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Many factors can be determined from manufacturers data sheets, thing such as the Tx power,
feeder losses, antenna gains etc..however some parts of the system, the radio interface, must
be modelled in order to determine a satisfactory plan.
Loss (dB)
Operating freqency (MHz, GHz)
Operating freqency (MHz, GHz) L Distance (km, miles)
Bandwidth (KHz, MHz) I Environment
Signalling rate (Ksps, Msps)
Modulation (X-PSK, X-QAM) N Time dispersion (sec, nsec)
Error correction overhead K Bandwidth (KHz, MHz)
Fading (selective, flat)
Inter-symbol interference
RX
Information Xmission
Demodulator Amp Antenna
source line
Loss @ oper. freq. Gain (directivity)
Sensitivity* Gain (dB) dB/length dBi
Threshold (dBm) NFdB NFdB dBd
C/N (dB)
C/I+N (dB)
Eb/No (dB)
The goal of link planning is to determine the parameter MAPL (Maximum Allowable Path Loss)
System Gain is a function of the radiated power from the transmitter system and the minimum
signal power that can be presented to the face of the receiving antenna. The value of System
gain is an indication of the maximum and minimum values in the link budget.
Link Margins are subtracted from the System Gain to determine the maximum path loss for
agiven set of assumptions for the transmitting and receiving system. This MAPL can
subsequently converted in to a nominal cell range using an appropriate propagation model.
System gain is determined by subtracting the maximum transmit power from the minimum
receive power.
The values of feeder and connector (and any other) losses can be determined from manufacturer
data sheets as can the Tx_PWR of the eNB and UE. It is likely that the Rx-SENS will also be
quoted by the vendor for the eNB and UE however the calculation is rather complex and can
involve many parameters that will ultimately have a great impact on the overall system
performance, it is worth therefore, a closer examination.
Since most cellular systems are limited by the performance of the uplink it is common to being
the link budgeting process with the uplink and look for a link balance with the downlink.
MAPLDL = (Tx_PWReNB Ltx_eNB + Gtx_eNB ) (Rx_SENSUE Grx_UE ) Margins(fade, body, building, trees)
The reductions for MPR and A-MPR are shown in the tables opposite.
Wide Area Base Stations are characterised by requirements derived from Macro Cell scenarios
with a BS to UE minimum coupling loss equal to 70 dB. No upper limit for power output is
specified by 3GPP for this class of base station (some regional limits apply, in addition there
areCEPT band limits that should also be considered).
Local Area Base Stations are characterised by requirements derived from Pico Cell scenarios
with a BS to UE minimum coupling loss equal to 45 dB. The limitations on power output
depend on the number of antenna ports used and are shown in the table opposite.
Home Base Stations are characterised by requirements derived from Femto Cell scenarios.
Thelimitations on power output depend on the number of antenna ports used and are shown
inthe table opposite.
For link budgets the a typical eNB power outputs for macro cell deployments would however
bein the range 20 60W (43 48dBm) depending on channel bandwidth.
46dBm (10Mhz)
43 dBm (5 Mhz, 1.25 MHz)
Typical components that may be included in the Rx/Tx system are listed in the table opposite.
LG Handheld Device
It is possible of course that the operator will implement spatial multiplexing or transmit diversity,
this will have an impact on the link budget calculations. It is expected that the vendors of these
systems will provide the appropriate figures of gain to be included in any calculations.
330 30 330 30
300 60 300 60
The expression on the opposite page show the calculation and all the parameters required
tomake the calculation. The following pages will explain each parameter.
Where;
-174dBm/Hz is k x T (Boltzmann Constant x Temperature)
Nrb is the Number of Radio Blocks Allocated
180KHz is the bandwidth of 1 RB
NFeNB is the total noise figure of the eNB system
SNR is the Signal to Noise Ratio required i.e. for the
modulation scheme in use
IM is an Implementation Margin depends Modulation and
Coding used
-3dB is the multiple antenna gain for the UE
DFB is a frequency band specific relaxation factor for the UE
The thermal background noise is present as a result of the big bang (cosmic background
radiation), the galaxies, the stars, our own sun and natural radiation from the surface of the
earth and the object upon it. There is no way that we can prevent this kind of noise entering
theradio system but there is a way to quantify the amount of noise present. The expression;
Nt = kTB
shows that noise is proportional to the bandwidth of the radio systems and temperature.
Thebandwidth of the radio system under investigation is really the only variable since
temperature is taken to be that of the warm earth or 290K.
The graph opposite show the rise of noise with radio channel bandwidth and the range
ofLTEradio channel bandwidths plotted for comparision.
