Automatic Radio Network Planning and

Optimization

Thomas Neubauer
© SYMENA

SYMENA Software & Consulting GmbH, Vienna

TU Wien

Free tickets for the Worldcup final

3 free tickets

for the Worldcup

final in Berlin for
the first 3 technical
questions.
© SYMENA

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 2

1
 Capesso™ helps for design and optimization

Network Design Network Operation

© SYMENA

Better . Faster. Cheaper.

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 3

Network Design: Savings in CapEx, OpEx

Automatic Cost and
Existing Candidate Sites [%] Efficiency Analysis
100
90
80
Automatic 70

Network 60
50

Design and 40
30

Optimization 20
10
0
0
3
6
9
12
15

18

21

24

27

30

33

36

39

42

45

48

Number of Sites

Efficient Implementation Full Implementation

Automatic Automatic
Export Export
© SYMENA

Validation in Planning Tool Validation in Planning Tool

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 4

2
 Live Network Optimization
750

Live Network 700

650

Area [km2]
600
550
Radio 500
450
Network 400

Optimization 0 2 4 6 8
10 12 14
16
18
20
Implementation plan STEPS 22
24

Analysis
Optimized Live Network

Verification
and further
© SYMENA

processing

Data ready for further processing

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 5

Capesso™ Modules - Overview

W-CDMA CDMA2000 TD-SCDMA
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo Monte Carlo
Opt. Module Opt. Module Opt. Module

Network 1 Network 2 Network 3 Network 4 Network 5

GSM / iDEN W-CDMA CDMA2000 TD-SCDMA WiMAX
900/1800MHz Band 0, Carrier 1 Band 0, Carrier 1 Carrier A Carrier M

Capesso™ Multi Network Joint Optimization Module

Capesso™ Core
© SYMENA

Capesso™ Capesso™ Capesso™ Capesso™ Capesso™

Visualization Greenfield - AATA Techn. Distr. Optimization AutoSolve™
Module Deployment Activation Module Module

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 6

3
 Key benefits of Capesso™

¾ RNP + Capesso™ = Better. Faster. Cheaper.

¾ Automated Planning/Optimization with Capesso™

ƒ Better plans than manually possible (+30%)

ƒ Less time for network planning/optimization (-80%)

ƒ Cost Savings in CapEx and OpEx (-25%)

© SYMENA

ƒ Automatic Consistency of projects

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 7

1. WCDMA roll-out and deployment status

2. Radio network management basics

3. Understanding and applying key performance indicators

4. Optimising short term and long term objectives

5. Methods for automated optimisation

© SYMENA

6. Analysing the results of a live trial

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 8

4
© SYMENA

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 9

Customer migration strategy?

¾ How fast will the number of 3G users take up?

¾ How will data rates take up?

¾ Which services?
© SYMENA

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 10

5
 Two examples – NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone
¾ NTT-DoCoMo has a fast
subscriber growth

¾ Vodafone:
ƒ 2.4 million 3G customers by
mid May

ƒ 300,000 of whom use 3G

data cards

ƒ 10 million 3G customers by
end of March 2006
© SYMENA

¾ Globally: 100m 3G
customers by June 2006
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 11

Comparison of 2G and 3G technology take up

¾ 3G growth is much
faster than 2G

¾ Nokia expects
3G/WCDMA phones
to rise to 70 million
by the end of 2005
(Source Nokia)

¾ 13% of all mobiles

© SYMENA

sold in Europe in
2005 will be 3G
(Source IDC)
Source: GSMworld
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 12

6
 What about Service Migration?
¾ Video conferencing. Really?

¾ TV and Video clips via UMTS

¾ Interactive 3G games
¾ Business Applications
¾ Adult Entertainment
ƒ In Italy more than €140 million
on adult material in 2004
(source: EURISPES)

¾ Music download
© SYMENA

ƒ Phones with up to 4GB memory

and up to 30 hours music play
time

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 13

Customer migration for 3G and network demands

Fast Growth
ƒ Many users,
anywhere, anytime
Network Demands
High data rates 9 High coverage

ƒ HSDPA. When? 9 Good quality

9 Sufficient capacity

Different services 9 High flexibility

ƒ From Voice to Music 9 Low CapEx & OpEx
download
© SYMENA

Low cost
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 14

7
© SYMENA

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 15

WCDMA grows faster than GSM

© SYMENA

Source: http://www.gsacom.com
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 16

8
 Global 3G Subscribers to Pass 100 Million Mark in June
© SYMENA

Source: http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/3175.htm
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 17

1. WCDMA roll-out and deployment status

2. Radio network management basics

3. Understanding and applying key performance indicators

4. Optimising short term and long term objectives

5. Methods for automated optimisation

© SYMENA

6. Analysing the results of a live trial

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 18

9
 Radio Network Planning and Optimization in TDMA
Coverage Calculation Traffic Modeling ¾ Service coverage
prediction and

occupency
Channel
traffic modeling can
Time
be well separated in

Required Number
TDMA (GSM) type

of Channels
radio networks
Number of Users

¾ Hence, coverage
and capacity
Available Frequencies Required Erlang Capacity optimization can be
separated

¾ Once coverage is
System Capacity achieved, capacity
© SYMENA

can be handled by
“optimization
Coverage
Coverage and
and Capacity
Capacity can
can be
be separated
separated department”

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 19

Coverage/Capacity – Service Probability in TDMA

# users
low high
Carrier 3 Service
Throughput

Prob.

