Question 6

There are various steps/process involved in cellular network planning,

dimensioning and optimisation including link budget and capacity planning. State
the importance of each planning process and tabulate various input parameters
and performance metrics used by the cellular operator. Identify the software
planning tools and necessary steps taken by any cellular operator in Malaysia.

Radio Network Planning

This paper introduces the principles of the WCDMA air interface. It provides an
overview on the main aspects of UMTS network planning, including dimensioning,
coverage and capacity planning, and network optimisation.

Uplink Analysis

UMTS system capacity is limited by the amount of mutual interference among the
mobile units that can be tolerated in order to cover a given area, while maintaining a
margin against signal fading and shadowing losses.

For a given service in the uplink, where mobile transmitting and cell receiving, to
achieve specified block error rate, the cell requires certain bit energy to interference
ratio (Eb/No). As the number of users connected to the same cell increase, the
interference (No) increases for all the users, therefore Eb also needs to be increased.
Since users get only limited transmission power, they need to come closer to the cell in
order to have less path loss. On the contrary, if there are fewer users connected to the
same cell, No will decrease and less Eb is needed, therefore users can go further away
from the cell. This section discuss the factors related to reverse link capacity and
coverage

Receiver Sensitivity

The key to reverse link analysis lies in assessing the receiver sensitivity; i.e., the
minimum power (usually expressed in dBm) required per receive diversity branch at
the cell site receiver input. This input (the EAC port) lies at the end of the cable
connecting receiver to antenna; i.e., at the point where the incoming signal has already
suffered cable loss.

The receiver sensitivity is derived through the equation of the link quality as explained
in the following.

Eb/No is the ratio of bit energy to the power spectral density of thermal noise plus
interference. The bit energy is obtained by dividing the received signal power by bit
rate. The interference power spectral density is interference from all other CDMA users,
which composes of contributions from users both within the cell and in other cells. The
thermal noise must be adjusted by the base station noise figure [2].
 Eb S /R S
d= = =G
No α(1+β)( N −1)S FN t W +α (1+ β)( N−1)S
FN t +
W (1.1)

Where
d: the required Eb/No , which is dependant on service type and radio channel condition
Eb: bit energy
No: Power spectral density of thermal noise plus interference
F: base station noise figure.
S: Received signal strength of each user, It is assumed all the users have the same
received power.
Nt: power spectral density of thermal noise
W: Chip rate
: active factor
: interference factor, which is other cell to own cell interference ratio
N: number of mobile station in the cell
R: bit rate of all the users, for simplicity, it is assumed all the users have the same bit
rate
G: processing gain =W/R.

Rearranging the above formula (1.1) we get the receiver sensitivity:

FN t W
S=
G
−α (1+ β )( N −1)
d (1.2)

Pole Capacity

Pole capacity means the maximum theoretical air interface capacity of a CDMA system.
It is seen from equation (1.2), that as the number of users, N, increase, the denominator
approaching zero and the receiver sensitivity approaching infinity. The maximum
allowed number N is called the pole capacity. By setting the denominator in equation
(1.2) to zero, we have

G/d
N max = +1
α (1+ β ) (1.3)

This corresponds to infinite noise rise, in other words, when loading equal to 100%, at it
pole capacity the receiver sensitivity becomes infinite. The relation between cell loading
and noise rise is discussed in next section.

Noise rise due to interference

Replacing G/d in equation (1.2) using equation (1.3) by Nmax, we have

 FN t W
S=
N max α( 1+β )( 1−μ ) (1.4)
For larger number of mobile stations, the above equation can approximated as

FN t W 1
S=
G/d 1−μ (1.5)
where μ=N/Nmax is called cell loading factor. It is seen that the noise rise due to
interference is function of this cell loading. The noise rise is normally expressed in dB,
by the following expression:

Noise rise due to interference [dB] = 10*log(1/(1- μ)) (1.6)

The noise rise as a function of cell loading is plotted in Figure 1-1. The noise-rise
increases rapidly as cell loading over 75%, corresponds to about 6 dB noise-rise. If the
cell loading is over 75%, the system become unstable as small amount of loading
increase causes significant increase in noise rise. On the other hand, 20% load
corresponds to about 1 dB noise-rise. For loading below 20%, there is no significant
benefited in terms of noise-rise, but system capacity will be reduced rapidly. Therefore,
we have a range of 5 dB manoeuvres on cell loading, corresponding to 20 - 70% of the
pole capacity, for the cell radius adjustment. It is recommended to dimension UMTS
network around 50% loading, so there is room for cell breathing to cope with loading
change.

This noise-rise factor gives rise to a desirable flexibility in system operation. It is seen
that the maximum capacity is related to the Eb/No requirement for a given bit rate. As
cell capacity is related to the interference level, its capacity is inherently dynamic. If a
cells load increases, its coverage will decrease, give user got limited transmission
power. Its neighbouring cells coverage will increase naturally absorbing more users if
they are lightly loaded. This is the reason why the capacity is classified as a soft capacity,
opposed to the hard capacity, which corresponds to a capacity limited by technologies
e.g. time/frequency division multiplexing.
 20

18

16

14

12
Noise Rise dB

10

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Cell Loading %

Figure 1.1 Cell Loading vs. Noise rise

Link Budget

A link budget forms the key element for the dimensioning process. This process
provides the cell capacity of a UMTS cell and its radius. The cell radius has to be chosen
to meet the traffic density and the performance level required by the operator. The
traffic density that has to be served by the UMTS network should be composed of
different services and different types of subscriber.

The coverage of a cell, corresponding to a traffic density is defined in this document as

the common coverage of each service and subscribers that are present in the traffic
density.

Being able to calculate the receiver sensitivity, we can derive the link budget formula to
calculate the maximum allowed path loss. The maximum path loss L Path should fulfil the
following equation.

[ S ] dB=Ptx +G antenna −Lcable −Lbody−L path +G antenna −L cable

mob mob BTS BTS

(1.7)

The parameters used are

[S]dB is the receiver sensitivity for given service in dB, as discussed in section 1.1.1.

Ptx is the UE maximum transmitted power. The total output Tx power available from the
user equipment is 21 dBm for voice and 24dBm for data. However, higher classes of UE
with 27dBm and 30dBm have been specified in the UMTS standards.
Gantenna_mob is the UE antenna gain. The mobile equipment has an omni-directional antenna
with 2dBi antenna gain. This is normally assumed for hand held mobiles, but vehicle
mounted antennas may have higher gains.

Lcable_mob is the UE cable loss. A feeder and connector loss of 0.5 dB has to be taken into
account. At the mobile, the loss is negligible in the case of an integral antenna; although
a figure of 1-2dB is typical in the case of vehicle mounted antennas.

Lbody is the user body loss. The power loss due to the location of the Mobile Equipment
antenna and the direction of the antenna shall be taken into account in the radio link
budget. A typical value of the body loss should be 1.5dB (it in fact includes the non ideal
antenna direction). This applies to a handheld mobile. A high-speed data mobile is likely
to be PC mounted and is assumed to reduce body loss to 0dB.

Lpath is the path loss. This is over the air path loss

Gantenna_BTS is the BTS antenna gain. The antenna gain taken into account is the gain of the
antenna in the pointing direction of the directional antenna; which is higher than what
is available at the sector boundary. The coverage and the radio link budget are
consequently not the same at the sectors boundary.

Lcable_BTS is the BTS cable loss, which is dependant of

Resolving this equation for LPath we get the following:

L path=Ptx + G antennamob −Lcablemob −Lbody− [ S ]dB +G antennaBTS−L cableBTS

(1.8)

To account for shadow fading and soft handoff gain, which will be discussed in detail in
chapter 4, the link budget becomes:

L path=Ptx +Gantennamob −Lcablemob −Lbody−[ S ]dB +Gantenna BTS−Lcable BTS+G soft handoff −M shadow
(1.9)

The Shadow fade margin is the additional margin that has to be taken into account so
that the received power level can manage the radio shadowing (e.g. shielding by
vegetation and building) in the outdoor coverage. This margin does not compensate for
building attenuation (i.e. loss of power experienced by indoor users, owing to the radio
waves having to pass through the structure of the building). The value is chosen based
on,

A. The probability that at any point in the nominal cell coverage area, that coverage will
actually be available (i.e. that the designated received power level will be satisfied).

B. The standard deviation of the distribution of received power level, about the mean
calculated from the general path loss formula), owing to local variation in outdoor
shadowing.
Replacing S by equation (1.5), rearranging the link budget equation:

Eb
L path=Ptx + Gantennamob −Lcablemob −Lbody−
( ) N0
dB
−10 *log ( N t W /G ) −10 *log ( 1−μ1 )+G antenna BTS −NF−LcableBTS +G soft handoff −M shadow

(1.10)

Where NF is the noise figure in dB. This is the final equation. Commonly spreadsheets
are used to apply this formula in tabular form. Table 1 gives an example of link budget.

Table 1: Link Budget Example

Bit rate bit/s 12200 64000

Total TX power available dBm 21 21
TX antenna gain dBi 2 2
Body loss dB 2 0
TX EIRP per traffic channel dBm 21 23
RX antenna gain dBi 18 18
RX cable and connector losses dB 3 3
Receiver noise figure* dB 3 3
Thermal noise density dBm/Hz -174 -174
Cell loading % 70 70
Noise rise due to interference dB 5.23 5.23
Total effect of noise dBm/Hz -171 -171
Information rate dBHz 40.86 48.06
Effective required Eb/No dB 5.8 3.22
RX sensitivity dBm -119.16 -114.76
Soft handoff gain dB 4.5 4.5
Fast Fading Margin dB 2.50 2.50
Log normal fade margin dB 11.6 11.6
In-building penetration loss (dense urban) dB 20 20
In-building penetration loss (urban) dB 20 20
In-building penetration loss (suburban) dB 15 15
In-building penetration loss (rural) dB 10 10
Maximum path loss dense urban dB 125.56 123.16
Maximum path loss urban dB 125.56 123.16
Maximum path loss suburban dB 130.56 128.16
Maximum path loss rural dB 135.56 133.16
Maximum path excluding fade and penetration dB 157.16 154.76
Path loss model COST 231 COST 231
Frequency MHz 2000 2000
Base station antenna height (urban+suburban) m 25 25
Base station antenna height (dense m 30 30
urban+rural)
Mobile station antenna height m 1.5 1.5
Maximum cell range COST231 dense urban km 0.3705 0.3169
Maximum cell range COST231 urban km 0.4250 0.3643
Maximum cell range COST231 suburban km 0.9820 0.8416
 Maximum cell range COST231 rural km 2.3106 1.9758
BTS/km2 dense urban 3.7380 5.1118
BTS/km2 urban 2.8412 3.8677
BTS/km2 suburban 0.5322 0.7245
BTS/km2 rural 0.0961 0.1315

When convert path loss to coverage, propagation model is needed. COST 231 model has
been used in calculating the coverage from the maximum allowed propagation loss.
However different propagation models can be used either on customer's request or
after a proper field propagation calibration.

In addition, some headroom is needed in the mobile station transmission power for
maintaining adequate closed loop power control. This applies especially to slow moving
mobiles where fast power control is able to effectively compensate the fast fading. The
impact of the fast fading on the link budget is explained below.

When a mobile is travelling slowly and the fades are apart from each other, the power
control is able to follow the fades perfectly. For this reason we know that from link level
simulation the Eb/No requirement on average for such a channel is rather small.
However, due to this perfection in power control, the standard deviation of Eb/No is very
high, therefore the transmitted power needed will vary widely as the channel changes.
This will mean that we need to add a "fast fade margin" on top of averaged Eb/No to
ensure the service reliability when mobile is at the edge of the cell. This distribution is
not as wide as one might think since there are many signal paths and the rake receiver
is able to combine them in the best way possible, so 2-3 dB is a typical margin.

When the mobile is at high speed however, the Eb/No requirement will be higher in
order to compensate for all the dips in the channel that power control is not able to
follow. Consequently, the standard deviation of Eb/No is relatively small, as the power
control cannot catch up with the channel variation, thus the margin required to account
for transmitted power is very small (negligible) and on the order of 0.5-1dB.

In summary, low speed mobile: small Eb/No requirement and large fast fade margin.
High speed mobile: large Eb/No requirement and small fast fade margin. Based on
simulations, a fast fading margin of 1.5dB is recommend.

When operators plan to provide indoor coverage using outdoor cells, an additional
margin has to be applied to the required service signal level to allow for the attenuation
of the signal when passing into buildings. As the attenuation of radio signals caused by
buildings is function of the magnitude of the radio frequency, the attenuation for UMTS
operating in the 2GHz band is well estimated by that experienced by GSM networks
operating in the 1.8 & 1.9GHz bands. The value of this attenuation is highly variable,
both according to the type of building, and location within the building.
CELL PLANNING PROCESS
Cell planning can be described briefly as all the activities involved in determining which
sites will be used for the radio equipment, which equipment will be used, and how the
equipment will be configured. In order to ensure coverage and to avoid interference,
every cellular network needs planning. The major activities involved in the cell planning
process are depicted in Figure 1-1.

STEP 1: TRAFFIC AND COVERAGE ANALYSIS (SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS)

The cell planning process starts with traffic and coverage analysis. The analysis should
produce information about the geographical area and the expected need of capacity. The
types of data collected are:
• Cost
• Capacity
• Coverage
• Grade of Service (GoS)
• Available frequencies
• Speech Quality Index
• System growth capability
The traffic demand (i.e. how many subscribers will join the system and how much traffic
will be generated) provides the basis for cellular network engineering. Geographical
distribution of traffic demand can be estimated by using demographic data such as:
• Population
• Car usage distribution
• Income level distribution
• Land usage data
• Telephone usage statistics
• Other factors such as subscription charges, call charges, and price of mobile stations

Step 2: NOMINAL CELL PLAN

Upon compilation of the data received from the traffic and coverage analysis, a nominal
cell plan is produced. The nominal cell plan is a graphical representation of the network
and simply looks like a cell pattern on a map. However, a lot of work lies behind it (as
described previously). Nominal cell plans are the first cell plans produced and form the
basis for further planning. Quite often a nominal cell plan, together with one or two
examples of coverage predictions, is included in tenders. At this stage, coverage and
interference predictions are usually started. Such planning needs computer-aided
analysis tools for radio propagation studies, e.g. Ericsson’s planning tools known as the
Ericsson Engineering Tool (EET) or TEMS CellPlanner.

STEP 3: SURVEYS (AND RADIO MEASUREMENTS)

The nominal cell plan has been produced. Next, radio measurements are performed in
order to verify the coverage and interference predictions. The sites where the radio
equipment will be placed are visited. This is a critical step because it is necessary to
assess the real environment to determine whether it is a suitable site location when
planning a cellular network.

STEP 4: (FINAL CELL PLAN) SYSTEM DESIGN

Once we have optimized and can trust the predictions generated by the planning tool,
the dimensioning of the RBS equipment, BSC, and MSC is performed. The final cell plan
is then produced. As the name implies, this plan is later used during system installation.
In addition, a document called Cell Design Data (CDD) containing all cell parameters for
each cell is completed.

STEP 5: IMPLEMENTATION
System installation, commissioning, and testing are performed following final cell
planning and system design.

STEP 6: SYSTEM TUNING

After the system has been installed, it is continually evaluated to determine how well it
meets the demand. This is called system tuning. It involves:
• Checking that the final cell plan was implemented successfully
• Evaluating customer complaints
• Checking that the network performance is acceptable
• Changing parameters and performing other measures (if needed)

ERICSSON SUPPORT FOR CELL PLANNING

Ericsson offers a number of Cell Planning services. These include: License Application
Support, Radio Network Design, Coverage Expansion, High Capacity Planning and
Indoor Cell planning.

References:
ERICSSON CELL PLANNING DOCUMENTS