Optimization of Pilot Power for Load Balancing in
WCDMA Networks
Iana Siomina and Di Yuan
Department of Science and Technology, Linköping University
SE-601 74, Norrköping, Sweden
Email: iansi, diyua@itn.liu.se
Abstract— In WCDMA networks, the power level of the
Common Pilot Channel (CPICH) has a significant impact on
the network performance. The power level of a pilot signal
determines the cell size, and thereby the load of the cell. By
taking into account the variation of the traffic intensity over the
service area, the pilot power can be adjusted to equalize the
traffic load over the cells. In this work, we present a model for
load balancing in WCDMA networks, and propose an algorithm
for solving the load balancing optimization problem subject to
the constraint of full coverage of the service area. We report
our computational experiments for real-life WCDMA networks
of Berlin and Lisbon.
I. I NTRODUCTION
In WCDMA networks, pilot power control is an important
issue for efficient radio resource management. The Common
Pilot Channel (CPICH) is used to facilitate cell selection and
handover. The strength of a pilot signal can be controlled
by changing its power level. In addition, because of the
interference-limited nature of WCDMA networks, the signal
strength is also affected by the total interference. The strengths
of the pilot signals determine the cell boundaries and, conse-
quently, the number of mobile terminals connected to each
cell. Thus, the pilot power levels can be used as a tool to
control the coverage of the cells, and to balance the load of the
cells in the network. For example, the authors of [11] and [10]
show that network performance can be enhanced by proper
adjustments of the pilot power. In [7], a cost-minimization
method is used in network simulations. Based on some target
values for coverage and traffic load, the method attempts to
minimize the deviation from the target values by adjusting the
levels of the pilot power using a gradient decent procedure.
In this paper, we present a model for pilot power opti-
mization for load balancing in WCDMA networks, and an
algorithm that aims to maximize the system capacity, which,
for one cell, is defined as the ratio between the power available
for traffic and the traffic demand. We present computational
results for network planning scenarios of the cities of Berlin
and Lisbon.
II. T HE L OAD BALANCING P ROBLEM
A. Preliminaries
Consider a WCDMA network with m cells. Let I denote
the set of cells, i.e., I = {1, . . . , m}. The service area is
represented by a grid of bins with a certain resolution, where
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the total number of bins is denoted by n, and the set of bins
is denoted by J = {1, . . . , n}.
In a network with a large variation in traffic density, some
cells will have a high traffic load. These cells have major
negative impacts on the network, causing a high amount of
blocked calls, as well as dropped calls and poor-quality data
sessions at the cell boundaries. One way to solve the problem
is, by adjusting the pilot power levels, to balance the traffic
load among the cells in the network.
Let PiT ot be the total transmission power available in cell i.
We will consider network scenarios with high traffic loads.
In particular, we assume that all base stations operate at
full power, which corresponds to the worst-case interference
scenario. We denote the amount of power allocated to the pilot
signal in cell i by PiP ilot . A lower value of PiP ilot means
more power available to serve user traffic in cell i, but, on the
other hand, the pilot power levels have to be high enough to
guarantee a full coverage of the service area. It is common to
allocate to CPICH approximately 5%-10% of the total power
available at a base station [4]. However, using optimization
techniques [6], the pilot power levels can be reduced to about
4%-5% of the total available power while guaranteeing 100%
coverage.
Let PiT r denote the amount of power devoted to traffic
channels in cell i. We assume that PiT r is the difference
between the total power and the pilot power, i.e.,
PiT r = PiT ot − PiP ilot . (1)
For bin j, we use dsj to denote its traffic intensity of service
type s. One possible interpretation of dsj is the average number
of active users in the bin asking for service s. However, for
the purpose of load balancing, the intensity values only have
a relative significance, that is, the actual traffic load of service
type s in cell i is proportional to dsj .
For cell i, the amount of power needed to support the user
traffic of service type s can be calculated as