Carrier 2

Carrier 1

Coverage Area Erl/km2

Capacity
Capacity is
is defined
defined by
by the
the number
number of
of carriers
carriers in
in the
the coverage
coverage area!
© SYMENA

area!

Service
Service probability
probability depends
depends on
on the
the number
number of
of users
users in
in the
the network
network

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 20

10
 Radio network optimization in TDMA (1)
¾ BCCH power could be modified in TDMA

¾ Antenna tilts are “in the range of 3-8°”

¾ The penetration of remote electrical tilt is extremely low in

TDMA

¾ TDMA is interference limited because of co-channel

interference (INTER-cell interference)
© SYMENA

¾ Many interference problems (e.g. in hilly terrain) can be

solved by frequency overlay and hierarchical cell structures
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 21

Radio network optimization in TDMA (2)

¾ The size of the coverage area is fixed and depends on the BCCH
strength. A change in the pilot power (and the antenna pattern) will
mainly influence the coverage area, not directly the capacity.

¾ Increasing the capacity means to increase the number of frequencies

within an area

¾ If the number of frequencies is limited, they have to be reused more

efficiently

¾ Frequency Planning is very important for TDMA!

© SYMENA

¾ By properly tuning the RF parameters, the C/I can be improved.

¾ Higher C/I allows more efficient frequency reuse Æ higher system

capacity
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 22

11
 Radio network optimization in TDMA (3)
¾ High data rate TDMA
systems have higher
C/I requirements

¾ GPRS and EDGE are

typical examples

¾ An optimized RF
configuration allows
better frequency
plans and hence
better system
© SYMENA

performance
before RF after RF
optimization optimization

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 23

Radio network optimization in TDMA (4)

¾ Frequencyoptimization is of high importance for TDMA

based optimization

¾ Highdata rate services (coding schemes and higher

order modulations) require better C/I conditions

¾ Automated radio network optimization improves the

overall C/I ratio

¾ An RF optimized TDMA configuration allows better

© SYMENA

frequency plans and hence better

ƒ system performance
ƒ higher data rates
ƒ higher network capacity
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 24

12
 Radio Network Planning and Optimization in 3G
System Simulations Traffic Modeling ¾ Service coverage
prediction and

occupency
Channel
Time
traffic modeling can
NOT be separated

Required Number
in CDMA type 3G

of Channels
Number of Users
radio networks

¾ Hence, coverage
Available Channels Required Channels and capacity
optimization can be
separated

System Capacity ¾ Optimization needs

f (services,load,etc.) to be an integrated
© SYMENA

part of the radio

network planning
Coverage
Coverage and
and Capacity
Capacity can
can NOT
NOT be
be separated
separated procedures

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 25

Coverage/Capacity – Service Probability in CDMA

# users
low high
Service
Throughput

Prob.

Carrier 1

Coverage Area Erl/km2

The
The capacity/area
capacity/area is
is increased
increased by
by reducing
reducing the
the effective
effective area!
© SYMENA

area!

With
With higher
higher data
data rates
rates and
and higher
higher capacity
capacity the
the cells
cells shrink.
shrink.

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 26

13
 Limitations of CDMA networks

DOWNLINK
Downlink

Uplink Coverage
limited
Coverage

Uplink

Downlink Capacity
limited
© SYMENA

System Throughput [bit/s/cell]

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 27

Radio network optimization in CDMA (1)

¾ CDMA is interference limited in general!

¾ The equivalent to frequency planning in TDMA is code

planning in CDMA .

¾ There is a limited (but quite high) number of codes for

the forward link – code planning is fairly simple in CDMA

¾ The interference includes INTER-cell and INTRA-cell

interference and is spatially colored!
© SYMENA

¾ High data rate interferers lead to drastic performance

reduction
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 28

14
 Radio network optimization in CDMA (2)
¾ The pilot (and common) channel power levels, the antenna
tilt as well as the antenna azimuth determine the system
performance

¾ The services with data rates in the range of <10kbit/s to

384kbit/s define the interference distribution

¾ The interference varies with time, service and location!

