What are coverage thresholds in your UMTS design and why?

The coverage thresholds are based on UE sensitivity, fading and penetration loss. Assuming UE sensitivity of -110dBm, fade margin of 5dB:

Outdoor: -110dBm sensitivity + 5dB fade margin = -105dBm. In-vehicle: -110dBm + 5dB + 8dB in-vehicle penetration loss = -97dBm. In-building: -110dBm + 5dB + 15dB in-building penetration loss = -90dBm.

Suppose we are designing a CS network and a PS network, is there a major difference in the design consideration?
Server dominance is the key difference. In a CS network we shall limit the number of strong servers in any given area to no more than the active set size to avoid pilot pollution (in the downlink). In a PS network, however, there isnt soft handover in the downlink so the server dominance is very important meaning ideally there should be only one dominant server in a given area.

What is the "Beauty Contest" when 3G licenses are issued? ... and Why?
Beauty Contest means that the government asks all applicants to provide a plan how to build a network and manage their future 3G business. A plan typically includes things like: How many new jobs are created, what kind of services will be available and when, how much domestic products are used, how will less developed areas (rural areas) benefit from this, what kind of financial plan is in place to guarantee the success and avoid bankrupts etc. So government wants to decide what is best for the country, not who is willing to pay most. (In USA and Australia some highest bidding operators have gone bankrupt and government has to pay unemployment etc payments and it is also embarrassing for the government).

What are the major differences between GSM and UMTS handover decision?
GSM:

Time-based mobile measures of RxLev and RxQual mobile sends measurement report every SACH period (480ms). o BSC instructs mobile to handover based on these reports.

UMTS:

Event-triggered reporting UE sends a measurement report only on certain event triggers. o UE plays more part in the handover decision.

What are the design KPIs?

RSCP, Ec/Io, mean served, soft handover ratio

How many types of handovers are there in UMTS?

Soft/Softer Handover Inter Frequency Handover Inter RAT Handover Core Network Hard Handover Service based handover to GSM HSDPA Mobility

What are the possible causes for an Access Failure in UMTS?

Missing Neighbors Poor Coverage Pilot Pollution / Spillover Poor Cell Reselection Core Network Issues Non availability of resources. Admission Control denies Hardware Issues Improper RACH Parameters External Interference

What is Hard Handover in UMTS? When will it happen?

Hard Handover in UMTS is a break before make type Handover It can happen in the inter RNC boundaries where there is no Iur link.

Which frequency band radio used in bluetooth ?

Bluetooth does operate in the 2.4 GHz band like 802.11b and 802.11g, but it uses frequency hopping instead of direct sequencing.

Gb interface
In GPRS, the interface between a GSM BSC and a GPRS SGSN. The corresponding interface in UMTS is Iu-ps.

What are reasons for using GMSK in GSM ?

GMSK is used in GSM because it provides good spectral efficiency.i think 8-psk modulation is also used..... for edge hardware

Well the reason GMSK is used for GSM. 1. High spectral Efficiency 2. Since Basic MSK uses Phase variations for modulation so better immune to noise. 3.Use of non-linear amplifiers at receivers can be utilized since the information is stored in phase variations rather than amplitude, Non-linear amplifiers give better response and consume less power so low battery usage which is a important parameter in Cellular technology.

air interface
In cellular telephone communications, the air interface is the radio-frequency portion of the circuit between the cellular phone set or wireless modem (usually portable or mobile) and the active base station. As a subscriber moves from one cell to another in the system, the active base station changes periodically. Each changeover is known as a handoff. A cellular connection is only as good as its weakest link, which is almost always the air interface. Radio-frequency (RF)circuits are subject to many variables that affect signal quality. Factors that can cause problems include:

Use of the handheld phone set or portable wireless modem inside buildings, cars, buses, trucks, or trains Proximity to human-made, steel-frame obstructions, especially large buildings and freeway overpasses Abundance of utility wires that can reflect radio signals and/or generate noise that interferes with reception Irregular terrain, particularly canyons and ravines

Inadequate transmitter power in phone set or wireless modem Poorly designed antenna in phone set or wireless modem

In addition to these variables, some cellular networks have inadequate coverage in certain geographic areas. Usually this is because there are not enough base stations to ensure continuous communications for subscribers using portable (handheld) phone sets. As a network evolves, more base stations may be installed in a given region, and in that case, this problem will diminish with time. Conversion of a network from analog to digital can result in dramatic improvement.

