UMTS900 Workshop: GSM 3G Middle East

Improving In-Building Coverage & Coverage Comparison

By: Hussein M. Hachem, Senior Engineering Manager
D
December
b 17,
17 2008

Outline

UMTS900 for Indoor Coverage

IIs UMTS900 the
h solution
l i ffor IIndoor?
d ?
UMTS900 indoor field results from urban-suburban

Coverage
g Comparison
p
UMTS900 vs. UMTS2100
Theoretical results
Field test results
Improving Rural Coverage with UMTS900
UMTS900 for PS Data Services

Summary
y

UMTS900 for Indoor Coverage

Better street level coverage in 900MHz band offers increased inbuilding penetration margin
Improving street level coverage to improve in-building coverage may
result in excessive coverage overlap

Both building penetration loss (BPL) and indoor propagation

characteristics determine the quality of indoor coverage
Theory behind the effect of frequency band on BPL and indoor
propagation
900 MHz offers better absorption into the wall and hence lower BPL
(longer wavelength)
2100 MHz offers more diffraction through windows and openings which
improves the penetration of signal into the building (shorter wavelength)

Field Results for Indoor Coverage Test

Methodology
Building penetration and indoor
analysis consists of two parts:
Building Penetration Loss (BPL)
Loss at the first wall (between
points A and B)

A
B

Indoor Penetration
Penetration margin inside the
building (between points B and C)

BPL
Calculated based on the average of all
available servers
Calculated with UE measurements

Indoor Penetration
Calculated using the single server with
scanner measurements

BPL Comparison Results (1 of 2)

BPL - UE Data
Band

24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Average
BPL [dB]

900
MHz

2100
MHz

9.5

12.8

900 MHz
2100 MHz

Building Name

BPL at 900MHz band is lower

Larger BPL variation depends of the building type and geometry

BPL Comparison Results (2 of 2)

Mix of Glass and Brick/Cement

BPL Range: 4-15 dB for mixture

of glass-brick/cement
glass brick/cement buildings

16
14
12
10
8

BPL < 5 dB for glass buildings

6
4
2
0

Mostly Glass
4
900 MHz

2100 MHz

3
Cement - No Windows at B

2
25

1
20

0
Building 4

Bulding 11

15
10

900 MHz

2100 MHz
5

BPL Range: 13-25

13 25 dB
for cement buildings

Building 2

Bulding 7

900 MHz

Bulding 9

2100 MHz

Indoor Penetration

HOS2, Scanner, B

-40.0
-45.0

A
B

RSCP 900-RSCP 2100

Scanner:
UE:

-50.0
-55.0

A
17.6
N/A

STATIC POINTS
B
C
19.4
23.4
N/A
N/A

-60.0
-65.0

-70.0
-75.0
-80.0
-85.0
-90.0
-95.0
-100.0

Median:
RSCP(900, SC77) - RSCP(2100, SC74) = 24.9 dB
Average:
RSCP(900, SC77) - RSCP(2100, SC74) = 23.6 dB

-105.0

Time
RSCP SC74 UMTS2100

RSCP SC77 UMTS900

RSCP SC74 UMTS2100, Point C

RSCP SC74 UMTS2100, Point A

RSCP SC77 UMTS900, Point A

RSCP SC74 UMTS2100, Point B

RSCP SC77 UMTS900, Point B

RSCP SC77 UMTS900, Point C

Signal propagates better inside the building in UMTS900

F 10 ttested
For
t db
buildings
ildi
and
d when
h moving
i ffrom th
the 1st wallll tto d
deep iinside:
id
Average RSCP delta (900-2100MHz) increased by 5.5 dB

UMTS900 Coverage Advantage Expectation

Free Space Propagation:
UMTS900 has advantage of 6.9
6 9 dB over UTMS2100

COST231-Hata Propagation Model:

UTMS900 has advantage that depends on the environment
( l tt )
(clutter):
Medium city and suburban:
Metropolitan center:

Figure on the right presents

UMTS900 & UMTS2100
propagation res
results
lts using
sing
COST 231-HATA Model for
Suburban clutter

11.4 dB
14.4 dB

920 MHz
2045 MHz

UMTS900 Coverage Advantage

Field Measurements
Table below presents Scanner best server RSCP delta between
UMTS900 and UMTS2100 for rural hilly terrains and mix of
suburban/medium city urban environment:
Coverage difference is estimated based on the best server RSCP
Data based on binned data (50x50m)
(50x50m), considering all antenna gains
gains,
feeder/connector losses
Same CPICH power used for both: UMTS900 & UMTS2100 system

Median
Delta (dB)

