Improving Qos in Umts Network in Accra Business District Using Tower-Less Towers

IPASJ International Journal of Electrical Engineering (IIJEE)
Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJEE/IIJEE.htm

Email: editoriijee@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-600X
A Publisher for Research Motivation........
Volume 2, Issue 11, November 2014
IMPROVING QoS IN UMTS NETWORK IN

ACCRA BUSINESS DISTRICT USING
TOWER-LESS TOWERS
Joseph Kweku Arthur1 and Korotin Vladimir Evgenevich2
1
Faculty of engineering, Ghana Technology University College

PMB 100, Tesano - Accra, Ghana
Faculty of Mobile Communication, St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunication

Bolshevekov prospect 22, St. Petersburg, Russia
ABSTRACT
A tower-less cellular network is an application of a mobile technology deployed without the use of self-supporting masts or
towers. The sudden increase of towers by telecom service providers in Ghana, has led to congestion of these towers in the city,
posing health risk and destroying the beauty of the city. This article seeks to design a tower-less cellular network in the business
district of Accra to replace the existing visible towers. This will ensure that visible towers are eradicated in the business district
of Accra and will provide a mobile network that will increase the quality of service within the Accra metropolis.The network
design depicts the total intentions and concepts and the total collection of terminals, links and nodes, which interconnects users
together to provide an effective communication between them [1]. The asset planning tool software was used to stimulate the
network. The network was designed using 38 cell sites to be able to cover an area of 19.63 square kilometers. At a load factor of
50%, the network can support 1655 subscribers/site. A UMTS networkwas designed without the use of self-supporting masts.
Instead, the antennas were mounted on light poles, tall buildings and disguised trees.
Keywords:- Tower-Less Mast, UMTS, Okumura-HataModel, Link Budget, Qos,
1.INTRODUCTION
As cell phone usage has increased in recent times, so have large cell towers[2][3]. Cell towers are made of unsightly
stalks of steels. They have transmitters and other electronic devices mounted at the top and are sprouted across the
coverage area of a given mobile network. A tower-less cellular network is an application of mobile technology deployed
without the use of self-supporting masts or towers. By this approach, antennas are mounted or placed on lampposts,
utility poles and buildings. Now the wireless industry is planning a future without them, or at least without many more
of them. Instead, it is looking at much smaller antennas, some tiny enough to hold in a hand. These could be placed on
lampposts, utility poles and buildings virtually anywhere with electrical and network connections. [4]
2.RELATED WORKS
The universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) is a 3G wireless system that delivers high-bandwidth data
and voice services to mobile users. UMTS evolved from global systems for mobile communications (GSM)[5]. UMTS
has an air interface based on W-CDMA and an Internet protocol core network based on general-packet radio service
(GPRS). UMTS was standardized by European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI). It supports different
carrier services:
Real time services/ non-real time services
Circuit switched/ packet switched.
The UMTS air interface is known as UTRA (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access). Two modes of operation are envisaged
for the UTRA air interface: FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) mode and TDD (Time Division Duplex) mode[6]. Even
though people increasingly depend upon cellular communications, many people view bare towers as an ugly mark on a
beautiful landscape. So many companies have deployed the concept of tower-less network. In United Kingdom and
United States of America, cell towers are seen installed on rooftops of high-rise buildings or they are installed either on
land or on top of mountains surrounded with huge jungles to camouflage cell towers. Throughout northern San Diego
County fake trees are used to camouflage communication towers. These trees are placed at proper interval along their
highways and byways. The density of these trees are directly proportional to the human population density. In order to
service increasing numbers of users, cells have to be made smaller. These cells are called microcells. Compared with
traditional cell towers that covered a 10 miles, microcells in San Diego County are often less than one mile, depending
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ISSN 2321-600X
on the local population density. In [7] the transmitted power among several antenna elements, separated in space was
split so as to provide coverage over the same area as a single antenna but with reduced total power and improved
reliability. A single antenna radiating at high power was replaced by a group of low-power antennas to cover the same
area. The idea worked because less power is wasted in overcoming penetration and shadowing losses, and because a
line-of-sight channel is present more frequently, leading to reduced fade depths and reduced delay spread. These
designs seen in other parts of the world is supported by the architecture of region (in many cases high-rise buildings),
but in Ghana all most all the telecom operators use towers as support for their antennas. The sudden increase of towers
by telecom service providers in Ghana, has led to congestion of these towers in the city. These towers have destroyed
the beauty of the entire city and have some health debatable risks. This paper seeks to design a tower-less cellular
network in the central business district of Accra to offer an alternative design to replace the existing visible towers and
also increase the quality of service within the Accra metropolis[8][9][10][11].
3.DESIGN
Identification of area
The project area is under a circular loop made up of Accra Central, Osu and Accra North (Kwame Nkrumah Circle).
The coverage area is 19.63
. That area was chosen based on the fact that the area covers the heart of Accra and
many business transactions are done in that area, so effective and reliable communication is badly needed.
Fig 1 Demarcated area for the tower-less network

