9955 ACCO 4.15.3: User Guide

9955 ACCO 4.15.
3
User Guide
4.15.3
3DF 01955 7185 PCZZA Edition 01
Status Change Note Short Title Originator
Edition 01
Alcatel-Lucent
All rights reserved. Passing on and copying of this document, use and communication of its contents not permitted withoud written authorization from Alcatel-Lucent
Table of contents
Contents
Table of Contents
Part I Software overview
1 2 3 4 5
System Requirements ..................................................................................................... 2 Workflow..................................................................................................... 2 Data Preparation ..................................................................................................... 5 Data Flow ..................................................................................................... 5 Shortcuts..................................................................................................... 8
Part II Data import/export

1 2 3 4 5 6
10
Create optimization environment ..................................................................................................... 10 Create measurement environment ..................................................................................................... 11 Measurement environment statistics ..................................................................................................... 15 Load optimization results ..................................................................................................... 17 Exporting data from Aircom Asset ..................................................................................................... 18 Importing data from Aircom Asset into 9955 ..................................................................................................... 21
Part III Optimization Settings

1
Optimization Project Specification ............................................................................................................................ Import previous optimization, templates ............................................................................................................................
25
25 28
Project ..................................................................................................... 25 settings
Network settings ..................................................................................................... 29

Networks and parameters ............................................................................................................................ ISI-Calc ............................................................................................................................ 29 32
Optimization Parameters ..................................................................................................... 33

Optimization Ranges ............................................................................................................................ Advanced Technology Activation ............................................................................................................................ Electrical Tilt Editor ............................................................................................................................ Antenna Editor ............................................................................................................................ Edit ............................................................................................................................ in Excel 33 42 44 46 47
Optimization Targets ..................................................................................................... 49

Target definitions ............................................................................................................................ Common target settings ............................................................................................................................ Optimization Targets 3G/4G ............................................................................................................................ Optimization Targets 2G ............................................................................................................................ Optimization Targets TD-SCDMA ............................................................................................................................ Traffic Weighting ............................................................................................................................ Captured Traffic and Traffic Sharing ............................................................................................................................ 49 50 53 62 65 67 69
Optimization Options and Constraints ..................................................................................................... 71

Optimization Options ............................................................................................................................ Implementation plan details ............................................................................................................................ 71 75
Optimization Run ..................................................................................................... 78

Optimization Run ............................................................................................................................ Optimization Mode Details ............................................................................................................................ Optimization Warnings ............................................................................................................................ 78 81 82
Optimization Progress and Results ..................................................................................................... 83
Contents
Optimization Progress ............................................................................................................................ View Report ............................................................................................................................
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83 85
Part IV Options Settings

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
90
Options ..................................................................................................... 90 - General Options ..................................................................................................... 90 - Network Defaults Options ..................................................................................................... 91 - Activation Defaults Options ..................................................................................................... 92 - Range Defaults Options ..................................................................................................... 94 - Target Defaults Options ..................................................................................................... 97 - Other Defaults Options - Maintenance ..................................................................................................... 101
Part V Multi System

1 2
104
Multi System Overview ..................................................................................................... 104 Parameter Synchronization ..................................................................................................... 106
Part VI Optimization Guidelines

1 2 3
109
Optimization Weight Examples ..................................................................................................... 109 Clutter dependent optimization weights ..................................................................................................... 112 Optimization with measurements ..................................................................................................... 120
Part VII Inspector

1 2 3 4 5
125
Overview ..................................................................................................... 125 Visualizations ..................................................................................................... 126 Implementation Plan ..................................................................................................... 129 User Interface ..................................................................................................... 131 Statistical Analysis ..................................................................................................... 139
Plot Analysis ............................................................................................................................ Parameter Analysis ............................................................................................................................ Optimization Objective Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 139 141 143
Settings and Hotkeys ..................................................................................................... 144
Part VIII Greenfield Deployment

1 2 3 4 5 6
148
Overview ..................................................................................................... 148 Greenfield modes ..................................................................................................... 149 Standard Mode ..................................................................................................... 153 Advanced Mode ..................................................................................................... 156 Deployment Strategies ..................................................................................................... 165 Additional information ..................................................................................................... 167
Part IX Incident Reports

1 2 3
174
Sending Incident Reports ..................................................................................................... 174 Manually Creating Incident Reports ..................................................................................................... 174 Managing Incident Reports ..................................................................................................... 175
Part X Cleanup
178
III
Contents Overview ..................................................................................................... 178
Part XI License Manager

1
181
Overview ..................................................................................................... 181
CHAPTER 1
Software overview
Software overview
Software overview
Using 9955 ACCO
Due to the integrated architecture of 9955 ACCO, the software provides Straightforward workflow Easy data preparation Simplified data flow
I.1
System Requirements
CPU Memory Intel Pentium with NetBurst microarchitecture Min. 1GB physical RAM
Operating System 9955 ACCO 32bit: Microsoft Windows XP Professional with SP3 9955 ACCO 64bit: Microsoft Windows Vista Business 64bit Interfaces 1 free USB 1.1 port if local dongles are used
I.2
Workflow
The 9955 ACCO workflow is shown below.
CHAPTER 1
Step 1 - Analysis
The first step towards optimization is the analysis of the radio network itself. The key questions are: What is the main problem? What are the key performance measures? Where do problems occur? Which sites/sectors/transmitters are active within the problem area?
Step 2 - Data preparation and Launch

Prior to the optimization in 9955 ACCO some data has to be prepared within 9955. This includes: Definition of the optimization area (focus zone). Define a group of sites to be optimized - if required. Optimization AreaThe optimization area defines the region where the optimization objective will be evaluated, e.g. where the received best pilot signal power should be above a certain level. The optimization area in 9955 is generated by drawing a focus zone. Select Geo > Zones > Focus zone > Draw to create the area of interest in 9955. This focus zone will then automatically be loaded as the optimization area into 9955 ACCO. Create 9955 ACCO optimization environment (Launch of 9955 ACCO)After data preparation, the 9955 ACCO optimization environment has to be created that automatically launches the optimization. Choose Tools > Create 9955 ACCO optimization environment. A dialog box will appear. For further information see also Create 9955 ACCO optimization environment.
Step 3 - Project and Parameter Settings

Optimization environment9955 ACCO automatically exports the 9955 ACCO optimization environment from the 9955 project that includes all relevant input data for the optimization. Before the individual parameter and optimization settings can be done, this optimization environment has to be loaded. Some additional project specifications have to be defined as well. For further details see Project Specifications. After loading the data from the optimization environment, all required parameter modifications can be set within 9955 ACCO. This includes the optimization parameters, the optimization ranges as well as the costs (and time) associated to each individual parameter modification. For further details see Optimization Ranges.
Step 4 - Optimization targets and options

Optimization targets The optimization objective is to maximize the sum of the optimization targets evaluated in the optimization area. Examples for the individual optimization targets in 9955 ACCO are: Coverage Quality (Difference between the 1st and the Nth best serving pilot signal) Interference aspects (Ec/Io), etc. For example, coverage optimization targets are defined by the received best pilot signal strength. Different quality targets are available, e.g. as the difference between the first and the second best received pilot signal strength. The optimization targets can be weighted individually to control their significance and influence on
Software overview
the total objective. Doing so, different key performance measures can be emphasized against others. The weights of the optimization targets can be set globally, i.e. constant value for the entire optimization area, or conditioned on clutter data, i.e. different weights for each clutter class. For further definitions see Optimization Targets. Optimization options The optimization options allow the user to set optimization constraints on both COSTS and TIME. In the optimization options the user can also enable the implementation plan. The implementation plan provides an ordered list of the modifications so that they can be implemented into real networks depending on the operator's focus. The implementation plan can sort the modifications by highest total gain first highest gain per cost first highest gain per time first They are used to weight the importance of the individual optimization targets based on the clutter file. For further details on these and other optimization options see Optimization Options.
Step 5 - Run optimization

9955 ACCO allows you to select between different optimization modes. The modes are Fast or Advanced and represent different levels of compromise between optimization speed and optimization depth. Furthermore, 9955 ACCO allows various grid (pathloss) resolutions for the optimization. This allows you to reduce the amount of required memory and to achieve an optimization result within a very short time. A coarse simulation resolution provides fast results, however, the best results and the highest accuracy can be achieved with the finest simulation resolution. For further details see Optimization Run.
Step 6 - Generate Results

While 9955 ACCO is running, a progress indicator shows the ongoing advance of the optimization process. The selected optimization targets and their progress are shown. After successful completion, an optimization report file and the optimized network configuration file are generated. For details see Optimization Progress.
Step 7 - Verify results

The optimized network configuration file can easily be imported into 9955 for verification. 1. In 9955 select Tools > Load 9955 ACCO optimization results 2. A dialog box will appear. Browse the directory for the 9955 ACCO optimized network file (. con) defined before 3. A name for a new 9955 project is suggested that is the same as for the .con file. 4. Click OK to create a new 9955 project file (.ATL) that includes the optimized network configurations or to import the optimized configuration into the existing 9955 project. 5. For a new 9955 project, the optimized 9955 file will be displayed 6. Re-run the analysis within 9955 and compare and verify the results with the original findings. For details see Load optimization results.
CHAPTER 1
Step 8 - Implementation
After verification, implement the optimized site configuration in the real network.
I.3
Data Preparation
The data preparation in 9955 for the optimization in 9955 ACCO is reduced to Definition of the optimization region (filter sites - if required) Optimization region The optimization process will modify the radio network parameters available for the optimization in order to maximize the optimization target within a certain area. This area is called the optimization region or optimization area. In 9955 ACCO this optimization area has to be defined by means of a FOCUS ZONE in 9955. How to define and save a focus area for the optimization in 9955? In order to define an optimization area in 9955 ACCO, you have to draw a focus zone within 9955. 1. In 9955 select Tools > Focus zone > Draw to draw a focus zone. 2. You can save the focus zone as 9955 geographic file (.agd) with Geo > Zones > Focus zone > Save as. 3. You can import a predefined, or previously saved focus zone with Geo > Zones > Focus zone > Import. 4. By saving the 9955 project with File > Save or File > Save as, the actual focus zone will automatically be stored in the 9955 project. Note 9955 ACCO automatically draws a computation zone around the optimization area (focus zone). This computation zone includes all sites that could have a potential influence on the performance inside the optimization area (focus zone). If nothing else defined (i.e. not filter is applied within 9955), all sites within this computation zone will be considered during the optimization. Furthermore, only these sites are considered for parameter modifications in 9955 ACCO.
Filter sites by a polygon

If nothing else defined, 9955 ACCO considers all sites within the computation zone (which is automatically drawn around the optimization area, i.e. focus zone) for the optimization. If not all sites are potential candidates, a limited number of sites can be filtered in 9955, e.g. by means of a polygon. How to filter sites inside a polygon in 9955? 1. In the Project Explorer, right-click on Sites and go to Filter inside a polygon. 2. With Draw you can then draw a polygon. 3. Only the sites within this polygon will then be considered in the calculations in 9955. 4. 9955 ACCO then only used the filtered sites.
I.4
Data Flow
The data flow between 9955 and 9955 ACCO is fully automated and consists of two steps: Data export from 9955 (before optimization) Data import into 9955 (after optimization)
Software overview
The 9955 ACCO data flow is shown below. The actual project data available in 9955 builds the basis for the optimization. This data is also the basis for the result data that goes back to 9955.
Data export from 9955 (before optimization)

Before starting an optimization in 9955 ACCO the required project data needs to be exported. This is done automatically from within 9955 by selecting Tools > Create 9955 ACCO optimization environment. The 9955 ACCO optimization environment includes all required data to optimize the network, such as: Antenna Patterns Clutter Data Elevation Data Information about the optimization area Pathloss data 9955 ACCO works with propagation models that generate unmasked predictions as well as with propagation models that generate masked predictions (e.g. ray-tracing models). In case of masked predictions, 9955 ACCO de-masks the pathloss values when reading them from the pathloss files to be able to apply the masking algorithm according to the one used in 9955. The parameter modifications should be limited to small ranges to not cause too large deviations between the predictions done in 9955 ACCO and in 9955. Please refer to Extended sector selection for information how to select only sectors with ray-tracing models. Network settings After generating the 9955 ACCO optimization environment, 9955 ACCO can be launched automatically with the new optimization environment. The name of the optimization environment consists of the name of the underlying 9955 project file with the suffix "_OptEnv(n).coe". The index "n" is automatically increased by 9955 ACCO in case that multiple optimization environments are created based on the same 9955 project file.
CHAPTER 1
Several optimizations can be performed for a single optimization environment. For example, different optimization objectives or different parameter settings can be used. Therefore, each individual optimization will result in an individual optimized network configuration. These 9955 ACCO optimized network configurations will automatically be stored in .con files. The name of the 9955 ACCO optimized network configuration file consists of the name of the underlying optimization environment file with the suffix "_OptResult(n).con". The index "n" is automatically increased by 9955 ACCO in case that multiple optimization results are created based on the same optimization environment file. In the same way as the optimized network configuration file an optimization report file will be generated in Microsoft Excel format. The name of the optimization report file consists of the name of the underlying optimization environment file with the suffix "_OptResult(n).xls".
Data import into 9955 (after optimization)

After the optimization in 9955 ACCO is finished, the results can easily be loaded into 9955 for verification This is done automatically from within 9955 by selecting Tools > Load 9955 ACCO optimization results. With the re-import of the optimized network configuration a NEW 9955 project file can be generated or the parameter modifications can be loaded into the original 9955 project file. By default a new 9955 file will be generated. The name of this 9955 project will be the same as the 9955 ACCO optimized network configuration file, but with the extension .ATL. Due to the smooth import of the optimized network configuration into 9955, there is no additional effort required to re-import and verify the optimized radio network configuration. All the data handling is done automatically.
Software overview
I.5
Shortcuts
Like many other applications working under Windows environment, 9955 ACCO provides a set of shortcuts in order to ensure an easy handling and provide a quick way for using the different functionalities. The different available shortcuts are listed below: Ctrl keys Ctrl+A: Select all records in tables (from the active table) Ctrl+C: Copy the selected data Ctrl+D: Fill down selected data in tables (in the active table) Ctrl+U: Fill up selected data in tables (in the active table) Ctrl+V: Paste the content of the clipboard Ctrl+X: Cut the selected data Function keys F1: Open the online help for the specific tab sheet or relevant subject F2: Edit the actual item F9: Toggle warning window Alternate keys When a letter is underlined in a command, press Alt+letter to run it. Use the Alt button to make underlines active/inactive.
CHAPTER 2
Data import/export
Data import/export
II
II.1
Data import/export
Create optimization environment
Target file
Before 9955 ACCO is launched, the 9955 ACCO optimization environment (.coe) has to be created. It consists of a .coe-file together with a folder of the same name. This folder contains project information required for the optimization process. The proposed file name is the file name of the actual 9955 project file with the suffix "_OptEnv(n).coe". The index "n" is automatically incremented by 9955 ACCO in case that the file name already exists, i.e. if the same 9955 project file is used to generate multiple optimization environments. The 9955 ACCO optimization environment includes all required data to optimize the network. This includes: Antenna Pattern Geographic data like clutter and terrain data Information about the optimization area Pathloss data Network configuration Pathloss data will be re-computed, because 9955 uses masked predictions while 9955 ACCO needs unmasked predictions (except for propagation models which natively calculate masked predictions, like ray-tracing models). For some certain ray-tracing models, the pathloss calculation will not be re-done, and existing pathloss files will be copied from the 9955 pathloss data folder. Thus, 9955 ACCO will check if these pathloss files are valid and will show an error otherwise. The current list of such models is Pace4G. Clutter data is exported at least as large as the focus zone bounding box plus a buffer of 3 pixels. Height data is exported at least as large as the focus zone bounding box plus a buffer of 3 pixels. If transmitters use a propagation model that cannot generate unmasked predictions (e.g. raytracing models), the height data must cover the bounding box around all such transmitters plus a buffer of 2 pixels. Click the button to select a folder and specify a file name for the 9955 ACCO optimization environment file. The default folder is the same as for the current 9955 project folder. After the export has finished, a dialog is presented which is named Export Successful. Clicking on Details >> shows log information of the export. You can also save it as an html report by clicking Save Report. Cf. also Software Overview - Data Flow. Caution The 9955 transmitter table contains a column Additional Electrical Downtilt. These values are ignored by 9955 ACCO. Note that analyses will most likely differ between 9955 ACCO and 9955 if Additional Electrical Downtilts are not zero. Therefore make sure that all Additional Electrical Downtilts are zero in the transmitter table. The better way to consider e-tilts is to select the appropriate antenna pattern matching the desired electrical tilt.
Previous environment
Use the button to select an optimization environment which has been exported previously. 9955 ACCO will use pathloss files from this environment instead of re-calculating them again, if such a pathloss file contains valid predictions for the corresponding transmitter in the current project. The decision about the validity of an existing pathloss file is made transmitter by transmitter.
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CHAPTER 2
Move filesUse this option to move the pathloss files from the other environment to the currently created environment instead of copying them. This is faster, but it destroys the other environment.
Options
ResolutionThe resolution for the optimization has to be set. 9955 ACCO will use this resolution to generate the propagation files in 9955 for all sites considered for the optimization. For the default value the most frequently used setting (for the active transmitters in the 9955 project) is used. Export extended calculationsIf extended pathloss matrices are defined in the project, then this checkbox can be enabled. In this case, define the resolution with which the extended matrices shall be calculated in the adjacent input field. The resolution of the extended matrix should be coarser than the resolution of the main matrix. 9955 ACCO will use both matrices while in areas where they overlap, the main matrix overwrites the values of the extended matrix. Frequency bandMultiple frequency bands may be defined in the actual 9955 project (network settings, frequency band). With this list box the frequency bands that should be considered during the optimization process can be selected for the generation of the optimization environment. CarrierIn case of multiple carriers available (transmitter settings) in the 9955 project, the optimization environment can be restricted to a subset of the carriers. Allow optimization of sites outside the focus zoneEnable this check box if you want to allow parameter modifications for the sites inside and outside the focus zone; otherwise only sites inside the focus zone can be modified. In either case, all sites with pathloss files reaching into the focus zone are considered for the network analysis. Support site activationThis option is only available if there are inactive transmitters in the 9955 project. If this is the case, enable this check box to include the inactive transmitters in the export for a site activation optimization. These inactive sites/transmitters will be the candidates. Active columnOptionally, instead of the default Active column, a custom column can be used to define the activation status of transmitters. Define the value which represents "active" in the subsequent field. 3rd Party Antenna CorrectionIf you use a propagation model offering a feature to modify the used antenna pattern prior to the propagation prediction, then you can select here to apply the same modification to all antenna patterns before exporting them to the optimization environment. Select from the drop-down list of supported propagation models or "None" to disable the modification. The currently list of supported models is Volcano. Note that either no pattern is modified or all of them with the selected algorithm regardless of the used propagation model of the transmitters. Use this feature only if the antenna correction is also turned on for the propagation model to maintain the calibration between 9955 ACCO and 9955. Launch GUITo launch 9955 ACCO automatically after the generation of the optimization environment, this check box has to be enabled.
II.2
Create measurement environment

Introduction
9955 ACCO measurement environments are similar to optimization environments with two major differences: Measurement environments are based on measurements while optimization environments are based on predictions Measurement environments can only be used in combination with an optimization environment.
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Data import/export
Measurement environments are used in 9955 ACCO by assigning them to individual target functions. This allows maximum flexibility to combine different target functions for measurements and predictions with individual weights. Follow these steps to use measurements in 9955 ACCO: Create a measurement environment for the desired measurement. Create an optimization environment for the project and launch 9955 ACCO. Load the project and specify optimization ranges. Create target functions and assign weights. Assign measurement environments to the required target functions. Target functions with measurement environments assigned are based on measurements the remaining functions are based on the predictions in the optimization environment. Example Create two target functions to consider both coverage based on predictions and coverage based on measurements, for example: Coverage-P Coverage-M weight 1.0 weight 0.5 (no measurement environment) D:\Data\DemoMeasurementEnvironment.cme
Please refer to section Optimization with measurements for details on measurements, this section describes the 9955 add-in to create measurement environments.
Launching the add-in

Use the icon or the menu item Create measurement environment in the 9955 tools menu to create a measurement environment. The 9955 ACCO measurement environment includes all required data to handle measurements in combination with an optimization environment. This includes: network settings site, transmitter and cell configuration measurements for individual transmitters and cells Caution The 9955 project used to create the measurement environment has to reflect the network configuration during the measurement as close as possible. Usually the same project should be used to create the measurement environment and the optimization environment and this project should contain the network parameters used during the measurement (azimuths, tilts, antenna patterns, pilot powers, loads...). If this is not possible, for example if parameters have been modified since the measurement was done and these parameter changes have to be considered in the optimization, two 9955 projects have to be used. one 9955 project with the network configuration during the measurement to create the measurement environment one 9955 project with the current network configuration to create the optimization environment The add-in allows to specify various parameters as shown below:
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CHAPTER 2
File name
Target fileThe 9955 ACCO measurement environment (.cme) will contain the measurement data for 9955 ACCO. The proposed file name is the file name of the actual 9955 project file with the suffix "_MeasEnv(n).cme". The index "n" is automatically incremented by 9955 ACCO in case that the file name already exists, i.e. if the same 9955 project file is used to generate multiple measurement environments. Browse (...)click this button to choose a folder and specify a file name for the 9955 ACCO optimization environment file. The default folder is the same as for the current 9955 project folder.
Options
MeasurementSelect one of the measurements contained in the actual 9955 project to be exported to the measurement environment. Note Measurements have to be imported into the 9955 folder Test Mobile Data before creating a measurement environment. CarrierSelect the carrier to be used if the project contains more than one carrier. The powers and loads for this carrier will be used to create the measurement environment. Mapping of measurement columnsThe columns containing the received pilot power and the received Ec/Io have to be specified in these dropdown boxes. To ensure optimium quality of the optimization environment, as many columns as possible should be specified, it is however possible to assign the value -- None -- if columns are not existing or the values are not reliable. Please refer to Mapping of measurement columns for details. Auto mapUse this button to automatically map the columns in the measurement to the individual transmitter numbers. The function searches for columns containing keywords such as
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Data import/export
RSCP, Ec, Ec/Io or Ec/No and tries to associate them to the transmitters. Note If the order of the columns does not match the order of Transmitter 1..N or the naming does not match the naming convention mentioned above, the automatic mapping might fail or assign wrong columns. Caution Always verify the mapping after using the automatic mapping function. Invalid column mapping will lead to a poor quality of the measurement environment and potentially bad optimization results. UnmapUse this button to remove all column mappings. ResolutionSpecifies the target resolution for the measurement environment. Measurements located on the same pixel for the specified resolution will be combined to one measurement to reduce fading. Maximum distanceLimits the distance of measurement samples to transmitters similar to the calculation radius for pathloss predictions. All samples beyond this limit are ignored. Smaller distances improve processing speed and reduce memory requirements but relevant interferers might be dropped. Using a distance larger than the maximum distance in the measurement data does not negatively impact the optimization as the resulting pathloss files are automatically reduced to the required size. The only effect is that memory consumption and processing time during the creation of the measurement environment will increase. Thus, you should use a distance large enough to include all required interferers. The default value of 5000m should be sufficient for most UMTS and CDMA2000 projects. Scanner total gainPlease specify the total gain of the scanner used for the measurements. The total gain is removed from the measured pilot powers as the optimization allows to select different terminals. Receiver noise figurePlease specify the scanner's noise figure as used for the measurements. This parameter is important if Ec/Io measurements are used. The noise figure is removed from measured Ec/Io values as the optimization allows to select different terminals.
Mapping of measurement columns

The mapping of measurement columns is important for the generation of an measurement environment. When importing scanner data into 9955 a mapping of different scrambling codes to transmitters is automatically done if the columns for the SC identifier are specified correctly. 9955 than automatically generates columns named Transmitter 1..N containing the mapped transmitter name and the scrambling code. 9955 however does not automatically map the measurement values to the transmitters as these are not used internally. It is up to the user to select the appropriate columns when for example displaying values or generating CW measurements. To processes the measurements in 9955 ACCO it is important to specify the columns containing the measured pilot powers and Ec/io for the individual transmitters. Example 1 If the measurement contains the columns X, Y, Transmitter 1, Transmitter 2, Transmitter 3, RSCP_1, RSCP_2, RSCP_3, EcIo_1, EcIo_2 and EcIo_3 the mapping would be Transmitter 1 Transmitter 2 Transmitter 3 RSCP_1 RSCP_2 RSCP_3 EcIo_1 EcIo_2 EcIo_3
If the measured Ec/Io values are not used and the third pilot power is not reliable, the mapping should be Transmitter 1 Transmitter 2 Transmitter 3 RSCP_1 RSCP_2 -- None --- None --- None --- None --
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CHAPTER 2
Example 2 If the measurement contains the columns X, Y, Transmitter 1, Transmitter 2, Transmitter 3, RSCP[0], RSCP[1], RSCP[2], EcIo[0], EcIo[1] and EcIo[2] the mapping would be Transmitter 1 Transmitter 2 Transmitter 3 RSCP[0] RSCP[1] RSCP[2] EcIo[0] EcIo[1] EcIo[2]
Please note the offset between the transmitter's number and the number in the measurement columns in this case. Caution It is a key required that the mapping of the columns is correct. Especially if the measurement columns use a different naming scheme than 1..N it is important to assign those measurement columns containing the measurement values for the transmitters referenced in the Transmitter 1..N columns.
Statistics
After the measurement environment has been created, a summary of important quality indicators is presented to check the quality of the data. The meaning of these values is described in section Measurement environment statistics.
II.3
Measurement environment statistics

After the measurement environment has been created, a summary of important quality indicators is presented to check the quality of the data.
Overview on quality indicators

The quality indicators are presented in a series of bar graphs as shown below:
All quality indicators should be green and as large as possible. A rule of thumb is Green (2/3 length .. full length) indicates that the quality is sufficient (2/3 length) or excellent (full length) Yellow (1/3 length .. 2/3 length) informs you of data that could lead to poor ACP results and requires caution Orange or red (zero length .. 1/3 length) highlight critical deviations in the data.
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Data import/export
Description of individual quality indicators

This section describes the meaning of the various quality indicators and possible reasons and solutions for poor quality values. Fraction of usable measurements A measurement is not usable if: It is located outside a 5 km bounding rectangle of the focus zone It does not contain a single usable server and measured power value. The figure is the ratio of usable measurement locations to all measurements. Ideally it should be close to 100%. If the value is below 95% you should check if the scanner data contains a large number of samples without valid scrambling codes or if the maximum distance is too small. Fraction of usable samples A measurement sample (i.e. a single detected server per measurement) is not usable if: No server is detected by the scanner No or an unknown scrambling code detected The scrambling code format is invalid It exceeds the maximum distance Etc. The figure is the ratio of usable samples to all samples in the bounding rectangle. Ideally it should be close to 100%. If the value is below 95% you should check if the scanner data contains a large number of samples without valid scrambling codes or if the maximum distance is too small. Average Samples per Transmitter Counts the number of samples assigned to a transmitter averaged over all transmitters. 100 is a good average, 1000 is an excellent average. A low number below 50 indicates sparse distribution of the measurements, the optimization result will probably not be reliable in this case. Average Servers per Measurement This is number of detected servers averaged over all measurement samples. The value should be at least 2, recommended is 2.5, values of 3 and more are excellent. A value of 1, as the contrary example, indicates only a single server per sample. With this figure, Ec/Io optimization is highly unlikely to be reliable, because inter-cell interference cannot be considered. Average Servers per Pixel This is the average number of detected servers per pixel for the specified resolution. The value will be higher than the average servers per measurement, because the averaging of samples to pixels increases the number of servers. It should be assessed in combination with the average servers per measurement parameter. A value of 1 or close to 1 describes a data set where only a single server was measured in all or most cases. As described above, Ec/Io reproduction if probably not reliable in this case. Values of 2.5 should be considered good, 4 is excellent. Quality of geographical distribution Quantifies the regularity of the data samples over the area. A value less than 50% indicates sparse measurements or a high concentration on small areas. Optimization results produced under these conditions will tend to be unreliable. Quality of DL loads Analysis of the total transmit power settings of the 9955 project. The algorithm basically compares the best (highest) measured Ec/Io values per transmitter with the ratio of pilot power/ total transmit power for the same transmitter. The percentage of transmitters with a deviation of less than 1dB gives the quality indicator. A value of 100% means that all transmitter's Ec/Io can be reproduced. A value less than 80% most likely indicates that there are inaccurate total transmit power settings in the 9955 project. In this circumstance you should only perform Ec/Io planning if you are sure that all power settings in the project are correct. RSCP Reproduction Confidence
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CHAPTER 2
Compares the reproduced pilot power of each pixel, based on the average pathloss calculated from the Ec measurement values, with the average of all measured pilot powers on that pixel. This quality indicator is the percentage of pixels with a deviation of less than 1dB. The value should always be greater than 90%. Lower values can indicate extremely high fading, problems in the geo referencing or in the processing algorithm, or other critical inconsistencies. The data should not be used in that case. Ec/Io Reproduction Confidence Compares the reproduced Ec/Io of each pixel, based on the average pathloss calculated from the Ec measurement values and the transmitter total powers, with the average of all Ec/Io measurements on that pixel. This quality indicator is the percentage of pixels with a deviation of less than 1dB. It can be close to 0.0 in the case where measurement data only contains a single server per sample, or the total transmit powers in the 9955 project are wrong. In such cases avoid planning with Ec/Io targets. A reproduction confidence of better than 80% can be considered good.
II.4
Load optimization results

9955 ACCO Optimized Network file
After the optimization is finished in 9955 ACCO, an optimized network file will be generated automatically. This optimized network configuration file includes all relevant parameter modifications in the network. To verify the results within 9955, this optimized network configuration has to be loaded back into 9955. The name of the 9955 ACCO optimized network file consists of the name of the underlaying 9955 file, the corresponding 9955 ACCO optimization environment suffix and the suffix "_OptResult (n).con". The number in bracket is automatically incremented when multiple 9955 ACCO optimized network configurations are generated from the same optimization environment file, i.e. the same source file. Browse (...)click this button to choose a folder and specify a file name for the 9955 ACCO optimized network file. The default folder is the same as for the current 9955 project folder.
Implementation Plan Settings

Perform all modificationsSelect this option if you want to import the optimized network configuration that includes all modifications done in the optimization process. Perform modifications up to implementation plan stepSelect this option if you want to import the optimized network configuration with modifications up to a particular step in the implementation plan. This allows you to verify the optimization results for intermediate steps in the optimization process, e.g. for lower budget limitations than originally expected. View implementation planUse this button to view the implementation plan of the selected 9955 ACCO Optimized Network file. Use this to directly view the gradual performance of the network optimization and to import the network state of highest interest.
Import Settings
Import into current 9955 projectSelect this option if you want to import the optimized network configurations into the same 9955 project file, i.e. the same 9955 project as the original one. Import and save 9955 project asSelect this option if you want to import the optimized network configurations into a NEW 9955 project file. The default file name will be the same as the 9955 ACCO optimized network file, but with the extension .ATL. With this option a NEW 9955 file will be generated that includes the optimized network configuration. All other parameter settings are the same as in the original 9955 project. This option is used by default. Example 9955 source file: Test.ATL
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Data import/export
9955 ACCO optimization environment: Test_OptEnv(1).coe 9955 ACCO optimized network file: Test_OptEnv(1)_OptResult(1).con 9955 ACCO optimization report file: Test_OptEnv(1)_OptResult(1).XLS Re-imported new (default) 9955 file: Test_OptEnv(1)_OptResult(1).ATL See also Software Overview - Data Flow. Browse (...)click this button to choose a folder and specify a file name for the optimized 9955 project file. The default folder is the same as for the current 9955 Column containing the Active flagAn alternative column can be selected here which will be used to store the activation status of transmitters instead of using the default Active column. Define the value which represents "active" in the subsequent field.
II.5
Exporting data from Aircom Asset

9955 ACCO provides a tool to export projects from Aircom Asset into a special optimization environment. This optimization environment can be imported into 9955 for further processing. Please note that Asset optimization environments cannot be loaded into 9955 ACCO directly.
Basic information
Asset optimization environments contain a large set of data in the Aircom Asset project, such as: Site names and locations Sector settings (including pattern, azimuth, tilt, height) Cell settings (including carrier number and powers) Antenna patterns (including gain and directional diagram) Clutter data Height data Propagation predictions Asset optimization environments cannot be used in 9955 ACCO directly as some major information is missing, such as the focus zone. They can, however, be imported into 9955 with an import wizard. A special propagation model allows to use the Asset propagation data in 9955 for best possible calibration.
Generating an Optimization Environments

To create an optimization environment from an Aircom Asset project, the tool 9955 Data Conversion for Aircom Asset has to be launched. The tool is a standalone executable and can be started from the start menu or with the desktop icon. If the tool is not yet configured, please select File > Configuration to enter the configuration parameters. Please refer to the next section for configuration details. When the settings are correct, use the button Load Projects to load a list of projects as shown below:
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Aircom projectsDisplays a list of project Ids and project names. Use the button Load Projects to load or refresh the project list. Click or select a list entry to select the project Id. Load projectsUse this button to load the project list from the database. In case of an error, the database is not available or the configuration is not correct. Please refer to the next section for configuration details. Aircom project IdUse this control to manually specify the project Id. The value entered here overrides the selection in the project list. Aircom user IdEnter the user Id in this control. The user Id is required to locate the prediction files on the file system. Prediction files start with <project-id>.<user-id>.... Please ensure that all required prediction files are available for the specified user Id. Target file nameUse this input field to specify the output file name. Alternatively the ellipsis button (...) can be used to browse for a file name. Target resolutionThis control specifies the target resolution for clutter and height data. The resolution of prediction files will not be converted, the best matching resolution is used instead. Create environmentUse this button to start the creation of the optimization environment. The two memo fields will display the progress information and errors or warnings. If there are warnings, please read them carefully to see if and how the actions taken by the conversion process influence the simulation results.
Configuration Parameters
Several configuration parameters are required to access the Aircom Asset database and the file system. The next screenshot shows the configuration dialog:
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Data import/export
Standard configuration Usually 9955 ACCO is installed on a machine with Aircom Asset installed, too. In this case the configuration is relatively simple: enter the database name as specified in the Oracle network manager enter the required user name and password use the default connection string (Provider=OraOLEDB.Oracle.1...) hit the button DB test to check the database connection, the test should pass successfully mapping of directories is not required Alternative configuration If Asset is not installed on the same machine or a different database driver than the Oracle client is used, some advanced configuration parameters may be required. To manually configure the database connection: Use the ellipsis button (...) to open the Database connection wizard. Select the database driver you want to use (probably one of the Oracle drivers) and click Next Enter the required database parameters (database name, user name and password), dont forget to check the option Allow saving password, otherwise the wizard wont return the full connection string including the password parameters. Hit the button Test to test the database connection. Dont proceed until the test is successful, the database connection wont work otherwise. Hit the button OK when youre done. The connection string is automatically inserted into the combo box and the default parameters (data source name, user name and password) are replaced with placeholders allowing you to enter these parameters in the corresponding configuration controls. If placeholders are not automatically recognized, you can edit the configuration string manually and use the placeholders %userid%, %password% and %datasource%. Please note that this is only required to use the corresponding input controls. Usually directory mapping will not be required. If, however, the prediction path that is stored in the database (for example c:\map_data\demo\predictions) is not available from the current machine, it can be re-mapped to a different location. To change the path to \\server01 \map_data\demo\predictions, the following settings should be made: check the option Enable mapping... Enter the common part of the source path as stored in the database into database directory,
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for the previous example this is c:\map_data Enter the common part of the destination path in local directory, for the previous example this is \\server01\map_data Detailed description of configuration parameters Asset database nameUse this field to specify the Asset/Oracle database name as defined in the Oracle network manager. The value will be used for the placeholder %datasource% in the connection string. Asset user nameUse this field to specify the Asset/Oracle user name. The value will be used for the placeholder %userid% in the connection string. Asset passwordUse this field to specify the Asset/Oracle password. The value will be used for the placeholder %password% in the connection string. remember user name and passwordCheck this option to store user name and password. If the option is unchecked, the tool will prompt for user name and password once every time it is started. Database connection stringUse this combo box to select or edit the ADO database connection string. You should either select the pre-defined value for Provider=OraOLEDB. Oracle.1 or use the ellipsis button (...) to open the database connection wizard. DB testClick this button to run a short database connection test. The test only checks if the database can be opened, but this is a prerequisite for proper operation. Enable mapping...Use this checkbox to enable the directory mapping for prediction, clutter and height files. Database directoryEnter the common part of the directories as stored in the database. All directories starting with this value will be changed to the value in local directory. Local directoryEnter the common part of the directories as accessible from the local machine. Example: If database directory is 'c:\map_data\' and local directory is '\\server01 \asset_map_data\', the directory 'c:\map_data\demo\' will be mapped to '\\server01 \asset_map_data\demo\'. The same applies to all sub-directories.
II.6
Importing data from Aircom Asset into 9955

This section describes how to import Aircom Asset projects into 9955.
Basic information
Use the 9955 add-in Import Optimization Environment to import project data from an Asset optimization environment. The wizard will import the following data: Clutter data Height data Antenna patterns Site locations Transmitters and settings (azimuth, tilt, pattern...) Cells and settings (carrier, powers) A special propagation model is delivered with 9955 ACCO that allows to use the unmasked predictions that are stored in the optimization environment. If this clone propagation model is used, the following data will be used: Pathloss predictions (including pathloss and inclination angle) Note It is only possible to import Asset optimization environments with the add-in. Atoll or other optimization environments cannot be imported.
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Data import/export
Importing Asset optimization environments

There are some prerequisites if the propagation predictions from the environment shall be used. If you do not use the clone propagation model and use 9955 propagation models instead, the additional column is not required. Adding a column EnvPropFileName to table Transmitters Please follow these steps to create a new column in the table Transmitters: Right click on Transmitters in the 9955 data tab and select Properties. Select the tab sheet Table in window Transmitter properties. Click Add to add a table field. Enter column name EnvPropFileName, type text, size 512 and hit Ok to create the column. Click Ok to finish the process. Note It is only possible to use the pathloss predictions from the environment, if the column EnvPropFileName is existing and large enough to hold the propagation file names as contained in the environment. Creating frequency bands and carriers The import add-in does not create new frequency bands or carriers. If you require different or other bands or carriers, please create the required settings before launching the add-in. Importing an Asset optimization environment Use the add-In Import Optimization Environment to import an Asset optimization environment.
Follow these steps to inport the data: Enter the environment file name or use the ellipsis button (...) to browse for the .coe file. Click the button Load to analyze the project and load frequency bands and carriers. The add-in checks the project and and the environment. If the current project is UMTS, only UMTS carriers can be imported. If the current project is GSM, only GSM networks can be imported. Map the environment's frequency bands or carriers to the current project's bands or carriers.
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Please note that the add-in does not create new bands or carriers, in this case please cancel and manually create the required bands and carriers. Use the checkbox Import/overwrite clutter and height data to import clutter and heights from the optimization environment. Please note that existing clutter data and color schemes will be overwritten. Use the checkbox Import sector and cell data to import sectors and cells. If the option is not checked, only site locations will be imported. The checkbox Apply custom propagation model is only available if the column EnvPropFileName exists. If the option is checked, the clone propagation model will be associated to the sectors using the propagation predictions in the environment. Otherwise the default propagation model is associated to the sectors. Click OK to run the import. Additional settings Various additional settings have to be adjusted manually. Please set the terminal, service, usability parameters and create prediction studies depending on your requirements.
The Clone Propagation Model

