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com SOLUTION

Planning for a Better Life

— Introduction to Huawei Wireless Network
Planning and Optimization Service
By Wang Na

The vision—"To Enrich People's Life Through

Communication" has been the guiding light for Huawei
people throughout their journey in extending services
to carriers across the globe.They have left their footprint
in every region where they have forged ahead with
determination and strenuous endeavor, from the fertile
and magic land along the Nile to Mesopotamia where
the mysterious ancient civilizations origined, from the
fascinating but formidable Sahara to the vast Sub-Sahara
plain whose beauty is shadowed by constant warfare
and disease, from the florid Amazon rain forests with a
Samba flavor to the passionate Caribbean Coast, from the
European and North American continents featuring high-
tech and precision to theeir oriental neighbors. Along the
journey, Huawei network planning and optimization team
is playing an increasingly important role in Huawei's global
effort in deploying and developing mobile networks.
From the first generation analog mobile
communication system to the current third generation
(3G) digital mobile communication system, cellular mobile
communications has been evolving for the past 20 years.
Along with the mobile communication technology, the through the entire lifecycle of the network. This service
wireless network planning and optimization service was plays a key role in network construction through to the
born and has increasingly evolved. The target of network end-of-life of the network.
planning and optimization is to improve the performance The network lifecycle can be divided into four phases:
of the mobile communication network, meet the service Pre-bidding, bidding, implementation and maintenance.
requirements and balance network coverage, quality, and Figure 1 shows activities corresponding to these
costs. phases: solution guidance, network pre-planning, detailed
The network planning and optimization service goes planning and optimization and performance improvement.

