ASSET

Technical Reference Guide

Software Version 8.1

Reference Guide Edition 2
© Copyright 2013 AIRCOM International
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Change History
This table shows the change history of this guide:
Edition Date Reason
1 18 June 2013 First edition.
2 22 October 2013 Amendment to Chapter 2: File Management System. In addition to
Prediction files, this system now includes Array files as well.

Explanation of Symbols
Throughout this guide, where appropriate, some symbols are used to highlight
particular pieces of text. Three different symbols are in use, and are explained as
follows:
Symbol Brief Description Full Description
Note Signifies text that should be noted or carefully considered.

Tip Signifies text that may help you do something in an easier or quicker
way.
Warning or Important Signifies text that is intended as a warning or something important.
Contents
Chapter 1 Array and Report Descriptions 11
2g and 2.5g (Non-Sim) Arrays ......................................................................... 12
Coverage and Interference Arrays (2g + 2.5g) (Non-Sim) ........................................ 12
GSM (Sim) Arrays............................................................................................ 21
Pathloss Arrays .......................................................................................................... 21
Coverage Arrays ........................................................................................................ 22
All Servers Array ........................................................................................................ 23
Terminal Information Arrays ...................................................................................... 24
UMTS, CDMA2000 and EV-DO Arrays ............................................................ 25
Pathloss Arrays .......................................................................................................... 26
Pilot Coverage Arrays ................................................................................................ 26
Handover Arrays ........................................................................................................ 28
Uplink Noise Arrays ................................................................................................... 29
Downlink Noise Arrays ............................................................................................... 30
Uplink Coverage Arrays ............................................................................................. 30
Downlink Coverage Arrays ........................................................................................ 31
Coverage Balance Arrays .......................................................................................... 33
Soft Blocking Arrays .................................................................................................. 33
Hard Blocking Arrays ................................................................................................. 34
Throughput Arrays ..................................................................................................... 34
HSDPA Arrays ........................................................................................................... 35
HSUPA Arrays ........................................................................................................... 37
All Servers Array ........................................................................................................ 38
Terminal Information Arrays ...................................................................................... 39
DVB-H C/I Array ........................................................................................................ 40
LTE Arrays....................................................................................................... 40
Pathloss Arrays .......................................................................................................... 41
Downlink Reference Signal Coverage Arrays ........................................................... 42
Downlink Noise Arrays ............................................................................................... 44
Uplink Coverage Arrays ............................................................................................. 44
Downink Coverage Arrays ......................................................................................... 45
Downlink Throughput and Data Rate Arrays ............................................................. 46
Uplink Throughput and Data Rate Arrays .................................................................. 48
General Arrays ........................................................................................................... 51
Terminal Information Arrays ...................................................................................... 52
Fixed WiMAX Arrays ........................................................................................ 53
General Arrays ........................................................................................................... 53
Thresholded Arrays ................................................................................................... 54
Terminal Information Arrays ...................................................................................... 55
Mobile WiMAX Arrays ...................................................................................... 56
Pathloss Arrays .......................................................................................................... 57
Preamble Arrays ........................................................................................................ 57
Uplink Coverage Arrays ............................................................................................. 58
Downlink Coverage Arrays ........................................................................................ 59
General Arrays ........................................................................................................... 60
Terminal Information Arrays ...................................................................................... 61

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Contents
 Wi-Fi Arrays ..................................................................................................... 62
Pathloss Arrays .......................................................................................................... 63
Downlink Coverage Arrays ........................................................................................ 63
Throughput Arrays ..................................................................................................... 64
General Arrays ........................................................................................................... 65
Composite Tech Arrays ............................................................................................. 65
Terminal Information Arrays ...................................................................................... 66
Simulation Reports .......................................................................................... 67
UMTS Composite Reports ......................................................................................... 67
UMTS Cell Failure Report.......................................................................................... 68
UMTS Downlink Performance Reports ...................................................................... 68
UMTS Cell Handover Reports ................................................................................... 69
UMTS Cell Blocking Reports ..................................................................................... 69
Joint GSM-UMTS Composite Reports ....................................................................... 70
Joint GSM-UMTS Cell Failure Report ....................................................................... 71
CDMA2000 Composite Reports ................................................................................ 72
CDMA2000 Failure Report ........................................................................................ 73
EV-DO Composite Reports........................................................................................ 73
CDMA2000 Downlink Performance Reports ............................................................. 74
CDMA2000 Sector Handoff Reports ......................................................................... 74
CDMA2000 Sector Blocking Reports ........................................................................ 75
EV-DO Downlink Performance Reports .................................................................... 75
EV-DO Packet Quality of Service Reports ................................................................ 75
Throughput Reports ................................................................................................... 76
Uplink Performance Reports ..................................................................................... 76
LTE Reports ............................................................................................................... 77
LTE Cell Failure Report ............................................................................................. 79
Wi-Fi Reports ............................................................................................................. 80

Chapter 2 Prediction and Array File Management System 81

Prediction and Array File Management Algorithm ............................................ 83

Chapter 3 2g and 2.5g Algorithms 85

Interference Table Algorithm ............................................................................ 85
Interference and Connection Array Calculations .............................................. 87
Worst Connection Array Calculation Method............................................................. 88
Average Connection Array Calculation Method ........................................................ 88
Worst Interferer Array Calculation Method ................................................................ 89
Total Interference Array Calculation Method ............................................................. 89
Table of Default C/I BER Conversion Values ............................................................ 90
Frequency Hopping Algorithms ........................................................................ 91
Synthesised Hopping Algorithm ................................................................................ 92
Non-Frequency Hopping Algorithms ................................................................ 93
Automatic Frequency Planning (ILSA) ............................................................. 94
The Cost Function of the ILSA Algorithm .................................................................. 95
MAIO Planning Cost Function .......................................................................... 96
GPRS Capacity Calculations ........................................................................... 96
TRX Requirement - Circuit Switched and GPRS Traffic ........................................... 96
Grade of Service and Data Rate ............................................................................... 97
Channel Occupation Table ........................................................................................ 98
FCC Calculations ............................................................................................. 98

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Contents
 Frequency Calculations ................................................................................. 100

Chapter 4 Packet Quality of Service Algorithms 103

Simulation Inputs for QoS Analysis ................................................................ 104
Preliminary Tests ..................................................................................................... 104
Traffic Generator for QoS Analysis ................................................................ 104
Matching Generated Traffic to the Simulator's Mean Number of Served Users ..... 105
WWW Traffic Model ................................................................................................. 106
Packet Model ........................................................................................................... 107
About the Code Schemes for GPRS ....................................................................... 108
QoS Profiles for GPRS ............................................................................................ 109
Time Simulator for QoS Analysis ................................................................... 112
System Model for QoS Analysis .............................................................................. 112
Simulation Model for QoS Analysis ......................................................................... 112
Results of QoS Analysis ................................................................................ 114
Confidence Interval Half Width ................................................................................ 114
Simulation Duration ................................................................................................. 115
Delay and Cumulative Delay Probability Distributions ............................................ 116
Mean and Standard Deviations of the Queuing Delays .......................................... 117
95th Percentile Delay............................................................................................... 117
Mean Transmission Time ........................................................................................ 117
Mean Retransmission Delay .................................................................................... 117
References .................................................................................................... 118

Chapter 5 Static Simulation Algorithms and Outputs 119

Chapter 6 ENTERPRISE Interfaces 121

Index 123

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Contents
Page 10 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide
Contents
CHAPTER 1

Array and Report

Descriptions
This section describes the different types of arrays and reports available in ASSET.
The ranges of outputs available may vary according to which technology you are
using, which licences you have, and which processes you have chosen to run.
The following types of array are described:
 Non-Simulation Coverage/Interference Arrays (2g, 2.5g)
 Simulation Arrays for GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, EV-DO, LTE, Fixed WiMAX and
Mobile WiMAX
For information on creating, managing and displaying arrays, and generating reports,
see the ASSET User Reference Guide.

In addition to this section, there are specialist documents containing more detailed
descriptions of the array outputs and algorithms used in the Simulator. For
information on how you can obtain these documents, please see Static Simulation
Algorithms and Outputs on page 119.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 11

Array and Report Descriptions
 2g and 2.5g (Non-Sim) Arrays
There are a number of different Coverage/Interference arrays that can be generated
for 2g and 2.5g, using the Array Creation wizard.

Coverage and Interference Arrays (2g + 2.5g) (Non-Sim)

The 2g and 2.5g arrays, generated using the Array Creation wizard, are listed within
the Coverage heading in the Map View Data Types.

Example of the 2g/2.5g Arrays under the Coverage heading in the Data Types list

Page 12 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Best Server Array
This array displays the signal strength of the best serving cell at each pixel on the Map
View. This decision is based on parameters specified in the Site Database window and
in the Array Settings dialog box.
As with all the arrays, you can change the display settings in the Map View by
double-clicking the array in the list of Data Types. For details of how to modify or set
up schemas for this array, see the ASSET User Reference Guide.

This picture shows an example of the Best Server array:

Best Server array

Best Server (GPRS) Array

For each pixel, ASSET determines which serving cell layer will be the most likely
server of a mobile in that pixel. This decision is based on parameters specified in the
Site Database window and in the Array Settings dialog box.
The Best Server (GPRS) array is identical to the Best Server array, except that it will
exclude non-GPRS sub-cells from the calculation.

Best Server (EGPRS GMSK) Array

A subset of the GPRS Best Server array, which only includes EGPRS cells. The EGPRS
GMSK array displays the pathloss from the server to that pixel of a signal using
Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) modulation.

Best Server (EGPRS 8-PSK) Array

Covers the same sub-cells as the EGPRS GMSK array, but applies the APD to the sub-
cells, making the service area of each sub-cell generally smaller. If the APD is set to 0,
then both Best Server EGPRS arrays will be identical. The EGPRS 8-PSK array
displays the pathloss from the server to that pixel of a signal using 8-PSK modulation.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 13

Array and Report Descriptions
 Nth Best Server Array
For each pixel on the selected cell layer, ASSET determines which serving cell layer
will be the most likely server of a mobile in that pixel, plus the next most likely until
N. This decision is based on parameters specified in the Site Database window and in
the Array Settings dialog box.
The difference between Best Server arrays and Nth Best Server arrays is that when
creating an Nth Best Server Array, the number of layers is the same as the number of
GSM covering cells. You then choose which layer you wish to view.

Interference Arrays

When creating one of the Interference arrays, ASSET requires a Best Server array
in memory. If this is not the case, a Best Server array will be automatically created.
However, if you later create subsequent Interference arrays after making changes to
the network, ASSET does not automatically create a fresh Best Server array.
Therefore, in cases where you suspect the Best Server array in memory has become
out of date for any reason, you should explicitly create both the Best Server array and
the required Interference array when running the Array Creation wizard. For
example:

Example of creating Best Server array and required Interference array in the Coverage/Interference wizard

Per Carrier Interference Array

For all the interference calculations, ASSET generates an intermediate internal array
called a 'per carrier interference array'. For each pixel in the array, the serving sub-cell
is determined, and for each carrier of the serving sub-cell the worst carrier to
interference (C/I) (lowest numerical value) and the total C/I is calculated, taking into
consideration all co- and adjacent carriers from all interfering sub-cells.
The total C/I is determined by summing the interfering signals in watts and then later
converting back to dB. The result is an array such that for each pixel, a list is obtained
of serving carriers plus the worst and total C/I for each carrier.
You cannot currently visualise this intermediate array, which no longer exists when
all the other selected arrays have been created.

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 Worst Connection Array
For each pixel, the serving sub-cell is determined, and for each hopping carrier group
the average carrier to interference (C/I) is calculated from the corresponding pixel in
the 'per carrier interference array', by converting total C/I to BER and calculating the
mean. The mean Bit Error Rate is converted back to dB and the hopping carrier group
with the lowest resultant C/I is presented, that is, it corresponds to the worst of the
mean connection C/I values.
For information on the algorithm used for the calculation of this array, see Worst
Connection Array Calculation Method on page 88.

Worst connection arrays require a Best Server array, which is generated

automatically if one does not already exist in memory. If a Best Server array already
exists but its contents are out of date, you will need to recreate it by explicitly
selecting to create both the Best Server and Worst Connection arrays in the Array
Creation wizard.

This interference array type was designed for networks using frequency hopping,
although it also works for non-hopping networks. In a non-hopping network, the
carrier group can be considered to contain just a single carrier in the above
description.

Average Connection Array

For each pixel, the serving sub-cell is determined, and for each hopping carrier group
the average carrier to interference (C/I) is calculated from the corresponding pixel in
the 'per carrier interference array' by converting total C/I to BER and calculating the
mean. The mean BER is converted back to dB and the average value for all hopping
carrier groups is presented.
For information on the algorithm used for the calculation of this array, see Average
Connection Array Calculation Method on page 88.

Average Connection arrays require a Best Server array, which is generated

automatically if one does not already exist in memory. If a Best Server array already
exists but its contents are out of date, you will need to recreate it by explicitly
selecting to create both the Best Server and Average Connection arrays in the Array
Creation wizard.

This interference array type was designed for networks using frequency hopping,
although it also works for non-hopping networks. In a non-hopping network, the
carrier group can be considered to contain just a single carrier in the above
description.

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Array and Report Descriptions
 Worst Interferer Array
For each pixel, the carrier with the worst carrier to interference (C/I) is determined
from the corresponding total C/I value in the 'per carrier interference array'. The
result is the worst C/I and the sub-cell from which the interference originates.
For information on the algorithm used for the calculation of this array, see Worst
Interferer Array Calculation Method on page 89.

Worst Interferer arrays require a Best Server array, which is generated

automatically if one does not already exist in memory. If a Best Server array already
exists but its contents are out of date, you will need to recreate it by explicitly
selecting to create both the Best Server and Worst Interferer arrays in the Array
Creation wizard.

This array does not consider frequency hopping, and so can be considered to be an
interference calculation for a non-hopping version of the frequency plan.

Total Interference Array

For each pixel, the total carrier to interference (C/I) is calculated by summing the total
C/I per carrier. This array is applicable to both fully-loaded frequency hopping and
non-hopping networks. The calculated C/I is NOT merely as experienced by any
individual subscriber, but rather it represents the total of the interference experienced
by ALL subscribers at each pixel.
For information on the algorithm used for the calculation of this array, see Total
Interference Array Calculation Method on page 89.

Total Interference arrays require a Best Server array, which is generated

automatically if one does not already exist in memory. If a Best Server array already
exists but its contents are out of date, you will need to recreate it by explicitly
selecting to create both the Best Server and Total Interference arrays in the Array
Creation wizard.

Total Received Power Array

This array shows the sum of energy absorbed at any one point from all base stations
on a per pixel basis. For each pixel, received power is calculated in dBm from each of
the sub-cells. This value is converted to watts, summed and converted back to dBm.
When you have determined the total received power, you can use this information for
making safety decisions. You can also generate statistical reports showing this
information. Each pixel in the area of map you have selected is processed and a list is
created of sub-cells that have prediction files overlapping the area.

Distributed antenna systems are treated as separate power sources.

Page 16 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 GPRS Data Rate Array
The GPRS Data Rate array shows the maximum data rate (in kbits per second) that
you can achieve (per one timeslot) at a particular pixel using GPRS technology. This
calculation is capacity-independent.
Use the GPRS Data Rate array to see where in an area you will get what performance.
This type of array requires a Best Server (GPRS) array, which is generated
automatically if one does not already exist.
The GPRS Data Rate array determines coverage for cells that support GPRS and
includes the effect of Frequency Hopping and DTX. The array calculates a pixel's
average C/I value, ignoring the signal (C) from non-GPRS cells but considering
interference for all cells, both GPRS and non-GPRS.
When the average C/I value for each pixel has been determined, the array converts it
from a signal to noise ratio to a data rate per timeslot by referring to the Channel
Coding Scheme. For details, see the ASSET User Reference Guide. Only Channel
Coding Schemes supported by the best serving sub-cell are included. The data rate is
stored in the array.
You can specify the cell layer/carrier layer combinations to be considered when
calculating the GPRS data rate array by selecting the appropriate combinations in the
Interference tab of the Array Settings dialog box.
As with other arrays, you can double-click the item from the Data Types list on the
Map View to change the displayed colours and categories for the array.

GPRS Average Data Rate per Timeslot Array

The GPRS Average Data Rate per Timeslot display uses the serving cell information
from the Best Server (GPRS) array.
The Average Data Rate per Timeslot array uses the distribution of traffic (Terminal
Types/km²) and the data demands of each type. It then calculates an average data
rate per timeslot for the cell. This is calculated and stored when the GPRS Data Rate
array is produced.
It uses the GPRS Data Rate array to give a data rate per timeslot (kb/s). This value is
then multiplied by the number of terminals of that type present to get the demand for
that pixel for that terminal type.
The results for each terminal type for all the pixels within a sub-cell are then divided
by the number of terminals of that type with the sub-cell. The result for each terminal
type present is then averaged to generate the average data rate per timeslot, which is
then stored on the sub-cell.
For more details on the calculations, see Grade of Service and Data Rate on page 97.

If the traffic array and the GPRS Data Rate array are of different resolutions, the
GPRS Data Rate array is interpolated to get the corresponding kb/s for each traffic
array pixel.
To display this on the map, ensure Average Data Rate per Timeslot (GPRS) is selected
in the list of data types to display. The area covered by each GPRS sub-cell is
displayed on the map in the colour corresponding to its average data rate per
timeslot.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 17

Array and Report Descriptions
 When displayed on the map, the array has different colours representing the different
service levels in a kb/s/timeslot. For example:
 High (Multimedia) >12kb/s (Red)
 Medium (Web access) 7-12kb/s (Green)
 Low (e-mail) 2-7kb/s (Blue)
As with other arrays, you can double-click the item from the Data Types list on the
Map View to change the displayed colours and categories for the array.

GPRS Service Area Data Rate Array

The GPRS Service Area Data Rate array displays the capacity limited GPRS data rate
for each serving cell.
The data rates are displayed accordingly to chosen categories over the service area of
each server. For example, for a server whose capacity limited data rate is 6kb/s, the
service area of this server will be displayed as the appropriate category. The default
category in this case would be e-mail as according to the default scheme, the data rate
range for e-mail is 1-28 kb/s. The service area for this cell would therefore be coloured
in the colour for the category e-mail.
As with other arrays, you can double-click the item from the Data Types list on the
Map View to change the displayed colours and categories for the array.

EGPRS Data Rate Array

Use the EGPRS Data Rate array to see where in an area you will get what
performance. This type of array requires an EGPRS Best Server array, which is
generated automatically if one does not already exist.
The EGPRS Data Rate array is based on the following data:
 EGPRS-enabled cells
 EGPRS modulation/coding schemes
 Frequency hopping
 LA families supported by the sub-cells
 The power drop (APD) observed with 8-PSK modulation
The EGPRS Data Rate array determines coverage for cells that support EGPRS and
includes the effect of Frequency Hopping and DTX. The array calculates a pixel's
average C/I value, ignoring the signal (C) from non-EGPRS cells but considering
interference for all cells, both EGPRS and non-EGPRS.

If you are taking traffic into account for interference and the 8-PSK traffic mix of
any sub-cell is greater than zero, ASSET assumes that the percentage of the traffic is 8-
PSK (which uses less power because of the APD and causes less interference).
When the average C/I value for each pixel has been determined, the array converts it
from a signal to noise ratio to a data rate per timeslot by referring to the Coding
Scheme. For details, see the ASSET User Reference Guide.

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Array and Report Descriptions
 It works out two of these data rates, one for the best GMSK available, and one for the
best 8-PSK available, and then chooses the one that gives the best overall data rate to
store.
You can specify the cell layer/carrier layer combinations to be considered when
calculating the EGPRS data rate array by selecting the appropriate combinations in
the Interference tab of the Array Settings dialog box.
As with other arrays, you can double-click the item from the Data Types list on the
Map View to change the displayed colours and categories for the array.

EGPRS Average Data Rate per Timeslot Array

The EGPRS Average Data Rate per Timeslot display uses the serving cell information
from the Best Server (EGPRS) array.
The Average Data Rate per Timeslot array uses the distribution of traffic (Terminal
Types/km²) and the data demands of each type. It then calculates an average data
rate per timeslot for the cell. This is calculated and stored when the EGPRS Data Rate
array is produced.
It uses the EGPRS Data Rate array to give a data rate per timeslot (kb/s). This value is
then multiplied by the number of terminals of that type present to get the demand for
that pixel for that terminal type.
The results for each terminal type for all the pixels within a sub-cell are then divided
by the number of terminals of that type with the sub-cell. The result for each terminal
type present is then averaged to generate the average data rate per timeslot, which is
then stored on the sub-cell.
For more details on the calculations, see Grade of Service and Data Rate on page 97.

