You are on page 1of 54

ATOLL MEASUREMENT MODULE

Training Programme

1. SPM Calibration Concepts 2. Guidelines for CW Measurement Surveys 3. Working with CW Measurements 4. Automatic Calibration Method 5. Analysing the Calibrated Model 6. Calibration Process Summary

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 2 of 54

1. SPM Calibration Concepts


Goal

Requirements

Quality target

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 3 of 54

Goal
SPM
Macrocell statistical propagation model Based on empirical formulas + set of parameters Default values in new projects

Propagation depends on
Frequency Area type (urban, suburban, rural, etc.) Geography (relief, vegetation, climate, etc.)

Calibration is essential to accurately estimate


Coverage predictions Interferences

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 4 of 54

Requirements (1)
Accurate and recent geo data
DTM and clutter resolution <= 25m for urban areas DTM and clutter resolution <= 50m for rural areas Vector map with major roads

CW measurement surveys
Selection of representative areas for different area types Site selection for each (area type frequency band) 8 recommended (minimum 6) sites for calibration, 2 sites for verification Survey route study Perform CW surveys by fully following guidelines

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 5 of 54

Requirements (2)
Drive Test data
Possible but not recommended Conversion to CW measurements is needed

Downside
Real network is measured interferences

Directional antennas: accuracy of pattern, only a few points are relevant Several frequencies are measured Low sampling rate for each measured station (lee criterion cant be met) Signal measured over a short distance from the transmitter (model will not be calibrated for interference evaluation)

It is not recommended to use Drive Test data to calibrate a model


Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission Slide 6 of 54

Quality Target
Calibration sites
Global mean error on calibration sites < 1 dB Global standard deviation on calibration sites < 8 dB Mean error on each calibration site < 2.5 dB Standard deviation on each calibration site < 8.5 dB

Verification sites
Global mean error on verification sites < 2 dB Global standard deviation on verification sites < 8.5 dB

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 7 of 54

Training Programme

1. SPM Calibration Concepts 2. Guidelines for CW Measurement Surveys 3. Working with CW Measurements 4. Automatic Calibration Method 5. Analysing the Calibrated Model 6. Calibration Process Summary

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 8 of 54

2. Guidelines for CW Measurement Surveys


Site Preselection criteria

Survey route criteria

Radio criteria

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 9 of 54

Site Preselection Criteria


Surrounding
Very representative of area type Major clutter classes equally represented No major obstruction within a radius of 150 to 200m from the CW sites Low diffraction within a 10km radius (rural zones) Enough roads all around the site

Inspection on site
Possibility to rig omnidirectional antenna (no obstacle on any side) Panoramic photographs Report site details: precise height, coordinates
Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission Slide 10 of 54

Survey Route Criteria


Distance
Up to noise floor of the receiver Rural 10kms / Suburban 2kms / Urban 1km Equal number of samples near and far in all directions

Clutter
Routes through major clutter classes Avoid forests and lakes between transmitter and receiver

Maps
Supply vector maps of survey routes to import in Atoll Check that survey routes match roads (vector data or scanned maps)

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 11 of 54

Radio Criteria (1)


Frequency
3 contiguous unused channels for GSM 1 unused carrier for UMTS Only one channel must be measured Interferences must be checked before each drive

Equipment data
Antenna patterns + downtilt + azimuth (if not perfectly omnidirectional) Antenna height + transmit power + transmission gain and losses Receiver height + sensitivity + reception gain and losses

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 12 of 54

Radio Criteria (2)


Signal measurement
Lee criterion: at least 36 samples over 40 (for f 900 MHz) Maximum vehicle speed depends on equipments sampling rate
Sampling Rate at 900 MHz
(samples per second)

Sampling Rate at 2100 MHz


(samples per second)

Max. Speed (km/h) 60 90 120 150

45 68 90 113

100 150 200 250

Averaging samples over 40 to remove fast fading effect

Measurements after averaging


At least 5000 points per site Typical number: between 10000 and 20000 points
Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission Slide 13 of 54

Training Programme

1. SPM Calibration Concepts 2. Guidelines for CW Measurement Surveys 3. Working with CW Measurements 4. Automatic Calibration Method 5. Analysing the Calibrated Model 6. Calibration Process Summary

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 14 of 54

3. Working with CW Measurements


Creating a CW measurement path

By copying pasting X,Y, measurement

By importing any ASCII format file


Standard import as in excel Option of importing any additional information related to CW measurement points Definition and storage of import configurations

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 15 of 54

3. Working With CW Measurements


CW Measurements: Table
List of all measurement points with their attributes and additional information

Coordinates of points

Altitude, Clutter classes and heights, Distance, etc. read from the Geo data

Signal Measured values

Standard content management and tools (filters, copy-paste, etc...)

