Software Agents: Introduction and Application to Optimum 3G Network Planning [EM Programmer´s Notebook]

The continuous evolution of wireless networks, as well as the attention paid by public opinion to human exposure to electromagnetic fields radiated by base-station antennas, render the development of software tools to support optimum design and planning of wireless networks highly desirable. Although many tools are already available, open problems are still on the table, such as the efficient implementation of optimization methods to identify optimum locations and electrical parameters for base-station antennas. In this paper, the recent technology of software agents is adopted, in conjunction with genetic algorithms and parallel computing, in order to perform effective and efficient optimization of wireless networks. The paper introduces and discusses the suitability of these information technologies for attacking the problems addressed. The use of the proposed solution, based on software agents, was tested on real cases. Impressive results were achieved for both the accuracy and the performance attained, with the use of low-cost computing platforms and freeware tools.