Automatc Cell Planning Module

Atoll 3.1.2

Forsk 2012 Confidental Do not share without prior permission Slide 1

 Training Programme

1. Introduction

2. Parameters Used by ACP

3. Network Reconfiguration Process

4. Site Selection Process

5. Other Topics
 1. Introducton

Automatic optimisation tool for GSM, UMTS, CDMA, LTE and WIMAX networks
To improve existng networks by tuning parameters that can be easily changed remotely
Antenna electrical tilt
Power (BCCH for GSM, Pilot for UMTS, Reference Signal for LTE, Preamble for WiMAX)

To optmise a network still in the planning phase by:

Selecting antennas
Changing the antenna azimuth
Changing the mechanical downtilt of the antenna
Changing the antenna height
Selectng sites among a list of candidate sites

Combined GSM/UMTS/LTE optimisation can be performed

 Principle
Optmisaton of quality indicators

GSM UMTS/CDMA LTE WIMAX

BCCH coverage RSCP (Pilot) coverage Reference Signal coverage Preamble coverage
Dominance of Best Server CPICH Ec/Io Reference Signal CINR Preamble CINR

By automatc adjustments of network parameters

Power (BCCH for GSM, Pilot for UMTS/CDMA, RS for LTE and Preamble for WiMAX)

Antenna parameters:
Type of antenna
Azimuth
Mechanical downtilt
Electrical downtilt
Height
Principle
Optmisaton process based on a cost functon

The cost functon depends on quality figures

In GSM: the cost decreases when the BCCH coverage and the Best Servers dominance increase

In UMTS/CDMA: the cost decreases when the Pilot coverage and Pilot quality increase

In LTE: the cost decreases when the RS coverage and RS CINR increase

In WIMAX: the cost decreases when the Preamble coverage and Preamble CINR increase

Iteratve algorithm is used

Each iteration corresponds to one network parameter change

Then, changes are ranked from the change with the most benefit to the change with the least benefit
 Training Programme

1. Introduction

2. Parameters Used by ACP

3. Network Reconfiguration Process

4. Site Selection Process

5. Other Topics
 2. Parameters used by ACP

Focus zone
Requirements
= Area where the optmisaton will
Existng and valid path loss matrices
be performed (by default)

Recommendations
Creatng a Computaton Zone
Used to define the default area where
the ACP calculates statistics on
performance indicators

Creatng a Focus Zone

Used to define the default area in which
are the cells to be optimised

Computation zone
= Zone used to compute statstcs on
performance indicators (by default)
 Training Programme

1. Introduction

2. Parameters Used by ACP

3. Network Reconfiguration Process

4. Site Selection Process

5. Other Topics
 3. Network Reconfiguration Process

Creatng an Optimisation Setup

Defining Optimisation Parameters and Objectves

Running an Optimisation Process

Viewing Optimisation Results

Analysing Optimisation Results

 Creating an Optmisaton Setup

To run the optmisaton

immediately

To save the defined optmisaton

parameters and run the optmisaton later
 Defining Optmisaton Parameters (1/9)

Selection of layers to be optimised Layer(s) configuraton

Several in case of Mult-RAT
networks (GSM+UMTS+LTE)
 Defining Optmisaton Parameters (2/9)

Selection of zones to be optimised

Zones definiton
Possibility to define
zones to be specifically
optimized, using:
Clutter Classes,
Hot Spots zones,
.shp files
 Defining Optmisaton Parameters (3/9)

Choice between quality or financial cost based optimisation

No cost control: the optimisaton is only

based on quality

Useful when planning a new network

Possibility to limit the financial cost of the

optimisaton:
Maximum financial cost allowed
Compromise between the financial cost
and the quality

Useful when improving an existng

network

Definiton of the financial cost for:

Each parameter change
Each site visit
etc...
 Defining Optmisaton Parameters (4/9)

Selection of transmitters/cells to be optimised To define Cells Optmisaton parameters (Subcells

power in GSM, Pilot power in UMTS, RS power in LTE and
Preamble power in WiMAX)
Definition of parameters that can be modified by ACP
 Defining Optmisaton Parameters (5/9)

By default, GSM-UMTS-LTE transmitters sharing the same antenna parameters are linked
An auto-Link functon based on site coordinates, antenna height, azimuth and mechanical tlt is provided
 Defining Optmisaton Parameters (6/9)

Definition of Antenna Groups

To give some directves when reconfiguring the antenna type or the electrical tlt

Mult band Physical Antenna Mult band Physical Antenna

Dual 900 1800 65deg17dBi Dual 900 1800 36deg20dBi

Antenna Element Antenna Element

65deg17dBi@900 65deg17dBi@1800
 Defining Optmisaton Parameters (7/9)

