Reprint from WissenHeute Jg.

63 6/2010

3D-City Model Frankfurt (1997), © Telekom Deutschland GmbH

LTE-Radio Network Planning with PegaPlan

The mobile communication subscribers are used to call, to send E-mails and to
surf in the internet by the mobile radio network every time and everywhere. In
order to ensure this accessibility, the modern mobile radio network should
have a well coverage and it should be future-oriented as well as cost optimized.
The planning tool PegaPlan helps the mobile radio network operators to
perform the required comprehensive planning taking tasks into account
realistic traffic modelling and cell load prediction.

© Deutsche Telekom AG
 Reprint from WissenHeute Jg. 63 6/2010

Inter-cell interference depends on the Inter-cell

amount of traffic in Interference
LTE is – like UMTS - a single fre-
the cells. The amount
quency network in which all base
of traffic per cell
stations are working on the same
depends on the cov- Traffic per Coverage
carrier frequency. That means,
erage area of the cell. Cell Area
neighboured cells are not separated
This interdependency
by different frequencies - as in GSM Figure 1: Interdependency between interference, coverage
is shown in figure 1. and traffic
networks. Therefore, mobile users
With increasing traffic
might be significantly disturbed from
of a cell their transmission power normally leads to an increasing data
the neighbouring cells. This is
increases too leading to a higher traffic. Then the radio planners have
called inter-cell interference. If a
inter-cell interference of this cell. In to check if the existing network is
mobile subscriber is located at a
the downlink, the LTE-data rate is able to serve the expected
place with high inter-cell interfer-
clearly reduced in areas with a high increased traffic volume and - if not
ence the data rate in the downlink
inter-cell interference – which even – they have to evaluate the number
decreases. Hence, the quality of the
might lead to a call drop. of additional required base stations
coverage is determined particularly
for any enhancement.
by inter-cell interference, which
Traffic data base and traffic The spatial traffic distribution is
The Authors definition in PegaPlan determined in PegaPlan based on
traffic measurements in the mobile
The traffic data base describes the
radio network where the traffic
spatial distribution of the traffic. For
volume for each radio cell is con-
this purpose the network area is
tinuously recorded. Based on this
divided in area elements (pixels).
measured data, the traffic data base
The traffic data base contains the
From left to right:
is created in PegaPlan. Besides the
offered traffic for each individual
measured data, the predicted cov-
Dr. Bernhard Liesenfeld develops pixel. However, the offered traffic
methods and algorithms for planning and erage area for each cell and the
optimization of radio networks of different volume is not absolutely given, but
standards. land usage within the cell area is
as relative values. The traffic data
Manfred Lustig is working with T- considered in the calculation of
Systems International GmbH and base gives the part of traffic per
responsible for training and support for spatial traffic distribution. However,
mobile radio network planning systems.
pixel relative to the complete traffic
This also includes PegaPlan. further marginal conditions are
in the mobile radio network. Thus,
Dr. Albert Weller leads the department
taken into account: for example, a
the traffic data base along with the
‘Network Planning Systems’ in T- pixel of a land usage class ‘Forest’
Systems International GmbH. input values given in figure 2 enable
in intra-city parks has more traffic
Eckhard Oppermann works for the a flexible planning base in order to
development of software systems for than in rural forest area.
planning and optimization of radio assess the mobile radio network for
networks. He is the project manager for Generally, it is distinguished be-
the development of the radio network further increasing traffic. This flexi-
planning tool PegaPlan of T-Systems tween real-time traffic (circuit
International GmbH. ble traffic definition is important if,
switched traffic) and non-real-time
Dr. Jürgen Beyer is working on the
for example, the marketing depart-
develop-ment and enhancement of traffic (packet switched traffic). For
ment of a network provider wish to
models for UMTS und LTE-radio network
planning.
example Voice is real-time traffic
offer low priced data tariffs, which
and mobile internet surfing is non-

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 Reprint from WissenHeute Jg. 63 6/2010

iteration step 1 a specific level of

Spatial Distribution Number of Mobile Traffic per
of Traffic Subscribers Subscriber inter-cell interference is assumed.
With this assumption, the traffic
Coverage Area volume per cell is determined. This
of Radio Cell
Traffic Volume result is the basis for the iteration
for each Cell step 2, wherein the inter-cell inter-

