Product version Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

V100R001 Product name: WCDMA RNP

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WCDMA RNP Neighboring Cell Planning Guidance

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Prepared by Reviewed by Reviewed by Approved by

URNP-SANA

Date Date Date Date

2003-05-10

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

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WCDMA RNP Neighboring Cell Planning Guidance

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Revision Record
Date 2003/5/10 2003/5/20 Revision version 1.00 1.00 Description Initial transmittal Verification and revision for first draft Author Zhu Ailin Xu Dengyu

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WCDMA RNP Neighboring Cell Planning Guidance

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Table of Contents
1 Overview ................................................................................................................................. 6

1.1 Objective............................................................................................................................. 6 1.2 Principles for Neighboring Cell Planning ........................................................................... 6 2 Preparations for Planning ..................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Checking PLMN Network ................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Checking BSs Setup and Cell Distribution ......................................................................... 8 2.3 Checking whether 3g Carrier is Set up and Added to Cell ................................................ 9 2.4 Checking Cell Coverage Prediction ................................................................................. 10 3 Operation Process of Neighbor Planner Tools ................................................................. 11 3.1 Setting Cell Range for Planning ....................................................................................... 11 3.2 Automatic Planning of Intra-carrier neighboring cells ...................................................... 12 3.2.1 Step 1 ......................................................................................................................... 12 3.2.2 Step 2 ......................................................................................................................... 13 3.2.3 Step 3 ......................................................................................................................... 13 3.2.4 Step 4 ......................................................................................................................... 15 3.3 Automatic Planning of Inter-carrier Neighboring Cells..................................................... 17 3.3.1 Step 1 and Step 2 ..................................................................................................... 17 3.3.2 Step 3 ......................................................................................................................... 17 3.3.3 Step 4 ......................................................................................................................... 18 4 Advices on Neighboring Cell Planning.............................................................................. 18

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List of Figures
FIGURE 1 PLMN SITE DATABASE .................................................................................................................................... 8 FIGURE 2 NODEB&CELLS DISTRIBUTION .......................................................................................................................... 9 FIGURE 3 CARRIERS................................................................................................................................................... 10 FIGURE 4 COVERAGE PREDICTOR ................................................................................................................................. 11 FIGURE 5 FILTERS ..................................................................................................................................................... 12 FIGURE 6 NEIGHBOUR PLANNER SELECT VIEW ................................................................................................................. 13 FIGURE 7 NEIGHBOUR PLANNER FILTER.......................................................................................................................... 13 FIGURE 8 INTRA-CARRIER NEIGHBOUR PLANNER PARAMETER SETTING ................................................................................. 14 FIGURE 9 NEIGHBOUR PLANNER REPORT ....................................................................................................................... 16 FIGURE 10 WORDPAD REPORT .................................................................................................................................... 17 FIGURE 11 INTER-CARRIER NEIGHBOUR PLANNER PARAMETER SETTING ............................................................................... 18

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WCDMA RNP Neighboring Cell Planning Guidance

Key words: WCDMA RNP, neighboring cell Abstract: This describes how to plan neighboring cell in tools or in handwork. List of abbreviations:

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1 Overview
1.1 Objective
The WCDMA system is a self-interference system. Its frequency reuse coefficient is 1, and the same frequency can be used in different sectors. Controlling the interference between sectors , including power control, load control, etc is an effective method to increase network capacity and improve system efficiency,. Good neighboring cell planning is also one of the effective methods to control the interference between cells. This document is to guide engineers to carry out the neighboring cell planning with the planning software ENTERPRISE, so as to make preparation for the subsequent scrambling code planning and soft handover planning.

