Frequency Hopping

GSM Frequency
Hopping and Variable

Interference Planning
Engineering Guideline
EG: GSMVIP
401-380-365
Issue 1.2
June 1999
Lucent Technologies -- Proprietary
This document contains proprietary information of
Lucent and is not to be disclosed or used except in
accordance with applicable agreements.
GSM Frequency Hopping and VIP Engineering Guideline
Copyright 1999 Lucent Technologies

Unpublished and Not for Publication
All Rights Reserved
This material is protected by the copyright and trade secret laws of the United States
and other countries. It may not be reproduced, distributed, or altered in any fashion
by any entity, (either internal or external to Lucent Technologies),
except in accordance with applicable agreements, contracts or licensing,
without the express written consent of the
Customer Training and Information Products organisation
and the business management owner of the material.
For permission to reproduce or distribute, please contact:

The Manager, RF Systems & Capacity Engineering Group
01793 883275 (domestic)
(44) 1793 883275 (international)
Lucent Technologies - PROPRIETARY

Use pursuant to Company instructions
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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Contents
1. ABOUT THIS GUIDE
2. INTRODUCTION TO FREQUENCY HOPPING
2.1.
Frequency hopping overview
2.2. Why use frequency hopping

Multipath fading
Interference
5
5
5
2.3. Hopping sequences

Cyclic hopping
Random hopping
6
6
6
2.4. Hopping at the base station

Baseband hopping
Synthesiser hopping
6
6
7
2.5. GSM network implementation

Sequence generation
Common control channels
Reception level measurements
Quality measurements
Frequency redefinition procedure
Mobile stations
8
8
8
9
9
10
10
2.6. Key benefits

Frequency diversity
Impact on network planning
Interference diversity
Associated techniques
11
11
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16
19
23
3. INTRODUCTION TO VIP
25
3.1. VIPone
VIPone properties
VIPone examples
25
28
28
3.2. VIPtwo
VIPtwo properties
VIPtwo examples
29
29
30
Lucent Technologies -- Proprietary
This document contains proprietary information of
Lucent and is not to be disclosed or used except in
accordance with applicable agreements.
Issue 1.2 June 1999
iii
Contents
3.3. VIPone and VIPtwo compared
Combined plans
4. CONFIGURING FREQUENCY HOPPING
31
31
33
4.1. Base station hardware

Base model
Antenna coupling equipment
Fill-sender and phantom-RTs
33
33
34
34
4.2.
36
Software release support
4.3. Configuration
FHS configuration rules
Other limitations
36
36
41
4.4. Feature activation and system parameters

BTS hopping mode
BSS feature enabling
OMC parameter configuration
Feature activation
41
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43
4.5. Fault management

Baseband hopping
Synthesiser hopping:
44
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44
4.6. DTX
Uplink DTX
Downlink DTX
44
44
45
4.7.
45
Dynamic power control
5. VIP DEPLOYMENT
47
5.1. Introduction
When to use VIP
Implementation strategy
47
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47
5.2. Choosing the right plan

More than three transceivers per cell
Three or fewer transceivers per cell
Large spectrum allocation
Microcells
Planning for future capacity
48
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49

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Contents
5.3. Planning the frequencies and the HSN
VIPone
VIPtwo
VIPone/VIPtwo
Microcells
BCCH planning
49
49
50
50
50
51
5.4. Collecting performance data

Collection equipment
Performance data types
51
52
52
5.5. Deployment results

Activating frequency hopping
56
56
5.6. Optimising performance

Quality-based handovers
Quality-based power control
Hopping over two frequencies
DTX measurement accuracy
Other scenarios
60
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61
6. WORKED EXAMPLES
63
6.1. Scenario 1
Existing configuration
Objectives
VIP plan choice
Planning the frequencies
Mapping the frequency plan to OMC settings
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6.2. Scenario 2
Objectives
VIP plan choice
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6.3. Scenario 3
Objectives
VIP plan choice
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6.4. Scenario 4
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Contents
Objectives
VIP plan choice
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6.5. Scenario 5
Objectives
VIP plan choice
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7. LIST OF ACRONYMS
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COMMENTS FORM
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Issue 1.2 June 1999
About this Guide
1
1. About this Guide
This guide provides a detailed description of the Frequency Hopping and Variable Interference
Planning (VIP) solutions offered by Lucent Technologies for GSM 900 and 1800 networks. It
contains the following chapters:
Chapter 2 Introduction to Frequency Hopping

An overview of frequency hopping concepts and techniques, and their benefits and network
impacts.
Chapter 3 Introduction to VIP

An overview of VIP concepts and techniques, and their benefits and network impacts.
Chapter 4 Configuring Frequency Hopping

Describes how to configure and activate frequency hopping in a network, from the
equipment point of view.
Chapter 5 Implementing VIP

Describes when and how to implement VIP into a network.
Chapter 6 Worked Examples

Examples of different scenarios and suggested implementations.
Chapter 7 List of Acronyms

Definitions of the acronyms used in this guide.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Introduction to Frequency
Hopping
2. Introduction to Frequency Hopping

This chapter describes the main concepts of frequency hopping and its implementation in GSM.
2.1.
Frequency hopping overview
In frequency hopping systems, each call hops between a defined set of frequencies. So poor
signal quality on any specific frequency affects only a small portion of the transmission. This
makes it much easier to recreate any lost bits and so preserve overall call quality.
Frequency hopping is the principal component of the Variable Interference Planning solutions
offered by Lucent Technologies and is supported in both GSM 900 and GSM 1800 networks.
GSM networks use slow frequency hopping; a hop occurs before each time slot is transmitted
(every 4.615 millisecond, or 217 hops per second). This distinguishes it from fast frequency
hopping systems, which use several hops per symbol.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
frequency
time
Figure 1 Slow frequency hopping in the time frequency domain
Frequency hopping exploits two underlying GSM error correction techniques:
Channel coding
Interleaving
These coding and interleaving techniques are illustrated below:
Class 1 bits
P+T
Class 2 bits
182 bits
3+4
78 bits
Rate 1/2 convolutional coding
456 bits
Segmentation
and
interleaving
Normal burst - 1
Normal burst - 2
57 bits
Tail
3 bits
Information
57 bits
...
Normal burst - 8
57 bits
57 bits
SF TS
SF
1 bit 26 bits 1 bit
Information
57 bits
Tail
3 bits
...
Tail
3 bits
Normal GSM burst
Information
57 bits
SF
1 bit
Normal GSM burst
Figure 2 GSM coding and interleaving
Channel coding takes the digital message flow (speech or data) and divides the bit stream into
blocks. Control bits used to detect and correct transmission errors are applied to the start and
Issue 1.2 June 1999
end of each block. Each block of message bits and control bits is known as a code word.
Code words for speech are 456 bits long.
Interleaving divides each code word into chunks of 57 bits at a time and mixes (interleaves)
them with chunks from adjoining code words. Splitting the bit stream in this way prevents errors
occurring across entire code words. This improves channel coding correction rates, as it is
much easier to correct isolated bit errors than bursts of errors.
2.2.
Why use frequency hopping
Frequency hopping mitigates two problems with transmission quality over the air interface:
Multipath fading
Interference
Multipath fading
Usually a radio signal is received as scattered signals travelling over separate paths. When the
signals combine, they produce an interference pattern of fading. For a given position the fading
depends on the transmission frequency. This multipath fading particularly impacts slow moving
mobiles, as they may stay in one position and hence a fade long enough to suffer information
loss (interleaving can only spread a code word over a limited number of time slots).
With frequency hopping, because the frequencies change, so do the fading patterns associated
with them. Transmissions on a frequency that is subject to multipath fading will move out of the
fade at the next hop (frequency diversity).
Frequency diversity, combined with interleaving and channel coding, improves transmission
quality - in particular for slow moving mobiles.
Interference
Any given call may suffer interference from calls on neighbour cells transmitting on or close to
its frequency. This interference has a continuous impact on transmissions because it exists for
the duration of the interfering calls.
Frequency hopping mitigates this effect by spreading, or averaging, the interference across
multiple calls (interference diversity). This prevents a situation where one call has
unacceptable levels of interference and others have very good levels. When coupled with
channel coding and interleaving, it increases the probability that all calls will have acceptable
quality, rather than some having very good quality and others having unacceptable quality.
Interference diversity has another advantage. It ensures that consecutive bursts of information
are received under different interference conditions, reducing the risk of large sequential
information loss.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
2.3.
Hopping sequences
In frequency hopping systems, the hopping sequence between the frequencies assigned to a
particular transmission can be either cyclic or random.
Cyclic hopping
Frequencies are used in fixed rotation.
For example: f1, f2, f3, f4, f1, f2, f3, f4, f1, f2, f3, f4, f1, f2, f3, f4, f1, f2, f3,...
Random hopping
Frequencies are used in a pseudo-random sequence.
For example: f2, f4, f1, f3, f4, f2, f3, f2, f4, f1, f1, f4, f3, f4, f2, f1, f3, f2, f2, ...
When using the same set of frequencies with random hopping, the probability of two calls using
the same frequency in the same time slot is 1/N, where N is the number of hopping frequencies.
For example: Mobile Station 1: f1, f4, f4, f2, f1, f3, ; Mobile Station 2: f2, f1, f4, f3, f2, f1,
2.4.
Hopping at the base station
Frequency hopping can be generated in two ways:
Baseband hopping
Synthesiser hopping
Baseband hopping
In baseband hopping, each transceiver within a base station operates on fixed frequencies.
A transceiver provides the functionality of eight channels, according to the GSM air interface.
Transceivers perform both baseband signal processing (channel coding, interleaving,
encryption, and TDMA burst information) and RF signal processing (generation of RF signal
and modulation of TDMA bursts).
In Lucent transceivers (also known as TRXs or RTs) the DRCC (Digital Radio Codec and
Control) unit does the baseband processing and the RFU (Radio Frequency Unit) does the RF
processing.
With baseband hopping, the digitised, or baseband, speech signal generated at the DRCC is
switched between the RFUs of the transceiver before transmission. Each frame of eight time
Issue 1.2 June 1999
slots is input to a different RFU and so to a different frequency. In this way the transceivers do
not need to retune to different frequencies, but each channel effectively hops over the available
frequencies.
The primary limitation of baseband frequency hopping is that the number of hopping
frequencies is limited to the number of RTs (Radio Terminals) in the cell.
D
DR
RC
CC
C
R
R FF U
U
f1
D
DR
RC
CC
C
R
R FF U
U
f2
Figure 3 Baseband hopping
Synthesiser hopping
With synthesiser hopping, each RFU within a transceiver retunes to a different frequency
(following a defined hopping sequence) before transmitting a frame. So unlike baseband
hopping, the output of each baseband processing section is always connected to the same
RFU. This allows each transceiver to hop over as many frequencies as desired, regardless of
the number of transceivers in the cell.
However, traditional filter combiners (which are frequency specific) cannot be used with
synthesiser hopping because they are too slow in changing frequency. Hybrid combiners (which
can operate across a frequency range and hence are also known as wide-band combiners)
must be used instead. Because hybrid combiners have much higher insertion losses than filter
combiners, the maximum number of radios per cell is reduced.
D
DR
RC
CC
C
D
DR
RC
CC
C
R
R FF U
U
f1
f2
R
R FF U
U
f2
f1
Figure 4 Synthesiser hopping

Issue 1.2 June 1999
2.5.
GSM network implementation
This section describes in overview how frequency hopping is implemented in GSM networks.
Sequence generation
Each call has its time slots transmitted in sequence across a defined set of hopping
frequencies. The sequence is derived from an algorithm (see GSM Recommendation 05.02).
Frequency hopping occurs between time slots: a mobile station transmits or receives on a fixed
frequency during one time slot, then changes frequency before the time slot on the next TDMA
frame.
The total number of available hopping sequences is 64 multiplied by the number of hopping
frequencies (64xN). Hopping sequences are described per channel by two network parameters:
HSN (Hopping Sequence Number): defines a number that is fed into the frequency hopping
algorithm to generate the hopping sequence. Values can be 0 to 63. Value 0 defines cyclic
hopping; all other values generate a random sequence
MAIO (Mobile Allocation Index Offset): defines the starting frequency, or offset, the
transmission will start on within a hopping sequence. The value can be 0 to N-1 where N is
the number of allocated frequencies
Two channels with the same HSN but different MAIO never use the same frequency at the
same time.
Example:
HSN = 1, MAIO = 0: f2, f4, f1, f3, f4, f2, f3, f2, f4, f1, f1, f4, f3, f4, f2, f1, f3, f2, f2, ...
HSN = 1, MAIO = 1: f3, f1, f2, f4, f1, f3, f4, f3, f1, f2, f2, f1, f4, f1, f3, f2, f4, f3, f3, ...
Two channels using the same frequency list and the same time slot, but with a different and non
0 HSN, will interfere in 1/Nth of bursts, as if the sequences were chosen randomly.
Channels in the same cell using the same hopping frequency set should have the same HSN,
and different MAIO, to avoid co-channel interference within the cell.
If random hopping is used, each channel in distant cells using the same frequency set should
have a different HSN; this optimises the benefits of interference diversity.
Common control channels

