‫اﻟﺠﻤﮭـــــﻮرﯾــــــﺔ اﻟﺠـــﺰاﺋـــﺮﯾـــــــﺔ اﻟـــﺪﯾﻤﻘـــــﺮاطﯿـــــــﺔ اﻟﺸـﻌﺒﯿـــــﺔ‬

Ministère de l’enseignement Ministère de la poste et des

supérieur et de la recherche technologies de l’information et de la
scientifique communication

Institut National des

Télécommunications et des
‫اﻟﻤﻌﮭــــﺪ اﻟﻮطﻨـــﻲ ﻟﻼﺗﺼﺎﻻت‬
Technologies de l’Information et de
‫وﺗﻜﻨــــﻮﻟﻮﺟﯿــﺎت اﻹﻋﻼم و اﻻﺗﺼﺎل‬
la Communication

Projet de fin d’études Pour l’obtention du Diplôme d’Ingénieur

D’Etat en Télécommunications.

Thème:
4G Planning and initial tuning using Drive Test

Présenté par :
M. SEGHIER Oussama

M. NABI Mohammed

Encadré par :
M.SaadEddine NIAR M. TAIBI Amine (NSN) M.SAID Khireddine(NSN)

Président : M. A.BOUROKBA

Examinateurs:
M. A.TIENTI

M. A.MAZOUZI

Promotion: IGE 36
Année Universitaire : 2015- 2016
 ‫اﻟﺠﻤﮭـــــﻮرﯾــــــﺔ اﻟﺠـــﺰاﺋـــﺮﯾـــــــﺔ اﻟـــﺪﯾﻤﻘـــــﺮاطﯿـــــــﺔ اﻟﺸـﻌﺒﯿـــــﺔ‬
‫وزارة اﻟﺘﻌﻠﯿـــﻢ اﻟﻌــﺎﻟﻲ واﻟﺒﺤــﺚ اﻟﻌـﻠﻤـــﻲ‬ ‫وزارة اﻟﺒــﺮﯾﺪ وﺗﻜﻨـــﻮﻟﻮﺟﯿـــﺎت اﻹﻋﻼﻣﻮاﻻﺗﺼﺎل‬

INSTITUTNATIONALDESTÉLÉCOMMUNICATIONS ET DES TECHNOLOGIESDE

L’INFORMATION ETDE LACOMMUNICATIONABDELHAFID BOUSSOUF
‫اﻟﻤﻌﮭــــﺪ اﻟﻮطﻨـــﻲ ﻟﻼﺗﺼﺎﻻﺗﻮﺗﻜﻨــــﻮﻟﻮﺟﯿــﺎت اﻹﻋﻼم واﻻﺗﺼﺎل ﻋﺒﺪ اﻟﺤﻔﯿﻆ ﺑﻮﺻﻮف‬

4G Planning and initial tuning using Drive Test

Par : NABI Mohamed - SEGHIER Oussama

Département des Enseignements en Spécialité, Post-Graduation et Recherche

Mémoire présenté
en vue de l’obtention du grade d’Ingénieur d’État en Télécommunications et TIC
Option"[nom de l'option]"
Devant le Jury :
M. Prénoms NOM Professeur

Mme.Prénoms NOM Maitre de Conférences

Melle. Prénoms NOM Maitre-Assistant

Juin 2016
Résumé

<< La 4G/LTE (Long Term Evolution, en anglais) désigne la quatrième génération du

réseau de téléphonie mobile qui introduit du très haut débit pouvant aller, en théorie,
jusqu’à 150 Mbit/s >>

futura-sciences.com/magazines

De ce fait, pour présenter ce projet nous avons organisé notre plan en 5 chapitres.

Le premier chapitre donnera un aperçu général du réseau LTE, son architecture, ses
caractéristiques, ses technologies d'accès et ses protocoles. Le deuxième chapitre sera consacré
au dimensionnement du réseau 4G dans lequel nous expliquons en détails le processus de
dimensionnement. Dans le troisième chapitre nous aborderons les methodes de planification.
En suite nous évoquerons dans le quatriéme chapitre l'initial tuning et drive test avec ses
differnts paramétrs; Puis dans le cinquiéme et dérnier chapitre nous parlerons sur notre
applications avec les outils de dimensionnement ''RAN-Dim'' et planification ''Atoll'' que nous
aurons élaboré et qui sont basé sur le processus de dimensionnement qui sera décrit.
Finallement discuté et analyser des résultat de drive test sous Actix des premiérs sites 4G à
Oran.

Mots-clés : 4G, LTE, RAN-Dim, Atoll, Drive Test, Actix

Abstract

<< The 4G / LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the fourth generation of mobile network that
introduces very high speed up, in theory, up to 150 Mbit/s >>

futura-sciences.com/magazines

Therefore, to bring this project we organized our plan into 5 chapters.

The first chapter will give an overview of the LTE network, its architecture, its features,
access technologies and protocols. The second chapter will be devoted to the design of the 4G
network in which we explain in detail the dimensioning process. In the third chapter we
discuss the planning methods. In following we discuss in the fourth chapter the initial tuning
and drive test with it differnts parametrs; Then in the fifth and final chapter we will talk about
our applications with design tool ''RAN-Dim'' and planning tool ''Atoll'' and what we have
developed are based on the design process to be described. Finally we will discuss and analyze
results of drive test under Actix of first 4G sites in Oran.

Keywords : 4G, LTE, RAN-Dim, Atoll, Drive Test, Actix

Table des matières
Résumé ....................................................................................................................................... iii

Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... iv

Table des matières....................................................................................................................... v

Liste des tableaux ..................................................................................................................... viii

Liste des figures ......................................................................................................................... ix

Liste des abréviations................................................................................................................ xii

Remerciements ......................................................................................................................... xix

Introduction générale .................................................................................................................. 1

Overview of an LTE network ..................................................................................................... 2

1. History of generations: ........................................................................................................ 2

2. LTE Architecture network : ................................................................................................ 4
2.1 E-UTRAN ..................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Evolved Packet Core (EPC) : ........................................................................................ 6
2.3 Interfaces : ..................................................................................................................... 8
3. Air Interface : ...................................................................................................................... 9
3.1 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) : ............................................ 9
3.2 Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) : .......................... 16
4. Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) : ....................................................................... 19
5. Protocol stack layers : ....................................................................................................... 20
6. LTE Channels : ................................................................................................................. 23
6.1 LTE Downlink Channels : .......................................................................................... 24
6.2 LTE Uplink Channels : ............................................................................................... 26
Dimensioning And Designe ...................................................................................................... 28

1. Introduction :................................................................................................................. 28
2. LTE RF Link Budget : .................................................................................................. 28
2.1 Maximum allowable path loss (MAPL) : ............................................................. 29
 3. Propagation Models : .................................................................................................... 33
4. Coverage Area : ............................................................................................................ 35
4.1 The cell radius :........................................................................................................... 35
4.2 The site Area : ............................................................................................................. 36
4.3 Number of sites N : ..................................................................................................... 36
5. Conclusion : .................................................................................................................. 36
LTE Planning Network ............................................................................................................. 37

1. Frequency Planning : .................................................................................................... 37

2. Physical cell ID planning (PCI) : .................................................................................. 38
3. Tracking Area (TA) planning : ..................................................................................... 39
3.1 TA Lists with Multiple TAs :...................................................................................... 40
4. PRACH Planning : ........................................................................................................ 42
4.1 PRACH Ncs and Physical Root Planning Steps : ....................................................... 42
5. Conclusion : .................................................................................................................. 44
Initial Tuning And Optimisation ............................................................................................... 45

1. What is drive test : ........................................................................................................ 45

2. LTE Drive Test Parameters: ......................................................................................... 46
3. List of KPI's to be evaluated : .......................................................................................... 48
4. Corrective Actions : ...................................................................................................... 50
5. Conclusion : .................................................................................................................. 51
Application And Simulation ..................................................................................................... 52

1. The dimensioning part: ................................................................................................. 52

1.1 Presentation of the tool : ............................................................................................. 52
1.2 The output parameters................................................................................................. 53
2. The planning part: ......................................................................................................... 63
2.1 Presentation of the tool : ............................................................................................. 63
2.2 COVERAGE AREA : ................................................................................................. 64
3. The analysis part : ......................................................................................................... 73
3.1 Presntation of Tool :.................................................................................................... 73
3.2 Analysis : .................................................................................................................... 74
Conclusion générale .................................................................................................................. 79

Bibliographie............................................................................................................................. 80

Annexe 1 : What is 3GPP: ........................................................................................................... i

Liste des tableaux
Tableau I. Benefits and drawbacks of OFDM ................................................................... 13
Tableau II. Summary of main OFDMA parameters ............................................................ 16
Tableau III. Frequency related path loss coefficients ....................................................... 34
Tableau IV. UE height correction factors ......................................................................... 34
Tableau V. Clutter type correction factors .......................................................................... 34
Tableau VI. Slope correction factors ................................................................................ 35
Tableau VII. K and l coefficients of cell correction factor ................................................ 36
Tableau VIII. Comparison 1x3x1 vs 1x3x3 ........................................................................ 37
Tableau IX. PRACH formats and corresponding parameters ........................................... 42
Tableau X. NCS for preamble generation (0–3) in low speed cell ...................................... 43
Liste des figures
Figure 1. Measurements of voice and data traffic in worldwide mobile telecommunication
networks, in the period from January 2007 to July 2011. Ericsson 2011. .................................. 4
Figure 2. EPS network elements ............................................................................................ 5
Figure 3. Number of subcarriers for the different bandwidths ............................................... 9
Figure 4. Time and Frequency Domain representation of an OFDM subcarrier ................. 10
Figure 5. Frequency band division ....................................................................................... 10
Figure 6. OFDM operation ................................................................................................... 11
Figure 7. Cyclic Prefix Principle .......................................................................................... 12
Figure 8. OFDMA symbol ................................................................................................... 13
Figure 9. LTE FDD Frame Structure ................................................................................... 14
Figure 10. Physical RB and RE concepts ........................................................................... 15
Figure 11. SC-FDMA Operation ........................................................................................ 17
Figure 12. SC-FDMA symbol ............................................................................................ 18
Figure 13. OFDMA and SC-FDMA operation comparison ............................................... 18
Figure 14. Principe of MIMO............................................................................................. 19
Figure 15. LTE Layers ....................................................................................................... 21
Figure 16. DL mapping channels ....................................................................................... 24
Figure 17. UL mapping channels ....................................................................................... 26
Figure 18. Frequency re-use ............................................................................................... 37
Figure 19. PCI collision...................................................................................................... 39
Figure 20. PCI confusion.................................................................................................... 39
Figure 21. The concept of TA Lists ................................................................................... 41
Figure 22. PRACH preamble formats (0–3) ...................................................................... 43
Figure 23. initial tuning procedure .................................................................................... 45
Figure 24. drive test equipement ........................................................................................ 46
Figure 25. Principal window of RAN_Dim ....................................................................... 53
Figure 26. General settings for new scenario in RAN Dim ............................................... 53
Figure 27. Transmitting/Receiving Part in link budget ...................................................... 54
Figure 28. System Overhead in link budget ....................................................................... 56
Figure 29. Capacity Part in link budget .............................................................................. 58
Figure 30. Channel Part in link budget including MAPL (clutter not considered) ............ 60
Figure 31. Screenshot of model propagation, MAPL (clutter considered), and site count 62
Figure 32. Technology used in Attol .................................................................................. 63
Figure 33. Coordinate system choice ................................................................................. 64
Figure 34. Map of the coverage area .................................................................................. 64
Figure 35. Total surface of the coverage area .................................................................... 65
Figure 36. Distribution sites ............................................................................................... 65
Figure 37. Atoll Automatic neighbor allocation ................................................................ 66
Figure 38. Atoll automatic PCI planning ........................................................................... 66
Figure 39. Atoll automatic Frequencies planning .............................................................. 67
Figure 40. Atoll automatic PRACH planning .................................................................... 67
Figure 41. Attol Coverage by signal level .......................................................................... 68
Figure 42. Histogram of coverage area by percentage ...................................................... 68
Figure 43. Atoll DL throughput ......................................................................................... 69
Figure 44. Atoll ACP re-configuration............................................................................... 69
Figure 45. Atoll creating new traffic Map .......................................................................... 70
Figure 46. Atoll traffic Map ............................................................................................... 70
Figure 47. Monte Carlo simulation in Atoll ....................................................................... 71
Figure 48. DL Throughput after Monte Carlo simulation .................................................. 71
Figure 49. RSRQ level (DL) histogram by the surface after Monte Carlo simulation ...... 72
Figure 50. Peak RLC channel Throughput (DL) histogram by the surface after Monte
Carlo simulation ........................................................................................................................ 72
Figure 51. Principal window of Actix Analyzer ................................................................ 73
Figure 52. Attribute Explorer on Actix .............................................................................. 74
Figure 53. LTE RRC Connection State analysis under Actix ............................................ 74
Figure 54. Serving Cell PCI Distribution analysis under Actix ......................................... 75
Figure 55. Serving Cell RSRP Distribution analysis under Actix ..................................... 75
Figure 56. Serving Cell RSRQ Distribution analysis under Actix ..................................... 76
Figure 57. Serving Cell RSSI Distribution analysis under Actix ....................................... 76
Figure 58. Serving Cell Throughput DL Distribution analysis under Actix ...................... 77
Figure 59. LTE UE Modulation DL Distribtion analysis under Actix............................... 77
Figure 60. Throughput DL vs MCS and UE RB Num DL................................................. 78
Figure 61. 3GPP roadmap ..................................................................................................... i
Liste des abréviations
1G : First Generation CoMP : Cordinated Multi-Point
2G : Second Generation transmission
3G : Third ggeneration CP : Cyclic Prefix
3GPP : Third Generation Partnership CQI : Channel Quality Indicator
Project C-RNTI : Cell Radio Network Tomporary
4G : Fourth Generation Identity
CS : Circuit Switched