Rural
RSCP Delta [dB]
Cluster A
12.3

Cluster
Cl
t
B
9.3

Urban / Suburban
RSCP Delta [dB]
Cluster
Cl
t
C

Cluster
Cl
t
D

11.1

12.7

Rural Coverage Gain with UMTS900 Field Measurements (1/3)

UMTS900 Gain over UMTS2100:
Cell radius increased by 70%
Downlink p
power strength
g increased 40-fold ((16 dB))
Improved network power efficiency

UE transmit power decreased 63-fold (18 dB)

Directly translates into improved handset battery life
UMTS2100 Drop Call

UMTS900 Drop Call

25.0
-40.0
15.0
-50.0
5.0
-60.0

-5.0

-70.0

-15.0

-80.0

-25.0
-35.0

-90.0

-45.0

-100.0

-55.0
0 40
0.40

-110.0
0 62
0.62

1 38
1.38

2 31
2.31

3 20
3.20

4 01
4.01

4 97
4.97

6 03
6.03

7 11 7.65
7.11
7 65

8 41
8.41

9 17
9.17

9 73
9.73

9 95 10.20
9.95
10 20 10.47
10 47 11.07
11 07 11.73
11 73 12.25
12 25

Distance to Serving Site [km]

UMTS900 Tx Power

UMTS2100 Tx Power

UMTS900 Rx Power

UMTS2100 Rx Power

Rural Coverage Gain with UMTS900 Field Measurements (2/3)

Map shows RSCP delta between best server of UMTS900 and UMTS2100

Rural Coverage Gain with UMTS900 Field Measurements (3/3)

RSCP delta increases with a distance due to the multiple diffractions over hilly
terrain
-40.0

-50.0

-60.0

-70.0
UMTS2100

-80.0

UMTS900

-90.0

-100.0

-110.0

-120
120.0
0
0.40

0.81

1.22

1.63

2.05

2.46

2.86

3.27

3.67

4.08

4.51

Distance from Serving Cell [km]

4.91

5.36

5.80

6.40

UMTS900 for PS Data services

UMTS900 is a cost efficient solution to deploy PS services (HSDPA)

in rural/suburban
High speed data services can be offered with significantly less number
of Node Bs

Better propagation at UMTS900 results in more efficient power

utilization and larger cell range
For a single cell scenario and no interference
interference, efficiency of Power
utilization (in terms of kbps/dBm) is much higher for UMTS900 than for
UMTS2100
Cell range increase is significant

Throughput vs. Power Used Field

Results

Location

Distance
to
Serving
Cell [km]

L1
Throughp
ut [kbps]

Total
Carrier
Power dBm

Power
Utilization
[kbps/dBm]

Average
RSCP [dBm]

Average Tx
Power
[dBm]

900

2100

900

2100

900

2100

900

2100

900

2100

03
0.3

1300

985

36.4

36.2

35.7

27.2

-43.0
43.0

-51.8
51.8

-55.0
55.0

-39.4
39.4

1.4

1100

986

40.2

40.1

27.3

24.6

-84.3

-96.9

-9.2

6.3

2.4

1100

1000

36.6

36.4

30.0

27.5

-71.7

-81.8

-21.8

-8.0

33
3.3

1100

968

36 4
36.4

37 1
37.1

30 2
30.2

26 1
26.1

-65.5
65 5

-93.1
93 1

-25.7
25 7

-1.7
17

4.2

1100

N/A

36.8

36.2

29.9

0.6

-83.1

-112.2

-3.7

16.4

5.2

1100

1100

37.1

42.0

29.6

26.2

-81.0

-114.0

-14.2

19.4

6.2

1000

663

36.8

42.1

27.2

15.8

-82.5

-118.0

-10.6

21.8

7.2

1000

OOS*

41.5

OOS*

24.1

N/A

-100.7

OOS*

7.3

OOS*

In the absence of interference (Single Cell scenario),

scenario) efficiency of power utilization is much higher for
UMTS900 compared to UMTS2100 Lower pathloss, less power consumption
* Out of Service area

Summary
UMTS900 provides significant indoor coverage advantage in urban
At street level, up
p to 12 dB advantage
g was measured
Measured BPL and penetration advantage were 3 dB and 5.5 dB,
respectively
Adds up to total advantage of ~20 dB

Field measurements confirm the expected coverage improvement

with UMTS900
9-12 dB in Rural
11-13 dB in Urban

UMTS900 proves to be the ideal solution to deploy broadband

services in rural
Cell radius for HSDPA service improved by 70% compared to
UMTS2100
Larger cell area decreases the number of cell changes and hence
improves the HSDPA performance

Thank you!
Qualcomm Corporate Engineering Services
www.qualcomm.com/esg
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