Figure 2: The components to calculate the traffic volume ference for each pixel is calculated
more precisely than in step 1. It is

real-time traffic (packet switched The procedure described above to checked if a pixel is covered and, if

traffic). The volume of both traffic calculate the traffic volume per cell yes, the traffic volume of this pixel is

types is separately measured in the is shown in figure 2. assigned to the serving cell. This

mobile radio network and the spatial assignment of pixel to a cell is

distribution of both traffic types var- Calculation steps in PegaPlan called as cell formation in figure 3.

ies from each other. Therefore, At the end, the amount of traffic per
The calculation steps for the LTE-
separate traffic data bases are cell is known and the cell load can
radio network planning in PegaPlan
available in PegaPlan for both traffic be calculated. The cell load is that
are shown in figure 3. As usual the
types. Currently, there are no traffic part of the time the cell is transmit-
first step in the radio network plan-
measurements available for LTE. ting data. This is one basic input in
ning procedure is the calculation of
Therefore, the spatial traffic distri- order to predict the downlink inter-
the wave propagation. For this pur-
bution of an existing mobile radio ference per pixel.
pose, the path loss of the signal on
network is used for LTE radio net-
the propagation path from the base
work planning.
station to the regarded pixel is
In addition to the spatial traffic computed. This result is used to Wave Propagation

distribution PegaPlan requires two calculate the received power in

Initial Cell Formation
further parameters to calculate the uplink and downlink. Different
offered traffic volume: the number propagation models are available in
Traffic in each Cell Iteration 1
of subscribers in the mobile net- PegaPlan in order to cover the wide
work and the expected traffic vol- range of requirements. E.g. if the
Cell Load
ume per subscriber. A mobile net- base station antenna is below the
work subscriber often uses several surrounding rooftops (micro cells) Cell Formation
services. Therefore, the expected an other propagation model has to
traffic volume per subscriber in the be used as for the case that the Traffic in each Cell
Iteration 2
busy hour is given for each individ- base station antenna is in an
Cell Load
ual LTE service. In the case of exposed place (macro cells).
packet switched services, the traffic
The interdependency between Interference
volume in the downlink is greater
interference and traffic per cell
than in the uplink. Therefore, in
shown in figure 1 is resolved in Coverage
PegaPlan the traffic value per sub-
PegaPlan with an iterative proce-
scriber is separately given for
Figure 3: Calculation steps for the LTE
dure as indicated in figure 3. In radio network planning in PegaPlan
downlink and uplink.

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 Reprint from WissenHeute Jg. 63 6/2010

Used abbreviation 60 the actual network setup. This

modified network was not further
50
3D Three dimensional
GSM Global System for Mobile optimised.

Throughput in Mbit/s
40
Communications
LTE Long Term Evolution
30 In figure 4 the radio cells are
MIMO Multiple Input
Multiple Output marked by blue circle segments
UMTS Universal Mobile 20
Telecommunications whose outer round sides show in
System 10
0 20 40 60 80 100 the main lobe direction of the base
USB Universal Serial Bus
Cell Number
XML Extensible Markup station antenna. The network con-
Language Figure 5: The achievable cell throughput in
the downlink. tains of 37 base stations and each
base station is equipped with three
The interference power of the cells An application example with
radio cells.
(second last box in figure 3) is also PegaPlan
finally required in the coverage cal-
Capacity results
culation. In the coverage calculation The prediction area
the location dependent interference In the radio network planning there
For this article, some results of
power is used in order to compute are two types of results:
PegaPlan are discussed for a net-
the signal to noise ratio per pixel
Capacity results
work in the inner city of Frankfurt
and, based on this, the data rate a
Coverage results
(Main), Germany. The regarded
user might achieve on this pixel. In
prediction area has a size of about The capacity results are given per
the case of a large interference
4.6 km x 3.4 km. Figure 4 shows cell or per eNodeB (base station
power the mobile network user will
the radio network over the land with several cells). The expected
get a poor voice quality or a long
usage in the regarded area. This traffic volume (=offered traffic) and
download time. In different locations
radio network is not a real existing the amount of traffic which a cell is
in a cell the user might obtain
one. It is just used as an example able to serve (=achievable cell
different data rates.
and it was modified considerably in throughput) belong to those capac-
order to avoid any conclusion about ity results. If the offered traffic
exceeds the achievable cell
throughput the cell is in overload
and the offered traffic is partly
blocked. The calculation of the
achievable cell throughput is the
first step in order to predict the cell
load. From the radio network plan-
ner’s point of view one goal is to
maximize the achievable cell
throughput.
The achievable cell throughput is
affected by several components:

The capacity of the air interface
Figure 4: The Land usage in the regarded prediction area

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 Reprint from WissenHeute Jg. 63 6/2010

The capacity of the transmission as text- or XML-file which enables According to figure 5 the average
line to the base station further investigations with software value for the achievable cell

The hardware equipment of the tools like Microsoft Excel. throughput is 23 Mbit/s. Assuming
base station The line plot in figure 5 shows the again 5 simultaneously active users
achievable cell throughput for the per cell means a data rate of
Generally, the transmission path via
regarded network as a line plot 4.6 Mbit/s per user. Such a high
radio is called as air interface. In
predicted. This line plot, which e.g. data rate was not possible in former
single frequency networks, like LTE,
can be easily generated with Excel, mobile communication standards.
the capacity of the air interface is
shows the high dynamic of the The best cells in figure 5 have a
restricted by interference. Cells with
achievable cell throughput. Such achievable cell throughput of
large interference have a lower air
line plots enable a quick overview of around 40 Mbit/s. If we again
interface capacity as cells with low
the capacity situation in a large assume 5 active users in such a
interference.
network. However, for a detailed ‘good’ cell means that every user
Each base station is connected by a analysis PegaPlan provides 2D will get a average data rate of
cable or by a radio link system to plots with cell based coloured sur- 8 Mbit/s. As mentioned, those num-
the next higher network level and face. bers are averages since in a real
the capacity of the transmission life radio network the allocation of
The achievable cell throughput is
line represents the upper limit for the data rate to the users is highly
also a measure for the level of inter-
the data rate over the air interface. dynamic. It might happen that for a
cell interference. Moreover, the
Furthermore, the hardware of the short time a user get the whole
spatial distribution of the inter-cell
base station is designed for a cer- transmission capacity of the cell
interference affects this result. A
tain maximum data rate which is a and, on the other side, it is possible
high level of inter-cell interference in
further upper limit for the air inter- that a user sometimes doesn’t get
an area with much traffic leads to a
face data rate. any transmission capacity.
low value for the achievable cell
The average data rate per user as
All three components can be con- throughput. That means, a cell with
estimated above with some simpli-
sidered in PegaPlan but the air a high value for the achievable cell
fying assumptions is also calculated
interface is of particular interest in throughput in figure 5 has either a
in PegaPlan with a sophisticated
the radio network planning. There- low inter-cell interference in general
algorithm.
fore, restrictions of the transmission or at least low traffic in areas with
line and of the base station hard- high inter-cell interference. The achievable cell throughput is
ware are not taken into account in Anyway, the values in figure 5 are one main input to compute the cell
this article. Under this assumption noticeable. Even ‘worse’ cells have load. The other main input is the
the achievable cell throughput an achievable cell throughput of 15 traffic volume per cell. This is the
equals the capacity of the air inter- Mbit/s. From this number an indi- amount of traffic which is given from
face. vidual data rate per user can be the spatial traffic distribution
estimated. Let’s assume that 5 (according to the traffic data base)
The achievable cell throughput is users are simultaneously in the cell area together with the
calculated and graphically shown in downloading data from the internet traffic value per subscriber. If the
PegaPlan. The results are given for in one cell. Then, on average each offered traffic of a cell exceeds the
each cell and they can be exported user will get a data rate of 3 Mbit/s. achievable cell throughput the cell

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 Reprint from WissenHeute Jg. 63 6/2010

100 coverage result is the maximum transmission antennas. The radio

80 data rate which a user achieves at a waves are affected by propagation
Cell Load in %

