Chapter 6Coverage and Capacity Planning of 4G Networks
6.1 Summary and Objectives
This chapter presents the key practical aspects for capacity and coverage planning of a commercial LTE (long term evolution) network. The practical basics of coverage and capacity planning are introduced. The LTE coverage and link budget aspects are discussed in detail. The link budgets for different LTE channels are provided. The limiting channel and limiting link have been analyzed in different deployment scenarios and different frequency bands. Different propagation models and model tuning are analyzed in detail. Practical link budget examples are provided for data and VoLTE (voice over long term evolution) scenarios. The coverage aspects of the LTE system have been compared with the HSPA+ (high speed packet access) system. A case study on RF prediction for FDD-LTE (frequency division duplex) and TDD-LTE (time division duplex) is provided. The practical capacity planning aspects are presented. In addition, capacity dimensioning of LTE/HSPA+ systems is analyzed. Several dimensioning exercises are provided for data and voice scenarios. The dimensioning of the main LTE channels is discussed in detail along with practical examples. A comparative analysis with the HSPA+ network is provided to benchmark and evaluate the LTE system. This chapter can be used as a reference for best practices in LTE network design and planning.
6.2 LTE Network Planning and Rollout Phases
The target ...
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