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3G Uplink inteference mitigation filter test Radio Planning

3G Uplink Interference and Solution Report

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3G Uplink inteference mitigation filter test Radio Planning

CONTENTS
1 2
2.1

OBJECTIVE ..................................................................................................................... 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................. 3

TYPES OF INTEFERENCE ............................................................................................... 4

3 4
4.1 4.2 4.3

TOOLS ............................................................................................................................. 4 TEST DETAILS BY HUAWEI. ...................................................................................... 4

TEST PROCEDURES ........................................................................................................ 4 OBSERVATION.................................................................................................................. 5 RECOMMENDED SOLUTION ........................................................................................... 6

5
5.1 5.2 5.3

TEST DETAILS BY ERICSSON .................................................................................... 6

METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 7 PROCEDURE..................................................................................................................... 7 OBSERVATION & SOLUTION........................................................................................... 8

RECOMMENDATION.................................................................................................... 9

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3G Uplink inteference mitigation filter test Radio Planning

1 OBJECTIVE
Confirm the level of inteference on the UL spectrum of the allocated Band D (1950 MHz 1960MHz) spectrum granted to Celtel Nigeria. The test was conducted by Celtels two major vendors for 3G, they are: Messrs Huawei Technologies Ltd conducted test Port-Harcourt, South South region. Messrs Ericsson conducted test in Lagos, Lagos Region.

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Spectrum Assignment in Nigeria

CDMA operator Up 1880 1890 1960

CDMA operator Down 1970

BS

10MHz
Celtel Up

10MHz
Celtel Down

1950 10MHz

1960

2140

10MHz

2150

Figure 1: Spectrum Assignment of Celtel and CDMA operator NCC had assigned 1950~1960MHz to Celtel UMTS Rx band, while 1960~1970MHz has already been assigned to Starcomms CDMA Tx band. Interference possibility exists between CDMA Downlink and UMTS uplink because the two frequency bands are very close to each other.

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2.1

TYPES OF INTEFERENCE

There are three types of interferences between CDMA1900 downlink and UMTS2100 uplink. Spurious emission Blocking Intermodulation.

3 TOOLS
R&S FSH3 spectrum Analyzer. TEMS Drive test kit. Vendors (Huawei and Ericsson) Network statistics monitoring tools.

4 TEST DETAILS BY HUAWEI.

Huawei conducted the Interference test in Port-Harcourt where twenty four 3G sites are operational. The test procedure is shown below 4.1 TEST PROCEDURES

Objective The test purpose is to verify if it can solve the interferences between Starcomms CDMA downlink and the Celtel WCDMA uplink after installing filters on both Starcomms sites and Celtel sites. Test network figure

Prerequisites The tested WCDMA site works normally. Procedure 1. Collect all the sectors RTWP (Received total wideband power) without any filter and select a sector which is suffering Expected result

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serious interference (RTWP>-90dBm) to test. 2Install Celtel WCDMA receive filter on selected sector and then collect RTWP again. 3Uninstall Celtel WCDMA receive filter and install CDMA transmit filter on the selected sector, then collect RTWP. 4Install both WCDMA receive filter and CDMA transmit filter on selected sector and then collect RTWP. 5Connect YBT250 to the tested sectors antenna without any filter. 6Set YBT250 span range from 1920~1970MHz and record the result (save the spectrum figure). 7Set YBT250 span range from 1950~1960MHz and record the result (save the spectrum figure). 8 Connect WCDMA receive filter on YBT250 and then connect selected sector antenna to filter. 9Repeat steps 5 and 7. 10Change to another antenna of same sectors. 11Repeat steps 5 to 9. Remarks In this test, CDMA filter be installed on WCDMA sector (in real network, it should be installed on Starcomms CDMA site), but the effect is the same because of the filter is still on the same link.

4.2

OBSERVATION

Test was carried out using the RTWP (Received Total Wideband Power) measurement function of the Huawei Node B for all 72 sectors. For a sector to be free from Uplink interference the RTWP < -102dBm. 32 sectors out of the 72 sectors tested failed this test. Therefore, Huawei used the above procedure to treat the affected cells using the designed filter and the Uplink interference was observed to have been eliminated for the affected site. An indication that the major source of interference is the blocking from Starcomms CDMA sites.

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The effect of installing filters(RTWP_M)

0 -20 RTWP(dBm) -40 -60 -80 -100 -120 1 51 101 151 201 251 301 351 401 451 501 551 601 Samples
Without filters With WCDMA Filter With CDMA Filter With both filters

Figure 2 The effect of installing filters (RI007_1, RTWP_M)

4.3

RECOMMENDED SOLUTION

In order to solve interference, Celtel needs to install filters on the affected site. The filter tested during the trial has a 40dB attenuation range and the results are shown below.

Case Without filter With WCDMA filter With CDMA filter With both filter

Average RTWP -80.9dBm -101.7dBm -82.9dBm -105.6dBm

Figure 3 the effect of installing filters (RI007_1, RTWP_M) With the expected growth of Celtel 3G network as well as the expansion of the Starcomms network whose sites are potential interferers to Celtels WCDMA sites. Huawei has recommended that 50% of WCDMA sites will need a filter to eliminate the Uplink interference. However, the specific sites will be identified using the Huawei RTWP tool.

5 TEST DETAILS BY ERICSSON

Ericsson conducted the Interference test in Lagos. The test procedure is shown below

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5.1

METHODOLOGY

Some sites were identified. Record traces of the uplink (1950 1960 MHz) at identified site using R&S FSH3 spectrum Analyzer and taking a snap-shot of the graph. Collect statistics for a period of 3 hours in the day. 5.2 PROCEDURE

A spectrum analyzer was connected to an Omni antenna to scan measurement for the uplink on a frequency range of 1920MHz to 1967MHz for us to get all the active bandwidth before and after the bandwidth of 1950 MHz - 1960 MHz given to Celtel Nigeria. Identify all sites to be tested as well as their addresses. Power on the Spectrum analyzer. Connect the Spectrum analyzer to the Car charging system Set the date and time to current date and time Set the start Frequency to 1920 MHz and Stop frequency to 1967 MHz. Set the Noise floor to -102dBm. Connect the Omni antenna to the RF input port of the Spectrum Analyzer. Set the sweep time to 10ms Check to ensure that the equipment is working normally and setup is complete. Drive around each operational site and save the RTWP for each site in the memory of the Spectrum analyzer. After all sites RTWP has been saved; download the file for observation and analysis.

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5.3

OBSERVATION & SOLUTION

With the UL interference statistics, it can be seen that some cells experienced some interference, which might have been caused by spurious emissions or blocking interference from other parties as shown in the figure below.

Figure 4 Spectrum from 1950 to 1960 without filter

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Figure 5 Spectrum from 1950 to 1960 with filter Statistics was also collected on the network monitoring tool shows indication of interference in some sites. The installation of the Test filters reduced the level of interference. Based on the above results and observations, conclusion was drawn that there is some form of interference on the Uplink for certain 3G sites. We recommend that Celtel plan for about 35% of the 3G sites to require filters. This is required as a safe-guard measure for those sites that may experience interference. The other recommendation is to avoid direct line of sight with the CDMA operational sites on future installations.

6 RECOMMENDATION.
Based on the finding during the interference test the following is recommended: 1. The blocking effect of Starcomms sites on the Celtels 3G sites to be reported to the regulatory body Nigerian communication Commission (NCC) for record purpose and perhaps a regulatory action may emanate by reallocating frequencies to CDMA operators to finally eliminate the blocking interference. 2. 339 sites are planned for the 3G year 1 rollout in 13 states of Nigeria as shown below:

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State ABIA ANAMBRA CROSSRIVERS DELTA EDO ENUGU FCT IMO KADUNA KANO LAGOS RIVERS Grand Total

Planned sites

Starcomm's Presence 9 YES 12 YES Planned for 2008 9 31 Planned for 2008 24 Towards Q4, 2007 8 No Known Plan 24 YES 12 No Known Plan 19 YES 34 YES 127 YES 30 YES 339

Since Starcomms is not stopping rollout and we do not know where next (citiy) they will rollout new sites, coupled with the fact that NCC is not indicating withdrawing the 1960MHz 1970 MHz from Starcomms. It is recommended we install the tested filters on all 3G sites. For future 3G deployment in all cities; 3G Equipment Vendors should be instructed to install the tested filter for all Node Bs. These filter need to be acquired as soon as possible before the 3G commercial launch to improve the quality of service to our potential 3G subscribers.