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 16 of 54

3. Working With CW Measurements


CW Measurements: Properties

For predictions along the CW measurement path, you can either use Existing path loss matrices or recalculate them by choosing a specific Propagation model

Forsk 2010

The points can be displayed according to any data contained in the measurement Table Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 17 of 54

3. Working With CW Measurements


CW Measurements: Calculations and Statistics
To calculate the predicted signal level of the reference (and any other optionally added) transmitter along the considered path. Note: This can also be run from top folders.

To compare statistics between measured and predicted signal levels. Note: This can also be run from top folders.
Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission Slide 18 of 54

3. Working With CW Measurements


CW Measurements: Filter (at the Folder level)
Distance, Measurements values and Azimuth filtering

Advanced filter on additional survey data

Clutter Classes filtering

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 19 of 54

3. Working With CW Measurements


CW Measurements: Filtering Assistant and Filtering Zones

Tool to filter the data path in an more advanced way than in the Filter dialogue available at the folder level (previous slide)

Tool to exclude some points from the measurement path according to a drawn polygon (all points within the polygon will be filtered out)

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 20 of 54

3. Working With CW Measurements


CW Measurements: Smoothing
BEFORE

Create a sliding window to smooth the measured signal strength

AFTER

Smoothing can be used to limit fading effect Smoothing keeps the number of measurement points unchanged Smoothing cannot be used to average gross CW measurements
Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission Slide 21 of 54

3. Working With CW Measurements


CW Measurements: Synchronise the Table, the Map and the CW Measurements Tool

Synchronisation: - Map - Table - CW Measurements Tool

Measured signal level


Analysis of a specific CW measurement path

Predicted signal level

Display of any attribute related to a given path

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 22 of 54

Training Programme

1. SPM Calibration Concepts 2. Guidelines for CW Measurement Surveys 3. Working with CW Measurements 4. Automatic Calibration Method 5. Analysing the Calibrated Model 6. Calibration Process Summary

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 23 of 54

4. Automatic Calibration Method


CW measurements pre-processing

Calibration / verification stations

Initial model

Calibration wizard

Final model

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 24 of 54

CW Measurements Pre-processing
Correspondence between Measurements and Geo data
Projection checking Check that CW measurements match roads

Routes checking Check that CW measurements respect planned survey routes

Surrounding checking Check with panoramic photographs that there is no obstacle Option of setting an angle filter to avoid attenuation due to obstacles

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 25 of 54

CW Measurements Pre-processing
Filtering
Available at the Folder level for each site Will be applied to all the measurement paths in that folder
Clutter Classes filtering Distance, Measurements values and Azimuth filtering

Advanced filter on additional survey data


Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Will permanently remove the points outside the filter


Slide 26 of 54

CW Measurements Pre-processing
Distance filtering (Min Distance / Max Distance)
Typical min value: 200 m (not representative of mean propagation) Typical max value: 10 km (rural area)

Signal filtering (Min Measurement / Max Measurement)


Filtering out the measurements above the receiver overload: typical value -40 dBm Filtering out the measurements below the receiver sensitivity + target standard deviation typical value: -120 + 8 = -112 dBm In order to avoid noise saturation effect in statistical results

Azimuth filtering
To remove points in a certain angle

Filtering assistant
In addition to the Filter located at the Folder level, you can define more precise filtering depending on the CW measurement file

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 27 of 54

CW Measurements Pre-processing
Filtering assistant (1/2)
Display of M = f ( 10log(D) ) Selection rectangle simultaneous Signal/Distance filtering
Signal/Distance filtering according to the selection rectangle Possibility to keep the selected points or to exclude them

Azimuth filtering on the measurement points

Selection Rectangle

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 28 of 54

CW Measurements Pre-processing
Filtering assistant (2/2)

Remaining points after the Distance, Signal level, Azimuth and Clutter classes filtering

