RSCP

In the UMTS cellular communication system, Received Signal Code Power (RSCP) denotes the power measured by a receiver on a particular physical communication channel. In CDMA systems, a physical channel corresponds to a particular spreading code, hence the name (Received Signal Code Power). 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.

It is used as an indication of signal strength, as a handover criterion, in downlink power control, and to calculate path loss.

Received Signal Code Power – RSCP, the received power on one code measured on the Primary CPICH. The reference point for the RSCP shall be the antenna connector of the UE. If Tx diversity is applied on the Primary CPICH the received code power from each antenna shall be separately measured and summed together in [W] to a total received code power on the Primary CPICH. If receiver diversity is in use by the UE, the measured CPICH RSCP value shall not be lower than the corresponding CPICH RSCP of any of the individual receive antenna branches.

Applicable for Idle, URA_PCH intra, URA_PCH inter, CELL_PCH intra, CELL_PCH inter, CELL_FACH intra, CELL_FACH inter, CELL_DCH intra, CELL_DCH inte

RSSI

Received Signal Strength Indicator – RSSI is a value that takes into account both RSCP and Ec/I0. It is usually given in dBm and can be calculated as follows:

where Ec/Io is the ratio of the received energy per chip (= code bit) and the interference level, usually given in dB.

In case no true interference is present, the interference level is equal to the noise level.