s s
wij dj ,
j∈B(i)
s
where wij is the amount of power needed to serve one unit
of traffic demand of service s in bin j, and B(i) is the set of
bins in which cell i provides coverage with its pilot signal.
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 To estimate the downlink capacity in cell i, we use the ratio
between the available power resource, PiT r , and the power s Rs γ s Iij
wij = , (8)
consumption for user traffic in the cell for all service types. W gij
The latter is defined as the total power needed to serve the where Iij is defined by (4).
bins in which cell i has a pilot signal coverage, that is, It can be realized that the optimal level of pilot power in


cell i equals Pij for some bin j, simply because it is sub-
s s
wij dj , (2) optimal to increase the pilot power without covering more
s∈S j∈B(i) bins. Moreover, assuming again perfect power control, we
where S is the set of service types supported by the network. observe that for a given pilot power level for cell i we can
The capacity ratio of cell i, Qi , is thus easily define the coverage area of the cell. Let B(i, j) denote
the set of bins covered by cell i provided that PiP ilot = Pij ,
PiT r PiT ot − PiP ilot i.e., B(i, j) = {l ∈ J : Pil ≤ Pij }. Then, similarly to (3), for
Qi =

=

. (3) each cell-bin pair (i,j), we can define a ratio qij as follows
s s s s
wij dj wij dj
s∈S j∈B(i) s∈S j∈B(i)
P T ot − Pij
qij =
i
. (9)
Clearly, cells with low amount of power for serving users but s s
wil dl
high traffic intensity will have low values of Qi . s∈S l∈B(i,j)
Assuming that the conditions of signal propagation are the
same across a bin, and denoting the power gain between the Using (6), (8), and (9), we obtain
base station of cell i and bin j by gij , the total power of γ0
signals transmitted by cell i and received in bin j is then PiT ot − Iij
gij
PiT ot gij . In addition to the signals from cell i, bin j also qij =

. (10)
Rs γ s Iil s
receives interfering signals from the other base stations. The dl
total interference can be written as W gil
s∈S l∈B(i,j)

The ratio qij represents the capacity of cell i, if the pilot

Iij = (1 − αj )PiT ot gij + PkT ot gkj + νj , (4) power level equals the power level needed to cover bin j,
k∈I:k=i i.e., PiP ilot = Pij .
It can be easily proved (see Appendix I) that
where αj ∈ (0, 1) is the orthogonality factor to signals from
cell i in bin j, and νj is the effect of the thermal noise in bin Qi = min qij , (11)
j. j∈B(i)

We assume that a pilot signal from cell i can be detected where B(i) is defined as B(i) = {j ∈ J : Pij ≤ PiP ilot }.
in bin j if and only if its carrier-to-interference ratio (CIR) is
In many network planning scenarios, it is required that
above a threshold γ0 , that is, if
the pilot power does not exceed some upper limit. We
PiP ilot gij use Πmaxi to denote this limit for cell i, and assume that
≥ γ0 . (5) PiP ilot ≤ Πmax
i ≤ PiT ot , i ∈ I.
Iij
In the forthcoming sections, we present a model and an
Assuming perfect power control, the transmit power is set algorithm that allow us to maximize the capacity ratio for the
to the minimum level necessary to fulfil the CIR target. Thus, cells by selecting pilot power levels optimally, subject to the
it can be derived from (5) that, if cell i covers bin j, then the constraint of full coverage.
pilot power PiP ilot must be at least Pij , defined as
γ0 B. Problem Formulation
Pij = Iij , (6) Balancing the cell load can be modelled as maximizing the
gij
capacity ratio of the cells. As mentioned earlier, the amount
where Iij is defined by (4). of traffic in a bin is proportional to its traffic intensity. Conse-
To provide service s at the required quality level in bin j, quently, maximizing the capacity ratio amounts to finding the
cell i needs a certain amount of power for each demand unit maximum possible scaling factor that can be applied to the
such that the corresponding Eb /N0 target is achieved, i.e., intensity values, such that the network can serve the resulting
s
W gij wij traffic.
≥ γs, (7) Our optimization problem can be formulated as follows:
Rs Iij
find such a combination of pilot power levels in the network
where γs is the Eb /N0 target for service s, W is the system that guarantees full coverage and maximizes the capacity ratio
chip rate, and Rs is the bit rate for service s. Thus, the mini- of the bottleneck cell, i.e., the minimum Qi -value among all
mum power for one unit of traffic demand can be calculated the cells. The mathematical formulation of the problem is
by presented below.