If the traffic array and the EGPRS Data Rate array are of different resolutions, the
EGPRS Data Rate array is interpolated to get the corresponding kb/s for each traffic
array pixel.
To display this on the map, ensure Average Data Rate per Time Slot (EGPRS) is
selected in the list of data types to display. The area covered by each EGPRS sub-cell
is displayed on the map in the colour corresponding to its average data rate per
timeslot.
When displayed on the map, the array has different colours representing the different
service levels in a kb/s/timeslot. For example:
 High (Multimedia) >12kb/s (Red)
 Medium (Web access) 7-12kb/s (Green)
 Low (e-mail) 2-7kb/s (Blue)
As with other arrays, you can double-click the item from the Data Types list on the
Map View to change the displayed colours and categories for the array.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 19

Array and Report Descriptions
 EGPRS Service Area Data Rates Array
The EGPRS Service Area Data Rate array displays the capacity limited EGPRS data
rate for each serving cell.
The data rates are displayed accordingly to chosen categories over the service area of
each server. For example, for a server whose capacity limited data rate is 6kb/s, the
service area of this server will be displayed as the appropriate category. The default
category in this case would be e-mail as according to the default scheme, the data rate
range for e-mail is 1-28 kb/s. The service area for this cell would therefore be coloured
in the colour for the category e-mail.
As with other arrays, you can double-click the item from the Data Types list on the
Map View to change the displayed colours and categories for the array.

Co/Adjacent Channel Assignments

This feature is not a true array, as it is sensitive to the location of your mouse cursor.
As you move your cursor to different cells (with allocated carriers), a set of lines
display information about which cells share the co-channels or adjacent channels.
As with all the arrays, you can change the display settings by double-clicking the
array in the list of Data Types. You can then choose whether to display Co-Channel
and/or Adjacent Channels, and you can also distinguish between Control (BCCH)
channels and Traffic(TCH) channels, as set in the Carrier Layers.

Service Area (Block, Contour)

Service areas enable you to view the information from the Best Server array in terms
of the geographical areas where each cell is the Serving Cell, irrespective of signal
strength.
This picture shows an example of the Service Area Block array:

Service Area Block array

Page 20 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
GSM (Sim) Arrays
This is an overview of the GSM arrays generated by the Simulator in ASSET.
All arrays are produced on a per cell-layer basis. Many arrays depend on whether the
terminal is taken to be indoor or outdoor. Indoor arrays use the in-building
parameters for the clutter type at each pixel (that is, indoor loss and indoor shadow-
fading standard deviation).
Coverage arrays can be drawn even if no snapshots have been run, but you should
note that the arrays then refer to coverage in an unloaded system. To obtain coverage
arrays for a loaded system, you must run some snapshots; the key purpose of running
snapshots is to provide measures of traffic load. The arrays change little after a
relatively small number of snapshots have been performed (10s of snapshots in most
cases). This is because only a small number of snapshots are needed to get an idea of
the average loading on each sub-cell.
Here is an example of the GSM arrays you can generate on the Map View when using
the Simulator:

Example of the GSM (Sim) arrays appearing in the Map View Data Types

Pathloss Arrays

DL Loss & Nth DL Loss

Dependencies: Terminal, Cell layer, Indoor
These are the lowest (and Nth lowest) downlink losses. They represent average values
and are therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 21

Array and Report Descriptions
 Coverage Arrays
These arrays all provide information on coverage levels and coverage probabilities.

Best DL Cell by RSS

Dependencies: Cell Layer
This is the sub-cell that provides the highest RSS for the terminal.

Best RSS & Nth Best RSS

Dependencies: Terminal, Cell Layer, Indoor
These are the highest (and Nth highest) RSS levels. They represent average values and
are therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

RSS Coverage Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Cell Layer, Indoor, Fading
This is the probability that the Best DL Cell (by RSS) satisfies the RSS requirement
specified on the terminal type. This probability depends on the standard deviation of
shadow fading for the clutter type at the pixel. If this standard deviation has been set
to zero, then there are only three possible coverage probabilities: 0% if the
requirement is not satisfied, 50% if the requirement is satisfied exactly, and 100% if
the requirement is exceeded.

RSS Coverage Probability OK

Dependencies: Terminal, Cell Layer, Indoor, Fading
This is a thresholded version of the RSS Coverage Probability array and has just two
values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the RSS
Coverage Probability array. A value of “Yes” means that the coverage probability
meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the
Array Settings dialog box.

CINR (Control)
Dependencies: Terminal, Cell Layer, Indoor
These are the CINR(Control) values corresponding to the best serving sub-cells, so
they are not necessarily the highest CINR(Control) values.

CINR (Traffic + Control) & Nth CINR (Traffic + Control)

Dependencies: Terminal, Cell Layer, Indoor
These are the CINR (Traffic + Control) values corresponding to the best (and Nth
best) serving sub-cells, so they are not necessarily the highest (and Nth highest) CINR
(Traffic + Control) values.

Page 22 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Achievable Bitrate
Dependencies: Terminal, Cell Layer, Service, Indoor
This is the highest bitrate that can be achieved by the terminal based on CINR
regardless of system loading.

All Servers Array

This feature is not a true array, since it is sensitive to the location of your mouse
cursor. It is a more basic version of the Pixel Analyser tool (for more information on
the Pixel Analyser, see the ASSET User Reference Guide).
It displays information about which cells are "covering" each pixel. A set of lines is
drawn between all possible serving cells to the simulation pixel where the mouse
cursor is located. For pixels with more than one covering cell, the line thickness
increases proportionally.
This array enables you to identify distant servers so that you can optimise your
network design by lowering, moving or reducing the transmit power of problematic
sites.
The covering cells are shown in order of either:
 Best Servers by Signal Strength (according to the threshold set in the Array
Settings dialog box). This will work even if you have not yet run any snapshots
because it relates to the power in the cell and path loss, not to any simulation
results.
 Best Servers by C/I. This requires snapshots to have been run because it relates to
attempted connections. Lines are only drawn if a terminal has been served on that
pixel.
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor.
This picture shows an example of the All Servers array:

All Servers array

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 23

Array and Report Descriptions
 Terminal Information Arrays
When the Simulator has been run in snapshot mode, the 'Terminal Info' arrays (if
selected in the wizard) can show the locations of terminals generated by the
snapshots. They also show whether the terminals succeeded or failed to make a
connection.
The arrays are as follows:

Terminal Info: Failure Rate

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
In each pixel, the failure rate is the proportion of attempted terminals that failed to
make a connection. It is calculated as a percentage as follows:
Failure Rate (%) = 100 * (Failed Terminals) / (Attempted Terminals)
The accuracy of the result at a pixel is limited by the number of overall attempts made
at the pixel. For example, if only one attempt has been made, the result will either be
0% or 100%. The Failure Rate array therefore provides a rough visualisation of the
problem areas of the network.

Terminal Info: Failure Reason

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows connection successes and failures in a single plot. The value shown
at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted there, regardless of
which snapshot it related to. So if the last terminal that was attempted at a pixel
succeeded, then the pixel will be shown as a success, regardless of how many
terminals may have failed there in previous snapshots. Likewise, if the last terminal at
a pixel failed, then the pixel will be shown as a failure, regardless of how many
terminals succeeded there in previous snapshots. So in theory, locations that are more
likely to serve terminals in a snapshot rather than fail them are more likely to appear
as successes than failures, and vice versa.
A terminal can fail for multiple reasons. When this occurs, only a single reason is
reported when writing a value at the pixel. This will be the most dominant reason
based on a hard-coded ranked list of the failure reasons for the terminal. For example,
coverage failures rank more highly than capacity failures, since there is no purpose in
indicating a capacity failure for a terminal if it does not have coverage. For more
detailed information, see the specialist document mentioned in Array and Report
Descriptions on page 11.

Terminal Info: Speed (km/h)

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows the speed of the terminal in the corresponding Failure Reason array.
This array can be useful because some failure reasons are affected by the speed of the
mobile (for example, bearers have speed-dependent signal to noise requirements). It is
available for all technologies except GSM and Fixed WiMAX and Wi-Fi (these do not
have speed-dependent bearer requirements).
The value shown at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted
there, regardless of the snapshot in which it was attempted.

Page 24 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
UMTS, CDMA2000 and EV-DO Arrays
This is an overview of the 3g arrays for UMTS, CDMA2000 and EV-DO generated by
the Simulator in ASSET.
All these arrays are produced on a per carrier basis.
Most of them have a dependency on terminal type because body loss and terminal
antenna gain are always included in the link budget.
Many of them depend on whether the terminal is considered to be indoor or outdoor.
Indoor arrays use the in-building parameters for the clutter type at each pixel (that is,
indoor loss and indoor shadow fading standard deviation). Indoor terminals are
always taken to be slow moving.
Coverage arrays can be displayed even if no snapshots have been run, but you should
note that in these circumstances the arrays represent coverage in an unloaded
network. To obtain coverage arrays for a loaded network, you must run some
snapshots or define the loads manually. The key purpose of running snapshots is to
provide measures of system load.
Arrays for coverage tend to have a weak dependence on the number of snapshots run,
and the arrays change little after a relatively small number of snapshots have been
performed (10s of snapshots in most cases). This is because only a small number of
snapshots are needed to get an idea of the average noise rise and average DL traffic
power on each cell.
Arrays for hard or soft blocking probabilities have a strong dependence on the
number of snapshots run. This is because blocking is evaluated by reporting the
proportion of snapshots that would block further connections. For example, if only 1
snapshot has been run, then all blocking probabilities will be either 0% or 100%. If 5
snapshots have been run then all blocking probabilities will belong to the set {0%,
20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%}.
Here is an example of the 3g arrays you can generate on the Map View when using
the Simulator:

Example of the Simulator 3g arrays appearing in the Map View Data Types

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 25

Array and Report Descriptions
 Pathloss Arrays

DL Loss
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
The lowest downlink loss. Represents average values and is therefore calculated with
fades of 0dB.

Nth DL Loss
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
The Nth lowest downlink loss. Represents average values and is therefore calculated
with fades of 0dB.

Pilot Coverage Arrays

These arrays all provide information on pilot levels and coverage probabilities. There
are three types of quantity relating to the pilot (RSCP, Ec/Io, SIR) and there are arrays
for all of these.

Best DL Cell by RSCP and Nth Best DL Cell by RSCP

Dependencies: Carrier
This is the cell that provides the highest (and Nth highest) RSCP for the terminal.

Best RSCP and Nth Best RSCP

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
The highest (and Nth highest) RSCP level. Represents average values and is therefore
calculated with fades of 0dB.

RSCP Coverage Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the probability that the Best DL Cell (by RSCP) satisfies the RSCP requirement
specified on the terminal type. This probability depends on the standard deviation of
shadow fading for the clutter type at the pixel. If this standard deviation has been set
to zero, then there are only three possible coverage probabilities: 0% if the
requirement is not satisfied, 50% if the requirement is satisfied exactly, and 100% if
the requirement is exceeded.

RSCP Coverage OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is a thresholded version of the RSCP Coverage Probability array and has just two
values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the RSCP
Coverage Probability array. A value of “Yes” means that the RSCP coverage
probability meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

Page 26 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Number of RSCP OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the number of covering cells with a satisfactory RSCP. A cell is counted as
having a satisfactory RSCP if its RSCP coverage probability meets the coverage
reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings
dialog box.

Pilot Ec/Io and Nth Best Pilot Ec/Io

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
These are the highest (and Nth highest) Ec/Io values. They represent average values
and are therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

Pilot Ec/Io Coverage Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the probability that the Best DL Cell (by RSCP) satisfies the Ec/Io requirement
specified on the terminal type. This probability depends on the standard deviation of
shadow fading for the clutter type at the pixel. If this standard deviation has been set
to zero, then there are only three possible coverage probabilities: 0% if the
requirement is not satisfied, 50% if the requirement is satisfied exactly, and 100% if
the requirement is exceeded.

Pilot Ec/Io Coverage OK

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is a thresholded version of the Pilot Ec/Io Coverage Probability array and has
just 2 values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the
Pilot Ec/Io Coverage Probability array. A value of “Yes” means that the pilot Ec/Io
coverage probability meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

Number of Pilot Ec/Io OK

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the number of covering cells with a satisfactory pilot Ec/Io. A cell is
considered as having a satisfactory pilot Ec/Io if its pilot Ec/Io coverage probability
meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the
Array Settings dialog box.

Pilot SIR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the best Pilot SIR value. It represents an average value and is therefore
calculated with fades of 0dB.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 27

Array and Report Descriptions
 Pilot SIR Coverage Probability
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the probability that the Best DL Cell (by RSCP) satisfies the pilot SIR
requirement specified on the terminal type. This probability depends on the standard
deviation of shadow fading for the clutter type at the pixel. If this standard deviation
has been set to zero, then there are only three possible coverage probabilities: 0% if
the requirement is not satisfied, 50% if the requirement is satisfied exactly, and 100%
if the requirement is exceeded.

Pilot SIR Coverage OK

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is a thresholded version of the Pilot SIR Coverage Probability array and has just 2
values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the Pilot SIR
Coverage Probability array. A value of “Yes” means that the pilot SIR coverage
probability meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

Number of Pilot SIR OK

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the number of covering cells with a satisfactory pilot SIR. A cell is considered
as having a satisfactory pilot SIR if its pilot SIR coverage probability meets the
coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array
Settings dialog box.

The SIR arrays are for UMTS only.

Handover Arrays
The aim of the following arrays is to provide the planner with an idea of potential
handover areas, and to indicate areas of pilot pollution. All arrays are based on mean
Pilot Ec/Io levels calculated with fades of 0dB.

Available Soft/Softer Cells

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the number of suitable HO candidates for the Best DL Cell (by RSCP). If the
Ec/Io level of the best DL cell is below the Ec/Io requirement on the terminal type,
then no result is given. Otherwise all the other cells are checked to see if their pilot
Ec/Io levels make them suitable HO candidates.

Available Soft Cells

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the number of suitable soft HO candidates for the Best DL Cell (by RSCP). If
the Ec/Io level of the best DL cell is below the Ec/Io requirement on the terminal
type, then no result is given. Otherwise all the other cells (on different sites to the best
cell) are checked to see if their pilot Ec/Io levels make them suitable HO candidates.

Page 28 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Available Softer Cells
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the number of suitable softer HO candidates for the Best DL Cell (by RSCP). If
the Ec/Io level of the best DL cell is below the Ec/Io requirement on the terminal
type, then no result is given. Otherwise all the other cells (on the same site as the best
cell) are checked to see if their pilot Ec/Io levels make them suitable HO candidates.

Active Set Size

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the potential size of the active set. It is related to the Available Soft/Softer Cells
array by:
Active Set Size = min (1 + Available Soft/Softer Cells, Max Active Set Size).

Pilot Polluters
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
If the Pilot Pollution Threshold specified in the Simulation Wizard is x dB then:
For UMTS, the number of pilot polluters at a location is:
The number of cells that are not in the active set, but provide an Ec/Io level within
x dB of the best Ec/Io in the active set. Therefore the pilot pollution threshold in
UMTS is a relative quantity.
A typical value for UMTS is 6 dB.
For CDMA2000 and EV-DO, the number of pilot polluters at a location is:
The number of cells that are not in the active set, but provide an Ec/Io level higher
than x dB. Therefore the pilot pollution threshold in CDMA2000 is an absolute
quantity.
A typical value for CDMA2000 is -15 dB.

Uplink Noise Arrays

UL Load
Dependencies: Carrier
This is the uplink cell load of the Best DL Cell (by RSCP). Note that for OTSR cells,
there can be a different uplink load on each antenna used by the cell (just as in the
uplink simulation reports for OTSR cells).

UL FRE
Dependencies: Carrier
This is the uplink frequency re-use efficiency of the Best DL Cell (by RSCP). Note that
for OTSR cells, there can be a different uplink FRE on each antenna used by the cell
(just as in the uplink simulation reports for OTSR cells).

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 29

Array and Report Descriptions
 Downlink Noise Arrays

DL Total RX Power
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the total downlink received power. It represents an average value and is
therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

DL Io
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the total downlink power spectral density. It represents an average value and
is therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

DL Iother/Iown
Dependencies: Carrier
This is the ratio of downlink power received from other cells, to downlink power
received from own cell, where “own cell” is the Best DL Cell (by RSCP).

DL FRE
Dependencies: Carrier
This is the downlink frequency re-use efficiency at a pixel and it is related to DL
Iother/Iown as follows:
DL FRE = 1 / ( 1 + Iother/Iown )

Uplink Coverage Arrays

Uplink coverage arrays are available for each bearer at different speeds.

Best UL Cell
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, UL Bearer, Speed
This is the cell requiring the minimum uplink transmit power. For UMTS bearers, the
only real dependence is on the carrier used. However, for CDMA2000 bearers, the
Best UL Cell must have an RC type that is supported by the terminal type.

UL Eb/No Margin (or Eb/Nt)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, UL Bearer, Speed
This shows by how much the uplink Eb/No requirement is exceeded on the Best UL
Cell, assuming the terminal transmits at full power.

UL Req TX Power
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, UL Bearer, Speed
This is the required UL TX power of the terminal. It is equal to the maximum output
power of the terminal type (dBm) minus the UL Eb/No (or Eb/Nt) margin (dB).

Page 30 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 UL Coverage Probability
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, UL Bearer, Speed
This is the probability of satisfying the uplink bearer Eb/No (or Eb/Nt) requirement
on the Best UL Cell, assuming the terminal transmits at full power. This probability
depends on the standard deviation of shadow fading for the clutter type at the pixel.
If this standard deviation has been set to zero, then there are only three possible
coverage probabilities: 0% if the requirement is not satisfied, 50% if the requirement is
satisfied exactly, and 100% if the requirement is exceeded.

UL Coverage Probability OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, UL Bearer, Speed
This is a thresholded version of the UL Coverage Probability array and has just two
values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the UL
Coverage Probability array. A value of “Yes” means that the uplink coverage
probability meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

Achievable UL Bearer
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Speed
The purpose of this array is to provide a composite coverage plot for the uplink
bearers of a service. The array shows the highest priority uplink bearer with
acceptable uplink coverage, that is, with UL Coverage Probability meeting the
coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array
Settings dialog box.

Downlink Coverage Arrays

Downlink coverage arrays are available for each bearer at different speeds.

Best DL Cell
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, DL Bearer, Speed
This is the cell requiring the minimum downlink transmit power. For UMTS bearers,
the only real dependence is on the carrier used, and so this array is exactly the same
as the Best DL cell by RSCP. However, for CDMA2000 bearers, the Best DL Cell must
have an RC type that is supported by the terminal type.

DL Eb/No Margin (or Eb/Nt)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, DL Bearer, Speed
This is how much the downlink Eb/No (or Eb/Nt) requirement has been exceeded,
assuming that the link powers of cells in the active set are at maximum allowed levels.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 31

Array and Report Descriptions
 DL Coverage Probability
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, DL Bearer, Speed
This is the probability of satisfying the downlink bearer Eb/No (or Eb/Nt)
requirement, assuming that the link powers of cells in the active set are at maximum
allowed levels. This probability depends on the standard deviation of shadow fading
for the clutter type at the pixel. If this standard deviation has been set to zero, then
there are only three possible coverage probabilities: 0% if the requirement is not
satisfied, 50% if the requirement is satisfied exactly, and 100% if the requirement is
exceeded.

DL Coverage Probability OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, DL Bearer, Speed
This is a thresholded version of the DL Coverage Probability array and has just two
values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the DL
Coverage Probability array. A value of “Yes” means that the downlink coverage
probability meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

Achievable DL Bearer
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Speed
The purpose of this array is to provide a composite coverage plot for the downlink
bearers of a service. The array shows the highest priority downlink bearer with
acceptable downlink coverage, that is, with DL Coverage Probability meeting the
coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array
Settings dialog box.

Downlink Coverage Arrays available for EV-DO:

Ior/Ioc
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the Ior/Ioc of the Best DL Cell by RSCP. It represents an average value and is
therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

DL Eb/Nt
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service
This array gives the DL Eb/Nt of the DL bearer with the highest supportable Ior/Ioc
requirement.

Achievable DL Bearer
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service
The purpose of this array is to provide a combined coverage plot for the downlink
bearers of a service. The array shows the bearer with the highest supportable Ior/Ioc
requirement.

Page 32 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Achievable DL Bitrate
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service
This is the air-interface bitrate of the DL bearer with the highest supportable Ior/Ioc
requirement.

Coverage Balance Arrays

Coverage Balance
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Speed
The purpose of this array is to provide a composite uplink/downlink coverage plot
for a service. The uplink is deemed to have coverage if any of the uplink bearers on
the service have UL Coverage Probability meeting the coverage reliability level
specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.
Similarly, the downlink is deemed to have coverage if any of the downlink bearers on
the service have DL Coverage Probability meeting the specified coverage reliability
level.

