Cell-And Frequency Planning: Magdaleen Snyman

1/31/20081 May 2004 Cellular Network Planning CE at UP 1
Cell- and Frequency Planning

Magdaleen Snyman
References
GSM, GPRS and EDGE Performance:
evolution towards 3G/UMTS
o T.Halonen, J. Romero, J. Melero
o Second Edition
o John Wiley & Sons
o ISBN 0-470-86694-2
The Mobile Radio Propagation Channel
o J.David Parsons,
o Second Edition,
o John Wiley & Sons
o ISBN 0 471 98857 X
Course Overview
Conventional Cell and Frequency Planning
o You work, I watch ;-)
Radio Network Features and their impact
Investigating the principles
o We all think a bit ;-)
Real Cell and Frequency Planning
Setting up an AFP
Site selection discussion
The inputs to Cell Planning
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Cost / Money
GoS
QoS
Quality
Coverage
Speech Quality
System Choice - C/I
4/12 Cell Pattern
Frequency
Groups
A1 B1 C1 D1 A2 B2 C2 D2 A3 B3 C3 D3
Channels 1 2 3 4
13 14 15 16
5 6 7 8
17 18 19 20
9 10 11 12
21 22 23 24

A3 A2
D3
D1 D2 C1
C3
C2
B1
B3 B2
17
21
13
9
10
5
22
16
12
24
8
20
3
15
7 11
19
23
2
14
6
18
A1
1
4
Prediction algorithms
Lees model and other empirical models
o P
loss
= P
R1
+ 10log(d / d
1
) + n10 log( f / f
0
) -
0
o P
R1
is the reference loss at d
1
(normally 1 mile)
(e.g. -84dBm in a city like Tokyo and -49dBm for
open areas)
o depends on the type of terrain
(value between 2 and 4)
o n is between 2 and 3
Co-channel interference
# Info
bits
# Coding
bits
Code
Rate
Max data rate
(kbs) /TS
Required C/I (dB)
(BLER <10%; TU3 FH)
Modul
ation
GSM 260 196 0.5 13.3 9 GMSK
CS-1 181 275 0.45 9.05 9 GMSK
CS-2 268 188 0.65 13.4 13 GMSK
CS-3 312 144 0.75 15.6 15 GMSK
CS-4 428 28 21.4 23 GMSK
MCS-1 176 0.53 8.4 9 GMSK
MCS-2 224 0.69 11.2 13 GMSK
MCS-3 296 0.89 14.8 15 GMSK
MCS-4 352 1 16.8 23 GMSK
MCS-5 448 0.38 22.4 14.5 8PSK
MCS-6 592 0.5 29.6 17 8PSK
MCS-7 896 0.78 44.8 23.5 8PSK
MCS-8 1088 0.92 54.4 29 8PSK
MCS-9 1184 1 59.2 32 8PSK
Adjacent Channel interference
for co-channel interference C/Ic=9 dB
for adjacent (200 kHz) interference C/Ia1=-9 dB
Adjacent channel interference
Relative
power
(dB)
0
-10
-20
-30
-50
-40
-60
-70
-80
0 200 400 600
Frequency from the carrier (kHz)
measurement bandwidth 30 kHz measurement bandwidth 100k Hz
1200 1800 6000 3000
0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
Relative
power
(dB)
0 200 400 600 1200 1800 6000
Frequency from the carrier (kHz)
measurement bandwidth 30 kHz
measurement bandwidth 100 kHz
Edge of TX
band + 2 MHz
3000
Co-channel interference
D
The total co-channel
interference experienced at
the yellow spot is the sum of
interference of all six cells
with the same frequency
The interference from one
co-channel interferer can be
written as
I =KD
-
The carrier level is
C= KR
-
C/I = (D/R)
/6
R
Re-use distance
v
30
u
D
D = (i
2
+ ij + j
2
)
2Rcos 30
D = (i
2
+ ij + j
2
)
(3)
R
Number of cells in the
re-use pattern
N = i
2
+ ij + j
2
i in (1,2,3,4 ..)
j in (0,1,2,3,4 ..)
D/R = (3N)
i
j
The Hexagon
Area of a hexagon:
A = 3 (3)
R
2
/2
Distance between centers
of two adjacent cells:
d = (3)
R
R
d
Traffic calculations revision
An Erlang
Erlang B Table
Examples of Traffic channels
Problem
The average traffic generated by one user is
10milliErlang/Subscriber
The population density is 50 people/km
2
Assume a phone penetration of 80%
You are implementing a GSM system.
You have 48 (1-48)channels available
Assume free-space propagation i.e. = 2
Draw the re-use pattern and assign frequencies to
the cells.
Calculate the site to site distance that you will
need to implement.
C/I = (D/R)