In order to ease initial synchronisation acquisition, the following common channels must use a
fixed frequency:
FCCH
(Frequency Correction Channel)

Issue 1.2 June 1999
SCH
(Synchronization Channel)
BCCH
(Broadcast Control Channel)
PAGCH
(Paging Access Grant Channel)
RACH
(Random Access Channel)
Common channel extension sets (CCCH) must use the same fixed frequency as the primary
group. This avoids the need to transmit their frequency organisation description on the BCCH.
Note: Traffic channels on the rest of the time slots in BCCH transceivers can hop. Only the
common channels cannot hop.
Reception level measurements

If dynamic power control is in use, and frequency hopping occurs on the BCCH frequency
among other frequencies, reception level measurement accuracy is an issue in traffic channels
that use this combination.
Power control cannot be applied on the BCCH frequency, which must transmit at constant
power in the downlink. This means that power control applies to a subset of bursts only. Bursts
that use the BCCH frequency are sent at fixed transmission power. If reception level
measurements in the downlink were averaged on all frequencies, including the BCCH, the
measurements would not be accurate for the power control algorithm.
To alleviate this problem, the power control indicator (PWRC) tells the mobile station to ignore
BCCH frequency slots in reception level estimations. The indicator is sent to the mobile station
at connection if the following conditions are met:
The channel hops on at least two frequencies
One of those frequencies is the BCCH frequency
Dynamic power control is in use on the downlink transmission
Quality measurements
Mapping of RXQUAL (Received Signal Quality) measurements to subjective speech quality
varies with the propagation environment. This is because it is a measure of the raw bit error
rate, estimated by backward coding the decoded bit sequence and comparing it to the received
bit sequence. Hence it does not consider the varying efficiency of channel coding, interleaving
and bit error correction under different environmental conditions.
So under different conditions the same RXQUAL values can result in different actual speech
quality and calls with different RXQUAL values can have the same speech quality.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
The interference diversity property of frequency hopping means that interference conditions
vary from time slot to time slot. This means that, with frequency hopping, even in the same
propagation environment, calls with the same RXQUAL can have different speech quality and
vice-versa.
Accordingly, when frequency hopping is used, RXQUAL is not a reliable measurement of
connection quality. Hence, in order to assess the quality of the network with frequency hopping,
the operator should use other quality indicators, such as FER (Frame Erasure Rate) or
subjective voice quality indicators. These indicators are only available in drive test equipment.
Frequency redefinition procedure

This procedure is used both in dedicated and group transmit mode, to minimise disruption to
calls when channel frequencies and hopping sequence allocations change in the network.
When this happens, the network sends a FREQUENCY_REDEFINITION message to the
mobile stations that are currently in call. This contains the new parameters and a start time
indicator. Parameters that can be updated are the cell channel description, mobile allocation,
and MAIO.
At the indicated time slot, the base station and assigned mobile stations update their allocated
frequencies and hopping sequences to match the new parameters. So, this time slot is the first
to use the new parameters. No other functions are normally disturbed by the change. However,
some calls may be lost in the following circumstances:
If the MSC requests a handover channel, and the request is acknowledged with the
actual channel information. Then, if a redefinition procedure subsequently starts for that
channel and the mobile station is handed over to the channel at the same time, the call
is lost.
Mobile stations
Currently there are some unresolved problems with certain types of older mobile station
models:
Some do not support the frequency redefinition procedure
Some cannot hop on SDCCH channels, or have problems when using frequency hopping in
conjunction with Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) on the downlink, or with dynamic power
control

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
2.6.
Key benefits
This section describes in more detail the primary benefits of frequency hopping:
Frequency diversity
Frequency diversity
Multipath fading is speed and frequency dependent. The high speed of some mobile is enough
to allow GSM error correction to overcome its effects. For slower moving users, the correction
mechanisms are insufficient on their own. However, by using frequency hopping, the same
performance levels can be obtained for slow moving users.
C/No [dB] for BER=0.5%
Figure 5 compares the required carrier to noise (C/No) ratio as a function of vehicle speed for a
bit error ratio (BER) of 0.5% (considered acceptable for speech) in the 900 MHz band, first at a
fixed frequency allocation, and then using ideal frequency hopping. Ideal frequency hopping
occurs when hopping takes place on uncorrelated frequencies. That is, their fades are
independent of each other.
14
12
10
Without FH
FH
8
6
4
0
50
100
150
200
v [km/h]
Figure 5 Required C/No against vehicle speed (BER 0.5%) 900 MHz
Without frequency hopping the performance of the system depends on the vehicle speed. The
faster the mobile, the better the error correction mechanisms work and the lower the minimum
signal to noise ratio is to achieve a certain BER.
With ideal frequency hopping (infinite number of frequencies and infinite separation between
them), optimum transmission quality is obtained at almost all vehicle speeds.
Note: Slight degradation occurs with frequency hopping at very high vehicle speeds. This is
caused by a significant change in the multipath profile at the time slot level that cannot be
tracked by the equaliser.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
11
Similar improvements are gained in co-channel or adjacent-channel interference. Figure 6

compares the required carrier to interference (C/I) ratio in terms of current vehicle speed for
fixed frequency, and ideal frequency hopping operation. The dependence is even more marked
than for noise interference, as here the power of the interference signal also fluctuates with the
speed.
C/I [dB] for BER=0.5%
18
16
14
Without FH
12
FH
10
8
6
0
50
100
150
200
v [km/h]
Figure 6 Required C/I against vehicle speed (BER 0.5%) 900 MHz
Optimising frequency diversity

Frequency diversity optimisation is governed by two factors:
Number of frequencies
Frequency spacing
Number of frequencies
Ideal frequency diversity requires that a different frequency is used for each time slot within an
interleaved code word.
If this is not the case, at least two of the time slots over which a code word is spread are
transmitted at the same frequency. The fading effect is strongly correlated for them at low
velocity, thus reducing the gain.
In cyclic frequency hopping, to achieve ideal frequency hopping, the hopping period must be at
least as long as the interleaving depth (eight time slots for speech). This ensures a different
frequency in each time slot. A longer period does not provide additional gains.
Figure 7 uses bit error curves to illustrate the likely performance losses at low vehicle speed (5
km/h). Note that hopping over just four frequencies comes as close as 1 dB to the gain of
hopping over eight frequencies.

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Without FH
0.1
BER
2 f reqs
4 f reqs
0.01
8 f reqs
0.001
0
10
12
14
C/No [dB]
Figure 7 Effect of number of frequencies on BER (v=5 km/h)
With random hopping, the probability of using the same radio frequency channel within the
interleaving depth is depth/N, where N is the number of frequencies in the hopping sequence.
This means that the fading decorrelation within one interleaving block is never optimal,
regardless of the number of hopping frequencies.
-2
The following table shows the C/No required for a BER of 10 using both cyclic and random
frequency hopping over different numbers of frequencies. Note that the frequency diversity gain
with eight frequencies is 1 dB to 2 dB lower for random hopping than for cyclic.
Similar results would be expected with interference.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
13
Cyclic hopping
C/No for Gross
Class 11
No. of
frequencies
Random hopping
C/No for
FER2=2%
C/No for Gross

Class 1
C/No for
FER=2%
Level
Gain
Level
Gain
Level
Gain
Level
Gain
[dB]
[dB]
[dB]
[dB]
[dB]
[dB]
[dB]
[dB]
9.5
0.0
11.5
0.0
9.5
0.0
11.5
0.0
7.0
2.5
8.5
3.0
7.5
2.0
9.5
2.0
6.0
3.5
7.5
4.0
6.5
3.0
8.5
3.0
5.0
4.5
6.5
5.0
6.0
3.5
8.0
3.5
4.0
5.5
5.5
6.0
5.5
4.0
7.5
4.0
12
4.0
5.5
5.5
6.0
5.0
4.5
7.0
4.5
Table 1 Frequency diversity gains
The results in this table cannot be compared directly with the previous figures because different
propagation conditions apply in different environments, particularly in typical urban (TU) areas.
Note: Frequency hopping gains may be smaller than predicted, due to the diminished severity
of multipath propagation when compared to flat fading. In normal environments the different
paths arrive at different times, thus cancelling out some of the fading impact.
Frequency spacing
Frequency spacing must be sufficient to ensure that uncorrelated fading affects different
frequencies.
The coherence bandwidth can be defined as the frequency separation required for propagation
paths, and hence fading, to be considered totally independent. In most outdoor environments,
coherence bandwidths of less than 1 MHz can be expected, so 1 MHz (5 GSM channels) is
1 Bits produced by the GSM encoder are ranked in importance as Class 1 and Class 2. Class 1 bits are
protected by redundancy codes.

2 FER (frame error rate) is the fraction of entire speech frames erased by the speech decoder because
of irrecoverable bit errors.

14
Issue 1.2 June 1999
recommended as the minimum frequency spacing for outdoor systems. However, in TU

environments, channel separation of 400 kHz to 600 kHz (2 to 3 GSM channels) is enough.
Indoor environments are generally characterised by large coherence bandwidths. Typically, an
indoor frequency hopping system gives lower frequency diversity gains than an outdoor system
with the same hopping bandwidth. However, as indoor users are generally slow moving, there is
still potential for frequency diversity gains from frequency hopping.
Simulations show that although the gain achieved is smaller, it is still significant: Assuming 5
MHz bandwidth and an FER of 2%, the gain in C/No is between 1.7 dB and 3.3 dB (compared to
5 dB in typical urban areas).
Antenna diversity
Antenna diversity is another technique used to combat multipath fading. Like frequency
hopping, it achieves gains in conjunction with channel encoding and interleaving, but since it
uses space rather than frequency diversity, the gain is independent of vehicle speed.
Combining frequency hopping with antenna diversity produces significantly increased gains.
However, the total gain does not equal the sum of the individual gains.
The following table illustrates the likely gain in C/No (in dB) for an FER of 2% when using
antenna diversity with frequency hopping:
No FH
Ideal FH
No FH
Ideal FH
Level
[dB]
Gain
[dB]
Level
[dB]
Gain
[dB]
Level
[dB]
Gain
[dB]
Level
[dB]
Gain
[dB]
No diversity
12.5
0.0
5.5
7.5
15.5
0.0
7.3
8.2
Ideal diversity
5.8
6.6
1.8
10.7
8.0
7.5
3.2
12.2
Table 2 Effects of antenna diversity
Note: In tests, antenna diversity gains are high in TU environments but drop in other test
conditions such as rural areas and hilly terrain.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
15

Existing radio network planning is generally based on poor transmission conditions at slow
vehicle speed. Frequency hopping compensates for this degradation in transmission quality,
making it largely independent of vehicle speed. Potentially, the smaller C/No and C/I values for
medium speed vehicles can be used when planning for areas of significant pedestrian use.
However, because the BCCH carrier cannot hop, the reduction in C/No that arises from
frequency diversity does not translate into reduced sensitivity values.
Similarly, the improvement in C/I values does not translate into a tighter reuse pattern for BCCH
carriers. However, planning gains are obtained for TCH carriers. Here, different C/I
requirements can be set in the frequency planning process (for example, by using TU50 values
rather than TU3) allowing frequency diversity to be used to increase capacity.
The capacity increase depends primarily on the number of frequencies in the hopping
sequences (as discussed earlier, this affects the required C/I value). In addition, the separation
between frequencies assigned to a cell must be appropriate for the propagation environment.
To maximise the benefits of frequency diversity, if possible, the BCCH frequency should be
included in the hopping sequences for channels that do not occupy time slots assigned to
control channels.
To date, interference diversity has been primarily associated with Spread Spectrum systems.
Frequency hopping now enables GSM networks to exploit the benefits of interference diversity.
Example
This section illustrates the principle of interference diversity.
Figures 8 and 9 show a GSM system with two sectors that use the same set of four
frequencies. At a given time there are four mobile stations communicating in each of the cells.
In cell A, the mobile on f1 is suffering high interference levels, because the interfering mobile in
cell B is very near to the border (Figure 8). Speech quality is poor as a result.
The other mobiles in cell A are subject to lower interference levels (Figure 9). The actual
interference level and resulting speech quality varies across the mobiles, but, unlike the mobile
on f1, all yield acceptable speech quality.

