EXPLAIN M03 - 2 Radio Network Planning Process

7/30/2019 EXPLAIN M03 - 2 Radio Network Planning Process

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Radio Network Planning Process

Training Document

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Copyright ©Nokia Oyj 2003. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

0 Objectives ................................................................................... 4

1 Introduction and Pre-planning .................................................. 5 1.1 Network Planning Competence ................................................... 5 1.2 Network Characteristics............................................................... 5 1.3 Scope of Network Planning.......................................................... 6 1.4 Cellular Planning Process............................................................6 1.5 Input Data for a Planning Process ............................................... 8 1.6 Key Dimensioning Quantities....................................................... 9

2 Detailed Planning ..................................................................... 10 2.1 Coverage Planning.................................................................... 10 2.1.1 Coverage Planning Process ...................................................... 10 2.2 Coverage Requirements............................................................ 11

3 Site Select ion ........................................................................... 13 3.1 Site Locations ............................................................................13 3.1.1 Bad Site Location....................................................................... 13 3.1.2 Good Site Location.................................................................... 13 3.1.3 Site Selection Criteria ................................................................ 14 3.2 Site Building Process................................................................. 15 3.3 Site Information.......................................................................... 15

4 Post -Planning ........................................................................... 17

5 Documentation ......................................................................... 18

6 Signal Measurements .............................................................. 19 6.1 Measurement Types.................................................................. 19 6.1.1 Measurement Methods.............................................................. 19 6.1.2 Choice of Routes ....................................................................... 20 6.1.3 Interpretation of Results............................................................. 20

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1 Objectives

At the end of this module the participant will be able to:

• Describe the radio network planning process

• Describe the major tasks in the planning process

• Describe the planning tools for the different phases

• Describe the input and output documents (data)

• Describe the planning environment

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2 Introduction and Pre-planning

2.1 Network Planning Competence

Traditional network operators (old PTTs) tend to do their very own network

planning following their internal structures. The advantage is detailed

knowledge of their network; disadvantages are often low efficiency and no

up-to-date knowledge of new techniques and features.

New network operators often come from a “non-telecom” background and

have no or little resources capable of doing network planning. Therefore this

task is often subcontracted to other companies.

Some infrastructure suppliers also offer network planning in more or less

detail. They usually require the use of their own equipment and have good

knowledge of internal limitations and “undocumented features” of the

equipment.

Many consulting companies also offer network planning services. Their main

advantage is independence from manufacturers. This makes them the natural

choice for operators in the license-tendering phase. It is difficult for

consulting companies to stay up-to-date with the latest information

concerning equipment capabilities of different suppliers.

2.2 Network Characteristics

Each operator’s network will have different characteristics. These “strategic”

intentions of the operator shall also be reflected in the network topology in

order to tailor a network according to the needs. The first operator in a

country could for example aim for plain coverage, whereas the second

operator could target for competitive pricing. The strategy of the third

operator could be replacing the wireline phones.

The following factors should also be taken into account when making the

planning:

• Expected roamer numbers and locations

• Existing international regulations at border areas

• Are microwave links or leased lines the preferred solution?

Each network philosophy calls for a different planning approach.

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2.3 Scope of Network Planning

Network Planning is a complex task involving interactions with many

different functions within the operator’s organisations. Some tasks areiterative, therefore rather time and resource consuming.

Figure 1 shows the main dependencies and interactions within the scope of

network planning.

Network planning team

data acquisition

site survey and selection

field measurement evaluation

NW design and analysis

transmission planningNetwork design

•number and configuration of B S

•antenna systems specifications

•BS S topology

•dimensioning of transmission lines

• frequency plan

•network evolution strategy

Network performance

•grade of service (blocking)

•outage calculations

• interference probabilities

•quality observation

Customer requirements

•coverage requirements

•quality of service

• recommended sites

• subscriber forecasts

External information sources

• topo- & morphological data

•population data

•bandwidth available

• frequency co-ordinationconstraints

Interactions with

⇔ external subcontractors

⇔ site hunting teams

⇔ measurement teams

⇔ operator

⇔ switch planning engineers

Figure 1. Scope of network planning

2.4 Cellular Planning Process

Coverage planning is an iterative and time-consuming task. It involves rounds

of discussions and decisions with site acquisition people. Figure 2 belowshows the main process stream.

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external inputs:(traffic, subs. forecast,coverage requirements...)

Initial NW dimensioning

TRX? , cells, sitesbandwidth neededNW topology

nominal cellplansuggestions for

site locationscell parameters

coverage achieved

coverage prediction

signal strengthmultipath propagation

Sitepre-validation

site inspection

site accepted ?

real cellplanfield measurements

planningcriteria fulfilled?

