Operator Diversity in Forest and Rural Applications: Eliane Semaan

Operator Diversity in Forest and Rural
Applications
ELIANE SEMAAN
Master of Science Thesis

Stockholm, Sweden 2011
Operator Diversity in Forest and Rural
Applications
ELIANE SEMAAN
Master of Science Thesis performed at

the Radio Communication Systems Group, KTH.
June 2011
Examiner: Professor S. Ben Slimane

KTH School of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
Radio Communication Systems (RCS)
TRITA-ICT-EX-2011:132
c Eliane Semaan, June 2011

Tryck: Universitetsservice AB
Abstract
Information and communications technology is increasingly important for ru-

ral areas, not just for individual needs but also for the highly automated and
demanding forest industry. The ability to communicate wireless in rural areas
greatly improves the personal safety of forest workers and provides economical
gain for the forest industry.
In the absence of a mobile operator that can solely cover rural areas, a so called
”operator diversity model” seems to be a natural fit as it allows access to all
available operators and communication networks (2G to 4G) at a specific rural
location. To enable the design of the operator diversity model, it is essential
to identify and study all possible communication standards and their respective
properties that could be included in this model.
This thesis investigates the improvement of coverage probability if the operator
diversity concept is applied in rural areas. The simulation results show that a
coverage probability of 100 percent can be reached in some scenarios.
In addition, a case study is carried out in the forest areas around Nykvarn with
the intention of demonstrating the substantial benefits of adopting the operator
diversity concept. Moreover, bit rate measurements are performed in the same
area, thereby providing an insight as to what bit rates to expect in Swedish
rural areas.
Furthermore, the user business case is considered in order to estimate the addi-
tional costs associated with the operator diversity concept.
iii
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my advisor, Mats Nil-
son, Wireless@KTH, for his inspiration, constructive comments and extensive
support throughout this thesis. His wide knowledge and his logical way of think-
ing have been of great value for me.
I would like to extend my thanks to Göran Andersson, COS Communication

Systems KTH, for his time, guidance and support. I would also like to thank
Prof. Ben Slimane for agreeing to be my examiner.
A special acknowledgement goes to my sponsors at Skogforsk, represented

by Bertil Lidén for their help during the course of the thesis. I also really
appreciate the indispensable help during the field measurements from my fellow
student Ahmed Aslam.
v
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Mobile Communications in Rural Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Thesis Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Previous Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Thesis Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Review of System Standards 7

2.1 The Second Generation System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.1 Frequency bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.2 System features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 The 2.5 and 2.9 Generation Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.1 GPRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.2 EDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3 The Third Generation Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3.1 WCDMA and TD-CDMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3.2 HSPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.3 HSPA+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4 The Long-Term Evolution System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4.1 System features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4.2 Supported frequency bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5 The CDMA2000/450 MHz System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.5.1 The CDMA2000 technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.5.2 System features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3 Radio Propagation and Coverage 19

3.1 Radio Propagation and Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2 Path Loss Propagation Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.1 The Cost 231 extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2.2 The ITU-R extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Fading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.1 Shadow fading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3.2 Fast fading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.4 Interference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.5 Link Budget Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
vii
viii Contents
4 Simulation 29
4.1 Simulation Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2 Performance Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.3 Simulation Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3.1 Data communication model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3.2 Voice communication model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5 Field Measurements 33
5.1 Received Signal Strength Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1.1 Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1.2 Purpose of measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.2 Bit Rate Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6 Results 37
6.1 Simulation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2 Field Measurement Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
7 User Business Case 43

7.1 Proposed Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.1.1 Broadband services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.1.2 Voice services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.2 Cost Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
8 Conclusion 47
9 Future Work 49
References 51
A Radio Link Budgets 55
B Field Measurement Results 57
C Sample Code 59
List of Tables
2.1 EDGE data rates for the different coding schemes . . . . . . . . . 9

2.2 Channel bandwidths specified in LTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3 Paired frequency bands defined by the 3rd Generation Partner-
ship Project (3GPP) for LTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4 Unpaired frequency bands defined by the 3rd Generation Part-
nership Project (3GPP) for LTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.1 Hata path loss model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3.2 The extended path loss model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Interference margin as a function of the load in LTE systems . . 26
3.4 Link budget parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1 Simulation parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.1 Field measurement results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
A.1 Uplink budget calculations (Data communications) . . . . . . . . 55

A.2 Uplink budget calculations (Voice communications) . . . . . . . . 56
B.1 Detailed measurement results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
ix
List of Figures
1.1 Speech signal coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1 Minimum required received signal-to-noise ratio as a function of

bandwidth utilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Coverage provided by 450, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz . . . . . . . 17
3.1 The log-normal probability density function . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3.2 Useful fraction of cell area - Hexagonal cell . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3 Probability density function of the Rayleigh distribution . . . . . 24
3.4 Probability density function of the Rician distribution . . . . . . 25
3.5 Interference margin as a function of the load in CDMA 450 systems 26
4.1 Illustration of the diversity model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.1 Measurement equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

5.2 Measurement area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5.3 Measurement setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.1 Median coverage probability for data communications with four

networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.2 Median coverage probability for data communications with six
networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
6.3 Median coverage probability for voice communications with four
networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
xi
Chapter 1
Introduction
Swedish rural areas, covering more than 60 percent of the country’s total area,
suffer from two major problems. These problems have arisen as a result of the
extensive focus of mobile operators on covering densely populated areas rather
than rural areas. The first major issue is the lack of coverage for mobile com-
munications in extensive rural areas, which affects, in addition to data services,
regular telephone calls that are necessary in order to meet certain service and
security levels in rural areas. The second common problem is that Internet
connections are too slow for some services that are of a certain importance for
the forest industry. Sending maps, instructions and ongoing work information
from and to forest equipment is an example of such services. This situation
has resulted in the need for new or at least, improved technologies in order to
support communications in such areas.
In order to get further insight into the current situation in rural Sweden, some
background information and related facts are presented in the first part of this
Chapter. The second part aims at explaining the problem to be investigated as
well as providing the outline of the thesis report.
1.1 Mobile Communications in Rural Sweden

Currently, Mobile communications in rural Sweden highly rely on the use of
GSM 900 and CDMA2000/450 MHz. The latter is a 3G system, operating in
the 450 MHz frequency band and well suited for providing telecommunications
coverage, especially over rural regions due to the propagation characteristics
of the 450 MHz band [1]. The CDMA2000/450 MHz communication system,
also known as CDMA 450, thus allows base stations to achieve greater coverage
areas, which in turn, results in fewer base stations needed to cover a given area.
Thus, the coverage area of CDMA 450 is proved to be three times larger than
in the 900 MHz band, and twelve times larger than in the 1800 MHz and 2100
MHz [2]. The operator Net1 is the only operator deploying CDMA 450 MHz
services in Sweden.
The GSM 900 system belongs to the second-generation communication systems
(2G) and operates in the 900 MHz band.
On the other hand, a promising technology for rural areas is the Long-Term
1
2 Chapter 1. Introduction
Evolution (LTE) standard. TeliaSonera, Tele2 and Telenor already deploy sys-
tems based on this standard and operating in the 2.6 GHz band in Sweden.
A key feature of the LTE (4G) standard is the improved capability in terms of
peak data rates (i.e. 5 bits/s per Hz bandwidth in the downlink direction and
2.5 bits/s per Hz bandwidth in the uplink direction) [3]. Moreover, LTE allows
for high data rates at cell edges and reduced latency.
However, deploying this system in a lower frequency band has always been at-
tractive for rural communications. Such a deployment has been made available
in Sweden by the Post-och telestyrelsen (PTS) auctioning of the 800 MHz spec-
trum on Feb 28th 2011. The winners of this auction were TeliaSonera, ”3” and
Net4Mobility, which is a joint venture between Telenor and Tele2 [4]. Each
winner is offered 2x10 MHz, which is half of what is needed for maximum LTE
bit rate performance.
According to the coverage maps provided by different operators in Sweden,

it is obvious that there are several independent networks outside the main urban
areas. An example showing this independency is illustrated in Figure 1.1 [5][6].
The important aspect of this fact is the possibility of providing a higher coverage
probability in case access to all possible 2G-4G networks is considered at a
specific rural location, in other words, by using operator diversity.
Figure 1.1: Speech signal coverage
1.2 Thesis Motivation

