06 WCDMA Site Survey

Internal
WCDMA Site Survey
www.huawei.com
HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. HUAWEI Confidential

During WCDMA network construction, the
survey on NodeB is intended to provide
detailed construction solutions for the
implementation of network construction to
guide goods preparation, engineering
construction, installation and debugging, and
so on.
The survey results may affect the quality and
smooth implementation of a whole project.
HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. HUAWEI Confidential Page 2

 After studying this course, you will be able to:
 Be familiar with the process of NodeB survey.

 Master the rules of selecting a NodeB site.
 Understand the design of the antenna system.
 Know the output documents during NodeB
survey.

Chapter 1 Definition of Roles in NodeB
Survey
Chapter 2 NodeB Survey Process
Chapter 3 NodeB Survey Report

Definition of Roles in NodeB Survey
 Role definition
− Radio network planning manager: is responsible for the overall
planning result as a general organizer for network planning.
− Network planning survey personnel: completes field survey
including spectrum test and site survey under the guidance of the
radio network planning manager, and outputs the Site Survey Report
and Spectrum Test Report.
− Engineering survey personnel: cooperates with the network
planning survey personnel to complete site survey.

Survey

NodeB Survey Process
ideal sites list
Output search
rings
Are the sites shared No

with 2G sites? Obtain the
alternative
sites
Ye
s
Perform site
survey
Does the site No

meet the
requirement?
Yes
Output a
survey
report

Coordination Meeting for NodeB Survey
 Before the survey starts, notify relevant personnel to participate in the
coordination meeting for survey preparation and complete the following
tasks:
 Know the local electromagnetic background and conduct a spectrum test
if necessary.
 Determine and dispatch the survey and cooperation personnel.
 Prepare necessary vehicles and devices.
 Work out a survey plan and determine the survey route. If the area to be
surveyed is large, divide it into different parts and survey them at the
same time.
 Work out preliminary solutions for transmission and power supply.
 Communicate with the operator to determine the band, antenna azimuth
and tilt angle of the existing antenna system in the shared site.
 After fully communicating with the operator, make sure that the areas the
operator focuses on are within the coverage of the local site. Know these
major coverage areas before the survey.

Preparations for NodeB Survey
 After knowing the general situation of the project, try your best to
collect various types of information related to the project,
including:
 Engineering file
 Background information
 Situation of the existing network
 Local map marked with ideal sites
 Contract configuration list
 Latest NodeB survey form for network planning
WCDMA NodeB
Survey Form

 Get in touch with the marketing personnel or the relevant
personnel in the Engineering Department, and record the
phone number of the regional office, operator’s address,
contact’s phone number of the operator, as well as how to
arrive at the site.
 Prepare relevant tools and ensure that they are available
before departure. The tools include:
 Digital camera
 GPS satellite receiver
 Compass
 Tape/laser rangefider
 Portable computer
 Telescope

Tool Usage Precautions
Used to take photos for the

Charge the digital camera in time before using it and check
surrounding radio propagation
Digital camera the battery capacity. It is recommended to carry the camera
environment, roof and shared site of
charger.
the NodeB.
GPS can be used only when more than three satellites are
Used to determine the longitude and searched. In addition, the GPS should be located in the
GPS
latitude of the NodeB. place that is open enough. The projection format is set to
WGS84 and the longitude and latitude format to XX.XXXX˚.
Used to determine the antenna Do not near the iron materials (including the antenna bracket
Compass
azimuth. and antenna pole) to ensure the measurement precision.
Portable
Used to record and save the data.
computer
Tape Used to measure the length.
Used to observe the surrounding

Telescope
environment.
Laser rangefider Used to measure the height of
(optional) buildings.

Precautions on Selecting a NodeB Site
 The network planning personnel need to have an overall understanding of the coverage
area and determine the ideal sites.
 The survey personnel select and survey the preplanned sites one by one. When none
of the sites meet the requirement, the network planning personnel need to determine
alternative sites.
 For complicated coverage areas, the actual propagation test is sometimes needed to
check whether the candidate site can meet the coverage requirement.
 After confirming an ideal site, you need to communicate with the landlord or the land
owner to buy or rent it.
 If no alternative site meets the requirement, you need to re-select a NodeB or change
the coverage requirement till a site selection plan meeting the actual coverage
requirement is available.