A special propagation model is delivered with 9955 ACCO that allows to use the unmasked pathloss predictions as contained in the optimization environment. The propagation model does not require or offer special parameters, it directly uses the unmasked prediction files and applies antenna masking. Please note some restrictions: As the existing pathloss files are used, it is not possible to extend the propagation range over the existing range. If the calculation resolution is finer than the pathloss files, the data will be interpolated. Each transmitter has to have the proper propagation file name referenced in the column EnvPropFileName. Do not move or delete the optimization environment, otherwise propagation calculation will not be possible.
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Optimization Settings
CHAPTER 3
III
III.1
III.1.1
Project settings
Optimization Project Specification
Use this tab to view and modify 9955 ACCO project information and settings.
Source files
Optimization environmentthis field displays the name of the 9955 ACCO optimization environment that was automatically suggested after creating this 9955 ACCO optimization environment in 9955. The name includes the 9955 project name with the suffix "_OptEnv(n).coe ". The number in bracket is automatically incremented when multiple optimization environment files are generated from the same 9955 project file. The 9955 ACCO optimization environment includes all required data to optimize the network. This includes: Antenna Pattern Clutter Data Elevation Data Information about the optimization area Pathloss data Network settings Browse (...)click this button to choose a folder and specify a file name for the optimization environment file. The default folder for the optimization environment file is the same as for the current 9955 project file. Source 9955 project fileafter the 9955 ACCO optimization environment file is loaded, this field displays the name of the underlying .ATL file for this optimization environment for information. Traffic map (optional)in order to apply weighting of the optimization targets based on traffic density maps, i.e. to focus system coverage and performance on areas with higher traffic density, a traffic map can be loaded. See also Weighting on Traffic Density Maps. A traffic map can be exported from the actual 9955 project. To do so, right click on the traffic folder in the Geo data directory in 9955. Select the "Export cumulated traffic" to export the traffic map for the consideration in the optimization process. (Note: this feature does not work without problems prior to build 1311 of 9955, in all builds you should export either the entire project area or rectangular computation zones, otherwise the resulting traffic map file may contain uninitialized pixels). The traffic map is also needed to consider the captured traffic per cell during the optimization process. For details please see the Captured Traffic Description. Alternative clutter (optional)9955 ACCO allows the consideration of an alternative clutter file that can be used to focus on different requirements. For example, this allows the user to define different areas or combine clutter and population density maps to focus maps that can be used for the parameter optimization. Another example for the usage of the alternative clutter file is the Greenfield Deployment functionality for vector data in 9955 ACCO. For further details please see the Greenfield Deployment Settings.
Source files for second optimization environment (optional)

A second optimization environment is only required in case of multi system network planning and optimization. An overview and more details are given in Multi System Optimization. Optimization environmentthis field displays the name of the 9955 ACCO optimization
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environment that can be used for the multi system joint optimization of different radio networks. The second optimization environment is required to jointly improve the performance of different radio network technologies that either share common technology, e.g. shared antennas, or, which have common goals such as the inter-system handover areas between the different radio networks. This optimization environment includes the same network data as the optimization environment in the first case, but for a different radio network. For example, the first optimization environment may include the 3G UMTS radio network data, while the second optimization environment may include the network configuration of a GSM network. Both, the UMTS and the GSM network might be connected via shared multi band antennas. For more details on the 9955 ACCO multi system joint optimization, please see section of Multi System Optimization. Browse (...)click this button to choose a folder and specify a file name for the optimization environment file. The default folder for the optimization environment file is the same as for the current 9955 project file. [Source 9955 project file]after the 9955 ACCO optimization environment file is loaded, this field displays the name of the underlying .ATL file for this optimization environment for information. Traffic map (optional)in order to apply weighting of the optimization targets based on traffic density maps, i.e. to provide system coverage and performance there where the traffic is, a traffic map can be loaded. See also Weighting on Traffic Density Maps. A traffic map can be exported from the actual 9955 project. To do so, right click on the traffic folder in the Geo data directory in 9955. Select the "Export cumulated traffic" to export the traffic map for the consideration in the optimization process. (Note: this feature does not work without problems prior to build 1311 of 9955) The traffic map is also needed to consider the captured traffic per cell during the optimization process. For details please see the Captured Traffic Description. Alternative clutter (optional)9955 ACCO allows the consideration of an alternative clutter file that can be used to focus on different requirements. For example, this allows the user to define different areas or combine clutter and population density maps to focus maps that can be used for the parameter optimization. Another example for the usage of the alternative clutter file is the Greenfield deployment functionality for vector data in 9955 ACCO. For further details please see the Greenfield Deployment Settings.
Source files for parameter synchronization

Automatically create multiband parameter synchronizations for aligned antennasenable this checkbox to automatically create synchronizations of the antenna azimuth, the mechanical antenna tilt and the physical antenna pattern of two co-located sectors. The synchronization is done if the antennas are co-located and the mechanical tilt, the azimuth, and the height coincide (with small tolerances for rounding errors). In order to save these parameter synchronization settings, in the 9955 ACCO tool bar select: File -> create parameter synchronization template. This function creates a template (.ParamSynch file) by first re-creating automatically synchronized sectors and then writing these synchronizations to the template file for further manual modifications or reuse in other projects. Parameter synchronization file (optional)use this file to include synchronizations between different network parameters and settings when optimizing networks that use shared infrastructure between different radio technologies, e.g. multi band shared antennas. Details on how to generate such a parameter synchronization file are described in the Multi System Optimization.
Optimization Scope
Start from initial network configurationselect this option start the optimization from the initial network configuration exported from 9955.
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Start from pre-optimized network configurationselect this option start the optimization from an already optimized network configuration in 9955 ACCO. .con file (optional)specify the output file from a previous optimization that contains the preoptimized parameter values.
Output Files
Optimized configuration filethis box displays the name of the optimized network configuration file to save modified radio parameter settings after optimization. The suggested name for the 9955 ACCO optimized configuration file is the name of the optimization environment extended with the suffix OptResult(n).con. The number in parenthesis is automatically incremented when multiple optimization result files are found. Example Optimization environment file: UrbanSites_OptEnv(1).coe Optimized configuration file: UrbanSites_OptEnv(1)_OptResult(1).con If another optimization is done with the same data input, i.e. the same optimization environment, then the suggested name would be UrbanSites_OptEnv(1)_OptResult(2).con. The optimized network configuration file contains the modified radio parameter settings. Browse (...)click this button to choose a folder and specify a file name for the optimized network configuration file. The default folder for the optimized network configuration file is the same as the optimization environment file folder. Optimization report filethis box displays the name for the optimization report file. The optimization report file is stored as a Microsoft Excel (*.xls) workbook. The suggested name for the optimization report file is the name of the optimization environment file extended with the suffix _OptResult(n).xls. The number in bracket is automatically incremented when multiple optimized network configuration files are generated from the same optimization environment file. Example Optimization environment file: UrbanSites_OptEnv(1).coe Optimized configuration file: UrbanSites_OptEnv(1)_OptResult(1).con Optimization report file: UrbanSites_OptEnv(1)_OptResult(1).xls If another optimization is done with the same data input, i.e. the same optimization environment, then the suggested name would be UrbanSites_OptEnv(1)_OptResult(2).xls. The optimization report file stores all relevant information regarding the optimization process, which includes the following: Optimization settings Optimization ranges Results overview Roll-out report Implementation plan Note If the optimization is terminated by the STOP button in the Progress tab, NO implementation plan is generated. The implementation plan can only be computed if the optimization is completed successfully. Otherwise an intermediate state would be the result that does not satisfy the requirements of the implementation plan. Browse (...)click this button to choose a folder and specify a file name for the optimization report file. The default folder for the optimization report file is the same as the optimization environment file folder.
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III.1.2
Import previous optimization, templates

This functionality allows to import parameter and optimization settings from previously conducted optimization projects, if this project was saved into a project file.
Save optimization settings

You can save the settings of a currently open optimization project with File Savechoose this command to save the current 9955 ACCO project, or to save it under a different file name with File Save Aschoose this command to save the 9955 ACCO project in a new file.
Within such a project file the settings of the following tabs of the dialog box are recorded: Project specification Optimization ranges Optimization targets Optimization options All other parameters, such as settings for the RUN tab are stored globally, i.e. the settings of the last optimization will be used.
Import from previous optimization

By selecting the File Import settings menu you can load the parameter settings from a previously saved optimization project. While ALL parameters will be stored in the same optimization project file, i.e. parameter settings as well as optimization targets, you can load them individually with this import functionality. Optimization project filethis box displays the name of the optimization project file of which the settings should be used for the current project. Browse (...)click this button to locate and choose the optimization project file. Settings on "Optimization ranges" sheetenable this checkbox to apply the settings from the optimization project file to the optimization ranges sheet of the current project. Settings on "Optimization target" sheetenable this checkbox to apply the settings from the optimization project file to the optimization target sheet of the current project. Settings on "Optimization options" sheetenable this checkbox to apply the settings from the optimization project file to the optimization options sheet of the current project. Settings on "Run" sheetenable this checkbox to apply the settings from the optimization project file to the run sheet of the current project. Example Given that you save the optimization project for certain networks at a given time, which includes both parameter settings as well as optimization requirements, targets and associated weights. In case that you do another optimization for the same network, but with different optimization parameters, you can directly use the optimization targets - ONLY the optimization targets - of the previous optimization by selecting the check box Settings on "Optimization target" sheet and pressing the OK button. Only the settings in the "Optimization targets" sheet will then be reloaded. The same applies if you want to keep the optimization parameters, but define different optimization targets. The Settings on "Optimization ranges" sheet need to be enabled. Only the optimization ranges (and parameter settings and costs/time) will be imported, nothing else. Of course, all of the settings or any combination of them can be imported jointly. This allows you to load the individual settings from previously saved optimization project. It also allows you to load the optimization ranges from a "project_A" and the optimization targets from a previously saved "project_B" into your current optimization project.
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By clicking the Import from previous optimization button you can load the parameter settings from a previously saved optimization project. While ALL parameters will be stored in the same optimization project file, i.e. parameter settings as well as optimization targets, you can load them individually with this import functionality. Note The settings from previously stored optimization projects do not even have to be from the same project. This means that you can load optimization targets from any previously saved optimization project. The same applies to parameters settings, however, the same sites and sectors (recognized by their ID) have to be available in the project files in order to load parameter settings.
III.2
III.2.1
Network settings
Networks and parameters
Use this tab to view and modify the networks involved in the optimization task.
Networks
The list of networks shows the network layers that are present in the actual project. Select a network to view or edit its properties. Networks are considered separately, and hence listed separately, if they differ by at least one of the following properties: Technology, e.g. LTE, UMTS, GSM, CDMA2000 1x, CDMA2000 EVDO, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX, etc. Frequency bands, e.g. GSM900, GSM1800, UMTS2100, etc. Carriers, e.g. CDMA/UMTS carriers 1 or 2, LTE carriers, etc.
Parameters and properties

Nameuse this field to view and modify the name of the actual network selected in the networks list. The name of the network can me modified in 9955 ACCO but this does not change the name in the 9955 project or data base. Frequencyuse this field to view the frequency band for the selected network. The value is for informational purpose only. Technologythis field provides information about the actual radio access technology as defined in the radio network planning tool data base. Carrierthis field provides information about the actual carrier number for the particular network as defined in the data base. Inter-system interfererselect a network layer which introduces interference to the currently selected network layer. Note that a network layer can only interfere with one other network layer, a network layer can only be interfered from one other network layer, and a network layer affected from inter-system interference cannot interfere with any other network layer. Inter-system interference factorset the attenuation of the power transmitted by the interfering network layer to the power interfering with the victim network layer. This factor is in dB.If, e.g., a 200KHz GSM channel entirely falls into a 3.84MHz UMTS carrier, set the factor to -12.8dB (0.2/3.84=5.2%, which is equal to -12.8dB). ISI-CalcThe button starts a tool to easily calculate the inter-system interference factor with a graphical user interface. This tool is called ISI-Calc. Use clutter indoor losscheck to consider additional clutter losses defined in 9955 in all predictions.
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Traffic map settings and traffic limits

Use this section to select a traffic map for weighting of optimization targets, to consider the traffic captured by the footprint of cells in the network and to edit the traffic limits of the cells. For details see also the description in Captured Traffic. Traffic mapuse this field to select a traffic map for the weighting of the optimization targets based on a traffic density map. The traffic density map has to be scaled in units/km. The supported file format is band interleaved per line (.bil or .cbil). See also Weighting on Traffic Density Maps. The <default> traffic map is the traffic map defined in the project settings. Note This field is grayed out in case that no default traffic density map is defined in the project settings. This ensures that at least one traffic density map is available for all networks, and therefore to avoid mistakes. Note Traffic maps used for captured traffic analysis or for density based capacity targets need to be scaled in units/km to provide useful results. See below how traffic maps can be re-scaled using the Scaling factor. Scaling factoruse this value to scale the entire traffic map. The scaling factor can for example be used to run studies with increased traffic demand (e.g. enter 1.25 for 25% more traffic) or to re-scale the traffic map from unit/pixel to unit/km (enter 1000000/resolution). Clutter based scaling factoron top of the global scaling factor described above the traffic map can also be scaled clutter based. Press the button to open the input dialog where you can define a scaling factor for each clutter class. The default value is 1. Each pixel of the clutter map will be multiplied by the factor according to the clutter class of that pixel and the global scaling factor. The list of clutter scaling factors can be saved to and read from files. Include captured traffic in reportuse this checkbox to compute the captured traffic during the optimization and present these numbers in the optimization report and in Inspector, but without taking the limits of the maximum traffic per sector into account in the optimization run. The captured traffic values are then listed for each sector in the optimization report. This checkbox can only be enabled if the "apply captured traffic limit" checkbox is DISABLED for all optimization targets. Edit traffic limitsclick this button to view and edit the maximum traffic settings for the individual sectors. These settings include the sensitivity that is required to capture the traffic. This sensitivity is the minimum power that has to be exceeded by the received down-link pilot signal. This global parameter can be edited in the field Requirement for best server. If no minimum signal level is entered, 9955 ACCO automatically considers a value of -200dBm. Enter the maximum traffic limits for every individual sector in the sector list. In addition to the sector limits, site (base station) limits can be defined as well in the Site traffic column. Site limits are per network limits, i.e. the sum of the captured traffic of each sector of a site in a certain network layer is compared against the site limits. Both sector limits and site limits are optional. You can define either of them, none, or both. If both are defined, the more stringent limit will apply for the sectors of the site. Note In order to consider the limitations correctly, the limits have to be entered in the same unit as the traffic density map. For example, if the traffic density map is given in Erlangs/km, a maximum traffic limit of "40" means a maximum traffic of 40 Erlangs that can be handled by this sector. Traffic sharingenable this checkbox if the selected network shall share traffic with other networks. In this case, all networks which will share the traffic, will use the same traffic map as a basis; it will be the traffic map of the first network (with the lowest rank). Traffic sharing rankUse the button to open a dialog where the networks, which shall share traffic, can be ordered. The first (lowest rank) network is shown on the bottom of the dialog.
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It will be the network which uses the original traffic map for the captured traffic analysis. The second network will use the traffic remaining from the first network rather than the traffic given by the traffic map, etc. Note that this analysis only makes sense if you define target functions that use Apply captured traffic limit (cf. Common target settings). Therefore, at least one target function in the highest ranked network must use Apply captured traffic limit, otherwise the traffic sharing analysis is deactivated. Refer to Captured Traffic for further details.
3G Cell load
For 3G technologies and beyond, the down-link cell loads (DL total power) for interference analysis can be used as given in the 9955 project, or specified as a fixed percentage of the max. PA power. . For details about targets refer to Optimization Targets 3G. Use imported cell loadsselect this radio button to use the DL loads from the 9955 project (i.e. from the optimization environment). The setting is applied to all cells of the selected network. Use custom cell loadsselect this radio button to use constant cell loads for all cells of the selected network. Define the used cell load in the input field in % of the maximum PA power of each cell.
Technology conversion
This control allows the conversion of the network layer to a different technology and is only available if a license for the target technology is available. Use project conversion to compare different radio access technologies or if your planning tool does not provide support for the technology. In this case, a project can be created using a conventional technology (e.g. UMTS) and converted to LTE for analysis in 9955 ACCO and Inspector. After the conversion to LTE, use the input field Res. blocks to define the number of resource blocks your network uses in the frequency domain. An LTE resource block is a sequence of consecutive sub-carriers with a total bandwidth of 180kHz. Usually the number of used resource blocks is 0.9 * Bc / 180kHz, where Bc is the carrier bandwidth in Hz. Note Technology conversion is supported for GSM, UMTS, and CDMA2000-1x.
OFDM settings
Use this section to select the bandwidth and the cyclic prefix (CP) length (guard interval) for ODFM based technologies like WiMAX or LTE. Bandwidthenter the bandwidth in MHz. The systems use constant sub-carrier spacing, thus the FFT size is deduced from the bandwidth. If possible, the bandwidth will be read from the project settings of 9955. However, it can be modified here. Res. blocks (LTE only)enter the number of resource blocks that are used by the network. The number of resource blocks is calculated from the bandwidth of the network. Cyclic prefix or Guard periodselect the correct OFDM guard period length. This guard interval will be used for all transmitters.
LTE parameters
This section provides additional parameters for LTE. Common channel overheadenter the fraction of resource units in % overhead channels occupy. This has an effect on a density based capacity analysis. If possible, the correct value will be read from the 9955 project. Multi user scheduling/Frequency diversity gainuse this function to specify clutter dependent multi user scheduling gains and frequency diversity gains in dB. These gains are applied for C/ (I+N) and capacity targets. Functions to save and load the clutter based values are available as
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well as clipboard functionality.
III.2.2
ISI-Calc
ISI-Calc ("Inter-System Interference Calculator") is a tool to calculate the interference suppression between two networks given a filter curve and the frequency bands.
The filter curve defines the spectrum of the interfering power, that is the distribution of the transmitted power over the frequency. Upon start, ISI-calc always displays the standard filter curve. The filter curve is defined by vertices, their frequency/signal values are displayed in the table. Adding pointsDefine a frequency in kHz and a signal level in dB (usually negative) using the fields "Frequency" and "Signal". Use the "Add Point" button to add this vertex to the frequency polygon of the filter curve. The added point will be shown in the graph immediately, its x/y-values will be displayed in the table. Deleting pointsSelect one or more rows in the table and use the "Delete selected points" button to remove vertices from the frequency polygon. Symmetric filterSelect the "Symmetric" check box if your filter curve shall be symmetric in the frequency domain. The point with the smallest frequency (can even be negative) will be used to mirror the curve from right to left. Loading and saving filter curvesUse the load and save curves from files and store the currently defined curve to a file. buttons to load filter
Calculation of the interference suppression

Define a start and a stop frequency of the frequency block of the victim network using the according input fields. ISI-Calc will immediately show the fraction of the total transmitted interfering power which falls into the defined frequency block of the victim network. Both the linear value in % and the logarithmic value in dB are displayed. The power fraction is calculated using the areas under the curve, that is by integrating the filter curve after transformation from the logarithmic to the linear signal domain. OKwill assign the attenuation factor in dB to the intersystem interference factor in the 9955 ACCO user interface and exit ISI-Calc.
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Cancelwill exit ISI-Calc without adopting the intersystem interference suppression in the user interface.
III.3
III.3.1
Optimization Parameters
Optimization Ranges
Use this tab to view and manipulate the parameter settings for the optimization process. This tab includes three main sections: Sector List Activation Parameters Modification Parameters
Sector List
The sector list displays and describes the sectors considered in the optimization process. List of Sectors to Optimizechoose from this list one or more sectors to view and modify sector specific parameter ranges for the optimization process. Donorsectors marked with [D] indicate that this sector represents a donor cell. Repeatersectors marked with [R] indicate that this sector represents a repeater cell. Splittersectors marked with [S] indicate splitters. Splitters are supported in the same way as in 9955.
Each repeater belongs to a donor cell. Each donor cell has at least one repeater. The connection of each donor and repeater cell is shown in the Attributes field. Repeaters for CDMA networks typically have a constant gain, while repeaters for GSM/iDEN networks typically have a constant output power. Consequently, the power levels at the repeater can not be optimized. The following fields provide additional information about the individual cells of the sector list. Cellthis field shows the name of the selected sector or cell. If multiple cells are selected in the sector list, this field shows the number of selected cells. Networkthis field shows the name and type of the network of the selected cell. Technologythis field displays the technology of the selected cell. Attributesthis field shows different attributes of individual cells. For example, in case that repeaters are used in the network, the attributes show the corresponding donor and repeater cells. Note The radio access technology of each sector is indicated by different numbers. For multi system, multi band projects, e.g. GSM900, GSM1800 and UMTS this is for example for the different sectors. The number itself do not say which technology the particular sector used, but
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it highlights that the sectors marked with the same indicator belong to the same technology group.
Sector selection
The button Select > contains a number of standard selections and an extended selection mechanism allowing to select sectors fulfilling specified criteria.
AllSelect all sectors available for optimization. By activation statusallows to select active or candidate sectors By networkallows to select sectors of one network By azimuthallows to select sectors in +/- 60 range for various directions By typeallows to select sectors by their donor/repeater status Extendedopens the dialog window for extended selection (see next section for details) Invertinverts the current selection
Extended sector selection

The extended sector selection can be invoked with the entries Extended in the sector selection menu. If the top level entry is used, the dialog is opened with default settings (or with last used settings), if one of the entries in the sub-menus is used, the corresponding parameter is preselected.
Network selectionIt is possible to restrict the selection operation to one or several networks or to use all networks in the project. ParameterAllows to select the parameter to apply rules to. Absolute/RelativeUse these radio buttons to specify absolute or relative selection Min/MaxEnter the absolute selection range with these controls, the rule applied is (min <= sector_value < max). Please note that the upper limit is not included to allow distinct azimuth selections.
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Value/DeltaEnter the relative selection range with these controls, the rule applied is (valuedelta <= sector_value < value+delta). Please note that the upper limit is not included to allow distinct azimuth selections. Invert selectionAllows to invert the specified criteria including the network selection. Inversion is executed before applying the search mode. Search modeThree different search modes are available: Search in all cells: the algorithm is applied to all cells and the current selection is replaced. Search in selected cells: the algorithm is applied to the selected cells only, cells not fulfilling the criteria are removed from the selection. Add to selected cells: the algorithm is applied to the non-selected cells, cells meeting the criteria are added to the selection. Non-numeric parameter values can be selected in a list window. You can select
If the 9955 project includes transmitter grouping levels as shown below, these can be used for extended selection, too. First select the grouping level, then the appropriate value.
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Activation
Use this tab to view and manipulate the parameter settings for the site (cell) activation process during the optimization. The site (cell) activation feature allows you to optimize Network roll-outbased on a number of potential site (cell) locations, 9955 ACCO automatically selects and configures the sites (cell) required to fulfill the optimization targets in the best way for the network roll-out. The potential candidates are defined by inactive sites (cell) in the 9955 project. Network extensionbased on a predefined set of potential site (cell) locations, 9955 ACCO automatically selects and configures the sites (cell) required to fulfill the optimization targets in the best way for the network extension. The potential candidates are defined by inactive sites (cell) in the 9955 project. Allow activationthis check box is visible if the current status of the transmitter (cell) is INACTIVE. This means that this transmitter has to be inactive in 9955 before creating an optimization environment. Active transmitters are not considered during the activation process. If the transmitter is inactive, enable this check box to allow the activation of this transmitter during the optimization. Current Statusthis field, right to the "allow activation" checkbox, displays the current status of an individual sector. It can be ACTIVE or INACTIVE. If all sectors of the list are selected, this field shows the number of active and inactive sectors.
Availability restriction
The availability restriction allows you to optimize your network that includes sites not yet available. Examples for such scenarios are: Availability of site permissions Site construction to be finished Equipment not yet available Site access permissions Availability of advanced RF technologies, e.g. tower mounted boosters etc. It could also be that additional sites are planned for a future network extension phase in a few years time. The availability restriction helps to optimize the radio network including sites that will be available in future, as well as future technologies.
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Note To learn more about the availability restrictions and the impact on the implementation plan please see Implementation plan details. You can also find there some examples and how to use. Site is not available beforethis check box is visible if the current status of the transmitter (cell) is INACTIVE and the check box Allow activation is enabled. This means that availability restrictions can only apply to inactive transmitters considered in the optimization process. Enable this check box to consider the availability of this transmitter during the optimization. Date of availabilityuse this drop down menu to select the date of availability in for this transmitter. The format for the date is given in ISO international standard date notation YYYYMM-DD. Note During the optimization the individual sites will not be activated just because they are available. Sites are only activated if they provide a sufficient benefit to the overall network performance. The availability of a site hence has a major impact on the implementation plan, i.e. when can this site be implemented to the network. Caution All parameters marked with [*] indicate that this parameter is SITE specific rather than sector specific. This means that changing such a parameter on a per sector basis will automatically change this parameter at the other sectors (of the same site) to the same value! If you edit these parameters in Excel (see also Edit in Excel) you can define different values for the individual sectors. However, when re-importing them, the parameters of all sectors will be adjusted to the value of the first sector at that specific site (if the values are different).
Activation resources
Use this section to define sector specific costs associated to the activation of an inactive site or cell. Default values for the costs and time parameters are defined in the Range Defaults tab of the Options dialog box. Default values are applied to parameters when the Load network data button is clicked on the Project Specification tab. The currency for the cost data is defined in the General tab of the Options dialog box. As default value the currency defined in the Regional and Language Options in the Windows Control Panel is used. Coststype in these boxes the expected expense of site and/or cell activation Timetype in these boxes the associated amount of time required to implement site or cell activation. Note The costs and time requirements are split into two categories. Site Costs and Time consider the costs and time required to prepare the site for the activation of a new transmitter. They do not include the costs (and time) to install a new sector. Cell Costs and Time consider the costs and time to install (activate) a new cell on a specific site. The Total Costs (and Time) are the sum of the Site Costs (Time) and the individual Cell Costs (Time). Caution All parameters marked with [*] indicate that this parameter is SITE specific rather than sector specific. This means that changing such a parameter on a per sector basis will automatically change this parameter at the other sectors (of the same site) to the same value! If you edit these parameters in Excel (see also Edit in Excel) you can define different values for the individual sectors. However, when re-importing them, the parameters of all sectors will be adjusted to the value of the first sector at that specific site (if the values are different). Example If the physical mast already exists, e.g. because it is used for an existing GSM network, the Site Costs (and Time) are the costs and time required to upgrade the existing site to install (activate) a new cell/sector. The Cell Costs (and Time) consider the costs for the deployment of a new sector (cell), i.e. it
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includes costs like the RF equipment, installation, etc. The TOTAL costs assigned to the activation (deployment) of a new site with 3 sectors are hence: 1 x Site Costs + Costs Cell 1 + Costs Cell 2 + Costs Cell 3. If the site already exists, e.g. one or more cells are already active at this site, only the Cell Costs will be considered; no additional costs for the site activation apply. Apply additional modification resourcesenable this check box if the site (cell) activation and the parameter modification costs (implementation time) are adding up to the total costs/time.
Parameter Modification
Use this section to define sector specific parameter ranges for the optimization process. Default values for the parameters to optimize are defined in the Range Defaults tab of the Options dialog box. Default values are applied to parameters when the Load network data button is clicked in the Project Specification tab. Optimize Parameterenable the check box beside an optimization parameter to enable optimization of the parameter. Clear a check box to disable optimization of an individual parameter. Current Valuethese fields display the current value of an individual optimization parameter. These values can be displayed even during the optimization. Range Specificationchoose from these lists the type of values specified for the Optimization Range of an individual optimization parameter. The available types are as follows: Relativevalues relative to the current setting Absoluteabsolute value range Note For absolute values the antenna azimuth 0 means north. With this, negative values can also be used, since the optimization requires a range of possible angles. An absolute range of minimum=-60 to maximum=60 is the range from 60 east to 60 west of the north. The maximum range for absolute azimuth settings is [-360...360]. All other values can be expressed within this range. Optimization Rangetype in the Min box the minimum value for the optimization range of an individual optimization parameter. Type the maximum value for the optimization range in the Max box. The parameters to be optimized include:
Mechanical Antenna Tilt

Use this checkbox to allow modifications of the mechanical antenna tilt during the optimization process. Only the mechanical antenna tilt is considered in here. The electrical antenna tilt is considered in conjunction with the antenna pattern (for the individual electrical tilts). See below for details.
Pilot and Common Channel Power

Enable this checkbox to allow modifications of the pilot power during the optimization process. The common power levels associated to the pilot power are changed accordingly so that the same ratio is maintained after the optimization process.
Antenna Azimuth
Enable this checkbox to allow modifications of the antenna azimuth during the optimization process. The antenna azimuth can be modified in a sector-per-sector specific manner. Sometimes the azimuth of a single sector can not be modified, e.g. TriSector antennas (3 sector antennas within
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a single radome). Therefore, with 9955 ACCO you can either allow azimuth modifications per sector, or you can force the optimization algorithm to rotate the entire site.
Rotate Entire Siteenable this checkbox to rotate the entire site. The tightest limitation of all sector setting on that site will be used for the limitation of the site rotation. For example: Sector 1: +/- 10; Sector 2: +/-15; Sector 3: +/-20. Enabling the rotate entire site check box on Sector 3 will still lead to a maximum rotation of the entire site of +/-10. Caution All parameters marked with [*] indicate that this parameter is SITE specific rather than sector specific. This means that changing such a parameter on a per sector basis will automatically change this parameter at the other sectors (of the same site) to the same value! If you edit these parameters in Excel (see also Edit in Excel) you can define different values for the individual sectors. However, when re-importing them, the parameters of all sectors will be adjusted to the value of the first sector at that specific site (if the values are different). Caution If the pathloss prediction of a sector was done with a propagation model that provides masked pathloss values (e.g. ray-tracing models), then the azimuth range should be limited to +-5 relative to the current value at maximum, mechanical tilt changes should be limited to +-2, and power changes can be done without further limitation. Any other parameter modification should be avoided (like pattern swaps). Warnings will be presented if these limits are violated. Use the extended selection functionality to select sectors distinguished by the propagation model.
Antenna Pattern and Electrical Antenna Tilt

Current antenna patternthis field displays the currently used antenna pattern. There are two possibilities to allow different antenna patterns in the optimization process. It includes: Pattern exchange - Electrical tilt (different electrical tilts are represented by different antenna pattern) Pattern exchange - Antenna type (different antenna types are represented by different antenna pattern). Both methods can be done separately or combined. This means that both the electrical and mechanical antenna tilts can be changed for a given antenna, and the physical antenna can be exchanged. The physical antennas can have multiple electrical tilt pattern, which are considered as well when the physical antenna is exchanged. Electrical tilt variants of current patternenable this checkbox to allow modifications of the electrical tilts for the current antenna pattern. The available electrical tilt pattern can be edited by clicking the "Electrical tilt pattern grouping" button.
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Custom pattern listuse this checkbox to allow modifications of the actual antenna pattern. Next to the checkbox 9955 ACCO displays the number of selected antenna pattern that are allowed for exchange during optimization. All antenna patterns in a 9955 project can be used. The list can be edited by using the Antenna Selection Editor. Editclick this button to use the Antenna Selection Editor for further definition of the antenna parameters used in the optimization. Note If both the electrical tilt variants of the current pattern AND the custom pattern list are enabled, 9955 ACCO will also consider both. To illustrate that we give some examples. Electrical tilt variant limitif this checkbox is enabled, only patterns whose electrical tilts fall in the range given by the min and max fields next to the checkbox will be used for exchange. This range can be absolute or relative to the current value according to the selected option. Example 1 Only electrical tilt variants: Consider that only the Electrical tilt variants of current pattern are enabled. This means that during the optimization process only the electrical tilt changes are considered, but not the change of the antenna type. Furthermore, the electrical tilt variants can be reduced to a set of tilt variants. For example, if you want to allow a limited range of electrical tilts in the first roll-out (and keep the remaining electrical tilts for later adjustments during the network life cycle). This can be done by grouping only the limited number of electrical tilt pattern to the current antenna type by using the Electrical Tilt Grouping Editor. Example 2 Only custom pattern list: We now consider that only the Custom pattern list is enabled. This means that during the optimization process only those pattern are considered that are included in the list. The selected antenna pattern are displayed in the associated list. This list can be edited by using the Antenna Selection Editor. The definition of the grouping of the individual antenna pattern as electrical tilt variants of the same antenna type, i.e. which pattern belong to the same antenna, happens in the Electrical Tilt Grouping Editor. Whatever pattern are then selected for the custom pattern list, the algorithms automatically check if these pattern are electrical tilt variants of the current antenna pattern (based on the grouping in the Electrical Tilt Grouping Editor). Thus it can be ensured that a change in the electrical tilt will not result in higher costs associated to the exchange of a physical antenna type. Example 3 Electrical tilt variants and custom pattern list: We now consider that both the Electrical tilt variants of current pattern and the Custom pattern list are enabled. This means that the best available antenna pattern will be found during the optimization process. Of course, all resource constraints will be considered as well.
Advanced technology activation

9955 ACCO allows the activation of advanced technologies, which change the behaviour of the link budget in both the uplink and the downlink, during the optimization process. In order to verify the behaviour of these technologies, 9955 ACCO uses the properties of TMAs (tower mounted amplifiers) as specified in 9955. Details are described in the advanced technology activation section. Current TMAthis field displays the currently used TMA. Allow TMA modificationenable this checkbox to allow the modification and selection of the selected TMAs for the selected sector. Editpress this button to edit the selection of the TMA candidates for the selected sector. See also advanced technology activation.
Modification resources
Use this section to define sector specific costs associated to the implementation of the parameter
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modifications. Default values for the costs and time parameters are defined in the Range Defaults tab of the Options dialog box. Default values are applied to parameters when the Load network data button is clicked on the Project Specification tab. The currency for the cost data is defined in the General tab of the Options dialog box. As default value the currency defined in the Regional and Language Options in the Windows Control Panel is used. The costs associated to parameter modifications of a sector are split into Site Access costs, which include costs to access the site, e.g. the use of a crane, permission etc., and the actual costs of the parameter modifications, i.e. for the actual change of an RF parameter. Site Access Requiredenable this check box for a parameter when it is necessary to visit the site to implement the associated parameter modification. Changing the azimuth of an antenna may require a person to visit the site. Other parameters, such as power modifications, can be done remotely from the operation and maintenance center. Coststype in these boxes the expected expense of implementing a parameter modification. Timetype in these boxes the associated amount of time required to implement a parameter modification. Note Site access costs accrue only once per site, regardless of the number of sectors that are being changed. Site access costs could be different for the individual sectors if the sectors are not colocated. Therefore, the value you enter to 9955 ACCO should be the highest access costs per site for the optimization. Caution All parameters marked with [*] indicate that this parameter is SITE specific rather than sector specific. This means that changing such a parameter on a per sector basis will automatically change this parameter at the other sectors (of the same site) to the same value! If you edit these parameters in Excel (see also Edit in Excel) you can define different values for the individual sectors. However, when re-importing them, the parameters of all sectors will be adjusted to the value of the first sector at that specific site (if the values are different).
Adaption
9955 ACCO locks the input mask for the selected sectors when changing parameters. Therefore, you have to click Revert or Apply in order to adapt the parameter changes and to unlock the list of sectors. After applying (reverting) the modifications, you can then select a new sector to repeat the procedure. Edit TMAsclick this button to edit the global settings for the TMAs available in the project. See also advanced technology activation. Electrical tilt pattern groupingclick this button to group the antenna pattern associated to a single physical antenna. For further details on this functionality see Electrical Tilt Grouping Editor. Edit in Excelclick this button to edit all parameters shown in this tab within Microsoft Excel. Editing the parameters in Excel adds a lot of flexibility to the parameter input. For further information, features and limitations see Edit in Excel. Defaultsclick this button to change all parameter settings (parameter settings as well as costs and time) back to their default values. The default values can be set in the Options - Range Defaults tab. Revertclick this button to change all parameter settings (parameter settings as well as costs and time) for the chosen sectors back to their previous values. Applyclick this button to apply all parameter changes (parameter settings as well as costs and time) to the chosen sectors.
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III.3.2
Advanced Technology Activation

The advanced technology activation in 9955 ACCO allows the activation of technology modules that influence the link budget in both the uplink and the downlink. In order to have full verification of these functionalities in 9955, tower mounted amplifiers (TMAs) are a proper technology to handle gains and losses in both the uplink and downlink link budget. Before these technologies can be optimized in 9955 ACCO, the need to be specified in 9955.
Definition of the TMA properties in 9955

9955 allows the definition of TMA properties. This can be done with a right click on "Transmitters" --> "Equipment" --> "TMA Equipment".
In the TMA equipment settings in 9955 the user can then define different noise figures, reception gains and transmission losses. As all of these figures can be either positive or negative, it is possible to define gains and losses in both the uplink and downlink. Some examples would be: TMA: A TMA typically has gain in the reception, while it has a insertion loss in the transmit case (downlink). Hence proper settings could be, for example, reception gain = 3dB, transmission loss = 2dB. Booster: A booster increases the transmit signal, while can have an additional loss in the reception case (combined with an additional noise figure). Hence, the settings for a booster could be a transmission loss of -12dB (i.e. 12dB gain), and a reception gain of -1dB (i.e. 1dB loss). Other examples can be considered. 9955 ACCO will automatically consider these settings for the different technology modules when the optimization environment is exported. Note Only the TMAs defined in 9955 can be considered by 9955 ACCO. This is to make sure that the optimization results can be verified in 9955 after processing in 9955 ACCO.
Editing global properties of TMAs in 9955 ACCO

