Synthesized Frequency Hopping

Congo Janvier 2001

 Course Objectives

1) Introduction to the frequency hopping

2) FH parameters
3) SFH and Frequency planning
4) SFH and Load factor
5) SFH implementation
6) SFH and Cell Parameter
7) SFH optimization
8) SFH in Congo

Jan-2001 SFH 2
 Introduction to the frequency hopping

The frequency hopping offers two type of diversities:

1) Frequency Diversity
2) Interference Diversity

Jan-2001 SFH 3
 Introduction to the frequency hopping

Frequency Diversity
The frequency hopping reduces the multi-path fading
A minimum of 800 kHz or 1 MHz frequency separation is needed
Minimum of 4 to 5 frequencies for optimal result

Jan-2001 SFH 4
 Introduction to the frequency hopping

Interference diversity Less interference on Cell A

Spread of the frequency transmitted

F1 F1 Cell A

F2, F4 Duration of use

F2 F2
No hopping
F3 F3
hopping
F4 F4 Cell B
F2 F4
Frequencies used Frequencies used F1, F3
without hopping with hopping

Jan-2001 SFH 5
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
Baseband Frequency Hopping

Baseband Frequency Hopping

Each TRX has a fixed frequency and the mobile hops over the frequencies
of the cell TRXs.
F1=BCCH frequency
T T T T
R R R R
X X X X
1 2 3 4
F1 F2 F3 F4

Jan-2001 SFH 6
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
Baseband Frequency Hopping

In baseband frequency hopping the frequency changes only in the

uplink. TS0
How the frequencies hop ? TS1
It depends on the time slot on which the mobile establish the call: TS2
For time slot TS 0
TS3
TS4
TS5
Hopping Law: F2, F3, F4, F2, F3, F4 TS6
TS7

Valid only for TS0 of the TRXs not carrying the BCCH
TRX2, TRX3, TRX4

Jan-2001 SFH 7
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
Baseband Frequency Hopping
For time slots 1 to 7
TS0
TS1
TS2
TS3
TS4
Hopping Law: F1, F2, F3, F4, F1, F2 TS5
TS6
TS7
Valid for TS1 to TS7 of all the TRXs

Jan-2001 SFH 8
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
SFH

In synthesized frequency hopping the TRX change its own frequency

every TDMA frame

F2, F3, F4, F5

T T
R R
X X
1 2

Jan-2001 SFH 9
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
SFH

TRX2
TS0
TS1
TS2
TS3
TS4
TS5
TS6
TS7

TRX changes frequency every 4.6 ms

Jan-2001 SFH 10
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
BBH and SFH
TS 0 of TRX 1
(BCCH and
CCCH) does not
hop f1
TRX 1 B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TS 1 to 7 hop
over f1, f2, f3
TRX 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 f2
and f4

TRX 3 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 f3

TRX 4 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 f4

TS 0 of TRX 2, 3
and 4 hop over f2,
f3 and f4

Jan-2001 SFH 11
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
BBH and SFH

BCCH / CCCH TRX does not hop

TRX 1 B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 F1

TRX 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TRX 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

TRX 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Jan-2001 SFH 12
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
SFH vs BBH

In BBH the number of hopping frequencies= number of TRX

BBH could be done with Combiner and Hybrid

SFH could not be done with Combiner

SFH needs at least two TRXs

BBH is efficient with at least 3 TRXs

Jan-2001 SFH 13
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
The need for SFH

SFH is used for two purposes:

BBH
quality
SFH

capacity

Jan-2001 SFH 14
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
The need for SFH

quality

Decrease dropped
call rate

Improve voice quality

Jan-2001 SFH 15
 Introduction to the frequency hopping
The need for SFH

capacity

Better reuse of
frequency band

Easier frequency plan

Jan-2001 SFH 16
 FH Parameters

The hopping law is defined by a given number of parameters:

HSN (Hopping Sequence Number)

