End-to-End LTE System Characterization

of the Uplink Adaptation, Including Signal to

Noise Ratio (SINR) Analysis for Small Cell
Field Deployments
FTF-SDS-F0230

Gopikrishna Charipadi | Wireless System Architect

APR.2014

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Presenter Details

• Ankush Jain, L1 Software lead

• Loksiva Paruchuri, System Integration and Test
• Nirali Patel, Program Manager
• Saurabh Shandilya, Algorithms
• Saikat Senapati, L1 Software

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Session Introduction

• Wireless OEMs and infrastructure vendors today are looking for:

− Commoditized small cells end-to-end solutions
− Turnkey solutions tested with industry commercial network elements
− SoC + L1 commercial software fully tested for qualification and mobility
− System characterization of small cell SoC + L1 SW offering for network
readiness with minimum integration effort for inter-operability testing
(IOT)
− Solutions that maximize spectral efficiency (maximum bits per Hz), multi-
user optimum scheduling, interference management and capacity
optimization (throughput and maximum # of users)

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Session Objectives

• After completing the session you will be able to understand:

− Challenges in end-to-end characterization of LTE small cell SoC and L1
software with LTE network elements including Radio hardware for Uplink
(UL)
− Interworking of system components, RF chipset in UL link adaptation
− Important 3GPP system parameters to maximize UL system
performance
− Systematic method of system optimization of LTE UL Link adaptation
− Configurability aspects of industry offering of LTE radio chipset
hardware, L1/L2 software
− Competitive/differentiating benefits of QorIQ Qonverge BSC913x small
cells system characterization that enables shorter time-to-market for
OEMs and network infrastructure vendors

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Agenda
• LTE network deployment overview and
heterogeneous networks
• Freescale small cell (BSC913x) uplink link
adaptation characterization
• Link adaptation logical topology
• Link adaptation:
− Step 1: RF characterization
− Step 2: Signal to Interference and Noise (SINR)
characterization
− Step 3: Power control characterization with end-to-end
system results

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LTE Network Deployment Overview

Freescale small cell solutions’ target market is femto/enterprise/pico

outdoor/metrocells

Wifi

Metro
Macro
Macro
RRU RRU Wifi
Hotspots
Metro
Small Cells
Macro
Metro

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Technology Solution – Heterogeneous Networks
Freescale Base Station
Edge Access Network
Sub-segment

Macro Macro
Hundreds of users BTS
RNC/EPC/
AGW

Metro Microcell Micro/Pico

up to 200 users BTS

Enterprise
Pico/Femto
Hot spots, campuses, Enterprise
high-rise buildings Pico/Femto
32 to 64 users DSLAM/MSAN BRAS

Home/SMB Femto Femto BTS

8 -16 users Standalone or
integrated into
RGW, STB …

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Freescale System Characterization End-to-end Setup

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Freescale Small Cell Solution:
QorIQ Qonverge BSC913x Series
BSC913x Form Factor Reference Design Board
Features:
• Complete communications platform enabling LTE,
WCDMA/HSPA+
• Dual-band system covering up to 2.7 GHz
• Development and debugging tools available from
Freescale and our partners

Benefits:
• Form factor design helps speed customers time to market
• Turn-key hardware design
• Integrated with ADI RF solutions

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QorIQ Qonverge BSC913x Reference Design and
Link Adaptation Characterization

Scheduler (RRM) IP
Frequency User Security,
Processing PDCP ASF,
Processing MAC RLC
(Encypt) IP

SmartDSP OS Linux OS Linux OS

RF Physical Layer L2 Layer

RF Tx/Rx
PAs with - Sensitivity (SMU based) Link Adaptation: Network
AGC
-Data/Control power diff -Closed-loop SINR test Interface
-Open-loop SINR tests - MCS selection

Freescale: Physical layer, board support package and network interface components
(in light-blue).
Note: Many LTE UL/DL processing and signal processing blocks are implemented in
MAPLE accelerators that is part of 913x SoC HW.
L2/L3 partner: Most of the L2/L3 Layer
Third-party hardware: All hardware and reference design board

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 SINR Definition
• SINR is Signal Power to Interference
plus Noise Power Ratio; SINR is
commonly used to measure the
quality of wireless links

• A wireless communication system is usually

affected by environmental parameters, thermal
noise and interference from other wireless equipments

