Indoor Radio Planning E-Book

Morten Tolstrup

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1066

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Why is high performance indoor wireless service needed, and how is it best implemented? As the challenge of providing better service and higher data speeds and quality for mobile applications intensifies, ensuring adequate in-building and tunnel coverage and capacity is increasingly important. A unique, single-source reference on the theoretical and practical knowledge behind indoor and tunnel radio planning, this book provides a detailed overview of mobile networks systems, coverage and capacity solutions with 2G, 3G and 4G cellular system technologies as a backdrop.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Cover

Title page

Foreword by Professor Simon Saunders

Preface to the Third Edition

7 years!

Certified DAS Planning Training

More on 4G, Small Cells, Applications and RF Basics

Useful Tool?

Thanks!

Preface to the Second Edition

This is Still Not a Book for Scientists!

The Practical Approach

Keep the Originals!

Preface to the First Edition

This is Not a Book for Scientists

The Practical Approach

Acknowledgments

Second Edition

First Edition

1 Introduction

2 Overview of Cellular Systems

2.1 Mobile Telephony

2.2 Introduction to GSM (2G)

2.3 Universal Mobile Telecommunication System/3G

2.4 Introduction to HSPA

2.5 Modulation

2.6 Advanced Antenna Systems for 3G/4G

2.7 Short Introduction to 4G/LTE

3 Indoor Radio Planning

3.1 Why is In-building Coverage Important?

3.2 Indoor Coverage from the Macro Layer

3.3 The Indoor 3G/HSPA Challenge

3.4 Common 3G/4G Rollout Mistakes

3.5 The Basics of Indoor RF Planning

3.6 RF Metrics Basics

4 Distributed Antenna Systems

4.1 What Type of Distributed Antenna System is Best?

4.2 Passive Components

4.3 The Passive DAS

4.4 Active DAS

4.5 Hybrid Active DAS Solutions

4.6 Other Hybrid DAS Solutions

4.7 Indoor DAS for MIMO Applications

4.8 Using Repeaters for Indoor DAS Coverage

4.9 Repeaters for Rail Solutions

4.10 Active DAS Data

4.11 Electromagnetic Radiation, EMR

4.12 Conclusion

5 Designing Indoor DAS Solutions

5.1 The Indoor Planning Procedure

5.2 The RF Design Process

5.3 Designing the Optimum Indoor Solution

5.4 Indoor Design Strategy

5.5 Handover Considerations Inside Buildings

5.6 Elevator Coverage

5.7 Multioperator Systems

5.8 Co-existence Issues for 2G/3G

5.9 Co-existence Issues for 3G/3G

5.10 Multioperator Requirements

6 Traffic Dimensioning

6.1 Erlang, the Traffic Measurement

6.2 Data Capacity

7 Noise

7.1 Noise Fundamentals

7.2 Cascaded Noise

7.3 Noise Power

7.4 Noise Power from Parallel Systems

7.5 Noise Control

7.6 Updating a Passive DAS from 2G to 3G/4G

8 The Link Budget

8.1 The Components and Calculations of the RF Link

8.2 4G Link Budget

9 Tools for Indoor Radio Planning

9.1 Live and Learn

9.2 Diagram Tools

9.3 Radio Survey Tools

9.4 The Simple Tools and Tips

9.5 Tools for Link Budget Calculations

9.6 Tools for Indoor Predictions

9.7 The Advanced Toolkit (iBwave Unity, Design, and Mobile from iBwave.com)

9.8 Tools for DAS Verification

10 Optimizing the Radio Resource Management Parameters on Node B When Interfacing to an Active DAS, BDA, LNA or TMA

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Impact of DL Power Offset

10.3 Impact of Noise Power

10.4 Delay of the Active DAS

10.5 Impact of External Noise Power

11 Tunnel Radio Planning

11.1 The Typical Tunnel Solution

11.2 The Tunnel HO Zone

11.3 Covering Tunnels with Antennas

11.4 Radiating Cable Solutions

11.5 Tunnel Solutions, Cascaded BDAs

11.6 Tunnel Solutions, T-Systems

11.7 Handover Design inside Tunnels

11.8 Redundancy in Tunnel Coverage Solutions

11.9 Sector Strategy for Larger Metro Tunnel Projects

11.10 RF Test Specification of Tunnel Projects

11.11 Timing Issues in DAS for Tunnels

12 Covering Indoor Users From the Outdoor Network

12.1 The Challenges of Reaching Indoor Users From the Macro Network

12.2 Micro Cell Capacity

12.3 ODAS – Outdoor Distributed Antenna Systems

12.4 Digital Distribution on DAS

12.5 High Speed Rail Solutions

13 Small Cells Indoors

13.1 Femtocells

13.2 Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets)

13.3 Implementing Small Cells Indoors

13.4 Planning Examples with Femtocells

14 Application Examples

14.1 Office Building Design

14.2 Malls, Warehouses, and Large Structure Design

14.3 Warehouses and Convention Centers

14.4 Campus Area Design

14.5 Airport Design

14.6 Sports Arena Design

14.7 Final Remark on Application Examples

15 Planning Procedure, Installation, Commissioning, and Documentation

15.1 The Design Phase

15.2 The Implementation Phase

15.3 The Verification Phase

15.4 Conclusion

References

Appendix

Reference Material

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 02

Table 2.1 UMTS data rate vs processing gain

Table 2.2 Typical power levels for common control channels

Table 2.3 Typical HSDPA data rate from omni antenna radiating 10 dBm in an open area of a shopping mall

Table 2.4 HSDPA link budget example

Table 2.5 Theoretical downlink data speeds on LTE4G

Table 2.6 RF bandwidth/resource blocks showing RS transmit power

Table 2.7 Theoretical data throughput on 4G channel bandwidth MIMO

Chapter 03

Table 3.1 Showing the dB vs. ratio comparison of two signal powers

Table 3.2 The relationship between RF power levels described in dBm and Watt

Chapter 04

Table 4.1 Typical attenuation of coaxial cable

Table 4.2 Typical taps and their coupling losses

Table 4.3 MIMO antenna distance

Table 4.4 Power per carrier from an active DAS

Chapter 05

Table 5.1 Examples on free space losses (rounded to the nearest dB)

