SC PLANNING GUIDELINES FOR RFI PROJECT

SC PLANNING GUIDELINES FOR

RFI PROJECT

Author:

Dewan Nabi

Owner:

RAE

Status:

Draft

Version:

1.0

Date:

23.01.2012

Document ID:

xxxx

Authors and Approvals

Name

Role

Dewan Nabi

RNE

Optus 2012

Contribution
(Section)
RNP & RNO
1/9

Date of issue
23.01.2012
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SC PLANNING GUIDELINES FOR RFI PROJECT

Approval Record
Name
Sal Stillone

Role
Manager RAE SA/WA

Signature

Approval Date
23.01.2012

Change Record
Version
1.0

Reason for Change

New Document

Section (s)
ALL

Author
Dewan Nabi

Date
23.01.2012

Related Documents
Document Title

File Path\Name

SC Checker

https://wiki.optusnet.com.au/foswiki/Main/RaeTools

Glossary of Terms

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Term/Acronym

Description/Definition

AE

Access Engineering

Table of Contents
Scope..................................................................................................................... 5
References............................................................................................................. 5
Introduction........................................................................................................... 5
General Guidelines................................................................................................ 5
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Range of Usable SC............................................................................................... 6

Finding SC for New sites........................................................................................ 6
SC CONFLICT......................................................................................................... 7
NETWORK EXPANSION........................................................................................... 9
CARRIER UPGRADE............................................................................................. 9

Scope
The scope of this document is to provide basic guidelines for Primary Scrambling Code (PSC)
planning in RFI Project.

References
NA

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Introduction
Scrambling code planning is usually associated with assigning a downlink primary scrambling code to
each cell. New in-fill site integration needs SC to be assigned to new cells without SC conflicts with
existing In-service cells.

General Guidelines
1. The fundamental requirement for downlink scrambling code planning is that the isolation
between cells which are assigned the same scrambling code should be sufficient to ensure that
UE never simultaneously receive the same scrambling code from more than one cell.
2. Scrambling code planning should be completed in combination with neighbour list planning
to ensure that neighbour lists (single cell NL, combined NL in soft handover) never include
duplicate scrambling codes.
3. Scrambling code planning can also have an impact upon the three step cell synchronisation
procedure. It is possible to adopt a scrambling code planning strategy which places the
emphasis upon either step 2 (identifying the scrambling code group) or step 3 (identifying the
scrambling code). The impact is dependent upon UE implementation.
4. Scrambling code planning should also account for future network expansion which could be
the inclusion of additional Node B or increased sectorisation of existing Node B.
5. If a radio network includes Node B which are configured with two or three RF carriers the
same scrambling code plan can be assigned to each carrier.
6. Key 3GPP specifications: TS 25.213.

Range of Usable SC
3GPP TS 25.213 specifies 512 downlink primary scrambling codes. Optus reserves 32 Scrambling
Codes for future and Femto use. These codes are presented in Table 1 below.
48
1
48
2
48
Optus 2012

48
4
48
5
48

48
7
48
8
48

49
0
49
1
49

49
3
49
4
49

49
6
49
7
49
5/9

49
9
50
0
50

50
2
50
3
50

50
5
50
6
50

50
8
50
9
51

51
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9
2
5
8
1
4
7
Table 1: Optus Reserved SC table

Reserved for FEMTO Use Only.

Reserved for Future Use.

So a total of 480 SC (SC 1 to SC 480) are available for new Macro and IBC sites SC Planning.

Finding SC for New sites

In this document sequential SC planning manual method is discussed. Please note, Optus uses Group
based SC planning in some states. Group based SC planning is out of scope of this document. A XL
macro called SC Checker is used to find usable scrambling codes. It is located at
https://wiki.optusnet.com.au/foswiki/Main/RaeTools page. Asset is used to verify the new SC is
without conflict with neighbouring sites. The interface of SC Checker is shown in Fig 1.

New site Lat, Lon

Editable Exclusion zone radius in Km

Press this button to find the unused SC within X km.

Refresh source data once a day before using this tool.

Figure 1: SC Checker interface.