To edit the global settings for the different TMAs, press the "Edit TMAs..." button in the optimization ranges tab in 9955 ACCO.
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TMA Namethis field displays the name of the advanced technology modules as defined in 9955. Unit priceuse this field to display and modify the unit price of the individual advanced technology modules. 9955 ACCO will compare the unit price of the different technologies and select the most cost effective solution. For example, if two equivalent TMA solutions are available for selection, 9955 ACCO will select the one with the lower unit price. Acquisition timeuse this field to display and modify the acquisition time of the individual advanced technology modules. 9955 ACCO will compare the acquisition time of the different technologies and select the most time effective solution. For example, if two equivalent TMA solutions are available for selection, 9955 ACCO will select the one with the lower acquisition time. The global parameter settings are stored when the 9955 ACCO project is saved. Note The global properties of the TMAs are required once. The defined unit prices and acquisition times apply to the entire project. If the same functionality should be considered but at a different price, then the TMA needs to be duplicated in 9955 beforehand.
Selection of TMAs per sector in 9955 ACCO

To select a number of TMA solutions (out of the defined list of TMA solutions in 9955), press the Edit button in the range definition for the advanced technology activation. Then the menu allows you to select the different advanced technology modules for consideration (and activation) during the optimization process. Each of the selected TMAs will be considered. The selection can be done on a per sector basis!
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Note The selection of a set of TMAs can be done on a per sector basis. If multiple sectors are selected, and then the TMA selection is done, the list applies to each of the selected sectors.
III.3.3
Electrical Tilt Editor

Use this dialog to view and modify the electrical tilt pattern grouping for the optimization process in 9955 ACCO.
Handling electrical tilt patterns

Use this section to select antenna pattern and to save and load lists of available antenna patterns.
Ungrouped Antenna Patterns

Sortclick this button to sort all antenna patterns shown in the antenna pattern list box in alphabetic order. Allclick this button to select all antenna patterns shown in the antenna pattern list box. Usedclick this button to select all antenna pattern that are used in at least one sector in the current 9955 project. The list of used patterns refers to all sectors in the project, not just the sectors inside the optimization area. Noneclick this button to select none of antenna patterns of the list.
Grouped Antenna Patterns (electrical tilt groups)

Sortclick this button to sort all antenna patterns shown in the antenna pattern list box in alphabetic order. Allclick this button to select all antenna patterns shown in the antenna pattern list box. All In Useclick this button to select all antenna pattern that are used in at least one sector in the current 9955 project. The list of used patterns refers to all sectors in the project, not just the sectors inside the optimization area. Noneclick this button to select none of antenna patterns of the list.
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Creation of new groups and mapping of antenna pattern

Use this section to generate new antenna groups, map electrical tilt pattern and define lists of electrical tilt pattern that can be used during the optimization process. Auto group by nameclick this button to auto group the antenna pattern by name. This functionality will automatically group the antenna pattern selected in the Ungrouped Antenna Pattern list box. The different electrical tilt pattern will be identified by the last few digits in the name of the antenna pattern. Create new groupclick this button to generate a new group in the Grouped antenna patterns list box. Add to groupclick this button to add a selected antenna pattern to a selected group in the Grouped antenna patterns list box. Drag here to create new groupto create a new group the selected antenna pattern can also be dragged to this field. This will automatically create a new group containing the selected antenna pattern in the Grouped antenna patterns list box. Ungroupto remove an antenna pattern from a electrical tilt pattern group, select the antenna pattern in the Grouped antenna patterns list box and press the ungroup button. Rename groupclick this button to rename a selected group in the Grouped antenna patterns list box. Resetclick this button to reset the entire electrical tilt antenna pattern grouping. Import from projectclick this button to import the grouped antenna pattern from a previous project file. Saveclick this button to save the list of grouped antenna patterns into an .ElectricalTiltGrouping file. Loadclick this button to load the list of grouped antenna patterns from an . ElectricalTiltGrouping file.
Frequency band selector

Use this section to allocate the different antenna variants to the applicable frequency bands. In order define a frequency band for a particular antenna, first the antenna pattern(s) need to be selected. Then, a frequency band can be selected and assigned. The assigned frequency band has the following effect: Each sector has a physical antenna allocated by default. In case that this antenna includes different electrical tilt variants, it has to be assured that the pattern for the correct frequency band are exchanged. This is done with the assigned frequency band indicator. Note The exact value of the frequency band is not used by 9955 ACCO, but the optimization will only allow antenna patterns with the same frequency band as the original sector to be selected. An example: In the figure below a multi band antenna is defined. This multi band antenna includes remote electrical tilts that can be modified for the 1800MHz and the UMTS band individually. Therefore, different antenna pattern for the different bands are available. In order to make sure that the RET change is done only in the correct frequency band, the pattern for the 1800MHz band are identified by the "1800" frequency band allocation. The UMTS pattern are marked by the "2000" identification. With this, the optimization algorithms in 9955 ACCO will make sure that the correct antenna pattern are used.
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Frequency band list box use this list box to select one of the defined frequency bands for allocation to the antenna pattern. Assign frequencyuse this button to allocate a frequency indicator to a specific antenna pattern or pattern group. Remove frequencyuse this button to remove the frequency assignment of a specific antenna pattern or pattern group. Delete frequencyuse this button to remove a selected frequency indicator from the frequency band list box. Note In case that the desired frequency band indicator is not among the frequency band list box entries, just type the requested name or number into the list box field and press the assign frequency button. Please note that the frequency indicator is not limited to numbers, it can also include names.
Information
Use this section to display a number of antenna parameters of a selected antenna pattern. This information includes: Antenna Name Antenna Gain Electrical Tilt Antenna Manufacturer Comments Horizontal antenna pattern Vertical antenna pattern.
III.3.4
Antenna Editor
Use this editor to view and modify the antenna selection for the optimization in 9955 ACCO.
List of antenna patterns

Use this list box to highlight the required antenna pattern, i.e. allow them to be used in the optimization. The number in the lower right corner indicates the number of antenna patterns currently selected. Please note that selected patterns are not automatically included in the
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optimization, you have to hit the Include or Exclude button to add the selected patterns to the highlighted patterns or remove them, respectively. Note In this context highlighting or including means 'available for optimization', selecting means 'select for inclusion/exclusion'. Allclick this button to select all antenna patterns. Don't forget to hit Include or Exclude to apply the selection. All In Useclick this button to select the list of antenna patterns that are used in at least one sector in the current 9955 project. The list of used patterns refers to all sectors in the project, not just the sectors inside the optimization area. Don't forget to hit Include or Exclude to apply the selection. Noneclick this button to remove the selection from all antenna patterns. Please note that this does not remove the selection.
List of highlighted (included) antenna patterns

Use these controls to highlight antenna patterns, i.e. allow them to be used in the optimzation. The number in the upper right corner indicates the number of antenna patterns currently included. Includethis button includes the highlighted antenna patterns into the current selection, i.e. the patterns are available for optimization. Available patterns are displayed in bold with a green check sign. Excludethis button removes the highlighted antenna patterns from the current selection. Save Listclick this button to save the list of included antenna patterns into an Antenna List File (.lst) Load Listclick this button to load a list of included antenna patterns from a file.
Frequency band selector

Use these controls to assign frequency bands to antenna patterns. Please refer to Electrical Tilt Editor for details.
Information
Use this section to display a number of antenna parameters of a selected antenna pattern. This information includes: Antenna Name Antenna Gain Electrical Tilt Antenna Manufacturer Comments Horizontal antenna pattern Vertical antenna pattern.
III.3.5
Edit in Excel
Basic functionality
This option requires Microsoft Excel to be installed on your computer. By clicking Edit in Excel in the Optimization Ranges tab the following message box will occur:
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An Excel workbook containing all parameter settings will be displayed. This allows you to edit the data in Microsoft Excel. While editing in Excel, the input mask of the Optimization Ranges tab in 9955 ACCO is locked (indicated by the Waiting message box above). You can unlock the input mask to edit the parameter settings directly in 9955 ACCO by Accepting the changes done in Excel. For this you have to SAVE and then to CLOSE the Excel workbook Discarding the changes done in Excel. For this you either have to CLOSE the Excel workbook without saving, or by clicking CANCEL in the message box shown above. If you accept the Excel changes, 9955 ACCO automatically re-imports the new parameter values after saving and closing the workbook. 9955 ACCO will tell you when it has successfully imported the parameter changes. After successful import you still need to apply the parameter modifications by clicking the APPLY button in the Optimization Ranges tab. If the data re-import from Excel was not successful, the parameter settings in 9955 ACCO remain unchanged. If you cancel the Excel changes by clicking CANCEL in the message box above the parameter modifications in Excel get lost.
Additional features
The Edit in Excel feature has some additional functions that can be very useful. While editing in Excel you are allowed to change the order of the columns. All fields that should not be modified have a dark grey background color You are also allowed to include NEW columns. This might be necessary when additional cost calculations are required. After saving the modified workbook, 9955 ACCO only reimports the relevant data You can also include formulas. This allows you to access external data bases where for example data for the cost and time parameters for the implementation of the parameter modifications might be stored. Boolean parameters can always be called TRUE and FALSE, independent of local language settings. 9955 ACCO will recognize them correctly for the re-import. 9955 ACCO automatically identifies if the parameters have been modified in Excel The column titles and the columns for site and sector ID are fixed in Excel for simple data identification A description of each data column is given by notes in the column title A list of all available antenna pattern is provided in a separate Excel worksheet For better visibility all used antenna pattern are separated by "|" in the parameter list
Limitations
Some limitations apply to the modifications in Excel: You are not allowed to change or remove the header line (column title). You are not allowed to modify or remove key properties such as site name, sector name, etc. You are not allowed to add new lines.
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If you change parameter values that can not be modified, the changes are ignored. Each file will be checked during the re-import. If errors or warnings occur the data remains unchanged.
III.4
III.4.1
Optimization Targets
Target definitions
One or several target functions can be defined. The objective of the optimization will be to maximize the sum of all defined target functions multiplied by their relative weights. The target functions will be evaluated in the area of the focus zone defined in 9955.
Managing targets
Optimization target list9955 ACCO can handle a number of optimization targets jointly. The optimization target lists displays all optimization targets defined for the project. The targets contributing to the total optimization objective, those with a target weight larger than zero, are shown in bold. Select a target from the list to view and manipulate its settings and requirements. WeightThe weight column in the optimization target list displays the relative weights of the individual optimization targets. To learn more about them, please see some Optimization Weight Examples. Add new targetsUse the Add Targets button to define one target for the optimization. Select the proper type of target which satisfies your needs from the presented list of target functions. If multiple targets shall add to the total objective, use Add Targets multiple times. Delete targetUse the Delete Target button to delete the selected optimization target from the list. On the right-hand side of the Optimization target tab sheet the Target settings have to be done.
Primary targets
Depending on the available networks in the optimization environment (see also Network settings), different optimization targets can be defined. These optimization targets include (for details on the individual targets please follow the link for each objective): 3G targets (for UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, LTE): Coverage - RX Pilot/RX DL channel power (all 3G technologies) RSSI Limit (all technologies) Quality - Pilot Pollution and SHO overhead: Difference between 1st - 2nd RX pilot power Quality - Worst Polluter and Overshooting: Difference between 1st - Nth RX pilot power Capacity - Ec/lo and C/(I+N) (all 3G technologies) Capacity - Downlink Eb/Nt (UMTS and CDMA2000) Capacity - Uplink Eb/Nt (UMTS and CDMA2000) Capacity (density based) (HSDPA, EVDO, WiMAX and LTE) TD-SCDMA targets (for TD-SCDMA technology): P-CCPCH Coverage Ec/Io 2G targets (for GSM technologies): Coverage - RX BCCH Capacity - C/I - Carrier to Interference Ratio
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Combinations of these targets can also be defined, as well as multi system, multi network targets.
Derived targets
Combi targets A Combi target is a logical combination (AND, OR, XOR) of previously defined targets. This allows a flexible, user specific definition of individual requirements, as e.g. increase the area with both UMTS and GSM coverage. Note All types of targets are available for being combined in a Combi target, except Monte-Carlo simulation based targets (Served users, Throughput), Inter-system handover targets, and other Combi targets. Targets with measurements can also be used in Combi targets. A logical XOR (exclusive OR) combination of 2 targets is equal to the one or the other target but not both at the same time (e.g. coverage by a single network only). To define a Combi target, please use the following workflow: 1. Click the Add targets button in the optimization tab sheet, select Combi target from the list of available target types. 2. With the Add button in the requirement section, select the optimization targets for combination (from the list of already defined targets). Then select one of the available logic operators (AND, XOR, OR). This operator applies to all chosen targets. Note Only targets which have already been defined can be selected for combination. 3. Define a weight for the Combi target. To contribute to the total objective, an optimization weight greater than zero needs to be defined. By default a weight of 1 is used. Select the weight carefully according to the weights of other already defined targets. Note If a Primary target shall only be used in a Combi target without contributing to the total objective, define the Primary target as usual, set it's requirements, and assign it a weight of zero. 4. GROUPS: To be able to group targets, i.e. define expressions with brackets like (Target-A AND Target-B) OR Target-C, the bracketed targets must be assigned to a group. Define a group with the Group button. Select the new group by clicking on it, then assign targets to the new group and define the logic operator as explained in item 2. The logic operator of the group will be applied to all targets within the group. The group itself contributes to the Combi target with the logic operator of the Combi target. Groups within groups are possible. 5. To delete a target, select it in the target list and press the Delete Target button.
III.4.2
Common target settings

Basic target settings are The requirements (e.g. the coverage threshold) Options, in particular the weight (e.g. weighting by a traffic map) Other optional settings (e.g. apply captured traffic limits, use measurements)
General information
On the right-hand side of the Optimization target tab sheet general information about the selected target is presented, the requirements of that target can be edited, and optional parameters can be set. NameAfter adding a new target, a default name will be used automatically. The name can be
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modified by the user; for better identification it is recommended to appropriately name targets. Descriptionthe type of target, and a brief description of it's function. Unitthe units of the target function (e.g. km2 for coverage targets). NetworkEach target belongs uniquely to a certain network. A network is a UMTS/CDMA2000 carrier, a GSM frequency band, a TD-SCDMA carrier, a WiMAX frequency band, or a DVB-H frequency band.
Requirements
Each target function has it's own requirements. These requirements depend on the type of the target. E.g., the requirement of a Coverage target is the minimum received signal power. Define the target requirement for this type of target within the optimization region defined by the focus zone in 9955. Default values for the target requirements are defined in the Target Defaults tab sheet of the Options dialog box. Default values are applied to new 9955 ACCO projects. For details see the description of the Import From Previous Optimization functionality. Globallyuse this option to define the requirement constantly for the entire network. For each pixel of the optimization area, this requirements will be used. Per Clutter Classuse this option to define individual requirements for each class based on the clutter file included in the 9955 ACCO optimization environment chosen in Project Specification tab.
Options
Weightenter the relative weight of this target. This is the weight of pixels exceeding the target requirement. Examples of how to apply different weights in the optimization process are given in Optimization Weight Examples. All defined targets will be summed up multiplied by their relative weight. By this, a proper balance between different objectives can be found flexibly (e.g. focus more on coverage or capacity, etc.). Apply clutter dependent weight factoruse this checkbox to enable clutter dependent weighting of the optimization target. This option can only be used if the relative weight of this target is not zero. The clutter weights will then be multiplied with the relative weight of this target. Clutter dependent weights allow you to focus on different optimization areas; to make regions more important and some other regions less important. See also Clutter dependent optimization weights. Select separate map for clutter weights (zone file)use the drop down menu right next to the checkbox to select an alternative file which replaces the default clutter file. This file usually identifies certain zones of interest, like hot spot areas. Thus it is called zone file. By means of zone files you have the option to additionally separate the optimization area into sub-areas with individual weights. Technically, zone files have identical format to clutter files. Compute target value during optimizationthis checkbox can only be enabled if the weight of the optimization target is zero. By this, 9955 ACCO will calculate and monitor the target function value of the optimization target, even though the applied weight is zero and this target will not contribute to the optimization. See also Optimization Progress.
Traffic
Use this section to consider the traffic that is captured by the individual sectors in the network, to apply traffic limits to each of the cells, and to weight the target by a traffic map. Apply traffic map weightinguse this checkbox to enable traffic density weighting for the optimization target. This option can only be enabled if the relative weight of the target is not zero. Traffic density weighting allows you to focus on the areas where the highest traffic occurs. Hightraffic areas will be more important, areas carrying less traffic will be less important during the optimization process. See also Weighting on Traffic Density Maps. Select separate weighting map for a targetuse the drop down menu right next to the checkbox to either select the default traffic map of the network or a separate weighting map for
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this target. Note that this weighting map must be large enough to completely cover the analysis area. Apply captured traffic limituse this checkbox to enable the consideration of maximum traffic limits for each sector in the network. This option can only be enabled if the relative weight of the target is not zero and a global traffic density map has been defined. The traffic limits per sector are defined in the Network settings tab sheet. For details see also the Captured Traffic Description. Note that if traffic sharing has been defined for the network, then the captured traffic will be calculated using the remaining traffic from the previous network rather than using the traffic map. Balance footprintsuse this checkbox to enable footprint balancing. If the option is active, the optimization algorithms will generate a compromise between the largest possible target objective and balanced footprints. "Balanced" in this case means that neighboring footprints should have similar size (if no traffic density map is used), or similar captured traffic (if a traffic density map is used for this network, but not all of the sectors have a maximum captured traffic defined), or similar traffic utilization (i.e. captured traffic divided by maximum captured traffic if a density map is used and all sectors have a maximum captured traffic defined). Balancing is achieved by creating additional target functions. These target functions are not visible in the target function list, but they will appear in the optimization progress and the reports. Relative weightdetermines the weight of the footprint balancing target function in relation to the "parent" target function. The absolute weight is the parent target function's weight multiplied by the relative weight. Inter-system interferenceis available for targets which perform an interference analysis (e.g. C/I or density based capacity target) if the network layer is interfered by another network layer. Refer to the Network settings tab sheet how to define inter-system interference. If the checkbox is enabled, both UL and DL interference introduced by the base stations of the interfering network will be added to the interference of the own system and the noise. All parameters influencing radiation of both the interfering and the victim base stations will be considered (e.g. antenna masking, etc.).
Measurement environment
The pathloss data used to calculate the target function value is usually written to the Optimization environment and was calculated by 9955 based on propagation models. Alternatively, the pathloss information can be derived from measurements by 9955 ACCO and is then written to a Measurement environment. If you want to use measurements for the target, select the .cme file that was defined when Creating the Measurement environment by pressing the button. As soon as a measurement environment has been selected for the target, the pathloss data for the propagation calculations of the analysis will be read from the files which were derived from the measurements. If you want to use both a prediction based target and a measurement based target, add this target type twice and apply the measurement environment to one of them. Then you can do all the settings for both targets individually (e.g. the requirements), also the weights of the two targets can be chosen individually. Measurements are supported for UMTS and CDMA2000, and for the targets Coverage, 1st - 2nd RX pilot, 1st - Nth RX pilot, and Ec/Io. Apply captured traffic limit and Balance footprints are not supported if the target uses a measurement environment. The reason is that measurements usually do not cover the entire area but only isolated parts like streets or even single pixels. However, the captured traffic and balance footprints features require pathloss information of every pixel of the optimization area, otherwise the results will not be accurate. Guidelines how to use measurements for optimizations can be found in Optimization with measurements.
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Saving and loading target function settings

The settings for the different optimization targets can be saved as optimization projects and loaded for new optimizations. Note Previously saved target function settings can be used as templates for new optimization tasks. This is a very convenient way to save time if similar settings will be used for multiple projects. Details on how to save and load the optimization targets are described in the section Import from previous optimizations and templates.
III.4.3
Optimization Targets 3G/4G

Use this tab sheet to add, view, and modify the optimization targets chosen for the optimization process. The supported optimization targets are: Coverage - RX Pilot/RX DL channel power (all 3G technologies) RSSI Limit (all technologies) Quality - Pilot Pollution and SHO overhead: Difference between 1st - 2nd strongest RX power Quality - Worst Polluter and Overshooting: Difference between 1st - Nth strongest RX power Capacity - Ec/lo and C/(I+N) (all 3G technologies) Capacity - Downlink Eb/Nt (UMTS and CDMA2000) Capacity - Uplink Eb/Nt (UMTS and CDMA2000) Capacity (density based) (HSDPA, EVDO, WiMAX and LTE)
Coverage Requirement - RX Pilot power, RX DL channel power

If a Coverage target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description The RX pilot/RX DL channel power target is a coverage target. In order to meet coverage requirements, a minimum received signal power is required. LTE: 9955 ACCO calculates RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) calibrated to 9955.
Sufficient pilot coverage is a necessary requirement to launch wireless services. The required received pilot depends on the receiver sensitivity of the mobile handset. The received pilot power is typically given in dBm. Requirements on the RX pilot are often given for outdoor environments, since propagation models do not always take penetration losses into account directly. Therefore, in order to provide sufficient indoor coverage, the RX pilot requirement might be higher for indoor areas. In the optimization targets you can set different requirements for various environments based on clutter classes. Depending on the environment (deep indoor, indoor, outdoor, incar, etc.) typical values for the received pilot are in the range of -70...-110dBm.
Coverage BEFORE optimization
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Selecting this optimization target will result in improved pilot coverage/DL channel coverage in your optimization area according to your requirements. Optimizing for coverage will: - Increase overall service area - Improve the coverage probability - Reduce the probability of coverage holes - Provide sufficient indoor coverage Coverage AFTER optimization Requirement The coverage requirements specify the threshold for the best RX pilot power (UMTS, CDMA2000), DL channel power (GSM, WiMAX), or Reference Signal power (LTE). For example, a coverage requirement of -90dBm means that the optimization area should exceed a received power of -90dBm after the optimization for as many pixels as possible taking into account the individual weights of the pixels (clutter weighting, traffic map weighting). Note The requirement for the coverage (defined either globally or per clutter class) will also be considered if the Coverage requirement fulfilled checkbox is enabled for another optimization target. If you do not want the coverage target to contribute to the optimization and just use it as condition for another target, set it's global weight to zero. Note Indoor losses are considered for this target, but mobile station antenna gain or body loss are not considered. Shortcuts and hot keys can be used to ensure a quick handling. Details are described in Shortcuts.
RSSI Limit
Description The RSSI Limit target will, in contrast to a coverage target, try to not exceed the given threshold. By means of this target you can maximize the area where a certain threshold is not reached. Requirement The target will optionally be based on an RSSI or coverage analysis. The selection between RSSI and coverage is done with the radio button in the requirement section. RSSI: The total transmitted DL power of the transmitters is used for the analysis. The received powers of all transmitters is cumulated. This analysis is identical to the interference layer of the according C/(I+N) target. Coverage: The coverage layer is used for this analysis. This is the received pilot power of the strongest server only. Note Indoor losses are considered for this target, but mobile station antenna gain or body loss are not considered.
Uplink coverage
If an Uplink coverage target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target).
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Description The up-link coverage target calculates the received signal power from a test mobile handset at the base station transmitter. The transmitted power of the handset is defined by selecting the terminal in the requirement section on the right-hand side of the tab sheet. If no terminal could be found in 9955, then the transmitted power and the mobile total gain must be defined in the given input fields.
1st - 2nd RX pilot - Pilot Pollution and SHO overhead

If a 1st - 2nd RX pilot target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also Add optimization target). Description 1st - 2nd RX pilot difference is a network quality target. In order to reduce the pilot pollution, unnecessary soft-handover (SHO, for UMTS and CDMA2000) areas, excessive handover (WiMAX) areas, and irregular best server plots, this type of target can be used.
In CDMA systems, the number of simultaneously active connections in soft handover is defined by the Active Set. The number of connections within the Active Set is influenced by the Active Set threshold, which is typically in the range of 5-8dB. This means that all base stations in the Active Set have to transmit the same information to this mobile. This is the SHO overhead. By reducing the difference between 1st - 2nd RX pilot, the number of pilots "seen" by the mobile (pilot pollution) is reduced. The reduced pilot pollution will result in a lower SHO overhead. Minimizing the overlapping area between two adjacent cells will lead to short borders. This will provide clear and regular cell borders and best server plots. Reducing the area where the difference between the 1st 2nd RX pilot are within a predefined power range automatically also reduces the overlapping area with other pilots than the 2nd strongest one. Optimizing for the difference between the 1st - 2nd RX pilot results in - Significantly lower pilot pollution - Reduced handover overhead - Clear structured cell borders - Clear and regular best server plots SHO can never be eliminated completely by optimizing the difference between 1st - 2nd RX pilot, because there must be a point where the pilots from two base stations are equally strong. Set the Active Set threshold properly according to your needs. However, optimizing for the difference between 1st - 2nd RX pilot makes sure that unwanted SHO overhead, pilot pollution, and irregular best server plots will be mitigated.
Pilot pollution and SHO overhead BEFORE optimization
Pilot pollution and SHO overhead AFTER optimization
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Requirement The requirements specify the threshold for the difference between the first and the second strongest pilot power or signal power (WiMAX). For example, a requirement of 4dB means that as many pixels in the optimization area as possible should have a difference between first and second strongest received power of more than 4dB after the optimization. Coverage requirement fulfilledenable this checkbox if you want to maximize the area where the requirements for the difference between 1st - 2nd RX pilot AND the coverage requirement are fulfilled. If multiple coverage targets are defined for the same network (see also Network settings) select the appropriate one from the presented list.
Note From a practical point of view the enabled Coverage requirement fulfilled functionality means that you optimize the area where your optimization target is fulfilled AND the minimum coverage requirement is given. For this, you do not even have to optimize for coverage explicitly (set the weight of the coverage target to zero). Note Indoor losses are considered for this target, but mobile station antenna gain or body loss are not considered. Shortcuts and hot keys can be used to ensure a quick handling. Details are described in Shortcuts.
1st - Nth RX pilot - Worst Polluter and Overshooting

If a 1st - Nth optimization target is not already defined, it can be created with add targets (see also add optimization target). Description 1st - Nnd RX pilot difference is a network quality target. In order to reduce the impact of the worst polluter and to reduce far-off connections (overshooting), this type of target can be used.
CDMA receivers usually have a number of RAKE fingers implemented in order to combine the signal contributions of the individual base stations/sectors in soft-handover. Due to this combination, about equally strong signals are summed up and deliver the "soft-handover gain". Due to the limited number of RAKE fingers in the receiver, not all connections can contribute to the received signal. Those who cannot be combined are interferers or polluters. The worst polluter is the connection that can just not be considered in the RAKE. Therefore it depends on the implementation of the RAKE receiver, which of the Nth RX pilot the worst polluter is.
Worst Polluter and Overshooting BEFORE optimization
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Another crucial effect in CDMA networks is caused by faroff connections, also called "overshooting". In this case, a far-off base station is either the best server, or at least contributes to the SHO. This unwanted effect can be caused by high altitude base stations, insufficient antenna down-tilts, the topography, etc. Optimizing for the difference between the 1st - Nth RX pilot will result in: - Reduced overshooting - Improved network performance due to the reduction of far-off connections - Reduction of the effective interference caused by the worst polluter - Overall interference reduction Worst Polluter and Overshooting AFTER optimization Optimizing for the difference between 1st - Nth RX pilot can be used in combination or as an alternative to the difference between the 1st - 2nd RX pilot.
Requirement The requirements specify the threshold for the difference between the first and the N-th strongest pilot power or signal power (WiMAX). For example, a requirement of 8dB means that as many pixels in the optimization area as possible should have a difference between first and N-th strongest received power of more than 8dB after the optimization. The Nth signal can be selected in the range of 3 - 5. Coverage requirement fulfilledenable this checkbox if you want to maximize the area where the requirements for the difference between 1st - Nth RX signal AND the coverage requirement are fulfilled. If multiple coverage targets are defined for the same network (see also Network settings) select the appropriate one from the presented list.
Note From a practical point of view the enabled Coverage requirement fulfilled functionality means that you optimize the area where your optimization target is fulfilled AND the minimum coverage requirement is given. For this, you do not even have to optimize for coverage explicitly (set the weight of the coverage target to zero). Note Indoor losses are considered for this target, but mobile station antenna gain or body loss are not considered. Shortcuts and hot keys can be used to ensure a quick handling. Details are described in Shortcuts.
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Ec/Io, C/(I+N), and RSRQ

A C/I target can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description Ec/Io, C/(I+N), or RSRQ are a network quality and capacity objective. For UMTS and CDMA2000, Ec/Io will be calculated as the ratio of the received pilot signal energy per chip and the received interference and noise. The down-link interference can be calculated adapting the DL cell loads as given in the 9955, or by using constant, user defined cell loads. Refer to 3G Cell loads for details. For WiMAX, C/(I+N) will be calculated as the ratio of the received signal power and the received interference and noise. For LTE, RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) calibrated to 9955 will be calculated. The higher C/(I+N) is, the higher the service quality and the data rate, and the higher the overall system capacity will be. WiMAX: The C/(I+N) will be calculated as a Pre-amble C/(I+N) analysis. The frequency band and channel number information is also used to accurately analyze the interference in the WiMAX network. The frequency band overlap and adjacent channel suppression is considered according to the specification of 9955. Sub-channelization and segmentation are currently ignored by 9955 ACCO. LTE: The analysis can optionally be based on RSRQ or SNIR (PDSCH C/(I+N) ). The selection between RSRQ and SNIR is done by the radio button in the requirement section. The RSRQ will be calculated as a reference signal C/(I+N) analysis, which is the ratio of the RSRP and the total received interference power. The SNIR will be calculated as a PDSCH C/(I+N) analysis where the received power of the best server is ignored. The frequency band and channel number information are also used to accurately analyze the interference in the LTE network. The frequency band overlap and adjacent channel suppression is considered according to the specification of 9955.
A sufficient level of Ec/Io or C/(I+N) is a necessary requirement to provide services in wireless networks. Typical values for required Ec/Io are in the range of -8...15dB, or 0...15dB for C(I+N). The received Ec/Io at the mobile depends on both the transmitted pilot power, as well as the received interference from the entire network. Low Ec/Io area BEFORE optimization Since the base station transmit power is limited, Ec/Io depends on the interference produced by other base stations. The total interference thus depends on the downlink load of the individual interferers, this is their total transmit power. Optimizing for Ec/Io or C/(I+N) will harmonize the system load in the network. It balances the signal and interference contributions so that the requirements will be met wherever needed. Optimizing Ec/Io or C/(I+N) will result in: - Increased service availability - Higher possible data rates Low Ec/Io area AFTER optimization - Balanced network loads - Higher system capacity
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Requirement The requirements specify the threshold of the Ec/Io (UMTS, CDMA2000) or C/(I+N) (WiMAX, DVB-H). For example, a requirement of -15dB means that as many pixels in the optimization area as possible should have an Ec/Io ratio of more than -15dB after the optimization. Caution To verify the Ec/Io optimizations in 9955, some settings have to be considered. In the project Explorer go to Predictions, select the Pilot reception analysis (Ec/Io), right click and select Properties. If an Ec/Io analysis does not already exist, click New in the Predictions node and select Pilot reception analysis (Ec/Io) to create such an analysis. In the Simulation tab of the Pilot reception analysis (Ec/Io) properties dialog, the following settings have to be chosen: Simulation: None Use shadowing: No Reliability level/shadowing margin: 50% Carrier: The carrier of the network used in 9955 ACCO Terminalselect a terminal type for the probe for the Ec/Io or C/(I+N) analysis. The terminal influences the body loss and the maximum transmit power, as well as the used terminal (CPE) antenna pattern for WiMAX. Mobilityselect a mobility for the probe for the Ec/Io or C/(I+N) analysis. Serviceselect a service for the probe for the Ec/Io or C/(I+N) analysis. The service influences the data rate and the maximum service power. Caution Note that Terminal, Mobility, and Service of the probe have to be identical to the settings chosen within 9955 if you want to compare the results before and after optimization. Otherwise the analysis in 9955 and the optimization in 9955 ACCO will differ! You can find the settings within 9955 under > Explorer > Predictions > right-click the prediction including the Pilot reception analysis (Ec/Io) > Properties > Simulation. Caution Note that the computation performance can be reduced significantly if the selected terminal includes an antenna pattern for WiMAX projects, because terminal antenna patterns require additional computational effort for antenna masking on per pixel basis. If the effect of terminal antenna patterns is not significant or not required (for example for mobile users) it is strongly recommended to use terminals that do not have antenna patterns assigned in 9955.
Coverage requirements fulfilledenable this checkbox if you want to maximize the area where the requirements for Ec/Io or C/(I+N) AND the coverage requirement are fulfilled. If multiple coverage targets are defined for the same network (see also Network settings) select the appropriate one from the presented list.
Note From a practical point of view the enabled Coverage requirement fulfilled functionality means that you optimize the area where your optimization target is fulfilled AND the minimum coverage
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requirement is given. For this, you do not even have to optimize for coverage explicitly (e.g. by setting the weight of the coverage target to zero). Shortcuts and hot keys can be used to ensure a quick handling. Details are described in Shortcuts.
Downlink Eb/Nt (UMTS and CDMA2000 only)

If a Downlink Eb/Nt target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description Downlink Eb/Nt is both a network quality and a capacity objective. In order to provide service coverage in the downlink, the minimum required Eb/Nt level needs to be satisfied for the individual service. 9955 ACCO considers the CDMA spreading gain according to the service data rate and the maximum downlink service power in the Eb/Nt calculation. Orthogonality factors are automatically imported from 9955. The down-link interference can be calculated adapting the DL cell loads as given in the 9955, or by using constant, user defined cell loads. Refer to 3G Cell loads for details. For all other settings refer to Ec/Io target.
Uplink Eb/Nt (UMTS and CDMA2000 only)

If an Uplink Eb/Nt target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description Uplink Eb/Nt is both a network quality and a capacity objective. In order to provide service coverage in the uplink, the minimum required Eb/Nt level needs to be satisfied for the individual service. 9955 ACCO considers the CDMA spreading gain according to the service data rate and the maximum mobile terminal transmit power in the Eb/Nt calculation. For all other settings refer to Ec/Io target.
Capacitydensity based (HSPA, EVDO, WiMAX, and LTE)

A Capacity (density based) target can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description Capacity (density based) is a capacity objective that considers the cell throughput in kbit/s and the resulting cell utilization. It is usually based on a traffic density map. If no density map is available, a constant traffic density with high load is generated automatically to simulate high-load conditions and thus analyse the capacity peak of the network layer. Note that this capacity peak is a theoretic maximum and might be considerably lower in reality. 9955 ACCO will use the traffic map when Apply traffic map weighting is turned on, otherwise the automatic traffic distribution will be used. Note Capacity (density based) calculates the possible throughput based on the resource utilization for HSDPA, EVDO, or OFDM (WiMAX, LTE) networks. The target is not appropriate for UMTS R99 or CDMA2000-1x networks. If this target is selected for a UMTS network, a HSDPA analysis is done with 10 (of 16) available codes. The target function evaluates the possible modulation scheme and throughput for every pixel and estimates the required resource units for the cell by evaluating all pixels of the cell footprint. If the accumulated required resource units are less than the cell's limit (that is implicitly given by the technology settings, the bandwidth, the overhead, etc.), the cell is not overloaded and the traffic can be handled. The cell's contribution to the target function is the captured traffic (in kbit/s in this case, and of course normalized to the maximum possible captured traffic). If the required
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resource units exceed the cell's limit, the cell can only contribute the traffic according to the maximum possible resource utilization to the target function and hence the target function value will be lower. Note Clutter dependent weights are applied before the resource units are calculated, the target function weight is applied after the calculation of the resource units. By that, clutter weights can be used to scale the traffic map while a global weight scales the target function value. The target always uses the identical traffic map both for calculating the resource units and the weighting of the pixels. The output of the target function is the successfully handled traffic. In addition, the percentage of required resource units for every cell can be found in the report and visualized in Inspector. For over-loaded cells, this number will be greater than 100%. Inspector will also show the corresponding plot to this target which is the RLC throughput possible at each pixel. Note that this is not what this target function calculates and optimizes in 9955 ACCO, rather it is the theoretical throughput limit on that pixel based on the assumption that no other user is active in the network. Note The raw (non-normalized) target function output is the network capacity in kbit/s. If no cell is overloaded, this is equal to the offered traffic in the traffic map. If all cells are overloaded, it is the theoretic throughput capacity of the network. The target function plot that can be visualized in Inspector shows the effective layer 2 throughput in kbit/s for every pixel given the modulation table and bandwidth. Please note that the target function statistics in Inspector evaluate this layer 2 throughput per pixel individually ignoring all cell limits (as if there were traffic only on this pixel), and not the technically feasible throughput per cell that is evaluated in the target function objective. Requirement The requirements specify the threshold of Eb/Nt (for HSDPA, EVDO), C/(I+N) (for WiMAX), or RSRQ (for LTE). For example, a requirement of 5dB means that only pixels exceeding 5dB can contribute to the target function objective. Please note that the cell utilization or resource units are calculated considering the specified threshold, too. Note Only the pixels that exceed both the specified global or clutter based threshold and the lowest value in the modulation thresholds table are used for the calculation of the resource units and the target function objective. Usually you should use low thresholds to ensure the entire offered traffic is assigned to the cell. Noise figureSpecify the noise figure of the user equipment in dB with this input field. This will be used for interference calculation. Mobile total gainSpecify the total user equipment gain in dB (usually antenna gain minus body loss) in this input field. This will be used for the signal to interference calculation. Modulation thresholdsUse this button to edit the modulation parameters versus Eb/Nt or C/ (I+N) thresholds. The button opens a window with one line per Eb/Nt or C/I thresholdSpecify the signal to interference threshold for the modulation format. Thresholds must be ascending from top to the bottom of the table. Use the insert key on your keyboard to insert new rows or navigate to a new row at the bottom with the cursor keys. Bits per symbolSpecify the bits per modulation symbol for the threshold (e.g. 2 for QPSK/4QAM, 4 for 16-QAM, 6 for 64-QAM) Code rateSpecify the rate of the used coding scheme at that threshold (e.g. 0.33 for 1/3 rate codes, 0.5 for 1/2 rate codes). MIMO multiplexing gainSpecify the number of parallel MIMO streams the multiplexing scheme is able to transmit. Error ratioSpecify the ratio between 0 and 1 of re-transmitted packets to total packets for that threshold. The expression (1-ErrorRatio) will be multiplied to the other terms in that row.
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Load and Savethe modulation threshold table can be saved to a file using the "Save" button or loaded from a previously saved file using the "Load" button. Depending on the 9955 project, different files for bearer thresholds, MIMO gains, or error ratio values have been stored to the Optimization Environment while exporting the project. These files can be found in the RawData sub-folder of the environment. Coverage requirement fulfilledenable this checkbox if you want to maximize the area where the requirements for Ec/Io or C/(I+N) AND the coverage requirement are fulfilled. If multiple coverage targets are defined for the same network (see also Network settings) select the appropriate one from the presented list. Note From a practical point of view the enabled Coverage requirement fulfilled functionality means that you optimize the area where your optimization target is fulfilled AND the minimum coverage requirement is given. Please note that only the pixels fulfilling both criteria are used to calculate the cell's required resource units. Shortcuts and hot keys can be used to ensure a quick handling. Details are described in Shortcuts.
III.4.4
Optimization Targets 2G
Use this tab sheet to add, view, and modify the optimization targets chosen for the optimization process. The supported optimization targets are: Coverage - RX BCCH C/I - Carrier to Interference Ratio
Coverage Requirement
If a Coverage target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description The RX BCCH is a coverage target. It analyzes the received power of the Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH). In order to meet coverage requirements, especially indoor coverage requirements, a minimum received BCCH power is required.
Sufficient BCCH coverage is a necessary requirement to launch wireless services. The required received BCCH depends on the receiver sensitivity of the mobile handset. Requirements on the RX BCCH are often given for outdoor environments, since propagation models do not always take penetration losses into account directly. Therefore, in order to provide sufficient indoor coverage, the RX BCCH requirement might be higher for indoor areas. In the optimization targets you can set different requirements for various environments and clutters. Depending on the environment (deep indoor, indoor, outdoor, incar, etc.) typical values for the received BCCH are in the range of -60...-100dBm. Selecting RX BCCH as optimization target will result in improved BCCH coverage in your optimization area
Coverage BEFORE optimization
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according to your requirements. Optimizing for RX BCCH will: - Increase overall service area - Improve the coverage probability - Reduce the probability of coverage holes - Provide sufficient indoor coverage - Effectively increase the service availability area Coverage AFTER optimization Requirement The coverage requirements specify the threshold for the best RX BCCH power. For example, a coverage requirement of -90dBm means that the optimization area should exceed a received power of -90dBm after the optimization for as many pixels as possible taking into account the individual weights of the pixels (clutter weighting, traffic map weighting). Note Indoor losses are considered for this target, but mobile station antenna gain or body loss are not considered.
Uplink coverage
If an Uplink coverage target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description The up-link coverage target calculates the received signal power from a test mobile handset at the base station transmitter. The transmitted power of the handset is defined by selecting the terminal in the requirement section on the right-hand side of the tab sheet. If no terminal could be found in 9955, then the transmitted power and the mobile total gain must be defined in the given input fields. Indoor losses are considered.
C/I - Carrier to Interference Ratio