Although the GSM and CDMA 450 networks have been the predominant solu-
tions for mobile communications in Swedish rural areas, they have some major
disadvantages.
The existing GSM network, first launched at the beginning of the 1990s, still
does not have enough coverage in Swedish rural areas, i.e. the operator TeliaSon-
era has the best GSM network in Sweden, covering about 90% of the country’s
area. Although the forestry industry prioritizes coverage, when it comes to data
1.2. Thesis Motivation 3
transfer, the GSM system, even when upgraded to GSM/EDGE (2.9G), does
not have the ability to provide high-speed data transfer, especially at large dis-
tances from base stations. Thus, EDGE cannot be considered as the desirable
solution, especially for services requiring high data rates.
On the other hand, CDMA 450 provides higher performance than GSM
in terms of coverage, basically due to its deployment in low frequency bands.
However, the services offered by this system are limited to Data-Only services,
implying the use of relatively large-sized equipment and terminals, which in turn
affects flexibility. Moreover, the fact that Net1 does not offer mobile telephony
services is a major drawback, affecting the effectiveness of CDMA 450.
In brief, TeliaSonera’s GSM network and Net1’s CDMA 450 network are
currently the best, yet insufficient alternatives, providing, speech, respectively
data communication services in rural Sweden.
As mentioned in the previous section, the LTE standard is a promising technol-
ogy for rural environments. However, the performance of LTE-based systems
has not yet been evaluated in rural areas. Besides, it remains unclear at the
moment how large investment the operators are willing to make in order to im-
prove coverage in rural areas.
All of this yet again makes operator diversity an interesting alternative as it

would be interesting to investigate the coverage probability in a specific rural
area if access to all possible 2G-4G networks is considered.
The concept of the operator diversity model is to benefit from the availability
of these independent mobile operators and networks at a specific location. The
user will be able in this case to switch from one operator to another one when
experiencing lack of coverage, or in other words, outage. In addition, the user
will be able to switch between different networks within the same operator.
Switching from one operator to another one occurs when the user experiences
outage with the first operator and hence tends to find another operator providing
coverage at that specific location. As a result, the user is considered to be
covered if he is covered by at least one network (or operator). On the other
hand, the user will experience outage if he is located within a white spot where
no operator can provide coverage.
The main objectives of this thesis are listed below:
• Investigate the performance of the operator diversity technique in terms

of coverage probability.
• Evaluate the service improvement as a function of the additional costs.
• Provide an insight into the service quality and the achievable bit rates in
rural Sweden by means of field measurements.
The study is focused on the uplink transmission, since that typically limits
coverage in cellular systems, mainly due to output power considerations for
the user equipment. However, field measurements will cover both uplink and
downlink directions.
4 Chapter 1. Introduction
1.3 Previous Work

The concept of operator diversity in forest and rural environments has not been
studied in any previous work. However, the GSM/EDGE downlink performance
in forest environments has been examined in [7] and results showing the coverage
and throughput levels of EDGE have been presented. It has been shown that
the throughput of EDGE in rural environments was below expectations, mainly
due to the high BLER levels caused by the extra attenuation inside forest. The
outcome of the coverage study showed that, for a hand-held phone:
• Roughly 20% of the total cell area would be covered by throughputs above
100 Kbps.
• Throughput below 100 Kbps will be experienced in the remaining 80% of
the total cell area.
In [8], a path loss model for GSM900 in coniferous forest was created. Further-
more, the distribution of the received signal was examined and the Rayleigh
distribution was found to be a relatively good approximation for both high and
low receive antenna elevations.
Some of the simulations and measurements conducted in [7] and [8] will serve
in this thesis work as a basis for defining some propagation characteristics that
are specifically related to rural Sweden.
A similar concept to Operator Diversity is National roaming, which enables

users to roam between multiple operators within a country. This concept was
examined in [9] and it was shown that national roaming more than doubles the
data rates for users at the cell border.
A related study of how users should be allocated within one operator’s multi-
access network was conducted in [10]. It was concluded that considerable gains
could be achieved in a combined GSM/EDGE and WCDMA scenario.
The essential difference between this project and the work conducted in [9] and
[10] includes the following:
• In [9], three different operators are assumed to provide three communica-
tion networks that are based on the same standard, e.g. WCDMA. The
new aspect in this thesis project is that several communication system
standards are involved including EDGE, HSPA, LTE and CDMA 450.
• The study conducted in [10] evaluates the gains achieved by combining two
communication system standards, GSM/EDGE and WCDMA, provided
by the same operator. The key distinction between the study made in [10]
and this thesis project is the fact that in this project many operators and
communication systems are involved.
Moreover, the studies made in [9] and [10] are not oriented towards rural areas.
1.4 Thesis Outline

The thesis is organized in the following order:
1.4. Thesis Outline 5
Chapter 2 introduces the system standards involved in this thesis with focus
on LTE.
Chapter 3 explains the basics of radio propagation and describes the path loss
model used in this project. In addition, the chapter briefly describes the effects
of fading and interference on radio propagation. Link budget calculations are
also described in the end of the chapter.
Chapter 4 introduces the simulation model as well as the simulation tool.
Chapter 5 describes the measurement purpose, the measurement area and the
used equipment.
Chapter 6 presents the obtained results and attempts to discuss them.
Chapter 7 deals with the user business case and cost estimation.
Chapter 8 and 9 conclude the thesis and present some suggestions for future
studies.
Chapter 2
Review of System
Standards
Mobile network evolution started in the early 1980s and has been categorized
into ”generations” along the years. The first generation mobile systems were
consisting of analogue systems, enabling speech and some limited related ser-
vices. These systems were first introduced in Europe in 1981, operating at 450
and 900 MHz bands. One of the main drawbacks of these systems was their in-
compatibility with each other, making inter-system and international roaming
impossible. In addition, there was no efficient use of the frequency spectrum
and the services that could be offered for the subscribers were very limited.
2.1 The Second Generation System

In order to overcome these limitations, a new standard called Global System
for Mobile communications was developed and first introduced in Europe at
the beginning of 1991. By the end of 1993, this standard became adopted
by more European countries as well as Australia, Hong Kong, part of Asia,
South America and United States [11] and continued to evolve to meet the
requirements of data services and to allow for new services.
2.1.1 Frequency bands

The GSM system uses a duplex frequency band around 900 MHz [12]. The first
band is dedicated to the uplink and operates at 890 to 915 MHz and the second
band is dedicated to the downlink and operates at 935 to 960 MHz which means
that the available bandwidth in each direction is equal to 25 MHz. A frequency
division multiplexing (FDM) scheme is then used to allocate each GSM channel
200 KHz of bandwidth, resulting in 25 MHz/200 KHz = 125 channels available
in each direction. One of these channels is used as a guard band, leaving 124
effective channels available for data transfer and communication [13]. Each of
these frequency channels is in turn divided into TDM frames using time division
multiplexing (TDM). Each frame is 4.615 ms long and consists of eight time
slots or bursts, each assigned to a user, resulting in an effective bandwidth of
200 KHz/8 slots = 25 KHz per user.
7
8 Chapter 2. Review of System Standards
The GSM frequency band was later extended by 10 MHz or 50 carriers (10
MHz/200 KHz). This extension is referred to as ”E-GSM” and consists of the
uplink band (880 - 915 MHz) and the downlink band (925-960 MHz).
2.1.2 System features

The modulation method used for GSM systems is a constant-amplitude modula-
tion called the Gaussian Minimum Phase-shift Keying (GMSK). In this scheme,
the modulated signal is able to carry 1 bit per modulated symbol over the radio
path originally supporting data rates up to 9.6 Kbps on a single time slot [11].
All basic services such as speech, fax and data services up to 9.6 Kbps were
provided by this network.
2.2 The 2.5 and 2.9 Generation Systems

The GSM system continued to evolve; the next version of this system was the
GSM and VAS (Value Added Services). At this phase, two platforms were
added to the original GSM system, the Voice Mail System (VMS) and the
Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) [14].
2.2.1 GPRS
The next step was to introduce new elements such as SGSN (Serving GPRS)
and GGSN (Gateway GPRS) to the already existing system. This part of the
network is referred to as the packet core network. This enhancement in the
system led to the GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) or 2.5G and made it
possible to send packet data on the air-interface and to access the Internet wire-
less with bit rates between 8 and 20 kbps on a single time slot. The modulation
scheme used at this stage was the same as the one used for GSM (GMSK).
The reason behind this enhanced data rate is the introduction of a packet-
switched network; the network resources became more dynamic and efficient
due to the fact that the subscriber became able to log into the network, use all
the eight time slots dynamically and be charged only when using the resources.
2.2.2 EDGE
During this period of time, a more advanced set of specifications and require-
ments (Third-generation systems) were defined by the International Telecom-
munications Union - Radio communication sector (ITU-R) and aiming at pro-
viding multimedia services and high-speed data rates. This fact has led to the
emergence of a technology known as EDGE (Enhanced Data rates in GSM En-
vironment) or 2.9G, which is able to deliver services and data rates similar to
the recently specified requirements, yet with implementation on the existing
second generation network (GSM).
For this purpose, the Octagonal Phase-shift Keying (8-PSK) modulation scheme
was introduced and added to the GMSK allowing the modulated signal to carry
3 bits compared to 1 bit in the case of GSM and GPRS. As a result, EDGE
became four times as efficient as GPRS [15] due to the nine modulation and
coding schemes (MCS-1 to MCS-9) used in EDGE systems and providing the
2.3. The Third Generation Systems 9
different throughputs given in Table 2.1 [14].
Table 2.1: EDGE data rates for the different coding schemes
MCS Modulation User rate (kbps per time slot)

1 GMSK 8.8
2 GMSK 11.2
3 GMSK 14.8
4 GMSK 17.6
5 8-PSK 22.4
6 8-PSK 29.6
7 8-PSK 44.8
8 8-PSK 54.4
9 8-PSK 59.2
2.3 The Third Generation Systems

The initial steps towards 3G technologies, also known as IMT-2000, were first
taken by the radio communication sector of the International Telecommunica-
tion Union (ITU R) in the mid 1980s. A spectrum of 230 MHz was identified for
IMT2000 by the World Administrative Radio Congress (WARC-92) such that
2x60 MHz of this spectrum was identified as paired spectrum for Frequency
Division Duplex (FDD) and 35 MHz as unpaired spectrum for Time Division
Duplex (TDD). The frequency bands defined for the UMTS standard are 1885-
2025 MHz for the uplink and 2110-2200 MHz for the downlink.
2.3.1 WCDMA and TD-CDMA

