AIRCOM Model Tuning Guidance Wednesday 13th September 2006 y p Raju.

Chukkana

Model Tuning
To learn how to tune the ASSET Propagation Models

M d li Modeling

Model Calibration Process Model Calibration Typical Results Model Validation Recommendations

Modelling !

What is Modeling?

The Purpose of a Model M d l C it i Model Criteria Propagation Models

The Purpose of a Model

Characterise the topology with network limits identification of operating range for
each model.

Minimise Standard Deviation Error. P id zero mean error Provide Determine model parameters in accordance to realistic propagation effects existing
within proposed regions. regions

Make sure calibrated model corresponds well with the collected data data is
essential.

The Purpose of a Model

To predict the receiving signal strength from a Base Station (BTS) To help with the Radio Plan without the need for an individual CW measurement verification Most steps in the planning of a network are highly dependent on the accuracy of the model. e.g.

Coverage C Traffic Analysis Frequency Planning Parameter Analysis

Model Criteria
Accurate close to and far from the site

(DISTANCE INDEPENDENT) (TERRAIN INDEPENDENT)

Accurate in hilly as well as flat areas Accurate in Urban as well as in open areas

(CLUTTER INDEPENDENT)

Accurate for varying antenna heights

(ANTENNA INDEPENDENT) (AREA INDEPENDENT)

Applicable in different areas with similar characteristics Have an overall RMS error of between 6 and 8 dB. Have mean error of zero.

Okumura-Hata Model
Okumura conducted propagation tests for landmobile radio service in Japan. Curves were produced which allowed the estimation of field strength at different distances from the transmitter H t Hata th then analysed Ok l d Okumuras work k presented it in a mathematical formula. It requires some correction factors and d

Okumura-Hata in Asset
Asset uses slightly modified Okumura-Hata:

Ploss =K1 + K2*log(d) + K3*Hms + K4*log(Hms) + K5*log(Heff) + K6*log(Heff)*log(d) + K7*Ldiff + Lclutter d is distance in km between Tx antenna and mobile station Hms is mobile station height Heff is effective antenna height in metres Ldiff is a loss due to diffraction Lclutter is a clutter loss

Asset has 4 algorithms for calculating effective antenna height g g g

Absolute Average Relative Slope

Asset has 4 algorithms for calculating diffraction

Epstein Peterson Epstein-Peterson Bullington Deygout

K parameters
K1 and K2 Intercept and Slope. These factors correspond to a constant offset ( p p p (in

dBm) and a multiplying factor for the log of the distance between the base station and mobile. K3 and K4 relate to the mobile height and how it affects the path loss. Since the MS height is normally fixed (e.g. 1.5m) these two terms in the equation become constants. They only require calibration if you employ a variable mobile height. K5 and K6 are very important parameters since they relate to the effective base station antenna height, and how this affects the path loss. These values are difficult to calibrate without gathering data at a wide variety of base station heights. The default Hata values are K5=-13.82 and K6=-6.55. If sufficient data has been gathered then these can be calibrated (one at a time) by an iterative process of incremental changes and reanalysis until the standard deviation of the error is minimized. K7 (Diffraction Parameter) Diffraction effects occur only where there is no line of sight (LOS) from the site to the mobile. Therefore, in order to determine the K7 parameter the survey data needs to be filtered to exclude the LOS data. data All K parameters must keep the same polarity as in the original Okumura Hata model K1, K2, K7 >0 0 K3, K5, K6 <0 Above step can be easily fulfil by determining the delta range under Auto tune window

General Principles.
Models are generally based on the principle that the level (measured in dB) falls in a linear fashion with distance from the transmitter This is transmitter. represented by a term in the model of Klog(d) where K is the slope. At some distance from the transmitter the level is set to a fixed value This value. takes the form of a magic number and is known as the intercept. An offset may be applied for effective base station antenna height or mobile effective antenna height all along the path. Local offsets may be applied to the model at different points to reflect the effects of different clutter types at different points along the path or the effects of a diffracted path i.e.. shadowing by terrain or other g y obstructions.

Intercept p Offsets Caused By Clutter etc.

Receive Level e

Slope

Distance from Base Station

Asset improvements

K1 near and k2 near are designed to overcome Okumura-Hata

limitation for close distances.

