Mobile Communication

GSM
What is GSM ?

Global System for Mobile (GSM) is a

second generation cellular standard
developed to cater voice services
and data delivery using digital
modulation
d l ti
 GSM: History

• Developed by Group Spéciale Mobile (founded 1982) which was an

initiative of CEPT ( Conference of European Post and
Telecommunication )
• Aim : to replace the incompatible analog system
• Presently the responsibility of GSM standardization resides with special
mobile group under ETSI ( European telecommunication Standards
Institute )
• Full set of specifications phase-I became available in 1990
• Under ETSI, GSM is named as “ Global System for Mobile
communication “
• Today many providers all over the world use GSM (more than 135
countries in Asia
Asia, Africa
Africa, Europe
Europe, Australia
Australia, America)
• More than 1300 million subscribers in world and 45 million subscriber in
India.
GSM Services
| Tele-services
| Bearer
B or Data
D t SServices
i
| Supplementary services
 Tele Services

• Telecommunication services that enable voice communication

via mobile phones
• Offered services
- Mobile
M bil telephony
t l h
- Emergency calling
Bearer Services

| Include various data services for information transfer

between GSM and other networks like PSTN, ISDN etc
at rates from 300 to 9600 bps
| Short
Sh t Message
M Service
S i (SMS)
zup to 160 character alphanumeric data
transmission to/from the mobile terminal
|Unified Messaging Services(UMS)
zGroup 3 fax
zVoice mailbox
zElectronic mail
 Supplementary Services

Call related services :

• Call Waiting- Notification of an incoming call while on the handset
• Call Hold- Put a caller on hold to take another call
• Call Barring- All calls, outgoing calls, or incoming calls
• Call Forwarding- Calls can be sent to various numbers defined by
the user
• Multi Party Call Conferencing - Link multiple calls together
• CLIP – Caller
C ll line
li identification
id tifi ti presentation
t ti
• CLIR – Caller line identification restriction
 GSM System Architecture PSTN
ISDN
BSC PDN
MS BTS
MSC
GMSC

BTS BSC
VLR
MS

BTS EIR
AUC
MS HLR
GSM System Architecture

| Mobile Station (MS)

Mobile Equipment (ME)
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
| Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
Base Station Controller (BSC)
| Network Switching Subsystem(NSS)
Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
Home Location Register (HLR)
Visitor Location Register (VLR)
Authentication Center (AUC)
( )
Equipment Identity Register (EIR)
 System Architecture
Mobile Station (MS)

The Mobile Station is made up of two entities:

1. Mobile Equipment (ME)

2. Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
 System Architecture
Mobile Station (MS)

Mobile Equipment

| Portable,vehicle mounted, hand held device

| Uniquely identified by an IMEI (International Mobile
Equipment
q p Identity)
y)
| Voice and data transmission
| Monitoring power and signal quality of surrounding cells for
optimum handover
| Power level : 0.8W – 20 W
| 160 character long SMS.
System Architecture
Mobile Station (MS) contd.

S b ib Identity
Subscriber Id i Module
M d l (SIM)
| Smart card contains the International Mobile
Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
| Allows user to send and receive calls and
receive other subscribed services
| Encoded network identification details
| Protected by a password or PIN
| Can be moved from phone to phone –
contains key information to activate the
phone
 System Architecture
Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

Base Station Subsystem is composed of two parts that

communicate across the standardized Abis interface allowing
operation
p between components
p made byy different suppliers
pp

1. Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

2. B
Base St
Station
ti Controller
C t ll (BSC)
 System Architecture
Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

Base Transceiver Station (BTS):

( )

| Encodes,encrypts,multiplexes,modulates
, yp , p , and feeds the RF
signals to the antenna.
| Frequency hopping
| Communicates with Mobile station and BSC
| Consists of Transceivers (TRX) units
 System Architecture
Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

Base Station Controller (BSC)

| Manages Radio resources for BTS

| Assigns Frequency and time slots for all MS’s in its area
| Handles call set up
| Transcoding and rate adaptation functionality
| Handover for each MS
| Radio Power control
| It communicates with MSC and BTS
 System Archibtecture
Network Switching Subsystem(NSS)

Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

| Heart of the network

| Manages communication between GSM and other networks
| Call setup function and basic switching
| Call routing
| Billing information and collection
| Mobility management
- Registration
- Location Updating
p g
- Inter BSS and inter MSC call handoff
| MSC does gateway function while its customer roams to other
network by using HLR/VLR.
 System Architecture
N t
Network
kSSwitching
it hi SSubsystem
b t
| Home Location Registers (HLR)

- permanent database about mobile subscribers in a large service

area(generally one per GSM network operator)
- database contains IMSI,MSISDN,prepaid/postpaid,roaming
restrictions,supplementary services.

| Visitor Location Registers (VLR)

- Temporary database which updates whenever new MS enters its

area, by HLR database
- Controls those mobiles roaming
g in its area
- Reduces number of queries to HLR
 System Architecture
Network Switching Subsystem
| Authentication Center (AUC)
- Protects against intruders in air interface
- Maintains authentication
a thentication ke
keys s and algorithms
- Generally associated with HLR

| Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

- Database that is used to track handsets usingg the
IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
- Made up of three sub-classes: The White List, The
Bl k Li
Black Listt and
d th
the G
Gray Li
Listt
- Only one EIR per PLMN
 GSM Specifications

|RF Spectrum
GSM 900
Mobile to BTS ((uplink):
p ) 890-915 Mhz
BTS to Mobile(downlink):935-960 Mhz
Bandwidth : 2* 25 Mhz

GSM 1800
Mobile to BTS (uplink): 1710
1710-1785
1785 Mhz
BTS to Mobile(downlink) 1805-1880 Mhz
Bandwidth : 22* 75 Mhz
 GSM Specification

| Carrier Separation : 200 Khz

| Duplex Distance : 45 Mhz
| No. of RF carriers : 124

| Access Method : TDMA/FDMA

| Modulation Method : GMSK

| Modulation data rate : 270.833 Kbps

GSM Operation
Speech Speech

Speech coding Speech decoding

13 Kbps
Channel Coding Channel decoding

22.8 Kbps
Interleaving De-interleaving
22.8 Kbps

Burst Formatting Burst Formatting

33.6 Kbps

Ciphering De-ciphering
33.6 Kbps
Radio Interface
Modulation
270.83 Kbps
Demodulation
Physical Channel
GSM-Frame Structure
Logical Channels
H lf rate
Half t 11.4kbps
11 4kb
Speech
TCH
(traffic) Full rate 22.8kbps
2.4 kbps
Data
4.8 kbps
9.6 kbps
p
BCH FCCH(Frequency correction)

SCH(Synchronization)
PCH(Paging)
CCCH
RACH(Random Access)
CCH AGCH(Access Grant)
(control)
SDCCH(Stand Alone)
Dedicated
SACCH(Slow-associated)
FACCH(Fast-associated)
 GSM Frequency Bands
System Band Uplink Downlink Channel Number

GSM 400 450 450.4 - 457.6 460.4 - 467.6 259 - 293

GSM 400 480 478.8 - 486.0 488.8 - 496.0 306 - 340

GSM 850 850 824.0 - 849.0 869.0 - 894.0 128 - 251

GSM 900 (P-GSM) 900 890.0 - 915.0 935.0 - 960.0 1 - 124

GSM 900 (E-GSM) 900 880.0 - 915.0 925.0 - 960.0 975 - 1023, (0, 1-124)

GSM-R (R-GSM) 900 876.0 - 915.0 921.0 - 960.0 955 - 973, (0, 1-124, 975 - 1023)

DCS 1800 1800 1710.0 - 1785.0 1805.0 - 1880.0 512 - 885

PCS
CS 1900
900 1900
900 1850.0
850 0 - 1910.0
9 00 1930.0
930 0 - 1990.0
990 0 512 - 8
5 810
0

GSM-900, GSM-1800 – Used in most countries (Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia)
Multi-band and multi-mode
phones
| Dual band phones
z GSM 900 and 1800 MHz. (Europe, Asia, Australia, Brazil)
z GSM 850 and 1900 MHz (North America)
| Tri band phones
z 900, 1800, 1900 (Europe)
z 850, 1800, 1900 (North America)
| Quad band phones
z Supports all four major GSM frequency groups.
| Multi-mode phones
z Can operate on GSM systems as well as on mobile
mobile-phone
phone
systems using other technical standards. Often these
phones use multiple frequency bands as well.
 Mobile Station

