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Frequency Planning Guidelines
Frequency Planning Guidelines
T-Mobile USA
Document Title:
xxxx_Frequency Planning
Page 1
Document Author:
Mark Cosgrove
Authors Manager:
Yasmin Karimli
Company:
T-Mobile
Document Category:
RF Standards
Document Keywords:
ENG / RF / TGU
Document Comments:
http://rf.eng.voicestream.com/Library/.doc
Date:
Document Approved:
Document Authorized:
Mark Cosgrove
Page 2
1 Scope
This document outlines the Radio Frequency (RF) channel assignment strategy for
existing and new markets. Reference material and background information has been included
as an informative annex.
2 Introduction
Each market has available a set band of frequencies as defined by the relevant FCC
license. The licensed frequency band is used to support discrete 200KHz wide channels. GSM
operates on a predefined numbering scheme such that each 200KHz channel has a specific
channel number assigned. The defined channels and band information for GSM North
American (GSM-NA) is shown in table 1.
FCC PCS
Band
A
D
B
E
F
C
MS TX Band
(MHz)
1850.0
1865.0
1880.0
1885.0
1890.0
1895.0
BTS TX
(MHz)
1930.0
1945.0
1960.0
1965.0
1970.0
1975.0
GSM CH
512-586
587-611
612- 686
687-711
712-736
737-811
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Page 4
A A
A
A
jj
As shown on this figure the re-use pattern has to follow the 2 arrows directions (or one
arrow if j=0) to be regular and this is the reason why N has to verify that N = i 2 + j 2 + ij . Where
i and j are integers.
That implies 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 13, 16, 19, 21, 27 are usually the values that we usually
consider in GSM.
For example, N=3, denotes a 3 sites cluster, each cell with a unique frequency group.
Repeating this cluster over the geographic area of coverage forms the cellular network. In a
sectorized reuse scheme, a site number / cluster size convention is commonly used to denote
the reuse pattern. For instant 3/9, denotes a 3 site / 9 cell cluster (3 sectors per site).
The frequency-repeat pattern determines the maximum number of radios that can be
deployed in each cell, thus the maximum amount of traffic carried.
A cellular network may consist of omni sites or sectorized sites or a combination of both.
Given the same total number of channels, the capacity of a sectorized site is less than the
capacity of an omni site, as the example below illustrates.
Site type
Omni
Total TCH
available
45
35.6 Erlangs
Page 5
45
However, sectorization allows higher frequency re-use with smaller number of sites as
each site contains 3 cells instead of one, and thus higher overall network capacity and that is
making much more sense economically, therefore all GSM networks use sectorized sites. For
both site types, several frequency re-use schemes are possible with varying levels of carrier to
interference ratio (C/I).
For any re-use pattern, the ratio of co-channel cell site to the cell radius is:
D / R = 3N
This comes from the fact that we have, here shown for N=4:
R
D
Lets call R the radius from the center of the hexagon to the middle of a side of the
hexagon. We have:
R ' = cos(30) R = 3
The distance D between the middle of and hexagon and the middle of the next one that
uses the same frequency verifies:
D = 2 R ' N = 2 R ' i
+ij
Therefore:
D / R = 3N
From this value we can estimate the theoretical interference created by the first ring of
frequency re-use. The hexagon grid implies that six first ring cells always surround a cell (One
for each side of the hexagon). Lets illustrate how this work in the case of omni-directional site
C Sm
=
I
6I
If we estimate that the propagation of the signal is proportional to the distance power the
attenuation factor n, we have at the edge of the cell (i.e. worst case C/I):
n
( D R)
C
=
n
I
6R
So in dB we have:
C
= log(
I
( D 1)
R
6
) = log(
( 3N 1)
6
Page 6
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
3
2
3
2
1
2
1
Page 7
1
4
3
1
7
8
6
6
2
8
6
4
3
9
4
4
3
6
2
4
3
Alternatively by swapping the allocation for 1 of the 4 sites, e.g. swapping cell using
carrier 8 and 12 in the Figure 3. would yield:
Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 12.0dB (for 2 out of 12 cells)
Adjacent channel interference; no adjacent channel neighbor, worst case C/Ia = 5.1dB
(for 4 out
2
of 12
3
4
10
6
cells)
2
3
2
3
11
10
11
12
11
8
3
10
7
12
12
11
7
9
5
11
7
9
12
5
11
12
5
10
9
8
6
1
7
4
8
3
10
7
12
6
1
12
10
8
3
10
12
11
6
7
4
6
1
7
4
6
1
10
11
12
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10
11
11
10
11
11
10
6
1
7
4
6
1
12
3
10
6
1
12
11
10
10
7
12
3
11
6
12
3
10
12
11
5
2
12
3
6
1
7
4
6
1
7
4
6
1
10
11
10
12
12
12
All these factors make it difficult to achieve the ideal network topology.