¾ All modifications are interdependent and highly non

linear!
© SYMENA

¾ Automated radio network optimization, e.g. Symena’s

Capesso™ is essential for CDMA networks

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 29

Why optimize CDMA – link budget

TX Propagation
power Loss

RX Total
power Interference

Eb/No
© SYMENA

¾ Considerable interference reduction

¾ Reduction of the overall signal power
¾ Improved quality, better Ec/Io coverage, higher capacity

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 30

15
 Interdependent parameter optimization

¾ Changing a single parameter will affect neighbor cells

¾ Dependent on the network this will affect further sectors

© SYMENA

¾ There is no simple solution for CDMA optimization!

¾ Optimization tools will automatically consider interdependencies

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 31

What are the requirements for 3G?

¾ Short term aspects

ƒ Meeting regulatory requirements

ƒ Satisfying minimum service probability / quality

ƒ Time to market – which coverage/quality/capacity has

to be provided when?

ƒ Reduce time for site acquisition

ƒ Adapt to the required service profiles

© SYMENA

ƒ Minimize CAPEX
LOW
LOW COSTS
COSTS to
to satisfy
satisfy the
the roll-out
roll-out requirements!
requirements!
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 32

16
 What are the requirements for 3G?

¾ Long term, strategic aspects

ƒ Growth plan – in coverage, quality and capacity

ƒ Additional sites to meet traffic expectations

ƒ Smooth migration plan

ƒ Lack of additional available sites

© SYMENA

ƒ Best network performance for lowest cost

MAXIMUM
MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY
FLEXIBILITY to
to satisfy
satisfy future
future requirements!
requirements!
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 33

Towards Continuous Optimization

Planning Launch Operation
¾ Site and Cell ¾ Reduce the time for ¾ Include real network
activation network set up data to improve the
optimization quality
¾ Automatic ¾ Measurement
optimization of Turn- information for the ¾ Trouble shooting on
Key solutions and automated fine tuning problem areas
network extensions of the parameter
settings – lower costs ¾ Capacity optimization
¾ How to fulfill when new services
minimum Coverage, ¾ Provide minimum and increasing traffic
Quality requirements required quality and come up
for minimum costs capacity for the
© SYMENA

launch ¾ Ongoing optimization

¾ Provide better plans dependent on the
faster and cheaper ¾ Trouble Shooting network information

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 34

17
 Complexity of radio network optimization (1)

¾ Radio network optimization is like

an N-dimensional state-diagram.

N=(Number of cells) * (Number of parameters/cell) * (Number of valid parameters setting)

¾ In CDMA networks the entire network has to be considered in

order to find the best configuration

¾ The dependencies
between the individual
© SYMENA

states have to be known

in order to find the
best solution efficiently!
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 35

Complexity of radio network optimization (2)

Assumption: Only a single ON/OFF decision per cell

Complexity: 281
81 possibilities for exhaustive search

How big is 281

81 ?

1 ON/OFF… = 1mm
281
81 ON/OFF… = the distance, light travels
© SYMENA

during ~250.000 years!

…
… or
or more
more than
than 25mio
25mio years
years when
when using
using aa 3GHz
3GHz computer
computer

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 36

18
 Complexity of radio network optimization (3)

¾ A radio network consists of hundreds of sectors with

multiple parameters within given parameter ranges

¾ Radio network optimization is too complex to be done

manually

¾ Tools that automatically find the best solution for the

entire network are required
© SYMENA

¾ Symena’s Capesso delivers the best network

configuration for a given network scenario

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 37

1. WCDMA roll-out and deployment status

2. Radio network management basics

3. Understanding and applying key performance indicators

4. Optimising short term and long term objectives

5. Methods for automated optimisation

© SYMENA

6. Analysing the results of a live trial

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 38

19
 Layered Radio Network Optimization Challenges

Higher Layers &

System Control
© SYMENA

Traffic Layer
Physical Layer Procedures
Propagation Layer
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 39

Key techniques for 3G radio network optimization

¾ Which technology to use
Transmit for best performance?
Diversity Higher
SMART order
Receive
ANTENNAS
diversity ¾ How to achieve maximum
ROI?
Automated HSDPA
Network
Optimization
EV/DO ¾ Where to use which
EV/DV
technology first?

Micro MHA ¾ Optimum penetration of

Cells & RET the advanced technology?

Site Multiple
© SYMENA

Sharing / Antenna
New Sites Pattern
Additional ¾ Getting the maximum out
Carriers
of the infrastructure!

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 40

20
 Technology limits for Radio Network Optimization

¾ Which technologies are available?

ƒ RET antennas
ƒ High power amplifiers
ƒ Micro cells
ƒ Higher sectorization

¾ Which technologies are not available but

promising?
ƒ HSDPA
© SYMENA

ƒ Smart Antennas / MIMO

ƒ More frequency bands (or spectrum efficiency)
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 41

Why remote electrical tilt antennas for 3G?

