ICICS-PCM 2003

15-18 Dsamba2003 1A6.1

Sineapon

AUTOMATED CELL PLANNING BASED ON PROPAGATION

LOSS
Xiaoying Wang, Tao Long, Yee Hui Lee'
School of Electrical t Electronic Engineering
Nayang Technological University
Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798
+E-mail: eyhlee@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract consideration the different factors mentioned above in order

to achieve a good compromised network plan
Much work has been done on the use of heuristic techniques
for the optimisation and planning mobile networks [1]-[4].
Path Loss
Monte Carlo, genetic algorithm (GA) [5] and simulated
annealing (SA) has all been used for the purpose of cell
Path loss (L) is the parameter commonly used to characterize
planning. These methods have been used with moderate
the local average signal in mobile channels. It is defined as the
success. In this paper, an evolutionary learning technique is
relationship between the transmitted power (pt) of the
used for the optimisation and planning of cell. This technique
transmitter (Tx) antenna and the received power (PI) by the
is able to perform a heuristic search with intelligence;
receiver (Rx) antenna. In most cases, it is expressed in dB:
knowledge gained from information gathered from previously
searched problem space.

Introduction
Due to the diversity of the environments where mobile
In the field of communications engineering, propagation communications occur, different propagation models were
planning is an ongoing and extremely expensive process faced derived for each specific type of environment. There are the
by telecommunications companies worldwide. With budgets empirical models, semi-empirical or semi-detetministic
of the order of billions of dollars, companies are rolling out models, and deterministic models. These propagation models
antenna masts to provide 3G and Broadband Fixed Wireless can be classified according to the scenario to which they are
access. applied. Three generic categories of environments can be
considered:
For the purposes of 3G [6], the number of antenna masts
required will increase significantly, on top of the existing 1. Macro-cells
large number of antenna masts. Good planning and 2. Micro-cells
optimisation for the roll out of these antenna masts is very 3 . Pico-cells
important. An optimal and well-planned network will require
the least numher of a n t e m masts that are well positioned The macro-cells are used for large area coverage with the
(taking into consideration environmental issues, cost and transmitter antenna well above the surrounding buildings It is
maintenance etc.) to provide a good quality of senice for a able to support high-speed mobiles and performs long range
given amount of traffic. The optimisation and positioning of transmission of a radius between Im and 30km Micro-cells
antenna masts is not a simple single objective problem. are for areas with high subscriber density. The coverage of
these cells is between 0.2m to l h and they are usually
OfleR in order to minimise the number of antenna masts placed around the height of street lamps. Finally, pico-cells
required, it is a compromise of many factors such as cost, are mainly for indoor coverage.
environmental effects, locality, quality of senice, capacity
and tratlic. In this paper, the focus is on macro-cellimicro-cell planning

this particular problem.

1" this paper, a self-leaning heuristic technique is used to
perform optimisation and positioning of antenna m&s based
on path loss. This optimisation technique is able to take into
.. .
aoorooriate models have to he used. There are numerous
propagation models that had been developed for differem
cities based on actual measurements. Some of these will be
reviewed 171.

0-7803-8185-8/03/$17.00 0 2003 IEEE 134

 The plane earth model 0 The Cost 231-Hata model
This model is one of two basic propagation models (the other This is an empirical model obtained from the Okurnura-Hata
being the free space model). This is an ideal case model model to cover higher frequency from 15OOMHz to 2OOOMHr
where the heights of antenna are assumed to be much smaller
then the radius of the earth. Therefore, the plane earth path L = F +E.logd,,, - E + G
loss (Lp) can he simplified to
+
where F = 46.3 33.9. log f, - 13.82.log h, ,
L, = 40~10g(d,)-20.10g(h,)-2O.l0g(h,)
G = 3dE for metropolitan areas and G = OdE for medium-
where d, is the distance between the mobile and the base sized cities and suburban areas.
station, h, is the height of the mobile and hh is the height of
the base station 0 TheLeemodel