60
certain location in a radio cell. This effects such as scattering, reflection
means in the context of radio net- or diffraction. These effects contrib-
40
work planning that this achievable ute to reduce the independency of
20
data rate is calculated for every the MIMO propagation paths. The
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
pixel. impact of these effects increases if
Cell Number
Figure 6: The cell load in the downlink.
there is no line of sight (LOS) con-
At the first view this seems to be a
nection to the base station. Mainly
load is 100% and a part of the traffic contradiction to the average data
in the case of LOS a large MIMO
is blocked. If the offered traffic is rate per user as estimated in the
data rate is expected. In order to
less than the achievable cell previous section about the capacity
consider this effect in PegaPlan
throughput the cell load is the ratio results. But for this average data
comprehensive channel sounder
of the offered traffic to the achiev- rate an ‘imaginary’ user is assumed
measurements were carried out and
able cell throughput. A high cell who is distributed over the complete
evaluated with sophisticated
load might have the following two cell area without any specific loca-
numeric methods. A suited
reasons: tion. On contrary, in the coverage
approach was found which enables
calculation a ‘user’ has a real loca-

High traffic volume a realistic prediction of the MIMO
tion which is a pixel in the cell – this

Medium traffic volume with data rate in PegaPlan even without
does not mean that a ‘real’ user is
high inter-cell interference using 3D-building data.
assumed on every pixel. The
It is one task of the radio network achievable data rate (per pixel) is In particular for plots with pixel
planner to find the reasons for a calculated assuming that only a based results a geographic ori-
high cell load. For this purpose single user is active in a cell and the entation is helpful. The planning tool
PegaPlan offers further results. complete cell capacity is available PegaPlan offers different options for
for this user. Due to that assump- this purpose. Often the illustration of
Figure 6 shows the cell load of the tion this result is called ‘achievable maps is used where the scale of the
regarded network and we realise data rate’. It mainly depends on the planning area is automatically
that the cell load differs a lot inter-cell interference by what the customized. If ,e.g., the coverage of
whereas the ideal case is a uni- results of the capacity calculation a small state is displayed PegaPlan
formly loaded network. This is one affects the coverage results. selects a map in the scale
target of further network optimisa- 1:200000, but if results for the city
tion with PegaPlan. However, An important topic for predicting the
of Frankfurt shall be visualised a
according to figure 6 the cell load is achievable data rate is the data rate
map in scale of 1:25000 is selected.
below 40% for most cells which increase due to the MIMO antenna
Furthermore, satellite photos, street
indicates that network is intended technology. The MIMO antenna
data and 3D building data can be
for a further increase of the traffic. technology yields a high data rate if
displayed in PegaPlan. For copy
the different MIMO propagation
right reasons the plots in this article
Coverage results paths are independent of each
do not contain a background map.
other (not correlated). This can,
The coverage calculation gives
e.g., be achieved by cross polarized
location-dependent results. One

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The received power changes

quickly and partly rapidly. This
propagation effect is called Fading.
It is distinguished between fast
fading and slow fading. The fast
fading occurs from the superposi-
tion of many signal components
which are reflected close to the
receiving antenna. The slow fading
is caused by shadowing of building
or vegetation. Generally, the fast
fading is already considered in the
mapping of the data rate to the sig-
Figure 7: The achievable data rate per pixel in the downlink with 2x2 MIMO.
nal to noise ratio. On contrary, the
slow fading has do be considered in
the predictions of PegaPlan. Thus,
we speak about coverage probabili-
ties or of data rates which are
exceeded with a specific probability.
The PegaPlan plots presented in
the figures 7 to 9 show those data
rates per pixel which are exceeded
with a probability of 90%. That
means, a user in the real world
might have a greater data rate as
predicted for the user location with
a comparatively high probability.
Figure 8: The achievable data rate per pixel in the downlink without MIMO.