-105
-110
Nt = kTB
-115
-120
-125
0.1
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
10.0
11.0
12.0
13.0
14.0
15.0
16.0
17.0
18.0
19.0
20.0
21.0
22.0
23.0
24.0
25.0
Bandwidth (MHz)
A typical voice call in LTE may require 64Kbps, for example, given that call reliability will be
important across the whole radio cell, robust modulation schemes may be allocated for the
voice call events, QPSK 1/3 for example, in this case only two RBs will be required, a total
allocated bandwidth of 2x180KHz or 360KHz, this figure can be used to work out the thermal
noise floor.
In contrast an device that has attempting to receive 1Mbps will have to be allocated between
2and 13 RBs, depending on the selected modulation and coding scheme. Thus the noise floor
could rise up to 10dB (or more) for high capacity allocations.
The graph opposite shows the potential noise floor rise for RB allocation between 1 and 25 RB
(25 RB corresponds to an channel bandwidth of 5MHz).
-107
-109
-111
-113
-115
-117
-119
-121
Nt/RB = -174dBm/Hz + (NRB x 180KHz)
-123
-125
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Number of RB
Typical Values
QPSK 2.5dB
16QAM 3dB
64QAM 4dB
The margin accounts for the difference in the theoretical SINR values and the practical
implementation actually possible.
Typical Values
QPSK 2.5dB
16QAM 3dB
64QAM 4dB
The noise figure (NF) will have an impact on cell range. The LTE documents specify a figure
similar to those for WCDMA devices and it is felt that the figure is a compromise between
reasonable cell range and practical receiver design performance. It is range of values also allow
some scope for the vendors to improve the performance of the device receivers and therefore
improve the sensitivity of the devices, this is also a key differentiator in the device market.
Where there are multiple components (active and passive) in the receiver system, the total noise
can be calculated using the cascade method.
Total NF
Thermal Noise Floor
Cascaded Noise
When using the Cascade formula, the noise figure reference point can be assigned at any point
before the first active (amplifier) component. The first system component will have the greatest
influence, meaning that the system NFdB cant be better than the NFdB of the first component, on
the system NFdB. Stages after an amplifier have progressively less impact on total system NFdB.
System 1: A significant loss in front of the LNA limits the receiver system NFdB. A high gain
inthe LNA can help minimize the post-LNA losses. This configuration (indoor-mounted LNA)
can be beneficial if the coax loss to the LNA is reasonably low and the LNA has sufficient gain
relative to the post-LNA losses. A low gain LNA offers little performance benefit in this, or any
deployment. An LNA with too much gain reduces the dynamic range of the receiver and
couldoverload the receiver, causing other problems.
System 2: Theoretically, this can provide the best performance. If there is a significant amount
of gain in the LNA, the post-LNA losses have little impact on the system NFdB. If a small
amount of gain is used, the LNA provides little or no benefit. In cellular deployments, this is
referred to as a TTA (Tower-Top Amplifier). Since LNAs are typically rated for their operating NFdB
at 23 C ambient temperature, there can be a degradation of performance when the ambient
temperature increases above this value. Remember, an LNA with too much gain reduces the
dynamic range of the receiver and could overload the receiver, causing other problems.
30 db
Coax WiMAX rcvr
amp
1 2 3 4
30 db Rx system 1:
Coax WiMAX rcvr NFdB = 7.05dB
amp
1 2 3 4
System NFdB
C/N
4 dB NF 3 dB loss 7 dB loss 8 dB NF
30 db Rx system 2:
Coax WiMAX rcvr NFdB = 7.05dB
amp
1 2 3 4
System NFdB
F2 1 F 1 F4 1
FRX = F1 + + 3 + +
G1 G 1 . G2 G1 . G2 . G3
Typical Figures for the DFB margin appear in the table opposite.
It should be noted that this maring only applies to full duplex devices, the margin is note
required for TDD or FDD-HD devices.
Shadow Margin
Building loss
Foliage loss
Clutter margin
Fading margin
Body loss
Noise rise margin
Typical Margins;
Shadow (fading) Margin
Building loss
Foliage loss
Clutter margin
Body loss
Noise rise margin
The probability is a function of the path loss exponent and the standard deviation of signal
values for a given environment. The amount of margin determined from the environmental
values is based on coverage objectives for a given implementation. Mobile radio (cellular)
prioritizes the area service objective, while fixed wireless services may consider margin for
areaor edge coverage.
The propagation constant (n), also called the path loss exponent, accounts for the distance
dependent mean of the signal level based on the propagation environment.