The GSM telephone set and the SIM are the only system elements with which
most users of GSM have direct contact.
Base Station Subsystem
Base Station Subsystem

| Via the Air-interface, the BSS provides a

connection between the MSs of a limited
area and the network switching subsystem
(NSS).
| The BSS consists of the following elements:
z One or more BTSs (base tranceiver station);
z One BSC (base station controller);
z One TRAU (transcoding rate and adaptation
unit).
 Base Transceiver Station

| The BTS provides the physical connection of an MS

to the network in form of the Air-interface
Air interface. On the
other side, toward the NSS, the BTS is connected
to the BSC via the Abis-interface.
| Transmitte/Receiver
T i /R i M
Module
d l
z The TRX module is, from the perspective of signal processing, the most
important part of a BTS. The TRX consists of a low-frequency part for
digital signal processing and a high-frequency part for GMSK modulation
and demodulation
demodulation. Both parts are connected via a separate or an
integrated frequency hoppingunit. All other parts of the BTS are more or
less associated with the TRXs and perform auxiliary or administrative
tasks.

| Operations and Maintenance Module

z The operations and maintenance (O&M) module consists of at least one
central unit, which administers all other parts of the BTS. For those
purposes it is connected directly to the BSC by means of a specifically
purposes,
assigned O&M channel. That allows the O&M module to process the
commands from the BSC or the MSC directly into the BTS and to report
the results. Typically, the central unit also contains the system and
operations
p software of the TRXs. That allows it to be reloaded when
necessary, without the need to “consult” the BSC. Furthermore, the O&M
module provides a human-machine interface (HMI),
which allows for local control of the BTS.
| Cl k M
Clock Module
d l
z The modules for clock generation and distribution also are part of
the O&M area. Although the trend is to derive the reference clock
from the PCM signal on the Abis- interface, a BTS internal clock
generation is mandatory. It is especially needed when a BTS has to
be tested in a standalone environment, that is, without a connection
to a BSC or when the PCM clock is not available due to link failure.
| Input and Output Filters
z Both input and output filters are used to limit the bandwidth of the
received
i d and d th
the ttransmitted
itt d signals.
i l ThThe iinputt filt
filter ttypically
i ll iis a
nonadjustable wideband filter that lets pass all GSM 900, all DCS
1800, or all PCS 1900 frequencies in the uplink direction. In
contrast, remote-controllable filters or wideband filters are used for
the downlink direction that limits the bandwidth of the output signal
t 200 kHz.
to kH When
Wh necessary, the th O&M center t (OMC) controls t l th
the
settings of the filters, as in the case of a change in frequency.
BTS Configurations

| Different BTS configurations, depending on

load, subscriber behavior, and morph
structure have to be considered to provide
structure,
optimum radio coverage of an area. The
most important
p BTS configurations
g are,
z Standard configuration
z Umbrella cell configuration
z Sectorized (Collocated) Base Transceiver
Stations
 Standard Configuration

| All BTSs are

assigned different
cell identities (CIs)
(CIs).
A number of BTSs
(in some cases, a
single BTS) form a
location area.
| Figure shows three
location areas with
one, three, and five
BTSs.
 Umbrella Cell Configuration

| The umbrella cell configuration consists of one BTS with high transmission power and
an antenna installed high above the ground that serves as an “umbrella” for a number
of BTSs with low transmission power and small diameters
| The umbrella cell configuration has its merits in certain situations and therefore may
result in relief from load and an improvement of the network
network.
| For example, when cars are moving at rather high speeds through a network of small
cells, almost consecutive handovers from one cell to the next are necessary to maintain
an active call. This situation is applicable in every urban environment that features city
highways.
g y
| Consequently, the handovers result in a substantial increase of the signaling load for
the network as well as in an unbearable signal quality degradation for the end user. On
the other hand, small cells are required to cope with the coverage demand in an urban
environment.
Sectorized (Collocated) Base
Transceiver Stations

| The term sectorized, or

collocated, BTSs refers
to a configuration in
which several BTSs are
collocated at one site but
their antennas cover only
an area of 120 or 180
degrees.
| Like the umbrella cell
configuration, this
configuration is used
mostly in highly
populated areas
Base Station Controller

| The BSC forms the center of the BSS.

