Performance analysis of capacity improvement using additional frequency spectrum in universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network / Nur Hidayah Amaluddin

Nowadays, the common method of upgrading network capacity is by upgrading the carrier by using 2100 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum. However, with increasing demand from the users, most of the macro cells are in maximum configurations and could not be upgraded further. The capacity needs are being check on a daily basis to ensure that every particular macro cells have enough capacity to cater for the data traffics. Countless research has been done on techniques to increase capacity on UMTS network. However, none of the research proposed to expand the capacity using additional frequency spectrum. This is due to allocation of spectrum already given to the mobile providers and it is costly to obtain additional frequency spectrum. Nevertheless, mobile providers can share the frequency spectrum among them. This study proposes on enhancing UMTS capacity by using additional frequency spectrum. By referring to carrier upgrade policy and triggering, two trial sites are chosen based on their high failure rate, high HS users as well as good traffic distribution. Designing process is done based on the analysis and the carrier architecture has been deployed into live network. The implementation of the additional carrier show positive improvement as the failure rate decreased to zero and the coverage of the sites becomes wider which allows it to capture additional traffic from the users.