The very first target data rates for the 3G circuit-switched and packet-switched
data services were [16]:
• Up to 64 kbps in a vehicular environment.
• Up to 144 kbps in a pedestrian environment.
• Up to 2 Mbps in an indoor environment.
This new generation of cellular standards has resulted in the UMTS system, first
offered in 2001 and standardized by 3GPP. This system was based on wideband
CDMA (WCDMA) in the paired spectrum (FDD) and Time Division CDMA
(TD-CDMA) in the unpaired spectrum (TDD).
In the case of WCDMA, a multiple access scheme known as Direct-Sequence

Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) is used. This scheme is based on
the Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) modulation technique, operat-
ing by spreading the signals from and to different users with different codes.
WCDMA is, as mentioned above, used for UMTS in the paired spectrum; the
uplink frequency band extends from 1920 to 1980 MHz, while the downlink fre-
quency band is in the range 2110 to 2170 MHz [14].
Although several bandwidths were defined for the WCDMA system (e.g. 5, 10
and 20 MHz), the one that is currently being used is 5MHz. However, it should
be noted that the effective bandwidth is 3.84 MHz, as the guard band takes up
0.6 MHz from each side.
On the other hand, TD-CDMA is the channel access technique used for
UMTS in the unpaired spectrum. This technique uses increments of 5 MHz
of spectrum, each portion is split into 10 ms frames containing 15 time slots
which in turn are allocated in fixed percentage for the downlink and uplink
directions. The main difference between TD-CDMA and WCDMA is that TD-
CDMA allows deployment in narrow frequency bands as it does not require
separate frequency bands for the two directions. The frequency bands 1900-
1920 and 2010-2025 MHz are the most commonly used bands for UMTS-TDD
in Europe [17].
2.3.2 HSPA
The evolution of WCDMA started with the introduction of High-Speed Down-
link Packet Access (HSDPA) in Release 5 of the 3GPP/WCDMA specifica-
tions. The second evolutionary step was characterized by the complementary
Enhanced Uplink (HSUPA) and introduced in Release 6 of the 3GPP/WCDMA
specifications. These two steps in the evolution of WCDMA are commonly re-
ferred to as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA).
A crucial aspect of this evolution was the constraint on backwards com-

patibility to operate on already deployed networks. However, several new tech-
niques have been introduced in order to support this evolution in both downlink
and uplink directions, including high-order modulation, rate control, channel-
dependent scheduling, and hybrid ARQ with soft combining. As a result, HSPA
provides enhanced data rates, up to 14 Mbps in the downlink and 5.7 Mbps in
the uplink. Furthermore, a significant improvement in terms of round trip times
and capacity is allowed by HSPA. As we will see in the next section, these tech-
niques are also used for the 4G systems. The concepts behind these techniques
are briefly described in this section and consist of:
• High-order modulation: In [3], it has been shown that in case of band-

R
width utilization smaller than 1 (Bandwidthutilization = γ = BW < 1),
achieving higher data rates implies a similar increase in the minimum re-
quired signal power at the receiver. However, in case of data rates in the
same order or larger than the available bandwidth (Bandwidthutilization =
R
γ = BW > 1), increasing the data rate implies a relatively much larger
increase in the minimum required received signal power. The relationship
between bandwidth utilization and minimum required received power is
illustrated in Figure 2.1 [3].
Due to the fact that bandwidth is a scarce and expensive resource, high
data rates should be provided within a limited bandwidth. This is achieved
by extending the modulation alphabet to include additional signaling al-
2.3. The Third Generation Systems 11
ternatives, in other words, by using higher-order modulation. As a result,

the number of bits per symbol interval increases and thus allowing higher
data rates (e.g. QPSK uses 4 different signaling alternatives resulting in
up to 2 bits per modulation symbol. Increasing the number of signaling
alternatives to 16 (16 QAM) or 64 (64 QAM) results in an increase in the
number of bits per modulation symbol to, respectively, 4 and 6 bits). A
related drawback is that higher-order modulation schemes require higher
SNR and SIR at the receiving end.
Figure 2.1: Minimum required received signal-to-noise ratio as a function of

bandwidth utilization
• Rate control: This technique is implemented by dynamically adjusting

the channel-coding rate and at the same time selecting between different
modulation schemes. The main objective of the rate control is to track
rapid channel variations.
• Channel-dependent scheduling: Scheduling controls to which users

the shared resources should be directed at a given time instant, as well as
the data rates to be used, based on the channel conditions.
• Hybrid ARQ with soft combining: This technique is used to allow

the terminal to rapidly request retransmission of unsuccessfully received
data. In addition, soft combining implies that the terminal combines soft
information from previous transmission attempts with the retransmitted
information in order to improve the decoding process. For this purpose,
incremental redundancy (IR) is used as the soft combining strategy.
2.3.3 HSPA+
A more advanced version of HSPA is the Evolved High-Speed Packet Access
(HSPA+), first defined in Release 7 of the 3GPP/WCDMA specifications and
released late in 2008. This standard provides theoretical data rates up to 84
Mbps in the downlink and 22 Mbps in the uplink (per 5 MHz carrier) [18]. This
improvement in the system performance is provided by the use of higher order
modulation (64 QAM), in addition to multiple-input and multiple-output tech-

nique (MIMO). This multiple antenna technique is based on spatial multiplexing
and implying multiple antennas at both transmitter and receiver sides.
2.4 The Long-Term Evolution System

In parallel to the HSPA evolution, a new radio access technology, known as
Long-Term Evolution (LTE) has been specified by 3GPP with fewer restrictions
on backward compatibility and higher packet-data capabilities. In order to
support these new capabilities, an evolved core network has been specified by
the System Architecture Evolution (SAE). The targets capabilities and system
performance that have been set out by 3GPP in the initial phase of the LTE
standard development are outlined below [19]:
• Capability: Peak data rates of 5 bits/s per Hz bandwidth for the down-
link and 2.5 bits/s per Hz bandwidth for the uplink. It has to be noted
that LTE supports both paired and unpaired spectrum allocations by us-
ing, respectively, FDD and TDD. As transmission and reception occur si-
multaneously in the case of paired spectrum, these peak data rates should
also be reached simultaneously. Moreover, LTE has an attractive feature
characterized by the low delay and high data rates that can be achieved
at the cell edge and the reduced latency, with a Round Trip Time (RTT)
of 10 ms.
It is to be noticed that the achievable performance of LTE has, in many
cases, exceeded the preliminary requirements that 3GPP set out in the
initial phase; downlink data rates up to 300 Mbps and uplink data rates
up to 75 Mbps will be achieved in the future in some cases.
• Mobility: The optimal performance should be reached at low terminal
speeds (i.e. 0-15 Km/h). For speeds up to 120 Km/h, the system should be
able to provide high performance. In case of speeds above 120 Km/h, the
connection across the cellular network should be maintained. In addition,
the LTE system should be able to manage speeds up to 350 Km/h and
sometimes 500 Km/h depending on the used frequency band.
• Coverage: High performance is required for cell ranges up to 5 Km,
whereas a slight degradation in the user throughput is allowed. For cell
ranges up to 100 Km, no performance requirements are specified.
• Deployment: LTE is required to coexist with other 3GPP systems (i.e.
GSM, WCDMA/HSPA etc).

A key characteristic of LTE systems is spectrum flexibility which allows for de-
ployment in already existing IMT-2000 frequency bands and supports a limited
set of spectrum allocations ranging from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz as shown in Table
2.2 [3]. It should be noted that in LTE, a transmission is structured in the time
domain in radio frames. Each of these radio frames is 10 ms long and consists
of 10 subframes of 1 ms each. In the frequency domain, the subcarrier spacing
is 15 KHz and a ”Resource Block” consists of twelve of these subcarriers, i.e.
2.4. The Long-Term Evolution System 13
12*15 KHz = 180 KHz. A terminal can be allocated a minimum of 1 resource

block (RB) during 1 subframe in the uplink or the downlink direction.
Another related property of LTE systems is the possibility to be deployed in
both paired and unpaired spectrum allocations, using FDD and TDD as already
mentioned in a previous stage. The fact that LTE-based systems can operate in
different bands with different bandwidths, compared to HSPA that operates in
a fixed bandwidth of 5 MHz, makes the deployment of LTE very beneficial and
attractive for operators having their allocated spectrum spread over different
bands with different bandwidths.
Although using wide bandwidths is efficient in improving data rates, finding
Table 2.2: Channel bandwidths specified in LTE
Channel bandwidth (MHz) Number of resource blocks

1.4 6
3 15
5 25
10 50
15 75
20 100
spectrum allocations of large sizes is difficult. Furthermore, using wide trans-

mission and reception bandwidths increases the radio equipment complexity at
both base and mobile stations. On the other hand, as the transmission occurs
in wide band, the transmitted signal propagates to the destination via multiple
paths with different delays, leading to an increased corruption of the signal due
to time dispersion. In systems operating in a fixed bandwidth such as WCDMA
(i.e. 5 MHz), this problem can be dealt with by receiver-side equalization [20].
However, for LTE systems, and especially for bandwidths above 5 MHz, the
high performance equalizing is very complex. In order to deal with this issue,
multi-carrier transmissions, using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM), are adopted for the downlink of the LTE systems. This modulation
scheme allows the transmission of an overall wide-band signal as several narrow
band frequency multiplexed signals, using a subcarrier spacing of 15 KHz for
3GPP LTE and with a number of subcarriers that depends on the transmission
bandwidth (e.g. approximately 1300 subcarriers for a transmission bandwidth
of 20 MHz) [3].
For the uplink transmissions, a single-carrier modulation scheme known as DFT-
spread OFDM (DFTS-OFDM) is adopted in LTE. This modulation scheme
is equivalent to a normal OFDM scheme with a DFT-based pre-coding and
provides small variations in the instantaneous power of the signal and low-
complexity equalization. In addition, DFTS-OFDM is based on orthogonal
separation of uplink transmissions in the time and frequency domain, unlike the
non-orthogonal WCDMA/HSPA, uplink which is also based on single-carrier
transmission. The use of these orthogonal separations is beneficial as it pre-
vents intra-cell interference.
At the core of the LTE transmission scheme, some advanced techniques

are used in order to fulfill the requirements set out by 3GPP. Some of these
techniques are commonly adopted by HSPA and LTE as mentioned in an early
section:
• Channel-dependent scheduling and rate adaptation: As mentioned

before, this technique is already exploited in HSPA. The only difference
is that LTE is able to take channel variations in both time and frequency
domains into account compared to the restriction to the time domain in
the case of HSPA.
• Hybrid ARQ with soft combining: This technique is used in both

