1/45

DVB-H PLANNING AND ICS TELECOM:

A TUTORIAL
 2/45

INDEX

DVB-H PLANNING AND ICS TELECOM: A TUTORIAL...................................................................... 1

1.- INTRODUCTION: DVB-H PLANNING AND ICS TELECOM ...................................................... 3

2.- LOADING A PROJECT. CARTOGRAPHIC DATA ...................................................................... 4

3.- PROPAGATION MODELS. THE CLUTTER................................................................................ 7

4.- LOADING STATIONS. TECHNICAL PARAMETERS................................................................ 11

5.- COVERAGE CALCULATION. RX PARAMETERS ..................................................................... 19

6.- COVERAGE ANALYSIS. GAP FILLER PLANNING.................................................................. 22

7.- FREQUENCY ASSIGNMENT.................................................................................................. 31

8.- INTERFERENCE ANALYSIS.................................................................................................. 33

9.- POPULATION ANALYSIS. TRIPLE PLAY .............................................................................. 40

 3/45

1.- INTRODUCTION: DVB-H PLANNING AND ICS TELECOM

DVB-H stands for Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld and means a well known television broadcast service

with all the advantages of a digital signal (good image and sound quality even for close to the receiver

sensitivity signal received or high bandwidth performance broadcasting several digital programs on one

single analogue channel for example), plus the commodity of watching television on a handheld device while

you are moving around on your car or a train.

Planning such a network involves tasks belonging to digital broadcasting (gap fillers, multiple and single

frequency interference, etc.) and cellular (handover, uplink supported on a complementary 3G network,

etc.).

ICS Telecom is the general purpose software for the engineers planning any radiocommunication service,

of special interest whenever several different technologies work together sharing frequency plan or

complementary tasks. Analysis will regard coverage, frequency planning and interferences, traffic

performance, site searching or sorting and reporting.

This document is meant to be a Tutorial for new ICS Telecom users or those who where involved in the

past in planning other technologies different to DVB. Also it provides a light introduction to the most

important topics about DVB-H applied in ICS Telecom planning, however it is highly suggested reading

ATDI’s white paper WP_DVBH_planning_ICStelecom.pdf available at our web site www.atdi.com, for a much

deeper understanding of those topics.

 4/45

2.- LOADING A PROJECT. CARTOGRAPHIC DATA

The basis of every planning project is a cartographic dataset covering the service area for the network. A

typical project will comprise:

.- A digital terrain model

.- Imagery: maps or photographs

.- A ground usage layer or clutter

.- A building layer (only for high resolution projects)

.- Vector data: roads, streets, railway, water and coastline, etc. (Optional)

All these files (except vector) are matrixes where each pixel has a fixed square size ranging from 0.5 to 500

meters, and fixed geographic coordinates X and Y (longitude and latitude).

Depending on the coverage of the network, we will use medium resolution cartography or high resolution

cartography:

.- When coverage is large and transmitters use large EIRP covering long radius we will use medium

resolution data, specially focused on rural areas or several small towns. This is what we call Macro-scale

design. Pixel size will range from 25 meters to 100 meters.

.- When coverage is not larger than a city and transmitters are numerous using low EIRP and covering short

radius we will use high resolution data, modelling buildings and streets, even having indoor users and thus

needing a higher density network. This scenario is called Micro-scale design. Pixel size will range from 0.5

meters to 5 meters.
 5/45

Loading a project in ICS Telecom requires only indicating what are the cartographic files (one per layer)

and where they are. As soon as you launch ICS Telecom, Project Manager window will appear (if not,

Files/Project Manager) and a double click on each Content line will let you browse for each file.

The master file is the DTM. All other files must be compatible with it regarding resolution and geographic

coordinate system (see column Compatibility). Image, clutter and building resolution must be the same or

smaller (integer ratio) than that of the terrain.

Available RAM memory must be about 5 times the size of DTM. If smaller, all files will be resampled loading

only one out of two or more of the matrix pixels thus reducing resolution two or more times.
 6/45

Before loading the project (Load button), save the project (Save project button) with a name that will

recognise it in the future and will be added to the list or recent projects.

Once the project is loaded (evolution of loading tasks is shown at the bar on the very bottom of the screen),

the several layers can be shown selecting at the list from button ‘Layer’ on top of the toolbar on the left.
 7/45

3.- PROPAGATION MODELS. THE CLUTTER

Before entering any new or existing station of our network to plan, some global parameters that will remain

unchanged all along the project evolution can be set and saved at the parameter file .PRM.

Most important one is the Propagation Model to use. It can be found at menu Tools/Propagation model…

At this point an important decision must be taken: we can use deterministic models or empirical models.

Deterministic models use electromagnetic field propagation laws directly applied to the cartographic

model. These laws include Free Space loss, Diffraction, Fresnel zone blocking, Climate and Multipath effects.

We must use deterministic models when frequency is high, above UHF, and cartographic model is high

resolution (including building models). High frequencies behave more like rays than waves, what means we

can apply the laws and measure multipath phenomena. These rays will follow paths where reflection and

blocking happens strongly depending on the real shape of the land, buildings included. Best deterministic

models are:

.- Free Space, Diffraction, Fresnel zone blocking.

.- ITU-R P.525, Deygout 94, Standard (+ Spherical Wave)

.- ITU-R P.525, ITU-R P.526, ITU-R P.526 (+ Spherical Wave)

.- Fresnel method+, Deygout 94, Coarse (+ Spherical Wave)

Regarding climate, especially for high frequencies, Gaz and Fog should be checked.

Rain should never be used if receiving threshold is already including a reliability margin above rx equipment

sensitivity threshold.
 8/45

In order to analyse multipath effect, 3D coverage options must be checked. A new small menu will be shown

where we must specify some basic rx parameters:

.- Maximum delta ToA margin for constructive FS (usec). Signal reaching the receiver much later than direct

ray will be regarded as interference.

.- Margin required if DToA is exceeded (dB). Wanted field strength and unwanted field strength must keep a ratio

larger than this value.

.- Synchronization threshold (dBu). If all received signals are under this level, rx equalizer won’t be able to

build one single signal, even though composite field strength is above receiving threshold.

.- Grid Step. Grid step above 1 will analyse multipath faster but less accurate.

.- Mode (Lambertian = 1, Specular = 0). Rays will always reflect following specular rule (value 0).

Empirical models are based on regression of statistical data from path loss of many well known relays (Tx

-> Rx). These models use simple equations with little dependence on the cartographic data, and are only

valid for short ranges of frequencies and specific environments (urban, suburban, open/rural, sea, etc.).

Most of them are focused on low frequencies under UHF where signals travel along the land more like waves

than rays. Because of this reason using high resolution cartography is useless and medium resolution is

more adequate.

DVB-H (UHF) empirical models are:

.- ITU-R P.1546

.- Hata-COST231

.- SUI method

.- ITM – Longley-Rice
 9/45

Each one of these methods uses a different set of equations and may need some specific parameters to be

set. Please refer to their specific documentation for further information.

In addition to the propagation model, the Clutter can take his role affecting to the path loss as one more

obstacle on the terrain for deterministic models, indicating the rx environment for empirical models and/or

adding extra loss to the path budget (tuning of the propagation model for example).

Clutter can be accessed through menu Tools/Clutter options and also from some other menus like

propagation model.

Each clutter code from 0 to 19 can have its own name and some 8 more parameters. See matrix below:
 10/45

.- Attenuation: option none means no attenuation will be added to the path loss; option user will add a

user defined constant attenuation to any rx on that clutter code; option dB/km will add an attenuation

proportional to the length of the path from tx to rx crossing a clutter code, what is typically used for

modelling signal absorption when a receiver is indoor and signals arrive crossing one or more buildings. No

attenuation is suggested for medium resolution project unless a tuning of the propagation model is done

before. dB/km option is suggested for high resolution projects specially where indoor receivers are regarded.

.- Clutter height: on high resolution projects, there is no need for this parameters, each clutter height is

given by building layer. On medium resolution project it is highly suggested using an average height for each

clutter code, especially when using deterministic propagation models. Height factor is applied to all clutter.

.- Reflection factor: whenever a ray is reflected, clutter code on that point will give ICS Telecom the

information about the reflection factor to apply.

.- Erlang/km2: some ICS Telecom traffic analysis functions can calculate traffic demand regarding demand

density per covered clutter code.