¾ 3G is a purely interference limited system

¾ With the introduction/modification of a new

sector/site the interference pattern and the
influence to the neighbor can be significant!

¾ Interference in 3G networks can be handled very

effectively by changing the antenna tilt
© SYMENA

¾ RET antennas are standardized

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 42

21
 Remote electrical antenna tilts

¾“Remote electrical” tilt modifications can be done

ƒ with a knob at the antenna itself

ƒ on-site, but down at the ground

ƒ full remote control (via modem, wireless,

at the OMC, anywhere with a laptop, etc.)
© SYMENA

ƒ Examples: Kathrein, Andrew,

Sigma wireless, Allgon, etc.
AISG has 47 members
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 43

Antenna
System
Manager
© SYMENA

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 44

22
 Mechanical versus electrical tilt
© SYMENA

Electrical tilt has more advantages than “just” costs and time for the adjustment

Remote electrical tilt provides less inter-cell interference than mechanical tilts

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 45

Cost, Time, Equipment

¾ Which parameters have the highest impact on the
radio network performance compared to their
costs?

¾ Which parameters are easy to implement?

¾ What are the “side effects” of radio network

optimization?
© SYMENA

¾ Which modification does provide the best short

term as well as long term solution?

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 46

23
 The “magic” optimization triangle
Coverage

QoS

Capacity
Cost
© SYMENA

High coverage, high capacity and high QoS is

NOT POSSIBLE at the same time!
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 47

Optimization target - Coverage

¾ Coverage is measured by the
received pilot signal strength

¾ The received pilot (CPICH) is a key

indicator for system coverage,
especially indoor coverage
before
¾ Symena’s Capesso™ achieves:
ƒ Better system coverage
ƒ Higher received signal strength
levels
ƒ Design a network that satisfies
minimum coverage requirements
© SYMENA

ƒ Target levels individually set for

different areas, e.g. clutters
after

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 48

24
 Pilot pollution, SHO overhead: 1 st – 2nd pilot

¾ Pilot pollution and SHO overhead

are directly related to the difference
between 1st – 2nd received pilot

¾ Both, pilot pollution and too high

SHO overhead are very critical for before
the initial design of a UMTS
network

¾ Symena’s Capesso™ achieves:

ƒ Reduced SHO overhead
© SYMENA

ƒ Reduced pilot pollution

ƒ Higher system quality
ƒ Improved overall capacity after

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 49

Overshooting, Worst polluter: 1 st – N th pilot

¾ Overshooting and the worst polluter

are directly related to the difference
between 1st – Nth received pilot

¾ The worst polluter depends on the

number of implemented RAKE before
fingers

¾ Symena’s Capesso™ achieves:

ƒ Eliminating the effect of
overshooting
© SYMENA

ƒ Reducing the worst polluter

ƒ Improved system quality
ƒ Higher network capacity after

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 50

25
 Network quality and capacity - Ec/Io

¾ Ec/Io considers both the signal

quality as well as the interference
situation

¾ The interference Io includes the

traffic channels and hence the
system load

¾ Symena’s Capesso™ achieves:

ƒ Improve the Ec/Io level for the entire
network
© SYMENA

ƒ Design a network that satisfies

minimum Ec/Io requirements
ƒ Improve system capacity

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 51

Clutter dependent optimization weights and requirements

¾ Optimization targets can be

weighted on clutter basis. E.g.:
ƒ Coverage: Rural – 1; Urban – 2
ƒ Quality: Rural – 0.5; Urban – 3

¾ Optimization requirements can

be defined individually on a
clutter basis, e.g.
ƒ Coverage rural: -100dBm
ƒ Coverage urban: -80dBm
© SYMENA

¾ Any combination of optimization

targets is possible

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 52

26
 Example for a traffic map
¾ Clutter data usually defines the
basis for any 3G traffic
assumption

¾ 2G traffic measurements. Where

no 2G traffic occurs, 3G traffic
is highly unlikely!

¾ 3G service expectations.
Different services are expected
to happen in different locations

¾ Temporal hotspots will have a

different pattern compared to
2G
© SYMENA

Nobody knows WHERE WHICH SERVICE will happen WHEN!

