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1 Scope
This document outlines the Radio Frequency (RF) channel assignment strategy for existing and new markets. Reference material and background information has been included as an informative annex.
2 Introduction
Each market has available a set band of frequencies as defined by the relevant FCC license. The licensed frequency band is used to support discrete 200KHz wide channels. GSM operates on a predefined numbering scheme such that each 200KHz channel has a specific channel number assigned. The defined channels and band information for GSM North American (GSM-NA) is shown in table 1. FCC PCS Band A D B E F C B/W (Uplink and Downlink) 30 MHz 10 MHz 30 MHz 10 MHz 10 MHz 30 MHz MS TX Band (MHz) 1850.0 1865.0 1880.0 1885.0 1890.0 1895.0 BTS TX (MHz) 1930.0 1945.0 1960.0 1965.0 1970.0 1975.0 GSM CH 512-586 587-611 612- 686 687-711 712-736 737-811
Table 1 FCC bands and GSM Channel Allocations GSM requires that each cell (a site being made up of one or more sectored cells) have one frequency that is used to broadcast network and cell control information and act as a pilot frequency. This frequency is defined as the Broadcast Common Control Channel (BCCH) frequency. Timeslot 0 of the BCCH frequency carries the logical BCCH channel and additional channels that are used for paging, synchronization, and initial system access. The BCCH frequency is required to transmit constantly at a set frequency and at full power. We will explain why the 7/21 re-use pattern is the strategy we recommend to use for the BCCH layer Non-BCCH frequencies can adapt on a timeslot-by-timeslot basis, being able to change frequency (Called hopping) and transmit power levels (Power control). The Non-BCCH channels are therefore able to achieve better performance in terms of tolerance of interference and noise than the BCCH frequency. This better performance is exploited by reusing nonBCCH frequencies more often within a given area such that the traffic supported per MHz of frequency is increased. This document is aimed at promoting the use of frequency hopping 1/1 strategy for markets with challenging terrain and 1/3 for markets in which the site are spread out with regular azimuth.
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A A A
A
jj
As shown on this figure the re-use pattern has to follow the 2 arrows directions (or one arrow if j=0) to be regular and this is the reason why N has to verify that N = i 2 + j 2 + ij . Where i and j are integers. That implies 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 13, 16, 19, 21, 27 are usually the values that we usually consider in GSM. For example, N=3, denotes a 3 sites cluster, each cell with a unique frequency group. Repeating this cluster over the geographic area of coverage forms the cellular network. In a sectorized reuse scheme, a site number / cluster size convention is commonly used to denote the reuse pattern. For instant 3/9, denotes a 3 site / 9 cell cluster (3 sectors per site). The frequency-repeat pattern determines the maximum number of radios that can be deployed in each cell, thus the maximum amount of traffic carried. A cellular network may consist of omni sites or sectorized sites or a combination of both. Given the same total number of channels, the capacity of a sectorized site is less than the capacity of an omni site, as the example below illustrates.
However, sectorization allows higher frequency re-use with smaller number of sites as each site contains 3 cells instead of one, and thus higher overall network capacity and that is making much more sense economically, therefore all GSM networks use sectorized sites. For both site types, several frequency re-use schemes are possible with varying levels of carrier to interference ratio (C/I). For any re-use pattern, the ratio of co-channel cell site to the cell radius is:
D / R = 3N
This comes from the fact that we have, here shown for N=4:
R D
Lets call R the radius from the center of the hexagon to the middle of a side of the hexagon. We have:
R ' = cos(30) R = 3
The distance D between the middle of and hexagon and the middle of the next one that uses the same frequency verifies:
D = 2 R ' N = 2 R ' i
2
+ ij
Therefore:
D / R = 3N
From this value we can estimate the theoretical interference created by the first ring of frequency re-use. The hexagon grid implies that six first ring cells always surround a cell (One for each side of the hexagon). Lets illustrate how this work in the case of omni-directional site
C Sm = I 6I
If we estimate that the propagation of the signal is proportional to the distance power the attenuation factor n, we have at the edge of the cell (i.e. worst case C/I): n ( D R) C = n I 6R So in dB we have:
C = log( I
( D 1) R 6
) = log(
( 3N 1) 6
We usually assume a value of n=3.5 for the attenuation. Confidential and Proprietary T-Mobile Document Ref: ENG / RF / TGU - 47553527.doc Page 6
