LTE Capacity improvement design

(LTE2600, HOS, LTE1800)

based on

20_13

Volker Hoehn, VF-TSO-A-DTAB

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 Capacity improvement opportunities

• Features to mitigate inter-cell interference:

Æ IRC (Interference Rejection Combining)
Æ ICIC (Inter-Cell Interference Coordination)
Æ FDS (Frequency Domain Scheduling) SU-MIMO MU-MIMO

• Beamforming with Active Antennas (AAS)

• MU-MIMO in UL & DL

• LTE800,LTE2600 or LTE1800 co-sited Sector Split

– UE support of LTE800 & LTE1800 &LTE2600 needed

• Sector splitting Æ 4-sector site

• Substitute two 33° antennas per sector for Four Sector Site
65° antenna per sector
• Six sector site
– OEM trials have shown between 50 - 70% capacity increase

2 Volker, Hoehn, VF-TSO-A C2-confidential Six Sector Site

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LTE Capacity improvement solutions validation Network
Æ LTE2600 (20MHz BW) to be used for capacity improvement in cities

3
Data rate
LTE 2.600MHz
› Peak data rates of 95 Mbps in downlink and
42 Mbps in uplink were achieved with UE cat 3.
› Average throughput rates of 58 Mbps in LTE 800MHz
downlink and 15 Mbps in uplink were
achieved which refers to the corresponding
cell capacity
› UE mobility was functioning properly, Distance
› UE cell reselection was functioning properly

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LTE Capacity improvement solutions validation Network
Æ LTE2600 Stationary Test, e.g.: WAL138

Site: WAL138

Latitude: 50.870703°
Longitude: 8.019790°

RSRP: -75 dBm

SINR: 26 dB

Statistical Summary of Data Sessions Samsung GT-B3710 Huawei K5005

FTP (kbps)
Peak FTP physical layer throughput (DL) 95287.2 83084.61
Peak FTP physical layer throughput (UL) 27429.1 8868.62
Average FTP physical layer throughput (DL) 33529 54388.52
Average FTP physical layer throughput (UL) 11786 2626.33

Ping
Average Ping time (ms) 37.8 50.9

Vodafone confidential – C2
Siegen LTE 2600 - Measurement Results | Ericsson Confidential | 2012-09-12 | Page 4
 LTE Capacity improvement solutions validation Network
Æ Improved user perceiption due to go from Cat_3 to Cat_4 UEs
DL Throughput (1 x User)
150
135 129
120
105 99 96
90 83
Tput 67 Good
75 66
(Mbps)
60 48 49 Medium
45
25 Bad
30 17 19
12
15
0
Cat3 Cat4 Cat3 Cat4
10 MHz 20 MHz
LTE Carrier Size

Takeaway
1) 10MHz Carrier
a) Similar tputs for both Cat 3 and Cat 4 devices were observed in both Good and Medium Radio Conditions.
b) Clear performance advantage (42%) of Cat 4 device over older Cat 3 device in Bad Radio Conditions where improved
reception (>1.5dB) permits increased higher order modulation usage and higher throughput.

2) 20MHz Carrier
a) Clear performance gap in Good Radio Conditions of Cat 4 device over Cat 3 (30%) where increased chipset processing
enables device to process more transport blocks within available Resource Blocks.
b) Clear performance advantage of Cat 4 device over older Cat 3 device in Medium & Bad Radio Conditions of 16% and 30%
respectively where improved reception improves modulation usage and in turn increases throughput.
c) As per 10MHz Carrier, a clear performance advantage improved reception (>1.5dB) permits increased higher order
modulation usage and higher throughput..
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VTN-A SRAN Product
 LTE – GSM1800 coexistence
Based on VF-IT trial results

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LTE spectrum and carrier spacing recommended by 3GPP

LTE Channel bandwidth

for each bandwidth and
coordination
Limiting scenarios are
highlighted in red

Recommended Carrier Separation

for each bandwidth and
coordination
limiting scenarios are
highlighted in red

Case 1: Robust LTE signal structure for PUCCH (Channel Quality Index carried at the edge PUCCH PRB)
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Interference scenarios

