Comparing RSRP, CQI, and SINR measurements
with Predictions for Coordinated and Uncoordinated
LTE small cell Networks
Jay Weitzen
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Lowell, Ma, USA 01854
Airvana, Chelmsford Ma 01824
Abstract- This paper presents results from the
measurements comparing the coverage and coverage quality of a
network of coordinated LTE small cell radio points compared to
a cluster of independent standalone LTE small cells.
measurements are compared to theoretical predictions and show
that the coordinated small cell provides significant improvement
in the overall quality of LTE coverage as measured by RSRP,
SINR, CQI and MCS. The indoor measurements described in
this paper were made with a new autonomous robotic system
designed for making indoor wireless coverage measurements.
Keywords-LTE; wireless networks; small cells
I. INTRODUCTION
Airvana "OneCell" is a hybrid technology incorporating
elements of classic small cells and Distributed Antenna
Systems. It consists of a cluster of LTE small cell radio points
that are connected via Ethernet switches and cat-5 Ethernet
cable to a coordinating central control unit so that they
function as if they were a single distributed LTE eNodeB.
The cluster of radio points provides uniformity of indoor
coverage and in-cell spatial diversity and multiplexing instead
of inter-cell handoff regions and interference associated with
standalone small cells. The distributed single cell combined
with the ability to re-use subcarriers on spatially separated
radio points creates macro-level spatial reuse, increasing the
capacity of the single eNodeB cell over a conventional
discrete cell. The advantages of coordinated small cells have
been discussed theoretically in the literature [1], but to date
there are no measurements to verify some of the key elements
of the technology. The experiments described in this paper
demonstrate the uniformity of high quality coverage due to the
fact that signals combine rather than interfere in the regions
between radio points as they would with discrete small cells.
This work was sponsored by Airvana, Chelmsford Ma
978-1-4799-7473-3115/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
From IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Communications, Antennas and Electronic Systems
(COMCAS 2015), 2 - 4 November 2015, Tel Aviv, Israel
Rachel Wakim, Erin Webster
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Lowell, Ma, USA 01854
first
II. PREDICTIONS OF COVERAGE Q UALITY FOR COORDINATED
The AND UNCOORDINATED LTE SMALL CELLS
To help investigate and understand the properties of
coordinated small cells, an indoor test network was set up
consisting of up to 3 radio points as shown in Figure 1. The
location of the radio points was chosen to create conditions of
relatively close-spaced radio points to investigate interference
and coverage overlap and other radio points that are RF
isolated to allow for carrier reuse experiments. The single
story office building test bed consists of a mix of standard
cubicles plus walled offices and laboratories in a multiple­
wing building. Each radio point (RP) uses 2x2 cross
polarization MIMO with the transmitter powers set to 10 dBm
per antenna to prevent leakage and interference outside of the
building (each transmitter is capable of 23 dBm).
The LTE metrics of interest in this paper are overall
received signal strength metrics, primarily RSRP (Reference
Signal Received Power), and signal quality metrics including
overall SINR (signal to noise plus interference ratio both
reference signal and broadband), CQI (Channel Quality
Index), MCS (modulation and coding scheme), and physical
layer throughput (PDSCH throughput). RSRP is LTE signal
strength metric in dBm that measures the average received
power over the resource elements that carry cell-specific
reference signals. RSRP measurements are applicable in both
idle and connected modes and measurements are independent
of loading and interference while received signal strength
(RSSI) can vary with load, CQI is a number between 0 and 15
which is related to the Signal to noise plus interference ratio
and influences the modulation and coding used (Modulation
and Coding Scheme, MCS, is a number between 0 and 30
used and in essence determines the effective throughput). In
this paper we focus on RSRP, reference signal SINR, CQI,
MCS and PDSCH throughput because they are indicative of
user experience and relatively easy to measure using industry
standard equipment.
In the series of experiments described in this paper, the
individual LTE radio points were programmed to transmit in
LTE band 25 (PCS G block, 1995 MHz) using standard 5
MHz LTE signals and were connected to the controller via
standard copper cat-5 Ethernet. Timing synchronization within
the cluster of radio points is provided via IEEE-1588 from a
centralized GPS source. The centralized controller schedules
packets for each radio point (RP) and simulcasts them over the
downlink stream. The controller also provides uplink
combining from mUltiple radio points. A data server provides
continuous UDP data streaming to keep the handset in
connected mode and scheduling buffers full. In the
experiments described we considered only one UE handset
device that is using the entire bandwidth of the system. This
series of experiments were designed to help us understand the
quality and uniformity of coverage provided by coordinated
smallcells. We first modeled and predicted coverage and
coverage quality using the AWE Radio Propagation Tool [2]
operating as a unified coordinated small cell and b) three RP
operating as independent small cells. Compared to the
uncoordinated mode, it is observed that in the region between
the two radio points, the RSRP is approximately 3 dB higher
for the radio points operating as a unified coordinated small
cell. It is in this region that handoff would be occurring when
operating as standalone units. The primary difference between
deploying a cluster of conventional standalone LTE small
cells in which each small cell functions as an independent
eNodeB with a different physical cell identity (PCI), and
coordinated small cells forming one large virtual cell with a
single PCI, is that there are no interior cell boundaries or inter­
cell handoff regions. Figure 3 shows predicted signal quality
as measured by SINR for uncoordinated and coordinated small
cells assuming high loading on the system. The background
noise plus interference level is measured at approximately -87
dBm with a bit more interference observed near the windows,
and slightly less interference in the building interior.
1 r-
-
.-

