RSRP and RSRQ Measurement in LTE

In cellular networks, when a mobile moves from cell to cell and performs cell
selection/reselection and handover, it has to measure the signal strength/quality of the neighbor
cells. In LTE network, a UE measures two parameters on reference signal: RSRP (Reference
Signal Received Power) and RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality).
In LTE network, a UE measures:
 RSSI – Received Signal Strength Indicator: The carrier RSSI (Receive Strength Signal
Indicator) measures the average total received power observed only in OFDM symbols
containing reference symbols for antenna port 0 (i.e., OFDM symbol 0 & 4 in a slot) in the
measurement bandwidth over N resource blocks.
The total received power of the carrier RSSI includes the power from co-channel serving & non-
serving cells, adjacent channel interference, thermal noise, etc. Total measured over 12-
subcarriers including RS from Serving Cell, Traffic in the Serving Cell
 RSRP – Reference Signal Received Power: RSRP is a RSSI type of measurement, as follows
there are some definition of it and some details as well.
It is the power of the LTE Reference Signals spread over the full bandwidth (RSSI) and narrow-
band (RSRP).
A minimum of -20 dB SINR (of the S-Synch channel) is needed to detect RSRP/RSRQ
 RSRQ – Reference Signal Received Quality: Quality considering also RSSI and the number of
used Resource Blocks (N) RSRQ = (N * RSRP) / RSSI measured over the same
bandwidth. RSRQ is a C/I type of measurement and it indicates the quality of the received
reference signal.
The RSRQ measurement provides additional information when RSRP is not sufficient to make a
reliable handover or cell re-selection decision.
In the procedure of handover, the LTE specification provides the flexibility of using RSRP,
RSRQ, or both.
Of course, it must to be measured over the same bandwidth:
 Narrow-band N = 62 Sub Carriers (6 Resource Blocks)
 Wide-band N = full bandwidth (up to 100 Resource Blocks / 20 MHz)

RSRP 3GPP Definition

Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), is defined as the linear average over the
power contributions (in [W]) of the resource elements (REs) that carry cell-specific reference
signals within the considered measurement frequency bandwidth. For RSRP determination the
cell-specific reference signals R0 according TS 36.211 [3] shall be used. If the UE can reliably
detect that R1 is available it may use R1 in addition to R0 to determine RSRP.
The reference point for the RSRP shall be the antenna connector of the UE.
If receiver diversity is in use by the UE, the reported value shall not be lower than
the corresponding RSRP of any of the individual diversity branches.
RSRP measurement, normally expressed in dBm, is utilized mainly to make ranking
among different candidate cells in accordance with their signal strength. Generally, the reference
signals on the first antenna port are used to determine RSRP, however, the reference signals sent
on the second port can also be used in addition to the RSs on the first port if UE can detect that
they are being transmitted.
  Applicable for: RRC_IDLE intra-frequency, RRC_IDLE inter-frequency, RRC_CONNECTED
intra-frequency, RRC_CONNECTED inter-frequency
 Note 1: The number of resource elements within the considered measurement frequency
bandwidth and within the measurement period that are used by the UE to determine RSRP is
left up to the UE implementation with the limitation that corresponding measurement accuracy
requirements have to be fulfilled.
 Note 2: The power per resource element is determined from the energy received during the
useful part of the symbol, excluding the CP.
In other words RSRP (Reference Signal Receive Power) is the average power of Resource
Elements (RE) that carry cell specific Reference Signals (RS) over the entire bandwidth, so RSRP
is only measured in the symbols carrying RS.
 RSRP is the average received power of a single RS resource element

RSRP
 UE measures the power of multiple resource elements used to transfer the reference signal but then
takes an average of them rather than summing them.
 The reporting range of RSRP is defined from -140 dBm to – 44 dBm with 1 dB resolution. The
mapping of measured quantity is defined in the table – RSRP mapping 3GPP TS 36.133 V8.9.0
(2010-03) –
 RSRP does a better job of measuring signal power from a specific sector while potentially
excluding noise and interference from other sectors
 RSRP levels for usable signal typically range from about -75 dBm close in to an LTE cell site to
-120 dBm at the edge of LTE coverage.

