Design of Mobile Cellular Coverage in Tunnel Environments

Ramón Mª Ruiz Tarrés*, Florentino Jiménez Muñoz**; Rafael Herradón Díez**,

José Mª Hernando Rábanos***.
*TELEFÓNICA MÓVILES ESPAÑA, S.A. E-mail: ruiz_r@tsm.es
**DIAC-E.U.I.T. de Telecomunicación(UPM)
Ctra de Valencia, Km. 7, 28031 MADRID. Tel:91 3367785, E-mail: fjimenez@diac.upm.es
***SSR-E.T.S.I.Telecomunicación(UPM)

ABSTRACT the necessary overlapping for making possible that all

When planning cellular coverage in special areas, as
tunnels or indoors, the continuity of connections in
progress in entrances and exits is a critical point. A
wider overlapping concept is introduced as a method to
include environment relevant elements, like existing
network or the mobile channel, necessary in order to
achieve a correct design. As practical example the
analysis in tunnels of a high-speed railway line is
presented, where a dedicated dual GSM/UMTS
coverage system is designed. Also a prediction model is
proposed and utilisation of radiating cable instead of
antennas is discussed
handover processes can be done. We will also see that
the necessary level it’s not fixed only by the cells signal
level involved in the handover and that it does not exist
a symmetry between both overlap directions.
II. HANDOVER TIMMING
We will suppose that in instant t1 the access takes place
to cell A. Several timers begins at this time that avoid
that the mobile station leaves the cell A during a defined
period of time, depending on the conditions of the radio
link.

I. INTRODUCTION
ll A
ce
to
ss

When a cell to cell handover should be done at the

ce
Ac

ll B
entrance or the exit, coverage overlapping between the
t1

ce
to
cells involved must be ensured in order the handover HO Temporizations

d
ize
...

on
rts
process is correctly achieved. This necessary

hr
po
(3-5s)

nc
re
ts

sy
or

in
overlapping is usually defined like a distance in both
ep

ll B

ile
tr

ob
ar

Ce

M
St

directions, in which the signal levels from de cell A and

t3

t4
t2

B are high enough to make possible the handover. (1-2s)

(1-5s)
?
time

Fig. 2. Time in HO process – Detection

B
A
A B
Fig. 1. Handover process
This overlap concept does not take into account all the
characteristics of the environment and the involved
cellular mobile system. This can lead to designs that,
once done, do not achieve the desired service quality
requirements. Modifying the installed systems is usually
very expensive.
As we will see, it’s much more reasonable defining
overlapping as the handover overlapping which means
Independently of these timers, in time t2 the mobile has
received enough information from the network to begin
to send information about neighbouring cells. In GSM
the neighbouring information is send to the BTS each
480 ms using the associated channel SACCH. In UMTS
this associated channel doesn't exist. The transmission
of neighbour measurements is carried out when they
occur certain "events" defined in specifications [1].
UMTS supports handover between different carriers and
systems that can be classified by the way of operation of
the system and for the execution mechanism [2].
According to the way of operation we can classify them
in the following way:
- Intra-mode Handover: Between two FDD or TDD
carriers with the same or different frequency.
- Inter-mode Handover: Between FDD and TDD
mode.
- Inter-system Handover: Between different systems
3G or 3G-2G.
Attending to the way of execution it can be classified as:
- Hard Handover: Between different frequency
carriers. The commutation to the new channel
means liberation of the old one. There is no
temporary overlapping among both connections.
- Soft Handover: The mobile station establishes
simultaneous connections through several stations.
For this reason the communication is not
interrupted during the transfer, contrary to the
previous case.
- Softer Handover: They are soft handovers between
sectors of the same base station. The difference
with soft handover is in the combination
mechanism used in the uplink connection.
usually between 1 and 5 seconds. However, it can be
longer, depending mainly of the terminal manufacturer
and the conditions of the radio link.
Also the UMTS mobile should be synchronised to the
neighbour before performing the handover. UMTS is an
asynchronous CDMA system, so the cell search
procedure o synchronisation procedure differs greatly
from the procedure in a synchronous one like IS-95. In
UMTS cells use different scrambling codes instead of
different code phase shifts, nowadays terminal
technology cannot search for 512 code of 10ms without
any prior knowledge [3].
UMTS cell synchronisation procedure has basically
three steps. Specification defines the process in a
general way [1], but there are no requirements as to
which steps to perform and when. The practical
implementation is open to the manufacturer.

In this document we refer to the intra-mode handover in
FDD between different sites, at the same frequency
(soft) or among different frequencies (hard). Soft
handover provides an additional gain in front of fast
fading, reducing the Eb/No necessary to assure the
desired quality.
Synchronisation properties scheme need to be taken into
account when setting network parameters. For handover
optimal performance, target cell search in connection
must be optimised. For example, correct planning of
scrambling codes can improve it.

In t3 the mobile detects cell B. Time between instant t3

ll B
and t2 is very variable depending on the following

ce
by
factors:

ed
rv
se
ile
ob
•
ll B

M
Cell B level and mobile channel conditions.
ce

t7
to

• Cells in service with same or better level that B.

d
ize
on

•
rts
hr

Candidate set of neighbouring cells in UMTS or

nc

po

n
sy

io
re

cis
gh

ACTIVE cell list in GSM.

ile

De
ou
ob

En

HO
M

• Multi Band Cells Reported parameter (MBCR) in

t4

t5

t6

dual mobiles GSM/DCS. (1-3s) ( 0.6 s GSM )

Mobile stations report information about neighbouring
cells. In GSM mobile reports include information on the
received level and the BSIC of up to 6 neighbouring
cells. As much as higher is the number of neighbours
more cells they will be excluded of the report. New
neighbours in service can retard the entrance in the
report of cell B and, consequently, a handover to a
tunnel or interior fails where it was perfectly adjusted
before. In the same way, the MBCR parameter
determines the number of neighbours reported by each
band in dual mobiles. Their modification affects at the
moment that our cell B enters in the reports and,
therefore, affects to the handover adjustment.
Once the terminal has detected cell B, it needs to obtain
the synchronisation with the cell.
?
time
Fig. 3. Time in HO process – Execution
At the moment network receives the first report of a
neighbouring cell (instant t4) it is already possible to try
to carry out a transfer toward it. However, the system
generally evaluates several reports to assure that the
handover is performed at the right moment. The
network operator determines the number of reports.
In t5, radio network controller has enough number of
reports to decide. Handover algorithms will determine
the moment when handover should be performed (t6).
Handover algorithms are also opened to the supplier.

In GSM, the mobile must read the channel SCH of the
neighbouring cell. Theoretically, due to the GSM
temporary scheme, a mobile terminal connected to a
TCH/FR channel needs between 0.6 and 2.28 seconds
(average value=1.38s) for synchronising to a neighbour
and send the first report to the system containing this
neighbour. In practice, tests carried out with several
mobiles and real traffic analysis shown that this time is
Once the handover decision has been taken, the system
and the mobile begin the process that will take the
mobile station to be served by cell B (t7). This process
takes about 0,6 seconds in GSM under normal quality
conditions.
Summarising, to evaluate the handover overlapping first
of all it is necessary to determine the geographical point
where wanted neighbouring cell B is detected as a
possible candidate. Starting from this time (t3) it is
possible to evaluate the necessary overlapping time
using equation (1) and (2).
∆ti = ti + 1 − ti
tho = ∑
3
6
i =3
∆ti
In GSM system their minimum value is:
tmho = ∑
3
6
i =3
∆ti = 5 + 1.44 + 0 + 0.6 = 7.04 s (3)
III. HANDOVER IN TUNNELS
We are going to examine the specific problem with
handover in tunnels. We will suppose a tunnel with only
one indoor cell (I) that assures the continuity of the calls
inside.
Células de entrada “E”
Célula interior “I”
Células de salida “S”
Fig.4. In HO (concentration effect) and Out HO
(expansion effect)
A. In Handover
The entry cell or E cells are the set of possible servers
before entering in the tunnel. It is usually the most
problematic handover for the following reasons:
• It is necessary to assure overlapping handover with
cell I for each one of the possible entrance cells.
• The mobile is in a multiple neighbouring cells
environment that will retard the entrance of cell I in
the reported list.
The real problem is that cell I enters in the neighbouring
report (instant t3) when cell E still has tmho3 seconds in
those the cell E radio link has enough level and quality
to assure the whole handover process.
B. Out Handover
The cell or exit cells S are the possible candidates to
receive the call from the indoor cell I. In this case, the
out handover benefits of the following:
• There is only one handover origin cell (cell I) and
several exit cells candidates. It is enough to assure
the overlapping time with anyone of them
(expansion effect).
• Before doing the handover, the only existing cell is
(1) the server cell (cell I). Therefore, the exit cell enters
in the neighbouring report when he is strong
(2)
enough to be detected.
The average level necessary for the exit cell to be
detected will be:
Lmint3 = S + AtV + AtC + Mg (4)
Where:
S: Mobile Sensibility
AtV: Vehicular loss
AtC: Body loss
Mg : Fading margins
C. Tunnel inside handover
In tunnel inside handover case, we can suppose that
there are only two cells involved (I1 and I2). The
minimum overlapping time will be tmho3 seconds since
I2 cell average level is better than Lmint3. As in the
previous case, cell I1 should maintain a better level than
Lmint3 during this whole time. Therefore, the existing
overlapping time is the time when the signal levels of
both cells are better than Lmint3.
IV. HIGH SPEED RAILWAY TUNNELS
A. Tunnel Propagation Model
Tunnels in high-speed railway lines are straight-line
tunnels or their curvatures have a very wide radius.
Their transversal section is large due to tunnels should
allow both circulation lines. In addition, a large section
decreases the pressure wave when trains enter in the
tunnel. The pressure wave effect is also the reason to
reduce the number and size of structures inside the
tunnel, as the on-fly power supply system based on
aerial wires.
In these environments, a coverage tunnel system based
on antennas show a guide-wave effect and no blocking
effect when the LOS area is left. Besides, the train
blocking losses is low because the train has a smaller
transversal section than the tunnel.
Figure 5 and 6 shows the average signal strength curves
and the model curves for systems working at 910MHz
and 2GHz in a typical high-speed railway tunnel,
obtained in a measurement campaign in a Spanish high-
speed railway line.

