An Introduction to 3G Monte-Carlo simulations within ProMan

responsible editor:

hermann.buddendick@awe-communications.com

Hermann Buddendick AWE Communications GmbH Otto-Lilienthal-Str. 36 D-71034 Bblingen Phone: +49 70 31 71 49 7 - 16 Fax: +49 70 31 71 49 7 - 12

Issue V1.0

Date Feb. 2006

Changes First version of document

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

1 Motivation
System simulations are required for the network planning process on order to come to an cost effective investment in air interface network infrastructure. This is achieved by reducing the number of Node B (and sites) to a minimum, still fulfilling capacity and service quality constraints. System simulations help to evaluate mobile network performance in different environments with different configurations or network layouts. Performance indicators of interest are network capacity and service availability. There are mainly three approaches for the simulation of UMTS networks: dynamic simulations, semi-dynamic simulations (Monte Carlo simulator) and static simulations.

Dynamic System Simulations One way to model the network behavior is to use dynamic system simulations with quite realistic models for most aspects and effects (power control, soft handover, mobility, ...), and to simulate the time-variant behavior of the network. Detailed results can be obtained by using this method, but it is very time consuming. It is mainly used to validate or optimize small parts of the network or to perform parameter studies to tune the network settings. Static Simulation / Analytic Approach To speed up the required simulation time and to enable the simulation of larger areas the consideration of individual mobiles and discrete mobile distributions has to be given up, and the network capacity is to be predicted with analytical methods. Therefore, in a second approach (static or analytical) the mobile terminals are considered to be distributed continuously over the simulation area, i.e. for each pixel of the simulation area a kind of fractional mobile is assumed, and the complete simulation area has to be scanned only once. With this static/analytic approach the capacity of a given UMTS FDD network layout can be estimated based on the propagation conditions in a very fast way. This is very useful for a first rough network planning with a few iterations necessary to find a proper network layout that fulfills your needs. Monte-Carlo Simulations Another option for network simulations is to use Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations with less detailed models (compared to the dynamic approach explained above): time variant effects are not considered but many (independent) snapshots with random mobile distributions are evaluated. These simulations are faster than dynamic simulations but to get statistically reliable results many snapshots have to be carried out and the simulation time depends on the number of snapshots and on the number of mobile stations. Practical examples show that the size of the area that can be considered is limited to a few hundred cells.
The Monte Carlo (MC) method consists in repeating an experience many times with different randomly determined data in order to draw statistical conclusions. It can be applied for mobile networks simulation. In this case the repeated experience is called a snapshot and represents a set of Mobile Stations in the network with random position, state and parameters. The results given by a high number of snapshots are considered to be representative of all the possible states of the network. The aim of a Monte Carlo simulator is to provide an analysis tool that allows the fast and accurate evaluation of the performance of a UMTS network during the planning and optimization phases.

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Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

Figure 1-1: Comparison of the different categories of UMTS system simulators

2 Simulation Approach
The results given by the Monte-Carlo simulator are essentially related to two concepts: The coverage (proportion of the area in which a communication link can be successfully established) The capacity (maximum traffic supported by the network) The main features of the Monte Carlo system simulator are the following: Fast coverage and capacity prediction Mean noise rise and mean power per cell evaluation Power distribution histograms for DL and UL Determination of the maximum capacity of the network

2.1 Location dependent traffic

The traffic density can be defined either homogeneous for the complete simulation area or location dependent. This latter possibility can be realized by loading a clutter map together with a table, which translates the traffic or morpho class to a traffic density (Erl./sqkm). During the Monte-Carlo Simulation the discrete mobiles are generated according to these specified traffic densities.

2.2 CDMA downlink orthogonality factor

The CDMA downlink orthogonality (OF) factor has an important influence on the cell capacity because the level of intra-cell-interference is scaled with this factor. This is to consider the loss in CDMA code orthogonality due to multipath propagation. So the grade of orthogonality mainly depends on the channel profile. In general ProMan offers three possibilities to set the orthogonality factor: constant OF LOS/NLOS depending OF CIR depending OF

The last two options require ray-optical propagation models to determine whether a possible receiver location, i.e. a pixel, is in Line of Sight (LOS) condition, or to compute the Channel Impulse Response (CIR). As the determination of the CIR with the propagation model is quite time consuming, this feature eliminates a part of the Monte-Carlo simulators benefits compared to full dynamic simulations (although it has to be performed only once for each fixed antenna/cell configuration and it is available via look-up tables afterwards). So in most cases the OF will be set to a constant (average) value.

