Wireless Network Planning

Mobile Research Institute Network

Planning & Optimization Department
Objective

After taking this course, you will be able to :

 know the planning details and what to collect
 know how to make capacity planning
 know how to make coverage planning
 know steps to take and notice to be observed during site survey
 know coverage emulation and frequency planning
Category

Network Planning Information Gathering

Capacity Planning
Coverage Planning
Site Distribution & Survey
Coverage Emulation
Frequency Planning
 Network Planning Information
Gathering
Information Gathering Diagnosis

Material of mobile service forecast Wave transmitting environment survey

●forecast of all kinds of phone users
●user distribution, such as ratio of urban users to su
burban users
●opinion of operators towards user number forseen
●comparison of user numbers among similar cities
Existing network equipment & operator profile
●existing mobile user number and annual growth rate
●ratio of urban user number to suburban user number
●configuration and distributing status of existing
mobile network MSC, BSC and BTS.
●recent traffic statistics report and drive test report of
mobile network
●operators’ appraisal towards existing network and
also suggestions toward network development
City
planning material
●city: provincial & industrial cities, and seaport
●city populace and agricultural populace
●existing and future coverage of cities and suburbs
●distribution of urban industrial zone, commercial zone,
residential zone and traveling zone
●construction and development plan of economic zone
●status and developing plan of roads and transportation
●maps including district maps and city planning maps
●terrain, plain, hilly terrain and hills
●height and density of land building and
high building distribution
● road path, width and wood distribution
Analysis of network traffic distribution
●urban industrial zone, commercial zone,
residential zone, traveling zone and high
tech park
●distribution of high traffic density, medium
demand traffic density and low traffic density
analysis
Network coverage and quality analysis
●investigation of coverage range, coverage
quality and voice quality (DT)
● statistics analysis of interface of A, Abis c
obra and OMC
Interference diagnosis
●distributing and using status of existing
frequency
●whether channel to be used is occupied or
interfered (clear frequency)
 Network Planning Information Collection

Demand analysis

Frequency Coverage Capacity Traffic Model Other

  scheme of
limited  KPI  redundancy  data traffic
frequency  operators/
traffic and other model
used existing
distributing requirements  User type
 usable website
ratio  traffic and rate of
bandwidth  number and
planning distributing data traffic
and site
area size ratio  voice traffic
frequency configuration
 traffic model
 transmitting
band demand and
 frequency ambience
system
 electronic
resources capacity
map exists
or bought?
 Network Planning Information Collection

 Network planning information collecting template

Microsoft Excel
¹¤×÷±í
？
1. What is necessary information?

2. What is supplementary info?

Inadequate
info
Catalog

Network planning information collection

Capacity planning
Coverage planning
Site distribution and survey
Coverage emulation
Frequency planning
 Capacity Planning
Basic concepts
Traffic is the total of telephone calls on one group of lines or trunk. Busy-hour traffic A
is the maximum traffic on the busiest hour of system or line. A= a * b * t. Of which, a is
Traffic everyday call times (originating and terminating) per user , b is busy-hour to day
volume ratio( busy-hour traffic divided by daytime traffic), and t is average call duration.
Suppose one user has calls for 6 times per day, each time lasts 2 minutes and b is 0.15.
therefore, A=0.03Erl
Traffic model is the fundamental of radio network planning that defines the value

Traffic of important parameters that may affect system capacity including average busy-hour t
model raffic of each user and call loss rate).

One Erlang refers to the traffic load either when a circuit is fully occupied for
Erland
... a hour or when two circuits are fully occupied for half an hour.

Call loss refers to calls dropped when the channels in one mobile telecommunicati
on system are exhausted, then call can’t be put through and thus got lost. It’s als
Call
... loss
rate o called blocked call. Radio call loss rate GOS is call block rate. According to the
rules in Public Mobile Telephone Network Technology System, radio channel loss rate i
s less than 5% and less than 2% in traffic-dense area.
Erlang B tab Defines the relation between call loss, channel number and traffic vo
le lume.
 Capacity Planning

Capacity Planning Procedures

1 2 3 4 5
Capacity information Traffic distributing Site model and nu Site distribution Network size
gathering analysis mber

 Set parameter value  Get capacity  Get number of  Get site distributing  Reach target in
distributing rate estimated site status and their accordance with
configured latitude and longitude capacity planning
 Capacity Planning
1
Capacity Info Gathering

 Network type: GSM900, DCS1800, dual-band network or WLL network ？

 System capacity demand. That is, how many users in the system and how heavy the traffic is?
 Traffic model of the voice service?
 Equipment type: V2/V3? Model? Indoor or outdoor? DPCT applied in V3 or not? Rate of adopting
DPCT?
 Is data service required? EDG frequency? Data service penetration rate? Traffic model of data se
rvice?
 What is frequency resource range ? Is there frequency that are prohibited? Maximum site configu
ration is?
 Make forecast and investigation of traffic density distribution and define capacity distributing rate.

