Release Overview and Business Impacts

ENTERPRISE Release Overview and Business Impacts For Version 9.0

Confidentiality, Copyright Notice & Disclaimer Due to a policy of continuous product development and refinement, TEOCO Ltd. (and its affiliates, together “TEOCO”) reserves the right ri ght to alter the specifications, representation, descriptions and all other matters outlined in this publication without prior notice. No part of this document, taken as a whole or separately, shall be deemed to be part of any contract for a product or commitment of any kind. Furthermore, this document is provided “As Is” and without any warranty. This document is the propert y of TEOCO, which owns the sole a nd full rights including copyright. TEOCO retains the sole property rights to all information contained in this document, and without the written consent of TEOCO given by contract or otherwise in writing, the document must not be copied, reprinted or reproduced in any manner or form, nor transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, magnetic or otherwise, either wholly or in part. The information herein is designated highly confidential and is subject to all restrictions in any law regarding such matters and the relevant confidentiality and non-disclosure clauses or agreements issued with TEOCO prior to or after the disclosure. All the information in this document is to be safeguarded and all steps must be taken to prevent it from being disclosed to any person or entity other than the direct entity that received it directly from TEOCO. TEOCO and Helix® are trademarks of TEOCO. All other company, brand or product names are trademarks or service marks of their respective holders. This is a legal notice and may not be removed or altered in any way. COPYRIGHT © 2015 TEOCO LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Your feedback is important to u s: The TEOCO Documentation team takes many measures in order to ensure that our work is of the highest quality. If you found errors or feel that information is missing, please send your Documentation-related feedback to [email protected] Thank you, The TEOCO Documentation team

Confidentiality, Copyright Notice & Disclaimer Due to a policy of continuous product development and refinement, TEOCO Ltd. (and its affiliates, together “TEOCO”) reserves the right ri ght to alter the specifications, representation, descriptions and all other matters outlined in this publication without prior notice. No part of this document, taken as a whole or separately, shall be deemed to be part of any contract for a product or commitment of any kind. Furthermore, this document is provided “As Is” and without any warranty. This document is the propert y of TEOCO, which owns the sole a nd full rights including copyright. TEOCO retains the sole property rights to all information contained in this document, and without the written consent of TEOCO given by contract or otherwise in writing, the document must not be copied, reprinted or reproduced in any manner or form, nor transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, magnetic or otherwise, either wholly or in part. The information herein is designated highly confidential and is subject to all restrictions in any law regarding such matters and the relevant confidentiality and non-disclosure clauses or agreements issued with TEOCO prior to or after the disclosure. All the information in this document is to be safeguarded and all steps must be taken to prevent it from being disclosed to any person or entity other than the direct entity that received it directly from TEOCO. TEOCO and Helix® are trademarks of TEOCO. All other company, brand or product names are trademarks or service marks of their respective holders. This is a legal notice and may not be removed or altered in any way. COPYRIGHT © 2015 TEOCO LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Your feedback is important to u s: The TEOCO Documentation team takes many measures in order to ensure that our work is of the highest quality. If you found errors or feel that information is missing, please send your Documentation-related feedback to [email protected] Thank you, The TEOCO Documentation team

Change History This table shows the change history of this guide: Edition

Date

Reason

1

23 April 2015

First edition.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 1

Introduction ..................................................................................................... 7 Release Documentation Documentation................... ......... ................... ................... ................... ................... ................... .................. ................... .......... 7

2

About this Guide ............................................................................................. 7

3

What's New in ENTERPRISE 9.0? ........................... ............. ........................... .......................... .......................... ............. 9 3ga File Format Changed Changed in 9.0................... .......... ................... ................... ................... ................... .................. ................ ....... 9 64-bit ENTERPRISE Processes ........................................................................ 9 Support for Oracle 12c, Window W indows s 8.1 and Windows 2012 Server ................. ... 10 Grid Data Loader ............................................................................................. 10 Site Backhaul Ranking ..................................................................................... 11 Multiple User Element Reporting ..................................................................... 12 Saving the Contents of an Import into the Selection Filter .................. ......... ................... .............. .... 14 Toolbar Usability Improvements ....................................................................... 14 Other Improvements ........................................................................................ 16

4

What's New in ASSET 9.0? .......................... ............. .......................... ........................... ........................... ...................... ......... 19 CSV File Format for Neighbours Neighbours can now use LAC .................. .................. ......... .............. ..... 19 Export Interference Tables to Forte.................................................................. 19 LTE Carrier Aggregation .................................................................................. 20 LTE MIMO Threshold Parameters ................................................................... 22 LTE Physical Cell ID Planner Enhancement .................................................... 22 LTE RACH RSI Planning ................................................................................. 23 LTE Uplink Bandwidth Allocation ..................................................................... 26 LTE (VoLTE) TTI Bundling Bundling.................. ........ ................... ................... ................... ................... ................... .................. .............. ..... 27 Maximum Cell Cell Range Calculator Calculator.................. ......... ................... ................... ................... ................... .................. .............. ..... 28 Multiple Technology Simulator ......................................................................... 30 Carriers: Inter-carrier and Inter-technolo I nter-technology gy Interference.................. ......... ................... ................. ....... 31 Overlapping Carriers Carriers (PCI Planner and RSI RSI Planner) ............. ................... .......... ............... ...... 32 Per Cell Arrays for Coverage Analysis ............................................................. 33 Service Area Colouring .................................................................................... 35 Simulator - Number of Covering Cells .............................................................. 36 Traffic Wizard Enhancements .......................................................................... 37 Windows and Workspaces ............................................................................... 38

