Indoor Radio Planning
`A Practical Guide for GSM, DCS,
`UMTS and HSPA
`
`Morten Tolstrup
`
`Technical Director, LGC Wireless — An ADC Company, Denmark
`
`A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Publication
`
`

`

`

`

`Indoor Radio Planning
`
`

`

`

`

`Indoor Radio Planning
`A Practical Guide for GSM, DCS,
`UMTS and HSPA
`
`Morten Tolstrup
`
`Technical Director, LGC Wireless — An ADC Company, Denmark
`
`A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Publication
`
`

`

`This edition first published 2008
`# 2008 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
`
`Registered office
`John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex,
`PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom
`
`For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for
`permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com.
`
`The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the
`Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
`
`All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
`any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by
`the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.
`
`Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be
`available in electronic books.
`
`Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and
`product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their
`respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This
`publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is
`sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice
`or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
`
`Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
`
`Tolstrup, Morten.
`Indoor radio planning : a practical guide for GSM, DCS, UMTS and HSPA /
`Morten Tolstrup.
`p. cm.
`Includes bibliographical references and index.
`ISBN 978-0-470-05769-8 (cloth)
`1. Wireless LANs. 2. Wireless communication systems. 3. Mobile
`communication systems. I. Title.
`TK5105.78.T65 2008
`621.3845’6–dc22
`
`2008006388
`
`A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
`
`ISBN 978-0-470-05769-8 (HB)
`
`Typeset in 10/12pt Times by Thomson Digital Noida, India.
`Printed in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, England.
`
`