Network dimensioning
The dimensioning process from the diagram below will be used.
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Radio link specific
input:data rate, etc
Link budget calculation

Max allowed path loss
Equipment specific
input:MS power class
MS sensitivity, etc
Cell range calculation

Maximum cell range
Environment specific
input: propagation
environment, antenna
height, etc
Capacity estimation
Number of sites, total traffic
Service specific input:

Blocking rate, traffic
peak, etc
Interference
margin
Load Factor calculation
Maximum traffic per

computing unit
Equipment requirement
Number of BS, equipments
Fig 2. Dimensioning process of a UMTS network
Load Factor Calculation
Higher average traffic will result in higher noise rise on both up and downlink. On the uplink it is suggested to use 1
dB (corresponding to 20 % cell load) noise rise for low traffic cells (rural areas), and 3 dB noise rise (corresponding to
50 % cell load) for cells in more populated environments (dense urban, urban, suburban). In our case, the area is a
densly-populated area, so a load factor of 50% was used.
Link Budget Calculations
Link budget is a way of quantifying the link performance. Link budget is calculation of all the gains and losses in a
transmission system.The purpose of the link budget is to calculate the maximum path loss allowed between the base
station and the mobile for a given service. The maximum path loss is then used to choose antennas and configurations
for the base stations. The maximum path loss also determines the range of each base station and number of base
stations required to cover the given area. Tables 1 and 2 shows the parameters for downlink and uplink link budget
calculations respectively
Table 1. DownlinkLink Budget Calculation
Parameters
Uplink
Calculations
Load
50%
Transmitter characteristics
User Equipment
Transmitter output power
21 dBm
Transmitter antenna gain
0 dBi
Body loss
Cable loss
3 dB
0 dB
c
d
EIRP
18 dBm
e=a+b-c-d
Receiver characteristics
Node B
Thermal noise density
-174 dBm/Hz
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Receiver noise figure
5dB
Receiver noise density
-169dBm/Hz
h= f+ g
Receiver noise power
-103.2dBm
i= h + 10log(3840000)
Interference margin
3dB
j=10log(1-)
Total effective
noise + interference -100.2 dB
k= i + j
Required Eb/N0
5 dB
Processing gain
25 dB
m= 10log(3840/12.2)
Receiver sensitivity
-120.2 dBm
n= l - m + k
Receiver antenna gain
18 dBi
Cable loss
3dB
Body loss
Fast fading margin
3 dB
Max path loss
150.2 dB
s = e - n + o - p - q -r
Soft handover gain
3 dB
Log normal fading margin
7 dB
Penetration loss
Allowed propagation loss
20dB
126.2 dB
v
w=s+t-u-v
Table 2. Uplink Link Budget Calculation