Mobile Allocation (MA)
MAIO (Mobile Allocation Indicator Offset)

Jan-2001 SFH 17
 FH Parameters

Mobile Allocation MA
The MA is the list of the hopping frequencies
i.e. MA={F3, F5, F7, F8}
Hopping Sequence Number HSN
The HSN gives the hopping sequence (generator) number for the
system. The sequence is pseudo-random and HSN={063}
With HSN=0 cyclic
i.e. HSN=1 => {F3, F5, F8, F7}
HSN=2 => {F8, F7, F5, F3}

Jan-2001 SFH 18
 FH Parameters

MAIO
The MAIO for each carrier is the index of the carrier's ARFCN in the
mobile allocation
It used to avoid collision between the frequencies affected to the TRXs
of the same cell/site
MAIO={0..N-1} where N is the number of frequencies in the MA

Example: MA={34, 37, 39, 42}

HSN=2 generates the following sequence:{39, 37, 34, 42/ 37, 39, 34, 42/ 39, 34, 37, 42/ 39,
42, 34, 37}
In Cell A all the TRXs will have the same HSN=2
If first TRX has MAIO=0 the second will have MAIO=1
TRX 1 hops on:{39, 37, 34, 42/ 37, 39, 34, 42/ 39, 34, 37, 42/ 39, 42, 34, 37}
TRX2 hops on {37, 34, 42/ 37, 39, 34, 42/ 39, 34, 37, 42/ 39, 42, 34, 37}

Jan-2001 SFH 19
 FH Parameters

For BBH only the MA is needed, since the frequencies affected to the
cells came from a fixed clean frequency plan.
Therefore the HSN is usually set to 0 (cyclic) and MAIO is not set
For SFH the MAIO is crucial to avoid frequency collisions

TRX1 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 MAIO=0

TRX2 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 MAIO=3

MAIO gives the starting point for the hopping

Jan-2001 SFH 20
 FH Parameters

The Synthesized frequency hopping or called also Slow Frequency

hopping needs the following parameters:
MA
HSN
MAIO
These parameters need to be defined for each TRX of the cell and are
called the Hopping Law

Jan-2001 SFH 21
 SFH and Frequency Planning

The SFH is implemented by using a Fractional Frequency Reuse

BCCH TCH
frequencies frequencies

FREQUENCY SPECTRUM

Jan-2001 SFH 22
 SFH and Frequency Planning

How to divide the frequency spectrum?

The objective is to make a BCCH frequency with the minimum
number of frequencies (usually 14 to 16 frequencies depending on the
distance between sites and the cells overlapping)
The BCCH plan is done on classical way (C/I=14 dB)
The remaining frequencies of the band are allocated to the frequency
hopping MA list
We can also reserve some frequencies for optimization purposes (see
optimization chapter)

Jan-2001 SFH 23
 SFH and Frequency Planning

Two possible way of frequency planning

1x1
hopping
frequencies
1x3

The 1x1 means the reuse of all the frequencies in all the cells
The 1x3 makes three frequencies one per sector

Jan-2001 SFH 24
 SFH and Frequency Planning

1x1 is the reuse of all the frequencies in all the cells and on all the
hopping TRXs HSN 2
MAIO 0,6
Collision risk area

HSN 4
HSN 6
HSN2 MAIO 0
MAIO 0,6 HSN2
MAIO 8
MAIO 4

HSN 16
HSN 4
HSN 6 MAIO 0,6 HSN 4
HSN6 MAIO 8
MAIO 4 MAIO 2
MAIO 8

HSN 16
HSN 16
MAIO 8
MAIO 4

Jan-2001 SFH 25
 SFH and Frequency Planning

MAIO planning
All the frequencies are allocated to all the hopping TRXs
The number of hopping TRXs is not the same in all the cells
We should avoid adjacent channel interference between the starting
point of the hopping frequencies of the TRX of different cells
We should separate at maximum the starting frequencies point of two
TRX of the same cell

