A Mathematical Model for User Traffic in Coverage and Capacity Optimization of a Cellular Network

A promising approach to optimize coverage and capacity in the cellular network is the adjustment of antenna azimuth orientation and tilt. Tuning both antenna parameters without considering a realistic user traffic distribution in the network might result in a cellular layout having cells covering large areas when small areas are expected and vice-versa. In real life scenarios, mobile users are distributed in the network where some areas are concentrated more than others. Therefore, the adjustment of antenna parameters should yield a cellular layout that is compatible with the distribution of the user traffic in the network. In this work, a new mathematical model for user traffic is presented in coverage and capacity optimization. The antenna azimuth orientations and tilts are configured jointly for a predefined user traffic using an optimization procedure based on Taguchi´s method applying nearly orthogonal array. The proposed model for user traffic is validated in long term evolution downlink where results show that coverage and capacity are optimized and the resulting network layouts are fully compliant with the assumed user traffic distributions.