Situation awareness based automatic basestation detection and coverage reconfiguration in 3G systems

A novel technique for inserting basestations on an ad-hoc basis is investigated. Sector retraction and extension is used to reshape the network coverage area. Basestations are generally added to the network whenever there is a need to meet an increasing capacity demand. The replanning exercise can be both costly and time consuming. Situation awareness (SA) is the enabling functionality that allows a network redesign without a drain on resources. The simulation involves loading the network to capacity and evaluating the performance of adding a basestation ´on the fly´. Spectrum efficiency is the measure of performance used. Reconfiguration of the network area is performed by controlling the power level of the downlink pilot channel through the use of a genetic algorithm (GA). The performance of the algorithm is determined by its ability to reconfigure and redistribute the traffic. The technique is shown to offer a flexible and simple solution to the problem of UMTS network replanning for additional capacity.