return
 Capacity planning
2
Traffic distributing analysis

Traffic are mostly in big and medium-sized cities and especially in the downtown of the
city. Even in this area, there are denser traffic areas. So if these factor are not taken
into consideration during network construction, it will lead to the waste of equipment
resource in mean-traffic area and inadequacy of dense-traffic capacity and thus affects
network investment profit and service quality.
Traffic distributing analysis is to categorize the planning area into areas of different
service levels based on forecast and survey of traffic density distribution and use it as the
foundation in site
扇面 5 distributing planning.
7%
扇面 4
11%
●how many phases and what is the ratio of users in
扇面 1
41% each phase
扇面 3
15%
●what is the planning area range and the traffic
distributing ratio in DU/MU/SU/RU.
●Provide existing sites and their configuration and
扇面 2 performance statistics report data
26%
 Capacity planning

2
Traffic distributing analysis

Service level Ⅰ: by radio transmitting environment

Area Topographic features

Average height of surrounding buildings is more than 30 metres (over 10 storey) and average distan
Dense
ce between buildings is 10-20 metres. Usually the buildings are crowded around the site with
urban
the height of 10-20 stories and the ambient roads are not considerablly wide.

Average height of surrounding buildings is about 15-30 metres (5-9 storey) and average distance be
urban tween buildings is 10-20 metres. The buildings are evenly distributed around the site. Mostly are
below 9 stories and some are over 9 stories and the ambient roads are not considerably wide.

Average height of surrounding buildings is about 10-15 metres (3-5 storey) and average distance be
suburb tween buildings is 30-50 metres. The buildings are evenly distributed around the site. Mostly are
3-4 stories and some are over 4 stories. Roads around are wide.

Average height of surrounding buildings is below 10 metres. They are dispersed and
rural
mainly are 1-2 storey high. There are spacious space between.
 Capacity Planning

2
Traffic Distributing Analysis
Service level Ⅱ: by service distributing area

Area Distribution Features

Traffic is heavy and rate shall be high,

Dense urban which is the focus of data service Radio transmitting
development
environment and service
Traffic is relatively heavy and rate should
distributing factors should all
Mean urban be comparatively high. Data service is
required be taken into consideration.

Traffic is low and only low-speed and data

suburb
service are provided

Traffic is quite low. Site is for coverage

rural purpose and consequently data service
quality are not ensured.

return
 Capacity Planning
3
Site Model & Number
 Estimate maximum configuration and capacity of each site based on frequency resources and
frequency reusing mode. Total traffic volume divided by site capacity is site number.
 Number of sites configured in different areas of each phase.
 Channel number (service channel number and control channel number) of a cell or site as
well as their traffic volume and user number.
 Totaling of sites capacity. Also called network capacity.
Total Traffic
Network Scale Coverage Planning
Traffic volume &
distributing ratio Traffic per site
Site configuration
& number Capacity per site Model configuration

Start
Frequency reuse Channel planning Capacity of each cell
method & data service
Frequency resources ERL B table
Maximum
configuration
Traffic model
 Capacity Planning

3
Model & Site Nu
mber

 Capacity planning is to
add or reduce sites based
on radio coverage
planning and analysis.
Capacity planning is a
Capacity Network Coverage
Planning Scale Planning repeated, gradual process
helping to decide site
number and model
distribution.
Catalog

Network Planning Information Gathering

Capacity Planning
Coverage Planning
Site Distribution & Survey
Coverage Emulation
Frequency Planning
 Coverage Planning

Process

1 2 3 4 Site distribu- 5
Set network Link budget Coverage radius tion & coverage e Network scale
parameter estimate mulation

 Get allowable max

 Get estimated  Get information of  Target the goal of
 Set parameter coverage radius of
path loss distribution as well coverage planning
each site as latitude &
longitude of sites
 Coverage Planning
1
Set network parameter

 Network category: GSM900,DCS1800, dual-band or WLL network?

 Equipment type: V2 or V3? Model? Indoor or outdoor? Apply DPCT in V3? DPCT ratio?
 Carrier Transmission power is 40W ， 60W ， 80W? Are data service required? EDGE carrier
frequency ？
 Antenna model: antenna gains, horizontal and vertical beam width, antenna downtilt, po
larization mode and electrical downtilt etc.
 Antenna parameter: antenna available height, directional angle and downtile.
 Apply tower top amplifier?
 Feeder type: 7/8 feeder or 15/8 feeder?
 Maximum site configuration is? Are there special requirements toward configuration of
combining and distribution unit?
 What is KPI? What is level and area coverage rate? Which new technology will be adopte
d in V3 site, DDT? IRC? or FWDR?

return
 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget

 Definition: analyze the factors that may affect uplink and downlink signaling
transmission, evaluate the coverage capacity of the system and get maximum
transmission loss allowed by the link with call quality ensured.
 Object: Purpose of analysis and computing of both uplink and downlink power is to get
maximum available power of the site, avoid invalid downlink coverage, reduce
interference and system noise, which lays a foundation for quality service.
 Get allowable maximum indoor & outdoor path loss of uplink and downlink according to
budget of uplink and downlink.
 The smaller of allowable maximum indoor & outdoor path loss of uplink and downlink is
considered to be the allowed maximum indoor & outdoor path loss of the same efficiency
and set it to be the loss when estimating radius coverage.

