Base Station Survey and Layout

Huawei Wireless Network Planning

Department

Contents

About the Service

Preparation

Coverage
Requirements

Site Selection

Antenna Design

Survey Documents

About the Service

Initial layout design of the base stations is essential to

network planning, which includes:

A. Determine the frequency multiplex mode based on

the frequency bandwidth;

B. Estimate the number of base stations in need

under the conditions such as capacity prediction,
traffic distribution and coverage requirements;

C. Determine theoretical sites of base stations;

D. Assume the relevant parameters of base stations

such as network layer structure, transmission power,
antenna feeder system, antenna type, height, azimuth,
down-tilt, etc.

About the Service

Base station site survey is a major part of determining the base

station layout, which includes optical survey, spectrum survey and
station site survey.

Optical survey
The construction environment and
natural environment surrounding
the base stations.

Spectrum survey
Electromagnetic environment

Station site survey

Installation environment for antennas
and equipment
Power supply and transmission facilities

Contents

About the Service

Preparation

Coverage
Requirements

Site Selection

Antenna Design

Survey Documents

Preparation

Get familiar with the project, and try to collect various materials
concerned, including:

Engineering documents

Background materials

Information about existing

network

Local map, etc.

Contract configuration list

The latest site survey table

of network planning

Preparation
Prepare

tools, and ensure they work normally

before setting out;

Digital camera

GPS satellite receiver

Compass

Ruler

Portable computer

Preparation

Base Station site Survey Preparation Meeting

Before survey, all the persons concerned shall gather in the survey
preparation & coordination meeting to discuss the following details:

Electromagnetic background, and to test the electromagnetic

background when necessary;

Arrangement of people responsible for survey and cooperation;

Vehicle and equipment preparation;

Make a survey plan and

determine the survey routes;

Elementary project concerning transmission,

power supply, etc.

Contents

About

the

Service

Preparation

Coverage
Requirements

Site Selection

Antenna
Design

Survey
Documents

Coverage Requirements
Coverage

of

base

station

mainly

depends on the following factors:

Service quality indices

Output power of the transmitter

Available sensitivity of the receiver

Antenna orientation and gain

Frequency band in use

Promulgation environment

Application of diversity reception

......

Contents

About

the

Service

Preparation

Coverage

Requirements

Site Selection

Antenna

Design

Survey
Documents

Site Selection

After preparation and getting informed of coverage

requirements, you can select the base station site. During
determining station site, the following factors shall be taken into
consideration:

The existing network

Population distribution and local

customs

City structure and town chorology

Major streets and traffic

Mountains, lakes, rivers, coastlines

Nature environment

Long-term development trend, etc.

Site Selection

Principles for Base Site Selection

Population distribution
Traffic distribution

Select areas with dense

traffic and subscribers

Subscriber flowing tread

Be careful when choosing

Base station surroundings

Signal transmission quality

mountains or those near to

radars, radio station, forest,
power supply factory, etc.

Site Selection

Principles for base station site selection:

A. Try to locate the base station at an ideal position in the regular

cellular meshes, and the error shall not exceed one-fourth of the site
radius;

B. Try to make use of existing facilities without prejudice to the base

station layout, cutting down the construction cost and period;

C. Normally, do not select mountains with

high elevations at the edges of cities or in
suburbs (100~300 meters or higher than
the elevation of the cities or suburbs) for
the convenience of coverage control and
maintenance, and reducing the difficulty of
project construction;

Site Selection

D. Base station should be constructed in a safe place with convenient

traffic, mains power supply and without occupying too many fertile
farmlands;

E. Try not to construct the base station near a high power radio
transmission station, radar station or other interference sources;

F. Base station to be constructed shall be far from woods to avoid rapid

attenuation of signals;

G. When constructing a base station in an area with mountains, cliffy

banks, or many lakes, or in a hilly city, or in a high metal building, you
must consider the influence of signal reflection and time dispersion;

H. When constructing a base station among buildings, you can make use
of the height of buildings to realize the division of network layer structure;

I. When there are only a few stations at the beginning of construction, it is

required to ensure good coverage in important areas.

