An Introduction to

3G Monte-Carlo simulations
within ProMan






responsible editor:

Hermann Buddendick
AWE Communications GmbH
Otto-Lilienthal-Str. 36
D-71034 Bblingen
Phone: +49 70 31 71 49 7 - 16
Fax: +49 70 31 71 49 7 - 12
hermann.buddendick@awe-communications.com




Issue Date Changes
V1.0 Feb. 2006 First version of document

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 1
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006
1 Motivation
System simulations are required for the network planning process on order to come to an cost
effective investment in air interface network infrastructure. This is achieved by reducing the
number of Node B (and sites) to a minimum, still fulfilling capacity and service quality constraints.
System simulations help to evaluate mobile network performance in different environments with
different configurations or network layouts. Performance indicators of interest are network
capacity and service availability. There are mainly three approaches for the simulation of UMTS
networks: dynamic simulations, semi-dynamic simulations (Monte Carlo simulator) and static
simulations.

Dynamic System Simulations
One way to model the network behavior is to use dynamic system simulations with quite realistic
models for most aspects and effects (power control, soft handover, mobility, ...), and to simulate
the time-variant behavior of the network. Detailed results can be obtained by using this method,
but it is very time consuming. It is mainly used to validate or optimize small parts of the network
or to perform parameter studies to tune the network settings.

Static Simulation / Analytic Approach
To speed up the required simulation time and to enable the simulation of larger areas the
consideration of individual mobiles and discrete mobile distributions has to be given up, and the
network capacity is to be predicted with analytical methods. Therefore, in a second approach
(static or analytical) the mobile terminals are considered to be distributed continuously over the
simulation area, i.e. for each pixel of the simulation area a kind of fractional mobile is assumed,
and the complete simulation area has to be scanned only once. With this static/analytic approach
the capacity of a given UMTS FDD network layout can be estimated based on the propagation
conditions in a very fast way. This is very useful for a first rough network planning with a few
iterations necessary to find a proper network layout that fulfills your needs.

Monte-Carlo Simulations
Another option for network simulations is to use Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations with less detailed
models (compared to the dynamic approach explained above): time variant effects are not
considered but many (independent) snapshots with random mobile distributions are evaluated.
These simulations are faster than dynamic simulations but to get statistically reliable results many
snapshots have to be carried out and the simulation time depends on the number of snapshots
and on the number of mobile stations. Practical examples show that the size of the area that can
be considered is limited to a few hundred cells.

The Monte Carlo (MC) method consists in repeating an experience many times with different
randomly determined data in order to draw statistical conclusions. It can be applied for mobile
networks simulation. In this case the repeated experience is called a snapshot and represents a
set of Mobile Stations in the network with random position, state and parameters. The results
given by a high number of snapshots are considered to be representative of all the possible states
of the network. The aim of a Monte Carlo simulator is to provide an analysis tool that allows the
fast and accurate evaluation of the performance of a UMTS network during the planning and
optimization phases.

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 2
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006

Figure 1-1: Comparison of the different categories of UMTS system simulators

2 Simulation Approach
The results given by the Monte-Carlo simulator are essentially related to two concepts:
The coverage (proportion of the area in which a communication link can be successfully
established)
The capacity (maximum traffic supported by the network)

The main features of the Monte Carlo system simulator are the following:
Fast coverage and capacity prediction
Mean noise rise and mean power per cell evaluation
Power distribution histograms for DL and UL
Determination of the maximum capacity of the network

2.1 Location dependent traffic
The traffic density can be defined either homogeneous for the complete simulation area or location
dependent. This latter possibility can be realized by loading a clutter map together with a table,
which translates the traffic or morpho class to a traffic density (Erl./sqkm). During the Monte-Carlo
Simulation the discrete mobiles are generated according to these specified traffic densities.
2.2 CDMA downlink orthogonality factor
The CDMA downlink orthogonality (OF) factor has an important influence on the cell capacity
because the level of intra-cell-interference is scaled with this factor. This is to consider the loss in
CDMA code orthogonality due to multipath propagation. So the grade of orthogonality mainly
depends on the channel profile. In general ProMan offers three possibilities to set the
orthogonality factor:
constant OF
LOS/NLOS depending OF
CIR depending OF
The last two options require ray-optical propagation models to determine whether a possible
receiver location, i.e. a pixel, is in Line of Sight (LOS) condition, or to compute the Channel
Impulse Response (CIR). As the determination of the CIR with the propagation model is quite time
consuming, this feature eliminates a part of the Monte-Carlo simulators benefits compared to full
dynamic simulations (although it has to be performed only once for each fixed antenna/cell
configuration and it is available via look-up tables afterwards). So in most cases the OF will be set
to a constant (average) value.

