AN INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE REPORT BY

INTERNSHIP WITH

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

DURING MAY-JULY 2011 CREDIT UNITS: 6 CREDITS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to my guide Mr. Anup Kansara, RF Planning Engineer, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), Ahemdabad for providing me all the required

help & guidance. He was a major motivator without whom I would not have been able to
enhance my knowledge about GSM Technology & RF Planning.

I would like to thank all the employees of NSN who were always ready to help me to solve my doubts and I am grateful to NSN HR Team and staff for providing training with their constant support and guidance.

And I am most thankful to our institute, Amity Institute Of Telecom Technology &

Mgmt. for providing us this opportunity and platform to explore our technical abilities as
well as to build a strong personality.

INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION

...7 8 11

2. COMPANY PROFILE

3. INTRODUCTION TO GSM 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. BACKGROUND OF GSM GSM ARCHITECTURE ADVANTAGES OF GSM SECURITY ALGORITHMS

4. TRANSMISSION AND CHANNEL CONFIGURATION 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 DUPLEX TRANSMISSION GSM FREQUENCY BANDS MODULATION MULTIPLE ACCESS BURST TYPE CHANNEL CONFIGURATION PROBLEM AND SOLUTION OF AIR INTERFACE

21

5. NETWORK PLANNING 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 STEPS INVOLVED IN PLANNING CAPACITY PLANNING COVERAGE PLANNING FREQUENCY PLANNING

38

6. NETWORK OPTIMIZATION 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 BASICS OF RADIO NETWORK OPTIMIZTION KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS NETWORK PERFORMANCE MONITORING NETWORK PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

50

7. SOFTWARES USED 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 MAP INFO TOOL NET MONITOR REFLECTION PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES

55

8. CONCLUSION

60

9. REFERENCES

61

10. ABBREVIATIONS

62

LIST OF FIGURES

FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 4 FIG. 5 FIG. 6 FIG. 7 FIG. 8 FIG. 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 12 FIG. 13 FIG. 14 FIG. 15

The three Subsystems of GSM and their interfaces Architecture of GSM Network Switching Subsystem Base Station Subsystem Network Management Subsystem GSM Frequency Bands Binary Phase Shift Keying FDMA Scheme TDMA Scheme TDMA Time Slots Bursty Data Block Diagram of Logical Channels Implementation of Logical Channels Inter Symbol Interference And Fading Interleaving

FIG. 16 FIG. 17 FIG. 18 FIG. 19 FIG. 20 FIG. 21 FIG. 22 FIG. 23 FIG. 24 FIG. 25 FIG. 26 FIG. 27 FIG. 28 FIG. 29

Frequency Hopping Antenna Diversity Shadowing Propagation Delay In Frames Flow of Network Planning Example of Co-Channel Interference Time Dispersion Frequency Hopping Steps to Optimization Process Optimization Block Diagram Map Info Example Net Monitor Example Customer Complaint Report Site Data

INTRODUCTION

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) Pvt. Ltd. Handles GSM network implementation and maintenance for Gujrat Circle for Bharti-Airtel & Vodafone. My training at NSN-Airtel

has started on 16th june, 2011 as my post 6th Semester curriculum. Major departments in
NSN are Project Work, RF Planning & Optimization, BSS, Switching & maintenance (NSS). I was allocated in the RF Planning section of RF dept. This department is the heart of whole GSM network. Its goal is to provide maximum coverage with better signal quality in the network. Major tasks in RF Planning are dimensioning, coverage planning, capacity planning, frequency planning, site selection, site surveys and link budget calculation. In this report, I have included customer complaint for RF Optimization with proper snapshot. I have included some basic software knowledge of Map-Info; NetMonitor and Reflection for accessing the BTS and transmission node.

COMPANY PROFILE

Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of communication services. It provides a well-balanced product portfolio of mobile & fixed network infrastructure solutions and addresses the growing demand of services with 25,000 services professional worldwide. It includes various activities like setting up of new cell-sites, planning and efficient use of radio resources, management of switches, etc. in Gujrat. NSN handles the back-end activities of Vodafone & Airtel. It is one of the largest telecommunication infrastructure companies with operations in 150 countries. The headquarters of the company is in Espoo, Finland.

Technology Vision:
We are committed to developing simple cost-efficient, flexible products, services & solutions that deliver immediate improvement to our customers networks & services.

Market Position:
No. 2 in wireless networks. No. 2 in operator services. No. 1 in wire line networks.

Customer Base:
700 customers in 150 countries. 75 of top 100 operators are NSN customers. Over 1 billion people connect through NSN switches.

Seven Regions:
North America, Latin America, West & South Europe North East, Middle East & Africa Greater China & Asia Pacific Manufacturing sites in China, Finland, Germany, India, Italy & Spain

Departments In NSN:

RF Planning & Optimization

Efficient use of radio resources. Physical & logical optimization of the cellular network. Attending customer complaints related to coverage issues & troubleshooting of the problem. Preparation and analysis of statistical reports showing network performance.

Assuring adherence to standards WPC, SACFA.

Switching

Supervision of switch functions such as cell routing, call setup, digit collection and translation, etc. Operations and maintenance of registers such as HLR & VLR ,gateways such as SGSN, GGSN, etc. in case of GPRS facility. Billing information.

Transmission Planning

Planning, implementation and commissioning of links between BTS and BSC. Optimization of links

BSS

Troubleshooting of faults in BTS. Supervision and maintenance of the A-bis interface. Monitoring of BTS alarams.

Project

Installation, commissioning and integration of BTS.

Site survey, RF survey, New site Planning.

Operation & Maintenance Centre

Fault management, alarm monitoring and troubleshooting Configuration management: site creation, site shifting, TRX addition-deletion. Performance Management: generation of reports related to network performance.