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February 2006

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

OF (value) 1 0..1 0

meaning perfect orthogonality (1 path channel) reduced orthogonality no orthogonality at all

Table 1: Definition of Orthogonality factor within ProMan

Typical values for the orthogonality factor are OF = 0.5 for the ITU Vehicular A profile and 0.9 for the ITU Pedestrian A channel profile. For the constant OF model an appropriate (mean) value for the expected OF has to be used.

2.3 Service Mix

The simulator supports the definition of different services and mobile different mobile type categories. Within the traffic specification (either homogenous or location dependent, see above) each service can be considered individually, so that it is possible to define an arbitrary service mix. The most important parameters related to the service are the following: Bitrate (UL/DL) max. link power (UL/DL) required Eb/No (to ensure service quality) traffic parameters (Erl./sqkm)

2.4 System modeling

The aim of the downlink computation is to allocate the downlink transmit powers in order to match the service downlink Eb/N0 requirements. The following scheme (Figure 2-1) should help you to figure out the context of the calculation of the downlink power for MS(i). The aim of the uplink computation is finding the uplink transmit power, i.e. which power the mobile station has to use to communicate with its serving base station. The following picture depicts the context of the previous calculation of the uplink transmit power.

Figure 2-1: Downlink problem

Figure 2-2: Uplink problem

The required Eb/No for each Mobile Station is known by link level simulation and is provided by the system supplier. It is defined as:

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Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

Eb No
Where:

=
DL , MSi

P i aBS (i ),i G TX (1 ) I own + I other + PN

(1)

Eb/No is the signal to noise ratio (on a net bit basis) PTXi is the required transmit power for the link (Serving sector of a Base Station BS(i) of Mobile Station i to MS i aBS(i),i is the linear attenuation for the path BS(i) to MSi G is the processing gain is the downlink orthogonality factor for the considered link (UL: = 0) Iown is the interference level from the own cell Iother is the interference level from the other cells The previously mentioned interference levels are given by the following: downlink
I own = PTX j aBS (i ),i + PCCH BS ( i ) aBS (i ),i j _ served _ by _ BS ( i ) j i I other = _ by _ u PTX u , j au ,i + PCCHu au ,i u BS ( i ) j _ served

uplink (2) (4)

I own =
j _ served _ by _ BS ( i ) j i

P UL , j a j , BS (i ) TX

(3)

I other =

jother _ cell

PTXUL , j a j , BS ( i )

(5)

2.5 Linear Equation System

Coming from the fundamental equations shown in the previous chapter, a linear system with the link transmission powers as solutions can be built. This system can be described using a matrix notation. PTX is the vertical vector containing the desired solutions for all transmission powers. Using the fundamental equations the following coefficients can be determined: downlink uplink (6) (8)

A PTX = B
Bi = Eb No
DL , MSi

C PTX = D
Di = Eb No PN
UL , BS ( i )

(7) (9)

(1 ) PCCH BS ( i ) aBS (i ),i + PN + au ,i PCCHu u BS ( i )

Eb aBS (i ),i (1 );(1) N o MSi E aBS ( j ),i ; (2) Ai , j = b N o MS i aBS (i ),i G;(3)

(10)

Eb a j , BS (i ) ;(1) N o UL, BS (i ) Ci , j = aBS (i ),i G;(2)

(11)

with: (1) is valid if the MS j is different from the MS i and belongs to the same cell as the MS i; i.e. they have the same serving sector BS(i)=BS(j). (2) is used when the MS j belongs to another cell, i.e. BS(j)BS(i) (3) is used when i=j

with: (1) is valid if j is different from i (2) is used when i=j

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Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

2.6 Coverage estimation

It was previously mentioned that the MS generation phase of the algorithm includes a coverage check. The algorithm used during this verification is detailed in this chapter.

2.6.1 Pilot channel based coverage criterions

In UMTS systems the coverage is mainly depending on the common pilot channels (CPICH) parameters and the interference level. Here, a MS is considered to be in the coverage zone if the following two constraints are fulfilled: The received CPICH level is above a predefined limit (for example -90dBm) CPICH carrier to interference ratio is above the threshold (for example -14dB) As the transmit powers are not a priori known, assumptions have to be made in order to estimate the interference level. The simulator assumes that the DL and UL transmit powers are maximum, and the resulting interferences is scaled by a predefined scaling factor.

2.6.2 Uplink related coverage criterions

The condition checked by the simulator is the ability for a MS to communicate with its serving BS with a sufficient uplink Eb/N0 ratio assuming that the MS is transmitting with full power and the interference in the network is fixed (predefined). The point is that the interference contributions are unknown at this step of the calculations and therefore a fixed load defined by the user defined maximum load factor and a scaling factor is used to assumes a typical interference level.