Fig. 5. Averaged received signal and model at 910 MHz
The average signal strength curve is the result of
averaging all the measures taken inside the tunnel,
changing the transmission antenna position and the
receiving paths. Near the antenna, the real antenna
diagram pattern causes the difference between the
average signal strength curve and the model curve
because the last uses the main features of the diagram
pattern, but not the complete diagram.
Fig. 6. Averaged received signal and model at 2 GHz
The model curve responds to:
• Line-Of- Sight (LOS) section
In this area the hybrid model [4] is used. It assumes two
regions in the LOS section.
l 0 + 20·log(d ) d < drup
l 0 + 20·log(drup ) + 10·n1·[log( d / drup )] drup < d < dLOS
Where lo is the free space loss at 1 m.
l 0 ( dB ) = −27,55 + 20·log( f ( MHz ))
In the nearest transmitter zone the model use the free-
space propagation formulas. If the distance is above the
called ‘breaking point’, the loss slope changes. In some
situations the breaking point could be the fresnel
breaking point. In a rectangular tunnel and transmission
and reception antennas are placed on the middle of the
tunnel, the distance up to the breaking point is:
 width 2 height 2 
d ≈ Minimum ,  (7)
 λ λ 
In practice, the breaking point can be fixed evaluating
the slope changes in the trial signal strength curves. This
method is appropriate for when they are no placed in the
middle of the tunnel.
• Non-Line-Of- Sight (NLOS) section
In the NLOS zone the blocking and slope change model
is used [5].
l 0 + 20·log(drup ) +
+ 10·n1·[log(dLOS / drup )]+ (8)
+ L1 + 10·n 2·log(d / dLOS ) d > dLOS
L1 is the blocking losses between the LOS zone and the
NLOS zone. As mentioned before, this blocking
attenuation can be fixed to zero in high-speed railway
tunnels.
The figure 7 shows the model parameters and the error
model curve.
Fig.7. Model parameters
B. Penetration loss. Power Budgets
An important issue planning railway coverage is the
high attenuation that its boxcars present to the inside
propagation. In the case of high-speed lines, in some
models the windows are notably small and sometimes
their glasses have been covered with metallic materials,
increasing still more the radio-electrical attenuation.
Telefónica Móviles España reports, about penetration
measurements in some train models, have studied the
effect of the incidence angle and the materials. Results
show that incidence angle less than 5° respect of the
railway line can bear losses up to 38dB for GSM and
(5)
30dB for UMTS. With normal incident angle (90°)
losses are less than 12dB for GSM and 9dB for UMTS.
It is important to highlight that using antennas, the
(6) incidence angle is very low in almost all the way and
near 0° in the cell coverage limits. However, in case of
using radiating cable we can consider that the incidence
angle is 90° so the penetration losses are minimum.
Another radiating cable advantage is the non-existing
Doppler effect. For all these reasons we should take into
account the radiating cable as a good alternative to
cover high-speed railway tunnels, even for high
frequencies as UMTS and in spite of the high cost of the
cable and their installation.
Figure 8 shows a compensating attenuation comparative
table for GSM and UMTS, using antennas or radiating
cable. The Rayleigh margin used for this environment is
4 dB [6].
Fig. 8. GSM and UMTS Power Budget in a tunnel
Figure 9 shows the maximum length that can be reached
for two types of Andrew’s radiating cable [7].
Fig. 9. Maximum length for GSM and UMTS
Figure 10 shows the predicted propagation attenuation
for GSM, using the proposed model, in a tunnel of
1510m, with two antennas in the tunnel ends. There is
not direct vision among both ends.
It can be observed that, with the proposed solution, only
an overlapping of approximately 400m is obtained. It
can seem enough. However, the handover overlapping
for this case, when a handover inside the tunnel must be
performed, it should be of about 685 m for a maximum
speed (350 Km/h).
A possible solution to get the handover overlapping can
be to modify the position of the antennas or to use
radiating cable instead of antennas.
Fig. 10. Attenuation in a high-speed railway tunnel
V. CONCLUSIONS
A wider coverage-overlapping concept has been
presented. The effect of existing cells, mobile channel
features, network parameters or cell synchronisation
procedures over the radio network performance and
how the handover overlapping concept allows include
these factor in the whole design has been shown. GSM
and UMTS handover timing keys are explained. The
necessary handover overlapping coverage in several
situations is analysed and calculated.
Also a model for high-speed tunnel propagation
prediction and utilisation of radiating cable instead of
antennas is evaluated. Finally, an example of
application of the concepts introduced in this paper is
shown.
REFERENCES
[1] 3GPP Technical Specification 25.304 and 25.922,
www.3gpp.org
[2] José Mº Hernando Rábanos, Cayetano Lluch
Mesquida, Comunicaciones Móviles de Tercera
Generación, Telefónica Móviles España S.A.,
2000, Tomo-I, Parte 2.
[3] Harri Holma and Antti Toskala, WCDMA for
UMTS, Ch. 6 Physical Layer, 2000.
[4] Y.P.Zhang, A Hybrid Model for Propagation Loss
Prediction in Tunnels, Proc-Millennium
Conference on Antennas and Propagation,
Switzerland, 9-14 April 2000.
[5] Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Grupo de
Radiocomunicaciones Móviles, "Caracterización
de instalaciones para comunicaciones móviles",
Oct-1999, Informe 3.
[6] Farrokh Abrishamkar, James Irvine, Comparison
of Current Solutions for the Provision of Voice
Services to Passengers on High Speed Trains,
IEEE - VTC 2000, pp. 2068-2075
[7] ANDREW Series RADIAX - Radiating Cable,
www.andrew.com