1 Nokia Siemens Networks Presentation / Author / Date

For internal use

Radio Network Dimensioning
Contents
Scope of RAN Dimensioing
Input parameters for RAN dimensioing
Link Budget
Parameters
Cell Range Calculation
Load Calculation
WCDMA Network Architecture
Circuit Switched
Core Network
GGSN
3G
SGSN
GPRS
USIM
card
WCDMA
mobile
GSM/WCDMA
mobile
RAN
WCDMA
BTS
WCDMA
BTS
RNC
RNC
MSC
HLR
MGW
IN SCP
SRR
PS Core Network
(PSTN/ISDN)
Internet
TCP/IP)

GSM/WCDMA
mobile
CBC
UTRAN Elements and Interfaces
UTRAN
Iu
Uu
User Equipment
(UE)
Iur Iub
RNC
WCDMA
BTS
WCDMA
BTS
WCDMA
BTS
WCDMA
BTS
RNC
Core Network
(CN)
RNC


3G-SGSN
GGSN
IP/MPLS/IPoATM-backbone
Application
Servers
(co-located
or remote)
support of 3GPP QoS-parameters
and mechanisms in UE
UE support of different CH-types
internal delays generated by
UE
UE memory [effects TCP kbps]
internal BTS-delays
interleaving/propagation delays
RNC internal delays, 3GPP QoS-
support
protocol processing and trans-
mission delays, 3GPP QoS-
support
internal processing/queuing delays.
3GPP QoS-support
internal processing/queuing and L1
delays
memories/buffer sizes [TCP-effect]
internal delays in WAP-
gateways/http-
proxies/servers/etc.
= terminal/NW element HW and SW effects
= network planning/dimensioning effects
site locations,
antenna directions/height/quality
cable length/quality
BTS-capacity
Iu-transmission resource
dimensioning, topology/distances
RNC capacity
HO thresholds
cell's traffic load thresholds
interference/transmission power thresholds
used packet scheduling criteria
used RLC buffer payload thresholds [TCP-effect]
used DCH bit rate allocation steps
allocation of dedicated NRT-capacity
packet core capacity
configuration of RT traffic limits
configuration of interactive queue weights
used HLR QoS-profiles
application server capacity
geographical location [e.g. localized
content caching vs. centralized servers]
transmission/router capacity
geographical locations/distance, number of hop
Example: What affects performance in WCDMA
= application software effects
UDP vs. TCP
supported HTTP/WAP-version
support of optimization features
supported HTTP/WAP-version
support of optimization features
RAN Dimensioing Scope
Domain
Name
Server
(DNS)
3G
SGSN
GGS
N
Charging
Gateway
(CG)

Backbone
network
(IP based)
Border
Gateway
(BG)
Fire
Wall
(FW)
LI
G
Domain Host Configuration
Protocol (DHCP)
Packet
network
Inter-PLMN
Network
MGW

Iub
Abis
BS
C
Node
B
BTS
Iu-PS
Iu-CS
(ATM
)
RN
C
Iub

IP/ATM/TD
M
Backbone
Packet
network
Internet
IN/SCP
SMS
Packet
network
Intranet
Mc
RANAP
(SIGTRAN)
MAP
(SIGTRAN)
SS7 (E1)
Gb
2G
SGSN
BSSAP (E1)
CAP/MAP
(E1)
CAP/MAP
(E1)
Exist Connect
New Connect
PSTN/PLM
N
Network
CDS

