17/12/20 Security Level:

LTE Cell Planning

LTE RNP 2010-06

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HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential

 Content
Process for Planning the LTE Network

Frequency Planning

Cell ID Planning

TA Planning

PCI Planning

Neighbor Cell Planning

X2 Planning

PRACH Planning

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 2

Process of LTE Network Design
Informati
The general process includes on
information collection, network Collectio
n
dimensioning, network detailed Network
design and cell planning. For cell Dimensionin
g
planning, it contains frequency
Network
planning, cell ID planning, TA Detailed
planning, PCI planning, neighbor Design
cell planning, X2 interface
Cell
planning, and PRACH planning. Planning

Frequen Cell ID TA PCI NB Cell X2 PRACH

cy Plannin Plannin Plannin Plannin Plannin Plannin
Planning g g g g g g

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 Content
Process for Planning the LTE Network

Frequency Planning

Cell ID Planning

TA Planning

PCI Planning

Neighbor Cell Planning

X2 Planning

PRACH Planning

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 4

Frequency Planning
Why and when perform frequency planning?
When the LTE system works on the same frequency band, interference occurs
between the UEs on the edge of cell because they are close to each other and
use the same resources. In this case, the performance of the UEs deteriorates.
The inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) technology can be used to
change interference distribution to improve the throughput on the edge of cell.

When static DL ICIC is used, the entire

bandwidth is divided into three parts, each of
which serves as the edge band of a cell for
reuse. In this case, network planning
engineers need to perform frequency
planning.

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Notes for Frequency Planning

In actual network coverage condition, the network structure is quite

complex, therefore 1x3 frequency reuse can mitigate interference only to a
certain extent.
In network expansion scenario, frequent planning adjustments need to be
performed for the whole network, because the network structure is
changed due to adding new sites in the same areas. The eNB
configuration of the whole network may be changed in this situation.
In indoor coverage scenario, frequency reuse is hard to be ensured.
If the DL ICIC function is required, dynamic ICIC is recommended.

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 6

 Content
Process for Planning the LTE Network

Frequency Planning

Cell ID Planning

TA Planning

PCI Planning

Neighbor Cell Planning

X2 Planning

PRACH Planning

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 7

Cell ID Planning
Different from WCDMA cell ID, LTE cell ID consists of 20-bit eNB ID and 8-
bit cell ID, which ensures that the LTE cell ID is unique in the entire network.
If the PLMN (MCC + MNC) is used, the LTE cell ID is unique worldwide. The
WCDMA cell ID is unique on each RNC, the GSM and CDMA cell ID also is
similar to the WCDMA cell ID.
The eNB involves the local cell ID, sector ID, and cell ID. It is advised to
plan the three IDs starting from 0, which ensures that they are consistent.

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Considerations for Actual Planning

In practice, customers may provide numbering rules for different areas

and cities. If customers have no additional requirements, the only principle
of eNB ID planning is to confirm it s unique in the whole network.

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 Content
Process for Planning the LTE Network

Frequency Planning

Cell ID Planning

TA Planning

PCI Planning

neighbor Cell Planning

X2 Planning

PRACH Planning

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 10

 TA Planning
TA Concept
In LTE system, TAC is similar to the location area and routing area ( LAC ) in 2G/3G
networks, the tracking area (TA) is used for paging and route update. TA planning
aims to reduce location update signaling caused by location changes in LTE system.

TAI list
TA list identify the tracking areas that the UE can enter without performing a tracking
area updating procedure. The TAIs in a TAI list assigned by an MME to a UE pertain
to the same MME area. Additionally, the TAIs in a TAI list assigned by an MME to a
CS fallback capable UE pertain to the same location area. In this case, the defining of
the relationship between the tracking area(s) and the location area(s) is operator
specific.
In LTE system, if an UE changes the TAs in the TAI list, TA update wont be triggered.

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TA Planning Principle
A TA should be medium. The limitations by the EPC must be considered.
(Currently, each TA supports a maximum of 30 eNBs in the EPC. USN9810
V900R001C03SPC300 100 eNB )
When the suburban area and urban area are covered discontinuously, an
independent TA is used for the suburban area.
TA should be planned for a continuous geographical area to avoid TA discrete
distribution.
The paging area cannot be located in different MMEs.
The mountain or river in the planned area can be used as TA boundary to reduce
the overlapping depth of two TAs. In this way, fewer location updates are
performed on the edge of TA.
The LAC planning in the existing 2G/3G networks can serve as a reference for
planning TAC.

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 Content
Process for Planning the LTE Network

Frequency Planning

Cell ID Planning

TA Planning

PCI Planning

Neighbor Cell Planning

X2 Planning

PRACH Planning

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 13

 PCI Planning
In LTE system, the physical cell identifier (PCI) is used to differentiate radio signals of
different cells. PCI can be reused in the whole network, but should be unique in one
coverage area to ensure UE can distinguish different cells.
PCI= 3 * PCI Group ID+ ID within PCI Group
UE captures ID within PCI Group through demodulating PSCH, and captures PCI Group ID
through demodulating SSCH.

The function of PCIs in the LTE system is similar to that of scrambling codes in WCDMA
system. PCI planning also aims to ensure the reuse distance.

Differences between a scrambling code and a PCI: The scrambling code ranges from 0 to
511 whereas the PCI ranges from 0 to 503. In addition, the protocols do not have specific
requirements for scrambling code planning. Therefore, only the reuse distance needs to be
ensured in scrambling code planning. For PCI planning, however, 3GPP protocols require
that the value of PCI/3 should be 0, 1, or 2 in each eNB.