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 53

1. WCDMA roll-out and deployment status

2. Radio network management basics

3. Understanding and applying key performance indicators

4. Optimising short term and long term objectives

5. Methods for automated optimisation

© SYMENA

6. Analysing the results of a live trial

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 54

27
 Make sure to meet the optimization target!
¾ Short term aspects
ƒ Meeting regulatory requirements
ƒ Satisfying minimum service probability/quality
ƒ Time to market
ƒ Reduce time for site acquisition
ƒ Adapt to the required service profiles
ƒ Minimize CAPEX

¾ Long term, strategic aspects

ƒ Growth plan
ƒ Additional sites to meet future expectations
© SYMENA

ƒ Smooth migration plan

ƒ Lack of additional available sites
ƒ Best network performance for lowest cost

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 55

Widely used Key Performance Measures

¾ Coverage
ƒ Received CPICH power levels to ensure indoor coverage

¾ Reduce pilot pollution and SHO overhead

ƒ SHO ratios of up to 50% dramatically reduce network
performance

¾ Ec/Io to ensure service availability and consider

network loading
© SYMENA

¾ Automated radio network optimization handles

these key performance measures jointly
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 56

28
 Coverage @ Quality & Capacity
Capacity requirement

Coverage requirement

time
© SYMENA

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

available
sites
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 57

Maximize Performance for Multiple Outcomes

Initial
¾ Phased radio network deployment delivers requirements

ƒ Lower initial network deployment costs

ƒ Maximum flexibility

¾ Full cost and efficiency analysis

¾ “What if” questions to be answered What if?

ƒ New requirements to be included
ƒ Multiple designs compared head to head
New
ƒ Analysis for cost, implementation time, report, etc. requirements
ƒ Different traffic forecasts and models
ƒ Migration to high data rate services
Extension, New
Services, etc.

¾ Reliable results directly verified in planning tool

© SYMENA

(including measurement verification) Verify with

measurements

¾ Reduces the deployment risks OK?

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 58

29
 1. WCDMA roll-out and deployment status

2. Radio network management basics

3. Understanding and applying key performance indicators

4. Optimising short term and long term objectives

5. Methods for automated optimisation

© SYMENA

6. Analysing the results of a live trial

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 59

How much network should be deployed when?

¾ 3G radio network performance heavily depends on
the traffic requirements

¾ Capacity estimations include a

number of assumptions

¾ Building and optimizing 3G radio

networks on expectations is risky

¾ What are the current limitations for

3G networks?
© SYMENA

¾ What are the minimum requirements

for network deployment?

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 60

30
 Building Networks on Assumptions
¾ Traffic predictions
ƒ When is high data rate traffic expected?
ƒ Traffic patterns depend on multiple factors and they will change
ƒ What can happen in 3 years?
ƒ Even if all assumptions are correct the last base station will be
deployed 3 years before it is needed.

¾ Risks
ƒ If traffic develops more slowly than predicted then
wasted infrastructure will be deployed even sooner.
ƒ Where is wasn't predicted
© SYMENA

ƒ Services not predicted

ƒ Each risk will interact with the other Risks

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 61

Why to optimize a network?

¾ Availability of sites,
acquisition
¾ Planning permission, site
upgrade
¾ Availability of
infrastructure, antenna
replacement
Minimum:
• Regulator requirements
• Sufficient coverage
• Sufficient performance
Maximum:
• Low CapEx and OpEx
• Highest flexibility
Others:
• Which sites are available
• When are they available
Radio Network • Deployment costs and time

¾ What are the requirements Radio Network

for coverage, quality, Optimization
capacity?
Service demand:
© SYMENA

¾ Which services are • Which service, where, when?

expected when and where? • How will the traffic grow
How much traffic? • Performance requirements
• Coverage requirements
• Capacity requirements

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 62

31
 Automated optimization reduces risks
Planning Launch Operation

Assumptions Measurements Network data (RNC/OMC)

Existing Radio Network Planning Platform

KPI
KPI
Optimization target
© SYMENA

Cost function

Better Network for Lower Cost

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 63

Which parameters to optimize for improvement?

¾Pilot power and common channel power levels

¾Antenna Tilt

¾Antenna Azimuth

¾Antenna Pattern
© SYMENA

¾Antenna Height

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 64

32
 Which parameters to optimize? Pilot Power

High Pilot Power Low Pilot Power

¾ Higher pilot power Î larger coverage area

¾ Pilot power can be adjusted remotely Î very cheaply

© SYMENA

¾ Changing the pilot power has an impact on the

interference, power budget and SHO performance

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 65

What is the effect of PILOT power changes?

TX
Propagation
Forward (Down) link power
Loss

¾ The propagation loss remains RX

the same power Total
Interference

¾ The TX power (for the pilot) is Eb/No

increased
Reverse (UP) link
¾ The RX power is hence
increased
¾ Due to the change in pilot
power, the effective coverage
¾ The coverage area is affected area is affected
© SYMENA

¾ Far-off mobiles require more TX

power!

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 66

33
 Which parameters to optimize? - Tilt

Small Tilt Large Tilt

¾ The antenna down-tilt has similar effects as the pilot power

¾ Large antenna down-tilt Î small coverage area

© SYMENA

¾ Antenna tilt can be done remotely Î Remote electrical tilt

(RET) antennas.

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 67

What is the effect of ANTENNA TILT changes?

