Radio-planning as an answer to the last-mile technological and financial issues

PITA Service Quality & Operationnal Workshop 25-29 July 2005

Solutions in Radiocommunications

Agenda
Who we are? Last Mile in context: yesterdays experience as a help to todays needs What technology to choose? Wireless last-mile radio-planning Whats next?

Last mile in context

Use of the radiowave propagation in order to connect the subscriber at the last mile of the network : wireless starts when the copper ends ! Cheaper than cable, Easy to deploy and undeploy High bit rates (several Mbit/s per subscriber/CPE), Frequencies used : 2.4 to 40 GigaHz, and lower (from LOS to nLOS solution) Associated services : VoIP, broadband internet, multimedia

Last mile in context

Many technologies for the same goal: Microwave links WLL (LMDS) W-MAN (WiFi, WiMAX, WiBRO, Flash-OFDM) Mobile (3G) Broadcast (DVB-H, T-DAB, Wi-TV) Mesh networking Different technical and commercial maturity UMTS already launched commercially, Bit rate lower than initial expectations LMDS faced a major crisis in Europe and Northern America in the years 2000 FWA-type of WiMAX has just been certified Studies and tests for DVB-H MW links requires expensive deployment costs WiFi is very sensible to interference and distance limited

Last mile in context

Many questions, few certainty Everybody agrees on the fact that content convergence is the key for future applications Ideally, the use of one or another technology should be transparent for the customer Different actors profile, different expectations Established operators:
- complement to white areas where DSL is not already available (rural areas) - wireless alternative to DSL to face the increasing Bit Rate demand for Residential and SoHo areas

Alternative operators:
- offering a wireless solution to the standard access to the subscriber (optical fiber, cable, dedicated line, non-modifiable installation)

Last mile in context : Competing or complementing wireless technologies ?

What is the best technology? Segmentation of the Market according to customers precise expectation According to the targeted market one technology or a combination of solutions will better fit the needs Whatever the solutions, the technologies will co-exist Building and proving a business case should rely on deployment hypothesis, that can be fulfilled by a radioplanning tool such as ICS telecom nG

Cartography in 2D and 3D
ICS telecom-nG manages 5 cartographic layers that are necessary for the propagation calculation and display:

Digital elevation models Raster Images Clutter files Building files Vector files

Plannification of the last mile by digital simulation

Dimension the network according to todays needs and tomorrows

Plannification of the last mile by digital simulation

Located the best positions in order to place the BS

Plannification of the last mile by digital simulation

Plannify the parenting of each CPE to their BS, connection per connection

Plannification of the last mile by digital simulation

Plannify the parenting of the CPE to their BS, connection per connection

Plannification of the last mile by digital simulation

Plannify the parenting of the CPE to their BS, connection per connection

Plannification of the last mile by digital simulation

Simulate the coverage and the resulting interference area of the network

Planning of the last mile by digital simulation: anticipating the business figure

Connectable subscribers

% connected subscribers

100 %

Mesh

80 % Addition of a relay between nodes

PMP

Range of revenue depending on the distribution of the type of customers

50 %

30 %

10

Subscribers number

20 50 100 200 500 1000 2000

Last mile : whats next ? (1)

Adaptive modulation

Traffic demand per user: 30 Mbit/s

Connection possibilities due to adaptive modulation

Last mile : whats next ? (2)

Smart antennas

Last mile : whats next ? (3)

From the CPE placed on the rooftops or building sides to Indoor CPEs

Last mile : whats next ? (3)

From the CPE placed on the rooftops or building sides to Indoor CPEs

Last mile : whats next ? (4)

From a fixed service to a nomadic service (withing the same cell) to a mobile service (handling handover) OFDM technology takes advantage of the canyon effect

Conclusion
Simulation can integrate a large amount of input information (environment, context, users profiles, technical parameters) Possibility to play multiple scenarios, to compare equipments (same or different technologies)

ICS telecom nG providing tangible elements for the elaboration of a reliable business case