Reference Signals recap: OFDMA Channel Estimation

In simple terms the Reference Signal (RS) is mapped to Resource Elements (RE). This mapping
follows a specific pattern (see to below).
 So at any point in time the UE will measure all the REs that carry the RS and average the
measurements to obtain an RSRP reading.
 Channel estimation in LTE is based on reference signals (like CPICH functionality in WCDMA)
 Reference signals position in time domain is fixed (0 and 4 for Type 1 Frame) whereas in frequency
domain it depends on the Cell ID
 In case more than one antenna is used (e.g. MIMO) the Resource elements allocated to reference
signals on one antenna are DTX on the other antennas
 Reference signals are modulated to identify the cell to which they belong
MORE INFO ABOUT OFDMA
RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) is a parameter which provides information about total
received wide-band power (measure in all symbols) including all interference and thermal
noise. RSSI is not reported to e-NodeB by UE. It can simply be computed from RSRQ and RSRP
that are, instead, reported by UE.

RSSI = wideband power = noise + serving cell power +

interference power
So, without noise and interference, we have that 100% DL PRB activity: RSSI=12*N*RSRP
Where:
 RSRP is the received power of 1 RE (3GPP definition) average of power levels received across all
Reference Signal symbols within the considered measurement frequency bandwidth
 RSSI is measured over the entire bandwidth
 N, number of RBs across the RSSI, is measured and depends on the BW
Based on the above, under full load and high SNR:
 RSRP (dBm) = RSSI (dBm) – 10*log (12*N)

RSRQ 3GPP Definition

Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) is defined as the ratio N×RSRP/(E-UTRA

carrier RSSI), where N is the number of RB’s of the E-UTRA carrier RSSI measurement

bandwidth. The measurements in the numerator and denominator shall be made over the

same set of resource blocks.

In formula:

Where:
 N is the number of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) over which the

RSSI is measured, typically equal to system

bandwidth
 RSSI is pure wide band power measurement, including intracell power, interference and noise (noise
+ serving cell power + interference power during RS symbol)
 The reporting range of RSRQ is defined from -3…-19.5dB
So we have that RSRQ depends on serving cell power and the number of Tx antennas
E-UTRA – RSSI (Carrier Received Signal Strength Indicator), comprises the linear average
of the total received power (in [W]) observed only in OFDM symbols containing reference
symbols for antenna port, in the measurement bandwidth, over N number of resource blocks by
the UE from all sources, including co-channel serving and non-serving cells, adjacent
channel interference, thermal noise etc.
The reference point for the RSRQ shall be the antenna connector of the UE. If receiver diversity
is in use by the UE, the reported value shall not be lower than the corresponding RSRQ of any of
the individual diversity branches.
 Applicable for: RRC_CONNECTED intra-frequency, RRC_CONNECTED inter-frequency

e.g. – Impact of serving cell power to RSRQ:

Example for noise limited case (no interference): If all resource elements are active and are
transmitted with equal power, then
 RSRQ = N / 12N = -10.8 dB for 1Tx
 RSRQ = N / 20N = -13 dB for 2Tx taking DTX into account
(because RSRP is measured over 1 resource element and RSSI per resource block is measured
over 12 resource elements).
Remember that RSSI is only measured at those symbol times during which RS REs are transmitted
– We do not have to take into the count DTx!!!
So, when there is no traffic, and assuming only the reference symbols are transmitted (there are 2
of them within the same symbol of a resource block) from a single Tx antenna then the RSSI is
generated by only the 2 reference symbols so the result becomes
 RSRQ = N / 2N = -3 dB for 1Tx
 RSRQ = -6dB for 2Tx

SINR Definition
SINR is the reference value used in the system simulation and can be defined:
1. Wide band SINR
2. SINR for a specific sub-carriers (or for a specific resource elements)
 All measured over the same bandwidth!

