Improving UMTS and HSDPA Coverage 5-Fold

with Inward-Facing Cells in a Simulcast Architecture

UMTS and HSDPA are the preferred services in many markets, but challenges with interference and isolation among the RF cells are reducing bandwidth and coverage in dense areas and inside buildings. This paper proposes a supplemental UMTS/ HSDPA network architecture that cost-effectively improves service by increasing isolation to reduce interference while increasing data speed bandwidth and coverage. Therefore improving network efficiency and reducing mobile operator production costs.

Interference and Isolation Issues

UMTS and HSDPA are noise-sensitive systems. The data speed delivered is directly related to the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Every cell in a UMTS/HSDPA network uses the same frequency and signals from different cells overlap, collide, and interfere with one another. This interference is due to a lack of cell isolation. This phenomenon reduces data speeds and decreases network capacity, since it causes inter-cell interference in the overlapping areas (Figure 1).
Overlap Overlap Overlap Overlap Overlap

Cell 1

Cell

Cell 3

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Cell 5

Cell 6

Cell 7

Cell 8

Micro SC5

Micro SC4

Micro SC5

Micro SC6

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Micro SC9

Figure 1: Frequency overlap in traditional UMTS/HSDPA networks.

The overlap issue impacts mobile operators ability to deliver service in urban core areas and inside of buildings, where broadband users rely on service most. Subscribers opt for UMTS/HSDPA to gain the benefits of high-speed No IB Coverage Partial IB Coverage Full IB Macro Coverage broadband. Unfortunately, lack of isolation limits network bandwidth in denselypopulatedareas.
Quality of Service: Good

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Improving UMTS and HSDPA Coverage 5-Fold with Inward-Facing Cells in a Simulcast Architecture

Signal Attenuation

Cell 1

Cell

Cell 3

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Cell 8

Signals at UMTS/HSDPA frequencies attenuate quickly due to their high frequency, making it a challenge to penetrate Full IB Coverage Street DAS coverage buildings. In fact, buildings present several key challenges in terms of and Macro from traditional macronetworks:
Node Location
Micro SC5 Micro SC4 Micro SC5 Micro SC6 Micro SC7 Micro SC9

High penetration losses as signals pass through building walls they attenuate very quickly, making it nearly impossible to provide adequate service in interior areas of many buildings (Figure 2).
Quality of Service:

Micro SC1

Micro SC3

Figure 2

Good

Adequate

Poor

Adequate

RNC Good

Macro

No IB Coverage

Partial IB Coverage

Full IB Macro Coverage

Macro

Macro

Quality of Service:

Signal attenuation limits penetration of macro network signals inside buildings. Good

High power load per user due to poor signal quality, user devices must operate at maximum power to maximize connectivity, thereby reducing mobile batterylife.
MMW Link, A drain in overall UMTS network capacity dense user-communities inside buildings will exhaust much of the macro networks radio and antenna power and capacity for a given area, limiting the ability of mobile operators to serveGSM others inGSM cell GSM the sitevicinity. GSM GSM Prism Remote Prism Remote Prism Remote Prism Remote Prism Remote Cell A Cell B UMTS UMTS UMTS UMTS UMTS

N1

N2

N2

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N1

78 GHz link 3-5 km

GSM

UMTS

DCS DCS DCS DCS Lack of single cell dominance and large soft handover (SHO) zones at the edges of cells most urbanDCS areas are covered by Antenna 1 Antenna 2 Free Free Free Free Free more than one UMTS cell, so user devices hunt from cell to cell. This limits HSDPA performance, degrades network capacity, Full IB Coverage Street indoor Macro and limits the business case for mobile operators. When covering DAS and users from the macro layer, user devices may see Node Location Host BS Free space the on-street more than one serving cells insideisolationbuilding (Figure 3). As a result, user connection speeds wont likely exceed 360Kbps 50 Base Station Hotel despite a strong ambient signal level. dB 40 dB Mast Band or sector - 1