Contents

About the Service

Preparation

Coverage
Requirements

Site Selection

Antenna

Feeder

Design

Survey
Documents

Antenna Feeder System-Combining and Distribution Unit

Introduction to Antenna Feeder System

The antenna feeder system is composed of combining and distribution unit,

feeder, tower top amplifier, and antenna:
Combining

and distribution unit

Function:

Mainly for receipt and sending of signal duplex, transmission of signal

combining, filtering, receipt of signal filtering, low noise amplification
and distribution, provision of feed circuit of tower top amplifier;
realization of multiple transmission signals and common use of the
units of one antenna by several received signals.

Type:

At present, Huawei can provide the following combining and distribution

units: SCU, CDU, EDU, etc.

Antenna Feeder SystemCombining and Distribution Unit

Comparison of Insertion Loss of Combining and Distribution Units:

Type of Combiner

Transmission Channel Loss (dB)

Minimum

Typical Value

Maximum

EDU

0.7

1.25

Dual CDU
(without via
combiner)

0.7

1.25

CDU

4.3

4.5

5.1

CDU+SCU

7.3

8.2

CDU+CDU

4.3

4.5

5.1

Antenna Feeder SystemTower Top Amplifier

Tower Top Amplifier

Function:

Improves the sensitivity of base station receipt system.

Type:
As an alternative, the tower top amplifier shall be selected
according to the frequency band used in the system.
The base station with CDU pattern may use simplex tower
top amplifier and triplex tower top amplifier; the base station
with combiner mode shall use duplex tower top amplifier;

Antenna Feeder SystemFeeder

Feeder:
Frequently-used specification:

", 7/8 ", 5/4 "

How to choose a feeder:

Use 5/4 feeders for 900MHz and over 80 meters of length;

5/4feeders for 1800MHz and over 50 meters of length;

The curvature of the feeders shall not be too large, and the
conductor surface is required to well connected with the ground.

feeder loss:

900M: Approximate 5dB/100m on 7/8feeders; about 3dB/100m

on 5/4feeders.

1800M: : Approximate 6dB/100m on 7/8feeders; about

4dB/100m on 5/4feeders.

Antenna Feeder SystemAntenna

Antenna

GSM mobile communication system often adopts directional

antenna with a horizontal beam width of 90or 65 and

omnidirectional antenna based on the shape or range of the
service area, channel number and other conditions;

For Indoor coverage or tunnel coverage with micro cells, and

other special conditions, distributed antenna and leakage

cables may be used; for city-concentrated area, in order to
decrease interference to the adjacent cells, 65antenna is
adopted normally; in a suburb with a small number of
subscribers,

90directional

antenna

or

omnidirectional

antenna is adopted; at present, the following companys are in

use: Kathrein, Allgon, Xian Haitian, Andrew, etc.

Antenna Feeder SystemAntenna

Antenna Performance Indices:

Antenna

has many performance indices, of which the

following items are the most important for network

planning:

Frequency Range

Gain

Polarization

Horizontal/Vertical half-power beam width

Down-tilt

Antenna Feeder SystemAntenna

For

example, the direction figures of

Kathrein 739649 directional antenna are
as follows:

Antenna Feeder SystemAntenna

The

direction figures for Andrew CT1D0F-0087-011

Omnidirectional Antenna are as follows:

Antenna Feeder System - Antenna

Performance of Frequently-used Indoor Antennas

Antenna Feeder SystemAntenna

Distributed Antenna System

With the development of GSM

system, subscribers raise more
and more requirements on mobile
communication network.
Good
coverage in large buildings,
highways/ railway tunnels, metros,
and other special areas requires
distributed antenna system;

Distributed
antenna
system
consists of leakage cable, coaxial
feeder distributed antenna, optical
fiber feeder distributed antenna,
etc.;

