Dynamic Planning and Management of Reconfigurable Networks

provides opportunities, ranging, from the scale growth to harmonization and interworking among Radio Access Technologies (RATs), both in the radio network and core network. These changes consequently affect the actors of the wireless world, i.e. users, network providers, service providers and manufacturers. It is therefore indispensable to research the design and management issues of reconfigurable networks, so as to see whether and how they lead to increased efficiency, while decreasing operational (OPEX) and deployment (CAPEX) costs. (ARMH), presenting some basic ideas along with the respective algorithms and simulation results. I. INTRODUCTION tarting from Marconi's first radio transmission, the changes, developments, growths and societal impact of wireless communications has been almost unequalled. While in the beginning of mobile communications only few unconnected networks existed, the wireless world of today consists of a multitude of networks and Radio Access Technology (RAT) standards. Among them are the conventional cellular networks like the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) [1], General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) [2], as well as third generation (3G) systems, such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) [3] and its enhancements, like High-Speed Downlink Packet access (HSDPA) [4]. And also there are Broadband Radio Access Networks (BRAN) [5], Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) [6] and even Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMAN) [7] that are continuously evolving, offering wireless access to an increasing number of users. Additional systems like broadcast networks such as Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) [8] are increasingly forming part of this wireless (communication) world. Already nowadays these technologies