White Paper

Improving TETRA base station coverage

with revolutionary radio access solution
 White Paper

Contents
Executive summary 3

Challenges when building the radio network 4

Coverage 4
Capacity 4
Quality 4
Other radio access issues 5

What can be done to improve TETRA coverage 5

How the Nokia TB3 TETRA base station solves the

coverage problem 6

Nokia TB3 TETRA base station capacity benefits 7

Conclusions 7

Terms and abbreviations 8

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White Paper

Executive summary
TETRA networks usually have relatively few users,
making the cost of coverage per user often substan-
tial - typical networks are those used by the Public
Safety organisations, which have tens of thousands,
rather than millions of TETRA users.
Yet, TETRA network coverage is expected every-
where, at any time - a fire crew could easily find
themselves in an unpopulated area, while a police
officer would also expect indoor coverage in the
basement of any downtown building.
Unlike public cellular networks, building a TETRA
network is typically driven by coverage, rather than
capacity. Maximum coverage at minimum cost is
particularly true when building TETRA networks.
The new Nokia TB3 TETRA base station is a solution
that meets differing needs:
• A cost driven network rollout, where the obtain-
able coverage and quality of service is provided
for the given number of base station sites

At the same time, TETRA radio terminals are getting • A coverage driven network rollout, where the
smaller and their radio performance is improving. maximum coverage is provided by fewer sites.
Low power portable terminals clearly outnumber the
high power mobile terminals and users expect
equally good coverage from both. High redundancy
is also often a basic requirement – two radio carriers
or heavy overlapping coverage is a minimum re-
quirement. This also often solves capacity needs.

