Frequency Planning Concept

Muhammad Ebad Ullah

RF Planning - Central
 Frequency Planning

Why FP is important?

• FP is important to minimize interference b/w cells which improves quality of network

• Cellular operators have limited spectrum and it should be utilized efficiently:

Band Total Band Telenor’s Band

P-GSM 900 1 – 124 63 – 86 24ARFCNs 4.8 MHz

DCS-GSM 1800 512 – 886 586 – 629 44 ARFCNs 8.8 MHz

Basic Concepts
p
•ARFCN
•Telenor’s Band
•Sources of interference
•External
•Internal (C/I and C/A)
•Cell re-use pattern
•Frequency
F hopping
h i
 ARFCN

ARFCN or Frequency or carrier:

• ARFCN (Absolute Radio Freq Channel Number) represents FDD i.e., frequency pair or
two 0.2 MHz frequencies for UL and DL which are 45 MHz apart

• For example, ARFCN 83 in P-GSM 900 means:

•UL Freq = 890 + (0.2
(0 2 x 83) = 906.6
906 6 MHz
•DL Freq = 906.6 + 45 = 951.6 MHz

200 KHz

45 MHz
Ful=906.6 MHz Fdl=951.6MHz
 TELENOR’s
TELENOR s Dual Band

900 Band 62 63 64 65 78 79 80 81 82 85 86 87 88

B CCH = 15 ARFCNs TCH = 6 ARFCNs

GB – TP & Other Guard Band b/w GB – TP & Other

operator BCCH & TCH operator

1800 Band 585 586 587 588 627 628 629 630

TCH = 42 ARFCNs

GB - TP & Other
GB – TP & Other
operator operator
Cell Re-use Patterns
 Cell Patterns
Cell Patterns, cluster & re-use distance
• In theory, hexagons are used to represent cell sites
• Sites can be planned using omni or sectored antennas
• Cluster is a set of cells where all the available frequencies are used at least once
• Frequencies can be planned according to a well defined re-use pattern like 7/21, 4/12, 3/9 etc
• For example, a re-use pattern of 4/12 means that 12 frequencies are used in a cluster with 4
sites or 12 cells
• Re-use distance is important, as increasing the re-use distance will decrease co-channel
interference in the network

4/12 Reuse
 Cell Patterns

Cell patterns:
• In real world, cell patterns are not hexagonal
• Cells vary in size depending upon the amount of traffic they expected to carry i.e., small
cells in high traffic areas and large cells in low traffic areas
• Planning tools (Planet, Asset etc) are used which take into account irregular cell patterns
and
d uneven ttraffic
ffi di
distribution
t ib ti tto come up with ith a ffrequency plan
l
Interference
 Sources of Interference

Sources of Interference

External Internal

Jammers at Banks, prisons, mosques etc. C/I C/A

Illegal/non-licensed users
Same freq at international borders
Co-channel Adjacent channel
 Internal Interference

Internal interference

• There are two types off interference

Th i f that
h arise
i iinternally
ll ffrom the
h network:
k
• Co-channel interference (C/I)
• Adjacent-channel interference (C/A)

Interference GSM Specification Vendor Recommendation

C/I > 9 dB > 12 dB > 9 dB

(without freq hopping) (with freq hopping)
C/A > - 9 dB > 3 dB
C/I and C/A

C/I

C/A
Frequency Hopping
Baseband FH
Synthesizer FH
 Frequency Hopping
Frequency Hopping
• Call is transmitted through several frequencies in order to
• Minimize the impactp of Rayleigh
y g or multipath
p fadingg (frequency
( q y diversity)
y)
• Average the interference (interference diversity)

• Benefits of Freq Hopping:

• Tighter
g freq
q reuse & increase in capacity
p y
• More robust radio environment
• Improved speech quality to subscribers

frequency diversity interference diversity

 Baseband Frequency Hopping
Baseband Hopping
• 1-on-1: One fixed frequency for one TRX
q
• Number of frequencies is equal
q to number of TRXs
• Bursts from TRX controller are routed to different TRXs by bus
• Filter combiners can be used so 8 TRX can be connected to 1 filter combiner
• Filter combiner is a narrow band combiner where freq of each TRX connected must
be tuned byy adjusting
j g a filter
 Synthesized Frequency Hopping (SFH)
Synthesizer or RF Hopping
• One TRX handles all bursts that belong to a connection
pp g frequencies
• Number of hopping q does not depend
p on number of TRXs
• Hybrid combiners have to be used. It is impractical to use more than 2 hybrid
combiners in cascade
• Hybrid combiner is a broadband combiner that does not need tuning
 SFH v/s BBH

