Chapter 2

Physical-layer Cell Identity (PCI) Planning guidelines

Synchronization signals
– Technical background to PCI
One frame (10 ms)

6 resource blocks
(62 center sub-carriers)

PSS SSS

› Two synchronization signals transmitted once every 5 ms

› Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS)
– Subframe #0 and #5
– Centre six resource blocks (62 subcarriers)
– OFDM symbol #6 (FDD)
› Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS)
– Subframe #0 and #5
– Centre six resource blocks (62 subcarriers)
– OFDM symbol #5 (FDD)

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PCI Planning
Physical Cell ID = PSS ID + 3*SSS ID

› The function of Physical Cell IDs in LTE is similar to that of scrambling

codes in UMTS. The Physical Cell ID is unique with the area served by
any transmitter. It identifies the cell in cell search and mobility functions
such as cell reselection and handover.

› The physical cell identity has a range of 0 to 503 (total of 504 PCIs) and it
is used to scramble the data to help the UE separate information from the
different cells.

› The Physical Cell ID determines the primary and secondary sync signal
sequence.

– Primary Synchronization Signal ID (PSS ID) is in the range from 0 to

2

– Secondary Synchronization Signal ID (SSS ID) is in the range from 0

to 167. This is what constitutes the physical layer cell identity groups.

– Physical Cell ID = PSS ID + 3*SSS ID

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PCI planning
› Goal:-
– The goal of the Physical Cell ID planning process is to automatically
assign both the PSS ID and SSS ID to cells in the network and
automatically compute their corresponding Physical Cell IDs without
causing potential conflicts in the serving areas of the cells.
› Reason:-
– When conflicts (duplicates) in Physical Cell IDs occur within the
serving area of the cells, performance issues will occur that will have
a massive impact not only to how network resources are utilized but
also lead to a degradation of the end user experience of the LTE
network.

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PCI
Group #0 Group #1 Group #2 Group #167
PCI0 PCI3 PCI6 PCI501
PCI1 PCI2 PCI4 ID5 PCI7 PCI8 PCI502 PCI503

› Corresponds to a specific RS sequence

› 168 Cell-Identity groups with 3 Cell Identities per group
– 168  3 = 504 Cell Identities
– Identity within Cell Identity group
– 3 orthogonal RS sequences per group
› Step 1: PSS signal
– 3 different sequences possible
– Used to determine 5 ms timing
– Used to determine identity within Cell Identity group
› Step 2: SSS signal
– 168 different sequences possible
– Used to determine frame timing
– Used to determine Cell Identity group
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Cell specific frequency shifts
Shift = 0 Shift = 1 Shift = 5

………

› There are six possible frequency shifts of RSs

› The frequency shift is given by shift,i = PCIi mod 6
› Different shift,i should be used in adjacent cells when using RS
power boosting
› For example, PCIi = 0  PCIi = 6, 12, 18, … are not optional
combinations for adjacent cells
› However, if applying the rule that k should be different in
adjacent cells, this will also lead to different shift,i in adjacent cells

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PSS and SSS combinations
› For each cell, PCIi = 3Sj + Pk
– i = 0 … 503
– j = 0 … 167 group
– k = 0 … 2 ID

› The sequence for the SSS signal is generated as follows:

– m0 = m’ mod 31
– m1 = [m0+INT(m’/31)+1] mod 31
– m’ = Sj+q(q+1)/2
– q = INT((Sj+q’(q’+1)/2)/30); q’ = INT(Sj/30)

› This is valid for TDD and FDD for the case when cells are
synchronized

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PCI Generation

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PCI Planning- General Rules
› It is important to note that the Physical Cell IDs are to be planned
only after the network is design-optimized using a radio network
planning tool with RF dominance established.
› By using a Planning tool for the PCI planning, it takes the
propagation environment into consideration to reduce the possibility
of Physical Cell ID conflicts which is usually the case when physical
cell IDs are planned without consideration for the propagation
environment.
› The process should accomplish the following:
– Prevents cells with the same Physical Cell ID from overlapping
– Takes into consideration the neighbor cell relationships in the
assignment of Physical Cell IDs
– Provides a method for reserving codes for use with new LTE sites in the
network to avoid a total re-plan of the Physical Cell ID

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PCI Planning – Basic
Conditions
› Existing Neighbors - Enabled:
– This enables the use of the neighbors for the physical cell ID planning.
› Min Reuse Distance - Enabled:
– The minimum distance acts as an additional check to make sure that after the
neighbor list has been considered, Physical Cell IDs are only re-used after the
specified min distance. Note that this is an optional step as a much wider
distance was used for the neighbor list generation which is used for the
physical cell ID planning.
› SSS ID Allocation Strategy -
– For Example:- Using the same SSS ID per site allows for better management
and trouble shooting in the network. This is applicable when we have a
maximum of three sectors per site. It also allows for optimal synchronization
times in the system.

