Coming soon ! ICS telecom 3G

We are often asked if ICS telecom meets the needs of planners in the emerging mobile technologies loosely branded "3G". The simple answer is "yes, absolutely". In such a moving environment it is however useful for us to explain where our improvement activities will centre over the coming months.

ICS Telecom is a cell planning tool capable of modelling and planning all current and emergent technology networks. It will admirably model both coverage and traffic, permitting network optimisation for both 2G GSM networks and so-called 2.5G systems. Using an in-built interference engine developed some years ago ICS Telecom has the ability to model connectivity in Eb/No (Energy per bit over normalised noise) and interference in Ec/Io (Energy per chip over normalised interference). These two key ratios allow the analysis of 3G networks making ICS Telecom a 3G network planning tool. This factor alone has allowed ATDI to undertake studies into key aspects of 3G/UMTS network planning for several operators and consultants covering both macro and micro cells with in-building penetrative coverage.

As to the future, there is at this point no prescribed network planning process for 3G. The relationship between equipment threshold performance and traffic (cell) load leads to the famed 'cell breathing'. The result is a scenario driven planning activity and like any scenario, there are many variables. Given that a plan is needed which specifies a number of base stations required for a given Quality of Service, this then implies an iterative planning lifecycle. ICS Telecom is well suited to this closed loop process and already has several goal-seek functions in the current release to help drive designs toward an optimised solution despite multiple variables.

ATDI will launch a new 3G module for ICS Telecom towards the end of summer. ATDI's premier software tool already embodies many third generation mobile techniques, and, the forthcoming 3G release will include a new Monte Carlo engine to complement the existing functions. We will also be working over the next few months to improve and enhance our current toolset to provide a complete 3G planning solution. ATDI will carry on working closely with industry in order to assure customers of a leading 3G solution, thus repeating the successes enjoyed by so many in broadband fixed access, TETRA and other technologies.