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Mngongo Josephat; 2009-04-03293; UDSM Page i

Declaration

I declare that this report is my own work. No other person is allowed to copy or publish a

copy of it.

I also declare that this report was prepared according to the rules and regulations of Universityof Dar es Salaam.

Signature_________________

Date______________________

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Mngongo Josephat; 2009-04-03293; UDSM Page ii

Abstract

Telecommunications sector is among the fast growing sectors in our country and it has proved

to be very important in our daily activities such as mobile communication and data services.

This report consists of two main parts which are the process and the conclusion andrecommendations.

The process part explains about GSM Radio Network Planning, which involves all plans and

designs that are needed in terms of coverage and capacity which results to a good quality

network performance and cost-effective one.

The last chapter brings out the conclusion on the whole practical training process as well as

the topic explained on chapter one. Also there are some recommendations that I suggest so as

to improve this activity.

Together with the main report I have also attached the weekly reports for all the eight weeks

of my practical training at MIC Tanzania Company.

It is my hope that, anyone who will read this report will have a clear understanding about the

GSM networks and GSM Radio Network Planning. Also in it, people could understand

various steps that are taken during the planning process toward the completion of an optimal

networks.

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Mngongo Josephat; 2009-04-03293; UDSM Page iii

Acknowledgement

Firstly I would like to thank our almight God for providing me with good health during the

whole period of my training.

I would like to acknowledge the College of Information and Communication Technology forset up practical training sessions which in one way enable us to know what is going on in

industry. Practical Training has made us being familiar with operations and actual job

environment.

Special thanks to MIC Tanzania ( Tigo ) for providing me a chance to work with, and learn a

lot of things concerning Telecommunications Industry.

I would like to thank Engineer Victor M Makula, Tigos Transimission and Site Engineer in

Dar Es Salaam for accepting me and my colleagues to work with him. He is a very

experienced and competent engineer and for sure I have learned many things from youbrother. Big up to you and thank you very much for letting me do various system

configurations.

I would also like to thank Engineer Marco, Tigos Transimission and Site Engineer Engineer

also in Dar Es Salaam region for teaching me many issues concerning Telecommunications.

By working with him I have learned a lot. Thank you for letting me do various system

configurations.

Thanks to all Transmission and Sitesmaintenence staffs, Engineer Renatus, Engineer Harlod

Madeha and others for working with me in site troubleshooting and maintenence.

I would like to thank my practical training supervisor from University of Dar-es-salaam

(CoICT), Mr. Daudi for his kindness, understanding and readable advice.

Lastly, My appreciation goes to all my fellow practical training students for their positive

cooperation towards completion of this report.

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Mngongo Josephat; 2009-04-03293; UDSM Page iv

Preface

This report contains information which aim at providing the clear picture on how the whole

process of GSM radio network planning is carried. Whether aimed at coverage, capacity or

frequency optimization, this report provide the all neccesary steps that are followed in the

planning process toward the completion of project.

All of these information are related to the departments of Planning and Transmission in the

MIC Tigo company where i did my practical training III. Special regards to all who helped me

in accomplishing this report writting, whether by teaching me or giving me some advices.

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Mngongo Josephat; 2009-04-03293; UDSM Page v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ............................................................................................................. i

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................ iii

PREFACE...................................................................................................................... iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS................................................... vii

CHAPTER ONE .............................................................................................................. 1

1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1

1.1 GSM Network Overview ........................................................................................ 1

1.1.0Architecture of the GSM network ................................................................... 2

1.1.1 Mobile Station ................................................................................................. 2

1.1.2 The Base Station Subsystem ........................................................................... 3

1.1.3 The Network and Switching Subsystem ......................................................... 3

1.1.4 The Operation and Support Subsystem ........................................................... 4

1.2 Problem statement ................................................................................................... 5

1.3 Adapted Solution ..................................................................................................... 5

1.4 The Scope of Radio Network planning ................................................................... 5

1.5 What is Radio Network planning? .......................................................................... 6

1.5.1 Dimensioning .................................................................................................. 7

1.5.2 Radio Network Detailed Planning ................................................................... 8

1.5.3 Optimization And Monitoring ....................................................................... 12

1.6 Search Area Map ................................................................................................... 13

1.7 Site Candidates ...................................................................................................... 14

