Professional Documents
Culture Documents
E101 Asset 70 Training Guide GSM PDF
E101 Asset 70 Training Guide GSM PDF
0
Training Guide
ASSET
GSM-GPRS Tool User
E101
-
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and describes
only the product defined in the introduction of this documentation. This document is
intended for the use of AIRCOM International's customers only for the purposes of
the agreement under which the document is submitted, and no part of it may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or means without the prior written permission
of AIRCOM International. The document has been prepared to be used by
professional and properly trained personnel, and the customer assumes full
responsibility when using it. AIRCOM International welcomes customer comments as
part of the process of continuous development and improvement of the
documentation.
The information or statements given in this document concerning the suitability,
capacity, or performance of the mentioned hardware or software products cannot be
considered binding but shall be defined in the agreement made between AIRCOM
International and the customer. However, AIRCOM International has made all
reasonable efforts to ensure that the instructions contained in the document are
adequate and free of material errors and omissions. AIRCOM International will, if
necessary, explain issues, which may not be covered by the document.
AIRCOM International's liability for any errors in the document is limited to the
documentary correction of errors. AIRCOM International WILL NOT BE
RESPONSIBLE IN ANY EVENT FOR ERRORS IN THIS DOCUMENT OR FOR ANY
DAMAGES, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL (INCLUDING MONETARY
LOSSES), that might arise from the use of this document or the information in it.
This document and the product it describes are considered protected by copyright
according to the applicable laws.
ASSET is a registered trademark of AIRCOM International.
Other product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks of their
respective companies, and they are mentioned for identification purposes only.
Copyright © AIRCOM International 2010. All rights reserved.
Contents
2 Introduction to ENTERPRISE 15
2.1 Objectives of this Session ....................................................................... 15
2.2 The ENTERPRISE Tools Suite ............................................................... 15
2.3 Obtaining User Assistance...................................................................... 16
2.3.1 Obtaining Support .......................................................................................... 17
2.3.2 Obtaining Further Information and Services .................................................. 19
2.4 The ENTERPRISE Database ................................................................. 19
2.4.1 Database Contents ........................................................................................ 20
2.5 The Two-Stage Commit Process ............................................................ 20
2.6 Session Summary Checklist ................................................................... 22
Index 315
1 Introduction to the
ASSET Training Course
ASSET is a planning and analysis tool that provides a complete range of functionality
for the design and simulation of cellular networks. A wide range of technologies are
supported, including: GSM, GPRS, UMTS (FDD), joint GSM/UMTS, CDMA2000, EV-
DO, Fixed WiMAX and Mobile WiMAX, and LTE.
To create and use any of these networks, you need to have the appropriate technology
licence. In general, if required, multiple technologies can be used within the same
project.
Functionality includes hierarchical network planning, propagation modelling, service
definition, neighbour list definition, automatic frequency planning, analysis arrays,
detailed reporting, and simulation of network performance. In addition, measurement
data can be used for a variety of purposes.
2 Introduction to
ENTERPRISE
If you are using ENTERPRISE within a CITRIX environment, to ensure that the
Help graphics are displayed, set your display settings to support more than 256
colours.
If you have a customer web account, you can also download the latest User
Reference Guides from our website.
Power Tools
If you register for a customer web account, you can download from a selection of
useful power tools, such as file conversion utilities.
Consultancy Services
AIRCOM also provide full radio consultancy services in Network Audits, Business
Planning Support, Licence Applications, Radio Network Planning,
Telecommunications Research and System Modelling and Propagation Analysis and
Modelling.
Training
There is a wide variety of courses run by AIRCOM. These courses range from tool
training to technology training. For details, contact Competence Development
Solutions (training@aircominternational.com).
The changes committed to the database by one user will not be visible to another user
until the project is re-started (that is, after logging off and on again).
Additional Notes:
Example of tabs - these correspond to the different modules that have been licensed and installed
If it is not, from the File menu, click Login or click the Login button .
The Database Login dialog box appears:
2 On the Database Login dialog box, ensure the correct database is shown in the
Data Source box.
3 Choose whether to log into ENTERPRISE:
By typing in a username and password as set up by your administrator.
Automatically, using authentication from the operating system (OS) where
you are connected automatically to the database if the server confirms that you
exist. This means you do not have to use a separate password here.
4 Click Login.
5 If you belong to the Administrators group, you have the additional choice of:
Logging in as yourself.
Impersonating another user who is not already logged into the project. For
example, to create new objects on their behalf.
6 Select which user to log in as then click OK.
Choose to:
Use new project data
- or -
Only share data if your map data cannot be contained within a single
projection or zone as then you will need multiple projects to accurately model the
site co-ordinates. You cannot share projects whose project data is already shared.
For more information, see Using Shared Data on page 26.
3 If you choose to share project data, select the project whose data you want to share
from the drop down list.
This project will subsequently appear at the top level of the tree shown in the Start
Project dialog box with the new project shown underneath.
4 If ENTERPRISE has been set up with a settings database schema, the Project
Defaults field is enabled in the Table Selection dialog box. You can use the browse
button to select a .stt file containing user settings to be used as defaults in the new
project. For more information about the settings schema, see Database Settings
Management in the ENTERPRISE Installation and Administration Guide.
More information about what to specify on all the tabs of the Modify Project
dialog box is given in the following sections.
6 When you have entered all the required information on the tabs, click OK.
If you have anything shared between projects, for example antennas, and you
export and re-import as a new project in the same database you will get a message
telling you that you are re-importing duplicate information. This message appears for
each data point on an antenna, so ideally, do not try and re-import items that are
shared between projects.
If you have created user vectors that you want to use on the laptop, you will need
to import the vector files to your new folder.
Do not set a visualisation co-ordinate system if you have already created sites as
they will shift locations.
On this tab, you can also:
Create and edit datums and ellipsoids
Select which MapInfo projection setting will be used for MapInfo vectors data in
the project
Import and export your settings
It is essential that you set up your map data directories to point to the correct
folders. If your map data does not contain a particular category, leave the box for that
type of data blank.
In the Backdrops box, specify a path to a folder that can contain map backdrops
and aerial photos as sub-folders. For example:
An index file and data file(s) should exist in each of the sub-directories.
Important :
It is strongly recommended that you do not share the same directory paths
between different databases
It is also recommended that you set these directory paths to be unique per project
(rather than shared between projects), and enter paths to directories that are
currently empty
The above advice is especially applicable to the Prediction directory, because it
simplifies the management of prediction files.
To specify the directory paths:
1 Specify a path for User preferences, to store your favourite views.
2 Specify a Prediction directory where all your pathloss predictions will be stored.
You can also view any prediction folders already known to the database, using the
drop-down box.
You should ensure that all users of this project have adequate read/write
permissions for the files and folders in the specified directory.
3 Specify a value that represents the maximum disk space you want to reserve for
the storage of prediction files.
For information on specifying this value, see About the Prediction File
Caching System on page 30.
4 In the colour palette box, specify a path to a text file that details the RGB values for
the 253 colours that are used in your project.
5 Specify a path for coverage or interference arrays that you may want to save.
6 Specify a path where you will store your user vectors (lines, polygons or points),
and indicate if you want to load:
Your own user vectors only
The user vectors for everyone in your Group
All user vectors that exist in the database
This depends whether the paths to other people's user vectors are shared. If the
user vector folder is shared between users, you should be aware that any folder
deletion will impact other users trying to use that folder until they restart that
project.
If you want to edit other people's user vectors, you will need the correct permissions,
which are set by your administrator.
Example of Setting Maximum Disk Space for Prediction File Storage in the Modify Project dialog box
Notes :
The default value, if selected, represents 80% of the free disk space on the drive
where the prediction folder exists.
The specified settings for maximum disk space are stored in a configuration file in
the root of the prediction folder.
The concept of the Prediction File Caching System is also described in the Predicting
Pathloss and Displaying Coverage section of the ASSET User Reference Guide,
including the speed, efficiency and benefits involved in the creation and loading of
prediction files.
The caching algorithm is described in the ASSET Technical Reference Guide.
If the extents look incorrect, it is likely that erroneous points exist in one of the
map data index files.
If you require only a part of the mapped area, then these can be set manually to cover
a smaller area, by entering the grid co-ordinates of the extent of the map that you
want to be visible in the Map View window.
You can create a polygon within an open project, with your sites and required
map layers visible on the Map View. Then, after closing the project, you can use that
polygon to define the region.
After selecting to use a region load, when you open the project, the title bar indicates
that you have a region loaded. The project will contain:
All 'Committed' network elements (sites, nodes, links, repeaters and so on) that
are inside the region you have chosen
All 'Applied-only' network elements (sites, nodes, links, repeaters and so on)
relating to the individual user, regardless of the chosen region
All hierarchy-related MSCs and BSCs, WMSCs, RNCs, SGSNs, CDMA MSCs,
CDMA BSCs and the Properties they are on, regardless of the chosen region
Notes:
The technology options are always dependent on what licences you have.
In general, multiple technology modes can be used within the same project. Only
the 2g technologies are mutually exclusive.
This picture shows an example of the Technology tab in the Preferences dialog box:
7 On the Map data directories tab, define all available mapping data for the project.
8 On the User data directories tab, complete all settings.
9 On the Map Data Extents tab, click the Calculate button.
10 In the Modify Project dialog box, click OK.
11 In the Start Project dialog box, select your newly-created "JerseyCom” project and
click Start.
Additional Notes:
4.2 Introduction
The GIS is a fundamental part of the ENTERPRISE suite in which you can view the
different data available within ENTERPRISE including site data, connectivity and
mapping data. The GIS is also referred to as the Map View or 2D View.
The Map View and Site Database window are fully synchronised so that changes
made in one window are reflected in the other. Similarly, when you click on a
network element or property in the Map View, an open Site Database window will
update dynamically to display the selected item.
If you want the Map View window to stay always on top of other windows on
your desktop, right-click the window title and click Always On Top.
This picture shows an example Map View window:
There are many buttons included in the 2D View, which are arranged into toolbars
with different functions. We will now look at each of these toolbars in turn and
discuss their functions.
The toolbars and buttons that you see are always dependent on the products you
have installed. For specific information, see the relevant User Reference Guide.
This table describes the tools available on the Map View toolbar:
Tool Description
Select object. This button is also useful for deactivating any previously selected options (such as Pan or Zoom).
Selection Filter toolbox. For more information, see Adding to the Selection Filter Using the Map View Window on
page 136.
Clear Selection Filter.
Zoom to the extent of a rectangle that you draw on the Map View.
Quick finder.
Jump to location.
Key legend.
Favourite views.
Vector manager.
In the Map View window, click the Show Data Types button .
– or –
Use the Data Types tab of the Map Information and Control dialog box, available
by clicking the Key/Legend button .
Here is an example of the available data types:
The data types available for display include vectors, text, backdrops, height data,
clutter data, site filters, cell information, network connections and coverage.
Before you display anything else, display some standard line data, such as
coastline, then zoom to the area you are interested in. This will ensure you do not
slow down your PC by trying to display rasters, such as heights and clutter data, for
whole areas that you are not interested in.
For User Vectors and Measurements, WFS Services, and Clutter Data, you can select a
category or sub-category and all items within that category are automatically selected
and will be displayed:
Similarly, clearing the checkbox for the whole category will mean all items are no
longer selected.
If you are using the Data Types dialog box, to return to the Map View window click
OK & Redraw.
To change the display style of any data category:
1 In the Data Types dialog box, double-click the category name.
If you want to display 'rasterised' data such as heights or clutter, ensure that you
are not zoomed out too far. This kind of data can require a large amount of RAM to
display - the amount being a function of the area being displayed divided by the area
of a single pixel of the rasterised data (resolution).
If the area you have selected requires more physical RAM than your PC has available
the drawing process will be VERY slow. Therefore, it is recommended to draw some
vector data first in order to navigate to the required view area (this requires much less
RAM) before displaying the heights or clutter data.
To select more data types for display, use the Data Types tab of this dialog box.
3 To move a data type up or down in the order, select the required layer and click
the up or down arrow buttons as required then click Redraw to automatically
redraw the Map View window with your changes.
4 To delete data layers, select the data layer(s) that you want to delete, then click the
Remove Selected button. You can also click Remove All. Both these buttons are the
equivalent of clearing the checkboxes in the list of data types.
5 Double-clicking an item on the Layer Order tab brings up the display properties
dialog box in which you can change how items are displayed in the usual way.
You can also use the Map Information and Control dialog box for:
Displaying and changing items in the legend.
Selecting data types for display.
Add to Favourites Stores frequently used Map Views, which includes remembering both the visual layers displayed
as well as the exact region, zoom level and resolution selected.
To quickly toggle between the different favourite views, use the Favourites drop-down list on the
Map View Toolbar:
1 On the Map View toolbar, click the Display Site Tips button .
The Site Tip Attributes dialog box appears:
2 In the Available Attributes pane, expand the required network element, and
either:
Click the name of the attribute that you want to display on the Map View, and
click the right arrow button
- or -
Select the checkboxes of the attribute(s) that you want to display on the Map
View
The attributes are added to the Selected Attributes pane.
Tips:
If you want to remove an attribute from the Selected Attributes pane, select the
required attribute and click the left arrow button .
If you want to re-order the way that the attributes will be displayed, click the
up and down arrow buttons to change the position. The attribute at
the top of the list is displayed first and the attribute at the end of the list is
displayed last.
Your chosen attributes are saved for future use. However, if you close and reopen
the Map View, you will need to click the Display Site Tips button again to see the
Site Tips.
4.4.8 Searching the Map View Window with the Quick Finder
You can search the Map View window using the Quick finder dialog box. This
enables you to locate items such as a location, Property, link or piece of text or
attributes such as carried traffic. This picture shows an example where any Property
ID containing the number 56 is listed in the Quick Finder dialog box and highlighted
with an arrow in the Map View window:
If the Quick finder dialog box has not been used before, you will need to set it up. For
more information see Setting Up the Quick Finder on page 49.
The operators available depend on the parameter selected and can include
regular expressions.
You can also select the Not option to locate items that do not match the expression
or value chosen.
5 Optionally click the button by the "Search in" field. For all items except text a
drop-down list enables you to choose whether to search in a filter, a view, or in
existing search results.
If you choose to search in:
A filter, specify which filter
A view, use the Click View button to select one
Existing results, a subset of these that match your refined search criteria will
appear in the "Results" field after you click the Find button
For text items a drop-down field enables you to choose whether to search all text
or just the text currently displayed in the Map View window.