Uplink Downlink
 Coverage Planning
2
Link budget

Fading margin
Antenna Penetration loss
gain

Transmission
Feeder loss
loss Body loss
MS power

Site sensitivity
PA

Put it in a simple way, link budget is the computing of loss and gains on one
telecommunication link.
 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget

template Microsoft Excel

¹¤×÷±í

Network Type & Equipment Margin reservation

 Transmission power and reception
sensitivity of MS/BTS  Fast fading margin
 Maximum site configuration  Slow fading margin
affect the selection of  Interference magin
combining and distribution unit Link Budget

Losses Gains
 Path loss  Building
 Body loss penetration loss  Site antenna gain
 Apartment  Feeder and  MS antenna gain
loss connector loss  TMA gain
 Vegetation  Combiner and
loss splitter loss
 Coverage Planning
2 equipment margin reservation
Link Budget link
budget
losses gains

Complying with GSM protocol ， transmission power are showed as follows ：

Power class GSM 900 Nominal DCS 1800 Nomin PCS 1900 Nomina
Maximum output p al Maximum output l Maximum output
ower power power

1 1 W (30 dBm) 1 W (30 dBm)

2 8 W (39 dBm) 0.25 W (24 dBm) 0.25 W (24 dBm)

3 5 W (37 dBm) 4 W (36 dBm) 2 W (33 dBm)

4 2 W (33 dBm)

5 0.8 W (29 dBm)

 Coverage Planning
2
Equipment
Link Budget
Transmission power, Reception sensibility and biggest site
configuration of GSM BTS V2 and V3 are as follows:
Series Moduling mode Transmission power Reception sensibility Biggest site config

GMSK 60 W 47.78 dBm

B8018
8PSK 31 W 45 dBm ‑112 dBm S18/18/18
GMSK 60 W 47.78 dBm
BTS V3 B8112
8PSK 31 W 45 dBm ‑112 dBm S12/12/12
GMSK 30 W 44.78 dBm
M8202
8PSK 20 W 43 dBm -110 dBm S2/2/2 or O6
GMSK 40W 46 dBm -110 dBm S12/12/12
GMSK 80W 49 dBm -110 dBm S6/6/6
BTS V2 8PSK 30W 44.78 dBm -110 dBm S12/12/12
(EDGE GMSK 60W 47.7 dBm -110 dBm S12/12/12
)
OB06 GMSK 40W 46 dBm -110 dBm S6/6/6
BS30 GMSK 40W 46 dBm -110 dBm S2/2/2
GMSK 40W 46 dBm -110 dBm S2/2/2
BS21
GMSK 80W 49 dBm ‑112 dBm S1/1/1
 Coverage Planning
2
equipment Margin resservation
Link Budget
budget

losses gains

●Path loss
●Body loss
●Compartment loss
●Vegetation loss
●Building penetration loss
●Feeder and connector loss
●Combining and distributing unit loss
 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget
Losses
 Path loss
Radio wave loss caused by the transmission distance.
 Body loss
When the phone is at waist or shoulder, the signaling is lower than when antenna is several wavelength far from bod
y. As for voice service, body is supposed to be 3 Db; for data service, 0dB.
 Compartment loss
Usually it is 8~10dB.
 Vegetation loss
Vegetation loss is related to density of the forest, leaf shape (conifer and board leave), forest height and the distance
between forest and antenna. Inside the forest, the loss of 900MHz is 0.2dB/m; the loss of 1800MHz is 0.3dB/m; Thr
ough forest or diffraction, the loss is 20dB/dec; For there are forest around the antenna and the antenna is lower tha
n the forest, around 10dB
 Building penetration loss
Building penetration loss is the loss caused when wave passing through the construction. It equals to the difference
between average signaling level inside and outside the construction. Averagely it’s 10 – 20 dB ， relying on building
material and thickness.
Area 900M loss （ d 1800M loss （ d
B） B）
Dense urban 18 ～ 22 23 ～ 27
Mean urban 15 ～ 20 20 ～ 25
Suburb & rural 10 ～ 15 15 ～ 20
 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget
Losses

 Feeder loss Type loss （ dB/100m ）

900M 1800/1900M
1/2 soft jumper 7.22 11.3
7/8 feeder 3.89 6.15
15/8 feeder 2.34 3.84

 Combining & splitter loss

（ 1 ） CDU （ Combiner Distribution Unit ）

TX1 宽
带
合
TX2
路
器
收
ETX 发
L 双 ANT
RX1
N 工
RX2 器
A
RX3 含
RX4 分
ERX1 路
器
ERX2
 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget
Losses

 Combiner & splitter loss

ITX 收
（ 2 ） ECDU （ Duplexer & splitte 发
双
ANT

r） RX1 LNA 工
含分 器
RX2 路器

分
集
RXD1 LNA 接
含分 收 ANTD
RXD2 路器 滤
波
器

（ 3 ） RDU （ Receiver Distribution Unit ）

 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget
Losses OTX2
OTX1
TX1 合
路
 Combiner & splitter loss TX2 器