10

INTRODUCTION TO GSM

1. Background Of GSM:
The GSM story began in the early 1980s, when European countries struggled with no fewer than nine competing analog standards, including Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT),

Total Access Communications Systems (TACS), and so on. In order to put the rise of
GSM in context, it is important to note that the climate of economic liberalization and opening up of new markets in Asia, Latin American and Eastern Europe helped boost analog system subscriber numbers throughout the 1990s. The roll-out of a multinational global communications standard faced several formidable barriers. Operators were concentrating on new methods for expanding old analog networks, using methods like NAMPS (Narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service) by Motorola; unsurprisingly, there was resistance to the prospects of a digital launch.

Pan-European roaming was nothing more than a distant dream at that point, and capacity
was a particularly difficult issue. Europeans recognized the need for a completely new system a system that could accommodate an ever-increasing subscriber base, advanced features and standardized solutions across the continent. Because of the shortcomings and incompatibility issues associated with analog systems, a completely new digital solution was instituted. The new standard, Groupe Spciale Mobile (GSM), was built as a wireless counterpart of the land-line Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) system. The acronym was later changed to refer to Global System for Mobile communications.

In addition to the commercial demands mentioned, some other objectives were:

The system must be Pan European. The system must maintain a good speech quality. The system must use radio frequencies as efficiently as possible. The system must have adequate capacity. The system must be compatible with other data communication specifications.

11

2. GSM Architecture:
In a GSM network, the decentralized intelligence is implemented by dividing the whole network into four separate subsystems: Mobile Station (MS) Base Station Subsystem (BSS) Network Switching Subsystem (NSS) Network Management Subsystem (NMS)

The GSM specifications define two truly open interfaces within the GSM network. The first one is between the Mobile Station (MS) and the Base Station (BS). This open-air interface is appropriately named the air interface. It is relatively easy to imagine the need for this interface to be open, as mobile phones of all different brands must be able to communicate with GSM networks from all different suppliers. The second interface is located between the Mobile services Switching Centre, MSC, (which is the switching exchange in GSM) and the Base Station Controller (BSC). This

interface is called the A-interface

FIGURE 1

12

The architecture of GSM network is shown in fig 1.2. The description of each and every system is explained below.

FIGURE 2

Mobile Station (MS)

The MS is a combination of mobile terminal equipment and subscriber data. The terminal equipment as such is called ME (mobile equipment) and the subscribers identity is stored in a separate module called SIM (Subscriber Identity Module). Therefore, ME + SIM= MS.

NSS

The Network Switching Subsystem (NSS) contains the network elements MSC, VLR, HLR, AC and EIR.

13

FIGURE 3

The main functions of NSS are:

Call control This identifies the subscriber, establishes a call, and clears the connection after the conversation is over. Charging This collects the charging information about a call (the numbers of the caller and the called subscriber, the time and type of the transaction, etc.) and transfers it to the Billing Centre. Mobility Management

This maintains information about the subscriber's location.

Signaling This applies to interfaces with the BSS and PSTN. Subscriber Data Handling This is the permanent data storage in the HLR and temporary storage of relevant data in the VLR.

14

Mobile Services Switching Centre (MSC)

The MSC is responsible for controlling calls in the mobile network. It identifies the origin and destination of a call (mobile station or fixed telephone), as well as the type of a call. An MSC acting as a bridge between a mobile network and a fixed network is called a Gateway MSC. The MSC is responsible for several important tasks, such as the following:

Call Control MSC identifies the type of call, the destination, and the origin of a call. It also sets up, supervises, and clears connections. Initiation of Paging Paging is the process of locating a particular mobile station in case of a mobile terminated call (a call to a mobile station).

Visitor Location Register (VLR)

In the Nokia implementation, Visitor Location Register (VLR) is integrated with the MSC. VLR is a database which contains information about subscribers currently being in the service area of the MSC/VLR, such as: 1. Identification numbers of the subscribers 2. Security information for authentication of the SIM card and for ciphering 3. Services that the subscriber can use The VLR carries out location registrations and updates. It means that when a mobile

station comes to a new MSC/VLR serving area, it must register itself in the VLR, in other
words perform a location update. Please note that a mobile subscriber must always be registered in a VLR in order to use the services of the network. Also the mobile stations located in the own network is always registered in a VLR. The VLR database is temporary, in the sense that the data is held as long as the subscriber is within its service area. It also contains the address to every subscriber's Home Location Register, which is the next network element to be discussed.
15

Home Location Register (HLR)

HLR maintains a permanent register of the subscribers, for instance subscriber identity numbers and the subscribed services. In addition to the fixed data, the HLR also keeps track of the current location of its customers. As you will see later, the MSC asks for routing information from the HLR if a call is to be set up to a mobile station (mobile terminated call). In the Nokia implementation, the two network elements, Authentication Centre (AC) and Equipment Identity Register (EIR), are located in the HLR.

Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

The Base Station Subsystem is responsible for managing the radio network, and it is controlled by an MSC. Typically, one MSC contains several BSSs. A BSS itself may cover a considerably large geographical area consisting of many cells (a cell refers to an area covered by one or more frequency resources). The BSS consists of the following

elements:
1. BSC -Base Station Controller 2. BTS -Base Transceiver Station 3. TC -Transcoder

FIGURE 4
16

Base Station Controller (BSC)

The BSC is the central network element of the BSS and it controls the radio network. It has several important tasks, some of which are presented in the following:

Connection establishment between the MS and the NSS All calls to and from the MS are connected through the group switch of the BSC

(GSWB).

Mobility Management The BSC is responsible for initiating the vast majority of all handovers, and it makes the handover decision based on, among others, measurement reports sent by the MS during a call.

Statistical Raw Data Collection

Information from the Base Transceiver Stations, Transcoders, and BSC are collected in
the BSC and forwarded via the DCN (Data Communications Network) to the NMS (Network Management Subsystem), where they are post- processed into statistical views, from which the network quality and status is obtained.

BTS and TC Control Inside the BSS, all the BTSs and TCs are connected to the BSC(s). The BSC maintains the BTSs. In other words, the BSC is capable of separating (barring) a BTS from the network and collecting alarm information. Transcoders are also maintained by the BSC, that is, the BSC collects alarms related to the transcoders.

