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1.1 Introduction
This document is intended to guide RF Design engineers during Site Surveying, RF Planning
and Design. It is also intended to help optimisation engineers understand the process and
methodology of the RF planning group.
1.2 Purpose
The purpose and objectives of these guidelines are to: -
• Standardize the way RF design is implemented irrespective of region or area.
• Provide assistance to RF engineers in ensuring RF design is done in a deterministic
manner.
These guidelines are not intended to detail advanced RF or GSM concepts but rather to look
into all the processes and variables of RF design in practical situations.
The overall objectives of any RF Design depend on a number of factors that are determined
by the needs and expectations of the customer; the resources made available by the customer;
any service levels determined by the contract with the customer but only insofar as they affect
the RF Design; and the resources that are available at the Technical Centre or Business Unit
that is responsible for the RF Design. Generally speaking the RF Design should satisfy the
following criteria :-
a) Maximising coverage
b) Providing sufficient capacity
c) Providing an acceptable quality of service
d) Minimising cost
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2.2 Providing sufficient capacity
Initial network design provides a baseline capacity, usually calculated from preliminary
market research or estimates of subscriber count. This baseline capacity may account for
known traffic hot spots, such as in business area, busy road intersections or transport hubs,
and provide a very good grade of service. Upon turn-on, real-life traffic may exceed the
network’s baseline capacity in some areas and the RF Design would then need to increase the
capacity, by installing more base stations or channels, or improve the service level, usually by
installing more base stations. The overall measure of the network’s ability to carry its
subscriber load during peak hours is the grade of service, usually based on a maximum of 2%
or 5%.
Beside coverage and capacity, proper RF planning involves giving due consideration to
providing good quality service in term of voice quality, access time, etc. This can be done by
reducing interference - co-channel, adjacent channel and intermodulation, through proper
frequency planning, optimising and antenna/site location. Access time and other variables
like control channel congestion can be reduced through proper LAC design and control
channel configuration.
All the above three should be done in the most cost-effective way, while keeping within the
budgetary constraints. These constraints may be defined either by a cap on the number and
type of base stations; or by ensuring a particular service level over as large a geographical
area as possible; or by ensuring that the combined equipment, transmission and spectrum
costs of the design do not exceed a fixed amount.
3.7 RF Design
The RF design engineer for that particular region would then decide from the information
that he has the type of antenna to be used, the antenna height above ground level, the antenna
orientation, the antenna mechanical or electrical downtilt if required and the base station
maximum transmit power. The comments and coverage weaknesses is also decided upon. ‘
Analysis Report’ as shown in figure 3.8 is then filled up. For analysis purpose also added
along are the terrain height and morphology of the area.
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6.0 Grid Design
The grid is a graphical way of representing the equal signal contours of the cell sites within a
given system so that the selection of such sites can be controlled and optimized. From the
graphical relationship between the sites and the way signals attenuate as they travel from the
site, relationships can be drawn which describe the theoretical limits in system performance if
the sites were placed exactly as intended.
urban sub-urban
D
R
Rural
Normal practice in network planning is to choose one point of a well known re-use model as
a starting point. From this cell, other cells are created around it. It becomes necessary to use
cells of varying size. As one move from high density area like urban environment to low
density area like rural environment, the cell size should increase as shown above.
The distance between co-channel sites using 4 reuse pattern is 3*R (D/R=3) with a carrier to
interference ratio of 13.6dB.
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7.0 Antenna Configuration
There should be a minimum separation (isolation) between transmitter and receiver antennas
to avoid receiver desensitization which is a reduction in receiver sensitivity. The further apart
they are kept the better the isolation would be, but due to space constraint and to avoid
imbalance in the uplink and downlink path, it is best to have a compromise.
The horizontal or vertical separation for side by side sectored antenna with a horizontal
beamwidth of 60 degrees should be at least 0.5 to 1 meters. The isolation for this distance is
more than 54dB.
1 meter
Tx
Rx Tx 0.5 meter
Rx
The separation for sectored antenna with a bigger horizontal beamwidth (> 60 degrees)
should be 1 meter or more.
The horizontal and vertical separation for omni antennas where one is above and the other is
below, the same horizontal plane should be 0 meters or more - refer to the diagram below:-
Tx
0 meter
0 meter
Rx
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For omni antenna, vertical isolation is much more effective than horizontal isolation. If
possible, putting both the receiver and transmitter omni antennas on the same horizontal
plane should be avoided.
The above contention is also applicable for antennas of different systems - ETACS
transmitter and GSM receiver.
The isolation A between antennas in the 900MHz band is given by the formula :-
Horizontal spacing - A = 31.6 + 20log(d) - (Gt + Gr) dB
Vertical spacing - A = 47.3 + 40log(d) dB
where
d - distance
Gt - transmitter gain
Gr - receiver gain
Duplexer can be used if there is a space constraint. Both the receiver and transmitter path
would be through the same antenna.
In cases where the antennas have already been installed and does not confine to the above
specification, GSM receive bandpass filter with better bandpass rejection would be able to
overcome the desensitization problem.
Receive diversity is used on the air interface of GSM systems to partially overcome the
effects of fading. It is implemented on the receiving end of the uplink by the use of two
horizontally-separated receive antennas and a diversity receiver, which when correctly
installed, cause a reduction in the link BER and hence an improvement in the speech quality
which results in an apparent gain in the link, called ‘diversity gain’.
The actual value of the diversity gain depends on propagation conditions and the performance
of the diversity receiver; however, its variation with the mobile’s direction from the receive
antennas can be characterized. The diversity gain is greatest for calls made by mobiles
located equidistant from the two horizontally-separated receive antennas, as shown below.
GRX1
line of greatest
diversity gain
(ie diversity direction)
GRX1
This line of greatest diversity gain is referred to as the diversity direction and the two receive
antennas should be orientated so as to provide the greatest diversity gain to areas that would
benefit most from it. In the following picture the coverage should be along the road and
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towards the city, so the diversity direction is a compromise between covering the road and
covering the city, and in this example would be approximately 220°.
250 o
R iver
C ity 190 o
C ity
220 o
ay
Motorw
Omni Antennas
In the case of omni directional antennas the diversity direction is defined as the direction that
is perpendicular to the line joining the two receive antennas and 90° clockwise from the
antenna labeled GRx0 (see figure below).
6
3 me
ters m
inim
u m div
ersity
s pacin
g
Diversity Direction
GRXO
GRX1
D iversity D irection
20 o
R0
R1
R1
R0
D iversity D irection
200 o
Sectorised Antennas
The spacing between the antennas, as shown below, needs to be maintained at a minimum of
three meters while allowing for some reorientation of the antennas during optimization. The
diversity separation is defined as the perpendicular distance between the axes of the two
receive antennas, and, of course, coincides with the sector orientation.
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D iversity D irection
3 m eters m inim um
(allow for reorientation)
Always keep the antennas at least 10 - 20 wavelengths (3 - 6 meters) away from any obstacles
along the propagation paths. If possible try to achieve propagation over the top of them by at
least 5 - 10 wavelengths (1.5 - 3 meters). The first Fresnel zone must always be kept free.
For rooftop sites, it is always preferable to install sectored antenna at the edge of the rooftop.
This would help avoid obstacles like guide wires, TV antennas, air-conditioning hardware
and people walking in-front of them.
Refer to below:-
h
D
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Distance (D) to obstacle edge Height (h) above roof (obstacle)
0 -1 m 0.5 m *
1 - 10 m 2m
10 - 30 m 3m
> 30m 3.5 m
* If possible, use 2m as the minimum height if there is a risk that people can walk
close to the antenna.
The separation between an omni antenna and tower structure should be at least 3 meters.
One of the essential RF design criteria is deciding whether a site needs to be sectorised.
The main reason sites are sectorised is to fight against interference. By having the RF
propagation confined in a certain direction, a more efficient use of the RF bandwidth can be
utilised. Sites can be designed much closer and as such a higher traffic capacity can be
catered for. Sites are usually sectorised in urban areas. The other advantages of sectored sites
are 5-6dB more gain, the ability to customise a particular area in terms of power and
optimisation parameters more efficiently, and better suited for roof-top sites where if the
antennas were situated at the side of a roof-top, with the same ERP, the coverage would
better than that of omni antenna situated at the center of a roof-top.
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cards for BTS, etc. can be avoided. Also for the same number of transceivers, omni sites
requires less control channels and has a higher Erlang value. Refer to table in section 12.0.
For three transceivers and assuming the same number of control channels is required, the
Erlang value for omni site is 14.897 in comparison with the Erlang value of 3*2.936=8.808
for 3 sectored site with one transceiver each.
The TX antenna should be placed above the RX antenna(s) to ensure optimal performance.
L.A.
GTX
3000 2700
1500
* 300
3000
GRX1
GRX0
* 300mm for clamping
-ALL MEASUREMENTS IN mm (NOT TO
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L.A.
GTX
3800
3500
1500
GRX1
3000
GRXO
* 300
500 1500
A1 B1 C1 D1 A2 B2 C2 D2 A3 B3 C3 D3
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62
63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74
A1 B1 C1 D1 A2 B2 C2 D2 A3 B3 C3 D3
39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62
63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74
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A pattern/color is given to each group for easy visualization as below :-
A!
A1 Group A Group B
A3
A2
Group C Group D
In an omni configuration system, the above table would be for a n=12 (12 reuse pattern).
Since the frequency carrier for BCCH is continuously transmitted at maximum power, to
reduce interference, the BCCH carrier should be alternated between two or more frequency,
example for A1 group it should be alternated between 39, 51 and 63. Also, cells with the
same BCCH and BSIC should be kept far apart.
For auto frequency plan - using ,etc. to do the frequency calculation, a specific frequency
management chart is not required. Nonetheless the below specification for minimum
frequency spacing needs to be adhered to:-
a) In the Cell 600 kHz (example - 51,54)
b) Between 2 co-site cells 400 kHz (example - 51,53)
c) Between 2 neighbouring cells 200 kHz (example - 51,52)
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Alternate use of BCCH frequency would definitely assist in reducing interference.
9.0 Linkbudget
Linkbudget is a calculation to balance the uplink and downlink signal strength. The effect of
this calculation is basically applicable only in places where the signal level is very low
(below -95dbm) - usually at the fringe of a cell.
In mobile communication environment the mobile ERP is the limiting factor, i.e. Up link
limited. The losses/gain due to the following components equally affect both up & down
links, so these components have negligible effect on the path balance equation. The common
components are BS (Base station) cable loss, BS connector loss, BS antenna gain, MS
(Mobile station) antenna gain, MS cable loss, Body/polarization loss.
Down Link equ. PApwr - Comb. Loss- Other losses = -102 dBm (mobile recv. Sens.)
Up Link equ. Mob. ERP- Div. Gain- Other losses = -104 dBm (Base recv. Sens.)
*
PApwr -Comb. Loss = Mob. ERP + Div. Gain - 102+104
= 33 dBm + 4 dB + 2 dB
= 39 dBm
* RBS 918 uses Max ratio combining scheme (MRCB) for which 4 dB Diversity gain is
conservative.
Accompanying table is provided to illustrate above calculations. PApwr in the table is before
the combiner. Attenuation factor for Filter combiner = 2.1 dB, for Hybrid combiner = 4.8 dB.
Uplink Downlink
MS/BS transmit pwr 33 42 dBm before combiner
MS/BS transmit ERP 33 48.9 dBm
BS comb. loss -2.1 dB
BS cable loss -3 -3 dB
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BS connector loss -1 -1 dB
BS Antenna gain 13 13 dBd
MS Antenna gain 0 0 dB
MS cable loss 0 0 dB
BS diversity gain 4 dB
Fade Margin -6 -6 dB
Body/polarization loss -4 -4 dB
BS/MS Recvr. sens. -104 -102 dBm
Max. Path loss 140 140.9 dB
Path imbalance -0.9 0.9
Uplink Downlink
MS/BS transmit pwr 33 44 dBm before combiner
MS/BS transmit ERP 33 48.2 dBm
BS comb. loss -4.8 dB
BS cable loss -3 -3 dB
BS connector loss -1 -1 dB
BS Antenna gain 13 13 dBd
MS Antenna gain 0 0 dB
MS cable loss 0 0 dB
BS diversity gain 4 dB
Fade Margin -6 -6 dB
Body/polarization loss -4 -4 dB
BS/MS Recvr. sens. -104 -102 dBm
Max. Path loss 140 140.2 dB
Path imbalance -0.2 0.2
The PA power setting of 40 dBm (10 Watts) will result in a balanced up & downlink.
An alternate method is to increase the PA power setting to its maximum and adjust the
minimum access threshold of the BTS. In such a situation though the BTS might be
transmitting at a higher power level, the MS would be able to access the system only if the
uplink is strong enough. The advantage of using it is two fold - the coverage would increase
by a few dB (though not much by itself, it is being obtained at no additional cost) and not
allowing the MS to access the system until a good quality call is able to be supported.
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10.0 Interference
The carrier to interference ratios for co- and adjacent channels are specified as :
C/I = 9dB minimum (co-channel)
C/I = -9dB minimum (adjacent channel)
The definition for co-channel interference in GSM system is that a cell on the same channel
can cause interference, if the serving cells signal level is only 9dB higher than the interfering
signal. For adjacent channels, interference can be caused if the neighbouring cells signal level
is 9dB higher than the serving cell.
Due to fading an additional 12 dB margin has been added to support good quality call:-
C/I = 21 dB (co-channel)
C/I = 3 dB (adjacent channel)
11.0 Traffic
Traffic intensity is usually measured through the Erlang formula. There are two variables
which determines the traffic intensity, total attempts and average holding time:-
Erlang = (average holding time * total attempts)
where the unit for average holding time is in hours.
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For design purposes only busy hour Erlang is put into consideration. The GOS (Grade of
Service) is usually set to either 2% or 5%.
The above table indicates for 2 transceivers configured with 14 traffic channel, a 2% blocking
would occur during busy hour when traffic reaches 8.2 Erlang/hour.
Erlang/Subscriber for cells is obtained by adding all the cells busy-hour Erlang value and
dividing it with the number of subscribers. The average Erlang/Subscribers in this region is
approximately 35 mE.
12.0 Intermodulation
For any two signals, f1 and f2 applied to a non-linear device, other signals will be produced
at :
f1m = + mf1 + nf2
where m = 0, 1, 2, …
n = 0, 1, 2, …
Order of IM = m + n
The third order IM usually causes the most interference.
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12.3 Site Intermodulation
Site intermodulation occurs if the non-linearity was caused by a device that one would
normally consider to be passive. This would include things like rusty or corroded hardware,
air-conditioners, ventilation duct, etc. Care should be taken to point antenna away from any
of this.
To protect any equipment a good grounding and lightning protection system need to be
implemented. The essential issues that need to be adhered to are :-
a) All metal objects and major elements of the system such as booms, cable ladders, tower,
transmission cables, all equipment in the room/cabin need to be grounded to a single
point. This is done to create an equal potential area so that arcing doesn’t occur between
two metal object.
b) The grounding cable path to earth should be the shortest and most direct avoiding any
sharp turn. This would ensure lightning would reach earth as soon as possible and at the
same time inductance which is created by a sudden bend of the cable would be avoided
c) A lightning arrestor should be installed at the highest location and the rest of the
equipment such as antennas should fall within the zone of protection as shown below:-
cone of protection
100 meters
Though lightning may breakthrough this cone of protection, chances of it occurring would be
reduced.
14.0 LAC Design
The basic function of Location Area Code (LAC) is to indicate to MSC which area a
particular mobile is in. The system need to know this for paging purposes especially for
incoming calls for the mobile. If the whereabouts of the mobile was unknown then system
wide paging would have to take place which is inefficient. LAC design should be based on
two criteria:-
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a) The LAC design should be done in such a way that MSC would be able to locate a MS as
quickly and with as little processing as possible. This is dependent on the geographical
area. As remote area have less traffic, its LAC area should be bigger in comparison with
urban area. The main aim should be to have an approximate equal distribution of traffic
between the different LAC.
b) There should be as few LAC updates as possible. Since LAC updates is done on SDCCH
channel in idle mode and is processed in MSC, too many LAC updates would cause
congestion on SDCCH channel and take up the processing capacity of MSC. LAC design
on a single high traffic highway as shown below where many LAC updates would occur,
should be avoided.
LAC 1
Q : Why can’t statistical propagation models such as CellCAD, PLANET, , etc. give a highly
accurate prediction model for urban areas taking into account individual buildings?
Statistical prediction model based their calculation on median signal for each pixel. An
average building height, building spacing, rooftop diffraction, etc. is used for urban
morphology. The prediction characteristics would be the same across the board. Urban areas
for example in Ipoh and Penang would have the same morphology values. Assuming the
same terrain height, a higher resolution map for urban morphology would not improve the
prediction because individual buildings height and spacing is not defined in it.
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Ray tracer technique which is usually used for microcell design takes into account individual
buildings. However Ray tracer technique would require higher resolution maps (<10m) with
individual buildings dimensions.
Q : Why do analog systems like ETACS able to provide better coverage than digital systems
like GSM even if both of them are transmitting at the same ERP?
Though modulation does not have any effect on propagation characteristics, analog system is
able to operate at lower receive level in comparison with digital system. The receiver
sensitivity of analog system is in the region of -117dBm, where else for digital system it is -
104dBm.
Q : Since diversity improves with distance between the receiver antennas, why shouldn’t the
antennas be kept as far apart as possible ( >15 meters)?
Beside space constraint and losses due to the length of RF cable, by keeping the receiver
antenna further apart than necessary especially in urban areas, the uplink coverage would be
better than the downlink in areas that are closer to the receiver antennas.
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1200 antenna might be the better choice. It would definitely provide better coverage.
Remember there is no additional gain, for smaller beamwidth antenna.
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