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Figure 8 Example configuration without frequency hopping
Figure 9 Example configuration without frequency hopping

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17
Figure 10 shows the effect of switching on random frequency hopping between the four
assigned frequencies. The mobile in cell A that previously had high interference levels, now has
varying interference levels, because the interference from the mobiles in cell B varies with each
time slot. The rest of the mobiles in cell A, which previously had better quality, are in a similar
interference situation. This is interference diversity.
Figure 10 Effect of switching on random frequency hopping
Because the GSM channel coding and interleaving algorithm can correct interference errors in
time slots, the result is that all four mobiles in cell A now have acceptable speech quality.
In summary, the previous peaks and troughs in quality within the system are averaged out to
produce acceptable quality across the whole system.
Note: If cyclic frequency hopping was used in this scenario, there would be no interference
diversity effect since the interfering mobile would always be the same.

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Associated techniques
This section describes three techniques that can be used with frequency hopping to maximise
the benefits of interference diversity:
Discontinuous transmission (DTX)
Fractional loading
DTX
Telephone traffic has alternating periods of silence and activity. The typical activity factor for
telephone conversations (the fraction of time a given user is actually speaking) is around 40%.
Data transmissions over switched circuits generally have an even lower activity factor.
In certain GSM transmission modes (in particular speech and non-transparent data) DTX
exploits this fact by inhibiting transmission of the radio signal when there is no information to
send (voice or data).
In the case of speech, the optimum goal is to encode speech at a bit rate of 13 kbps when the
user is talking, and at around 500 bps during silences (sufficient to generate background noise
so that the listener does not think the connection is broken).
Low encoding rates during silences result in decreased radio transmissions with a
corresponding reduction in channel interference levels, and improvement in quality.
Using DTX alone, this improvement in quality levels cannot be translated into increased
capacity since system planning must be done on a worst case basis. DTX is characterised by
an on/off nature. Peaks in interference levels are the same whether or not DTX is used, and the
rate of switching (between periods of activity and silence) is not high enough for channel coding
and interleaving to average out the variations.
However, when DTX is used with frequency hopping, the peaks in interference levels are
levelled out. So the quality increase produced by the lower interference levels can now be
translated into increased capacity.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
19

Dynamic power control (or simply power control) regulates transmission power levels
dynamically during a connection. The mobile station and the base station can independently
reduce their power level when the received signal strength on the other end exceeds
requirements.
This conserves battery power in the mobile stations. But also, and importantly for frequency
hopping, by reducing overall power levels it reduces channel interference.
The following figure illustrates the typical situation in the downlink without power control. It
shows the C/I ratio perceived by a mobile station as a function of the distance to the base
station normalised to the distance between interfering base stations. Note that to ensure
acceptable quality at the cell borders, significant power is wasted when the mobile station is
near the base station.
70
60
50
W asted power
C/I
40
30
20
Cell edge
10
Target C/I
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
-10
d/D
Figure 11 C/I ratio as a function of normalised distance (without power control)
Lets now see what happens with power control:

The interference in this case depends on the location of the interferer mobile station (the mobile
station the interfering base station transmits to). This is illustrated in Figure 12, where the C/I
ratio is plotted, again with and without power control, for different interferer locations.
When the mobile station is at the cell border, base stations generally transmit at maximum
power3, with or without power control (C in C/I remains the same). So, in systems with power
control, a mobile station at the cell border only perceives the same C/I as without power control
3 Power control parameters should generally be set so that mobiles at the cell edge transmit at full
power. This is to prevent unwanted interference effects that would take place if a mobile on the cell edge,
which starts its transmission at full power, had to regulate. In the time the mobile would take to reduce its
power, it would be causing high interference levels on mobiles that are already transmitting at the
required power

20
Issue 1.2 June 1999
when the interferer mobile station is also at the cell border. In the other cases, the interference
is lower and hence the perceived C/I is higher.
Mobile stations near the base stations receive a lower signal strength (C) than without power
control. In some cases, this will result in a lower C/I ratio (when the interferer mobile station is
not near its base station and the reduction of power is less). However, as these mobile stations
had very good quality before, the degradation is not noticeable.
70
without PC
60
50
PC, average
C/I
40
30
PC, interf. at cell

border
20
PC, interf. near

base-station
10
0
-10 0
0.2
0.4
0.6
d/D
Figure 12 C/I ratio as a function of normalised distance (with power control)
Something very similar happens in the uplink.

In summary, power control improves global quality (fewer calls suffer from bad C/I values)
which can be translated into a capacity increase.
The gain, however, is not enough to allow a jump from a 4/12 reuse factor to a 3/9 reuse factor,
but its effect might be noticeable with automatic planning tools that take power control into
consideration.
When used with frequency hopping, power control generates more variation between the
interference signals, improving the performance of the averaging properties of frequency
hopping. This is illustrated on page 23.
Fractional loading
Networks are typically planned for full load on the busy hour. The aim is to assign just sufficient
resources to handle busy hour traffic, and no more (so that the minimum possible number of
frequencies are needed).
Fractional loading changes this planning model by assigning more bandwidth (frequencies) to
each base station, than is strictly necessary to handle busy hour traffic.
The fractional load of a system is then defined as the average percentage of frequency usage,
that is, the traffic/no. of traffic channels that the assigned frequencies can hold.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
21
When using frequency hopping with fractional load, even when the network is operating at
maximum traffic level, some frequencies will suffer from no interference at all. Thanks to the
channel coding and interleaving error correction algorithms, time slots on these frequencies can
be used to correct errors in time slots that are suffering interference. The result is that the
threshold C/I value (the C/I value for the given FER or BER required for marginal quality) is
reduced, allowing tighter frequency reuse.
The effect of fractional loading on a frequency hopping system is illustrated in the following
figure. It shows a system hopping over four frequencies, but only one call per cell:
Figure 13 Fractional loading and frequency hopping
Note: In frequency hopping systems, the transceiver carrying the BCCH does not generally
operate in hopping mode (because the BCCH frequency must transmit continuously on the
downlink). With fractional load, the only way to ensure continuous transmission on a frequency
in the hopping set is to add an extra transceiver (know as a fill-sender) to the cell. This is not
an efficient use of resources.
Fractional loading can be implemented by either of the following methods:
Implementing an admission control procedure
Installing fewer transceivers than allocated frequencies and using synthesiser frequency
hopping
Admission control procedures

If the number of transceivers were to equal the number of allocated frequencies, the network
would respond to overload conditions by reducing the quality of all calls, rather than blocking
calls. This could result in more dropped calls, the effect of which is worse for subscribers than a
blocked call.
22
Issue 1.2 June 1999
Admission control procedures could potentially minimise dropped calls by allowing more
effective handling of local traffic peaks. As a large number of channels are temporarily available
in a sector (provided that the load in surrounding co-channel sectors is low) the admission
control procedures could utilise them.
However, suitable algorithms have not yet been found and in the meantime, fractional loading
should be used only in conjunction with synthesiser frequency hopping, by installing fewer
transceivers than allocated frequencies.
Fewer transceivers than frequencies
In this case, the fractional load is often calculated as the number of transceivers divided by the
number of assigned frequencies. This is not the actual fractional load of the frequencies, as it
does not take into account the blocking of the system. However, since it is simple to calculate
and widely used, this definition of fractional load is used in this document, unless otherwise
stated.
Also, finer granularity of the levels of fractional load can be achieved by disabling some time
slots in the transceivers.

In high traffic areas such as large cities, the capacity of a cellular system is limited by its own
interference caused by frequency reuse.
Most systems aim to satisfy as many customers as possible, so the system is planned on the
basis that only a given small proportion of calls at the cell edge (usually around 10%) may suffer
bad quality due to interference. With this worst case method, the capacity of a system
increases if the statistical spread of the C/I around its mean value is as small as possible.
This is illustrated in the following figure:
1
0.9
0.9
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
STANDARD
DEVIATION
12 dB
12 dB
7 dB
7 dB
0
0
10
15
20
25
C/I [dB]
30
35
40
45
50
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
C/I [dB]
Figure 14 Example of C/I distributions

Issue 1.2 June 1999
23
The diagram on the left shows the C/I distribution for systems with equal average C/I value but
different deviation. The diagram on the right shows how a smaller deviation allows a lower
average C/I value for the same planning objectives. The interference diversity property of
frequency hopping has exactly this effect: it averages quality across the network or, to put it
another way, it decreases the deviation. By reducing the average C/I value in this way, network
operators can plan for tighter frequency reuse.
Two factors optimise the averaging effect of interference diversity:
High numbers of interference sources for frequency hopping to switch over
Low correlation between the interference they cause (that is, interference variation)
The number of hopping frequencies governs the first factor. The higher the number the better.
The second factor depends partly on the locations of the interference sources. In the example
in Figure 8 the interferers are different mobile stations assigned to the same cell. In the same
scenario, but in the downlink, although the interfering communication is different in every time
slot, the interference source is always the same (the same base station; different frequencies).
Hence the correlation is high and the averaging effect is small. This is illustrated in the following
figure:
Figure 15 No interference diversity in the downlink
The variable interference planning solutions from Lucent Technologies are designed to
counteract this problem. These techniques maximise levels of variable interference in the
network, particularly in the downlink, in order to exploit fully the benefits of frequency hopping.
Variable interference planning techniques are described in the following chapters.

24
Issue 1.2 June 1999
Introduction to VIP
3
3. Introduction to VIP
This chapter describes the variable interference planning solutions offered by Lucent
Technology:
VIPone
VIPtwo
3.1.
VIPone
VIPone is based on variable reuse patterns. Variable reuse patterns implement different reuse
patterns within the same cellular network. Typically, a loose reuse pattern such as 4/12 is used
for the transceiver that holds the BCCH control channel. A progressively tighter reuse is applied
to the second and third TCH transceivers, and so on.
One way to implement variable reuse patterns is to divide the allocated spectrum into subbands, each containing a different number of separately planned carriers. One or more
frequencies from each sub-band is allocated to each sector. For example: a 12 reuse for the
BCCH transceiver, and a 9 and 3 reuse for the second and third TCH transceiver respectively.
The result gives a total average reuse of 8 ((12+9+3)/3 = 8)4. This reuse pattern is illustrated in
the following figure:
4 This is just an example. It is not achievable in a real network

Issue 1.2 June 1999
25
BCCH
12
...
TCH1 TCH2
9
3
...
Figure 16 Variable reuse pattern 12/9/3
Variable reuse patterns can also be achieved with automatic frequency planning tools such as
GRAND, by planning each of the transceivers in a cell for progressively lower C/I threshold
levels. In this way network irregularities are catered for, something that cannot be done using
regular reuse patterns.
VIPone uses frequency hopping in conjunction with variable reuse patterns in order to:
Produce the necessary interference variation in the downlink
Improve the existing interference variation in the uplink
Downlink
As described in the previous chapter, with regular reuse patterns there is no interference
variation in the downlink because the interfering source is always the same.
With variable reuse patterns the interfering base station is different for each time slot. Each
base station also belongs to a different tier of interferers; each tier corresponding to a different
reuse pattern. This produces interference diversity in the downlink, so that the averaging affect
of frequency hopping can work. The following figure illustrates downlink diversity:

26
Issue 1.2 June 1999
Figure 17 Interference diversity with variable reuse - downlink
Uplink
In the uplink, the effect of variable reuse patterns is that the interfering mobile stations are
assigned to different base stations belonging to different tiers. This results in a higher
decorrelation of the interference signals, and again, a better averaging effect with frequency
hopping than in a network with a regular reuse pattern.
Figure 18 Interference diversity with variable reuse - uplink

Issue 1.2 June 1999
27
VIPone properties
Since the number of hopping frequencies is always equal to the number of hopping
transceivers, VIPone can be implemented using baseband frequency hopping.
And because interference diversity is already achieved simply by the difference in reuse, VIPone
can be used with both cyclic and random hopping. The choice will generally depend on the
number of hopping frequencies. For small numbers of frequencies (such as two) cyclic hopping
should be used because it achieves better spectrum utilisation.
Field tests in live networks show that an average frequency reuse factor of as low as 7.5 is
possible without impacting network quality. And by applying power control and DTX in the
downlink, the average reuse can be decreased below 7.
Variable reuse patterns can also be used to handle unevenly distributed traffic, (that is, different
numbers of transceivers per cell). This is illustrated in the next section.
Another potential benefit of VIPone is to free up frequencies for the initial deployment of a
microcell layer.
VIPone examples
Scenario 1: Unevenly distributed traffic
In the previous 12/9/3 example, the operator might not need a third transceiver in all cells
initially. This means the effective reuse on the third sub-band will be less than 3, and there will
be less interference in the network. But as capacity need increases, a third transceiver can be
installed in more cells, providing a progressively tighter average reuse without the need to
recalculate the frequency plan.
Scenario 2: VIPone plan in a real network
Another illustration is a 12/8/6/4 frequency plan, requiring 30 carriers (already in use in
commercial GSM networks). This allows an operator to assign up to 4 transceivers per cell,
roughly double the capacity with a standard 4/12 reuse pattern.
Scenario 3: Freeing up frequencies for the microcell layer
In another network, an initial reuse factor of 16.9 requiring 40 carriers was tightened to a
14/10/6/2 configuration (average reuse of 12.87 and 32 carriers) and even to a 12/10/4/2
configuration (reuse 11.26 and 28 carriers). There was no change in the number of dropped
calls. Some degradation of perceived speech quality occurred in the second case, but that was
identified as relating to interference in the tighter BCCH band.
Note: All reuses quoted were achieved in capacity limited networks with an existing cell layout
optimised for capacity (almost homogeneous antenna height, orientation, and location).