The standard deviation () statistically describes the path loss variability for arbitrary locations
with the same distance between subscriber unit and cell site. The ratio of /n is used to
determine the amount of margin required to satisfy an area reliability objective.
Signal
at UE
eNB Signal
threshold
Dense
urban
Urban
Suburban
Clutter
Rural
Example:
Given a path loss exponent of 3.5, a minimum signal level of -94 dBm
and a standard deviation of 10 dB, what is the margin required for an
area coverage probability of 90%?
........................ dB
Key information:
Angle of incidence
Material composition
Material thickness
Material texture
Foliage loss is a function of absorption and scattering. Building loss is primarily absorption loss.
Wet surfaces will generally increase the amount of energy reflected rather than transmitted thus
increasing overall penetration loss.
In both foliage and building loss, it is important to establish local parameters to be used during
planning processes.
Body Loss
In mobile cellular systems, handheld devices will incur an additional loss due to absorption by
the human body. The actual figure will depend on the use of the device i.e. held near the head,
away from the body holding angle of the device. UE antenna radiation patterns may also affect
the amount of energy lost.
Affected
resources
Pathloss
eNB
eNB
Nrb_aggressor
Prb_aggressor
Nrb_victim
Pue_victim
Propagation Modelling
Propagation modelling or prediction is the science of predicting the pathloss of a particular radio
frequency when some of the system attributes are know, typically the radio frequency, tower
and UE heights and distance are the information required, however more complex models can
use the average height of buildings or terrain, relative angle of roads, antenna tilts etc to produce
more accurate results.
The model shown opposite is at the heart of this science. This models the theoretical wave front
from an isotropic radiator and predicts the field strength at a given distance.
If a value for the receive antenna attributes is included it is possible to derive the Free Space
Pathloss model. In the free space pathloss model energy radiated from the source decays
inproportion to the square of the distance, a doubling of distance will increase the path loss
bya factor of 4.
r (meters)
Power transmitted
Put simply Power density at distance r = Watts/m2
4r2
Isotropic
radiator
Pt
Pr
d Effective
apperture
in m2
The following is a list of empirical models can be used in the preliminary stages of planning.
Empirical models
Power law
Okumura Hata
Lee
COST 231 Hata
Walfish Ikagami
IEEE 802.16 (SUI)
Physical models
Free space
Free space + RMD
TIREM
Longley-Rice
Anderson 2D
Physical models
Free space
Free space + RMD
TIREM
Longley-Rice
Anderson 2D
Comparison of Models
There are of course many different models that can be used under different circumstances,
thechoice of model will depend on system design parameters such as the frequency band
used, LOS or NLOS systems, antennas above or below rooftop height etc.
The table on the page opposite shows some of the standard models in common use and
therange of frequencies over which the model will return sensible results.
Some of the models are empirical models which means that they are also dependant on the
circumstances under which they were developed. In many cases different models will return
different pathloss results for the same set of inputs (frequency, tower height, link distance etc)
therefore several models may need to be test to see which model returns the most accurate
results for the are being designed.
Many RF planning tools will allow you to select different propagation models in order that
comparisons can be made, in addition the RF software development companies will offer their
own models that use a combination of empirical and physical models to predicate the pathloss.
160
140
120
100
80
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Distance (km)
This a baseline model which can be used to make comparisons of other empirical and
customdesigned models.
Where:
Fc = operating frequency (1500-2000 MHz)
hb = BS antenna height (30-200 m)
hm = mobile antenna height (1-10 m)
R = distance between BS and mobile unit (1-20 km)
Correction factors:
Medium city and suburban
a(hm) = (1.1.log fc 0.7)hm (1.56.log fc 0.8)
Large city
a(hm) = 3.2(log(11.75.hm))2 4.97
The novel features of the WINNER models are its parameterisation, using of the same modelling
approach for both indoor and outdoor environments, new scenarios like outdoor-to-indoor
andindoor-to outdoor, elevation in indoor scenarios, smooth time (and space) evolution of
large-scale and small-scale channel parameters (including cross-correlations), and scenario-
dependent polarisation modelling. The models are scalable from a single single-input-single-
output (SISO) or multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) link to a multi-link MIMO scenario
including polarisation among other radio channel dimensions.
WINNER II channel models can be used in link level and system level performance evaluation
ofwireless systems, as well as comparison of different algorithms, technologies and products.
The models can be applied not only to WINNER II system, but also any other wireless system
operating in 2 6 GHz frequency range with up to 100 MHz RF bandwidth. The models
supports multi-antenna technologies, polarisation, multi-user, multi-cell, and multi-hop networks.
