Coverage and Capacity Planning

Radio Planning and
Dimensioning
1
Cellular
Engineering
2
Radio Network Planning Area
3
Objectives of Cellular Engineering
• Adequate coverage -Contiguous coverage of the required areas without

appreciable holes
• Adequate depth of coverage (i.e. outdoor or indoor, 1 W or 8 W mobiles)
to meet the companies marketing plans.
• Traffic handling capacity
Accommodating traffic in the busiest hour with only a low probability of blocking.
• Quality of Service (QOS) -Adequate service quality across the required
areas (i.e. calldrop, congestion, setup success rate, voice quality levels) to
meet the companies marketing plans.
• Network growth accommodation: -Extension of coverage to new areas
-Expanding the network capacity so that the quality of service is
maintained at all times.
• Cost effective design:
Lowest possible cost over the life of the network while meeting the quality targets.
4
Design Constraint
5
Design Constraint (1)
GSM Specific Parameters :

The GSM-specific parameters have been taken from the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) recommendation dealing
with radio transmission and reception:
Frequency bands
Mobile Station (MS) transmit power
Base Transceiver Station (BTS) transmit power
Receiver sensitivities of the MS and BTS
Carrier-to-Interference ratios (C/I)
Equalizer performance.
6
Design Constraint(2)
• Manufacturer specific parameters

The main manufacturer specific parameters are:
BTS transmit power
Receiver sensitivity
Combiner performance
Cable losses
Antenna performance
Availability of frequency hopping and power control functions
Handover algorithms
Capacity: number of transceivers (TRXs) provided per BTS.
7
Design Constraints (3)
• Radio communication Some of the fundamentals are:

– Propagation loss
– Shadowing
– Multipath fading
– Time dispersion
– Power link budgets
– Interference effects
– The (un)predictability of radio wave propagation .
• Budgetary factors The following budgetary factors are important:

– Governed by business plan
– Limited by shareholders investment resources
– Need to identify those areas for coverage which will maximize return on
investment
8
Radio Planning Methodology
The radio planning methodology consists of:

• Define design rules and parameters
• Set performance targets
• Design nominal plan
• Implement cell plan
• Produce frequency plan
• Optimize the network
• Expand the network.
9
Mystery of Decibel
12
deciBel Definition
Power
 P P ( dB )
dB  10 log  [ Plin. ]  10 10
Voltages  P0 
E E ( dB )
dB  20 log  [ E lin. ]  10 20
 E0 
Plin.=Elin.² / 2
13
deciBel Conversion
• Calculations in dB (deciBel)
• Logarithmic scale -30 dBm = 1 W
• Always with respect to a reference -20 dBm = 10 W
– dBW = dB above Watt
– dBm = dB above mWatt -10 dBm = 100 W
– dBi = dB above isotropic
– dBd = dB above dipole
-7 dBm = 200 W
– dBV/m = dB above V/m -3 dBm = 500 W
• Rule-of-thumb:
– +3dB = factor 2
0 dBm = 1 mW
– +7 dB = factor 5 +3 dBm = 2 mW
– +10 dB = factor 10
+7 dBm = 5 mW
+10 dBm = 10 mW
+13 dBm = 20 mW
+20 dBm = 100mW
+30 dBm = 1 W
+40 dBm = 10W
+50 dBm = 100W
14
Warming-up: The decibel definition
Decibel is a relative comparison between numbers... whatever the numbers are!
P1
A(dB)  10  log10
P2
Absolute comparison in decibel between numbers... whatever the numbers are!
P
A(dBunity)  10  log10
Punity
P P
A(dBW)  10  log10 A(dBm)  10  log10
1 Watt 1 milliWatt
dBm = dBW + 30
15
The mystic of decibels
Arithmetic operations Decibel operations

3 • 2= 6
   dB + dB  dB
5 dB + 3 dB = 8 dB Multiplying numbers means
adding the numbers in decibels
8 ÷ 4= 2
   dB - dB  dB
9 dB - 6 dB = 3 dB Dividing numbers means
subtracting the numbers in decibels
16
The mystic of decibels
Power absolute Power absolute

Decibel operations
linear scale logarithmic scale
40 mW 16 dBm 13 dBm + 3 dB = 16 dBm  dBm + dB  dBm

16 dBm - 3 dB = 13 dBm  dBm - dB  dBm
3 dB
3 dB
16 dBm - 13 dBm = 3 dB  dBm - dBm  dB
20 mW 13 dBm 13 dBm + 16 dBm = 29 dBm  dBm + dBm
794 mW Undefined!
1 mW 0 dBm
20 mW + 40 mW = 60 mW 18 dBm
17
Struggling against decibels
Power - absolute
logarithmic scale
+
- 74 dBm - 86 dBm  -(74 dBm + 86 dBm )
- 70 dBm
Linear scale
- 74 dBm
Undefined!
10-74/10 0.000000039 mW
+
- 80 dBm 10-86/10 0.0000000025 mW
0.0000000415 mW
- 86 dBm Logarithm scale
- 90 dBm 10 • log (0.0000000415) = -73.8 dBm
18
Radio Propagation Aspects
19
Free Space Attenuation
Principle The free-space attenuation refers to the decay of the signal,

travelling in free-space, as a function of the distance of the receiver from the transmitter.
20
Isotropic Power Radiation
21
Practical Path Loss
22
Steep Path Loss Slope
Typical path-loss slope In a mobile radio medium, n is usually assumed to be 4;

which results in a typical path-loss slope of -40 dB/decade.
23
Radio Channel Main Characteristics
• Linear
– In field strength
• Reciprocal
• Dispersive
– In time (echo, multipath propagation)
– In spectrum (wideband channel)
direct path
echoes
amplitude
delay time
24
Reflection, Diffraction and
Scattering
25
Propagation Mechanisms (1/2)
Free-space propagation
– Signal strength decreases exponentially with
distance
D
Reflection
• Specular reflection
amplitude A  a*A (a < 1)
phase f  -f
polarisation material dependant
phase shift
specular reflection
• Diffuse reflection
amplitude A  a *A (a < 1)
phase f  random phase
polarisation random
diffuse reflection
26
Propagation Mechanisms (2/2)
Absorption
– Heavy amplitude
– Attenuation material
– Dependant phase shifts
– Depolarisation
A A - 5..30 dB
Diffraction
– Wedge - model
– Knife edge
– Multiple knife edges
27
Scattering Macrocell
Scattering local to mobile

– Causes fading
– Small delay and angle spreads
– Doppler spread causes time varying effects
Scattering local to base station
– No additional Doppler spread
– Small delay spread
– Large angle spread
Remote scattering
– Independent path fading Scattering to base station
– No additional Doppler spread
– Large delay spread
– Large angle spread
Scattering to mobile
Remote scattering
28
Time dispersion
• Echoes due to multipath propagation

– 1 s  300 m path difference
• GSM  equalizer in the receivers

– Time window of 16 s (~ 4.8 km path difference)
– 2-path-model as “worst case” situation
– Standardized delay profiles in GSM specs:
• TU3 typical urban at 3 km/h (pedestrians)
• TU50 typical urban at 50 km/h (cars)
• HT100 hilly terrain (road vehicles)
• RA250 rural area (highways)
– No hard limitation at 250 km/h
29
Delay Spread
Multipath Channel impulse

propagation response
1. P
1.
=> 2.
2. 3. 4.
t
”GSM window” = 16 s
Maximum delay,
f1 4th floor based on equaliser
f1 3rd floor
<= Equaliser enables the use of
f1 2nd floor
DAS
f1 1st floor (Distributed antenna systems)
BTS
30
Delay Spread
Typical values
Environment Delay Spread (s)
Macrocellular, urban 0.5-3
Macrocellular, 0.5
suburban
Macrocellular, rural 0.1-0.2
Macrocellular, HT 3-10
Microcellular < 0.1
Indoor 0.01...0.1
31
Fading
• Average trend ~ 35 – 50 dB / decade (path loss)

• Slow fading: Caused by shadowing. Typically log-normal distributed (σ around 8 – 11
dB)
• Fast fading: Caused by local scatters near mobile. Typically Rayleigh distributed
• Time-selective fading: Short delay + Doppler
• Frequency-selective fading: Long delay
• Space-selective fading: Large angle
32
Fading Slow & Fast
Slow fading (Log-normal fading)

– Shadowing due to large obstacles on
the way
Fast fading (Rayleigh fading)
level (dB)
– Destructive interference of several
signals +10
– “fading dips”, “radio holes”
0
-10
-20
920 MHz
-30 v = 20 km/h
0 1 2 3 4 5m
33
Fading Slow & Fast (2)
power
Rayleigh
fading
+20 dB lognormal
fading
mean
value
- 20 dB
2 sec 4 sec 6 sec time
34
Fading Gaussian Distribution
• Most general form of distribution

– Superposition of several processes with any distribution function will always converge
towards a Gaussian distribution
– Applicable to all natural processes, also to slow fading
• Mean value m, standard deviation 
35
Fading Rayleigh Distribution
• Applicable to fast fading in obstructed paths
r r2
p( r )  2 exp(  )
 2 2
36
Path Loss
• Basic loss formula loss at reference point (e.g. 1km)
L = L0 + *log(d) losses are exponential with distance
• Clutter loss factors EIRP level
• Land-usage classes (in dB/decade) coupling loss