28
Issue 1.2 June 1999
3.2.
VIPtwo
The capacity of a GSM network is generally limited by one of the following:
Number of traffic channels (hard blocking)
Interference from neighbour cells (soft blocking)
From a hard blocking point of view, small reuse factors give better performance than higher
factors (trunking efficiency). However, small reuse factors are limited by soft blocking
(interference) and cannot accept more than a given amount of traffic. This means that they
would need to be planned with a certain degree of fractional loading. As a result, the maximum
capacity will lie somewhere between a high and a low reuse factor.
Traditionally, networks have been planned to be limited by hard blocking. That is, the frequency
reuse has been set high so that only very few calls suffer from bad interference conditions. The
maximum capacity of the system is defined by the hard blocking limit set by the restricted
number of frequencies.
However, especially with interference diversity, this is not the optimum way.
To illustrate this, various reuse schemes with frequency hopping in the traffic carriers have been
simulated (COST 231) and their maximum capacity has been identified as the minimum of the
capacity that hard and soft blocking allow. The soft blocking limit was set so that less than 10%
of the calls were subject to an average C/I lower than 9 dB (as specified in GSM
Recommendation 05.05).
For an operator with 36 TCH frequencies (9.8 MHz), ideal power control, and DTX with a voice
activity factor of 50%, the maximum capacity per site was obtained for a sectorised base station
and a frequency reuse factor of 1/3 with a real fractional load of 30% (no. of transceivers/ no.
frequencies 38% - see page 21).
These results were obtained using a regular site lay out and homogeneous propagation
conditions. In practice, off-grid placements, irregular propagation conditions, and uneven
traffic loads will produce additional interference variation, allowing a higher fractional load.
Fractional loads of up to 50% (with DTX and power control) have been used in real networks
without a noticeable decrease in quality.
VIPtwo is based on these ideas. It consists of using very tight reuse patterns, typically 1/3 or 1/1,
and fractional loading to introduce the required interference variation.
VIPtwo properties
VIPtwo uses fractional loading and so requires synthesiser frequency hopping.
As mentioned before, 1/3 reuses allow fractional loads of up to 50%. Field trials show that
fractional loads of 15%-20% are possible with a 1/1 reuse.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
29
Like VIPone, it can cater for unevenly distributed traffic, just by setting different fractional loads to
different base stations. It can also be used to free up frequencies to be used in a microcellular
layer.
VIPtwo also provides the following benefits:
It eases the planning effort, since the whole pool of frequencies is assigned to each site or
each cell, and only the control frequencies detailed careful planning
The network can be planned with VIPtwo from the beginning, even if the number of
transceivers required per cell is initially low. Further transceivers can be added as
necessary without modifying the frequency plan. Quality will not be compromised as one of
the advantages of frequency hopping is its ability to smoothly trade-off quality and capacity
depending on the traffic load
VIPtwo examples
Scenario 1: 1/3 reuse
An operator with 7.5 MHz (37 frequencies) could achieve 3-3-3 configurations by using a typical
4/12 reuse factor, supporting 14.9 Erlangs/cell (2% blocking). If VIPtwo were used, 12
frequencies would be assigned to the transceivers containing the control channels, using a 4/12
reuse. The rest of the frequencies could be planned with a 1/3 reuse. This means, 8 hopping
frequencies per sector and a spare frequency for optimisation. 4-4-4 configurations can then be
achieved with 1 control transceiver and 3 traffic transceivers per sector. The result is 30 traffic
channels and a traffic level per cell of 21.9 Erlangs: a 47% capacity increase. The fractional
load is 3/8= 37.5%.
Scenario 2: Greater capacity
Increasing the fractional load to 50% increases the number of traffic transceivers to four. This
means 37 traffic channels (2 dedicated control channels are now used) and a traffic level per
cell of 28.3 Erlangs: a 90% capacity increase.
Scenario 3: 1/1 reuse
With lower fractional load, 1/1 reuses are also possible. In the example above, it would involve
hopping over 24 frequencies. This allows four traffic transceivers in all cells, and up to five in
selected cells.
Scenario 4: Network irregularities
The configuration in scenario 1, with a 1/3 reuse at a 2-sector site (typically used for highway
coverage) means that each sector can be assigned 8 hopping frequencies each, taken from the
total pool of 24. This means that some of the frequencies on the pool will not be used. The
interference averaging capabilities of frequency hopping allows the system to exploit that, by
improving perceived quality levels.

30
Issue 1.2 June 1999
3.3.
VIPone and VIPtwo compared
The choice between VIPone and VIPtwo will be governed by spectrum allocation and the radio
equipment in use.
For operators with a large spectrum allocation and a high number of transceivers per cell, VIPone
is the natural choice. It allows the use of lower loss filter combiners at the base stations, thus
preserving the coverage footprint while taking advantage of the system gain provided by
frequency hopping. VIPone is typically used by operators either with filter combiners in
widespread use, or with a more generous spectrum allocation and a need for high configuration
cells.
In contrast, for operators with a small amount of spectrum, or with a base station infrastructure
that is already equipped with hybrid combiners, VIPtwo is potentially a more flexible approach,
thanks to the ease of frequency planning.
Combined plans
It is also possible to combine VIPone and VIPtwo, by using fractional loading in conjunction with
variable reuses. Typically this might be used by operators with high spectrum allocation and
wideband antenna coupling equipment. This combined plan allows the operator to take into
account future growth. The reuse strategy can be set tight from the beginning to cater for future
traffic increases. Transceivers can be added to the sites as needed, without changing the
frequency plan. Initially, the low fractional load (transceivers/assigned frequencies) ensures high
quality, which will then be traded off for capacity, as the need arises.
Scenario: Live VIPone/VIPtwo configuration
A configuration that is in use in a live network, is a 12/8/5/4 frequency plan with 40 carriers and
a reuse of 6.2, with 5 or 6 hopping frequencies (reuses 8, 5, 5, 4, 4, and 4 every other cell). The
BCCH channel is non-hopping. An average of 4 transceivers per cell would mean a 61%
fractional load. The average number of transceivers could be later increased to 4.5 (68%
fractional load) or even to 5.4 (82% fractional load) while retaining good network quality.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
31

32
Issue 1.2 June 1999
Configuring Frequency
Hopping
4. Configuring Frequency Hopping

This chapter details the hardware and software configurations required to support frequency
hopping in a GSM network, and the parameters required to activate it. The chapter also
discusses DTX and dynamic power control deployment.
4.1.
Base station hardware
Base model
RBS-900 family (900 band) supports baseband hopping only
BTS-2000 family (900 and 1800 bands) also known as RBS-918:
Bosch RFUs: These vary depending on model type, as denoted by the second
letter of the equipment code. B denotes support for baseband hopping; S denotes
support for both baseband and synthesiser hopping
Lucent SRFUs support both synthesiser and baseband hopping
The BTS-2000/2C (or CUBE) supports synthesiser hopping only, and only in its
second transceiver

Issue 1.2 June 1999
33
Antenna coupling equipment
Filter configurations (with TXFU09/TXFU18 filter combiners) support baseband frequency

hopping only
Hybrid and diplexer configurations (which use TXHU09/THDU18 hybrid combiners,

TXDU09/TXDU18 diplexers, or both) support baseband and synthesiser hopping
Note: Due to the hybrid combiner losses (each hybrid layer introduces a 3 dB loss into the
overall combining loss), hybrid configurations of up to 4 transceivers are available with two
antennas, and 6 transceivers with three antennas.
Fill-sender and phantom-RTs

The BCCH frequency transmits continuously to enable mobile stations to monitor it. This is no
problem for baseband hopping since there are as many RFUs as frequencies, and one of them
is always transmitting the BCCH frequency.
However, for synthesiser hopping and fractional loading, traffic channels assigned to the
transceiver that includes the BCCH cannot hop unless an additional transmitter is used.
(Otherwise the BCCH frequency would not be transmitted continuously.) This extra transmitter
is known as the fill-sender (although fill-transmitter would be more accurate). A fill-sender is an
RFU or SRFU used to fill the gaps so that the BCCH is continuously transmitted on the BCCH
frequency.
To implement hopping channels on the BCCH transceiver, the fill-sender RFU or SRFU and the
BCCH-RT must be located in the same DRCC (Double Radio Codec and Control5) in the BTS.
So fill-senders cannot be used on the BTS-2000/6od or the BTS-2000/2C as these do not have
the DRCC in their physical configuration. The following figure illustrates a BTS with fill-sender
configuration:
5 A logical association of two slots powered by the same power supply unit

34
Issue 1.2 June 1999
DRCC
SRFU0
(synth hopping)
Fill Sender
F1
F2
F3
FCO
F0
SRFU1
(synth hopping)
F0
F1
F2
F3
CCB
CCB
FCO
Figure 19 BTS with fill-sender configuration6
In baseband hopping, there is potential to hop over more frequencies, by adding a phantomRT (an RT is a transceiver). Like a fill-sender, this is an extra RFU set on a different frequency,
which can be included in the hopping sequences, but does not carry additional traffic.
Both a fill-sender and a phantom-RT take up the physical space of a standard transmitter, so
their suitability must be weighed against the fact that the equipment could otherwise be used to
support another eight traffic channels.
6 CCB: Channel Codec Board. FCO: Flash Controller Board

Issue 1.2 June 1999
35
4.2.
Software release support
LM3.0 software release (GSM release 6.0) supports baseband hopping only
LM4.0 (GSM release 7.0) supports baseband and synthesiser
4.3.
Configuration
Frequency hopping configuration in Lucent equipment is based on the concept of a Frequency

Hopping System (FHS). An FHS consists of:
A set of hopping frequencies (from the pool of frequencies that are available at the cell)
An HSN (Hopping Sequence Number)
The HSN is used to generate the hopping sequence in which the set of allocated hopping
frequencies is used. Allowable values are 0 to 63. Value 0 generates a cyclic hopping
sequence; all other values generate a pseudo-random sequence.
Each channel (defined as a transceiver and time slot pair) must have an associated FHS that
determines the frequencies the channel hops on and the hopping sequence.
Additionally, the MAIO (Mobile Allocation Index Order) is automatically generated by the system
to prevent Um interface collision (channels using the same frequency at the same time) between
channels belonging to the same cell. The value can be 0 to N-1 where N is the number of
hopping frequencies.
FHS configuration rules

To avoid adjacent channel interference within a cell, the frequencies in an FHS should generally
obey a minimum co-site spacing rule: there should be a separation of 2 or 3 GSM carriers
between them. The configuration must also comply with the following rules:
The maximum number of frequencies in an FHS is 8

This means that a channel can hop on a maximum of 8 frequencies. In future releases, a
new feature known as Improved Frequency Hopping will overcome this limitation and
allow hopping on up to 18 frequencies in the case of synthesiser hopping.
The maximum number of FHSs using the same frequency is 2 in BTS-2000 (RBS-918) and
1 in RBS-900
For the RBS-900 this means that either the transceiver holding the BCCH must be left to
non-hopping, or time slots 0 (and 2, 4, and 6 if additional CCCH channels are present) of all
transceivers must be non-hopping.

