Atoll 3.3.2 Neighbours

Neighbour Management
Atoll 3.3.2
Confidential – Do not share without prior permission

Neighbour Features in Atoll
1. Definitions
2. Requirements
3. Importing Neighbours
4. Planning Intra-technology Neighbours
5. Planning Inter-technology Neighbours
6. Layers in Neighbours Planning
7. Modifying and Displaying Neighbour Relations
8. Exporting Neighbour Relations
Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 2

Definitions
Reference cell
The cell to which you are allocating neighbours
Possible neighbours
The cells that fulfil the requirements to be neighbours
Intra-technology neighbours
The cells defined as neighbours that use the same technology as the reference cell
• E.g., UMTS-UMTS, GSM-GSM, LTE-LTE
Inter-technology neighbours
The cells defined as neighbours that use a technology other than the reference cell technology
• E.g., UMTS-GSM, UMTS-LTE, GSM-LTE

Requirements
Requirements for all transmitters to be allocated

They must be active
They satisfy the filter criteria applied to the “Transmitters” folder
They are located inside the focus zone, if existing

• If there is no focus zone defined in your document, Atoll takes into account the computation zone, if existing
They must have an antenna otherwise they can no longer be considered as a candidate neighbour.
They belong to the folder on which allocation has been executed

• This folder can be either the “Transmitters” folder or a group of transmitters or even a single transmitter
No coverage prediction is needed to perform an automatic neighbour allocation

When starting a neighbour allocation, Atoll automatically calculates the path loss matrices if not
found

1. Definitions
2. Requirements

Importing Neighbours (1/2)
Possibility to copy/paste or to import a list of neighbours
Prerequisites
A text file with at least 2 columns
• Name of the reference cells
• Name of neighbour cells

Importing Neighbours (2/2)
Comparison of neighbours
in the ATL file with the
imported neighbour list
Add: add new neighbours

Update and add: add new neighbours and update
existing neighbours
Reset and add: update neighbours for the reference cells
available in the import file

1. Definitions
2. Requirements

Planning Intra-technology Neighbours (1/15)
Neighbourhood constraints can be considered during the automatic neighbour allocation

Some neighbour relations can be defined as forced or forbidden
• Such relations are referred to as “Exceptional Pairs”
List of neighbour relations you may force or

forbid

Allocation parameters
Maximum number of neighbours
• Global value for all cells or value specified for each cell
• At the end of the automatic allocation process, Atoll lists all potential neighbours and ranks them by importance
to eliminate some of them from the neighbour list if the maximum number of neighbours to be allocated to
each transmitter is exceeded
Ex: Let’s consider the case for which there are 15 candidate neighbours and the maximum number of
neighbours to be allocated to the reference transmitter is 8. Among these 15 candidate neighbours, only 8
(having the highest importance) will be allocated to the reference transmitter
Maximum inter-site distance

• If the distance between the reference transmitter and the candidate neighbour is greater than this value, then
the candidate neighbour is discarded
• Atoll takes into account the real inter-site distance and azimuths of antennas in order to calculate the effective
inter-transmitter distance
Allocation strategy based on cells overlapping

Repeater and remote antenna information can be displayed in the Neighbours table
When repeaters and remote antennas are considered in the inter-site calculations
(RepeaterInterSiteDistanceInAlloc=1 in the [Neighbours] section)
By adding custom fields to the Neighbours table (“CF_REP_TRANSMITTER” – Text(50),
“CF_REP_NEIGHBOUR” – Text(50), “CF_REP_DISTANCE” - Double)
Calculated during automatic neighbour allocation

GSM technology
Coverage
conditions
Overlapping criterion
(see next slide)
Allocation
constraints
Do not select the option if

you want to keep existing Start allocation
neighbours

GSM technology
Minimum signal level which must be

provided by reference cell A and
potential neighbour cell B
Enter Handover start and Handover

stop to manage mobility in
Neighbours Allocation

GSM technology
• “% min covered area” is defined by the formula (SA ∩ SB) / SA where:
• SA is the coverage area of cell A restricted by HO start and HO end margins
• SB is the best server area of cell B
Best server area of cell B
Best server area of cell A (Candidate)
(Reference cell) B
Best signal level for A - HO end
Cell edge of A defined by Best signal level for A - HO start

