Wireless Network Planning

Mobile Research Institute Network

Planning & Optimization Department

Objective

After taking this course, you will be able to :

know the planning details and what to collect
know how to make capacity planning
know how to make coverage planning
know steps to take and notice to be observed during site survey
know coverage emulation and frequency planning

Category
Network Planning Information Gathering
Capacity Planning
Coverage Planning
Site Distribution & Survey
Coverage Emulation
Frequency Planning

Network Planning Information

Gathering
Information Gathering
Material

Diagnosis

of mobile service forecast

Wave

forecast of all kinds of phone users

terrain, plain, hilly terrain and hills

height and density of land building and
high building distribution
road path, width and wood distribution
Analysis of network traffic distribution

user distribution, such as ratio of urban users to

suburban users
opinion of operators towards user number forseen
comparison of user numbers among similar cities
Existing network equipment & operator profile
existing mobile user number and annual growth rate
ratio of urban user number to suburban user number
configuration and distributing status of existing
mobile network MSC, BSC and BTS.
recent traffic statistics report and drive test report of
mobile network
operators appraisal towards existing network and
also
suggestions
towardmaterial
network development
City planning
city: provincial & industrial cities, and seaport
city populace and agricultural populace
existing and future coverage of cities and suburbs
distribution of urban industrial zone, commercial zone,
residential zone and traveling zone
construction and development plan of economic zone
status and developing plan of roads and transportation
maps including district maps and city planning maps

transmitting environment survey

demand
analysis

urban industrial zone, commercial zone,

residential zone, traveling zone and high
tech park
distribution of high traffic density, medium
traffic density and low traffic density
Network

coverage and quality analysis

investigation of coverage range, coverage

quality and voice quality (DT)
statistics analysis of interface of A, Abis
cobra and OMC
Interference diagnosis
distributing and using status of existing
frequency
whether channel to be used is occupied or
interfered (clear frequency)

Network Planning Information Collection

Demand analysis

Frequency

limited

KPI

Capacity

redundancy

frequency
used

traffic

and other

distributing

requirements

usable

ratio

bandwidth
and
frequency

Coverage

Traffic Model

data traffic

planning

distributing

data traffic

area size

ratio
traffic

band

demand and

frequency

system

resources

capacity

existing
website
number and
site

voice traffic
model

scheme of
operators/

User type
and rate of

model

traffic

Other

configuration

transmitting
ambience

electronic
map exists
or bought?

Network Planning Information Collection

Network planning information collecting template

Microsoft Excel

1. What is necessary information?

2. What is supplementary info?

Inadequate
info

Catalog
Network planning information collection
Capacity planning
Coverage planning
Site distribution and survey
Coverage emulation
Frequency planning

Capacity Planning
Basic concepts
Traffic is the total of telephone calls on one group of lines or trunk. Busy-hour traffic A
is the maximum traffic on the busiest hour of system or line. A= a * b * t. Of which, a is

Traffic

everyday call times (originating and terminating) per user , b is busy-hour to day

volume

ratio( busy-hour traffic divided by daytime traffic), and

t is average call duration.

Suppose one user has calls for 6 times per day, each time lasts 2 minutes and b is 0.15.
therefore, A=0.03Erl
Traffic model is the fundamental of radio network planning that defines the value

Traffic

of important parameters that may affect system capacity including average busy-hour

model

traffic of each user and call loss rate).

Erland

...

One Erlang refers to the traffic load either when a circuit is fully occupied for
a hour or when two circuits are fully occupied for half an hour.
Call loss refers to calls dropped when the channels in one mobile

Call
...

loss

rate

telecommunication system are exhausted, then call cant be put through and thus got
lost. Its also called blocked call. Radio call loss rate GOS is call block rate.
According to the rules in Public Mobile Telephone Network Technology System, radio
channel loss rate is less than 5% and less than 2% in traffic-dense area.

Erlang B
table

Defines the relation between call loss, channel number and traffic
volume.

Capacity Planning

Capacity Planning Procedures

1

Capacity information Traffic distributing

gathering
analysis

Set parameter value

Get capacity
distributing rate

Site model and

number

Site distribution

Get number of
estimated site
configured

Get site distributing

status and their
latitude and longitude

Network size

Reach target in
accordance with
capacity planning

Capacity Planning
1

Capacity Info Gathering

Network type: GSM900, DCS1800, dual-band network or WLL network

System capacity demand. That is, how many users in the system and how heavy the traffic is?

Traffic model of the voice service?

Equipment type: V2/V3? Model? Indoor or outdoor? DPCT applied in V3 or not? Rate of adopting
DPCT?

Is data service required? EDG frequency? Data service penetration rate? Traffic model of data
service?