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As a key part in the construction of a
mobile communication network, network
planning and optimization is mainly divided
into the two following parts:
Figure 1 Network Lifecycle
Pre-bidding
Solution guidance Network pre-planning
For wireless projects, network planning runs through the whole process from initial business
development to maintenance till the end of service.
Figure 2 Evolution of Network Planning Service Content
Middle and
late 1990s
Fewer users and abundant
frequency resource
Coverage
Focus on equipment
Equipment availability
Alarm
Equipment maintenance
Equipment + Simple network:
focus on good equipment functionality
Figure 3 C3Q Concept
Coverage
Capacity
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Network planning elements (NEs) based upon the network
construction target, the network evolution
The purpose of wireless network planning requirements and the cost. The output of
is to select the most appropriate network the planning process is the NE quantity and
configuration which determines the connection
mode for the NEs and provides reference for
the subsequent engineering implementation.
The aim is to build a mobile communication
network with a certain service hierarchy that
meets both short-term and long-term traffic
Bidding Implementation Maintenance
requirements at the lowest cost.
As shown in Figure 2, the wireless
Detailed planning & Performance
optimization improvement planning has evolved over the development
period of mobile networks, from the earlier
lightly loaded 1G, and 2G networks, focusing
mainly on coverage and functionality, through
to heavier loaded advanced 2G networks with
an increased focus on capacity, on to complex
Present and 3G networks with the focus moving to end user
future experience.
Beginning of
20th century
Huawei wireless network planning
Larger user base, more services
available and advanced technologies
proposes the C3Q concept, a concept that
More users and competition
over frequency resource
Network quality ensures the best coverage of profitable services,
Business quality and ROI
Capacity, coverage and quality
Customer/user-oriented service largest capacity of current resources, and
Network KPI
Well-functioning of the network
Fierce competition and focus on TCO
best quality of the core service at the lowest
User experience
ARPU of each service
Resource utilization efficiency
integrated network construction cost.
Complex service:
focus on the end users The ultimate aim of network construction
Complex network:
focus on good network functionality by the carrier is to establish the service
brand and to make profits. In the early
stage of network planning, both the cost
and future capacity expansion schemes
should be considered to ensure high network
performance.
Quality Network capacity, coverage, and quality
are closely correlated. For a mobile network,
it is very important to balance the coverage,
capacity and quality. We must plan the
coverage of each sector while ensuring the
capacity and service quality within the sector. A
great deal of effort must be given in planning
the coverage, reducing the interference,
increasing the capacity and improving the
network quality.
Cost Network optimization
The purpose of wireless network
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optimization is to collect and analyze the
data of a network, discover the causes that
affect the quality of network operation, adjust
the parameters and adopt certain technical
measures for the purpose of achieving the best
network operation performance while making
full use of the existing network resources, and
providing suggestions for network maintenance
and planning. Network optimization has to
meet the following aims:
From the perspective of the Carrier’s
benefits, network optimization aims to properly
allocate resources, improve device utilization
rate, and optimize the network operation
quality with the existing network resources.
From the view of end-users’ satisfaction,
network optimization aims to meet the end-
user requirements on the service quality,
providing more reliable, stable and better
network services by improving key indices, such
as the connection rate and call drop rate, that
directly affects the satisfaction of the end-user.
Thus, network planning and optimization
play a key role in the 3G era and is given
top priority by carriers. With the help of the
advanced network planning and optimization
tools, and powerful capability, Huawei ensures
smooth network transition to provide high
network quality after the network migration.
High-caliber Network
Planning and
Optimization Team
Established in 1996, Huawei Wireless
Network Planning Department now has over
1800 professional network planning and
optimization personnel. All of the staff are
highly qualified, with nearly 60% holding
a master’s degree and 15% have obtained
a doctorate. Foreign experts account for
5%. These people are distributed in over 30
domestic and overseas technical support
centers, covering more than 80 countries
such as Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing etc.
According to the product and service functions,
SOLUTION
Figure 4 Huawei’ s Strategies for Network Planning and Optimization
Focus on Customer Requirements
Provide planning and optimization solutions that meet customer requirements
Target at C3Q
Take coverage, capacity, quality and cost into consideration on
Provide Future-oriented Solutions
Take account of future needs
Provide recommendations at various network phases.
Figure 5 End to End Tool-aided Planning and Optimization
Network planning Network construction Network optimization Network operation
GENEX U-Net GENEX Probe GENEX Probe The whole set of
Wireless network Wireless network Wireless network GENEX tools
planning tool Drive test tool Drive test tool
GENEX Assistant GENEX Assistant
Wireless network
test analysis tool
Wireless network
test analysis tool
GENEX Nastar
Wireless network performance
analysis
platform
Wireless network automatic test & analysis platform
Global performance monitoring center for wireless network planning
Global simulation center for wireless network planning
the Wireless Network Planning Department Advanced Network
consists of following branches: WCDMA
Planning and
Network Planning Branch, CDMA Network
Planning Branch, GSM Network Planning
Optimization Tools
Branch, Overall Technical Branch and Tools
With the improvement of the 3G
Development Branch. Senior experts in the technology, network planning and optimization