• To measure the quality of wireless link, SINR estimation is an integral part of

any wireless receiver system design

• In LTE, link adaptation is done based on SINR measured in 9131 FSL

Physical layer on:
− PUSCH (UL data channel)
− PUCCH (UL control channel)
− SRS (UL sounding reference signal)

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Link Adaptation Logical Topology
• Link Adaptation enables the eNodeB to adapt the
eNB L2 SW UE’s Tx power and throughput based on the radio
AMC
RRM link quality from UE to eNB
(scheduler)
SINRtarget SINRmeas UL grant (Resource
blocks (M) , MCS) • UL Link Adaptation is applied independently on:
Power
Control − PUSCH (UL data channel)
SINRmeas − PUCCH (UL control channel)
L2 filtering − SRS (UL sounding reference signal)

eNB L1 SW
eNodeB • By measuring respective SINR on DM-RS
SINR meas (de)modulator/ (PUSCH/PUCCH) and SRS signals
(De)coder

• And issuing Transmit Power Control (TPC)

Po, α f (Δi) = TPC commands via f(Δi) to maintain a target SINR
DM-RS / commands UL Data required to support a selected MCS by RRM in the
SRS (N + 4) presence of fast fading and interference

UE • To maintain this specific SINRtarget over a long

Reference Tx range, Path-loss/shadowing compensation is
signals (Pmax, PL) performed via (Po, α) broadcast at cell-level by eNB

UE Tx power = min (Pmax, P0 + αPL + 10logM + f(Δi))

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Link Adaptation:
Step 1: RF Characterization

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STEP 1: RF Chip UL Characterization
• Rx front end chain contains:
− LNA
− Mixer
− Amplifiers
− Low Pass Filter (AAF)
− ADC
− Channel filtering

Source: Analog Devices website

• ADI RF chip on BSC913x RDB is software programmable for eg:

− Digital channel filtering for UL adjacent channel Interference rejection
− AGC setpoint and gain table for wide I/L dynamic range of operation
− AGC gain mode: Hybrid vs fast-attack mode

• Eg: Hybrid mode provided better BLER for full traffic and burst traffic (silent –to-traffic subframes
ie., 2 RBs to 48 RBs). This mode required FSL SoC to provide periodic strobes to ADI so AGC gain
updates are synchronized to TTI subframe boundaries

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Link Adaptation:
Step 2: SINR Measurement

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 Challenges in Designing PUSCH SINR Estimation
Requirements
Slot 0 Slot 1 LTE system • SINR is estimated across
PUSCH RBs
Bandwidth entire user allocation (max
up to system BW)

• Compared with narrow BW

Symbol Symbol Symbol Symbol Symbol Symbol
Slot => 0 1 2
DMRS
4 5 6 channels like PUCCH and
less frequent channels like
SRS, PUSCH is wideband
Frequency Filtering to and occurs in every TTI
User power
domain cross minimise
correlation noise
estimate and hence requires efficient
and low complexity
Ref ZC signal Filter gain implementation
compensation

SINR estimation • Average SINR across

Noise signal Noise power
estimate estimate
and FAPI index allocation is reported in
generation FAPI indication messages
PUSCH SINR estimation block diagram

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 Challenges in Designing PUCCH SINR Algorithm
Pucch RB Requirements
Slot 0 Slot 1 LTE system • PUCCH data always span
Bandwidth across 1 RB and is used for
UL control information
Pucch RB

• Accurate SINR estimation is

Symbol Symbol Symbol Symbol Symbol
Slot => 0
DM-RS
2 3 4
DM-RS
5 challenging considering
multiple CDM based users
within just 12 sub-carriers
Frequency Filtering to (1RB)
User power
domain cross separate
estimate
correlation users

Estimate of • PUCCH is very sensitive to

transmitted timing offset
Ref ZC signal reference signal

Noise signal Noise power

SINR estimation
and FAPI index
• It’s also sensitive to fading
estimate estimate
generation due to inherent frequency
diversity used across slots
PUCCH SINR estimation block diagram

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Challenges in Designing SRS SINR Estimation
Requirements
Slot 0 Slot 1 S • SRS is mainly used for
LTE system
R Bandwidth frequency selective
PUSCH RBs S scheduling of the
users