Example: MA={22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32}
TRX2 will have MAIO 0
TRX3 will have MAIO 2

Jan-2001 SFH 26
 SFH and Frequency Planning

The MAIO allocation depends on whether the supplier offer the site
synchronization or not.
Site Synchronization?
The hopping TRXs from different cells within the same site are
synchronized in their hopping
HSN 4
MAIO 0,6
Site with 3/3/2 configuration
2/2/1 hopping TRXs

HSN 4
HSN 4
MAIO4
MAIO 2,8

Jan-2001 SFH 27
 SFH and Frequency Planning

If synchronized is available we allocate the same HSN for all the

hopping TRXs of the same site (all the cells)
The MAIO allocation is done on site basis
Example: MA={22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32} and site with
2/2/1 hopping TRXs
HSN 4
MAIO 0,6

HSN 4
HSN 4
MAIO 4
MAIO 2,8

Jan-2001 SFH 28
 SFH and Frequency Planning

In 1x3 we divide the MA list in three groups

HSN 4
HSN 4 MAIO 0,1
MA1={30, 33, 36, 39, 42} MAIO 0,1

MA2={31, 34, 37, 40, 43}

HSN 4
MA3={32, 35, 38, 41, 44} HSN 6
HSN 20
MAIO 0
HSN 4
MAIO 2,3
MAIO 4
MAIO 0,1
OR
HSN 4
HSN 4 MAIO 0,2
MA1={30, 31, 32, 33, 34} MAIO 0,2

MA2={35, 36, 37, 38, 39}

MA3={40, 41, 42, 43, 44} HSN 6 HSN 20 HSN 4
MAIO 0,2
HSN 4
MAIO 0
MAIO 0,2 MAIO 0

Synchronization not available Synchronization available

Jan-2001 SFH 29
 SFH and Frequency Planning

Maximum separation Same Cell

The main RULE is to have:
Maximum separation Different Cell Same Site

F2 F3

F1
BTS

Same Cell Separation Higher Same Site Cell

Case of synchronization

Jan-2001 SFH 30
 SFH and Frequency Planning
1x1
1x3
-easier to implement
-more hopping frequency -work with or without
-not recommended without synchronization
synchronization -easier MAIO planning if
-better for irregular grid and no synchronization
Extended overlap (different HSN)
-better results with
acceptable grid

Jan-2001 SFH 31
 SFH and Load Factor

The load factor is defined by the number of TRX divided by the

number of available frequencies in the MA (for 1x3 Sum of freq in the
MAs)
It is calculate on cell basis.
3 hopping TRXs
Load Factor=3/10=30 %
Example:
B T T T
C R R R
C X X X
H 1 2 3

BTS

1x1
MA={F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10}

Jan-2001 SFH 32
 SFH and Load Factor

This measure is not accurate because the load is related to the traffic
carried by the hopping TRXs (called hopping traffic). Because there is
frequency collision only when the TRX is transmitting.

Therefore we define the Real Load Factor as:

NumberHopp ingTRX TrafficHop pingTRX DTX
RLF(cell) x x
NumberFreq MA 8 K
DTX is a factor =1 if DTX downlink is not used and =0.7 if DTX
is used
K is factor related to the ratio SDCCH/TCH Traffic
Hopping_per_TRX / 8 represents the percentage of busy TS per
hour
Jan-2001 SFH 33
 SFH and Load Factor

Higher Load Factor means more hopping traffic means more

probability of frequency collision means also lower speech quality
Speech quality

Real Load Factor

Or hopping traffic

Jan-2001 SFH 34
 SFH and Load Factor

What is the max Real Load Factor with acceptable speech quality?
The limit depends on the design
We define also a network (or area) Real Load Factor
The load depends on the traffic, therefore we use the Busy hour network
(BH network = hour where the Sum(cell_traffic) was maximum)

TrafficHoppingxDTX
RLF (area )
NumberFreqMAx8K
Number_frequencies_MA=average for the area
Traffic_hopping=average traffic per cell for the area on BH area