.- Surface factor: some functions will ignore a clutter code if surface factor is 0.

.- Diffraction factor: when it comes to height of an obstacle regarding diffraction, sometimes this height is

a little smaller that real height, that is the case for forest and wood. ICS Telecom will use clutter height *

diffraction factor as the height for diffraction.

.- Station/km2: ICS Telecom can generate random stations for different purposes. These random stations

will follow a distribution as station/km2 per each clutter code.

.- Stddev: after a measurement campaign, ICS Telecom can compare real field strength and coverage

prediction calculating the standard deviation of the statistical error per clutter.

Finally, users must be set on the clutter or in the clutter so that their height will be added to the clutter

height of the pixel they are located on, or just ignored. Check the corresponding at boxes on the lower right
 11/45

corner of the menu. Some clutter can have an exception when rx over clutter is checked to be rx over

ground using the checkboxes at the very right of the menu.

Using button Save at any moment we can keep a copy of these general parameters (propagation model and

clutter options) on a PRM file attached to the project (Update project = Yes).

4.- LOADING STATIONS. TECHNICAL PARAMETERS

Loading stations is simple as clicking on the map or just selecting an Excel file with a list of existing sites.

If we want to input one single station, just click on the map and select ‘Add stations -> Tx/Rx’ or press ‘p’

and input the coordinates of the station.

 12/45

If the coordinate system you are about to input is not the current one click on button ‘Coordinate conversion’

and select the right one (a coordinate system comprises ‘Coordinate system’ plus ‘Datum’, for example,

Coordinate system = Universal transverse Mercator and Datum = WGS 84).

When an existing list of sites is available as an Excel file (CSV or comma separated values), ICS Telecom will

read and import it from Files/Import/Generic ASCII file…

 13/45

Browse for the file to import, select the separator and default coordinate system (if no column specifies it),

select the meaning of each column and ‘Import on map’.

Once you have stations on the map you must completely parameterise them, one by one or in batch. Let’s

see how to parameterise one single station.

Click on the stations, select its name and open ‘parameters’. Or open the list of stations on the map (List

button at the toolbar on the left, Station list) and right click on any station record.
 14/45

On your left you can set the technical parameters: Power, Gain, Losses, Frequency, Antenna height and

Bandwidth.

On your right you can specify several labels. Most important one is Callsign (10 char.). Useful ones are

Address and Network ID.

Radiation Pattern can be set at Pattern tab and will comprise a combination of Horizontal pattern, Vertical

pattern, Polarization and Gain; or a fully 3D pattern for complex Tx towers.

At each pattern window you can select existing patterns (button select), import from Planet or ASCII, or

create your own one (input pairs azimuth-loss or click on the pattern, ICS Telecom will interpolate).
15/45
 16/45

Advanced parameters will regards those very specific parameters of a DVB-H signal that will affect to the

coverage like Modulation or COFDM configuration, planning threshold, KTBF, etc.:

.- Modulation and code rate:

Typical required C/N

Modulation Code rate
dB

QPSK ½ 8.5
 17/45

QPSK 2/3 11.05

16QAM ½ 14.5

16QAM 2/3 17.5

.- The Planning thresholds:

Once a station is parameterise, we can save its

parameters with button Save at the botton of the

window. Parameters file will use extension TRX. Next

we can use these parameters for other stations.

If several stations are going to use the same equipment, we can activate them at the station list (List button

at the toolbar on the left) and load common TRX from menu Objects/Load TRX…

One last option to generate a network when no existing site is available is to deploy a cellular network on

the land. This is very easy with ICS Telecom with menu Tools/Cells…
 18/45

Using button […] standard TRX parameters can be set for the new stations. Later ICS Telecom can remove

unnecessary stations.
 19/45

5.- COVERAGE CALCULATION. RX PARAMETERS

Now that we have a network proposal on the map, launching a calculation of the coverage will be a matter

of one single click. But some rx global parameters will be of special interest in order to get useful displays of

the coverage footprint.

These rx parameters are related with the necessary field strength at the user location in order to guarantee

a good service of DVB-H.

DVB-H standards establish these minimum levels or thresholds depending on the service class, rx antenna

gain, C/N and additional margins (location probability and height loss, this latter when using ITU-R P.1546

propagation model).