（ 4 ） CEU （ Combiner Extension Unit ） TX3 合

路
TX4 器
ERX2
ERX1
RX1 分
路
RX2 器
RX3 分
路
RX4 器

（ 5 ） CENU （ Combiner Extension Net Uni

OTX2
t） OTX2
OTX1 OTX1
TX1 合 TX1 合
TX2 路 TX2 路
TX3 器 TX3 器
TX4 合 TX4 合
TX5 路 TX5 路
TX6 器 TX6 器
ERX2 ERX2
ERX1 ERX1
分 RX1 分
RX1~RX4 路 路
器 RX2 器
分 RX3 分
RX5~RX8 路 路
器 RX4 器

CENU CENU/2
 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget
Losses
 Combiner & Splitter loss
Unit (900M) Insertion loss

CDUG 4.4dB

CEUG 3.5dB

CENG 5.3dB

CENG/2 5.3dB

ECDU 0.9-1.0dB

Unit(1800M) Insertion loss

CDUD 4.6dB

CEUD 3.6dB

CEND 5.5dB

CEND/2 5.5dB

ECDU 0.9-1.0dB
 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget Losses

 Combiner & splitter loss

Configuration of Carrier number, combiner & splitter and antenna in one cell in BTS V2
(80W TRX) are as follows:

TRX Antenna number & Remark

CDU RDU CEU
number configuration
CDU need special treatment:
connect TX1 interface
1 2 ， TX/RX ， RX 1 1 － with TX interface of
combiner and inactivate
TX2
CDU need special treatment:
connect TX1 interface
2 2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － with TX interface of
combiner and inactivate
TX2
3~4 2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － －
5~6 2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － 2
 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget
Losses

 Combiner & splitter loss

Configuration of Carrier number, combiner & splitter and antenna in one cell in ZXG10 B8018

CENU Remark
CDU ECDU CEU
TRX number Antenna number & config

4 ， （ 2 TX/RX ， 2 RX ） － 2 － －
1
2 ，（ 2 TX/RX ） 2 － － － CDU+TMA for extension

2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － － Combiner for easy extension

2
Without Combiner. TMA. large
2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － －
coverage

3~4 2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － －

For easy extension, imbalance

2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － 1 －
carrier frequency
5~6
2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － 1 To balance carrier frequency

7~8 2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － 2 －

 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget
Losses

 Combiner & splitter loss

Configuration of Carrier number, combiner & splitter and antenna in one cell in ZXG10 B8112

Antenna number & c CDU ECDU CEU CENU Remark

TRX number
onfig

1 2 ，（ 2 TX/RX ） － 1 － －

2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － － combiner for easy extension

2 Without combiner. TMA. Large

2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － －
coverage

3~4 2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － －

For easy extension. Imbalance

2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － 1 －
5~6 carrier frequency

2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － 1 Balance carrier frequency

7~8 2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － 2 －

9~12 2 ， TX/RX ， TX/RX 2 － － 2

 Coverage Planning
2
euipment margin reservation
Link Budget link
budget
losses gains

 Site antenna gain

 MS antenna gain
Antenna model selection should based on actual
condition. usually is 0
 remark ： special attention should be
Area Antenna gain （ dBi ） paid to antenna gain in MS in GSM WLL
network
urban 15.5
Antenna may be indoor, outside door or on th
e roof. So antenna gain and height should be
suburb 15.5~17
examined, which will affect coverage greatly.
rural 17~18  TMA gain

Express way or long & 18~21

narrow valley

Hills and highland 17~18

 Coverage Planning
2
equipment margin reservation
Link Budget Link
budget
losses gains

 Fast fading & deterioration storage

Fast fading is due to stationary wave field because of the multi-path interference caused by th
e reflection on path of scatters (building) or nature obstacles (mainly forest) within 50-100 w
avelength around MS. When MS goes through this station wave field, received signaling becomes f
ading and signaling level fluctuates greatly.
fast fading & deterioration reservation is the additional received level in receiver noise cond
ition when multi-path effect and factitious noise (car arc interference ) exists.
walking ： 2.0--5.0dB
fast moving ： 0dB
In GSM system, fast fading amount of voice and data service is supposed to be 3dB.
 Interference margin
In Gsm system, there are intra-frequency interference, inter-frequency interference, intermodul
ation interference, and interference from vicinity to beyond. These interference will affect li
nk budget. The interference margin is generally supposed to be 3dB.
 Coverage Planning
2
equipment margin reservation
Link Budget Link
budget
losses gains

