RA4120-30A - LTE RPESS

LTE Deployment Scenarios

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Nokia Siemens Networks Academy

Legal notice
Intellectual Property Rights
All copyrights and intellectual property rights for Nokia Siemens Networks training documentation, product
documentation and slide presentation material, all of which are forthwith known as Nokia Siemens Networks training
material, are the exclusive property of Nokia Siemens Networks. Nokia Siemens Networks owns the rights to
copying, modification, translation, adaptation or derivatives including any improvements or developments. Nokia
Siemens Networks has the sole right to copy, distribute, amend, modify, develop, license, sublicense, sell, transfer
and assign the Nokia Siemens Networks training material. Individuals can use the Nokia Siemens Networks training
material for their own personal self-development only, those same individuals cannot subsequently pass on that
same Intellectual Property to others without the prior written agreement of Nokia Siemens Networks. The Nokia
Siemens Networks training material cannot be used outside of an agreed Nokia Siemens Networks training session
for development of groups without the prior written agreement of Nokia Siemens Networks.

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Module Objectives
After completing this module, the participant should be able to:

Identify different solutions to provide LTE Coverage

Discuss alternatives to improve the indoor coverage
Understand the concept of Microcell
Recall the concepts of Tracking Area and neighbour cell list and its planning
principles.

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Module Contents

Macrocells
Indoor Solutions
Microcells
Co-Planning
Tracking Area Planning
Neighbour Planning

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Introduction
Macrocells
provide coverage and capacity across wide areas
Standard deployment solution

Indoor solutions
improve coverage when indoor macrocell coverage is weak
provide high capacity solutions

Microcells
serve traffic hotspots
provide coverage when macrocell sites are not available

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Macrocell with Flexi Multiradio BTS

Flexi RF modules can be located adjacent to the Flexi System module

(Picture on the left)

But Flexi RF modules can also be located adjacent to the antenna to create
a feeder-less design (optical connection between System Module and RF
Module)
Tower Mounted Amplifier (TMA) / Mast Head Amplifier (MHA) can be used
to compensate for feeder losses in the uplink direction
Antennas can be mounted according to the site design, e.g. roof-top, mast,
Optional
side of building
TMA/MHA
RF
Connection

System Module
1 or 2 RF Modules
Optional AC/DC
with Battery Backup
6

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

LTE 2600 can be deployed on UMTS 2100MHz grid

(figures applicable to Urban Deployment)
Downlink

Uplink

UMTS

UMTS
LTE

LTE
1.08km

1.17km

1.09km

1.22km

142.8dB

140.2dB

142.9dB

140.8dB

Conclusion
Delta between max. allowable pathloss values:

Delta between outdoor cell range values:

2.1 dB in downlink benefit of LTE

DL:LTE cell range nearly identical to UMTS

2.6 dB in uplink benefit of LTE

UL:LTE cell range nearly identical to UMTS

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Module Contents

Macrocells
Indoor Solutions
Microcells
Co-Planning
Tracking Area Planning
Neighbour Planning

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Indoor Solutions
Indoor solutions can be based upon the Flexi BTS connected to a Distributed Antenna System

(DAS)
Passive DAS for small and moderate sized indoor areas
Active DAS for large indoor areas
Passive and Active DAS connected to a Flexi BTS are able to provide both coverage and
capacity. Multiple sectors can be licensed to increase capacity
Repeaters can also be used to extend outdoor coverage across an indoor area
Historically, indoor solutions have been designed with single transmit and receive paths. This
excludes the possibility of uplink receive diversity and MIMO
Indoor solution design requires a set of planning guidelines to ensure that proven approaches are
used in a consistent manner

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Minimum Coupling Loss (MCL)

MCL represents the minimum allowed link loss between the UE and Node B cabinet antenna connector
The MCL should be sufficient to ensure that the BTS does not become desensitised when a UE is
physically close to an antenna

The MCL should also be sufficient to ensure that the UE does not receive more downlink power than it
is capable of receiving when it is physically close to an antenna

The MCL requirement depends upon the thermal noise floor of the Node B receiver, i.e. dependant
upon receiver bandwidth and Noise Figure

Assuming a 43 dBm transmit power from the LTE BTS means that an MCL of 68 dB is required to
ensure that UE do not receive more than -25 dBm

(from 3GPP TS 36.101)

Comparing the uplink and downlink MCL requirements indicates that the uplink requirement
dominates: an MCL of between 70 and 75 dB is necessary
10

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Antenna Placement
Indoor solution design includes making decisions regarding the location of each remote antenna
Antenna placement should account for:
Service and Reference Signal link budget requirements
Leakage requirements
Distribution of interference from the Macrocell layer
Minimum Coupling Loss (MCL) requirements
Distribution of UE and the associated traffic

Sectorisation Strategy

11

Indoor solutions may be configured with single or multiple sectors

The level of sectorisation should be defined by the capacity requirements
This requires a definition of the traffic expectation
Sectorisation should be planned to achieve sufficient isolation between sectors
Sectorisation in multi-storey buildings can take advantage of the inter-floor isolation
Overlap is required to allow time for inter-sector handover
Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Selection between Active and Passive DAS

