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TMA and MHA Need
TMA and MHA Need
Introduction
Network planning in GSM systems is moving towards re-engineering, that means the actual
problems, in developed countries, are due to overloaded networks and hot-spots. The reduction of
costs in the implementation of this type of solutions is a must that should be considered before
any attempt to its implementation is decided. This is one of the reasons why Tower Mounted
Amplifiers, TMA, are proliferating in nowadays wireless systems. They are used in both GSM
and UMTS to provide a balanced system design, allowing mobile operators to place an equal
amount of receiving and transmitting sites [1]. TMAs also enable base stations to receive mobile
signals more clearly in a wider coverage area than they could otherwise achieve [2]. This will
allow mobile network operators to achieve the greatest possible coverage allowing less base
stations and therefore limiting costs.
Although TMAs emerge as an all benefit solution we must take into account the presence of
interferences. We will focus specifically on the impact of nonlinear distortion in TMAs in the
overall performance of GSM systems.
The goal of any radio engineer when deciding to use a TMA is due to its improvement in the
overall sensitivity of the system. Sensitivity gives us an indication on the robustness of a receiver
in capturing a weak signal affecting directly the range of the system, and also on how immune to
noise it will be. In fact if we look at expression (1), the sensitivity can be understandable as the
minimum input power needed in order to get a suitable Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) at the output
of our receiver. That is the reason why sensitivity is based on the receiver noise figure, the
minimum required signal-to-noise ratio for detection, and the thermal noise of the system [3],
expression (1).
Si,min sensitivity
(1)
SNR required output signal to noise ratio (usually related to the acceptable bit
error rate)
NF =
SNRi
SNRo
(2)
NFT = NF1 +
NFi 1
NF2 1 NF3 1
+
+ ... +
G1
G1G2
G1G2 ...Gi 1
(3)
A closer look at expression (3) allows us to gather some important information. For instance
the noise figure of the first block will impose the minimum noise figure of the system1, another
important conclusion is on the gain of the first components, the higher the gain the higher the
desensitization of the next blocks.
TMA Sensitivity
Figure 1, presents a basic receiving implementation that will be used to see those different
impacts of each sub-system.
NFT = Lcable (r ) +
Linband (r ) 1
NFLNA 1
NFmixer 1
+
+
Lcable (r )
Lcable (r ) Linband (r ) Lcable (r ) Linband (r )G LNA
(4)
As can be seen in (4), cable losses are the dominant factor in the systems noise figure, thus it
is the major limiting factor to receivers sensitivity.
Therefore, the idea is to desensitize the cable noise figure, and in order to achieve that
manufacturers provided TMAs. A schematic TMA system is presented on figure 2. The TMA
sub-system is placed near the antenna and in a certain way is similar to the well known LNB that
was used for several years in the television satellite receivers; the main difference is that now no
translation of frequency is needed.
n0 = -121 dBm
7
10
= 5 ).
If the system was designed in order to have a 7dB of Noise Figure, then a cable will degrade
severely the overall system, and considering a cable of 3dB losses, we will have:
FT = 2 +
5 1
= 10 NFT = 10dB
0.5
(4)
FT = 1.5 +
2 1 5 1
+
= 2 NFT = 3dB
15.9
8
S i = 3 121 + 9 = 109dBm
(5)
This new sensitivity value allows a better reception of the signal, which can be translated into
the maximum coverage area. Using the Friis equation and the Hata-Okumura propagation model
[4] we reach the following maximum distances for an urban environment, considering an emitter
with 30dBm of transmitted power.
BTS
MS
5.6 km
TMA
BTS
8.9 km
MS
Since a TMA is an active device, it will generate some form of distortion [6] that is mainly
due to the finite amount of energy that can be used from the power supply. That is the reason why
in some way any amplifier will always saturate for a certain amount of input power.
If we make the same approach as used before when the sensitivity of a TMA was studied, then
no problem will appear, since we are only dealing with small signal excursion input signals.
Nevertheless if we refer now to a high power interferer, then the scenario changes, since we do
not know the power of that interferer.
In order to better understand the nonlinear mechanism lets approximate our amplifier with a
low degree polynomial such as [5]:
(5)
When, for instance, we introduce at the input of this device a two-tone signal
(6)
Figure 5 - Desensitization
In both cases, if the interferer signal is strong enough it will degrade our signal so drastically
that it can be blocked, in fact in the World War II, this was one of the electronic war technologies,
called jamming.
TMA performance degradation
Recalling again figure 2, where the TMA internal configuration was presented, and
considering that the isolation between the Tx and Rx is high in the duplexer to prevent that the Tx
signal passes throw the Rx filter and cause any nonlinear distortion, we will study the impact in
our system when it receives two different Rx signals, a desired signal and an interference signal.
This interference can be from the same, or another, operator, but mainly we will consider it from
a different operator, because otherwise using some form of power control we could minimize the
interference.
Mobile A
GSM
Desired
Signal
Mobile B
GSM
Interference
Signal
TMA
n0 = -121 dBm
SNR = 9 dB
The system is only useful when the nonlinear distortion generated by the interference is 9dB
below the sensitivity or higher, therefore, for the worst case, we have at the amplifiers output a
minimum interferer signal power of:
PINT = G + S i SNR
(7)
3
3
2
3
ANL = a3 A1 A2 = a3 A2 (figure 7) at 21-2 and 22-1 (co-channel interference) [6].
8
8
Solving this two equations we reach a value of PINT=P2=-29 dBm. This means that if a signal
at the input of the TMA reaches this value, one should expect an intermodulation power that
degrades our system in a neighbour channel.
ANL =
3
2
a3 A1 A2 at 1 [6].
4
Considering the minimum power that can be allowed by the distortion nonlinearity at 1
(P1=-105-9=-114 dBm) the interference power needed in order to generate this distortion is
PINT=P2=6 dBm.
The case before considered that the TMA had a full uplink bandwidth, that means it receives
and amplifies all the GSM operators. If we now have access to a subbanded TMA, for only one
operator2, with a typical out-of-band attenuation of 80 dB, this interferer powers increases to the
value of 51 dBm (126 W) for intermodulation and 86 dBm (398 KW) for desensitization. And of
course in this case it is unreal to consider any interference for these sources.
Nevertheless and although these values seem quite high we must not forget that we might have
Bit-Error-Rate (BER) degradation for lower interferer powers than sensitivity. Also we must not
forget that these calculations were made assuming a two tone input. A real signal would be better
modulated by a multi-tone signal or real signal [6].
Therefore, to evaluate the real impact of TMA nonlinear distortion a computer simulation was
performed using a system simulator [7].
Let us consider two different operators at frequencies 897.4 MHz (operator 1) and 900 MHz
(operator 2). The output power of the desired signal (operator 1) is fixed at 105 dBm while the
Output power of the interference signal (operator2) will be raised from -105 dBm to 30 dBm, the
maximum output power of a Mobile Station.
In this case a filter should be provided, in order to attenuate the near operators.
10
-1
BER
10
-2
10
-3
10
-4
10
-15
-10
-5
5
10
15
Interference Signal Power (dBm)
20
25
30