MSS
2G / 3G
HLR

Network planning process & relation to business
planning
marketing
business
plan
traffic
assumptions
Network
dimensioning
Code & freq. &
interference plan
transmission
plan
final NW
topology/
architecture
parameter
planning
coverage
plan
Network
optimization
Radio Network Dimensioning
Overview
COVERAGE CAPACITY
COMPROMISE BETWEEN COVERAGE AND CAPACITY
Coverage VS Capacity Dimensioning:
Cell Breathing [1/2]
This diagram shows
cells are unload
This diagram shows when
some cells are loaded
Cell-
A
Cell-
C
Cell-
B
Results =>
Coverage Holes!
Cell-
A
Cell-
C
Cell-
B
Cell
breathing
Coverage VS Capacity Dimensioning:
Fixed Uplink Load - To avoid Coverage holes [2/2]
This diagram shows a
Fixed Uplink Load design
Results => No or
Min Coverage
Holes!
Cell-
A
Cell-
C
Cell-
B
Cell-
A
Cell-
D
Cell-H
Cell-
E
Cell-
F
Cell-
C
Cell-
B
Cell-
G
No (or minimum)
coverage holes problems
More cells required
Traffic mobility taken
into account. (Note:
dimensioning assumes
uniform traffic
distribution)
eg. Actual UL
load = 8%
eg. Fixed UL
load = 30%
"actual" Loading,
(ie from the traffic
inputs defined in
dimensioning)
Input parameters overview
CAPACITY RELATED
Spectrum Available
User Profile and Traffic Growth
Forecast
Traffic Density Map
COVERAGE RELATED
Coverage Regions
Area Type Information
QUALITY RELATED
MS Class
Indoor Coverage
Location Probability
Blocking Probability
Gives an Estimation of the
Equipment Necessary to Meet the
Network Requirements
Network Dimensioning Activities
Radio Link Budget Calculation
Cell Size Calculation
Capacity Calculation
Number of Node B, RNC
calculation
Iub, Iur and Iu transmission
Capacity
Input Categories
Capacity Related Input
The number of subscribers, user profile and spectrum available are the main requirements for
capacity dimensioning
Traffic forecast should be done by analysing the offered Busy Hour traffic per subscriber for different
service bit rates in each rollout phase.
Traffic data:
Voice :
Erlang per subscriber during busy hour of the network
Codec bit rate, Voice activity

RT data :
Erlang per subscriber during busy hour of the network
Service bit rates

NRT data :
Average throughput (kbps) subscriber during busy hour of the network
Target bit rates
Asymmetry between UL an DL traffic for NRT Services (Downloading 1/10) should be taken into
consideration.
Network and Subscribers evolution forecast is also needed.
Coverage Related Input
Accurate coverage area information should be available
Total coverage area for each rollout phase (km
2
)
Percentage of the area for each morpho class (Dense Urban, Urban, Suburban and
Rural)
DENSE URBAN
URBAN
SUBURBAN
Coverage Related Input
Area type information must be as accurate as possible:
coverage area for each rollout phase
percentage of the area for each morpho-class (DU,U,SU,R)
building penetration loss and fading margin








propagation models for path loss calculation
correction factors for the Propagation Model

Service Scenarios should be defined: which kind of service is to be offered and where (big impact on
the number of sites).

MorphoClass Build Pen Loss Stand Deviation Car Loss Stand Deviation
Dense Urban 18 dB 11 dB
Urban 15 dB 10 dB
Sub Urban 12 dB 9 dB
Rural 10 dB 9 dB
Road 6 dB 7 dB
Quality Related Input
Blocking Probability: is blocking of call attempts due to lack of available
resources and for CS Services is usually between 1-2%

In the propagation models there is no place to cover the local fluctuations (slow
fading) of the strength of the electromagnetic waves, caused mainly by
shadowing. It should be done separately.

Fade margin is a function of location probability and standard deviation
Quality Related Input
Penetration Losses
Signal levels inside the buildings are estimated by applying building
penetration loss margins. BPL may vary in different area types.
Pref = 0 dB
Pindoor = -3 ...-15 dB
Pindoor = -7 ...-18 dB
-15 ...-25 dB no coverage
rear side :
-18 ...-30 dB
signal level increases with floor
number :~1,5 dB/floor (for 1st
..10th floor)
Summary of Dimensioning Inputs
Dense Urban Urban Suburban Rural
Voice # of subs & mErl per sub # of subs & mErl per sub # of subs & mErl per sub # of subs & mErl per sub
CS data # of subs & mErl per sub # of subs & mErl per sub # of subs & mErl per sub # of subs & mErl per sub
PS data # of subs & kbps per sub # of subs & kbps per sub # of subs & kbps per sub # of subs & kbps per sub
Coverage area km
2
km
2
km
2
km
2
Location probability % % % %
Standard deviation dB dB dB dB
Fade margin dB dB dB dB
Penetration loss dB dB dB dB
Area correction
factor
dB dB dB dB
MS / Node B
antenna height
m m m m
RF Dimensioning Process
RF Dimensioning Process Flow
Link Budget Calculation


Radio link specific :
- Data rate (processing gain)
- Average Eb/No
- SHO gain in dB
Equipment specific :
- MS Power class
- MS/BS calc. sensitivity
- Antenna gain
etc
Load factor
calculation
Propagation specific :
- Antenna height
- BPL and BPL deviation
- Area correction factor
- Lognormal shadowing
margin
Max. allowed path loss
Cell Range Calculation