Table 5.2 Example of coverage level vs solution cost

Table 5.3 The inter-modulation components and results

Chapter 06

Table 6.1 Erlang B table, 1–50 channels, 0.01–5% grade of service

Table 6.2 Typical voice user load in Erlang

Table 6.3 Typical user load in Erlang and number of users vs TCH

Table 6.4 Showing the capacity of the three different configurations of the shopping mall

Table 6.5 Typical mobile data load sessions

Table 6.6 Typical data rates for mobile services

Chapter 07

Table 7.1 3G UL/DL performance improvement after upgrade of the passive DAS

Chapter 08

Table 8.1 Link budget example, 2G downlink (2G-900)

Table 8.2 Processing gain

Table 8.3 Examples of 2G coverage indoors on different service requirements; note that the signal level in this example is with no interference

Table 8.4 Link budget example, 2G uplink

Table 8.5 PLS constants for different environments

Table 8.6 2G 1800 example of DL service range from 2 dBi omni antenna

Table 8.7 RF bandwith (BW)/ resource blocks showing RS transmit power

Table 8.8 RF bandwidth (BW)/resource blocks showing RS transmit power

Chapter 09

Table 9.1 Traffic profile calculator for calculating the traffic load of an indoor cell

Table 9.2 Simple cascaded noise calculator using Excel

Table 9.3 Link budget tool in Excel, 2G uplink

Table 9.4 Indoor ‘model’ calculator, the first homemade tool I ever made for indoor designs

Chapter 11

Table 11.1 Sample link budget (downlink)

Chapter 14

Table 14.1 Comparing small cells vs. DAS for high capacity arenas

List of Illustrations

Chapter 02

Figure 2.1 The cell structure of a cellular radio network. Cells will be split into smaller cells as the network evolves, and the capacity need grows

Figure 2.2 GSM uses both frequency division (FDD) in a radio channel of 200 kHz and time division (TDD) in TDMA frames of eight time slots

Figure 2.3 The standard GSM900 frequency spectrum. GSM uses 124 200 kHz radio channels

Figure 2.4 The standard DCS1800 frequency spectrum, DCS, uses 374 200 kHz radio channels

Figure 2.5 Each of the 200 kHz radio channels is time divided into eight channels, using individual time slots, TSL0–7

Figure 2.6 The TDMA frame in GSM uses eight time slots, 0–7

Figure 2.7 GSM cell structure with three macro base stations, each serving three cells

Figure 2.8 Three types of network involvement of the GSM handover: intra-BSC, inter-BSC and inter-MSC handovers (HO)

Figure 2.9 Mobiles in traffic on the cell have to compensate for the delay to the base station using timing advance

Figure 2.10 If the GSM network did not used timing advance, traffic from mobiles at different distances from the base station would drift into adjacent TSL, due to the propagation delay

Figure 2.11 The network elements of the GSM network (simplified)

Figure 2.12 The two principle types of WCDMA frequency allocation: FDD and TDD

Figure 2.13 UMTS UL and DL frequency bands for the 12 FDD channels

Figure 2.14 Wideband signals are less sensitive to narrowband interference

Figure 2.15 The fading channel (dotted line) affects only a small portion of the WCDMA carrier, so the frequency-selective fading is limited

Figure 2.16 The WCDMA air channel, 5 MHz-wide modulated with 3.84 Mchips; a large portion of the power is assigned to the important CPICH channel

Figure 2.17 The spread WCDMA signal is transmitted in frames of 10 ms, enabling service on demand every 10 ms. One user in a voice session can get a higher data rate assigned in the next frame

Figure 2.18 The narrowband signal is spread using a dedicated spreading code, modulated into and transmitted over the 3G/WCDMA carrier, to be despread and restored in the receiving end using the same dedicated code

Figure 2.19 Example of three 3G/UMTS macro sites with three sectors each; all cells are using the same RF channel, but different scrambling codes

Figure 2.20 Pilot (CPICH) pollution is a big concern, when a mobile receives pilot power from distant base stations without being in handover with these base stations

Figure 2.21 The maximum data throughput on the WCDMA carrier is dependent on the orthogonality of the RF channel. Reflections and multipath signals will degrade the orthogonality, and degrade the efficiency of the RF channel

Figure 2.22 Two mobiles serviced by the same cell, using different codes, separated by individual assigned spreading codes

Figure 2.23 Admission control in 3G/UMTS will make sure that new admitted traffic in the cell will not cause the noise to increase above a preset level

Figure 2.24 3G Cell breathing is caused by the noise increase owing to the load of the cell; more load will give more noise increase and a smaller coverage footprint

Figure 2.25 Noise increase as a function of the load in the cell; above 80% load the noise increase causes the noise to rise sharply, causing the collapse of the cell

Figure 2.26 The load profile for the cell defines whether the coverage is DL or UL limited

Figure 2.27 The mobile will be in softer handover when it is able to detect more than one cell from the same node B

Figure 2.28 Mobiles will be in soft handover when detecting two or more cells from different node Bs

Figure 2.29 Soft handover events in 3G example with maximum size of active set assumed to be two cells

Figure 2.30 The power control algorithm in UMTS

Figure 2.31 The mobile access probe in UMTS

Figure 2.32 The FER target for the UMTS power control is constantly adapted to the fading channel with the speed of the mobile

Figure 2.33 The mobile power control in UMTS is so fast and efficient that it will compensate for the fading channel, and all mobiles will reach the uplink of the base station with the same level

Figure 2.34 In the outdoor environment the RF channel is multipath, having more than one signal path between the mobile and the base station. The signal phase and amplitude of these signals will not be correlated

Figure 2.35 Owing to reflections from the environment, the offset signals reaching the mobile will be the different signal components of the multipath signal, with different levels and phases