5

ENTERPRISE 9.0 Release Overview and Business Impacts

5

What's New in ARRAYWIZARD 9.0? ............................................................ 41 More Coverage Options Available ................................................................... 41 Access to ENTERPRISE Filters ....................................................................... 42 Use of Distributed Tasks in ARRAYWIZARD ................................................... 42 Display Settings ............................................................................................... 43 Per Cell Arrays ................................................................................................ 43

6

What's New in CONNECT 9.0? ..................................................................... 45 Site Backhaul Ranking ..................................................................................... 45 Support for ITU-R P.530-15 and ITU-R P.837-6 .............................................. 46

7

Summary of Customer Enhancements ....................................................... 49

8

Technology Upgrades .................................................................................. 51

6

Introduction

1 Introduction This Release Overview and Business Impacts document (or 'ROBI') provides: 





A detailed description of each key update and enhancement, including examples of new or updated product screens and the expected business impacts Details of the tested configurations of operating systems and third-party software, so that you can prepare your network to support the new release Advance warning of any known deprecations of operating systems/third-party software in future releases (where available/applicable)

Release Documentation As well as this document, TEOCO provides a set of complementary documents that together provide a comprehensive overview of the changes and enhancements made in the release. These documents include: Parameter

Description

Release Overview and Business Impacts

Provides a detailed description for each key update and enhancement, including examples of the new or u pdated user interface and the expected business impacts. This document was distributed prior to the release.

Release Notes

Provides a complete list of Customer Support requests addressed in the release. For each key enhancement, it includes a summary and a list of any associated customer issues that have been addressed. For resolved issues, it provides a detailed description of the problem and update. This document also provides a list of known issues and limitations.

Installation and Administration Guide

Explains how to install and configure ENTERPRISE, your network, and Oracle databases. Describes how to use Administrator to create users and groups, and set permissions. Also contains information on software licensing.

Database Reference Guide

Describes the relationships between tables in the database and the contents of each table.

From the time of the release, these documents will be accessible from the Product Support portal (http://www.aircomassist.com). For further information, please contact Product Support by opening a support request, or contact your TEOCO Account Manager directly.

About this Guide For existing users of ENTERPRISE, the What’s New Quick Reference Guide gives a brief overview of what has changed in the latest version. However, if you are new to ENTERPRISE, you may find it more useful to refer to: 



The ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide, which provides information about common functionality across the tool suite The specific User Reference Guide for each of the products (such as ASSET or CONNECT) that you will be using

7


8

What's New in ENTERPRISE 9.0?

2 What's New in ENTERPRISE 9.0? In ENTERPRISE 9.0, the following additional features are now available.

3ga File Format Changed in 9.0 ENTERPRISE 9.0 has a new 3ga File Format. The Version number of the new format is '9001'. One of the significant changes is a new field to accommodate the EPSG of the ASSET project so that this can be stored with the array. This makes it easier (without user intervention) to import 3ga exports from ASSET into other systems. There are other changes, so we recommend that you study the new format, by reading the information under "Simulation Array File Formats" and "3ga File Format" in the ENTERPRISE Technical Reference Guide.

64-bit ENTERPRISE Processes ENTERPRISE 9.0 is now a native 64-bit application. This change should provide significant improvements for tasks requiring large amounts of memory and projects containing large numbers of network elements, as the applications will now have access to more program memory. However, the same change means that tasks may require more memory than in previous versions, and this change should be considered when planning your ENTERPRISE upgrade/installation. Note: This change is also applicable to Distributed Tasks (predictions, arrays), and to components of ARRAYWIZARD.

Important Change for Large Array Settings Within the 64-bit environment, there are exceptional circumstances where the Large Array Settings value for maximum memory can be automatically extended to a higher value, which is a calculated optimum for the task in progress. When this happens, the higher value is reported in the Message Log, and it remains active within the project session. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement requests: Jira

Description

AS-15734

ASSET requires too much memory for Best Server Arrays on large markets.

AS-15735

Ability to combine simulation results.

AS-31640

ENTERPRISE crash: handling 'out of memory' errors.

EC-18954

ENTERPRISE crash on project load.

9


Support for Oracle 12c, Windows 8.1 and Windows 2012 Server ENTERPRISE 9.0 is compatible with Oracle 11g and 12c and, since it is a 64-bit application, requires a 64-bit Oracle client. It is also now compatible with Windows 8.1 and Windows 2012 Server. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement requests: Jira

Description

EC-19147

Bulk editing 3G antenna patterns/tilts at cell level.

EC-19175

Support for ENTERPRISE on Windows 8.1

Grid Data Loader ENTERPRISE 9.0 provides a new, additional method of adding to or updating the information stored in the Site Database. The new method is complementary to the existing data creation and update methods in the ENTERPRISE application (that is, manual or global edits in the Site Database, and via the XML import routines). The Grid Data Loader incorporates a grid that contains rows and columns in which you can organise the data, and provides validation messages to help towards a successful import into the ENTERPRISE database. This picture shows an example:

Example of Grid Data Loader

The Grid Data Loader enables you to create and/or edit the following network elements: 

Property



GSM:

Site, Cell, Subcell



UMTS:

NodeB, Cell



10

LTE:

eNodeB, Cell


There are several ways you can enter data into the grid: (i)

Loading from a file.

(ii) Manually. (iii) Copying and pasting from within the grid, or pasting from an external source. Data created or modified via the Grid Data Loader is saved to the user’s 'Applied' state. For full details, including a full list of the objects and parameters that are supported, see "About the Grid Data Loader" in the ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement requests: Jira

Description

EC-18859

Formally supported bulk import tool for ASSET.

