1

S-72.620 Radio Network Planning Methods

Capacity planning slides

S-G Hggman

Cellular radio network capacity planning

Contents:
What is meant by capacity?
Prediction of offered traffic
Traffic models
Cell dimensioning in TDMA/FDMA-systems
Impact of 2G+ on capacity planning
Impact of 3G on capacity planning

What is meant by radio network capacity?

Several definitions:
1. The maximum number of simultaneously ongoing calls/cell or
calls/service area
In a pure FDMA-system: C N

N bs N bs _ ch

Aserv .area N ch

Acell
M reuse

2. Offered traffic that can be served with a certain blocking probability.

Blocking probability is a QoS requirement defined by the operator, e.g.
2%
3. Served traffic with a given blocking probability
4. Amount of transmitted data with given QoS requirements per time,
bandwidth and service area unit e.g. as Mbit/s/MHz/km2
5. Capacity requirements may be different in up-link and down-link
(asymmetric radio link)

Prediction of offered traffic

Traffic prediction is based on
demographical data, where people live and move, economical resources
penetration/penetration growth expectations
user profiles e.g. typical user behaviour (call rates and duration) e.g. for
different types of subscription
vehicular traffic counts (including pedestrians)
cellular traffic models
- voice
- data
- circuit switched
- packet switched
experiences from cellular networks in similar environments
would result in traffic density/digital map pixel type of data

Circuit switched cell traffic estimation

The voice traffic Tij from different user groups j (e.g. having different types
of subscriptions) in different environments i is
Tij

Fi C pij Toij N ij

Fi is the coverage probability in different environments, e.g. vehicles,

pedestrian areas, indoor etc. This parameter is defined by the operator
C pij is the penetration of mobile phones in the different combinations of

user environments and groups

Toij is the average offered traffic from a subscriber in a certain

combination of user environment and group

Nij is the number of persons in a certain combination of user
environment and group

Estimating the number of persons in different user

environments and groups
Ls
2A
| n1
Number of persons in vehicles
N 1 n1
S
LB S
Ls is the length of the streets/roads in the cell, with rectangular cells and
L1
L
n1
blocks Ls n1 N s1 L1  N s 2 L2
L1  2 L2
L B1
LB 2
S is the average distance between the vehicles
n1 is the average number of persons in each vehicle (different e.g. in
cars and buses)
The approximation is valid for a square cell where
A is the cell area
LB is the side length of a square block (or road network mesh)
2A
L
|
Number of pedestrians N 2
S LB S
S is now the average distance between the pedestrians







The average offered traffic/user

For voice traffic with Poisson-distributed calls and exponentially distributed call duration the average offered traffic/terminal is given by Eq. (3):
Toi

Oi
Pi

(3)

x Oi is the number of calls/time unit/terminal,

x Pi is the average duration of a call
The traffic unit is Erlang. 1 Erlang traffic means that a traffic channel is
used all the time.
Typical values of average offered traffic/terminal during the busy hour:
business users 20 30 mErlang = 1.2 1.8 min/h
domestic users 10 15 mErlang = 0.6 0.9 min/h
The busy hour is the 1h period during workdays having the highest traffic

Example. The average traffic generated from a cellular phone is assumed

to be 25 mErlang. In a downtown macrocell with 3 km radius the block
size is 200u200m and average vehicle spacing is 30 m, and there is 500
pedestrian along 1000 m of street. The operator provides F = 0,90 for
vehicle mounted phones and F = 0,75 for pedestrian users. The penetration
is 10 %.
In this case the number of vehicles is

and the number of pedestrians

N1

N2

2 S 32
0.2 0.03

2 S 32
500 141370
0.2

The total predicted traffic is then

T

9425

0.9 0.1 0.025 9425  0.75 0.1 0.025 141370

21.2  265.1 286.3 Erlang

Estimation of the blocking probability

With Poisson-distributed call arrivals and exponentially distributed call
duration distribution and blocked calls being dropped, the Erlang Bmodel gives the blocking probability.
Now the traffic is composed by contribution from different user groups,
each perhaps obeying the Erlang B-model. Then the call arrivals are still
Poisson-distributed but the composite call duration is hyperexponentially
distributed.
In practice the Erlang B-model is used with the traffic value averaged
over all user groups
The approximative method is claimed to give rather good results

10

Blocking probability with Erlangs B-formula

Assumptions:
Offered traffic Poisson-distributed
Call duration exponentially distributed
Blocked calls dropped and dont effect offered traffic
Probability that n traffic channels out of N available channels are in use:
Pn

T n n!
N

where

O P is the offered traffic,

k k!

k 0

O = arriving call rate, and 1/P = average call duration

Blocking probability = probability that all N channels are occupied

B

TN N!
N

T
k 0

k!

11

10-0

T = 25.00 Erlang
N = 29

Prob{n TCHs occupied}

10-1
10-2
10-3

10-4

10-5
10-6
0

10

15
n

20

25

30

12

10-0

Prob{n TCHs occupied}

10-1

T = 21.04 Erlang
N = 29

10-2
10-3

10-4

10-5
10-6
0

10

15
n

20

25

30

13

100%
N=1
N=2
B
N=3
N=4

N=10

N=20 N=30

N=32

10%

1%

10

T/Erlang

100

14

Cell dimensioning in TDMA/FDMA-systems

Following steps are included in the capacity planning procedure:
Prediction of spatial traffic distribution, e.g. by identifying different
regions (usually with uniformly distributed traffic), e.g. downtown/
business areas, hot spots, city areas, industrial areas, suburbans,
villages, rural areas etc.
Determination of maximum offered traffic/cell with a proper traffic
model, which traffic can be served with an operator defined blocking
probability target. This capacity depends on the number of traffic
channels in a cell. This number depends on the total number of available
channels and the average reuse factor in different propagation
environments for the actual cellular system. Also signaling capacity
should be considered
Based on this the capacity based cell size is determined
Then is checked if coverage can be granted for this cell size with the
actual equipment parameter values. If needed, cell size is reduced
Determination of the needed number of traffic channels in each cell
Checking the preliminary traffic capacity of the capacity plan

15

Example
System parameters

Penetration (all user groups): 25 %

Offered traffic/user (all user groups): 20 mErlang

Coverage probability target: vehicular users 95%, 1 user/car, pedestrian
users 80%

Multiuser access methods: 1) FDMA, 28 TRX/cell 2) TDMA/FDMA, 4
TS/carrier, 7 TRX/cell (This numbers are based on assumptions about
total number of traffic channels and reuse factor)

Blocking probability target: 2 %

Service area divided into 4 homogenous Regions with spatially uniformly
distributed users

In Region A the vehicular generated traffic is handled by macrocells and
pedestrian generated traffic by microcells, in other Regions all traffic is
handled by macrocells
Approach: Minimum excess capacity, starting from Region with highest
traffic density, cells possibly overlapping to adjacent Regions will reduce
the area in these to be covered correspondingly

16

Geometry of the service area

Region types:

A: dense city
B: city
C: suburban
D: rural

B
A

17

Parameters of the Regions in the Service Area

Size, L1uL2-area of
Region o3ther Regions
2
2
5u5 km = 25 km
A
2
15u15  25 km =
2
200 km
B
2
40u40  225 km =
2
1375 km
C
2
120u120  1600 km
2
= 12800 km
D

Block size,
LB1uLB2
2
0.2u0.2 km
0.25u0.25 km

0.125u0.25 km
2

2u2 km

Vehicle
spacing, Sv
25 m

Pedestrian
spacing, Sp
4m

50 m

10 m

200 m

125 m

1000 m

550 m

Basic assumption: Vehicles, pedestrians, and the teletraffic are assumed to

be spatially uniformly distributed in each Region.

18

Cell layout
An ideal cell would have
a circular shape.
To get complete coverage a certain overlapping must be allowed.
Minimum overlapping
with hexagonal structure, which is the most
common in theoretical
investigations
Fractional overlapping:
R 3 R
6