Figure 2.36 The rake receiver will be able to detect the different signals phases and amplitudes in a multipath environment. Separate phases are adjusted and the signals summed back to one signal

Figure 2.37 UMTS UTRAN and core network

Figure 2.38 There is a generic difference between Wi-Fi and mobile data service. Wi-Fi is distributed capacity via access points. Mobile data service uses centralized capacity from the base station

Figure 2.39 HSDPA deployed on the same RF channel as UMTS

Figure 2.40 Three outdoor macro base stations near the building are providing good UMTS signal level inside the building. Each of the outdoor cells is covering about a third of the floor space

Figure 2.41 The three macro base stations give full coverage, but a larger portion of the indoor floor space is covered by more than one serving cell, the gray area

Figure 2.42 HSDPA performance passive and active DAS

Figure 2.43 HSDPA deployed on the same RF channel as UMTS

Figure 2.44 Illustrating the constellation diagram of the phases of the modulation symbols in BPSK and QPSK used in WCDMA

Figure 2.45 Higher order of QAM modulation, 16QAM used in HSPA and LTE, showing on the left the idea location of the constellations, but the properties of the radio channels will impact the accuracy as shown on the right (EVM)

Figure 2.46 Highest order of QAM modulation currently in use, 64QAM used in 3G/HSPA and 4G/LTE, showing on the left the idea location of the constellations, but the properties of the radio channel (phaseshifts) will impact the accuracy as shown on the right. The relative short distances between the symbols used in 64QAM demands a really good RF channel for sufficient constellation accuracy, and will yield high throughout under good conditions

Figure 2.47 EVM, Error vector magnitude, the difference between the ideal symbol location in the IQ constellation diagram, and the real location, that has been skewed by the radio channel. This skewing has higher impact the higher order of modulation due to the proximity of the statuses

Figure 2.48 Adaptive modulation, the system will automatically adapt and use the highest possible modulation rate, thus optimizing the data speed throughout the cell. The effect makes it obvious to place antennas nearest the foreseen high load areas with many data users inside the building, maximizing the data speed for the users in the building

Figure 2.49 Single Input Single Output (SISO), the standard radio channel as we (used to) know it

Figure 2.50 Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) radio channel access mode, using one input and two outputs (Receive diversity)

Figure 2.51 Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) radio channel access mode

Figure 2.52 MIMO configuration, by using two transmitters and two receivers with independent data streams high data speeds on the air interface is possible

Figure 2.53 A typical Indoor MIMO environment, the scattering of signals of nearby objects inside a typical room, like tables, cabinets, walls etc. will be enough to provide the base of a MIMO radio link

Figure 2.54 The increase of data speed over a decade, from 2G/GSM to 4G/LTE

Figure 2.55 4G/LTE Utilizes advanced antenna technologies – MIMO, adaptive modulations schemes and complex modulation OFDM/SC-FDMA in order to maximize spectrum utilization and maximize performance

Figure 2.56 A simplified diagram illustrating the principle of the E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Radio Access Network) logical links, not the physical links between the elements of the radio access network in LTE

Figure 2.57 A simplified diagram illustrating the principle of the E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Radio Access Network) logical links, not the physical links between the elements of the radio access network in LTE

Figure 2.58 The 4G/LTE RF carrier can be deployed in different bandwidths, so the network operator can utilize and fir it into existing spectrum. LTE can be deployed as TDD of FDD

Figure 2.59 Compared to the traditional FDM channel spacing, orthogonal spaced sub carriers used in 4G/LTE (OFDM) is a much more efficient use of spectrum

Figure 2.60 OFDM – OFDMA, each block represents one burst, each shade of gray, one user. OFDMA enables the usage of all available capacity, so users can share the available bandwidth

Figure 2.61 In OFDMA, each sub-carrier carries unique information, in SC-FDMA the information is spread over multiple sub-carriers

Figure 2.62 LTE slot, Resource element and Resource block structure

Figure 2.63 The different user’s traffic is assigned certain sequences of recourse blocks, a minimum of two in so called scheduling blocks. This is a very dynamic and adaptable way of allocating the resources in the cell and maximizes the throughput

Figure 2.64 The LTE system inserts certain reference signals in some of the resource elements in order to aid cell detection, evaluation and synchronization

Figure 2.65 The relationship between RF channel bandwidth, transmission bandwidth configuration and transmission bandwidth

Figure 2.66 The ‘DC carrier’ for cell selection is placed in the center of the 4G carrier, no matter the bandwidth. There is the same basic signaling structure around the center as well

Figure 2.67 LTE uses random access procedure, using cell selection, random access preambles like those we know from other mobile systems like 3G

Figure 2.68 Both intra and inter-RAT handovers must be supported in order to assure handover between 4G and 3G (and 2G) to support heterogeneous networks

Figure 2.69 Simplified handover example of intra-RAT 4G handover with ‘A3 event’ and inter-RAT handover with ‘B1 event’ from 4G to 3G

Figure 2.70 Intra-RAT 4G handover signaling flow in the 4G network

Figure 2.71 Physical resource blocks (PRBs) vs RF channel bandwidth

Figure 2.72 4G hotspots, and MIMO/modulation schemes

Figure 2.73 4G frequency re-use in 4G can be fractional reuse or soft reuse

Chapter 03

Figure 3.1 The traffic in the area covered by macro sites is more than doubled when implementing indoor coverage

Figure 3.2 Macro sites rely mainly on reflections in urban and suburban environments to provide indoor service

Figure 3.3 Typical multipath radio fading channel

Figure 3.4 Orthogonality affects the efficiency of the 3G RF channel

Figure 3.5 The degradation of the 3G channel, and power load when servicing indoor users from the macro layer

Figure 3.6 Three 3G cells from the macro layer provide excellent indoor service, but most of the building is in soft handover

Figure 3.7 A well-designed indoor solution will be dominant throughout the building, but not leak access signal to the surrounding network