DCS

Free

Quality of Service:

Band The most effective solution for in-building coverage would be an indoor distributed antenna system (DAS). An in-buildingor sector - 2 DAS 30 Good Adequate Poor Adequate Good Band or sector - 3 would establish50 m40 m 30 m 20source 0 m 10would be farmstronger than any coming from the macro network, and it could cover one signal m 10 m that m 20 m 30 m 40 50 m Band or sector - 4 GSM every area of a building (including underground facilities) with equal signal strength. However the cost of outfitting every building with an in-building DAS can be prohibitive. This is why service providers are exploring the UMTS of micro cells, which use DCS can penetrate buildings if they are close enough to them.

FPO

Host 19"

Prism Outdoor Unit

Figure 3
Cell Areas
Macro

Cell Areas <7 dB >7 dB

Macro

Cell A Cell B

No

Do

min

Deg ant
Cell A

rad e

dH

SD

PA

Cell A
78 GHz link 3-5 km MMW Link, radio and antenna

GSM Prism Remote Cell A Cell B Antenna 1 Mast Antenna 2 UMTS DCS

GSM UMTS DCS Free

GSM UMTS DCS Free

GSM UMTS DCS Free

GSM UMTS DCS Free

GSM Prism Remote UMTS DCS Free

Prism Remote

Prism Remote

Prism Remote

Prism Remote

Cell B

Free

Cell B

Two adjacent cells are providing high signal levels inside the building, but the lack of isolation will give relatively slow data service.
50 dB 40 dB 30 50 m40 m 30 m 20 m 10 m 0m 10 m 20 m 30 m 40 m 50 m GSM Free space isolation on-street Host BS Base Station Hotel Band or sector - 1 Band or sector - 2 Band or sector - 3 Band or sector - 4

Page 2

Quality of Service:

Improving UMTS and HSDPA Coverage 5-Fold with Inward-Facing Cells in a Simulcast Architecture However, while micro cells can raise the signal used to cover outdoor or N1 in-building areas, they dont solve the isolation N2 N2 problem because of overlapping areas between cells. In the overlapping areas, the data speed on HSDPA will be reduced, and UMTS mobiles will load the network with soft handover (SHO) taking up recourses in more cells for the same call. The key culprits here are SHO loading, which cannibalizes UMTS capacity, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) degradation, which reduces data speeds.

Finding the Right Solution

These features offer several advantages for the mobile operators: Small footprint means limited hardware impact on-site for easy zoning and fast deployment Remote antennas support centralized base station hotels, which reduce CAPEX and OPEX Simulcast functionality

Full IB Coverage Street DAS Node Location

Adjustable digital delay to individual remotes

Quality of Service:

Good

Adequate

Poor

Digital distribution, to eliminate signal degradation over distance and up to 26 dB of loss High-quality signals for voice QoS and high data speed Flexible topology: SMF star or daisy chain Ability to use MMW radio links when fiber is difficult or impossible Support for GSM, DCS, UMTS, HSPA, WiMAX, and LTEtechnology BTS interface supporting digitized RF and OBSAI /CPRI These features make the Prism product unique in the industry. Its digital transport over fiber, delivers a very sturdy optical link budget, and the digital transmission enables the system to adjust the delay of the signals to individual remotes, thus improving cell isolation and the data performance in the network. Macro