TX
Propagation
Forward (Down) link power
Loss

¾ The antenna gain is re-directed RX

power Total
Interference
¾ The effective propagation loss
is reduced (increased) Eb/No

¾ The RX power (and Reverse (UP) link

interference) will be increased
(reduced)
¾ The propagation loss is affected
in the same way as in the
¾ The coverage area is affected forward link
© SYMENA

¾ The power levels are not ¾ The required UE TX power will

modified! be increased/reduced

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 68

34
 Which parameters to optimize? Azimuth
¾ Changing the antenna
azimuth influences the
coverage area

¾ Interference pattern can be

handled very effectively with
azimuth changes

¾ Azimuth is very important

for network roll-out
© SYMENA

¾ Azimuth can not be done

remotely Î higher costs

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 69

What is the effect of ANTENNA Azimuth changes?

TX
Propagation
Forward (Down) link power
Loss

¾ The antenna gain is re-directed RX

power Total
Interference
¾ The effective propagation loss
is reduced (increased) Eb/No

¾ The RX power (and Reverse (UP) link

interference) will be increased
(reduced)
¾ The propagation loss is affected
in the same way as in the
¾ The coverage area is affected forward link
© SYMENA

¾ The power levels are not ¾ The required UE TX power will

modified! be increased/reduced

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 70

35
 Which parameters to optimize? Antenna Pattern
¾ Different
antenna pattern can
change the coverage and quality
measures significantly

¾ Base stations need to shut down

for antenna change

¾ Antenna pattern are unlikely to

change during operation, but
likely for roll-out
© SYMENA

¾ Optimizingantenna pattern is
more a strategic decision

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 71

What is the effect of ANTENNA Pattern changes?

TX
Propagation
Forward (Down) link power
Loss

¾ The antenna gain is re-directed RX

power Total
Interference
¾ The effective propagation loss
is reduced (increased) Eb/No

¾ The RX power (and Reverse (UP) link

interference) will be increased
(reduced)
¾ The propagation loss is affected
in the same way as in the
¾ The coverage area is affected forward link
© SYMENA

¾ The power levels are not ¾ The required UE TX power will

modified! be increased/reduced

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 72

36
 Which parameters to optimize? – Antenna Height

¾ Antenna height is important for below and above roof top

¾ Antenna height can not be modified during operation

© SYMENA

¾ Antenna height is a strategic optimization parameter

¾ High antennas cause a lot of interference

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 73

Sector specific on- site knowledge

¾ Some sector antennas are manually optimized or can not
be modified during an optimization

ƒ Motorway – there is no intention to change azimuths

ƒ Antennas mounted on a wall

ƒ Different construction limitations

ƒ Antennas mounted on a power pole

ƒ Antennas at a mast shared with a competitor

© SYMENA

¾ The optimization tool has to allow to disable (limit) any

modification to these specific antenna

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 74

37
 Enhanced technologies to increase Capacity & Coverage

¾ Additional Carriers

¾ Tower Mounted Amplifiers (TMA) and Tower Mounted

Boosters (TMB)

¾ Higher order RX diversity

¾ Transmit diversity

¾ Higher Sectorization (Cell Splitting)

© SYMENA

¾ Infrastructure Sharing

¾ Smart Antennas
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 75

Additional Carriers
Reverse link Forward link
¾ Case 1:
1+1+1=3 sectors Conventional
(20W each) configuration

¾ Case 2: Reverse link is not the

limiting factor. About 2x the capacity
2+2+2=3 sectors
(truncing gain, …)
(10W each)

¾ Case 3: Capacity gain is not big.

Coverage is increased
2+2+2=3 sectors
© SYMENA

due to higher power.

(20W each)

Additional carriers bring a lot of downlink capacity

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 76

38
 Tower Mounted Amplifier (Mast Head Amplifier)

¾ Reduces the Noise Figure of the receiver

Î increases the reverse link coverage range

¾ Effect on capacity depends on the limiting conditions

ƒ RL limited: not a great impact on the RL capacity
ƒ FL limited: FL capacity is reduced due to an additional loss

NFFeeder − 1
NF = NFMHA + + ...
GMHA
© SYMENA

MHA helps to improve the reverse link coverage

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 77

Higher order RX diversity

¾ Only possible at the base station

¾ Performance depends on the radio propagation channel

¾ A number of statistically independent signals are needed

ƒ multiple antennas
ƒ sufficient antenna spacing in order to obtain independent signals
ƒ combination of various diversity methods (polarization, space, …)
ƒ high number of receiver branches

¾ All received signals must have similar mean power levels

© SYMENA

Higher order RX diversity can improve both

the reverse link coverage and capacity

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 78

39
 TX Diversity
¾ RX diversity is not possible at the mobile

¾ TX diversity: send the information from the BS so that the signals can
be combined coherently at the mobile

¾ Problem: FL channel estimation for „pre-distortion“

¾ Open loop TX diversity: Space Time Coding

¾ Closed loop TX diversity: MS sends feedback to BS

© SYMENA

TX diversity will mainly improve forward link capacity

Relatively easy to implement (cross polarized antennas)

