Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

Evaluations of High Power User Equipment (HPUE) in Urban Environment

Kasidis Arunruangsirilert, Pasapong Wongprasert, Jiro Katto

TL;DR

This study addresses the uplink performance limitations of mid-band 5G NR in dense urban environments by evaluating High Power User Equipment (HPUE) across SA and NSA deployments. It uses firmware-modified UEs to compare HPUE Power Classes 2 and 1.5 under various antenna configurations, measuring uplink throughput, modulation efficiency, Re-Transmission rate, and power consumption in real-world Bangkok deployments. The results show that HPUE provides modest gains for Single-Tx in SA, but meaningful uplink throughput and reliability improvements for Dual-Tx SA and NSA, at the cost of higher RF power and reduced battery life; HPUE benefits are less pronounced in NSA due to power budgeting across carriers. The work highlights deployment and interference considerations, suggesting operator-tuned p-max and future network-simulation studies with interference mitigation to optimize QoE and spectral efficiency in urban HPUE scenarios.

Abstract

While Time Division Duplexing (TDD) 5G New Radio (NR) networks offers higher downlink throughput due to the utilization of the middle frequency band, the uplink performance is negatively impacted due to higher path loss associated with higher frequencies, which degrade the users QoE in less optimal conditions. With the growing demand for high performance uplink throughput from novel applications such as Metaverse, Internet of Things (IoTs) and Smart City, 3GPP introduced High Power User Equipment (HPUE) on 5G TDD bands, allowing UEs to utilize more than 23 dBm of power for transmission to improve throughput, QoE, and reliability, especially at the cell edges. In this paper, the performance of HPUE is evaluated in the urban area on a commercial 5G network in terms of Uplink Throughput, Modulation Efficiency, Re-transmission Rate (ReTx Rate), and Power Consumption in both Standalone (SA) and Non-Standalone (NSA) modes. Through modem firmware modification, the performance is also compared across different power classes and antenna configurations.

Evaluations of High Power User Equipment (HPUE) in Urban Environment

TL;DR

This study addresses the uplink performance limitations of mid-band 5G NR in dense urban environments by evaluating High Power User Equipment (HPUE) across SA and NSA deployments. It uses firmware-modified UEs to compare HPUE Power Classes 2 and 1.5 under various antenna configurations, measuring uplink throughput, modulation efficiency, Re-Transmission rate, and power consumption in real-world Bangkok deployments. The results show that HPUE provides modest gains for Single-Tx in SA, but meaningful uplink throughput and reliability improvements for Dual-Tx SA and NSA, at the cost of higher RF power and reduced battery life; HPUE benefits are less pronounced in NSA due to power budgeting across carriers. The work highlights deployment and interference considerations, suggesting operator-tuned p-max and future network-simulation studies with interference mitigation to optimize QoE and spectral efficiency in urban HPUE scenarios.

Abstract

While Time Division Duplexing (TDD) 5G New Radio (NR) networks offers higher downlink throughput due to the utilization of the middle frequency band, the uplink performance is negatively impacted due to higher path loss associated with higher frequencies, which degrade the users QoE in less optimal conditions. With the growing demand for high performance uplink throughput from novel applications such as Metaverse, Internet of Things (IoTs) and Smart City, 3GPP introduced High Power User Equipment (HPUE) on 5G TDD bands, allowing UEs to utilize more than 23 dBm of power for transmission to improve throughput, QoE, and reliability, especially at the cell edges. In this paper, the performance of HPUE is evaluated in the urban area on a commercial 5G network in terms of Uplink Throughput, Modulation Efficiency, Re-transmission Rate (ReTx Rate), and Power Consumption in both Standalone (SA) and Non-Standalone (NSA) modes. Through modem firmware modification, the performance is also compared across different power classes and antenna configurations.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 9 sections, 8 figures, 3 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Experiment Environment
  3. User Equipment (UE)
  4. Network Environment
  5. Results and Analysis
  6. Uplink Throughput and Modulation
  7. Re-Transmission Rate
  8. Power Consumption
  9. Conclusions and Future Work

Figures (8)

  • Figure 1: Simulation: Uplink Throughput (Mbps) vs Distance (m) by Frequency Bands. Dual-Tx for Frequency Bands >1 GHz and Power Class 3 were assumed.
  • Figure 2: Simulation: 5G Uplink Throughput (Mbps) vs Distance (m) from Base Station (m) when using AIS configs.
  • Figure 3: Field Test: Map of Pop Bus Route Two. Green pins represents gNodeB locations.
  • Figure 4: Field Test: UE Placement
  • Figure 5: Field Test: 5G Standalone (SA) Results
  • ...and 3 more figures