This array also considers (where appropriate) HSPA bearers.

Soft Blocking Arrays

UL Soft Blocking Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, UL Bearer, Speed
This is the probability of uplink soft blocking on the Best UL Cell. Uplink soft
blocking occurs if an additional connection with the uplink bearer would cause the
noise rise limit to be exceeded. The uplink soft blocking probability is determined by
examining the proportion of snapshots that would block a connection with the uplink
bearer in this way.
For OTSR cells, the noise rise is measured on a per antenna basis (as in the simulation
reports), so the soft blocking probability depends on the antenna that covers the pixel.

DL Soft Blocking Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, DL Bearer, Speed
This is the probability of downlink soft blocking on the Best DL Cell. Downlink soft
blocking occurs if an additional connection with the downlink bearer requires more
power than is available on the cell. The downlink soft blocking probability is
determined by examining the proportion of snapshots that would block a connection
with the downlink bearer in this way.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 33

Array and Report Descriptions
 Hard Blocking Arrays
There a two types of hard blocking arrays for each uplink and downlink resource
type. The exception is the HSDPA resource type used to represent HSDPA codes. This
does not have a “primary” blocking array because there are no “primary” limits for
HSDPA codes.

Hard Blocking Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Bearer, Speed
This is the probability of hard blocking on the Best DL Cell because of lack of
resources. This type of blocking occurs if an additional connection with the bearer
requires more resources than are available. The blocking probability is determined by
examining the proportion of snapshots that would block a connection with the bearer
in this way.

Hard Blocking Probability – Primary

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Bearer, Speed
This is the probability of hard blocking on the Best DL Cell because of lack of primary
resources. This type of blocking occurs if an additional connection with the bearer
requires more primary resources than are available. The blocking probability is
determined by examining the proportion of snapshots that would block a connection
with the bearer in this way.

Throughput Arrays

UL Throughput (kbps)
Dependencies: Carrier
This is the UL throughput on the Best DL Cell by RSCP. It is the value in the
Simulator reports, rendered over the best server area of the cell.

DL Throughput (kbps)
Dependencies: Carrier
This is the DL throughput on the Best DL Cell by RSCP. It is the value in the
Simulator reports, rendered over the best server area of the cell.

Page 34 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 HSDPA Arrays
Here are brief definitions of the HSDPA-specific arrays:

HSDPA - Best DL Cell by SINR

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This is the cell that provides the highest SINR level for the terminal.

HSDPA - SINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the highest SINR level. It represents an average value and is therefore
calculated with fades of 0dB.

HSDPA - DL Eb/No Margin

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, HSDPA Bearer, Speed
This is the extent to which the Eb/No requirement of the HSDPA bearer is exceeded.
The cell of interest is chosen by examining the SINR levels of cells that support the
HSDPA bearer, and choosing the cell with the largest level.

HSDPA - DL Coverage Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, HSDPA Bearer, Speed
This is the probability of satisfying the Eb/No requirement of the HSDPA bearer. The
cell of interest is chosen by examining the SINR levels of cells that support the
HSDPA bearer, and choosing the cell with the largest level. The probability depends
on the standard deviation of shadow fading for the clutter type at the pixel. If this
standard deviation has been set to zero, then there are only three possible coverage
probabilities: 0% if the requirement is not satisfied, 50% if the requirement is satisfied
exactly, and 100% if the requirement is exceeded.

HSDPA - DL Coverage Probability OK

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, HSDPA Bearer, Speed
This is a thresholded version of the HSDPA - DL Coverage Probability array and has
just two values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the
HSDPA - DL Coverage Probability array. A value of “Yes” means that the coverage
probability satisfies the downlink coverage reliability level specified in the Sim
Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

HSDPA - Achievable DL Bearer

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Speed
The purpose of this array is to provide a composite coverage plot for the HSDPA
bearers of a service. The array shows the highest priority HSDPA bearer with
acceptable coverage, that is, with 'HSDPA - DL Coverage Probability' meeting the
coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array
Settings dialog box.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 35

Array and Report Descriptions
 HSDPA - Achievable Data Rate
This is the user bitrate of the 'HSDPA - Achievable Downlink Bearer'. It is similar to
the 'HSDPA - Achievable Downlink Bearer' array, but instead of giving the bearer
name at each location, it gives the bearer's user rate. Note that for MIMO bearers, the
user rate may be adjusted depending on the number of TX and RX antennas on the
cell and terminal respectively.

HSDPA - Offered Load

Dependencies: Carrier
This is the offered HSDPA load on the Best DL Cell by SINR. Note that the offered
load is calculated for each HSDPA resource pool in the network. Therefore, if the
HSDPA resources have been pooled on a site, all HSDPA cells on that site will show
the same offered load.

HSDPA - Effective Service Rate (Unloaded)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Speed
This is the bitrate that the user experiences at a location when there is no queuing
delay on the cell. It is calculated by multiplying the bitrate of the HSDPA - Achievable
DL Bearer by its activity factor.

HSDPA - Effective Service Rate (Loaded)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Speed
This is the bitrate that the user experiences at a location when there is queuing delay
on the cell. The rate drops to zero as the HSDPA load on the cell approaches 100%.

HSDPA - Effective Cell Service Rate (Unloaded)

Dependencies: Carrier, Service
This is the total amount of data in a service session (bits) divided by the mean service
time per user on the cell (seconds), assuming there is no queuing delay.

HSDPA - Effective Cell Service Rate (Loaded)

Dependencies: Carrier, Service
This is similar to the HSDPA - Effective Cell Service Rate (Unloaded) array, except
that the mean service time per user on the cell is increased because of queuing delay.
As the offered HSDPA load on the cell approaches 100%, the queuing delay approach
infinity and the Effective Cell Service Rate (Loaded) drops to zero.

Page 36 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 HSUPA Arrays
Here are brief definitions of the HSUPA-specific arrays:

HSUPA - Best UL Cell

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, HSUPA Bearer, Speed
The cell which requires the minimum HSUPA transmit power in order to satisfy the
Eb/No requirement.

HSUPA - UL Eb/No Margin

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, HSUPA Bearer, Speed
For each pixel, this represents the amount by which the target Eb/No is overachieved
on the Best UL Cell, assuming that the terminal is transmitting at full power.

HSUPA - UL Req TX Power

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
The maximum output power of the terminal minus the Eb/No margin.

HSUPA - UL Coverage Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, HSUPA Bearer, Speed
This array is dependent on the standard deviations of shadow fading specified for the
clutter types. For each pixel, this array shows the probability of coverage depending
on the Eb/No calculated on the Best UL Cell, assuming that the terminal is
transmitting at full power. If the specified standard deviation is zero, then there are
only three probabilities: 0% if the requirement is not satisfied; 50% if the requirement
is satisfied exactly; and 100% if the requirement is exceeded.

HSUPA - UL Coverage Probability OK

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, HSUPA Bearer, Speed
This is a thresholded version of the HSUPA-UL Coverage Probability and has just two
values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the HSDPA -
UL Coverage Probability array. A value of "Yes" means that the uplink coverage
probability satisfies the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

HSUPA - Achievable UL Bearer

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Speed
The purpose of this array is to provide a composite coverage plot for the HSUPA
bearers of a Terminal/ Carrier/ Indoor/ Service/ Speed. The array shows the highest
priority HSUPA bearer with acceptable uplink coverage, that is, with UL Coverage
Probability satisfying the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 37

Array and Report Descriptions
 HSUPA - Cell for Achievable UL Bearer
This array provides additional information about the 'HSUPA Achievable UL Bearer'
array (which shows the achievable bearer at each location), by showing the cell that
provides that connection.

HSUPA - Achievable Data Rate

This is the user bitrate of the 'HSUPA - Achievable UL Bearer'. It is similar to the
'HSUPA - Achievable UL Bearer' array but instead of giving the bearer name at each
location, it gives the bearer's user rate.

All Servers Array

This feature is not a true array, since it is sensitive to the location of your mouse
cursor. It is a more basic version of the Pixel Analyser tool (for more information on
the Pixel Analyser, see the ASSET User Reference Guide).
It displays information about which cells are "covering" each pixel. A set of lines is
drawn between all possible serving cells to the simulation pixel where the mouse
cursor is located. For pixels with more than one covering cell, the line thickness
increases proportionally.
This array enables you to identify distant servers so that you can optimise your
network design by lowering, moving or reducing the pilot power of problematic sites.
The covering cells are shown in order of either:
 Best Servers by Pilot Strength (according to the threshold set in the Array Settings
dialog box). This will work even if you have not yet run any snapshots because it
relates to the power in the cell and path loss, not to any simulation results.
 Best Servers by Ec/Io. This requires snapshots to have been run because it relates
to attempted connections. Lines are only drawn if a terminal has been served on
that pixel.
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor.
This picture shows an example of the All Servers array:

All Servers array

Page 38 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Terminal Information Arrays
When the Simulator has been run in snapshot mode, the 'Terminal Info' arrays (if
selected in the wizard) can show the locations of terminals generated by the
snapshots. They also show whether the terminals succeeded or failed to make a
connection.
The arrays are as follows:

Terminal Info: Failure Rate

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
In each pixel, the failure rate is the proportion of attempted terminals that failed to
make a connection. It is calculated as a percentage as follows:
Failure Rate (%) = 100 * (Failed Terminals) / (Attempted Terminals)
The accuracy of the result at a pixel is limited by the number of overall attempts made
at the pixel. For example, if only one attempt has been made, the result will either be
0% or 100%. The Failure Rate array therefore provides a rough visualisation of the
problem areas of the network.

Terminal Info: Failure Reason

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows connection successes and failures in a single plot. The value shown
at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted there, regardless of
which snapshot it related to. So if the last terminal that was attempted at a pixel
succeeded, then the pixel will be shown as a success, regardless of how many
terminals may have failed there in previous snapshots. Likewise, if the last terminal at
a pixel failed, then the pixel will be shown as a failure, regardless of how many
terminals succeeded there in previous snapshots. So in theory, locations that are more
likely to serve terminals in a snapshot rather than fail them are more likely to appear
as successes than failures, and vice versa.
A terminal can fail for multiple reasons. When this occurs, only a single reason is
reported when writing a value at the pixel. This will be the most dominant reason
based on a hard-coded ranked list of the failure reasons for the terminal. For example,
coverage failures rank more highly than capacity failures, since there is no purpose in
indicating a capacity failure for a terminal if it does not have coverage. For more
detailed information, see the specialist document mentioned in Array and Report
Descriptions on page 11.

Terminal Info: Speed (km/h)

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows the speed of the terminal in the corresponding Failure Reason array.
This array can be useful because some failure reasons are affected by the speed of the
mobile (for example, bearers have speed-dependent signal to noise requirements). It is
available for all technologies except GSM and Fixed WiMAX and Wi-Fi (these do not
have speed-dependent bearer requirements).
The value shown at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted
there, regardless of the snapshot in which it was attempted.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 39

Array and Report Descriptions
 DVB-H C/I Array
This array is exclusively for DVB-H analysis. The array shows combined C/I value for
DVB-H at each pixel, calculated from the DVB-H parameters set in the Simulator
wizard. When you display the results of a DVB-H simulation on the Map View, you
should ensure that you set the array display properties to display appropriate ranges
of values, in accordance with the values for your network. You should also add
appropriate descriptive labels for each range, using the mapping relationship between
C/I and Throughput, as described in the DVB-H section of the ASSET User Reference
Guide.

As with all arrays, you can customise the display properties by double-clicking on
the array heading.

LTE Arrays
This is an overview of the LTE arrays generated by the Simulator in ASSET.
All these arrays are produced on a per carrier basis.
Most of them have a dependency on terminal type because body loss and terminal
antenna gain are always included in the link budget.
Many of them depend on whether the terminal is considered to be indoor or outdoor.
Indoor arrays use the in-building parameters for the clutter type at each pixel (that is,
indoor loss and indoor shadow fading standard deviation). Indoor terminals are
always taken to be slow moving.
Coverage arrays can be displayed even if no snapshots have been run, but you should
note that in these circumstances the arrays represent coverage in an unloaded
network. To obtain coverage arrays for a loaded network, you must run some
snapshots or define the loads manually. The key purpose of running snapshots is to
provide measures of system load.
Arrays for coverage tend to have a weak dependence on the number of snapshots run,
and the arrays change little after a relatively small number of snapshots have been
performed (10s of snapshots in most cases). This is because only a small number of
snapshots are needed to get an idea of the "Mean UL Interference Level (dB)" and
"Downlink Load (%)" on each cell.

Page 40 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Here is an example of the LTE arrays you can generate on the Map View when using
the Simulator:

Example of the Simulator LTE arrays appearing in the Map View Data Types

The following LTE array descriptions describe the types of array that are available
from the Simulator, and show their dependencies. Most terms (such as Indoor) are
self-explanatory. Here are some clarifications for some of the terms:
Term Descriptions
Fading The array depends on the standard deviation of shadow fading for the clutter type.
Reliability The array depends on the coverage reliability threshold specified in the Sim
Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

You can try changing this parameter and then redraw the array without
running any more snapshots.
Snapshots/Load Levels The existence, accuracy, and results of the array are dependent on the number of
snapshots done or the load levels defined in the Site Database.

Pathloss Arrays

DL Loss
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
The lowest downlink loss. Represents average values and is therefore calculated with
fades of 0dB.

Nth DL Loss
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
The Nth lowest downlink loss. Represents average values and is therefore calculated
with fades of 0dB.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 41

Array and Report Descriptions
 Line of Sight
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
The Line of Sight array is available for predictions generated by the Enhanced
Macrocell model, the MYRIAD model, or the Volcano model.
This is a two-valued array (LOS, nonLOS). The indoor instance is nonLOS
everywhere. Here is an example:

Example of Line Of Sight array

Downlink Reference Signal Coverage Arrays

These arrays provide information on DLRS levels and coverage probabilities. There
are two types of quantity relating to the DLRS: RSRP and RSRQ.

Best Server & Nth Best Server by RSRP

Dependencies: Carrier
These are the cell(s) that provides the (highest and Nth highest) RSRP for the
terminal.

Best RSRP & Nth Best RSRP

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
These are the highest (and Nth highest) RSRP levels. They represent average values
and are therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

RSRP Coverage Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Fading
This is the probability that the Best Server (by RSRP) satisfies the RSRP requirement
specified on the terminal type. This probability depends on the standard deviation of
shadow fading for the clutter type at the pixel. If this standard deviation has been set
to zero, then there are only three possible coverage probabilities: 0% if the
requirement is not satisfied; 50% if the requirement is satisfied exactly; and 100% if
the requirement is exceeded.

Page 42 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 RSRP Coverage OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Fading, Reliability
This is a thresholded version of the RSRP Coverage Probability array and has just two
values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the RSRP
Coverage Probability array. A value of "Yes" means that the RSCP coverage
probability meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

Number of RSRP OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Fading, Reliability
This is the number of covering cells with a satisfactory RSRP. A cell is counted as
having a satisfactory RSRP if its RSRP coverage probability meets the coverage
reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings
dialog box.

RSRQ & Nth Best RSRQ

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Snapshots/Load levels
These are the highest (and Nth highest) RSRQ values. They represent average values
and are therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

RSRQ Coverage Probability

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Fading, Snapshots/Load levels
This is the probability that the Best Server (by RSRP) satisfies the RSRQ requirement
specified on the terminal type. This probability depends on the standard deviation of
shadow fading for the clutter type at the pixel. If this standard deviation has been set
to zero, then there are only three possible coverage probabilities: 0% if the
requirement is not satisfied; 50% if the requirement is satisfied exactly; and 100% if
the requirement is exceeded.

RSRQ Coverage OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Fading, Reliability, Snapshots/Load levels
This is a thresholded version of the RSRQ Coverage Probability array and has just two
values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the RSRQ
Coverage Probability array. A value of "Yes" means that the RSRQ coverage
probability meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

Number of RSRQ OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Fading, Reliability, Snapshots/Load levels
This is the number of covering cells with a satisfactory RSRQ. A cell is counted as
having a satisfactory RSRQ if its RSRQ coverage probability meets the coverage
reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings
dialog box.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 43

Array and Report Descriptions
 DLRS SNR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Snapshots/Load levels
This is the highest DLRS SNR level. This does not include the Inter-cell interference
(that is, Best RSRP levels divided by the thermal noise). It represents an average value
and is therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

DLRS SINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Snapshots\Load levels
This is the highest DLRS SINR level. This includes the Inter-cell interference (that is,
Best RSRP levels divided by the thermal noise plus Inter-cell Interference). it
represents an average value and is therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

Downlink Noise Arrays

RSSI (Downlink Received Power)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Snapshots/Load levels
This is the total received noise contributed by all sources, including co-channel
serving and non-serving cells, adjacent channel interference, and thermal noise). It
represents average values and is therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

Uplink Coverage Arrays

Cell for Achievable UL Bearer

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
This is required for the Achievable UL Bearer array. It is similar to the Best Server (by
RSRP) array but includes all bearers' dependencies and shows the server which
provides the connection for an UL bearer at a given location/pixel.

Achievable UL Bearer
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
The purpose of this array is to provide a combined coverage plot for the UL bearers of
the service. The array shows the highest priority bearer with acceptable UL coverage,
that is, with UL coverage probability meeting the reliability level specified in the Sim
Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

UL Traffic/Ctrl SINR Margin (Power Controlled)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the best UL SINR level assuming that the terminal transmits at the power
controlled power level, that is, the power required to satisfy the UL Bearer SINR
requirement. This is in essence a combined required SINR level (defined on the
bearers and modified accordingly if AAS architecture is employed) plot of UL
Bearers.

Page 44 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 UL Req TX power
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the required UL TX power of the terminal to serve the achievable UL bearer at
a given pixel/location.

UL Transmission Mode
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This shows the achievable UL AAS mode at a given pixel location. The supported UL
transmission modes are Single Antenna, SU-MIMO Diversity, SU-MIMO
Multiplexing and MU-MIMO. This array should be used in conjunction with the
Achievable UL Bearer array to determine the achievable UL bearer and transmission
mode at a given pixel/location.

UL RBs Required for Coverage

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This shows the maximum required number of UL Resource Blocks, for the highest
achievable UL bearer, over which the terminal can transmit (spread its power)
without losing coverage of the bearer. The required number of RBs is restricted by the
employed carrier bandwidth and the ICIC settings.

Downink Coverage Arrays

Cell for Achievable DL Bearer

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
This is required for the Achievable DL Bearer array. It is similar to the Best Server (by
RSRP) array, and shows the server which provides the connection for a given UL
bearer at a given location/pixel.

Achievable DL Bearer
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
The purpose of this array is to provide a combined coverage plot for the UL bearers of
the service. The array shows the highest priority bearer with acceptable UL coverage,
that is, with UL coverage probability meeting the reliability level specified in the Sim
Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

DL Traffic/Ctrl SINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Snapshots/Load levels
This is the highest PDSCH and PDCCH SINR level. This represents an average value
and is therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 45

Array and Report Descriptions
 DL Traffic SINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Snapshots/Load levels
This is the highest PDSCH SINR level. This represents an average value and is
therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

DL Ctrl SINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Snapshots/Load levels
This is the highest PDCCH SINR level. This represents an average value and is
therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

DL BCH/SCH SINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor,
This is the highest P-SCH+S-SCH/PBCH SINR level. This represents an average value
and is therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

DL MCH SINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor,
This is the highest PMCCH SINR level. This represents an average value and is
therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

DL Transmission Mode
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This shows the achievable DL AAS mode at a given pixel location. The supported DL
transmission modes are Single Antenna, SU-MIMO Diversity, SU-MIMO
Multiplexing and MU-MIMO. This array should be used in conjunction with the
Achievable UL Bearer array to determine the achievable UL bearer and transmission
mode at a given pixel/location.

Downlink Throughput and Data Rate Arrays

DL Data Rate (Application) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the application layer data rate that a user can achieve at a location/pixel using
the highest achievable DL bearer and the employed SU\MU-MIMO settings. This also
takes into account the SINR to Error rate mapping defined on the DL bearers as well
the reduction in data rate due to service overheads (accounting for higher layer
headers, and so on).

Page 46 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 DL Data Rate (Effective) (kbps)
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the effective data rate that a user can achieve at a location/pixel using the
highest achievable DL bearer and the employed SU\MU-MIMO settings. This also
takes into account the SINR to error rate mapping defined on the DL bearers but not
the service overheads.

DL Data Rate (Peak) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the peak data rate that a user can achieve at a location/pixel using the highest
achievable DL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO settings without taking into
account the SINR to error rate mapping defined on the DL bearers and service
overheads.