/2
Sectorisation
Effect of and C/I
gamma 9 12 13 17 36
2 18 33 42 102 7965
2.5 12 18 21 42 1323
3 9 12 12 24 399
3.5 6 9 9 15 171
4 6 6 9 12 90
C/I (dB
Minimum
frequencies
Assuming 3 sectored sites
Spectral Efficiency
Erlang/Hz/km
2
Using the previous problem as starting point
calculate the spectrum density that could
be achieved if the sites were sectorised.
Compare with the omni-cells
Benefits of sectorisation
Higher gain antennas are available better
penetration
Less cost for same traffic density
Underlay / Overlay - MRP
Cell Splitting
Hierarchical Cells
Umbrella Cell:
Macro Cell: Antenna above average rooftop height
Micro Cell: Antenna below average rooftop height
Pico Cell: Indoors
DTX- Discontinuous
Transmission
Average Voice activity is around 50%
DTX is a feature that allows to be
transmitted only when there is something to
be transmitted
o Uses VAD (Voice Activity Detector)
It safes on battery power
Improves the overall network quality by
reducing unnecessary interference
Dynamic Power Control
This enable the BTS and the Mobile to transmit
only the power necessary for effective
communications
Power Control Commands are via the SACCH
This improves the battery live of Mobile Phones
And it improve the overall network quality by
reducing unnecessary interference
Effect of DTX and PC on Quality
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
6.00%
7.00%
8.00%
9.00%
10.00%
0 10 20 30 40
Time (hours)
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%HOIU
%HOID
DTX + PC Off
PC Off
Base Band Frequency Hopping
Controller
CALL 2
Tx and Rx on f
1
Controller
CALL 3
Controller
CALL 4
Controller
CALL 1
Tx and Rx on f
2
Tx and Rx on f
3
Tx and Rx on f
0
Baseband Bus
for routing bursts
C
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f
1
f
2
f
3
f
0
f
0
f
1
f
2
f
3
f
2
f
3
f
0
f
1
f
3
f
0
f
1
f
2
Number of frequencies equal to number of transceivers Number of frequencies equal to number of transceivers
Synthesised Hopping
Controller
CALL 2
Tx and Rx hopping
Controller
CALL 3
Controller
CALL 4
Controller
CALL 1
Tx and Rx hopping
Tx and Rx hopping
Tx and Rx hopping
f
1
f
2
f
3
f
0
f
0
f
1
f
2
f
3
f
2
f
3
f
0
f
1
f
3
f
0
f
1
f
2
Number of frequencies more or equal Number of frequencies more or equal
to number of transceivers to number of transceivers
Frequency Diversity
Raleigh fading is frequency dependant
f
0
f
1
Position
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Frequency Diversity
Diversity: combining two or more
uncorrelated versions of the same signal
For conventional frequency diversity the info
is sent on two different frequencies at the
same time.
To be uncorrelated the two frequencies
should be more than 1/(multi-path spread),
where the multi-path spread is dependant on
the environment.
For urban areas the frequencies should be
more than 600kHz apart
Why does hopping work?
Review interleaving
If one timeslot gets completely lost during
transmission 1/8 of two speech frames are lost.
At the receiver the speech frames are de-interleaved
The channel coding can recover from the 12.5%
BER.
Interleaving and Channel Coding is part and parcel
of the GSM standard - it works even without hopping.
Frequency Diversity Gain
Frequency Diversity Gain vs Number of Hopping Channels
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Number of Carriers
G
a
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(
d
B
)
Cyclic Random Poly. (Cyclic) Poly. (Random)
Interference Diversity
Extent of Interference diversity depends on:
o Interference load (DTX and Power Control)
o Frequency reuse: low re-use -> low gain;
Dependant on area type.
o Number of Frequencies (less -> less gain)
o Cyclic or Random
Interference diversity gain reached with 25%
load, 12 frequencies in Urban area with
random hopping is 2.5dB - mostly it is less.
Planning for FH network
Use separate frequency blocks for TCH and
BCCH
o BCCH frequency channel must be Always On
o No hopping over BCCH.
Plan TCH layer:
o MAL : Mobile radio frequency channel
Allocation List
o HSN: Hopping sequence number
o MAIO: Mobile Allocation Index Offset
o MAI: Mobile Allocation Index
Selecting a BCCH block
Why a BCCH block?
o Identifying the source of interference
o Re-evaluation of the neighbour list
o For collecting data for a measurement based
plan
Optimum size?
o Where a change in a BCCH carrier will on
average make the same difference as a change
in a TCH carrier in the optimised plan
Selecting a BCCH block
BlockSize
Total Number of Carriers Available
AverageTraffic TCHlayer Scaling
BCCH
perCell DTX PC on
=
+
_ _ _ _
( / ) ( , ) 8 1
TCH layer
MAI 0 2 1A 2A 3A 1B 2B 3B 1C 2C 3C
1 1 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2 2 4 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
3 3 1 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
4 4 2 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
4 1 2 3 2 4 3 1
28 1 10 19 10 28 19 1
10 19 28 1 28 10 1 19
HSN =x
TRX1 on 1A has MAIO = 0
TRX2 on 1A has MAIO = 2
MA MAIO
Automatic Frequency
Planning Tools
Coverage
Analysis
Interference
Matrix
Propagation
Predictions
Separation
Constraints,
etc
Frequency
Plan
TRX
Requirements
etc
AFP Tool
Automatic Frequency Planning
Model of Network
Model effect of particular
assignment on quality
Propagation Predictions
Drive Test Data
Handover Statistics
Live Measurements
Cost Function:
Sum of remaining
interference and
other penalties.
Quality
Change:
Frequency
BSIC
HSN, MAIO
Interference Matrix
The conventional interference matrix
represent:
o The Traffic that will be interfered on if two
radios were assigned the same frequency;
o The area that will be interfered on if two radios
were assigned the same frequency
o pixel by pixel.
o Need ACCURATE propagation predictions and
traffic distribution maps.
o What is the cost of accurate enough
predictions?
Generating the
Interference Matrix
2.5 km
2.0 km
2 m Resolution
2.5 km
2.0 km
50 m Resolution
Microcell Service Area 1 pixel
Probability of C/I>9dB
Cummulative Probability Distribution
for C/I exceeding 9dB
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Calculated C/I (dB)
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d
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AFP
Implements a mathematical optimisation
method or Artificial Intelligence method to
minimise
Cost = C
ij
ij
+ A
ij
ij
o
ij
= 1 if radios i and j are assigned the same(adjacent)
frequency,
o
ij
= 0 else
By changing the frequency assignments to
the different cells
What are the true aims in
Cell and Frequency Planning
What will really give optimum quality?
The inputs to Cell Planning
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Cost / Money
GoS
QoS
Quality
Coverage
Speech Quality
System Choice - C/I
Quality
Voice Quality
o Impacted by the FER (Frame Erasure Rate /
Probability
o And to some extent by the BER (Bit Error Rate /
probability)
Dropped Calls
o Radio Link Timeout based on unsuccessful
SACCH frame - FER
FER and SQI vs.RxQual
-10
0
10
20
30
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
RxQual
S
Q
I
/

%
F
E
R
Non-Hopping
Non-Hopping
Hopping
Hopping
FER
SQI
C/I to FER
Frame Erasure Rate
-30
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
-5 0 5 10 15 20
C/I(dB)
1
0

l
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(
F
E
R
)
Frequency Hopping
on 8 freqquencies,
Random Hopping
Non-Hopping
Measurement Based
Frequency Planning
Using Mobile Measurement Reports how
will you go about generating the optimal
Interference Matrix?
The first Measurement
Based Plan
Johannesburgs Central Business District
12km12km
65 sites (350 cells)
477 carriers
Despite questioned cluttered data and propagation
prediction models
very low dropped call rate of about 1.4% was very
often achieved
partly due to dedicated optimisation
Cell Traffic Recordings was used to collect Mobile
Measurement Reports on all the cells
With the mobiles measuring on all BCCH channels
The process took about a month.
The signal strength of the serving cell and the
reported neighbours was used to calculated the
C/I and eventually the FER.
The average FER for each server-interferer
relation was calculate.
and multiplied with the traffic on the serving cell
Measurement Based
Frequency Planning
The
Sanity
Check
Using
MMRs in
Frequency
Planning
Dropped Call Rate
0.90%
1.10%
1.30%
1.50%
1.70%
1.90%
2.10%
2.30%
0 10 20 30 40
Time
P
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Traffic
1.29%
%Drop
DayAvg
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d
The
Results:
Quality
Intra-cell Hand-over and TCH Dropped
due to Bad Quality
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
6.00%
7.00%
8.00%
0 10 20 30 40
Time
P
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T
)
%HoBUQ
%HoBDQ
Traffic
%TBQDis*50
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Data Sources for the
Interference Matrix (1)
o Well established conventional method
o Based on Predicted Carrier to Interference
ratios that is often translated with a C/I weights
curve
o Integration with AFP tools eases use
o Suited for new networks with many new cells
o Dependant on elevation and clutter data that
often has limited accuracy
Neighbour relations statistics
o Well suited for very tight plan
o Too little information for a less tight plan
o Hand-over statistics not directly related to C/I
o Can not model interference from non-
neighbours
Drive Test Data
o Measurements done with network set on measure on all
BCCH channels
o Independent of accuracy of elevation and clutter data
o Extensive measurements necessary for interference
matrix
o Difficult to deduce interfered traffic from data
o Drives are limited to roads and does not include high
rise buildings
o Effort in importing into an AFP
o Often used to supplement propagation predictions
Live Data: Mobile Measurement Reports
o Mobile Measurement Reports are collected with the cell
set to measure on all BCCHs
o Data reflect the actual traffic distribution as well as the
actual C/I. (as the customer sees it)
o No additional neighbour relations or exceptions required
o Extensive data collection - slow process. Requires the
network to be fairly mature and stable.
o Difficult to model new sites
o Takes some effort to import into an AFP.
Prediction vs. MMRP
LIMITED accuracy
o Propagation predictions
o Clutter and Height data
o In building
o Traffic distribution
Cannot represent new
sites
MMR limitations:
o RxLev: -110 -> -48dBm
o Only integers
o Only six neighbours
o BSIC decoding
problems
Combining Data Sources
.one of the remaining challenges. E.g:
o How to complement the shortcomings of the
mobile measurements reports with the
propagation predictions to include new cells.
o How to combine limited measurements with
predictions.
without
o Spoiling good data with bad data.
o Skewing the matrix, e.g. when drive test data is
available for only part of the network.
Penalties for AFP
A bare necessity approach i.e. set
penalties only when
o it is required by law or
o It is required for feasibility e.g. filter combiner
separation
o it will assist in the improvement of network
quality
o Is penalties to avoid adjacencies required?
The size of the penalties must reflect their
importance and effect on network quality
Examples of Scaling Factors
Difference in interference introduced
o Traffic load on TCH channels
o Power Control
o Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)
o Over-laid Under-laid - depend on effectiveness
of implementation
o Synthesizer Hopping - dependant on fractional
load
Difference in immunity to interference
o Frequency Diversity Gain of Hopping Networks
Interference Load
The core questions:
o How much interference will assigning the same
frequency to a carrier in Cell A and Cell B
cause ?
o How much less will that be after DTX?
o How much less will that be after Power Control?
Interference Load
o How much signal or potential interference is
carried on a particular carrier
o Interference Load = Traffic on Cell
8 * #Carriers
Interference Load Reduction
For BCCH
o Interference Load = 1
For Non-Hopping TCH without DTX and PC
o Interference Load = Traffic on TCH Carriers
o 8 * Number of TCH Carriers
After DTX
o Voice Activity Factor 40% on TCH channels
o Interference Load = 0.4 * Traffic on TCH Carriers
Interference Load Reduction
After Power Control ?
o Consider a very simplified model:
C/I = Server SS / (6* Interferers SS)
Reducing the signal level of the server and of the
interferers by approximately 10dB:
C/I = 0.1* Server SS / (6*0.1* Interferers SS)
Approximately unchanged.
o Practical implementation suggest a definite
interference reduction - by 60%
o Interference Load = 0.6 * Traffic on TCH Carriers
Inter-modulation Products
Harmonics or Inter-modulation products
results from non-linearity in the system
May cause a problem if one of these
products fall on a receiving frequency.
IM originate from frequencies in the transmit
band and cause interference in the receive
band
Inter-modulation Products
GSM1800 Downlink -BaseTx GSM1800 Uplink - MobileTx
GSM900 Uplink - MobileTx GSM900 Downlink - BaseTx
915MHz
1785MHz
1805MHz
1880MHz 1710MHz
935MHz 960MHz 890MHz
Dualband
GSM1800
GSM
900
A few terms
Frequency Allocation Re-use
o FAR = Total Number of Frequency Channels
Number of Frequencies per Cell
Effective Re-use
R
eff
= Total Number of Frequency Channels
Average number of TRX per Cell
Fractional Load
o L
frac
= Number of TRX per Cell .
Number of Frequencies per Cell
Hardware Load
o L
HW
= (Busy Hour Traffic) / (TN /TRX)
A few terms
Frequency Load
o L
freq
= L
HW
L
frac
Effective Frequency Load
o EFL =. Busy Hour Traffic per Cell .
(TN per TRX for Traffic).(Total # FreqCH)
Optimum # carriers to
Hop over = 24/6
Optimum frequency Re-use
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Frequency Reuse = #TCH carriers / #TCH per cell
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6MHz available f or TCH
Quality vs Capacity
100
105
110
115
120
125
130
135
140
145
150
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Average Erlang per Cell (Capacity)
(deduced from Spectrum Utilisation)
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The challenge: To maximize Quality * Capacity
Major Interferers
Effect of reducing major interferers
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
100.00%
0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% 90.00% 100.00%
Per cent age of Cel l s cont r i but i ng t o I nt er f er ence
Cummulative Contribution
With 5 sites' interference removed
What criteria would you
use for site selection?
Close to traffic most effective Power Control
Contained (high )
o In building
o In valleys rather than on top of mountains
What effect will an unbalanced link have?
What criteria will you provide an
Automatic Cell Planning tool with?
Interference Matrix
MMR
Frequency Allocation
Traffic distribution - GIS
Possible sites
Equipment used
Effective Frequency load
Hand over areas
Income: Coverage
of potential traffic
Cost: cost of
changes / sites
Evaluating automatic tools...
Automatic Frequency Planning Tools
o Must Allow various data sources to be imported
o Must model the network accurately (e.g. Model
hopping accurately)
o Must be simple to use, hence most of the
modelling should be integrated
Automatic Network Optimisation
o Must be reliable and accurate enough to allow it to
run free with very little manual input
Automatic Cell Planning
o Cost function is so complex it should come with
the tool... and allow manual changes

Cell-And Frequency Planning: Magdaleen Snyman

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1/31/20081 May 2004 Cellular Network Planning CE at UP 1

Cell- and Frequency Planning

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