Uplink Coverage-Capacity Estimation Using Analysis and Simulation

The design and optimisation of a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) based third generation (3G) system is significantly different from the techniques used for planning a second generation (2G) network. It has been established in literature that coverage or capacity of the 3G system cannot be planned individually because of the interference limited nature of the air-interface. Estimation of interference is an important step in determining the coverage or capacity of a cell. The amount of interference seen at each receiver location is highly dependent on transmit powers, which in turn depend on the closed loop power control in uplink and downlink. It is possible to estimate capacity of a cell fairly accurately using static simulation when the location information of transmitters and receivers are available. Even though stochastic models using statistical distribution of transmit powers and interferences cannot take into account all the unique characteristics of the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) simultaneously, they are useful in estimating performance figures during radio network planning for UMTS systems. In this paper we have studied the functional relationship between coverage, capacity and other-cell interference in a multicellular environment and compared the results of statistical analysis with the performance figures computed using static system level simulator.