Static Propagation Model Limitations as a Root Cause of Coverage Planning Failures in Dense Urban 5G Deployments
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Kozak Andrey Aleksandrovich
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Empirical path-loss models such as Okumura-Hata, calibrated for frequencies below 1500 MHz and base station heights above rooftop level, introduce systematic prediction biases exceeding 9 dB when applied to sub-6 GHz and millimeter-wave small cell deployments in dense urban environments. These biases propagate through the planning pipeline and produce site count overestimates of 65–80% relative to measurement-informed baselines. This paper presents a transfer-adaptive neural framework for 5G coverage planning that combines geospatially conditioned probabilistic propagation prediction, Pareto-weighted joint coverage-capacity deficit optimization, and closed-loop online adaptation with spatially varying regularization proportional to local measurement uncertainty. The framework was evaluated over a 180 km² urban region at 3.5 GHz using drive-test data from 800 km of road segments. Region-specific fine-tuning reduced mean absolute prediction error from 9.1 dB to 5.5 dB and decreased the required site count by 11–13% relative to non-adapted baselines, while compressing the planning cycle from 40–58 days to 14–22 days.
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Authors
Kozak Andrey Aleksandrovich
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References:
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