17

Base Transreciever Station (BTS)

The BTS is the network element responsible for maintaining the air interface and minimizing the transmission problems (the air interface is very sensitive for disturbances). This task is accomplished with the help of some 120 parameters. These parameters define exactly what kind of BTS is in question and how MSs may "see" the network when moving in this BTS area. The BTS parameters handle the following major items: what kind of handovers (when and why), paging organization, radio power level control, and BTS identification. The BTS has several very important tasks, some of which are presented in the following: 1. Air Interface Signalling 2. Ciphering 3. Speech Processing

Transcoder (TC)

In the air interface (between MS and BTS), the media carrying the traffic is a radio frequency. To enable an efficient transmission of digital speech information over the air interface, the digital speech signal is compressed. We must however also be able to communicate with and through the fixed network, where the speech compression format is different. Somewhere between the BTS and the fixed network, we therefore have to convert from one speech compression format to another, and this is where the Transcoder comes in.

For transmission over the air interface, the speech signal is compressed by the mobile
station to 13 Kbits/s (Full Rate and Enhanced Full Rate) or 5.6 Kbits/s (Half Rate).

18

Network Management Subsystem (NMS)

Network Management Subsystem (NMS) is the third subsystem of the GSM network in addition to the Network Switching Subsystem (NSS) and Base Station Subsystem (BSS). The purpose of the NMS is to monitor various functions and elements of the network. In the Nokia implementation, these tasks are carried out by the NMS/2000, which consists of a number of workstations, servers, and a router, which connects to a Data Communications Network (DCN).

FIGURE 5

The functions of the NMS can be divided into three categories:

1. Fault Management 2. Configuration Management 3. Performance Management

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3. Advantages of GSM:

Due to the inception of GSM system, many advantages will be achieved which can be summarized as follows:

1. GSM uses radio frequencies efficiently, and due to the digital radio path, the system tolerates more inter-cell disturbances. 2. The average quality of speech achieved is better than in analogue cellular systems. 3. Data transmission is supported throughout the GSM system. 4. Speech is encrypted and subscriber information security is guaranteed. 5. Due to the ISDN compatibility, new services are offered compared to the analogue systems. 6. International roaming is technically possible within all countries using the GSM system. 7. The large market increases competition and lowers the prices both for investments and usage.

The large market for mobile users increases competition and lowers the prices both for investments and usage.

4. Security Algorithms:
The GSM system uses three algorithms for the purpose of authenticating and ciphering. These algorithms are A3, A5 and A8. A3 is used in authentication, A8 is used in generating a ciphering key A5 is used in ciphering. A3 & A8 are located in the SIM module and in Authentication Centre. A5 is located in the mobile station and in the BTS.

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TRANSMISSION AND CHANNEL CONFIGURATION

In a mobile communications network, part of the transmission connection uses a radio link and another part uses 2Mbit/s PCM links. Radio transmission is used between the Mobile Station and the Base Transceiver Station and the information must to be adapted to be carried over 2Mbit/s PCM transmission through the remainder of the network.

1. Duplex Transmission:
In GSM, Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) is used for duplex transmission. In this case, frequency resources are allocated to the mobile communication system. Some of the bands are allocated to uplink while others are used for downlink communication. The frequency ranges of GSM 900 and GSM 1800 are indicated below:

FIGURE 6

The uplink refers to a signal flow from Mobile Station (MS) to BTS and the downlink refers to a signal flow from Base Transceiver Station (BTS) to Mobile Station (MS). The radio carrier frequencies are arranged in pairs and the difference between these two frequencies (uplink-downlink) is called the Duplex Frequency.
21

2. GSM Frequency Bands:

In Europe, Australia, most parts of Asia and South America, GSM 900 and GSM 1800 are available. In North America, some parts of Asia and South America, there is GSM 1900. These are the most commonly used frequency bands. The frequency ranges are divided into carrier frequencies spaced at 200 KHz. The following table shows the distribution in GSM 900:

TABLE 1

In GSM 900 the duplex frequency (the difference between uplink and downlink frequencies) is 45 MHz. In GSM 1800 it is 95 MHz. The lowest and highest channels are not used to avoid interference with services using neighboring frequencies, both in GSM 900 and GSM 1800. The total number of carriers in GSM 900 is 124, whereas in GSM 1800 the number of carriers is 374. The devices in the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) that transmit and receive the radio signals in each of the GSM channels (uplink and downlink together) are known as Transceivers (TRX).

22

3. Modulation:
GSM uses digital techniques where the speech and control information are represented by 0s and 1s. The digital values 0 and 1 are used to change one of the characteristics of an analogue radio signal in a predetermined way. By altering the characteristic of a radio signal for every bit in the digital signal, we can "translate" an analogue signal into a bit stream in the frequency domain. This technique is called modulation. In most modern communication systems, Phase Shift Keying (PSK) is applied. BPSK is sketched as figure below:

FIGURE 7

GSM uses a phase modulation technique over the air interface known as Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK). In order to understand how it works, lets take a simple example. At the GSM air interface, the bit rate is approximately 270Kbits/s. At this bit rate, the duration of one bit is 3.69 ms, i.e. the value of the bit requires 3.69 ms of transmission time. GMSK changes the phase of the analogue radio signal depending on whether the bit to be transmitted is a 0 or a 1.
23

4. Multiple Access:
Imagine that one GSM 1800 subscriber gets 45MHz for both downlink and uplink communication. Then there would be no resources left for other GSM 1800 users in the same geographical area. One user would block all the available resources. Luckily, this is not the case in GSM. The radio transmission in GSM networks is based on digital technology. Digital transmission in GSM is implemented using two methods:

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) refers to the fact that each Base Transceiver Station is allocated different radio frequency channels. Mobile phones in adjacent cells (or in the same cell) can operate at the same time but are separated according to frequency. The FDMA method is employed by using multiple carrier frequencies, 124 in GSM 900 and 374 in GSM 1800.

FIGURE 8

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), as the name suggests, is a method of sharing a resource (in this case a radio frequency) between multiple users, by allocating a specific time (known as a time slot) for each user. This is in contrast to the analogue mobile
24

systems where one radio frequency is used by a single user for the duration of the conversation. In Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems each user either receives or transmits bursts of information only in the allocated time slot.

