Radio-frequency behavior in the GSM band at Porto

J. P. Carmo
Polytechnic Institute of Bragana Campus de Santa Apolnia 5301-854 Bragana, Portugal jcarmo@ieee.org

Abstract This paper compares the behavior of a mobile link in an urban environment with the predicted values, obtained by three theoretical models. The measurements were taken during a test-drive made in the main business and commercial zone of Porto, named Centro. The measured data at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz were compared with model predictions. Globally, all of the three models agree very well with propagation conditions of the environment.

In order to keep the power above the -85 dBm, the MS made systematically handovers. This can be observed in the collected data from the complete test-drive shown in Figure 2. The changes on traces reflects the instants when the handovers were made. According to the operator, the -85 dBm is the minimum power that assures a call with an acceptable subjective quality.

I.

INTRODUCTION

In the last decade, the mobile communications had a significant social and technological growing. This leads operators to offer services with a excellent quality of service (QoS), and a consequently traffic increasing due to users solicitation. This result in system saturation, if nothing is made to deal with it. Consequently we assist to a degradation of QoS. To maintain normal QoS, the operators are in the necessity to increase theirs capacity. This increasing is achieved by two ways: i) increasing the service area, and ii) increasing the capacity, maintaining fixed the service area. For both types of expansion, the propagation characteristics are aspects of specialised studies. Due to dynamic behaviour of the radio channel and users mobility, difficulties concerned with channel characterisation arises. Phenomenon, whose analysis little time ago, had a purely academic value, became in the concern of operators. In this paper, it is presented the results of the work, after using the three well known prediction models in the literature, theirs confrontation of measured with predicted data, and conclusions. II. MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES

Figure 1. Complete test-drive path.

III.

THEORY

In general terms, the following equations applies to is to denote the path loss, due to its simplicity and fast implementation: PL(d)=A+Blog10(d) [dB] The power at MS is pR(d)=pTd -ngn(,)gmax [W] where the following quantities are: d: p R: pT: : n: distance [m] from fixed station (FS); power [W] at MS; power [W] injected at the feeder of the FS antenna; feeder-loss at FS (transmission lines, wave guides); propagation factor (normally > 2); (2) (1)

The measurements were made in collaboration with a portuguese mobile operator. It was used a mobile station (MS), a GPS receiver coupled to a laptop running TEMS from ERICSON. This last one integrates all the components in the setup. The complete test-drive path illustrated in the Figure 1 was reconstructed in MATLAB environment from the GPSs coordinates. Each collected sample is a temporal mean, which was obtained in a 6 through 7 seconds window. The MS operating at the frequency of 900 MHz and moving with speeds of 60 km/h, travels 300 through 350 wavelengths [m], per each second.

- gn(,): FS antenna normalised gain, considering the azimute and elevation ; - gmax: maximum gain of FS antenna.

1) The first model is based on regression lines (RL) using minimum square criterion, obtaining Areg and Breg parameters, resulting in several logarithmic lines PL(d)=Areg+Breglog10(d) that reasonably describes the propagation behaviour of the zone under study. These models are very easiest to compute and integrated in commercial informatic tools for prevision. 2) Hata-COST 231 model is well described in the literature, not being described on this paper. 3) Okumura based model was obtained from curves in Figure 41(c) and Figure 41(d) in [13], to 900 MHz and 1500 MHz, respectively. The value of 1500 MHz was the most close to the 1800 MHz found on that Figure. The goal was to get the general expression PL=A(fMHZ,hte)+B(fMHZ,hte)log10(dkm)+G(hre) (8) where G(hre) is the gain defined on equation (7). In our study the MS antenna height was hre=1.6 m, and like recommended on [13], href=1.5 m. Equation (8) was interpolated from the two following equations PL900 MHZ=A1(hte)+B1(hte)log10(dkm) (9) (10) PL1500 MHZ=A2(hte)+Br2(hte)log10(dkm)r

Figure 2. Power of the signal [dBm] at MS.

From equation (2), the ratio pR/pT in dB is PL(d)=10log10(pR/pT)=PR-PT resulting in PL(d)=10log10[pTgn(,)gmax]-10nlog10(d) (4) (3)

Path loss given by equation (1), is a median value not exceeding 50% of time or 50% of locations under study [5]. One additional term X0 due to Rayleigh fast-fading [4,6] can be considered. X0 is the standard deviation with values around 4dB [6]. The calculation of X0 is out of scope of this paper. The frequency dependence, given by Clog10(fMHZ), where fMHZ is the frequency in MHz is also important. The final expression for path loss is PL(d)=A+Blog10(d)+Clog10(fMHZ)+X0 +G Resulting for A and B parameters, respectively, A=10log10[pTgn(,)gmax] and B=-n/10 Effective gain G [3] due to MS antenna height is G=20log10(hre/href) where - hre: MS antenna height [m]; - href: MS antenna reference height [m]. Once defined the general form of path loss model, let's list the three models used to characterised the propagation behaviour of Centro: 1) 2) 3) Linear regression H(d)=Areg+Breglog10(d) [7,8]; Hata-COST-231 model [9-12]; Okumura curves based model [5,13]. (7) (6) (5)