• Quality : For low traffic cells, SFH provides higher improvements because of
p
independency y on # of TRX.
• Frequency Planning: SFH limits FP only to BCCH carriers while BBH requires FP for
every TRX.
• BCCH Hopping: BBH allows TS1-7 of BCCH carrier to hop & hence requires two
MAL and two HSN while SFH does not allow BCCH TRX to hop. p
• Flexibility: SFH provides more flexibility for capacity planning because of its non
interdependence b/w all TRX in the cell.
• Capacity: SFH provides more capacity as compared to BBH for the same available
spectrum.
p
Frequency Planning
•BCCH Planning
•TCH
TCH Pl
Planning
i
•FLP (1x3 and 1x1)
•MAIO Management & HSN planning
•MRP
•Free Planning
•BSIC Planning
 Frequency Plan

BCCH TCH

Reuse patterns
p
7/21, 4/12, 3/9 etc Ad-Hoc or Free
FLP MRP
More than 7 MHz Planning
More than 6 MHz

Complex planning
IRREGULAR Cell Patterns
1x1 1x3
More than 3 MHz More than 5 MHz

Simple planning
REGULAR Cell Patterns
 BCCH Planning
BCCH Planning
• BCCH
• never hops
• its radio is always ON
• is transmitted at higher power than TCH
• BCCH is planned according to a well defined re-use pattern like 7/21, 4/12, 3/9 etc
• TELENOR is using 5/15 re re-use
use pattern i.e, 15 BCCH frequencies are used & each
BCCH freq will be used after 15 cells or 5 sites!!

4/12 Reuse
 BCCH Planning

7/21

6/18
7/21 Reuse

5/15

Relax
4/12
FP C/I
Tight
3/9

3/9 Reuse

Reuse
Pattern
 TCH Planning

TCH Planning
• On TCH:
• Frequency hopping is used
• TCH radios are not always ON (they transmit when there is traffic on that radio)
• TCH radios transmit at lower power than BCCH

• Following TCH planning techniques are used:

• FLP (Fractional Load Planning)
• MRP (Multiple Re-use Patterns)
• Ad-Hoc or Free Planning
FLP – Fractional Load Planning
 FLP – Fractional Load Planning

Fractional Loading
q
• In Frequency hopping
pp g networks, each frequency
q is used for a fraction of time during
ga
call .
• This fraction increases with the increase of traffic load.

1x3 1x1
 FLP – Fractional Load Planning

Fractional Load Planning

p & competitive
• FLP offers a very simple p method to achieve g
good q
quality & high
g
spectrum efficiency
• Effective for operators with narrow spectrum available
• TRXs can be added to cells without any further FP needed
• 1x3 and 1x1

593, 596, 599, 602, 605, 608. 611, 614,

617, 620, 623, 626
81 82
81, 82,83,84,85,
83 84 85 86

594, 597, 600, 603, 606, 609, 612,

615, 618, 621, 624, 627

595, 598, 601, 604, 607, 610, 613, 81, 82,83,84,85, 86 81, 82,83,84,85, 86
616, 619, 622, 625, 628

1x3 1x1
 1 x 1 FLP

1 x 1 FLP
• All hopping
pp g frequencies
q are used on all cells
• 1 MAL for whole network
• Works better if network has regular cell plan
• 16% Fractional loading recommended i.e., N TRXs need 6N frequencies
• All the cells of same site use same HSN if synchronized and different HSN if not
synchronized

MAL 81 82 83 84 85 86
 1 x 1 FLP

Single MAL is used all over the network

 1 x 3 FLP

1 x 3 FLP
pp g frequencies
• Hopping q are divided into 3 g
groups
p or MALs (Mobile Allocation Lists)
• 3 MALs for whole network
• Works well when network has a regular pattern
• 50% Fractional loading recommended i.e., N TRXs need at least 2N frequencies
• All the cells of same site should be frame synchronized(same BCF) & use same HSN

MAL 1 593 596 599 602 605 608 611 614 617 620 623 626
MAL 2 594 597 600 603 606 609 612 615 618 621 624 627
MAL 3 595 598 601 604 607 610 613 616 619 622 625 628
 1 x 3 FLP

Same 3 MALs are repeated all over the network

 SFH PARAMETERS

• HSN: Hopping Sequence Number (0-63)

• MAI: Mobile Allocation Index
• Nf: Number of Hopping Frequencies in MA List
• FN: GSM Time ( TDMA Frame Number)
• MA: Mobile Allocation
 MAIO Management

MAIO = Mobile Allocation Index Offset

• MAIO indicates the offset of the MAI in the MA List.
• Freq for TRX using MAIO =i is FMAIO=i =F(MAI+ i)
• MAIO planning in 1x1 & 1x3 FLP networks prevents
•adjacent channel interference within a cell
•co- and adjacent channel interference in co-sited cells
• Pre-requisite: cells within a site should be synchronized