HSPA and LTE for very similar reasons.
• Inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC): Interference in LTE sys-

tems is, at least theoretically, restricted to inter-cell interference as intra-
cell interference is dealt with by the orthogonal modulation schemes. In
order to encounter the effects of the inter-cell interference on the cell edge
users, the inter-cell interference coordination scheduling strategy increases
the cell-edge data rates by taking into account the inter-cell interference.
• Multiple antenna support: This technique is supported by LTE and

can be used in different ways and for different purposes. As dual receive
antennas is the baseline for all LTE terminals, suppressing fading and in-
terference is made possible. Another way to benefit from this technique is
to use multiple transmit antennas at the base station allowing for trans-
mit diversity and beam-forming. Beam-forming is mainly used to raise
the received SNR and SIR which in turn improves system coverage and
capacity. An additional way of using the multiple antenna technique is,
the so called, spatial multiplexing (MIMO), based on the use of multi-
ple antennas at both transmitter and receiver, resulting in increased data
rates.
2.4.2 Supported frequency bands

The spectrum and bandwidth flexibility of LTE made it possible for LTE-based
systems to operate in spectrum currently used for other communication systems.
In addition, LTE can be deployed in future bands that may be specified (e.g.
the 800 MHz). The supported frequency bands for both paired and unpaired
spectrum are shown in Tables 2.3 and 2.4 [3][21].
In May 2008, the PTS auctioned 190 MHz of the 2.6 GHz band. 50 MHz
of TDD was won by Intel Capital Corporation; 2x20 MHz FDD were awarded
to Tele2, Telenor and TeliaSonera; Hi3G won 2x10 MHz FDD [22].
In addition, the 800 MHz spectrum was auctioned by the PTS in February
2011 enabling the deployment of LTE in the 800 MHz band. The winners of
this auction were TeliaSonera, ”3” and Net4Mobility, which is a joint venture
between Telenor and Tele2 [4]. Each winner is offered 2x10 MHz, which is half
of what is needed for maximum LTE performance.
2.5. The CDMA2000/450 MHz System 15
Table 2.3: Paired frequency bands defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP) for LTE
Band Uplink range (MHz) Downlink range (MHz) Main region(s)

1 1920-1980 2110-2170 Europe, Asia
2 1850-1910 1930-1990 Americas (Asia)
3 1710-1785 1805-1880 Europe, Asia (Americas)
4 1710-1755 2110-2155 Americas
5 824-849 869-894 Americas
6 830-840 875-885 Japan
7 2500-2570 2620-2690 Europe, Asia
8 880-915 925-960 Europe, Asia
9 1749.9-1784.9 1844.9-1879.9 Japan
10 1710-1770 2110-2170 Americas
11 1427.9-1452.9 1475.9-1500.9 Japan
12 698-716 728-746 Americas
13 777-787 746-756 Americas
14 788-798 758-768 Americas
15 Reserved Reserved Americas
16 Reserved Reserved Americas
17 704-716 734-746 Americas
18 815-830 860-875 Japan
19 830-845 875-890 Japan
20 832-862 791-821 Europe
21 1447.9-1462.9 1495.5-1510.9 Japan
22 3410-3500 3510-3600 -
Table 2.4: Unpaired frequency bands defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP) for LTE
Band Frequency range (MHz) Main region(s)

33 1900-1920 Europe, Asia (not Japan)
34 2010-2025 Europe, Asia
35 1850-1910 -
36 1930-1990 -
37 1910-1930 -
38 2570-2620 Europe
39 1880-1920 China
40 2300-2400 Europe, Asia
41 3400-3600 Americas
2.5 The CDMA2000/450 MHz System

The fact that using low frequency ranges increases the geographical coverage for
terrestrial IMT-2000 systems has led to the rapid adoption of CDMA2000/450
MHz, also known as CDMA 450. This system, using frequency ranges between
450 and 470 MHz, was identified by the ITU-R World Radio communication
Conference 2007 (WRC 2007) to be used for International Mobile Telecom-
munications (IMT) services on a global basis and as the only 3G (IMT-2000)
solution in this frequency band.
Taking advantage of the favorable propagation characteristics of its low fre-
quency band, this system is well-suited for providing telecommunications cov-
erage, especially over regions with low population densities or difficult terrains.
In other words, the propagation characteristics of the 450-470 MHz band make
it possible for base stations to achieve greater coverage areas, leading to fewer
base stations needed to cover a certain area.
2.5.1 The CDMA2000 technologies

CDMA2000 is represented by a number of technologies, all of them are based
on 3G IMT-2000 standards and use 1.25 MHz carriers [2]:
• CDMA2000 1X: is a circuit-switch voice communications and packet

data services, with peak data rates reaching 153.4 kbps in both uplink
and downlink directions.
• CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Release 0: is a packet data service, allowing

peak data rates up to 2.4 Mbps in the downlink and average throughputs
between 300 and 600 kbps. In the uplink direction, peak data rates up to
153.4 kbps are provided by this technology, with average throughputs of
70 to 90 kbps. In addition, this technology is backward compatible with
CDMA2000 1X.
• CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A: is an IP-based low latency only

supporting packet data services. The peak data rates in the downlink
direction are of the order of 3.1 Mbps with average throughputs of 600
to 1400 kbps; while the uplink peak data rates can reach 1.8 Mbps and
the average throughputs ranges from 500 to 800 kbps. This technology is
also backward compatible with CDMA2000 1X and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
Release 0.
• CDMA2000 Multicarrier EV-DO: is a part of the 1xEV-DO Revi-

sion B standard and is realized by a software upgrade of the Revision A
networks and intends to increase the peak data rates to 9.3 Mbps and 5.4
Mbps, respectively in the uplink and downlink directions, within 5 MHz.

The system operates initially across the 410-470 MHz band and includes the
following sub-bands: 410-430 MHz, 450-470 MHz and 470-490 MHz, but only
the 450-470 MHz spectrum allocation was identified by the ITU WRC-07 to
deliver IMT-2000 3G services as mentioned earlier.
The frequency band dedicated to this system is divided into an uplink band
ranging from 452.5 to 457.5 MHz, and a downlink band ranging from 462.5 to
467.5 MHz [23]. These bands can accommodate cellular broadband services en-
abling high-speed data, IP-packet and video.
2.5. The CDMA2000/450 MHz System 17
CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is a spread spectrum technology used

for CDMA 450 networks; it allows multiple users to occupy the same time and
frequency allocations in a certain band [1]. In contrast to some of the 2G, 2.5G
and 2.9G standards (e.g. GSM, GPRS, EDGE), CDMA operates by assigning
unique codes to each communication in order to differentiate it from other on-
going communications that use the same spectrum. This technology was used
in some of the 2G networks (e.g. cdmaOne) and represented a basis for 3G
services as well (e.g. CDMA2000 and W-CDMA).
Due to the propagation characteristics of the lower frequency band com-

bined with the 3G CDMA technology, CDMA2000/450 MHz requires fewer
base stations and has better propagation characteristics which, in turn, lead to
bigger cells. Furthermore, it allows for more diffraction over undulating terrains,
less penetration loss through buildings, less maintenance, lower capital and op-
erating costs [1]. A comparison between this system and systems with higher
frequency bands shows that the coverage area of CDMA450 is three times larger
than in the 900 MHz band, and twelve times larger than in the 1800 MHz and
2100 MHz bands and moreover, with excellent signal-to-noise ratio [2]; These
results are presented in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2: Coverage provided by 450, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz
Chapter 3
Radio Propagation and

Coverage
This chapter is intended to give an overview on radio propagation characteristics

as well as on radio link budget calculations.
3.1 Radio Propagation and Coverage

The coverage area of a base station can be defined as the area within which the
base station should be capable of communicating with mobile stations, while
maintaining a certain quality of service (QoS). The term ”cell” is very common in
mobile networks and is defined as the area covered by one sector or one antenna
system, resulting in one or more cells within the coverage area of a single base
station. Although the real shape of a cell is non-geometric, with some areas
not having the required quality of service, known as ”holes”, they are usually
represented by an artificial hexagonal shape not showing any overlapping areas
or holes.
These cells can be classified as indoor and outdoor cells. Outdoor cells can,
in turn, be classified as macro-cells, micro-cells and pico-cells. In the case of
macro-cells, the base station antennas are located above the average roof-top
level and the cell range varies from a couple of kilometers to 35 km. Hence, this
type of cells is normally used for suburban and rural environments [14]. A more
limited type of cells is the micro-cell, ranging from a few hundred meters to a
couple of kilometers. In the case of a micro-cell, the base station antennas are
installed below the average roof-top level, primarily serving urban and suburban
areas. On the other hand, pico-cells are typically used to cover small areas, to
extend coverage to indoor areas or to enhance network capacity in areas with
high phone usage density.
3.2 Path Loss Propagation Model

