AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

2011, Science Hu, http://www.scihub.org/AJSIR

ISSN: 2153-649X doi:10.5251/ajsir.2011.2.3.346.351

CDMA network coverage optimization in South-Eastern Nigeria

1
Shoewu, O., 1Adedipe, A and 2Edeko, F.O
1
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Lagos State University,
Epe Campus
2
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of Benin,
Edo State
ABSTRACT
This is a study on Coverage optimization of a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) Network.
The paper proposes exposes the work carried out via drive test on 10 (ten) sites located at Uyo,
Akwa Ibom State, south-East Nigeria. The drive test was carried out through an agreed drive
route to attain a desirable network performance threshold. The distribution after optimization
confirms that the value of good Ec/Io has improved from 98.27% before optimization to 98.33%
after optimization. Also, the RX value above -95 dBm has improved from 98.73% to 99.58%; and
low RX value below -105dBm has reduced from 7.16% to 1.78%. The forward coverage is now
improved. Results show a very good TX power level which has now improved from 94.02% to
97.53%. Transmitting power greater than 0dBm has reduced from 5.97% before optimization to
2.45% after optimization.
Keywords: GSM, Optimisation, Radio Signals, Data Communication, Coverage

INTRODUCTION In 1998, TIA endorses CDMA2000 to be 3G solution

The CDMA cellular concept began in 1988 and was
proposed in November 1989 by QUALCOMM as a
more efficient, higher-quality wireless technology
CDMA open demonstration conducted in San Diego.
In February 1990, NYNEX and QUALCOMM
successfully demonstrate CDMA in New York City .In
1991; QUALCOMM successfully performs large-scale
capacity tests in San Diego. US West orders the first
CDMA network equipment and the patent was
granted in 1992. CDMA IS-95A standard was
completed in 1993 and was adopted by the
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) as a
North American digital cellular standard. Similarly in
1993, the first commercial CDMA market trial was
adopted in South Korea. In 1994, Sprint PCS
adopted CDMA (Frenger P.K et al, 1999)
for International Telecommunication Union (ITU). LG
Telecom launches first CDMA data services
CDMA2000 submitted to ITU as part of the IMT-2000
process for global 3G standards. More than 12.5
million cdmaOne subscribers in 30 countries First
1xEV-DO demonstration. (Gibson, 1999).
In 2005, more than 200 million commercial
CDMA2000 subscribers worldwide.143 CDMA2000
operators commercially deployed in 67 countries on 6
continents.950 CDMA2000 devices offered
commercially since 2000.64 CDMA2000 device
manufacturers. Number of commercial CDMA2000
1xEV-DO operators doubled from 16 to 29. Number
of commercial CDMA450 operators increased to 31
in 22 countries. Average growth rate of nearly 4.9
CDMA2000 subscribers per month.

1995 marks the standardization of CDMA for U.S.
PCS. Also was the lunch of the first commercial
cdmaOne by QUALCOMM. cdmaOne became
commercially launched in South Korea and 14 cities
in the U.S. CDMA Development Group (CDG)
announces more than one million cdmaOne
subscribers in the same year (Schulze, 2001).
In1997, IS-95B standard was completed (including 64
kbps data transmission capability) .Commercial
service available in 100 U.S. cities CDMA and in
Japan
The IS-95 CDMA cellular system has several key
attributes that are different from other cellular
systems. The same CDMA radio carrier frequencies
may be optionally used in adjacent cell sites, which
eliminates the need for frequency planning, the wide-
band radio channel provides less severe fading,
which the inventors claim results in consistent quality
voice transmission under varying radio signal
conditions. The CDMA system is compatible with the
established access technology, and it allows analog
(EIA-553) and dual mode (IS-95) subscribers to use