| A BSC can, depending on the
manufacturer,
f t connectt to
t many BTSs
BTS over
the Abis-interface. The BSC is, from a
technical perspective, a small digital
exchange with some mobile-specific
extensions. The BSC was defined with the
i t ti off removing
intention i mostt off the
th radio-
di
related load from the MSC.
 Architecture and Tasks of the
Base Station Controller

| Switch Matrix
z Because the BSC has the functionality of a small digital
exchange, its function is to switch the incoming traffic
channels ((A-interface from the MSC)) to the correct Abis-
interface channels. The BSC, therefore, comes with a
switch matrix that (1) takes care of the relay functionality
and (2) can be used as the internal control bus
| T
Terminal
i lC Control
t l El
Elements
t off th
the Abi
Abis-Interface
I t f
z The connection to the BTSs is established via the Abis-terminal
control elements (TCEs), which, more or less independently from
the BSC’s central unit, provide the control function for a TRX or a
BTS.
z The number of Abis TCEs that a BSC may contain depends largely
on the number of BTSs and on the system manufacturer.
z Major tasks of the Abis-TCEs are to set up LAPD connections
toward the BTS peers, the transfer of signaling data, and last—but
not least—the
least the transparent transfer of payload
payload.
z Depending on the manufacturer, the Abis TCEs also may be
responsible for the administration of BTS radio resources.
| Database
z The BSC is the control center of the BSS.
BSS In that capacity,
capacity the BSC
must maintain a relatively large database in which the maintenance
status of the whole BSS, the quality of the radio resources and
terrestrial resources, and so on are dynamically administrated.
Furthermore, the BSC database contains the complete BTS
operations software for all attached BTSs and all BSS specific
information, such as assigned frequencies.
Transcoding Rate and
Adaptation Unit
| One off the
O th mostt interesting
i t ti functions
f ti in
i GSM involves
i l the
th TRAU,
TRAU which
hi h
typically is located between the BSC and the MSC.
| The task of the TRAU is to compress or decompress speech between the
MS and the TRAU. The used method is called regular pulse excitation–long
term prediction (RPE-LTP).
| It is able to compress speech from 64 Kbps to 16 Kbps, in the case of a
fullrate channel and to 8 Kbps in the case of a halfrate channel.
| Although speech compression is intended mainly to save resources over the
Air-interface, it also is suitable to save line costs when applied on terrestrial
links
Speech Coding
 A law and µ-law
A-law µ law

| Spoken language generally is not linear in its

dynamics, and the human ear is rather sensitive to
soft sounds, but difference in amplitude for loud
sounds cannot be distinguished so easily.
| When digitizing speech, one can take advantage of
thi situation
this it ti and d code
d a sufficient-quality
ffi i t lit sound
d
with relatively few bits.
| For this p
purpose,
p , the A-law and the µ
µ-law were
invented. Both are approximations of the natural
logarithmic function, and both were standardized by
ITU for transmission of digital speech on PCM
transmission lines,
Both methods are used on a per-country basis. The µ-law is used only in
the United States and Japan. All other countries use the A-law.
A law
A-law
µ law
µ-law
Mobile Communication

