Autonomous Self-deployment of Wireless Access Networks in an Airport Environment

In environments with highly dynamic user demand, for example in airports, high over-dimensioning of wireless access networks is required to be able to serve high user densities at any possible location in the covered area, resulting in a large number of base stations. This problem is addressed with the novel concept of a self-deploying network. Distributed algorithms are proposed, which autonomously identify the need of changes in position and configuration of wireless access nodes and adapt the network to its environment. It is shown that a self-deploying network can significantly reduce the number of required base stations compared to a conventional statically deployed network. In this paper, this is demonstrated in a specific test scenario at Athens International Airport, simulating a moving user hotspot after the arrival of an airplane.