Irregularities of site coverage will increase the carrier to interference ratios. In general,
areas consisting of hilly terrain and large water bodies pose the most difficult frequency
planning problems.
The theoretical minimum C/I for which GSM is designed to work is 9 dB (GSM rec
05.05). However in reality it is not very efficient if we do not reach C/I = 12dB.
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Page 9
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Interference
No hopping
Interference
F1
With hopping
F1
F3
F1
F1
F2
MS_1 MS_2
F3
MS_3
F2 F3
MS_1
average
F2
F2 F
3
MS_2
MS_3
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Better tolerance to low C/I: The GSM channel coding scheme is designed
to recover lost information when the punctures are short in duration. Frequency
hopping is more resistant to interference because of the convolutionnal
decoding, this frequency diversity gain is detailed in part 4.2.3.
Easier frequency planning: Once the spectrum has been partitioned and
the hop-sets identified, TRX can be added to the system with relative ease by
simply including them in the most appropriate hopping set for that cell
Quality is very traffic sensitive; the quality of the network degrades very
rapidly with increase in traffic, but on the other hand a high traffic makes the
frequency planning impossible if non-hopping strategy is implemented
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Number of
Frequencies
Cyclic
Hopping
1
2
3
4
8
Random
Hopping
1
2
3
4
8
12
Absolute
Level (dB)
11.5
8.5
7.5
6.5
5.5
Relative Gain
(dB)
0.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
Absolute Level
(dB)
6.5
6.0
6.0
6.0
6.0
Relative Gain
(dB)
0.0
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
11.5
9.5
8.5
8.0
7.5
7.0
0.0
2.0
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
6.5
6.5
6.5
6.0
6.0
6.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.5
0.5
0.5
effectively helps slow moving mobiles meet the link budget assumptions and does not
offer an improvement over the link budget.
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The 1/1 strategy also reduces interferences more easily in areas that would
require a site that does not respect the pattern (bi-sectorial site to cover a highway, pico-cell in
hot spots)
In case of a large spectrum allocation and a low usage other techniques such as 3*9,
3*3, 4*4, 4*12, and 5*5 may be used in frequency hopping with smaller groups of frequencies,
therefore the interference is limited. The issue with these techniques is that a frequency plan
must be performed; these techniques will not be studied further in this document.
Recommendations for different markets, according to their spectrum allocation, will be
given in section 5.
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Page 15
Average Load
Peak Load.
The Peak load is computed from the highest traffic cells in an area and is often set as a
hard limit, i.e the number of available TRXs are set at the Peak load, such that the system
reaches 2% blocking at the peak load.
The Average Load is computed by taking all cells in an area and computing the effective
traffic loading and frequency reuse. There is no hard limit to the average load and
hence the performance of a network must be monitored. Once the average load limit is
reached cell splits will be needed. It is possible for a network to reach the average load
limit before any one site has reached the peak load limit.
4.3.1 Process for Calculating Loading
Step 1.
Measure BH Traffic for busiest cell and surrounding area,
approximately 21 sites.
Step 2.
Compute the peak cell traffic and the average cell traffic
Step 3. Convert peak and average traffic levels in to channel requirements using
Erlang B tables and 0.1% blocking1
Step 4. Convert channel requirements in to TRX occupancy
Step 5. Calculate the TRX loading.
Example
8 Sites, 24 sectors carrying 279 Erlangs
Peak traffic is 26 Erlangs
8 Frequencies per MA list
The measured BH traffic is carried traffic where as Erlang B tables uses offered traffic. By using a very
low level of blocking the difference between offered and carried traffic channel requirements is minimized.
1
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Peak
26
42
5.25
Average
11.6
27
3.4
65%
42%
58%
37%
f1
f2
f3
f4
f5
f6
f7
f8
f9
f10
f11
f12
6
2
f13
12
8
4
10
We can see from this table that using the MAIO 0,6,12,18 TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector A,
MAIO 2,8,14,20 for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector B and MAIO 4,10,16,22 for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector
C we are sure to avoid any adjacent channel and co-channel interference between the sites
different cell.
