Mitigation oI Pilot Pollution through Base Station

Antenna ConIiguration in WCDMA

Jarno Niemel and Jukka Lempiinen
Institute oI Communications Engineering, Tampere University oI Technology
P.O. Box 553, FI-33101 Tampere, Finland
Email: jarno.niemela, jukka.lempiainen}tut.Ii

Abstract-Pilot pollution is observed in areas where a mobile
station does not have enough RAKE fingers for processing all the
received pilot signals or there is no dominant pilot signal at all.
This paper evaluates the impact of base station antenna
configuration in a 3-sectored and in different 6-sectored
WCDMA sites on the amount of pilot polluted areas. The results
show that pilot polluted areas can be reduced simply by defining
a proper base station antenna configuration by means of antenna
horizontal beamwidth and downtilt. However, more advanced
methods are needed in order to further decrease pilot polluted
areas.
Keywords-antenna configuration, pilot pollution, WCDMA.
I. INTRODUCTION
In a WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access)
system as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications
System), mobiles in the network are able to identiIy diIIerent
base station sectors according to their primary common pilot
channel (P-CPICH) signal |1|. P-CPICH (hereby reIerred
simply as CPICH) is send by all the base station stations
typically with a Iixed power. CPICH signal is a predeIined
symbol sequence and it is used as a phase reIerence Ior the
other downlink common physical channels. Moreover, it is
considered as a pure physical channel, since it carriers no data.
CPICH is used Ior handover decisions, cell selections and
reselections, and, under some circumstances, to aid in channel
estimation. SuIIicient CPICH coverage is important to achieve
sequentially to ensure proper Iunctionality oI cell selections
and reselections, and handover measurements. However,
CPICH also consumes the limited transmission power
capability due to Iact that base stations send their unique
CPICH signal continuously. ThereIore, CPICH power
allocation is one important task in WCDMA network planning.
In practice, however, CPICH coverage must overlap in cell
border areas to accommodate soIt handovers (SHO) and in
order to achieve proper indoor coverage at cell border areas |1|.
Pilot pollution is observed in areas in which there are too
many CPICH signals (diIIerent CPICH signal or their
multipath components) received at the mobile station`s RAKE
receiver than its capable oI processing, or none oI the received
CPICH signals is dominant enough |2|. Each cell, which is
heard by the mobile, will practically increase the interIerence
level in the downlink (DL). Thus, hearing unnecessary pilot
signals reduces the received energy per chip over the power
density (E
c
/N
0
) Irom the serving cell; in other words, reduces
the quality oI an existing connection. In order to avoid pilot
polluted areas, the cell dominance areas should be as clear as
possible and unnecessary CPICH signals should not be heard.
However, pilot pollution cannot be totally avoided with
traditional radio network planning methods due to
inhomogeneous propagation environment and overlapping
cells.
In WCDMA, a mobile measures and reports the received
signal levels oI CPICH E
c
/N
0
. In UTRA FDD (UMTS
Terrestrial Radio Access Frequency Division Duplex) mode,
the mobile uses this value to deIine into which cell it is
connected to both in idle and connected mode. Moreover, the
mobile searches regularly better cells according to cell
reselection criteria |2|. Thus, by increasing or decreasing the
CPICH signal power, the cell dominance area can be either
increased or decreased, respectively. The CPICH power
adjustment can also be used, e.g., Ior load balancing |3|. This,
however, can lead to degradation in capacity, iI CPICH powers
are adjusted incautiously. CPICH power is also utilized in
connection establishment mode when the mobile deIines the
needed TX power Ior the Iirst preamble according to CPICH
received signal chip power (RSCP) during a random access
channel (RACH) procedure. In the connected mode, the mobile
measures the E
c
/N
0
oI diIIerent cells according to the neighbor
list. Furthermore, soIt handover decisions and active set
updates are based on these measurements. Hence, the
hearability oI clear CPICH signals is extremely important
whether the mobile is in idle, connection establishment, or
connected mode, and moreover, minimization oI pilot polluted
areas will deIinitely lead to an improvement in network
Iunctionality.
In general, pilot pollution interIerence can be reduced by
optimizing the pilot powers automatically in such a manner
that required coverage thresholds are still exceeded. By a
simple CPICH power controlling method, the air interIace
perIormance oI WCDMA network can be slightly enhanced
|3|- |4|. In |5|, a method is proposed Ior detecting pilot polluted
areas without considering the impact oI antenna conIiguration.
On the contrary, the method in |6| relies on the implementation
oI multicarrier technology. Implementation oI repeaters can
also reduce pilot pollution interIerence in CDMA networks |7|.
Obviously, repeaters are able to reduce pilot polluted areas by
making the dominance area oI donor cell clearer, thus reducing
the contribution oI interIering pilots. However, repeaters could
shiIt pilot pollution interIerence away Irom a repeaters
dominance area, creating pilot polluted areas in another
location |7|.
In this paper, the target is to evaluate how much pilot
polluted areas can be reduced with traditional radio network
planning techniques as antenna horizontal beamwidth selection
and downtilt schemes. The main concentration is paid on
diIIerent 6-sectored site solutions. Also, a reIerence 3-sectored
site is taken Ior a comparison.
II. PILOT POLLUTION
CPICH signal is sent Irom each sector antenna typically
with a constant 30-33 dBm power, thus taking 5-10 oI the
total macrocellular base station TX power (assuming maximum
oI 43 dBm) |1|. All the mobiles in the network are
continuously measuring the CPICH E
c
/N
0
oI the base station
sectors included in the neighbor list, which is sent on the
broadcast channel (BCCH). CPICH signals provide cell-
speciIic signals Ior radio resource management Iunctions, such
as handovers and cell selection/reselection. Hearing equal
powered CPICH signals or multiple strong CPICH with their
multipath components causes pilot pollution. The impacts oI
pilot pollution can be observed in all states oI a mobile. In the
idle mode, mobile may change the best cell continuously due to
slow Iaded CPICH signals, iI it locates in pilot polluted area.
This increases easily the signaling load in the network by
causing, e.g., additional cell reselection messages. Moreover,
receiving equal CPICH levels Irom multiple sectors
simultaneously could aIIect the call establishment process |1|.
Quality oI an existing connection can also be ruined by pilot
pollution as observed in |7|. Moreover, iI the mobile receives
strong pilot components Irom cells outside the active set (AS),
the interIerence level at the cell will increase, and degradation
in the signal quality can be observed.
Clear dominance areas (meaning smaller amounts oI pilot
pollution) could also make a SHO process more reliable as
discussed in |8|. Fig. 1 illustrates this with an example oI a
SHO scenario. Initially, a mobile is connected to the Cell 2.
Cell 1 is added into mobile`s active set aIter its CPICH E
c
/N
0