3

Challenges when building the radio network
Planning, implementing and main-
taining the radio network are big
challenges. The total cost of owner-
ship must be set against the ne t-
work’s technical perfor mance and
the needs of the end-user and so
affordability and cost of service,
combined with a high quality of
service, are clear drivers for both
the network owners and the end-
users.
In a TETRA network, base station
site rentals and transmission costs
typically make up 80% of annual
operating expenditure, which in
turn forms 50-80 % of the total cost
of ownership of the network, so it
really does matter how the network
is built.
There are several factors in radio
access that should be taken into
account when planning and imple -
menting the ne twork.
Coverage
TETRA network coverage is ex-
pected everywhere, at any time: a
fire crew could easily find the m-
selves in an unpopulated area,
while a police officer would also
expect indoor coverage in the
basement of any downtown build-
ing. One of the most important
properties of the TETRA ne twork is
therefore its radio coverage, which
in turn is affected by variables such
as the performance of TETRA termi-
nal and base sta tion performance,
antenna arrangements and the lo-
cations of base stations and users.
More coverage related issues are
discussed on page 6.
Capacity
Most TETRA networks are not capac-
ity driven, as users number in the
tens of thousands rather than mil-
lions. Users’ operational areas are
well known and a typical user pro-
file differs from that of public cellu-
lar users – the network is for pro-
fessional use and group calls and
SDS/status messages dominate the
communication. In normal opera-
tion, the load on the ne twork is also
rather evenly distributed over the
whole 24 hours and the demand for
capacity is not as concentrated into
busy hours as in public ne tworks.
Particularly in rural areas, the need
for high redundancy, such as re-
dundant radio transceivers or over-
lapping coverage, easily increases
network capacity.
High capacity solutions that are
widely used in public cellular net-
works, such as micro/pico cell solu-
tions, are hardly ever required for
TETRA networks. Often one (three
traffic channels) or two carriers (7
traffic channels) are enough and
four carriers (15 traffic channels)
can also often fulfil the normal ca-
pacity demand in densely popu-
lated urban areas as well.
On the other hand, public safety
networks often need to deal with
sudden capacity demands, such as
incidents where tens or even hun-
dreds of users and groups need the
TETRA radio service in a very small
geographical area.
Group calls combined with high cell
density can create additional load
on the network. Each base station,
serving members of the active talk
group, reserves a traffic channel for
the talk group and the more cells
involved in a call the more channels
are reserved.
White Paper
Quality
Along with the coverage and capac-
ity, the third technical dimension in
radio network design is quality,
with the target being to reach a
good quality of service with a
minimum level of interference. The
reference carrier to interference
(C/I) ratio in TETRA system is 19 dB,
with the principal source of inter-
ference being the lack of freque n-
cies – sometimes the available spec-
trum sets challenges to network
designers. Careful frequency plan-
ning helps minimise this, but often
it cannot fully solve interference
problems.
The interference generated by other
TETRA terminals, TETRA base sta-
tions and other possible noise
sources, such as ever-increasing
man-made noise, can have a severe
impact on the quality of service,
often degrading the service area.
Interference becomes a problem
when the ratio between the serving
signal and interfering signal be-
comes too low. The probability of
interference occurring increases
when the terminal is working in an
area with a weak serving signal
strength, for example close to a cell
border or indoors. This is especially
true in initial, often cost driven
network design where the radio
service is provided from the prede-
fined number of base sta tion sites.
Often this happens during the net-
work start up phase where the cov-
erage design is based on mobile
terminals rather than low power
handheld terminals.
The interference may be experi-
enced by the end-user as effects
that include reduced out - or indoor
coverage for handhelds, lost calls
and bad voice quality.
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White Paper
Other
radio access issues
Site acquisition is today one of the
most demanding tasks faced by the
builder of radio networks as site
location and its available infrastruc-
ture have a great effect on the radio
performance. Unfortunately, the
final site selection does not always
favour the radio performance and
the best performing radio site may
not be the one selected, due to fac-
tors such as:
What can be done to improve TETRA coverage
As mentioned above, radio cover-
age is probably the most important
property of the TETRA network. So
what are the methods that can be
used to improve radio coverage?
The most common methods are
briefly introduced below.
Higher antenna heights
Higher transmit power
• High power transmitters
• Transmit combining methods
Receiver sensitivity improve ments
• Improved Digital Signal Proc-
essing (DSP) algorithms
• Diversity reception (uplink)
• Space or polarisation diversity
• Diversity combiner techniques
5
• Overall site costs (rentals,
masts, power systems, ante n-
nas, transmission)
• Usage of existing sites and in-
frastructure
• Transmission availability
• Various regulations and per-
missions set by authorities, city
councils, landlords etc.
Network planning and dimension-
ing is often based on the theoretical
Sectorising
• Virtual sectors (only uplink di-
rection)
• True sectorising (both down-
and uplink)
Antenna solutions
• Omnidirectional antennas
• High gain panel antennas
• High gain X-polarised antennas
• Mast Head Amplifiers
Radio repeaters (cell enhancers)
• For special indoor solutions
calculations that takes into account
only the radio performance issues -
coverage, capacity, quality - and
provides an excellent basis for ne t-
work dimensioning. However, even
during the initial dimensioning
phase, the above 'real life factors'
need to be taken into account.
All these methods have their draw-
backs as well - higher antenna
heights are often difficult to
achieve, very high transmit power
(e.g. > 100 Watts) in a base station
transmitter is not really a cost effec-
tive solution, high transmit power
in portable terminals means shorter
battery times, doubling the antenna
gain also means doubling the size
of the antenna etc. Some improve -
ments commonly used in public
cellular networks, such as frequency
hopping, are not specified for TETRA
at all.