“Min BCCH signal level”

UMTS technology
Intra-carrier neighbours: neighbours which perform handover using the same carrier
Inter-carrier neighbours: neighbours which perform handover using a different carrier
Coverage conditions
Allocation constraints
Do not select the option if you want

to keep existing neighbours
Start allocation

UMTS technology

Atoll should use a Global value

(% Pmax) of the downlink load
for all the cells, or the downlink
loads Defined per cell
Enter the minimum Ec⁄Io which must be Enter the maximum difference of Ec⁄I0 between
provided by reference cell A in an overlapping reference cell A and potential neighbour cell B in
area. the overlapping area

UMTS technology – intra-carrier neighbours

• SA is the best server area of cell A (first cell in the active set)
• SB is the area where cell B can enter the active set of cell A

(Candidate)
Best server area of cell A
(Reference cell) B
SA ∩ SB , area where:
Ec/Io(B) ≥ Ec/Io(A) – Ec/Io margin(A)
Cell edge of A defined by

“Min Ec/Io”

UMTS technology – inter-carrier neighbours

Overlapping criterion (carrier saturation)
• “% min covered area” is defined by the formula (SA ∩ SB) / SB where:
• SA is the best server area (on carrier 1) + handoff area of cell A
• SB is the best server area of cell B (on carrier 2)

(Carrier 2 - candidate)
Best server area of cell A
(Carrier 1 – reference cell) B
Cell edge of A defined by

“Min Ec/Io” Best Ec/Io for A - Ec/Io margin

UMTS technology – inter-carrier neighbours

Overlapping criterion (at the edge of carrier coverage)
• % min covered area is defined by the formula (SA ∩ SB) / SB where:
• SA is the ring defined by the coverage area of A + Ec/Io margin, and the best server area of A (on carrier 1)
• SB is the best server area of cell B (on carrier 2)

(Carrier 2 - candidate)
A
Minimum Ec/Io for A and
best server area of cell A
(carrier 1 – reference cell)
Minimum Ec/Io for A +

Ec/Io margin

LTE technology
Coverage conditions
Do not select the option if you want

to keep existing neighbours
Start allocation

LTE technology

Enter Handover start and

Handover stop to manage
mobility in Neighbours
Allocation

LTE technology
• SA is the coverage area defined by the RSRP margin (orange ring below)
• SB is the best server area of cell B
Best reference signal
level area of cell B
Cell B (Candidate)
Best reference signal
level area of cell A Best server area
(Reference cell)
Cell A
Best server area
RSRP margin
Cell edge of A defined
by “Min RSRP”

Allocation results
Sorted list of neighbours with allocation reasons and importance value ϵ [0-1]
Allocation results
Sort and
filtering tools
Commit selected
neighbours only
Summary report listing existing,

new and removed neighbours

1. Definitions
2. Requirements

Planning Inter-technology Neighbours (1/5)
Possibility to define neighbourhood constraints to be considered during the automatic

neighbour allocation (similar to intra-technology neighbours)
List of neighbour relations you may force or

forbid

Allocation parameters
Maximum number of neighbours
• Global value for all cells or value specified for each cell
• Similar to the intra-technology neighbours
Maximum inter-site distance

• Similar to the intra-technology neighbours
2 allocation strategies
• Based on distance
• Based on overlapping between coverage areas

Inter-technology neighbour automatic allocation
Coverage conditions
Do not select the option if you want to

keep existing neighbours
Start allocation

Coverage conditions
GSM
• BCCH signal level
• Area where the BCCH signal level of the cell is either the highest one or within a margin of the highest one
UMTS
• Pilot quality (Ec/I0)
• Area where the cell is either the best server in terms of pilot quality or a cell of the active set
LTE
• Reference signal level
• Area where the reference signal level of the cell is either the highest one or within a margin of the highest one

