CoverageAnalysisof4GLTERadioNetworkinaCaseofBahir

DarCity
1

BekeleMZerihun1
SolomonHGebreyohannes2

DepartmentofElectricalandComputerEngineering,WSU,Ethiopia
Email:bmbaby3@gmail.com
2
SchoolofComputingandElectricalEngineering,BDU,Ethiopia
Email:solomongyc@gmail.com

Abstract The recent increase of mobile data usage and emergence of new applications such as online banking,
mobile TV, streaming contents have greatly motivated the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to work on the
Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is the latest standard in the mobile network technology tree. It promises to deliver a
system with a high data rate, high capacity, low latency and good quality of service. This paper is intended to give a
good understanding of LTE radio network coverage analysis as a case study in Bahir Dar city. In any cellular network,
whether an expansion of the existing one or as a new technology to be deployed, the nominal and detailed planning of
radio access network is considered as critical point since it gives the first rough estimation for coverage and capacity.
In this paper the coverage prediction is performed with consideration of the real environmental information/terrain
model of Bahir Dar City. The analytical results are simulated using radio planning tool called Atoll. The simulation
results show that it is quite evident the planned network provides a full coverage in terms of received signal level and
almost all subscribers are connected both in uplink and downlink.
Keywords:LTE,Coverageanalysis,RadioNetworkplanningtoolAtoll

i.introduction
Network planning and optimization play a key
role in reducingthecapital expenditure (CAPEX)
andoperationalexpenditure(OPEX)fordeploying
and expanding cellular systems. Typically, radio
network planning begins with a definition and
dimensioning stage, which includes traffic
estimation,servicedefinition,coverageandcapacity
requirements,etc[1].
Whenevernewcellulartechnologyisconsidered
for mass deployment hundreds of its radio
frequency parameters go through tuning process
with a view to find out optimum value. But this
phaseis timeconsumingand very costly. So, the
benefitofrunningextensivesimulationbeforemass
commercialdeploymentcouldfacilitatethistuning
phaseinnumerousways.Costcanalsobegreatly
minimized.
The main advantages with LTE are high
throughput,lowlatency,plugandplay,frequency
division duplexing (FDD) and time division
duplexing(TDD)inthesameplatform,animproved
enduser experience and a simple architecture
resulting in low operating costs. LTE downlink
transmission scheme is based on Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)
which converts the wideband frequency selective
channelintoasetofmanyfadingsubchannels.The

LTEspecificationprovidesdownlinkpeakratesof
atleast100Mbpsandanuplinkofatleast50Mbps.
LTEsupportsscalablecarrierbandwidths,from1.4
MHzto20MHzandsupportsbothFDDandTDD
[2][3][4].LTEwillalsosupportseamlesspassing
tocelltowerswitholdernetworktechnologysuch
as Global System for Mobile Communication
(GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA),
andWidebandCDMA(UMTS)[2,3][5,6].
Themainobjectiveofthisworkistoinvestigate
some optimization problems arising in coverage
planning and resource allocation of cellular
networksconsideringthewholeregioninBahirDar
city. Given the location of base stations, the
problem amounts to determining cell coverage at
minimum cost in terms of received signal level,
transmitterandthroughput.Withthismissionahead,
in this paper a step by step method has been
followedusingradioplanningtoolAtoll.Theidea
was to cover the nominal and detailed planning
stage in detail with respect to Bahir Dar city.
Performance analysis of the planned network has
alsobeenincludedhereusingpointanalysistoolin
Atoll. Prior to that, a brief description of the
nominalanddetailedradioplanninghasbeengiven.
II.RELATEDWORKS

