One choice, two construction, three optimization, WCDMA network deployment experience (1)

Currently, the competition in the mobile communication Operation Market is becoming increasingly fierce. Judging from the 3G development in Europe, America, Japan, and other places, "Fast fish eat slow fish" has become the industry standard, whoever can quickly deploy a high-quality 3G network can take the lead. Overseas operators have many commonalities in creating 3G networks, including choosing partner standards, 3G network construction strategies, network deployment methods, and technical difficulties. Considering China's WCDMA construction, due to the wide coverage of the region, complicated scenarios, high network construction speed requirements, and the need for survey on user habits, it is imperative to learn from overseas experiences in a crude manner.

One choice: strict judgment

The selection of 3G partners by overseas 3G carriers is very strict. We should not only consider the manufacturers' support capabilities for products and equipment, but also ensure the product roadmap evolution capability for sustainable network development, it also checks whether the manufacturer has rich experience in WCDMA network regulation and network optimization, as well as comprehensive capabilities in engineering implementation, corporate social responsibility, and other aspects.

LI Yong, vice president of Shanghai Bell, told reporters that strict criteria for Overseas operators include four key factors. The first is the manufacturers' support capability and future evolution commitment for WCDMA/HSPA. Overseas operators are most concerned about the smooth evolution capability of HSPA +/LTE new technologies, and the second is the experience in WCDMA/HSPA network operation, network Quality/indicators and network stability directly affect network utilization efficiency, end users' feelings, and the operator's operating costs, at the same time, a stable and high-quality network greatly reduces labor costs. Thirdly, the capability of end-to-end solutions shows the relationship between equipment vendors and operators based on the extensive overseas deployment experience, it is no longer just a simple sales relationship. In many cases, the operator also requires the manufacturer to have the OEM capability and the "TURNKEY" experience of major projects. Finally, it is the differentiated product solution capability, the carrier should consider whether the vendor can meet user needs and provide specific solutions according to specific requirements.

The multi-scenario network construction capability is becoming a plus for manufacturers' capabilities. This capability is becoming increasingly mature in network construction practices. For example, considering the shortage of Site Resources, the distributed base station will become the first choice for operators to build a 3G network, followed by the maintenance of the outdoor part of the Distributed Base Station. Therefore, in order to improve the stability of some outdoor products and minimize the difficulty of O & M, the "fan-less" design of the outdoor products came into being.

Build 2: overlay the data to the mainstream

According to statistics, over 80% of the overseas activated WCDMA networks are superimposed on the GSM wireless network of Vendor. WCDMA and GSM are independent of each other in the wireless access network, and their technical principles are completely different. In addition, the interfaces of the two wireless networks in terms of intercommunication and interoperability are well defined, therefore, WCDMA wireless devices and GSM wireless devices can be deployed with different suppliers to deploy high-quality 2G/3G overlapping networks. With the reorganization and merger of communication network suppliers, the number of suppliers of 3G devices is reduced, and 3G network deployment mode is selected as the mainstream network construction mode for operators.

As a result, the focus of the WCDMA network coverage planning is the interconnection between the GSM network and the WCDMA network. Tommi, head of Nokia Siemens communication WCDMA technology, pointed out that in handling inter-network switching, to ensure high-quality user experience, we should not only focus on data rate, inter-network switching success rate, but also minimize latency. Therefore, equipment vendors must have three optimal performance combinations: Call connection time, latency, and traffic. At the same time, with the maturity of HSPA technology, more than 90% of WCMDA carriers around the world choose to deploy HSPA. Li Ji, Senior Product Manager of Ericsson wireless access network product department, believes: "WCDMA devices should be able to smoothly upgrade to HSPA + to protect carrier costs and ensure smooth network scalability ."

Creating HSPA networks also brings about new issues. To address the HSPA network traffic characteristics, such as sudden traffic spikes, high network congestion, and a low user perception, operators need a mechanism, that is to say, certain algorithms and means can be used to divide connected users into different priorities based on certain principles: "Gold users", "Silver users", and "Bronze users ", provides differentiated HSPA service access services for users with different priorities. LI Yong told reporters that in cooperation with overseas operators, the specific implementation process is to use network resources, users with different priorities will be allocated different access and bandwidth allocation permissions. In addition, combined with some unique mechanisms in the call process, such as congestion prevention, speed reduction, and forced demolition, the call quality of high-priority users can be well guaranteed, maximizing the utilization efficiency of the network.

Three Advantages: Practice

The characteristics of 3G technology determine the special characteristics of its network regulation and network optimization. The experience of the manufacturer's network regulation and network optimization will directly affect the construction implementation speed and final network quality, this ultimately affects whether operators can stand out in the fierce competition. Mobile Networks begin with planning, focusing on processes, and optimizing. The capability of equipment vendors in site survey, propagation model testing and calibration, network performance simulation and optimization during network optimization is continuously improved in practice. LI Yong, global market director of zte wcdma, believes that both WCDMA and CDMA are based on code division multiple access technology, and their network regulation and network optimization principles are similar and their experience can be used for reference. At present, ZTE has developed efficient support tools for network regulation and network optimization, such as NSCP, 3GSS, ZXPOSCNT, CNA, and CNO.

Optimization in special scenarios is also one of the key and difficult points of WCDMA network construction. The capabilities of equipment vendors in this aspect have been honed in overseas network construction. For example, in high-speed rail coverage, Ericsson devices support a maximum speed of 500 km/h and provide professional network planning and design for operators. ZTE has both practices in complicated Wireless Environments in an international metropolis with tall buildings like Hong Kong and experiences in mountainous areas, islands and forests like Brazil. Shanghai Bell productized its accumulated CDMA/WCDMA optimization experience and integrated 15 optimization templates into the network specification network optimization tool.