Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning
Abstract
This is a technical document detailing a typical approach to Frequency Planning Process.
Page 1 of 10
Frequency Planning
CONTENTS
Frequency Planning
(1.0) Introduction
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
(4.1) Example
Page 7
Page 7
Page 7
Page 8
(6.1) Example
Page 8
Page 9
Page 9
Page 2 of 10
Page 10
Frequency Planning
Frequency Planning
(1.0) Introduction:
The Cellular concept is a system with many low power transmitters, each providing coverage
to only a small portion of the service area. Each base station is allocated a portion of the total
number of channels available to the entire system, and nearby base station are assigned
different group of channels so that the interference between base stations is minimised. The
channels assignment in case of GSM900, E-GSM900 and DCS1800 (or GSM1800) is as
shown in Figure-(1.1) below,
45 MHz
45 MHz
880 890
960
GSM900
DOWNLINK
Guard Band
E-GSM900
DOWNLINK
95 MHz
1710
1785
1805
DCS1800
UPLINK
1880
DCS1800
DOWNLINK
1 n 124 Fu(n)
0 n 124 Fu(n)
975 n 1023
512 n 885
Page 3 of 10
Fu(n) = Fl(n) + 45
Fu(n) = Fl(n) + 45
Fu(n) = Fl(n) + 95
Frequency Planning
Hence we have 124 channels in GSM900, 174 channels in E-GSM900 and 374 channels in
DCS1800.
Page 4 of 10
Frequency Planning
or
24 x 0.2 MHz = 4.8 MHz that is about 19% of total spectrum available.
Figure 1.2 illustrates the frequency reuse for cluster size of 4, where cells labelled with the
same letter use the same group of channels.
B1
B3
D1
D3
B1
D1
A1
B2
D3
D2
C3
A1
A2
B1
A2
D1
C1
B3
B2
A1
C3
C2
A3
B1
A2
C3
D1
C2
A3
C1
D2
B2
A1
D2
C3
D1
C1
D2
B2
D3
B1
A2
B3
D3
B3
A3
C2
D3
B1
D1
C2
A1
C3
A3
C1
A3
C1
D2
B3
B2
B3
B2
D3
A2
C1
D2
C3
C2
C2
R
r = 0.5 x (3)1/2 x R.
D = R x (3 x (i2 + j2 + ij))1/2
D/R = (3 x N)1/2
Page 5 of 10
Frequency Planning
D
j
R
r
(D/R) = 6 (C/I)
(Note: C/I is in dB and should be converted to numeric values for calculation)
Here, is the propagation index or attenuation constant with values ranging between 2 to 4.
: C/Ic = 9 dB
: C/Ia1 = - 9 dB
: C/Ia2 = - 41 dB
For the network planning purpose it is recommended that a value of C/I c 9 dB and the first
adjacent channel C/Ia -9 dB. This implies that the first adjacent channel should not be used
in the same sector cell or the same base station.
Page 6 of 10
Frequency Planning
(4.1) Example:
As an illustration let us consider that we require to design a system with C/I of 12 dB and we
have from field drive test results the value of as 3.5, inserting these values in equation
TCH
BCCH
Macro Cell
TCH
Micro Cell
The re-use may differ for both the groups, as little or no compromise is made for BCCH
frequency interference whereas certain compromise could be made for TCH frequency
interference. Typically a cluster size of 4 or 7 is considered for BCCH re-use whereas a
cluster size of 3 or 4 is used for TCH re-use. The number of channels in each group depends
on the spectrum allocated and C/I criteria for re-use in each case.
(5.1) Example:
Page 7 of 10
Frequency Planning
As an example consider C/I criteria of 12 dB for BCCH then the cluster size of 4 gives the
better result whereas if the C/I criteria is 9 dB for TCH, gives the cluster size of 3. The figure
(1.1) illustrates the case 4 x 3 re-use pattern for BCCH and the figure (1.4) below illustrates
the case of 3 x 3 re-use pattern for TCH,
A1
A1
A3
C1
C3
C2
B3
A1
A3
A2
C3
A3
C1
A2
C3
B1
A2
C3
B1
C2
B3
A1
B2
A3
C1
A1
B2
A3
C1
A2
C3
C2
A3
C1
A2
B1
C2
B3
A1
B2
C1
A2
C3
C2
C2
BCCH
TCH
B1
2
B1
14
C1
3
C1
15
D1
4
A2
16
A2
5
B2
17
B2
6
C2
18
C2
7
A3
19
D2
8
B3
20
A3
9
C3
21
B3
10
C3
11
D3
12
For DCS1800 planning with cluster size of 7 the frequency grouping is as follows,
In case of DCS1800 where a large band of spectrum is available the BCCH and TCH re-use
can be kept the same.
Set
BCCH
TCH1
TCH2
A1
1
22
43
B1
2
23
44
C1
3
24
45
D1
4
25
46
E1
5
26
47
F1
6
27
48
G1
7
28
49
A2
8
29
50
B2
9
30
51
C2
10
31
52
D2
11
32
53
E2
12
33
54
F2
13
34
55
G2
14
35
56
A3
15
36
57
B3
16
37
58
C3
17
38
59
D3
18
39
60
(6.1) Example:
Assume a network with 100 base stations each having three sectors. The BCCH and TCH
share the same re-use plan 4 x 3. Which means we have cluster of 4 base stations, and in all
we have 100/4 = 25 clusters. Assume NCC code allocated is 6, which gives us clusters
starting from number 61 to 67. Hence seven clusters form a group and hence we have 25/7
that is 3 groups of 7 clusters plus additional 4 clusters which form part of the 4 th group. The
Page 8 of 10
E3
19
40
61
F3
20
41
62
G3
21
42
63
Frequency Planning
reuse of these 7 clusters group for BSIC numbered from 61 to 67 is shown in the figure (1.5)
below,
Represent a
cluster of 4 sites
each having 3
sectors
62
67
61
63
66
61
66
65
62
63
67
61
63
64
66
61
64
65
64
62
63
67
62
65
64
Page 9 of 10
Frequency Planning
Page 10 of 10