{
PL3=PLB1 (dout+din)
PLin=14+15(1-cos())2
PLin=0.5din
hBS=3(nn-1)+2m
hMS=1.5,
See 3 for explanation
ofparameters
LOS A=22.7, B=41.0, 20 =3 10m < d1 < dBP4
IRLreq
UE Radio Measurements
The 3GPP standards define three key radio measurements that may be performed and reported
by the UE for the evaluation of cell reselection and handovers.
Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) is a measurement of the power in the reference signal
from the selected or serving cell.
Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) is a measurement of the total receive signal strength,
which includes all transmissions from the selected or serving cell plus all signals received in the
measurement bandwidth from neighbour cells.
Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) is calculated as the ratio (the difference in terms
ofvalues expressed in dB) between the RSRP and RSSI. It is therefore a measure of the
signaltonoise ratio for the reference signals.
RSRP is an averaged measurement of the power in a single resource element modulated with
the cells reference signal PCI. However, a users data will be transmitted over multiple resource
elements in one or multiple RBs using one of many modulation and coding schemes. They are
therefore not like-for-like quantities and there is no direct relationship between measured RSRP
and channel performance for any given service. However, it possible for an optimiser to develop
one or more rule-of-thumb guide measurements for RSRP that will indicate that different
required service types are likely to function acceptably in an tested area of interest.
Note also that the power available for one resource element is likely to be affected by the
configured transmission bandwidth and that therefore the expected value of measured RSRP
could vary dependent on cell configuration. In simple terms, doubling the bandwidth through
the same total transmit power should result in a reduction in expected RSRP of 3 dB unless
power offsets are used between subcarrier types.
Similar consideration must be given to RSRQ when using it to assess performance, because
itiscalculated from RSRP.
RSRP and
RSRQ relate to
the performance
of a single
reference signal
resource element
User data is
transmitted over
multiple resource
elements in one
or multiple RBs
using one of
many different
modulation and
coding schemes
In order to make RSRQ a meaningful ratio of RSRP and RSSI they must be modified such that
the measurement bandwidth is the same. The 3GPP standards define that this is done by
multiplying RSRP by the number of resource blocks in the measurement bandwidth for RSSI.
The result is the equivalent of considering the individual SINR for one reference signal resource
element within one RB. Thus the best case occurs when there is no data being transmitted
orexternal interference source measured with the RB. In this case RSRP is the power in one
resource element and RSSI is the power in two resource elements per RB; the resultant RSRQ
is 3 dB. In the case where data is transmitted on all resource elements with the same power
but there is no external interference source, then the ratio becomes 1/12 and the resultant
RSRQ is 10.8 dB. Anything worse than this suggests the presence of external interference.
Another approach would be a direct capture from the air interface itself. This is more commonly
used in the context of a lab, but it can be applied in the field and is one way to view the cell
asawhole and performance for multiple users. Tools of this type may also be able to decode
scheduling information and display the results in a graphic format. Some method of analysing
the performance of the scheduling algorithm is certainly required for effective optimisation.
Analysis of KPIs from the OMC is also essential in order to gauge overall performance against
defined metrics. It may also provide some insight into the effectiveness of the scheduling algorithm.
Finally, the optimiser should have access to information regarding the complete network in order
to assess and identify the root cause of any performance issues.
eNB
HSS MME
PDN
UE
EPC SGW E-UTRAN
P-GW
eNB
Off-air
monitoring
OMC
The IP address may be predefined or dynamically allocated and may be in either an IPv4
orIPv6format. Similarly, an APN could be dynamically allocated, although in the typical case
itwill be predefined. APNs may provide access to either public or private PDNs. An EPS
beareris defined by one APN and one IP address.
QoS is defined in terms of the four key characteristics shown in the diagram: QCI, ARP, GBR
and MBR. Multiple data flows may share a single EPS bearer; however, an EPS bearer has only
one QoS profile and this is applied to all data packets using the bearer.
An EPS bearer is created through the concatenation of a Data Radio Bearer (DRB) between
theUE and the eNB, an S1 Bearer between the eNB and the SGW and an S5/S8 Bearer
between the SGW and the P-GW. Note that air interface testing and optimisation consider
onlythe characteristics of the DRB, yet the service performance will also depend on factors
relating to the S1 Bearer and the S5/S8 Bearer, as well as the external PDN, the end-point
server andan applications behaviour.
EPS Bearer
eNB UE
Note that the QCI value applied to a particular EPS bearer is bounded by the EPS itself.
Theway packets associated with an EPS bearer are treated outside the EPS domain is not
managed by the LTE network.