Coverage hole detection in cellular networks with deterministic propagation model

Abstract

This paper proposes a deterministic propagation model for Coverage Hole Detection (CHD). In the well known 3GPP and the 4G mobile telecommunications technology, the minimization of drive test is an important issue, where CHD is often conducted by the costly drive test. This paper utilizes the radio link failure report mechanism specified in 4G to achieve CHD, which can significantly reduce the costly drive tests. During CHD, radio propagation model is required to reconstruct the radio map of target cell. In general, deterministic propagation model requires precise structural information of the cell, and statistical propagation model assumes the existence of spatial correlation, which may be unavailable due to 1) the absence of spatial correlation information and 2) the high cost in learning the required parameters. This paper targets on the scenario where prior terrain information and spatial correlation are unavailable, which is a more practical assumption in CHD problem.