1.8 Site survey and site survey report.......................................................................... 15

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Mngongo Josephat; 2009-04-03293; UDSM Page vi

1.9 Site definition ........................................................................................................ 16

1.10 Site acquisition .................................................................................................... 16

1.11 The Process Flowchart ........................................................................................ 18

CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................... 19

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................... 19

2.1 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 19

2.2 Recommendations ................................................................................................. 19

REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 20

WEEKLY REPORTS ................................................................................................... 21

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Mngongo Josephat; 2009-04-03293; UDSM Page vii

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

MIC Millicom International Cellular

TCRA Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority

QoS Quality of Services

MS: Mobile Station

BSS: Base Station Subsystem

SS: Switching Subsystem

GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

UDSM: University of Dar es Salaam

MSC: Mobile Switching Centre

HLR: Home Location Register

VLR: Visitors Location Register

EIR: Equipment Identity Register

AUC: Authentification Centre

BTS: Base Tranceiver Station

BSC: Base Station Controller

OMC: Operation and Management Centre

NMC: Network Management Centre

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Mngongo Josephat; 2009-04-03293; UDSM Page 1

Chapter One

1:0 Introduction

Since the early days of GSM development, GSM system network planning has undergone

extensive modification so as to fulfill the ever-increasing demand from operators and mobile

users with issues related to capacity and coverage. Radio network planning is perhaps the

most important part of the whole design process owing to its proximity to mobile users.

The main aim of radio network planning is to provide a cost-effective solution for the radio

network in terms of coverage, capacity and quality. The network planning process and design

criteria vary from region to region depending upon the dominating factor, which could be

capacity or coverage. The design process itself is not the only process in the whole network

design, and has to work in close coordination with the planning processes of the core andespecially the transmission network.

This project focus on how MIC deals with the planning and optimizing of the very few

resources available so as to come up with an optimal network which will minimize the

operation cost while keeping the Quality of Service delivered to the customers high.

It is the job of Tigos Planning Department with some little cooperation from other

departments to carry the whole planning process and optimization.. After various

measurements and research the proposed solution come into implementation such as new BTS

site installation, or increasing number of E1 in the site and so on.

Therefore network planning can be described briefly as all the activities involved in

determining which sites will be used for the radio equipment, which equipments will be used,

and how the equipments will be configured. In order to ensure good coverage and to avoid

interference, every cellular network needs planning.

1:1 GSM Network Overview

Firstly I would like to provide a short overview on the GSM system before I get into more

specific details about the Radio Network Planning process.

Global System for Mobile (GSM) is a second generation cellular standard developed to cater

voice services and data delivery using digital modulation.

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1:1:0 Architecture of the GSM network

The GSM technical specifications define the different entities that form the GSM network by

defining their functions and interface requirements.

The GSM network can be divided into four main parts:

The Mobile Station (MS).

The Base Station Subsystem (BSS).

The Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS).

The Operation and Support Subsystem (OSS).

The architecture of the GSM network is presented in figure 1.

Fig 1: Architecture of the GSM network

1.1.1 Mobile Station (MS):

A Mobile Station consists of two main elements:

The mobile terminal:- These are distinguished by power & application.

The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM): - The SIM is a smart card that identifies the

terminal. The SIM card is protected by a four-digit Personal Identification Number

(PIN).

Another advantage of the SIM card is the mobility of the users. In fact, the only element that

personalizes a terminal is the SIM card.

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1.1.2 The Base Station Subsystem (BSS):

The BSS connects the Mobile Station and the NSS. It is in charge of the transmission and

reception.

The BSS can be divided into two parts: -

The Base Transceiver Station (BTS) or Base Station.

The Base Station Controller (BSC).

The Base Transceiver Station(BTS):

The BTS corresponds to the transceivers and antennas used in each cell of the network. A

BTS is usually placed in the center of a cell. Its transmitting power defines the size of a cell.

Each BTS has between one and sixteen transceivers depending on the density of users in the

cell.

The Base Station Controller (BSC):

The BSC controls a group of BTS and manages their radio resources. A BSC is principally in

charge of handovers, frequency hopping, exchange functions and control of the radio

frequency power levels of the BTSs.

