Wireless Communication

CELLULAR SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE

Nuwan Kuruwitaarachchi
kuruwita@sjp.ac.lk
 GENERATIONS OF MOBILE SYSTEMS

¢ 1G (1981): First cellular system in Saudi Arabia

¢ 2G (1991): Digital Cellular GSM Service launched

¢ 2.5G (1997): Under GSM, GPRS launched

¢ 2.75G (1999): Under GSM, EDGE launched

¢ 3G (2003): UMTS Service launched

¢ 4G: Mobile WiMAX (2006), LTE (2009)

WHAT IS GSM ?

Global System for Mobile (GSM) is a second

generation cellular standard developed to cater
voice services and data delivery using digital
modulation
GSM SERVICES
¢ Tele-services
¢ Bearer or Data Services

¢ Supplementary services
 TELE SERVICES
• Telecommunication services that enable voice communication
via mobile phones
• Offered services
- Mobile telephony
- Emergency calling
BEARER SERVICES
¢ Include various data services for information transfer
between GSM and other networks like PSTN, ISDN etc
at rates from 300 to 9600 bps
¢ Short Message Service (SMS)
—up to 160 character alphanumeric data
transmission to/from the mobile terminal
¢Unified Messaging Services(UMS)
—Group 3 fax
—Voice mailbox
—Electronic mail
 SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICES
Call related services :
• Call Waiting- Notification of an incoming call while on the handset
• Call Hold- Put a caller on hold to take another call
• Call Barring- All calls, outgoing calls, or incoming calls
• Call Forwarding- Calls can be sent to various numbers defined by
the user
• Multi Party Call Conferencing - Link multiple calls together
• CLIP – Caller line identification presentation
• CLIR – Caller line identification restriction
 GSM SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE PSTN
ISDN
BSC PDN
MS BTS
MSC
GMSC

BTS BSC
VLR
MS
BTS EIR
AUC
MS HLR
GSM SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
¢ Mobile Station (MS)
Mobile Equipment (ME)
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
¢ Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
Base Station Controller (BSC)
¢ Network Switching Subsystem(NSS)
Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
Home Location Register (HLR)
Visitor Location Register (VLR)
Authentication Center (AUC)
Equipment Identity Register (EIR)
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
MOBILE STATION (MS)

The Mobile Station is made up of two entities:

1. Mobile Equipment (ME)

2. Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
MOBILE STATION (MS)
Mobile Equipment

¢ Portable, vehicle mounted, hand held device

¢ Uniquely identified by an IMEI (International Mobile
Equipment Identity)
¢ Voice and data transmission
¢ Monitoring power and signal quality of surrounding cells
for optimum handover
¢ Power level : 0.8W – 20 W
¢ 160 character long SMS.
 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
MOBILE STATION (MS) CONTD.
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

¢ Smart card contains the International Mobile

Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
¢ Allows user to send and receive calls and receive
other subscribed services
¢ Encoded network identification details
¢ Protected by a password or PIN
¢ Can be moved from phone to phone – contains key
information to activate the phone
 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
BASE STATION SUBSYSTEM (BSS)

Base Station Subsystem is composed of two parts that

communicate across the standardized Abis interface allowing
operation between components made by different suppliers

1. Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

2. Base Station Controller (BSC)
 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
BASE STATION SUBSYSTEM (BSS)

Base Transceiver Station (BTS):

¢ Encodes,encrypts,multiplexes,modulates and feeds the

RF signals to the antenna.
¢ Frequency hopping
¢ Communicates with Mobile station and BSC
¢ Consists of Transceivers (TRX) units
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
BASE STATION SUBSYSTEM (BSS)

Base Station Controller (BSC)

¢ Manages Radio resources for BTS

¢ Assigns Frequency and time slots for all MS’s in its area
¢ Handles call set up
¢ Transcoding and rate adaptation functionality
¢ Handover for each MS
¢ Radio Power control
¢ It communicates with MSC and BTS
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
NETWORK SWITCHING SUBSYSTEM(NSS)
Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

¢ Heart of the network

¢ Manages communication between GSM and other networks
¢ Call setup function and basic switching
¢ Call routing
¢ Billing information and collection
¢ Mobility management
- Registration
- Location Updating
- Inter BSS and inter MSC call handoff
¢ MSC does gateway function while its customer roams to other
network by using HLR/VLR.
 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
NETWORK SWITCHING SUBSYSTEM
¢ Home Location Registers (HLR)

- permanent database about mobile subscribers in a large service

area(generally one per GSM network operator)
- database contains IMSI , MSISDN ,prepaid/postpaid , roaming
restrictions , supplementary services.

