Understanding UMTS

UMTS Radio Planning Issues

Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning Issues

Fig 1.

Planning Requirements

Coverage

Capacity

Quality

Understanding UMTS

Cell Planning

Understanding UMTS

Fig 2.

Radio Planning Issues

Traditional Cell Planning

Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning Issues

Fig 3.

W-CDMA Cellular Planning Principles

Spread signals from

same and adjacent cells
contribute to
interference levels
- Good power control
required
- Capacity of each cell
needs planning

This interference
remains spread on
despreading wanted
signal, unless
same spreading codes
are used, or poor
correlation
characteristics exist
- Code Planning
Required.

Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning Issues

Fig 4.

Soft Handover Regions

Mobiles may be
served by more
than one base
station site in soft
handover (shaded)
areas
Continuous
coverage should be
maintained (if
required) under all
load conditions
The combining
process enhances
the signal in soft
handover

Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning Issues

Fig 5.

Cell Breathing

Effective range of cell

is reduced on higher
loading due to
interference caused
by additional
channels
Adjacent cells also
breathe
Soft handover region
reduces

Understanding UMTS

Interference Effects

Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning Issues

Fig 6.

Interference, Capacity and Coverage

Need to control:

Power
Range (coverage)
Processing Gain/Spreading Factor per user
Overall loading

Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning Issues

Fig 7.

Multi-path Effect

By delaying code generation in the Rake Receiver,

multi-path can be used to enhance recovered signal.

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Understanding UMTS

Fig 8.

Radio Planning Issues

Interference Sharing

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Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning Issues

Fig 9.

Limitations

Note that for a 2 Mbps service, three codes would be used

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Understanding UMTS

Fig 10.

Radio Planning Issues

User Data Rates and Number of Users

Total capacity (Users x User Rates) is not constant due to dimensioning

and also the greater control overhead required for more lower rate users

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Understanding UMTS

Reducing Interference / Increasing

Capacity

Understanding UMTS

Fig 11.

Radio Planning Issues

Sectorisation

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Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning Issues

Fig 12.

Smart Antennas

Multiple beams can be generated for multiple users

Co-Channel interference in Uplink and Downlink is reduced
Range increased due to higher antenna gain
Capacity increased due to reduced co-channel interference

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Understanding UMTS

Fig 13.

Radio Planning Issues

Multi-Carrier Cells

Adjacent channel interference is minimised by co-locating and using

same antennas.
Different operators using adjacent frequency bands would benefit from
co-location to reduce adjacent channel interference

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Understanding UMTS

Fig 14.

Radio Planning Issues

Setting the Carrier Spacing

Carrier spacing can be set in steps of 200kHz within band to minimise

adjacent channel interference
Operators can minimise adjacent channel interference from their own
carriers by co-location (hence spacing can be reduced in order to
maximise spacing between operators)

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Understanding UMTS

Fig 15.

Radio Planning Issues

The Layered Architecture

Different Carrier Frequencies may be employed at different layers

(hard handovers can be used)
Lower range, higher bit rate services may be provided by TDD mode
(eg: office environments)

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Understanding UMTS

Co-Planning

Understanding UMTS

Fig 16.

Radio Planning Issues

GSM Co-Planning Range

Comparisons

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Understanding UMTS

Fig 17.

Radio Planning Issues

Using Existing 2G Sites

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Understanding UMTS

Fig 18.

Radio Planning Issues

Coverage Areas

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Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning and Simulations

Understanding UMTS

Fig 19.

Radio Planning Issues

Planning Tools

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Understanding UMTS

Radio Planning Issues

Fig 20.

W-CDMA Planning Considerations Summary

Cellular structure used

Same frequency can be used in each cell
Codes need to be planned to prevent co-channel interference (64 groups to choose from)
In general, the greater the bit rate per user, the lower the number of users per cell
Greater cell range gives reduced capacity (and vice versa) for a given power
The greater the instantaneous cell usage, the smaller the effective cell range (cell breathing)
Interference decreases range and/or capacity for a given power
Overall system noise/interference must be kept as low as possible
Interference reducing techniques may be used
Diversity
Multi user detection
Smart antennas
Repeaters
Increased downlink power gives increased capacity only to a certain limit
Planning may use:
more than one frequency for capacity or coverage purposes
(eg: hierarchical cells)
GSM/EDGE to offer more complete coverage around UMTS Islands
TDD mode suited to shorter range (and possibly higher data rates)
FDD mode suited to longer range
Asymmetric services must be planned for

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