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Base stations with adaptive antennas is a new technology
for mobile communication systems. This technology
offers the opportunity to increase the capacity of a
network and reduce interference in the system. This paper
presents a brief system description of the first GSM
prototype base station with adaptive antenna technology
and the results of the function tests. The function tests
were carried out in the test area in Gieen (Germany). The
prototype base stations were connected to the commercial
GSM infrastructure of Mannesmann Mobilfunks D2
network. The measurement results are very positive and
show the high potential of this new technology.
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The deployment of GSM based cellular systems is a
world-wide success with GSM systems in operation in
Europe, China, USA, Australia, Africa and large parts of
Asia. Today, the GSM standard is used by around 120
million subscribers (October, 1998). As the number of
users increases, more capacity is needed, especially in
larger cities where enormous mobile traffic density can be
reached.
Adaptive antennas have generated great interest in recent
years and at present several manufacturers and operators
are separately or jointly performing field-tests to gain
more detailed knowledge of the potential of the
technology.
Ericsson and Mannesmann have since 1995 conducted
joint research and field trials in adaptive antennas for
GSM, [1]. The first field trials were performed from 1995-
97 on the 1800 MHz band. The trials were performed as
link tests with one testbed and two test mobiles. The main
purpose was to build up experience in the spatial radio
channel in different representative environments.
The conclusions of the first field trials indicated a capacity
gain of a factor of 2-3. Based on the positive conclusions
from the 1800 MHz field trials, it was decided to continue
the joint field trials between Ericsson and Mannesmann.
The continuation project can be viewed as a step from the
link level to the system level. This has been achieved by
 
 
constructing 3 prototype GSM900 base stations
comprising adaptive antennas, and installing them into a
commercial GSM900 network. Architecture and
algorithms deployed in the prototype base stations, are
based on experience from the 1800 MHz field trials, [1].
The first part has been to perform functional tests, and a
second part is then to run performance tests with live
traffic. This paper summarises the results and the
experience obtained during the functional tests of the
adaptive antenna base stations. The functional tests
include both testing the ordinary GSM features and the
adaptive antennas related features. Most effort in this
paper is put on the adaptive antenna related features and
the obtained experience. Some practical issues when
handling adaptive antennas in a commercial network are
also briefly mentioned.
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Three prototypes of GSM900 base stations comprising
adaptive antennas have been built for the field trials.
Figure 1 shows one of the base stations consisting of two
of Ericsson's standard RBS2000 cabinets. The cabinets
contain five adaptive transceivers, complying to the GSM
standard. Furthermore, the transceivers support frequency
hopping. This feature was used during the field trials.
One transceiver is used for transmitting the BCCH in the
whole sector, i.e. it is connected to a sector antenna in the
downlink and to the array antenna in the uplink. Another
transceiver is connected to the sector antenna in both the
uplink and the downlink. This transceiver is working like
an ordinary sector transceiver, and is used as reference
during performance measurements. The last three
transceivers are connected to the array in both uplink and
downlink.
The special hardware configuration makes it possible to
configure the individual base stations in both an array
configuration, and in a sector configuration. The BCCH
transceiver is always configured in the same way, whereas
a second transceiver can be switched between array and
sector from an Operational and Maintenance Center
(OMC).
 The columns are connected to a beamforming network,
providing a set of beams with different polarizations and
directions covering the whole sector. The radiation
patterns of the beams are shown in Figure 3 together with
the radiation pattern for the sector antenna.

The antenna can be characterized by a good downlink

coverage, with the overall envelope of the beams
providing a coverage similar to that defined by the
broadcasted control signal on the sector antenna. The
array antenna is furthermore characterized by having a
very effective uplink diversity, obtained by the many
degrees of freedom (polarization, angle, pattern). This
antenna structure, makes it possible to significantly reduce
strong interfering sources.

The Sector Antenna Compared to the Array Beams

20

15

10

Antenna Gain, [dBi]

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During the field trials both an array antenna and a sector 60 40 20 0 20 40 60
Horizontal Angle
antenna are connected to each base station. The array
antenna is shown in Figure 2. The sector antenna is used )LJXUH  7KH HLJKW EHDPV FRYHULQJ D VHFWRU ZLWK 
for broadcasting control information, and for performance DQG  SRODUL]DWLRQV 7KH UDGLDWLRQ SDWWHUQ IRU WKH
measurements in the sector configuration, as described VHFWRUDQWHQQDLVDOVRVKRZQ
above.
Due to the horizontal beamforming, the array provides an
approximately 5 dB higher antenna gain than the sector
antenna.

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The three base stations are installed in Mannesmann's D2-
network in Germany, as shown in Figure 4. The three base
stations are pointing into the city center of Gieen near
Frankfurt, which is a city of 74000 citizens, i.e. covering
the city with three sectors.