In fact, the interaction between the electromagnetic waves and the environment
affects the signal strength, resulting in a certain path loss. Different models are
used to calculate this path loss and can be categorized into three types:
19
20 Chapter 3. Radio Propagation and Coverage
• Empirical Models: By definition, an empirical model is based on ob-

servations and measurements and is used to predict, not explain a system
[24]. This category can be in turn split into two subcategories, time dis-
persive and non-time dispersive [25]. The former provides information
about the time dispersive characteristics of a channel.
• Deterministic Models: A deterministic model tends to determine the

received signal power in a particular location.
• Stochastic Models: A stochastic model is used to model the environ-

ment as a set of random variables. As a result, least information is required
to create this model but its accuracy is questionable.
Since we are interested in studying the propagation characteristics in rural en-

vironments, where macro-cells are usually used, the most suitable propagation
model is the Hata model, an empirical and non-time dispersive model. The use
of this already available model, with respect to some constraints, is proved to
be efficient and can be extended to cover a broader range of input parameters.
This model aims at predicting the distance-dependent path loss between a base
station and a mobile station and is briefly described in Table 3.1 [26][27]
Table 3.1: Hata path loss model
Urban areas Lu = 69.55 + 26.16 ∗ log(f ) − 13.82 ∗ log(Hb)

−a + [44.9 − 6.55 ∗ log(Hb)] ∗ log(d)
Suburban areas Lsu = Lu − 2 ∗ [log(f /28)]2 − 5.4
Rural (Quasi-open) Lrqo = Lu − 4.78 ∗ [log(f )]2 + 18.33 ∗ log(f ) − 35.94
Rural (Open) Lro = Lu − 4.78 ∗ [log(f )]2 + 18.33 ∗ log(f ) − 40.94
For suburban and rural areas:
a = [1.1 ∗ log(f ) − 0.7] ∗ Hm − [1.56 ∗ log(f ) − 0.8] (3.1)
For urban areas:
a = 8.29 ∗ [log(1.54 ∗ Hm)]2 − 1.1 f or 150 ≤ f ≤ 200 M Hz (3.2)
a = 3.2 ∗ [log(11.75 ∗ Hm)]2 − 4.97 f or 200 < f ≤ 1500 M Hz (3.3)

Where
d : Distance between transmitter and receiver antenna [km]

f : Frequency [MHz]
Hb: Transmitter antenna height [m]
Hm: Mobile station height [m]
These equations are valid for frequencies ranging between 150 and 1500
MHz, base station heights between 30 and 200 m, mobile heights between 1 and
10 m and distances between base station and mobile station in the order of 1 to
3.3. Fading 21
20 km.
Two limitations of the Hata model are the limited path length and the limited
frequency range. However, a number of modified models have been produced to
extend the path length and frequency range.
3.2.1 The Cost 231 extension

Cost 231-Hata model is initiated as an extension of Hata model, enabling path
loss prediction in the frequency range 1500 to 2000 MHz [28]:
Lu = 46.3+33.9∗log(f )−13.82∗log(Hb)−a+[44.9−6.55∗log(Hb)]∗log(d)+Cm
(3.4)
Where Cm = 0 dB for median sized city and suburban centres with moderate
tree density and Cm = 3 dB for metropolitan centres.
3.2.2 The ITU-R extension

Another modified model uses the ITU-R extension in order to extend the range
of the original Hata model to 100 km [29].
Based on a comparison between the Hata path loss model and a number of
curves obtained from field measurements performed in Swedish rural areas [8],
it can be seen that the Hata model for suburban areas is the most suitable model
to represent path loss in rural Sweden. The complete path loss model used in
this work, including the needed extensions, is described in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2: The extended path loss model
Urban areas
Frequency range: 150-1500 MHz Lu = 69.55 + 26.16 ∗ log(f ) − 13.82 ∗ log(Hb)
Distance range: 1-20 km −a + [44.9 − 6.55 ∗ log(Hb)] ∗ log(d)
Urban areas
Distance range: 20-100 km −a + [44.9 − 6.55 ∗ log(Hb)] ∗ (log(d))b
Urban areas
Distance range: 1-20 km −a + [44.9 − 6.55 ∗ log(Hb)] ∗ log(d) + Cm
Suburban areas Lsu = Lu − 2 ∗ [log(f /28)]2 − 5.4
0.00107 ∗ Hb d
b = 1 + [0.14 + 0.000187 ∗ f + 2 0.5
] ∗ (log( ))0.8 (3.5)
(1 + Hb ∗ 7 ∗ 10 6)
− 20
3.3 Fading
The wave propagation between a Base Transceiver Station and a Mobile Station
may be affected by many factors, resulting in a variation in the signal level which
leads in turn to a varying coverage and quality of service. The following two
sections will explain the concept of two such factors, the shadow fading and the
fast fading effects.
3.3.1 Shadow fading

Depending on the environment and the surrounding objects, the received signal
strength at a given distance from the transmitter will be different. In effect,
distance-dependent path loss models, such as the Hata-model described in the
previous section, provide the mean value of the path loss that can be expected
if the distance between the transmitter and receiver is r. However, the actual
path loss will vary around this mean value depending on the location of the
receiver. This variation is mainly caused due to the signal being blocked from
the receiver by buildings or other objects, and is referred to as Shadow fading,
even known as Slow fading. Several measurements and simulations have shown
that, at a given distance r from the transmitter, the path loss Lp(r) is a random
variable having a log-normal distribution about the mean distance-dependent
value predicted by the Hata path loss model. Thus, the path loss Lp(r) can be
expressed in terms of Lp(r) Hata plus a random variable X:
Lp(r) = Lp(r) Hata(dB) + X(dB) (3.6)

Here X is normally distributed in the logarithm domain with zero mean. The
standard deviation of this log-normal distribution depends on the environment,
with typical values about 8 dB in urban areas, 10 dB in dense urban areas and
6 dB in suburban and rural areas [30].
The log-normal probability density function is given by [31]:
1 −(lnx − µ)2
f X(x; µ, σ) = √ ∗ exp[ ], x>0 (3.7)
xσ 2π 2σ 2
The corresponding probability density function is depicted in Figure 3.1 for
different standard variation values σ and zero mean µ.
Figure 3.1: The log-normal probability density function

3.3. Fading 23
As shadow fading may result in shadowed areas, where the received signal
strength is insufficient to correctly detect the information, a certain margin,
known as fade margin, needs to be added to the radio link budget in order to
overcome the shadow fading effects and ensure a desired level of signal coverage.
The distribution of X in 3.6 is used to determine the appropriate fade margin.
At the fringe locations, the mean value of the shadow fading is zero dB. Fifty
percent of the locations have a positive fading component, and the remaining
fifty percent have a negative fading component, which means that the locations
having a positive fading component will experience a larger path loss resulting
in insufficient signal strength. In fact, the fade margin technique is employed to
move most of these locations to within a sufficient received signal strength value.
This fading margin can be applied by either increasing the transmit power while
keeping the cell size unchanged, or by reducing the cell size as it will be the case
in this project.
As mentioned above, the required fade margin depends on the desired area cov-
erage probability, defined as the probability that the signal level in a given area
is above a certain threshold value. In addition, this margin depends on the stan-
dard deviation of the log-normal fade distribution and the path loss exponent.
As the path loss exponent depends on the environment, a suitable value to
be used in this project would be 3.71 [32]. Considering 6 dB as the standard
deviation of the log-normal fade distribution, the location probability can be
extracted from the curves in Figure 3.2 [33].
For area coverage of 95%, the location probability at the cell edge is 75% (For
Figure 3.2: Useful fraction of cell area - Hexagonal cell
hexagonal cells). As a result, the corresponding fade margin is found to be 4.2

dB [34].
3.3.2 Fast fading

Fast fading, also known as small-scale fading, accounts for the rapid variation
of signal levels when the mobile terminal moves within a small area. In most
cases, this variation is due to the transmitted signal being reflected, scattered,
diffracted and absorbed numerous times along its propagation path before reach-
ing the receiver. As a result, the receiver will be subject to a number of incoming
waves arriving at different angles and with different amplitudes.
Fast fading can be modeled by means of distributions, e.g. Rayleigh distribution
and Rician distribution, based on the characteristics of the propagation path.
• The Rayleigh distribution: The Rayleigh distribution is commonly

employed to describe the statistical time varying nature of the received
envelope where no Line Of Sight (LOS) propagation path exists between
the transmitter and the receiver. The probability density function of the
Rayleigh distribution is illustrated in Figure 3.3 [35].
Figure 3.3: Probability density function of the Rayleigh distribution
• The Rician distribution: On the other hand, if the signal is transmitted

over an environment where, in addition to the presence of many reflecting
objects around the receiver, a LOS path between the transmitter and the
receiver exists, a suitable distribution would be the Rician distribution
represented by the probability density function of Figure 3.4 [36]. How-
ever, this distribution represents a special case and will not be used in this
report.
3.4 Interference
Interference is a crucial factor affecting mobile communication systems in dif-
ferent ways depending on the characteristics of the communication.
• The GSM system: Due to the fact that, in a GSM system, the same fre-
quency channels can be reused in many different cells results in Co-channel
Interference. As the name indicates, Co-channel Interference refers to the
interference caused by the use of the same frequency channel by users in
different cells. Assuming that the GSM system has a reuse factor k = 4
3.4. Interference 25
Figure 3.4: Probability density function of the Rician distribution
and that the base stations consist√of 3-sectored antennas, the reuse dis-
tance can be calculated as: D = 3 2kR . Thus, if we consider a symmetric
hexagonal cell plan, each cell will have exactly 6 co-channel neighbors at
distance D. In addition there are 6 additional co-channel cells at distance
, 6 at distance and so on. As a result, the signal-to-interference ratio at a
certain terminal can be expressed as [37]:
cP
R4
SIR = 6cP 6cP 6cP
(3.8)
D4 + 9D4 + 16D4 + ...
• The 3G systems: This generation of cellular standards operates by

