Optimization Capabilities

The optimization capabilities, i.e. what kind and extent of reconfiguration is feasible for each cell parameter, may differ for each cell. Above all they arise from the installed equipment, but may also consider network planning and operation guidelines as well as regulatory requirements and costs of changes.

For example the following circumstances may restrict the optimization capabilities of a cell:

The mounting of the antenna equipment might only allow a certain mechanical tilt range.

The antenna model might only support a certain electrical tilt range.

The mounting of the antenna equipment and possibly obstacles on the roof might only allow a certain azimuth range.

The mounting of the antenna equipment might support remote electrical tilting (RET).

For regulatory reasons (e.g. near a hospital) the change of the antenna orientation, neither tilt nor azimuth, might not be allowed.

The budget for a network optimization campaign may only allow a limited number of cell changes.

In contrast to that, the constraint whether the reconfiguration of a certain cell parameter shall be actually used for an optimization and to which extent, can still be defined at a later step of the optimization process in the respective Optimizer Settings according to the optimization objectives (refer to chapter 8).

Usually, these cell-specific reconfiguration capabilities should be contained in the planning database used for optimization so that it can be imported to Radioplan ACP. However, this data may not be available yet.

Therefore, cell-specific reconfiguration capabilities for optimization can be defined in the Cell Settings dialog, Fig. 4-11, with the parameters described in Table 4-7.

These reconfiguration capabilities include whether a certain cell parameter may be changed as well as the possible reconfiguration range or constraints:

The reconfiguration ranges for the antenna tilt, antenna azimuth, and the applicable power are defined by discrete reconfiguration steps with a given step

2 The cell-specific costs are only considered for optimization if Use Cell/Site Individual Cost

is selected in the Cost Control settings (refer to section 5.2.7).

The originally configured value should be included in the reconfiguration steps. If it is not included, it will be automatically added.

Fig. 4-11 Optimization tab of the Cell Settings dialog (example for a UMTS cell)

By clicking the Select Antenna Groups button in the Optimization tab of the Cell Settings dialog, Fig. 4-11, the Antenna Groups dialog is opened, Fig. 4-12. Here, the Antenna Groups, which must have been defined before in the Antenna Settings (refer to section 4.4), are available for selection.

2

Fig. 4-12 Antenna Groups dialog

Table 4-7 Cell-specific optimization parameters

Parameter Unit /

false} Indicates whether the respective cell parameter can be reconfigured at all.

For more information on electrical tilt optimization within the Antenna Family, please refer to

section 5.1.

The reconfigurable power parameter depends on the System:

- UMTS, CDMA, WiMAX: Pilot Power - GSM, iDEN: Output Power

Please make sure to disable e.g. a Reconfigurable Mechanical Tilt for omnidirectional cells.

Remote Electrical Tilt

(RET) Installed {true;

false} Indicates whether the electrical tilt can be changed remotely.

Since this option makes electrical tilt changes cheaper it can be associated with a specific Required Performance Improvement value for optimization (refer to section 8.1.3).

Min Max

degree

Absolute lower and upper limit for the respective cell parameter defining the possible range of:

- Mechanical Tilt (THETA) - Electrical Tilt

2

Indicates whether the respective cell parameter can only be reconfigured together for all cells that share this antenna.

For example, a multi-band or multi-system antenna may transmit signals of multiple technologies and on multiple frequency bands. Thereby, the azimuth and mechanical tilt could be shared for all signals, whereas the electrical tilt could be reconfigurable for each signal independently.

Please make sure to set the Shared flag at the respective antenna parameters of all cells that share the antenna.

Refer to section 4.6.1.1 for further information.

Antenna Groups {all Alternative

Identifies up to 5 groups of antennas that may replace the installed antenna as a result from antenna type optimization.

If the defined “groups” contain only a single antenna each, this option can also be used to specify 5 individual alternative antennas.

Costs

For Revenue Analysis only:

The cost associated with the implementation of an optimization change for the respective cell

parameter.

The currency unit depends on the Windows OS Regional and Language Options.

Maximum Users per

Cell – The target number of users for this cell (irrespective of their service).

Alternatively, all cells can be configured at once in the Cell Optimization Settings Overview dialog, Fig. 4-13, which can be opened by the entry Optimization Settings Overview… in the context menu of any cell in the Configuration tab tree.

The overview dialog contains all cells that belong to the same System like the cell, which it was opened from.

2

Fig. 4-13 Cell Optimization Settings Overview dialog (example for UMTS network layers) In contrast to that, a technology-independent Cell Optimization Settings Overview dialog, Fig. 4-14, can be opened by the entry File  Current Project  Cell Optimization Settings in the main menu.

Fig. 4-14 Cell Optimization Settings Overview dialog (example for ALL network layers) The grey columns in the overview tables are read-only parameters, which are defined in other tables such as the Cell Settings Overview.

4.6.1.1 Conditions for Shared Antenna Parameters

The following conditions apply to the recognition of antennas with shared parameters.

The cells with a shared antenna must be at the same site in the Radioplan project.

The cells must have the same {X; Y; Z} position.

However, in case of inaccuracies of the cells‟ coordinates in the imported planning data, a snap radius for each the X-Y Offsets and the Height over Ground can be

2 If cells and antenna parameters are configured to be shared, but do not meet the

aforementioned conditions, then a warning message in the Message window indicates the respective cell and parameter and shared settings are ignored during the optimization.