• Multiple CDM based

users are span across
Frequency- Frequency to Filtering to Noise
SRS bandwidth and
domain cross time-domain separate reduction SINR is computed for
correlation mapping users on module each user on per RB
basis
Estimate of Time to User power
transmitted Frequency estimate per • Computed SINR also
Ref ZC signal reference signal domain mapping RB considers the impact
of fading (frequency
SINR estimation selective) in each RB
Noise signal Noise power of a given SRS
per RB and FAPI
estimate estimate
index generation allocation bandwidth
SRS SINR estimation block diagram

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Challenges in Designing SRS SINR Estimation

20 MHz: Performance of SRS across

resource blocks in EVA5 channel across
different SINR values

Observations:

1. Estimated SINR is frequency selective and estimation is pretty close to the reference channel

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FAPI SINR Reporting

• Fixed point processors are not efficient while computing SINR in

logarithmic domain
− FSL L1 algorithms are highly optimized to compute dB values of SINR
− Typical scenario of SRS where SINR is reported per RB basis, these
algorithms are highly squeezed in terms of cycle consumed
− 30% cycles gain for 1 UE, 41% cycles gain for 2UEs

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Link Adaptation:
Step 3: Power Control

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Open Loop and Closed Loop PUSCH Power Control in OTA
1. Variable attenuator with alpha = 0 to simulate UE moving from cell center to cell edge
2. In Open Loop, required SINRtarget for each MCS characterized via HARQ BLER
statistics
3. Then, Closed Loop Power control enabled to verify RRM MCS changes wrt SINR
4. Finally, over-the-air testing verified for OLPC path-loss compensation and CLPC

26 MCS Vs SINR_Required @5% BLER

25
24
22
20
18
16 SINR_Required
15
14
12.5
SINR

12
10 10.5
8 8.5
7
6 5.5
4
3
2 1.5
0
-2 23 22 20 16 13 11 10 9 5 2 -1 0 Over-The-Air Power Control setup
-2.5
-4
MCS

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PUSCH and PUCCH Relative Power Characterization

• In MUE scenario, it’s important to characterize system performance when

there is relative power difference between PUCCH and PUSCH signals
received at the eNodeB (eg., MCS 23 in previous slide)

− For an efficient implementation, fixed-point FFT is performed on composite signal

received at eNodeB instead of floating-point FFT

− Relative power difference between PUSCH and PUCCH can impact decoding
performance, CRC failures and SINR degradation

− SMU based characterization is performed to simulate and verify different scenarios

with relative PUCCH and PUSCH power difference and its impact on CRC, CQI
decoding, SINR estimation, HARQ decoding

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PUSCH Closed Loop Power Control on OTA
• Initially, eNodeB sends Transmit Power Control (TPC) commands to increase the UE Tx
power until the eNB received SINR on PUSCH reaches SINRtarget ~7 dB
• When attenuator is switched in middle of test, eNodeB sends TPC commands until UE Tx
power increases further and received SINR recovers back to SINRtarget ~ 7 dB
• This verifies the end to end working on power control part of link adaptation
2.5
43.5
Meas_SINR (dB) Vs TPC CMDs
40.5
37.5
2
34.5
SINR (dB) TPC cmd value
31.5
28.5
Meas_SINR TPC_CMDS 1.5
25.5
22.5
19.5 1
16.5
13.5
10.5 0.5
7.5
4.5
1.5 0

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PUCCH Closed Loop Power Control on OTA
• Closed loop control has been verified
for single UE with a walkabout test

• PUCCH transmit power should be

read as (-ve) of what is plotted

• It is seen that UE PUCCH Tx power is

holding well when path loss is
constant and responding to transmit
power control commands (g(i)) from
eNB

• Note: At eNodeB, PUCCH is allocated

only for 1 RB resulting in limited
accuracy of SINR estimated and
hence this requires L2 filtering to get
a smoother SINRmeasured.

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Summary

• Introduction to LTE Link adaptation system

• System level challenges in characterizing UL Link adaptation
solution in LTE small cell system
• Freescale’s QorIQ Qonverge BSC913x SoC small cell link
adaptation solution including:
− RF characterization
− Specific SINR measurement methods for different UL LTE channels
− Open-loop power control characterization
− Closed-loop power control characterization
• Competitive/differentiating benefits of QorIQ Qonverge BSC913x small
cells system characterization that enables shorter time-to-market for
OEMs and network infrastructure vendors

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Q&A

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