Abstract:
Radio network planning (RNP) has been a long-standing problem since the very start ing commercialization of mobile communications,of which power coverage and ca pacity coverage are the two major objectives.RNP of a new Radio interface such as
LTE needs new tools and competencies.The introduction of Multiple input multiple out
put(MIMO)driven Orthogonal division multiple access(OFDM),and sophisticated schedul ing techniques in Long Term Evolution(LTE) technology,makes network planning chal lenging.In this work,coverage and capacity estimation of LTE network was performed
for future network deployment in Jimma,Ethiopia.In the case of coverage planning,Radio
link budget together with important link level simulations was performed to determine
path loss.A COST231-Hata macroscopic path loss model was used to determine the
cell range per morphology.For capacity evaluation,throughput analysis,and important
system level simulations was performed to know subscribers supported per cell.Cell
edge throughput and spectral efficiency was determined as the measure of perfor mance and effectiveness for capacity analysis.
Finally,coverage target number of sites,capacity target number of sites,and the final
limiting site count was determined.