GSM Network
N t k Planning
Pl i
Dr. Chandimal Jayawardena
Radio Network Planning
Process
| The network planning process itself is
not standard.
| Though some of the steps may be
common, the process is determined
by the type of project, criteria and
targets. The process has to be applied
case by
b case.
 Network Planning Projects
| Network planning projects can be divided into three main categories based on
howmuch external planning services the operator is using
using.
| No services means simply that the operator is responsible for the network
planning from the very beginning until the end.
z This type of comprehensive responsibility for the network planning is more
suitable for traditional network operators,
p , who have extensive knowledge g of their
existing network and previous network planning experience than newcomers in
this technology field. There is risk, however, that if the operator is the only person
responsible for network planning there might be a difficulty in maintaining
knowledge of the latest equipment and features.
| The opposite network planning solution is when the network operator buys the
new network with a turnkey agreement.
z In this case, the operator is involved only in defining the network planning
criteria. After the network roll-out has been finished and enters the care phase an
agreement about the future has to be made. The care services can be
outsourced as wellwell, but the operator might also be interested to take some
portion of the network operations and start to learn the process. An operator
taking all the responsibility after the outsourced planning phase includes some
risk. A better solution is to learn the network operation at a pace agreed with the
network vendor.
| The network operator can also buy network planning consultancy services.
z In this, the operator performs majority of the planning function and outsource
selected aspects of the job. In this way some special know-how can be bought to
supplement the knowledge of the network planning group. This is generally used
in cases where new technologies need to be introduced in mature networks.
Network Planning Project
Organization
 Network Planning Criteria and
Targets
Network planning is a complicated process consisting of several phases. The
final target for the network planning process is to define the network design
design,
which is then built as a cellular network.
A summary of the main factors affecting network planning are listed below:

| Market analysis
z Competitor analysis
z Potential customers
z User profiles: services required and usage
| Customer requirements
z Coverage requirements
z Capacity requirements
z Quality targets: call setup success, drop call rate, etc.
z Financial limitations
z Future deployment plans
| Environment factors and other boundary conditions
z Area topography
z Hotspot locations
z Available frequency band
z Recommended base transceiver station (BTS) locations
 Network Planning Process
Steps
| The network planning process consists of several phases, which
can be combined at a higher level to main phases that differ
depending on the logics.
 Preplanning
| The preplanning phase covers the assignments and preparation before the
actual network planning is started
started.
| As in any other business it is an advantage to be aware of the current market
situation and competitors.
| The network planning criteria is agreed with the customer. As specified earlier,
the requirements depend on many factors, the main criteria being the coverage
and quality targets.
| The network planning criteria is used as an input for network dimensioning.
Following are the basic inputs for dimensioning:
z coverage requirements, the signal level for outdoor, in-car and indoor with the
coverage probabilities;
b bili i
z quality requirements, drop call rate, call blocking;
z frequency spectrum, number of channels, including information about possible
needed guard bands;
z subscriber information
information, number of users and growth figures;
z traffic per user, busy hour value;
z services.
| The dimensioning gives a preliminary network plan as an output, which is then
supplemented in coverage and parameter planning phases to create a more
detailed plan.
 Planning
| The planning phase takes input from the dimensioning, initial network
config ration This is the basis for nominal planning
configuration. planning, which
hich means
radio network coverage and capacity planning with a planning tool.
| The nominal plan does not commit certain site locations but gives an
initial idea about the locations and also distances between the sites.
| The nominal plan is a starting point for the site survey, finding the real
site locations. The nominal plan is then supplemented when it has
information about the selected site locations; as the process proceeds
coverage planning becomes completed.
completed
z The final site locations are agreed
| The output of the planning phase is the final and detailed coverage
and capacity plans. Coverage maps are made for the planned area
and final site locations and configurations.
 Detailed Planning
| After the planning phase has finished and the site location and configurations
are known detailed planning can be started
started.
| The detailed planning phase includes frequency, adjacency and parameter
planning.
| Planning tools have frequency planning algorithms for automatic frequency
planning.
| The planning tool can also be utilized in manual frequency planning. The tool
uses interference calculation algorithms and the target is to minimize firstly the
co-channel interference and also to find as low an adjacent channel interference
as possible.
| Frequency planning is a critical phase in network planning. The number of
frequencies that can be used is always limited and therefore the task here is to
find the best possible solution.
| Neighbour planning is normally done with the coverage planning tool using the
frequency plan information
information.
| In the parameter planning phase a recommended parameter setting is allocated
for each network element.
| For radio planning the responsibility is to allocate parameters such as handover
control and power control and define the location areas and set the parameters
accordingly.
GSM Network Planning
Criteria
| The definition of the radio network planning criteria is
done at the beginning of the network planning process.
| The network operator has performance quality targets for
the cellular network and these quality requirements are
also related to how the end user experiences the
network.
| Typical network quality targets are as follows:
 Radio Network
Dimensioning
| Dimensioning is the main part of the preplanning phase. In addition to
the dimensioning parameters the priority of the parameters also needs
to be agreed.
| It is imperative to agree the network layout, usage of three sector sites
or a combination of three sector and omni sites with the operator.
| O important
One i t t planning
l i issue
i iis also
l whether
h th only l macro cells
ll are used
d
in the beginning or a combination of macro, micro and pico cells.
| The macro cells are used in rural and suburban areas to cover large
areas. The macro cell has a cell range of 1–35 km and is characterised
b an outdoor
by td antenna,
t which
hi h covers a llarge area. A
Antennas
t are above
b
rooftops.
| Micro cells are used in city areas to cover areas close by and antennas
are on the walls. The micro cell has a cell range of less than 1 km and
i ffor outdoor
is d coverage. Th
The antennas are typically
i ll mounted d on walls
ll
and below the average rooftop level.
| The pico cells are used to cover either very specific hot spot in an
outdoor area or to give indoor coverage. The pico cell has a cell range
less than 500 m and is characterised by antennas mounted low on the
walls, clearly below the rooftop level. They are used for both indoor and
outdoor coverage
Link Budget Calculations
| The radio link budget aims to calculate the cell
coverage area.
| One of the required parameters is radio wave
propagation
ti tto estimate
ti t theth propagation
ti loss
l between
b t
the transmitter and the receiver. The other required
parameters are the transmission power, antenna gain,
cable losses
losses, receiver sensitivity and margins.
margins
 Link Budget Calculations
cont.
ƒ When defining the cell coverage area, the aim is to balance the
uplink and downlink powers.
ƒ The links are calculated separately and are different from the
transmission powers
powers.
ƒ The BTS transmission power is higher than the MS transmission
power and therefore the reception of the BTS needs to have high
sensitivity.
ii i
ƒ The radio signal experiences the same path loss when travelling
from the BTS to the MS as from the MS to the BTS.
ƒThe GSM link budget parameters are:
z BTS sensitivity z Cable and connector losses
z MS sensitivity z Other equipment loss factors
z MS and BTS powers z Mast head amplifier (MHA) and
z Antenna gains booster
z Diversity gain z The interference degradation
margin
Link Budget Calculations cont.
| BTS sensitivity
iti it
z Specified on the ETSI GSM recommendation 05.05 and the recommended value
is −106 dBm. This is a general recommendation and therefore when preparing a
link budget with a certain manufacturer’s equipment this vendor’s
recommendations can be used.
| MS sensitivity
z is also specified in the ETSI recommendation 05.05, where the receiver
sensitivity value is separate for each MS class.
z MS class 4, which means GSM 900, the recommended value is −102 dBm.
z MS class 1, GSM 1800, the value is −100 dBm.
| The MS sensitivity can also be calculated using the information of receiver noise
F and minimum Eb/N0.
| The value for the noise is 10 dB and the minimum Eb/N0 is 8 dB, as defined in
th ETSI recommendation
the d ti 03.30.
03 30 Th
The receiver
i sensitivity
iti it Si iis solved
l d ffrom th
the
following equation, where the input noise power Ni is the product of three
parameters: the Boltzman constant k, temperature T0 = 290K and bandwidth W
= 271 kHz (54 dB):
 Link Budget Calculations
cont.
| MS and BTS powers
z MS TX (transmission) power is defined by the MS class in ETSI specifications
specifications.
For MS class 4 (GSM 900) the maximum TX power is 2Wand for class 1 (GSM
1800) 1W.
z BTS TX power depends on the BTS type and vendor. The TX power is
adjustable, which enables the link budget to be balanced.
| Antenna gains
z The BTS antenna gain is dependent on the antenna type and whether the
antenna is omnidirectional or directional. The gain of a directional BTS antenna is
dependent on the horizontal and vertical half power beam widths. It is also
dependent on the physical size of the antenna which in turn has an impact on the
frequency range.
z Also frequency range is inversely proportional to the size of the antenna, which is
then connected to the radiating aperture of the antenna.
z The antenna gain is around 16–20 dBi when there is a widely used antenna with
60 6 horizontal
60–65◦ h i lh
halflf power b
beam width
id h and
d 5–10
10 vertical
i lh halflf power b
beam
width.
z In the link budget calculations for the MS antenna the gain is generally 0 dBi. The
actual MS antenna gain is complicated to estimate, because the gain is highly
p
dependent on the mobile user’s relative location towards the base station when
the amount of body loss varies.
| Diversity gain
z can be used for correcting unbalance between the uplink and downlink. The
typical way to arrange diversity is to have it in the BTS reception. One basic
method is to separate receiver antennas vertically or horizontally; the method is
 Link Budget Calculations
|
cont.
Cable and connector losses
z are case specific and need to be measured or calculated separately.
A individual
An i di id l connector
t gives
i a lloss off around
d00.1
1 dB
dB, b
butt d
depending
di on
the cable installations there can be several in one antenna line.