How the Nokia TB3 TETRA base station solves
the coverage problem
The radio connection between the
base station and terminal must be
balanced. Most often the uplink is
the weakest, meaning that, for ex-
ample, the base station output
power needs to be adjusted to a
lower level. At the same time, TETRA
radio terminals are getting smaller
and their receiver performance is
improving, making the networks
even more uplink limited.
Nokia has developed a new, revolu-
tionary TB3 TETRA base station,
which increases the uplink connec-
tion (the radio link from the termi-
nal to the base station) up to 5 dB.
In turn, this 5 dB improvement can
be translated into better quality of
service or fewer sites or a combina-
tion of both.
This is achieved through three key
improvements:
1. The Nokia TB3 contains six re-
ceivers per carrier, compared to
the two or three offered by
other current base stations on
the market. This, together with
the use of advanced diversity
combining methods, allows a
high gain virtual omni solution
to be built. This combines both
omni directional and sectorised
solutions, providing the bene-
fits of both the diversity gain
and high antenna gain meth-
ods.
2. The new base station allows
the use of advanced cross-
polarised antenna solutions,
which are widely used in main-
stream cellular networks.
White Paper
3. As with all Nokia TETRA base
stations, the new Nokia TB3
TETRA base station has a very
high transmission power.
The TB3 solution provides:
• 3-6 dB uplink improvement
compared to a typical 2 -or 3-
receiver omni solution
• Up to 9 dB uplink improvement
compared to a single receiver
solution
For comparison, a similar 6 dB im-
provement would require a dou-
bling of the antenna heights.
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White Paper

Nokia TB3 TETRA base station capacity benefits

Although having virtual sectors on
the receiving side, the Nokia TB3
Conclusions This is achieved through three key
improvements:
base station works as a logical
The new Nokia TB3 TETRA base sta-
omni-directional site. In other 1. The Nokia TB3 contains six re-
tion provides a solution for differ- ceivers per carrier. This, to-
words, it provides all its capacity
ent needs
(up to 31 traffic channels) over the gether with the use of ad-
whole site area. vanced diversity combining
• A cost driven network rollout,
methods, allows the building of
where the obtainable coverage
In mainstream cellular networks, high gain virtual omni solu-
and quality of service is pro-
traditional sectorisation combined tions.
vided for the given number of
with small cell coverage may lead to
base station sites
severe blocking during the incident. 2. The new base station allows
An alternative is over dimensioning the use of advanced cross-
• A coverage driven network roll-
the hardware using extra carriers, polarised antenna solutions.
out where the maximum cov-
but naturally this will also increase
erage is provided by fewer sites 3. The new Nokia TB3 TETRA base
the costs.
station has a very high trans-
The TB3 TETRA base station in-
Larger coverage also helps mini- mission power (up to 40 W).
creases the uplink connection by up
mise the load during group calls, as
to 5 dB. In turn, this improvement Better quality of service and better
the fewer cells involved in a group
can be translated into better quality
call, the lower the number of chan- coverage offer key benefits to all
of service or fewer sites or a combi- parties
nels reserved from the system and
nation of both.
the average traffic per subscriber is
reduced. The benefit is worth com- • Better safety for officers
paring to cellular networks, espe-
cially in urban, high cell density ar- • Efficient, seamless field opera-
eas. tions

• Better value for the investment

• Faster subscriber intake

• Easier site acquisition

• Remote configuration and

maintenance for optimised op-
erational expenses (OPEX).

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 White Paper

Terms and abbreviations

C/I micro cell TETRA
carrier to interference ratio, inter- relatively small-sized cell whose Terrestrial Trunked Radio, the only
ference-specifying ratio used in mi- diameter is normally around 50 to ETSI approved digital standard for
crowave relays and other communi- 100 metres professional mobile radio use.
cation systems
OPEX uplink
dB operational expenses direction of transmission in which
decibel, logarithmic measure of the mobile terminal transmits and
relative power between circuits or pico cell the base transceiver station re-
transmission level points small cell with a cell radius typically ceives
less than 50 metres
downlink W
physical link from the transmitting SDS watt
base station towards the receiving Short Data Service, TETRA text mes-
mobile terminal sage X-polarised
cross-polarised
GSM
Global Solution for Mobile commu-
nications

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