Principles for Selecting a NodeB Site
 Specific principles for site selection are as

follows:
a. The site should be located in the ideal position of the
regular mesh. An alternative site should be selected
from the R/4 search ring. Theoretical
site position

b. In the case that the layout of NodeB is not affected, try to select the existing facilities to reduce
construction cost and shorten the construction period.
c. Avoid selecting a site on the mountain peak of a high altitude (100 m to 300 m higher than the
altitude of the urban areas) at the edge of urban areas or in the suburban areas. This facilitates
you to control the coverage range and reduces the difficulty of engineering construction, thus
realizing convenient maintenance.
d. Build a NodeB in the place with convenient transportation, available mains, secure environment
and few arable lands occupied.
e. Avoid building a site near a large-power radio transmitter, a radar station or other interference
sources.
f. Build a NodeB in the place far away from the woods to avoid fast fading of the received signals.
g. Consider the impact of signal reflection and time dispersion when selecting a site in the
mountainous areas, in steep or dense lake areas, in highland cities, or in environment with high-
storey metal buildings.

h. Flexibly use the height of buildings when selecting a site among buildings in the urban area
to realize network hierarchy.
i. When there are a few NodeBs at the initial phase of network construction, ensure that the
major areas of the selected sites are well covered.
j. Avoid setting the cell edge in the dense user area. Good coverage means that there is only
one primary coverage cell.
k. The first Fresnel zone of the antenna should be free from obstructions.
l. Consider construction on a long-term basis.
m. If a site is selected based on capacity expansion of the existing network, consider the
compatibility with the NodeB in the existing network during site selection.

Typical Problems During Site Selection
 Unreasonable cell layout imposes a

great impact on network
performance, which is more
remarkable in the WCDMA network.
1. Weak signal zone and signal
blind zone: Too long inter-NodeB
distance, building obstruction and
insufficient indoor coverage will
cause weak signal zones and
signal blind zones.

2. Too large overlapped coverage zone:

When there are too many NodeBs, too
short inter-NodeB distance, improper
forward power allocation and bad
control over cell coverage will make the
inter-NodeB overlapped zone too large
and cause a high softer handover ratio.
Too many strong pilot signals will result
in pilot pollution, BLER and even call
drop.

3. Overreach coverage: Overreach
coverage may occurs when you
construct a NodeB on the high
mountains in the urban or
suburban areas or on the too high
buildings. After you determine the
site and the direction of the main
lobe of the antenna and feeder,
overreach coverage also occurs if
the cell direction is consistent with
the direction of such clutters with
the waveguide effect as the streets
and rivers.

Detailed NodeB Survey
 Shooting the site

 After arriving at a site, take one to two photos of the overall structure of the entry
to the alternative site, the relevant building or the tower.
 Collecting the longitude and latitude information of the NodeB
 Before collecting the longitude and latitude information using GPS on the top of a
building, set the coordinate format of the GPS to WGS-84 and the display format
of the longitude and latitude to XX.XXXX˚. If the operator has other formats, set
them as required by the operator.
 Fill in Network Planning Survey Form for XXX Site in XXX Project on the site
after getting the longitude and latitude information.

 Propagation environment surrounding the NodeB
 Beginning with the North, record the height and the distance to the local NodeB
of the buildings or natural barriers that have the same height as the antenna or
are higher than the antenna in various directions within 500 m of the NodeB.
 Shoot the surrounding radio propagation environment on the antenna
installation platform: beginning with 0˚ (namely the North), shoot the
surrounding radio propagation environment clockwise with the step of 30˚ from
12 directions. On each photo, you need to mark the shooting position and
direction on the finished schematic diagram of the roof plane.
 Observe whether there are antenna systems of other operators near the site
and record them if any.
 Others
Correctly fill in Network Planning Survey Form for XXX Site in XXX
Project on the site.

 Taking photos and drawing a sketch

of the geographical location
 When taking photos, record the angle
information of photos for future
archiving.

 Taking photos and drawing a sketch of the geographical location

 Save the photos in the format that is as small as possible under the
condition that they can be viewed clearly .

 Roof information
 Not constructed sites: On the
roof diagram, mark the installation
position of the antenna and the
basic direction of the cabling rack.
 Constructed sites: The
installation position of an antenna
is restricted by many factors. The
spatial position information of the
antenna installation platform and
the antenna and feeder
parameters of the co-site
heterogeneous systems affect the
installation position of the antenna
to a great extent.

