WCDMA Coverage Problems Analysis

Course Objectives
After learning the course, you can:

Analyze problems of pilot coverage

and service coverage, and then solve
them

Measure the coverage performance of

a network

Know coverage enhancement

technology

Contents

Coverage problems classification

Coverage analysis flow
Coverage enhancement technology
Typical coverage problems analysis
Key items at each stage of network
optimization
Training.huawei.com

Coverage Problems Classification

Signal dead zone

Coverage void

Cross-cell coverage

Pilot pollution

Imbalance of uplink and downlink

Coverage Problems Classification

Signal dead zone

In the zone, pilot signal is lower than the minimum access

threshold of mobile phone. For example, RSCP threshold is
-115 dBm, and Ec/Io threshold is -18 dB, such as valley,
opposite of the sidehill, elevator well, tunnel, underground
garage or basement, and inside of the high buildings.

Solutions:
Construct a new NodeB
Add coverage areas
Use RRU and repeaters
Use leakage cable and micro cell
Use indoor distributed coverage system

Coverage Problems Classification

Coverage void

In the area, pilot signal is lower than minimum requirement in

full-coverage areas (such as Voice, VP, PS128K), but better
than the minimum access threshold of mobile phone.

Solutions
Construct micro NodeBs or repeaters
Use high-gain antenna, increase antenna height, reduce the
mechanism tilt angle of antenna
Optimize power configuration of full-coverage services (in scenes
without large capacity requirements

Coverage Problems Classification

Cross-cell coverage

Coverage areas of some NodeB are beyond the planned range,

and forms pilot areas satisfying full-coverage services in
coverage areas of other NodeBs.

Solutions:
Adjust tilt angel and azimuth of antenna
Avoid antenna propagation directed to the road
Use the shield effect of peripheral buildings
Adjust pilot power, and reduce coverage areas of NodeB

Coverage Problems Classification

Pilot Pollution

Multiple pilot signals are received in one point, but there is

primary pilot strong enough.

If over three pilots meet CPICH _ RSCP 95dBm and

(CPICH _ RSCP1st CPICH _ RSCP4th ) 5dB,

there is pilot pollution.

Solutions:
Consider pilot pollution at planning stage to facilitate later network
optimization.

Adjust distribution and antenna parameters

Lower pilot power
Merge NodeB sectors or remove redundancy sectors without
affecting capacity

Coverage Problems Classification

Imbalance of uplink and downlink

In target coverage areas, uplink coverage is limited (the transmit

power of UE is maximum but cannot meet uplink BLER
requirements), or downlink coverage is limited (the transmit
power of downlink dedicated channel code is maximum but
cannot meet downlink BLER requirements)

Imbalance of uplink and downlink due to uplink interference

Imbalance of uplink and downlink due to limited downlink power

Contents

Coverage problems classification

Coverage analysis flow
Coverage enhancement technology
Typical coverage problems analysis
Key items at each stage of network
optimization
Training.huawei.com

Coverage Analysis Flow

Prepared knowledge

Coverage data analysis

Planning Schemes

Analyzing problems of pilot coverage and service

coverage is based on knowing planning schemes of
target areas. The schemes include:

Site distribution

NodeB configuration

Antenna configuration

Pilot coverage prediction

Service load distribution

Tools for Analysis

The analysis of coverage data contains drive test call and

the BAM of pilot census data, traffic measurement of current

network, UL RTWP alarm of each cell, and user call flow
traced by RNC.

Drive test BAM (such as Actix and Genex Assistant)

Traffic measurement tools

UL RTWP alarm system

Testability log

Configuration Parameters Adjustment

The radio configuration parameters to be adjusted for

solving coverage problems include:

CPICH TX Power

MaxFACHPower

Sintrasearch, Sintersearch, and Ssearchrat

PreambleRetransMax

Intra-FILTERCOEF

Intra-CellIndividalOffset

RLMaxDLPwr and RLMinDLPwr (oriented to services)

Coverage Analysis Flow

Prepared knowledge

Coverage data analysis

Coverage Data Analysis

Analysis of coverage data include:

Analysis of drive test data

Analysis of traffic measurement data

Analysis of tracing data

Analysis of user complaints

Analysis of Drive Test Data

Downlink coverage
1.

Analysis of pilot coverage strength

Coverage void

Analysis of Drive Test Data

Downlink coverage
2.

Analysis of primary cell

No primary cell

Analysis of Drive Test Data

Downlink coverage
3.

Comparative analysis of UE and Scanner coverage

Difference in soft
handover areas

Analysis of Drive Test Data

Downlink coverage
4.

Analysis of downlink code transmit power distribution

Frequency

Accumulation %

Analysis of Drive Test Data

Downlink coverage
5.

Analysis of soft handover ratio

According to the Scanner drive test data, the soft handover area ratio
is defined as follows:

The soft handover ratio from the perspective of traffic is

defined as follows:

Analysis of Drive Test Data

Downlink coverage
5.

Analysis of soft handover ratio

Pilot pollution

Analysis of Drive Test Data

Uplink coverage
1.

