There are numerous programs to simulate a network. But students cannot learn the basics without doing this first by hand. What are the methods used to develop an RF plan?
The basic steps are:
1. Estimate your target market in terms of the number of customers in your target area that are likely to adopt your network. Work on a 5-year (financing) plan, with capacity being reached in 5 years. So if (!) you can get the site and install the equipment by the end of this year, you estimate the potential number of customers at the end of 2023.
2. Use standard measures of the calling rate plus terminating rate of the customers and add them to get erlang in the busy period. (Use Mother's Day busy hour measures.)
3. Multiply 1. and 2. to get the traffic per target area.
4. Look up the traffic per base station, as supplied by the base station manufacturer.
5. Divide 3. by 4. to get the number of base stations in your target area.
6. Situate the base stations strategically at the intersections of roads and railways, and at airports, schools, business areas and shopping malls to get a 95% coverage.
7. Add new base stations to augment those that have reached capacity in 2023, based on your measurements. The radius will become a half of its previous value.
8. Remember to calculate your total income from a flat figure in 2019 to its maximum at the end of 2023 to see if your 5-year project is viable. Income is based on average traffic through the day, not peak traffic, so the daily profile is a crucial factor. Do a worst-case scenario of too little marketing, a slow uptake of customers and a high interest rate to your investors.
9. Make sure you can get RF spectrum from the regulator.
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