1.1.3 The Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS):

Its main role is to manage the communications between the mobile users and other users, such

as mobile users, ISDN users, fixed telephony users, etc. It also includes data bases needed in

order to store information about the subscribers and to manage their mobility. The different

components of the NSS are described below: -

The Mobile services Switching Center (MSC):

It is the central component of the NSS. The MSC performs the switching functions of thenetwork. It also provides connection to other networks.

The Gateway Mobile services Switching Center (GMSC):

A gateway is a node interconnecting two networks. The GMSC is the interface between the

mobile cellular network and the PSTN. It is in charge of routing calls from the fixed network

towards a GSM user. The GMSC is often implemented in the same machines as the MSC.

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Home Location Register (HLR):

The HLR is considered as a very important database that stores information of the subscribers

belonging to the covering area of a MSC. It also stores the current location of these

subscribers and the services to which they have access.

Visitor Location Register (VLR):

The VLR contains information from a subscriber's HLR necessary in order to provide the

subscribed services to visiting users. When a subscriber enters the covering area of a new

MSC, the VLR associated to this MSC will request information about the new subscriber to

its corresponding HLR. The VLR will then have enough information in order to assure the

subscribed services without needing to ask the HLR each time a communication is

established.

The VLR is always implemented together with a MSC; so the area under control of the MSC

is also the area under control of the VLR.

The Authentication Center (AUC)

The AUC register is used for security purposes. It provides the parameters needed for

authentication and encryption functions. These parameters help to verify the user's identity.

The Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

The EIR is also used for security purposes. It is a register containing information about the

mobile equipments. More particularly, it contains a list of all valid terminals. A terminal is

identified by its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). The EIR allows then to

forbid calls from stolen or unauthorized terminals

The GSM Interworking Unit (GIWU)

The GIWU corresponds to an interface to various networks for data communications. During

these communications, the transmission of speech and data can be alternated.

1.1.4 The Operation and Support Subsystem (OSS):

The OSS is connected to the different components of the NSS and to the BSC, in order to

control and monitor the GSM system. It is also in charge of controlling the traffic load of the

BSS.

However, the increasing number of base stations, due to the development of cellular radio

networks, has provoked that some of the maintenance tasks are transferred to the BTS. Thistransfer decreases considerably the costs of the maintenance of the system.

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1:2 Problem Statement

Mobile operators in GSM networks use 900MHz frequency band as well as 1800MHz

frequency band. 900MHz frequency band results to 125 frequency pairs while 1800MHz

result to 375 frequency pairs. One frequency pair comprise of uplink and downlink

frequencies. Uplink frequency is used in signal transmission from the MS to the BTS while

downlink frequency is used to transmit signals from the BTS to the MS. These frequency

pairs have to be divided to all mobile operators. Allocation of frequency pairs or frequency

bands is done by TCRA.

Nowadays in our country there are about four large mobile operators namely

Airtel,Tigo,Zantel and Vodacom. The number of mobile phone operators can increase since

the number of MS user keep on increasing daily. Now since the number of mobile phone

operators has increased while the frequency pairs remain constant then there is scarcity of

frequency pairs.

Scarcity of frequency pairs, network resources and costs of operations affect network capacity

in that very few frequency pairs are assigned to the operator. Therefore there must be a way to

balance the whole network planning to ensure that network costs are minimized without

compromising the quality of service delivered to the users of the network.

1:3 Adapted Solution

This project aimed at exploring the various concept and steps that are done in the radionetwork planning and optimizing the very few resources available so as to come up with an

optimal network which will minimize the operation cost while keeping the Quality of Service

(QoS) delivered to the customers high. This is by far the most optimal way of solving the

above problem stated.

Network planning can be described briefly as all the activities involved in determining which

sites will be used for the radio equipment, which equipment will be used, and how the

equipment will be configured. In order to ensure coverage and to avoid interference, every

cellular network needs planning.

1:4 The Scope of Radio Network planning

The radio network is the part of the network that includes the base station (BTS) and the

mobile station (MS) and the interface between them as shown in the next figure. As this is the

part of the network that is directly connected to the mobile user, it assumes considerable

importance. The base station has a radio connection with the mobile, and this base station

should be capable of communicating with the mobile station within a certain coverage area,

and of maintaining call quality standards. The radio network should be able to offer sufficient

capacity and coverage.

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Fig. 2The scope of radio network planning.

1:5 What is Radio Network planning?