D
µS : Micro Second

A
DCCH : Dedicated Control Channel
AMPS : Advanced Mobile Phone System DCH : Dedicated Channel
ARFCN : Absolute Radio Frequency DCI : Downlink Control Information
Channel Number DL : Downlink
ARQ : Automatic Repeat reQeust DL-SCH : Downlink Shared Channel

B DRB : Data Radio Bearer

BCCH : Broadcast Control Channel
BCH : Broadcast Channel
BLER : Block Error Rate
BTS : Base Tranceiver Station
BPSK : Binary Phase Shift Keying
BW : BandWith
Drx : Discontinous Reception
DTCH : Dedicated Traffic Channel
DTx : Discontinous Transmission
E
EDGE : Enhanced Data Rate for GSM
Evolution

C EIRP :
Power
Equivalent Isotropic Radiated

CCCH : Common Control Channel eNB : Evolved Node Base station

CCH : Control Channel EPC : Evolved Packet Core
CDMA : Code Division Multiple Access EPS : Evolved Packet System
ETSI : Europeen Telecommunication ICMP : Internet Control Message Protocol
Standars Institute IEEE : Institute of Electricals and
E-UTRA : Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Electronics Enineers
Radio Access IFFT : Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
E-UTRAN : Evolved UMTS Terrestrial IMarg : Interfence Margin
Radio Access Network IMT-2000 : Internet Mobile

F Telecommunication 2000
IP : Internet Protocol (version 4 and 6)

FDD : Frequency Division Duplex ISI : Inter Symbol Interference

FDMA : Frequency Division Multiple ITU : International Telecommunication

Acces Union

FFT : Fast Fourier Transformer K

FH : Frequency Hopping
Fs : Frequency Spacing kbps : Kilo-bits per Second
Khz : Kilo Hertz
Gbps : Giga bit per Second Ksps : Kilo-symbol per Second

L
GPRS : General Packet Radio Service
GSM : Global System for Mobile
GW : Gateway
LAC : Location Area Code

H LAU : Location Area Update

LTE : Long Term Evolution
HARQ : Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest LTE-A : LTE Advanced
HeNB : Home eNB LNF : Log Normal Fading

M
HLR : Home Location Register
HO : Hand Over
HSS : Home Subscriber Server
MAC : Meduim Access Control
HSPA : High Speed Packet Access
MAPL : Maximum Allowed Path Loss
HW : HardWare
MBMS : Multimedia Broadcast Multicast

I Service
MbpS : Mega Bit per Second
MCCH : Multicast Control Channel PAPR : Peak to Average Power Ratio
MCH : Multicast Channel PBCH : Physical Broadcast Channel
MCS : Modulation and Coding Sheme PCCH : Paging Control Channel
MGW : Media Gateway PCFICH : Physical Control Format
MHz : Mega Hertz Indicator Channel
MIB : Master Information Block PCH : Paging Channel
MIMO : Multiple Input Multiple Output PCRF : Policy and Charging Rules
MME : Mobility Management Entity Function
MS : Mobile Station PCI : Physical Cell Identification
ms : Milli Second PDCCH : Physical DL Control Channel
MTCH : Multicast Traffic Channel PDCP : Packet Data Convergence Protocol
MU-MIMO : Multiple User MIMO PDN-GW : Packet Data Network gateway

N PDSCH : Physical DL Shared Channel

PDU : Packet Data Unit

NAS : Non Access Startum PHICH : Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator

NACK : Non Ackitement Channel

NF : Noise Figure PMCH : Physical Multicast Channel

NMT-450 :NordicMobile PRACH : Physical Random Access

Telecommunication 450 Channel

NPO : Network Planing Optimisation PRB : Physical Ressource Block

NSN : Nokia Siemens Network PS : Packet Switch

PSCH : Physical Shared Channel
O PSS : Primary Synchronisation Sequence
PUCCH : Physical UL Control Channel
OFDM : Orthogonal Frequency Division
PUSCH : Physical UL Shared Channel
Multiplexing
P/S : Parallele Serie
OFDMA : Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiple Access Q
OMC : Operation and Maintenance Centre
QAM : Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
P QoS : Quality of Service
QPSK : Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
R SINR : Signal to Noise and Interfernce
R99 : Release 1999
RAN-Dim : Radio Access Network
Dimensioning
RE : Resource Element
RF : Radio Frequency
RLC : Radio Link Control
ROHC : Robust Header Compression
RNC : Radio Network Controller
RRC : Radio Ressource Control
RRH : Romote Radio Head
RSCP : Received Signal Code Power
RSL : Radio Signaling Link
RSRP : Refernce Signal Received Power
RSRQ : Refernce Signal Received Quality
RSSI : Receive Signal Strength Indicator
RTT : Round Trip Time
RxLev : Receive Signal Level
RxQual : Receive Signal Quality
S U
S1-MME : S1 for the control plan
S1-U : S1 for the User plan
SAE : System Architecture Evolution
SC-FDMA : Single Carrier FDMA
SCH : Shared Channel
SFN : System Frame Number
SGW : Serving Gateway
SIB : Signaling Information Block
Ratio
SIM : Subscriber Idendity Mobile
SNR : Signal to Noise Ratio
SON : Self Organised Network
SR : Scheduling Request
SRB : Signalling Radio Bearer
SU-MIMO : Single User MIMO
SW : SoftWare
S/P : Serie Parallel
S/N : Signal-to-noise
T
TA : Tracking Area
TAI : Tracking Area Indicator
TAU : Tracking Area Update
TDD : Time Division Duplex
Tg : Time guard
Ts : Time Symbol
TTI : Transmission Time Interval
UDP : User Datagram Protocol
UE : User Equipement
UL-SCH : UL Shared Channel
UMTS :UniversalMobile
Telecommunication System
UNI : User Network Interface
USIM : Universal SIM
UTRAN : Universal Terrestrial Radio WCDMA : Wide CDMA
Access Network
UWB : Ultra Wide Band
X
V X2- C : X2 – Control plan
X2- U : X2 – User plan
VOIP : Voice Over IP

W
 Dédicace

A MES TRÈS CHÈRE PARENTS :

Autant de phrases aussi expressives soient-elles ne sauraient montrer le degré d’amour et

d’affection, ma gratitude et ma reconnaissance. Que j’éprouve pour vous.

Maman tu m’as comblé avec ta tendresse et affection tout au long de mon parcours. , tu as
toujours été présente à mes cotés pour me consoler quand il fallait.
Tu n’as cessé de me soutenir et de m’encourager durant toutes les années de mes études,

PAPA tu as su m’inculquer le sens de la responsabilité, de l’optimisme et de la confiance en

soi face aux difficultés de la vie.
Ta patience sans fin, ta compréhension et ton encouragement sont pour moi le soutien
indispensable que tu as toujours su m’apporter.

Vos conseils ont toujours guidé mes pas vers la réussite.

Je vous dois ce que je suis aujourd’hui et ce que je serai demain et je ferai toujours de mon
mieux pour rester votre fierté et ne jamais vous décevoir.

En ce jour mémorable, pour moi ainsi que pour vous, reçever ce travail en signe de ma vive
reconnaissance et mon profond estime.

Que Dieu le tout puissant vous préserve, vous accorde santé, bonheur, quiétude de l’esprit et
vous protège de tout mal.

Votre fils Oussama

 Ce travaille est aussi didié à :

Mes petits fréres Walid, Mohamed et mes petites sœur Hidayet et Ihsan

Didié a toute ma grande famille

Bien évidament mes chéres amis et toute personne qui m'a encourager dans les
moments difficile

Oussama

Je dédie ce modeste travail

A mes très chers parents pour leur soutien, leur patience, leur encouragement durant
mon parcours scolaire, Tous les mots du monde ne sauraient exprimer l’immense amour que je
vous porte, ni la profonde gratitude que je vous témoigne pour tous les efforts et les sacrifices
que vous navez jamais cessé de consentir pour mon instruction et mon bien-être.

A mes frères et ainsi a toute ma famille.

A tous mes amis.

Mohammed
Remerciements
On tient à remercier dans un premier temps, toute l’équipe pédagogique de l'INTTIC et
les intervenants professionnels responsables de la formation Ingeniorat d'état, pour avoir
assuré la grande partie de celle-ci.

On remercie également Monsieur NIAR Saad pour l’aide et les conseils concernant les
missions évoquées dans ce rapport, qu’il nous a apporté lors des différents suivis.

On tiens à remercier tout particulièrement et à témoigner toute nos reconnaissances aux

personnes suivantes, pour l’expérience enrichissante et pleine d’intérêt qu’elles nous ont fait
vivre durant ces quatre mois au sein de l’entreprise NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORK :

Monsieur TAIBI Amine , Manager RAN à Nokia, pour son accueil et la confiance qu’il
nous a accordé dès notre arrivée dans l’entreprise.

Monsieur SAID Khireddine, manager NPO de la société Nokia, notre tuteur, pour nous
avoir intégré rapidement au sein de l’entreprise et nous avoir accordé toute sa confiance ; pour
le temps qu’il nous a consacré tout au long de cette période, sachant répondre à toutes nos
interrogations ; sans oublier sa participation au cheminement de ce rapport.

