Locality-based techniques for computationally simplifying wireless network optimization

As wireless networks grow and mature, service providers must develop increasingly sophisticated computational tools for effectively modeling and optimizing their networks. We investigate a flexible method for simplifying the simulation of large-scale wireless networks while maintaining simulation accuracy. The approach we discuss leverages principles of locality common to wireless networks and thus can support a variety of wireless technologies and different radio interfaces. The method is demonstrated to be effective when applied to the problem of cell site selection. We examine the trade-offs implied by the family of techniques that we consider, and we make suggestions for how one should determine the optimal level of network simplification for a particular problem.