UENT 3.6 can be used for PCI planning.

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Actual Considerations

PCIs should be reserved for indoor coverage.

For multiple cities, PCIs should be reserved for border coverage.

For a high site that may lead to cross-cell coverage, a large reuse
distance needs to be set independently.

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 Content
Process for Planning the LTE Network

Frequency Planning

Cell ID Planning

TA Planning

PCI Planning

Neighbor Cell Planning

X2 Planning

PRACH Planning

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 16

Neighbor Cell Planning
The method of LTE neighbor cell planning is similar to neighbor planning of GSM/WCDMA/CDMA.
Currently, the planning method and tool (UNET 3.6) for LTE are available.
The configuration is different from GSM/WCDMA/CDMA . There is no BSC/RNC in the LTE system.
When an eNB cell is configured as neighbor cells of other eNBs, external cells must be added first,
which is similar to the scenario where inter-BSC/RNC neighbor cells are configured on the BSC. That
is, neighbor cells can be configured only after the corresponding cell information is added.

ADD EUTRANINTRAFREQNCELL; DSP EUTRANEXTENALCELL

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ANR and Neighbor Cell Planning
Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) can automatically add and maintain

neighbor relations. However, ANR function is based on UEs measurements ,

so it is closely related to the traffic load in the entire network and additional
time delay is introduced to the handover process.
Therefore, ANR is not recommended in initial phase of network construction.
After initial neighbor relations configured and the number of UEs increasing,

ANR can be used to detect missing neighbor cells and add neighbor
relations, to improve handover and other performance.

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 18

 Content
Process for Planning the LTE Network

Frequency Planning

Cell ID Planning

TA Planning

PCI Planning

Neighbor Cell Planning

X2 Planning

PRACH Planning

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 19

X2 Interface Planning

X2 interface planning is based on neighbor relations, that is, obtain the

neighbor relations belonging to different eNBs, and configure X2 interface
for these two eNBs.

In eRAN1.1 and eRAN2.0, each eNB can support 32 X2 interfaces.

The later version of the ANR can automatically maintain X2 interfaces to

solve the problems with missing X2 interfaces or configuration errors.

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 20

 Content
Process for Planning the LTE Network

Frequency Planning

Cell ID Planning

TA Planning

PCI Planning

Neighbor Cell Planning

X2 Planning

PRACH Planning

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 21

PRACH Planning - Logical Root Sequence
Indexes
What is the logical root sequence index?
The random access preambles are generated from Zadoff-Chu
sequences that with zero correlation zone.
There are 64 available preamble sequences in each cell. The 64
preamble sequences are first generated from a root Zadoff-Chu
sequence using cyclic shift. If less than 64 preamble sequences are
generated, the remaining are generated from the next root Zadoff-Chu
sequence corresponding to the logical index.
The logical root sequence index is sent
to the UE through the SIB2.

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PRACH Planning - Logical Root Sequence
Indexes
Zadoff-Chu sequence
A Zadoff-Chu sequence has good self-correlation and cross-
correlation and is defined as follows:
un ( n 1)
j
xu n e N ZC
, 0 n N ZC 1
N ZC indicates the length of the Zadoff-Chu sequence, and u indicates

the physical root sequence index. The relation between the logical
root sequence index and physical root sequence index is defined in
protocols.
The preamble sequences are generated from theth root Zadoff-Chu
u
sequence through the following cyclic shift.
The cyclic shift value is defined as follows:
xu ,v (n) xu ((n Cv ) mod N ZC ) vN CS v 0,1,..., N ZC N CS 1, N CS 0 for unrestricted sets


Cv 0 N CS 0 for unrestricted sets
RA
v nshift (v mod nshift
dstart
RA
) N CS v 0,1,..., nshift ngroup nshift 1
RA RA RA
for restricted sets

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Causes for Planning the Root Sequence Index

There are 64 preamble sequences in each cell. The preamble sequence

is selected randomly or assigned by the eNB. To reduce interference of

preamble sequences between neighbor cells, the root Zadoff-Chu
sequence index need to be planned properly.

The planning aims to assign the root Zadoff-Chu sequence index for cells

to ensure that different preamble sequences are generated for neighbor

cells through the index. In this way, interference of preamble sequences
between neighbor cells can be reduced.

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 24

 Factors Affecting the Access Radius

Preamble format
Preamble Format Maximum Cell Radius
0 14.5 km
1 77.3 km
2 29.5 km
3 100 km

Ncs

N CS 1.04875 (6.67r TMD 2)

The unit of r is km. The unit of TMD is sec. The value of N CS is subject to the
cell radius and maximum delay extension.

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How to Plan (Take Low Speed Cell as an Example)

Step 1: The Ncs value is determined by the cell radius. If the cell radius is
10 km, the Ncs value is 76.
Step 2: The value of 839/76 is rounded down to 11, that is, each index
can generate 11 preamble sequences. In this case, six root sequence
indexes are required to generate 64 preamble sequences.
Step 3: The number of available root sequence indexes is 139 (0, 6, 12
828).
Step 4: The available root sequence indexes are assigned to cells. The
assignment principles are similar to those for PCIs.

The planning method of high speed cell is similar to that of a low

speed cell. The algorithm for determining available root sequence
indexes, however, is more complex.
Its recommended to use UNET 3.6 for PRACH planning.

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential Page 26

Thank you
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