Two general approaches can be adopted:
passive DAS should be able to maintain ~15 dBm of downlink transmit power at
each antenna. If not, then active DAS should be selected

rule-of-thumb based upon the number of antennas, e.g. if the antenna requirement
is above 5 then select an active DAS

In general, active DAS are easier to sectorise subsequent to initial deployment because it
is relatively easy to lay spare fibre optic during installation

RF Carrier Assignment
RF carrier used for indoor solutions can be the same as that used for the outdoor macrocell
Unlikely to be practical to dedicate and RF carrier to indoor solutions when wide bandwidths
are allocated to LTE

Important to ensure that indoor solution has dominance so the number of antennas required
may increase if macrocell signal is relatively strong indoors
12

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Verification of Existing Coverage

Indoor solution may be proposed for coverage or capacity reasons

Possible that macrocell layer already provides coverage while indoor solution is
required for capacity
Important that indoor solution dominated over macrocell to avoid loading the
macrocell layer
Macrocell measurements should be recorded prior to indoor solution design

Leakage Requirements
Requirement to minimise leakage from indoor solution to the outdoor environment
If leakage is not limited then UE in the outdoor environment could camp and establish connections

upon the indoor solution

An example approach is that the indoor solution Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) should not
exceed 125 dBm at a distance of 20 m from the building
This absolute power threshold may be translated into a link loss based threshold

13

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Mobility with Macrocell Layer

LTE handovers are based upon Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Reference Signal
Received Quality (RSRQ)
Handover and cell re-selection boundaries between macrocell and indoor solution will depend
upon:
relative transmit powers of the indoor solution and macrocell
measurement offsets defined for each adjacency
If handover boundary is too close to the indoor solution then there is a danger that the indoor
solution experiences uplink interference from UE connected to macrocells
Macrocell Reference Signal
EIRP
Indoor Solution Reference
Signal EIRP

Potential
interference
MS approaching indoor
solution

14

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Measurement offsets should be applied with care

because they can result in MS not being connected

to the best cell
Indoor solution handover areas are usually located
around the building entrances
Tall buildings may have stronger macrocell coverage
across the upper floors, potentially allowing MS to
handover onto macrocells inside the building

Module Contents

Macrocells
Indoor Solutions
Microcells
Co-Planning
Tracking Area Planning
Neighbour Planning

15

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Microcells
Microcells can be used to serve traffic hotspots
A microcell can be categorised as a Node B which has outdoor, below rooftop antenna
placement
Like macrocell, a microcell Node B is a Flexi System Module equipped with a Flexi RF
module
The isolation provided by neighbouring buildings limits both coverage and inter-cell
interference
Microcell based upon Flexi RF Module

16

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Microcell Link Budget

Microcell antennas typically have a lower gain than macrocell antennas e.g. 12 dBi
Lower gain corresponds to less directivity and an increase in vertical beamwidth

Microcell antenna

Macrocell antenna

Feeders are typically short but may have a smaller diameter than that used for macrocells
smaller diameter allows a tighter bending radius for easier installation

Microcells are typically introduced for capacity so should be planned assuming a relatively
high cell load for both UL & DL.
Example Parameters
for Microcell Link Budget
17

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Antenna Gain
Feeder Loss
Uplink Load

12 dBi
1 dB
80 %

Microcell Sectorisation
Sectorisation of LTE microcells is unlikely to be common because its difficult to achieve sufficient
isolation between sectors
Sectorised GSM microcells benefit from having different RF carriers assigned to each sector
The high quantity of scattering tends to mean that sectors have very similar coverage areas
Antenna direction may not have a very large impact as a result of the scattering

Example Microcell Propagation for two

cells with different antenna directions

18

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Microcell RF Carriers
LTE microcells are likely to be configured using the same RF carrier as the macrocell
layer

Wide channel bandwidth results in a requirement to use a frequency re-use factor of

1

Sharing the same RF carrier between macro and micro layers potentially results in a low
isolation

Most likely to be true when microcells are introduced for capacity within an area of
macrocell coverage

Requirement to ensure that microcells are dominant across their target coverage area
Sharing the same RF carrier allows intra-frequency hard handovers between the macro
and micro layers

Potential requirement to tune mobility parameters to account for differences between

the macro and micro downlink transmit powers

19

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Module Contents

Macrocells
Indoor Solutions
Microcells
Co-Planning
Tracking Area Planning
Neighbour Planning

20

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Introduction
Co-Planning activities are those for which re-use from other network planning projects
may be applied

Experience gained while planning 2G and 3G networks can be used to improve the
efficiency with which LTE networks can be planned

Potential activities for co-planning are:

3G routing area planning with LTE tracking area planning
3G Node B identity planning with LTE eNode B identity planning
3G neighbour list planning with LTE neighbour list planning

21

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Module Contents

Macrocells
Indoor Solutions
Microcells
Co-Planning
Tracking Area Planning
Neighbour Planning

22

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Background (I)

EPS: Evolved Packet System

Tracking areas are used for EPS Mobility Management (EMM)