0 The Allsebrook and Parsons model This is an empirical model for urban and suburban
macrocells. It is a power law model and is expressed as
This is an empirical method developed from measurements in
British cities for a frequency range of between 75 and L =IO.n.logd, -2O.l0gh,,,~, - P , -IO.logh, +29,
450MHz.This is a flat city model. where hwa it the effective height of the base station antenna.
L = L, + L, + y P, and n are tabulated in [7]
ese are two empirical models derived from measurernuts in
London at 168, 445 and 900MHz. The transmitter antenna
was 46m above local ground. The data were measured in
different square areas ofSOOm per side. Its approximate loss
y = 8 . 1 ~ 1 0f-:~ -6.67fc-2.03
L=
0 The Cost 231-Walfisch-megami model
whercf, is the canier frequency
Combining two models, the Walfisch-Bertoni model and the
The Okumura-Rata model Ikegami model, for non-lineof-sight conditions, the total path
It is an empirical model developed from measured data loss is given as
obtained in and around Tokyo. This model is valid only for
L = LF +L, +L,
150MHz iL L 15OOMh3,3Orn s ha L ZOOrn, lm i h, L lorn
and d, > lb.The model provides closed expressions for the where L,= is the free space loss, Lmd accounts for multiple
median path loss for different environments. Since the case knife-edge diffraction to the top of the final building and Lrd
study done in this paper is for the city of Singapore, this accounts for the diffraction and scattering process down to
model will be used as it posses the most similar environment. street level.
L=A+E-logd, -E forurhanareas,
L=A+B.logd,-C forsubtubanareas,
L=A+E.logd, -D foropenareas, - I O + 0.359 for 0°<9<35”
where the coefficients are L(@)= 2.5 + 0.075(# - 35’) for 350 < Q c: 550
A = 69.55+ 26.16.10gfc -13.82.l0ghb, 4.0-0.114(41-55~) for 55’ < I$ < 90’
B = 44.9 - 6.55. log h, , C = 2 . (Iog(f, / 28))’ + 5.4, and
D =4.78.(logfC)’+18.33.l0gfc +40.94, L, = L,, + k, + kd .logdm+ k, .logf, - 9 , 1 0 g ~ ,
for large cities wheref, t 3OOMHz, where
E=3.2.(log(11.75.h,))’ -4.97 - 18-l0g[l+(h, - h,)] for h, > h,
for large cities wheref, < 3OOMHi, Lbrh = 0 for h, 5 h,
E = 8.29. (log(1.54.hm))’- 1.1
and h, is the threshold height,
for medium to small cities,
E =(1.11.10gf, -0.7).h, -(1.56.logfc -0.8).

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 54 for hb h,, Initial population
k , = 54 -0.8(hb - h,) for hb 2 h , , d , 2 0 . 5 h (No. base station, Location,
Antenna gain, etc.)
54-0.8 (hb -he)dm for hb 5 h , , d , 2 0 . 5 h
0.5
1
Evaluate fitness
4-
Decide how goodhad
the cell planning design.

1
and k, = -4 + 0.7( -
25
-1
) for medium-size cities and

suburban areas with medium tree density,

Selection
Based on survival of fittest.

k, = -4 + 1.5[ -
k5
-1
) for metropolitan centers. 1
Crossover
Pass on good genes
to next generation
Optimisation technique
To optimise our cell planning, we use Genetic Algorithm

Q
(GA). The genetic algorithm is a heuristic optimisation
technique introduced by John Holland in 1975. The principle Mutation
of this technique is to mimic the evolution process in nature.

The word heuristic indicates that this technique does not

guarantee one best solution (global optima). Instead, it aims to
provide good solutions to satisfy criterions that the optimiser
is set out to achieve. In the problem of cell planning, the
problem space is very large and it changes rapidly with the
developing world. To search the whole problem space would
take years or even decades. Therefore, GA is an idea
technique for solving such problem. The idea of using GA
for cell planning is not a new one. However, in this paper, an
evolutionary learning algorithm is used for cell planning
purposes. This technique performs a search similar to that of a Figure 1. Optimiser.
GA.
amount of information contained in the old population is
Figure 1 shows a flow chan of the traditional GA. The GA [5] discarded. In the proposed evolutionary learning technique,
generates an initial populatiou for cell planning. These include this information is not discarded and is used to gain valuable
the number of base stations, location of base stations, height information on the problem space. By doing so, the GA can
of transmitting antenna, gain of transmitting antenna, gain of rearch a wider area and will also be able to learn which are
receiving antenna etc. From these parameters, the the good genes and which are the bad ones thus performs a
performance of each design is calculated. Based on Darwin’s better search.
survival of the fittest, each design is given a chance to
propagate into the next generation. If the cdl planning design In Figure 1, the shaded portion is added into the traditional
is good, the chances of it being chosen into the new GA to enhance the GA making it an evolutionary learning
population is high and if the design is a poor one, the less technique.
chance of it being brought into the new population These
designs then undergo reproduction and mutation process
Case Study
where good genes from each design will hopefully be passed
on to the children chromosomes. This process repeats until the The basic ideas of propagation loss models are described
population converges to a satisfactory design. In a traditional above. In this paper, empirical models are more preferred for
GA, after each iteration, the old population is discarded, macro cell planning due to the calculation time, while
keeping only the new population. During this process, a large deterministic models are more suitable for micro and pic0 cell

136
planning. Semi-empirical or semi-deterministic models can
be applied for all the cases.
The macro cell propagation models are further divided into
three smaller districts, which are European-style city,
Japanese-style city and North American-style city. The
crowded city with tall buildings is considered as Japanese-
style, while the highly urbanized city with buildings of
uniform height can be treated as Enropean-style. In most of
the North-American cities, the buildings are organized such
that they form parallel rows with uniform height and width.
The user is allowed to select the style of the city. Different
Results
The optimisation was done on the city of Singapore. The
infrastructure of Singapore is more closely related to
Japanese-style city. Hence, the COST 231 Okumura-Hata
model is used to calculate the path loss so as to evaluate the
performance of each design for the city of Singapore.
The simulation result is shown below:
.... .~ . .

i
choice will lead to different propagation model. ..........