• e.g.: = L0
free space 20 dB/dec reference
open countryside 25 dB/dec distance
20 dB/dec
suburban areas 30 dB/dec
urban area 40 dB/dec 40 dB/dec 30 dB/dec
historic city centre >45 dB/dec
0,1 km 1 km 10 km
37
Path Loss Signal Attenuation
25 dB/dec
20 dB/dec
30 dB/dec path loss
40 ..50 dB/dec
38
Path Loss Mixed Path Loss
• Mixed land usage types on propagation path
open: 25 dB/dec urban: 40 ..50 dB/dec open: 25 dB/dec

signal
level
actual
signal level open area curve
urban curve
distance
39
Radio
Network
Planning
Process
40
Module objectives
At the end of this module you will be able to …
 DESCRIBE THE RADIO NETWORK PLANNING PROCESS
 DESCRIBE THE MAJOR TASKS IN THE PLANNING PROCESS
 DESCRIBE THE PLANNING TOOLS FOR DIFFERENT PHASES
 DESCRIBE THE INPUT AND OUTPUT DOCUMENTS (DATA)
 DESCRIBE THE PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
41
Content of Planning Process
 INTRODUCTION AND PRE-PLANNING
 DETAILED PLANNING
 POST-PLANNING
 DOCUMENTATION
 MEASUREMENTS
42
Network Planning
Customer requirements External information sources

• topo- & morphological data
• coverage requirements
• population data
• quality of service
• bandwidth available
• recommended sites
• frequency co-ordination
• subscriber forecasts
• constraints
Network planning team
• data acquisition Interactions with
• site survey and selection
• external subcontractors
• field measurement evaluation
• site hunting teams
• NW design and analysis
• measurement teams
• transmission planning
• Operator
• switch planning engineers
Network design
• number and configuration of BS
• antenna systems specifications
• BSS topology Network performance
• dimensioning of transmission lines • grade of service (blocking)
• frequency plan • outage calculations
• network evolution strategy • interference probabilities
• quality observation
43
Network Planning Process
PRE- POST-
DETAILED PLANNING
PLANNING PLANNING
Network Coverage Parameter Network

Capacity Requirements
Configuration Planning and Planning Optimization
and Site Selection
Dimensioning Traffic distribution Area / Cell Survey
Service distribution specific measurements
Requirements Propagation Allowed blocking/queuing
and strategy measurements System features
Coverage Handover Statistical
for coverage, strategies performance
quality and prediction
analysis
capacity, Maximum
per service network Quality
Site
loading Efficiency
acquisition External Interference
Coverage Analysis Availability
optimization Other RRM
Identification
Adaptation
44
Network Planning Process
external inputs:
(traffic, subs. forecast,
coverage requirements...)
nominal cell plan
suggestions for
Initial NW dimensioning
site locations
TRX, cells, sites
cell parameters
bandwidth needed
coverage achieved
NW topology
coverage prediction
signal strength
multipath propagation
go to create cell
frequency data for Site N
planning BSC pre-validation
field measurements
site inspection
real cell plan
field measurements
planning N
site accepted ?
criteria fulfilled?
N
45
Network Planning Process : Site Building
issue search area

& requirements on air!
find suitable
site candidates
installing & testing

calculate coverage
range of each candidate
propagation construction work

measurements
needed ?
transmission get building permit

links available? sign contract
with site
owner
46
Network Planning Process Site Acquisition
site acquisition
radio agent
site owner
planner
measurement network
teams operator
fixed network
planner architect
47
Pre-planning: Dimensioning Key Quantities
• Key quantities for radio network dimensioning (EXCEL tool)

– # of BS needed for coverage reasons
– # of BS needed for capacity reasons
– Outage probabilities/percentages
– Frequency re-use rate (vs. interference)
– Bandwidth used
• Design goals are inter-dependant
– Network can only be optimised with respect to one single aspect
Design goals to be applied must be clearly

agreed with customer!
48
Pre-planning: Dimensioning Target
Antenna height?
AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC
FREQUENCY BAND- AND REUSE
NUMBER OF BASE STATIONS (CAPACITY)
PROPAGATION PREDICTIONS
ANTENNA HEIGHT (CAP. & COV.)
MAXIMUM ANTENNA HEIGHT
ANTENNA HEIGHT FOR PLANNING AREA
PROPAGATION PREDICTION
NUMBER OF BASE STATIONS FOR
PLANNING AREA (CAPACITY OR COVERAGE LIMITED)
49
Pre-planning: Dimensioning Limiting factors
capacity
# of BS
coverage
T0 time
• Before T0, the network is coverage limited

• After T0, the network is capacity limited
• The other constraint is automatically fulfilled
At the very beginning, just the coverage

planning is needed
50
Pre-planning: Dimensioning: Network Expansion
• When the network is coverage limited, the expansion consists of:

– Adding new sites in not already covered areas
• When the network is capacity limited, the expansion consists of:
– Adding TRX’s;
– Adding new sites in already covered areas;
– Adding software capacity...
51
Dimensioning Input Data Preliminary Questions
• Main purpose of the network?

– 1st operator in country  plain coverage?
– 2nd operator  competitive pricing?
– 3rd operator  replacing wire line phones?
• Roamer volumes expected?

– Where?
• Neighbouring countries
– Existing international regulations?
• Use of microwave links for transmission?
Each network philosophy calls for a

different planning approach
52
Dimensioning Input Data Morpho data
Maps
– Main cities
– Important roads
– Location of mountain ranges
– Inhabited area
– Shore lines
Local knowledge
– City skylines
– Typical architecture
– Structure of city
– Local habits
53
Dimensioning Input Data Demographic Data
Statistical yearbook
– Largest towns, cities
– Population distribution
– Where are expected customers?
Local knowledge 2 mill.
– Population migration routes 250 000 pop. pop.
– Commuting traffic volumes

– Subscriber concentration points
400 000 pop.
400 000 pop.
300 000 pop.
54
Dimensioning Input Data Coverage Requirements
• Roll-out phases & time schedules

• Coverage level requirements
• Indoor coverage areas
phase 1
• MS classes to plan for NW launch
• Operator´s cell deployment
strategies
– Omni-cells in rural areas?
– 3-sector cells in urban areas?
– Minimum of 2 TRX per cell?
rollout
rollout
phase 3
phase 2
55
Planning Process
 POST-PLANNING
 DOCUMENTATION
 MEASUREMENTS
56
Detailed Planning
• Configuration planning
• PBGT calculations (EXCEL tool)
• BTS and antenna line equipment
• Coverage planning / Site selection
• Coverage thresholds (NetAct Planner)
• Coverage predictions (NetAct Planner)
• Prediction model tuning (NetAct Planner))
• Propagation slope measurements (TOM/Nemo)
load_vec
ind2 
 load ind2  start
N  N_start 
• Antenna directions (NetAct Planner)

dt
The cell load
8
• Capacity planning
6
Number of reserved timeslots

4
• CS, PS traffic (NetAct Planner) 2
• Signaling needs (NetAct Planner)

12 12.2 12.4 12.6 12.8 13
Time / hours
• Frequency planning
• Reuse factor and C/I requirements (NetAct Planner)
D
• Parameter planning (BSSPAR course) R
• BSC, BTS, TRX, TSL parameters (NMS/NetAct)
57
Configuration Planning
• Configuration planning
• PBGT calculations
• DL: TX power, combiner, booster, duplexer,
diplexer, cable, power amplifier, antenna
• UL: antenna, diversity, LNA, cable, diplexer,
duplexer, RX sensitivity
• BTS type (macro/micro, outdoor/indoor, GSM/EDGE/3G)
• SW features (FH, IFH, ...)
58
Coverage Planning
• Coverage thresholds
• DL Path loss: TX power (max.) - RX power (min.) - margins
• BTS type (macro/micro, outdoor/indoor, GSM/EDGE/3G)
• SW features (FH, IFH, ...)
• Coverage predictions
• Prediction model (Okumura-Hata)
• BTS-MS distance (max.) = cell range = coverage
• Site selection (documentation)

• Antenna height, location (x,y), direction
• BTS location => cable length
• PWR, TRS!!!
59
Site Selection Criteria
Non-radio criteria
Radio criteria
• Space for equipment
• Good view in main beam direction
• Availability of leased lines or
• No surrounding high obstacles microwave link
• Good visibility of terrain • Power supply

• Room for antenna mounting • Access restrictions?
• LOS to next microwave site
• House owner
• Short cabling distances
• Rental costs
60
Site Selection General Considerations
• Proper site location determines usefulness of its cells

• Sites are expensive
• Sites are long-term investments
• Site acquisition is a slow process
• Hundreds of sites needed per network
Base station site is a valuable

long-term asset for the operator
61
Site Selection Bad Site Location
• Avoid hill-top locations for BS sites

– Uncontrolled interferences
– Interleaved coverage
– Awkward HO behaviours
– But: good location for microwave links!
wanted cell uncontrolled, strong

boundary interferences
interleaved coverage areas:

weak own signal, strong foreign signal
62
Site Selection Good Site Location
• Prefer sites off the hill-tops

– Use hills to separate cells
– Contiguous coverage area
– Needs only low antenna heights if sites are slightly elevated above valley bottom
wanted cell
boundary
63
Site Selection Site Info
Collect all necessary information about site details

– Site coordinates, height above sea level, exact address
– House owner
– Type of building
– Building materials (photo)
– Possible antenna heights
– 360deg photo (clearance view)
– Neighbourhood, surrounding environment
– Drawing sketch of rooftop
– Antenna mounting conditions
– Access possibilities (truck?, road, roof)
– BS location, approx. feeder lengths
64
Site Selection & Site Survey Tools
• Map
• (D)GPS
• (Test) mobile
• Digital camera
• Binoculars
• Compass
• Clinometers and tape measure
• LOS checking tools: lights, mirrors, flags, balloons
65
Capacity Planning
load_vec
ind2 
N N_start 
• Capacity planning dt
The cell load
8
• TRXs/cell .
• TRX layer purposes 6

• BCCH, GPRS, ...
• TSL reservations for 4
• signaling, HSCSD, GPRS, ...