EC-19137

Ability to update existing objects (cells, sites, nodes and so on) without having to specify the name of the existing parent object.

EC-19147

Bulk editing 3G antenna patterns/tilts at cell level.

Site Backhaul Ranking Small cells are now increasingly relevant in today's networks, as one of the solutions to the everincreasing demands for capacity. In a real network, the location and implementation of small cells requires careful planning, to minimize equipment costs and site rentals. This planning should ensure that they are only set up in locations where they serve a real purpose (to provide extra coverage and capacity) and also where they have connectivity with the backhaul network. There is a wide variety of connectivity options, such as microwave (MW) point-to-point links, millimeter wave (mmW) point-to-point links, line-of-sight or near/no line of sight (LoS or N*LoS), point-to-multipoint,optical fiber and coaxial cable (t ypically, the mmW links would interconnect sm all cells in star, tree or mesh configurations). Moreover, where the small cells supplement the macrocell network, the macrocell sites can act as aggregation points.

Site Backhaul Ranking Planner ASSET 9.0 and CONNECT 9.0 provide a Site Backhaul Ranking planner that can help to assess the backhaul viability of existing or candidate small cells. The purpose of this planner is to evaluate the feasibility of backhaul connectivity and capacity in a cost-effective way, and aim to produce the near-optimum solution.

11


This picture shows an example of the Planner:

The output report lists the cells ranked by their cost value (lowest to highest). Here is an example:

For full details, see "About Site Backhaul Ranking" in the ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.

Multiple User Element Reporting In a multi-user environment, there is always the chance that a user's attempted action on an object (such as a network element or equipment) will be blocked by an action on the same object by a different user. In such cases, a warning will appear, prompting the user to check the Message Log. Typically, this may occur when, for example, a user attempts to insert a non-unique identifier for a network element in the database, or attempts to update an object that has already been moved to the wastebasket by another user.

12


From ENTERPRISE 9.0 onwards, the Message Log, by default, reports detailed information explaining why the action is blocked: 

Date and time stamp



Object (Type: 'Property', Type: 'Cell Site', Type: 'Antenna Device', and so on)



Identity of object (Visible ID)



Change history (Created by User / Last Modified by User)





State of object according to each user: (Object View: 'Insert' / 'Committed' / 'Updated' / 'Wastebasket') Project Name (this is useful information for objects - such as antennas - that can be shared between projects)

Here is an example of a warning:

And here is an example of the corresponding reporting (additional detailed information) in the Message Log:

In your Preferences, the detailed reporting is enabled by default, but you have the option to disable it (basic reporting is still retained). For full details, see "Multi User Element Reporting in Message Log" in the ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement requests: Jira

Description

AS-15771

Summary window for users explaining why network elements cannot be deleted or renamed.

EC-17952

The Message Log should display which user has duplicate IDs in his diff tables.

EC-18519

List any users blocking the use of a cell in the Applied state.

EC-18994

Notification of element in use. 13


Saving the Contents of an Import into the Selection Filter Sometimes, after performing an import, or a series of imports, it can be difficult to identify the created or modified items in the Site Database (unless you had done a Commit All just before the import, so that you can see the asterisked items). ENTERPRISE 9.0 provides a useful way of identifying, checking and reviewing created or modified objects from recent imports. You can achieve this by using an option to automatically save these created/modified objects into the Selection Filter . In your Preferences, under the File menu, on the Filters tab, you can choose from three options:

This automatic saving option is applicable to imports from the XML Import and the Grid Data Loader Import. With the contents of the Selection Filter, you can then use any of the ENTERPRISE functionality that use filters. For example, you can generate a site/node report, or you can display the contents in the Site Database. For details of the above functionality, see "Saving the Contents of an Import into the Selection Filter" in the ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.

Toolbar Usability Improvements ENTERPRISE 9.0 provides improved usability as follows: 



Additional 'shortcut' buttons on the main toolbar to speed up access to commonly used features. Improvements in the layout and structure of the toolbars relating to the Map View window.

There are three new 'shortcut' buttons on the main toolbar:



The

button opens the Filters Database (ASSET and CONNECT)



The

button opens the Selection Expert (ASSET and CONNECT)



The

button opens the Site/Node Reports (ASSET only)

In the Map View window, the horizontal and vertical toolbars have been improved. This affects both ASSET and CONNECT. The rearranged toolbars provide a clearer presentation of the options, with the emphasis on easier access to the more commonly used buttons. This rearrangement has been partly achieved by nesting the less commonly used buttons into groups.

14


This is what the Map View's horizontal toolbar now looks like:

This is what the Map View's vertical toolbar now looks like:

Summary of Changes relating to the Horizontal Toolbar 



The Distance Measurement group of buttons has been moved to the left so that it sits next to the Tracking Cursor button. All Zoom options are now together on the toolbar. There are now five different zooming buttons: Zoom to Point, from Corner, from Centre, to Scale, to Filters. Note: The zooming options that used to be accessible by right-clicking in the Map View have all been relocated to the horizontal toolbar. The 'Home' and 'Last' option now exist within the Zoom to Scale button, but the quickest way to choose 'Home' and 'Last' is to use the respective keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+H and Ctrl+Z.





Finding and Editing Objects (Quick Finder, Jump to Location, Display Site Tips, Site Quick Edit, Cell Quick Edit) are now grouped together. The Show Data Types button Control button



has now been removed because the Map Information

performs the same function with added flexibility.

