RF Planning

For Training Purposes Only

SYS 11 Issue 1 Rev 3.0

SYS-11
Principles of RF Planning:

Section 1:
Introduction
.

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MOTOROLA LTD-2000

Training Department
South Asia Network Solutions Division
Bangalore

Sec 1

Page 1 of 16.

RF Planning

For Training Purposes Only

SYS 11

Issue 1 Rev 3.0

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Section 1:

Introduction:

Objectives:
Upon completion of this section, the trainee is expected to be able to:
Define the basic steps involved in GSM network planning and
Optimization.
List the important characteristics of a good RF plan.
Enumerate the basic steps involved in the Cell/RF Planning process.
Prepare a simple power budget for the up link and the downlink.

Page 2 of 16

Sec 1

Training Department
MOTOROLA LTD-2000
South Asia Network Solutions Division
Bangalore

Introduction:
If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.
.. Some one.
The overall objective of the planning process is to design a cost-effective design of a good quality cellular network.
A good plan should address the following issues:

Provision of required Capacity

Optimum usage of the available frequency spectrum
Minimum number of sites
Provision for easy and smooth expansion of the network in future.
Provision of adequate Coverage of the given area, for a minimum specified level of interference.

In general the planning process starts with the inputs from the customer. The customer inputs include customer
requirements, business plans, system characteristics, and any other constraints.
After the planned system is implemented, the assumptions made during the planning process need to be validated and
corrected wherever necessary through an OPTIMISATION process.
We can summarize the whole planning process under 4 broad headings:
1.
2.
3.
4.

CAPACITY PLANNING
COVERAGE PLANNING
PARAMETER PLANNING
OPTIMIZATION.

The figure opposite illustrates the planning process. The figure on the next page outlines the optimization process.
A Simple Planning Process Description

Business Plan
No. of Subs.
Traffic per subs.
Subs distribution
Grade of Service
Available Spectrum
Frequency Reuse.
Type of coverage
RF parameters
Field Strength Studies
Available Sites
Site Surveys

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Capacity
Studies

**
Implement
Plan Verification
Plan
Initial design Quality Check
& re design Update Documentation

Coverage
& C/I study;
Search
areas.

Monitor
Network

Optimize
Network

**
Customer
acquires
Sites

Capacity Studies
Coverage Plan & coverage studies
Frequency plans and interference Studies
Antenna Systems
BSS parameter planning
Data base & documentation of approved sites
Expansion Plans

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Optimization Process:
Implemented
Planning
Data
Data Acquisition:

OMC Statistics
A interface

Data Evaluation

Implement
Recommendations

Drive Tests
Recommendations:
Change Frequency Plan
Change Antenna Orientation/Down tilt
Change BSS Parameters
Dimension BSS equipment
Add New Cells for coverage
Interference Reduction
Blocking reduction
Augment E1 links from MSC to PSTN

Cell Planning aspects:

At the end of it all, a good cell plan should have the following
characteristics:
Coverage as required and predicted.
Co Channel and Adjacent channel interference levels as predicted.
Minimum antenna adjustments during the optimization process.
Minimum changes to the BSS parameters/database during the
optimization phase.
Should be well phased, requiring optimization only for short periods
in the initial commissioning phase and during addition of new sites.
Facilitate easy expansion of the network with minimal changes in the
system.

Cell Planning:

Characteristics of a Good Cell Plan:

A well-planned Cell should meet the following
requirements/characteristics:

Coverage as required and predicted.

Co Channel and Adjacent channel interference
levels as predicted.
Minimum
antenna
adjustments
during
the
optimization process.
Minimum changes to the BSS parameters/database
during the optimization phase.
Should be well phased, requiring optimization only
for short periods in the initial commissioning phase
and during addition of new sites.
Facilitate easy expansion of the network with
minimal changes in the system.