• Signaling needs 2
• SDCCH, PCH, AGCH, ...

0
12 12.2 12.4 12.6 12.8 13
• Special SW features for TCH Time / hours
• FH, extended cell, ...

• Special SW features for signaling
• dynamic SDCCH, ...
66
Frequency Planning
• Frequency planning
• Reuse factor for speech and data (GPRS)
• C/I requirements for BCCH/TCH TRX
• Special requirements for intermodulation
• Interference probability targets
• Frequency band splitting needs
• Automatic frequency planning (AFP) D
• interference matrix
R
• measurements
• calculation areas
67
Parameter Planning
• Parameter planning (BSSPAR course)

• BSC level parameters
• BTS level parameters
• TRX level parameters
• TSL level parameters
• Signaling related parameters

• RRM related parameters
• MM related parameters
• Measurement related parameters
• Handover related parameters
• Power control related parameters
• Other SW feature related parameters
• HSCSD, GPRS
• Extended cell
• Dual band, Half rate, IUO/IFH
68
Planning Process
 POST-PLANNING
 DOCUMENTATION
 MEASUREMENTS
69
Post - Planning
• Verification or pre-optimisation ADCE

•BTS
•HOC ADCE
• Coverage tests (TOM/Nemo) •POC
• Call setups •BTS

•HOC
•BTS
•HOC
• Handover tests •POC •POC
• Monitoring ADCE
• KPI values (Traffica)

• Drop call rates
• Blocking percentages
• Handover success rates
• Traffic in Erlangs
DX-cause
MS BTS BSC
• Optimisation CH. REQUEST

(RACH)
IMMEDIATE
ASSIGN(AGCH)
SERVICE REQUEST
Phase 1 : Paging, initial MS
• KPI values (SDCCH)

AUTHENTICATION
(SDCCH) Phase 2 : MM signalling
• Plan audit (configurations, ...) CIPHERING MODE

(SDCCH)
TMSI REALLOCATION
Phase 8 : Ciphering
• Counters (Network doctor) (SDCCH)

SETUP (SDCCH)
ASSIGNMENT (SDCCH-
Phase 2 : MM signalling
• Observations (DX causes) FACCH)
CH.RELEASE
Phase 3 : Basic assignment
Phase 4 : Release
• IMSI tracing ALERTING & CONNECT

(FACCH)
CONN. ACK. and
Phase 2 : MM signalling
MEASUREMENT Phase 15 : Conversation

DISCONNECT & RELEASE
(FACCH) Phase 4 : Release
70
Planning Process
 POST-PLANNING
 DOCUMENTATION
 MEASUREMENTS
71
Site Selection / Site Survey Documentation
• SARF
Site Acquisition Request Form
• SIR/SAR
Site Information (Acquisition) Report
• TSS report
Technical Site Survey Report
• TDRS
Technical Data for Radiating System
• ...
72
Radio Network Plan Output Documentation
• SITE FOLDER
– BTS configuration
– Antenna line configuration
• PARAMETER SET
– BTS ID, Frequency, NCC, BCC, LAC, neighbours
– Default parameters
• MONITORING REPORTS
– Traffic history (TCH, signaling)
– KPI values (DCR, blocking, ...)
73
Planning Process
 PRE-PLANNING
 POST-PLANNING
 DOCUMENTATION
 MEASUREMENTS
74
Measurements Types
• Propagation measurements
– Check coverage area of site,
propagation model tuning detailed planning
– Site candidate evaluations
– Test transmitter, mast antenna
– CW- signal
• Functional test
– After commissioning of site
– Coverage audit pre-optimisation
– Parameter checking (HO, power control ...) phase “dry run”
• Performance measurements
– Drive tests
– Real network under live conditions
commercial phase
– The user´s view
75
Measurements Choice of Routes
– Stay within coverage area of cell
• Functional tests
– Radial from site into neighbouring cells
– Check handovers in & out of cell
– Define a random route once
– Drive repeatedly
(comparable results !)
76
Measurements Results
– Signal averaging
– Lee´s criterium: min. 50 samples per 40 
– Estimate accuracy of prediction
• database resolution
• correct information
• Functional tests
– Identify incorrect parameter settings
– Check missing HO relations
– Detect misbehaviour of network
– Calculate call success rate
– Key performance indicators
– Evaluate network behaviour under nominal conditions
77
Configuration
Planning
78
Objectives
At the end of this module, the participant will be able to:

• List the different elements used in the GSM network.
• Calculate the power budget.
• Describe how to balance uplink and downlink directions in the power
budget.
79
BTS : Functions
• Base station transceiver

• maintain synchronisation to MS
• GMSK modulation
• RF signal processing (combining,
filtering, coupling...)
• diversity reception
• radio interface timing typ.
typ.1..4
1..4TTRX
RX
1..3
1..3sectors
sectors
• detect access attempts of
avg.
avg.7,5
7,5traffic
trafficchannels
channelsper
perTTRX
RX
mobiles supports
supportstyp.
typ.300
300users
users
• de-/ encryption on radio path
• channel de-/ coding & interleaving on radio path
• perform frequency hopping
• forward measurement data to BSC
80
Nokia BTS Family
Nokia MetroSite Nokia MetroHub Nokia MetroSite

Base Station Transmission Node Battery Backup
Nokia MetroSite Nokia Nokia FlexiHopper

Antennas MetroHopper Radio Microwave Radio
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e
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ta
l
k F
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e
xi
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k+ I
n
tr
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k C
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yt
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k E
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,Si
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e Connected to FXC RRI or Connected to FXC RRI or
2T
RX 2T
RX 6 T
RX 6
TR
X S
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p
po
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ys
te
m FC RRI indoor unit. FC RRI indoor unit.
81
BTS Configurations
RF Characteristics Metrosite PrimeSite InSite Flexitalk Intratalk Citytalk Ultrasite

EDGE
Max. TRXs 4 1 1 2 6 6 6
Max. TRXs Special 12 12 108
Cabinet
Max. Sectors 4 1 1 1 4+4+4 4+4+4 36+36+36
Max TX Power 30 38 22 42 42 42 42
(dBm)
Dynamic sensitivity -106.0 -106.0 - 100 -102/-108 -102/- -102/ - - 108.5/ -
(dBm) single branch, 108 108 109
RBER2<2%
82
Antenna Systems
83
Far Field Distance
• Transport mechanism
electromagnetic energy transport by constant exchange between
electrical and magnetic field : “E-wave” and “H-wave”
E- field
H- field
Poynting- vector (energy) : E x H

• E- and H-wave are perpendicular at distances larger than the far field
distance (“plane wave”)
2 D2
rR 

84
Coupling Losses
• Energy in antenna only partly converts to

electromagnetic waves
• Radiated energy is only a fraction of received

energy
• Radiated energy is measurable only in a “reference

distance” from antenna
(minimum = far field distance!)
• Coupling losses are ~ 50 ... 60 dB for first few

meters, then use “free-space propagation” losses
85
Antenna Systems
• Antennas on base station

– receiver antenna
– receiver diversity antenna
– transmit antenna
• Transition point to / from radio

wave propagation
• “Best possible signal”
Take every effort to make optimum

use of the available signal
86
Antenna Categories
• Omnidirectional antennas
• same radiation patterns in all directions
• useful in flat rural areas.
• Directional antennas
• concentrate main energy into certain direction
• larger communication range
• useful in cities, urban areas, sectorised sites
87
Antennas
Eurocell panels
mounted on a church.
Eurocell F-Panels
mounted on the wall of
an industrial building.
88
Antenna Types
• Dipoles
– most general type: omnidirectional
• Arrays
– combinations of many smaller elements
– high gains, special radiation patterns,
– “phased array” antennas ( ---> smart antennas )
• Yagi
– very common, high gain, directional antennas
– often used as TV- antennas
• Paraboles
– very high gain, extremely narrow beam-widths
– commonly used for line-of-sight paths (satellites...)
89
Antenna Characteristics
• Antenna gain
the measure for the antenna´s capability to transmit /
extract energy to/ from the propagation medium (air)
– dB over isotropic antenna (dBi)
– dB over Hertz dipole (dBd)
• Antenna gain depends on

– mechanical size: A
– effective antenna aperture area: w
– frequency band
microwave ant. : w ~ 50 .. 60 %
optical ant. : w ~ 80 .. 85 %
4
Antenna gain : G  2 A w

90
Antenna Characteristics
• Lobes
H- plane E- plane
– main lobes
– side / back lobes
– front-to-back ratio
• Halfpower beam-width Input 7 /16” female

(3 dB- beam width) Connector position bottom
Frequency range 870 - 960 MHz
• Antenna downtilting VSWR < 1,3
Gain 15,5 dBi
• Polarisation Impedance 50 Ohm
Polarisation vertical
• Antenna bandwidth Front-to-back-ratio > 25 dB
• Antenna impedance Half-power beam width H-plane: 65° / E-plane: 13°
• Mechanical size Max. power 500 Watt (50 °C ambient temp.)