The base stations were during all parts of the tests

connected to the GSM infrastructure in the commercial
Mannesmann D2-network, i.e. a BSC (Base Station
Controller) and a MSC (Mobile service Switching
Center). From an OMC it was possible to control the
settings of the base stations, for instance change between
array and sector configurations, or changing the deployed
frequencies.

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The array antenna shown in Figure 2 consists of antenna

columns in both +45 polarization and -45 polarization.
 %DVH6WDWLRQ&RYHUDJH
ABTS3
Before running an adaptive antenna base station with live
ABTS1 traffic, it is important to match the sector coverage of the
BCCH to that obtained from the envelope of the beams
transmitting the TCHs. Differences in antenna gains (see
Figure 3) and combiner losses between array and sector
branches, are the main contributors to differing in
2 km coverage areas. If, for instance, the power from the BCCH
coverage is stronger than the power from the beam, it
might result in a network performing undesired
handovers, i.e. the mobile stations perform measurements
on the neighbouring BCCH carriers, and perform
handovers to TCH, without receiving the expected quality.

ABTS2 In order to match the sector with the array coverage, the
defined measurement route was driven first in the sector
configuration and then in the array configuration, with the
Test route Abis Interface
same output power from the transceivers.
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Based on a comparison between the received power in the
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test mobile in the two different configurations, an average
adjustment between sector and array transceivers was
found. This parameter was inserted in the BSC parameters
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in order to ensure similar coverage.

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20& The functionality of the beam selection is naturally of
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major importance in the adaptive antenna base station.
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The algorithm was first tested for each of the three base
stations by driving a predefined test route, see Figure 4.
The test route went through all the three sectors, i.e.
)LJXUH7KHV\VWHPVHWXSZLWKDGDSWLYHDQWHQQDEDVH activating all beams on all three base stations.
VWDWLRQV FRQQHFWHG WR WKH FRPPHUFLDO *60 QHWZRUN
LQIUDVWUXFWXUH Figure 5 shows the beam selection result from the test
drive with base station ABTS3. A test mobile station has
been locked to the base station while driving the test route.
At the base station site the beam selection data was logged
)XQFWLRQDO7HVWV simultaneously with the test drives.
The purpose of the functional tests is to demonstrate the
The Selected Beam Compared to the Theoretical
ordinary GSM functionalities, and to evaluate the new 8
functionalities related to adaptive antennas. The ordinary
functionalities such as call setup, link quality, and the 7
GSM features frequency hopping, power control and
discontinuous transmission were tested and approved. 6
These parts of the functional tests, which are not directly
related to the adaptive antennas will not be discussed 5
further in this paper. Beam
4
The adaptive antenna related parts of the functional tests,
3
described in this paper, can be divided as follows:
2
Base Station Coverage
Beam Selection 1
Uplink Combining 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Time in Seconds
Intercell / Intracell handover
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The measurement results of each of the above listed items WHVW PRELOH VWDWLRQ LV FRQQHFWHG WR $%76 GXULQJ WKH
are described in the following sections. ZKROHWHVWURXWHDQGQRLQWHUIHUHQFHLVSUHVHQW