6 Optionally click on the button by the "Highlight on view" field. You can use this
to determine how your search results are to be identified in the Map View
window. You can choose:
An arrow or a target symbol to highlight the item
The colour of the arrow or target
The colour of the surround (halo) around the arrow or target
The colour of the symbol (dot) representing the item
Whether or not text identifying the item is displayed
The colour of the text used
The size and transparency of the arrow or target used
7 Click Find. Your search results are shown in the Map View window and listed in
the Quick finder dialog box under the "Results" field.
1 Click the Quick finder button . The Quick finder dialog box appears. This
picture shows an example:
2 Click by the first drop-down list to open the Select/Deselect Items dialog box.
3 Choose the items that you want to have available for selection in the drop-down
list. You can do this by clicking on individual items or you can right-click and
choose to Select All or Deselect All.
4 Click OK. Your chosen items are listed in the drop-down list. They will continue to
be listed there whenever the Quick finder dialog box is opened for this project,
unless you subsequently change your choice of listed items by the same method.
5 In the first drop-down field, select the first item.
3 Add items as required (for example, Building Height, Visibility, and so on) by
selecting the item in the 'Available items' pane and clicking the Add button to
move them to the 'Selected items' pane.
Similarly, to remove items, select the item in the 'Selected items' pane, and then
click Remove to return the item to the 'Available items' pane.
You can change how the location is displayed and the building heights are
calculated by double-clicking the item in Gadgets window.
To begin with, the Gadgets window is attached to the bottom of the 2D View window,
but it can be detached and then moved to any location (including another 2D View
window is more than one is open).
To do this, from the View menu click Pin Map View Gadgets. Clicking this option
again will re-attach the window to the bottom of the 2D View.
You can edit the display properties of a data type by double-clicking it.
3 Click OK & Redraw.
You can scroll your Map View using the Master View window. To do this, drag
the rectangle to the required position.
While in Zoom mode, you can hold down Shift to change temporarily to Pan
mode. This is useful for zooming and then scrolling and zooming again.
Click the Zoom button and click and hold the left mouse button down while dragging the
mouse downwards on the map.
Using the mouse to select
Click the Zoom Box button .
a boxed area
(method one) Click and hold down the left mouse button on the map where the centre of the box will be
and drag the mouse to create a box.
Release the mouse button.
The Map View window redraws to display only the area selected. The aspect ratio of the region
will match that of the current map view.
Using the mouse to select
Click the Zoom button then hold down Alt.
a boxed area
(method two) Click where you want the upper left of your area to be and drag the mouse towards the
lower right area to create a rectangle.
The Map View window redraws to display only the area selected. The aspect ratio of the region
will match that of the current map view.
To a set width (km) Right-click anywhere on the Map View window, and point to Menu Zoom then click the required
width.
To a set magnification Right-click anywhere on the Map View window, and point to Menu Zoom then click the required
magnification (for example, x5)..
To a previous or defined Right-click anywhere on the Map View window, and point to Menu Zoom then click Last or
Home view Home.
To stop zooming, either click another button, the Select Arrow button or the Display
Data Types button.
Click the Zoom button , and right-click on the map where you want the centre
of the zoom to be.
Click the Zoom button , hold down Ctrl and click on the map where you want
the centre of the zoom to be.
Click the Zoom button and click and hold the left mouse button down while
dragging the mouse upwards on the map.
While using either of the above you are in Zoom mode. You can hold down
Shift to change temporarily to Pan mode. This is useful for zooming and then
scrolling and zooming again.
Right-click on the map, and point to Menu Zoom then click the required zoom, for
example, x0.5.
To stop zooming, either click another button, the Select Arrow button or the Display
Data Types button.
If you have run any coverage or interference arrays, or traffic rasters, you can
save them all now by selecting the appropriate checkbox(es).
The favourite is stored in the Preferences folder that you have defined on the User
Data Directories tab of the Modify Project dialog box.
To access a favourite view:
Select the name of the view on the toolbar:
For the All filter, in the Display Properties dialog box that appears, click the
General icon at the top of the list.
2 Choose to export your data as a raster image, rectangle, polygon or as symbol
points. If you select raster image, also choose the type of output file. If you intend
to use your output with Google Earth Pro, select one of the GeoTIFF output file
types. This table describes the options available:
Option Description Output files
Raster Image Usual image format where each pixel of an item is given a colour. As selected in the list of Data
Types in the Map View.
The colour white is marked as the 'transparent colour', which Also accompanied by a TAB file.
improves the usability of the export in MapInfo format (especially
when exporting multiple layers).
Due to MapInfo software and font limitations the export may not
reproduce the exact appearance of the Map View.
3 In the Map View window, from the File menu, click GIS Export.
If you do not have MapInfo® software installed then you will be prompted to
browse for a file called MAPINFOW.PRJ. If you do not have this file, click OK,
then in the Open dialog box, click Cancel and then OK.
If you do not browse for the MAPINFOW.PRJ file, then a Non-Earth projection
will be used when producing the exported map information.
4 In the GIS Export dialog box, either:
Type the name of a folder to which you want to export the output files, and
then add a filename prefix
- or -
Click the Browse button , locate the folder to which you want to export the
output files, and then enter a filename prefix
5 If you are exporting image files, choose whether or not to include a TAB file.
If you are exporting polygons or rectangles, choose to generate either TAB/DAT
or MID/MIF files (and which version).
If you are exporting symbol points, choose to generate either TAB/DAT or
MID/MIF files unless you are exporting for Google Earth, in which case choose
KML files. If you choose KML files you can also choose to have your KML file
opened in Google Earth automatically on export.
6 If you are exporting a large array, it is recommended to split the output array into
tiles. To do this, select the 'Split the export' option, and then select the required
number of tiles.
7 Select a projection from the list of projections (unless you are exporting symbol
points for Google Earth in which case a projection is not required).
8 Click OK. A progress bar will appear and ENTERPRISE proceeds to export all
selected layers to the selected formats. A different file is created for each layer.
Do not change the margins here as these are not used by ENTERPRISE.
3 From the File menu, point to Print Setup and click Legend and Title and specify
any title, copyright and comments that you require. The default title is Untitled or
the last used title of the current session.
4 Also choose whether to print the default logo or a different one. As this is a raster
format, you may need to experiment with various image sizes to obtain the best
image on the hard copy printout. Any number of colours can be used
(monochrome to 24-bit colour).
'Airport' Favourite
1 Display:
Coastline (Colour - Black, Width - 1)
Map Backdrop/AirPhoto Backdrop (Display Coloured)
2 Use the 'Jump to Location' button , to search for Easting (558579) and Northing
(5451026).
3 Use the Zoom facility to display the Airport Runway.
4 Save as a favourite and name it 'Airport'.
Now, click the drop-down list at the top of the 2D View, and review the favourites
that you have created and verify that they were saved correctly:
Additional Notes:
5.2 Overview
You can create and display your own vector file features, which are saved with the
project.
There are a number of different types of vector file feature, which are described in the
following table:
Feature Type Description
Polygon A set of points connected by lines that form a closed shape.
Line Two or more points connected by lines that form an unclosed shape.
Point A geometric element that has no dimensions, and whose position is based on its
coordinates.
Text A set of words or letters.
Example polygons
It is recommended that you set these directory paths to be unique per project
(if you have multiple projects). If the user vector folder is shared between users,
you should be aware that any folder deletion will impact other users trying to use
that folder until they restart that project.
2 Ensure you have a Map View window open with the required area displayed.
3 From the Map View window toolbar, click the Create new vector button .
-or -
Press Ctrl + E.
The vector file features are organised in separate sub-folders (for example
Buildings, Transportation Routes and so on).
When you use the Create new vector button , the new vector file feature is
added to the uppermost sub-folder folder that has its classification set as
'Unclassified'. If no such sub-folder exists, then a New Folder is automatically
created.
You can also create a new vector directly in the Vector Manager. To do this,
from the Options menu, click:
Add Vector, if you want to create a new vector and store the tab file in the
folder defined for User (line) vector data on the User data directories tab of the
Project Settings dialog box. For more information, see About the User Data
Directories Tab on page 29.
Add Vector to Folder, if you want to create a new vector and store the tab file
in a different folder.
4 In the Vector Structure Editor, type a name for the new vector.
5 Click Add to add an initial attribute to the vector:
Enter an attribute name, for example Population
Choose whether you want the value to be a float, integer or string
Click OK
For a full description of attributes, see Defining Attributes for a Vector File Feature
on page 67.
- or -
If you clicked the Create new vector button or the Add Vector menu option (or
you click Cancel in the Browse for Folder dialog box), the tab file is stored in the
folder defined for User (line) vector data on the User data directories tab of the
Project Settings dialog box. For more information, see About the User Data
Directories Tab on page 29.
A new blank vector tab file with its own sub-folder in the User Vectors folder is
automatically created.
7 To rename the folder, right-click and select Rename, type the required name and
then click OK.
8 To create the new vector file feature, for example the path of a new road or an area
that you want to define, select the new vector tab file and select the required
button, depending on what you want to create. The following table describes the
available options:
Click this button To create
A line, or set of lines, in a vector.
A point.
A text item.
For more information on the different types of vector file features, see the
ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.
10 You can now add attributes to the vector or polygon. For more information on
how to do this, see Defining Attributes for a Vector File Feature on page 67.
In the Vector Manager, you can save your vector file feature changes. To do this:
From the Options menu, click Save All.
For more information on saving and exporting vectors, see Saving and Exporting
Vectors on page 77.
In the Vector Manager, you can also delete vectors. To do this:
1 Select the vector that you want to delete.
2 From the Options menu, click Remove Vector.
For more information about setting values for the attributes, see Managing Vector File
Features on page 70.
To delete a particular point in the line/polygon, click the Delete Point button
and click the point that you want to delete
To delete a line/polygon, select the polygon/line using the Select Shape button
, and then click the Delete Shape button .
The top pane lists all of the features (polygons, appended polygons, lines, points and
so on) that belong to the vector file feature. Each feature is individually numbered (in
the Feature# column) based on its sequence of creation within the vector file feature.
The associated attribute columns correspond to the attributes already defined for the
vector file feature.
To set the attribute values:
1 In the top pane, select the required feature, and double-click the attribute value
that you want to edit.
2 Type the required value and press Return.
Tips :
If you just want to display the search results, select the Display search results
only checkbox.
To highlight each of the search results in order, click the arrow buttons .
4 To create a new vector containing a sub-set of the features displayed in the search
results:
Ensure that the Display search results only checkbox is selected.
Select the checkboxes for the required features under the Feature# column:
In this way, you can, for example, generate population statistics based on the suburbs
only or the centre only, and plan separate strategies accordingly.
Alternatively, you may want to represent certain sub-sections of one area, but not the
area as a whole. To model this, you can create separate islands for a main polygon.
For example, blocks of flats spread across a wide area:
From the Map View window toolbar, click the Vector Manager button .
- or -
Press Ctrl + R.
The Vector Manager appears:
3 Click the Select Shape button , and in the Map View window, select the
polygon to which you want to add the hole or island.
4 From the Vector Manager toolbar, click the Append Existing Polygon button.
5 In the Map View window, click the start point and all subsequent points of the
polygon, either inside an existing one (which would make it a hole) or somewhere
else on the Map View (which would make it an island).
You can add extra lines to existing lines or sets of lines in a similar way:
1 Click the Select Shape button , and in the Map View window select the line or
set of lines that you want to add an extra line to.
2 From the Vector Manager toolbar, click the Append Existing Vector button.
3 In the Map View window, click the start point and all subsequent points of the
line.
4 To finish the line, double-click.
5 To add the line to the database, from the Options menu, click Save.
To check where this is, from the File menu, click View Project Settings. On the
Map data directories tab, the default vector folder is defined as the Line (Vector)
Data folder.
Export them locally, without the current MapInfo projection setting.
Select the required vector, and from the Options menu, click Save
The selected vector is saved to the default vector folder.
If you want to save all of the vectors that you have created, from the Options
menu, click Save All.
A new vector file feature is created and the vector data file is imported. If the
vector file feature consists of a single TAB file, the import is complete.
2 If the vector file feature is made up of multiple TAB files, you should now right-
click the new vector file feature name and from the menu that appears, click
Import Vector File.
The vector file feature is updated with the additional TAB file.
3 Continue to add TAB files, until all of the files have been imported.
To create a sub-folder in which to place, for example, all your Roads vectors:
1 In the Map View window, from the Tools menu, select Vector Manager.
2 Right-click on User Vectors and Measurements.
3 Click on Add Folder. A new folder called New Folder 1 appears on the vector tree.
4 Right-click on New Folder 1.
5 Click on Rename and type an appropriate name such as Roads.
Additional Notes:
6 Setting up a GSM
Network
If you do not select the Add to all projects checkbox, the antennas are available for
assignment to cells for the project you currently have open. If you select the
checkbox, they are available to all projects within the database.
3 Click the Add button.
4 The Explorer window appears.
5 Navigate to the location where your PlaNet format antenna files are stored on the
network. Select the antenna files you want to import and click Open.
The antennas are then added to the import list within the PlaNet Import dialog
box.
6 Click Import.
For the purposes of this model only, the definitions of LOS and NLOS are as
follows:
A point is considered to be LOS if there are no obstructions in the direct path
between the transmitter and receiver. However, it is still possible to have some
diffraction loss if any terrain falls within the first Fresnel zone of the transmitted
ray
A point is considered to be NLOS if it suffers any diffraction loss, that is, one or
more points along the transmit/receive path are inside the 1st Fresnel zone
K values 450 MHz 900 MHz 1800 MHz 2000 MHz 2500 MHz 3500 MHz
k1 for LOS 142.3 150.6 160.9 162.5 164.1 167
k2 for LOS 44.9 44.9 44.9 44.9 44.9 44.9
k1 (near) for LOS 129.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
k2 (near) for LOS 31.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
d < for LOS 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
k1 for NLOS 142.3 150.6 160.9 162.5 164.1 167
k2 for NLOS 44.9 44.9 44.9 44.9 44.9 44.9
k1 (near) for NLOS 129.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
k2 (near) for NLOS 31.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
d < for NLOS 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
k3 -2.22 -2.55 -2.88 -2.93 -3.04 -3.20
k4 -0.8 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
k5 -11.70 -13.82 -13.82 -13.82 -13.82 -13.82
k6 -4.30 -6.55 -6.55 -6.55 -6.55 -6.55
k7 0.4 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8
If you are using frequencies that are not in the above tables, you can deduce the
starting values from those of the nearest frequency.