If a C/I target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description Carrier to interference ratio (C/I) is a 2G network quality target. More precisely, this optimization target should be called C/(I+A+N), since it considers all interference sources as well as the thermal noise. In order to reduce the interference in TDMA based access technologies and increase the C/I ratio, this type of target should be used. 9955 ACCO distinguishes different frequency bands (e.g. GSM-900, GSM-1800), but the GSM channels are not considered when analyzing the interference. It is assumed that all transmitters use exactly the same frequency. Hence, the analyzed C/I is a worst case scenario. The reason is that the C/I target shall be independent from a certain frequency plan, and, besides that, in frequency hopping GSM systems all transmitters will be mutual interferers.
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In TDMA systems the interference is mainly caused by co-channels operating at the same carrier frequency. This is indicated in the picture on the left hand side. The base stations with the same color transmit with the same carrier frequency. In the areas where two colors overlap, the co-channel interference is dominant and hence limits the system performance. Overlapping areas with different colors do not contribute to the co-channel interference. The co-channel interference hence depends on the implementation of the frequency plan. Frequency plans are computed to reduce the overall co-channel interference. It is well known that TDMA systems experience an additional gain by applying frequency hopping, i.e. interference diversity. In state of the art network equipment, frequency plans and frequency hopping pattern can be modified via software. This means they can be changed very rapidly. The aim of RF optimization for TDMA based access technologies hence is to minimize the likelihood of cochannel interference independent of the implemented frequency plan and hopping pattern. Optimizing for the carrier to interference ratio results in - Significantly lower co-channel interference - Reduced interference from far-off cells - Significant reduction of potential co-channel interference for a different frequency plan / hopping pattern - Clear structured cell borders - Clear and regular best server plots Since all potential interference sources, i.e. potential cochannel interferers are considered, the parameter optimization enables an improved performance for all possible frequency plans and hopping pattern. Network coverage area AFTER C/I optimization Problems that can not be solved by frequency planning alone will be fully addressed by the optimization of the RF configuration.
Network coverage area BEFORE C/I optimization
Requirement The requirements specify the threshold of the co-channel interference ratio. For example, a C/I requirement of 5dB means that as many pixels in the optimization area as possible should have a C/I ratio of more than 5dB after the optimization. Note Indoor losses and the mobile station noise figure is considered for this target, mobile station gain or body loss is not. Coverage requirement fulfilledenable this checkbox if you want to maximize the area where the requirements for the C/I AND the coverage requirement are fulfilled. If multiple coverage targets are defined for the same network (see also Network settings) select the appropriate one from the presented list.
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III.4.5
Optimization Targets TD-SCDMA

Use this tab sheet to add, view, and modify the optimization targets chosen for the optimization process. The supported optimization targets are: P-CCPCH Coverage Ec/Io
P-CCPCH - Coverage Requirement

If a Coverage target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description The P-CCPCH is a coverage target. In order to meet coverage requirements, especially indoor coverage requirements, a minimum received pilot power is required.
Sufficient P-CCPCH coverage is a necessary requirement to launch wireless TD-SCDMA services. The required received pilot depends on the receiver sensitivity of the mobile handset. Requirements on the P-CCPCH are often given for outdoor environments, since propagation models do not always take penetration losses into account directly. Therefore, in order to provide sufficient indoor coverage, the P-CCPCH requirement might be higher for indoor areas. Coverage BEFORE optimization In the optimization targets you can set different requirements for various environments and clutters. Depending on the environment (deep indoor, indoor, outdoor, incar, etc.) typical values for the received pilot are in the range of -70...-110dBm. Selecting P-CCPCH as optimization target will result in improved pilot coverage in your optimization area according to your requirements. Optimizing for P-CCPCH will: - Increase overall service area - Improve the coverage probability - Reduce the probability of coverage holes - Provide sufficient indoor coverage - Effectively increase the service availability area Coverage AFTER optimization Requirement The coverage requirements specify the threshold for the best RX pilot power. For example, a coverage requirement of -90dBm means that the optimization area should exceed a received power of -90dBm after the optimization for as many pixels as possible taking into account the individual weights of the pixels (clutter weighting, traffic map weighting).
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Ec/Io
If a Ec/Io target is not already defined, it can be created with the Add targets button (see also add optimization target). Description Ec/Io is both a network quality and a capacity objective. Ec/Io will be calculated as the ratio of the received pilot signal energy per chip and the received interference and noise. The downlink total powers of the transmitters for the interference calculation are take from timeslot 6. The higher Ec/Io is, the higher the service quality and the data rate, and the higher the overall system capacity will be.
A sufficient level of Ec/Io is a necessary requirement to provide services in TD-SCDMA networks. Typical values for required Ec/Io are in the range of -8...-15dB. The received Ec/Io at the mobile depends on both the transmitted pilot power, as well as the received interference from the entire network. Low Ec/Io area BEFORE optimization Since the base station transmit power is limited, Ec/Io depends on the interference produced by other base stations. The total interference thus depends on the downlink load of the individual interferers, this is their total transmit power. Optimizing for Ec/Io will harmonize the system load in the network. It balances the signal and interference contributions so that the requirements will be met wherever needed. Optimizing Ec/Io will result in: - Increased service availability - Higher possible data rates Low Ec/Io area AFTER optimization - Balanced network loads - Higher system capacity
Requirement The requirements specify the threshold of the Ec/Io. For example, a requirement of -15dB means that as many pixels in the optimization area as possible should have an Ec/Io ratio of more than 15dB after the optimization. Caution To verify the Ec/Io optimizations in 9955, some settings have to be considered. In the project Explorer go to Predictions, select the Pilot reception analysis (C/I), right click and select Properties. If it does not already exist, click New in the Predictions node and select Pilot reception analysis (C/I) to create such an analysis. In the Simulation tab of the Pilot reception analysis (C/I) properties dialog, the following settings have to be chosen: Carrier = "All" Reliability level = "50" (or disable the "Shadowing taken into account" check box) Disable the check box "Indoor Coverage" Terminalselect a terminal type for the probe for the Ec/Io analysis. The terminal influences the body loss and the maximum transmit power. Mobilityselect a mobility for the probe for the Ec/Io or C/(I+N) analysis.
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Serviceselect a service for the probe for the Ec/Io analysis. The service influences the data rate and the maximum service power. Caution Note that Terminal, Mobility, and Service of the probe have to be identical to the settings chosen within 9955 if you want to compare the results before and after optimization. Otherwise the analysis in 9955 and the optimization in 9955 ACCO will differ! You can find the settings within 9955 under > Explorer > Predictions > right-click the prediction including the Pilot reception analysis (Ec/Io) > Properties > Simulation. Coverage requirements fulfilledenable this checkbox if you want to maximize the area where the requirements for Ec/Io AND the coverage requirement are fulfilled. If multiple coverage targets are defined for the same network (see also Network settings) select the appropriate one from the presented list.
Note From a practical point of view the enabled Coverage requirement fulfilled functionality means that you optimize the area where your optimization target is fulfilled AND the minimum coverage requirement is given. For this, you do not even have to optimize for coverage explicitly (set the weight of the coverage target to zero).
III.4.6
Traffic Weighting
In order to provide network coverage and performance where it is needed most, i.e. were the traffic is, 9955 ACCO considers a given traffic density map for the weighting of the importance of that area. In order to do so, a traffic map has to be loaded for the optimization in 9955 ACCO. This traffic density map and the associated traffic weighting can then be applied for each individual optimization target. Note that you can load separate weighting maps for each target if required.
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The traffic maps should represent absolute or relative traffic measures, such as traffic density in Erlangs, average number of users, or any other proper measure. For the optimization these weights represent the importance of the optimization target as overall objective for the optimization process. The traffic maps show that the traffic density is distributed in a highly inhomogeneous way. In the city centre the traffic density is high per bin (dark areas), while in the surrounding areas of this city the traffic density is less (almost white areas). A weight of "0" means that the performance measure is not considered at all in the optimization. The total optimization target results as the superposition (weighted addition) of the individual targets.
Basic principle of Traffic Density Weighting

The traffic density weighting of the importance of the different areas, based on the available traffic map is schematically described below.
The optimization target might be described in (1), e.g. coverage. The traffic map incorporates different density values for each pixel (2). The traffic weighted coverage map then shows the important pixels (weights) for the coverage based on the given traffic map (3).
In this example the pixels in map 1 (upper left) are all equally weighted. If we assume that this map represents coverage, it means that each pixel has the same importance and hence delivers the same contribution to the overall coverage probability. In the lower left corner (2) the different pixels have different values. In case that traffic maps are used, such a map would represent the traffic density in Erlangs, average number of users, or any other proper measure. The importance of the map is that there are areas where there is a higher traffic value, and areas where there is a lower traffic value. According to these traffic values it is of importance to an operator to provide service coverage there where it is needed most.
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In order to apply the traffic weighting to a specific optimization target, 9955 ACCO provides the possibility to load traffic maps and to apply them individually to each optimization target. The result is that the weighted optimization target is the pixel per pixel multiplication of the overall optimization weight for a specific optimization target and the actual value of the traffic map. This is shown schematically in the figure above on the right hand side (3). For example: If we consider the map in the upper left corner as the coverage requirement, we can then multiply these requirements with the traffic map and the result is the weighted coverage target. With this the optimization algorithms in 9955 ACCO will ensure that the best performance is reached for those areas (pixels) where the importance is highest.
III.4.7
Captured Traffic and Traffic Sharing

Use the Captured Traffic settings to limit the maximum captured traffic of cells. Please refer to Traffic map settings and traffic limits for details on editing traffic limits. Please refer to Traffic settings in target functions for using traffic maps in the context of target functions.
Description
Basically, the captured traffic is calculated once per network (if required), based on the best server footprint plot and using a traffic density map. In order to consider the captured traffic during the optimization, a traffic density map has to be included in the optimization. This can be done by loading a traffic map in the Project Specification or individually for a network layer in Networks and parameters. Based on this traffic density map, 9955 ACCO then computes how much traffic occurs in the footprint of each sector. The captured traffic of a sector is the accumulation of the traffic map pixels over the cell's footprint; the size of the pixels is considered. Therefore, in order to provide useful results and be independent from different resolutions, the traffic map data should be given as an areal density map, e.g. Erlangs / km2, Users / km2, (KBits/s) / km2, etc.
Caution 9955 ACCO does not check the unit of the traffic map data. If the unit is not a density unit, then the result can be strongly depending on the resolution. A maximum traffic value can be defined on a sector by sector and/or site by site basis. During the network optimization, these maximum traffic limits per site/sector are considered. If the captured traffic of a site/sector exceeds its limit, the optimization algorithms will modify the network parameters so that this overload is mitigated as good as possible. Note The captured traffic limits are soft limits rather than hard limits. There are cases where cell overloads cannot be avoided. In any case, 9955 ACCO will always try to limit cell overloads as
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much as possible on average, while considering all other constraints as well (area depending weights, etc.). The effect of considering the captured traffic in the optimization is: Possibility to balance the load between different sectors Mitigation of overloaded sectors Trade-off between interference reduction and cell size. Small cells minimize interference. However, if the surrounding cells become overloaded as a result of capturing the traffic originally captured by the reduced cell, balance will be restored by enlarging the cell again. Consideration of the actual traffic demand in the network Consideration of the hardware capabilities of the individual sectors
Captured Traffic for multiple Systems

In case that multiple systems are planned and optimized jointly in 9955 ACCO, multiple traffic maps can be considered for the individual networks. Refer to Networks and parameters to learn how to load individual traffic maps per network. Using multiple traffic maps enables to examine the captured traffic individually per radio technology. The sector specific traffic limits can be defined separately for 2G and 3G radio technologies in 9955 ACCO. An example is schematically described below:
The best server footprints for both the 2G and the 3G radio networks, which share a multi band antenna in this case, capture a certain traffic per sector. In 9955 ACCO, a maximum traffic for each sector can be defined for each individual technology. This allows the consideration of the maximum traffic in each technology separately during the planning and optimization process.
Traffic sharing
This function has an impact on the way the captured traffic is calculated. Usually, the captured traffic is calculated for the network layer using a traffic density map, which is either defined in the Project specification window or individually for the network in the Network settings window. Networks can be defined to share traffic (at least 2 and up to all networks defined in the project). This is managed in the Network settings window. Note that for this function to be available, all involved networks must define maximum captured traffic limits for each sector. The networks which shall share traffic, have to be ordered by rank. There is a dialog available for the definition of the ranks of the involved networks. It is opened by using the button. The captured traffic of each involved network is calculated based on the same traffic map starting with the rank 1 network. Consequently, the rank 1 network uses the traffic map itself for the captured traffic analysis. Based on its maximum captured traffic limits, the traffic remaining after network 1 is calculated and temporarily stored in a virtual traffic map for the rank 2 network. Network 2 uses this virtual traffic map for the captured traffic analysis and subsequently stores
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the remaining traffic in another virtual traffic map for network 3 (if required) using its maximum captured traffic limits. This process is continued up to the highest ranked network. Note that traffic sharing only makes sense, if at least one target function uses Apply captured traffic limits. This target function must use the highest ranked network, otherwise shared traffic analysis for this network is not required. 9955 ACCO throws an error if these conditions are not met. Caution If more than a single focus zone is used (e.g. when the data is loaded from several optimization environments), make sure the focus zones of the networks involved in traffic sharing are identical. Otherwise, a proper operation of the traffic sharing calculation cannot be guaranteed.
III.5
III.5.1
Optimization Options and Constraints

Optimization Options
Use this tab to view and manipulate a number of options for the optimization process.
Optimization strategy
Use this section to define the strategy for the automated optimization. You can either maximize the performance for given resources including available budget, time and infrastructure, or you can optimize to achieve a required optimization target for minimum costs. Maximize optimization targetselect this option to maximize the optimization target as defined in the optimization target tab. This assumes that the resources in terms of the number of base stations/sectors are given. Achieve optimization target while minimizing...select this option to achieve a certain percentage of the optimization target. For example, if only the coverage requirement (RX pilot) is set in the optimization target, the aim is to satisfy that coverage requirement for, e.g. 95% of the area. The result will then be the required infrastructure in order to achieve this. On top of that, the ultimate goal of the optimization is to achieve the optimization target, or a percentage of it, by minimizing the resources required to achieve that. This includes: minimizing the number of SITES to modifyselect this option to achieve the defined optimization target while minimizing the number of sites that need to be modified. minimizing the implementation COSTSselect this option to achieve the defined optimization target while minimizing the costs for implementing the modifications to the network. This includes both the activation costs for new base stations and cells (sectors), as well as the costs for parameter modifications of the existing infrastructure (if any available). minimizing the implementation TIMEselect this option to achieve the defined optimization target while minimizing the time required to implement the modifications in the network. This includes the time required for site preparation and infrastructure installation for new base stations and cells (sectors), as well as the additional time for parameter modifications of the existing infrastructure (if any available). Examples Network roll-out at MINIMUM COST The area where a service coverage should be provided is given (optimization area). 95% of the area should receive a minimum pilot coverage level of, e.g. -85dBm. A number of potential sites (existing 2G base stations) can be used as potential 3G base stations. The costs for the installation of a 3 sector base station is known. The question is: What is the minimum cost for the roll-out that satisfies the 95% coverage probability at -85dBm. Solution: Use the inactive sites for your potential network deployment. Define the coverage target of -85dBm in the optimization target tab. Select the Try to achieve 95% of maximum optimization target value while minimizing COSTS option. 9955 ACCO will
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automatically provide the list of sites that should be activated. It will also provide the best parameter configuration for all sectors. Network extension for MINIMUM COST Additional areas need to be covered; higher network capacity is required; better indoorcoverage needs to be provided. For this, a number of base stations already exist. The question is how should the network be extended or modified in order to reach the new performance requirement at minimum cost. Solution: Within the mix of already active and inactive sectors, define the optimization targets. Select the Try to achieve [ ]% of maximum optimization target value while minimizing COSTS option. 9955 ACCO will then automatically provide the list of sites that should be activated. It will also provide the best parameter configuration for all sectors, both the newly activated as well as the existing ones. The objective however is to provide the solution at minimum costs. MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE for given resources The resources (budget, base station equipment, transmitters, ect.) are given. The objective is to squeeze the network in order to get the maximum performance in return of the existing investment. Solution: Select the optimization target in the optimization target tab. Select the Maximize optimization target option in order to get the best performance of the network. Caution This optimization strategy requires the generation of an implementation plan.
Implementation plan
Use this section to enable the calculation of an implementation plan for the suggested parameter modifications in the optimization process. The implementation plan will provide an ordered list of parameter modifications. It can be ordered so that the implementation will ensure that the most significant changes can be done first. It also makes sure that the overall network performance will improve during the implementation of the individual changes. Generate implementation planenable the check box to provide the implementation plan after the optimization. The implementation plan will be delivered as part of the optimization report file (see also View Report). Note To learn more about the implementation plan, effects of the limited availability of sites/sectors/ equipment and the impact of other individual constraints, please see Implementation Plan Details.
Suggested implementation sequence highest TOTAL gain firstselect this option to generate the implementation plan in such a way that the parameter modification with the highest gain will be implemented first. The parameter modification with the lowest impact on the total optimization target will be implemented last. highest gain PER COST firstselect this option to generate the implementation plan in such a way that the parameter modification with the highest gain - compared to the associated costs it is generating - will be implemented first. The parameter modification with the lowest gain versus costs will be implemented last. highest gain PER TIME firstselect this option to generate the implementation plan in such a way that the parameter modification with the highest gain - compared to the time that is required to implement it - will be implemented first. The parameter modification with the lowest gain versus required time will be implemented last. Include Dates in Implementation Planenable this check box to consider absolute dates in for the generation of the implementation plan. For a more detailed description please see Implementation Plan Details.
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Implementation starting datethis drop down calender is only visible if the Include Dates in Implementation Plan check box is enabled. If this is the case you can then select the date when the implementation plan should start. Available manpowerthis data field is only visible if the Include Dates in Implementation Plan check box is enabled. You can define the amount of manpower available per week. This value is given in man-days/week and represents an AVERAGE number for the working power available per week. The available manpower should also include public holidays as well as weekends. Examples 1 "average" person, 250 working days a year (49 weeks 5 days - 3 weeks holidays) gives an average number of about 4.7man-days/week. 3 "average" people give about 3-times the manpower of a single person, i.e. 14.1 mandays/week External consulting work can be ordered up to a certain workload of X man-days/week See also Implementation Plan Details Note The following points should be considered when defining the average manpower available: Average working days per person vary between different countries and companies, especially if they are project related External support teams have a different behaviour in terms of available manpower. It might just be expressed in cash costs, rather than time consumption. The amount of holidays vary from country to country Public holidays should be considered in the definition of the average available manpower For a more detailed description please see Implementation Plan Details. Calculate result plots for individual implementation plan steps enable this checkbox to compute the different plots for the visualization of the implementation plan steps in 9955 ACCO Inspector. For further details please also see how to visualize the different Implementation Plan steps. Caution For very large networks with a high resolution and many sites involved in the optimization process, this option will take some time, and it can require a lot of memory in order to handle all plots for the implementation plan steps!
Parameter constraints
Use this tab to view and manipulate a parameter constraints for the optimization process. Optimization precision - Mechanical tiltUse this box to view and modify the granularity of the mechanical tilt changes allowed during the optimization process. Optimization precision - PilotUse this box to view and modify the granularity of the power changes allowed during the optimization process. Optimization precision - AzimuthUse this box to view and modify the granularity of the azimuth changes allowed during the optimization process. Note If "0" is entered in the fields for the individual optimization precisions, no constraints to the parameter values apply. Minimum angle between neighbouring cell azimuthsIn case that Azimuth optimization is enabled, a minimum angle separation between two sectors (cells) at the same site can be required. This is sometimes necessary due to construction-conditioned antenna deployment.
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Activation mode
Use this section to select the activation mode for your optimization. Note Starting with 9955 ACCO 4.0, CELL activation mode is replaced by LEVEL activation mode. CELL activation modeselect this option to activate inactive transmitters on a transmitter by transmitter basis. If CELL activation mode is selected, the number of transmitters to activate can be limited. SITE activation modeselect this option to activate inactive transmitters on a site by site basis. This means that all cells/transmitters on a site will be activated jointly. If one or more, e.g. 2 out of 3, cells are already active at a particular site, the site activation mode will activate all remaining cells/transmitters. Cells already active prior to activation will remain active. If the SITE activation mode is selected, the number of sites to activate can be limited. LEVEL activation modeselect this option to activate inactive transmitters on a site, where all transmitters belonging to the same network layer will be activated jointly but independently from transmitters of other network layers on the same site. Use this mode if you want to activate one or more network layers on a site by site basis. It is in particular useful for site sharing analysis to find out which sites to share between different layers (like e.g. different operators). Cells/ transmitters already active prior to activation will remain active. If the LEVEL activation mode is selected, the number of sites to activate can be limited.
Resource constraints
Use this section to define the resource constraints limiting the optimization process. Resource limits Use this section to define the maximum cost and time budgets that limit the number of modifications in the optimization process. The optimization will consider both costs and time required to implement the individual parameter modifications. The individual costs and time parameters can be set for each sector in the cost and time parameters section of the Optimization ranges tab. Default values for the cost and time parameters are defined in the Range Defaults tab of the Options dialog box. limit total COSTSenable the check box to limit the optimization by the costs for the implementation of the individual modifications. The individual costs for each modification are defined in the parameter settings in the Optimization Ranges tab. COSTS limituse this field to enter the maximum budget assigned to the optimization of the current optimization project. The currency for the cost data is defined in the General tab of the Options dialog box. As default value the currency defined in the Regional and Language Options in the Windows Control Panel is used. limit total TIMEenable the check box to limit the optimization by the time required for the implementation of the individual modifications. The individual time requirements for each modification are defined in the parameter settings in the Optimization Ranges tab. TIME limituse this field to enter the maximum time budget assigned to the optimization of the current optimization project. The unit name for time data is defined as man-days. Note To learn more about the impact of resource constraints on the optimization result and the implementation plan, please see Implementation Plan Details. Activation limits Use this section to define the maximum number of sites that limit the activation process during the optimization. limit number of SITES to activateenable the check box to limit the number of sites available for activation during the optimization process. This constraint is only visible if the SITE activation
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mode is selected. SITES limituse this field to enter the maximum number of sites that can be activated during the optimization. limit number of CELLS to activateenable the check box to limit the number of cells available for activation during the optimization process. This constraint is only visible if the CELL activation mode is selected. CELLS limituse this field to enter the maximum number of cells that can be activated during the optimization. Examples for the activation constraints are: Constrained to 10 sites: The optimization is limited by the joint activation of the cells on a maximum of 10 sites in total. The order of the per-site activations is shown in the implementation plan. Constrained to 15 cells: The optimization is limited by the individual activation of 15 cells. This can be on a maximum of 15 sites (one cell per site each). The order of the per-cell activations is shown in the implementation plan. Note To learn more about the impact of activation constraints on the optimization result and the implementation plan, please see Implementation Plan Details.
III.5.2
Implementation plan details

The implementation plan provides an ordered list of parameter modifications. It can be ordered so that the parameter modifications will be implemented in order to ensure that the most significant changes can be done first. It also makes sure that the overall network performance will improve during the implementation of the individual changes. In this section you find Understanding Availability Restrictions Examples General Remarks
Availability restrictions
Availability restrictions have a major impact on the implementation plan. It does not make sense to optimize the configuration and the best implementation of a site into a network, if we do not know when this site will be available. Only when the site is available it can be considered in the process of improving the network performance. Definition of availability restrictions In the activation section in the Optimization Ranges you can define the availability restrictions of any individual transmitter considered for the radio network optimization. To each transmitter an availability date can be applied. The site availability is given on an absolute time scale. Using dates in the implementation plan In order to consider the absolute availability dates for the generation of the implementation plan, you need to enable the Include date in the implementation plan check box in the Optimization Options tab. 9955 ACCO will then automatically consider the absolute dates for the best implementation of the modifications in the network.
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Examples In order to get a better understanding of the elapsed time feature in the implementation plan, please see the examples below: Example 1 Implementation plan with availability restrictions Assume that we have 5 different sites available for a network cluster. All of them will be available within a time frame of e.g. 3 weeks (beginning of W1 till end of W3). The blue and the red as well as the green and the pink site are available at the same time. All of these sites require certain resources to be implemented, i.e. time required to install, activate and modify the sites, costs, etc. These parameters are defined in the Optimization Ranges. When enabling the Include date in the implementation plan check box in the Optimization Options tab, the implementation plan will look like shown below. It includes the following information: If sites are available at the same time, 9955 ACCO will implement the most effective one (according to the setting for the implementation plan - see the description of the implementation plan settings in the Optimization Options tab). In the example the blue site is obviously more effective and hence implemented first. A site can only be implemented/modified once it is available. After finalizing the implementation of the blue site the yellow site is still not available. Hence, it can not be implemented (whether it is more effective than the red one or not is a different question). If no sites are available, nothing can be implemented. Hence, there is a hole in the implementation plan after the finalization of the implementation of the yellow site until new sites are available. Caution This means that the starting date for the implementation time PLUS the time it takes to implement the network modifications does not give the completion date of the modifications in the implementation time!
As long as the available time resources are larger than the time it takes to implement the modifications, ALL changes can be implemented. The constraints are not limited to time resources, any other constraints like number of available sites, or costs are considered as well. The available time does not need to be consumed en block, i.e. the resources available can be split into several projects separated by times where no implementations are done. Example 2 Implementation plan when all sites are available
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Assume that we consider the same network scenario as in Example 1. The difference however is that all sites are available from the very beginning, i.e. they are available before the completion of the integration/modification of the first site. By selecting the option Include date in the implementation plan all site availability restrictions are considered. However, practically no restrictions will appear in the implementation plan due to the fact that all sites are available from the start.
The conclusions from this example are: The time from the start of the implementation to the completion date will be the same as the required time resources needed for the implementation. The alignment of the difference between start and completion time in the implementation plan and the required resources and also happen if no availability restriction occurs after the completion of a single site. This means that as long as there are sites available that should be build, the time will be aligned. Example 3 Implementation plan with limited resources Assume that the scenario is the same as in Example 1. Sites will be available within a time frame of about 3 weeks. According to the requirements defined in 9955 ACCO the different sites will be implemented. The difference in this example however is the amount of resources available to complete the site activation/implementation/modification. The limitation in the available resources leads to the following conclusions: Resource limitations can be available time, costs, equipment, number of sites, number of sectors, etc. If the overall resources required to implement all of the suggested modifications is larger than the amount of resources available, the implementation plan will limit the number of modifications so that all available resources are not exceeded. In case of multiple limitations, e.g. available cost budget and time budget, the constraint exceeded first will be the limiting factor The available time does not need to be consumed en block, i.e. the resources available can be split into several projects separated by times where no implementations are done.
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General remarks
A number of general remarks for the use of the implementation plan with availability restrictions and resource constraints. In the Optimization Ranges the time required to activate/implement/modify a particular site/ sector/parameter is given in man-days. The time resources are given in man-days per week. Therefore, the time it takes to implement a modification in the implementation plan is caluculated as o Required Calendar WEEKS = man-days (required) / available man-power (man-days/ week) o Required Calendar DAYS = Required Calendar WEEKS * 7 o Completion DATE = Starting date + Required Calendar DAYS o The direct consequences of this scheme are: Weekends do not represent non-working days. Public holidays do not represent non-working days. The completion date can be any day, including Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays The completion date should not be interpreted as an exact date, but rather as a good estimate.
III.6
III.6.1
Optimization Run
Optimization Run
Use this tab to set optimization options and start the network optimization process.
Options
Optimization Modeuse this slider to control the compromise between optimization speed and optimization accuracy. The key objectives of the options on the Optimization Mode slider are as follows: Fastachieve good optimization results within a very short time frame. This end of the Optimization Mode slider places an emphasis on optimization speed. Advancedachieve the best achievable solution. This end of the Optimization Mode slider places an emphasis on optimization accuracy.
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The best results are obtained when optimizing in Advanced mode with the finest possible simulation resolution. Note For a more detailed description see optimization mode details
Simulation Resolutionchoose from this menu the grid (pixel) resolution to use during the optimization process. Choosing a higher simulation resolution yields a smaller grid cell (pixel) size and delivers more accurate results. Four simulation resolutions are available, based on the initial resolution set for the export of the 9955 ACCO optimization environment. For example, based on a 30m resolution chosen for the export, the following optimization resolutions are available. 30m64 runtime units 60m16 runtime units 120m4 runtime units 240m1 runtime units
Note The above figure indicates the impact of the resolution on the optimization speed and memory requirement. The difference between 30m and 240m grid resolution results in a ratio of optimization times of 64:1 when pixel based results are of interest, i.e. for all results based on coverage plots! In the same way the different grid resolutions influence the amount of memory used for the optimization. Caution Especially for large area radio networks - including a few x 1000km2 - we highly recommend to start the optimization with a coarse resolution to save calculation time! The progress shown in Progress tab is based on the simulation resolution chosen for the optimization. Since the simulation resolution in the 9955 project might be different, the estimated progress might be different depending on the chosen simulation resolution. In case that the simulation resolution chosen in 9955 ACCO is larger than the used analysis resolution in the 9955project, the indicated optimization gains in the Progress tab will deviate from the optimization gain when verified in 9955 directly. This means that the improvement of the optimization speed comes along with the reduced optimization accuracy. 9955 ACCO can not use simulation resolutions finer than the resolution used for generating the according pathloss prediction in the 9955 project. Note To make sure that the resolutions for the predictions within 9955 and the optimization are the same, you will have to check the resolution in 9955. To find out what analysis resolution in 9955 is, right click on the Predictions in the Data tab of the 9955 Explorer. Select Properties and you can see the Default resolution in the Predictions tab.
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Low Process Priorityenable this check box to decrease the priority of the optimization engine. With low priority the optimization runs in the background and only uses idle resources on the machine. Use this option when optimizing a network while working in 9955 or any other application. Remove pathloss values > ...dBUse this option to reduce the size of the pathloss data in memory while the optimization is running. 9955 ACCO will find the smallest possible rectangle for each pathloss matrix only containing pathloss values smaller than the given threshold. The threshold can be defined in the Tools/Options menu. Select the threshold carefully to avoid removing areas of the pathloss file which might be important for the network simulation. The default value for the threshold is 165dB. If an optimization uses too much memory to fit into the physical RAM of the computer, enable this check-box to minimize the memory demand. Limit memory usagelimits RAM use to a user defined or automatically selected amount (based on current optimization settings). This may help to avoid 9955 ACCO from needing to swap from memory to disk in cases where more than one optimization is run concurrently on the same machine. The closer the limit is to the recommended amount, the better the optimization performance. The automatically selected value is the average of the minimum and the recommended memory (cf. below). Compute initial statewill simulate the network and evaluate all the defined target functions for the initial network configuration only without doing an optimization. Use it to analyze the network, check if the used parameters and target function settings are correct, or get captured traffic numbers from the Excel report file. In case of site activations, the initial state is calculated with all transmitters turned on. Start Optimizationclick this button to start the optimization process. Staring optimization includes copying relevant data and initializing network optimization.
Memory requirements
9955 ACCO uses smart memory management to run very large area optimizations. This section shows the amount of memory required for the optimization parameters (size of the area, resolution, ...) you have set. It is assumed that no other applications with major memory requirements are running at the same time. Overviewan overview of memory requirement details, made up of processthis field displays the minimum physical memory that is required to run the optimization process OSthis field displays the assumed memory occupied by the operating system (OS) machinethis field displays the total required memory necessary to run the optimization on this machine. minimum versus recommendedthe difference between minimum and recommended is that data compression is used for the minimum requirement. In case of recommended, the required data is uncompressed and hence no performance degradation (slower optimization) occurs. If more memory is available more data will be kept in caches and the optimization will be even faster. Memory requirement messagesthis field displays warnings and error messages, if the machine does not fulfill the memory requirements. A warning will occur if the physical memory on the machine is below the for best performance memory requirement An error message will occur if the physical memory on the machine is below the minimum memory requirement Caution If the minimum required memory is not available, the optimization can not be started. In that case you can do the following:
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Use a coarser simulation resolution. Increase the amount of physical memory in your machine. Reduce the size of the optimization area (focus zone) within your project. Note While the optimization settings are defined, the 9955 ACCO optimization environment is created in the background. During that process you will see the message: "Optimization Environment is currently being created in the background. Waiting for memory requirements...". You can either wait until the optimization environment is generated, or you can start the optimization by clicking the Start Optimization button. In case of the latter, 9955 ACCO will show you the following message box:
This means that 9955 ACCO has to wait until the creation of optimization environment is completed. However, you can launch the optimization in the meantime and it will automatically start when the optimization environment is completed.
III.6.2
Optimization Mode Details

Optimization Gain versus Time
The different optimization modes allow the user to control the compromise between optimization speed and optimization gain that can be achieved.
This compromise depends on the actual network behaviour, the optimization environment, the optimization targets, the resolution of the prediction files and other influencing factors.
Iterative Optimization
The optimization algorithms in 9955 ACCO include a number of methods to analyze and optimize the overall network behaviour. Based on the analysis the algorithms determine probabilities and hypotheses for expected performance improvements. These hypothesis are evaluated and confirmed in an iterative process by network simulations.
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This iterative process uses a number of different methods to investigate the potential of the improvement of the network. For each iteration stage the proprietary optimization algorithms are applied. Based on the result of the individual iteration stage, a subsequent iteration stage is started. This iteration process can be terminated when the convergence criterion is fulfilled. Typically this convergence criterion is either a maximum number of iteration stages, or by a minimum level for the performance improvement per iteration stage. If the improvement per iteration stage is lower than this minimum required improvement, the optimization converged and hence the iteration process terminates. Convergence criteria 9955 ACCO incorporates the following convergence criteria for the different optimization modes: Fastterminates after a maximum number of iteration runs. Advancedterminates after satisfying performance based convergence criteria. The best results are obtained when optimizing in Advanced mode with the finest possible simulation resolution. However, this mode will require the highest optimization time. Therefore, it is recommended to start with the Fast mode.
III.6.3
Optimization Warnings
In some cases it might happen that warnings are generated during an optimization, if this is the case a yellow warning sign is displayed in the status bar and the text new warnings occured flashes.
To view the warning details, double click on the icon or text message, hit F9 or choose Tools > Warnings in the main menu. The text message will then stop flashing until new warnings occur.
Warning Window
The warning window displays a hierarchical view of the different warnings.
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Tree viewThe warnings are displayed in hierarchical order. Usually the details are not expanded to provide a fast overview, click on the plus button to view all the warning items. If you select an item, the date and time of the first occurance and the detail text are displayed. Only new warningsIf this box is checked, only new warnings (that have occured since the warning window was closed the last time) are displayed. Uncheck this option to view all warnings. Datedisplays the selected warning's first occurance time stamp. Textdisplays the selected warning's detail information. The text might be easier to read in this formatted field than in the tree view.
III.7
III.7.1
Optimization Progress and Results

