Cellular technology evolution has been started since 1950s, and the first commercial systems came in the late 1970s. There are a cellular network generations which we can classify them in First Generation, Second Generation, Third Generation and Fourth Generation as we will discuss later.
Third Generation cellular networks (3G) were developed with the aim of offering high data rates up to 2Mbps and 384Kbps for stationary and mobile users respectively which allow the operators to offer a multimedia connectivity and other data services to the end customer. In this research we decided to design 3G radio network planning; and this is the main idea of our research.
In order to carry a 3G radio network planning for a selected regions, we must follow a roadmap consists of set of phases; First of all, we must determine the region under study on the digitized map in order to obtain some useful information, such as the area distribution; thus using digital maps gives a good clearness for areas classification, land use, land terrain, heights, vectors,… etc. Also we must forecast subscriber profile to perform coverage and capacity dimensioning process to achieve nominal cell plan.
In this project we started by selecting two different Palestinian geographical environments i.e. different land terrain, different population density,…Nablus and Qalqilya cities. After that we prepared a subscriber forecast profile and calculate the service traffic, required capacity and required coverage using Wataniya Mobile software.
For Nablus city we've found that 28 sites are required to be installed to meet the given capacity requirements, on the other hand 46 sites are for coverage. Furthermore, to serve Qalqilya city we need 6 sites according to capacity calculation but 11 sites for coverage. At this point we should make decision about how many site will be implemented. In general we have to select number of sites relative to coverage requirement; so to serve Nablus and Qalqilya cities by 3G services we should implement 46, 11 sites respectively.
At final stage, we have to be sure that our proposed 3G network is suitable not only for the first year of running the 3G services over the deployed network, our design takes into consideration the growth of subscribers number and their demands, so periodically, the networking administrators and the network planning department, assess the network current status and upgrade the network to meet the future demands.
Our project is to perform a 3G radio network planning for two Palestinian cities; Nablus and Qalqilya are selected as a different case studies; the two cities show many different land terrain, different population density,…We are going to perform the Radio Network Design Process by preparing a subscriber forecast profile and calculating the service traffic, required capacity, and required coverage. The project will end up with an applicable 3G network to be deployed in the selected cities.
We know that Palestinian cellular network operators are still working on GSM/GPRS/EDGE (Global System for Mobile Communications/ General Packet Radio Service/ Enhanced Data Rates of GSM Evolution) that offers voice service and non matured data services. Nowadays, Palestinian subscribers are demanding more data communication services and aligned with the international subscribers demand.
The telecom operators and providers followed accordingly. Third Generation is the next step for Palestinian operators due to licensing issued in the previous years by Palestinian MTIT (Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology) and the mentioned data demand.
As a result, we selected this topic to be aligned with the coming data evaluation in Palestine. This study will be very useful for the current operators to upgrade for the 3G network.
At the end of our project we have achieved our project goals. First of all, we learned the essential information of cellular WCDMA technology and WCDMA radio network design stages. We learned the difference between number of sites for both coverage and capacity plan.
Furthermore we have good information and practical training about TEMS Cell planner software which is used at Wataniya Mobile and in many Middle East telecom operators.
During our project, we have learned how design 3G network, and we consider two cities as case studies; Nablus and Qalqilya, these two cities have different characteristics in different terms such as geographical environments and population density which is directly related to the traffic demand. By the end of this project we have found that 46 sites and 28 sites for coverage and capacity respectively, each site is identified by its geographical installation location. In addition, regarding 3G network design for Qalqilya we found the 11 sites and 6 sites for coverage and capacity respectively.
Our network plane takes into consideration capacity and traffic demand that is valid for the current time. In the future; the network should be upgraded to meet the increasing in capacity and traffic requirements.
Advances in technology have lead to massive data communications, telecom operators need to cope with this evolution; so new technologies are being applied to satisfy customers need. 3G is one of the main recent technologies that supplies customers with high data rate and throughput.
Several phases are considered to apply 3G radio design in any region, first of all, a region must be determined to be subjected to study on the digitized map in order to obtain some useful information such as the area distribution; this gives a good clearness for areas classification, land terrain, heights, vectors …. etc. Therefore, propagation model is determined and defined along with the link budget, capacity and coverage calculations, as a result of this process; the nominal cell planning is produced.
The design of the network architecture have to capable to accommodate with increasing population and subscriber data demands, so the network can be upgraded to maintain it services and sustainability.
Finally, we have an excellent vision about how to design and plan 3G radio network.