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5 Improved Interference Table Wizard

The Interference Table Wizard for 2g networks in ASSET can calculate the interference 'costs' for any cell-pair combination for which there are overlapping predictions. The information in the table can be used as an input to influence the frequency allocations when using ILSA, the Interactive Frequency Analysis Wizard, the MA List Planner, or the MAIO Planner. In previous versions, the Interference Table Wizard generated its results from either: Coverage area data - and/or Traffic data The quality of information in the table is dependent on the level of confidence in the propagation models, coverage predictions, and traffic data. In the light of this, and given that propagation models can sometimes be inaccurate, there has been an increasing customer demand for the support of interference table information based on actual measured data. Therefore, in ASSET version 6.2, you can now generate an interference table from: Measurement data (inherently, this represents traffic data) This is achieved by enabling the loading of external measurement data files. Initially, ASSET 6.2 supports the ICDM (Inter-Cell Dependency Matrix) *.msmt file format, but more file formats may be supported within subsequent releases. If required, it is also possible to merge data from a new file with data already in an existing table.

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5.1 Loading an Interference Table

You can either create an interference table within ASSET, or load a file into memory. If you need to load a file, you can do this from two basic sources: A previously saved (or externally created) *.ait file. An externally created *.msmt (ICDM) file.

5.1.1 About *.ait Files

The file format used for an ASSET interference table is the *.ait file format. This can contain values for area and/or traffic. If a different (but valid) file format is used to load an external file, such as the *.msmt format, the file is post-processed into the *.ait file format. An example interference table file is shown below:

Example interference table file

A description of the *.ait file format can be found in the ENTERPRISE Technical Reference Guide.

5.1.2 Loading *.ait Files

You can only have one interference table file in memory at a time. If there is already an existing table file in memory, you can choose to replace it with a new table file, or merge the contents of the new table file with the existing table file. To load a saved (or externally sourced) interference table in the *.ait file format:

If a table does not already exist in memory

1 2 From the Tools menu, point to Interference Tables and click Load Interference Table. Select the file (*.ait) that you want to load and click Open.

The new interference table is loaded into memory.

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If a table already exists in memory and you want to replace it

1 2 From the Tools menu, point to Interference Tables and click Load Interference Table. Select the file (*.ait) that you want to load and click Open. A 'merge/replace' message prompt appears. 3 Click 'No'.

The new interference table is loaded into memory, replacing the previous table.

If a table already exists in memory and you want to merge the tables
1 2 From the Tools menu, point to Interference Tables and click Load Interference Table. Select the file (*.ait) that you want to load and click Open. A 'merge/replace' message prompt appears. 3 Click 'Yes'. The following dialog box appears, enabling you to select merging options:

Specify the merging options. The following table describes them:

Option Imported values weight (%) Description Where you are merging a new table with an existing table, there will probably be interferer relations that exist in both tables. So you must specify a percentage to determine the proportional weight of the newly imported values against the existing values. For example, if you specify 70% here for the imported values, there will be a 30% weight for the existing values. Apply 100% Where there are interferer relations in the new table that do not exist at all in the existing table, you weighting to missing can select this option to add the imported values with a 100% weighting. interferer relations If you do not select this option, the weighting specified in the imported values weight box will be used.

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Append extra 'victim' server measurements

Where there are 'victim' cells in the new table that are not present in the existing table, you can select this option to append them. If you do not select this option, the newly imported data will only be merged for the existing 'victim' cells (this may be useful if you want to update the table for a specific group of victim cells only, but using newly imported data from a large file).

If you are merging newly imported traffic-only data with area-only data (or vice versa), then the percentage options are inactive because all the new values will be imported, without any need for weighting. 5 Click Apply.

The data in the imported table is merged with the data in the existing table, according to your specified options, and an updated interference table is loaded into memory.

5.1.3 About *.msmt (ICDM) Files

If you want to use measurement data to import traffic data into an interference table, you need to load an external file. ASSET supports the ICDM (Inter-Cell Dependency Matrix) *.msmt file format (more file formats may be supported within subsequent releases). When this file is loaded, ASSET post-processes it into the *.ait file format. An example *.msmt file is shown below:

Example *.msmt file

The 'Interferer' column of the file can either contain the BCCH_BSIC combination for the cell (for example, Unknown/38_07), or the cell identity (for example, BSC1/Site7A). For the BCCH_BSIC option, to identify the interfering cell in the project, ASSET searches the map data within a specific radius* of the 'victim' cell for the nearest instance of the BCCH_BSIC combination. (The radius is either the Primary Prediction Radius for the cell in the Site Database, or 10km, whichever is the higher.) For the Cell ID option, to identify the interfering cell in the project, ASSET finds the cell directly in the Site Database. However, if your Site Database configuration includes some cells that contain more than one cell layer, there may be a problem finding the correct sub-cell. For this reason, a drop-down list in the loading dialog box enables you to determine which cell layer should be used for the interference table. If the sites and cells in your project are configured (as recommended) so that one cell always only contains one cell layer, then this drop-down list is insignificant.
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The ICDM *.msmt file is a proprietary file format.