DL Achievable Throughput (Application) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the application throughput that a user can achieve at a location using the
highest achievable DL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO and ICIC settings.
This also takes into account the SINR to error rate mapping defined on the DL bearers
and service overheads. The reported value is not limited by the service MBR. The DL
Achievable Throughput (Application) is achievable over the available RBs in the
present ICIC bandwidth partition (cell centre or cell edge).

DL Achievable Throughput (Effective) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the effective throughput that a user can achieve at a location using the highest
achievable DL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO and ICIC settings. This also
takes into account the SINR to error rate mapping defined on the DL bearers but not
the service overheads. The reported value is not limited by the service MBR. The DL
Achievable Throughput (Effective) is achievable over the available RBs in the present
ICIC bandwidth partition (cell centre or cell edge).

DL Achievable Throughput (Peak) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the peak throughput that a user can achieve at a location using the highest
achievable DL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO and ICIC settings. The peak
throughput is reported without taking into account the SINR to error rate mapping
defined on the DL bearers and service overheads. The reported value is not limited by
the service MBR. The DL Achievable Throughput (Peak) is achievable over the
available RBs in the present ICIC bandwidth partition (cell centre or cell edge).

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 47

Array and Report Descriptions
 DL Cell Throughput (Application) (kbps)
Dependencies: Carrier, Snapshots
This is the application layer DL cell throughput displayed over the Best Server (by
RSRP) area. The presence of this array requires the Simulator to run in the snapshot
mode as it requires the cell throughput results gathered at the end of the snapshots.
The effects of SU/MU-MIMO settings as well as SINR to Error rate mapping and
service overheads are taken into consideration.

DL Cell Throughput (Effective) (kbps)

Dependencies: Carrier, Snapshots
This is the effective DL cell throughput displayed over the Best Server (by RSRP) area.
The presence of this array requires the Simulator to run in the snapshot mode as it
requires the cell throughput results gathered at the end of the snapshots. The effects
of SU/MU-MIMO settings and SINR to Error rate mapping (but not service
overheads) are taken into consideration.

DL Cell Throughput (Peak) (kbps)

Dependencies: Carrier, Snapshots
This is the peak DL cell throughput displayed over the Best Server (by RSRP) area.
The presence of this array requires the Simulator to run in the snapshot mode as it
requires the cell throughput results gathered at the end of the snapshots. The effects
of SU/MU-MIMO settings and SINR to Error rate mapping (but not service
overheads) are taken into consideration.

DL Multi-User Rate Gain

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots
This is DL Multi User Gain for cells assigned with the Proportional Fair scheduler.

Uplink Throughput and Data Rate Arrays

UL Data Rate (Application) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the application layer data rate that a user can achieve at a location/pixel using
the highest achievable UL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO settings. This also
takes into account the SINR to Error rate mapping defined on the DL bearers as well
the reduction in data rate due to service overheads (accounting for higher layer
headers, and so on).

Page 48 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 UL Data Rate (Effective) (kbps)
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the effective data rate that a user can achieve at a location/pixel using the
highest achievable UL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO settings. This also
takes into account the SINR to error rate mapping defined on the UL bearers but not
the service overheads.

UL Data Rate (Peak) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the peak data rate that a user can achieve at a location/pixel using the highest
achievable UL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO settings without taking into
account the SINR to error rate mapping defined on the UL bearers and service
overheads.

UL Achievable Throughput (Application) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the application throughput that a user can achieve at a location using the
highest achievable UL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO and ICIC settings.
This also takes into account the SINR to error rate mapping defined on the UL bearers
and service overheads. The reported value is not limited by the service MBR. The UL
Achievable Throughput (Application) is achievable over the RBs that have been
calculated by the UL RBs Required for Coverage array.

UL Achievable Throughput (Effective) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the effective throughput that a user can achieve at a location using the highest
achievable UL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO and ICIC settings. This also
takes into account the SINR to error rate mapping defined on the UL bearers but not
the service overheads. The reported value is not limited by the service MBR. The UL
Achievable Throughput (Effective) is achievable over the RBs that have been
calculated by the UL RBs Required for Coverage array.

UL Achievable Throughput (Peak) (kbps)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This is the peak throughput that a user can achieve at a location using the highest
achievable UL bearer and the employed SU/MU-MIMO and ICIC settings. The peak
throughput is reported without taking into account the SINR to error rate mapping
defined on the UL bearers and service overheads. The reported value is not limited by
the service MBR. The UL Achievable Throughput (Peak) is achievable over the RBs
that have been calculated by the UL RBs Required for Coverage array.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 49

Array and Report Descriptions
 UL Cell Throughput (Application) (kbps)
Dependencies: Carrier, Snapshots
This is the application layer UL cell throughput displayed over the Best Server (by
RSRP) area. The presence of this array requires the Simulator to run in the snapshot
mode as it requires the cell throughput results gathered at the end of the snapshots.
The effects of SU/MU-MIMO settings as well as SINR to Error rate mapping and
service overheads are taken into consideration.

UL Cell Throughput (Effective) (kbps)

Dependencies: Carrier, Snapshots
This is the effective UL cell throughput displayed over the Best Server (by RSRP) area.
The presence of this array requires the Simulator to run in the snapshot mode as it
requires the cell throughput results gathered at the end of the snapshots. The effects
of SU/MU-MIMO settings and SINR to Error rate mapping (but not service
overheads) are taken into consideration.

UL Cell Throughput (Peak) (kbps)

Dependencies: Carrier, Snapshots
This is the peak UL cell throughput displayed over the Best Server (by RSRP) area.
The presence of this array requires the Simulator to run in the snapshot mode as it
requires the cell throughput results gathered at the end of the snapshots. The effects
of SU/MU-MIMO settings and SINR to Error rate mapping (but not service
overheads) are taken into consideration.

UL Multi-User Rate Gain

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots
This is UL Multi User Gain for cells assigned with the Proportional Fair scheduler.

UL RBs Used (Time-Average)

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
This shows the time-average number of UL Resource Blocks required by the highest
achievable UL bearer in order to achieve the service GBR. In case of SU-MIMO Spatial
Multiplexing the value is reduced by the UL SM Rate Gain. The UL RBs Used (Time-
Average) at a location is always less than or equal to the UL RBs Required for
Coverage.

Page 50 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 General Arrays

Coverage Balance
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Speed, Fading, Reliability,
Snapshots/Load levels
The purpose of this array is to provide a composite uplink/downlink coverage plot
for a service. The uplink is deemed to have coverage if any of the uplink bearers on
the service have UL Coverage Probability meeting the coverage reliability level
specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.
Similarly, the downlink is deemed to have coverage if any of the downlink bearers on
the service have DL Coverage Probability meeting the specified coverage reliability
level.

All Servers
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is not a true array, since it is sensitive to the location of mouse cursor. It displays
information about which cells are "covering" each pixel based on the "All Servers"
display properties (either RSRP or RSRQ). A set of lines is drawn between all possible
serving cells to the simulation pixel where the mouse cursor is located. For pixels with
more than one covering cell, the line thickness increases proportionally.

Cell Centre/Cell Edge

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This arrays shows the division of the Best Server (by RSRP) area into 'Cell Centre' and
'Cell Edge' based on the selected Cell Centre - Cell Edge threshold on the Thresholds
subtab of the LTE Params tab. The array as only two values, Cell Centre and Cell
Edge, depicting the classification of service area.
The available Cell Centre - Cell Edge threshold settings are RSRP (dBm) and Relative
RSRP (dB). The latter represents the difference between the RSRP levels of the best
and 2nd best server (by RSRP) at a given location/pixel.

Cell Interferers
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
If the Interference Threshold specified in the Simulation Wizard is x dB then:
For LTE, the number of cell interferers at a location is:
The number of servers with an RSRP value within x dB of the RSRP value of the
Best Server.
The threshold is relative. The default value is 6 dB.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 51

Array and Report Descriptions
 Terminal Information Arrays
When the Simulator has been run in snapshot mode, the 'Terminal Info' arrays (if
selected in the wizard) can show the locations of terminals generated by the
snapshots. They also show whether the terminals succeeded or failed to make a
connection.
The arrays are as follows:

Terminal Info: Failure Rate

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
In each pixel, the failure rate is the proportion of attempted terminals that failed to
make a connection. It is calculated as a percentage as follows:
Failure Rate (%) = 100 * (Failed Terminals) / (Attempted Terminals)
The accuracy of the result at a pixel is limited by the number of overall attempts made
at the pixel. For example, if only one attempt has been made, the result will either be
0% or 100%. The Failure Rate array therefore provides a rough visualisation of the
problem areas of the network.

Terminal Info: Failure Reason

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows connection successes and failures in a single plot. The value shown
at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted there, regardless of
which snapshot it related to. So if the last terminal that was attempted at a pixel
succeeded, then the pixel will be shown as a success, regardless of how many
terminals may have failed there in previous snapshots. Likewise, if the last terminal at
a pixel failed, then the pixel will be shown as a failure, regardless of how many
terminals succeeded there in previous snapshots. So in theory, locations that are more
likely to serve terminals in a snapshot rather than fail them are more likely to appear
as successes than failures, and vice versa.
A terminal can fail for multiple reasons. When this occurs, only a single reason is
reported when writing a value at the pixel. This will be the most dominant reason
based on a hard-coded ranked list of the failure reasons for the terminal. For example,
coverage failures rank more highly than capacity failures, since there is no purpose in
indicating a capacity failure for a terminal if it does not have coverage. For more
detailed information, see the specialist document mentioned in Array and Report
Descriptions on page 11.

Terminal Info: Speed (km/h)

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows the speed of the terminal in the corresponding Failure Reason array.
This array can be useful because some failure reasons are affected by the speed of the
mobile (for example, bearers have speed-dependent signal to noise requirements). It is
available for all technologies except GSM and Fixed WiMAX and Wi-Fi (these do not
have speed-dependent bearer requirements).
The value shown at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted
there, regardless of the snapshot in which it was attempted.

Page 52 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
Fixed WiMAX Arrays
This is an overview of the Fixed WiMAX arrays generated by the Simulator in ASSET.
All arrays are produced on a per carrier basis.
Most arrays have a dependency on the terminal type because terminal antenna gain is
always included in the linkloss.
Many arrays depend on whether the terminal is taken to be indoor or outdoor. Indoor
arrays use in-building parameters for the clutter type at the given pixel.
Coverage arrays can be drawn even if no snapshots have been run.
Here is an example of the Fixed WiMAX arrays you can generate on the Map View
when using the Simulator:

Example of the Fixed WiMAX arrays appearing in the Map View Data Types

General Arrays

Achievable UL Bearer
This array shows the highest priority UL bearer with acceptable UL coverage. The
array is based on the UL CINR value.

Achievable DL Bearer
This array shows the highest priority DL bearer with acceptable DL coverage (based
on the CINR).

DL RSS
This array represents the DL RSS at a given point. Calculated with fades of 0dB as it
represents an average value.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 53

Array and Report Descriptions
 Best Server by DL RSS
This array represents the service area of each WiMAX sector based on DL RSS.

CPE Azimuth
This array displays the CPE azimuth required in order to connect to the best server
(server with the highest signal strength).

DL Loss
This array represents the lowest DL losses. Calculated with fades of 0dB as it
represents an average value.

DL CINR
This is the best C/(I+N) in the DL. The C/(I+N) is calculated by taking into account
the signal strength from the reference base station and signal strength from all
interfering base stations.

UL Required TX Power
This array displays the UL required TX power for a given receiver sensitivity
(specified in the Site Database).

UL CINR
This array displays the CINR in the UL.

Thresholded Arrays

DL CINR OK, DL RSS OK, UL CINR OK, UL RSS OK

These are thresholded versions of their corresponding arrays. They have just two
values (Yes/No), and have the advantage of being quicker to calculate than their
corresponding arrays.
A value of “Yes” means that the probability meets the reliability level specified in the
Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

Page 54 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Terminal Information Arrays
When the Simulator has been run in snapshot mode, the 'Terminal Info' arrays (if
selected in the wizard) can show the locations of terminals generated by the
snapshots. They also show whether the terminals succeeded or failed to make a
connection.
The arrays are as follows:

Terminal Info: Failure Rate

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
In each pixel, the failure rate is the proportion of attempted terminals that failed to
make a connection. It is calculated as a percentage as follows:
Failure Rate (%) = 100 * (Failed Terminals) / (Attempted Terminals)
The accuracy of the result at a pixel is limited by the number of overall attempts made
at the pixel. For example, if only one attempt has been made, the result will either be
0% or 100%. The Failure Rate array therefore provides a rough visualisation of the
problem areas of the network.

Terminal Info: Failure Reason

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows connection successes and failures in a single plot. The value shown
at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted there, regardless of
which snapshot it related to. So if the last terminal that was attempted at a pixel
succeeded, then the pixel will be shown as a success, regardless of how many
terminals may have failed there in previous snapshots. Likewise, if the last terminal at
a pixel failed, then the pixel will be shown as a failure, regardless of how many
terminals succeeded there in previous snapshots. So in theory, locations that are more
likely to serve terminals in a snapshot rather than fail them are more likely to appear
as successes than failures, and vice versa.
A terminal can fail for multiple reasons. When this occurs, only a single reason is
reported when writing a value at the pixel. This will be the most dominant reason
based on a hard-coded ranked list of the failure reasons for the terminal. For example,
coverage failures rank more highly than capacity failures, since there is no purpose in
indicating a capacity failure for a terminal if it does not have coverage. For more
detailed information, see the specialist document mentioned in Array and Report
Descriptions on page 11.

Terminal Info: Speed (km/h)

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows the speed of the terminal in the corresponding Failure Reason array.
This array can be useful because some failure reasons are affected by the speed of the
mobile (for example, bearers have speed-dependent signal to noise requirements). It is
available for all technologies except GSM and Fixed WiMAX and Wi-Fi (these do not
have speed-dependent bearer requirements).
The value shown at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted
there, regardless of the snapshot in which it was attempted.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 55

Array and Report Descriptions
 Mobile WiMAX Arrays
This is an overview of the Mobile WiMAX arrays generated by the Simulator in
ASSET.
All arrays are produced on a per carrier basis.
Most arrays have a dependency on terminal-type because body loss and terminal
antenna gain are always included in the linkloss.
Many arrays depend on whether the terminal is considered to be indoor or outdoor.
Indoor arrays use the in-building parameters for the clutter type at each pixel (that is,
indoor loss and indoor shadow-fading standard deviation). Indoor terminals are
always assumed to be slow moving.
Coverage arrays can be drawn even if no snapshots have been run, but the user
should note that the arrays then refer to coverage in an unloaded system. To obtain
coverage arrays for a loaded system the user must run some snapshots. Remember
that the key purpose of running snapshots is to provide measures of system load.
Arrays for coverage tend to have a weak dependence on the number of snapshots run,
and the arrays change little after a relatively small number of snapshots have been
performed (10s of snapshots in most cases). This is because only a small number of
snapshots are needed to get an idea of the average noise rise and average DL traffic
power on each cell.
Here is an example of the Mobile WiMAX arrays you can generate on the Map View
when using the Simulator:

Example of the Mobile WiMAX arrays appearing in the Map View Data Types

Page 56 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Pathloss Arrays

DL Loss
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
These are the lowest downlink losses. They represent average values and are
therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

Preamble Arrays

Best Server by Preamble RSS

Dependencies: Carrier
This is the cell that provides the highest Preamble RSS for the terminal.

Preamble CINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is the best preamble CINR. It represents an average value and hence is calculated
using fades of 0dB.
Sectors on the same site are not considered as interferers because such sectors will be
allocated different segments.

Preamble RSS and Nth Best Preamble RSS

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
These arrays display the highest (and Nth highest) Preamble RSS levels. They
represent average values and are therefore calculated with fades of 0dB.

The preamble power is the TX power for the cell boosted by the preamble boosting
factor. Both these parameters are specified in the Site Database.

Preamble RSS OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This array has two values (Yes/No). A value of “Yes” means that the RSCP coverage
probability (the probability that the Preamble RSS satisfies the RSS requirement in the
Terminal type dialog box) meets the coverage reliability criteria specified in the Sim
Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box. The coverage probability
depends on the standard deviation of shadow fading for the clutter type at the pixel.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 57

Array and Report Descriptions
 Uplink Coverage Arrays

Best Server by UL AMC CINR

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Bearer
This array displays the cell with the highest UL AMC CINR.

Best Server by UL OPUSC CINR

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Bearer
This array displays the cell with the highest UL OPUSC CINR.

Best Server by UL PUSC CINR

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This is the cell that provides the highest CINR at a given pixel.

UL Achievable Bearer
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Speed
This array shows the combined coverage plot for the UL bearers of the service. The
array shows the highest priority bearer with acceptable UL coverage, that is, where
the UL coverage probability meets the reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

UL AMC CINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Bearer
This array displays the UL CINR in the AMC zone. For the uplink CINR analysis, the
signal from the connected terminal is the server signal and the signal from all other
terminals are the interferers. The power transmitted by the terminal can be assumed
to be the power specified in the terminal type dialog. The UL CINR represents an
average value (with fades set to 0dB).

UL OPUSC CINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Bearer
This array displays the UL CINR in the OPUSC zone. For the uplink CINR analysis,
the signal from the connected terminal is the server signal and the signal from all
other terminals are the interferers. The power transmitted by the terminal can be
assumed to be the power specified in the terminal type dialog. The UL CINR
represents an average value (with fades set to 0dB).

UL PUSC CINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, speed
The calculation of the UL PUSC CINR assumes that the terminal is transmitting over
all available data subcarriers.

Page 58 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Downlink Coverage Arrays

Best Server by DL AMC CINR

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This is the cell that provides the highest CINR at a given pixel, for the AMC zone.

Best Server by DL FUSC CINR

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This is the cell that provides the highest CINR at a given pixel, for the FUSC zone.

Best Server by DL OPUSC CINR

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This is the cell that provides the highest CINR at a given pixel, for the OPUSC zone.

Best Server by DL PUSC CINR

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This is the cell that provides the highest CINR at a given pixel, for the PUSC zone.

DL Achievable Bearer
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Service, Speed
This array shows the combined coverage plot for the DL bearers of the service. The
array shows the highest priority bearer with acceptable DL coverage, that is, where
the DL coverage probability meets the reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

DL AMC CINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Bearer
This array displays the DL CINR in the AMC zone. For the downlink CINR analysis,
the CINR is calculated by taking into account the level from the connected BS
(reference base station) as server and the level from all other sites as interferers. The
CINR represents an average value (with fades set to 0dB).

DL FUSC CINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, speed
This is the DL CINR value for the FUSC zone.

DL OPUSC CINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Service, Indoor, Bearer
This array displays the DL CINR in the OPUSC zone. For the downlink CINR
analysis, the CINR is calculated by taking into account the level from the connected
BS (reference base station) as server and the level from all other sites as interferers.
The CINR represents an average value (with fades set to 0dB).

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 59

Array and Report Descriptions
 DL PUSC CINR
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, speed
This is the DL CINR value for the PUSC zone.

DL AMC Worst Interferer Array

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This array displays the worst interferer at each pixel. The pixel ownership is
determined by the Best Server by DL AMC CINR array.

DL FUSC Worst Interferer Array

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This array displays the worst interferer at each pixel. The pixel ownership is
determined by the Best Server by DL FUSC CINR array.

DL OPUSC Worst Interferer Array

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This array displays the worst interferer at each pixel. The pixel ownership is
determined by the Best Server by DL OPUSC CINR array.

DL PUSC Worst Interferer Array

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
This array displays the worst interferer at each pixel. The pixel ownership is
determined by the Best Server by DL PUSC CINR array.

General Arrays

CPE Azimuth Array

Dependencies: Carrier
This array displays the azimuth that the directional CPE should point to in order to
connect to the best server.

UL Required TX Power
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This array displays the minimum UL required TX power for a given receiver
sensitivity (specified in the Site Database).

DL Throughput Array and UL Throughput Array

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier
The throughput arrays display the information displayed in the Simulator throughput
report in a graphical format. The throughput for a given sector is presented within the
region specified by the Best Server by Preamble RSS array. The throughput is
summed for all services.

Page 60 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 Terminal Information Arrays
When the Simulator has been run in snapshot mode, the 'Terminal Info' arrays (if
selected in the wizard) can show the locations of terminals generated by the
snapshots. They also show whether the terminals succeeded or failed to make a
connection.
The arrays are as follows:

Terminal Info: Failure Rate

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
In each pixel, the failure rate is the proportion of attempted terminals that failed to
make a connection. It is calculated as a percentage as follows:
Failure Rate (%) = 100 * (Failed Terminals) / (Attempted Terminals)
The accuracy of the result at a pixel is limited by the number of overall attempts made
at the pixel. For example, if only one attempt has been made, the result will either be
0% or 100%. The Failure Rate array therefore provides a rough visualisation of the
problem areas of the network.