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 3
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006
OF (value) meaning
1 perfect orthogonality (1 path channel)
0..1 reduced orthogonality
0 no orthogonality at all
Table 1: Definition of Orthogonality factor within ProMan

Typical values for the orthogonality factor are OF = 0.5 for the ITU Vehicular A profile and 0.9 for
the ITU Pedestrian A channel profile. For the constant OF model an appropriate (mean) value for
the expected OF has to be used.
2.3 Service Mix
The simulator supports the definition of different services and mobile different mobile type
categories. Within the traffic specification (either homogenous or location dependent, see above)
each service can be considered individually, so that it is possible to define an arbitrary service mix.
The most important parameters related to the service are the following:
Bitrate (UL/DL)
max. link power (UL/DL)
required E
b
/N
o
(to ensure service quality)
traffic parameters (Erl./sqkm)
2.4 System modeling
The aim of the downlink computation is to allocate the downlink transmit powers in order to match
the service downlink E
b
/N
0
requirements. The following scheme (Figure 2-1) should help you to
figure out the context of the calculation of the downlink power for MS(i). The aim of the uplink
computation is finding the uplink transmit power, i.e. which power the mobile station has to use to
communicate with its serving base station. The following picture depicts the context of the
previous calculation of the uplink transmit power.


Figure 2-1: Downlink problem

Figure 2-2: Uplink problem


The required E
b
/N
o
for each Mobile Station is known by link level simulation and is provided by the
system supplier. It is defined as:

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 4
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006
( ),
,
(1 )
i
i
TX BS i i
b
o own other N
DL MS
P a G
E
N I I P

=
+ +
(1)

Where:
E
b
/N
o
is the signal to noise ratio (on a net bit basis)
P
TXi
is the required transmit power for the link (Serving sector of a Base Station BS(i) of
Mobile Station i to MS i
a
BS(i),i
is the linear attenuation for the path BS(i) to MSi
G is the processing gain
is the downlink orthogonality factor for the considered link (UL: = 0)
I
own
is the interference level from the own cell
I
other
is the interference level from the other cells

The previously mentioned interference levels are given by the following:

downlink uplink
( )
( ), ( ),
_ _ _ ( )
j BS i
own TX BS i i CCH BS i i
j served by BS i
j i
I P a P a

= +

(2)
,
, ( )
_ _ _ ( )
UL j
own TX j BS i
j served by BS i
j i
I P a

(3)
,
, ,
( ) _ _ _
u j u
other TX u i CCH u i
u BS i j served by u
I P a P a

= +



(4)
,
, ( )
_
UL j
other TX j BS i
j other cell
I P a

(5)
2.5 Linear Equation System
Coming from the fundamental equations shown in the previous chapter, a linear system with the
link transmission powers as solutions can be built. This system can be described using a matrix
notation. P
TX
is the vertical vector containing the desired solutions for all transmission powers.
Using the fundamental equations the following coefficients can be determined:

downlink uplink
TX
A P B = (6)
TX
C P D = (7)
( )
( ), ,
( )
,
(1 )
BS i u
i
b
i CCH BS i i N u i CCH
u BS i o
DL MS
E
B P a P a P
N

= + +

(8)
, ( )
b
i N
o
UL BS i
E
D P
N
= (9)
( ),
, ( ),
( ),
(1 ); (1)
; (2)
; (3)
i
i
b
BS i i
o
MS
b
i j BS j i
o
MS
BS i i
E
a
N
E
A a
N
a G

(10)
, ( )
, ( )
,
( ),
; (1)
; (2)
b
j BS i
o
UL BS i
i j
BS i i
E
a
N
C
a G

(11)

with:
(1) is valid if the MS j is different from the
MS i and belongs to the same cell as the
MS i; i.e. they have the same serving
sector BS(i)=BS(j).
(2) is used when the MS j belongs to
another cell, i.e. BS(j)BS(i)
(3) is used when i=j

with:
(1) is valid if j is different from i
(2) is used when i=j


Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 5
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006
2.6 Coverage estimation
It was previously mentioned that the MS generation phase of the algorithm includes a coverage
check. The algorithm used during this verification is detailed in this chapter.

2.6.1 Pilot channel based coverage criterions
In UMTS systems the coverage is mainly depending on the common pilot channels (CPICH)
parameters and the interference level. Here, a MS is considered to be in the coverage zone if the
following two constraints are fulfilled:
The received CPICH level is above a predefined limit (for example -90dBm)
CPICH carrier to interference ratio is above the threshold (for example -14dB)
As the transmit powers are not a priori known, assumptions have to be made in order to estimate
the interference level. The simulator assumes that the DL and UL transmit powers are maximum,
and the resulting interferences is scaled by a predefined scaling factor.

