PDCCH LINK ADAPTATION tuning

Summary
• In the attempt to improve the performance (throughput) some
parameters controlling the use of the PDCCH resources were tuned.
• The results is indicating that significant benefits are possible
– Highest gains can be expected in multi user scenarios
– Exact gain will depend on traffic pattern and radio environment
• The parameter changes and tests was done lab in a network without
commercial traffic.
• The following parameters were tuned:
– pdcchCfiMode
– pdcchLaGinrMargin (system constant)
– nrOfTransmissionsSib1
• Some of the parameters might not be suitable for a live network
deployment
Lab Setup & Execution
Single cell – L12B ICP4 software – 5MHz Bw @2.1GHz

• Spirent VR5 Channel Emulator (mainly EPA5 channel used)

• Full buffer UDP or FTP traffic
• Programmed Attenuation sweep
– from ~100dB path loss  UE release (~150dB) (1dB steps, 30sec/step)
• UE’s and Logging Tools
– Qualcomm 8960 (FFA) & Quanta (Qualcomm chip)
• All data shown from UE side (not network side data included)
Definitions & Data Sources

• Path Loss
– As reported by Qualcomm UE (based on RS power)
• SINR
– As reported by Qualcomm UE (probably based on C-RS?)
• UL & DL Scheduling Ratio
– Ratio of subframes when the UE DRB data is scheduled to total
subframes (ms) in averaging window
• BLER
– Ratio of successful Redundancy Version 0 (RV0) transmissions to all RV
0 transmissions
Characteristics – Default parameters
5MHz Bw – EPA5 – Single UE - UDP DL full buffer traffic

UDP Downlink – Expected peak TP Uplink Limited  lowest MCS not reached
(35M) not reached
Only RLC status and polling
sent in uplink

No. of PRB reduced in good RF env.

Sched. ratio decreased

with decreasing RF env.
Scheduling Ratio & PRBs
Detailed View

In good RF 25, 22, 19 and 5 PRBs are used

Sched. ratio reduced in poor RF
In poor RF only 25 PRBs are used
especially for subframe 0 & 5

The PRB reduction in good RF is mainly

in subframe 0 and 5

System Information (SI) is scheduled in subframe 0 and 5 with various repetition

 PDCCH Control Chanel elements
Control Channel Element
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Capacity Consumption

GOOD Radio Env.

Low Robustness
1 CCE – 8 spaces
Low PDCCH



2 CCE – 4 spaces
Capacity Consumption



POOR Radio Env.

High Robustness
4 CCE – 2 spaces
High PDCCH



8 CCE – 1 space

Fewer CCE used for each PDCCH allow for more users scheduled in parallel
 PDCCH Link Adaptation
• One PDCCH can be mapped to 1, 2, 4 or 8 CCEs
• Selection of number of CCEs is done based on the same GINR estimate used for
PDSCH link adaptation
• A margin (back-off) is added to PDSCH GINR to compensate for different
interference scenarios between the two channels
• Degraded RF conditions 
– Higher CCE Aggregation level
– Lower MCS (for the same number of PRB’s)
• If the required number of CCE’s are not available in the control region (1) the UE can
not be scheduled on the PDSCH (2) in that subframe

DL scheduler
& Link Adaptation

1CCE 2CCE 4CCE 8CCE

eNodeB
UE
 PDCCH Candidates for 5MHz
Example

• Exact candidate positions depend on x-RNTI and subframe number

• Number of candidates increasing with number of PDCCH OFDM symbols (CFI)
• Number of candidates is dependent on number of PHICH groups configured (def. 3)
• Both Uplink and Downlink Scheduling need the PDCCH resources
• Uplink scheduling has priority over downlink scheduling
• Common is always using 8 CCE to ensure full cell coverage (Ericsson)

CFI = 1 CCE 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1U U U
No Common scheduling possible 2U
No Poor/Medium coverage UE Scheduling possible 4
8

CFI = 2 CCE 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 U U U U U U
One 8 CCE UE’s or common can be scheduled in the 2 U U U U U U
same Subframe 4 CU CU C
8 CU

CFI = 3 CCE 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
1 U U U U U U
Two 8 CCE UE’s (or common + one 8 CCE UE) 2U U U U U U
can be scheduled in the same subframe 4 C C CU CU
8 CU CU

U UE specific PDCCH candidates

C Common PDCCH candidates
CCE Aggregation Level vs. SINR and
MCS

CCE Use increasing at low SINR PDSCH Link Adaptation (MCS) follow SINR
PDCCH LA follow PDSCH LA
Problem Summary
Reduced Sched. ratio due to
uplink scheduling (higher priority)

Reduced Sched. ratio due to

SI scheduling (higher priority)

• In good radio environment (1 & 2 CCE required)

– DRB (user) data can be scheduled on remaining PRB:s when SI is scheduled since there is enough space
in the PDCCH
– Possible to fit both uplink and downlink scheduling in the PDCCH
• In poor radio environment (8 CCE required)
– No DRB (user) data can be scheduled when the SI is schedule due to lack of PDCCH resources (only one
8 CCE candidate)
– No downlink data can be scheduled when there is uplink data to schedule
– Reduced downlink scheduling ratio
Solution Summary
Optimized Parameter Setting

