By

Naveed Ahsan Jafri

 Introduction to RF Planning
 Different Phases in RF Planning
 Phase 1: Initial Radio Link Budgeting
 Phase 2: Detailed RF Propagation Modeling
 Phase 3: Fine Tuning and Optimization
 Phase 4: Continuous Optimization
 Technologies which involves RF Planning
 What is RF?
 Radio frequency (RF) is a rate of oscillation in the
range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds
to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating
currents which carry radio signals.
 The energy in an RF current can radiate off a
conductor into space as electromagnetic waves (radio
waves); this is the basis of radio technology.
 RF current does not penetrate deeply into electrical
conductors but flows along their surfaces; this is
known as the skin effect.
 RF current can easily ionize air, creating a conductive
path through it.
 What is RF Planning?
 In the context of mobile and cellular communication
systems, RF Planning is the process of assigning
frequencies, transmitter locations and parameters of a
wireless communications system to provide sufficient
coverage and capacity for the services required (e.g.
mobile telephony).
 The RF plan of a cellular communication system
revolves around two principal objectives; Coverage
and Capacity
 Coverage relates to the geographical footprint within
the system that has sufficient RF signal strength to
provide for a call/data session
 Capacity relates to the capability of the system to
sustain a given number of subscribers
 In the majority of cellular communication systems,
both capacity and coverage are interrelated
 To improve quality some coverage, capacity has to
be sacrificed, while to improve capacity, coverage
will have to be sacrificed
 Initial Radio Link Budgeting
 Detailed RF Propagation Modelling
 Fine Tuning and Optimisation
 Continuous Optimisation
 The first level of the RF planning process is a budgetary
level
 It uses the RF Link Budget along with a statistical
propagation model (e.g. Hata, COST-231 Hata or Erceg-
Greenstein) to approximate the coverage area of the
planned sites and to eventually determine how many sites
are required for the particular RF communication system
 The statistical propagation model does not include terrain
effects and has a slope and intercept value for each type
of environment (Rural, Urban, Suburban, etc.).
 This fairly simplistic approach allows for a quick analysis
of the number of sites that may be required to cover a
certain area.
 Following is a typical list of outputs produced at this
stage:
 Estimated Number of Sites
 A link budget is the accounting of all of the gains and
losses from the transmitter, through the medium (free
space, cable, waveguide, fiber, etc.) to the receiver in a
telecommunication system
 It accounts for the attenuation of the transmitted signal
due to propagation, as well as the antenna gains, feedline
and miscellaneous losses
 Randomly varying channel gains such as fading are taken
into account by adding some margin depending on the
anticipated severity of its effects
 The amount of margin required can be reduced by the use
of mitigating techniques such as antenna diversity or
frequency hopping
 A simple link budget equation looks like this:
 Received Power (dBm) = Transmitted Power (dBm) + Gains
(dB) − Losses (dB)
Note that decibels are logarithmic measurements, so adding
decibels is equivalent to multiplying the actual numeric ratios.
 For a line-of-sight radio system, the primary source of loss is the
decrease of the signal power due to uniform propagation,
proportional to the inverse square of the distance.
 Transmitting antennas are for the most part not isotropic aka
omnidirectional
 Completely omnidirectional antennas are rare in telecommunication
systems, so almost every link budget equation must consider antenna
gain
 Transmitting antennas typically concentrate the signal power in a
favoured direction, normally that in which the receiving antenna is
placed
 Transmitter power is effectively increased (in the direction of highest
antenna gain). This systemic gain is expressed by including the antenna
gain in the link budget
 The receiving antenna is also typically directional, and when properly
oriented collects more power than an isotropic antenna would; as a
consequence, the receiving antenna gain (in decibels from isotropic,
dBi) adds to the received power
 The antenna gains (transmitting or receiving) are scaled by the
wavelength of the radiation in question. This step may not be required
if adequate systemic link budgets are achieved
 Simplifications needed
Often link budget equations can become messy
and complex, so there have evolved some
standard practices to simplify the link budget
equation
 The wavelength term is often considered part of the
free space loss equation. This complexity reduction is
acceptable for terrestrial communication systems,
where only line of sight is considered
 Considering all carrier wave propagation to be
wavelength-independent. This is justified by the
conservation of energy law that requires that the
electric field decrease in power as the square of the
distance regardless of frequency (in free space
propagation conditions)
 In practical situations (Deep Space Telecommunications,
Weak signal DXing etc ...) other sources of signal loss
must also be accounted for
 The transmitting and receiving antennas may be partially
cross-polarized.
 The cabling between the radios and antennas may
introduce significant additional loss.
 Doppler shift induced signal power losses in the receiver.
 Endgame
 If the estimated received power is sufficiently large
(typically relative to the receiver sensitivity), which may be
dependent on the communications protocol in use, the link
will be useful for sending data. The amount by which the
received power exceeds receiver sensitivity is called the
link margin.
 A link budget equation including all these
effects, expressed logarithmically, might
look like this:

where:
PRX = received power (dBm)
PTX = transmitter output power (dBm)
GTX = transmitter antenna gain (dBi)
LTX = transmitter losses (coax, connectors...) (dB)
LFS = free space loss or path loss (dB)
LM = miscellaneous losses (fading margin, body loss, polarization
mismatch, other losses...) (dB)
GRX = receiver antenna gain (dBi)
LRX = receiver losses (coax, connectors...) (dB)
 The loss due to propagation between the
transmitting and receiving antennas, often
called the path loss, can be written in
dimensionless form by normalizing the
distance to the wavelength:
LFS (dB) = 20*log[4*π*distance/wavelength]
(where distance and wavelength are in the
same units)
 Because of building obstructions such as walls and ceilings,
propagation losses indoors can be significantly higher. This
occurs because of a combination of attenuation by walls
and ceilings, and blockage due to equipment, furniture,
and even people.
 For example, a “2 x 4” wood stud wall with drywall on both
sides results in about 6dB loss per wall.
 Older buildings may have even greater internal losses than
new buildings due to materials and line of sight issues.

 Experience has shown that line-of-sight propagation holds

only for about the first 3 meters. Beyond 3 meters
propagation losses indoors can increase at up to 30dB per
30 meters in dense office environments.
 This is a good “rule-of-thumb”, in that it is conservative (it
overstates path loss in most cases). Actual propagation
losses may vary significantly depending on building
construction and layout.
 Guided media such as coaxial and twisted pair
electrical cable, radio frequency waveguide and
optical fiber have losses that are exponential
with distance.
 The path loss will be in terms of dB per unit
distance.
 This means that there is always a crossover
distance beyond which the loss in a guided
medium will exceed that of a line-of-sight path
of the same length.
 Long distance fiber-optic communication became
practical only with the development of ultra-
transparent glass fibers. A typical path loss for
single mode fiber is 0.2 dB/km, far lower than
any other guided medium.
 Path loss (or path attenuation) is the reduction in
power density (attenuation) of an electromagnetic
wave as it propagates through space.
 Path loss is a major component in the analysis and
design of the link budget of a telecommunication
system.
 Path loss may be due to many effects, such as free-
space loss, refraction, diffraction, reflection,
aperture-medium coupling loss, and absorption.
 Path loss is also influenced by terrain contours,
environment (urban or rural, vegetation and foliage),
propagation medium (dry or moist air), the distance
between the transmitter and the receiver, and the
height and location of antennas.
 Path loss normally includes propagation losses
caused by the natural expansion of the radio
wave front in free space (which usually takes the
shape of an ever-increasing sphere), absorption
losses (sometimes called penetration losses),
when the signal passes through media not
transparent to electromagnetic waves,
diffraction losses when part of the radiowave
front is obstructed by an opaque obstacle, and
losses caused by other phenomena.
 The signal radiated by a transmitter may also
travel along many and different paths to a
receiver simultaneously; this effect is called
multipath.
 Multipath waves combine at the receiver
antenna, resulting in a received signal that vary
widely, depending on the distribution of the
intensity and relative propagation time of the
waves and bandwidth of the transmitted signal
 The total power of interfering waves in a
Rayleigh fading scenario vary quickly as a
function of space (which is known as small scale
fading).
 Small-scale fading refers to the rapid changes in
radio signal amplitude in a short period of time
or travel distance.
 In the study of wireless communications, path loss can be
represented by the path loss exponent, whose value is normally
in the range of 2 to 4 (where 2 is for propagation in free space, 4
is for relatively lossy environments and for the case of full
specular reflection from the earth surface—the so-called flat-
earth model).
 In some environments, such as buildings, stadiums and other
indoor environments, the path loss exponent can reach values in
the range of 4 to 6
 On the other hand, a tunnel may act as a waveguide, resulting in
a path loss exponent less than 2
 Path loss is usually expressed in dB. In its simplest form, the path
loss can be calculated using the formula

