During a network operator's initial roll-out phases, the need to optimise the coverage of the network is essential. Coverage can be addressed through intelligent configuration of conventional network optimisation parameters such as tilt, through finding and acquisition of valuable site locations to ensure contiguous service geography in a launch areas/clusters, which Quintel solutions facilitate, and through the exploitation of new coverage optimisation freedoms which Quintel can introduce.
Using Quintel's antenna for Operator Sharing with independent tilt per operator, i.e. Operator Division Tilt, allows sites which would not be considered for conventional site sharing to be liberated. This naturally allows greater site selection freedom for an operator which in turn assists in achieving coverage in the desired areas as part of a planned roll-out. Even in a competitive operator roll-out environment, the technology offers a co-operative win-win outcome. For example, if typically 3 operators share sites, then on average, any one operator may expect other operators to share on its sites at 1 out of 3 shared locations, but should gain access to 2 new valuable shared locations.
If two access-technologies or services are delivered using independent RF Channels then using Quintel's antenna with Service Division Tilt, allows each access technology layer or service to be optimised for coverage independently, using a single antenna. This could apply for example to 3G/UMTS and 3.5G/HSDPA, or 1xRTT and EV-DO. As each technology layer would be serving different users, spatially and in terms of application traffic characteristics, plus the fact each service layer will have different optimum coverage limited link budgets, and interference protection requirements, this will demand different optimisation solution across a network.
Not every site in an Operator's network will require the same number of RF Channel due to the fact traffic demand is heterogeneous across the network. Using Quintel's antennas with Frequency Division Tilt, allows additional RF layers to be independently optimised from the 1st or base RF Channel layer, using a single antenna. For example, the 1st RF layer can be optimised for coverage, or highly mobile traffic, whilst subsequent RF channel layers can be optimised for capacity absorption, or low mobility pedestrian traffic, i.e. in many ways as a Macro/Microcellular hierarchy is optimised for traffic.
The Quintel antenna can be deployed to support different cells in the elevation plane, on different tilt angles, such as different Scrambling Codes in UMTS or PN-offset cell codes in cdma2000 i.e. Code Division Tilt , and will provide enhanced inter-cell interference isolation between cells of the same site, and to/from cells of other sites in the network, enabling greater network coverage and/or capacity. This technique offers greatest benefits when deployed on high sites, and/or where the spatial density of traffic increases close to the site. In such deployments, for example using two cells, the high density traffic close to the site is served on the cell with greatest tilt. The cell with least tilt then does not support the close-in traffic demands in terms of power and thus injects less interference (Io) into the wider network, allowing this lower tilted cell to be tilted to maximise coverage, or to support more traffic than had otherwise been achievable using conventional one tilt antennas. As for Frequency Division Tilt, this technique can be optimised as a Macro/Microcellular hierarchy, but using a single RF Channel from a single antenna.