1.2 Principles for Neighboring Cell Planning

In the WCDMA system, the cells which have interference to the primary cell are called as adjacent cells. Any cell can be the primary cell with adjacent cells. Neighboring cells exist in the adjacent cells of the primary cell. The cell border is determined according to UE access level. In terms of primary cell, it can receive pilot signals from other intra-frequency cells at the border of the cell. These pilot signals may be stronger or weaker than that of UE access level. If the pilot signal at the border of the primary cell is stronger than the access level, this cell is (or probably is) the neighboring cell of the primary cell. And there is a soft handover area between two neighboring cells, whose size is determined by handover margin. The following three kinds of handover may take place between neighboring cells: Soft handover If the neighboring cells are intra-frequency cells, the UE can communicate with the network through multiple radio links; Softer handover It takes place between two intra-frequency cells of the same NODEB; Hard handover (It takes place between any two cells regardless of frequency distribution) It means that the UE disconnects the communication with the original cell at first and then access the network from a new one. In order to assist the neighboring cells data compiling, the hard handover mentioned here is the one taking place between inter-frequency cells. Note: Cells with different frequencies can be configured as inter-frequency neighboring cells. Follow these principles when configuring neighboring cell relation: Cells being neighbor geographically are usually configured as neighboring cells;

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WCDMA RNP Neighboring Cell Planning Guidance

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Neighboring cells are usually required to be neighbor to each other. That is, the carrier frequency of sector A regards B as its neighboring cell, and B should regard A as its neighboring cell too. However, on some special occasions, unidirectional neighboring cell configuration is required. If the BSs of some areas adopt f1 and f2 configurations and if the BSs of other surrounding areas adopt single carrier f1 configurations, it is necessary to configure the unidirectional neighboring cell relation from f2 to f1 only. For dense urban and mean urban, the distance between two sites is relatively short (say 0.5 to 1.5 km), so more neighboring cells should be planned. At present, a maximum of 32 neighboring cells can be configured. When configuring the neighboring pilot, you should mind the number of neighboring pilots. In order to avoid occupying the cells in the neighboring cell list and causing interference by putting the real neighboring pilot out of the MS neighbor list, only those with real neighbor relation should be configured and the irrelative ones should be removed. At the same time, configuring too many neighboring cells will affect the MSs pilot searching time and accuracy. So it is required to configure necessary neighboring cells only, avoiding too many neighboring cells in the actual network. For BSs in suburban and rural areas, although the distance between sites is long, the cells being neighbors geographically must be configured as the neighboring cells to ensure the prompt handover and avoid call drop. Because there is no order between the WCDMA neighboring cells, and the detection cycle is relatively short (32 intra-carrier neighboring cells only require a measurement cycle of 320ms), it is only required to avoid missing neighboring cells, and unnecessary to sequence the neighboring cells according to signal strength.

2 Preparations for Planning

When using the tools provided by ENTERPRISE4.0 to make neighboring cell planning, we should check whether the following works have been prepared in advance or not.

2.1 Checking PLMN Network

Select the 3g->Database->Site menu as shown in the following window, check whether the PLMN network exists, and whether BSs and cells have been set up in this network. The parameter description part in each schematic diagram only presents the parameters related to neighboring cell planning. For the complete parameter configuration analysis, please refer to [1].

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Figure 1 PLMN Site database

2.2 Checking BSs Setup and Cell Distribution

Select the 3g->View->New 2D view menu and select a map in the pull-down box (note: If the terrain is not displayed, please click the button <Show Data Types> and then <Clutter Data> to configure the display elements). In window below ,check whether BSs and cells exist in the map. (Note: the map is imported by setting the relevant contents of the coordinate system and the maximum and minimum values of the latitude and longitude of the map in the Modify Project window. At the same time, the antenna data should also be imported. For detailed operation, refer to (2).

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Figure 2 NodeB&Cells distribution

2.3 Checking whether 3g Carrier is Set up and Added to Cell

Select the 3g->Options->Carriers menu as shown in the following window, check whether 3g carrier is configured or not, and whether the carrier is added to the cell as shown in figure 3.

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Figure 3 Carriers

2.4 Checking Cell Coverage Prediction

Select the 3g->Tools->Coverage Predictor menu to checking whether the cell coverage is created or not.