Survey and Design of the Antenna
System
Solution to the antenna system
As an important part of the NodeB
system, the antenna system refers to Jumper for the antenna and feeder
the channel part from the antenna to Grounding facility
the top of the cabinet. It consists of the Fixing facility
antenna, feeder, jumper, tower-
Feeder
mounted amplifier, lightning arrester,
grounding clip, feeder clip, feeder
window, and so on. Grounding facility
Indoor jumper
Tower for the antennas and feeders NodeB

Survey and Design of the Antenna System
Tower mounted amplifier (TMA) is installed on a tower and is near to the
antenna. A ½ jumper of 2m to 3m long is used to connect the TMA and
antenna. The received signal from the antenna can be amplified by the TMA
with a small attenuation. The TMA can improve system sensitivity and uplink
coverage. In addition, it can also reduce the Tx power of the user equipment
(UE) and noise interference within the system, thus improving conversation
quality.
Tower mounted amplifier
Filter for
transmitted signals
Feed current of
the tower Antenna
mounted Bypass
amplifier
Filter for Filter for

Low noise received
received
amplifier signals
signals

Survey and Design of the Antenna System
— Classification of Antennas
 By the radiation direction:

 Directional antenna and omni-directional antenna
 By the appearance:
 Panel antenna, cap antenna, whip antenna and aperture antenna
 By polarization:
 Single polarization antenna and dual polarization antenna

Survey and Design of the Antenna System—
Selection of Antennas
 Selecting an antenna for the dense urban and urban NodeB
 The directional antenna with a horizontal half-power angle ranging from
60˚ to 65˚ is usually selected to realize 3 sectors.
 Intermediate gain antenna (about 15 dBi) for low frequency band (UMTS
900MHz), High gain antenna (18 dBi) for high frequency band( UMTS
2000Mhz).
 The antenna downtilt should be designed according to site situations,
normally from 4˚ to 10˚ with suitable height.
 Electric tilt angle antenna (ranging from 2˚ to 6˚) is recommended and
antenna supported should realize 0˚ to 15˚
 A dual polarization antenna is recommended.
 The main beam of antenna should be direct to high traffic area, import
buildings or regions (airport, emporium, gym, government, hotel, etc)
 Installed antenna locations should be far away to other system
transmitter (like GSM, CDMA, TV tower and other RF
transmitter) to guarantee the isolation and without obvious
obstacle to block or reflect.
Selection of Antennas
 Selecting an antenna for the suburban NodeB
 Select a directional antenna with a horizontal half-power angle
ranging from 65˚ or 90˚ according to the actual situation.
 The intermediate or high gain antenna of 15 dBi to 18 dBi is
selected according to frequency band and NodeB density.
 The antenna downtilt should be designed according to site
situations, normally from 0˚ to 6˚ with suitable height.
 Generally, preset tilt antenna is unnecessary.
 Both dual and vertical polarization antennas can be used.
 The main beam of antenna should be direct to high traffic area,
import buildings or regions
transmitter (like GSM, CDMA, TV tower and other RF
transmitter) to guarantee the isolation and without obvious
obstacle to block or reflect.

Selection of Antenna
 Selecting an antenna for the rural NodeB
 Select a directional antenna or an omnidirectional antenna of 90˚
or 120˚ according to the actual situation and requirement.
 The gain of the selected directional antenna is usually high (about
18dBi).
 Generally, the antenna with a preset tilt angle is not selected and
downtilt was set as 0˚ . Electric tilt angle antenna (ranging from 0˚ to
10˚) can be used in special scenery (high mountain site)
 The null filling antenna is preferred in the high NodeB (higher than
400m for directional antenna and 200m for omni antenna).
 A vertical polarization antenna is recommended.
transmitter (like GSM, CDMA, TV tower and other RF transmitter)
to guarantee the isolation and without obvious obstacle to block or
reflect.

 Selecting an antenna for the NodeB on the road
 Usually, the directional antenna with a narrow beam and high gain
(21~22dBi) is selected. The 8-shaped antenna (14dBi),
omnidirectional and deformed omnidirectional antenna (12dBi)
can also be selected according to the actual situation.
 The antenna with a preset tilt angle is usually not selected and
downtilt was set as 0˚ . because the NodeB on the road has a high
requirement for the coverage distance.
 A vertical polarization antenna is recommended .
 The front-back ratio of the selected directional antenna should not be
too high.
transmitter (like GSM, CDMA, TV tower and other RF transmitter)
to guarantee the isolation and without obvious obstacle to block or
reflect.