SERVING GPRS SUPPORT NODE-GSM (SGSN-G) The Serving GPRS Support Node-GSM (SGSN-G) is a primary component in the GSM/GPRS architecture. The SGSN-G's primary task is to forward incoming and outgoing IP packets addressed to/from a mobile station that is attached within the SGSNG area. In particular the SGSN-G provides Security over radio access by means of ciphering and authentication. Session and mobility management. Logical link management towards the MS

How many Base Stations are needed for an UMTS network?

There are several factors: - Required coverage areas according to a license agreement (link budget will determine the cell spacing) - Required capacity according to license agreement and initial customer and operator demands. - Amount of frequencies carries have. (More frequencies, less interference, longer cell spacing) - Ability to get BTS site locations. (Normally co-location requirements with used 2G sites) - Financing available for network build. - Economical factor to build sites. - Design opinions and experience of companies and people bidding for the design job and eventually implementing the plan. - And probably in a long run the capacity, service, and coverage requirement from customers. Rollout will be very similar to 2G network rollouts. First phase of rollouts in UK size market will probably be 1000 base station in urban areas. Within 5 year about site count will increase to 5000 sites and eventually up to 10000 sites depending how successful the business is.

What are the possible causes for a Drop Call on a UMTS network?

Poor Coverage (DL / UL) Pilot Pollution / Pilot Spillover Missing Neighbor SC Collisions Delayed Handovers No resource availability (Congestion) for Hand in Loss of Synchronization Fast Fading Delayed IRAT Triggers Hardware Issues External Interference

How many scrambling code groups are there for downlink?

There are 64 code groups, each group has 8 scrambling codes

How many slots are there in a WCDMA Frame? How big is a frame in ms. how many chips are there in a slot?
WCDMA Frame is 15 slots wide. It is 10ms in length. There are 2560 chips in one slot. Chip rate is 3840 Kc/s Length of frame = 10 ms Number of chips in a frame = 3840 *10=38400 chips Number of chips in a slot = 38400/15= 2560 chips.

How many BTS'S can One Base Station Controller can control
255 BTS can control one BSC (NSN).

How a sim card is registered with a particular network and what is the registration process for it.
MSC will register a prticular sim in a network when the SRES and RANDOM number are properly matchd , MSC also contain a HLR(home location register ) which store the permaent data about the mobile subscribers . MSC also uses the AUC (authentcation center) which contain some parameters used for registration . a HLR table is crearted for the sim card at the GMSC WIth MSISDN,KI (KEY for Auth) and the first 4 bit number of the MSISDN is given to the mobile operator which is unique to that network only

How many bits are transmitted in one timeslot in case of GSM

1TIME SLOT=156.25 BITS DURATION

How many Superframes are in one Hyperframe

1 HYPERFRAME=2048 SUPERFRAMES

What is the typical Call Setup Time for a 3G UE to 3G UE Call? What are the possible RF related causes for a delayed CST in this type of call?

6 to 9 seconds Multiple RRC Attempts (UE is on poor coverage need more than Access Attempt) Delayed Page Responses High Load on Paging and/or Access Channel Paging / Access Parameters

What are the UMTS data rates of the services?

2.048Mb/s for pico-cell (and micro-cell) applications. 384kb/s for medium size cells. (micro and small macro cells) 144kb/s and 64kb/s for large cell applications. (Large macro cells) 14.4kb/s for continuous low speed data applications in very large cells. 12.2kb/s for speech (4.75kb/s - 12.2kb/s) 9.6kb/s globally (satellite)

What are the UMTS air interface logical channels?

Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) Paging Control Channel (PCCH) Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH) Common Control Channel (CCCH) Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH) Common Traffic Channel (CTCH)

What are the UMTS frequencies and channel spacing?

