A Geometric Method for Estimating the Nominal Cell Range in Cellular Networks

Abstract

In cellular networks, cell range is a key parameter for network planning and optimization. With the advent of new radio access technologies, it is not easy to obtain a good estimate of the nominal cell range on a cell-by-cell basis due to the complexity of physical layout in a real network. In this work, a novel geometrical method for estimating the cell range based on Voronoi tessellation is presented. The inputs of the method are site locations, antenna azimuths, and antenna horizontal beamwidths. The method is tested with a real dataset taken from a live LTE network. During assessment, the proposed method is compared with traditional approaches of estimating cell range. Results show that the proposed method improves the accuracy of previous approaches, while still maintaining a low computational complexity.