Messieurs Mohamed, Bachir, Omar ainsi que l’ensemble du personnel de Nokia pour
leur accueil sympathique et leur coopération professionnelle tout au long de ces quatre mois

.
 1
Introduction générale

Introduction générale
In 1896, Guglielmo Marconi was successful in the first link airwaves when he used an
electromagnetic wave in a telegraph communication application..
This invention has encouraged research in the field of wireless communications, up to 1947 in
the United States, precisely in a laboratory named Bell Labs, there was the birth cell concept.
And was responsible for a series of mobile radio networks, based on this concept.

The success of 3G technologies that allow users to have access to a true mobile Internet while
telecommunications networks have expanded greatly. These networks have allowed the
integration of new services and adequate flow allowing operators to rependre specific needs.

In its Release 8, LTE was standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) as the successor of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). LTE
was designed from the start with the assumption that all of the services would be packet
switched rather than circuit switched and even to support MIMO. Another name for LTE is .

This development has done by creating and devleoppement of new services and mobile
equipment.

LTE requirements are specified in 3GPP, main requirements are :

- Peak data rate of 50/100mbps in a 20MHZ spectrum.

- Reduced latency (round trip time) < 10ms.

- Improved spectrum efficiency between 2-4 times higher than relaese 6 (HSPA).

- Bandwith scalability with allocations of 1,4-3-5-10-15 and 20MHZ.

Often we talk about LTE as the 4th generation but really it's none other than the 3.9G in the
release 8/9. The true 4G is in the release 10
 2
Chapter 1 : overview of an LTE network

Overview of an LTE network

What is an LTE network made up of (architecture and technologies) ?

we'll see in this chapter the main features of LTE technology that made this technology can
achieve this level of performance, among these components is found :

 SAE ( System Architecture Evolution )

 MIMO ( Multipel Input Multipel Output )

 OFDM ( Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing )

 SC-FDMA ( Single carrier-Frequency Division Multipel Access )

 Ipv6 and UWB ( Ultra Wide Band )

1. History of generations:
Over the years before, mobile technology is constantly developing since the launch of
the NMT-450 (1st generation) in 1980.

Each new technology has come to filling the shortcomings of the previous technology,
bring improvements and new performances.

The first generation of cellular systems (1G) , was based on analog traffic channels,
The devices used were particularly large .The first generation of cellular systems (1G) used
essentially the following standards:

 AMPS ( Advanced Mobile Phone System ), launched in the United States, is an

analog network based on the FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access).

 NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone)

 The second generation (2G) of cellular systems was developed in the late 1980s.
These cell systems use digital technology for the link and for the voice signal. The second
generation of cellular systems (2G) used essentially the following standards:

 GSM (Global Systém for Mobile telecommunication 2G),The GSM system

operates at various radio frequencies, with most them operating at 900 MHz
and/or 1800 MHz. In the US and Canada, the operation is at 850 MHz and/or
1900 MHz,

 GPRS (General Packet Radio Service),Theoretical maximum speeds of up to

171.2 kilobits per second (kbps) are achievable with GPRS

 EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution, 2,75G) with the data rates
going up to 500 kbps (theoretically).

The third generation (3G) of cellular systems is a generation mobile systems

certified IMT 2000 by the ITU. This system allows for faster communications services
including voice, fax, Internet.The third generation of cellular systems (3G) used essentially the
following standards:

 CDMA-2000 (Code Devision Multiple Access)

 UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System)

 HSPA (High Speed Packet Access)

Beyond 3G, The need of LTE was detected after the dramatic growth of Mobile Data

3
 Figure 1. Measurements of voice and data traffic in worldwide mobile
telecommunication networks, in the period from January 2007 to July 2011.
Ericsson 2011.

The fourth generation (4G) of cellular systems came in 2010 with :

 higher network throughput

 increased data transfer speed

 best spectrum efficiency (greater population density in the same band as 3G)

 automatic optimization of the network (4G devices automatically configure

themselves to improve the QOS offered)

2. LTE Architecture network :

LTE architecture differs from previous UMTS architecture. Before getting into more
detail, it is worth mentioning some related concepts:

LTE or e-UTRA refers to the radio access network

4
 Evolved Packet Core (EPC) refers to the core network. The 3GPP name for the core
network is System Architecture Evolution (SAE)

Evolved Packet System (EPS) refers to the whole system: e-UTRA plus EPC

Figure 2. EPS network elements

2.1 E-UTRAN

Evolved-Umts Terrestrial Radio Access Network, it is composed of two parts:

2.1.1 User Equipement (UE): it is a mobile device or a terminal with a SIM card
(Subscriber Idendity Module)

SIM card contains subscription data ( unique identity )

it is provided by the operator

for 3G / 4G mobile the card is called precisely USIM , Universal Subscriber Idendity
Module

5
 2.1.2 Evolved-Node Base station (E-NodeB) : is a set of transceivers placed at a place
, each base station has antennas to convert the alternative current to an electro-magnetic
waves.

The eNodeB dialogue between them on the X2 interface.

The Radio Network Controller (RNC) does not exist in the LTE, these functions are
assigned to differents eNB, and the eNodeBs are directly connected to a core network with S1
interface. As a result this system allows a reduction of the latency for data transfer and hand-
over.

There is kinds of eNodeB : a HeNB performs the same function of an eNodeB, but is
optimized for deployment for smaller coverage than macro eNodeB, such as indoor premises
and public hotspots.

The Flexi eNodeB : NSN’s eNodeB is the Flexi Multiradio BTS. It is called
Multiradio because the same BTS HW can run different radio technologies (GSM/EDGE
and/or WCDMA/HSPA and LTE) depending on the SW package in use.

2.2 Evolved Packet Core (EPC) :

It is the core network for the LTE, composed from :

2.2.1 Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN-GW) : basically the internet network can
not handle mobility, any packet is destined for an address and the address is tied to a physical
location, the solution that was adapted by 4G networks is to converge packets has distination
subscribers by a single gateway P-GW as a point of entry and exit of traffic for the UE.

The P-GW :

 Routes the data to the terminal and from the terminal to the internet.

 Provides some security features.

6
 2.2.2 Serving Gateway (S-GW) : if we considers that the terminal moves must notify
the P-GW no longer routed to the old eNodeB but to the new eNodeB, This re-routing requires
the exchange of signaling messages.

to avoid frequent rerouting at the P-GW, we will introduce an intermediate device

called S-GW that will serve a specific geographic area (a region or some regions).

The S-GW :

 The collection of data sent by the UE through different eNodeB

 The distribution of data from the servers to the eNodeB where mobile devices
are located

2.2.3 Home Subscriber Server (HSS) : There are not only the data packets that pass
through a network but we have too one set of control procedures, these procedures require the
use of a database (HSS) called HLR (Home Location Register) in the 2G, 3G technologies.

HSS contains the profile of all subscribers, their rights and services but also security
data (access control),

HSS exchanges only signaling messages ( All messages exchanged to controle access
to the network, that contain only control information ).

If we considers that there are tens of million subscribers and if every time a subscriber
moves or makes an action on his terminal, and we want to control access by sending a request
to the HSS every moves or actions, it may be saturated in having to manage this set of
simultaneous control requests, for this purpose we introduced the MME

2.2.4 Mobility Management Entity (MME) : the MME will handle a wide area, it
will be conect to several base station,he plays the role of a local chief.

When I turn on my phone, will send a request to the MME (attachment of the terminal
to the network); The MME will look if he knows the subscriber.

If it is the first power up, the HSS will transmit the subscriber profile to the MME.

7
 then the MME will be able to control locally for all subsequent access.

Same as the HSS, MME manages only signage.

The MME :

 Dialogue with the base stations and the HSS.

 Store profiles and security data.

 Selects P-GW and S-GW when the terminal is connecting to the internet.

 Ensures reachability and location of terminals (involved in the handover).

2.2.5 Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF): management of service quality.

2.3 Interfaces :

Uu: is the radio interface between UE and eNB.

X2: Logical interface between eNodeBs since it does not need direct site-to-site
connection. It can be routed via core network as well. It is used during inter eNodeB
handovers avoiding the involvement of the core network during the handover and forwarding
the data between source and target eNodeB.

S1 : The S1 interface is divided in two interfaces:

S1-U interface: User plane interface between the eNodeB and the S-GW. Dedicated
only to user data.

S1-MME interface: Control plane interface between the eNodeB and the MME for the
exchange of Non Access Stratum messages between MME and UE (e.g. paging, tracking area
updates, authentication).

8
3. Air Interface :
One of the main changes in LTE with respect to UMTS is the use of different
transmission schemes in the air interface. LTE downlink air interface is based on OFDMA
(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), whereas the uplink air interface is based on
SC-FDMA (Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access).

3.1 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) :

is a multiplexing scheme in downlink LTE, user data is transmitted in parallel across

multiple orthogonal narrowband subcarriers. Each subcarrier only transports a part of the
whole transmission. ,The spacing between subcarriers is fixed in LTE and equivalent to 15
kHz in the frequency domain.

The number of subcarriers depends on the available bandwidth as shown in the figure 3

Figure 3. Number of subcarriers for the different bandwidths

9
 Figure 4. Time and Frequency Domain representation of an OFDM subcarrier

fs : frequency spacing

Ts : Time Symbol

Figure 4 represents a subcarrier in the time and frequency domain. A rectangular pulse
in the time domain corresponds to a sinc-square-shaped spectrum in the frequency domain.

In OFDM, subcarriers are overlapped in frequency domaine while maintaining

orthogonality in time domaine, that means the peaks of a subcarrier intercept the null points of
the neighbouring subcarriers (frequency domain) and therefore, there is no interference
between subcarriers.

Figure 5. Frequency band division

10
 This property means that OFDMA uses the frequency domain in a very efficient way
and is one of the reasons why the spectral efficiency of LTE is so much greater than that of
previous mobile telecommunication systems.

Figure 6. OFDM operation

Figure 6 represent the OFDM operation at the transmitter’s and receiver’s end. User
data is modulated according to the different modulation schemes (depending on the radio link
conditions).

Within the OFDM signal, it is possible to choose between three types of modulation

QPSK (4 QAM) = 2 bits per symbol

16 QAM = 4 bits per symbol

64 QAM = 6 bits per symbol

At the side of transmission,the modulated symbols are interpreted in the frequency

domain, then passed through the Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) algorithm wich
transforms them into the corresponding time sequence, the number of time slots equal to the
number of carriers,then the cyclic prefix (CP) is inserted.

11
 The CP will be defined as being a copy of bits taken from the end of symbols shapes
and placed in front of them . Finally, the signal is modulated onto the radio carrier and
transmitted over the air interface.

Figure 7. Cyclic Prefix Principle

CP is used in all modern OFDM system as a method to fight against the Inter Symbol
Interference (ISI), which is integrated in multipath when the signals arrive at the receiver with
different delays , is used too by the receiver to detect the beginning of the symbol.

The guard time (Tg) needs to be long enough to capture all the delayed multipath
signals and avoid ISI at the receiver.

There are two type of CP :

 Normal CP : used in small cells or cells with short multipath delay spread. Its
length depends on the symbol position within the slot and is 5.21 μsec for the
CP in symbol 0, and 4.6 μsec for the rest of symbols.

 Extended CP : For use in large cells or those with long delay profiles. Its length
is 16.67μs. It is constant for all symbols in the slot.

The fact that the CP can be used to manage the effects of ISI is due to the long symbol
duration in OFDM-based systems. LTE's typical symbol duration including the CP is around
71.64 μsec. This is considerably longer than the 3.69 μsec used for GSM or the 0.26 μsec for
WCDMA. Therefore, LTE does not require complex ISI management techniques like other
systems.