2
2
FROL 1 
S R2
0.173

hex_quad_cells

19

Cell layout:
Another possible cell
structure giving
complete coverage is the
quadratic cell structure
In this example the
quadratic cell structure
gives easier calculations
and will be used
Fractional overlapping:
Also half squares may
be used corresponding
to 180 degree sectorisation
2 R2
FROL 1 
S R2
0.363

hex_quad_cells

20

Estimation of population in the Regions

Length of street/road
network
L12
L22
2A
L

L B1 L B 2 L B
Region
2 25
L
250 km
A
0 .2
2 200
L
1600 km
B
0.25
1375 1375
L

0.125 0.25
16500 km
C
2 12800
L
2
12800 km
D







Number of cars
N1= L/S
250
N1
10000
0.025
1600
N1
32000
0.050

Number of
pedestrians
N2= L/S
250
N2
0.004
1600
N2
0.010

62500
160000

N1

16500
0.2

82500

N2

16500
0.125

132000

N1

12800
1

12800

N2

12800
0.55

23273

21

Estimation of offered traffic in the Regions

Pedestrian originat- Total traffic and
ed traffic
traffic density
T2 F2C p 2To N 2
T T1 T2 /Erlang
0.95 0.25 0.02N 1
0.80 0.25 0.02N 2
T T1 T2
2
W
 /Erl/km
0.004 N 2
Region 0.00475 N 1
A A A
T1 0.00475 10000 T2 0.004 62500 T 47.5  250.0 297.5
47.5 Erlang
250.0 Erlang W 1.90  10.00 11.90
A
T1 0.00475 32000 T1 0.004 160000 T 152.0  640.0 792.0
152.0 Erlang
640.0 Erlang W 0.76  3.20 3.96
B
T1 0.00475 82500 T1 0.004 132000 T 391.9  528.0 919.9
391.9 Erlang
528.0 Erlang W 0.285  0.384 0.669
C
T1 0.00475 12800 T1 0.004 23273 T 60.8  93.1 153.9
W 0.00475  0.00727
93.1 Erlang
60.8 Erlang
0.0120
D
Vehicle originated
traffic
T1 F1C p1To N 1

22

Minimum number of cells with different number of

TCs/BS.
Region Offered Offered Traffic channels/BS and maximum traffic/BS
Traffic traffic
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
density
B
Amacro
C
D
Amicro

Erlang Erl/km2 1.09

792.0
3.96
47.5
1.90
919.9
0.669
153.9
0.012
250.0

10.00

3.63

6.61 9.83 13.18 16.63 20.15

80.57 60.09 47.62 39.31
2.86 2.36
55.32 45.65
9.25 7.64
15.03 12.41

Region B is investigated first, because the traffic density is highest there

(In Region A only car generated traffic is served by macrocells, while
pedestrian generated traffic is served by microcells)

23

0.82 km =7x2.2615 km

15x15 km2
0.82 km
B1

B2

B3

B4

B5

B6

B7

B8

B9

B10

B11

B12

B13

B14

B15

B16

B17

B18

B19

B20

B21

B22

B23

B24

B25

B26

B27

B28

B29

B30

B31

B32

B33

B34

B35

B36

B37

B38

B39

B40

B41

B42

B43

B44

B45

0.48 km
5x5 km2

0.48 km = 5 - 2x2.26 km

24

Cell dimensioning in Region B, 1/3

Region B cell size of cell completely inside the region:
Region B total area
x
minimum cell number
o x 2.26 km o R B 2.26
2

200 km 2
5.09 km 2
39.31
2 1.59 km

Offered traffic in edge cells partly covering Region C (overlapping area

from geometrical considerations):
Cells B1,B2,B3,B4,B5,B6,B14,B21,B28,B35,B40,B45:
T

W B S B  W C SC
3.96 2.26 ( 2.26 0.82)  0.669 2.26 0.82

14.13 Erlang

From the Erlang B-table:

o 22 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 14.90 Erlang/cell
6 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 16.63 Erlang/cell

25

Cell dimensioning in Region B, 2/3

Corner cell B7 partly covering Region C:
T

W B S B  W C SC
3.96 ( 2.26 0.82) 2  0.669 2.26 2

( 2.26  0.82) 2

10.24 Erlang

o 17 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 10.66 Erlang

5 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 13.18 Erlang

Offered traffic in edge cells B29,B30,B36,B41 partly covering Region A:

T

W B SB  W AS A
3.96 2.26 ( 2.26 0.48 )  1.90 2.26 0.48

17.99 Erlang

o 26 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 18.38 Erlang/cell

7 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang/cell

26

Cell dimensioning in Region B, 3/3

Corner cell B31 partly covering Region B:
T

W B SB  W ASA

3.96 2.26 2  0.48 2  1.90 0.48 2

19.75 Erlang

o 28 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang

7 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang

In all other 27 Region B cells completely inside the region:

T

W B SB

3.96 2.26 2

20.15 Erlang

o 28 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang

7 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang

27

Offered traffic in the uncovered parts of Regions A and C

and minimum number of cells in these Regions
Region Uncovered
area
2

km

20.43
Amacro
1349.73
C
12800.00
D
25.00
Amicro

Offered Offered Traffic channels/BS and maximum

traffic Traffic traffic/BS
density
4
8
12
16
20
24
2
Erl/km Erlang 1.09 3.63 6.61 9.83 13.18 16.63
1.90
38.8
0.669 903.0
0.012 153.6
10.00
250.0
15.03

28
20.15
1.93
44.81
7.62
12.41

Region A can be covered with two 180q sectorized macrocells in the same
base station site, the offered traffic being T 38.8 2 19.4 Erlang/cell
o 28 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang
7 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang
The cell size is 4.18u2.09 km2 giving a sector radius RA

4.52

3.20 km

28

0.82 km = 7x2.26 15 km

15x15 km2
0.82 km
B1

B2

B3

B4

B5

B6

B7

B8

B9

B10

B11

B12

B13

B14

B15

B16

B17

B18

B19

B20

B21

B22

B23

B24

B25

B26

B27

B28

B29

B30

B31

B32

B33

B34

B35

B36

B37

B38

B39

B40

B41

B42

B43

B44

B45

0.48 km
A1
A2

0.48 km = 5 - 2x2.26 km

29

2.19 km
C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

C8

C9

C10

C11

C12

C13

C14

C15

C16

C17

C18

C19

C20

C21

C22

C23

C24

C25

C26

C27

C28

C29

C30

C31

C32

C33

C34

C35

C36

C37

C38

C39

C40

C41

C42

C43

C44

C45

C46

C47

C48

C49

C50

C51

C52

C53

C54

C55

15.82 km

B
A
15.82 km

(8/3)x15.8240 = 2.19 km

30

Cell dimensioning in Region C, 1/2

Maximum cell size in Area C:
x2

Region C uncovered area

minimum cell number

1349.73km 2
44.81

30.12km 2 o x

5.49km

This means that 40/5.49 = 7.29 o 8 cells are needed in one direction. Now it
is possible to match the cell size to the inner edge of the uncovered area, o
x = 15.82/3 = 5.27 km o x2 = 27.81 km2 o RC 5.27 2 3.73km
Offered traffic in different cells:
Cells C1,C2,C3,C4,C5,C6,C7,C16,C24,C32,C40,C45,C50,C55:
T

W C SC  W D S D
0.669 5.27  5.27  2.19   0.012 5.27 2.19 11.00 Erlang

o 18 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 11.49 Erlang/cell

5 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 13.18 Erlang/cell

31

Cell dimensioning in Region C, 2/2

Cell C8:
T

W C SC  W D S D

0.669  5.27  2.19   0.012 5.27 2   5.27  2.19 

2

6.57 Erlang

o 12 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 6.61 Erlang

3 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 6.61 Erlang

The offered traffic in the remaining cells is

T

W C SC

0.669 5.27 2

18.58 Erlang

o 27 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 19.26 Erlang/cell

7 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang/cell

32

Offered traffic in the uncovered part of Region D and

minimum number of cells in this Region
The uncovered area in Region D is now 1202  42.192
Region Uncovered
area
2

km
D
Amicro

12620.00

12620km 2

Offered Offered Traffic channels/BS and maximum

traffic Traffic traffic/BS
density
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
2
Erl/km Erlang 1.09 3.63 6.61 9.83 13.18 16.63 20.15
0.012

25.00 10.00

151.4

7.51

250.0

15.03 12.41

33

D1

D2

D3

D4

D5

D6

D7

D8

2.19 km

C
B
A
2.19 km

34

Cell dimensioning in Region D, 1/2

Area D cell size:
Region D uncovered area
x2
minimum cell number
o x 40.99km

12620.00km 2
7.51

1680.43km 2

It is now possible to match the cell size to the outer edge of Region D. Then
the length of cell side is decreased to
x 40.00km o RD 40 .00 2 28.3km
Cells D4,D7: (Traffic in Region C already served)
T

W D SD

0.012 40.00 (40.00  2.19) 18.15 Erlang

o 26 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 18.38 Erlang/cell

7 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang/cell

35

Cell dimensioning in Region D, 2/2

Cell D5:
T

W D SD

0.012 40.002  2.192

19.14 Erlang

o 27 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 19.26 Erlang

7 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang

In the remaining 5 Region D cells:

T

W D SD

0.012 40.002

19.20 Erlang

o 27 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 19.26 Erlang

7 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang

36

Macrocell layout
resulting from
the capacity plan
D1

D2

D3

D4

D5

D6

D7

D8

C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8
C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16
C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32
C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40
B1

B2 B3

B4 B5 B6 B7

B8

B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14

C41 C42 C43 C44 C45

B15 B16 B17 B18 B19 B20 B21

B22 B23 B24 B25 B26 B27 B28
B29 B30 B31 B32 B33 B34 B35

A1
A2

B36 B37 B38 B39 B40

B41 B42 B43 B44 B45

C46 C47 C48 C49 C50

C51 C52 C53 C54 C55

37

Microcell dimensioning in Region A

Offered traffic in Region A and minimum number of cells in this
Region
Region Uncov- Offered Offered Traffic channels/BS and maximum
ered
traffic Traffic traffic/BS
area
density
4
8
12
22
23
24
28
2
2
km
Erl/km Erlang 1.09 3.63 6.61 14.90 15.76 16.63 20.15
25.00 10.00 250.0
16.78 15.86 15.03 12.41
Amicro
Largest possible cell area 2.015 km2 o maximum cell diagonal 1.003
km. Due to propagation behaviour, cell coverage is almost square
shaped with 45 degree angle to the street net
The cell size should be tuned to give full coverage with the base stations
on streets, a graphical analysis shows that this will happen with a cell
diagonal of 2 km
Then 18 cells are required, and the critical distance to cell border at 90
degree angle is RAm = 1.000 km

38

Offered traffic in cells Am5 Am8 , Am11  Am14

T

W Am S Am

10.00 2.00

20.00 Erlang

o 28 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang

7 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 20.15 Erlang
Offered traffic in cells Am1, Am2, Am4, Am9, Am10, Am15, Am17,
and Am18
T

W Am S Am 2 10.00 1.00 10.00 Erlang

o 17 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 10.66 Erlang

5 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 13.18 Erlang
Offered traffic in cells Am3 and Am16
T

W Am S Am 4 10.00 0.50

5.00 Erlang

o 10 TRXs in the FDMA-system giving a capacity of 5.08 Erlang

3 TRXs in the TDMA-system giving a capacity of 6.61 Erlang

39

Coverage area (path loss <150 dB) calculated with

COST231 Walfisch Ikegami model
115
120

f=960 MHz
hms=1.6 m

WI_coverage.dsf

100 95 90 85 80 75
1.2
70

65
60

1.1

125
130
135
140
145
150

hbs=10 m
hroof=30 m
w=25 m
b=150 m

110 105

55

50
45

0.9

40
35
30

0.8
0.7
0.6

155

25

0.5

160

20

0.4
0.3

165

15

170

0.2

10

175

0.1

180

185

355

190

350

195

345

200

340

205
210
215
220
225
230
235
240

335
330
325
320
315
310
305
245

250 255

260 265 270 275 280

( k)

285 290

300
295

40

Am1

Am4

Am9

Am8
Am11

Am13

Am16

Am6

Am5

Am7

Am10

Am3

Am2

Am17

Am12

Am14

Am18

Am15

41

Summary of capacity planning preliminary results

Region T
Ncell NBS R/km NTCH
Timpl
A
47.5
40.3
2u28=56
macro 38.8*
1.93 2 3.20 (2u28=56)
(40.3)
A
250.0 12.41 18 1.00 8u28+8u20+2u12=408
279.9
micro
(256.6)
(8u28+8u17+2u24=380)
B
792.0 39.31 45 1.59 32u28+12u24+1u20=1204
857.5
(827.2)
(28u28+4u26+12u22+1u17=
1169)
C
919.9
997.1
40u28+14u20+1u12=1412
903.0* 44.81 55 3.73 (40u27+14u18+1u12=1344)
(937.9)
161.2
D
153.9
8u28=224
(152.3)
151.4* 7.51
8 28.28 (6u27+2u26=214)
Total 1913.3
110+
2896+408, 724+102 TRX
2336.0
+250.0
18
(2783+380)
(2214.3)
The values in parentheses are for the FDMA system
* Traffic originated from overlapping coverage from cells in adjacent
Regions has been subtracted