N

N

N

create celldata forBSC

go tofrequencyplanning

field measurements

Figure 2. Coverage planning

Inputs from operator’s marketing and business planning departments are

considered for the initial network design. Then follows the very iterative

process of coverage planning. Aim of the transmission plan is to minimise the

costs for transmission over the network’s life cycle. This then decides the

final network topology.

Frequency and interference calculations are iterated to the stage of acceptance

from the customer. This includes detailed inputs about traffic volumes and distributions expected in the network.

Parameter planning and tuning increases the network performance.

Figure 3. Cellular planning process

CoveragePlanning andSite Selection

CoveragePlanning andSite Selection

ParameterPlanningParameterPlanning

PropagationmeasurementsCoverageprediction

SiteacquisitionCoverageoptimization

PropagationmeasurementsCoverageprediction

SiteacquisitionCoverageoptimization

External InterferenceAnalysisExternal InterferenceAnalysis

NetworkConfigurationandDimensioning

NetworkConfigurationandDimensioning

PRE-PLANNING

DETAILED PLANNING

Traffic distribution

Service distributionAllowed blocking/queuingSystem features

IdentificationAdaptationIdentificationAdaptation

Area / Cellspecific

Handoverstrategies

Maximum

networkloading

Other RRM

NetworkOptimizationNetworkOptimization

POST-PLANNING

Surveymeasurements

Statisticalperformanceanalysis

QualityEfficiencyAvailability

Capacity Requirements

Requirementsand strategyfor coverage,quality andcapacity,

per service

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marketing

business

plan

traffic

assumptions

initial NWdimensioning

freq. & inter-ference plan

transmissionplan

final NWtopology

parameterplanning

coverageplan

Figure 4. Cellular planning principles

2.5 Input Data for a Planning Process

Demographic Data: Demographic data are useful for estimating traffic

densities and distributions. Population distributions are valuable information

for placement of base stations, probable routing possibilities for terrestrial

lines etc.

Topographic Data: Before starting the coverage planning task, some

elementary topographic data need to be collected to get a first impression of the country’s characteristics. Useful sources of data are a close study of maps

and local knowledge obtainable from residents.

Map information includes e.g.

• location of main cities

• important roads

• location of mountain ranges

• inhabited area

• shore lines

Local knowledge includes

• typical formation of city skylines

• typical building architectures used

• structures of city

• local people’s habits (phone habits, normal working hours,

conversation styles...).

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2.6 Key Dimensioning Quantities

Some essential dimensioning figures for network design include:

• number of base stations needed for coverage reasons

• number of base stations needed for traffic reasons

• acceptable outage probabilities

• balance of interference level and acceptable frequency re-use rate

• bandwidth available

Note that design goals are interdependent. A network can only be optimised

with respect to a single parameter. The “overall optimum” is always a trade-

off and compromise between different aspects.

Design goals and rules must be clearly agreed with the customer before

starting the planning procedure.

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3 Detailed Planning

3.1 Coverage Planning

Coverage planning is the first (and also most visible) step in the actual

network planning process.

3.1.1 Coverage Planning Process

The coverage planning process is a major portion of network planning. It

involves several iteration loops with respect to site selection, site negotiation

and measurements. Coverage Planning is a quite resources and time-

consuming task.

external inputs:(traffic, subs. forecast,coverage requirements...)

Initial NW dimensioning

TRX? , cells, sitesbandwidth neededNW topology

nominal cellplansuggestions for

site locationscell parameterscoverage achieved

coverage prediction

signal strengthmultipath propagation

Sitepre-validation

site inspection

site accepted ?

real cellplanfield measurements

planningcriteria fulfilled?

N

N

N

create celldata forBSC

go tofrequencyplanning

field measurements

Figure 5. Coverage planning process

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3.2 Coverage Requirements

The early and clean definition of coverage requirements is a fundamental

basis for network planning. This, of course, is on the traditional borderline of technical and marketing departments. Experience shows that this border is

seldom trespassed. However, the operators that have functioning co-operation

between technical and marketing staff are also the more successful operators.

The agreed targets should include:

• Roll-out phases & time schedules

• Coverage level requirements, i.e. coverage thresholds

− Agree on min. levels for outdoor coverage

• Indoor coverage area

• Mobile classes to plan for

• Operator’s cell deployment strategies

− Omni-cells in rural areas?

− 3-sector cells in urban areas?

− Minimum of 2 TRX per cell?

phase 1NW launch

rollout

phase 2

rollout

phase 3

Figure 6. Rollout phases

Coverage thresholds affect the cell size as shown in Figure 7. In a hilly area

the surrounding mountains have more effect on the cell size than what the

coverage thresholds do.