Use the SC Checker to find a set of unused SC within a X km radius of the new site. SC Checker
has four worksheets. Use only the Tool Controls and Output worksheet to find SC. Under Site
Latitude and Site Longitude field, enter the new sites Lat, Lon information. Under Radial SC
Distance (km) field, enter the distance in km you would like to see free SC available for assignment.
Then press the Find Scrambling Codes button. It returns free SC in a table format in the same
worksheet. Please note selecting exclusion radius too low may end up with SC conflict. This tool does
not check for any SC Conflicts.
Choose a subset of SC from the listed unused SC. then verify in Asset to see how far away the SC is
reused (in both IN_SERVICE and PREFFERED sites). If it is at least beyond 2 nd / 3rd tier sites (the
farther the better), then assign the SC in new site.
Please note, The SC Checker XL macro uses 3g_config.xls file as its only source of information for
site locations and SC used. This file is updated once every day in the server. So SC Checker needs to
be updated with refreshed latest data once a day. Press Refresh SC and LatLong Data button to
update the tool with most recent site configuration data.

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Sometimes the SC is pre-assigned in some preferred sites in Asset. A visual check is done in asset to
see if the new SC is used in IN_SERVICE sites or in proposed preferred sites. In the following
picture, the yellow icons are proffered sites, while green icons are in service sites. It is evident that SC
190 is used only at our new site and not reused in any neighbouring site. This is how the visual check
can be done by SC filtering.

SC CONFLICT
Sometimes SC Conflict Alarm at NSN RNC is triggered due to several reasons. One of the reasons is
Same SC in Combined NL:
Alarm 3485 SCRAMBLING CODE CONFLICT
Meaning
The same primary CPICH scrambling code is used by multiple WCDMA cells located close to each
other. A similar alarm was set for each of these cells. The alarm is set by the Handover Control
process when the same primary CPICH scrambling code is used by at least two of the neighbour cells
available for a UE, and a radio link is going to be added to such a cell. Handover Control is unable
to reliably distinguish between the conflicting cells, which may decrease the Soft Handover success
rate under the RNC.

It is important to understand that SC conflicts are not desirable. The following section is of theoretical
interest. It explains some scenarios how SC conflicts may arise.
Scrambling code planning should be completed in combination with neighbour list planning
to ensure that neighbour lists never include duplicate scrambling codes. This is important because
RRC signalling procedures can use the scrambling code as a way to reference each neighbour. The
RNC will face an ambiguity if the UE reports measurements from a neighbour which has a duplicate
scrambling code within the neighbour list, i.e. the RNC will be unable to deduce from which
neighbour the measurements were recorded. Figure 2 illustrates the scenario where multiple
neighbours have been allocated the same scrambling code.
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Figure 2: Requirement to avoid neighbour lists which include duplicate scrambling codes
The RNC implementation combines neighbour lists when UE are in soft handover. Neighbour list
combining helps to reduce the potential for missing neighbours and so helps to improve network
performance. Figure 3 illustrates a UE which is in soft handover with cells A and B. Due to neighbour
list combining the UE will be provided with a neighbour list generated from the combination of the
neighbour lists belonging to cells A and B. If both cells have neighbours with the same scrambling
code, the RNC will be unable to deduce from which cell UE measurements have been recorded. A
scrambling code conflict alarm will be logged at RNC. This scenario requires that when cells A and B
are neighboured there should not be any duplicate scrambling codes within the neighbour lists
belonging to cells A and B.

Figure 3: Neighbour list combining and potential duplicate scrambling codes (example 1)

In Second example (Fig 4), Cell A is neighboured with cells B and C while cells B and C are
not necessarily neighboured with one another. The UE could trigger an active set update which results
in the active set including cells B and C. The neighbour lists belonging to cells B and C would then be
combined and a duplicate scrambling code introduced. In general, neighbour list auditing should be
completed after scrambling code planning to exclude the possibility of neighbour lists including
duplicate scrambling codes.

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Figure 4: Neighbour list combining and potential duplicate scrambling codes (example 2)

NETWORK EXPANSION
Future network expansion could mean increased sectorisation of existing Node B. Optus do not have
an existing plan to use reserved SC for new sector addition (SC for 4 th sector in a 3 sector existing
site).

CARRIER UPGRADE
Scrambling code planning can be completed independently for different RF carriers. If a Node B is
configured with two or three RF carriers the same scrambling code plan can be assigned to each
carrier. This approach helps to reduce the quantity of work associated with scrambling code planning
and reduces system complexity. Optus follows this strategy. Same SC is used for carrier upgrades and
overbuild cells as underlay cells.

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