Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Use of Microcells As A Means of Optimizing UMTS Networks
The Use of Microcells As A Means of Optimizing UMTS Networks
The Use of Microcells As A Means of Optimizing UMTS Networks
Abstract— This paper deals with the question whether the II. COMPARISON OF THE PRESENT-STATE AND THE COMBINED -
performance of UMTS networks can be improved by using micro STATE
cells operating on the same carrier. The crucial part is the setting
of the microcell within a reference sector in a UMTS macro The comparison is based on the results of several
network in order to achieve maximum benefit. A further measurements in a particularly chosen area of investigation.
experiment will then reveal whether microcells are suitable for The following three parameters, which have to be taken into
capacity extensions consideration when planning and optimizing a network,
constitute the so-called “Optimization Triangle for Mobile
Index Terms— UMTS, macrocell, microcell, cell load, network Networks”: Received Power PE (dBm), Throughput (kbps)
optimisation, handover
and Interference Ec/Io (dB).
I. INTRODUCTION
An UMTS network requires precise planning and, when in
use, continues supervision of all the parameters relevant to the
quality of the service. The performance of the UMTS
networks has so far been examined alongside with the use of
sector-macro cells. Since the required capacity can be quickly
consumed for quite a few services (multi media services,
Mobile-TV, video call, etc.) network operators have to
enhance network capacity in hot spot areas. A further
alternative beside HSDPA and HSUPA is the introduction of
microcells, which have already been tested and found to work
well in GSM networks [1].
Macrocell and Microcell in System Only Macrocell in System this means that the microcell can be placed at a maximum
400 distance of 250m of the macro cell (depending on network
350 structure and the surrounding environment). Since the distance
Throughput (kbps)
250
Ratio (SNR) increases and the data signal dominate over the
200 noise signal. The average shows an improvement of the SNR
150 by 3 to 4 dB.
100
-4
Ec/Io (dB)
-6
-8
-10
-12
Time (s)
Fig. 5. Interference situation when using a micro cell within the system.
Case study: Optimizing the UMTS network within the city Fig. 8. Optimization triangle for mobile network.
center of Nuremberg
As mentioned above, the planning of UMTS networks relies • The dashed triangle: The network has not been
on sector-macrocells. One possibility of optimization is the optimized. The values show the average of the
electrical or rather mechanical tilt [8] of antennae respectively. measured parameters in the identified areas.
In practise, electrical down tilt between 5° and 10° is deployed • The drown triangle: Possible optimum by using
depending on the type and location of antennae (more in microcells. The values show the average of the
urban center as in rural areas). measured parameters.
• Present-state: The area of investigation is covered TPs and the ME. During the interval of 300 to 600 seconds,
only by a macrocell the throughput of the ME is reduced to a third. All four
• Combined-state: The area of investigation is covered participants classify the quality of the picture as good
simultaneously by a macro- and microcell6 (Fig.11). The TPs get the required data rate for this service in
For the experiment, a hotspot is simulated in the area of this interval, too.
investigation. Ten test participants (TP) are within close range
of the measuring equipment (ME). The TPs are placed in the 400
area as depicted in Fig.9. This area would be the coverage 350
area of an idle microcell.
300
Throughput (kbps)
250
Macrocell 200
150
100
TP1 TP2 50
TP5 TP6 0
Microcell 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
TP 7 TP 8
Time (s)
TP3 TP4
Timeslot 1: 0s-300s, Timeslot 2: 300s-600s,
TP9 TP 10 Timeslot 3: 600s-900s, Timeslot 4: 900s-1200s
B. Evaluation
2
at that time. Since all participants use the same service, except
for the measuring equipment (downloading continuously 1MB
4
6
For this experiment, the used microcell has a omnidirectional pattern and
transmits with a total power of 20 Watt.
Now the following question arises: How does the interference microcell shrank, are served by the macrocell only shows the
situation change when more participants log on to the system? subjective evaluation of the picture quality of TP1 (Fig.14).
