Cellular Network Optimization(19/05/2013)

CELLULAR NETWORK OPTIMIZATION

Cellular network optimization involves 3 main categories, they are Switch optimization Radio optimization Data transmission optimization The primary concern of any cellular network is Radio optimization. It is the backbone of a cellular network. A good radio optimization contributes to high quality call, successful hand-offs, minimum calldrops and a continuos growth of subscribers. The purpose of this document is to provide RF Engineers on the proper method of radio optimization. It is a guideline for a systematic approach to a good radio optimization. RADIO OPTIMIZATION Introduction RF engineers normally optimize the radio network by conducting drive-test, analyzing the collected data, changing antenna heights, orientation, tilts, changing transmit power, frequency planning, fine tuning radio parameters, changing hand-off hysteresis and etc. The question here is which comes first? What is the systematic approach for a good radio optimization? 1) The first step of optimization is to cluster the network. There is no point in trying to optimize 1000 base station at one time. It is better to group them to perhaps 4050 sites per cluster. Start from the city center and move slowly towards major highways and rural areas. 2) Next select a cluster that you want to optimize and perform site audit. Visit each site in that cluster. Take photographs of each site. Your photograph should include the following : a) The building. b) The tower. c) The direction of each sector (Antennas). d) Each antenna e) The floor plan. f) Any other co-located towers like microwave tower or other cellular network towers. These pictures are extremely important as they will tell you if the building or tower is too high, the antennas are facing any tall buildings or hills, the antenna is properly tilted, there is proper diversity between antennas and etc. Your site visit must also include the following : a) Measurement of the efective antenna height. b) Antenna tilts (electrical or mechanical). c) Antenna types, beamwidth and gains used. d) Antenna azimuths. Create a folder and file all the pictures taken at the site along with the details of the measurements. Emphasize on one folder per site. Now study all the pictures write all the irregularities down. Dont take any action yet, wait for step 4 and
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Cellular Network Optimization(19/05/2013)

include all your recommendations at step 4. 3) Next step of the optimization is to conduct drive-test. The following is needed : a) Maps b) Drive-test vehicle. c) Laptop. d) Mobile phones. e) Downlink measurement software (ex- Collect 2000, Safco, Qualcomm). f) GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers. g) Drive-test analyzing software (ex- CMA or OPAS). h) Uplink measurement from the switch (Cell Traffic Recording). Use a 10,000 scale map and mark all the sites of the cluster on the map. Highlight all the major roads and tertiary roads that will be your drive route. Then plan and assign unique frequency to each RBS so that they will be transmitting as you drive along the routes. The measurement tool will collect and capture all the downlink data on those frequencies. Drivetest during the daytime and not at night, this is to give you the actual scenario of the network. Dont travel more than 50 km per hour. Redrive the route again for the second time and use the opposite direction for more accuracy in data collection. Make sure you have driven the entire cluster without missing any sites. 4) Analyze the Drive test result by downloading them into software tool like CMA or OPAS. Plot individual site coverage first, followed by cluster coverage next. Study the coverage plot thoroughly and note all sites with excessive coverage or too small coverage. Then make recommendations on the following aspects : IF THE COVERAGE OF THE CELL IS TOO BIG : a) If the site is too high and placed in city center (ex - 60 m to 100 m), reduce the antenna height. Ideal site is 25 m to 30 m in height (for 4/12 FPlan). b) Tilt the antenna (use either mechanical or electrical downtilt), electrical downtilt is preferred as it prevents excessive back lobes and side lobes. Tilt = arctan(h/r) + bw/2, for reducing coverage by 3 dB at cell boundary. whereby r = cell radius, h = antenna height, bw = antenna vertical beamwidth. Ex Cell radius = 5 km Antenna height = 45 m Antenna vertical beamwidth = 13o Downtilt = 90 - (89.5) + 6.5 = 7o Use high gain Antenna for better tilting results. High gain antenna has narrower vertical beamwidth (ex - 15.5 dBi has 13o vertical BM and 18.5 dBi has 6.5 o vertical BM.) c) Reduce transmit power. Use path balance analysis, Uplink = Downlink. Downlink = PA(Rbs) + AntGain(Rbs) + AntGain(Ms) - CableLoss(Rbs) CableLoss(Ms) - CombinerLoss(Rbs) - DuplexerLoss(Rbs) PathLossDownlink - MsSensivity. Uplink = PA(Ms) + AntGain(Rbs) + AntGain(Ms) + DiversityGain(Rbs) CableLoss(Rbs) - CableLoss(Ms) - DuplexerLoss(Rbs) Prepared by : Raj Narayanan (LCC) 2

Cellular Network Optimization(19/05/2013)

