Combined coverage and capacity optimisation for UMTS networks

Abstract

This work presents a combined coverage and capacity optimisation methodology for automatic cell planning of UMTS networks. In certain cases, coverage and capacity are antagonistic criteria that cannot be aggregated in a single cost function. An automatic cell planner (ACP) based on a multiobjective genetic algorithm (GA) that simultaneously and separately optimises the different objectives is described. This ACP is of particular interest in cases where coverage objectives are difficult to achieve using a manual design process, for hilly environment or for rollout scenarios with some unavailable sites. A detailed example of combined coverage and capacity optimisation illustrates the efficiency of the ACP.