Parameters
Uplink
Load
50%
Transmitter characteristics
User Equipment
Transmitter output power
21 dBm
Transmitter antenna gain
0 dBi
Body loss
3 dB
Cable loss
0 dB
EIRP
18 dBm
e=a+b-c-d
Receiver characteristics
Node B
Thermal noise density
-174 dBm/Hz
Receiver noise figure
5dB
Receiver noise density
-169dBm/Hz
h= g+f
Receiver noise power
-103.2dBm
i= h + 10log(3840000)
Interference margin
3dB
j=10log(1-)
Total effective noise + interference -100.2 dB
Calculations
k= i + j
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Required Eb/N0
5 dB
Processing gain
25 dB
m= 10log(3840/12.2)
Receiver sensitivity
-120.2 dBm
n= l - m + k
Receiver antenna gain
18 dBi
Cable loss
3dB
Body loss
Fast fading margin
3 dB
Max path loss
150.2 dB
s = e - n + o - p - q -r
Soft handover gain
3 dB
Log normal fading margin
7 dB
Penetration loss
20dB
Allowed propagation loss
126.2 dB
w=s+t-u-v
Specification for the following parameters

Receiver noise figure: [5 dB - 9 dB]
Typical Eb/No (Energy bit over Noise density) values:
a) 12.2 kbps speech (BLER <7*10^-3) [UL 4-5 dB, DL 7-8 dB]
b) CS 64 kbps data (BER <10^-4) [UL 2-3 dB, DL 6-7 dB]
c) PS Streaming 64 kbps (BER<10A-3) [UL 3-4 dB, DL 7-8 dB] PS data 64 kbps (BLER <7*10^-3) [UL 2-3 dB, DL
5-6 dB]
d) PS data 384 kbps (BLER <7*10^-3) [UL 2-3 dB, DL 5-7 dB]
Typical values for fast fading margin:
Typical value is 3dB for urban and 4dB elsewhere. (Fast fading margin is usually not needed in the downlink, since
all mobile terminals are served simultaneously with comparatively less power than the maximum output power of
the node B.)
Typical values for soft handover gain
a) Uplink: [1 dB - 3 dB]
b) Downlink: [1 dB - 2 dB]
Cell Site Parameters
Cell Range Calculation
From the calculated link budget, the cell range R can be easily calculated for a known propagation model, for example
the Okumura-Hata model. This propagation model was chosen because it offers better results for urban areas. The
propagation model describes the average signal propagation in that environment, and it converts the maximum allowed
propagation loss in dB to the maximum cell range in kilometers. As an example we can take the Okumura-Hata
propagation model for an urban macro cell with base station antenna height of 30m, mobile antenna height of 1.5m and
carrier frequency of 1950 MHz:
L = 137.4 + 35.2log(R)
(1)
Where:
L: maximum allowed propagation loss in dB
R: cell range in Km.
The values 137.4 and 35.2 are typical values for urban areas.
From the above link budget, using equation 1 we have:
Uplink cell range: 0.50 Km
Downlink cell range: 1.40 Km
Coverage Area
The coverage area for one cell is a hexagonal configuration estimated from:
S = kR 2
(2)
Where
S: coverage area.
R: maximum cell range, accounting the fact that sectored cells are not hexagonal.
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K: Constant accounting for the sectors
The table below gives the values of k for different site configuration
Table 3 Site Configuration.

