Version 1.

Cell Size Calculation Add-in

User Manual

AD047
Cell Size Calculation Add-in - User Manual © Forsk 2016

Table of Contents

1 Cell Size Calculation Add-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Installing the Add-in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3 Prerequisites to Using the Add-in in LTE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4 Using the Add-in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4.1 Calculating Cell Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
4.2 Calculating the Number of Required PRACH RSIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
4.3 Calculating the LTE Reuse Distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

5 Advanced Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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AD047 Cell Size Calculation Add-in - User Manual

1 Cell Size Calculation Add-in

The Cell Size Calculation add-in allows you to calculate the coverage ranges of cells in GSM, UMTS, LTE, and CDMA2000
networks based on minimum received signal level criteria. For LTE networks, this add-in also allows determining the number
of required PRACH RSIs per cell depending on the calculated cell sizes, and calculating the per-cell reuse distance for
frequency, PCI, and PRACH RSI planning using the LTE AFP.
The Cell Size Calculation add-in is developed by Forsk and is available on demand. It can be used with Atoll version 3.3.0 and
later.

2 Installing the Add-in

You can install the add-in using the add-in’s setup program.

If you are working with Atoll 32-bit, you must use the 32-bit version of the add-in’s setup
program. Similarly, if you are working with Atoll 64-bit, you must use the 64-bit version
of the add-in’s setup program. For information about installing Atoll, see the
Administrator Manual.

To install the add-in:

1. Run the add-in’s setup program. The setup wizard appears.
2. Click Next. The Select Destination Location page appears.
3. Select an installation folder for the add-in. It is not necessary to install the add-in in the Atoll installation folder.
4. Click Next. The Ready to Install page appears.
5. Click Install to start the installation. The Installing page appears showing the installation progress.
If the add-in’s initialisation file is found in the installation folder, the setup program asks you for confirmation before
overwriting it.
6. Once the installation is complete, click Finish to exit the setup.
Once installed, the add-in is available in the list of add-ins installed with Atoll.
To activate the add-in in Atoll:
1. Run Atoll.
2. Select Tools > Add-ins and Macros from the menu bar. The Add-ins and Macros dialog box appears.
3. Select the Cell Size Calculation check box.

4. Click Close. The Cell Size Calculation add-in command is available in the Add-ins toolbar.

Figure 1: Add-ins and Macros dialog box in Atoll

You can deactivate the add-in in the Add-ins and Macros dialog box. For example, if you clear the Cell Size Calculation check
box in this dialog box, the Cell Size Calculation add-in command will no longer be available in the Add-ins toolbar.
To verify the installation of the add-in:
1. In Atoll, select Help > About Atoll. The About Atoll dialog box appears.
If the add-in is correctly installed, the list of components in the About Atoll dialog box contains the add-in’s name,
version and build, and the installation folder.
2. Click Close.

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To uninstall the add-in:

1. Exit Atoll.
2. Run the add-in’s uninstall program located in the add-in’s installation folder. The uninstall program asks you for
confirmation.
3. Click Yes to confirm uninstall.
The uninstall program does not delete the add-in’s initialisation file from its installation folder. This allows you to use
the existing initialisation parameters when you install the add-in again.

3 Prerequisites to Using the Add-in in LTE

In order to use the Cell Size Calculation add-in in LTE, you must make the following change in the database structure:

LTE Transmitters Table

The following field must be added to the LTE Transmitters table:

Field Type Description Attributes

Nullable: Yes
MAX_RANGE Integer Maximum coverage range.
Default:

If you want to define different several different mappings between cell sizes and the required numbers of PRACH RSIs, you
can do so by making the following change as well in the database structure:

Cells Table

The following field must be added to the Cells table:

Field Type Description Attributes

CELLSIZE_RSI_MAPPIN Nullable: Yes
Text (50) Name of the cell size to PRACH RSI mapping
G Default:

The CELLSIZE_RSI_MAPPING field allows you to use several different mappings between cell sizes and the required numbers
of PRACH RSIs in your network.

4 Using the Add-in

The Cell Size Calculation add-in calculates the coverage ranges of cells in GSM, UMTS, LTE, and CDMA2000 networks based
on minimum received signal level criteria. To do so, the add-in creates coverage by signal level (DL) predictions for the selected
technologies and determines the cell size as the distance between a cell location and farthest pixel covered by this cell.
For LTE networks, this add-in also allows:
• Determining the number of required PRACH RSIs per cell depending on the calculated cell sizes, and
• Calculating the per-cell reuse distance for frequency, PCI, and PRACH RSI planning using the AFP.

4.1 Calculating Cell Sizes

To calculate cell sizes:

1. Click the Cell Size Calculation button in the Add-ins toolbar. The Cell Size Calculation dialog box appears (see
Figure 2).
2. In the left pane, click the name of the technology for which you want to calculate the cell size: GSM, UMTS, LTE, or
CDMA2000. The corresponding calculation parameters appear in the right pane.
3. In the right pane, select the Calculate cell sizes check box.

