Planning and Optimization of Cellular Networks through Centroidal Voronoi Tessellations

The fifth generation (5G) of wireless networks will connect not only persons but also things, in a massive and previously unheard-of scale. Therefore, engineers and researchers need to develop methods and solutions to 1) satisfy the increasing demand, and 2) plan, maintain, and optimize networks that are envisioned to provide services to a highly dynamic, diverse, and heterogeneous traffic, both in time and space. This paper makes a contribution to the second goal by introducing an idea for planning and/or optimization of cellular networks based on the use of Centroidal Voronoi Tessellations. The framework allows obtaining (deterministically) network topologies that are compatible with the service demand, described statistically in terms of its spatial distribution and volume. While the method provides by itself a first network performance assessment, site locations and cell areas, are key references for planning and optimization.