Terminal Info: Failure Reason

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows connection successes and failures in a single plot. The value shown
at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted there, regardless of
which snapshot it related to. So if the last terminal that was attempted at a pixel
succeeded, then the pixel will be shown as a success, regardless of how many
terminals may have failed there in previous snapshots. Likewise, if the last terminal at
a pixel failed, then the pixel will be shown as a failure, regardless of how many
terminals succeeded there in previous snapshots. So in theory, locations that are more
likely to serve terminals in a snapshot rather than fail them are more likely to appear
as successes than failures, and vice versa.
A terminal can fail for multiple reasons. When this occurs, only a single reason is
reported when writing a value at the pixel. This will be the most dominant reason
based on a hard-coded ranked list of the failure reasons for the terminal. For example,
coverage failures rank more highly than capacity failures, since there is no purpose in
indicating a capacity failure for a terminal if it does not have coverage. For more
detailed information, see the specialist document mentioned in Array and Report
Descriptions on page 11.

Terminal Info: Speed (km/h)

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows the speed of the terminal in the corresponding Failure Reason array.
This array can be useful because some failure reasons are affected by the speed of the
mobile (for example, bearers have speed-dependent signal to noise requirements). It is
available for all technologies except GSM and Fixed WiMAX and Wi-Fi (these do not
have speed-dependent bearer requirements).
The value shown at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted
there, regardless of the snapshot in which it was attempted.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 61

Array and Report Descriptions
 Wi-Fi Arrays
This is an overview of the Wi-Fi arrays generated by the Simulator in ASSET.
All these arrays are produced on a per carrier basis.
Most of them have a dependency on terminal type because body loss and terminal
antenna gain are always included in the link budget.
Many of them depend on whether the terminal is considered to be indoor or outdoor.
Indoor arrays use the in-building parameters for the clutter type at each pixel (that is,
indoor loss and indoor shadow fading standard deviation). Indoor terminals are
always taken to be slow moving.
Coverage arrays can be displayed even if no snapshots have been run, but you should
note that in these circumstances the arrays represent coverage in an unloaded
network. To obtain coverage arrays for a loaded network, you must run some
snapshots or define the loads manually. The key purpose of running snapshots is to
provide measures of system load.
Arrays for coverage tend to have a weak dependence on the number of snapshots run,
and the arrays change little after a relatively small number of snapshots have been
performed (10s of snapshots in most cases). This is because only a small number of
snapshots are needed to get an idea of the "Mean UL Interference Level (dB)" and
"Downlink Load (%)" on each cell.
Here is an example of the Wi-Fi arrays you can generate on the Map View when using
the Simulator:

Example of the Simulator Wi-Fi arrays appearing in the Map View Data Types

Page 62 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 The following array descriptions describe the types of array that are available from
the Simulator, and show their dependencies. Most terms (such as Indoor) are self-
explanatory. Here are some clarifications for some of the terms:
Term Descriptions
Fading The array depends on the standard deviation of shadow fading for the clutter type.
Reliability The array depends on the coverage reliability threshold specified in the Sim
Display Settings tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

You can try changing this parameter and then redraw the array without
running any more snapshots.
Snapshots/Load Levels The existence, accuracy, and results of the array are dependent on the number of
snapshots done or the load levels defined in the Site Database.

Pathloss Arrays

Wi-Fi: DL Loss & Wi-Fi: Nth DL Loss

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
These are the downlink losses of the Best Server and the Nth Best Server. They
represent average values and are therefore calculated with fades of 0 dB.

Wi-Fi: Line of Sight

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is a two-valued array (LOS, non-LOS). The indoor instance is non-LOS
everywhere. The array is available for predictions from the Enhanced Macrocell,
MYRIAD and Volcano propagation models.

Downlink Coverage Arrays

These arrays provide information on DL RSS levels and coverage probabilities.

Wi-Fi: Best Server & Wi-Fi: Nth Best Server

Dependencies: Carrier
This is the cell that provides the (highest and Nth highest) DL RSS for the terminal.

Wi-Fi: DL RSS & Wi-Fi: Nth Best DL RSS

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
These are the highest (and Nth highest) DL RSS levels. They represent average values
and are therefore calculated with fades of 0 dB.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 63

Array and Report Descriptions
 Wi-Fi: DL RSS Coverage Probability
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Fading
This is the probability that the Best Server (by DL RSS) satisfies the RSS requirement
specified on the terminal type. This probability depends on the standard deviation of
shadow fading for the clutter type at the location. If this standard deviation has been
set to zero, then there are only three possible coverage probabilities: 0% if the
requirement is not satisfied, 50% if the requirement is satisfied exactly, and 100% if
the requirement is exceeded.

Wi-Fi: DL RSS OK
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Fading, Reliability
This is a thresholded version of the DL RSS Coverage Probability array and has just
two values (Yes/No). It has the advantage of being quicker to calculate than the DL
RSS Coverage Probability array. A value of “Yes” means that the DL RSS coverage
probability meets the coverage reliability level specified in the Sim Display
Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

Wi-Fi: Number of DL RSS OK

Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor, Fading, Reliability
This is the number of covering cells with a satisfactory DL RSS. A cell is counted as
having a satisfactory RSS if its DL RSS coverage probability meets the coverage
reliability level specified in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings
dialog box.

Throughput Arrays

Wi-Fi: DL Cell Throughput (kbps)

Dependencies: Carrier, Snapshots
This is the application layer DL cell throughput, displayed over the Best Server (by
DL RSS) area. The presence of this array requires the Simulator to run in the snapshot
mode, as it requires the cell throughput results gathered at the end of snapshots.

Wi-Fi: UL Cell Throughput (kbps)

Dependencies: Carrier, Snapshots
This is the application layer UL cell throughput, displayed over the Best Server (by
DL RSS) area. The presence of this array requires the Simulator to run in the snapshot
mode, as it requires the cell throughput results gathered at the end of snapshots.

Page 64 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 General Arrays

All Servers
Dependencies: Terminal, Carrier, Indoor
This is not a true array, since it is sensitive to the location of mouse cursor. It displays
information about which cells are "covering" each pixel based on the "All Servers"
display properties). A set of lines is drawn between all possible serving cells to the
simulation pixel where the mouse cursor is located. For pixels with more than one
covering cell, the line thickness increases proportionally.

Composite Tech Arrays

Composite Tech Arrays account for GSM, UMTS and Wi-Fi cells collectively.

Composite: Best Server

Dependencies: Terminal, Indoor, Service, Fading, Reliability, Other Tech
This is the identity of the serving cell. Wi-Fi is the top priority technology. UMTS and
GSM relevant priorities are as specified for the appropriate service in the Services
dialog box. Cells of a specific technology type are ranked by Signal Strength (Wi-Fi:
DL-RSS, UMTS: RSCP, GSM: RSS). The terminal‟s requirements must be met for the
respective technology (Wi-Fi: Required Signal Strength; UMTS: Required RSCP, Ec/Io
and Pilot SIR; GSM: Receiver RSS Sensitivity). The display thresholds can be specified
for each technology type individually in the Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array
Settings dialog box.

Composite: Tech Type

Dependencies: Terminal, Indoor, Service, Fading, Reliability, Other Tech
This is the technology type of the serving cell as determined in the previous array.
The display thresholds can be specified for each technology type individually in the
Sim Display Thresholds tab of the Array Settings dialog box.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 65

Array and Report Descriptions
 Terminal Information Arrays
When the Simulator has been run in snapshot mode, the 'Terminal Info' arrays (if
selected in the wizard) can show the locations of terminals generated by the
snapshots. They also show whether the terminals succeeded or failed to make a
connection.
The arrays are as follows:

Terminal Info: Failure Rate

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
In each pixel, the failure rate is the proportion of attempted terminals that failed to
make a connection. It is calculated as a percentage as follows:
Failure Rate (%) = 100 * (Failed Terminals) / (Attempted Terminals)
The accuracy of the result at a pixel is limited by the number of overall attempts made
at the pixel. For example, if only one attempt has been made, the result will either be
0% or 100%. The Failure Rate array therefore provides a rough visualisation of the
problem areas of the network.

Terminal Info: Failure Reason

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows connection successes and failures in a single plot. The value shown
at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted there, regardless of
which snapshot it related to. So if the last terminal that was attempted at a pixel
succeeded, then the pixel will be shown as a success, regardless of how many
terminals may have failed there in previous snapshots. Likewise, if the last terminal at
a pixel failed, then the pixel will be shown as a failure, regardless of how many
terminals succeeded there in previous snapshots. So in theory, locations that are more
likely to serve terminals in a snapshot rather than fail them are more likely to appear
as successes than failures, and vice versa.
A terminal can fail for multiple reasons. When this occurs, only a single reason is
reported when writing a value at the pixel. This will be the most dominant reason
based on a hard-coded ranked list of the failure reasons for the terminal. For example,
coverage failures rank more highly than capacity failures, since there is no purpose in
indicating a capacity failure for a terminal if it does not have coverage. For more
detailed information, see the specialist document mentioned in Array and Report
Descriptions on page 11.

Terminal Info: Speed (km/h)

Dependencies: Terminal, Snapshots
This array shows the speed of the terminal in the corresponding Failure Reason array.
This array can be useful because some failure reasons are affected by the speed of the
mobile (for example, bearers have speed-dependent signal to noise requirements). It is
available for all technologies except GSM and Fixed WiMAX and Wi-Fi (these do not
have speed-dependent bearer requirements).
The value shown at a pixel is determined by the last terminal that was attempted
there, regardless of the snapshot in which it was attempted.

Page 66 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
Simulation Reports
This section provides descriptions of some of the network performance reports that
can be generated from the Simulator (when it is run in the snapshot mode).

In addition to this section, there are specialist documents containing more detailed
descriptions of the outputs and algorithms used in the Simulator. For information on
how you can obtain these documents, please see Static Simulation Algorithms and
Outputs on page 119.

UMTS Composite Reports

The UMTS Composite Report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Mean Attempted Attempted service connections
Mean Served Successful service connections.
Mean Failed Failed service connections.
Mean in Soft or Softer Handover Successful service connections that were in either soft handover or softer handover.
Mean in Softer Handover Successful service connections that were in softer handover.
No UL Resource Primary Channel The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
No DL Resource Primary Channel The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
UL Resource Channel Limit The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Reached
DL Resource Channel Limit The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Reached
Low Pilot The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Downlink Eb/No (Range) The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Downlink Eb/No (Capacity) The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Uplink Eb/No The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Noise Rise Limit The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
No Valid Connection Scenarios The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
This indicates compatibility issues in terms of the network and configuration
parameters. There may be a problem with the carriers, bearers, services, terminal
types or filters used, so you should check your configuration and simulation set-up.
No Covering Cells The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason. This indicates that
there was no pathloss information in the pixel at the location of the terminal.

Probability percentages can add up to more than 100%. This is because a

connection can fail for multiple reasons simultaneously.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 67

Array and Report Descriptions
 UMTS Cell Failure Report
The UMTS Cell Failure report shows the failures that are measured in the simulation
and contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Cell Identity Unique cell identifier.
Mean Number of Failures The mean number of failed service connections.
Mean Number of Attempts The mean number of attempted service connections.
Failure Rate The amount of failures as a percentage of the attempts.
Failures due to No UL Resource Primary The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Channel
Failures due to No DL Resource Primary The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Channel
Failures due to UL Resource Channel Limit The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Reached
Failures due to DL Resource Channel Limit The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Reached
Failures due to Low Pilot The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Failures due to Downlink Eb/No (Range) The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Failures due to Downlink Eb/No (Capacity) The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Failures due to Uplink Eb/No The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Failures due to Noise Rise The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.

For UMTS networks there are potentially 36 different resource types but only
those that have been defined will be displayed.

UMTS Downlink Performance Reports

The UMTS Downlink Performance report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Cell Identity Unique cell identifier.
Downlink Traffic Power (dBm) This value shows the mean transmitted downlink traffic power per cell
(calculated).
DL Traffic Power 95% Confidence Interval The confidence interval on the mean downlink traffic power.
(+/- dB)
Total TX Power (dBm) This is the sum of the traffic channel power and all of the downlink channel
powers.
Max TX Power (dBm) This value shows the Max TX Power limit that you have set per cell.
Common Channel Power (dBm) This is the total time-averaged common channel power. The primary and
secondary common channel powers that the user specifies in the site dialog
are peak powers.
The total time-averaged common channel power is given by:
Mean_Common_Power = 0.9 x Peak_Primary_Common_Power + 1.0 x
Peak_Secondary_Common_Power

All powers in this formula are in Watts.

Pilot Power (dBm) This value shows the downlink pilot power that you have set per cell.

Page 68 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

Array and Report Descriptions
 This Result Describes
Sync Channel Power (dBm) This is the total time-averaged synchronisation channel power. The primary
and secondary synchronisation channel powers that the user specifies in the
site dialog are peak powers.
The total time-averaged sync channel power is given by:
Total_Sync_Power = 0.1 x Peak_Primary_Sync_Power + 0.1 x
Peak_Secondary_Sync_Power

All powers in this formula are in Watts.

UMTS Cell Handover Reports

The UMTS Cell Handover Report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Cell Identity Unique cell identifier.
UL Resource Primary Channels The mean number of uplink resource primary channels used per cell.
Used
UL Resource Handover Channel The mean number of uplink resource channels used for soft handover per cell.
Used – Soft
UL Resource Handover Channel The mean number of uplink resource channels used for softer handover per cell.
Used - Softer
DL Resource Primary Channels The mean number of downlink resource primary channels used per cell.
Used
DL Resource Handover Channel The mean number of downlink resource channels used for soft handover per cell.
Used – Soft
DL Resource Handover Channel The mean number of downlink resource channels used for softer handover per cell.
Used – Softer

For UMTS networks there are 36 different resource types but only those that have
been defined will be displayed.

UMTS Cell Blocking Reports

The Cell Blocking Report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Cell ID Unique cell identifier.
Total Samples This is the total number of terminals used to calculate the blocking probability.
This figure will increase as more snapshots are performed.
Blocking Probability The blocking probability for the service on the cell.
Blocking Probability 95% Confidence The confidence interval on the blocking probability. The interval will tend to
Interval (+/-) decrease as the total number of samples increases.
Percentage of Blocks Due to No UL The percentage of blocks that were due, in part, to No Uplink Resource
Resource Primary Channel Primary Channel.
Percentage of Blocks Due to No DL The percentage of blocks that were due, in part, to No Downlink Resource
Resource Primary Channel Primary Channel.
Percentage of Blocks Due to UL Resource The percentage of the blocks that were due, in part, to Uplink Resource
Channel Limit Reached. Channel Limit Reached.
Percentage of Blocks Due to DL Resource The percentage of the blocks that were due, in part, to Downlink Resource
Channel Limit Reached. Channel Limit Reached.

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 This Result Describes
Percentage of Blocks Due to Downlink The percentage of the blocks that were due, in part, to Downlink Eb/No
Eb/No (Capacity) Capacity.
Percentage of Blocks Due to Noise Rise The percentage of the blocks that were due, in part, to Noise Rise.

Notes :
 The blocking reports are only available if selected in the checkbox in step 2 of the
Simulator Wizard
 The statistics given are the reasons for failure to the ‟best‟ server.
 For UMTS networks there are potentially 36 different resource types but only
those that have been defined will be displayed.

Joint GSM-UMTS Composite Reports

The joint GSM and UMTS Composite Report contains the following information:

The two technologies can be simulated separately.

GSM only
This Result Describes
Mean in Handover The mean number of successful service connections that are a handover.
Bad C/I The probability of failures due to high interference.
Bad Controlled C/I The probability of failures due to interference to the controlled carrier.
Bad Traffic C/I The probability of failures due to interference to the traffic.
No Cell Time Slot Available The probability of no cell timeslots available to transmit.
No Terminal Time Slot Available The probability of no terminal timeslots available to transmit.

UMTS only
This Result Describes
Mean in Soft or Softer Handover The mean number of successful service connections that are in either soft handover
or softer handover.
Mean in Softer Handover The mean number of successful service connections that are in softer handover.
No UL Resource Primary Channel The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to No Uplink Resource Primary
Channel.
No DL Resource Primary Channel The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to No Downlink Resource
Primary Channel.
UL Resource Channel Limit The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to Uplink Resource Channel
Reached Limit Reached.
DL Resource Channel Limit The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to Downlink Resource Channel
Reached Limit Reached.
Low Pilot The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to Low Pilot.
Downlink Eb/No (Range) The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to Downlink Eb/No Range.
Downlink Eb/No (Capacity) The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to Downlink Eb/No Capacity.
Uplink Eb/No The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to Uplink Eb/No.
Noise Rise Limit The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to Noise Rise limit.

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 Joint
This Result Describes
Mean Attempted The mean number of attempted service connections.
Mean Served The mean number of successful service connections.
Mean Failed The mean number of failed service connections.
No Valid Connection Scenarios. The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to compatibility issues in terms
of the network and configuration parameters. There may be a problem with the
carriers, bearers, services, terminal types or filters used, so you should check your
configuration and simulation set-up.
No Covering Cells The proportion of the failures that were due, in part, to the fact that there was no
pathloss information in the pixel at the location of the terminal.

Probability percentages can add up to more than 100%. This is because a

connection can fail for multiple reasons simultaneously.

Joint GSM-UMTS Cell Failure Report

The joint GSM and UMTS Cell Failure report shows the failures that are measured in
the simulation, and contains the following information:

The two technologies can be simulated separately.

GSM only
This Result Describes
Percentage of Failures due to Bad C/I The percentage of failures due to high interference.
Percentage of Failures due to Bad Ctrl C/I The percentage of failures due to interference to the controlled carrier.
Percentage of Failures due to Bad Traffic The percentage of failures due to interference to the traffic.
C/I
Percentage of Failures due to No Cell TS The percentage of no cell timeslots available to transmit.
Available
Percentage of Failures due to No Terminal The percentage of no terminal timeslots available to transmit.
TS Available

UMTS only
This Result Describes
Percentage of Failures due to No UL The percentage of failures that were due, in part, to no uplink resource Primary
Resource Primary Channel Channel.
Percentage of Failures due to No DL The percentage of failures that were due, in part, to No downlink resource
Resource Primary Channel Primary Channel.
Percentage of Failures due to UL The percentage of the failures that were due, in part, to uplink resource
Resource Channel Limit Reached Channel Limit Reached.
Percentage of Failures due to DL The percentage of the failures that were due, in part, to downlink resource
Resource Channel Limit Reached channel limit reached.
Percentage of Failures due to Low Pilot The percentage of the failures that were due, in part, to low pilot.
Percentage of Failures due to Downlink The percentage of the failures that were due, in part, to downlink Eb/No Range.
Eb/No (Range)
Percentage of Failures due to Downlink The percentage of the failures that were due, in part, to downlink Eb/No
Eb/No (Capacity) Capacity.

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 This Result Describes
Percentage of Failures due to Uplink The percentage of the failures that were due, in part, to uplink Eb/No.
Eb/No
Percentage of Failures due to Noise Rise The percentage of the failures due, in part, to the noise rise.

Joint
This Result Describes
Cell Identity Unique cell identifier.
Mean Number of Failures The mean number of failed connections.
Mean Number of Attempts The mean number of attempted connections.
Failure Rate The percentage of failures.

For UMTS networks there are potentially 36 different resource types but only
those that have been defined will be displayed.

CDMA2000 Composite Reports

The CDMA2000 Composite Report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Mean Attempted Attempted service connections.
Mean Served Successful service connections.
Mean Failed Failed service connections.
Mean in Soft or Softer Handoff Successful service connections that are in either soft handoff or softer handoff.
Mean in Softer Handoff Successful service connections that are in softer handoff.
No DL Primary Channel The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
DL Channel Limit Reached The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Low Ec/Io The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Downlink Eb/Io (Range) The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Downlink Eb/Io Capacity The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Uplink Eb/Nt The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Noise Rise Limit The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
No Valid Connection Scenarios The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
This indicates compatibility issues in terms of the network and configuration
parameters. There may be a problem with the carriers, bearers, services, terminal
types or filters used, so you should check your configuration and simulation set-up.
No Covering Cells The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason. This indicates that
there was no pathloss information in the pixel at the location of the terminal.

Probability percentages can add up to more than 100%. This is because a

connection can fail for multiple reasons simultaneously.

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 CDMA2000 Failure Report
The CDMA2000 Failure report shows the failures that are measured in the simulation
and contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Sector Identity Unique sector identifier.
Mean Number of Failures The mean number of failed service connections.
Mean Number of Attempts The mean number of attempted service connections.
Failure Rate The amount of failures as a percentage of the attempts.
Percentage of Failures due to No DL The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Primary Channel
Percentage of Failures due to DL Channel The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Limit Reached
Percentage of Failures due to Low Ec/Io The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Percentage of Failures due to Downlink The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason, that is, where
Eb/Io (Range) the maximum available traffic channel power is exceeded.
Percentage of Failures due to Downlink The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason, that is, where
Eb/Io (Capacity) the cell’s maximum transmission power is exceeded.
Percentage of Failures due to Uplink Eb/Nt The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Percentage of Failures due to Noise Rise The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.

EV-DO Composite Reports

The EV-DO Composite report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Mean Attempted The mean number of attempted service connections.
Mean Served The mean number of successful service connections.
Mean Failed The mean number of failed service connections.
Low Ior/Ioc The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Downlink Eb/Io (Range) The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Downlink Eb/Io Capacity The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Uplink Eb/Nt The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
Noise Rise Limit The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
No Valid Connection Scenarios The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason.
This indicates compatibility issues in terms of the network and configuration
parameters. There may be a problem with the carriers, bearers, services, terminal
types or filters used, so you should check your configuration and simulation set-up.
MAC Indexes The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason, that is, an insufficient
number of MAC Indexes being available.
No Covering Cells The percentage of failures attributable, in part, to this reason. This indicates that
there was no pathloss information in the pixel at the location of the terminal.

Probability percentages can add up to more than 100%. This is because a

connection can fail for multiple reasons simultaneously.

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Array and Report Descriptions
 CDMA2000 Downlink Performance Reports
The CDMA2000 Downlink Performance report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Sector Identity Unique sector identifier.
Downlink Traffic Power (dBm) This value shows the mean transmitted downlink traffic power per sector carrier
(calculated).
DL Traffic Power 95% Confidence The confidence interval on the mean downlink traffic power.
Interval (+/- dB)
Total TX Power (dBm) This is the sum of the traffic channel power and all of the downlink channel powers.
Max PA Power (dBm) This value shows the Max PA Power limit that you have set per sector carrier.
Rated PA Power This shows the rated PA power that you have set per sector carrier.
Total Paging Channel Power (dBm) This value shows the sum of paging powers that you have set per sector carrier.
Pilot Power (dBm) This value shows the downlink pilot power that you have set per sector carrier.
Sync Channel Power (dBm) Sync channel power that you have set per sector carrier.
Broadcast Control Channel Power This shows the mean (time-averaged) transmit power of the broadcast control
(dBm) channel.
Quick Paging Channel Power (dBm) This shows the mean (time-averaged) transmit power of the quick paging channel.
Common Power Control Channel This shows the mean (time-averaged) transmit power of the common power control
Power (dBm) channel.
Common Assignment Channel This shows the mean (time-averaged) transmit power of the common assignment
Power (dBm) channel.
Common Control Channel Power This shows the mean (time-averaged) transmit power of the common control channel.
(dBm)
Dedicated Control Channel Power This shows the mean (time-averaged) transmit power of the dedicated control
(dBm) channel.

CDMA2000 Sector Handoff Reports

The CDMA2000 Cell Handoff Report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Sector Identity Unique sector identifier.
DL Primary Channels Used The mean number of downlink channels used for primary connections per sector.
DL Handoff Channel Used - Soft The mean number of downlink channels used for soft handoff per sector.
DL Handoff Channel Used - Softer The mean number of downlink channels used for softer handoff per sector.

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 CDMA2000 Sector Blocking Reports
The CDMA2000 Sector Blocking Report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
SectorID Unique sector identifier.
Total Samples This is the total number of terminals used to calculate the blocking probability.
This figure will increase as more snapshots are performed.
Blocking Probability The blocking probability for the service on the cell.
Blocking Probability 95% Confidence The confidence interval on the blocking probability. The interval will tend to
Interval (+/-) decrease as the total number of samples increases.
Percentage of Blocks Due to No DL The percentage of blocks that were due, in part, to No Uplink Primary Channel.
Primary Channel
Percentage of Blocks Due to DL Channel The percentage of the blocks that were due, in part, to Downlink Channel Limit
Limit Reached. Reached.
Percentage of Blocks Due to Downlink The percentage of the blocks that were due, in part, to Downlink Eb/Io
Eb/Io (Capacity) capacity.
Percentage of Blocks Due to Noise Rise The percentage of the blocks that were due, in part, to Noise Rise.

Notes :
 The blocking reports are only available if selected in the checkbox in step 2 of the
Simulator Wizard
 The statistics given are the reasons for failure to the ‟best‟ server.

EV-DO Downlink Performance Reports

The EV-DO Downlink Performance report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Sector Identity Unique sector identifier.
Total TX Power (dBm) This is the sum of the traffic channel power and all of the downlink channel
powers.

EV-DO Packet Quality of Service Reports

Use the EV-DO Quality of Service reports to analyse multiple circuit switched
services, combined with a single packet switched service, on a sector by sector basis.
The EV-DO Packet Quality of Service report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Sector Identity Unique sector identifier.
Mean IP Packet Arrival Rate (IP The mean Internet Protocol packets per second and is calculated as:
Packets/s)
Mean number of users per snapshot / Average packet inter-arrival rate
Mean IP Packet Transmission The average time it takes to transmit an IP packet per second.
Time (s)
Mean IP Packet Queuing Delay Average time a packet waits (in seconds) in a queue before being transmitted.
(s)
Mean Total IP Packet The total IP packet transmission delay in seconds is:
Transmission Delay (s)
Mean IP packet transmit time + Mean IP packet queuing delay

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Array and Report Descriptions
 This Result Describes
Mean Gross User Throughput This is defined by the following equation:
(kbit/s)
Mean gross user throughput =
Physical layer packet available bits X No. physical layer packets / IP packet transmit time
Mean Gross Sector Throughput This is defined by the following equation:
(kbit/s)
Mean gross sector throughput =
Physical layer packet available bits X No. physical layer packets / (no. slots used X slot time)
Mean Net Sector Throughput This is defined by the following equation:
(kbits/s)
Mean net sector throughput =
(IP packet arrival rate X (1 - %timed out packets/100) X mean packet size (bits)
Mean Packets Timed Out This is the percentage of packets that are not transmitted due to queuing delays that exceeded
the maximum allowed value.

Throughput Reports
The Throughput Report contains the following information:
This Result Describes

Cell/Sector Identity Unique cell/sector identifier.

Downlink Throughput (kbit/s) Mean amount of data served on a carrier on that cell/sector.
Uplink Throughput (kbit/s) Mean amount of data served on a carrier on that cell/sector.

Uplink Performance Reports

The Uplink Performance Report contains the following information:
This Result Describes
Cell/Sector Identity Unique cell/sector identifier.
Noise Rise Limit (dB) This value shows the noise rise over thermal noise per cell/sector.
Noise Rise 95% Confidence Interval The confidence interval on the noise rise. The interval will tend to decrease as
(+/- dB) more snapshots are performed.
Load (%) This value shows the fractional cell load per cell/sector.
Frequency Re-use Efficiency (%) This value shows the frequency re-use efficiency per cell/sector.
Out-cell Noise:In-cell Noise This value shows the ratio of noise from terminals that have this cell in the active
set to noise from terminals that do not have this cell in the active set, it is
expressed as a percentage.

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 LTE Reports
Here is the list of LTE reports you can generate when using the Simulator:

Example of the LTE report outputs available from the Simulator

In addition to this section, there are specialist documents containing more detailed
descriptions of the outputs and algorithms used in the Simulator. For information on
how you can obtain these documents, please see Static Simulation Algorithms and
Outputs on page 119.

Composite Report
Dependencies: Service
This report provides a summary of each service in terms of 'Mean Attempted', 'Mean
Served' and 'Mean Failed' terminals. The 'Contributions to Failure' section lists the
possible reasons with their percentages that contribute to terminals not being served.

Terminals can fail to connect for multiple reasons so the failure reason
percentages can sum to more than 100%.

Cell Failure Report

Dependencies: Service
This provides a breakdown of the 'Composite Report' and lists the per cell failure
reasons for 'Mean Failed' terminals. Failure reasons and their respective percentages
that contribute to terminals not been served are logged against each cell and per
service. For more detailed descriptions, see LTE Cell Failure Report on page 79.

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Array and Report Descriptions
 Cell Downlink Performance Report
Dependencies: Carrier
This report provides the per carrier DL power/resource consumption information for
each cell. The breakdown of each cell 'Max Power' is given in terms of 'Fixed Channels
Power' and 'Traffic & Control Power'. 'Fixed Channels Power' includes the power
consumed by DL Signals and Control channels (DLRS, SCH, BCH, and PMCCH).
'Traffic & Control Power' includes the power consumed by the PDSCH and PDCCH.
In addition, the resource consumption is logged individually for Cell Centre (CC) and
Cell Edge (CE) bandwidth partitions (that is, 'CC Load (%)' and 'CE Load (%)'). These
loads represent the respective resource consumption from the total/available CC and
CE resources and can be applied to the Site Database to be used further in creating
arrays by running the Simulator in the 'Use levels specified in Site Database' mode. It
is important to remember that CE loads are only applicable for the Soft Frequency
Reuse and Reuse Partitioning ICIC schemes.

When '***' appears in the report columns, this indicates cells not employing the
ICIC schemes or configured in a way that results in either a zero CC or CE
bandwidth.

Cell Uplink Performance Report

Dependencies: Carrier
This report provides the per carrier UL interference level and resource consumption
information for each cell. UL Interference levels and resource consumptions are
logged individually for CC and CE bandwidth partitions, that is, 'CC Interference
Level (dB)', 'CE Interference Level (dB)', 'CC Load (%)' and 'CE Load (%)',
respectively. The interference levels can be applied to the Site Database and further
used in creating arrays by running the Simulator in the 'Use levels specified in Site
Database' mode. It is important to remember that CE loads and interference levels are
only applicable for the Soft Frequency Reuse and Reuse Partitioning ICIC schemes.

When '***' appears in the report columns, this indicates cells not employing the
ICIC schemes or configured in a way that results in either a zero CC or CE
bandwidth.

Composite DL/UL Throughput Report (kbps)

Dependencies: Service
These two reports provide the summary of per cell offered and served throughput for
a given service. Offered throughput of a cell is independent of service type (RT/NRT)
and always calculated as the 'Maximum-MBR' rate of the service multiplied by 'Mean
number of Attempts' whereas the served throughput depends on service type
(RT/NRT) as well as the employed scheduling schemes. First the 'Minimum-GBR'
demands of terminals are fulfilled, and if resources are still available to allocate, RT
terminals are upgraded to serve their 'Maximum-MBR' demand. Hence, the served
throughput for terminal configured with an RT service can be anything between the
'Minimum-GBR' and the 'Maximum-MBR' demand.

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 A summary of offered and served throughputs are presented for 'Peak' 'Application'
and 'Effective' throughputs. In addition, these three offered and served throughputs
are reported for the CC and CE areas of the cells which are governed by the 'Cell
Centre - Cell Edge threshold' settings in the Site Database.

Peak DL/UL Throughput Report (kbps)

Dependencies: Service, Bearer
These two reports provide the breakdown of per cell served peak throughputs for
each service. The breakdown is given in terms of service area (CC/CE) as well as the
served peak throughput by each bearer in the respective CC and CE regions.

Effective UL/DL Throughput Report (kbps)

Dependencies: Service
These two reports provide the breakdown of per cell served effective throughputs for
each service. The breakdown is given in terms of service area (CC/CE) as well as the
served effective throughput by each bearer in the respective CC and CE regions.

Application UL/DL Throughput Report (kbps)

Dependencies: Service, Bearer
These two reports provide the breakdown of per cell served application throughputs
for each service. The breakdown is given in terms of service area (CC/CE) as well as
the served application throughput by each bearer in the respective CC and CE
regions.

LTE Cell Failure Report

The LTE Cell Failure report shows the failures that are measured in the simulation
and contains the following information:
Column Heading Describes
Cell Identity Unique cell identifier.
Mean Number of Failures The mean number of failed connections.
Mean Number of Attempts The mean number of attempted connections.
Failure Rate The percentage of failures.

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Array and Report Descriptions
 This table describes the failure criteria:
Column Heading Describes the Percentage of the Failures partly due to
DL RSRP The RSRP requirement specified on the terminal type is not satisfied.
DL RSRQ The RSRQ requirement specified on the terminal type is not satisfied.
DL BCH/SCH SINR The BCH/SCH SINR requirement specified on the terminal type is not
satisfied.
UL SINR The terminal cannot meet the SINR requirement of the UL bearer, even if the
terminal transmits at maximum power.
DL SINR The terminal cannot meet the SINR requirement of the DL bearer.
DL Capacity The cells have insufficient DL available resources (power/RBs) to meet the
SINR requirement of the DL bearer.
UL Capacity The cells have insufficient UL available resources (power/RBs) to meet the
SINR requirement of the UL bearer.
User Limit The cell has reached the limit specified by its '# of Scheduled Users'
parameter.
No Valid Connection Scenarios An incorrect or conflicting network set-up has resulted in terminals not being
served. for example, this may happen if a modulation scheme on the cell is
not supported by the terminal, or carriers and antennas are not assigned to
the cells.
No Pathloss Data No pathloss data is available for the pixels/region.

Wi-Fi Reports
Here is a summary of the reports specific to Wi-Fi that you can generate when using
the Simulator:

Wi-Fi - Composite Report

Dependencies: Service
This report provides the summary of each service in terms of Offered, Attempted,
Served and Failed, terminals. The Contribution to Failure section lists the possible
reasons, and their percentages that contribute to terminals not being served.
Terminals can fail to connect for multiple reasons so the failure reason percentages
can sum to more than 100%.

Wi-Fi - Cell Failure Report

Dependencies: Service
This provides a breakdown of the Wi-Fi - Composite Report and lists the per cell
failure reasons for Failed terminals. Failure reasons and their respective percentages
that contribute to terminals not being served are logged against each cell and per
service.

DL/UL Wi-Fi Throughput Report (kbps)

Dependencies: Service
These reports provide the breakdown of per cell served throughputs for each service.

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CHAPTER 2

Prediction and Array File

Management System
Files relating to created predictions and arrays contain data that can be freshly
regenerated at any time, but, as this process takes time, it is more efficient to store the
files on the disk every time they are created, and manage them as a cache of
precalculated data.
Therefore, in ENTERPRISE, the concept behind the storage of these files is that they
are stored on disk and remain stored, even if they become 'invalid' due to changes to
the cell parameters or locations. The major benefit of this is that they can be reused
whenever they become 'valid' again.
It is evident from the above approach that, on some occasions, the disk might become
full and consist of many unwanted files.
For this reason, these files are automatically managed within ENTERPRISE by a
caching algorithm, which can dispose of unwanted files on the basis of specific
criteria, such as the elapsed time since the file was last loaded.

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 As a vital input to this algorithm, you must set the maximum disk space for the storage
of these files, for the prediction folder and output array folder, which are specified on
the User Data Directories tab of the Modify Project (Project Settings) dialog box.

Example of Maximum Disk Space Settings for Prediction Files and Array Files Storage

Overview of Algorithm
The 'maximum disk space' settings, as described above, are stored in configuration
files in the root of the Prediction folder and the Output Array folder.
The file management algorithm is designed to manage the files as a cache, using a
„weighting‟ function to determine which files are to be removed whenever the cache
exceeds its maximum space. In order to monitor this, a statistics file is updated at the
end of every prediction/array file creation session.
The weighting function takes the following factors into consideration for each file
(most important first) :
 The elapsed time since the file was last used
 The amount of time that was needed to perform the calculation
 The number of times the file has been loaded
If a "disk full" error occurs during file creation, then the file management system may
be automatically invoked early to try to provide some space for the file that has just
been calculated. If this fails to provide enough space then a "disk full" error is written
to the message log.

The file management algorithm only monitors files generated by ENTERPRISE,

and ignores any other files.

Prediction System Interface API

There is some separate information regarding third party integration/interaction with
ENTERPRISE. For information on this, see ENTERPRISE Interfaces on page 121.

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Prediction and Array File Management Algorithm
Whenever necessary, the file management system gathers information about the
prediction/array files from the statistics file. It uses the information to generate an
ordered list of the files, prioritised for deletion. From the top of this list, the system
deletes the files until the required disk space requirements have been satisfied.
To determine a file‟s position in this prioritised list, the following formula is used:
Position = ( Now – Last Loaded Time ) × modifier
A file with a large 'position' has more chance of being deleted than one with a small
'position'.
The basic concept is as follows:
 The most important factor used in determining the position of a file in the list is
the elapsed time since the file was last loaded.
 The position can also be influenced by a modifier weighting:
 Files that were 'quick to create' are more likely to be deleted
 Files that have been 'loaded many times' are less likely to be deleted

Modifier Calculation
1 The time taken to create the file is recorded and will result in an initial modifier as
follows:
Creation Time Modifier
0-10s 1.2
10s-20s 1.15
20s-40s 1.1
40s-1.5m 1.05
1.5m-2.5m 1
2.5m-5m 0.95
5m-10m 0.9
10m-20m 0.85
20m-40m 0.8
40m+ 0.75

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Prediction and Array File Management System
 2 The number of times a file has been loaded is recorded and then used to adjust the
modifier, as follows:
Number of loads Add to modifier
0 +0.05
1-5 0
5-10 -0.03
10-20 -0.06
20-40 -0.09
40-80 -0.12
80-160 -0.15
160-320 -0.18
320-640 -0.21
640+ -0.24

All the above values are stored in the configuration file in the root of the
Prediction folder and the Output Array folder, and can be modified by your
administrator if necessary.

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 CHAPTER 3

2g and 2.5g Algorithms

This section contains information about the algorithms and calculations that ASSET
uses in relation to 2g and 2.5g network planning.

For information on the GSM Simulator algorithms and outputs, please see Static
Simulation Algorithms and Outputs on page 119.

Interference Table Algorithm

An interference table (sometimes known as an interference matrix) contains values
that represent the severity of interference for any cell-pair combination for which
there are overlapping predictions, if that pair of cells were to be allocated the same or
adjacent carriers.
The table can store the following four values for any pair of cells A and B (relating to
regions where A is the best server):
Field Name Description
Co-channel Area The area* served by cell A that would be affected by interference if A and B were
assigned the same carrier.
Adjacent Channel Area The area* served by cell A that would be affected by interference if A and B were
assigned adjacent carriers.
Co-channel Traffic The amount of traffic* served by cell A that would be affected by interference if A and B
were assigned the same carrier.
Adjacent Channel Traffic The amount of traffic* served by cell A that would be affected by interference if A and B
were assigned adjacent carriers.

* These values are weighted according to the severity of interference.

The values for area (in km2) are obtained by averaging the probability of interference
over the region where A is the best server. The average is taken over all pixels in the
appropriate coverage array.
For traffic, the value to be averaged is the probability of interference × the traffic (in
mE) at that pixel. Thus it is necessary to have a traffic array available to make this
calculation.
The probability of interference at a given pixel is calculated using a standard
statistical technique based on a C/I signal threshold value and a standard deviation.
The assumption is that a difference in signal level between server and interferer
exactly equal to the threshold value would give rise to a 50% chance of co-channel
interference.

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2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 By default, a -18dB offset is used for the adjacent channel interference, relative to the
co-channel interference. This means that if, for example, the co-channel C/I threshold
value is set at 9dB, a signal difference of -9dB between server and adjacent channel
interferer would give rise to a 50% chance of adjacent channel interference. The C/A
offset can be modified in the Array Settings dialog box.
All signal differences are converted into probabilities of interference. The following
graph displays the spread of probabilities for both C/I and C/A based on the default
Interference Weights. Here, the C/I signal threshold value is 9dB, using a standard
deviation of 7.78dB.

Default Interference Weights

C/I C/A

100%
Interference (%)
Proportion of

75%

50%

25%

0%
-20 -10 0 10 20 30 40
Signal Difference (dB)

C/I and C/A weights curve

Examples of Interference Table files can be found, along with a description of the
file format, in the ENTERPRISE Technical Reference Guide.

Important:
 From version 7.0 onwards, the Interference Table file format can accommodate
GSM, Mobile WiMAX and LTE. For GSM, the file contains cell layer and sub-cell
information. For Mobile WiMAX and LTE, the file contains cell information.
 The traffic units for GSM are 'mE' (milli-Erlangs), but the traffic units for Mobile
WiMAX and LTE are 'T' (Terminals).