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 79

Higher Sectorization
¾ Higher number of cells per site

¾ Choice of antennas is crucial

ƒ overlapping antenna pattern define the SHO areas
ƒ increase of intercell interference

¾ Requires more PA, TRx, Feeder

¾ Impact on both coverage (higher gain of the narrow-beam

antennas) and capacity (less interference per cell)
© SYMENA

Highest effect in high loaded macro-cells

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 80

40
 Infrastructure Sharing
¾ Construction and site premises sharing
¾ Transmission sharing (cascade, ring, star…)
¾ Power/cooling system sharing (indoor) Shared
antenna
¾ Antenna system sharing
ƒ Tower
ASC
ƒ Antennas
ƒ Feeder cables
Duplexer
Shared
feeder
© SYMENA

Base station Base station

To RNC Operator A Operator B

Shared
transmission
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 81

CDMA Site sharing

Antenna A

Isolation
Antenna B

The
The antenna-to-antenna
antenna-to-antenna isolation
isolation
has
has to be
to be at
at least
least 40dB
40dB toto ensure
ensure
that
that no
no receiver
receiver sensitivity
sensitivity
© SYMENA

degradation
degradation occurs.
occurs.

Operator A Operator B

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 82

41
 Considerations for site sharing, e.g. in Europe
¾ Site (infrastructure) sharing is not always technically possible

¾ EU approval for UK (T-mobile and mm02) includes about 10-15% of

the population – no major cities are included

¾ There is no trans European rule for site and infrastructure sharing

¾ Site sharing is different OP. Equip. 225

425
to national roaming 400

1600

1400

350
¾ Vendors are building infrastructure ACCU+BFU
575

275
© SYMENA

that helps to operators to share the

300
Battery backup
max 15 min.

equipment more efficiently 150

Battery box
240

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 83

How do Smart Antennas enhance 3G CDMA?

DOWNLINK
Forward link
Service
Service
Coverage
Coverage
improvement
improvement

RL Coverage
Coverage

limited

Reverse link
Capacity
Capacity
improvement
improvement FL Capacity
limited
© SYMENA

System Throughput [bit/s/cell]

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 84

42
 Coverage and Capacity enhancement - overview

Reverse link Forward link

cov cap cov cap

Add. Carriers and Codes x

Tower Mounted Amplifier x

Higher order RX diversity x x

TX Diversity x

Higher Sectorization (x) (x) x x

© SYMENA

Site Sharing (x) (x) (x) (x)

Smart Antennas x x x x

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 85

Straight forward workflow for network design

¾ Step 1: Potential sites
ƒ Existing site locations (e.g. from
GSM, Crown Castle, etc)
ƒ Hexagonal cell grid
ƒ Defined site locations

¾ Step 2: Area of interest – define

Focus Zone in planning tool

¾ Step 3: Define Roll-out

requirements
ƒ E.g. 95% coverage at -100dBm

¾ Step 4: Run Capesso™

¾ Step 5: Verification of the results

© SYMENA

in the original planning tool

¾ Step 6: Report, Implementation

plan and Financial Analysis

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 86

43
 How can Capesso help?
Initial
¾ Capesso builds on the existing data requirements

¾ Multiple requirements can be considered jointly

ƒ Low initial network deployment costs
ƒ Maximum flexibility

¾ Reliable results directly verified in planning tool

What if?
¾ Capesso provides full cost analysis

¾ „What if“ questions to be answered New

requirements
ƒ New requirements to include automatically
ƒ Multiple designs compared head to head
© SYMENA

ƒ Analysis for cost, implementation time, report, etc.

Capesso delivers the best results in a fraction of the OK?

time for the „manual“ plan
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 87

Plan for network now, but don´t pay now!

¾ There is no need to deploy high capacity networks at the
moment

¾ Key criteria are based on coverage and sufficient service

performance, i.e. Ec/Io

¾ Later deployment also reduces the risk of investing in

infrastructure where it might not be needed

¾ Later deployment, optimized by an automated

© SYMENA

optimization tool will save about 8-12% Capex (and Opex

of a similar amount)

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 88

44
 Practical Implementation Planning
¾ Theoretically all changes should
be implemented simultaneously

¾ Practically changes are

implemented sequentially

¾ What is the best order for

changes?

