CHAPTER 17 Planning and Design of Wide-Area Wireless Networks 17.1 Introduction The wireless network planning process can be divided into three phases: the initial planning (dimensioning) phase, the detailed radio network planning, and the operation and optimization phase. Each phase requires additional support functions such as propagation measurements, key performance indicator (KPI) definitions, and so on. Both uplink as well as downlink have to be analyzed. In 2G systems with mostly voice traffic, the links tend to be in balance; however, in 3G systems with both voice and data traffic, one of the links can be loaded more than the other, so that either link could be the limiting factor in determining the cell capacity or coverage. The radio waves propagation calculation is basically the same for all radio access technologies, with the exception that different propaga- tion models (see Chapter 3) could be used. Another common feature is the inter-