 Slow fading margin （ fading margin ）

Slow fading is due to shadow effect caused by signaling interference from ambient buildings or terrain. The int
erference will attenuate the received signaling, which is called shadow fading.
To ensure that site signaling can cover cell edge at certain rate. It’s necessary for the site to preserve so
me transmission power called fading margin to counteract shadow fading.
Generally shadow fading follows logarithm normal distribution. Shadow fading margin should base on operator dem
and of shadow fading variance and margin coverage probability.
slow fading standard deviation is related to transmission condition of electromagnetic wave. In cities, it’s a
bout 8~10 Db, while in suburbs or rural areas ， 6 ～ 8dB.
For instance ：
city ： fading standard deviation is 8dB, marginal coverage probability is 90% and shadow fading margin is 1
0.3dB
countries: fading standard deviation is 8dB, marginal coverage probability is 75% and shadow fading margin
is 5.4dB

Marginal coverage 70 75 80 85 90 95 98
probability(%)
slow fading margin/dB 0.53σ 0.68σ 0.85σ 1.04σ 1.29σ 1.65σ 2.06σ
 Coverage Planning
2
Link Budget

Parameter Symbol

MS transmitting power A
Body loss B It’s normal that loss
Building loss C
difference between uplink and
MS reception sensibility D
downlink is 3-5dB; It’s
MS antenna gain E
TMA gain F considered to be imbalance of
diversity gain G uplink and downlink if loss
Feeder loss H
difference is over 10, when
combiner/divider unit lo I
ss link budget should be
fast fading and deterior J modified.
ation reservation
fading margin K
noise margin L
path loss indoor M=A-B-C-D+E+F+G-H-I-J-K-L
path loss outdoor N=M+C return
 Coverage Planning
3
Coverage radi
us estimate

 Basis to estimate coverage radius

● maximum allowable path loss when uplink and downlink keep
balance
●propagation model
 Okumura-Hata model
 Cost231-Hata model
 Universal model
 Cost231-Walfish-Ikegami model

Coverage
Max allowable loss radius Propagation model selection
estimate

return
 Coverage planning
4
Site distribution &
coverage emulation

Electronic map
/Mapinfo map
Planning area size Distribution map
planning area Site Distribution info
(Polygon) partition distribution Distribution latitude
Planning site number & longitude
Link budget
radius estimate

Input **** Output

return
 Coverage planning
4
Site distribution &
coverage emulation

Electronic map
Planning map
Site distribution map
Polygon
Site coverage effect map
latitude & Coverage & Height info map
emulation Existing network coverage map
longitude of sites
Coverage probability statistics table
Antenna height/direction angle
Antenna selection
Propagation model
Link budget
Existing network data

Input **** Output

return
 Coverage planning
5
Network scale

Capacity Network Coverage

planning scale planning
Catalog

Network planning info gathering

Capacity planning

Site distribution & survey

Coverage emulation

Frequency planning
 Site distribution & survey

Based on theoretic latitude & lon

gitude of sites, make sites surve
y. According to practical traffic di
Distribute site on Mapi stribution, coverage requirement,
coverage planning
nfo or PLANET/EET map, ambient construction environme
+ capacity
set site theoretic loca nt, natural environment, power s
planning =>
tion, and get latitude upply, propagation supply, and la
site scale
& longitude and other p nd lease , decide site location an
ara of sites d feeder design, including site lo
cation, site type & location, anten
na selection, height, direction an
gle, downtilt, combiner & splitter,
tower top amplifier and feeder et
c.
 Site distribution & survey

 Site survey is key to site distribution including optical measurement,

spectrum measurement and site location investigation.
 Optical measurement
▪ Ambient construction environment and natural environment
 Spectrum measurement
▪ Electromagnetism environment
 Site survey
▪ Installation condition of antenna and equipment
▪ Power and transmission supply

 Preparation
●familiarize with the engineering by collecting materials relating to the project inc
luding ：
 Engineering files, background material, existing network situation, map
and configuration list
●Get tools ready
 Digital cameral, GPS satellite receiver, compass, ruler and pc.
 Site distribution & survey
Location selection
 When selecting location, take the following aspects into consideration
 Previous Network condition
 Population distribution and habits
 City layout and distribution
 Main streets and traffic volume
 Natural environment such as Hills, lakes, rivers and coastline
 Growing trend

 Principles of site selection

populace Select high traffic
Traffic distribution area and dense
population area
Customer flow trend

Surrounding environment Careful select high

hills, radar, radio
Signaling transmission
station, filling station,
quality
forest and power plant
 Site distribution and survey
Site selection
Main principles to select sites
 Site should be at the best place of regular mesh with deviation less than a quarter of the site
radius.
 Select existing facilities for cost saving and period reduction purpose on the premise that it d
oesn’t affect site distribution.
 City skirt and high-elevated hills(100 m or 300 m higher than city construction) in suburbs are
not supposed to be sites, as first to control coverage scope, second to make construction and ma
intenance easier.
 Newly-constructed sites should better be at place where transportation is convenient, has ample
power supply, environment is safe and has less farmland.
 Avoid construct sites near high power radio transmitter, radar station or other interferer.
 Better far from forest to avoid fast fading of received signaling.
 Pay attention to the effect of signaling reflection and dispersion when in hills, steep slopes,
dense lake area, mountainous region and high metallic buildings.
 When in cities, utilize the height of the building to realize division of network hiberarchy.
 There are less sites in the initial stage of network construction, so good coverage of key areas
should be guaranteed.
 Site distribution & survey
AEM design
TMA
To enable sensibility
of site reception system. Feeder
TMA is optional, and can be
selected based on system For 900MHz ， 5/4
band. CDU site can use ″ feeder when feed l
simplex TMA and triplex; ength is over 80m ；
combiner site. Site adopting For 1800MHz ， 5/4
CDU can use simplex or
″ feeder when feed l
duplex TMA, while site
ength is over 50m ；
adopting combiner can use
CDU duplex TMA.
Antenna
Function of transceiver dupl
ex , transmission signaling com Height, direction
bining, filtering and receiving angle
signaling filter, low noise amp Frequency
range, gain
lifier and splitter is encourag Polarization
ed. TMA feed circuit is provid Horizontal and
ed. One unit uses one antenna
for multiple signaling Feeder design vertical 3dB beam width
Down tilt
transmitting and receiving.
 Site distribution & survey
AEM Design