spreading the signals from and to different users using different codes.
In addition, the use of non-orthogonal separation of uplink transmissions
causes the communication system to be subject to Intra-cell Interference,
i.e. within the same cell. The received power from one user end represents
interference for other terminals. Hence, the amount of tolerable interfer-
ence level in the cell is the limiting factor.
Similarly, Inter-cell Interference is caused by user ends belonging to neigh-
boring cells and transmitting with relatively high powers.
In the case of UMTS systems, the interference in the uplink depends on
the load of the node B and can be extracted from the expression below:
IU L = −10log10(1 − n) (3.9)
Where n is the load of node B, e.g. 50%
For the CDMA 450 system, the amount of interference in the system is a
function of the load as it can be seen in Figure 3.5 [38].
• The LTE system: The use of DFTS-OFDM modulation scheme, which

is equivalent to a normal OFDM scheme with a DFT-based pre-coding,
provides an orthogonal separation of uplink transmissions in the time and
Figure 3.5: Interference margin as a function of the load in CDMA 450 systems
frequency domain. As a result, intra-cell interference can be prevented

in LTE-based systems and the interference can be limited to inter-cell
interference. However, some LTE systems use Inter-cell Interference co-
ordination to limit the effects of inter-cell interference, especially on cell
edge users. This scheduling strategy aims at assigning different parts of
the spectrum to users located near the cell edges while keeping the whole
spectrum available for users located at a certain distance from cell edges.
In order to estimate the interference in LTE systems, some simulations
and measurements are needed. Table 3.3 shows the results of a simulation
done in [39].
Table 3.3: Interference margin as a function of the load in LTE systems
Load [%] Interference margin [dB]

35 1
40 1.3
50 1.8
60 2.4
70 2.9
80 3.3
90 3.7
100 4.2
3.5 Link Budget Calculations

The planning of any Radio Access Network begins with a Radio Link Budget.
As the name indicates, link budget calculations account for all the gains and
losses from the transmitter, through the medium to the receiver. Once the link
budget calculation is completed, the maximum allowed signal attenuation be-
tween the mobile and the base station is obtained. At this level, the maximum
3.5. Link Budget Calculations 27
path loss is mapped to the corresponding cell size using the propagation model
introduced in Table 3.2.
As mentioned before, the propagation model converts the maximum allowed
path loss into a maximum cell range depending on environment characteristics,
frequency and if applicable also atmospheric conditions.
Table 3.4 lists the parameters needed in an uplink budget calculation whereas
Table A.1 and Table A.2 in Appendix A show the uplink budget calculations
corresponding to the involved Radio Access Network technologies for respec-
tively data and voice communications.
Table 3.4: Link budget parameters
Notation Parameter Unit

a UE Maximum TX power:different power classes have different power levels dBm
b TX antenna gain dBi
c Body loss dB
d EIRP:calculated as a+b-c dBm
e Base station RF noise figure:depends on the implementation design dB
f Thermal noise dBm
g Receiver noise floor:calculated as e+f dBm
h SINR:estimated from link simulations or measurements dB
i Receiver sensitivity dBm
j Interference margin dB
k Cable loss dB
l RX antenna gain:depends on the type of the antenna dBi
m Fast fading margin dB
n Soft handover gain dB
Chapter 4
Simulation
The main objective of this thesis project is to estimate the improvement in

coverage in case the operator diversity technique is used. For this purpose, a
model representing the overlapping communication systems, i.e. the operator
diversity technique, has been created using a suitable modeling tool. The model
as well as the input parameters can easily be modified allowing the model to be
applied in different situations and under completely different assumptions. The
following sections give a detailed description of the simulation tool, performance
measures and simulation model.
4.1 Simulation Tool

Mathematica (v.8.0) is a computational software program, developed by Wol-
fram Research and used in many areas of technical computing. The main advan-
tage of using Mathematica in this project is the availability of various functions,
tool boxes and statistical models that are relevant to the wireless communication
field. These functions and tools are mainly provided by the package ”Wipack
(v.1.9.0 for Mathematica v.8.0)” developed by Göran Andersson, KTH-Radio
Communication Systems and supporting computation and graphics in the wire-
less communication field. A sample code is available in Appendix C and tends
to give an insight of how mobile networks as well as operator diversity can be
modeled in Mathematica.
4.2 Performance Measures

One essential measure of the benefit with operator diversity is the achievable
coverage probability. In this paper, the improvement in coverage is tracked
starting from the real case scenario where only one communication system is
used and investigating the improvement in coverage at each time an additional
communication system is considered.
29
30 Chapter 4. Simulation
4.3 Simulation Model

The main objective of the simulation part is to estimate the improvement in
terms of coverage probability in case the operator diversity technique is adopted.
The following two sections will provide a detailed description of the simulation
model as well as the different phases of the simulation process corresponding to
both data and voice communications.
4.3.1 Data communication model

Throughout the simulations we assume that a number of communication systems
coexist. Each communication system represents a different technology and is
modeled based on the radio link budget calculations performed in an earlier stage
of the project. The concept of the model consists of a number of overlapping
communication networks as illustrated in the Figure 4.1.
Figure 4.1: Illustration of the diversity model
The initial state of the simulation model consists of the presence of one
communication system, CDMA 450 as it is the one that is currently in use by
the forest industry. A corresponding network is modeled in Mathematica based
on the simulation parameters summarized in Table 4.1. The mobile stations are
considered to be stationary and uniformly distributed, covering the whole cell.
The next step is to calculate the coverage probability obtained in the CDMA
450 network by evaluating the availability of coverage for each mobile station.
It can be predicted that the coverage probability will strongly depend on the
load in the system and on the log-normal shadow fading.
The second step is to introduce another communication system, (e.g. EDGE

900) to the model which means that mobile stations will have the possibility to
connect to this new system in case they experience a lack of coverage with the
CDMA 450 communication system. At this stage, the probability for service is
recalculated as well as the improvement in coverage that can be expected when
using the two systems.
4.3. Simulation Model 31
The same procedure is followed when introducing the LTE 800 and the
HSPA 2100 communication systems. The resulting graphs will show the median
coverage probability as well as the improvement in coverage starting with the
case in which only CDMA 450 is considered and ending with a model consisting
of multiple overlapping communication systems.
4.3.2 Voice communication model

The voice communication model slightly differs from the previously described
model. The major difference in this case is the fact that neither CDMA 450 nor
LTE are currently available for voice services. It should be noted that the term
”voice communications” is used in this context to refer to the regular mobile
phone call services and does not include services such as Voice over Internet Pro-
tocol (VoIP). Consequently, these two communication systems will be excluded
from the diversity model. However, the fact that there are several independent
GSM and 3G networks outside the main urban areas makes it possible to benefit
from the presence of different operators. For instance, there are two indepen-
dent GSM networks; the first one is deployed by TeliaSonera while the second
one is shared by Telenor and Tele2. Similarly, there are two independent 3G
networks, TeliaSonera and Tele2 share one of them while Telenor and ”3” share
the other one. Thus, the diversity model in this case consists of two independent
GSM networks and two independent 3G networks.
A similar concept is adopted for the simulation of the voice communication

model. As mentioned before, the main distinction resides in the use of two GSM
900 and two 3G 2100 networks instead of four different networks. Since the
forest industry is mainly relying on the use of GSM for voice communications,
the coverage probability achieved by utilizing a single GSM network is first
estimated and then compared to the cases where more than one network is
utilized. The parameters applied in the simulation can be found in Table 4.1.
For a detailed description of the link budget calculations and network design,
for both data and voice communications, the reader is referred to Table A.1 and
Table A.2 in Appendix A.
32 Chapter 4. Simulation
Table 4.1: Simulation parameters
Parameter Value
Cell load [%] 35, 50, 90
Number of networks 4, 6
Number of sectors per base station 3
Shadow fading correlation between networks 0.5
Standard deviation (Shadow fading) [dB] 6
Shadow fading margin [dB] 4.2
Base station height [m]
EDGE 900 60
HSPA 2100 60
LTE 800 60
CDMA 450 100
Mobile station height [m] 1.5
Cell radius [km]
Data communication model
EDGE 900 6.1
HSPA 2100 10.1
LTE 800 21.6
CDMA 450 15.3
Voice communication model
GSM 900 21.1
3G 2100 10.1
Chapter 5
Field Measurements
At this stage, the achieved service characterization will be estimated by means

of field measurements and tests. The field measurements will focus on gather-
ing two types of information, the Received Signal Strength and the Bit Rates
achieved in each communication system. The main intention is to develop and
test a method for performing these field measurements so that it can be made
available for future work aiming at obtaining statistical results. In addition,
these field measurements will serve as a proof of the importance of the operator
diversity technique.
5.1 Received Signal Strength Measurements