In [7] an attempt to provide analysis of LTE

system performance from radio network planning
aspects has been made. Determination of the
numberofresourcestobeallocatedtothePhysical
DownlinkControlChannel(PDCCH)andhowuser
equipmentsshouldbeefficientlysignaledoverthe
PDCCHisaddressedin[8].Resourceallocationin
LTE downlinkandLTEphysicallayer simulation
aspectshavebeenfeaturedrespectivelyin[8]and
[9]. In [10] coverage and capacity estimation is
carriedoutinradionetworkdimensioningprocess.
Radio link budget is investigated for coverage
planning. Theoretical work is later put into the
developmentofanExcelbaseddimensioningtool
whichisdesignedtokeeptheinterfacesimpleand
to set the functional parts clearly distinguishable.
Thefinalproductgivesthenumberofsites(cells)
needed in order to support a certain subscriber
population with a given capacity. [1117] are the
3GPPTechnicalSpecificationsrelatedtothiswork.
In[18]adetailedLTEradionetworkdimensioning
procedure (i.e. capacity and coverage estimation),
link budget calculation, selection of propagation
model,dimensioningradioaccessinterface(X2and
S1);hasbeenperformedinordertopreparearadio
planning guideline considering future network
implementationinBahirDarcity.
iii.coverageanalysisoflteradionetworkfor
bahirdarcity
BahirDarisacityinNorthWesternEthiopia,
whichisthecapitaloftheAmharaRegionalState.It
isoneoftheleadingtouristdestinationsinEthiopia,
withavarietyofattractionsinthenearbyLakeTana
and Blue Nile River. Today, the city is quickly
developing into a place of considerable business,
social,politicalandeconomicactivities.Inlinewith
the rapid growth and expansion of the city, the
number of mobile subscribers increases in an
outstandingrate. The existingcellular technology,
GSM network is suffered from many limitations
suchasslowdatatransmission,limitedservice,poor
communicationquality.
Theprimaryservicein2Gnetworkswasvoice
communication.Tomeettheemergingdemandfor
data communication, a number of upgrades were
introducedto2Gsystemsaslowcost,intermediate
solutions for data services, while developing the
third generation (3G) systems. To overcome the
limitations and meet the demand of mobile
communications, LTE is introduced in 3 rd
GenerationPartnershipProject(3GPP)Release8.It
is the last step toward the 4th generation (4G) of
radiotechnologiesdesignedtoincreasethecapacity
andspeedofmobilenetworks.
Taking related preplanning information and
assessment of existing network in Bahir Dar its
evidencedthatthedemandisrapidlyincreasingand

deploymentofanewtechnologyisrequired.In[18]
intermsofOkumuraHatapropagationmodelno.of
eNodeB for coverage was found. In this case,
numberofcellrequiredforcoverageisassumedas
sufficient for the initial implementation which
means capacity can be effectively handled. The
target capacity and coverage values are here
attempted in the nominal and detailed radio
planningstageinvolvingradioplanningtoolAtoll.
iv.toolforcoverageanalysisatoll
ThecoverageanalysisofLTEradionetworkis
implemented on radio planning and optimization
softwareAtoll. Atoll performs the required
calculations,providingawidevarietyofgraphics,
makingitoneofthemostpopularandwidelyused
computerapplicationsoftware.
Atoll enables us to model fixed and mobile
users in LTE environments. The data input
correspondingtomobileusersandfixedsubscribers
is modeled through comprehensive support of
mobileusertrafficmapsandsubscriberdatabases,
respectively. It can also perform interference
predictions, resource allocation, and coverage
predictionsbysignallevel,transmitteranddownlink
throughput.

Create new Atoll project

Import digital map

Configure network parameters

Neighbor allocation

Coverage analysis (i.e

RSL, Tx, DL, PDSCH)

Required
values
achieved
?

No

Yes

End
Figure1.FlowchartforLTEnetworkplanningusingAtoll

Whileanewprojectiscreatedfromatemplate,
Atollisdeliveredwiththedataandfolderstructure
necessaryforeachtechnologyyouwillbeplanning
for.TheNetworktaboftheExplorerwindownow
has a folder structure suitable for a LTE radio
planning project, with, among other specific
elements,parametersandsimulations(seeFigure4).
AnAtolldocumentcancontainseveraldifferent
geographicdatatypessuchasdigitalterrainmodel,
clutterclassesandclutterheights. Atollsupportsa
widerangeoffileformatsforgeographicdatafiles.
The different geographicdatatypes play different
roles.