 Major guidelines for network planning are:

 Frequency Range
 Gain
 Polarization
 Horizontal/Vertical half-power beam width
 Down tilt

The following is antenna direction map of Kathrein 739649

 Site distribution & survey

AEM Design

 Antenna selection is vital to network quality.

 Select the antenna according to the coverage of service area, service quality
demand, traffic distribution, and topography, coverage of the whole network
and interference condition should also be considered.
 Environment is classified into the following based on topography and traffic.
 Urban area, suburb, rural area, road, mountainous area , offshore, tunnel and indoor
a select directional antenna with horizontal half-power of 60 ～ 65
°
BTS in city b select medium gain antenna of about 15dBi
c best to select antenna with electrical downtilt of 3 ～ 6°
d recommended to select dual-polarized antenna

a select direction antenna with horizontal half-power of 65°or

90°
BTS in
b generally select medium or high gain antenna
suburb
c preset downtilt or not based on actual condition
d select dual polarized or vertical polarized antenna
 Site distribution & survey
AEM Design

a 、 select directional antenna of 90° 、 120°or all way antenna

b 、 Gain of directional antenna selected is higher than normal （ 16 ～ 18
dBi ）
Rural c 、 generally don’t select downtilt antenna. For high sites, zero fillin
sites
g antenna is the best choice.
d 、 vertical polarized antenna is recommended
a 、 generally select narrow-beam, high-antenna directional antenna. Sele
ct 8-shape antenna, all-way antenna or deformation all-way antenna based on a
ctual condition
Road
b 、 generally don’t select downtilt antenna because road site has highe
Sites
r requirements toward coverage distance.
c 、 vertical polarized antenna is recommended.
d 、 front-to-back radio ratio of selected directional antenna should not
be high.
 Site distribution & survey
AEM Design
 AEM design principle
 Antenna of different cell of the same site can be different due to installation conveniences
or cell planning requirements.
 For flat rural area, valid height of antenna is generally 25m.
 For suburbs, antenna height can be elevated to 40m.
 Antenna overheight will reduce coverage level near the antenna especially for omni antenna
 Antenna overheight will easily cause problems affecting network quality like severe cross-ar
ea coverage, co-channel interference or adjacent-channel interference.
 Design principle of Antenna direction angle
 From the network’s point of view, directional angel of three-sectored area of rural sites
should be the same. Adjustment of antenna directional angel can be made based on coverage
target in the neighborhood of rural and suburban area, arteries and solo site in suburb.
 Antenna main lobe should direct at dense traffic area to enable signaling strength and to
elevate call quality.
 Main lobe deviate from co-frequency cell to control interference effectively.
 Intersection coverage depth of rural adjacent sectored antennas should not exceed 10%.
 Intersection coverage of suburban and commune adjacent cells shouldn’t be too deep and
inclination of adjacent sectored antenna of the same site should not less than 90%.
 Antenna lobe of dense rural area should avoid opposing straight street for cross-area
coverage.
 Site distribution & survey
AEM Design
 Design principles of antenna downtilt
 Antenna beam tilt is basic technique of enhancing frequency reuse ability.
 Antenna beam tilt technique can control coverage range to reduce interference in the system.
 Antenna downtilt angle depends on actual condition in order to reduce interference between co-frequency cells and to
guarantee coverage requirements.
 Downtilt design should take sites transmission power, antenna height, cell coverage range and radio transmission env
ironment into consideration.
 Antenna beam tilt can either use electrical or mechanical mode. Electrical tilt is fixed relating to antenna model sele
cted and mechanical tile is adjustable but generally not beyond limited by installation component and radio signalin
g broadcasting features
 Different surface radiation will be generated using electrical downtilt or mechanical mode. When downtile angle is s
mall, difference is small. When angle gets bigger, difference becomes more obvious
 Site Distribution & Survey

AEM Design
 Antenna isolation
 There must be isolation between receiver and transmitter of the site.
 Antenna isolation degree: fading of signaling from one port of antenna to another w
hen antennas are installed.
 For GSM system, isolation degree between two transmitting antenna and between trans
mitting antenna and receiving antenna should be no less than 32 Db
▪ Lv=28+40log(k/λ)(dB) (When antenna is vertically distributed)
▪ Lv=22+20log(d/λ)-(G1+G2)-(S1+S2)(dB) (When antenna is horizontal distributed)