Weight 6 kg
– windload
Wind load frontal : 220 N (at 150 km/h)
lateral: 140 N (at 150 km/h)
Max. wind velocity rear : 490 N (at 150 km/h)
Packing size 1410 x 270 x 140 mm
Height / width / depth 1290 / 255 / 105 mm
91
Radiation Patterns
• Example: patterns for high-gain directional antenna
Horizontal pattern Vertical pattern
92
Antenna Down Tilting 5..8 deg
• Antenna (down-) tilting

– improve spot coverage
– signal attenuation
– 30 .. 40dB/decade
– reduce interference
– signal attenuation
– ~20dB/decade
• What is the difference between electrical and mechanical down

tilt?
93
Coupling Between Antennas
• Horizontal separation
– needs approx. 5 distance for sufficient decoupling main lobe
– antenna patterns superimposed if distance too
close
• Vertical separation
distance of 1 provides good decoupling values
good for RX /TX decoupling
5 .. 10 
• Minimum coupling loss
1
94
Installation Examples
• Recommended decoupling
– TX - TX: ~20dB 0,2m
– TX - RX: ~40dB
• Horizontal decoupling distance depends on

antenna gain omnidirectional.: 5 .. 20m
horizontal rad. pattern directional : 1 ... 3m
• Omnidirectional antennas
– RX + TX with vertical separation (“Bajonett”)
– RX, RX div. , TX with vertical separation (“fork”)
Vertical decoupling is much more effective
95
Installation Examples
• Directional antennas
– sectorised sites
– three-sector cell with RX
diversity
– horizontal separation
96
Antenna Cables
• Cable types
– coaxial cables : 1/2”, 7/8”, 1 5/8”
– losses approx. 10 .. 4 dB/ 100m jumper
==> power dissipation is exponential with cable length ! ! (2 m)
• Connector losses approx. 1 dB per connection (jumper

cables etc..)
• Thick antenna cables
lower losses per length
40 .. 70m
large bending radii
much more expensive
jumper
(2 m)
Keep antenna cables short
97
Antenna Cables
• Typical values for antenna cables
Type diameter 900MHz 1800MHz
(mm) dB/100m dB/100m
3/8” 10 10 14
5/8” 17 6 9
7/8” 25 4 6
1 5/8” 47 2 3
98
Nearby Obstacles Requirement (1/3)
99
Height Clearance vs Antenna Tilt

h (m)
9,0
8,0
7,0 h
h
From 0 up to 6 down
tilt
6,0
5,0
4,0
3,0
2,0
1,0
0,0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Roof Edge d (m)
100
101
Diversity Techniques
• Time diversity t interleaving
• Frequency diversity f frequency hopping
• Space diversity multiple antennas
• Polarisation diversity crosspolar antennas
• Multipath diversity equaliser,

rake receiver
102
Diversity Reception
• Selection diversity
• Maximum ratio combining

– pre-detector combining: G1 1
– ==> add signals in correct C/N Phase

phasing measuring measuring +
• C/I- improvement
G2 2
G3 3
104
Coverage Improvement?
• Diversity gain depends on environment

• Is there coverage improvement by diversity ?
– antenna diversity
• equivalent to 5dB more signal strength
• more path loss acceptable in link budget
• higher coverage range
A 1,7 A ??
R(div) ~ 1,3 R 70% more coverage per cell ??
needs less cells in total ??
R
True only (in theory)

if environment is infinitely large and flat
105
Link Budget
106
Link Budget
• Link budget calculations consist of two parts:

– 1) Power budget calculations
– 2) Cell size evaluations
• Communication must be two-way
Power budget must

be balanced
107
Link Budget Factors
• In addition to BTS and MS powers and sensitivities, several other factors

need to be taken into account when doing Link Budget calculations
• These factors can be classified into three categories:
– 1) Link Budget loss factors
– 2) Link Budget gain factors
– 3) Link Budget margins
108
Link Budget Loss Factors
• At base station
• connectors
• cables
• isolator cables &
connectors
• combiner
• filter ~3..5 dB losses
==> 50 ..70% of
many meters
signal energy is lost
• At mobile station before even reaching
• body loss the transmit antenna
• polarisation of antenna
filter
combiner
BS output
109
Link Budget Gain Factors
• Antenna gain
• half-power beamwidth
• mechanical size
• antenna types
• Diversity gain
– Diversity can be implemented in many ways
• Frequency hopping
– Improves average link quality, but is not typically taken into
account in link budget calculations
110
Link Budget Margins
• Fast fading margin

– Fast variations in field strength levels that are caused by multipath
reception has to be taken into account in calculating the maximum
allowable path loss
• Slow fading margin

– Slow fading that is caused by shadowing has a direct effect on the
location probability; this has to be taken into account in evaluating
cell sizes
• Penetration losses
111
Power Budget: Downlink
Antenna
Gain = 16dBi
36 dBm
52 dBm
path loss = 154 dB
Feeder
Loss = 4 dB
- 102 dBm
40 dBm
Rx Sensitivity
- 102 dBm
combiner
loss = 5
dB WLL subscribers
Tx Power
45 dBm (20W)
112
Power Budget: Uplink
Antenna
Gain = 16 dBi
Diversity
- 101 dBm Gain = 4 dB
- 121 dBm
Feeder path loss = 154 dB

Loss = 4 dB
33 dBm
- 105 dBm
Tx Power
33 dBm (2W)
Rx Sensitivity
-105 dB
WLL subscribers
113
Power Budget Calculations
RADIO LINK POWER BUDGET MS CLASS: 1
GENERAL INFO
Frequency (MHz): 1800 System: GSM1800
set starting parameters here
RECEIVING END: BS MS
RX RF-input sensitivity dBm -106,00 -100,00 A
Fast fading margin dB 3,00 3,00 B
Cable loss + connector dB 4,00 0,00 C
Rx antenna gain dBi 15,00 0,00 D
Diversity gain dB 4,00 0,00 E
Isotropic power dBm -118,00 -97,00 F=A+B+C-D-E
Field strength dBµV/m 24,00 45,00 G=F+Z*
* Z = 77.2 + 20*log(freq[MHz])
TRANSMITTING END: MS BS
TX RF output peak power W 1,00 25,00 can BS provide
(mean power over RF cycle) dBm 30,00 44,00 K output power needed ?
Isolator + combiner + filter dB 0,00 4,00 L
RF-peak power, combiner output dBm 30,00 40,00 M=K-L
Cable loss + connector dB 0,00 4,00 N
TX-antenna gain dBi 0,00 15,00 O
Peak EIRP W 1,00 125,90
(EIRP = ERP + 2dB) dBm 30,00 51,00 P=M-N+O
Isotropic path loss dB 148,00 148,00 Q=P-F
path loss shall be balanced
114
Coverage
Planning
115
Module objectives
 DEFINE COVERAGE THRESHOLD
 DESCRIBE DIFFERENT COVERAGE PLANNING MARGINS
 LOCATION PROBABILITY
 PENETRATION LOSS
 CALCULATE COVERAGE AREAS
116
Coverage Threshold Basics
• Based on the calculated maximum allowed path loss in PBGT, the coverage
threshold can be defined
• Coverage threshold depends on margins related to
• Location probability (= slow fading)
• Fast fading / Interference degradation
• Polarization / Antenna orientation loss
• Body loss
• Penetration losses (vehicle or building)
117
Coverage Threshold DL Calculation Process
“Real” maximum
allowed path loss From power budget calculations
EIRP -
Minimum allowed receiving level –
Slow fading and other margins – function (location probability)
Building penetration loss function (morphological area)
= Maximum allowed path loss => Coverage threshold


Cell radius Okumura-Hata

Cell area function (morphological area)
118
Coverage Threshold Location Probability
• Outages
• due to coverage gaps Pno_cov
• due to interferences Pif
• Total location probability in a cell
(1- Pno_cov) * (1- Pif)
• Both time and location probability
• Typical required values are 90-95%
Full coverage of an area can never be

guaranteed!
119
Coverage Threshold Slow Fading Margin
• When calculating cell radius, LP is 50% by the cell edge and ~75% over
the cell area
• To get 90% LP, the cell radius has to be reduced
1
0,9
0,8
0,7  
0,6
0,5
0,4
90% of
0,3
the area
0,2
0,1
0
-3
-2
-1
Slow fading margin 3
120
Coverage Threshold Interference Degrade Margin
• ETSI specific margin
Power budget
GENERAL INFORMATION
Frequency (MHz): 1800 System: DCS1800
BT99 - AFE with combiner bypass (equiv. toMS Class:
Case description: 1
RECEIVING END: BS MS
RX RF- Input Sensitivity dBm -108.00 -100.00 A
Interference Degradation Margin dB 3.00 3.00 B
Body Proximity Loss dB 0.00 2.00 C
Cable Loss + Connectors dB 3.00 0.00 D
Rx Antenna Gain dBi 18.00 0.00 E
Diversity Gain dB 4.00 0.00 F
Isotropic Power dBm -124.00 -95.00 G=A+B+C+D-E-F
Field Strength dBµV/m 18.31 47.31 H=G+Z*
TRANSMITTING END: MS BS
TX RF Output Peak Power W 1.00 29.50
(mean power over RF cycle) dBm 30.00 44.70 K
Body Proximity Loss dB 2.00 0.00 L
Isolator + Combiner + Filter dB 0.00 2.20 M
RF-Peak Power, Combiner Output dBm 28.00 42.50 N=K-L-M
Cable Loss + Connectors dB 0.00 3.00 O
TX Antenna Gain dBi 0.00 18.00 P
Peak EIRP W 0.63 562.11
(EIRP = ERP + 2dB) dBm 28.00 57.50 Q=N-O+P
* Z = 77.2 + 20*log(freq[MHz])
121
Coverage Threshold Body Loss
• Body loss happens because of the existence of the human body