1900-1920 and 2010-2025 MHz Time Division Duplex (TDD, TD/CDMA) Unpaired, channel spacing is 5 MHz and raster is 200 kHz. Tx and Rx are not separated in frequency 1920-1980 and 2110-2170 MHz Frequency Division Duplex (FDD, WCDMA) Paired uplink and downlink, channel spacing is 5 MHz and raster is 200 kHz. An Operator needs 3 - 4 channels (2x15 or 2x20 MHz) to be able to build a high-speed, high-capacity network. 1980-2010 and 2170-2200 MHz Satellite uplink and downlink UMTS frequency is 2110-2170Mhz Channel spacing is 5Mhz

How much power usually a NodeB is allocated to control channels?

The power allocated to control channels may depend on equipment vendor recommendation. Typically no more than 20% of the total NodeB power is allocated to control channels, including CPICH. However, if HSDPA is deployed on the same carrier then the total power allocated to control channel may go up to 25 to 30% because of the additional HSDPA control channels required.

Why TMA are installed at the top near the antenna and not the bottom near the NodeB?
Based on Friis Equation, having a TMA near the BTS will have the top jumper and main feeder losses (noise figures) cascaded in and a TMA will not be able to help suppress the losses.

What is typical TMA gain?

TMA typically has a 12 dB gain; however, the effective gain comes from noise figure reduction and the gain is close or equivalent to the feeder loss.

How does TMA work?

A TMA reduces system noise, improves uplink sensitivity and leads to longer UE battery life. Sensitivity is the minimum input power needed to get a suitable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the output of the receiver. It is determined by receiver noise figure, thermo noise power and required SNR. Thermo noise power is determined by bandwidth and temperature, SNR is determined by modulation technique, therefore the only variable is noise figure. The cascading noise figure can be calculated by Friis equation (Herald Friis): NFt = NF1 + (NF2-1)/G1 + (NF3-1)/(G1*G2) + + (NFi-1)/(G1*G2**Gi) As the equation shows, the first block imposes the minimum and the most prominent noise figure on the system, and the following blocks imposes less and less impact to the system provided the gains are positive. Linear passive devices have noise figure equal to their loss. A TMA typically has a gain of 12dB. There are typically top jumper, main feeder

and a bottom jumper between antenna and BTS. A TMA placed near antenna with a short jumper from antenna provides the best noise figure improvement the noise figure will be restricted to the top jumper loss (NF1) and TMA ((NF2-1)/G1), and the remaining blocks (main feeder and bottom jumper) have little effect. To summarize, a TMA has a gain thats close to feeder loss.

Why we give -48 volts to the bts and not +48 volts.
because battery has 2 terminals and red wire we ground with the +ve terminal so that the noise interfence will get zero and noise occur only in the positive terminal thats why we use -ve voltage simple answer positive teminal is grounded and negaitve is given to bts and hence its -48v

Why sometimes our cell phone shows network but we are not able to make phone call.
because of 1)conjection in the network (no radio channel links available to serve) 2)mobile cannot determine the FCCH in the TDMA time slot to sync with the TDMA

What is cell breathing and why?

The cell coverage shrinks as the loading increases, this is called cell breathing. In the uplink, as more and more UE are served by a cell, each UE needs to transmit higher power to compensate for the uplink noise rise. As a consequence, the UE with weaker link (UE at greater distance) may not have enough power to reach the NodeB therefore a coverage shrinkage. In the downlink, the NodeB also needs to transmit higher power as more UE are being served. As a consequence UE with weaker link (greater distance) may not be reachable by the NodeB.

What are the pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages) of TMA?
On the upside, a TMA reduces system noise, improves uplink sensitivity and leads to longer UE battery life. On the downside, TMA imposes an additional insertion loss (typically 0.5dB) on the downlink and increases site installation and maintenance complexity.

How does UMTS paging work?

25-211, 25-304 and 25-331 Note: PI = Paging Indicator (value calculated by higher layers) Pq = Paging Indicator (indicator set by physical layer) 25-304 Chapter 8 shows how Paging Occasion and PI is calculated: Paging Occasion = {(IMSI div K) mod (DRX cycle length div PBP)} * PBP + n * DRX cycle length + Frame Offset Where n = 0,1,2 as long as SFN is below its maximum value. PI = DRX Index mod Np Where DRX Index = IMSI div 8192 'In FDD mode, Np = (18,36,72,144) is the number of Page Indicators per frame, and is given in IE "Number of PI per frame", part of system information in FDD mode.' 25-211 (FDD) Chapter 5.3.3.10 shows how Pq is calculated for channel mapping, the structure of paging indicator channel and the mapping of paging indicators Pq to PICH bits. 25-331 is also worth reading.

what is the function of BTS?

