Radio Cell Planning Overview

1. Introduction

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-1 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Introduction
• Ahmad Nabil Shahab, Nokia Indonesia, Jakarta

• Senior Network Planning and Design

• 1994-2000 Satelindo, Jakarta

• 2000-2001Triage Consulting, UK
• 2001-2002 MSI (Metapath Software International, UK)
• 2002-2003 Marconi Wireless UK, Senior RF Consultant
• 2003 – Present Nokia Indonesia

– GOAL: Major step of Network Planning, Traffic and Coverage analysis, Nominal cell plan, surveys, system design, implementation and system
tuning.

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-2 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Course Prerequisites

• GSM System Overview

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-3 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Course Materials

• Course Manual
• Evaluation Form
• Reference Materials

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-4 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Course Objectives
          Explain the fundamental concepts of cell
planning
          Explain radio wave propagation and
attenuation
          Explain the system balance procedure
          Explain the concepts of co-channel and
adjacent channel interference and how to
minimize it´s influence on the radio network
          Explain some of the main Radio Network
Features

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-5 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Course Schedule
•Day 1:
1. Introduction & PRE-TEST (1h); 2. System Description (1h);
3. Radiowave Propagation (2h); 4. Traffic (1h); Exercise 1

•Day 2:
5. System Balance (1h) 6. Coverage Prediction (1h);
7. Channel Planning (1h); 8. Survey (1h); Exercise 2

•Day 3:
9. Design Project (2.5h); 10. Implementation (1h) 11. System Tuning
(1.5h)

Day 4:
12. System Growth (1h); 13. Radio Network Features (2h); Indoor
Planning
Summing Up & POSTEST
CommServ – Education Division Introduction-6 Radio Cell Planning Overview
Main Topics Coverage predictions 24
Process overview 2 The nominal cell plan report 25
Requirement analysis/preparation 2 Surveys 26
Marketing plan 3 Radio survey 26
Service area 3 Site survey 27
Joint survey 28
Traffic requirements 4
Site survey reports 29
Acceptance test criteria/quality aspects 5
Detailed cell planning 30
Spectrum 6
Frequency planning 30
System requirements 7 Handover parameters 32
Civil works constraints 8 Radio related parameters 32
Prepare database for planning 8 The final cell plan 33
Radio field Measurements 9 The final cell plan report 34
Initial cell planning 9 Radio network tuning 35
Calculating number of sites - coverage 10 Radio network acceptance test 36
Step 1: Analyse coverage distribution 10 Optimisation 37
Step 2: Link budget analysis 11 Indicators of network performance 38
Major problem areas 38
Step 3: cell range calculation 14
Optimisation work flow 39
Step 4: estimate the number of sites 16
Pre-analysis: general network check 39
Calculating number of sites - capacity 18
Collect/analyse complaints 40
Step 1: Analyse traffic distribution 19 Collect / analyse OMC statistics 40
Step 2: determine site configurations 20 Collect/analyse drive tests 41
Step 3: calculate no. of required sites 21 Propose/implement changes 41
Determining a rough site configuration 22
Assessment of available site locations 23
Locating nominal sites 23

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-7 Radio Cell Planning Overview

The cell planning process

System Growth Initial Planning

Traffic &Coverage
analysis

Nominal
System tuning cell plan

Implementation Surveys

System design

9602131
CommServ – Education Division Introduction-8 Radio Cell Planning Overview
Process Overview

Requirement
Requirement
Analysis Detailed
Detailed
Analysis/ / cell
Preparation
Preparation cellplanning
planning

Implementation

Radio
RadioField
Field Radio
Radio
Measurements Network
Measurements NetworkTuning
Tuning

Site acquisition

Initial
InitialCell
Cell Acceptance
Acceptance
Planning
Planning Tests
Tests

Surveys Network
Network
Surveys Optimisation
Optimisation

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-9 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Requirement Analysis / Preparation

• Marketing plan
• Service Area (coverage related)
• Traffic requirement and subscriber
behaviour (capacity related)
• Acceptance test criteria / service quality aspects
• Spectrum
• System requirements
• Civil works constraints
• Prepare database for planning

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-10 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Marketing Plan

• Definition of coverage areas

• Coverage strategies
• Subscriber projections for different areas
• Traffic per subscriber
• Growth projections

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-11 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Service Area

• Definition of the area to be covered

– e.g. cities, villages, highways. Includes size of the area
• Type of coverage required
– e.g. indoor, in-car, outdoor
– different requirements for different areas, e.g.
• indoor in cities
• in-car on roads
• outdoor in parks

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-12 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Service Area

• QOS (Quality of service), 2 definitions:

– cell edge location probability
• typically 75% for roads, 90 % for cities
– cell area coverage probability
• typically between 90 to 97 %
• Distribution of coverage in the planning area e.g.
– 50 % of the planning area is urban and requires 80 % indoor coverage and 20 % outdoor coverage
– 50 % of the area requires in-car coverage only

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-13 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Traffic Requirements

• Total number of expected mobile subscribers

– typically specified city by city
– roads often assumed to be coverage limited
• Distribution of traffic in the planning area e.g.
– 50 % of total number of expected subscribers are in urban area,
– distributed into 80% in indoor coverage area and 20 % in outdoor coverage area
• Service types
– voice services
– data services

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-14 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Traffic Requirements

• Traffic forecast, subscriber growth

• Traffic per subscriber,
– typical value: 25 mErl/subscriber
• GOS (Grade of Service) or blocking probability
– at air interface, typical value: 2 %

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-15 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Acceptance Test Criteria / Quality Aspects

• Any constraints imposed by Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), e.g.

– Call setup success rate
– Call setup time
– Dropped call rate
– Handover success rate
– Speech quality
– Received signal level

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-16 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Spectrum

• Clarify available frequency bands

– Clearance of spectrum currently used by other systems
– Control of unauthorised use
• Network design concept e.g.
– GSM900 only
– DCS1800 only
– multi-band operation
– use of overlay/underlay structure

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-17 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Spectrum

• Available frequency bandwidth limitations e.g.

– area that close to neighbouring countries,
– any guard-band regulations to be considered
• Mode of channel and frequency usage e.g.
– full-rate only,
– half-rate only
– packet data traffic only
– mixed

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CommServ – Education Division Introduction-18 Radio Cell Planning Overview

System Requirements

• Site constraints
– maximum sectors allowed per site
– maximum number TRXs per sector for area and road coverage
• Antenna related issues
– type of antenna
– type of diversity
• Use of repeaters

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-19 Radio Cell Planning Overview

System Requirements

• BTS equipment options

– combiner type
– power amplifier type,
– use of tower mounted preamplifier,
– possible radiated power restrictions
• Mobile types used, e.g.
– GSM900 2W handheld,
– DCS1800 1 W handheld
– GPRS / HSCSD terminals

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-20 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Civil Works Constraints
• Availability of existing towers
– availability of space for antennas
• Maximum antenna height allowed
• Friendly sites analysis
– Customer requirements/preferences e.g. use existing telecom operator’s towers only
– Data collecting of the existing infrastructures, based on customer requirements
• Wall mounting possible?
• Environmental factors
– visibility of sites

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-21 Radio Cell Planning Overview

Prepare Database for Planning

• Obtain Digitised Terrain Maps (DTM’s)

• Prepare link budgets
• Set up a project in the database of the planning tool

CommServ – Education Division Introduction-22 Radio Cell Planning Overview