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Figure 2: Cell Size Calculation Parameters

4. Under General conditions, set the following parameters:

• Resolution: The resolution of the coverage prediction that the add-in will create in order to determine the cell size.
• Save results in: The Transmitters table field in which the calculated cell sizes will be stored. This list contains the
standard Max Range field and all the custom fields of type integer, float, and double.

The Max Range field is used by Atoll in calculations. Cells’ best server coverage areas are
limited to the distance defined in this field. If you do not want the cell size calculated by
the Cell Size Calculation add-in to be used by Atoll as a coverage limit, select a field other
than Max Range.

• Overwrite existing values: Select this check box if you want the add-in to replace the existing values in the
selected field. Clear this check box if you want to the add-in to keep the existing values, if any, and only save the
cell sizes in the selected field if empty.
5. Under Coverage conditions, set the following parameters:
• Signal Level (dBm): The minimum required signal level in dbm for a pixel to be considered covered by a cell.
Optionally, you can also enter a maximum value.
• Server: Select All if you want to calculate the coverage ranges of all the cells independently. Select Best Signal
Level, if you want to calculate the cell sizes corresponding to their best server coverage areas.
• Shadowing taken into account: If you want to take shadow fading into account, select this check box and enter a
Cell edge coverage probability.
• Indoor coverage: Select this check box if you want to apply the indoor losses defined per clutter class.
6. Click OK.
For the selected technologies, the Cell Size Calculation add-in creates coverage by signal level (DL) predictions using
the defined parameters, determines the cell sizes by calculating the distances between the cell locations and the
farthest pixels that the cells cover, and stores the calculated cell sizes in the selected fields.
The calculations take into account the active cells in the networks depending on any Sites and Transmitters table
filters, the filtering zone, and the computation zone.

4.2 Calculating the Number of Required PRACH RSIs

To determine the number of required PRACH RSIs per LTE cell depending on the calculated cell sizes:

1. Click the Cell Size Calculation button in the Add-ins toolbar. The Cell Size Calculation dialog box appears.
2. In the left pane, click LTE PRACH RSI. The corresponding calculation parameters appear in the right pane (see
Figure 3).
3. In the right pane, select the Calculate the required numbers of PRACH RSIs check box.

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Cell Size Calculation Add-in - User Manual © Forsk 2016

Figure 3: PRACH RSI Mapping Parameters

4. From the Cell size based on list, select the LTE Transmitters table field containing the cell sizes based on which the
required numbers of PRACH RSIs will be calculated. This list contains the standard Max Range field and all the custom
fields of type integer, float, and double.
5. Overwrite existing values: Select this check box if you want the add-in to replace the existing values in the Number
of Required PRACH RSIs field of the LTE Cells table. Clear this check box if you want to the add-in to keep the existing
values in the Number of Required PRACH RSIs field, if any, and only update the number of required PRACH RSIs for
the cells for which this field is empty.
6. Click OK.
The Cell Size Calculation add-in reads the cell sizes from the selected Transmitters table field and fills the Cells table
field Number of Required PRACH RSIs according to the mappings between cell sizes and the required numbers of
PRACH RSIs defined in the add-in’s initialisation file. The calculations take into account the active cells in the networks
depending on any Sites and Transmitters table filters, the filtering zone, and the computation zone.
Three mappings are provided by default in the add-in’s initialisation file: Nominal, High speed, and TDD-specific. You
can assign a particular mapping to any cell by entering the name of the mapping in the CELLSIZE_RSI_MAPPING
custom field. You can also define your own custom mappings. For more information on how to define these mappings
in the initialisation file, see "Advanced Configuration" on page 8.
The cell size and PRACH RSI calculations can both be run at the same time or separately. When run at the same time, the add-
in first calculates the cell sizes and then the required numbers of PRACH RSIs.
All the calculations may be run simultaneously or separately. When run at the same time, the add-in first calculates the cell
sizes and then the required numbers of PRACH RSIs.

4.3 Calculating the LTE Reuse Distance

To calculate the LTE reuse distance per cell:

1. Click the Cell Size Calculation button in the Add-ins toolbar. The Cell Size Calculation dialog box appears.
2. In the left pane, click LTE Reuse Distance. The corresponding calculation parameters appear in the right pane (see
Figure 4).
3. In the right pane, select the Calculate LTE reuse distance check box.

