RSRP and RSRQ

In cellular networks, when a mobile moves from cell to cell and performs cell selection/reselection and handover, it has to measure the signal strength/quality of the neighbor cells. In LTE network, a UE measures two parameters on reference signal: RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality).

RSRP is a RSSI type of measurement. It measures the average received power over the resource elements that carry cell-specific reference signals within certain frequency bandwidth. RSRP is applicable in both RRC_idle and RRC_connected modes, while RSRQ is only applicable in RRC_connected mode. In the procedure of cell selection and cell reselection in idle mode, RSRP is used.

RSRQ is a C/I type of measurement and it indicates the quality of the received reference signal. It is defined as (N*RSRP)/(E-UTRA Carrier RSSI), where N makes sure the nominator and denominator are measured over the same frequency bandwidth;

The carrier RSSI (Receive Strength Signal Indicator) measures the average total received power observed only in OFDM symbols containing reference symbols for antenna port 0 (i.e., OFDM symbol 0 & 4 in a slot) in the measurement bandwidth over N resource blocks. The total received power of the carrier RSSI includes the power from co-channel serving & non-serving cells, adjacent channel interference, thermal noise, etc.

The RSRQ measurement provides additional information when RSRP is not sufficient to make a reliable handover or cell reselection decision. In the procedure of handover, the LTE specification provides the flexibility of using RSRP, RSRQ, or both.

Ref. 3GPPP 36.214