Step 1 : Create Antenna Element (using radiating patterns)

An Antenna Element is
defined by one gain, one
beamwidth and one frequency
band
For a given frequency band, a
given beamwidth and a given
gain, the Antenna element is a
group of antenna patterns
obtained with different electrical
tlt values

Antenna patterns table

 Defining Optmisaton Parameters (8/9)

Step 2 : Create Physical Antennas (using Antenna Elements)

To define multband antennas

Mult band
Physical
Antenna

Antenna Elements
 Defining Optmisaton Parameters (9/9)

Step 3 : Create Antenna Groups (using Physical Antennas)

To define groups of Physical Antennas that will be then assigned to transmitters in the reconfiguraton tab

Antenna groups to be
assigned to TXs in the
Reconfiguraton tab
Created Physical Antennas
 Defining Objectves (1/11)

ACP allows you to define Quality and Coverage objectves for each technology
Objectves are assessed over a Target Zone (Computaton Zone, by default)

Objectves defined by the user Indicators to be optmized

 Defining Objectves (2/11)

Objectve & Zone weighting

Objectves and Zones can be weighted according to their relatve importance

Give a priority to each objectve

Give priorites to specific Zones *

(* Priorites only apply if the Zone Weighting opton is checked)
 Defining Objectves (3/11)

Default opton: NONE

Traffic weighting (per objectve) the traffic is assumed to be uniform

ACP is able to focus more specifically on areas with a high traffic The quality indicator measured on
each pixel has the same weight

Selecton of traffic maps (non-uniform traffic) to weight map pixels

The quality indicators measured on each pixel can be weighted
by using the traffic density on that pixel
 Defining Objectves (4/11)

Example: Defining UMTS objectves

Coverage objectves : UMTS RSCP Coverage

Coverage to be
respected while
meetng the
RSCP coverage
conditons

Define the
Minimum Pilot
Signal Level to
get on each
pixel of the
Target Zone
 Defining Objectves (5/11)

Example: Defining UMTS objectves

Quality objectves : UMTS EcIo

Coverage to be
respected while
meetng the Pilot
Quality
conditons

Define the
Minimum Pilot
Quality to get
on each pixel
of the Target
Zone
 Defining Objectves (6/11)

Example: Defining UMTS objectves

UMTS Objectves Parameters

For each indicator to optmize, ACP settings (display configuraton, shadowing margin) can be:
Either, taken from an existng prediction

Or, defined manually

 Defining Objectves (7/11)

Summary of the indicators that can be optimized for each technology

GSM UMTS/CDMA LTE WIMAX

BCCH coverage RSCP (Pilot) coverage Reference Signal Preamble coverage
coverage (or RSRP)
Dominance of Best CPICH Ec/Io Preamble CINR
Server Reference Signal CINR
(= Number of potential
Pilot Pollution (or RS C/N, RSRQ) Overlap
servers must be < 4)
(= Number of cells in the
Active Set > 3) Overlap
(= Number of potential
servers must be < 4)
 Defining Objectves (8/11)

Load balancing (Optional)

ACP enables you to create and manage capacity planning objectves
To prevent load imbalance between sectors and thus avoid the degradation of some KPIs

Example: Optmisaton of a UMTS network by ACP without Load Balancing (Statistics on Cell A)
Cell A: Up-tilt (2) Traffic served
Cell B: Down-tlt (1)
Cell B
Cell load
- DL Total Power
Cell A Cell A - UL Noise Rise
Interference
Cell Load A = 75% ; Cell Load B = 60% Cell Load A = 98% ; Cell Load B = 45% Risk of congestion

Solution: Load Balancing !

The Load balancing feature relies on 2 performance indicators:

The Average Load improvement (%), measures how the average load improves from the initial value
The Load Balance (%), measures the dispersion of cells loads
 Defining Objectves (9/11)

Load balancing (Optional)

Can be actvated in the Objectives tab under Load Balancing

Recommendation:
Keep the default
configuraton
Allows you to select the
layers for which load
balancing is performed
 Defining Objectves (10/11)

Load balancing (Optional)

Traffic related to capacity planning can be defined in the Capacity tab

Traffic can be
considered as uniform
(evenly spread on each
service area) or,
generated from traffic
maps
 Defining Objectves (11/11)

Load balancing (Optional)

ACP is designed to perform load balancing across multple layers and technologies

For each service used,

traffic is balanced across
all the available layers
and technologies

For each service and

each technology, define
the minimum quality
required by a cell to
provide the service

To increase traffic density

specifically on some
zones. Traffic is scaled
according to the weights
defined in the Zone
Weighting tab.
 Running an Optmisation Process (1/4)