the same analog control channels. Some of the voice
channels are replaced by CDMA digital
transmissions, allowing several users to be
multiplexed (shared) on a single RF channel. As with
other digital technologies, CDMA produces capacity
expansion by allowing multiple users to share a
single digital RF channel (Rappaport, 2002).
CDMA systems use a maximum of 64 coded (logical)
traffic channels, but they cannot always use all of
these. A CDMA radio channel of 64 traffic channels
can transmit at a maximum information throughput
rate of approximately 192 kbps [14], so the combined
data throughput for all users cannot exceed 192
kbps. To obtain a maximum of 64 communication
channels for each CDMA radio channel, the average
data rate for each user should approximate 3 kbps. If
the average data rate is higher, less than 64 traffic
channels can be used. CDMA systems can vary the
data rate for each user dependent on voice activity
(variable rate speech coding), thereby decreasing the
average number of bits per user to about 3.8 kbps
(Bairer et al, 2000). Varying the data rate according
to user requirement allows more users to share the
radio channel, but with slightly reduced voice quality.
This is called Soft Capacity Limit (Etemad, 2004).
HISTORY OF CDMA TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA
Multi- links started operations in December 1997 as
the first private company to rollout fixed wireless
phones in Nigeria. The companys network operation
started in Lagos and could boasts of over 100,000
subscribers. Multi-Links was the first evidence of the
successful commencement of the liberalization of the
Nigerian telecommunications sector.
Intercellular was incorporated in December 1992 and
began operations in January 1998 rendering limited
mobile and fixed wireless services. It had over
100,000 subscribers. Its services were available
almost every part of the country. The firm
commenced network operations in 1998. Although it
joined the ranks of PTOs relatively late, it is rubbing
shoulders with the leaders today. It has over 100,000
subscribers in Lagos. Starcomms provides pre-paid
voice and data services to over 145,000 subscribers
including retail users, corporate and community
centres. The company uses CDMA technology which
provides high quality voice and 3G- type telecoms
services to its customers. The company is also the
first business of its type to fast track international
private equity in Africa.
2
Am. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 2011, 2(3): 346-351
Today, Nigeria is proud of about eighteen CDMA
operators providing full mobile and fixed wireless
services with a total number of subscribers above 64
million as at February, 2009.
The main reason for this study is to present a simple
but very effective method of performing coverage
optimization within a CDMA network. This work
started with engineering parameter audit through a
detailed single site verification to ensure that all the
sites within the cluster to be optimized are operating
at specified performance threshold. Site verification
also ensures that all sites under test are free of
critical alarms.
It should however be noted here that optimization
within a CDMA or general cellular networks
transcends coverage optimization. Other optimization
exercises include but not limited to parameter
optimization, call quality optimization and capacity
optimization.
METHODOLOGY
The process of optimization is a continuous process.
It is carried out from time to time until the desired
network performance threshold is attained. The
performance of a network is expressed by values of
some certain parameters called Key Parameter
Indices (KPI). The KPIs to be analyzed here are
specific for coverage optimization process. These
parameters are Mean Ec/Io (dBm), Receive Power
(dBm), Transmit Power (%), Forward Frame Error
Rate (%), Call Setup Success Rate (%) and
Handover success.
The coverage optimization method adopted for this
research is as summarized below:
1. Single site verification exercise
2. Pre-optimization drive test
3. Drive test report or log-file analysis
4. Implementation of recommendation proffered
for optimization
5. Post-optimization drive test
6. KPI Benchmarking
Single site verification exercise is a process of
verifying the status of the base stations within the
cluster to be optimized. In this exercise, individual
sites are verified to ensure they are free of critical
hardware problems before the optimization process is
started. Engineering parameters like antenna height
transmit power and even the PN (pseudorandom

 Am. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 2011, 2(3): 346-351

noise) configured for each cell of the sites are
properly checked for errors and inconsistency with
that in the site data obtained before the optimization
exercise.
Pre-optimization drive test refers to the data
collection exercise. A set of devices called drive test
kit is used for this purpose. This setup system is
placed in a vehicle while the vehicle moves around
predefined route called test route. The data obtained
in this process called log-file gives the real behavior
of the network at the time of collection.
After implementing the recommended changes,
another drive test exercise is performed to ascertain
the effect of the changes in the network parameters.
Post optimization is a continuous process as it will go
on until the desired threshold of network performance
is attained.
After each optimization exercise, the KPIs obtained
are checked against the desired threshold. This is
called benchmarking.
THE INVESTIGATED ENVIRONMENTS

