Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Neighbor List
Planning (ANP)
Guide
Version 3.10
www.actix.com
Documentation Version: ANP-v3.10, October 2008
The content of this manual is provided for information only, is subject to change without notice,
and should not be construed as a commitment by Actix. Actix assumes no responsibility or liability
for any errors or inaccuracies that appear in this documentation.
Trademark Notice
Radioplan is a registered trademark of Actix GmbH in the European Union.
Actix and the Actix logo are trademarks of Actix Ltd.
All other product or brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
holders.
Contact:
Actix GmbH Actix Ltd
Altmarkt 10 200, Hammersmith Road
D-01067 Dresden Hammersmith
Germany London, W6 7DL
tel.: +49 (0) 351 404 29 – 0 United Kingdom
fax: +49 (0) 351 404 29 – 50 www.actix.com
e-mail: sales@actix.com
www.actix.com
www.actix.com
Contents
1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................5
1.1 AUTOMATIC NEIGHBOR LIST PLANNING MODULE OVERVIEW .......................................... 5
1.2 SUPPORTED RADIO TECHNOLOGIES ....................................................................... 5
1.3 IMPORT OF NEIGHBOR LISTS FROM A PLANNING TOOL ................................................. 5
www.actix.com
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Introduction 5
1 Introduction
1.1 Automatic Neighbor List Planning Module Overview
The Radioplan Automatic Neighbor List Planning (ANP) is part of the Actix Radioplan
software and it provides a powerful methodology to optimize intra- and inter-radio access
technology neighbor lists. By utilizing the Actix Radioplan network layer concept the
generation and optimization of neighbor lists for sector relations within one technology
layer, relations between hierarchical cell structures, and relations across all licensed radio
access network technologies are supported. The neighbor list allocation is performed based
on predictions and/or drive test surveys and therefore the best possible and most accurate
neighbors can be determined in a unified and single process. Counter data imported from a
performance management database can also be displayed for each detected relation in
order to provide the user a consistent view on the importance of this neighbor.
• CDMA/EVDO
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• iDEN
• UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA
• WIMAX
• Forsk Atoll
• Aircom Asset
• Andrew Odyssey
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Introduction 6
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Working with Neighbor Lists 7
In the underlying database each neighbor relation is described by the following properties:
• Cell_ID: Primary key of the cell (network element) where the neighbor list is
belonging to.
• Priority: An internal index that is used to prioritize (or sort) neighbor relations per
cell to each other, where an index of 0 has highest priority and the higher the
index the lower the priority is.
• Neighbor Cell Name: The cell name that refers to the foreign neighbor relation.
If that cell name does exist in the project, the Radioplan ANP can automatically
determine in which network technology layer the foreign cell is stored and
therefore it can be determined if that relationship is an intra- or inter-frequency or
–technology relationship.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Working with Neighbor Lists 8
The Network Layer column is automatically populated according to the following rules:
1 If a dedicated network layer for this neighbor cell is defined in the underlying
database, this network layer is shown and “Manual” is shown in the network layer
detection column.
2 If no dedicated network layer is defined in the database, the network layer is
automatically determined by the neighbor’s cell name and “Automatic” is shown in
the network layer detection column.
3 If no network element was found in the project, “Unknown” is shown in the
Network Layer field
The user can edit all fields shown in this dialog, e.g.
• Overwrite or select another neighbor cell from the selection of available cells in the
project.
• Change the priority of the neighbor relation. Note that the priority value is treated
as a relative number. Actix Radioplan does automatically re-index and re-sort
neighbors if OK is pressed.
• Set or reset the permanent flag. Permanent neighbors will never be removed from
an existing neighbor list.
• Manually choose a network layer where the neighbor cell does belong to. This is
helpful in particular if a foreign network element is referenced that is not part of
the project, e.g. located outside of the project area. Once a network layer is
chosen manually, “Manual” is shown in the network layer detection column.
It is also possible to delete a relationship by selecting the respective row and pressing the
DEL key.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Working with Neighbor Lists 9
New neighbors can be manually added in the last column and the user can choose a
relating network element from the list or enter a user define cell name, define the relative
priority within the neighbor list, and optionally select a network layer where the foreign cell
does belong to.
In this dialog it is only possible to configure the “Permanent Relationship” and the neighbor
network layer column including its network layer detection method. The Neighbor Network
Layer column is also filled according to the rules as described in section 2.2
The button “Find Selected Cell” can be used in order to graphically detect the cell but not
the neighbor(s) on the screen.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Working with Neighbor Lists 10
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 11
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 12
The dialog is divided into two sections, where the upper part contains all possible settings
for the intra-layer settings and the lower part contains further options for the inter-layer
neighbor allocation. The lower part is only active if network layers for inter-layer neighbor
optimization have been selected in the previous dialog.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 13
Preferred settings can be stored in the Windows registry by using the “Save as Defaults”
button. Except the result set all parameters will be re-initialized from the default settings
then if the dialog is opened again.
• Max. Neighbors: This is the maximum number of neighbors that can be added to
an intra-layer neighbor list. If the algorithm does detect more neighbors, these
neighbors will be presented in the results, but all neighbors that exceed this limit
are switched off automatically i.e. they will not be added to the neighbor list per
default.
• Max. Distance: This is the maximum distance of the area around the respective
cell given in meters that is considered to allocate neighbor relations. This threshold
is used for both intra- and inter-layer neighbor allocation.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 14
▫ Max. Cell Overlap Margin [dB]: All non-best cell reception levels detected
within this margin in the best serving cell area or the current cell will be
generally considered as neighbor candidates.