• Typical loss 3 dB depending on the distance between mobile and human
body
• Typically taken into account in coverage threshold
122
Coverage Threshold Penetration Loss
• Penetration losses have to be added as mean value, and standard deviation

need to be taken into account as well
• type mean sigma
• urban building 15 dB 7 dB
• suburban 10 dB 7 dB
• in-car 8 dB 5 dB
123
Cell range: Example of Dimensioning (EXCEL
based calculation)
COMMON INFO DU U SU F O
MS antenna height (m): 1,5 1,5 1,5 1,5 1,5
BS antenna height (m): 30,0 30,0 30,0 45,0 45,0
Standard Deviation (dB): 7,0 7,0 7,0 7,0 7,0
BPL Average (dB): 15,0 12,0 10,0 6,0 6,0
Standard Deviation indoors (dB): 10,0 10,0 10,0 10,0 10,0
OKUMURA-HATA (OH) DU U SU F O
Area Type Correction (dB) 0,0 -4,0 -6,0 -10,0 -15,0
WALFISH-IKEGAMI (WI) DU U SU F O
Roads width (m): 30,0 30,0 30,0 30,0 30,0
Road orientation angle (degrees): 90,0 90,0 90,0 90,0 90,0
Building separation (m): 40,0 40,0 40,0 40,0 40,0
Buildings average height (m): 30,0 30,0 30,0 30,0 30,0
INDOOR COVERAGE DU U SU F O
Propagation Model OH OH OH OH OH
Slow Fading Margin + BPL (dB): 22,8 19,8 17,8 13,8 13,8
Coverage Threshold (dBµV/m): 59,1 56,1 54,1 50,1 50,1
Coverage Threshold (dBm): -77,2 -80,2 -82,2 -86,2 -86,2
Location Probability over Cell Area(L%): 90,0% 90,0% 90,0% 90,0% 90,0%
Cell Range (km): 1,33 2,10 2,72 5,70 7,99
OUTDOOR COVERAGE DU U SU F O
Propagation Model OH OH OH OH OH
Slow Fading Margin (dB): 4,5 4,5 4,5 4,5 4,5
Coverage Threshold (dBµV/m): 40,8 40,8 40,8 40,8 40,8
Coverage Threshold (dBm): -95,5 -95,5 -95,5 -95,5 -95,5
Location Probability over Cell Area(L%): 90,0% 90,0% 90,0% 90,0% 90,0%
Cell Range (km): 4,39 5,70 6,50 10,69 14,99
124
Coverage Area: Coverage Area in Dimensioning
• After cell radius has been determined, cell area can be calculated
• When calculating cell area, traditional hexagonal model is taken into
account
R
R
Omni Bi-sector Tri-sector

A = 2,6 R1 2 A= 1,73 R2 2 A = 1,95 R3
2
125
Coverage Area : Hexagons vs. Cells
• Three hexagons • Three cells
126
Coverage Area
Example of Planning Tool Calculation
127
Coverage Area
• Dominance area
Cell Area Terms
• Service area
• Coverage area
cell coverage range
cell service range
dominance
range
6dB hysteresis margin
coverage limit
128
Coverage Area : Conclusion
• Achievable cell size depends on

– Frequency band used (450, 900, 1800 MHz)
– Surroundings, environment
– Link budget figures
– Antenna types
– Antenna positioning
– Minimum required signal levels
129
Coverage
Predictions
130
Module objectives
 DESCRIBE DIFFERENT PREDICTION MODELS
 DESCRIBE PREDICTION MODEL TUNING TOPICS
 CALCULATE CELL RANGE
131
Propagation Models Used in Nokia tools
Statistical
• Okumura-Hata
– The most commonly used statistical model
• Walfish-Ikegami
– Statistical model especially for urban environments
• Juul-Nyholm 
to be tuned!
– Same kind of a prediction tool as Hata, but with
different equation for predictions beyond radio
horizon (~20km)
Deterministic
• Ray-tracing
– Deterministic prediction tool for
microcellular environments
132
Propagation Models: Okumura-Hata
• Adapted for 900 MHz and 1800 MHz

• Different land usage classes
L  A  B log f 1382
. loghb  a(hm )
 (449
.  655
. loghb )logd  Lmorpho
f frequency in MHz additional attenuation due
to land usage classes
h BS antenna height [m]
a(hm) function of MS antenna height
d distance between BS and MS [km]
A = 69.55 B = 26.16 (for 150 .. 1000 MHz)

A = 46.3 B = 33.9 (for 1500 ..2000MHz)
133
Propagation Models: Okumura-Hata
• Urban
– Small cells, 40..50 dB/dec attenuation
• Forest
– Heavy absorption; 30..40 dB/dec; differs with season (foliage losses)
• Open, farmlands
– Easy, smooth propagation conditions
• Water
– Signal propagates very easily  interference !
• Mountain faces
– Strong reflections, long echos
• Etc…
– Many morpho types have been defined
134
Propagation Models: Walfish-Ikegami
• Model for urban microcellular propagation

• Assumes regular city layout (“Manhattan grid”)
• Total path loss consists of two parts:
LOS NLOS
• line-of-sight loss • roof-to-street diffraction and scatter loss
• mobile environment losses
h
w
b
135
Propagation Models: Walfish-Ikegami
• Line-of-sight path (LOS)

– Use free space propagation
– Applicable for microwave & satellite links
• “Non-line-of-sight” path (NLOS)
– Heavy diffraction, refraction situations
– Many models exist in literature, none is satisfying
– Great uncertainties in modeling
– Needs detailed building databases (vectorial information)
– Use ray-tracing models?
“Manhattan grid”
model
136
Propagation Models: Ray Tracing
• Deterministic model for microcellular environments

– Launch rays into every direction of space
– Certain number of rays calculated
– Reflections calculated based on dielectric coefficients
– Very high computational load
• Mirror image method also possible
r
“single point”
signal source
137
Model Tuning: Basics
• It’s aimed to get a more realistic propagation model

• It should be done at the very beginning of a planning project, before any
dimensioning activity
• How?
– Select typical sites for measurements
– Define measurement routes
– Tune propagation model to make its predictions match the measurements data
138
Model Tuning: Measurements
• What antenna height should be used?

• Typical for the area?
• Model restrictions?
• Okumura-Hata stay above 24 m!
• Keep away from existing antennas
• Mark LOS situations, tunnels, bridges etc.
• Take these out of the measurement file
• A power budget is needed. Note down:
• TX power, cable and connector losses
• Antenna type, height, direction, tilt
• Site coordinates
139
Model Tuning: Measurements
• Measure only interference free frequencies

• Measure only in the main lobe of the transmitting antenna
• Avoid or erase line-of-sight measurement points
• Use differential GPS if possible or match the coordinates with the map
• Check coordinate conversion parameters
• Measure all the cable losses (both in transmitting and receiving end)
• Measure the output power of the transmitter
• Check transmitter antenna installation and ensure that there are no
obstacles nearby
• Document the measurements very carefully
140
Model Tuning: Okumura-Hata Measurements
• Measured field strength should be between – 95 dBm and – 60 dBm

– Stay in the main coverage area of the selected cell
– Not too close to cell edges
– Not too close to TX antenna
• Route long enough
– Minimum 100 samples are needed
• O-H does not predict LOS situations
– Avoid routes with LOS situations
• Make sure all wanted morpho classes and topo types are included
• Which coordinate system?
141
Model Tuning: Okumura-Hata Model Tuning
• Import measurement results to a

planning tool
– min. distance > 500 m to filter out too
close samples
• Tune morpho corrections to best fit
• Tune only factors, which have more
than 3%
• Mean value +/- 1 dB
• If a lot of LOS  negative mean
• Standard deviation  8 dB
• Correction factor for urban ~ 0 dB
142
Model Tuning: Measurements  Predictions?
• Why are the predictions and measurements different?