¢ Visitor Location Registers (VLR)

- Temporary database which updates whenever new MS enters

its area, by HLR database
- Controls those mobiles roaming in its area
- Reduces number of queries to HLR
 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
NETWORK SWITCHING SUBSYSTEM
¢ Authentication Center (AUC)
- Protects against intruders in air interface
- Maintains authentication keys and algorithms
- Generally associated with HLR

¢ Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

- Database that is used to track handsets using the IMEI
(International Mobile Equipment Identity)
- Made up of three sub-classes: The White List, The Black List and
the Gray List
- Only one EIR per PLMN
REGISTRATION
• MS must register at one MSC for service

• Beacon Signal: Periodically broadcast to get to know

about close by MSs
HANDOFF (HANDOVER)
• Handoff basically involves change of radio resources
from one cell to another adjacent cell

• From a handoff perspective, it is important that a free

channel is available in a new cell

• Handoff can be initiated either by the BS or the MS, and

it could be due to the Radio link, Network management,
Service issues
¢NEED FOR HANDOFF
— Signal strength
— Carrier-to-interference ratio (CIR)
HARD HANDOFF: BREAK BEFORE MAKE
¢ Releasing current radio resources from the prior BS before
acquiring resources from the next BS (FDMA and TDMA)
SOFT HANDOFF: MAKE BEFORE BREAK
¢ Maintain both connections during handoff (CDMA uses
soft handoff)
 HANDOFF BETWEEN MSCS
¢ Beacon signals and HLR-VLR can help this handover
ROAMING
¢ Visiting network attempt to identify the home network
and authenticate

¢ If authenticated, enter MS to VLR at visiting MSC and

enter a pointer to HLR at home MSC
 GSM ADDRESSES

¢ International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI): Identify

the mobile device (15 digits)

¢ Stored in the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card

¢ International MS Equipment Identity (IMEI): Each GSM
unit is assigned a 15-bit long identification number to
contain manufacturing information

¢ MS Roaming Number (MSRN): When a MS roams into

another MSC, that unit has to be identified based on the
numbering scheme format used in that MSC.
¢ Location Area Identity (LAI): GSM service area is usually
divided into a hierarchical structure that facilitates the
system to access any MS quickly.

Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN)

MS START-UP
MOVING ACROSS MSCS
MOBILE TERMINATED CALLS (INCOMING)
MOBILE INITIATED CALLS (OUTGOING)
GSM SPECIFICATIONS

¢ RF Spectrum

GSM 900
- Mobile to BTS (uplink): 890-915 Mhz
- BTS to Mobile(downlink):935-960 Mhz
- Bandwidth : 2* 25 Mhz

GSM 1800
- Mobile to BTS (uplink): 1710-1785 Mhz
- BTS to Mobile(downlink) 1805-1880 Mhz
- Bandwidth : 2* 75 Mhz
GSM SPECIFICATION

¢ Carrier Separation : 200 Khz

¢ Duplex Distance : 45 Mhz
¢ No. of RF carriers : 124

¢ Access Method : TDMA/FDMA

¢ Modulation Method : GMSK

¢ Modulation data rate : 270.833 Kbps

GSM OPERATION
Speech Speech

Speech coding Speech decoding

13 Kbps
Channel Coding Channel decoding

22.8 Kbps
Interleaving De-interleaving
22.8 Kbps

Burst Formatting Burst Formatting

33.6 Kbps

Ciphering De-ciphering
33.6 Kbps
Radio Interface
Modulation
270.83 Kbps
Demodulation
PHYSICAL CHANNEL
GSM-FRAME STRUCTURE
LOGICAL CHANNELS
Half rate 11.4kbps
Speech
TCH
(traffic) Full rate 22.8kbps
2.4 kbps
Data
4.8 kbps
9.6 kbps
BCH FCCH(Frequency correction)

SCH(Synchronization)
PCH(Paging)
CCCH
RACH(Random Access)
CCH AGCH(Access Grant)
(control)

Dedicated SDCCH(Stand Alone)

SACCH(Slow-associated)
FACCH(Fast-associated)
 GSM FREQUENCY BANDS
System Band Uplink Downlink Channel Number