Radio system planning is a process that defines the stages-visits in the area, measurements,

planning, documentation, required to provide a desired radio network plan for a certain

geographical area.

The main aim of radio network planning is to provide a cost-effective solution for the radio

network in terms of coverage, capacity and quality. The network planning process and design

criteria vary from region to region depending upon the dominating factor, which could be

capacity or coverage.

To be able to penetrate the African mobile market TIGO has elected to supply a high quality

network wherever coverage is claimed. The main targets for the radio planning team are to

provide:

Good coverage

Sufficient capacity

High Quality (High Accessibility, Retainability and Availability KPIs)

Achieve the above 3 targets with optimized CAPEX deployment

In order to plan a good coverage simultaneously optimizing capacity and maximizing quality,the radio system planning process and key parameters for this process have to be clearly

defined. The overall steps for radio network planning are then:

1)

Dimensioning

2) Detailed radio system planning and

3) Optimization, each with a specific purpose.

The dimensioning is required to generally analyze the network configuration and to decide the

radio network deployment strategy. The more accurate the dimension is, the more efficient

will be network rollout. In the detailed radio system planning phase, the radio network is

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accurately designed and the radio network evolution requirements are considered in the

optimization and monitoring phase.

The quality of coverage is considered as acceptable if a commercial quality can be ensured in

90% of locations for an identified class.

Fig. 3Types of services (designed according to operators marketing objectives)

The following table provides some recommended values of the parameters to be taken into

account during radio design activities.

Fig. 4 Fundamental Design Parameters

1:5:1 Dimensioning

The dimensioning exercise is to identify the equipment and the network type(i.e. technology

employed). Several traffic forecasts scenarios should be made to determine how to exceed the

coverage thresholds (in a new network) or the traffic history over the area has to be studied to

identify the traffic increases during the next years(in an existing network). For an efficient

network rollout, the equipment has to be ordered well before the planning starts (i.e. after

dimensioning), as the equipment orders are placed based on the dimensioning results.

Planning engineers should try to do very realistic/accurate dimensioning for each cell site.

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In order to study the coverage and capacity requirements for a specific area, it should be taken

into account:

The geographical area to be covered.

Coverage threshold (the estimated traffic in each region).

Frequency band(for the radio propagation 900/1800).

Path loss between the BTS and MS(from the power budget calculations).

For the coverage and capacity analysis it should be taken into account:

Total traffic over the coverage area.

Targeted maximum blocking.

Frequency band( the number of frequencies).

Frequency reuse(the maximum number of the frequencies at the BTS).

With the above parameters, the radio planner can predict the number of base stations that willbe required for coverage in the specified area to meet the individual quality targets, and to

meet the expected increase in traffic in the next few years.

1:5:2 Radio Network Detailed Planning

With the aim of MIC of designing a cost-efficient and high Quality of Service(QoS) radio

network, in this phase, the respective design and implementation are made. In order to achieve

the required goals for coverage and capacity it is necessary to choose and carefully plan the

following aspects:

Configuration planning

Coverage planning

Capacity and frequency planning

Parameter planning

Configuration planning:

The base station has to be configured based on both coverage and capacity requirements; the

required capacity features define the capacity related base station site elements(combiners

etc.) and the required coverage or dominance area defines the need for other coverage related

equipments(eg. Antenna gain, low noise amplifier(LNA), power amplifier(PA), diversityreception).

As a result of configuration planning the base station site type(macro, micro, indoor), base

station antenna line(antenna height, single-, multi- band) and base station

coverage/dominance(services), for different areas and environments have to be defined.

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Coverage planning:

Configuration planning defines the base station site equipment for different environments.

The aim of coverage planning is to use the dimensioning results and the configurations

defined in the configuration planning to minimize the number of base station sites.

To begin with, environment limitations such as high buildings, hills or other obstacles are

considered in coverage area survey. The survey initially defines the critical base station site

locations and suggests strategies to cover the area. Then propagation measurements need to be

analyzed unless and only if there are measurements available about the area already. These

measurements are required to tune the radio propagation prediction model which is extremely

important when considering capacity and frequency planning along with the functions of the

radio network.