level has exceeded the level oI reporting range (here timers or
hysteresis are not used). The diIIerence in the levels oI the best
server and reporting range is deIined as SHO window, which is
a cell-speciIic parameter. Moreover, Cells 3 and 4 exceed the
reporting range. However, only Ior a short period, which means
that they cannot be utilized eIIiciently. Obviously, the example
depicted in Fig. 1 is an unwanted situation.
Throughout the study it is assumed that the Iourth CPICH
signal is always the Iirst polluting CPICH`. The selection is
based on the latest studies (e.g., |9|) where it have been shown
that maximum practical active set size in WCDMA is three.
However, at time instants when three pilots are observed at an
equal level, a mobile could already suIIer Irom pilot pollution
interIerence due to insuIIicient number oI RAKE Iingers. This
problem is strongly seen, e.g., in rich multipath environment.
III. SIMULATIONS
A static simulator using Monte-Carlo approach was utilized
to veriIy the system perIormance oI diIIerent antenna
conIigurations. An accurate digital map (including
morphological and topographical data oI the simulation area as
well as building rasters) was given as an input Ior the simulator
in order to model propagation in practical environment. COST-
231-Hata propagation model was applied together with some
topographical correction Iactors and a Iunction describing
diIIraction (Deygout-model). Propagation slope was kept
constant (35dB/dec) throughout simulations. An average area
correction Iactor was set to -6.7 dB corresponding to light
urban/suburban environment. The base station and mobile
station antenna heights were 25 m and 1.5 m, respectively. The

Figure 1. An example oI a SHO scenario.
TABLE I. GENERAL SIMULATION PARAMETERS.