FIGURE 9

These time slots are allocated for speech only when a user has set up the call however, some timeslots are used to provide signalling and location updates etc. between calls.

5. Burst Types:
How do we manage the timing between multiple mobile stations in one cell? The aim is that each mobile sends its information at a precise time, so that when the information arrives at the Base Transceiver Station, it fits into the allocated time slot in the 2Mbit/s signal. Each Mobile Station must send a burst (a burst occupies one TDMA timeslot) of data at a different time to all the other Mobile Stations in the same cell. The mobile the n falls silent for the next seven timeslots and then again sends the next burst and so on. It can be seen that the mobile station is sending information periodically. All the mobile stations send their information like this. If we go back to the analogy of the army, the road is the radio carrier frequency; the vehicle is the TDMA frame and the seats in each vehicle are the TDMA timeslots.
25

FIGURE 10 In the air interface a TDMA timeslot is a time interval of approximately 576. 9 ms, this corresponds to the duration of 156.25 bit times. All bursts occupy this period of time, but the actual arrangement of bits in the burst will depend on the burst type. Two examples of burst types are: Normal Burst is used to send the traffic channels, standalone dedicated channels, broadcast control channel, paging channel, access grant channel, slow and fast associated control channels.

FIGURE 11
26

Access Burst which is used to send information on the Random Access Channel (RACH). This burst contains the lowest number of bits. The purpose of this extra free space is to measure the distance between the Mobile Station to Base Transceiver Station at the beginning of a connection. This process determines a parameter called "timing advance" which ensures that the bursts from different mobile stations arrive at the correct time, even if the distances between the various MSs and the BTS are different. This process is carried out in connection with the first access request and after a handover. In GSM a maximum the oretical distance of about 35 km is allowed between the base transceiver station and mobile station.

6. Channel Configuration:
The radio carrier signal between the Mobile Station and the BTS is divided into a continuous stream of timeslots which in turn are transmitted in a continuous stream of TDMA frames - like a long line of vehicles with eight seats in each. If the time slots of the TDMA frame represent the physical channels, what about the contents? The contents of the physical channels - i.e. the soldiers and officers travelling in the eight seats of the vehicle, according to their roles, are called "logical channels". In GSM the logical channels can be divided into two types:

1. Dedicated Channels 2. Common Channels

Logical Channels

There are twelve different types of Logical Channels which are mapped into Physical Channels in the radio path. Logical channels comprise of Common Channels and Dedicated Channels. Common Channels are those which are used for broadcasting
27

different information to mobile stations and setting up of signalling channels between the MSC/VLR and the mobile station.

FIGURE 12 Over the radio path, different type of signalling channels are used to facilitate the discussions between the mobile station and the BTS, BSC and MSC/VLR. All these signalling channels are called Dedicated Control Channels. Traffic channels are also Dedicated Channels as each channel is dedicated to only one user to carry speech or data.

FIGURE 13
28

Broadcast Channels

Base Stations can use several TRXs but there is always only one TRX which can carry Common Channels. Broadcast channels are downlink point to multipoint channels. They contain general information about the network and the broadcasting cell. There are three types of broadcast channels:

1. Frequency Correction Channel (FCCH) FCCH bursts consist of all "0"s which are transmitted as a pure sine wave. This acts like a flag for the mobile stations which enables them to find the TRX among several TRXs, which contains the Broadcast transmission. The MS scans for this signal after it has been switched on since it has no information as to which frequency to use.

2. Synchronization Channel (SCH) The SCH contains the Base Station Identity Code (BSIC) and a reduced TDMA frame number. The BSIC is needed to identify that the frequency strength being measured by the mobile station is coming from a particular base station. In some cases, a distant base station broadcasting the same frequency can also be detected by the mobile station. The TDMA frame number is required for speech encryption.

3. Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) The BCCH contains detailed network and cell specific information such as: Frequencies used in the particular cell and neighboring cells. Channel combination. As we mentioned previously, there are a total of twelve logical channels. All the logical channels except Traffic Channels are mapped into Timeslot 0 or Timeslot 1 of the broadcasting TRX. Channel combination informs the mobile station about the mapping method used in the particular cell. Paging groups. Normally in one cell there is more than one paging channel (describer later). To prevent a mobile from listening to all the paging channels for a paging message, the paging channels are divided in
29

such a way that only a group of mobile stations listen to a particular paging channel. These are referred to as paging groups. Information on surrounding cells. A mobile station has to know what are the cells surrounding the present cell and what frequencies are being broadcast on them. This is necessary if, for example, the user initiates a conversation in the current cell, and then decides to move on. The mobile station has to measure the signal strength and quality of the surrounding cells and report this information to the base station controller.

Common Control Channels

Common Control Channels comprise the second set of logical channels. They are used to set up a point to point connection. There are three types of common control channels:

1. Paging Channel (PCH) The PCH is a downlink channel which is broadcast by all the BTSs of a Location Area in the case of a mobile terminated call.

2. Random Access Channel (RACH) The RACH is the only uplink and the first point to point channel in the common control channels. It is used by the mobile station in order to initiate a transaction, or as a response to a PCH.

3. Access Grant Channel (AGCH) The AGCH is the answer to the RACH. It is used to assign a mobile a Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH). An additional information in the AGCH is the frequency hopping sequence. It is a downlink, point to point channel.

30

Dedicated Control Channels

Dedicated Control Channels compose the third group of channels. Once again, there are three dedicated channels. They are used for call set-up, sending measurement reports and handover. They are all bidirectional and point to point channels. There are three dedicated control channels:

1. Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH) The SDCCH is used for system signalling: call set-up, authentication, location update, assignment of traffic channels and transmission of short messages.

2. Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH) An SACCH is associated with each SDCCH and Traffic Channel (TCH). It transmits measurement reports and is also used for power control, time alignment and in some cases to transmit short messages.

3. Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH) The FACCH is used when a handover is required. It is mapped onto a TCH, and it replaces 20 ms of speech and therefore it is said to work in "stealing" mode.