SNR vs. RSRP

RSRP is measured for a single subcarrier, noisepower for 15KHz= -125.2dBm
1. Noise figure = 7 dB
2. Temperature = 290 K
Assumption: RSRP doesn’t contain noise power

Update May 2016

T
Power Calculation Example
Lets try to calculate RSRP, RSSI and RSRQ for one very simple case of one resource block with
12 sub carriers and 0.5 ms in time domain. Let’s assume the power of reference symbols (shown
by red square) and power of other symbols carrying other data channels (shown by blue square)
is same i.e. 0.021 watt
Since RSRP is linear average of downlink reference signal for given channel bandwidth
therefore
RSRP = 10*log (0.021*1000) = 13.2 dBm
While RSSI is total received wide-band power. Therefore we have to add power of all 12
carriers in the given resource block
RSSI = 10*log(0.021*1000)+10*log(12) = 24 dBm
RSRQ is now simple ratio of RSRP to RSSI with N=1
RSRQ = 10*log(0.021/(12*0.021)) = -10.79 dB

dBm vs dB
dB is ratio between two power values while dBm is used to express an absolute value of power. So
when we mention RSRP and RSSI we shall always use dBm since we are talking about absolute
power values but we need to use dB with RSRQ since it is the ratio of RSRP to RSSI
RSSI & RSRP in LTE

Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and Reference Signal Received Power
(RSRP)

RSSI is the more traditional metric that has long been used to display signal strength for
GSM, CDMA1X, etc., and it integrates all of the RF power within the channel passband. In
other words, for LTE, RSSI measurement bandwidth is all active subcarriers.

RSRP, on the other hand, is an LTE specific metric that averages the RF power in all of the
reference signals in the passband. Remember those aforementioned and depicted 100
subcarriers that contain reference signals? To calculate RSRP, the power in each one of
those subcarriers is averaged. As such, RSRP measurement bandwidth is the equivalent of
only a single subcarrier.

In other words:

RSRP (Reference Signal Receive Power) is the average power of Resource Elements (RE)
that carry cell specific Reference Signals (RS) over the entire bandwidth, so RSRP is only
measured in the symbols carrying RS. While RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) is a
parameter which provides information about total received wide-band power (measure in all
symbols) including all interference and thermal noise.

So it would be safe to write that, in LTE, RSRP provides information about signal strength
and RSSI helps in determining interference and noise information. This is the reason, RSRQ
(Reference Signal Receive Quality) measurement and calculation is based on both RSRP and
RSSI.

Since the logarithmic ratio of 100 subcarriers to one subcarrier is 20 dB (e.g. 10 × log 100
= 20), RSSI tends to measure about 20 dB higher than does RSRP. Or, to put it another
way, RSRP measures about 20 dB lower than what we are accustomed to observing for a
given signal level. Thus, that superficially weak -102 dBm RSRP signal level would actually
be roughly -82 dBm if it were converted to RSSI.

To conclude, here are a few takeaways about RSSI and RSRP as signal strength
measurement techniques for LTE:

 RSSI varies with LTE downlink bandwidth. For example, even if all other factors
were equal, VZW 10 MHz LTE bandwidth RSSI would measure 3 dB greater than
would Sprint 5 MHz LTE bandwidth RSSI. But that does not actually translate to
stronger signal to the end user.
 RSSI varies with LTE subcarrier activity -- the greater the data transfer activity,
the higher the RSSI. But, again, that does not actually translate to stronger signal
to the end user.
 RSRP does a better job of measuring signal power from a specific sector while
potentially excluding noise and interference from other sectors.
 RSRP levels for usable signal typically range from about -75 dBm close in to an
LTE cell site to -120 dBm at the edge of LTE coverage.
Side lobe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about side lobes in antenna engineering. For side lobes in digital signal processing,
see spectral leakage.

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A typical directional antenna radiation pattern in polar coordinate system representation, showing side lobes.
The radial distance from the center represents signal strength.

A typical antenna radiation pattern in cartesian coordinate system representation showing side lobes.