Figure 3.8 The topmost floors in a high-rise building pose specific challenges to isolation due to powerful macro signals. The key is dominate at the border of the building perimeter, in this example using directional antennas mounted in the corners pointing towards the center of the building

Figure 3.9 The graph shows how efficiently the signal is contained inside the building, with minimum leakage to the outside macro network

Figure 3.10 Owing to different levels of interference inside the building, it is wise to adjust design levels accordingly, dividing the building into different zones, each zone having individual design levels; this can save cost and maintain RF performance

Figure 3.11 Amplifier and gain

Figure 3.12 Attenuator and loss

Figure 3.13 Four-way splitter

Figure 3.14 DAS delay and ‘ghost’ mobile, real location vs. delays, espicially when digital functions are used in the DAS

Figure 3.15 Cell size vs. delays in the DAS

Chapter 04

Figure 4.1 Coax power splitters/dividers

Figure 4.2 Power distribution of a typical 1:3 splitter

Figure 4.3 Taps, adjustable and fixed

Figure 4.4 Typical configurations of tappers on a distributed antenna system to keep a uniform coverage level for all antennas over a large distance

Figure 4.5 RF attenuator

Figure 4.6 Standard 50 Ω dummy load or terminator

Figure 4.7 RF circulator

Figure 4.8 Circulator used for protecting a transmitter against reflected power

Figure 4.9 Circulator used as a duplexer, separating Rx and Tx from a combined Rx/Tx line

Figure 4.10 A 3 dB coupler

Figure 4.11 A 3 dB coupler used as a two-port combiner

Figure 4.12 Combining two TRX and splitting out to a distributed antenna system

Figure 4.13 The typical filters used to separate frequency bands: diplexer and triplexer. Also, the duplexer used to separate uplink and downlink

Figure 4.14 Typical passive DAS diagram with the basic information and data

Figure 4.15 Example of a pure active dual band DAS for large buildings; up to 6 km from the base station and antennas with no loss

Figure 4.16 Example of a pure active DAS for small buildings; up to 400 m distance between the base station and the antennas with no loss

Figure 4.17 Optically distributed DAS for multiservice solutions

Figure 4.18 Example of a hybrid active DAS, a mix of active elements and distribution, combined with a passive DAS

Figure 4.19 Example of a hybrid DAS, a passive system with a BDA added

Figure 4.20 Example of a hybrid DAS, a passive system with active DAS in the remote part of the building

Figure 4.21 RF coverage in the building with the rooftop macro is low due to the need for reflections to provide indoor coverage

Figure 4.22 Tapping off a fraction (0.1 dB) of the power to the outdoor sector is enough to feed an active indoor DAS, improving the utilization of the base station

Figure 4.23 The typical MIMO deployment; we must watch out for antenna separation, and at the same time make sure both antennas have good SNR and the delay spread of the DAS is not too big relative to the two signal paths on the DAS. The ideal antenna separation distance is dependant on the frequency/wavelength and also the type of local environment

Figure 4.24 Example of layout of two clusters of MIMO antennas; at first glance it seems like a good idea, however we must watch out for potential ‘near-far’ issues

Figure 4.25 Example of layout of two clusters of MIMO antennas; at first glance it seems like a good idea, however we must watch out for potential ‘near-far’ issues

Figure 4.26 X-pol antenna in one Radome – Omni and directional

Figure 4.27 Floor plan (office) with MIMO and X-pol, same MIMO performace in 360° service area

Figure 4.28 Floor plan (office) with MIMO “overlap” of two SISO antennas

Figure 4.29 Floor plan (large conference hall) with MIMO “overlap”

Figure 4.30 An example of a Passive MIMO DAS; in real life Passive DAS would rarely be considered for supporting MIMO, especially in large indoor DAS deployments

Figure 4.31 The typical Pure Active DAS for MIMO - the two MIMO paths are kept separate when transported in the Active DAS, by means of separate intermediate frequencies for Analogue DAS, or separate data streams for digital active DAS

Figure 4.32 The typical Hybrid DAS for MIMO operation; a mix of an active DAS connected to a Passive ‘twin’ DAS after the remote units

Figure 4.33 Principle terms of a typical repeater application designed to provide indoor coverage and Capacity

Figure 4.34 The different repeater options in terms of band support, as compared with the set up in Figure 4.33

Figure 4.35 Noise impact on the UL of the Donor cell, the noise power generated on the UL of the Donor Cell will cause UL cell shrinkage

Figure 4.36 Noise impact of a faulty repeater on the Donor cell and throughout the macro network, if a repeater generates too much UL noise power, a wide spread area of the macro network can be impacted on the UL

Figure 4.37 Repeater deployments on a train; small passive DAS fed by a repeater. Also a mobile Wi-Fi access point is supporting Wi-Fi users inside the train, utilizing mobile data as backhaul

Figure 4.38 Input/output signal of an amplifier vs time

Figure 4.39 Output signal of an amplifier, over the whole operating bandwidth

Figure 4.40 The P1dB compression point

Figure 4.41 The IP3, third-order intercept point

Figure 4.42 The two-tone test of IM3

Figure 4.43 Harmonic distortion

Figure 4.44 Spurious emissions from a transmitter

Figure 4.45 The MTBF curve – ‘the bathtub curve' – of distribution of failures

Figure 4.46 Three mobiles in a typical indoor environment with a centrally placed Omni directional antenna connected to an indoor DAS that services Operator A, and one outdoor cell also providing service from Operator B

Figure 4.47 The uplink signal level in the indoor DAS described in the three scenarios

Figure 4.48 Mobile transmit power on passive and active DAS

Chapter 05

Figure 5.1 One way of structuring the indoor planning process

Figure 5.2 Initial RF survey measurement routes

Figure 5.3 Example of channel scan measurement on 2G CH1-33

Figure 5.4 Typical RF survey route, measuring in the same area as the proposed antenna location

Figure 5.5 It is a physical constant that each time you double the distance, the free space loss is increased by 6dB