Optimization Progress
Use this tab to monitor the optimization progress.
Progress
Progress Barthis bar displays the overall advance of the optimization process. Stopclick this button to terminate the optimization at any time. If you click Stop after the9955 ACCO has found an improved network state, you will be able to export the intermediate result. View reportclick this button to view the optimization report file. This button is only available after the optimization is complete. When an optimization was terminated by clicking Stop, the result files can be generated, and a report file for the intermediate result can be viewed. Note To view the optimization report, Microsoft Excel or a compatible viewer is required. The optimization report file stores all relevant information regarding the optimization process as well as the implementation plan. Note If the optimization is terminated by the STOP button in the Progress tab, no implementation plan is generated. The implementation plan can only be computed if the optimization is completed successfully. Otherwise an intermediate state would be the result that does not
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satisfy the requirements of the implementation plan. For further details see View optimization report. Visualize Resultsclick this button to view the optimization results before and after the optimization, as well as each individual step in the implementation plan in 9955 ACCO Inspector. This button is only available after the optimization is complete. When an optimization was terminated by clicking Stop, the result files can be generated, and a report file for the intermediate result can be viewed. For further details see 9955 ACCO Inspector.
Target function
Use this section to view information about the advance of each optimization target value. The target function values are shown for the different optimization targets described in the Optimization Target tab. Only those target function values are displayed that have a weight higher than zero, or - if the weight is zero - the compute target value during optimization check box is enabled in the Optimization Target tab. Init (Raw)this column displays the initial value of the selected optimization targets that fulfilled the target requirement prior to optimization. The initial area satisfying the particular optimization target is shown, independent of the weight assigned for this optimization target, i.e. raw. Curr (Raw)this column displays the current value of the selected optimization targets that fulfill the target requirement during the optimization. The current value satisfying the particular optimization target is shown, independent of the weight assigned for this optimization target, i.e. raw. Max (Raw)this column displays the maximum value of the selected optimization targets that could theoretically satisfy the target requirement within the optimization area. Weightthis column displays how the individual optimization objectives are weighted and summed up to the total target value. Note If the optimization target uses clutter based optimization weights, this will be indicated by "*CLT" in the weights column. Traffic map weighting will be indicated by "*TRF". As an example: Overall weight = 5 and clutter weights are applied on top of that, the value in the Weight column will be "5*CLT". Init (Weighted)this column displays the initial value of the selected optimization targets that fulfilled the target requirement prior to optimization, weighted by the individual clutter and area dependent optimization weights and normalized to the target function's weight. Curr (Weighted)this column displays the current value of the selected optimization targets that fulfill the target requirement during the optimization, weighted by the individual clutter and area dependent optimization weights and normalized to the target function's weight. This current value represents the resulting performance improvement achieved by the optimization process. Therefore, it is highlighted in bold numbers. Max (Weighted)this column displays the maximum value of the selected optimization targets that could theoretically satisfy the target requirement within the optimization area, weighted by the individual clutter and area dependent optimization weights. Due to the normalization to the target function's weight the value is identical to the weight. Note The weighted values are normalized to the target function's weight to balance the influence of different target function types, clutter weighting and traffic map weighting. This means that for example all target functions with weight 1 have the same weighted maximum of 1, regardless if there is a traffic map with an average of 0.001 Erl/km or clutter weights of 1000. Note The weighted values can be calculated as
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Init (Weighted) = Init (Raw) / Max(Raw) * Weight Curr (Weighted) = Curr (Raw) / Max(Raw) * Weight Max (Weighted) = Max (Raw) / Max(Raw) * Weight = Weight. Increase Relativethis column displays the performance improvement relative to the value that initially fulfilled the requirement. Example Assume a total optimization area of 100 km and an initial area fulfilling the coverage requirement of 80 km. An increase of 10 km then equals an improvement of 12.5% compared to the original area of 80 km. Therefore, 100km equals "1", where 80km equals "0.8", as the numbers are all normalized for comparison reasons. If the optimization weight is "2", then 100km equals "2". Note With this method the maximum improvement that can be reached is limited by 25% (20km on top of 80km initially), since the total optimization area is limited to 100 km. Increase Absolutethis column displays the performance improvement of the potential improvement in normalized numbers, as well as percentages of the maximum achievable value. Note If the optimization target uses clutter based optimization weights, there is no longer a single "maximum" value fulfilling the requirement. There are now as many "maximum" values as there are clutter classes. To display all of these values would be confusing and therefore, NO maximum value is displayed. With no maximum value available, the absolute increase (as percentage of what could be achieved) is not possible. Total Target Valuethe bottom line of the target function section displays the TOTAL TARGET VALUE improvement due to the optimization process. The total target value is the weighted sum of the individual optimization targets. Note The values shown in the progress tab in 9955 ACCO can slightly differ from the results shown in the report in 9955. The relative deviation of the results is typically much less than a percent. Reasons for this deviation are different calculations of the optimization areas, i.e. which pixel at the border is considered to be in or outside the optimization area, and different simulation resolutions. In case that a much rougher resolution is used in 9955 ACCO than in 9955, the size of the border pixels supports the uncertainty of the "which pixel is in or out" calculation. Performance Chartthis chart displays the advance in the total target value over time. The time frame for the display of the progress is set in the General tab of the Option dialog box. The color of the graph indicates different phases of the optimization process, network analysis and parameter optimization, cost/time optimized analysis and modifications and calculation of the implementation plan. Optimization Logthis window displays information and warning messages generated by the optimization engine.
III.7.2
View Report
By clicking the View report button in the Progress tab, you can view the optimization report file. This button is only available after the optimization is completed. When an optimization was terminated by clicking Stop, the result files can be generated, and a report file for the intermediate result can be viewed. Note To view the optimization report, Microsoft Excel or a compatible viewer is required. The optimization report file stores all relevant information regarding the optimization process, which includes the following spreadsheets:
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Optimization settings Sector information Network settings Optimization ranges Results overview Optimized Network Implementation plan Improvement diagrams Warnings
The optimization settings spreadsheet includes all relevant optimization settings such as, but not limited to: Input parameters like optimization environment or traffic maps Result parameters like output files Optimization settings like targets and constraints
Sector information
Sector specific parameters are shown. Note that some of the fields might not be populated depending on the technology or Sector name, technology, network layer Used DL cell load GSM neighbor list input parameter Captured traffic limit, captured traffic before and after the optimization in units of the used traffic map x km2 Resource usage in % of the total available resource units Inter-system handover initial and optimized This is an ordered list of cells indicating the most frequent inter-system handovers and the fraction of handovers to that specific cell in %.
Network settings
This page shows all input parameters of the tab sheet Network settings in the GUI.
Optimization Ranges
The optimization ranges spreadsheet includes all parameter settings for the optimization: Parameters allowed for modifications Parameter ranges Initial settings Costs and time required for the implementation of the modifications
Results overview
The results overview provides information about Number and type of parameter modifications
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The required costs and time Analysis and improvements of the used target functions Additional information about the computer and the run-time
Optimized Network
The optimized network spreadsheet includes the values for the optimization parameters for each sector by means of: Original value Optimized value Difference between original and optimized value
Implementation Plan
The implementation plan is only available if its calculation was enabled in the optimization options . The implementation plan provides an ordered list of parameter modifications. It can be ordered so that the parameter modifications will be implemented to ensure that the most significant changes can be done first. It also makes sure that the overall network performance improves from step to step during the implementation of the individual changes. The implementation plan displays the different steps that have to be made. For each step the site and the sectors are shown where parameter modifications should be implemented. Of course, the associated parameter modifications are shown as well. Furthermore, the overall optimization target is listed, as well as the costs and time required to do the implementation for the ordered list of parameter changes. In addition to the parameter changes, the performance of the individual optimization targets (i.e. coverage, quality, etc.) is shown as well. With this the user can get a very good picture of what should be implemented first and how it influences the overall network performance. Since the implementation plan is provided in Microsoft Excel, you can use all available Excel features to manipulate and display the data. For example you can easily AUTO-FILTER the first column of the implementation plan to get a good overview in case of very large networks. The implementation plan therefore provides a number of categories so that you can easily use this functionality. You can also create charts, graphs and statistics very easily. An interesting graph of course is to display the overall target function versus the costs. Depending on the network implementation you can analyze for example if it is worth while to invest more money for optimization or if you could gain 85% of the improvement with only 50% of the budget you are prepared to spend. The most important improvement diagrams are generated automatically in the Improvement Diagrams worksheet (see below). Note If the optimization is terminated by the STOP button in the Progress tab, no implementation plan is generated. The implementation plan can only be computed if the optimization is completed successfully. Otherwise an intermediate state would be the result that does not satisfy the requirements of the implementation plan.
Improvement Diagrams
The improvement diagrams are only available if the implementation plan was enabled in the optimization options. The improvement diagrams provide a series of analysis diagrams for the individual optimization targets selected in the optimization targets tab.
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In the improvement diagrams worksheet, the improvement diagrams for each selected optimization target is shown versus the number of implementation steps the implementation costs the implementation time This allows you to directly analyze the efficiency of the network optimization for your selected radio network. Furthermore, the improvement diagrams allow you to compare the performance of the individual optimization targets head-to-head. The mouse-over functionality provides you with additional information about the implementation steps, costs and required time to implement the network modifications. 9955 ACCO also allows you to re-import and verify any implementation step shown in the implementation plan and the improvement diagrams into 9955. The selection for the re-import of the individual implementation steps has to be done when loading optimization results back into 9955.
Warnings
Warnings that occured while 9955 ACCO processed are displayed. Note that the number of details is limited to 50 per warning category. The remaining messages can be found in a file which is named same as the report followed by "_warning.xml".
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Options Settings
Options Settings
IV
IV.1
Options Settings
Options - General
Use the Options dialog to view and modify 9955 ACCO options.
General
Use this tab to view and modify general options.
General Options
Use this section to view and modify optimization process settings. Time Span Visible in Progress Charttype in this box the number of minutes the optimization progress can be monitored in the progress bar on the Progress tab. Unit Name For Cost Datatype in this box the currency unit to use for cost data typed in the Optimization Ranges tab. As default value the currency defined in the Regional and Language Options in the Windows Control Panel is used. Pathloss limitation thresholdhere the threshold for the pathloss limitation function is defined. Cf. Optimization Run.
Temporary data options

Use this section to view and modify settings for the temporary availability of data required during the optimization process. Temporary Optimization Data Folderthis box displays the name of the folder used to store temporary data. Browse (...)click this button to locate and choose the folder used to store temporary data. Hard Disk Space Limitation For Temporary Dataenabled this check box to limit the maximum available disk space for temporary data. Type the disk space limit in MB in the box to the right. If the required disk space for temporary data exceeds the defined limit during the optimization process, 9955 ACCO automatically increases the limit to successfully complete the optimization process. Do Not Delete Temporary Folders After Optimizationenabled this check box to keep the temporary data after the optimization process finishes. Caution Only enable this check box when instructed by support. Temporary Folders Kept From Previous Optimizationsthis window lists the temporary data folders that were kept from previous optimization runs. When an optimization process fails, optimization folders are kept for support inquiries. Delete Nowclick this button to delete the temporary folders chosen in the Temporary Folders Kept From Previous Optimizations window.
IV.2
Options - Network Defaults

Network Defaults
Use this tab to view and modify the network defaults settings. For more information on the
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network settings refer to Networks and parameters.
Parameters and Properties

Inter-system interference factordefault value for the attenuation factor of inter-system interference. Use clutter indoor lossdefault value for the check box to use clutter indoor losses.
Traffic map settings

Scaling factordefault value for the global scaling factor each pixel of the traffic map will be multiplied with. Include captured traffic numbers in reportdefault value for the checkbox to do a captured traffic analysis and include the numbers in the report.
3G cell load
Use imported or custom cell loadsdefault value for the selection between imported cell loads or custom cell loads. Custom cell loaddefault value for the cell loading in %. Will be applied if the above selection is on custom cell load.
LTE parameters
Common channel overheaddefault value for the common channel overhead in % for LTE density based capacity targets.
IV.3
Options - Activation Defaults

Activation Defaults
Use this tab to view and manipulate the activation options.
Cell activation defaults

Use this section to define the cell activation default for the INACTIVE transmitters. The site (cell) activation feature allows you to optimize Network roll-outbased on a number of potential site (cell) locations, 9955 ACCO automatically selects and configures the sites (cell) required to fulfill the optimization targets in the best way for the network roll-out. The potential candidates are defined by inactive sites (cell) in the 9955 project. Network extensionbased on a predefined set of potential site (cell) locations, 9955 ACCO automatically selects and configures the sites (cell) required to fulfill the optimization targets in the best way for the network extension. The potential candidates are defined by inactive sites (cell) in the 9955 project. Allow activation of inactive cellsuse this check box to allow the activation of INACTIVE transmitters (cells) by default. Site is not available beforeuse this check box to define the default availability of all sites in the network. Use the drop down calendar to define the date for the default site availability. Use current dateclick this button to use the current date as default availability for all sites
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Options Settings
Activation resource requirement defaults

Use this section to define sector specific costs associated to the activation of an inactive site or cell. Default values for the costs and time parameters are defined in the Range Defaults tab of the Options dialog box. Default values are applied to parameters when the Load network data button is clicked on the Project Specification tab. The currency for the cost data is defined in the General tab of the Options dialog box. As default value the currency defined in the Regional and Language Options in the Windows Control Panel is used. Coststype in these boxes the expected expense of site and/or cell activation Timetype in these boxes the associated amount of time required to implement site or cell activation. Note The costs and time requirements are split into two categories. Site Costs and Time consider the costs and time required to prepare the site for the activation of a new transmitter. They do not include the costs (and time) to install a new sector. Cell Costs and Time consider the costs and time to install (activate) a new cell on a specific site. Example If the physical mast already exists, e.g. because it is used for an existing GSM network, the Site Costs (and Time) are the costs and time required to upgrade the existing site to install (activate) a new cell/sector. The Cell Costs (and Time) consider the costs for the deployment of a new sector (cell), i.e. it includes costs like the RF equipment, installation, etc. The TOTAL costs assigned to the activation (deployment) of a new site with 3 sectors are hence: 1 x Site Costs + Costs Cell 1 + Costs Cell 2 + Costs Cell 3. If the site already exists, e.g. one or more cells are already active at this site, only the Cell Costs will be considered; no additional costs for the site activation apply. Resources for modification required in addition to resources for activationenable this check box if the site (cell) activation and the parameter modification costs (implementation time) are adding up to the total costs/time.
IV.4
Options - Range Defaults

Range Defaults
Use this tab to view and modify default values for the optimization ranges of following parameters: Antenna tilt Pilot power Antenna azimuth Antenna pattern Electrical tilt (electrical tilt variants of the current pattern) Antenna type (by using a pattern list) Electrical tilt limits Limiting the electrical tilts of the individual antenna types TMA and advanced technology activation (see also Advanced Technology Activation)
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Site access costs All default settings in this tab are global and apply to all sectors for the group of sites chose to optimize, listed in the Project Specification tab of the 9955 ACCO dialog box. Range defaults apply when no other individual settings are applied, for example, from a previously saved optimization project. Range defaults are adapted by clicking Load network data on the Project Specification tab of the 9955 ACCO dialog box to load site data.
Modification range defaults

Use this section to view and manipulate the default parameter settings for the optimization process. Optimization ranges are configured separately depending on whether associated predictions are used in unmasked or masked form (masked predictions are used for ray tracing models). Optimizeenable the check box beside an optimization parameter to enable optimization of the parameter. Clear a check box to disable optimization of an individual parameter. Absolute/Relativechoose from these lists the type of values specified for the Optimization Range of an individual optimization parameter. The available types are as follows: Relativevalues relative to the current setting Absoluteabsolute value range Note For absolute values the antenna azimuth 0 means north. With this, negative values can also be used, since the optimization requires a range of possible angles. An absolute range of minimum=-60 to maximum=60 is the range from 60 west to 60 east of the north. The maximum range for absolute azimuth settings is [-360...360]. All other values can be expressed within this range. Mintype in this box the minimum value for the optimization range of an individual optimization parameter. Maxtype in this box the maximum value for the optimization range of an individual optimization parameter. Rotate entire siteenable this checkbox to rotate the entire site when it comes to azimuth modifications. The tightest limitation of all sector setting on that site will be used for the limitation of the site rotation. Antenna Patternsuse these check boxes to allow antenna pattern changes by means of Change of the antenna pattern as electrical tilt variants of the current antenna Change of the antenna pattern by changing the antenna type Type in this box a list of the antenna patterns that 9955 ACCO can exchange during optimization. All antenna patterns in the project can be used. Each line represents a single antenna pattern.
Modification resource requirement defaults

Use this section to view and manipulate the default settings for the resource requirements. Costtype in these boxes the expected expense of implementing a parameter modification. Currency for the cost is defined in the General tab. Timetype in these boxes the associated amount of time required to implement a parameter modification. Site Access Requiredenable this check box for a parameter when it is necessary to visit the site to implement the associated parameter modification. Changing the azimuth of an antenna may require a person to visit the site. Other parameters, such as power modifications, can be done remotely from the operation and maintenance center.
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Options Settings
Site access - costtype in this box the expected expense for site access to implement a parameter modification. Currency for the cost is defined in the Options General tab. Site access - timetype in this box the associated amount of time required for site access to implement a parameter modification. The unit name for time data is defined in the Options General tab.
IV.5
Options - Target Defaults

Target Defaults
Use this tab to view and modify target default values. Target Defaults are adapted by new 9955 ACCO projects. Note The target default values for the clutter based optimization targets are adapted with the reloading of site data in the Project Specification tab of the 9955 ACCO dialog box. To define, save and load clutter based target values, save the optimization project and load the according settings for the clutter based optimization targets, clicking Import From Previous Optimization in the Optimization Target tab of the 9955 ACCO dialog box. Importing a previous optimization updates the previous settings for the individual tab.
3G Optimization Target Defaults

RX pilot [Coverage]type in this a value in dBm to define the default target value for the optimization within the optimization region. The coverage requirement specifies the default optimization objective for the best pilot field strength. The optimization objective should be exceeded after the optimization. Example A coverage requirement of -90dBm means that all grid cells (pixels) in the optimization area should exceed a best pilot field strength of -90dBm after the optimization. 1st - 2nd RX Pilottype in this a value in dB to define the default target value for the optimization within the optimization region. This requirement specifies the default optimization objective for the difference between the first and the second best pilot field strength. The optimization objective should be exceeded after the optimization. Example A 1st-2nd RX pilot requirement of 4dB means that all grid cells (pixels) in the optimization area should have a difference between first and second best pilot field strength of more than 4dB after the optimization. 1st - Nth RX Pilottype in this a value in dB to define the default target value for the optimization within the optimization region. This requirement specifies the default optimization objective for the difference between the first and the Nth best pilot field strength. The optimization objective should be exceeded after the optimization. N can be set between 3 and 5. Example N can be set to 5. A 1st-5th RX pilot requirement of 6dB means that all grid cells (pixels) in the optimization area should have a difference between first and 5th best pilot field strength of more than 6dB after the optimization. Ec/Iotype in this a value in dB to define the default target value for the optimization within the optimization region. This requirement specifies the default optimization objective for the Ec/Io requirement. The optimization objective should be exceeded after the optimization.
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Example A Ec/Io requirement of -15dB means that all grid cells (pixels) in the optimization area should exceed an Ec/Io value of -15dB after the optimization. Uplink Eb/Nttype in this a value in dB to define the default target value for the optimization within the optimization region. This requirement specifies the default optimization objective for the Uplink Eb/Nt requirement. The optimization objective should be exceeded after the optimization. Example An Uplink Eb/Nt requirement of 5dB means that all grid cells (pixels) in the optimization area should exceed an Uplink Eb/Nt value of 5dB after the optimization. Downlink Eb/Nttype in this a value in dB to define the default target value for the optimization within the optimization region. This requirement specifies the default optimization objective for the Downlink Eb/Nt requirement. The optimization objective should be exceeded after the optimization. Example A Downlink Eb/Nt requirement of 5dB means that all grid cells (pixels) in the optimization area should exceed a Downlink Eb/Nt value of 5dB after the optimization. Served mobilesno additional requirement can be set for the served mobile optimization target. The criterion is the number of mobiles served. Throughputno additional requirement can be set for the throughput optimization target. The criterion is the system throughput in kbit/s.
2G Optimization Target Defaults

RX BCCH [Coverage]type in this a value in dBm to define the default target value for the optimization within the optimization region. The coverage requirement specifies the default optimization objective for the best BCCH field strength. The optimization objective should be exceeded after the optimization. Example A coverage requirement of -90dBm means that all grid cells (pixels) in the optimization area should exceed a best BCCH field strength of -90dBm after the optimization. C/Itype in this a value in dB to define the default target value for the optimization within the optimization region. This requirement specifies the default optimization objective for the carrier to interference ratio (C/I) for all potential co-channel interferers. The optimization objective should be exceeded after the optimization. Example A C/I requirement of 5dB means that all grid cells (pixels) in the optimization area should have a C/I of more than 5dB after the optimization.
Apply RX pilot requirement

Enable this checkbox if you want to optimize the area where the requirements for the individual optimization targets AND the RX pilot requirements are fulfilled.
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Options Settings
From a practical point of view the enabled RX pilot requirement fulfilled functionality means that you optimize the area where your optimization target is fulfilled AND the minimum RX pilot requirement is given as well. For this you do not even have to optimize for RX pilot.
Weight
Use this section to apply and weight the individual optimization objectives to the optimization region. For each individual optimization target weights can be applied. These weights represent the importance of the optimization target as overall objective for the optimization process. The weights are applied to each single grid cell that can be gained. A weight of 0 means that the performance measure is not considered in the total optimization target. The total optimization target results as the superposition (weighted addition) of the individual targets. Total optimization target = = "Area fulfilling coverage requirement [km2]" x "weight for coverage" + "Area fulfilling difference between 1st-2nd best pilot [km2]" x "weight for 1st-2nd best pilot" + "Area fulfilling difference between 1st-Nth best pilot [km2]" x "weight for 1st-Nth best pilot" + "Area fulfilling Ec/Io requirement [km2]" x "weight for Ec/Io requirement" + "Number of served users" x "weight for number of served users" + "Throughput [kbit/s]" x "weight for throughput" The overall objective of the optimization is to maximize the total optimization target. Example 1 Area fulfilling coverage requirement: weight=1 Area fulfilling 1st-2nd best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-Nth best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling Ec/Io requirement: weight=0 Number of served users: weight=0 Throughput: weight=0 Result: only the coverage target is considered in the optimization Example 2 Area fulfilling coverage requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-2nd best pilot requirement: weight=1 Area fulfilling 1st-Nth best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling Ec/Io requirement: weight=0 Number of served users: weight=0
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Throughput: weight=0 Result: only the difference between 1st-2nd best pilot target is considered in the optimization Example 3 Area fulfilling coverage requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-2nd best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-Nth best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling Ec/Io requirement: weight=1 Number of served users: weight=0 Throughput: weight=0 Result: only the received Ec/Io target is considered in the optimization Example 4 Area fulfilling coverage requirement: weight=1 Area fulfilling 1st-2nd best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-Nth best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling Ec/Io requirement: weight=0 Number of served users: weight=10 Throughput: weight=0 Result: Both the coverage as well as the number of served users are considered. Due to different weighting the algorithm will focus on the number of served users, where 10 additional served users are of the same value as 1km2 in area that satisfies the coverage requirement. The high flexibility of the weighting mechanism allows the user to optimize for a wide range of optimization objectives.
Apply Clutter Weight Factor

Use this section to apply clutter weighing factors to the optimization targets by default. For more details also see Clutter dependent optimization weights.
Compute Value During Optimization

Enable this check box if you want to view the results of this target during the optimization, even though the weight is set to zero. A zero weight means that the according optimization target is not considered in the overall optimization target and the results will not be displayed. By enabling this checkbox the target function values will be displayed.
IV.6
Options - Other Defaults

Other Defaults
Use this tab to view 9955 ACCO maintenance information.
Optimization strategy defaults

Use this section to define the default strategy for the automated optimization. You can either maximize the performance for given resources including available budget, time and infrastructure, or you can optimize to achieve a required optimization target for minimum costs.
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Options Settings
Maximize optimization targetselect this option to maximize the optimization target as defined in the optimization target tab. This assumes that the resources in terms of the number of base stations/sectors are given. Achieve optimization target while minimizing...select this option to achieve a certain percentage of the optimization target. For example, if only the coverage requirement (RX pilot) is set in the optimization target, the aim is to satisfy that coverage requirement for, e.g. 95% of the area. The result will then be the required infrastructure in order to achieve this. On top of that, the ultimate goal of the optimization is to achieve the optimization target, or a percentage of it, by minimizing the resources required to achieve that. This includes: minimizing the number of SITES to modifyselect this option to achieve the defined optimization target while minimizing the number of sites that need to be modified. minimizing the implementation COSTSselect this option to achieve the defined optimization target while minimizing the costs for implementing the modifications to the network. This includes both the activation costs for new base stations and cells (sectors), as well as the costs for parameter modifications of the existing infrastructure (if any available). minimizing the implementation TIMEselect this option to achieve the defined optimization target while minimizing the time required to implement the modifications in the network. This includes the time required for site preparation and infrastructure installation for new base stations and cells (sectors), as well as the additional time for parameter modifications of the existing infrastructure (if any available). Examples 1. Network roll-out at MINIMUM COST The area where a service coverage should be provided is given (optimization area). 95% of the area should receive a minimum pilot coverage level of, e.g. -85dBm. A number of potential sites (existing 2G base stations) can be used as potential 3G base stations. The costs for the installation of a 3 sector base station is known. The question is: What is the minimum cost for the roll-out that satisfies the 95% coverage probability at -85dBm. Solution: Use the inactive sites for your potential network deployment. Define the coverage target of -85dBm in the optimization target tab. Select the Try to achieve 95% of maximum optimization target value while minimizing COSTS option. 9955 ACCO will automatically provide the list of sites that should be activated. It will also provide the best parameter configuration for all sectors. 2. Network extension for MINIMUM COST Additional areas need to be covered; higher network capacity is required; better indoor-coverage needs to be provided. For this, a number of base stations already exist. The question is how should the network be extended or modified in order to reach the new performance requirement at minimum cost. Solution: Within the mix of already active and inactive sectors, define the optimization targets. Select the Try to achieve [ ]% of maximum optimization target value while minimizing COSTS option. 9955 ACCO will then automatically provide the list of sites that should be activated. It will also provide the best parameter configuration for all sectors, both the newly activated as well as the existing ones. The objective however is to provide the solution at minimum costs. 3. MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE for given resources The resources (budget, base station equipment, transmitters, ect.) are given. The objective is to squeeze the network in order to get the maximum performance in return of the existing investment. Solution: Select the optimization target in the optimization target tab. Select the Maximize optimization target option in order to get the best performance of the network.
Implementation plan defaults

Use this section to enable the calculation of an implementation plan for the suggested parameter modifications in the optimization process by default. The implementation plan will provide an
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ordered list of parameter modifications. It can be ordered so that the implementation will ensure that the most significant changes can be done first. It also makes sure that the overall network performance will improve during the implementation of the individual changes. Generate implementation planenable the check box to provide the implementation plan after the optimization. The implementation plan will be delivered as part of the optimization report file (see also View Report). Suggested implementation sequence highest TOTAL gain firstselect this option to generate the implementation plan in such a way that the parameter modification with the highest gain will be implemented first. The parameter modification with the lowest impact on the total optimization target will be implemented last. highest gain PER COST firstselect this option to generate the implementation plan in such a way that the parameter modification with the highest gain - compared to the associated costs it is generating - will be implemented first. The parameter modification with the lowest gain versus costs will be implemented last. highest gain PER TIME firstselect this option to generate the implementation plan in such a way that the parameter modification with the highest gain - compared to the time that is required to implement it - will be implemented first. The parameter modification with the lowest gain versus required time will be implemented last.
Implementation dates
Use this section to enable the calculation of an implementation plan with an absolute date by default Include Dates in Implementation Planenable this check box to consider absolute dates in for the generation of the implementation plan by default. For a more detailed description please see Implementation Plan Details. Implementation starting dateuse this drop down calendar to select the date when the implementation plan should start by default. Available manpowerdefine the amount of manpower available per week. This value is given in man-days/week and represents an AVERAGE number for the working power available per week. Examples 1 "average" person, 250 working days a year (49 weeks 5 days - 3 weeks holidays) gives an average number of about 4.7man-days/week. 3 "average" people give about 3-times the manpower of a single person, i.e. 14.1 mandays/week External consulting work can be ordered up to a certain workload of X man-days/week Note The following points should be considered when defining the average manpower available: Average working days per person vary between different countries and companies, especially if they are project related External support teams have a different behaviour in terms of available manpower. It might just be expressed in cash costs, rather than time consumption. The amount of holidays vary from country to country Public holidays should be considered in the definition of the average available manpower For a more detailed description please see Implementation Plan Details.
Parameter constraint defaults

Use this section to view and manipulate default parameter constraints for the optimization process.
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Precision - Mechanical tiltuse this field to define the default value for the minimum granularity of a mechanical tilt change allowed during the optimization process. Precision - Pilot/BCCHuse this field to define the default value for the minimum granularity of a power change allowed during the optimization process. Precision - Azimuthuse this field to define the default value for the minimum granularity of an antenna azimuth change allowed during the optimization process. Note If "0" is entered in the fields for the individual optimization precisions, no constraints to the parameter values apply. Minimum angle between neighbouring cell azimuthsIn case that Azimuth optimization is enabled, a minimum angle separation between two sectors (cells) at the same site can be required. This is sometimes necessary due to construction-conditioned antenna deployment.
Activation mode defaults

Use this section to select the default activation mode for your optimization. SITE activation modeselect this option to activate the INACTIVE transmitters on a site by site basis. This means that all cells per site will be activated jointly. CELL activation modeselect this option to activate the INACTIVE transmitters on a cell by cell basis. This means that cells can be activated individually.
Resource constraint defaults

Use this section to define the default cost and time budgets that limit the number of modifications in the optimization process. The optimization will consider both costs and time required to implement the individual parameter modifications. The individual costs and time parameters can be set for each sector in the cost and time parameters section of the Optimization ranges tab. Default values for the cost and time parameters are defined in the Range Defaults tab of the Options dialog box. limit total COSTSenable the check box to limit the optimization by the costs for the implementation of the individual modifications. The individual costs for each modification are defined in the parameter settings in the Optimization Ranges tab. COSTS limituse this field to enter the maximum budget assigned to the optimization of the current optimization project. The currency for the cost data is defined in the General tab of the Options dialog box. As default value the currency defined in the Regional and Language Options in the Windows Control Panel is used. limit total TIMEenable the check box to limit the optimization by the time required for the implementation of the individual modifications. The individual time requirements for each modification are defined in the parameter settings in the Optimization Ranges tab. TIME limituse this field to enter the maximum time budget assigned to the optimization of the current optimization project. The unit name for time data is defined as man-days.
Activation constraint defaults

Use this section to define the default number of sites (cells) that limit the activation process during the optimization. The optimization will consider both site and cell limits. limit number of SITES to activateenable the check box to limit the number of sites available for activation during the optimization process. SITES limituse this field to enter the maximum number of sites that can be activated during the optimization. limit number of CELLS to activateenable the check box to limit the number of cells available for activation during the optimization process.
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CELLS limituse this field to enter the maximum number of cells that can be activated during the optimization. Examples for the activation constraints are: Constrained to 10 sites: The optimization is limited by the joint activation of the cells on a maximum of 10 sites in total. The order of the per-site activations is shown in the implementation plan. Constrained to 15 cells: The optimization is limited by the individual activation of 15 cells. This can be on a maximum of 15 sites (one cell per site each). The order of the per-cell activations is shown in the implementation plan.
IV.7
Options - Maintenance
Maintenance
Use this tab to view 9955 ACCO maintenance information.
License Information
Use this section to view and manipulate default parameter constraints for the optimization process. Licensed toThis box displays the name to which the used license is issued. License Valid UntilThis box displays the date and time when the current license expires. 9955 ACCO Licenses-TotalThis box displays the number of available licenses for 9955 ACCO. For a local license key this box displays 0. For a network license this box displays the total number of available licenses. If both a local and network licenses are available, the box will show the number of network licenses. 9955 ACCO Licenses-In UseThis box displays the number of 9955 ACCO licenses currently in use. For a local license key this box displays 0. For a network license this box displays the total number of used network licenses. If both a local and network licenses are available, the box will show the number of used network licenses regardless which license is currently used for 9955 ACCO. Simulation Engine Licenses-TotalThis box displays the number of available licenses for the simulation engine. For a local license key this box displays 0. For a network license this box displays the total number of available licenses. If both a local and network licenses are available, the box will show the number of network licenses. Simulation Engine Licenses-In UseThis box displays the number of simulation engine licenses currently in use. For a local license key this box displays 0. For a network license this box displays the total number of used network licenses. If both a local and network licenses are available, the box will show the number of used network licenses regardless which license is currently used for the simulation engine. RefreshClick this button to update the Licenses Currently in Use boxes. Licensed modulesThis box displays the available modules under the available license.
Logging Information
Use this section to view the logging information. Application Log Filethis box displays the location of the 9955 ACCO log file. You can use this
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log file for maintenance purposes.
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Multi System
Multi System
V
V.1
Multi System
Multi System Overview
This section gives an overview over the multi system planning and optimization functions and benefits 9955 ACCO. This includes: Multi technology support Multi system planning and optimization using 9955 Shared multi band antennas
Multi technology support

The multi system optimization technology in 9955 ACCO enables the joint consideration of multiple radio network technologies for advanced radio network planning and optimization. The key advantage of this technology hence is the ability to jointly design and improve different but interdependent radio networks in 9955. Interdependencies typically apply in networks with shared antennas between multiple radio technologies and frequency bands, services that are offered independently of the radio access network, inter-system handover between multiple technologies, traffic sharing (like UMTS900/GSM900).
The multi system technology in 9955 ACCO allows the combination of two or more radio networks in different frequency bands, on different carriers, or with different radio access technologies. Examples include, but are not limited to: GSM, Band 1 + GSM, Band 2 linked with dual band antennas; GSM, Band 1 + WCDMA, Band 3, Carrier 1 with shared or dual band antennas; GSM, Band 1 + GSM, Band 2 + WCDMA, Band 3, Carrier 0 + WCDMA, Band 3, Carrier 1 with shared multi band antennas etc. This allows improved plans for multiple technologies, in multiple frequency bands, on multiple carriers. The joint optimization algorithms in 9955 ACCO are not limited by the number of frequency bands, carriers or technologies. Multiple frequency bands, carriers and technologies can be combined in a single task. Typical applications include: Improvement of two network plans at different frequency bands or carriers; Merging two networks that must be combined as a result of takeovers or mergers; Joint 2G and 3G radio network design, planning and optimization; Optimized planning of cell overlays and inter-system handover areas;
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Traffic sharing, i.e. a network layer captures traffic remaining from a previous network layer; etc.
Multi system planning and optimization using 9955

9955 stores 2G and 3G radio network configurations in different projects, e.g. 2G.ATL and 3G. ATL. For example, a 2G network using the 900MHz pattern of a multi band shared antenna (type A) is stored in GSM.ATL. The 3G network using the 2000MHz patterns of the same multi band shared antenna (also type A) is stored in UMTS.ATL. In order to allow the joint optimization of the 2G and the 3G project with the shared multi band antenna, the following steps have to be considered: 1. Generate both a 2G and 3G 9955 ACCO optimization environment (2G.coe and 3G.coe) within 9955 (see also Create optimization environment). 2. Load both the 2G and 3G optimization environment into 9955 ACCO. 9955 ACCO will automatically synchronize the different network parameters of the shared antennas. 3. Define both the 2G and 3G performance targets, as well as the combined 2G and 3G optimization targets, such as inter-system handover critieria. 4. Run the multi network planning and optimization in 9955 ACCO. After completion, 9955 ACCO will automatically generate a multi system network configuration result file (.con), and a multi system optimization report file (.xls). These files include the results and the performance log information of both the 2G and the 3G network. 5. Load the optimization results automatically back into the individual 2G and 3G projects. This is done in the same way as for the single network case (see also Load optimization results). 6. Verify both the 2G and the 3G network improvements, as well as the joint multi system improvements individually in 9955. This process and workflow of the multi network planning and optimization in 9955 ACCO and 9955 is schematically shown in the figure below.
Shared multi band antennas

Multi band antennas are widely used for the deployment of 2G and 3G networks. In case that multi band antennas are shared between 2G and 3G systems, they limit the ability to improve the network performance of 3G networks, while the 2G performance has to be at least maintained. For example, the 3G coverage can not be improved by simply just changing the antenna azimuth, as it would at the same time influence the 2G network performance. In order to ensure that the 3G network is improved by modifying RAN parameters, the 2G network performance has to be considered at the same time. This is possible with the multi
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system functionality of 9955 ACCO. The shared multi band antennas are considered directly for the different frequency bands, carriers and technologies, as different frequency bands are allocated to the individual antenna pattern. This can be done in the Electrical Tilt Grouping Editor of 9955 ACCO.
V.2
Parameter Synchronization
This section describes how the multi system parameter synchronization of different radio networks, technologies and frequency bands can be handled in 9955 ACCO.
Synchronization of optimization parameters between different technologies

Optimization parameters can be connected between different radio network technologies, different frequency bands or different carriers. For example, a triple band shared antenna with operating frequencies in the GSM900, GSM1800 and UMTS band can have different remote electrical tilts for each band, while the mechanical tilt of the antenna of course remains the same. This is obvious as the antenna is incorporated into a single physical aperture. An example for different synchronizations between GSM900, GSM1800 and multi carrier UMTS is shown in the figure below:
The example shows that the azimuth between the different technologies, frequency bands and carriers is usually the same. The same applies to the mechanical tilt, as long as the antenna is a single physical entity. The remote electrical tilt however might be completely different, and variable in each band, frequency, technology. The same applies to the pilot power values.
Use of synchronizations in the optimization

The aim of the synchronization of the different parameters is to ensure that the right connections are set between the individual values. For example, the remote electrical tilt can be changed individually for the 900MHz band and the 1800MHz band, while the mechanical tilt is the same. Furthermore, in case that shared multi band antennas with remote electrical tilts are used, different antenna pattern apply to the different frequency bands and technologies. This needs to be taken into account in the joint optimization of multiple systems.
Generating synchronization files

9955 ACCO allows two different modes for the synchronization of multiband antennas and multi technology systems.
Automatic generation of synchronization files

In order to automatically create synchronizations between different 9955 projects, please enable
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the Automatically create multiband parameter synchronizations for aligned antennas checkbox in the project specification. 9955 ACCO then automatically creates synchronizations of the individual multi-band and multi technology sectors if the antennas are co-located and both the mechanical tilt and the azimuths are the same (with minor tolerances to consider rounding errors). In order to save these parameter synchronization settings, in the 9955 ACCO tool bar select: File -> create parameter synchronization template. With this the actual settings are stored in a . ParamSynch file for further manual modifications, or reuse in other projects.
How to manually generate a synchronization file

In order to enable synchronization between the different multi bands, frequencies and technology transmitters, a synchronization file needs to be generated. To do that, please follow the steps below: 1. In the 9955 ACCO toolbar select FILE --> Create parameter synchronization template. 9955 ACCO will then create a ".ParamSynch Template" file that includes a list of the transmitters in the actual project. The paramsynch template also includes the instructions of how to edit the file in order to generate the synchronization between the different parameters. 2. Open the .paramsynch file with a text editor. 3. The paramsynch file allows the synchronization between multi band and multi carrier technologies. For example, a multi band synchronization is characterized by the synchronization of the antenna azimuth, the mechanical antenna tilt and the antenna type itself. This means that in case a multi band antenna is shared between different radio technologies, the antenna azimuth, the mechanical tilt and the antenna type itself will always be the same for both technologies or bands. To ensure the synchronization between these bands, the transmitters have to be brought into a single line in the paramsynch file, separated by a ";". An example for this is shown in the figure below.
4. After the synchronizations are done, the file needs to be stored as .paramsynch file. 5. To use the parameter synchronizations in the optimization of the multi system, multi band, multi carrier networks, use the paramsynch file in the Project specification tab in 9955 ACCO.
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CHAPTER 6
Optimization Guidelines
CHAPTER 6
VI
VI.1
Optimization Weight Examples
For each individual optimization target, a relative weight must be applied. These weights define the importance of the optimization target. A target with zero weight will not contribute to the optimization, only the according analysis will be reported. The total optimization target results as the weighted addition of the individual targets. To be able to accurately add different targets, the target function values are normalized by the maximum possible target function value before multiplied by their weights and added together. The maximum target function value depends on the selected weighting methods (global only, clutter dependent, traffic map weighting).
Target function weights

The total objective is calculated as the sum of the individual weighted target contributions. Each target contribution is calculated as the normalized contribution (in the range 0.0 .. 1.0) multiplied by the target's weighting factor. objective = sum target_contribution = sum (normalized_target_contribution * target_weight) The normalization of the individual targets ensures that all targets are treated equally and independent of the kind of the target, clutter dependent weighting, or traffic weighting. For example (if no additional clutter based or traffic map weithing is applied) - the normalized contribution for 12 km out of 20 km is 0.6 - the normalized contribution for 1400 out of 2000 served users is 0.7 If the target function weights for both targets are 1.0, the total objective is 1.0 * 0.6 + 1.0 * 0.7 = 1.3. This means that both targets have (roughly) the same importance for the optimization. The maximum possible objective for this scenario is 2.0. Note The normalization is done on the target function's absolute maximum, i.e. the situation where all pixels are covered or all users are served. This might not be possible in the scenario, i.e. a normalized contribution of 1.0 might not be reachable in all cases. Note Assigning the same weight to several target functions does not necessarily mean that these will be equally important for the optimization. If for example two coverage targets are applied to the same network with thresholds of -84 dBm and -54 dBm and the same weight of 1.0, the effective weight for the optimization can be different. We assume that the potential optimization gain for coverage @ -84 dBm is from 70% (initial) to 90% (optimized), while the potential gain for coverage @ -54 dBm is just from 2% to 3% in very small regions next to the site locations. In this case it is obvious that the -84 dBm target will effectively be more important for the optimization as the average gain for a parameter modification is higher for this threshold. Example 1 Area fulfilling coverage requirement: weight=1 Area fulfilling 1st-2nd best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-Nth best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling Ec/Io requirement: weight=0 Number of served users: weight=0 Throughput: weight=0 Result: only the coverage target is considered in the optimization
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Example 2 Area fulfilling coverage requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-2nd best pilot requirement: weight=1 Area fulfilling 1st-Nth best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling Ec/Io requirement: weight=0 Number of served users: weight=0 Throughput: weight=0 Result: only the difference between 1st-2nd best pilot target is considered in the optimization Example 3 Area fulfilling coverage requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-2nd best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-Nth best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling Ec/Io requirement: weight=1 Number of served users: weight=0 Throughput: weight=0 Result: only the received Ec/Io target is considered in the optimization Example 4 Area fulfilling coverage requirement: weight=1 Area fulfilling 1st-2nd best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling 1st-Nth best pilot requirement: weight=0 Area fulfilling Ec/Io requirement: weight=0 Number of served users: weight=10 Throughput: weight=0 Result: Both the coverage as well as the number of served users are considered. Due to different weighting the algorithm will focus on the number of served users, where 1% (i.e. 10 of 1000) additional served users are of the same value as 10% (e.g. 10 of 100km2) in area that satisfies the coverage requirement. The high flexibility of the weighting mechanism allows the user to optimize for a wide range of optimization objectives.
Clutter dependent optimization weights

On top of the overall optimization weights, individual weights for each objective can be defined for each clutter class. Clutter based weights or traffic map weighting can be used to adjust the importance of single pixels depending on their location, for example the main weight can be directed to the city center. Thus the following scenarios are equal: - no special weighting - all clutter weights 1.0 - all clutter weights 2.0 - a traffic map with constant value 1.0 - a traffic map with constant value 0.001 - all clutter weights 0.5 + a traffic map with constant value of 20.0 The following scenarios are equal, as well:
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- clutter 0 -> 0.5, clutter 1 -> 1.0 - clutter 0 -> 1.0, clutter 2 -> 2.0 - clutter 0 -> 2.0, clutter 2 -> 4.0 Note Due to the normalization the unit of the traffic map does not matter for the weighting process, only the relative difference of a pixel's value compared to the other pixels values is relevant, i.e. linear scaling of the traffic map does not influence traffic map WEIGHTING. Please note that it DOES INFLUENCE the cell's captured traffic and thus the total traffic limits. For further description see Clutter dependent optimization weights.
Traffic limits
Traffic weighting is described above, as it is similar to the clutter dependent weighting. On top of the traffic weighting, traffic limits can be used to ensure that the cell radius will not become too large, or too small, avoiding overloaded and empty sectors. Traffic map weighting is applied in a form that a cell with excessive traffic is assigned an appropriate degradation factor. The pixels in the cell's footprint are weighted by this factor in addition to clutter and traffic map weighting factors. Excessive traffic means that the cumulated traffic over the cell's best server footprint is larger than the maximum captured traffic. A detailed description of the consideration of maximum traffic limits for each sector in the network is defined in the "Network settings" section.
Combination of weighting mechanisms

The different weighting mechanisms are combined multiplicatively, with the important difference that clutter, traffic map and captured traffic weighting are applied before normalization and the target function's weight is applied after the normalization. This gives the relation initially stated: objective = sum (target_contribution) for all target functions = sum (normalized_target_contribution * target_weight) for all target functions For pixel targets the normalized target contribution is normalized_target_contribution = Normalize(Sum (clutter_weight * traffic_map_weight * degradation_factor) for all covered pixels) which is roughly equal to normalized_target_contribution = Sum (clutter_weight * traffic_map_weight * degradation_factor) for all pixels satisfying requirements / Sum (clutter_weight * traffic_map_weight) for all pixels For traffic simulation target the normalized target contribution is normalized_target_contribution = Normalize(Sum (user_weight * clutter_weight) for all served users) which is roughly equal to normalized_target_contribution = Sum (user_weight * clutter_weight) for all served users / Sum (user_weight * clutter_weight) for all users The individual user's weight is either 1 for the number of served users target or the bit rate for the throughput target.
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VI.2
Clutter dependent optimization weights

Use this section to define clutter dependent weight factors for the combination of the individual optimization targets specified in the Optimization target tab. The option of clutter dependent weight factors can be enabled for each of the optimization targets individually. This can be done by enabling the check box "apply clutter dependent weight factor" in the Optimization target tab.
Using zone files

The zone file format is identical to the clutter file format. Zone files need to be generated in 9955. A zone file is a classified grid (a grid of classes rather than continuous values), similar to a clutter map. Create such a grid in 9955 e.g. by drawing a new clutter map and exporting that to a clutter file which can then be used in 9955 ACCO as zone file. Note If a clutter file is exported, 9955 ACCO will miss the class names as this can only be read for the default clutter file directly from the 9955 data base. Thus, the header file of the selected BIL map must contain the classes definition. Use a text editor to complement the header file with the class names by inserting a new section (the header file has the same name as the BIL file but the extension is .HDR). Format of the class definition section: ClassesBegin <class ID>=<Class name> ... ClassesEnd Use one line per class, avoid white characters like spaces, etc. Example: ClassesBegin 0=GeneralArea 1=HotSpot1 2=HotSpot2 ClassesEnd If you were drawing a new clutter file in 9955 and this replaced the original clutter file, then don't forget to re-load the original clutter file after the export. Otherwise 9955 will treat the clutter file you were drawing as the default clutter file for the project. Defining areas of interest: Zone files are usually used to enable a separation of the optimization area into sub-areas independently from the standard project clutter file. You can e.g. draw polygons around hot spot areas in 9955 and export this map as clutter file. This file can then be loaded into 9955 ACCO as zone file. You can assign different weights to these different areas of interest to individually prioritize them. Avoiding border problems: The captured traffic analysis can be inaccurate for cells at the border of the optimization area, if the footprint of these cells is partially outside the optimization area. In such a case, create a zone file identical to the optimization area in 9955, then extend the optimization area (focus zone) by another tier of cells. This zone file is composed of only 2 classes, e.g. InnerArea inside the optimization area and OuterArea outside. Apply weights of 1 for InnerArea and 0 for OuterArea. By that, the captured traffic analysis will be accurate, because the complete footprint of the cells will be considered, and the analysis area is still unchanged due to InnerArea of the zone file.
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Combination of global and clutter dependent optimization weights

Global optimization weights and clutter dependent optimization weights can be combined for each individual optimization objective. A global weight higher than zero is required to consider the optimization target. The individual importance of different areas can then be defined by clutter dependent weighting factors. Examples Some examples for the clutter dependent optimization weights are given below: Example 1 Optimization Target 1, e.g. Coverage = do not use clutter dependent weighting, global weight = 1 Optimization Target 2, e.g. Difference 1st-Nth pilot = use clutter dependent weighting, global weight = 1 The clutter weights for the individual optimization targets are shown in the table below: Optimization Target 1 Optimization Target 2 "global" weight = 1 Clutter dependent weighting: disabled Clutter A = 1 Clutter B = 1 Clutter C = 1 Clutter D = 1 "global" weight = 1 Clutter dependent weighting: enabled Clutter A = 1 Clutter B = 1 Clutter C = 1 Clutter D = 1
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Result:
For optimization target 1 the clutter dependent weighting is disabled. Hence, it does not matter which weights are set for the clutter types, the overall weight will be "1". For optimization target 2 the clutter dependent weighting is enabled. Hence, the importance will be based on the clutter dependent weighting combined with the "global" weight for this optimization target. If all clutter types have the same weight, there is no impact on the different optimization weights due to the clutter dependent weighting. Furthermore the global weight for both optimization targets is the same. This means that the importance of the two optimization targets is the same for all clutter types, i.e. areas. Clutter dependent weighting for optimization target 2 Practically this means (with coverage and quality as the optimization targets) that an additional 1km2 in coverage is of the same value as an additional 1km2 fulfilling the quality requirements.
Clutter dependent weighting for optimization target 1
Example 2 Optimization Target 1, e.g. Coverage = use clutter dependent weighting, weight = 1 Optimization Target 2, e.g. Diff 1st-Nth pilot = do not use clutter dependent weighting, weight = 0 The clutter weights for the individual optimization targets are shown in the table below: Optimization Target 1 Optimization Target 2 "global" weight = 1 "global" weight = 0
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Clutter dependent weighting: enabled Clutter A = 1 Clutter B = 5 Clutter C = 1 Clutter D = 0.5
Clutter dependent weighting: disabled Clutter A = 1 Clutter B = 1 Clutter C = 1 Clutter D = 1
Result:
For optimization target 1 the clutter dependent weighting is enabled. Hence, the importance of the individual areas will be based on the clutter depending weights defined by the clutter. The global weight is "1" and hence the overall multiplier for the clutter weights is "1". For optimization target 2 the clutter dependent weighting is disabled. Hence, the importance will be based on the global weight. Since this global weight is "0", the contribution of optimization target 2 for any point in the optimization area is "0". This means that optimization target 2 is not considered at all in the optimization. The optimization will hence only focus on optimization target 1. With the enabled clutter dependent weighting we can see that the area described by Clutter B is 5-times more important than Clutter A and Clutter C and 10-times more important than Clutter D. Practically this means (with coverage and quality as the optimization targets) that only coverage is of importance in this
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example. An additional 1km2 in coverage in Clutter B is 5-times the value as an additional 1km2 in coverage in Clutter A+C , and 10times the value than in Clutter D.
Note The global optimization weight is a multiplier to the normalized clutter based weighting factors. Hence, if the global weight for a particular optimization target is "0", the overall weighting for this optimization target will be zero independent of the clutter settings. This means that the target will not be considered in the optimization process at all.
Example 3 Optimization Target 1, e.g. Coverage = do use clutter dependent weighting, weight = 1 Optimization Target 2, e.g. Diff 1st-Nth pilot = do not use clutter dependent weighting, weight = 1 The clutter weights for the individual optimization targets are shown in the table below: Optimization Target 1 Optimization Target 2 "global" weight = 1 Clutter dependent weighting: enabled Clutter A = 1 Clutter B = 5 Clutter C = 1 Clutter D = 0.5 "global" weight = 1 Clutter dependent weighting: disabled Clutter A = 2 Clutter B = 1 Clutter C = 3 Clutter D = 1
Result:
For optimization target 1 the clutter dependent weighting is enabled. Hence, the importance of the individual areas will be based on the clutter depending weights defined by the clutter. The global weight is "1" and hence the overall multiplier for the clutter weights is "1". For optimization target 2 the clutter dependent weighting is disabled. Hence, the importance will be based on the global weight. Since this global weight is "1", the
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contribution of optimization target 2 for any point in the optimization area is "1". The optimization will hence focus on different levels optimization target 1, while the importance of the optimization target 2 remains the same throughout the optimization area (due to the fact that the different clutter weighting for optimization targets is not enabled). Note Even though the clutter dependent weighting for optimization target 2 shows different values, it is DISABLED and hence the overall optimization weight for this target is given by the global weight only!
Practically this means that the importance of a single optimization target can be modified for each clutter type. This clutter dependent relative weighting of various optimization targets provides great value. Considering the cost and time limitations, clutter (area) based weighting becomes even more important. Assume that Clutter B describes an urban area, while the other clutter types describe suburban, rural and park areas. Furthermore, assume that depending on the different clutter types we have different traffic density distributions or ARPUs (which are nothing else than the different weights for different clutter types set above) and different costs for the implementation of parameter modifications. This is indicated in the table below: Traffic density (or ARPU) Urban Suburban Park Rural high (5 units = weight) low (1 unit = weight) low (0.5 unit = weight) low (1 unit = weight) Costs for modifications high (3 units) high (3 units) medium (2 units) low (1 unit)
In case that the optimization budget is limited, cheaper modifications will be prioritized if the same area can be gained. However, this does not necessarily mean that they are then the most cost effective modifications. The most cost effective modification has to consider the value of the modification, e.g. how much more traffic can be served within the gained area by doing this modification. Another possible measure would be the average revenue per user, ARPU. Therefore, a more expensive parameter change can pay off if the additional area is worth the
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additional effort - compared to the area and the traffic that can be gained by the cheaper modification. In the example above, a single modification in an urban environment would pay off compared to a cheaper modification in a rural environment if they can both gain the same area, even though the cheaper parameter modification costs only 1/3! The reason is that the rural return of investment would be 1/3, while the urban investment - if possible within the total budget - will deliver 5 units in terms of gained traffic. The more expensive modification therefore brings more income and hence is the preferable solution for this particular situation. Example 4 Optimization Target 1, e.g. Coverage = use clutter dependent weighting, weight = 1 Optimization Target 2, e.g. Diff 1st-Nth pilot = use clutter dependent weighting, weight = 2 The clutter weights for the individual optimization targets are shown in the table below: Optimization Target 1 Optimization Target 2 "global" weight = 1 Clutter dependent weighting: enabled Clutter A = 3 Clutter B = 2 Clutter C = 0 Clutter D = 1 "global" weight = 2 Clutter dependent weighting: enabled Clutter A = 2 Clutter B = 3 Clutter C = 1 Clutter D = 1
Result:
For optimization target 1 the clutter dependent weighting is enabled. Hence, the importance of the individual areas will be based on the clutter depending weights defined by the clutter. The global weight is "1" and hence the overall multiplier for the clutter weights is "1". Note The clutter weight for Clutter C is "0". Since the clutter weight is a multiplier to the contribution of optimization target 1 this means that the area described by Clutter C does not deliver any value. This area is hence NOT considered in the optimization. A practical example for this would be that
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Clutter C describes a lake or a restricted area, where it is of no interest to provide coverage. For optimization target 2 the clutter dependent weighting is enabled as well. Hence, the importance will be based on the global weight times the clutter weighting factors. Example 5 Optimization Target 1, e.g. Coverage = use clutter dependent weighting, weight = 1 Optimization Target 2, e.g. Diff 1st-Nth pilot = use clutter dependent weighting, weight = 1 The clutter weights for the individual optimization targets are shown in the table below: Optimization Target 1 Optimization Target 2 "global" weight = 1 Clutter dependent weighting: enabled Clutter A = 3 Clutter B = 2 Clutter C = 0 Clutter D = 1 "global" weight = 1 Clutter dependent weighting: enabled Clutter A = 0 Clutter B = 0 Clutter C = 1 Clutter D = 0
Result:
For optimization target 1 the clutter dependent weighting is enabled. Hence, the importance of the individual areas will be based on the clutter depending weights defined by the clutter. The global weight is "1". Clutter dependent weighting for optimization target 1 Note The clutter weight for Clutter C is "0". Since the clutter weight is a multiplier to the contribution of optimization target 1 this means that the area described by Clutter C does not
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deliver any value. This area is hence NOT considered in the optimization. A practical example for this would be that Clutter C describes a lake or a restricted area, where it is of no interest to provide coverage. For optimization target 2 the clutter dependent weighting is enabled as well. Hence, the importance will be based on the global weight times the clutter weighting factors. Since all (beside Clutter C) clutter dependent weights are "0", this optimization target will only be considered in Clutter C and nowhere else. Practically this means that while optimization target 1 is important everywhere besides Clutter C, optimization target 2 is ONLY considered in Clutter C.
VI.3
Optimization with measurements

9955 ACCO supports the use of prediction based and measurement based target functions. This topic describes how to use measurements in the optimization process. Measurements are supported for UMTS and CDMA2000.
Workflow
Measurements are used in 9955 ACCO by creating a measurement environment. A measurement environment is similar to an optimization environment with two major differences: Measurement environments are based on measurements while optimization environments are based on predictions Measurement environments can only be used in combination with an optimization environment. Measurement environments are used in 9955 ACCO by assigning them to individual target functions. This allows maximum flexibility to combine different target functions for measurements and predictions with individual weights.
Prerequisites
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A suitable 9955 project with test mobile data imported is required to use measurements in 9955 ACCO. To import scanner data into 9955 navigate to the Data tab, right click Test Mobile Data and use the context menu function Import. Please refer to the 9955 documentation for details. The transmitter settings in the project must accurately reflect the status of the network during the measurement. In particular the following parameters must be as exact as possible in the 9955 project: Mechanical settings (tilt, azimuth, antenna pattern, etc.) Power settings (pilot power, total transmit power, etc.) Scrambling codes of the cells The measurement samples have to be associated to the transmitters and cells correctly, this means the the columns Transmitter 1..n have to be correct. Caution The 9955 project used to create the measurement environment has to reflect the network configuration during the measurement as close as possible. Usually the same project should be used to create the measurement environment and the optimization environment and this project should contain the network parameters used during the measurement (azimuths, tilts, antenna patterns, pilot powers, loads...). If this is not possible, for example if parameters have been modified since the measurement was done and these parameter changes have to be considered in the optimization, two 9955 projects have to be used. one 9955 project with the network configuration during the measurement to create the measurement environment one 9955 project with the current network configuration to create the optimization environment
Quality of measurements
A general rule when using measurements in optimizations is: the better the quality of measurements, the better the quality of the optimized network configuration. Please consider the following rules when using measurements in optimizations: The measurements should have a sufficient number of samples that are dense enough and regularly distributed around the transmitters of interest. There should not be large uncovered areas (for example parks that could not be covered with drive tests) that are of interest for the operator. The measurements should have as many servers per sample as possible. To allow 9955 ACCO to improve the network the information on alternative servers is vital. Measurements with only one server can be used to verify certain requirements, but the value for optimizations is limited. The measurements should be carried out with constant pilot powers and constant total powers. If the powers change during the measurement the measurement has to be normalized to the powers in the 9955 project. It is highly recommended to use constant pilot powers and constant (dummy) loads during the measurement. The requirements for the total power do not apply of Ec/Io is not used in the optimization. If one or more of these conditions are not met, it is highly likely that the optimization will not produce optimal results. Therefore, if the appropriate data is not available it might be better to refrain from using Ec/Io targets in the process and concentrate on coverage only.
Creation of measurement environments

The generation of measurements is done by an 9955 add-in that is automatically installed by the 9955 ACCO setup package. Similar to the Optimization Environment (containing network data, transmitter data and prediction based pathloss matrices), a Measurement Environment contains measurement based
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propagation data. The add-in enumerates the Test Mobile Data in the 9955 project and allows the user to select one measurement for export. It performs analysis and pre-processing, and subsequently writes all required data for 9955 ACCO into files in a user specified location. If multiple Test Mobile Data entries need to be written into Measurement Environments, repeat the export process and select a different Measurement Environment (i.e. different .cme files) each time. Section Create Measurement Environment discusses the export of measurement environments in detail, section Measurement Environment Statistics contains information about quality indicators generated during export.
Using measurements in the optimization

Both an Optimization Environment and a Measurement Environment are required to utilize measurements in 9955 ACCO. The Optimization Environment contains all relevant network and transmitter parameters as well as the prediction based pathloss files. If you do not need to use measurements, the Optimization Environment alone is sufficient. Multiple Measurement Environments can be used together with a single Optimization environment. A Measurement Environment usually contains one set of Test Mobile Data, hence several Test Mobile Data sets can be used simultaneously in one optimization run. Please note that the 9955 project used for generating the Optimization Environment can be differerent from the project used for generating the Measurement Environment. However, parameter deviations (azimuth, tilt, powers) should not be too large to ensure the measurements are usable. Use the measurement data instead of the predicted pathloss matrices by selecting the appropriate Measurement Environment in a target function. This allows to combine measurement based targets functions and prediction based target functions. In fact it is recommended to use a combination of measurements and predictions whenever possible. This might for example be useful if the distribution of measurements is not dense enough. The optimization process might tend to focus on areas with measurements when optimizing for measurements only. This can be prevented by optimizing on both measurements and predictions. Example Create two coverage and two Ec/Io target functions to consider both predictions and measurements: Coverage-P Coverage-M Ec/Io-P Ec/Io-M weight 1.0 weight 0.5 weight 0.5 weight 0.25 (no measurement environment) D:\Data\DemoMeasurementEnvironment.cme (no measurement environment) D:\Data\DemoMeasurementEnvironment.cme
This example demonstrates how to optimize for coverage and Ec/Io (balanced 2:1), both based on predictions and measurements (balanced 2:1). Using multiple measurement environments is possible by applying several targets and selecting another measurement environment for each target. Example Create two target functions to consider both coverage based on predictions and coverage based on measurements: Coverage-P Coverage-M1 Coverage-M2 Coverage-M3 weight 1.0 weight 0.5 weight 0.5 weight 0.5 (no measurement environment) D:\Data\DemoMeasurementEnvironment1.cme D:\Data\DemoMeasurementEnvironment2.cme D:\Data\DemoMeasurementEnvironment3.cme
For better clear identification of prediction and measurement targets in the optimization report and in Inspector it is recommended to assign appropriate target function names. Consistent with all other target functions, each target objective is normalized by its maximum value. Thus, the target objective of a measurement based target will be normalized by the area of
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the focus zone in the same way as a prediction based target. Please refer to section Target definitions for more detailed information on target functions.
Tips and tricks

Please consider these hints to achieve optimum optimization results: Measurement based estimations of coverage and Ec/Io are only reliable if changes to the network configuration are not extensive. If, for example, a far-off transmitter is turned in the direction of a pixel and this transmitter was not part of any measurement sample, the increase of interference on the pixel cannot be correctly simulated. It is therefore crucial to limit parameter changes allowed in 9955 ACCO to small ranges. A good starting point is to set mechanical tilt ranges of 2 and mechanical azimuth ranges of 10. The cell loads (total transmit powers) of the transmitters must be kept constant during the measurements. Otherwise Ec/Io target function cannot be used or is likely to be unreliable. The total transmit powers during the measurement should be as low as possible to get a high number of detected servers. High total transmit powers reduce the number of detectable servers due to the limited detection sensitivity of scanners. The better the required minimum Eb/Nt of the scanner, the more servers can be detected. More detected servers will generate better results. Excellent Eb/Nt values of scanners are 3dB or less. Use prediction based targets as well as measurement based target functions in 9955 ACCO to avoid degraded network quality in areas without measurements. A suggested starting point uses weights 1:1 for measurements:predictions. Assign easily identifiable names to the individual target functions for better identification in 9955 ACCO reports and Inspector.
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Inspector
CHAPTER 7
VII
VII.1
Inspector
Overview
This section gives an overview over the functions and benefits of the 9955 ACCO Inspector.
Launching Inspector
Inspector can be launched in different ways: from 9955 ACCO with the button visualize results after an optimization has finished from 9955 ACCO with > Menu > Tools > Inspector, you can then select an implementation plan index file (.cipi) from a previous optimization from Windows Explorer by double clicking on an implementation plan index file (.cipi) in the result directory of a previous optimization
Visualizations
The 9955 ACCO Inspector allows a fast and efficient analysis of the modifications that have been made during the optimization. Each implementation plan step can be shown. The parameter values that can be displayed include: Active and Inactive sites and cells Power levels Mechanical antenna tilts Electrical antenna tilts. The electrical tilts are currently represented by changes in the antenna pattern. The effective tilt. This is the combination of both the mechanical and the electrical tilt. Antenna pattern exchange Antenna azimuths Each of the parameters and analyses can be displayed in two different modes: As absolute measure As difference between 2 implementation plan step The advantages are that the individual sector specific parameters can be visualized and color coded. By doing so, antenna tilts can be represented by different colors in the Inspector, and the user can directly identify all the changes in the network. An example for 9955 ACCO Inspector is shown in the figure below.
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Inspector
The 9955 ACCO Inspector also allows the visualization of different geo data, traffic and clutter maps, as well as various performance predictions. It can display the predictions before and after the optimization, as well as for each implementation plan step, and also show the difference between them. Details are described in the section Visualizations.
Evaluating parameters and raster plots

9955 ACCO Inspector allows the visualization of different parameter values as well as predictions and maps. This can be done jointly for multiple networks, carriers and frequency bands. 9955 ACCO Inspector includes a number of tool windows that help to display the individual changes and parameters efficiently. Details on these tool functionalities and specific settings are described in the User Interface section.
VII.2
Visualizations
This section describes the different visualizations in the 9955 ACCO Inspector.
Visualization functionalities
The 9955 ACCO Inspector allows a fast and efficient visualization of different plots. These include: Network Configurations Height, Clutter, Traffic Focus Zone Network Analysis
Network Configuration
The node Network configuration in the structure tree allows to select the network parameter to be displayed in the map window. Select the radio button of the parameter you want to show. The parameter values are displayed by means of color coded arrows for each individual sector. This allows a clear display of sector parameters such as antenna tilts and power levels on a per sector level. An example is shown in
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the picture below: the antenna tilt (mechanical tilt) is displayed for 6 sectors by means of different colors.
In the legend you find the different color coded tilt value. The legend can be adapted according to user requirements. This is done in the color editor of the 9955 ACCO Inspector. For details please see the section Color Editor. Note Please note that azimuth values are not color coded in the before or after visualization. In this case the sector arrows are displayed in the cell's footprint color if a best server plot for the network is visible, otherwise they are white. Optimizable parameters These are parameters that can be assigned optimization ranges in 9955 ACCO. It is possible to view the parameter value for the initial and optimized state and for every implementation plan step if available. Available parameters are: Azimuth Mechanical Tilt Electrial Tilt Effective Tilt Antenna Pattern Antenna Type Power Active Result parameters Result parameters are calculated during the optimization. They can be visualized for initial and optimized state and for every implementation plan step if available. Captured Traffic (only if a traffic map is available, the unit is the same as in the traffic map) Resource units (only if a traffic (density based) target is calculated, in percent of the cell's capability)
Height, Clutter, Traffic, Zones

Heightdisplays the height information of the underlying 9955 project. Clutterdisplays the clutter data for the different radio technologies and frequency bands used in the actual 9955 ACCO project. In case that alternative clutter files are used (see Project specification), the alternative clutter data is displayed. In case that multiple clutter files are available, enable the checkbox of the clutter files that should be displayed. Weighting Zonesdisplays the zone files that were used to replace the clutter based weighting for one or multiple optimization targets. Trafficenable this checkbox to display the traffic data for the different radio technologies and frequency bands used in the actual 9955 ACCO project. In case that multiple traffic maps are available, enable the checkbox of the traffic map that should be displayed. If the used traffic maps for the different networks are identical, 9955 ACCO will display only one single traffic map. Use the slider control in the tools bar of the 9955 ACCO Inspector to vary the transparency of the individual traffic maps. The legend colors of the map can be changed in the color editor.
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Focus zones
9955 ACCO Inspector allows the display of different focus zones for different radio technologies and frequency bands. For example, when using the multi system functionality in 9955 ACCO to combine multiple 9955 networks, different focus zones can be used. This means that 9955 ACCO and 9955 ACCO Inspector can handle and display different focus zones for the different technologies and frequency bands. For comparison reasons, the different focus zones can be displayed in different colors. These colors can be defined and changed in the color editor.
Analysis
9955 ACCO Inspector provides a very fast and efficient way of showing prediction plots and performance analysis. The analysis plots are grouped by the different technologies and frequency bands that are considered in the actual 9955 ACCO project. Enable the checkbox of the individual analysis plots that should be displayed. Use the slider control in the tools bar of the 9955 ACCO Inspector to vary the transparency of the individual analysis plots. The legend colors of the plots can be changed in the color editor. Best server plots offer two different styles: Regular displays the best server footprint with one solid color per best server Outline displays only the cell borders per best server, pixels inside the same best server area are transparent. This allows to view an underlying analysis layer and the cell borders at the same time. The display style can be changed for every best server plot individually in the tree view:
Target functions can be defined to require a coverage requirement to be fulfilled as described in Target definitions. In this case the tree view offers the possibility to choose between two display options: Cov. fulfilled: Pixels not fulfilling the coverage requirement are transparent. This represents the target function as used in the optimization. Raw: The unconditioned target function values are displayed. In this case the observed area can be larger than the objective value used in the optimization. The display style can be changed for plot with a coverage requirement in the tree view:
Note The target function plot for capacity (density based) displays the maximum possible throughput in Mbit/s per pixel as given by the modulation settings. The plot does not consider the offered traffic from the traffic map. Saving plots to filesuse the context menu entry Save raster map to file ... to select a file name
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where the selected plot shall be saved to. 5 different Windows standard file formats are available (BMP, JPG, and others).
Before, After, and Difference plots

9955 ACCO Inspector allows the very quick and simple comparison of the parameter values as well as the prediction and analysis plots before and after the optimization. In order to make this quick comparison, please select one of the three options in the selection box in the 9955 ACCO Inspector tool bar.
Beforeselect this option to view the parameter values and the prediction plots selected in the before selection box. If no implementation plan has been computed, this is the network configuration before the optimization with 9955 ACCO, otherwise the selected implementation plan step is displayed. Please refer to section Implementation Plan for details on implementation plan steps. Afterselect this option to view the parameter values and the prediction plots selected in the after selection box. If no implementation plan has been computed, this is the network configuration after the optimization with 9955 ACCO, otherwise the selected implementation plan step is displayed. Please refer to section Implementation Plan for details on implementation plan steps. Differenceselect this option to view the parameter values and the prediction plots as a difference of the network states specified in the before and after selection boxes. Note In order to allow fast switching between the before and the after network configuration, 9955 ACCO Inspector provides hot-keys to switch between the different network configurations: "1" ... Before "2" ... After "3" ... Difference
VII.3
Implementation Plan
This section describes the visualization of the implementation plan in the 9955 ACCO Inspector. Note In order to be able to display the plots for the individual implementation plan steps, the associated checkbox in the Optimization Options needs to be enabled in 9955 ACCO. The 9955 ACCO Inspector allows a fast iteration through the implementation plan steps. This means that for each step the changed parameters as well as the improved prediction plots can be displayed for the individual networks and technologies.
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Improvements up to a specific point in the implementation plan

For example, the impact of the different steps in the implementation plan can be visualized. This is shown in the figure above. 9955 ACCO Inspector allows the step-by-step visualization of the different modifications done in the network. This can be used to investigate the most cost efficient parameter modifications and compare them with practical engineering rules. The selection of the implementation plan step to be shown is done with the main selection box (before/after/difference) and the two implementation plan selection boxes before and after. When Before is selected in the main selection box, the implementation plan step in the before selection box is shown. Please note that the allowed range for this selection box is from the initial up to the step before the last step. To visualize the last (optimized) configuration, please use After in the main selection box. When After is selected in the main selection box, the implementation plan step in the after selection box is shown. Please note that the allowed range for this selection box is from one step after the initial step up to the last (optimized) step. To visualize the first (initial) configuration, please use Before in the main selection box. When Difference is selected in the main selection box, the difference of the parameter values and prediction plots is shown. The Analysis window shows the CDF or PDF curves for both states in this case. Note In order to allow fast switching between implementation steps, various hot keys are available, for example Page Up/Page Down ... move to next/previous step Ctrl+Home/Ctrl+End ... display first/last implementation plan step Getting to the desired Implementation Plan step, e.g., the one with best trade-off in cost and coverage, may be using the Optimization Objective Analysis window.
Analysis of differences in individual steps

Further to the analysis of the improvements for the implementation plan, 9955 ACCO Inspector
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also allows the direct analysis of the effect of a specific implementation plan step. To do so, the difference mode needs to be enabled by selecting Difference in the main selection box. The user can then define the before and after steps that should be compared in the difference analysis.
VII.4
User Interface
This section describes the different windows and tools in the 9955 ACCO Inspector.
Data Tree Window

The project tree in 9955 ACCO Inspector provides a full list of all parameter and raster data available. This includes: Height data Clutter data Traffic data Focus Zone Network analysis, e.g. prediction plots Network configuration, i.e. transmitter parameters The plot in the top-most position of the project tree is in the background of the layer hierarchy. For instance, in the project tree on the left, the UMTS clutter is displayed in the lowest position. In front of that, the UMTS RX Pilot layer is displayed. For each of the layers the transparency can be defined separately. The project tree also displays the available technologies within the 9955 ACCO project. The user can then select the parameters or analysis plots to be displayed in the main window of 9955 ACCO Inspector. More detailed descriptions of the individual visualization possibilities are given in the Visualization section. Context menu entries: Display legendShow or hide the legend in the raster legend window Display mouse-overShow or hide the mouse over value in the raster mouse over legend window Display optimization objective plotShow or hide the target function objective plot in the target function objective plot window Edit colorsOpens the color editor for the selected legend, please refer to Color Editor for details. Display analysisOpens analysis window for selected raster map or network parameter, please refer to Statistical Analysis for details. Display optimization objective analysisOpens optimization objective analysis window for selected raster map, please refer to Optimization Objective Analysis for details.
Tool Bar
9955 ACCO Inspector provides a number of functionalities to simplify the comparison of different network configurations before and after the optimization, as well as the difference of both. These tools are accessible via the 9955 ACCO Inspector tool bar.
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Main selection boxuse this selection box to chose the display of the individual network states Before, After and Difference. This allows the user to display both the parameter values as well as the prediction and analysis plots of the individual network states. Note In order to allow a very fast switch between the initial and the optimized network configuration, 9955 ACCO Inspector provides hot-keys to switch between the different network configurations: "1" ... Initial "2" ... Optimized "3" ... Difference Implementation plan - Beforeuse this selection box to chose the implementation plan step that is displayed in the Before state. By default, this is the initial network configuration. However, in order to compare different network implementation steps and their effectiveness, the Before step can be set to any step in the implementation plan (except for the optimized state). For details see also how the different Implementation Plan steps can be displayed. In order to be able to display the plots for the individual implementation plan steps (and not only the initial and the optimized step), the associated checkbox in the Optimization Options needs to be enabled. Implementation plan - Afteruse this selection box to chose the implementation plan step that is displayed in the After state. By default this is the final optimized network configuration. However, in order to compare different network implementation steps and their effectiveness, the optimized step can be set to any step in the implementation plan (except for the initial state). For details see also how the different Implementation Plan steps can be displayed. In order to be able to display the plots for the individual implementation plan steps (and not only the initial and the optimized step), the associated checkbox in the Optimization Options needs to be enabled. Transparancy controluse the slide control bar to define the transparency of the individual maps and analysis plots. In order to modify the transparency of the individual plots, the specific map or plot needs to be selected in the project tree. Site perspectiveuse the site perspective tool to define the perspective view of the individual sectors. This functionality enables the perspective site and sector view in case that multiple parameters have to be displayed for a co-located antenna. For example, with the perspective function it is possible to display multiple co-located sectors that share the same physical antenna, but use different electrical antenna tilts. Selectionuse the selection tool as default selection tool. When the selection arrow is activated, it can also be used as a zooming tool. Click and hold the left mouse button while dragging to define the zone that should be displayed on the map. Click and hold the middle mouse button while dragging to pan the map window. Panuse the pan tool to move the visible part of the map in 9955 ACCO Inspector. Toggle data tree windowuse this button to switch the data tree window on and off. Toggle parameter legenduse this button to switch the parameter legend window on and off. The parameter legend
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window will then display the legends for the parameters that are actually displayed. In case that parameters for multiple networks are displayed, the legends for the different technologies and frequency bands are displayed as well. Toggle parameter mouse over windowuse this button to switch the parameter mouse over window on and off. The parameter mouse over window will then display the parameter values for the different sectors where the mouse cursor is currently located. Toggle raster legenduse this button to switch the raster legend window on and off. The raster legend window will then display the legends for the different raster plots (maps and analysis) that are actually selected. In case that multiple raster plots are selected, the legends for the different plots are displayed individually as well. Toggle raster mouse over windowuse this button to switch the raster mouse over window on and off. The raster mouse over window will then display the raster values for the individual pixels where the mouse cursor is currently over. In case that multiple raster layers are selected, all selected raster values are displayed in the raster mouse over window. Toggle optimization objective windowuse this button to switch the optimization objective window on and off. The window will display the objective plots for for the different target functions associated with raster plots that are actually selected. In case that multiple raster plots are selected, the objective plots for their target functions -if available- are displayed individually as well. Toggle find windowuse this button to turn the find site and sector window on and off. Color editoruse the color editor to view and modify the color settings for the individual maps, plots and parameter values in 9955 ACCO Inspector. In order to do so for a particular parameter or plot, this parameter or plot needs to be selected in the project tree. Alternatively you can double click on a legend to edit the color palette. Please refer to color editor for additional information. Site labelsuse this button to turn the display of the site labels on and off. Sector labelsuse this button to turn the display of the sector labels on and off. Parameter labelsuse this button to turn the display of the parameter labels on and off. Parameter labels will be displayed alternatively to the sector labels. Zoom inclick this button to zoom in by 15% Zoom outclick this button to zoom out by 15% Zoom to fitclick this button to zoom so that the area surrounding all sites considered in the actual 9955 ACCO project are displayed within the map window. Settingsuse this functionality to define, load and save settings for the visualization in 9955 ACCO Inspector. Aboutclick this button the view information about the the current 9955 ACCO Inspector version.
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Parameter Legend Window

The parameter legend displays the color legend for the currently displayed network configuration parameter. Multiple legends are displayed if more than one network is currently visible. The color code can be configured with the color editor by double clicking on the legend, please refer to Color Editor for details.
Inactive sitesused to define how inactive sites are to be displayed. Possible values are: Display ... inactive sites are displayed the same way as active sites Outline ... the sectors of inactive sites are shown transparently Hide Cells ... the arrows for the sectors of inactive sites are not shown at all, only the site's circular symbol is drawn Hide ... inactive sites are not displayed at all Context menu entries: Hide thisHides the selected legend Edit colorsOpens the color editor for the selected legend, please refer to Color Editor for details. Display mouse-overShow or hide the mouse over value in the raster mouse over legend window
Map window
Please refer to Visualizations for a description of the different data types in the map window. This section discusses some additional features and functions. Mouse over features: Moving the mouse cursor over a pixel or antenna symbol, specific information can be displayed. This functionality can be turned on and off. Mouse over functionalities for raster information: The actual values for different rasters can be displayed. The individual plot layers can be turned on and off independently as described in the section Raster Mouse Over Window below. Mouse over functionalities for parameter values: Once the mouse is moved over a sector symbol, the sector specific parameter values can be displayed, such as: - Sector technology - Site and Sector (Cell) name - Coordinates - Antenna pattern and azimuth - Mechanical, electrical and effective antenna tilt - Activation status and power (pilot) values If more than one sector is below the mouse cursor, the tab key can be used to select between those sectors. Note By clicking on an individual sector (rather than just moving the mouse cursor over it) the information of this sector is locked until something else is selected with the mouse. Click on the
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map or background to release the sector lock. Other useful information: To disable the perspective view, double click on the icon in the toolbar. To zoom in and zoom out you may turn the mouse wheel. The middle mouse button (or mouse wheel) can be used to pan the map area. To zoom to fit, double click the mouse wheel. The context menu in the map window offers various functions as an alternative to tool bar buttons.
Parameter Mouse Over Window

The parameter mouse over window displays the parameter values for a selected sector or the sector below the mouse cursor. The visibility of parameters can be configured individually in the context menu.
Context menu entries: Hide thisHides the selected parameter <parameter name>Shows or hides the corresponding parameter
Raster Legend Window

The raster legend window displays legends for the active raster plots. Individual legends can be turned on and off independently, the color code for every legend can be configured with the color editor by double clicking on the legend, please refer to Color Editor for details. Note Legends can only be displayed for visible plot layers, they are automatically hidden if a layer is turned off.
Context menu entries: Hide thisHides the selected legend Edit colorsOpens the color editor for the selected legend, please refer to Color Editor for details. Display mouse-overShow or hide the mouse over value in the raster mouse over legend window Display optimization objective plotShow or hide the target function objective plot in the target function objective plot window
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<plot name>Shows or hides the corresponding legend
Raster Mouse Over Window

The raster mouse over window displays mouse over values for the active raster plots. The visibility of parameters can be configured individually in the context menu. Note Mouse over values can only be displayed for visible plot layers, they are automatically hidden if a layer is turned off.
Context menu entries: Hide thisHides the selected parameter Display legendShow or hide the legend in the raster legend window Display optimization objective plotShow or hide the target function objective plot in the target function objective plot window <plot name>Shows or hides the corresponding plot
Optimization Objective Window

The optimization objective window displays target function objective plots for the active raster plots where feasible (e.g., best server plots are not the direct result of a target function, thus posses no objective plot). The visibility of individual plots can be configured individually in the context menu. Note Optimization objective analysis is only available if an implementation plan has been calculated. One or two marker lines indicate the Implementation Plan step currently displayed, in red if "Before" is currently displayed, in green for "After", or both, if "Difference" is displayed (see Implementation Plan step selector). Double-clicking on a plot (or using the context menu, see below) brings up an analysis window for the respective plot. See Optimization Objective Analysis. Note Optimization objective plots can only be displayed for visible plot layers, they are automatically hidden if a layer is turned off.
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Context menu entries: Hide thisHides the selected plot Display analysisShow analysis window for selected plot. See Optimization Objective Analysis. <plot name>Shows or hides the corresponding plot
Find Window
This window allows to locate sites or sectors in the map view. Simply type the name of a site or sector in the edit control and press return or the Go! button. Double clicking a site or sector will center that site/sector in the main view port. The context menu offers these functions as well.
Note Sometimes it is difficult or impossible to locate a sector if it is partially or totally hidden by other sectors. In this case zoom to an appropriate zoom level in any map region and use the Go! button to center the map window on the site of interest. Context menu entries: Display siteDisplay the site. If it is not visible in the map window, the viewing rectangle is moved to the site. Note that the site is not highlighted with this function. Display cellDisplay and select the cell. It starts blinking in the map window and the parameter legend and mouse over display the values of this sector regardless of the mouse cursor position. Click into the map window to undo the selection. Hide inactive cellsDo not display inactive cells (for the current implementation plan step) in the site list Hide sites with no active cellsDo not display sites without active cells (for the current implementation plan step) in the list Hide this networkDisable visualization of the selected sector's network. Please note that this is equivalent to disabling the network in the data tree. Collapse allCollapse all tree items
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Expand this networkExpand the tree items for the current network Expand allExpand all tree items
Color editor
The color editor allows to define the color palette and the thresholds individually for every plot and parameter type.
Levelsa list of parameter levels can be entered in the list window. Use the button Insert and Remove to add or delete levels. Please note that the list of values has to increase monotonically, i.e. every value has to be larger than the value below. ColorsEvery level can be assigned one or two colors. If one color is assigned, the color palette is interpolated smoothly between the assigned colors. If two colors are assigned using the Split button, the color interpolation is punctuated and the palette jumps from the first to the second color at the according level as shown for -80 dBm in the screenshot above. This feature can be used to highlight certain requirements without the need to define two levels. Insertinserts a new level above the currently selected value. Removeremoves the selected level. Split/Unsplitsplits the current level (i.e. allows the assignment of two colors) or removes the splitting. ThresholdIt is possible to specify a threshold for the legend. Values below this threshold are displayed transparent as indicated in the palette preview. This feature allows the fast visualization of different requirements without the need to change the color assignment. None ... no threshold is used, all values of the plot are displayed with the standard color interpolation. Values below/above the first/last color level are clipped and displayed with the first/last color. Clutter ... if the optimization uses clutter dependent thresholds, these thresholds can be used for the visualization. The text uses clutter thresholds is displayed in the legends to indicate that pixel depending thresholds are used. The ellipsis button (...) allows to view the current settings. For every pixel the threshold is determined as given from the clutter, values below the pixel based threshold are displayed transparent. Fixed ... if the optimization uses a fixed threshold (not depending on clutter classes) this threshold can be used for the visualization. User defined ... a user defined threshold can be entered or selected with the slider. PreviewThe changes can be previewed in the map window using this button.
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LoadAllows to load the palette from a .pal file. SaveAllows to save the palette to a .pal file.
VII.5
Statistical Analysis
This section describes the statistics functionality of 9955 ACCO Inspector.
Overview
9955 ACCO Inspector allows to analyze statistics for every floating point raster analysis, such as RX coverage, Ec/Io, etc, but also floating point based parameter data, and finally, target function objective plots. The three respective analysis windows handle similarly. For specifics, please refer to the sub-topics.
VII.5.1 Plot Analysis

This section describes the statistics functionality relating to raster plots.
Overview
9955 ACCO Inspector allows to analyze statistics for every floating point raster analysis, such as RX coverage, Ec/Io, etc. The statistics can be viewed as CDF (cumulative distribution function) or PDF (probability density function) scaled in km or % of the focus zone area. Depending on the currently shown state (before, after, or difference) the analysis for the selected state (before - red line, after - green line) or for both states (two lines - red and green) is displayed.
The analysis window

The analysis window for a result plot can be opened by double clicking on the corresponding item in the tree view, with the context menu entry Display Analysis, or with the hot key Ctrl+A.
Graph TypeEither the CDF (cumulative distribution function) or the PDF (probability density function) can be displayed for the selected plot. GridThis checkbox turns on horizontal and vertical grid lines. Arithmetic DifferenceThis checkbox may be used to display an arithmetic difference graph in
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"difference" mode (see Implementation Plan Step selection) instead of showing "before" and "after" graphs Y-AxisThe y-axis can be scaled in km or percent of the focus zone. Please note that the analysis is restricted to the focus zone in both cases. Plot areaThe plot area displays one (before, after) or two (difference) graphs of the evaluated analysis. Mouse tracking is available, the current x- and y-values are displayed right next to the axes. X-Axis min and maxThese edit controls allow manual scaling of the horizontal axis. Y-Axis maxThis edit control allows manual scaling of the vertical axis upper limit. Auto scaleThis button (--> <--) near the x-axis automatically scales the horizontal axis to the xrange of values in the current plot, the corresponding button close to the y-axis automatically scales the vertical axis to the y-range of values in the current plot. DefaultThese buttons scale the horizontal or vertical axis, respectively, to the default range for the selected plot type. Constrain to coverage fulfilledUse this option to constrain the set of analyzed pixels establishing the statistics to those exceeding the corresponding coverage threshold. Limit analysis to clutter classesIf this option is checked, a list of classes of the clutter file or a zone file is shown. Check or uncheck them to limit the analysis to the selected clutter classes. By this the entire statistics is based on the combined area of the selected clutter classes. This, e. g., means that 100% area in the CDF is the combined area of the selected clutter classes only and not the total area of the optimization area any more. If the clutter file or a zone file shall be used can be selected with the drop-down menu right next to the check box. Note The target function plot for capacity (density based) displays the maximum possible throughput in Mbit/s per pixel as given by the modulation settings. The plot does not consider the offered traffic from the traffic map.
Mouse tracking functions

When moving the mouse cursor into the plot area, a vertical marker and one or two horizontal markers (depending on the number of active graphs) are automatically displayed and labeled with the corresponding x- and y-values. If a more detailed analysis for certain x-values is required, it is possible to lock the marker by clicking into the plot area with the left mouse button. Two operation modes are possible depending on the number of graphs: If one graph is displayed (before or after), the marker is fixed to the current x-value. A second click unlocks the marker. If two graphs are displayed (difference), the marker for the graph closest to the mouse cursor is locked, the marker for the other graph can now be moved. Subsequent mouse clicks lock or unlock the marker for the graph closest to the mouse cursor. By locking one marker and moving the other marker, the statistics can be evaluated relatively to each other very comfortably. Locking both graphs provides an easy way to read out certain measurement points.
Clipboard functions
Right click into the diagram area to invoke additional functions. Copy chart graphics to clipboardPlaces a the chart in bitmap form into the clipboard Copy graph values to clipboardPlaces a data values in tab separated text for into the clipboard. The data can be copied into a text editor or Microsoft Excel for further analysis.
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VII.5.2 Parameter Analysis

This section describes the statistics functionality relating to parameters.
Overview
9955 ACCO Inspector allows to analyze statistics for every floating point parameter, such as Power, Tilt, etc. The statistics can be viewed as cumulative, or density plot scaled in numbers of cells or % of all cells. In density mode, a graph shows how many cells have the value at the respective X-axis position for the parameter the window is associated with. In cumulative mode, how many cells have this or a smaller value. Note that in density mode, a bar chart is used as graph for better clarity. Depending on the currently shown state (before, after, or difference) the analysis for the selected state (before - red line, after - green line) or for both states (two lines - red and green) is displayed.
Available parameters
Various cell parameters can be analyzed by Inspector. Optimizable parameters These are parameters that can be assigned optimization ranges in 9955 ACCO. It is possible to view the parameter value for the initial and optimized state and for every implementation plan step if available. Available parameters are: Azimuth Mechanical Tilt Electrial Tilt Effective Tilt Power Result parameters Result parameters are calculated during the optimization. They can be visualized for initial and optimized state and for every implementation plan step if available. Captured Traffic (only if a traffic map is available, the unit is the same as in the traffic map) Resource units (only if a traffic (density based) target is calculated, in percent of the cell's capability)
The analysis window

The analysis window for a result plot can be opened by double clicking on the corresponding item in the tree view, with the context menu entry Display Analysis, or with the hot key Ctrl+A.
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Graph TypeEither cumulative or density representation can be used for the selected plot. GridThis checkbox turns on horizontal and vertical grid lines. Arithmetic DifferenceThis checkbox may be used to display an arithmetic difference graph in "difference" mode (see Implementation Plan Step selection) instead of showing "before" and "after" graphs Y-AxisThe y-axis can be scaled in km or percent of the focus zone. Please note that the analysis is restricted to the focus zone in both cases. Plot areaThe plot area displays one (before, after) or two (difference) graphs of the evaluated analysis. Mouse tracking is available, the current x- and y-values are displayed right next to the axes. X-Axis min and maxThese edit controls allow manual scaling of the horizontal axis. Y-Axis maxThis edit control allows manual scaling of the vertical axis upper limit. Auto scaleThis button (--> <--) near the x-axis automatically scales the horizontal axis to the xrange of values in the current plot, the corresponding button close to the y-axis automatically scales the vertical axis to the y-range of values in the current plot. DefaultThese buttons scale the horizontal or vertical axis, respectively, to the default range for the selected plot type. FiltersAllows exclusion, as far as the statistical graphs are concerned, of cells which are outside the focus zone, and/or cells which were not changed by optimization, and/or, in "difference" mode only, cells which have not changed.

When moving the mouse cursor into the plot area, a vertical marker and one or two horizontal markers (depending on the number of active graphs) are automatically displayed and labeled with the corresponding x- and y-values. If a more detailed analysis for certain x-values is required, it is possible to lock the marker by clicking into the plot area with the left mouse button. Two operation modes are possible depending on the number of graphs: If one graph is displayed (before or after), the marker is fixed to the current x-value. A second click unlocks the marker.
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If two graphs are displayed (difference), the marker for the graph closest to the mouse cursor is locked, the marker for the other graph can now be moved. Subsequent mouse clicks lock or unlock the marker for the graph closest to the mouse cursor. By locking one marker and moving the other marker, the statistics can be evaluated relatively to each other very comfortably. Locking both graphs provides an easy way to read out certain measurement points.
Clipboard functions
VII.5.3 Optimization Objective Analysis

This section describes the statistics functionality relating to target function optimization objective plots.
Overview
9955 ACCO Inspector allows to display target function optimization objective plots in detail. Depending on the currently shown state (before, after, or difference) the analysis shows the position of the currently displayed Implementation Plan step, or steps, as a red ("before"), and/or, green ("after") line. It is possible to change the currently displayed Implementation Plan step, not only by using the toolbar (see Implementation Plan step selector), but also using the mouse to drag said lines to the desired location, i.e., Implementation Plan step number. Note Optimization objective analysis is only available if an implementation plan has been calculated.
The analysis window

The analysis window for a result plot can be opened by double clicking on the corresponding item in the tree view, with the context menu entry Display optimization objective plot, or with the hot key Ctrl+O.
GridThis checkbox turns on horizontal and vertical grid lines. Plot areaThe plot area displays the optimization objective plot, plus one (before, after) or two
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(difference) lines showing the respective position(s) of the displayed Implementation Plan step(s). X-Axis min and maxThese edit controls allow manual scaling of the horizontal axis. Y-Axis maxThis edit control allows manual scaling of the vertical axis upper limit. Auto scaleThis button (--> <--) near the x-axis automatically scales the horizontal axis to the xrange of values in the current plot, the corresponding button close to the y-axis automatically scales the vertical axis to the y-range of values in the current plot. DefaultThese buttons scale the horizontal or vertical axis, respectively, to the default range for the selected plot type.

When moving the mouse cursor into the plot area, a vertical marker and one or two horizontal markers (depending on the number of active graphs) are automatically displayed and labeled with the corresponding x- and y-values. If a more detailed analysis for certain x-values is required, it is possible to lock the marker by clicking into the plot area with the left mouse button. Two operation modes are possible depending on the number of graphs: If one graph is displayed (before or after), the marker is fixed to the current x-value. A second click unlocks the marker. If two graphs are displayed (difference), the marker for the graph closest to the mouse cursor is locked, the marker for the other graph can now be moved. Subsequent mouse clicks lock or unlock the marker for the graph closest to the mouse cursor. By locking one marker and moving the other marker, the statistics can be evaluated relatively to each other very comfortably. Locking both graphs provides an easy way to read out certain measurement points.
Clipboard functions
VII.6
Settings and Hotkeys

Settings
The settings dialog is opened with the symbol in the tool bar.
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Section Colors Load template fromIf this box is checked, an alternate color configuration file can be specified to override the default color settings. Please use the file DefaultColors.pal as a template for your own settings, the best way to manage user defined color schemes is to save the individual color palettes in the color editor and merge those files into a copy of DefaultColors.pal with a text editor. Last used settingsCheck this option to reload the color settings from your last session. If the option is unchecked, 9955 ACCO Inspector uses the default colors every time it is launched. Use Thresholds from OptimizationCheck this option to use the threshold values for with color settings as used by the optimization. If the option is unchecked, 9955 ACCO Inspector uses the thresholds used last (see above), or the default threshold settings. Section Sounds Moving mouse over cellsEnables a click sound when the mouse cursor enters the area of a cell arrow symbol (and hence the parameter mouse over displays new values) Clicking in cellsEnables a click sound when clicking on a cell to select it (and hence the parameter mouse over is locked to this cell) Section Windows Auto toggle legend panesAutomatically removes empty legend windows. If this option is unchecked, empty legend windows are not removed automatically but stay open, causing fewer re-draw operations of the map area. Display title caption for docking panesIf this option is checked, the docking window title bar will show the window's name instead of the default grip area. Display implementation plan step shown lastIf this option is checked, the current implementation plan step is saved when closing Inspector and is restored when re-starting it with the same project. If the option is not checked, Inspector always starts with the initial/last implementation plan steps. Section Labels Modify the sizes of labels of sites, cells, and graphs.
Hotkeys and useful information

Hotkeys "F1" ... display Help "1" ... to display the parameters and raster plots of the network configuration selected by the Before list box "2" ... to display the parameters and raster plots of the network configuration selected by the After list box "3" ... to display the parameters and raster plots as difference measures of After minus Before network configurations "Ctrl+Home" ... to display the Initial (the very first) Implementation Plan Step "Ctrl+End" "Page Up", "Page Down" ... cycle through Implementation Plan Steps for currently selected category ("Before", "After"). If category "Difference" is chosen, the "Before" selection is modified. "Shift+Page Up", "Shift+Page Down" ... to display the Optimized (the last) Implementation Plan Step
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... step through category currently not selected (if "Before" is selected, steps through "After" and vice versa). If category "Difference" is chosen, the "After" selection is modified. Space... Disables/enables item currently selected in tree view (if any), independent of which window has input focus. "+" "-" window ... to zoom-in when the map is selected in the main 9955 ACCO Inspector window ... to zoom-out when the map is selected in the main 9955 ACCO Inspector
"*" ... to zoom to fit the entire focus zone into the visualization window, when the map is selected in the main 9955 ACCO Inspector window "S" "C" "T" "R" "Shift+R" "P" "Shift+P" "O" "F" "Ctrl+F" "Ctrl+Ins" "Shift+Ins" ... to switch the Site labels ON and OFF ... to switch the Cell labels ON and OFF ... to switch the Tree pane ON and OFF ... to switch the Raster pane ON and OFF ... to switch the Raster mouse-over pane ON and OFF ... to switch the Network parameter pane ON and OFF ... to switch the Network parameter mouse-over pane ON and OFF ... to switch the Target Function Objective pane ON and OFF ... to switch the Find Site/Cell pane ON and OFF ... search for a site/cell using the Find Site/Cell pane ... copy current map view (zoom factor + bounding rectangle) to clipboard ... paste current map view (zoom factor + bounding rectangle) from clipboard
"Ctrl+Shift+A" ... HIDE or SHOW all open analysis window "Alt+O", or "?" ... to open Settings (Options) dialog "A" ... to show the About box
For selected tree items "Ctrl+L" "Ctrl+C" "Ctrl+M" "Ctrl+A" "Ctrl+O" "Shift+O" "," and "." "Space" ... toggle legend ... edit colors ... display in mouse-over ... display Analysis window ... display Target Function Objective analysis window ... display in Target Function Objective pane ... transparency ... check/uncheck
When mouse is over a cell Tab ... cycle through all cells at current mouse position
Note Available shortcuts are quoted in the status line of 9955 ACCO Inspector.
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Greenfield Deployment
VIII
VIII.1 Overview
This section gives an overview over the Greenfield functionalities.
Greenfield
In case that no candidate sites are available for the radio network deployment, the best possible site locations have to be found first, before a network can be deployed. Furthermore, sometimes it is required to identify the best or minimum number of sites that needs to be deployed to satisfy minimum coverage and performance requirements. These problems are known as Greenfield deployment scenarios. The Greenfield Deployment Utility in 9955 ACCO finds site locations along vectors and within given areas. The sites are deployed according to different deployment strategies and general rules. An example for a Greenfield deployment is shown below.
General work-flow for a Greenfield deployment

Note Greenfield in 9955 ACCO supports several modes of operation. The differences and the individual work-flows are described in more detail in the section on Greenfield Deployment modes. For the most advanced Greenfield mode, where smart candidate sites are deployed, the workflow is schematically shown below:
After defining a focus zone in 9955, the first step is to launch Greenfield directly in 9955. This is either done via 9955/Tools/Greenfield, or with the associated button toolbar. directly in the 9955
Then, the individual parameters have to be defined in the Greenfield Deployment Utility user interface. The parameters can be saved to a file for further use or loaded from previously created files. This is explained in the sections Standard Mode and Advanced Mode. Depending on the settings, the Greenfield Deployment Utility can be used to generate smart candidates for further processing in 9955 ACCO or the sites are directly activated for further processing in 9955.
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The advantages of generating smart candidates rather than directly activate the sites are: All coverage predictions are directly taken into account Not only coverage, but performance and traffic limits can be directly considered Parameter ranges for the tilt and azimuth configuration can be selected on sector by sector basis Costs for the individual sites can be considered Area dependent optimization targets are considered Interference limitations are fully taken into account and many more. For further details see also Greenfield modes, Standard Mode, Advanced Mode, Deployment Strategies and Additional information.
VIII.2 Greenfield modes

This section gives an overview over the different operational modes in Greenfield.
The figure below highlights the different modes of operation in the Greenfield Deployment Utility. In general, the different modes are used to provide different trade-offs between Greenfield deployment speed and the associated accuracy. The different modes are explained in the following:
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Input data
The Greenfield Deployment Utility requires some input data in order to work properly. This includes Digital terrain data Site templates Clutter data Vector data (optional) Focus zone Traffic density map or clutter based traffic density (optional) Use alternative clutterenabling this checkbox and selecting a BIL clutter file using the Select file button will replace the clutter data of the 9955 project by the selected file. Note If an alternative clutter file is selected, Greenfield will miss the clutter classes definition as this can only be read for the default clutter file directly from the 9955 data base. Thus, the header file of the selected BIL clutter map must contain the clutter classes definition. Use a text editor to complement the header file with the clutter classes by inserting a new section (the header file has the same name as the BIL file but the extension is .HDR). Format of the clutter class definition section: ClassesBegin <clutter class ID>=<Clutter class name> ... ClassesEnd Use one line per clutter class, avoid white characters like spaces, etc. Example: ClassesBegin 0=Unknown 1=Water 2=Forest ClassesEnd
Greenfield Deployment Modes
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Greenfield provides two modes: Standard mode - based on site densities (corresponding to site ranges) Advanced mode - based on coverage requirements using propagation models from 9955 Subject to the optional use of 9955 ACCO, different work-flows are possible. Standard mode activate sites Key advantage Extremely fast method to get a rough approximation for the site locations to cover a certain area Standard mode candidate sites for 9955 ACCO Highly accurate method to identify the best site locations including the sector parameters Advanced mode
Very fast method to compute the minimum number of required sites based on the actual prediction losses in the Greenfield environment Very fast Accurate Received signal strength
Deployment speed Accuracy Site deployment is based on
Extremely fast Rough approximation Nominal inter-site distance
Fair Very accurate Nominal inter-site distance and site activation in 9955 ACCO YES
Post processing required in 9955 ACCO? Propagation models considered? Clutter dependent settings? Site templates per clutter available? Optimization of antenna tilt Optimization of antenna azimuth Optimization of other parameters Deployment targets Traffic and capacity consideration LOS check to neighbor sites Deployment report
NO
NO
NO YES YES Only for vector deployment Only for vector deployment NO Coverage NO NO NO
YES (in 9955 ACCO) YES YES Full 9955 ACCO capability Full 9955 ACCO capability Full 9955 ACCO capability Full 9955 ACCO capability Full 9955 ACCO capability NO Full 9955 ACCO capability
YES YES YES To maximize cell range Approximations NO Coverage YES YES YES
Standard mode - active sites

The standard mode of Greenfield allows to activate all sites that are distributed. By doing so, the algorithms will identify the best spots based on the general rules that are applied. All sites are activated after the distribution. The distribution of the sites is based on the nominal inter-site distances between two neighboring sites. These inter-site distances can be defined on a clutter
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basis. This gives a rough approximation for the required number of sites, and their location for the given Greenfield scenario. This work-flow usually uses an oversampling factor of 1, i.e. Greenfield creates the number of sites required for sufficient coverage. Caution The key purpose of the standard mode (with sites are directly activated) is to get a very rough approximation of the site distribution. The results are good in regular terrain, but in irregular terrain one has to keep in mind that there are no prediction studies involved in the site distribution.
Standard mode - candidate sites

The most advanced, but also the most time consuming Greenfield deployment method is to identify the best candidate locations, and then identify which subset provides the best overall performance. This work-flow usually uses an over-sampling factor of 2 to 16. That is, Greenfield creates a large number of candidates for 9955 ACCO which will then select the best sub-set of sites to meet the given objective. This mode requires the usage of 9955 ACCO after the distribution of the candidates in the scenario. However, this includes the advantage that the full site selection and parameter optimization capabilities of 9955 ACCO can be utilized. Furthermore, this mode also allows the direct consideration of the costs of the different candidate locations. Then, the consecutive use of 9955 ACCO ensures that the Greenfield deployment is not limited by the coverage requirements only. This mode for example also allows a direct site deployment for Ec/Io or throughput requirements in CDMA networks. This cannot be done in the other two modes of operation, as they are focusing on coverage mainly.
Advanced mode
The key difference to the standard mode is that the site distribution or candidate distribution is not based on the nominal inter-site distance, but on the received signal strength. This signal strength is computed on a point-by-point basis, rather than on a raster basis. The point analysis ensures that the computation is significantly faster than the prediction calculations for each individual pixel. By doing so, the algorithms estimate the contour plot of the cell edge for each individual sector in order to compute the best location of the neighboring base stations. Advanced mode supports the specification of different templates per clutter class to select the most suitable template. In addition, traffic density matrices and captured traffic limits (lower and upper limits) can be used to avoid overloaded (underloaded) sites. Candidate locations (i.e. sites without sectors) can be used and are treated with a different pricing.
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VIII.3 Standard Mode

This section describes the different parameters of the Greenfield standard mode.
Clutter and vector data

Use these controls to view and modify settings for the clutter and vector depending input data. Different base station templates, as defined in 9955, can be distributed in the focus zone. These base station templates can be selected for each clutter class or vector data available. The clutter data is automatically used as in the actual 9955 project. The vector data needs to be exported from 9955, before it can be used. Please refer to Importing vector data for a description of supported vector formats. The distribution of the base station templates is done according to the cell range settings, as well as following other general rules set in this section. Idthis column shows the clutter ID as used in the 9955 project. Vectors are assigned clutter IDs from 255 downwards. Namethis column displays the name of the clutter class as defined in the 9955 project or the vector file name. Cell range/kmuse this column to view and modify the nominal cell range for the individual base station templates for the individual clutter and vector types. The cell range is defined as the maximum distance covered by a single sector in a regular hex grid. This means that the nominal inter-site distance between two neighbor sites in the same clutter is 1.5 times the cell range defined in this section. This is schematically shown in the figure below.
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Note With a nominal cell range of more than 100km the algorithms will not deploy sites for this clutter! Templateuse this field to view and modify the base station templates that should be deployed per clutter and vector type. The list box includes all base station templates defined in 9955. If no template is defined for a clutter class, no candidate locations are allowed to be located on this clutter class. Note If you assign one or two-sectorized templates to vector files, the antennas will automatically be aligned to the vector. Add vectorclick this button to add a vector file into the deployment project. Use the file selection dialog to browse for a .mif (MapInfo vector file) to include the vector data. Please refer to section Importing vector data for details on vector files. Caution Vectors can consist of independent vector parts. For optimum quality the vector data should consist of as few vector pieces as possible. Remove vectoruse this button to remove a vector file from the clutter and vector data list. Create new clutter file for focus zone including vectorenable this checkbox to create a new clutter file including the vector data selected above. This new clutter file will allow the direct consideration of the vector data as a new clutter class in 9955 ACCO. With this, dedicated optimization weights can be put on the vector data during the optimization process. Further details on the optimization weighting mechanisms are given in Clutter dependent optimization weights. Note In 9955 the clutter files can be used to define clutter specific prediction model settings. This then means that different clutter types apply along a specific vector. In the new clutter file for optimization, the clutter classes for pixels along the road are replaced by the vector's clutter class. If this new clutter file would now be imported into 9955 and used for prediction calculations, this would result in different path loss results as clutter classes along the vectors have been changed. Hence, 9955 ACCO gives the user the possibility to create a new clutter file that is only used for the weighting in the optimization process. This new clutter file can then be included in the 9955 ACCO as "Alternative clutter" for weighting and thresholds. Note that in that case the correct predictions, with different clutters along the road are still used, but the new clutter is used for the weighting. Sometimes, however, it can be desired to use a special clutter class along a vector and to consider it in the propagation calculation. In this case the new clutter file can be imported into 9955. Don't forget to adjust the propagation model for the new clutter classes in this case. Corridor width for vectorsuse this field to specify the corridor width of the new clutter class in
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the new clutter file. This allows the direct consideration of a certain width of the corridor that has to meet target objectives. For example, if it is required to cover not only a road, but a corridor of 500m along the road, the user can then enter the corridor width for the consideration in the deployment scenario. The width of the corridor depends on the input value in the field above and the grid resolution of the clutter data, please refer to section Generation of new clutter files for details.
Options
Use these controls to view and modify general options for the Greenfield Deployment. Oversampling factorthe oversampling factor is used to increase the number of candidate sites by a linear factor. Thus the nominal cell range and hence inter-site distance are reduced accordingly. Use this feature to generate additional candidate sites for a smart site activation in 9955 ACCO without the need to modify the individual clutter based cell ranges. For example, with a nominal cell range of 4km (inter-site distance = 6km), and an oversampling factor of 4, the inter-site distance will be reduced to 3km for the potential candidates that will be deployed. The oversampling factor can be varied in the range of 1..16. Remove existing sites in focus zoneenable this checkbox to remove all existing sites and transmitters in the focus zone of the actual 9955 project. Activate new sitesenable this checkbox to activate all transmitters of the new sites that are distributed by the deployment algorithms. In case that the new sites are not activated, these sites can be used as candidate sites for the automatic selection and parameter optimization in 9955 ACCO. Of course it is possible to change the activation state as required in 9955 after Greenfield processing. Move to high point within a distance ofenable this checkbox to automatically move the sites to a high point within a distance that needs to be specified. This is to ensure maximum coverage for a given area. An example is schematically shown in the figure below.
Include clutter heightsthis option is available if a Clutter Heights file is included in the 9955 project. If you enable this checkbox, Greenfield will add the values of the clutter heights to the values of the Digital Terrain Model pixel by pixel. Loadclick this button to load templates and settings from previous deployments. The file selection dialog will search for a Greenfield Deployment Utility data file (.grdt). Save as...click this button to save templates and settings so that they can be re-used by future deployment scenarios. The file selection dialog will save the settings into a Greenfield Deployment Utility data file (.grdt). Note The template files in the advanced mode are different to the template files in the standard mode. Hence, these templates can be loaded and saved independently.
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Running the Greenfield Deployment Utility

OKclick this button to deploy the Greenfield sites according to the parameters specified. The Greenfield Deployment Utility will then automatically introduce sites, sectors and transmitters into the 9955 project. Cancelclick this button to close the Greenfield Deployment Utility without any action.
VIII.4 Advanced Mode

This section describes the different settings of the Greenfield advanced mode.
Important Information
The Greenfield Deployment Utility distinguishes between several types of sites: Sites with at least one active sector are treated as existing sites. The coverage of these sites is included in the coverage predictions, parameters are not modified. Sites with only inactive sectors are treated as candidate sites. Different templates will be tried, but azimuth and tilt will always kept unchanged at the initial settings. Only those templates will be tried that have the same number of sectors as the candidate site. Sites without sectors are treated as candidate sites. These locations are included in the placement process and assigned the best template allowed for the surrounding clutter classes. Candidate sites can be assigned different costs with the candidate performance factor or by allowing different templates for candidates and new sites. Please refer to sections Template parameters and Mast height for candidate sites for additional information. New sites are generated during the generation process. The site locations are generated as required and assigned the best template allowed for the corresponding clutter classes.
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Please note that the current 9955 filter settings are considered by Greenfield. This means that sites and transmitters not contained in the current filter are not considered in Greenfield. New sites created during the deployment process and chosen candidate sites are updated to the 9955 project after the algorithm has finished. In addition to standard parameters like name, azimuth, tilt, etc., some user defined columns can be filled with information if they already exist in the 9955 project. Refer to section Result parameters.
Clutter and vector data