Traffic Channels

Traffic Channels are logical channels that transfer user speech or data, which can be either in the form of Half rate traffic (5.6 kbits/s) or Full rate traffic (13 kbits/s). Another form of traffic channel is the Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) Traffic Channel. The speech coding in EFR is still done at 13Kbits/s, but the coding mechanism is different than that used for normal full rate traffic. EFR coding gives better speech quality at the same bit rate than normal full rate. Traffic channels can transmit both speech and data and are bi-directional channels.

31

7. Problems And Solutions of Air Interface:

It has already been pointed out that the radio air interface link is the most vulnerable part of the GSM connection. In this section I will briefly discuss some of the problems that occur in air interface and some solutions. There are three major sources of problems in the air interface, which can lead to loss of data. These are:

1. Multi path propagation 2. Shadowing 3. Propagation delay

Multipath Propagation

Whenever a mobile station is in contact with the GSM network, it is quite rare that there is a direct "line of sight" transmission between the mobile station and the base transceiver station. In the majority of cases, the signals arriving at the mobile station have been reflected from various surfaces. Thus a mobile station (and the base transceiver station) receives the same signal more than once. Depending on the distance that the reflected signals have travelled, they may affect the same information bit or corrupt successive bits. In the worst case an entire burst might get lost. Depending on whether the reflected signal comes from near or far, the effect is slightly different. A reflected signal that has travelled some distance causes "inter symbol interference" whereas near reflections cause "frequency dips". There are a number of solutions that have been designed to overcome these problems: Viterbi Equalization Channel Coding Interleaving Frequency Hopping Antenna Diversity

32

FIGURE 14

Solution 1-Viterbi Equalization This is generally applicable for signals that have been reflected from far away objects. When either the base transceiver station or mobile station transmits user information, the information contained in the burst is not all user data. There are 26 bits which are designated for a "training sequence" included in each TDMA burst transmitted. Both the mobile station and base transceiver station know these bits and by analyzing the effect the radio propagation on these training bits, the air interface is mathematically modelled as a filter. Using this mathematical model, the transmitted bits are estimated based on the received bits. The mathematical algorithm used for this purpose is called "Viterbi equalization".

Solution 2- Channel Coding Channel coding (and the following solutions) is normally used for overcoming the problem caused by fading dips. In channel coding, the user data is coded using standard algorithms. This coding is not for encryption but for error detection and correction purposes and requires extra information to be added to the user data. In the case of speech, the amount of bits is increased from 260 per 20 ms to 456 bits per 20 ms. This gives the possibility to regenerate up to 12.5% of data loss.

33

Solution 3- Interleaving Interleaving is the spreading of the coded speech into many bursts. By spreading the information onto many bursts, we will be able to recover the data even if one burst is lost.

FIGURE 15

Solution 4-Frequency Hopping With Frequency Hopping, the frequency on which the information is transmitted is changed for every burst. Frequency hopping generally does not significantly improve the performance if there are less than four frequencies in the cell.

34

FIGURE 16 Solution 5-Antenna Receiver Diversity In this case two physically separated antennas receive and process the same signal. This helps to eliminate fading dips. If a fading dip occurs at the position of one antenna, the other antenna will still be able to receive the signal. Since the distance between two antennas is a few meters, it can only be implemented at the Base Transceiver Station.

FIGURE 17

Shadowing

Hills, buildings and other obstacles between antennas cause shadowing (also called Log Normal Fading). Instead of reflecting the signal these obstacles attenuate the signal. Shadowing is generally a problem in the uplink direction, because a Base Transceiver Station transmits information at a much higher power compared to that from the mobile station. The solution adopted to overcome this problem is known as adaptive power control. Based on quality and strength of the received signal, the base station informs the mobile station to increase or decrease the power as required. This information is sent in the Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH).
35

FIGURE 18

Propagation Delay

As you remember, information is sent in bursts from the mobile station to the Base Transceiver Station (BTS). These bursts have to arrive at the base transceiver station such that they have to map exactly into their allocated time slots. However, the further away the mobile station is from the BTS then the longer it will take for the radio signal to travel over the air interface. This means that if the mobile station or base station transmits a burst only when the time slot appears, then when the burst arrives at the other end, it will cross onto the time domain of the next timeslot, thereby corrupting data from both sources.

36

FIGURE 19 The solution used to overcome this problem is called "adaptive frame alignment". The Base Transceiver Station measures the time delay from the received signal compared to the delay that would come from a mobile station that was transmitting at zero distance from the Base Transceiver Station. Based on this delay value, the Base Transceiver Station informs the mobile station to either advance or retard the time alignment by sending the burst slightly before the actual time slot. The base station also adopts this time alignment in the down link direction.

37

NETWORK PLANNING

Achieving maximum capacity while maintaining an acceptable grade of service and good speech quality is the main issue for the network planning. Planning an immature network with a limited number of subscribers is not the real problem. The difficulty is to plan a network that allows future growth and expansion. Wise re-use of site location in the future network structure will save money for the operator.

1. Steps Involved In Planning Procedure:

Planning means building a network able to provide service to the customers wherever they are. This work can be simplified and structured in certain steps. The steps are

System requirements Surveys Individual site design Implementation Launch of service On-going testing Define radio planning Initial network plan

This process should not be considered just as it is depicted, in a single flow of events. For instance, the radio planning and surveying actions are interlinked in an ongoing iterative process that should ultimately lead to the individual site design.

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FIGURE 20

Network Planning is a complex task involving interactions with many different functions within the operators organizations. The above figure shows main dependencies and interactions within the scope of network planning. For a well-planned cell network planner should meet the following requirements:

Coverage as required and predicted. Co channel and adjacent channel interference levels as predicted for maintaining good quality of service. Minimum antenna adjustments during the optimization process. Maximum the network capacity (Erl/km2) with limited frequency band (MHz) by reusing the same frequencies. Minimum changes to the BSS parameters/database during the optimization phase. Facilitate easy expansion of the network with minimal changes in the system.
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Total planning process can be divided in to three parts:

Capacity Planning Coverage Planning Frequency Planning

2. Capacity Planning:

Network Dimensioning

Network Dimensioning (ND) is usually the first task to start the planning of a given cellular network. The main result is an estimation of the equipment necessary to meet the following requirements: a. Capacity b. Coverage c. Quality

ND gives an overall picture of the network and is used as a base for all further planning activities.