Downlink Uplink

Coordinated Uncoordinated
LTE + GSM LTE + GSM LTE + GSM GSM

UE LTE UE LTE UE LTE UE LTE

• GSM and LTE systems are using the same site locations •LTE stations are deployed at different sites than the GSM
• Both systems experience similar downlink propagation • Systems can be received at significantly different signal levels
• UE operating in proximity to the site use low Tx power, on both Uplink and Downlink direction
causing limited uplink interference sources (both inter- • UE can use full power close to the victim BTS causing severe
system and intra-system) UL interferences for users served by victim cell
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Interference evaluation

Key factors
• Minimum Coupling Loss (MCL) between the UE and BTS
• Transmitter spectrum emission masks
• In-band receiver blocking performance
• near-far effect of MS/BTS
• LTE physical signal structure (PUCCH)

Additional guard band between GSM and LTE spectrum might be needed
for mitigating interference effect guarantying the required system sensitivity

The guard band requirement depends on the scenarios

(coordinated , uncoordinated)

Co-sitting of GSM and LTE BTS provides some benefit

because it removes the near-far effect.

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Test conditions
• Tests have been performed with LTE nominal bandwidth = 5MHz
• Evaluation of LTE downlink and uplink performance (with 2 LTE UEs + Multiple GSM UEs)
• Worst case scenario are assumed for GSM (BCCH as interference, no frequency hopping, no power
control)
• Test at different “guard bands”
• Drive test from cell center to cell edge

Coordinated
2,5 MHz
2,3 MHz 2,4 MHz (Recommended)
LTE
Transmission
Bandwidth
(4,5MHz)
2,25
2,25 LTE Nominal BW
2,3
2,3 (5MHz)

Uncoordinated
2,5 MHz 2,6MHz 2,7 MHz
(Recommended)
LTE
Transmission
Bandwidth
(4,5MHz)
LTE Nominal BW
(5MHz)
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Main Test Results
Uplink / Coordinated Downlink / Coordinated
No remarkable degradation on average UL Thpt Limited LTE DL throughput impact @2.4 MHz
@2,3MHz (Max 15% degradation on single user)

Uplink / Uncoordinated Downlink / Uncoordinated

No degradation has been observed on UL Throughput Limited impact on the average DL Thpt @ 2.6 MHz
(Max 20% reduction on cell capacity)

Adding the implementation of GSM advanced techniques

(frequency hopping, smart TCH allocation) will decrease overall impacts

The following carrier spacing can be considered as tolerable

separation between systems for the initial LTE rollout:
Coordinated case: 2,4 MHz
Uncoordinated case: 2,6MHz

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Spectrum requirements for LTE refarming of GSM spectrum
based on 5% capacity degradation

LTE Bandwidth LTE-GSM carrier spacing LTE total spectrum

requirement
Coordinated1 Uncoordinated2 Coordinated1 uncoordinated2
1,4 MHz LTE (6 RBs) 0,8 MHz 0,9 MHz 1,4 MHz 1,6 MHz

3 MHz LTE (15 RBs) 1,6 MHz 1,7 MHz 3 MHz 3,2 MHz

5 MHz LTE (25 RBs) 2,5 MHz 2,8 MHz 4,8 MHz 5,4 MHz

10 MHz LTE(50 RBs) 4,9 MHz 5,3 MHz 9,6 MHz 10,4 MHz

15 MHz LTE (75 RBs) 7 MHz 7,8 MHz 13,8 MHz 15,4 MHz

20 MHz LTE(100 RBs) 9,4 MHz 10,3 MHz 18,6 MHz 20,4 MHz

1 Coordinated: means that GSM and LTE use the same sites
2 Uncoordinated means that different sites are used for GSM and LTE
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LTE Best Practice Sharing Workshop on Specific items
Æ LTE Standard Design on GSM Spectrum refarming
Sandwich mode to be used Refarming
with LTE Bandwidth flexibility
of
GSM Spectrum
Coordinated scenario standard based on
5%
LTE total spectrum requirements
capacity degradation
LTE Bandwidth LTE total spectrum requirements

Coordinated1 Uncoordinated2 Refarming of 10MHz GSM Spectrum

1.4MHz (6RBs) 1,4 MHz 1,6 MHz
GSM LTE
10 MHz frequencies frequencies
3 MHz (15 RBs) 3 MHz 3,2 MHz