Basic Cell Planning Process:

The basic approach to cell planning is to provide good coverage and
capacity. Initially, both are not known!!
Hence the planning is based on the projections given by the customer.
The customer based on market surveys and the company plans, may
specify:
Number of sites he wants in a city
OR
Number of subscribers expected in a city.
Based on these inputs from the customer, the initial planning process
begins. From these we can determine either the capacity that is possible
for a given number of sites OR minimum number of sites needed to
provide service to a given number of Subscribers. The site density
required for a specified capacity should also pass the Coverage criteria.
This aspect will be covered later in the course. Following is a
preliminary example to illustrate the basic cell planning process.
Example:
Say the customer wants to launch his network with 20 sites or for
10000 subscribers in the city of Utopia.
The following assumptions are made in the planning process:

25 mE average traffic per subscriber

Grade of Service
2%
Mobile to Mobile traffic
10%
Mobile to PSTN traffic
70%
Land to Mobile traffic
20%
Average Call duration
90 seconds
Traffic Capacity of 1 carrier with 7 TCHs 2.94E ((approximately
subscribers); a 1/1/1 site will have capacity of approximately
subscribers.
Traffic capacity of 2 carriers with 15 TCHs: 8.2E (approximately
subscribers). A 2/2/2 site will have a capacity of about
subscribers.

120
350
330
990

While planning the network, we should avoid islands of coverage. The

available BTSs should be concentrated in an area where excellent
coverage is available from day one. It is better than spreading the BTSs
over a large area, there by leaving holes in coverage.

Basic Cell Planning for the city of Utopia:

Case 1: For specified number of sites (20)

1/1/1 sites (350 subs per site)7000 subscribers.

2/2/2 sites (990 subs per site)..19800 subscribers.

Case 2: For specified capacity requirement (10000)

1/1/1 sites 10000/35030 sites.

2/2/2 sites 10000/99011 sites.

Actual number of sites to be provided initially

depends on subscriber/traffic distribution, as
illustrated below:
For 10000 capacity, at 25mE traffic, the total traffic is
250E. We assume a hypothetical distribution of traffic
as shown below:
Area type
Urban high density
Urban
Industrial
Suburban
Highways
Quasi open

% tfc
20
30
15
25
5
5

tfc
50E
75E
37.5
62.5E
12.5E
12.5E

1/1/1
6
10
5
7
2
2

2/2/2
2
3
2
3
1
1

Total

100

250E

32

12

We may choose 2/2/2 sites for first 3 area types and

1/1/1 sites for the rest.
This makes a total of 22 sites. After customers
approval, Site selection is done.

Cell Planning contd.

We calculated the number of sites for the city of Utopia based on the
number of subscribers and their traffic distribution.
We can arrive at the number of sites based on the area of coverage
required.
For a cell site radius of 1 Km, we get a coverage area of approximately 3
Sq.Kms. From this we can calculate the number of sites. For instance if
the city is 400 sq.Kms in area, then we need about 133 sites!!
We then see if we really need so many sites. If not, can we possibly
increase the cell radius on the outskirts and have smaller cells in busy
locations.
The city is divided into 5 different categories of clutters:
Urban
Suburban
Quasi Open
Open
Water.
Sample sites are identified covering all types of clutters. These areas are
called SEARCH AREAS. The customer hunts for 2 or 3 suitable sites in
these areas.
Site survey from RF planning point of view is conducted. This includes
assessing building heights, obstructions, vegetation levels, sector
orientations, buildings structural strength and other civil requirements.
Then propagation tests are carried out and we calculate the coverage
probabilities by using an appropriate propagation model suited for the
place under study. Coverage maps are printed and planning information
is documented.

Cell Planning contd.

What is the area of coverage needed?

How many sites are required for this area? (cell
radius of 1Km means an approximate coverage area
of 3 Sq.Kms).
Do we need so many sites? Can some sites be
bigger? Decide number of sites based on capacity
and coverage requirements.
Divide city in to clutter types such as:
Urban
Suburban
Quasi Open
Open
Water.
Identify search areas covering all clutter types.
Customer selects a few sample sites.
Survey sites with reference to:
Clutter heights
Vegetation levels
Obstructions
Sector orientation
Building
Strengths and other civil
requirements.
Prepare Power budgets.
Conduct Propagation Tests
Calculate Coverage probabilities based on the drive
test results.
Verify Power budget sensitivity against drive test
results; modify planning tool parameters.
Prepare final coverage map.

Cell Planning Contd.