Jan-2001 SFH 35
 SFH and Load Factor

12 cells with 1x1 MA containing 20 frequencies

-14 hopping TRXs (average per cell 14/12)
-Area hopping traffic 33.6 Erlang (2.8 Erlg average per cell) HSN 6
MAIO 0,6
RLF=? With no DTX and average K=0.9
RLF=(2.8/20)*(1/(8*0.9))=1.94%
HSN 4
HSN 6
HSN2 MAIO 0
MAIO 0,6 HSN2
MAIO 8
MAIO 4

HSN 16
HSN 4
HSN 6 MAIO 0,6 HSN 4
HSN6 MAIO 8
MAIO 4 MAIO 2
MAIO 8

HSN 16
HSN 16
MAIO 8
MAIO 4

Jan-2001 SFH 36
 SFH and Load Factor

How to calculate K?

Average per cell and then average per area.

2 hopping TRX with 2 TS reserved for SDCCH, K=14/16=0.875
For the area, the same could be done

Usually a value of 0.9 could be taken as rough approximation

Jan-2001 SFH 37
 SFH and Load Factor

How can we assess the design?

Higher number of frequencies for the BCCH means less helpful
design.

RLF 1

RLF 2

RLF 3 BCCH pattern 1=14 frequencies

BCCH pattern 2=18 frequencies
BCCH pattern=21 frequencies

BCCH pattern 1 BCCH pattern 2 BCCH pattern 3

Jan-2001 SFH 38
 The Synthesized Frequency Hopping
Part 1 Summary

1) Frequency Hopping offers frequency diversity and interference

diversity
2) SFH needs cannot be used with cavity combiner
3) SFH frequency planning is based on the division of the frequency
band into two parts (BCCH and TCH)
4) The SFH is defined by three parameters : MA, MAIO, HSN
5) The frequency plan reuse is measure through the load factor
6) The real load factor determines the limit of the SFH

Jan-2001 SFH 39
 SFH Implementation

1x1 or 1x3

BSS synchronization
available
NO

design is regular
1x3
YES NO

1x3 1x1

Jan-2001 SFH 40
 SFH Implementation
design is regular
?

BCCH plan tight

YES NO

Design is not regular

Design is regular 1x1
1x3 SFH

Jan-2001 SFH 41
 SFH Implementation
Find the real load factor
of the network

Find the hopping traffic

Allocation priority
YES available ?

Hopping_traffic=Total_cell_traffic BCCH_traffic NO

Hopping_traffic=Total_cell_traffic X (Number_hopping_TS/Total_number_TS)

Jan-2001 SFH 42
 SFH Implementation
Allocation Priority

Allocation Priority
During call set up we can give priority to the time slots of the non
hopping TRX (usually the BCCH) or to the hopping TRX
If two Time Slots of two different TRXs are in the same interference
band we can prioritize them
GSM recommendations state that the TS with the lower interference
band are allocated first

Jan-2001 SFH 43
 SFH Implementation
Allocation Priority

TS0 TS0 TS0 We allocate priority to each TRX

T TS1 T TS1 T TS1 Usually we give the highest priority to TRX1 (BCCH)
R TS2 R TS2 R TS2 And a lower priority to the other TRXs (TCH)
TS3 TS3 TS3
X TS4 X TS4 X TS4
1 TS5 2 TS5 3 TS5
TS6 TS6 TS6
TS7 TS7 TS7
BCCH TCH TCH
If TS4 of TRX1 and TS3 of TRX3
have the same interference band
TS4 is allocated first

Jan-2001 SFH 44
 SFH Implementation
Hopping Traffic

The cell with the 3 TRXs has a carried traffic of 12 Erlangs

Two TS of the BCCH TRX are configured as SDCCH (16 SDCCH)
5 TS of the BCCH TRX are available for TCH traffic and can carry 5
Erlang
Therefore, the hopping traffic will be 12 5 = 7 Erlangs for this cell