After collection, the log-file was analyzed. Possible This study was carried out following the need for
problems are identified within the network. Proper higher capacity and improved coverage as desired by
recommendations are then made to improve the one of the leading cellular network service providers
network performance. in Nigeria. The operator recently engaged one of the
equipment vendors in the country to install some new
Implementation of recommendation involves BTS sites in Uyo. This covered a total of ten base
changing the antenna height or tilt, performing stations. The list of the sites, their co-ordinates and
parameter audit or simply changing transceivers configurations are listed below:
within one or two base transceiver stations within the
network of operation.
S/N
BTS Name BTS ID Longitude Latitude BS Configuration

1 University of Uyo 501 7.92158 5.04908 S111

2 Govt Office 502 7.93535 5.03951 S111

3 Nwaniba 503 7.95812 5.02854 S111

4 A-line 504 7.94421 5.01653 S111

5 Abak road 505 7.92596 5.03361 S111

6 State Secretariat 506 7.9023 5.0261 S111

7 Nkemba road 507 7.91231 5.0329 S111

8 Babanjida avenue 508 7.9184 5.01539 S111

9 Itam junction 509 7.89542 5.04708 S111

10 Teaching Hospital 510 7.86181 5.01022 S111

Table 1: List of Newly Installed BTS sites in Uyo

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Base Station Layout

The figure below shows the base station layout of the sites in Uyo.

Fig 1: MapInfo plot of BTS layout of the Network in Uyo

Test Route sites and landform, we confirm test route around the
sites. Factual drive test route is as follows:
To have more knowledge about the network
information and according to BTS distribution of the

 Am. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 2011, 2(3): 346-351

Fig 2: Drive Test route

EQUIPMENT SETUP

1) Personal Computer with Drive test software Pilot Panorama

2) Garmin GPS 12XL
3) Mobile (Kyocera-SE47).
4) Drive test vehicle
5) Power supply unit

The personal computer houses the operating system
and the data collection software (Ericsson TEMS
Investigation 8.0).The personal computer serves as
the communication hub for all other equipments in
the system.
The Global Positioning System GPS operates with
global positioning satellites to provide the location
tracking for the system during data collection. This
enables the system to determine its position on a
global map which has been installed on the personal
computer.
The test mobile phone connects to the personal
computer and it is used to initiate calls during the
data collection. The behavior of this mobile station
gives the behavior of any mobile station within the
network.
The power supply unit provides the source of power
for the entire system. It usually consists of an inverter
which inverts the 12V dc power from the vehicle to
220V ac required by the data collection gadget.
DATA COLLECTION
The picture below is a pictorial representation of the
data as viewed from the Pilot Panorama Data
collection interface.

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Fig. 3: The picture above shows a log-file recorded during the drive test exercise.

DATA ANALYSIS This section presents step by step presentation of

each parameter as obtained from pre-optimization
All analysis here is based on the log-file as presented and post-optimization drive test exercise.
above. The data are presented in pictorial format,
from which bar graph was obtained. The bar graph PRE-OPTIMISATION DRIVE TEST RESULT
shows a statistical estimation of different range of ANALYSIS
values for each of the parameters analyzed.
For the pre-optimization drive test, the following
results were obtained.

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Ec/Io Coverage and Statistics before Optimization

Fig 4: Total Ec/Io distribution map of the network before optimization

Fig 5: Total Ec/Io Distribution Histogram of the network before optimization


Ec/Io is the measurement mobiles used to gauge
strengths of the various nearby sectors they
encounter. Ec means the energy per chip of the pilot
of the observed sector while Io means the total power
currently being picked up by the mobile.
RX_Level Coverage and Statistics before Optimization
Fig 6 : RX_Level distribution map of the network before Optimization.
Rx_Level is a measure of the receive signal power (in
dBm) by mobile stations at different receiver
distances from the base station.
Figure 6 shows the RX_Level distribution for the
network. The RX_Level is good in many areas in
Uyo. However there are few areas where the
RX_Level is not very good. Areas 1-9 and Areas 11-
17 in figure 6 above are areas with bad RX power
level. The reason for the poor values for the RX Level
is due to distance from serving sector and
topographical terrain of the concerned areas.
Am. J. Sci. Ind. Res., 2011, 2(3): 346-351
The total Ec/Io of the cluster is generally good. Area
1 and 2 in the figure has been identified with lower
Ec/Io values. The Ec/Io can be improved by
correcting the azimuth of the surrounding sectors.
Figure 5 shows the statistics analysis, from the chart
we can see that the distribution is good and has
98.27% of good Ec/Io.
Areas 1-7 and Area 16 are the Clusters coverage
border Areas. Adjustment of the Azimuth and Down-
tilt of the Sectors serving these Areas would improve
the coverage. Area 14 is a Valley area with thick
vegetation. Sector A-LINE_2 is not On-Air at the time
of this test and is responsible for the poor coverage
of Area10. Areas 9 and 17 are due to distance from
serving sectors and thick vegetation areas. The RX
power level can be improved by adequately changing
azimuth and down-tilt of the surrounding sectors.
Swap sectors corrections were done for ITAM
JUNCTION_0 and ITAM JUNCTION_2, and ABAK
ROAD_0 and ABAK ROAD_2

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Fig 7: RX_Level Distribution Chart of the network before Optimization.

The chart in figure 7 above shows the distribution of Uyo needs improvement. The recommended
RX power and from the chart we see that the RX azimuths and down-tilts changes would result in
value above -95 dBm is 92.83%; and low RX value better coverage.
below -105dBm is 7.16%. The forward coverage of
TX_Level Coverage and Statistics before Optimization

Fig 8: TX_Level distribution map of the network before Optimization

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Figure 9 shows the TX_Level distribution for the reason is due to the low values of RX power which is
network at Uyo. The highlighted areas in the figure as a result of the topographical terrain of the area
are areas with high values of TX power. The main and the distance of the serving sectors.

Fig 9 : TX_Level Distribution Chart of the network before Optimization.

The chart in figure 10 below shows the distribution of Improved forward coverage would improve this
TX_Level for the network. It indicates that 5.97% of statistics.
the transmitted power is greater than 0dBm.
FFER Coverage Statistics before Optimization

Fig 10: FFER distribution map of the network before Optimization

Figures 10 and 11 shows the distribution and chart of FFER for the network at Uyo. The FFER is good and areas with
tolerable FFER value of 2% is 78.32%.

10

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Fig 11: FFER Distribution Chart of the network before Optimization.

Test result of short calls

The handoff successful ratio is 95.70% and this

would improve when the coverage at cell border area
improves after the recommendations are
implemented and Neighbor relations fine tuned.
Fig. 12: Test Results
RECOMMENDATIONS
The call setup success ratio of 99.66% is a normal
value; the call drop ratio of 0.34% is a good value. To obtain an improved network performance, the
following recommendations were made and
implemented

Network Parameter Adjustment Record

Azimuth Downtilt (Mechanical)

Sector ID BTS ID Before Now Before Now
University of Uyo_1 501 115 120 2 1
University of Uyo_2 501 220 240 2 1
Nwaniba_1 503 2 1
State Secretariat_1 506 2 1
State Secretariat_2 506 240 250
Babangida Avenue_1 508 80 120 2 1
Babangida Avenue_2 508 270 260 2 1
Itam Junction_0 509 0 10
Itam Junction_2 509 270 240
Teaching Hospital_1 510 110 120 2 1
Table 2: Network Parameter Adjustment Table.
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After implementation of the above recommendations on the network, the following results were obtained.