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Figure 4 Coverage predictor

3 Operation Process of Neighbor Planner Tools

3.1 Setting Cell Range for Planning
Select the 3g->Database->Filters menu as shown in the following window, and add Filter, and then set the cells to be allocated in this Filter.

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Figure 5 Filters

3.2 Automatic Planning of Intra-carrier neighboring cells

3.2.1 Step 1
Select the 3g->Tools->Neighbour Planner menu as shown in the following window, select the cells to be planned, and then click <Next>:

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Figure 6 Neighbour planner select view

3.2.2 Step 2
Select the filters where those cells to be planned and their neighboring cells locate, then click <Next>, as shown in the window below:

Figure 7 Neighbour planner filter

3.2.3 Step 3
Set the parameters that should be considered in neighboring cell planning and click <Next>,
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as shown in the following window:

Figure 8 Intra-carrier neighbour planner parameter setting The relevant parameters are described as follows: Override Handover Margin [dB]: The pilot power difference between two cells within the handover area should be smaller than or equal to the handover margin value set here. The default value is 3dB, indicating that two cells have the possibility of becoming neighboring cells only when the terminal receiving signal strength difference the two cells is smaller than or equal to 3dB. Please note that this value is valid only in the intra-carrier neighboring cell planning. Explanation: This value is proportional to the size of Interfering Area. For Enterprise 4.0 sets neighboring cells according to Interfering Area principle.,so the bigger this value is , the more possibility of becoming neighboring cells will be. However, this parameter does not affect the number of neighboring cells the software plans. Carrier: It is the carrier used by neighboring cells. Resolution[m]: It refers to the precision of the digital map, for example, 20m. Minimum Interfering Area [km 2 ]: it is the minimum value of neighboring cells interfering area . The default value is 0.00. This parameter means that the cell may become a neighboring cell only when the interfering area is larger than this value. The purpose of this parameter is to avoid too many neighboring cells and avoid adding unnecessary cells to the neighboring cell list, which results in resources wasting.
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Explanation: It is for Interfering area calculation. For intra-frequency cells, it calculates the area of all points where the signal strength received from neighboring cells is Handover Margin smaller than the signal strength of this cell. For inter-frequency cells, it calculates the area of all points where the requirement for the parameter Ec/Io Threshold is met. (Note that the interfering area calculated from the cells with bi-directional neighboring cell relation may be different.) The value of this parameter directly influences the number of neighboring cells. Standard Deviation [dB]: It indicates the Eb/No measurement standard difference of UE, and it controls Eb/No distribution achieved by UE. The default value is 10. The setting of this parameter is mainly related to the accuracy of propagation model. If the local propagation model has already been revised and if it is very close to the actual condition, this standard difference can be set to a very small value, for example 1. Note: the value of this parameter, which is not proportional to the size of Interfering Area, does not affect the number of neighboring cells. Number of neighboring cells: It refers to the maximum number of neighboring cells each cell can have. The default value is 6. If this value is too large, it will result in many unnecessary neighboring cells; if it is too small, it is likely to miss some cells and result in frequent call drop. It is recommended to set different values for different locations. For example, set it to a large value for central cells, and a small value for margin cells, set more for intra-frequency cells and less for inter-frequency cells. Explanation: The value of this parameter will affect the number of neighboring cells. The planning software uses this value to sequence the cells, and select ones with larger Interfering Area as neighboring cells.

3.2.4 Step 4
As shown In the following window, Generate the neighboring cell planning report and analyze it. If the neighboring cell planning results meet the requirements, click <Apply All> or <Apply> to the complete neighboring cells planning.

