Creating mobile traffic grids based on geospatial data and using cell assignment probabilities

Mobile operators' investments depend largely on the costs of the radio network. The efficiency of building and maintaining the radio network is determined largely by the quality of the radio planning process. The planning tool, the propagation predictions and the spatial traffic input together are the key ingredients of the planning process. In this paper we describe a method to create high quality spatial traffic grid by combining network measurements and propagation predictions with demographic, vector and clutter type data in a statistical model. This gives results of a precision that commonly applied traffic spreading methods in planning tools cannot achieve and gets more and more important when planning micro cells. Operators can achieve large savings on network investments and manual optimisation, while delivering the desired quality by applying these traffic grids.