Title: Optimisation of WCDMA radio networks with consideration of link-level performance factors

Authors: Jun Yang, Jie Zhang, Mehmet E. Aydin, Joyce Y. Wu

Addresses: Department of Computing and Information Systems, Centre for Wireless Network Design (CWIND), University of Bedfordshire, UK. ' Department of Computing and Information Systems, Centre for Wireless Network Design (CWIND), University of Bedfordshire, UK. ' Department of Computing and Information Systems, Centre for Wireless Network Design (CWIND), University of Bedfordshire, UK. ' Ranplan Wireless Network Design Ltd, Bedfordshire, UK

Abstract: Accuracy and the computational load are two important issues of Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network planning and optimisation. Link-level performance factors such as the impact of Soft Handover (SHO) and fast power control need to be taken into account in system-level simulations to obtain a good trade-off between accuracy and the computational load. Although such link-level factors have been investigated separately in previous works, there remains a strong need to consider all factors together. In this paper, we consider these factors on both Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) in modelling the network planning with mixed integer programming model. We also, present optimisation strategies based on two meta-heuristics, namely Tabu Search (TS) and Simulated Annealing (SA). Experimental results are provided to compare the performance of those heuristic algorithms with respect to the solution quality and the level of robustness.

Keywords: wideband code-division multiple access; WCDMA; mixed integer programming model; network planning; tabu search; simulated annealing; optimisation; heuristic algorithms; wireless networks; mobile networks; radio networks; accuracy; computational load; soft handover; fast power control; simulation; network design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMNDI.2007.013801

International Journal of Mobile Network Design and Innovation, 2007 Vol.2 No.1, pp.26 - 33

Published online: 28 May 2007 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article