12
 OFDM Technology
Benefits Drawbacks
Each OFDM symbol is preceded by a cyclic High PAPR (Peak to Average Power Ratio)
prefix CP==>eliminate inter symbol interferenc
ISI

closely spaced subcarriers==>efficient use of

bandwith without the presence of inter carrier
interference ICI

Tableau I.Benefits and drawbacks of OFDM

3.1.1 OFDMA Symbol :

The OFDMA symbol is defined in the time and frequency domains:

 Time domain : Time period occupied by the modulation symbols on the

considered subcarriers.The symbol duration without considering the cyclic
prefix is 66.67 μs.

 Frequency domain : A symbol is made up of subcarriers, an OFDMA symbol

represents all the data being transferred in parallel at a point in time.

Figure 8. OFDMA symbol

13
 Figure 8 shows that each subcarrier only carries information related to a specific
modulation symbol.

3.1.2 LTE physical layer structure :

There are two types of frames defined for LTE: frame for Frequency Division Duplex
(FDD) and frame for Time Division Duplex (TDD).

We will base our study on the FDD because it is the technique used by NSN Algeria,
the type 2 shares the same frame structure and the slot duration but it contains some specific
fields to enable the co-existence with the TD-SCDMA.

The Frame (FDD) is common to both uplink and downlink. Components and durations
are illustrated in Figure 9.

Figure 9. LTE FDD Frame Structure

3.1.3 Physical resource block (PRB) and resource element (RE):

It is the smallest element used for transmission, allocated by the base station scheduler.

PRB is composed of 12 sub-carrier in the frequency domain per 1 slot period (0.5 ms)
in time domain. Since each subcarrier occupies 15 kHz, a PRB occupies 180 kHz (12x 15
kHz) in the frequency domain.

14
 The division of subcarriers in PRBs allows to compartmentalize the data through
standard numbers of subcarriers

A Resource Element (RE) is the theoretical minimum capacity allocation unit. It is

formed by 1 subcarrier per 1 symbol.

Figure 10. Physical RB and RE concepts

Figure 10 represents the resource element concept and physical resource block concept in the
case of normal CP being used (7 symbols per slot). There are 84 (7 x 12) resource elements
per PRB.

3.1.4 OFDMA parameters :

A summary of the main OFDMA parameters is presented in this section:

15
 Tableau II.Summary of main OFDMA parameters

To ensure that all signals are received correctly, the receiver sampling rate must be
slightly higher than the bandwidth of the signal used to carry it (for example for a channel
bandwidth of 10 MHz the sampling rate is 15.36 MHz). It is always a factor or multiple of
3.84 in order to ensure compatibility with WCDMA by using common clocking.

3.2 Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) :

One of the key parameters that affect all mobiles is the battery life. it is necessary to
ensure that the mobiles use as little battery power as possible. For this reason we apply SC-
FDMA as a access technique for the uplink air interface.

SC-FDMA is a more power efficient variation of OFDMA that still employs

subcarriers, FFT, cyclic prefix, and other OFDM concepts.

16
 Figure 11. SC-FDMA Operation

The figure 11 shows the operating steps SC-FDMA, the only difference compared to
the OFDMA is the added FFT block before the block IFFT.

The modulated symbols (interpreted in this case as time signals) are fed to the FFT
processing.The outputs are the frequency components of the modulation symbols.

The additional FFT processing block in SC-FDMA spreads the information of each bit
over all the sub-carriers.

in OFDM, each subcarrier carries information relating to one specific symbol whereas
in SC-FDMA each subcarrier contains information of all transmitted symbols, hence no need
of transmitting with high power, signal energy is distributed among subcarriers.

3.2.1 SC-FDMA Symbol :

The SC-FDMA symbol also has a definition in the time and frequency domains, same
as the OFDMA symbol. However, there are some differences :

in OFDMA each modulated symbol lasts the whole OFDMA symbol duration, in SC-
FDMA, each modulated symbol lasts for ‘1/n’th of the SC-FDMA symbol (where n is the
number of used subcarriers).

17
 In OFDMA, there is one modulated symbol per subcarrier. In SC-FDMA each
modulated symbol is spread across the used subcarriers.

In the frequency domain, each OFDMA data symbol occupies 15 kHz and each SC-
FDMA data symbol occupies n x 15 kHz bandwidth.

Figure 12. SC-FDMA symbol

Figure 13. OFDMA and SC-FDMA operation comparison

18
 The parallel transmission of multiple symbols creates the undesirable high PAPR of
OFDMA. By transmitting N data symbols in series at N times the rate, the SC-FDMA
occupied bandwidth is the same as multi-carrier OFDMA but the PAPR is the same as that
used for the original data symbols.

4. Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) :

Multiple antenna system is one of essential elements adopted by LTE which provides
higher throughput and wider coverage.

Mimo shall be used when S/N is high (high quality radio channel),for situations with
low S/N it is better to use other types of multi-antenna technique to improve S/N (Tx
Diversity).

 SISO (Single Input/Output) channel capacity : C=B.Log (1+SINR)

 MIMO channel capacity (system with M*N antenna configuration) : C=B.Log

(1+M*N*SINR)

Figure 14. Principe of MIMO

There are several ways in which MIMO is implemented in LTE. These vary according
to the equipment used, the channel function and the equipment involved in the link.

19
5. Protocol stack layers :
The protocol stack defines three layers : the physical layer (layer 1), data link and
access layer (Layer 2), and transport layer (layer 3).

Before describing each protocol function it’s so important to know that there are two
different planes to manage information.

Control Plane:

Control plane describes the protocol stack(s) required to transport control (signaling)
traffic.

The control plane includes additionally the Radio Resource Control layer (RRC) which
is responsible for configuring the lower layers.

The Control Plane handles radio-specific functionality which depends on the state of
the user equipment which includes two states : idle (Reselection) or connected (Handover).

User Plane:

A User Plane describes the protocol stack(s) required to transport “data” traffic.Data
traffic includes any user bearer traffic such as voice or video packets, Internet access, email,
and so on. In addition, application signaling messages are viewed as data.

20
 Figure 15. LTE Layers

5.1 Layer 1:

Its role is to ensure the transmission of data in a form able to spread in the air and resist
various disturbances inherent in the mobile radio channel. From a functional standpoint, the
physical layer provides a transport service over the air interface to the MAC layer.The
physical layer performs the following functions for data transmission :

Channel coding that protects the information bits against transmission errors by
introducing redundancy into the transmitted bit sequence.

The modulation, which combines the bits to be transmitted to modulation symbols

capable of printing an electromagnetic wave.

The spatial processing (called MIMO).

21
 The multicarrier modulation which combines the signal to be transmitted on each
antenna of the multi-carrier according to the principle of OFDM for the downlink and SC-
FDMA in uplink.

As well as treatments to fight against interference (eg equalizer) and some functions
such as

The radio measurements to estimate the signal quality of the serving cell, or the
received power levels of another cell, or to another radio system.

Sync, to acquire and maintain synchronization in time and frequency with the carrier of
the issuer.

Cell Detection to detect the presence of cells and connect to the ignition of the UE or
to prepare a handover.

Signaling of control information between eNodeB and UE.

The physical layer uses physical channels to transmit data over the radio path. To
higher layers the physical layer offers its data transmission functionality via transport
channels.

5.2 Layer 2 :

The layer 2 consists of three sublayers:

5.2.1 MAC (Medium Access Control) : The MAC sublayer is the mapping between
the logical and transport channels, it multiplexes RLC packets into a single MAC PDU for
transmission by the Physical Layer.and performs :

 Error correction through Hybrid ARQ.

 Priority Handling with Dynamic Scheduling .

5.2.2 RLC (Radio Link Control) : It performs segmentation and reassembly and
operates in 3 modes of operation: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and
Acknowledged Mode (AM).

5.2.3 PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) : PDCP is responsible for

22
 Header compression (ROHC RObust Header Compression) and decompression of IP
data. This feature is designed to improve the spectral efficiency of conversational services
such as voice over IP (VoIP)

 Ciphering/deciphering of user plane data and control plane data.

 Integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data.

 Detection and removal of duplicates (PDCP data unit received twice).

 Resequencing packets.

The PDCP sublayer is therefore requested to transport the signaling and user data, and
used for SRBs (Signalling Radio Bearers) and DRBs (Data Radio Bearers) mapped on DCCH
(Dedicated Control Channel) and DTCH (Dedicated Traffic Channel) type of logical channels.

5.3 LAYER 3 :

It is devided into two sublayers :

5.3.1 Non Access Stratum (NAS) : communication with the MME.

5.3.2 Radio Resource Control (RRC) : dissemination of information system and

configuration of layer 2, QoS management functions and mobility.

6. LTE Channels :
There existe three types of channels : Logical channel,Transport channel and Physical
channel, and each of them are devided in two case : UL channels and DL channels.

23
6.1 LTE Downlink Channels :

Figure 16. DL mapping channels

6.1.1 Physical Channels :

Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH): Is mapped to four sub-frames within a 40 ms

interval. which is blindly detected (no explicit signalling indicating 40 ms timing). And each
sub-frame is assumed to be self-decodable. Support QPSK Modulation .

Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH): carries the MCH and support QPSK
Modulation.

Physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH): Carries the DL-SCH and PCH and
support QPSK, 16-QAM, and 64-QAM Modulation .

Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) : Informs the UE about the resource
allocation of PCH and DL-SCH, and Hybrid ARQ information related to DL-SCH and support
QPSK Modulation .

6.1.2 Transport Channels :

Offered by the PHY layer and are defined by how the information is carried.

Broadcast Channel (BCH): Forwards broadcast information to the entire cell.

24
 Paging Channel (PCH): Forwards UE paging information to the entire cell. And
supports UE discontinuous reception (DRX) to enable UE power saving.

Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH): it supports HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat

reQuest), MBMS transmission, UE discontinuous reception (DRX) to enable UE power
saving. More over optionally support Beam-forming and broadcast in the entire cell.

Multicast Channel (MCH): Broadcasts in the entire coverage area of the cell.

6.1.3 Logical channels :

They represent data transfer services offered by the MAC and are defined by what type
of information they carry. can be classified in control and traffic channels.

1. Control channels :

Paging Control Channel (PCCH): This channel transfers paging information when
the eNB wishes to contact mobiles that are in RRC_IDLE. And when the network does not
know the location cell of the UE.

Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH): Used for broadcasting system control

information. which the base station broadcasts across the whole of the cell to tell the mobiles
about how the cell is configured. These messages are divided into two unequal groups, which
are handled differently by lower layers.

The master information block (MIB) carries a few important parameters such as the
downlink bandwidth.

System information blocks (SIBs) carry the remainder.

Common Control Channel (CCCH): This channel is used for transmitting control
information between UEs and network.by the UEs having no RRC connection with the
network, and moving from RRC_IDLE to RRC_CONNECTED in the procedure of RRC
connection establishment.

Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH): it is a bidirectional control channel that carrie

dedicated control information between a UE and the network. used by UEs that have an RRC
connection.

25
 Multicast Control Channel (MCCH): it is an optional channel used only by UEs that
receive MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service); used for transmitting MBMS
control information from the network to the UE, for one or several MTCHs.

2. Traffic channels :

Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH): A point-to-point channel dedicated to one UE

for transmission of user data.

Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH): A point-to-multipoint for transmitting MBMS

data from the network to the UE.

6.2 LTE Uplink Channels :

Figure 17. UL mapping channels

6.2.1 Logical channels :

in the uplink is using three logical channels which are also used for the downlink and
are: CCCH – DCCH – DTCH . They have the same functions as in downlink

26
6.2.2 Transport channels :

Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH): is the primary transport channel.

The UL-SCH and DL-SCH are the only transport channels that use the techniques of
HARQ, and are the only channels that can adapt their coding rate to changes in the received
signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR).