Network Dimensioning Input

The inputs are: a. Capacity related Spectrum available Subscriber growth forecast Traffic density map (Traffic per subs)

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b. Coverage related Coverage regions Area type information

c. Quality related MS classes Blocking probability Location probability Redundancy Indoor coverage

The operator normally supplies the input data, but use of defaults is also possible. The technical parameter and characteristics of the equipment to be used are another very important part of the input. This includes the basic network modules (MSC, BSC, BTS) as well as some additional elements (antennas, cables)

Capacity Calculation

The capacity of a given network is measured in terms of the subscribers or the traffic load that it can handle. The former requires knowledge of subscriber calling habits (average traffic per subscriber) while the latter is more general. The steps for calculating the network capacity are: Find the maximum no of carriers per cell that can be reached for the different regions based on the frequency reuse patterns and the available spectrum. Calculate the capacity of the given cell using blocking probability and the number of carriers. Finally the sum of all cell capacities gives the network capacity.

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Spectrum Efficiency

S.E = S / (n X A X B) S - total spectrum available n - reuse factor A - cell area B - channel bandwidth

Erlang B Table

To calculate the capacity of the given cell using blocking probability and the number of carriers we need the well-known Erlang B table or formulas and the no of traffic channels for different number of carriers. The result we get is the traffic capacity in Erlangs, which can easily be transferred into the number of subscribers.

Erlangs = n X t / 3600 n = no of calls attempted t = total duration in seconds

3. Coverage Planning:
The objective of coverage planning phase in coverage limited network areas is to find a minimum amount of cell sites with optimum locations for producing the required coverage for the target area. Coverage planning is normally performed with prediction modules on digital map database. The basic input information for coverage planning includes: Coverage regions Coverage threshold values on per regions (outdoor, in-car, indoor) Antenna (tower height limitations) Preferred antenna line system specifications
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Preferred BTS specification

Activities such as propagation modeling, field strength predictions and measurements are usually referred to as coverage planning.

Site Selection:

Coverage planning and site selection are performed on parallel with the site acquisition in interactive mode. Both network planning team and site acquisition should team have well defined responsibilities and means to communicate.

Coverage predictions

The possibilities for rough coverage calculations based on propagation curves formulas. These average values are not enough for the detailed network planning; therefore many computer-aided tools based on digital maps usage have been developed to improve the quality of the predictions.

Point to point and cell coverage

Using a given digital map it is not difficult to obtain the path profile between any two points, say BS and MS. Furthermore the profile can be related to the corresponding area types, thus making possible the calculation of specific propagation loss. Normally different corrections, such as the diffraction loss or mixed land-sea path correction are added to the basic propagation loss. The result of such point to point calculations can be used for cell coverage prediction. There are two basic approaches: Radial calculations Pixel by pixel calculations

The latter one gives better possibilities for the interference predictions, so the results should be transferred to the raster format even if the radial approach is used.
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Extension of cell coverage area

The cellular area extension can be done with cellular repeaters and preamplifiers. The cellular repeater amplifies the RF signal in both uplink and downlink directions, i.e. it is a device which compensates the propagation loss between the base station antenna and mobile station antenna. The cellular repeater antenna is connected between two antennas: the first antenna is pointed to the base station site and the second one (reradiating elements) is pointed to the area to be covered. Radiating cable (leaky cable) can be used in tunnels as a reradiating element to provide homogeneous field strength inside the tunnel. Mast Head Preamplifiers (MHPx) are---- installed at the base station antennas mast after the Rx antenna to amplify the uplink signal. The preamplifier has a low noise figure and adjustable gain to compensate the Rx antenna feeder attenuation. It can be very helpful when low-power hand portables are used in the network.

4. Frequency Planning:
The main goal of the frequency-planning task is to increase the efficiency of the spectrum usage, keeping the interference in the network below some predefined level. Therefore it is always related to interference predictions. There are two basic approaches to solve the frequency assignment problem.

a. Frequency reuse patterns b. Automatic frequency allocation Some softwares are used with automatic frequency allocation algorithms for finding the optimum solutions. The frequency allocation is generally guided by the following information:

Channel requirement on cell basis according to the capacity planning

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Channel spacing limitations according to BTS specification Quality of service requirement which is conserved to acceptable interference probability Traffic density distribution over the service area Performance of advanced system features (frequency hopping, IUO, etc.)

The frequency allocation is based on cell-to-cell interference probability estimation according to the network topology, field strength distribution and traffic load. This results in customized frequency performance of the selected radio network elements.

Frequency Reuse

A frequency used in one cell can be reused in another cell at a certain distance. This distance is called reuse distance. The advantage of digital system is that they can reuse frequencies more efficiently than the analogue ones, i.e. the reuse distance can be shorter, and the capacity increased. A cellular system is based in reuse of frequencies. All the available frequencies are divided into different frequency groups so that a certain frequency always belongs to a certain frequency group. The frequency groups together form a cluster. A cluster is an area in which all frequency groups are used once, but not reused. The frequencies can be divided into different frequency groups. This introduces the terms reuse patterns and reuse grids. The most common reuse patterns in GSM is 4/12 and 3/9. 4/12 means that the available frequencies are divided into 12 frequency groups, which in turn are located at 4 base stations sites. This assumes that the base station has three cells connected to it. The frequency groups are often assigned a number or name such as A1, B1, C1, D1, A2,.. D3. 3/9 means that the available frequencies are divided into 9 frequency groups located at 3 sites. Problem with C/A might appear in certain parts of a cell, arising from adjacent frequencies in neighboring cells.

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Example: channel assignment of 24 frequencies in a 3/9-cell plan.

