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CONTENTS
Executive summary
Introduction
12
17
Recommendations
18
19
Abbreviations
19
Executive summary
Providing coverage for mobile networks has been the key design criterion
since the first networks were deployed during the 1980s and 1990s.
The growing demand for affordable mobile broadband connectivity is
driving the development of Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) with a
range of different Radio Access Technologies (GSM, HSPA, LTE and Wi-Fi).
The reason for installing HetNets for capacity remains to provide
continuous coverage and a consistent services experience throughout
the network, for both voice and mobile broadband.
The first step is to ensure basic, wide mobile broadband (MBB)
coverage, which involves using spectrum assets, e.g. using lower
frequency bands such as UMTS900 and LTE700/800.
The next steps are to use resources at the macro sites for better
coverage, with methods such as cell splitting in either the horizontal
or vertical plane depending on the scenario. Many rural sites are still
omni-directional and good coverage improvements can be achieved
with standard three sector sites.
Further macro enhancements can be performed with higher
order MIMO, such as 4 or 8 antennas at the macro site and
advanced multi-cell RRM such as Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP)
transmission/reception.
Once the macro sites have realised their coverage potential, small
cells can be deployed to provide additional fill-in coverage outdoors,
either at the cell edge or by deploying outdoor small cells overlaying
macro cells in high capacity areas.
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Coverage
Fill-Ins for
Capacity
Perfecting
the macro
network
Figure 1. The continuous path to providing better coverage and capacity in HetNets and
finally a consistent user experience through a perfect network quality
Indoor deployment is yet another method for providing good
coverage and overcoming the high penetration loss of buildings.
Indoor deployment options range from distributed antenna
systems, small femto or Wi-Fi cells or indoor pico cell deployment
where applicable.
Finally, to enable ubiquitous M2M opportunities in the cellular
networks, additional coverage is required for rural areas and deep
indoor deployment.
This whitepaper outlines key coverage enhancement strategies for
HetNets and explains how Nokia Networks can help operators address
them. It discusses ways to expand the macro layer and how to use
outdoor and indoor small cell layers to provide better coverage and at
the same time provide better capacity.
Introduction
The majority of todays mobile sites for mobile broadband were
designed and constructed for 2G voice services in the 1990s. Macro
sites are still being added, particularly in urban areas to provide better
coverage and capacity. The sites have been upgraded with WCDMA,
HSPA, LTE and some site densifications have been deployed to ensure
better coverage and capacity. However, increased bandwidth for
higher user data rates tends to shrink coverage areas as the power
spectral density decreases. This is especially true for the uplink where
the user devices transmit power is limited.
Regulators in many countries impose coverage obligations for
spectrum licenses i.e. part of the requirements for getting spectrum
is to provide a certain population coverage with predefined quality
levels. An example of spectrum coverage requirements were those for
the digital dividend band (LTE800) in Germany, auctioned in 2010. The
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condition for the spectrum license was to bring high speed Internet
to rural areas starting with small towns of less than 5000 inhabitants.
Deployments in bigger cities were not allowed before 90% of the small
towns were covered.
More than 80% of global wireless data traffic is generated indoors
and thus seamless indoor coverage is one of the key challenges today
and in the years to come. Modern buildings designed for low energy
use typically have a high path loss penetration through windows that
are metal plated and walls with high insulation. Furthermore, deep
indoor, high rise buildings, basements etc. present further coverage
challenges for indoor users. Also, users in suburban and rural areas
may be far from any cell site or in shadow areas without coverage.
Covering these difficult areas offers opportunities for increased
mobile broadband usage and thereby new business opportunities.
With the increased attention of mobile network operators (MNO)
on excellent coverage, it has been shown that the poor coverage
experience that consumers may have is not related only to the network,
but to the mobile phones as well. The small integrated antenna
in smartphones does not always yield the best radiated antenna
performance. Therefore, a good antenna performance for consumer
devices is as important to good coverage as the network design.
To provide good coverage, we need to optimize the received signal
power (PRX). In the example below we show a simplified link budget:
PRX = PTX + GTX - LPL + GRX - LRX
The transmitted power (PTX) can be adjusted at the base station
transmitter with typical values of 20W, 40W, 60W up to 80W.