There is a new button in the toolbar,providing a quick way to open the Map Information (Gadgets) pane.



The 'Favourite Views' drop-down box is wider, so that it can display longer names.



The 'Add Vector' button is now inside the Vector Manager dialog box.



The Coverage/Array buttons have been slightly rearranged so that these options are the easiest to access: o

Create Arrays

o Simulator o

Display Coverage for a Cell

15


o

Display Coverage for a Site

Note: The Simulator button has been relocated from its old position in the main toolbar. Summary of Changes relating to the Vertical Toolbar The groups of buttons (relating to the vertical toolbar) that have been improved are summarised here: 

Adding Network Elements All Add Network Element buttons, including Add Property, are now inside the same group, and the buttons are now presented in technology-specific rows:



Moving and Deleting Network Elements



Neighbour Functionality



Candidate Functionality



Adding Links



Removing Links

For more information on the above toolbars, see: 



"ASSET's Additions to the Main Toolbar" and "About the ASSET-specific Map View Functionality" in the ASSET User Reference Guide. "About the Map View Toolbar", "About the Site Design Toolbar" and "About the Zoom Options" in the ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.

Other Improvements 'Delete' Event Support added to the Database Events API In previous versions, ENTERPRISE stores an event for committing data to the database, but it does not store an event for deleting data permanently from the wastebasket. From 9.0, a new 'Delete' event has been introduced that stores the deletions (for the parent object) when deleting data permanently from the wastebasket.

Ability to Multi-Select Items in the Array Manager Previously, it was not possible to multi-select individual entries in the Array Clipboard section and Traffic section of the Array Manager. Now, you can use the Shift key and the Ctrl key to select/de-select multiple entries. This enables you to delete multiple items in one operation.

16


Ability to Load Multiple 3ga Files from Disk into the Array Manager Previously, it was only possible to load a single 3ga file from disk into the Array Clipboard section of the Array Manager. Now, you can use the Shift key and the Ctrl key to select/de-select multiple entries. This enables you to select multiple 3ga files and load them in one operation. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement request: Jira

Description

AS-30460

Ability to bulk upload 3ga files via Array Manager.

17


18

What's New in ASSET 9.0?

3 What's New in ASSET 9.0? In ASSET 9.0, the following additional features are now available.

CSV File Format for Neighbours can now use LAC For GSM and UMTS, the CSV File Format for Adding, Removing or Updating Neighbours can now use LAC as an Identifier When using the simple via .CSV file format to Add, Remove or Update neighbours, you can now use 'LAC+CI+technology' as a means of identifying the cells for neighbour relationships. This can be beneficial when using external inventory systems that produce neighbour lists containing the LAC, rather than ASSET-specific identifiers. Here is an example:

Example of file format (LAC based) that can b e used for GSM and UMTS

This feature addresses the following customer enhancement request: Jira

Description

AS-30203

Deleting neighbours using CSV.

AS-30710

Update CSV Import of neighbours to accept LAC+CI+Technology as source/neighbour identifiers.

Export Interference Tables to Forte In ASSET 9.0, you can now export GSM interference tables into the file format used by Forte, the analysis and optimisation tool for GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks, which is available from TEOCO. The information in these tables can include area data or traffic data, or both. The Forte tool enables you to import area data and traffic data individually, so the export from ASSET provides these two options separately:

Menu item under the Tools / Interference Tables option

For details of the steps, see: 

"Exporting Interference Tables in Forte File Format" in the ASSET User Reference Guide 19


For details of the file format, see: 

"Interference Table File Formats" in the ENTERPRISE Technical Reference Guide.

LTE Carrier Aggregation ASSET 9.0 can model the network performance of LTE Cells that support carrier aggregation. LTE carrier aggregation is the aggregation of two or more carriers that can achieve significant data rate gains compared to single carrier operation. It can be used for both FDD and TDD. In ASSET, this is modelled by forming single-carrier cells into groups of carrier-aggregated (CA) cells, grouped by a common CA Cell Identity. Depending on your network, there are various ways of configuring the eNodeB for carrier aggregation. These pictures illustrate some typical scenarios: Scenario 1: Here are two examples (variations of the same scenario) where the carrier aggregation is achieved by a common CA Cell Identity across the whole eNodeB. These configurations allow multiple instances of a carrier in the same carrier-aggregated group.

Scenario 2: Here is an example where the carrier aggregation is achieved by a common CA Cell Identity within each cell. This configuration disallows multiple instances of a carrier in the same carrier-aggregated group.



20

The Site Database now contains a new Carrier Aggregation tab, where you can view and edit the configurations at the eNodeB level, which contains a summary of its cells. Alternatively, you can do this on the LTE Params tab of an individual cell.


This picture shows an example of the Carrier Aggregation tab for an eNodeB in the Site Database:



You can use the LTE CA Cell Identity Planner to gather single-carrier cells belonging to the same eNodeB into 'carrier-aggregated' groups of cells. It allows you to choose from two strategies for forming 'carrier-aggregated' cells, as shown in this picture:

Here is an example report:

For details of the above functionality, see "Configuring Support for LTE Carrier Aggregation" and "About the LTE CA Cell Identity Planner" in the ASSET User Reference Guide.

21


LTE MIMO Threshold Parameters In ASSET 9.0, on the Thresholds subtab of the LTE Params tab for a cell in the Site Database, there are two additional MIMO threshold parameters: 

RS SINR



UL/DL Traffic SINR

(These new parameters are in addition to the already existing RS SNR parameter.) This set of thresholds now looks like this:

For details, see "Setting the Thresholds for an LTE Cell" in the ASSET User Reference Guide. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement request: Jira

Description

AS-31200

Additional options suggested for SU-MIMO Adaptive Switching Parameter

LTE Physical Cell ID Planner Enhancement The LTE Physical Cell ID Planner in ASSET 9.0 provides two more options when you consider Cell-Specific Frequency Shift. There are now three options:

22



Cell ID Mod 3



Cell ID Mod 6 (new in 9.0)



Cell ID Mod 30 (new in 9.0)


Here is an example of the LTE Physical Cell ID Planner showing the new set of options:

For more details, see "Running the LTE Physical Cell ID Planner" in the ASSET User Reference Guide. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement requests: Jira

Description

AS-31842

Mod 30 should be considered within ASSET's PCI planning.

AS-32590

Inclusion of Mod 6 and Mod 30 in PCI planner.

LTE RACH RSI Planning RACH Sequence Index (RSI) planning is a significant part of the planning process of LTE cellular networks. ASSET 9.0 provides comprehensive and flexible planning functionality allowing for both automatic and manual planning, and also supports storing Random Access Channel (RACH) related parameters. ASSET’s automatic LTE RACH RSI Planner calculates and assigns the RSI indices for all LTE cells according to the range of user specified parameters such as Interference (Area, Traffic or the combination of both), PRACH Config Index, minimum separation between adjacent cells and Reuse Distance. The manual planning enables users to assign a particular RSI or a range of RSIs to each LTE cell. Furthermore, the ASSET standard XML export/import functionality can also be utilised for the manual RSI assignment.

23


Here is an example of the RACH RSI tab in the Site Database:

Example of RACH RSI tab for an LTE cell

To facilitate the complex and time-consuming task of assigning the RSI values to individual cells, you can use the LTE RACH RSI Planner. This can generate a report which you can analyse before applying the RSI assignments to the Site Database.

24


These pictures show examples of the Planner and the Report:

Example of LTE RACH RSI Planner

Example of LTE RACH RSI Planner Report

For details of the RACH RSI functionality, see "About the RACH RSI Tab" and "Planning RACH RSIs for LTE" in the ASSET User Reference Guide. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement requests: Jira

Description

AS-30097

RACH Root Sequence Planning.

AS-30674

LTE Random Access planning.

AS-30146

Support for LTE PRACH Planner in ASSET.

AS-30677

Add RSI-PRACH Planner to ASSET.

AS-32075

RACH Root Sequence Number. 25


Jira

Description

AS-32591

Root Sequence Index (RSI) planning.

AS-33199

Ability to configure the parameter named RACH Root Sequence.

LTE Uplink Bandwidth Allocation The LTE Services dialog box in ASSET 9.0 now provides added flexibility, because you can now select the preferred Uplink Bandwidth Allocation Method via a drop-down list on the LTE UL Bearers tab. This picture shows an example:

Example of LTE UL Bearers tab in the Services dialog box

The chosen method determines the number of resource blocks over which a terminal is instantaneously attempting to transmit. Given the available power of a terminal, a larger number of allocated resource blocks will result in more thinly spread power and therefore in lower achieved SINR and consequently lower rate bearers. You can choose from these three options: Method

Description

Use Min RBs

Power is transmitted on the minimum required number of resource blocks. (this is the default option, and the same as used in versions prior to 9.0)

Use All RBs

Power is transmitted on all available resource blocks.

Maintain Connection Power is transmitted on all available resource blocks as far as a bearer can be achieved. If no bearer can be a chieved, the used number of resource blocks is reduced to maintain connection.

For more information, see "Adding an LTE Service" and "About Uplink Bandwidth Allocation" in the ASSET User Reference Guide.

26


LTE (VoLTE) TTI Bundling In LTE networks, TTI Bundling Gain can be used to improve coverage at cell edge or in poor radio conditions. TTI Bundling Gain is typically relevant to Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services. In ASSET 9.0, the new TTI parameters appear on the LTE Params tab of the LTE Services dialog box:

In a network performance simulation, the TTI Bundling Gain can increase the achievability of the SINR requirements of the supported bearers for the service, therefore realising a gain. Equally, these parameters in the UL and DL directions can be generically used to model other servicespecific adjustments, which can be positive or negative offsets, to the SINR requirements of the supported bearers for any LTE service. TTI Bundling Gains are only a pplicable to terminals served by cells which support it. This cell parameter exists on the Scheduling subtab of the LTE Params tab for a cell in the Site Database:

For details of the options in the Services dialog box, see "LTE Services - LTE Params Tab" in the ASSET User Reference Guide.

27


Maximum Cell Range Calculator In ASSET 9.0, for GSM, UMTS, LTE and Wi-Fi, the Site Database can store the maximum cell range and service area of each cell.

The values are shown on the General tab of the cell. This picture shows an example:

Example of the Cell Service val ues on General tab of Site Database

Note: For LTE, the maximum cell range can also be used as part of the RACH RSI planning process. Although you can manually specify these values, ASSET also provides a Maximum Cell Range Calculator , which, based on your chosen filters, carriers and arrays, calculates the values for each cell and stores them in the Site Database.

28


This picture shows an example:

Example of the Maximum Cell Range Calculator

For details, see "About the Maximum Cell Range Calculator" in the ASSET User Reference Guide.

29


Multiple Technology Simulator In ASSET 9.0, for GSM, UMTS, LTE and Wi-Fi, you can perform multiple technology simulations. This enables you to model and simulate joint networks involving any combination of these technologies. The Simulator Wizard combines the simulation parameters for the technologies into a single wizard, and allows you to select which ones to include. Here is an example:

The Services dialog box and the Terminal Types dialog box allow you to define multi-technology services and multi-technology terminal types, respectively. Optionally, you can also model the effects of interference from carriers of different technology types (inter-technology interference). The results can be analysed in the interference arrays and reports. This is achieved by setting the appropriate parameters (noise rise, channel protection) in the Site Database, as well as setting the frequency and attenuation values on the carriers.

30


After running a multi-technology simulation, you can generate the required composite arrays. Here is an example:

For full details, see "Setting Up Multiple Technology Simulations" in the ASSET User Reference Guide.

Carriers: Inter-carrier and Inter-technology Interference In ASSET 9.0 onwards, the UMTS Carriers and Wi-Fi Carriers use a different way of modelling the frequency and attenuation values. This is to accommodate the new functionality that enables you to model the effects of inter-carrier and inter-technology interference:

The old fields for Adjacent carrier selections and the Attenuations are now removed, and there are six new fields. Under the new concept, you do not now need to set the adjacency of the carriers explicitly by having to specify two adjacent carriers. Instead, it is calculated automatically when needed by the Simulator using the Low/High frequencies of all the carriers (of any technology) that are used in the simulation.

31


Therefore, if you wish to model the inter-carrier and inter-technology interference accurately, use you should ensure these six values are set appropriately. Here is an example:

Example of the UMTS Carriers dialog box

For full details, see Defining Carriers for UMTS" and "Defining Carriers for Wi-Fi" in the ASSET User Reference Guide.

Overlapping Carriers (PCI Planner and RSI Planner) In ASSET 9.0, in the case where there are overlapping LTE carriers centred at the same frequency, or in other configurations, you may require to consider such carriers to be indistinguishable for planning purposes. This is achievable in ASSET if you use an appropriate carrier naming convention. This is equally applicable to the LTE Physical Cell ID Planner and the LTE RACH RSI Planner (which is a new feature in 9.0). If your LTE carrier names have suffixes denoted by an underscore (_), this is used by the planning algorithm to determine overlapping carriers. It does this by checking for matching substrings that follow the final "_" in the carrier name. Example: 

Carrier1_ABC and Carrier4_ABC would be considered as overlapping.

Carriers considered as overlapping are treated as identical by the planning algorithm and for the output report. Relevant messages will appear in the message log showing the carriers that are considered as overlapping when the planning has completed. 32


Note: If you do not want the planning algorithm to check for matching substrings, you can resolve this by contacting Product Support. For further details, see "Consideration of Overlapping Carriers" in the ASSET User Reference Guide. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement request: Jira

Description

AS-31703

With regard to how the LTE PCI Planner handles different carriers with the same centre frequency. There is a need for the PCI Planner to be able to consider the carrier name to determine which carriers it considers as overlapping.

Per Cell Arrays for Coverage Analysis When you run a coverage analysis for GSM, UMTS or LTE, ASSET 9.0 enables you to choose whether you want to: 

Generate arrays where the propagation effects from every cell are considered simultaneously, so that the cells 'compete' in each pixel (this was available in previous versions) - and/or -



Generate individual per-cell arrays, where the propagation effect from each cell is considered in isolation from all other cells (this is the new option in version 9.0)

If you choose the per-cell option, each cell in the selected filters will have its own individual array created. These per-cell arrays are individually sized and are not limited by the specified Map View region, unless you choose the Limit checkbox.

In addition, in relation to either of the above options, you can now choose to exclude the generation of the following arrays, to save processing time:

33


Here is an example of the Map Information Control after generating per-cell arrays:

Here is an example of the Array Manager after generating per-cell arrays:

For details, see the "Analysing Coverage" topics for each specific technology in the ASSET User Reference Guide. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement request:

34

Jira

Description

AS-31853

Export predictions per cell in MapInfo TAB format.


Service Area Colouring ASSET generates many different types of array. Among these are 'serv ice area' arrays, which (unlike most arrays) cannot be predetermined by display schemas. These arrays vary in name for each technology. This table shows some examples: Technology

Array Name

GSM Non-Sim

Service Area (Block)

GSM Sim

(Nth) Best Server by RSS

UMTS

(Nth) Best DL Cell by RSCP

LTE

(Nth) Best Server by RSRP

Wi-Fi

(Nth) Best Server by DL RSS

Normally, ASSET generates these 'service area' arrays with automatically assigned random colours to represent each cell. For many users this is sufficient for their needs. However, in ASSET 9.0 (for GSM, UMTS, LTE and Wi-Fi), if you want to have more control over the colours used, there are two things you can do: 

You can set a service area colour for spe cific cells in the Site Database If you set a colour for a cell in the Site Database, that colour will persist for that particular cell in all future 'service area' arrays. This setting is on the General tab of the cell:

(After you have displayed the array, if you then change the colour in the Site Database for a cell, you can 'redraw' the array and you will see the new colour immediately.) - and/or 

You can persist all the colours that have b een assigned automatically by the array After you have generated and displayed a 'service area' array, you can use an option in the Array Manager to persist all the automatically assigned colours for the cells in the array. This automatically applies the colours to the relevant cells in the Site Database (the effect is the same as the manual option above). This will achieve better consistency in the co lours used for each cell each t ime you output the same 'service area' array for these cells.

35


You can also reverse this operation, and clear the colour settings in the Site Database for those cells included in that array. For arrays on the Array Clipboard and Simulation headings, if you load a (previously saved) array into the Array Manager, there is also an option to 'Update colours from Site DB', which means you can use the Site Database colours when displaying the loaded array in the Map View. You will see the changed colours when you 'redraw' the array. For full details, see "Service Area Colouring" in the ASSET User Reference Guide. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement request: Jira

Description

AS-27871

Colours should be consistent for Best Server by RSS.

