On the optimality of facility location for wireless transmission infrastructure

The location and configuration of transmission infrastructure for cellular wireless communication networks is a complex engineering task involving competing objectives. While minimizing the number of locations used, adequate area coverage is required in addition to satisfying constraints concerning capacity and interference. We focus on the problem of commissioning omni-directional transmission equipment. This is particularly relevant to operators in the initial stages of network rollout. We address the problem of finding lower bounds on the minimum number of sites. An efficient technique for obtaining improved lower bounds on the minimum number of sites required for area coverage is presented. This approach also takes into account user-defined interference and capacity constraints. Additionally, we present a unifying framework for cell planning when site selection and power configuration is required. Detailed computational results are presented and discussed.