If no priority and all the TS of TRX2 and TRX3 are for TCH, the
hopping traffic will be 12 x (16/21) (16 hopping TCH TS and 21 total
TCH TS)

Jan-2001 SFH 45
 SFH Implementation

SFH Implemented for Quality

Find the real load factor, with

maximum forecasted traffic
per installed TRX buffer
Use min MA such as RLF<5%
BCCH TCH
Allocate the remaining band
Frequencies to the BCCH plan C1 C19 C20 C21 C40
(reserve one buffer frequency)

Try to make a classical BCCH 1x1

frequency plan with the available
frequencies

Jan-2001 SFH 46
 SFH Implementation

SFH implemented for capacity

The objective is to add a defined number of TRX to the existing
configuration
Determine number of
TRX needed per cell in average

Find the Real load factor

(Estimate the forecasted traffic)

Find the number of frequencies

needed for the MA

Find the number of frequencies

available for the BCCH plan

Jan-2001 SFH 47
 SFH Implementation

Quality Capacity

Is the BCCH plan achievable

With the available frequencies
NO
? YES

Implement
the SFH
Make a trial with a higher RLF
and validate by SFH trial, adding
DTX, PC

Jan-2001 SFH 48
 SFH Implementation

Special Case
We have 15 contiguous frequencies available for hopping
We have site with the following configuration 4/4/4 or 3/3/3 hopping TRX
How can we implement SFH on this site?

HSN 11 Not synchronized MA={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15}

MAIO={0,4,8} Not enough MAIO to avoid adjacent frequencies collision
Solution: Synchronize two sectors only

synchronized HSN 15
MAIO={1,4,7}

HSN 11
MAIO={2,6,10}

Jan-2001 SFH 49
 SFH and Cell Parameters
BER

At same voice quality the BER is higher with SFH

We can tolerate a higher BER with SFH
Usually a shit of 1 band quality is observed with SFH
RXQUAL DL Distribution

95,00%

85,00%

75,00%
% of Measurement reports

65,00%

55,00%
Trial 0
45,00% Triial 1 Hopping TRX Only
Trial 2
35,00%

25,00%

15,00%

5,00%

-5,00%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Trial 0 92,14% 2,33% 1,78% 1,55% 0,83% 0,86% 0,26% 0,24%
Triial 1 Hopping TRX Only 74,93% 6,70% 6,49% 5,51% 3,98% 1,96% 0,36% 0,07%
Trial 2 55,34% 9,74% 11,39% 11,22% 7,37% 3,02% 1,41% 0,49%

Jan-2001 SFH 50
 SFH and Cell Parameters
BER

To avoid unnecessary quality handover and quality power control we

must shift by 1 the handover and the the power control threshold.

HO_RXQUAL_DL_HOPPING=HO_RXQUAL_DL+1
HO_RXQUAL_UL_HOPPING=HO_RXQUAL_UL+1
PC_RXQUAL_DL_HOPPING=PC_RXQUAL_DL+1
PC_RXQUAL_UL_HOPPING=PC_RXQUAL_UL+1

Jan-2001 SFH 51
 SFH and Cell Parameters
BER

Why the voice quality is less sensitive to BER?

NO SFH D
BER FER D= de-interleaving

SFH
D
BER FER

Jan-2001 SFH 52
 SFH and Cell Parameters
BER

Good Frames (FER<=5%)

% of Good Frames (FER<=5%) in each RXQUAL catergory

100,00%

90,00%

80,00%

70,00%

60,00%
Good Frames

Triial 0
50,00% Trial 1 Hopping TRX Only
SFH Trial 2
40,00%

30,00%

20,00%

10,00%

0,00%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Triial 0 92,03% 2,37% 1,80% 1,55% 0,72% 0,87% 0,27% 0,16%
Trial 1 Hopping TRX Only 74,89% 6,70% 6,49% 5,51% 3,93% 1,81% 0,11% 0,00%
SFH Trial 2 55,34% 9,74% 11,39% 11,22% 7,33% 2,79% 0,57% 0,00%
RXQUAL

