or each user terminal (UE) within the service area. With this input from the customer, the cell coverage and capacity estimates are performed. Radio link budgeting is performed to understand the cell size that can be achieved with the input given from which the number of sites or cells required to plan the network area can be determined. Interface Requirement The interface requirements mainly deal with the S1 (interface between the mobility management entity [MME] and eNodeB) and X2 interface (interface between two eNodeBs) dimensioning. Based on the number of sites required (derived from the link budget activity) and the operator's allocated budget, the interfaces for each eNodeB will be dimensioned. Budget Information Budget information is very important because the number of resources (hardware) can be derived from the this, and in cases of limited budgets, the capacity or coverage planning will need to be accomplished with limited resources for a given area. Figure 1-2 presents a flow chart of the budget planning process. LTE Network Dimensioning Cell edge criteria Transmit power Frequency and Link Budget bandwidth Antenna configuration calculation Maximum permissible Path Loss UE propagation model Environment specific inputs Coverage estimation Throughput per sector Forecasted number of Maximum cell range for each site UE's per cell. Traffic distribution etc Capacity Planning Total number of cell / sites required. Figure 1-2. Network dimensioning based on budget CHAPTER 1 NETWORK PLANNING Planning and Implementation Phase the dimensioning phase, the equipment requirements are determined based on the number of cells or sites needed to provide a network to the complete area. During the planning and implementation phase, the exact location of where these eNodeBs should be placed is determined. Site selection activity is performed to accomplish the planning done in the dimensioning phase. Upon determination of the sites where the eNodeBs will need to be placed, the network planning tools (i.e., Mentum, atoll) ca