2.7 Capacity determination

For the capacity determination only the MS in the coverage zone are considered. This enables a separate evaluation of capacity and coverage problems. The required transmit powers in DL and UL directions are determined according to the linear equation system. Then the snapshot can be evaluated, i.e. it is checked if all MS of this snapshot can be served by the network. Practically it means that some constraints are tested for both UL and DL. The snapshot is declared valid if all these conditions are fulfilled. With the percentage of valid snapshots the probability for a certain capacity can be estimated based on the traffic load. Usually a fixed number of 200 snapshots is performed as it turned out within many simulations that more snapshots do not increase the reliability of the statistical results.

2.7.1 Downlink snapshot evaluation

The downlink transmit powers are determined to fulfill the service downlink Eb/N0 requirements. A valid snapshot must fulfill the following constraints: The downlink transmit powers must be in the range [0..Pmax,DL] The total transmit power for the BS must not be exceeded by the sum of all links powers

2.7.2 Uplink snapshot evaluation

The UL transmit powers are computed accordingly to match the uplink service Eb/N0 for all MS. A valid snapshot must fulfill the following condition: All determined transmission power must be in the range [0..Pmax,UL]

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Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

Figure 2-3: Snapshot operations

3 Examples simulation
To demonstrate the performance of the Monte Carlo simulator, some examples and case studies will now be presented. The first example illustrates the case of a bad scenario that has to be improved with the help of the Monte Carlo simulator.

3.1 Optimization method

The coverage information provided by the simulator is calculated under typical traffic conditions. You can define the conditions of this evaluation by adapting the maximum load value factor. If you dont want to consider the effect of the coverage you can simply set this parameter to zero. A consequence of this method for the coverage estimation is that the coverage results provided are independent of the traffic generated during the simulation: they depend only of the fixed load factor. Of course the capacity determined later on depends on the resulting coverage ( as it is well known for WCDMA networks). In this simulation model is has to be assured (by the user) that the assumed load (in coverage prediction) matches roughly the load determined by the capacity evaluation.

3.2 The example scenario

A single simulation is very useful in order to have a fast insight in the network for a defined traffic level. It provides interesting information about the behavior of the network in this state. For example, lets imagine that you need to estimate the quality of the following layout of a network. You want to test the network for a high data rate service (384kbps for DL, 64kbps for UL). You expect at least 60% of valid snapshots for DL and UL for 25 users in the whole network (1.2 user per cell) and it is required that more than 90% of the area is covered for a typical load of 70%.

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Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

Figure 3-1: Example network layout in a dense urban area (Paris France). Extract of the result file: Parameters: Thu Dec 08 14:33:30 2005 Number of snapshots: 100 Traffic scale factor: 18.900 Average Number of MS: 25.0 Repartition of the generated MS per service: Service 384 -> 100.00 % Coverage for Service 384: Coverage -> 99.84 % Nr MS (according to traffic parameters) -> 25.00 <=> 1.19 users per cell Mean Nr MS in the coverage zone -> 24.96 <=> 1.19 users per cell Mean CPICH C/I -> -7.79 dB Mean throughput per cell -> DL: 456.41 kb/s UL: 76.22 kb/s Capacity: Mean total Nr of MS per cell: 1.19 Mean total throughput per cell: DL: 456.41 kb/s UL: 76.22 kb/s Result of the simulations: Downlink -> 18 % of the Snapshots are valid Uplink -> 100 % of the Snapshots are valid Mean power per Cell: 1999.229 mW <=> 33.01 dBm (mean over all BS of all valid snapshots) Mean Noise Rise per Cell: 1.107860 <=> 0.445 dB (average over all BS of all valid snapshots)

3.2.1 Influence of the CPICH level

On the previous example, the Monte-Carlo simulator indicates that the layout and network parameters should be improved because the capacity of the network does not satisfy the requirements. You can try to decrease the CPICH level in order to minimize the interferences. Of
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Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

course the impact on coverage has to be observed. The effect of the CPICH power at the BS can be checked by making an additional simulation with a CPICH level divided by two compared to the previous simulation (now: 30dBm). A part of the result file is listed below Coverage Service 384 : Coverage -> 99.00 % Nr MS (according to traffic parameters) -> 25.00 <=> 1.19 users per cell Mean Nr MS in the coverage zone -> 24.75 <=> 1.18 users per cell Mean CPICH C/I -> -10.79dB Mean throughput per cell-> DL: 452.57 kb/s UL: 75.58 kb/s Capacity Service 384 : Mean total Nr of MS per cell: 1.19 Mean total throughput per cell: DL: 452.57 kb/s UL: 75.58 kb/s Result of the simulations: Downlink -> 65 % of the Snapshots are valid Uplink -> 100 % of the Snapshots are valid Mean power per Cell: 1219.734 [mW] <=> 30.86 dBm (mean over all BS of all valid snapshots) Mean Noise Rise per Cell: 1.103706 <=> 0.429 dB (average over all BS of all valid snapshots) From the results the influence of the CPICH power level can be clearly seen: 65% of valid snapshots for DL instead of 18% with the first simulation) impact on coverage is negligible (99% instead of 99.84%)

3.2.2 Influence of the orthogonality factor

In the previous simulations the orthogonality factor (quantifying the negative impact of the multipaths propagation on the performances of the network in downlink) was set to 60%. Assuming a more optimistic value for the orthogonality factor (e.g. 80%) the following results are obtained (CPCIH power again 30dBm): Coverage Service 384 : Coverage -> 99.04 % Nr MS (according to traffic parameters) -> 26.00 <=> 1.24 users per cell Mean Nr MS in the coverage zone -> 25.75 <=> 1.23 users per cell Mean CPICH C/I -> -12.04dB Mean throughput per cell-> DL: 470.86 kb/s UL: 78.63 kb/s Capacity Service 384 : Mean total Nr of MS per cell: 1.24 Mean total throughput per cell: DL: 470.86 kb/s UL: 78.63 [kb/s] Result of the simulations: Downlink -> 78 % of the Snapshots are valid Uplink -> 100 % of the Snapshots are valid Mean power per Cell: 1140.029 mW <=> 30.57 dBm (mean over all BS of all valid snapshots) Mean Noise Rise per Cell: 1.112659 <=> 0.464 dB (average over all BS of all valid snapshots)

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Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

You can notice that the previous change has the following consequences on the simulation results: 78% of downlink valid snapshots instead of 65% whereas the traffic has been increased similar coverage, mean power per cell, and noise rise values If the orthogonality factor was set to 1.0 (perfect orthogonality) 97% of the snapshots would be valid for DL under the same conditions. This shows the great impact of the downlink orthogonality factor. The low capacity of this network is due to the simple design of the layout (orientation of the antennas, location of the base stations).

3.3 Evaluation of maximum capacity

Performing several simulations with the parameters as described above and additionally with increasing network load the following results are obtained. It can be seen, that in this (not optimized) network scenario a cell capacity of about 400kbps is predicted if 90% of the UE distributions should be served. For a higher cell throughput, i.e. more mobiles, the probability to serve a certain constellation decreases, but there are still (some) advantageous constellation that still can be served. Thats why there is a soft degradation in the serving probability. Furthermore the resulting MS and BS power distributions are depicted in the figure below.

Figure 3-2: Percentage of successful snapshots for DL (left) and average DL power per cell (right).

Figure 3-3: Example for the noise rise output (with increasing traffic load)

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Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator

10

Figure 3-4: DL link power distribution (left) and UE power distribution (right)

4 Propagation Prediction
The 3G Monte-Carlo simulation approach is based on the predicted path loss matrices for all base stations. So after having defined a network scenario, first the propagation prediction has to be performed, and in a second step the network prediction (i.e. 3g Monte-Carlo simulation) can be run. In small scenarios the propagation may be predicted for each transmitter for the complete simulation area. Considering large areas a prediction radius can be defined for each transmitter. Note that the definition of the prediction radius has to ensure sufficient overlap of neighboring cells. This overlap is not only required for best server determination, but also for interference considerations, i.e. the overlap should be designed to account for the interference of approx. two rings of interfering cells at each pixel. That means that the prediction radius should be approx. 2-3 times the inter-site distance. Many different propagation models are available within ProMan. Depending on the scenario, the environment, and the available database the best suitable propagation model must be chosen. The Monte Carlo simulator is able to handle the propagation results generated by all available models. Further information about the propagation models can be found on the following web site: http://www.awe-communications.com/Propagation/index.htm Furthermore it should be mentioned that additional information about the propagation models is also available in form of application notes. See the following web site: http://www.awe-communications.com/ApplicationNotes/index.html

5 Further Information
For further information you are invited to visit AWE Communications website

http://www.awe-communications.com http://www.awe-communications.com/Network/3G/SimulatorsOverview/MonteCarlo.html
or to send an e-mail to the responsible editor of this document

net@awe-communications.com

by AWE Communications GmbH

February 2006