Each eNodeB can contain cells belonging to different tracking areas
Each cell can belong to several tracking areas
Paging messages are broadcast across the tracking areas within which the UE is registered
A tracking area can be shared by multiple MME
Tracking Area Identity (TAI)

Constructed from the Mobile Country Code (MCC), Mobile Network Code (MNC) and TAC
(Tracking Area Code). All broadcast within SIB1

IMPORTANT: tac=0 not supported

S1 Application Protocol Paging Message extracted from 3GPP TS 36.413
Tracking areas are
the equivalent of
Location Areas and
Routing Areas for
LTE

23

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Background (II)
The normal tracking area updating procedure is used when a UE moves into a tracking area within which it is not registered
The periodic tracking area updating procedure is used to periodically notify the availability of the UE to the network (based
upon T3412)

Tracking area updates are also used for

registration during inter-system changes
MME load balancing

Further details in 3GPP

TS 24.301

24

Large tracking areas result in

Increased paging load
Reduced requirement for tracking area updates resulting from mobility

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Planning Guidelines
Tracking areas should be planned to be relatively large (100 eNodeB) rather than relatively small
Their size should be reduced subsequently if the paging load becomes high
Existing 2G and 3G location area and routing area boundaries should be used as a basis for defining LTE tracking
area boundaries

Tracking areas should not run close to and parallel to major roads nor railways. Likewise, boundaries should not
traverse dense subscriber areas

Cells which are located at a tracking area boundary and which experience large numbers of updates should be
monitored to evaluate the impact of the update procedures

25

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Module Contents

Macrocells
Indoor Solutions
Microcells
Co-Planning
Tracking Area Planning
Neighbour Planning

26

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Background
LTE mobility does not rely upon neighbour lists
UE are responsible for identifying neighbouring cells
This effectively removes the requirement for neighbour list planning
However, the UE can be provided with:
neighbour cell specific measurement offsets, e.g. to make a specific neighbour appear
more attractive
RF carriers upon which to search for neighbours

Mobility information can be provided for:

E-UTRAN Intra-frequency
E-UTRAN Inter-frequency
UTRAN inter-RAT
GERAN inter-RAT
CDMA200 inter-RAT

27

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Automated neighbor relation (ANR) configuration

Neighbour relations are important as wrong neighbour definitions cause HO failures and dropped
calls
Self configuration of relations avoids manual planning & maintenance

ANR covers 4 steps:

1) Neighbour cell discovery
2) Neighbour Sites X2 transport configuration discovery (i.e. Neighbour Site IP@)
3) X2 Connection Set-up with neighbour cell configuration update
4) ANR Optimization

The scope within ANR is to establish an X2 connection between source and target nodes and for
that it is necessary that source eNB knows the target eNB IP@
How the source eNB gets the IP@ differentiates the ANR features:

28

LTE Automatic Neighbour Cell Configuration (RL09)

Central ANR (RL10)
ANR (RL20)
ANR- Fully UE based (RL30)

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

3GPP ANR configuration principle

Neighbor
Site
eNB - B

Site
eNB - A

UE
connected

MME

New cell
discovered
New cell
identified
by ECGI

S1 : Request X2 Transport Configuration (ECGI)

S1: Request X2 Transport Configuration

relays
request

CM
S1: Respond X2 Transport Configuration (IP@)
S1 : Respond X2 Transport Configuration (IP@)
CM
Add Site & Cell
parameter of
eNB-A

X2 Setup : IPsec, SCTP, X2-AP [site & cell info]

CM

CM
Neighbor Cell Tables in both eNB updated

29

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Add Site & Cell

Parameter of
eNB-B

relays
response

RL20

LTE ANR

Automated planning: NO configuration of any neighbor cell attributes

NetAct Optimizer and Configurator create the list of potential neighbour cells and
related IP connectivity information
When UE reports an unknown PCI the
source eNB looks for that PCI in look-up
tables to find the IP@ of the site hosting the
PCI reported
UEs measurements taken into
account to trigger the X2 connection
Once known target eNB IP@ the X2
connection is established and information
between neighbours is exchanged
Advantage:
Works with any UE (no need to report ECGI)
No neighbour site planning required

30

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0

Feature ID: LTE492

E-UTRAN Intra-Frequency & CDMA2000 Inter-RAT --- supported in RL20

Its not necessary for the network to broadcast any intra-frequency neighbour cell information,
while its necessary to broadcast for UE to search CDMA2000 neighbour carriers (SIB8).

Measurement offsets can be specified for up to 16 specific E-UTRAN Intra-Frequency cells if

desired

Specific E-UTRAN Intra-Frequency cells can also be blacklisted.

E-UTRAN Inter-Frequency & UTRAN/GERAN Inter-RAT --- supported in RL30

The network broadcasts the RF carriers upon which the UE should search for interfrequency / UTRAN inter-RAT neighbours.

Measurement offsets can be specified for both specific RF carriers and specific cells (not
applicable for UTRAN/GERAN neighbours).

31

Nokia Siemens Networks

RA4120BEN30GLA0