Design Proposal for

the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Dr. Hatem MOKHTARI

Radio Planning Group

6 August, 1998
Distribution list
Telfort Mobiel Taher Farkondeh
David Charlton
Bob Berger
Frits Vrijlandt
Henk Boonzaayer
Martin Janssen
Steve Houghton
Theo van der Wiel
Russel Whitworth
Sean O’Neil
Gary Hawkins
Radio Planning Team Leaders
 CONTENTS

1. Introduction..............................................................................................................4

2. Identification of Coverage Areas and Access Points.............................................4

3. Coverage areas .........................................................................................................7

4. Adopted solution options.........................................................................................7

4.1. ARRIVALS…………………………………………………………………… 7
4.2. PLANE TERMINALS………………………………………………………….. 8
4.1. DEPARTURES………………………………………………………………... 9
5. Concluding remarks ..............................................................................................11

ANNEXE 1 : Cost estimate and number of antennas and BTSs required………………..12

ANNEXE 2 : Design Block Diagrams for Arrivals, Plane Terminals, and Departures……13
 Design of the Amsterdam
Schiphol Airport

1. Introduction

The Amsterdam Schiphol airport, one of the busiest international airports in the
world, is expected to provide substantial roaming traffic and hence, revenues, for our
mobile network. Because mobile units often pick the strongest received signal to
derive service from while roaming, it is imperative that we provide very good
coverage throughout the Schiphol Airport complex.

2. Identification of Coverage Areas and Access Points

Irrespective of the design approach used, antennas will need to be placed in a

large number of areas to provide adequate signal levels to subscriber units. Radio
Planning has identified the following general areas for coverage:

• All plane terminals (Gates B through G), including the inter-connecting

walkways, shown in Figure 1.
• The Arrival lounge which includes the baggage claim, visitor waiting,
shopping, and information areas. This is shown in Figure 2.
• The Departure lounge, including the check-in and shopping areas, shown
in Figure 3.
• The underground train station below the arrival hall (not shown).
• The rental car and parking garages, including the corridor between these
and the main airport building (not shown).

It is assumed that the mobile traffic immediately outside of the airport building
and on the road approaches to and from the airport will be covered by an external cell
site on an airport building or in its immediate vicinity.

Several Access Points (which are basically the desired antenna locations) have
thus been identified in each of the above areas. These are also shown in Figures 1, 2,
and 3 for the terminals, arrivals, and departure halls respectively and listed in Table 1
below. The seemingly large number of access points are necessitated by the modular
construction of the airport, the radio propagation environment, limitations of the
equipment used, as well as the need to provide very good signal levels to subscribers.

The access point locations shown are based on site surveys achieved with our Site
Acquisition team and the airport representative.

The Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has initially been pre-designed using basic
assumptions concerning the access points (location of antennas) and some subjective
decisions related to the expected traffic within the Airport’s indoor environment.
Visiting the whole Airport with its representatives revealed that the initial design has
to be modified because some sites cannot be acquired or merely the solution adopted
is not a feasible and viable option. Moreover, some restrictions arose concerning the
possibility of installing our infrastructure (BTSs and/or antennas). Subsequently, the
RP Support Group ought to modify the configuration and/or the location of the BTSs
and the antennas within each visited building. This document yields the detailed
design according to the above mentioned constraints.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Access Points with Omni antenna’s

Access Points with Shark-fin antenna’s

Figure 1: Terminals – Antenna location for Terminals

Access Points with Omni antenna’s

Access Points with Shark-fin antenna’s

Figure 2: Arrivals – Antenna locations for Arrival areas

 Figure 3: Departures – Antenna locations for Departure areas

Table 1: Distribution of Access Points

1. Plane Terminals - 9 Access Points

Gates B 1
Gates C 1
Gates D 3
Gates E 1
Gates F 2
Gates G 1
2. Arrivals - 6 Access Points
Arrivals 1 1
Arrivals 2 1
Arrivals 3 2
Shopping Plaza 2
3. Departures - 7 Access Points
Departures 1 2
Departures 1 1
Departures 1 2
4. Railway Station 1 Access Point*
5. Parking Garage 2 Access Points*

Total 25 Access Points

* Tentative, pending approval of appropriate authorities.

3. Coverage areas
 The areas to be covered are the same as those previously mentioned in the
initial document except that the actual proposal does not include the train station and
the parking garages. These shall be added later on when the visit has been completed
with the concerned authorities.