Graphical display of the optimisation progress

Graphs tab: Variaton of performance objectves in real tme with iteratons

The optimisaton process can be

paused or stopped early
 Running an Optmisation Process (2/4)

Graphical display of the optimisation progress

Changes tab: Type and number of changes
 Running an Optmisation Process (3/4)

Graphical display of the optimisation progress

Quality tab: Coverage and Quality improvements (variatons)
 Running an Optmisation Process (4/4)

Graphical display of the optimisation progress

Objectives tab: To see at a glance if the objectve is achieved or not

Select the
objectve to be
analysed
(coverage and
quality
indicators)
 Viewing Optmisaton Results (1/5)

Optimisation results are stored in the optmisation

folder
Results available in 7 tabs Global report available
in Excel format

Statistics tab: synthesised view of optimisation

results for each objectve
Statstics provided for the Target zone
To get statistics on the other zones select Show
Detailed Zone Results

Statstcs
for each
objectve
 Viewing Optmisaton Results (2/5)

Graph and Quality tabs

Histogram displaying statstcs within the

computaton zone or the focus zone
Coverage and Quality maps
before and after the optmisaton
 Viewing Optmisaton Results (3/5)

Capacity tab
Provides capacity load statstcs for the inital and the optmised network

The graph shows the rato of cells

with a capacity load that is smaller
than a given capacity load value (%).
Usually, the best result that you can
get is a final curve (blue curve) on
top of the initial curve (red curve).

Statstcs based on the values

displayed in the table (on the right)
 Viewing Optmisaton Results (4/5)

Change Details tab

Analysis of improvements according to the number of changes
Changes are ordered by profitability
The most profitable changes will be applied first

Slider to select a subset of all

changes and view the corresponding
performance improvement on the
graph (global improvement and
improvement of each objectve)

List of changes ranked from the change

with the most effect to the change with
the least effect
Selected changes are displayed in green
 Viewing Optmisaton Results (5/5)

Commit tab
To commit changes that you allowed in the Change Details tab

Transmitters/cells with
parameter changes are
displayed in green
Inital and final cell
parameters displayed

Revert the network to its state

before the optmisaton was run
Apply the set of selected
changes
 Analysing Optmisaton Results (1/5)

Process
Quick validaton of optmisaton results using the ACP maps
First analysis available without having to commit ACP results
Based on the entire set of proposed changes
Deeper analysis with coverage predictons available in the predictons folder
Afer committing ACP results

ACP Maps Available

Quality analysis maps
Display of Coverage and Quality maps

Coverage analysis
Status of the coverage according to the defined objectives used in the optimisation

Change analysis
Analysis of changes: antenna, tilt, azimuth

Best server analysis

Absolute values of changed parameters
 Analysing Optmisaton Results (2/5)

Analysis with ACP Maps

ACP maps are automatcally

calculated and inserted into
the folder containing the
optmisaton results
 Analysing Optmisaton Results (3/5)

Analysis with ACP Maps

Tiptext available for any ACP map
The exact calculated value is displayed on each pixel

Display propertes of ACP maps

Automatic update of the ACP map afer changing colours or range of values
 Analysing Optmisaton Results (4/5)

Analysis with ACP Maps

Histogram available on ACP maps

Comparison tool
Available to compare ACP maps from the same optimisation or from a diferent optimisation
 Analysing Optmisaton Results (5/5)

Analysis with coverage predictions from the predictions folder

Requirement: Commit results of the optmisaton

Calculatng predicton studies before and afer the optmisaton

Generating reports on the predictons studies before and after the optimisaton in order to check if
network quality figures have been improved

Possibility to Roll back to Inital State

 Training Programme

1. Introduction

2. Parameters Used by ACP

3. Network Reconfiguration Process

4. Site Selection Process

5. Other Topics
 4. Site Selecton Process

Overview

Defining Candidate Sites

Viewing Optimisation Results

 Overview (1/2)

Examples of Site Selection process

Scenario 1: using ACP to select the best site among several candidates on a given geographical area
3 candidate sites available
Candidate sites are assigned to a group where the minimum and the maximum site occurrence is set to 1
Among the 3 candidates, the ACP is forced to select only one site

Scenario 2: using ACP to deploy the LTE technology on a given area using existng UMTS sites
About 40 UMTS sites (i.e. 40 candidate sites) available on the target area
Candidate sites are assigned to a group where the minimum site occurrence is set to 10 and the maximum
to 20
Among the 40 candidates, the ACP is forced to select between 10 and 20 sites to reach objectives
 Overview (2/2)

General process similar to the site reconfiguration process:

Creatng an optmisaton setup

Defining Candidate sites

Defining objectves and parameters to be optmised

Note: The Reconfiguration mode is available (not mandatory) during the Site Selection process.

