode 1

1.5 dB

1.0 dB

0.0 dB

3.5 dB

PA

Power
Transceivers Amplifiers

BTS Transmit Power Configuration

Number of Speech Users

requirement dependent upon downlink cell loading and cell link

budget
smaller cells are less sensitive to BTS transmit power
configuration
range of typical BTS
transmit power
80
configurations
70

power used most

efficiently when shared
across carriers

60
50
40

Base Station
Transmit Power per
Cell per Carrier

30
20
10

37dBm (5W)

0
140

145

150

155

160

165

Isotropic Path Loss (dB)

170

40dBm (10W)
43dBm (20W)
46dBm (40W)

Sectorisation
Effective solution for increasing capacity for operators with limited
carriers
Increased difficulty in managing soft handover and intercell isolation
Choice of antenna beamwidth impacts intercell isolation
65 antenna
Application
1 Sector

Microcell or low capacity macrocell

2 Sector

Sectorised microcell or macrocell providing roadside coverage

3 Sector

Standard macrocell configuration providing medium capacity

4, 5 Sector

Not commonly used but may be chosen to support a specific traffic scenario

6 Sector

High capacity macrocell configuration

Microcell
Macrocell

Typical Antenna
Beamwidth and
Gain

Typical Inter-cell
Interference Ratio

Typical Soft
Handover
Overhead

1 Sector

65 / 12.0dBi

25%

20%

2 Sector

65 / 12.0dBi

Scenario dependent

Scenario dependent

1 Sector

360 / 6.0dBi

55%

30%

2 Sector

90 / 16.5dBi

60%

40%

3 Sector

65 / 18.5dBi

65%

40%

4, 5 Sector

65 / 18.5dBi

75%

40%

6 Sector

33 / 21.0dBi

85%

40%

33 antenna