Cell planning method for wireless communication systems

1. A method for estimating how best to position a new cell within a wireless network having an existing overloaded cell that is running out of capacity so as to optimize the offloading of capacity from the existing overloaded cell, comprising:

filtering call records to keep calls made during a selected capacity planning interval calls, wherein the kept calls are performing one or more of sending data to the overloaded cell and receiving data from the overloaded cell;

geo-locating the sending and receiving calls;

calculating one or more resource utilization values for one or more geo-located sending and receiving calls; and

determining coordinates for an optimum new cell location based upon the calculated resource utilization values so as to optimize the offloading of capacity from the existing overloaded cell.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining comprises maximizing a total of resource utilization values that are offloaded from the overloaded cell.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of determining further comprises optimizing one or more new cell parameters, wherein the new cell parameters comprise one or more of coordinates within the overloaded cell coverage area, antenna height, antenna radiation pattern, antenna gain, transmit power, handoff parameters, and other cell selection parameters.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining comprises maximizing a total of weighted resource utilization values, where the weights are a function of the traffic levels.

5. The method of claim 4 , where the weights are proportional to the traffic levels.

6. The method of claim 5 , where the weights are equal to the call data volumes in bytes.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless network is a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network, and wherein the resource utilization values are measured in Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs).

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resource utilization values comprise physical layer (PHY) resource utilization values.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises using one or more of binned maps of the geo-located calls, binned subscriber parameters, binned traffic parameters and binned radio frequency (RFO parameters).

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filtering step comprises filtering call records to keep only calls made during a selected capacity planning interval calls, wherein the kept calls are performing one or more of sending data to the overloaded cell and receiving data from the overloaded cell.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein geo-locating the sending and receiving calls comprises geo-locating all sending and receiving calls.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calculating step comprises calculating one or more resource utilization values for all geo-located sending and receiving calls.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises determining the optimized offloading of capacity using the equation:

Overloadedcell Offload=N Small Cell Offload−Overloadedcell Utilization Delta

where Overloadedcell_Offload is the capacity offloaded from the overloaded cell, N_Small_Cell_Offload is the sum of physical resources of the overloaded cell that were originally used within the best server areas of the N new cells, and

Overloadedcell_Utilization_Delta is the difference in physical resources utilized by the overloaded cell before and after the deployment of the new cells.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of determining the capacity to be offloaded comprises using the equation:

Overloadedcell Offload=physres min −physres actual ,

where physres min is the theoretical minimum number of resources used under ideal transmission conditions and physres actual , is the actual quantity of resources used.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of determining the capacity to be offloaded comprises using the equation:

Overloadedcell Offload=PRB min −PRB actual .

16. A method for estimating how best to position a new cell within a wireless network having an existing overloaded cell that is running out of capacity in a wireless network so as to optimize the offloading of capacity from the existing overloaded cell, comprising:

filtering call records to keep calls made during a selected capacity planning interval calls, wherein the kept calls are performing one or more of sending data to the overloaded cell and receiving data from the overloaded cell;

geo-locating the sending and receiving calls;

calculating one or more resource utilization values for one or more geo-located sending and receiving calls;

initializing N new cell locations using new cell parameters; predicting new cell coverage for the N new cell locations; determining best server areas for the overloaded cell and for one

or more of the N new cells;

computing resource utilization values for the overloaded cell and for one or more of the N new ells;

determining the capacity to be offloaded from the overloaded cell; determining that the offloaded capacity is maximized;

determining that resource utilization values for the overloaded cell and for the N new cells are below predefined target values; and

outputting the N new cell locations and their cell parameters as an optimum solution based upon the determined resource utilization values.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of determining the capacity to be offloaded comprises using the equation:

Overloadedcell Offload=N Small Cell Offload−Overloadedcell Utilization Delta

where Overloadedcell_Offload is the capacity offloaded from the overloaded cell, N_Small_Cell Offload is the sum of physical resources of the overloaded cell that were originally used within the best server areas of the N new cells, and Overloadedcell_Utilization_Delta is the difference in physical resources utilized by the overloaded cell before and after the deployment of the new cells.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of determining the capacity to be offloaded comprises using the equation:

Overloadedcell Offload=physres min −physres actual ,

where physres min is the theoretical minimum number of resources used under ideal transmission conditions and physres actual , is the actual quantity of resources used.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the new cell parameters comprise one or more of coordinates within the overloaded cell coverage area, antenna height, antenna radiation pattern, antenna gain, transmit power, handoff parameters, and other cell selection parameters.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for estimating how best to position a new cell within a wireless network having an existing overloaded cell that is running out of capacity so as to optimize the offloading of capacity from the existing overloaded cell, wherein the instructions, upon execution, cause a processor to perform actions comprising:

filtering call records to keep calls made during a selected capacity planning interval calls, wherein the kept calls are performing one or more of sending data to the overloaded cell and receiving data from the overloaded cell;

geo-locating the sending and receiving calls;

calculating one or more resource utilization values for one or more geo-located sending and receiving calls; and

determining coordinates for an optimum new cell location based upon the calculated resource utilization values so as to optimize the offloading of capacity from the overloaded cell.