– Is the digital map accurate enough?
– What is the resolution of the map?
– Is the morpho data correct?
– Does the measured route match the roads?
– Do the measured routes have a lot of LOS situations?
143
Model Tuning: Detailed Process
Site and cell data Digital map System information
Coordinates
Calculate measurement route
Map matching
Model tuning
Measurement data
Field strenght
Compare
Analysis
No
Satisfactory model
Yes
End
144
Prediction model tuning areas
– Propagation slope
– Effective antenna height
– Morphographic corrections
– Calculation distance
145
Assessment of propagation slope
• Okumura-Hata correction factor C:
L  A  B log10 f  D log10 hb  (C  6.55 log10 hb ) log10 d
propagation slope,
parameter C has to be changed
as a function of antenna height and
environment
146
Effective antenna height definition
• 0 – 3 km: the average terrain height is calculated from base station to mobile station.
The effective antenna height is the difference between the absolute antenna height
and the average terrain height.
• 3 – 6 km: the average terrain height is calculated as a sliding average over 3 km
from the mobile station towards to the base station.
• 6 – 15 km: the average terrain height is calculated from 3 km (from base station) to
the mobile station.
• over 15 km: effective antenna height is the difference between the transmitting
antenna and the average terrain height between 3 and 15 km
147
Morphographic corrections
Example: Morphographic corrections

• The distance between the base station and the mobile station is 1.5 km. On the digital map there are 30 pixels (50 m x 50 m) between the base station and the mobile. Each pixel presents the terrain type within the 50 m x 50 m
area.
The following notations are used:

U = Urban, S = Suburban, P = Park, O = Open and W = Water.
3
02
92
82
72
62
52
42
32
22
12
01
91
81
71
61
51
41
31
21
11
0987654321
T
er
ra
int
ype UUUO O UUUO O O O S S S S P P P P W W W W W S S S S S
C
o
r
re
ct
i
onf
act
or[
dB] 000-
15-
15000-
15-
15-
15-
15-
5 -
5 -
5 -
5 -
8 -
8 -
8 -
8 -
23-
23-
23-
23-
23-
5 -
5 -
5 -
5 -
5
P
i
xel
siz
e:5
0m
x5
0m
148
Morphographic corrections
• The morphographic correction calculated as an average of the pixels between the

mobile station and base station
• The average of the correction factors in this example is –9.4 dB
• The basic propagation model is corrected by adding the calculated correction to the
prediction result (correction factor Lmorpho in Okumura-Hata model).
149
Calculation distance
• It is not very likely that the area close to the base station has a great impact
on the received power of the mobile station
• The areas close to the mobile are more important for the prediction thus there
are ways to weight the areas close to the mobile station
• The calculation distance can be shorter than the distance between the mobile
station and the base station
• Only the pixels close to the mobile stations are considered
• In the previous example the calculation distance is changed from 1.5 km
down to 500 meters the average of the correction factors is –14 dB.
Difference between the corrections is 4.6 dB.
150
1.0 1.0
2.0
1.0
Linear weights for terrain type correction factors (example). The average of the
normalized correction factors is –12.33 dB.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Terrain type W W W W W S S S S S
Correction factor [dB] -23 -23 -23 -23 -23 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5
Weights 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9
Normalized weights 0.67 0.73 0.80 0.87 0.93 1.00 1.07 1.13 1.20 1.27
Normalized correction factors -15 -17 -18 -20 -21 -5 -5.3 -5.7 -6 -6.3
151
Example: Morpho Corrections Tuning
90
-40
Measured 80
Predicted
-50 70
60
-60
Signal level [dBm]
50
-70
40
30
-80
20
-90
10
-100 0
1 51 101 151 201 251 301 351 401 451 501 -15 -14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Measurement points dB
152
Example: Quality of Tuning
-40
-50
-60
Signal level [dBm]
-70
-80
-90
-100
100 1000 10000
Distance [m]
153
Example: Tuning Results
Morpho Class Value [dB]
Open -20
Water -25
Forest -11
Quasi-Open -5
Houses -12
Sub-Urban -10
Urban -2
Buildings 7
Industrial buildings -4
High rise buildings 18
154
Capacity
Planning
155
Objectives
 DESCRIBE TRAFFIC THEORY PRINCIPLES
 CALCULATE CAPACITY OF DIFFERENT

CONFIGURATIONS
 DESCRIBE SIGNALLING CHANNELS AND

CALCULATE SIGNALLING CAPACITY
 DESCRIBE MAIN FEATURES OF CAPACITY

ENHANCEMENT
156
Capacity Planning
 TRAFFIC
 SIGNALLING
 CAPACITY ENHANCEMENTS
157
Traffic: Traffic Estimations
• Estimate number of subscribers over time

– Long-term predictions
– Numbers available from marketing people?
• Expected traffic load per subscriber
– Different subscriber segments?
– Expected behaviour of user segments
• Particular phone habits of subscribers
– e.g. mainly heavy indoor usage
– Phoning while in traffic jams?
• Busy hour conditions
– Time of day
– Traffic patterns
158
Traffic: Traffic Patterns
• Traffic is not evenly spread across the day

(or week)
• Dimensioning must be able to cope with peak loads
– “busy hour” is typically twice the “average hour” load
100 %
90 peak time
80 off-peak
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 hr
159
Cell load
load_vec
ind2 
N N_start 
dt
The cell load
8
.
6
0
12 12.2 12.4 12.6 12.8 13
Time / hours
160
Trunking Basics
• Problem: many customers, limited number of resources

• How many resources do we need to satisfy the demand?
m available resources
M >> m
M potential customers
161
Trunking: Trunking Effect
• Trunking increases effective usage of limited resources

– When we increase the traffic, we may not need that many new lines
• Main parameter: accepted blocking probability
• Blocking depends on
– Number of available resources
– Traffic statistical distribution
162
Trunking: Trunking Effect
Offered new
traffic time
CH 1
CH 2
CH 3
CH 4
CH 5
CH ...
CH n-2
CH n-1
CH n
163
Erlang Definition
• Erlang is the unit of traffic

– Definition
(calls per hour )(averageconversationtime)

xErlangs 
3600 Seconds
• 2 formulas
– Erlang B: for systems that support no queuing
– Erlang C: for systems that support queuing
Agner Krarup Erlang (1878-1929)
164
Erlang: Erlang Formulas
• Erlang B • Erlang C
– No queuing: blocked calls are – Queuing
dropped
– Applicable in trunking systems
– Depends on call lengths & statistical
distribution of calls
– Applicable in mobile systems (e.g. air
interface)
k

  / k!
 AC
pk    i Pr ob(delay  0)
 A  C 1 A
k
M 
  A C!1 
C
   /i!
i  0   
 C  k  0 k!
 
165
Erlang: Erlang Formulas
• Erlang B • Erlang C
– No queuing: blocked calls are – Queuing
dropped
– Applicable in trunking systems
– Depends on call lengths & statistical
distribution of calls
– Applicable in mobile systems (e.g. air
interface)
k

  / k!
 AC
pk    i Pr ob(delay  0)
 A  C 1 A
k
M 
  A C!1 
C
   /i!
i  0   
 C  k  0 k!
 
166
Erlang: Erlang B Table
Blocking Probability Blocking Probability

Channels 1% 2% 3% 5% Channels 1% 2% 3% 5%
1 0,01 0,02 0,03 0,05 21 12,80 14,00 14,90 16,20
2 0,15 0,22 0,28 0,38 22 13,70 14,90 15,80 17,10
3 0,46 0,60 0,72 0,90 23 14,50 15,80 16,70 18,10
4 0,87 1,09 1,26 1,52 24 15,30 16,60 17,60 19,00
5 1,36 1,66 1,88 2,22 25 16,10 17,50 18,50 20,00
6 1,91 2,28 2,54 2,96 26 17,00 18,40 19,40 20,90
7 2,50 2,95 3,25 3,75 27 17,80 19,30 20,30 21,90
8 3,13 3,63 3,99 4,54 28 18,60 20,20 21,20 22,90
9 3,78 4,34 4,75 5,37 29 19,50 21,00 22,10 23,80
10 4,46 5,08 5,53 6,22 30 20,30 21,90 23,10 24,80
11 5,16 5,84 6,33 7,08 31 21,20 22,80 24,00 25,80
12 5,88 6,61 7,14 7,95 32 22,00 23,70 24,90 26,70
13 6,61 7,40 7,97 8,83 33 22,90 24,60 25,80 27,70
14 7,35 8,20 8,80 9,73 34 23,80 25,50 26,80 28,70
15 8,11 9,01 9,65 10,60 35 24,60 26,40 27,70 29,70
16 8,88 9,83 10,50 11,50 36 25,50 27,30 28,60 30,70
17 9,65 10,70 11,40 12,50 37 26,40 28,30 29,60 31,60
18 10,40 11,50 12,20 13,40 38 27,30 29,20 30,50 32,60
19 11,20 12,30 13,10 14,30 39 28,10 30,10 31,50 33,60
20 12,00 13,20 14,00 15,20 40 29,00 31,00 32,40 34,60
167
Capacity Planning
 TRAFFIC
 SIGNALLING
168
Logical Channels: Definitions
• TDMA Frame = 8 Time Slots (0.577 ms each)

• Physical Channel = 1 TS of the TDMA Frame on 1 specific carrier
• Logical Channel = the "purpose" a physical channel is used for
0 0
0 7 0
TDMA frame  4.615 ms

BURST PERIOD
169
Logical Channels Structure
Hyperframe = 2048 Superframes  3.5 h
Superframe =
26x51 or
51x26 Multiframes
= 6.120 sec
26 Multiframe = 120 ms 51 Multiframe  235 ms
TCH 0 1 2 24 25 0 1 2 49 50 SIGN.
0 7
TDMA frame  4.615 ms
170
Overview of Logical Channels
• Same in GSM900 and GSM1800
Logical Channels
Common Channels Dedicated Channels

(CCH) (DCH)
Broadcast Channel Common Control Traffic Channels

Control Channels
(BCH) Channel (CCCH) (TCH)
FCH SCH BCCH PCH AGCH RACH SDCCH FACCH/ Bm TCH/F TCH/H
(Sys Info) SACCH
TCH/9.6F
FACCH/ Lm TCH/ 4.8F, H
TCH/ 2.4F, H
171
Broadcast Channels (BCH)
Frequency Correction Channel (FCCH)