Analysis of uplink interference

Analysis of Drive Test Data

Uplink coverage
2.

Uplink transmit power distribution of UE (micro cellular)

Analysis of Drive Test Data

Uplink coverage
2.

Uplink transmit power distribution of UE (macro cellular)

Uplink
coverage

restricted

Analysis of Traffic Measurement Data

Traffic measurement indexes

The effect on access success ratio, congestion ratio, call drop ratio, and
handover success ratio from the coverage

Traffic distribution
The coverage problem caused by traffic volume measurement and
imbalance of service distribution

Excessive busy cells and idle cells

The effect on the coverage based on the load adjustment

Contents

Coverage problems classification

Coverage analysis flow
Coverage enhancement technology
Typical coverage problems analysis
Key items at each stage of network
optimization
Training.huawei.com

Coverage Enhancement Technology

NodeB configuration adjustment

Sectorized configuration

High-power PA

Coverage Enhancement Technology

TMA
Tower mounted amplifier (TMA) improves the uplink coverage
performance by reducing the total noise factor of NodeB receiving
subsystem, and the coverage gain depends on the mechanism of
receiving subsystem and the feeder loss.
When the WCDMA network shares feeders with the GSM system,
the coverage gain is the greatest. If the system capacity is restricted
in downlink, the TMA reduces the system capacity. Typically, the
capacity loss ranges from 6% to 10%.

Coverage Enhancement Technology

Transceiver diversity
In the downlink, provided with the time switched transmit diversity
(TSTD) and space time transmit diversity (STTD), you can add the

RAKE receiver number of UE and improve the quality to increase the

coverage range, improve the system capacity and reduce the NodeB
number.
In the uplink, adopting four-antenna receiving diversity decreases the

requirements on Eb/No needed by demodulation. The gain of fourantenna receiving diversity is 2.5 dB to 3.0 dB. You can improve the
uplink sensitivity by 2.5 dB to 3.0 dB, and reduce the site quantity by
25%-30%.

Coverage Enhancement Technology

Repeaters
Repeaters expand the coverage range of primary cell. WCDMA
repeaters are similar to analog repeaters, the noise and signal are
amplified at the same time.

The repeater increases the Eb/No required by uplink and downlink

demodulation. Most repeaters do not use uplink receiving diversity
technology. In this way, Eb/No required in uplink demodulation
increases dramatically.

If the system capacity is restricted in uplink, using repeaters leads to

decrease of the system capacity.

If the system capacity is restricted in downlink, the effect on the system

capacity from the repeater depends on:
Link budget between primary NodeB and repeater
Repeater power transmission setup
Maximum path loss related to repeater coverage area
Service allocation between host cell and repeater

Coverage Enhancement Technology

Remote RF amplifier
The remote RF amplifier allows physical separation of NodeB RF
module from baseband module so that the RF module is placed far
away without using long feeder.
The uplink and downlink budget improves and RF being remote
means that coverage performance increases but the capacity does
not reduce. Compared with the remote coverage through the RRU,
the TMA adds the maximum path loss and introduces insertion loss
to reduce the EIRP of NodeB.

Coverage Enhancement Technology

Micro-cellular
The urban and dense urban areas require high density of NodeB, so the site
selection is difficult. The micro-cellular can meet the high capacity and
applicable for city and dense city.
The feature of micro-cellular solution is that micro-cellular requires Eb/No and
quick fading margin needed in demodulation, increases channel code
orthogonality, but reduces neighbor cell interference and soft handover
margin. When micro-cellular and macro-cellular have the same power, the air
interface volume of micro-cellular is twice of that of macro-cellular.

Indoor coverage
You can perform indoor deep coverage using indoor distributed antennas,
and this proves efficient.

Coverage Enhancement Technology

Omni transmission sectorized receive technology

In the Omni Transmission Sectorized Receive technology (OTSR),
signals are transmitted in the omni-direction and received in three
sectors. Because the gain of directional antenna is higher than that of
omni-directional antenna, the coverage radius is farther.
At the earlier stage of network construction when lower capacity is
required, OTSR can reduce the network construction cost and
improve the coverage range.

Contents

Coverage problems classification

Coverage analysis flow
Coverage enhancement technology
Typical coverage problems analysis
Key items at each stage of network
optimization
Training.huawei.com

Coverage Void Problems Caused by

Improper Site Planning

Case 1
As shown in this figure, in part of coverage areas, the pilot signal
strength is lower than 90 dBm, lower much than that of
surrounding areas, so coverage void occurs.

Coverage signal
strength < -90 dBm

Coverage Void Problems Caused by

Improper Site Planning

Analysis
Coverage signal
strength < -90 dBm

Coverage signal
strength > -70 dBm

Coverage Void Problems Caused by

Improper Site Planning

Irregular mesh structure causes coverage void

Cross-cell Coverage Problems caused by

Improper Site Selection

Case 2
If a site is over high, cross-cell coverage occurs easily, so intrafrequency interference to other sites occurs.
Red indicates
cross-cell
coverage areas
by the
first sector
of Road 27 Site

Cross-cell Coverage Problems caused by

Improper Site Selection

Solution
Increase mechanism tilt angle and adjust direction angle to solve
cross-cell coverage problems for high sites.