Site configuration
Omni
2- sectored
3-sectored
6- sectored
Value of k
2.6
1.3
1.95
2.6
In our case, we are going to configure cell sites with 3-sectors, so k= 1.95.
Therefore,
2
S=1.95*(0.5)
2
=0.5
Population of targeted area
Based on the Google Map, the population for the targeted area is approximated at five hundred thousand (500,000).By
National communication Authority standards, mobile penetration in urban areas is 75%. Taking the six (6) service
providers operating in Ghana into consideration, a 12.5% market share was used. Based on the informations above,
12.5% of 500,000 is 62500. So the targeted number of subscribers for that area was 62500.
Grade of service
The grade of service is a percentage of the number of busy hour call attempts. It is estimated using the blocking
probability.
(3)
Where
Number of lost calls is the traffic that cannot be handled by the switch
Number of offered calls is the volume traffic offered to a switch.
By NCA standards, the maximum grade of Service allowed to every service provider is 2%.
Number of cell sites
Number of channels supported by a site
M=Q x Mpole
(4)
Q: load factor
Mpole: pole capacity. It is defined as the maximum capacity of a UMTS cell, which referrers to the 100% cell load.
In this case, the load factor Q= 50% and for the speech services the uplink speech service Mpole value is 120.6 [from
UMTS interviews Q and A]. Table 4 shows details of how the various needed cell site parameters were calculated.
Table 4. Calculated Cell Site Parameters
REQUIREMENT
FORMULA
RESULTS
Total
number
subscribers
Grade of Service
of
Traffic channel per site
12.5% of 500,000
62500
2%
M=Q x Mpole
49.644 Erlangs
Traffic per subscriber
0.03 Erlang
Number of subscriber
per site
1655 Sub/site
Total number of sites
38 Sites
a - average busy hour call per subscriber

b - average call holding time
Type of Antenna and Specifications

Tables5 and 6 shows the characteristics of the antenna to be used.
Table 5 Electrical Antenna Specification

Type
741794
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Frequency range
1710 - 1880 MHz 1850 - 1990 MHz
1920 - 2170 MHz
Polarization
45
45
45
Gain
2 x 17.5 dBi
2 x 18 dBi
2 x 18.5 dBi
Half power beam width
Horizontal: 67
Horizontal: 65
Horizontal: 63
Copular 45
Vertical: 7
Vertical: 6.7
Vertical: 6.5
Electrical tilt
Fixed 2
Fixed 2
Fixed 2
Side lobe suppression for first side >14 dB

lobe above horizon
>14 dB
>14 dB
Front-to-back ratio, copolar
> 30 dB
> 30 dB
> 30 dB
Cross polar ratio Main direction 0 Typically 30 dB Typically 30 dB > 10 dB

Sector 60
> 10 dB
Isolation between ports
> 30 dB
Impedance
50
VSWR
< 1.4
Typically 30 dB >
10 dB
Intermodulation IM3 (2x43 dBm < -150 dBm

carrier
Max. power per input
300 Watt (at 50 C ambient temperature)

Table 6 Mechanical Antenna Specification
Mechanical specifications
Input
2 x 7-16 female
Weight
6.6 kg
Connector position
Bottom
Wind load Frontal
Frontal: 130 N (at 150 km/h) Lateral: 110 N (at 150 km/h)
Rear side: 310 N (at 150 km/h)
Max. wind velocity
200 Km/h
Packing size
1404 x 172 x 92 mm
Height/width/depth
1302 / 155 / 69 mm
Type of Structures on Which the Antennas Will Be Mounted On

The choice of the type of structures on which the antennas will be mounted on was done based on the following factors:
Type of building structure

The sensitive nature of the area; example Independence Square
The nature of the area (residential, road side)
Based on that, we have chosen three types of structures:
a) Rooftop of buildings
b) Light Poles ( specialized ones)
c) Disguised trees
Design of Rooftop Antennas

During the inspection of the building sites, the rooftops of various sites to be used for the design were checked against
any obstructions that would interfere with the signal propagation. This includes objects on the roof tops itself, other
nearby buildings and structures. The antenna locations were selected and a sketch of rooftop made to identify these
locations relative to other objects nearby. Photographs of the locations were then taken and as well as the position of
theantennas in all directions looking away from the site.
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Design of Light Pole Antenna
The type of support used for the street light design in our project is different from the normal streetlights current being
used in Ghana. This is made of a steel design, galvanized with a height of 18 to 25 meters. The antennas would be
placed at the topmost part of the support structure and the lightswould be placed at about 4m below antenna level (fig.
3), leaving room for co-location. Below are some additional specifications
Fig 3 Design of light Pole Antenna