 Fulfill the spacing requirement of diversity gain

 Distance between two receiving antenna is 12 ～ 18λwhen antenna is diversified by spac
e.
 Distance between diversity antenna shall be greater when antenna is higher. Generally
distance between diversity antenna is 0.11 times of available antenna height.
 To achieve the same effect, distance of vertical diversity must be 5 or 6 times of ver
tical diversity.
 To reduce the interaction of the two antennas, horizontal distance of diversity antenn
a should be over 3 m with antenna at whatever available height
Catalog

Network Planning Information Collection

Capacity Planning
Coverage Planning
Site Distribution & Survey
Coverage Emulation
Frequency Planning
 Coverage Emulation
Coverage Emulation

Electronic map
Planning area Sites distribution map
Polygon Site coverage effect map
Latitude & longitude of sites Coverage Height information map
Antenna height & direction angel emulation
Existing network coverage map
Antenna model Coverage rate statistics table
Link budget
Existing network data

Input **** Output

Catalog

Network Planning Information Collection

Capacity Planning
Site Distribution & Survey
Coverage Emulation
Frequency Planning
 Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning

GSM Working Frequency Band GSM Frequency Band Serial Number

 GSM900
P-GSM900
Uplink 890  915 MHz
Fl (n) = 890 + 0.2n MHz
Downlink 935  960 MHz
Fu (n) = Fl(n) + 45 MHz 1  n  124
duplex separation is 45MHz ， carr
ier frequency separation is 200KHz n stands for ARFCN
 EGSM E-GSM900
Uplink 880  890 MHz
Fl (n) = 890 + 0.2(n-1024) 975  n  1023
Downlink 935  935 MHz
duplex separation is 45MHz ， car Fu (n) = Fl(n) + 45 MHz 0  n  124
rier frequency separation is 200KHz
 DCS1800
DCS1800
Uplink 1710  1785 MHz
Fl (n) = 1710.2 + 0.2(n-512) MHz

Downlink 1805  1880 MHz Fu (n) = Fl(n) + 95 MHz 512  n  885

duplex separation is 95MHz ， carrier
frequency separation is 200KHz
 Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning

Definition of Interference of Co-frequency & Interference of Adjacent Frequency

 Co-frequency interference C/I ：

C/I ， is the value of interference. When different cells use the same frequency, anoth
er cell may bring interference to the serving cell.
Conforming to GSM criterion, C/I >9dB. In actual engineering, C/I>12dB
 Adjacent-frequency interference C/A ：
C/A is the rate between the two channel when adopting frequency duplex pattern, adjace
nt channel will bring interference to the channel of the serving cell.
Conforming to GSM criterion, C/A>-9dB. In actual engineering , C/A>-6dB.

whatever method, it should meet the following requirements taking different transmiss
ion condition, different multiplex mode, multiple interfering factor into consideratio
n.
co-channel interference protection rate C/I≥9dB
adjacent channel interference protection rate C/I ≥ － 9dB
adjacent channel interference protection rate(400KHz) C/I≥ － 41dB
 Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning

GSM commonly-used frequency multiplex pattern

A1
 “4×3”multiplex
A2 A3 D1

A1 B1 D2 D3 A1 Suppose cellular hexagon side leng

th is 1, intergrating interference
A2 A3 D1 B2 B3 C1 A2 A3 model, we will get:
C
B1 D2 D3 A1 C2 C3 B1 (dB )
I
B2 B3 C1 A2 A3 D1 B2 B3
24
 10 log 4
A1 C2 C3 B1 D2 D3 A1 (8)  2(7.2) 4
 18dB
A2 A3 D1 B2 B3 C1 A2 A3

B1 D2 D3 A1 C2 C3 B1
18dB>12dB
 Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning

GSM commonly-used frequency multiplex pattern

A1 A1

A2 A3 C1 A2 A3 C1
 “3×3”multiplex
Suppose cellular hexagon length is
B1 C2 C3 B1 C2 C3 1, integrating interference model,
we can get:
A1 B2 B3 A1 B2 B3 A1 C
(dB)
A2 A3 C1 A2 A3 C1 A2 A3
I
24
 10 log
B1 C2 C3 B1 C2 C3 B1 2(7) 4  2(5.57) 4
 13.3dB
B2 B3 A1 B2 B3 A1 B2 B3

A2 A3 C1 A2 A3 C1 13.3dB>12dB
 Frequency Planning
Control channel planning

 Computing of control channel number

use M/G/N/N model as traffic model of control channel.
Suppose SDCCH call average processing time is 3 second, average processing time of place upgrade is 9 s
econd, user busy-hour call times is 2BHCA, traffic volume of users on SDCCH will be:
(3×2+9)/3600=0.0042 Erlang
When GOS=2%, capacity of 4SDCCH is 1.092Erlang ， user volume is
(1.092/0.0042=260 户 ) ×0.025 Erlang=6.5Erlang
By referring to Erlang-B table, 12 TCH(2TRX) are needed.
When GOS=2%, capacity of 8SDCCH is 3.627 Erlang ， user volume is
8 (3.627/0.0042=863 户 ) ×0.025 Erlang=21.6Erlang
By referring to Erlang-B table, 30 TCH(2TRX) are needed.