Use these controls to view and modify settings for the clutter and vector depending input data. Different base station templates, as defined in 9955, can be distributed in the focus zone. These base station templates can be selected for each clutter class or vector data available. The clutter data is automatically used as in the actual 9955 project. Vector data needs to be exported from 9955 into .mif files, before it can be used. Please refer to Importing vector data for a description of supported vector formats. The distribution of the base station templates is done according to the coverage requirements, as well as other general rules described in this section. Idthis column shows the clutter ID as used in the 9955 project. Vectors are assigned clutter IDs from 255 downwards. Namethis column displays the name of the clutter class as defined in the 9955 project or the vector file name. RX level/dBmuse this column to view and modify the desired received signal strength at the cell edge. The cell edge is estimated by a number of rays from the individual base station. For each of these rays the actual received signal level (RX level) is computed using the same propagation models as used for the individual sectors in 9955. Then the algorithms estimate the maximum cell range for the individual site deployments. This is schematically shown in the figure below.
Note With a nominal RX level of -200dBm or less the algorithms will not try to cover this clutter at all. However, it is possible that sites are placed on that clutter to cover surrounding areas. Templateuse this field to view and modify the base station templates that should be deployed per clutter and vector type. The selection window includes all base station templates defined in 9955. Multiple templates have to be separated by commas when specifying them manually. Vectors can only be assigned a single template that is used for the entire vector. Please refer to section Site and template selection in advanced mode for additional information. The selected candidate is automatically applied for every sector and included in the report file. If a user defined column GreenfieldTemplateName exists in the 9955 site table, it is updated with the template name. Please refer to section User defined result parameters for details. Note
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In case that the template field is left empty, the algorithms will not allocate any site to this clutter type. This allows the user to ensure that no sites are located in special clutters, for examples in the clutter type "water". In case that a vector deployment is used, the vector overrules the underlying clutter, as a site might be deployed on a bridge over the water, as an example. Note If you assign one or two-sectorized templates to vector files, the antennas will automatically be aligned to the vector. Traffic dens.use this field to define a traffic density per clutter type if no traffic density map has been specified. This is particularly useful when using maximum captured traffic for the individual templates and no traffic density map is available. In that case the user can define a traffic density/ km, or population density/km or whatever density per area in km for the different clutter types. Please note that the same unit (traffic, population, etc.) has to be used in the template's traffic limit column. Vectors cannot be assigned a traffic density. Traffic density and captured traffic can be used for different purposes: Templates can be assigned a maximum traffic. In this case sites are placed dense enough to achieve coverage and to avoid excessive traffic. A global minimum captured traffic per site can be specified. In this case sites with less than the required traffic are not placed. Use this option to focus on areas with high traffic. Every site's captured traffic is contained in the report file and stored in the user defined column GreenfieldSiteTraffic (if existing). Please refer to section User defined result parameters for details. For further details please see also the 9955 ACCO section on Captured Traffic. Note The traffic density definition per clutter class and the pre-defined traffic density map that can be used are alternatives. They can not be used in combination. If the "Traffic map to limit captured traffic" checkbox is enabled, then the pre-defined traffic map is used. In case that the checkbox is disabled, and clutter dependent traffic density values are defined in the associated column, then these values are used to compute the captured traffic. Heightsuse this field to define the dedicated height values for the height optimization for each clutter. The 9955 ACCO can optimize the height for the Greenfield deployment by considering different, but dedicated height values. Single values can be used to overwrite the pre-defined templates, as well as multiple antenna heights can be considered. Empty field: The template's height value will be used. Single value height: For example, when entering the value "20", the pre-defined value for the antenna height for the site template in 9955 will be overwritten. This allows the use of different clutter based antenna heights for the same base station template. Multiple antenna heights: In case that multiple antenna heights are entered, separated by a blank (e.g. "20 30 40"), all of these heights are considered for the site deployment. The algorithms will start with the highest antenna height and then compare the performance with lower antenna heights. Due to the fact that the sites are placed exactly for the initial height, it will not be very likely that the site height can be reduced in most cases. However, it is likely that sites with excessive traffic can be height reduced, as these sites are not coverage limited. Certain vector sites only covering small pieces of the vector (for example due to shape of a valley) are potential candidates for hight reduction, too. For each clutter type the antenna heights can be defined individually (single and multiple heights). If a user defined column GreenfieldMastHeight exists in the 9955 site table, it is updated with the chosen mast height, please refer to section User defined result parameters for details. Note The number of dedicated height values for each site increases the computation time. Thus, it is recommended to keep the antenna height values reasonably low. Edit templatesuse this button to view or edit the template parameters as defined in 9955. As
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some template parameters for some technologies cannot be directly modified in 9955, this function can be used to adjust the templates as required. Caution Be careful when editing template parameters, the changes directly modify the 9955 project. Add vectorclick this button to add a vector file into the deployment project. Use the file selection dialog to browse for a .mif (MapInfo vector file) to include the vector data. Please refer to section Importing vector data for details on vector files. Caution Vectors can consist of independent vector parts. For optimum quality the vector data should consist of as few vector pieces as possible. Make sure that the used coordinate system of the vectors in the .mif file is identical to the coordinate system of the project in 9955. Otherwise the result will be incorrect. Remove vectoruse this button to remove a vector file from the clutter and vector data list. Traffic map to limit captured trafficuse this checkbox to use a dedicated traffic density map for the consideration of traffic in the Greenfield Deployment Utility. If enabled, a dedicated traffic density map can be used. If disabled, a specific traffic density map can be generated directly in the Greenfield Deployment module, by using the clutter based traffic density column settings. In order to consider the expected traffic for a given deployment area for the design of the network, a traffic map is needed to calculate the captured traffic per cell during the site deployment process. Use this field to browse and load a proper traffic density map. A traffic map file can for example be generated with the 9955 function Export Cumulated Traffic. Traffic density and captured traffic can be used for different purposes: Templates can be assigned a maximum traffic. In this case sites are placed dense enough to achieve coverage and to avoid excessive traffic. A global minimum captured traffic per site can be specified. In this case sites with less than the required traffic are not placed. Use this option to focus on areas with high traffic. Every site's captured traffic is contained in the report file and stored in the user defined column GreenfieldSiteTraffic (if existing). Please refer to section User defined result parameters for details. For additional details please refer to the 9955 ACCO section on Captured Traffic. Report file name9955 ACCO creates a report file after the use of the Greenfield Deployment Utility. The report is in HTML format and includes: The input parameters and project settings (default propagation model, receiver height, etc.) for proper documentation Traffic map information (total traffic and average and maximum traffic density) if traffic density data is used Site lists for area placement: o List of existing sites (including longitude, latitude and elevation) o List of generated sites (including longitude, latitude and elevation) o Captured traffic for every site o Antenna height for every site (in case they are changed compared to the nominal height in the template) o Template name for every site o "Relative Range", which describes if the coverage area was reduced due to an overload in the captured traffic. A value of "1" means that there was no traffic overload. Values < 1 indicate that the site was limited by traffic, rather than coverage. Captured traffic information for area placement: This table displays site and traffic information if only sites exceeding a minimum captured traffic are placed. The information can for example be that 200 sites with captured traffic > 0 can serve 100% of the traffic while 120 sites with captured traffic > 10 can serve 98% of the traffic. This table allows a rough estimation how many sites are required to serve a certain traffic percentage.
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Site lists for vector placement: o List of existing sites (including longitude, latitude and elevation) o List of generated sites (including longitude, latitude and elevation) o Captured traffic, antenna height, template name are included as for area placement. In addition to the report file, a traffic map file is generated if clutter based traffic densities are used. The traffic map has the same base file name Create new clutter file for focus zone including vectorenable this checkbox to create a new clutter file including the vector data selected above. This new clutter file will allow the direct consideration of the vector data as a new clutter class in 9955 ACCO. With this, dedicated optimization weights can be put on the vector data during the optimization process. Further details on the optimization weighting mechanisms are given in Clutter dependent optimization weights. Note In 9955 the clutter files can be used to define clutter specific prediction model settings. This then means that along a specific vector different clutter types apply. In the new clutter file for optimization, the clutter class for pixels along the road is replaced by the vector's clutter class. If this new clutter file would now be imported into 9955 and used for prediction calculations, this would result in different path loss results as clutter classes along the vectors have been changed. Hence, 9955 ACCO gives the user the possibility to create a new clutter file that is only used for the weighting in the optimization process. This new clutter file can then be included in the 9955 ACCO as "Alternative clutter" for weighting and thresholds. Note that in that case the correct predictions, with different clutters along the road are still used, but the new clutter is used for the weighting. Sometimes, however, it can be desired to use a special clutter class along a vector and to consider it in the propagation calculation. In this case the new clutter file can be imported into 9955. Don't forget to adjust the propagation model for the new clutter classes in this case. Corridor width for vectorsuse this field to specify the corridor width of the new clutter class in the new clutter file. This allows the direct consideration of a certain width of the corridor that has to meet target objectives. For example, if it is required to cover not only a road, but a corridor of 500m along the road, the user can then enter the corridor width for the consideration in the deployment scenario. The width of the corridor depends on the input value in the field above and the grid resolution of the clutter data, please refer to section Generation of new clutter files for details.
Options
Use this section to view and modify general options for the Greenfield Deployment. Site densitythis control allows to adjust the resulting site density. The optimization algorithms in the advanced mode estimate the cell edges based on the underlying prediction computations provided by the prediction models from 9955. As the processing speed is of very high priority in the Greenfield Deployment process, the prediction calculations can not be done for every single pixel. Instead, the calculations are done for a narrow grid of rays in the different directions from the base station. The consequence however is that a target value of e.g. 95% coverage probability can not be defined, as not all pixels are evaluated. In order to still allow maximum flexibility, the user can modify the site density by a site density slider. This slider operates similar (but not exactly) as changing the required RX thresholds and is scaled in dB. Positive values ("more") result in a higher number of sites, negative numbers ("fewer") will decrease the number of sites. Thus a value of +3 [dB] will have similar results as changing the target value from -90 dBm to -87 dBm. Site generation modethe optimization algorithms in the advanced mode can handle several site generation modes. These modes define the priorities of the site deployment. That is, it can be more important to deploy the sites along vectors such as highways, railways etc., first, and
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then consider additional sites for the area, while considering the coverage already provided by the sites along the vectors. On the other hand there are deployment cases, where it might be of higher priority to consider coverage for the area first, and then ensure coverage along the vectors where not already deployed. In both cases the user does not have to run Greenfield multiple times, rather it's only required once. A third, and general case, considers the situation where the user wants to treat both area and vector deployment independently, or just generate candidates for a site activation process in 9955 ACCO. The different modes are described in the following paragraphs in more detail. Independent: In the independent mode the area and vector coverage are considered independently. This means that sites are deployed to ensure area coverage and vector coverage independently. The algorithms start with the area deployment and then move on to the vector considerations. However, the vector coverage is considered to be independent of the area coverage, and hence the coverage, which is already given after the area deployment is not taken into account when computing the necessary sites for the vector coverage. Note Due to the fact that some coverage is already provided in the area, when the vectors are investigated, a significant overbuild of sites is generated. Thus a smart site activation in 9955 ACCO will be required after the Greenfield deployment. Vector first: In the vector first mode the algorithms start the deployment of the sites along the corridor defined for the vector. After sufficient sites are found to satisfy the vector coverage requirements, the remaining area is covered. This is done by considering the coverage in the area that is already provided by the sites deployed for the vectors. Area first: In this case the algorithms start with the site deployment to satisfy the coverage requirements in the area. After these coverage requirements are fulfilled, the algorithms investigate the coverage along the vectors according to the defined requirements. In case that these thresholds are not fulfilled already due to the area deployment, the algorithms will include additional sides to satisfy the vector limits. Allowed gap lengththis control allows to adjust the size of coverage gaps that are allowed during placement. The default value is 100m which should be suitable for most UMTS and GSM projects. For other technologies or projects with very large or very small site ranges it might be useful to adjust the gap length. Note The gap length is used to allow coverage gaps inside a sector's or site's footprint. In vector mode, no coverage gaps are allowed at the cell edge, in area mode only some radials are allowed to have coverage gaps resulting in a typical coverage of 90%..98% for average scenarios. Remove existing sites in focus zoneenable this checkbox to remove all existing sites and transmitters in the focus zone of the actual 9955 project. Note The option "Move to a high point within ..." is not required in the advanced mode, compared to the standard mode. The reason for this is that the advanced mode already considers the propagation models in the deployment strategies. The processing evaluates several locations including dedicated higher points when targeting a certain area. Hence, the algorithms will automatically find the best site locations, which may or may not be on a high point in any case. Maintain template's antenna azimuthenable this checkbox to disable changes in the antenna azimuth compared to the original template, i.e. to lock the antenna azimuth. This option is only considered in case of area deployment. This means that in case of site deployment along vectors the azimuth can not be locked. Maintain template's antenna tiltenable this checkbox to disable changes in the antenna tilt compared to the original template, i.e. to lock the antenna tilt. This option is only considered in case of area deployment. This means that in case of site deployment along vectors the antenna tilt can not be locked.
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Consider clutter based indoor lossesenable this checkbox to consider the clutter based indoor losses on top of the defined coverage thresholds. The indoor losses are defined on a per clutter class in the 9955 project. If enabled, these values are automatically loaded and added to the thresholds. For example, if the target threshold for clutter type "urban" is -90dBm, and the clutter defined indoor loss is 10dB, then the resulting target value is -80dBm. This represents the sum of the target value and the indoor loss. Activate new sitesenable this checkbox to activate the new sites generated by the Greenfield Deployment module. In case that many more site locations should be generated than required site locations, it is of advantage if the user disables this checkbox to generate inactive transmitters. In a typical case, it would then be 9955 ACCO that considers all the generated sites and finds the best sites and their parameter configuration to satisfy the objectives. Generate LOS reportenable this checkbox to automatically generate a list of neighbor sites with line of sight (LOS) connections to the deployed site. The computations do only consider straight LOS connectivity and no Fresnel calculations are considered. 9955 ACCO considers the 50 closest neighbor base stations. The list is ordered by the distance to the base station of interest. The report file is stored in the same directory, and under the same name as the report file, but with the suffix "-LOS.html". Place sites in a corridor along vectorsenable this checkbox to allow placement of sites in vector mode in a certain distance and not only directly on the vector. The maximum allowed distance is the value that has been entered. Please note that this option is independent of the generation of a new clutter files and that the vector's template is used for placement, even if there is a significant distance to the vector. Minimum captured traffic per siteenable this checkbox to avoid the creation of sites if they would capture less than the specified traffic. This option allows to concentrate the sites in areas with significant traffic. It is for area placement only. Note An input value of 0 will only create sites with a captured traffic greater than (not equal) the threshold (i.e. no sites will be created in areas without traffic), while positive values will create sites with a captured traffic greater or equal the threshold. Include clutter heightsthis option is available if a Clutter Heights file is included in the 9955 project. If you enable this checkbox, Greenfield will add the values of the clutter heights to the values of the Digital Terrain Model pixel by pixel. Loadclick this button to load templates and settings from previous deployments. The file selection dialog will search for a Greenfield Deployment Utility advanced data file (.grdta). Save as...click this button to save templates and settings so that they can be re-used by future deployment scenarios. The file selection dialog will save the settings into a Greenfield Deployment Utility advanced data file (.grdta). Note The template files in the advanced mode are different to the template files in the standard mode. Hence, these templates can be loaded and saved independently.
Template parameters
The second tab sheet allows to edit template based settings.
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NameThe template name as defined in 9955. Traffic limituse this column to define a maximum traffic limit for the template. The specified value will limit the captured traffic for sites using this template. If the theoretical captured traffic inside the site's coverage footprint exceeds the maximum allowed value, the site range is reduced to match the limit. Please note that Greenfield can only apply estimations for the captured traffic as the cell border cannot be evaluated on a per pixel basis and neighboring sites have not yet been created when the range reduction has to be applied. The deviation is tried to be kept below 10%. If you specify multiple templates for certain clutter classes, for example a more expensive template with higher traffic limit and a normal template, the algorithms will automatically choose the normal template in areas with less traffic and the more expensive template in areas where a smaller number of more expensive templates are suitable. Please refer to section Site and template selection in advanced mode for additional information. Note The captured traffic limitation applies for area deployment only. It is not considered for vector deployment. CostEvery template can be assigned costs. Please note that only the relation of the costs is important and that all costs have to be positive and are not allowed to be zero. New locations are assigned full costs while candidate locations are approximately assigned the percentage of costs as defined in the acceptance level. The algorithms will choose the best suitable templates as described in Site and template selection in advanced mode. Applicable forUse this column to specify how the template is allowed to be used, possible values are: all sites ... the template can be used for new sites and candidate locations
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new sites ... the template can be used for new sites only candidate sites ... the template can be used for candidate locations only none ... the template is not used at all (even if it is assigned to clutter classes) Note Candidate locations are existing sites in the 9955 project without transmitters assigned. Usually it will not be required to restrict the placement of templates with this parameter. In special situations it is however possible to assign individual costs to templates for candidates and new sites. To make use of this feature, you have to duplicate the required templates in 9955, for example you might want to use the templates Dense Urban and Dense Urban (cand). If the first template is restricted to new sites and the second one to candidate sites, individual costs can be assigned and used. This allows to use different cost relations for different templates on candidate sites and new sites. Please note that the acceptance level for candidates is used for candidates, thus you either should set the acceptance level to 100% when using this scheme or you have to consider the value in your costs as described below.
Template options
These options influence the placement of sites on new locations or on candidate locations. Note Candidate locations are existing sites in the 9955 project without transmitters or with inactive transmitters. Use templates with 0 sectors assigned in 9955 to create candidate locations or remove the transmitters from existing sites. Allow candidates onlyIf checked, no new sites will be created, only candidate sites will be used. Select candidate location if performance...This parameter allows to prefer candidate locations over new site locations. The influence of the parameter is that a template will be selected even if its performance (i.e. the relation of gain by cost) is only the specified percentage of a new site location in the neighborhood. This is similar to a cost reduction of candidate sites compared to new sites. Example If the Greenfield Deployment Utility evaluates for example these site locations: x1/ y1 x1/ y1 x2/ y2 new templat e1 new templat e2 candida templat te e1 +20k m +24k m +10k m cost 1.0 cost 1.5 cost 1.0 performance 20 performance 16 performance 10
If the input value is 50% (or below) for this particular example, the algorithms will chose the candidate location because the performance is at least 50% of the best new site location's performance. If the input value is above 50%, template1 on the new site location is used. Please note that this is just an example, the algorithms do not evaluate single sites but sequences of sites. Consider sites without transmitters as candidatesIf checked, sites without transmitters in 9955 will be considered as candidate locations. The best template will be applied using a performance/cost ratio as decision criterion. Azimuth and tilt will be optimized. Consider sites with only inactive transmitters as candidates...If checked, sites where only inactive transmitters are assigned will be considered as candidates. The best template will be applied using a performance/cost ratio as decision criterion. No further parameter optimizations will be done. Note that only templates with the same number of sectors will be used.
Running Greenfield
OKStarts the processing. Greenfield will automatically introduce sites, sectors and transmitters
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into the 9955 project. CancelCloses Greenfield.
VIII.5 Deployment Strategies

This section describes settings for the Greenfield deployment functionality.
Site deployment along vectors

The efficient deployment of sites along vector data is particularly important. Typical examples require sufficient coverage and performance for major roads, railways or temporary events. The vector data in 9955, can not be accessed directly via API functionalities. Hence, the vector data has to be exported to MapInfo vector files (.mif) to be usable for the automatic site deployment. Use the Add vector button to load a .mif file into the Greenfield Deployment Utility. Please refer to section Importing vector data for details on vector files.
Best site location along vector data (standard mode)

Usually vector sites are placed in the same distance as in area mode, i.e. 1.5 times the site range. However, different strategies are implemented for the deployment of sites along vectors if the terrain contains significant high points. This is particularly the case for more difficult terrain such as mountain roads. In order to enable an efficient deployment along vectors, 9955 ACCO has included a number of different strategies depending on the actual limitation along the vector. These strategies also include mechanisms that deploy sites on strategically good locations such as high points, as well as locations where the maximum line of sight (LOS) visibility to the vector data can be ensured. This is schematically shown below.
The inter-site distance between two neighboring sites will not exceed the nominal site distance defined for the vector data in the Settings. However, depending on the best strategic locations, the inter-site distance can be below the nominal inter-site distance. Note With a nominal cell range of more than 100km the algorithms will not deploy any more sites! Note The site location along vector data considers both azimuth and tilt optimizations. However, this is only possible for site templates using one or two sectors per sites. For site templates with more than two sectors per site no azimuth/tilt adjustment is performed.
Best site location along vector data (advanced mode)

In advanced mode sites are placed along the vector (or in a certain distance if placement in corridor is used) to achieve coverage along the vector. The algorithm places test sites along the road and analyzes the coverage. If the template has one or two sectors assigned, azimuth and tilt are first aligned to the vector and then modified to point to the vector at the cell edge. If the template has a single sector, it is aligned to the vector without further adjustment. The test site
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with the largest distance to the vector start that does not create excessive gaps is then used as a new site and a new series of test sites is generated. Please note that coverage gaps of the specified length are allowed within a site's footprint, but not at the cell border between two sites. Candidate locations are used in vector mode, too. To check their potential coverage, they are assigned the vector's associated template and coverage is predicted along the vector. If a candidate site is able to achieve at least the specified percentage of the best site's performance (as given with the acceptance level), it is preferred to a new site. Note Candidate sites are assigned the vector's template when checking for vector coverage, not the template of the clutter they're located on. Note Candidate sites have to be located inside the focus zone. In vector first and independent mode only the coverage of existing sites is considered, not the coverage of sites generated by the Greenfield Deployment Utility for area coverage. In area first mode the influence of newly generated sites is considered for vector coverage.
Site deployment in areas

For the site deployment in areas different concepts are implemented as well.
Site deployment in areas (standard mode)

The key objective is to distribute sites with a nominal cell range that can be defined on a per clutter basis. Furthermore, different base station templates can be selected for each different clutter type. This is to make sure that different base station types can be defined for different areas. Based on the nominal cell-range, different general rules may apply. This leads to variations in the actual cell-range and hence the inter-site distance. For example, if a site is moved to the next high point within a certain radius, the nominal cell range will be different.
Site deployment in areas (advanced mode)

Site generation in advanced mode analyzes coverage for every site in a number of directions. The processing is done site by site by picking a reference site and by placing new sites or choosing candidate sites in the neighborhood. The aim is to avoid coverage gaps and to achieve coverage on the reference site's cell border by the neighbor sites as well. To be more specific, only few small coverage gaps are allowed leading to a typical coverage of 90..98% for average scenarios. In area first and independent mode only the coverage of existing sites is considered, not the coverage of sites generated by the Greenfield Deployment Utility for vector coverage. In vector first mode the influence of newly generated vector sites is considered for area coverage. Candidate locations are supported for area placement, these are given by existing sites without transmitters in the 9955. The rules applied to candidate sites are less strict and an acceptance level can be specified to prefer candidate locations even if the performance is less than for new sites. Please refer to section Site and template selection in advanced mode for additional information.
Combined area and vector deployment

Greenfield allows the joint deployment of sites including area and vector data.
Standard mode
Area and vector deployment are independent in standard mode as the sites are considered to be candidate locations for a subsequent smart site activation in 9955 ACCO.
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Site deployment in areas (standard mode)

In case of the advanced mode is used, it is recommended to either use vector first or area first mode depending on your requirements. Independent mode should only be used if you plan to run a smart site activation in 9955 ACCO subsequently. An alternative work-flow with two steps is possible allowing you to do manual modifications after the vector sites have been placed: Step 1 - Vector deployment to make sure that the streets are covered best by the 2-sector-sites and to minimize handovers between the different sectors when moving along the vector. This can be done by using vector data and setting the RX level requirements for the other clutter classes to a level below -200dBm. When applying these settings, the algorithms will not deploy sites to cover these clutters, and only the vectors remain. Step 2 - Area deployment: Once the sites are deployed for the vector data, the algorithms will consider the sites created in the first run. Additional sites will then be deployed considering the already existing sites and the remaining area will be filled up in the best possible way.
Scattered areas
Starting with Greenfield 1.4.0 (March 2009), working with scattered areas has been improved by dividing the total focus zone in sub-areas of connected regions. The Greenfield algorithms will subsequently be applied to these sub-areas consecutively. By that, all sub-areas will be covered even if the focus zone is severely scattered.
Standard mode
For heavily scattered areas, results of a standard mode run will probably use more sites compared to previous versions of Greenfield. The reason is that older Greenfield versions tended to ignore some of the sub-areas while Greenfield 1.4.0 or later considers all of the sub-areas. The result is that Greenfield will place a site in each sub-area.
Advanced mode
All of the sub-areas will be analysed, but a site will only be placed in a sub-area, if this sub-area cannot be covered by sites which have already been placed in the vicinity.
VIII.6 Additional information

This section provides additional useful information for Greenfield.
Importing vector data

The Greenfield Deployment Utility supports import of vector files in MapInfo (.mif) format only.
Quality of vector data

Vector files can consist of several lines or vector pieces. The Greenfield Deployment Utility contains algorithms to join lines and vector pieces if successive end- and start-points are equal. It does not contain advanced algorithms to join vector pieces that are out of order, in changing direction, have gaps etc. The internal processing of vector files is as they are contained in the imported file. This may lead to unexpected results if a vector is not composed of a single long vector element, but by several non-consecutive sub-pieces. As every vector piece is processed individually, it might be required to place a site to achieve coverage though placing the site in a larger distance (i.g. on the next vector piece) would be sufficient. This results in a higher number of sites than required. Caution Vectors in 9955 can be put together by means of different sections of vectors. In that case the vector appears to be a single vector in the GIS, however, logically it consists of multiple small
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vectors. This can sometimes be checked in 9955 by enabling the "Edit" feature when the vector is selected in the Geo data tab. Then, the user can select the vector and see if it is actually only a small portion of the entire vector of interest, or if it includes all points from the start to the end. Please note that certain vectors can still consist of multiple pieces, even if they are displayed as one piece in 9955. In case that the vector data is set up as a bunch of smaller vector contributions, the deployment algorithms in the Greenfield Deployment Utility consider each remaining vector individually. Hence, the algorithms cannot consider if two vectors are overlayed and thus the generated inter-site distances might differ from the input parameters. To overcome that problem, please make sure that the vector data in 9955 is really only a single vector. It might be required to draw a new vector and export this vector or to use external tools to join the vector pieces.
Exporting vectors from 9955

Vectors in the Geo data tab can be exported by following these steps: 1. Navigate to the Geo data tab in 9955 project explorer and open the vector data folder. 2. Select the vector data of interest, right click and select "Save as" 3. Save the vector data as MapInfo file (.mif) The vector data is now available for further processing in the Greenfield Deployment Utility. To include the vector data in the automatic site deployment, use the Add vector button in the Greenfield Deployment Utility user interface. Caution Please ensure that the quality of the vector data is sufficient for placement. This means that the vector should contain as few vector pieces as possible. Please refer to the previous section for details. Caution Make sure that the used coordinate system of the vectors in the .mif file is identical to the coordinate system of the project in 9955, otherwise Greenfield will not be able to project the vector data accurately.
Supported vector file formats

The vector format supported by the Greenfield Deployment Utility is the mapinfo vector file format (.mif). The file may consist of a header (terminated with a DATA token) and a series of LINE or PLINE entries. The tokens PEN, BRUSH, POINT and REGION can be contained in the file and are ignored. Other tokens are not allowed and have to be removed before importing the file.
Generation of new clutter files including vector data

The 9955 ACCO Greenfield Deployment Utility allows to generate a new clutter file including the vectors with a specified corridor width. This clutter file can be used in 9955 ACCO to put clutter dependent weights on vector data, for example if coverage is required along the vectors only and not in the surrounding areas. The width of the corridor depends on the input value in the field above and the grid resolution of the clutter data. This is schematically shown in the following picture:
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The vector data is sampled with a sampling length of the raster resolution, i.e. the pixel size of the clutter data. This gives a number of "reference points". These reference points define the central pixel for the corridor width for this part of the vector. For example: If the clutter resolution is 50m and the corridor width is defined as 50m, then, the resulting clutter representing the corridor along the vector data only has a width of 50m. In case that the corridor width is a multiple of the basic 50m (or any other) resolution, then the effective corridor width will always be an odd multiple of the initial resolution. For example, if the initial resolution is 50m, the next possible corridor widths are 150m, 250m, 350m, etc. In case that the user inserts a corridor width that is not a direct multiple of the underlying resolution, the effective corridor width will be computed as follows, assuming a basic pixel resolution of 50m: Input value 1...99m 100m...199m 200m...299m 200m...299m etc... pixel width 1 pixel 3 pixels 5 pixels 7 pixels effective corridor width --> 50m --> 150m --> 250m --> 350m
Note The implemented algorithm allows corridor widths that are multiples of the clutter resolution. Depending on the slope of the vector data, the effective corridor width will hence vary.
Site and template selection in advanced mode

This section briefly describes how sites are generated in advanced mode
Placement algorithm for area mode

The Greenfield Deployment Utility generates new site locations with an algorithm that can be described as follows 1. Choose a reference site, usually this is the next site that has not been processed 2. If no reference site is available, a new site is generated in a region with high demand. If there is no more demand, the algorithm finishes 3. Analyze the site's neighborhood in different directions. If coverage is required in a direction a set of possible site locations is generated including possible candidate locations. If there is no demand in any direction, go to step 1 4. Find the best sequence of sites surrounding the reference site to achieve coverage on the reference site's cell border 5. Go to step 1
Generation of new site location and selection of suitable candidate locations

If requirement for additional sites has been determined in a certain direction (from the reference
169
site), new sites are placed in this direction. The algorithm analyzes the reference site's range in the evaluated direction as well as the overall range and places a test site in the investigated direction depending on these ranges. The test site and its relation to the reference site is analyzed applying different rules. If the distance is too far (for example if there is a coverage gap) a new test site is created with smaller distance, otherwise the distance is increased. This is repeated several times to create a number of possible site locations and to find the optimum distance. The process is done for all allowed templates individually, as different templates might require different distances. After site locations are generated, candidate locations in the investigated direction and in the range of the new sites are added to the pool of site locations.
Evaluation of the best sequence of neighbor sites

After the surrounding test locations for a reference sites have been created, the algorithm generates different sequences of neighbor sites. These sequences may include existing sites as well and have to satisfy a number of rules, such as The reference site's cell border should be totally covered by the neighbor sites (no gaps are preferred, few gaps are allowed) The footprint area of the sites should not differ too much The angular directions of the neighbor sites should be regular If there are gaps these should be as small as possible Several other rules are applied depending on the test locations. To support the use of candidate locations, the rules for candidate locations are less strict than those for new locations. If a new suitable sequence is found, it's performance is evaluated: The sequence's gain is the weighted coverage increase generated by the sequence of sites The cost is the sum of the individual costs. The cost of candidate locations is reduced by the acceptance level to be able to handle combinations of new sites and candidate locations. The performance of the sequence is the quotient of gain and cost. The sequence with the best performance is chosen and the sites are generated.
Mast height for candidate sites

Candidate sites are sites without transmitters, thus these sites do not contain information about the mast height. An additional column can be created in the site table to specify the candidate mast height per candidate site.
Creating the column 'CandidateMastHeight'

Follow these steps to create a new column in the site table: Right click on the Site item in the project explorer's data tree to get the context menu and choose Properties. Select the tab sheet Table. Click the button Add. Give the new column the name CandidateMastHeight. The column's data type can either be numeric (single or double, allows only one height per candidate) or text (allows multiple heights per candidate). For text columns the size should be large enough to hold the required input.
Using the column 'CandidateMastHeight'

If other than the assigned template's antenna heights shall be used for a candidate, the required height(s) have to be entered in the column CandidateMastHeight. The values are handled similar to the clutter based heights: If the field is empty, the template's antenna height is used.
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If one height is entered, the value overrides the template's antenna height. If several heights are entered (separated by blanks), the largest value is used for placement, smaller values are used for height reduction.
Result parameters
After the algorithms have finished, sites, transmitters and cells are created or updated in the 9955 project. This section describes the parameter modifications.
Standard result parameters

The following rules are applied for standard parameters: Table Sites The site name is set to a unique site name with the format 'Sitexxx'. The first available site number not conflicting with existing sites is used. The columns longitude and latitude are set to the chosen coordinates. The altitude is set to the DTM height used by the Greenfield Deployment Utility to ensure calibration with 9955. All other columns are not set, i.e. their default values are maintained. Table Transmitters The transmitter name is set to a unique name with the format 'Sitexxx_y'. Azimuth, tilt, and height are set as defined in the template or as chosen by the azimuth/tilt and height adjustment. Active is set to true or false as defined in the options. REDT is left empty. Additional electrical downtilt is not used by the Greenfield Deployment Utility and is set to 0 or null. All other columns are copied from the template. The same rule as in 9955, is used, i.e. all columns with the same name in the transmitters table and the template are set in the transmitter. Columns not existing in the template are not set, i.e. their default values are maintained. Table CDMACells/WCells The cell name is set to a unique name with the format 'Sitexxx_y(1)' (only one carrier per transmitter is supported). All other columns are copied from the template. The same rule as in 9955, is used, i.e. all columns with the same name in the cell table and the template are set in the cell. Columns not existing in the template are not set, i.e. their default values are maintained.
User defined result parameters

In addition to the default parameters, some user defined parameters can be set by the Greenfield Deployment Utility. Two different categories of parameters have to be distinguished: Known user parameters and 9955 user parameters. Known user parameters Currently three user defined parameters are known. Two of them can exist in the site table, one can exist in the site table and/or the transmitters table. The columns are only filled with the information if they are created by the user before running the Greenfield Deployment Utility. Please follow the steps as described in Creating the column CandidateMastHeight to create new columns. The column GreenfieldSiteTraffic can be created in the site table and/or the transmitters
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table (data type single or double). It is filled with information if traffic densities are used, i.e. if either a traffic density raster or clutter based traffic densities are provided. If the value of the traffic density is [unit]/km, the column contains the site's captured traffic in [unit]. The column GreenfieldTemplateName can be created in the site table. It has to be of type text and has to be large enough to hold the project's template names. The column GreenfieldMastHeight can be created in the site table (data type single or double). It is filled with the chosen mast height (either from the template or the clutter based mast heights). Note The column GreenfieldSiteTraffic can be used to apply filters or color schemes for sites and/or transmitters in 9955. This can be used to evaluate different minimum captured traffic values in the planning tool after one single run of the Greenfield Deployment Utility. The possibility to create the column in the site and the transmitter table allows different filtering for sites and transmitters. Example: Set the minimum captured traffic in the options to 0 to create only sites with traffic > 0. After the sites have been created, you can use user defined filters to evaluate sites with traffic >= 10, >= 50, >= 100... The steps to add a site filter are: right click on Sites and select Properties in the data tab click on Filter in the General tab navigate to the Advanced tab enter or select the column name GreenfieldSiteTraffic and enter a condition (e.g. '>= 10') 9955 user parameters The Greenfield Deployment Utility uses the same handling for user defined parameters in the transmitter table as 9955. If you create user defined parameters in the table transmitters, these are automatically available for input in the templates. Fill your parameters with proper template values and these are automatically copied to the new transmitters. Please do not create user defined parameters with the name of known user parameters, because the behaviour for user defined parameters overrides the handling of 9955 user parameters. This means that if you specify values for the columns GreenfieldTemplateName, GreenfieldMastHeight or GreenfieldSiteTraffic in the template, these values are ignored and the algorithm's output values are written to the transmitters table.
Projects using much memory

Greenfield is designed for very fast calculation of small, medium, or large projects. However, if the project exceeds a certain size (usually in the order of tens of thousands of sites), Greenfield might run out of memory. In this case, 1. data is removed from memory to be able to continue running at the expense of runtime performance, 2. if that still does not help and Greenfield runs out of memory, a dialog is presented and the user has the option to import that result achieved so far back to 9955.
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Incident Reports
Incident Reports
IX
IX.1
Incident Reports
Sending Incident Reports
Incident reports are compressed archive files containing information required to analyze or reproduce software behaviour at your software vendor. They are automatically generated after fatal errors or they can be generated by the user. Incident Reports are stored in the 9955 ACCO temp directory for further submission and have to be deleted manually.
Types of Incident Reports

Two different incident report formats are available: Small report: includes all textual data, optimization ranges and settings, log files but not excessive binary data. Large report: includes the small reports data and binary data for path losses, elevation angles, traffic maps etc.
Which report type to submit

The data required to analyze software behaviour varies from situation to situation. As a general rule you should provide as much information as possible - as long as the amount of data can be submitted via FTP or e-mail. Small or large report? Generally you should try to submit the large report if it is smaller than 3 MB. Large reports up to 50 MB should be transferred by FTP. If the report size exceeds 50 MB, you should prefer submission of the small report. Please note that the incident report files are stored on your hard disk. If the analysis of the small incident report reveals that the large report is required, you will be contacted by the support to submit the large report. FTP or e-mail? The Incident Report Manager uses an integrated FTP client or your Windows e-mail application to submit reports to your software vendor. For small reports up to 3 MB both methods are suitable, for large reports FTP transfer should be used. Incident reports are plain files, it is possible to copy them to other media as CDs or flash memory devices. The integrated FTP client uses passive mode, proxy support is not available.
What to submit if report generation fails

In the very rare case that an error occurs during the incident report generation, please use the option to submit the log file by pressing the according button in the Incident Report tool. Alternatively you can e-mail a screenshot with a detailed problem description.
IX.2
Manually Creating Incident Reports

Usually incident reports are generated with the menu item Generate Incident Report in the 9955 ACCO menu Tools. This function automatically adds the data loaded in 9955 ACCO to the report. Alternatively it is possible to create incident reports using the Windows start menu entry 9955 ACCO/Create Incident Report. This function allows to add user defined data to the incident report.
Creating Incident Reports

Use the Windows start menu entry 9955 ACCO/Create Incident Report to launch the incident report generation tool.
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With this tool you can add and delete files or folders and provide additional arguments. Usually you will add the files and folders you want to submit, there is no need to specify additional arguments. In some situations support might request additional information and provide you with arguments to be entered or copied into the corresponding input field.
Adding files and directories

The Incident Report Generator supports several pre-defined files that are automatically handled correctly. If you add these file types, the directories associated to the files are automatically added to the report. Optimization Environment files (.coe) The according Optimization Environment directory is automatically added. Measurement Environment files (.cme) The according Measurement Environment directory is automatically added. Optimized Network Files (.con) Other files or directories can be added as required to provide suitable information to the support.
IX.3
Managing Incident Reports

Incident reports are stored in the temporary optimization folder specified in the 9955 ACCO options. Usually this is C:\Windows\Temp\C3G, but it can be moved to a different location. Reports are stored for further use and can be submitted or deleted with the Incident Report Manager.
Launching the Incident Report Manager

The Incident Report Manager can be launched with the menu Tool / Manage Incident Reports in 9955 ACCO or with the Windows start menu entry 9955 ACCO/Manage Incident Reports. In addition it is automatically launched after a report has been created. The Incident Report Manager automatically scans the temporary optimization folder for reports and displays them in a structured, sorted list.
Submitting Incident Reports

Reports can be submitted by selecting a single report and clicking on one of the submit buttons: Send report via e-mail: After prompting for additional information, Report Manager uses your default e-mail application to send the report. Send report via ftp: After prompting for additional information, Report Manager uses an integrated FTP client to upload the report to the support team. The FTP client uses passive mode, proxy support is not available. Please refer to section Sending Incident Reports for additional information on FTP and e-mail submission. Before the report can be sent, some additional information is requested: Your name Your company Reply e-mail address (important for FTP submission) A problem description. Please provide as much information as possible to allow analysis and reproduction of your problem.
Deleting Incident Reports

Reports can be deleted by selecting a single or multiple reports and pressing the Delete button. Please be careful and do not delete reports of pending support requests.
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Incident Reports
Using alternative folders

In some cases it might be required to manage reports that are located in a different folder than the temporary optimization folder: If the temporary optimization folder has been changed and reports in the previous folder shall be managed or submitted. If reports on a different machine shall be managed or submitted. If reports have been moved to an external drive or a backup directory. Use the toolbar button select source directory to browse for a new report folder. Incident Report Manager automatically enumerates the new folder and displays the reports in the tree view.
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C H A P T E R 10
10
Cleanup
Cleanup
X
X.1
Cleanup
Overview
The Cleanup tool provides a comfortable way to delete unused 9955 ACCO optimization environments and result data folders. You call it from the Windows start menu via the 9955 ACCO program group.
Environments
Select the folder to start searching for optimization environment data by using the button, then press Search folder. The main window will present a list of detected environments. Select them by checking the tick boxes, then press Clean up to delete the data.
Results
Select the folder to start searching for result data by using the button, then press Search folder. The main window will present a list of detected result folders. After expanding a folder by clicking on the "+" icon, you will see a list of available implementation plan steps. Select them all
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at once by checking the tick box of that folder. De-select the steps you want to keep by deselecting the check boxes one by one. Pressing the Clean up button will delete all result data for the selected steps (those with tick boxes). De-selected steps will remain on disc including the analysis plots for Inspector, the result file with the optimized network configuration, and the report file.
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C H A P T E R 11
11
License Manager
CHAPTER 11
XI
XI.1
License Manager
Overview
The License Manager provides a comfortable way to apply license files to a local or a network dongle. Note Dongles connected to remote computers can be updated, too, if that remote computer is configured as CodeMeter license server and the licenses stored on the dongle are network licenses. Local licenses (also known as workstation licenses) on remote dongles cannot be updated. A local license can only be updated on the computer where the dongle is connected. Note License update files (also known as activation files) are now provided as .syl-files. Syl-files contain not only a single update, but may contain a series of older updates and the current update. License Manager will try to install all updates beginning with the oldest. This ensures that dongles are always kept up to date and the customer does not need to take care about applying updates in the correct order, etc. You call it from the Windows start menu via the 9955 ACCO program group.
License File
Select the 9955 ACCO license file to apply by using the Update to apply the license. button, then click the Start License
You will find information about the licence file that is currently loaded under License File Info.
Update
If a valid license file is loaded, the Start License Button is enabled. Press it to start the update.
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License Manager
The Cancel License Update button enables you to stop the license update while it is running, e.g. if it takes too long for network licenses. Information about the update process is given under Update Status. Once the update is finished, the Update Status information displays the status of the update. If successful, the number of applied updates is displayed in the Status Update. If not successful, an error message giving the reason is available in the Update Status.
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9955 ACCO 4.15.

3DF 01955 7185 PCZZA Edition 01

Status Change Note Short Title Originator

Part II Data import/export

Part III Optimization Settings

Project ..................................................................................................... 25 settings

Network settings ..................................................................................................... 29

Optimization Parameters ..................................................................................................... 33

Optimization Targets ..................................................................................................... 49

Optimization Options and Constraints ..................................................................................................... 71

Optimization Run ..................................................................................................... 78

Optimization Progress and Results ..................................................................................................... 83

Part IV Options Settings

Part V Multi System

Multi System Overview ..................................................................................................... 104 Parameter Synchronization ..................................................................................................... 106

Part VI Optimization Guidelines

Part VII Inspector

Settings and Hotkeys ..................................................................................................... 144

Part VIII Greenfield Deployment

Part IX Incident Reports

Contents Overview ..................................................................................................... 178

Part XI License Manager

Overview ..................................................................................................... 181

3DF 01955 7185 PCZZA Edition 01

Step 2 - Data preparation and Launch

Step 3 - Project and Parameter Settings

Step 4 - Optimization targets and options

3DF 01955 7185 PCZZA Edition 01

Step 5 - Run optimization

Step 6 - Generate Results

Step 7 - Verify results

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Filter sites by a polygon

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Data export from 9955 (before optimization)

3DF 01955 7185 PCZZA Edition 01

Data import into 9955 (after optimization)

3DF 01955 7185 PCZZA Edition 01

3DF 01955 7185 PCZZA Edition 01

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Create measurement environment

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Launching the add-in

3DF 01955 7185 PCZZA Edition 01

3DF 01955 7185 PCZZA Edition 01

Mapping of measurement columns

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Measurement environment statistics

Overview on quality indicators

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Description of individual quality indicators

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Load optimization results

Implementation Plan Settings

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Exporting data from Aircom Asset

Generating an Optimization Environments

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Importing data from Aircom Asset into 9955

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