The candidate base station site locations are then defined. The site locations are called

candidate because there are no rental contracts yet for the sites and thus hypothetical site

locations have to be used based on the site survey, measurement and propagation prediction

results. Note that site contract negotiations and site construction take an average 4-6 months

and thus the measurements and candidate site selections and the whole coverage planning

process have to be started approximately 12 months before the launch of the planned sites

moreover, the process has to be initiated with the measurements because only they can ensure

accurate coverage planning.

Fig. 5 Coverage planning process

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Actual coverage planning contains the radio parameter input, radio prediction model set-up

and coverage area calculation for each base station. Parameter input includes all the required

parameters (calculated in the power budget-path loss and received power, cell range, coverage

threshold) to define either the optimized downlink or uplink transmission power from the base

station or mobile station antenna. Radio coverage planning is traditionally calculated in

planning systems (advanced software programs) in the downlink direction from the base

station transmitter to the mobile station antenna by defining the

Base station transmission power

Base station equipment and antenna line losses(combiner loss, cable loss)

Base station antenna height, direction, gain and tilting if it is used.

The radio propagation prediction model is then checked once more and tuned and finally the

base station coverage area is calculated by using the input parameter prediction model and

digital maps.

The last phase in coverage planning is to define the final coverage thresholds and the

coverage areas where these certain thresholds have to be covered. These thresholds also

finally define the coverage maximum distance between two base station sites.

Capacity and frequency planning:

Capacity planning is a very important process in the network rollout as it defines the number

of base stations required and their respective capacities. The number of base stations required

in an area comes from the coverage planning, and the number of transceivers required is

derived from capacity planning as it is directly associated with the frequency re-use factor.

The frequency re-use factor is defined as the number of base stations that can be implementedbefore the frequency can be re-used. There are three essential parameters required for capacity

planning: estimated traffic, average antenna height, and frequency usage.

Traffic estimates:

Traffic estimation is based on theoretical estimates or assumptions, and on studies of existing

networks (i.e. experience). Traffic in the network is dependent on the user communication

rate and user movement in the network. The user communication rate means how much traffic

is generated by the subscriber and for how long. The user movement is an estimate of the

users use of the network in static mode and dynamic mode. Traffic estimation in the network

is given in terms of erlangs. One erlang (1 Erl) is defined as the amount of traffic generated

by the user when he or she uses one traffic channel for one hour (this one hour is usually the

busy hour of the network). Another term that is frequently used in network planning is

blocking.Blocking describes the situation when a user is trying to make a call and is not

able to reach a dialed subscriber owing to lack of resources.

Average Antenna Height:

If the average antenna height is low, then the covered area is small in an urban environment.

This will lead to the creation of more cells, and hence increase the number of times the same

frequency can be re-allocated. Exactly the opposite is the case in a macro-cellularenvironment. Here the coverage area would be more, so the same frequency can be

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reallocated fewer times. All these calculations are based on the interference analysis of the

system as well as the topography and propagation conditions.

Frequency Usage and Re-use:

Frequency usage is an important concept related to both coverage and capacity usage.

Frequency re-use basically means how often a frequency can be re-used in the network. If the

average number of the transceivers and the total number of frequencies are known, the

frequency re-use factor can be calculated.

Example:Frequency re-use factor

If there are 3 TRX that are used per base station and the total number of frequencies

available is 27, then the total number of frequencies available for re-use is 27/3 = 9.

A good frequency plan ensures that frequency channels are used in such a way that the

capacity and coverage criteria are met without any interference. This is because the totalcapacity in a radio network in terms of the number of sites is dependent upon two factors:

transmission power and interference. The re-use of the BCCH TRX (which contains the

signalling time slots) should be greater than that of the TCHs, since it should be the most

interference-free.

Fig. 6 Example of Frequency re-use

Parameter planning:

Parameter planning is actually a very short phase before the launch of the radio network

because the radio network parameter values are typically fixed and their values are based on

the measurements. Typically parameters are divided into subgroups like:

Signalling

Radio Resource Management

Mobility Management

Neighbor base station measurements

Handover and power control

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1:5:3 Optimization And Monitoring

It is necessary to gather some statistical data, when the network is up and running to define

configuration needs. The first target is to verify the coverage and to analyze whether it is good

enough. Next, the traffic over a certain area is studied and if the base station coverage is

overloaded (base stations are congested) it has to be analyzed together;