2.6.2 Uplink related coverage criterions
The condition checked by the simulator is the ability for a MS to communicate with its serving BS
with a sufficient uplink E
b
/N
0
ratio assuming that the MS is transmitting with full power and the
interference in the network is fixed (predefined). The point is that the interference contributions
are unknown at this step of the calculations and therefore a fixed load defined by the user defined
maximum load factor and a scaling factor is used to assumes a typical interference level.
2.7 Capacity determination
For the capacity determination only the MS in the coverage zone are considered. This enables a
separate evaluation of capacity and coverage problems. The required transmit powers in DL and
UL directions are determined according to the linear equation system. Then the snapshot can be
evaluated, i.e. it is checked if all MS of this snapshot can be served by the network. Practically it
means that some constraints are tested for both UL and DL. The snapshot is declared valid if all
these conditions are fulfilled. With the percentage of valid snapshots the probability for a certain
capacity can be estimated based on the traffic load. Usually a fixed number of 200 snapshots is
performed as it turned out within many simulations that more snapshots do not increase the
reliability of the statistical results.

2.7.1 Downlink snapshot evaluation
The downlink transmit powers are determined to fulfill the service downlink E
b
/N
0
requirements. A
valid snapshot must fulfill the following constraints:
The downlink transmit powers must be in the range [0..P
max,DL
]
The total transmit power for the BS must not be exceeded by the sum of all links powers

2.7.2 Uplink snapshot evaluation
The UL transmit powers are computed accordingly to match the uplink service E
b
/N
0
for all MS. A
valid snapshot must fulfill the following condition:
All determined transmission power must be in the range [0..P
max,UL
]

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 6
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006

Figure 2-3: Snapshot operations


3 Examples simulation
To demonstrate the performance of the Monte Carlo simulator, some examples and case studies
will now be presented. The first example illustrates the case of a bad scenario that has to be
improved with the help of the Monte Carlo simulator.
3.1 Optimization method
The coverage information provided by the simulator is calculated under typical traffic conditions.
You can define the conditions of this evaluation by adapting the maximum load value factor. If you
dont want to consider the effect of the coverage you can simply set this parameter to zero. A
consequence of this method for the coverage estimation is that the coverage results provided are
independent of the traffic generated during the simulation: they depend only of the fixed load
factor. Of course the capacity determined later on depends on the resulting coverage ( as it is well
known for WCDMA networks). In this simulation model is has to be assured (by the user) that the
assumed load (in coverage prediction) matches roughly the load determined by the capacity
evaluation.
3.2 The example scenario
A single simulation is very useful in order to have a fast insight in the network for a defined traffic
level. It provides interesting information about the behavior of the network in this state. For
example, lets imagine that you need to estimate the quality of the following layout of a network.
You want to test the network for a high data rate service (384kbps for DL, 64kbps for UL). You
expect at least 60% of valid snapshots for DL and UL for 25 users in the whole network (1.2 user
per cell) and it is required that more than 90% of the area is covered for a typical load of 70%.

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 7
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006

Figure 3-1: Example network layout in a dense urban area (Paris France).

Extract of the result file:
Parameters:
Thu Dec 08 14:33:30 2005
Number of snapshots: 100
Traffic scale factor: 18.900
Average Number of MS: 25.0
Repartition of the generated MS per service:
Service 384 -> 100.00 %

Coverage for Service 384:
Coverage -> 99.84 %
Nr MS (according to traffic parameters)
-> 25.00 <=> 1.19 users per cell
Mean Nr MS in the coverage zone
-> 24.96 <=> 1.19 users per cell
Mean CPICH C/I -> -7.79 dB
Mean throughput per cell
-> DL: 456.41 kb/s UL: 76.22 kb/s

Capacity:
Mean total Nr of MS per cell: 1.19
Mean total throughput per cell: DL:
456.41 kb/s UL: 76.22 kb/s
Result of the simulations:
Downlink -> 18 % of the Snapshots are valid
Uplink -> 100 % of the Snapshots are valid

Mean power per Cell: 1999.229 mW <=> 33.01 dBm (mean over all BS of
all valid snapshots)
Mean Noise Rise per Cell: 1.107860 <=> 0.445 dB (average over all BS of
all valid snapshots)

3.2.1 Influence of the CPICH level
On the previous example, the Monte-Carlo simulator indicates that the layout and network
parameters should be improved because the capacity of the network does not satisfy the
requirements. You can try to decrease the CPICH level in order to minimize the interferences. Of
Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 8
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006
course the impact on coverage has to be observed. The effect of the CPICH power at the BS can
be checked by making an additional simulation with a CPICH level divided by two compared to the
previous simulation (now: 30dBm). A part of the result file is listed below

Coverage Service 384 :
Coverage -> 99.00 %
Nr MS (according to traffic parameters) -> 25.00 <=> 1.19 users per cell
Mean Nr MS in the coverage zone -> 24.75 <=> 1.18 users per cell
Mean CPICH C/I -> -10.79dB
Mean throughput per cell-> DL: 452.57 kb/s UL: 75.58 kb/s