Figure 5.6 The ‘1 m test’ is a fast way to estimate the antenna power

Figure 5.7 The RF planner needs to adapt to the reality of the building

Figure 5.8 In order to provide ‘full coverage’, antennas need to be placed with a certain coverage overlap

Figure 5.9 In reality the coverage from a typical indoor antenna will be uneven in different directions, due to the service of different environments

Figure 5.10 The ‘corridor effect’: the corridor in the building will distribute the RF signal

Figure 5.11 The inside of the building will be divided into ‘fire cells’, separated by heavy walls (as marked on the floor plan above) to contain any potential fire. These walls will attenuate the RF signal, and in most cases you will need an antenna within each of these ‘fire zones’

Figure 5.12 A device and its efficiency (power loss). Antennas also have loss and will lose some power as a result of this

Figure 5.13 Isotopic omni antenna directivity vs. directivity of a 1/2 λ dipole antenna

Figure 5.14 Example of horizontal and vertical directivity plots of omni and directional antennas

Figure 5.15 Omni antennas with different gains (directivity) in a large open space

Figure 5.16 The building will ‘shape’ the directivity of the antennas, masking out most of the ‘gain’

Figure 5.17 Horizontal/vertical directivity plots of a typical directional indoor DAS antenna

Figure 5.18 The same building implemented using two different strategies. The uniform coverage in the right example with perfect indoor dominance is to be preferred

Figure 5.19 Often it is possible to interleave the layout of the antennas, in order to utilize the leakage between adjacent floors and to fill in the ‘dead spots’ Designing Indoor DAS Solutions 231

Figure 5.20 The results of the interleaving coverage are often sufficient to provide full dominance in the building

Figure 5.21 Measurement of floor attenuation on 1800 MHz

Figure 5.22 This building is covered 98%. This is verified by measurements, but the problem is that the part of the building with low signal (marked black) is located in areas with heavy users. The users are not very happy with the performance

Figure 5.23 This building is also covered 98%. The RF designer has made sure that the areas with heavy users are covered and has placed the ‘dead spots’ in low traffic areas, thus providing perception of a quality solution

Figure 5.24 Indoor coverage radius and area vs design level from omni antenna

Figure 5.25 Floor plan with no detailed information except for the outline of the rooms and their locations

Figure 5.26 Floor plan with ‘prediction plot’ of the downlink RF signal level, well within the required –75 to –85 dBm minimum signal level

Figure 5.27 This version of the floor plan contains actual information about the usage of the individual offices and expected hotspots, unlike Figure 5.25

Figure 5.28 Floor plan with the DAS design, knowing the details of the hotspots in the building

Figure 5.29 Antenna placements in a shopping mall

Figure 5.30 The typical 2G handover scenario in a building

Figure 5.31 The typical 3G soft handover scenario in a building

Figure 5.32 The typical way to provide elevator coverage

Figure 5.33 Two options for covering the elevator

Figure 5.34 Two antennas ‘back to back’ might work as a passive repeater, but it takes a high donor signal

Figure 5.35 Basic elevator link calculation

Figure 5.36 Passive Repeater System for larger elevator shafts

Figure 5.37 An elevator solution with two mobiles, one serviced by the elevator system, the other by a macro base station

Figure 5.38 PIM power in relation to the two fundamental frequencies. Note the bandwidth of the PIM

Figure 5.39 PIM power in relation to input power. PIM signals below the noise floor of a system will not be a big concern – therefore it is recommended to calculate the PIM to stay below the noise figure of the system

Figure 5.40 PIM performance of connectors vs. PIM product power relative to carrier power, dBc

Figure 5.41 Three operators combined using discrete passive components

Figure 5.42 Three operators combined using a cavity combiner

Figure 5.43 Example of second- and third-order IMD products

Figure 5.44 Spurious emissions from a transmitter

Figure 5.45 Example of second-order IMD products from 2G-900 hitting 3G UL

Figure 5.46 Example of third-order IMD products from 2G-1800 hitting the 3G uplink

Figure 5.47 Channel allocation on 3G

Figure 5.48 Typical channel usage of two operators with 3G/HSPA deploys, and a third channel for future use

Figure 5.49 Adjacent interference problems in a building with two operators on separate DAS systems

Figure 5.50 No adjacent interference problem in a building with two operators on the same DAS systems

Figure 5.51 Operators might offset their WCDMA frequency to solver the ACIR problem

Chapter 06

Figure 6.1 The Danish statistician Agner Krarup Erlang

Figure 6.2 Trunking gain when combining the resources into the same cell

Figure 6.3 Trunking gain when combining different daily traffic profiles into the same cell

Figure 6.4 Load sharing by combining different weekly traffic profiles into one cell

Figure 6.5 Two floor shopping mall with three sectors on each of the two floors

Figure 6.6 Two floor shopping mall with two sectors, one on each of the two floors

Figure 6.7 Two floor shopping mall with one sector for both of the floors, serving the whole mall with the capacity of one cell

Figure 6.8 A base station concept used to provide multiple RF services in four buildings from one central location

Figure 6.9 The accelerated increase in mobile data consumption is mainly driven by smart devices and applications. Source: Ericsson (2012).