The traffic has to be balanced between the base stations or

More frequencies have to be assigned or

More base stations have to be implemented

The optimization phase is an adjustment process based on real life changes that were not

taken into account in the original radio system planning. When the actual coverage and

capacity have been measured the optimization work starts with an analysis of required base

stations for traffic and continues with the coverage analysis as in dimensioning. When the

radio network configuration is defined, based on these real parameters, operationaloptimization can be started. In this operational phase coverage may be improved by:

Maximizing the base station site configuration

Moving the base station sites

Base station site capacities are directed at corresponding to the requirements by:

Defining the actual need for frequencies at each base station location

Balancing the frequency assignments at each base station

Defining the required capacity-related software features to improve capacity

When the base station coverage areas are satisfactory and the base station dominance areas

correspond to the capacity requirements the radio network is balanced.

The main focus of radio network optimization is on areas such as power control, quality,

handovers, subscriber traffic, and resource availability (and access) measurements.

Fig. 7 Radio network optimization

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Key Performance Indicators

For radio network optimization (or for that matter any other network optimization), it is

necessary to have decided on key performance indicators. These KPIs are parameters that are

to be observed closely when the network monitoring process is going on. Mainly, the term

KPI is used for parameters related to voice and data channels, but network performance can

be broadly characterized into coverage, capacity and quality criteria also that cover the speech

and data aspects.

1:6 Search Area Map

When network (coverage) is deployed, the following steps must be taken into account:

Defining the number of base stations needed to accomplish the coverage for a specific

location.

Example 1:Calculation of number of sites required in a region

A network is to be designed that should cover an area of 1000 km2.

The base stations to be used are 3-sectored. Each sector (cell) covers a range of 3.0 km

Thus, area covered by each site = k *R2.

Where: k = 1.95

Area covered by each site = 1.95 * 32 = 17.55 km

Thus: total number of sites = 1000/17.55 = 56.98 57 sites.

Defining areas of coverage for each base station and defining a search area in the

centre of each coverage area

Using a planning tool for first approach, but it is also essential to do a field exploration

When an existent network (capacity or coverage gap) is upgraded, the following steps must be

taken into account.

Performing a drive test

Identifying the gaps and congested areas

Defining a search area in the centre of each spot

Using a planning tool for first approach, but it is also essential to do a field exploration

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Fig. 8Example of search area map

1:7 Site Candidates

To identify the site candidate, the following procedure should be used:

Get all information about construction restrictions for the search area

RF planner should visit the area and determine at least three candidates for each search

area objective

The candidate should be numbered and ordered by objective accomplishment

All information from the identified candidates should be passed to acquisition team

Make a competition survey in the surrounding area. Other operators location could be

a good spot for contract

A good candidate should allow 24*7 access, to the RF cabinet and antenna system.

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1:8 Site survey and site survey report

To do a site survey, the following procedure should be used:

Identify the base station objectives

Present a location map and if possible road directions from TIGO headquarters to BTS

Updated drive test to confirm poor coverage, by the received signal level(RXLEVEL),

received signal quality(RXQUAL)

Present the exact location with GPS coordinates and if possible mark the candidate in

a topographic map

Use a planning tool to present a coverage prediction example Mentum planet

Use a planning tool to present a coverage prediction(LOS)

Present photographs for sector orientations

Fig. 9 Examples of photographs for sector orientation

In case of rooftop BTS present photographs for sector placement

Present photographs for equipment/shelter location

Identify power distribution in the area

Identify fixed(leased) line of transmission in the area. If a Microwave link will be used

for transmission instead of a leased line, identify LOS for next transmission hop

Near the future antennas locations, create a 3600 panoramic photograph. Take a

picture every 300. As a standard each picture should have 2/3 land and 1/3 sky

maintaining the same height.

Identify line of sight (LOS) obstacles and present photographs for each. Mark them on

a 3600map

Some site survey reports have first contractual proposal to the location owner.

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1.9 Site definition

In the site definition the following aspects should be covered:

Define coverage area boundaries

Define the technologies to be used( GSM 900, GSM 1800)

Choose the antennas for the base station, based on needed technology, gain, vertical

and horizontal beam width, electrical down tilt capacities, height, weight and others.