Can optionally support Beam-forming

Random Access Channel (RACH): is an uplink channel in mobile communication

system that is used to transfer minimal control information from a mobile terminal to the
network.

UEs can only be scheduled for uplink transmission if its uplink transmission timing is
synchronized. The RACH, therefore, plays a key role as an interface between non-
synchronized UEs and the orthogonal transmission scheme of the uplink radio.

E.g. for initial access to set up a connection or for location area updates.

Random access procedure can be contention based or contention free.

6.2.3 Physical channels :

Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH): Carries the random access preambles
used when the UE makes initial contact with the network.

Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH): Carries the UL-SCH and may employ
QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM modulation.

Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH): As the name implies, the PUCCH
carries uplink control information including channel quality indication (CQI), ACK/NACK,
HARQ and uplink scheduling requests (SR).

27
 28
Chapter 2 : Dimensioning And Designe

Dimensioning And Designe

1. Introduction :

Dimensioning provides the first evaluation of the network element number as well as
the associated capacity of those elements. The target of dimensioning phase is to estimate the
required site density and site configurations for the area of interest.

LTE Dimensioning process starts with the Radio Link Budget Calculations, used to
determine the maximum path loss between the base site and the subscriber. The result of this
step depends upon the propagation models used.

In this chapter we will talk just about dimensioning oriented coverage as a first step,
we considerate our study principally as a greenfield zone and the dimensioning oriented
capacity

2. LTE RF Link Budget :

An RF link budget is the sum of all RF system gains and losses in the RF path . It is
typically used to determine whether the downlink or uplink is the limiting path.

Typical items within an LTE RF link budget are :

Uplink and Downlink :

• Antenna gain

• Transmit power

• Diversity gain
 • Noise Figure

• Receiver Sensitivity

• EIRP

Other :

• Log normal Fading

• Interference margin

• Number of resource elements

• Power per resource element

• Body loss

• Target SNR

2.1 Maximum allowable path loss (MAPL) :

MAPL formula expresses the maximum allowable attenuation of the radio wave
traversing the air interface. The formula comprises all the gains and losses that can be
experienced in the system. Together with the propagation model it is used for cell range
estimation.

= +

= +

2.1.1 Equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) :

EIRP stands for the power which would be radiated by the theoretical isotropic antenna
to achieve the peak power density observed in the direction of maximum antenna gain.

= +

= +

P : Total transmission power .

29
 G : Gain of Tx antenna.

L-fedders : Feeders Loss.

L-body : Loss due to attenuation of the humain body.

Gain of antenna :

This parameter must be separately considered for DL and UL. The antenna gain
quantifies the degree to which an antenna transmits input power in concentration,
corresponding to the main lobe of antenna pattern.

To increase the gain,reduce the lobe width of the radiation at the the vertical plane and
maintain the omni-directional radiation performance at the horizontal plane.

We needs to understand if the antenna gain is in reference to a dipole or an isotropic

antenna. The difference is usually signified by dBd or dBi. A zero dBd gain antenna would
correspond to a 2.15 dBi gain antenna.

= + 2.15dB

Feeder loss :

This parameter define the loss induced by the fedder cable between RF unit and
antenna.

The 'feeder_less' solution of NSN using the flexi RFModule, There are only jumper
cables between the Remote Radio Head (RRH) and antenna connectors.

Body loss :

is the degradation of the RF signal strength due to the close proximity of the subscriber
handset antenna to the person’s body 'head loss', when it is assumed that the typical user will
rotate the phone or move slightly to help improve the quality of the call.

Typical value for handset mobile is 3db, and for a fixed system, there will be no body
loss.

2.1.2 Receiver sensitivity :

30
 Indication of receivers ability for detection of low level signals or the minimum signal
level which can still be successfully received.

= + + + 10log(15 12 )

N-thermal : thermal noise power per subcarrier.

SINR : Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio.

F-noise : receiver noise figure.

N-rb : number of resource blocks.

Thermal noise power :

T : Temperature [Kelvin] = 290 k°

k : Bolzmann constant = 1.38 x 10-23J/k° = W/(Hz K)

B : Bandwidth

= 174 ⁄

Required SINR :

Required signal level (useful signal) at the receiver compared to noise and interference
coming from neighbouring cells in order to achieve the desired cell edge throughput
requirement. SINR values are considered as a limit for which the transmission using a certain
MCS can still be accomplished with a predefined quality (BLER).

Required SINR depends upon the following factors:

• Modulation and Coding Schemes(MCS)

• Propagation Channel Model

Higher the MCS used, higher the required SINR and vice versa.

Noise Figure (NF):

31
 is a value used to compare the noise in a network with the noise in an ideal network. It
is a measure of the degradation in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) between the input and output
ports of the network. NF is an important index used to measure the performance of a receiver.

typical value for UE is 7dB.

2.1.3 Interference Margin (IMarg):

Interference is a very troublesome involved in cellular networks, due to the frequency

reuse especially when frequency reuse 1 is applied (it means that the serving and the
neighbour cells use the same subcarriers). Other sources of interference may be taken into
account, such as interference from other systems 'intersystem interference'.

For this, we introduced another safety margin to maintain the balance of link budget,
the Interference Margin equation is given by :

= 10log(1 )
( ) ( )
= 10 10

With :

Req SINR At Cell Edge : required SINR in the borders cell.

Cell Load : Cell load represents the resource utilization in terms of Rbs.

Intra-cell interference :

Intra-cell interference refers to any interference caused by the active terminals within
the same cell.

Inter-cell interference :

the cell-edge users suffer from the interference from the neighbour cells.

2.1.4 Log Normal Fading (LNF):

32
 Difference between the signal level necessary to cover the cell with a certain
probability of coverage and the average signal level at the cell edge.

2.1.5 Penetration Loss :

Defines the average obstacle penetration loss of the related environment.

3. Propagation Models :
A propagation model or propagation loss describes the radio wave propagation
between the transmitter and the receiver of the RF path, is the different value between the
radiated power and the received power. It depends on:

 Environment : urban, rural, dense urban, suburban, open, forest, sea…

 Distance

 Frequency

 Atmospheric conditions

 Indoor/outdoor....and so on

Common examples include Free space, Okumura–Hata, Walfish–Ikegami, Longley–

Rice, Lee and Young's models. The most commonly used model in urban environments is the
Okumura-Hata model as described below:

3.1 Hata Okumura and COST-231 Hata propagation model :

Cost 231 model is an extension of the Okumura-Hata model to frequencies up to 2000

MHz while the Hata model is specified for ranges up to 1500 MHz.

The formulas below are valid for the following ranges of the parameters:

 Frequency (f) : 150 to 2,000 MHz

 Base Station Height (Hb) : 30 to 200 m

 Mobile Height (Hm) : 1 to 10 m

33
  Distance (d) : 1 to 20 km

= + log 13.82log + log +

Frequency A B
150 – 1500 MHZ 69.55 26.16
1500 – 2000 MHZ 46.30 33.90
Tableau III.Frequency related path loss coefficients

Clutter type

Dense urban
3.2 × log 11.75 × 4.97
Urban
Suburban
1.1log 0.7 1.56log 0.8
Rural

Tableau IV.UE height correction factors

Clutter type
Dense urban 3
Urban 0
Suburban
2 × log 5,4
28MHZ
Rural
4,78 × log + 18,33log 40,94
28MHZ
Tableau V.Clutter type correction factors

The slope of the radio wave attenuation as a function of distance is called radio
propagation slope and this parameter has a strong impact on the maximum distance between
the BTS and the MS.

The propagation slope depends heavily on the propagation environment and also on the
antenna height

The slope may be changed using the S factor. There are 2 slopes for d< 1km

34
 Slope per distance S
D <1km 1
. 47.88 + 13.9log 13.82log
(log50)

D ≥1km
44,9 6,55 × log
Tableau VI.Slope correction factors

4. Coverage Area :
In general, sectorization improves the coverage performance when compared to omni-
directional cells. The main reason is a significant gain of directional antennas and lower
interference level in case of such a network layout.

In fact, many factors have to be considered when deciding about the cell pattern:

• Traffic density in the area to be covered.

• Available frequency band and possibility to apply particular frequency reuse schemes

• Required coverage and structure of the area to be covered: urban, road, etc.

• Expected network development path, Costs and possibilities of sites installation...etc

4.1 The cell radius :

After calculating maximum path loss (MAPL), we can determine the radius of the cell
using the model of proper propagation.

Indeed, when the path loss is equal to its maximum value, the distance is equal to the
cell radius,

= + log 13.82log + log +

Which implies :

= 10

35
4.2 The site Area :

The formulas presented in this section may be used to create general equations for site-
to-site distance and site area calculation.

= .

= .

The values of l and k coefficients depend on the used cell layout as presented below.

Cell layout K l
Omni 2.6 1.73
3-sector antenna_BW≤90 1.95 1.50
3-sector antenna_BW>90 2.6 1.73
6-sector 2.6 1.73
Tableau VII.K and l coefficients of cell correction factor

4.3 Number of sites N :

After determining cell area, and while having the total area of the deployment we can
finally lead to the number of sites required for coverage

5. Conclusion :

The dimensioning of mobile networks is a complex problem that involves both

theoretical and practical aspects.

This is to find the best cellular architecture in a number of criteria (Coverage Quality,
Mobility, Absorption of the load cell...)

This chapter has allowed us to calibrate our network and establish a sufficient number
of sites that allow us to cover our area by respecting the environnement losses and according
to a specefic mode of propagation.

36
 37
Chapter 3 : LTE Planning Network

LTE Planning Network

1. Frequency Planning :
Frequency planning in lte system is aimed at achieving high spectral efficiency through
the re-use frequency allocation system that allocate the same frequency to adjacent cells.

That configuration mode is NxSxK where :

N : number of eNB's

S : number of sectors per eNB

K : frequency re-use in eNB

And there are several types of frequency configurations, among them :

1x3x1 (1 eNB – 3 sectors – 1 frequency re-use).

1x3x3 ( 1 eNB – 3 sectors – 3 frequency re-use).

Figure 18. Frequency re-use

The table below show the most differences between these two types

1x3x1
Advantage Higher spectrum effeciency
Disadvantage Lower cell edge troughput due
to serious interference
Tableau VIII.Comparison 1x3x1 vs 1x3x3
1x3x3
Lower interference and larger
coverage radius
Lower spectrum effeciency
 The choice of the bandwidth is as following :

 BW≥10 Mhz for initial network construction in urban and densely populated
area.

 BW<10 Mhz for rural and sub-urban area.

2. Physical cell ID planning (PCI) :

PCI is used to identify radio signals of the different cells, in terminal.

There are 504 unique physical layer cell identities. These identities are organised in
168 groups of 3.

=3 +

Where :

 PSS : Primary Synchronization Signal

 SSS : Secondary Synchronization Signal

A physical layer cell identity is thus uniquely defined by the SSS in the range of 0 to
167, representing the physical layer cell identity group, and the PSS in the range of 0 to 2,
representing the identity within the group.

The neighboring cells must have a different PCI to avoid collision free problem.

2.1 Collision free :

If two neighboring cells are allocated with the same PCI in an intra-frequency network,
a maximum of one cell can be detected by UE, and only one cell can be synchronized during
initial cell search. So if the user is on this area it receive tow synchronized signals in the same
time and frequency that occur collision between RS signals and the UE can’t decide which is
the serving cell.

38
 Figure 19. PCI collision

2.2 Confusion free :

If neighboring cells have the same PCI, and UEs are to be Hand Over to a neighboring
cell, the eNB can’t decide which cell is the target cell, because the tow listed cells have the
same PCI.