Figure 2. Illustration oI the paths under observation. Path 1 is denoted as
main lobe-to-main lobe (main lobe-to-back lobe in 3-sectored network) and
Path 2 as side lobe-to-side lobe path. Arrows indicate the antenna direction in
6-sectored sites.
user proIile consisted only oI speech users (12.2 kbps). The
network was arranged in a hexagonal grid oI 17 sites having
equal site spacing oI 1.5 km. The nominal antenna directions in
6-sectored sites were 0, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300. In 3-
sectored conIiguration antenna directions were 0, 120, and
240. Other relevant simulation parameters are gathered in
Table I.
As a reIerence, a 3-sectored site conIiguration with
antennas oI 65 horizontal beamwidth was used. The 3-
sectored conIiguration was considered in order to realize how
higher order sectoring aIIects the amount oI pilot polluted
areas. The 6-sectored sites had diIIerent antenna conIigurations
in sense oI antenna beamwidths, directions, and downtilt
schemes. First oI all, traditional 6-sectored sites with 33 and
65 antennas were selected (with nominal antenna directions).
Secondly, a mixed conIiguration consisting oI original 65
antennas oI the 3-sectored sites, and oI 33 antennas between
the original 65 antenna (denoted as 6-sectored/65&33
conIiguration). The Iourth 6-sectored conIiguration was 33
antennas with a 30 shiIt in antenna directions in the Iirst tier oI
the base stations (denoted as 6-sectored/33* conIiguration).
ShiIting the antennas was utilized in order to Iill the coverage
holes caused by narrow beam antennas |10|. Electrical and
mechanical downtilt schemes were applied only Ior the
nominal 33 antenna conIiguration. Downtilt angle oI 5
degree was selected Ior both downtilt schemes |11|- |12|.
The analysis oI pilot polluted areas is conducted in two
ways. Firstly, the Iirst Iour CPICH E
c
/N
0
levels are tracked
along two paths as in Fig. 2. Path 1 is so-called main lobe-to-
main lobe path (Path 1) and Path 2 is side lobe-to-side lobe
path (Path 2). The lines were traced in such a manner that in 3-
sectored conIiguration Path 1 corresponds to main lobe-to-back
lobe scenario. In the analysis, CPICH signals Irom diIIerent
base station sectors are not separated at all, but only the levels
are tracked. Hence, diIIerent CPICH lines do not show changes
oI best server. The diIIerent CPICH E
c
/N
0
levels are observed
aIter numerous snapshots, thus representing average levels
along the traced paths. Moreover, the presented results are
averages oI all paths between 17 sites.
IV. RESULTS
Fig. 3 shows diIIerent CPICH E
c
/N
0
levels Ior 3-
sectored/65, 6-sectored/65, and 6-sectored/65&33
conIigurations. The Iigures are organized in such a manner that
the Path 1 is represented in the upper Iigure and Path 2 in the
lower Iigure. The reporting range (-4 dB respect to best server)
is also shown to give the idea oI possible SHO areas. For the 3-
sectored/65 conIiguration diIIerent CPICH levels are traced
always Irom main lobe-to-back lobe direction due to complete
hexagonal network layout. This can be easily seen in the plot oI
Path 1, where the level oI CPICH #1 (#n denotes the nth
CPICH E
c
/N
0
signal) is better in the beginning oI the path and
remains above -10 dB until the midway oI the path (Fig. 3a).
The level oI CPICH #2 becomes more signiIicant closer to
back lobe oI the traced path whereas the level oI CPICH #1
increases not until very close proximity oI the base station. All
the way, the level oI CPICH #4 remains approximately under
-20 dB. The perIormance in side lobe direction is also