– Unmodulated carrier: like a flag for the MS which enables it to find the frequency among
several TRXs
Synchronisation Channel (SCH)
– Contains the Base Station Identity Code (BSIC) and a reduced TDMA frame number
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
– Contains detailed network and cell specific information as: Frequencies, Frequency hopping
sequence, Channel combination, Paging groups, Information on neighbour cells
– Careful frequency plan needed
– BCCH is not allowed to involve in FH, PC
172
Common Control Channels (CCCH)
Paging Channel (PCH)

– It is broadcast by all the BTSs of a Location Area in the case of a mobile terminated call
Random Access Channel (RACH)
– It is used by the mobile station in order to initiate a transaction, or as a response to a PCH
Access Grant Channel (AGCH)
– Answer to the RACH. Used to assign a mobile a SDCCH
173
Dedicated Channels (DCH)
Stand Alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH)

– System signalling: call set-up, authentication, location update, assignment of traffic channels
and transmission of SMS
Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH)
– Transmits measurement reports (UL)
– Power control, time alignment, short messages (DL)
Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)
– Mainly used for handover signalling
– It is mapped onto a TCH and replaces 20 ms of speech
Traffic Channels (TCH)
– Transfer user speech or data, which can be either in the form of Half rate traffic (6.5 kbit/s)
or Full rate traffic (13 kbit/s).
174
Logical Channels
Downlink
FCCH
SCH
Common BCCH
SDCCH
Channels CCCH
PCH
AGCH
SACCH
DCCH FACCH
Dedicated SDCCH
Channels TCH
TCH/F
TCH/H
175
Logical Channels
Uplink
RACH CCCH
Common
Channels
SDCCH
SACCH
FACCH
DCCH
Dedicated
TCH/F Channels
TCH
TCH/H
176
Logical Channels Use
'off' state Search for frequency correction burst FCCH

Search for synchronisation sequence SCH
Read system informations BCCH
Listen for paging PCH

Send access burst RACH
Wait for signalling channel allocation AGCH
idle mode Call setup SDCCH
FACCH
Traffic channel is assigned TCH
Conversation TCH
Call release FACCH
dedicated
mode
idle mode
177
Logical Channels: Mapping - 1 Example
• Example of mapping:
– combined CCCH/SDCCH/4 configuration
Downlink 51 TDMA frames = 235 ms
f s b b b b c c c c f s cf c c c c c c c f s tf t t t t t t t f s tf t t t t t t t f s sf s s s s s s s i
1. 2. 3. 4.
Uplink 51 TDMA frames = 235 ms
t t t t r r s s s s s s sf s r r r r r r r r rf r r r r r r r r r rf r r r r t t t t t tf t t r r t t t t
Beware of "home-made" bottlenecks
178
Cell Capacity Signalling
• Mainly realised by Stand-alone Dedicated Control CHannel (SDCCH)

• SDCCH is mainly used in 5 cases:
– Call set-up
– SMS
– Location updates
– Emergency call
– Call re-establishment
• SDCCH channel is key in achieving successful & efficient call set-up
179
Cell Capacity: SDCCH Configurations
• TS0 of BCCH TRX always for BCCH + CCCH

• TS0 may be configured to carry DCCH
• SDCCH channels may be configured in any other TS. Convention (but not
law!) is to put it on TS1
• 2 basic configurations
– Combined
– Non-combined
Combined configuration Non-combined configuration
0 7 0 7
ts1=sdcch/8
ts0=bcch/sdcch/4/pch/agch
ts0=bcch/pch/agch
180
Cell Capacity: SDCCH Dimensioning
• Efficient network design is required to achieve 2 goals

– An appropriate signalling dimensioning strategy, on a cell per cell basis
– An appropriate upgrade philosophy
• SDDCH channels may be dimensioned in 3 ways
– On a cell per cell basis
– On a generic macro layer (not linked to macro/ micro cell layer definitions)
– On both of the above
181
Capacity Planning: Conclusion
1 TRX and 7 Traffic channels means that

• There can be 7 simultaneous GSM data or speech calls
• The total traffic over a hour period (=busy hour) is 2.5 Erl and 1% of
call attempts is blocked
• Extra capacity of 64% (= (7-2.5)/7) is needed to guarantee 1% blocking
(compare to the situation of 2 TRX => trunking effect!!)
1 TRX and 1 signalling channel means that

• All signalling channels (BCCH, PCH, AGCH, SDCCH) are sent on the
1st time slot
• PCH and SDCCH capacities are the possible bottlenecks!
182
Example: to estimate the Service for Subscribers
Traffic channel capacity need is calculated / estimated
1. Based on the average traffic per subscriber (= 25 mErl = 90 s) and number

of subscribers (250 Subs) and the total traffic need = 250 Subs x 25
mErl/Subs = 6.25 Erl
2. Next the required number of traffic channels will be found from the
Erlang-B table based on the quality criteria that is usually 1% blocking in
GSM.
3. Erlang-B shows that 13 channels give 6.61 Erl @ 1% blocking which
exceeds the capacity demand 6.25 Erl.
4. Next it can be noted that 2 TRX equals 14 TCHs and 2 SCHs (= 7.35 Erl =
6.25 + 1.1 extra capacity for the future).
5. 2 TRX will be implemented to the cell!
183
Capacity Planning
 TRAFFIC
 SIGNALLING
184
Dual Band
185
Dual Band Network Basics
• Dual Band means combining both GSM 900 and

GSM 1800 (previously DCS) in the same network
• GSM 900 and GSM 1800 are twins from the
technical point of view
GSM1800
BSC
GSM900/1800
GSM900
GSM900/1800
186
Dual Band Network Basics
• Capacity with GSM900 is limited:

– Subscriber growth
– Increased usage
• Quality and capacity required:
New services
– WLL
– Wireless Office
– Data Services
• Roaming: High revenue from roaming traffic
187
Dual Band Network Effect on RNP
• Traffic management
– First priority is to camp on GSM 1800 cells
– Transferring the Dual Band mobiles from GSM 900 cells to GSM 1800 cells is the key process
– Setting special BSS parameters.
• Planners should pay more attention to:
– Careful set of HO parameters
– Dualband network configuration
– LAC planning
188
LAC/BSC Borders
• Typically BSC and LAC areas are compact and bounded to

geographical location
• Microcells connected to same BSC with surrounding macrocells
• Compact BSC areas enable the effect use of Nokia features e.g.
AMH and traffic reason HO
• Intra BSC HO success rate better than Inter BSC HO success rate
– Better candidate evaluation in Intra BSC HO
• Optimised LAC borders decrease signalling load
– User mobility
– Highways and railroads
– Geographical areas
189
Dual Band Network: Same LAC and BSC
MSC
BSCa BSCb
GSM GSM
GSM GSM
900 900
900 900
LACa
LACb
GSM GSM GSM GSM
1800 1800 1800 1800
190
 If you need to provide capacity for 20 Erlangs, 2 % blocking, how many
TRXs do
you need?
 How many TRXs do you need to provide capacity for 10 Erlangs, 1 %

blocking?
 How many subscribers can you serve with 2 TRX/cell, 1% blocking,

with average
usage 20 mErl?
 How many cells would you therefore need to give capacity for Helsinki
area (49.2 % penetration, population 1 million)?
 In China the average usage is 30 mErl. How many subscribers can you
serve with 2 TRX/cell (1% blocking)?
 In a small town A, with 1000 residents, the collected statistic data shows
that the average air-time in busy hour is 90 seconds. If we want to cover
this town by one cell, how many TRXs do we need to achieve the
blocking probability of 1%?
191
Frequency
Planning
192
Module objectives
 DESCRIBE FREQUENCY PLANNING

CRITERIA
 CALCULATE THE FREQUENCY REUSE

FACTOR
 DESCRIBE FREQUENCY ALLOCATION

METHODS
193
Frequency Plan: Basics
• Tighter re-use of own

frequencies
 more capacity
 more interference
• Target
• to minimise
interferences at an
acceptable capacity R
level
• First when a complete
area has been
finalised D
• Automatic frequency
planning tools
194
Frequency Plan: Basics
• Why frequency re-use ?