The functions A1, A2, B1 and B2 were obtained from Figure 41 in [13] taking in account that in Porto the antenna heights to every FS not exceed 70 m and distances of interest to the study not exceed 20 km. These functions were obtained from Tables 1 and 2, to 900 MHz and 1500 MHz. A(fMHZ,hte) and B(fMHZ,hte) were obtained after interpolating the two pairs of functions [A1(hte), B1(hte)] and [A2(hte), B2(hte)], respectively, giving A(fMHZ,hte)=-116.6-0.0117fMHZ+0.1hter
f 900 B( f MHz , hte ) = 37.525 + 0.441 MHz +L (12) 600 f 900 + 0.0625 0.0025 MHz hte 600
Table 1: Values from Figure 41(c) in [13] for 900 MHz.

(11)

hte (m) dkm (km) 1 10 20 1 10 20 1 10 20

30

50

70

Field strength (dBV/m) 74 38 28 76 42 32 79 46 36

Path loss (dB) -124 -160 -170 -122 -157 -167 -120 -153 -163

Path loss values on Tables 1 and 2 were obtained from equation (4) in Hata [9].

Table 2: Values from Figure 41(d) in [13] for 1500 MHz.

hte (m) dkm (km) 1 10 20 1 10 20 1 10 20

30

50

70

Field strength (dBV/m) 71 35 25 74 39 29 76 42 32 IV. RESULTS

Path loss (dB) -131 -168 -178 -129 -164 -174 -127 -161 -171

- Pobserved(di): power of the received signal [dBm]; - Ppredicted(di): predicted value for power of the received signal [dBm]; - EIRPjk: power EIRP [dBm] radiated by antenna k from FS j - already includes maximum gain gmax; - Gn(jk,jk): normalised radiation pattern of antenna k on FS j; - jk and jk: vertical and horizontal angles from antenna k in FS j with respect to MS. Antenna k
FS j
Ptransmited = EIRPjk + G n ( jk , jk )
max [ Ptransmited ] = EIRPjk

di

jk
Pobserved (d i ) PL observed (d i ) = Pobserved (d i ) Ptransmited

Result comparison was made taking in account the power measured at MS and the power predicted by three models as well as the MS position in relation to FS in the zone under study. As shown in Figure 1, this rectangular area under study is delimited by left corner at (410950N,080647W); right corner at (410834N,080615W). The perfect knowledge of radiation pattern of the antennas at fixed stations was a mandatory requirement to the best accuracy of the precisions. The three FS were: 1) FS 2828 at (410939N,080636W), with one omni-direcional antenna, down-tilted mechanically 3 to the North, located near "Hospital Santa Maria"; 2) FS H271 at (410926N,080632W), with three symmetric sectors, located in "Faria Guimares"; 3) FS H2026 at (410845N,083626W), with three sector symmetric sectors, located in "Batalha". Table 3: RL obtained for the path loss. FS 2828 H271 H2026 Three FS Regression Lines (RL) PL(d)=-34.92-34.06log10(d) PL(d)=33.00-58.27log10(d) PL(d)=389.97-194.1log10(d) PL(d)=-33.41-29.09log10(d)

jk

MS at position i

Figure 3. Methodology used on observed path loss.

Antena k FS j
Ptransmited = EIRPjk + G n ( jk , jk ) max [ Ptransmited ] = EIRPjk

di

jk
Ppredicted (d i ) = Ptransmited + PL predicted (d i )

PL predicted (d i )

jk

MS at position i

Figure 4. Methodology used on power prevision.

FS A

FS B

FS C

d1
d2
d3

d5

d4

d6

At Table 3, all RL were obtained from regression of power at MS during test-drive. Path loss and power prevision were obtained for each position i of MS on the test-drive [5] by following formulas in accordance with Figures 3 and 4, respectively, PLobserved(di)=Pobserved-EIRPjk-Gn(jk,jk) Ppredicted(di)=EIRPjk+Gn(jk,jk)+PLpredicted(di) where - PLobserved(di): real path loss [dB]; - PLpredicted(di): predicted path loss [dB]; - di: distance between antennas with MS at point i [m]; (13) (14)

B A B C C A
d d
d

Figure 5. Method used to combining all FS.