Running an optmisaton process

Viewing optmisaton results

Analysing optmisaton results

 Defining Candidate Sites (1/3)

By using pre-defined sites

Prerequisite: Statons to be processed by ACP must be defined in the Atoll document with a given status

Two status for sites:

Existing:
The site is an actve site in the current
network. ACP can remove the whole site or
one or more sectors of the site to improve the
network quality

Candidate:
The site is not on-air in the initial network (i.e.
all TXs are deactivated). ACP can add the site
or only one or more sectors of the site to
improve the network quality

Check Current Site Selection to allow changes

(site / sector removal) among existing sites

Check Current Site Selection to display

deactivated sites. Then, define groups of sites
with a min. and a max. number of sites to be
added during the optimisation (Group
column)
 Defining Candidate Sites (2/3)

By using pre-defined sites

Reconfguration column:
Select Disable to prevent ACP from making
any changes to the Transmitters or to the Cells,
as defined in the Transmitters and the
[Technology] Cells tabs
In case of network reconfiguration, you can
preserve the current angular separation
between antennas, and the relative height
difference between them

Advanced tab:
Allows you to apply the same
locking options to a set of sites,
and to manage groups
 Defining Candidate Sites (3/3)

By importing a list of candidate sites

Opton 1: import a text file (*.txt)

containing at least candidates
name and coordinates
Opton 2: import a list of
candidate sites from the Atoll
project

To allocate a staton template

to each candidate site
 Viewing Site Selecton Results (1/3)

Statstics Report

Statstcs and status of the

optimisaton (Achieved or
Failed) for each objectve

Select Show Change Statistics to get

statstcs on the sites/sectors added or
removed, and all the changes made
during the optmisaton process
 Viewing Site Selecton Results (2/3)

Implementation Plan Analysis

Sites/TXs/Cells added or removed

List of changes (antennas, tlts, etc.)

if Reconfiguration mode selected
 Viewing Site Selecton Results (3/3)

Transmitters/Cells Modifications Analysis

List of candidate TXs/cells to be

added

List of TXs/cells to be removed

List of changes (antennas, tlts,
etc.), if Reconfiguration mode
selected
 Training Programme

1. Introduction

2. Parameters Used by ACP

3. Network Reconfiguration Process

4. Site Selection Process

5. Other Topics
 6. Other Topics

Combined GSM/UMTS/LTE Optimisation (in case of several .atl documents)

Data Loading and Validity Control

Saving Settings to Configuration Files

Configuring Default Setngs

 Combined GSM/UMTS/LTE Optmisaton (1/2)

Requirements (in case of several .atl documents)

Several Atoll projects (GSM, UMTS and/or LTE .atl files) that must be opened in the same Atoll session

General process similar to a classic optimisation

Creatng the optmisaton setup

Defining optmisaton parameters

Running the optmisaton process

Viewing optmisaton results

Analysing optmisaton results

 Combined GSM/UMTS/LTE Optmisaton (2/2)

Procedure (in case of several .atl documents)

Step 1: Create the optmisaton setup in one single technology document (a LTE document for ex.)

Step 2: Import other(s) network(s) configuraton by importng associated project(s)

 Data Loading and Validity Control (1/2)

Data used when running an optimisation process

Loaded when creating an

optimisation setup

Radio data (antennas, sites, transmitters)

Traffic parameters (services, terminals, etc.)

Direct access when running the

optimisation process

Geographic maps (DTM, clutter class and clutter height maps)

Traffic maps
Path loss matrices
 Data Loading and Validity Control (2/2)

Data validity control when running an optimisation process

Atoll checks the consistency between the optimisaton setup, the actual state of the network and path loss
matrices
If inconsistencies => existng optmisaton setups are locked and new optmisaton process cannot be run

Incoherence with existing setup when:

Data changes are performed after creatng the setup (e.g. New transmitter, transmitter deactvated,
diferent transmitter settings, etc.)
Optmisaton results have been committed
Path loss matrices are missing or not valid
 Saving Setngs to Configuration Files

Save or load a given Setup Configuration

Import the configuraton file containing

optmisaton settngs
Used to apply the same settngs when
you create a new optmisaton setup

Optmisaton settngs saved in a .PRJ file

(objectves per clutter class, lists of cells
to be reconfigured, reconfiguraton
settngs, etc.)
 Configuring User Preferences

Trade-off between
speed and quality

Enables you to actvate

the Mult-Storey and
the EMF Exposure
extensions
 Setup Template Configuration

Define default values of the

Optmisaton Setup
 Configuring Path Loss Matrices Storage

Define the folder to be

used by ACP to store
Path Loss Matrices
(used in case of Antenna
Height optmisaton)
Thank you