4/4/24, 15:11 5G Link Budget in Short !

5G Link Budget in Short !

Rachid Lamali Seguir
Solution Architect at Ericsson Spain
Fecha de publicación: 1 nov 2019

Author : Rachid Lamali

The following article is intended mainly to understand the difference and the relation
between dimensioning 5G network based on link budget calculation and detail
planning using planning tool.

Hopefully by going through the article, following doubts will be cleared:

What is 5G link budget?

What are the use cases of 5G link budget calculation?

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Can we design a network just based on link budget calculation and ignore the use of
planning tool?

Can link budget output be used as inputs for planning tool? if yes which are theses inputs?

It is possible to use planning tool outputs into link budget calculation?

Does link budget calculation compliment and verify a network design ?

What is Link Budget ?

The link budget is the calculation of total gain and loss in the system to conclude the
receive signal level (RSL) at the receiver. The receive signal level is then compared to
the receiver sensitivity to check if the channel status is pass or fail.

The channel status is "Pass" if the receive signal level (RSL) is better than the reception
sensitivity, else it is "Fail".

I have prepared the following figure with some example values to illustrate the
different inputs parameters used for the link budget calculation:

The following formula is used to calculate the 5G link budget received signal level (RSL)
:
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Signal Level at receiver (dBm) = gNodeB transmit power (dBm) – 10 x log10

(subcarrier quantity) + gNodeB antenna gain (dBi) – gNodeB cable loss (dB) – Path loss
(dB) - penetration loss (dB) – foliage loss (dB) – body block loss (dB) – interference
margin (dB) – rain/ice margin (dB) – slow fading margin (dB) – body block loss (dB) +
UE antenna gain (dB) .....................(1)

In the above figure example the RSL calculated value is 77 dBm and the reception
sensitivity is -93 and the link status is "Pass".

Usually the limiting link is the Up-link and it is

recommended to calculate Down-link and Up-link
and consider the worst

To calculate the path loss, we need to use suitable propagation model for 5G (5G use
3D propagation models defined in 3GPP 36.873. The UMa, UMi, and RMa models are
applicable to frequency bands 2–6 GHz and then are extended to 0.5–100 GHz in 3GPP
38.901).

For example and if we consider the UMa model for Line Of Sight (LOS) case, the path
loss formula is given as following :

Path loss =28.0+22 log_10⁡( d)+20 log_10⁡( f_c) .....................(2)

It is clear from above formula and to calculate the path loss, we require the information
of "d" which is the distance between the transmitter and receiver (cell radius) and the
center frequency (f_c).

If the cell radius correspond to max cell range, then

the path loss will correspond to maximum allowed
path loss (MAPL).

Once we know the value of path loss , then it is possible to calculate the received signal
level which will be compared to the receiver sensitivity.

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Receiver sensitivity, depend on Thermal noise power (dBm), noise figure (dB),
demodulation threshold SINR (dB). The receiver sensitivity is calculated using below
formula:

Receiver sensitivity (dBm) = Noise figure (dB) + Thermal Noise (dBm) + SINR (dB)

The Thermal noise is calculated using following formula : K * T * BW where "K" is

Boltzmann constant and "T" is the temperature in Kelvin and "BW" is the bandwidth.

The Noise Figure and SINR are vendor specific values which depend mainly on
hardware performance and MCS table (Modulation Coding Scheme).

You can implement the formula (1) into excel and

vary the cell radius until the receive signal level is
better or equal to receiver sensitivity.

In case you want to conclude directly what will be the cell radius that correspond to
specific reception sensitivity , we can use the link budget formula (1) and replace the
Signal Level at receiver (dBm) with the reception sensitivity.

The reception sensitivity is equal to: Thermal noise power (dBm) + UE noise figure (dB) +
demodulation threshold SINR (dB) ..............(3)

BY replacing the formula (3) into (1), the path loss is equal to:

Path loss (dB) = gNodeB transmit power (dBm) – 10 x log10 (subcarrier quantity) +
gNodeB antenna gain (dBi) – gNodeB cable loss (dB) – penetration loss (dB) – foliage loss
(dB) – body block loss (dB) – interference margin (dB) – rain/ice margin (dB) – slow fading
margin (dB) – body block loss (dB) + UE antenna gain (dB) – Thermal noise power (dBm)
– UE noise figure (dB) – demodulation threshold SINR (dB) ..........................(4)

Once the path loss is calculated and by knowing the center frequency , we can conclude
the cell radius by using path loss formula :

Path Loss (PL) =28.0+22 log_10⁡( d)+20 log_10⁡( f_c) .............(5)

We conclude the cell radius "d" from formula (5) and it is given by bellow formula:

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d= 10 Power ((PL-28-20*Log1_10(f_c))/22) ....................(6)

Example if path loss is equal to 78.4 dB , then the Cell radius is 120m !

