14 GSM RF PLANNING & ENGINEERING

ASPECTS & DRIVE TEST

14.1 OBJECTIVES OF RADIO FREQUENCY ENGINEERING

The objectives of radio frequency engineering are:

 Adequate coverage

Main objective of RF engineering is to provide adequate coverage.

 Traffic handling capacity

Accommodating traffic in the busiest hour with only a low probability of blocking

 Quality of Service (QOS)

Adequate service quality across the required areas (i.e. call drop, congestion, setup
success rate, voice quality levels) to meet the companies marketing plans.

 Network growth accommodation:

Extension of coverage to new areas

-Expanding the network capacity so that the quality of service is maintained at all
times.

 Cost effective design:

Lowest possible cost over the life of the network while meeting the quality targets.

14.2 RADIO NETWORK PLANNING AREA

The radio network is the part of the network that includes the base station (BTS) and
the mobile station (MS) and the interface between them.

The following figure shows the Radio Network Planning (RNP) area.
 Fig: RNP area in overall GSM Architecture

14.3 DESIGN CONSTRAINTS

The objective of radio planning is a technical realization of the marketing

requirement, taking into account of the following constraints:

 The license requirements

 GSM system specific parameters (e.g. GSM Rec. 05.05)

 Manufacturer-specific features and parameters

 Radio communication principles and fundamentals

 Budgetary factors.

The following figure shows the different elements that can be considered in RNP:
 Fig : 2.1

14.3.1 EXAMPLE OF LICENSE REQUIREMENTS

An example of technical requirements following from a license:

 Coverage requirement

-The licensee shall endeavor to cover the entire Service Area at an early date and
notify on quarterly basis the areas not covered by the licensee’s system. In metros, 90% of the
service area shall be covered within one year of the effective date. In Telecom Circles at least
10% of the District Headquarters (DHQs) will be covered in the first year and 50% of the
District Headquarters will be covered within three years of effective date of license.

 Quality of coverage

- Service to be available in 90% of the declared area and for90% of the time

 Grade Of Service (GOS)

The Grade of Service (GOS) is defined as the probability of a lost call. This includes
not only the blocking rate, but also the reliability of the system.

- Endeavor to achieve 5% or better.

 Frequency allocation

- One of the major limitations in the GSM system is the number of frequencies
available to a GSM network operator. A relatively small bandwidth is available that is divided
over all licensed operators. Most network operators are limited to 30 - 60 frequencies for
handling all traffic.
14.3.2 GSM-SPECIFIC PARAMETERS

The GSM-specific parameters have been taken from the European

Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) recommendation dealing with radio
transmission and reception:

 Frequency bands

 Mobile Station (MS) transmit power

 Base Transceiver Station (BTS) transmit power

 Receiver sensitivities of the MS and BTS

 Carrier-to-Interference ratios (C/I)

 Equalizer performance.

14.3.3 MANUFACTURER SPECIFIC PARAMETERS

The main manufacturer specific parameters are:

 BTS transmit power

 Receiver sensitivity

 Combiner performance

 Cable losses

 Antenna performance

 Availability of frequency hopping and power control functions

 Handover algorithms

 Capacity: number of transceivers (TRXs) provided per BTS.

14.3.4 RADIO COMMUNICATION FUNDAMENTALS

Some of the fundamentals are:

 Propagation loss

 Shadowing

 Multipath fading