RSCP
Encyclopedia
In the UMTS cellular communication system, received signal code power (RSCP) denotes the power
measured by a receiver
on a particular physical communication channel. It is used as an indication of signal strength
, as a handover criterion, in downlink power control
, and to calculate path loss
. In CDMA systems, a physical channel corresponds to a particular spreading code
, hence the name.
While RSCP can be defined generally for any CDMA system, it is more specifically used in UMTS. Also, while RSCP can be measured in principle on the downlink as well as on the uplink
, it is only defined for the downlink and thus presumed to be measured by the UE
and reported to the Node B.
Power (physics)
In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit...
measured by a receiver
Receiver (radio)
A radio receiver converts signals from a radio antenna to a usable form. It uses electronic filters to separate a wanted radio frequency signal from all other signals, the electronic amplifier increases the level suitable for further processing, and finally recovers the desired information through...
on a particular physical communication channel. It is used as an indication of signal strength
Received signal strength indication
In telecommunications, received signal strength indicator is a measurement of the power present in a received radio signal.RSSI is a generic radio receiver technology metric, which is usually invisible to the user of the device containing the receiver, but is directly known to users of wireless...
, as a handover criterion, in downlink power control
Power control
Power control, broadly speaking, is the intelligent selection of transmit power in a communication system to achieve good performance within the system. The notion of "good performance" can depend on context and may include optimizing metrics such as link data rate, network capacity, geographic...
, and to calculate path loss
Path loss
Path loss is the reduction in power density of an electromagnetic wave as it propagates through space. Path loss is a major component in the analysis and design of the link budget of a telecommunication system....
. In CDMA systems, a physical channel corresponds to a particular spreading code
Direct-sequence spread spectrum
In telecommunications, direct-sequence spread spectrum is a modulation technique. As with other spread spectrum technologies, the transmitted signal takes up more bandwidth than the information signal that is being modulated. The name 'spread spectrum' comes from the fact that the carrier signals...
, hence the name.
While RSCP can be defined generally for any CDMA system, it is more specifically used in UMTS. Also, while RSCP can be measured in principle on the downlink as well as on the uplink
Uplink
A telecommunications link is generally one of several types of information transmission paths such as those provided by communication satellites to connect two points on earth.-Uplink:...
, it is only defined for the downlink and thus presumed to be measured by the UE
UE (wireless telephone)
In the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System and 3GPP Long Term Evolution , user equipment is any device used directly by an end-user to communicate. It can be a hand-held telephone, a laptop computer equipped with a mobile broadband adapter, or any other device...
and reported to the Node B.