Dual Band Network

Dual Band Features

Presented by: Mansoor Shahid

Date 29.08.2008

Outline
Definition
Principle
Features
Network Structure
Capabilities
Handover Dual Band Cell

Dual Band Network Problem and Solution

Benefits
Summary

Definition

Definition
A cell is defined as dualband if GSM900 TRXs and DCS1800 TRXs
coexist and share the same BCCH.

Definition

Principle

Principle
The principle of the Dual Band cells is to share the resources in both
zones assuming that the TRXs are transmitting at different power.
The dual band combining into one cell allows to save up to one
SDCCH in particular

Features

GSM900 and GSM1800 features

DCS1800 has a smaller coverage than GSM900.

DCS1800 has more ARFCN than GSM900.
GSM 900
890...960 MHz
124
200 kHz

Frequency band
Number of channels
Channel spacing

GSM 1800
1710...1880 MHz
374
200 kHz

Site type

Radius (approx.)

Path loss

Macro cells (radius>3 km)

>3 km

1800MHz>900MHz by 12.8dB

Macro cells

0.3-3 km

1800MHz>900MHz by 12.5dB

Micro cells

Along streets

1800MHz>900MHz by 6dB

900
1800

900MHz radio has a bigger

penetration loss than 1800MHz

Network Structure

Different dual band network structures

Separated MSC network

MSC

Shared MSC network

Shared BSC network

MSC

MSC

MSC

BSC

BSC

BSC

BSC

900
BTS

1800
BTS

900
BTS

1800
BTS

BSC
900
BTS

1800
BTS

900/1800
BTS

Separated MSC Network

MSC
BSC

MSC
BSC

BSC

1800 cell

BSC
1800 cell

LAC2

900 cell
900 cell

Location updating Easy to happen

Handovers between GSM900 and DCS1800 will be inter MSC handovers

LAC1

Shared MSC network

MSC
BSC

BSC

BSC

BSC

1800 cell

1800 cell

LAC1

LAC2

900 cell
900 cell

Location updating NOT easy to happen

Handovers between GSM900 and DCS1800 will be inter BSC handovers

Shared MSC/BSC network

MSC

BSC

BSC

1800 cell

BSC

BSC
1800 cell

LAC2
LAC1
900 cell
900 cell

Location updating NOT easy to happen

Handovers between GSM900 and DCS1800 will be
intra BSC or inter BSC handovers

Capabilities

Capabilities
1.1Improved radio environment and traffic capacity:
There are several restrictions on the usage of features BTS Power Control
and Frequency Hopping on the BCCH frequency. By omitting the BCCH
from one of the frequency bands in a multi band cell, these restrictions no
longer apply.

Cont

Single band cell / multi band site (left) vs. multi band cell (right), radio performance

Also, there is one more timeslot available for traffic in the non-BCCH
frequency band, since the BCCH is omitted.

1.2 Reduced Number of Defined Cells and NBR Relations

The number of defined cells and cell network is reduced after the
conversion of the same network based on the single band cell /
multi band site concept. Defined neighbor relations can be
significantly reduced in areas where the most of the cells are multi
band. This reduction can easily reach 50% or more.

Handover for Dual Band Cell

Concentric Cell Parameter Definition

Direct TCH Allocation

On SDCCH (always in the large zone), when the serving cell is either a dual
band cell the call can be directed to the inner zone.
The small zone (or band1) is eligible when the following conditions are
satisfied:
RxLevDL > concentAlgoExtRxLev
MS_BS_Dist < concentAlgoExtMsRange (timing advance criterion)
Only one TA measurement is done for concentric cells.

Cont:

Handover from one BSC to another

8
4

9
5

3
BSC1

10
BSC2

Internal cell list

Cell 1
Cell 2
Cell 3
Cell 4
Cell 5

Internal cell list

Cell 6
Cell 7
Cell 8
Cell 9
Cell 10

External cell list

Cell 6
Cell 7

External cell list

Cell 4
Cell 5

BSC1 vender1
BSC2 vender2
External cell list of BSC1 consists the information of cell6 and cell 7:
CGI, cell layer, BCCH, BSIC and handover parameters(vender1).

Value in PTML Network

There are about 5 standard values set in Nortel Region.
ConcentAlgoExtRxLev
16
20
23
26
30

ConcentAlgoIntRxLev
11
11
11
11/16
20

Cont
BIZONEPOWEROFFSET(N)(AdjacentCellHandoverObject)
biZonePowerOffset(n) in adjacentcellHandover object reflect the
difference of propagation between the two zones of an adjacent cell in
case of handover towards the inner zone.
When attempting a Handover directly to the inner zone of an adjacent
cell EXP2xx(n)=hoMarginxx(n) + biZonePowerOffSet(n) >0 shall be
respected.
biZonePowerOffset(n) = concentAlgoExtRxLev(n) rxLevMinCell(n)

Dual band network problems and solutions

Dual band network problems and solutions

Problems:

Unexpected location updating signaling for Um interface and other interfaces

Handover between GSM900 and DCS1800 cells not under control
Traffic load sharing problems

Recommended solutions:
Utilize the separated MSC network structure and proper LAC allocation
Utilize proper handover parameters
Optimize handover settings to achieve proper traffic load sharing

Benefits

Main benefits of dual band cell functionality are:

The number of cells to configure and monitor is roughly divided by
two.
No BCCH pattern has to be defined in the second band.
Slight increase in capacity: one TS saving+DCS and GSM DRXs in one
pool, which provides more network control of the traffic distribution.
Intra cells Handover between DCS and GSM DRXs of a same cell
instead of synchronous inter cell handovers reduce the muting time
and probability of drop call.

Summary

Summary:
In a Dual band cell it is possible to configure two different frequency
bands in a cell with only one BCCH.
BCCH configured on a frequency Band called BCCH band and the
other Band is called Non-BCCH Band.
Non-BCCH band used to provide more capacity to be used for traffic.
In case of GSM900 and DCS1800 co-location, the GSM900 has strong
signal strength but we can use the idle parameter setting and layer
handover to control the traffic and achieve the balanced traffic
between GSM900 and DCS1800

Thanks