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Confidential

Ecio and EbNo

Prepared by : Amir Miraj Bin Johari

 Proprietary Confidential

Ecio and EbNo

If someone asks you "Which Signal Level for good call quality: -80 dbm or -90 dBm?"
Beware, if you respond quickly, you might end up missing. This is because the correct answer is ...
it depends! The Signal Strength is a very important and essential measure for any technology
(GSM, CDMA, UMTS, LTE, etc.). However, it is not the only one: let's talk a little today about
another magnitude, equally important: the Signal Noise Ratio
Although this ratio is of fundamental importance to any cellular system, is not well understood by
many professionals. On the opposite side, professionals with a good understanding of this ratio are
able for example, to correctly assess the RF links, and also to perform more extensive
optimizations, obtaining the best possible performance of the system

Prepared by : Amir Miraj Bin Johari

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Ecio and EbNo

To begin, we define the basic concepts of Eb and No. They are basic for any digital
communication system, and generally we talk about it when we deal with Bit Error Rate and also
Modulation techniques.
Simply put:
Eb: Bit Energy.
It represents the amount of energy per bit.
No: Noise Spectral Density.
Unit: Watts/Hz (or mWatts/Hz)
Which brings us to the classic definition of Eb/No:
Eb/No: Bit Energy on the Spectral Noise Density.
Unit: dB
It did not help much, does it?
Do not worry. Indeed, only with the theoretical definition is still very difficult to see how
this ratio is used, or how it can be measured.
But okay, let's walk a little further.

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Ecio and EbNo

Okay, so how is Eb/No measured?
To understand how this ratio can be measured, let's imagine a simple digital communication
system.

The ratio Eb/No is measured at the receiver, and serves to indicate how strong the signal is.
Depending on the modulation technique used (BPSK, QPSK, etc.) we have different curves
for Bit Error Rate x Eb/No.
These curves are used as follows: for a certain RF signal, which is the bit errors rate that I
have? Is this bit error rate acceptable for my system?
Whereas the gain that digital has, then we can set a minimum criterion of signal to noise ratio,
in order to have each service (Voice/Data) operating acceptably.

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Ecio and EbNo

In other words, we can theoretically determine how the performance would be for the digital link.
Note: it is worth remembering here that this is a very complex subject. As always, we try to introduce
to you the most simplified possible through the use of examples and simple concepts. Okay?
For example, a concept that could be explored here - since we are talking about digital
communication system - is the Noise Figure. But we do not want to repeat here all the theory
explained in the University. Nor was it to have mentioned the noise figure here, but as we talked
about it, just understand as a noise level that every receiver has, and that it is due to the process of
amplification and processing of signal.
Concepts like this, and other even more complex, can be studied, if you wish. But now, let's continue
with our signal to noise ratio.

Prepared by : Amir Miraj Bin Johari

 Proprietary Confidential

Ecio and EbNo

The concept of Eb/No applies to any digital communication system. But today we are talking
specifically to Ec/Io, which is a measure of evaluation and decisions of CDMA and UMTS.
Note: all the technology uses signal-interference ratio. For example, in GSM, we use C/I.
As we are speaking of codes, it becomes easier to understand the concepts by observing a
simplified diagram of Spread Spectrum Modulation.
In red, in transmitter have a narrowband signal with data or voice modulated. This signal is
spread and transmitted. And spreads through the middle (air). In the receiver, the signal is
despread - using the same sequence that was spread - and thus recovering the base narrowband
signal.

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Ecio and EbNo

As we defined Eb/No is the Average Energy of a bit signal, on the Spectral
Density of Noise. It is primarily a parameter related to the manufacturer for
different bearers (based on the channel model). But it can also vary with the
environment (urban, rural, suburban), speed, diversity, use of power control,
application type, etc..

Ec/Io, we are actually referring to Ec/(Io + No). What happens is that for
practical purposes, we only have Ec/Io, because the interference is much
stronger and the noise can be neglected. Otherwise: for CDMA
interference is like a noise, then both can be considered the same thing.

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Ecio and EbNo

Eb/No Positive and Ec/Io Negative?
In terms of values, and talking logarithmicly, if any ratio is less than 1, then the value is negative. If
greater than 1, positive.
We have Ec/Io in the air, which is spread across the spectrum: then we have negative value to the
ratio of energy on the total noise (the energy is lower than the Total Interference). It is measured at
the input of receiver (NodeB, UE, etc).
Regarding Eb/No, it is in the baseband after despreading and decoded only for one user - then we
have a positive amount of energy over the total noise. It is measured at the output of receiver
(NodeB, UE, etc).

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Ecio and EbNo

Why should we use Ec/Io?
A more natural question would be: why we can not simply use the Signal Strength measured by the
mobile as a guide for operations such as handover?
The answer is simple: the measured signal level corresponds to the Total RF power - All cells that the
mobile sees.
So we need another quick and simple measure that allows us to evaluate the contribution of each
sector individually.
We used to measure the pilot channel signal of each sector to assess the quality: if the level of the pilot
is good, then also are good levels for the traffic channels for our call in this sector. Likewise, if the
pilot channel is degraded, so will the other channels (including traffic) be, and it is best to avoid using
the traffic channels in this sector.
UMTS and CDMA systems, we have a pilot channel, some other control channels such as paging, and
traffic channels.
The Ec/Io varies with several factors, such as the Traffic Load and and RF Scenario.
Of course, the Ec/Io is the final composition of all these factors simultaneously (Composite Ec/Io), but
it's easier to understand talking about each one separately.

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Ecio and EbNo

Change in Ec/Io according to the Sector Traffic Load
Each sector transmits a certain power. Suppose in our example we have a pilot channel power setting
of 2 W, and a power of other control channels also fixed at 2 W.
To make it easier to understand, we calculate the Ec/Io (pilot channel power to total power) of this
sector in a situation where we have no busy traffic channel (0 W).

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Ecio and EbNo

Change in Ec/Io according to the Sector Traffic Load
Now assume that several traffic channels are busy (eg use 6 W for traffic channels). This is a
situation of traffic load, we'll see how is Ec/Io

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Ecio and EbNo

Change in Ec/Io according to the a lot of number of sectors surrounding
According to the RF scenario - a single server sector, some or many servers sectors - we can also
take various measures to Ec/Io.
Considering first a situation without external interference, with only one server sector (dominant),
the ratio Ec/Io is about the same initially transmitted

Prepared by : Amir Miraj Bin Johari

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Ecio and EbNo

Change in Ec/Io according to the a lot of number of sectors surrounding
Let us now consider another situation. Instead of one, we have five sectors signal arriving at the
mobile (for simplicity, all with the same level of -90 dBm).

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 Proprietary Confidential