Impact of Base Station Site, Antenna Configuration and Power Control in LTE Network
Alhassan Shilo Shekwonya *
Department of Physics, College of Physical and Applied Sciences, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria.
Lebe Nnanna
Department of Physics, College of Physical and Applied Sciences, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study analyzed the impact of spatial distribution of APs/Base stations, antenna configuration and power control in a dense populated area like Owerri (Nigeria), using link planner network simulator and Google-Earth Software. High-effective data capacity at hotspots in conjunction with bandwidth and the predicted power at the receiver for LTE network are required to capture some number of users and provide high data rates over the Wi-Fi interface. The data rates are influenced by the terrain, which loses throughput due to delays, path loss and interference. The hotspot range which determines the number of users, that can associate, is limited by the power of the client and the access point. The variables that affect link performance, such as: band, region, equipment, antenna, height, terrain and obstructions towards providing enhanced capacity and coverage are measured by the link planner. The characteristics like gain, beam, width and frequency, for evaluation of results in terms of coverage and capacity for different antenna configurations, receive-Power, terrain, bandwidth and distances are also observed respectively. The results show that pathloss increases or decreases with these factors between nodes. The strategy to place the transmitter in the highest position has also proven better performance for implementation of the LTE system and its long run operation.
Keywords: Network performance, Access Point (AP), wifi, terrain profile, fresnel zone, Line of Sight (LoS).