Generally, we can get the maximum site configuration according to frequency resource and selected
frequency multiplex. In planning , select suitable site configuration. Control channel number can be
gotten using ERL B table.

$
 Frequency Planning
PDCH Planning

Fix traffic model of data service

GPRS user (%) 20%
If GPRS/EDGE service are
supported ,please
provide EDGE user (%) 100%

Busy-hour throughput per user （ bps/sub ） 220

Or provide ： monthly traffic per user (MB/Month)
Monthly valid days （ days/Month ）
busy-hour rate （ hours/day ）
Penetrate percentage of data service 20%
Attach percentage 10%
PDP Context Active percentage 20%
Other null

User data service traffic

（ user number ） X （ Penetrate percentage ） X （ Attach percent

age ）
X （ PDP Context Active percentage ） X （ monthly traffic per user
）
 Frequency Planning
PDCH Planning

Fix coding mode rate of data service

Bear velocity of Um IP Application Average bearing velocity
GPRS coding mode layer rate of Um IP layer

CS-1 (Kbps) 6.4 0.2

CS-2 (Kbps) 9.41 0.3

10.454
CS-3 (Kbps) 11.11 0.3
CS-4 (Kbps) 15.09 0.2

In this way, we can get average velocity of 9 coding type of EDGE

Compute PDCH number of data service of each cell with different configuration.

（ data service traffic of cell user ） / （ average velocity of data service ）

$
 Frequency Planning
PDCH Planning

PDCH planning data of data service

Control Surplus traffic/

Carrier channel SDCCH channel channel TCH user cell PDCH channel TCH ERL TCH user
1 8 SDCCH/4 1 7 117 2.0592 1 2.28 91
1 8 SDCCH/8 2 6 91 1.6016 1 1.66 66
2 16 SDCCH/8 2 14 327 5.7552 1 7.4 296
3 24 SDCCH/8 2 22 595 10.472 2 13.18 527

4 32 2*SDCCH/8 3 29 841 14.8016 2 19.27 770

5 40 2*SDCCH/8 3 37 1130 19.888 3 25.53 1021

6 48 2*SDCCH/8 3 45 1424 25.0624 4 31.92 1276

7 56 3*SDCCH/8 4 52 1685 29.656 4 38.39 1535

8 64 3*SDCCH/8 4 60 1985 34.936 4 45.87 1834

 Frequency Planning

TCH Planning

 Basic Discipline
 Carriers configured in cells in a certain site shall not be co-channel or adjacent channel.
 Opposite cell should not co-channel and avoid adjacent channel.
 High hill shall not be considered as neighboring site while broad water shall be considered as neighb
oring site.
 Concerning antenna height and complexity of transmission environment, carriers in opposite & cells o
f nearby sites should avoid co-channel. ( 含斜对 );
 Focus on co-channel reuse. Avoid using the same BCCH with the same BSIC in neighboring areas.
 Verify and adjust frequency using planning forecast software.
 Frequency Planning
TCH Planning

□ Configuration of neighboring cells

– GSM system is centered on cells and have at most two-level handover relationship
externally.
– For a stable GSM system, modify unreasonable handover cell in the planning according
– to data in drive test.
– Cells handed over shall not be co-channel.
– Switch shall be mutual, not undirectional
– There shalln’t be two handover cells with the same BCCH with the same BSIC.
– There shalln’t be two handover cells with the same BCCH with the same BSIC
– cell switch selection shalln’t be two many or too little. Two level is best especially
– for cells covering road or railway.
 Frequency Planning

Pay attention to the following in the process of GSM frequency planning:

 Preserve frequency. When we make the frequency planning, we seldom preserve frequency especially for
frequency-lack telecom engineering. In fact, there are lots of advantages to preserve frequency such
as using as frequency in the test, as replacement frequency in the interference , as cellular frequen
cy in dense-traffic region. 28 frequency is used in phase 5 engineering of Chongqin Telecom with freq
uency No.98 preserved. Frequency No. 98 and No. 108 will be preserved in Phase 6. At least one frequ
ency will be preserved in frequency planning.
 Allocate BCCH frequency and TCH frequency. Generally BCCH should be allocated greater continuous freq
uency number.
 Assign frequency to different areas. Assign frequency for sites in different areas such as urban, sub
urb and rural. Focus should be put on cities to avoid interference. Make planning in urban areas befo
re in suburbs and rural areas. Divide urban area into different areas when there are many sites.
 Check manually. Check manually after frequency assignment via automatic frequency planning. Modify fr
equency assignment condition or modify frequency manually if frequency is unsuitable.
Action/reaction

GSM Network Planning

info radio
collection network

site distri-
capacity coverage bution frequency
planning planning & survey planning