What is frequency resource range ? Is there frequency that are prohibited? Maximum site
configuration is?

Make forecast and investigation of traffic density distribution and define capacity distributing rate.

return

Capacity planning
2

Traffic distributing analysis

Traffic

are mostly in big and medium-sized cities and especially in the downtown of the

city. Even in this area, there are denser traffic areas. So if these factor are not taken into
consideration during network construction, it will lead to the waste of equipment resource in
mean-traffic area and inadequacy of dense-traffic capacity and thus affects network
investment profit and service quality.
Traffic

distributing analysis is to categorize the planning area into areas of different

service levels based on forecast and survey of traffic density distribution and use it as the
foundation in site distributing planning.
how many phases and what is the ratio of users in
each phase
what is the planning area range and the traffic
distributing ratio in DU/MU/SU/RU.
Provide existing sites and their configuration and
performance statistics report data

Capacity planning
2

Traffic distributing analysis

Service level : by radio transmitting environment
Area
Dense
urban

Topographic features
Average height of surrounding buildings is more than 30 metres (over 10 storey) and average
distance between buildings is 10-20 metres. Usually the buildings are crowded around the site
with the height of 10-20 stories and the ambient roads are not considerablly wide.
Average height of surrounding buildings is about 15-30 metres (5-9 storey) and average distance

urban

between buildings is 10-20 metres. The buildings are evenly distributed around the site. Mostly
are below 9 stories and some are over 9 stories and the ambient roads are not considerably wide.
Average height of surrounding buildings is about 10-15 metres (3-5 storey) and average distance

suburb

between buildings is 30-50 metres. The buildings are evenly distributed around the site. Mostly
are 3-4 stories and some are over 4 stories. Roads around are wide.

rural

Average height of surrounding buildings is below 10 metres. They are dispersed and
mainly are 1-2 storey high. There are spacious space between.

Capacity Planning
2

Traffic Distributing Analysis

Service level : by service distributing area
Area

Distribution Features
Traffic is heavy and rate shall be high,

Dense urban

which is the focus of data service

Radio transmitting

development

environment and service

Traffic is relatively heavy and rate should

Mean urban

be comparatively high. Data service is

required

suburb

distributing factors should all

be taken into consideration.

Traffic is low and only low-speed and data

service are provided
Traffic is quite low. Site is for coverage

rural

purpose and consequently data service

quality are not ensured.

return

Capacity Planning
3

Site Model & Number

Estimate maximum configuration and capacity of each site based on frequency resources and
frequency reusing mode. Total traffic volume divided by site capacity is site number.

Number of sites configured in different areas of each phase.

Channel number (service channel number and control channel number) of a cell or site as
well as their traffic volume and user number.

Totaling of sites capacity. Also called network capacity.

Network Scale

Total Traffic

Coverage Planning
Traffic volume &
distributing ratio
Site configuration
& number

Start

Frequency reuse
method
Frequency resources

Capacity per site

Channel planning
& data service
Maximum
configuration

Traffic per site

Model configuration

Capacity of each cell

ERL B table
Traffic model

Capacity Planning
3

Model & Site

Number

Capacity planning is to
add or reduce sites based
on radio coverage
planning and analysis.

Capacity
Planning

Network
Scale

Capacity planning is a

Coverage
Planning

repeated, gradual process

helping to decide site
number and model
distribution.

Catalog
Network Planning Information Gathering
Capacity Planning
Coverage Planning
Site Distribution & Survey
Coverage Emulation
Frequency Planning

Coverage Planning

Process
2

Set network
parameter

Set parameter

Link budget

Get allowable max

path loss

Coverage radius
estimate

Get estimated
coverage radius of
each site

Site distribution & coverage

emulation

Get information of
distribution as well
as latitude &
longitude of sites

Network scale

Target the goal of

coverage planning

Coverage Planning
1

Set network parameter

Network category: GSM900,DCS1800, dual-band or WLL network?

Equipment type: V2 or V3? Model? Indoor or outdoor? Apply DPCT in V3? DPCT ratio?

Carrier Transmission power is 40W 60W 80W? Are data service required? EDGE carrier
frequency

Antenna model: antenna gains, horizontal and vertical beam width, antenna downtilt,
polarization mode and electrical downtilt etc.

Antenna parameter: antenna available height, directional angle and downtile.

Apply tower top amplifier?

Feeder type: 7/8 feeder or 15/8 feeder?

Maximum site configuration is? Are there special requirements toward configuration of
combining and distribution unit?

What is KPI? What is level and area coverage rate? Which new technology will be
adopted in V3 site, DDT? IRC? or FWDR?

return

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

Definition: analyze the factors that may affect

uplink and downlink signaling

transmission, evaluate the coverage capacity of the system and get maximum
transmission loss allowed by the link with call quality ensured.