Simulator - Number of Covering Cells When you use the Simulator Wizard in ASSET, you specify the 'Number of Covering Cells' for each technology. Here is an example of the relevant step in the GSM / UMTS / LTE / Wi-Fi Simulator wizard for 9.0:

Example of second page in Simulator Wi zard

From 9.0 onwards: 



For all technologies, the strongest servers are determined by received signal strength. For all technologies except GSM, this parameter represents the number of covering cells per carrier . This means that the storage of values per pixel is: (number of covering cells × number of simulated carriers). For example, if this parameter is specified as 6, and cells on three

36


different carriers are included, then the strongest 6 servers per carrier will be stored per pixel. The changes described in this section allow the user more control over the array outputs generated by the application, and improve the accuracy, but these benefits may have a corresponding impact on performance (relative to earlier versions) that should be accounted for when planning your ENTERPRISE upgrade/installation. This feature addresses the following customer enhancement request: Jira

Description

AS-32632

Modification of how Simulator deals with outputs when performing an analysis which contains cells with multiple carriers.

Traffic Wizard Enhancements In ASSET 9.0, the Traffic Wizard now provides added flexibility: 



If you want to assign each pixel to a single feature only, you can use the ' Use Pixel Factoring' checkbox. This option is meaningful if you are spreading traffic into vectors that have overlapping features.

When using vector attributes to spread traffic values, you can select any of the spreading and scaling options as described here: Parameter

Option

Description

Spread Type

Absolute

The attribute values are spread as absolute totals (such as Terminals or Erlangs) for each vector feature.

Density

The attribute values are spread as traffic densities (such as Terminals per km2 or Erlangs per km2) for each vector feature.

Attribute Scaling Terminals / Erlangs

Interprets the attribute values as Terminals (T) or Erlangs (E). Equates to scale factor of 1 .0

milli-Terminals / milli-Erlangs

Interprets the attribute values as milli-Terminals (mT) or milliErlangs (mE). Equates to scale factor of 0.001

Scale Factor

Interprets the attribute values as Terminals or Erlangs multiplied by your specified scale factor, for example 0.5 or 2.0

In addition, there is a new improved traffic raster file format, V4, which can accommodate much higher value ranges than the old V3 format. For details of the options in the Traffic Wizard, see: 

"Creating a Traffic Raster" in the ASSET User Reference Guide

For details of the file format, see: 

"Traffic Raster File Formats" in the ENTERPRISE Technical Reference Guide.

37


This feature addresses the following customer enhancement request: Jira

Description

AS-32168

Truncating error in Traffic maps.

Windows and Workspaces ASSET 9.0 provides improvements in the ways that you can manage your windows and workspaces. Within a session, all open windows are now listed under the Windows menu item, as in this example:

When you close a project with some windows open, the sam e windows will appear automatically in the same position, when you next open the project. If you have a number of windows open, with some of them hidden or overlapping, you can use the Windows and Workspaces dialog box to reorganise your screen, by promoting windows or closing unwanted windows. You can create any number of workspaces. A workspace is a combination of windows and dialog boxes that you use regularly, organised on the screen in a convenient layout. You can set up and save a variety of workspaces. This enables you to quickly and easily load the required workspace whenever you need it. You can use the button on the ASSET toolbar to quickly access the Windows and Workspaces dialog box. Here is example:

38


It is easy to save a current set of windows as a workspace:

You can then reload that workspace at any time:

After creating and saving your workspaces, you can load, modify, rename and delete them. Note: Workspaces can now save multiple Map View windows, each with its own Map Information Control. In addition, Gadget Views (Map Information) and Message Log can now be included. For details of the above functionality, see "About the Core Windows" and "Creating Workspaces" in the ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.

39


40

What's New in ARRAYWIZARD 9.0?

4 What's New in ARRAYWIZARD 9.0? ARRAYWIZARD 9.0 is now a 64 bit application as is ENTERPRISE. It now performs tile write checks to improve output quality, and carries out bulk clearance of job logs. It has better resilience to IT network errors (on the predictions sub system) and the speed of array task switching is improved. In ARRAYWIZARD 9.0, the following additional features are now available.

More Coverage Options Available You can now choose a coverage method according to the required technology, and ENTERPRISE's simulator is now supported (except for GSM) in ARRAYWIZARD:

41


Access to ENTERPRISE Filters From the ARRAYWIZARD Administrator you can now access, create and edit ENTERPRISE filters, either from the Filters option on the Database menu, or by clicking the Filters icon:

Use of Distributed Tasks in ARRAYWIZARD If you are licensed to use Distributed Tasks in ENTERPRISE, you can now 

Create prediction tasks in ARRAYWIZARD that use Distributed Tasks in the same way as ENTERPRISE:

At least one prediction agent is required to allow this. For more information on setting up Distributed Tasks, see the ENTERPRISE Installation and Administration Guide. 

42

Use distributed prediction agents (when set up and needed) to perform different array tasks:

What's New in ARRAYWIZARD 9.0?



Use distributed prediction and array agents when running GSM, UMTS and LTE Signal Coverage Analysis parameter sets:

This feature addresses the following customer enhancement requests: Jira

Description

AW-1334

Ability to check that predictions are up to date.

AW-1172

Ability to use ENTERPRISE Distributed Predictions.