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PCI planning
– Main strategy options

There are two main strategy options:

› Neighboring sites are grouped into clusters, and each cluster is assigned a
limited number of Code Groups. Each site is assigned a specific Code
Group and each sector a specific Color Group

› Random planning i.e. PCI plan that does not consider PCI grouping and
does not follow any specific reuse pattern

The first strategy option is recommended to use for two basic reasons:
– Plan for future expansions i.e. when there are new sites to be added to the
existing network
– Avoid non-optional PCI combinations for adjacent cells

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 PCI planning
PCI Spacing of
8 Within Site

PCI Spacing of
4 Within Site

› PCIs are split into 168 site groups of 3 sectors

› Plan devised to avoid adjacencies within a site and allow sufficient
reuse between sites
› Site groups should be reserved for special purposes, e.g. in-building
and PLMN borders or for future expansions
› Structured planning used to minimize possibility of interference
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PCI planning
– Site clusters 0 0
12

2
0

1
P0

0 13

0 2 1 0
P1 P2
2 1 1 14

0 0 2 1 0
2 2 1 16 15

0 2 1 0 2 1 0 2 1
4 3 17
0 0 0
2 1 2 1 19 2 1 18
5

k=0  Color group 0

0 2 1 0 2 1 0 2 1
7 6 20

2 1 0 0 2 1 0
8 2 1 22 21
0 2 1 9
0 2 1
23
0 2 1 0
0 k=1  Color group 1
Assign a color group 10

k=2  Color group 2

2 1 0 2 1 0 2 1 0 0
11 24 2 2 1 1
to each sector and a 2 1 0 2 1 25
0
2 1 0 2 1
26 3
code group per site 2 1 27 0 2 1 5 0 2 1 4
0

0 2 1 0 0
29 28 2 1 6 2 1

2 1 0 2 1 0 0
30 8 2 1 7
0 2 1 0 0
32 31 2 1 9 2 1

2 1 0 2 1 0
33 10 2 1

2 1 0 0
34 2 1 11
0 2 1
35 2 1

2 1

› Typically 10-15 3-sector sites in a cluster

› Use a subset of the code groups in each cluster
› If there are 35-40 code groups available, PCIs may be repeated every third
cluster
› Structured planning like this eliminates the risk of having the same k or
frequency shift in the same site, in adjacent cells or pointing at each other
› Also the risk of having conflicting SSS sequences in adjacent cells is
reduced
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UL Reference signal and pci
› LTE uplink shared data channel (PUSCH) carries
Demodulation Reference Signal (DM RS).
› The uplink DM RS are constructed from Zadoff-Chu (ZC)
sequences which are divided into 30 groups.
– This means that for a given number of PRBs allocated in the uplink
there are 30 different base sequences that can be used as the
reference signal.
– The cross-correlation between the base sequences is on average
low, which is beneficial from inter-cell interference point of view. It
follows that the planning requirement is that the neighboring cells
should be allocated different base sequences.

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Methodology: PCI mod 30
› The simplest method is to ensure that PCI mod30 of
potentially interfering cells is different. This is because in the
simplest scheme the DM RS base sequence index is equal
to u =PCI mod30, where u = 0 . . . 29 is the base sequence
index.

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Planning Example
› An evaluation of the preliminary PCI plan is attached from
the WG meeting # 09.

Adobe Acrobat
Document

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PCI Planning Summary
› To minimize interference and delayed synchronization times:
1. Avoid using the same PCIs within the same site and as neighbors
– A planning tool could be used to determine the PCI.
– Distance is considered to assign PCIs to new sites
– An audit should be performed to ensure the PCI allocation is clean i.e. no clashes for a neighbor of
a neighbor.

2. Uplink interference is calculated by the mod30 of the PCI. Avoid using

the same mod30 number within the 2nd tier sites.

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