Object: Purpose of analysis and computing of both uplink and downlink power is to get
maximum available power of the site, avoid invalid downlink coverage, reduce
interference and system noise, which lays a foundation for quality service.

Get allowable maximum indoor & outdoor path loss of uplink and downlink according to
budget of uplink and downlink.

The smaller of allowable maximum indoor & outdoor path loss of uplink and downlink is
considered to be the allowed maximum indoor & outdoor path loss of the same efficiency
and set it to be the loss when estimating radius coverage.

Uplink

Downlink

Coverage Planning
2

Link budget

Antenna
gain
Feeder loss

PA

Fading
margin
Transmissio
n loss

Penetration
loss

MS power

Site
sensitivity

Put it in a simple way, link budget is the computing of loss and gains on one
telecommunication link.

Body
loss

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

template

Microsoft Excel

Network Type & Equipment

Transmission power and reception
sensitivity of MS/BTS
Maximum site configuration
affect the selection of
combining and distribution unit Link Budget

Margin

Fast fading margin

Slow fading margin
Interference magin

Losses
Path loss Building
penetration loss
Body loss
Apartment Feeder and
connector loss
loss
Vegetation Combiner and
splitter loss
loss

reservation

Gains
Site antenna gain
MS antenna gain
TMA gain

Coverage Planning
2

equipment

Link Budget

margin reservation
link
budget

losses

gains

Complying with GSM protocol transmission power are showed as

follows

Power class

GSM 900 Nominal

DCS 1800

PCS 1900

Maximum output

Nominal Maximum

Nominal Maximum

power

output power

output power

1 W (30 dBm)

1 W (30 dBm)

1
2

8 W (39 dBm)

0.25 W (24 dBm)

0.25 W (24 dBm)

5 W (37 dBm)

4 W (36 dBm)

2 W (33 dBm)

2 W (33 dBm)

0.8 W (29 dBm)

Coverage Planning
2

Equipment

Link Budget
Series

Moduling mode

Transmission power

Reception sensibility

Biggest site config

GMSK

60 W

47.78 dBm

8PSK

31 W

45 dBm

112 dBm

S18/18/18

GMSK

60 W

47.78 dBm

8PSK

31 W

45 dBm

112 dBm

S12/12/12

GMSK

30 W

44.78 dBm

8PSK

20 W

43 dBm

-110 dBm

S2/2/2 or O6

GMSK

40W

46 dBm

-110 dBm

S12/12/12

GMSK

80W

49 dBm

-110 dBm

S6/6/6

8PSK

30W

44.78 dBm

-110 dBm

S12/12/12

(EDGE
)

GMSK

60W

47.7 dBm

-110 dBm

S12/12/12

OB06

GMSK

40W

46 dBm

-110 dBm

S6/6/6

BS30

GMSK

40W

46 dBm

-110 dBm

S2/2/2

GMSK

40W

46 dBm

-110 dBm

S2/2/2

GMSK

80W

49 dBm

112 dBm

S1/1/1

B8018

BTS V3

B8112

M8202

BTS V2

Transmission power, Reception sensibility and biggest site

configuration of GSM BTS V2 and V3 are as follows:

BS21

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

equipment

Margin resservation

budget

losses

gains

Path

loss

Body loss
Compartment loss
Vegetation loss
Building penetration loss
Feeder and connector loss
Combining and distributing unit loss

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

Losses

Path loss
Radio wave loss caused by the transmission distance.

Body loss
When the phone is at waist or shoulder, the signaling is lower than when antenna is several wavelength far from
body. As for voice service, body is supposed to be 3 Db; for data service, 0dB.

Compartment loss
Usually it is 8~10dB.

Vegetation loss
Vegetation loss is related to density of the forest, leaf shape (conifer and board leave), forest height and the distance
between forest and antenna. Inside the forest, the loss of 900MHz is 0.2dB/m; the loss of 1800MHz is 0.3dB/m;
Through forest or diffraction, the loss is 20dB/dec; For there are forest around the antenna and the antenna is lower
than the forest, around 10dB

Building penetration loss

Building penetration loss is the loss caused when wave passing through the construction. It equals to the difference
between average signaling level inside and outside the construction. Averagely its 10 20 dB relying on building
material and thickness.
Area
900M
1800M
loss dB
loss dB

Dense urban

18 22

23 27

Mean urban

15 20

20 25

Suburb & rural

10 15

15 20

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

Feeder loss

Losses
Type

loss dB/100m
900M

1800/1900M

1/2 soft jumper

7.22

11.3

7/8 feeder

3.89

6.15

15/8 feeder

2.34

3.84

Combining & splitter loss

1 CDU Combiner Distribution Unit

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

Losses

Combiner & splitter loss

2 ECDU Duplexer & splitter

3 RDU Receiver Distribution Unit

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

Losses

Combiner & splitter loss

4 CEU Combiner Extension Unit

5 CENU Combiner Extension Net Unit

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

Losses

Combiner & Splitter loss

Unit (900M)