RF Planning starts with the preparation a power budget for the up link
and the down- link for all sites. A typical power budget for a cell site in
the city of Utopia is shown in the page opposite.
The following points are worth noting:
The receiver sensitivity of the BTS is taken as 107 dBm, but it could
be as good as 110 dBm. Similarly, we have taken 102 dBm as the
sensitivity of the mobile, which could be as good as 105 dBm.
Practically, the peak transmit power of the mobile is never 33dBm,
even when ordered by the BTS. It is typically 31 0r 32 dBm. Hence the
uplink budget is normally 1-2 dB worse than what is shown in the
Table opposite.
Diversity gain is assumed to be 3 dB in this example. Actually it
could be within 0-4 dB, depending on the propagation environment,
location of the mobile and the kind of Diversity deployed.
Hence the uplink almost always suffers more than the down link.
The maximum permissible path loss ( MPL ) for the down link is 2 dB
more than that of the up link. To keep the link balanced, the BTS
transmit power may have to be reduced by 2 dB.
In case there is only 1 dB difference, then BTS power cannot be
adjusted (as it is in 2 dB steps). Instead we take the lower value of
MPL as the design parameter.
From the link budget example it can be seen that except for the fade
margin, all other parameters are more or less fixed, as these are part
of equipment specifications.
Fade Margin, as will be explained later, is a function of the area
coverage Probability. If this is 4 dB for 90% coverage, then signal
strength of 92 dBm in the down link is the minimum isotropic
receive power that is required for on street out door coverage for a
90% probability. The calculation of Fade margin is explained in a later
section in this course.

A typical Power Budget:

UL

DL

TRANSMITTING END

MS

BTS

Tx RF OUTPUT POWER
Body Loss
Combiner Loss
Feeder Loss (@2dB / 100m)
Connector Losses
Tx Antenna Gain
EIRP

33 dBm
3.0 dB
0 dB
0 dB
0 dB
0 dB
30 dBm
(A)
BTS

43 dBm
0 dB
0 dB
1.5 dB
2 dB
17.5 dB
57 dBm
(C)
MS

RF LINK BUDGET

Receiving End
RX sensitivity

107
102
dBm
dBm
Rx. Antenna gain
17.5 dB 0 dB
Diversity Gain
3 dB
0 dB
Connector Loss
2 dB
0 dB
Feeder Loss
1.5 dB 0 dB
Interference
Degradation3 dB
3 dB
Margin
Body Loss
0 dB
3 dB
Duplexer Loss
0 dB
0 dB
Rx Power
121
96
dBm
dBm
Fade Margin
4 dB
4 dB
Required
Isotropic
Rx.117
92
Power
dBm (B) dBm
(D)
Maximum Permissible Path147 dB 149 dB
Loss
( BA ) ( DC )

Cell Planning Contd.

The path loss calculated in the previous page is the MAXIMUM
permissible path loss and includes:
Free Space Path Loss
Additional Loss due to Topography of the site (Clutter Factors.)
Confidence Level required ( Probability of Area the Coverage )
Initially for a desired Cell radius, we calculate the Path Loss taking into
account all the factors mentioned above.
If it is better than the value arrived at from the Power Budget, then the
cell size is good enough to give the required performance. The receive
signal values are collected by conducting drive tests. Using statistical
tools we can compute the coverage probabilities and the required Fade
Margin.
This is fed back to the Power Budget and a revised value for Path Loss
is obtained. By iterating this process, we can fine-tune the budget and
also the cell radius.
We will revisit the Power Budget later in the course after studying the
various Propagation Models and their applications.
To summarize, RF planning involves an understanding of:

Propagation Models
Coverage Aspects
Link Budgets ( Power Budgets)
Antenna Considerations
Frequency Planning and reuse aspects.

Having seen the basic Power budget calculations, we move on to

Propagation aspects.

Cell planning Contd.

Summary:

A good RF Planning ensures that the mobiles

receive certain minimum signal strength for
specified percentage of time over a specified area
of coverage.
The MS receive signal strength depends on the
Path Loss between the MS and the BTS.
The Path Loss in a Mobile environment includes:

Free Space Path Loss

Additional Loss due to Topography of the site
(Clutter Factors.)
Confidence Level required ( Probability of Area
the Coverage )

In general RF Planning means the understanding

of:

Propagation Models
Coverage Aspects
Link Budgets ( Power Budgets)
Antenna Considerations
Frequency Planning and reuse aspects.

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