Radioplan GSM

Case Study

Optimizing GSM cell configurations

reduces network interference
to just 1%
Actix Case Study Radioplan GSM 2

Reducing CAPEX investment and OPEX spend

Automatic cell planning has for the past couple of years
revolutionized the way in which UMTS planning and
optimization is performed. Not surprisingly, results have been
impressive and savvy wireless operators now benefit from a
reduction in both CAPEX investment and OPEX spend.
For GSM networks, however, it is a different story. Optimization
here is generally limited to changing the frequency plan and
fixing quality issues. But as one major North American operator
discovered, when demand for high-speed data services (such
as GPRS and EDGE) gathers momentum, an efficient strategy to
minimize cell interference is essential to maintain the high quality
service their customers demand. Their solution? Automatic cell
planning combined with automatic frequency planning.
Having engaged with Actix on a previous project, the operator’s
optimization manager asked Actix to make a full study of one of
their main markets – one which included 47 sites – to see what
improvements could be made. The study included the following steps:
1. Site audit. This included making sure that the planning tool
database was up-to-date with the right information relating to
each site’s configuration
2. Drive test of the area. To be used in the path-loss tuning exercise
3. Pathloss tuning using Actix Radioplan
4. Tilt optimization using Actix Radioplan
5. Benchmarking the results

Pathloss Tuning

Once the site audit was verified and the drive test conducted, attention turned to pathloss tuning. To get an accurate view of the
network, site information and the planning database’s pathloss files were imported into the Actix Radioplan’s pathloss tuning
application. Then, having imported the drive test data from the same area, pathloss tuning was simply a case of adjusting the pathloss
sector-by-sector based on the signal levels from the drive test.

Next, the standard prediction model and the tuned pathloss model from Actix Radioplan were compared.

1 1

0.8 0.8
Relative Frequency

Relative Frequency

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0

-15.17 -1.78 7.14 16.06 29.44 -15.17 -11.43 -5.08 1.27 5.50 9.74 13.97 20.32 29.44

Figure 1. Standard prediction model Figure 2. Tuned pathloss model

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Actix Case Study Radioplan GSM 3

The result for the standard prediction model was a mean error of 4.8dB and a standard deviation of 7.9dB. After pathloss tuning, the mean error
dropped to 2.1dB and standard deviation 4.3dB – a significant improvement.

When comparing the differences in the predicted coverage between both models, the coverage area of the tuned pathloss model was also
better than had been anticipated:

Figure 3. Coverage with standard prediction model Figure 4. Coverage with tuned pathloss model

In contrast, the standard prediction model appeared somewhat conservative with what looked like cell coverage designed for a denser network. The
downside of this was that interference conditions within the network were worse than expected:

Figure 5. Interference (C/I) with standard prediction model Figure 5. Interference (C/I) with tuned pathloss model

This indicated that the network was experiencing more interference than was currently known from the planning department. Nevertheless, overall
interference could be easily improved, either by making manual changes or by automatic cell planning.

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Actix Case Study Radioplan GSM 4

Automatic cell planning

Won over by the fast, accurate and robust results of Actix Radioplan’s tuned pathloss application, the operator’s optimization
manager decided to reduce the network’s interference using the Actix Radioplan automatic cell planning (ACP) application.
This activity involved electrical tilts and mechanical tilts at various sites. This improvement depends on the tuned pathloss matrices
used in the optimization, and on the ability of the Actix Radioplan solution to detect mismatches between the planned and actual
network configuration, allowing the optimization process to commence form a better initial starting point. Without pathloss tuning
and automatic mismatch detection, the results would be less impressive. The results are shown below:

Figure 6. Coverage before ACP Figure 7. Coverage after ACP

Figure 8. Interference (C/I) before ACP Figure 9. Interference (C/I) after ACP

This improvement depends on the tuned pathloss matrices used in the optimization, and on the ability of the Actix Radioplan solution to detect
mismatches between the planned and actual network configuration, allowing the optimization process to commence form a better initial starting point.
Without pathloss tuning and automatic mismatche detection, the results would be less impressive.

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Actix Case Study Radioplan GSM 5

The results can also be viewed in tabular form via Actix Radioplan’s user interface.

Coverage >84dB >70dB Interference (C/I) >12dB >16dB

Before 96% 53% Before 86% 68%

After 98% 54% After 99% 95%

As the above plots illustrate, cell coverage improved only slightly beyond the initial tuned pathloss optimization, as expected. However, interference levels
were dramatically enhanced using Actix Radioplan’s ACP – invariably leading to a much higher quality network. Generally, in GSM coverage optimisation
is not the goal. Operators have been planning and running GSM network for 15 years now, so there is a broad understanding of how to achieve good
coverage. The really new thing about Actix’ focus is reducing cell overlap, which has been neglected in the traditional approach, because there was
typically more than enough spectrum. Optimizing cell overlap becomes more and more critical, especially in case of spectrum rebanding.

Automated planning tools yield outstanding results

With ever tighter budgets and fewer resources, automatic cell
planning and frequency planning can be used to efficiently
support network optimization, often with astounding results.
While pathloss tuning using Actix Radioplan ensures an accurate
picture of the coverage and interference conditions in the
network, the Actix Radioplan ACP enabled this wireless operator
to achieve the optimum network configuration.
As this operator’s optimization manager commented, “The Actix
Radioplan platform quickly gave my engineers precise and realistic
predictions for cell coverage and interference. This enabled them to
focus on key optimization tasks to enhance the network. Results were
far better than we could have ever imagined – we have more or less
removed all interference in the network, moving the area of
C/I < 12dB down from 14% to just 1%. That’s quite an achievement.”

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