Figure3.Configuringnetworkparameters

v.coveragepredictionsandanalysisusingatoll
DigitalmapofBahirDarasshowninFigure4has
beenusedfor coveragepredictionandanalysisin
this stage. These maps consisted of Bahir Dar
airport,mainroad,secondaryroad,streetandwater.

Youcanimportthegeographicdatayouneedinto
thecurrentAtolldocument.Atollsupportsavariety
of both raster and vector file formats. When you
importanewgeodatafile,Atollrecognizesthefile
format and suggests the appropriate folder on the
GeotaboftheExplorerwindow.TheFileImport
dialogueappearsasshowninFigure2.

Figure4.DigitalMapofBahirDarcity

A.CoveragePredictions

Figure2.Importingaclutterclassfile

OnceyouhavecreatedanewAtolldocumentyou
needtodefinethetwocoordinatesystemsforeach
Atoll document: the projection coordinate system
andthedisplaycoordinatesystem.TocreateanLTE
site, all parameters of site properties must be
configured.

AtfirsttocoverthewholeareaofBahirDarcity
eNodeBs were placed on the map as shown in
Figure 5. After placing the eNodeBs coverage
prediction was done that helped to justify the
optimumplacementoftheeNodeBs.

Figure5.eNodeBsPlacedonBahirDarMap

Coverage predictions have been performed by:

signallevel,transmitteranddownlinkthroughput.A
signal level coverage prediction displays signal
level of best server for each pixel of the area
studied.

Aseparatetableshowsthesimulationproperties
for each of the simulated traffic maps. Coverage
prediction properties by signal level have been
showninFigure6.

Figure6.CoveragePredictionProperties

Anycoveragepredictionmadeonabasestation
usesthepropagationmodeltocalculateitsresults.
Figure7showscoveragepredictionsperformedby
signallevel.Thecoverageofeachbasestation(site)
is indicated by different colors according to the
receivedsignallevelmeasuredindBm.

Figure8.CoveragePredictionbyTransmitter

Downlink and uplink throughput coverage

predictions calculate and display the channel
throughputsandcellcapacitiesforeachpixel.These
coveragepredictionscanalsodisplayaggregatecell
throughputs if Monte Carlo simulation results are
available.

Figure7.CoveragePredictionbySignalLevel

Acoveragepredictionbytransmitter allows the

usertopredictcoveragezonesbytransmitterateach
pixel.Youcanbasethecoverageonthesignallevel,
pathloss,ortotallosseswithinadefinedrange.For
atransmitterwithmorethanonecell,thecoverage
iscalculatedforthecellwiththehighestreference
signal power. For a coverage prediction by
transmitter once you have created the coverage
prediction,youcancalculateittosavethedefined
coverage prediction. Once Atoll has finished
calculatingthecoverageprediction,theresultsare
displayedinthemapwindow(seeFigure8).

Figure9.CoveragePredictionbyThroughput(DL)

B.PerformanceAnalysisofPlannedNetwork
Onceyouhavecalculatedthecoverageprediction,
youcanusethePointAnalysistoolforperformance
analysisofthenetwork.Atanypointonthemap,
the Reception view gives you information on the
referencesignal.Thereferencesignallevels,usedto
determine the best server for the pixel. The best
servingtransmitter is determined according to the
receivedreferencesignallevelfromthecellwiththe

highestreferencesignalpower.Ifmorethanonecell
cover the pixel, the one with the lowest layer is
selectedastheserving(reference)cell.
Ifyouhaveanareainanetworkthatispoorly
covered by current transmitters, you have several
options for increasing coverage. In this example,
you can see how modifying transmitter tilt can
improvecoverage.Thecoveragepredictionshows
thatonetransmitteriscoveringitsareapoorly.The
areaisindicatedbyaredovalinFigure10.

Figure10.Coveragepredictionbytransmitterofexisting
network

Performanceanalysiswithpointanalysistoolalso
strengthensthebasebehindtheplannednetworkas
aneffectiveone.UsingpointanalysistoolofAtoll
site22waschosenrandomlyfromtheBahirDar
mapalongwithareceivertoanalyzethecelledge
throughput scenario and all other uplink and
downlinkparameters.Thepointanalysistoolresults
appearedasthefollowingshowninFigure12(a)
(c).
Figure 12 (a) shows the geographic profile, (b)
shows the reception level including the adjacent
sites and (c) gives the signal analysis involving
PDSCH, downlink and uplink parameters of the
adjacentsites.

