Cost-effective cell planning of millimetre broadband access systems

Broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA) networks can offer low cost high speed data services, telephony and video to residential and business users. In order to be cost effective in the face of competing delivery technologies, it is essential that care is taken when designing the infrastructure of these networks. The paper describes a model and optimisation tool (ECHO) for the automated design of BFWA networks. The use of a fully automated tool enables greater detail to be included in the cell planning process when compared to a manual cell planning process. This work is part of the IST project EMBRACE (efficient millimetre broadband radio access for convergence and evolution), a collaboration investigating the design and implementation of low cost BFWA networks at 40 GHz.