Max. Cell Range in each area
type
Capacity Estimate



No. of sites / Total supported traffic
in each area type
Equipment Requirement

BS HWs / Transmission / RNC
Service specific :
-blocking rate
- throughput factor

1st guess
of amount
of traffic
per CU
Interference
Margin
Max. traffic per CU
If fulfill the operator need
If too low capacity
WCDMA Link Budget
Link Budget Overview
Building penetration
loss
Body loss
Cable losses
Antenna gain
Noise figure
WCDMA Link Budget
MS transmit power = 21 dBm

Antenna Gain (example):
18 dBi, X-pol, 65
0

horizontal beamwidth,
variable electrical tilt

Cable Losses

Body proximity Loss
3 dB for voice services
0 dB for data services

WCDMA Link Budget
Soft HO
Softer HO
Soft HO MDC gain is actually the gain due to less power
requirement when multiple radio links are there
(relative to that of a single link )
This gain is mainly in DL and in UL this gain is negligible
WCDMA Link Budget
MDC Gain: In DL there is some combining gain due
to UE maximal ratio combining:
Soft/softer handovers are included
Average is calculated over all the
connections taking into account the
average difference of the received signal
branches (and UE speed)
Nokia recommended value = 1.2 dB
MHA gain is used to compensate for the cable
losses
WCDMA Link Budget
Total noise power in the receiver is a function of:
Boltzmans constant
Temperature
Bandwidth
Thermal Noise = kTB
Noise figure


Nokia recommended values:
Node B MS
Noise Figure 3 dB 8 dB
WCDMA Link Budget
Processing gain is a function of the system chip
rate and service bit rate
Service bit rate Processing Gain
Voice 12.2 kbps 24.98 ~ 25 dB
CS 64 kbps 17.78 ~ 18 dB
PS 128 kbps 14.77 ~ 15 dB
PS 384 kbps 10 dB
WCDMA Link Budget
Interference margin calculated from the UL/DL
loading (q) values. This parameter shows in DL
how much the BTS "sensitivity" is decreased due to
the network load (subscribers in the network) & in
UL indicates the loss in link budget due to load.
( ) | | dB Log q 1 10
10
I
Margin
= ( ) | | dB Log q 1 10
10
I
Margin
=
WCDMA Link Budget
In order to meet the defined quality requirements (BLER)
a certain average bit-energy divided by total
noise+interference spectral density (E
b
/N
0
) is needed.
Eb/No depends on:
Service
MS speed
Radio channel
Service bit rate UL Eb/No [3kph] DL Eb/No [3kph]
Voice 12.2 kbps 4.4 7.9
CS 64 kbps 2.0 5.0
PS 64 kbps 2.0 5.0
PS 128 kbps 1.4 4.7
PS 384 kbps 1.7 4.8
* Nokia recommended
values
WCDMA Link Budget
Soft handover gain is the gain against shadow fading.
This is actually the gain in required Eb/No relative to that
of a single link and it is averaged over all radio links in
the SHO area
Nokia recommended value = 2 dB

IPL Correction Factor. This parameter describes
the ratio between the maximum and the average
pathloss. Usually all subscribers are not located at
the cell edge but are distributed through the whole
cell coverage area. That is why some gain can be
added in power budget calculation.
Nokia recommended value = 6 dB
IPL Correction Factor
Worst case scenario
Reality MS distributed over the whole area
Users at the cell edge require high power; users close
to the base station need much less power at the
same time
WCDMA Link Budget
UL Power Control Headroom is the parameter to
describe the margin against fast fading. This
parameter is needed because at the cell edge the
UE does not have enough power to follow the fast
fading dips. This is especially important for the slow
moving UEs.
Nokia recommended value = 1.8 dB