5.1.1 Equipment
The Test Mobile System (TEMS v.13.0) is a tool provided by Ascom, mainly
used to plan, implement and optimize networks. An important feature of TEMS
v.13.0 is that it supports LTE communication systems.
The mobile phone or modem will be communicating with the base station
through TEMS which allows the visualization of different types of information
including the Received Signal Strength. The operators TeliaSonera (GSM/EDGE
and UMTS), Telenor (GSM/GPRS and UMTS) and Net1 (CDMA2000/450)
will be involved in the measurements. The equipment used in connection with
the field measurements consist of: A TEMS mobile phone (Sony Ericsson Z750i
supporting GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA) with a corresponding antenna and usb
cable to connect to a laptop, a 4G broadband modem (Samsung GT-B3730), a
CDMA EV-DO Rev A broadband modem (D-50) with a corresponding antenna.
The equipment are shown in Figure 5.1.
5.1.2 Purpose of measurements

In order for the field measurements to be relevant to Swedish rural applications,
it was desired to carry out the measurements in a rural area of the same type as
the one where the forest industry is working, i.e. coniferous forest. In addition,
and in order to be able to test the benefits of operator diversity, the area should
suffer from white spots, i.e. lack of coverage in some locations, from the involved
33
34 Chapter 5. Field Measurements
Figure 5.1: Measurement equipment
operators TeliaSonera, Telenor and Net1. An area fulfilling the criteria above
was found in Nykvarn. Figure 5.2 shows a map over the measurement area and
the positions of the 7 different measurement locations.
Figure 5.3 provides a description of the measurement setup including software
and hardware equipment used in connection with field measurements.
This first part of the measurements aimed at collecting two types of informa-
Figure 5.2: Measurement area
tion:
5.2. Bit Rate Measurements 35
Figure 5.3: Measurement setup
1. The received signal level, which provides real case information about
the signal level and quality and would be of interest in comparing the
different systems.
2. Coverage information, allowing us to evaluate the coverage at some
specific locations (i.e. whether there is coverage or not).
The same measurements were conducted for the three operators and for the
different technologies that are provided by each operator (i.e. 2G, 3G and 4G
provided by both TeliaSonera and Telenor, while CDMA 450 is provided by
Net1).
5.2 Bit Rate Measurements

Bit rate measurements are performed using the speed testing service provided
by bredbandskollen.se. The location and the involved communication systems
are the same as in the Received signal Strength measurements. The purpose
of the bit rate measurements is to get an insight into the bit rates that can be
achieved by each communication system in rural Sweden.
Chapter 6
Results
This chapter presents the results of the simulation part as well as the results that
have been obtained by means of field measurements. The chapter starts with
the obtained coverage probability when data services are considered, followed
by the coverage probability for voice services. Finally the measurement results
are presented in attempt to show the improvement that operator diversity is
capable to make in real situations.
6.1 Simulation Results

Figure 6.1 shows the improvement of the coverage probability at each time an
additional communication network is included in the model. The three cases
correspond to three different loads (i.e. 35%, 50% and 90%) and the coverage
probability respectively increases from 93.3% to 99.9%, from 92.1% to 99.8%
and from 64.6% to 98.2%. The reason behind the improvement in coverage is
related to both shadow fading and interference effects.
In case an obstruction such as a hill obscures the main signal path between
a base station belonging to Operator 1 and a user, the presence of another
operator, e.g. Operator 2 provides a new opportunity for the user if there is no
such obstruction between the user and the base station belonging to Operator
2. Another case is when a user is located near the cell edge of operator 1 and
experiences high interference level; this situation may cause the received signal
to interference ratio to be lower than the threshold. However, if the same user
has a better position in a cell belonging to Operator 2, and even with the same
high level of interference, the signal to interference ratio may be higher than
the threshold. This latter case is reflected in Figure 6.1c where the load is 90%
which in turn indicates a high interference level.
Since communication systems offering LTE services are not yet available in
rural areas, it is interesting to evaluate the improvement in coverage that can
be achieved by 2G and 3G communication systems. Figure 6.2 shows the im-
provement in coverage with focus on 2G and 3G networks. In practice, the case
shown in Figure 6.2 is equivalent to the presence of three different operators;
one of them offers CDMA 450, the second operator offers 2G and 3G while the
37
38 Chapter 6. Results
(a) Load=35%
(b) Load=50%
(c) Load=90%
Figure 6.1: Median coverage probability for data communications with four
networks
third one provides 2G, 3G and 4G services. It can be seen that, at least theo-
retically, the coverage probability reaches 100% for load values of 35% and 50%
in case all the mentioned systems are present. In addition, the improvement in
coverage probability remains considerable in case LTE is disregarded, which in-
dicates that operator diversity is beneficial even if LTE communication systems
are not made available in rural areas.
A similar analysis has been made for voice communications services. The
results are shown in Figure 6.3 . For this purpose, two operators, both offering
2G and 3G services, are considered.
The results show that the coverage probability increases from 87.9% to
99.7%, from 83.8% to 99.4% and from 77.4% to 95.3% depending on the load
6.2. Field Measurement Results 39
(a) Load=35%
(b) Load=50%
(c) Load=90%
Figure 6.2: Median coverage probability for data communications with six net-
works
(35%, 50% and 90%).
The results shown in Figures 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 explain the benefits of the
operator diversity model for both data and voice communications, considering
different conditions (e.g. different loads) and different network combinations.
As it can be noticed, the operator diversity model introduces considerable gains
even in cases with relatively low loads (e.g. 35%) and limited network alterna-
tives (e.g. only 2G and 3G).
6.2 Field Measurement Results

To support the theoretical results that have been presented and discussed in
the previous section, this section summarizes the results obtained by the field
measurements. Some interesting observations are depicted in Table 6.1. The
40 Chapter 6. Results
(a) Load=35%
(b) Load=50%
(c) Load=90%
Figure 6.3: Median coverage probability for voice communications with four
networks
detailed results, including received signal level and bit rate at each measurement
point are provided in Appendix B.
As we notice, in the locations where Net1 did not succeed to provide cover-
age, at least one of the two other operators managed to do that. As mentioned
before, the realization of these field measurements did not aim at obtaining sta-
tistical results or probabilities; it only shows the benefits of operator diversity
in a real situation.
Another observation is related to the measured bit rates; in location 2 for exam-
ple, the bit rates that could be achieved by connecting to the operator Telenor
were higher than those provided by Net1:
6.2. Field Measurement Results 41
Table 6.1: Field measurement results
Location Coverage from Net1 Coverage from Telia Coverage from Telenor
Location 1 Yes Yes: 2G Yes: 2G and 3G
Location 3 No Yes: 2G Yes: 2G and 3G
Location 4 No Yes: 2G Yes: 2G and 3G
Location 6 No Yes: 2G Yes: 2G
Location 7 No No Yes: 2G and 3G
• Net1: Downlink (0.16 Mbit/s) - Uplink (0.03 Mbit/s).

• Telenor : Downlink (0.99 Mbit/s) - Uplink (0.11 Mbit/s).
This fact shows that Net1 is not always the best choice if high bit rates are
desired.
Moreover, it should be pointed out that even in locations where Net1 fails to
provide coverage (e.g. location 3), high data rates are still possible to be reached
(i.e. 0.94 Mbit/s in the downlink and 0.1 Mbit/s in the uplink direction). This
observation can be considered as an example of locations where one operator
has extremely poor conditions while another operator has very acceptable per-
formance.
Chapter 7
User Business Case
An important factor that needs to be studied in this thesis is the cost factor.
The operator diversity technique will incur additional costs primarily due to the
fact that it requires the presence of many mobile phone (or mobile broadband)
subscriptions.
The first part of this section will introduce different solutions to implement
operator diversity for broadband services as well as for voice services. Moreover,
additional costs will be estimated and compared to the achieved improvement
in coverage in the second part of this section.
7.1 Proposed Solutions

7.1.1 Broadband services
1. The simplest solution would be to benefit from the availability of a number
of operators in rural areas by purchasing two or three subscriptions. The
reason that no more than three subscriptions are needed is that Swedish
mobile operators usually share their networks which means that two net-
works provided by two operators need not to be independent (e.g. Telia
and Tele2 share the 3G network, Telenor and Tele2 share the 2G and 4G
networks, Telenor and three share the 3G network which allows us to dis-
regard from a number of operators without losing networks). Based on
this fact, a suggestion would be to use Net1’s modem as the default one.
In addition, subscribing to both Telia and Telenor will give six additional
and independent networks (i.e. 2G, 3G, 4G from both operators), these
two modems can be used whenever connection to Net1’s network fails. An
interesting feature that can be useful for the user is the multi mode option
of the modem that switches automatically between 4G, 3G and 2G (i.e.
the best available mode) depending on the availability of these modes.
The mobile broadband modems can be simultaneously connected to the
user terminal and switching between the operators can be done manually
or automatically through the user interface.
2. Another solution is national roaming, and requires the involvement of two

or more operators. The concept of national roaming is based on an agree-
ment among operators within the same country. This agreement allows
43
44 Chapter 7. User Business Case
operators to use each other’s networks to provide services in geographic

areas where they have no coverage. Operators might roll out competing
networks in urban areas but allow each other to roam on their networks
in rural areas.
In fact, the French government launched a programme called ”Programme
zone blanche” or ”Dead zone programme” aiming at providing mobile cov-
erage in rural zones where operators had no coverage [40].
For instance, national roaming has been made possible in France in March
2011. French mobile operators, Free Mobile (Iliad) and Orange have signed
a national roaming agreement for their respective 2G networks in France.
They have also decided to extend this agreement to cover their 3G net-
works [41]. However, national roaming has not been made available in
Sweden yet.
7.1.2 Voice services

