Cell Reselection Parameter Optimization in UMTS

With UMTS deployments well underway, one of the key performance metrics is standby time. In idle mode, standby time depends on the cell reselection mechanism. Operators can adjust stand-by time and camping cell quality performance by optimizing operator-configurable cell reselection parameters to, for instance, differentiate their service from others. In this paper, the impact of these parameters is investigated based on diverse field data from different characteristic RF environments (e.g. outdoor, indoor, low/high speed, pilot/not pilot polluted) collected in commercial networks. Performance metrics (camping cell quality, relative standby time) are computed for different parameter sets using a simulation platform that makes efficient use of over-sampled channel measurements to improve reliability and includes a standby-time model described below. Simulation results illustrate the tradeoffs for different parameter settings in different RF environments. Interestingly, camping cell quality and standby time do not always run in opposite directions.