Cell Range
In the dimensioning process, the cell
range [R] is set by the shortest radio
link (service class with lowest cell
range).
The number of sites can be determined
by the following relation:
CELL SIZE 12.2kbits 64kbits 128 kbits
Antenna height Node B 30.00 30.00 30.00
Antenna height UE 1.50 1.50 1.50
Correction factor 0.00 0.00 0.00
Outdoor location prob. 95% 95% 95%
Outdoor standard deviation 7.00 5.00 5.00
Slow fading margin 7.27 4.51 4.51
Outdoor cell size 2.27 2.36 1.93
Indoor location prob. 95% 95% 95%
BPL 18.00 18.00 18.00
Indoor standard deviation 12.00 12.00 12.00
Slow fading margin 14.64 14.64 14.64
Intdoor cell size 0.43 0.37 0.31
In car location prob. 95% 95% 95%
Car PL 5.00 5.00 5.00
In car standard deviation 8.00 8.00 8.00
Slow fading margin 8.70 8.70 8.70
In car cell size 1.49 1.29 1.06
# of sites = coverage area / site
area where: site area = K * R
2
Sector K value
Omni 2.6
1 0.65
2 1.30
3 1.95
6 2.60
Load Calculation
Load Calculation
Load factor (q) predicts the amount of noise rise by treating
interference as wideband noise.

It is based on Eb/No, number of users, their service bit rate and activity,
other cell to own cell interference ratio, the amount of uplink noise
rise and orthogonality factor.
Load Calculation
In order to meet the defined quality requirements (BLER) a certain average bit-energy
divided by total noise+interference spectral density (E
b
/N
0
) is needed. So for every user j
and for given bit rate R
j
we have:





, where I
j
is the received signal power of user j

Of course subscriber j is not active all the time, that is why the special activity factor v
j

should be introduced:
j j tot
j
j
j
b
I I
I
R
W
N
E
v
1
0

=
|
|
.
|

\
|
j tot
j
j
j
b
I I
I
R
W
N
E

=
|
|
.
|

\
|
0
Load Calculation
Using the previous equation we can express the load caused by one subscriber as a part of
the total load:


, where:






For N subscribers, the load caused in the cell (so called load factor) is:






( )
j
j
b
j
j
N E
R W
load
v
1
1
1
0
+
=
tot j j
I load I =

=
N
j
j
load q
Little i
The load factor calculation the other cell interferences takes into account the
interference from other cells.
This can be introduced by means of the little i value, which describes how much
two cells overlap (bigger overlapping more inter-cell interferences).
I
other
Sector Little i
Omni 0.55
3 0.65
* Nokia recommended
values
Intereference in DL
Interference in UL
Orthogonality
Orthogonality [o] is a measure how well separate code signals are
uncorrelated
In DL the own cell interference are reduced by factor (1-o). This is due to the
synchronised orthogonal channelisation codes, which are used in DL.
Nokia recommended value: [o] = 50%
Load Calculation
After introduction of the little i the load factor in the cell will be:




In DL the own cell interference is reduced by factor (1-o). This is due to the synchronised
orthogonal channelisation codes, which are used in DL:








( )

+ =
N
j
j
load i 1 q
( ) | |

+ =
N
j
j j DL
load i o q 1
Ortogonality factor o
j
is between 0.4 and 0.9
Typical values:
ITU vehicular subscriber (Macro Cell) o
j
=0.6
ITU pedestrian subscriber (Micro Cell) o
j
=0.9

Power Rise
For UEs located in the other cells the power increase caused by Fast Loop
PC procedure is harmful for the own cell interference conditions
Non-fading channel Fading channel
Transmitted power
Received power
Power rise
Average transmitted power
Non-fading channel Fading channel
Transmitted power
Received power
Power rise
Average transmitted power
Nokia recommended value:
[pwr_rise] = 0.7 dB
Load Calculation
Because of power rise in the UL load calculation, the little i should be corrected (little i is
multiplied by pw_rise parameter)



UL load affects the noise level at the Node B receiver. Noise Rise
A typical cell load value for dimensioning ranges from 30% to 70 %.











50% is a good compromise between the number of sites and the offered capacity.
Breathing effect: UL load limits the Coverage.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
1
0
2
0
3
0
4
0
5
0
6
0
7
0
8
0
9
0
9
5
9
8
loading/%
l
o
s
s
/
d
B
( )

+ =
N
j
j UL
load i rise pw_ 1 q
Interference Margin vs Load Factor
20
10
6
1.25
3
25% 50% 75% 99%
I
Margin
[dB]
Load factor q
20
10
6
1.25
3
25% 50% 75% 99%
I
Margin
[dB]
Load factor q
The graph shows
relationship between
the interference margin
and the load factor.