• Increase max number of PDCCH symbols to 3

– pdcchCfiMode: 0  5
– 0: (Static by bandwidth – 2 for 5Mhz), 5: (Adaptive CFI, max 3)
• Reduce SIB Scheduling
– Sib 1 is scheduled every 80ms and repeated 4 times, i.e. every 20ms
(default)
– nrOfTransmissionsSib1: 4 1 (i.e. 1 repetition = every 80ms)
• Reduce PDCCH Link Adaptation Margin (relative PDSCH LA)
– Delaying the CCE increase to a lower SINR will
make the PDCCH less robust
– Analysis needed to find suitable tradeoff
 Tuning of PDCCH LA Margin
• Low Margin  UE will fail to decode the PDCCH
– UE will consider itself not scheduled  Reduced Scheduling Ratio as seen from the UE side
• High Margin  UE will use unnecessarily many CCE’s
– Increasing the probability of lack of PDCCH resources  Reduced Scheduling Ratio
– In case of a single UE with DL UDP traffic this will only happen when SI is scheduled*
• Strategy:
– Reduce margin until a distinct decrease in Scheduling Ratio is seen*
– Initially test in large steps, reduce later
• Margin steps: 10dB, 6dB, 3dB, 0dB -3dB & -5dB
 DL Scheduling Ratio vs. MCS
10- -5dB Margins - EVA70 Evaluation

Reference: 10dB 6dB – no degradation

(default)

0dB – no obvious
3dB – no degradation
degradation

-3dB –obvious -5dB –severe

degradation degradation
 analysis
EVA70 Evaluation

• Based on the EPA70 channel tests it was found that the

Scheduling ratio was reduced with a PDCCH LA margin of
between 3dB and -3dB
• A focused test in the range of 4dB to -3dB margin was made
– Step size: 0.5dB
• Channel model was changed to EPA5
• Results are shown as
– Downlink Scheduling Ratio vs. MCS
– Distribution of PDCCH Aggregation level vs. MCS
DL Scheduling Ratio & CCEs vs. MCS
4- 3dB Margins – EPA5

Reference 4dB Margin

3.5dB Margin
No degradation

3dB Margin
No degradation
DL Scheduling Ratio & CCEs vs. MCS
3- 2dB Margins – EPA5

3dB Margin
No degradation

PDCCH decoding failures

2.5dB Margin

PDCCH decoding failures

2dB Margin
DL Scheduling Ratio & CCEs vs. MCS
1.5- 0dB Margins – EPA5

PDCCH decoding failures

1.5dB Margin

PDCCH decoding failures

1dB Margin

PDCCH decoding failures

1dB Margin
 LA Margin Selection

• Based on the results the PDCCH LA margin was selected as 3dB

– Slightly lower margin might be possible without major degradation
• Considering the limited test scenarios and channel models evaluated the
chosen setting was considered reasonably safe for the non commercial
network

3dB Margin
No degradation relative to
the reference case
 Evaluation of performance improvement
multi ue scenario

• 2 UE’s in the same radio environment (EPA5 channel)

– UE1: Full buffer TCP Downlink Traffic
– UE2: Full buffer TCP Uplink Traffic
– In this scenario the UE’s are competing on the PDCCH space rather than PDSCH
• TCP Traffic is generating additional traffic in the reverse direction
– TCP ACK’s
• Programmed Attenuation Sweep of both UE’s together (splitter)
– From ~100dB path loss  UE release (~150dB) (1dB steps, 30sec/step)
• 3 Cases Evaluated:
– Default Parameter Set
Da
– Flexible CFI with a max of 3 symbols ta
(PU
SCH
– Fully Optimized Parameters Da
ta
(PD
)
SCH
• PDCCH LA margin – 3dB )

UE2

eNodeB

UE1
 UE1: TCP Downlink UE
Downlink & uplink Throughput

Increased UL Thp. Is an effect of

Improved Thp. (~ 2MBps) from
increased rate of TCP ACK’s
Improved scheduling ratio

Increased sched. Ratio at low

SINR due to uplink PRB reduction
 UE1: TCP Downlink UE
Downlink Scheduling ratio per subframe number
Default Parameters Flexible CFI (max 3)

Optimized Parameters
 UE2: TCP Uplink UE
Downlink & uplink Throughput

Increased DL Thp. Is an effect of Improved Thp. (~ 1MBps) from

increased rate of TCP ACK’s Improved scheduling ratio

Main improvement from Flexible CFI

Field performance
 Filed performance
optimized parameter setting

• The optimized parameter setting was tested in the field

– ~1 Hour drive route in suburban-rural area
• Both unloaded and 100% OCNG downlink load was tested
• Single UE FTP download
– Limited file size causing idle periods during drive test
• EPA5 Lab result curve included as reference
 Field: Throughput performance
Suburban-rural area

The radio environment in field appears a bit less challenging for the UE than
EPA5 in the Lab
 Field: Scheduling ratio
Suburban-rural area

In general lower scheduling ratio during field test relative to lab

Handovers, quick variations in radio environment in connection to the TCP protocol
etc. could account for this lowered scheduling ratio
Samples with very low scheduling ratio is due to idle times between filed
downloads
THNAK YOU