Moreover, although the areas to be covered remain the same as initially

identified, the Access Points (antennas) are subjected to potential change after the RP
Support Group’s visit with the Site Acquisition representative of the Schiphol Airport
in-building areas.

4. Adopted solution options

Because of the various conditions of installation and clutter environments

within the Schiphol Airport, different solutions have to be considered. The design
proposal had to be undertaken on a case-by-case basis since both the technical and the
environmental constraints are to be considered. For example, there are some cases
where the BTS-antenna distance might not be short to overcome the high RF losses
encountered in the 1800 MHz frequency band and a fiber optic solution seemed to
fulfil our requirements. The details of the identified design solutions are given as
follows :

4. 1. Arrivals

i) Arrivals 1 (South)

Smoke-Alarm antenna highly preferred

Antenna Location : Outside or inside the roof (in the middle of the main room)

Compact-BTS (shared)

RF Cable : 45 m approximately

Possible equipment location : Room # 0680

Comments : Space for only one RBS 2202 Unit

ii) Arrivals 2

Shark-fin antenna but might not be allowed by the Airport

Antenna Location : Between belt 10 and belt 11

Compact-BTS (shared)

RF Cable: 45 m + 80 m = 125 m approximately.

Possible equipment location : Room # 0680

Comments : Space for only one RBS 2202 Unit

iii) Corridor between Arrivals 2 and Arrivals 3

Shark-Fin antenna

Micro-BTS

RF Cable : 15 m maximum

Comments : Very Low Priority (corridor may be covered by Arrivals 1 and
Arrivals 2 BTSs)
iv) Arrivals 3 (West)

Shark-Fin or a Smoke-Alarm antenna

Antenna Location : Near belt 17

Compact BTS (shared)

RF Cable : 50 m

Possible equipment location : Room # 2357

4. 2. Plane Terminals

i) Lounge West (between Gate F and G)

Thick Cylindrical antenna (2 dBi)

Antenna Location : at the end of the escalator towards the café bar

Compact BTS (shared)

RF Cable : 50 m

Possible equipment location : Room # 2357

ii) Gate G

Thick Cylindrical antenna (2 dBi)

Compact-BTS

RF Cable 55 m

Possible equipment location : down stairs room # GP-0131

Comments : No space available nearby the antenna for micro-BTS

v) Gate F (splitting point area)

Smoke-Alarm antenna

Part of a Compact BTS (2 TRXs)

RF Cable : 10 m

Possible equipment location : Room # 1471

vi) Gate F (main corridor)

Shark-Fin antenna

Part of a Compact BTS (4 TRXs)

RF Cable : 80 m

Possible equipment location : Room # 1471

vii) 2nd Floor between Gate F and E

Smoke-Alarm antenna

Micro-cell

RF Cable : 15 m

Possible equipment location : Room # EF-2639

Comments : highly important business area. Libertel installed a smoke-alarm
antenna with a microcell.

viii) Gate E

Shark-Fin

Antenna Location : in the middle of the Gate inside the illuminator signs

RF Cable : 10 m

Micro-BTS

Possible equipment location : Room # EP-1140

ix) Gates C and B

Two Shark-Fin antennas, one in each center of Gate C and B respectively

Optical Solution : 1 Master Unit + 2 Remote Units

Fiber Optic Cable : 2×300 m = 600 m

Compact BTS

Possible equipment location : Room # 0314

x) Gate D (TOP)

Very good clearance with respect to the neighboring outdoor sites : No additional
indoor coverage is hence required.

xi) Gate D (BOTTOM)

One Shark-Fin antenna in the middle of each corridor (D main, D1 and D2)

Compact BTS (2 TRXs for each of the 3 corridors)

1 Master Unit

3 Remote Units (one for each antenna)

Fiber optic cable : 200 m + 2×300 m = 800 m

Possible equipment location : Room # DP-C028

Comments : Only fiber optic solution is possible because of long distances (high
RF cable losses in 1800 MHz band) between the BTS and the antennas.

