Propagation considerations for growth planning in wireless networks

The last few years have seen an explosion in the demand for wireless services. Service providers have to accommodate this rapid growth on their existing networks, as well as make plans for new networks. This has necessitated conventional manual planning processes to be replaced by automatic techniques. However, the importance of the propagation mechanism in a mobile radio environment is often undermined in the development of such tools. This paper discusses the effect of propagation in an automatic cell site planning process, and describes a methodology for incorporating accurate propagation models for optimum performance in wireless networks