▫ Min. Cell Overlap Ratio [%]: This threshold defines how large the overlap
area within the Cell Overlap Margin needs to be in order to consider this
neighbor as a candidate. The cell overlap ratio is defined as the measured
number of overlapping pixels within the measured best serving cell area
(but limited by the Max Distance threshold) divided by the entire best
serving cell area multiplied by 100.
▫ Available Measurement Result Sets: The user can select one or more result
sets that contain drive test measurements for the respective network
technology (e.g. GSM measurements). It is also possible to pick results
sets from other projects in case they have been imported into another
project which is part of the same database.
• Counter (Info): In the counter section results from imported counter data can be
selected. Counters will not be used for neighbor list detection, however, the
selected counters will be shown as additional columns in the results dialog as
described in Section . It is possible to select multiple counters. The user has to
ensure that the counter information does contain values for cell to cell relations,
e.g. handover attempts etc. Counters can also be selected from foreign projects.
If both predictions and measurements are deactivated, the Radioplan ANP does only add
neighbors by symmetry (if activated). If all checkboxes are deactivated, the neighbors
within the intra-layer are not changed at all. This is helpful if only inter-layer relations shall
be determined.
• Max. Neighbors: This is the maximum number of neighbors that can be added to
an intra-layer neighbor list. If the algorithm does detect more neighbors, these
neighbors will be presented in the results, but all neighbors that exceed this limit
are switched off automatically i.e. they will not be added to the neighbor list per
default.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 15
▫ Min. Rx Power Threshold [dBm]: All signal reception levels (GSM RxLev,
UMTS RSCP etc) that are equal or above this threshold will be considered.
▫ Max. Cell Overlap Margin [dB]: All non-best cell reception levels detected
within this margin in the best serving cell area or the current cell will be
generally considered as inter-layer neighbor candidates.
▫ Min. Cell Overlap Ratio [%]: This threshold defines how large the overlap
area within the Cell Overlap Margin needs to be in order to consider this
neighbor as a candidate. The cell overlap ratio is defined as the predicted
number of overlapping pixels within the best serving cell area (but limited
by the Max Distance threshold) divided by the predicted entire best serving
cell area multiplied by 100. The Cell Overlap Margin is always calculated
based on the best serving cell’s coverage within the inter-layer.
• Counter (Info): In the counter section results from imported counter data can be
selected similar to the intra-layer section. Counters will not be used for neighbor
list detection, however, the selected counters will be shown as additional columns
in the results dialog as described in Section .
If both predictions and measurements are deactivated, the Radioplan ANP does only add
neighbors by symmetry (if activated). If all checkboxes are deactivated, the neighbors
within the intra-layer are not changed at all. This is helpful if only inter-layer relations shall
be determined.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 16
The results are shown in a single spread sheet that can be easily copied into Excel in order
to perform some further post-processing. However, the dialog contains various helpful
functions and information in order to investigate the results in more detail.
The following columns shown in this dialog:
• NB Index: This is an index (or priority) beginning with zero for each cell and
neighbor type. Neighbors are sorted according to their priority while the candidates
with highest priority are shown on the top of each list.
• Neighbor Count: This is the number of neighbors that have been detected. If the
number of neighbors does exceed the max. neighbors limit, this number
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 17
• Neighbor Type: This is the type of the neighbor which can be INTRA (within an
intra layer group), INTER (relation between intra and cross-layer), or UNKNOWN in
case where the neighbor cell does not belong to any network layer of the project.
The user can edit this column.
• ACTION: This column defines how the relation is handled if the user confirms the
new neighbor list. The following options are available and the user can edit this
column:
▫ RETAIN: The neighbor was available in the original neighbor list and the
algorithm recommends to retain this neighbor. Note that neighbors that
refer to a foreign cell that is not part of the project e.g. it is located outside
of the project area will always be maintained. The user has to manually
change the action to “REMOVE” to remove this candidate from the list.
▫ REMOVE: The neighbor was available in the original neighbor list and the
algorithm recommends to remove this neighbor. This recommendation is
only shown if the “Reset Neighbors” option was selected in the Neighbor
List Layer Settings, see Fig. 3-2.
▫ ADD: A new neighbor is detected and it is recommended to add this
neighbor.
▫ DO NOT ADD: A new neighbor is detected but the maximum number of
possible neighbors does not allow to add this further neighbor to the list.
The user can manually set the “REMOVE” action to existing neighbors and
change the action to “ADD” for this relationship if required.
• In Predictions: If this checkbox is active, the neighbor has been detected using
predictions.
• Overlap in Predictions [Bins]: This is the overlap ratio given in bins (pixels) as
determined by analyzing predictions.
• Overlap in Measurements [Bins]: This is the overlap ratio given in bins (pixels)
as determined by analyzing measurements.
• Distance: This is the distance between the reference cell and the neighbor cell.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 18
• Additional Columns: If counter data has been selected for further analysis, the
SUM of the values for each relation and counter are shown in the dialog. The
values have no impact on the detected neighbors, but they shall help the user to
make informed adjustments on the neighbors that shall be added, kept, or
potentially removed.
The Analysis Plots menu button has 3 options:
• Plot Neighbors: The neighbors of the currently selected cell are plotted on the
map. Changes made by the user will have immediate effect on the neighbor plot:
Fig. 3-4. Neighbor relations as detected by the algorithm are shown on the map.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 19
The optimized neighbor lists can be stored into the database by using the OK button. If the
user presses Cancel, no changes in the database will be made and all results are
discarded.
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 20
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 21
www.actix.com
Actix Radioplan Automatic Neighbor Planning (ANP) Guide Automatic Neighbor List Optimization 22
www.actix.com