Hierarchical cellular network design with channel allocation

The design of a cellular network is a complex process that encompasses the selection and configuration of cell sites and the supporting network infrastructure. This investigation presents a net revenue maximizing model that can assist network designers in the design and configuration of a cellular system. The integer programming model takes as given a set of candidate cell locations with corresponding costs, the amount of available bandwidth, the maximum demand for service in each geographical area, and the revenue potential in each customer area. Based on these data, the model determines the size and location of cells, and the specific channels to be allocated to each cell. To solve problem instances, a maximal clique cut procedure is developed in order to efficiently generate tight upper bounds. A lower bound is constructed by solving the discrete optimization model with some of the discrete variables fixed. Computational experiments on 72 problem instances demonstrate the computational viability of our new procedure.