Remove all previous filters applied

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 29 of 54

CW Measurements Pre-processing
Final filtering (1/2)
Display each CW measurement according to their Measured signal level Check that propagation loss is spatially homogeneous

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 30 of 54

CW Measurements Pre-processing
Final filtering (1/2)
Removing which points? Sudden drop of signal level Suspicious areas How? Delete from the CW measurement table Draw Filtering zones

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 31 of 54

Calibration / Verification Stations


Display measurement routes after pre-processing Calibration stations
Stations so that measurements cover the whole area Avoid keeping stations with a lot of common points

Verification stations
Stations so that measurements are inside covered area (not at edges) Major part of their covered areas are also covered by calibration stations

How many
If 8 measured stations If < 8 measured stations 6 for calibration; 2 for verification all stations used for calibration verification performed with same stations

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 32 of 54

Initial Model
General SPM formula Lmodel = K1 + K 2 .log (d ) + K 3 .log (HTxeff ) + K 4 .Diffraction Loss + K 5 .log (d ).log (HTxeff ) + K 6 .(H Rxeff ) + K7 .log (H Rxeff ) + K clutter .f (clutter ) + K hill, LOS Ki values
Let K6 = 0 Others will be calibrated

Effective antenna height


Choose method according to terrain relief Modify height from transmitter properties Can be selected by the calibration process

Recommendation if terrain is hilly


Enhanced slope at receiver method Hilly terrain correction 1-YES

Recommendation if terrain is flat


Height above average profile method Hilly terrain correction 0-NO
Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission Slide 33 of 54

Initial Model
Max distance
Forced to 0 during calibration If >0 no continuity ensured

Kclutter
= 1 is recommended Multiplying factor of clutter losses

Minimum loss
= Free space loss Avoid unrealistic values

Profiles
Radial optimisation quicker

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 34 of 54

Initial Model
Heights of Clutter taken or not into account in Diffraction If you have a Clutter Heights file
Then put 1-YES in the box

If you only have a Clutter classes File


2 approaches: If Clutter Classes file has a very fine resolution
You can put 1-YES and the tool will take into account the average heights defined in your clutter classes file you should keep all the losses per clutter class to Zero Do not take into account the average heights defined in your clutter classes file (0-NO), but instead add a Loss per Clutter class type

If Clutter Classes file resolution is low

Receiver on top of clutter


By default No Only useful for fixed receivers
Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission Slide 35 of 54

Initial Model
Clutter Classes Losses can be calibrated
You need to define the max distance from the Receiver (towards the Transmitter) for which the different clutter classes will be considered Choice between 4 types of Weighting functions (Uniform, Triangular, Logarithmic, Exponential)
f (clutter ) = Li w i
n i =1
Uniform Triangular Logarithmic Exponential

wi=f(d'i)

wi

d'i

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 36 of 54

Initial Model
Reference model
Create a Reference model containing all the previous settings Duplicate this Reference model for each calibration, and give it a relevant name When duplicated, choose an appropriate name and pay specific attention to:
Methods used for Diffraction and Effective Antenna Height calculation value of Kclutter Hilly terrain correction Heights of Clutter considered or not in Diffraction Clutter Range and associated Weighting function

Start from the Reference model for each calibration trial

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 37 of 54

Calibration Wizard
Automatic calibration overview
Algorithm based on solving a least-squares problem Calculation of the best solution in terms of root mean square : Simple, fast and reproducible procedure

RMS = 2 + M 2

First Step
Selection of calibration stations

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 38 of 54

Calibration Wizard
Second step (1/2)
Selection of the Parameters to calibrate Possibility to modify their ranges

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 39 of 54

Calibration Wizard
Second step (2/2)
Recommended ranges Constant K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K7 It is recommended to leave K6 to 0 Min 0 20 -20 0 -10 -10 Max 100 70 20 1 0 0

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 40 of 54

Calibration Wizard
Final step
Display of Before and After Parameters values and Statistics Commit will update the model you are calibrating with the new values of Ki, height and diffraction methods as well as the Clutter Losses

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 41 of 54

Final Model
Extrapolate non-calibrated clutter losses (1/2)
Non-calibrated clutter classes must not have their clutter losses left to 0 Could lead to high error where these classes are present Must be extrapolated from: Calibrated clutter losses (from other propagation model) Typical losses (here centred on the Urban class) Clutter class
Dense Urban Woodland Urban Suburban Industrial Open in urban Open Water