Figure12(a).GeographicProfile

Youcantrymodifyingthetiltonthetransmitter
to improve the coverage. The mechanical and
electrical tilts of the antenna are defined on the
TransmittertabofthePropertiesdialogue.Oncethe
tiltoftheantennahasbeenmodified,theoriginal
coverage prediction can be recalculated, to show
how modifying the antenna tilt has affected
coverage (see Figure 11). As you can see,
modifyingtheantennatiltincreasedthecoverageof
thetransmitter.
Figure12(b).SignalReceptionLevel

Figure12(c).SignalReceptionwithPDSCH
Figure11.Coveragepredictionbytransmitterofnetwork
aftermodifications

Analyzing the coverage prediction results with

respecttocalculatedvalues,itisquiteevidentthat
the planned network provides a satisfactory
coverage. Again, evaluation of traffic map after
simulation makes it clear that subscribers mostly

remain connected at both uplink and downlink

which also indicates a very positive sign for the
plannednetwork.
vi.conclusion
The coverage analysis of LTE needs extensive
assessmentintermsofsignallevel,referencesignal,
downlink and uplink connectivity and quality
requirements. The ultimate objectives of coverage
analysis of LTE radio network are to introduce
relevantLTEfeatures,todefinethebasicmodelsfor
radio propagation, to evaluate signal strength and
networkelementcount.Obtainedresultofcoverage
analysishasbeenusedinnominalanddetailedradio
planningstagewithAtolltakingBahirDardigital
map as input. Again, performance evaluation has
been done using point analysis tool. For initial
networkdeployment,itisevidentthattheplanned
network is satisfactory in terms of coverage. So,
there remains the challenge for future capacity
enhancement. But, it can be considered as a
standard radio planning platform for the rapidly
growingcity,BahirDar.
references
[1] L. Chen, Coverage Planning and Resource
Allocation in Broadband Cellular Access
OptimizationModelsandAlgorithms,2010
[2] LTE The UMTS Long Term Evolution from
Theory to Practice by Stefania Sesia, Issam Toufik
and Matthew Baker.
[3] LTE for UMTS OFDMA and SCFDMA Based
RadioAccessbyHarryHolmaandAnttiToskala.
[4] Long Term Evolution (LTE): A Technical Overview
Technical White paper by Motorola.
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Overview" by free scale semiconductor.
[6] White paper: LTE-An Introduction by Ericsson.
[7] Basanta Shrestha- LTE Radio Network Performance
Analysis- Master of Science Thesis of Tampere
University of Technology.
[8] Hosein, P."Resource Allocation for the LTE Physical
Downlink
Control
Channel"-GLOBECOM
Workshops, 2009, IEEE.
[9] C. Mehlfhrer, M. Wrulich, J. Colom Ikuno, D.
Bosanska and M. Rup, Simulating the Long Term
Evolution Physical Layer, in Proc. EUSIPCO 2009.
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[10] Abdul Basit, Syed- "Dimensioning of LTE Network:
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Capacity Estimation of 3GPP Long Term Evolution

radio interface" Masters Thesis submitted in

Helsinki University of Technology.
[11] 3GPP Technical Specification 36.101, User
Equipment (UE) Radio Transmission and Reception
(Release 8).
[12] 3GPP Technical Specification 36.104, Base Station
(BS) Radio Transmission and Reception (Release
8).
[13] 3GPP Technical Specification 36.211, Physical
Channels and Modulation (Release 8).
[14] 3GPP Technical Specification 36.213, Physical
layer procedures (Release 8).
[15] 3GPP Technical Specification 36.214, Evolved
Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA);
Physical Layer Measurements (Release 8).
[16] 3GPP TS 36.322 V8.4.0 (2008-12) "Evolved
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Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol
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Conference for the Advancement of Science and
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University.