Network planning and design

Network planning and design is an iterative process, encompassing topological design, network-synthesis, and network-realization, and is aimed at ensuring that a new telecommunications network or service meets the needs of the subscriber and operator. The process can be tailored according to each new network or service.

A traditional network planning methodology in the context of business decisions involves five layers of planning, namely:

Each of these layers incorporates plans for different time horizons, i.e. the business planning layer determines the planning that the operator must perform to ensure that the network will perform as required for its intended life-span. The Operations and Maintenance layer, however, examines how the network will run on a day-to-day basis.

The network planning process begins with the acquisition of external information. This includes:

Planning a new network/service involves implementing the new system across the first four layers of the OSI Reference Model. Choices must be made for the and transmission technologies.

Network planning process involves three main steps:

These steps are performed iteratively in parallel with one another.

During the process of Network Planning and Design, estimates are made of the expected traffic intensity and traffic load that the network must support. If a network of a similar nature already exists, traffic measurements of such a network can be used to calculate the exact traffic load. If there are no similar networks, then the network planner must use telecommunications forecasting methods to estimate the expected traffic intensity.

The forecasting process involves several steps:

Dimensioning a new network determines the minimum capacity requirements that will still allow the Teletraffic Grade of Service (GoS) requirements to be met. To do this, dimensioning involves planning for peak-hour traffic, i.e. that hour during the day during which traffic intensity is at its peak.

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