When calculating the total through-clutter loss, the individual through-clutter losses
are weighted so that the clutter nearest the mobile station has the highest effect. The
weighting is linear with a maximum weight of 1 (at the mobile station) and a
minimum weight of zero (for clutter at distances >= ).
The formula is as follows:
Where:
is the distance of the clutter pixel (resolution-dependent) from the mobile station.
In the case where the distance between the mobile and base station is less than ,
only the clutter lying between the mobile station and the base station is taken into
account.
3 When you have located the folder containing the required files, select the „Index‟
file and click „Open'.
4 In the XML Import dialog box, on each tab, select the items you want to import.
5 Select how you want conflicts to be handled during the import. You can be
prompted on an individual basis, or merge the data, or or leave the existing data
as it is, or replace the data in the project with the imported data.
For example, if you are importing items like Carrier Layers, Cell Layers, Antennas,
and so on, your current project may already have some of these. In this case, you
can choose „Leave‟ and it will only import those items which you do not have.
Another case is when you have some sites already, and you want to import the
same sites but with a different configuration. In this case, select „Replace‟, and the
new settings will replace the old settings.
6 Click Import.
During the import, if there are any comments or problems, the message log will
display them. Depending on the problem, you will get different choices to make.
After the import has finished, you will need to Commit the imported items either
using individual commits or via the „Global Commit All‟ option under the Database
menu.
Although the second option adds a whole band of carriers, you can
subsequently remove them selectively.
This example shows how to add a range of carriers, between 1 and 40:
Where:
A is the starting frequency
B is the spacing needed between each carrier
F is the actual frequency
n is the carrier number
X and Y are the range of carriers to which the formula will apply
For each frequency band, a number of sub-bands are added by default.
There can be many frequency band formulae for one frequency band. ASSET
checks that the range of carriers do not overlap for different formulae and
determines which formula to apply for a particular carrier by assessing which
range the carrier is in.
3 Specify values for the constants A, B, X and Y and the Uplink-Downlink frequency
separation. You are calculating the frequency for each carrier on the uplink to see
whether you are in the correct range.
4 Click Apply.
5 Click Close.
6 In the Frequency Bands dialog box, click Close.
You may require variants of the BCCH layer in order to provide a solution to
border interference with other networks. For example, you may need a 'BCCH' carrier
layer and a 'BCCH_border' carrier layer, with a reduced set of carriers on the latter.
In the simplest scenario, you would normally need to have at least two carrier layers
per cell layer, one containing carriers required for control and one for carriers of
traffic.
This option should only be used for 'pre-defined' MA lists, and is only relevant
to Synthesised or Site Hopping networks.
6 If you have chosen to use frequency bands to consider intermodulation, you need
to select the appropriate band.
7 On the Carriers tab, associate the required carriers with the carrier layer by
moving them from the Available list into the Assigned list.
8 In the Maximum Allocable Carriers box, specify a limit on the number of carriers
from this carrier layer that can be allocated on any one cell. For example, the limit
for a BCCH or control layer in GSM would be 1. For the traffic channel(s), you
might enter a limit greater than 1, depending on your network's equipment
configuration. In the case of a Hopping network (unless using pre-defined MA
lists), this value must be set accordingly.
These limits cannot be overridden, whether you are making manual allocations
in the Site Database, or whether you use ILSA to make automatic allocations.
However, the limits can be modified whenever necessary.
9 The Group tab options are not relevant unless you wish to use frequency re-use
patterns.
10 Apply any changes that you make, and, if you want other users to see them,
commit the changes.
In order to make the Carrier Layer appear in the Site Database, it must be
associated with a Cell Layer. For instructions on this, see Defining Cell Layers on page
102.
In general terms, each cell layer should have one (and only one) control carrier
layer assigned to it. In the case where two control carrier layers are necessary (for
example, to accommodate border interference problems), you should ensure that only
one is 'usable' on each sub-cell, as described in the following sections.
The colours and category names used to display coverage are common to all cell
layers but the signal thresholds they correspond to may be different for each cell
layer. For information on adding coverage schemas, see Defining Coverage Schemas
for GSM (Non-Sim) Arrays on page 159.
Through the use of prioritised cell layers, you can configure an underlay/overlay cell
layer structure. This would enable you to have a method of determining the best
server, other than merely by signal strength.
Where you have used a common BCCH, only one cell layer in a cell has a BCCH
carrier layer. You should ensure that you have set that cell layer as a master BTS on
the cell layer BCF tab.
Tips :
Use the Global Editor to allocate carrier layers for many cells simultaneously.
You can also pre-set the above options as defaults in the Templates dialog box.
For information on using the Global Editor or creating Templates, see the
ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.
If the layer does not appear, ensure it has been associated with the cell layer, as
explained in Defining Cell Layers on page 102.
3 In the Carriers pane, select the required carrier.
If you prefer to show carriers grouped in their frequency re-use pattern, click
Group View, then select a carrier.
4 Select the relevant checkbox(es) to change the status. You can choose:
Status Description
Allocated The carrier is allocated.
Forbidden The carrier cannot be allocated manually unless the forbidden flag is removed.
Fixed The carrier is allocated and cannot be de-allocated manually unless the fixed flag is
removed.
None The carrier is not allocated.
For more information on this tab, see Editing Carrier Allocations Manually on
page 224.
Example of Templates dialog box (in this case, specific to GSM element types)
The element types appearing in this dialog box are dependent on the technology
you are using.
You cannot Commit templates, you can only Apply them. This means that they
are only visible to you, and cannot be shared directly with other users logged into the
same database. The only way to make them available to other users is by exporting
them as an XML file. For more information, see the ENTERPRISE User Reference
Guide.
Project Defaults
In order to make an ASSET project easy to use right from the start, the following
default objects, with pre-set parameters, are provided:
Antenna default
Propagation model defaults (450, 900, 1800 and 2100MHz)
Template defaults (for each technology)
Terminal type default (for each technology)
These default objects represent the minimum parameters required to add/place sites
and generate coverage arrays. The default templates include sites (or nodes) and cells
(or sectors) that in turn make use of the default propagation models and antenna.
For GSM, each cell also contains a sub-cell, which represents an instance of a cell
layer. (Initially, this is always the default cell layer. If you want a different layer, you
can right-click on the layer and delete it, then right-click on the cell and add a
different cell layer.) You should set the parameters for both the cell and the sub-cell.
The buttons available are dependent on the technologies you are using.
You should consider pre-specifying the network parameters for new sites/nodes
by using templates. For information on how to do this, see About Templates on page
106.
To restrict a cell's service area, you can specify one or more of these parameters, in the
Site Database or the Templates dialog box:
Parameter Description
Signal Offset (SS option) Signal offset only operates between cells of the same priority cell layer, and is specified in dB. An
offset is applied to the cell when calculating which cell is the best server.
Pathloss Threshold (PL This value determines the highest pathloss for the sub-cell's coverage. The coverage will not extend
option) further than this limit. For example, if this is set to 132dB, the pathloss will never exceed this limit. Also,
if you select the Dynamic checkbox, you can enter a Traffic Weighting.
Signal Threshold This value determines the lowest signal strength (received power) for the sub-cell's coverage. The
coverage will not extend further than this limit. For example, if this is set to -102dBm, the coverage will
extend no lower than this limit. Typically, Signal Thresholds may be set differently to represent
hierarchical cell structures (Underlay/Overlay).
TA Threshold Used in conjunction with other cell configuration parameters to restrict the overall coverage radius
provided by the sub-cell to either the minimum signal strength or the maximum timing advance,
whichever is reached first.
For a cell using extended range where two timeslots are used, the maximum timing advance is 133,
otherwise the maximum is normally 63.
You can globally override the values for Signal Threshold and TA Threshold by
using the Array Settings dialog box.
The hexagon radii in the pictures are for visual aid purposes only. They have no
influence on the predictions.
Example of how signal strength and service area arrays are limited by the Prediction Radius
Using these parameters for an Omni-site would provide a smaller radius of service
area for the overlaid sub-cell, extending out to a signal strength of -80dBm, whereas
the underlaid sub-cell's service area extends out to -102 dBm.
If sub-cells are defined that need to use different propagation models, one can be
chosen within the sub-cell such that it will override the one defined in the cell. You do
not have to override the model if the sub-cell requires the same model as that defined
at cell level.
This diagram shows a similar scenario for a three-sector site, showing the Service
Area (Block), available in the Map View, for the individual sub-cells:
If the Signal Offset of the 120º sector for the GSM900 layer is set to (+) 6dB, the picture
changes:
There is a significant encroachment of the GSM900 120º sector onto the other sectors.
But note that this has not affected the GSM1800 coverage, because it only affects the
best server calculation within the same cell layer.
This makes no difference to the calculated received signal levels; it only has an
influence on which cell is considered to be the best server.
The Antenna Instance ID helps you to select the correct antenna, for example for
antenna re-orientation.
In the example picture above, the "NY_n" represents the Instance ID, and, if
applicable, the "[ ]" would contain the Shared Antenna ID. These are followed by
the antenna device name, pattern name and azimuth.
You can create filters based on the Antenna Instance ID, and use the filter for its
normal variety of purposes, such as:
Limiting the list of network elements displayed in the Site Database, the Map
View or Site Reporter
Varying the customised appearance of different filters in the Map View
Controlling which items are to be included in the various wizards
Site/Node Reporter
This location can be viewed either relative to the Property location, or in absolute
terms.
You can either leave the change in the applied state, or commit it, or restore the last
committed settings.
If necessary, you can re-predict the site, and create a new coverage array.
Alternatively you can directly edit the values in the Site Database, and this would
be automatically reflected in the Map View.
You can either leave the change in the applied state, or commit it, or restore the last
committed settings.
If necessary, you can re-predict the site, and create a new coverage array.
Alternatively you can directly edit the values in the Site Database, and this would
be automatically reflected in the Map View.
Slots can also be used to temporarily switch cells ‟OFF‟ when performing coverage
predictions. This is easier than deleting the cell.
This feature is available for GSM, UMTS, LTE and Mobile WiMAX.
In addition, after making any changes, coverage can be freshly calculated for the
selected site or cell.
To do this:
1 In the Map View window, from the Move/Edit Network Element toolbox, click
the Site Quick Edit button, or the Cell Quick Edit button:
2 On the Map View, click on or near the site/cell that you want to view or edit.
3 If there is more than one site/cell available at this location, from the list that
appears, click the required site/cell.
Depending which button you clicked, the dialog box shows all the site's cells, or
just one specific cell.
The Antenna Instance ID parameter (shown in the example Quick Edit dialog
box as 'NY_189') may be useful in specific situations. See Using Instance IDs to
Distinguish Antennas on page 114.
4 Edit the required parameters by clicking the current value and typing in the new
value or selecting the required option (for example, the antenna pattern) from the
drop-down list.
If the parameter value can be generated using a wizard (for example, BSICs),
you can click the Browse button to start the wizard from this dialog box.
You can only edit one shared antenna per site using this option.
5 If you also want to re-calculate the coverage based on these parameter changes,
select the Calculate coverage checkbox. (In the case of GSM, select Sim or Non-
Sim, as appropriate.)
For GSM Non-Sim, the coverage calculation displays the coverage for a single
site or single cell, and does not update any existing displayed arrays.
For GSM Sim, and all other technologies, the coverage calculation updates any
existing displayed coverage array, and any other related displayed arrays.
Additional Notes:
When defining fields, it is important that you associate each field with the
appropriate network element(s) (such as Properties, sites, cells or microwave links).
For picklists, it is strongly recommended that the first option in each group is
named “unset”, or similar, so that this can be the default when no particular option
has yet been assigned.
Fields displayed in grey are read-only - you do not have permissions to edit
these. The group permissions for the currently selected field are displayed in a
panel at the bottom of the status tab.
3 To change an associated field, click in the field value column and select the
required value from the drop-down list as shown here:
Any fields that you have edited - but not yet Applied - are displayed in bold.
In the case of the Link Database, you can find the Status tab under the General tab for
a microwave link.
This next example shows the Picklist options expanded, so that one of them can be
selected:
On the Filters tab of the Preferences dialog box under the File menu, you can
choose from a variety of options to determine which user filter folders to display.
This picture shows selecting a filter in the Site Database window:
Created filters can either be stored in a System folder (for everyone to use) or in
the User folder, which means that they are not available to other users (unless they
expressly choose to 'show all user filters' on the Filters tab of the Preferences dialog
box under the File menu). The Apply and Commit principles are the same as for any
other object saved to the database.
The general recommendation is to make sensible usage of the system and (personal)
user folders, and only commit filters that are essential to all users.
On the Filters tab of the Preferences dialog box under the File menu, you can
make various choices of which user filter folders to display.
2 The Filter Database appears, displaying any folders and filters which have already
been set up:
The Selection Filter is a special filter which is used by the Selection Expert, and
is described in a subsequent section.
3 Select the folder in which you want to store the new filter and then click Add. This
will launch the Filter Wizard, which guides you through the creation process.
If your new filter has similar selection criteria as an existing filter, you can choose
the option to use an existing filter as a template and select it from the drop-down
menu.
Click Next.
5 Step 2 of the Filter Wizard displays a list of Available Attributes. Move each
required element type to the Selected Attributes pane by double-clicking it,
dragging it, or selecting it and using the right arrow button. This will define which
objects are to be considered in the filter.
For example, one method would be to expand one of the items in the Available
Attributes pane to reveal the selection of fields already set up for the project in
ENTERPRISE Administrator. The required field can then be selected as an
attribute for the filtering criteria.
Polygons represent another way in which network elements can be filtered. All
available polygons can be displayed by expanding the Property element in the
Available Attributes pane.
In this example, the Cell Site element has been expanded, and the 'Rollout Phase'
field has been selected as an attribute to be considered in the filtering process:
You can specify the logical operators by right-clicking on them to toggle between
the two types:
If you choose OR, a value will be returned if any of the attributes are present
If you choose AND, a value will be returned only if all the attributes are
present
You can group attributes together with their own logical operator, and create
rules within rules. The easiest way to do this is to drag and drop the attributes into
their logical groupings. The Selection Rules will be activated from top to bottom,
branching where specified. For some ideas on how to create 'faster' filters, see
Making Your Dynamic Filters More Efficient on page 142.
When you have all the element types and criteria that you want to filter on, click
Next.
6 Step 3 of the Filter Wizard prompts you to set the definitive rules and criteria for
the filter and enables you to modify the logical operators using the associated
radio buttons.
On this screen, you must click on each of the selected attributes to ensure that
the appropriate options appear on the right-hand side.
Define the exact rule for each element type or criterion by selecting it in the
'Selected Attributes' pane, and:
Selecting a rule definition (for example, 'Equals'). You can also reverse the rule
definition (for example, 'Not Equal To') by selecting the 'Not' checkbox.
Typing a value in the box or, if applicable, clicking the 'Values' button to select
the value(s) that you are interested in (for example, when selecting Field
values).
In this example, we have used the simple approach of using only the Field
attribute; notice that all items associated with the filtered sites are also included in
the filter, in other words, their related objects, such as Properties, MSC, BSC, cells,
and so on. If we had selected the cell site AND its field attribute in Step 2, we
would only have the cell sites in the filter, and not the related objects.
10 When satisfied, click the Finish button to complete the Filter creation process.
The newly created filter appears in the Filters Database, in the folder you selected at
the start of the process. As a Dynamic filter, it will appear with a BLUE symbol, as in
this example:
In the Filters Database, any of the filters may be committed, modified or removed,
and also moved or copied between folders.
If you want this filter to be available for use by other users, you can Commit the filter.
Otherwise, it will only be available locally on your machine.
All created filters are available for use in various parts of ENTERPRISE, such as the
Site Database, Link Database, Map View, Coverage Arrays, Wizards, Reports, and so
on.
You can also remove items from the filter. To do this, in the Active Element pane,
right-click the elements(s) and from the menu that appears, click Remove. You can
also select the item(s) in the Active Element pane and then click the Remove button
that appears in the Identifier tab.
File List Browse to a text file Select the element type that you want to add.
listing the identifiers Type in a file name or click the Browse button and locate the correct file.
on separate lines The file format of this text file is a list of site identifiers each on a separate line.
Click Add, and all of the elements matching this identifier will be displayed in the
Active Elements box.
Filters Use a combination of Select the element type that you want to add.
chosen filter and Choose the filter from which you want to add elements of the type selected, and
element types click Add.
Map View Choose selected or Open a Map View window and select it by clicking in it.
All elements in a In the Filter wizard, select the Element Type that you want to add.
particular Map View Click the Add All Elements button then click the Map View window again. All
elements of the type you have selected that are shown in the window are added
to the filter.
You can use the Add Element button to select an individual item in an open Map
View window and the Remove Element and Remove All Elements buttons to remove
items from a filter.
7.3.4.2 Adding to the Selection Filter Using the Map View Window
To add items to the Selection filter using the Map View window:
1 If required, choose to limit the element types that are added.
2 From the Database menu, click Selection Expert.
3 In an open Map View window, ensure you are displaying the area and elements
from which you will be selecting.
4 Click the down arrow on the Selection filter toolbox to see the options.
To Do This
Select individual network
elements Click the Single Select button.
Hold down Shift and click each network element that you want to
include in the Selection filter.
You can also replace the contents of the Selection filter with your
new selection by clicking without holding down Shift.
Select network elements in a
rectangular area that you will Click the Rectangular Select button and hold down Shift.
draw Click where you want a corner to be and then drag to create a
rectangle. The elements within the rectangle are added to the
Selection filter.
As you do this, the width and height dimensions are displayed, along
with the units that you chose in the Preferences dialog box.
You can also replace the contents of the Selection filter with your
new selection by clicking and dragging without holding down Shift.
Select network elements in a
circular area that you will draw Click the Circle Select button and hold down Shift.
Click and hold down the mouse button where the centre of the circle will
be, and drag outwards to set the radius of the circle. The currently
selected elements inside the circle are added to the Selection filter.
You can also replace the contents of the Selection filter with your
new selection by clicking and dragging without holding down Shift.
You can also replace the contents of the Selection filter with your
new selection by clicking and dragging without holding down Shift.
Clear Selection filter
Click the Clear Selection filter button to empty all objects from
the Selection filter.
Hold down Shift when using any of the above buttons to add a current
selection to the filter. If you do not hold down Shift, the filter contains ONLY the
current selection, replacing what was there.
The selected elements appear in the Selection Expert and you can edit the items
shown, and save or export the filter.
7.3.4.3 Adding Items to the Selection Filter Using the Site or Link Database
You can add items to a Selection filter using the Site or Link Database in various
ways.
The items parented on this element now appear on the tab, as shown here:
3 Select one or more of the network elements shown on the tab and click the Add
button to add them to the Selection filter.
Similarly, to remove an item from the Selection filter, select the item on the tab
and click the Remove button.
To add or remove all of the elements of the selected element type, click the
Add or Remove All Elements button.
5 In the Map View window, click the required network element.
6 Repeat for all of the elements that you want to add to or remove from the Selection
filter.
7 In the Selection Expert, click the Stop Adding or Stop Removing button.
To rename a filter, in the Filters dialog box, right-click the required filter and then
click Rename. In the dialog box that appears, type the new name and click OK.
2 Click the Browse button to select the location to which you want to export the
*.xml file(s).
The examples below show how performance is affected by good and bad use of rules.
Example of reordering a simple filter
Example of making filters faster by using fewer rules
You have set up the Selection filter to show Property IDs as labels. In a visualiser
you choose to change the label to show contact details instead. Or you may have a
filter showing all network elements and then create visualisers which each contain
one network element type, enabling you to separate out your displays as required:
1 In the Map View window, click the Show Data Types button .
2 In the Data Types dialog box, expand Filters and right-click the required filter.
3 From the menu that appears, select Add New Visualiser.
4 In the dialog box that appears, type the name for the new visualiser and click OK.
The new visualiser appears as a new item under the filter, and contains the filter
properties that you have copied:
Visualisers can also be included in Favourite Views (see Saving a Favourite Map
View on page 55). This greatly speeds up the process of displaying the Visualisers
with the minimum of effort.
Additional Notes:
This means that you do not need to explicitly create pathloss predictions. For
example, if the predictions do not exist, they will be created; if they exist and are up-
to-date, they will be loaded; if they exist but are out-of-date (due to any parameter
changes in the database), they will be newly created.
Example of how an array can use predictions - Using only primary predictions
In this example, a high resolution has been set for the cell up to 2km radius, and a low
resolution up to 4km radius. The coverage array was requested at the higher
resolution. Notice how the pixels are using the lower resolution in the outer half of
the coverage.
2 From the Tools menu, click Pathloss Predictor, or click the button.
3 The Pathloss Prediction Generator dialog box appears. Select whether to create
predictions for:
Prediction Options Descriptions Instructions
Sites and Cells Enables you to select Type the name of the element and press Enter. Type a
individual sites. partial substring if you want multiple elements to appear.
As you type, after a small time delay, a list of all the
elements matching the substring will appear in the list.
Sites and Cells in View Enables you to select the sites After selecting the radio button, click anywhere in the Map
currently visible in an open View window to load the sites/cells.
Map View.
(Afterwards, the 'Select View' button becomes active, but
you do not need to press it unless you want to
subsequently switch your selection to a different Map
View.)
Sites and Cells in Filter Enables you to select sites Choose a filter from the drop-down box.
from a specific filter.
Note :
When a site but none of its cells are selected then all the cells on that site are
predicted
When a site and one or more of its cells are selected then only those explicit
cells are predicted
When cells (not sites) are selected, only those cells are predicted
If required, you can choose to only show the failed predictions by clicking the
'Show Failed' button. If you do, the list will be reduced, as in this example:
After doing this, you can also choose to populate the Selection filter with only the
'failed' sites or cells, by clicking the relevant button.
Coverage Arrays
You can also create and display coverage arrays which take into account the coverage
from multiple cells, for example a Best Server array. For more information, see
Creating Coverage Arrays on page 155.
1 Click the Display Coverage for a Cell button then click the required cell.
- or -
Click the Display Coverage for a Site button then click the required site.
2 Select the relevant cell layer or carrier.
3 If appropriate, select the terminal type and indoor/outdoor location.
4 Specify a resolution.
For GSM networks, you will be able to select All Cell Layers or an individual cell
layer. If All Cell Layers is selected, the Data Types list is updated under Site & Cell
Coverage. If an individual layer is selected, the Data Types list is updated under
Clipboard Arrays. For all other technologies, the Data Types list is always updated
under Clipboard Arrays.
To customise the coverage display for items listed under Site & Cell Coverage:
Double-click on the item in the Data Types list, and on the Categories tab, select
the required coverage schema from the drop-down box. Click OK, then click 'OK
and Redraw'.
When displaying coverage for several adjacent individual cells, the multiple
predictions are not combined to display the "best" coverage at each pixel location, but
are just shown on top of each other. If you want to display the best coverage value for
each pixel, you should use an array. For information on this, see Creating Coverage
Arrays on page 155.
You can also run the wizard using the Create Arrays button in the Map
View window itself (in this case, the wizard consists of only one page, and
without the automatic saving options).
5 Choose the type of array(s) you want to create, by selecting the relevant
checkbox(es).
If you choose Nth Best Server, specify the layer you want to create by editing
the number (2 = second best, and so on).
6 Choose the Filter options for which the array will be generated.
7 In the Sites to Include in Array Creation pane, choose whether to restrict the
number of sites that are considered while generating the array to:
Those that have predictions that overlap the map view
Those within a specified distance from the map view extents
You can specify any resolution. The output arrays will be generated at that
requested resolution, using the prediction files at the resolutions specified for the
corresponding network elements in the Site Database (or from the Override option
in the Array Settings dialog box). A deterministic conversion process is used
where necessary.
In the Memory Status pane, you can see how much memory your chosen array
requires, and how much is available.
9 Click Next.
10 Choose whether to save any array(s) that you create by selecting the Save
checkbox. Browse to or type the path to a folder, or accept the default path shown
(as specified in the Modify Project dialog box).
11 If you choose to save the arrays, a separate header file is saved as well, including
the name of the user and the time and date when the array was created. To add
your own planning comments, double-click on the comments field.
12 Click Finish.
If you want to create a best server array iteratively (using the same network
filters), see how to do this more easily in Creating and Displaying Coverage
Simultaneously on page 161.
2 In the Map View, click the Show Data Types button and in the Data Types
list, select the appropriate array type, as follows:
Coverage/Interference arrays (GSM Non-Sim) can be found under the
Coverage heading:
Signal Coverage arrays (all technologies) can be found under the Simulator
heading:
For brief descriptions of the different types of output arrays, see the ASSET
Technical Reference Guide.
2 Select what type of schema you require. Choose System for a type that other
people can view or User to make a schema for your own use only.
3 In the Schema (left side) pane, click Add.
4 Enter a name for the new coverage schema and click OK.
5 In the Coverage Categories (right side) pane, click Add to add a category.
6 In the Label box enter a description, then choose a colour.
7 Click Close to exit the Coverage Schemas dialog box.
8 From the Configuration menu, point to Layers and click Cell Layers.
9 On the Coverage Thresholds tab of the Cell Layers dialog box, select the
appropriate coverage schema from the drop-down box and double-click each
category to set its signal level.
In the case of multiple cell layers, you must do this separately for each cell layer.
You can now select this new schema when you display coverage for a single site or
cell, or when you set the display properties of a Non-Sim coverage array.
1 Click the Show Data Types button in the Map View, and in the Data Types
list, under the Coverage heading, double-click the required array.
2 If the array is a Best Server array, on the Categories tab, select the coverage schema
that you want to use for the array. For more information on this, see Defining
Coverage Schemas for GSM (Non-Sim) Arrays on page 159.
If the array is not a Best Server array, the first tab is named differently, and the
display options are slightly more specific, but the other tabs are the same.
3 Choose the level of transparency that will be used when the array is displayed.
4 On the GIS Export tab, you can set the default content type for any subsequent
GIS-based exports of this array:
Raster Image (you can select from a range of output file types)
RLE Rectangles
Polygons
For more information on using GIS Export, see the ENTERPRISE User Reference
Guide.
5 On the Visibility Settings tab, you can select options for displaying the array only
at a particular zoom level threshold:
Use View Zoom Range to set the minimum and maximum map view
dimensions in which the array will be displayed according to Height or Width.
Use Scale Range to set the minimum and maximum map view dimensions in
which the array will be displayed according to the current paper settings,
which are defined in the properties for the printer you choose.
6 Click OK to save the options. The Map View will now display the array with the
new settings.
For more information on the 2g/2.5g arrays (such as Coverage, Interference and
GPRS arrays), see the Array Descriptions section in the ASSET Technical Reference
Guide.
The arrays created by this shortcut method will use the same settings as those
you LAST selected when using the 'normal' method of array creation. Therefore it is
NOT possible to choose different Filters when using this shortcut method, nor can
you take into account any modified Array Settings. If you do wish to make such
changes, it is always safer to run a 'normal' method of array creation, as described in
Creating Coverage Arrays on page 155.
To create an array and simultaneously display it on the Map View:
Service areas enable you to view the information from the Best Server array in terms
of the geographical areas where each cell is the Serving Cell, irrespective of signal
strength.
The Service Area works best with the default colour palette and on a screen with
65536 or more colours. If your screen only has 256 colours, you will need to change
the colours to make adjacent service areas sufficiently different.
The result will vary according to which cell you click first.
The difference is calculated and displayed. The display settings can be set in 'Site &
Cell Coverage' in the Data Types list.
It is better to only display a limited number of carriers at any one time, because
the display can only show a maximum of two carriers per cell.
6 Similarly, if you have chosen to use Group Planning in the Carrier Layers dialog
box, on the Frequency Groups tab here, select the checkbox and select the first grid
square, then choose the required colour. The next grid square will continue by
using the next colour in the palette, and so on.
By default, all column information (File name, Memory, Resolution, and so on) is
displayed, but you can customise which columns are included by right-clicking any of
the column headings:
If you load an array which included a cell or cells that now no longer exist(s)
in the database, you can only use this array for statistical analysis and
visualisation purposes. Also, some of the cell information for the array will be
undefined.
You cannot delete individual arrays that were produced by the Simulator.
However, you can use the Array Manager to delete the whole simulation from
memory, if required.
1 In the Map View window, click the Show Data Types button .
2 From the list that appears, expand the Simulator heading.
3 Right-click on the array and click Copy to Array Clipboard.
Either method will create the copy of the array, and it will then appear under the
Array Clipboard heading in both the Array Manager and the Map View.
All output arrays from the Compound Array Generator are automatically held in
memory as Clipboard arrays.
Additional Notes:
9 Traffic Planning on a
GSM Network
If you want to add a terminal type which is similar to a previously defined one,
you can use the Duplicate button.
3 On the General tab, edit the name. It is useful to describe the type of traffic that it
represents, for example, GSM Voice, GPRS, UMTS Voice, UMTS Packet and so on.
4 Select the required technology for this terminal type (for example, GSM or UMTS)
as appropriate.
5 On the Clutter and/or Vectors tabs, define how the terminal type will be
distributed over the Map View when a traffic raster is created. For more
information, see Determining the Distribution of Traffic on page 174.
If you want to add a terminal type which is similar to a previously defined one,
you can use the Duplicate button.
3 On the General tab:
Select 'GSM Circuit Switched' from the technology drop-down list.
Edit the name to describe the type of traffic that it represents, for example,
GSM Voice.
4 On the Cell Layers tab, associate the terminal type with one or more cell layers, by
selecting from the available list, and clicking the button. This means that any
traffic raster that is created for the terminal type can only be serviced by cells
using the appropriate cell layer(s). For example, a dual band terminal might
support the GSM900 and GSM1800 layers.
5 On the Clutter and/or Vectors tabs, define how the terminal type will be
distributed over the Map View when a traffic raster is created. The flexible
methods of distribution are generic to all technologies, and therefore are described
fully in a separate section. See Determining the Distribution of Traffic on page 174.
6 Apply and Commit your changes as required.
If you want to add a terminal type which is similar to a previously defined one,
you can use the Duplicate button.
3 On the General tab:
Select 'Packet Switched (GPRS)' or 'EDGE Packet Switched (EGPRS)' from the
technology drop-down list.
Edit the name to describe the type of traffic that it represents, for example,
GPRS.
4 On the Cell Layers tab, associate the terminal type with one or more cell layers, by
selecting from the available list, and clicking the button. This means that any
traffic raster that is created for the terminal type can only be serviced by cells
using the appropriate cell layer(s).
5 On the GPRS/EGPRS tab, set the mean busy hour capacity (kb/s) of the terminal.
This is an estimate of the traffic demand, in a busy hour, for the terminal type.
This should include any overhead related to the characteristics of the device (for
example, average packet size and TCP/IP protocol). Then specify the maximum
number of timeslots supported by the terminal.
6 On the Clutter and/or Vectors tabs, define how the terminal type will be
distributed over the Map View when a traffic raster is created. The flexible
methods of distribution are generic to all technologies, and therefore are described
fully in a separate section. See Determining the Distribution of Traffic on page 174.
7 Apply and Commit your changes as required.
If you want to add a terminal type which is similar to a previously defined one,
you should make use of the Duplicate button. This can be particularly beneficial for
the clutter and vector values.
The options you select on the Clutter and/or Vectors tabs partly depend on whether
you intend to use Specified (estimated) Traffic or Live Traffic:
Specified traffic enables you to spread an estimation (or future projection) of the
traffic within a region, based either on clutter types or vectors, or both.
Live traffic enables you to spread known traffic values per sub-cell according to
the cell service area (that is, the area where the cell is the best server), over selected
clutter types.
Live traffic can only be spread using the Weights option on the Clutter tab, and
will only be spread into clutter types with non-zero weights.
The following sections describe the options on the:
Clutter Tab
and
Vectors Tab
Vectors may consist of lines, polygons or points. For information on how to create
each of these, please refer to the ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.
9.3.3.1 About the Clutter Tab on the Terminal Types Dialog Box
When you are determining the distribution of traffic for a terminal type, you can use
either the Clutter tab or the Vectors tab, or a combination of both. This section
describes the options on the Clutter tab.
If you intend to spread Live traffic, you must use the Weights option.
Whichever method you use, the traffic units spread will be Terminals or Erlangs per
km², as appropriate. For more information, see About the Traffic Units on page 180.
For Weight, the Traffic wizard will spread the traffic over the selected region,
applying the clutter weights on a pixel by pixel basis. For example, if the weights of
clutter types 'Urban' and 'Rural' are 12 and 1 respectively, each urban pixel will have
12 times the traffic density of each rural pixel, irrespective of the total areas of the
clutter types.
For Density, the Traffic wizard will spread the traffic over the selected region,
applying the specified densities to each pixel based on its clutter type.
An advantage of using Weights is the extra flexibility. You can enter modified traffic
values when you make subsequent runs of the Traffic wizard to produce new rasters,
which will overwrite the old one (only one raster can exist in memory for any one
terminal type). Alternatively, you can use the Scaling Traffic feature, which serves for
both spreading methods.
For each clutter type, you can also specify a percentage probability that the terminal is
In-Building (that is, indoor). This will be used if you set up shadow fading standard
deviations (and/or loss values) for indoor terminals, and will affect the simulation
results.
On the Vectors tab of the Terminal Types dialog box, you can specify traffic to be
spread into/onto any selected vector(s). When you later run the Traffic wizard to
spread the traffic, any pixel intersected or enclosed by the vector will receive a traffic
value, according to your requirements.
Vectors may consist of lines, polygons or points. For information on how to create
these, please refer to the ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.
There are two methods you can choose if you want to spread traffic using vectors:
The Absolute option enables you to specify the total terminals within a vector
(line, polygon or point)
The Density option enables you to define a traffic density for each vector (line,
polygon or point)
For more information about the units for each technology, see About the Traffic Units
on page 180.
In the case of polygons, traffic can be spread with or without taking account of
clutter weights, determined by an option in step 2 of the Traffic Wizard. If you want
clutter weights to be considered, ensure that clutter weights are selected and specified
on the Clutter tab. For more information, see Creating a Traffic Raster with Specified
Values on page 182.
The distributional statistics option can only work on traffic rasters saved to file,
so if you want to use a raster for this purpose, ensure you save the raster after you
have created it.
This step is optional for specified traffic, essential for live traffic, and not
relevant for vector attributes.
If you are intending to use Restrict to Coverage (see next step), this resolution
must match that of the appropriate coverage array.
4 On step 4, if you have a coverage array in memory, you can restrict the traffic to be
spread only to the pixels in the Map View where coverage exists. This option is
useful for assessing how your established network performs, enabling you to
assess the current traffic in your network, as well as any projected increases. You
should not use this option if you just want to obtain initial estimates of the site
locations, equipment and configuration needed for a new or expanding network.
To restrict the traffic to coverage:
Select the network traffic you wish to restrict. In the case of 3g traffic, you can
also select the array instance and enter a threshold value for the pilot power
(traffic will only spread to areas where the pilot strength is above this
threshold).
For more information, see About Vector Attribute Traffic Rasters on page 179.
To create a vector attribute traffic raster:
1 Check the preliminary steps, as described in Creating a Traffic Raster on page 181.
2 From the Arrays menu, point to Traffic and click Traffic Wizard.
The following instructions describe the steps in the Traffic Wizard:
1 On step 1, check that your defined area is correct. If you have multiple Map Views
open, the Select View button enables you to click on a different Map View. A
further option is to enter the co-ordinates manually.
2 On step 2, select one or more terminal types from the list. For each terminal type
you select, a separate traffic array will be created. The traffic units produced by
the raster will depend on the technology set on the terminal type, as explained in
About the Traffic Units on page 180.
If you want clutter weights to be taken into account when spreading traffic into
polygons, select the appropriate checkbox, and ensure that clutter weights have
been selected, and specified, on the Clutter tab of the Terminal Types dialog box.
The traffic will be spread for all selected vectors that contain the chosen
attribute(s). The traffic values are derived directly from the attribute values, that
is, they become Erlangs or Terminals, as appropriate.
Selecting this option overrides any settings in the previous two steps in the
wizard for the specific terminal type(s).
7 On step 7, click Finish. You can optionally save the raster to a file. (You can also
choose to do this later by using the Array Manager.)
To display the raster, see Displaying Traffic Rasters on page 185.
3 If required, you can change the display properties by double-clicking the item.
You can then:
Choose the start colour
Type the Erlang or Terminals value at which you wish to start displaying
traffic
Type in the step interval, for example if you type 10, each colour relates to 10
mE or 10 terminals, as appropriate
2 In the pane, click the Field Selector button to change what the pane displays.
8 To make this traffic available to other users you must commit it in the Site
Database window.
9 Now you can also calculate the number of carriers required to provide a specific
grade of service.
The layer name column refers to the cell layer and not the carrier layer.
If you have hopping sub-cells, in the dialog box that appears, enter the TRX
Multiplier. If you require fractional loading of the network, you should enter a
value n where 1/n is the fractional load you require.
Prerequisites
Ensure you have created a Best Server array and if applicable, for GPRS, a GPRS
Best Server array.
Ensure you have some traffic values for the sub-cells in the Site Database. For
GSM, these values appear on the General tab in the CS Traffic box, as in this
example:
You can do this either by running the first two stages of the Static Traffic Analysis,
or by loading 2g live traffic.
To display 'traffic per sub-cell' on the Map View:
1 In the Map View window, click the Show Data Types button.
2 In the list of data types, under Traffic, select Traffic per Sub-cell.
3 Double-click to change the display properties of the item.
Traffic Per Sub-Cell Displayed in the Map View window with Key
Prerequisites
Ensure you have created a Best Server array and if applicable, for GPRS, a GPRS
Best Server array.
Ensure you have some traffic values for the sub-cells in the Site Database. For
GSM, these values appear on the General tab in the CS Traffic box, as in this
example:
You can do this either by running the first two stages of the Static Traffic Analysis,
or by loading 2g live traffic.
To display 'blocking per sub-cell' on the Map View:
1 In the Map View window and click the Show Data Types button.
2 In the list of data types, under Traffic, select CS Blocking.
Blocking per sub-cell is displayed over the service area of the sub-cell.
3 Double-click the item to change the display properties.
4 On the Categories tab, choose a colour, pattern and a level (percentage) for each
blocking item you want to set up. For example, you could display 5% blocking as
yellow, 10% blocking as red or you can choose to display only pixels in bad areas
(any level other than the lowest blocking value).
5 On the GIS Export tab, select the content type for the GIS Export, and, in the case
of Raster image, the type of output file. For more information, see the
ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.
6 On the Visibility Settings tab, you can select options for displaying the array only
at a particular zoom level threshold:
Use View Zoom Range to set the minimum and maximum map view
dimensions in which the array will be displayed according to Height or Width
Use Scale Range to set the minimum and maximum map view dimensions in
which the array will be displayed according to the current paper settings,
which are defined in the properties for the printer you choose
The cell boundaries can optionally be highlighted by using the Service Area
(contour) option found under Coverage in the list of data types.
You must select the Channel to Transceiver map you want to use in the Cell
Layers dialog box. Click on the on the Coverage Type tab, and you will see a drop-
down box with all the available maps listed. Only one Channel to Transceiver map
can be allocated per cell layer.
6 Click Apply.
The maximum number of traffic channels available is the maximum number of
channels available per transceiver minus the number of signalling and control
channels required to support the maximum number of traffic channels.
7 Repeat this until you have reached the maximum number of carriers that cells in
your network will contain.
8 Select your new Channel to Transceiver map in the Cell Layers dialog box. Click
on the on the Coverage Type tab, and you will see a drop-down list with all the
available maps listed. Only one Channel to Transceiver map can be allocated per
cell layer.
You cannot specify a maximum number of channels that is less than the
previous maximum number of channels.
4 Click Close.
5 Make sure the correct Channel to Transceiver map is selected in the Cell Layers
dialog box.
For GPRS, you can either use create a GPRS map, or you may choose to use one of
the GSM defaults. If you want to create a GPRS map, see Creating Channel to
Transceiver Maps for GPRS on page 194.
Additional Notes:
10 Planning Neighbours
The neighbour relations created in this manner are set as outward only. If you
require mutual neighbours, you must add the reverse relationship in the same
way, or you can use the Make All Mutual option in the Neighbour Analysis.
When using the Cell ID option, it may be wise to set the Filter to 'All'.
Distance (km) The maximum distance from the potential neighbour.
Max Relative Bearing The maximum relative bearing from the potential neighbour.
Technology The technology used on the potential neighbour.
This list always excludes any neighbour relationships already existing in the
database.
5 Choose the cells that you wish to use for the neighbour relationships by selecting
the required cell IDs. If required, you can also specify Mutual, Inward or
Outward.
6 If you want to set any of the neighbour parameters for the selected neighbours,
you can click the Set Values button.
The Set Parameters dialog box appears, enabling you to specify margins,
protection, planning status, and priority. When you have finished, click OK.
7 In the Neighbour Chooser dialog box, click OK.
8 Apply and commit your changes as required.
The neighbour relationships are added, with the parameters that you have specified.
Tips :
You can amend the parameters for the neighbour relations at any time. See
Amending Neighbour Parameters in the Site Database on page 200.
You can also customise how the neighbour relationship columns are displayed on
the Neighbours tab. See the following section.
You can also sort the rows in the neighbour list by double-clicking any of the
column headings (for example, sort by Cell ID, Direction, or Priority).
Editing these settings always depends on your object user-permissions for the cells
affected by the outward/inward relations.
Example of file format that can be used for GSM, UMTS and LTE
Before you use the wizard, you should consider performing a Commit All on the
Site Database. This would enable you to perform a Restore All to return to the
previous configuration, if necessary.
To plan neighbours using the Prediction-based Neighbour wizard:
1 Open the Map View window and display the area and cells that you wish to
include in the plan.
2 From the Tools menu, point to Neighbours, then Neighbour Wizard, and click
Prediction Based.
3 In the first step of the wizard, check that the region for the plan is correct. If
necessary, you can modify the area by entering precise co-ordinates.
4 Click Next and select the filters that you wish to plan for. You can either use the
filters that already appear in the Map View, or select filters from the checkboxes
provided.
Whichever option you use, only cells included in the chosen map region will
be included in the plan.
5 Click Next and select the Plan Type you wish to use, and set the required
parameters. For more information about this, see Setting the Prediction-based
Neighbour Plan Parameters on page 204.
The plan types will vary depending on the technologies enabled in your
project. If you use more than one plan type in the wizard, the results will be
combined in the resulting Neighbour Analysis.
6 Click Next and you can choose to:
Start the Neighbour Analysis immediately after the wizard has finished
Save the list of valid neighbours in a *.xml file (this list will be automatically
stored in memory, but you can choose to save it now or later)
7 Click Next. A summary page will appear. If you are satisfied with the settings,
click Finish.
If you have selected to automatically start the analysis, the neighbours are displayed
in the Neighbour Analysis dialog box. For more information about this, see About the
Neighbour Analysis on page 206.
To start the Neighbour Analysis at any other time, from the Tools menu, point to
Neighbours and click Neighbour Analysis.
This parameter is unavailable for LTE-GSM, because, for this plan type, cell-
specific neighbour limits can be set in the Site Database.
Minimum overlapping (%) A target cell must attain at least n% of the overlapping area (the net handover
probability) to qualify as a valid neighbour.
If you also select the minimum number option (below), this simply means that if
the number of valid neighbours attaining >n% is less than the specified minimum
number, other target cells (attaining <n%) will be added as valid neighbours, until
the minimum is satisfied.
If you used more than one plan type in the Neighbour Planning Wizard, the
results are combined in the Neighbour Analysis.
It is wise to perform a Commit All on the Site Database before you use the
Neighbour Analysis. This would enable you to perform a Restore All to return to the
previous configuration, if necessary.
To perform the neighbour analysis:
1 From the Tools menu, point to Neighbours and click Neighbour Analysis.
2 In the Neighbour Analysis window, from the cell list in the left pane, select any
cell and then, in the neighbour list in the right pane, you can view information
relating to the neighbour cells.
If you have run the Neighbour Planning Wizard, or loaded a saved plan, the Filter
option allows you to view other cells that were not in the planned filter. However,
if you want to only view cells that were included in the generated plan, you can
select the Display Proposed Cells Only option. If required, while you are in this
display mode, you can click the 'Set All Priority' button. This will automatically
assign priorities for the neighbour relationships for each cell. An integer value (1,
2, 3 and so on) will be assigned, corresponding to the relative attained percentage
overlap value of each neighbour.
There are also three basic display options: Proposed, Existing, Proposed and
Existing. There is also a fourth option to display all neighbours excluding any
user-deleted ones. However, it is recommended that you generally use the
'Proposed and Existing' display mode within this dialog box.
The display option is only for visual purposes and does not play any part in
limiting which neighbours are updated if/when you click the 'Update Database'
or the 'Make All Mutual' buttons.
3 If you want to make some or all of your neighbour relationships mutual, see
Converting Inward/Outward Neighbours to Mutual on page 219.
4 The Neighbour Analysis automatically sets an 'Action (Inward)' and 'Action
(Outward)' for each neighbouring cell. The different categories are described in the
following table:
This Action Corresponds to
Create Newly proposed neighbour relationships that do not currently exist in the Site Database (these
may be have been generated by the wizard, or added manually in the Neighbour Analysis).
Such relationships remain in the 'Create' state, even if their neighbour-related parameters
have also been changed in the Neighbour Analysis.
Keep Neighbour relationships which already exist in the Site Database and will not be changed
(unless manually selected to be removed).
Remove Neighbour relationships (proposed or existing) that have been manually selected in the
Neighbour Analysis to be removed.
Any newly proposed neighbour relationships (that is, not already existing in the database)
will always show as 'Create' rather than 'Update', even if their parameters have been changed.
You may find this option useful, for example, if you want to create some
neighbours for one or several new sites but not modify a very carefully optimised
neighbour plan that already exists for the 'live' sites.
If you use the Update Database button, this operation applies all the changes
marked as 'create', 'remove' and 'update'. It does this for all the appropriate cells in
the Neighbour Analysis, regardless of the selected filter and regardless of the
display option.
You should be aware of any neighbour limits that may be active in the project. If
any limits are active, the provisional neighbour relationships appear as normal in the
Neighbour Analysis, but, for cells where limits would become exceeded, they cannot
be included in a database update.
You can also sort the rows in the neighbour list by double-clicking any of the
column headings (for example, sort by Cell ID, Direction, or Priority).
When using the Cell ID option, it may be wise to set the Filter to 'All'.
Distance (km) The maximum distance from the potential neighbour.
Max Relative Bearing The maximum relative bearing from the potential neighbour.
Technology The technology used on the potential neighbour.
This list always excludes any neighbour relationships already existing in the
database.
5 Choose the cells that you wish to use for the neighbour relationships by selecting
the required cell IDs. If required, you can also specify Mutual, Inward or
Outward.
6 If you want to set any of the neighbour parameters for the selected neighbours,
you can click the Set Values button.
The Set Parameters dialog box appears, enabling you to specify margins, planning
status, and priority. When you have finished, click OK.
7 In the Neighbour Chooser dialog box, click OK.
The neighbour relations are added (or updated) in the Neighbour Analysis dialog
box.
8 To update the database with the changes that you have made, click Update
Database. This adds all the neighbour relationships marked in the Neighbour
Analysis as 'create' to the Site Database (and removes any marked as 'remove').
The changes will be in the Applied state.
Notes:
Editing these settings always depends on your object user-permissions for the cells
affected by the outward/inward relations.
The protection state cannot be edited here (for information on editing this, see the
ASSET User Reference Guide).
To do this for individual neighbours, using the edit boxes:
1 Click on the appropriate edit box of the neighbour: Margin (Out/In), Planning
Status (Out/In), or Priority (Out/In).
2 For Margin or Priority, edit the value. For Planning Status, choose Live or Planned
from the drop-down box.
For individual neighbours, you can open the Set Parameters dialog box by double-
clicking on the row containing the appropriate neighbour.
Neighbour Report
This report format can either be Microsoft Excel Text File or Comma-Separated
List.
To do this:
1 In the Neighbour Analysis dialog box, click the Generate Report button.
2 Select the report format, and click OK.
The neighbour report is generated.
The content of the neighbour report is reactive to both the selected filter and the
display option mode. That is, the report will only show the neighbour relationships
included in the filter and within the display option (Proposed, Existing, and so on).
This flexibility enables you to limit the report to the items of interest.
The content of the delta export report is reactive to the selected filter but it is not
reactive to the display option mode. That is, the report will only show the
create/remove differences for those neighbour relationships included in the filter, but
it disregards the display option (Proposed, Existing, and so on).
You can also display neighbours on the Map View in several ways:
All neighbours
Neighbours for individual cells
Neighbours that are proposed by the Neighbour Analysis
Live/planned neighbours
1 In the Map View window, click the Show Data Types button .
2 In the list of Data Types, expand Neighbours/Exceptions, then expand Hand Over
Neighbours.
You can also customise how the neighbours are displayed, as described in
Customising the Display of Neighbours on page 218.
You can show or hide the displayed item by selecting/deselecting the relevant
checkbox.
You can also customise how the neighbours are displayed, as described in the
following section.
2 In the Map View window, click the Show Data Types button .
3 In the list of Data Types, expand Neighbours/Exceptions, then expand Hand Over
Neighbours.
4 Select the Neighbours from Analysis option.
2 Double-click the required item. The Display Properties dialog box appears.
If you chose the 'All Neighbours' item, you can filter on a network type.
3 Select the neighbour technology types that you want to view on the map and click
the relevant Set Display button.
4 In the dialog box that appears, choose a line colour and line weight for the
neighbour type. If required, you can then define different styles and arrow types
for mutual, outward-only and inward-only neighbours.
For example, you could use a solid line style for the mutual neighbours, and
broken line styles for the non-mutual neighbours (the arrows are optional).
5 If you want to view the planning status (Live or Planned) of the neighbour
relations, select the relevant checkboxes, and then set distinctive line
characteristics and click OK.
You must also select the required neighbour technology type(s). Where
appropriate, the planning status display settings always override the neighbour
technology type display settings.
6 If you want to display 2nd order neighbours (neighbours of neighbours), click the
2nd Order tab, select the checkbox, then set the line characteristics and click OK.
7 When you have finished in the Display Properties dialog box, click OK.
8 In the Data Types list, ensure the required item is selected.
9 Click the OK & Redraw button.
The Map View is updated.
If you chose All Neighbours, you need to move the mouse over each cell's azimuth
to display its neighbours.
To stop displaying the neighbours, simply deselect the relevant checkbox, and
Redraw.
Notes :
Only the first order neighbouring cells will be Committed. The originating cell will
not be Committed by this action.
This action Commits the neighbouring relationship and any other applied
parameters existing on the neighbouring cells.
You can select more than one neighbour at a time by holding down the Shift or
Ctrl key on your keyboard and then selecting the neighbours you require.
3 Click the Make Mutual button.
The new outward or inward relationship(s) will be created accordingly, and the
Direction of the appropriate neighbour(s) will show as 'Mutual' in the Site
Database window.
4 Commit your changes as required.
You can select more than one neighbour at a time by holding down the Shift or
Ctrl key on your keyboard and then selecting the neighbours you require.
2 Click the Make Mutual button.
The new outward or inward relationship(s) will be created accordingly, and the
Direction column of the appropriate neighbour(s) will display as 'Mutual'.
3 To apply this change, click Update Database.
The changes takes place for all the selected cells, regardless of the display
option in the right pane.
4 Click OK to confirm.
The new outward or inward relationships will be created accordingly, and the
Direction column of the appropriate neighbours will display as 'Mutual'.
5 To apply these changes, click Update Database.
The Update Database operation applies all the changes to all the appropriate cells
in the Neighbour Analysis, regardless of the selected filter and regardless of the
display option.
Additional Notes:
11 Interference and
Frequency Planning
If the layer does not appear, ensure it has been associated with the cell layer, as
explained in Defining Cell Layers on page 102.
3 In the Carriers pane, select or deselect the relevant checkbox(es) to edit the
allocation status, as appropriate:
Status Description
Alloc. The carrier is allocated.
Forbidden The carrier is set as forbidden.
Alloc. and Fixed The carrier allocation is set as fixed.
None The carrier is not allocated.
If you are using a frequency hopping network, choose a connection type array,
since these are designed to consider hopping carriers.
5 Display the array(s) on the Map View.
6 After analysing the array(s) visually (and plotting the resulting view, if desired),
you can now analyse the plan statistically, by producing an Interference Statistics
report. The report gives details of the proportion of interference better and worse
than the chosen interference threshold, as well as a breakdown by clutter type and
by cell.
The Total Covered Area in the report is the area of the Best Server array down
to the chosen coverage level.
It is also possible to confine the statistics within specified user polygons, for
example enclosing urban areas only.
7 Use the Interactive Frequency Analysis to generate a comprehensive report which
can analyse and fine-tune the frequency plan based on the Interference Table,
Neighbours, Site/Cell Separations and Exceptions.
8 Use the Frequency Plan Reporter to generate a simple report which lists
allocations which do not meet specified carrier separation constraints.
9 Display the Frequency Re-use on the Map view, using the Cell Info option under
the Data Types list.
4 On the Cell Parameters tab, enter cells which match one or all of the code fields.
Use * as a wildcard if one or all of the fields is not required for the search.
5 On the Filter tab, select a site filter to further filter the cells displayed.
6 Click Find to search for the correct cells.
The lower pane of the dialog box shows a preview of the report.
7 Click Export to save the report.
8 In the Select Data Export File dialog box, either enter a new file name or select an
existing report to overwrite, then click Save.
These statistics only provide interference data that is based on affected traffic.
Intermodulation Interference Select the order up to which to report. For example, if you select 3rd order, both 2nd and
3rd order intermodulations will be reported on.
In the report, the carriers causing the intermodulation are reported along with the
carriers that are interfered with. The report also shows whether the carriers are downlink
or uplink.
Effective Frequency Re-use The effective frequency re-use for each of the sub-cells.
For more information on how the frequency re-use is calculated, see the ASSET
Technical Reference Guide.
MALID The MA List ID, which identifies which MA list each sub-cell uses.
Frequency Load (GSM only) The frequency load for each of the sub-cells. If you select to include this, you can also
define up to what grade of traffic service you want to include (for example, a value of 1.0
represents 100% traffic service, and a value of 0.5 represents 50% traffic service).
For more information on how the frequency load is calculated, see the ASSET Technical
Reference Guide.
Insufficient MA List Length Select this option to display the sub-cells with insufficient carriers according to the MA
(GSM only) list , based on the MAIO separation value.
Override MAIO Separation Select this option to override the existing MAIO separation value, and enter your own
(GSM only) separation value for this report.
3 Click Generate.
If you chose to include interference data in your report, the mE values are listed
under the column heading 'Interference'. The values represent the Traffic Affected by
Interference for each cell pair. The total of these values, Affected Traffic (mE), appears
at the bottom-left of the report.
If you want to use measurement data, you can do this by loading an external file.
ASSET supports the ICDM (Inter-Cell Dependency Matrix) *.msmt file format. (More
file formats can be supported upon customer requests, or formats can be custom-
developed using a dedicated API.)
When this file is loaded, ASSET post-processes it into the *.ait file format.
The ASSET Interference Table lists each victim cell in association with all possible
interfering cells, and accumulates the interference that would result if all cells were
allocated the same or adjacent carriers. In this way, it provides comparative 'cost'
values that you can use to objectively minimise the interference within any plan
during the frequency planning process.
This information in the table can be used as an input to influence frequency
allocations when using ILSA (automatic frequency planning tool) or the Interactive
Frequency Analysis. It is also a compulsory input to the MA List Planner and the
MAIO Planner (advanced mode).
Override, if required, the sub-cell specific coverage (TA and Signal) thresholds
that are stored in the Site Database.
Select 'Use Priorities & Offsets, SS Mode' if you want the results to take into
account any priorities that have been set in the Cell Layers dialog box, and any
signal offsets in the Site Database, when determining the better serving sub-
cells. If unselected, the best server results are based on signal strength alone.
This checkbox is only applicable when the sub-cells in the Site Database have
been set to SS (Signal Strength) mode, and has no effect for sub-cells set to PL
(Pathloss) mode.
The interference table is based on the project parameters and (if applicable) traffic
data at the time of running the wizard. In certain circumstances, if the parameters or
data have changed, you may want to generate a new up-to-date Interference Table. In
other words, it is important to stress that the 'validity' of the Interference Table is
under your control.
When you create an interference table, the probability of interference depends on the
C/I ratio of each pixel. The Interference Table Wizard calculates the interference for
overlapping areas between two cells. That is, it describes the interference that would
result if any two cells were allocated the same or adjacent carriers, based on area
and/or traffic.
In ASSET, there are two ways to calculate the probability of interference:
When you run the Interference Table Wizard, you can select either of the above
methods. Each method is described in the following sections.
2 To edit any of the values, click on one of the rows, and edit the percentage in the
bottom-right corner.
Calculating Dynamically
When defining a cell layer, you can specify a C/I threshold. When defining a
propagation model, you can specify a standard deviation of interference. For more
information, see Defining Cell Layers on page 102.
In the case where the propagation model type has no standard deviation of
interference parameter, 7dB will be used.
The value specified for the cell layer determines the point at which connection quality
begins to be adversely affected. C/I is assumed to follow a normal distribution about
the calculated mean, with the combined standard deviation of interference of the
propagation models assigned to the two cells. The probability of interference for each
pair of cells is determined by a cumulative normal distribution based on:
Mean C/I threshold of the equipment (dB) on a per cell layer basis
C/A offset of the equipment (dB) on a per cell layer basis
Standard deviation as follows:
Where:
For more information on the algorithm used to generate the interference table, see
the ASSET Technical Reference Guide.
A description of the *.ait file format can be found in the ENTERPRISE Technical
Reference Guide.
Example of Interference Table Analysis for GSM (the columns can be customised)
In the left pane of the report window, the table lists the victim cells with their
associated cell layer, and shows the total coverage area and, if applicable, total traffic,
corresponding to the victim cell.
In the right pane of the report window, the table lists the interfering cells
corresponding to the victim cell that is currently selected/highlighted in the left pane.
When you select any of the victim cells in the left pane, the list of interfering cells
automatically updates in the right pane.
For each of the interfering cells in the right pane, the table shows its respective
calculated (or loaded) overlapping values. These values are given for both co-channel
and adjacent channel interference. The percentages indicate the proportion of the
interfering cell's area/traffic values with respect to the total area/traffic values on the
victim cell.
You can:
Limit the cells in the report window, by using the Filter drop-down list.
Search for a specific victim cell in the left pane, by using the Find button.
View the interferers for any of the victim cells by selecting the appropriate victim
cell.
Re-sequence any of the columns in the left pane or the right pane, by clicking the
appropriate column header.
For example, you can sort the list of interfering cells to find which cells might be
causing the greatest potential problems to the victim cell.
Specify the decimal place precision that you require (this influences the right pane
only).
Customise the column details in the right pane, as described in the following
sections.
Generate a report by clicking the Report button. This report will reflect your
customised columns and decimal precision.
Interact with the Map View, helping you to visualise specific cells. This is
described in the following sections.
Interact with the Site Database, helping you to check a specific cell's network
parameters. This is described in the following sections.
The cell is highlighted in the Map View, together with all its interfering cells, as in
this example:
1 In the Map View, click the Show Data Types button and, from the list, double-
click the Interference Table heading:
3 Click OK.
4 In the Show Data Types dialog box, click Redraw.
Conversely, from the Site Database, you can locate a specific victim cell in the analysis
window, by selecting the cell in the Site Database.
2 In the dialog box that appears, select the columns you want to show, and deselect
those you want to hide (the Show/Hide buttons can be used if preferred).
3 Set a column width for your selected items.
4 Use the Move Up/Down buttons to re-order the selected columns.
5 Click OK.
The columns will be displayed according to your requirements.
Interference costs
The interference costs are statistical calculations of area or traffic affected by co-
channel or adjacent channel interference, based on the carrier assignments. The costs
are derived from an Interference Table (this can either be freshly generated or loaded
into memory from a file).
The calculated costs can be based on victim, interferer, or both (combined sum), and
can be in terms of:
Area (km²)
Area (%)
Traffic (mE)
Traffic (%)
You should ensure that this area is the same as (or part of) the region that was
used to generate the Interference Table.
Editing is subject to the normal object ownership permissions, and also restricted by the
maximum allocable carriers value for the carrier layer.
Read-Only The carrier assignments for cells with this filter status are considered in the analysis and report, but
the assignments are non-editable.
Ignore Cells with this filter status are completely ignored. This status may be useful when you have some
large complex filters, and you just wish to exclude a few cells. You could simplify their exclusion by
creating a simple filter and using this Ignore option.
The Up/Down arrows enable you to prioritise the filters in the list. If a cell
belongs to more than one of the selected filters, then its planning status is
determined by the higher priority filter.
Important :
Interference Costs: Cells which are not in any of the chosen filters, but exist in
the Interference Table, may affect the analysis.
Separation Violations: Related cells (such as neighbours or exceptions) which
are not in any of the above filters may affect the analysis.
In either of the above cases, such cells are considered by the algorithm and, if
appropriate, will appear in the report with the status "None".
6 Click Next, and, from the drop-down boxes:
Select the required cell layer to include in the analysis
Select the required carrier layer(s) to include in the analysis
(If appropriate to the cell layer, MA Lists are also available)
If you have the BCCH prerequisite rule activated, you will see a warning
message. For more information, see Setting a BCCH Allocation Rule for TCH
Allocation on page 96.
8 Click Next. If you have selected both analysis options, you need to choose which
data (Cost or Violations) is represented by the colour legends in the output report.
You can also choose how many colours are used to represent the data range.
9 Click Next, and if you are satisfied with the summary, click Finish.
ASSET performs the analysis, and generates an Analysis dialog box.
Sector Assignments
This lists the sectors (cells) and details their current carrier allocations and associated
interference cost (and/or separation violations)
Carrier Assignments
This lists the carriers that are available to the cell that is currently selected in the first
pane, and details their associated interference cost (and/or separation violations).
This pane also contains a column that indicates which carriers are currently allocated
to the cell.
The sum of the costs for the currently allocated carriers is equal to the total cost for the
cell selected in the Sector Assignments pane.
Cost Breakdown
This gives a breakdown of the interference costs and/or carrier separation violations
corresponding to the currently selected cell and currently selected carrier (in the main
two panes). In other words, it lists the carriers that are Co and/or Adjacent to the
carrier selected in the Carrier Assignments pane (as well as all other carriers violating
the separation constraints).
The sum of the costs from this pane is equal to the total cost for the carrier selected in
the Carrier Assignments pane.
For information on using the Report dialog box, see How to Use the Frequency
Analysis Dialog Box on page 246.
For more detailed information on each specific pane, see the relevant section.
The interference costs and separation violations can be updated when you make
manual changes to the carrier assignments within the interactive report dialog box.
The values displayed in this pane are always responsive to the selections
highlighted in the other two panes. This breakdown pane displays details of all
cells which impact the interference cost (or have separation violations) for the
selected cell and the selected carrier in the other two panes.
3 You can make changes to the carrier allocations within the dialog box. For
information on this, see Changing Carrier Allocations in the Frequency Analysis
on page 251.
Here is an example of the Report dialog box:
Tips:
You can customise how the columns are displayed. See Customising the Columns
on the Frequency Analysis on page 250.
You can sort the contents of the report using a simple method or more complex
method. See Sorting the Rows on the Frequency Analysis on page 250.
You can produce a printed version of the report by clicking the Reports button.
The printed report only includes the information relating to the currently
selected sector and carrier.
The report dialog box can only be generated by running the analysis wizard, so if
you wish to retain it for a while in memory, use the minimise option rather than
the close option.
The cost values in all three panes of the report always depend on the selected
option (Area km², Area %, Traffic mE, or Traffic %) in the analysis wizard, and the
cost column headings vary accordingly. For example, if 'Traffic mE' was selected,
the column heading reads 'Total Cost (Traffic mE)'.
You can click the 'Key' button to view or edit the colour ranges.
Sector Name of the cell.
Status Whether the carrier allocation status for the cell is Editable, Read-Only or Ignore.
Hopping The Hopping Status of the cell, as specified in the Site Database (None, Baseband, Site, or
Synthesised).
Control Control carrier assigned to the cell.
The cost depends on the option (Victim, Interferer, Both) selected in the wizard.
Total Contributors The number of cells contributing to the Total Cost.
Worst Contributor The cell with the highest cost impact on the respective cell.
Worst Contribution (%) The percentage of the Total Cost provided by the worst contributor.
Violation Type All associated violations (types) for the respective cell.
Total Violations Total number of violations (the same violation type can occur on multiple cells/carriers).
Total Allocations The number of carriers currently allocated to the cell.
Available Allocations The number of carriers still available to be allocated to the cell, dependent on the combined sum of
maximum allocable carriers set on all the appropriate carrier layers.
The displayed information always depends on which cell is selected in the Sector
Assignments pane, because the viewable results are specific to that selected cell.
2 In the dialog box that appears, select the columns you want to show, and deselect
those you want to hide (the Show/Hide buttons can be used if preferred).
3 Set a column width for your selected items.
4 Use the Move Up/Down buttons to re-order the selected columns.
5 Click OK.
The columns will be displayed according to your requirements.
You can also resize the Report dialog box window, and you can resize the
individual left and right panes.
5 Click OK.
In the Report dialog box, the rows will be displayed according to your requirements.
Allocation changes can only be made to cells that were designated as 'Editable' in
the analysis wizard. Such changes are subject to the normal object ownership
permissions.
2 In the Carrier Assignments pane, click in the 'Allocation State' column of the
appropriate carrier (ensuring it belongs to the correct carrier layer) and, from the
drop-down list, select one of the four options:
- (None)
Allocated
Forbidden
Fixed
(These options are the same as the options under the Carriers tab in the Site
Database.)
Notes:
The Forbidden option also de-allocates a carrier if it is currently allocated
The Fixed option also allocates a carrier if it is currently unallocated
If the 'Maximum Allocable Carriers' limit for a carrier layer has been reached,
the only available options for a currently unallocated carrier will be "-" or
"Forbidden"
3 If you want to update the interference cost values and/or violations in the Report
dialog box, click the Update button.
4 If you want to save the changes into the Site Database, click Apply.
2 That cell is highlighted (selected) in the Sectors pane of the Report dialog box:
These display settings can be different for the Sector Assignments and Cost
Breakdown panes.
4 Click on the required cell in one of the appropriate panes.
Important:
The BSIC Planner can only be used if the GSM cell layers have been configured
properly. In other words, each of the cell layers should have one (and only one)
control carrier layer assigned to it. However, if your network configuration
requires that this is not the case, then you must ensure that only one control
carrier layer is 'usable' on each sub-cell in the Site Database (for more information,
see About Cell Layers on page 101). Otherwise, the BSIC Planner will not run, and
an appropriate warning message will appear.
If the Site Database contains multiple cell layers per cell (for example, sub-cells for
900 and 1800) the BSIC Planner will consider the cell layer priority defined in the
Cell Layer Configuration dialog box, and choose the highest priority layer for
BSIC planning. Where priorities are equal, the sequence in the same dialog box is
used.
If required, you can run the BSIC Planner at the same time as running the
Simulator.
The default schema is named 'All', and, in a new project, it contains all 64 BSICs.
However (assuming you have user permissions), you can modify the code ranges
within this default schema and, if required, give the schema a new name. You cannot
delete this schema.
Creating a Schema
To create a schema:
1 From the Configuration menu, click Code/ID Schemas.
Depending on your technology licences, you may then need to click GSM BSIC
Schemas.
This picture shows an example of the BSIC Schemas dialog box:
To view the BCCs that you have selected for a particular NCC, click to the right
of the NCC‟s checkbox. Clicking inside an NCC checkbox toggles all its BCCs
on/off.
4 Click Commit All to save the changes to the database.
It is wise to perform a Commit All on the Site Database before you run the BSIC
Planner. This means that, after the plan has been run, if you choose to Apply it to the
Site Database, you would be able to perform a Restore All to return to the previous
configuration, if necessary.
Please see the information about the planning status options in the
prerequisites in the previous section.
5 In the Schema column, associate each selected filter with the required BSIC
schema (see Setting Up BSIC Schemas on page 256). Click Next.
Alternatively, you can load the 'per cell' schemas from the Site Database.
6 Set the required Re-use parameters:
Parameter Description
Code re-use distance You can choose one of two options: Fixed or Automatic.
Fixed: This is a constant re-use distance from a cell, within which the Planner will
try not to assign the same BCCH/BSIC.
Automatic: This is a variable re-use distance from a cell, within which the Planner
will try not to assign the same BCCH/BSIC.
You specify the number of Divisions Per Cell, and the amount of Nearest Cells Per
Division to consider. For each division, the re-use distance will vary, depending on
the proximity of the other cells within it. You also specify a Re-use Distance Limit,
which sets a hard limit for all divisions.
Consider Neighbouring cells: When planning codes with reference to neighbouring cells, this enables you to
Highest Neighbour Order specify such neighbours up to the nth order. This can be 1, 2, 3 or 4, representing
(up to) first, second, third and fourth order neighbours, respectively.
Click Next.
7 If you are using a hopping network, and MA Lists have been defined, you should
select the „Synthesised Hopping / Site Hopping‟ option. For these types of
hopping cells, the wizard retrieves the MALIDs from the Site Database, and uses
them in place of the BCCHs. Otherwise, you should select the Non-Hopping /
Base-Band Hopping option.
Click Next.
8 If you are satisfied with the summary, click Finish.
ASSET calculates the code assignments, and generates a Report dialog box.
Left Pane
Example section of the left pane of BSIC Planner report dialog box
For each planned (or read-only) cell, the left pane of the report dialog box presents the
following information:
Column Heading Additional Comments or Possible Values
Result
Unique Assignment: the cell has no clashing cells.
Reused Assignment: the cell has no clashes with its neighbours, but clashes with one or more
non-neighbour cells.
Neighbour Clash: the cell clashes with one or more of its neighbours.
Excluded: the cell was excluded from the plan because it has no antennas or no assigned
BCCH.
Sector Sector/Cell Name
Plan Status Plan, Read Only, Excluded
BCCH Broadcast Control channel
NCC Network Colour Code
BCC Base Station Colour Code
Number of Clashing Details are listed in the right pane.
Neighbours
Number of Clashing Details are listed in the right pane.
Sectors
Closest Clash Distance to the nearest clashing cell.
Max Clash Factor See About the Clash Factors on page 264.
Number of Alternatives This column only displays a value for 'Plan' cells that have Reused Assignment clashes. It gives the
number of codes in the cell’s schema that could have produced a unique assignment for the cell. If a
value is displayed in this column, it indicates that the planning algorithm has reused a code when it
would have been better to assign an unused code. The planner should be run again, with larger re-
use distance requirements, as this will encourage less code re-use.
Example section of the left pane of BSIC Planner report dialog box
The right pane provides information on the clashing cells, and presents the following
information:
Column Heading Additional Comments or Possible Values
Sector Sector/Cell Name
Plan Status Plan, Read Only, None
Cells that appear in the right pane may not necessarily have been included in the filters
specified in the wizard. Such cells will have a plan status of “None”.
Neighbour Order Neighbour Order of the neighbour clash:
'1', '2', '3', '4': signifies first order, second order, and so on
'0' signifies a non-neighbour cell inside the re-use distance
'--' signifies a non-neighbour cell outside the re-use distance
Distance Distance between the two cells
Clash Factor See About the Clash Factors on page 264.
Paths This column only displays a value for 'Plan' cells that have Reused Assignment clashes. It gives the
number of codes in the cell’s schema that could have produced a unique assignment for the cell. If a
value is displayed in this column, it indicates that the planning algorithm has reused a code when it
would have been better to assign an unused code. The planner should be run again, with larger re-
use distance requirements, as this will encourage less code re-use.
Tips:
You can customise how the columns are displayed. See Customising the Columns
on the BSIC Report on page 261.
You can sort the contents of the report using a simple method or a more complex
method. See Sorting the Rows on the BSIC Report on page 261.
You can link the report with the Map View. See Highlighting Cells in the Map
View on page 262.
The report dialog box can only be generated by running the wizard, so if you wish
to retain it for a while in memory, use the minimise option rather than the close
option. You can produce a printed version of the report by clicking the Reports
button.
If you are satisfied with the planned results, you can save the planned codes to
the Database. See Applying the Planned BSICs to the Database on page 265.
2 In the dialog box that appears, select the columns you want to show, and deselect
those you want to hide (the Show/Hide buttons can be used if preferred).
3 Set a column width for your selected items.
4 Use the Move Up/Down buttons to re-order the selected columns.
5 Click OK.
The columns will be displayed according to your requirements.
You can also resize the Report dialog box window, and you can resize the
individual left and right panes.
2 In the dialog box that appears, select the columns that you want to determine the
row sequencing.
4 Click on the required victim cell in the left pane of the Report dialog box:
If you want to only highlight a specific interfering cell, you can select one of the
cells in the right pane of the analysis window. You can also selectively highlight
multiple interfering cells, by using the Ctrl or Ctrl-Shift keys in the right pane of the
analysis window.
For the purposes of the calculations, the "capture region" is a sector of angular width
equal to twice the antenna‟s 3dB beamwidth. For example, if cell A has an antenna
with a bearing of 40°, and a beamwidth of 60°, then the capture region is a sector with
a bearing of 40° and an angular width of 120°.
For cells with multiple antennas and/or repeaters, a capture region is calculated for
each antenna, and then, from all the combinations of antennas on A and B, the highest
Clash Factor is reported.
Additional Notes:
12 Generating Reports
Statistical Reports
These can only be generated after creating the relevant arrays. They enable you to
produce percentage statistics for arrays, both in terms of overall results, and in terms
of individual cells, clutter categories and cell coverage areas. Distributional statistics
(such as population) can also be incorporated in the results.
Database Reports
These can be generated at any time from the Reports menu, and have no prerequisite
steps since they directly query the ENTERPRISE database.
For information on creating vector file features, see the ENTERPRISE User
Reference Guide.
Furthermore, you can incorporate distributional statistics (such as population), which
appear as additional columns in the report. These are obtained from traffic values
which have been spread by a traffic raster. If you wish to do this, check that the
relevant traffic raster has already been saved to file. For more information, see About
Distributional Statistics on page 180.
To create a statistical report for an array:
1 Ensure that the array has been created. In the case of 2g and 2.5g Non-Sim
Coverage/Interference arrays, and Signal Coverage arrays (all technologies), the
creation process is explained in Creating Coverage Arrays on page 155. In the case
of simulation arrays, these are available when you have run or loaded a
simulation.
2 Open a Map View (if not already open). Ensure that this includes the area for
which you want to generate statistics.
If this view area is different from the one originally used to create the array,
the statistics will be based on the intersection of the two areas. It is also possible to
focus the statistics within selected vectors.
4 The Statistics dialog box appears. The options are described in the following
section.
In the case of 2g Interference Arrays only, there is an extra row named Total
Coverage Area, representing the area which has coverage above the specified
minimum service level.
There is also a Delta report, which provides an updated list of any changes made
to the project which have not yet been committed by the user. To generate this report,
from the Database menu, click Delta Report. For more information, see the
ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.
You can quickly select or deselect all the checkboxes on any single tab, by
right-clicking anywhere on the main body of the dialog box, and then clicking
Select All or Clear All.
7 Click Generate.
The selections you choose will be stored automatically, so that the next time you
use this dialog box, the previously selected items will appear by default. However,
the filter initially displayed is always determined by the default set on the Filters tab
of the Preferences dialog box, accessible from the File menu.
4 On the Cell Parameters tab, enter cells which match one or all of the code fields.
Use * as a wildcard if one or all of the fields is not required for the search.
5 On the Filter tab, select a site filter to further filter the cells displayed.
These statistics only provide interference data that is based on affected traffic.
Intermodulation Interference Select the order up to which to report. For example, if you select 3rd order, both 2nd and
3rd order intermodulations will be reported on.
In the report, the carriers causing the intermodulation are reported along with the
carriers that are interfered with. The report also shows whether the carriers are downlink
or uplink.
Effective Frequency Re-use The effective frequency re-use for each of the sub-cells.
For more information on how the frequency re-use is calculated, see the ASSET
Technical Reference Guide.
MALID The MA List ID, which identifies which MA list each sub-cell uses.
Frequency Load (GSM only) The frequency load for each of the sub-cells. If you select to include this, you can also
define up to what grade of traffic service you want to include (for example, a value of 1.0
represents 100% traffic service, and a value of 0.5 represents 50% traffic service).
For more information on how the frequency load is calculated, see the ASSET Technical
Reference Guide.
Insufficient MA List Length Select this option to display the sub-cells with insufficient carriers according to the MA
(GSM only) list , based on the MAIO separation value.
Override MAIO Separation Select this option to override the existing MAIO separation value, and enter your own
(GSM only) separation value for this report.
3 Click Generate.
If you chose to include interference data in your report, the mE values are listed
under the column heading 'Interference'. The values represent the Traffic Affected by
Interference for each cell pair. The total of these values, Affected Traffic (mE), appears
at the bottom-left of the report.
You can reduce the time taken to generate the report by clearing any orphaned
DB entries that exist in the DIFF tables for the project. (Otherwise, any such entries
will be included in the Delta report as inserts or updates.) To do this, click on the
Utilities tab, and from the Tools menu, click Clean DB Orphans.
A message also appears if there are no differences.
The diff tables in the database are analysed and a report appears.
The left pane displays each item, its type and a state showing if the element has
been added, deleted or updated. This picture shows an example:
Tips:
To sort the data in any of the columns in the left-hand pane, click the column
heading
To find a particular network element ID, type the name in the Find ID box.
ENTERPRISE highlights the item with then name (or the nearest
alphabetical/numerical match) that you have entered.
A green symbol appears next to an item that has not been changed, for
example,
Notes:
If no information is available, the symbol is green
If the item is an addition, the 'Previous Value' is marked as '-'
If the item is a deletion, the 'Modified Value' is marked as '-'
Additional Notes:
The following session will take you through, step by step, how to set up a dual band
network in ASSET.
5 Repeat this process for the second antenna you want to share, ensuring you use
the same number in the Identity box.
6 Click Apply.
To add a new site template, right-click the Cell Site element type, and click Add
Template:
,
By default the new cells will have the GSM-Default Cell Layer assigned to them,
since this was the original project default layer.
2 Right-click on the text of all the GSM-Default sub-cells and select „Delete Cell
Layer‟.
3 Right-click on the text of the first three sub-cells (A-C) and select „Add Cell Layer‟,
and then select GSM900.
4 Right-click on the text of the last three sub-cells (D-F) and select „Add Cell Layer‟,
and then select GSM1800.
You should now see this:
Optionally, the Signal Threshold can be set differently for each band so that the
traffic will be forced onto the GSM1800 layer (which may be the higher priority layer).
The traffic will be served by the GSM1800 layer until the received level is better than
the Signal Threshold value set, then the traffic will go to the GSM900 layer. For
example, the GSM1800 Layer could be set to –85dBm and the GSM900 Layer set to –
102dBm. In that situation, the Cell Layer priorities (if set) would then only matter for
overlapping coverage down to –85dBm.
The best way to show the coverage of a dual band site is to use the Service Area
(Block) plot:
Additional Notes:
Prerequisite
The information from the current frequency plan is needed when planning for GPRS
networks. Therefore, before you continue, you must update the plan to meet the
actual network‟s site/cell structure, element identity, neighbours and frequency
information.
In the C/I(dB) column, define the C/I, for example between 0 and 30 dB and
in the coding scheme (throughput) column define the x axis values, for
example between 0 and 15 kb/s.
The C/I versus data rate values are dependent on the nature of the network, for
example, how fast the mobiles are expected to move, whether RF hopping is used in
the GPRS cells, and so on.
You can then:
Click Show Graph to see a plot of C/I against data rate per timeslot
When a row containing data is selected (except the last row), you can click Add
Row to insert another row
Click Commit to update the changes to the database
Coding schemes are optimised, that is, the best one is chosen. The data contained
within these tables can be scaled for any number of timeslots, that is, the data rate for
three timeslots is three times the data rate for one timeslot for a given C/I.
3 Click Yes.
4 In the box labelled 'Default Number of Channels Per Transceiver", enter the
number of traffic channels that can be supported per carrier (for example, 8), and
click Apply.
5 Click on the 'Add Transceiver' button, which will populate the window with
default figures.
6 To change the information in the table, select the row, and click the Edit Map
button.
In the Traffic pane on this tab, you can edit the GPRS and EGPRS traffic values, which
represent the loading on the sub-cell. You can enter these here if they are known, or
use the automatic process in the Static Traffic Analysis for GPRS and EGPRS. For
more information, see Running the Static Traffic Analysis on page 186.
Also if you have the EGPRS enabled, you can edit the percentage of EGPRS traffic that
uses 8-PSK modulation. ASSET sums the traffic of each (E)GPRS traffic raster pixel-
by-pixel, and creates a total traffic value on the sub-cell. For each sub-cell, the
percentage of traffic using 8-PSK modulation is calculated and saved.
An automatically calculated value for the traffic mix can be applied to the sub-cells
after running the Static Traffic Analysis, but you can enter your own value here
(although this is recommended only for advanced users). The value will be zero
unless the EGPRS Data Rate array has been created previously, or you have entered
the value manually in the Site Database or Global Editor.
These values will be taken into account when Interference Arrays are calculated, if the
Use Traffic checkbox on the Interference tab of the Array Settings dialog box is
selected.
All these parameters can also be edited in the Global Editor, or pre-set using the
Templates.
If the traffic array and the GPRS Data Rate array are of different resolutions, the
GPRS Data Rate array is interpolated to get the corresponding kb/s for each traffic
array pixel.
To display this on the map, ensure Average Data Rate per Timeslot (GPRS) is selected
in the list of data types to display. The area covered by each GPRS sub-cell is
displayed on the map in the colour corresponding to its average data rate per
timeslot.
When displayed on the map, the array has different colours representing the different
service levels in a kb/s/timeslot. For example:
High (Multimedia) >12kb/s (Red)
Medium (Web access) 7-12kb/s (Green)
Low (e-mail) 2-7kb/s (Blue)
As with other arrays, you can double-click the item from the Data Types list on the
Map View to change the displayed colours and categories for the array.
1 Click on the 'Create arrays' button in the Map View window, then select 'Non
Sim'.
2 Ensure you select the 'GPRS Data rate' array option:
3 Click 'OK'.
When you have generated the above array, the tool automatically calculates and
generates the following GPRS arrays:
'Average Data Rates per Timeslot'
'Service Area Data Rate'
The Map Information pane (Gadgets) can be useful for analysing the GPRS arrays.
See Map View Gadgets Window on page 50.
You can customise the display settings for each array, and add colours to show
lower scales of kbs, such as 0.01kbs, 0.1kbs, 1 kbs, 5kbs, 10kbs, and so on. It is also
useful to activate the relevant values in the Map Information pane, and then compare
the array values with each other.
The concept of the analysis is that the kbs values in the final 'Service' array should be
lower than those in the earlier 'Demand' array, which will indicate that the current
network TRX configuration can cope with that demand. Otherwise, if the values are
higher, the implication of the analysis is that the network cannot cope.
Reiterations
Additional Notes:
If you do not want the traffic from subordinate network elements to be aggregated
automatically you can choose to turn the Auto Aggregate facility off and you can
enter traffic figures manually using the Carried Traffic Editor.
In the left pane of the report window, the table lists the victim cells with their
associated cell layer, and shows the total coverage area and, if applicable, total traffic,
corresponding to the victim cell.
In the right pane of the report window, the table lists the interfering cells
corresponding to the victim cell that is currently selected/highlighted in the left pane.
When you select any of the victim cells in the left pane, the list of interfering cells
automatically updates in the right pane.
For each of the interfering cells in the right pane, the table shows its respective
calculated (or loaded) overlapping values. These values are given for both co-channel
and adjacent channel interference. The percentages indicate the proportion of the
interfering cell's area/traffic values with respect to the total area/traffic values on the
victim cell.
The interference data relating to each interfering cell is presented in the right pane, as
follows:
Interference in terms of Area Interference in terms of Traffic
Co-Area Co-Area Adj-Area Adj-Area Co-Traffic Co-Traffic Adj-Traffic Adj-Traffic
(km2) (%) (km2) (%) (T or mE) (%) (T or mE) (%)
Example of Map View showing a highlighted victim cell, together with all its interfering cells
Example of how Antenna Instance IDs can facilitate antenna selection on the Map View
For more information about how licensing configurations and permissions can be
controlled by the system administrator, and further licensing information, see the
ENTERPRISE Installation and Administration Guide.
For more information about using the Licence Administrator, see the ENTERPRISE
User Reference Guide.
U
Uncommitted changes, reporting • 275
UTM, co-ordinate system • 28
V
Vectors
attributes • 67, 179
creating • 64
editing • 68
importing • 78
managing • 70
spreading traffic • 67, 176, 179
Table Browser • 70
Vector Manager • 64
Visualisers, about • 143, 144
Z
Zoom
saving • 55
shortcuts • 54