However, an increase in transmit power is not possible from the user
equipment, meaning it is important to maintain a balanced link budget
in the uplink and downlink. The gain in the base station antenna (GTX)
has a positive effect for both uplink and downlink and can be increased
using several techniques. Splitting the cells into smaller cells, either
in the azimuth or vertical plane, increases the antenna gain in the
main direction and helps to improve coverage substantially. The
path loss (LPL) through the media between the base station and the
user equipment can be limited by using a lower frequency band with
lower path loss. Similarly, the network can be densified to minimize
the distance between the user and the base station. For deep indoor
coverage, indoor deployment can be arranged to minimize the wall
penetration. The design of the user device antenna is important for
coverage, as the antenna gain of the device (GRX) directly affects the
strength of the received signal. Finally, the performance or loss of the
user equipment (LRX) is important for performance and coverage.
The whitepaper outlines the coverage requirements of different
services, starting with voice, the coverage target that has emerged
over the last 20 years. Then, high speed data changed the deployment
challenges for coverage. Finally, new requirements are emerging for
ubiquitous low speed data for M2M like sensors. The deployment for
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799 MHz
120
1912.5 MHz
110
3570 MHz
PL [dB]
100
NLOS
5260 MHz
90
80
LOS
70
60
50
40
101
Log10(d[m])
102
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2600 MHz
LTE 20 MHz
2100 MHz
HSPA 15 MHz
1800 MHz
900 MHz
800 MHz
LTE 10 MHz
Spectrum availability
The number of Radio Access Technologies (RATs) and frequency
variants in mobile networks is increasing. Operators will typically have
three RATs (GSM, HSPA and LTE) and up to five frequency variants
running in parallel, as illustrated in Figure 3.
Refarming part of the 2G spectrum, such as 850/900MHz to HSPA,
enables better mobile broadband coverage, particularly indoors and in
rural areas. Also, using LTE carrier aggregation can further increase cell
edge throughput in the downlink by providing additional spectrum.
New LTE bands such as 700, 800, Advanced Wireless Services (AWS)
and 2600 MHz are available, including refarming the 1800 MHz band
from GSM to LTE. Many networks were designed for voice coverage
in the 90s and with the increase in data rates, the coverage area may
shrink owing to power limitations in user devices. Downlink coverage
is further limited due to broadband throughput and higher SINR
requirement. Deploying LTE at 2600 MHz by reusing existing macro
sites may compromise coverage in certain environments. Therefore,
the sub GHz spectrum needs to be deployed at the macro sites, as
the main coverage layer with additional cells running at the higher
frequency bands act as a capacity layer.
The key challenge is to provide sufficient capacity in the sub GHz
spectrum, which provides the best macro layer coverage. Additional
restrictions when providing coverage and capacity with increased
spectrum in the lower spectrum area are those governing radiated
electro-magnetic fields. The ICNIRP (International Commission on NonIonizing Radiation Protection) defined a maximum public exposure limit
of 2 to 10 W/m (@ 400 to 2000 MHz), which has been adopted by
most national regulators, although some countries have stricter limits.
Limitations are very site specific, including distance to non-protected
areas and total emissions including potential competitors at sites, so
careful site planning is needed when upgrading transmit power and
multi-carriers for the low spectrum.
A more long term solution to provide additional spectrum below 1 GHz
would be to refarm part of the TV broadcast spectrum. Figure 4 shows
a spectrum example of the currently EU allocated spectrum in the
800 MHz band and the proposed additional 700 MHz spectrum.
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30 MHz
DL
862
832
30 MHz
UL
821
788
791
733
703
758
30 MHz
DL
30 MHz
UL
470
broadcast
Figure 4. New Spectrum < 1GHz by convergence of broadcast and broadband spectrum assets
However, there is still a vast amount of spectrum available from 470 to
694 MHz, which is serving TV broadcasts today. Nokia Networks has done
a study with a major operator on providing TV broadcasts with a similar
service level to today using evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast
Service (eMBMS) technology. This would allow a significant reduction of
the required spectrum for TV broadcasts due to improved frequency
reuse, thus opening more spectrum for mobile broadband use.