Allocation results Allocation results Sort and filtering tools
Commit selected
Summary neighbours only
report listing
existing, new
and removed
neighbours

1. Definitions
2. Requirements

Layers in Neighbour Planning
Cross layer adjacency taken into account when determining intra-carrier and inter-carrier
neighbour of cells and importance
Atoll calculates a prediction for each layer on the considered carrier
The cause Adjacent layer will be applied for all pixels covered by different layers

Layers in Neighbour Planning
The LTE intra‐technology automatic neighbour allocation algorithm, and the importance
calculation function, now take into account the per‐cell handover margin values as well
as the cell individual offsets.
The cause Adjacent layer will be applied for all pixels covered by different layers

1. Definitions
2. Requirements

Modifying and Displaying Neighbour Relations (1/4)
Possibility to add/remove neighbour relations

Directly on the map using the [ctrl] and [shift] keys
Through the transmitters properties dialogue
Neighbour list of CHIC400_GSM4
List of transmitters within a 30 km

radius from the selected one (sorted in
a ascending inter-site distance order)

Select the icon in the toolbar and click a transmitter on the map

Additional display options
Click the icon from the toolbar
Symmetric link: site0_2 is neighbour of

site3_3 and vice-versa
Direction of the neighbour Outwards link: site4_3 is

relation neighbour of site3_3
Inwards link: site3_3 is

neighbour of site1_2

Possibility to display coverage area of cell’s neighbours according to any neighbour

characteristics on the map
Calculate and display a “coverage by transmitter” prediction on the map
Access the neighbour display options from the toolbar and check “Display coverage areas”
Display neighbour relations of the desired transmitter

1. Definitions
2. Requirements

Exporting Neighbour Relations
Possibility to copy/paste or to export a list of neighbours to a file

Export data to a file (.txt, .csv, or .xml)

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Atoll 3.3.2 Neighbours

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Neighbour Management

Confidential – Do not share without prior permission

4. Planning Intra-technology Neighbours

5. Planning Inter-technology Neighbours

6. Layers in Neighbours Planning

7. Modifying and Displaying Neighbour Relations

8. Exporting Neighbour Relations

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 2

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 3

Requirements for all transmitters to be allocated

They satisfy the filter criteria applied to the “Transmitters” folder

They are located inside the focus zone, if existing

They belong to the folder on which allocation has been executed

No coverage prediction is needed to perform an automatic neighbour allocation

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 4

4. Planning Intra-technology Neighbours

5. Planning Inter-technology Neighbours

6. Layers in Neighbours Planning

7. Modifying and Displaying Neighbour Relations

8. Exporting Neighbour Relations

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 5

Possibility to copy/paste or to import a list of neighbours

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 6

Add: add new neighbours

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 7

4. Planning Intra-technology Neighbours

5. Planning Inter-technology Neighbours

6. Layers in Neighbours Planning

7. Modifying and Displaying Neighbour Relations

8. Exporting Neighbour Relations

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 8

Neighbourhood constraints can be considered during the automatic neighbour allocation

List of neighbour relations you may force or

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 9

Maximum inter-site distance

Allocation strategy based on cells overlapping

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 10

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 11

Do not select the option if

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 12

Minimum signal level which must be

Enter Handover start and Handover

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 13

Best server area of cell B

Best server area of cell A (Candidate)

Best signal level for A - HO end

Cell edge of A defined by Best signal level for A - HO start

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 14

Do not select the option if you want

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 15

Minimum signal level which must be

Atoll should use a Global value

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 16

UMTS technology – intra-carrier neighbours

Best server area of cell B

Ec/Io(B) ≥ Ec/Io(A) – Ec/Io margin(A)

Cell edge of A defined by

Confidential – © Forsk 2017 | 17

UMTS technology – inter-carrier neighbours

Best server area of cell B