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Figure 7. Coverage thresholds define the cell range in a flat open area

Full coverage of an area can never be guaranteed. Outages (see Figure 8) due

to coverage gaps and interference will always occur. The total location

probability in a cell is a function of the probability for no coverage and

interference:

(1- Pno_cov

) * (1- PIf )

Common values for the total location probability are between 90%-95% (time

and location probabilities).

Pno_cov

Pif

Figure 8. Outage areas

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4 Site Selection

4.1 Site Locations

Proper site location determines usefulness of its cells. Sites are expensive,

long-term investments. Site acquisition is a slow process and hundreds of sites

are needed per network. Hence a base station site is a valuable long-term asset

for the operator. That's the reason that planners need to visit each site.

4.1.1 Bad Site LocationHilltop locations for BS sites should be avoided as they cause:

• uncontrolled interference

• interleaved coverage

• awkward HO behaviours

• but: good location for microwave links!

wanted cell

boundary

uncontrolled, strong

interferences

interleaved coverage areas:weak own signal, strong foreign signal

Figure 9. Bad site location

4.1.2 Good Site Location

Sites off the hilltops are preferable as:

• hills can be used to separate cells

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• contiguous coverage area

• only low antenna heights are needed if sites are slightly elevated above

valley bottom

wanted cellboundary

Figure 10. Good site location

4.1.3 Site Selection Criteria

Radio criteria for site selection:

• good view in main beam direction

• no surrounding high obstacles

• good visibility of terrain

• room for antenna mounting

• LOS to next microwave site

• short cabling distances

Non-radio criteria for site selection:

• space for equipment

• availability of leased lines or microwave link

• power supply

• access restrictions?

• house owner

• rental costs

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4.2 Site Building Process

issue search area& requirements

find suitablesite candidates

calculate coverage rangeof each candidate

propagationmeasurementsneeded ?

transmissionlinks available? sign contract

with site owner

get building permit

construction work

installing & testing

on air!

Figure 11. Site building process

Site acquisition is a slow process and hundreds of sites are needed per

network. Hence a base station site is a valuable long-term asset for theoperator. Therefore it is important to select good sites. They cannot be

changed easily.

4.3 Site Information

Collect all necessary information about site details. The necessary information

should include:

•

site co-ordinates, height above sea level, exact address• house owner

• type of building

• building materials (photo)

• possible antenna heights

• 360 degree photo (clearance view)

• neighbourhood, surrounding environment

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• drawing sketch of rooftop

• antenna mounting conditions

• access possibilities (truck?, road, roof)

• BS location, approximate feeder lengths.

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5 Post-Planning

In post-planning verification, monitoring and optimisation tasks are carried

out in order to reach maximum capacity and quality from the radio network.

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6 Documentation

All the information that is needed to rebuild a site has to be documented to a

site folder database. Also measurement results and e.g. traffic history should be documented.

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7 Signal Measurements

7.1 Measurement Types

Signal measurements can be divided into three different types. The different

types have different goals and are used in different phases of network

planning and optimisation.

7.1.1 Measurement Methods

Propagation measurements:

Purpose:

• check coverage area of site

• propagation model tuning

• site candidate evaluations

Method:

• test transmitter, mast, omni/directional antennas

• CW- signal

Time:

• planning phase

Functional test:

Purpose:

• after commissioning of site, verify complete BS installation (incl.

antennas)

• verify basic parameter settings (HO, power control )

Method:

• coverage audit, real antenna types, ant. directions & tilting

• use test mobile to check settings & record results

Time:

• pre-opening phase

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Performance measurements:

Purpose:

• check the user’s perspective of live network performance

• secondary input to OMC information

• identify problem areas in network

Method:

• drive tests

• real network under live conditions

Time:

• commercial phase

7.1.2 Choice of Routes

Propagation measurements

• stay within coverage area of cell

• model tuning: preferably stay within a single land usage class

Functional tests

• radial from site into neighbouring cells

• check handovers in & out of cell

Performance measurements• define a random route once

• drive repeatedly (comparable results!)

7.1.3 Interpretation of Results

Propagation measurements

• signal averaging

• Lee’s criterion: min. 50 samples per 40 λ

• estimate accuracy of prediction

• database resolution

• model tuning

Functional tests

• identify incorrect parameter settings

• check missing HO relations

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Performance measurements

• detect misbehaviour of network

• calculate call success rate

• key performance indicators

• evaluate network behaviour under nominal conditions (subscriber’s

view).

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Documents

EXPLAIN M03 - 2 Radio Network Planning Process