The key conclusions from the study are:
Indoor handheld
Population: 55.8 %
Area: 32.7 %
Outdoor handheld
Population: 82.5 %
Area: 74.9 %
Customer premises equipment
indoor antenna
Population: 83.8 %
Area: add 77.6 %
Customer premises equipment
rooftop antenna
Population: 99.0 %
Area: 97.6 %
Out of Coverage
Population: 1.0 %
Area: 2.4 %
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3 Sector Layout
3x1
6 Sector Layout
6x1
6 Sector Layout
3x2
Antenna Enhancements
A simple way to increase the antenna gain at the base station is
to split the current cells into smaller and narrowband cells using
sectorization. Higher order sectorization can be deployed in both the
horizontal plane by increasing the number of antennas/sectors and/or
in the vertical plane by introducing an Active Antenna System (AAS).
An example of sectorization is shown in Figure 6.
Many operators are facing challenges such as lack of new site
locations, challenging operating frequencies with limited coverage and
performance and ever-growing demands for a high-quality end-user
experience. With multi-sectorization, operators can improve their
network and meet the challenge of traffic growth by providing more
coverage and more capacity simultaneously, as well as improving
end-user service quality without having to invest heavily in new base
station sites. Deploying multi-sectorization will also reduce the need
for new macro sites.
Nokia Networks provides site solutions for multi-sectorization,
increasing mobile broadband capacity and coverage as follows:
Up to 80% more capacity for 6x1 deployments (compared to 3x1).
Up to 65% more downlink capacity for 3x2 deployments (compared
to 3x1).
Up to 100% more uplink capacity for 3x2 deployments (compared
to 3x1).
Up to 40% increased coverage for 6x1 and 3x2 (compared to 3x1).
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2x2 DL
14
4x2 DL
13.71
12
4x2 DL with PC
11.49
10
8
8.77
2 Rx UL
5.29
4 Rx UL
4
3
2
2.18
4
1
2
0
0
Avg. Throughput(Mbps)
Avg. Throughput(Mbps)
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Small cells
Small cells are an efficient way to provide outdoor coverage,
particularly in high capacity areas where the macro cell lacks the
ability to provide the necessary cell edge coverage and capacity.
The dominance or coverage area of the small cell depends on the
transmission (TX) power, the spectrum used and the micro cell
selection parameters. The larger the coverage area of a micro cell, the
more user equipment it attracts. With high traffic volumes, the micro
cells may become congested. In this case, it is better to provide an
additional micro-carrier than to reduce the micro TX power. Reducing
TX power in outdoor micro cells, combined with increasing data rates,
increases the possibility of coverage holes.
Figure 8 shows a deployment of five micro cells along a shopping
street in a dense urban area with 80m Inter-site Distance (ISD). Each
cell transmits with 5W and provides continuous blanket coverage
both indoors and outdoors. Lower power small cells can also provide
continuous coverage but small cells of 1W would need to be deployed
at a higher density with an ISD of only 40m. Thus, deployment of
micro cells with 5W output power requires significantly fewer access
points, around four times less, compared with 1W micro cells.
Furthermore, bias in cell selection can be used if an increase or
decrease in microcell range is desired.
Software and feature parity between macro and micro/pico cells is one
of the critical steps needed in small cell deployment. It will help create
tighter integration between the two network layers, giving improved
HetNet performance and thus also better coverage and a consistent
user experience.
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3x1, 10MHz
3x1, 20MHz
Service coverage
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
75%
70%
DL@4Mbps
UL@1Mbps
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Indoor Deployment
A Distributed Antenna System (DAS) is an efficient way to provide
seamless indoor coverage. DAS involves the distribution of cellular RF
signals to a network of antennas within a building. The DAS distributes
RF signals from a centralized radio source throughout the building
using a network of RF cabling, splitters, couplers and antennas, fiber
optic cabling, RF repeaters etc.
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Indoor small-cell
Pico
Macro
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Without Indoor
small-cells
With Indoor
small-cells
Figure 11. Example of outdoor and indoor small cell (4G/LTE and
Wi-Fi 802.11n/ac) coverage probability performance under a typical
dense urban deployment scenario as expected in 2020.
The aim is to create an indoor layer that is integrated seamlessly with
the macro layer and which handles voice & data traffic internal to the
building, thereby offering better quality and user experience.
Another way to provide indoor coverage is by deploying indoor small
cells. In dense urban deployments, indoor 4G/LTE small cell and WLAN/
802.11n/ac solutions (or combined multi-RAT small cells) can provide
excellent coverage and capacity, as exemplified in Figure 11. The ratio
of users getting more than 10 Mbit/s is increased from 80% to 90%
by deploying an indoor cell for every ~500m2.