Improving Performance with Digital Simulcast

The key to using micro cells without interference issues is to improve isolation between the cells. By limiting the area in which cells overlap and providing maximum isolation between cells, we can significantly improved SNR, minimize interference in the network, maximize network utilization, and improve data performance on both uplink and downlink paths. These problems can be solved with better RF network design and with Prism remote heads that support simulcast and adjustable digital delay features. To isolate cells, mount the RF nodes back-to-back on the same mast (Figure 5). This creates a minimum of 50 dB isolation between cells far more than the 7 db found in traditional macro deployments. With the isolation provided by this back-to-back antenna configuration, it is possible to deliver near 100 percent HSDPA coverage using the following advanced performance features: Simulcast broadcasting simultaneous signals through each of the back-to-back antennas, offset in time Adjustable delay adding one chip (0.26 S) of delay to one of the back-to-back antennas Rake Receiver in the mobile and base station A Rake Receiver that can receive as many as three signals from the same source, as long as there is more than one chip delay between signals.
50 dB 40 dB 30 50 m40 m 30 m 20 m 10 m 0m 10 m 20 m 30 m 40 m 50 m

Figure 5

Cell A Antenna 1 Mast Antenna 2

Cell B

Free space isolation on-street

Cell isolation with back-to-back antennas.

Cell Areas
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N1

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N1

By deploying cells facing inward and simulcasting mobile operators can significantly improve outdoor and indoor coverage with minimal SHO load, maximum HSDPA performance (increasing it from approximately 15 percent utilization to 98 percent Full IB Coverage Street DAS and Macro utilization), higher capacity, and higher revenues. The impact Node Location deployments is shown in Figure 6. on in-building

Figure 6
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Quality of Service:

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Adequate
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Good
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Macro

Traditional cellular architecture degradation due to distance and shadowing.

RNC Macro

New Architecture for New Challenges

Wireless service providers must find ways to optimize high performance UMTS/HSDPA broadband service to fully maximize their investments and deliver the quality of service users demand. Success will require new architecture thinking that goes 78 GHz link 3-5 km beyond traditional macro cell and micro cell coverage. This architecture using remote RF nodes provides high isolation MMW Link, radio and antenna between cells, limits cell overlap, delivers the highest data rates, and optimizes network utilization to deliver best-in-class GSM GSM GSM GSM GSM G Cell A Cell B performance for a more profitable business. UMTS UMTS UMTS UMTS UMTS UM
Prism Remote Prism Remote Prism Remote Prism Remote Prism Remote Antenna 1

Mast

Figure 7
Quality of Service:
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Antenna 2 No IB Coverage

Partial IB Coverage
Free

DCS

DCS Free

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Free Free

DCS

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Free space isolation on-street

Good

Host

BS

Base Station Hotel Band or sector - 1 Band or sector - 2

50 m40 m 30 m 20 m

10 m

0m

10 m 20 m 30 m 40 m 50 m

Band or sector - 3

N1

N2

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FPO
Host 19"

N3

GSM UMTS DCS

N1

Band or sector - 4

Prism Outdoor U

Cell Areas Cell A Cell B

Full IB Coverage Street DAS and Macro Node Location

Cell Areas <7 dB >7 dB

Minimizing HSDPA degredation by increased isolation.

Quality of Service:

Good

Adequate No Do min ant

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Deg Adequater ade

dH

Good
SD PA
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WHITE PAPER
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Contact us: Greensboro, NC Macro USA 27409-8420 Tel: 1-800-553-0938 Fax: 1-717-986-7406 www.te.com/WirelessSolutions

TE Connectivity, TE connectivity (logo), Tyco Electronics, and TE (logo) are trademarks of the TE Connectivity Ltd. family of companies and its licensors.

Macro While TE Connectivity has made every reasonable effort to ensure the accuracy of the information in this document, TEConnectivity does not guarantee that it is error-free, nor does TE Connectivity make any other representation, warranty or guarantee that the information is accurate, correct, reliable or current. TE Connectivity reserves the right to make any adjustments to the information contained herein at any time without notice. TE Connectivity expressly disclaims all implied warranties regarding the information contained herein, including, but not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The dimensions in this document are for reference purposes only and are subject to change without notice. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Consult TEConnectivity for the latest dimensions and design specifications.
Tyco Electronics Corporation, a TE Connectivity Ltd. Company. All Rights Reserved. 107655AE6/12Original 2012

78 GHz link 3-5

MMW Link, radio an