ƒ Highest impact first

ƒ Best value
ƒ Quickest gain
© SYMENA

¾ No backward step

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 89

Limited Budget + Implementation Plan

before 55% budget 100% budget
optimization 80% of gain 100% of gain

100 3
90 ¾ Optimize budget use
80 2
70
¾ Improve performance
consistency across
Gain [ % ]

60 markets
50
40 ¾ Refine optimization
30 plan
20
© SYMENA

10 ¾ Smart up your
network!
0 1
0 20 40 60 80 100
Budget [ % ]
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 90

45
 1. WCDMA roll-out and deployment status

2. Radio network management basics

3. Understanding and applying key performance indicators

4. Optimising short term and long term objectives

5. Methods for automated optimisation

© SYMENA

6. Analysing the results of a live trial

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 91

Network optimization example

¾ Area includes about 270km2

¾ More than 370 candidate sites (>1100 sectors)

¾ The optimization target was:

ƒ Stage 1: Provide sufficient coverage
ƒ Stage 2: Increase Ec/Io for more advanced services
© SYMENA

¾ Maintain high flexibility of the network and keep

optimization costs as low as possible

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 92

46
 Stage 1 – Required sites for coverage? (1)
These sites do not add
300
significantly to the
coverage area

m2 ]
250

ea [k
200

ar
rage
150

Cove
100

50

325
307
289
271
253
235
217
199
• Later deployment of the
181
163
145

„least significant“ sites

127

s
site
109

of • Savings in Net Present Value

91

ber
© SYMENA

73

Num
55

of both CapEx and OpEx

37
19
1

Capesso™ automatically detects which sites should be deployed

and configured - and which should be delayed
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 93

Stage 1 – Required sites for coverage? (2)

¾ In the initial network design the most (and least)
important sites are identified automatically by
optimization

¾ The least significant sites can be delayed, as they are not

needed for the initial coverage requirements

¾ However, all of the sites will be required for the 3G long

term requirement, especially with technologies such as
HSDPA
© SYMENA

¾ Result: 23% less sites have been deployed (delayed) as

coverage and basic quality was the objective in Stage 1.

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 94

47
 Stage 2 – Improve coverage and Ec/ Io (1)
¾ NO additional sites
have been deployed
0%
100,
¾ Only RET 9 9 ,0
%
%
modifications were 9 8 ,0

Covered Area [%]

%
9 7 ,0
%
done 9 6 ,0
9 5 ,0
%
9 4 ,0 %
9 3 ,0 %
9 2 ,0 %
¾ Significant coverage 9 1 ,0
%
%
improvements 9 0 ,0
-80 -90 -101
-70
93Æ97% @ -70dBm
CPICH coverage threshold [dBm]
© SYMENA

Before Capesso™ After Capesso™

¾ Steady improvement
at all levels!

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 95

Stage 2 – Improve coverage and Ec/ Io (2)

¾ Higher data rates
require higher
%
Ec/Io 1 0 0 ,0

9 0 ,0 %
Area fulfilling Ec/Io
requirements [%]

%
8 0 ,0
¾ Significant
7 0 ,0 %
improvements at %
6 0 ,0
high Ec/Io levels
5 0 ,0 %
can be achieved %
4 0 ,0
-10 -11 -12 -13 -14 -15
-8 -9
Ec/Io [dB]
¾ At low Ec/Io levels
© SYMENA

the manual radio Before Capesso™ After Capesso™

design was
sufficient
Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 96

48
 Improvements achieved with RET modifications
¾ A performance 45%

improvement of more 40%

35%
than 40% (absolute
30%
area!) was achieved at

Improvement
25%
high Ec/Io levels
20%

15%

¾ For low levels there is 10%

no gain potential, as 5%

the performance 0%
-8 -9
requirements are Io
>= >= -1
0
-1
1
-1
2 3
/ Io >= >= -1 -1
4 5
Ec c/ >=
already fulfilled by -1
© SYMENA

E /Io Io Io >= >=

Ec c/ c/ Io Io >=
E E E c/ c/ /Io
manual design E Ec

Significant improvements in both coverage and Ec/Io

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 97

Capacity (service probability) improvement

2500
¾ The number of
rejected users in the
2000
network simulations
Average number of rejected users

are reduced
1500
significantly.

1000
¾ Capesso™ provides an
overall better network
500
performance:
ƒ More coverage
0
© SYMENA

ƒ Better quality x ax on
Ma in
a ti on es n
ob hM o) m t ur a ti us ec
ti o
Pt c c/ I tu r ca re j
ƒ Higher capacity >P
m
tc h >
< (E
o a d sa
er
sa
l tip
le
i on
ob P /I o l o w u s s
Pm Ec ll p
M mi
Ce Ad

Before Capesso™ After Capesso™

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 98

49
 Changes to the network configuration
¾ Only RET antenna
modifications were done 200
180
160

Number of changes
¾ A standard RET antenna 140
was used (Kathrein) 120
100
80
¾ RET settings allow a 60
range of [0..10°] 40
20
0
¾ Highly cost efficient 1 2 3 4
© SYMENA

5 6 7 8 9 10
optimization solution
Electrical tilt changes [°]

Thomas Neubauer
23. June 2006
Slide 99

thomas.neubauer@symena.com

TU Wien

50