`

`Contents
`
`Foreword by Professor Simon Saunders
`
`Preface
`This is Not a Book for Scientists
`The Practical Approach
`
`Acknowledgments
`
`1 Introduction
`
`2 Overview of Cellular Systems
`2.1 Mobile Telephony
`2.1.1 Cellular Systems
`2.1.2 Radio Transmission in General
`2.1.3 The Cellular Concept
`2.1.4 Digital Cellular Systems
`2.2 Introduction to GSM
`2.2.1 GSM
`2.2.2 GSM Radio Features
`2.2.3 Mobility Management in GSM
`2.2.4 GSM Signaling
`2.2.5 GSM Network Architecture
`2.3 Universal Telecommunication System
`2.3.1 The Most Important UMTS Radio Design Parameters
`2.3.2 The UMTS Radio Features
`2.3.3 UMTS Noise Control
`2.3.4 UMTS Handovers
`2.3.5 UMTS Power Control
`2.3.6 UMTS and Multipath Propagation
`2.3.7 UMTS Signaling
`2.3.8 The UMTS Network Elements
`2.4 Introduction to HSPA
`2.4.1 Introduction
`2.4.2 Wi-Fi
`2.4.3 Introduction to HSDPA
`2.4.4 Indoor HSPA Coverage
`
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`vi
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`Contents
`
`2.4.5 Indoor HSPA Planning for Maximum Performance
`2.4.6 HSDPA Coverage from the Macro Network
`2.4.7 Passive DAS and HSPA
`2.4.8 Conclusion
`
`3 Indoor Radio Planning
`3.1 Why is In-building Coverage Important?
`3.1.1 Commercial and Technical Evaluation
`3.1.2 The Main Part of the Mobile Traffic is Indoors
`3.1.3 Some 70–80% of Mobile Traffic is Inside Buildings
`3.1.4 Indoor Solutions Can Make a Great Business Case
`3.1.5 Business Evaluation
`3.1.6 Coverage Levels/Cost Level
`3.1.7 Evaluate the Value of the Proposed Solution
`3.2 Indoor Coverage from the Macro Layer
`3.2.1 More Revenue with Indoor Solutions
`3.2.2 The Problem Reaching Indoor Mobile Users
`3.3 The Indoor UMTS/HSPA Challenge
`3.3.1 UMTS Orthogonality Degradation
`3.3.2 Power Load per User
`3.3.3 Interference Control in the Building
`3.3.4 The Soft Handover Load
`3.3.5 UMTS/HSPA Indoor Coverage Conclusion
`3.4 Common UMTS Rollout Mistakes
`3.4.1 The Macro Mistake
`3.4.2 Do Not Apply GSM Strategies
`3.4.3 The Correct Way to Plan UMTS/HSPA Indoor Coverage
`3.5 The Basics of Indoor RF Planning
`3.5.1 Isolation is the Key
`3.5.2 Tinted Windows Will Help Isolation
`3.5.3 The ‘High-rise Problem’
`3.5.4 Radio Service Quality
`3.5.5 Indoor RF Design Levels
`3.5.6 The Zone Planning Concept
`
`4 Distributed Antenna Systems
`4.1 What Type of Distributed Antenna System is Best?
`4.1.1 Passive or Active DAS
`4.1.2 Learn to Use all the Indoor Tools
`4.1.3 Combine the Tools
`4.2 Passive Components
`4.2.1 General
`4.2.2 Coax Cable
`4.2.3 Splitters
`4.2.4 Taps/Uneven Splitters
`4.2.5 Attenuators
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`Contents
`
`
`
`4.2.6 Dummy Loads or Terminators
`4.2.7 Circulators
`4.2.8 A 3 dB Coupler (90
`Hybrid)
`4.2.9 Power Load on Passive Components
`4.2.10 Filters
`4.3 The Passive DAS
`4.3.1 Planning the Passive DAS
`4.3.2 Main Points About Passive DAS
`4.3.3 Applications for Passive DAS
`4.4 Active DAS
`4.4.1 Easy to Plan
`4.4.2 Pure Active DAS for Large Buildings
`4.4.3 Pure Active DAS for Small to Medium-size Buildings
`4.4.4 Active Fiber DAS
`4.5 Hybrid Active DAS Solutions
`4.5.1 Data Performance on the Uplink
`4.5.2 DL Antenna Power
`4.5.3 Antenna Supervision
`4.5.4 Installation Challenges
`4.5.5 The Elements of the Hybrid Active DAS
`4.6 Other Hybrid DAS Solutions
`4.6.1 In-line BDA Solution
`4.6.2 Combining Passive and Active Indoor DAS
`4.6.3 Combining Indoor and Outdoor Coverage
`4.7 Radiating Cable Solutions
`4.7.1 The Radiating Cable
`4.7.2 Calculating the Coverage Level
`4.7.3 Installation Challenges Using Radiating Cable
`4.8 Tunnel Solutions, Cascaded BDAs
`4.8.1 Cascaded Noise Build-up
`4.8.2 Example of a Real-life Cascaded BDA System
`4.9 Tunnel Solutions, T-Systems
`4.9.1 T-Systems, Principle
`4.9.2 Example of a Real-life T-System with BDAs
`4.9.3 T-Systems with Antenna Distribution
`4.10 Handover Design in Tunnels
`4.10.1 General Considerations
`4.10.2 Using Antennas for the HO Zone in Tunnels
`4.10.3 Using Parallel Radiating Cable for the HO Zone
`4.10.4 Using a Coupler for the HO Zone
`4.11 Designing with Pico and Femto Cells
`4.11.1 The Pico/Femto Cell Principle
`4.11.2 Typical Pico Cell Design
`4.11.3 Extending Pico Cell Coverage with Active DAS
`4.11.4 Combining Pico Cells into the Same DAS, Only GSM/DCS
`4.11.5 Cost Savings When Combining Capacity of GSM Pico Cells
`
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`