PathLossUplink - RbsSensivity After canceling out the equation the end result is : PA (Rbs) = PA (Ms) + CombinerLoss (Rbs) + DiversityGain (Rbs) Ex- PA (Ms) = 28 dBm CombinerLoss = 4 dB Diversity Gain = 3 dB ==> PA (Rbs) = 28 + 4 + 3 = 35 dBm = 35 dBm (3.16 watt) d) Find alternative site if the site is too high (ex- 60 to 100 m). IF THE COVERAGE OF THE CELL IS TOO SMALL : a) Check if there is any obstruction (use the pictures taken during site visit). b) Measure VSWR and cable loss for each sector. If VSWR above 1.3 than check for faulty cable or antenna. c) Use high gain antenna (ex - 18 dBi or 20 dBi). d) Increase the height of the antenna. e) Find alternative site if the site is too low (ex- 5 to 10 m). Next combine the results of step 2 with the recommendations above and give these recommendations to the implementation team for action to be taken immediately. The following are the observations that should be made when analyzing the photographs. a) Make sure there is enough diversity distance between the 2 receive antennas at the RBS. The minimum diversity distance between the 2 receive antennas should always be 10 times the frequency wavelength (speed of light/frequency). Antenna diversity can easily improve uplink signals by 3 dB. This diversity distance can also vary according height of the antenna and antenna direction. But the basic rule is 10 times the wavelength. Ex- Speed of light = 3 * 108 Frequency = 900 MHz Wavelength = 0.33 m = 1 ft Diversity distance = 10 * 0.33 = 3.3 m => minimum 4 m Ex- Speed of light = 3 * 108 Frequency = 1800 MHz Wavelength = 0.165 m = 1/2 ft Diversity distance = 10 * 0.165 = 1.65 m => minimum 2 m b) Make sure there is enough separation between the antennas and other transmitting sources like microwave towers, paging towers, other operators towers. Use spectrum
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Cellular Network Optimization(19/05/2013)

analyzer and measure the level of noise floor. If it is too high there is a possibility of intermodulation present at the site. A guideline in having other transmitting sources nearby RBS are as following : i) If sharing tower with another operator, mount the antennas higher or lower than the other operators antennas. Make sure there is a minimum separation of 1 meter between them. This provides maximum isolation as the antenna nulls will be pointing at each other and also avoids one operators tower blocking the other operators antennas. ii) If the other operator is using separate tower than make sure you mount your antenna on the parapet wall or the other way around. iii) If the other operator is using a separate tower and you cant use parapet mounting or wall mounting than make sure your tower is at least 100 meters away. This is to provide maximum isolation between the two antenna system. Always use the prediction tool to simulate the result of the changes made to the antenna or the transmit power before implementing them for real. It is easier to make amendments on software than on hardware. List all the sites that needs changes and hand them over to the Implementation team. Set a dateline and make sure the changes are done in time. Then take step 4 again which is to drive test followed by step 5 which is to recommend hardware changes. Repeat until all the sites in the cluster have almost equal coverage with none interfering each other excessively. 6) While waiting for the implementation team to finish implementing the recommendations the next thing to do is frequency planning. Use the drive test results. Normally prediction tools like CellCad and Planet has Automatic Frequency Planner (AFP) to predict the best frequency plan for a network. If this is not available than use manual method. Which ever method is possible as long as there arent any sites that are cochannel and placed next to each other. Provide a good reuse distance to avoid cochannel interference. Also try to avoid adjacent channel interference if possible. This is the reason why all sites should have almost equal coverage or coverage that doesnt overlap too much and create unnecessary interference to the neighboring sites. 7) Optimize the Ncells (Neighbor cells). There are 4 rules to be followed: a) The cell and the ncell must have good overlapping coverage. b) Dont add 2 ncells that are cochannel to each other to the cell. c) Dont add a ncell that has adjacent frequency with the cell. d) Assign proper hysterisis values. The hysterisis for ncells should be determined by i) Congestion level ii) Distance between the cell and its ncell.
Congestion Level for Cell Below 1 % 1 % to 9 % 10 % to 19 % 20 % to 29 % 30 % to 39 % 40 % to 49 % 50 % to 59 % 60 % to 69 % 70 % to 79 % 80 % to 89 % Above 90 % Hysterisis for Cell +3 +1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -4 -5 -5 -6 Hysterisis for Ncell +3 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +10 +10 +11 +11 +12

