Coverage Planning

Coverage Planning

Abstract This is a technical document detailing a typical approach to Coverage Planning Process .

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CONTENTS
Coverage Planning
(1.0) (2.0) (3.0) (4.0) (5.0) Introduction Inputs for Cell Planning Phase Planning Data Gathering Cell Planning (5.1) (5.2) (6.0) Preliminary Cell Plan Final Cell Plan Page 3 Page 3 Page 5 Page 6 Page 6 Page 7 Page 11 Page 14 Page 14

Drive Testing and Initial Optimisation (6.1) Initial Drive Test Report

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Coverage Planning
(1.0) Introduction:
Radio coverage is frequently perceived to be the most important measurement for network quality. Radio coverage planning plays a major role in GSM network planning, because it decides extent of coverage area, speech quality, mobility and customer satisfaction. Various forms of inputs and limitations from the customer in terms of spectrum availability, network dimensions, frequency planning, network growth, local wireless regulations and finally the RF environment itself plays an important role in coverage planning. The approach for the coverage plan needs to be well defined since, it requires to accommodate various phases of network growth across time without any compromise on service quality goal.

(2.0) Inputs for Cell Planning:

The inputs required for coverage planning are summarised as below, (2.1) Coverage Definition: It plays an important role in coverage planning since these are used for link budget calculations whose output defines the coverage and site parameters. Coverage parameter involves defining RF thresholds in terms of received levels at MS end and coverage probabilities for various strategic locations of the coverage areas that are supplied by customer. These are listed below;

RF Threshold (dBm) - 62 - 72

- 82 - 92 -102

Locality High priority business and commercial areas, VIP residential areas, Prestigious hotels/Tourist places and some Prestigious residential areas. Other commercial areas, Prestigious residential areas, High priority industrial areas, Shopping Malls, Airport, Railway stations, Sports stadium, Exhibition centres, Special Tunnel areas for Railway and Roads. All remaining suburban residential area, Pedestrian area, Parks, etc. Town/Village areas within the city limits, Rural areas within city limits and Highways outside city limits. Outdoor with vehicle mount antennas.

Coverage Probability Indoor high probability (> 50 %) Indoor medium probability (= 50 %)

Indoor low probability (< 50 %) Indoor low probability (< 50 %) Highways outside city limits (Car kit assembly)

The design criteria used for radio coverage of a cell is to meet coverage probability of > 90%. The signal level received at both the mobile station and the base station has to meet the threshold specified in GSM technical specification 05.05. These thresholds referred as reference sensitivity for base station is -104 dBm while for the MS it is -102 dBm. In order to ensure reliable communication the planning figures used for radio planning has to include an extra margin to account for the shadow fading. The margin is dependent on the standard deviation of the received signal level and path loss characteristic. Details for calculating fade margin is discussed in document on Link Budget Design.

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(2.2)

Quality of Service:

As for coverage requirement the customer needs to define his benchmark for quality requirements across the different clutter types. Typically he defines for 95% of time, 95% of area should have RxQual better than 4. The division of these bench marks for different area is as below,

RxQual Threshold (0 to 7) 4 (BER > 3.2%) 4 4

Locality Outdoor (Streets, roads, etc.) Indoor priority buildings Indoor other buildings

Quality Probability 95% of the area. 95% of the area. 90% of the area.

Quality of service is an important benchmark for assuring optimum network performance since the subscriber opinion on the network is based on speech quality he perceives. Hence the quality requirements specified by the customer plays a key role in planning specially in frequency planning as interference is the major threat to speech quality, RxLevel, the radio environment follows next. (2.3) Subscriber, Traffic and Sites Distribution:

From the Radio Network Design document information related to subscriber distribution across the different areas, their traffic anticipation in phases and finally the number of sites with their individual configuration are gathered. The process is discussed in the Radio Network Design document. It is to be noted that in the first phase of the network microcells are not planned. Once the sites in first phase are set up then from the traffic reports one gets detail on traffic demand in various areas. This rise in traffic will be catered either by macrocells of later phases or a plan for microcells is to be made. As microcells are planned for capacity than for coverage hence the implementation of microcells entirely depends on the traffic demand, capacity limitations by existing macrocells and customers approval. (2.4) Spectrum Availability:

The customer needs to provide information related to spectrum (number of ARFCNs) that has been allocated to him in each band in case of dual band operations and whether he expects more spectrum allocation in future. This is very essential from frequency planning point of view which, reflects on network quality goals. (2.5) Area Definition:

A planner needs to know the area type he is expected to cover under his plan. It starts with defining whether the area is Rural or Urban, because the approach of the plan varies in both the cases. If an area has been classified to fall under Urban then it needs to be sub-classified as which part of the area falls under Low-Urban, Sub (Medium)-Urban and Dense-Urban. These details are normally marked on the maps that are supplied by the customer. (2.6) Mobile Types expected:

The customer has to define which all classes of mobile he expects to be used in his network, this plays a crucial role in Link budgeting since Up-link calculations are based on MS (Mobile station) maximum transmit power allowed. Typically the network is planned assuming Class 4 MS in GSM900 network with maximum output power of 2 Watts and Class 1 MS in DCS1800 network with maximum output power of 1 Watt.

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(2.7)

Specific Coverage requirement:

There are many cases wherein the customer wants to focus on coverage and quality requirements for special areas, buildings, highways, etc. He lists out the special coverage requirements and the benchmark to be met for these areas. Some special coverage and quality requirements in areas such as important commercial areas, airports, hotels, commercial establishments, etc. has been covered in the Coverage Definition and Quality of Service inputs from the customer above. (2.8) Other Relevant Inputs:

Besides the above mentioned inputs there are few other inputs which could be of help are; (2.8.1) Preferred Site Locations: Many times customer has a list of candidates referred as Friendly Candidates who are ready to lend their premises for installation of Base station. These could be of importance during the time of location of sites for coverage prediction or during candidate survey. (2.8.2) Specific restrictions: In certain cases there are few restrictions posed by the government authorities on the usage of a spectrum band in a particular area. Further there could also be list of structures on which a site cannot be planned like, heritage buildings, hospitals, schools and colleges, etc. A list and address of the same is essential to ensure that a site is not located on a restricted structure. In many case antennas needs to be camouflaged with the surrounding such that coverage requirements are met without visibility of antenna such as from the entrance or they are to be placed in such a way that it adds to the beauty of surrounding. Plans in such cases are special and do not follow the normal procedure, hence play a vital role in the network plan since frequency assignment and site parameters needs to be well planned. Having gathered the relevant information the planner incorporates these data into the Planning Tool and starts his work on generating coverage predictions. The process of planning the network is discussed below,

(3.0) Phased Planning:

Radio Network Design report provides with the coverage areas with number of macrocellular sites planned with their respective configuration. Using this report a coverage plan is made with respect to final phase (final roll out plan) of the project. This allows the planner to have a good idea of the total number of sites expected in different areas in different phases of implementation. He goes about by locating dummy sites in the areas of interest as per the radio network design report and later migrates down to earlier phases by grouping the sites in phases in coordination with the customer. This makes the link budget calculation, frequency planning and coverage planning to change with phases of the network. Consider a case where the customer plans to have 100 sites in its final phase and wants to implement them across 3 phases. He recommends that in the first phase he want to implement 50 sites, in second phase 30 sites and in final or third phase 20 sites. Here the planner makes a plan as per 100 sites and does all the necessary calculations to achieve the desired objective in terms of coverage and quality of service. Having done this he goes about planning for second phase where he plans for 80 sites. In this case he does re-calculation of the site parameters, re-defines the link budget, frequency plan, etc. He does similar calculation for phase one with 50 sites and re-predicts the results. It is to be noted at this point that the customer sets his bench marks for individual phases and the planner needs to plan the network to meet this benchmark.

(4.0) Data Gathering:

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Planning tool plays an important role in all the task of the network planning activities. It is a centre point where all the relevant information of the network in terms of site location, frequency assignment, traffic data, field measured drive data, etc. are stored in phased manner. For using the tool one requires to gather inputs that need to be fed in to calculate and give results. For further details on Planning tools and its features, use and involvement at various stages of network planning refer to report on Planning Tool for Radio Network Design. The inputs required for planning tool is listed below, (4.1) Digital Terrain Elevation Data:

The grid files on which the sites are located and coverage results are predicted. (4.2) Digital Clutter Data:

Also referred to as land usage data, plays a major role in site location, model selection, clutter editing, etc. hence in absence of accurate clutter data prediction results will not be accurate. Clutter data could be 2D or 3D format where 2D formats could be made easily available and are economical, whereas 3D format which are imported from satellite images are quite expensive. Using 3D clutter data predictions can made with high degree of accuracy, however 2D data can be corrected on basis on clutter knowledge and drive test results to produce reasonable level of accuracy. (4.3) Vector Data:

These are data having details of main roads, streets, by-lanes, highways, rail-routes, landmarks, lakes, rivers, etc. There are separate files for each of these above mentioned class that is main roads, highways, etc., which can be imported in the planning tool and displayed as layers over the elevation grid data. This helps in locating dummy sites accurately and with reliability such that the planner does not end with locating dummy sites on road or lake. (4.4) Antenna Data:

Since antenna selection play a major role in generating coverage results, hence the desired antenna patterns from the specific manufactures or the manufactures with whom the vendor has tied up needs to imported in the tool. (4.5) Site parameters:

For locating sites on basis of radio network design report one needs to know the site configuration in terms of number sectors, frequencies per sector, transmit power per sector, latitude and Longitude, antenna height, etc. (4.6) Traffic data and site distribution:

As the site location and its parameters depends on the traffic distribution hence a knowledge of traffic expectation area wise is necessary, number of sites required in an particular area is essential for site distribution and tentative location of dummy sites. These informations are available from Network Design Report.

(5.0) Cell Planning:

Once the inputs for have been gathered followed by compilation of data for the planning tool, the planner divides further activities in two stages Preliminary Cell Plan and Final Cell Plan. They are discussed below, (i) Preliminary Cell Plan:

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The activities involved in this stage includes locating dummy sites in the planning tool, defining their parameters to the best knowledge of cell planner, choosing appropriate model and predicting the coverage. The planner fine tunes his predictions and generates a preliminary prediction report as per the final roll out plan and results predicted for each phase of the network. This report is taken for internal review upon corrections of which is handed over to the customer for his approval. The customer reviews the report and gives his feedbacks that are to be studied and implemented. The changes that are suggested involve reviewing the site locations, re-predicting coverage results and re-defining site configuration. On final approval from the customer the details are handed over to field survey team who go about identifying candidates, carrying out propagation test, the details of which are discussed Final Cell Planning. (ii) Final Cell Plan: This involves carrying out field survey of candidate for sites, propagation (CW) test for candidates as listed by the planner, model tunning, re-calculating link budget and re-predicting coverage with actual coordinates, height, tunned model and more realistic link calculations. A final report is prepared which after internal review is handed over to the customer with final site list. Customer arranges for site acquisition upon which is handed over to operation for base station implementation and commissioning after which the initial network optimisation follows.

(5.1) Preliminary Cell Plan:

The activities involved in the Preliminary cell plan stage are explained below. Flow chart (1.1) shows Preliminary Cell Planning Process. (5.1.1) Site Location and Parameters Definition: On basis of the inputs gathered the planner locates dummy sites on the digital terrain map ensuring proper site location and distribution on the basis of clutter map and vector data incorporated over the digital terrain map. After completion of site location he defines the parameters for each site. The most important parameters are listed below, a. b. c. d. e. f. Number of sectors Azimuth per sector. Antenna type per sector. Transmit power per sector. Antenna height per sector. Model selection.

The number of sites and sectors per site depends on the information extracted from Radio Network Design Report. Antenna selection and its height definition depend on how the planner wants the area to be covered and traffic to be distributed. Document on Antennas for Mobile Communications talks about the parameters to be understood before final antenna selection and what are the pros and cons of different antenna types. From the Link Budget Design document one calculates the transmit power in terms of EIRP depending on the mobile class he is expecting. The type of propagation model to be selected is a task in itself which, is discussed as below, (5.1.2) Model Selection: The selection of appropriate propagation model entirely depends on which clutter class the sites are located. RF environment differs for different clutters hence proper model selection is a must for getting accurate and reliable results. Documentation on Radiowave Propagation and Models discusses on the radio environment, standard

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Data Required Initial Radio Network Design Digital Terrain Maps Clutter data Vector data

Available Spectrum Restrictions in using the spectrum

Initial Radio Network Planning Procedure

Search Areas for Site Location

Coverage Prediction

Flow Chart (1.1) Preliminary Cell Planning Process

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propagation models for different clutter types and model selection. This document gives planner a fair idea on the model he should select which, could be same for sectors in the site or may differ for each sector as it depends on the clutter area covered by each sector. As an illustration following clutter types are considered which talks about site objective, their parameters and models in these area types as discussed below, (i) Large cell in Quasi Open or Low -Urban:

Under this environment the slope of received signal is low typically between 25 to 30 dB/decade, visibility of surrounding area is high and hence RF signals can propagate to long distances hence, large cells can be planned in this area. The general site objective is to cover wider areas where capacity is not a constraint and the sites are located at far away distances. Antennas are planned above the maximum height of the surrounding clutter and the cell radius normally exceeds 3 Kms. Wide beamwidth antennas are chosen for coverage in this area typically 90 to 120. Orientations of the sectors are generally kept as standard to 0/120/240 or 30/150/270 or 60/180/300 degrees. Hata model with extension up to 2 GHz (COST 231 Hata Model) can be used to calculate path loss in such cells. (ii) Small cell in Sub -Urban or Urban:

Under this environment the slope of received signal is high as compared to open area typically between 30 to 35 dB/decade. Expected area to be covered is limited to couple of kilometres since in these areas capacity requirements are high besides allowing wider coverage area. Small cell can be planned in this area, where the antenna is sited above the median but below the maximum height of the surrounding clutter and path loss can be determined as for large cells. When the size of the cell is less than 1 Km the Hata model cannot be used whereas since the cell is in urban area and with cell size less than 5 Kms COST 231 Walfisch - Ikegami model is used. Link budget calculations restraints from using high power (typically allowed is 8 Watts) and using antennas with beamwidth typically between 60 to 65. Again here standard orientation is preferred since the antennas are above the average clutter hence interference could pose a problem, standard orientation allows easy re-use of frequencies. (iii) Micro cell in Dense -Urban:

Under this environment the slope of received signal is substantially high typically between 35 to 40 dB/decade and expected area to be covered is small. As high traffic density is required along with low level of interference, antennas are located below the average terrain height, ensuring target areas are visible from the lower heights. Here the focus is more on in building coverage plus few roads and by-lanes. Normally areas of these types include small Macrocellular and Microcellular sites, where Microcells sites target specific pockets and potential buildings and Macrocells besides providing umbrella coverage over the Microcells it targets traffic on road and in buildings. Narrow beam antennas are selected to reduce interference and compensate for penetration loss of 15 to 20 dB. Here interference plays a crucial role since a compromise is required between high traffic demand per square kilometre and interference due to extensive frequency re-use. Normally wall mount antennas with nonstandard orientations are planned in such area since the clutter does not follow a defined pattern that will allow standard orientation. Microcell model can be used for calculating path loss but for the cells other than microcells Walfisch Ikegami model can be used for radius less than 5 Kms. (5.1.3) Special Coverage: Customer many times has special coverage requirements and wants to focus on them individually. These special coverage requirement includes important roads, highways, buildings, underground roadway tunnels, etc. The solutions could be either using repeater or

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using an independent base station. In these cases the coverage area is very confined hence their coverage prediction can differ. As an instance let us consider the following special cases, (i) Highways: A highway could be located within a dense vegetation area or in an open area. The subscriber could be either using car kit mobile with high power transmission antenna mounted on the vehicle or normal handheld unit. The objective of these sites is to provide coverage to wider length of the highway but confined width wise. Normally two sectored sites with narrow beamwidth antenna typically 36 placed above all the obstructions (around 60 mts plus) are planned. This allows coverage with high gain antennas along the highway stretch, with less room for horizontal spreading. It is to be noted that in such cases capacity is not the criteria for site location but coverage and connectivity is the issue, in the sense that it should have sufficient overlapping with neighbouring cells so that proper hand-over is justified. The highways can be in open areas or in dense vegetation, in former case antenna height limited to the visibility of the section of the road where hand-over is to be initiated. Whereas in the latter case antenna height needs clear the vegetation and also ensure visibility to the section of the road where hand-over is to be initiated. (ii) Roadway Tunnel Areas:

Coverage planning for tunnel roadways depends on the traffic density and length of the tunnel. We have various ways to cover the section of the tunnel such as using independent base station or repeaters. Using a independent base station is applicable in the case where both coverage and capacity needs to be provided whereas in case of repeaters which, is extension of coverage of an existing site caters to coverage requirements. Coverage can be provided in one of the following ways, a. Using Leaky cable or radiating cable. b. Coaxial cable with distributed antennas. c. Using narrow beamwidth antennas. The use of above options entirely depends on the tunnel structure. For instance leaky cable that are provide uniform coverage at all the points are best for non-dividing tunnels. However if the tunnel gets divided into two paths then coaxial cable with distributed antennas could be a better solution. In case the major part of the tunnel is straight then using a single narrow beamwidth antenna could be effective. Whatever coverage solution the planner chooses he has to ensure proper hand-over within the tunnel (in case it is planned to cover it with two cells) and with external base station at the exit ends of the tunnel. (5.1.4) Indoor Coverage: Providing indoor coverage to important commercial buildings is a common requirement demanded by the customer. The solution in such cases either lie in covering the building with high gain directional antennas externally or using indoor panel antennas. The penetration loss suffered by signals from external antennas is between 15 to 20 dB. Further as signal travels down to lower floors it suffers an additional loss of 2 to 3 dB. That means at higher floor levels the signal is strong compared to lower floors but at higher floors signal from multiple servers can reach (better LOS condition) hence higher interference. Due to such limitations the planner goes for better options wherein he plans to cover the indoor of the building using specially designed indoor antennas. These indoor antennas have wide V beamwidth and narrow H beamwidth and can be easily mounted on the ceiling. Typically indoor plans are made for buildings where coverage needs to be provided across 2

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to 3 walls. Either repeater or Microcells can be used in such cases, wherein the choice between the two depends on whether the requirement is only coverage or capacity cum coverage. Appropriate antenna location is to be chosen such that the coverage objective is met and hand-over between incoming and outgoing traffic is well maintained. The next task of the cell planner is to run prediction for each site and analyse its results. This activity is described under Preliminary Coverage Analysis below, (5.1.5) Preliminary Coverage Analysis: Here the planner runs the prediction and analyses the coverage results. Analysis of the results is to ensure that all the sites are contributing to cover their respective objective areas thereby ensuring proper capacity distribution between sites. He measures his result on basis of best server display and overlapping coverage display. In case he finds the coverage objective of the site not accomplished or that the site is overlapping with its neighbour cell more than planned for then he re-tunes the site parameters in terms of location, height, antenna changes, etc. With this re-tuning and running coverage predictions in parallel he approaches to best coverage results. Being satisfied with the result he carries out similar prediction for all individual phases and comes out with Preliminary Cell Plan Report which is taken for an internal review. Based on the suggestions made by the internal review he makes the necessary changes and hands over the report to customer for his approval. If the customer wants some modifications or changes in the report he reverts back to the planner, who then make the changes to satisfy customers demand.

(5.2)

Final Cell Plan:

Having finally accepted the report the planner goes about making Final Cell Plan Report which includes task that are described in detail as below. Flow Chart- (1.4) shows Final Cell Planning Process. (5.2.1) Candidate Survey and CW Measurements: The planner hands over the list of site locations with coordinates to the field survey team responsible for site surveys. He clearly defines the search area with maximum 100 mts spatial deviation from the reference location. He prepares report for each site indicating their location over the GUI map like Mapinfo, its coordinates and the objective of the site. Site Selection document talks in detail about points to be considered while doing site survey such that it meets the RF objective without much of spatial diversion from the given coordinates. The survey team comes up with at least 3 best candidates for each site and hands over the details such as coordinates, height, visibility and obstruction details to the planner. From this site survey report the planner choose to carry out CW measurement for few sites most probably the best candidates located in different clutter types. This is the most effective way of getting accurate results from field and tunning the predictions so as to get more realistic coverage. The final outcome is that the planner has a list of actual coordinates for the sites, their physical parameters and CW results for few candidates. He uses this data to tune his prediction model, re-calculate the link budget and re-predict the results so as to make field results near to predicted results. Model tunning and final analysis is discussed as below. (5.2.2) Model Tunning: The CW measurement data is imported in the planning tool and the propagation model of the site for which the measurement was made is tuned to get the least standard deviation

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Data Required Initial Radio Network Design Digital Terrain Maps Clutter data Vector Data

Available ARFCHs Specific instructions in using the spectrum.

RF Data CW Field Measurements RF Survey Link Budget Calculation Model Tuning

Final Radio Network Planning Procedure

Final Site Locations

Interference Computation Outage Computation

Probability

Antenna Selection

Probability

Coverage Prediction

Neighbour list Definition

Frequency Plan

Initial System Parameters Definition

Flow Chart (1.2) Final Cell Planning Process

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typically between 6 to 9 dB and the mean error of zero dB. Details on tunning the model is described in Model Tunning documentation, from which the planner arrives at optimum values of K constants. These K constant values for the sites that fall under different clutter types are used for tunning the models of the site falling in similar clutter areas. Having completed the process of tunning the model the planner makes a final analysis of the coverage results, prepares a frequency plan, analysis the C/I results thereby arrives to optimum frequency plan. The details are discussed below, (5.2.3) Final Analysis and Frequency Plan: Having tuned the model the planner analyses his new coverage results by comparing it with initial preliminary coverage results. He prepares a frequency plan for the network and tests his plan by carrying out C/I analysis for Co and Adjacent channel interference. The methodology for planning frequency is discussed in Frequency Planning document which, also describes in brief on the Automatic Frequency Planning module in the planing tool. This is an iterative process wherein he has to set a balance between desired coverage, allowed interference, capacity requirements and spectrum limitations thus arriving to the most optimum coverage result and the frequency plan. Having completed the task of assigning the frequencies the planner next needs to define the database parameters for appropriate functioning of the network in terms of hand-over, cell selection and re-selection, traffic and control channel configuration, etc. Parameter planning document describes in detail all the relevant radio parameters of importance to the planner. It includes the GSM standard parameters with allowed range of values. For proper mobility and radio management definition of these parameters are most important. Finally on reaching to the best optimum coverage plan and defining the site database parameters, the planner prepares a Final Cell Plan Report to the effect for internal review. On basis of the feedback he makes the required changes and the report is handed over to the customer for his approval. The report includes, a. Best server coverage plot for the network. b. Cell boundaries coverage plot. c. Worst C/I (for co-channel and adjacent channel) analysis result. d. Frequency plan and assignment details. e. Site configuration (site ID, coordinates, number of sectors, height, antenna types, azimuth, etc.) f. BCCH, BSIC and LAC plan details. g. CW measurement data. h. Candidate survey report. i. Site database settings. j. Neighbour cell definition. k. Special features to be enabled. On acceptance of this report the planner prepares individual site report for implementation team defining the physical parameters of the site that includes, a. Number of sectors: Final Cell Plan report includes details on it. b. Antenna location, on the roof top or wall mount, candidate survey report has details on it. c. Antenna structure, whether split or delta structure candidate survey report includes the details on the same. d. Antenna height and Azimuth of each sector, candidate survey report includes the same. e. Antenna diversity, whether space or polarisation diversity to be used, Final Cell Plan report includes details on it.

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f. Antenna type, Final Cell Plan report has details on it. g. Base Station Power ERP (W), Final Cell Plan report has the same. h. Number of Carriers per sector, Final Cell Plan report has the same. In parallel to this he hands over the database parameters defined per site to the operations team to configure the site in the BSS system through the OMC-R. The includes, a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. Cell Ids (Cell Identification code) Frequency Plan. Neighbour List. BSIC Plan. LAC Plan. Channel configuration (SDCCH requirements). Handover settings (Handover margin, handover thresholds, etc.). Power settings (at radio transmitter level). Features to be enabled (such as DTX, Power Control, SFH.

With the implementation of base stations and making it operational, a thorough drive test for the network is made to cross verify the field results and locate problems. This activity falls under initial optimisation procedure which, is discussed in length below,

(6.0) Drive Testing and Initial Optimisation:

This test helps for cross-verification of the planned data v/s actual data implemented, in terms of frequencies assigned, traffic and control channel configuration, coverage area, neighbour list, hand-over points, etc. Network Optimisation document covers details on the drive test measurement and its output data for evaluation and optimisation of the BSS network across Um interface. In case it is reported that the planned settings and the one implemented are different then the necessary changes are made. If the drive data reflects certain problems such as improper hand-over or poor quality in some areas then in such cases re-tuning parameters of the site can help to improve the performance. In the initial phase of the network where number of sites are less coverage, quality and handover could be major problem. Sometimes the solution to such problems lies in the implementation of next phase sites. Hence the planner has to distinguish between the problem he needs to solve now by re-tunning the network or wait until site of next phase are implemented. Drive testing is very important for validation of the frequency plan, physical site parameters and database settings. Network Optimisation is an iterative process which, is an on going activity at all the stages of the network. (6.1) Initial Drive Test Report: Having convinced with performance of the network in terms of drive test results, an initial drive test report with suggestions on improving the performance is prepared and handed over to the customer for approval.

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