36
Issue 1.2 June 1999
Example 1: BTS with 4 RTs, 1 additional CCCH, baseband hopping

BCCH non hopping:
CHN0
CHN1
CHN2
CHN3
CHN4
CHN5
CHN6
CHN7
RT0
BCCH
--
CCCH
--
--
--
--
--
RT1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT2
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT3
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH0
no FH0
FH1
RT1,RT2, RT3
BCCH hopping (RBS-900):

CHN0
CHN1
CHN2
CHN3
CHN4
CHN5
CHN6
CHN7
RT0
BCCH
FH1
CCCH
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT1
--
FH1
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT2
--
FH1
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT3
--
FH1
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH0
no FH0
FH1
RT0, RT1, RT2, RT3
BCCH hopping (BTS-2000/RBS-918):

CHN0
CHN1
CHN2
CHN3
CHN4
CHN5
CHN6
CHN7
RT0
BCCH
FH1
CCCH
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT1
FH0
FH1
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT2
FH0
FH1
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT3
FH0
FH1
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH0
RT1, RT2, RT3
FH1
RT0, RT1, RT2, RT3

Issue 1.2 June 1999
37
The maximum number of physical channels using the same FHS is 42

In baseband hopping this restriction limits the maximum number of hopping frequencies
even further.
Example 2: BTS with 6 RTs, baseband hopping
BCCH non hopping:
CHN0
CHN1
CHN2
CHN3
CHN4
CHN5
CHN6
CHN7
RT0
BCCH
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
RT1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT2
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT3
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT4
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT5
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH0
no FH0
FH1
RT1, RT2, RT3, RT4, RT5

CHN0
CHN1
CHN2
CHN3
CHN4
CHN5
CHN6
CHN7
RT0
BCCH
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT1
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT2
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT3
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT4
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT5
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH0
no FH0
FH1
RT0, RT1, RT2, RT3, RT4, RT5

38
Issue 1.2 June 1999

CHN0
CHN1
CHN2
CHN3
CHN4
CHN5
CHN6
CHN7
RT0
BCCH
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT1
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT2
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT3
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT4
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT5
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH0
RT1, RT2, RT3, RT4, RT5
FH1
RT0, RT1, RT2, RT3, RT4, RT5
Example 3: BTS with 7 RTs, baseband hopping

BCCH non hopping:
CHN0
CHN1
CHN2
CHN3
CHN4
CHN5
CHN6
CHN7
RT0
BCCH
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
RT1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT2
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT3
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT4
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
RT5
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
RT6
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH0
no FH0
FH1
RT1, RT2, RT3
FH2
RT4, RT5, RT6

Issue 1.2 June 1999
39

CHN0
CHN1
CHN2
CHN3
CHN4
CHN5
CHN6
CHN7
RT0
BCCH
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT1
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT2
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT3
--
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT4
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
RT5
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
RT6
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH0
no FH0
FH1
RT1, RT2, RT3
FH2
RT4, RT5, RT6

CHN0
CHN1
CHN2
CHN3
CHN4
CHN5
CHN6
CHN7
RT0
BCCH
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT1
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT2
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT3
FH0
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
FH1
RT4
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
RT5
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
RT6
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH2
FH0
no FH0
FH1
RT1, RT2, RT3
FH2
RT4, RT5, RT6
The maximum number of FHS in a BTS is 8
The maximum number of FHS in a BSS is 48

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Other limitations
Intra-cell handover is disabled when frequency hopping is active on a channel. In the case
of mixed configurations (hopping and non-hopping channels) intra-cell handovers will take
place between the non-hopping channels and from non-hopping channels to hopping
channels, but not from hopping channels
Frequency hopping is allowed with concentric cells, as long as hopping is between

frequencies assigned to the same zone
For dual band operation, frequency hopping is only allowed between frequencies belonging
to the same band
4.4.
Feature activation and system parameters
Once the hopping configuration is defined, frequency hopping must be configured and activated
in the requisite network elements:
BTS hopping mode

In the RBS-900, the hopping mode (which is baseband only) is implicitly defined by the BTSHW configuration.
In the BTS-2000 family, which allows both types of hopping, the hopping mode (baseband or
synthesiser) is set via the RBT-2000 (Radio Base Station Tester) software in the IMW-20008.
The default value is baseband.
Note: If a fill-sender is used, the corresponding RT is configured via the RBT-2000.
BSS feature enabling

Frequency hopping is a purchased option, and a factory access code is required to enable
frequency hopping in a BSS. This is specified in the Freq_Hopp_Enabled variable in the BSS
local configuration data.
OMC parameter configuration

The following OMC objects must be created or modified (internal parameter names are used,
followed in brackets by the OMC GUI and AUI parameter names respectively).
8 A notebook PC with dedicated software for BTS-2000 and BCF-2000 administration

Issue 1.2 June 1999
41
BTS: Each frequency in the FHS must be defined in the cellAllocation (CellAllocation,
CELLALLOC) attribute of the BTS object.
RT: For baseband hopping, an RT (Radio Terminal) object must be created for each frequency
to be used in an FHS. The frequency is defined by the attribute initialFrequency
(InitialFrequency, INITFREQ).
For synthesiser hopping there is no relationship between the initialFrequency and the
frequencies belonging to the FHS. However care has to be taken to ensure that the back-up RT
has the initialFrequency set to a value that will ensure good operation if the BCCH RT fails.
To create a phantom-RT, the following attributes are dropped from the appropriate RT object:
AbisServiceProvider; AbisSigHDLCInfo; AbisTrafSlotInfo; BackupObject.
FH: A Frequency Hopping (FH) object must be created for each required hopping sequence.
The following attributes must be defined for each FH object:
allocatedFrequencies (AllocatedFrequencies, ALLOCFREQ): frequencies belonging to the

hopping sequence must be defined here (entries must match the cellAllocation attribute of
the BTS object)
HSN (SequenceNumber, HOPSEQNO): defines the HSN to be used by the hopping

sequence generator. Specify 0 for cyclic hopping; or a number in the range 1 through 63 for
random hopping
CHN: Each channel (CHN) object must be defined as hopping or non-hopping via the
freqHoppRelationship (FHRelationship, FREQHOPREL) attribute. This specifies an associated
FH object (hopping channels) or is left empty (for non-hopping channels).
A CHN object with channelType (Channel Type) of CCCH cannot be defined as a hopping
channel.
The RT that the channel belongs to must not be a phantom-RT.
A MAIO will be generated internally for the channel (according to GSM Recommendation
05.02). A maximum of 42 channels can be associated with the same FHS.
Automatic parameter update in the OMC
All the necessary changes required to install frequency hopping in a selected BTS can be
automated using the site independent OMC script inst-fhs.r78. The script installs frequency
hopping systems in the selected BTS depending on:
Number of RTs connected to the BTS
Hopping type (baseband or synthesiser)
Presence of a fill-sender (synthesiser hopping)
Presence of CCCH(s)
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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Additionally, the Automatic Network Modification for Frequency Hopping feature (omc-cm093)
of OMC-2000 release 4.5 has automated the process of frequency replanning with frequency
hopping. This feature allows the frequency planner to provide the OMC operator with frequency
and frequency hopping plans in electronic format.
The OMC reads the plan, validates the data, and generates a set of AUI scripts that will update
the existing OMC data to match the new plan. The scripts may be executed immediately or
scheduled for later execution.
The procedure is as follows:
The OMC operator requests a frequency plan report in raw format, via the Configuration Report
Generator implemented in the OMC. This report can be exported to an off-line PC where the
frequency planner can modify the frequency plan. The OMC operator can then import the data
back to the OMC. Using the Receive Plan Option on the Expert AUI window, an AUI script is
generated that contains the modifications required to change the OMC data to the data
specified in the file.
For more information, refer to the OMC-2000 System Operators Guide - OMC Release 4.5.
Feature activation
When the FHSs are activated, the reconfiguration process involves two steps:
1. The reallocation procedure provides the BTS with the necessary information, and instructs
it to reconfigure its hopping behaviour at a specified start time.
2. The frequency redefinition procedure triggers the call handling function to start the
frequency redefinition in the mobile stations (see Frequency redefinition procedure on page
10).
Note: Activation and deactivation of FH takes time because as said it involves a frequency
redefinition procedure that takes up to 3.5 minutes per hopping system. However, this
procedure has little impact on established calls (see Frequency redefinition procedure on page
10), that is, it causes no down time of RTs or base stations. Only modification of RTs Initial
Frequency produces RT downtime, and that is regardless of whether or not the system hops.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
43
4.5.
Fault management
Frequency hopping is automatically disabled in the following situations:
Baseband hopping
If the number of available hopping frequencies used by the FHS falls below a given threshold
due to severe RT faults. This threshold is calculated by multiplying the number of frequencies
by a percentage defined in the LMB Enable/Disable CH options of the BCE or BCF local
configuration area.
Because the BSS does not redefine the list of allocated frequencies when an RT fails, the
threshold must be set to 100% (the default) to avoid bad quality connections due to frequency
loss.
Note: The Frequency redefinition procedure (see page 10) that is triggered with the deactivation
of frequency hopping, prevents all the calls in the base station from being dropped when an RT
fails. Only the calls served by the affected RT are dropped (as happens in a non-hopping
system). The quality of the other calls will decrease for as long as the Frequency redefinition
procedure takes place. The level of degradation depends on the number of hopping
frequencies: the greater the number, the lower the degradation. This behaviour is however
typical of any baseband hopping system, irrespective of the vendor, and is due to the way
baseband frequency hopping is generated.
Synthesiser hopping:
If a fill-sender is used, frequency hopping is disabled if the fill-sender fails.
4.6.
DTX
Uplink DTX
Uplink discontinuous transmission is set on a per-BTS basis. To do this, set the Uplink in the
DTX parameter in the BTS Detail View of the OMC GUI (AUI parameter DTX of the managed
object class BTS).
The parameter can have three values:
May be used (0)
Shall be used (1)
Shall not be used (2)

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Downlink DTX
Downlink DTX can be set independently for speech (system release 6.5) and for nontransparent data (system release 6.7.2). To do this the corresponding parameters have to be
set in the BSS, the MSC and the InterWorking Function (IWF).
Speech
This feature is enabled or disabled on a per BTS basis via the OMC. To do this, set the
Downlink Speech in the DTX parameter in the BTS Detail View of the OMC (the AUI
DownlinkDtx attribute of the managed object class BTS contains the boolean
downlinkDtxSpeech).
The default setting is disabled (false).
In the MSC, the switch option Downlink DTX Mode in the WBOPM (Wireless Base Office
Parameters Miscellaneous) view, can be enabled and disabled in the corresponding windows of
the Recent Change and Verify (RC/V) program. This applies to all the BSS supported by one
MSC.
The default setting is disabled.
DTX is permitted for the connection if DTX is requested by the MSC and enabled by the OMC.
Data
This feature is enabled or disabled on a per BTS basis via the OMC. To do this, set the
Downlink Data in the DTX parameter in the BTS Detail View of the OMC (the AUI DownlinkDtx
attribute of the managed object class BTS contains the boolean downlinkDtxData).
The default setting is disabled (false).
If this parameter is enabled, the BTS acts according to the DTX commands issued by the OWF
in the received RLP frames.
To enable DTX in the IWF, the IWF option DTX Mode is set by changing the value in the IWF-2
menu.
The default mode is disabled.
4.7.
Power control for communications through a given BTS can be deployed independently in the
downlink and the uplink via the parameters EN_MS_PC (uplink) and EN_BS_PC (downlink) of
the POWER object associated with the BTS.
Before doing that the following parameters of the POWER object should be set to their proper
values:
Maximum transmit power values:

Issue 1.2 June 1999
45
Averaging measurement parameters:
A_LEV_PC: defines the averaging window size for receive power level
measurements
A_QUAL_PC: defines the averaging window size for quality measurements
W_QUAL_PC: defines the weighting of full-set quality measurements with respect

to sub-set quality
Threshold levels:
L_RXLEV_UL_P, U_RXLEV_UL_P, L_RXQUAL_UL_P, U_RXQUAL_UL_P:

defines the uplink lower (L) and upper (U) RX_LEV and RX_QUAL thresholds
L_RXLEV_DL_P, U_RXLEV_DL_P, L_RXQUAL_DL_P, U_RXQUAL_DL_P:

defines the downlink lower (L) and upper (U) RX_LEV and RX_QUAL thresholds
Power step sizes:
MS_TXPRWR_MAX: defines the maximum TX power an MS is permitted to use

on a dedicated control channel or a traffic channel within the serving cell
POW_INCR_STEP_SIZE, POW_RED_STEP_SIZE: defines the step sizes used

when increasing or decreasing the MS and BTS transmit power
Timer values:
P_CON_ACK: defines the power control acknowledge time
P_CON_INTERVAL: defines the minimum interval between successive

modifications of the radio frequency power level

46
Issue 1.2 June 1999
VIP Deployment
5
5. VIP Deployment
5.1.
Introduction
When to use VIP

There are two main reasons why an operator might implement VIP and frequency hopping:
To improve quality in an area with interference problems
To increase capacity in an already saturated area (in terms either of a need for more
transceivers to meet traffic loads, or a need to free up frequencies in the existing spectrum
for use in other layers)
Frequency hopping should not be used to try to improve poor quality in networks where the
underlying cause is poor coverage, network planning or tuning. In such cases, frequency
hopping can cause further deterioration in performance.
Implementation strategy
The interference averaging effect of frequency hopping generally diminishes the number of
interference problems in the network. However, those problems that remain will be more difficult
Issue 1.2 June 1999
47
to resolve. For this reason, we strongly recommend that the process of increasing capacity with
frequency hopping and VIP should be implemented in stages as follows:
1. Switch on frequency hopping.
2. Tighten the frequency reuse or the fractional load step by step, as and when new capacity
is needed.
3. When the capacity gains from frequency hopping have been exhausted (but not before),
implement DTX and power control.
Each step should be deployed in a small trial area first, with extensive data collection made at
each stage in order to assess accurately the impact of the new plan on the network. No two
networks behave the same when frequency hopping is switched on, so it is important that
detailed results data is collected for each network.
The conclusions drawn from the initial deployment can then be used in the overall deployment
to minimise the initial impact and the subsequent optimisation work. In particular they can be
used to optimise the frequency plan and the radio link control parameter setting.
5.2.
Choosing the right plan
This section describes how to identify the appropriate VIP plan for the implementation area.
More than three transceivers per cell

Areas with typical configurations of more than three transceivers per cell can use either VIPone or
VIPtwo. The choice will depend on the type of antenna coupling equipment already in place, the
investment that the operator is prepared to make, and the operators requirements for flexibility
and future growth. Specific factors that might influence the final choice include:
VIPtwo has the big advantage of eliminating the need for frequency planning of the traffic
carriers in a network. So a VIPtwo plan is very flexible when it comes to introducing new base
stations
The main disadvantage of VIPtwo is that it requires hybrid or diplexer antenna combiner
equipment, which might not be in place
For network areas with existing filter-type combining equipment, consider carefully before
making any decision to swap-out existing equipment. This is because the increase in
insertion losses can affect the performance of the network, particularly for in-building
coverage
If for whatever reason the use of hybrid combiners is not considered feasible, then VIPone is
the appropriate plan

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Three or fewer transceivers per cell

Areas with typical configurations of three or fewer transceivers per cell can use VIPtwo only.
Large spectrum allocation

For areas where synthesiser frequency hopping is possible, but a high number of available
frequencies means that 1/3 or 1/1 reuse patterns are not possible, a mixed VIPone/VIPtwo plan is
recommended.
Microcells
In microcellular environments (where configurations are normally low) VIPtwo is the best option
for the non-BCCH transceivers. It allows frequency reuse from the macro layer, with no need to
take into account interference from other micro cells if the fractional load is low enough. This
means that capacity can be added to the micro layer with minimal impact on the existing
frequency plan.
Planning for future capacity

Implementing DTX and dynamic power control in the downlink can produce further capacity
gains. However, remember that they should be introduced in stages; not at the same time.
5.3.
Planning the frequencies and the HSN
VIPone
In areas with an average number of transceivers per cell of more than three, a quality increase
in terms of interference can be expected just by switching on random frequency hopping over
the existing assigned frequencies.
The more irregular the existing frequency plan, and hence the higher the levels of variable
interference, the greater the improvement. However, the gains may not be noticeable in
networks with existing high quality levels.
For cells with only two transceivers, it is best to either enable cyclic hopping or leave the cell as
non-hopping. These cells will still benefit from the interference diversity caused by surrounding
interfering cells randomly hopping over the same frequency set.
If VIPone has been chosen primarily for capacity gains, the first stage in the design process is to
calculate the average reuse factor required to handle the proposed capacity increase. Note that
even if additional capacity is needed in a few cells only, the calculation has to be done as if all
cells in the area under consideration were to be upgraded.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
49
For example, in a network with 3-3-3 configurations, only certain sites will be upgraded to 4-4-4.
Calculations will be done as if all the sites would be upgraded to 4-4-4.
Once the average reuse factor is determined, a variable reuse plan should be devised that
spreads the reuse factors around the average value to as great an extent as possible (taking
into account the number of transceivers within the plan).
For example: for three transceivers and 24 frequencies (average reuse of 24/3=8) a 12/8/4 plan
would work better than a 12/6/6.
Reuse capability depends greatly on the reuses allowed by the network infrastructure.
Homogeneous networks (grid site locations, regular antenna orientation and height) can support
a reuse value of 12, while others may require values as high as 15 or even 18.
If the number of hopping frequencies is 2 the HSN should be set to 0. Otherwise, it should be
set to an integer in the range 1 to 63, ensuring that all values are evenly distributed across the
area.
VIPtwo
VIPtwo always requires frequency re-planning, whether it is implemented to achieve quality
improvement or capacity gains.
The first step is to decide on the reuse factor (1/1 or 1/3). If the number of available frequencies
is low and a 1/3 reuse would mean hopping over fewer than six frequencies, a 1/1 reuse should
be used.
In other cases the operator can choose between the two options, taking into account the
maximum number of hopping frequencies available.
The HSN should be set to a value between 1 and 63, ensuring that it is different for base
stations using the same set of hopping frequencies. Especially in the case of a 1/1 reuse it is
important to set the HSN of co-sited base stations to different values.
VIPone/VIPtwo
In mixed plans, the number of hopping frequencies should be set to the maximum of eight, and
the VIPone plan should be designed assuming eight transceivers per cell.
As in the case of VIPone, the HSN should be set to an integer in the range 1 to 63, ensuring that
all values are evenly distributed across the area.
Microcells
Each microcell that requires additional capacity must be allocated a set of eight frequencies
from the traffic transceivers in the macro layer. A propagation prediction tool can be used to

50
Issue 1.2 June 1999
select the frequencies with the lowest probability of interference within the area covered by
each given microcell. Random frequency hopping can then be activated.
The fractional load will ensure that interference from the macro and micro layer does not have
an adverse impact on transmission quality.
The HSN should be set to an integer in the range 1 to 63, ensuring that all values are evenly
distributed across the microcell area.
BCCH planning
Unless the capacity of the network is already stretched to its limits, the BCCH transceiver is
best left to non-hopping. In any case it is generally better if it is planned separately, using
frequencies specifically set aside for the BCCH.
This approach has the following benefits:
The high levels of interference generated by the BCCH transceiver downlink are limited to a
specific band. (As the BCCH transceiver must transmit continuously, even when there is no
information to transfer, dynamic power control and DTX cannot be applied to it.)
Gains from implementing dynamic power control and DTX elsewhere in the network are
maximised
Control channel behaviour is separated from the traffic load. This is required to ensure
successful cell selection, handover, locating, access, and paging activities. Base
Transceiver Station Identity Code (BSIC) decoding on the SCH is especially important for
handover performance (poor handover performance causes more dropped calls)
Capacity in existing cells can be increased without having to replan the BCCH
Generally the BCCH transceiver will only be set to hopping in the case of a VIPone plan where
the number of hopping frequencies would otherwise be less than three.
5.4.
Collecting performance data
To assess the benefits of deploying a VIP plan into the network, performance data must be
collected before and after the deployment.
First collect performance data for the current network configuration and frequency. This has two
purposes:
To provide a data source for optimisation and tuning purposes
To provide a performance benchmark for comparison of data collected under the new plan

Issue 1.2 June 1999
51
Collection equipment
To collect the optimal range of performance data, the following equipment is required:
GSM drive test equipment:
Test handsets
Data collection kit, preferably with reverse path measurement capability
Scanner
Post processing/analysis tool
Voice quality measurement equipment
Performance management tool (such as the OMC-PMS)
Abis link monitor and protocol analyser
Coverage prediction and frequency planning tool
Performance data types

This section details the various types of data that ideally should be collected for performance
measurement purposes. Each data type can be categorised as one of the following:
Global information
Drive test information
Note: When frequency hopping is switched off, ideally the performance data should differentiate
between BCCH and non-BCCH transceivers in cases where the BCCH is non-hopping. This
may not be possible with global information, but drive test information should allow it.
Global information
This type of performance data is usually obtained via the OMC-PMS. The ideal collection
method is to collect the data on a per cell basis both for all cells within the deployment trial area
and for cells surrounding the trial area.
Global information includes both traffic-related and quality-related data:
Traffic-related data
As traffic load is a major factor in frequency hopping performance, traffic data should be
collected before and after frequency hopping is implemented. This enables accurate analysis
and comparison of subsequent quality measurement results.

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
We recommend that the following traffic data is collected, as a minimum for the busy hour, and
ideally also on a daily and historical basis:
Busy hour (the hour segment with the largest TCH traffic value)
TCH seizure attempts
TCH seizures
TCH seizure blocks
% TCH blocking
TCH traffic in Erlangs
Mean TCH holding time
SDCCH seizures
SDCCH seizure blocks
% SDCCH blocking
SDCCH traffic in Erlangs
Mean SDCCH holding time
Quality-related data
Quality data is used to compare performance results before and after frequency hopping is
implemented. Accurate analysis of the before and after performance data requires the following
conditions for the data collection:
Values should be per Erlang wherever possible
Traffic conditions before and after the implementation should be sufficiently similar to
ensure no significant variation in interference and GOS (Grade of Service) levels. The traffic
data described in the previous section should be used to ensure equivalent traffic
Note: These conditions apply to both hopping and non-hopping cells, and to the cells
surrounding the deployment area.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
53
We recommend that the following quality data is collected, as a minimum for the busy hour, and
ideally also on a daily and historical basis:
Dropped calls
TCH seizures dropped for radio reasons
% dropped TCH
TCH dropped calls/Erlang
SDCCH seizures dropped for radio reasons
% dropped SDCCH
SDCCH dropped calls/Erlang
Handovers
Total number of handover attempts
Intracell handover attempts
Intracell handover failures
% intracell handover failures
Intercell handover attempts
Intercell handover failures
% intercell handover failures
Uplink quality handovers
% uplink quality handovers
Uplink level handovers
% uplink level handovers
Downlink quality handovers
% downlink quality handovers
Downlink level handovers
% downlink level handovers

54
Issue 1.2 June 1999
RXQUAL statistics
If possible, RXQUAL statistics should be obtained (this will need an Abis protocol analyser).
Measurement should be performed at least over the busy hour.
Ideally, all Abis links for base stations in both the deployment area and surrounding areas should
be monitored. However, the equipment may restrict the number of links that can be monitored.
Drive test information
Drive tests should be performed over the most significant routes, including the main traffic
routes and, if possible, routes with known or potential conflict problems. In-building walk tests
are also very useful in order to assess the impact of frequency hopping on in-building quality.
Ideally, the drive tests should be performed during the busy hour (both before and after
implementation).
If possible they shall also be repeated a number of times to ensure no external events influence
the results.
The following data should be collected:
BSIC, BCCH frequency and TCH frequency of the serving cell
BSIC, BCCH frequency and RXLEV of neighbouring cells
Downlink RXLEV and RXQUAL measurements
Downlink co-channel and adjacent channel C/I (if this measurement is not available in the
drive test equipment, a scanner can be used). In the case of frequency hopping, the C/I
should be obtained for each hopping frequency
FER on the downlink and, if possible, on the uplink
Voice quality on the downlink and uplink (in the uplink take care not to introduce external
sources of quality degeneration)
Handover, power control, and dropped call events and their causes (this requires call
tracing capabilities in the Abis monitor)

Issue 1.2 June 1999
55
5.5.
Deployment results
This section describes the results that can be expected at each VIP implementation stage:
1. Activating frequency hopping
2. Tightening frequency reuse
3. Implementing DTX
4. Implementing dynamic power control
Activating frequency hopping

The expected results of activating frequency hopping are:
Dropped calls and failed handovers will decrease. In a medium loaded network, frequency
hopping may reduce the number of dropped calls by about 20%
RXQUAL statistics will show an increase in the reported RXQUAL values (see RXQUAL
behaviour below). The increase is generally about one unit. Under normal circumstances
(no frequency hopping) this would imply serious degradation of transmission quality, but it is
not the case with frequency hopping
As a consequence of the increase in RXQUAL values, the percentage (and possibly

absolute numbers) of quality based handovers will increase (see Figure 20)
The number of intra-cell handovers will be very small (mixed hopping and non-hopping
configurations) or 0 (only hopping configurations)
FER and voice quality (as measured in the drive tests) will improve
FER/voice quality versus RXQUAL/carrier to interference ratio will show improvement but
higher deviation
These improvements are expected to be higher in the uplink than in the downlink. The downlink
will be the capacity-limiting link, with better quality in the uplink than the downlink.
Localised areas with previously bad interference problems but good coverage, should show
significant quality improvement, particularly if the channel used belongs to a hopping
transceiver.

