l has a deeper impact on the coverage especially when the network is densely populated. A densely populated network would have more interference, having a negative impact on its quality. Calculation of a cell's range can be done using link budget calculations. Link budget calculation in a GSM radio network is relatively simple. However, in a WCDMA radio network it becomes more complicated as the number of parameters affecting it directly RADIO NETWORK PLANNING PROCESS increases. Let us look into these parameters before we look at an example of a link budget calculation. Some of the parameters are listed in Table 7.4. Most of these parameters are obvious, but some of them are new and have more impact in a WCDMA network. Table 7.4 Equipment and network parameters Equipment parameters Network parameters BTS receiver noise figure Soft handover gain BTS noise power Eb/No Cable loss + connector loss Body loss TX antenna gain Processing gain RX antenna gain Interference margin Thermal noise density Power control headroom Isotropic power Peak EIRP Eb/No is the ratio of the received bit energy to the thermal noise. Eb/No Eb/No is the ratio of the received bit energy to the thermal noise. Eb is received energy per bit multiplied by the bit rate. No is the noise power density divided by bandwidth. Link budget calculations are basically done to calculate the Eb/No ratio and the interference signal density. Soft Handover Gain The soft handover phenomenon gives an additional gain against the fast fading that takes place in the network. Due to the soft handover phenomenon, mobile connectivity is to a base station that gives a better signal quality. Thus due to macro diversity combinations, the soft handover gain has a positive impact on the base station. Power Control Headroom This is commonly known as the fast fading margin. It is the fade margin needed to maintain the closed-loop power control in action. Loading Effect Interference from neighbouring cells has an impact on the cell's performance. This is also known as cell loa