Correlated shadow fading for cellular network system-level simulations with wrap-around

In system-level simulations, it is vital to appropriately model spatially correlated shadow fading, especially the auto-correlation, so as to emulate realistic scenarios. However, as the size of the network increases, the complexity of the straightforward approach involving the Cholesky decomposition grows exponentially. Alternatively, low-complexity oriented schemes to generate correlated shadow fading value (SFV) maps for large networks are more preferable. However, the existing schemes do not consider wrap-around, which should be taken into account in the generation of SFV maps to facilitate user equipment (UE) mobility simulation and avoid the reduced interference in the outer-rim region. In order to prevent discontinuous shadow fading across the border of the simulated area and the wrap-around area, new methods to efficiently generate SFV maps are required. In this paper, a novel scheme to generate SFV maps with wrap-around is proposed, and its significant accuracy is analysed using computer simulations.