4. 3. Departures

i) Small metallic walls check-in room

Omnidirectional antenna

Micro-BTS

RF Cable : 15 m

Possible equipment location : available room within the check-in itself

ii) Departures 1

Omnidirectional antenna

Compact BTS

RF Cable : 45 m

Possible equipment location : room # 0680

iii) Departures 2

Omnidirectional smoke-alarm antenna (2 dBi)

Micro-BTS

RF Cable 15 m

Possible equipment location : down stairs room #1415

iv) Between Lounge Central and Lounge South

Ominidirectional smoke-alarm antenna is required

Micro-BTS

RF Cable 15 m

Comments : The Airport representative informed us that no antenna is to be
installed immediately because the building will be destroyed and reconstructed
again. It is therefore preferrable that Telfort waits until the reconstruction has
been completed to install the required infrastructure.

v) Plaza (around the Meeting Point)

Omnidirectional Smoke-Alarm

Compact-BTS

RF Cable : 40 m

Possible equipment location : behind the Libertel advertisement

vi) Plaza (Behind the Shopping Area)

Shark-Fin antenna

Micro-BTS

Antenna Location : Near the “Juggle Sandwich Bar”

RF Cable : 50 m

Possible equipment location : room # 0547

vii) Departures 3

Smoke Alarm antenna

Micro-BTS

RF Cable : 15 m

Possible equipment location : Room # TERW-A117

comments : Low priority because the outdoor macro should be sufficient. If the
traffic becomes an issue, then a TRX extension will have to be undertaken on the
outdoor serving cell.

5. Concluding remarks

The main concern was the coverage of the strategic areas within the Schiphol
Airport buildings with a rough estimate of the expected traffic. Furthermore, Telfort
should consider that the traffic will no longer be uniformly distributed and, therefore,
more refined traffic estimate will have to be undertaken. The proposed design takes
into account the RP’s observations on the field but also combines the information
given by the Airport’s representatives concerning the best locations to be used for both
the antennas and the BTSs. Furthermore, it is very important to point out that the
design given in this proposal shall be used provided that each equipment room and
antenna location will remain unchanged.
 ANNEXE 1

Table A1 : Number of Antennas and BTSs required

Compact Micro Smoke- Shark-Fins Thick-

RBS 2202 RBS 2301 Alarm Omni
Antennas
7 8 8 10 4

Table A2 : Infrastructure Cost Estimate (installation cost not included)

RF Units for the entire airport complex

Items Unit Price Units Required Subtotal
RBS2202 (6 TRXs) 106,672 7 746,704
RBS2301 (2 TRXs) 47,890 8 383,120
Master Units 28,719 2 57,438
Remote Units 25,340 5 126,700
1:2 Optical Splitter 237 1 237
1:4 Optical Splitter 1,808 1 1,808
Connectors (RF) 65 24 1,560
Connectors 68 10 680
(Optical)
RF Cables (1/2”) 10/m 630 m 6,300
Fiber Optic Cables 10.2/m 1,400 m 14,280
APPROXIMATE TOTAL COST 1,338,827
 ANNEXE 2
Figure A1 : Design Block Diagram for Gate F
RBS 2202 UNIT

TRX 1 RF Cable
Hybrid
Combining
TRX 2 To Gate F (splitting Area)

TRX 3

TRX 4 RF Cable
Hybrid
Combining
TRX 5 To Gate F (Corridor)

TRX 6

Figure A2 : Design Block Diagram for Departures 1 and Arrivals 1 and 2

RBS 2202 UNIT

TRX 1 RF Cable
Hybrid
Combining To Arrivals 1
TRX 2

TRX 3 RF Cable
Hybrid
Combining
TRX 4 To Arrivals 2

TRX 5 Hybrid
RF Cable
Combining
To Departures 1
TRX 6

Figure A3 : Design Block Diagram for Gate C and B

RBS 2202 UNIT + Hybrid

Combiners

TRX 1 F/O Cable

RU
TRX 2 To Gate C

TRX 3 1:2
Master
Splitter
Unit
TRX 4

TRX 5 F/O Cable

RU
TRX 6 To Gate B
 Figure A4 : Design Block Diagram for Microcell-based solution

RBS 2301 UNIT

TRX 1
Short RF Cable
Hybrid
Combining To Microcell-based option
TRX 2 Location

Figure A5 : Design Block Diagram for Arrivals 3 and Lounge West

RBS 2202 UNIT

TRX 1
Hybrid Combining RF Cable
TRX 2
To Arrivals 3
TRX 3

TRX 4 RF Cable
Hybrid Combining
To Lounge West (between
TRX 5 Gate F & G)

TRX 6