where L is the path loss in decibels, n is the path loss exponent,

d is the distance between the transmitter and the receiver,
usually measured in meters, and C is a constant which accounts
for system losses.
 Radio and antenna engineers use the
following simplified formula (also known as
the Friis transmission equation) for the path
loss between two isotropic antennas in free
space:
Path loss in dB:

where L is the path loss in decibels, λ is the

wavelength and d is the transmitter-receiver
distance in the same units as the
wavelength.
 The second level of the RF Planning process
relies a more detailed propagation model.
 Automatic planning tools are often employed in
this phase to perform detailed predictions.
 The propagation model takes into account the
characteristics of the selected antenna, the
terrain, and the land use and land clutter
surrounding each site.
 Since these factors are considered, this
propagation model provides a better estimate of
the coverage of the sites than the initial
statistical propagation model.
 Thus, its use, in conjunction with the RF link
budget, produces a more accurate determination
of the number of sites required.
 Following is a typical list of outputs produced
at this stage:
 Number of Sites and Site Locations (and Height)
 Antenna Directions and Downtilts
 Neighbour Cell Lists for each site
 Mobility (Handover and Cell Reselection)
Parameters for each site.
 Frequency Plan
 Detailed Coverage Predictions (e.g. Signal
Strength (RSRP), Signal Quality (RSRQ) Best CINR,
Best Server Areas, Uplink and Downlink
Throughput)
 The third phase of the RF planning process
incorporates further detail into the RF plan.
 This stage includes items such as collecting
drive data to be used to tune or calibrate the
propagation prediction model, predicting the
available data throughput at each site, fine
tuning of parameter settings (e.g. antenna
orientation, downtilting, frequency plan).
 This process is required in the deployment of
the system or in determining service contract
based coverage.
 Following is a typical list of outputs produced
at this stage:
 A final List of Sites and Site Locations (and
Height)
 Optimised Antenna Directions and Downtilts
 An optimised Neighbour Cell Lists for each site
 Mobility (Handover and Cell Reselection)
Parameters for each site.
 An optimised Frequency Plan
 Detailed Coverage Predictions (e.g. Signal
Strength (RSRP), Signal Quality (RSRQ) Best CINR,
Best Server Areas, Uplink and Downlink
Throughput)
 The final phase of the RF planning process
involves continuous optimization of the RF plan
to accommodate for changes in the environment
or additional service requirements (e.g.
additional coverage or capacity).
 This phase starts from initial network
deployment and involves collecting measurement
data on a regular basis that could be via drive
testing or centralized collection.
 The data is then used to plan new sites or to
optimize the parameter settings (e.g. antenna
orientation, downtilting, frequency plan) of
existing sites.
 Following are some technologies which
involves RF Planning
 AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System)
 GSM
 CDMA1X
 UMTS
 CDMA2000
 WiMAX
 LTE