1. The first solution is similar to the one proposed for broadband services
except for the fact that 4G has not been made available yet for phone call
services which limits the alternatives to 2G and 3G networks. A simple
way of combining two 2G networks and two 3G networks from two different
operators is to have two subscriptions from two independent operators (e.g.
Telia and Telenor) which provide access to four independent networks.
The two SIM cards can be simultaneously plugged in using a mobile phone
with place for two SIM cards (i.e. Dual SIM mobile phones) or by using
a Single SIM phone with a dual SIM adapter that supports both 2G and
3G connections.
2. The benefits of national roaming apply to voice services as well. The
concept of National Roaming has been presented in the previous section.
7.2 Cost Estimation

This section evaluates two of the solutions presented above, i.e. the use of
multiple usb broadband modems and the use of a Dual SIM mobile phone or
adapter.
In the case of broadband services the results have shown that:
• For a load of 90%: the coverage in rural areas will increase by a total
of 33.6% (from 64.6% in the case of CDMA 450 to 98.2%) in case a 2G,
a 3G and a 4G network overlap with the CDMA 450 network that is cur-
rently in use by the forest industry. Assuming that the 4G network will
be available in rural areas in the near future and based on the existing
subscriptions that offer 4G services, the costs can be estimated as follows:
Approximately 4188 SEK per year for an additional subscription support-
ing 2G, 3G and 4G technologies [6].
In case 4G is excluded, the results of the second part of the simulation

indicate that the coverage increases by 29% if two operators both offering
2G and 3G services are considered. In this case the additional costs can
be estimated as follows:
7.2. Cost Estimation 45
Approximately 4776 SEK per year for two additional subscriptions, both
supporting 2G and 3G technologies [6].
Note that the choice of the operator is important and highly depends on
the location of the rural area to be covered. Hence, a suggestion would
be to study the coverage of the different operators in that specific area in
order to optimize the outcome.
of 7.7% (from 92.1% to 99.8%).
of 6.6% (from 93.3% to 99.9%).
In the case of voice services the results have shown that:
• For a load of 90%: the coverage in rural areas will increase by a total of
17.9% (from 77.4% in the case of one GSM network to 95.3%) in case two
2G and two 3G networks coexist. The costs can be estimated as follows:
The additional costs in this case can be limited to the cost of the Dual
SIM Adapter (i.e. Around 200 SEK per user [42]) and this is a lump sum.
of 15.6% (from 83.8% to 99.4%).
of 11.8% (from 87.9% to 99.7%).
Chapter 8
Conclusion
The purpose of this thesis was to estimate the improvement in terms of cover-
age probability that could be expected in case operator diversity is deployed in
rural areas. The study included a number of mobile communication standards
belonging to the second, third and fourth generation. Both data and voice com-
munications were considered and several scenarios were examined.
It has been shown that the probability for service increases substantially
when applying operator diversity. In addition, different scenarios yield different
results depending on the communication systems and number of operators that
are involved, which provides flexibility in building a suitable operator diversity
model. Coverage probabilities in the range 98.2% to 100% and 95.3% to 99.7%
were obtained, respectively for data and voice communications.
Furthermore, the benefits of operator diversity have been revealed through

field measurements; the results were very advantageous and the need for oper-
ator diversity in rural Sweden has been clarified.
As a final step, an anticipation of the additional cost was presented in order

to cover the user business case. The cost estimation showed that a significant
improvement in the coverage probability could be achieved by investing respec-
tively 4188 SEK/Year/user and a lump sum of 200 SEK/user for data and voice
services.
47
Chapter 9
Future Work
As explained before, the main purpose of conducting the field measurements was
to present a real case in order to demonstrate the profits of operator diversity.
However it would be to an advantage to carry out more measurements with the
intention of verifying and confirming the numerical values that were obtained
by means of simulation. In addition, it would be interesting to do the same
measurements in different rural areas and investigate the similarities between
them.
Future work may also include a study of all available operators in rural
Sweden in order to find the optimal combination between operators that gives
the highest coverage probability and guarantees the lowest cost. A suggestion
is to perform this study in areas where the forest industry plans to launch its
upcoming projects.
In addition, it is highly recommended to investigate the use of national

roaming in low density rural areas.
49
References
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Appendix A
Radio Link Budgets
Table A.1: Uplink budget calculations (Data communications)
RAN Technology EDGE HSPA LTE CDMA 450

Data rate (kbps) 251 64 64 64
Number of resource blocks - - 2 -
Transmitter - UE
a Max TX power (dBm) 33 23 23 23
b TX antenna gain (dBi) 0 0 0 0
c Body loss (dB)2 0 0 0 0
d EIRP (dBm) 33 23 23 23
Receiver - BTS/Node B/eNode B
e Node B noise figure (dB) - 2 2 -
f Thermal noise (dBm) - -108.1 -118.4 -
g Receiver noise floor (dBm) - -106.1 -116.4 -
h SINR (dB) - -17.3 -7 -
i Receiver sensitivity (dBm) -94.5 -123.4 -123.4 -112.9
j Interference margin (dB) 0 3 1 0
k Cable loss (dB) 3 3 3 3
l RX antenna gain (dBi) 18 18 18 12
m Fast fade margin (dB) 0 1.8 0 0
n Soft handover margin (dB) 0 2 0 0
Maximum path loss (dB) 142.5 158.6 160.4 144.9
The link budget calculations presented in these tables are mainly based on
[19], [43] and [44].
1 Per time slot.

2 Vehicle-mount antenna assumed.
3 Hands free operation.
55
56 Appendix A. Radio Link Budgets
Table A.2: Uplink budget calculations (Voice communications)
RAN Technology GSM 3G

Data rate (kbps) 12.2 12.2
Transmitter - UE
a Max TX power (dBm) 33 23
b TX antenna gain (dBi) 0 0
c Body loss (dB)3 0 0
d EIRP (dBm) 33 23
Receiver - BTS/Node B/eNode B
e Receiver sensitivity (dBm) -110 -123.4
g Interference margin (dB) 0 3
h Cable loss (dB) 0 3
i RX antenna gain (dBi) 18 18
j Fast fade margin (dB) 0 1.8
k Soft handover margin (dB) 0 2
Maximum path loss (dB) 161 158.6
Appendix B
Field Measurement Results
Table B.1: Detailed measurement results
Location RX lev-Net1 [dBm] Rx lev Telia [dBm] RX lev Telenor [dBm] Highest rate [Mbps]4
Location 1 -97 2G: -83 2G: -81 Net1
3G: -97 DL: 0.78
UL: 0.06
Location 2 -107 2G: -85 2G: -83 Telenor
3G: -95 DL: 0.99
UL: 0.11
3G: -93 DL: 0.94
UL: 0.10
3G: -94 DL: 0.94
UL: 0.11
3G: -94 DL: 1
Net1
UL: 0.13
Location 6 -113 2G: -83 2G: -92 -
3G: -80 DL: 1.5
UL: 0.46
4 The subscription provided by Telenor seems to limit the downlink bit rate to a maximum
of 1 Mbps.
57
Appendix C
Sample Code
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Operator Diversity in Forest and Rural

Master of Science Thesis

Master of Science Thesis performed at

Examiner: Professor S. Ben Slimane

Information and communications technology is increasingly important for ru-

I would like to extend my thanks to Göran Andersson, COS Communication

A special acknowledgement goes to my sponsors at Skogforsk, represented

2 Review of System Standards 7

3 Radio Propagation and Coverage 19

7 User Business Case 43

A Radio Link Budgets 55

B Field Measurement Results 57

2.1 EDGE data rates for the different coding schemes . . . . . . . . . 9

3.1 Hata path loss model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4.1 Simulation parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

6.1 Field measurement results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

A.1 Uplink budget calculations (Data communications) . . . . . . . . 55

B.1 Detailed measurement results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

1.1 Speech signal coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2.1 Minimum required received signal-to-noise ratio as a function of

3.1 The log-normal probability density function . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

4.1 Illustration of the diversity model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

5.1 Measurement equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

6.1 Median coverage probability for data communications with four

1.1 Mobile Communications in Rural Sweden

According to the coverage maps provided by different operators in Sweden,

Figure 1.1: Speech signal coverage

1.2 Thesis Motivation

All of this yet again makes operator diversity an interesting alternative as it

• Investigate the performance of the operator diversity technique in terms

• Evaluate the service improvement as a function of the additional costs.

1.3 Previous Work

A similar concept to Operator Diversity is National roaming, which enables

1.4 Thesis Outline

Chapter 4 introduces the simulation model as well as the simulation tool.

Chapter 6 presents the obtained results and attempts to discuss them.

2.1 The Second Generation System

2.1.1 Frequency bands

2.1.2 System features

2.2 The 2.5 and 2.9 Generation Systems

different throughputs given in Table 2.1 [14].

MCS Modulation User rate (kbps per time slot)

2.3 The Third Generation Systems

2.3.1 WCDMA and TD-CDMA

In the case of WCDMA, a multiple access scheme known as Direct-Sequence

A crucial aspect of this evolution was the constraint on backwards com-

• High-order modulation: In [3], it has been shown that in case of band-

ternatives, in other words, by using higher-order modulation. As a result,

Figure 2.1: Minimum required received signal-to-noise ratio as a function of

• Rate control: This technique is implemented by dynamically adjusting

• Channel-dependent scheduling: Scheduling controls to which users

• Hybrid ARQ with soft combining: This technique is used to allow

modulation (64 QAM), in addition to multiple-input and multiple-output tech-

2.4 The Long-Term Evolution System

2.4.1 System features

12*15 KHz = 180 KHz. A terminal can be allocated a minimum of 1 resource

Table 2.2: Channel bandwidths specified in LTE

Channel bandwidth (MHz) Number of resource blocks

spectrum allocations of large sizes is difficult. Furthermore, using wide trans-