Fade Margin Calculation in GSM

By shisenchi On 4 January 2013 In GSM

As previously I write about fading effect in GSM here I write about Fade Margin Calculation in
GSM.

Cell area probability (CAP ) is the percentage of the cell area that has signal strength
greater than the receiver sensitivity.

CAP is dependent on the radio environment, primarily the standard deviation of the log
normal faded signal (s) and the propagation loss constant (n)

The CAP is calculated using the following equaion

PCA= ( 1+ erf (a) + exp (2ab+1/b2)(1 erf(ab+1/b)))

Where:
PCA = Cell area probability
A = Mfade/s
B = 10nLog10(e) / s2
MFADE = Fade margin applied
s = Standard deviation of received signal
N = Propagation constant
Outdoor Fade Margin

The outdoor fade margin depends on the standard deviation of the lognormal shadowing
and the propagation constant

The propagation constant depends on the environment and the frequency.

For urban areas propagation constant varies from 2.7 to 5 , with a typical value of 5 for
both 850 Mhz and 1900 Mhz.

Standard deviation also varies on environment and frequency , and may vary slightly with
frequency.

The urban areas have higher standard deviation than rural areas.Typical value ranges
from 5-12dB with a typical value of 8dB

Outdoor fade margin can be calculated using a plot of the CAP

The next figure shows the CAP plot for a propagation constant of 3.5 and standard
deviation of 5, 8 and 12.

equation.

From the figure fade margin to be applied to the Link Budget may be selected depending on the
standard of the received signal.

Read more http://www.teletopix.org/gsm/fade-margin-calculation-in-gsm