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DataThroughputUMTSCQIvsThroughput

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InlivenetworkforHSDPA,NetworksendsdatawithdifferenttransportblocksizedependingonCQIvaluereported
byUE.Forthismechanismtoworkproperly,thereshouldbeacertainlevelofagreementbetweenUEandthe
networkabout"whichCQIvaluemeanswhichtransportblocksize".Theseagreementisdefinedinthefollowing
tablesofTS25.214.
Table7A:CQImappingtableA.
Table7B:CQImappingtableB.
Table7C:CQImappingtableC.
Table7D:CQImappingtableD.
Table7E:CQImappingtableE.
Table7F:CQImappingtableF.
Table7G:CQImappingtableG

ThennextquestioniswhichtabledoIhavetouseforwhichcase?Theanswerisinthefollowingtablefrom24.214.
Asyousee,weusedifferenttabledependingonUECategory,ModulationScheme,MIMO.Forexample,ifaUEis
Category14deviceanduses64QAManddoesnotuseMIMO,ituseTableGforCQITransportBlockSizeMappingas
shownbelow.

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IputTable7Gasanexample.Asyouseeinthetable,therangeofCQIvalueis0~30.30meansthebestchannel
qualityandlowernumberindicatespoorerchannelquality.AndNetworkhastosendthedatawiththeproper
transportblocksizeaccordingtotheCQIvalues.
Forexample,
i)IfUEreportCQIvalue15,itisexpectedforNetworktosenddatawithtransportblocksizeof3328bits/TTI
whichisequivalenttoaround1.6Mbps.
ii)IfUEreportCQIvalue30,itisexpectedforNetworktosenddatawithtransportblocksizeof38576bits/TTI
whichisequivalenttoaround19Mbps.

OnethingyouwouldnoticethatthetransportblocksizeforthehighestCQIvalueisnotamounttotheidealMAX
throughputdefinedin25.306Table5.1a.Itimpliesthatyouwouldn'tgettheidealMaxthroughputinanycasewith
livenetworkconditionwhichmayoperateaccordingtotheCQItabledefinedin3GPP.(Itwouldnotbeanyproblemin
realcommunicationenvironmentsinceyourdevicewouldnotreportCQI30inmostcase).

However,manyUEmanufacturer/developerwantstoseeiftheirdevicecanreallyreachtheidealmaxthroughput.In
thatcase,wenormallyuseaspecialnetworksimulatorwhichallowsustosetthelargesttransportblocksizefor
eachUEcategory.ItwouldbeevenbetterifthenetworksimulatorallowsustodefineCQItransportblockmapping
tablearbitrarily.FortunatelyIhaveaccesstothiskindoftheequipmentandIdidanexperimentasshownbelow
usingthenetworksimulatorandaHSDPACategory10UE.

FirstIdefinedaCQItransportblocksizetableverysimilartoTable7D,butIchangedthetranportblocksizefor
highendCQI(30,29,28,27)toallocatelargertranportblockthantheonesspecifiedinTable7Dtopushtheideal
MAXthroughput.
IprogrammedNetworkSimulatorsothatIdecreasethedownlinkpowerbyacertainsteps.Asdownlinkpower(Cell
Power)getsdown,UEwouldreportlowerCQIandNetworkSimulatorwouldtransmitlowertransportblocksize.
Theresultisasfollows.
Intheupperplot,youseethreetracesGreen,Red,Blue.GreentracemeanstheeverageCQIvaluewithin
500msthatUEreported.RedtraceindicatesthetheamountofdatainKbpsthatthenetworkemulatortransmittedto
UEwithinasecond.BluetraceindicatestheamountofdatainKbpsthatUEsuccessfullydecoded.IftheRedtrace
andBluetracesoverlaps,itimpliesthatUEsuccessfullydecodedallthedatatransmittedbythenetwork.IftheBlue
traceislowerthantheRedTrace,UEfailedtodecodesomeofthedatatransmittedbythenetwork.Theblackline
showninsectionA,B,CisthedataratedefinedinTable7D,butIintentionallyallocatedthehigherdataratefor
sectionA,B,CtopushthedatarateclosertotheidealMaxthroughput.
Inthelowerplot,youseethreetracesGreen,Red,Blue.GreentracemeanstheeverageCQIvaluewithin500msthat
UEreported.RedtraceindicatestheamountofACKswithin500msandBluetraceindicatestheamountofNACKs
within500ms.
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within500ms.

Thereareacoupleofthingsyoumaynotice(Thenotesheremaybedifferentfromwhatyouobservedfromyour
deviceandtestsetting)
i)SectionAistheonlyregioninwhichUEshows100%datadecodingwithoutanyfailure.Itmeansthatyouhaveto
makeitsurethatyourtestequipmentconfiguration,cableconnectionbetweenthetestequipmentandUEis
configuredproperlysothatthechannelqualitybelongstothisarea.(Iwouldsay"CQIshouldbemuchhigherthan
30".Iknow30isthemaxCQIvalue.WhatImeanisthatthechannelqualityshouldbemuchbetterthanthequality
inwhichUEbarelyreportsCQI30).
ii)InSectionB,youseehugedropsintermsofthroughputandhugeincreaseintermsofnumberofNACKs.Main
reasonwouldbethatIallocatedtoolargetransportblocksizeforCQI29,28.TherewouldalsobesomeUEissues
withthisrange.
SectionC,D,Eshowsakindofnormaltrends,butideallyweshouldexpectexactoverlappingofradtraceandblue
trace,butrealitynevergoeslikeideal:)

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