8 Weeks Industrial Training from

Aircom Internationals in
Introduction to GSM & RF Tools

Guru Nanak Institute of Engg. & Technology

Submitted By:
Aditya Gupta
6308142

Contents

GSM(Global System for Mobile)

GSM Architecture
Antennas
Planning
MapInfo
Drive Test
TEMS
Asset

GSM (Global System for Mobiles)

GSM is a cellular system that can be

divided into GSM900M & GSM1800M.
It focuses on TDMA & take FDMA as
compliment
The Uplink & Downlink freq. are
For GSM900Uplink- 890-915MHz
Downlink- 935960MHz
For GSM1800-Uplink- 1710-1785MHz
Downlink-1850-

GSM Architecture

MSC Mobile Switching Centre BSS Base Station Subsystem

BSC Base Station Controller HLR Home Location Register
BTS Base Transceiver Station VLR Visitor Location
Register
TRX Transceiver AuC Authentication Centre
MS Mobile Station EIR Equipment Identity Register
OMC Operations and Maintenance Centre

Antennas Used
In mobile communications two
categories of antennas used are

main

Omni directional Antenna

These antennas are mostly used in
rural areas.
In all horizontal direction these
antennas radiate with equal power.
In
the
vertical
plane
these
antennas radiate uniformly across
all angles and have a main beam
with upper and lower side lobes

Directional Antenna
These antennas are mostly used in mobile cellular systems
to get higher gain compared to omnidirectional antenna
and to minimise interference effects in the network.
In the vertical plane these antennas radiate uniformly
across all angles and have a main beam with upper and
lower side lobes.
In these type of antennas, the radiation is directed at a
specific angle instead of uniformly across all angles in case
of Omni antennas.

Planning

Network planning and design is the foundation on

which successful networks are built. Efficient and
accurate designs can reduce operational expenditure
and overall cost of network ownership, while
maximizing revenue by enabling the network to
capture and carry more traffic.

The good planned network can increase the output

quality and quantity by over 60%, and network
performance by over 40%.

Planning a Site
Planning of any site depends mainly
on the two factors:
Clutter Rural ,Urban, Sub urban,
National highway.
Population Number of people living
in that area.

MapInfo

Planning is started with the tool

named map info.
Map info already contains the
complete map of the area to be
planned.
It contains latitude, longitude, every
road map whether it is national
highway or a small road of a village.

Planning Process in MapInfo

The areas to be planned is selected:

Then the grids are made in that part of the area.

Each area is planned in a grid of 800*800 sq area.

The next step is to find the latitude and longitude of

centroid of each grid where the site need to be placed.
This is find out by using SQL query.

The SQL query gives us complete list of latitude and longitude

where the side needs to be placed.

Then we place all our sites at that latitude and

longitude, with the proper symbol as guided by
the operator.

The next step is to choose the sites that cover

our area and rest all other sites are deleted.

Thus mapinfo gives us the very blur image how

your network will look like.

Second phase of planning or progressive

planning

Map info gives us the picture how the planned

network will look like. But whether this planned
network will be able to give good coverage or will
handle the traffic and many more questions still
need to answer. The answer to this questions is
find out with the help of drive test.

Drive testing involves driving in a vehicle and

collecting network data by making a lot of calls.
The data collected includes data for serving cell as
well as the neighbors. This data collected helps us
to find and analyze the problems in the network.

INTRODUCTION

CW DRIVE TEST
Equipments used1. Transmitter (Tortoise)

2.

CW Receiver(Coyote)

3. GPS (Ext Antenna and Data Cable)

4. Feeder Cable

5. Omni-Directional
Antenna

 The next step is to make site temporarily work.

This is done by fixing a temporary Omni directional
a particular height depending upon a clutter

antenna at

Mostly Omni directional antenna is used because this antenna

gives the coverage in 360 degree, so we can check the coverage of
site in all directions.

The Omni antenna is connected to the near BTS

with the help of feeder cable. The latitude ,
longitude and power of the site is checked and
adjusted by GPS and power meter respectively.

After getting all the kits connected we perform drive

test at surrounding 4-5 kms area.
The drive test routes are usually 2 - 3 hours in
duration in order to ensure that the data generated
is of a manageable size.
The drive test teams use the Test equipment (e.g.
BVS Coyote) to make log
file, consist of RSSI
values of respective frequency at different GPS
locations around the site.
After completion of the drive route, analysis of the
data collected is performed to identify areas of poor
RSSI values and to build propagation model for
generating coverage.

Drive Test Output

Lat

Long

RSSI

Freq

X1

Y1

M1

X2

Y2

M2

X3

Y3

M3

The result of drive is a collection of data files which has lat, long,
Received Signal Strength Indicator(RSSI) at that point and the
frequency.

The location information ( lat, long ) is used by the post processing

tools as a reference of correlation between the measured vs.
predicted signal levels for measurement integration.

This file has to be transferred onto the planning tool either by a

floppy or by data transfer using LAN.

TEMS

Equipments used in Drive test

TEMS Handset (complete with Charger, Headset,

Data Cable) and USB Hub.

Laptop (installed TEMS Investigation) and Adapter

 GPS (Ext Antenna and Data Cable)

ANTENNAE (Serial to USB)

Inverter and Terminal

Drive test equipment connection

 After getting all the kits connected we perform drive

test at surrounding 4-5 kms area.
The drive test routes are usually 2 - 3 hours in duration
in order to ensure that the data generated is of a
manageable size.
The drive test teams use the Test Mobile equipment
(e.g.TEMS) to make test calls to the MSC test number on
the network of 2 minute duration with a 15 second break.
During or after completion of the drive test route,
analysis of the data collected is performed to identify areas
of dropped or noisy calls.

Drive test output

The drive test output is stored in the log files

Output of log files

Asset Tool

It is one of the best planning tool in the world.

Its licensed version comes in approx Rs 1lakh
for 1 year.
Maximize network quality
Reduce network maintenance costs.
Plan and optimize neighbor relationship.
Very helpful for the operators.

Okumura-Hata Model

Asset uses slightly modified Okumura-Hata:

Ploss =K1 + K2*log(d) + K3*Hms + K4*log(Hms) +

K5*log(Heff) + K6*log(Heff)*log(d) + K7*Ldiff + Lclutter

d is distance in km between Tx antenna and mobile station

Hms is mobile station height

Heff is effective antenna height in metres

Ldiff is a loss due to diffraction

Lclutter is a clutter loss

Asset has 4 algorithms for calculating effective antenna

height

Asset has 4 algorithms for calculating diffraction

Through Clutter Loss takes into the account clutter profile

along distance d from mobile station to base station.

Setting up a New Project

Click Add in the Start Project

window
Select New Project data
Name project
Setup the coordinate system
Setup Mapping data and User
directories
Setup remaining tabs and click
OK
Click Start Project

Open a Project

How to ADD a New

Project

Changing the Coordinate System

Coordinate System

Where to get Map Data

Same for Heights

Same for Clutter

To add Places

User Directories

For Prediction Directory

For Colors Palette

For Coverage Directory

Calculate Map Data Directories

Project is Ready, Get Started

Model
Tuning

You must have an existing project with mapdata and with CW

sites. In the below mentioned slide there are total three sites for
tuning.

Import the antenna file and see the pattern of Omni

antenna.

Update the site database for antenna , model and

feeder type

Making a reference Model

From Configuration > Propagation Model

Propagation Model Window will pop up > click Add

> select any reference model(Say standard
Macrocell 3) > Click Add

Give the propagation model name (Say 1900)>

click View/Edit Model Parameter

Fill the relative information (say Frequency) in

general tab

Fill K-values information from user guide

Choose Effective antenna height algorithm (say

Relative)

Choose Diffraction calculation Method (say Epstein

Peterson)

Initial through clutter losses and clutter offsets will

be 0. No need to fill the value in this tab

Importing the CW Drive test file

From Tools > Click Measurements

Measurement toolbox will open > Click Add in cell

associate measurement > Browse Header(.hd) file
> click open

Importing of drive file will take few minutes

If header file and site database information are

same then loading will ask for the association of
drive data with cell > Click OK

Click on Load Associated

Similarly Import the other drive (Signia) files

Model Analysis
Select the particular measurements>click Individual > Model
Analysis Tool Box will pop up > In Model tab,Fill the required
information > Select the Model

In filter tab > Give distance filtering > Rx Level

Filtering > Clutter filtering > Polygon Filtering

For Polygon Filtering you must have measurement analysis > Check
Measurement Signal > View the drive data in 2D view with sites >
Click on Create new vector from 2D menu > Give vector name (Say
1900)> Select polygon shape > make polygon for the bad drive
samples > Save all vectors

Now if you want to use polygon filtering > Check

Use Exclusion Polygons box > Click Select polygons
> check the specific polygon > click on Apply

Polygon Selected will show you the no of Exclusion

polygons > click OK

Model Analysis box will pop up > Select all the measurement
> click Composite. This will give combine values. You can also
do the analysis for individual drive data

After the completion of composite analysis this will

give you the values as slide is showing

You can also view the analysis report from here >
Click View Report > Analysis will run

After the completion of analysis an option box will

pop up > choose the desired options > Click OK

Analysis report will generate (See the below

mentioned specimen)

Auto Tuning
After Analysis you need to do the tuning for
improved results. Select the measurements > Click
Auto Tune

Initialization of Auto tuning will take few minutes

Model Calibration Utility box will pop up. This will show you
the reference model K-value. Also at the moment Through
clutter losses are 0. You can see the same from; Clutter >
View/set Through clutter parameters

Before going to Auto tuning you can also fix or open the Kvalues. For eg. In the below mentioned slide K2 is open while
others are fix. For Auto Tuning Go to Tools> Auto Tune

Auto Tuning will take Few Minutes time

Auto Tuning will give you new k and clutter values.

If you want to apply the new values go to Tools >
Apply New parameters

You also can see the new clutter losses values

This will complete the Auto Tuning Process. Now

From File > Click Exit

See the tuned values from Configuration

>Propagation Model> Select Specific Model >
View/Edit model Parameters > Path loss tab and
then > Clutter tab

Thank You