Dynamic neighbor cell list planning in a microcellular network

In the near future capacity needs will lead to cellular systems with a complex mixture of cells with different sizes and unpredictable coverage areas. Such complex systems will increase the need for manual radio network planning dramatically, unless intelligent tools are developed to assist in the planning. This paper addresses the problem of determining which cells are neighbors, i.e., handover candidates, to a certain cell. A concept is described where the neighbor cell lists are generated automatically as opposed to the manual approach of today. Benefits of the concept are reduced manual planning and more accurate neighbor cell lists, The concept is evaluated by simulations, using a detailed and realistic model of a city environment, where coverage is provided by a contiguous microcellular network.