GSM 400 450 450.4 - 457.6 460.4 - 467.6 259 - 293

GSM 400 480 478.8 - 486.0 488.8 - 496.0 306 - 340

GSM 850 850 824.0 - 849.0 869.0 - 894.0 128 - 251

GSM 900 (P-GSM) 900 890.0 - 915.0 935.0 - 960.0 1 - 124

GSM 900 (E-GSM) 900 880.0 - 915.0 925.0 - 960.0 975 - 1023, (0, 1-124)

GSM-R (R-GSM) 900 876.0 - 915.0 921.0 - 960.0 955 - 973, (0, 1-124, 975 - 1023)

DCS 1800 1800 1710.0 - 1785.0 1805.0 - 1880.0 512 - 885

PCS 1900 1900 1850.0 - 1910.0 1930.0 - 1990.0 512 - 810

GSM-900, GSM-1800 – Used in most countries (Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia)
MULTI-BAND AND MULTI-MODE PHONES

¢ Dual band phones

— GSM 900 and 1800 MHz. (Europe, Asia, Australia, Brazil)
— GSM 850 and 1900 MHz (North America)
¢ Tri band phones
— 900, 1800, 1900 (Europe)
— 850, 1800, 1900 (North America)
¢ Quad band phones
— Supports all four major GSM frequency groups.
¢ Multi-mode phones
— Can operate on GSM systems as well as on mobile-phone
systems using other technical standards. Often these phones
use multiple frequency bands as well.
MOBILE STATION

The GSM telephone set and the SIM are the only system elements with which
most users of GSM have direct contact.
BASE STATION SUBSYSTEM
BASE STATION SUBSYSTEM
¢ Via the Air-interface, the BSS provides a
connection between the MSs of a limited area
and the network switching subsystem (NSS).
¢ The BSS consists of the following elements:
— One or more BTSs (base tranceiver station);
— One BSC (base station controller);
— One TRAU (transcoding rate and adaptation
unit).
 BASE TRANSCEIVER STATION

¢ The BTS provides the physical connection of an MS to the network

in form of the Air-interface. On the other side, toward the NSS, the
BTS is connected to the BSC via the Abis-interface.
¢ Transmitter/Receiver Module
— The TRX module is, from the perspective of signal processing, the most important part of a
BTS. The TRX consists of a low-frequency part for digital signal processing and a high-
frequency part for GMSK modulation and demodulation. Both parts are connected via a
separate or an integrated frequency hopping unit. All other parts of the BTS are more or
less associated with the TRXs and perform auxiliary or administrative tasks.

¢ Operations and Maintenance Module

— The operations and maintenance (O&M) module consists of at least one central unit, which
administers all other parts of the BTS. For those purposes, it is connected directly to the
BSC by means of a specifically assigned O&M channel. That allows the O&M module to
process the commands from the BSC or the MSC directly into the BTS and to report the
results. Typically, the central unit also contains the system and operations software of the
TRXs. That allows it to be reloaded when necessary, without the need to “consult” the BSC.
Furthermore, the O&M module provides a human-machine interface (HMI), which allows for
local control of the BTS.
ADDITIONAL READINGS …
¢ Clock Module
— The modules for clock generation and distribution also are part of the O&M area.
Although the trend is to derive the reference clock from the PCM signal on the Abis-
interface, a BTS internal clock generation is mandatory. It is especially needed when a
BTS has to be tested in a standalone environment, that is, without a connection to a
BSC or when the PCM clock is not available due to link failure.

¢ Input and Output Filters

— Both input and output filters are used to limit the bandwidth of the received and the
transmitted signals. The input filter typically is a nonadjustable wideband filter that lets
pass all GSM 900, all DCS 1800, or all PCS 1900 frequencies in the uplink direction. In
contrast, remote-controllable filters or wideband filters are used for the downlink
direction that limits the bandwidth of the output signal to 200 kHz. When necessary,
the O&M center (OMC) controls the settings of the filters, as in the case of a change in
frequency.
BTS CONFIGURATIONS
¢ Different BTS configurations, depending on
load, subscriber behavior, and morph
structure, have to be considered to provide
optimum radio coverage of an area. The most
important BTS configurations are,
— Standard configuration
— Umbrella cell configuration
— Sectorized (Collocated) Base Transceiver
Stations
 STANDARD CONFIGURATION

¢ All BTSs are

assigned different
cell identities (CIs).
A number of BTSs
(in some cases, a
single BTS) form a
location area.
¢ Figure shows three
location areas with
one, three, and five
BTSs.
 UMBRELLA CELL CONFIGURATION