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 Note that the optimal capacity ratio found in the first step,
Q∗ = max min Qi (12) when Iˆ = I and Jˆ = J, is the overall optimal capacity
i∈I
ratio, i.e., Q∗(I, ∗ ∗
ˆ = Q(I,J) = Q . It is obvious that the
ˆ J)
subject to the following constraints solution generated by the algorithm provides full coverage
of the service area, and, in addition, achieves the maximum
possible overall capacity ratio Q∗ and maximizes the capacity
Qi = min qij , ∀i ∈ I (13)
j∈J :xij =1 ratios of the other cells.
xij Pij ≤ Πmax
i , ∀i ∈ I, ∀j ∈ J (14) It should be pointed out that there are many pilot power

solutions that can achieve the optimal ratio Q∗ . The above
xij ≥ 1, ∀j ∈ J (15)
algorithm attempts to find a solution that achieves Q∗ using a
i∈I
minimum amount of pilot power. This is particularly important
xij ∈ {0, 1}, ∀i ∈ I, ∀j ∈ J (16)
when we are interested in not only finding Q∗ , but also
Note that constraints (13) define the capacity ratio for the maximizing the average capacity ratio of the cells.
cells, constraints (14) set an upper bound on the pilot power
levels, and constraints (15) ensure full coverage of the service III. A D H OC A PPROACHES FOR A SSIGNING THE P ILOT
area. P OWERS W ITHOUT C ONSIDERING THE C ELL L OADS
In our problem formulation, we use a set of binary variables For comparison, we consider two additional strategies for
xij , i ∈ I, j ∈ J . The variables have the following meaning. setting the pilot power levels in our computational experi-
 ments. These two strategies do not consider the traffic intensity
1 if bin j is covered by the pilot signal of cell i,
xij = values. In the first strategy, denoted as uniform pilot power, all
0 otherwise.
cells use a uniform level of pilot power, such that full coverage
In the next section, we present the algorithm that not only is obtained. In the second strategy, the pilot power of cell i is
computes the optimal capacity ratio of the bottleneck cell, but set to a level in order to cover bins for which cell i has the
also attempts to maximize the capacity ratio of each cell. best power gain. We call this strategy the gain-based power
solution. These two ad hoc strategies are discussed in more
C. Solution Approach
detail in [6].
Our solution approach is based on the following important
observation, which enables an efficient algorithm for solving IV. N UMERICAL R ESULTS
the problem formulated in Section II-B. We present computational results obtained for two networks
For a given subset of cells, Î ⊆ I, and a given originating from planning scenarios for the cities of Berlin and
subset of bins, Jˆ ⊆ J , the maximum possible Lisbon, respectively. These planning scenarios are provided by
capacity ratio of the bottleneck cell, i.e., the cell the MOMENTUM project group [2]. Table I summarizes some
with the minimum Qi -value among all the cells in statistics of the networks.
Î, is
Q∗(I, ˆ = min max qij .
ˆ J) (17) TABLE I
j∈Jˆ i∈Î S TATISTICS OF THE NETWORKS .
Network Number of Service area
Proof: See Appendix II. Sites Cells Bins Total, Bin size,
m n 2
[m ] [m2 ]
The algorithm works iteratively, and identifies the pilot N1 (Berlin) 50 148 22500 7500 x 7500 50 x 50
power of one cell (and its optimal capacity ratio) in every N2 (Lisbon) 52 140 62500 5000 x 5000 20 x 20
iteration. In one iteration, the algorithm examines the set of
bins that are still uncovered, and identifies a cell that defines
the bottleneck of the capacity ratio. The algorithm can be The parameters associated with various service types are
summarized as follows. presented in Table II.
1) Create a set Jˆ of uncovered bins. Initially, Jˆ contains TABLE II
all the bins in the service area, i.e., Jˆ = J . Create a S ERVICE SET PARAMETERS .
list Î that initially contains all the cells in the network,
i.e., Î = I. Service Class Service Type Bit rate Eb /N0 target
2) Using (17), find the best possible capacity ratio Q∗IˆJˆ of Rs , [kbps] γ s , [dB]
Conversational Speech telephony 12.2 5.5
the bottleneck cell for the sets Î and Jˆ. Video telephony 64 4.7
3) Find i∗ and j ∗ such that qi∗ j ∗ = Q∗(I, ˆ .
ˆ J)
Streaming Streaming multimedia 64 4.2
Interactive Web browsing 32 1.9
4) Remove all the bins covered by cell i from list Jˆ, i.e.,
∗
Location Based 32 3.35
all the bins j, j ∈ J , for which Pi∗ j ≤ Pi∗ j ∗ . Background MMS 32 3.35
E-Mail 32 3.35
5) Remove cell i∗ from the list Î. File Download 64 1.9
6) If Jˆ is not empty, go to Step 2. Otherwise terminate.

