Xenicom and Odyssey

Xenicom and Odyssey
Xenicom presents Odyssey, the
radio planning system that sets
the standard for network design
and optimisation.
Odyssey is a powerful and
comprehensive network planning
system that facilitates efficient and
accurate network planning for
operators and manufacturers
around the world. Xenicom
develops Odyssey to answer the
needs of network operators.
Whether working to maximise
revenue from existing
infrastructure or pushing the
envelope with the development of
new technology, Xenicom
provides the tools that turn a
potential profit into tangible
results.
The ability to plan for multiple
2G/2.5G/3G technologies is an
important element in 3G roll-out
strategy. Odyssey combines
essential elements of 2G network
planning with an integrated and
evolutionary approach to 2.5G
and 3G network planning.
Odyssey can provide a business
solution that will ensure operators
can implement 3G networks more
precisely, cost effectively and
quickly.
Xenicom recognises that a radio
designer's remit often extends
well beyond the standard cellular
coverage analysis. Odyssey is
packed with features that offer
valuable assistance in all areas of a
radio design. Whether managing
traffic expectations, deploying
location based services or
investigating any other ancillary
service, customers can be certain
that Xenicom will help them
achieve their objectives.
Features at a glance
In eight years of development,
Odyssey has risen to become the
premier radio planning solution in
terms of functionality, and
capability. The following give
some idea of the features offered
by Odyssey:
Core product
Odyssey is the only major crossplatform planning tool. It can be
set up to run natively on both
Windows NT and Sun’s Solaris
UNIX platforms. Operators can
log on to a UNIX or PC
workstation and see the same user
interface and have access to their
own personal settings and
preferences. UNIX and NT
systems can be mixed to share the
same database so that changes in
Odyssey on one platform are
immediately available to users of
Odyssey on the other platform. In
all respects Odyssey performs on
whichever platform is preferred
by the operator.
Odyssey is also unique in offering
a distributed computing
environment (DCE). This function
allows processing resources
around the network to be shared
to speed up complex calculations
using real-world measurement
data, MbP can reflect details in
propagation that simply cannot be
reproduced by prediction alone.
The figures opposite show the
impact MbP can have on the
predicted coverage of a cell site.
Technologies
Odyssey is not constrained to
select technologies. Xenicom has
worked to ensure that each
operator can perform the best
possible design and analysis work
using Odyssey regardless of the
radio technology they are
employing.
and processes. The DCE manages
the tasks required by operators.
Xenicom has invested
substantially to develop a new
user interface for Odyssey.
Odyssey presents a flexible and
easy to use environment without
compromising the capabilities that
users have come to expect. The
interface ensures a consistency
between the UNIX and Windows
NT versions such that operators
can mix and match environments
without the need to relearn skills.
It also ensures that operating
practices learned from common
software tools are preserved in
Odyssey, thus reducing the
burden of training.
All radio planning tools are
limited by the accuracy of the
predictions they produce.
However, the conventional
algorithms used in prediction
share a common limitation in
precision. Xenicom is pleased to
announce that, for Odyssey, this
limitation has been broken. In
measurement based predictions
(MbP), Odyssey offers the most
accurate and sophisticated
prediction mechanism of any
planning tool on the market. MbP
improves the detail and accuracy
of coverage prediction far above
that which can be achieved using
any other prediction algorithm. By
Odyssey has been utilised
extensively in the design and
implementation of networks
based on GSM. It has been used at
all stages, from bid submission
through to the performance
optimisation of networks
operating near capacity. Operators
used Odyssey in the successful
implementation of dual-band
networks, of hierarchically
layered networks and of specialist
variants of GSM such as GSM-R
for railways.
GSM is not the only TDMA
technology supported by Odyssey.
Many TETRA operators around
the world use Odyssey to deploy
and manage their networks,
enjoying the same level of
sophisticated control as their GSM
counterparts. Similarly, Odyssey
is used by several operators to
deploy IS-136 systems. Xenicom
even has AMPS, TACS and paging
operators successfully managing
their networks with Odyssey.
CDMA systems are supported
equally well by Odyssey. IS-95
and 1xRTT operators in North and
South America are gaining great
benefit from the analysis and
simulation features offered within
Odyssey. Similarly, Odyssey has
played a great part in the
development of UMTS networks -
potential interference with respect
to affected area and affected
traffic. The affected traffic method
in particular has proven to be of
great benefit to users of Odyssey for example one UK operator
switched to this method of
analysis for their network across
‘Odyssey was the first planning tool to be fieldproven on live and commercial UMTS networks’
in fact, to date, Odyssey was the
first tool to be UMTS field-proven,
having successfully managed the
optimisation of the world’s first
two live and operational UMTS
networks.
Planning tools
The advanced frequency planning
capabilities offered in Odyssey
have proven benefit to operators,
particularly in areas where
demand threatens to outstrip
available capacity. Frequency
allocations may be managed and
analysed based on observations of
London. They reported that the
method contributed to a 25 per
cent improvement in their key
performance indicator.
requirements. The tool also
supports cross-technology
neighbour planning, allowing the
creation and management of
handover criteria between 2G and
3G systems.
Network resources can be
managed through the various
traffic planning tools Odyssey
offers. Traffic distribution maps
can be created through various
means to represent different forms
of traffic demand. These may then
be used to establish channel
element resources appropriate to
the technology of the network and
the services required by the users.
Odyssey assists with the
‘Switching to a new Odyssey analysis feature
contributed to a 25 per cent improvement in KPI’
assignment of neighbour lists
through its neighbour planning
tool. This tool can determine
neighbour relations automatically
based on cell boundaries,
overlapping coverage and traffic
Odyssey’s powerful simulation
facility assists with the design and
deployment of 3G networks based
on CDMA. It provides a
tremendous variety of methods
for representing distributions of
great benefit to customers whether
they required a single user seat or
seats for several hundred users
spread over different regional
offices. Similarly, the Oracle
database has proved to be scalable
and equally suitable for networks
from a handful of cells up to tens
of thousands of cells.
users and services across a
network and manages the
prediction of interference and
interaction between users and the
network.
Odyssey is unique among
planning tools in providing
comprehensive support for the
planning of location-based
services. Location-based services
are expected to become a major
contributory factor in the future
growth of cellular networks.
Odyssey provides tools to design
and deploy the necessary
supporting infrastructure for such
services and offers various
methods for displaying and
analysing the accuracy and
availability of the resultant
service.
Supporting tools
A network planning system is
more than the sum of its various
RF functions. A tool's usability is
often defined by the provision of
supporting functions and the care
with which its features are
integrated. Xenicom believes that
Odyssey is the most fully featured
and usable tool on the market.
Odyssey has been developed to be
scalable and flexible over a wide
range of uses. The inherent
multiple-user, multiple-region
structure of the tool has been of
Predicted data is only useful if the
operator has a means to present
and communicate the results to
others. Odyssey offers a variety of
reporting and data exchange
functions to assist with this
communication. The Plot Design
Tool, for example, is recognised as
the most flexible map printing and
plotting function offered by any
planning tool. It supports multiple
map views and legends within a
single plot and allows plots to be
annotated and arranged as
required. Layouts may be used as
templates to maintain a common
plotting style. In a similar manner,
the Import/Export Tool uses
templates to control the layout of
external data files to or from
which Odyssey may export or
import data. With this tool the
operator may exchange any fields
of data arranged in any required
layout or format.
This brochure describes only a
fraction of the features and
functions in Odyssey. It would not
be possible to do justice to
Odyssey’s capabilities even in
twice the space. Xenicom
welcomes and encourages you to
contact us and find out how
Odyssey may be of benefit to your
operation.