Figure 3.1: 1/1 frequency reuse pattern The example below illustrates the 3 re-use schemes for sectorized sites, and the approximate C/I ratio that can be achieved with a homogeneous network of cells using a 120 degree beam width antenna. (2) 1/3 frequency reuse Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio; D/R = 1.732, Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 5.5dB Adjacent channel interference; every neighboring cell uses an adjacent channel, this can only be used with frequency hopping in GSM
1 1 3 1 3 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 2 3 1 2 1 2
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Figure 3.2: 1/3 frequency reuse pattern (3) 3/9 frequency reuse Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio; D/R = 5.196 Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 10.9dB, as the theoretical minimum C/I in GSM is 9dB this re-use pattern is the smallest that can be used with non-hopping channels Adjacent channel interference; 2 out of 9 cells have adjacent channel neighbor
1 7 3 1 7 3 9 6 7 3 9 6 4 8 1 4 8 9 2 5 9 2 5 9 6 7 3 6 7 3 6 4 8 1 4 8 1 4 8 2 5 9 2 5 9 2 5 7 3 6 7 3 6 1 4 8 1 4 8 2 5 2 5
Figure 3.3: 3/9 frequency reuse pattern (4) 4/12 frequency reuse Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio; D/R = 6.0 Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 12.0dB Adjacent channel interference; 2 out of 12 cells have adjacent channels with neighboring cells, worst case C/Ia = 0dB
Alternatively by swapping the allocation for 1 of the 4 sites, e.g. swapping cell using carrier 8 and 12 in the Figure 3. would yield: Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 12.0dB (for 2 out of 12 cells) Adjacent channel interference; no adjacent channel neighbor, worst case C/Ia = 5.1dB (for 4 out 2 of 12 3 4 10 6 cells)
2 3 2 3 11 7 9 10 1 5 11 6 12 3 7 11 4 8 10 1 7 9 2 6 12 10 1 5 11 4 8 6 12 3 7 9 2 11 4 8 10 1 5 11 7 9 2 6 12 3 7 1 5 11 4 8 10 1 5 12 3 7 9 2 6 12 8 10 1 5 11 4 8 2 6 12 3 7 9 4 8 10 1 5 2 6 12 4 8
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Figure 3.5: 4/12 frequency reuse pattern no adjacent channel neighbor From the above example, we can see that interference reduces as N increases; this is directly connected to the theoretical C/I calculation illustrated before in the omni site case. But on another hand the number of frequencies available in each group also decreases as N increases. Although these grid patterns are often used for initial site planning, in practice however, it is the site acquisition process, which would ultimately determine the cellular pattern. There are many factors, which would significantly influence the network topology, these include: Terrain (hilly or flat) Large water bodies Budgetary constraint Site placement constraints
All these factors make it difficult to achieve the ideal network topology. Irregularities of site coverage will increase the carrier to interference ratios. In general, areas consisting of hilly terrain and large water bodies pose the most difficult frequency planning problems. The theoretical minimum C/I for which GSM is designed to work is 9 dB (GSM rec 05.05). However in reality it is not very efficient if we do not reach C/I = 12dB. Confidential and Proprietary T-Mobile Document Ref: ENG / RF / TGU - 47553527.doc Page 9
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Interference
No hopping F1
Interference
F1
With hopping
F3 F1
F1
F2
F3
F2 F3
F2 F2 F 3
average
MS_1 MS_2
MS_3
Figure 1 Interference Averaging
MS_1
MS_2
MS_3
source: Nokia
Frequency Hopping Gain TU 3 Absolute Level (dB) 11.5 8.5 7.5 6.5 5.5 11.5 9.5 8.5 8.0 7.5 7.0 Relative Gain (dB) 0.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
Frequency Hopping Gain TU 50 Absolute Level (dB) 6.5 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.0 6.0 6.0 Relative Gain (dB) 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.5
effectively helps slow moving mobiles meet the link budget assumptions and does not offer an improvement over the link budget.
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The Peak load is computed from the highest traffic cells in an area and is often set as a hard limit, i.e the number of available TRXs are set at the Peak load, such that the system reaches 2% blocking at the peak load.
The Average Load is computed by taking all cells in an area and computing the effective traffic loading and frequency reuse. There is no hard limit to the average load and hence the performance of a network must be monitored. Once the average load limit is reached cell splits will be needed. It is possible for a network to reach the average load limit before any one site has reached the peak load limit. 4.3.1 Process for Calculating Loading Step 1. Measure BH Traffic for busiest cell and surrounding area, approximately 21 sites. Step 2. Compute the peak cell traffic and the average cell traffic Step 3. Convert peak and average traffic levels in to channel requirements using Erlang B tables and 0.1% blocking1 Step 4. Convert channel requirements in to TRX occupancy Step 5. Calculate the TRX loading. Example 8 Sites, 24 sectors carrying 279 Erlangs Peak traffic is 26 Erlangs 8 Frequencies per MA list
The measured BH traffic is carried traffic where as Erlang B tables uses offered traffic. By using a very low level of blocking the difference between offered and carried traffic channel requirements is minimized.