Typical loss
from 4 to 5 from 2 to 3 0 from -5 to -3 from -5 to -3 from -6 to -4 from -12 to -10 from -14 to -12

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 42 of 54

Final Model
Extrapolate non-calibrated clutter losses (2/2)
Centre clutter losses Relative difference between clutters kept unchanged Use K1 to balance Example:
After calibration, model centred on suburban: K1=17.4 Losses: Dense Urban = 6.5 Wood = 5.7 Urban = 3.5 Suburban = 0 After centring, new values: K1=20.9 Losses: Dense Urban = 3 Wood = 2.2 Urban = 0 Suburban = -3.5

Apply scaling factor Adapt typical losses (or calibrated ones coming from other model) to the calibrated model
-12 C 0 e n t Urban r e d 0
calibrated

4.5 Typical Losses Dense Urban MyModel Losses 3


calibrated

Open

-8
Extrapolated
Forsk 2010

Define Scaling Factor


Slide 43 of 54

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Training Programme

1. SPM Calibration Concepts 2. Guidelines for CW Measurement Surveys 3. Working with CW Measurements 4. Automatic Calibration Method 5. Analysing the Calibrated Model 6. Calibration Process Summary

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 44 of 54

5. Analysing The Calibrated Model


Statistics (1/2)
Apply the new calibrated propagation model to your CW sites

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 45 of 54

5. Analysing The Calibrated Model


Statistics (2/2)
Check the Quality Targets (Std Deviation and Mean Error values) on the Calibration and Verification sites Statistics available Globally, per Clutter class, per Transmitter and per Measurement path

Possibility to run the Statistics on all the Measurement paths, or on specific ones

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 46 of 54

5. Analysing The Calibrated Model


Correlation (to be checked on the Calibration sites)
Through the Assisted Calibration Wizard Displays, for each parameters to be calibrated (K1, K2, K3, etc.), the correlation of the variables log(D), log(Heff), Diff, etc. with the global Error Check if the Correlation values are between -0,1 and +0,1

The calibration wizard will attempt to bring the correlation as close to zero as possible. The results will be a correction value that will be added or subtracted to the initial Ki value in the model

Commit will apply the Correction values to the corresponding Ki values Notes: This will not take into account the Ki Ranges
Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission Slide 47 of 54

5. Analysing The Calibrated Model


Display Error
Recalculate the Predicted signal values (P) according to the calibrated propagation model Display the Error (P M) between the CW Measurements values (M) and the Predicted values (P)

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 48 of 54

5. Analysing The Calibrated Model


Display CW Measurements & associated Signal Level study
Use the same shading on both displays to be able to compare them For each site, one by one Check the global behaviour of calibrated model

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 49 of 54

5. Analysing The Calibrated Model


CW measurement and Profile windows
Analysis along the path

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 50 of 54

Training Programme

1. SPM Calibration Concepts 2. Guidelines for CW Measurement Surveys 3. Working with CW Measurements 4. Automatic Calibration Method 5. Analysing the Calibrated Model 6. Calibration Process Summary

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 51 of 54

Calibration Process Summary


Before starting...
Check Geographical Database quality & accuracy (DTM, clutter, vectors...) Define environments (hilly, flat / urban, rural...) to specify the required number of propagation models to be calibrated

Measurements preparation
Sites selection Survey roads Fulfil radio criteria

Make & Average measurements Create Transmitters used for measurements in the Atoll document
With exact configuration (coordinates, antenna type & height, EIRP, losses)

Analyse & Filter measurements (

Pre-processing)

Keep representative points and remove suspicious ones

Choice of calibration / verification sites


Forsk 2010 Confidential Do not share without prior permission Slide 52 of 54

Calibration Process Summary


Run the automatic calibration Display statistics and compare results with target values (Std deviation and Mean error)
for calibration sites: Global and Individual checking for verification sites: Global checking

Extrapolate non-calibrated clutter losses Analyse calibrated model


Display statistics Check correlation Maps displaying Error(P-M), Measurements & Signal Level Study, etc.

Apply the calibrated model


Apply resulting standard deviation per clutter in the clutter class description Apply the calibrated model to networks transmitters (Transmitter Properties\Propagation tab)

Forsk 2010

Confidential Do not share without prior permission

Slide 53 of 54

THANK YOU!

You might also like