Solution:

Interference Calculations

The reference interference ratio is defined in GSM as the interference ratio for which the required performance in terms of frame erasure, bit error rate or residual bit error rate is met. The reference interference ratios for BS and all types MSs are the following: a. Co-channel interference: C/Ic <= 9 dB b. First adjacent channel interference: C/Ia1 <= -9 dB c. Second adjacent channel interference: C/Ia2 <= -41 dB

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Co-channel interference The carrier to interference (C/I) ratio at a given mobile receiver can be calculated as follows: C/I = C / (I1 + I2 + .. +Ik) Where k is the number of co channel interfering cells. For regular grid case it is possible to simplify the calculations by using the popular path loss expressions.

FIGURE 21

Time Dispersion

Some interference effects may be caused from the reflected signals if received outside the equalizer window. This happens only when the difference between direct path and the reflection path is larger than the equalizer window (about 4.5 km) and the reflected signal is strong enough. The reflection outside the equalizer window should be regarded as an independent co channel interferer, therefore the same reference C/I <= 9 dB should be used.
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FIGURE 22

Frequency Hopping

Frequency hopping (FH) is changing the frequency of information signal according to a certain sequence. The transmission frequency may change at each time slot or burst and remains constant during the transmission of a burst. FH can also decrease the overall C/I value in the network and thus improve the Quality 0f Service (QOS).

Frequency Hopping Behavior: The fading at different frequencies is not the same and become more and more independent when the difference in frequency increases. With frequencies spaced sufficiently apart they can be considered completely independent (no correlation). Thus Rayleigh fading does then not damage all the bursts containing the parts of one code word in the same way.
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When the MS moves of high speed the difference between its positions during the reception of two successive bursts of the same channel (i.e. at least 4,615 ms) is sufficient to de correlate Rayleigh fading variations on the signal. In this case FH does not help except if there is interference.

FIGURE 23 The worst case is when MS is stationary or moves at slow speeds because the interleaved coding does not bring any benefit to reception. In this case FH simulates MS movement and thus the reception quality. This phenomenon is called frequency diversity.

Baseband Hopping Baseband hopping occurs between TRXs in BTS. The number of frequencies used in the hopping sequence is the same as the number of TRXs in the sector. Both random and cyclic hopping can be used. The digital (baseband) and analogue (RF) parts of the TRX are separated from each other. Synthesized Hopping Synthesized hopping is available in configurations, which have at least 2 TRX per sector. It enables each TRX to change frequency on successive time slots, so that given carrier can hop quickly onto many different frequencies. The carrier on which the BCCH IS transmitted must remain at fixed frequency to enable the MS to measure correct signal strength. Both random and cyclic hopping can be used.

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NETWORK OPTIMIZATION

This is the last step of the network planning procedure. It can start during the network trial period and continues after opening the commercial service and during the network expansion. The aim of this process is to evaluate and maximize the quality of service in the network with the corresponding set of quality criteria.

Basics of Radio Network Optimization

As we have seen, radio network planners first focus on three main areas: coverage, capacity and frequency planning. Then follows site selection, parameter planning, etc. In the optimization process the same issues are addressed, with the difference that sites are already selected and antenna locations are fixed, but subscribers are as mobile as ever, with continuous growth taking place. Optimization tasks become more and more difficult as time passes.

FIGURE 24
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Once a radio network is designed and operational, its performance is monitored. The performance is compared against chosen key performance indicators (KPIs). After finetuning, the results (parameters) are then applied to the network to get the desired performance. Optimization can be considered to be a separate process or as a part of the network planning process. The main focus of radio network optimization is on areas such as power control, quality, handovers, subscriber traffic, and resource availability (and access) measurements.

Key Performance Indicators

For radio network optimization (or for that matter any other network optimization), it is necessary to have decided on key performance indicators. These KPIs are parameters that are to be observed closely when the network monitoring process is going on. Mainly, the term KPI is used for parameters related to voice and data channels, but network performance can be broadly characterized into coverage, capacity and quality criteria also that cover the speech and data aspects.

Voice Quality The performance of the radio network is measured in terms of KPIs related to voice quality, based on statistics generated from the radio network. Drive tests and network management systems are the best methods for generating these performance statistics. The most important of these from the operators perspective are the BER (bit error rate), the FER (frame error rate) and the DCR (dropped call rate). The BER is based on measurement of the received signal bits before decoding takes place, while the FER is an indicator after the incoming signal has been decoded. Correlation between the BER and the FER is dependent on various factors such as the channel coding schemes or the frequency hopping techniques used. As speech quality variation with the FER is quite uniform; FER is generally used as the quality performance indicator for speech.The FER can be measured by using statistics obtained by performing a drive test. Drive testing can generate both the uplink and the downlink FER.

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The dropped call rate, as the name suggests, is a measure of the calls dropped in the network. A dropped call can be defined as one that gets terminated on its own after being established. As the DCR gives a quick overview of network quality and revenues lost, this easily makes it one of the most important parameters in network optimization. Both the drive test results and the NMS statistics are used to evaluate this parameter.

Network Performance Monitoring

The whole process of network performance monitoring consists of two steps: monitoring the performance of the key parameters, and assessment of the performance of these parameters with respect to capacity and coverage. As a first step, radio planners assimilate the information/parameters that they need to monitor. The KPIs are collected along with field measurements such as drive tests. For the field measurements, the tools used are ones that can analyse the traffic, capacity, and quality of the calls, and the network as a whole. For drive testing, a test mobile is used. This test mobile keeps on making calls in a moving vehicle that goes around in the various parts of the network. Based on the DCR, CSR, HO, etc., parameters, the quality of the network can then be analyzed. Apart from drive testing, the measurements can also be generated by the network management system. And finally, when faulty parameters have been identified and correct values are determined, the radio planner puts them in his network planning tool to analyze the change before these parameters are actually implemented in the field.

Network Performance Assessment

The performance indicators are listed below: 1. amount of traffic and blocking 2. resource availability and access 3. handovers (same cell/adjacent cell, success and failure) 4. receiver level and quality 5. power control.
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Coverage Drive test results will give the penetration level of signals in different regions of the network. These results can then be compared with the plans made before the network launch. In urban areas, coverage is generally found to be less at the farthest parts of the network, in the areas behind high buildings and inside buildings. Coverage also becomes critical in rural areas, where the capacity of the cell sites is already low. Populated areas and highways usually constitute the regions that should have the desired level of coverage.

