LTE Network Planning and Simulation

Coverage and Capacity Prediction for LTE Networks

Introduction


The planning and the design of LTE networks comes along with completely new challenges compared with 2G or 3G network planning. 

The OFDM air interface is robust concerning multi path propagation - but the interference in the network planning must be computed in a different way. Now the delay of the signals and not only the path loss is relevant to determine the interference - because of the guard interval in the receivers.

WinProp's ray-optical propagation models as well as the dominant path model (DPM) can predict the delays very accurately. This is very important to simulate the interference in then network. 

 

LTE Air Interface


3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is in the process of defining the long-term evolution (LTE) for 3G radio access, sometimes referred to as Super-3G, in order to maintain the future competitiveness of 3G technology.
LTE is designed to meet carrier needs for high-speed data and media transport as well as high-capacity voice support well into the next decade. It encompasses high-speed data, multimedia unicast and multimedia broadcast services. The main targets for this evolution therefore concern increased data rates, improved spectrum efficiency, improved coverage, and reduced latency. The basic radio interface principles for the LTE concept include OFDM technique and advanced antenna solutions (MIMO).

Network Planning of LTE networks


The most challenging areas for the deployment of LTE networks are currently urban and indoor environments. Especially in these scenarios highly reliable propagation predictions are required as they influence to a great extend the serving cell assignment and the experienced interference levels. To be able to consider handover problems due to mobility a realistic cell assignment and therefore realistic propagation predictions are required. Advanced propagation models as implemented in ProMan are therefore the necessary groundwork for any realistic system simulation.


Due to its flexible structure the WinProp software suite is prepared to be used for the planning of LTE networks.


The user can define different transmission modes and services.

For each transmission mode the FFT size, data rates for UL and DL, SNIR targets, etc. can be defined individually.
 

The following figure shows the computed cell areas for a LTE network in a dense urban environment:


Besides cell assignment WinProp's LTE module provides the folliwng simulation results:
  • For each pixel location in the area:
    • max. achievable data rate (Downlink)
    • max. number of received carriers/transmitters/sites
    • For each transmission mode:
      • required Tx power of mobile station
      • required Tx power of base station
      • SNIR 
  • For each base station / cell
    • required Tx power (mean)
    • number of assigned mobile stations

 

Brochure related to
3G Circuit Switched

Brochure related to
3G Paket Switched

Publications related to network planning

Read more about the
Static  Simulator

Read more about the Monte Carlo Simulator

Read more about the Dynamic Simulator







3rd Generation
Partnership Project



 

Propagation Models

Network planning for OFDM air interfaces relies on an accurate prediction of  signal levels and signal delays - because the interference depends additionally on the guard interval and the arrival of the different signals.


WinProp offers such  propagation models for rural, urban, and indoor scenarios. WinProp's ray-optical propagation models as well as the unique Dominant Path Model (DPM) predict the signal delay and the signal level with a very high accuracy. This helps to model OFDM interference in a very reliable way.

3G WCDMA Air Interfaces

Further information about the simulation tools for 3G WCDMA based air interfaces is available on the following pages on this server:

Brochures




Further information related to the WinProp software suite can be found in the brochures.