Jan-2001 SFH 53
 SFH and Cell Parameters
BER

Some suppliers offer two category of thresholds:

For hopping TRX
For non hopping TRX
More accurate to avoid bad quality or late power control for the calls
initiated on the BCCH-TRX

Jan-2001 SFH 54
 SFH and Cell Parameters
Intra Cell Handover

Intra Cell handover usually increases with SFH

Intra Cell handover should be oriented from hopping to non hopping
TRX to be efficient

T T T
R R R
X X X
1 2 3
BCCH TCH TCH

HO

Jan-2001 SFH 55
 SFH and Cell Parameters
SDCCH placement

To increase the TCH traffic carried by the TRX-BCCH we place the

SDCCH on the hopping TRX (if it is possible to place them manually)

BCCH SDCCH SDCCH

TCH TCH TCH

TCH TCH TCH

TCH TCH TCH

TCH TCH TCH

TCH TCH TCH

TCH TCH TCH

TCH TCH TCH

Jan-2001 SFH 56
 SFH Optimization

SFH optimization is different from classical optimization

Traffic has impact on the interference level
The interferer is not easy to find all the sites has the same frequencies
BER is no longer a subjective method to measure the voice quality

Jan-2001 SFH 57
 SFH Optimization
Traffic and Interference

Interferer? Interfered Cell

MA MA

Interferer? How to find the interferer?

MA

Jan-2001 SFH 58
 SFH Optimization
Traffic and Interference

The interferer cell must have an important traffic plus the overlap with
the interfered cell
To find the overlap between two cells we can use:

The handover flow between the two cells

The Real Load Factor for each cell
Or the measurement reports in the dedicated mode

Jan-2001 SFH 59
 SFH Optimization
Traffic and Interference

The Handover Flow required to have the neighbor relationship

declared
handover flow

Cell C

Cell A Cell B

normal traffic
dense traffic

Gives an idea on the overlap and the traffic

Cell B will have more impact on cell A than Cell C
Jan-2001 SFH 60
 SFH Optimization
Traffic and Interference

Cell A Cell B Cell C Cell D Cell E

Cell A 40 % 20% 5% 35 %
RLF=2%
Cell B 60 % 6% 16 % 18 %
RLF=7%
Cell C 10 % 20 % 35 % 35 %
RLF=4%
Cell D 2% 20 % 43 % 35 %
RLF=8%
Cell E 45 % 25 % 12 % 18 %
RLF=3%

Cell B is interfered:
Cell A is most likely to be the interferer
Cell C is interfered:
Cell D is most likely to be the interferer

Jan-2001 SFH 61
 SFH Optimization
Traffic and Interference

If the neighbor relationship is not declared we cannot find the

handover flow between the two cells
Using measurement reports sent by the mobiles we can find the
overlap weighted to the traffic

In the interfered cell we add all the BCCH frequencies to the BA list,
the mobiles on this cell will scan these BCCH and report them to the
BTS, some tools allows to obtain these measurement

Jan-2001 SFH 62
 SFH Optimization
Traffic and Interference

MS reports the RXLEV of Cell B, C, D

Cell B
BCCH=Fb
interfered cell Cell D
BCCH=Fd

Cell C
BCCH=Fc

Jan-2001 SFH 63
 SFH Optimization
Traffic and Interference

Cell A Cell B Cell C Cell D Cell E

Cell A 40 % 20% 5% 35 %

Cell B 50 % 16 % 16 % 18 %

Cell C 10 % 20 % 60 % 10 %

Cell D 2% 20 % 43 % 35 %

Cell E 45 % 25 % 12 % 18 %

RXLEV_SERVING-RXLEV_NEIGHBOR > Threshold

Cell B is interfered, 50 % of the total measurement reports > Threshold are

Those of Cell A, therefore Cell A is the interferer

Jan-2001 SFH 64
 SFH Optimization
Traffic and Interference

With the SFH 1x3 we can isolate a number of potential interferers

since we have a group of frequencies

interfered cell
MA1
MA2

MA3 MA3

MA1
Only the cell with the same MA is a possible interferer

Jan-2001 SFH 65
 SFH Optimization
Possible Action

Once the interferer is determined it is advised to operate a frequency

change on it (and not on the interfered cell)
The interferer usually effect more than one cell
What can we do ?
Frequency freezing
MA modification