Through Clutter Loss takes into the account clutter profile

along distance d from mobile station to base station.

Advantages in improved accuracy/reduced standard deviation

error and more realistic calculated predictions predictions.

Through Clutter Model Definition

Each clutter category is given Through Clutter Loss (dB/km) on the path between transmitter and receiver. Through clutter losses are linearly weighted. The clutter nearest the mobile station has the highest effect.

ASSETs Propagation Models

CW Measurements and Model Calibration Process

Drive Route Definition CW Survey y Campaign Data Post Processing Data Data Validation Validation

Propagation Model Requirements Identification

Site Selection

Calibration

YES Report Pass Model?

NO

Tuning A Model.
Path Loss Slope. p Path Loss Intercept. Clutter Values. Diffraction Loss. Effective Antenna Height. Eff ti G i Of M bil Antenna. Effective Gain Mobile A t Path Clutter.

Path Loss Slope.

The diagram represents a number of signal level measurements taken at g various points within the coverage area of a cell. In practice there would be over a thousand of these measurements. It is possible to draw a straight line p g through this plot that will show the underlying slope of the level/distance characteristic. To test the accuracy of the line that has been drawn it is necessary to calculate the error at every measurement point and hence a mean error. If the line that had been drawn was the blue one instead of the red one there is obviously an error. If the mean error is calculated, because there are both p positive and negative errors, it will come g , to zero. To test the slope, therefore, the RMS error must be calculated.

Measure Level (dBm) ed

Path Loss Intercept.

The slope of the line is now fixed. p It is possible to move the line up or down on the plot. If this is done and the mean error, between the line and the actual measurements is measurements, calculated it is possible to place the line so that there is close to zero mean error. The diagram shows a red line with the correct offset and a blue line with an incorrect offset. It is now possible to mark the plot at a fixed distance from the base station and to obtain a value in dBm for the intercept point. This point is shown marked in green on the diagram diagram. The slope and intercept values have now been calculated and may be used in the propagation model.

Measur red Leve (dBm) el

Clutter Values.
The local variations in level may be due to clutter at the mobile location. In this slide the samples have been color coded to indicate the type of clutter present at each sample site. This helps in deciding what sort of value to assign to each sort of clutter.

Measur red Leve (dBm) el )

Having assigned clutter values, the model must be run and its predictions compared with the real measurements. The calculation of mean errors in different types of clutter and the standard deviation of errors enables these values to be fine tuned. There is also an overall clutter weighting to be assigned.

Diffraction Loss.
Drawing a Path Profile identifies diffracted paths Diffraction problems are handled as single or multiple

knife edges

An overall weighting factor must be found

Effective Antenna Height.

Relative Method (Effective Height) The Relative method calculates the effective antenna height as follows: H eff = H b+H ob-H 0m (for H 0b > H 0m) H eff = H b (for H 0b < = H 0m) Where: H b : is the base station antenna height above ground H ob : is the ground height at the base station H 0m : is the ground height at the mobile Note: The algorithm already takes into account the affect of earth curvature. The Effective earth radius is set in the propagation model parameters. Here is an illustrative diagram of the Relative Method:

Path Clutter Factors.

Clutter may be considered over a larger area than the point at

which the mobile is located. located

Clutter Height may be added to Terrain Height to calculate

obstruction losses.

Site Selection
M More or 8 sites per model. Less number of sites can be considered if it d l L b f it b id d

modelled geographical area is fairly small.

Within geographic region of model
Height sites Site Selection Spread of site heights representative of networkDistribution forheights within

modelled region

Allow measurements in a c utte types o easu e e ts all clutter

5

Rooftop sites are preferred in a case test transmitter has to be

4 Fr requency

mounted
Ease of access

3 Frequency 2

No blocking objects in close vicinity

Nothing unusual, we are characterising the majority of the network not g g j y

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 More

the minority

-1 Height of Site

Add Panoramic photographs at every 45 degree interval

CW Drive Route Definition

Must account for expected coverage propagation Must account for expected interference propagation Sufficient measurement in all local clutter types ( >1000 ) Avoid street canyons, tunnels, elevated roads, cuttings etc Mix of radial and tangential roads Do not plan a map along the roads with ground height above the

istance

lutter

oads

Miscellaneous
transmitter antenna. Okumura- Hata model cant model this. situations