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Frequency hopping activated
Figure 20 Impact of frequency hopping on handover causes
Figure 21 is a typical drive test output when using frequency hopping. It shows the RXQUAL,
FER and SQI (Speech Quality Indicator - the measure of the speech quality TEMS equipment
offer) measured by a TEMS piece of equipment before and after handing over between a
channel that does not use frequency hopping and a channel that uses frequency hopping.
Figure 21 Output from TEMS when handing over between a non-hopping and a hopping channel

Issue 1.2 June 1999
57
It can be seen that in the channel with no frequency hopping (shown left of the first marker in
the figure) bad RXQUAL values translate into an increasing FER (in red) and a decreasing SQI
(in grey). In the channel with frequency hopping (shown right of the first marker in the figure)
even worse RXQUAL values than before translate into no FER and a very slight degradation of
the SQI.
Important: Some trial implementations of frequency hopping have reported performance
degradation in cells that hop over only two frequencies. Such cells should be monitored for this
effect. To do this, aggregate the performance results according to the number of hopping
transceivers in the cell and compare the performance with the results obtained when the cells
were non-hopping.
RXQUAL behaviour
The increase in reported RXQUAL values is caused by the following reason:
The RXQUAL parameter does not increase linearly with the error rate of unprotected bits.
Instead it increases with its logarithm (RXQUAL increases by one unit if the BER is doubled or
decreases by two units if the BER is divided by four).
The following table shows RXQUAL values obtained in a cell after frequency hopping was
activated over four transceivers:
RXQUALFH
RXQUALTRXi
i=1,n
Average
RXQUALTRXi
Potential speech
quality
0, 2, 7, 1
2.50
good
5, 5, 5, 5
5.00
fair
0, 6, 0, 0
1.50
excellent
0, 0, 4, 1
1.25
excellent
3, 0, 0, 0
0.75
excellent
0, 0, 0, 2
0.50
excellent
0, 1, 0, 0
0.25
excellent
Table 3 Example RXQUAL values with frequency hopping
With frequency hopping active, the BER (for unprotected bits) for the different hopping
sequence frequencies are averaged and then mapped into an RXQUALFH value for the hopping
channel. This means the RXQUALFH value is not calculated as the arithmetical average of the

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
RXQUALTRXi values of the individual TRX transceivers in non-hopping mode (as illustrated in the
table above).
This logarithmic behaviour means that RXQUALFH average(RXQUALTRXi).
As the values in the previous table show, with frequency hopping there is no direct mapping or
correlation of actual speech quality to RXQUAL.
Tightening the reuse

The expected result of tightening the average reuse is that the performance of the system, in
terms of dropped calls, remains constant up to a certain point. At that point, which represents
the capacity limit of the system and the current configuration, performance begins to deteriorate
rapidly.
However, the performance deterioration may be due to interference just in the BCCH band. This
should be investigated first. If the deterioration is identified as being due to BCCH interference,
then careful optimisation of the allocation in this band may produce further capacity gains.
DTX implementation
When DTX is switched on, the number of dropped calls may increase. This is because, by the
nature of DTX, some channel slots may not be used for transmission. Measurements on these
slots will obviously report a low reception level, and corresponding bad quality.
To avoid this problem, the GSM Recommendations specify the following requirements:
At least 12 bursts (an SACCH superframe) must be sent within each reporting period.
These bursts mirror the systematic use of the SACCH (four bursts constitute a coding
block) plus eight bursts on the TCH itself. For speech, these bursts contain silence
description frames (SIDs)
The BTS and the mobile station must report two distinct sets of measurements concerning
the connection:
full measurements for all slots which may be used for transmission in the
reporting period
sub measurements for the mandatory sent bursts and blocks only
Both the BTS and the mobile station must report for each measurement period, whether or
not discontinuous transmission was used. This allows the processes using the
measurements (power control and handover) to discard the full measurements in cases
when discontinuous transmission was used
Results based on sub measurements are less accurate due to the reduced number of input
values for the averaging process (reception level is averaged on 12 bursts instead of more than
100 bursts). This affects quality measurements in particular. Because they are based on
estimated error probabilities before channel decoding, they are more sensitive to the statistical
unreliability introduced by subset measuring.
Issue 1.2 June 1999
59
Particularly in the case of frequency hopping, this unreliability causes an increase in reported
RXQUAL values with a corresponding increase in dropped call rates.
Dynamic power control implementation

The RXQUAL behaviour described above means that an increase in RXQUAL reported
handovers (intercell and intracell) can be expected.
5.6.
Optimising performance
Quality-based handovers
The increase in reported RXQUAL values leads to an unwanted increase in the percentage of
quality-based handovers. The easiest way to avoid this effect is to increase the handover
quality thresholds by approximately the same amount as the increase in the average RXQUAL
value.
If the percentage of quality based handovers remains high, the RXQUAL averaging window
should be increased, since the effect is probably due to statistical nature of the measurements.
Quality-based power control

A similar solution can be used to counteract the effect of increased RXQUAL based power
control commands following power control implementation. That is, increase the power control
quality thresholds by approximately the same amount as the increase in the average RXQUAL
value.
Hopping over two frequencies

Performance may deteriorate in cells that hop over only two frequencies. If this happens,
frequency hopping should be switched off in the affected cells. If the number of such cells is
small, there should be an improvement in their performance compared with a non-hopping
network, even though they do not hop.
DTX measurement accuracy

A weighting algorithm has been devised in Lucent equipment that overcomes the potential
measurement inaccuracies introduced by DTX. Full measurements are given a higher weight
than the sub measurements (which are more likely to be inaccurate) in the average RXQUAL
value calculation used in the power control and handover processes.
Setting the averaging parameters in this manner will improve performance in systems that use
DTX.

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Other scenarios
The following situations may also require investigation and optimisation:
The global number of dropped calls and failed handovers either does not reduce, or even
increases. There could be three reasons for this:
Poor coverage conditions

It has been reported that frequency hopping can aggravate problems arising from
poor coverage (as yet the reasons are unclear).
This situation is indicated by unusually high percentages of mandatory handovers
(good coverage networks should show a majority of power budget handovers)
both with and without frequency hopping.
Very poor quality in the network before frequency hopping was implemented
In this situation, the averaging effect of frequency hopping will degrade quality
further. The few good quality mobiles will decrease their quality in an attempt to
improve the bad quality mobiles. However the bad quality mobiles will remain bad.
This situation is indicated by existing high numbers of dropped calls and failed
handovers before frequency hopping is implemented.
Strong interferers exist in the network

Depending on location, some base stations can produce much higher interference
levels than the others in the network. For example, this often happens with base
stations at a higher than average height.
With frequency hopping, this interference is spread across all channels. The best
indicator of an offending base station is a permanently high measured level of
interference when it is scanned in drive tests. To avoid this effect, such sites
should be treated separately in terms of frequency planning and, in extreme
situations, taken out of the deployment area.
The number of dropped calls and failed handovers in a particular cell either does not
reduce, or even increases. The possible reasons are:
Poor coverage conditions

This situation is indicated by unusually high percentages of mandatory handovers
in the cell, both with and without frequency hopping.
Locally high interference conditions

The cell may suffer localised interference from a very strong interferer. The
propagation prediction tool can be used to pinpoint the possible interferers. Then,
drive tests can be used to scan the BCCH frequency of these base stations to
Issue 1.2 June 1999
61
determine whether received levels from them are high enough to cause
interference.
If a strong interferer is found, the frequency plan should be modified to prevent the
two cells (the interferer and the cell suffering the interference) being used as cochannels. The same average reuse or fractional load must be maintained. These
changes may involve rearranging of frequencies, which can be done either
manually or with a frequency planning tool.
Note: This situation often arises with BCCHs that are included in the hopping
sequences - because they transmit continuously, frequency hopping cannot take
advantage of traffic variations.
In VIPtwo implementations, if frequency rearrangement is not possible, the frequencies
suffering high interference should be taken out of the hopping sequences in the affected
cell, even if this reduces the number of hopping frequencies available.

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Worked Examples
6
6. Worked Examples
This chapter provides examples of VIP implementations. Each example describes the current
network configuration, the objectives of the implementation, and the planning and design
requirements.
6.1.
Scenario 1
Operator working in the 1800 band
Wide-band combiner equipment
48 frequencies allocated
Network still growing with an irregular network layout that is mainly coverage ridden
To maintain good quality in the existing network, current BCCH planning requires a reuse of
7/21
Configurations are mostly 2-2-2

Issue 1.2 June 1999
63
Microcells in use for cold-spot coverage with plans to develop them into a continuous
microcell layer
Objectives
To improve quality in the network, especially in localised areas where propagation

conditions cause high interference levels
To generate a frequency plan that is able to cope with the rapid pace of change and growth
in the network
VIP plan choice
Since the existing combiner equipment is already wide-band, VIPtwo is the easiest and most
flexible solution to implement
Because the network is still growing, it is recommended that the macrocell base station
BCCHs are planned on a separate sub-band. This ensures that future capacity expansion in
existing base stations, or addition of new microcells, will not require modifications to the
BCCH frequency plan
The frequency band will be divided into three subsets of 21, 18, and 9 frequencies. The first
sub-band will be used for macro BCCH planning, the second for macro TCH, and the third
for micro BCCH
The BCCH in the macro layer will be planned using a 7/21 reuse that is already known to
give adequate performance in the current network conditions
The BCCH in the micro layer, once continuous coverage is achieved, will be planned using
a 9 reuse, which is know to be adequate in a micro-cellular environment
The additional TCH transceiver in the existing 2-2-2 configurations will be planned using a
1/3 reuse. That is, assigning 18/3=6 frequencies per sector and switching on synthesiser
frequency hopping. (Reuse of 1/1 is not possible in current releases because it would imply
hopping over 18 frequencies.)
If additional capacity is subsequently required in the macro layer, it will be necessary to

upgrade base stations to 3-3-3 configurations. The frequency plan will not need to be
changed since a 1/3 reuse can easily accept fractional loads of 2/6=33% without noticeable
impact on the quality of the network
However, if even more capacity is required in the macro-layer, the frequency plan will need
to be changed because a fractional load of 50% is too close to the maximum limit beyond
which network quality may degrade. However:

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Ideally, by this time network growth in terms of base stations will have stabilised
and the network layout will have been rationalised into a more homogeneous layout (grid locations, similar antenna height and orientation, and so on)
If this is the case, the BCCH will allow a much tighter reuse: probably around 15.
The spectrum allocation can then be split into three bands of 15, 24, and 9. The
TCH transceivers will be assigned 24/3=8 hopping frequencies, which can accept
a load of 3/8=37.5%. Hence 4-4-4 configurations would be possible
If the eventual network layout is insufficiently homogeneous, this must be

corrected. No additional capacity gains will be possible until this is done

As stated earlier, each cell will be assigned one BCCH frequency fBCCH and 6 hopping
frequencies, fFH1, , fFH6.
To do this:
1. Add frequencies fFH1, , fFH6 to the cellAllocation attribute of the BTS object that relates to
the cell.
2. Set the initialFrequency attribute of the RT (Radio Terminal) object that will hold the BCCH
channel to fBCCH.
3. As the eight CHN (Channel) objects belonging to this RT are non-hopping, the
freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute is left empty.
4. Set the initial frequency of the second RT (and the third RT if using 3-3-3 configurations) to
one of the hopping frequencies.
5. Create a FH (Frequency Hopping) object with attribute allocatedFrequencies equal to fFH1,
, fFH6.
Set the attribute sequenceNumber to an integer in the range 1 through 63. Ensure that this
value is different from the values used by FH objects of surrounding cells that have been
assigned the same set of hopping frequencies.
The ID attribute can be set to any value in the range 0 through 7.
6. Set the eight CHN objects belonging to the second RT (and the third RT if using 3-3-3configurations) to hopping. To do this, set the freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute to
match the ID of the FH object created in the previous step.
Note: If the frequency plan is later rearranged and additional capacity introduced to support 44-4 configurations, the OMC process will be the same, except that eight hopping frequencies
rather than six are added to the cell allocation, and a new FH object is created with those 8
frequencies.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
65
6.2.
Scenario 2
Existing combiner equipment is all filter type
Network already stabilised
Average of 2.48 transceivers per cell; actual configurations vary between one and four
transceivers per cell
Average reuse of 16.13. It is not possible to add another carrier in the area with
conventional frequency planning
Microcellular layer will be added for capacity increase
Objectives
To free enough frequencies to be able to plan the BCCH of the microcell layer, without any
additional investment
VIP plan choice
Since the existing combiner equipment is filter type and the operator is not willing to invest
in swapping combiners, VIPone is the choice for the initial solution
Since the number of transceivers per cell is relatively low, the BCCH transceiver will be
included in hopping sequences
It is envisaged that eight frequencies will be enough for the microcell layer. Hence the new
macrocell plan will use only 32 frequencies
Since the maximum configuration is 4-4-4, the planning assumes that all configurations are
4-4-4
Average reuse: 32/4=8
Frequency plan obtained by spreading around 8: 14/10/6/2

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Actual average reuse: 32/2.48=12.9
Cells with only one transceiver will be left to non-hopping
Cells with only two transceivers will be hopping, but using cyclic hopping sequences

Each cell will be assigned n frequencies f1, , fn where n is the number of transceivers in that
cell (in this scenario a value between 1 and 4).
In this scenario, f1 belongs to the sub-band of 14 frequencies, f2 belongs to the sub-band of 10
frequencies, f3 belongs to the sub-band of 6 frequencies and f4 to the sub-band of 2 frequencies.
If n>1, the following steps are required:
1. Add frequencies f1, , fn to the cellAllocation attribute of the BTS object that relates to the
cell.
2. Set the initial frequency of each of the four RTs to fI where i is the number of the RT.
If base station is of type RBS-900 or if n=2:
3. Set all CHN objects that have an ID attribute of 0 (or 2, 4, or 6 if CCCH channels are
present in these time slots of the BCCH transceiver) to non-hopping. To do this, leave the
freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute blank. These channels belong to air interface time
slot 0 (or 2, 4, or 6 if CCCH channels are present in these time slots of the BCCH
transceiver).
4. Create a FH object with attribute allocatedFrequencies set to f1, fn.
The attribute sequenceNumber should be set to 0 if n=2.
Otherwise set it to an integer in the range 1 through 63, ensuring that all the values are
used evenly across the area.
Set the ID attribute to a value in the range 0 through 7.
5. The CHN objects not included in step 3 should be defined as hopping. To do this, set the
freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute to the ID of the FH object created in the previous
step.
If base station is of type BTS-2000 (RBS-918) and n>2:

Issue 1.2 June 1999
67
Set the ID attribute to a value in the range 0 through 7.

4. All CHN objects in the non-BCCH transceivers that have an ID attribute of 0 (or 2, 4, or 6 if
CCH channels are present in these time slots of the BCCH transceivers) to hopping. To do
this, set the freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute to the ID of the FH object created in the
previous step.
Set the ID attribute to a value in the range 0 through 7, but different to the one of the FH
object created in step 3.
3
The CHN objects not included in step 3 should be defined as hopping. To do this, set the
freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute to the ID of the FH object created in the previous
step.
If n=1, then the only RT object will be assigned an initial frequency belonging to the subband of
14 frequencies.
In the case of base stations of type RBS-900, because all channels in time slot 0 (or 2, 4, 6) are
non-hopping, they can potentially suffer from unacceptable interference levels. This is because
they are using frequencies with a very tight reuse, particularly those using frequencies from the
sub-bands of 6 and 2 frequencies. Performance on these channels should be closely monitored
and if quality is unacceptable, they should be shut down. This will imply a small loss in the
macro layer capacity. However, the increase in capacity provided by the frequencies that have
been freed for the micro-layer will more than compensate for this.
6.3.
Scenario 3
Underlay microcell layer using BTS-2000/2C (CUBE) base stations. Continuous coverage
and 1 transceiver per micro
Frequencies divided in three subsets: 18 for the macro BCCH, 19 for the macro TCHs and
9 for the macro BCCH

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Objectives
To add one transceiver to all cells in the micro layer
VIP plan choice
As CUBEs support synthesiser hopping, VIPtwo is the most appropriate plan
In order to minimise disruption to the existing frequency plan, the frequencies belonging to
the macro TCH sub-band will be reused
A set of eight frequencies will be chosen for each microcell. Frequencies should be selected
from the TCH transceivers of the macrocells that cause the least interference to the
microcell
This information can be obtained by using a scanner and doing a drive-test of the area (if it
is small enough), or with a propagation prediction tool. The GRAND tool allows the
probability of interference matrices to be calculated between the macrocells and the
microcells. For each microcell, the suggested frequencies will belong to the macrocells with
the lowest probability of interfering with that microcell

Each microcell will be assigned one BCCH frequency fBCCH and eight hopping frequencies, fFH1,
, fFH8.
To do this:
the micro-cell.
2. Set the initialFrequency attribute of the RT that will hold the BCCH channel to fBCCH.
3. Set the eight CHN objects belonging to this RT as non-hopping (leave the
freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute empty).
4. Set the initial frequency of the second RT to any of the hopping frequencies.
5. Create a FH object and set attribute allocatedFrequencies equal to fFH1, , fFH8.
Set attribute sequenceNumber to an integer in the range 1 through 63. Ensure so far as
possible that all values are used and that they are spread evenly across the whole
microcell layer.
Set the ID attribute to any value in the range 0 through 7.
Issue 1.2 June 1999
69
6. Set each of the eight CHN objects belonging to the second RT as hopping. To do this, set
the freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute to match the ID of the FH object created in the
previous step.
6.4.
Scenario 4
Network already stabilised. With maximised cell splitting, regular layout, and reasonably low
antennas
20 new frequencies acquired in the 1800 band
Collocated 900 and 1800 base stations
Wide-band combiners available in the 1800 band equipment
Objectives
To maximise capacity in the small 1800 band
VIP plan choice
Since the existing combiner equipment is already wide-band, VIPtwo is the most appropriate
solution
The regular network layout and low antenna heights mean that the network can support
4/12 reuses on the BCCH. Hence the 1800 band spectrum allocation will be divided in two
bands, one of 12 frequencies to plan the BCCH; and one of 8 frequencies for the extra
TCHs
A 1/1 reuse is most appropriate given the small number of frequencies available for the
TCHs
2-2-2 configurations imply a fractional load of 12.5% (1/8). This is below the 15-20%
threshold for 1/1 patterns
Widespread 3-3-3 configurations are unlikely to be possible, even with DTX and dynamic
power control switched on (2/8 gives a fractional load of 25%).
However, subsequent extra capacity can be added to selective locations without significant
impact on quality, thanks to the averaging properties of frequency hopping.
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Issue 1.2 June 1999
An alternative would be to add a third transceiver in all locations but activate only some of
the channels (up to a maximum of 3 or 4)

Each cell in the 1800 band will be assigned one BCCH frequency fBCCH and eight hopping
frequencies, fFH1, , fFH8.
To do this:
the 1800 cell.
3. Set each of the eight CHN objects belonging to this RT as non-hopping (leave the
4. Set the initial frequency of the second RT to any hopping frequency.
5. Create a FH object with attribute allocatedFrequencies equal to fFH1, , fFH8.
Set attribute sequenceNumber to an integer in the range 1 through 63. Ensure so far as
possible that all values are used and that they are spread evenly across the whole 1800
layer.
6. Set each of the eight CHN objects belonging to the second RT as hopping. To do this, set
the freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute to match the ID of the FH object created in the
previous step.
6.5.
Scenario 5
Combiner equipment is wide-band
Mature network that is already stabilised
Average of 3.3 transceiver per cell

Issue 1.2 June 1999
71
Antenna height is quite low, so average reuse has been set to 12
Objectives
To increase capacity in the network to allow four transceivers per cell
VIP plan choice
Since the existing combiner equipment is wide-band, VIPtwo is the most appropriate solution
However, leaving 12 frequencies for the BCCH means that a 1/3 reuse would require
hopping over more than 9 frequencies, which is not possible with Lucent equipment.
Accordingly, a mixed VIPone/VIPtwo solution is chosen
12 frequencies are set aside for the BCCH, since it has already been proven that the
network can support that reuse. This leaves 28 remaining frequencies
The plan will assign 6 hopping frequencies, a high enough number to benefit from
frequency hopping
Average reuse: 28/6=4.6
Frequency plan obtained by spreading around 4.6: 9/6/6/3/3/1
Actual reuse: 28/4=7

Each cell will be assigned one BCCH frequency fBCCH and 6 hopping frequencies, fFH1, , fFH6.
To do this:
the cell.
3. Set the eight CHN objects belonging to this RT as non-hopping (leave the
4. Set the initial frequency of the second, third, and fourth RT to a hopping frequency
belonging to one of the looser reuses.
5. Create a FH object and set the allocatedFrequencies attribute equal to fFH1, , fFH6.
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Issue 1.2 June 1999
Set attribute sequenceNumber to an integer value between 1 and 63. Ensure so far as
possible that all values are used and that they are spread evenly.
6. Set each of the eight CHN objects belonging to the second, third, and fourth RT as hopping,
To do this, set the freqHoppRelationship (FH ID) attribute to match the ID of the FH object
created in the previous step.

Issue 1.2 June 1999
73

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
List of Acronyms
7
7. List of Acronyms
The following acronyms are used in this document:
BCCH
Broadcast Control Channel
BCE
BSS Controller Equipment
BCF
Base Station Controller Frame
BER
Bit Error Rate
BSIC
Base Transceiver Station Identity Code
BSS
Base Station System
BTS
Base Transceiver Station
CCB
Channel Codec Board
CCCH
Common Control Channel
CHN
Channel

Issue 1.2 June 1999
75
C/I
Carrier to Interference (ratio)
C/No
Carrier to Noise (ratio)
DRCC
Double Radio Codec and Control
DTX
Discontinuous Transmission
FCCH
Frequency Correction Channel
FCO
Flash Controller Board
FER
Frame Error Rate
FH
Frequency Hopping
FHS
Frequency Hopping System
GOS
Grade of Service
GSM
Global System for Mobile Communications
HSN
Hopping Sequence Number
IMW
Integrated Maintenance Workstation
MAIO
Mobile Allocation Index Offset
MSC
Mobile Switching Centre
OMC
Lucent Technologies Operations and Maintenance Centre 2000
OMC-PMS
Lucent Technologies Operations and Maintenance Centre 2000 Performance

Management Subsystem
PAGCH
Paging and Access Grant Channel
PWRC
Power Control Indicator
RBT
Radio Base Station Tester
RFU
Radio Frequency Unit
RT
Radio Terminal
RXLEV
Received Signal Level
RXQUAL
Received Signal Quality
SACCH
Slow Access Control Channel

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
SCH
Synchronisation Channel
SDCCH
Standalone Dedicated Control Channel
SID
Silence Description Frame
SQI
Speech Quality Indicator
SRFU
Standard Radio Frequency Unit
TCH
Traffic Channel
TDMA
Time Division Multiple Access
TRX
Transceiver
TU
Typical Urban
VIP
Variable Interference Planning

Issue 1.2 June 1999
77

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Issue 1.2 June 1999
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Issue No:
1.2
Date:
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1999
Title: GSM Frequency Hopping and Variable Interference Planning Engineering

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GSM Frequency

Hopping and Variable

GSM Frequency Hopping and VIP Engineering Guideline

Copyright 1999 Lucent Technologies

For permission to reproduce or distribute, please contact:

Lucent Technologies - PROPRIETARY

Issue 1.2 June 1999

GSM Frequency Hopping and VIP Engineering Guideline

1. ABOUT THIS GUIDE

2. INTRODUCTION TO FREQUENCY HOPPING