RSCP and Ec/No

The CPICH-Common pilot channel is continuously transmitted from the NodeB.

It carries no information and can be thought of as a beacon constantly transmitting the
Scrambling Code of the cell.
WCDMA cells are identified by their SC just like BCCH in the GSM.
It is this beacon that is used by the phone for its cell measurements for network
acquisition and handover purposes (Ec, Ec/Io).
In a WCDMA network the User Equipment (UE) receives signals from many cells
So Io is the Sum total of all of these signals. (dbm)
Note :Sometimes Io is referred to as No, RSSI
Now RSCP is the Received Signal code power of particular CPICH in dbm.
Ec=Energy per Chip
From the previous two measures we can calculate a signal quality for each CPICH (SC)
received.
Ec/Io = (Energy per chip / Noise spectral density) = RSCP/RSSI
Now lets understand relation between Ec/Io and Eb/No
cNo, RSCP, RSSI, CPICH
RSSI: recieved signal strength indicator.
RSSI= RSCP-Ec/Io
EcNo: energy per chip over the noise, a measure of the quality of the signal
RSCP: Energy after processing ie with gain from coding etc
RSCP = RSSI + EcNo
RSSI: A dB measure of the signal arriving at the antenna before gain from processing
CPICH: Pilot Channel of the cell.
You have to measure two parameter on pilot ch (Ec/No & RSCP) to verify P-CPICH detection to
minimise coverage holes,
Ex: (RSCP > -100dBm (sufficient) & Ec/No > -14 (sufficient))
& by correlation between low Ec/No & high RSCP you can find the interference & pilot pollution.

If you work with UMTS,'ve probably heard someone talk about RTWP. Its definition can be
found in a dictionary of acronyms, such as http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/RTWP:
Received Total Wideband Power.
Represents a measure of UMTS technology: the total level of noise within the UMTS frequency
band of any cell.
RTWP is related to uplink interference, and its monitoring helps control the call drops - mainly
CS. It also has importance in the capacity management, as it provides information for the
Congestion Control regarding Uplink Interference.
In UMTS, the uplink interference may vary due to several factors, such as the number of users in
the cell, the Service, Connection Types and Conditions of Radio, etc..
As our goal is to always be as simple as possible, we will not delve in terms of formulas or
concepts involved. We will then know the typical values, and know what must be done in case of
problems.

Typical Values
Ok, we know that RTWP can help us in checking the uplink interference, then we need to know
its typical values.
In a network is not loaded, normal, acceptable RTWP Average value is generally around -104.5
and -105.5 dBm.

Values around -95 dBm indicate that the cell has some uplink interferers.
If the value is around -85 dBm, the situation is ugly, with strong uplink interferers.
Usually we have High, Low and Medium measures of RTWP. However, the maximum and
minimum values are recommended only as auxiliary or reference, since they may have been
caused by a peak of access, or even been forced to have a momentary value due to some
algorithm i.e..
Thus, the value that helps us, and has the most accurate information is the same Mean RTWP!
For cases in which cell has two carriers, the difference between them RTWP should not exceed 6
dB.

Based on these typical values, most vendors have an alarm: RTWP "Very High. "

What to do in case of problems?

We have seen that RTWP can cause performance degradation, mainly CS Call Drops. Note:
Actually, it's not RTWP that causes performance degradation. What happens is that when its
value is 'bad', it's actually indicating the presence of interference - the latter being responsible for
degradation.
But what can we do when we find bad values?
If RTWP is not at acceptable levels, some actions should be taken.

The first thing to do is check if there is a configuration issue with the RNC or NodeB.
This is the most common case, especially in cases of new activations.
Once verified the parameter settings, the next step is the physical examination, especially
jumpers and cables, often partially reversed. It also should be checked if there is faulty
transmitters, or any other problem that could generate intermodulation between the
NodeB and the antenna.
If the parameter settings and hardware are ok, the chance is very high that we have
external interference, such as a Interferer Repeater.

In cases where there may be external interference, we must begin to act after such a prioritization
based on how much this is affecting the cell KPI's across the network, if it carry high traffic,
major subscribers, etc..
Note: There are many forms of interference in the uplink, both internal and external. Only a few
are listed above. The deepening of all possibilities is beyond the goal of being simple to teach the
concepts, but this is a suggestion for whoever wants to deepen the study, identification and
elimination of interference.

In practice
to find - and eliminate - problems of interference is one of the biggest challenges in our area. For
being such a complex problem, we recommend that be collected enough data for each
investigation. Insufficient data collected can lead to erroneous conclusions, further worsening the
problem.
The uplink interference may appear only in specific periods. Thus, it is recommended that data
be collected from at least one week (7 days) for every 24 hours. Usually this amount of data is
sufficient. In the figure below, we see different days and times - colorful - a fictional example
where the interference occurred.

Data should be collected for the suspicious cell, but also for its adjacent cells, allowing it to
make a triangulation increasing the chances of locating the source of interference.
Another way to locate the source of interference is to do a test in field. An antenna guy must
gradually change the azimuth of the antenna, while another professional do RTWP
measurements. That is, through the information directing the antenna and the respective values of
RTWP, you can draw conclusions very good.
It is obvious that changing the online system may not be a good practice, and tests can be made
with a Yagi antenna and a Spectrum Analyzer.
Vendors offer several ways to measure RTWP, using the OSS, performance counters and logs.

Conclusion

In this brief tutorial, we learn what is RTWP, and that the ideal typical value is about -104.5 dBm
and -105.5 dBm.
As the RTWP is directly related to Uplink Interference - and we know that interference is the
main cause of performance degradation - have concluded that improving RTWP, ie making is as
close as possible to -105 dBm, improving the Call Drop Rate!
IMPORTANT : Seizing the opportunity, see what was stated at the start of this tutorial dictionary - by describing RTWP. Remember that this site has been the subject of a very
interesting tutorial in the Tips Section. If you have not visited this section of the portal yet , I
strongly recommend, because it has many issues that help in our growth in telecom and IT area.