MAL 81 82 83 84 85 86 MAIO 0

MAIO 2

MAIO 4
 Manual MAIO Planning

Staggered TCH

MAL
593 596 599 602 605 608 611 614 617 620 623 626 MAIO
1 0 5 6 11
MAL
2 594 597 600 603 606 609 612 615 618 621 624 627 MAIO
1 4 7 10
MAL
3 595 598 601 604 607 610 613 616 619 622 625 628 MAIO 2 3 8 9

Blocked TCH

MAL
593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 MAIO
1 0 3 6 9
MAL
2 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 MAIO
0 3 6 9
MAL
3 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 MAIO 0 3 6 9
 HSN Planning

HSN = Hopping Sequence Number

• HSN can be from 0 to 63

• HSN = 0 means CYCLIC FREQ HOPPING
•Frequencies are changed in every TDMA frame from lowest ARFCN to highest in MAL

MAL = 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

. . . 29 30 25 26 27 28 29 30 25 26 . . .
 HSN Planning

HSN = Hopping Sequence Number

• HSN = 1 to 63 means RANDOM FREQ HOPPING

•Frequencies are changed pseudo-randomly in every TDMA frame
•The pseudo-random sequence is stored in look-up table in MS and BTS
•The algorithm for actual frequency to be used at every instant is specified in GSM
specification 05.02

MAL = 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

. . . 25 30 26 27 29 30 26 30 29 27 . . .
 Random vs Cyclic Hopping Sequnces

Random vs Cyclic hopping sequences

• CYCLIC: In areas where interference is not a problem (low traffic areas)

• RANDOM: In areas where interference is a problem (high traffic areas)

 HSN & MAIO Properties

• Sequences bearing different HSN will statistically collide 1/Nf of time (whatever the MAIO)
• Sequences
q bearingg the same HSN but different MAIO are orthogonal
g (no
( collision))
• HSN along with MAIO ensures that 2 TRXs never use same frequency in same TDMA frame
• Neighbor sites should use different HSNs
• Since there are 63 (random) HSNs, one HSN should be repeated after every 63 sites
• Max number of MAIO in a cell is equal to the number of hopping frequencies (0,….,Nf-1)
• HSNs can be planned in Planet
• HSN planning is not important in case of free planning

1x1 FLP
• To avoid freq collision, it is forbidden to reuse the same value of MAIO on two different cells
of the same site
• Also use of different HSN in the cells of same site is forbidden.
• If freq inside the Hop set are adjacent , use of two adjacent MAIO in a same cell is
extremely inadvisable because it would lead to interference.
MRP – Multiple Re-use Patterns
 MRP – Multiple Reuse Patterns

Multiple Reuse Patterns

q
• Primarily used for baseband frequency hopping
pp g
• Well suited for networks with uneven traffic distribution i.e., different # of TRXs in
each cell
• Good for operators with irregular cell plans and relatively large spectrum
• MRP allows gradual tightening of reuse as more TRXs are installed
 MRP – Multiple Reuse Patterns

Example of MRP for Baseband Freq Hopping

• Let us plan a network for MRP with available band (25 – 63)
• Divide the band into 4 groups:
• 1st group of 12 frequencies are re-used on BCCH TRX0
• 2nd group of 12 frequencies are re-used on TCH TRX1
• 3rd group of 9 frequencies are re-used on TCH TRX2
• 4th group of 6 frequencies are re-used on TCH TRX3
• Re-use group of 2/6 on last TRX3 will be tight, since it will probably not be used on
every cell
• Average reuse is (12+12+9+6)/4=9.75 for cell & (12+9+6)/3=9 for TCH frequencies

BCCH - TRX0 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 4/12 Reuse

TCH - TRX1 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 4/12 Reuse

TCH - TRX2 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 3/9 Reuse

TCH - TRX3 58 59 60 61 62 63 2/6 Reuse

 Ad-Hoc or Free TCH Planning

Free TCH Planning

• Suitable for operators with large spectrum available, irregular cell patterns & uneven traffic
distribution
• This non-uniform method adapts to local variations in the cell plan
• All cells in the network have different MALs
• Trade off b/w capacity and planning complexity
• More effort is required to optimize
• # of frequencies assigned to a cell depends on the amount of traffic it is carrying
• Experience shows that Free planning achieves greater capacity than FLP with irregular cell
patterns and flat terrain

5 Erlangs
25, 30, 33, 41

12 Erlangs
26, 28, 31, 35, 38, 40

20 Erlangs
27, 29, 32, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42
BSIC Planning
 BSIC Planning

BSIC = Base Station Identity Code

• BSIC is composed of:

•NCC
NCC (N(Network
kCColor
l C Code)
d ) – cells
ll in
i 2 different
diff PLMNs
PLMN ((or countries)
i ) using
i same ffreq
•BCC (BTS Color Code) – to identify neighbor cells or BTS
• TELENOR is using 16 BSICs (30 – 37, 40 – 47)
• Same BCCH
BCCH-BSIC
BSIC combination should not be used in same neighborhood
• BSICs can be planned on Planet using “Color code planning” module
FP Strategy
St t
•Formulae
•BCCH/TCH Band Split
•Joker
J k
•Effects of:
•Load increase
•Irregular Cell pattern
•Optimization
 FP Strategy

FP Strategy
• New Frequency Plan is created
•For a new network or
•To improve C/I of network after expansion (Retune)
• Pre-requisites:
•there are no new sites expected
p
•All database is up to date
•Model is tuned
• Choice of Freq plan:
•Band available
•BCCH/TCH dimensioning/band split
•FLP or MRP or Free planning
•Traffic distribution: average traffic carried by each cell
•TRX distribution: no of cells with 4 or 3 or 2 TRXs
•Site-to-site distance: how close the sites are to each other
•Common/Single g BCCH: how manyy sites are dual band
•Regular/irregular cell pattern
• Choice of tool: Planet or Asset
• Different BCCH/TCH split strategy for urban and remote areas
 BCCH/TCH Dimensioning

BCCH/TCH Band Split

• Goal is to achieve a g
good balance b/w
/ speech
p q
qualityy on non-hopping
pp g BCCHs & speech
p
quality on hopping TCHs

• Staggered BCCH/TCH
•Easier to plan BCCH
•Can manage on less BCCH carriers than blocked, may be 15 instead of 18
•More MAIOs available with maintained interference diversity as adj MAIOs can be used
•Disadv: Adjacencies b/w BCCH & TCH

Staggered BCCH/TCH

BCCH 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 77 78 . . . .

TCH 65 67 69 71 73 75
 BCCH/TCH Dimensioning

BCCH/TCH Band Split

• Blocked BCCH/TCH
•Higher freq utilization on TCH since there are no adjacent BCCH
•Higher gain from DL power control as DL connections will not suffer from adj BCCH &
can be down regulated much more

Blocked BCCH/TCH

BCCH 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79

TCH 81 82 83 84 85 86
 Joker

Role of Joker

• Sometimes 1 or 2 frequencies from available band are not assigned to BCCH & TCH bands
• These unused clean frequencies are called jokers
• These joker frequencies are used later on to change particular ARFCN to improve C/I
• Joker is also used for model tuning as it requires a clean frequency
• Some operators use guard band b/w BCCH & TCH as joker frequency
 BCCH/TCH Dimensioning

Effects of BCCH/TCH adjacencies

• TCH suffer from adj channel interference on DL from BCCH on the top of co-channel hits
• Max Fractional Loading in staggered BCCH/TCH is slightly lower than in blocked
• Trade off b/w performance & freq planning complexity
• Experience shows that high load can be achieved in staggered BCCH/TCH without major
impact on performance if hopping over 6 frequencies
• However the possibility to load TCH frequencies decrease with adjacencies
• Conclusion: BCCH/TCH adjacencies can be managed but not recommended
 more loading
Effects of increasing load
• If loading is increased to more than 16% in 1 x 1 plan, without increasing the frequencies on
a cell,, adjacencies
j will arise b/w TCH
• Each frequency is only transmitted a fraction of time, so interference will be averaged out
• Conclusion: Loading can be increased beyond 16% but it is not recommended
• Sometimes fixed TCH from BCCH band is assigned

MAL 1 81 82 83 84 85 86 MAIO 0

MAL 2 81 82 83 84 85 86 MAIO 2

MAL 3 81 82 83 84 85 86 MAIO 4

6 freqs on 1 hopping TRXs = 16% FL

MAL 1 81 82 83 84 85 86 MAIO 0 1

MAL 2 81 82 83 84 85 86 MAIO 2 3
MAL 3 81 82 83 84 85 86 MAIO 4 5

6 freqs on 2 hopping TRXs = 33.33% FL

 Irregular Cell Pattern

Effects of irregular cell pattern

• With irregular cell patterns, cells with same MAL will have an overlapping area
• Quality
Q li on hopping
h i TCH frequencies
f i iin the
h overlapping
l i area will
ill suffer,
ff andd calls
ll may d
drop
Cells with same MAL are
pointing to each other

Regular Cell Pattern Irregular Cell Pattern

Optimization
 Optimization

Optimization

• Minimize overlapping between cells i.e., tilting

• Avoid overshooting i.e., redesign needed for sites with height more than 40 m
• Add micro cells, this will decrease load on macro cells, reduce number of collisions and
improve quality
• Keep the grid standard i.e., azimuth = 0, 120, 240 and height = 25 m
• Perform link balance
• Use features like DTX, power control, overlaid/underlaid cells etc
Thank you !