RF PLANNING

PROCEDURES

PRELIMINARY WORK
Propagation tool setup
Set up the planning tool hardware. This includes the server
and or clients which may be UNIX based.
Setup the plotter and printer to be used.

Terrain, Clutter, Vector data acquisition and setup

Procure the terrain, clutter and vector data in the required
resolution.
Setup these data on the planning tool.
Test to see if they are displayed properly and printed correctly
on the plotter.

PRELIMINARY WORK
Setup site tracking database
This is done using Project management or site management
databases.
This is the central database which is used by all relevant
department, viz. RF, Site acquisition, Power, Civil engineering etc,
and avoids data mismatch.

Load master lease site locations in database

If predetermined friendly sites that can be used are available,
then load this data into the site database.

PRELIMINARY WORK
Marketing Analysis and GOS determination
Marketing analysis is mostly done by the customer.
Growth plan is provided which lists the projected subscriber
growth in phases.
GOS is determined in agreement with the customer (generally the
GOS is taken as 2%)
Based on the marketing analysis, GOS and number of carriers as
inputs, the network design is carried out.
Zoning Analysis
This involves studying the height restrictions for antenna heights
in the design area.

PRELIMINARY WORK
Set Initial Link Budget
Link Budget Analysis is the process of analyzing all major gains
and losses in the forward and reverse link radio paths.
Inputs
Base station & mobile receiver sensitivity parameters
Antenna gain at the base station & mobile station.
Hardware losses(Cable, connector, combiners etc).
Target coverage reliabilty.
Fade margins.
Output
Maximum allowable path loss.

PRELIMINARY WORK
Initial cell radius calculation
Using link budget calculation, the maximum allowable path loss is
calculated.
Using Okumura hata emprical formula, the initial cell radius can
be calculated.

Initial cell count estimates

Once the cell radius is known, the area covered by one site can
be easily calculated.
By dividing the total area to be covered by the area of each cell, a
initial estimate of the number of cells can be made.

INITIAL SURVEY
Morphology Definition
Morphology describes the density and height of man made or
natural obstructions.
Morphology is used to more accurately predict the path loss.
Some morphology area definitions are Urban, Suburban, rural,
open etc.
Density also applies to morphology definitions like dense urban,
light suburban, commercial etc.
This basically leads to a number of sub-area formation where the
link budget will differ and hence the cell radius and cell count will
differ.

Morphology Drive Test

This drive test is done to prepare generic models for network
design.
Drive test is done to characterize the propagation and fading
effects.
The objective is to collect field data to optimize or adjust the
prediction model for preliminary simulations.
A test transmitter and a receiver is used for this purpose.
The received signals are typically sampled ( around 50 samples
in 40 ).