Ohmura-Hata Model combined with COST 23 I-Hata Model

s . . . . . . .:"

. . . . . . .:
. . . ... . .
4.
..~.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .7. .

-~
0.

covers the frequency from ISOMHz to 2000MHz. The ... :... ....
.... .>",
+! ' "'

parameters it uses are easy to obtain and commonly used.

Hence it is chosen to calculate the Japanese-style city's
propagation loss.
COST 231-Walfisch-Ikegami Model is based on the
Walfisch-Elertoni model and the Ikegami model. It includes
some empirical corrections to adapt the model to the features
of European cities.
Walfisch and Bertoni Model, which is also called the
diffracting screens model, is used to predict North American-
style city's propagation loss. It is a semi-deterministic model Figure 2. >Dimensional Signal Coverage of Singapore
suitable for homogeneous urban and suburban areas.
In this case study, cell planning for Singapore is performed.
As Singapore is a crowded city with nnmerous tall buildings,
a combination of the Okumura-Hata Model and COST 231-
Hata Model is used.

Optimisation of case study

The propagation loss prediction is used 10 evaluate the
performance of each design. The GA initialises a hundred sets
of parameters that defioe different cell planning designs. Each
sei of parameter contains information such as, the number of
base stations, the location of each base station, the height of
each base station, the gain of the base station antenna, the gain
of the mobile antenna and the power of the base station
transmitter. Using these parameters, the performance of each
of the cell planning design is evaluated based on path loss. A Figure 3. Location ofBase Stations
good design would be one that uses the least number of base
stations to provide coverage for the whole area with a The city is divided into a grid of 37 by 22. Each grid area is
specified threshold power. treated as a single point. Figure 2 shows a 3-dimensional view
of the received signal strength over the area of Singapore.
Afler calculating the performance of each design for the initial Figure 3 shows the signal strength and the location of the base
population, a new population is generated through the process stations.
of selection, crossover and mutation. Instead of discarding the
old population, the old population is passed to the learning
algorithm where information on the problem space is Discussion
extracted for use while the search continues. This allows a The cell planning simulation result was performed with the
more efficient search of the problem space and therefore second-generation mobile system or global system for mobile
achieve a much better result. communications (GSM) network.

137
Based on the results, with five macro cell base stations, and if [4] Xuemin Huang, “Automatic Cell Planning for Mobile
the path loss is the only factor considered, the city can almost Network Design: Optimization Models and Algorithms,”
be fully covered. Thesis, Universitat Karlsruhe, IO. Mai. 2001
It is also interesting to note that the eventual cell planning [5] David E. Goldberg, “Genetic Algorithm in Search,
design has placed most of the base stations in the central Optimization and Machine Learning,” Addison-Wesley
business district (CBD). The CBD is the most densely built up Pnh. Co., 1989.
area in Singapore and thus ~turallyneeds more base stations
to be located in the vicinity. Hence, based solely on path loss, [6] J C S Cheung, M A Beach, and J P McGeehan,
“Network Planning for Third-generation Mobile Radio
the optimiser was able to identify the dense area on the area of
Systems,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vo1.32,
interest. This shows the promising application of this
no.11, pp. 54-59.1994
optimiser for cell planning purposes.
[7] Simon R. Saunders, “Antem and Propagation for
The results shown have only 5 base stations. Of the 814 (grid
wireless communication system,” John Wiley & Sons,
of 37 by 22) grid areas of Singapore, 813 grid areas have
1999.
satisfied the desired threshold signal strength. The threshold
value has k e n made to be as high as possible. If this
threshold value if lowered, 814 grid areas would easily been
covered. Similarly, if a design with larger number of base
station is used, the city can easily be covered The choice of
design is a compromise between many different factors and
the eventual decision is by the user.

Summary
This paper studies the problems of cell planning, with the
focus on propagation loss prediction Most of the popular
propagation models are included in the optimiser to allow for
the automatic placement of base stations. A simulation is done
for GSM mobile network planning. The real topographical
data of Singapore is used in the case study. Results obtained
have shown a success use of an evolutionary learning
algorithm for the purpose of automatic cell planning.
There are many objectives that need to he optimised in cell
planning. In this paper, cell planning based on path loss
prediction has been presented. Ongoing work is done on other
cell planning factors such as traffic, quality of service, power
control, cost of infrastructure.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to take this opportunity to thank Peter
Chong, Han Joo for valuable suggestions and comments on
the work.

Reference
[l] Jesus Perez & Manuel F. Catedra, “Cell Planning for
Wireless Communications”
[2] Zhang Liyang, “Cell Planning and Channel Assignment
for Cellular Mobile communication System,” Thesis
[3] Xuemin Huang, Ulrich Behr and Werner Wiesbeck,
“Automatic Base Station Placement and Dimensioning
for Mobile Network Planning,” IEEE Vehicular
Technology Conf VTC2000 Fa//

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