Figure 6.10 Wi-Fi and small cell offload is very useful to provide increased network capacity and is sometimes vital in order to cope with high data loads

Figure 6.11 Large office building designed in coverage areas that can be combined into various combinations of sectors, is a good strategy so you can divide the DAS into more sectors in the future

Figure 6.12 The different areas in this capacity layout are now divided into sectors (cells) by joining (simulcasting) the cell over multiple DAS areas. We are using Wi-Fi offload on a separate layer, and are observant of the handover zones, especially in the field

Figure 6.13 When designing a multi-technology system, 3G–4G, you need to appreciate the different data speeds and the different footprints of the various services. You need to have a clear strategy regarding what service you want ‘push’ to a specific layer of technology

Figure 6.14 Designing for data capacity is very dependent on both the average and expected peak load, and on whether you need to support 1:1 real-time applications

Chapter 07

Figure 7.1 2G receiver with 4 dB NF

Figure 7.2 2G 30 dB/10 dB NF amplifier

Figure 7.3 2G 30 dB/10 dB NF amplifier

Figure 7.4 A coax cable with 30 dB loss

Figure 7.5 Cascaded system, with the passive cable as the first stage

Figure 7.6 Cascaded system, with the passive cable as the last stage

Figure 7.7 The pure active DAS: amplifiers located close to the antennas

Figure 7.8 Pre-amplifier solution, −90 dBm input signal

Figure 7.9 Signal at the input of the pre-amplifier solution

Figure 7.10 The output of the amplifier, signal and raised noise floor

Figure 7.11 Signal at the output of the cable; the signal and raised noise floor are attenuated by the loss of the cable

Figure 7.12 It is the SNR of the signal that is important for the performance, not the absolute signal level

Figure 7.13 Two parallel noise sources combined into one output

Figure 7.14 2G passive DAS with 26 dB loss to the three most remote antennas

Figure 7.15 3G on the passive DAS designed for 2G, now with excessive (37 dB) loss to the three most remote antennas

Figure 7.16 3G upgrade by deploying an amplifier at a central point in the system

Figure 7.17 3G upgrade by deploying the amplifier at the antenna

Figure 7.18 Small active DAS, with amplifiers (RU) close to the antennas and no loss

Figure 7.19 Example of a passive DAS, designed for 2G-900

Figure 7.20 Updated DAS servicing for both 2G and 3G

Chapter 08

Figure 8.1 Principles of the link budget (DL)

Figure 8.2 The components of the link budget

Figure 8.3 Graphical example of 2G DL link budget for voice service. EiRP, equivalent isotopic radiated power; SNR, signal-to-noise ratio.

Figure 8.4 Graphical example of 2G UL link budget for voice service. EiRP, equivalent isotopic radiated power.

Figure 8.5 Graphical example of 3G DL common pilot channel (CPICH) link budget

Figure 8.6 Components of the indoor link budget

Figure 8.7 Free space losses 1–50 m

Figure 8.8 Indoor ‘model’ calculator in Excel, the first homemade tool I ever made for indoor designs

Figure 8.9 Example of a path loss slope, based on measurement samples

Figure 8.10 Path loss based on PLS for a dense office, 1–50 m

Figure 8.11 Difference between free space loss and path loss based on PLS for dense office

Figure 8.12 Physical resource blocks (PRBs) vs. 4G CH bandwidth

Figure 8.13 Example of coverage difference using different 4G channel bandwidths. Aiming for the same RSRP DL level will give different coverage radii due to the different transmitted RSRP

Chapter 09

Figure 9.1 Typical diagram of a small passive DAS, done with MS Visio

Figure 9.2 File collaboration platform and indoor design ecosystem – exchange files between desktop tool and mobile platform while keeping track of changes and project revisions

Figure 9.3 Use a tablet or smartphone to capture site survey information by attaching pictures, video, voice, and text notes to geo-located annotations and to draw mark-up notes directly onto the floor plan

Figure 9.4 Use a tablet or smartphone to create a Small Cell or preliminary DAS remote design directly from the field

Figure 9.5 Schematic diagram of a small section of the DAS – power levels at the input and output of each component are calculated in dBm

Figure 9.6 Imported floor plan, scaled to size, with the diagram of the DAS on top; it automatically calculates cable distance, losses and installation costs, path loss slope (PLS) contours, and visual link budget

Figure 9.7 Example of installation mock-up, which is very useful for the installation process

Figure 9.8 The in-building network component database

Figure 9.9 The same DAS as shown in Figure 9.6; this is simulated in three dimensions (obviously, predictions are in color in real life)

Figure 9.10 Design of an arena, including the seating area as well as concessions and office area

Figure 9.11 Design of a complex train/subway station, including platforms, interconnecting tunnels, and various floor heights

Figure 9.12 Design of a building campus or city block, including a combination of indoor and outdoor transmitters and small cells

Figure 9.13 A screen dump in ‘spectrum mode’ of the RF analyzer, measuring two 3G channels

Figure 9.14 For the same measurement as in Figure 9.13, this screen shows the decoding of one selected 3G carrier

Figure 9.15 Screen dump in ‘spectrum mode’ of the RF analyzer, measuring a 20 MHz 4G channel

Figure 9.16 For the same measurement type as in Figure 9.15, this screen shows the decoding of the 4G carrier, power levels etc.

Chapter 10

Figure 10.1 3G base station with external TMA or LNA; the noise offset on the UL and the power offset will affect the performance of the noise and power control

Figure 10.2 The 3G access burst principle: PWR_INIT = CPICH_Tx_Power – CPICH_RSCP + UL_Interference + UL_Required_CI, where PWR_Init = calculated initial MS power, for the first access burst; CPICH_Tx_Power = the BS broadcasts the transmitted CPICH power, so the MS can estimate the path loss; CPICH_RSCP = received CPICH level at the MS; UL_Interfeerence = UL interference level at the BS, which the MS UL signal has to overcome; UL_Required_CI = the required CI on the UL

Figure 10.3 The principle of the admission control function in 3G

Figure 10.4 Noise normograph, an easy way to calculate noise power

Chapter 11

Figure 11.1 The typical tunnel coverage system

Figure 11.2 RF Penetration losses into the train, seen from the top of the train

Figure 11.3 The typical HO scenario at the entrance/exit of a tunnel

Figure 11.4 One possible solution (B) of the HO zone problem (A) at the entrance of a typical tunnel

Figure 11.5 Tunnel DAS system using antennas in the tunnel sections

Figure 11.6 Tunnel with train – 4λ clearance is needed as a minimum if the RF signal from a yagi antenna is to get past the train. Radiating cable is best aligned at the center of the windows to maximize the signal. Remember to stay clear of the ‘kinetic envelope’ of the train, to avoid disaster.