Optimize each sector orientation based on previous RF visit and planning tool

predictions

Calculate electrical down tilt(EDT) and mechanical down tilt(MDT) for each sector

Optimize EDT & MDT for each sector, based on planning tool predictions

Take in account the antenna horizontal beam width while defining each sector

orientation

Take in account the antenna vertical beam width while defining each sector tilt

Choose other antenna system if needed

Define tower and antennas height based on previous RF visit and planning tool

Define the radio equipment for the solution(Micro, macro) depending on the needed

coverage, implementation or budget

Choose between indoor BTS and outdoor BTS according to the implantation

Choose the type of RF cable to be used from the RF cabinet to the antenna system. It

should be used the lower loss cable as possible(defined by budget, implementation,

Tigo standard)

In case of any doubt and if possible, make a new visit to the BTS future location

Define the number of carriers per sector, based on traffic prediction for each sector

Keep in mind that in a multi-band antenna only the electrical down tilt can be altered

individually for each technology. Orientation and mechanical down tilt are the same.

1.10 Site acquisition

This stage is the most complex and of difficult execution and plays a key role in the entire

base station deployment. It implies selecting, negotiating and contracting a place(site) for the

BTS implantation and takes care of a series of objectives that are many times difficult to

conciliate.

Excellent localization from the RF project point of view

Available place for purchase or rent of long stated period, with all documentation and

accessible prices(many times the local owner does not have all documentation and

registries)

To comply with local legislation for licenses attainment with city hall and other

agencies

To mainly prevent high costs of civil implantation in the structural foundations andreinforcements of BTS location

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Stated period of implantation

Project approval by all parties(local owner, RF team, civil works team, transmission

team, power supply team, local authorities)

Contract approval between the local owner and the operator.

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1.11 The Process Flowchart

Fig 10.Radio Network Planning Process Flowchart

START

DIMENSIONING

DETAILED

PLANNING

OPTIMIZATION

& MONITORING

CONFIGURAT

ION

PLANNING

COVERAGE

PLANNING

CAPACITY &

FREQUENCY

PLANNING

PARAMETER

PLANNING

SITE

CANDIDATES

SITE SURVEY

& REPORT

SITE

DEFINITION

SITE

ACQUISATION

SEARCH AREA

MAP

END

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Chapter Two

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1 Conclusions:

Conclusively my training period was successfully attained. There are many things that we

actually learn theoretical that in application mean different that in my point of view I advice

all higher learning institutions to allow their students to undertake practical training before

they are employed.

Radio network planning widened up my knowledge about GSM networks. The doubts I had

about how networks works especially how subscribers receive the services and on how the

operators ensure good performance of the networks were cleared. On top of that I got to learn

deep about 3G networks and gladly now I can compare it with GSM networks and tell the

difference.

Despite of the few problems that were faced during the field program, overall the field went

well and there is so much that I have learned and I am glad I have something that would help

me in my future career as a telecommunication engineer.

3.2 Recommendations:

Despite of learning a lot of interesting things during my time at Practical training, I would like

to recommend on the following:

Firstly ETE department must increase its effort in finding practical training places for its

students. Communication companies are good for practical training because I saw that there

are for real a lot of practical works to be done and there are so many applications of the

theoretical knowledge that we get in lectures. I therefore recommend that; students should be

streamed more into communication companies during PT period.

Secondly for the case of the company it should provide more rooms for technical trainingsuch as preparing the training schemes.

Third, regulations and guidelines for practical training, especially in report writing must be

revised. This will help students to come up with better reports especially P.T 3 reports which

must be different from P.T1 & P.T2.

Lastly apart from having an interview with our supervisors as the only way of judging

individuals P.T performance, our supervisors can try to observe how we do perform different

activities during the training period.

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REFERENCES:

An introduction to GSM networks from the book Cellular Radio Systems. Edited by

Balston and Macario and published by Artech House.

Ericsson networks manuals.

http://tigo.co.tz/.

Information from engineer Victor, engineer Renatus and Marco. Also information from the

plannings staffs.

Pocket Guide for Fundamentals and GSM Testing, Marc Kahabka, Wandel & Goltermann

GmbH & Co.

Radio Engineering Guidelines, Ericsson International, Aug 2006.

Second-generation Radio Network Planning and Optimization, WU097-Mishra, WU097-

Mishra February 23, 2004.

The GSM tutorial, Web document found in: http:/www.iec.org.

TIGO company manual.
http://tigo.co.tz/http://tigo.co.tz/http://tigo.co.tz/

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