Part of a series on

Antennas
 Common types[show]

Components[show]

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Safety and regulation[show]

Radiation sources / regions[hide]

 Boresight
 Focal cloud
 Ground plane
 Main lobe
 Near and far field
 Side lobe
 Vertical plane

Characteristics[show]

Techniques[show]

 v
 t
 e

In antenna engineering, side lobes or sidelobes are the lobes (local maxima) of the far
fieldradiation pattern that are not the main lobe.
The radiation pattern of most antennas shows a pattern of "lobes" at various angles, directions
where the radiated signal strength reaches a maximum, separated by "nulls", angles at which the
radiated signal strength falls to zero. In a directional antenna in which the objective is to emit the
radio waves in one direction, the lobe in that direction has a larger field strength than the others; this
is the "main lobe". The other lobes are called "side lobes", and usually represent unwanted radiation
in undesired directions. The side lobe in the opposite direction (180°) from the main lobe is called
the back lobe. In transmitting antennas, excessive side lobe radiation wastes energy and may
cause interference to other equipment. Classified information may be picked up by unintended
receivers. In receiving antennas, side lobes may pick up interfering signals, and increase the noise
level in the receiver.
The power density in the side lobes is generally much less than that in the main beam. It is generally
desirable to minimize the sidelobe level (SLL), which is measured in decibels relative to the peak of
the main beam. The main lobe and side lobes occur for both conditions of transmit, and for receive.
The concepts of main and side lobes, radiation pattern, aperture shapes, and aperture weighting,
apply to optics (another branch of electromagnetics) and in acoustics fields such
as loudspeaker and sonar design, as well as antenna design.
For a rectangular aperture antenna having a uniform amplitude distribution (or uniform weighting),
the first sidelobe is -13.26 dB relative to the peak of the main beam. For such antennas the radiation
pattern has a canonical form of

Simple substitutions of various values of into the canonical equation yield the following results:

Radiation Pattern Explanation

peak of main beam

first null

peak of first sidelobe

second null

peak of second sidelobe

For a circular aperture antenna, also having a uniform amplitude distribution, the first sidelobe level
is -17.57 dB relative to the peak of the main beam. In this case, the radiation pattern has a canonical
form of

where is the Bessel function of the first kind of order 1. Simple substitutions of various values

of into the canonical equation yield the following results:

Radiation Pattern Explanation

 peak of main beam

first null

peak of first sidelobe

second null

peak of second sidelobe

A uniform aperture distribution, as provided in the two examples above, gives the maximum
possible directivity for a given aperture size, but it also produces the maximum side lobe level. Side
lobe levels can be reduced by tapering the edges of the aperture distribution (changing from
uniformity) at the expense of reduced directivity.
The nulls between sidelobes occur when the radiation patterns passes through the origin in
the complex plane. Hence, adjacent sidelobes are generally 180° out of phase to each other.
Because an antenna's far field radiation pattern is a Fourier Transform of its aperture distribution,
most antennas will generally have sidelobes, unless the aperture distribution is a Gaussian, or if the
antenna is so small, as to have no sidelobes in the visible space. Larger antennas have narrower
main beams, as well as narrower sidelobes. Hence, larger antennas have more sidelobes in the
visible space (as the antenna size is increased, sidelobes move from the evanescent space to
the visible space).

A typical radiation pattern of phased arrays whose inter-element spacing is greater than half a wavelength,
hence the radiation pattern has grating lobes.

For discrete aperture antennas (such as phased arrays) in which the element spacing is greater than
a half wavelength, the spatial aliasing effect causes some sidelobes to become substantially larger
in amplitude, and approaching the level of the main lobe; these are called grating lobes, and they
are identical, or nearly identical in the example shown, copies of the main beams.
Grating lobes are a special case of a sidelobe. In such a case, the sidelobes should be considered
all the lobes lying between the main lobe and the first grating lobe, or between grating lobes. It is
conceptually useful to distinguish between sidelobes and grating lobes because grating lobes have
larger amplitudes than most, if not all, of the other side lobes. The mathematics of grating lobes is
the same as of X-ray diffraction.