¢ The umbrella cell configuration consists of one BTS with high transmission power
and an antenna installed high above the ground that serves as an “umbrella” for a
number of BTSs with low transmission power and small diameters
¢ The umbrella cell configuration has its merits in certain situations and therefore
may result in relief from load and an improvement of the network.
¢ For example, when cars are moving at rather high speeds through a network of
small cells, almost consecutive handovers from one cell to the next are necessary to
maintain an active call. This situation is applicable in every urban environment
that features city highways.
¢ Consequently, the handovers result in a substantial increase of the signaling load
for the network as well as in an unbearable signal quality degradation for the end
user. On the other hand, small cells are required to cope with the coverage demand
in an urban environment.
SECTORIZED (COLLOCATED) BASE
TRANSCEIVER STATIONS ¢ The term sectorized, or
collocated, BTSs refers
to a configuration in
which several BTSs are
collocated at one site
but their antennas cover
only an area of 120 or
180 degrees.

¢ Like the umbrella cell

configuration, this
configuration is used
mostly in highly
populated areas
BASE STATION CONTROLLER

¢ The BSC forms the center of the BSS.

¢ A BSC can, depending on the manufacturer,
connect to many BTSs over the Abis-interface. The
BSC is, from a technical perspective, a small
digital exchange with some mobile-specific
extensions. The BSC was defined with the
intention of removing most of the radio-related
load from the MSC.
ARCHITECTURE AND TASKS OF THE
BASE STATION CONTROLLER

— Switch Matrix

Because the BSC has the functionality of a small digital exchange, its function is to switch the incoming traffic
channels (A-interface from the MSC) to the correct Abis-interface channels. The BSC, therefore, comes with a
switch matrix that (1) takes care of the relay functionality and (2) can be used as the internal control bus
¢ Terminal Control Elements of the Abis-Interface

— The connection to the BTSs is established via the Abis-terminal control elements
(TCEs), which, more or less independently from the BSC’s central unit, provide the
control function for a TRX or a BTS.

— The number of Abis TCEs that a BSC may contain depends largely on the number of
BTSs and on the system manufacturer.

— Major tasks of the Abis-TCEs are to set up LAPD connections (Link access protocol
which working in layer 02)toward the BTS peers, the transfer of signaling data, and last
but not least the transparent transfer of payload.

— Depending on the manufacturer, the Abis TCEs also may be responsible for the
administration of BTS radio resources.

¢ Database
— The BSC is the control center of the BSS. In that capacity, the BSC must maintain a
relatively large database in which the maintenance status of the whole BSS, the quality
of the radio resources and terrestrial resources, and so on are dynamically
administrated. Furthermore, the BSC database contains the complete BTS
operations software for all attached BTSs and all BSS specific information, such
TRANSCODING RATE AND ADAPTATION
UNIT
¢ One of the most interesting functions in GSM involves the TRAU, which typically is
located between the BSC and the MSC.
¢ The task of the TRAU is to compress or decompress speech between the MS and the
TRAU. The used method is called regular pulse excitation–long term prediction (RPE-
LTP).
¢ It is able to compress speech from 64 Kbps to 16 Kbps, in the case of a fullrate
channel and to 8 Kbps in the case of a halfrate channel.
¢ Although speech compression is intended mainly to save resources over the Air-
interface, it also is suitable to save line costs when applied on terrestrial links
SPEECH CODING
A-LAW AND Μ-LAW
¢ Spoken language generally is not linear in its
dynamics, and the human ear is rather sensitive
to soft sounds, but difference in amplitude for
loud sounds cannot be distinguished so easily.
¢ When digitizing speech, one can take advantage
of this situation and code a sufficient-quality
sound with relatively few bits.
¢ For this purpose, the A-law and the µ-law were
invented. Both are approximations of the natural
logarithmic function, and both were standardized
by ITU for transmission of digital speech on PCM
transmission lines,
Both methods are used on a per-country basis. The µ-law is used only in
the United States and Japan. All other countries use the A-law.
A-LAW
Μ-LAW
GSM Network Planning

Nuwan Kuruwitaarachchi
nuwan.ku@sliit.lk
RADIO NETWORK PLANNING PROCESS

¢ The network planning process itself is not standard.

¢ Though some of the steps may be common, the

process is determined by the type of project, criteria
and targets. The process has to be applied case by
case.
NETWORK PLANNING PROJECTS
¢ Network planning projects can be divided into three main categories based on
how much external planning services the operator is using.
¢ No services means simply that the operator is responsible for the network
planning from the very beginning until the end.
— This type of comprehensive responsibility for the network planning is more
suitable for traditional network operators, who have extensive knowledge of
their existing network and previous network planning experience than
newcomers in this technology field. There is risk, however, that if the operator
is the only person responsible for network planning there might be a difficulty
in maintaining knowledge of the latest equipment and features.
¢ The opposite network planning solution is when the network operator
buys the new network with a turnkey agreement.
— In this case, the operator is involved only in defining the network planning
criteria. After the network roll-out has been finished and enters the care
phase an agreement about the future has to be made. The care services can be
outsourced as well, but the operator might also be interested to take some
portion of the network operations and start to learn the process. An operator
taking all the responsibility after the outsourced planning phase includes
some risk. A better solution is to learn the network operation at a pace agreed
with the network vendor.
¢ The network operator can also buy network planning consultancy services.
— In this, the operator performs majority of the planning function and outsource
selected aspects of the job. In this way some special know-how can be bought
to supplement the knowledge of the network planning group. This is generally
used in cases where new technologies need to be introduced in mature
networks.
NETWORK PLANNING PROJECT
ORGANIZATION
NETWORK PLANNING CRITERIA AND
TARGETS
Network planning is a complicated process consisting of several phases. The
final target for the network planning process is to define the network design,
which is then built as a cellular network.
A summary of the main factors affecting network planning are listed below:

¢ Market analysis
— Competitor analysis
— Potential customers
— User profiles: services required and usage
¢ Customer requirements
— Coverage requirements
— Capacity requirements
— Quality targets: call setup success, drop call rate, etc.
— Financial limitations
— Future deployment plans
¢ Environment factors and other boundary conditions
— Area topography
— Hotspot locations
— Available frequency band
— Recommended base transceiver station (BTS) locations
NETWORK PLANNING PROCESS STEPS

¢ The network planning process consists of several phases,

which can be combined at a higher level to main phases that
differ depending on the logics.
PRE-PLANNING
¢ The preplanning phase covers the assignments and preparation before the
actual network planning is started.
¢ As in any other business it is an advantage to be aware of the current market
situation and competitors.
¢ The network planning criteria is agreed with the customer. As specified
earlier, the requirements depend on many factors, the main criteria being the
coverage and quality targets.
¢ The network planning criteria is used as an input for network dimensioning.
Following are the basic inputs for dimensioning:
— coverage requirements, the signal level for outdoor, in-car and indoor with the
coverage probabilities;
— quality requirements, drop call rate, call blocking;
— frequency spectrum, number of channels, including information about possible
needed guard bands;
— subscriber information, number of users and growth figures;
— traffic per user, busy hour value;
— services.
¢ The dimensioning gives a preliminary network plan as an output, which is
then supplemented in coverage and parameter planning phases to create a
more detailed plan.
 PLANNING
¢ The planning phase takes input from the dimensioning, initial network configuration.
This is the basis for nominal planning, which means radio network coverage and
capacity planning with a planning tool.

¢ The nominal plan does not commit certain site locations but gives an initial idea about
the locations and also distances between the sites.

¢ The nominal plan is a starting point for the site survey, finding the real site locations.
The nominal plan is then supplemented when it has information about the selected
site locations; as the process proceeds coverage planning becomes completed.
— The final site locations are agreed

¢ The output of the planning phase is the final and detailed coverage and capacity
plans. Coverage maps are made for the planned area and final site locations and
configurations.
DETAILED PLANNING
¢ After the planning phase has finished and the site location and
configurations are known detailed planning can be started.
¢ The detailed planning phase includes frequency, adjacency and parameter
planning.
¢ Planning tools have frequency planning algorithms for automatic frequency
planning.
¢ The planning tool can also be utilized in manual frequency planning. The tool
uses interference calculation algorithms and the target is to minimize firstly
the co-channel interference and also to find as low an adjacent channel
interference as possible.
¢ Frequency planning is a critical phase in network planning. The number of
frequencies that can be used is always limited and therefore the task here is
to find the best possible solution.
¢ Neighbour planning is normally done with the coverage planning tool using
the frequency plan information.
¢ In the parameter planning phase a recommended parameter setting is
allocated for each network element.
¢ For radio planning the responsibility is to allocate parameters such as
handover control and power control and define the location areas and set the
parameters accordingly.
GSM NETWORK PLANNING CRITERIA

¢ The definition of the radio network planning criteria is done

at the beginning of the network planning process.
¢ The network operator has performance quality targets for the
cellular network and these quality requirements are also
related to how the end user experiences the network.
¢ Typical network quality targets are as follows:
LINK BUDGET CALCULATIONS

¢ The radio link budget aims to calculate the cell coverage area.
¢ One of the required parameters is radio wave propagation to
estimate the propagation loss between the transmitter and the
receiver. The other required parameters are the transmission
power, antenna gain, cable losses, receiver sensitivity and margins.
 LINK BUDGET CALCULATIONS CONT.
§ When defining the cell coverage area, the aim is to balance the
uplink and downlink powers.
§ The links are calculated separately and are different from the
transmission powers.
§ The BTS transmission power is higher than the MS transmission
power and therefore the reception of the BTS needs to have high
sensitivity.
§ The radio signal experiences the same path loss when travelling
from the BTS to the MS as from the MS to the BTS.
§The GSM link budget parameters are:

— BTS sensitivity — Cable and connector losses

— MS sensitivity — Other equipment loss factors
— MS and BTS powers — Mast head amplifier (MHA) and
— Antenna gains booster
— Diversity gain — The interference degradation
margin
OKUMURA–HATA MODEL
¢ The Okumura–Hata model is a well-known propagation model,
which can be applied for a macro cell environment to predict median
radio signal attenuation.
¢ The Okumura–Hata model is an empirical model, which means that
it is based on field measurements.
¢ Okumura performed the field measurements in Tokyo and published
results in graphical format. Hata applied the measurement results
into equations. The model can be applied without correction factors
for quasi-smooth terrain in an urban area but in case of other
terrain types correction factors are needed.
¢ The weakness of the Okumura–Hata model is that it does not
consider reflections and shadowing. The parameter restrictions for
this model are:
OKUMURA–HATA MODEL CONT.
¢ The Okumura–Hata model for path loss prediction can by written as where f is
the frequency (MHz), Hb is the base station antenna height (m), a(Hm) is the
mobile antenna correction factor, d is the distance between the BTS and MS
(km) and Lother is an additional correction factor for area type correction.

¢ The correction factor for the MS antenna height is represented as follows for a
small or medium sized city,

and for a large city:

where Hm is the MS antenna height:

OKUMURA–HATA MODEL CONT.
¢ Parameter set for Okumura–Hata calculations

¢ Example: Distance from BTS = 2 km. Transmitter

antenna height = 30 m, Receiver antenna height =
1.5 m,
OKUMURA–HATA MODEL CONT.
¢ The Okumura–Hata model is valid for
— frequency ranges 150–1500MHz and 1500–2000
MHz.
— base station antenna height - 30 to 200 m
— Mobile antenna - 1 to 10 m
— cell range, i.e. the distance between the BTS and
MS, from 1 to 20 km.
WALFISH–IKEGAMI MODEL
¢ The Walfish–Ikegami model is an empirical propagation
model for an urban area, which is especially applicable
for micro cells but can also be used for macro cells.
¢ The parameters related to the Walfish–Ikegami model
are:

W = The mean value for street widths (m)

Φ = Road orientation angle (degrees)
hroof = The mean value for building heights (m)
B = The mean value for building separation (m)
WALFISH–IKEGAMI MODEL CONT.
¢ TheWalfish–Ikegami model separates into
two cases: line-of-sight (LOS) and non-lineof-
sight.
¢ Line-of-sight situation (d in km and f in
MHz)

¢ Non-line-of-sight situation

where
Lrts = the rooftop–street diffraction and
scatter loss Lmsd = the multiscreen
diffraction loss.
CAPACITY PLANNING IN GSM
NETWORKS
¢ In the capacity planning phase a detailed capacity per cell level is
estimated. The prior task was to select the base station locations and
calculate the coverage area using actual BTS parameters. The
capacity allocation is based on these coverage maps and traffic
estimates, which can be a separate layer on the map of the planning
tool.
¢ The amount of traffic is expressed in Erlangs, which is the
magnitude of telecommunications traffic.
¢ An Erlang describes the amount of traffic in one hour. The definition
for Erlang is the following:

Example: 25 users make a phone calls in an hour. Average call duration isthree minutes.
How much traffic are the users creating in Erlangs?