Experimental investigation of WCDMA uplink transmit power for practical usage scenarios

This paper presents an empirical investigation into WCDMA uplink (UL) transmit power for various indoor/outdoor locations. Specifically, the statistics of UL transmit power measured in different locations over a commercial UMTS network are provided and compared. Similar locations are then grouped to form four practical mobile usage scenarios, and their empirical probability distribution functions are analyzed. Further, we investigate the impact of typical handset positions (next to the ear and using a Bluetooth headset) on the UL transmit power levels. The results presented in this paper can be useful for not only optimizing a WCDMA handset design for the UMTS network, but also predicting battery life and examining WCDMA coverage.