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GPRS Capacity and Coverage Planning

Product Services Group P-TN-010-008

GPRS Capacity and Coverage Planning

CONTENTS
1 OVERVIEW OF GPRS CAPACITY PLANNING ........................................... 3 2 DEFINING THE TARGETS OF THE GPRS SERVICE ................................. 4 3 UPDATING THE PLAN WITH ACTUAL NETWORK DATA.......................... 4 4 DEFINING DATA SERVICE SETTINGS....................................................... 4 4.1 4.2 SET GPRS CHANNEL CODING SCHEMES ..................................................................................4 DEFINING TIMESLOT DISTRIBUTION .........................................................................................5

5 SETTING CELL PARAMETERS .................................................................. 6 6 CALCULATING AND ANALYSING THE GPRS SERVICE AREA................ 7 7 DEFINING TERMINAL TYPES USING DATA SERVICE.............................. 7 8 DISTRIBUTING TERMINALS AND CREATING TRAFFIC ARRAYS ........... 8 9 CALCULATING THE GPRS DATA RATE ARRAY AND AVERAGE DATA RATE FOR EACH SUBCELL .............................................................................................. 8 10 CAPTURING CELL TRAFFIC AND CALCULATING REQUIRED CAPACITY9 11 COMPLETE THE RADIO NETWORK PLAN................................................ 9 12 DEFINE THE TRANSMISSION NETWORK CAPACITY FOR GPRS ........... 9 13 DOWNLOAD DATA TO NETWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION ................... 9 APPENDIX A - TABLE OF FIGURES ............................................................ 11

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OVERVIEW OF GPRS CAPACITY PLANNING

This document describes the stages in the GPRS Capacity process. The diagram below shows an overview of the GPRS planning process:
Define GPRS service target

Update Plan with actual data

Data service settings

Set Cell parameters

Calculate and Analyse GPRS service area

Define Terminal Types

Distribute Terminals and Create Traffic Arrays

Calculate the GPRS data rate array and average data rate for each subcell

Capture Traffic and Calculate Capacity

Complete the radio network plan

Define transmission network capacity for GPRS

Download Data to Network for Implementation

Figure 1

Overview of the GPRS Capacity Planning Process 3

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DEFINING THE TARGETS OF THE GPRS SERVICE

The aim of this phase is to identify the existing sites and new sites where GPRS is enabled and get some idea of the required modifications that you need to make to the existing network before you can implement the desired GPRS service. In a dimensioning tool, decide: What kind of data services will be provided Where the service is required

UPDATING THE PLAN WITH ACTUAL NETWORK DATA

The information from the current frequency plan is needed when planning for GPRS networks. Therefore, before you continue, you must update the plan to meet the actual network's site/cell structure, element identity, frequency and adjacency information. This is important also for the GPRS plan implementation back to the network. To do this, use the appropriate File Import option in ENTERPRISE.

DEFINING DATA SERVICE SETTINGS

To initialise the GPRS service, you need to: Set GPRS Channel Coding Schemes Define the timeslot distribution

4.1

SET GPRS CHANNEL CODING SCHEMES

To set GPRS Channel Coding Schemes: 1. From the Options menu, point to 2.5G and click Coding Schemes. 2. Click Add Graph to add a column for the first coding scheme. 3. You can populate these tables with default values by clicking the Set to Defaults button which you can then edit. or In the C/I column, define the C/I, for example between 0 and 30 dB and in the coding scheme (throughput) column define the x axis values, for example between 0 and 15 kb/s. The C/I versus data rate values are dependent on the nature of the network, for example, how fast the mobiles are expected to move, whether RF hopping is used in GPRS cells, and so on. 4. Tune the suggested default values based on that network information. 5. You can then: Click Show Graph to see a plot of C/I against data rate per timeslot.

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GPRS Capacity and Coverage Planning

Edit a value by clicking it and changing it. Click Remove All to delete all the values in the columns. When you are selected on a row with data in it, except the last row, you can click Add Row to add another row. Click Commit to add the scheme to the database. 6. Repeat these steps to add a further coding scheme up to a maximum of four. Coding schemes are optimised, that is, the best one is chosen. The data contained within these tables can be scaled for any number of timeslots, that is, the data rate for three timeslots is three times the data rate for one timeslot for a given C/I. This picture shows the default values for a GPRS channel coding scheme:

Figure 2

Default GPRS Channel Coding Scheme Values

4.2

DEFINING TIMESLOT DISTRIBUTION

Use the Channel to Transceiver mapping tables to define timeslot distribution. These mapping tables enable you to specify how many carriers are needed to provide a required number of traffic channels.You need to set the amount of Circuit Switched and Packet Switched control channels as well as the amount of dedicated GPRS traffic channels. To set up a channel to transceiver map for GPRS: To create a GPRS Channel to Transceiver map:

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GPRS Capacity and Coverage Planning

1. 2. 3. 4.

From the Options menu, click Channel Maps. Click Add Map and enter a name for the map. As this map is for GPRS, when prompted, click Yes. Click Add Carrier to add carriers. Select each carrier in the list and enter the default number of traffic channels that they can support. 5. To change the information in the columns, click Edit Map and specify: Number of carriers Total number of channels Amount of dedicated GPRS capacity (

NGPRS )

Number of shared control channels ( CTRL ) N Number of GPRS control channels ( GPRS CTRL ) Maximum number of channels that may be used by HSCSD ( Number of circuit switched traffic channels ( NCS )

NHSCSD )

6. Click OK to close the GPRS Map Editor. 7. Click Apply to save your changes.

SETTING CELL PARAMETERS

In ENTERPRISE, GPRS information is stored on the Cell Layer level. The subcell is considered to provide GPRS service when you have selected the Enable GPRS check box on the 2.5g tab. To do this: 1. Select the required GSM cell layer (subcell) in the Site Database window. 2. Click the 2.5G tab. 3. Select the Enabled GPRS check box and choose at least one supported Channel Coding Scheme and set the traffic. One Coding Scheme must always be selected, so if you want to change to another Coding Scheme, select it then deselect the first check box. This picture shows the 2.5G tab:

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GPRS Capacity and Coverage Planning

Figure 3

2.5g Tab for the Subcell in the Site Database Window

Note : It might be necessary to create a Cell Layer of its own for GPRS service for the cell (From the Options menu, click Cell Layers).

CALCULATING AND ANALYSING THE GPRS SERVICE AREA

The definition of cell-specific GPRS service areas follows the normal coverage planning process, that is: 1. Choose the Propagation Model 2. From the Tools menu, point to Coverage/Interference and click Predictor, to calculate Coverage Predictions. 3. Choose to calculate the GPRS Best Service array to visualise on the map the service areas of the cells where GPRS is enabled. 4. Display the array in the Map View window.

DEFINING TERMINAL TYPES USING DATA SERVICE

For the Traffic and Capacity planning process, an estimate of the GPRS terminal distribution is required as well as an idea of the services and data rate demand of the terminals. To define the GPRS Terminal Types:

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GPRS Capacity and Coverage Planning

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

From the Options menu, click Terminal Type. In the Terminal Types dialog box, click Add to create a new terminal type. Select the new type and change its name. Select the switching type as GPRS for this terminal. On the Cell Layers tab, link a Terminal Type to one or more Cell Layers. On the Clutter, Vectors and Polygons tabs, define how the terminal type is distributed over the Map View. 7. On the GPRS tab, choose the mean busy hour capacity (kb/s) of the terminal. This figure should include any overhead related to the characteristics of the device, for example average packet size, TCP/IP protocol and so on, up to a limit of 9999.999. This is an estimate of the traffic going through in a busy hour, per terminal type. 8. Also enter the maximum number of timeslots supported by the terminal (up to 8). 9. Apply any changes that you make or commit them if you want other users to see them.

DISTRIBUTING TERMINALS AND CREATING TRAFFIC ARRAYS

To distribute the desired terminal types: 1. Open a Map View window showing the desired area. 2. From the Tools menu, point to Traffic and click Traffic Wizard. 3. Click Next and choose one or more terminal types from the list. For each terminal type you select, a separate traffic array is created. 4. If you wish to spread traffic that you have applied to polygons by clutter type, ensure the check box is selected. 5. Click Next and choose the required resolution. The memory required to create ths resolution of raster is shown. Generally speaking, the less pixels used, the faster the process will be.

CALCULATING THE GPRS DATA RATE ARRAY AND AVERAGE DATA RATE FOR EACH SUBCELL
The GPRS data rate array contains the capacity independent data rate per one Timeslot for each pixel. When you calculate the data rate array, the average data rate for each subcell array is simultaneously calculated. This is capacity independent. Because Traffic Analysis uses the average data rate values, you must calculate the GPRS data rate array before performing Traffic analysis. Calculate the data rate array for the traffic or the control layer. The average data rate for each subcell is calculated at the same time. When you have created the GPRS data rate array, you can choose to display it on the map by selecting GPRS data rate in the list of data types in the Map View window. The average data rates per subcell can also be visualised.

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10

CAPTURING CELL TRAFFIC AND CALCULATING REQUIRED CAPACITY

Start capacity planning. To do this, from the Tools menu, point to Traffic and click Analyse. When traffic arrays have been created, click Capture Traffic to collect the traffic information per map pixel in the cell service area and produce a report. If the traffic amount is acceptable, apply it to the cells by clicking Apply Traffic on Subcells. The Capacity Estimation Algorithm requires GoS criteria for each service type. Set blocking probability to speech, HSCSD multimix parameters, blocking and other parameters as well as the minimum data rate requirement for GPRS. As a result of capacity calculation, a report is produced presenting statistics of the current TRX configuration, QoS level and the required TRX amount. To accept the proposed capacity click Apply Carriers Required on Subcells. Note : The TRX requirement is not applied unless the Allocated tick box is selected in the Cell Layer Carrier tab in the Site Database.

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COMPLETE THE RADIO NETWORK PLAN

After capacity planning, the GPRS planning process follows the normal radio network planning process, that is, frequency planning and analysis and plan tuning. Coding schemes 1 and 2 provide relative low data rates and are not considered to cause extra interference to neighbouring non-GPRS cells. As planning is an iterative process, for GPRS planning, you may want to check the requirements and tune the plan again if there appears to be too much interference in some areas.

12

DEFINE THE TRANSMISSION NETWORK CAPACITY FOR GPRS

The network transmission capacity for packet data traffic can be defined in the DIRECT module of CONNECT. To do this: Switch to CONNECT and start DIRECT. Synchronise the radio plan data to DIRECT. The sycnhronisation transfers the BTS configuration and traffic load to DIRECT. Prepare transmission network data and calculate the transmission capacity need between the BSC and SGSN.

13

DOWNLOAD DATA TO NETWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Use the appropriate File Export option to transfer plan data to the tool for implementing GPRS. For transferring detailed transmission network data select PSI Export in the DIRECT module.

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GPRS Capacity and Coverage Planning

Appendix A - Table of Figures

Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Overview of the GPRS Capacity Planning Process ........................................3 Default GPRS Channel Coding Scheme Values.............................................5 2.5g Tab for the Subcell in the Site Database Window ..................................7

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