Radio Coverage plot for a WiMAX Network

Wireless Networks Dimensioning Tool (D-WiNet©)
Net Technologies is launching a New Tool !

Radio (RF) Planning is one of the major steps that have to be made towards the design and establishment of any wireless network. Its significance does not lie on technical level only, but on financial and managerial level as well. It is a “tool” that can highly assist the decision making procedures, eliminating the possibility of unwanted cost or performance modifications through network deployment phase. Valuable information is provided to potential network owners that make RF planning a definite prerequisite for the establishment of a Wireless Network:

• Estimation of the required number of Base Stations (BSs)
• Definition of site locations, which will initiate the site acquisition procedure
• Specification of network characteristics by simulating different deployment scenarios, leading to appropriate equipment selection and planning inputs
• Estimation of frequency allocation plan in order to avoid major interference cases
• Estimation of capacity efficiency based upon specific traffic requirements

According to the RF planning output an equipment cost prediction can be made. This can lead to an efficient cost control of a network deployment project and in total reduce cost due to avoidance of unpredicted overheads. Various simulation tools exist in the wireless communications market, that provide efficient and reliable radio simulation studies. However, all these simulation tools need certain input data in terms of the number of Base Stations requisite to fulfill the coverage and traffic requirements of the under design network. This input can only be provided after a preliminary radio and network dimensioning procedure. In order to fill this gap, Net Technologies’ R&D department has designed and developed a simulation tool for the ‘Dimensioning of Wireless Networks’ (D-WiNet©) that performs in a user-friendly manner all preliminary calculations needed for network dimensioning for different wireless technologies (e.g. TETRA, WiMAX, LTE). So as to perform the dimensioning analysis, various input data are required to initiate the calculations. These data are:

• Selection of wireless access technology. The tool is able to perform calculations for different wireless technologies such as TETRA, WiMAX, LTE.
• Selection of the appropriate propagation model employed in the calculations. According to the pre-selected technology, as well as operation frequency and terrain characteristics, the appropriate propagation model to perform the required calculations is defined.
• Coverage area requirements. The required radio coverage area is defined.
• Traffic requirements. According to the pre-selected technology, traffic requirements that need to be met by the calculated number of Base Stations, sectors and transceivers are defined
• Base station equipment operation data based on different manufacturers. Several input data are required to configure the Base Stations such as output power, cable losses, antenna gain, etc. These data can be either provided by the user manually or automatically by selecting specific equipments from various manufacturers’ equipment database.
• Subscriber’s terminal operation data based on different manufacturers. Several input data are required to configure the end users’ terminal such as output power, body losses, antenna gain, etc. These data can be either provided by the user manually or automatically by selecting specific equipment from various manufacturers’ equipment database.
• Cost estimation per Base Station and subscriber terminal according to each manufacturer. Manufacturers’ database is preloaded and among others consists of information regarding equipment cost.

Based on the aforementioned data, the D-WiNet© tool provides the necessary “initial conditions” for the radio planning phase. Some (but not limited to) of the most significant results produced by the D-WiNet© tool are:

1. Minimum number of base stations required to fulfill both coverage and traffic requirements
2. Minimum number of sectors required to fulfill both coverage and traffic requirements
3. Minimum number of transceivers required to fulfill traffic requirements
4. Indicative/proposed base station locations
5. Total equipment cost estimate for the establishment of each provided solution per manufacturer

In addition, useful calculations used either in the preliminary or actual radio planning phase are also been provided by the tool such as Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP), Cell Radius and Path Loss calculations. These calculations can be performed either in a stand-alone mode or as part of the whole dimensioning procedure. This is achieved due to the fact that D-WiNet© has a very simple modular structure that allows for the ability to be easily expanded in the future with modules that perform additional functionalities. Finally, it should be mentioned that for all above described sub-tools, various reports can be produced that assist not only the daily engineering tasks but the final reporting procedures as well. The simplicity of operation and multitasking ability of D-WiNet© make this software tool a valuable assistant to every radio planning engineer.

For more information about D-WiNet contact us at info@nettechn.com

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After several years we have enjoyed a real winter in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. During the first month of the year the temperature was continuously under zero and several days even reaching -20 °C. This is very nice. In Finland we are used to these hard weather conditions and all the daily activities, such as transportation, communications, schools, public organisations etc. are working properly every day of the year.Read more