and then made a series of measurements to compare to

predictions. We considered the following scenarios and
experiments:

1) Predictions and comparison with measurements of

basic coverage (RSRP) and signal quality (SINR and
CQI) for three individual radio points (RP1, RP2,
RP3), one at a time. These measurements were used
to calibrate the materials data base in the AWE
prediction tool, to verify that the individual radio
points were functioning correctly, and that the key
metrics could be accurately predicted.
2) Predictions and measurements of basic coverage
(RSRP) and signal quality (SINR, MCS and CQI) for Figure 1 Layout of 3 radio points (RPI through RP3) in single story
3 radio points operating in uncoordinated mode as 2 mixed use office building.
individual standalone individual eNodeB (3 RP, 2
Controllers, two different PCI). The two different
PCI (index1=200 and index2=206) were set so that O neC,_ Coordinated Sma Standalone Small C�II
they were the same modulo 6 to ensure that the SINR
measured on the reference channels would be
0eII Cluster
independent of system loading. In this configuration
Reference signals are sent on the same resource
elements of all units independent of which controller
they are homed to.
3) Predictions and measurements of basic coverage
(RSRP) and signal quality (SINR, MCS and CQI) for
3 radio points operating in coordinated mode with a
single controller and single PCI simulcasting on the
downlink stream.

Coverage and signal quality calculations were performed

using the AWE radio propagation tool [2] that was configured
using the "dominant path" indoor propagation model [3] with
a general propagation exponent of 2.1. One half square meter Figure 2. Predicted RSRP in dBm calculated for 3 in coordinated mode,
pixels and a UE height of 0.5 meter for the receiver were used. uncoordinated modes (it is approximately the same)
Figure 2 plots the predicted RSRP in dBm for a) three RP
 l •
OneCell Coordinated Standalone Small Cell
Small Cell Cluster
Figure 3 Predicted SINR for (a) coordinated and (b) uncoordinated small
cells. Note the difference in SINR in the regions between the smallcells.
Comparing Figures 3a and 3b we observe that the
predicted SINR for the coordinated small cell is significantly
greater because signals combine instead of interfere as they do
with stand alone small cells. Signal quality determines the
LTE physical layer data rate and as shown in Figure 3b, in the
handoff region between radio points, the SINR of the
standalone small cell cluster is on the order of 0 dB, while in
the coordinated small cell shown in Figure 3a, it is almost
uniformly greater than 15 dB.
III. INDOOR WIRELESS COVERAGE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
BASED ON AN AUTONOMOUS ROBOT
Numerous repetitive measurements in the in-building test
bed are required as the product is developed. The conventional
method for making indoor coverage measurements [4, 5] is to
create a series of waypoints on a building map. As a tester
walks a linear track from waypoint to waypoint, the tester
enters the waypoints into the logging system. The
measurements are then positioned along the line connecting
the waypoints using linear interpolation. This measurement
process is time consuming, labor intensive, and it is hard to
reproduce conditions from test to test. It is also hard to create
more complicated or involved coverage mapping routes
because interpolation between waypoints is required. To
create a system that provides a significant improvement in
terms of both accuracy and repeatability over manual
measurement techniques, we designed an autonomous robotic
coverage mapping system with the following capabilities.
Explore an unknown area.
• Accurately localize itself relative to an origin, creating a
map that can be compared to predictions.
• Collect wireless measurement data in real-time while the
system is navigating.
• Produce high-resolution maps of coverage and
evaluations of signal quality metrics.
The system used collect the data described in this paper is
designed to simultaneously eliminate many of the
shortcomings of labor-intensive manual methods while
improving the overall accuracy of the indoor measurement
process. The architecture of the autonomous measurement
system is shown in Figure 4. The robotic system is designed
around a commercially available two-wheeled, battery­
operated, circular robot platform. In addition to wheeled
odometry, the robot contains a built-in gyroscope to assist
with localization and an external laser for range finding and
mapping. Mounted on the robot are a series of pillars holding
up platforms for placing a standard wireless measurement
system that is integrated with the "Gmapping" localization
software [6] in the robot platform.
Figure 4. Architecture of the Robotic Coverage mapping system.
The wireless measurement sub-system consists of a
standard commercial LTE mobile phone device (UE) that has
been laboratory calibrated and is connected via USB to a
notebook computer running purpose-built data logging
software. The temporal resolution of the data logging is up to
2 ms and the resolution of the robotic localization is 1 second
or approximately 1 to 1.5 feet. Post-processing of the
measured data uses the process described in Weitzen and
Grosch [5]. The post processing software allows data to be
imported into the AWE tool [2] for comparison with
predictions or displayed on maps produced by the robotic
mapping functionality. The system uses a local [x,y]
coordinate system that can then be geocoded for input into
other types of tools such as IBwave.
 of operation, the distribution of measured SINR values over
the covered area was normally distributed with mean 24.3 dB
and standard deviation of 4.87 dB. For the uncoordinated
small cell mode, the average SINR was 15.3 dB with a
standard deviation of7.5 dB.