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Figure 9 Neighbour Planner Report Cell name: Cell name, name of the cell to be planned. For example, dayawanC. Neighbours: List of neighboring cells. Select the cell on the left frame, and its neighboring cells will be listed on the Neighbours frame. Carriers: It refers to the carrier used by the neighboring cells. Interfering Area: It refers to the Interfering Area between the selected cell and its neighboring cells. Replace existing UMTS neighbours with same and Replace existing UMTS neighbours with difference: It indicates whether to replace the existing neighboring cell data with the generated neighboring cells data which are the same or different from the existing neighboring cell data of this project project has neighboring cell data). In addition, the result report of neighboring cell planning can be in the format of WordPad. In the above window, you can click <WrodPad> button to generate report format as shown below: (if the database of this

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Figure 10 WordPad Report

3.3 Automatic Planning of Inter-carrier Neighboring Cells

3.3.1 Step 1 and Step 2
The operations in Step1 and Step 2 are the same as those of intra-carrier neighboring cell planning.

3.3.2 Step 3
In the following window set the parameters to be considered for neighboring cells planning, and click <Next>:

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Figure 11 Inter-Carrier neighbour planner parameter setting The relevant parameters are described as follows: Ec/Io Threshold [dB]: It is the Ec/Io threshold in neighboring cell planning. In inter-carrier neighboring cell planning, only the service cells connected with the terminal or other cells whose the Ec/Io value is larger than or equal to this threshold can become neighboring cells. The default value is -18dB. Carrier: It is the carrier used by the cell. the descriptions of Resolution[m], Minimum Interfering Area[km Deviation [dB] and Number of Neighboring Cells are ditto
2

], Standard

3.3.3 Step 4
This step is the same as Step 4 in the intra-carrier neighboring cells planning.

4 Advices on Neighboring Cell Planning

When using Enterprise 4.0 to carry out intra-frequency and inter-carrier neighboring cell planning, it is recommended to follow the principles below: When planning intra-carrier neighboring cells, you can expand the Interfering Area through increasing Handover Margin. Because the interfering area of the cells with true neighboring cell relation expands more quickly than that of the cells without actual neighboring cell relation. Next, you need to filter unnecessary cells by setting suitable Minimum Interfering Area (At this time, you can export the neighboring cell
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report to decide what value of Minimum Interfering Area should be set to, and then use this value to filter the unnecessary neighboring cells). The parameters of Handover Margin and Minimum Interfering Area should be set based on the data accuracy of the project interested (such as propagation model data, electronic map information, etc.). If these data are inaccurate, the neighboring cells planned by the neighbour planner function of ENTERPRISE provide no reference meaning. Similar to the planning of intra-carrier neighboring cells, you can also expand Interfering Area by decreasing Ec/Io threshold. Then you need to filter unnecessary neighboring cells by setting Minimum Interfering Area and Number of Neighboring Cells properly. Please note that UMTS CELL is for cells instead of sectors in multi-carrier BS; otherwise, the BS will lose inter-carrier neighboring cells. When planning neighboring cells, it is recommended to select the suitable areas instead of all areas, which will lead to inaccurate result of neighboring cells planning. Since the calculation result of interfering area of the cells at the edge of network is obviously larger than that of the cells at the network center, and these parameters related to neighboring cell planning are uniformly used for the cells in selected filter. Therefore, it is recommended to set different filters according to different BS distributions. For example, set separate filters for cells in city, suburban and rural respectively, and then plan neighboring cells according to each filter. The parameters set for neighboring cell planning for these filters may be different. Whats more, to carry out neighboring cell planning among too many BSs simultaneously will result in the lack of memory, thus the planning cannot continue at all. When carrying out inter-carrier neighboring cell planning, it is likely to encounter unreasonable unidirectional neighboring cells relation. This problem is resolving. At present, you can generate bi-directional neighboring cells relation through relevant tools (such as GSM bi-directional neighboring cell planning tool) to avoid it.

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List of reference: [1] Yao Jianqing, WCDMA RNP Technology Research on Special Topics -- ENTERPRISE Parameter Analysis Report, 2003/01/04 [2] Chen Jing, WCDMA RNP ENTERPRISE V4.0 Planning Software Usage Guide V1.0, 2002/07/30. [3] Chen Qi, WCDMA RNP Cell Primary Scrambling Code Planning Guide V1.0, 2003/04/24

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