1
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We can see from this table that using the MAIO 0,6,12,18 TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector A, MAIO 2,8,14,20 for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector B and MAIO 4,10,16,22 for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector C we are sure to avoid any adjacent channel and co-channel interference between the sites different cell. If we summarize graphically each sites sector should look this way: Confidential and Proprietary T-Mobile Document Ref: ENG / RF / TGU - 47553527.doc Page 17
If a 1/3 strategy is used, the first group is used for each sites sector A, the second group is used for each sites sector B and the third for each sector C: Sector A group F1, F4 F3n-2
As for the 1/1, the HSN used should be the same for each sector as they are all synchronized and therefore we can avoid adjacent channel interference between sectors of the same cell. The MAIO strategy should be implemented this way (frequencies in red mark the fact the above MAIO is used): MAIO 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Page 18 9
From this table we can observe that there is no adjacent channel at the same time. So MAIO 0,2,4,6 should be used for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector A, MAIO 1,3,5,7 used for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector C Graphically the HSN, MAIO implementation of 1/3 hopping is: Sector A MAIO 0,2,4,6 For all three sectors HSN=N with 1=<N<=63 Sector C MAIO 0,2,4,6 Sector B MAIO 1,3,5,7
Figure 2 Cell Split process for narrow beam systems The split cell will be reduced in area by 50% and can be left operating at full power. However with a 1/3 reuse pattern a more balanced interference environment is required. This is achieved by reducing the power on the split cell by 50% and adding two additional cell split sites. For narrow beam systems ideal cell splitting requires a 3:1 increase in sites. For systems built using wide beam antennas (90 to 120 degree beamwidth), the process is the same but the site placement is different. For 90 degree systems the new site is still placed at an equidistance between the existing sites, but in this case it is not at the limit of the cell but off to one side. If the cell split is placed at the farthest cell edge the grid array is broken and further cell splits will require the removal of the split cell.
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outer 50% of the cell. If the TA distribution shows that the traffic is concentrated in the inner 50% of the sector than the cell split will be ineffective and another method of increasing
capacity should be considered.
Note that the TA is calculated based on the roundtrip delay of the radio signals and hence is the radio path length. Where strong multipath effects exist the radio path may be significantly longer than the true distance from the site.
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Advanced features such as concentric cells and layered networks will increase the capacity of the system allowing lower spectrum allocations to meet the 12 TRX limit, or alternatively allow for more spectrum to be set aside for data services. Such techniques are for further study.
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5 Spectrum Partitioning
The question here is, for a given spectral bandwidth, how many frequency channels (ARFCN) should be used as the BCCH, the remainder will thus be used as TCH? Further, what re-use schemes should be deployed for the TCH carriers to support the projected traffic load?
BCCH
Figure 5.4: Example of block and interleave spectrum partition
1 1
2 2
3 3
The interleaved partition approach is not practical since it prevents the use of downlink power control, therefore the BCCH and TCH spectrum should be separated and not interleaved. As illustrated in Figure 5.5, when the TCH is power down, there is strong adjacent channel interference from the BCCH carrier, which is transmitted at full power.
As illustrated in the diagram below, the BCCH frequencies block can be placed in the center of the available spectrum, thus splitting the TCH into 2 blocks of frequencies. This provides larger frequency hopping range.
Down 4 TCH c 5
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BCCH
Figure 5.6: Example of side and central spectrum partition Alternatively, placing the BCCH at the bottom or top of the available spectrum reduces the number of adjacent channel TCH to one, and provides a contiguous TCH block. The penalty of this approach is that it reduces the ability of frequency hopping to combat frequency selective fading, however it does not seem to compensate for the loss of a frequency except in the case of very important spectrum allocation (typically 20 MHz uplink and downlink of spectrum or more). Therefore we recommend in most cases to use contiguous TCH and to have the BCCH located on top or bottom of the spectrum.
1 1 1
2 2 2
3 3 3
4 4 4
5 5 5
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6 Market application
6.1 Frequency planning strategy suggested for a 5 MHz market (5 MHz bandwidth uplink and downlink)
For a 5MHz market (5MHz downlink, 5MHz uplink), there is a total of 25 ARFCNs (absolute radio frequency channel number). Of these 25, there is 1 frequency block guard band, the 25th ARFCN, and 2 low power guard bands (quarter watts, 24dBm maximum), the 1st and the 24th. Therefore it leaves only 22 ARFCN available, which is very reduced. In order to realistically provide a sufficient quality for the signaling a 4/12 BCCH reuse is inevitable. As we have to leave a guard channel between the TCH and BCCH band, this will leave only 9 channels to use for the TCH, implemented in 1/1 hopping, which allows us to go up to S333 configuration the frequency load being 2/9=22% quite high but achievable. Other strategies (non-hopping, 1/3) would probably be limited to lower configuration and in the case of non-hopping create a very complicated cell planning. The cell split criteria would be to split at S333 configuration in a 5 MHz market. Here is the suggested frequency planning for a 5MHz market: Block guard
1
Power guard
14
BCCH
TCH
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
The frequency groups would be set this way for the BCCH (group 1 to 4): sector A B C Group1 2 6 10 Group2 3 7 11 Group3 4 8 12 Group4 5 9 13
As for the TCH the repartition will be the following: Group 1/1 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
The MAIO strategy used is going to be: Sector A B C MAIO TRX1 0 2 4 MAIO TRX2 6 8 7 (8 or 6 if the first or second cell has only 2 TRX)
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