Finally, Figure 9 shows a series of static application layer

measurements in which the system stopped for 2 minutes to do
simultaneous uploads and downloads. It shows the uniformity
of data rates, even in the region between radio points that in a
conventional deployment would have high interference and
low data rates.

-.,
(c5m)
-6J.00
-65.00
-70,00
-75.00
�.oo
-85.00
-90,00
Figure 5. Robotic Autonomous Coverage Measurement Platform
- -95.00
- - 100 00
·105,00
-110.00
.

IV. MEASUREMENTS OF COVERAGE QUALITY FOR -115.00

COORDINATED AND UNCOORDINATED SMALL CELLS -120,00
·125,00
-130,00
Using the autonomous wireless coverage tool, data sets
were collected for each of the scenarios described in Section I
and compared to the predictions described in Section II. In
each set of measurements, the robot traversed the same area of
the building. Each data measurement set consisted of about Figure 6 a and b. Measured RSRP for 2 RP operating in coordinated and
150,000 individual measurement points (RSSI, RSRP, SINR uncoordinated modes.

MCS, PDSCH throughput, and CQI) along with other data.

All measured points that reside within the same 0.5 square
meter prediction bin are averaged to form a bin average that is lJ.oo

plotted. Figures 6a and 6b show RSRP measured over the

coverage area of the two radio points for uncoordinated and
;SOO (�
coordinated small cell modes. The average error between the
( "tJ11J
predictions and measurements was observed to be 1511J
approximately +2.3 dB (measurements higher than
predictions), with the error log normally distributed.
- 10.00

In coordinated small cell mode, there was a single 5,00

controller for the cluster of radio points. All downlink packets
000
were simulcasted. In uncoordinated mode, multiple
controllers allowed each radio point to function as a -500
standalone small cell with an independent Primary Cell Index
-1011J
(PCI). Figures 7a and 7b plot the measured SINR for the
uncoordinated and coordinated small cells respectively. The Figure 7 a and b. Measured received SINR for coordinated and
figure shows that the coordinated small cell has a consistently uncoordinated small cells
high signal quality since there are no cell boundaries in
between the two radio points. Figure 8 plots and compares the
cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the measured SINR
over the route traversed for both modes of operation: three
radio points operating as a single coordinated small cell, and
three radio points as individual small cells. The measurements
show a very high probability of good signal quality for the
coordinated mode and significantly poorer coverage quality
for uncoordinated mode. For the coordinated small cell mode
 V. CONCLUSIONS
03 The measurements presented represent the first
0.1 measurements of a new type of indoor coverage solution
01 consisting of a coordinated cluster of smallcell radio points that
0.& eliminate the conventional intercell boarder. The experiments
05
verify experimentally that the coordinated smallcell eliminates
the cell edge interference effects seen with a cluster of
OJ
conventional standalone small cells and provides high quality,
O�
uniform coverage. With -87 dBm average background
02
interference and 10 dBm transmitters, an average SINR of over
01 16 dB was observed throughout the measurement area,
especially in the region between the radio points that would
. 1\ ·10 . , , 10 1\ 10
�H'Id81 have close to 0 dB SINR. Highly uniform coverage quality as
Figure 8. Cumulative Probability Distribution of measured SINR for 3 measured by SINR in the inter radio point region was observed
RP over the coverage area for coordinated and uncoordinated modes. with the coordinated small cell, whereas significant inter-cell
interference was observed when radio points operated in
standalone mode.

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