Session 1 - Introduction and Review of UMTS

• Review the architecture and operation of UMTS
• Review the use of propagation models, and the concepts of multipath, fading and diversity
• Examine the signal-to-noise ratio in the UMTS receiver, and relate that quantity to the performance of the system
• Summarise the similarities and differences in radio planning for UMTS and GSM
• Summarise the procedures used for radio planning in UMTS 

Session 2 - Capacity & Coverage

• Review the different terms that make up a UMTS link budget
• Examine the effects of uplink cell loading, including the uplink noise rise and uplink pole capacity
• Examine the effects of downlink cell loading, including the downlink noise rise, downlink pole capacity and transmit power allocation
• Present the trade-off between capacity and coverage
• Discuss the implications of this trade-off for UMTS network planning

Session 3 - Traffic Modelling

• Consider how to estimate the traffic levels in a UMTS network
• Review the quality-of-service models used for real-time and non real-time traffic
• Relate the peak levels of real-time and non real-time traffic to the average traffic levels that can be supported

• Combine the capacity-coverage and traffic models, to relate the cell radius to the average levels of traffic in the network
  

Session 4 - Cell Planning & Optimisation

• Discuss the requirements for site selection in a UMTS system
• Investigate the effects of antenna deployment, including the beamwidth, azimuth, downtilt and number of sectors deployed at a particular site
• Consider the issues related to scrambling code allocation
• Consider the techniques used for admission control and soft handover

• Review the use of network planning tools, and the results that can be obtained by using them for coverage modeling and simulation