| Other equipment loss factors

z consist of isolator, combiner and filter losses.
| Two other gain factors, which need to be considered in the link budget if used,
are the mast head amplifier
p ((MHA)) and booster.
z The MHA, which is located close to the antenna in BTS reception, is
used to amplify the received signal. This decreases the unbalance
between the uplink and downlink by giving extra gain in the uplink the
direction. The booster can be used to amplify the BTS transmission
power.
| The interference degradation margin
z describes the loss due to frequency reuse.
Radio Wave Propagation
| Propagation models have been developed to be able
to estimate the radio wave propagation as accurately
| as possible.
| Models have been created for different environments
to predict the path loss between the transmitter and
receiver.
| H
How much h power needsd tto b
be ttransmitted
itt d using
i ththe
BTS?
| The complexity of the model affects the applicability as
well as the accuracy
accuracy.
| Two well-known models are:
z Okumura–Hata
z Walfish–Ikegami.
W lfi h Ik i
Basic Electromagnetic Wave
Propagation
| When the signal has been transmitted in the free space towards the receiver
antenna, the power density S at the distance from the transmitter d can be
written as:

where Pt is the transmitted power and Gt is the gain of the transmission

antenna.
| The effective area A of the receiver antenna, which affects the received
power, can be expressed as

where λ is the wavelength and Gr is the gain of the receiver (RX) antenna.
| The received power density can also be written as:

| Combining these three equations, the received power is given by:

 Basic Electromagnetic Wave
Propagation cont.
| Free space loss
z The free space path loss is the ratio of transmitted and received
power (excluding antenna gains)

z Once converted into dB:

where
e e f is
s the
t e frequency
eque cy in megahertz
ega e t aand
d d is
s the
t e distance
d sta ce in
kilometers.
| In reality the radio wave propagation path is normally a non-line-
of-sight situation with surrounding obstacles like buildings and
trees Therefore the applicability of the free space propagation
trees.
loss is limited.
| The received signal actually consists of several components,
which have been travelling g through
g different paths facing
g
reflection, diffraction and scattering.
Okumura Hata Model
Okumura–Hata
| The Okumura–Hata model is a well-known propagation
model, which can be applied for a macro cell environment to
predict median radio signal attenuation.
| The Okumura–Hata model is an empirical model, which
means that it is based on field measurements.
| Okumura performed the field measurements in Tokyo and
published results in graphical format. Hata applied the
measurement results into equations. The model can be
applied without correction factors for quasi-smooth terrain in
yp correction
an urban area but in case of other terrain types
factors are needed.
| The weakness of the Okumura–Hata model is that it does
not consider reflections and shadowing. The parameter
restrictions for this model are:
Okumura Hata Model cont
Okumura–Hata cont.
| The Okumura–Hata model for path loss prediction can by written as where f
is the frequency (MHz), Hb is the base station antenna height (m), a(Hm) is
the mobile antenna correction factor, d is the distance between the BTS and
MS (km) and Lother is an additional correction factor for area type correction.

| The correction factor for the MS antenna height is represented as follows for
a small or medium sized city,

and for a large city:

where Hm is the MS antenna height:

Okumura Hata Model cont
Okumura–Hata cont.
| Parameter set for Okumura–Hata calculations

| Example: Distance from BTS = 2 km. Transmitter

antenna height = 30 m, Receiver antenna height = 1.5
m,
Okumura Hata Model cont
Okumura–Hata cont.
| The Okumura–Hata model is valid for
z frequency ranges 150–1500MHz and 1500–2000
MHz.
z base station antenna height - 30 to 200 m
z Mobile antenna - 1 to 10 m
z cell range, i.e. the distance between the BTS and MS,
from 1 to 20 km.
Walfish Ikegami Model
Walfish–Ikegami
| The Walfish–Ikegami model is an empirical
propagation model for an urban area, which is
especially applicable for micro cells but can also be
used for macro cells.
| The parameters related to the Walfish–Ikegami model
are:

W = The mean value for street widths (m)

Φ = Road orientation angle (degrees)
hroof = The
Th mean value
l for
f building
b ildi heights
h i h ((m))
B = The mean value for building separation (m)
Walfish Ikegami Model cont
Walfish–Ikegami cont.
| TheWalfish–Ikegami
Th W lfi h Ik i model
d l separates iinto
two cases: line-of-sight (LOS) and non-
lineof-sight.
| Line-of-sight situation (d in km and f in MHz)

| Non-line-of-sight situation

where
Lrts = the rooftop–street diffraction and
scatter loss Lmsdd = the multiscreen
diffraction loss.
Coverage Planning in GSM
Networks
| The target
Th t t for
f coverage planning
l i isi to
t find
fi d optimal
ti l locations
l ti ffor
base stations to build continuous coverage according to the
planning requirements.
| The model selection is done according to the planning parameters,
e g frequency
e.g. frequency, macro/microcell environment
environment, BTS antenna height height.
| The coverage prediction is based on the map and the model and
therefore the accuracy is dependent on those as well.
| As the link budget calculations are created for all the network
configurations, which means different combinations of the planning
parameters, the cell size determination can be started.
| The number of different combinations is targeted to be kept as
small as possible, but some different BTS profiles are normally
needed. Sometimes there can be restrictions in the antenna usage,
e.g. only
l smallll ones can b
be usedd iin th
the city
it area, andd thi
this createst
different link budgets for urban and rural areas.
| The link budget defines the maximum allowed path loss with certain
configurations. Firstly, the theoretical maximum for the cell size is
calculated using the selected basic propagation model.
 Capacity Planning in GSM
Networks
| In the capacity planning phase a detailed capacity per cell level is
estimated.
i d Th
The prior
i taskk was to select
l the
h bbase station
i llocations
i and
d
calculate the coverage area using actual BTS parameters. The capacity
allocation is based on these coverage maps and traffic estimates, which
can be a separate layer on the map of the planning tool.
| The amount of traffic is expressed in Erlangs, which is the magnitude of
telecommunications traffic.
| An Erlang describes the amount of traffic in one hour. The definition for
Erlangg is the following:
g

Example: 25 users make a phone calls in an hour. Average call duration isthree minutes.
How much traffic are the users creatingg in Erlangs?
g
Frequency Planning
| The number
Th b off carriers
i per sector
t can b be calculated
l l t dbby di
dividing
idi ththe
available bandwidth by the product of the re-use rate and
bandwidth for a single carrier, i.e. dividing the number of channels
by the frequency re-use rate. Using a re-use rate of 12, the number
of TRXs, carriers per sector, is calculated below:

| the capacity of the network with 100 BTSs and 600 cells can be
calculated as

| The re-use pattern factor K can be calculated geometrically:

Frequency Planning cont
cont.
| To enable maximum capacity, the parameter K should
be optimised to be as small as possible when the
system is operational and fulfilling the planning
requirements. Parameter q is the co-channel
interference reduction factor, where the higher the
value of q the smaller is the co-channel interference

| The co-channel interference can be calculated as the

ratio of the carrier (C) to the sum of the interferers (In
):
where d describes the distance between the transmitter and the receiver, α is
a constant and γ is the propagation path loss slope.
Frequency Planning cont
cont.

| Interference for the first tier is

| Assuming all interferers are equally

strong:
g

| Interference for the second tier: