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Successfully Deploying a 3G/UMTS Network Some key techniques for launching a 3G network on time with optimal performance
By deploying the latest 3G/Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS) networks, service providers can take advantage of the growing demand for new, converged mobile voice, video and data applications and services. This white paper: Discusses the drivers that are creating a market for new mobile, UMTS-based services; and Describes some of the key considerations when deploying a 3G/UMTS network, and techniques used to achieve high levels of optimization

Table of Contents
1 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 5 Introduction Planning and Deploying the 3G/UMTS Network RF Design RNC Planning and Configuration Initial Neighbor List UMTS Initial Neighbor List IRAT Drive Routes and Cluster Definition Database and Antenna Concerns Making It All Work About the Author

Executive Summary
To take advantage of growing consumer and business demand for mobile converged services, including voice, video, and data applications, service providers need to deploy 3G networks and make sure they are fully integrated with their existing 2G networks. This white paper presents an overview of some of the more important techniques and considerations that a UMTS deployment team should take into account during the design, optimization and deployment phases of a 3G upgrade. These techniques have helped implementation teams achieve high levels of success from the initial optimization drive to the end stage when 100 percent of the clusters have been accepted with acceptable performance.

Introduction
The telecommunications marketplace is changing rapidly, placing increasing emphasis on providing consumers with personalized lifestyle services and mobility. There has been an explosion in the availability of sophisticated user devices that support integrated voice, data, and video applications. According to a UMTS Forum white paper, at the end of 2006 consumers had a choice of more than 400 WCDMA terminal designs worldwide representing handsets optimized for voice, video, and other multimedia services.1 UMTS also estimates that worldwide 3G subscribers will exceed 275 million by the end of 2007. By the end of the decade, the total of global 3G WCDMA subscribers should approach 800 million. Driving consumer acceptance and increased demand are new features such as high resolutions screens, multi-megapixel cameras with quality optics, fast USB and WiFI connectivity, and large amounts of removable storage capacity such as compact flash, memory sticks, and other formats that can store gigabytes of music, pictures, and videos. The business market is equally active with handsets equipped with business-oriented operating systems, keyboards for text entry, and PDA handhelds that are moving into the territory that was once exclusively held by notebook PCs. 3G/UMTS will make possible a whole new range of mobile data applications such as telemedicine, electronic banking, and location-based services. Mobile TV, video, and music are three hot new services. Better phones with high resolution screens featuring large color palettes, combined with improved power management, are helping drive the demand for mobile TV, a premiere applications based on 3G/UMTS-based services. Mobile video is another killer application witness the number of video clips created on mobile devices that are posted daily to YouTube. And mobile music downloading songs to your mobile device although currently accounting for only a small percentage of service provider ARPU, is growing rapidly. All of this activity presents service providers with great opportunities and some formidable challenges as well. Alcatel-Lucent studies indicate that customers are increasingly looking to bundle their various communications services and have no qualms about switching if their provider is unable to offer a whole range of new 3G services backed up by high levels of quality of service (QoS). This means service providers have to present their subscribers with a top notch service experience and QoS for content-based services, while, at the same time, re-engineering their operations to significantly increase service velocity. To achieve this goal they must be able to cost-effectively manage the migration to 3G/UMTS.

3G/UMTS Evolution: Towards a New Generation of Broadband Mobile Services, UMTS Forum white paper, December 2006, p. 2.
Alcatel-Lucent | Successfully Deploying a 3G/UMTS Network 1

Planning and Deploying the 3G/UMTS Network

In order to take advantage of the rapidly growing market for new converged mobile services, operators need to not only deploy UMTS, but to make sure that the 3G service is integrated with its existing 2G GSM network. In working with its service provider customers, AlcatelLucent has employed a variety of techniques to bring their UMTS clusters (a group of 20~25 contiguous NodeBs) to acceptable performance status within a significantly compressed timeline. Key areas addressed by the deployment teams include: RF Design; RNC planning and configuration; Initial neighbor list UMTS; Initial neighbor list IRAT; and Drive route and cluster definition and 3rd party audit of antenna installation RF Design Fundamental to a successful UMTS deployment is an excellent design that has as its foundation high quality geographic data and accurate signal propagation models. Developing the right propagation models is essential failure to do so can compromise the entire deployment. 3G networks demand rigorous precision; A hefty percentage of the initial design time in some cases, a month or longer can be expended in identifying the right sites in the target market area. This essential preliminary work includes gathering, sorting, and tuning data in order to simulate actual market conditions in the target area and develop accurate propagation models assigned to the appropriate cells or sectors in both the 3G and 2G spectrums. Continuous wave (CW) tests performed over both spectrums (for example, at 1900 and 850 MHz) ensure the validity of the UMTS and GSM propagation models. RNC Planning and Configuration
RNC PLANNING

Within the market area being upgraded to a 3G network, one or more Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) are used to control the base transceiver station (BTS) referred to as Node-B in UMTS terminology. Node-B uses WCDMA as its air transport technology. One of the primary goals in developing the 3G network is to limit the number of RNC rehomes. Rehoming can be expensive: making changes can result in service outages and tying up resources that can be used to greater advantage elsewhere. These problems can either be avoided or minimized through careful RNC planning up front. In order to reduce interruptions in the deployment of the wireless network and improve performance, there are three main factors to be considered capacity, geography, and last, but not least, the number of handoff counts in the underlying GSM system. Configuring the RNCs should take into account the voice erlangs performance counts in the existing GSM systems, the data throughput, and, as stated above, the handoff counts. Armed with this information, the development team can then calculate the predicted UMTS capacity carried by each RNC. These calculations allow the network designers to limit the number of Node-Bs in the UMTS system.

Alcatel-Lucent | Successfully Deploying a 3G/UMTS Network

RNC CONFIGURATION

The next step is to identify the geographic borders of the RNCs and the RNC handoff counts within each Node-B. Where the handoff counts are high, the handoffs can be kept within a single RNC. This increases the capacity of the RNC and cuts down on the number of interRNC handoff that would ordinarily be made by subscribers as they move between RNCs. This strategy also results in a fewer number of IuR (Inter RNC interface Links) trunks, as well as increased network performance. Figures 1 and 2 show the before and after stages of a redesign of a RNC configuration in a typical metro market area.
Figure 1. Initial RNC configuration based on geography and cell count Figure 2. Final RNC configuration after taking capacity and other factors into consideration*

*Notice that the size of the middle RNC has been substantially reduced.

Initial Neighbor List UMTS Another major boost to optimizing the network and saving deployment and implementation time can be realized by constructing a comprehensive neighbor list. There are three steps involved in creating this list: MSC dump First the GSM handoff counters from the MSC (mobile switching center) dump are obtained. In most situations this dump will have both 850 MHz and 1900 MHz handoff counts. Because the UMTS system operates at 1900 MHz, the 850 MHz GMS counts can be ignored at this point. GSM handoffs Next the number of GSM handoff attempts between the cells (sectors) is calculated and used to prioritize each UMTS neighbor relation. Verication Finally the design team needs to verify that the neighbors are valid using a propagation tool such as Asset 3G. These steps allow the team to quickly identify and add missed neighbors in the initial drives, allowing the team to move on to the next, more complex phases of the network design.

Alcatel-Lucent | Successfully Deploying a 3G/UMTS Network

Initial Neighbor List IRAT One of the hallmarks of good wireless network design is the integrity of the handoffs between the 2G and 3G networks. The same techniques used to define the UMTS neighbors can also be used to create the initial IRAT (Inter Radio Access Technology) neighbors. However, in this case, to enable a smooth handoff both the cellular 850 MHz and PCS 1900 MHz GSM neighbors are used to define the UMTS IRAT neighbors. Processes that ensure integrity between the 2G and 3G systems should be in place prior to the creation of the initial Inter Radio Access Technology (IRAT) neighbor lists. These processes need to be communicated to all members of the team. By taking these steps, you can effectively reduce unwanted drops and minimize performance issues across the UMTS border. Drive Routes and Cluster Definition Normal procedures are used to define the drive routes and cluster definitions. These routes and cluster definition will be used for performance testing. However, it is important to ensure that drive routes are well within the coverage criteria and that the cluster definition is confined to the same RNC. Database and Antenna Concerns A well constructed, well scrubbed database is essential for successful network design and operation. The database, which houses the geographic information, should be scrubbed frequently to make sure that all UMTS translations and UMTS and IRAT neighbors are up-to-date. This includes coordinating GSM rehomes and retunes from the inception of the project this allows the UMTS team to apply changes to the GSM Location Area Code (LAC) and the Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH). Prior to optimization it is also a good idea to conduct a 3rd party audit of the construction and installation work done by the vendor responsible for antenna installation. Often this audit can uncover problems that negatively impact the network for example, inconsistencies in setting up antenna azimuth and tilt during installation which can reduce overall network performance. Identifying these problems early in the project can substantially reduce the number of optimization drives.

Making It All Work

The techniques described above are just a few of the more important considerations that a UMTS team needs to take into account when implementing a 3G/UMTS network in conjunction with an existing 2G deployment. However, there is one other matter we did not discuss. Quite often there are a number of teams and individuals representing different organizations i.e., the customer, service provider, vendors, and consulting firms. Effective communications between these entities can facilitate daily finetuning of the strategic plan. This can go a long way toward meeting objectives and milestones all the way from the beginning of the design phase to optimization and launch.

Alcatel-Lucent | Successfully Deploying a 3G/UMTS Network

About the Author

Mallik Vagvala SWAT Team Lead UMTS Alcatel-Lucent Mallik Vagvala is currently based in Whippany, New Jersey with the Alcatel-Lucent Services Global Engineering Team. In his current role as SWAT Team Lead UMTS, he is responsible for End to End UMTS Network Performance. Mallik also played a RF PM / Market Lead RF role. In this role he was responsible for the Design and Optimization of UMTS markets in Philadelphia, Trenton, Wilmington, Harrisburg, Allentown, Wilkes-Barre and Atlantic City. Prior to that Mallik played a major role as Regional RF Lead EVDO for Verizon Wireless. For the last seven years in Alcatel-Lucent Mallik worked in the areas of RF design, optimization, performance, and planning for mobile networks in CDMA2000 1-X / EVDO etc Prior to joining Alcatel-Lucent he worked for various companies for 10 years on Network performance in GSM /CDMA / Wireless Local Loop technologies. He holds a First Class with Distinction degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, IN.

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