LTE radio network planning with HetNets: BS placement optimization using simulated annealing

In this paper, the optimization of base station (BS) deployment is investigated. After determining an approximate number of required BSs to cover an area of interest, the positions of these BSs are determined using the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. Deployment using SA is compared to a benchmark approach consisting of a uniform deployment of the BSs over the area of interest. Scenarios with uniform user distribution are investigated, in addition to scenarios with Gaussian distribution. These latter scenarios correspond to a hotspot case, where users are concentrated in the center of a given area and the concentration is reduced as we move away from the center. BS deployment in heterogeneous networks was also investigated, and shown to lead to better results than a network with only macrocell BSs.