Roland Götz, Dr. Manfred Lebherz, Dr. Georg Schöne

Members of the Board

Editorial

Dear Readers, Before you start browsing through this edition of our customer news magazine SPECTRUM, we would like to remind you to save the date: On 2nd of July takes place the 19th LS Summit, uniting a growing number of industry experts to present and debate hot topics in spectrum management, radio regulations and monitoring as well as wireless communications. In this magazine read the debate about spectrum for PPDR (public protection and disaster relief) use, read about how network operators can calculate their network costs with our planning tool CHIRplus_FX and find out more about the ITU’s model forecasting IMT spectrum demand. Finally, we are proud to announce, that our customer Puncak Semangat in Malaysia won the ten-der to build, operate and manage the infrastructure for the free-to-air (FTA) Digital Terrestrial Televi-sion Broadcast (DTTB) service in Malaysia. Our congratulations!Of course there are many more news all around our business and technology...find out for yourself.We hope you enjoy reading this SPECTRUM magazine!

SpectrumLS telcom Customer News Magazine

LS telcom, together with its local part-ner Wamata Solutions Sdn Bhd (WSSB), supported Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd (PSSB), the winning bidder, in the preparation for the tender to build, operate and manage the infra-structure for the free-to-air (FTA) Digi-tal Terrestrial Television Broadcast (DTTB) service in Malaysia. In support of winning the DTTB ten-der, LS telcom performed a detailed nationwide DVB-T2 network and coverage planning for PSSB, which resulted in a digital coverage which will be even better than the required 98 % analogue TV coverage of the total population. LS telcom first ana-lysed different potential DVB-T2 sys-tems to determine the most suitable one in terms of the number of pro-grammes (standard and high defini-tion), coverage, single frequency

network (SFN) size and minimum self-interference. LS telcom also assist-ed in the nationwide site surveys and the survey reports. Together with a major antenna manufacturer LS telcom created the antenna design concept for each site of the planned network roll-out. The nationwide net-work planning, which included fixed coverage as well as portable recep-tion planning for six conurbations, was based on the nationwide site survey results and the real antenna design for each site instead of using simulation data. To improve indoor coverage in dense urban areas LS telcom used a number of various simulation approaches; with addition-

al sites, different antenna down-tilts or an increase in effective radiated power (ERP). Finally, to guarantee a fast DVB-T2 network roll-out with mini-mum interference to the existing ana-logue TV, compre-hensive spectrum analyses were con-

ducted.A senior representative at MyTV Broadcasting (MTVB), a subsidiary of PSSB and the company tasked to operate as the single Common Integ-rated Infrastructure Provider (CIIP) in Malaysia for the Free to Air (FTA) broadcasters in Malaysia, explained “We undertook great efforts to devel-op an extensive detailed business plan to win this tender and we excelled in the network coverage and roll-out plans thanks to the professio-nal and expert support of LS telcom. They carried out each step in the planning with great precision.”According to the Malaysian Commu-nications and Multimedia Commis-sion (MCMC), the evaluation was done by experts from various profes-sional backgrounds. Additionally, MCMC conducted a market assess-ment and internal benchmarking to further validate the proposals by the three short listed bidders.

Latest

Edition 02 l 2014

Photo: The winning team of the tender for DTTB services in Malaysia, which was supported by LS telcom for the network and coverage planning

Save the date for the LS Summit 2014 Lichtenau, Germany

2nd July 2014

LS telcom supports winning Bidder Puncak Semangat in the Digital TV Tender in Malaysia

Edition 02 I 2014 I Spectrum 02

Which Spectrum for PPDR Use? And what is the best Way of rolling-out a PPDR Network? - A debate

Most PPDR radio networks currently use either analogue or first generation digital mobile radio technologies (such as TETRA), often at frequencies around 400 MHz. Such networks have very wide area coverage coupled with relatively narrowband data capabili-ties. However, like the rest of the world, PPDR users are keen to harness the power of data-driven ‘apps‘. To provide mobile broadband, new net-works are required and therein lies a dilemma: could or should PPDR users rely on coverage provided by commer-cial operators, or do they need dedicated facilities? Most PPDR stakeholders agree that whilst commercial operators could (and in many cases already do) provide a means to access cost-effective mobile broadband services, a bespoke PPDR network that is hardened and rugge-dised against failure and which pro-vides dedicated capacity at times of emergency and crisis is critical in their ability to deliver services.A dedicated PPDR network would

A report from LS telcom has laid the foundations for the development of broadband PPDR networks in the UAE and more widely across the Gulf region.

LS telcom has recently completed a study for the Telecommunications Regulation Authority (TRA) of the Uni-ted Arab Emirates (UAE). The study aimed specifically at trying to address the major questions in the context of PPDR services in the UAE, and spec-trum harmonisation for the Gulf region. We examined:

• Which bands could be harmonised across the Gulf region (through input from regulators and a consid-eration of issues such as equip-ment availability and interference).