Good balance between measurements taken in LOS and NLOS Do not plan a route across a big water surface, if site is on the one

side of the lake, do not drive other lake side

Data in regions of terrain slope variation ariation Avoid large blocking objects as high building or long roof Long enough to ensure sufficient data is captured Check map data validity

CW Measurements
Spectrum clearance p
During CW survey allocated test frequency shouldnt be use for other purposes 10-15KHz bandwidth monitoring Check restrictions on test frequency TX EIRP

Equipment configuration E i t fi ti
Raw/Averaged data

Accurate Radiated Power setting, EiRP should be greater than 40dBm Use Omni antenna with minimum vertical beamwidth of 12 degrees Directional antenna can be used but in postproccessing everything beyond 3dBm should be dismissed

RF Signals

Driving
Do not drive out of RX noise floor Avoid street canyons tunnels elevated roads cuttings etc canyons, tunnels, roads, Distance/Time triggering

Omni Antenna with Transmitter attached through feeder.

In Vehicle, Receive equipment attached to roof mounted

Sampling - Lee Criteria

Lee Criteria In d t li i t fast f di f L C it i I order to eliminate f t fading from measurements, t minimum 36 samples should be taken over 40. A local mean should be found for the chosen number of samples. Common practice is to take 50 samples which gives one sample every 0.8. 50 samples should be averaged and give the local mean mean.

Slow fading vs Fast fading

Fast fading is fading due to multipath effect. Fast fading is characterized by Rayleigh probability distribution therefore cant be can t modelled by log normal distribution. Fast fading is superimposed onto signal envelope (slow fading) which we try to model. Slow fading is fading due to terrain and clutter. Slow fading follows log normal distribution. Okumura-Hata is log normal distribution

Distance triggering vs time triggering

Distance triggering allows us t easily apply L criterion. Di t ti i ll to il l Lee it i Time triggering is very difficult to follow Lee criterion due to change in p drive vehicle speed. Sampling in time triggering is not a problem since Lee states just minimum number of samples. Averaging over 40 i problem t i l A i is bl to implement i ti t in time t i triggering since i i there is not constant number of samples over 40 caused by speed variation. Whenever possible choose distance triggering.

Total driving route per model

In d f I order for model t be realistic, statistically sufficient number of d t d l to b li ti t ti ti ll ffi i t b f data need to be collected. p Aircom practise is to have at least 30000 data. If this distance is not achievable due to limitation in drivable roads it is recommended to have more than 8 sites per model. As t t d b f A stated before, in a case of modelling small geographical area with i f d lli ll hi l ith less sites, tuning can be performed with 10000 data per site. The more data the model is more realistic

Data Post processing

Depends on customer requirements:
Averaged Measurements post processing involves simple conversion into Signia format supported by Enterprise

Signia data file ( .dat ) contains longitude, latitude (decimal degrees) and received level (dBm)

E Every d t fil must have h d fil with id ti l name b t with extension .hd. data file th header file ith identical but ith t i hd Header file must have antenna type (identical name to one in Asset), Tx power, Tx antenna height, coordinates. It is common practice to include all gains and losses under Tx power value and leave other fields relevant to gain/losses in the header blank. Therefore in a Tx field usually is put:

Tx Ct +Atg Arg+Crl where Tx-Tx power(dBm), Ct-cable loss between transmitter and antenna (dB), Atg-transmitting antenna gain (dBi) Arg-receiving antenna gain (dBi) Crl-cable loss between receiver and receiving antenna (dB) It is important to get the projection system correctly so collected samples are lined up with the vectors in map data If vectors are not aligned with measurements during post process this should data. measurements, be adjusted.

CW Data Validation

Compare the site data (photographs, surrounding lutter and terrain profile) to the Clutter and DTM ayer of the map data provided.

Check the driven routes against vectors within the map data.

ilter out any invalid data that may cause anomalies n the calibration process

Make sure that details relating to a site (EIRP (EIRP, ocation, Height, Antenna file) correspond to reports rom CW Survey.

se Asset utilities to get visual representation of the eceived signal vs distance.