department take part in the development of the requires smarter tools to adjust new
GSM, CDMA, WCDMA and WIMAX systems. methodology. To adapt to this change, Huawei
These experts have profound understanding has upgraded the the family of wireless
of the mobile communication systems and network planning and product optimization
develop RTT algorithms, RRM algorithms, tools, GENEX, to be a product solution.
simulation tools, drive test tools, and network The Huawei wireless product system
analysis tools of the mobile products. The plus the GENEX product system constitute the
department has set up a series of technical GENEX product solution. The GENEX Nastar
support and knowledge management systems wireless network performance monitoring
such as the expert database, simulation model and optimization platform provides the multi-
database and planning & optimization case service, multi-area, and customer segment
library. ( See Figure 4 ) marketing policy for network trend prediction
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and analysis in capacity expansion. At present,
the GENEX family of network planning and
optimization tools cover GSM, UMTS, CDMA,
and WIMAX products. The family includes
the U-NET simulation tool, the GENEX RND
network estimation tool, the GENEX Probe &
Assistant drive test and analysis tools and the
GENEX Nastar network performance analysis
tool.
Huawei GENEX network planning and
optimization tools are used in each phase
of the entire process. These tools support
segmented network planning and improve
the overall performance of the network. ( See
Figure 5 )
T h e G E N E X N A S TA - b a s e d g l o b a l
performance analysis center was founded in
April 2006. The HQ has established a server
platform for this center. The front line uploads
the operational data of the existing network
to the performance analysis center in the HQ
through remote access for automatic analysis.
The expert system automatically exports the
report for active pre-warning on network
quality issues and advance maintenance. At
present, the GENEX NASTA global performance
analysis center provides service for Huawei
GSM, CDMA, and WCDMA networks around
the world.
The GENEX products are used in
commercial or trial offices in over 80 countries
and areas to assist multiple well-known
international carriers in building and optimizing
quality networks. This provides the best proof
of the successful design of the GENEX products.
The GENEX products also help carriers to
reduce the operation and maintenance cost,
and to understand the network performance,
service quality, and the requirements of the
customer.
Over the past years, Huawei network
planning and optimization team’s performance
has been impressive in the following projects:
the domestic GSM network of Ufone, the
Pakistan subsidiary of multinational carrier
Etisalat, covering 1500 cities;
the largest new GSM network in Latin
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America in 2006, the VIVO project in Brazil of
Telefónica;
the 60% of the capacity expansion project
of Indian carrier Reliance’s CDMA network;
the construction of the CDMA 2000
network of Leap in USA;
the construction of a new 3G network and
capacity expansion in Spain of Vodafone.
Case Study – Brazil VIVO
Project
In August 2006, the global leading
telecom carrier, Telefónica, selected Huawei as
the main supplier for the VIVO GSM network in
Brazil to build a GSM network that can evolve
into a 3G network. Huawei network planning
and optimization team provided excellent
network planning service for this project.
Take the capital of Rio De Janeiro
state, Rio De Janeiro, as an example. Rio De
Janeiro, a world-renowned tourist city, is full
of wonderful scenes, boasting a 636 KM long
coast line scattered with hills and lakes, a
dense virgin forest, enormous tall buildings and
large mansions.
Such beautiful scenes and prosperous
sights are, however, another picture in the eyes
of the network planning experts. Complicated
landforms such as ridges, hills, lakes, ocean,
forests, and islands, densely yet unevenly
distributed population, tropical and humid
climate and high traffic during tourist seasons
together have posed serious challenges for the
construction of the wireless network.
In order to make a good plan, the
network planning teams of VIVO and Huawei
collected data on population distribution,
economic status, geographic terrain, the
traffic distribution of the existing network
and predicted the traffic of the GSM network
approximately. With the help of the mature and
efficient network planning tool, U-Net, and a
high resolution electronic map of the local area,
the network planning personnel simulated
the coverage in each scenario. The U-Net tool
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was used for automatic planning of the global
network frequency, considerably improving
planning efficiency and reliability, and avoiding
manmade mistakes in manual planning.
For areas with high density and large
traffic and areas requiring broad coverage,
Huawei dual density macro cellular base
stations were used. For indoor and partial
traffic hot spot areas, the micro cellular base
stations were used to enhance the indoor
coverage and catered to the increasing traffic.
For areas with high traffic, the frequency
multiplexing mode was used to improve the
network spectrum efficiency and enlarge the
network capacity. As the number of users
grew rapidly, the 850M frequency resources
became insufficient. The 1900M frequency was
introduced to build a dual-frequency network,
improving the network capacity and meeting
the ever growing requirements of the new
users.
The CDMA network of VIVO covers 85%
(are we sure it is a big country and contains
the Amazon Rain Forest???) of the land area
in Brazil. During the construction of the GSM
network, the co-site mode was used, cutting
down the cost and shortening the construction
time. The efficient network planning helped to
ensure that both networks do not interfere with
each other.
An Outlook on the Future
In 2008, Huawei will continue the
journey of building and optimizing the mobile
communication networks in more parts of the
world, from Chicago to Munich, from Dubai
to Madrid, and from Rio De Janeiro to St.
Petersburg. In addition, more and more world-
renowned economic and financial centers will
be targeted. With continuous efforts, Huawei is
bound to bring more surprises and changes to
people's lives.
If you have any comments or ideas about this article,
please write an e-mail to huawei_services@huawei.com.