Optimization of Coverage and Capacity Using Smart Antennae

Abstract

In the rural and geographically remote regions of Taiwan, the high cost of establishing information infrastructure has resulted in significantly lower internet penetration and usage rates compared with urban areas. To address the network demands in such remote mountainous areas, the deployment of multiple mobile base stations has become essential. However, the wireless implementation of base stations can lead to signal interference issues. This research aims to enhance the signal reception capabilities of end-user devices by utilizing intelligent directional antennas. This study employs five directional smart antennas, each of which can be independently adjusted to be active or inactive. Unlike traditional omnidirectional antennas that cause interference in overlapping coverage areas for end-user devices, our proposed adaptive directional antenna algorithm optimizes energy consumption by selectively activating directional antennas and concurrently reduces signal interference problems for end-user devices. The results of this research offer valuable insights for improving network connectivity and efficiency in remote and underserved areas. Through experimental simulations conducted in an environment with 10 base stations per square kilometer, the utilization of smart antennas, as opposed to omnidirectional antennas, results in a significant improvement of 33.8% in signal coverage.