UMTS Load Metrics for a Policy-Based Vertical Handover Framework

In most European countries, UMTS networks have been set up and completely cover urban areas. At the beginning of UMTS, there were only a few users but with a special pricing policy, the number of users is increasing drastically. A few providers already offer flat rates for UMTS and their networks get more and more crowded. Therefore, an efficient radio resource management (RRM) is one of the key aspects. In UMTS, the capacity is limited by the allowed NodeB transmit power on the downlink, the interference on the uplink, and the number of used channelization codes. In this technical report, we will show how to examine both loads and furthermore, compute the code utilization.