Insertion loss

CDUG

4.4dB

CEUG

3.5dB

CENG

5.3dB

CENG/2

5.3dB

ECDU

0.9-1.0dB

Unit(1800M)

Insertion loss

CDUD

4.6dB

CEUD

3.6dB

CEND

5.5dB

CEND/2

5.5dB

ECDU

0.9-1.0dB

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

Losses

Combiner & splitter loss

Configuration of Carrier number, combiner & splitter and antenna in one cell in BTS V2
(80W TRX) are as follows:
TRX
number

Antenna number &

configuration

2 TX/RX RX

CDU

RDU

CEU

Remark

CDU need special treatment:

connect TX1 interface
with TX interface of
combiner and inactivate
TX2
CDU need special treatment:
connect TX1 interface
with TX interface of
combiner and inactivate
TX2

2 TX/RX TX/RX

3~4

2 TX/RX TX/RX

5~6

2 TX/RX TX/RX

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

Losses

Combiner & splitter loss

Configuration of Carrier number, combiner & splitter and antenna in one cell in ZXG10 B8018

TRX number

CENU

ECDU

CEU

4 2 TX/RX 2 RX

2 2 TX/RX

CDU+TMA for extension

2 TX/RX TX/RX

Combiner for easy extension

2 TX/RX TX/RX

Without Combiner. TMA. large

coverage

2 TX/RX TX/RX

2 TX/RX TX/RX

For easy extension, imbalance

carrier frequency

2 TX/RX TX/RX

To balance carrier frequency

2 TX/RX TX/RX

Antenna number & config

3~4

5~6

7~8

Remark

CDU

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

Losses

Combiner & splitter loss

Configuration of Carrier number, combiner & splitter and antenna in one cell in ZXG10 B8112

TRX number
1

CDU

ECDU

CEU

CENU

2 2 TX/RX

2 TX/RX TX/RX

Antenna number &

config

combiner for easy extension

Without combiner. TMA. Large

3~4

Remark

2 TX/RX TX/RX

2 TX/RX TX/RX

coverage

For easy extension. Imbalance

2 TX/RX TX/RX

carrier frequency

2 TX/RX TX/RX

Balance carrier frequency

7~8

2 TX/RX TX/RX

9~12

2 TX/RX TX/RX

5~6

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

margin reservation

euipment

link
budget

losses

Site antenna gain

Antenna model selection should based on actual

gains

usually is 0

condition.

Area

Antenna gain dBi

urban

15.5

suburb

15.5~17

rural

17~18

Express way or long &

18~21

narrow valley
Hills and highland

17~18

MS antenna gain
remark special attention should
be paid to antenna gain in MS in
GSM WLL network
Antenna may be indoor, outside door or on
the roof. So antenna gain and height
should be examined, which will affect
coverage greatly.

TMA gain

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

equipment

margin reservation

Link
budget

losses

gains

Fast fading & deterioration storage

Fast fading is due to stationary wave field because of the multi-path interference caused by
the reflection on path of scatters (building) or nature obstacles (mainly forest) within 50-100
wavelength around MS. When MS goes through this station wave field, received signaling becomes
fading and signaling level fluctuates greatly.
fast fading & deterioration reservation is the additional received level in receiver noise
condition when multi-path effect and factitious noise (car arc interference ) exists.
walking 2.0--5.0dB
fast moving 0dB
In GSM system, fast fading amount of voice and data service is supposed to be 3dB.

Interference margin
In Gsm system, there are intra-frequency interference, inter-frequency interference,
intermodulation interference, and interference from vicinity to beyond. These interference will
affect link budget. The interference margin is generally supposed to be 3dB.

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget

margin reservation

equipment
Link
budget

losses

gains

Slow fading margin fading margin

Slow fading is due to shadow effect caused by signaling interference from ambient buildings or terrain. The
interference will attenuate the received signaling, which is called shadow fading.
To ensure that site signaling can cover cell edge at certain rate. Its necessary for the site to preserve
some transmission power called fading margin to counteract shadow fading.
Generally shadow fading follows logarithm normal distribution. Shadow fading margin should base on operator
demand of shadow fading variance and margin coverage probability.
slow fading standard deviation is related to transmission condition of electromagnetic wave. In cities, its
about 8~10 Db, while in suburbs or rural areas 6 8dB.
For instance
city fading standard deviation is 8dB, marginal coverage probability is 90% and shadow fading margin is
10.3dB
countries: fading standard deviation is 8dB, marginal coverage probability is 75% and shadow fading margin
is 5.4dB