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(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2. The levels oI CPICH E
c
/N
0
signals in main lobe-to-main lobe direction (upper Iigures) and side lobe-to-side lobe direction (lower Iigures) Ior (a) 3-
sectored/65, (b) 6-sectored/65, and (c) 6-sectored/65&33 conIiguration.
acceptable, since CPICH #4 remains close to -20 dB. Possible
SHO areas can be distinguished Irom the graph where the
levels oI CPICH #2 and #3 are at higher level.
The 6-sectored/65 conIiguration in Fig. 3b perIorms
obviously worse than 3-sectored/65. Clearly, CPICH #1 is not
as dominant as in the 3-sectored conIiguration, and moreover,
CPICH #1 remains around -10 dB. However, the level oI
CPICH #4 reaches values just above -20 dB. In the side lobe
direction, the situation is considerably worse Irom pilot
pollution point oI view. Especially, the areas in the intersection
oI three base stations (and 6 base station sectors), are
problematic, since the level oI CPICH #4 increases
signiIicantly. Also, the level oI CPICH #1 drops closer to -15
dB. These areas are quite heavily pilot polluted, since there is
no dominant pilot and unusable CPICH signals get quite high
values. In these areas, it might be also possible that the
multipath components oI other CPICH signals in the active set
cannot be utilized due to limited number oI RAKE Iingers. As
seen Irom the graph, CPICH #4 could be easily utilized since it
level is very close to CPICH #1. However, increasing the
maximum active set size and the number oI RAKE Iingers
would mean additional interIerence towards the network due to
additional SHO connections and more complex receiver
structures. The amount oI pilot pollution can be controlled by
changing the antenna conIiguration (Fig. 4c), even though it
cannot be totally avoided. Clearly, a narrow beam antenna
reduces the hearability oI CPICH #4.
Fig. 4a shows the results oI the 6-sectored/33
conIiguration. In the main lobe direction, the situation in sense
oI pilot pollution interIerence is quite pleasant, since CPICH #1
is clearly dominating and the level remains close to -7 dB.
However, the areas in the side lobe direction, especially the
intersections oI three base stations, are still greatly pilot
polluted as in previous 6-sectored conIigurations. As a matter
oI Iact, all Iour pilots can be heard inside oI a 2 dB window.
Naturally, the situation is improved towards the centre oI the
observation area as the path approaches the main lobe-to-main
lobe -situation. In Fig. 4b, a network-wide 5 electrical antenna
downtilt is applied Ior the nominal 6-sectored/33
conIiguration. Obviously, the level oI CPICH #1 can be
enhanced with downtilt. Moreover, the level oI CPICH #4 is
managed to keep under -20 dB most oI the time. However,
pilot polluted areas in the intersection oI three base stations still
remain quite signiIicant, even though the pilot pollution area
and its amount can slight be improved. Clearly, this shows that
pilot pollution cannot be totally removed through antenna
downtilt.
In Fig. 4c, the corresponding graphs are shown Ior 6-
sectored/33* conIiguration (30 shiIted antennas in the 1 tier
oI base stations). Naturally, the concepts oI main and side lobe
directions are not valid any more, but this way conIigurations
remain comparable to each other. Along the main beam
direction the situation is similar to Fig. 4a with a slightly higher
level oI CPICH #2. However, in the side lobe direction, the
situation is signiIicantly better compared to 6-sectored/33 with
nominal antenna directions. The levels CPICH #3 and #4 are at
lower level, hence indicating Ior a smaller amount oI pilot
pollution. Obviously, by directing the antennas in such a

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Figure 4. The levels oI CPICH E
c
/N
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signals in main lobe-to-main lobe direction (upper Iigures) and side lobe-to-side lobe direction (lower Iigures) Ior (a) 6-
sectored/33, (c) 6-sectored/33 with 5 network wide electrical downtilt, and (c) 6-sectored/33* conIiguration.
manner that they are not pointing towards each other can bring
some advantages.
Finally, Fig. 5a shows the cumulative distribution Iunction
(CDF) oI the level oI CPICH #1 oI diIIerent antenna
conIigurations. With the 6-sectored/33* conIiguration, 65 oI
the simulation area is covered with CPICH #1 E
c
/N
0
level
above -10 dB, whereas with the worst conIiguration (6-
sectored/65) the corresponding value is 25. Moreover, the
CDF shows that the selection oI antennas direction reduces
pilot pollution by means oI more dominant CPICH #1. The
gains oI sectoring can also be ruined iI a proper antenna
selection is not made. Obviously, narrow beam antenna
produces less interIerence, which on the contrary, results in
better CPICH E
c
/N
0
levels Ior CPICH #1. Naturally, the
hearability oI CPICH #4 increases as higher order sectoring is
applied. However, suitable antenna solution can reduce the
amount oI pilot pollution to the level oI lower order sectoring.
Finally, Fig 5c shows how pilot pollution can eIIectively be
reduced by downtilting (both electrical and mechanical).
However, the hearability oI CPICH #4 remains although
antennas are downtilted. Hence, Iurther reduction oI amount oI
pilot polluted areas requires some more advanced techniques.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the amount oI pilot polluted areas has studied
in WCDMA cellular network under diIIerent sectoring
scenarios, antenna horizontal beamwidths, directions, and
downtilt schemes. The results indicate that pilot polluted areas
can be reduced by selecting a proper base station antenna
conIiguration. Antenna horizontal beamwidth and antenna
direction has also a clear impact oI the pilot pollution.
Moreover, antenna downtilt aIIects the pilot polluted areas.
However, pilot pollution cannot be totally removed, which
leaves room Ior some innovative solutions in mitigating the
pilot pollution. Future studies will concentrate on evaluating
the impact oI repeaters on pilot pollution.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors would like to thank European Communications
Engineering (ECE) Ltd Ior helpIul comments concerning
simulation parameters and environment, Nokia Networks Ior
providing NetAct Planner tool Ior simulations, FM Kartta Ior
providing the digital map, and the National Technology
Agency oI Finland Ior Iunding the work.
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(a) (b) (c)
Figure 5. CDFs oI simulated scenarios. The levels oI (a) CPICH #1 and (b) CPICH #4 Ior all scenarios. Downtilt results are presented in (c).