While TP1 (at the beginning of the experiment at the edge of
coverage of the microcell) describes the picture quality as very
good throughout the entire measuring, TP3 (within close
-1 distance to the microcell) suffers from buffering of data and
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
-2 finally connection loss. Due to the increase of the interference,
-3 the connection is cut off for TP3 as well as ME at the same
-4
time. Buffering of data is a consequence of not receiving
sufficient data rate. Since the connection of the ME to the
Ec/Io (dB)
-5
network has been cut off, there are no measurements recorded
-6
for the last interval (Fig.13). The timer for the required Ec/Io-
-7 value of -12 dB is overtaken. This leads to a hard handover
-8 with a switch to the GSM network as a consequence.
-9
1
Fig.12. Interference situation at present-state with growing number of
2
participants
3
Fig.12 shows the increase of interference when more
4
participants establish connections (around 1dB per 2TPs).
5
When eight to ten TPs are served by the same cell at the same
time, a deterioration of approximately 3dB is registered.
6
300
• The cell shrinks quickly as the load increases.
Throughput (kbps)
0 400
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
350
Time (s)
300
Throughput (kbps)
Fig. 13. Throughput in combined-state with growing number of system users. 200
150
The instability of the throughput in the shaded region - 100
“chaos-area” (Fig.13) can be explained as follows: As the 50
microcell’s coverage shrinks, TP1 and TP2 are left out of the 0
coverage of the microcell and are only served by the 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
macrocell. This means that the capacity available increases Time (s)
until the next TPs log on. This behaviour will probably be Fig.15. Throughput in the area of the macrocell when microcell is working to
continued. The fact that at least the first two TPs, after the full capacity (macrocell is relieved, possible throughput is approximately
384kbps).
V. CONCLUSION
The performance of UMTS networks when using a micro cell
has been investigated. It became clear that the distance
between the micro- and the reference macrocell plays an
important role. The bigger the distance, the smaller the impact
of macro- on microcell and vice versa. Based on this finding,
a strategy for optimizing urban UMTS networks by deploying
microcells has been demonstrated. The last section of the
paper pointed out that the microcell has potential for capacity
extensions and can therefore heavily unburden the macro cell.
REFERENCES
[1] Patrick Herhold, Wolfgang Rave, Gerhard Fettweis, “Joint Deployment
of Macro- and Microcells in UTRAN FDD Networks”, Dresden
University of Technology, Mannesmann Mobilfunk Chair for Mobile
Communications, D-01062 Dresden, Germany.
[2] Shaline Kishore, Stuat C. Schwartz, “Uplink Throughput in a Single-
Macrocell/Single Microcell CDMA System, with Application to Data
Access Point”, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, Mar
2005.
[3] Jung-Shyr Wu, Jen-Kung Chung: Performance Study for a Micro Cell
Hot Spot Embedded in CDMA Macro Cell Systems, IEEE Transactions
on vehicular technology, Vol. 48, No.1, January 1999.
[4] I.Jami, H.Tao, “Micro-Cell Planning within Macro-Cells in UMTS:
Downlink Analysis”, 3G Mobile Communication Technologies,
Conference Publikation No. 489, 2002.
[5] Joseph Shapira, “Microcell Engineering in CDMA Cellular Networks”,
IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol.43, No.4, November
1994.
[6] Harri Holma, Anti Toskala, “WCDMA for UMTS”, John Wiley & Sons,
Chichester 2000.
[7] William.C.Y. Lee, “Mobile cellular telecommunications systems”,
McGraw Hill Book Company, 1989.
[8] Tero Isotalo, Jarno Niemelä and Jukka Lempiäinen, „Electrical Antenna
Downtilt in UMTS Network“, Institute of Communication Engeneering,
Tampere University of Technology, P.O.BOX 553, FIN-33101 Tampere,
Finland