42

Impact of 2.5G on capacity planning

HSCSD
Multiple-slot connections would need a modified traffic model

GPRS/EDGE
Packet switched transmission has other QoS parameters than voice
transmission: e.g. throughput, transmission delay
Permanent traffic channel allocation to GPRS will decrease the voice
capacity
The additional interference caused by GPRS will create a need for higher
reuse factors
GPRS might cause a need of allocating more time-slots for signalling
purposes
Traffic models for multiple-slot packet data are needed

43

Impact of 3G on capacity planning

The scope is limited to UMTS UTRA-FDD using DS-CDMA
Joint capacity/coverage planning is needed due to cell breathing (with
high traffic loads MS or BS power is insufficient to serve users near cell
border)
There is no hard blocking limit but still a practical capacity limit which
depends on total power behaviour in up-link and maximum BS transmit
power in the down-link
User spatial distribution within a cell has an impact on the capacity
Admission control is needed
Soft/softer hand-over can consume capacity if implementation is bad
Traffic models for multiple-rate services are needed
Asymmetric connections should be considered
Pilot signal will consume capacity

44

CDMA up-link capacity

The signal to interference ratio after despreading must be higher than the
target signal to interference ratio giving desired bit error rate
GPrx
N

j Prx 

j 1
j zi

 

own cell
interference

M Nj

k , l Prx , k , l  Pn

Eb

I
o

E
Ji t b
I o target

Jo

k
1 l 1 

other cell
interference

If only a single rate service is considered, and the other cell interference is
expressed as a fraction of the own cell interference the above expression
simplifies to
GPrx
U 1  f  N  1 Prx  Pn

G
U 1  f  N  1  1 J rf

Ji t Jo

45

G is the processing gain (spreading factor)

Prx is the power received in the serving base station from user i
Prx , k , l is the power received in the serving base station for user i from
the interfering user l in cell k
Pn is the receiver input noise power
U , U j , U k , l are channel activity factors, averaged and individual

M is the number of interfering cells

N k is the number of active users in cell k
N is the number of active users in the considered cell
f is the other to home cell interference ratio, which depends on user
spatial distribution and path loss exponent
J rf Prx Pn is the signal to noise ratio in the considered receiver
Eb
Eb

J o are the actual signal to disturbance ratio
Ji,

Io
I o target
and the signal to disturbance ratio giving desired BER-level, respectively
perfect power control
uniform user spatial distribution in each cell

46

Now the average maximum number of active users in the up-link is

N

1
1  f

G

1

UJ o

1
UJ rf

Example
Processing gain G = 256
Channel activity factor U= 0.5
Other cell interference to signal ratio f = 0.6
Signal to noise ratio: i) J RF= 10 (10 dB) , ii) JRF= 0.1 (0 dB)
 Eb N o target 3.16 (5 dB)
i)

1
256
1
1

1.6
0.5 3.16 0.5 10

1  162.0  0.2
1.6

ii)

1
256
1
1


1.6 0.5 3.16 0.5 0.1

1  162.0  20.0
1.6

101.8

101

89.4 o 89

47

The signal to noise and interference ratio after de-spreading for user i
when multiple access interference is present:
Ebi
N o  MAI

Ebi
No 

Ebi

SI ( f )
j

No 

Pj

j W

 Ebi

Ebi
No 

Ebi

Eb j Rb j
W

No 

Eb j Rb j

No
Eb j

 j Eb G j

1  Ebi N o

If we now desire that the signal to noise and interference ratio should be
the same as the target SNR to obtain a given error performance without
MAI:
Ebi
N o  MAI

Ebi

No

Jo

48

The single signal to noise ratio in the case of MAI,

Ebi
No

J , can be

solved from the above expression:

Jo
Eb j Ebi

J
1Jo
j

Gj

and the necessary increase in signal to noise ratio due to MAI is

J
Jo

1
, where the fractional load K
1 K

Jo
j

Eb j Ebi
Gj

The logarithm of this ratio is sometimes called the interference margin

49

Interference margin in CDMA networks

received signal level increase

20
dB
15

10

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4 0.5 0.6

load factor, K

0.7 0.8

0.9

50

When the fractional load K approaches 1, the increase in signal to noise

ratio due to MAI is infinite,
and is therefore only a theoretical value corresponding to the so called pole
capacity. The practical maximum load is said to be 50 90 % of the pole
capacity. .
In the case of single rate service with the same channel activity factor for
all users, the fractional load is
K