Figure 20. PCI confusion

3. Tracking Area (TA) planning :

The TA consists of a cluster of eNBs having the same Tracking Area Code (TAC).

TA dimensioning is the process of finding a suitable number of eNBs to include in a

TA list.

A small number of eNBs in a TA list may require frequent TA updates. Frequent

updates increase the MME load and UE battery consumption. In addition, frequent updates
may reduce the paging success rate, because the UE cannot respond to paging during the TA
update procedure.

39
 By increasing the number of eNBs in the TA list, the TA update frequency is reduced.
The drawback of adding more eNBs to the TA list is that the paging load increases. The upper
limit of the number of eNBs in a TA list is determined by the paging capacities of the MME
and eNB.

The process of TA dimensioning contains two main tasks:

 TA dimensioning for the MME.

( ⁄ ) =

 TA dimensioning for the eNB.

( ⁄ ) =

Where :

( ⁄ ) ⁄ : Number of eNB per TA List in relation to the MME/eNB

paging capacity

: Paging capacity of the MME(according to the number of SCTP).

: Paging capacity of the eNB.

: Paging intensity per user (during busy hour).

: Number of Simultaneously Attached Users in an MME during busy

hour.

: Average number of subscribers per eNB during busy hour .

The final result is given by the minimum of the two précedents equations :

( ⁄ )= ( ( ⁄ ) ; ( ⁄ ) )

3.1 TA Lists with Multiple TAs :

From release SGSN-MME R2010A RP02, up to 16 TAs per TA list will be supported.

40
 For every TA, the operator can specify a list of up to 15 TAs to include and the MME
always adds the old TA to the list to reduce the risk of ping-pong updates. On the other hand
the average number of eNBs per TA should not exceed:

( ⁄ )
( ⁄ )=
( ⁄ )
Where :

 ( ⁄ ): number of eNB per TA List.

 ( ⁄ ): number of TA in the TA List (the minimum value is equal to

2, This is due to the fact that the MME always adds the current TA as well as
the old TA to the list).

Figure 21. The concept of TA Lists

Besides reducing the risk for ping-pong updates, TA lists with multiple Tas can help
resolve the issue of a few cells having to handle a high number of TA updates. This is done by
defining the TA lists in a sliding window.

One drawback with a larger TA List is that it requires more planning and
administration.

41
 4. PRACH Planning :
Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) is the LTE UL control channel which the
UE use to initiate the Random Access (RACH) procedure which RACH is a basic LTE
procedure used to establish uplink synchronization and start the uplink transmission.

Various scenarios involving PRACH usage :

 when UE needs to send new UL data or needs to receive new DL data .

 UE handover.

 UE transiting from RRC_IDLE to RRC Connected state.

PRACH configuration of a LTE cell can be differentiated from its neighboring

cells by:

 Code domain : PRACH Cyclic Shift (planning of prachCS) and Root Sequence Index
(planning of rootSeqIndex).

 Frequency domain : PRACH Frequency Offset(planning of prachFreqOff) ,In

exceptional cases (when the first rule cannot be fulfilled).

 Time domain : PRACH Configuration Index(planning of prachConfIndex) ,If the

second step is not feasible or not sufficient .

4.1 PRACH Ncs and Physical Root Planning Steps :

1. Identify the cell radius in kilometers.

2. Select the preamble format based on cell radius.

Preamble Cyclic Prefix Sequence Guard Time Total Length Typical Max
Format Length Length Cell Range
0 103µs 800µs 96,9µs 1 ms 15 km
1 684 µs 800µs 515,6µs 2 ms 78 km
2 203µs 1600µs 196,9µs 2 ms 30 km
3 684µs 1600µs 715,6µs 3 ms 108km
Tableau IX.PRACH formats and corresponding parameters

42
 Figure 22. PRACH preamble formats (0–3)

3. Select NCS Index out of the table below and deduct the number of preamble
and the number of root sequence index.

NCs NCS No of preamble #root R (km)

Config per sequence seq index
1 13 64 1 0,76
2 15 55 2 1,04
3 18 46 2 1,47
4 22 38 2 2,04
5 26 32 2 2,62
6 32 26 3 3,48
7 38 22 3 4,33
8 46 18 4 5,48
9 59 14 5 7,34
10 76 11 6 9,77
11 93 9 8 12,20
12 119 7 10 15,92
13 167 5 13 22,78
14 279 3 22 38,8
15 419 2 32 58,83
0 839 1 64 118,9
Tableau X.NCS for preamble generation (0–3) in low speed cell

43
 The available root sequence indexes are assigned to cells. The assignment principles
are similar to those for PCIs. Which is sent to the UE through the SIB2 (system information
block).

The planning method of a high-speed cell is similar to that of a low-speed cell.

however,The algorithm for determining available root sequence indexes, is more complex.

It exist an another table used in speed cell.

5. Conclusion :

this chapter was conducted the different method of planning such as PCI, TA, PRACH,
frequencies that will allow us to identify each cell for the proper functioning of LTE Service
(successful handover) and avoid interference and confusion by respecting certain reuitilisation
distance of resources (re-use distance).

44
45
Chapter 4 : Initial Tuning And Optimisation

Initial Tuning And Optimisation

The initial tunig begins befor any live traffic is carried by the network. During the
initial tuning phase The results of the initial tuning phase are antenna azimuth and/or antenna
tilt or other network configuration changes.

Figure 23. initial tuning procedure

First Cluster to be tuned will act as a ‘Reference Cluster’ for the following clusters,
meaning that it will be used to validate the tuning methodology and processes, and verify the
level of performances achievable.

A final Area Verification phase starts when all the Clusters in the area have been tuned.

When the initial tuning is complet the network can be commercially launched.

Optimization come in last step for the proper functioning of our network, and it is to
solve the problems occurred after the servise implementation of our network.

1. What is drive test :

Drive tests are made to ensure that is possible to make and maintain sessions in the
defined ceverage area. Data collected during these drive tests is used to analyze and locate any
problems related to the designe of the network.

During measurement campaigns, the technician tests:

  Network coverage test

 The establishment of the call (absence of failure).

 Maintaining communication during a certain period (no drop) and Handover

test.

 The quality of the communication(UL & DL throughput test).

1.1 The elements of the measurement chain :

1. The Mobile Station (MS) directly to the laptop via a cable with which it
communicates the measurements. This MS contains several features.

2. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a vital tool in the measurement chain
as it provides information on the geographical position of each measurement
point to exactly locate the fault on the network.

3. The laptop + Software (Tems investigation): they allow the acquisition and
processing of the recovered data by trace mobile and GPS receivers.

Once measured data are obtained, this set reveals the state of the network in place.

Figure 24. drive test equipement

2. LTE Drive Test Parameters:

The main parameters to control during a test drive are described as above :

2.1 Refernce Signal Received Power (RSRP) :

RSRP determine the signal strength, is the average of received power of RS resource
elements.

46
 UE measures the rx power of multiple RS REs and takes average of them.

Reporting range : -44…-140 dBm.

= 10log(12 )

2.2 Refernce Symbol Signal Intensity (RSSI) :

It represent intensity of the total power within the measurement bandwidth, it includes
thermal noise, interference and serving cell power, also can be called ‘Wideband Power’.

= 12

2.3 Refernce Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) :

It represent the quality of the signal which i’am receiving including interference and
noise, measuring RSRQ become partucalrly important near the cell edge to perform a
handover.

RSRQ is used only during connected states.

Reporting range -3…-19.5dB.

=
( ⁄ )

2.4 Signal-to- Interfence Noise Ratio (SINR) :

When i start transmitting near eNB strenght signal is more with low interfence and it
start fading with distance therefore the interfence plus noise become more important

=
( + )

2.5 Channel Quality Index (CQI) :

What is the quality of channel that i’am receiving (DL), totaly depends upon good
radio conditions and is on dedicate mode only (we have channel only in dedicated mode).

Reporting range 0…15.

47
 2.6 Physical Cell Id (PCI):

So important in drive test, with wich we can determine collision and confision between
cell.

2.7 Block Error Rate (BLER):

This parameter is used to check the number of error block wich i'am receiving when N
number of block are transmited, should be less than 10%

2.8 DL and UL throughput:

It a pratical rate which we can conect to the network.

3. List of KPI's to be evaluated :

3.1 Network Attach Time [ms] :
The Network Attach Time is the interval between the RRC CONNECTION
REQUEST (carrying the Attach Request) and the reception of a positive response by the UE
(Attach Complete).

NSN recommended threshold : < 500ms

( )=

3.2 Network Attach Success Rate [%] :

It is the probability that a user can attach to the LTE network at any moment of time.

NSN recommended threshold: > 97%

= 0,01

3.3 EPS Bearer Drop Rate [%] :

It reflects the probability that an established bearer gets aborted due to insufficient
network resources.

NSN recommended threshold : < 3%

48
 = 0,01

3.4 Handover Procedure Time [ms] :

It denotes the total time needed for the hand-over procedure as seen by the UE.

The following HO scenarios are distinguished (though not directly seen by the UE) :

 intra LTE intra frequency mobility

 inter eNodeB

NSN recommended threshold : < 75ms (Intra & Inter eNodeB)

( )=

3.5 Total HO Success Ratio, intra/inter eNB :

This KPI describes the total intra/inter eNB HO Success Ratio, from HO preparation
start until successful HO execution.

NSN recommended threshold : > 97%

⁄
⁄ = 0,01
⁄

3.6 Inter-Frequency HO Success Ratio [%] :

This KPI describes the success ratio for the inter-frequency HO, when the source eNB
receives information that the UE successfully is connected to the target cell within target eNB.

NSN recommended threshold : > 95%

4G still being tested in Algeria, this KPI is not considered currently.

3.7 Round Trip Time (RTT) [ms] :

RTT is the interval between sending a datagram by/to the UE & receiving the
corresponding reply from/by an IP peer entity.

NSN recommended threshold : <40ms (Ping 32bytes Pre-Scheduled @SINR>25dB).

( )=

49
 3.8 Service Interrupt Time (User Plane) [ms] :
Is the discontinuity of an IP packet flow caused by hand-over. It is the interval between
the last sent/received user IP packet of a continuous UL/DL data stream in the old cell, and the
first sent/received user IP packet in the new cell (user plane break).

( )=

4. Corrective Actions :
Based on the result of the analysis, corrective actions involves adjustement of azimuth,
tilts, antenna height, eNB transmit power,re-selection and handover adjustement... ; And will
be defined.

Such actions may have a wide scope, for example, a new parameter set- up to be used
for all of the sites.

There might be a need for actions to be taken for a defined subset of sites as, for
example, a down tilting campaign.

Some actions may be focusing on solving localised problems, involving one or two
sites, for example, to solve a handover problem or as troubleshooting actions to correct
swapped cables or to replace broken elements.

Other corrective actions may require accessing the sites, for example, to down tilt the
antennas, or to undertake troubleshooting actions. Corrective actions regarding physical
transmission network may require additional network elements, for example, in case topology
or capacity needs to be changed.

50
 5. Conclusion :
With this LTE Initial Tuning service, Nokia Siemens Networks can provide its
operators :

 A smooth commercial launch of their network.

 Better network quality results in tangible financial gains due to decreased

operational costs and improved earning capabilities.

Initial Tuning service raises network quality by:

 Eliminating potential misalignments in network parameterization.

 Assuring that the coverage is targeting to Operator’s planning criteria .

 Fine tuning the parameters to achieve a better performance.