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Interference and Connection Array Calculations
This table shows the different interference analyses that are possible:
Field Name Description
Worst Connection C/Ic Determines the co-channel C/I levels for all of the possible interfering
frequencies that may be used by the MS-BTS connection.
Each pixel presents the worst C/Ic level and frequency.
Worst Connection C/Ia Determines the adjacent channel C/I levels for all of the possible interfering
frequencies that may be used by the MS-BTS connection.
Each pixel presents the worst C/Ia level and frequency.
Worst Connection C/(Ic+Ia) Determines the combined co-channel/adjacent channel C/I levels for all of
the possible interfering frequencies that may be used by the MS-BTS
connection.
Each pixel presents the worst C/I level and frequency.
Average Interference C/Ic Sums the co-channel C/I levels for all possible interfering frequencies and
presents the average C/Ic level.
Average Interference C/Ia Sums the adjacent channel C/I levels for all possible interfering frequencies
and presents the average C/Ia level.
Average Interference C/(Ic_Ia) Sums the combined co-channel and adjacent C/I levels for all possible
interfering frequencies and presents the average C/(Ic_Ia) level.
Worst Interference C/Ic For non-frequency hopping networks sums all of the co-channel C/I levels for
an interfering frequency.
Each pixel presents the total C/I level, server and interfering sub-cells and
interfering frequency.
Worst Interference C/Ia For non-frequency hopping networks sums all of the adjacent channel C/I
levels for an interfering frequency.
Each pixel presents the total C/I level, server and interfering sub-cells and
interfering frequency.

The worst connection and the worst interferer calculations are the same in the case
of a non-frequency hopping network.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 87

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 Worst Connection Array Calculation Method
In the Worst Connection Array calculation, the connection refers to the carrier(s)
corresponding to a single call:
 In the case of hopping frequencies, it corresponds to the entire group of hopping
frequencies
 In the case of non-hopping frequencies, it corresponds to a single frequency
The Worst Connection Array calculates the C/I per connection, summing over all
interferers, and then selects the connection with the lowest C/I.
The algorithm for this is as follows:

For: f  0

 
 
C / IW  minC / I ( FH )  GFDIV ( n ), minC / I ( f i )
 fi 
 

For: f  0
C / IW  minC / I ( fi )
fi

Where:
For each non-hopping carrier fi in the serving sub-cell, C/I(fi) is calculated.
For the hopping frequency group in the serving sub-cell, a single C/I(FH) is
calculated.

Average Connection Array Calculation Method

The Average Connection Array calculates the C/I per connection, summing over all
interferers, and then calculates the average of those.
The algorithm for this is as follows:

 n

 m * f * BER (C / I ( FH )  GFDIV (m))   BER (C / I ( fri )) 
C / I AV  BER 1  i 1 
 m* f  n 
 
 
Where:
C / I ( FH ) is the averaged C/I for the hopping carriers.
m is the number of hopping frequencies.
n is the number of non-hopping frequencies.
GFDIV
is frequency diversity gain.

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2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 f is the fractional loading, calculated as follows:

TRX FH
f 
m , where TRX FH is the number of hopping TRX.
fri are the non-hopping frequencies.

For each non-hopping carrier

fri in the serving sub-cell, C/I( fri ) is calculated.

For the hopping frequency group in the serving sub-cell, a single C/I(FH) is
calculated.

The denominator in the equation above can never be zero ( f and n cannot both
be 0 at the same time). This is because ASSET does not allow you to set the total
number of TRX allocated to a sub-cell to zero, if at least one carrier layer is allocated.

Worst Interferer Array Calculation Method

The Worst Interferer Array calculates the C/I per frequency, summing over all
interferers, and selects the frequency with the lowest C/I. It also finds the interferer
that causes the most interference on that frequency.
The worst interfering frequency and its corresponding C/I are calculated as follows:
maxS IC ( K , f sw ).U ( K , f sw )
K

Where:
f
For each (non-hopping) carrier f1 in the serving sub-cell, C/I( i ) is calculated.

Total Interference Array Calculation Method

The Total Interference Array calculates the C/I per frequency, summing over all
interferers, and then sums the C/I for each frequency at the serving cell.
The total interference is calculated as follows:
n
C / I TOT   C / I ( f i )
i 1

Where:
f
For each (non-hopping) carrier fi in the serving sub-cell, C/I( i ) is calculated.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 89

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 Table of Default C/I BER Conversion Values
This table shows the Default C/I BER Conversion Values in ASSET:
C/I (dB) Bit Error Rate
-10 0.5000000000
-9 0.4880000000
-8 0.4650000000
-7 0.4300000000
-6 0.3880000000
-5 0.3500000000
-4 0.3200000000
-3 0.3000000000
-2 0.2700000000
-1 0.2500000000
0 0.2200000000
1 0.2000000000
2 0.1700000000
3 0.1500000000
4 0.1200000000
5 0.1000000000
6 0.0900000000
7 0.0780000000
8 0.0660000000
9 0.0550000000
10 0.0450000000
11 0.0370000000
12 0.0300000000
13 0.0260000000
14 0.0200000000
15 0.0150000000
16 0.0120000000
17 0.0080000000
18 0.0060000000
19 0.0040000000
20 0.0020000000
21 0.0007000000
22 0.0001000000
23 0.0000070000
24 0.0000004000
25 0.0000000100
26 0.0000000001
27-45 0.0000000000

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2g and 2.5g Algorithms
Frequency Hopping Algorithms
The algorithms used for frequency hopping cells are as follows:
S SC
C / I (i )  N

S
K 1
IC ( K , i).U ( K , i )

m
U ( K , i )   u (i, j ).L( K , j ).V ( K , j ). f (i )
j 1

1

u (i, j )  
0

fi  f j  0 fi  f j  0
1 is used if , α is used if , and 0 is used otherwise.
Where:
C/I(i) = C/I ratio for frequency i
SSC(i) = Signal strength from frequency i for serving cell
i,j = A particular frequency
N = Number of interfering cells
n = Number of frequencies in serving cell
m = Number of frequencies in interfering cell K
SIC(K,i) = Signal strength from frequency i for interfering cell K
K = Interfering cell
L(K,j) = Load in interfering cell K on frequency j
V(K,j) = DTX factor in interfering cell K on frequency j
f (i) = Fractional loading for frequency i for interfering cell
α = Adjacent interference factor

Each C/I(i) is converted to a Bit Error Rate, BER(i)

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 91

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 The following graph shows the relationship between the Probability of Bit Error and
the C/I:

C/I to Probability of Bit Error in ASSET

1.0000000000

6
-2

14
22

30
38
0
-1
0.1000000000

0.0100000000

0.0010000000
Probability of Bit Error

0.0001000000

0.0000100000

0.0000010000

0.0000001000

0.0000000100

0.0000000010

0.0000000001
C/I (dB)
Bit Error Probability

BERAV(serving cell) is calculated as the average BER(i) for all frequencies in the cell:
m FH

 BER(i)
BER AV (serving cell)  i 1

m.x
m FH
x
nTRX
Where:
x is the Number of FH frequencies per TRX
mFH is the Number of FH frequencies/serving cell
nTRX is the Number of TRX/serving cell
BERAV(serving cell) is then converted back to dB to give C/I (FH)(serving cell).

If frequency diversity gain GFDIV(m) is enabled, you also need to add a given gain
figure to the hopping C/I. For more information on this, see the ASSET User
Reference Guide.

Synthesised Hopping Algorithm

For synthesised hopping carrier layers, fractional loading is calculated as follows:
TRX FH
f 
m
Where:
TRX FH is the number of TRX allocated to the hopping carrier layers
m is the number of hopping carriers

Page 92 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
Non-Frequency Hopping Algorithms
The calculations for non-frequency hopping are as follows:
S SC
C / I (i )  N

S
K 1
IC ( K , i).U ( K , i )

m
U ( K , i)   u (i, j ).L( K , j ).V ( K , j )
j 1

1

u (i, j )  
0

fi  f j  0 fi  f j  0
1 is used if , α is used if , and 0 is used otherwise.
P(i) = f(C/I(i))
P(i) is the Probability of interference, and is calculated from the cumulative normal
distribution of combined standard deviation of serving and interfering cell models.

 C / I   C2   I2
and
PTOT = Average of all P(i) in the cell
The following picture shows an example conversion curve:

Interference Weights

100.00
Probabilit y %(C/ I)
90.00
Probabilit y %(C/ A)
80.00
70.00
Probabilty (%)

60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

C/I (dB)

Example C/I/Probability Curve

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 93

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 Automatic Frequency Planning (ILSA)
ILSA (Intelligent Local Search Algorithm) is ASSET's frequency planning and analysis
tool for 2g networks. Using an advanced heuristic algorithm, incorporating the latest
techniques in combinatorial mathematics, ILSA searches for improvements based on
user-specified criteria, and greatly speeds up the frequency planning process.
Search algorithms specialise in looking for solutions to problems that have too many
possible solutions to allow a simple solution. Advanced heuristic search algorithms
use the algorithmic equivalent of taking the path that “looks like the best one”. These
algorithms use a 'cost' function to determine the most desirable next state, which
typically will be the state with the lowest cost.
ILSA initialises with a random frequency plan (unless the option is chosen to load the
current plan from the database). This means that for any two runs of ILSA, the results
may not be the same. Moreover, certain starting frequency plans can allow ILSA to
make either more rapid initial improvement or allow a much better plan to be found
within a reasonable period of time.
ILSA (as its 'Local Search' name implies) reduces the number of options it has for new
states derived from a current state. ILSA can give special attention to areas of high
cost within the network (analogous to areas of high interference), temporarily
ignoring lower cost areas. This allows ILSA to make very rapid initial progress. For
example, if ILSA is attempting to plan for a network requiring 60 carrier allocations,
with 20 available carriers, and identifies a subset of 10 high cost carrier allocations,
then the maximum number of new states that ILSA needs to consider has been
reduced from 3.8*1025 to 6.1*1012.
Random changes can be made by ILSA if only low improvement rates are being
achieved, or if a dead end is reached. The algorithm monitors its own progress and
will behave differently depending on how quickly the cost is decreasing at a given
time. This intelligent behaviour enables it to continue finding improvements over
long periods of time.
The principle behind ILSA's algorithm is that a single number (the cost) measures the
effectiveness of any particular frequency plan. The algorithm then tries to minimise
the cost over the set of all possible plans. The cost function measures how much
interference exists in the network, and what separations have been broken, while
taking account of any user-specified 'importance' weightings for different sub-cells.

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2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 The Cost Function of the ILSA Algorithm
The principle behind the algorithm used in the frequency planning tool is that the
effectiveness of any particular frequency plan is measured by a single number (the
cost). The algorithm then tries to minimise the cost over the set of all possible
frequency plans. The cost function measures how much interference there is in the
network, and also allows for the different weights that you may have imposed.
For a given frequency plan the value of the cost function is given by the formula:
   
 
  

Cost   wi   cij   aij   sij   r i  d i  hi 
i      
 j  f  f 1
j
j f  f
 j  
   i  i j   
Where:
a ij = The adjacent channel interference caused on allocation i by allocation j (Units: 200*mE or 20,000*km²)

c ij = The co-channel interference caused on allocation i by allocation j (Units: 200*mE or 20,000*km²)

fi = The frequency allocated at allocation i

i, j = Members of the set of all frequency allocations

ri = The retune cost associated with allocation i

di = The fixed or forbidden carrier cost associated with allocation i

s ij = The separation costs (from equipment, neighbours, exceptions or close separations) between
allocations i and j

hi = The handover count and intermodulation interference costs associated with allocation i

wi = The weighting factor applicable to carrier allocation i

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 95

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 MAIO Planning Cost Function
The cost function for MAIO planning is an aggregate of C/I and C/A separation
counts generated by per cell pair frequency combinations, based on MAIO step and
offset values, and weighted by the interference matrix. It has the following form:

 w(c )  w(c , c
1 1 2 )# TRX(c1 , c 2 )

Where:
c1 , c2 are sub-cells

w(c)   TRAFFIC  T (c)  T 1   AREA  A(c)  A 1

1
 

w(c1 , c 2 )    # TRX(c1 , c 2 )    TRAFFIC  wTRAFFIC (c1 , c 2 )   AREA  wAREA (c1 , c 2 ) 
 
 TRAFFIC and  AREA are traffic and area percentages

T (c) and A(c) are traffic and area associated with sub-cell c

wTRAFFIC (c1, c2 ) and wTRAFFIC (c1, c2 ) are interference matrix coefficients

# TRX(c1 , c2 ) is the C/I or C/A separation count for all TRX combinations on sub-
cells c1 , c2

GPRS Capacity Calculations

This section describes GPRS capacity calculations, as follows:
 TRX Requirement -Circuit Switched and GPRS Traffic
 Grade of Service and Data Rate
 Channel Occupation Table

TRX Requirement - Circuit Switched and GPRS Traffic

For cells where GPRS is enabled, the number of TS required from the shared traffic
N
channels for the GPRS ( GPRS _ REQ ) traffic load ( L GPRS ) can be determined using the
average GPRS data rate per TS ( DR AV ):
NGPRS_ REQ  (LGPRS / DR AV )  NGPRS
NREQ
The total number of TS required for CS and GPRS traffic ( ) can then be
N
determined using the average Circuit Switched TS requirement CS( AV ) and the
channel occupation efficiency (e) as follows:

e NREQ  ( NCS(AV)  NGPRS_ REQ ) / e

Page 96 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 Where:
NREQ is total shared traffic channels required

NCS( AV ) is average (long term) number of TS required for Circuit Switched traffic (=
L CS )

The channel occupation efficiency ( e ) is determined by first calculating

NCS(AV)  NGPRS_ REQ e and then using the result to look up
( ) without dividing by
e
in the Channel Occupation table.

The number of TRX required and NGPRS are determined using the channel to
transceiver map by increasing the number of TRX from the result of the previous
section until the number of available TS for traffic (NCS allocation) is equal to or
N
greater than REQ .

Grade of Service and Data Rate

Circuit Switched Traffic

This section presents the calculation for the blocking for the current allocation of TRX
for CS. It has been assumed throughout that CS traffic will take precedence over
GPRS traffic and therefore the Grade of Service for CS will not be affected by the
GPRS load.
L
Calculate the blocking for the CS traffic given the traffic load ( CS ) for the current
allocation of TRX, using the selected Erlang table.

GPRS Data Rate

The GPRS data rate DR AV for the current allocation of TRX is determined by first
calculating the number of TS required for CS. The remaining TS are available for
GPRS. That is:
N  NCS  NGPRS  ( NCS(AV) )
DR AV  L GPRS /(N.e)
Where:
e is the efficiency from the Channel Occupation table determined from N

Ncs ,NGPRS is the number of TS from the Channel Carrier Map for the current allocation of TRX

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 97

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 Channel Occupation Table
A table (similar to the one shown below) is used to relate the number of timeslots
available to the channel occupancy for GPRS capacity calculations.
The table is stored in the database and you can edit the occupancy values.

Timeslot (TSL) Occupancy versus the Number of Available Timeslots

100%

90%

80%

70%
TSL Occupancy (%)

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
52
54
56
TSL

Example of Channel Occupation Table, for Illustrative Purposes Only

FCC Calculations
This section describes the algorithms used to calculate the data provided in the FCC
report.

Antenna Height AAT

The Antenna Height AAT is calculated in metres.
The calculation is:
Antenna height + Site ground height + Radial average terrain elevation
The Radial average terrain elevation is the average ground height mapped along a
radial of between 3 km and 16 km from the site. If the mapping data prevent this then
it will not be calculated and this will be flagged in the FCC report.

Feature height data and clutter heights are ignored in the calculation.
The best available resolution of the map data is used for this calculation. If the best
map data is 1000 m resolution then you will receive a warning noting that the map
data is of insufficient resolution for the FCC form.

Page 98 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 Used Antenna Height
The Used Antenna Height AAT (metre) is subject to some minimum values according
to the FCC category and, the ERP.
Category ERP (if necessary) Minimum
32dBu Served N/A Minimum of 30 metres
32dBu Unserved ERP>=10 W Minimum of 30 metres
ERP<=10 W Minimum of 3 metres
Gulf of Mexico N/A Minimum of 8 metres

You will receive a warning if the Average Radial distance exceeds 40.2 km
(79.1 km for Gulf of Mexico cells).

Transmitting ERP Watts

The transmitting ERP for a cardinal radial is the radiated power in Watts taking into
account the antenna gain for the azimuth, the downtilt and the base station
powers/losses.

You will receive a warning if the ERP exceeds 500 W.

Used ERPS
This is the value of the transmitting ERP which is used in the calculations, it is the
Transmitting ERP subject to certain minima.
Used ERP is the maximum of:
 0.1 W
 Maximum ERP/500
 Transmitting ERP for the radial

Area within the Service Area Boundary

This will be calculated by finding the distance to the SAB for each degree by linear
interpolation of distance as a function of angle, hence dividing the area into triangular
sectors, joining at the site. The total area is then calculated by adding up the areas of
each of the triangles.
Heron's Formula for calculation of area of scalene triangle:
A = SQR(S (S-a) (S-b) (S-c))
SQR - Square Root
a, b, c – sides of the triangle
S – half the perimeter of triangle, that is (a+b+c)/2

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 99

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
 Distance to Service Area Boundary
The distance to the SAB is calculated as shown here:
For: The distance to the SAB is:
32dBu Served D = 2.531 x Used Antenna Height(m) ^ 0.34 x Used ERP for Radial in Watts ^ 0.17
and Subject to a minimum distance of 5.4 km
32 dBu Unserved
Gulf of Mexico D = 6.895 x Used Antenna Height(m) ^ 0.30 x Used ERP for Radial (W) ^ 0.15
There is no minimum distance for this SAB

Frequency Calculations
Two frequency calculations are used when you create a Frequency Plan report.

Effective Frequency Re-use

The effective frequency re-use is an approximate indication of the quality of the
hopping network.
It can be calculated for each sub-cell and also the average of these calculated to give a
figure for the network as a whole.
NF
REFF 
N TRXH
Where:
REFF is the Effective Frequency Re-use for a sub-cell
NF is the total number of carriers available to hopping TRX on the sub-cell (note: this
is not the MA list length)
NTRX is the number of hopping TRX on the sub-cell

Frequency Load
The average frequency load is another approximate indication of the quality of the
hopping network.
It can be calculated for each sub-cell and also the average of these calculated to give a
figure for the network as a whole.
LFREQ  LFRACTION .LHW

N TRX
LFRACTION 
N MA
E
LHW 
N CSTS

Page 100 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide

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 Where:
LFREQ is the Frequency Load of a sub-cell
LFRACTION is the Fractional Load of a sub-cell
LHW is the Hardware Load of a sub-cell
NTRX is the number of hopping TRX on the sub-cell
NMA is the MA list length (that is, all carriers assigned to hopping carrier layers on the
sub-cell)
E is the traffic that could be carried by the timeslots of hopping TRX on the sub-cell, at
E  ErlangB (GoS, N CSTS )
a user specified Grade of Service (GoS), that is:
NCSTS is the total number of timeslots installed – this value is derived from the Carrier
to Timeslot map using NTRX.

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 101

2g and 2.5g Algorithms
Page 102 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide
2g and 2.5g Algorithms
CHAPTER 4

Packet Quality of Service

Algorithms
This section details the Packet Quality of Service algorithms used in ASSET, and
therefore explains the associated reports generated by the QoS analysis.
The packet QoS analysis feature is a downlink cell level simulation, with 10 ms (single
radio frame) resolution. It is a trace-driven queuing simulation, the packet
transmission delays through a cell are modelled by a queuing system, which has a
time-series of packet traffic offered to it. It is based on the www traffic model and
multiple, prioritised services can be specified.
The simulation is run for a calculated period of time, then the results are presented on
the summary page of the QoS Analysis wizard as a spread sheet and graphs. The
results can be saved as an Excel workbook containing graphs and spreadsheets, or the
raw the raw data saved in text or comma separated variable (csv) format. The graphs
include the cumulative delay distributions of the packet services on each cell,
enabling you to view percentile delays.
The Excel workbook contains the following data per service, per carrier and, per cell:
 Mean and standard deviations of the queuing delays
 95th percentile delay
 Confidence interval half width
 Mean transmission time
 Mean retransmission delay
 Total transmission delay ( mean queuing delay+mean transmission time+mean
retransmission delay
 Graphs for each cell and carrier giving the cumulative queuing delay probability
distributions

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 103

Packet Quality of Service Algorithms
 Simulation Inputs for QoS Analysis
Most of the packet QoS analysis parameters are input when you configure the
network design, ready for the simulation. The site/cell, carrier, terminal type and
service type parameters are configured at this stage, and the QoS analysis uses these
parameters later to deduce:
 The number of queues to model
 The parameters of the traffic streams to generate
 Priorities of the service types, before the time simulation
You then need to run at least two snapshots of the simulation, although at least 100
snapshots are recommended to produce statistically valid inputs to the QoS analysis.
The simulation calculates the mean blocking probability for each packet service type,
on each carrier, on each cell in the simulation in the simulation and the mean number
of terminals connected to each cell, per carrier, per service, and per bitrate. The mean
blocking probability and mean number of terminals are then used as inputs to the
QoS analysis.

