Method for Analysis of System Coverage and Capacity for a GSM Based Cellular Network
Cornelius A. D. Pahalson, Nathaniel S. Tarkaa, Gabriel A. Igwue · SSRN Electronic Journal · 2019
The cellular concept is a system level idea in which a single, high power transmitter is replaced with many low power transmitters to support many users and the service area is divided into cells. Users communicate via radio links to base stations in the cells. Base stations are distributed over the coverage area of the service provider, and the same part of the available frequency spectrum can be used at multiple base stations as long as the interference situation enables communication at sufficient quality. Performance degradation in the network affects the end users who depend on their personal communicating devices which come with different features and capabilities that demand a lot from the underlying network. The key characteristics of the cellular network provide the requisite inputs used by network designers to achieve coverage, capacity and quality of service for the subscribers. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of system coverage and capacity using network parameters and operational data collected from a GSM network from the Apapa area of Lagos State of Nigeria. The methodology employed and the results obtained are quite revealing.