Capacity Data collected from the network management system is usually used to assess the capacity of the network. As coverage and capacity are interrelated, data collected from drive tests is also used for capacity assessment. The two aspects of this assessment are dropped calls and congestion. Generally, capacity-related problems arise when the network optimization is taking place after a long period of time. Radio network optimisation also includes providing new capacity to new hot-spots, or enhancing indoor coverage

Quality The quality of the radio network is dependent on its coverage, capacity and frequency allocation. Most of the severe problems in a radio network can be attributed to signal interference. For uplink quality, BER statistics are used, and for downlink FER statistics are used. When interference exists in the network; the source needs to be found. The entire frequency plan is checked again to determine whether the source is internal or external.

Parameter Tuning The ending of the assessment process sees the beginning of the complex process of fine tuning of parameters. The main parameters that are fine-tuned are signalling parameters, radio resource parameters, handover parameters and power control parameters.

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FIGURE 25

The concepts that are discussed in the radio planning process and the KPI values should be achieved after the process is complete.

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SOFTWARES USED

In this section, I am giving an overview of the softwares used during planning and optimization.

1. Map Info Tool

This is a very useful tool used extensively by RF engineers. It provides the user with a birds eye view of the cell sites in a particular region. This tool can be used in conjunction with databases and maps for obtaining as accurate approximation of the cell site locations.

FIGURE 26

The different parameters associated with a particular cell site such as the frequency assigned, orientation of antenna, etc. can be easily viewed using this software. There are different layers in this tool such as streets, cell sites, neighboring cells which can be added or removed as per the requirement of RF engineer.
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2. NET MONITOR
It is software used in mobile equipment to measure signal strength and signal quality along with variety of other parameters. Signal strength is measured in dBm whereas signal quality is measured in BER.

FIGURE 27 The Nokia Net Monitor is a hidden menu built into Nokias mobile phones that allows the user to view, and in some cases change internal data about the phones hardware, software and its connection with the mobile network. It is primarily intended for Nokias engineers and network operators. Here is a list of some things that can be done with Net Monitor:

- View information about the serving cell and neighboring cells, such as accurate signal strengths, C1 and C2 values, transmitter power, timing advance - Lock the phone to a channel of choice, or in other words select a base station - Find out the reason a call terminated or couldnt be made - Observe handover statistics - View SMS send, receive and failure statistics - View call statistics
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- View timers measuring the phones uptime and how long it has been connected to a network - View information about the SIM card - View information about the phones operating system

3. Practical Activities:

Attending Customer Complaints

RF Team attends customer complaint in a particular area using NET MONITOR software which is downloaded in the mobile station. First customer complaint reports are to be checked. Next step is to visit the particular complaint address to check network parameters & latitude-longitude of that address. Then we have to make report of the parameters taken. According to that we have to find out address on Map Info tool and analyze the exact problem. Here is a snap shot of a complaint report I went on. It is prepared on Microsoft Excel.

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FIGURE 28

Analyze Reports

I was given a report of the site data of Gujrat where I had to use Map Info tool to find out nearby National Highways and Railway Stations and to identify the vital towns. The snapshot of the report containing site data in Excel looks as follow:

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FIGURE 29

These reports are to analyzed and a report of the analyzed vital areas, highways and railway station is to submitted to Bharti Airtel.

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CONCLUSION

Two of the most important factors in the planning of a GSM network are the coverage and capacity of the network. The demographic data of the intended coverage area plays a major role in network planning. Frequencies have to be reused in GSM network according to certain predefined methods so as to make the best use of allocated frequency band. Radio network optimization must be a continues process that begins during the prelaunch phase and continues throughout the existence of network.

Different techniques may be used in order to leverage network performance. For egGMSK is not used. This is because GMSK employs frequency shift keying. This means in order to transmit digital data two frequencies must be used. Similarly two frequencies would be used to receive data. The situation demands that 4 frequencies be used for one ARFCN. Network performance would suffer because of the scarce radio resources. Hence, DBPSK is used which utilizes the resources efficiently.

In a competitive environment, the key to success for any operator would be proper planning which would ensure efficient utilization of the available resources. Moreover, this needs to be followed by careful monitoring of the network performance to ensure maximum productivity from each network element. Customer satisfaction is the main objective of any operator. Proper planning of the network and effective implementation of subsequent optimization strategies will ensure that all these objectives are met.

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REFERENCES

1. Nokia Systra Training Manual

2. Nokia Training Document, Frequency Hopping Network Planning Guide, version 1.0.0, Oct 1998

3. Nokia Net Monitor Manual

4. Nokia Metrosite base station user manual 5. Mishra, Second Generation Network Planning and Optimization (GSM), Feb 23, 2004 6. Theodore S. Rappaport, Wireless Communications, Principle and Practice, second Edition.

7. http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/specs/html-info/45-series.htm

8. http://www.nokiasiemens networks.com/global/innovationtechnology/industryforums.htm

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ABBREVIATIONS

AC AGCH AMPS AMR BBFH BCH BCCH BER BSC CA CCR C/I dBi DCCH EFR EIR

Authentication Centre Access Grant Channel Advanced Mobile Phone System Adaptive Multi-Rate Base-Band Frequency Hopping Broadcast Channel Broadcast Control Channel Bit Error Rate Base Station Controller Cell Allocation Co-Channel Rate Carrier-to-Interference Ratio dB Gain With Respect To Isotropic Antenna Dedicated Control Channel Enhanced Full Rate Equipment Identity Register

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FACCH FCCH FDMA HLR ISDN LA MA MSC NMS NSS OMC PCH RACH Rx SACCH SIM TCH VLR

Fast Associated Control Channel Frequency Correction Channel Frequency Division Multiple Access Home Location Register Integrated Services Digital Network Location Area Mobile Allocation Mobile Switching Centre Network Management Subsystems Network & Switching Subsystems Operation & Maintenance Centre Paging Channel Random Access Channel Receiver Slow Associated Control Channel Subscriber Identity Module Traffic Channel Visitor Location Register
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