Antenna Characteristics

Antenna Gain

Independent of the use of a given

antenna for transmitting or receiving, an
important characteristic of this antenna is
the gain. Some antennas are highly
directional; that is, more energy is
propagated in certain directions than in
others. The ratio between the amount of
energy propagated in these directions
compared to the energy that would be
propagated if the antenna were not
directional (Isotropic Radiation) is known as its gain. When a transmitting
antenna with a certain gain is used as a receiving antenna, it will also have
the same gain for receiving.
Most radiators emit (radiate) stronger radiation in one direction than in
another. A radiator such as this is referred to as anisotropic. However, a
standard method allows the positions around a source to be marked so that
one radiation pattern can easily be compared with another.
The energy radiated from an antenna forms a field having a
definite radiation pattern. A radiation pattern is a way of plotting the
radiated energy from an antenna. This energy is measured at various angles
at a constant distance from the antenna. The shape of this pattern depends
on the type of antenna used.
To plot this pattern, two different types of graphs, rectangular-and polar-
coordinate graphs are used. The polar-coordinated graph has proved to
be of great use in studying radiation patterns. In the polar-coordinate graph,
points are located by projection along a rotating axis (radius) to an
intersection with one of several concentric, equally-spaced circles. The polar-
coordinate graph of the measured radiation is shown in Figure 1.
The main beam (or main lobe ) is the region around the direction of
maximum radiation (usually the region that is within 3 dB of the peak of the
main beam). The main beam in Figure 1 is northbound.
The sidelobes are smaller beams that are away from the main beam. These
sidelobes are usually radiation in undesired directions which can never be
completely eliminated. The sidelobe level (or sidelobe ratio) is an important
parameter used to characterize radiation patterns. It is the maximum value of
the sidelobes away from the main beam and is expressed in Decibels. One
sidelobe is called backlobe. This is the portion of radiation pattern that is
directed opposing the main beam direction.

beam width
side lobes
ratio
front to
back ratio
Figure 2: The same antenna pattern in a rectangular-coordinate graph
The now following graph shows the rectangular-coordinated graph for the
same source. In the rectangular-coordinate graph, points are located by
projection from a pair of stationary, perpendicular axes. The horizontal axis
on the rectangular-coordinate graph corresponds to the circles on the polar-
coordinate graph. The vertical axis on the rectangular-coordinate graph
corresponds to the rotating axis (radius) on the polar-coordinate graph. The
measurement scales in the graphs can have linear as well as logarithmic
steps.
For the analysis of an antenna pattern the following simplifications are used:

Beam Width
The angular range of the antenna pattern in which at least half of the
maximum power is still emitted is described as a „Beam With”. Bordering
points of this main lobe are therefore the points at which the field strength
has fallen in the room around 3 dB regarding the maximum field strength.
This angle is then described as beam width or aperture angle or half power (-
3 dB) angle - with notation Θ (also φ). The beamwidth Θ is exactly the angle
between the 2 red marked directions in the upper pictures. The angle Θcan
be determined in the horizontal plane (with notation ΘAZ) as well as in the
vertical plane (with notation ΘEL).

Main and Side Lobes (Minor Lobes)

The pattern shown in the upper figures has radiation concentrated in several
lobes. The radiation intensity in one lobe is considerably stronger than in the
other. The strongest lobe is called main lobe; the others are (minor) side
lobes. Since the complex radiation patterns associated with arrays
frequently contain several lobes of varying intensity, you should learn to use
appropriate terminology. In general, main lobes are those in which the
greatest amount of radiation occurs. Side or minor lobes are those in which
the radiation intensity is least.
 Front-to-Back Ratio
The front-to-back ratio of an antenna is the proportion of energy radiated in
the principal direction of radiation to the energy radiated in the opposite
direction. A high front-to-back ratio is desirable because this means that a
minimum amount of energy is radiated in the undesired direction.

Aperture

Figure 3: The antenna aperture is a section of a spherical surface

The effective aperture of an antenna Ae is the area presented to the radiated
or received signal. It is a key parameter, which governs the performance of
the antenna. The gain is related to the effective area by the following
relationship:
λ = wave
4π · Ae Where: length
Ae =
effective
antenna
; aperture
G A=
Ae = physical
= area of
λ2 Ka·A the
antenna
Ka =
antenna
aperture
efficiency (1)
The aperture efficiency depends on the distribution of the illumination across
the aperture. If this is linear then Ka= 1. This high efficiency is offset by the
relatively high level of sidelobes obtained with linear illumination. Therefore,
antennas with more practical levels of sidelobes have an antenna aperture
efficiency less than one (Ae< A).