Antenna Feeder Design

Antenna Feeder Design

The antenna feeder configuration plan is worked out based on operators
requirements on coverage and capacity, and in the light of detailed type
configuration, installation environment and other practical conditions of a
certain base station.
Selection of Combiner

Normally depends on the coverage requirements of a base station, by

giving consideration to network development tendency;

Selection of feeders

The type of feeders is mainly determined according to the length of lines

in need;
Selection of tower top amplifier

During tower top amplifier configuration, the coverage radius of cells

may be increased;

Antenna Feeder DesignHow to Choose An Antenna

How to Choose An Antenna

How to Choose An Antenna is an important part that may

determine the network quality;

Antenna shall be selected as per the coverage and service

quality requirements within the base station service area,
traffic distribution, topographic and landforms conditions, with
consideration to the coverage and interference details of the
entire network;

The environment for the use of antennas may be divided into

the following types according to the topographic conditions or
traffic distribution:

Urban, suburb, rural area, highway, hilly area, coastal

area, tunnel, indoor, etc.

Antenna Feeder Design - How to Choose An Antenna

How to Choose An Antenna for Urban Base Stations

A. Generally, directional antenna with a horizontal half-power angle of

6065is used;

B. Normally, antenna with a medium gain at about 15dBi is used;

C. Its better to select antenna with a certain electric Down-tilt (36);

D. Bipolarization antenna is suggested.

Antenna for Suburban Base Stations

A. Whether to use directional antenna with a horizontal half-power angle

of 65or 90 is determined by the practical conditions;

B. Normally, antenna with middle or high gain at about 1518dBi is

selected;

C. Whether to adopt preseted Down-tilt shall be determined on the basis

of practical conditions;

D. Bipolarization or vertically polarized antenna can be used.

Antenna Feeder DesignHow to Choose An Antenna

Antenna for Rural Base Stations

A. 90or 120directional antenna or omnidirectional antenna
can be used according to the practical conditions and
requirements;
B. The gain of the selected directional antenna is normally high
(1618dBi);
C. Normally, preseted Down-tilt antenna is not used; zero filling
antenna can be selected in prior for high stations;
D. Vertically polarized antenna is suggested.

Antenna for Highway Base Stations

A. Generally, directional antenna with narrow wave beam and
high gain is used, or an 8-shaped antenna, omnidirectional
antenna or deformed omnidirectional antenna according to the
practical conditions;
B. As highway base stations require longer coverage, generally,
preseted Down-tilt antenna is not applied;
C. Vertically polarized antenna is suggested;
D. It is appropriate not to select the directional antenna with too
large front to rear ratio.

Antenna Feeder DesignAntenna Height

Principle for Determining Antenna Height

The antennas for different cells within one base station can be of different heights,
which may be restricted by the installation space in a certain direction or required
by cell planning;

In urban areas with smooth terrain, the effective height for ordinary antennas shall
be at about 25m;

For suburban and rural base stations, the heights of antennas can be increased to
about 40m.

Too high antenna may decrease the coverage

level near the antenna (which is known as
Under-Tower Black); the problem of an
omnidirectional one is extremely serious;

Too high antenna may result in serious

problems such as handover coverage,

same/neighboring frequency interference,

and affect the network quality.

Antenna Feeder DesignDirection Angle

Principle for Determining Antenna azimuth Angle

The antenna azimuth angle shall be determined from the entire network. Providing
meeting the coverage requirements, try to ensure identical angles of the three sectors of
each base station in the urban area with partial trimming; for the base station in the
connection area of urban and rural areas, communication trunk roads, and suburban
isolation stations, the direction angle of antenna shall be adjusted according to the
important coverage objects.