Figure 7 shows the achievable data

sight is very likely close to the base closely we see some line structures
rate in the downlink assuming a
station. At the cell borders the in figure 7 where the data rate devi-
2x2-MIMO technology and that a
achievable data rate decreases due ates a lot from that one of the sur-
user gets a bandwidth of 5 MHz.
to the increasing inter-cell interfer- rounding pixels. This is caused by
That means 1/4 of the maximum
ence. But even under these bad considering street data in the cov-
bandwidth is available per user (see
conditions the achievable data rate erage calculation leading to a more
table 1). The highest data rates of
is up to 1 Mbit/s. Looking more precise identification of pixels with
approximately 20 Mbit/s are
achieved only close to the base
Band width (MHz) 1.4 3 5 10 15 20
stations. This is caused by low
inter-cell interference and high Max. Data Rate (Mbit/s) 10 24 40 80 118 158

MIMO data rate gain since line of Table 1: The maximum data rate which is achieved for the different LTE
bandwidths

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 Reprint from WissenHeute Jg. 63 6/2010

line of sight which finally improves

the prediction of the MIMO data rate
gain.

The impact of MIMO on the achiev-

able data rate in the downlink is
demonstrated by figure 7 in com-
parison with figure 8 which shows
the data rate without MIMO. In the
transition region between two cells
the data rate is almost the same in
both figures. In those areas two
negative effects are coming
Figure 9: The achievable data rate per pixel in the uplink.
together: Due to high inter-cell
interference the data rate is gener-
only at the base station antennas. If technology is not applied in the
ally low and - due to the large dis-
the uplink is frequently used in an uplink.
tance to the base station - the prob-
adjacent cell the interference in the
ability for a line of sight is very low For LTE radio network planning the
own cell increases and in order to
leading to a low MIMO data rate achievable data rate per pixel is the
ensure the connection the user
gain. On contrary, close to a base most interesting result. In
equipment has to increase its
station the difference of the data PegaPlan, there are further pixel
transmission power. If the maximum
rate with and without MIMO is obvi- based results available which
power of the mobile is reached a
ous. Close to a base station the support the radio network planner
further data transmission might be
probability for line of sight is quite and optimizer.
not possible and the pixel is not
large and, thus, MIMO gives a high
covered any more in the uplink.
data rate gain. This is true for areas Summary
Therefore in the uplink the coverage
coloured in red and dark red in Although there is the vision of self
problem is primarily discussed
figure 7. organising networks (self-planning,
where as and in the downlink the
interference problem is dominating. self-configuration, self-optimisation,
For the uplink displayed in figure 9
This is retrieved in figure 9 where self-healing) it is still necessary to
nearly a uniform data rate is given
the data rate considerable analyse and optimise LTE networks
in the entire area and also at the
descends only at few pixels. These with the help of an interactive plan-
cell border. This significant differ-
pixels are such far away from the ning tool like PegaPlan. The avail-
ence to the downlink in figure 7 is to
base station that the transmission ability of services in a LTE network
be justified with a distinguishing
power of the mobile device is not is determined by the trade-off
interference situation. In the uplink
sufficient to achieve the high data between coverage, inter-cell inter-
the mobile stations are the trans-
rates. Figure 9 in comparison with ference and capacity.
mitters and the users do not experi-
ence an increased inter-cell inter- figure 7 clearly shows that the data
The basis for all PegaPlan analysis
ference at the cell border. The inter- rate is generally lower in the uplink.
are the amount of traffic per cell and
cell interference occurs in uplink The main reason is that MIMO
the prediction of the path loss with

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 Reprint from WissenHeute Jg. 63 6/2010

highly sophisticated propagation

models. The interdependency
between coverage, interference and
capacity is iteratively resolved in
PegaPlan.

The radio network planner is pro-

vided with capacity results like the
achievable throughput per cell, cell
load and average data rate per user
in the cell. A major goal in the plan-
ning process is to maximise the cell
throughputs under the condition of
an even cell load as possible.

The main coverage result is the

achievable data rate per pixel.
PegaPlan implies a sophisticated
approach to predict the increase of
the data rate due to the MIMO
antenna technology. The situation
for uplink and downlink differs sig-
nificantly: in the uplink the transmis-
sion power of the mobile may limit
the coverage where as in the
downlink the inter-cell interference
may be the dominating effect limit-
ing the coverage area. The
technical characteristics of LTE and
their interdependencies may give a
hint, how difficult is analysing and
planning of LTE networks. The
expectations in self-organising net-
works are very high. But for the time
the planning and optimisation of
LTE networks is still the domain of
technical experts. PegaPlan is the
best suited solution for an interac-
tive and automatic support.

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