Soft dropping power control

This article considers a power control algorithm for cellular communications systems in which a user´s link (dB) quality objective, as measured by the signal to interference ratio (SIR), varies with its transmitter power. In particular, as increased interference or reduced uplink gain leads a mobile to raise its transmitter power, that mobile lowers its SIR target. In this way, the likelihood of an infeasible power control problem in which users´ transmitter powers rise to maximum is reduced. This graceful degradation of the SIR is termed soft dropping. Convergence proofs for a soft dropping power control algorithm are outlined. Simulation results demonstrate performance improvements over fixed target SIR algorithms