• How much spectrum is necessary for PPDR users in the UAE.

• The possible extent of sharing of spectrum and networks between different PPDR users.

• Whether commercial networks could provide some, or all, of the necessary capacity.

Our results showed that whilst, using LTE technology together with the potential availability of higher power user equipment (see 3GPP TR 36.837), PPDR use could in theory be support-ed in as little as 2 x 5 MHz of spec-trum, an allowance of 2 x 10 MHz would allow for reasonable future growth. However it is by no means certain that this has to be in the same band, and a mixture of lower frequen-cies (e.g. 700 MHz or 800 MHz) for wide area coverage together with hig-her frequencies (e.g. 2300 or 2600 MHz) for hot-spots of activity might provide a more balanced portfolio for PPDR users. We also found that fully harmonised allocations are not always necessary, as long as the user equip-ment supports multiple bands, which most commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices already do. Ironically, if PPDR use is corralled into its own dedicated spectrum, which is not part of a com-mercial allocation, handsets would need to be bespoke and the advan-tages of multiple bands, and COTS procurement would be reduced.

require spectrum, and although there is nothing to stop PPDR users rolling-out a network in any frequency band, most that are suitable for mobile broadband have already been as- signed to commercial service provi-ders. The 700 MHz band therefore provides a unique opportunity not just to cordon off spectrum for a dedicated PPDR network, but also to do so in a harmonised way leading to greater economies of scale in equipment manufacture and opportunities for greater cross-border cooperation. The wide area coverage that the band offers has the potential to replicate that which existing PPDR networks provide, without the need for signifi-cant additional infrastructure, and given the heavy cost constraints that most governments are under, the cost savings associated with this are wel-come. Work done by the law enforcement working party (LEWP) for the ECC (published as Report 199) has yielded a model of the amount of data capa-city that PPDR networks need under a variety of different stress scenarios from the day-to-day to multiple simul-taneous disasters. Their work has shown that, in Europe, where there are on average 500 users in each cell, 2 x 10 MHz of spectrum is sufficient to provide for their needs in the vast majority of situations. But this still lea-ves questions such as:

• Is the 2 x 10 MHz value applicable outside of Europe?

• Does all of this spectrum need to be in a low frequency band such as 700 MHz?

• Could some of this capacity (or even spectrum) be delivered by commercial networks?

• How can the existing spectrum allocations for PPDR (narrowband and broadband) in 380-400 MHz, 450-470 MHz and 4.9 GHz be redeployed for meeting the future needs?

• Does the spectrum have to be truly harmonised or just in the same band?

The last World Radiocommunica-tion Conference in 2012 identified a new band for IMT services at around 700 MHz. This new band will be one of the lowest fre-quency bands used for mobile broadband services (with the pos-sible exception of the 450 - 470 MHz band) and because of its propagation characteristics offers the potential for wide area coverage with comparatively low investment in infrastructure. This is clearly of benefit to those want-ing to provide rural and remote communities with wireless broad-band, but the ability to provide coverage with fewer base stations has also attracted the attention of the public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) communities.

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Frankfurt Metro: Emergency Services will soon communicate via modern TETRA NetworkLS telcom was asked by the Municipal Transport Services of Frankfurt (Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt, VGF) to plan the indoor digital TETRA network for their underground railway.

The Frankfurt Underground counts 27 underground stations and tunnel stret-ches of a total length of 48km. The project includes all planning stages, from the pre-planning and the prepa-ration of approval reports for the regulator, to the creation of the tender documents and tender support and finally the preparation of as well as

assistance during the tender awards. The LS telcom experts have started to develop the technical concept for the TETRA technology, which comprises a redundancy, hand-over and security concept. Part of the first delivery will be the planning of the base station locations, the signal and cable routing plans, coverage and capacity planning,

electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) certificates, positioning of network equipment, the preparation of the ten-der documents as well as a project management plan for the construction until commissioning. Next to the tech-nical planning, there will also be a cost evaluation.

LS telcom supports industry Submission to change ITU’s Model forecasting IMT Spectrum DemandIn February 2014, LS telcom took the unusual step of sup-porting an industry submission concerning the ITU’s forecasts on demand for spectrum for IMT to the ITU’s Joint Task Group.

The reason we felt the need to support the submission was the large inconsis-tencies which resulted when trying to use the ITU’s model to predict spect-rum demand.The model, which is documented in ITU Report M.2290, uses a bottom-up approach to forecast mobile data traf-fic and then converts this demand into a requirement for spectrum. The pro-blem is that the resulting data traffic in the ITU model appears to be 100 and in some cases 1000 times higher than using a top-down approach based on generally accepted mobile data forecasts from the likes of the UMTS forum or Cisco. This seems to

be caused by some odd assumptions on population density (the model assumes an urban population density equivalent to putting the whole of the population of the USA into an area the size of Paris) and on data consumption (where it assumes that, for example, office workers spend the busiest hour of their day streaming exceptionally high bandwidth multimedia services). Whilst these assumptions might (ques-tionably) be representative of the most densely populated part of the most densely populated city in the most developed countries in the world, the fact that many administrations will form their decisions at the next World

Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) on IMT spectrum on the find-ings of the report seems inappropriate and possibly even irresponsible. A more reasoned set of values that are calibrated against widely accepted predictions of mobile traffic would help each of the ITU’s member admin-istrations to take sensible, reasoned national decisions on their IMT spec-trum requirements.

Operators can now calculate Network Costs with CHIRplus_FXCHIRplus_FX now offers the possibil-ity to calculate and store capital expenditure (CAPEX) on outdoor and indoor equipment, network planning, site acquisition and installation as well as operational expenditure (OPEX), including site rental fees, leased line

fees, spectrum licensing fees and other recurring operational costs, e.g. power and maintenance costs, for each separate link or for the whole network. The equipment library (antennas, devices ...) was enhanced to maintain the provision costs and procurement data for the hardware. The link library now includes a CAPEX/OPEX tab which displays the summary for the complete hardware costs and where licence and other costs can be stored. Network planners can analyse the complete costs for each link or for the whole network thanks to the imple-mented query functionality.

Picture 1: Display of costs per link

Picture 2: Overall costs for a selection of links

Mobile Licensing PlatformLS telcom was asked to develop a mobile licensing platform for one of its customers, which is currently under proof-of-con-cept.

At the moment, users can access spe-cific applicants’ data on their smart phone via a smart phone App of SPEC-TRAweb. A simple application process for certain services is also included.

Soon, users will also be able to apply for different other services and carry out more complex processes than only viewing the data on their Smart-phone.

Edition 02 l 2014 I Spectrum 04

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Visit us at our Booth...

© 2014 for all photos and texts: LS telcom Group, istockphotoEditor: Christiane Labitzke Layout: Sabrina Kautz

LS telcom AGAmtsgericht Mannheim,

HRB 211164Board: Dr. Manfred Lebherz,

Dr. Georg Schöne, Dipl.-Ing. Roland Götz

USt-IdNr.: DE211251018

LS telcom Inc.USA

5021 Howerton WaySuite E, BowieMaryland 20715, USA

+1 (301) 266 1195 +1 (301) 352 4075

SVIAZ Expo Comm, Moscow, Russia 13th - 16th May 2014

Latin America Spec-trum Management Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 14th - 15th May 2014

Critical Commmi-cations World, Singapore 20th - 22nd May 2014

European Spectrum Management Conference, Brussels, Belgium 17th - 18th June 2014

Broadcast Asia, Singapore 17th - 20th June 2014

Upcoming Training CoursesLondon, UK• White Spaces - A hidden Spectrum Resource: June 02-03, 2014• The Digital Dividend and the Challenges of DTV- LTE Coexistence: June 04-05, 2014

LS telcom Training Academy, Lichtenau/Germany• EMC Analysis Principles: May 13-16, 2014 (already confirmed)• Measurements of Human Exposure to RF Electromagnetic Fields: September 22-24• EMF Measurements and Reporting: September 25-26, 2014• Spectrum Monitoring Measurements & Techniques: October 21-22, 2014• Practical Spectrum Monitoring Measurements: October 23-24, 2014

...and many more!

Download the calendar on www.LST.AG/Training.Alternatively you may contact Ms Sabrina Kautz by email to SKautz@LStelcom.com or by phone: +49 7227 9535 488 for further information on our seminars or for our customised training programmes.

This year’s LS Summit topics:• The long term future of the UHF Band• Online portals, mobile, web, E-licensing and apps to help inform the

public and improve customer service • Spectrum inventory: knowing the real use of the spectrum resource

and making most out of it These topics are of interest to you? Then reserve your participation now! Contact Ms Silke Hänsel by phone: +49 7227 9535 600 or by email: SHaensel@LStelcom.com.

Maximum Benefit from Shared Experience! LS telcom software users exchange hands-on user experience in the USERgroup Meeting taking place on Monday & Tuesday, 30th June and 1st of July 2014.

19th LS Summit, 2nd July 2014

LS telcom UK Limited United Kingdom

Riverside House 2a Southwark Bridge RoadLondon SE1 9HA, UK

USERgroup Meeting 2014

Coastal Radio System for DenmarkLS telcom was chosen to prepare the tender for the design, delivery and implementation of a coastal radio sys-tem in Denmark that ensures safety at sea by enabling ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communications using VHF and MF radio bands. The most prominent users of the system are the Danish Maritime Authority and the Danish Defence. The radio system will support

Denmark‘s fulfilment of its obligations as defined in the International Mari-time Organisation’s (IMO) treaty on supporting safety at sea and specifi-cally in implementing the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).