5.1.4 Loading *.msmt (ICDM) Files

You can only have one interference table file in memory at a time. If there is already an existing table file in memory, you can choose to replace it with a new table file, or merge the contents of the new table file with the existing table file. To load an externally sourced ICDM interference table: 1 2 3 From the Tools menu, point to Interference Tables and click Load Interference Table. Select the file (*.msmt) that you want to load and click Open. If there is already a table in memory, a merge/replace message prompt appears, enabling you to choose to overwrite the existing table or merge the new data into the existing table.

(This message prompt does not appear if there is no table already in memory.) Click 'Yes' or 'No', as appropriate. 4 The next dialog box that appears enables you to select loading and merging options:

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From the drop-down list, select the cell layer to be used for the interference table, in the case where cell identities in the .msmt file relate to cells containing multiple cell layers. This cell layer drop-down list is significant only if: Your Site Database configuration includes some cells that contain more than one cell layer - and The 'Interferer' column of your *.msmt file contains instances of cell identities (for example, BSC1/Site7A), rather than the BCCH_BSIC combination

If the sites and cells in your project are configured (as recommended) so that one cell always only contains one cell layer, then this drop-down list is insignificant. 6 Where applicable, specify the data merging options, as described in this table: These options are only active if there was already an interference table in memory, and you chose 'Yes' to merge the new data.
Option Imported values weight (%) Description If you are merging a new table with an existing table, there will probably be interferer relations that exist in both tables. So you must specify a percentage to determine the proportional weight of the newly imported values against the existing values. For example, if you specify 70% here for the imported values, there will be a 30% weight for the existing values. (Orders of scale are used to match the total traffic values in each table.) Apply 100% Where there are interferer relations in the new table that do not exist at all in the existing table, you weighting to missing can select this option to add the imported values with a 100% weighting. interferer relations If you do not select this option, the weighting specified in the imported values weight box will be used. Append extra 'victim' server measurements Where there are 'victim' cells in the new table that are not present in the existing table, you can select this option to append them. If you de-select this option, the newly imported data will only be merged for the existing 'victim' cells (this may be useful if you want to update the table for a specific group of victim cells only, but using newly imported data from a large file).

If you are merging newly imported traffic data (from the *.msmt file) with area-only data (from the existing *.ait file), then this percentage option is inactive because all traffic values will be imported, without any need for weighting. 7 Click Apply.

The new table (merged or otherwise) is automatically post-processed into the *.ait file format, and loaded into memory.

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5.2 Creating an Interference Table

If you want to include traffic data when creating an interference table, you must have at least one traffic array in memory (either generated or loaded), and its resolution must be the same as the resolution that you intend to specify in the Interference Table Wizard. The traffic array can be the same size or larger (but not smaller) than the region selected in the wizard. (If you do not choose to include traffic data, then the wizard will only consider the effect of interference relative to area.) To create an interference table: 1 2 3 Open a Map View window that displays the region for the cells that you wish to include. From the Tools menu, point to Interference Tables and click Interference Table Wizard. In the first step of the wizard, check that the region is correct. If necessary, you can modify it by entering precise co-ordinates. Click Next. 4 Select the site/cell filters to be included in the analysis, either by using the filters already displayed in the Map View, or by specifying the filters using the checkboxes. By default, interference caused by overlapping predictions from cells outside the selected region will be included (as long as those cells are in the specified filters). If you do not want this to happen, select the appropriate checkbox. Click Next. 5 Set the serving cell layer and best server parameters. You can: Select one or more serving cell layers. Override, if required, one or both of the coverage thresholds for the cells that are stored in the Site Database. Select 'Use Priorities & Offsets, SS (Signal Strength) Mode' if you want the results to take into account any priorities that have been set in the Cell Layers dialog box, and the signal offsets, when determining the better serving subcells. If unselected, the best server results are based on signal strength alone. Specify a Best Server margin. This enables you to extend the potential best server area, by allowing pixels where the victim cell's carrier is not the 'best server' to be considered as such (provided that it is within the specified margin). Specify a maximum of potential servers. Any positive value will limit the number of cells which can be considered as best servers at each pixel. This can be used to save processing time. Specify a resolution.

Click Next.

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Set the interference parameters and traffic options. You can: Select one or more interfering cell layers. Choose to consider interference between different cell layers. Set an adjacent channel offset. Set a Maximum Relative Rx Level Margin. A cell can only be considered as an interferer if the signal difference is less than or equal to this value. Select which traffic arrays to include, if required (only available if one or more arrays exist in memory). Select the interference probability method. See How Probability of Interference is Calculated.

Click Next. 7 You can choose to save the generated interference table to an *.ait file (or you can save it later). You can also select whether you want to view the table after running the wizard (or you can view it later), and you can add any comments. Click Next. 8 Check the summary and click Finish.

The interference table is created, and according to your choices in the wizard, saved and displayed. The interference table is based on the project parameters and (if applicable) traffic data at the time of running the wizard. In certain circumstances, if the parameters or data have changed, you may want to generate a new up-to-date Interference Table. In other words, the 'validity' of the Interference Table is under user-control.

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