4G Wireless Network Planning

Brief Guidelines on RF related dimensioning for 4G

Excecutive Summary

RF Planning for Radio Access Network:

Preliminary Planning
Propagation Model Tuning
Nominal Radio Network Planning
Site Location, Positioning & Survey
Detailed Radio Network Planning
Preliminary Planning

Customer Experience Expectation should be well defined!

 Definition of KPI’s and Target Level of Performance

 Estimation of Service & Traffic
 Frequency Planning Strategy
 Link Budget Analysis
 Coverage & Capacity Requirements
 Typical site Antenna selection: Macro, Micro, Indoor scheme, etc
 Preliminary Planning (cont’d):
Customer Cell Edge Throughput, MIMO Type, Power Setting effect cell radius (Typical examples)

Cell Radius
Unit(km) LTE 1800 LTE 900 GSM 900 GSM1800
Strategic Parameter & Customer Experience Expectation Dense 0.35 0.66 0.68 0.31
1. 2x2 MIMO is used, higher order can be used in special Urban 0.60 1.15 1.13 0.52
areas: Airports, CBDs, Venues, Stadiums, etc.
Suburban 1.32 2.88 2.88 1.72
2. Total 40w is configured for LTE (2x20W) for 10MHz FDD-
LTE Rural 4.49 7.56 7.92 5.53
3. Uplink cell edge throughput is 512kbps* ID Clutter Type 2G Design Level 2G Acceptance Level
4. Downlink cell edge throughput is 1Mbps* 1 Dense Urban -64 dBm -69 dBm
5. 20w/carrier for GSM 2 Urban -68 dBm -73 dBm
3 Suburban -75 dBm -80 dBm
* = committed CET 4 Rural -82 dBm -87 dBm

ID Item 4G Design Level 4G Acceptance Level

1 Dense Urban -85 dBm -91 dBm

2 Urban -88 dBm -94 dBm
3 Suburban -92 dBm -98 dBm
4 Rural -100 dBm -106 dBm
95% of area shall meet design level during planning phase

• Launch 4G rapidly to cover all overlay scenarios

• Focus on high value area to get excellent experience
• Evolution and optimization to improve throughput
Preliminary Planning (cont’d):
Power Link Budget Analysis

Ant Gain Ant Gain

Penetration HO Gain
Body Loss
Loss
Connectors
Shadow
Fading RX Sensitivity
Interference
Jumper
(1/2’)

Tx power Feeder Loss

(if not using RRU)

Max Allowed Path Loss = EIRP – Loss + Gain – RX_Sensitivity

 Preliminary Planning (cont’d):
KPIs and Target Level Performance

• Typical KPI value for commercial network is listed

• KPI is related to coverage performance, it is based on RSRP -100dBm and SINR -3dB continuous coverage
• For initial period ,KPI measurement based on DT

RSRP > -100 dBm 95% Intra-Frequency Handover Success Rate >97%
RSRQ > -14 dB 90% E-RAB Drop Rate <2%
SINR > -3 dB 90% Average per cell downlink throughput >= 14Mbps@10M
CQI Average > 6.5 80% Average per cell Uplink throughput >= 10Mbps@10M
RRC Setup Success Rate 97% Downlink peak throughput (SSV) >= 50Mbps@10M
Initial E-RAB Setup Success Rate 98% Uplink peak throughput (SSV) >= 18Mbps@10M
 Preliminary Planning (cont’d):
Estimation on Service & Traffic (Typical Examples)

Traffic calculation based approach : PARMETERS UNIT FORMULA VALUE

Data Package per-Month per-
GB A 5
• The busy hour is assumed to carry 15% of Subscriber
the daily traffic Data Package / Day / Sub GB B = A / 30 0.1667
Data Package / BH / Sub GB C = B * 15% 0.025
• The busy hour average loading is 100%.
Data Package / BH / Sub MB D = C * 1024 25.6
• The calculation shows that the total cell Throughput / BH / Sub kbps E = D * 8 * 1024 / 3600 58.25
throughput in BH is 18Mbps. Bandwidth MHz F 10

• To offer 5 GB data for every subscriber Spectrum Efficiency bps/Hz/cell G 1.8

per month, the number of subscribers Throughput in BH / Cell Mbps H=F*G 18

per site will be 948. Throughput in BH / Cell Kbps I = H * 1024 18,432

Subscriber per-Cell Subs/Cell J=I/E 316

Subscriber per-Site Subs/Site K=J*3 948

This calculation may vary based on operator requirements and different approach
Preliminary Planning (cont’d):
Frequency Strategic Planning for 900MHz Band (Example on 7.5MHz continuous band)

This strategy may vary based on operator requirements and different approach
Preliminary Planning (cont’d):
Frequency Strategic Planning for 1800MHz Band (Example on 22.5MHz non-continuous band)

This strategy may vary based on operator requirements and different approach
 Preliminary Planning (cont’d):
Coverage & Capacity Requirements (LTE RF Network Dimensioning)

Criterion for Cell Edge definition: Capacity:

Throughput
Coverage: Maximum Coverage Traffic
Inputs:
Cell Radius Subscriber amount and forecasts
System Parameters, e.g.,: Traffic mix & models
Transmit Power System simulation results
System Bandwidth Average SNR distribution tables for
Used MCS set different scenarios
Antenna configuration
Link level result:
Minimum SNR for each MCS

Link Budget
Capacity Evaluation

•Propagation models
•Area Coverage Probability
•Deployment Area
Maximum Pathloss
•Capacity per network Element
(eNodeB)

Number of Sites to be deployed

Coverage Estimation based on
coverage and capacity •Network Element hardware
configuration
•X2 and S1 interface dimensioning
Propagation Model Tuning

 Through field measurements on CW Tests all awarded freq bands (or bands to be
auctioned)
 Definition of different clutters:
 Dense Urban,
 Urban,
 Suburban,
 Rural,
 Open area,
 Metropolitan/CBD, etc
Nominal Radio Network Planning

This stage should be done on Planning Tools to estimate network requirement, expected
network performance:
 Coverage Prediction Analysis (Signal strength, Best Server, RF Quality, Throughput with
Monte Carlo Simulation approach)
 Advanced Technologies: High Order MIMO, Beamformings, etc
 List of Nominal locations with best scenario based on certain Polygons agreed with Geo
Marketing Team
Site Location, Positioning & Survey

 Assesment of site candidates & search rings

 Locates Target Areas
 Coordination with Geo Marketing Team
 Gather all information on the field: Residence areas, Event Areas, Stadiums, Airports,
Markets. All potential areas, as well as non potential areas.
 Survey for backhaul network, either optic-based or microwave-based backhaul will be
used
Detailed Radio Network Planning

 Coverage Prediction Analysis

 Neighbor & Interference Planning & Analysis
 Frequency Planning Strategy
 Customer Estimation
 Capacity and Load Analysis
 Handover Planning
Deliverables

 Prediction Maps (Plots & Google Earth)

 Technical Data
 Detailed Reports
 Site Technical Database & Parameters includes Antenna Systems
 Bill of Quantity