Radio Network Planning

In terms of the geographic coverage of the network, often the limit of coverage will be determined by one of the following factors: coverage or noise limited, and interference limited. The network configuration can be driven by capacity limitations that impact the cell size and cluster size in systems with frequency reuse. When planning needs to be more detailed, a Monte‐Carlo simulation of interference in multi‐server environment could be used as an advanced planning tool. A link budget is to be compiled before start of the dimensioning of the radio network. The specific margins and gains in link budget calculation may or may not be included depending on system technology under consideration and details of implementation. The goal of link budget compilation is to estimate a cell range for both uplink and downlink. The chapter considers the link budget for downlink in Global System Mobile (GSM) system; that is, from base station to mobile.