Please check these thresholds at document

‘WP_DVBH-planning_ICStelecom.pdf’.

Rx threshold menu in ICS Telecom can be found at the

toolbar on the left of the screen:

Rx gain and Frequency fields are used by ICS Telecom to

calculate the corresponding power as dBm on the load of

the Rx equipment regarding the received field strength at

its location.
 20/45

When more than one threshold is to be displayed at the coverage footprint we can use a user palette at

Tools/User palette… where we will specify what colours and what field strength received we want to display:

Finally coverage calculation can be launched for one single station (click on the station, select its name and

option coverage calculation…) or for all

activated stations: Coverage/Network

calculation/TxRx FS coverage… Then a short

menu will ask for the height of receivers and

some other global parameters, most of them

already defined:
 21/45

(We can stop coverage calculation at any moment with ESC key.)

At the end of the calculation, composite coverage is displayed on the map:

Right at this point it is really suggested to save your network. This will save all stations with their location,

technical parameters and coverage in one single file with extension EWF. Go to Files/Save/Save network file

EWF…
 22/45

6.- COVERAGE ANALYSIS. GAP FILLER PLANNING

Once coverage has been calculated, we can display it in many ways whenever we want and in a matter of

less than one second. Just activate the stations to be involved in the display and open menu

Coverage/Network analysis…

Most typical displays are:

.- Composite coverage: on each pixel strongest field strength received is displayed.

.- Best server: on each pixel a colour associated to the base station transmitting the strongest field

strength on that pixel is displayed.

 23/45

.- Site overlapping: every pixel having more than one server (stations transmitting a field strength above

threshold on a pixel) is displayed in pink (code 255). All other display best server.

.- Simultaneous coverage: on each pixel a colour is associated to the number of servers available.

Composite coverage (left) & Best server (right)

Site overlapping (left) & Simultaneous coverage (right)

Further than these analysis, some useful functions from the engineering point of view will make possible

best sites selection, new sites searching and any combination of analysis to reach more complex analyse

maps. The limit will be where imagination reaches.

 24/45

Best stations can be selected automatically by ICS Telecom right after import and coverage calculation of

all potential sites. Function Coverage/Best stations/Global coverage selection… asks for a selection of clutter

codes to cover and a target of percentage covered. Then ICS Telecom will switch off all unnecessary stations

and optimum network will comprise the remaining activated stations.

‘Surface factor = 1’ means clutter code to cover.

‘Surface factor = 0’ means clutter not to cover.

 25/45

On this example only buildings (code 9) are to be covered in a 90%. The starting network comprises 59

base stations covering 99% of code 9. The resulting network comprises only 14 base stations:

Urban area to cover shown in red above

New site searching is easy as specifying what area to cover. That area can be drawn with polygon tool at

the toolbar on the left. Click on the tool, select draw mask, click on all vertex of the polygon and right click

to close the polygon, choose save mask if you plan to use this polygon in the future again, select ‘continue’

and finally ‘search site…’ function.

 26/45

Î Î

Then click on all clutter codes to cover inside the polygon, choose new base station to be

inside/outside/both the polygon, select antenna height for users (source) and base stations (destination),

and chose how to analyse visibility from base stations to users: only LOS (uncheck ‘field strength

calculation’) or NLOS too (check ‘field strength calculation’).

 27/45

As a result, a map with colour will inform about how much of the inner area of the polygon is seen from all

pixels around, given as a percentage of visibility. This analyse is done checking the visibility all around from

test point distributed inside the polygon in a uniform fashion. These points are virtual users and the higher

the number the more accurate the visibility maps (100-200 is suggested when LOS analysed). This number

of test point is selected at field ‘max random point’.

 28/45

Visibility map: best sites will be those on red areas (visibility on 60% and more).

A visibility map can be saved for future use: Files/save/save coverage file (FLD).

A combination of analysis will be useful for example searching for a gap filler that behaves as a repeater of

an existing signal on another area. In this case we must check where we have good signal to repeat

(composite coverage) and good visibility (visibility map).

 29/45

+ =

Coverage map + Visibility map = Optimum Gap filler site map

This combination is done as follows:

.- Display composite coverage (first map to combine).

.- Load visibility map: Files/Load/load coverage file (FLD)

.- At FLD loading menu build a sentence as follow:

If A > x then B else y.

Where: A = map on memory (composite coverage)

B = map to load and combine (visibility map)

x = rx threshold

y = 0 (nothing to display)

Only where coverage is good, visibility map will be displayed thus making sure we accomplish both

requirements: good coverage and good visibility for the future gap filler.

If only areas with visibility better than 60% must be displayed at this stage use function Map/Filter/General

filter… Select clutter (code 9) and visibility range (60%-100%) to display:

 30/45

In addition to these basic functions ICS Telecom offers the possibility of running automatic Gap Filler

planning using function Coverage/Gap filler planning…

 31/45

Previously activated out existing network, once at this menu we must specify what clutter codes to cover,

what clutter codes base stations will lay on, maximum number of stations to deploy, minimum distance and

technical parameters.

7.- FREQUENCY ASSIGNMENT

Once a network accomplishes coverage target it is time to make sure frequency usage is efficient and agrees

with other existing networks. This can be completely automatic with ICS Telecom. On one side we have our

own network, with its already known coverage and a set of available frequencies. We will share these

frequencies in order not to spoil our own coverage. On the other side we may have other networks on the

same area and using the

same frequency band. We will

select our frequencies not to

interfere or be interfered by

those networks.

One single function will be

enough: Coverage/Network

assignment…
 32/45

The general procedure will be as follows:

.- Activate all stations belonging to the network that is going to be assigned frequencies (MFN, SFN or a

combination). Coverage must be already calculated for all of them.

.- Deactivate stations belonging to other networks which are not going to be modified. Coverage also must

be already calculated for all of them.

.- Open function Coverage/Network assignment…

.- On the left of the menu we must select existing frequencies that given as a band (min. carrier, max.

carrier and between carriers), a list or a frequency plan. A frequency plan is created as an Excel sheet and

imported via Database/other databases/Frequency plan… We can have many frequency plans. Next each

station is linked to its corresponding frequency plan from General tab at technical parameters. At the

frequency plan available and not available frequencies are indicated by mean of ‘flags’.

.- On the right of the menu we must select assignment rules: carrier separation on the same stations/site,

try to reuse carriers regarding distance/coverage size, C/I, rx antenna pattern, etc.

.- When planning one or more SFN networks, check option Assign same frequency when same Network ID,

and make sure all stations belonging to the same SFN have the same Network ID in General tab at stations

technical parameters.

Then just clicking on START, ICS Telecom will run the assignment and after a few minutes or just seconds

the new assignment will be applied and reported on the network.

Frequency assignment is quite fast, so you can afford checking several assignments with different rules and

available frequencies looking for the most efficient solutions. Regarding frequency assignment there is not

one single solution but several very similar and satisfactory solutions. This set of solutions will be smaller the

better your rules are chosen.

 33/45

8.- INTERFERENCE ANALYSIS

Right after a network has been assigned frequencies we must measure the efficiency of that assignment

analysing how much of the initial service surface of the network will be wasted because of the interferences.

DVB-H stations will be a part of large Multiple Frequency Networks or small Single Frequency

Networks. Thus ICS Telecom will analyse both roles of any base

stations: interferences MFN and/or SFN.

Interference MFN will be done regarding C/I on each pixel. Users

will specify what is the minimum C/I necessary for a good service and

how C/I is measured. This concept involves establishing who is C (best

server, all servers, at least one server…) and what is I (a set of

different C/I to check for I co-channel and I at adjacent channel –C/I

mode- or a weighted sum of all signals co-channel and/or adjacent

channel –IRF mode-.)

C/I mode can be found at menu Coverage/Network interference/C/I

mode… At this menu we must specify only two basic parameters: who

is C and what is C/I desired for co-channel and adjacent channels.

 34/45

Who is C -> Option

Best server -> Interference on best server.

All servers -> Global Interference.

At least one server -> Interference + Best server

Best server (all servers at HO* areas) -> Interference on serving cell

At least one server from each Network ID -> Interference Network ID

*HO = HandOver

C/I Mask:

Co-channel interference -> N=0

First adjacent channel interference -> N=1

Second adjacent channel interference -> N=2, etc.

C/I Tables means that stations labelled as DVB at their technical parameters (Signal = DVB8MHz, etc.) will

not regard user C/I but that from standards.

 35/45

After clicking on Start, ICS Telecom will display a best server map where interfered areas are codified with

value 255 and colour pink.

Interference on best server map before and after frequency assignment (6 freq. for 8 stations)
 36/45

IRF mode can be found at Coverage/Network interference/IRF mode… Again only two basic parameters

must be specified at this menu. First, on the left, the kind of map to display is selected: C/I, C/N+I, Best

server, etc.; second, on the right, how far signal received co-channel and/or adjacent channel is rejected,

what will be used when summing weighted contributions to total co-channel I.

Clicking on Start, C/I map or Best Server map will be displayed:

 37/45

C/I map and Best Server map (interfered areas have been removed from coverage display)

Whenever several stations belong to the same SFN, they are using the same frequency but we do not regard

them as interfering each other. On those stations we cannot apply these classical rules of C/I. In this case,

all previous menus can be used but applying an exception not to consider interferences when several base

stations have the same Network ID or Group. This option is found at menu Files/Preferences -> Interference

restriction:
 38/45

SFN interferences can be analysed for any set of stations isolated and belonging to the same SFN. At this

point come to menu Coverage/Network interference/Digital SFN (COFDM). Then set DVB-H parameters like

Guard Interval and Useful Symbol duration and ICS Telecom will display C/I or Best server maps (like done

before at IRF mode menu):

 39/45

SFN C/I map and best server map (interfered areas in pink)

Whenever, once an interference map has been displayed, we want to know what is going on at any pixel on

the map we can use tool WAY (bottom of the toolbar on the left). Both options MFN and SFN are available.

If MFN is chosen, then C/I minimums must be specified. If SFN is chosen, then Guard interval and Useful

symbol duration are requested:

Then clicking on any point of the map a little report shows received signal, interfered one and interferers list:

.- Example of MFN report:

.- Example of SFN report:

 40/45

9.- POPULATION ANALYSIS. TRIPLE PLAY

Population coverage analysis is based on one single layer (known as IC2 file) that divides the area of the

project in administrative regions: municipalities, districts, post codes or any other available division of

interest. Attached to this file, an Excel sheet (CSV file) informs about each region: name, codes, population,

surface, traffic demand, etc. ICS Telecom will recognise each region by a unique code we call IC2 index.

These two files are loaded from menu Options/Area covered/Area files setup:
41/45
 42/45

Once population is known, the existing network can be analysed in order to know what is the covered

population just analysing how much of each region (percentage) is covered. In addition, not only a uniform

or linear distribution of inhabitants along each region can be regarded, but making use of clutter layer that is

telling us where urban areas are and where open land is we can consider what is the percentage of

coverage on the region is corresponding to: inhabited or not areas of different density.

Just display your network coverage and open menu Options/Area covered/Coverage… Input linear or clutter

distribution and if clutter input percentage of population per clutter class. Then input your service threshold

and click on close.

 43/45

One single station coverage and regions covered (at least 1%). Colours mean percentage covered.
 44/45

Coverage report region by region

One of the most important advantages of DVB-H is its possibility of sharing resources with a 3G network in

order to add an uplink for the user and provide several ways of feedback for the broadcasters. This will

make DVB-H services much more interesting from the commercial point of view: interactive advertising,

viewer statistics, broadcasting plus internet surfing on the same handheld, etc. This is what we call Triple

Play.

From the engineering point of view, it will only be a matter of planning two independent 3G and DVB-H

networks, but in the end it will be necessary to report where in a DVB-H network, triple play service will be

available. This is a matter of combining DVB-H coverage and 3G coverage of an existing cellular network.

Just to make an example of the multi-technology capacities of ICS Telecom we will see a single function that

provides this solution: Coverage/Network interference/C/I mode -> Interference Network ID.

This function, as we have seen before, analyses availability of at least one signal from each Network ID on

the project (even regarding C/I) and will display all those areas where all networks signals (DVB-H and 3G

ins this case) will be available.

 45/45

•DVB-H •3G

•Triple Play

On the same area we have 2 DVB-H signals (on the left) and several cellular signals (on the right). The

display for Triple play shows where both services are available (green) and where only one is given (blue).