Red indicates
Part cross-cell
coverage areas
in Wenhua Rd.
by the first sector
of Rd. 27 Site

Coverage Restriction Problems Caused by

Improper Installation of Antennas

Case 3
The Pilot Network: 701070_ParkLaneHotel site of S project covers the
Victoria Park and the antenna is mounted on the platform (10 meters high),
as shown in this picture. At the optimization phase after the network
construction, before the traffic light under the antenna, Video Phone mosaic
adds and image quality is worse and PS 384K service is reactivated.

Call drop occurs easily

by traffic lights

New 3G antenna

Existing 2G
antenna

Coverage Restriction Problems Caused by

Improper Installation of Antennas

Analysis
From the perspective of planning, 3G network and 2G network co-locate.
Compared with 2G coverage test data, 2G network has not large signal
fluctuation under the road and site, that is, if the antennas of 3G network
and 2G network are in the same location, the roads 3G coverage is
performed by 701070_ParkLaneHotel_Podium site. The problem lie in than
3G antenna is so close to the platform that the wall blocks the signal and
installation conditions of antenna are not met.
Meanwhile, 2G antenna and installation components affect the 3G antenna
pattern.

Solution

Change least without affecting the 2G coverage, connect the transceiver

feeders of 3G and 2G respectively with two ports of external broad
frequency polarization antenna, and connect other transceiver feeders of 3G
and 2G with two antennas of internal broad frequency antennas.

Coverage Restriction Problems Caused by

Incorrect Installation of Antennas

Case 4

In the Pilot network of S project, 701640_ElzHse1 site has only one cell
and combines transmitter A, B and C (It is not OTSR, but the
combination of three antenna receiving signals and distribution of
NodeB transmission signal).

During the antenna installation at the NodeB construction phase, all the
transmission feeders are combined to sector A by mistake, so sector B
and C have no signals to transmit and the coverage effect is worse. The

problem is found after RF engineers test RTWP interference at the site.

Before the problem is found, the single site test is passed. The problem
even remains in the later network optimization test until RF engineers
identifies it during testing RTWP interference.

Coverage Restriction Problems Caused by

Incorrect Installation of Antennas
The figure shows the comparison of pilot RSCP
before and after the antenna installation correction.

After antenna
is corrected

Before antenna
is corrected

Coverage Restriction Problems Caused by

Incorrect Installation of Antennas

Analysis

The pilot RSCP before the antenna correction in the previous figure
shows that the signals close to the bottom of the site are below -76
dBm. Comparing the coverage of three sectors, obviously, you can find
that the coverage of sector A is 20 dB stronger than that of sector B and
sector C. From the perspective of current single site test Checklist, it is
difficult to find the pilot RSCP is larger than -85 dBm, especially for the
micro-cellular site.

Most sites of S project share 2G sites location or sector. Therefore, use

the 2G coverage distribution to check whether the 3G coverage is
normal.
For example, compare the distribution area ranging from -90 dBm to 80 dBm. Currently, the minimum work level of 2G network is about -60
dBm, and only when the minimum working level at the bottom of 3G
sites also should reach about -60 dBm, the sites are basically normal.

Contents

Coverage problems classification

Coverage analysis flow
Coverage enhancement technology
Typical coverage problems analysis
Key items at each stage of network
optimization
Training.huawei.com

Single Site Test Stage

Signal dead zone

Concern the major coverage target of each transmitter and

confirm whether the signal dead zone is present based on the

specified target.

Coverage void
Concern whether the continuous coverage of full-coverage
service can be guaranteed.

Planning verification
Concern the difference between the digital map and actual
environment, and perform a comparison and verification
between the coverage prediction and actual drive test data.

Evaluation Stage before Optimization

Uplink and downlink interference

Concern the change of uplink RTWP of each cell, Scanner in
the drive test or RSSI of UE.

Ec/Io mean
Under the unloaded downlink and loaded downlink, concern
whether the areas less than the mean value affects continuous
coverage of full-coverage service

RSCP mean
Concern whether areas with the mean value affect seamless
coverage of full coverage service.

RF Optimization Stage

Cross-cell coverage
Concern the repeated coverage due to inconsistent height of
sites.

Pilot pollution
Concern whether the ping-pong handover exists in the soft
handover area to reduce the intra-frequency interference.

Over large areas of soft handover

Concern volume restriction due to over large areas of soft
handover.

Network Optimization Project Acceptance Stage

Traffic measurement indexes

Concern the inconsistency between the specified coverage
target and actual user traffic distribution.

Summary

The network optimization can improve quality of the

whole network used by the mobile users and use
network resources more effectively. Although the
coverage indexes are not reflected in the KPI, the
coverage optimization is the basic requirement for
improving

the

network

performance.

The

radio

performance optimization can take effect only based

on the coverage optimization.

Thank you!