It is a base transceiver station, one type of equipment which provide communication between user and network. For example, user is mobile phone , internet , etc. and network is GSM, CDMA, WI-FI, Wi-Max etc BTS has a set of transceivers to communicate with mobiles in its area. One BTS covers one cell. BTS transmits a BCH signal on one of the channels, on time slot 0.

The BCH helps mobiles to identify the network. The capacity of a cell depends upon the no of channels loaded on BTS. Each RF channel is shared by 8 users in TDMA mode. A BTS connects to BSC through Abis interface, which is a 2 MB/s link. A data rate at GSM air interface is 13KB/s. 4 channels of 13 KB/s map into a 64 KB/s channel before fitting into 2 MB/s data frame on Abis interface.

How does UE camp (synchronize) to a NodeB?

1. UE uses the primary synchronization channel (P-SCH) for slot alignment (TS synchronization). 2. After aligning to NodeB time slot, UE then uses secondary synchronization channel (S-SCH) to obtain frame synchronization and scrambling code group identification. 3. UE then uses scrambling code ID to obtain CPICH, thus camping to a NodeB.

What are the different types of 3G core networks?

The IMT-2000 family of 3G systems includes three types of Core Network technology: GSM based (using Mobile Application Part (MAP) protocols on top of SS7 protocols for signalling) ANSI-41 based (IS-634 protocols for signalling) Internet Protocol based (in future, to be specified)

What is a typical antenna gain?

typical antenna gain is varies from -3dbm to +3dbm whether it is 2g or 3g

What are the different types of 3G networks?

TU Recommendation ITU-R M.1457 specifies five types of 3G radio interfaces: IMT-2000 CDMA Direct Spread, also known as UTRA FDD including WCDMA in Japan, ARIB / DoCoMo recommendation. UMTS is developed by 3GPP. IMT-2000 CDMA Multi-carrier, also known as Cdma2000 (3X) developed by 3GPP2. IMT-2000 CDMA2000 includes 1X components, like cdma2000 1X EVDO. IMT-2000 CDMA TDD, also known as UTRA TDD and TD-SCDMA. TDSCDMA is developed in China and supported by TD-SCDMA Forum IMT-2000 TDMA Single Carrier, also known as UWC-136 (Edge) supported by UWCC IMT-2000 DECT supported by DECT Forum. For more information about 3G air interfaces, download ITU "What is IMT2000" presentation (2.5Mb!). Note that page 3 does not classify CDMA2000 1X as 3G, but page 6 does. Some 2.5G systems (GSM GPRS, IS- 95B and CDMA2000 1X (?)) will be able to deliver 3G services, so it will be difficult for users to see the difference.

Erlang
An Erlang is a unit of telecommunications traffic measurement. Strictly speaking, an Erlang represents the continuous use of one voice path. In practice, it is used to describe the total traffic volume of one hour. For example, if a group of user made 30 calls in one hour, and each call had an average call duration of 5 minutes, then the number of Erlangs this represents is worked out as follows: Minutes of traffic in the hour = number of calls x duration Minutes of traffic in the hour = 30 x 5 Minutes of traffic in the hour = 150 Hours of traffic in the hour = 150 / 60

Hours of traffic in the hour Traffic figure

= 2.5 = 2.5 Erlangs

Erlang traffic measurements are made in order to help telecommunications network designers understand traffic patterns within their voice networks. This is essential if they are to successfully design their network topology and establish the necessary trunk group sizes. Erlang traffic measurements or estimates can be used to work out how many lines are required between a telephone system and a central office (PSTN exchange lines), or between multiple network locations.

What is RTWP? What is the significance of it?

Received Total Wide-band Power It gives the Total Uplink Power (Interference) level received at NodeB

what is Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)?

The channel derived by preempting information in a traffic channel. It is used to send handoff and similar messages.

what do u mean by ASK , PSK , FSK ?

ASK simply varies the amplitude of the carrier between two states, one representing a one, the other representing a zero. PSK the phase of the carrier is shifted, depending on the data to be sent. The simplest form of this is binary PSK (BPSK), where two phase states represent either a one or a zero. FSK, where the frequency is shifted between to states to represent a one or zero, is actually used quite extensively in analog system signaling.

why we require to do drive test ?

The quality of the network is ultimately determined by the satisfaction of the users of the network, the subscribers. Drive tests give the feel of the designed network as it is experienced in the field. All the parameters for example received power levels from own cell and neighbor cells, FER, BER, MS power control, etc. are low and weak. Less penetration level of signals in different regions of the network. These results can then be compared with the plans made before the network launch. Once the network goes live, the drive test and NMS statistics help in further fine-tuning of the parameters, and it is at this point that a set of default parameters is created for the whole network.

what is Diffraction ?
A propagation phenomenon that allows radio waves to propagate beyond obstructions via secondary waves created by the obstruction. Classic types of diffractions are smooth earth and knife-edge.

what do u understand by Fresnel zones ?

The effect of indirect waves can be predicted by calculating where the reflection occurs in relation to a series of ellipsoids which can be drawn around the line-of-sight path between the transmitting and receiving antennas. These ellipsoids, known as the Fresnel zones, contain the points where reflected waves will follow a path of constant length.

What is the frequency of power control (how fast is power control)?

Open loop: depends on parameter setting:

T300 time to wait between RRC retries (100ms to 8000 ms, typical 1500ms)

Closed outer loop: 100 times a second. Closed inner loop: 1,500 times a second.

What is a chip rate of WCDMA System? How much is the bandwidth required for WCDMA?
3840 Kc/s. FDD 5 MHZ of paired band. TDD 5 MHz only.

What is Significance of Eb/No? On what factors it is dependent? who provides Eb/No? What is typical Eb/No for AMR 12.2 for Node B and MS?
Eb_No is related to QOS of a service which in terms related to bit error rate. Technically it is the minimum signal to noise needed by infrastructure equipment after despreading it signal. This is a value used to compare different infrastructure vendors. Eb_No changes with the service type. Typically Eb_No for AMR 12.2 is ~ 4 db for node B and 8 dB for MS. It is infrastructure vendor (NSN) provides the Eb_No for Node B. The Eb/N0 value is the value that needs to be reached for insuring the targeted service quality. This is the ratio between the energy per bit for the related service over the noise spectral efficiency over the whole spreading band. The spread signal is characterized by the ratio of the energy per chip over the spectral noise density Ec/N0.

How much power usually a NodeB is allocated to control channels?

The power allocated to control channels may depend on equipment vendor recommendation. Typically no more than 20% of the total NodeB power is allocated to control channels, including CPICH. However, if HSDPA is deployed on the same carrier then the total power allocated to control channel may go up to 25 to 30% because of the additional HSDPA control channels required.

Why 3G is named as NODE-B?

Node-B is a term used in UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System )to denote the BTS (base transceiver station). In contrast with GSM base stations, Node B uses WCDMA as air transport technology. As in all cellular systems, such as UMTS and GSM, Node B contains radio frequency transmitter and the receiver used to communicate directly with the mobiles, which move freely around it. In this type of cellular networks the mobiles cannot communicate directly with each other but have to communicate with the BTS.

what is Bandwidth ?
The information-carrying capacity of a communications channel. Usually expressed in Hertz (cycles per second) for analog circuits and in bits per second (bps) for digital circuits.

3dB BW Absolute BW Coherence BW Modulation Null-to-null

Why we dont use frequency reuse in case of CDMA?

In CDMA there is no use of frequency reuse because CDMA is based on spread spectrum technology and all the users can share the same band at a time.

How does UE camp (synchronize) to a NodeB?

1. UE uses the primary synchronization channel (P-SCH) for slot alignment (TS synchronization). 2. After aligning to NodeB time slot, UE then uses secondary synchronization channel (S-SCH) to obtain frame synchronization and scrambling code group identification. 3. UE then uses scrambling code ID to obtain CPICH, thus camping to a NodeB.

why GSM 900 is better in terms of coverage and quality ??

According to RF basics, if two signals having different frequencies are transmitted with same power, the signal with low frequency will travel much far than the signal with high frequency. Propagation losses will be less for low frequency as compared to a high frequency. Hence if a GSM 900 frequency and a DCS 1800 frequency are transmitted with same power then DCS 1800 frequency will cover only half of the area covered by GSM 900 frequency.

What are the UMTS frequencies and channel spacing?

UMTS frequency is 2110-2170Mhz Channel spacing is 5Mhz 1900-1920 and 2010-2025 MHz Time Division Duplex (TDD, TD/CDMA) Unpaired, channel spacing is 5 MHz and raster is 200 kHz. Tx and Rx are not separated in frequency 1920-1980 and 2110-2170 MHz Frequency Division Duplex (FDD, WCDMA) Paired uplink and downlink, channel spacing is 5 MHz and raster is 200 kHz. An Operator needs 3 - 4 channels (2x15 or 2x20 MHz) to be able to build a high-speed, high-capacity network. 1980-2010 and 2170-2200 MHz Satellite uplink and downlink

What is the difference between cdma2000 and UMTS?

Cdma2000 and UMTS were developed separately and are 2 separate ITU approved 3G standards. Cdma2000 1xRTT, cdma2000 1xEV-DO (EVolution, Data Only) and future cdma2000 3x were developed to be backward compatible with cdmaOne. Both 1x types have the same bandwidth, chip rate and it can be used in any existing cdmaOne frequency band and network. Backward compatibility was a requirement for successful deployment for USA market. It is easy to implement because operators do not need new frequencies. UMTS was developed mainly for countries with GSM networks, because these countries have agreed to free new frequency ranges for UMTS networks. Because it is a new technology and in a new frequency band, whole new radio access network has to be build. The advantage is that new frequency range gives plenty of new capacity for operators. 3GPP is overseeing the standard development and has wisely kept the core network as close to GSM core network as possible. UMTS phones are not meant to be backward compatible with GSM systems. (but subscriptions (=SIM card) can be, and dual mode phone will solve the compatibility problems, hopefully). UMTS also has 2 flavors FDD (will be implemented first) and TDD.

what is the role of transocoder and what interface is between transcoder and MSC?
A-interface is the interface between transcoder and MSC.Transcoder is a digial to digital data converter used for conversion of speech channels. I think A-ter is the interface which is used between transcoder and MSC , and A interface is used for the linkage between BSC to MSC . The Transcoder (XCDR) is required to convert the speech or data output from the MSC (64 kbit/s PCM), into the form specified by GSM specifications for transmission over the air interface, that is, between the BSS and MS (64 kbit/s to 16 kbit/s and vice versa). The 64 kbit/s Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) circuits from the MSC, if transmitted on the air interface without modification, would occupy an excessive amount of radio bandwidth. This would use the available radio spectrum inefficiently. The required bandwidth is therefore reduced by processing the 64 kbit/s circuits so that the amount of information required to transmit digitized voice falls to a gross rate of 16 kbit/s. The transcoding function may be located at the MSC, BSC, or BTS.Two algos are used Full rate speech

algo Enhanced full data rate.An A interface b/w transcoder & MSC A-interface is the interface between transcoder and MSC because transcoder is a part of base station subsystem.Transcoder is a digial to digital data converter used for conversion of speech channels. Transcoder is used to convert the 13 kbps to 64 kbps and vice versa . Transconder is just install near by MSC , If it is install near BSC so there is lot of wastage of E1 link why should i waste.

what is the function of BTS?

It is a base transceiver station, one type of equipment which provide communication between user and network. For example, user is mobile phone , internet , etc. and network is GSM, CDMA, WI-FI, Wi-Max etc BTS has a set of transceivers to communicate with mobiles in its area. One BTS covers one cell. BTS transmits a BCH signal on one of the channels, on time slot 0. The BCH helps mobiles to identify the network. The capacity of a cell depends upon the no of channels loaded on BTS. Each RF channel is shared by 8 users in TDMA mode. A BTS connects to BSC through Abis interface, which is a 2 MB/s link. A data rate at GSM air interface is 13KB/s. 4 channels of 13 KB/s map into a 64 KB/s channel before fitting into 2 MB/s data frame on Abis interface.