PRE-OPTIMISATION DRIVE TEST RESULT ANALYSIS

Total Ec/Io Coverage and Statistics after Optimization

Fig 13: Total Ec/Io distribution map after optimization

Comparing figures 4 and 13 above, it could be seen

that after optimization, the Ec/Io in the highlighted
areas in figure 2 has been improved.

Fig 14: Total Ec/Io Distribution Histogram after optimization

The chart in figure 14 shows the total Ec/Io after optimization.

optimization. The distribution after optimization
confirms that the value of good Ec/Io has improved
from 98.27% before optimization to 98.33% after
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RX_Level Coverage and Statistics after Optimization

Fig 15 : RX_Level distribution map after optimization

Figure 15 shows the RX_Level after optimization. better RX power level. Areas13, 14 and 15 are cells
Comparing figures 4 and 15, it can be seen from the boundaries. A new site will be needed to further
distribution that the RX_Level has been improved improve these areas.
and areas with low RX power in figure 16 now have

Fig 16: RX_Level Distribution Pie Chart after optimization

348

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From the chart in figure 16 we see that the RX value reduced from 7.16% to 1.78%. The forward coverage
above -95 dBm has improved from 98.73% to is now improved.
99.58%; and low RX value below -105dBm has
TX_Level Coverage and Statistics after Optimization

Fig 17: TX Level distribution map after optimization

Figure 17 shows the TX_Level distribution after
optimization. Following the necessary adjustment of
the antenna azimuth and downtilt, areas with bad TX
power level such as highlighted in figure 11 have
improved. The chart in figure 18 below shows the
distribution of TX_Level after optimization. From the
chart we can see that the very good TX power level is
now improved from 94.02% to 97.53%. Transmitting
power greater than 0dBm has reduced from 5.97%
before optimization to 2.45% after optimization.

Fig 18: TX Level Distribution Chart after optimization

349

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FER Coverage Statistics after Optimization

Fig 19: FFER distribution map after optimization

Figures 19 and 20 show the distribution and chart of Area 1 in figure 14 with bad FFER is now improved
the FFER after optimization. The FFER of the after optimization as seen in figure 19 above.
network has also been improved after optimization.

Fig 20: FFER Distribution Chart after optimization

The chart in figure 20 below shows the distribution of see that the very good TX power level is now
TX_Level after optimization. From the chart we can improved from 94.02% to 97.53%. Transmitting

350

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power greater than 0dBm has reduced from 5.97% ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

before optimization to 2.45% after optimization.
CONCLUSION:
This research shows a successful optimization
exercise which was carried out via drive tests, after a
drive route was agreed by both vendors.
All the necessary key parameter indices under
consideration were optimized successfully, such as:
The transmitting power which was greater than 0dBm
reduced from 5.97% before optimization to 2.45%
after optimization.
The receive level which was above 95dBm improved
from 98.73% to 99.58%, and low Rx value below
105dBm reduced from 7.16% to 1.78% after
optimization.
The authors wish to acknowledge Lagos State University
for financial support for this work.
REFERENCE
Rappaport, Theodore S. (2002) Wireless Communications,
Principles and Practice. Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Bairer PW, Bing T and Klein A (2000) TD-CDMA. In Third
Generation Mobile Communication Systems
Frenger PK, Orten P and Ottoson T (1999) Code-spread
CDMA with interference cancelation.
Schulze H (2001) The performance of multicarrier CDMA
for the correlated Rayleigh fading channel. (eds.
Prasad R, Mohr W and Konhauser W),
Gibson JD (ed.) (1999) The Mobile Communications
Handbook, 2nd edn.

The distribution after optimization, confirms that the

value of Ec/Io improved from 98.27% before
optimization to 98.33% after optimization.

However, after the optimization drive test through the

agreed drive route and implementations of the
recommendations were made, there was great
improvement of the coverage of the CDMA network
threshold.

351