5 MHz (25 RBs) 4,8 MHz 5,2 MHz 49 0

LTE 1,4 MHz
10 MHz (50 RBs) 9,6 MHz 10,4 MHz
42 1,4 MHz
15 MHz (75 RBs) 13,8 MHz 15,4 MHz LTE 3,0 MHz
34 3,0 MHz
20 MHz (100 RBs) 18,6 MHz 20,4 MHz
LTE 5,0 MHz
25 5,0 MHz
standard 1 Coordinated means that GSM and LTE use the same sites
2 Uncoordinated means that different sites are used for GSM
and LTE
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Refarming process proposal
• Pseudo-automatic process for GSM refarming based on live measurement data
collection
• Limited time duration (~2 weeks)
• No impact on GSM performance
Refarming GSM Live
Frequency plan
Area Measurement
Selection Collection computation

Definition of LTE cluster and relevant
buffer zone
Perform continuous measurement based on GSM Interference matrix is computed according to
mobiles reporting (transparent for customers ) -measurement collected
- radio constraints (BCCH/TCH allocation,
sites data,..)
Two weeks of automatic c measurement collection
of GSM signal strength and quality
Automated algorithm propose optimal
adjacencies
Configuration
data Constraints Measurements

Automatic Frequency
Planner

NEW Frequency Plan

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LTE Capacity improvement solutions validation Network
Æ High Order Sectorisation (HOS) from 3-sector to 6-sector sites

Reason: Traffic overload and Traffic Distribution

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LTE Capacity improvement solutions validation Network
Æ High Order Sectorisation (HOS) - antenna to be used

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 Higher Order Sectorization (HOS) 3
• Example: BXL662 (Neuhaus) - Huawei - from 3 to 6 Sectors

HOS

Slight adjustment of the Azimut due to customer distribution!

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Trial Results BXL662: Capacity Evaluation by Drive Tests
ƒ Drive tests before and after upgrade to HOS have been done
ƒ Drive tests were performed during night when customer traffic was very low
ƒ During drive tests in DL a load simulation was activated
ƒ Load simulation was activated in all sectors of BXL662
ƒ All PRB’s not used for traffic (to drive test devices) transmitted simulated traffic
Î 100% PRB’s transmitting, creating a reproducible, worst-case-interference
ƒ No simulated load in other sites to keep impact on customers limited

ƒ Continuous FTP downloads have been done in downlink

ƒ For LTE 800 with 10 MHz and 2x2 MIMO one cat 3 UE Average
can use the total capacity of a cell With
Data Rate
Average HOS
ƒ Average data rate per sector during Without [Mbps]
drive test is a good measure for sector Data Rate
HOS BXL662A 6,6
capacity [Mbps]
BXL662B 10,0
BXL662A 10,6 BXL662C 5,8
Capacity was increased by 66% BXL662B 8,9 BXL662D 8,7
BXL662C 8,5 BXL662L 8,2
Total 27,9 BXL662M 7,0
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on slide master Total 46,3
 Higher Order Sectorization (HOS) 6

HOS Umbau

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 Higher Order Sectorization (HOS) 7
• Example: WXL751 (Stift Quernheim) – Ericsson – Splitting from 3 to 5 sectors

HOS

Slight adjustment of the Azimut due to customer distribution!

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~ 70% increase

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HOS Implemented

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WXL751A

2013-07-01 00:00
WXL751 - DL Cell Throughput, Daily, EUtranCells (kbit/s)

WXL751C_DL
WXL751B_BC

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 Higher Order Sectorization (HOS) 10
• Example: WXL 751 (Stift Quernheim) – Ericsson – LTE Utilization

HOS Umbau

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LTE Capacity improvement solutions validation Network
Æ High Order Sectorisation (HOS) from 3-sector to 6-sector sites

LTE800 Field trials have been performed with Huawei/ Ericsson.

Capacity increase of around 70% compared to a 3-sector site

PCI allocation via PCI mod 6, e.g.:

ÆPCIs = 204Æ 0, 205Æ1, 206Æ2, 309Æ4, 310Æ5, 311 Æ 6

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