The main lobe of antenna shall point at the area with densely concentrated traffic to
strengthen the signal intensity in that area and improve the conversation quality;

The main lobe of the antenna shall be kept away from the same frequency cell to
effectively decrease interference;

The cross coverage depth of the antennas in neighboring sectors in an urban area shall
not exceed 10%;

The cross coverage depth of neighboring cells in a suburb area, or rural area shall not be
too large; the angle of the antennas in neighboring sectors within the same base station
shall not be less than 90;

To avoid handover coverage, in the area with thickly concentrated cities, the main lobe of
antenna shall orient straighter streets.

Antenna Feeder DesignDown-tilt

Principle for Determining Antenna Down-tilt

The wave beam tilt of antenna is a basic technology to improve
frequency multiplex capability;

To adopt antenna Down-tilt technology can effectively control the

coverage and decrease the interference within the system;

The antenna Down-tilt angle shall be determined according to the

practical conditions so as to decrease the interference between
cells of the same frequency and to ensure meeting the coverage
requirements;

Down-tilt determination shall give overall consideration to the

transmission power of the base station, height of the antenna, cell
coverage, wireless broadcast environment, and other factors;

Antenna Feeder DesignDown-tilt

Antenna wave beam tilt can adopt electric or mechanical pattern: The
electric Down-tilt is related to the mode of the antenna selected;
normally, it is fixed; mechanical Down-tilt can be adjusted but will be
limited by installation fittings and wireless signal spread features;
normally, it shall not exceed 15;

Electric Down-tilt and mechanical Down-tilt may lead to different

surface radiation; when the Down-tilt is small, there is little difference;
but with the increase of Down-tilt, the difference becomes bigger:

Antenna Feeder DesignAntenna Installation

Notes for Antenna Installation:

A. Installation environment

The installation environment includes the surroundings near the antenna

and near the base station. The surroundings near the antenna mainly
consider the isolation between antennas, and the influence of iron
towers and buildings on antennas; the surroundings near the base
station mainly consider the influence of high buildings lower than 500
meters on radio signal transmission.

Antenna Feeder DesignAntenna Installation

During the installation of base station antennas, it is required to notice

whether they may lead to big shadow in the coverage area, and to be kept
away from obstacle, for example, in the installation of antennas on the top of
a building, you should make sure no obstacle against radio signal on the top,
and try to install the antennas near the edge
FREQ

GSM
900M

GSM
1800M

D (m)

h (m)

01

0.5

110

1030

30

3.5

02

0.5

210

10

Antenna Feeder DesignAntenna Installation

B. Antenna Isolation

The receiver and transmitter of the base station shall be

isolated in a certain degree;

Isolation between antennas: The attenuation of signals from

one port of an antenna to that of the other one in actual

installation of antenna;

GSM system: The isolation between two transmitting

antennas and between the transmitting and receiving
antennas shall be 30dB at least;

Antenna vertical layout: Lv=28+40log(k/)(dB)

Antenna horizontal layout: Lv=22+20log(d/)-(G1+G2)(S1+S2)(dB)

Antenna Feeder DesignAntenna Installation

C. Meet the distance requirements for space diversity gain

For space diversity, the distance between two receiving antennas is required
to be 1218;

The higher the antenna is installed, the bigger the horizontal distance between
diversity antennas is; normally, the diversity horizontal distance shall be equal
0.11 time of the effective height of the antenna;

To achieve the same diversity effect, vertical diversity distance shall be 5~6

times of the horizontal diversity distance;

To reduce the inter influence

of two antennas, the diversity
antenna horizontal distance

at any effective height of

antenna shall be over 3m.

Contents

About the Service

Preparation

Coverage
Requirements

Site Selection

Antenna Feeder Design

Survey Documents

Survey Documents

Base Station Survey Report

Accurate

and standard documents are of much help

for further network planning and optimization work.
They are a powerful guaranty to the project quality
and the basis for future network expansion planning.

Base station survey report includes base station

survey table and memo;

Each base station has one survey table which

mainly records the longitude, latitude, antenna
feeder design, surroundings, and other details;
(See Remarks)

Thank You!