Specifications for light pole antenna:
Wind Loads - ANSI/TIA-222-G-2005
Steel design - AISC - LRFD
Galvanization - ISO 1461
Concrete - ACI 318
Basic wind speed - 36m/sec
The maximum deflection <=1
Service life 30 years
Tower Structure Class 1
Tower designed for exposure B - EPA=6m2 @ top 5m
Disguised Tree Design
The disguised cell phone tree is an unsightly landmark of high technology. Similarly disguised to look like trees for
decoration methods and also at areas where the deployment of rooftop towers or street light towers is very difficult.
Table 7. Specifications for disguised tree
Design wind speed
0-180km/h
Height
Platform
Mast pole
Climber
ladder
Material
10 - 45 meters
0 - 2 floors
0-12 sets
Outside ladder
Surface
Hop-dipped galvanized, branches and leaves
Weight
According to tree shape, tower height, main

tower material and wind speed
Warranty
Pole and bark are 20 years, leaves are 5 years
Q345B or Q235B
Main pole structure polygon outside coast connection/round pole inside

coast connection
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Identification of Cell Site Co-Ordinates and Types of Structure Used For the Design of Each Cell Site
The names for the different cell sites where chosen based on our choice and co-ordinates (longitude and latitude) were
picked from Google map. Table 8 shows the 38 cell sites, their names, their co-ordinates and the type of structures on
which the antennas will be mounted on.
Table 8 Tabular representation of the 38 cell sites
No.
NAME
LONGITUDE
LATITUDE
TYPE OF STRUCTURE
1
B1801
-0.2172
5.54.761
Rooftop
2
B1802
-0.2172
5.54046
Light Pole
3
B1803
-0.20986
5.54956
Light Pole
4
B1804
-1.86472
5.55268
Rooftop
5
B1805
-0.17347
5.56072
Disguised Tree
6
B1806
-0.20203
5.56003
Light Pole
7
B1807
-0.22703
5.56114
Rooftop
8
B1808
-0.21474
5.56267
Rooftop
9
B1809
-0.20871
5.54198
Rooftop
10
B1810
-0.21442
5.54759
Rooftop
11
B1811
-0.21
5.5562
Light Pole
12
B1812
-0.19177
5.55483
Light Pole
13
B1813
-0.20317
5.55514
Light Pole
14
B1814
-0.19234
5.56602
Rooftop
15
B1815
-0.19751
5.54814
Light Pole
16
B1816
-0.211972
5.56144
Light Pole
17
B1817
-0.16994
5.55629
Rooftop
18
B1818
-0.18653
5.55396
Rooftop
19
B1819
-0.20636
5.56244
Rooftop
20
B1820
-0.18368
5.56145
Rooftop
21
B1821
-0.22734
5.5567
Light Pole
22
B1822
-0.19496
5.56021
Light Pole
23
B1823
-0.21797
5.55174
Light Pole
24
B1824
-0.18063
5.55118
Light Pole
25
B1825
-0.20546
5.54188
Rooftop
26
B1826
-0.20779
5.56737
Light Pole
27
B1827
-0.22201
5.56378
Light Pole
28
B1828
-0.22067
5.54505
Rooftop
29
B1829
-0.22399
5.54963
Light Pole
30
B1830
-0.22399
5.54863
Light Pole
31
B1831
-0.21422
5.5366
Rooftop
32
B1832
-0.21092
5.53805
Light Pole
33
B1833
-0.21328
5.54616
Light Pole
34
B1834
-0.21186
5.56244
Rooftop
35
B1835
-0.19361
5.54603
Disguised Tree
36
B1836
-0.17895
5.55569
Rooftop
37
B1837
-0.19929
5.56846
Light Pole
38
B1838
-0.21879
5.55577
Light Pole
Map of the Demarcated Area with Site Names and Co-Ordinates
Fig. 4 was prepared out of the collected information from the table 8 and the various cell sites were superimposed on
the google map of the demarcated area. A site inspection was done to locate these sites and know the kind of towers to
use. The outcome of the inspection showed the following:
16 cell site will be located on roof tops (the buildings where located)
20 cell sites will be mounted on light poles and
2 cell sites will use disguised trees
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Fig 4. Network Topology

