August 2009

Technology Update
mpirical limited 2009 www.mpirical.com
LTE Planning Principles
Service providers are currently investing in their future deployment plans and have either bought,
or are preparing to buy, suitable radio spectrum for LTE. The most popular spectrum bands
include: 700MHz, AWS (1.710GHz - 1.755GHz for the uplink and 2.110GHz - 2.155GHz for the
downlink) and 2.6GHz. In addition, due to poor harmonization, there are other spectrum bands
available, such as 850MHz, 1500MHz, 1700MHz and 1900MHz. Finally, many service providers
are contemplating the reuse of existing GSM bands for UMTS, a process known as spectrum re-
farming, at the same time as some are investigating the direct migration of GSM to LTE.
LTE supports 1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz and 20MHz channel bandwidth. However,
the actual bandwidth(s) chosen are very much dependant on the service providers frequency
allocation, vendor implementation, service requirements, geographical location, eNB (Evolved
Node B) and UE (User Equipment) capabilities, frequency reuse schemes, cell site acquisition etc.
Planning Stages
The radio network planning process is designed to maximize the networks coverage, whilst at the
same time providing the desired capacity. In order to achieve this, there are a number of stages
that are typically performed, these include: Initial Planning, Detailed Planning and Optimization.

Initial Planning
Detailed Planning
Optimization

Initial Planning
The first stage of the initial planning process requires the gathering of information; the features of
the network to be deployed, the desired coverage, the QoS (Quality of Service), capacity /
coverage planning targets and the range of services to be provided etc. The goal is to assess the
minimum density of sites that would be required in order to meet these requirements. This state
usually involves a nominal network plan or a simplified simulation in order to achieve the capacity
and coverage estimates, as well as meeting the business model. An LTE business case typically
involves meeting coverage requirements for customers, whilst at the same time supporting
planned services and meeting network capacity thresholds, as well as identifying CAPEX (Capital
Expenditure) and OPEX (Operational Expenditure) costs. In addition, the system must be designed
to meet the necessary regulatory requirements.



mpirical limited 2009 www.mpirical.com
Technology Update
Detailed Planning
Information gathered from the dimensioning stage, such as: estimated traffic / user density and
distribution, existing base station sites, coverage predictions and capacity targets etc, are required
to provide effective detailed planning. It is also vital that the planned area has actual propagation
data, as well as the information on radio network requirements. Detailed planning can be broadly
categorized by the following processes:
Model Tuning - This process is required to modify the theoretical propagation model so that
it closely meets the actual propagation environment. Most propagation models have
several parameters within an equation which enables the system to be correctly calibrated.
This process is typically performed in the planning tool by importing the CW (Carrier Wave)
measurements. The planning software is then able to apply the corrections and therefore
re-model how the signal propagates.
Site Selection - In cellular radio systems, the issue of site selection is a common problem.
The process involves identifying sites from a set of candidate sites whilst also meeting
agreed criteria, such as the number of sites, KPI (Key Performance Indicator) for coverage
and capacity.
Capacity and Coverage Planning - In LTE, like that of UMTS, the capacity and coverage
planning process are interrelated. The main goal of LTE capacity planning is to support the
subscribers traffic requirements, whilst at the same time achieving low blocking and delay
within the network. In contrast, the goal of LTE coverage planning is to ensure the
availability of the network and its services in the desired service area.
Configuration Planning - The overall goal of the configuration planning process is to enable
the planning tool or planner to successfully identify the E-UTRAN (Evolved - Universal
Terrestrial Radio Access Network) configuration. This also includes identifying the correct
configuration of cells, eNB and their possible feature sets.
Parameter Planning - In this process, various system parameters need to been identified
and configured. This enables the planning tool or planner to identify the maximum loading
for cells, as well as various other thresholds.
Optimization
Optimization is probably the most important stage when planning an LTE network. Typically it can
be split into pre-launch and post-launch optimization. There are however a number of different
areas that may be optimized, these include:
Capacity.
Coverage.
Configuration and Parameters.
Interference.


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Next Month!
Planning Principles Part II
LTE Soft Frequency Reuse