Nokia recommends
loading between 30% to
70% for optimum
performance

50% uplink loading
represents a good
trade-off between
coverage and capacity
Cell Loading Calculation
1. Traffic per Cell
Erlang or kbit/s
4. Interfering Channels
(=physical channels*activity factor)
5. Fractional Load
3. Physical Channels
(=traffic channels*SHO)
2. Traffic Channels
Traffic per cell is usually defined in terms of Erlang for
voice and real time (RT) data services and in terms of
kbits/s for non real time (NRT) data
The blocking probability is typically assumed to be 2% for
circuit switched services.
Cell Loading Calculation
Evaluation of the physical channel requirement per carrier
for each service class. This is completed separately for
UL and DL.
Evaluation of interfering channels per cell for each service
class. This requires a direct multiplication of the
physical channel requirement with the corresponding
service activity factor.
1. Traffic per Cell
Erlang or kbit/s
4. Interfering Channels
(=physical channels*activity factor)
5. Fractional Load
3. Physical Channels
(=traffic channels*SHO)
2. Traffic Channels
Soft handover overhead (SHO)
Nokia value = 40%
assumption: 30% = 2-way
connections
5% = 3-way connections
Therefore: (1 * 0.65) + (2 * 0.30) + (3
* 0.05) = 1.4
Cell Loading Calculation
1. Traffic per Cell
Erlang or kbit/s
4. Interfering Channels
(=physical channels*activity factor)
5. Fractional Load
3. Physical Channels
(=traffic channels*SHO)
2. Traffic Channels
The fractional load for each service are evaluated
separately for both uplink and downlink
The table below shows an example calculation:
Code Channels Calculation
1. Traffic per Cell
Erlang or kbit/s
4. Interfering Channels
(=physical channels*activity factor)
5. Fractional Load
3. Physical Channels
(=traffic channels*SHO)
2. Traffic Channels
Hardware Channels
HW channels are implemented on channel cards
(WSP cards)
The signal processing unit (WSP) in the Node B
performs RX and TX code channel processing,
coding and decoding functions.
Amount of WSPs shall be planned according to the
traffic on the BTS.
Channels Calculation
1. Traffic per Cell
Erlang or kbit/s
4. Interfering Channels
(=physical channels*activity factor)
5. Fractional Load
3. Physical Channels
(=traffic channels*SHO)
2. Traffic Channels
Hardware Channels
The code channels (HW channels) needed for
different services are as follows:
Service Code Channel
Voice 1
64 kbps service (RT/NRT) 4
128 kbps service (RT/NRT) 4
384 kbps service (RT/NRT) 16
Code channel requirement for common channels:
Configuration Code Channel
1+1+1 16
2+2+2 32
3+3+3 48
4+4+4 64
USING WSPC
BTS Power
The link budget provides the average BTS TX power per connection for each
service class. The BTS TX power per connection is defined from the average
DL isotropic path loss.
The total BTS TX power is obtained by summing up the TX power required for all
service classes and common channels
For dimensioning, the amount of power allocated for common channels is 20% of
the maximum BTS TX power.
NODE B POWER
COMMON CHANNELS
TRAFFIC
Dimensioning Results
Dimensioning Results

Required HW channels (BTS processing capacity)
Load
Required BTS TX
power
TRAFFIC
Erlang or kbit/s
TRAFFIC
Erlang or kbit/s
TRAFFIC CHANNELS
TRAFFIC CHANNELS
PHYSICAL CHANNELS
PHYSICAL CHANNELS
INTERFERING CHANNELS
INTERFERING CHANNELS
FRACTIONAL LOAD
FRACTIONAL LOAD
FRAC. LOAD OF THE
SERVICE CLASSES
FRAC. LOAD OF THE
SERVICE CLASSES
E
TOTAL LOAD
UL & DL
TOTAL LOAD
UL & DL
REQUIRED BTS TX
POWER
REQUIRED BTS TX
POWER
Limiting factors:
The following criteria should be considered:
Uplink load < Maximum uplink load
DL load < 1
BTS TX power < Maximum BTS TX power
Number of channel units < Max number of channel
units
Dimensioning Results
RF DIMENSIONING
RESULTS
Number of base stations
Configuration of base stations
Number of subscribers per area
mErl / subs for voice and RT data
mErl / sub for NRT data
Iub/Iur/Iu INTERFACE
DIMENSIONING
RNC
DIMENSIONING
Link Budget


Link Budget Exercise
Cell Loading Calculation
UL Fractional Load Calculation
DL Fractional Load Calculation
Cell Load Calculation