Figure 11.7 A typical section of a metro tunnel DAS, using radiating cable in the tunnels and antennas in the station area

Figure 11.8 Radiating cable, principle

Figure 11.9 Fading and variance of the signal in a tunnel can be high, so good design margins are recommended

Figure 11.10 Tunnel with train. A radiating cable feeds the tunnel, covering the station area with a single antenna at the end of the cable. The system is based on a single remote unit (RU) in a DAS

Figure 11.11 Radiating cable fed using in-lineBDAs (cascaded system), and the corresponding RF signal

Figure 11.12 Real-life measurement of a cascaded BDA system in a metro tunnel

Figure 11.13 Radiating cable fed by a ‘T-system’; the signal is distributed via optical fiber and fed via a ‘daisy-chained’ optical fiber system to each Remote Unit

Figure 11.14 Measurement of the 2G-900 signal on radiating cable fed by a ‘T-system’, optically distributed BDAs/Remote Units

Figure 11.15 Yagi antenna distributed tunnel system

Figure 11.16 HO zone designed with termination of the radiating cables with yagi antennas

Figure 11.17 Yagi HO zone designed with a clear-cut handover margin

Figure 11.18 HO zone designed with overlapping radiating cable from each cell

Figure 11.19 HO zone in a tunnel implemented with radiating cable distribution, connecting two cells A and B using a coupler/attenuator

Figure 11.20 Examples of ‘Ring feed' types of redundancy on a passive DAS

Figure 11.21 Redundancy principles for a multi cell tunnel solution

Figure 11.22 Metro tunnel solution sector plan with one cell per station and the handovers occurring right at the entrance/exit to/from the station

Figure 11.23 Metro tunnel solution sector plan with one cell per station and the handovers occurring between the stations in the tunnel

Figure 11.24 Metro tunnel solution sector plan with one cell per station, but at the stations the rail area and platform have secondary coverage from the cell from the preceding station

Figure 11.25 Metro tunnel solution sector plan with one cell covering more than one station, typically for low capacity solutions

Figure 11.26 Metro tunnel solution sector plan with one cell covering the track end to end, each station has separate cells that are gateways to the outdoor macro network

Figure 11.27 Metro tunnel coverage solution with distributed base stations

Figure 11.28 High Power, modular distributed antenna system ideal for tunnel applications

Figure 11.29 A typical scenario of a tunnel DAS and extended coverage just outside the tunnel interfacing to the nearby macro. This scenario can create a timing problem

Figure 11.30 A short road tunnel covered with a single repeater

Chapter 12

Figure 12.1 A macro base station will rely on reflections and high losses to reach users inside buildings

Figure 12.2 Example of micro cellular deployment utilizing street furniture, in this case lamp-posts for antenna and base station locations

Figure 12.3 Examples of antenna locations applicable for micro cell deployment

Figure 12.4 The antennas installed at street level will be affected by the ‘Canyon Effect’ masking directivity to the antenna footprint

Figure 12.5 Typical micro cell structure, one central controller connected to a number of micro cells in a fixed sector allocation

Figure 12.6 Example of Micro cell cluster, 10 micro cells in a fixed cluster servicing an area, each micro cells capacity is fixed to the individual service area

Figure 12.7 A simplified example of a micro DAS cluster served by a central base station where all the base station resources are located. This is ideal for flexible sector plans and benefits from simulcast options where several remote units might service the same sector, increasing the footprint of that cell. The DAS can easily be upgraded to support several services at the same time

Figure 12.8 Several DAS remote units simulcasting the same sector, resulting in a high utilization of the network recourses; and hotspots can easily be served with high capacity

Figure 12.9 Comparing the dynamic range of digital DAS (stippled line) with the dynamic range of analogue DAS (solid line)

Figure 12.10 An area of a city where the macro network struggles to reach indoor users and the data service offered is insufficient. Problems can be solved by ODAS, adding both the needed coverage level and capacity. The ODAS simulcast configuration could even include some of the macro sites

Figure 12.11 A high speed rail line covered with distributed base stations alongside the track, with potential HO problems in the overlap and potential issues with the Doppler effect

Figure 12.12 A high speed rail line covered with an outdoor DAS some few hundred meters from the track. The cells are extended over more remote units, limiting the number of cells – thus limiting the number of handovers and the possibility for HO failure. The remote units RU2 and RU3 will simulcast both cells offset in level, extending the HO zone to the required size with a well defined HO margin

Figure 12.13 Owing to the velocity of the train the frequency from the base station relative to the users onboard and vice versa will be slightly offset

Chapter 13

Figure 13.1 Small cells, femto, pico, and micro cells

Figure 13.2 Pico/femto, low-power base station with internal antenna

Figure 13.3 Two pico cells covering an office floor

Figure 13.4 Two 2G pico cells with overlapping coverage and capacity trunking

Figure 13.5 Pico cell overlap on 3G creates a soft handover (HO) zone

Figure 13.6 Pico cells causing ‘inter-cell interference’, degrading the HSPA performance in the building

Figure 13.7 The coverage of a single pico cell can be extended, using active DAS to distribute the signal over a wider area

Figure 13.8 Pico cells distributed via a small active DAS over three floors

Figure 13.9 where multiple layers of mobile technologies, macro and various types of small cells and Wi-Fi makes up a seamless wireless network

Figure 13.10 Residential area – femto principle with supporting network

Figure 13.11 Small office single femtocell deployment

Figure 13.12 Medium-sized office, with deployment of two femtocells to provide sufficient coverage and capacity

Figure 13.13 Large office – multiple femtocells deployed to provide sufficient coverage and capacity

Chapter 14

Figure 14.1 Small – medium office example

Figure 14.2 Large office building designed in coverage areas that can be combined into various combinations of sectors. This is a good strategy because you can divide the DAS into more sectors in the future

Figure 14.3 Large high-rise building – open cavities and antenna placements using many low power and symmetrically placed antennas to limit ‘spill-over’ between the floors

Figure 14.4 Large shopping mall example showing a single level with open cavities, internal streets and a few large prime shops divided into three sectors on the level shown. Other levels might have different layout and sector plans

