Methods and apparatus for planning wireless data networks using analytical modeling of user level performance
View Patent ↗Techniques and systems for planning of wireless networks are described. A system according to an aspect of the present invention receives inputs describing traffic statistics for a wireless network and computes network specifications. The system uses the traffic statistics and network specifications as inputs to a computationally tractable model used to compute parameters for the user level performance of the wireless network. The model may suitably be a processor sharing queuing model. The model employed by the planning system allows analytical solution for the desired user level parameters, given the characteristics and conditions entered as inputs and the intended network layout characteristics. Once a set of user level performance parameters has been computed, the values of the parameters are examined to determine if they meet predetermined requirements, in an iterative process continuing until a set of specifications has been developed that produces parameters meeting the requirements.
1. A network planning system for determining specifications for a wireless network, comprising:
an input module configured to receive traffic statistics for the wireless network;
a processing module configured to receive the traffic statistics and generating the specifications for an intended network, the processing module being operative to construct a design for the intended network and generate the specifications for the intended network, the constructed design of the intended network comprising a layout of base stations and antennae configurations of the base stations, the processing module being operative to compute user level performance parameters for the intended network using a processor sharing queuing model, the processing module being operative to directly compute the user level performance parameters based on the traffic statistics and the generated network specifications, the processing module being further operative to compare the user level performance parameters against predetermined requirements and to repeatedly adjust the generated network specifications, compute new user level performance parameters and compare the user level performance parameters against the predetermined requirements until a set of generated network specifications produces user level performance parameters meeting the requirements; and
an output module configured to present the network specifications generated by the processing module, wherein the generation of the network specification is performed by an optimization application existing as software executed by the processing module, wherein the optimization application includes a network specifications module configured to generate the original and adjusted intended network specifications and a user level performance module configured to compute the user level performance parameters based on the network specifications and the traffic statistics, wherein the network specifications module computes propagation parameters based on the network specifications and supplies the propagation parameters to the user level performance module for use in computing the user level performance parameters, wherein the user level performance module computes expected delay, blocking probability and throughput based on the traffic statistics and the network specifications, wherein the user level performance module is operative to select from among models for computing performance parameters for file transfer applications and models for computing performance parameters for hypertext markup language page browsing applications.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the traffic statistics include arrival rate information and information indicating an amount of data to be transmitted, such data including average file and page size and average number of file and page requests per session.
3. A user level performance module for determining user level performance parameters for a wireless network, comprising:
a network specifications module configured to receive and assembling network information for use in computing the user level performance parameters and in constructing a network design including a layout of a plurality of base stations and antennae configurations for the plurality of base stations;
a processing module configured to use the network information to compute user level parameters, the model selection and processing module being operative to select and employ one or more analytical models to compute the user level parameters, the models including processor sharing queuing models; and
a results output module configured to assemble and storing the results generated by the processing module, wherein the network information includes network traffic and propagation information, wherein the processing module is operative to select from among models for computing performance parameters for file transfer applications and models for computing performance parameters for hypertext markup language page browsing applications.