Method for automatically selecting channel powers in a wireless communication system

• US 5,859,839 A
• Filed: 06/30/1997
• Issued: 01/12/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ahlenius, Mark T., Love, Robert T., Labedz, Gerald P.
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, HUY DUY
• Application Number:
  US08/884,965
• Time in Patent Office: 561 Days
• Field of Search: 370/311, 370/318, 370/317, 370/328, 370/338, 370/310, 370/252, 370/522, 370/335, 370/342, 370/441, 370/479, 370/332, 375/296, 375/366, 375/348, 375/369, 455/423, 455/424, 455/425, 455/434, 455/422, 455/9, 455/10, 455/38.3, 455/501, 455/504, 455/505, 455/506, 455/522, 455/63, 455/65, 455/69, 455/70, 455/115, 455/132, 455/67.1 , 455/67.4, 455/526
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/32 TPC of broadcast or control channels

Abstract

The method operates in a wireless communication system serving a geographic area. The system includes first and second communication units within the geographic area which have first and second radio frequency (RF) channels associated therewith. The method includes defining a plurality of points within the geographic area; selecting an initial power of the first and second RF channels; identifying, at each of the plurality of points, a number of the first and second RF channels which are receivable; evaluating a system performance metric; adjusting the initial power of one of the first and second RF channels; based on the adjusted power re-identifying, at each of the plurality of points, a number of the first and second RF channels which are receivable; re-evaluating the system performance metric; based on the re-evaluation, accepting the adjusted power; and downloading the adjusted power to the wireless communication system.

Claims

1. In a wireless communication system having a plurality of base stations within a geographic area, each of the plurality of base stations having a pilot-channel and a service area associated therewith, a method for automatically selecting a power of each of the pilot-channels, the method comprising the steps of:

defining a plurality of points within the geographic area;

setting a control parameter to an initial value;

establishing an initial power of each of the pilot-channels;

based on the established initial powers, determining, at each of the plurality of points, an interference level associated with each of the pilot-channels to form a first array;

based on the selected initial powers, identifying, at each of the plurality of points, a number of the pilot-channels which are receivable, to form a second array;

evaluating a system performance metric, the system performance metric based on the first array and the second array;

randomly selecting one of the pilot-channels;

changing the power of the selected one pilot-channel;

after the step of changing, updating the first and second arrays;

based on the updated first and second arrays, re-evaluating the system performance metric;

based on the re-evaluation, accepting or rejecting the changed power of the selected one pilot-channel, to form a preferred set of pilot-channel power values;

repeating, a predetermined number of times, the step of randomly selecting through the step of accepting or rejecting;

adjusting the control parameter;

repeating, until the control parameter reaches a predetermined threshold, the step of randomly selecting through the step of adjusting; and

downloading the preferred set of pilot-channel values to the wireless communication system.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication system comprises a code division multiple access (CDMA) system.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of points is located proximate a road.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of changing the power of the selected one pilot-channel comprises changing the power by an amount selected by a normalized random number generator.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the amount is at least one decibel.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the amount is a function of the control parameter.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

based on the changed power of the selected one pilot-channel, dividing the plurality of points among the service areas.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

for each service area, at each of the plurality of points within each service area, estimating a power level;

at each of the plurality of points within each service area, assigning one of a plurality of predetermined weighting values to the power level to form a power penalty value;

summing the power penalty values over all of the plurality of points within each service area to form a service-area power penalty value; and

summing the power penalty values of each service area to form a total power penalty value.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the power level at one point in one service area associated with one base station comprises:

a power of the pilot-channel associated with the one base station and a forward traffic channel power associated with the one base station.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the interference level at one point in one service area associated with one base station comprises:

a ratio of a power of the pilot-channel associated with the one base station to a the powers of the remainder of the plurality of pilot-channels.

11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

at each of the plurality of points, assigning one of a plurality of predetermined weighting values to the interference level, to form an interference penalty value;

summing the interference penalty values over all of the plurality of points to form a total interference penalty value;

at each of the plurality of points, assigning one of the plurality of predetermined penalty values to the number of the pilot-channels which are receivable, to form a handoff penalty value; and

summing the handoff penalty values over all of the plurality of points to form a total handoff penalty value.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

after the step of defining the plurality of points within the geographic area, defining a plurality of sections within the geographic area; and

assigning a priority value to each of the plurality of sections.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the priority level is based on one of traffic density and geographic location.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of re-evaluating the system metric is based on the priority values, the total interference penalty value, the total handoff penalty value and the total power penalty value.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of either accepting or rejecting is based on a value of the control parameter.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

measuring an acceptance rate of the changed power of the selected one pilot-channel.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the step of:

prohibiting the changing of the power of the selected one pilot-channel when the acceptance rate is below a predetermined threshold, to form a frozen pilot-channel.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of randomly selecting one of the pilot-channels comprises selecting a non-frozen pilot-channel.