Figure 4: LTE Reuse Distance Calculation Parameters

4. Under General conditions, set the following parameters:

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AD047 Cell Size Calculation Add-in - User Manual

• Resolution: The resolution of the coverage prediction that the add-in will create in order to determine the cell size.
• Save results in: The LTE Cells table field in which the calculated reuse distances will be stored. This list contains
the standard Reuse distance field and all the custom fields of type integer, float, and double.
• Reuse factor: The reuse distance multiplier allows you to increase or decrease the calculated reuse distance if
needed.
• Overwrite existing values: Select this check box if you want the add-in to replace the existing values in the
selected field. Clear this check box if you want to the add-in to keep the existing values, if any, and only save the
cell sizes in the selected field if empty.
5. Under Coverage conditions, set the following parameters:
• Signal Level (dBm): The minimum required signal level in dbm for a pixel to be considered covered by a cell.
Optionally, you can also enter a maximum value.
• Server: The reuse distance calculation is based on Best Signal Level with 0 dB margin.
• Shadowing taken into account: If you want to take shadow fading into account, select this check box and enter a
Cell edge coverage probability.
• Indoor coverage: Select this check box if you want to apply the indoor losses defined per clutter class.
6. Click OK.
The Cell Size Calculation add-in creates a coverage by transmitter (DL) prediction using the defined parameters,
determines the surface area covered by each cell, calculates a diameter corresponding to the surface area of each cell
assuming the cells’ coverage areas to be circular, and calculates the reuse distance for each cell by multiplying its
coverage diameter by the Reuse factor defined in the calculation parameters. The default value of 5 corresponds to
a reuse distance that spans the three tiers of cells around any cell in a homogeneous network (see Figure 5).
The calculations take into account the active cells in the networks depending on any Sites and Transmitters table
filters, the filtering zone, and the computation zone.

Figure 5: LTE Reuse Distance Factor

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Cell Size Calculation Add-in - User Manual © Forsk 2016

5 Advanced Configuration
Some options may be configured through the CellSizes.ini file. This file must be located in the Cell Size Calculation add-in
installation folder.
The following option is available in the [Options] section:
• Verbose = 0 (default) or 1
Verbose mode.
The following default parameters for the add-in’s user interface concerning the coverage by signal level (DL) predictions are
available in the [CELLSIZE_GSM], [CELLSIZE_UMTS], [CELLSIZE_LTE], and [CELLSIZE_CDMA2000] sections:
• Calculate = 0 (default) or 1
Whether the check box relevant to each calculation will be selected by default or not.
• Resolution = 50 (default)
The default value of the resolution (metres) of the coverage by signal level (DL) prediction.
• Result
Name of the Transmitters table field in which the calculated cell size is stored.
• Overwrite = 1 (default) or 0
Whether the existing values are to be replaced (1) or not (0).
• SignalMin = -105 (default)
The minimum signal level condition for the coverage by signal level (DL) prediction.
• SignalMax = 32767 (default)
The maximum signal level condition for the coverage by signal level (DL) prediction.
• Server
The server selection condition for the coverage by signal level (DL) prediction.
• Shadowing = 0 (default) or 1
Whether the shadow fading is taken into account (1) or not (0).
• Reliability = 75
The cell edge coverage probability for the coverage by signal level (DL) prediction.
• Indoor = 0 (default) or 1
Whether the indoor losses are applied (1) in calculating the coverage by signal level (DL) prediction or not (0).
The following default parameters for the add-in’s user interface concerning the calculation of the required numbers of PRACH
RSIs are available in the [PRACH_LTE] section:
• Calculate = 0 (default) or 1
Whether the check box relevant to this calculation will be selected by default or not.
• Overwrite = 1 (default) or 0
Whether the existing values are to be replaced (1) or not (0).
• CellSize
Name of the Transmitters table field which contains the calculated cell sizes.
• Mapping = Nominal (default)
Name of the default mapping to use when either the CELLSIZE_RSI_MAPPING does not exist or is empty.
The following default (3GPP) mappings of cell sizes to required numbers of PRACH RSIs are available in the initialisation file:
[Nominal] [High speed] [TDD-specific]
1859 = 1 2145 = 2 287 = 1
2145 = 2 2574 = 2 574 = 2
2574 = 2 3146 = 2 861 = 3
3146 = 2 3718 = 2 1148 = 4
3718 = 2 4576 = 3 1435 = 5
4576 = 3 5435 = 3 1722 = 6
5435 = 3 6579 = 4 2152 = 8
6579 = 4 7866 = 5
8438 = 5 9725 = 6
10870 = 6 11728 = 7
13301 = 8 14302 = 8
17020 = 10 18307 = 11
23885 = 13 22598 = 13
39904 = 22 28891 = 16
59928 = 32 33897 = 22
120000 = 64

You can define custom mappings using the same syntax:

[MappingName]

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<Cell size in metres in ascending order> = <Number of required PRACH RSIs>

Once defined, you can assign your custom mappings to cells by entering their names in the CELLSIZE_RSI_MAPPING field. If
the CellSizes.ini file does not contain any mapping, the add-in sets the required number of PRACH RSIs to 1.
The following default parameters for the add-in’s user interface concerning the calculation of the LTE reuse distance are
available in the [REUSE_DISTANCE_LTE] section:
• Calculate = 0 (default) or 1
Whether the check box relevant to this calculation will be selected by default or not.
• Overwrite = 1 (default) or 0
Whether the existing values are to be replaced (1) or not (0).
• ReuseDistanceFactor
The default value of the reuse distance factor in percentage. For example, enter 500 for the reuse factor of 5.

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AD047 www.forsk.com December 2016