The main purpose of the first beam choice evaluations,

was to demonstrate the basic functionality of the beam
choice algorithms, and to get a picture of the beam
distribution in the test area, see Figure 6. Therefore no
interference was present during these test drives. The
distribution as shown in Figure 6 is very well in
accordance with what is expected from the radiation
diagram of Figure 3.
8 60
7
ABTS3
6 66
5 1
4 VWDWLRQ7KHLQWHUIHULQJVRXUFHZDVSODFHGLQEHDPDQG
3 located in a distance of approximately 500m from the base
2 1
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WHVWDUHDDVVHHQIURPWKHEDVHVWDWLRQ$%76
The effective beam distribution as shown in Figure 6, is
valid for distances greater than 200 m. In the region of a
radius of 200 m from the base stations, there are from time
to time seen some dominant reflections or open streets,
involving the selection of a beam, which is not directed
geographically towards the mobile. However, due to low
path loss and the high spread in the spatial channel, the
link quality is of high quality in this region.
%HDP6HOHFWLRQZLWK,QWHUIHUHQFH3UHVHQW
The test drives described above were performed without
any interference. It is interesting to evaluate how the beam
selection works when there is an interfering source
present, as this is a main hurdle for such an algorithm.
Due to the fact that the system has very good uplink
interference suppression from the uplink combining of
beams and polarisations, very low C/I can be obtained
with good uplink quality. In the performance test
scenarios with live traffic, the interfering sources are
typically originating from a 1/1 reuse scheme. It is
therefore important to test the beam selection algorithm
under extreme interference conditions.
Tests were performed with a stationary GSM modulated
interfering source and a test mobile mobile station. Figure
7 shows the case when a mobile station and an
interference are located in different beams.
50
Angular power spectrum
I
52
54
56
Received power [dBm]
58
MS
62
64
68
70
2 3 4 5
Beam number
6 7 8
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The mobile station and the interfering source were both
station, ABTS1. Both locations can be characterized as
representative for the typical propagation in the city. The
beam selection algorithm was able to select the correct
beam in all measured situations.
The scenario depicted in Figure 7 is one of the most
difficult situations for the beam selection algorithm, as a
strong interfering source separated from the desired
mobile station easily can be interpreted as the desired
mobile station itself. The scenario shows that the beam
selection algorithm can cope with C/I levels of less than
-10 dB, which is very satisfactory for a GSM network, [3].
The scenario was recorded without the GSM feature
frequency hopping. It may be expected that in a typical
network deploying adaptive antennas, frequency hopping
is also used. Depending on the scenario, frequency
hopping will provide significant gains to the performance
of the beam selection algorithm [2].
8SOLQN&RPELQLQJ
In general the uplink combining algorithm has been very
efficient in suppressing interference, i.e. all tested C/I
conditions were managed with high uplink quality. Even
with the mobile station in the same direction as the
interference and C/I < 0 dB, the system offered good
uplink quality. The conclusion is that the uplink
combining algorithm in combination with this specific
antenna architecture provides an exceptional performance
in the interference limited environments.
,QLWLDOLVLQJD1HZ&RQQHFWLRQ
When initialising a connection on a new physical channel
the beam selection algorithm starts from scratch. It is
therefore of interest to make sure that the GSM protocol
provides enough uplink information, in order to perform a
correct beam selection from the beginning of the downlink
transmission. An initialisation of a new physical channel
occurs for instance in the case of call setup, intracell
handover and intercell handover.
During the functional tests several intracell and intercell
handovers were performed in both the array and the sector
configuration. Figure 8 shows a scenario where multiple
intracell handovers have been generated by manipulating
the measurement reports sent from the test mobile. The
connection is therefore toggling between time slot 0 and
time slot 1, as seen in the top graph of Figure 8. The
second graph shows the received power in the mobile
station. If the selected beam is correct there should not be
any significant changes in the received power, as the
mobile is stationary. The two bottom graphs shows the
selected beam for each of the physical channels. All the
results for both call setup, intercell handovers and intracell
handovers indicated high and stable performance when
initialising a connection on a new physical channel.
compared. Up to now, the results of the tests (which are
still ongoing) are very positive.
&RQFOXVLRQ
The three prototypes of base stations with adaptive
antenna technology have been running stable and error-
free during the whole period of the functional tests. All
ordinary GSM features were tested and worked
excellently. The GSM features and base station with
adaptive antenna technology can be used in any
combinations. The measurements showed a good signal
quality and signal level in the test area of Gieen.
Furthermore adaptive antenna related functionalities like
beam choice algorithm, uplink beam combining algorithm
and intra- / intercell handovers fulfil all requirements. The
good measurement results and the stable behaviour of the
system supports the opinion that it is possible to introduce
the prototype base stations into the live network with good
quality for the normal customers. The next step of the test
began in July 1998. The test equipment has been
introduced into the live network and has handled traffic
from ordinary customers. The current experience is very
positive.

5HIHUHQFHV
[1] Sren Andersson et. al., "(ULFVVRQ  0DQQHVPDQQ
*60 )LHOG7ULDOV ZLWK $GDSWLYH $QWHQQDV",
EPMCC, 1998

[2] Fredric Kronestedt et. al., "$GDSWLYH $QWHQQDV LQ

)UHTXHQF\+RSSLQJ*60", ICUPC, 1998

[3] Preben Mogensen et. al., "3HUIRUPDQFH RI EHDP

VWHHULQJ LQ D  UHXVH )+*60 QHWZRUN",
TSUNAMI II Final Workshop on Adaptive
Antennas, Copenhagen, September 1998.

[4] Fredric Kronestedt et. al., "0LJUDWLRQ RI $GDSWLYH

)LJXUH  ,QWUDFHOO KDQGRYHUV EHWZHHQ WZR WLPH VORWV LQ $QWHQQDVLQWR([LVWLQJ1HWZRUNV", VTC, 1998
WKHDUUD\FRQILJXUDWLRQ7KHILUVWJUDSKLVWKHDFWLYHWLPH
VORWWKHVHFRQGJUDSKLVWKHUHFHLYHGSRZHULQWKHPRELOH
7KHWZRERWWRPJUDSKVVKRZWKHVHOHFWHGEHDPGXULQJWKH
LQWUDFHOOKDQGRYHUV

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After the functional tests, performance tests are being
carried out with live traffic in the Gieen test area. For
this test it is possible to change to configuration of the
equipment between a conventional sector technology and
the new adaptive array antenna technology. The covered
area is the same for both configurations. Because of this
the performance results of both configurations are
comparable. The basic idea is to reduce the frequency
reuse in the test area step by step, and observe the network
quality. The frequency reuse is reduced by increasing the
number of interfering frequencies in a frequency plan with
fractional loading. This will be done for both array and
sector configurations. The results of the network quality
for each frequency step and each configuration will be