Figure 14.5 A large open convention center with open halls – back-to-back antennas are deployed to maximize isolation between sectors

Figure 14.6 A typical layout of an airport, with gate areas, shopping, office building and nearby parking

Figure 14.7 A stadium is a 3D complex, and this needs to be carefully considered in both the capacity and coverage planning

Figure 14.8 The different areas in this capacity layout are now divided into sectors (cells) by joining (simulcasting) the cell over multiple DAS areas. We are using Wi-Fi offload on a separate layer, and are observant of the HO zones, especially in the field

Figure 14.9 Small cells on a sports arena. This is one possible option but the capacity is statically assigned to areas so that cells are permanently assigned to service a fixed area. Utilizing a DAS on a sports arena will give you the flexibility and upgrade path to change your sector (cell) allocation to the different areas. You could even have independent 2G, 3G and 4G plans

Figure 14.10 The theoretical relationship between the number of implemented sectors/cells in a stadium and the total capacity

Figure 14.11 A generic example of antenna locations in a cross-section of a typical arena, showing seating areas as wells as ‘back rooms’ and stairs for access to the various levels

Figure 14.12 Generic example of antenna locations in a typical arena (cross-section), showing opposite sides of the arena and the field, which is often the most challenging area to obtain sufficient isolation

Figure 14.13 Example of overlapping 2G cells in a sports arena. The cells are separated by frequency, and capacity resources can be shared due to large overlaps of the 2G cells

Figure 14.14 Example of overlapping cells. An old 2G design will struggle on 3G/4G due to the large overlaps between cells

Figure 14.15 Example of two overlapping cells (2100 MHz) fed from two different corner-mounted directional antennas symmetrically installed in the stadium. The figure only shows one side of the arena, two identical antennas, aligned towards each other

Figure 14.16 Example of two sectors, utilizing ‘backfire’ isolation. CI, co-channel interference

Figure 14.17 ‘Ideal’ arena design, with ‘backfire’ cells, and fill-in omni in-between. Two sectors to service the field area can be switched on during concerts, but will be non-operational during normal sports events to limit interference with other cells

Chapter 15

Figure 15.1 Simplified project flow and required documentation

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Pages

i

ii

iii

iv

xvii

xviii

xix

xx

xxi

xxii

xxiii

xxiv

xxv

xxvi

1

2

3

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

265

266

267

268

269

270

271

272

273

274

275

276

277

278

279

280

281

282

283

284

285

286

287

288

289

290

291

292

293

294

295

296

297

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

305

306

307

308

309

310

311

312

313

314

315

316

317

318

319

320

321

322

323

324

325

327

328

329

330

331

332

333

334

335

336

337

338

339

340

341

342

343

344

345

346

347

348

349

350

351

352

353

354

355

356

357

358

359

360

361

362

363

364

365

366

367

368

369

370

371

372

373

374

375

376

377

378

379

383

384

385

386

387

388

389

390

391

392

393

394

395

396

397

398

399

400

401

402

403

404

405

406

407

408

409

410

411

412

413

414

415

416

417

418

419

420

421

423

424

425

426

427

428

429

430

431

432

433

434

435

436

437

438

440

441

442

443

444

445

446

447

448

449

450

451

452

453

454

455

456

457

458

459

460

461

462

463

464

465

466

467

468

469

470

471

472

473

474

475

476

477

478

479

480

481

482

483

484

485

486

487

488

489

490

491

492

493

495

496

497

498

499

500

501

502

503

504

505

506

507

508

509

510

511

512

513

514

515

516

517

518

519

520

521

522

523

524

525

526

527

528

529

530

531

532

533

534

535

536

537

538

539

540

541

542

543

544

545

546

547

548

549

550

551

552

553

554

555

556

557

558

559

560

561

562

563

564

565

39

569

570

571

572

573

574

575

577

576

578

579

581

582

583

INDOOR RADIO PLANNING

A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR 2G, 3G AND 4G

Third Edition

Morten Tolstrup

www.ib-planning.com, Denmark

This edition first published 2015© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Registered officeJohn Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom

For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com.

The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for

ISBN: 9781118913628

Foreword by Professor Simon Saunders

The compelling need for in-building wireless systems derives directly from the needs of the people who use wireless – and that means, increasingly, all of us. We spend most of our time inside buildings, whether in the office or at home, at work or at play. Typically at least two-thirds of voice traffic on cellular networks originates or terminates inside buildings, and for data services the proportion is still higher – probably in excess of 90%.

Yet for too long, most indoor service has been provided from outdoor systems requiring high transmit powers, major civil engineering works and using a relatively large amount of spectrum to serve a given traffic level. This makes great sense for providing economical initial coverage to a large number of buildings and for ‘joining the dots’ to enable wide area mobility. However, ‘outside-in’ thinking is ‘inside-out’, from a technical and practical viewpoint, when attempting to serve users with very high quality and coverage expectations, and for delivering high data rate services within limited spectrum. Buildings offer their own remedy to these challenges, by providing signal isolation from nearby systems and enabling the fundamental principle of cellular systems – that unlimited capacity is available from limited spectrum if the engineering is done right.

Despite these compelling benefits, in-building wireless systems have hitherto been a poor relation of the ‘mainstream’ macrocellular network operations. With relatively few enthusiasts and a wide range of different favoured techniques for system design and installation, the field has at times resembled a hobby rather than a professional activity. The industry desperately needs best-practice techniques to be shared amongst a wider base of individuals to serve the growing demand – there are not enough engineers for the buildings requiring service – and for these techniques to become standardised in order to drive down costs, improve reliability and drive volumes.

Given this background, I welcome the publication of this book. Morten Tolstrup is a leading practitioner in the field and an engaging and entertaining public speaker. He has written a truly practical and helpful guide to indoor radio planning, which will enable a much wider audience to convert their skills from the old world of two-dimensional networks, comprising macro cells alone, to the new world of three-dimensional hierarchical networks comprising macro,