Preliminary Tests
Some conclusions can be deduced from the input data without running the simulation
at all. These are:
 100% blocking on any service will result in delays building up to infinity
 Zero traffic on all services will result in zero delays
 Zero blocking on all services will result in zero delays
These results are immediately updated on the summary page of the QoS Analysis
dialog box.

Traffic Generator for QoS Analysis

This section describes the traffic generation processes:
 Matching Generated Traffic to the Simulator's Mean Number of Served Users
 WWW Traffic Model
 Packet Model
 About the Code Schemes for GPRS
 QoS Profiles for GPRS

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 Matching Generated Traffic to the Simulator's Mean Number of
Served Users
The Simulator calculates the number of users which can be served for each service, by
each cell and carrier in every snapshot. The mean is then calculated over the total
number of snapshots run in the simulation. This figure is the starting point for the
QoS analysis; it provides the mean number of users for each packet service in each cell
and carrier in the simulation. The traffic generator generates a time series of packet
sessions for each service in a cell and carrier, which matches the mean number of
users over time, as shown in the following diagram:

The red line represents the mean number of users input from the simulation. The
orange blocks represent the number of users varying over time. The blue blocks
represent the holding times of the packet sessions produced by the traffic generator.
Little‟s theorem gives us the relation between the arrival rate of packet sessions, the
mean number of users in the cell and their mean session holding time. Let

= mean session arrival rate

= mean session holding time

= mean number of users in the cell

Little‟s result says that:

The traffic generator therefore generates sessions with mean arrival rate calculated
from the mean number of users in the cell, and the mean session holding time, which
is determined using the WWW traffic model.

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 WWW Traffic Model
The WWW traffic model is used to generate the activity of each packet session. The
following diagram shows a typical WWW browsing (packet service) session, which
consists of a sequence of packet calls. The user initiates a packet call when
downloading a WWW document and during a packet call, several packets may be
generated. After the document has completely arrived, the user requires reading time
to study the information.
The following diagram shows packets from a source, which may be at either end of
the link, but not both ends simultaneously.

The model requires the generation of six random variables:

 Session arrival process - The arrival of session set-ups to the network is modelled as
a Poisson process. For each service there is a separate process.
 Number of packet calls per session, Npc - A geometrically distributed random
variable* is used, with a mean number of packet calls of 5.
 Reading time between packet calls, Dpc - A geometrically distributed random variable*
is used, with a mean reading time of 4 to 12 s.
 Number of packets per packet call, Nd - A geometrically distributed random variable*
is used, with a mean number of packets of 25.
 Size of packet, Sd - A Poisson distributed random variable is used, with a mean size
of 480 Bytes.
 Inter arrival time between packets, Dd - A geometrically distributed random variable*
is used.
* (In other words, a discrete representation of the exponential distribution.)
The session holding time is modelled implicitly by the number of events during the
session.

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 Using the WWW traffic model, the mean holding time of a packet session is given
by:

Packet Model
The traffic generator uses the session arrival and WWW models to produce a list of
packets for each service type, for each cell, for each carrier, lasting the duration of the
simulation. Each packet is stamped with its arrival time at the cell, and also keeps a
record of when it gets transmitted (its departure time), and its randomly generated
size. The packet service type lists are then merged and sorted in arrival time order, to
produce a single list of packets offered to the cell carrier:

In the diagram, the data contained in the packet boxes is the arrival time, the
departure time and the packet size. Initially, the packet‟s departure time is set to be
the same as its arrival time. The departure time is updated each time step the packet is
queued, until it is successfully transmitted.
A histogram of the generated traffic is displayed for each service on each cell and
carrier in the graphs tab of the QoS Analysis dialog box.

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 About the Code Schemes for GPRS
The peak throughput and block size in GPRS is determined by the coding scheme
and, in EGPRS, by the coding and modulation scheme, as shown in the following
table:
System Scheme Link Adaption Modulation Peak Rate per Slot Blocks Per RLC Block
Family (kb/s) 20 ms Size (bits)
GPRS CS - 1 GMSK 9.05 1 181

CS - 2 13.4 268

CS - 3 15.6 312

CS - 4 21.4 428

EGPRS MCS - 1 C GMSK 8.8 176

MCS - 2 B 11.2 224

MCS - 3 A 14.8 296

MCS - 4 C 17.6 352

MCS - 5 B 8 - PSK 22.4 1 448

MCS - 6 A 29.6 592

MCS - 7 B 44.8 2 896

MCS - 8 A 54.5 1090

MCS - 9 A 59.2 1184

To calculate the block size, the coding scheme allocated to each connection needs to be
input from the simulation (a mean number of MS connections per coding scheme, per
bearer, per service type, per sub-cell array will be required as input).
The block size can be inferred directly from the GPRS coding schemes, however, the
following mapping is used to calculate the block size for the first transmission attempt
for the link adaptation families:
 A – 592 bits
 B – 448 bits
 C – 352 bits
There are no default BLER versus C/I curves for MCS – 7, 8 and 9. In the
retransmission model, the lower bitrates of the link adaptation families are used.

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 QoS Profiles for GPRS
GPRS defines several different QoS Profiles which consist of four components:
 Precedence class
 Delay class
 Reliability class
 Throughput class

Precedence Class
Traffic is given a precedence of 1 (premium), 2 (standard) or 3 (best effort), with a
precedence of 1 being highest. This precedence is similar to the service type priorities
set in the QoS Analysis wizard in ASSET, however the number of priorities needs to
be restricted to three and different service types can have equal priorities. The
precedence class is used to prioritise the queues. For more information, see Simulation
Model for QoS Analysis on page 112.

Delay Class
GPRS has four different traffic classes. The following table shows the parameters that
specify the related QoS requirements:
Traffic Class Medium Application Data Rate (kbit/s) One-way Delay

Conversational Audio Telephony 4-25 <150ms

Data Telnet <8 <250ms

Streaming Audio Streaming (HQ) 32-128 <10s

Video On-way 32-384 <10

Data FTP - <10s

Interactive Audio Voice messaging 4-13 <1s

Data Web browsing - <4s/page

For background traffic, only bit integrity is required.

3g service types have traffic classes and are used in the packet service types dialog
box in 3g to set default www parameters and delay targets. In the ASSET QoS
Analysis the achieved 95th percentile delay per service type, per carrier, per cell is
compared with the target 95th percentile delay.
Traffic class is used to prioritise the queues. For more information, see Simulation
Model for QoS Analysis on page 112.

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 Reliability Class
Applications can request different reliability classes, depending on their ability to
handle corrupt and duplicated blocks. The following table shows the reliability
classes that can be selected:
Reliability Class Lost Block Probability

1 10
2 10
3 10

Reliability is only considered in terms of the retransmission delay formula used in

ASSET. This uses the block error rate (BLER) to analytically calculate the
retransmission delay for packet services. A different approach is proposed for GPRS.
The BLER can be calculated using the Average Data Throughput per Timeslot vs
Average Connection C/I curves. The formula is:
Throughput(C / I )
BLER(C / I )  1 
PeakDataRatePerSlot
Where:
Throughput(C/I) = throughput in kb/s read off the throughput per timeslot graph for
the C/I achieved by the link.

= peak rate per slot for the given coding scheme (the
asymptote of the throughput per timeslot graph).
BLER(C/I) = block error rate for the C/I achieved by the link.
The mean BLER over all the connections made per service type, per sub-cell is
required as an input from the simulation, and is reported in the QoS Analysis
spreadsheet. Block errors also have implications for the retransmission model. For
more information, see Mean Retransmission Delay on page 117.

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 Throughput Class
Applications can request different mean and peak throughputs, in order to request
the desired throughput for bursty IP traffic. Peak throughput applies to short
intervals where the transfer rate is at a maximum. Mean throughput describes the
data transfer rate over an extended period of time, which could involve many idle
periods.
Peak throughput class Peak throughput (kb/s) Mean throughput class Mean throughput
(bytes per hour)
1 8 1 100

2 16 2 200
3 32 3 500
4 64 4 1 000
5 128 5 2 000
6 256 6 5 000
7 512*

8 1024* 17 20 000 000

9 2048* 18 50 000 000
*Data rate only reachable 31 Best Effort
with UMTS or EDGE

In GPRS, the peak throughput is determined by the peak data rate per slot achievable
by the coding scheme, and the number of timeslots for which the MS is enabled. The
peak throughput is calculated as follows:

The coding scheme is identified by the bearer allocated to the connection during the
simulation and the maximum number of timeslots enabled on the MS will be a
parameter set on the terminal type. It is therefore possible to do a preliminary check
prior to running the GPRS QoS analysis to determine the peak throughput achievable
for each service type on each sub-cell. The peak throughput is reported in the QoS
Analysis spreadsheet.
The mean throughput is logged as successful transmissions are made from the queue
in the QoS analysis, and are reported in the QoS Analysis spreadsheet.

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 Time Simulator for QoS Analysis
This section describes the time simulation processes and assumptions:
 System Model
 Simulation Model

System Model for QoS Analysis

The call admission manager monitors the system's available capacity and
accommodates new packet transmission requests, at the same time ensuring the QoS
of existing connections. This may be situated at the BSC in a 2g network or the RNC in
a 3g network.
The steps of a connection admission procedure are:
 A new packet transmission request is received by the call admission manager
 The capacity of the destination cell is monitored
 The system either accepts or blocks the new connection
 If the QoS of an existing connection is degraded, it is dropped

Simulation Model for QoS Analysis

The simulation models the connection admission procedure by making the following
assumptions:
 The call admission manager monitors the cell capacity in every radio frame, that is
every 10ms
 The cell capacity for each service type is generated using the blocking probability
input from the simulation
 The blocking decision is prioritised to accept new connections in the priority order
of their services
 The dropping of existing connections is not modelled
The cell capacity for each service is determined in each frame by generating a
uniformly distributed random number for each packet held in a queue. If the random
number is greater than the blocking probability, the packet starts transmission in that
frame. If the random number is less than of equal to the blocking probability, the
packet is delayed in the queue until the next frame.
If the packet call mode is selected instead of the packet mode, connection admission
decisions are taken on a packet call, instead of an individual packet basis.

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 The service prioritisation is modelled in the simulator. All the packets awaiting
transmission through a cell are stored in a set of queues, one for each service type. A
diagram of the queuing model which would be used for three packet services being
transmitted through a cell is shown here:

Queuing Model - example

The rule is then applied that if admissions for each service are considered in priority
order, and that if any higher priority packets remain queued, no lower priority
packets are admitted.
By the end of the simulation, the simulator will have produced a list of transmitted
packets, each stamped with its arrival and departure times from the cell.
A histogram of the queue length throughout the simulation is displayed for each
service on each cell and carrier in the graphs tab of the QoS Analysis dialog box.

Packet QoS Session Timeout Calculation for CDMA2000

The main limitation on capacity on CDMA systems is the forward link PA power
available. The Simulator provides information on the total available transmit power
on the sector carrier (minus noise contributions) and the average transmit power
required per sector, service, carrier or bearer for each user.
When a terminal is connected and active, and there is no data to transmit, it uses a
fundamental and supplemental channel. For example, in between packets it uses a
1/8th rate fundamental channel. This means that a terminal is still consuming
transmit power between packet calls. The session timeout parameter was added to
prevent all the available power being consumed by terminals transmitting at 1/8th
rate, which would mean that no packet data could be transmitted. The session
timeout parameter is employed to kill any sessions which have been active for longer
than the session timeout, thus freeing up transmit power and allowing packets or
packet calls to be transmitted.

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 Results of QoS Analysis
This section describes the analysis results:
 Confidence Interval Half Width
 Simulation Duration
 Delay and Cumulative Delay Probability Distributions
 Mean and Standard Deviations of the Queuing Delays
 95th Percentile Delay
 Mean Transmission Time
 Mean Retransmission Delay

Confidence Interval Half Width

The performance measure of the simulation is the mean delay of the first service on
the cell. An estimate of the length of time for which a queue simulation should be run
has been obtained by setting up a simulation for an M/M/1 queue, for which
analytical results for the mean delay can be obtained, and experimentally
determining how long the simulation should be run to obtain results of a given
accuracy. To get an accuracy of 10% at a 95% confidence level, the following
procedure has been recommended:
1 Set the basic run length to ensure at least 1000 or 2000 packet admission requests
are made to the cell for each service.
2 Repeat the run (replicate) 5 times and calculate the confidence interval half width
H5.
3 If the confidence interval is less than 10% of the mean delay, the desired accuracy
has been obtained.
The confidence interval half width H5 is calculated by repeating runs, using a
different random number stream for each run. Suppose we make k runs (replications),
each generating m sample values of the packet delay, Y.
Let Y1, Y2, Y3,…, Yk be the mean values of the k runs. The mean values are
independent, since a different random number stream was used for each run and, for
a sufficiently large m, it will be approximately normally distributed. The confidence
interval half width Hi is then calculated from the sample mean Y , and variance .

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 Simulation Duration
This is calculated for each cell and carrier. The value depends on the parameters that
you have set for the services supported by that cell, and carrier, and the mean number
of users of those services input from the simulation. Using the same notation as the
www traffic model section, plus the following definitions:

= required number of packets

= number of sessions required to generate packets

= time until the session arrives

= recommended simulation duration

Each session contains packets, so

(1)
The session arrivals are modelled as a Poisson process, and so the expected time until
the session arrives is:

(2)
Substituting Little's law and equation (1) and (2),

Adding the duration of the session itself, the simulation duration is:

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 Delay and Cumulative Delay Probability Distributions
Graphs of the delay probabilities and the cumulative delay probabilities are produced
for each service, on each cell and carrier. The delay probability graphs are the most
easily understood. It will be apparent that the highest priority service should have a
delay distribution, which peaks before the next highest priority service, and so on.
However, the cumulative delay probability graphs are more useful, because you can
read any percentile delay from them.
The data for these graphs will be collected by maintaining counts during the
simulation. For example, when a packet which has been queued for 4 frames is finally
transmitted, the count in the 4 frame bin will be incremented. If there are N bins, each
bin represents a delay of F frames, and c is the count in a bin at the end of the
simulation.
Their state can be represented by this table:
Bin Delay Count

0 0.F C0
1 1.F C1
2 2.F C2
... ... ...
N n.F Cn
... ... ...
N N.F CN

Total number of packets transmitted during the simulation:

Delay probability of n.F frames:

Cumulative delay probability of n.F frames:

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 Mean and Standard Deviations of the Queuing Delays
The following are the mean and standard deviations of the queuing delays:

Mean delay

Standard deviation

95th Percentile Delay

The 95th percentile is calculated from the cumulative delay graph, and compared
with the target 95th percentile delay, that you originally set in the Packet Service
dialog box. If the delay calculated from the graph is greater than the target, a „QoS
target failed‟ message is generated, listing the services which have failed on a
particular cell and carrier. If the delay is less than the target, a „QoS target achieved‟
message is displayed in the QoS Analysis summary page.

Mean Transmission Time

This is calculated using a running mean of the transmission time of each packet
transmitted by the simulation. The packet transmission time is calculated from the
mean packet size Sd (Bytes), (a Poisson distributed random variable, with the mean
1
size set in the Packet Service dialog box), and the service bitrate b (kbs-1) kbs ).
Transmission time:

Mean Retransmission Delay

Error detection and correction across the air interface is handled by the Radio Link
Control (RLC) sublayer, and is described in UMTS Standard TS 25.301. Packets are
segmented by the RLC into equal sized blocks for transmission across the air
interface. The block size and bearer rate determine the number of blocks which are
transmitted per radio frame. The RLC then transmits the blocks, detects dropped or
corrupted blocks and guarantees their delivery by retransmission. The retransmission
protocol can be configured to provide different levels of QoS. The retransmission
protocol which is modelled in the calculation of the retransmission delay is Stop-and-
Wait ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest).
This has the following features:
 One block is received and handled at a time
 The receiver acknowledges each correctly received block
 If a block is corrupted, the receiver discards it and sends no acknowledgement

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  The sender uses a timer to determine whether or not to retransmit
 The sender keeps a copy of each transmitted block until its acknowledgement has
been received
 Finally, the blocks are put back into order and reassembled into packets by the
RLC at the receiver
In order to calculate the average retransmission delay, the block error rate (BLER) at
which the system will operate is required as an input. A typical value of 10% is set as
the default. You also need to set the re-transmission timeout
 rt

in units of radio frames. The BLER can then be used to calculate the increase in traffic
through the link caused by retransmission, and the mean or median retransmission
delay:
BLER
Percentage increase in traffic caused by retransmissions  .100
1  BLER

References
The following are documents that have been referred to throughout this chapter:
 “Selection procedures for the choice of radio transmission technologies of the
UMTS” TR 101 112 v3.2.0, p.34
 “Quality of Service for Multimedia CDMA”, N. Dimitriou, R. Tafazolli, G. Sfikas,
IEEE Communications Magazine, July 2000
 “Simulating Computer Systems”, M.H. MacDougall, MIT Press, p.114
 “Introduction to Mathematical Statistics”, R.V. Hogg and A.T. Craig, Collier-
Macmillan Ltd, p.193

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CHAPTER 5

Static Simulation
Algorithms and Outputs
The Simulator in ASSET enables you to perform static simulations for your network
(depending on your licence). The following technologies are supported:
 GSM
 UMTS (FDD)
 GSM/UMTS (joint)
 CDMA2000
 EV-DO
 Fixed WiMAX
 Mobile WiMAX
 LTE
 Wi-Fi Offloading
Technology-specific documents are available, containing comprehensive details of all
the algorithms and outputs related to the Simulator. If your company is registered for
a customer web account, and you know the login password, you can download these
specialist documents. To do this, log in to the Product Support page, click the User
Reference Guides link, select the relevant software version from the drop-down box,
and then click the 'Static Simulations' link for the appropriate technology.

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Page 120 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide
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CHAPTER 6

ENTERPRISE Interfaces
Along with the main ENTERPRISE tools, a number of COM interfaces have been
developed to provide a level of third-party integration with the ENTERPRISE suite.
These interfaces cover a number of key areas of functionality, including:
 Prediction models (to enable third parties to create new models using the model
SDK)
 Prediction Access Module (to provide third parties an opportunity to extract
existing prediction data and install prediction pathloss correction data (PLC files)
 Loaders (for the Interference Matrix, Measurements and Revenue Maps
components)
ENTERPRISE now also includes a number of web services, which form part of the
ENTERPRISE Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and provide public access to
selected areas of the ENTERPRISE logic. These include:
 Prediction service (to enable third parties to create pathloss predictions outside of
the ENTERPRISE environment)
 ARRAYWIZARD service (to allow third parties to create predictions, coverage
arrays, interference matrices, LACs and RACs, cell-polygon assignments and
Location Based Services outside of the ENTERPRISE environment)
Documents explaining these APIs and interfaces are available on request from the
AIRCOM Product Support team.

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ENTERPRISE Interfaces
 G
GPRS
algorithms • 85
arrays • 17, 18
GSM

Index I
algorithms • 85

iDEN
algorithms • 85
ILSA
about • 94
A cost function • 95
Interference
Algorithms arrays • 12, 14, 15, 16
FCC calculations • 98
Frequency hopping • 91
Frequency Re-use and Load • 100 P
GPRS capacity • 96
ILSA cost function • 95 Packet Quality of Service algorithms • 103
Interference arrays • 87 Planning
Interference Tables • 85 frequency • 94
MAIO planning cost function • 96 PMR
Non-Frequency hopping • 93 algorithms • 85
Packet QoS • 103 Prediction file management • 81
Prediction file caching algorithm • 81 Predictions
All Servers array • 23, 38 file caching system • 81
Arrays file management algorithm • 81
2g (GSM Sim) • 21
2g and 2.5g (Non-Sim) • 12 Q
3g (UMTS and CDMA2000) • 25
All Servers array • 23, 38 QoS
best server • 13, 14, 20 algorithms • 103
CDMA2000 • 25
descriptions • 11
GSM (Sim) • 21
R
HSPA • 35, 37 Reports
interference (2g Non-Sim) • 14 descriptions • 11, 67
LTE • 40 types available • 11, 67
pilot coverage • 26
types available • 11
UMTS • 25 S
WiMAX (Fixed) • 53 Serving Cell arrays
WiMAX (Mobile) • 56 descriptions • 13

B
Best Server arrays • 13, 14

C
Caching algorithm for predictions • 81
Coverage
probability arrays • 22, 26, 31, 42, 54, 57
Coverage Probability arrays • 22, 26, 31, 42, 54, 57

E
EGPRS
arrays • 18, 19, 20

F
Frequency Planning
automatically using ILSA • 94

ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide Page 123

Index
Page 124 ASSET 8.1 Technical Reference Guide
Index