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 TABLE V
[7] K. Valkealahti, A. Höglund, J. Pakkinen, and A. Flanagan, “WCDMA
S OLUTIONS USING UNIFORM PILOT POWER . common pilot power control with cost function minimization”, Proceed-
Net- Capacity ratio Pilot power, [W] ings of IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Fall ’02), pp.
work min max Total Average Total Average 2244-2247, 2002.
N1 0.0142 1.6858 27.7738 0.1877 356.44 2.4083 [8] P. Värbrand and D. Yuan, “A Mathematical Programming Approach
N2 0.0267 3.1346 29.1607 0.2083 276.79 1.9771 for Pilot Power Optimization in WCDMA Networks”, Proceedings of
Australian Telecommunications Networks and Applications Conference
(ATNAC 2003), December 2003.
TABLE VI [9] T. Winter, U. Türke, E. Lamers, R. Perera, A. Serrador, L. M. Correira,
“Advanced simulation approach for integrated static and short-term
S OLUTIONS USING GAIN - BASED PILOT POWER .
dynamic UMTS performance evaluation”, Project report D2.7, IST-
Net- Capacity ratio Pilot power, [W] 2000-28088, MOMENTUM, 2003.
work min max Total Average Total Average [10] J. Yang and J. Lin, “Optimization of pilot power management in a
N1 0.0311 20.3826 191.833 1.3049 146.55 0.9902 CDMA radio network”, Proceedings of IEEE Vehicular Technology
N2 0.0459 10.8857 106.563 0.7612 133.64 0.9546 Conference (VTC Fall ’00), pp. 2642-2647, 2000.
[11] H. Zhu, T. Buot, R. Nagaike, S. Harmen, “Load balancing in WCDMA
systems by adjusting pilot power”, Proceedings of IEEE Vehicular
Technology Conference (VTC Fall’02), pp. 936-940, 2002.
in WCDMA networks. This objective is modelled using a A PPENDIX I
capacity ratio, which relates the transmission power of the cell
Proof: By our assumption, the pilot power level in cell
to the traffic intensity of its service area. We characterized
i is equal to the minimum pilot power level needed to cover
the optimal pilot power setting for maximizing the capacity
some bin. Let denote this bin by j ∗ . For any bin j covered by
ratio over the cells, and an iterative algorithm that not only
cell i, Pij ≤ Pij ∗ . This means that, for any bin j covered by
finds the maximum overall capacity ratio, but also attempts to
cell i, the following inequality holds
minimize the total pilot power. Given the traffic intensity of the
service area, our model and algorithm provide a convenience PiT ot − Pij ≥ PiT ot − Pij ∗ . (18)
way of planning the pilot power levels for the purpose of
load balancing. We presented numerical results for two real- On the other hand, B(i, j) ⊂ B(i, j ∗ ), which leads to