Table 3 shows one RL for each of the three FS and one fourth RL taking in account all three FS. In the analysis, it was taken in account the combination of all FS. That combination was made by sorting increasingly the distances

from FS, no matter what FS refers the pair measureestimation, as illustrated in Figure 5. The Figure 6 compares the previsions maiden at test-drive path inside the area of interest (Centro), in conjunction with power measured on those points. A note must be done in order to clarify that each predicted value on the graph is the biggest of the previsions from three FS. Table 4 was constructed taking in account that for each position i of the MS in the test-drive had one absolute error i given by

We obtained low values of absolute errors and standard deviations, of 0.15 dBm and 0.14 dBm, respectively, to Okumura based model; 1.42 dB and 1.40 dBm, respectively, to Hata-COST231 model. To conclude all the three models are very suited to predict the behavior of the path loss at Porto's Centro. Our results were confirmed after applying our parameters at the prediction tools of a portuguese mobile operator.
Table 4: Mean absolute error and standard deviation.

i=|Ppredicted(i)-Pobserved(i)|

(15)

where - Pobserved(i): power of the signal received [dBm]; - Ppredicted(i): prevision to the power of the received signal [dBm]. The mean absolute error [dBm] and the standard deviation [dB] are respectively,

FS 2828

H271

i =1

N i = i =1 N

1 2

(16)

H2026

Three FS

where N are the total samples acquired on Centro (not all acquired during the complete test-drive).
-20 MS observed power

Model RL Hata Okumura RL Hata Okumura RL Hata Okumura RL Hata Okumura

[dBm]

17.69 24.69 21.68 10.24 9.48 9.44 7.56 17.62 16.80 0.16 0.14 0.15

[dB] 0.99 1.16 1.04 0.89 0.84 0.75 0.72 1.12 1.11 1.56 1.40 1.42

A - REFERENCES
[1] V. Garg, J. Wilkes, Principles and applications of GSM, Prentice Hall, 1999. R. Macario, Cellular radio: principles and design, Second edition, Macmillan press, 1997. W. Lee, Mobile Communications Engineering - Theory and applications, Second edition, McGraw-Hill, 1998. T. Rappaport, Wireless communications priciples and practice, Prentice Hall, 1996. J. Parsons, "The mobile radio propagation channel", Penteh Press, 1992. V. Garg, IS-95 CDMA and cdma2000 Cellular/PCS systems implementation, Prentice Hall, 2000. H. Xia, H. Bertoni, L. Maciel, A. Lindsay-Stewart, R. Rowe, Radio propagation characteristics for line-of-sight microcellular and personal communications, IEEE Trans. Anten. and Prop., Vol. 41, No. 10, pp. 1439-1447, Oct. 1993. J. Hernando, Comments on A simplified analytical model for predicting path loss in urban and suburban environments, IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., Vol. 48, No. 5, page 1740, Sep. 1999. M. Hata, Empirical formula for propagation loss in land mobile radio service, IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., Vol. 29, No. 3, pp.317325, Aug. 1980. K. Siwiak, Radiowave propagation and antennas for personal communications, Artech House, 1995. J. Doble, Introduction to radio propagation for fixed and mobile communications, Artech-house, 1996. Digital Mobile radio towards future generation systems COST 231 Final Report, 1999. Y. Okumura, E. Ohmori, T. Kawano, K. Fukuda, Field strength and its variability in VHF and UHF land-mobile radio service, Tokio Elec. Commun. Lab., Vol. 16, pp. 825-873, Sep.-Oct. 1968.

MS received and observed power (dBm)

-30

Hata-COST231 predicted power RL predicted power Okumura based predicted power

[2] [3] [4]

-40

-50

-60

[5]
-70 -80

[6] [7]

-90

-100 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

Traveled distance inside Baixa (km)

[8]

Figure 6. Predicted power versus observed power at test-drive path inside Centro. [9]

V.

CONLUSIONS
[10] [11] [12] [13]

Is expected that first three RL at Table 3 are in accordance with local propagation conditions near its FS, due to. the accordance of the fourth RL with propagation conditions of the overall Centro. That conclusion is obtained if we look the low values of the absolute error and a standard deviation, of 0.16 dBm and 1.56 dB, respectively. The propagation factor n=2.91 is a good confirmation of the fact. As expected in RL model, the Okumura and HataCOST231 models also agree very well with local conditions of propagation in terms of attenuation.

VITAE

J. P. Carmo graduated in 1993 and received his MSc degree in 2002, both in Electrical Engineering and Computers from the University of Porto, Portugal. In 2007, he obtained the PhD. Since 1999, he is a lecturer at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragana, Portugal.