UMTS RF Planning Process

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Version 3.1

Content
1. RF Planning Process 2. Designing for Performance

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Presentation Name - 1

RF Planning Global Process

Coverage Analysis Radio Network Planing Quality Analysis Optimized Solution

Site database Traffic and Carrier count
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Capacity Analysis

Coverage analysis
Terrain Database Clutter Database

LINK BUDGET
- EIRP - Antenna - Frequency - Sectors - Height etc.

Propagation Model

Received power at each bin Design Threshold

- Based on maximum allowable path loss for the most restricting service (Link Budget) - The required mobile received signal is calculated based on BS EIRP and on Maximum Path Loss.

Design threshold = BS EIRP-Maximum Path Loss

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RF Planning - Coverage Design

Good CDMA RF Planning Even site spacing, low antenna variance to ensure server dominance Careful site and antenna selection to cover high traffic area

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RF Planning - Traffic distribution

Non-uniform traffic makes it more difficult to do RF planning. Careful site and antenna selection is extremely important.

Uniform Traffic
Pilot Ec/Io is an important plot. It shows the best server pilot signal-to-interference ratio. Ec/Io is used extensively in call origination and handoff process.

Non-Uniform Traffic
Presentation Name - 5

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RF Planning WCDMA Analysis

Traffic Assumptions Link Budget

Node B
PA Tx/Rx link losses Noise figure Eb/No Processing Gain ...

UE
Service
PA Noise figure Eb/No Processing Gain ...

Site
Cable loss Antenna pattern sites configuration sites constraints (reuse of existing sites)

Terrain Data Base Propagation Model Monte-Carlo Simulations Maps sites

Location & NORTEL NETWORKS CONFIDENTIAL configuration
Pilot Ec/Io UL Required MS EIRP Soft Presentation Name - 6HO

Statistics
dropped calls hand-offs UL noise rise Cell loading

RF Planning WCDMA Analysis : Results

Downlink best server Pilot Ec/Io

Required Uplink Mobile EIRP Hand-off status Load

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RF Planning - Pilot Best Server Plot

Pilot best server plot shows which sector provides the best Ec/Io to an area. We want to confine the coverage of a sector to nearby area as much as possible.

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RF Planning - Pilot Ec/Io Plot

Areas to Improve Pilot Ec/Io is the most important plot.

It shows the best server pilot signal-to-interference ratio.

Ec/Io is used extensively in call origination and handoff process.

Based on Nortel experience, Ec/Io -12 dB provides good quality networks.
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RF Planning - Pilot Ec/Io Plot Optimisation (2nd Pass)

Add Site

Downtilt

Pilot Ec/Io has been improved

Still want to Improve

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RF Planning - Pilot Ec/Io Plot Optimisation (2nd Pass)

We will add site 169 to serve the Memorial Hall area and downtilt the surrounding sectors to reduce interference.

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RF Planning - Pilot Ec/Io Plot Optimisation (3rd Pass)

Pilot Ec/Io problem is gone!

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RF Planning - Handoff Plot

Excessive handoff area due to lack of dominant server

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RF Planning - Handoff Optimization

Add Site : Excessive handoff reduced.

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RF Planning - Required Mobile EiRP Plot

Required mobile EiRP plot shows the mobile transmit power required to acquire the uplink. The mobile transmit power needed = max. mobile power - fade margin - bldg. penetration loss + SHO gain
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RF Planning - Cell Loading per Cell

Design Target : Cell Loading <70%

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RF Planning - Cell Loading Optimisation

Operator did not want any site with Cell Loading >60% Add carrier Add sites

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RF Planning Statistics
Statistical analysis General statistics (number of total users, dropped users)

Results per site (UL / DL carried throughput)

Results per transmitter (power, load, reuse factor) Results per mobile (connection status, handoff, power)

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RF Planning - RF Design Optimisation Summary

Analysis of the prediction and simulations results
UL/DL coverage quality
Based on design threshold Ec/I0 for DL coverage Mobile ERIP for UL coverage

QOS
UL/DL load factor per cell Hand-over Call drops (<70%)

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RF Design Optimisation After Site Build

RF design optimisation for coverage
When the sites are placed, it is necessary to verify that the both UL&DL quality of coverage are reached for each service. The coverage optimisation is performed on
Site position Antenna tilt and azimuth Adding new sites if necessary

RF design optimisation for capacity

Multi-Carriers solution Adding new sites

Continuous process

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Content
1. RF Planning Process 2. Designing for Performance

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WCDMA RF Engineering Experience

A Clean Textbook RF Design for Coverage
Define Uplink Budget from QOS Margins Space Cells for Target Edge Signal Strength. Adjust heights to contain Interference Use Buildings as Interference Shields Unlimited Bldg Penetration & QOS ???

H B R D = 2R > 2B B R

It doesnt seem too Difficult ?

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WCDMA RF Engineering Experience

Real World CDMA Cells Fragment at Closer Spacings and present many conflicting challenges.
Path loss Slopes Flatter ,More Patches of Overshoot Site Grid breaks up Handoff Problems Increase Longer Neighbor Lists Longer Code Search times Spectral Efficiency Loss
Mobile TX Pwr vs Log D
20 10 0

dBm

-10 -20 -30 -40 -1 -0.5 0 log(d) 0.5 1

Slope ?

Nortel have been Deploying CDMA in Real Environments for 8 years

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Cell Border Placement

R -s1

CDMA-based system is interference-limited. Avoiding pilot pollution is the key.

Maximizing the signal level inside the cell Minimize the signal overshoot to the neighbor cells

R -s2

B=4Hh/ l

Break Point

Two-slope propagation model

H B B R D = 2R > 2B

Good CDMA design takes advantage of the two-slope propagation model by designing cell border beyond break point. Signal within the cell has a slower path loss slope, but the out-of-cell interference has a faster path loss slope

Good design

H B

B R R

Poor design

D = 2R < 2B

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Antenna Height Variance and Pilot Pollution

Ideally only first tier cell (6 cells) will interfere the cell under study Cell separation too close or high antenna height variance will cause second tier (12 cells) or even third tier cells (36 cells) to interfere No dominant server issue can be addressed by reducing excessive soft HO area

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Tri-cellular arrangement
Site placement and antenna orientation has significant impact on server dominance. Effective technique antenna main-lobes of one site are directed at the antenna nulls of the adjacent sites OMNI antennas are usually not desirable OTSR is a good low cost substitute

a3 g3 b3 a1 g1 a2 b1

g2 b2

Dominant servers everywhere

a3 b4 a2 g2 b2 a6 g3 b3 a1 g1 b1 g5

Many areas with no dominant server

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Inter-System Border Placement

UMTS-to-GSM handover is more critical GSM-to-UMTS handover is not critical Mobile performs cell reselection and selects the CDMA system shortly after entering dual mode service area Experience shows performance of inter-system borders is highest when:
Traffic moves normal (perpendicular) to the border Traffic flow across the border is relatively low

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WCDMA KPIs

Significant WCDMA KPIs

Call drop rate, call setup failure rate Call setup time Single-user bit rate Objective voice mean opinion score (MOS)

Not Considered WCDMA KPIs

Common pilot Ec/I0. Note that Ec/I0
is neither linearly related to performance nor directly visible to users. Handover drop rate. Note that handover is an event in FDMA systems, whereas it is a state in CDMA systems. Cell throughput because there is a boundless number of variables that influences cell throughput including end user application and cost- & marketingbased decisions by the UMTS network operator.

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Presentation Name - 29