life planning scenarios. Our results show that the optimized ρsil dsl ≤ ρsil dsl . (19)
capacity ratio significantly improves that of the solution of s∈S l∈B(i,j) s∈S l∈B(i,j ∗ )
uniform pilot power. For the gain-based pilot power, the
difference from optimality is approximately 10 %. Considering (18) and (19), it is obvious that for any
The current model does not explicitly address the effect of bin j covered by cell i, qij ≥ qij ∗ , which leads to
soft handover, when bins are covered by multiple cells, on Qi = qij ∗ = minj∈B(i,j ∗ ) qij = minj∈B(i) qij .
the capacity of the network. This is an issue to be tackled in A PPENDIX II
forthcoming research. A second topic for further investigation
Proof: In order to prove that (17) gives the maximum
is pilot power planning that not only provides coverage, but
capacity ratio for the bottleneck cell, we have to show that
also enables smooth handover.
there does not exist any other feasible solution on the sets Iˆ
ACKNOWLEDGMENT and Jˆ that gives a higher value of Q∗(I, ˆ .
ˆ J)
∗ ∗
The authors wish to thank Fredrik Gunnarsson at Ericsson Let i denote the cell and j denote the bin, for which
Research, Linköping, Sweden, for the technical discussions. qi∗ j ∗ = minj∈Jˆ maxi∈Î qij = Q∗(I, ˆ . Let us assume that
ˆ J)
The group of the MOMENTUM project is also acknowledged there exists some other solution, for which the maximum
for providing the test data for Berlin and Lisbon, [2]. This capacity ratio for the bottleneck cell occurs in cell i and
work is financed by CENIIT (Center for Industrial Information bin j  , and the new solution is strictly better than the old
Technology), Linköping Institute of Technology, Sweden. one, i.e., qi j  > qi∗ j ∗ . Providing full coverage, the second
solution must guarantee that bin j ∗ is also covered. Assume
R EFERENCES that cell i covers bin j ∗ in the second solution, then, Qi ≤
[1] A. Eisenblätter, H.-F. Geerdes, T. Koch, U. Türke, E. Meijerink, A. qij ∗ ≤ qi∗ j ∗ . Moreover, by definition, qi j  is a capacity ratio
Fügenschuh, “XML Data Specification and Documentation”, Project for the bottleneck cell, i.e., qi j  = Qi ≤ Qi . It means that
report D5.1-XML, IST-2000-28088, MOMENTUM, 2003.
[2] IST-2000-28088 MOMENTUM, http://momentum.zib.de. qi j  ≤ qi∗ j ∗ , i.e., our assumption about the existence of a
[3] D. Kim, Y. Chang, and J. W. Lee, “Pilot power control and service better solution was wrong. We have thus proved that (17) is
coverage support in CDMA mobile systems”, Proceedings of IEEE the maximum capacity ratio for the bottleneck cell.
Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC’99), pp. 1464-1468, 1999.
[4] J. Laiho, A. Wacker, and T. Novasad (eds.), Radio Network Planning
and Optimisation for UMTS, (John Wiley & Sons, 2002).
[5] R. T. Love, K. A. Beshir, D. Schaeffer, and R. S. Nikides, “A pilot
optimization technique for CDMA cellular systems”, Proceedings of
IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC ’99), pp. 2238-2242,
1999.
[6] I. Siomina and D. Yuan, “Pilot Power Optimization in WCDMA
Networks”, Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Wireless Modelling and
Optimization Workshop (WiOpt’04), March 2004.

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