If we summarize graphically each sites sector should look this way:
Confidential and Proprietary
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Page 17
If a 1/3 strategy is used, the first group is used for each sites sector A, the second
group is used for each sites sector B and the third for each sector C:
Sector A group F1, F4 F3n-2
As for the 1/1, the HSN used should be the same for each sector as they are all
synchronized and therefore we can avoid adjacent channel interference between sectors of the
same cell.
The MAIO strategy should be implemented this way (frequencies in red mark the fact the
above MAIO is used):
MAIO
8
Page 18
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
F11
F12
F13
F14
F15
F16
F17
F18
F19
F20
F21
F22
F23
F24
F25
F26
F27
F28
F29
F30
From this table we can observe that there is no adjacent channel at the same time. So
MAIO 0,2,4,6 should be used for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector A, MAIO 1,3,5,7 used for TRX
1,2,3,4 of sector C
Graphically the HSN, MAIO implementation of 1/3 hopping is:
Sector A MAIO 0,2,4,6
For all three sectors HSN=N with 1=<N<=63
Sector C MAIO 0,2,4,6
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outer 50% of the cell. If the TA distribution shows that the traffic is concentrated in the
inner 50% of the sector than the cell split will be ineffective and another method of increasing
capacity should be considered.
Note that the TA is calculated based on the roundtrip delay of the radio signals and hence is
the radio path length. Where strong multipath effects exist the radio path may be significantly
longer than the true distance from the site.
Page 21
Advanced features such as concentric cells and layered networks will increase the
capacity of the system allowing lower spectrum allocations to meet the 12 TRX limit, or
alternatively allow for more spectrum to be set aside for data services. Such techniques are for
further study.
Page 22
Page 23
5 Spectrum Partitioning
The question here is, for a given spectral bandwidth, how many frequency channels
(ARFCN) should be used as the BCCH, the remainder will thus be used as TCH? Further, what
re-use schemes should be deployed for the TCH carriers to support the projected traffic load?
BCCH
Figure 5.4: Example of block and interleave spectrum partition
The interleaved partition approach is not practical since it prevents the use of downlink
power control, therefore the BCCH and TCH spectrum should be separated and not
interleaved. As illustrated in Figure 5.5, when the TCH is power down, there is strong adjacent
channel interference from the BCCH carrier, which is transmitted at full power.
Down
4 TCH
5 c
As illustrated in the diagram below, the BCCH frequencies block can be placed in the
center of the available spectrum, thus splitting the TCH into 2 blocks of frequencies. This
provides larger frequency hopping range.
Page 24
BCCH
Figure 5.6: Example of side and central spectrum partition
Alternatively, placing the BCCH at the bottom or top of the available spectrum reduces
the number of adjacent channel TCH to one, and provides a contiguous TCH block.
The penalty of this approach is that it reduces the ability of frequency hopping to combat
frequency selective fading, however it does not seem to compensate for the loss of a frequency
except in the case of very important spectrum allocation (typically 20 MHz uplink and downlink
of spectrum or more). Therefore we recommend in most cases to use contiguous TCH and to
have the BCCH located on top or bottom of the spectrum.
Page 25
6 Market application
6.1 Frequency planning strategy suggested for a 5 MHz market (5 MHz
bandwidth uplink and downlink)
For a 5MHz market (5MHz downlink, 5MHz uplink), there is a total of 25 ARFCNs
(absolute radio frequency channel number). Of these 25, there is 1 frequency block guard
band, the 25th ARFCN, and 2 low power guard bands (quarter watts, 24dBm maximum), the 1st
and the 24th. Therefore it leaves only 22 ARFCN available, which is very reduced.
In order to realistically provide a sufficient quality for the signaling a 4/12 BCCH reuse is
inevitable. As we have to leave a guard channel between the TCH and BCCH band, this will
leave only 9 channels to use for the TCH, implemented in 1/1 hopping, which allows us to go up
to S333 configuration the frequency load being 2/9=22% quite high but achievable. Other
strategies (non-hopping, 1/3) would probably be limited to lower configuration and in the case of
non-hopping create a very complicated cell planning.
The cell split criteria would be to split at S333 configuration in a 5 MHz market.
Here is the suggested frequency planning for a 5MHz market:
Block guard
1
Power guard
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
BCCH
14
TCH
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24
25
The frequency groups would be set this way for the BCCH (group 1 to 4):
sector
A
B
C
Group1
2
6
10
Group2
3
7
11
Group3
4
8
12
Group4
5
9
13
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
MAIO TRX1
0
2
4
MAIO TRX2
6
8
7 (8 or 6 if the first or second cell has only 2
TRX)
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23