Marginal coverage
probability(%)

70

75

80

85

90

95

98

slow fading margin/dB

0.53

0.68

0.85

1.04

1.29

1.65

2.06

Coverage Planning
2

Link Budget
Parameter

Symbol

MS transmitting power

Body loss

Building loss

difference between uplink and

MS reception sensibility

downlink is 3-5dB; Its

MS antenna gain

TMA gain

diversity gain

uplink and downlink if loss

Feeder loss

difference is over 10, when

combiner/divider unit
loss

link budget should be

fast fading and

deterioration reservation

modified.

fading margin

noise margin

path loss indoor

M=A-B-C-D+E+F+G-H-I-J-K-L

path loss outdoor

N=M+C

Its normal that loss

considered to be imbalance of

return

Coverage Planning
3

Coverage
radius estimate

Basis to estimate coverage radius

maximum allowable path loss when uplink and downlink keep

balance

propagation model

Okumura-Hata model

Cost231-Hata model

Universal model

Cost231-Walfish-Ikegami model

Max allowable loss

Coverage
radius
estimate

Propagation model selection

return

Coverage planning
4

Site distribution &

coverage emulation

Electronic map
/Mapinfo map
Planning area size
planning area
(Polygon) partition
Planning site number
Link budget
radius estimate

Input

****

Output

Site
distribution

Distribution map
Distribution info
Distribution latitude
& longitude

return

Coverage planning
4

Site distribution &

coverage emulation

Electronic map
Planning map
Polygon
latitude &
longitude of sites
Antenna height/direction angle
Antenna selection
Propagation model
Link budget
Existing network data

Input

****

Output

Coverage &
emulation

Site distribution map

Site coverage effect map
Height info map
Existing network coverage map
Coverage probability statistics table

return

Coverage planning
5

Network scale

Capacity
planning

Network
scale

Coverage
planning

Catalog
Network planning info gathering
Capacity planning
Site distribution & survey
Coverage emulation
Frequency planning

Site distribution & survey

Based on theoretic latitude &
longitude of sites, make sites
survey. According to practical
coverage planning
+ capacity
planning =>
site scale

Distribute site on

traffic distribution, coverage

Mapinfo or PLANET/EET

requirement, ambient

map, set site theoretic

construction environment,

location, and get

natural environment, power

latitude & longitude

supply, propagation supply, and

and other para of sites

land lease , decide site location

and feeder design, including site
location, site type & location,
antenna selection, height,
direction angle, downtilt,
combiner & splitter, tower top
amplifier and feeder etc.

Site distribution & survey

Site survey is key to site distribution including optical measurement,

spectrum measurement and site location investigation.

Optical measurement
Ambient construction environment and natural environment

Spectrum measurement
Electromagnetism environment

Site survey
Installation condition of antenna and equipment
Power and transmission supply

Preparation

familiarize with the engineering by collecting materials relating to the project

including

Engineering files, background material, existing network situation, map

and configuration list

Get tools ready

Digital cameral, GPS satellite receiver, compass, ruler and pc.

Site distribution & survey

Location selection

When selecting location, take the following aspects into consideration

Previous Network condition

Population distribution and habits

City layout and distribution

Main streets and traffic volume

Natural environment such as Hills, lakes, rivers and coastline

Growing trend

Principles of site selection

populace
Traffic distribution

Select high traffic

area and dense
population area

Customer flow trend

Surrounding environment
Signaling transmission
quality

Careful select high

hills, radar, radio
station, filling
station, forest and
power plant

Site distribution and survey

Site selection
Main principles to select sites

Site should be at the best place of regular mesh with deviation less than a quarter of the site
radius.

Select existing facilities for cost saving and period reduction purpose on the premise that it
doesnt affect site distribution.

City skirt and high-elevated hills(100 m or 300 m higher than city construction) in suburbs are
not supposed to be sites, as first to control coverage scope, second to make construction and
maintenance easier.

Newly-constructed sites should better be at place where transportation is convenient, has ample
power supply, environment is safe and has less farmland.

Avoid construct sites near high power radio transmitter, radar station or other interferer.

Better far from forest to avoid fast fading of received signaling.

Pay attention to the effect of signaling reflection and dispersion when in hills, steep slopes,
dense lake area, mountainous region and high metallic buildings.

When in cities, utilize the height of the building to realize division of network hiberarchy.

There are less sites in the initial stage of network construction, so good coverage of key areas
should be guaranteed.

Site distribution & survey

AEM design
TMA
To

CDU

enable sensibility
of site reception system.
TMA is optional, and can be
selected based on system
band. CDU site can use
simplex TMA and triplex;
combiner site. Site adopting
CDU can use simplex or
duplex TMA, while site
adopting combiner can use
duplex TMA.