8) Optimize the Dcells (Directed Retry cells). There are 2 rules to be followed:
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Cellular Network Optimization(19/05/2013)

a) The cell and the dcell must have good overlapping coverage. b) Dont assign congested cells as a dcell. 9) Optimize the Cell Parameters like SSACC, SSREG, SSD, SSI, SSH, SNH, SUH, and CIH. Ex- For cells with a very high congestion (above 50%) in Metro area use the following values. SSACC = 25 to 30 (-81 dBm to -76 dBm) SSREG = 25 to 30 (-81 dBm to -76 dBm) SSD = 43 (-75 dBm) SSI = 33 (-85 dBm) SSH = 37 (-81 dBm) SNH = 25 to 30 SUH = 5 seconds CIH = 20 to 25 Ex- For cells with average congestion (10 to 50%) in Metro area use the following values. SSACC = 20 (-86 dBm) SSREG = 20 (-86 dBm) SSD = 43 (-75 dBm) SSI = 33 (-85 dBm) SSH = 37 (-81 dBm) SNH = 25 SUH = 5 seconds CIH = 20 Ex- For cells with low congestion (0 to 10%) in Metro area use the following values. SSACC = 17 (-89 dBm) SSREG = 17 (-89 dBm) SSD = 41 (-77 dBm) SSI = 31 (-87 dBm) SSH = 35 (-83 dBm) SNH = 25 SUH = 7 seconds CIH = 17 Ex- For cells in Remote area use the following values. SSACC = 5 (-101 dBm) SSREG = 5 (-101 dBm) SSD = 45 (-73 dBm) SSI = 35 (-83 dBm) SSH = 35 (-83 dBm) SNH = 20 SUH = 10 seconds CIH = 17 10) Optimize the Location Area. There are 3 rules to be followed:
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Cellular Network Optimization(19/05/2013)

a) Dont have empty location area. This will increase page congestion. b) All location area must have correct AID. c) Each location area should not have more than 5000 active subscriber. 75% of optimization is completed. Left 25% more to do. The 25% optimization left can be reduced by performing the following steps. 1) Identify the worst 10 sites with highest Calldrop. What causes Calldrop ? a) Interference b) Hardware failures c) Hand-off failures d) Congestion problems e) Null coverage The way to identify the worst 10 sites with calldrop is by looking at the CTS (Cell Traffic Statistic). Refer to the Customer drop or Worst drop value. 2) Look further into this sites by checking the following counters. a) Insufficient Tx Quality. b) VC Designation failure. c) Hand-off failure. d) Congestion. Example 1 :Worst Drop 20 % Insuff. Tx Quality 13 % VC Desg. Fail. 4% Hand-off Fail. 3% Congestion 5%

Obviously the call drop is due to insufficient transmission quality. How to overcome insufficient transmission quality? Insufficient transmission quality is due to 2 factor : i) Hardware failure especially antenna. Check the VSWR and if it is above 1.3 check the cable and if necessary change the antenna. ii) Cochanel or adjacent channel interference. Use RDR(Radio Disturbance data) to confirm this. If the interference is reported as SAT 0, 1 or 2 change the frequency plan for the site. If the interference is reported with no SAT tone, this means the interference is coming from the adjacent channel or an external transmitter. Check the location of the site in the map and see if there is any site with adjacent group facing this site. If there is then change the frequency group. If there isnt any site with adjacent group nearby than the interference is caused by external transmitter. To overcome this then use a filter which will eliminate any frequency falling near the current spectrum used (897 MHz to 905 MHz). Example 2 :Worst Drop 20 % Insuff. Tx Quality 3% VC Desg. Fail. 13 % Hand-off Fail. 4% Congestion 5%

Obviously the call drop is due to voice channel designation failure. How to overcome voice channel designation failure? Voice channel designation failure is due to 2 factor: i) Hardware problems. Use RRCR(Radio Related Call Release) data to confirm this. If
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Cellular Network Optimization(19/05/2013)

RRCR shows a high call drop then block the channel and replace the transceiver with a new one. Again check with the RRCR to see any improvement. If there isnt any improvement, change the combiner. ii) Control channel has same DCC(digital color code) with a nearby site. In this case change the DCC. Example 3 :Worst Drop 20 % Insuff. Tx Quality 3% VC Desg. Fail. 4% Hand-off Fail. 13 % Congestion 5%

Obviously the call drop is due to hand-off failure. How to overcome hand-off failure? Hand-off failure is due to 3 factor: a) The cell has 2 ncells that are cochannel to each other. b) The cell has a ncell that has adjacent frequency. c) The ncell is highly congested and the hysterisis value is not optimum. Example 4 :Worst Drop 20 % Insuff. Tx Quality 8% VC Desg. Fail. 8% Hand-off Fail. 10 % Congestion 50 %

Obviously the call drop is due to congestion problem. How to overcome congestion problem? i) Change the Cell parameters. ii) Change the hysterisis values. iii) Change the Dcells. iv) Make RF modifications like down tilting. v) Add more voice channels. vi) Change from 7/21 frequency plan to 4/12 plan.

Prepared by : Raj Narayanan (LCC)