Multiband U900 U2100 Layering Strategy

Proposal for M1

May 2010

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1 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
 • Background

• Service strategy

• Load balancing strategy

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2 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
M1 Info and MBB traffic growth challenge (1/2)

• NW & Frequency
– GSM 10 MHz in 900 & 20 MHz in 1800, UMTS 15 MHz in 2.1GHz, 12
MHz in 2.6 GHz
– GSM900 & GSM1800 modernisation with NSN Flexi Multiradio, 3G
RAN + PS from Huawei
• 3G Site Count & Configuration
– Total on air 3G sites ~1700
– Most of the sites are 2+2+2, < 20% sites are 3+3+3

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3 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
M1 Info and MBB traffic growth challenge (2/2)

• Challenge
– Some of 3+3+3 configuration sites are facing congestion & there is no
growth plan except new sites
– Not possible to address future growth in 2.1 GHz band
– Number of congested sites is growing
• Traffic profile in congested area
– Almost all users are static Mobile Broadband users (USB Dongle) in
residential (Condo/HDB) area
– 2G traffic is low, refarming one WCDMA carrier from GSM900 can be
done
• Devices
– Relatively high (even 50%) UMTS900 terminal penetration can be
assumed end-of-2010

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4 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
 • Background

• Service strategy

• Load balancing strategy

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5 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
Service strategy – voice / data on U900 ?

• U900 provides significantly better voice coverage compared to U2100

• CS voice over HSPA can be used to improve voice capacity and end-user
experience due to improved UE battery lifetime
– Becoming standard feature in UEs from 2011
• Offloading voice and R99 data services from U900 to U2100 can be made
using the load and service based handovers
• U900 provides significantly better data throughput compared to U2100
– Boost indoor data rates over 1 Mbps

As M1 already has good voice coverage with U2100,

recommendation is to utilise U900 primarily for HSPA traffic to get
highest gain+
• In bad radio conditions (especially indoors) HSPA user on U2100 layer can
drop to 2G/EDGE causing major impact to end-user experience (reduced
throughput)

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Improved indoor data rates with U900

kbps
HSPA data rates Example case
6000
HSPA900
HSPA2100 • Comparing achievable
5000 HSPA data rates in indoor
locations with 2100 and
4000
+60% 900MHz
3000 • Coverage provided from
outdoor BTS sites (typical
2000
case)
+130%
1000

0
Outdoor Indoor, -10dB Indoor, -20dB
penetration loss penetration loss

WCDMA 900 MHz boosts indoor HSPA

data rates over 1 Mbps

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7 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
U900 provides large coverage and improved data
rates
• The lower the frequency of radio signal, the longer distance it propagates
• WCDMA in 900 MHz provides 1 Mbps coverage with GSM 900 MHz
footprint

WCDMA2100 1Mbps Cell area increases 2.8x from

WCDMA2100 to WCDMA900
WCDMA2100 Voice = 65% reduction in cell sites

GSM1800 Voice

WCDMA900 1Mbps WCDMA900 1Mbps and

GSM900 voice coverage same
WCDMA900 Voice = GSM BTS grid can be used

GSM900 Voice

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0

Cell area [km2] Suburban indoor

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HSDPA Downlink Data Rate (Application Level)
6-8 dB gain with U900 ->
10
60 W
major improvement in
9
40 W HSDPA data rate
8 20 W

7
Coverage edge

6
Mbps

5 3
4
2 1 = Gain +25..101%
3
2 = Gain +18..64%
2 1
3 = Gain +15..46%
1

0
-115 -110 -105 -100 -95 -90 -85 -80
CPICH RSCP [dBm]
Typical uplink limited path loss = 160 dB
160 dB 150 dB 5 simultaneous users assumed in downlink
155 dB DC-HSDPA feature assumed
No other cell interference
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9 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
 • Background

• Service strategy

• Load balancing strategy

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10 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
UMTS900 on Top of UMTS2100 – Scenario
UMTS2100 UMTS2100 UMTS2100 UMTS2100

UMTS900 UMTS900

• Starting point = nearly continuous UMTS2100 coverage

– Still lack of indoor coverage
– Site grid has been planned for GSM900 and UMTS2100 does not provide the
same coverage.
• UMTS900 introduction on top of UMTS2100
– UMTS900 deployed on some sites which may or may not be co-sited with
UMTS2100
– UMTS900 coverage is much wider than UMTS2100 because there are less
sites and less inter-cell interference

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Load balancing strategy

1
UMTS900

2 UMTS2100 UMTS2100
3

1 Utilise U900 layer with “predefined” load (certain planned load level
to give good end-user experience i.e. data rates for HSPA users)
2 Offload excess traffic to UMTS2100
Balance loading within UMTS2100 layers (Huawei load balancing
3
mechanisms)

 Best utilisation of U900 traffic and significant capacity boost

compared to 3 U2100 carriers only

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12 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
Detailed considerations – idle mode

• Push all UEs to U900 whenever possible to move UEs to

U900
• Adjust the reselection parameters to U2100 as usage in U900
increases (i.e. throughput per user decreases)
• Example U900  U2100
– min Ec/N0 = -14 dB
– min RSCP = -107 dBm

 Idle mode UE steering doable

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13 © Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date
Detailed considerations – connected mode

• Low load situation – allow also voice on U900

• Loaded situation – move R99 voice and data traffic to U2100
with load and service based handovers
• Loaded situation – move excess HSPA traffic to U2100
– Inactivity based layer change due to load (RU30)
 When HSDPA inactivates (low utilisation timer expires), it is possible to trigger
layer change
• DC-HSDPA devices can be moved to U2100 (via low
utilisation timer or periodical trigger) i.e. first allocation on
900, then to U2100
• Coverage based handovers

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UMTS900 – UMTS2100 Interworking

• NSN RNC enables load balancing between U900 and U2100 both in
NSN-only case and also in inter-vendor case

NSN UMTS2100
UMTS2100
• Same RNC for U900 and U2100
• Load balancing handovers
UMTS900 • Target cell loading known internally in
NSN RNC RNC

UMTS2100 Non-NSN UMTS2100

• Load based handovers from
UMTS900 to UMTS2100
Load info
UMTS900 • Target UMTS2100 cell load
information (1...100) from other
vendor RNC
NSN RNC
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Nokia Siemens
Networks

Smart Networks
for Smart Devices

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Coverage Extension with UMTS900 with RU10
UMTS2100 UMTS2100 UMTS2100 UMTS2100

Periodic measurements and IF-HO if

target U2100 signal good enough
UMTS900 UMTS900

• Idle mode
– Push all UEs to U900 whenever possible to move UEs to U900
– Adjust the reselection parameters to U2100 as usage in U900 increases (aka throughput
per user decreases)
– Example U900 -> U2100 min Ec/N0 = -14 dB and min RSCP = -107 dBm
• DCH state
– Push users to U2100 if needed (as per average user throughput decreases in U900) as
long as target U2100 RSCP/EcN0 is good enough
– Periodic measurements (30-60-120 s period) if measured U2100 is not good enough
– Potential to use load trigger in U900, e.g. keep voice in UMTS900 if UMTS900 load is
low
• RU10 solution allows to use U900 for coverage extension
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