Channel reassignment, augmentation and power control algorithm for wireless communications networks considering generic sectorization and channel interference

In this paper, we study the problem of channel reassignment, augmentation and cell transmission power control in wireless communications networks under the consideration of irregular cell allocation/sectorization and generic channel interference, including both co-channel and near-channel interference. Channel reassignment may be required in a wireless communications network when channel interference and/or the distribution of traffic demand changes. Like channel reassignment, cell transmission power control is another effective and economical measure to alleviate performance problems. However, when the traffic demand exceeds a critical point and the current network capacity becomes insufficient, even when the above two cost-effective measures are applied, channel augmentation is required. We formulate this problem as a combinatorial optimization problem, where the objective function is to minimize the channel augmentation cost subject to configuration, capacity, QoS constraints and call dropping constraints. The basic approach to the algorithm development is Lagrangean relaxation. In computational experiments, the proposed algorithm is shown to be efficient and effective.