Micro-cell planning within macro-cells in UMTS: downlink analysis

The paper addresses the issue of hierarchical cell structure (HCS) planning using a single UMTS carrier. Using system-level simulations, analyses have been made of the coverage and capacity of 64 kbps circuit-switched services. Basic issues related to micro-cell planning and design, for example base station power outage and soft-handoff ratio, are studied. Simulation results on micro-cell downlink capacity and coverage are presented and, in particular, the role of the pilot power settings for micro-cell sites.