– 8 MHz = 40 channels à 7 traffic timeslots = 280 users
– max. 280 simultaneous calls??!
• Limited bandwidth available
– Re-use frequencies as often as possible
– Increased capacity
– Increased interferences
• Trade-off between interference level and capacity
• Allocate frequency combination that creates least overall interference
conditions in the network
Interference is unavoidable
 minimise total interferences in network
195
Frequency Plan : Frequency Planning Criteria
Criteria
The frequency planning criteria include the configuration

and frequency allocation aspects. The configuration aspects
consider the:
• Frequency band splitting between the macro and micro base
stations,
• Frequency band splitting between the BCCH and TCH layers,
• Frequency band grouping and
• Different frequency reuse factors for different TRX layers.
Frequency allocation aspects include

frequency planning thresholds (QOS requirements)
• C/I requirements
• Percentage of co-channel and adjacent channel interference
196
Frequency Plan: Frequency Band Splitting
Macro - Micro
• needed because of inaccurate coverage predictions between
macro and micro layers
• not needed if accurate coverage predictions available in the future
BCCH - TCH
• needed to ensure a good quality on BCCH frequency (in order to
ensure signalling)
197
Frequency Plan: Frequency Band Grouping
Frequency grouping
+ Frequency hopping (coherence bandwidth)
+ Intermodulation
+ Frequencies assigned to all TRX layers at one time
+ Frequencies evenly used
- Limitations for automatic frequency planning algorithms
- Fixed frequency reuse factor
f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 f10 f11 f12 f13 f14

BCCH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
2. TRX 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
3. TRX 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42
198
Different Frequency Reuse Factors for Different TRX Layers
Frequency planning for different TRX layers

• different freqency reuse factors for different TRX layers
• frequency planning for different layers
f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 f10 f11 f12 f13 f14 f15

BCCH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
2. TRX 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1. Micro 31 32 33 34 35 36 31 32 33 34 35 36 31 32 33
2. Micro 37 38 39 40 41 42 37 38 39 40 41 42 37 38 39
199
Frequency Allocation Thresholds
C/I requirements
- C/Ic = 15 dB, C/Ia = -6 dB (Note Overlay-Underlay concepts)
Interference probability
- 2% co-channel and 5% adjacent channel interference
Frequency separations
- cell/site separations
- combiner limitations
200
Best Method
• Do not use
– Hexagon cell patterns
– Regular grids
– Systematic frequency allocation
• Use
– Interference matrix calculation
f2 f6
– Calibrated propagation models f3
f3
– Minimise total interference in network f5
f5 f4
f4 f7 f2
f7 f2
f7 f2 f6
f6 f3
R f3
f3 f5 f4
f5 f4
f5 D
f4 f2
f7 f2 f6
f6 f3
f3 f5
f5 f4
f4
201
Re-Use-Factor
• RuF
– Average number of cells that have different frequencies
– Measure for effectiveness of frequency plan
– Trade-off: effectiveness vs. interferences
• Multiple RuFs increase effectiveness of FP
– Compromise between safe, interference free planning and effective resource usage
1 3 6 9 12 15 18 21
same frequency tight re-use planning safe planning

in every cell (IUO layer) (BCCH layer)
(“spread spectrum”) normal planning
(TCH macro layer)
202
Multiple Re-Use-Factor
• Capacity increase with multiple RuFs

– e.g. network with 300 cells
– Bandwidth : 8 MHz (40 radio channels)
• Single RuF =12
– NW capacity = 40/12 * 300 = 1000 TRX
• Multiple RuF
– BCCH layer: re-use =14, (14 frq.)
– Normal TCH: re-use =10, (20 frq.)
– Tight TCH layer: re-use = 6, (6 frq.)
– NW cap. = (1 +2 +1)* 300 = 1200 TRX
203
Frequency Plan: Constraints
• Co-cell separation
– e.g. 3 (4 for GSM1800)
– 600 (800 ) kHz spacing between frequencies in the same cell
• Co-site separation
– e.g. 2
– 400 kHz spacing between frequencies on the same site
• Co-channel interferences from neighbouring sites
• Adjacent channel interferences from neighbouring sites
204
Frequency Plan: Manual Allocation
• With Frequency Groups: 8 groups, 6 ARCFN each

A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 H1 A2 B2 C2 D2
BCCH 1 26 3 28 5 30 7 32 9 34 11 36
TCH 25 2 27 4 29 6 31 8 33 10 35 12
E2 F2 G2 H2 A3 B3 C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 H3
BCCH 13 38 15 40 17 42 19 44 21 46 23 48
TCH 37 14 39 16 41 18 43 20 45 22 47 24
• With Separated Bands: 10 groups BCCH, 6 TCH, 3 ARCFN

each
BCCH
A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 H1 I1 L1 A2 B2 C2 D2 E2 F2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
BCCH TCH
G2 H2 I2 L2 A3 B3 C3 D3 E3 F3 G3 H3 I3 L3 M3 N3
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
TCH
O3 P3 Q3 R3 M4 N4 O4 P4 Q4 R4 M5 N5 O5 P5 Q1 R5
33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48
205
Frequency Plan: Manual Allocation
Allocation Criteria Conclusion
– Take into account both: – Method 1 is simpler than method 2

• theoretical dominance area and – Method 2 is more accurate
• planner's knowledge of the site (RuFBCCH > RuFTCH, intracell HO)
– Starting point:
• critical site or
• critical area
– "cluster approach"?
– "dynamic" BCCH allocation
– No more than 60-70 sites!!!
BCCH TCH
simplicity
C/I C/A C/I C/A
groups x x x x
sub- bands x
206
Frequency Plan: Automatic Allocation
• Frequency allocation algorithms implemented in

planning tools
• Compute compatibility matrix across total cell area
(heavy computing!)
• Allocate same frequencies in “sufficiently separated”
cells
• Allocate frequencies until traffic needs of all cells are
satisfied
• Boundary condition: minimise total network
interferences
• No closed solution available for this problem
• Iterative procedure
207
• Choose the following parameters for all network layers

– Co-cell separation
– Co-site separation
– Target level for co-channel + adj channel interference
– Frequency band allowed
• Algohorithm:
Interference
Interference matrix calculation
parameters setting
Separation
Separation matrix calculation
parameters setting
Frequency allocation Analyze

results
208
• Interference matrix
– Element (i,j) = amount of interference caused on cell i by cell j
– Comparison parameter = co-channel (adj channel) C/I
• Separation matrix
– Element (i,j) = minimum channel separation between cell i and cell j
– Comparison parameter = maximum C/I (C/A) probability
– Co-site, co-cell and adj-cell separations manually set
209
Evaluation criteria
– Check the avg co-channel
interference parameter
– Check the channel distribution
– Check the contraints violation list Automatic frequency
– Use the Interference Analisys tool plan
Manual analysis and error

correction
Final
result
210
Frequency Plan: Frequency Coordination
• Regulations for international boundaries

– 18 dB V/m at borderline
– 18 dB V/m at 15km distance from border for preferential frequencies
• Set of preferential and reserved frequencies must be mutually agreed
between operators
A 15km
international
borderline
C
B
211
Frequency Plan: Intermodulation
Intermodulation interference can be avoided by
• Ensuring that the base station site equipment quality is such high that the
intermodulation does not exist,
• Grouping the frequencies such that the intermodulation products do not
cause
interference or
• Allocating the frequencies such that the intermodulation products do not
cause
interference or

it’s complex influence on the frequency planning can be made
easier by
• Preventing the power control (only for the downlink intermodulation

products) or
• Directing the intermodulation products to the BCCH frequencies (there
is no
downlink power control on the BCCH).
212
Exercises / Questions
 Is the frequency grouping of the reuse factor 15 enough to

maximise the performance of the frequency hopping?
 Does the 1800 MHz GSM network cause interference to the 900
MHz networks?
 Why does the frequency band have to be split?
213

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Coverage and Capacity Planning

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Radio Planning and

• Adequate coverage -Contiguous coverage of the required areas without

GSM Specific Parameters :

• Manufacturer specific parameters

• Radio communication Some of the fundamentals are:

• Budgetary factors The following budgetary factors are important:

The radio planning methodology consists of:

Decibel is a relative comparison between numbers... whatever the numbers are!

Arithmetic operations Decibel operations

Power absolute Power absolute

40 mW 16 dBm 13 dBm + 3 dB = 16 dBm  dBm + dB  dBm

16 dBm - 13 dBm = 3 dB  dBm - dBm  dB

20 mW 13 dBm 13 dBm + 16 dBm = 29 dBm  dBm + dBm

- 90 dBm 10 • log (0.0000000415) = -73.8 dBm

Principle The free-space attenuation refers to the decay of the signal,

Typical path-loss slope In a mobile radio medium, n is usually assumed to be 4;

Scattering local to mobile

• Echoes due to multipath propagation

• GSM  equalizer in the receivers

Multipath Channel impulse

Environment Delay Spread (s)

Macrocellular, urban 0.5-3

Microcellular < 0.1

• Average trend ~ 35 – 50 dB / decade (path loss)

Slow fading (Log-normal fading)

2 sec 4 sec 6 sec time

• Most general form of distribution

• Applicable to fast fading in obstructed paths

• Basic loss formula loss at reference point (e.g. 1km)

L = L0 + *log(d) losses are exponential with distance

• Clutter loss factors EIRP level

• Land-usage classes (in dB/decade) coupling loss

• Mixed land usage types on propagation path

open: 25 dB/dec urban: 40 ..50 dB/dec open: 25 dB/dec

At the end of this module you will be able to …

 DESCRIBE THE RADIO NETWORK PLANNING PROCESS

 DESCRIBE THE MAJOR TASKS IN THE PLANNING PROCESS

 DESCRIBE THE PLANNING TOOLS FOR DIFFERENT PHASES

 DESCRIBE THE INPUT AND OUTPUT DOCUMENTS (DATA)

 DESCRIBE THE PLANNING ENVIRONMENT

 INTRODUCTION AND PRE-PLANNING

Customer requirements External information sources

Network Coverage Parameter Network

issue search area

installing & testing

propagation construction work

transmission get building permit

• Key quantities for radio network dimensioning (EXCEL tool)

Design goals to be applied must be clearly

• Before T0, the network is coverage limited

At the very beginning, just the coverage

• When the network is coverage limited, the expansion consists of:

• Main purpose of the network?

• Roamer volumes expected?

• Use of microwave links for transmission?

Each network philosophy calls for a

– Commuting traffic volumes

400 000 pop.

400 000 pop.

300 000 pop.

• Roll-out phases & time schedules

 INTRODUCTION AND PRE-PLANNING

• Antenna directions (NetAct Planner)

Number of reserved timeslots