51
 52
Chapter 5 : Application And Simulation

Application And Simulation

To understand quite well the planning 4G, we will develop a practical case with the
different methods of dimensioning and planifaction as we saw in court of this project.

we will work primarily with three software to complete our application :

1. RAN_Dim for the dimensioning part.

2. Atoll for the planning part.

3. Actix for an initial analysis of drive test.

we will take to our application, the study of a dense urban area portion with a hata-
okamura propagation model

1. The dimensioning part:

1.1 Presentation of the tool :

RAN_Dim is dimensioning software used by NSN to determine the maximum

allowable attenuation of the radio wave traversing the air interface, model of propagation, and
so on.

We will used the latest version of RAN_Dim (9.1).

 Figure 25. Principal window of RAN_Dim

1.2 The output parameters

The principal input and output parameters in RAN_Dim that we have used are :

General Parameters : are defined by the customer

Excel generated with outdated RAN Dim tool version

General
LTE release RL70
Operating band [MHz] 1800 (3GPP bands : 3,9)
Channel bandwidth [MHz] 10
Site solution Feederless
Figure 26. General settings for new scenario in RAN Dim

Operating Band : 3GPP TS 36.104 specifies 19 operating bands for FDD and 8 bands
for TDD.

53
 Dimensioning tool generalises these to 730, 750, 800, 850, 900, 1500, 1700, 1800,
1900, 2100 and 2600 MHz for FDD and 2300, 2500, and 2600 MHz for TDD.

Channel Bandwidth : 3GPP TS 36.104 specifies values of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20

MHz.

After the general parameters we have the platform of link budget calcul wich is
composed from different part :

1.2.2 Transmitting/Receiving parameters :

RF Unit : Flexi RF modules FDD, 20W, 30W and 40W Flexi RRH.

Default software license is for 20W (FDD), using any other power has additional SW
license cost.

UE Power Class : Defined by 3GPP Class 3 : 23 dBm +/- 2 dBm.

Transmitting end DL UL
Output power 20W
UE Power Class UE Power Class 3
Tx Antenna Power [dBm] 43,01 24,00
Antenna gain [dBi] 22,00 0,00
Feeder loss [dB] 0,40 -
Body loss [dB] - 0,00
TMA insertion loss [dB] 0,00 -
Tx Power Increase [dB] 3,01 0,00
EIRP per user [dBm] 67,62 24,00
Receiving end DL UL
Feeder loss [dB] - 0,40
Body loss [dB] 0,00 -
Antenna gain [dBi] 0,00 22,00
Noise figure [dB] 7,00 2,20
Additional gains [dB] 0,00 0,00
Figure 27. Transmitting/Receiving Part in link budget

Feeder Loss :

 0.4 dB if Feederless solution (jumper looses).

 2 dB feeder solution w/o TMA.

 dB if feeders with TMA used.

54
 Body Loss : only in the UL

 UE : 0 dB (data user) and 3dB (VoIP users).

TMA insertion Loss : only considered in calculations if TMA is enabled.

 0.5 dB assumed if TMA in use, otherwise 0 dB (No TMA used with feederless
solution).

Total Tx Power Increase : This parameter reflects the Tx power increase caused by
multi-antenna configurations. It is automatically set to 3 dB when 2Tx-2Rx scheme is chosen
in downlink. The 3dB gain is caused by the doubling of the Tx power when adding the 2nd
Power Amplifier.

Noise Figure : Typical value :

 7 dB for UE

 2 dB for eNodeB (with TMA),

 dB for eNodeB (w/o TMA) .

User EIRP :

EIRP= Tx Antenna Power + Antenna Gain – Feeder Loss – TMA Insertion Loss (if
TMA is used) + Total Tx Power Increase

1.2.3 System Overhead :

System overhead assuming all PHY channels other than PDSCH/PUSCH. It indicate
how many resources are left for user data. Overheads are automatically calculated by the tool.

Total Number of PRBs per TTI: Depends on the available BW (6, 15, 25, 50, 75,
100 Rb's) for (1,4 – 3 – 5 – 10 – 15 - 20MHZ) respectively.

Cyclic Prefix : Normal CP is selected by default, Extended CP is use in cells with long
delay spread.

Number of OFDM symbols per subframe : Depends on the type of CP selected, in

our case we have 7 symbols per slot x 2 slots per subframe= 14 symbols.

55
 System Overhead DL UL
Total number of PRBs per TTI 50,00
Cyclic prefix Normal
Number of OFDM Symbols per Subframe 14,00 14,00
Number of PDCCH symbols per subframe 3 PDCCH symbols -
Number of PRBs for PUCCH - 4,00
PRACH Preamble Format - Format 0 (14 km)
RACH Density per 10 ms - RACH Density=1
Reference Signal [%] 9,52% 13,14%
Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) [%] 0,17% -
Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) [%] 0,17% -
PBCH / PRACH [%] 0,31% 1,20%
PDCCH (incl. PCFICH, PHICH) / PUCCH [%] 19,05% 8,00%
Additional overhead [%] 0,00% 0,00%
Total system overhead [%] 29,23% 22,34%
Figure 28. System Overhead in link budget

Number of PDCCH Symbols per Subframe : Automatically updated by the tool

when selecting the Bandwidth.

Possible values: 1 to 4 PDCCH symbols.

Dimensioning recommendation: 3 PDCCH symbols per frame.

Number of PRBs for PUCCH : Automatically updated by the tool when selecting the
Bandwidth

Recommendation (used by tool) are : 1 – 2 – 4 – 6 - 8 PUCCH PRB in 1.4-3 and 5-10-

15-20 MHz bandwidth respectively.

RACH Density for 10ms : RACH resources occupy 6PRB in frequency domain
(180KHz) and can occupy 1, 2 or 3 subframes (ms) in time domain.

Density indicates how many RACH resources are used per 10ms frame and it is part of
the different preamble configurations, Recommended: 1 RACH resource per frame.

Reference Signal :

 in the DL :

If 1 Tx antenna: 4 Reference Signals per RB

If 2 Tx antenna, there are 8 Reference Signals per Resource Block

56
 If 4 Tx antenna, there are 12 Reference Signals per Resource Block

in our example: Normal CP (84 RE) and 2Tx antenna, overhead = 8 / 84= 9.52 %

 in the UL :

The ‘Demodulation Reference Signal is sent within the 4th time domain RE of each
RB occupied by the PUSCH and not used by the PUCCH.

For a 10 MHz Channel Bandwidth, the PUCCH occupies 4 RB per Slot.

in our example : Normal CP (84 RE), this means the overhead generated by the Ref.
Signal is ((50-4) × 12)/(50 × 84) = 13.14 %

Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) : Occupies 144 Resource Elements per frame
(20 timeslots).

In our example : we have a normal CP and 2Tx antenna, overhead = 144 / (84 × 20 ×
50) = 0.17 %

Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) : Identical calculation to PSS.

PRACH : PRACH overhead is calculated as: 6RBs * RACH Density / (#RB per TTI)*
10 TTIs per frame.

So : (6RBs*1)/(50*10)=1,20 %

PDCCH, PCFICH and PHICH :The combination of PDCCH, PCFICH and PHICH
is able to occupy the first 1, 2 or 3 time domain symbols per TTI (Transmission Time
Intervals).

The number of RE occupied per TTI is given by (12 × y – x), where:

y depends upon the number of occupied time domain symbols per TTI (1, 2 or 3).

x depends upon the number of RE already occupied by the Reference Signal.

 x = 2 for 1 transmit antenna

 x = 4 for 2 transmit antenna

 x = 4 for 4 transmit antenna when y = 1

57
  x = 8 for 4 transmit antenna when y = 2 or 3

Example in screen shot illustrates the case for normal CP, 2 Tx and the first 3 time
domain symbols occupied: overhead = (12 × 3 - 4) / (12 × 7 × 2) = 19.05%

PUCCH : Ratio between the number of RBs used for PUCCH and the total number of
RBs in frequency domain per TTI.

In our case we use 10 Mhz,so we have 4RB PUCCH/50 total RB : 4 / 50 = 8 %

1.2.4 The Service part :

Service DL UL
Method for modulation and coding scheme Optimize Optimize
Modulation and coding scheme (Optimized) 0_QPSK 1_QPSK
Modulation and coding scheme (User defined) - -
Service Type Data
Cell Edge User Throughput [kbps] 1024,00 384,00
Residual BLER / Number of Transmissions rBLER=10% (1Tr) rBLER=10% (1Tr)
Limitation of UL Resource Block Group Size - TRUE
Number of PRBs per User 41,00 12,00
Channel Usage per TTI [%] 82,00% 24,00%
Transport Block Size for PDSCH/PUSCH 1128,00 424,00
Modulation efficiency 0,23 0,27
Effective Coding Rate 0,12 0,14
Figure 29. Capacity Part in link budget

Modulation and Coding Scheme : 3GPP TS 36.211 specifies modulation schemes of

QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM for the Physical DL and UL Shared Channel.

Tool automatically selects the best possible MCS for DL and UL (when Optimize is
chosen for the Modulation and coding scheme) maximizing the MAPL.

Service Type : Two possible options :

 Data (by default).

 AMR for different codecs (VoIP).

Cell Edge User Throughput (kbps) : It is the minimum single UE throughput

requirement at the cell edge (Set by the customer).

58
 Tool automatically updates the MCS each time a different cell edge user throughput
value is entered.

Residual BLER/Number of Transmissions : Defines the number of HARQ

transmissions and a residual BLER after the last transmission.

 Recommended value (data) : 10% at 1st transmission.

 Recommended value (VoIP) : 1% after the 4th transmission.

Channel Usage per TTI : Resource utilization by the user : how many PRBs are
allocated for PDSCH/PUSCH.

Ratio between Number of RB per User and Total number of RB available in the
frequency domain

Transport Block Size for PDSCH/PUSCH : Defined by cell edge throughput and
BLER requirements and determines the Number of RBs per User.

Modulation Efficiency : Transmitted bits per modulated symbol.

Effective Coding Rate : Coding rate applied on PDSCH/PUSCH with respect to the
allocated resource blocks, TBS and overheads.

=
( (1 ) )

TBS : transport block size [bits].

Overhead : system overhead.

Modulation order : QPSK=2, 16QAM=4, 64QAM=6.

Nb R Element per RB : 168 normal CP, 144 extended CP.

59
 1.2.5 The channel part :

Channel DL UL
Channel Model Enhanced Pedestrian A 5 Hz
Antenna configuration 2Tx-2Rx 1Tx-2Rx
Number of users per TTI 1,00 3,00
Required SINR @ BLER10% [reference] [dB] -3,95 -2,67
Coding Rate Offset [dB] 0,02 0,37
Required SINR at Cell Edge [dB] -4,53 -4,30
Maximum SINR at Cell Edge [dB] -0,03 -
Cell load [%] 50,00% 50,00%
Method For Interference Margin From SINR From load
Interference Margin [User Defined] [dB] - -
Interference Margin [Formula] [dB] 2,35 1,25
Number of Received Subcarriers [dB] 27,78 21,58
Thermal Noise Density [dBm/Hz] -173,93
Subcarrier Bandwidth [kHz] 15,00
Noise Power per Subcarrier [dBm] -132,17
Rx sensitivity [dBm] -101,92 -112,69
Maximum Allowable Path Loss (clutter not considered) [dB] 167,19 157,04
RSRP (clutter not considered) [dBm] -130,36 -120,21
Figure 30. Channel Part in link budget including MAPL (clutter not considered)

Channel Model : Link level simulation results available for:

 Enhanced Pedestrian A 5Hz : propagation channel for low speed mobiles.

 Enhanced Typical Urban : propagation channel valid for higher speed mobiles
(>30km/h).

Antenna Configuration :

 DL: 2Tx -2Rx refers to single stream 2x2 MIMO.