Jan-2001 SFH 66
 SFH Optimization

Frequency freezing:
Choose one joker frequency or one frequency from the BCCH band and
freeze one TRX on the site
MA modification:
Add frequencies to the MA list from the joker frequency list

Jan-2001 SFH 67
 SFH Optimization
Example MA modification

Example: MA={1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10,11,12}

Jokers={13,14,15,16}
Cell configuration {3/3/2} or hopping TRX {2/2/1}
Sector 1 is the interferer, original configuration

HSN=10 HSN=10
MAIO={0,6} MAIO={0,6}
SFH=1x1
MA={1..12,15,16}
MA={1..12}

HSN=10 HSN=10 HSN=10

HSN=10 MAIO={4}
MAIO={2,8} MAIO={4} MAIO={2,8}

Jan-2001 SFH 68
 SFH Optimization

Frequency freezing has better impact on the quality, and is

recommended if clean frequency is available
We presented here specific SFH optimization but we note here that
classical optimization should have been performed prior to SFH
implementation (antenna tilt, bore, change)

Jan-2001 SFH 69
 SFH Optimization

The physical overlap is also detected using prediction tool (ATOLL)

Create a map where more than X cells are detected with a given level

Area where X cells are detected with a receive

levels differing by 12 dB and more

Jan-2001 SFH 70
 The Synthesized Frequency Hopping
Quality

The SFH quality cannot be assessed in classical methods (using BER,

RXQUAL UL and DL)
We use Frame Erasure Rate (Tems FER)
We can have a bad BER and an acceptable FER, the voice quality is
associated to the FER
Without SFH With SFH

Voice Quality Voice Quality

BER FER

Jan-2001 SFH 71
 SFH Optimization
Tems

When using Tems only the FER has a meaning, the BER is no longer
correlated to speech quality
We plot the drive test in FER and not in BER, the area where the FER
is >=5 must be optimized
BER

FER

Jan-2001 SFH 72
 SFH Optimization
Tems

On Tems we can see if the hopping is enabled or not

We can also see the MA, MAIO and HSN
If Power Control is enabled, which is usually the case with hopping we
must be careful in the drive test interpretation
The Tems always display the BCCH of the neighbor which is
transmitting at full power and display the serving cell which may be a
power controlled TRX, therefore we may not expect power budget
handover

Jan-2001 SFH 73
 SFH Optimization
Indicators

With SFH we may expect:

Decrease of the drop call rate
Increase of the handover on quality

Jan-2001 SFH 74
 SFH Optimization
Indicators

Jan-2001 SFH 75
 SFH Optimization
Quality Assessment

After SFH implementation the following indicators must be monitored:

Call Set Up Success Rate (increase of SDCCH drop could explain a

decrease of the Call Set Up Success Rate)
Drop Call Rate
Handover Distribution (Power Budget, Quality, Level)
Distribution of FER vs BER using Tems

If voice tool available, presentation of uplink and downlink voice quality

(Qvoice for example)

Jan-2001 SFH 76
 Summary

SFH implementation requires prior knowledge on the area

The choice of 1x1 or 1x3 depends on the supplier and the area
Classical optimization must be performed prior to SFH
implementation, because it is more difficult to find the interferer and
the interfered with SFH
The interferer is detected through its traffic and its coverage
We must modify the interferer before the interfered
The FER replace BER with SFH

Jan-2001 SFH 77