Jo
j

Eb j Ebi
Gj

J o N U 1  f  G

N Eb Eb
K N k Ebk ,l EbN
i
N
Jo
Jo
Gi
Gk ,l
1 
i 1
k 1l 
 

own cell fracother cell fractional

tional load
load

1 o N pole capacity

G
J o U 1  f 

or in practice the same value as was obtained before

51

Down-link capacity
Down-link capacity can be obtained by a similar approach as the
determination of up-link capacity.
However, ideally there should be no own cell MAI, as the different
orthogonal spreading codes are perfectly synchronized. In practice
multipath propagation will partly destroy the orthogonality depending
on the amount of delay spread in the propagation channel.
Also the effect of other cell MAI will vary according to the location of the
mobile terminals.
The average down-link fractional load expression:
N J U
Kdl i i 1  D j  f j ,
i 1 Gi
D j is the orthogonality factor which is 1 for perfectly orthogonal signals,
in practice varying from 0.4 to 0.9
The instantaneous capacity, which depends on user rates, performance
requirements, and the spatial distribution of the users, will ultimately be
limited by the available base station transmit power

52

Example 1: What is the total traffic in bit/s in a multi-rate CDMA cell,

where the rate parameters are given in the table, and a
fractional load of 70% of the pole capacity is allowed
net rate

SNRo o Jo

U

9.6 kbit/s
48 kbit/s
384 kbit/s

7 dB o 5.01
5 dB o 3.16
3 dB o 2.00

256
64
8

0.40
1.00
1.00

f fraction of total load

a)
b)
0.6 100%
60%
0.6
0%
30%
0.6
0%
10%

N J U
i i

1  f 

i 1 Gi

a)
K

5.01 0.4
0.7
256
256 0.7
55.9 o Rcell
5.01 0.4 1.6

1  f  N

oN

55.9 9.6

536.6

kbit
s

53

b)
K

1  0.6  6n

5.01 0.4
3.16 1.0
2.00 1.0
 3n
n

256
64
8

1.6 >6 n 0.00783  3n 0.0494  n 0.25@

on

0.983 o Rcell

0.712n

0.983 >6 9.6  3 48  384 @

0.7

575.6

kbit
s

54

Example 2.
A practical definition of the up-link capacity of a DS-CDMA system could
be the number of users, when a new user would increase the interference
margin by 0.2 dB. We shall investigate a single-cell system and a multiplecell system with the following parameters :
processing gain G = 128,
target signal to interference ratio Jo = 5,
activity factor U = 0.5,
other to home cell interference ratio f = 0.6.
a) Determine the up-link capacity of this system.
b) Determine the corresponding fractional load in %, and interference
margin in dB.

55

SOLUTION:
a) Using the definition of Interference Margin based on the fractional
load, and then inserting the expression of the fractional load of a single
rate service, we get
1

1 K

N

1
IM N 1  IM N 0.2 10 lg

1 K

1 KN
10 lg

1  K N 1

J o U N 1  f 
1

G
10 lg

J
U
1
1
N
f





1 o

G  J o U N (1  f )
10 lg




J
U
G
N
f
1
1



o

56

Now it is possible to solve N:

G  J o U N (1  f )
G  J o U  N  1 1  f 
o G  J o U N (1  f )
oN

100.2 10

aG  aJ o U N 1  f   aJ o U 1  f 

 a  1 G  aJ o U 1  f   a  1 G  aJ o U 1  f 
aJ o U 1  f   J o U (1  f )
 a  1 J o U  1  f 

Insertion of the numerical values gives for the single cell system:

100.02  1 128  100.02 5 0.5

10

0.02

 1 5 0.5

and for a multiple-cell system:

28.98 o 28

57

100.02  1 128  100.02 5 0.5 1  0.6 

100.02  1 5 0.5 1  0.6

9.78 o 9

b) The fractional load is

J o U N 1  f 
G

5 0.5 28
0.547,
in the single cell system

128

5 0.5 9 1  0.6  0.281, in the multiple cell system

128

and the corresponding Interference Margins are

IM

1
10 log
1 K

10 log
10 log

1  0.547

3.44 dB, in the single cell system

1
1.43 dB,
1  0.281

in the multiplee cell system