SIMULATED RESULTS
Fig 5 shows the simulation result for the 38 cell sites within the demarcated area. The simulation was done using asset
planning tool software.
Fig 5 Simulated results for designed network

Legend
COLOUR DESCRIPTION
MIN (DBM)
MAX (DBM)
LEGEND
-75
-70
BEST SIGNAL LEVEL
-80
-75
BEST SIGNAL LEVEL -75
-85
-80
BETTER SIGNAL LEVEL -80
-90
-85
BETTER SIGNAL LEVEL -85
-95
-90
GOOD SIGNAL LEVEL -90
-100
-95
GOOD SIGNAL LEVEL -95
-105
-100
POOR SIGNAL LEVEL - 100
-110
-105
BAD SIGNAL LEVEL -105
-70
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The results of all the cell sites simulation are tabulated indicating the signal strengths. These signal strengths are
represented by colors indicating the strength of the signals at different locations within the demarcated area.
4.CONCLUSION
Network design for wireless communication is very dynamic because network conditions are constantly changing. The
proposed design comprises of 38 cell sites to cover an area of 19.63 square kilometers. All the cell sites were completely
tower-less. At a load factor of 50%, we had 1655 subscribers/site. The cell site range was 0.5
and the coverage area
was 0.5
for a cell site. The signal levels of the network for the demarcated area ranged from 65 dBm to -85dBm.
References
[1] D. Easley and J. Kleinberg, Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning About a Highly Connected World,
Cambridge University Press, 2010.
[2] J. Day, Patterns in Network Architecture: A Return to Fundamentals, Pearson Education, 2007.
[3] K. Kirkland, Light and Optics, Infobase Publishing, 2009.
[4] A. R. Mishra, Advanced Cellular Network Planning and Optimisation: 2G/2.5G/3G...Evolution to 4G, John Wiley
& Sons, 2007.
[5] M. Rahnema, UMTS Network Planning, Optimization, and Inter-Operation with GSM, John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
[6] H. Holma and A. Toskala, WCDMA for UMTS: HSPA Evolution and LTE, John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
[7] T. Manning, Microwave Radio Transmission Design Guide, Artech House, 2009.
[8] R. Lehnert, P. Tran-Gia and J. Charzinsky, Providing Quality of Service in Heterogeneous Environments, Elsevier,
2003.
[9] A. Mellouk, Quality of Service Mechanisms in Next Generation Heterogeneous Networks, John Wiley & Sons,
2010.
[10] T. Vazo, M. M. Freire and I. Chong, "Information Networking. Towards Ubiquitous Networking and Services,"
in International Conference, ICOIN, Estoril, Portugal, 2007.
[11] G. Gomez and R. Sanchez, End-to-End Quality of Service over Cellular Networks: Data Services Performance
Optimization in 2G/3G, John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
AUTHOR
Kweku Arthur is a final year PhD student at the ST. Petersburg State University of
Telecommunications. He obtained his BSc and MSc degree in the same university. He lectures at the
Ghana Technology university college. His research areas are wireless technology and emerging trends in
mobile networking
Dr. B. E. Korotin is the dean of the faculty of Information Systems and Technology, St. Petersburg
State university of Telecommunication. His research interests are wireless local area networks and
monitoring of information systems. He has many publications in this area. He is currently engaged in the
expansion of radio networks in St. Petersburg, some suburbs of Moscow and Samara
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IPASJ International Journal of Electrical Engineering (IIJEE)

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJEE/IIJEE.htm

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 2, Issue 11, November 2014