 Selecting an antenna for tunnels

 For tunnels shorter than two kilometers
－ The 10-12dBi Yagi/log periodic antenna/panel antenna is
recommended. You are usually recommended to install them at the
tunnel entrance to cover road tunnels shorter than 2 km.
 For tunnels longer than two kilometers
－ The leaky cables, coaxial cables and distributed fiber systems are
recommended.

 Selecting an indoor antenna

 Omnidirectional antenna
－ Small, vertical polarization, and cap or cup antennas with the
gain of 2dBi are recommended. Such antennas are of good
appearance and easy to install.
 Directional antenna
－ Vertical polarization directional antennas with the horizontal
half-power angle of 90˚ and the gain of 7dBi are
recommended.

Installation of Antenna
Installation environment is divided into environment near the antenna
and environment near the NodeB. For environment near the antenna,
you need to consider the antenna isolation and the impact of the
tower and the floor. For environment near the NodeB, you need to
consider the impact of the buildings within 500 m on radio
propagation.
Clearance
requirements
surrounding the
antenna
Requirements for antenna

installation against the wall

When installing the NodeB antenna, we need to consider whether
the antenna will cause a large shadow in its coverage area. In
addition, we also need to install the antenna in the place away from
the barriers. For example, antennas should be installed along the
edge of the building top to prevent the roof from obstructing radio
signals.
Distance (m) from the Height (m) from the bottom

antenna to the edge of the of the antenna to the roof of
building the building

You can analyze mutual interference between the GSM BTS and the NodeB
from the following aspects:
 Blocking of the GSM BTS on the NodeB
 Spurious impact of the GSM BTS on the reception band of the NodeB
 Blocking of the NodeB on the GSM BTS
 Spurious impact of the NodeB on the GSM reception band
Usually, to meet the isolation requirement for blocking and spurious

emission, antenna isolation is required to exceed 30 dB when the WCDMA,
GSM and DCS share a site.

Survey and Design of the Antenna system —
Antenna Installation Spacing
 In space diversity, the spacing between two Rx antennas should range from 12 λ to
18 λ. 1 λ is equal to 0.15 m (2 GHz).
 The higher the antenna is installed, the larger the horizontal spacing of antenna
diversities is. Usually, the horizontal spacing of diversity antennas is 0.11 time as
much as the valid height of the antenna.
 To reach the same diversity effect, the vertical diversity spacing must be five to six
times as much as the horizontal diversity spacing.
 To reduce mutual impacts
between two antennas, the
horizontal spacing of diversity
Diversity distance
antennas need to exceed 3 m of the directional
no matter what the valid height antenna
of the antenna is.

Survey

Survey Documents
WCDMA NodeB Survey Report
Involves the network construction background, pre-planning solution,
NodeB engineering parameter list, NodeB distribution diagram, and so on.
WCDMA NodeB Survey Form during Network Planning
Involves the antenna installation position, engineering parameters of
various sectors, surrounding environment of the antenna, and so on.
Survey Memo
WCDMA Engineering Parameter List
WCDMA NodeB WCDMA NodeB WCDMA Site WCDMA

Survey Report Survey Form Survey Memo Engineering Parameter List

Thank you!
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06 WCDMA Site Survey

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Internal

WCDMA Site Survey

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. HUAWEI Confidential

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. HUAWEI Confidential Page 2

 Be familiar with the process of NodeB survey.

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Chapter 2 NodeB Survey Process

Chapter 3 NodeB Survey Report

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Chapter 2 NodeB Survey Process

Chapter 3 NodeB Survey Report

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Are the sites shared No

Does the site No

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Used to take photos for the

Tape Used to measure the length.

Used to observe the surrounding

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 Specific principles for site selection are as

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 Unreasonable cell layout imposes a

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2. Too large overlapped coverage zone:

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 Shooting the site

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 Taking photos and drawing a sketch

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 Taking photos and drawing a sketch of the geographical location

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Tower for the antennas and feeders NodeB

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Filter for Filter for

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 By the radiation direction:

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 Selecting an antenna for tunnels

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 Selecting an indoor antenna

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Requirements for antenna

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Distance (m) from the Height (m) from the bottom

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Usually, to meet the isolation requirement for blocking and spurious

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Chapter 2 NodeB Survey Process

Chapter 3 NodeB Survey Report

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