Estimating the range to the cell edge from signal strength measurements

Abstract

A robust method for determining the boundaries of cells and the associated reliability of the RF coverage within these boundaries is presented. The procedure accurately determines the average range from the base station to the cell edge from RF signal strength measurements with a linear regression approach. The accuracy of this estimate is quantified both as a range uncertainty (e.g. /spl plusmn/100 meters) and as a cell coverage reliability (i.e. area/edge). The coverage reliability estimate is found to be an order of magnitude more accurate than current approaches.