In enterprise deployment, where the locations and transmit power
levels of the indoor small cells (Wi-Fi or pico) can be optimized, the
number of indoor small cells required can be reduced significantly,
providing a reduction in costs of up to 45% compared to the costs of
un-planned residential -like deployment solutions.
In public deployment environments, such as large multi-floor shopping
malls, a deployment density of one indoor pico cell per 1000 m2 of
floor area is sufficient to provide the minimum user data rate of 10
Mbit/s in a 2020 traffic growth scenario.
Figure 12 shows examples of capacity of different indoor solutions in a
60 floor high rise building, with each scenario providing 95% coverage.
The first case uses DAS for indoor coverage and the second uses the
DAS infrastructure with a small cell on every floor, doubling the capacity.
Deploying further small cells improves capacity significantly. The final
case shows a combination of DAS in the common area and small cells in
the dedicated office areas. The indoor deployment with distributed small
cells provides significantly more capacity, with the same coverage as DAS.
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Scenario
# of eNB/small
cells per floor
# of
Antennas
Capacity
per Floor
1 per 2 floors
21
56 Mbps
21
112 Mbps
543 Mbps
18
18
1,335 Mbps
1 five-W and
5 quarter-W
19 (14 DAS
+ 5 Built In)
489 Mbps
Figure 12. Capacity of different indoor solutions in a 60 floor high rise building.
Indoor-to-outdoor
A completely different approach to providing coverage would be
to deploy indoor small cells for both indoor and outdoor coverage.
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Directional macro
Street micro
Figure 13. Up-tilted directional macro cells
Direct Macro
Micro
Macro
4
3
2
1
0
0
10
15
20
25
30
Floors
35
40
45
50
Figure 14. Indoor offload per floor for a 50 floor building. The dark grey
bars show users which remain on the normal macro.
Figure 15 shows an example of suburban deployment of small cells in a
residential environment.
Outdoor coverage is highly dependent on the penetration of small
cells and the distance from the buildings. If we envision sidewalks and
street level coverage as a ring of 10m and 20m around the building, a
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20m Ring
70
10m Ring
60
50
40
All
30
10m ring
20
20m ring
Building
10
0
0
10
15
20
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Modern Building
Penetration Loss [dB]
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
INDOOR
799MHz
1912.5MHz
3570MHz
5260MHz
16.51
17.54
22.54
28.95
DEEP INDOOR
20.09
23.81
29.06
34.83
DEEP INDOOR 2
27.30
32.33
37.08
43.34
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1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-30
-20
-10
0
SINR [dB]
10
20
30
Recommendations
This whitepaper outlines the main challenges and solutions to providing
better coverage in todays mobile broadband networks while at the
same time providing additional capacity. The key coverage enhancement
techniques are summarized in Figure 18.
Refarming
Indoor
small cells
Cell splitting
Provides coverage by
higher antenna gain
Outdoor to
indoor
Small cells
Directional
antennas
Provides coverage by
dedicated antennas
Network sharing
Provides coverage by
combined network
Indoor DAS
Outdoor
M2M
20 dB coverage required
Standardization ongoing
Indoor
Massive M2M
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3-sector
6-sector
CoMP
Outdoor coverage
solutions
Active
antenna
Wi-Fi
Femto
Dedicated indoor
coverage solution
Coverage
HSPA/LTE
Micro
Re-farming
4x
MIMO
HSPA/LTE
Pico
DAS
Directed
macro
cells
4x
Feature parity
Abbreviations
AAS
Active antenna system
AWS
Advanced wireless services
CoMP Coordinated multi-point
DAS
Distributed antenna system
eMBMS evolved multimedia broadcast
multicast service
HetNet Heterogeneous network
ICNIRP International Commission on
Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection
ISD
Inter-site distance
Page 19
LOS
M2M
MBB
MNO
MIMO
NLOS
RAT
RRM
SFN
SINR
Line of sight
Machine-to-machine
Mobile broadband
Mobile network operators
Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output
Non-line of sight
Radio access technology
Radio resource management
Single Frequency Network
Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio
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Nokia is a registered trademark of Nokia Corporation. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or trade names of their
respective owners.
Nokia
Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
P.O. Box 1
FI-02022
Finland
Visiting address:
Karaportti 3,
ESPOO,
Finland
Switchboard +358 71 400 4000
Product code C401-00978-WP-201404-1-EN
Nokia Solutions and Networks 2014
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