Data filtering
Filter clutter types that have less than 500 bins Clutter offsets or them bins. will be estimated later in the model tuning process. Filter out any file which shows extreme in signal level. Unusually high signal level at far distance can be caused by reflection over big water surface, or driving along route which is higher than antenna. Unusually weak signal level can be caused by driving behind blocking object. Okumura Hata cant model above situations, therefore these data , must be filtered out. With careful route planning filtering can be avoided. Having more than one file per site makes filtering during post processing much easier

Filtering example-Driving above Tx antenna

Filtering example-Blocking object

Displaying CW measurements in Asset

Data Types-CW Measurements-

g CW Signal

To set up thresholds double click

on CW Signal and specify thresholds under Categories tab inside CW Measurements

The same goes for other options

CW Window
3g/Asset-Tools-Model Tuning Cli k Add t add measurements Click to dd t

file from its destination, they mast have extension .hd Remove button to remove particular file

Hi hli ht Sit ID and click Highlight Site d li k

Model setting
Tools-Model Tuning-Options S l t th resolution of mapping Select the l ti f i

data

Select the model as a start

tuning t i model. It is recommended d l i d d to use default model

Filter seting
Tools-Model Tuning-Options-

Filter

Set up distance filtering Set up signal level filtering Filter out clutter types with

insufficient data by highlighting them

If you tune k7 click just NLOS Click antenna button if

directional antennas were used

Auto Tune
Tools-Model Tuning-Auto Tune S t up deltas Set d lt Click fix box next to the k factor

you dont want to tune

Click Auto Tune under Tools tab Wait for results You can apply new parameters

by clicking apply new parameters

Through clutter offsets and

clutter offsets are under Clutter tab

Default K parameters

Overview of Model Calibration

There must be project set up (map data antennas sites propagation data, antennas, sites, model) in order to start tuning Load CW data Make appropriate filtering usually: filtering,

-110dBm to -40dBm 125m to 10000

Start with the default values for k parameters Do Auto Tune Try all combination of effective antenna height and diffraction y g algorithms and determine which one gives the lowest standard deviation Take note of second and third best

k1,k2 near calibration

If model is not good close to the site, for example up to 700m,

auto tune the model from 700m to 10k Apply found k 10k. parameters. distances above 700 di b 700m.

Tune model again with k5,k6 and k7 locked and filter out Result will be k1near and k2 near. If standard deviation is still bad try with other distances until you

find the best fit.

Clutter offset
Some through clutter offsets and clutter offsets need to be

estimated due to insufficient data data.

Estimation is done relative to the clutter offsets with sufficient

data.

Clutter offsets must be realistic relative to each other. W t will h Water ill have th smallest offset while b ildi and forest the the ll t ff t hil building d f t th

highest.

Adjusting ME
Mean error is usually altered after estimation of clutter offsets. ME can be easily bring back to 0 by changing k1 If mean error is change k1 to k1+

Model analyses
Make statistical analyses for ME and SD for different distance

ranges. ranges

In the range of interest, typically 1km to 4km, following

requirements should be fulfilled

-1 < ME < 1 SD < 8

If ME or SD is outside the above specified values, t with i t id th b ifi d l try ith

changing the dual slope distance or take the second best model from the initial tuning.

Live sites signal Vs Predicted signal Comparison Plot

Sites Details

Over shoot signal from

Live sites signal Vs Predicted signal Comparison Plot

Over shoot signal from DXB3208 and DXB3005

Dxb3217 Live sites signal Vs Predicted signal Comparison Plot

Dxb3218 Live sites signal Vs Predicted signal Comparison Plot

Dxb3005 Live sites signal Vs Predicted signal Comparison Plot

Dxb3208 Live sites signal Vs Predicted signal Comparison Plot

Dxb3209 Live sites signal Vs Predicted signal Comparison Plot

Dubai Dense Urban Validation of Tuned Model-Site 8

Dubai Residential Validation of Tuned Model-Site 8

Abu Dhabi Dense Urban Validation of Tuned Model-Site 8

Abu Dhabi Residential Validation of Tuned Model-Site 8

Recommendations
Apply the model on Macro cell sites as opposed to Micro cell or Minicell Update clutter classes regularly A Generic Model could be applied REMEMBER: Models are NOT perfect, Optimisation will always be required.