 UL: 2Rx is the default option in Flexi eNB.

Cell Load (%) : Cell load represents the resource utilization in terms of Rb's and it
refers to neighbour cells.

 Affects the Interference Margin (IM) : High neighbour cell load increases the
IM that in terms reduces the MAPL.

60
  Affects also the cell capacity as cell load is related to the resource utilization
and to the inter-cell interference level.

Recommended value: 50%

Max Allowable Path Loss(clutter not considered) : in the first,we will find the
MAPL with clutter not considered that means without penetration loss, and propagation data.

 Result find by the tool :

MAPL in DL (clutter not considered) =167,19db

MAPL in UL (clutter not considered) =157,04db

 Result find by the formula : we have :

( ) = +

so : MAPL (clutter not considered)=167,19db

( )
= +

so : MAPL (clutter not considerd)=157,04db

Compared with a tool we have praticly the same results.

1.2.6 The model of propagation and site count :

As we have see in the chapter three we will base our application about cost 231
okumura propagation model used in dense urbain area ,and we will continue our dimensioning
on this fact.

We have choose clutter as a dense urban, BTS and MS antenna height are fixed at 30m
and 1,5m respectively, The average penetration loss, Combined Standard Deviation and Cell
Edge Probability are chosen by default and depends on clutter type and frequency band.

61
 Propagation DL UL
Clutter Dense Urban
Deployment class Basic
BTS Antenna height [m] 30,00
MS Antenna height [m] 1,50
Average penetration loss [dB] 20,00
Standard deviation of path loss [dB] 9,00
Standard deviation of penetration loss [dB] 0,00
Combined Standard Deviation [dB] 9,00
Cell area probability [%] 92,98%
Location/Cell Edge probability [%] 82,61% 80,70%
Shadowing margin (LNF) [dB] 8,45 7,80
Gain Against Shadowing [dB] 2,70 2,64
Maximum Allowable Path Loss (clutter considered) [dB] 141,44 131,88
RSRP at cell edge (clutter considered) [dBm] -104,61 -95,05
Propagation model Cost 231 TWO slope
Intercept Point (w/o clutter correction) [dB] 136,66 135,89
Slope > 1km [dB] 35,22 35,22
Slope < 1km [dB] 42,90 42,71
Clutter Correction Factor [dB] 3,00 3,00
Site Count DL UL
Cell Range [km] 1,12 0,69
Site layout 3 Sectors<90°
Number of Cells per Site 3,00 3,00
Cell Area [sqkm] 0,82 0,31
Site Area [sqkm] 2,46 0,92
Inter Site Distance [km] 1,69 1,03
Deployment area [sqkm] 50,00
Number of sites 21,00 55,00
Figure 31. Screenshot of model propagation, MAPL (clutter considered), and
site count

MAPL (clutter considered) : Base for cell range calculations where the propagation
data is included in the calculation (we calculate with the lower MAPL(clutterNotConsidered)).

 Result find by the tool:

the MAPL equal 131,88db

 Result find by the formula:

( )
= ( ) +

62
 So MAPL (clutter considered) equal=131,88db

Finally we deduce the cell range (0,69km) and the site area (0,92km²), we will get 55
site to cover the deployement area witch equal 50km².

2. The planning part:

After the calculation of the cell range and the number of site to cover our area we
produce to the planification of these sites.

2.1 Presentation of the tool :

Atoll is an multi-technology network design and optimization platform that supports.

Wireless operators throughout the network lifecycle, from initial design to densification and
optimization.

In our case we choose LTE technology.

Figure 32. Technology used in Attol

Once our system is chosen, we choose the coordinate system.

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 Figure 33. Coordinate system choice

2.2 COVERAGE AREA :

The goal of the project is the deployment of the LTE network in Oran city, as shown in
Figure 39. The coverage area has an area of 50 km2. We try to ensure full coverage of the
region and maintain a good quality of service.

Figure 34. Map of the coverage area

64
 Figure 35. Total surface of the coverage area

Step 1 : site configuration :

after configuration of sites, we put them on the deployment area while respecting the
distance between the sites (site-to-site distance).

Figure 36. Distribution sites

Step 2 : Automtic neighbor allocation : we define after that automaticlly the

neighboring cell to help us develop a frequency and PCI plan, and completed a successful
handover.

65
 Figure 37. Atoll Automatic neighbor allocation

Step 3 : Automatic ressources allocation : The tool assigns to each cell his proper PCI,
frequency and PRACH code respecting the reuse distance.

Figure 38. Atoll automatic PCI planning

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 Figure 39. Atoll automatic Frequencies planning

Figure 40. Atoll automatic PRACH planning

Step 4 : Prediction : we generate a report from our established network in term of

coverage and throughput to analyze the efficiency of our network.

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 Figure 41. Attol Coverage by signal level

Figure 42. Histogram of coverage area by percentage

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 Figure 43. Atoll DL throughput

Step 5 : ACP –Aoutomatic cell planning : The tool give an automatic planifaction to
improve even better orientation sites (tilt, azimuth...) and give more efficiency for the network
by avoiding overlapping zone and inter-cell interfence

Figure 44. Atoll ACP re-configuration

69
 Step 6 : Monte Carlo simulation : In this step we will analyze our network by traffic,
we'll add to our map the dense sectors and then going to direct our coverage, and simulate
again according to this appearance.

Figure 45. Atoll creating new traffic Map

Figure 46. Atoll traffic Map

70
 Figure 47. Monte Carlo simulation in Atoll

Step 7 : Predictions after Monte Carlo simulation :

Figure 48. DL Throughput after Monte Carlo simulation

71
 Figure 49. RSRQ level (DL) histogram by the surface after Monte Carlo
simulation

Figure 50. Peak RLC channel Throughput (DL) histogram by the surface after
Monte Carlo simulation

72
 3. The analysis part :

In this final part we will do an analysis approach of Lte site ''OR5316'' , wich is
localized in Mourched Oran using Actix Analyzer Software, the drive test was done 4 May
2016 in Idel Mode.

3.1 Presntation of Tool :

Analyzer is an Actix desktop software solution for expert drive test post-processing,
supporting network optimization and network troubleshooting. It supports 2G, 3G and even
LTE rollouts with flexible and powerful drive survey analytics.

Analyzer provides the flexibility and tools to help you to perform manual analyses at
any time. This can be done by customizing forms, queries, reports and repositories.

Figure 51. Principal window of Actix Analyzer

73
 In the first step we have to load data file wich are classified by name or date and saved
on Driver phone

Right-click on Loaded Data Files to load your log files.

Figure 52. Attribute Explorer on Actix

3.2 Analysis :

After loading our log file we start analysis

1. Serving Cell RRC Connection Stat Distribution: The drive test was done in
this part only in Idle Mode.

Figure 53. LTE RRC Connection State analysis under Actix

74
2. Serving Cell PCI Distribution : No cross feeder is observed

Figure 54. Serving Cell PCI Distribution analysis under Actix

3. Serving Cell RSRP Distribution :

Figure 55. Serving Cell RSRP Distribution analysis under Actix

75
4. Serving Cell RSRQ Distribution :

Figure 56. Serving Cell RSRQ Distribution analysis under Actix

5. Serving Cell RSSI Distribution :

Figure 57. Serving Cell RSSI Distribution analysis under Actix

76
6. Serving Cell Throughput DL Distribution : The max value of DL
Throughput that we have reached on this site is 72 Mbit/s.

Figure 58. Serving Cell Throughput DL Distribution analysis under Actix

7. LTE UE Modulation DL Distribution :

Figure 59. LTE UE Modulation DL Distribtion analysis under Actix

77
 8. Throughput DL vs MCS and UE RB allocation :

Throughput DL is dependant on modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and Transport

block size

As we can see in the next figure, the throughput DL is degraded despite we have a
good MCS ≈28 in revange the numbre of RB allocate to UE is not important due to bad
condition radio.

From the time wich all the conditions are satisfied, a good MCS and an important
number of RB allocate to UE we have a good DL Throughput .

Figure 60. Throughput DL vs MCS and UE RB Num DL

78
 79
Conclusion générale

Conclusion générale
The progress of the telecommunications world is becoming faster. Today a subscriber
is likely not only to establish a connection at all times to recover what they need but in
addition, he is able to enjoy a multitude of services through the same network. This is the
principle of convergence of networks which meet networks of new generations and especially
4G.

The main objective of this project was to dimension and plan the access network 4G in the
Oran. And holding account new introduced technologies such as OFDM in DL, SC-FDMA in
UL, MIMO and scalability of bandwidth, etc.

For that, we started with an overview of the LTE network, its architecture, its features, its
interface radio and the benefits it provides.

Next, we were interested to study the design of a 4G network. First, we presented the different
balance parameters and connecting Okamura propagation model to perform a design of e-
NodeBs oriented coverage.

We designed the overall architecture of our solution and developed its

capabilities in tools are called '' RAN-Dim '' and '' Atoll ''.

Finally, we introduced the operation '' Test Drive '' and discuss some of these results under ''
Actix '' tool.
 80
Bibliographie

Bibliographie
[1] Design, Deployment and Performance of 4G-LTE Networks A Pratocal Approach 2014
[2] 2012 AT&T Intellectual Property « Best Practices for 3G and 4G App Development.pdf »
[3] « Long Term Evolution Radio Access Network Planning Guide », HUAWEI.
[4] 3GPP TS 23.002 V8.5.0, « Network Architecture (Release 8), Juin 2009.
[5] Long Term Evolution (LTE) an introduction, Ericsson, Octobre 2007.
[6] http://www.efort.com/r_tutoriels/LTE_SAE_EFORT.pdf
[7] http://www.slideshare.net/morg413/best-practicesltecallflowguide
[8] Erik Dahlman, Stefan Parkvall, Johan Skold et Per Beming, « 3G Evolution HSPA and
LTE for Mobile Broadband, 2nd Edition, AP, Octobre 2008.
[9] 4G LTE LTE-Advanced for mobile broadband - Erik Dahlman 2011.
[10] RNT_LTE_Dim v2.3.6 Approved for RL10 / RL20 / RL30 / RL15TD / RL25TD Nokia
Siemens Network.xls
[11] An introduction to LTE LTE LTE-Advanced SAE and 4G mobile communications 2012
[12] LTE-Advanced Air Interface Technology - Xincheng Zhang 2013
[13] LTE Advanced and Next Generation Wireless Networks - G. De La Roche 2013
[14] LTE Signaling troubleshooting and optimization - Ralf Kreher 2011
[15] LTE RF Planning Guide - Motorola 2011
[16] NSN-LTE_(FDD)_Radio_Dimensioning_Guideline
[17] NSN-LTE_(FDD)_Radio_Network_Planning_Guideline
[18] LTE Dimensioning Guideline Annex - RNT_LTE_Dim Quick User Guide
[19] Atoll_2.8.1_LTE_Public_Course_Part1
[20] LTE Coverage planning with Atoll NSN
[21] NSN document
[22] LTE LTE-A and 4G the move to the Het Net - Zahid Ghadialy
[23] LTE LTE-Advanced Cellular Communication Networks 2010
[24] nokia_lte-advanced_white_paper.
[25] rfplanningandoptimizationforltenetworks-130324093130-phpapp01.pdf
Annexe 1 : What is 3GPP:
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), is a standards body that combines
several telecommunications groups known as the organizational partnairs which operates
within the framework of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). The initial scope
of 3GPP is to develop 3rd (and future) generation wireless technologies.

This project was created in December 1998 and should not be confused with 3GPP2
that sets standards for another 3G technology based on the CDMA -2000

3GPP standards are structured as Releases.

Figure 61. 3GPP roadmap