`

`viii
`
`Contents
`
`4.12 Active DAS Data
`4.12.1 Gain and Delay
`4.12.2 Power Per Carrier
`4.12.3 Bandwidth, Ripple
`4.12.4 The 1 dB Compression Point
`4.12.5 IP3 Third-order Intercept Point
`4.12.6 Harmonic Distortion, Inter-modulation
`4.12.7 Spurious Emissions
`4.12.8 Noise Figure
`4.12.9 MTBF
`4.13 Electromagnetic Radiation
`4.13.1 ICNIRP EMR Guidelines
`4.13.2 Mobiles are the Strongest Source of EMR
`4.13.3 Indoor DAS Will Provide Lower EMR Levels
`4.14 Conclusion
`
`5 Designing Indoor DAS Solutions
`5.1 The Indoor Planning Procedure
`5.1.1 Indoor Planning Process Flow
`5.1.2 The RF Planning Part of the Process
`5.1.3 The Site Survey
`5.1.4 Time Frame for Implementing Indoor DAS
`5.1.5 Post Implementation
`5.2 The RF Design Process
`5.2.1 The Role of the RF Planner
`5.2.2 RF Measurements
`5.2.3 The Initial RF Measurements
`5.2.4 Measurements of Existing Coverage Level
`5.2.5 RF Survey Measurement
`5.2.6 Planning the Measurements
`5.2.7 Post Implementation Measurements
`5.2.8 Free Space Loss
`5.2.9 The One Meter Test
`5.3 Designing the Optimum Indoor Solution
`5.3.1 Adapt the Design to Reality
`5.3.2 Learn from the Mistakes of Others
`5.3.3 Common Mistakes When Designing Indoor Solutions
`5.3.4 Planning the Antenna Locations
`5.3.5 The ‘Corridor Effect’
`5.3.6 Fire Cells Inside the Building
`5.3.7 Indoor Antenna Performance
`5.3.8 The ‘Corner Office Problem’
`5.3.9 Interleaving Antennas In-between Floors
`5.3.10 Planning for Full Indoor Coverage
`5.3.11 The Cost of Indoor Design Levels
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`

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`Contents
`
`5.4
`
`Indoor Design Strategy
`5.4.1 Hot-spot Planning Inside Buildings
`5.4.2 Special Design Considerations
`5.4.3 The Design Flow
`5.4.4 Placing the Indoor Antennas
`5.5 Handover Considerations Inside Buildings
`5.5.1 Indoor GSM Handover Planning
`5.5.2 Indoor UMTS Handover Planning
`5.5.3 Handover Zone Size
`5.6 Elevator Coverage
`5.6.1 Elevator Installation Challenges
`5.6.2 The Most Common Coverage Elevator Solution
`5.6.3 Antenna Inside the Shaft
`5.6.4 Repeater in the Lift-car
`5.6.5 DAS Antenna in the Lift-car
`5.6.6 Passive Repeaters in Elevators
`5.6.7 Real-life Example of a Passive Repeater in an Elevator
`5.6.8 Control the Elevator HO Zone
`5.6.9 Elevator HO Zone Size
`5.7 Multioperator Systems
`5.7.1 Multioperator DAS Solutions Compatibility
`5.7.2 The Combiner System
`5.7.3 Inter-modulation Distortion
`5.7.4 How to Minimize PIM
`5.7.5 IMD Products
`5.8 Co-existence Issues for GSM/UMTS
`5.8.1 Spurious Emissions
`5.8.2 Combined DAS for GSM900 and UMTS
`5.8.3 Combined DAS for GSM1800 and UMTS
`5.9 Co-existence Issues for UMTS/UMTS
`5.9.1 Adjacent Channel Interference Power Ratio
`5.9.2 The ACIR Problem with Indoor DAS
`5.9.3 Solving the ACIR Problem Inside Buildings
`5.10 Multioperator Requirements
`5.10.1 Multioperator Agreement
`5.10.2 Parties Involved in the Indoor Project
`5.10.3 The Most Important Aspects to Cover in the MOA
`
`6 Traffic Dimensioning
`6.1 Erlang, the Traffic Measurement
`6.1.1 What is One Erlang?
`6.1.2 Call Blocking, Grade of Service
`6.1.3 The Erlang B Table
`6.1.4 User Types, User Traffic Profile
`6.1.5 Save on Cost, Use the Erlang Table
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`

`

`x
`
`Contents
`
`6.1.6 When Not to Use Erlang
`6.1.7 GSM Radio Channels and Erlang
`6.1.8 UMTS Channels and Erlang
`6.1.9 Trunking Gain, Resource Sharing
`6.1.10 Cell Configuration in Indoor Projects
`6.1.11 Busy Hour and Return on Investment Calculations
`6.1.12 Base Station Hotels
`6.1.13 Data Capacity
`
`7 Noise
`7.1 Noise Fundamentals
`7.1.1 Thermal Noise
`7.1.2 Noise Factor
`7.1.3 Noise Figure
`7.1.4 Noise Floor
`7.1.5 The Receiver Sensitivity
`7.1.6 Noise Figure of Amplifiers
`7.1.7 Noise Factor of Coax Cables
`7.2 Cascaded Noise
`7.2.1 The Friis Formula
`7.2.2 Amplifier After the Cable Loss
`7.2.3 Amplifier Prior to the Cable Loss
`7.2.4 Problems with Passive Cables and Passive DAS
`7.3 Noise Power
`7.3.1 Calculating the Noise Power of a System
`7.4 Noise Power from Parallel Systems
`7.4.1 Calculating Noise Power from Parallel Sources
`7.5 Noise Control
`7.5.1 Noise Load on Base Stations
`7.5.2 Noise and GSM Base Stations
`7.5.3 Noise and UMTS Base Stations
`7.6 Updating a Passive DAS from 2G to 3G
`7.6.1 The 3G/HSPA Challenge
`7.6.2 The UMTS Problem
`7.6.3 Solution 1, In-line BDA
`7.6.4 Solution 2: Active DAS Overlay
`7.6.5 Conclusions on Noise and Noise Control
`
`8 The Link Budget
`8.1 The Components and Calculations of the RF Link
`8.1.1 The Maximum Allowable Path Loss
`8.1.2 The Components in the Link Budget
`8.1.3 Link Budgets for Indoor Systems
`8.1.4 Passive DAS Link Budget
`8.1.5 Active DAS Link Budget
`8.1.6 The Free Space Loss
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`

`

`Contents
`
`8.1.7 The Modified Indoor Model
`8.1.8 The PLS Model
`8.1.9 Calculating the Antenna Service Radius
`
`9 Tools for Indoor Radio Planning
`9.1 Live and Learn
`9.2 Diagram Tools
`9.2.1 Simple or Advanced?
`9.3 Radio Survey Tools
`9.3.1 Use Only Calibrated Equipment
`9.4 The Simple Tools and Tips
`9.4.1 Use a Digital Camera
`9.4.2 Use the World Wide Web
`9.4.3 Traffic Calculations
`9.5 Tools for Link Budget Calculations
`9.6 Tools for Indoor Predictions
`9.6.1 Spreadsheets Can Do Most of the Job
`9.6.2 The More Advanced RF Prediction Models
`9.7 The Advanced Toolkit (RF-vu from iBwave.com)
`9.7.1 Save Time, Keep Costs and Mistakes to a Minimum
`9.7.2 Import Floor Plans
`9.7.3 Diagram and Floor Plan
`9.7.4 Schematic Diagram
`9.7.5 Error Detection
`9.7.6 Component Database
`9.7.7 Equipment List and Project Cost Report
`9.7.8 RF and Installation Report
`9.7.9 Multisystem or Multioperator
`9.7.10 Importing an RF Survey
`9.7.11 Site Documentation
`9.7.12 RF Propagation
`9.7.13 Fully Integrated
`
`10 Optimizing the Radio Resource Management Parameters on Node B
`When Interfacing to an Active DAS, BDA, LNA or TMA
`10.1 Introduction
`10.1.1 UMTS Radio Performance is All About Noise and Power Control
`10.1.2 UMTS RF Parameter Reference is Different from GSM
`10.1.3 Adjust the Parameters
`10.1.4 How to Adjust this in the RAN
`10.1.5 Switch Off the LNA in Node B when Using Active DAS
`10.2 Impact of DL Power Offset
`10.2.1 Access Burst
`10.2.2 Power Offset Between Node B and the Active DAS
`10.2.3 Solution
`
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`

`

`xii
`
`Contents
`
`10.2.4 Impact on the UL of Node B
`10.2.5 Admission Control
`10.3 Impact of Noise Power
`10.3.1 The UL Noise Increase on Node B
`10.4 Delay of the Active DAS
`10.4.1 Solution
`10.5 Impact of External Noise Power
`10.5.1 To Calculate the Noise Power
`10.5.2 To Calculate the UL Attenuator
`10.5.3 Affect on Admission Control
`
`References
`
`Appendix
`Reference Material
`
`Index
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`
`

`

`Foreword by Professor Simon Saunders
`
`The compelling need for in-building wireless systems derives directly from the needs of the
`people who use wireless – and that means, increasingly, all of us. We spend most of our time
`inside buildings, whether in the office or at home, at work or at play. Typically at least two-
`thirds of voice traffic on cellular networks originates or terminates inside buildings, and for
`data services the proportion is still higher – probably in excess of 90%.
`Yet for too long, most indoor service has been provided from outdoor systems requiring
`high transmit powers, major civil engineering works and using a relatively large amount of
`spectrum to serve a given traffic level. This makes great sense for providing economical
`initial coverage to a large number of buildings and for ‘joining the dots’ to enable wide area
`mobility. However, ‘outside-in’ thinking is ‘inside-out’, from a technical and practical
`viewpoint, when attempting to serve users with very high quality and coverage expectations,
`and for delivering high data rate services within limited spectrum. Buildings offer their own
`remedy to these challenges, by providing signal isolation from nearby systems and enabling
`the fundamental principle of cellular systems – that unlimited capacity is available from
`limited spectrum if the engineering is done right.
`Despite these compelling benefits, in-building wireless systems have hitherto been a poor
`relation of the ‘mainstream’ macrocellular network operations. With relatively few enthu-
`siasts and a wide range of different favoured techniques for system design and installation,
`the field has at times resembled a hobby rather than a professional activity. The industry
`desperately needs best-practice techniques to be shared amongst a wider base of individuals
`to serve the growing demand – there are not enough engineers for the buildings requiring
`service – and for these techniques to become standardised in order to drive down costs,
`improve reliability and drive volumes.
`Given this background, I welcome the publication of this book. Morten Tolstrup is a
`leading practitioner in the field and an engaging and entertaining public speaker. He has
`written a truly practical and helpful guide to indoor radio planning, which will enable a
`much wider audience to convert their skills from the old world of two-dimensional networks,
`comprising macro cells alone, to the new world of three-dimensional hierarchical networks
`comprising macro, micro, pico and femto cells delivering services to unlimited numbers of
`users. Following the simple guidelines provided, built on years of real-world experience, will
`help to avoid some very expensive mistakes.
`
`

`

`xiv
`
`Foreword
`
`Most of all, I hope that this book will help to professionalize the industry and encourage
`sharing of best-practice to the ultimate benefit of end-customers for compelling wireless
`broadband services.
`
`Professor Simon R. Saunders
`Independent Wireless Technologist & Visiting Professor,
`University of Surrey
`www.simonsaunders.com
`
`

`

`Preface
`
`This is Not a Book for Scientists
`
`This book is intended for the RF planners, to serve as a practical tool in their daily work
`designing indoor radio distribution systems. It is not a complete book about all the deep
`aspects and corners of GSM, DCS, UMTS and HSPA networks, or all the core network
`systems. It is dedicated to the last 10–70 m of the network, the indoor air interface between
`the mobile user and the indoor mobile network.
`I have spent the past 20 years working on various parts of the exciting business of cellular
`communication. During this time I have mostly focused on the planning of the radio
`interface between the network and the mobile user, with a dedicated focus on indoor radio
`planning. I have always tried to approach that small part of the systems that involved me, the
`radio interface, from a practical angle. I have struggled with most of the books available on
`these subjects mainly due to a theoretical level far beyond my needs. My hope with this book
`is to present a level of theory that is usable and accessible for a radio planner with basic radio
`experience.
`I also need to emphasize that no matter the radio platform or standard, GSM, UMTS,
`HSPA or 4G, as long as the interface between the mobile and the network uses radio
`communication, it will always be a matter of a link calculation with a given signal-to-noise
`ratio for a given service requirement. After all, it is ‘just’ radio planning.
`
`The Practical Approach
`
`I am not an expert in cellular, GSM, UMTS or HSPA systems, far from it – but I have gained
`a lot of experience with RF design, especially with regards to indoor radio planning. An old
`mountaineering saying is that ‘good judgment comes from experience, but experience is
`often a result of bad judgment’. I have made my share of mistakes along the way, and I will
`help you avoid making the same mistakes when designing and implementing indoor
`solutions.
`It has been my goal to include what I believe are the most important considerations and
`design guidelines to enable the RF planner to design and implement a high-performing
`indoor distributed antenna system.
`It was not my intention to provide a deep hardcore mathematical background on RF
`planning, but to present the most basic calculations of the various parameters that we need to
`consider when designing a distributed antenna system.
`
`

`

`xvi
`
`Preface
`
`I hope you can use the result – this book. It has been hard but also great fun to write it and
`to revisit all the background stuff, projects and measurement results that are the basis for this
`book. I hope you find it to be a useful tool in your daily work. That was my intention.
`
`Morten Tolstrup
`
`

`

`Acknowledgments
`
`This book would not have been possible if it was not for my many colleagues and friends
`who I have spend the better part of the last 20 years with. These friends and colleagues I
`know mainly from my many indoor projects around the world and from other mobile
`operators when working on mutual indoor projects. Many hours have I spent with you guys
`during the design phase, site visits, project implementations and measurements, from the
`fanciest indoor projects to deep below ground on a tunnel project conducting verification
`measurements.
`I want to thank Simon Saunders for contributing the foreword. Simon is one of the people
`in this industry I respect the most, for his dedicated work and contribution to so many fields
`in the industry of telecommunication.
`I also thank my friends who have helped me by reviewing the book: Bernd Margotte, Lars
`Petersen, Kevin Moxsom, Stein Erik Paulsen and Mario Bouchard. In particular, I want to
`thank Robin Young for his help and inspiration on the section about noise and link budgets.
`Peter Walther is also acknowledged for his input on the HSPA section, and the link budget
`example for HSDPA.
`Thanks also to the team from Wiley, Mark Hammond, Sarah Hinton and their team, for
`the support and production of this book.
`Last, but not least, thank you Karin my dear wife, for your support on this project and for
`letting me spend so many late nights, early mornings and weekends on this book. Without
`you this project would not have been possible. Thanks also for your design concept of the
`front cover, and the photo for the cover.
`Even though I have spent many hours on this project, checking and double-checking
`everything, there might be an error or two. Let me know, and I will make sure to correct it in
`any future editions.
`You can contact me via: www.ib-planning.com
`
`Morten Tolstrup
`Dronninglund, Denmark
`
`

`

`

`

`1 I
`
`ntroduction
`
`I often think that we have now finally come full circle in the world of radio transmission. We
`are back to where it all started: after all, the first transmission via radio waves by Marconi in
`1895 was digital, using Morse code.
`These days we are heading for a fully digitalized form of radio transmission, often using
`Internet Protocol (IP). Most radio services – broadcast, voice transmission for mobiles and
`television transmission – are being digitalized and transmitted via radio waves.
`Radio waves – what a discovery that truly has changed our world! The effect of
`electromagnetism was discovered by H. C. Ørsted in 1820. Samuel E. Morse invented his
`digital system, the ‘Morse code’, in 1840. Through copper wires the world got connected via
`the telegraph line, and cross-continental communication was now accessible. Marconi
`merged both inventions and created the basis of our modern wireless communication
`systems, performing the first radio transmission over an incredible distance of 1.5 kilometers
`in 1895. Now we live in a world totally dependent on spin-offs of these basic discoveries.
`Marconi struggled to transmit radio signals over a relative short distance: a few kilometers
`was a major achievement in the early days. Later, radio waves were used to reach several
`hundred thousand of kilometers into deep space, communicating with and controlling deep
`space probes and even vehicles on Mars.
`Would it not be fair if we could bring back Ørsted, Morse and Marconi, and honor them
`by showing what we can do today, using the same principles: electromagnetism, digital
`transmission and radio waves? I am sure that they and the many other scientists who have
`formed the basis of our modern communication society would be proud. No one today could
`even consider a world without easy wireless communication; our modern lifestyle is highly
`dependent on those small devices – mobile telephones.
`Things in telecommunications industry are progressing fast. These days we are not happy
`with anything less than several Mbps over the radio interface, mobile TV, internet, email and
`mobile media.
`Back in the early 1980s I was working on NMT systems. We used analog modems and
`were able to achieve up to about 300 baud over the mobile phone network. That was truly
`amazing at the time. People could send a fax from their car and, if they could carry the 18 kg
`
`Indoor Radio Planning: A Practical Guide for GSM, DCS, UMTS and HSPA Morten Tolstrup
`# 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
`
`

`

`2
`
`Indoor Radio Planning
`
`mobile cellular phone battery included, they could have a portable phone with up to 30–60
`min of talk time. The cost of these types of cellular phones was equivalent to that of a small
`family car in the early days, so the market was limited to very few professional users. Over a
`few years the price dropped to about an average month’s salary, and mobile phones were
`getting smaller and smaller. Some were even ‘pocket size’ – if your pocket was big and able
`to support a weight of about 1 kg, that was.
`At some point I was told about a new futuristic mobile telephone system in the making
`called GSM. The plan was to convert the voice to data, and the network could support 9600
`baud (9.6 kbps), 32 times more that we could do on NMT! This was an amazingly high data
`speed – higher than we could get over fixed telephone lines at the time. I remember being
`highly skeptical. Who would ever need such high data rates for mobile use and for what?
`Mobile TV? Absolutely mad! Man, was I wrong!
`These days we are heading for 14 Mbps via HSDPA, more than 4600 times faster than we
`could perform via NMT in 1980. In reality, we are now able to handle higher mobile data
`speed to one user than the total data transmission capacity of the whole NMT network in
`Denmark could handle then for all the users in the network!
`The need for data is endless. Data rates via mobile will increase and increase, and actually
`the radio link is getting shorter and shorter. In order to perform these high data rates, we need
`a better and better radio link. The radio spectrum is getting more and more loaded, and we
`are using higher and higher radiofrequencies and more and more complex and quality-
`sensitive modulation schemes; thus the requirement for the quality of the radio link is getting
`more and more strict.
`It is worthwhile noting that high data rates are not enough on their own. It is also a matter
`of services; if mobile users are not motivated by an attractive service, even the highest data
`rate is pointless.
`The need for high data rates is motivated by user demand for mobile email, internet and
`multimedia services. Most UMTS mobile phones are able to support video calling, but it is
`rarely used. This shows that, even though it is impressive from a technical viewpoint that it is
`possible at all, the technology has no point if the service is not attractive to mobile users. It is
`a fact that the most successful mobile data service to date is also the slowest data service in
`operation over the mobile network, transmitted via a very slow data channel: SMS (Short
`Message Service). SMS is still the most popular data service and still the ‘cash cow’ when it
`comes to data services for most mobile networks. Who would have thought that mobile users
`of all ages from 8 to 98 would key in long text messages via a 10 digit keyboard on a mobile
`phone, when they can pick up the phone and talk? Some users in the network have an SMS
`activity beyond 2000 SMSs per week!
`When I was introduced to SMS, I thought it might be a good service to announce voice
`mails etc. to mobiles, but when the first mobiles arrived that were able to transmit SMS, my
`thought was ‘why?’ Wrong again! It clearly shows that it is not only a matter of data speed
`but also the value of the applications and services offered to the user.
`I am happy to note that one thing stays the same: the radio planning of the mobile
`networks. The air interfaces and especially the modulation schemes are getting more and
`more complex, but in reality there is no difference when seen from a basic radio planning
`perspective. The challenges of planning a high-performance HSPA link is the same basic
`challenge that Marconi faced performing his first radio transmission. It is still a matter of
`getting a sufficient margin between the signal and the noise, fulfilling the specific
`
`