Capacity Service 384 :
Mean total Nr of MS per cell: 1.19
Mean total throughput per cell: DL: 452.57 kb/s UL: 75.58 kb/s
Result of the simulations:
Downlink -> 65 % of the Snapshots are valid
Uplink -> 100 % of the Snapshots are valid

Mean power per Cell: 1219.734 [mW] <=> 30.86 dBm (mean over all BS
of all valid snapshots)
Mean Noise Rise per Cell: 1.103706 <=> 0.429 dB (average over all BS of
all valid snapshots)

From the results the influence of the CPICH power level can be clearly seen:
65% of valid snapshots for DL instead of 18% with the first simulation)
impact on coverage is negligible (99% instead of 99.84%)

3.2.2 Influence of the orthogonality factor
In the previous simulations the orthogonality factor (quantifying the negative impact of the multi-
paths propagation on the performances of the network in downlink) was set to 60%. Assuming a
more optimistic value for the orthogonality factor (e.g. 80%) the following results are obtained
(CPCIH power again 30dBm):

Coverage Service 384 :
Coverage -> 99.04 %
Nr MS (according to traffic parameters) -> 26.00 <=> 1.24 users per cell
Mean Nr MS in the coverage zone -> 25.75 <=> 1.23 users per cell
Mean CPICH C/I -> -12.04dB
Mean throughput per cell-> DL: 470.86 kb/s UL: 78.63 kb/s

Capacity Service 384 :
Mean total Nr of MS per cell: 1.24
Mean total throughput per cell: DL: 470.86 kb/s UL: 78.63 [kb/s]
Result of the simulations:
Downlink -> 78 % of the Snapshots are valid
Uplink -> 100 % of the Snapshots are valid

Mean power per Cell: 1140.029 mW <=> 30.57 dBm (mean over all BS of
all valid snapshots)
Mean Noise Rise per Cell: 1.112659 <=> 0.464 dB (average over all BS of
all valid snapshots)

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 9
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006
You can notice that the previous change has the following consequences on the simulation results:
78% of downlink valid snapshots instead of 65% whereas the traffic has been increased
similar coverage, mean power per cell, and noise rise values
If the orthogonality factor was set to 1.0 (perfect orthogonality) 97% of the snapshots would be
valid for DL under the same conditions. This shows the great impact of the downlink orthogonality
factor. The low capacity of this network is due to the simple design of the layout (orientation of
the antennas, location of the base stations).
3.3 Evaluation of maximum capacity
Performing several simulations with the parameters as described above and additionally with
increasing network load the following results are obtained. It can be seen, that in this (not
optimized) network scenario a cell capacity of about 400kbps is predicted if 90% of the UE
distributions should be served. For a higher cell throughput, i.e. more mobiles, the probability to
serve a certain constellation decreases, but there are still (some) advantageous constellation that
still can be served. Thats why there is a soft degradation in the serving probability. Furthermore
the resulting MS and BS power distributions are depicted in the figure below.


Figure 3-2: Percentage of successful snapshots for DL (left) and average DL power per cell (right).




Figure 3-3: Example for the noise rise output (with increasing traffic load)

Monte Carlo UMTS system simulator 10
by AWE Communications GmbH February 2006

Figure 3-4: DL link power distribution (left) and UE power distribution (right)

4 Propagation Prediction
The 3G Monte-Carlo simulation approach is based on the predicted path loss matrices for all base
stations. So after having defined a network scenario, first the propagation prediction has to be
performed, and in a second step the network prediction (i.e. 3g Monte-Carlo simulation) can be
run. In small scenarios the propagation may be predicted for each transmitter for the complete
simulation area. Considering large areas a prediction radius can be defined for each transmitter.
Note that the definition of the prediction radius has to ensure sufficient overlap of neighboring
cells. This overlap is not only required for best server determination, but also for interference
considerations, i.e. the overlap should be designed to account for the interference of approx. two
rings of interfering cells at each pixel. That means that the prediction radius should be approx. 2-3
times the inter-site distance.

Many different propagation models are available within ProMan. Depending on the scenario, the
environment, and the available database the best suitable propagation model must be chosen. The
Monte Carlo simulator is able to handle the propagation results generated by all available models.
Further information about the propagation models can be found on the following web site:

http://www.awe-communications.com/Propagation/index.htm

Furthermore it should be mentioned that additional information about the propagation models is
also available in form of application notes. See the following web site:

http://www.awe-communications.com/ApplicationNotes/index.html

5 Further Information

For further information you are invited to visit AWE Communications website

http://www.awe-communications.com
http://www.awe-communications.com/Network/3G/SimulatorsOverview/MonteCarlo.html

or to send an e-mail to the responsible editor of this document

net@awe-communications.com