Methodology for assessing the network balance of 4G LTE radio network

The mobile network operators should expand their network capacity as service traffic increases in mobile networks. It is important to balance network capacity and traffic volume in terms of service quality and operating costs, and this network balance can be quantified by the capacity margin, which is defined as the difference between network capacity and traffic volume. There are two approaches to assess the network capacity: single-cell and national scale. However, the single-cell approach has too narrow to estimate the whole operator network, and the national scale approach should consider regional traffic density distribution. This Letter proposes a methodology for assessing the capacity margin from the perspective of traffic-intensive regions where the actual network balance is determined. The authors introduce the concept of a virtual sample region that consists of traffic-intensive cells in the metropolitan area. Then they show the methodology to estimate and predict the network capacity and traffic trends in this region. Finally, they derive the capacity margin of the mobile network. They used the real measured data in the top 10% traffic-intensive cells about three years in Seoul, South Korea, and evaluated 4G downlink capacity margin in this region until 2024.