`

`Introduction
`
`3
`
`requirement for the wanted service, from Morse via long waves to 14 Mbps via UMTS/
`HSPA. It is still radio planning and a matter of signal-to-noise ratio and quality of the link.
`In the old days it was all about getting the radio link transmitted over longer and longer
`distances. These days, however, the radio link between the network and the mobile user is
`getting shorter and shorter due to the stricter demands on the quality of the radio link in
`order to perform the high data rates. Marconi struggled to get his radio transmission to reach
`a mile. These days we are struggling to get a service range from an indoor antenna in a
`mobile network to service users at 20–40 m distance with high-speed data and good quality
`voice service.
`We are now moving towards an IP-based world, even on the radio interface, and voice-
`over-IP. We are now using IP connection to base stations and all other elements in the
`network. The network elements are also moving closer to the mobile users in order to cater
`for the requirements for quality of voice and data.
`We are now on the brink of a whole new era in the world of telecommunications, an era
`where the mobile communication network will be an integrated part of any building. The
`telecommunications industry is just about to start integrating small base stations, ‘femto
`cells’, in many residential areas in many countries around the world. People expect mobile
`coverage and impeccable wireless data service everywhere.
`When electricity was invented and became popular, existing buildings had to be post-
`installed with wires and light fixtures to support the modern technology of electrical
`apparatus and lighting. Later it was realized that electricity probably was so popular that
`it was worthwhile pre-installing all the wiring and most of the appliances in buildings from
`the construction phase. I do believe that, within a few years from now, it will be the same
`with wireless telecommunications. Wireless services in buildings are one of the basic
`services that we just expect to work from day one, in our home, in tunnels and surely in
`corporate and public buildings.
`The future is wireless.
`
`

`

`

`

`2 O
`
`verview of Cellular Systems
`
`This book is concentrated around the topic of indoor radio planning from a practical
`perspective, and it is not the within the scope of this book to cover the full and deep details of
`the GSM and UMTS systems and structures. This book will only present the most important
`aspects of the network structure, architecture and system components, in order to provide
`basic knowledge and information that is needed as a basis for design and implementation of
`indoor coverage and capacity solutions. For more details on cellular systems in general refer
`to [2].
`
`2.1 Mobile Telephony
`
`2.1.1 Cellular Systems
`
`The concept of cellular coverage was initially developed by AT&T/Bell Laboratories. Prior to
`that, the mobile telephony systems were manual systems used only for mobile voice telephony.
`Typically implemented with high masts that covered large areas, and with limited capacity per
`mast, they were only able to service few users at the same time – in some cases even only one
`call per mast! These systems also lacked the ability to hand over calls between masts, so
`mobility was limited to the specific coverage area from the servicing antenna, although in
`reality the coverage area was so large that only rarely would you move between coverage
`areas. Remember that, at that point, there were no portable mobile telephones, only vehicle-
`installed terminals with roof-top antennas. Over time the use of mobile telephony became
`increasingly popular and the idea was born that the network needed to be divided into more and
`smaller cells, accommodating more capacity for more users, implementing full mobility for the
`traffic and enabling the system to hand over traffic between these small cells.
`From this initial concept several cellular systems were developed over time and in
`different regions of the world. The first of these cellular systems was analog voice
`transmission, and some ‘data transmission’ modulated into the voice channel for signaling
`the occasionally handover or power control command.
`Some of the most used standards were/are AMPS, D-AMPS, TACS, PCS, CDMA, NMT,
`GSM, DCS and UMTS (WCDMA).
`
`Indoor Radio Planning: A Practical Guide for GSM, DCS, UMTS and HSPA Morten Tolstrup
`# 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
`
`

`

`6
`
`AMPS
`
`Indoor Radio Planning
`
`AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone