Frequency Planning Guidelines

Frequency Planning Guidelines
T-Mobile USA
Document Title: xxxx_Frequency Planning
Confidential and Proprietary Page 1

T-Mobile Document Ref: ENG/RF/TGU - 353972382.doc
T-Mobile USA
Document Subject: Frequency Planning Guidelines
Document Author: Mark Cosgrove
Authors Manager: Yasmin Karimli
Company: T-Mobile
Document Category: RF Standards
Document Keywords: ENG / RF / TGU
Document Comments: Release for Comments and Approval
Document Web Location: http://rf.eng.voicestream.com/Library/.doc
Date: August 30th, 2002
Document Approved: Mark Cosgrove, Dir. RF Systems Engineering
Document Authorized: Mark Cosgrove

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Table of Contents
1 Scope
This document outlines the Radio Frequency (RF) channel assignment strategy for
existing and new markets. Reference material and background information has been included
as an informative annex.
2 Introduction
Each market has available a set band of frequencies as defined by the relevant FCC
license. The licensed frequency band is used to support discrete 200KHz wide channels. GSM
operates on a predefined numbering scheme such that each 200KHz channel has a specific
channel number assigned. The defined channels and band information for GSM North
American (GSM-NA) is shown in table 1.
FCC PCS B/W (Uplink and MS TX Band BTS TX GSM CH

Band Downlink) (MHz) (MHz)
A 30 MHz 1850.0 1930.0 512-586
D 10 MHz 1865.0 1945.0 587-611
B 30 MHz 1880.0 1960.0 612- 686
E 10 MHz 1885.0 1965.0 687-711
F 10 MHz 1890.0 1970.0 712-736
C 30 MHz 1895.0 1975.0 737-811
Table 1 FCC bands and GSM Channel Allocations
GSM requires that each cell (a site being made up of one or more sectored cells) have
one frequency that is used to broadcast network and cell control information and act as a pilot
frequency. This frequency is defined as the Broadcast Common Control Channel (BCCH)
frequency. Timeslot 0 of the BCCH frequency carries the logical BCCH channel and additional
channels that are used for paging, synchronization, and initial system access. The BCCH
frequency is required to transmit constantly at a set frequency and at full power. We will explain
why the 7/21 re-use pattern is the strategy we recommend to use for the BCCH layer
Non-BCCH frequencies can adapt on a timeslot-by-timeslot basis, being able to change

frequency (Called hopping) and transmit power levels (Power control). The Non-BCCH
channels are therefore able to achieve better performance in terms of tolerance of interference
and noise than the BCCH frequency. This better performance is exploited by reusing non-
BCCH frequencies more often within a given area such that the traffic supported per MHz of
frequency is increased. This document is aimed at promoting the use of frequency hopping 1/1
strategy for markets with challenging terrain and 1/3 for markets in which the site are spread out
with regular azimuth.

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This document discusses the fundamental concepts of frequency reuse, various
techniques for maximizing capacity, spectrum partitioning schemes, and finally to provide
recommendations for partitioning of 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz and 20MHz spectrum (understand
5,10,15 or 20MHz in uplink band and 5,10,15 or 20 MHz in downlink band). The Houston trial
results are provided in Appendix.
We recommend to local RF team to use this document as a frequency planning strategy

guide. The recommended frequency planning strategies are summarized in the
recommendation part located at the end of this document.
This document is intended for networks that have implemented GSM and GPRS
technologies, as it is the present case for all Voicestream markets.

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3 Frequency re-use theory

Frequency reuse, as the name suggests, involves reusing the same frequency
repeatedly in a cellular network. It is this fundamental concept that enable cellular systems to
provide the necessary traffic carrying capacity to support its subscriber base.
3.1 Cellular network concepts

In a cellular network, a group of contiguous cells all using different frequencies are
grouped into clusters. A term commonly used to describe a frequency re-use scheme is N,
where N denotes the number of cells in a cluster, and thus the total number unique frequencies.
Here is how a cellular pattern, here with N=7 (i=2 and j=1) is displayed:
A A
A
A A
A
j
j
i
A
i
A
As shown on this figure the re-use pattern has to follow the 2 arrows directions (or one
arrow if j=0) to be regular and this is the reason why N has to verify that N i 2 j 2 ij . Where i
and j are integers.
That implies 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 13, 16, 19, 21, 27 are usually the values that we usually
consider in GSM.
For example, N=3, denotes a 3 sites cluster, each cell with a unique frequency group.
Repeating this cluster over the geographic area of coverage forms the cellular network. In a
sectorized reuse scheme, a site number / cluster size convention is commonly used to denote
the reuse pattern. For instant 3/9, denotes a 3 site / 9 cell cluster (3 sectors per site).
The frequency-repeat pattern determines the maximum number of radios that can be
deployed in each cell, thus the maximum amount of traffic carried.
A cellular network may consist of omni sites or sectorized sites or a combination of both.
Given the same total number of channels, the capacity of a sectorized site is less than the
capacity of an omni site, as the example below illustrates.
Site type Total TCH Traffic Capacity (2% blocking)

available
Omni 45 35.6 Erlangs

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3 Sector 45 3 x 9.01 = 27.0 Erlangs
However, sectorization allows higher frequency re-use with smaller number of sites as
each site contains 3 cells instead of one, and thus higher overall network capacity and that is
making much more sense economically, therefore all GSM networks use sectorized sites. For
both site types, several frequency re-use schemes are possible with varying levels of carrier to
interference ratio (C/I).
For any re-use pattern, the ratio of co-channel cell site to the cell radius is:
D/R 3N
This comes from the fact that we have, here shown for N=4:
R
D
Lets call R the radius from the center of the hexagon to the middle of a side of the
hexagon. We have:
R ' cos(30) R 3 R
2
The distance D between the middle of and hexagon and the middle of the next one that
uses the same frequency verifies:
2
i
2
j ij
D 2 R ' N 2 R '
Therefore:
D/R 3N
From this value we can estimate the theoretical interference created by the first ring of
frequency re-use. The hexagon grid implies that six first ring cells always surround a cell (One
for each side of the hexagon). Lets illustrate how this work in the case of omni-directional site
C
Sm
I 6I
If we estimate that the propagation of the signal is proportional to the distance power the
attenuation factor n, we have at the edge of the cell (i.e. worst case C/I):
n
( D R)
C
n
I 6R
So in dB we have:
n
( D 1) ( 3 N 1)
n
C R
log( ) log( )
I 6 6
We usually assume a value of n=3.5 for the attenuation.

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3.2 Examples GSM frequency re-use patterns
Lets illustrate this theory with few examples of plan that can be used for TCH and/or
BCCH. But we should notice that any BCCH plan may be implemented in TCH but the reverse
is not true:
(1) 1/1 frequency reuse
Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio;

Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 0dB
Each neighboring cell use the same frequency group, this can only be used with
frequency hopping in GSM
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1
1 1
Figure 3.1: 1/1 frequency reuse pattern
The example below illustrates the 3 re-use schemes for sectorized sites, and the
approximate C/I ratio that can be achieved with a homogeneous network of cells using a 120
degree beam width antenna.
Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio; D/R = 1.732,

Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 5.5dB
Adjacent channel interference; every neighboring cell uses an adjacent channel, this
can only be used with frequency hopping in GSM
1 3 2 1
3 2 1 3 2
1 3 2 1
3 2 1 3 2
3 2

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Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio; D/R = 5.196

Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 10.9dB, as the theoretical minimum C/I in
GSM is 9dB this re-use pattern is the smallest that can be used with non-hopping
channels
Adjacent channel interference; 2 out of 9 cells have adjacent channel neighbor
1 1
7 4 2 7 4 2
3 8 5 3 8 5
1 9 6 1 9 1
6
7 4 2 7 4 2 7 2
4
3 8 5 3 8 3
5 8 5
9 6 1 9 6 1 9 6
7 4 2 7 4 2
3 8 5 3 8 5
9 6 9 6
Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio; D/R = 6.0

Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 12.0dB
Adjacent channel interference; 2 out of 12 cells have adjacent channels with
neighboring cells, worst case C/Ia = 0dB
Alternatively by swapping the allocation for 1 of the 4 sites, e.g. swapping cell using
carrier 8 and 12 in the Figure 3 . would yield:
Co-channel interference; worst case C/Ic = 12.0dB (for 2 out of 12 cells)
Adjacent channel interference; no adjacent channel neighbor, worst case C/Ia = 5.1dB
(for 4 out of 12 cells)

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3 10 6 4
2 11 7 1 12 8 2
3 10 6 4 9 5 3 10 6 4
2 11 7 1 12 8 2 11 7 1 12 8 2
3 10 6 4 9 5 3 4
10 6 9 5 3 10 6 4
11 7 1 12 8 2 11 7 1 12 2
8 11 7 1 12 8
9 5 3 10 6 4 9 5 3 10 4
6 9 5
11 7 1 12 8 2 11 7 1 12 8
9 5 3 10 6 4 9 5
11 7 1 12 8
9 5
Figure 3.4: 4/12 frequency reuse pattern 2 adjacent channel neighbors
3 10 6 4
2 11 7 1 8 12 2
3 10 6 4 9 5 3 10 4
6
2 11 7 1 8 12 2 11 7 1 2
8 12
3 10 6 4 9 5 3 10 6 4 3
9 5 10 6 4
11 7 1 8 12 2 11 7 1 8 12 2 11 1
7 8 12
9 5 3 10 6 4 9 5 3 10 4
6 9 5
11 7 1 8 12 2 11 7 1 8 12
9 5 3 10 6 4 9 5
11 7 1 8 12
9 5
Figure 3.5: 4/12 frequency reuse pattern no adjacent channel neighbor

From the above example, we can see that interference reduces as N increases; this is
directly connected to the theoretical C/I calculation illustrated before in the omni site case. But
on another hand the number of frequencies available in each group also decreases as N
increases.
Although these grid patterns are often used for initial site planning, in practice however,
it is the site acquisition process, which would ultimately determine the cellular pattern. There
are many factors, which would significantly influence the network topology, these include:
Terrain (hilly or flat)

Large water bodies
Budgetary constraint
Site placement constraints

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All these factors make it difficult to achieve the ideal network topology.
Irregularities of site coverage will increase the carrier to interference ratios. In general,
areas consisting of hilly terrain and large water bodies pose the most difficult frequency
planning problems.
The theoretical minimum C/I for which GSM is designed to work is 9 dB (GSM rec
05.05). However in reality it is not very efficient if we do not reach C/I = 12dB.
An N=12 might not allow the C/I requested to be sufficient. Moreover, to deal with the
irregularities of site coverage, certain amount additional frequencies (i.e. the value of N) should
be allowed. If
If the spectrum available allows it, we shall advise the implementation of N=21 (7/21
pattern) for non-hopping channels. The choice of this value of 7/21 is because it is the lowest
value for which we have a regular pattern (N verifies N i 2 j 2 ij ), where N is a multiple of 3
(tri-sectorial sites) and a sufficient theoretic C/I=15.56dB.
Lets point out here that strategies such as 5/15, 6/18 or 8/24 that are often use do not
respect a regular pattern.

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4 Recommended Planning Rules

4.1 Frequency planning general rules
Based on industry technical reports, vendor discussions and field trial work carried out in
the Houston market by Aerial (see Appendix I), the following recommendations have been
devised for the application of frequency hopping to increase system capacity.
1. Separate frequency channel sets will be assigned to BCCH and non-

BCCH usage, this is detailed in section 5
2. A fractional reuse pattern with soft loading shall be used.
3. For non-BCCH channels a 1/3 or 1/1 frequency hopping reuse is
optimum, the frequency hopping benefits are detailed in section 4.3
4. Downlink Power control and DTX need to be active.
5. Average loading of high traffic area should not be more than 40% for a
1/3 and 15% for a 1/1
6. The peak loading for some sectors will be 60% if the 1/3 is implemented
and 30% if 1/1 is used
7. Non-BCCH channels are chosen for voice in preference to the BCCH
channels.
8. GPRS (and future EDGE) traffic is assigned to the BCCH in preference to
the Non-BCCH channels, this is detailed in section 7.
The Non-BCCH frequencies will be used as the first choice for carrying voice traffic.
This ensures that mobiles achieve all the benefits of frequency hopping. To maximize the
performance of the traffic channels it will be necessary to minimize the number of frequencies
assigned to the BCCH plan. Although fractional reuse averages out interference from many
sources, effectively eliminating the need for frequency planning on the non-BCCH channels, the
actual peak and averaging loading will depend on the quality of the traditional frequency plan,
i.e. the BCCH plan.
4.2 Frequency hopping benefits
4.2.1 Interference averaging concept
In traditional cell planning, where transmit powers are constant and frequencies are non-
hopping, the downlink interference pattern is also constant and is worst at the cell edges where
a low number of interferers dominate.
As the frequency reuse pattern is tightened the number of interferers increases, as

surrounding sites transmissions are no longer suitably attenuated by distance, however some
BTS continue to be lower interferers than others.
By letting sectors change frequency on a seemingly random basis the interference

pattern at a single point is no-longer constant but changing. Frequency hopping exploits the
interleaving and coding protection of GSM such that short bursts of very poor interference can
be tolerated.

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Interference at a point is no longer defined by a low number of dominant interferers but

is now defined by the average interference received from a large number of non-dominant
interferers. This interference averaging is repeated across the sector for all mobiles.
Interference With hopping

Interference No hopping
F1 F1
F3 F1
F1
F2 average
F2 F3 F2 F3
F2 F
3
MS_1 MS_2 MS_3 MS_1 MS_2 MS_3
Figure 1 Interference Averaging

source: Nokia
4.2.2 Frequency hopping a good interference averaging technique
Frequency hopping, a standard feature of the GSM system, provides the most effective
interference averaging technique. The term frequency hopping describes a technique where
the base station and mobile station changes RF frequency between each burst of transmission.
The number of RF frequencies over which to hop is called a hop-set.
By hopping over a number of frequencies, the interference created by each transceiver

(TRX) is averaged across all frequencies in the hop-set. The impact on the overall interference
level is additive but not focused on any one frequency or geographical area. Hopping over a
sufficiently large frequency range will also average out the effect of frequency selective fading,
which is a characteristic of multipath environments. This is known as frequency diversity. This
benefit is particularly important for the downlink, as the mobile station does not have receiver
diversity.
Frequency hopping benefits [4]:

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Better tolerance to low C/I: The GSM channel coding scheme is designed
to recover lost information when the punctures are short in duration. Frequency
hopping is more resistant to interference because of the convolutionnal
decoding, this frequency diversity gain is detailed in part 4.2.3.
Easier frequency planning: Once the spectrum has been partitioned and
the hop-sets identified, TRX can be added to the system with relative ease by
simply including them in the most appropriate hopping set for that cell
Soft capacity and gradual degradation: rather than a small number of
users being victimized by co-channel in a small number of areas, all users on
hopping channels will be degraded somewhat. This is called soft capacity and is
generally desirable in systems where large numbers of users share a limited
common resource
Frequency selective fading diversity: By FH over larger frequency
ranges, the coherence bandwidth can be overcome and the depth of fast fades
and BER/FER is consequently reduced. This can greatly improve channel
conditions for stationary and slow moving mobile users in any environment. The
overall benefits in terms of S/N ratio have been estimated to be around 2dB.
Note that for users who are mobile, the effects of fast fading are taken care of by
the interleaved channel coding error correction mechanisms
The disadvantage includes:
Synthesized frequency hopping requires a minimum of two TRX to

implement, one for the BCCH, and the other for hopping TCH. Base-band
hopping will require as many TRX as there are frequencies in the hop-set
Quality is very traffic sensitive; the quality of the network degrades very
rapidly with increase in traffic, but on the other hand a high traffic makes the
frequency planning impossible if non-hopping strategy is implemented
4.2.3 Frequency Diversity Performance Gains
Rayleigh fading causes deep notches in the received signal strength due to active
cancellation of the received signals that arrive at a mobile caused by the difference in path
lengths. Rayleigh fading is most prominent in urban and suburban environments where most
radio propagation paths are non-line-of-sight. The occurrence of these deep notches, both in
space and time, are highly frequency dependent.
By changing the carrier frequency (frequency hopping) on a burst-by-burst basis, the
occurrence of these notches are spread over several transmission bursts rather than effecting a
group of consecutive bursts. Frequency hopping hence provides frequency diversity that has
the effect of de-correlating the errors across the interleaved time-slots. To achieve de-
correlation between hopping bursts frequency separations of 400KHz (2 GSM channels) is
needed.
The speech codec of GSM delivers data rate to the channel codec of 13kbps. The
channel coding applies convolution coding and parity protection for the more important speech
bits. The 456 bits of the encoded speech are divided in to 8 groups of 57 bits. Therefore
individual encoded speech bursts are interleaved over eight time-slots, to ensure that errors
caused by radio fading are as distributed through out the speech frame as much as possible.

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The maximum performance of the coding is achieved when any radio, induced errors are de-
correlated across the interleaved bursts.
Moving mobiles benefit by increasing the time spread and hence de-correlation of
transmission errors; above 35km/h a correlation envelope of 0.7 is achieved. Mobiles at slower
speed therefore have relatively poor performance when compared to the high-speed mobiles.
Frequency diversity is able to provide high levels of de-correlation. As high-speed mobiles
already experience de-correlated bursts, the frequency diversity gain is only available to slow
moving mobiles.
Several simulation studies have been performed on the gain attainable from FH in a
noise-limited environment.
The COST 231 study Performance of Slow Frequency Hopping in GSM, Poznan, September
1995) produced the following tables from link level simulations:
Number of Frequency Hopping Gain TU 3 Frequency Hopping Gain TU 50

Frequencies
Cyclic Absolute Relative Gain Absolute Level Relative Gain
Hopping Level (dB) (dB) (dB) (dB)
1 11.5 0.0 6.5 0.0
2 8.5 3.0 6.0 0.5
3 7.5 4.0 6.0 0.5
4 6.5 5.0 6.0 0.5
8 5.5 6.0 6.0 0.5
Random
Hopping
1 11.5 0.0 6.5 0.0
2 9.5 2.0 6.5 0.0
3 8.5 3.0 6.5 0.0
4 8.0 3.5 6.0 0.5
8 7.5 4.0 6.0 0.5
12 7.0 4.5 6.0 0.5
Table 2 Frequency Hopping Gains
The link simulation shows that the gain in a noise limited environment for mobiles at a
medium to high speed is less than 0.5 dB even for hopping over 12 channels. For a slow
moving mobile the gains are much higher; even for just two carrier hopping the gain is 2 to 3dB,
for higher hopping sequences gains of up to 6dB can be attained. In an ideal hopping
environment, slow moving mobiles are able to attain the same level of performance as fast
moving mobiles.
In defining the link budgets for urban and suburban sites the performance differences
between fast and slow moving mobiles is not taken in to account. Therefore hopping
effectively helps slow moving mobiles meet the link budget assumptions and does not
offer an improvement over the link budget.

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4.2.4 Baseband or synthesized frequency hopping?
Frequency hopping is implemented in 2 ways, the baseband and the synthesized

frequency hopping.
Baseband hopping only allows the TCH (or SDCCH) to hop on as many frequencies as
there are hopping TRX (e.g. if 3 sectors are hopping the frequency hopping would only contain
3 frequencies).
Synthesized hopping allows the TCH to hop on the whole spectrum allocated for
hopping with very little limitations (it is actually limited to 63 frequencies in a group and this limit
is rarely reached as it corresponds to a 12.6 MHz spectrum).
Baseband hopping was actually implemented when GSM started, as some vendors
were unable to propose synthesized hopping on their early equipments. As it is much easier to
plan and reinforce the performance of frequency hopping, synthesized frequency hopping is the
implementation recommended.
4.2.5 What frequency hopping pattern should be implemented?
The re-use patterns most commonly used in GSM for hopping are 1/1 and 1/3. In theory
they are quite equivalent as you can reach a 16% load (20% if optimized) of the frequency
group if using 1/1 and 50% load of the frequency group if using 1/3. But as the frequency group
used in 1/1 (this group in that case represents the whole spectrum used for hopping channels)
is three times larger than the frequency group used in 1/3 (a third of the spectrum allocated for
hopping channels).
The theoretical advantage of the 1/3 reuse pattern is that the adjacent cells never use
the same channels, but it is counterbalanced by the fact that collisions with the cell using the
same group and which is often in dense urban areas quite close are very important. The 1/3 re-
use pattern is very efficient if there is a regular pattern, typically this is true for flat areas with
buildings of homogeneous sizes.
The 1/1 is the hopping strategy that we recommend migrating towards in cases of more
challenging environment:
As it is impossible in the real world to have a 120 degrees angle between
azimuths for all sites (building or terrain mask, unpopulated areas such as water or
mountain covered if pattern is respected, etc). And these sites that do not respect the
pattern degrade the 1/3 hopping strategy. Whereas on the other hand 1/1 strategy does
not suffer any degradation from pattern not respected.
We often have a number of hopping frequencies that is not divisible by 3
so hopping groups in 1/3 might unbalanced or get a reduced number of frequencies. 1/1
strategy of course maximizes the use of the bandwidth allocated for the frequency
hopping
The 1/1 strategy also reduces interferences more easily in areas that
would require a site that does not respect the pattern (bi-sectorial site to cover a
highway, pico-cell in hot spots)
In case of a large spectrum allocation and a low usage other techniques such as 3*9,
3*3, 4*4, 4*12, and 5*5 may be used in frequency hopping with smaller groups of frequencies,

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therefore the interference is limited. The issue with these techniques is that a frequency plan
must be performed; these techniques will not be studied further in this document.
Recommendations for different markets, according to their spectrum allocation, will be
given in section 5.
4.3 Average and Peak Loading
Fractional loading performance is dependent on the interference averaging achieved by

having more transmitting frequencies available to a sector than there are TRXs. The use of
different hopping patterns on similar orientated sectors randomizes the possibility of collisions.
At any one time only a fraction of the possible frequencies in a reuse pattern are being
transmitted. For two sectors using the same MA list, but different HSN, the probability of the
same frequency being transmitted at the same time is 1/(N*T), where N is the number of
transmit frequencies available, T is the number of TRX.
To maintain speech quality and drop call performance this probability needs to be kept
within certain limits. This is called soft loading. There is no automatic way of limiting the traffic
such that the performance of the system is not impacted; therefore the loading of a network
needs to be periodically monitored. The loading of the system is defined in two parameters:
Average Load
Peak Load.
The Peak load is computed from the highest traffic cells in an area and is often set as a
hard limit, i.e the number of available TRXs are set at the Peak load, such that the system
reaches 2% blocking at the peak load.
The Average Load is computed by taking all cells in an area and computing the effective
traffic loading and frequency reuse. There is no hard limit to the average load and
hence the performance of a network must be monitored. Once the average load limit is
reached cell splits will be needed. It is possible for a network to reach the average load
limit before any one site has reached the peak load limit.
4.3.1 Process for Calculating Loading
Step 1. Measure BH Traffic for busiest cell and surrounding area,

approximately 21 sites.
Step 2. Compute the peak cell traffic and the average cell traffic
Step 3. Convert peak and average traffic levels in to channel requirements using
Erlang B tables and 0.1% blocking 1
Step 4. Convert channel requirements in to TRX occupancy
Step 5. Calculate the TRX loading.
Example
1
The measured BH traffic is carried traffic where as Erlang B tables uses offered traffic. By using a very
low level of blocking the difference between offered and carried traffic channel requirements is minimized.

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8 Sites, 24 sectors carrying 279 Erlangs
Peak traffic is 26 Erlangs
8 Frequencies per MA list
Peak Average
Traffic per cell 26 11.6
TCH per cell @ 0.1% GOS 42 27
Loaded Frequencies (8 TCH per 5.25 3.4
frequency)
Loading (8 Frequencies per MA 65% 42%
list)
9 freq per MA list 58% 37%
Table 3 Loading calculations
4.4 Frequency hopping implementation
4.4.1 Implementing the 1/1 frequency hopping

The frequency hopping implementation requires three elements:
Frequency group definition
HSN (hopping sequence number) planning
MAIO (mobile allocation index offset) planning
The frequency group definition is quite simple in the case of 1/1, as it will be composed
of all the frequencies available for TCH.
The HSN planning is using all HSN except 0 (use 1 to 63). Each site shall use the same
HSN for all its cells as the cells are synchronized and therefore it allows avoiding any adjacent
channel interference with the correct MAIO implementation. There is however an exception to
this rule if the cells are collocated but not synchronized then the cells should use different HSN.
This is true currently for any Nokia site larger than S666 and any Nortel site bigger than S888
and for Ericsson bigger than S11_11_10 (32 TRX).
The HSN planning must be performed so that the sites using the same HSN should be
as far as possible from each other, because if two sites are using the same HSN they will
interfere each other all the time, hence there will be no benefit from frequency hopping. If there
are pico-cells using frequency hopping then the planning of the HSN of these cells must be
performed after the macro layer has been done in order to prioritize the interference from the
cells with longer coverage range.
The MAIO planning should be performed in order to avoid any adjacency between the
different cells of the same site. This is achieved this way:
Frequency of f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 f10 f11 f12 f13

hopping
group
Sector A 0 6 12
MAIO
Sector B 2 8
MAIO
Sector C 4 10
MAIO

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We can see from this table that using the MAIO 0,6,12,18 TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector A,
MAIO 2,8,14,20 for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector B and MAIO 4,10,16,22 for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector
C we are sure to avoid any adjacent channel and co-channel interference between the sites
different cell.
If we summarize graphically each sites sector should look this way:
Sector A MAIO 0,6,12,18
For all three sectors HSN=N with 1=<N<=63
Sector C MAIO 4,10,16,22 Sector B MAIO 2,8,14,20
4.4.2 Implementing a 1/3 frequency hopping re-use

The same way as the 1/1 we have to define for the 1/3 the HSN and the MAIO. Unlike
for the 1/1, the frequency groups also have to be defined.
There are two ways to set the hopping groups for the 1/3:
Contiguous groups: the first group (each group contains N frequencies) contains
F1, F2, F3 Fn, the second group contains Fn+1, Fn+2 F2n and the third
group contains F2n+1, F2n+2 F3n
Interleaved groups: the first group (each group contains N frequencies) contains
F1, F4, F7 F3n-2, the second group contains F2, F5, F8 F3n-1 and finally
the third group contains F3, F6, F9 F3n
The interleaved solution is better because:
You can reach 50% frequency load without adjacent channel interference with a
correct MAIO strategy whereas even the most optimized MAIO strategy does not
reach 50% load in case of contiguous groups
If you have to go over 50% load, in the case of contiguous groups you will have
systematic intra cell adjacent channel interference whereas you will only have
interference between different sectors in the case of interleaved groups
If a 1/3 strategy is used, the first group is used for each sites sector A, the second group
is used for each sites sector B and the third for each sector C:
Sector A group F1, F4 F3n-2
Sector C group F3, F5F3n Sector B group F2, F5 F3n-1

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As for the 1/1, the HSN used should be the same for each sector as they are all
synchronized and therefore we can avoid adjacent channel interference between sectors of the
same cell.
The MAIO strategy should be implemented this way (frequencies in red mark the fact the
above MAIO is used):
MAIO 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Group A F1 F4 F7 F10 F13 F16 F19 F22 F25 F28
Group B F2 F5 F8 F11 F14 F17 F20 F23 F26 F29
Group C F3 F6 F9 F12 F15 F18 F21 F24 F27 F30
From this table we can observe that there is no adjacent channel at the same time. So
MAIO 0,2,4,6 should be used for TRX 1,2,3,4 of sector A, MAIO 1,3,5,7 used for TRX
1,2,3,4 of sector C
Graphically the HSN, MAIO implementation of 1/3 hopping is:
4.4.3 Implementation of the 3/3 (also called 3/1) hopping strategy
The 3/3 implementation of frequency hopping (also called 3/1) is an implementation in

which we have a re-use pattern of 3 and for which in each site all the cells are using the same
frequency groups. Therefore there are 3 groups of frequencies.
It is better like in the 1/3 hopping case to chose interleaved groups, therefore as each
cell in the site are using the same group, you are sure to avoid adjacent channel collision
between different cells.
For the HSN, as all cells within the same site are synchronized it is advised to use the
same HSN for each cell of the same site.
For the MAIO, as there is no adjacent channel problem, the only thing to worry about is
to set different MAIO for any TRX of the site.
Here is one way to achieve this:
4.5 Cell Split concept

T-Mobile USA
Cell splitting involves adding sites to an existing plan such that the traffic on a particular
sector is reduced. The new cell must be of smaller coverage area than the cell being split such
that it does not simply overlap and allows the C/I ratio to be maintained.
If the network is built using narrow beam-width antennas (60 to 65 degree) then the new
cell will be placed equidistant between the existing cells, at the edge of the cell to be split.
Each sector of the new site will be designed to cover only 25% of the area of the existing cells.
Operating the new cell at half power, building a lower height cell or using high levels of antenna
tilt can achieve this.
Figure 2 Cell Split process for narrow beam systems

The split cell will be reduced in area by 50% and can be left operating at full power.
However with a 1/3 reuse pattern a more balanced interference environment is required. This is
achieved by reducing the power on the split cell by 50% and adding two additional cell split
sites.
For narrow beam systems ideal cell splitting requires a 3:1 increase in sites.
For systems built using wide beam antennas (90 to 120 degree beamwidth), the process
is the same but the site placement is different.
For 90 degree systems the new site is still placed at an equidistance between the
existing sites, but in this case it is not at the limit of the cell but off to one side. If the cell split is
placed at the farthest cell edge the grid array is broken and further cell splits will require the
removal of the split cell.

T-Mobile USA
Figure 3 Cell Split Process for Wide beam Systems

The initial addition of a cell split site reduces the area of the target cell by 38% and
requires that the split site must be operated at full power. The addition of a second new site
allows the split site to be reduced in power to balance the area and allow the coverage to be
reduced to 25%.
For 90 degree systems an ideal cell split requires a 2:1 increase in sites.
In ideal systems the cell split process focuses on balancing the coverage area of the
sites, which in turn balances, the interference.
In practice, traffic is not evenly distributed within a cell and additional information is
needed such that the cell split is successful in reducing the traffic levels on split sectors.
When planning a cell split, it is necessary to gather information on traffic distributions

within a cell. Timing Advance (TA) information will provide information as to the distribution of
traffic. Each TA2 unit corresponds to 0.5km; for example all mobiles reporting a TA of 0 are with
0.5 km of the site, a TA of 1 between 0.5 to 1km etc.
A distribution of TA can be collected from the OMC-R by running Cell Trace. TA should
be collected for the Busy Hour, the distribution calculated and the results compared to either the
predicted or known coverage area of the cell. A traditional cell split will offload the traffic in the
outer 50% of the cell. If the TA distribution shows that the traffic is concentrated in the
inner 50% of the sector than the cell split will be ineffective and another method of increasing
capacity should be considered.
4.6 BCCH Layer Constraints
The GSM system requires that the BCCH carriers must be transmitted at constant output
power, at all times, for all 8-time slots on the carrier. In addition, the BCCH carrier must be
static, which implies it cannot frequency hop. This precludes the use of enhanced interference
management techniques, as well as standard power control and DTX. For these reason, the
BCCH layer is subject to a high interference level and as this TRX is essential for the mobile
access and selection of the cell, therefore this layer shall be protected as much as possible.
Note that 6 or 7 timeslots on BCCH carrier are used to carrier traffic.
2
Note that the TA is calculated based on the roundtrip delay of the radio signals and hence is
the radio path length. Where strong multipath effects exist the radio path may be significantly
longer than the true distance from the site.

T-Mobile USA
The reuse schemes employed for the BCCH layer should be sufficiently relaxed to
ensure acceptable QoS. Typically it is recommended if the spectrum allows it to use a 7/21 for
the BCCH pattern to ensure a good quality of service. If the allocated spectrum is reduced, a
4/12 pattern is the minimal re-use that should be considered to guarantee a minimal access to
the network.
4.7 BSIC Planning
The BSIC (base station identity code) is the combination of the NCC (network color
code) and the BCC (base color code). The BCC and NCC take values between 0 and 7. Usually
the NCC is unique to a market and should not be changed from cell to cell. The BCC on the
other hand should be dealt with carefully. The rule should be to re-use the same couples BCCH
frequency-BSIC as far apart as possible. The reason is that the couple BCCH-BSIC is used to
recognize neighbors. Therefore if two cells quite close use the same couple it will confuse the
handover process. Furthermore, the OMC will prevent the creation of two neighbors using same
BCCH-BSIC couple.
4.8 Preparing the future migration plans
Until recently as Hardware limits of the older Ericsson and Nokia equipment is 6 TRX,
older Nortel equipment is limited to 8 TRX. Therefore we were usually limiting the BTS
expansion to S666 in the first two case and S888 for Nortel, with the hardware being the limiting
factor.
As now all vendors offer (by end of 2002) high capacity base stations supporting 12 TRX
per cabinet, it opens to Voicestream new possibilities for expansion. This enhancement will be
highly needed for dense areas with a high subscriber base as well as it is required to support
bandwidth consuming data technologies such as GPRS and EDGE.
In order to support the High Capacity Base Stations markets will need to tighten the
current frequency assignment rules and take full advantage of fractional loading. In addition
data will eventually require separate channels as usage increases. Ultimately high data rates
may require the deployment of 3G or similar technologies that will require spectrum to be set
aside.
Markets should develop three to four year migration plans that systematically tighten the
reuse for the BCCH channels and allow for higher fractional loading on the hopping traffic
channels. Markets should aim to increase the TRX per sector to the levels shown for Advanced
Network Designs. In many cases levels higher than the loadings shown may be obtained
depending on the quality of the design. The ability to meet the Advanced Network Design
levels is dependent on the ability to contain interference on the BCCH plan.
This can be attained by:
Consistent height of sites

Use of Electrical down tilt and narrow beam antennas
Use of Static Power control
Maintaining consistent antenna orientation
Gird like pattern of site placement

T-Mobile USA
Advanced features such as concentric cells and layered networks will increase the
capacity of the system allowing lower spectrum allocations to meet the 12 TRX limit, or
alternatively allow for more spectrum to be set aside for data services. Such techniques are for
further study.
Both the average and peak traffic levels represent a soft limit. This limit implies that
although capacity is available in an area the performance of the system will be impacted by
increasing the loading of the system beyond an average of 40%. If the soft limit of the system
is exceeded then the average TRX per sector with in a given area needs to be reduced by
adding additional sites, i.e. cell splitting.

T-Mobile USA
5 Spectrum Partitioning
The question here is, for a given spectral bandwidth, how many frequency channels
(ARFCN) should be used as the BCCH, the remainder will thus be used as TCH? Further, what
re-use schemes should be deployed for the TCH carriers to support the projected traffic load?
5.1 Comparison of block and interleave partition
There are two basic methods for allocation of BCCH carriers, block partition and
interleaved partition. In block partition, a block of frequencies is reserved for used as BCCH
carriers, and the rest as TCH carriers. In interleaved partition, every 2 nd or 3rd frequency is
reserved for use as BCCH carrier. Refer to the diagram below.
BCCH TCH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Block
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Interleave
Figure 5.4: Example of block and interleave spectrum partition
Full power
Down powered
BCCH carrier
TCH carrier
Figure 5.5: Interleave spectrum partition prevents downlink power control
The interleaved partition approach is not practical since it prevents the use of downlink
power control, therefore the BCCH and TCH spectrum should be separated and not interleaved.
As illustrated in Figure 5 .5, when the TCH is power down, there is strong adjacent channel
interference from the BCCH carrier, which is transmitted at full power.
5.2 Comparison between contiguous and split TCH
As illustrated in the diagram below, the BCCH frequencies block can be placed in the
center of the available spectrum, thus splitting the TCH into 2 blocks of frequencies. This
provides larger frequency hopping range.

T-Mobile USA
However, the split TCH results in two adjacent TCH carriers. Thus increasing the
potential for adjacent interference. Using guard bands on either side of the BCCH spectrum will
solve this. It is recommended to use a guard band between TCH and BCCH band.
BCCH TCH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Central
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Bottom
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Top
Figure 5.6: Example of side and central spectrum partition
Alternatively, placing the BCCH at the bottom or top of the available spectrum reduces
the number of adjacent channel TCH to one, and provides a contiguous TCH block.
The penalty of this approach is that it reduces the ability of frequency hopping to combat
frequency selective fading, however it does not seem to compensate for the loss of a frequency
except in the case of very important spectrum allocation (typically 20 MHz uplink and downlink
of spectrum or more). Therefore we recommend in most cases to use contiguous TCH and to
have the BCCH located on top or bottom of the spectrum.

T-Mobile USA
6 Market application
6.1 Frequency planning strategy suggested for a 5 MHz market (5 MHz
bandwidth uplink and downlink)
For a 5MHz market (5MHz downlink, 5MHz uplink), there is a total of 25 ARFCNs
(absolute radio frequency channel number). Of these 25, there is 1 frequency block guard
band, the 25th ARFCN, and 2 low power guard bands (quarter watts, 24dBm maximum), the 1 st
and the 24th. Therefore it leaves only 22 ARFCN available, which is very reduced.
In order to realistically provide a sufficient quality for the signaling a 4/12 BCCH reuse is
inevitable. As we have to leave a guard channel between the TCH and BCCH band, this will
leave only 9 channels to use for the TCH, implemented in 1/1 hopping, which allows us to go up
to S333 configuration the frequency load being 2/9=22% quite high but achievable. Other
strategies (non-hopping, 1/3) would probably be limited to lower configuration and in the case of
non-hopping create a very complicated cell planning.
The cell split criteria would be to split at S333 configuration in a 5 MHz market.
Here is the suggested frequency planning for a 5MHz market:
Block guard Power guard BCCH TCH guard band bet TCH&BCCH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
The frequency groups would be set this way for the BCCH (group 1 to 4):
sector Group1 Group2 Group3 Group4

A 2 3 4 5
B 6 7 8 9
C 10 11 12 13
As for the TCH the repartition will be the following:
Group 1/1 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
The MAIO strategy used is going to be:
Sector MAIO TRX1 MAIO TRX2

A 0 6
B 2 8
C 4 7 (8 or 6 if the first or second cell has only 2
TRX)


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Frequency Planning Guidelines

Frequency Planning Guidelines

Document Title: xxxx_Frequency Planning

Confidential and Proprietary Page 1

Document Subject: Frequency Planning Guidelines

Document Author: Mark Cosgrove

Authors Manager: Yasmin Karimli

Document Category: RF Standards

Document Keywords: ENG / RF / TGU

Document Comments: Release for Comments and Approval

Document Web Location: http://rf.eng.voicestream.com/Library/.doc

Date: August 30th, 2002

Document Approved: Mark Cosgrove, Dir. RF Systems Engineering

Document Authorized: Mark Cosgrove

Confidential and Proprietary Page 2

FCC PCS B/W (Uplink and MS TX Band BTS TX GSM CH

Non-BCCH frequencies can adapt on a timeslot-by-timeslot basis, being able to change

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We recommend to local RF team to use this document as a frequency planning strategy

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3 Frequency re-use theory

3.1 Cellular network concepts

Site type Total TCH Traffic Capacity (2% blocking)

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3.2 Examples GSM frequency re-use patterns

(1) 1/1 frequency reuse

Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio;

Figure 3.1: 1/1 frequency reuse pattern

(2) 1/3 frequency reuse

Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio; D/R = 1.732,

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Figure 3.2: 1/3 frequency reuse pattern

(3) 3/9 frequency reuse

Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio; D/R = 5.196

Figure 3.3: 3/9 frequency reuse pattern

(4) 4/12 frequency reuse

Minimum reuse distance to cell radius ratio; D/R = 6.0

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Figure 3.4: 4/12 frequency reuse pattern 2 adjacent channel neighbors

Figure 3.5: 4/12 frequency reuse pattern no adjacent channel neighbor

Terrain (hilly or flat)

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4 Recommended Planning Rules

1. Separate frequency channel sets will be assigned to BCCH and non-

4.2 Frequency hopping benefits

4.2.1 Interference averaging concept

As the frequency reuse pattern is tightened the number of interferers increases, as

By letting sectors change frequency on a seemingly random basis the interference

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Interference at a point is no longer defined by a low number of dominant interferers but

Interference With hopping

MS_1 MS_2 MS_3 MS_1 MS_2 MS_3

Figure 1 Interference Averaging

4.2.2 Frequency hopping a good interference averaging technique

By hopping over a number of frequencies, the interference created by each transceiver

Frequency hopping benefits [4]:

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The disadvantage includes:

Synthesized frequency hopping requires a minimum of two TRX to

4.2.3 Frequency Diversity Performance Gains

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Number of Frequency Hopping Gain TU 3 Frequency Hopping Gain TU 50