Features and functions related to radio resource management of HSDPA

This section contains all features and functions that affect RRM of HSDPA and
provides short introductions to them. The features and functions are categorized
according to the related sub-functions of RRM of HSDPA, in the following way:

HSDPA resource allocation

HSDPA mobility

Multi RAB combinations with HSDPA

HSDPA user experience

Quality of service management

Common Iub interface

HSDPA resource allocation

The following features are part of the HSDPA basic functionality:

HSDPA Resource Allocation (the static allocation of power and code resources
in the RNC)

Note that the BTS applies the dynamic power allocation regardless of a resource
allocation method in the RNC.

HSDPA Associated Uplink DPCH Scheduling

HSDPA Physical Channel, Transport Channel and Radio Bearer Configuration

HSDPA Channel Switching

Basic HSDPA with QPSK and 5 Codes

HSDPA 16QAM Support

Flexible RLC

Direct switch between HS-DSCH and DCH channel types

Optional feature HSDPA Dynamic Resource Allocation replaces feature HSDPA

Resource Allocation and contains the following new and improved functionalities:

Dynamic NRT DCH scheduling (RNC)

Dynamic power allocation (BTS)

Dynamic allocation of HS-PDSCH codes

HSDPA 15 Codes optional feature is a further evolution of the Basic HSDPA with
QPSK and 5 Codes and HSDPA 16QAM Support features allowing higher peak data
rates and an increased average cell throughput. With the HSDPA 14.4 Mbps per Cell
feature, peak cell throughputs of up to 14.4 Mbit/s can be achieved.
HSDPA Code Multiplexing optional feature enables a simultaneous transmission of a
maximum of four HSDPA users within a single cell during a single Transmission Time
Interval (TTI).
16 kbit/s Return Channel DCH Data Rate Support for HSDPA optional feature allows
using the uplink DCH data rate of 16 kbit/s for HSDPA UL DCH return channel.
The HSPA transport fallback feature provides a protection solution over Iub in the
scenario that the HSPA traffic is carried over the IP transport. The operator can
select the interactive or background HSDPA traffic class and the protected or
unprotected HSDPA streaming. If the traffic class is protected, the traffic can be
carried over the AMR transport in case of an IP-transport failure. If the traffic class is
not protected, the IP transport is an only option.
HSDPA mobility
The HSDPA Mobility Handling with DCH switching and HSDPA Cell Reselection are
part of HSDPA basic functionality.
HSDPA Serving Cell Change and HSDPA Soft/Softer Handover for Associated DPCH
optional features replace features HSDPA Mobility Handling with DCH switching and
HSDPA Cell Reselection allowing an improved mobility for HSDPA users.
HSPA Inter-RNC Cell Change is an optional feature that improves the end-user
performance by maintaining the high-data-rate HSDPA service during the intrafrequency inter-RNC mobility.
HSDPA Inter-frequency Handover is an optional feature that the operator can
activate and deactivate with the BTS level BTSSupportForHSPACM RNP parameter.
Based on inter-frequency handover (IFHO) triggers, the RNC orders the compressed
mode on HSDPA so that inter-frequency measurements can be performed on HSDPA
without channel type switching to DCH. Thus, a high HSDPA throughput can be
experienced during the compressed mode and the total handover execution time is
reduced up to 1.5 s.
The HSPA Capability Based Handover feature provides a mechanism to periodically
hand over all HSPA-capable UEs from non HSDPA/HSUPA WCDMA cells to
neighboring cells providing the HSPA support. The target cell can be either a
WCDMA cell served by an RNC or an I-HSPA cell served by the IHSPA system. HSPAcapable UEs in HSDPA/HSUPA WCDMA cells are handed over to I-HSPA cells by an
event-triggered mechanism. For details, see WCDMA RAN RRM Handover Control
functional area description.

RAN1231: HSPA over Iur feature is implemented in RN5.0 EP1. The HSPA over Iur
feature improves the end-user performance by maintaining the continuous high
data rate HSPA service during the inter-RNC mobility. Capacity gain is achieved in
the RNC border cells when the serving cell change is performed, and HSPA, instead
of DCH, can be utilized. When the UE's intra-frequency measurements indicate that
the strongest cell in the active set is under the DRNC, HSDPA, and HSUPA serving
cell change over Iur is performed. After the serving cell change, HSDPA (HS-DSCH
MAC-d flow) and HSUPA (E-DCH MAC-d flow) data is transmitted over the Iurinterface. HSPA over Iur feature enables the following functions:

SRNC sets up the HS-DSCH and E-DCH radio link over Iur.

SRNC performs the serving cell change (SCC) from SRNC cell to DRNC cell.

SRNC performs the serving cell change (SCC) from DRNC cell to DRNC cell
inside one RNC and between two different RNCs.

SRNC performs the serving cell change (SCC) from DRNC cell to SRNC cell.

DRNC accepts the radio link over Iur-interface containing HS-DSCH and E-DCH
MAC-d flow information.

Besides the E-DCH, the UL DCH is supported as a return channel for the HS-DSCH
over Iu-interface. When the last active set cell in the SRNC is deleted, the UE not
involved SRNS relocation is triggered while the HSPA service is in use. Also the UE
involved SRNS relocation is supported if the Iur-interface is congested, disabled, or
not existing.
Feature RAN2067: LTE Interworking is RU20 On Top feature. It enables cell
reselection from 3G to LTE and provides support for PS ISHO from LTE to 3G. LTE
interworking is an optional feature in the RNC and is controlled by capacity
license(number of cells).
In LTE rollout phase the coverage is typically limited and UEs easily run out of LTE
coverage especially in idle mode. This feature enables the LTE cell reselection when
the UE is in idle mode, Cell_PCH and URA_PCH state in WCDMA layer. The operator
can set cell-based camping priority for LTE capable UEs. The UE can then,
depending on the operators preference, select to camp on LTE once the coverage is
available. WCDMA, LTE, and GSM can be prioritized with eight distinct absolute
priorities, different Radio Access Technologies (RATs) always having different
priorities. In the idle, URA_PCH, and Cell_PCH states, the UE camped in WCDMA
periodically measures all higher priority RATs. Also lower priority RATs are measured
when WCDMA quality criteria fall below a threshold.
The LTE system supports inter-RAT handover to UTRAN because of quality and
coverage for PS calls. Hence, as a part of LTE interworking functionality, UTRAN

must handle the incoming PS ISHO from LTE. Upon receiving the Relocation Request
from PS CN, the target RNC allocates the resources for incoming RABs and upon
successful resource allocation sends the Relocation Request Acknowledge to the
Core Network.
Multi RAB combinations with HSDPA
NRT RAB on HSDPA (HSDPA with Additional RAB initiation feature) is part of the
HSDPA basic functionality.
HSDPA with Simultaneous AMR Voice Call optional feature allows a simultaneous use
of AMR speech CS RAB and HSDPA. The functionality provided by that feature is
further enhanced with the Enhancement to HSDPA with Simultaneous AMR Voice
Call generic feature, which adds 128 and 384 kbit/s UL DCH bit rate support for the
HSDPA return channel with a simultaneous AMR call.
HSDPA Multi NRT RABs optional feature enables the simultaneous allocation of up to
three NRT PS RABs on the HS-DSCH. The feature is controlled by the license and the
WCEL-HspaMultiNrtRabSupport parameter.
HSDPA user experience
HSDPA 16 Users per Cell feature is part of the HSDPA basic functionality.
HSDPA 48 Users per Cell optional feature makes it possible to have 48 simultaneous
HSDPA users in one cell.
HSDPA 64 Users per Cell optional feature makes it possible to have 64 simultaneous
HSDPA users in one cell.
HSDP 10 Mbps per User and HSDPA 14 Mbps per User optional features enable peak
rates of 10 Mbit/s and 14 Mbit/s, respectively, for individual HSDPA users.
HSPA 72 users per cell enables support for up to 72 simultaneous HSPA users
(HSDPA and HSUPA) per cell. The feature is controlled by a license. The license
control is in the RNC. The license type is the on/off license.
The Fractional DPCH shares the DL dedicated code channel carrying L1 signaling
(TPC bits) of HSDPA users. DL L1 signalling of up to 10 HSDPA users are timemultiplexed on the same SF256 DL code channel, and L1 control overhead is
reduced. By sharing the SF256 channel with F-DPCH, the number of HS-PDSCH
codes (and DPCH codes) can be increased. Fractional DPCH is only used for Rel-7
and subsequent UEs. The network supports only Rel-7 version of F-DPCH. F-DPCH is
only supported with the signaling radio bearers (SRBs) on HSPA. In this case HSUPA
uses either 2 ms (it requires feature RAN1470: HSUPA 2ms TTI) or 10 ms TTI.
Switching between the mapping of SRBs on DCH and HSPA is supported. Compared
to Rel-6, Rel-7 improves F-DPCH gains in soft handover by allowing more SHO users

to be multiplexed to the same SF256 code channel. The HSDPA average cell
throughput is increased thanks to the improved spreading code efficiency and
reduced L1 control overhead in case of a high number of HSDPA users.
The HSUPA 2 ms TTI feature enables the use of shorter TTI (2 ms vs. 10 ms) on EDCH. The shorter TTI improves the average latency in radio interface by 12 ms for
the first transmission. Faster retransmissions also reduce the variance of the RTT.
The immediate data processing in Iub and RNC user plane also shortens the roundtrip time. Thus the lower latency improves an application level performance and the
HSPA end-user experience. UL SRBs are always mapped on HSUPA when the 2 ms
TTI is assigned to the UE. The non-scheduled transmission (NST) is always used for
SRBs on HSUPA if E-TTI is 2 ms. In DL, SRBs can be mapped on DCH or HS-DSCH
(requires RAN1201, F-DPCH). HSUPA 2 ms TTI is used for the UE, that E-DCH
physical layer category is 2, 4, 6, or 7. Mapping the SRBs to HSUPA with 2 ms E-TTI
enables the spreading code allocation of 2xSF2 + 2xSF4 in the uplink, which is
needed if 5.8 Mbit/s bit rate (RAN981, HSUPA 5.8 Mbps) is used in the UL direction.
The HSDPA 64QAM feature increases the HSDPA peak rate up to 21.1 Mbit/s. The
64QAM modulation is introduced by the 3GPP rel-7. HSDPA terminal categories 13,
14, 17, 18, 19, and 20 support the 64QAM modulation. Practical throughput is
limited by radio interface condition (such as signal strength and interference). The
feature is controlled by a license. The license control is in the RNC. The license type
is the on/off license. If the RNC allows the use of HSDPA 64 QAM, the BTS decides
whether the feature is used or not. The CDSP-DH card is needed because of high
peak bit rates.
3GPP Rel-7 introduces continuous packet connectivity (CPC). Discontinuous uplink
DPCCH transmission, discontinuous downlink reception operations, MAC DTX and
CQI reporting reduction are the supported parts of the continuous packet
connectivity feature. CPC is an optional feature for Rel-7 UEs. The CPC capability is
signaled by the UE to the RNC in RRC connection setup. CPC is used only in case of
HSPA configuration, for example the HSUPA in the UL and the HSDPA and F-DPCH in
the DL. The SRBs are also always on HSPA. No DCHs in the UL/DL are allowed with
CPC. CPC is activated per UE. CPC makes the Cell_DCH state more affordable from
the air interface capacity and UE battery consumption points of view for the low
activity/non-continuous transmission. A better user experience can be offered to
CPC-capable UEs by keeping them longer in the Cell_DCH state. The state transition
is not needed for temporary inactive users with interactive and background RAB(s).
The main purpose of the feature Flexible RLC is to enable achieving higher HSDPA
peak rates provided by 64 QAM modulation scheme. The means for this is reducing
the overhead in the RLC layer in the downlink direction by allowing the usage of
flexible RLC PDU size. The feature is applicable only for RBs using AM RLC which are
mapped on the HS-DSCH transport channel. The uplink channel must be E-DCH. The
feature is not under license control and it belongs to the RNC BSW. The RNC-specific

management parameter FRLCEnabled enables/disables the use of the feature

Flexible RLC in the RNC. Also MAC-ehs can only be used if the F-RLC is enabled with
the FRLCEnabled parameter.
CS Voice over HSPA uses HSPA transport channels to carry the CS voice traffic.
Mapping the CS voice to HSPA takes place in the RNC and is not visible to the core
network. Thus the R99 or R4 CS core network can be used in a regular manner. CS
voice over HSPA is an optional feature, and its use is controlled at a cell level by the
operator. To activate the CS voice over HSPA feature with the HSPAQoSEnabled RNP
parameter, the CDSP-DH card is needed in the controller.
The HSPA05 reconfiguration during cell shutdown and cell activation procedures in
power saving mode (PWSM) is made in the restricted environment. The HSPA05
reconfiguration is defined in WCDMA RAN RRM admission control. The purpose of
HSPA05 reconfiguration is to swap the HSPA services from HSPA layer cells to DCH
cells by reconfiguring cells without locking cells and losing calls.
MIMO 2x2 increases a single-user peak data rate, overall cell capacity, and the
average cell throughput. MIMO 2x2 assumes a double-transmit antenna array (DTxAA) at the BTS, and two receive antennas at the UE with the single or dual stream
DL transmission. In this case, the operation of two parallel data streams doubles the
HSDPA peak data rate, so the theoretical maximum data rate with 16QAM is 28
Mbps in 3GPP Rel-7. HSDPA terminal categories 15, 16, 17, and 18 supporting 2x2
MIMO with 16QAM are introduced. Terminal categories 19 and 20 from Rel-8 are
supported with 16QAM only. The UE signals MIMO capability to the RNC during the
RRC connection setup procedure. The RNC configures the MIMO mode to a MIMO
capable UE with the RRC signaling. If the MIMO capable UE is not configured in
MIMO mode, it operates as a regular non-MIMO UE. In order to reach 28 Mbps data
rate, the CDSP-DH plug-in unit variant is needed in the RNC. MIMO is supported also
in case of the CDSP-C plug-in unit variant, but the peak data rate is limited to 10
Mbps (9.6 Mbps user data rate).
Feature RAN1906: Dual-Cell HSDPA 42Mbps is RU20 On Top feature. In 3GPP Rel-8,
Dual-Cell HSDPA uses two adjacent WCDMA carriers to transmit data for a single UE.
This allows doubling the data rate for the terminal. Together with 64QAM, the peak
bit rate is 42 Mbit/s. Dual-Cell HSDPA is only supported with the NRT services. If the
RT services are needed, dynamic switching between Dual-Cell HSDPA and SingleCell HSDPA mode is performed. When it is possible, Dual-Cell HSDPA is allocated
instead of the Single-Cell HSDPA. Dual-Cell HSDPA requires the HSUPA, HSDPA 15
codes, HSDPA 14 Mbps per user, and Flexible RLC features. Dual-Cell HSDPA is
supported with either SRBs on HSPA or SRBs on DCH/DCH 3.4/3.4 kbit/s. If the UE
supports enhanced (Rel-7) F-DPCH, then SRBs on HSPA with enhanced F-DPCH is
used. The use of 64QAM is supported but not required. MIMO and Dual-Cell HSDPA
can be enabled in the same cell but they cannot be used simultaneously for one

UE.In dual-carrier mode, the mobility procedures are based on the carrier
frequency of the primary serving HS-DSCH cell. Dual-Cell HSDPA provides:

double peak rate for single user

higher average throughput thanks to statistical multiplexing

better coverage thanks to frequency selectivity

Dual-Cell HSDPA is supported with both CDSP-DH and CDSP-C cards. The CDSP-DH
card provides full HSDPA peak rate (42 Mbit/s) while the CDSP-C card limited peak
rate (10 Mbit/s). The CDSP-DH card is always attempted to be allocated first. DualCell HSDPA is not supported when at least one radio link is over Iur.
With the RAN1762: Direct Resource Allocation for HSPA feature, the HS(D)PA
transport channels are directly allocated in the RAB setup phase in Cell_DCH and
Cell_FACH state. Using this feature, the operator can select the direct resource
allocation for the new entering PS RABs of interactive and background traffic
classes. The operator can also define whether the direct resource allocation is
applied in Cell_FACH state.
Quality of service management
QoS Aware HSPA Scheduling optional feature allows differentiating between various
kinds of services and subscribers supporting different tariff classification models for
NRT traffic classes. In other words, premium services and subscribers can be
prioritized over the low-tariff broadband HSDPA data traffic.
Streaming QoS for HSPA optional feature supports streaming QoS traffic class RABs
on the HS-DSCH. The packet-switched (PS) core network is the origin of these types
of RABs. The RAN supports streaming RABs and then creates the corresponding
radio bearers (RBs). When using this feature, streaming traffic class RBs can be
mapped on DCH/HS-DSCH and E-DCH/HS-DSCH.
The corresponding optional feature, PS NRT RAB Reconfiguration, provides the
reconfiguration of packet-switched non-realtime radio access bearers. The feature
complements the HSPA quality of service (QoS) management. If RAB service
characteristics require modification, both the SGSN and UE can request the RAB
reconfiguration procedure. Neither the narrowband adaptive multi-rate (N-AMR) nor
the wideband AMR (W-AMR) RAB modification procedure is affected by this feature.
The RNC level parameter NodeBRABReconfigSupport defines the BTSs support for
this feature.
Common Iub interface

The RNC communicates with different BTS types the WCDMA BTS and the
NB/RSxxx. The latter type requires modification of the communication over the Iub
interface. These adaptations are available with the following functions:

Removal of WCDMA BTS Specific Optimizations for NB/RSxxx adapts the RNC
to the NB/RSxxx with regard to WCDMA BTS-specific optimizations. The
NB/RSxxx is not able to provide its HSDPA-specific capability indications
through the private message mechanism, specified in the 3GPP NBAP
protocol extension and used by the WCDMA BTS. The RNC has to cope
without this capability information when communicating through NBAP with
the NB/RSxxx.

When communicating with the WCDMA BTS, the RNC uses the private NBAP
Radio Resource Indication method. This method provides particular report
filtering and report combining functions, allowing for short reporting periods,
for example. Common Measurements - Filtering and Event Based Triggering
enables the RNC to support the 3GPP common measurements used by the
NB/RSxxx. Thus, both periodic and event-E-based measurements are
applicable. Furthermore, the increased reporting period of the NB/RSxxx (800
ms and longer) is facilitated.

HSPA Downlink Common Channel Power Control complements both HSDPA

and HSUPA downlink common channel power controls that have been
introduced in RAS06 release. It introduces functions for the NB/RSxxx. The
functionality for the WBTS remains unchanged.