Looking back to path loss formula (4), we conclude

that the main factor controlling the value of path
loss is the demodulation threshold SINR (dB) which
means for higher SINR values (better modulation),
the path loss is lower and therefore the Cell radius is
smaller ! ... more number of 5G base stations are
required

Use case of link budget

Till now , hope you have good idea about link budget calculation and if so , it is clear
that link budget allow us to either calculate the cell radius (R) by a given reception
sensitivity or calculate the received signal level (RSL) for a given cell radius and
compare the same to the reception sensitivity to check the channel status (Pass or Fail).

The reception sensitivity is mainly based on the capacity requirements (throughput) as

SINR value is directly linked to how much throughput we want to achieve at the cell
edge !

By knowing the cell radius (R), we can conclude the square area cover by one base
station using below formula :

S =pi *R^2 ..................(7)

Finally, the required 5G base station is calculated as following

# 5G gNodeB = (Total are surface of the cluster in Sq Km / S) ..........(8)

Knowing the number 5G base station required for given cluster is very much required
for pre-sale activities since creating the project in planning tool is time taking.

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One of the main use case of link budget is pre-sale activity for 5G deployment
proposal. Knowing the number of 5G sites will help the vendor and operator to
estimate the cost and effort. Link budget calculation allow us also to estimate the
achieved capacity based on different quality requirements (SINR).

Can we design a network just based on link budget calculation and ignore the use of planning
tool?

The answer is "NO" as the link budget calculation will not provide the location of sites
(latitude and longitude). Also even if the sites location are given based on existing 4G
location, there is no option in link budget to run a 5G site selection!

Planning tools like Planet, Atoll, Asset,.. offer the functionality of site selection and 5G
green field planning.

Can link budget output be used as inputs for planning tool? if yes which are theses inputs?

As said earlier, one of the main outputs of link budget are:

Cell radius

Number of 5G required base station

Achieved capacity and throughput (at cell edge)

It is possible also to get above outputs using a planning tool but it will require time to
create the project and import the physical data, maps , network configuration and
running of prediction and analysis.

The key factor for both calculation (link budget or

planning tool) is the used propagation model ! Even
same propagation model is used in Link budget and
planning tool, the cell radius will be different ! The
planning tool use complex calculation based on the
terrain model, clutter and buildings information and
consider the propagation factors such as reflection,
diffraction and details calculation for the

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attenuation caused by different obstacle (building,

trees,..).

Detail analysis on planning tool require to run Monte Carlo simulation and that is more
time taking and detail inputs are required (user maps,..). To run static analysis in
planning tool some of the inputs like the SS-RSRP Threshold and up link number of
resource block per user can be obtained from the link budget simulation.

Below figure is showing NR Analysis settings in Planet tool:

It is possible to use planning tool outputs into link budget calculation?

In case 3D maps are available, it is possible to create 5G project and place different
sites into different clutter type (Ex: Dense Urban, Urban, Sub Urban and Rural) and run
3D prediction (using 3D models like Planet P3M, Planet Universal model, Atoll Aster or
Atoll CrossWave,..). The prediction can be further calibrated with CW using CW
measurement.

The idea is to measure the obtained cell radius at similar coverage threshold which is
used in Link budget calculation (Ex: reception sensitivity) and try to adjust the

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propagation model in link budget till having the similar radius from the planning tool. It
is kind of calibration of the link budget propagation model.

Below figure is showing an example of cell radius of 209 m measured at level between
-100 ~ -105 dBm.

Can link budget calculation compliment and verify a network designed based on planning tool?

If no much deviation in the used propagation model, link budget may provide fair
estimation of the number of sites which can be fine tuned further with deep dive
design using planning tool.

To conclude the article, the link budget calculation is a fast way to estimate the
coverage and capacity requirements and the output is not necessary to be correlated
to planning tool based radio design.

Thanks and hope you have enjoyed reading !

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Recomendar Comentar Compartir 74 · 13 comentarios

Ankur Tomar 9 meses

Wireless Support

Every value you mentioned in dB, is it correct?

Recomendar · Responder 1 reacción

Hicham Cherier 1 año

Why we should add the "10 x log10 (subcarrier quantity)" ?

Recomendar · Responder 1 reacción

Mohammed Sadiq Balbale 1 año

Senior Specialist

Very good Information and nicely explained on 5G link Budget, Thanks Brother 😊

Recomendar · Responder 2 reacciones

Giriessh Mmaurya 3 años

Senior Manager at Ericsson

Good one Rachid!! Thanks a lot for sharing

Recomendar · Responder 2 reacciones

Kamel HAMTANE 4 años

Process Digital Transformation Professional

article bien exposé et riche d'informations ,merci pour ton effort.

Recomendar · Responder 2 reacciones

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