Function of transceiver
duplex , transmission signaling
combining, filtering and
receiving signaling filter, low
noise amplifier and splitter is
encouraged. TMA feed circuit
is provided. One unit uses one
antenna for multiple signaling
transmitting and receiving.

Feeder
For 900MHz
5/4 feeder when
feed length is over
80m
For 1800MHz
5/4 feeder when
feed length is over
50m

Antenna
Height,

direction

angle
Frequency

Feeder design

range, gain
Polarization
Horizontal and
vertical 3dB beam width
Down tilt

Site distribution & survey

AEM Design

Major guidelines for network planning are:

Frequency Range
Gain
Polarization
Horizontal/Vertical half-power beam width
Down tilt

The following is antenna direction map of Kathrein 739649

Site distribution & survey

AEM Design

Antenna selection is vital to network quality.

Select the antenna according to the coverage of service area, service quality
demand, traffic distribution, and topography, coverage of the whole network
and interference condition should also be considered.

Environment is classified into the following based on topography and traffic.

Urban area, suburb, rural area, road, mountainous area , offshore, tunnel and indoor

BTS in city

select directional antenna with horizontal half-power of 60 65

select medium gain antenna of about 15dBi

best to select antenna with electrical downtilt of 3 6

recommended to select dual-polarized antenna

BTS in
suburb

select direction antenna with horizontal half-power of 65or

90
b

generally select medium or high gain antenna

preset downtilt or not based on actual condition

select dual polarized or vertical polarized antenna

Site distribution & survey

AEM Design
a

select directional antenna of 90 120or all way antenna

Gain of directional antenna selected is higher than normal 16

18dBi

Rural
sites

generally dont select downtilt antenna. For high sites, zero

filling antenna is the best choice.

d
a

vertical polarized antenna is recommended

generally select narrow-beam, high-antenna directional antenna.

Select 8-shape antenna, all-way antenna or deformation all-way antenna based

Road
Sites

on actual condition
b

generally dont select downtilt antenna because road site has

higher requirements toward coverage distance.

c

vertical polarized antenna is recommended.

front-to-back radio ratio of selected directional antenna should not

be high.

Site distribution & survey

AEM Design

AEM design
principle
Antenna
of different

For flat rural area, valid height of antenna is generally 25m.

For suburbs, antenna height can be elevated to 40m.

Antenna overheight will reduce coverage level near the antenna especially for omni antenna

Antenna overheight will easily cause problems affecting network quality like severe crossarea coverage, co-channel interference or adjacent-channel interference.
Design principle of Antenna direction angle
From the networks point of view, directional angel of three-sectored area of rural sites
should be the same. Adjustment of antenna directional angel can be made based on coverage
target in the neighborhood of rural and suburban area, arteries and solo site in suburb.

cell of the same site can be different due to installation conveniences

or cell planning requirements.

Antenna main lobe should direct at dense traffic area to enable signaling strength and to
elevate call quality.

Main lobe deviate from co-frequency cell to control interference effectively.

Intersection coverage depth of rural adjacent sectored antennas should not exceed 10%.

Intersection coverage of suburban and commune adjacent cells shouldnt be too deep and
inclination of adjacent sectored antenna of the same site should not less than 90%.

Antenna lobe of dense rural area should avoid opposing straight street for cross-area
coverage.

Site distribution & survey

AEM Design

Design principles of antenna downtilt

Antenna beam tilt is basic technique of enhancing frequency reuse ability.

Antenna beam tilt technique can control coverage range to reduce interference in the system.

Antenna downtilt angle depends on actual condition in order to reduce interference between co-frequency cells and to
guarantee coverage requirements.

Downtilt design should take sites transmission power, antenna height, cell coverage range and radio transmission
environment into consideration.

Antenna beam tilt can either use electrical or mechanical mode. Electrical tilt is fixed relating to antenna model
selected and mechanical tile is adjustable but generally not beyond limited by installation component and radio
signaling broadcasting features

Different surface radiation will be generated using electrical downtilt or mechanical mode. When downtile angle is
small, difference is small. When angle gets bigger, difference becomes more obvious

Site Distribution & Survey

AEM Design

Antenna isolation

There must be isolation between receiver and transmitter of the site.

Antenna isolation degree: fading of signaling from one port of antenna to another
when antennas are installed.

For GSM system, isolation degree between two transmitting antenna and between
transmitting antenna and receiving antenna should be no less than 32 Db
Lv=28+40log(k/)(dB) (When antenna is vertically distributed)
Lv=22+20log(d/)-(G1+G2)-(S1+S2)(dB) (When antenna is horizontal distributed)

Fulfill the spacing requirement of diversity gain

Distance between two receiving antenna is 12 18when antenna is diversified by

space.

Distance between diversity antenna shall be greater when antenna is higher. Generally
distance between diversity antenna is 0.11 times of available antenna height.

To achieve the same effect, distance of vertical diversity must be 5 or 6 times of

vertical diversity.

To reduce the interaction of the two antennas, horizontal distance of diversity antenna
should be over 3 m with antenna at whatever available height

Catalog
Network Planning Information Collection
Capacity Planning
Coverage Planning
Site Distribution & Survey
Coverage Emulation
Frequency Planning

Coverage Emulation
Coverage Emulation

Electronic map
Planning area
Polygon
Latitude & longitude of sites
Antenna height & direction angel
Antenna model
Link budget
Existing network data

Input

****

Output

Coverage
emulation

Sites distribution map

Site coverage effect map
Height information map
Existing network coverage map
Coverage rate statistics table

Catalog
Network Planning Information Collection
Capacity Planning
Site Distribution & Survey
Coverage Emulation
Frequency Planning

Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning
GSM Working Frequency Band

GSM900

P-GSM900

Uplink

890 915 MHz

Fl (n) = 890 + 0.2n MHz

Downlink

935 960 MHz

Fu (n) = Fl(n) + 45

duplex separation is 45MHz carrier

frequency separation is 200KHz

GSM Frequency Band Serial Number

1 n 124

MHz

n stands for ARFCN

E-GSM900

EGSM
Uplink

880 890 MHz

Fl (n) = 890 + 0.2(n-1024)

Downlink

935 935 MHz

Fu (n) = Fl(n) + 45

975 n 1023

MHz

0 n 124

duplex separation is 45MHz

carrier frequency separation is 200KHz

DCS1800

DCS1800
Uplink

1710 1785 MHz

Fl (n) = 1710.2 + 0.2(n-512) MHz

Downlink

1805 1880 MHz

Fu (n) = Fl(n) + 95 MHz

duplex separation is 95MHz

carrier frequency separation is 200KHz

512 n 885

Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning
Definition of Interference of Co-frequency & Interference of Adjacent Frequency

Co-frequency interference C/I

C/I is the value of interference. When different cells use the same frequency,
another cell may bring interference to the serving cell.
Conforming to GSM criterion, C/I >9dB. In actual engineering, C/I>12dB

Adjacent-frequency interference C/A

C/A is the rate between the two channel when adopting frequency duplex pattern,
adjacent channel will bring interference to the channel of the serving cell.
Conforming to GSM criterion, C/A>-9dB. In actual engineering , C/A>-6dB.

whatever method, it should meet the following requirements taking different

transmission condition, different multiplex mode, multiple interfering factor into
consideration.
co-channel interference protection rate C/I9dB
adjacent channel interference protection rate

C/I 9dB

adjacent channel interference protection rate(400KHz) C/I 41dB

Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning
GSM commonly-used frequency multiplex pattern

A1
A2
A1
A2
B1

D1
D2

B3
A1

A2

B2

C2

B2
D3

D2

B2

B3

A2
C3

A3
B1

Suppose cellular hexagon side

length is 1, intergrating
interference model, we will get:

C
(dB )
I

A1

D3
C1

C2

A3
B1

C3
D1

B3
A1

A2

C1

A3

A1

D3

C2

B1

C3
D1

D2

B3

A2

43multiplex

D1
D2

A1

D3
C1

A3
B1

A3
B1

A3

B2

24
10 log 4
(8) 2(7.2) 4
18dB

18dB>12dB

Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning
GSM commonly-used frequency multiplex pattern
A1

A1

A2

A3
B1

B2

A1
A2

A3
B1

B2

C2
B3

C1
C2

B3

B1

A3
B1

B2

B3

C2

C3
A1

A2
C3

A3
B1

B2

A1
A2

C1
C2

C1

B3
C1

A3

B2

A1

C3

A3

A2
C3

A2

A1
A2

C1

A3

33multiplex

B3
C1

Suppose cellular hexagon length is

1, integrating interference model,
we can get:

C
(dB )
I
2 4
10 log
2(7) 4 2(5.57) 4
13.3dB

13.3dB>12dB

Frequency Planning
Control channel planning

Computing of control channel number

use M/G/N/N model as traffic model of control channel.
Suppose SDCCH call average processing time is 3 second, average processing time of place upgrade is 9
second, user busy-hour call times is 2BHCA, traffic volume of users on SDCCH will be:
(32+9)/3600=0.0042 Erlang
When GOS=2%, capacity of 4SDCCH is 1.092Erlang user volume is
(1.092/0.0042=260 ) 0.025 Erlang=6.5Erlang
By referring to Erlang-B table, 12 TCH(2TRX) are needed.
When GOS=2%, capacity of 8SDCCH is 3.627 Erlang user volume is

(3.627/0.0042=863 ) 0.025 Erlang=21.6Erlang

By referring to Erlang-B table, 30 TCH(2TRX) are needed.

Generally, we can get the maximum site configuration according to frequency resource and selected
frequency multiplex. In planning , select suitable site configuration. Control channel number can be
gotten using ERL B table.

Frequency Planning
PDCH Planning
Fix traffic model of data service
GPRS

If GPRS/EDGE service are

supported ,please
provide

user (%)

20%

EDGE user (%)

100%

Busy-hour throughput per user bps/sub

220

Or provide monthly traffic per user (MB/Month)

Monthly valid days days/Month

busy-hour rate hours/day

Penetrate percentage of data service

20%

Attach percentage

10%

PDP Context Active percentage

20%

Other

null

User data service traffic

user number X Penetrate percentage X Attach
percentage
X PDP Context Active percentage X monthly traffic per
user

Frequency Planning
PDCH Planning
Fix coding mode rate of data service
GPRS coding mode

Bear velocity of Um IP
layer

Application
rate

CS-1 (Kbps)

6.4

0.2

CS-2 (Kbps)

9.41

0.3

CS-3 (Kbps)

11.11

0.3

CS-4 (Kbps)

15.09

0.2

Average bearing velocity

of Um IP layer

10.454

In this way, we can get average velocity of 9 coding type of EDGE

Compute PDCH number of data service of each cell with different configuration.
data service traffic of cell user

/ average velocity of data service

Frequency Planning
PDCH Planning
PDCH planning data of data service

Carrier

channel

SDCCH

Control
channel

Surplus
channel

TCH user

traffic/
cell

SDCCH/4

117

2.0592

SDCCH/8

91

16

SDCCH/8

14

24

SDCCH/8

32

2*SDCCH/8

40

PDCH channel

TCH ERL

TCH user

2.28

91

1.6016

1.66

66

327

5.7552

7.4

296

22

595

10.472

13.18

527

29

841

14.8016

19.27

770

2*SDCCH/8

37

1130

19.888

25.53

1021

48

2*SDCCH/8

45

1424

25.0624

31.92

1276

56

3*SDCCH/8

52

1685

29.656

38.39

1535

64

3*SDCCH/8

60

1985

34.936

45.87

1834

Frequency Planning
TCH Planning

Basic Discipline

Carriers configured in cells in a certain site shall not be co-channel or adjacent channel.

Opposite cell should not co-channel and avoid adjacent channel.

High hill shall not be considered as neighboring site while broad water shall be considered as
neighboring site.

Concerning antenna height and complexity of transmission environment, carriers in opposite &
of nearby sites should avoid co-channel. ( );

Focus on co-channel reuse. Avoid using the same BCCH with the same BSIC in neighboring areas.

Verify and adjust frequency using planning forecast software.

cells

Frequency Planning
TCH Planning

Configuration of neighboring cells

GSM system is centered on cells and have at most two-level handover relationship
externally.

For a stable GSM system, modify unreasonable handover cell in the planning according

to data in drive test.

Cells handed over shall not be co-channel.

Switch shall be mutual, not undirectional

There shallnt be two handover cells with the same BCCH with the same BSIC.

There shallnt be two handover cells with the same BCCH with the same BSIC

cell switch selection shallnt be two many or too little. Two level is best especially

for cells covering road or railway.

Frequency Planning
Pay attention to the following in the process of GSM frequency planning:

Preserve frequency. When we make the frequency planning, we seldom preserve frequency especially for
frequency-lack telecom engineering. In fact, there are lots of advantages to preserve frequency such
as using as frequency in the test, as replacement frequency in the interference , as cellular
frequency in dense-traffic region. 28 frequency is used in phase 5 engineering of Chongqin Telecom
with frequency No.98

preserved. Frequency No. 98 and No. 108 will be preserved in Phase 6. At least

one frequency will be preserved in frequency planning.

Allocate BCCH frequency and TCH frequency. Generally BCCH should be allocated greater continuous
frequency number.

Assign frequency to different areas. Assign frequency for sites in different areas such as urban,
suburb and rural. Focus should be put on cities to avoid interference. Make planning in urban areas
before in suburbs and rural areas. Divide urban area into different areas when there are many sites.

Check manually. Check manually after frequency assignment via automatic frequency planning. Modify
frequency assignment condition or modify frequency manually if frequency is unsuitable.

Action/reaction

GSM Network Planning

info
collection

radio
network
capacity
planning

coverage
planning

site distribution
& survey

frequency
planning