Display Settings The 2g and 3g Display Settings options on the Project Settings menu have been replaced with 2g NonSim Display Settings and Sim/DA Display Settings:

Per Cell Arrays The new Per Cell Arrays for Coverage Analysis in ASSET (see What's New in ASSET 9.0?) can be generated with ARRAYWIZARD:

43


44

What's New in CONNECT 9.0?

5 What's New in CONNECT 9.0? In CONNECT 9.0, the following additional features are now available.

Site Backhaul Ranking Small cells are now increasingly relevant in today's networks, as one of the solutions to the everincreasing demands for capacity. In a real network, the location and implementation of small cells requires careful planning, to minimize equipment costs and site rentals. This planning should ensure that they are only set up in locations where they serve a real purpose (to provide extra coverage and capacity) and also where they have connectivity with the backhaul network. There is a wide variety of connectivity options, such as microwave (MW) point-to-point links, millimeter wave (mmW) point-to-point links, line-of-sight or near/no line of sight (LoS or N*LoS), point-to-multipoint,optical fiber and coaxial cable (t ypically, the mmW links would interconnect sm all cells in star, tree or mesh configurations). Moreover, where the small cells supplement the macrocell network, the macrocell sites can act as aggregation points.

Site Backhaul Ranking Planner ASSET 9.0 and CONNECT 9.0 provide a Site Backhaul Ranking planner that can help to assess the backhaul viability of existing or candidate small cells. The purpose of this planner is to evaluate the feasibility of backhaul connectivity and capacity in a cost-effective way, and aim to produce the near-optimum solution. This picture shows an example of the Planner:

45


The output report lists the cells ranked by their cost value (lowest to highest). Here is an example:

For full details, see "About Site Backhaul Ranking" in the ENTERPRISE User Reference Guide.

Support for ITU-R P.530-15 and ITU-R P.837-6 In CONNECT 9.0, you can now calculate the outage probabilities according to the ITU-R P.530-15 recommendation. Propagation Prediction When defining the calculation parameters for a link of any type, on the Propagation Prediction subtab of the Calculation tab, you can choose to use the ITU-R P.530-15 calculation method:

Using the ITU-R P.530-15 calculation method

You can then specify (or calculate) the relevant parameters - the weighting factor (or 'Alpha'), the area terrain roughness, the point refractivity gradient and the geoclimatic (K) factor.

46

What's New in CONNECT 9.0?

This new method will be used to calculate: 

Outage calculation (multipath occurrence factor)



Cross-polar outage for diversity (total worst month outage)



Adaptation modulation for multipath (required fade margin)

Rainfall Information You can also choose to use the ITU-R P.530-15 method to calculate the rain rate. You specify this on the Rainfall subtab of the Calculation tab:

Using the ITU-R P.530-15 rainfall calculation method

ITU-R P.530-15 includes the relevant ITU-R P.837-6 equations, which are used to calculate: 

Rain rate



Rain unavailability



Adaptation modulation for rain (required fade margin)

47


48

Summary of Customer Enhancements

6 Summary of Customer Enhancements The following is a high-level summary of ENTERPRISE's 9.0 additional enhancements introduced in response to customer requests. Component

Description

Jira ID

LTE Cell Parameters

Ability to globally edit the LTE Cell Parameter ‘TAC’.

EC-19020 AS-32588

Site Database

Using the mouse scroll wheel in the Site Database.

AS-31778 EC-19546

Extra step added to confirm a 'Restore All' operation.

EC-19015

Antennas

Show antenna gain values to 3 decimal places in the Cellular Antennas dialog box.

AS-31393

Neighbour Analysis

Please include both source and target cell names in the neighbour analysis display and reports.

AS-32405

ARRAYWIZARD Array Generator & ASSET Signal Coverage Generator

Both now include N carriers per cell and also rank only by received signal strength.

AW-1453

Database

Prevention of DB orphan generation.

EC-19019

Database

Provision of DB fix scripts to customer.

EC-18169

Database

Prevention of unwanted overwriting of parameters on Commit when user and Administrator are changing the same network elements.

AS-31987

49


50

Technology Upgrades

7 Technology Upgrades TEOCO made the following upgrades to the ENTERPRISE suite’s support of third-party software. See the ENTERPRISE 9.0 System Requirements for more details. Important: 



ENTERPRISE is now a 64-bit application only; 32-bit operating systems or Microsoft Office versions are no longer supported. In the context of the following descriptions, "ENTERPRISE" means ASSET, ARRAYWIZARD and the ENTERPRISE Core functionality only. It does not include CONNECT, which is described separately.

ENTERPRISE Application Installation ENTERPRISE 9.0 has been extensively tested and is supported on the following operating systems: 

Windows 7 SP1



Windows 8.1 SP2



Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard

ENTERPRISE 9.0 is also supported on the following operating systems: 

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

From 9.0 onwards, ENTERPRISE is no longer supported on: 

Windows XP



Windows Server 2003

ENTERPRISE Database Host ENTERPRISE 9.0 has been extensively tested and is supported on the following operating systems, in combination with Oracle 12c (EE and SE): 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release 6 SP6



Windows Server 2012 SP5



Windows 8.1 SP2

ENTERPRISE 9.0 is also supported on the following operating systems, in combination with either Oracle 11g 11.2.0.4 or Oracle 12c (EE and SE): 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release 5 SP5



Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1



Windows Server 2008 SP2



Windows 7 SP1

From 9.0 onwards, ENTERPRISE is no longer supported on: 

Windows XP



Windows Server 2003



Any operating system on Oracle 11g Release 1 11.1.0.7 51

Release Overview and Business Impacts

Recommend Documents