Interference reduction for a wireless communications network

Abstract

An apparatus, method and program reduce interference in interfered cell sites of a wireless communications network. A cell site is a region in which wireless communications are provided to mobile devices, and the interfered cell sites being cell sites where mobile devices are subject to interference signals from at least one interfering transmitter. A transmitter is selected from a list of interfering transmitters in need of adjustment and corresponding antennas. A critical zone is determined with respect to the selected transmitter. Parameters of the selected transmitter and the corresponding antenna are altered and performance of the wireless network in the critical zone around the problem transmitter and interference in the cell sites interfered by the problem transmitter are monitored. Altering of the parameters of the transmitter and the corresponding antenna is performed continuously until a desired interference reduction is achieved in the cell sites interfered by the selected transmitter.

Description

[0001]This is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 110,205, filed on May 18, 2011.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention generally relates to planning and optimization of a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) based network. In particular, the present invention relates to detecting and reducing interference from several transmitters in a UMTS network.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]Traditional network planning and optimization of a wireless network relies on static methodologies for finding site locations, dimensioning and configuring the radio resources to meet specified traffic demand. Traditional network optimization methods find the best configuration(s) of the wireless network to maximize the performance, which typically starts with an already working wireless network, followed by analysis and calculations done by engineers using software and hardware tools with extensive simula...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This approach automates the reduction of interference, maximizing network performance by continuously optimizing transmitter parameters, thereby improving user satisfaction and resource utilization.

Problems solved by technology

However, manual network optimization consumes a large amount of human resources and is a lengthy process that is performed only when needed or periodically.

Therefore, usage of network resource is not maximized, quality of service is degraded and end users or customer satisfaction is reduced.

However, signals received by the MS that are not sent by the transmitters in the active set are considered interference signals.

Existence of interfering transmitters may lead to reduced network performance by reducing the number useful signals received by mobile stations.

Moreover, interfering transmitters may cause pilot pollution, which is a phenomenon that occurs when there are too many potential serving cells to choose from.

Images